ROT Series (Book 1): The Smell
Page 13
“Turn on your phone,” Donna yelled toward the transport, hoping Katelin would hear her.
The still-loyal soldiers went into the first transport and shut the door.
Through the loudspeaker, Talbot said, “When Vance arrives, tell him I have his daughter and I will be glad to trade,” before the convoy drove away.
CHAPTER 40
Oceanside, CA
“What the hell is going on? Why are we leaving without everyone else?” Katelin asked as the vehicle began to move.
“Some of our people are misguided. We will pick them up soon enough. Nothing for you to worry about,” Dr. Talbot told her.
“You mind telling me why you have a vampire rotter in here with us?” Ana asked.
“I don’t mind at all,” Dr. Talbot said as he stepped behind the vampire rotter and undid the muzzle.
Talbot stepped farther back into the transport before saying, “His name is Mikey, and he is here for you. Or more accurately, you are here for him.”
A wall dropped, separating the inside of the transport into two rooms. Mikey, Ana and Katelin were in one, and Dr. Talbot was in the other.
“What are you doing?” Katelin said in the direction of the iron wall.
“Science,” Dr. Talbot said. “I’m curious if immunity is hereditary.”
“What about me?” Ana said.
“You are just along for ride; thank the former Mrs. Vance. I was planning for her to be here for this instead of you.”
The straps holding Mikey down opened up.
CHAPTER 41
Oceanside Harbor
Vance could see the fuel dock when Donna called.
“They took Katelin,” was all Donna could say.
Vance watched the transports moving along the harbor and quickly did the math. He was still confused.
“They should be here to help.”
Ashley’s voice came onto the line. “They’re not. They’re gathering immune for testing, but they preferred them processed.”
“Processed?”
“Yeah, think of the worst thing this could mean and then think of something worse than that.”
Vance turned as the transport moved out of sight. He cut off Ashley and pulled up the tracking software, hoping he could track his daughter. Nothing showed on the screen.
CHAPTER 42
Oceanside, CA
Mikey leaped as the last of his bindings came free. His oversized, bloodshot eyes focused on Katelin. A bullet from the Glock stuffed in Katelin’s purse stopped him cold. She reached in and fired through the bag, knowing if she tried to clear the gun from the purse it would be on her.
The first shot knocked Mikey back into his chair, but he was getting ready to pounce as soon as his ass hit the seat. Katelin kept firing until Mikey no longer had the ability to pounce.
“You kept a gun,” Ana said.
“This may be quarantine, but it is still America. Besides, I’ve seen too much shit today to leave a perfectly good gun behind,” Katelin said as she took the gun out of her shredded purse. She retrieved her phone too and left the rest on the floor of the transport.
Ana nodded and surveyed the steel room. They were still trapped.
“Hey asshole,” Katelin yelled at the wall between them and Dr. Talbot.
“You should watch your language, young lady,” he said.
“You should lift this wall so I can shoot you in the face,” Katelin replied.
“I don’t think so,” he said as the transport came to a stop. “You know there is more than one way to find out if this hereditary. Though finding you later may be difficult.”
Before they could ask what he meant, the door opened. They were facing a street. It was empty for the most part. They both jumped down, thinking this was too good to be true.
Katelin looked at her phone. “I guess we could call my mom.”
The machine guns on top of the transports fired into the air as the door closed. The convoy drove away, leaving the two girls in the middle of a street.
Infected, drawn by the gunfire, poured out of the buildings on all sides.
They turned and ran for the one shop without infected coming out, a skate shop that no longer looked like it was in business. When they reached the door, they found it locked.
Katelin stepped back and pumped bullets into the area around the handle. When Ana kicked it, the door flew open. They went in and pulled it shut as best they could.
“We can’t lock it,” Katelin said.
Ana kept moving and Katelin followed as the entrance burst open and the horde of infected was inside the small abandoned shop with them.
The girls ran to the only door they saw. They went in and shut the door behind them, glad to see this one locked.
They were not glad to see they had gone into a long-unused restroom. With the dry toilet and sink, the room was barely big enough for the two of them. There was only one window, but it was boarded up.
“Maybe it’s time to make that phone call,” Ana said.
Katelin nodded and held up her phone. The screen was blank and stayed that way no matter what she did.
“Out of juice,” she said.
Ana put down the lid on the toilet and sat down. The door began to bend as the mass of infected leaned against it, looking to get in and add the two girls to their ranks.
“I don’t really want to die in this bathroom,” Ana said.
“You prefer dying in the showroom of a failed skate shop?” Katelin replied. “We could open the door. Go out fighting.”
“Honestly, I don’t want to die at all.”
Katelin sat on the floor. She wiped some tears from her face, saying, “Maybe after all I’ve done today I have it coming.”
“Don’t say that,” Ana told her.
“Not saying it doesn’t make it less true,” Katelin said as she put the gun to her temple.
“Don’t.”
“Why not?”
As the door swelled Ana had a hard time coming up with an answer.
Katelin cocked the pistol.
“You know, when I first saw you I thought, there is the girl who would have never hung out with me when I was in high school. I was, well, I am, something of a nerd. Even college didn’t help.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Really? Do you think cool kids join something like the South West Apocalypse Response Crew?”
“How is this supposed to convince me not to shoot myself? You going to say some shit about how tough your high school was but you stuck it out and everything got better? Some public service suicide is never the answer bullshit?”
“No, as you can see, things for me after high school got a lot worse.”
“Then why?”
“Just stalling, hoping a good reason would come up for you not to shoot yourself.”
“You think of one?”
Ana had not, but she did not want to say so.
The thick fingers of a vampire rotter punched a hole in the door. The arm came in, searching for something to grab. The girls got as far away as they could, but in the small room there was nowhere to go where the claws were not inches away.
Katelin put the gun back to her head.
“Wait.”
Katelin did not pull the trigger, but she did not lower the weapon.
“Make sure you have a bullet left for me,” Ana told her.
Katelin lowered the gun and uncocked it. She dropped the magazine and saw two more cartridges in the clip.
“Counting the one I’ve got chambered we have enough, even if one of us misses.”
Ana nodded.
Another arm punched through the door.
“Any more to say?” Katelin asked.
Ana shook her head and watched the teenager put the gun back to her head.
She was getting ready to pull back the hammer when something crashed through the boarded-up window.
CHAPTER 43
Oceanside, CA
Vance reached in and gr
abbed his daughter, who looked stunned to see him.
“I’ve got you, honey,” he told her as he pulled her into the alley behind the skate shop. The Urban Assault Wagon was parked behind them. Donna and Bar were watching one end of the alley while the woman who had pointed the gun at Dr. Talbot watched the other.
Lumpy was using the hole in the roof to keep an eye out for anything the others may have missed.
The horde was focused on the street, where the machine guns had been fired, and chasing Ana and Katelin. The back of the store was clear. After setting down Katelin, Vance grabbed Ana as the door gave way.
Father and daughter raised pistols and fired together, dropping the two vampire rotters leading the horde.
Everyone piled into the converted Suburban quickly. The gunfire in the alley would attract the rest of the horde not coming through the busted-out bathroom window.
Holiday drove them clear before the horde could descend on them.
Vance rolled down his window and tossed the transponder out the window. Major Cook had told them it was being used to track them. He figured having Dr. Talbot go into the horde to look for him might work out to Vance’s advantage.
It would make getting out of the QZ difficult, but with Dr. Talbot giving his version of what happened to the people guarding the borders, they were not just going to go out the main gate, transponder or not.
“How did you find me?” Katelin asked.
Vance held up his phone. “You had your phone on just long enough for me to track you.”
“You can track my phone.”
“Given the way things worked out, I hope you can forgive me.”
Katelin leaned back in the seat. “Sure, just one thing.”
“Name it.”
“What day is my birthday?”
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