by J. W. Vohs
Redders sighed. “I have a few tissue samples from various creatures, and they all exhibit an unusual phenomenon. The samples I have come from different places; there should be no genetic link between the humans they once were and the human part of the mutants they became. But there is.”
“There is what? You’re not making any sense. When is the last time you had a good night’s sleep?” Vickie was beginning to think that Redders was in need of some time away from his lab. He was definitely spending too much time in isolation, with only the former sheriff to keep him company.
“I know it sounds crazy, impossible even, but there is a genetic link between the person in your Sample A and every one of the infected I’ve been able to test.”
CHAPTER 14
The city of Cairo had a fleet of hundreds of watercraft available, including boats with huge motors and experienced pilots who claimed they could make the run to Vicksburg in twenty hours or less. Before leaving, Carter and David tried to use the best local radio to reach Jack, with no luck whatsoever. They were able to contact Fort Wayne, where they spoke briefly with Andi and asked her to relay the latest developments to Jack if and when she got in touch with him. Of course, the entire message was encoded with a series of numbers so she wouldn’t know what was going on until the decoding occurred. She was happy that she could tell Deb and Christy that their husbands were safe, but she sounded anxious as she talked over the radio.
“Actually, Carter, I’m damn worried about Jack and the rest of our people down there,” she confessed. “Last transmission we received this morning said that they were coming under attack by a huge force they presumed was Barnes. We haven’t heard anything since then.”
“Don’t ya worry about Jack,” Carter tried to assure her. “They eventually had to blow that bridge and run if the main hunter-army showed up. Can’t use that big radio till they can find a place to set it up, and I ‘spect they’re on the move right now.”
“All right,” Andi tried to sound convinced. “You guys be careful out there, and let us know what’s up as soon as possible.”
“Will do, Andi. Don’t worry so much. Carter out.”
The team left Cairo at seven that evening as the last rays of the setting sun were slipping from the western sky. The pilot had insisted that everyone store their armor and weapons in floating, water-proof bags and wear high quality safety vests. When asked why they needed to take such precautions, the river-runner grinned and explained, “High-speed run to Vicksburg in the dark . . .”
Enjoying the look Carter and the others shared with one another the pilot added, “This strange weather has the water colder’n I’ve ever seen it, so y’all are better off safe than sorry while we’re on this river. Of course, if we go down at night out there in the middle of the channel, I doubt any of us could reach the bank without freezin’ to death first.”
Gabe shared a wry smile with the pilot before turning to the rest of the team. “We’ll be fine, but he is right about the vests. The running lights should be able to pick out any dangerous obstacles before we hull the boat, but you never can be a hundred percent sure on a river.”
Bobby grumbled something about the difference between SEALS and Rangers, but took solace in the fact that there were several bunks on the craft as he hopped into one and scrunched up another life-vest into a pillow. He was asleep before they reached top speed.
Gabe seemed content to stick close to the pilot as they headed south, so Carter and David found a secluded spot just outside the cabin and talked over the next step in their mission.
“Vicksburg’s pretty far south,” David observed.
“Yeah, it is, but there really ain’t many bridges over the Lower Mississippi. Take out Memphis and our options are purty slim. Jack wants us to find some place we can make a stand on the east bank, sounds like Vicksburg has some advantages.”
David frowned, “I just can’t imagine Barnes travelling so far from Louisville, especially with an early winter coming on.”
“Ordinarily, you’d prolly be right ‘bout that, but Barnes wants yer brother real bad. S’pose he wouldn’t mind nabbin’ me too. But ya know, if he wants to hole up somewhere for the winter and give us time to build up our forces . . .” his voice trailed off.
“True,” David agreed. “and Jack wouldn’t wait.”
Carter nodded, “No good commander would, but I can’t say Barnes is a good commander. What I can say is we all know that Barnes ain’t the sittin’ around type. I was just dreamin’ fer a minute.”
“Too damn bad,” David conceded. “So how do we know that the people of Vicksburg are going to believe us or want our help?”
“Hey, they already got run outta one home by hunters and choppers; all we gotta do is explain who ordered the attack and offer an alliance fer the next time Barnes shows up at the gate.” Carter flashed a smile, “Plus we got the folks from Cairo vouchin’ fer us.”
“I guess you’re right, but I’ll let you do the talking down there. I strongly suspect that they’ll be more inclined to cooperate with a southerner than a Yankee lawyer from Cleveland.”
“Ya know I am really from Kentucky, right?” Carter declared. “There’s real hillbillies where we’re headed. But yeah, they’ll talk more like me than the Smith family. In fact, ya just keep quiet unless I ask ya to speak up.”
I’m a Yankee, Carter, not an idiot.”
Carter couldn’t help but laugh. “Some places down here, well, they don’t see much of a difference. Can’t say I blame ‘em!”
The trip downriver was uneventful but offered plenty of interesting scenes. As with the Ohio, a good number of survivors had used the water of the Mississippi to protect themselves from the infected. There were even people apparently living on houseboats, all of them heading south as the temperatures continued to plummet up north. The pilot never stopped, only slowing and yielding the wheel to Gabe when he had to piss over the gunwales. The experienced river-man drank coffee by the pot, and said that he’d eat and sleep after delivering his cargo to Vicksburg.
They made excellent time in the cold daylight, despite passing through a few snow-squalls that the pilot could only shake his head in wonder at. He finally asked, “What’s the date, anyway?”
“I believe it’s October 14th,” Gabe answered.
“Damn, should be sixty or seventy down here right now.”
“Not this year,” David said under his breath.
“Well,” the pilot finally responded, “we’ll be off this freezing river soon.”
He pointed ahead and explained, “Vicksburg’s just on the other side of this loop, or at least the bridges are.”
Ten minutes later the town was in sight. True to his boast, the pilot had covered the distance in just over twenty hours. He guided the boat toward a dock on the Louisiana side of the river, a few hundred meters north of the bridge. A handful of men and boys were waiting to see if anything needed to be offloaded, all of them recognizing the craft as a fast-runner from Cairo. When they discovered that the only cargo being delivered was four strangers carrying a lot of baggage, they sent one of the youngsters running back to the main camp.
A grizzled old man who looked as strong as a gnarled oak tree in spite of his age explained, “You men go on and have a seat there on yer bags. Cap’n Harden’s in charge of security here, and he’ll be down directly to see what y’all are about.”
Carter nodded at the rest of the team to follow the old man’s orders and take a seat, and when some of the people on the dock started asking questions, the Indiana soldiers politely demurred as they waited on the security chief to arrive.
Just a few minutes later they saw the boy who’d run off earlier come trotting back down the trail by himself, but by the time he reached the dock a tall man in uniform, closely followed by two young soldiers wearing holstered revolvers, could be seen approaching the new arrivals. Carter was sizing up the “Captain” as the man came closer, but just then one of the armed soldiers walking behind th
e officer, a light-skinned African American youth, stepped around his boss with a look of wonderment on his face.
“Uncle Carter?”
The generally unflappable Kentuckian stared as if he was seeing a ghost, until the young man cried with enthusiastic recognition, “Uncle Carter!”
Suddenly Carter was on his feet as the teen ran forward and leapt into his arms. In disbelief, Carter choked out, “T.C., oh my God—yer alive.”
The boy managed to rasp out through his sobs, “I got Momma and Lucy here too.”
Carter’s grip on the boy remained tight as he incredulously observed , “I can’t believe y’all survived, and yer here in Vicksburg.”
T.C. smiled through his tears. “I can’t believe you’re here either. You were right about everything.”
David had sidled over to Bobby, where he leaned close and whispered, “What do you know about Carter’s nephew?”
“When Jack and Carter saw those Marines on the news with bite wounds, they started calling us all to get our butts to The Castle,” Bobby whispered in reply. “Carter’s mom drove up from Kentucky, but there was some kind of dust-up concerning his sister and her kids. They apparently refused to come up, and Carter didn’t find out till his mom arrived alone. By then it was too late for him to go off hunting for them. The subject’s been kinda taboo since then.”
David just shook his head in amazement, “And now he finds his nephew all the way down in Vicksburg.”
Gabe, who’d been listening in on the quiet explanation, whispered, “Quite a coincidence. Makes me think of how some people seem to be connected in ways we can’t see.”
“Don’t start getting all mystical on me; I get enough of that with Luke,” David teased.
They all grew respectfully quiet as Carter finally released the teen and turned him to face his friends. “Guys, this is my nephew, T.C.”
Once the introductions were complete, the Vicksburg settlement received the strangers from the north with open arms. Carter and the others weren’t quite sure how T.C. had gained the position of trust he obviously held with Captain Harden, but the teen’s vetting of the leather-clad fighters was good enough for the security chief. The locals led the newcomers along a reinforced trail that ran from the dock up to the ramp leading to the bridge, where Carter and his team got their first look at the settlement established by the refugees from Tennessee.
The bridge appeared to be at least a thousand meters long, wide enough to hold a four-lane interstate highway. A rail bridge ran just to the north of the span they were approaching. The fortifications dwarfed anything the Indiana soldiers had seen in all of their travels. Two, forty-foot-high walls constructed of stone blocks and topped with iron grills that stuck out horizontally from the fighting platforms guarded each entrance to the bridge. Gates that appeared to be copied from those found in medieval castles were fitted with three portcullises that looked strong enough to stop modern battle tanks.
David was awestruck as they passed under the massive walls. “How on earth did you build these things?”
Captain Harden, a lean man with the eyes of a soldier who’s seen too much death, answered in his gravelly voice. “This was the first thing we did when we got here. Used heavy equipment and everyone worked on ‘em till they were finished. We got overrun at our last place, and we were sure we were safe there. We made bigger walls this time.”
T.C. added, “We also keep a fleet stocked and ready in case we have to retreat again. You wouldn’t believe the size of the infected-army that attacked us in Tennessee.”
“Blackhawks leading tens of thousands of the fittest flesh-eaters you ever faced?” David asked.
Harden stopped in mid-stride and turned to glare at the strangers. “How’d you know that?”
Carter held up a hand in a gesture meant to calm the jittery officer. “What happened to yer people has been happenin’ all over the eastern and southern United States.”
“You mean, what used to be the United States,” Harden pointed out.
“Yep,” Carter agreed. “The man behind all of this, the virus, the attacks on settlements, is a crazy general named Barnes. He claims to be workin’ for the government, but there ain’t no government. Barnes is just tryin’ to take the country for hisself. We’re tryin’ to stop him.”
The explanation seemed to mollify Harden, who grunted once and turned back to leading the team through the walls. Once on the other side of the second barricade, Carter and the others could see the next construction project was well on its way to being completed. The inhabitants were building cabins along the southern edge of the bridge, apparently using materials scavenged from existing homes in the area as well as what remained in hardware stores. Each cabin looked to be about fifty feet long and thirty feet wide, most with modern vinyl siding and shiny, new chimneys from wood-burning stoves already sending long tendrils of grey smoke into the late afternoon sky. Trucks and horse-drawn wagons were hauling tons of firewood and grain containers to storage areas directly in front of the cabins.
“These people are getting ready for winter,” David admiringly observed.
“We don’t know what’s goin’ on with the cold,” T.C. explained, “but we’re preparin’ for the worst.”
Just then a little girl ran up and grabbed T.C. around the waist. He squeezed her shoulder affectionately for a moment. “Hey there Lucy, I need you to go find Momma and bring her to the meeting house right away.”
The girl pulled back from her brother, peering up at him with huge brown eyes surrounded by freckles and wisps of curly brown hair haphazardly springing out from beneath her wool cap. “What’s up?”
“It’s good news this time, baby-girl. Now you run along and get Momma for me; she’s gonna want to know what’s going on.”
Lucy took a couple steps back from T.C. and smirked, “H’mmm, I wanna know what the good news is too. Can I come into the meetin’ house with Momma?”
“Yes! Now go get her like I said.”
Carter chuckled, “Well, there’s a chip off the ‘ol block if I ever saw one.”
T.C. just shook his head in mock exasperation, “Little turd needs to learn how to follow orders.”
“Yeah?” Carter wondered, “I knew a little boy just like her not too long ago.”
Captain Harden growled, “Too stubborn to die, and ain’t afraid to speak his mind. From the way he’s talked about his uncle, I guess it runs in the family.”
“You got that right, Captain,” David quipped.
A few minutes later everyone was in the large meeting house positioned between the walls and the residential areas. It was a bit larger than the homes, but not by much. A large stove sat in the middle of the main room, several pots of coffee and chicory percolating on top, filling the cozy confines with a delicious aroma that reminded everyone of a safer time in their lives. Captain Harden and members of the leadership council were anxious to hear the news brought by the northerners, but before they could ask their questions Carter’s sister slipped furtively through the door with Lucy on her heels.
The Nordic-looking woman pulled her hood back and shook her chin-length blond hair free. The expression on her face showed how worried she was to be unexpectedly summoned to the meeting house. She quickly found T.C. sitting next to the captain and mouthed, “What do you want.”
T.C. smiled broadly and pointed to a stranger in motorcycle leathers sitting a few feet away. Carter’s sister squinted as she looked at the newcomers. Suddenly her eyes filled with tears and she took a step back, covering her mouth with her hand.
Carter stood up and smiled, “Hey Charlotte.”
Charlotte didn’t move as she stared at her brother in disbelief. T.C. gave his mother a little shake. “Mom, it’s Uncle Carter. Aren’t you gonna say something?”
Still not trusting herself to speak, Charlotte slowly walked over to Carter and took his face in her hands.
Carter smiled and gently whispered, “So are ya tryin’ to figure out if ya just walked
into a dream come true or a familial nightmare?”
She lightly smacked his face before pulling him in to a bear hug. “No doubt about it, it’s really you. Smart ass trying to sound all impressive, like some hillbilly professor.” She stepped back to get a good look at him again, and wiped away the silent tears rolling down her cheeks. “Even in that ridiculous get-up, you sure are a sight for sore eyes.”
“Well, that might just be due to our family resemblance. Ya always did like lookin’ in the mirror.” Carter teased. As he stared at Charlotte, his lighthearted tone shifted to serious concern. “I can’t say I blame ya; I could stand here and stare at ya all day. I’m sorry fer bein’ a stubborn jerk.”
“I could say the exact same thing,” Charlotte offered, “so let’s just forget about it.”
“Works fer me,” Carter agreed. He scanned the room before dropping his voice and quietly asking, “Curtis around?”
“No,” Charlotte answered coolly, “he’s not.”
Carter knew his sister well enough to understand that she was distancing herself from her emotions; she’d always had a knack at detaching herself from pain. He wasn’t sure if he should probe for any details about his brother-in-law, but somehow Captain Harden had overheard the name mentioned and couldn’t refrain from interjecting himself into the conversation.
“Curtis Jacobs is a sacred name around here, my friend,” the captain interrupted. “We never would have made it out of Tennessee without him. That mountain of a man could fight off a dozen eaters at once, and he was smarter than any man I’ve ever met. He saved my life more times than I can count, and he sacrificed himself to make our escape possible.”
Charlotte stared at Carter, chin held high, with T.C. and Lucy at her side. “He couldn’t forgive himself for not listening to you, even though it was me who convinced him that we didn’t need to go to that castle of yours.”
“Why?” The question was out before Carter could stop it.
