“Good, mom!” said Max. “I didn’t know you knew Spanish.”
“Don’t be too impressed,” said Charlie. “I used to follow a punk band called Mago. I looked it up.”
“Now that we’re together, we should go to them,” said Isis. “I need to give this to them and ask for their help. We’re going to need it.”
“We’ve dealt with lots of assholes since this crap began,” said Charlie. “Why can’t we just bust in there and kill this Maestro guy and get the hell home?”
“Because when he moves, he has Hybrids with him,” said Isis. “Not only that, now that we’re here I know the Magas are deserving of rescue.”
“Not if they’re fighting for the other side, Isis,” said Charlie.
“She has a point, C,” said Max.
“I do have a point, Isis, but that said, do you feel you’ve made a connection with them?”
Isis shrugged. “The beginning of one, maybe,” said Isis. “Charlie, Beauty told me something. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing to hear, but it’s very good that she made me aware of it.”
Max looked at Isis, confusion on his face. “Isis? You didn’t tell me anything.”
“That’s because it sucks,” she said. “Max, you had enough to worry about with your mom missing and your dad in that man’s hands.”
“Tell us,” said Charlie.
Max stared at Isis.
“Charlie, you know how powerful Max and I are. You know most of the things we can do.”
“Most?” asked Charlie.
Isis nodded. “We are capable of more telekinetic abilities than we let on, particularly when one of us is in danger.”
“Telekinetic,” said Charlie. “Like moving stuff?”
“Both inanimate and animate,” said Max. “Then there’s the pyrokinesis.”
“Like fucking Firestarter?” asked Charlie. “Are you serious? Max, you too?”
Max shook his head. “Nah, just Isis. So far I haven’t found one thing I can do that she can’t, but it sure doesn’t work the other way around.”
“Max,” said Isis. “There’s a chance your abilities will just take longer to develop.”
“I guess,” he said.
“Now Isis, tell us what you learned,” said Charlie.
“Beauty told me that their loyalty lies partially in the fact that Maestro is the father of all of the Magas. They’re all half-sisters.”
“Wow,” said Charlie. “When did he start this? Are these girls adolescents?”
“In years, perhaps,” said Isis. “In every other way, they are powerful young women. Quite possibly more powerful than Max and me.”
Charlie shook her head. “Isis, no. That can’t be right. If you’re the same, how can they be more powerful?”
Isis sighed. She did not do it very often because she felt it was rude. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What I’m trying to say is the reason lies with their mothers.”
“And who were their mothers?” asked Max.
“Alyssa and Megan are like me and Max. Their mothers were accidentally exposed to the Mothers’ vapor while pregnant with them. Maestro started having sex with Alyssa and Megan when they were around nine years old to create his Magas. Once they had the babies, he would impregnate them again. He did this over and over, exposing them to the Mothers’ vapor each time in an effort to further enhance their abilities.”
“So the Magas are all second generation Hybrids,” said Charlie. “Does that make a difference?”
Isis nodded. “I feel a great power coming from them,” she said. “We only discovered some of our abilities when we desperately needed them, so I’m concerned that we may learn of some of their powers when it’s already too late to counter them.”
“Jesus, Isis,” said Max. “Now I know why you want them to work with us so much. At least we have one of them on our side, right?”
“I thought it would be clear,” she said. “And yes, Beauty seems to be one of the most eager. She is the youngest, though. Whether mutated or not, the young have a taste for adventure and change.”
“We definitely need them on our side,” said Charlie. “And that means as quickly as possible.”
Charlie returned the paper to Isis, who tucked it away and grabbed her backpack from the floor.
“Let’s go then,” Isis said. “Before we head that way, we’ll see if we can get close enough to the restaurant to see in and confirm everyone is okay.”
Charlie was already at the door. They slipped out through the loose piece of siding where Charlie had entered the building.
Isis stayed in the rear, her senses tuned to her highest capability.
*****
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Isis used her powerful vision to analyze each street, every dark corner. Nobody was about in the town of Hoisington, Kansas.
They approached the rear of the restaurant. The night had grown darker from cloud cover, and no shadows fell beside the three.
The kitchen was in the rear, and Max approached the access door and pulled on the handle. It did not open, so he ran back to the dumpster where his mother and Isis waited.
“There’s nobody outside,” said Max. “The door’s locked, but I have my lock pick set.”
“Can you do it quietly?” asked Charlie.
“No, mom. I learned from an idiot.”
Charlie smiled. She had taught her son that she found sarcasm funny, so he had used it with her since he was old enough to formulate witty comebacks.
“Okay, smart ass. Go ahead and open it, but know that I’m telling your dad what you said.”
“Be very careful, Max,” said Isis. “When you get it unlocked, wait for us before you go in.
Max checked his watch. “Mom, how are you on WAT-5?”
Charlie reached into her side pocket and withdrew the baggie. She took out a wafer and popped it in her mouth.
She passed out.
“Guess she was expired,” said Max. “We should just let her sleep. She can get kinda crazy.”
“Not a bad idea,” said Isis, “but she will be angry with you, Max.”
“I know, and my dad’s in there,” said Max. “If she can lay her eyes on him, it’ll help her fighting spirit.”
Isis nodded. Max was right. It was Charlie’s choice – not theirs – if she accompanied them.
Max gently shook his mother’s shoulder, and she came to. Her eyes focused on Max, and she said, “Damn, you look like your dad right now.”
Max smiled. “Well, maybe you can see him in a minute. Just don’t do anything nuts.”
“That kinda depends on what they’re doing to him.”
“Got it. I’ll get the lock,” said Max.
Looking in all directions first, Max ran to the building, his lock pick set in his hand. He reached the door, and in less than a minute, he pulled it open and turned toward them with a wave.
“Guns out,” said Isis. “Charlie, I recommend the crossbow for you. Do you have the suppressed Walther?”
“I do,” she said, giving it to Isis. Max had his small crossbow, so they had a lot of stealth capability they might need.
Max pulled the door the rest of the way open and the three stepped inside. Isis paused there for a moment. While their enhanced vision did not require adjustment to the deeper darkness of the interior, she was aware that Charlie’s did.
Max led, motioning toward a single door with a window in it. It would lead to the main restaurant. They approached the door, staying low, and when they reached it, Max rose up until he could just see through the window.
Isis did the same, just behind him. Charlie took the lower left corner of the window.
Muffled voices came from the main restaurant, but Isis could not make out the words. She sensed the presence of Hungerers, but no Mothers, and she did not sense any Hybrids.
“We’re blocked by the bar,” whispered Charlie. “This door swings both ways. Let’s pull it open and we can slip in and get behind the bar counter.”
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“Charlie,” said Isis. “We must get to Alyssa, Megan and Beauty.”
“I still haven’t heard my dad’s voice,” said Max. “Isis, we can’t go yet. Let’s just be careful.”
“Have your weapons ready and do not make a sound,” she said. “We just have a look to confirm everyone is okay and we go.”
“Fine,” said Charlie. She moved back up to look through the door again. “All clear,” she whispered.
Max nodded and they moved to the side of the door as he pulled it open about fifteen inches. He fed his crossbow through first, sliding through the gap in a low squat, followed by Charlie and Isis.
They entered the bar from the rear. It was a U-shaped bar with the opening to the kitchen wall. Once inside, the voices were louder as they moved to the front of the bar and crouched there.
“So you are all invisible to them,” said the man, whom Isis assumed was Maestro. “And you say it’s just garlic that protects you.”
“I am a scientist,” said Hemp. “Because garlic has properties that repel certain pests, I felt it was a worthy experiment. It was not a quick discovery, for I did try several other known plants and drugs, such as antibiotics, to neutralize the attraction they have toward us.”
“Garlic?” Max mouthed to Isis, shrugging.
Isis put a finger to her lips.
“Look, Mister,” said Flex. “We don’t mean you any harm here, and there’s nothing sinister about the reason we’re here. Since this thing started, we kill rotters. That’s it, plain and simple.”
“So you came to my town to kill my followers.”
“Sir,” said Hemp. “They cannot be your followers, because they do not follow anything except their insatiable craving for human flesh.”
“Oh, they follow,” said Maestro. “They followed me down to Great Bend and they’ll follow me to where you’re from. And you’re gonna tell me where that is.”
“Dude, I don’t think anybody here is gonna tell you anything,” said Nelson. “You’ve been like confrontational since we met you.”
There was quiet for a moment, but if someone was moving, the carpeting masked their footsteps.
A moment later there were sounds of a scuffle, then: “Goddamnit!”
It was Maestro’s voice.
“Bro, I didn’t want to do that, but you just have this threatening way about you, man,” said Nelson.
Max put his hand on Isis’ shoulder and lifted up out of his crouch, his head rising just above the bar.
He watched for a moment before dropping back down. “Someone’s on the floor beside Nel,” he whispered so low that Isis could barely make out the words.
“Nel used Subdudo on Maestro?” asked Charlie.
Isis did not like the developments.
“Everyone else is sitting around a big, round table,” said Max. “Three guys with guns are on this side, and Maestro guy’s on the other side with another guy with a gun.
“You don’t have to scoot away from me,” said Nelson. “Just stand up. I’m not violent. I only did that because you were threatening me.”
“Why aren’t I hurt?” asked the man.
“Because I don’t hurt breathers,” said Nelson. “Let’s call it passive martial arts. I created the method and it’s called Subdudo. I only kill the abnormals and the Red-Eyes. And you might have my hands zipped together, but all I need is my feet, bro.”
“Well, for that little stunt, we’ll just let them kill you in front of your friends tomorrow. Then we’ll kill your friends. I imagine that whatever makes you undesirable to my army will have worn off by then.”
“Dude, I have some weed,” said Nelson. “Don’t hurt my friends because of what I did. I’ll give you all of it. It kills aggression.”
“I prefer a clear head.”
“If you had a clear head you’d let us go,” said Punch. “We’re not here to hurt you. You stay away from us and we’ll do the same. It’ll be like we were never here.”
“Ah, but you are here,” said Maestro. “That cannot be undone.”
“What is your point?” asked Trina. “Why would you fight people like us who survived this horrible thing? We’re all that’s left. We should work together to restore the world.”
“Like most women, you’re a fool,” said Maestro. “You think you have some idea of what my life was like before all this happened?”
“I never said that,” said Trina.
“Trina, don’t bother,” said Gem.
“Because he’s human trash,” said Taylor. “No better than the army of rotten flesh he controls.”
“Normally I would punish you for saying such things,” said Maestro, “but I’m tired now. You’ve wasted hours of my time already and killed a lot of my people.”
“It’s that awkward moment when the guy with the heartbeat forgets that in order to qualify as people, you also have to have heartbeats,” said Dave.
“They are people enough for me,” said Maestro. “I’ve just reached a decision. It’s midnight now. Tomorrow at noon, we’ll have another feeding. This time, all of you will be their source of nourishment.”
“You are making a serious mistake sir,” said Hemp. “I can show you what we’ve learned over the years; things that will make your life easy and render this undead army of yours pointless.”
Maestro laughed. “I am in control and my life is easy,” he said. “I control not only my life, but the lives of everyone I encounter. It has not always been this way, but my power grows each day, and my followers are either loyal or they will be dead. I will never regress.”
“Dude, you must have had a bogus childhood,” said Nelson. “You could probably use a joint – which I have, by the way.”
Ignoring him, Maestro said, “Take them to the jail and lock them up for tonight. We’ll have a nice, public execution by way of feeding tomorrow.”
From behind the bar, they heard chairs moving. Max moved to the northeast corner of the bar and stood up slowly. Isis could see that several empty liquor bottles on the counter blocked his view. He looked for a few moments before dropping back down.
His elbow hit a bottle on the shelf beneath the bar and it tipped and started to plummet to the floor.
Max’s eyes went wide, and Isis threw her hand forward, stopping the bottle in mid-fall.
Now it was Charlie’s turn to become wide-eyed.
The bottle of Dewar’s Gin hung in the air, a foot and a half from the floor, before slowly coming to rest atop the perforated rubber mat. It did not make a sound.
Max put his head back and knocked another liquor bottle into several others.
This time the crash was loud and obvious.
“What the hell was that?” came Maestro’s voice. “You four, go now!”
“C’mon!” whispered Charlie, and pushed Max toward the back of the bar. Isis waited for them to pass her and ran behind them, still crouching. They burst through the door to the kitchen. Once Max and Charlie were almost out the rear, exterior door, Isis stopped, her mind focused like a laser.
Before the door swung closed behind her, she eyed the many glasses, bottles and neon beer signs behind the bar, and pushed her intentions with the entire power of her mind.
As the running men drew beside the bar, every glass, bottle and sign flew from their racks, shattered in mid-air and came crashing down on top of the men, taking them down mid-run.
Isis turned and ran toward the door, the huge, commercial refrigerator tilting on its own behind her and slamming onto its side in front of the door.
She burst outside and saw Max and Charlie by the dumpster again. She ran to them.
“What did you do in there?” asked Charlie.
“I pushed as hard as I could,” she said. “Max, it worked.”
“Wow, Isis,” he said. “Wow.”
Charlie just stared at her.
“We need to get to the jail now,” said Isis. “The Hybrids are there, and we now know our family will be there before long.”
Staying low, they headed for the deepest shadows and made their way south, toward the jail.
*****
Charlie watched the women moving around the basketball court, her eyes falling upon the corpse wired to the net and backboard. “Wow,” she whispered. “Incentive to behave?”
“Incentive to do what Maestro says,” said Max.
“I can only find Beauty among them,” said Isis, scanning the many women wearing orange jumpsuits from the Department Of Corrections. “They’re all here, but I can’t put my eyes on Alyssa and Megan.”
“That’s not good,” said Max. “I don’t see them either.”
Charlie’s mind again turned to her captive husband and friends. Gem had lost her son, and if Charlie knew Gem as well as she thought, that horrible pain of loss would manifest itself in every emotion from sadness to anger to unadulterated rage.
Flex, Gem and the others needed to be freed, but if that was an immediate impossibility, she at least had to find ways to protect them until it became possible.
“Guys,” said Charlie. “I don’t know how, but we have to get some WAT-5 to everyone. If I was expired, they either are already or they’re close.”
Max snapped his fingers. “If we can get inside the cells before they get here we can figure something out,” he said. “Come on.”
Charlie and Isis followed Max, who cut to the southwest and skirted along the west side of the police station. The street in front was still deserted, and no candles or lanterns glowed within the dark station windows. Max moved to the front door and tried it.
It pulled open. He went inside. Charlie followed and Isis came in last.
They stopped in the lobby of the police station, standing still. No voices or snarls from inside. Charlie removed a headlamp from a pocket and put it on.
Using the more inconspicuous red light, she followed the soft glow toward a door in the rear that she believed would lead them to the cellblock.
“It’s propped,” she said. “Whew.”
They all entered. Nobody was in there, but in two of the far cells, skeletal remains lay on the floor, the clothing in tatters.
Dead Hunger VII_The Reign of Isis Page 26
