Spore Series | Book 2 | Choke

by Soward, Kenny

  The crowd gasped and exchanged worried looks.

  Someone raised their voice from the other side of the stage. “We don’t want a repeat of the past.” A man stepped forward, wearing jeans and a leather vest with white braids of hair resting on his shoulders. Moe didn’t recognize him, though he guessed he might be from one of the other Navajo towns.

  “I promise you,” Brandi continued. “General Humphreys has no intentions of infringing upon your rights.”

  “We’ve heard that before,” the man countered with a snicker.

  Brandi stepped up. “You must understand that the United States is in a severe state of emergency.”

  “Why is that any of our problem?” The man held his hands open. “We’ve been lied to by the government for decades and centuries. Why would we get involved in their problems now?”

  “Who are you?” Moe asked the man, stepping around Brandi.

  “I’m John Wolf, representing Many Farms.”

  Where Waki lives.

  “There’ll be no repeating the past.” Moe spoke firmly into the microphone. “Because everything has changed. Our futures are no longer separate. They are intertwined now.”

  “Then it is exactly like the past,” the man finished with a hard glare around at the crowd. “They will drag us into their problems and destroy what little we’ve built here.”

  Moe stared at John Wolf, then he turned to address the crowd. A mysterious emotion swelled in his chest and took control of his words.

  “Having been in the military and served overseas,” Moe said, “I’ve seen a lot of places and been in some hard fights. I can tell you we need to join with the military people and continue to look for positive solutions.”

  John gestured as if his point was plain. “The only reason you say that is because you speak their language. You are one of them.”

  Moe shook his head as anger simmered in his blood. “I say that because it must be stopped here, in Chinle. What else would you propose we do? Ride into camp and force the soldiers and refugees out at gunpoint? They’re not armed with tanks or heavy guns, but they have more than enough firepower to turn us away.”

  “I don’t propose we fight,” John said. “I propose we stockpile supplies in the canyon caves all around the Navajo territory. And we ask our Hopi brothers and sisters in the west to do the same.”

  “I see the sense in what John Wolf says,” Cynthia’s eyes slid from John to Moe. “We will organize that effort from here in Chinle.”

  With that victory under his belt, John stepped across the front of the stage and confronted Moe directly. “Tell me, brother. What happened at Window Rock?”

  “I don’t know what happened at Window Rock,” Moe responded with an honest shrug. Window Rock was the seat of the Navajo on the border of Arizona and New Mexico. The refugees would have passed through there on their way to Chinle. “I processed none of our brothers and sisters from Window Rock, so I assumed they remained in their town.”

  “We could contact no one,” Cynthia said, flatly. “Cell phone service is out, and land lines have been silent for three days.”

  “Then I will ask the colonel.”

  “I would take it a step farther,” John Wolf said. “We should send a delegation to Window Rock and check on our brothers and sisters there.”

  “I can’t say I disagree with that,” Sheriff Ahiga patted the table next to Cynthia.

  “I’ll go with you,” Moe volunteered. They were right to be worried about their brothers and sisters, and he sensed he needed to be there for them more than ever.

  “Then it is settled,” Cynthia said. She steered the conversation toward organizing the supply efforts with other leaders in town.

  Moe placed the microphone back on the table and stepped back to his small group. “Tough crowd.”

  “They have genuine concerns,” Brandi said as her eyes roamed across the crowd.

  “Please do not relay any of what occurred here to the colonel,” Moe asked with a plaintive expression. “I don’t want him to get the impression the townsfolk are actively working against him.”

  “Are they?”

  Moe watched John Wolf where he’d climbed up on the stage and spoke with Cynthia and the sheriff. “They’re just afraid. And I can’t say I blame them for hoarding some resources. If the FEMA camp overgrows the military, the tribe would be defenseless. They need a place to retreat.”

  Brandi nodded. “I can keep a lid on it.”

  “I’d like to go with you to Window Rock,” Rex shot John Wolf a grim look.

  “No, I need you to be my proxy here,” Moe countered. “Keep an eye on the kids and take the lead on our next triage shift.”

  Sage gave her watch a brief glance. “That starts in four hours.”

  Rex nodded. “All right. I can own the triage shift.”

  “That means I’m attached to your hip now,” Casey slid over and stood next to Rex.

  Moe placed his hands on his hips. “And I guess I’m heading to Window Rock.”

  Chapter 38

  Kim Shields, Yellow Springs, Ohio

  Kim awakened to whispering inside the room. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall. With a yawn, she rolled over and saw Paul sitting at Jessie’s bedside. Across from her, Fiona slept on her own cot. The little girl used it whenever she wasn’t snuggling with Jessie. The two had become inseparable, like two orphaned sisters.

  It made her miss Bishop and the kids even more, and she wished there was a way to call them. Without her husband having a satellite phone, there would be no way. Thinking about it would only make it worse, so she pushed the longing out of her mind as much as it broke her heart.

  “What day is it?” she asked with a sleepy voice. Between fighting her Asphyxia infection and taking Paul’s serum once per day, Kim felt drained to her core. More than once, she’d run to the restroom with nauseous symptoms. But the serum had halted the spread of the infection through her system, so it was a small price to pay.

  “It’s Saturday morning,” Paul looked over with a grin, “and I’ve just given Jessie her first booster. It was a small dose, but I’ll increase it in two days if we don’t see any major side effects.”

  “We’re squeezing a lot into a short amount of time.” Kim presented a tired smile. Then she crawled into a sitting position with her back against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest. “How do you feel?”

  “A lot better,” the young woman said, and Kim noted the clarity of her voice and the ease of her breathing. “I can’t wait to kick this thing for good.”

  “You’ll go down in history as the first person cured of Asphyxia. Cool, right?”

  “I’m just happy to breathe again.” Jessie released a breathy sigh.

  “What side effects can we expect?” Kim asked Paul. “I’ve never worked with blood antifungals.”

  “The injection will stimulate her immune system,” the mycologist replied. “There’s always a chance it could overstimulate it and send her into sepsis and shock. Or, she might only get a headache and be ready to run a marathon tomorrow. I’ll be recording all the data.”

  “We need more volunteers,” Kim pressed her lips together.

  “And where do you propose we get them?”

  “I think that’s easy enough,” she said. She stood and put her feet into a pair of slippers. “Where’s Bryant?”

  “He’s down in the analysis lab,” Paul said. “He’s been playing solitaire in between obsessing over Burke and Richtman.”

  “I don’t blame him.” Kim exited the staff quarters and strode down the long hallway to the analysis room. The sound of humming computers greeted her, and the faint scent of electronics tickled her nose.

  Bryant’s ice-blue eyes looked up from his computer desk in the room’s corner, and the lieutenant colonel gave her a wave. “Hello.” The man sat mostly upright in the office chair, though he leaned back and held his right leg straight at all times.

  “Bryant,” Kim nodded, noting the soldi
er’s chipper demeanor. “How’s the hip?”

  “The hip is better.” Bryant said with a positive note. “I won’t be jogging any time soon, but I get around.”

  Kim stepped over and gave him a playful tap on the shoulder. “What’s got you grinning from ear to ear?”

  “I’ve been working with some people on the military line all morning,” he said.

  “Not General Miller’s people?”

  “No way,” Bryant scoffed. “These are just people on the various military switchboards who can verify my rank. Being a lieutenant colonel gets you pretty far these days. I had them try to find my wife.”

  “And?”

  “They found her,” Bryant sighed. “They found Missy.”

  “That’s amazing!” Kim said, her voice tittering. She pulled up another office chair and sat down. “Where is she?”

  “She’s in Flagstaff, running chopper missions there,” Bryant said, “ferrying soldiers and supplies. They’ll let her know I’m safe in Yellow Springs. They might even patch me through to her at some point.”

  The lieutenant colonel’s energy was infectious, and she envied it. “I wish I could talk to Bishop and the kids. But it won’t happen unless I can get through to command there. Hey, do you have any connections with Ft. Collins? Can you help? I lost contact with my facility days ago.”

  The lieutenant colonel’s expression sunk.

  “What?” Kim asked, alarmed at the instant change in his expression.

  The soldier shifted in his seat with discomfort. “I got word last night, but you were sleeping.”

  “What is it? C’mon.”

  Bryant took a deep breath and turned his chair around to face Kim. “Ft. Collins, Denver, and Albuquerque were all hit with spore clouds a few days ago.”

  Kim rested back in her chair like he’d punched her in the stomach. “So, it made it that far?” Her voice sounded distant and lifeless, but she forced herself to say the word even though she wanted to throw up. “Casualties?”

  “I have to be honest.”

  “Please.” Her head grew dizzy, and her stomach gave a sick twist.

  “There were a lot of casualties,” Bryant continued. “FEMA were trying to gather folks down at the football stadium when the cloud hit. It was a disaster.”

  The world spun faster, and Kim was having trouble focusing on the soldier’s face. “What about people staying in their homes? Bishop would have prepared the house like I told him.”

  “They’ll know more in a few days,” Bryant quickly added. “There aren’t enough soldiers to reopen the FEMA facility at the university. So, they have two small teams patrolling the neighborhoods. Does he have a radio? You know, AM/FM?”

  “I don’t think we had one.” Kim snatched coherent thoughts out of the air. “But Bishop may have picked up one at the store, or they might check their car radios.”

  Bryant nodded, and he reached out to pat her hand. “If they do re-establish the FEMA camp, I’m sure they’ll broadcast it.”

  Kim leaned forward, eyes staring down at the floor as a hundred thoughts ran through her head.

  “They will be fine. The way you talk about Bishop, he’s a smart guy. He’ll make the right decisions. You said you had a generator connected to your home. I’ll bet they’re buttoned up tight watching movies.”

  “Maybe.” Kim’s eyes went wide for a moment before her expression relaxed into helplessness. “What can I do?”

  Bryant stood, leaning hard to his left to favor his hip. He hobbled closer with his arms wide. “Missy tells me I’m not an incredibly affectionate man, but it seems like you need a hug.”

  She blinked away tears, reluctant at first. The last man she’d hugged was Dr. Flannery, and he’d been brutally murdered. But Kim couldn’t deny the human contact, and she leapt up and threw her arms around the soldier, burying her face into his T-shirt.

  “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose them.” She squeezed her eyes tight and leaked tears on Bryant’s shirt. “I mean, I would just…” Her words trailed off as a wild thought entered her mind.

  Bryant broke the embrace and held her at arm’s length, staring at her, narrowing his eyes. “I can see the gears spinning in your head. What are you thinking?”

  The idea circled around in her brain, making more sense with every revolution. “I’ve done all I can here.” Kim shrugged. “We’ve got a week or more before we understand the effects of the booster on Jessie. The only thing keeping me here was my infection, and that’s in check. Burke might try something, but we haven’t heard from him in days. I think he’s moved on.”

  “We can’t be sure,” he countered. “He could be waiting for you to come out into the open.”

  “He had his chance.” Kim shook her head unwaveringly. She ticked things off on her fingers. “Fiona is here. We have a potential cure. Paul’s serum stopped the spread of the infection in my body.” The corner of her mouth lifted with a determined grin. “And you taught me a thing or two about using an AR-15.”

  “What are you thinking?” He leveled his gaze at her.

  “I’m driving to Ft. Collins to get Bishop and the kids,” she said with dawning realization, “and I’m bringing them back here.”

  Bryant scoffed at the joke, then he saw she wasn’t kidding and sobered up. “I’m not sure I can allow that.”

  It was Kim’s turn to fix the soldier with a skeptical eye. “I don’t remember asking you.”

  “You’re one of the few scientists we have left,” Bryant’s face hardened with a sense of duty. “One of the brightest. If the booster doesn’t work on Jessie, we’ll need you here.”

  “I’ll be back by then.” Kim started moving toward the door. “I’ll be way back by then.”

  Bryant shook his head as he tried to follow her, limping along. When he realized he couldn’t catch her, he stopped and gestured. “Look at you. Look at us. We’re exhausted from fighting the infection and the side effects of Paul’s serum.” The soldier pointed at her. “Not to mention the other dangers out there.”

  “I know what I’m getting myself into, and I’ll be fine.”

  “We contaminated the bus,” Bryant pressed. “Is your family going to ride with you in there? Would you put them at risk like that?”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Kim said from the doorway.

  Defeated, he gave her one last plea. “At least let me go with you.”

  “Sorry, soldier.” She shook her head. “This is another trip I’ve got to make on my own. Stay here and keep an eye out for Burke. Oh, and try to make up with General Miller. See if he can spare a few volunteers to try the booster.”

  Bryant’s jaw worked back and forth for a moment, though he’d run out of talking points.

  “AMI,” Kim called out over the control center’s room connection.

  “Yes.” AMIs cool tone replied. “What can I do for you?”

  “Get Mobile Unit XI ready,” she said. “We’re taking a trip.”

  Chapter 39

  Randy and Jenny Tucker, Indianapolis, Indiana

  Randy pulled on his air filtration mask and adjusted his coveralls. They were preparing for their third scavenging trip since meeting the mysterious outsiders who’d showed the twins the secret hand sign.

  The past two day’s scavenging trips had been uneventful, with no sign of the outsiders. Though with every new house they entered, Randy’s eyes roamed the wooded areas for any signs of the pair.

  His relationship with Tricia had fallen back to the same business-like mode, speaking to each other only when they had to. And even though the corporal knew about the twins’ plans to escape, she didn’t hover over them.

  Was she waiting for the twins to make their move?

  That Randy and Jenny weren’t dead told him that Tricia hadn’t gone to Jergensen about their plans, either. He figured the corporal was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, she remained loyal to Jergensen and believed in the Colony. On the other, Odom and Taggert were vying
for position as the next leader. Which side would she chose?

  For Odom’s part, he left the twins alone, although Randy cringed at the sideways looks he gave Jenny in the food court. He couldn’t imagine what evil thoughts circled in the man’s head. He just hoped he and Jenny were long gone before Odom took control.

  “Okay, people,” Tricia shouted behind her visor. “We’re moving out in ten minutes.”

  The corporal wore her usual fatigues and sidepiece. She carried a rifle with the barrel pointed down and her finger off the trigger as she inspected everyone’s coveralls and masks.

  Randy grabbed Jenny, and they did a quick inspection on each other before they got in line with the others. They’d gotten extra-long showers and meals, and Jenny’s hair shined red from her washing and brushing it out. Still, worry lingered in her eyes, and anxiety pulled her mouth into a frown. She’d caught Odom’s dark looks, too.

  Tricia inspected the row of scavengers with Kirk and Stephanie next in line. The pair had accepted their second-place status behind Randy and Jenny, though they weren’t happy about it. And Randy was always on guard for Kirk’s shenanigans.

  When the corporal came to Jenny, she inspected the young woman with cold efficiency. Tricia made sure Jenny’s coveralls checked out and that her mask fit tight. When she came to Randy, he stared at her with brash openness.

  With their plans out in the open, Randy didn’t have to fake loyalty to the Colony. He could be open with her. He’d already chosen a side, and he wanted Tricia to know it.

  The corporal’s beautiful eyes glowed gold in the light, and her jaw held a soft angle with just a hint of an edge. Tricia looked up and caught him staring at her. At first, he thought she’d say something to discipline him, but she flashed him the hint of a smile.

  Encouraged, Randy pushed his luck. “Is my uniform tight?”