The X-Variant (The Guardians Book 1)

by Rosemary Cole

  Brandon felt the Jeep slow and then stop. “What’s up?” he asked, stirring. He had fallen asleep with his head on his bundled-up jacket and was having a weird dream. He sat up and looked around; they were at an intersection with a state highway running east and west.

  “There is a small lake ahead of us, less than a mile across. My drones tell me there are some buildings, but there are no humans living there. There is nothing around it but forest, lakes and mountains for many miles.”

  “Where’s the nearest big town or city?”

  Kala leaned back and closed her eyes, accessing her inner map. “This highway runs west fifteen miles toward Medford, and east about twenty miles to a very large lake called Klamath,” she said at last. “There are a couple of towns there that are still populated.”

  “So is good place. We stay in little lake?” Wilm asked.

  “Yes. We have access to water, but we are still far enough away from cities and towns.”

  Jennie said, “Sounds good to me.”

  Kala turned right onto the highway, then immediately pulled off to the left onto a narrow gravel road leading into pine forest. The road was thickly blanketed with dry pine needles. They continued on this for about eight miles, passing open areas filled with downed pine logs lying in tangled piles, bleached white by the sun and the dry heat.

  “Looks like this was once a logging operation,” Brandon said. “I think these are government roads.”

  The road ended at a dirt track. The words on a faded sign were unreadable, but Brandon recognized the little tent symbol for camping, with a little arrow pointing left. He remembered the few times he’d gone camping as a boy, and felt a small thrill.

  Kala, no doubt guided by her drones, was already turning left. She stopped the Jeep in a clearing, at the center of which sat an old stone fireplace, flanked by a couple of picnic tables. A large cabin sat to one side of the clearing, and there were some sheds and a lean-to with stacked firewood.

  Brandon climbed out of the Jeep, stretching his long frame gratefully. “There’s a little path,” he said, pointing. “Probably goes down to the water.”

  He walked to the cabin and tested the door; it was open. He stuck his head inside. “Whew, musty,” he said, his voice echoing in the empty room. He crossed to a window and forced it open with the screech of wood on wood, then came back outside and sneezed.

  Jennie handed Wilm the baby and went to peer in. “Oh, wow,” she said, her shoulders sagging. “This is pretty basic.”

  “We’ll find some furniture from some houses around here, right, Kala?” Brandon asked.

  “I am sure we will.”

  Jennie wanted to go down to the lake, so Brandon, Kala and Wilm picked up water containers and they picked their way down the path, overgrown in places with thorny wild berries.

  When she saw the lake, Jennie’s face fell.

  “Don’t drink the water,” Brandon warned. “It looks stagnant.”

  “I will purify it at the camp,” Kala said, dipping her container in the greenish water.

  Brandon followed her back up the path, lugging his filled container.

  They busied themselves unloading the Jeep and setting up camp. Jennie cleaned out the firepit and wiped the tables while Brandon set up the camp stove. The Jeep had its own power generator with cables for lights, which Wilm and Kala strung up around the clearing. They cooked a hot meal from their rations and sat down to eat just as the sun was going down.

  “We need to talk about our next actions,” Kala said, stirring her soup.

  “Yeah,” Brandon agreed. “We have enough supplies for a little while, but we’ll have to figure out where to get more food, won’t we?”

  “Maybe make garden, like before?” Wilm suggested.

  “This soil doesn’t look too promising,” Brandon said. “Veggies don’t grow well in pine soil; too acidic.” He turned to the two Unathi. “Do either of you know how to hunt or fish? Me and Jennie are city people; we’ve never done that kind of thing.”

  “No. Wilm is a scientist, and I was trained for an urban mission,” explained Kala. “Besides, we Unathi do not kill other living creatures if we can help it.”

  “Great,” Brandon said wryly. “Hey, maybe I can bag a deer with this.” He touched the SMG.

  Kala said, “No. It is too loud and could attract attention.”

  Brandon heaved a deep sigh and counted silently to ten.

  “Also,” she continued, “We will only light a fire at night, when the smoke is not so visible against the sky.”

  They sat quietly, eating and watching the sunset.

  “What we really need,” Jennie said, breaking into the comfortable silence, “is to find an abandoned farm with greenhouses and stuff so we can grow food all year round. Kala, do you think we could defend something like that?”

  Kala nodded. “Yes, if it is in the right place. There are two things we must avoid: Ghal, and too many humans for me to control with my attack drones. But both are unlikely out here, away from the megacities. It is an excellent idea.”

  Brandon smiled at Jennie. She had always been the smart one.

  Kala stared fixedly at a spot in the clearing, and a holographic map leaped into life, showing their location with a glowing dot.

  “Whoa,” Brandon said, his eyes wide. “How did you do that?”

  “It is my drones.”

  Of course, Brandon thought. What else?

  She pointed, and a spot began to glow on the map. “We are here, by the lake. As you can see, there is not much farming in this area. As Brandon said, the pine forests could make the land unfavorable, or perhaps it is the altitude.”

  “Oh,” Brandon said. “So in order to farm, we’d have to move again.”

  Kala nodded and pointed again. “Over here, back across the highway, there is another lake. We passed near it, although we could not see it from the road. There are small houses around it, most of them abandoned. My drones have found very few humans there. Tomorrow I will go and see what I can find.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Brandon said, fingering the SMG.

  Chapter 21

  Southern Oregon

  July 13, 2079

  AFTER BREAKFAST THE NEXT day, Jennie walked up to Brandon as he was getting ready to go on the scavenging expedition with Kala. She handed him the baby and said, “I’m going with Kala. I’d like you to stay here with Wilm and the baby.”

  “What? No way are you going,” he said, frowning. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “As I said, there are very few humans and no Ghal,” Kala said mildly. “There is little danger.”

  Jennie gave Brandon what he always called her stubborn face. “Who was it saved your ass last September after we ran away?” she reminded him.

  Jennie was eight when Meghan had found her on the streets and brought her home. It was a tough neighborhood, and Jennie had known right away what the heavy crowbar propped in the corner right next to the door was for. Meghan had showed Jennie a few moves with it. God only knew how she had learned. An old boyfriend, perhaps. Jennie had trained with it religiously, developing her skill and a strength that was belied by her thin arms. The night she and Brandon ran away, they took Bessie with them, along with a stash of booze and pills to trade for food on the black market, and Meghan’s blessing. That night was the first time Jennie had actually fought with Bessie. She’d been scared out of her mind, but managed to keep their assailants off long enough for them to escape. She still remembered how it felt when the crowbar had struck one boy in the soft flesh under his chin, knocking him back. Brandon had been quite impressed, as she recalled.

  He gave an exasperated sigh and took the baby.

  Jennie picked up the SMG with a smug flourish.

  “You don’t know how to shoot that thing!” Brandon protested.

  “Neither do you!”

  “I’ve been studying it the whole way here,” he pointed out.

  Jennie held up the weapon. “Okay, show me what yo
u’ve figured out so far. Shouldn’t take but a minute.”

  When they were finished, Kala and Jennie got in the Jeep and drove back up the dusty road to the highway. Jennie hefted the rifle, going over in her mind what Brandon had told her.

  “I do not think that will be needed,” Kala said.

  “Okay, but I’ll have it ready just in case.”

  “Please remember, Jennie, that you must not kill unless it is absolutely necessary.”

  “I won’t, I promise,” she said. “Don’t worry—Brandon is the hot-headed one, not me.”

  Kala smiled at her and nodded. Jennie had no idea what the strange girl was thinking.

  As they approached the dirt road turnoff that led to the other lake, Kala said, “My drones are picking up a small number of humans near here. We will keep our distance from them, and hope they do not notice us.”

  “Right.”

  The little vacation homes lining the lake were sad and rundown, the yards filled with weeds. Almost every one had a dock with a little boat tied up to it, bobbing in the murky water. Rowboats and plastic canoes sat on the shore.

  “These used to be vacation cottages,” Jennie said. “I guess people were living in them to try and wait out the virus.”

  They went into the first one and looked around. It took Jennie’s eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light filtering through the drapes in the living room, but then she spotted a figure sitting in a chair in the corner. She jumped and gave a little yelp.

  “Do not worry,” Kala said. “That man will not bother you, or anyone else, ever again.”

  Jennie looked closer. How could she have not seen it? The man was dead—had been for a long time. He hadn’t decomposed much in the dry heat. His teeth were showing through a gaping hole on one side of his grayish face, and his skull showed through his peeling scalp. One shriveled arm still clutched an open can of beer.

  Jennie turned and looked in the direction the man was facing; there was a television sitting there in the corner. She shook her head. “Some people won’t change their routine even when the world’s coming to an end.”

  Kala looked at her quizzically, but Jennie decided not to try to explain and instead, wandered off into the kitchen.

  “Nothing much in here,” she said. “He must have eaten everything he had and then just sat there, drinking beer, until he starved.”

  “None of this furniture is worth taking,” Kala called from the bedroom.

  “Yeah, let’s move on.”

  Most of the other homes were the same. They found little food—a few cans of fruit, dry crackers and the like.

  There were corpses, many of them lying in their beds. Dogs or coyotes had gotten into some of the houses and left gnawed human bones scattered about.

  Jennie started toward the next house, but Kala reached out an arm to stop her. “There is something inside,” she whispered.

  “What is it?”

  Kala closed her eyes. “It is larger than a dog, but smaller than a full-grown human. Let us go and see.”

  Moving as silently as possible, the two went inside. They heard sounds emanating from the kitchen; tuneless humming and objects being moved around.

  Kala eased into the doorway, Jennie right behind her, gripping the gun. A girl of about ten was rummaging through the cupboards, obviously looking for something to eat.

  Kala said, “Hello.”

  The girl jumped and spun around to face them. She was thin and filthy, her brown hair matted into clumps.

  “Do not be afraid; we will not hurt you. What is your name?” Kala asked softly.

  “Um, it’s Victoria.”

  “Hi, Victoria,” Jennie said, trying to sound calm and friendly. “This is Kala, and I’m Jennie. Where’s your family?”

  “It’s only me and my dad,” Victoria said, her voice quavering. Her hands were clasped tightly together. “Did Snap send you to bring me back? I wasn’t running away, I promise. I’d never leave my dad.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t,” Jennie said soothingly. She noticed a large bruise on the child’s jaw, and a few healing cuts. “Who’s Snap? Is your dad with him now?”

  Victoria’s face suddenly changed, her features growing taut. “You’d better get out of here quick,” she hissed. “Don’t let them find you!”

  “Who?”

  “Snap and Kitty, dummy! If they catch you, they’ll kill you and eat you. They did it to all the others.” She blinked her lustrous green eyes and tears spilled over, rolling down her dirty cheeks. “‘Cept Mr. Wilson, ‘cause he was dead already. They only like fresh meat. And not my dad, either, ‘cause he’s real sick. They said he was painted.”

  “You mean tainted?” Jennie asked.

  “Yeah. And not me, I’m too small and skinny. They said I need to fill up first.”

  “You mean fill out.”

  “Just go,” the girl cried, shaking her hands in agitation. “Run away from here, and don’t come back!”

  Jennie looked at Kala and knew from her expression that she wasn’t going to let this go. “You know where they are, right?” she asked her, and Kala nodded. “Good. Come with us, Victoria. We’re going to straighten all this out.”

  Victoria studied them for a moment, her gaze traveling from Kala to Jennie and then coming to rest on the assault rifle. She nodded and followed them out.

  They got in the Jeep and Kala drove to the southern tip of the lake, stopping in front of a large, ramshackle building. Jennie thought it looked like a fishing resort. The lower-level windows were boarded up. A large wooden deck faced the water, festooned with rusted chairs and broken umbrellas.

  “My drones are picking up three humans inside,” Kala said. “I have sent in my attack drones.”

  “Okay,” Jennie said. “Don’t worry, Victoria, they’ll all be asleep when we go in, even your dad. What’s his name?”

  “Alex.”

  “Okay. He’ll be asleep, but he’ll wake up and be just fine.”

  The girl was obviously confused by this, but she nodded, swallowing.

  They got out and went to the main entrance. The door was unlocked and they went in, Kala leading the way through an empty sitting room and down a hallway. She went straight to the stairs and started up, Jennie right behind her with the SMG up and ready, trying her best to move stealthily. Victoria tiptoed along behind.

  On the second floor, Kala disappeared into one of the bedrooms. Jennie and Victoria went to the door and peered in. The place was a mess. A woman Jennie guessed to be in her early thirties lay sprawled on the coverlet of a double bed, sound asleep. She was bizarrely dressed in a combination of frilly women’s clothing and combat gear. A large hunting knife was strapped to one leg; on the other she wore a stained white wedding garter over her camouflage pants.

  “That’s Kitty,” Victoria whispered fearfully. “Don’t wake her up. She’s really mean.”

  “I will keep some drones on her,” Kala said. “She will stay asleep.”

  They checked in on Alex, who was sound asleep in one of the bedrooms upstairs. As they started out of the room Kala halted abruptly, frowning. “That is strange,” she said to Jennie. “My drones are now reporting only four humans in this building—you, Victoria, Kitty, and Alex.”

  “There should be one more—Snap. Maybe he went outside?”

  After a moment, Kala shook her head. “No one is out there. We will have to search the house. Stay behind me and be careful.”

  Jennie nodded.

  A thorough search of the top floors revealed nothing, and they went back to the ground floor.

  The spacious kitchen appeared to be empty. They cruised through it, doing a quick inspection. The place was filthy; a nasty smell assaulted their nostrils. Kala pointed silently to an overflowing trash can in one corner; there were human bones mixed in with other refuse, shreds of charred flesh still clinging to them. Jennie looked away, fighting down nausea.

  As they were leaving, she heard a sound behind them. She spun around i
n time to see a blur of movement as a man lunged out of the door of a walk-in refrigerator. He held a large hunting knife in one hand. He grabbed Victoria, who was closest to him, and pulled her to him with one wiry, tattooed arm, holding the knife to her throat with the other. The girl gave a short, high-pitched shriek and then lapsed into a terrified silence.

  Kala and Jennie froze.

  Snap grinned at them through a long, scraggly moustache. “Well, ain’t this just peachy,” he said. His gaze traveled over the two women, and he licked his lips. “Unless you wanna see me carve up this little one right here and now, honey, you’d better put that popgun down and—” His eyelids fluttered closed and he crumpled to the floor, the knife falling from his hand.

  Victoria sprang away with a cry and scurried to stand behind Jennie.

  “He’s asleep, see? He can’t hurt you now, honey,” Jennie said, patting the girl’s shoulder gently.

  Kala went over and picked up the knife, placing it on the island countertop. “He probably saw us coming from one of the upper windows,” she said. “My drones must have lost him when he closed himself inside that airtight refrigerator.”

  Jennie’s eyes fixed on Snap, and a burning anger surged up inside her, taking control of her limbs. She stepped over to him and raised the SMG, aiming the muzzle at his head.

  “No, Jennie,” Kala said, pushing the muzzle aside.

  “Why not?” Jennie cried. “He’s a murderer and a cannibal, him and that woman in there. They need to die.”

  “You promised not to use that unless necessary.”

  “It is necessary. I ain’t gonna be looking over my shoulder all the time, waiting for these two psychos to find us.” She raised the gun again. Victoria watched, wide-eyed.

  Kala’s hands fell to her side and she took a step back. “Fighting off gang members is one thing—killing someone in cold blood is entirely different. I do not believe you can do this.”

  Gritting her teeth, Jennie set the SMG to fire single rounds. She placed her feet and put her finger on the trigger, focusing through the sight. The man’s mouth had fallen open, revealing pink gaps between blackened, rotting teeth. He was snoring lightly in the back of his throat. From the corner of her eye, Jennie saw Kala turn Victoria away, covering the girl’s ears with her hands.