by Patton, Dirk
I considered that for a moment before shaking my head.
“I’m done chasing revenge,” I said, finally voicing what I’d been thinking. “Damn near lost Rachel. Probably would have lost her if it wasn’t for you. Killing that fuckin’ Barinov would be sweet, but there’re more important things.”
“Holy hell,” Lucas said overly dramatically. “He’s finally grown up! Let me mark this bloody day on my calendar!”
“Fuck off, asshole,” I grumped, then couldn’t help but grin.
“You say the sweetest things,” he said, chuckling. “But I wasn’t talking about Barinov. I meant the news.”
“What news?”
Lucas stared at me and I saw realization dawn on his face that I had no clue what he was talking about.
“What news, Lucas?”
“Bloody hell, mate. I thought Rachel would have told you by now. I’d best…”
I cut him off in mid-sentence.
“How about you tell me.”
Lucas looked at me for a long beat before his eyes slid away.
“Rachel has her reasons for not telling you. I don’t need her mad at me.”
“You don’t need me mad at you, either,” I said, earning a warning look from my friend.
The screen door on the back of his house creaked loudly before banging shut and he glanced in that direction. The relief he felt was palpable. Standing quickly, he looked down at me.
“Don’t be a dick. She has her reasons,” he said, walking away.
Rachel was on her way toward us and he met her halfway across the open space between the tree and house.
“Sorry. He knows something’s up,” he mumbled as he passed her, intending it to be a private comment. I heard it as clearly as if he’d been standing two feet away.
Rachel’s pace slowed slightly for an instant, but she recovered quickly. Reaching the tree, she sat in the chair Lucas had just vacated and tilted her head back to look at the branches over our heads.
“Admiral Packard was attacked,” she said without looking at me. “He’s bad. Knife to the chest. The last I spoke with Jessica, he was in ICU on a ventilator and hadn’t regained consciousness.”
I don’t know what news I’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it. A series of emotions washed over me, sadness for the probable loss of another great man cooling my irritation at having information withheld.
“Russians?”
“Local,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “No one knows why, or at least I don’t know.”
“Will he make it?”
Rachel shrugged in the dark but didn’t voice a response. I slowly nodded to myself, feeling impotent and at a loss for words.
“That’s why Joe wants you in his lab,” she continued after a long silence. “Whatever happened to you… he’s thinking that if he and Doctor Kanger can figure it out they might be able to use it to save the Admiral. And anyone else who is sick or injured.”
I thought about that for a long moment, finally acknowledging to myself that I didn’t know how I felt about it. There was no doubt that I owed the Admiral more than I could ever hope to repay. But did that warrant me voluntarily submitting myself to become a guinea pig?
“Why did you wait to tell me?”
Silence, then Rachel took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“There’s more,” she said quietly.
“The Admiral? What else?”
“Not the Admiral.” She paused, collecting her thoughts or marshaling her courage. I couldn’t tell which.
“Rachel. What else?”
Another deep breath.
“Martinez is alive,” she said in a rush as if that was the only way she could get the words out.
For several long beats, I simply stared at her. Unsure I’d understood what she’d said. Even as I replayed it in my mind, it still didn’t make sense.
“What?” was all I could manage to say.
“She’s alive,” Rachel said firmly, turning to look into my eyes. “Jessica has her on video in southern Utah. Somehow, she’s with Anna.”
I stared at her with my mouth hanging open, trying to form a coherent sentence from the jumble of thoughts racing through my head.
“What? How? I saw Martinez die! Watched that fucking Russian put a bullet in her head! And… Anna? She was killed when the helo crashed. What the hell is wrong with Jessica?”
“Anna’s easy. Someone pulled her out of the wreckage before the fuel exploded. Jessica went back and reviewed satellite imagery. We just missed it. Anyone would have.”
I thought about that, staring at the ground. Began nodding my head that it was possible.
“Okay, fine. Possible. But NOT Martinez! For Christ’s sake, you were right there, too! That bastard killed her. There was no doubt!”
Rachel nodded as I spoke.
“You’re right. That’s what I saw, too. What I’ve seen in a few nightmares since it happened. But Jessica swears it’s her. Claims facial recognition has confirmed it. She thinks it might have something to do with that guy that saved us in Sydney.”
“Bering? The supposed time traveler? Are you fucking kidding?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Rachel snapped, glaring at me. “I was standing five feet away from Martinez. I watched her die! You think this is fun for me?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, realizing how I must have sounded. “I know you’re just telling me what you were told. But… how? He was supposed to only be able to go back thirty-six hours. Martinez was killed months ago. Explain that.”
“I can’t,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “And I can’t explain this.”
She reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Powering it on, she watched the screen, waiting.
“Before cell service went down, Jessica sent me this photo.”
She tapped the screen a couple of times then extended the phone to me. Part of me wanted to snatch it out of her hand, but it took some effort to make myself take it calmly and look at the crisp overhead image.
Two women walking across snow covered rocky terrain. A chill ran through me when I easily recognized Anna and Martinez. After a moment I zoomed onto each face. Try as I might, I couldn’t see anything about either that wasn’t exactly as I remembered them. But what sealed the deal for me was the other figure that was barely in the frame. Blowing up the image even farther, I confirmed I was right.
“That’s Titus,” I said without taking my eyes off the photo.
“Who’s Titus?”
Rachel stood and bent to peer over my shoulder at the phone.
“Right there,” I said pointing. “He’s the guy that helped me in Mountain Home. Saved me, so I could save you. At least some of you.”
“What’s he doing there?”
“I’ve got no idea, but what’re the odds? Titus is from Mountain Home. Martinez was killed in Mountain Home. But now she’s alive and with him.”
“Are we wrong? About Martinez.”
Rachel’s voice was so low even my enhanced hearing almost didn’t detect the words.
“No way!” I shook my head. “The whole back of her head was missing. No one survives that.”
“Then that leaves one alternative.”
I looked away from the phone, staring out into the dark. The dingoes were still on the ridge, probably waiting to see if we were going to leave any food out where they could get to it.
“Somehow, the past was changed,” I said.
Rachel and I sat quietly as I slowly smoked a cigarette, lost in my own thoughts of how it was possible for Martinez to be alive. It was like being in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
“What if the picture’s a fake?” I blurted as soon as the idea passed through my addled brain.
“Why would Jessica do that?”
“I don’t know,” I said, then another thought swirled into focus. “What if there’s someone in Hawaii who wants me to come back? Photoshop a pic to get my attention, then they won’t have a fight on
their hands.”
Rachel looked at me but didn’t say anything about my idea.
“Yeah, well, it sounded better in my head.”
She nodded and gave me a look that said she was glad I’d realized how stupid I was without her having to point it out. I gave her a lopsided grin and shrugged my shoulders.
Leaning over to drop my cigarette butt in an empty beer can, I glanced at the ridge and was slightly surprised that the dingoes were gone. I didn’t think much about it. They’d probably given up hope of getting an easy meal and moved on.
“Where are you going?” Rachel asked when I stood.
“Need to go find Lucas and apologize. I was a bit of a dick, earlier.”
“Earlier?”
She softened the comment with a smile and a laugh and I couldn’t take offense. Shrugging again, I turned to head for the house and came to a hard stop. The wind had shifted, bringing a powerful musky scent to me that caused the hair on my arms to stand on end.
“Females coming!” I shouted at Rachel as I grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. “Get inside. There’s a lot of them!”
She hesitated a beat, then bolted for the back door into Lucas’s house. As she ran, she screamed an alarm. The screen door banged open, but I didn’t see who it was. Knife in hand, I was already racing into the darkness to meet the infected.
3
Blood pounded in my ears and my breath came easy as I streaked across the hard ground. I hadn’t spotted the females yet, but their scent was heavy on the breeze. Topping the ridge where the dingoes had been, I came to a stop and looked into the shallow valley ahead. A curse escaped my mouth when I saw the massive group of infected bearing down on the compound.
Snarls of exhaust sounded from behind as two ATVs fired up. Both engines screamed as the riders opened the throttles wide. A moment later, the ridgeline was bathed in brilliant light when they turned on high intensity spots mounted to the front. It was a short ride to where I stood, Lucas and Rachel skidding to a stop in a swirl of dust.
Hopping off, Lucas tossed me a vest stuffed with loaded magazines and a rifle. I quickly shrugged into it and adjusted the fit as he raised a pair of night vision goggles to his face. Rachel came to stand on the other side of me, weapon held tight against her body. Dog, apparently having followed on foot, bumped my hip a moment later and let out a long, rumbling growl as his nose tested the night air.
“Where’s Mavis?” I asked Rachel.
“Safe inside the house with Ziggy.”
“Fuck me,” Lucas breathed. “Must be three hundred coming this way.”
“Closer to four,” I said. “And we’ve got less than five minutes until they crest this ridge.”
Lucas nodded as he raised a small two-way radio to his mouth and began issuing orders to his men.
“How did you know they were out here?” Rachel asked quietly.
“Smelled them,” I said dismissively. This wasn’t the time to have that discussion.
“Too many to fight,” Lucas said.
“Maybe for you,” I growled, an electric charge running through my entire body in anticipation of going into battle.
My vision focused on the approaching females, ignoring everything else. Concentrate on the enemy. Bring the fight to them. Rend their flesh. Break their bones. Crush their skulls beneath my feet.
“John!”
I spun when Rachel shook my arm, startled to see her take a step back when she saw my face.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, blinking rapidly as I struggled with the beast inside for control.
“You okay, mate?” Lucas asked, concern etched across his features.
“Fine,” I said, regaining control. “We’d better get back to the house. They’re gonna be on us in a couple of minutes.”
“No, they’re not,” Lucas said with a wink.
He turned back to watch the females, raising the radio and issuing an order. A beat later, a long stretch of ground immediately in front of the leading edge of the small herd erupted with bright flashes. A second later, the clap of high explosives reached us. The entire group was enveloped in a thick cloud of dust and was lost to sight.
“Lads have been busy,” Lucas said.
As the breeze began to clear the dust I could make out well over a hundred bodies scattered across the sand. Some were writhing as they tried to continue their advance, but those behind them trampled the injured under their drumming feet. Lucas gave it a few seconds, then radioed another command.
More explosions ripped the females apart. This time, after the dust began to disperse there were less than a hundred still charging the ridgeline. From either side of us, machine guns began to speak. Red tracers reached out in the night, helping the gunners direct their fire.
Females were cut down like wheat with a scythe. The rain of heavy bullets shredded and dismembered their bodies. Quickly, there were only half a dozen remaining on their feet and the two gunners made short work of them with quick bursts of fire.
“Could’ve told me,” I grumbled.
Witnessing the utter havoc wreaked on the infected had satisfied the blood lust that had been coursing through my veins.
“Got the whole compound ringed with double cordons of Claymores,” Lucas said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Where the hell’d you get all of them?”
“Nobody was left to guard the armories, so the boys made a few supply runs while we were in Sydney. Good thing, too.”
“No shit.”
The three of us stood there in awkward silence, watching as a couple of Lucas’s men made their way down the slope. They were checking bodies, ensuring there were no females left alive with quick thrusts of their knives. I approved of the tactic. It’s never a good idea to leave an injured infected alive. Just because they’re on the ground doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous.
“I’m off, then,” Lucas said.
“Hey,” I called, stopping him before he could start his ATV. “I was kind of a dick earlier. Sorry ‘bout that.”
He nodded acceptance of my apology, which told me we were good, then started the vehicle.
“Oh, and who was supposed to be on watch?” I called, raising my voice to be heard over the idling engine.
“Smyth. On my way to talk to him.”
He nodded again, then roared away in a cloud of dust that slowly drifted across Rachel and me.
“You want to talk about it?” Rachel asked.
I didn’t answer immediately, just watched the men checking the infected.
“John,” she said gently, stepping closer and putting her hand on my arm. “What else is going on with you?”
I took a deep breath, hesitating before I spoke.
“Talk to me.”
Rachel moved in front of me, pushing Dog aside and blocking my view of the activity below. She stood close, looking into my eyes.
“I want to fight,” I said, shrugging.
She knitted her brow in confusion.
“I’m not trying to fight with you. I just want to know what’s going on. Should I be worried?”
I shook my head, buying time as I searched for the words I wanted.
“Not what I meant. I want to fight. It’s a… a… rush. Like there’s a need inside me that can only be satisfied by going into battle.”
“The virus,” she said, deliberately making it a statement.
I nodded and broke eye contact.
“It’s not like I think about it. It’s just that when there’s an enemy… well…”
“I think I get it,” she said, worry making her voice husky. “But there’s more. Isn’t there.”
After a long pause, I nodded again.
“It’s tapped into something primal. Don’t know how else to put it. Even right now, the smell of all their blood makes me want to go find more to kill.”
She watched me closely for several beats, finally reaching out and taking my hands in hers.
“Can you control it? D
irect it?”
“You’re asking if I’m dangerous,” I said defensively.
“I saw your face when I touched your arm. There was something there I’ve never seen before. For an instant, I thought you were going to attack me.”
I immediately began shaking my head.
“I’m sorry I frightened you, but it’s not like that. It’s not simply a desire to kill. It’s a desire to fight an enemy.”
“An enemy,” she said slowly. “There’s no shortage of that, but what if there is? Are you sure you’ve got this under control? What if you and Lucas have a disagreement, or you and I have a fight? Or Mavis does something to make you angry?”
“I’m not a fucking caveman, Rachel,” I said with some heat.
“I didn’t say you were, but we don’t know what we don’t know.”
She held my gaze, hands locked around mine. I had to admit she was right. What if I was dangerous to be around?
“So, what are you saying?”
She hesitated a beat before plunging ahead.
“We know someone who can help. Maybe. Or at least give us some answers.”
“Joe?”
She nodded to which I shook my head.
“I already told you, I’m not going to be his lab rat. What if someone decides I can’t be trusted and need to be locked away? You think I don’t know how fucking scary this is for people? Hell, one look at me and they’ll want to put me in a deep, dark hole.”
“John, we have to know. I have to know. I’m going…”
Tears sprang up in her eyes and she tried to pull away, but I held onto her hands.
“I know,” I said, gently pulling her into my arms.
She pulled her head back and stared at me in surprise, eyes wet from crying.
“How…”
“I can smell the change in your hormones,” I said. “Don’t know how I understand that means you’re pregnant, but I do. And I couldn’t be happier!”
She looked back at me, not returning my smile. Finally, she pushed back a step and wiped her eyes.
“Then you know why I’m worried. Mavis just fell into our lives and she may seem grown up, but she’s still a little girl. Now a baby. I have to… have to know our children are safe with you around.”
