V Plague (Book 17): Abaddon

by Patton, Dirk

  As I drew closer to Lucas’s house I began encountering the occasional infected. Most were females, ranging ahead or to the side of the main body of the herd. I managed to grind a couple of them into raw meat beneath the hard rubber tires, but the rest charged in from the sides, trying to gain a purchase to climb aboard the speeding truck.

  But I was going too fast. If they did manage to come close enough to actually touch the vehicle, they were sent tumbling away across the desert. Unsurprisingly, as soon as they could recover from the momentum they were back on their feet and in hot pursuit. For a moment I allowed myself to wonder if I was that tough, then shut the thought down.

  Outdistancing the females, I drove for another several minutes before blasting through one of Lucas’s fences. He could be pissed later. I didn’t have time to find a fucking gate.

  Whipping past the barn, I was relieved to see the house was no longer covered in bats. I hadn’t expected it to be as I was reasonably certain every one of the little bastards had followed me, plus the sun was up, but you never know what the virus is going to do to an animal’s behavior. For all I knew, they had returned here after decimating the infected in Coober Pedy.

  As I sped toward the house, the front door opened and Smyth emerged with a rifle in his hands. A beat later Dog squeezed past him, then Rachel shoved him out of her way as she stepped into the early morning light. Mavis was right behind her and my heart swelled with relief when I saw them.

  Skidding to a stop, I left the engine running and jumped to the ground in time to catch Mavis who had run forward and thrown herself into the air. She locked her arms around my neck like a vise and I held her as Rachel hurried up and wrapped both of us in an embrace as Dog began shoving his head in for attention.

  Kissing Rachel, I held Mavis up and kissed her forehead before putting her on the ground. Dog bumped my hip and I rubbed his head as I turned and shouted at Smyth.

  “Get everyone loaded! Infected are less than ten minutes behind me.”

  He began barking orders and rounding everyone up.

  “How’s Lucas?” I asked Rachel, pulling the bag of medicine from the cab to show her.

  She and Mavis traded a look.

  “What?” I asked, looking between them.

  “High fever,” Rachel said. “Convulsed a couple of times.”

  “I thought you had enough antibiotics until I got back,” I said, not understanding why my friend was deteriorating so fast.

  Rachel hesitated, not wanting to tell me something. Mavis glanced at her before reaching out and taking my hand in hers.

  “His eyes are like yours,” she said.

  “What? You mean red?” I asked, turning to Rachel.

  She nodded after a few moments.

  “They turned a couple of hours ago. It had to be the blood transfusion.”

  I didn’t know what to say, and it didn’t matter. A herd was bearing down on us and we were almost out of time.

  My mouth was open to ask another question when several shots sounded from the far side of the truck. Unslinging my rifle, I ran around the back to find Smyth and one of his men with weapons up and aimed. Less than a hundred yards out, three females lay on the ground.

  “Get in the truck now! MOVE!” I shouted as I turned back toward the house.

  Natalie and Ziggy herded Lucas’s kids into the back and I ran for the house after telling Dog to stay with Rachel. She and Mavis needed his protection far more than I did.

  Charging through the door, I hurried to where Lucas’s third man was struggling to lift him off the couch. In less dire circumstances it would have been comical to see a guy that weighed about one-fifty, soaking wet, trying to pick up one who was well over two-twenty. And do it delicately because the bigger man has been stitched up like a quilt.

  “Move,” I said, dashing up and kneeling beside the sofa.

  As gently as I could, I worked my arms beneath Lucas’s unconscious form. Supporting his shoulders and hips, I rolled him toward me and stood as if he weighed no more than Mavis. If I hadn’t been breaking locks with my bare hands and crashing through doors like a runaway bull, I would have most likely paused in surprise. But I was getting used to being as strong as an ox.

  With Lucas cradled against my chest, I rushed out the door as more gunfire erupted from the far side of the truck. Running to the back, I lifted until he was above the level of the bed and carefully slid him on board. Ziggy was already on her knees, pulling him away from the edge as I slammed the short tailgate.

  This was an old routine for Rachel and she had already climbed into the cab with Mavis and Dog. I ran for the driver’s door as more shots sounded, now in an almost continuous stream as the volume of infected increased.

  “Mount up!” I shouted, leaping into the cab and grabbing the wheel.

  Smyth and the guys were old school operators and didn’t need a nice, steady platform to board a vehicle. They kept firing as I revved the engine and started the truck moving. Infected were almost on them, coming faster than they could shoot when they turned and leapt for the edge of the bed.

  Watching in the mirror, I nailed the throttle as soon as each of them had a leg thrown over the edge. Spinning the wheel, I upshifted as the truck battered its way through a nearly solid mass of females. Those unfortunate enough to be directly in my path were crushed and ground to pulp. Others were sent spinning away from an indirect blow by the bumper or a fender. A few managed to grab on to the mirrors and bed slats, screaming their pleasure at what they thought was going to be an easy meal.

  Shots rang out from behind as Smyth and Company dispatched the uninvited riders. An ear-splitting roar from the passenger seat marked Rachel calmly killing the female that was hanging onto her mirror. That only left the one dangling from mine, her legs swinging with the motion of the truck as she fought for a foothold.

  Dog pushed between me and the wheel as he snarled at the infected, ready to attack when she came closer. I didn’t give her the chance. Reaching through the open window with my left hand, I grabbed her around the throat, crushed her larynx and ripped her free of the mirror. Dropping her body, I watched in the mirror as it disappeared beneath the rear tires.

  “Wow!” Mavis said. “You’re getting really strong.”

  I glanced down to see her smiling. She thought it was cool. Was actually proud of me. Looking up at Rachel I only saw worry. And a tear in her eye.

  40

  We quickly outdistanced the females, leaving them behind in a dense cloud of dust. Mavis chattered brightly as I drove, apparently very happy to be reunited. Dog had wormed his way around in the footwell until he was sitting on Rachel’s feet with his head in position for both of them to scratch.

  “We have to go south,” Rachel said, as if suddenly remembering something.

  I glanced at the sun, noting we were currently traveling west.

  “South? What’s south?”

  “We’re being picked up!”

  “What? By who?”

  We were both having to shout to be heard over the wind noise and roar of the truck as it bounced across the rough desert terrain.

  “Hold on,” I called out, steering around a massive termite mound and angling toward the south.

  Driving for another ten minutes, I felt we were well clear of the infected for the moment. Braking to a gentle stop so not too much dust swirled into and around the vehicle, I shut off the clattering engine.

  “Why south?” I asked, but Rachel already had her door open and was climbing down.

  With a sigh, I popped mine and jumped out, moving to meet her at the back.

  “Give me a sec,” she said. “Need to check Lucas.”

  I started to give her a hand up into the bed of the truck, but she waved me away and nimbly climbed in. Guess she wasn’t that pregnant. Yet.

  “She talked to someone named Jessica while you were gone. Told me we’re going to Hawaii,” Mavis offered.

  My brow wrinkled in surprise. Someone, most likely Captai
n West, had pulled some strings. I was willing to bet a Navy ship was on its way to get us. If it was a plane, there was no reason for us to have gone anywhere other than out of the infected’s path.

  Telling Mavis to stay where she was and keep an eye on Dog, I swung up into the back of the truck to see how Lucas was doing. He lay on a pile of blankets Ziggy had spread out and she was kneeling over him. Rachel was starting a fresh IV with one of the bags I’d brought back from Coober Pedy, Natalie holding it up so it would drip properly.

  “How’s he doing?” I asked softly.

  “I don’t know whether to thank you or kill you,” Ziggy said before Rachel could respond.

  Completely unprepared for her greeting, I just stared at her with my mouth open. Ziggy looked at me for a long few moments then moved forward and wrapped her arms around my neck.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to sniff back tears. “I’m just so scared. I thought he was going to die, then he’s getting better so fast, then a fever and his eyes turn red, and…”

  I didn’t know what to say. There was nothing I could say, so I just held my friend’s wife as she cried. No one in the truck other than her youngest daughter would even meet my eyes. The silence was the very definition of awkward.

  “I take a nap and you’re already moving in on my girl?”

  Everyone’s head snapped around in surprise when Lucas spoke. He looked like hell and didn’t have the strength to hold his head up, but his eyes were open as he tried a grin that didn’t quite work.

  Rachel was right. Whatever the virus had done to me had definitely been passed on during the transfusion. Lucas’s eyes were a mirror image of my own. I was taken aback, seeing something like that staring out of his face. Was I that startling to other people?

  Ziggy tore free from me and put her face close to Lucas’s, hands hovering over his battered skin. She wanted to touch him, to hold him, but there wasn’t anywhere that hadn’t been damaged.

  Rachel finished with the IV and said something to Lucas in a soft voice. Ziggy nodded without taking her attention off her husband. He seemed to only be interested in her at the moment, so instead of intruding I swung down to the ground. Rachel walked up to the edge and looked like she was going to jump, but hesitated. Stepping forward I reached up and lifted her, setting her gently on her feet in front of me.

  She grabbed my hands before I could release her, moving close and kissing me hard before resting her forehead against mine. We stared into each other’s eyes and after seeing Lucas, I was a little self-conscious of what Rachel was looking at.

  “I know I’m being a crazy bitch,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I’ve never dealt with hormones like this before.”

  Hormones? Hormones!

  “Can animals sense human hormones?” I asked excitedly.

  “What?” Rachel asked, looking at me like I’d lost the last ounce of whatever sanity I had.

  “Hormones! Or… what is it insects use to communicate with each other?”

  “Pheromones?” she asked, frowning and looking at me sideways.

  “Yes! Pheromones! Can animals detect ours? Respond to them?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Okay,” I said, taking a breath to slow myself down. “I’ll explain if you’ll just answer my question.”

  She stepped back and gave me another funny look, but I could see the wheels turning behind her eyes as she thought. Our conversation had caught Mavis’s attention and she wandered over, Dog sticking to her like glue. For someone who’d been terrified of dogs she’d quickly become his biggest fan.

  “First of all, humans don’t secrete pheromones. At least it’s never been proven that we do.”

  “You mean all that cologne I bought that was supposed to make women fall in love with me was bullshite?”

  Smyth was hanging over the back of the truck, listening in.

  “Ever get laid when you were wearing it?” I asked without looking at him.

  He grumbled something unintelligible as Rachel rolled her eyes.

  “As far as hormones,” she continued. “The answer is yes. We secrete them in our sweat and urine, and if levels are concentrated enough then even when we exhale. Now, care to explain why you’re asking?”

  The bats were responding to some hormone that my body was producing in massive quantities when I was threatened or about to go into battle! It made sense when I stopped and thought about it for a second.

  “John?” Rachel prompted, impatiently waiting for an answer.

  “Let’s take a walk,” I said, not wanting to discuss this in front of everyone.

  Mavis started to follow until I shook my head. She stuck her tongue out but respected my request.

  Rachel and I moved slowly, walking a few yards away from the truck. Fishing a battered pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, I offered one to her out of habit. She started to reach for it, then waved it away and placed her hand on her lower abdomen.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, lighting mine and taking a deep drag.

  Rachel moved upwind and took my hand.

  “Better enjoy those, because you aren’t going to be smoking around our child.”

  “So, I am going to be around?” I asked, a smile spreading across my face.

  “Don’t be an ass,” she chided. “Now, tell me why you were asking about hormones.”

  I took another drag, letting the smoke trickle out of my nose as I gathered my thoughts into what I hoped would be a coherent order. After a few seconds, I started talking. Explained everything.

  When I was through, I lit another cigarette and looked at Rachel. She was still trying to absorb what I’d told her, turning it over in her mind.

  “You’re serious. No chance the infection caused you to hallucinate?”

  “Come on,” I said with a snort. “You know me better than that. I wasn’t hallucinating. If I was, explain how I got my hands on the medicine you needed for Lucas and made it back in this truck. Sure, it was kind of like I was watching it happen to someone else, but it was real.”

  She stared into my eyes, finally reaching out and placing her hand on my face. Her touch sent a wave of contentment washing over me and I reached up to place my hand over hers.

  “Assuming you’re not batshit crazy,” she said with an impish grin. “Then yes, it is possible the bats were responding to a massive release of some hormone. My guess would be adrenaline, but that’s only a guess. It could be something else that’s unexpected, which might also explain the changes in your thinking and behavior.”

  “Sorry, babe. Gotta dumb it down a little.”

  “Okay. Hormones drive just about everything we do in one way or another. Like any system in the body, if they’re out of balance, so is everything else. Crazy pregnant lady, remember?

  “Anyway, increased production of adrenaline explains your increased strength and stamina. To a degree, it also addresses your enhanced ability to heal. But it’s not going to cause the mental changes you’re describing. There has to be another…”

  She stopped in mid-sentence with her mouth hanging open and eyes going wide.

  “What?”

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “Hormones!”

  She stood as still as a statue, staring at a point in space as her mind whirled.

  “Rachel?”

  She blinked, looked at me and smiled.

  “Don’t you get it? Hormones! Women go insane once a month. Why? Hormones. We really go insane during the first trimester of pregnancy. Why? Again, rapid hormonal swings! And despite how drastic the changes in our body chemistry may feel, the difference in hormonal levels is really not all that dramatic!”

  She stared at me, beaming like she’d just solved an impossible jigsaw puzzle. From the look on my face, she could tell I was completely lost.

  “The infected!” she said, punching me in the chest for emphasis. “I’ve had conversations with Joe and I know for a fact that they’ve never looked at the endocrine system.”


  “The…?”

  “Good God! Really? You did go to high school, right? Biology one-oh-one?”

  “Assume I’m a moron,” I said, slightly irritated. “Just tell me.”

  “Sorry,” she said, gently touching my arm in apology. “The endocrine system controls all the glands that produce hormones, and hormones control everything from mood to reproduction to health... you name it. I know they’ve recorded incredibly high levels of adrenaline and several other hormones in the infected, but it was passed off as a byproduct of the infection. What if it was actually the intended result of the infection? I’ve got to talk to Joe!”

  41

  “One thing at a time,” I said. “We got off track. Who’s picking us up and when?”

  “Oh. Jessica called on the satellite phone not long after you left. Captain West is sending a plane to pick us up. No idea when it will arrive, so we’re supposed to go to the airfield and wait.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Where are we supposed to meet the plane?”

  “Woomera. It’s somewhere south of here. Supposed to be a big RAAF aerospace facility. Fuel for the flight back and plenty of runway.”

  I turned and whistled at the truck, waving for Smyth to join us when he looked up. He jumped down and trotted over.

  “Woomera. Know it?” I asked him.

  “Know of it, mate. Never been there. Why?”

  “Know how to get there?”

  “Easy,” he said. “Straight down the Stuart. Maybe ‘bout four-hundred K or so. What’s in Woomera?”

  “Our ride to Hawaii,” I said. “I hope.”

  He looked at me a beat, frowning.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Not sure ‘bout that. Lucas told me what’s gonna happen to the world. Seems we’re better off right here.”

  “With bats and infected kangaroos?” Rachel asked in surprise.

  “Also heard everyone has to leave Hawaii. Any better in America?”