The Life Beyond (The Other Life Saga)

by Susanne Winnacker

  I felt my pulse quicken. That was a great idea. Footage like that would strengthen our argument even more. An idea popped into my head, sending excitement and fear shuddering along my spine. “What about heading to the nest in the L.A. zoo? It’s one of the biggest colony of Weepers we know of and it’ll be spectacular on video.”

  Joshua looked at me, his eyebrows raised. “Yeah. Good idea. But it’ll be dangerous.”

  “What’s new?” I said.

  Joshua smiled, but the lightness soon disappeared from his face to be replaced by fierce determination.

  The hunter was back.

  “Are we there yet?” Bobby asked for the fifth time.

  Mom and Dad exchanged a look. Did that mean ‘no’?

  “Actually, yes,” Dad said, laughter in his voice.

  “We are?” I pressed my face closer to the window to get a good look as our car pulled up in front of the animal shelter.

  The second we’d parked, Bobby and I burst out of the car.

  “Freeze!” Mom shouted while Dad freed Mia from her child seat. I bounced on my heels until we were finally allowed to enter the house.

  A transport box perched on the reception desk. Two amber eyes were staring out. They looked so sad.

  I walked up to the box. The cat meowed miserably. “Why’s she here?” I asked.

  Meow.

  The woman behind the desk looked up. “Oh, we found him in an abandoned apartment. The neighbors heard his crying.”

  “His people abandoned him?” I whispered. Bobby’s eyes widened.

  I pushed my finger through the bars. The cat rubbed his head against it, purring.

  “I want him,” I said to Mom and Dad who were showing Mia the room with other cats behind a pane of glass.

  “Can we call him Muffin?” Bobby asked, as he stroked the cat’s ears with his pinkie.

  Mom and Dad seemed stunned, but after moment they nodded.

  Smiling, I turned back to Muffin. “Now you have a family.”

  Chapter 17

  We pulled up in front of the zoo with its destroyed sign and animal carcasses. I looked out the windshield, searching for movement. “It’s okay.” Quentin and Alexis nodded their heads too. There was no sign of any imminent danger.

  We got out of the car, guns at the ready. The wind tossed a crumpled street sign over the parking lot, the jarring sound setting my teeth on edge.

  “Let’s go,” Joshua said. Quentin took the camcorder from his backback and looped it around his neck, turning it on so it was now filming constantly.

  Alexis came up to me, her long brown hair in a ponytail. “It’s creepy.”

  “I still remember the way everything looked before the rabies. It was always crowded with people and it was such a fun place to be …” I trailed off as I remembered the happy days of my other life.

  Alexis squeezed my arm. “I’m sorry. It must be hard for you.”

  I forced a smile. “For all of us.”

  My grip on the gun tightened as we walked through the gateway into the zoo. The area looked deserted. Only a few birds perched on a tree, twittering. I lowered my gun.

  To our right was the crocodile enclosure, their skeletons littering the parched basins. As we crept further inside, carcasses of birds and animals littered the pathway. The sun had washed their bones stark white. Alexis knelt over them to take a closer look as Quentin filmed her.

  The birds fell silent. In the distance I could still hear the clanking of the street sign. Or maybe that was my imagination. I lifted the gun, my fingers twitching. Alexis rose slowly to her feet and pulled her own revolver. Quentin swivelled the camera around.

  Joshua froze. His arm with the gun was steady. Our eyes met. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong but he shook his head and nodded toward something ahead of us. I searched the maze of fences, broken down cages and overgrown bushes. Movement behind a palmtree caught my attention. My muscles tightened. Alexis’s breathing hitched beside me.

  Dark fur peeked out from behind a tree.

  We crept closer to it, our shoes crunching on the asphalt, each step making me wince. I held my breath. Quentin still hadn’t put his camera down to draw his gun. He seemed determined to capture everything on film.

  A group of ten Weepers huddled together in a concrete shelter below. It looked like they were napping. Like a pack of wolves they were pressed against each other, bodies entwined. We crawled forward to get a better view. They didn’t seem aware of our presence.

  Joshua drew in a sharp breath. He was pointing a shaking finger at the young female Weeper. Alexis and Quentin exchanged confused looks.

  Joshua pressed very close to me, his lips brushing my ear. “We need to catch her.”

  “Who’s she?” Alexis whispered. But I knew.

  Joshua’s gaze was glued to his sister. “It looks like Zoe.”

  “Whoa,” Quentin let out a low whistle and I glared at him. He pressed the camcorder against his face to avoid my glare.

  “We need them to scatter,” I said. “It’s too dangerous if they’re all together.”

  Joshua nodded. He aimed his gun at a point above the Weepers. The bullet hit the wall. Concrete shot everywhere and the Weepers sprang to their feet with roars and strange whines. They scuttled in all directions. Alexis shied back with a gasp.

  The young female Weeper ran toward what must have once been a savanna for antelopes and zebras, now overgrown with grass and bushes. It swallowed her. Joshua dragged me to my feet. “We have to follow her!”

  Alexis shrieked. Two Weepers were barrelling toward us. Quentin aimed the camera straight at them with one hand, firing at them with the other.

  But I couldn’t shoot them. Not now that we might be able to turn them back into humans. They roared; their eyes milky and hungry. I grabbed Quentin’s arm. “Come on!” Joshua glanced back at the spot after the female Weeper before he followed us.

  Our feet pounded the concrete path, vials clinking against each other in Joshua’s bag. My breathing jarred in my chest as we turned a corner. A blind alley.

  I whirled around and spotted a cage. I tugged Joshua toward it while he sent warning shots into the sky. The Weepers didn’t slow. Skidding on the mossy concrete of the cage, we stumbled inside and locked the doors. The Weepers jumped against the bars, making them shudder. We pressed against the wall of the cage. They reached through the bars with their hairy arms, trying to grab us, but the cage was too big. From inside the cage, I hoped we would be able to administer the cure.

  Their black claws shone like onyx in the sunlight. They snarled, fangs flashing. Remains of their last meal stuck in the cracks between their teeth. Half rotten flesh. Quentin never stopped filming.

  Joshua removed the backpack from his shoulder and put it on the ground. He grabbed one of the vials, pushed a syringe through the seal and prepared Geoffrey’s cure before approaching the bars. Quentin followed him to get a close up of the Weepers.

  “Be careful,” I said.

  The Weepers let out greedy grunts and spit flew from their mouths, spattering the camera lens. Joshua was so close that their claws grazed his jeans but he didn’t back away. His arm darted out and rammed the syringe into the arm of a Weeper. It yowled, an inhuman sound.

  I cringed, the hairs on my arms rising. Alexis trembled beside me. “It’s okay,” I told her. She didn’t react. Her wide eyes were focused on the Weepers. “I thought they’d get us. This is horrible.”

  The other Weeper whined and disappeared, claws scratching over the concrete. The Weeper with the syringe in his arm seemed too stunned to move. It blinked at us, eyes wide and hollow as it sank to its knees with a moan. We waited until it was lying on its side, panting but unmoving, before Joshua pushed open the cage door, the gun pointed ahead, as we inched out of the enclosure.

  The Weeper didn’t react. Shudders wracked its body.

  “What are we going to do with it? We can’t take it with us when we’re searching for Zoe,” Joshua said. “It’ll slo
w us down.”

  I nodded, as my eyes scanned the enclosure we’d found shelter in. “There. We lock it in. It’ll be safe from other Weepers and we can pick it up once we’ve caught the female Weeper.” I couldn’t bring myself to give it a name until we knew for certain it was her.

  I reached for its arms but Joshua pushed me aside. “Let me take the front. If it bites me, I won’t get infected.” I noticed how Alexis kept a few feet away from us.

  “If this doesn’t shock people into action, nothing will,” Quentin said as he brought the camcorder close to the slack face of the Weeper.

  I grabbed it around the ankle, glad for the trouser legs between my fingers and his shedding skin, though they were caked in blood and other things I didn’t want to think about.

  My arms strained when we lifted it a few inches off the ground and carried it into the cage. It opened its eyes a slit and looked at me, expression blank. I almost dropped it, as shock corded up my body. My arms quivered as I forced myself to lower it to the ground slowly. It curled up in a fetal position. We backed out of the cage and locked it.

  “Let’s go,” Joshua said.

  Alexis stayed frozen to the spot. “Can I keep watch over the … thing?”

  “You’d be alone,” I said.

  She pressed her gun against her chest like a shield. “I can’t do this. I can’t go after them.” Beads of sweat were collecting on her face, whether from the heat or fear I couldn’t be sure. For the first time it occurred to me that she probably hadn’t ever been on a hunt before.

  Quentin lowered the camera. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You’d be safer with us.”

  “I’m sure. Just go. I’ll be fine.”

  Reluctantly, we left her.

  In less than a minute, we were back at the savanna enclosure. I scanned the area. Nothing moved, except for the grass and bushes swaying in the wind. Their rustling carried over to us, drowning out other noises. This way we’d never find that girl Weeper again. Joshua swung a leg over the fence but I gripped his arm. “What are you doing?”

  “We have to go inside to find her. What if she and the other Weepers leave the zoo and never come back? It’ll be impossible to find her.” Grief drew hard lines on Joshua’s face.

  “Joshua’s right. We should go in.” Quentin didn’t even put the camera down as he jumped over the fence. His eyes were trained on the grassland. It was as if behind the camera he felt safe.

  I paused. This could be our only chance to find Zoe. But it looked like a suicide mission. I glanced at Joshua. His eyes were wide and pleading. Taking a deep breath, I climbed the fence.

  The three of us perched on the edge before we dropped into the ditch that had once stopped animals from getting out of their enclosure. I realized with a sense of impending dread that it would only slow us down if we had to escape. We crept toward the beginning of the grassland. The blades reached our waists. Weepers could be hiding everywhere – right in front of us, waiting to attack. But Joshua ignored the danger and hurried on.

  “Slow down,” I warned. He stopped a few steps into the savanna. I moved to his side. The blades swayed back and forth. Their rustling was the only sound. I lifted my gun above the grassline as we crept deeper into the enclosure. A cluster of bushes lined our right side, providing the perfect hiding place. We stopped again and listened for noise.

  There was something. A strange sound.

  Was it the rustling of the grassblades?

  No, it was too rhythmic for that.

  Rattling breathing.

  It came from behind. I whirled around. My arms tensed in preparation. Joshua kept his gun pointed ahead. The noise was coming from there too. And from the sides.

  From everywhere.

  We were surrounded. Finally, Quentin dropped the camera, leaving it to swing around his neck, and grabbed his gun.

  “Whatever you do, don’t shoot Zoe,” Joshua said.

  Unwelcome memories washed over me; the feel of Dad’s warm blood running over my hands, his last breath, the stillness of his chest.

  Something moved in the corner of my eye. I swung my gun around.

  Rustling and movements were everywhere. Shadows shifted. Roars sounded. The ground vibrated. They were attacking.

  An ambush. A hairy body collided with me. I stumbled backwards and landed on my butt. Black dots blinked in my vision. I scrambled to my legs, ignoring the burning in my back and the dull throbbing in my wrist that I’d used to cushion my fall.

  Shots and screams and grunts and roars.

  Quentin was on his back, a Weeper crouched over him, trying to rip his throat out. Quentin held the monster at arm’s length, muscles quivering with the effort.

  Joshua was wrestling with a smaller Weeper – Zoe. It was her; I could see that now – beneath the fur, the way her face echoed Joshua’s.

  I stumbled toward Quentin and rammed the hilt of my gun against the Weeper’s temple with a sickening crunch. It toppled over. Quentin pushed it off his body.

  I was shaking as I scanned the Weepers on the ground – two of them. Both were still, but only one was breathing. Joshua pressed the small Weeper to the ground, kneeling on its back. “Give me the tranquilizer!”

  “Don’t you want to give her the cure?” I asked as I handed him a syringe with tranquilizer.

  “No,” he said. “I won’t use Zoe as a lab rat. She’ll get the original.”

  “But it’s in Safe-haven.”

  He injected her and she stopped struggling. “Turn that damn camera off!” he shouted.

  Quentin switched off the power on the camera. I gave the surviving Weeper Geoffrey’s cure, and without a word Quentin helped me pick it up and carry it toward our car outside the zoo. We put the Weeper into the trailer but Joshua hesitated. He cradled Zoe against his chest. “I don’t want her in there.”

  “We have no choice. There’s no room for her in the car,” I said. “And she’s still dangerous.” But deep down I understood, remembering how it felt the day we found Bobby.

  Gently he put her down beside the unconscious, older Weeper.

  Joshua closed the latch of the trailer and looked ready to get in the car.

  “We still have to get Alexis and the third Weeper,” Quentin said.

  Joshua blinked. It was as if he had forgotten. His mind was only on Zoe now. “I can’t leave her,” he said flatly, looking at his sister.

  Quentin looked about to say something, but I pulled him away and together we ran to collect Alexis. Her face flooded with relief as we approached, crumpling into tears as she fell into Quentin’s arms. Hurrying, we carried the last Weeper toward the trailer.

  Joshua barely waited for me to close the car door before speeding back to Safe-haven.

  Joshua and I took Zoe into the infirmary while Alexis and Quentin brought the other Weepers to Geoffrey.

  I touched Joshua’s arm, feeling the tension under my fingertips. Dark shadows bloomed under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept for days.

  Karen bustled around Zoe, shaking her head. She injected her with the original cure. Joshua walked up to the bed and reached for the unmoving heap on the bed but stopped himself. “How is she? Is anything wrong?” He looked so vulnerable, his eyes wide and afraid.

  I put my hands on his shoulder, wanting to show him that I was there for him. From my new position I could see Zoe’s face clearly. Her body was small and delicate. Even her face was that of a child. It held a strange softness that looked out of place on a Weeper with its bristle-like fur and shedding-skin.

  “Of course. Many things are wrong,” Karen said. She prepared another syringe with steady hands and gave Zoe a shot of a clear liquid. “Her heartbeat and pulse are too slow and I’m not sure if she’s unconscious or in a coma.”

  “But the cure should take effect soon,” Joshua said. Zoe’s eyes were sticky with secretion.

  “Let’s hope so.” Karen looked at Joshua and softened her tone. “I’ll take care of her.”

  The Weepers we in
jected with Geoffrey’s cure died the evening of the same day, their bodies caught between human and beast. Cardiac arrest.

  Geoffrey was devastated and refused to leave his room. We were left with the task of burying the three bodies in the graveyard. They got a cross with the day of their death but without their names or birthdays.

  Geoffrey, even with Quentin’s help, wasn’t capable of reproducing the cure, at least not with the little equipment they had. And now we only had one vial left from our break into the lab – only enough to save four or five Weepers. It made me sick to think that Geoffrey had used an entire vial for his tests.

  After the burial, Joshua and I stayed in the graveyard and watched the sun go down beyond its walls.

  “I miss the vineyard,” I said. And my old life. And Dad. And so many other things.

  Joshua sighed. “I know. I miss it too but we’re safer here.”

  He didn’t say we were safe. We both knew that no place was safe.

  I lifted my blanket to crawl into bed. Muffin was curled on my pillow. He opened his eyes to slits and let out a yawn. Lazy cat.

  I patted his head, lay down and perched my head on the edge of my pillow. Muffin didn’t move an inch.

  I stretched and my naked foot brushed something furry. I froze.

  Hesitantly, I shifted my toes to get a better feel. It was small and sticky and stiff.

  With a cry, I jumped out of bed, taking the blanket with me and clutching it to my chest.

  A dead mouse was lying on the footend. Its tiny feet stuck out from its body and the hairless tail was curled around it.

  “What did you do?” I whispered to Muffin, but he just stared at me.

  “Sherry, what happened?” Mom asked as she entered. “I heard you screaming.”

  I pointed a shaky finger at my bed.

  Mom stumbled back. “Oh,” she said breathlessly. “It’s alright.”

  “Then why are you so pale?” I asked.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the mouse. “Your dad will take care of it. Don’t worry.”