“Mami. Quiero a mi mami!” The girl started bawling tears. Her face puckered in agony like only a child’s could.
Moni wished she could squeeze Ramona’s pain away in her arms. If only she could open her mouth and tell her everything would be okay, a lie or not. Feeling her eyes welling up, Moni wiped them before she started leaking acid all over the place. She handed the girl a bottle of water.
Ramona gulped it down, emptying the bottle so fast Moni feared she might choke. Ramona dropped the empty bottle and shook with several wet coughs. Moni reached to pat her on the back, but quickly withdrew her hand. The girl gave her a crossed look, offended that she wouldn’t help her.
Moni tore open a beef jerky stick and offered it to her. Ramona cautiously sniffed the processed, salted meat and shook her head. Now that she opened it, she couldn’t let it rot away because she had a limited supply of human-edible food. Moni stuck it in the girl’s pocket in case she changed her mind. Her lips twisted in disgust, the girl grabbed the jerky and tossed it into the dirt.
Moni fumed. She clearly didn’t get the concept of being holed up in the desert. They couldn’t just drop by the market and buy something that pleased her sweet tooth.
“She’s a burden,” the alien voice rattled in her brain. “No human can survive in the desert with you. One kiss and she becomes one of us. The two of you can live here together. She’ll be the daughter you always wanted.”
Why couldn’t they shut up? Of course they wanted Moni to inflect Ramona and dedicate the girl’s mind and body to the alien cause. As Moni rummaged through her stack of protein bars seeking the chocolate flavor, she delivered a message to them.
“She will never be one of yours.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
Their response sounded so close, she spun her head, looking for them behind her. Moni dropped the bars. Ramona stood beside the tub, where she had loosened its rope restraints and was tugging at the tarp. Beneath it, the toxic water bubbled excitedly, the bath of hydrochloric acid, mutated bacteria and extraterrestrial demon spawn desiring her tender body. She wouldn’t be the most physically powerful host, but the aliens knew the emotional damage she’d inflict upon Moni. How could she let another child slip from her arms?
Moni dove across the cave and seized the girl’s collar, yanking her away from the tub. Ramona tumbled across the rocky floor, yowling as she scraped her knee and elbow. Even as the girl cried, Moni couldn’t attend to her right away as she first re-secured the tarp over the tub’s deadly waters. When she turned for Ramona, the girl scooted away shouting at her. Moni had never heard a child so incensed.
She couldn’t make this girl listen. She couldn’t comfort her. Ramona could hardly touch anything inside Moni’s cave without hurting herself. As whatever she had become, Moni could do nothing besides harm a human child.
Without trust, this won’t work.
Moni gave Ramona her tent set, hoping the curious girl would play with the ropes and pegs. The girl stared at the instruction booklet photo of the happy family playing in the tent. Ramona’s eyes sagged with grief and she flipped the booklet face down. After a minute, the girl started trying to set up the tent. She didn’t bother asking for help.
Exhaling, Moni edged toward the opening of the cave where her satellite phone caught reception. She texted Aaron using an app that, by her experience, law enforcement couldn’t trace.
Rescued migrant girl today. Can’t stay with me. Meet me tonight.
Using the burner phone they bought only for her texts, Aaron replied in less than a minute.
Wow. Be careful. Where to meet?
She didn’t understand why he hadn’t asked her how she found a girl out in the desert. The way he felt about her, she knew he didn’t need any excuses to see her. Moni didn’t think his smile would warm her heart again so soon, but this rendezvous would be far from romantic.
Head west from El Paso on New Mexico State Road 9. You’ll know when I’m close.
That scarcely driven road shadowed the border within a stone’s throw of Mexico. It also led to Columbus, the town where Ranger Blake said a family would shelter the orphaned girl. Moni couldn’t make the drop herself. The people in that town shouldn’t have their lives placed in grave danger.
One little girl’s life was already too much.
45
Aaron drove down the endless road with his arm dangling out the window in the cool night air. The moonlight’s glow caught his tanned skin. Besides the celestial bodies, the headlights of his pickup were the only source of light out in the desert. Forty minutes after leaving the metropolis of El Paso, he’d seen nothing of note, just pavement and the occasional sign or fence post stretching before him for miles and miles. Not even a quality vending machine, or a toilet.
On the seat beside him rested two bags, one with chocolaty snacks and sugary drinks and the other with empty syringes and vials. On the floor beside them sat a cooler lined with ice packs so the sample would survive the long trip to the lab fresh. He’d also brought an air-tight polypropylene container specially designed to contain infectious substances during rough shipping. He hoped Moni wouldn’t get upset that he didn’t tell her about this, but she’d requested this meeting. Of course, he’d already had the phone out to text her when her message arrived first.
She couldn’t come home with him tonight. If this worked, maybe next time. His stomach tingled at the thought of her in the seat beside him, the blue dashboard lights bathing her infection-free face.
“Aaron.”
Was that voice his imagination or was it real?
“Aaron. If you hear me, flash your lights.”
His heart racing, Aaron did as she said. The moment he did, a light flickered into life up ahead on the north side of the road.
“Follow. But slow down before you go cannon-balling off road, okay Evel Knievel?”
That was so Moni. Aaron let the truck’s momentum wear down to a crawl and then eased it off road over the parched grassland of prickly brown. He followed Moni’s beacon through the night.
Cam Carter and Nina Skillings sat beside each other in the dimly-lit cab as it raced through the darkness. Way up ahead, they could see the red glow of Aaron’s taillights. The two military gun trucks behind them could probably see it too. Hell, they could no doubt light that dipshit’s truck up with an RPG from here if they wanted to, Carter thought.
“Why do we have to stay so far back,” Skillings asked from behind the wheel. Despite her previous accident in a car chase, she showed no hesitation driving. “He could make one sudden movement and have over a minute to disappear before I reach him. I owe that piece of trash one.”
Oh yeah, this bitch wanted her hands on that surf rat. Carter felt the pent-up aggression in her body when he had romped with her the other night. She didn’t do it like a lady, but he never liked that soft and vulnerable bullshit anyway. He relished his lady Rottweiler. Too bad Aaron and Moni would feel her crushing bite.
“The key is we don’t raise his suspicion and spook him into abandoning his meeting. That horn-dog didn’t drive all the way into the wasteland because he enjoys the monotonous road.” Carter casually placed his hand on her thigh. Her leg quivered, but she didn’t object. “With all the surveillance we’ve got, we could hang five miles back and it wouldn’t matter. Check this out.”
Removing his hand from her, Carter tilted his tablet toward Nina, letting her see the app monitoring the GPS tracker on the underside of Aaron’s truck. He switched to another app, this one displaying an infrared view of Aaron driving from overhead.
“Is that a drone?” she asked.
“Yeah, don’t have those at the county sheriff’s office, did you?” He grinned as she shook her head. “The military’s with us on this one. Priority one is intel. In addition to the armored gun trucks here, they’ve got a couple choppers circling the perimeter.”
“Hey, look at that.” Skillings pointed at his screen. “He’s headed off road.”
“Moni must be close. Should I kick up some dirt and close in?” she asked.
“Not necessary.”
“Why not?” Nina cocked her head in frustration. “I know exactly how to deal with Moni. I want my shot before she disappears again. When Moni goes down, I want her to see my face.”
Chuckling under his breath, he remembered the last time she cried out in protest like that, when he smacked her ass until it burned red. She let him continue. That obedience would serve him well when the time comes.
“We’ve got half the eyes of the Defense Department on him. He’s not going anywhere without a battalion of soldiers on his tail,” Carter said. “Let me teach you something about hunting. You don’t let your prey know they’re being chased until they can’t run anywhere besides into your net.”
46
Aaron looped the bag of snacks and drinks over his arm and hopped down from the pickup truck. Moni had led him several miles from the road as he followed her ATV. Now they had stopped, their headlights creating a tiny spotlight in the ocean of darkness surrounding them. Aaron approached Moni and the tiny figure with her, a young girl bundled in a blanket. Doing a double-take, Aaron couldn’t believe how much Moni had changed in less than 24 hours.
She’d returned her jaw to its original slender angle, but that wasn’t it. Her eyebrows didn’t look like hair, or even makeup. They were slick and scaly, like eel skin. Her face had smoothed out, almost too much, like someone had sculpted all the lines and creases away. Moni smiled and he returned it, even though the sight of her teeth made him double-take. They carried a metallic tint.
She touched him, almost. Gloves separated her hands from his anxious palms. He could feel her heat burning through the leather. No matter what they did to her body, that was his Moni in there.
“I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” Aaron said.
“Neither did I. But we don’t have time for any stargazing tonight. I’m here for her.”
Moni nodded over her shoulder at the girl seated on the ATV. Looking like she’d been stuffed in a dirty suitcase for days, she eyed him distrustfully.
“Frio,” the girl said. She repeated that word, along with some more Spanish that Aaron didn’t understand. He saw the girl shivering. Aaron took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Then he offered her a bag of chocolates. She tore it open right away. He didn’t get a smile out of her, or even a gracias, but at least her disposition toward him improved, becoming bashful instead of viewing him as a cruel stranger.
“Me llamo Aaron.”
“Ramona.” She pointed at herself without making eye contact.
Aaron wasn’t sure what to say next. High school Spanish had been a long time ago and he didn’t exactly ace that class.
“Maybe because you were too focused on the hot brunette sitting in front of you,” Moni projected into his head. “You remember more about her body than the Spanish lessons.”
That thought reading thing could be pretty annoying sometimes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Since I met you, I’ve forgotten what every other woman looks like.”
Moni rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t conceal a smirk. Better she do it without flashing those choppers. Ramona gave Aaron a curious glance as he seemingly talked to himself.
“Where’d you find her anyway?”
“She was traveling with her mother in a group of immigrants from Guatemala. They got ambushed by infected coyotes. Harvested them just like in the lagoon.”
“Damn…”
The dark desert around them seemed even more foreboding now. Normal coyotes would howl. These wouldn’t. The best he could hope for was catching the gleam of their purple eyes the moment before they pounce.
“You’re really chasing down those things?”
“Yes, but not with her. You need to take her. There’s a little town west on State Road 9 called Columbus. A park ranger told me the home of Patty Estevez takes in migrant orphans.”
Her face lit up when she mentioned the ranger, like a schoolgirl recalling her first crush. Aaron hadn’t met the guy, but he didn’t want Moni bumping into him again.
“A park ranger? How’d that guy find you out here? You sure he didn’t identify you?”
“He found the bodies right after I did and he rescued the girl.”
If only he could brush his bare fingers against her neck, he’d establish a link into her mind and see whether she really thought of this ranger character as the second coming of John Wayne, or if he had just gotten the wrong impression from the starry look in her eyes. Either way, Moni needed a friend to step up for her, as did Ramona. So here he stood when no one else dared.
Aaron handed Ramona a fruit drink packet and pointed out the truck. The girl stared at Moni, not in a longing goodbye, but apprehensively seeking permission. Moni nodded. The girl scampered toward the truck without another look at her previous savior. Aaron got the impression that the little one would have bolted out of there herself if she could reach the gas pedal. Moni’s nurturing side, so key in the relationship with Mariella, hadn’t rubbed off on this child.
He removed the syringe bag and the cooler so the girl had room.
“Why didn’t you say you came here to stick me?”
When he turned around, Moni stood closer than he expected. Another man might have found her sneer intimidating, but he remembered her playful nature from when she was human enough to snuggle. She could hear his answers the moment before they left his mouth.
“I can’t find a cure without a live sample. I might be able to free you, and maybe save the newly infected. You don’t want to see another person turn purple-eyed in your arms, do you?”
She grimaced as if waging war against something inside her head. Aaron had seen that expression on her more frequently. He wondered whether the invaders inside her really had no influence over her thoughts as she claimed. She shook her head and eyed him apprehensively.
“What happened to me can’t be easily undone. Can you accept that you might not be able to fix me?”
“No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you, whether this works or not. But I’ve got to try. I’d do anything to give us a chance.”
“If it doesn’t work, burn my blood sample. Destroy it. Don’t spread the infection, especially to yourself.”
“I would never…” He swallowed his words as he realized the implication of what she’d said. Moni feared Aaron would ingest the infection to make his body like hers. “Touch me if you don’t believe me.”
He extended his palm. Moni’s eyes churned with yearning. Not removing her glove, she restrained her hand in her pocket.
“I believe you. Just don’t let the girl see the needles. She’s already terrified of me. It’d be nice if she actually liked you.”
Moni sat backwards on the ATV and leaned her back over the handlebars. Making sure the girl focused her attention on the food inside the truck, Aaron tied a tourniquet around Moni’s upper arm and sank the needle into her vein near the inner elbow. Her blood flowed instantly, so eager it was to escape her body and possibly contaminate another. He shouldn’t have been surprised by its bold purple color, yet the sight of it made his toes curl. The very lifeblood of this woman he was crazy about wasn’t human. Her blood was a highly toxic compound engineered by an alien race. It represented their final hope for the rebirth of their species.
Too bad the aliens weren’t so good at sharing, not that humans were either.
Her arm tensed up into a spasm. Moni closed her eyes and grimaced like something was scraping out her insides with a spoon. She rapidly shook her head, defying them, not yielding.
“What’s bothering you?”
She gazed at him with eyes shot full of purple blood. They weren’t glowing p
urple, at least not yet.
“They’re incensed about you kidnapping their little brothers in my blood. That’s ok. If they don’t like it, then it’s exactly what you should do. Watch out, though. They will try to sabotage its delivery to your lab.”
“You got it.” Aaron withdrew the needle and capped the first full vial. “I’ll go as soon as I drop Ramona in a safe place.”
“That is the problem. There are no free passages…”
Moni halted in mid-thought. Aaron had never heard her do that. Her ears perked up and her eyes grew distant. Within seconds, Aaron heard the “whoosh, whoosh” of distant helicopters. The sound amplified with each rotation as they closed in.
A spotlight blazed down from the sky, putting Moni and Aaron square in the crosshairs.
47
I picked through their bones to add to my collection. I took the first soldier’s dog tags. Predictable, yes, but something felt so right about owning his name and a chain he once held around his sweaty skin. From another soldier, I removed his golden wedding band from my teeth and slipped it around one of the hooks along my spine. I selected the third soldier’s eyes so I could remember their shock when I impaled him through the chest.
Finally, I hollowed out the black soldier’s skull, scraping off the flesh and soft tissue until I could stare into his boney eye sockets. Now I had someone I could talk to in these watery chambers beneath paradise.
I placed them besides my other mementos, the boy’s fishing lure and Chloe’s silver pendant. I stroked them affectionately. I could almost taste their tender bodies again.
With the soldiers gathering above, I couldn’t venture out and feed right away so I explored the section of the cave the aliens had patterned for me. That narrow stretch, with a rocky limestone ceiling and a smooth sandy bottom, had glowing symbols all over the walls. What language was that? And why did this water smell so foul? I’d crawled through sewage plants that didn’t stink so awful.
Silence the Living (Mute Book 2) Page 24
