The Death Trilogy (Book 2): The Death: Eradicate

by John W. Vance

  Lost in her prayers, the sound of the car starting brought her back. She poked her head out and saw it pulling away towards the road. She exhaled deeply and squatted to the ground, relieved that her prayers were answered.

  “That was close,” she muttered.

  She jogged back to the main building using the alleyway and opened the back door to find out her prayers hadn’t been answered. Standing there like a massive tower was a huge man; he looked down and asked, “Who are you?”

  Lori screamed, turned and tripped over herself. Her body slammed the ground hard, her head hitting the exposed edge of the concrete foundation. She rolled onto her back. Blood was flowing from the cut on her head and her vision was blurred. She could feel the almost dreamlike sensation that presaged passing out. She blinked hard to clear her vision, but she saw double.

  The man stepped out and looked down at her.

  She tried to move, but the darkness was overtaking her. The last thing she saw before the darkness came was the man reaching out for her.

  North Topsail Beach, North Carolina

  Devin and Tess walked the street, discussing the new objective of rescuing the older kids from the clutches of James Renfield and his men. They wanted to be free to say what they wanted without hurting anyone’s feelings, specifically the children.

  After being confronted by Brianna twice in as many days about their inability to calmly talk, they took to heart her direct and truthful criticism and pledged to work together without the conflict.

  “Before we get into the nuts and bolts of just how we’ll find these kids, I wanted to confess something,” Tess said.

  “Go ahead.”

  Tess stopped and said, “You’ve been right the entire time.”

  He stopped and looked at her. Tess appeared downtrodden. The upbeat and confident woman he was so use to seeing wasn’t there right now. He saw a fragile woman standing before him. “What was I right about?”

  “You have no idea how painful this is to say.” She laughed.

  “Oooh, now I’m excited to hear what it is.”

  The laughter quickly subsided and a more serious look gripped her face. “You’ve been right about Travis and this entire journey here. I agree that him not telling me straight out was stupid, silly. Yes, I can come up with excuses for his inability to tell me, but he’s always been a by-the-book person, and you know something, I can respect that, but the moment I needed him not to be, he still was. He could have told me somehow. He could have gotten word to me if he tried, but I know him, and he was just following orders, being that ever-obedient Marine. It pains me to say this, believe me, I needed him and I felt he let me down. I needed to know so much that I risked my life to find out, and even then, his message is bullshit,” she said, her emotions were at a peak and the octaves in her voice had risen a few notches. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper Travis had left for her and continued, “I came all this way to find this—this doesn’t tell me anything. That day we found this, you again questioned why he would do this, and I argued with you. The thing is, you were right and I was just defending a man I love but has let me down. I feel embarrassed. I feel…”

  Devin took a step towards her and said, “There’s no need to feel embarrassed.”

  She put her arm out signaling for him not to approach closer. “You see, I needed purpose, and finding this stupid map that says nothing gave that to me.”

  He wanted nothing more than to hold her and comfort her, but clearly she needed this moment to vent.

  “I’ve thought a lot about this, and you were right, but where I’m grateful to Travis is the journey to find this map has given me you and Brianna. You two are amazing and wonderful people. You’re my family.”

  “I feel the same way.”

  “So I’m grateful to Travis; he gave me purpose and helped me to find two people who have helped me survive this fucked-up world. But now we have these children. They need us, and you know what they give me? They give me purpose, a purpose greater than finding Travis. I now know what this was all about. Travis started this quest, but it was so I could be here with you and Bri to help save these children. I can’t think of a greater thing than that. This is my new purpose, and I hope that you’re in this with me till the end.”

  Tess’s speech hit him. Holding back from allowing his emotions to flow, he simply answered, “I’m in till the end.”

  She reached out, took his hand and squeezed it. “Thank you.”

  “So how are we going to save these kids?”

  “Something else I’m grateful that Travis gave me is knowledge and training. So with respect to him, I’ll quote one of his favorite sayings, ‘The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.’”

  “So we’ll outsmart them?”

  “That’s right. It worked for us in Reed, and it’ll work here.”

  “And like in Reed, it doesn’t hurt to have a .50 caliber to help say fuck you,” Devin joked.

  “No, it doesn’t.” She laughed. “C’mon, Dev, let’s go find where these assholes live so we can get these kids back.”

  Brianna and the kids watched Devin and Tess as they strolled along the road. She wondered what they were talking about, but suspected it had to do with finding the older children but done at a distance in case they had any further disagreements. By their body language she could see Tess was emotional and Devin was for the most part reserved. When she heard them laughing accompanied by a buoyant stride, she felt at ease. The increase in their combative behavior towards each other had reached a tipping point for her. She was tired of hearing it and demanded they stop, specifically in front of the young children.

  Tess walked up, a slight grin upon her face and a glow about her. “Everyone gather around.”

  The kids rushed from the top of the stairs down to the driveway and encircled her.

  Devin took a seat on the hook of the Humvee and awaited Tess’s briefing.

  “As you know, we’re committed to finding your brothers and sisters, but in order for us to begin, we need to know where they might be. So raise your hand if you have an idea of where they were taking them.”

  Alex was the first to raise his hand.

  “Yes, Alex,” Tess said.

  “I heard one guy mention the farm.”

  “Okay, the farm, that’s clue number one. Anything else?” Tess asked.

  The kids looked at each other, hoping for an answer.

  Brady blurted out, “I heard the same thing.”

  “So the farm, that’s what we have,” Tess said.

  “Tess, did you ever search the truck?” Devin asked.

  “No, let’s do that.”

  Devin and Tess went to the truck and began to inspect it. She pulled everything from the glove box and center console. He took out every piece of trash he could find on the floorboards, under the seat and thrown on the dash. Once they finished, they stood over the heap of papers and garbage.

  Many of the kids volunteered to help but were rebuffed. Tess and Devin needed to ensure that every item was examined, and to do so meant they had to keep control of everything.

  Morning turned to afternoon as they attempted to decipher each item. When they finished, three things stuck out, a local map with circles, a set of keys and the registration for the truck.

  “Looks like we have a lot of places to go recon,” Tess said, referring to the dozen circles on the map and the address on the registration.

  “I’d see if the address corresponds with one of the circles,” Devin commented.

  “Exactly, but these keys, they’re not house keys or car keys. What are they?” she asked, holding up the keys. One was a brass Schlage door key. The other was unidentifiable; it was small and stainless with a black rubber end.

  “Well, the brass key is for a door. The other, not sure, a locker of some type?” Devin said.

  “The key chain, does this large rope ball mean anything to you?” Tess asked.

  “Nop
e, looks like a big rope ball. I don’t think anything specific when I see it.”

  “Alex referenced a farm. Besides the address from his regs, we need to see if one of these circles is a farm. I’m betting that if one is, then that’s where the kids are.”

  “I don’t see a Blackthorn Street marked on the map anywhere, so the registration address doesn’t jive,” Devin said, his eyes focused on the city street map.

  “I guess we need to plot the routes and do this the hard way, go from one circle to the next,” Tess said.

  Devin looked up into the early afternoon sky then to her and said, “There’s no better time than now.”

  “You and me, Bri stays to hold the fort down?” Tess asked instead of stating.

  “Nice of you to ask,” Devin remarked.

  “Just trying to hold up my end of the peace treaty.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get our gear and get going,” Devin said with a smile.

  Pine Bluffs, Wyoming

  Lori slowly opened her bloodshot eyes and panned them across the room, from right to left and back. Blinking heavily, she hoped to clear her blurred vision. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she focused on where she was. It was a small bedroom, and by the way it was decorated, it was a child’s room. On the wall were posters of superheroes, and dangling from the eggshell-colored ceiling were models of jets and spaceships. She wondered what time it was. Looking for any sign of the time, she found a digital clock on the nightstand, but it had long since stopped working. The blinds were drawn tight, but enough light crept in from the outside to help her see. Unsure of where she was or when it was, she rested back into the bed and tried to remember any details.

  As she searched her memory, she soon found the exact moment and then remembered her last vision, the man reaching for her on the ground. The image frightened her, not because she was afraid he had hurt her but that he might have raped her. She quickly tossed the blanket and sheets off her and found that she was dressed in a nightgown. She pulled it up and discovered she was wearing panties that weren’t hers. Her panic grew as she discovered more and more new things. She pulled down her underwear and examined herself. Everything seemed fine, no bruising or abrasions, and she didn’t feel any pain from her groin. This gave her comfort, but she still wished she could remember what had happened to her after she had blacked out. She reached up with her right hand and touched a bandage on her head. Strange, she thought, that someone would find her snooping around their property and after she hurts herself they take her in and bandage her up. It wasn’t impossible for people to be kind, it’s just that she hadn’t experienced much of it since the outbreak.

  Across the room sat a small brown cushioned chair. Lying on the seat were her clothes, folded neatly. On the floor in front of the chair were her backpack and boots. On the small dresser next to the chair, she saw items from her pockets; however, noticeably missing were her knife and pistol. It made sense, whoever had taken her in didn’t know who she was and therefore couldn’t trust her. She didn’t like that her weapons were gone, but she would have done the exact same thing.

  She was about to get up when a light tapping at the door stopped her. She got back in the bed, covered herself up, and responded, “Yes.”

  “Are you decent?” a female voice asked.

  “Yes.”

  The glass door handle clicked and turned. The white five-panel door slowly opened.

  Lori sat erect in the bed. Her anticipation was running high on who would appear from the other side.

  A young woman, approximately in her mid-twenties, stuck her head in and asked, “Are you awake? Can I come in and check your bandage or get you anything?”

  Lori’s instincts told her to be grateful and sweet. The old adage of winning people over with honey versus vinegar was going to be her approach. “Hi, please come in.”

  The woman did just that and fully stepped into the room. “You hungry?”

  “I’m not terribly hungry, but can you answer some questions for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Where am I?”

  The young woman was shy and had a hard time making eye contact with Lori. Her thick brown hair was worn like most women post-outbreak, pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her clothes, jeans and a sweater, were clean and in good condition.

  “You’re in my house.”

  “Where is that? What town am I in?”

  “Pine Bluffs but we now call it Hope on the account that this place is a sign of hope for all wandering and lost souls,” she said, reciting a line from the town’s new charter.

  “Hope, yes, I saw a sign on the road miles back.”

  “Oh, was that your minivan, the blue one we found on the road abandoned?”

  Lori’s eyes grew large with the question; she hesitated to answer but again thought it best to provide what information she could. “Yes, that was mine; the gas tank had a leak.”

  “How’s your head?”

  Lori reached up and touched the bandage again. “Good, I suppose. There was a man; I think he might have brought me here.”

  “That’s my daddy.”

  “Am I free to leave?” Lori asked, now probing to pinpoint her status.

  “Of course, you can leave anytime. Your clothes are right there.”

  “And my weapons?”

  “We gave them to the magistrate; he holds onto them.”

  “I see. Did your father tell you where he found me?”

  “Yes, at his old workshop.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yes, that’s what he told me. Is there more?”

  “No, I was lost, looking for—”

  The woman interrupted her and said, “No need to explain. You’re safe with us. We’re here to help.”

  Lori felt an odd feeling about the woman and the town. She kept running the same question through her mind, ‘What kind of place is so nice?’ It just didn’t add up. Every other person or group they had encountered hadn’t been so. Why was this place different?

  “How about that food?” the woman asked.

  “Sure.”

  The woman went to leave, but Lori stopped her. “Excuse me; I didn’t get your name.”

  “Sorry, how rude of me. My name is Tiffany.”

  “My name is Lori, thank you.”

  Tiffany left the room and gently closed the door, leaving Lori to ponder her situation.

  Lori jumped out of bed and went to the window. She pulled the curtains back. The sun was still high in the sky, but what day was it? The view from the window gave her some information on her location. She was in a first-floor room that faced the backyard. The wind was blowing the clothes and linen on the line in the yard. An old swing set lay rusted and broken in the far corner of a six-foot wooden fence line. Beyond that open fields stretched as far as she could see, and in the far distance an old power transmission line stood looking like a relic from a time gone by.

  Thoughts of Travis came, and she wondered where he was and if he was even alive. Needing to know, she would have to navigate her current development with care.

  A tap at the door drew her back. She said, “Come in.”

  Like before the door opened slowly, but this time it wasn’t Tiffany. It was the large man she’d seen before her fall. Startled that it was him, Lori hurried to the bed and climbed in. “I thought you were Tiffany.”

  “Sorry to startle you, not my intention,” the man said as he stood just inside the doorway.

  “Thank you for helping me,” Lori said.

  “You’re welcome. I felt bad about scaring you at the workshop. I seem to be good at that. Twice in one day.”

  Lori saw tenderness in the man’s hazel eyes. His bulky and muscular stature was at odds with his soft-spoken demeanor.

  “You’re probably curious what I was doing there?” Lori asked.

  “I’m sure you had good reason.”

  “Excuse me, Dad,” Tiffany said holding a large tray in her hands.

  “Go ah
ead, sweetheart,” he said, stepping to the side so she could walk in.

  Tiffany came in with the large tray.

  Lori saw a large steaming bowl of grits, but what most impressed her was the flower in the small vase.

  Tiffany placed the tray at the foot of the bed and said, “I hope you like grits with butter.”

  Lori stared in amazement at the large scoop of partially melted butter. “Where did you get butter?”

  “Oh, from the Briers’ farm,” Tiffany answered.

  “Looks great,” Lori said, her stomach responding positively to the food.

  “If you’re feeling better, the magistrate wants to meet you,” the man said.

  “So this magistrate is the leader of your town?” Lori asked, her attention still on the food, a large spoon in her hand.

  “Yes, he’s our elected leader. He’s a good man who’s given us everything.”

  “Given you everything?”

  “He’ll explain everything when you see him later,” the man said.

  Lori couldn’t resist the urge to eat; she took a heaping spoonful and blew on it.

  “Really good,” Lori said as she ate the grits. “I wasn’t the biggest fan of grits before, but this is really good. The butter is so creamy, and it’s seasoned nicely.”

  “Just salt, pepper, butter and fresh goat cheese,” Tiffany said, happy to see Lori eating and satisfied.

  “And the goat cheese is from the Briers’ farm too?” Lori asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’ll let you finish your meal. Let’s plan on leaving in an hour. The magistrate will want to see you before the trial,” the man said.

  Lori lifted her head from the bowl and asked, “Trial? Trial for what?”

  “A thief we caught last night,” the man answered.