by Rose Francis
Everyone filed down into the darkness. Cassie followed after. They were all squeezed into a dark confined space.
“I have to use the bathroom,” said Clark.
“Shut up, Clark,” Selina hissed.
“How long do we have to stay down here?” Meredith asked.
“I don’t know,” said Neil. “Until they’re gone.”
“I’d hoped to scavenge this town, but as soon as they fly over, we should get out of here,” said Rafe.
“How do we know they are even interested in us?” asked Clark.
The pack went silent. Cassie’s face burned in the darkness. She knew she was the reason they were here, and she knew they were after her.
“The aliens are working with Pyramid Corporation. They’re tracking us.”
“They’re tracking Cassie, you mean,” said Clark.
“That’s enough, Clark,” said Neil, although his voice was gentle and understanding. Cassie shrunk back into a corner as far as she could go.
“They want her for that breeding program.”
“Just shut up, Clark,” said Rafe, a warning tone in his voice.
The group fell silent as they waited out the ship above. After what seemed like a millennium, Rafe announced he was going up to check. Several moments later, the basement door creaked open.
“It’s all clear,” Rafe said from the top of the stairs. The pack sighed in relief as they made their way back to the first floor of the house. They busied themselves with rolling up their blankets and packing everything in the cars.
Meredith went to open the back of the car with the food, but Rafe shut the door on her.
“We can’t stop for breakfast. We need to keep moving.”
There were whispered grumbles of protest as the group piled into the four SUVs. Cassie sat in the backseat of Rafe’s SUV, letting Selina take the front. She didn’t enjoy sitting next to Clark, but she also wanted to give someone else a turn sitting in front.
She gripped her guns in her lap as Rafe pulled out of the driveway of the house.
“Why are you carrying your guns around like that?” Clark asked her with a weird look on his pale face.
“Because I don’t want to be caught without them ever again.” She didn’t look at him but gazed out the window.
“Check you out. Suddenly you’re super warrior. Three days ago I kicked your butt in the practice ring.” He laughed.
“Would you like to go again?” She turned her head and stared at him directly in the eye.
“I wouldn’t,” said Rafe, humor in his voice.
“I’ve seen her with a sword and a gun. She shot the dragon, you jackass. You don’t want to challenge her,” said Selina looking into the backseat through the rearview mirror.
“How did you get so good all the sudden?”
“Years of practice,” she muttered, slumping down in her seat.
Clark left her alone after that. They drove through the small town and onto the open highway. The landscape had flattened into vast scrub brush plains, broken only by red rock outcroppings. They were completely exposed in this kind of environment. If the vampires found them, they’d be toast.
“How much further is it to your fallout shelter?” asked Cassie from the backseat. A growing sense of dread had overtaken her since she spotted the spacecraft that morning.
“One more day’s drive. Maybe less. My bunker is south of Tuscan. We’re pretty low on fuel as it is. We won’t make it further.”
Chapter Nineteen
They stopped for lunch at an abandoned town on the border into New Mexico. They parked the SUVs in a parking lot near the town’s center under the shade of a few tall poplars. Heat radiated up from the pavement. It would only get worse. The temperature had slowly been rising ever since they’d descended from the mountains.
Cassie surveyed the town, holding her hand over her eyes to shade them from the glare. Meredith opened the tailgate of the SUV with the rest of their food and got out the cook stove that ran on fuel. She and Steven began frying cornmeal pancakes in a cast iron pan.
“You can fan out and scavenge the town until lunch is done. Go in pairs. Be back in thirty minutes,” said Rafe. Cassie began to wander off by herself. Not caring if she went in a pair. She had one gun tucked in her back waistband and the other gripped in her right hand. She’d take out anyone or anything that came close to her. She noticed a sporting goods store down the street from where they’d parked and marched straight toward it. She needed a holster for her guns.
Selina trotted up beside Cassie. Selina’s face lightened with a smile. “Hey, I’ll come with you. Do you mind putting my clothes in your backpack? I’m going to shift, even though it’s damn hot to hunt right now.”
Cassie nodded and stood like a statue while Selina stripped off her clothing in the middle of the street. The older girl contorted, quickly shifting shape into the form of a massive gray wolf. Cassie drew the side of her lip back into her cheek and shoved Selina’s clothing in her backpack.
“I’m going to that sporting goods store. Maybe you can find a rat.”
Selina panted, her brown eyes flashing. Another giant gray wolf trotted by going in a similar direction. Cassie recognized it as Rafe. The pack needed meat, and all their meat had been blown up in the altercation with the dragon. Selina caught up with Rafe and scurried off toward a scent they’d picked up. So much for pairs.
Cassie continued toward the store down the middle of the dusty main street, under the heat of the merciless sun. When she made it to the store, she found the glass windows completely intact. She tried the door, and it was still locked. Weird. None of the towns she had been through had survived the scavenging mutants who’d lived after the war. She gripped her gun by the barrel and smashed the door’s glass with the hilt. The crashing sound of breaking glass echoed down the empty street.
She reached around and unlocked the door from the inside then twisted the knob to let herself in. She stepped through a massive spider web and swatted at it until she’d rubbed the nuisance from her face. Blinking into the darkness, she looked around the small store.
A smile crept over her lips. On the back wall, there were more guns. Before she made it to the small arsenal, she passed a rack of leather shoulder holsters. She grabbed one that looked her size and slipped it on. It fit perfectly when she cinched it up. After she slipped her guns into the holsters under her arms, she continued to inspect the store.
She found a holster for a long knife that would hang around her waist. She put it on and chose one of the knives from the back of the room. Now she felt ready.
There was a howl from the street. Cassie whipped her head around, looking for the source of the howl. She jogged to the front of the store, peering through the window.
Looking in the direction of the convoy, all she saw was Meredith and Steven cooking cornmeal pancakes. When she looked the other direction, she saw a Rafe naked helping Selina limp naked down the street.
Cassie ran outside toward them.
“What happened? Are they here?”
“Zombies. Up the street. Coming this way,” Rafe panted. Cassie looked behind Selina and Rafe to see a horde of zombies slumping down the quiet main street.
Rafe lifted Selina into his arms, and he and Cassie broke into a run back to the cars. He put Selina in the car, pulled on his boots, and drew his sword before heading back toward the zombies. Neil and the other hunters were beside him, armed and ready.
The zombies were on them before they could even get the cooking stove back inside the car. Meredith and Steven threw the hot cooking oil on the boiling pavement and hustled to get everything packed up.
The horde lunged toward the hunters. The hunters swung their practiced swords and decapitated the first zombies to come at them. Cassie shot at the oncoming zombies, aiming directly into their eye sockets. This tactic seemed to slow them considerably; eventually the blinded zombies sank to their knees and died.
The battle waged hot while the hunt
ers sliced into the undead horde. Meredith screamed from behind them that they’d packed up their precious food and cook stove. Cassie fell back, bullets still flying. She covered the hunters as they withdrew to jump into the waiting cars. Clark had the lead SUV running when Cassie and Rafe jumped inside. Selina was sprawled on the backseat, a massive bite wound in her thigh.
Clark gunned it out of the parking lot, and the rest of the convoy followed.
“We should have known. We should have smelled them,” Rafe admonished himself.
“They were downwind,” Selina said through gritted teeth. The wound bled profusely onto the plush gray upholstery on the backseat. Selina whimpered. The wound looked as if it was already beginning to fester.
“What’s wrong with her?” Cassie said frantically.
“The zombie bite leaves an infection. It’s bad. We need medicine, or she won’t make it.”
“The only ones who have the medicine are witches,” Clark said under his breath.
“I know,” said Rafe.
Selina moaned loudly, and Clark zoomed down the highway.
Chapter Twenty
Cassie helped Selina pull a long T-shirt over her head while Rafe tied her upper thigh with a tight rope. Selina screamed in pain as Rafe poured hydrogen peroxide over the bleeding gash. Cassie gripped Selina’s hand while Rafe wrapped her leg with sterile gauze. Selina’s eyes fluttered closed, and her body went limp as she lost consciousness.
“Where are we going?” Clark asked from the driver’s seat.
“Just keep on until we come to highway 40, and then take a right. The witches are just past the New Mexico/Arizona boarder.”
Rafe wiped the blood from his hands and pulled his clothes back on. Cassie watched Selina’s breathing. It was shallow and labored. Even with the rope tied around her thigh, her veins were becoming visibly green along the edge of her hip.
“How long does she have?”
“A few hours, maybe a day.”
Rafe woke Selina every half an hour to offer her water. After she’d drunk her fill, she promptly passed out again. When the convoy made it to the main highway, they turned west, headed toward Arizona and the coven of witches who were Selina’s only hope.
Cassie’s stomach tied in knots. Something told her that she’d find answers with the witches, answers she didn’t want to hear.
They passed through a small city along the highway, just a few miles from the boarder. Cassie looked across the desert to the south over Rafe’s shoulder. Far out on the horizon, she could see the disk-shaped spacecraft.
“Clark, pull off the highway, now,” Cassie said.
“What?” Rafe grumbled.
Cassie silently pointed behind him out the window. He pivoted his head, his eyes growing wide.
“Do it, Clark. We need to get underground. Fast.”
“How do they keep finding you?” Clark yelled.
“I don’t know. Just get off the road!” Cassie’s voice was frantic.
“Do it, Clark,” Rafe commanded.
Clark pulled off the highway and headed for the largest building he could find. The convoy parked in front of a cultural center. They ran for the front door, which hung open. The rest of the pack followed them. Rafe carried Selina’s slumped body in his arms.
Inside the dim building, Cassie searched her mind for the basement. She could sense there was one, but she couldn’t find the door. Neil kicked a door open at the back of a hallway of offices.
“Here,” he called. The pack followed him down the narrow staircase into the cool, musty confines of the basement.
Selina moaned in Rafe’s arms. She was fading fast. Cassie held her wrist and felt her weak heartbeat. This was all her fault. She should offer herself back to the aliens.
“I’m going to see if they’re gone,” Neil said.
He jogged up the stairs. Everything was still and quiet except for the close sound of people breathing. Something was wrong. Neil was taking too long.
A gunshot broke the silence. Cassie jumped.
“It’s Pyramid Soldiers,” Cassie whispered. “I should turn myself in. It’s me they want. I’m the cause of all this.”
“No,” said Rafe. “I’m not abandoning you to those monsters. We fight. Clark, stay with Selina. The rest of you, I hope you’re armed.”
“We are,” said one of the hunters.
“This is what we trained for. Two groups. One goes left; the other goes right. Let’s go.”
Cassie followed Rafe up the stairs. The pack broke into two groups to cover both sides of the building. Rafe’s group found Neil standing near the front window peering on and off out the shattered glass.
They ducked to the sides. Cassie took a quick look through the window. A squadron of Pyramid soldiers approached their position.
“We can’t keep running,” Cassie said, almost pleading to some higher power.
“We fight,” said Rafe, determination in his voice.
They were outnumbered two to one. All the pack’s ammunition was in the cars. There was no way to win this fight, and Rafe knew it. He was leading his people on a suicide mission.
Cassie jumped from her place on the floor and ran out the front door, her guns trained on the Pyramid leader. She walked confidently toward him, her guns held high, ignoring the sound of Rafe’s protests behind her.
She knew they wouldn’t shoot her. They wanted her body, for whatever demented reason. She was not going to allow their disgusting breeding program to destroy her friends. When she was within hearing range, she stopped and smiled at them.
“What do you want?” she asked the man who was obviously their leader. He stood over six feet five inches tall, his broad muscled body straining the blue Pyramid Corporation military uniform. The Pyramid symbol was emblazoned in gold on his chest, and the sun glinted off his bald elongated skull.
“Come with us, woman.”
“No thanks. I don’t think you want me for your rape program. I know what you’re doing.”
“That’s not a problem. Your memories can be wiped like a baby’s runny nose,” he said, laughing. His shoulders shook as he chuckled at the idea of stealing her memories again.
Cassie aimed and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. Exactly where she’d meant it to hit. No matter how disgusted she was, she couldn’t kill someone in cold blood, even if he did work for the vampire aliens.
A bullet whizzed toward her, and she whirled around to avoid it.
“Hold your fire!” screamed the bleeding leader. “We need her alive. Seize her!”
A group of five men came at Cassie from the front. She trained her guns on them, waiting for them to make a move before she shot. She could sense a group was pulling around from the back.
“Cassie, behind you!” She could hear Rafe’s voice as he and Neil opened fire on the advancing men. She wanted to avoid a firefight. She was so tired of death.
The hunters surrounded the men who’d advanced on Cassie from behind. The ones approaching from the front had their guns aimed at the hunters behind her.
“Can’t we work this out like civilized people?” she asked sarcastically, buying herself time.
“Civilization is dead. It is the time of the Anu. Drop your gun and come like a good little breeder.”
“What did you call me?” She was incensed. Her anger nearly clouded her mind with rage. White-hot fury barreled through her brain. She wanted to pull the trigger and shoot him between the eyes. Her fingers itched on the trigger.
A soft voice in the front of her brain whispered to her. She could barely hear it over the clanging of rage that beat in time with her pounding heart.
“Let your feelings through, Cassie,” the voice repeated behind her eyes. What did it mean?
Frustration and anger built. The group of men lunged at her, gripping her arms and making her drop her weapons. Their physical strength was far greater than hers.
“Let your feelings through.” It was her mother’s voice inside
her mind.
Cassie groaned with rage, letting everything she’d suppressed since the war tumble out of her in one expression of emotion. A shockwave emanated from her core, knocking the soldiers backward and flying through the air.
Sudden understanding channeled through her consciousness. Energy funneled down through the top of her head and up through the bottoms of her feet to pool in her solar plexus. She lifted her arms and directed the energy from her core at the squadron parked in front of her where the leader still stood, slack-jawed with surprise. She let the energy blare forth from within, blasting against the enemy.
The entire squadron blew backwards. Vehicles skidded across the parking lot as if blown by a tornado. She didn’t know how many she might have killed or if she’d killed any at all. The power seemed to be channeled through her from an external source.
She bent to pick up her guns, her emotions quiet after the storm. She strode past the bloody broken bodies of the soldiers the hunters had shot down.
Cassie saw Rafe. She wanted to fall into his arms, but his wide eyes and open mouth made her turn around. The spacecraft hovered above the visitor center. A beam of light shone down on the parking lot, and a being materialized before her.
The tall, white figure with long thin fingers and a pointed elongated head glided toward Cassie. She could feel its fingers inside her mind, massaging away her memories and the power of her emotions. Hell no!
She lifted her Glock and shot it between the eyes. It wheezed, whirling backward toward the beam to disappear into the ship. The pack piled into the SUVs. Steven carried Selina and placed her inside the backseat of Rafe’s car.
“She’s getting worse by the minute,” Clark said, his voice quivering.
The spacecraft hovered above them a moment longer and then seemed to retract before it shot impossibly fast through the sky to disappear.
Cassie stood watching where it had gone. She sighed, holstering her guns.
“Cassandra! Come on!” Rafe shouted from the driver’s seat of the car.
She ran over to the passenger seat and hopped inside. Clark was giving Selina a drink of water through her discolored lips. She did not look good. Not at all.
