by Anson Barber
That was worth noting. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“I’ll be inspecting cargo at the first gate after ten, so you won’t have any problems there. After that you’re on your own.”
Since I was still good on time I went looking for Corey. I found him pretty quickly, hanging around the hotel I’d dropped him off at.
“Dillon!” He seemed happy to see me which made me feel slightly better.
“I brought you something.” I held out a portable video game that I’d purchased at one of my stops. Nothing fancy, an old DS, but I didn’t want him flashing anything too expensive around.
His black eyes grew wide with excitement. People were usually taken aback by the Haunts solid black eyes, saying they looked demonic or inhuman, but there were still human emotions behind them if you cared enough to look.
Corey’s eyes were now flashing around nervously. “I’d better not take this. It’ll just get stolen.”
“Take it and hide it. Play it when you’re alone. And if someone takes it, I’ll bring you another.” I shrugged like it was no big deal.
“Thanks, Dillon.” The smile was back, taking over his face.
“Want to go for a ride? I need to check on someone.”
“Where to?”
“Nags Head.”
“Okay.”
He jumped in the van and began playing with his game right away.
“So?” he said, not looking up.
“So what?”
“So are you going to tell me what the hell happened with that Bug? I saw you on the news!”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that!” He lowered his voice to mock me. “Were you scared?”
I looked at him like he was mad. “Of course I was. I was terrified.”
“I figured. I just wanted to see if you’d ’fess up to it.” His grin was crooked as he turned his attention back to the game.
I shook my head not knowing why I needed to say it. “Who wouldn’t be scared?”
“How did you get away? When the Bug grabbed me up I was running as fast as I could, but its legs were taller than me so it had me in like two strides.”
“She was bigger than a regular bug. More mass. I think it slowed her down. Plus, I had a flare. It provided a distraction.” I didn’t want to mention she was a queen and probably was used to food being brought to her. I doubted that had been made public yet.
“Do you think it’s true what people are saying?”
“Probably not. People are stupid,” I said with a smirk. “What are they saying?”
“That it’s possible for us to turn into a Bug.”
“No. That’s ridiculous,” I dismissed the comment with a wave of my hand, but the truth was I had no idea. I just didn’t want him to be scared. “So how have things been here?” I looked at the mark above his eye as I changed the subject. The wound had healed, but there was still a telltale black line where it had been that would take longer to fade.
He pointed at it. “You mean this?” He shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just a disagreement over changing the channel in the common room. You were on the news. No way was I missin’ it!” He shook it off.
I looked down at the game I’d given him. Maybe it would get him into trouble.
When I parked near Emery’s hotel he slid the game under the seat.
We got out and began walking along the sidewalk. Most people spent the night out walking and taking care of things. The rooms were just for sleeping. I guess if you spent so much time being confined by the sun you would want to be outside as much as possible.
I spotted Emery walking up the street in our direction. Perfect.
I had told Mr. Mitchell that Emery wouldn’t look like her photo, but I was still a bit surprised to see her. Her skin was pale and her hair had gone limp and straight, like the life had gone out of it.
Regardless, she was still very attractive and the way she carried herself made her seem confident as well. I took a breath.
This is a job. I’m a professional. She turned to greet someone and her hair fell across her face. I wished I was close enough to brush it out of her eyes.
I shook my head and focused. “Hey, kid, can you help me with something?” I asked.
“Sure, cuz.” He didn’t even ask what it was. His easy trust worried me. Did he trust everyone so easily?
“See the blonde girl walking on the other side of the street?” I was already looking in her direction and noticed a security guard following her, checking her out. He saw me watching and looked away.
Corey played it cool, pretending to fix his shirt while he glanced over his shoulder. I wondered if she was aware of all the men watching her. Probably. She seemed cautious. Corey nodded with a smirk.
“You like her?” he teased. “Want me to talk you up? Be your wingman?”
“No. She’s a doctor. Do you think you could go ask her a medical question and keep her occupied for about ten minutes without making it seem like you’re trying to keep her occupied for ten minutes?”
“Sure. Ten minutes?” he repeated and I nodded. “Okay. Right now?”
“Yes. I’ll meet you back at the corner when you’re done.”
“All right.” He started across the street in her direction. I saw the guard with the dark crew cut look my way, but kept walking.
Making the best use of my short window of time, I went upstairs immediately.
“Booby traps!” I muttered as I stood in the empty corridor in front of her door. I could only imagine what they might be.
I swiped the card and when the light turned green I swung the door open widely while standing to the side out of the way.
After a few seconds I flipped on the light and looked around. I noticed the first trap immediately. It was on a cord that could only be attached to the door knob when she was inside. I’d heard of less scrupulous guards helping themselves to whatever they wanted during the day. This must have been for them. I would look out for that, for sure. It looked rather painful.
I looked in the bathroom directly inside the door to the right. There was a pillow and blankets in the tub.
She slept the in the bathroom, no doubt with the door locked. It wasn’t unusual for Haunts to stop being concerned about comfort when it came to sleep—they passed out regardless of their accommodations—but this spoke more about her not feeling safe in her own apartment, key card lock or not.
I quickly disabled the lock on the bathroom door. Then I saw the small car battery, most likely from a golf cart. The leads were off, lying on the floor like tired snakes for the moment. It looked like she hooked the battery up to the knob once she was inside the bathroom. It wasn’t hard to disable the setup but make it look like it would still make a complete circuit. Unless she tested the knob each night she wouldn’t know.
Moving into the rest of the room, I saw the walls were covered with letters, equations and symbols. Written with a hasty kind of desperation I could see hidden beneath the professional block script.
I had no idea what any of it meant, but I found it beautiful in a way. Frantic, but beautiful. Like a burst of scientific creativity spread across a giant canvas.
There was a cabinet full of vials and a table seemed to have been set up for experimentation. I saw some tripwires connected here and there, barely visible, but didn’t bother to disable anything. This was probably the reason for the break-ins. Someone probably saw all this getting moved in when she was put in general population and assumed it would be worth money to someone.
I carefully backed out after I inspected the rest of the room and found no more hidden surprises, leaving behind no evidence of my visit.
My heart relaxed as I got to the end of the hall and waited for the elevator, feeling pretty good about myself. When the doors opened I jumped as Emery got off.
I mumbled an
apology for almost knocking her over and shuffled inside. She looked at me and I tried to hide my surprise as I smiled and nodded to her before pressing the button to the lobby.
Emery offered a slight smile. She didn’t seem suspicious, I wasn’t infected and I wasn’t a guard. I could have been visiting anyone. There were probably fifteen other rooms on this floor.
Corey was waiting at the corner as planned.
“Talking to someone for ten whole minutes was harder than I thought. I ran out of things to say.”
“It’s okay. You did fine.”
“Are you going to tell me what you’re up to?”
“It’s better if I didn’t.”
“So the DS is to pay for my silence?” He smiled and nudged my arm.
“The DS is for you regardless. Our friendship pays for your silence,” I explained.
He nodded as we went back to the van. “Fair enough. It’s not like I’d rat out family.”
Once we got inside I figured I should tell him something. “You should know, it might be a while until I’m back again. Maybe a few months.” If everything went according to plan, of course. If it went wrong I’d be in jail. I didn’t share those details.
“All right,” Corey said. “Can I still call you?”
“Of course. I’m going to drop you off at your place and go down to the beach for a while. You’ll be okay?”
“Yeah. Can I have this bag?” he asked, while pointing at a white grocery bag tucked in beside his seat. I nodded and he put his new game inside. He wrapped it around a couple of times to distort the contents.
“Don’t get hurt over that. If someone threatens you, just give it up. I’d rather replace it.”
“Thanks, Dillon. It was nice to hang out with you and become an accomplice. I felt like I was helping you set up a heist.”
I smiled a bit. He wasn’t too far off the mark. “Maybe next time I can hang out longer, but I need to get going.”
He nodded. “You be careful out there. You’re the only family I have left. If you were a cat you would be down to eight lives, and I don’t think you’re a cat.”
“I’ll remember that.” I laughed. “Take care of yourself, kid. You’re the only family I have too.”
“I’ll try.”
Once he was inside I drove back down to the beach and parked. I went for a walk across the sand. The sun was turning the sky a pale pink, hinting at what the day would become. Not that I would see much of it. Thankfully I didn’t see any Haunts waiting for the sun for more final reasons.
Emery Mitchell would be asleep by now. Hopefully the last time she would need to sleep in her bathtub.
I gave myself an hour to relax and mentally prepare, then got up to go back to Feather Cliffs. The twelve hour siren had already gone off. No Haunts would be up to see what I was doing, just the occasional human patrol. They were the ones I had to watch out for.
I parked in the back by the entrance to the pool and picked up a UV protective wrap and a duffel bag.
This was it.
I rode up on the elevator, thinking it was better to save my strength since I would be carrying an adult down three flights of stairs to the back door. Just in case security dropped by.
When I stepped out onto her floor I saw no one, so I darted to her room.
I fumbled with the key card, but eventually the green light lit up. After testing the door handle, I threw the door open, standing safely to the side.
As expected, the ceiling grate covered with sharpened playing darts swung down, intending to impale me. I waited until the grate stopped swinging and then unhooked the device, setting it to the side before entering.
The room looked the same as it had a few hours earlier except the bathroom door was shut.
I went to her dresser, opened the duffel bag I’d brought and dumped her clothes inside. Mostly T-shirts and jeans. Some of her panties fell out on the bed and I pretended not to notice as I shoved them back in the bag. This was a job.
The notes on the walls seemed to move as I flashed back and forth from the dresser to the bed. I couldn’t help but stare at them again. I wondered how much progress she’d made on her own here, even with this primitive setup.
I took a moment to record them with my phone just in case. Down at the bottom of one wall, the clinical writing stopped and there was a drawing of a tombstone with Emery’s name written on it. I guess the pressure was getting to her.
With the battery trap disabled, the bathroom door opened effortlessly, and there she was. Sleeping in the tub like an angel.
Well, like a pale, sickly angel who would most likely try to claw my eyes out if she knew I was there, but an angel nevertheless. A strand of her hair crossed her cheek and I stopped myself from brushing it away.
“Hi, Emery. I’m Dillon. I know you only have my word on this, but I’m a nice guy,” I told her. “Please don’t claw my eyes out later. I’m rather attached to them.” I hoped my message would penetrate her subconscious.
I pulled out a few things from her medicine cabinet and put them in the duffel bag, hanging it across my chest before I covered her with the UV enclosure. I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder like I was moving a carpet.
She was light, as I’d expected. I checked the hall and when I saw no one, I made a break for the stairs.
The trip down was easier since gravity was on my side. I looked around the street before making a run to my van, no patrols driving by. I laid her down in the open safe box and locked it up after trying to make her somewhat comfortable.
The deed accomplished, I looked around again nervously, sure someone would have seen something, but no. Still no patrols, thank goodness.
I casually got in the driver’s seat, only then noticing how quickly my heart was beating.
“Calm down, Dill,” I said to myself as I pulled out on the main road. “You haven’t even made it to the gate yet.”
I stopped at the visitor’s center and signed out after chatting with Tina for a moment like I normally would, wanting to keep my routine the same.
After stopping at the machine for candy, I continued on to the first gate.
I held my hand out and the guard with a dark buzz cut put my finger in the blood testing machine while Rick checked out the back of my van.
“I saw you checking out the sexy blonde,” buzz cut mentioned. Bill, according to his name badge.
Had he seen me take her? My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my ears. I recognized him as the guard who had been following Emery in Feather Cliffs.
“For a small fee I can get you into her room. They don’t say no when they’re sleeping.” He smiled and nodded in the general direction of her hotel.
It took every bit of self-control I could muster not to reach through the open window and throttle him. There were times when I thought humans were even more disgusting and terrifying than the Bugs. At least with Bugs you always knew where you stood, even if it was bottom of the food chain.
“Uh. No, thank you,” I said.
“You like ’em awake, huh?” He laughed like there was something wrong with me.
“And willing.” My disgust seeped through slightly.
“Good luck with that.” He shrugged it off as Rick came around and gave the van the all clear.
“Okay, well you have a nice day,” said Bill.
“Thanks.” I couldn’t say the same thing in return. I’d prefer a meteor to fall out of the sky and strike him dead.
My anger kept me from being too anxious. I was past the third gate and out in the real world before I calmed down enough to remember what I was doing.
What was going on in there? Was that the real reason Emery had her doors booby-trapped? It made me want to go back and get Corey out too. How would I ever be able to take anyone else back there if things were getting this bad?
> All those thoughts were swimming around in my sleepy head as I drove for the next few hours. I needed to stop and get some rest.
I pulled into the motel I had been to earlier driving in, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the girl in my van.
What had she gone through at OBX? Was she going to believe me when I told her where we were going? Was she really the key to saving everyone still trapped back there?
I took a shower, wanting to clean more than my skin. It would have been nice if the lukewarm water could have cleansed my mind too.
Exhaustion helped clear my thoughts of anything but the bed. I slept so deeply I barely realized the phone was ringing for my wake up call.
“Hello?” I answered, afraid that something was wrong.
“This is your complimentary wake-up call. The current time is—”
I hung up on the automated message. I could have easily slept for another hour or so, but I didn’t want Emery waking up in the back of my van with me unable to explain.
I got dressed and picked up a cheeseburger and coffee at the Burger King next door. Cheeseburger for breakfast. Breakfast in the late afternoon. What a life.
Not wanting to have to stop after she woke, I stopped for gas. I hated the looks people sometimes gave me when I was fueling up when someone was screaming in the back to let them out.
I always felt like I should explain, but then someone might suggest I put them out of their misery and that would piss me off even more. Best to avoid the situation altogether.
I couldn’t imagine Emery Mitchell being calm enough to ride in the front like Corey, but I would at least give her the option.
I was planning on finding a secluded place along the highway where I could pull over. I wanted to be ready when she woke so she wouldn’t be scared for long. I spent my time rehearsing different ways to explain why she was in my van when she woke. Suave, humorous, direct.
It might have worked out better if I’d paid more attention to the time instead of what I was going to say.
I almost wrecked the van when she started pounding and screaming from the back.
“Let me out, you son of a bitch! Let me out!” The official slogan of the trapped Haunt.
