“Thank you.” He replies, before frowning and staring at the center of the table for a few seconds. “Huh?” He whispers, his eyes flicking back and forth.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Those two blue freaks you took out.”
“Yeah?”
“Their hair was jet-black, no grays, right?”
“Yeah, as black as night. Why?”
“Well, after twenty years, you’d think they’d age a bit.”
“But we don’t know anything about them, or where they came from.” I point out, and he sinks back into his chair with a sigh.
“But someone might. Somewhere.” Max says and looks out the window at the swaying grass.
We sit in silence for a few minutes, listening to the wind, and watching the grass sway. It has a calming effect.
Then the silence is broken by an engine starting outside. Something loud.
Samantha’s Harley?
“What the hell?” Max says, and we both get up and head towards the living area.
Max does a quick head count.
“Everyone’s here.” Max says before heading for the main entrance.
“Hey. That’s my bike.” Samantha shouts as she jumps to her feet.
I race to the door, open it, and step out into the darkness. The Harley’s engine is almost deafening. Whoever it is, is revving the bike.
I crouch and peer underneath the coach, in time to see the rear wheel of Sam’s Harley pull away. The door opens behind me, and Sam bangs on the side of the coach.
“You son of a bitch!” Samantha yells out as she pounds on the coach.
As I watch, the bike pulls out on to the street and turns right.
Damn it.
Then I see something blue streak by the parking lot. I quickly get up and clamp my mouth over Samantha’s mouth and pull her back inside.
“Let me go.” Samantha complains. “What the hell?”
“Shut up. I saw a blue freak.” I reply as I release her and wave Max over. “Blue devils.” I tell him.
“How many?”
“Not sure. But we need to be quiet.”
“Keep watch.” Max says and gestures for Samantha to be quiet, while I head back outside.
The rain has stopped now, but the ground is still wet. I look under the coach and check the parking lot. I can hear the Harley’s roar fading away, then there’s a blood curdling scream in the distance, then the Harley’s growl stops abruptly.
I hear some heavy footsteps coming from the street. Three tall dark forms emerge from behind some trees. They stop and look in my direction. I shield my eyes with my hands, and watch them through my fingers. Three pairs of red eyes stare at the various cars in the parking lot for a few seconds.
One of them begins to step toward one of the abandoned cars, then another pair of red eyes join them.
“Nema ništa ovdje. idemo.” One of them growls in a deep voice, before vanishing in a dark blur.
They all grunt something, then they all vanish one by one, as dark blurs racing into the darkness.
I heave a sigh of relief and lower my hand. My jacket front and jeans are soaking wet when I get up. I open the door quietly and go inside.
Max is waiting, and takes my arm and leads me into the dining area.
“How many?” He asks quietly.
“Four. They’re gone now. They headed that way.” I say and point to the east.
I see Samantha out of the corner of my eye, as she hurries over.
“Where’s my bike?” She asks angrily.
“I’m sorry. Whoever took it was attacked by one of those blue devils.”
“Shit.” She grumbles and storms off with her fists clenched.
Max clamps his hand on my shoulder. “Get some rest. We leave at first light.”
When I eventually open my eyes, I look down and find Rebecca’s sleeping form next to me. Her right arm is draped over my waist, while her face is pressed to my right arm. I gently slide to the left, and stand up slowly.
I step over Samantha’s sleeping form and head into the dining area.
The others are already up. Max, Jeremy and Jason are sitting around a square table, while Theresa and Abigail are busy making a pot of oatmeal, over a small camp fire on the tiled floor.
“Hey.” I greet them as I rub my eyes.
“Good morning.” Jeremy says sleepily.
“Looks like you got a new friend.” Jason says and smiles.
I turn and look back towards the living room area.
“I think she was just trying to get warm.” I say and shrug as I sit down. Jeremy and Jason exchange a look, then smirk.
What’s so funny?
“Mmm. That smells good.” Andrew says as he enters. He stops and stretches. “Hey, where’s the John?”
“Through the living area, out the back in the hall, take the second door on the right.” Jason says, then leans over the table toward me. “Do you like the red-head?” He asks quietly.
“She seems nice.” I say, and turn and watch Abigail stirring the steaming pot.
Max clears his throat, before unrolling a map on the table.
“To the best of my knowledge, we’re here,” he says and points to a small town on the map. “Pueblo, Colorado.”
“Those yahoos who shot at Angela, are heading south.” Jeremy says and points to an area of the map. “So we can’t go that way.”
“And those blue freaks headed east.” I say and point to the map.
“Which only leaves us with going west.” Max says and points to a town further to the west. “Richfield.”
“Utah? Shit.” Jeremy says.
“What’s wrong with Utah?” I ask as I study the map.
“Mountains. Lots of them between here and there. It’s going to get bloody cold up in those mountains, Max.” Jeremy grumbles.
“I know.” Max says, and runs a hand through his thinning blonde hair. “We’ll do another sweep as we go. Grab more clothes, blankets, anything we can find.” Max adds and closes the map.
Andrew comes back a few minutes later followed by Samantha and Rebecca. Rebecca smiles at me, while Samantha sits down, frowning. Andrew heads behind the bar and starts rummaging through the bottles.
When the oatmeal is ready, we all take a metal tin full, and chow down. I’m not sure if I like it. Bits get stuck between my teeth, and I spend the next five minutes trying to dislodge them with my tongue.
The sky is a stony gray when we get back on the road again. Samantha and Rebecca take the pick-up that Richter and his goons left us, and take up position behind Andrew’s station wagon. We stop in the suburbs, and make a quick search. Everyone’s on edge after what happened last night, so they send me into the homes by myself, while they guard the vehicles.
I go as fast as I can.
Doors burst open like they’re made of paper, as I surge through. I rifle through a dozen homes in five seconds, and lay my discoveries at the feet of Max and Jeremy each time, before zipping back to another house. After I finish the last house on the street we’re on, I head back and dump my last finds. Twenty blankets, some are made of thick wool, so they’ll be great for when it gets cold. A dozen soft pillows, and four duffel bags full of socks, underwear, pants, t-shirts and blouses.
“Okay. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Max growls, as the wind whips my long white hair into my face.
Once I load the van and climb in last, Max starts the engine.
After twenty minutes, we’re on the outskirts of Pueblo, passing an industrial area.
“Crap.” Max mutters, and I lean forward and look out the windshield.
A locomotive, broken and twisted, lies strewn across all four lanes, completely blocking the road ahead. There must be at least a hundred skeletons littering the highway and the surrounding area.
Heat rises to my cheeks and I clench my fists.
Max turns the wheel and drives off road. He crashes through a wooden fence and takes another road. The other cars follow us a
s we take a detour around the train wreck, before we head back on to the highway.
“Geez.” I gasp, when I see what’s left of a tank protruding from the ground next to the road, like it had been rammed into the dirt. The gun barrel had been broken off, and was now sticking out of the top of an armored car. But something else catches my eye.
“Hey, would you look at that.” I say and point at one of the skeletons. Only, this skeleton is twice as large as the others that lie near it. There’s hardly any flesh left on the bones, it’s been picked clean. A wild looking dog is gnawing on one of the legs.
Once we’re past and the road lies open, Max steps on the gas.
Eleven
Uprooted trees, abandoned cars and boulders the size of cows litter the narrow roads up in the mountains, which slow us down, and I have to get out and throw them out of the way. I notice a couple of giant skeletons along the way. They look like they died a long time ago.
On the second day, we finally came down to the sight of green meadows and farmlands as far as the eye can see. We stop on the edge of Richfield and make camp.
“Are you sure you don’t want a blanket?” Jason asks, while he leans in towards the campfire, wrapped in two thick blankets.
“I’m fine.” I say as I sit on the hard ground.
The air had turned bitter up in the mountains, and seemed to be following us. The sky looks extremely pale, like it’s gonna drop snow at any moment.
“I hope Nevada’s warmer.” Theresa grumbles as she wraps Abigail in her woolen blanket.
“Where is Nevada?” I ask as I sip from a bottle of water.
“Vegas is just over two hundred miles, in that direction, as the crow flies.” Max says and points over my shoulder.
I look around at everyone and shake my head.
“Okay, so can we talk about those large skeletons back there?” I say, as the others settle down around the fire.
“I know. What killed them, huh?” Max says and scratches his beard.
“Maybe they killed each other.” Andrew suggests.
“Maybe.” Max grumbles and takes a sip of water from a flask.
“Who cares? They’re dead.” Abigail says.
“Well, maybe I’m not the only one who can kill these things.” I suggest.
“You’re the only one we know who can kill them, though.” Theresa says and smiles at me.
“How did you kill them?” Samantha asks as she stare at me from across the fire.
I show her my hands.
“It happened so fast. I didn’t know what I was doing.” I say.
“You looked in control, from where I was standing.” Jason says, and passes a tin to Theresa.
I think back to that day and frown. There was something familiar about attacking those things. It’s strange, but it felt instinctive. My body seemed to know what to do even if I didn’t.
Who am I? Have I killed before?
“Hey.” Max says, and I look at him, still frowning. “We wouldn’t be sitting here right now, if you hadn’t killed them.”
“I know.” I reply, and look at my hands. The green blood and gore that covered my hands that day, it still shocks me.
“They would have killed all of us.” Abigail says, as her big blue eyes fix on mine.
I nod my head in understanding, before getting up.
“Excuse me.” I say as I walk towards a field overgrown with wheat.
I can hear them talk behind me, and focus my attention instead towards the area in front of me. The air is full of other sounds, crickets, some crows are pecking at the dirt nearby, and under the soil there is something grunting and burrowing. I gaze up at the leaden sky as I walk. A magnificent golden eagle is circling far above. I close my eyes and focus on the bird. I begin to hear the rustle of its wings, and the creature’s beak snap shut a few times, and the sound of the wind as it moves around its body and claws. I smile as I open my eyes and watch as the eagle glides effortlessly through the sky.
“Are you okay?” I hear Abigail’s voice behind me. I hear her fidget and scoop down to pick up a stone.
“No.” I reply, as a tear trickles slowly from my right eye. I continue to watch the eagle as it flies further away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where do I start?”
“Are you happy with us?”
I turn and smile sadly at her sweet face.
“Of course. It’s just, this can’t be all there is.” I say and point to the campfire. Then I turn and point up at the fleeing bird. “That’s freedom.” I add.
“We are free.” Abigail says, sounding confused.
“I don’t feel free. All I feel is dread.” I say and crouch down and scoop up a handful of dry soil. “If we get attacked by a group of those things, it’s all over.” I say and let the dirt fall through my fingers. “We don’t know where they are, or how many there are out there.” I add.
“You can’t live in fear, Angela. That’s stupid.” Abigail says and laughs at me.
“You’re really not scared at all?” I ask her and look into her big blue eyes.
“Scared of what? I wasn’t scared of you.”
“Maybe you should have been. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know enough. You protected Jeremy, and you did the same for us.”
“What else was I supposed to do?” I ask.
“You didn’t have to do anything. That’s the point. But you saved us, and then you took on those goons on the highway.” She says and steps forward and sticks one of her fingers through one of the bullet holes in my jacket.
I shiver at the memory of the guy, Richter, I think the last survivor called him. The way he shot his own men in the head like that, with no hesitation.
Why did he do that?
“Did it hurt?” Abigail asks and looks up at me as she checks another bullet hole.
I shake my head. “Truth is, I barely felt it.” I say and pick up a rock the size of a grapefruit.
“I also feel like I’m getting stronger.” I say and tighten my grip on the rock.
It explodes into tiny fragments, and I shake the dust from my hand.
“Cool.” Abigail says, and tries to crush the small stone in her hand. “Ow.” She opens her hand, and the stone has made a red mark in her palm.
I take the stone from her and crush it between my thumb and forefinger. A wolf howls in the distance, making me stand up quickly. The call is taken up by two more, but still distant.
“Let’s go back to the others.” I suggest and take her hand.
As we walk back to the campfire, another howl echoes in the distance. Abigail and I look around warily as we hear four more high-pitched howls, and we quicken our pace.
By the time we reach camp, everyone is on their feet, a weapon gripped in their hands. More howls, and these are closer.
“Damn it, how many are there?” Max growls as he holds his assault rifle up to his shoulder.
“Sounds like a dozen, at least.” Jeremy says as he steps away from the fire with a pistol in each hand.
“Go to Theresa.” I tell Abigail.
“Get in the van and close the doors.” Max tells Theresa and Samantha.
“Come on.” Samantha tells Rebecca, pulling on her arm.
Once the girls are inside, I walk up and close the doors.
“Holy shit!” Jason blurts out, and I turn to see a mass of dark forms moving across the barren ground to our left.
“Oh my god.” I gasp as I begin to count the wolves. I stop at fifteen. “Get up on the van.” I urge the men.
Max looks at the mass of dark bodies racing towards us, and looks over at Jeremy. I reach out my hand to them.
“Hurry.” I tell them.
Jason runs forward and takes my hand. I swing him up so he can grab the roof, then he pulls himself up. Andrew is next, then Jeremy.
“Max, come on.” I yell when I hear the growling and yelping.
He slings the rifle over his shoulder and takes my
hand, and I swing him up. Jeremy and Jason take his hands and pull him up, as the first wolf leaps over a large rock and bares its teeth at me.
“Go away!” I shout, but the wolf is soon joined by two dozen more.
They pile into the area, like an ocean of fur. A huge black wolf with two white front paws steps forward, baring its teeth and emitting a low growl. A single gunshot rings out above me, and the huge wolf collapses with a bullet in its head.
“No!” I scream up at them, then the wolves leap at me.
One wolf tries to bite my left arm, while another takes my right arm. One wolf goes for my legs, but after unsuccessful attempts, they all let go and whine, before turning their attention to the men on the roof of the van. Another gunshot, and another wolf is dropped.
I turn and look up as Max takes aim again. A wolf leaps on to my back, and I feel its hot foul breath on my neck, as it tries to bite me. I shake it off and backhand a wolf that leaps for my face. I hear the bones snap like dry twigs, and the wolf is sent flying through the air over the heads of its siblings.
“Go. Scram!” I yell and walk through the pack of wolves, slapping some, cracking their skulls, and kicking others, sending them flying up into the air hundreds of feet.
The men shoot a few more, before the animals finally give up. I clap my hands fiercely at the last wolf, making it jump back, before it too turns and runs away, following the others.
I wipe saliva from my arms and neck, and shake some blood and fur from my hands. I then turn to look up at Max and the others.
“There was no need to shoot them.” I yell.
“I disagree.” Andrew shouts back as he reloads his gun.
“Those shots can be heard for miles.” I point out, and jump up to the roof, landing next to Jason, who steps back.
“She’s right. We need to get the hell out of here.” Max says and smiles apologetically at me.
I frown and turn my attention to the horizon, and scan for any movement. Behind me, I hear something, very faint.
“Sshh!” I hiss at the men as I turn around slowly, and focus my hearing. I hear several impacts, very far away, maybe fifty miles to the north of us, but they are getting louder as I listen.
Cosmic Girl: Lost & Found: Superhero series for young adults - Book Three. Page 7
