by Maxey, Phil
Joel recognized the type of slumber and felt it pulling him toward it. “A problem with one of the vehicles.”
She grumbled something, which even he with his enhanced hearing couldn’t make out, then laid her head back and closed her eyes.
Least most of the hybrids are asleep, he thought. He was running low on energy and couldn’t face the idea of running through streets and parking lots trying to pull crazed hungry hybrids back to their vehicles.
He raised the radio again. “So what’s the plan? Over.”
“Marco is looking at the engine… it’s not looking promising. Over.”
“Can we fit those people into other vehicles? Over.” Joel already knew the answer. The trucks and cars were already full to overflowing.
“Doubt it. Over.”
Joel looked at the parking lot that surrounded the row of stores. It looked empty. “We’ll have to find another vehicle and bring it—” In the mirror, he saw Donnie sitting up and sniffing the air. “What is it?” Joel said to the reflection.
“W… wolves… I mean… my kind… and there’s more than one… a lot more,” the words came from Donnie’s mouth tinged with excitement.
“What direction?” said Joel, also noticing Dalton getting out of the sedan behind.
Donnie looked to their right. “Beyond the trees.”
More were now standing outside their vehicles, most looking towards the trunks, pine needles, and the dark recesses in-between.
Joel pushed the door open and got out, bringing his M4 with him. Donnie stood on the opposite side of the pickup. “How long?” said Joel.
“Seconds,” said Dalton, moving closer.
Carla ran up to them. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Werewolves coming from the—”
Snapping of branches came from the forest, and some birds took to the skies.
“Defensive positions!” Carla shouted back to the soldiers, hoping everyone else would do the same. Most of the hybrids were still sleeping, and those that were awake were hiding inside their vehicles.
Most don’t even realize their own strength, thought Joel.
Keller, Bishop, Marco, and the other soldiers kneeled and leaned their weapons on the trucks and pickups, all pointed towards the trees. Joel did the same, but Donnie and Dalton walked forward, away from the vehicles.
“Hey, get back here!” shouted Carla.
The two men, one towering over the other, ignored the request and continued their slow movement to the edge of the highway.
The creaking of bark and branch had stopped, but Joel and the other hybrids could see beyond the shadows to the humanoid forms lurking within the forest.
“We ain’t got no beef with you!” shouted Dalton towards the woods.
A figure, almost as tall as Dalton moved within the gloom, shrinking in size, until a man, maybe late twenties, bare-chested with a few tattoos, walked clear of the tree line.
He walked a few more feet across the overgrown weeds and stopped, looking the convoy up and down. Joel could also see his nostrils flaring.
“Why you with them?” he shouted at Dalton, nodding to the others who were hunched down and pointing weapons at him.
“We together.”
The bearded man scoffed and walked down the bank until he was a few yards from Dalton. “They ain’t your kind. I’m your kind. Why don’t you leave them.” He looked at Donnie. “And you boy.”
Donnie walked forward until he was alongside Dalton. “Why don’t you take another step forward and you’ll see how much of a boy I am…”
The man sneered. More crunching came from the trees behind and out walked an older man with a gray-black beard. He wore a faded denim jacket with a pistol in a holster around his waist. He was smiling and waving his hand as he approached.
“Hey… my son, Dominic, didn’t mean to offend anyone.”
Dominic looked to one side frowning.
The man offered his hand to Dalton, who briefly shook it. “I’m Lucas. You folks having mechanical issues?”
Joel could still see others waiting in the shadows, but he now realized they were there out of fear, not to threaten. He lowered his rifle and walked to the small group standing at the edge of the highway.
“I’m Joel.” He shook Lucas’s hand. “Yeah, one of our pickups has got an engine problem. You know anywhere near here where we might find another vehicle?”
Carla and her soldiers still kept their weapons trained on the two new men.
Lucas looked at them. “You think you can not point those M4s at me and my son?”
“You’re werewolves…” said Joel to him.
Lucas looked back to Joel. “And you’re hybrids.”
For a moment, Joel was surprised this random man knew of hybrids. “Many of us, but some humans as well.” Joel looked back at Carla. “You can lower your weapons.”
“I’ll get right on that when his friends come out of the trees,” she shouted back.
“Geri, Wendell, Nick, why don’t you come on out.”
A woman, with long flowing brown hair, in her early forties appeared, alongside two men of similar height, one heavy set in his late thirties with short cropped black curly hair, and the other early thirties with short brown hair swept across his forehead.
The woman had a rifle across her back.
Carla lowered her rifle. Her soldiers did the same.
CHAPTER NINE
Copeland stood in the living room part of his apartment. A square sunken area, covered in a handmade Persian rug, surrounded by authentic Grecian statues which themselves were bordered by pillars.
In front of him stood Galen and Adrian. Both individuals looked like they would rather be somewhere else.
“Is there something wrong?” Copeland said to both of them.
“No, no…” said Adrian.
“How can we help you, sir?” said Galen.
“Sir? You call them sire.”
Galen’s placid expression threatened to break until calm was restored. “You are a head of the corporation, I am used to calling you sir. If you wish for me to call you—”
Copeland turned away. “Sir is fine. Where are we with the sweep of the remaining camps?”
“Ms. Mathews is in the field. She tells me hers and the other teams are heading east and only have a few more camps left to intern,” said Galen.
Copeland looked at the man whose skin looked like it belonged on an even older person. He paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. “Good. The kings will be pleased with this progress. You can leave now.”
Galen and Adrian started to walk away.
“Adrian, you will stay.”
Adrian froze as if he had just been caught for a crime, and slowly turned.
Galen kept on walking.
Copeland waited for the elevator door to close before approaching his head of science. He looked down at the far shorter man and smelt his fear. That was why Adrian was still here and Galen was not. Never trust a man who doesn’t fear you, Copeland always thought.
“What… what I… I mean how—”
Copeland placed his hand on Adrian’s shoulder. For an instant, he thought about ripping his head from his shoulders but stopped the instinct from growing. “I have always respected you, Adrian.”
Both of them knew that to be a lie.
Copeland removed his hand and turned, walking a few steps away. “That is why I am trusting you with this special mission.”
“Yes?”
“The tablets. We know one is with the FBI agent. The others… as you know, the rumors are they were scurried away by the Navy and were hidden on an island.” Copeland turned back to Adrian. “If I wanted you to find them. All of the tablets. What would you need to accomplish that task?”
“Well, we have already been searching for them, sir, and we hoped that after the siege on the prison, we would have that particular tablet, but—”
Copeland was approaching Adrian again, and the scientist was tryi
ng not to take a step back.
“What do you need to find them? What resources beyond what you already have?”
Adrian looked away in thought. “Umm… Well, if we took some of our people away from the internment camps and focused the Alkrons on finding Mr. Garret, and also used the naval vessels we have confiscated, then it would certainly increase the chances of finding the tablets?”
“Yes. That is good. The kings will be pleased.”
A spontaneous smile broke out across Adrian’s face, which he quickly removed on seeing Copeland’s response.
“I want specialist teams set up whose sole purpose is to find the tablets. And they report only to you, and you to me. Do you understand?”
“Umm… should I not tell Iona or Galen?”
“No. They have enough to concern themselves with. I want new teams looking for the tablets within the hour, and a report by midnight of progress. Is that clear?”
“Yes… sir.”
Copeland moved away into the gloom, and then was gone completely, lost in the shadows of the large desolate space that was his apartment.
Adrian turned and almost jogged back to the exit. With each step, his heart rate slowing.
*****
Joel drove the pickup along sedate suburban streets with expensive looking homes that belonged within the pages of a newsstand magazine. Behind him, Carla was driving another pickup. He could almost see the well-dressed children playing on the manicured lawns, trying to avoid the sprinklers which would have rotated twenty-four seven.
Except there were none. These dollhouses were devoid of human life, replaced with something else. Something that was born from the Scourge virus.
Lucas sat in the passenger's seat, while Dominic sat next to Shannon and Donnie in the rear.
“When we arrived here, all these places were empty,” said Lucas.
Joel wanted to believe him.
“So our clan moved in.”
“Yeah, why not, right?” said Dominic. He smiled at Shannon who turned away, placing her hand on Donnie’s.
“Take the next right,” said Lucas.
“How many are there of you?” said Joel.
“Eighteen. Five or so families and others. We send out a few search parties each month to find others like us. That’s how we knew you were coming our way. Duane spotted you on the highway some miles north. He heard you first, then saw the heat coming off your vehicles. He raced back here, and we moved alongside the road tracking you for a bit until you had that issue. Once you stopped, we could tell you had a few of ours onboard.”
People of all ages and races emerged from the front doors, watching the two vehicles drive into a cul-de-sac.
“They’re all like me,” said Donnie from the back seat looking at the men, women, and a few children standing, looking back. The excitement was obvious in his voice despite his attempt to subdue it.
Five cookie-cut two-story homes, in pastel shades, surrounded Joel and Donnie as they got out and stood in the road. Lucas and Dominic did the same as the others got out of Carla’s vehicle behind.
A woman, who looked the complete opposite of what a werewolf could be, stepped from the sidewalk and up to Lucas. She went to smile at Joel before her expression turned into one of horror.
“You’re one of them…” she said, taking a step back.
“He ain’t anything, Ma,” said Dominic, walking forward to throw an arm around his mother.
“We’re no threat to anyone here,” said Joel.
Lucas walked forward, holding his wife’s hand and brought her forward. “This is Lucy, my wife.” He looked at the small stout woman, wearing glasses, and her blonde hair in a ponytail. “It’s ok, they were just passing through on to a human camp down south.”
Lucy looked at her husband, mouthing silent words while trying to mask her efforts.
He smiled. “Yeah, he’s a hybrid. There’s a whole wagon trail of them a few miles from here on the highway.”
“Umm… one of our vehicles has an engine issue. So we’re just looking for another vehicle, and then we’ll be on our way.” Joel wasn’t sure how comfortable he was being in the middle of a werewolf community, but Lucas seemed a nice enough guy.
“Well… are any of you hungry? We have plenty of food if you want any?” said Lucy.
Joel smiled. “If you have anything to spare that would be appreciated.”
While the others talked a few yards up front, a young girl walked up to Carla with a doll in her hand. The whole situation was making the LT jittery, and she wanted to be back on the road as soon as possible. On seeing Joel, Donnie, and the others walk towards Lucas and Lucy’s house she sighed.
“We need to be getting going soon, Joel!” she shouted after him. He briefly turned and produced some kind of hand gesture which suggested she should wait a bit.
“You’re not a werewolf or a vampire are you?” said the little girl.
“Err… what? No… I’m human,” Carla replied, trying not to be distracted.
“Hmm… I feel bad for you.”
The strange sentiment sent a chill through Carla’s body which she quickly pushed away.
The little girl turned and ran back to her mother and father who were now slowly walking back to their home.
Keller and Bishop looked at the windows of the houses around them and the drapes that were lifted and then put back down.
“I don’t like this,” said Keller.
“A whole town of werewolves. It’s nuts,” said Bishop.
“Yup. Let's keep our heads. No reason we can’t be out of here within thirty minutes,” said Carla.
Back at the highway, most of the hybrids were still asleep. The noonday sun acting as a sedative.
Geri leaned on the hood of the brown sedan. She pulled a cigarette from her side pocket and lit it, then offered the box to Dalton who was standing a few feet away. He was watching her and the other two men.
“Want one?” she said.
“No.”
She put the plastic covered box away. “Not much of a talker, are you? It would be nice, seeing we’re basically your hostages, that we could chat.”
Dalton frowned but stayed silent.
Kizzy jumped out of the rear of the car, and danced up and down on the spot, grinning like a cat.
Geri took a draw on her nicotine provider while observing the spunky young girl. “You’re a strange one. Not a vamp, but…” As she watched, Kizzy’s neck extended pushing her head upwards, until it wavered at the end of a two-foot stump.
Geri’s mouth was open. “What…”
“She can change her form,” said Amos on the other side of the car.
Geri hadn’t realized he was there, and her head flicked between the young man and his girlfriend, then took another draw on the cigarette. “The Scourge really did screw everything up…” she said between puffs.
Joel stood in the kind of kitchen his wife had always wanted. The worktops alone were the size of what his old kitchen used to be. But then this wasn’t LA.
Lucy was piling cans, jars, and packets into a plastic box. “I’m not sure what you would like, so I’ll just give you a…” She stopped, then turned and looked at Joel. “Do you eat food? I mean, this can be for your humans, but do you eat? We have heard stories, but I’ve never met one of your kind before. Usually, it’s your dumber cousins, and they just want blood.”
“I eat. It doesn’t taste like it used to, but it… helps remind me of how things used to be. Most of what you give us will be feeding the humans like you say. I’m sure they would be very grateful for it.”
Lucas was sitting at a large round wooden table. “How did you end up with so many hybrids? From what we heard, they are rarer than our kind.”
“That’s, umm, a long story…”
An awkward silence returned to the room which was thankfully broken by the doorbell ringing.
Lucas got up and opened it. The sound of boots told Joel who it was, as Lucas and Carla walked back int
o the kitchen-dining area.
Carla smiled at Lucy, then looked at Joel. “We need to get going.”
“Can you and your people stay a bit longer?” said Lucas. “I was hoping we could catch up on some news. We don’t really know much of what is happening out there.”
“The sooner we get to the human camp the better… Have you seen any military looking vehicles pass by lately?” said Carla.
Lucas stroked his beard. “Yours are the first vehicles we have seen for weeks. Why? Is there someone coming our way?”
Carla and Joel looked at each other, and Joel nodded.
“You might not be safe here,” she said.
Lucas and his wife briefly exchanged a look of concern.
“We deal with vamps daily. We can take care of ourselves,” said Lucas.
Joel sat in the nearby wooden chair. “This is not just about vamps. What do you know of the Copeland corporation?”
“He’s a bigwig in the world of business, that’s all I know,” said Lucas.
“Now he’s a kind of vamp, and he’s still running his corporation, except now he’s also trying to take over the country with it,” said Carla.
“Okay…”
Joel continued. “And he has an army of vamps and other kinds, and he’s using them to take control, killing humans when his soldiers find them. We’re trying to get to the remaining human camps before they do, and there is a good chance Copeland's people will find you sooner or later as well.”
“Well, like I said, we can take care of ourselves…”
“Against M4s and grenades? Helicopter gunships?” said Carla.
“And that might be after he sends a thousand vamps into this quiet little suburb.”
“You sound like you’re talking from experience…” said Lucy, looking between the newcomers and her husband.
“We were attacked by thousands of vamps up north. There was a camp just across the border. We holed up inside a prison, but the only reason we survived was pure luck,” said Joel. “If the same number of vamps come through here, you won’t stand a chance.”
Lucas was looking away, deep in thought.
“What should we do?” said his wife, the anxiety obvious on her face.
Lucas sprang to his feet. “Maybe your friend here is right. Probably a good idea you and your people left.”
