The Salvation Plague | Book 2 | The Mutation

by Masters, A. L.

  “Hush,” Jared said.

  “I’m not talking.”

  “You are worrying really loudly,” he whispered.

  “Pfft.”

  “I want that one,” Jared said, pointing to a large, completely blacked-out pickup truck with white lightning bolts on the sides. It had an extended cab and a full bed. It was also about four feet off the ground. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating, but still.

  He would want that one…

  “How about a nice Tacoma instead?” she asked.

  Jared glared at her and shook his head in shock. “The hell would I do with a tiny truck?”

  “It’s not a tiny truck,” she said.

  “Um, yes, it is. The towing capacity is basically nothing. You couldn’t even haul ass in a truck like that.”

  “Whatever. Let’s go find the keys.”

  She followed him down the side street to the large glass front dealership. Despite the whole front wall being windows, not one of them was broken. It was also dark. The angle of the afternoon sun cast shadows on the inside of the building.

  Basically, it looked like a huge mistake, just like Collier Stadium ordeal. She looked all the way around them in case something was sneaking up on them.

  “You don’t think we’re going to end up on the roof again, do you?” she asked.

  “Nah. Well, I hope not,” he amended.

  “There doesn’t seem to be a way down from this one.”

  “Only the hard way,” he muttered. “Stay close.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  ANFO

  Jared

  He led Anna to the front door. There was more light and a clearer path to get away, should anything horrible be lurking inside. It was also the best approach should Bradley and Fletch have to save their asses…which was a major possibility.

  He took a deep breath and opened the glass door. It was quiet and thankfully unlocked. He stood outside and scanned the inside of the building before edging in. He stopped off to the side of the doorway and let his eyes adjust to the dimness.

  There were no muties eviscerating him right now. So far so good.

  He glanced back to make sure Anna was following, then led the way further in. There was a seating area to the right with a table and chairs, presumably for the weary car salesmen. To the left was a living room type setup with sofas and a large flatscreen tv, presumably for the weary shopper. The keys to the vehicle would be in a box somewhere, probably in the office.

  He had never been in here, but there was a large sign over the office door that saved him the trouble of seeking it out. He walked quietly through the open floor, skirting around a small sports car parked in the middle of the floor.

  The office had a Dutch door. The top was open. He went ahead and opened the bottom before stepping in. He was better off not risking decapitation right now. It would freak Anna out for sure. He wouldn’t really enjoy it either.

  The office had several rows of desks and no windows. The faint light from the main room filtered through enough that he could see there were no biters. He searched the ceiling, somewhat anxiously, and was relieved to see no demonic looking muties huddled up in the corners waiting to jump at them.

  “There,” Anna said, and he looked over to where she pointed.

  There was a large lockbox on the wall.

  “Stay here and watch the main room,” he whispered.

  He walked out to the box and hoped like hell that it was unlocked. He saw a place for a locking mechanism, but it was missing. He wasn’t sure what the deal was, but it worked in their favor for sure. He thumbed open the door and scanned the rows of keys on hooks. He wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to—

  Well, dang.

  A key fob with a lightning bolt hung on the bottom row. He wondered where it had come from. He had never seen the truck around town before. He definitely would have noticed it, and probably been a little envious.

  He snatched it off the hook, along with a few other truck keys. Who knew when they would need another truck? They walked quickly back out through the front of the dealership. On the way, he noticed a door near the side of the room cracked open.

  He was sure it hadn’t been that way before.

  Someone else was here.

  “Stay here,” he whispered to Anna.

  “Jared!” she hissed at him, but he held up a hand for her to wait, and he kept on moving.

  The door was a solid one, and he saw that it had a push bar. A small sign nearby indicated that this opened into the service center of the dealership. He didn’t know why someone would hide out here and not make themselves known. Perhaps they were scared, or maybe it was even a kid. That made sense.

  The crack in the door was black and he had a bad feeling about going in without a flashlight. He was going to start carrying one around everywhere from now on. It seemed like he and Anna were destined to enter dark spaces every time they went anywhere. It was getting old.

  His fingers made contact with the heavy wooden door, and he almost talked himself into turning back. Nothing good ever happened when they went in a place like this. Ever. He inched it open further. A faint light source was coming from somewhere.

  He saw the large room, some of the service bays had vehicles in them. It was nothing like Bob’s Body Shop. This place was clean and organized. It smelled horrible though, and he couldn’t see the reason why. He heard a skittering across the room and stopped with the door halfway open.

  Okay, this wasn’t any place someone was likely to hide. It was creepy as hell.

  A faint hissing came from the far corner, and he squinted in the dark. It sounded like a pissed off cat, but deeper and bigger. Much bigger. A shadow crept its way up the wall across from him and he froze. He watched as it combined with the other shadows. Shadows that shouldn’t be there. Multitudes of them.

  What the hell?

  He stopped breathing and crept back just the way he had come. He wanted to run and drag Anna out, but he figured that may not be one of his best ideas ever. He closed the door behind him, cringing when the latch clicked loudly. He turned and ran lightly toward Anna with the handful of keys.

  “You ever see that movie about the vampires?”

  “Which movie about the vampires? There are hundreds.”

  “The one where that vampire hunter guy went in the nests where they slept during the day and staked them and drug them out into the sunlight to burn?”

  “James Woods?”

  “Yeah. Him.”

  “What about it?”

  “I found a nest. Just like on the movie. Sort of.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “A nest…”

  “Of muties. In the service center. On the ceiling.”

  “Shoot,” she mouthed and looked over to the innocuous looking doorway. “Are you sure? I mean, you aren’t playing around?”

  “Would I joke about this?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said definitely.

  “Fine. I probably would, but I’m not. They’re all over the ceiling like…like those cotton candy pods with the killer clowns.”

  “Swear?” she whispered.

  “Yep. We need to leave.”

  “We can’t just leave them there! They’ll kill people; they’ll come after us!”

  “We’ll figure something out. Come on.”

  He led her back to the door and opened it, checking carefully before they ran out. He scanned the area in front of him while they ran for the large pickup truck he had claimed. Thank God it was clear. He clicked the unlock button several times and prayed the tank was full and the battery was charged.

  He boosted her up into the passenger side and jumped into the driver’s seat. He turned the key and was almost shocked that it actually started. The gauges all looked fine. He saw the tank was only a quarter full, but it would give them enough to finish what they needed to do today.

  “Here,” he said, looking through the back window to make sure the muties hadn’t flooded out after them. He tosse
d a fistful of keys on the console. “Find another big truck and we’ll take it.”

  “Wh—” she started.

  “Not. The purple one,” he said.

  She rolled her bottom lip out but didn’t argue. “You got to choose the one you wanted,” she mumbled.

  “Mine doesn’t look like a giant Care Bear threw up on it. It will blend in better, be less noticeable.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” She muttered something about lightning bolts that he didn’t catch.

  He pulled out into the open front row, and they watched as she clicked the unlock button on each one. She skipped over the purple sparkly fob that surely went to the deep purple shimmery truck. It really was hideous.

  The keys belonged to mostly smaller and midsized pickups, and a couple of smaller SUVs that would do in a pinch. They really needed something heavy though.

  “There! That one will do. I’ll drive you over there and follow you back to the co-op.”

  He drove her over to the large, three-quarter ton pickup, also black. It was a similar model to the one he was driving, except not nearly as awesome. He got out and made sure it was safe for her. He felt tension thrumming through the air and knew it was from that nest of things in there.

  Anna was right. It needed to be destroyed. They could burn it down, but he had the feeling those things would escape before the fire got to them. Then they would be really pissed, presumably.

  The truck turned over, but the engine wasn’t catching. He wasn’t surprised. The vehicles had been sitting, and the longer they sat, the more unreliable they would become. The batteries would lose their charge and the gas would become less and less stable. It was going to happen sooner rather than later, and they needed to have a pow wow with Harry and Sten about it.

  He turned the key one more time and was gratified when it started up. The tank was a third full, plenty for now. He got out and motioned Anna in. When she got to the running board, he gripped her hard and kissed her. They didn’t have time for more than that, unfortunately. Plus, the hive over in the building was kind of a mood killer.

  “Be careful. I’ll follow you out,” he said. “Let’s go easy and keep it quiet.”

  She nodded and he went back to his own truck.

  The drive back to the co-op was quick and uneventful. No snipers, no mutie hoards, not even a random straggling biter. The trailer was full, and the stack of chain link panels now resting there alongside other building supplies. There were rolls of fencing tossed on there, as well as other things. It was a good start. A very good start.

  He backed the truck up to the large empty trailer and was glad it wasn’t a gooseneck. He was pretty sure they wouldn’t have been able to find a truck for that. Anna jumped out and started chattering to the guys. Bradley guided him back while he listened to Anna.

  “Got it?” he asked.

  Bradley gave him a thumbs up and Jared went into the large outbuilding where the straw, hay, and livestock feeds were stored. He opened the large rolling doors on either end and was extremely relieved to see that the ceiling was clear. It was bright inside and there was nothing lurking, except mice.

  He found an empty pallet and a pallet jack and started loading up. Fletch came in and helped.

  “It’s true? About the nest?” Fletch asked.

  “Yep. The ceiling of that place was full of those things. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “What do you think they were doing? Hibernating or something?”

  Jared took a deep breath and let it out. He reached out and rested a hand on the stack of feed. “I think they were changing. Mutating. I think that’s how it’s done. They feel some kind of pull to hide somewhere, then they change into whatever the hell they are.”

  “That’s messed up. What if the mutated ones start mutating again? What if they keep getting harder and harder to kill?”

  Jared just stared at him. There was nothing to say. He had no answers.

  ◆◆◆

  “Alpha One, this is…Jared. Over.”

  Anna was holding back a smirk, he could tell.

  “Will that reach them from here?” she asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “Juliet, this is Blaster. Alpha One is out of range. Over.”

  “That sounds like Jimmy Don,” Anna said. “Why is he calling you Juliet?”

  Jared was not pleased. He looked to Bradley, who was shaking his head. “Phonetic alphabet, your name starts with J.”

  “I liked Badger better,” Jared muttered.

  “Blaster we have a problem. What’s your twenty? Over.”

  Bradley and Fletch both cringed and he gave them a confused headshake. “What?” he mouthed.

  “Don’t say 'what’s your twenty'. This isn’t an episode of Cops,” Bradley said.

  “Excuse me for not knowing proper radio protocol. It’s not like we all sat down and worked this shit out, you know,” Jared said.

  “Right behind you. Over,” came Jimmy Don’s reply.

  Jared whipped around as he heard the quick staccato engine zip around the corner of the co-op lot. Jimmy Don raised a hand in greeting over the convertible top of the grungy, white, Volkswagen Cabriolet. It looked like the first of its kind too.

  “How does he always know?” Anna asked. "And where the heck is he getting all these Volkswagens?"

  “No freaking idea,” Jared said.

  “What can I do for you folks?” he asked, stepping out and pulling an MP5 from the seat of the small car.

  An MP5.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Bradley said, eyeballing his choice of weaponry. Jared saw lust in that gaze. He didn’t blame him. It was a damned sexy submachine gun.

  “We’ve got two problems, but we’ll start with the first. There’s a nest of muties over at the Chevy dealership. They’re hanging out in the service bay. Literally.” Jared shifted his weight and crossed his arms.

  “They’re in cotton candy pods on the ceiling,” Anna added with a self-assured dip of her chin. He found it oddly cute, even though she was wrong.

  “They’re not in cotton candy pods,” Jared clarified.

  “That’s what you said!” she said.

  “No. I said they were hanging around up there like those cotton candy pods on that movie…”

  “Whatever. The point is, they’re there and we need to destroy them. Fast,” she said, turning to Jimmy Don.

  “We’ll if ya’ll are wanting to exterminate a large number of the things, I don’t think shooting is going to be the way to go.” He rubbed his chin and frowned. “If only I hadn’t traded that Flammenwerfer back in ’82…”

  “Flamethrower?” Bradley questioned, looking at Fletch.

  Jared perked up when he heard that. Flamethrower would be—

  “Badass. Yes, I know.” Anna said, finishing his internal thoughts.

  “How do you do that?”

  She smiled.

  “Yeah, I got it off a guy in the war…it tended to catch on fire, so I traded it for a dirt bike. Kinda wish I hadn’t now.”

  “These things happen sometimes,” Jared said, commiserating.

  “Yep. Hey, I know!” Jimmy Don said with a snap of his fingers. “Meet me out in the road in front of the dealership in about twenty minutes!”

  “Where are you going?” Jared called out.

  He didn’t look back. “Gotta go get the ANFO!”

  He jumped into the Volkswagen and backed up quickly the way he had come. It was eerily like watching a video clip in reverse.

  “ANFO?”

  “Man, this is going to be great,” Bradley said with a gleam in his eyes.

  “What’s ANFO?” Jared asked.

  Bradley just grinned.

  “Jared, I’m scared,” Anna said, taking his hand.

  “I think that’s wise,” Jared replied.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Demo

  Anna

  Anna ran it through her head, but she didn’t think she’d ever heard of ANFO before. W
as it some kind of weapon? A vehicle? She checked her watch and urged them to hurry and finish loading the feed sacks. They were a little heavy for her to be tossing around like the guys were, but she helped too. She didn’t want to rely on the men to do everything for her. It felt wrong.

  ANFO?

  “Do you think we should take some of this grain for livestock? Just in case?” she asked.

  “We can come back after the…after Jimmy Don is finished,” Bradley said.

  “Tell me,” she said.

  “Nope.”

  She sighed and rubbed her back. The guys finished up the loading. They decided that she was going to drive the truck that pulled the chicken feed, so that Bradley and Fletch could take her vehicle to provide security on the road.

  “Load up!” Bradley called and she got in Jared’s new truck.

  He climbed up on to the running board and shoved the top half of his body through the open window. He studied her face for a moment. She was a little self-conscious, but she didn’t look away. He looked very…intense.

  “I love you, Anna. We were meant to be together through this, or through our old lives. Either way, you are my soul mate.”

  He crushed his mouth against hers and she practically melted into a puddle in the seat. He was giving her more than a kiss, even if it was a spectacular kiss. He was giving her a promise and a vow. He pulled away and they were both breathing heavily. Bradley and Fletch and Jimmy Don and the nest, none of those things mattered right then. They were still together, that is what mattered.

  “I love you too. I’m glad we were together when this all happened. I probably wouldn’t have made it very long without you.”

  “Yeah, well…there was no way that we would have been separated for long. I would have come to get you no matter what,” he said.

  “You didn’t even know where I lived,” she teased.

  “Actually…I might have known,” he confided, looking out toward the town. “It’s entirely possible that I downloaded your file from Suzanne’s computer one day at lunch.”

  “That’s a little creepy and stalkerish, Jared.”