The Aztec Saga - Hunted

by J.S. Davidson

  Chapter Eighteen

  I left the Persival’s house and drove for a few hours, feeling more and more unwell as I went. I decided to stop at a small clearing behind a stand of birch trees. Although their trunks were slender, they offered a fair amount of camouflage for my silver-coloured car.

  I tried to reach across to the front passenger’s seat to pick up the brown folder, but my shoulders burned furiously and sent pain running through my body to my stomach. I pushed myself back into my seat as I waited for the pain to subside, but it didn’t. Everything started to spin around me, and I felt nauseous. I was going to be sick.

  I pulled the door handle, and the door fell open. I leant out the side as vomit spewed out my mouth. I knew was in trouble. I had absolutely no medicine that could begin to help me, and the way my vision blurred in and out of focus, it was unlikely I would be able to resume driving.

  A set of headlights caught my eye—a car was coming up the road. My heart beat heavily, as I tried to think of what I should do. I didn’t have any strength to try and run. I was unarmed apart from my crossbow; but it was useless to me if I wasn’t able to wield it.

  As the headlights grew closer, my breath quickened as panic began to rise from my stomach and spread through my body. The headlights were right on me, the car only metres from the turn-off to my hideaway. My immediate thought was that they had found me, and this time there would be no escape. But instead of pulling in, the car drove straight past.

  I allowed myself to relax into the seat. It wasn’t them; it was only another car—strange because I hadn’t seen any other vehicles on the roads. I looked up to my rear view mirror to watch the car continue along the snaking road, but it wasn’t continuing. It had turned around and was driving back down the road towards me.

  I didn’t have time to react before the car was idling by my side. My mouth was parched, and my breath was lost. I was going to die. I closed my eyes as I waited for a bullet to pass through the window or a sword to slide through the door. As I sat there, I wondered how it would feel to die. I thought of Suravi; the way the light disappeared from her eyes and her body stilled as I held her hand. There would be no one to hold my hand as I passed from this world. I wondered if Michael and Sasha would be waiting for me. I had once spoken to a man who had survived a heart attack. He had actually died and then been resuscitated. He told me dying wasn’t the scary part; dying was easy. It was the resuscitating part that was terrifying. I took comfort in his words, as I knew there would be no resuscitation for me.

  I pinched my eyes closed, as I listened to a set of feet walking towards my car. It will all be over in a second. Just a moment of pain and then nothing—it’s okay.

  The car door swung open; I cringed down as I waited for the fatal blow.

  “Alexandra? What the hell are you doing?”

  I sprung my eyes open.

  “Andy!” I cried as I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around him. My shoulders burned and ached, but the pain was nothing compared to the elation I was feeling with him in my arms. Not only had I just come to terms with the fact I was going to die, but I had also been certain I would never see him again; yet, here he was!

  “What are you doing here? How did you find me?” I asked as tears streamed from my eyes. “I thought I was never going to see you again.”

  “Nah, you can’t get rid of me that easily,” he said softly, as he stroked the back of my hair. “Oh, and I have someone for you.” He eased me away from his body and tapped his leg. Spud jumped from the back of the car.

  “Oh my God, Spud!” I tickled his belly, as he licked my arm.

  “How did you find me? Did you follow me in my car or something?” I asked as I rubbed Spud behind the ear.

  “Your car?” Andy lifted one eyebrow. “Well, it really belongs to a Mr. and Mrs. McTullick.” He smiled his big, warm smile. “As for how I found you, well that’s easy.” He pointed to the GPS mounted in the centre of the dash.

  “No, you can’t have; I disabled it,” I frowned.

  He laughed loudly. “Alex, hitting ‘don’t navigate’ doesn’t disable it.”

  Suddenly I felt incredibly stupid. I would never have taken a car with a built-in GPS if I knew I wouldn’t be able to disable it.

  “And it was very easy to find you. You’re about the only car left driving around. Everyone else is in a Safe Station. I only just managed to get out without being noticed.”

  I sat up straight. “What? Were the Safe Stations a trick? Is everyone trapped? Are people hurt?” I blurted in a panic.

  “No, no, calm down. The Safe Stations are exactly that—they’re safe. They're scattered all around. Some are halls, others are sporting grounds; they’re using pretty much any venue that can cater for a large number of people. Everybody has been given food, water and bedding. It's certainly not luxury, but it is safe—the police are out in force. And before you ask, Leroy, Mum and Dad are fine. But no one knows what’s going on. I mean sure, I can handle crazy weather as much as the next person, but to have a day of forty degrees and snow that night? Needless to say, the rioters went nuts again. They’ve blown up even more of the city, and they are still saying they’ve got more bombs hidden everywhere. They won’t tell anyone where they’ve hidden them until the government fixes it. The only problem is that no one knows what ‘it’ is to fix—friggin’ morons! So no one is allowed out of the Safe Stations until each of the bombs have been accounted for. I came back for you right after I knew my family was safe, but you had already gone.” He shook his head as he frowned. “It really is impossible for you to do as you’re told, isn’t it? Anyway, I only just made it here; the Army’s everywhere searching buildings, transport hubs, public places—anyone outside the Safe Stations is considered to be a threat.”

  “Is it just Melbourne?”

  He shook his head. “All the towns between here and there are crawling with soldiers. The rioters have taken to social media, accusing different races and religious groups for causing the extreme weather. Some are saying it’s due to people extracting all the crude oil from the Earth, and others are saying it’s because the world is overpopulated. Their solution is to wipe out third world countries—even cows have been blamed by some for creating too much methane and depleting the ozone layer.”

  I couldn’t help but spit a laugh at his last suggestion. Cows?

  He bit his lip and looked at the ground. “Alex, it’s practically a war out there. In the last few days, several groups have banded together with one common goal. They believe that their God is punishing the world, and the only way to salvation is for everyone to join them—and guess what happens to those who refuse?” He made a gun with his fingers and pointed it at his head.

  “You’ve gotta be joking?! God damn religion! Why can’t people just be happy believing in whatever they want? Let me guess which religion it is.” I was furious. How can one group of people dictate what the rest of the world believes?

  Andy was shaking his head as I ranted.

  “What? You think they’re right?” I yelled.

  “No, I don’t, but listen to this; until about three days ago, this religion didn’t exist. They call themselves the Kunghi; they have founded a religion which honours no God. They are only using the religion part as a guise.”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “Yep. They’re everywhere, worldwide. They claim they’re new and that they’ve only just formed, but I don’t buy it. It’s like they’ve been hiding underground for the perfect opportunity. And the supporters they’re getting ...” He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “It’s like all these people who are joining them are only joining because they have to follow someone. They can’t think for themselves. They don’t care who they’re fighting or why just so long as they’re fighting. And it's not isolated to one race. People from all different backgrounds are joining them.”

  I sat back in my seat as I patted Spud on the head. “How can all of this happen in a matter of days? Sam ... w
hat about Sam, and Emilee? What about everyone from home? I spoke to them a while ago, but how are they now?”

  Andy sat back in the passenger seat and inhaled deeply. “I dunno. All phones, all forms of communication devices have been shut down by the government in hopes of slowing the Kunghi. I can’t reach anyone from home. I found you just before the government ban went into effect. I just prayed I could get here before you moved on again. What are you doing out here, anyway?”

  I pulled a sideways smile. “I found them.”

  “Who? The Persivals?” His eyes widened.

  “Yep. Well, Abde did. She slipped a note into my jeans’ pocket as we were leaving her place. I had completely forgotten about it until Sam and Emilee rang and I pulled my phone out of the same pocket.”

  “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  “No, I’ve already been there, and trust me, they do not want to see me again.” I widened my eyes and lifted my eyebrows as I spoke.

  “Why what happened?”

  I spent the best part of the next hour explaining my encounter with the Persivals to Andy. I told him everything as objectively as I could. I needed him to listen with a clear mind, not one that had been swayed by my opinion. I finished by telling him of Rose’s belief that The Aztec had not been killed.

  “He’s not dead?” He ran his hand over his face.

  “No …” I answered quietly. The news had shaken him equally as much as it had shaken me. Andy had promised to kill The Aztec, and thought he had achieved it.

  “I know,” I said, gently stroking his arm. “It would be a waste of time visiting the Persivals again—their story couldn’t be true, surely?”

  “It’s so insane it has to be true.” He looked at me. My face was disapproving. “This situation we’re in is madness. So it’s fair to say we need to turn to madness to solve it. And dragons being real is just freaking awesome!”

  I rolled my eyes. "We don't know that for sure. Dragons are extremely far-fetched."

  He bit his bottom lip. "You're right, they are aren't they? Glowing books, ancient supernatural people hunting you and women turning into crows are completely plausible."

  I inhaled deeply. I was beyond trying to make sense of any of it.

  “There’s one more thing, though. They told me how to kill The Aztec—how to actually kill him—and hopefully, Veronika and Boris too. Remember when I told you that you were wasting your time hoarding all your swords?”

  “Yes?” he answered slowly.

  “Turns out, perhaps I was wrong,” I said quickly and quietly. “One of your swords—it’s the murder weapon of choice.”

  “My swords?” he asked, surprised.

  “Take a look at this.” I reached around to pick up a drawing of the sword. But as soon as I moved, my shoulders screamed with pain, and I couldn’t help but lurch forward and cry out.

  “Alex! What is it? Is it the eyes again?”

  I shook my head.

  “Your shoulders?”

  Before I could deny any problem with my shoulders, he had pulled my shirt aside.

  “Bloody Hell! Alexandra!” he yelled as he looked at my heavily infected shoulders. “You need a hospital. Forget the Book, bow and everything else. We’re getting you to a Safe Station before you die.” He wrapped his arms around me as he started to lift me from my car into the passenger seat of his car.

  “No!” I pushed him away from me.

  “What do you mean, ‘no’? Alex, do you understand you are going to die if you don’t get to a doctor? Once that infection gets into your bloodstream ...”

  “And do you understand that I am going to die if I don’t kill them first? Jesus, just a few minutes ago I was preparing for my own death ... I don’t know what they want. I don’t know why Veronika wants me dead or what purpose the Book serves. I don’t know why or how I love The Aztec or if it’s really even love or what the hell it is. All I know is it has to stop. Andy, I can’t keep going like this. Every time I go to sleep I see him, I feel him. I’m still taking my meds, but they aren’t strong enough to stop Veronika from seeing me. If I don’t do something they will find me—and they will kill me. That is a certainty.” I looked down at my fingers. “I saw Rose, Andy. I can’t be like her. I live in the middle of a vast country. I can leave my home and drive for hours—days even—and never see anyone, and yet I still feel trapped. I could never live like Rose; in hiding. It may not kill me, but it would destroy me. I have to take the risk.”

  He looked at me through solemn eyes.

  “I am not asking you to come with me, Andy. I left that office because I didn’t want you to risk your life for me anymore. On the tram, you told me that I had to live so you wouldn’t have to fight this alone. Well, you shouldn’t have to fight it at all. You need to stop risking your life for mine. You need to go back to your family—you need to go home.” I didn’t want to say a word of what I just did. I wanted to beg him to come with me, but I couldn't risk his life any more than I already had.

  He looked directly into my eyes and held a firm face. “And what am I going to find there? A bunch of scared people. Alex, the entire world has turned to shit. I think it’s pretty bloody obvious the Kunghi, The Aztec, and that crazy crow bitch have something to do with each other. And you’re asking me to leave you to fight it alone, while I sit on the sidelines? Not happening. But, if you leave me behind or try to ‘save me’ once more, I’ll hand you to that crow bitch myself! Now get in my car; we’re going home.”