by Pike, JJ
“I assume you’re riding Indie, then?” Petra stuck her head out of the window as she started the engine.
Aggie nodded.
Bill leaned across his eldest daughter as she pulled away. “Tell Alice I need to talk to her. As soon as she gets here. Tell her it’s me. It’s all me. It’s all my fault. I have to talk to her. I have to tell her.”
The Humvee pulled away.
Then Aggie was alone with an itchy leg, her beloved horse, a crochety alpaca, an empty house, and the wind whistling through the trees, innocent and light, ruffling the leaves and making them flutter, as if everything was the same as it had always been, and the wind itself wasn’t death and destruction and Armageddon headed their way.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“What are we going to do with them?” Betsy followed Alice around Jo’s house as she gathered her supplies: sleeping bag, bungee cords, a small wagon—it might have been a Radio Flyer years ago, but the paint had long since been chipped away.
Alice had only meant to collect things needed to deal with the Fran situation, but once she got started she had trouble stopping. Jo had all manner of useful equipment.
Helen and Claire were still tied up in the living room. They couldn’t leave them there for too long, but she had time to do a quick survey of the house; see if there wasn’t a “small box” that might use the “small key” she had in her pocket. If the girls put their minds to it, and had even the smallest modicum of imagination, they would work out that they could pick the couch up and free themselves. Not the easiest puzzle in the world, but she’d run a variation of that scenario with the kids when they were doing escape drills: Hands behind your back, feet bound, solid object tethering you. Aggie had gotten out the fastest, but she always did. The twins hadn’t done too badly. They’d make it out of their restraints—though, please God, may they never be captured and tied up—as long as water wasn’t involved.
Don’t think about the twins. Not until you have your answers. Thinking about things only makes it worse. Keep steady. Concentrate.
“You’re not listening.” Betsy was right beside her, rifling through the pantry and hoping for something that would be useful either in their journey back to her house or the road ahead. “Aggie will be annoyed if we bring back more mouths to feed. Especially if they’re not our people.”
Alice smiled. Agatha had taken charge and made her mark. Betsy was right. She didn’t want to bring two more mouths into their survival equation. But these girls had come back to Jo’s property multiple times, looking for silver. “I guess we take them with us so I can interrogate them but release them once we know what we need to know.”
“Is it that important?” Betsy stacked the cans on the counter. The thieves had taken everything in Jo’s kitchen but the Spam. Their loss. Bill could cook that up so it was entirely acceptable.
“Without knowing why they were hell-bent on finding the silver, we don’t know whether it’s important or not.” It was her science training. Don’t put the cart before the horse. You can’t make a determination without data.
Betsy was staring at her. “You mean it exists?”
Alice hadn’t meant to let that slip. Bill’s collection was their “last ditch scenario” insurance. Paper money was going to lose all meaning, fast. She believed goods and services were going to be the name of the game, but there would always be that one guard or official—be they police or border patrol or self-appointed vigilantes—who’d take precious metals. She elected not to answer Betsy’s question. They’d known each other long enough to know that there were areas where even trusted friends should not tread.
She’d looked in all the usual places one might hide a lock box: backs of cupboards, under creaky floorboards, the freezer, but she’d seen nothing that fit the bill. “I’m going to take a look in Jo’s barn.” She wasn’t sure she wanted Betsy with her. What if she were to find something useful? She had to know what it was before sharing it. “If you don’t mind watching the girls?”
Betsy gave her the stink eye. She wasn’t a stupid woman. She knew when she was getting the brush off. “I’ll load up the wagon. Perhaps they can make themselves useful and pull it?”
Well, perhaps, but that would mean loosening their restraints and Alice wasn’t there yet. The dogs followed her out of the house. It wasn’t like she had a choice. They were her eager associates, willing to follow her wherever she might go. The barn door had been pried open, the lock smashed.
She checked Maggie-loo’s body language.
There was no point asking Reggie. He wasn’t a good judge of character. He was that oddball dog who didn’t have the gene that allowed him to recognize the enemy.
Maggie-loo was relaxed. That meant she could move forward. Alice eased open the door and poked her head inside. The barn was in the same state as the house. Someone had turned it over. What were the chances anyone this thorough would miss a safe or a lock box? Not high. Jo’s husband’s motorbike was gone. What a shame. She’d be upset about that when she got back. Where were her colleagues? Hadn’t they said they were almost at the house when she’d last spoken to them? She regretted throwing away her phone. It was necessary, but annoying.
The farm equipment was still in the back of the barn. Had these machines been too big to move? No, that wasn’t it. The roads were almost impassable. She and Bill had had to ditch main roads altogether to make it back.
She had a halfhearted look around and under the machines, but there were too many nooks and crannies and not enough time. The key was going to remain a mystery.
Reggie took off, ears back, tail flat, barking like a maniac. It wasn’t going to be a person—he’d already demonstrated that he loved all people, all the time, regardless of who they were or what their intentions—but there were going to be mice and rats and other critters in the barn. She called him, but he wouldn’t come. Dogs were like toddlers. You couldn’t give into them. She left the barn, calling his name. He’d follow.
She’d almost made it back to the house but he was still barking at the other end of the barn. “I don’t know, Maggie-loo, what shall we do? Shall we leave him and let him come to us or shall we go and see what he’s gotten into?”
Maggi-loo’s tail sped up when she heard her name.
“I agree. Let’s get everyone together and let him bark it out. If he’s still barking when we’re done we’ll go check it out, but not before.”
Betsy had filled the small wagon with their spoils. The sleeping bag made Alice sad, but she was determined not to leave Fran in the woods. Betsy had added a couple of oxygen tanks and three wetsuits to the collection of goodies. “Bets? What are these for?” She shouted.
Betsy appeared at the top of the steps. “We’re going to need to leave the mines for supplies. The fallout will disperse in time, but given how little we have foodwise, I thought we’d best prepare for the worst. Aggie will be over the moon when she sees those.” She disappeared back into the kitchen.
Reggie hadn’t let up. His barks had moved from “this is interesting, Imma gonna investimagate” to “youze best get your tail-free butt over heer cuz Immabout to looz ma mind.”
Alice sighed. She wasn’t about to leave him behind and he wasn’t going to give up on whatever he’d found. She had to turn back and get him.
She froze, then dropped to the ground.
Unbelievable.
Literally, unbelievable.
The muzzle of a rifle came around the corner of the barn. It was followed by a soldier, then another, and then a third. They were hunched down and creeping, but Reggie had done his doggie duty and alerted them to intruders.
Alice had no weapon, not even her homemade ones. Aggie had brought a rifle out into the woods. She’d seen it leaning against the tree. That meant all of them had failed a basic test: Never leave any weapon behind. She’d done it, Aggie had done it (though she had her hands full with Bill), and Betsy had done it, even though she needed something to lean on because of her bad foot.
/> Oh, shoot. Betsy hadn’t been leaning on anything since she got here.
“Alice, I…” Betsy dropped the three cans of Spam the second she spotted the soldiers and raised her hands in the air. “Unarmed. I’m not armed.”
Reggie bounded out of the barn, eager to meet his newest besties.
Alice scrambled to her feet, hands in the air. She couldn’t let them harm him. He was her responsibility and, doofus that he was, she was fond of him.
He leapt and mouthed, play-bowed and ruffed. He was his own best emissary. The soldiers surely wouldn’t harm a creature as friendly as Reggie.
A woman rounded the corner of the barn.
Alice’s mouth dropped open. She screamed. “No way!”
Christine Baxter was bringing up the rear of the invasion. Christine Friggin Baxter!
Alice screamed again and ran towards her friend. “I was just thinking about you. Ohmygod. Ohmygodohmygodohmygoodness sakes alive. I am so happy to see you.” Christine wasn’t a hugger, but she was going to have to deal with it this one time. Alice wrapped her arms around her favorite scientist and squeezed her tight. “You have no idea.”
Christine patted her on the back, her face averted. She’d tolerated the hug, but that was all. She was ready to move on. “We have a situation.”
“Tell me about it.” Alice saw Michael Rayton lurking behind the soldiers. He was keeping his distance. It was hard to believe he’d do something as dreadful as releasing MELT deliberately, but Baxter had been adamant that that was the case. Alice didn’t know what to believe. “Michael. How are you doing?”
He didn’t get closer. “Not too bad. I could murder a beer about now.”
“No beer on the premises.” There wasn’t much of anything. Helen and Claire had picked the place clean. “There’s water in the rain barrels, but that one there’s for the dogs.”
There were more soldiers hanging back beyond Michael. They weren’t armed, Alice noticed that right away. What was it about them that set them apart?
“You’re wondering about our walking wounded.” Christine had followed Alice’s gaze and, for once, correctly guessed what she was thinking.
Alice nodded.
“MELT, the infection not the compound, has entered a new phase.”
Alice couldn’t believe her luck. The professor was going to discuss the properties of MELT without her having to go fishing for the information.
“It is slow-moving in these specimens.” How like Christine to call them “specimens”.
One of the soldiers—his insignia said he was high-ranking—had plastic sheeting sticking out of his sleeves. Christine had floated the idea that they could “draw MELT out” of the human body by offering it something with a higher concentration of plastic, but Alice hadn’t imagined she would implement that plan so fast.
“I see you’ve also noticed my solution?” Christine smiled. As usual, it was a lopsided affair that involved too much gum and not much joy. “We can’t know if it has slowed the spread of MELT in the body, but thus far none of the specimens has died.”
“Patients?” said Alice. “Shall we refer to them as patients, rather than specimens?”
Christine laughed. “Here’s what I’ve learned since I lost my translator. And by ‘translator’ I mean you, Alice Everlee. I’ve learned that people tolerate my bluntness because they know I deliver results.”
Alice nodded. That made sense. If the professor had been a lesser mortal she might not have been able to speak her mind without being corrected or shunned.
“Jo said to house the specimens in her barn.” Christine turned and made her way towards the barn. “We don’t know how long they’re going to be infected, but we don’t want to take any risks. We’ve managed to maintain a rustic kind of quarantine.” She leaned in close to Alice, but her voice was so loud it had the quality of a stage whisper. Everyone could hear her. “I tell you this. If I had thought it was airborne I wouldn’t have allowed them to remain with the group. I’ve made it this far, I’m not about to die. Not if I can help it.”
“She’s not with you? Jo’s not here?” Alice checked the gaggle of new arrivals. She hadn’t seen Jo, but there had been a lot to take in.
Christine shook her head and pursed her lips. It wasn’t like her to show disdain, but Alice was fairly certain that’s what she’d just read on her friend’s face. “She went with Alistair to Wolfjaw.”
“No way…”
“I believe the modern answer to that declaration would be ‘yes, way’. And by that I mean, all the way.” She threw her head back and laughed. Not like her. Exhaustion manifests differently for each of us.
“I’m going to get you some cups.”
“Cups?”
“We can make a chain. Get water to everyone.”
They were soldiers. They didn’t need much instruction. Within a couple of minutes they’d created a human chain from one of the rain barrels all the way to the sick men in the back and were passing cups to one another. There was a break between the healthy soldiers and the sick ones, but the cups were placed on the ground by the door to the barn and those who’d been marked by MELT were hydrated just like everyone else.
Alice took Christine aside. “Jo Morgan went to Wolfjaw Ridge?”
Christine nodded, her eyebrows up in her hairline.
“Willingly?”
“There’s an interesting question. General Hoyt thinks not. I’m no reader of people so I defer to his judgment.”
“But there’s some question?”
Michael Rayton was a few steps away from the two women. “She went willingly. It’s her job. She’s been tracking them for years. Of course she went.”
“He should not be permitted to speak,” said Christine.
“Hear him out.” Alice wanted all the facts. Even those facts that were predominantly opinion.
“She’s a workaholic and a perfectionist, like all of us. She would have wanted to see what Alistair had built.” Michael had taken a step closer.
Alice was concerned that Christine might use her empty cup as a missile. The hate and rage she radiated at Rayton was like an electric current in the air.
“He said he has an underground city.” Christine didn’t want Michael to steal her thunder. She’d stepped to her left to occlude Alice’s sightline.
Michael stepped left so he was back in view.
They were like children. This couldn’t be permitted to continue.
“Put your differences aside so we can work together. Tell me everything you heard. Jo went with Alistair. He has an underground city? And…?” It sounded preposterous, but those were the words they’d uttered. Jo going with Alistair wasn’t totally ludicrous. But an underground city? How was that possible without any of them knowing? She’d been to Wolfjaw several times and met with the man face-to-face. She’d never seen heavy machinery or signs that they were under construction. His compound was more like the village in that film where they lived like medieval peasants than a high-tech hideaway. They’d agreed to keep the peace if things ever went kablooey; him staying his side of the highway and her staying hers.
“That’s it,” said Christine. “That’s all we know. He said he had an underground city and she went.”
“As did some of the soldiers.”
Christine nodded. “They shouldn’t have done so. When the nuclear rains come the soil will be contaminated. They might be lucky enough to be outside the catchment area, but I wouldn’t bet on it. If he’s telling the truth—though, Alice, he does not strike me as the kind of man you would trust, he gives me the wiggles—then they will go underground and stay there for the rest of their lives.
“Perhaps it’s a stopgap measure?” Alice had no intention of living in a salt mine for the rest of her days. They were going to rest, get everyone well enough to travel, ascertain which way the wind was blowing, and move.
“If it were a bunker or a cave, I’d agree,” said Michael. “But he used the word ‘city’. He was very proud of
it.”
Christine had admitted she was no reader of people. Michael, on the other hand, did that kind of thing for a living. She needed to listen to his take on the situation. “You think she went willingly?”
“She tried to signal that there was a problem.”
Alice waited. This was interesting.
“Alistair was standing just a few feet away from her, so she couldn’t speak freely.”
“The general believes she went because Alistair had killed a man…”
Alice frowned. That wasn’t like him. Alistair prided himself on his ability to persuade and convince; he wouldn’t want blood on his hands.
Michael nodded. “That’s possible. She might have gone to maintain the peace.”
“I’m lost,” said Alice. “Did she or didn’t she go of her own free will?”
“Yes,” said Michael.
“No.” Christine answered simultaneously.
“Do we go after her?”
“Yes.” Christine stepped closer to Alice. Too close. She was trying to make her point as emphatically as she knew how.
Michael shook his head. “She’s a smart, smart operative. She’ll go in, assess the situation, and get out when she can. The soldiers who went with Alistair went of their own free will. Her job was to make sure they were safe. That’s all.”
So, they were agreed on the facts, but not on what to do about them. Alice needed time to think. Jo had skill, Michael was right about that. She also had a job to do. Oh, wow. She’d fallen right into thinking strategy without realizing she was doing it. Her job was to keep her family safe, not worry about the entire world. She’d given Bill her word. She was going to stay with them. If Jo needed rescuing there were soldiers available to do the job.
“We’re not sure if Fran went with them, too.” Christine bounced her cup in her hand, unsure of where to put it. “No one’s seen her for hours.”
“Oh…” They didn’t know. How terrible that it fell to her to give them the bad news.
