Drinking Destiny

by Pippa Amberwine

  Her eyes were a brilliant blue but wild and fearful. Her loose blonde hair was matted in places. She looked absolutely terrified.

  For a moment, I couldn’t remember what Carol had said the girl’s name was. Emma. That was it. Short for Emmaline.

  I held up the palms of both hands, and the girl flinched a little, so I backed up a tad until I was out of reach.

  “Emma?” She jumped when I said her name and stopped screaming. “My name is Katie.” I pointed at Penny. “And this is Penny. We’re here to help you. If Penny takes her hand away, are you going to stop screaming so I can explain why we’re here?”

  Emma nodded very slightly. I flicked my eyes up to Penny, and slowly she drew her hand away but wisely kept a grip on the girl’s jacket.

  “Okay, first thing, is your grandma here? Carol, your mom, said you were with her.” I had a quick look around the room. It was tidy and presentable and looked like it had been cleared regularly.

  “No. Grandma went out to try and get some food two days ago and hasn’t come back.”

  “Do you know where she went?”

  “No. It was the first time she’s had to go out for food.”

  “Okay. You must be very hungry if you haven’t eaten in a couple of days. Maybe if I ask Penny nicely, she’ll go get something for our car. We just got some food, so you can have some if you want it.”

  Emma nodded rapidly.

  Penny disappeared back outside.

  Emma eyed me suspiciously, but I stayed squatting and waited for Penny to come back.

  When she returned, she handed the youngster a bag of nuts and a candy bar.

  Emma ate both in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t exactly a balanced diet, but it would have to do for the moment. Once she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, Emma peered up at me with her baby blues looking less scared now. “My mom is dead.”

  I shook my head. “No, she’s safe and working with us. She’s looking forward to seeing you again.”

  “My mom said I should never go off with strangers.” She glanced across at Penny and then back at me.

  “Well, we’re not strangers to your mom. We’re her friends.”

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know she isn’t dead and you’re just trying to trick me, so I disappear like all the others?”

  “Because we’re not,” Penny said.

  Whenever we’d talked about kids in the past, she’d always made it very clear that she would never have children. Her impatience was showing.

  “You would say that though,” Emma said to Penny and looked back to me. I couldn’t stop a half-smile at her gutsy answer.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let me tell you what I know about your mom, then you can decide if we know her well enough for you to come back with us. If not, then I’m sorry, but you’ll have to stay here alone with no food. What do you say?”

  She nodded, looking unconvinced.

  I spent a minute describing Carol’s physical attributes and then went on to her personality.

  “She’s kind and thoughtful, a bit disorganized but loves her work, and she makes the most disgusting sandwiches on Earth.”

  Emma’s face lit up. “You do know her. Where is she? Can we go to her now? What happened to her? Why did those people say she was dead?” The questions poured out of the girl like machine-gun fire. So quickly that I didn’t have a chance to answer any of them, but there would be plenty of time to answer them later. The important thing was to get her back with her mom as soon as possible.

  “We can go to her now, of course,” I said, choosing the easiest question to answer. “Do you have a coat to wear? It’s getting cold outside.”

  She dashed off and came back fully wrapped up.

  “Great,” I said, raising my eyebrows when she grabbed my hand and headed to the door. “Let’s go. Listen, Emma, we have a couple of our friends in the car. Their names are Nova and Frankie. You’ll like them.”

  “Boys?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t like boys. They smell.”

  Penny smirked, and I snorted. “You’re okay, Emma. Neither of our friends smell.”

  “Is there a car safety seat? My mom says I should never go in a car without a car safety seat.”

  “Your mom was right, but it’s an emergency, and we won’t tell anyone, as long as you don’t either, okay?”

  “I have to tell my mom. I tell her everything. Well, I did. I haven’t seen her . . .” Suddenly, with no warning, Emma broke into tears. I grabbed her and helped her into the back of the car. Frankie jumped in the front, and Penny sat the other side of Emma.

  “Let’s go,” I said to Nova.

  I draped an arm around the poor girl and held her tight until the crying finally subsided. She looked out of the window at the rolling countryside we were passing and wiped away her tears with her fingers.

  “Is it far?” she asked.

  “About another five miles,” I said. “We’ll be there in no time.”

  Suddenly, Nova slammed on the brakes. The car vibrated to a halt. Nova threw it into reverse, and the car whined back along the road until we got level with a farm gate.

  “Why did we stop?” I asked, looking outside but not seeing much.

  “Those tracks leading through the gate,” he said, pointing out of his window. “They are fresh, and by the look of them, military or SCAR. You wanna be nosey and go see what’s up there?”

  I looked at Penny, who seemed uncertain. Frankie nodded, obviously craving excitement to control his other cravings.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  Nova stopped the car when we spotted what was at the end of the track. A large military-looking tent had been pitched in the middle of a field. It was high up and very easily defensible, but whoever had set it up obviously hadn’t considered that anybody would be coming this far out of the way to check it out.

  Tracks from several large vehicles circled around where the tent was situated, but there were no trucks or anything of that kind there.

  There were no guards, no soldiers, nothing. The windblown spot was silent but for the rustle of the wind through the rough grass sprouting in the field and the occasional flap of canvas where a loose covering on the tent got caught up by the breeze.

  The only vehicle there was a Jeep, all in black, suggesting that this was some kind of SCAR affair. The Jeep didn’t seem to be occupied, although it was tricky to tell from where we were in the car.

  “We need to go check that out,” Frankie said.

  “We have Emma with us,” I said.

  “We still need to check it out. It could be food stores or a weapons dump.”

  The prospect of finding either almost made my mouth water.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Frankie had a point. We couldn’t just turn around because we had Emma there with us. We had a responsibility, to ourselves if nobody else, to do our best to sabotage anything SCAR related, and if it meant we’d get more supplies in the bargain, then all the better.

  I leaned into the back of the car. “Penny, can you stay here with Emma while we go take a look at this tent?”

  Penny stretched an arm around Emma and pulled her close. “Sure thing. Maybe Emma could tell me little about what’s been happening to her. What do you think, Emma?”

  “Will you be gone long?” Emma asked, turning her eyes to me.

  “No, not long. We’re just going to see what’s here, and then we’ll be back. Then we’ll go see your mom, okay?”

  She nodded slightly and leaned in harder to Penny.

  “We won’t be long.”

  “I know. Me and Emma will be just fine,” Penny said.

  “It’s Emma and I,” Emma said.

  I shut the door before I let out a little laugh at Emma correcting Penny’s grammar.

  Frankie and Nova got out of the front seats, and we joined up to walk toward the tent using what cover we could find to get as close as we could.

  Eventually
we worked our way around to see the entrance to the tent and the Jeep.

  “What do you think, guys?” I asked.

  “I think we should wait here for a minute, to see if we can catch sight of how many are in there. Remember we only have one gun between the three of us, so if there are ten people in there, we’re going to just have to back off.” Nova had kept his eyes on the tent from the small stand of trees we were hidden behind. It was a fifty-yard dash across open ground to the flap of the tent, which we noticed was more the size of a small wedding marquee as we drew closer.

  We waited, the only movements the occasional slap of the canvas flap over the entrance of the tent and our steady breathing.

  We didn’t see anyone come in or out of the tent.

  “Look,” Frankie said. “That Jeep is a four-seater. I figure that’s the maximum number of people that are going to be inside.”

  “So, you think we should go in?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah. We could sit out here for an hour and see nobody. Sooner we’re in, the sooner we’re back out again.”

  “Nova?”

  “Yeah, I agree. I’ll go in first, and then you two come on in behind me.” Nova reached around and slid a pistol from the waistband of his pants. He checked it, chambered a round, and flicked off the safety.

  “Are you two ready?” Nova asked.

  Frankie and I answered together in the affirmative.

  “Let’s go then.”

  We worked our way quickly around the trees. Then, on Nova’s signal, we sprinted across to the tent. Nova and I were on one side of the entrance. Frankie was on the other and gripped the entrance flap, ready to pull it wide open.

  Nova used a hand signal, and Frankie pulled back the flap. In a flash, Nova was inside, and I followed him in quickly.

  Inside, the tent was set up with a long workbench along one side. Piled on top was a series of monitor screens, fronted by five swivel chairs. The rest of the tent was empty other than for a couple of smaller tables with two chairs at each and a large refrigerator.

  One of the chairs in front of the monitors was occupied. The woman sitting there was focused on the screens in front of her and hadn’t taken any notice of our entrance.

  “Put your hands up,” Nova yelled. The woman squealed in fear and swiveled in her chair, raising her hands when she saw Nova’s gun.

  Frankie headed off to see what was in the refrigerator, but I was more interested in what I was looking at on the monitors. I stepped over to get a closer look and swept my gaze over the whole length of the workbench.

  “That’s Nindock’s town,” I said. I looked at the woman who was trembling in her seat. “Isn’t it?”

  She faced me. “Yes . . . yes, it is.”

  “You have cameras in Nindock’s town? How did you manage that?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m a doctor, not a technician.”

  She sounded like a particularly pissed-off doctor to me.

  “How long have you been set up here?” I asked, stepping up next to Nova who was still pointing his pistol at her.

  “What’s it got to do with you?” I had to hand it to her. She might be scared, but she was clearly no pushover.

  I stepped forward until I was right up in her face. I was no pushover either, and I wanted her to know that. “How long have you been set up here?” I repeated. “You tell me, or I set the dogs on you.”

  I flicked my eyes in Frankie’s direction; he was standing by the refrigerator with a bottle of beer in his hand. Frankie growled and pulled the beer bottle top off with his teeth and then spat it out on the floor and glared at the woman. It was a party trick he’d shown me a while back, but it was very effective all the same.

  I heard the good doctor gulp.

  “A week. We’ve been here a week, that’s all.”

  “Great. Now, why are you watching what’s going on in Nindock’s town? Are you planning an attack?” I asked.

  “What? No. Nothing like that. We’re scientists, not soldiers.”

  “We?”

  “Yes, we. There’s normally four of us, but I pulled the Sunday shift on my own.”

  I hadn’t even realized it was Sunday.

  “Who do you work for?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Frankie!” I yelled. He took two steps before she blabbed.

  “Chemosys, okay. I work for Chemosys.” She flipped around a name badge that was pinned inside her jacket lapel.

  Dr. Ngan Li.

  The photo was of her.

  “So why, Doctor Li, are Chemosys interested in Nindock’s town?”

  She looked from me, to Nova’s gun, and then briefly at Frankie, who gave her a toothy grin.

  “Hang on,” I said. “Let me guess. Did you introduce the virus that’s breaking out there?”

  “Maybe, why?”

  I’d have preferred a clear yes, but suspected that was the closest I would get.

  “Because it’s making people ill there. People are getting hurt. They’re dying.”

  She shrugged in such an offhanded way that I really wanted to punch her in the mouth.

  It was pretty clear she didn’t care two hoots about what was happening there, but there must have been some reason why they were watching.

  “So, what are you looking for?” I demanded.

  “A survivor of course.”

  “Why?”

  “So we can use their antibodies to develop a cure.”

  “A cure for what?”

  “For the virus. It’s a variation on the VAMP virus, and if we can isolate whatever kills it, we’ll have a cure we can use straight off.”

  It all sounded so matter-of-fact, so downright ordinary, like a regular day at work. But the truth was she, and the rest of the Chemosys bunch, were messing with the lives of dragons and people to such an extent that deaths were almost inevitable, and yet all she could do was look pissed off and bored.

  I really wanted to punch her in the face.

  Instead, I grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket and dragged her to her feet.

  “You’re coming with us,” I said.

  “Why? Where?”

  “To Nindock’s town to tell us everything you know.”

  “No. No.” She started to struggle so I held her tighter and shouted for Frankie.

  When Frankie grabbed her, she stopped struggling and started shaking instead.

  “No fuss. You go with Frankie, don’t cause any trouble, and you won’t come to any harm,” I said.

  “You promise?”

  “I promise. She’ll be fine. Won’t she, Frankie?”

  Frankie licked his lips and bared his teeth. His fangs were starting to show. I wondered if I was doing the right thing. But he seemed to be under control, and the fangs had a suitably scary effect on Dr. Li.

  As they left, I looked around. Other than beer in the fridge, I couldn’t see anything that might be of use. I searched for something to use to smash the monitors. I’d have suggested Nova shoot them out, but I knew he was low on ammo, and it would be a waste.

  “You got any ideas how we can destroy this lot?” I asked him.

  He looked at the chairs by the tables.

  I nodded.

  Two minutes later, we walked out, panting and sweating, but with every monitor smashed. For good measure, Nova flipped a lighter out of his pocket and set fire to the canvas just as we left.

  By the time we were back to the car and inside, a plume of black smoke was rising from the tent. I had to sit next to the doctor in the back while, protesting, Emma sat on Penny’s knee, shouting that it wasn’t safe.

  I was so glad to get back to the edge of Nindock’s town.

  I helped Dr. Li out of the car while Penny helped Emma and held her hand as we headed into the town itself.

  When we got to our quarters, I handed the doctor off to Nova to organize a place where we could keep a close eye on her, while I walked through the marketplace.

  When we got to Carol�
��s house, I knocked loudly on the door.

  A few seconds later, the door opened slowly, and Carol looked out at me.

  “I have something for you,” I said.

  “Is it a sandwich?”

  I stepped aside to reveal Emma standing behind me.

  “Mommy,” Emma squealed and leaped into Carol’s arms; Carol buried her face in her daughter’s hair and hugged her daughter tight.

  When Carol lifted her head back up, tears streamed down her face despite her huge smile.

  “Thank you,” she half-mouthed, half-whispered, and then she stepped back inside and pushed the door closed with her foot.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Katie

  Katie and Jevyn’s quarters

  Nindock’s town

  BY THE TIME I got back to our quarters after dropping Emma with her mom, and wiping away the tears of happiness that had suddenly poured out of me at being part of something nice and life-affirming for a change, Dr. Li had found a safe spot on a chair in the communal area, and Nova and Frankie were regaling Sparks and Marty with the story.

  Marty sounded pissed that he hadn’t been there, but Sparks still looked bereft at the loss of Derek. Other than being at Lynnette’s shop, I couldn’t think where else he might have gone. He evidently hadn’t been found in the camp or else Jevyn and Nindock, or even Kam and his team, might have found Derek, but there was no news from any of them.

  The doctor seemed to be a little overawed at the number of people milling around in what was a fairly small area, but I hoped she was able to gather from what she saw and heard that she wasn’t in any danger from any of us.

  When a loud banging started on the door to the quarters, everyone stopped talking and looked at it.

  Nobody else seemed to be making a move toward it, so I stepped forward, twisted the handle, and swung the door open.

  “Cole,” I said in surprise. I hadn’t expected to see him, especially as he hadn’t been around the camp for days.

  “Katie. Can I come in? I wanted to check on you.”

  “Me? Why?”

  “I heard you were out on a run. Just thought I’d make sure everything went off okay.” The conversation behind me had already begun to hum back to life.