"I'm Dan Jensen."
"Gunnar Thorenson."
"Danish? Norwegian?"
"Mutt. But mostly Swedish."
"Me, too. Irish-Danish."
"I'll try not to hold that against you."
The man extended a bear-sized paw which Dan gripped with some trepidation, watching his hand disappear within the larger man's grasp, but there was only a brief, firm squeeze before he disengaged and stepped back. They studied each other.
"Greenwood, you said?"
"Glenwald."
"Don't know it."
"It's up north a hundred miles or so." Dan paused. "What were you shooting at? That was you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. Just some of those birds, the ones that look like vultures. You probably saw them if you came through town."
"They do look a bit like vultures."
"I try not to take it as a comment on my town." He offered Dan a thin smile.
"Are they dangerous? They never made a move on us when we passed through."
"They ate most of the area's indigenous population when they first arrived – the bodies, dogs, cats, some deer. Made some moves on me, but after I shot a few they mostly leave me alone. Same thing with the Fly Girls."
"The winged creatures that look like mutant fairies? Poisonous stingers?"
"You've made their acquaintance."
Dan gave him a slim smile. "More than once."
"I'm surprised they came back for seconds. These things tend to catch on fast."
"They're smarter than our animals. Intelligence must have been in demand in the alien zoo."
"Alien zoo?" Gunnar Thorenson stared at him, one brow cocked.
"The tall one with the wings" – Dan gestured behind him – "is from there. She told us the zoo was housed in a giant spacecraft that had some form of technical difficulty that forced it to dump its cargo. The aliens who managed it – she calls them The Keepers – shared a fair amount of information with her, for reasons I'm not clear about."
Gunnar Thorenson regarded him in a way that Dan thought wasn't exactly skeptical but not entirely accepting, either. His grey-blue eyes had the look of someone who'd seen a lot in his lifetime. Dan guessed he was around fifty, but it was hard to say.
"You're former military," Dan said.
"What gave me away? My long hair? The beard?"
Dan chuckled. "Your eyes."
"Takes one to know one, right?"
The older man's gaze bore into him. Dan nodded.
"Guilty as charged." He cleared his throat. "Ranger. Second."
"Special Forces. Fifth Group, Fourth Bat."
Dan felt himself relaxing, gratitude for this chance encounter cruising through his veins. An operator. Just what the doctor ordered. What his wife would've ordered.
"How did you survive?" Gunnar asked.
"My wife's a doctor. We shot up with atropine when the first symptoms hit. Seemed to do the trick."
"Lucky you." The former Green Beret snorted. "I thought I was coming down with the flu. But after a while, I felt better and walked into town. Imagine my surprise."
"You must've wondered why you weren't dead."
"That question crossed my mind. My main theory? Ritalin. I used it from time to time when I needed to get shit done and didn't feel like doing it. The morning of D-Day was one of those days."
"Huh. We know that Adderall has a protective effect. That's how the young girl out there survived, we think. Ritalin might work similarly."
"Never tried Adderall, but I believe they're both stimulants."
"I think so. So it looks like we're both lucky."
"Wouldn't have used that word, but I guess you could say that." He nodded at Dan's braced left arm. "How did you get that?"
"I blocked a punch."
"Must've been some punch. How'd the other guy come out?"
"It wasn't a guy. Have you encountered any ape-like creatures?"
"Haven't had the pleasure."
"They travel in packs. We're tracking one right now."
"Why?" Gunnar eyed him shrewdly. "They have something you want?"
"My family." Dan's smile hardened. "My wife, daughter, and son. They took them from our home for some unknown reason and have been traveling southeast."
The former Green Beret's gaze remained on him, but Dan had the impression he was seeing something else – something past these walls, perhaps in the past itself. Dan took the opportunity to discreetly note the living room's furnishings, seeking clues about the man's family among the photos on the wall, objects on the tables, the furniture itself. The sofa and chairs appeared "rough and ready," and the simple, functional décor practically snarled "single guy."
"Your family?" Dan ventured.
"Long gone and far away."
Dan's nod acknowledged that the subject had been closed.
"So you're going after your family," said Gunnar.
"Yes."
"How many of these ape-creatures are involved and what are their capabilities?"
"Twenty to thirty that I know about. Their capabilities..." Dan touched the splint on his forearm. "As strong as apes, I would guess, with something approaching human intelligence. They have fire and may use other primitive tools. One of the ones we killed was wearing a pouch that contained fire-starting tools."
"Weapons?"
"Not that I've seen. But I wouldn't put it past them."
"Do you have an idea of how close you are to them?"
"We know where they were a couple days ago. I think we'll get there in the next hour or two. Whether or not they're still there, I don't know."
"Stand some company?"
Dan had half-expected he'd offer that but it was still good to hear. Having a former Special Forces man on the team could be an incredible boon.
"The more the merrier," said Dan. "But Gunnar, fair warning: coming with us, going up against these creatures, your life would be at extreme risk."
"My life is at extreme risk every time I step out the door. One person, even with my training, in this environment..." He shook his head. "Much safer to team up with someone, especially an ex-soldier. Not so sure about the giant dog and that thing that was pulling you."
"The 'thing' is Myth. She's the alien I mentioned before, the one who explained about the zoo."
"Can you trust her?"
"She was a captive so there's no love lost for her zookeepers."
"Okay, then, Dan. Just let me gather a few things together and we'll be on our merry way."
"I should mention we're traveling at a pretty good speed. I'm being pulled in an adult bike trailer, I'm embarrassed to admit. You happen to have a bike?"
He hesitated before nodding. "Sure do. Not a problem."
Gunnar Thorenson emerged from his garage on a medium-tire bike with a double-basket over the rear tire that he'd stuffed with supplies, a bolt-action rifle Dan thought might be a .30-06 duct-taped to his middle bar, an M4 strapped to his back, and a pistol and knife belted around his waist. Dan gave him an approving smile. It seemed that great minds thought mostly alike when it came to post-apocalyptic outfitting.
"That should work," he said.
"Glad you approve."
Dan introduced him to the others.
"Wow," said Penny, looking him up and down. "You're really tall. You look like a giant!"
Gunnar and Myth regarded each other with sober intensity, neither offering to shake hands.
"You're the alien," said Gunnar.
"Yes. Though to me, you are the alien."
"Fair enough." Gunnar turned to Penny, who had a hand on Curly's neck. "That's a lot of beast for such a little lady. Can you control him?"
"Curly's my friend. Besides, I have a gun and I'm a lot stronger than I look." She screwed up her eyes at him. "Are you strong? You look strong."
"Compared to most, I expect."
"He's Special Forces, Penny," said Dan. "An ex-Green Beret. Do you know what that is?"
"Some kind of special soldier
?"
"That's right. Very special." He grinned at Gunnar. "Almost as special as a Ranger."
Gunnar laughed. "It's good to be in the company of such modest individuals."
By the time they got back to Dan's trailer he was happy to flop down in its small seat and let Myth resume her rickshaw role. Gunnar shot him a dry smile but said nothing. His smile faded as he struggled to match Myth's pace. Dan asked her to ease up a bit. He suspected Gunnar didn't spend a lot of time on his bike and certainly wasn't used to riding with weapons on his body and rear baskets crammed with supplies, including weighty ammo.
"Got a question," said Gunnar, pulling even with him and Myth, nodding to Penny and Curly running forty or fifty yards ahead. "Is that girl a super-duper Olympic athlete, because I think she just ran the last two miles at an under-four minute pace."
Dan chuckled. "I've been meaning to tell you. Some survivors who were using Adderall were changed by the 'event.' One change was increased physical strength and toughness."
"Damn. Why didn't I use Adderall? I actually considered it at one point."
"Maybe you shouldn't be too broken up. The people I've seen were altered in other ways. Mentally altered."
"Really? She seems like a nice little girl who runs like a jackrabbit."
"A nice little girl who eats her game raw and was eating her brother when she was first found."
Gunnar stopped pedaling. He dropped back a few feet before pulling even with Dan and Myth again.
"Did I hear you right?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. She killed her brother, and the other Adderall survivor, a teenage boy, killed and ate his sister."
"Jesus." He shook his large head. "I had no idea Adderall made a person homicidally hungry for siblings." He stared at her back. "But she doesn't seem homicidal now."
"No. And my gut feeling is it was a temporary insanity that won't be repeated."
"A gut feeling."
"That's right."
"Do you have any gut feelings about how the aliens accomplished this? How they targeted us for death while sparing our animals? All while they were in some form of emergency evacuation of their zoo creatures?"
"Not a clue. Myth?"
"All know is that a door in our world opened and they told us to step through it. And then we were here."
"There are more of you?" Gunnar asked.
"There were." Myth showed little expression except a tightening of her jaw. "I watched some of us die just outside the ship. I haven't seen any of the others if they survived."
"Tell me about these 'Keepers' of yours. What kind of creatures are they?"
"They resemble your bees, though they stand on two feet and have hands much like ours."
Dan thought it was interesting that Myth classified herself as a member of the human race. Maybe an honorary member?
"Can they fly?" Gunnar asked, with a sardonic smile to Dan that suggested he wasn't taking her entirely seriously. "Sting?"
"Yes."
"And they're the ones ruling the roost?"
"I don't know what a 'roost' is, but yes, they are the rulers."
"Bees." Gunnar laughed. "And here I thought it was going to be ants. How do you know so much about them?"
"They talked to me. Told me many things."
"Such as?"
"Things about other creatures. About my species."
"And what species would you be?"
"Amalgam."
"A combination of things?"
"We combine with other creatures, yes."
"Combine? How?"
When Myth didn't reply right away, Dan said, "They incorporate the genes of other beings or animals into their own, creating a mixture of their qualities."
"I guess that explains why she looks like a Fly Girl plus human."
"That's about right," said Dan. "With some Adderall 'genes' thrown in."
A few more miles and Penny announced they were getting close but that she needed to orient herself. They pulled off the road and waited while she and her monster-mutt galloped off into nearby woods to their north.
Dan climbed out of his trailer and stretched his legs in the shade of a big elm. Gunnar joined him while Myth leaped high into the tree, wings buzzing, and took up residence in its uppermost branches, surveying the countryside.
"Just when I thought nothing could surprise me anymore," Gunnar muttered. "You actually made allies with two of these creatures."
"We're not the only ones," said Dan, wiping his brow and craving an ice-cold beer. "The woman who discovered Penny made friends with something that resembles a flying wolf."
Gunnar shaded his eyes and squinted up at the sky. "I've seen one large winged creature fly over the town once. Could've been a pterodactyl, for all I knew. Maybe that was your flying wolf. Who's the woman?"
"Diana Mann. She lived only a few miles from us on the other side of town, but I'd never met her. She's former CIA."
"A spook. This gets better and better." Gunnar broke out a canteen and took a swig. Dan brought out his own canteen and drank greedily. "Where are the ex-CIA agent and her winged-lupine comrade now?"
"Nearby, with any luck," said Dan. "We're headed toward her last known location. Penny was with Diana and ran back to lead us to her and the Nazrene camp they'd spotted. Nazrene is the Keepers' name for the simian-creatures."
"Ah." Gunnar scratched his beard. "The dots are almost starting to connect."
"Sorry I was a bit fuzzy about what's going on."
"When did Penny leave her?"
"We're into the fourth day since then."
Gunnar nodded, his eyes distant. Dan had tried not to dwell on that length of time, and especially not how long his wife and two children had been with the Nazrene, but a part of his mind had been obsessively devoted to counting off the days, hours, and even minutes. He knew what Gunnar was thinking. Four days was a long time. A lot could've happened. In a world without cell phones or email or instant messages, they might as well be in the Wild West before telegraphs, when the swiftest communication was a rider on a fast horse. As it was, they were incredibly lucky to have someone who could probably outrun a fast horse.
An hour passed. Myth dropped to the ground and jogged a way down the road, springing to the top of another tree. Dan settled on the soft ground against a tree trunk, resisting the usual onslaught of worries. It would take a lot to kill Penny and her dog, and if something tried they'd probably hear gunshots – or Myth's sensitive ears would.
Penny raced back in, her huge companion in tow, breathless with excitement. And it took a lot to make Penny breathless, Dan thought, accepting a hand from Gunnar in hauling himself to his feet. Myth came bounding up to join them.
"Some different creatures are at the landing craft," she said. "They look and smell a lot like the Nazrene, but they're wearing really bright-colored clothes! I didn't find Diana." At the last, her face fell a bit.
"Well, it's been nearly four days," said Dan. "It wouldn't be surprising if she moved to another location." He frowned at her. "I've never seen the apes wearing anything but their fur."
"They're something else. Maybe related to them?"
"Brightly colored clothes," Gunnar mused. "Sounds like females to me."
"Azrene," said Myth. "They are the female form of the species."
"Didn't you say they're more dangerous than the males?" Dan asked. "And that the two don't get along except during breeding season?"
"And not even well then. The males must perform rituals and offer gifts to gain their favor."
As if we need more complications. Dan tamped down his anxiety and turned to Penny. "Any sign of my family?"
"No. But we didn't see them before, either. Zurzay thought they were in the woods beyond the alien ship."
"Did these creatures see you?"
"I don't think so."
"All right." Dan let out his breath. "Let's go see what's happening there. Hopefully, we can pick up Diana's or my family's trail."
&nbs
p; Penny led them three or four miles down the road and then cross-country. Dan got out to walk, Myth pulling his trailer and Gunnar wheeling his bike through the grass.
They arrived at a large meadow in the mid-afternoon – and there it was: a doppelganger of the grey-blue cylinder on Glenwald's beach, though perhaps half-again larger, Dan thought. No sign of ape-creatures in colorful clothing.
"They were taking things out of the ship when I was here before," said Penny.
"What direction were they taking them?" Dan asked.
"To the forest on the other side."
Dan turned to Myth. "Do you know what kind of supplies might be in there?"
"No," said Myth. "We had no supplies in my landing ship."
"Would the ship be a good candidate for picking up my family or Diana's scent?"
"It could be."
"They were watching it when I left," said Penny. "From that big tree over there." She pointed to a towering oak on the perimeter of the meadow a half-mile from them.
"Let's go to that tree," said Dan.
They worked their way around the edge of the meadow to the tree. Penny and Myth circled it, both drawing in deep breaths through their noses. Curly rooted around nearby, sniffing the ground.
"Oh, no," Penny cried.
Fear snapped through Dan's body. "What?"
"They were here! The Nazrene!"
"A large number of them," Myth added.
Myth scooped some broken branches from the ground. Looking up, they saw a spear lodged in the bottom of what appeared to Dan to be a massive hawk nest.
"The apes attacked them," said Dan. "Damn – they're using spears now?"
"Looks that way," said Gunnar. The big Swede had his M4 up and was tracking the area around them with narrowed eyes. He stooped beside a divot and dug a slug out of the soft soil, holding it up to Dan. "Thirty cal. Fired from above."
"She shoots an MP 10."
Gunnar dropped the bullet. "Not a typical lady's gun."
"She's not a typical lady." Dan looked from Penny to Myth. "Any sense of whether she survived the attack?"
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