“I don’t know if I can make it,” Havelson muttered. “Over the mountains, I mean.”
“You’ve got to make it, Doc.” Jessica watched Gabe help Kildere out of the car. “We need a physician in our group. You’re invaluable.”
She heard Havelson huff as he walked forward. “It’s been a long time since anyone has called me that,” he said.
Jessica looked back at her group—everyone else was either old or broken.
“We’re going to have to walk parallel to the road for as long as we can,” she said.
They walked a half a mile into dense pines, cottonwood trees, and overgrown shrubs. Jessica could see the road just enough to keep her bearings. They stayed parallel to the road, which had a less steep incline, moving in a serpentine path up the face of the mountain. She took the lead, followed by Havelson, and Gabe pushed Kildere up the mountain, bringing up the rear. Even though Gabe wore a cast on his arm, Jessica knew he could handle it.
Jessica heard soft, hissing voices and immediately signaled for her group to stay in place. She took five slow, silent steps toward the edge of the tree line. There, in one of the road’s turns, stood two lizards. One of them carried the carcass of a mountain lion slung over its scaly green shoulder.
“This one smells tasty,” the lizard holding their food said. Jessica was almost used to the long, drawn-out “s” sounds they made in their speech: Thissssss, sssssmellssssss, and tasssssty.
Jessica put a hand over her mouth as she spotted another container with one of those slug creatures inside. If they let that thing loose, it was over. She had no clue how those things could see their way around the terrain. Maybe it wasn’t even sight. Perhaps it was sound. She closed her eyes, and her mind flashed on Delta and one of those things in her leg, chewing her insides.
She shook her head to jar the vision loose. She opened her eyes in time to see a third lizard. This one was carrying the carcass of a brown bear.
“Forget that creature,” it said. “Look at this.”
The other two lizards flicked their forked tongues in and out of their mouths.
Jessica looked around. At the moment, the clump of trees hid them all nicely. They could try to circumvent the roadblock—she and the doc could be silent and make it past she was pretty sure. The rustling of the leaves that would occur with Gabe’s and Kildere’s clumsiness would give them away.
Damn Kildere, she thought. And damn Gabe and his moral streak while I’m at it.
So they were going to have to somehow get through this alien blockade. Jessica could get two, maybe three shots off with her purifier before the remaining lizards could get to her. Gabe might be able to take care of the other ones, but his broken arm made that far from a guarantee, and his purifier was explicitly keyed to him. No one else could use it. And if the lizards released the slug, they had no chance.
They were fucked.
Unless...
Jessica looked up at the sky and noticed the pink glow to the west, rising above the mountaintops. Maybe they would catch a break. Maybe after a good meal, lizards do what humans do and sleep. Sure, one of them would be awake—they would most likely take shifts throughout the night—but surprise might give her group enough of an edge.
Jessica slowly and silently walked back to the group.
“Are there Guardians in the area?” Kildere asked.
“You could say that,” Jessica answered. “We’re waiting here. Quietly. Until nightfall.” Jessica sighed. “We have to take them out.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kildere flung his arms in an agitated wave. Jessica quickly stopped him before he rustled leaves and then pressed her hand to his mouth.
“They are twenty yards away, you idiot,” she hissed. “You’re welcome to trot back down to the car and take your chances, Kildere.” She kept her hand over his mouth until his shoulders relaxed.
He nodded his compliance. “What are our odds?” he asked.
“You don’t want to know,” she said. Turning to Gabe, she asked, “You think you can still fire your purifier with that thing on your arm?” She pointed to the cast.
Gabe shrugged. “I can shoot it, but I can’t aim worth a damn.”
“If we’re lucky, you won’t need a pinpoint aim,” she said.
Sundown was an hour and a half after Jessica spotted the lizards. Everyone spent the time wide awake and silent. An hour after that, Jessica quietly moved forward and almost let out a sigh of relief that they had caught a break. Two lizards were curled up near a large rock that glowed red. One peered down the road, away from Jessica. She crept back to the group.
“OK, we move now. Two of the lizards are asleep. We’ll never get a better chance.” She gave Gabe a look.
“On the snoozers. Got it,” Gabe said.
“Doc, you and Kildere stay here. You have no weapons. You’d just be in the way.”
“Are you sure there’s no other way to bypass them?” Havelson asked.
Instead of answering, Jessica whispered in Gabe’s ear. “We’re going to creep to the edge of the tree line, then come out blasting. We’ll be at their nine o’clock.”
“Got it.”
“Please don’t get hurt or, you know, die.”
Gabe smiled. “It’s not on my list for today,” he said.
They crept to the tree line. The scene was the same as a few moments earlier.
“Now,” Jessica screamed and broke through the trees.
The lizard who was awake turned toward her, and she blasted it, once, twice, three times. It went down right in front of her.
At the same time, the two who were asleep convulsed in surprise. Gabe shot one four times before it was entirely awake, and now it never would be.
That left the third.
While Jessica and Gabe were taking care of the first two, it had time to release the slug.
“Shoot that, human,” the lizard shouted. “See where that gets you, blasphemers!”
“Jess?” Gabe called out nervously.
“I’m going to try something,” Jessica said, moving quickly toward the slug.
“You’re going to...what?”
Jessica had found a couple of old NaCL packs Havelson kept in his exam room. She had meant to ask why he had them and had forgotten, but she had picked them up to test a theory. These creatures had all the weaknesses of slugs, so...
Jessica opened a packet and threw it onto the slug. The slug began to convulse, but it did not split. Jessica threw another pack of salt onto the creature.
“Salt,” Jessica mused.
For one long moment, no one moved. Everyone, including the lizard, stared at the slug, its phlegm-colored membrane hardening to a concrete color quickly. In less than five seconds, it looked like a statue.
“What...how did you do that, human?”
Jessica and Gabe looked at each other for a moment, then aimed their purifiers at the lizard and let loose in pulsing beams of retribution. The last lizard dropped before it could make a move.
Jessica gathered up the lizards’ purifiers as Havelson and Kildere broke through the tree line.
“Thank God,” Kildere muttered.
“Don’t thank her just yet,” Jessica said, tossing a purifier to Havelson. “We’ve got a ways to go to get to our base. Luckily, I think we can use the car for longer than I first thought.” She walked over to Kildere. “Before you get any bright ideas, I have to alter the purifier’s programming before you can use it.” She shoved a purifier into his hands.
“What’s that about using the car?” Havelson asked.
“Doc, so far these alien lizards have behaved a lot like our earthbound lizards. Question: What do reptiles not like?” She looked around at the group. Blank faces stared back at her. She chuckled and looked up the road at the mountain summit, which still held a fair amount of snow.
“Cold,” she answered. “I have a feeling this is the last blockade we’ll see for a while.”
“I can come with you.” Gabe was already in
lockstep with her, while the two old men were trying to keep up.
“You stay with them,” Jessica said. “Doc, keys.” She clapped her hands, ready to catch them as she walked by.
“But you don’t know how to drive—”
“I’ve watched you enough to drive it a half-mile up this road, Doc.” She clapped again. “Come on, let’s go. I don’t know if these lizards need to check in. If they do, I guarantee it won’t be just three lizards who come to find out what happened.”
Havelson threw her the keys.
“Start walking up the road. I’ll catch up to you.”
“And then what?” Kildere asked.
Jessica began to jog down the road.
“Then, with any luck, we can drive through the mountains instead of hike through them,” she called back.
3
Slithendor hated the smell of this planet. It lacked the lush, moist smell of his home planet. He had no desire to be here any longer than he had to be, but he had a duty. These Earthers not only interacted with the sacred Mulvari, but they also put their divine bodies in cages. Cages. The arrogance. The hubris. The penalty was clear. Not since the Ought invasion, two thousand cycles previous, had a race performed such a heinous act. And his ancestors made slaves of the Oughts for their insane action.
When Slithendor first heard of this blasphemous act, he briefly wondered why the divine Mulvari didn’t escape their captors by slipping into the time stream? He shunned that thought immediately. His was not to wonder why the divine Mulvari do what they do. His destiny, his sacred duty, had been laid out since time before time when the divine Mulvari visited their planet and a pact was struck. Now Slithendor, and all the rest of his race, would protect the divine Mulvari with their lives.
And they would relieve those foolish enough to harm the divine Mulvari of their life.
As he walked along the hard floor of the humans’ building where they held the divine Mulvari captive, Slithendor thought about the soft soil floor of his home and their ships. No wonder the humans were brittle and easy to break. The pressure that their legs and feet must endure with every step.
Slithendor shook his head as he approached the office of the demon who had orchestrated the divine Mulvari’s capture. He found his commander inside, examining the items the beast had placed around his throne.
“Commander,” Slithendor said.
“Slithendor, you have a report for me, I’m told.” The commander put down a visual representation of the demon and his spawn.
“One of our posts out west failed to report in. Reconnaissance has returned from finding out what happened.”
“Slithendor, I’m sure you are not here to tell me the reason is something as simple as comm failure, and we have known each other long enough for you not to be so hesitant. Speak.”
Slithendor cleared his throat, which sounded like gravel in a mixer. “They’re dead, Commander.”
The commander’s reptilian eyes blinked once. “Which one is dead?” he asked.
Slithendor cleared his throat once more. “They are all dead, Commander,” he said. “In addition, whoever killed them neutralized our Twallick.”
“Neutralized?” The commander’s tongue flicked repeatedly. “How were they able—”
“Unknown, Commander. We’re sending a research team to the site now.” Slithendor did not view his commander’s incredulous responses as a sign of weakness. After all, in all the worlds they had colonized or purified, no one—no being, no race—had ever killed a Twallick. Control them? Yes, of course, but kill them? He’d never seen or heard of such a thing. Until now.
“Commander, do you think the humans are capable of building a weapon in secret? Something our reconnaissance team didn’t detect?” he asked.
Slithendor’s superior turned back to the visual document of Thorpe and his son. The picture looked posed. They were both smiling, but the son looked as if he wanted to jump beyond the edge of the image.
The commander held the picture once more. “It is unlikely. And yet, this human—this demon—Thorpe dared to capture and confine the divine. A being like that would certainly have the impudence to create something that can destroy the Twallick.”
Slithendor suddenly felt a wave of anger wash over him. Not only has Thorpe committed an unspeakable act, he is now responsible for the death of four clutchmates of Slithendor’s. How dare this...monster...think he is above righteous punishment for his blasphemy. “Commander, let me join the research team. Let me track down this Thorpe.” Immediately he wished the words had not left his mouth. It was not his place to end Thorpe. As the ranking officer in Slithendor’s unit, as well as the one in charge of this purge, his commander should be the one to put Thorpe to death in some widely broadcast, public manner.
His commander smiled and put his massive scaly hand on Slithendor’s shoulder.
“I understand your anger, my friend. Believe me, I feel that fire as well.” His eyes sized up Slithendor. “I have no doubt you will track this cowardly Thorpe to his lair. Can I trust you to bring him to me alive, to face deserving justice?”
“All I ask is that I’m present when you make sure he pushes out his last breath,” Slithendor said.
His commander nodded. “May the gods protect you, Slithendor,” he said. “We are far from home. I have to bury four brethren. I do not wish to bury my clutch brother as well.”
4
Just as Jessica had theorized, their route into the higher, colder elevation was free of lizards. They traveled on old U.S. Route 285 until they reached the Colorado Highway 9 junction.
Then it was straight north.
Past the old Interstate 70 junction, and still north.
They were already high enough to see patches of snow around them, and Havelson had the heater on for quite some time. He frequently reminded Jessica what an asset his car was, thanks to his modifications. He told a crazy story about cars of the era this one had come from needing petroleum liquid, which was commonly called “gas” back in those days, to power the vehicle and move it forward. Havelson changed the fuel injection system to run on battery power, and he also tapped into the magnetic propulsion system the slot cars used. The end result, Havelson gleefully exclaimed, was a near-endless supply of power for the car. Otherwise, the car would have died early on in their trip.
Once they connected with old U.S. Route 40, around a small abandoned town called Kremling, the snow patches grew. Route 40 took them north for a bit longer, then west again, eventually crossing the Colorado-Utah border. When Gabe mentioned it, Kildere reminded him that there was no such thing as state borders anymore, that they were still in NC01, District 12. At that point, Jessica reached back and punched him in the jaw. It was a long reach and didn’t have much power behind it, but it surprised Kildere enough that he let out a quick yelp.
“Look around, Kildere,” Jessica sneered. “No matter what happens from here forward, your precious TriPharmaCorp is dust. Get used to it.”
Even though Jessica thought they were safe enough from lizard encounters on the ground, it was fair to assume they could be tracked from the air quickly, if the lizards knew what to look for. She wasn’t sure if it would help, but she told Havelson to stop and park under a canopy of pines for about twenty minutes every hour. She hoped that measure and the dark sky provided some cover to combat air reconnaissance.
Even with frequent stops, they made good time. By the time the sunrise found them, they were approaching a reservoir just to the west of a town called Duchesne. A considerable swath of pine trees surrounded the reservoir.
“There,” Jessica said, pointing to the road that branched off from the route they had been driving. “Park as close to that reservoir as you can, Doc.”
“Another break?” Kildere asked.
“We’re going to be here for a while.” Jessica saw a small maintenance building up the road on their left. “Park next to that building, Doc. We’ll rest up, take shifts to watch out for anything, and head out aga
in tonight.”
Havelson brought the car to a stop next to the building, which was really just a small concrete cube, abandoned long ago. As Jessica stepped out of the car, she shivered and heard the howl of wind coming down from the mountain range to the west.
She tried the front door. It was locked, but a quick blast from her purifier took care of that.
Inside was one large room and one small room annexed in the northeast corner. Jessica had hoped to find supplies they could use, but the rooms were barren. Still...
“Here’s hoping whatever the Guardians use to scan can’t penetrate the concrete,” Kildere said, echoing Jessica’s thoughts.
“We need food,” Gabe said. “I’ll see if there’s a nearby store or fast-food place or something.”
Jessica looked at his arm.
“I have a cast on my arm, Jess. I’m not an invalid,” he said.
“Take Havelson with you,” she replied, looking at the floor.
“What about me?” Kildere asked.
“You stay with me,” Jessica said curtly.
As the two left, Jessica took out her U-Board and turned it on.
“Let’s see just how screwed we are,” she muttered.
After a few seconds, she said, “Nothing on the TPC news vid feeds. That’s not good, but that’s not a surprise.” She looked up at Kildere. “TPC’s media center is near Detroit, right?”
Kildere stiffened. “It’s in NC01, District 04,” he said.
Jessica slid off the metal table and walked over to him. “Kildere,” she said, her voice calm and even, “it’s just you and me now. No need for pretense.” She patted his shoulder. “No matter what happens here, win or lose, TPC is over. Done. Its CEO most likely killed. Its vaunted time-traveling team scattered to the four winds of time. Its employees hiding like cockroaches after the apocalypse. No one gives a shit about the rules your company instilled.”
“It was your company too, Miss Waters.” Kildere took a slightly authoritative tone.
“Don’t remind me,” Jessica muttered, returning to her U-Board. She tapped the screen a few times. “Let’s see if someone’s talking on the dark frequencies.”
“Those were shut down when TPC built its consolidated media campus,” Kildere said.
Minutemen- Parallel Lives Page 8
