A Dark Evolution (Book 2): Deranged (20 page)

“My god, look at her hands,” Clint said, leaning forward. Her fingertips were bloody stumps with sharp bone protruding from the ends instead of the manicured nails a girl her age should have. Her shirt, a button-down blouse, was torn apart and hung in rags. The turquoise linen was shredded, exposing bloody patches of skin beneath, where the sharp thorns and brambles of this thick forest had torn her skin.

“He smells her,” Nolan piped in, a little too excitedly.

The bear lifted its head out of the snow, its nostrils flaring, then it saw her ten feet away, moving toward it without fear. The bear opened its mouth and let out a hoarse bellow. The girl returned it, her mouth gaping open and revealing teeth that were bloodstained, several of them jagged from breaking against bone. Then she charged, running at the bear. The bear looked startled, and glanced behind itself quickly, deciding if it should flee from this bizarre attacker. It didn’t have a chance though, the girl reached the bear and swung one bloody arm through the air, striking it in the face. The bear reared back, howling in pain, then the group saw that she had gouged out its eye with her first swing.

“Holy shit,” Jason said.

The bear lunged, swinging a massive paw at the crazed girl, slashing at her chest with half-inch claws that tore through her blouse and ripped into her skin. Bright blood erupted through the deep wounds, soaking her tattered shirt. Jason saw in two places the white of rib bones exposed in the deep wounds.

The girl didn't back off and jumped forward, grabbing the bear’s long face, and bit down onto its nose, shaking her head as she did. A bloody black chunk of flesh flew from the bear’s face, followed by a stream of blood. It struck her with another crushing blow, knocking her to the ground. The bear shook its head and roared, in pain and anger. Its snout dripped blood where the psychopathic zombie had torn its sensitive nose in half. The girl tried to rise, but must have broken bones with the last blow, and the bear rose up on its hind legs, then stomped down on her with its front paws, driving all its weight into the girl’s torso. She twisted and hollered under its weight, but only for a moment, before the bear’s head dipped down and clamped over her neck.

“Oh god, that’s sick,” Nolan said as he shook his head.

Jason turned away as the screen was filled with the spray of arterial blood that sprang from the young zombie’s torn open neck.
Jesus,
he thought,
why the hell did I watch that?

“That’s it,” Clint said, and picked up his walkie-talkie, speaking rapidly into it. A moment later, a gunshot roared through the forest and the bear’s head snapped back as a bullet smashed through its thick skull. The four hundred pound animal flopped to the ground next to its kill.

“What the hell happened?” Nolan asked.

“I have a guy out there, we had to put it down. Who knows if this disease can be transferred by consuming the infected. We can’t take the chance.”

Nolan nodded acceptingly.

Clint spoke into the radio one more, “You'll have to burn the bodies. Yeah, I know, just do it.” He set the radio down on the desk. “All right, show's over, get the hell out of here.”

The show is definitely over
, Jason thought, as he followed the others back to their offices.

Kala kissed Sophie on the forehead and backed out of the tent. She zipped it closed and turned to see Andrea coming out of her own tent where she had just put Devon down for the night. James and Tom waited for her by the fire. It wasn’t much of a fire anymore, just smoldering coals, but it was warm, and the smell of burning wood was comforting to her. Before taking her place by the fire, Kala peeked into the dark SUV. Dylan was lying still inside, asleep. Good, he needed the rest, and just maybe his body would hold out long enough for her to get him help.

Turning back to the fire, she saw the others were all looking in her direction expectantly. She let out a deep breath as she sat down. Her brain had been working overtime ever since she and James had witnessed the ill-fated border run that left a Jeep and its occupants in a flaming pile of debris. It felt good to exercise her brain again, to problem solve on a large scale. She had an idea, and over the last hour that idea had solidified and the skeleton of a plan was made. She was excited, but the others were anxious. She just needed to make them see.

“Tell us, Kala,” James said. Mae was leaning on his shoulder but watching Kala intently.

“They have electricity beyond the border,” she began. The group nodded. James had reported back that much. “Electricity means there’s still infrastructure in place. And if they still have an intact infrastructure, they’re going to have hospitals, food pantries, grocery stores, and homes not filled with zombies.”

Kala saw the interest peak on Andrea’s face. Tom spoke up with the obvious problem. “And they also have soldiers, guns, and an attack chopper.”

James nodded. “And they are not afraid to kill. It seems our military has finally gotten serious about securing the nation.”

“It’s a stopgap at the very most,” Kala retorted, then shook her head and waved her own comment off. “Sorry, anyhow, I know how we can get across the border.”

“Do we really even want to do that? Can Dylan really be saved?” It was Mae asking in her soft, slow voice.

“We have to try.”

“What’s your plan, Kala?” Tom asked.

“Misdirection.”

“Huh?”

“The great magician Houdini was able to convince his audiences that he was performing magic by directing their attention away from his secret tricks, the end result was that the audiences perceived his illusions as magic.”

“Jesus, Kala, this isn’t a stage, and we aren't magicians, what the hell are you talking about?”

“The fox will always chase the rabbit. All we need is the rabbit. How often do you think cars will try to cross the border like that one tonight? Often? Maybe even several each night?”

Tom shrugged.

“Maybe,” James said.

“The chopper is our fox, and when it sees a rabbit, it will give chase.”

“And when it does,” Mae said softly, “we make our run for the border.”

It was quiet around the coals as they looked from Mae to Kala. Kala nodded. “That’s right, Mae. They won’t be able to go after us both, especially when we rig up the truck to run with no lights.”

“If our
rabbit
is on the road getting shot at, where are we supposed to be?” James asked. His doubtful voice was laced with curiosity.

“We go off-road. We drive through the burned out clearing. When we get close enough for their lights to pick us up, we’ll have to gun it and charge the fence.”

“Holy shit, Kala,” Andrea said, uncharacteristically incredulous. “That clearing has all sorts of tree stumps and rocks and stuff. And you want to charge through there with no lights?”

“Will the truck even be able to break through the fence?” Tom asked. “Because if we hit it and don't break through...we’ll be sitting ducks.”

“I don’t know for sure Tom, but I think it will.”

“Kala, honey,” Andrea said softly, “none of us want to see anything happen to Dylan, but is this the right thing to do? To put us and the kids in mortal danger to try to get across?”

“It’s the only chance he has,” Kala responded as she looked around the group. She knew they were weighing his life against their own.

In the silence they heard an engine approaching. Kala glanced down to make sure their coals were dim enough not to be seen, then a moment later headlights flashed by on the road toward the border. Everyone turned to watch the light disappear behind the trees. Kala watched their faces as two minutes later, the heavy beat of rotor blades roared through the air. Andrea shook her head.

“Jesus,” Tom whispered as the sound of the helicopter’s cannon erupted in the night. They heard tires screech and an explosion, followed by a flash of light barely visible through the dense trees.

“Kala, if we fail, every one of us will die,” Andrea said, letting the weight of her statement sink in. “Even the children.”

Kala nodded, “That is correct.”

“What do you think Dylan would say about this idea?” Mae asked. “Maybe we should ask him, since it is him we are trying to save.”

Kala was thankful for the dark as her face turned a little red. What would Dylan say? He was a boy, a young man, would he want them to save him? He had so much life left to live, so many years of living that would be cut short if he wasn’t given help. He would want to live, wouldn’t he? Or would he forbid it, because of the danger to the rest of them, to his sister? She didn’t want to ask him, she wanted to save him.

“All right, well, I’m going to bed. Let’s talk again in the morning.”

Kala slept fitfully, plagued by her plans, terrorized by worry. Twice more during the night she heard the chatter of the helicopter’s chain gun roaring away as more travelers tried to make the crossing. Was she crazy? She was. The probability of success for this mission was pretty low. They stood as much of a chance of being killed as they did of escaping. The memory of her friend Abigail came drifting into her head. Abigail running away from her. She was infected, injured. She was running toward her parents’ plane, only wanting their love, their comfort in her final hours. Then the sniper’s bullet blasted through her, and all of her life emptied out onto the dry tarmac of the Miami International Airport.

As Abigail died, Lukie’s face replaced hers. Kala held his small broken head in her hands, crying and trembling as she sang him one last song,
You Are My Sunshine
. Her father had mutated, bitten by an infected spider or mosquito, she did not know which. When he changed, he attacked her mother, beating her head in until it broke apart. Then he came downstairs to kill the rest of them. Lukie had been his second victim, running to his father with love and concern in his eyes, only to have the big man, who had turned into a mindless zombie, toss his frail body into the paneled wall of their basement, breaking his bones and stealing his life. Kala herself had killed her own father, shot him in the face with a fifty caliber handgun. But that was only after he bit Abigail, starting the infection that would have claimed her life if the bullet had not done so first.

Kala woke early, earlier than the sun, to find that Sophie had draped herself over her and was drooling peacefully on her chest. She lay her head back, not at all minding the closeness. Sophie was a bit of a crazy one, as many young children are, but she was sweet, and so very kind. It was actually Sophie, in these last few weeks, that had softened Kala’s heart and cooled the anger that coursed through her. Kala had lost so much, they all had, but just being with the little girl was soothing, therapeutic. There was good in the world, there was kindness in humanity.
If only in our children
, she thought,
if only in those not yet spoiled by life.
They are worth fighting for.

“What kind of life could we live here?” she whispered. “If we stay here, we will be taken, either by the infection or by the dead ones. I don’t know how long their kind will persist, but long enough to destroy us all I am sure.” She carefully stroked a hand over Sophie’s thick, curly hair. “I don’t want you to grow up without Dylan, Sophie, he’s the only family you have left now.”
And
, she thought,
I don’t think I could raise you alone.

Kala left the camp alone as dawn broke. She took the Kalashnikov and headed out into the trees. The quiet morning air soothed her overburdened mind. She stepped lightly as she wove around the large tree trunks, her careful nature ingrained in her from a young age, while hunting with her father. What would her father have done here? He was a smart man, a practical man. Her father would have said that the risk was far too great, trying to cross here. But her father also cared more for his family than any other thing in the world. If it were Kala, Lukie, or her mother lying in the back of the car with a bullet hole in their leg, he would have done anything to save them. Well, her father was dead now, as was Lukie and her mother. Dylan and Sophie were her family now. She was their wife, their mother, and their protector. She would take care of them, she would save them, no matter what.

She crept to the edge of the forest and surveyed the landscape. She was surprisingly pleased with what she saw. As the rural highway left the cover of trees, it traversed the open no man’s land until the road intersected with the new border fence. Just after it left the tree line, however, the rolling ditch on the east side leveled out into nothing, leaving a smooth separation between road and earth.
We can drive off the road right there.
It was all about the timing. They would have to wait for their rabbit vehicle, then follow it as it entered the kill zone, but turn off into the cleared ground before they ended up on the same intercept path as the helicopter.

Each time they saw it, the chopper had come from the west, so if they traveled east as their rabbit went straight, they should be able to fade into the black of night before the fireworks began. Then they would creep along the open field with no light until they were near enough to the fence to gun the engine and charge it. And then just hope to god they could break through. There was enough clear space that they could make it across the opening...if they had lights, but they didn’t, and Kala had no idea how they would avoid running into the stumps of clear-cut trees.
I guess I’ll have to cross my fingers for that.

She looked out at the fence through her binoculars. Long vertical supports had been laid out, there were hundreds of them.
Once those supports go up there's no way we’ll be able to break through.
She followed the fence line over to the east and found the crews working on the supports. They were still a few hundred yards off. She didn’t think they could install that many in one day, she was pretty sure. She didn’t want to accept that maybe they could, because if she accepted that, they would be doomed.
Hold on Kala, hold on to hope.

Hope is for fools,
she scolded herself.

No, hope is for optimists, I’ve just never been one of those.
She lowered the binoculars and let out a long breath. Her eyes squinted a little as the sun began its climb in the east. This was it. Tonight would be the night.

She retreated back into the cover of the trees, mindful of any overzealous snipers out there. The soldiers knew they were out here; she had been observing them from the tree line for a couple of days. How long before they took preemptive action? They must know Kala was trying to work something out. If it were her over there, she would send the chopper over their camp right now to smoke them all out of existence.
Well, be thankful not everyone’s a tactical asshole like you.

God, shut up. I thought I left you back in Florida.

And yet you’re still talking to yourself.

Kala shook her head and turned, walking slowly back toward their camp. She had taken ten steps when she heard the engine start, their engine.
What the hell?
She broke into a run, heedless of the noise she made, or the sharp brambles that whipped over her legs and arms. She leapt over a fallen log, losing her footing for a moment in a mound of pine needles, then vaulted back up and sprinted. Ten more seconds and she would be at the camp. She saw the tents, she saw the truck, then skidded to a stop at the edge of the trees and pulled the AK-47 up to her shoulder. Someone must be trying to steal the car, but why were they hanging around?
Sophie!
Would they take the children? Her heart beat madly in her chest as she crept out, expecting to see armed assailants ravaging the camp.

What she didn’t expect to see was mutiny.

They must have been waiting for her to leave. Andrea and Tom were scrambling around the campsite, collecting gear and tossing it into the SUV. Tom wore the AR-15 slung over his shoulder on its strap. Kala was only thirty feet from them and stood silently, as if she were observing a frightened doe grazing on soybeans. They had already torn down their tent and stowed it. The SUV still contained their small stores of ammunition, and the bright red cooler they were hauling water in was sitting just in front of the rear lift gate. It appeared they were ready to go, because Andrea was trying to corral Devon into the car, but the boy was running around, playing with Sophie.

James and Mae’s tent was still up and there was no evidence they were even awake. Then she saw Dylan. He was lying on the ground by the remnants of their fire from the night before. His head had been propped up with a sweatshirt. He appeared unconscious. It was to be a clandestine getaway - with all of their much needed supplies. Finally, Andrea snagged Devon’s arm and hissed at him, dragging him to the car. She looked over to Tom and called out, and Kala heard her words perfectly.