AB (The Blake Reynolds Chronicles Book 1) (16 page)

A puzzled look
came over James’s face. “That is what people keep saying, but what does that
mean, ‘I hold the solution’? I’m a soldier, not a doctor.”

The captain looked
at the doctor and sat down. The doctor stepped forward to address the men. “I’m
not sure what you know about how the infection started, but what we know is the
bacterium that was brought here by the meteor only affects people of non-O
blood type.”

James nodded
his head like he already knew this information.

“What you might
not know is that your blood is different. You should be infected just like all
the other non-O blood types, but for some reason you aren’t. That is why so
much effort has been made to get you here. We have some of the best doctors and
researchers in the U.S. aboard this ship. We believe that by studying your
blood, we can end this apocalypse.”

James shifted
uneasily in his chair and grinned slightly. “Take all the blood you want.”

The captain
stood again and addressed Blake. “Once your friend has been treated for his
wounds, we can escort you back to shore and let you rejoin your unit. He should
be ready to go in the morning.”

Blake stood and
shook both of their hands. “Thank you.”

James walked away
with the doctor, and Blake headed to the infirmary to check on Munns. He also
wanted to send a message to his base.

When word got
back to Lord Dameon that the attack had failed to kill the “James,” he was
exceedingly angry. He worried what this could do to their gift.

He questioned
his commander what had happened, but it yielded little information besides the
fact that they had underestimated their enemy. Also, the “James” was still on
the ship anchored offshore. The officer in charge of the failed attack pleaded Lord
Dameon to let him lead another attack on the ship.

Lord Dameon
pondered the request but knew that it would probably result in another failure.
“If you had been half the soldier you claim to be, you would have died with our
brothers on the battlefield fighting for our cause.”

The man
whimpered and left the room. Lord Dameon then called for a runner and pulled
out a piece of paper and grabbed a pen.

My brother, Sir,

Thank you for the information you sent regarding the
“James.” We almost eliminated the threat, but regardless of how valiantly our
brothers fought, we were unsuccessful. Our enemy has moved this “James” onto a
ship offshore to our area, but we fear they may leave soon. We don’t have the
people or resources here to mount an attack on the ship and solve our problem.
We could use your expertise and help with this matter.

Your brother
in the cause,

Lord Dameon

Once Lord
Dameon had finished writing the letter, the runner had arrived. Lord Dameon stuffed
the letter in an envelope and handed it to him.

“You must
deliver this personally to Sir down south. Before you return, wait for a
reply.”

The runner
retrieved the letter from his hand, bowed his head, and rushed out of the
office.

The runner had
used an old Enduro motorcycle to relay the urgent message to Sir. He had kept
to the hills and dirt roads as much as possible to avoid any contact with the
unclean. After several hours of grueling travel, he finally spotted the
outskirts of San Diego.

He decided to
abandon his motorcycle and travel the rest of the way on foot in case he
encountered any patrols.

It wasn’t long
before he ran into a patrol of his brothers. He didn’t even hesitate when he saw
them as to whether they were friend or foe. Somehow they could always sense
each other or even know each other’s thoughts.

He requested to
be taken to Sir to deliver the message. A couple of hours’ walk southeast and
he was in their headquarters.

Sir was sitting
at his desk in a dimly lit room. Ever since his gift came, the bright light
hurt his eyes. He was studying some maps of the area when the runner and his
escort entered his office.

“I have a
message from Lord Dameon up north.” He placed the envelope on the table.

Sir examined it
then looked at the runner.

“Please have a
seat.” He picked up the envelope, tore it opened, and read the contents.

As he read, the
look on his face became grim. He put the letter on the table and stared at the
ceiling, trying to decide what he should do.

“Wait here,” he
told the runner as he stepped out of the room. He returned after a couple of
minutes.

“We have a couple
brothers here that used to be part of the unclean’s war machine. They still
retain most of the special skills they learned there. I will send word that
they should report here to see if they can help us. They should be here within
the hour.”

The runner
nodded his head. After about thirty minutes, two large men dressed in Navy SEAL
uniforms entered the room. Their red eyes pierced through the dimly lit room.

Sir stood and
shook their hands. “You have served the cause well, and the reports I have
received from your commander are exemplary. You have removed more of the
unclean than any of your brothers fighting in this great cause. I brought you
here because I have a problem that I think you can help me with. Up north near San
Clemente, there is an unclean that potentially has something in his blood that
could take our gift from us. He is on a medical ship off the coast. We need to
kill him and prevent the unclean from using him to remove our gift.”

The three men stood
around the table and stared at each other for a second before speaking. One
stepped forward and spoke in a deep voice. “Sir, you have chosen the right
brothers. Before we became enlightened to the true way of our brothers, we
executed similar missions against our fellow men. What I propose is we take a
small boat down that we have down by the bay, to where the unclean ships are
anchored. It is black and will be extremely hard to see at night. In the cover
of darkness and while they sleep, we will board their ship, kill any guards we
come across, then find and kill the unclean that could take our gift away. Also,
will the runner be able to escort us? He could be useful in scouting out the unfamiliar
areas for us.”

The runner
stood and placed his hands on the SEAL’s shoulders. “Of course, Brothers. Anything
I can do to help.”

Sir stood and shook
each of their hands. “Thank you, Brothers. Leave once darkness has fallen.”

It was a
moonless night, and the winds were light. The small skiff, holding the AB
assault group, was making decent time under the cover of darkness; it had
avoided all the unclean patrols. The runner sat up front in the boat while one
soldier kept watch and the other drove.

The runner
noticed they were about to circle the final point of land before they should
see the ships anchored off the pier. He turned and shouted back to the others,
“Cut the motor. We should be able to see the ships in a minute.”

The two ships
appeared within seconds as the skiff rounded the point. Without speaking, the man
at the back pulled out the oars, and they started rowing quietly towards the
ships. The runner pointed to the ship on the left because it would hold the one
named James.

As they moved
closer, they could only see two men on patrol. One of the chosen soldiers
muttered under his breath about the arrogance of the unclean and how lightly
guarded the ship was. The thought crossed his mind at how easy this mission
should be.

The guards
seemed to be more interested in chatting with each other than keeping watch
over the water. The three chosen in the skiff tied their boat along the anchor’s
chain. Hand over hand, they climbed the chain. When they stepped over the edge
of the ship, one of the soldiers instructed the runner to wait while they took
out the guards. Slowly, the two soldiers crept towards the two guards standing
watch on the back of the deck as they stared mindlessly at the blackness of the
ocean.

One of the soldiers
signaled to the other to approach from the right of the unclean while they
would approach from the left. Once they had gotten within a few yards of the
unclean, the chosen pulled out their knives. The one on the left gave the
signal, and they both sprang into action.

Before the two
guards could even react, their throats had been sliced. Both of them fell to
the deck, blood bubbling out of the slashes on their necks.

The largest chosen
soldier signaled the runner to come towards them. “The first thing we need to
do is find out where this ‘James’ is,” he whispered.

The runner approached
quickly. “Let’s try to find one of the white coats. They are sure to know where
he is.”

The group
opened the first door they came to. Once inside, they saw a light coming from a
room at the end of a dark hallway. As they quietly approached it, they heard a
voice coming from inside the room. The lead soldier poked his head around the
edge of the door to scan the room. He realized that it was some type of lab. In
the back corner, there was a young woman in a white lab coat listening to music
through some headphones while drawing liquid from a container and putting it
into another. She was quietly singing and dancing.

The lead
soldier quietly stepped back to his companions. “There is only one, and she is
in a white coat. She should have the answers to what we are searching for. Wait
for me to restrain her, and then you can enter for the questioning.” Both men
nodded.

The lead
soldier entered the room and hid under a large conference table surrounded by
eight chairs. As he ducked down, he bumped one of the chairs. It made a small screech
as it moved across the floor. The soldier held his breath and got ready to
spring into action. He could see the white-coated woman's legs from under the
table, but he couldn’t see any change in her position and figured she must
still be listening to her music.

The soldier
emerged from under the table and jumped towards the woman. Out of the corner of
her eye, the woman noticed something and turned towards it. The only thing she
could see were red eyes lunging at her. Her head started pounding, and then
everything went black.

The throbbing
in her head brought her back to consciousness. She tried to open her eyes, but
her vision was fuzzy. She discovered she was sitting in a chair and her hands
were tied behind her back.

One of the
soldiers noticed she was starting to wake up. He slapped her face to bring her
around quicker. The woman’s vision started to clear, and she realized the three
people around her were infected. She was about to scream when one of the men shoved
his large hand over her mouth.

“No screaming,”
he said. “We only want information. Tell us what we want, and we will let you
live.”

Tears streamed
down the woman’s face. She nodded, and the man removed his hand.

“We are here
for the one called James. Where is he?”

The woman suddenly
knew why these men were on board. Mustering up her courage, she tried to fake
ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re only here to
distribute medical supplies to the evacuation zones in the area.”

The AB soldiers
glanced at each other, and one pulled out a large knife. He plunged it into the
woman’s thigh. Before she could scream, the other soldier covered her mouth and
nostrils.

Inside her
head, the screams continued. The pain was unbearable. Dark splotches started to
form at the edge of her vision from lack of oxygen. The soldier who had just
plunged the knife into her leg bent down and stared the woman in the eyes.

“Wrong answer. Now,
we are going to try this again. Do you understand?” The woman nodded as blood
freely ran down her leg. The soldier holding her removed his hand from her
mouth, and she took a large gulp of air.

“Where is
James?” the AB said with a snarl.

This time, the
woman offered no resistance. She said in a sobbing voice, “I don’t know anyone
named James! However, yesterday a boat brought three men from the shore. If one
of them is your man, he should be staying in the guest quarters one deck down.
Now that you have what you want, please let me go!” She sobbed.

The two
soldiers and the runner exchanged glances and slightly nodded to each other.
One of the soldiers had made his way behind the woman. He said in an eerily
smooth voice, “Wasn’t this much easier?” Then he grabbed her head and twisted
swiftly. The woman slumped in her chair; she’d never breathe again.

The three men
quietly walked down the hall to where the stairs were. Once down them, the two
soldiers pulled out their small flashlights and started reading the nameplates
on the doors. The first several in the hallway had names of the ship’s officers
and chief medical personnel, and the last four contained the guest quarters.
This was where the white coat said James would be.

Blake was
extremely exhausted so for once he didn’t have trouble sleeping. As he lay
there, he dreamed of playing in the park with Tara and Kaya. They played on the
swings while he sat on the bench soaking in the afternoon sunlight.

Suddenly, two
men dressed in black with red eyes jumped out from behind a bush and grabbed
the girls. They screamed, and the men dragged them away across the park. Blake
tried to stand, but he was stuck on the bench. He was powerless to move and
powerless to help the ones he loved.

Blake shot out
of bed covered in sweat, breathing hard. He checked his watch: 0300 hours. No
more sleep, even though he knew he needed more. This usually meant he would be
lying there for another three hours before it was time to get up. He decided he
would just lie there. At least he knew his family was safe. He smiled slightly
at the thought.

He lay there
for a while when he unexpectedly heard someone turning the doorknob on his
door. His mind instantly became alert. However, nothing happened. “Maybe that
was the night patrol making their rounds,” he thought. He allowed his mind to
wander back to his family; quietly he heard scratching coming from the lock on
the door. “OK, this isn’t normal,” he whispered to himself.

Blake rolled
over on his side to listen more intently. He heard the tumblers on the lock
clicking. He reached over to the nightstand, grabbed his pistol, and lay back
down. Slowly, the door opened. The dim light from down the hallway filled the
room. Blake sat up, keeping a tight grip on the pistol.

“Can I help
you?” he asked.

Blake noticed
the faint glint of light reflecting off the knife in the intruder’s right hand.
The shadowy figure lunged at Blake, knife outstretched. Blake raised his pistol
and was barely able to chamber a round before the knife reached his chest.

With his left
hand, Blake grabbed the intruder’s wrist and pulled it and the knife away from
his body. With the other hand, he cracked the side of the intruder's head with
his pistol. The man flew over Blake’s body and groaned as he crashed into the
wall.

Blake flicked
on the desk light, took the safety off the pistol, and aimed. “Who the hell are
you, and what do you want?” he demanded. Then he saw the large red eyes of the
AB. It lunged forward, and Blake fired off two quick rounds into its chest.

Munns awoke
with a start and quickly made his way to Blake’s doorway. He was still in his
boxers with his gun drawn.

“Check on James!”
Blake shouted.

Munns jumped
across the hallway and ran through James's open door. In the dim light, Munns
saw a small man lying on the floor, barely moving. Another AB soldier sat on
top of James. He was about to plunge a knife in his chest. Munns noticed that James
bled from a wound in his chest and a cut on his cheek. Slowly, the knife moved
closer to James's heart.

Munns sprinted
across the room and tackled the AB soldier hovering over James. In the process,
Munns's gun broke loose from his grip and fell to the floor.

Seconds later,
Blake was in the room. He had his handgun raised and ready to fire. As he
assessed the situation, he chose not to fire. He feared hitting Munns because the
two men rolled on the ground fighting. The AB started to choke Munns, and Munns
did everything he could to fight back. However, the other man was much larger
and stronger. Blake glanced at the AB on the ground; he didn’t seem to pose a
threat, seeing that he wasn’t moving.

Blake ran
across the room and jumped on the back of the AB on his friend. He wrapped his
arm round the attacker's neck to place him in a sleeper hold. Blake arched his
back and squeezed with all his strength until the veins bulged in his neck. The
AB soldier released his grip on Munns and pulled at Blake’s hair. Blake grunted
as he tightened his hold around its neck.

By this time,
Munns had the oxygen flowing back to his brain. He drew his knife and plunged
it into the AB’s chest. The AB soldier stared into Munns's eyes until the life
drained out of them.

James had crawled
back onto his bed during the commotion. He kept his hand over the hole in his
chest where the knife had been. Blake and Munns both stood and leaned against
the wall, attempting to catch their breath.

Because of the
fight with the AB soldier, all three men had not noticed that the little AB man
on the other side of the room had woken up and crawled over to Munns's gun that
had fallen on the floor.

The man grabbed
the gun, rolled onto his side, and pointed it at James. He was sighting down
the barrel with his yellow eyes. “For the honor and the glory,” he muttered in
his broken English. As he squeezed the trigger, Munns leaped in front of James.
The bullet hit Munns squarely in the chest. The air was pushed out of his lungs
by the impact of the bullet, and he hit the ground with a thud.

“No!” Blake
screamed as he dived across the room. He kicked the gun out of the little man's
hands, and in the same sweeping motion, he brought the back of his fist
squarely across his face.

Rage filled
Blake, and his first instinct was to use the heel of his boot to smash the head
of this piece of garbage. However, his training kicked in, and he just stomped
the trigger finger of the unconscious man.

Suddenly, some Marines
came running into the room. “Get a medic in here
now
!” Blake ordered.

One of the Marines
quickly left the room and ran down the hall. The other looked at Blake for
instructions. Blake stared at the AB on the ground while the Marines rolled him
on his side and hastily tied his hands behind his back using a zip-tie.

Before the AB
was secured, Blake walked over to the bed to check on his fellow soldier and
friend. James was barely able to place his hand over the knife wound on his
chest to stop the bleeding. As Blake reached Munns, they grasped each other’s
hands.

Blake could
tell how serious the wound was. He fought back tears as Munns pulled him
towards his head. Blood bubbled out of his friend’s mouth as he whispered, “I
guess we showed them.”

Blake tried to
smile. “This isn’t that bad. You’re going to be OK. Just hang in there!”

Munns tried to chuckle
but only coughed up blood. “I need you to do two things for me. First, I need
to you kill these sons of bitches that killed me. Second, tell my family that I
love them. I need you to promise that you will watch over them.”

Blake stared
into his friend’s eyes. He knew the dark vale of death was coming for him. “I
promise,” he managed to say as his voice cracked.

Just then, a
couple of doctors and nurses entered the room. “Help me get them on the
gurneys,” yelled one of the doctors. James was loaded onto one gurney while
Munns was loaded onto the other.

James was the
first one to be rolled out of the room. Even though he was strapped to the
gurney, he looked back at Blake and nodded his head in appreciation.

As the medical
personnel strapped Munns down to his gurney, his arm fell off to the side. This
was all Blake needed to see to know that his friend was gone.

Blake felt a
part of his soul drain out of him and fill with a dark cold rage. Seeing
another of his friends die to this plague was almost more than he could bear.

Blake and Captain
Nellis walked into the command center and made a call to Pacific Command to
notify them on what had happened. They also let the admiral on the call know
that they had captured one surviving enemy.

As the
conversation ended, Captain Nellis paused and seemed to await further orders on
how to proceed next.

The admiral on
the other end of the call stood and leaned forward slightly on the table. “This
is what I want you to do. First, try to gather as much intel as you can out of
that son of a bitch. Next, at first light I want you to move the ships offshore
twenty miles. Once the enemy discovers that their plan has failed, they will
surely try again. Captain Reynolds, I understand that the soldier that died was
a friend of yours. You have my condolences.”

“Thank you,
sir. Munns was a good soldier. He will be missed.”

“Captain Nellis,
you have your orders. Let me just reiterate how important it is that we find a
solution or cure to end this apocalypse. Every day that goes by, there are
fewer of us on the planet. Dismissed.”

After the
screen went off, Captain Nellis looked at Blake. “We don’t have anyone onboard who
is skilled at doing interrogations. How do you feel about doing it?”

Blake could
feel the rage building inside him as he thought about his friend’s dead body.
“I have conducted a few on them. I think I can get what we want out of him.”

“Can you do it
without killing him before he talks?”

“Don’t worry, I
won’t kill him. I just can’t guarantee what he will look like after I’m done
with him.”

“Very well. However,
I must insist that one of my men be present at all times, just in case.”

“Whatever makes
you feel better,” Blake mumbled. He nodded his head and walked into the
hallway, followed by Captain Nellis’s guard. They said nothing as they entered
the room, and it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. Blake’s
mind quickly flashed back to his friends lying on the cold steel slab in the
infirmary. He was going to make this very painful.

There was a
single light shining down from the ceiling into the center of the room where a
small table stood. At one end of the table sat the AB that killed his friend.
He wore handcuffs around his wrist and ankles. Captain Nellis’s large Marine
was standing in the corner armed with his rifle.

Blake walked
across the room and took a seat on the other side of the AB enemy. The AB
followed Blake with his swollen, yellow eyes. “I wonder where I should start…” Blake
thought. “Who sent you and the other ABs on this mission?” Blake asked.

The AB smiled.
Blake slammed his fist onto the table, “Answer me!” The Marine in the corner
took a step forward, but Blake glared at him and made him step back. This took
the smile off the AB’s face, but he still did not speak.

Blake stood up,
walked around the table, grabbed the hair on the back of the AB’s head, and
slammed his face into the table. The AB raised his head as the blood streamed
out of his nose and mouth.

“We were sent
here to kill the one called ‘James.’ We heard that he is the one that can take
our gift away.”

Blake had
assumed this was the case but wanted the AB to confirm it. “Who sent you?”

The smile crept
back to the lips of the AB through the blood. “The one who leads us all. Even now,
I can feel his love.”

Blake’s eyes
narrowed. “What is his name and where is he located?”

The AB’s eyes
had darted around the room while speaking, but now he was staring directly at
Blake. “His name is Lord Dameon, and he isn’t located far from here. All our
brothers and sisters up and down the coast are flocking to him for a grand
celebration.”

Blake sat back
down in the chair. “Tell me more about this celebration.”

“Why should I
tell you? You are an unclean non-believer.”

Blake stood and
once again walked to the other side of the table and slammed the AB’s face onto
the table again.

“OK, I will
tell you!” the AB yelled. “We are gathering for two reasons. First, to assemble
our forces and make a final assault on those of you who are unclean so we can
create our utopian society. And second, to gather for the grand celebration
where we will send the message back to the creators,” the AB finished with a
euphoric look on his face.

Blake once
again walked back to his side of the table. While the first bit of information
worried him, the second piece made him terrified. “And what is the content of
this message?”

“I’m not privy
to that information, but I know it will be something wonderful.”

Blake bounced
the AB prisoner’s head off of the table a few more times, but he wouldn’t or
couldn’t divulge any more useful information. Blake left the room to report
what he had found out.

An hour later
the sun rose. The two ships pulled their anchors so that they could move
further out to sea. It was thought they would be safe from another attack if
they were further out.

Blake had
orders to take the AB prisoner to his base where he would be met by other
soldiers and taken back to Pacific Command for further interrogation. He knew there
was little chance they would get any more useful information after his
interrogation so hesitated to follow the orders.

As he was about
to leave, he stopped to say goodbye to James and wish him luck on saving the
world. James just gave Blake the thumbs-up sign since he was hooked up to all
sorts of tubes and wires and could barely move.

Blake, the AB,
and the SEALs that had come to pick them up the day before crawled down the
ship’s ladder into the pontoon boat they had taken on the way out to the ships.
The AB was secured with handcuffs and place in the front.

Slowly the body
bag that contained Munns was reverently lowered into the boat. Blake and the
two SEALs silently placed his body in the middle, securing the bag to both
sides of the boat. The two SEALs made their way to the back of the boat while
Blake and the AB sat in the front.

As the boat made
its way towards shore, Blake’s thoughts turned to Munns’s family and what he
was going to say to them. He looked at the AB. The AB looked up to the sky and
grinned. Blake wondered if he thought that he was going to meet his messiah.

As the boat
neared the shore, Blake’s next reaction was instinctive and not planned. The
boat hit a large wave, and Blake bumped into the AB hard enough that he fell
over the side of the boat. The AB screamed as he hit the water. The two SEALs
stared at Blake in disbelief, wondering if what they had just seen actually
happened. Blake shrugged his shoulders.