The Becoming: Redemption (The Becoming Series Book 5) (11 page)

“So what do you think?” Kimberly asked.
“Avoid and observe until we know for certain?”

“I think that would be the wisest course of
action,” Ethan stated, “if only to preserve our own safety.” He
lifted his head, suddenly alert, his green eyes narrowing as he
stared down the line of cars parked along the shoulder of the road.
“Kim, grab your bags and get into the trees,” he said brusquely.
“There’s something out there.”

“Shit!” Kimberly swore and obeyed, scooping
up both her bag of supplies and the bag full of Derek’s research.
She hopped off the edge of the cargo space and slung the bags onto
her shoulders, then hurried toward the tree line, pulling her
machete free from its sheath. She ducked into the darker shadows
under the trees and slid around behind one, gripping her machete
tightly, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

She counted to thirty, pressing against the
tree, feeling its rough bark dig into her skin through her clothes.
She heard Ethan moving somewhere behind her, back the way she’d
come. When he didn’t join her, she eased to the edge of the tree
and peered around it to see where he was.

It took her a second to spot him. He was
lying on his stomach in the tall grass on the shoulder of the road,
his feet braced in a way that would allow him to get up quickly if
necessary, his backpack beside him within easy reach. His machete
was in his right hand, the blade flat in the grass where it
wouldn’t be noticeable. Kimberly wondered what he was doing until
her ears picked out the sound of a low rumble, like a diesel engine
running somewhere down the road. The sound got louder, accompanied
by the occasional, confusing sound of metal against metal.

“Ethan?” Kimberly hissed. He glanced back at
her. “What are you doing?”

He waved a hand at her to signal for her to
stay put, then returned his focus on the road, waiting for whatever
was making the noise to pass. She gritted her teeth, tempted to
crawl out there and join him, but she knew that wouldn’t go over
well with Ethan. She knelt down behind the tree, set her backpacks
down on the damp underbrush, and waited from her vantage point in
the trees.

It didn’t take long before the source of the
noise came into sight. It wasn’t one vehicle; it was several, and
they appeared to be military, some type of cargo-like truck with
the back end covered in a thick, heavy-duty canvas. Kimberly could
see four of them, trundling in a line down the road, stopping
whenever they encountered a blockage and disgorging several dozen
soldiers in MOPP4 suits to move vehicles and clear the roadway of
debris before continuing on. The nearer they drew to her and
Ethan’s hiding place, the tenser her shoulders got, the muscles
drawing tight to the point of pain, and she realized she was
clenching her teeth when a sharp dart of pain shot through her jaw.
She forced her jaw to loosen, likewise relaxing her grip on the
machete’s hilt when her knuckles began to ache. She had a sudden,
terrible fear that they were going to find Ethan and do something
horrible to him, and the thought was enough to draw bile up her
throat. She swallowed hard to quell the nauseous feeling in her gut
and resisted the urge to call out to Ethan again.

Ethan was watching the soldiers work with
rapt attention, his head turning this way and that, observing their
movements. When they started drawing closer to him, he slithered
backwards through the tall grass, easing toward the bottom of the
embankment, dragging his machete and his pack along with him. The
grass swayed with his movements, and Kimberly was terrified that
the soldiers would notice, but the cool evening breeze that was
blowing over the entire scene thankfully masked Ethan’s activities,
and he reached the bottom of the embankment without incident.

Kimberly blew out a breath of relief. It was
short lived when Ethan rose into a crouch to break for the trees to
join her and one of the soldiers spotted him. The gas mask the
soldier wore muffled the shout he let out, but it was audible and
clear enough for his comrades to understand. Three of them raised
rifles to their shoulders, and Kimberly shouted, “Ethan! Look
out!”

Ethan snatched his bag off the ground and
sprang to his feet in one movement, dashing for the tree line as
the soldiers opened fire. The initial volley of shots missed him,
peppering the trees and making Kimberly duck for cover behind the
one she was already sheltered behind. Bits of bark broke loose from
the trees and pinged off her, and she instinctively shielded her
head with her arms. Ethan dove into the tree line and skidded
behind the tree three down from Kimberly’s, pressing against it and
slipping his machete back into its sheath. He drew his Glock out
then, holding it in an experienced, two-handed grip, and waited for
the shooting to stop. He had a look of intense concentration on his
face, and Kimberly easily imagined him as a police officer again, a
mental image that was quickly banished as her terror at being shot
at nearly overtook her.

There was no time to think about that,
however, because the soldiers had quit shooting. Ethan took the
opportunity in the break from the flying bullets to rush to her and
grab her arm.

“Come on, we’ve got to go, now!” he said.

He barely gave her enough time to grab her
backpacks again before he hauled her deeper into the trees.
Kimberly stumbled over the underbrush, quickly gaining her feet,
matching his longer stride as best she could as he raced through
the trees, dodging around the flora, his hand still locked around
her wrist in what could only be described as a death grip.

It didn’t take long before Kimberly was
struggling to keep up with him, and she snapped, “Ethan! Slow the
fuck down!”

“Can’t, Kim!” Ethan said. He didn’t even
sound breathless, which made her want to kick him in the shins as
hard as she could. “Unless, of course, you feel like dying today.”
He ducked below a low-hanging tree branch, narrowly avoiding
hitting it with his head. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been
through and survived enough that I don’t feel like dying
now
, not after all of that.”

Before she could utter a response, something
lurched out of the shadow of the trees to her right and grabbed her
arm, jerking her out of Ethan’s grip. Kimberly let out a startled
shriek, staggered sideways, and fell onto the pine needle-strewn
ground. Her machete skittered out of her grasp and out of reach.
Then her attacker was on her, scrabbling at her hair and face, its
stinking breath invading her nose. She thrust a hand up into her
attacker’s throat, jamming it there to keep its mouth shut while
she tried to get her knee up to drive it into its gut. Her
backpacks were squashed underneath her, and she had a horrible
thought of the vials of samples crunching under the pressure.

“Ethan!” Kimberly yelled.

A pistol shot echoed out in the gloom. A
second one followed it, and the body on top of her jerked and
toppled sideways.

Ethan loomed over her. He kicked the body the
rest of the way off her and grabbed her hand, hauling her to her
feet. He scooped up her machete and handed it to her. “Let’s go.
They probably heard that.”

“Are they even chasing us?” Kimberly
asked.

Ethan grasped her hand again, hurrying her
through the trees, keeping the pace a fraction slower than he had
before, much to her legs’ relief.

Ethan slowed enough to point back behind
them. She glanced over her shoulder to see three of the
MOPP4-suited men slogging through the underbrush with their rifles
in their hands, pursuing them as rapidly as their suits would
allow.

“That answer your question?” he asked.

“How far do you think they’ll follow us?”

“I don’t know, and I sure as hell don’t want
to find out,” Ethan said. He pulled her behind a tree and drew her
to a stop. Finally, she could see him breathing a modicum heavier
than he’d been at the outset of their run. “We can’t run forever,”
he said. “We need to do something about them. Now.”

“What are you proposing?” Kimberly asked.
When his eyes met hers, she read his intentions loud and clear in
his gaze. “No, Ethan,” she said. “
No.
We are
not
killing those men.”

“We have to do
something
,” he said.
“The fact that they’re chasing us suggests they’re doing so because
they want to kill
us
. They shot at us! They wouldn’t have
done that if they wanted us alive.”

“We
can’t
kill them,” Kimberly
protested. “We’re not like that. We’re not that kind of people.
Besides, there are more of them on the road. We kill them and they
don’t come back, their buddies will come after them, and then we’re
up shit creek without a paddle
or
a canoe, because we don’t
have that many bullets.” He stared at her, and she clutched his
hand. “
Please
, Ethan. Don’t kill them.”

“Fine,” Ethan said, jamming his pistol back
into its holster. “Incapacitate only. Just leave it to me.”

The majority
of the group departed from the safe house at dusk after having
spent most of the week foraging for supplies in the surrounding
areas. By the time they’d finished, they had a new vehicle to use
for the trip to Atlanta, and they’d kept the barest minimum of food
and water for themselves, leaving most of it with Derek and Isaac.
On Sadie’s suggestion, they’d moved the ambulance to the backyard
where it wasn’t visible from the street. Now that the preparations
were complete, they all congregated in the front yard to say their
farewells and pile into their newest vehicle to head to Atlanta
and, hopefully, find out where Brandt had been taken.

That was where Dominic found himself,
standing in the front yard while Remy and Derek hugged, trying to
quell the spark of jealousy that burned in his gut at the sight.
Jude was already in the seven-seater SUV that Keith had found.
Sadie stood by the open doorway, checking over her shotgun,
impatient for the show to get on the road. Dominic couldn’t blame
her. He was ready to get moving too.

Cade had already said her goodbyes to Olivia.
Dominic had witnessed a fragment of the emotional parting, and he
knew it was something that would haunt him for some time to come.
Isaac stood by the front door holding the infant, but Cade didn’t
make a move towards them. Perhaps she thought that a second goodbye
would make the separation more difficult.

“Let’s move out, guys,” Cade called, her
voice loud enough to carry across the yard to everyone there.
“We’re burning time we don’t have, and I want to be in Atlanta by
dawn.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Keith said. He headed
for the SUV and climbed into the back alongside Jude. Sadie gave
her a single nod and circled around the front of the vehicle to
climb into the passenger seat. Remy pulled away from Derek with
clear reluctance, swiping at her eyes discreetly with the back of
her hand. She didn’t say anything to Dominic when she passed him,
though she took his hand for the barest of seconds and gave it a
gentle squeeze.

“You okay?” Dominic asked, his voice low. He
walked with her, hitching his backpack higher onto his shoulder.
She nodded curtly and slung herself into one of the middle row
seats. He slipped in on the same row beside her.

Cade had moved to the driver’s door and
opened it, though she hadn’t gotten in yet. She stood grasping the
door, staring back at Derek, Isaac, and Olivia, her forehead
creased. She looked longingly at the trio. “Take care of my girl!”
she called to them, not waiting for an acknowledgement of her order
before she slid into the driver’s seat and shut the door. She
started the vehicle, glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure
everyone was in the vehicle, and pulled away from the curb,
accelerating down the street.

When Cade turned onto a different block and
the house disappeared from view, Dominic scooted forward in his
seat, leaning to address her. “Are you—”

“Don’t ask me if I’m okay,” she cut in. “If
any of you ask me that question, I swear to everything that’s holy
I’ll pull this car over and beat the shit out of you. And
afterwards, I may or may not leave you on the side of the road. I
haven’t decided that part yet.”

“Duly noted,” Dominic said. “Though that’s
not what I was going to ask. I was going to ask you if you’re sure
you’re okay with doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Going back into Atlanta,” he said. “Are you
sure you can handle it?”

“Doesn’t matter if I can handle it,” Cade
said. She grasped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles
blanching with the force of her grip. “If I expect to get Brandt
back, I’ll take on anything I have to.”

“Even the entire U.S. military?”

“
Especially
the entire U.S.
military.”

Dominic sat back in his seat. “Okay, just so
we’re clear on what our limits are.”

“I’m not familiar with Atlanta’s layout,”
Remy said. “The area we’re going into is the same area the Westin
is in, right?”

“It’s not far from it,” Dominic said. “That
area of Atlanta was part of the city’s big tourist mecca before the
outbreak. There’s a lot of tourist attractions bunched up in that
small space and all the big chain hotels to go with them, which
means there’s a good chance we’re going to run into some
problems.”

“Paint me a picture,” Cade said as she drove
the vehicle out of the neighborhood they’d been in and hit the
highway. “What attractions are in the area, and what sort of
potential crowd can we expect around them?”

“Most prominently, there’s the World of
Coca-Cola museum and the Georgia Aquarium,” Dominic answered. “Both
of them, the aquarium, especially, were really big tourist draws.
The aquarium was one of the largest in the world, so thousands of
people went through it every day. Since they’re next door to each
other and sold joint discounted tickets to both attractions, a lot
of those same people passed through the museum too. When Michaluk
got out and reached that area of Atlanta, it was mass chaos in the
streets, people dying and getting back up left and right.”