The Dark Rift: Redemption (2 page)

"Good to know, but we'll be okay. I have to try, at least, you know? Emma's so scared about her mom and dad."

"Well, Rick, maybe you can help me, then. Do you know where we might find some gas around here?"

"Yeah. There's a tank in the back. We'll have to pump by hand. It's in a locked shed, but that's not a big deal for you, is it?" Rick grinned.

Jodie smiled at the boy, thinking how easy it was to make the transition from law keeper to lawbreaker. "Apparently not. I have to get my friend and we’ll be waiting by that Camaro for you to show us where the pump is,” Jodie said, pointing to the car.

“Sweet ride,” Rick said.

“Thanks," Jodie said, walking out the front door. "Choose wisely, Rick."

Jodie walked toward the Camaro and waved at the area where she'd left Isaiah. He crept out from behind a pickup truck and met Jodie standing behind a Range Rover.              

“Happy birthday, Isaiah. I hope you like your gift,” she said, handing him the keys.

“Thanks,” Isaiah said, grinning. “I would’ve picked black, but blue is okay, too.”

“I met a kid inside. He’s going to show us how to get some gas from a pump in back. Pull up by the Camaro over there and wait with me while he picks out a vehicle, okay? The kid said Gypsum evacuated the town. They told everyone they were in danger because they’re so close to the fault line. It seems more likely that they’re looking for us and getting rid of witnesses in the process. We’re already being hunted.”

Isaiah nodded and Jodie made her way back to the Camaro. She thought it was odd, what she found funny in a post-apocalyptic world. Yet, she couldn't stop herself from laughing as Rick drove by her, grinning, the shiny Jaguar mounted on the hood of the car, gleaming in the sunlight.

Later, after pumping whatever they could out of the reserve gas tank, she wiped the grease off her fingers with a paper towel and shook hands with the boy, wishing him luck. She allowed herself another laugh as she watched him drive away in the roadster.

Jodie fired up the Camaro and felt sad for a moment, thoughts still lingering in her mind of how they'd left her old Camaro behind to block a road. "Well, you're nothing but a kid in comparison, but I'll give you a try," she said to the car as she stepped down on the accelerator, hard.

The thing that used to be Officer Charles Wending wove its way through the wreckage, stopping only to listen for sounds and to watch for movement. Could Jodie be among the long shadows of the tunnel? Chuck scanned back and forth continuously as he plodded on, his coveralls damp with the oily goo seeping from his gut. With each passing hour, more of his human body disintegrated. Muscle, fat and skin sloughed off of his bones and oozed out the bottom of his pant legs. He held up his hand to the blue light of the sparks cascading off of the broken electrical lines and marveled at the reflection. His skin gone, Chuck flexed his hand, a metallic clacking sound echoing off the tunnel walls as his fingers touched what used to be his palm. He felt strong, very strong.

Chuck came to a platform and jumped up. He was greeted by inky darkness, except for the reddish glow coming from an exit sign, illuminating a metal door below. He approached the door and tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn’t budge. He could feel a boiling rage building in his gut and lashed out at the door, surprised to see his metallic hand slice through it as if it were butter. He felt no pain as he flung the door aside. A cafeteria lay ahead of him.

Even from a distance, he spotted the Three Musketeers bar lying in the slot of the vending machine. Chuck approached the machine and fished in his pocket for some change. Finding none, he punched through the Plexiglas and grabbed the candy bar out of the slot. Suddenly feeling extremely hungry, he bit through the foil wrapper, grunting and groaning with delight as the sweet chocolate liquefied in his mouth. The smell made his nose itch and he covered his mouth as he let loose with a powerful sneeze. Looking down into his metallic hand, he saw the remains of what used to be his face. He flung his hand sideways, sending the putrid mass of rotting flesh slapping against the wall.

Chuck peeled back the metal door of the machine, revealing a stack of Three Musketeers bars. These he grabbed and shoved into his coveralls, at the same time noticing the sticky brown spot developing on his abdomen. He felt an insatiable hunger coursing through his belly. He briefly thought of taking the coveralls off to see what was happening underneath, but dismissed the idea almost immediately. “Got no time for that,” he said, not recognizing his own voice. It sounded mechanical, thin and bug-like, in a way.

He returned to the train track and trudged on in the dim blue light. Biting hard into another candy bar, he stopped and looked down the tunnel. Ahead, a whitish glow emanated from what appeared to be a large cavern. Chuck moved on, coming to a tremendous dome within the rock. The remains of machines were strewn everywhere below the suspended track. Chuck peered down, thinking he must be at least two hundred feet above the ground below.

Looking ahead, he saw that the ceiling had caved in, severing the tracks he was standing on, leaving a ragged edge of twisted metal and sparking wires. He estimated about fifty feet was missing between the end of the track and the tunnel opening at the far side of the cavern. He finished his candy bar and wiped the chocolate off of his dripping metal jaw as he started to run. By the time he reached the missing rail section, he figured he was traveling at a speed of about forty miles per hour. Launching himself across the abyss, he landed with a loud metallic clang on the rocks, safely at the mouth of the connecting tunnel. Time to pick up the pace, Chuck thought. He felt as light as feather as he sprinted into the bluish haze, running toward the only thing he still cared about. Jodie.

* * *

Mei sat down underneath a lodgepole pine and stared off into the woods. She feared for the safety of her family in San Francisco and felt helpless to do anything for them. She knew she couldn't risk going anywhere near the city, not only because of the aftershocks, but also because Gypsum was sure to be looking for her there. In the back of her mind, she felt her parents were most likely gone, pulled into the depths of the ocean after the earthquake consumed the California coast. As she let the image consume her thoughts, she barely noticed Hunter running up to her.

"Hey, boy. You always know when a girl needs a hug, don't you?" she said, grabbing onto the dog as he sat beside her.

"He seems to have Nick's personality, doesn't he?" Christy said, sidling up next to the dog. She reached out to touch Mei's shoulder. "Always watching out for everyone's feelings, I mean."

"Yeah, they're both great guys," Mei said, wiping her face.

"You shouldn't give up hope, you know," Christy said, gently rubbing Mei's back. "We don't know what happened in the city and there were probably a lot of people there to help your parents."

"Yeah. I think it's the not knowing part that's getting to me." Mei pulled out a tissue to wipe her eyes. "I wish I knew if they were okay, but I guess that's gonna take some time. I just hope they were together when it happened."

"How long have they been married?" Christy asked.

"Forty years. We just celebrated their anniversary. They were made for each other, I think. They were very lucky." Hopefully, lucky enough to be on the right side of town when San Francisco was torn from the mainland, too, she thought.

"Well, even though we're not exactly in the best situation, I feel lucky, too," Christy said. "I'm lucky to have found two men in my life who are so wonderful. Nick is nothing like my husband, Tom, was. Don't get me wrong, they're both amazing, but Nick seems to have such a soft side to him. Tom was more closed off, in a way. He never wanted me to know if he was sad or upset."

Mei appreciated Christy’s effort to change the subject. She didn’t need to lament her parents until she had some definitive answers. For now, she’d hang onto hope. "Tom sounds like he was a great guy. It must have been horrible to lose him to the war. I bet he'd be happy for you and Noah, finding Nick in the midst of this mess."

"Yes, at least, I'd like to think so. You know, you're very lucky, too," Christy said. "I can see how close you and Jodie are getting." She let out a little laugh at the sound of snoring, coming from the SUV.

Mei looked over at Nick, who was asleep in the back seat. "If you can put up with that, you must really care a lot about him." Mei thought Christy's green eyes shone just a little brighter as she nodded.

"That, I certainly do," Christy said.

"Well, one thing I'm happy about is that we're all together," Mei said. "I'm getting worried about Jodie and Isaiah, though. Shouldn't they be back by now?"

"Probably soon, I would guess. Maybe we should try to give them a call on the radio Isaiah left behind." Christy stood up and started to walk toward the SUV.

"I've got it," Jodie's dad, Evan, said. "I'll give it a shot." Evan turned the radio on and adjusted the volume. "Might not be able to get much reception here. I'll walk down the road to get away from the trees." Turning to Noah and Fester sitting next to Bonnie, Evan said, "You boys keep an eye on things while I'm gone, okay?"

Noah smiled and Fester responded with a salute.

"Thank you, Evan," Bonnie said as Evan walked away, fiddling with the radio and getting nothing but loud static.

Mei lost sight of Evan as he wandered down the forest road. "I'm really happy Jodie found him again. I can't imagine what she's going through, knowing what her mother was part of. At least she's got her dad now."

Christy nodded. "But, it wasn't only Helen Watts. Evan told me on the ride here that about seventy-five thousand people were involved in Gypsum's plan. What I don't get is Helen wanting to kill so many people. Why not just take what you needed and let whoever was left behind fend for themselves? I think there was more going on than Evan knew."

"Yeah, I thought that, too. I wonder --" The sound of vehicles traveling up the road toward them interrupted her thoughts. "Sounds like they might be back." Mei stood as the engines grew louder. At first, what she was seeing didn't register in her mind, but the sight of a Gypsum logo on the side of the panel truck sent adrenaline racing through her veins. "Oh, God, it's Gypsum. Run," Mei yelled, turning and tripping over a tree root.

She landed hard on the side of her face. As she tried to get her bearings, she tasted blood in her mouth and felt raw skin where she'd bit into her lip. A wave of nausea gripped her. Standing was out of the question for the moment. Mei watched from the ground as combat gear-clad men jumped from the back of the truck.

She struggled again to pull herself up, but couldn't, so she started crawling toward the woods. She heard Hunter barking and looked to see him attack a man who had Noah pinned on the ground. Next to a tree, Bonnie huddled over Fester, while Christy lunged toward the man on top of Noah. He shoved her away, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Tell this dog to back off or we'll shoot it," one of the men yelled. 

A bleary-eyed Nick stumbled out of the SUV. "Get off that boy." Nick pointed his shotgun at the man and called Hunter, who came to his side.

"Put that down or this one will get it in the head," a husky voice called out from behind Mei. She turned to see one of the men from Gypsum pointing an automatic weapon at her and staggered to her feet, backing up a few steps. She fell back to her knees as waves of nausea overtook her.

"Okay, okay," Nick said, setting the gun down. "Just get off the boy and lower your weapons. What do you people want, anyway?"

The driver's side door of the truck opened and another Gypsum guard stepped down. He turned to the man holding Noah. "Let the boy go."

The man gave Noah’s face a hard push into the ground as he got up. Mei could see the rage building in Nick’s expression as he bent down to help Noah.

"Go to your mom. Okay?" Nick said.

Noah nodded, glaring past Nick at the man who had shoved his face into the dirt. Then, he turned and ran to Christy.

"Where's the rest of your group?" the truck driver asked.

Nick stared at the man. "What are you talking about? Who are you people?"

Just as Nick finished his sentence, the man swung the butt of his rifle up, slamming it into the side of Nick's jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. As Nick tried to get up, the man aimed his gun at Noah and Christy. "I'll ask you one more time. Where are the FBI agents?"

Nick staggered to his feet, rubbing his jaw. "Put the gun down, okay? I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

The man slowly lowered his rifle.

Mei let out the breath she'd held for far too long and slowly stood up, the nausea passing.

"They left us here. They went to the city. They wanted to see if anything was left of their field office."

The Gypsum men exchanged glances. "Get them in the truck," the driver said.

"We're not going with you. Just leave us alone. We're no threat to you, whoever you are," Mei said, coming to Nick's side to inspect his head wound.

"Put them in the back. Shoot the dog."

"No. Please don't do that," Nick said. "Just leave him here. You don't need to hurt him."

"Get them in the truck and then take care of the dog," the driver repeated.

Noah pulled away from his mother and started to run. Mei stifled a scream as she watched the scene unfold, not knowing what the Gypsum guards would do next. Noah called out Hunter's name over and over as he ran, urging the dog to follow. As Hunter turned to chase Noah, the man nearest her raised his gun, aiming it at Noah's back.

"No," Christy screamed, jumping between the gun barrel and her son.

Before she could think about the consequences, Mei launched herself at the man, hitting him with everything she could muster, knocking him down. His rifle dropped to the ground as he landed on his face with a thud, with Mei on top of him. The man turned over and shoved Mei to the side. She tried to roll away as she watched him reach for his rifle.

Grasping at gravel, trying to gain a handhold to pull herself up, she felt the wooden gun stock slam into the side of her head so hard that her vision turned to black. A searing pain tore through her cheek, the pressure in her left eye immediately mounting to an unbearable level. Mei screamed out in pain, feeling blood pouring from her eye. Vaguely aware of a hand grasping the back of her shirt, she was helpless to fight as the man dragged her across the campground. Her vision returning to one eye, Mei saw Nick struggling to free himself from a Gypsum guard who was kneeling on his back, attempting to bind his hands.

"Run, Noah. Run as fast as you can." Christy's screams cut through the forest until a guard’s hand clamped down over her face.

Mei felt herself being lifted and dropped to the floor in the back of the truck. Darkness overtook her vision again. Then, a soft voice called out to her and she could see Bonnie hovering over her, stroking her forehead. Nick landed on the floor next to her, his hands bound. Mei’s vision blurred to blackness as she watched Fester reaching down to untie the rope around Nick's wrists.

"This one's a wild one," a man said, attempting to throw Christy in the back of the truck. Struggling with the man, Christy's eyes burned with fury. Mei watched her plant her feet against the back of the truck and push, shoving the man who held her backwards. Mei could hear the impact as they fell onto the hard-packed gravel road. Christy jumped up and kicked the man in the head, repeatedly. By the sounds of it, Mei assumed Christy's boot probably did some damage. Christy called out again as two Gypsum guards lifted her off her feet and tossed her back into the truck.