The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus (26 page)

“He okay?” Quinton turned, blinking a few times, as if he had forgotten Malcolm was there. “Complication?”

“He’s doing fine,” Quinton said, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I’m just tired is all.”

He moved away from Craig, cracking his neck before leaning his back against the wall and sinking to the floor, mirroring Malcolm’s position. They faced one another across the small room and Malcolm could see the exhaustion on the doctor’s face. He probably looked the same.

“I could do with at least twelve hours straight in the rack.” Malcolm glanced at Craig on the table. “Think I’ve got a while to go before that happens.”

“I doubt we’ll ever get a good night’s sleep again,” Quinton said, stretching his legs out and groaning as his back popped. “Is there any place left in this world where you can sleep without one eye open?”

Malcolm thought about the island, knowing that it could be the one place left where they could feel safe. It was a beacon of hope and though it might restore some faith in Quinton, his training told him not to share sensitive information.

So he ignored Quinton’s question, taking it as the rhetorical question he probably meant it to be.

“I appreciate what you did today. For him.” Malcolm nodded towards Craig. “And for us. You need to catch some shut eye, I’ll watch over things. You can trust me.”

Quinton laughed. “I believe you but I don’t think I can sleep. I can’t shake the thought of my sisters out there.”

“Our people will help them, don’t worry.”

“Veronica is going to be pissed that we didn’t come back,” Quinton said, lightly banging his head against the wall.

“My sister is going to kill me,” Malcolm said with a wry smile. “Told her we’d be back in time for dinner.”

“Younger or older?”

“Younger. Janet. She was always on my ass, even when she was a kid. She’s got a natural talent for tearing a strip off of you.”

“Just be glad you don’t have both an older
and
 younger one. They end up ganging up on you all the time. I have seen every episode of Dawson’s Creek, not because I wanted to, but because they overruled me, two to one.”

“I’ll be sure to count my blessings.”

They shared a quiet laugh that waned as Quinton studied the others for a moment before turning back to Malcolm.

“So how did your group come together?”

“Most of them met up at Fort Lee. They had followed the evacuation orders, headed to the base for safety but there were too many people and they ended up stranded on the highway outside the base. I had been on a sailing trip when all of this started and when I got back, Craig helped me make a safe landing. When I found out Janet had gone to Fort Lee I went after her. I knew it wouldn’t be safe there so when I found her, we left and the others followed. Craig and Lorraine had to bug out of their place and they met up with us.”

“You know what happened to Fort Lee?”

“It fell. We had front row seats to watch it happen. I don’t know what exactly went down but it caused the soldiers to turn on the civilians. It was a massacre.”

The orange glow of burning cars was etched in his memory, the sounds of gunfire and explosions playing on an infinite loop.

“You think there is any government left in control?”

Malcolm scratched his chin, thinking on that one, all the things he had seen and the Omega protocol.

“Not in any major way. There’s probably small pockets out there still thinking they are in charge but without mass organization they aren’t going to be able to do anything.”

“So this is it, huh? End of civilization as we know it,” Quinton said with a shake of his head and a bark of laughter. “At least we’re going out with one hell of a bang.”

“I wouldn’t count humanity out just yet. We’re pretty resilient.”

Subject File # 750

Administrator - I was told you were separated from the others, spent a night on your own. I’d like to talk about that.

Subject - Well, I don’t.

*End of session*

Veronica was exhausted as she trudged through the woods, her shoulders aching from the weight of the gun bag and her calves burning from the steep incline she was navigating. Her boots squelched with every step, soaked all the way through from the creek she had waded through for at least a mile to hide her trail.

It had seemed to work. she hadn’t heard the voices of the rednecks nor any sounds of their pursuit since she had found the creek. That was the good news. Bad news was she had no idea where she was now. Sure, she knew which direction was which but she had no idea what was in those directions. Her best option was to stick with heading in the opposite direction of the rednecks. She might not know
where
 she was heading but at least she knew what she was heading
away
 from.

As she continued to climb, the trees became sparser, the scrub becoming more prominent as the incline increased. She groaned as she forced herself to continue to climb, pushing past the exhaustion and telling herself that she needed to find shelter before the sun went down.

If she was stuck in the woods when it got dark, she was going to be exposed and anything could sneak up on her.

She focused on that terrifying thought, letting it drive her up the incline until she finally reached level ground. Her legs bobbled and she fell to her knees as she breathed a sigh of relief when she dropped the heavy bag from her shoulder. While she waited for the pain in her muscles to ebb to a dull ache, she took in her surroundings.

The incline had actually been a ravine and at the top there was a nice new subdivision, the fenced backyards of some of the houses bellied up to the ravine.

Finally, shelter.

She went over to the fence and spied through the wooden planks, scanning the yard for any threats. She picked up the gun bag and hefted it over the fence before she climbed over it herself groaning as pain sliced through her shoulder. She landed gracelessly next to the bag and was glad no one was around to see it.

She crossed the yard and tried the back door but it didn’t budge. She pressed her face to the window, but the house was dark and the setting sun did nothing to light up the interior. She considered smashing a window to get inside but she worried the sound could draw unwanted attention.

There was a small garden shed in the yard and she opened the door cautiously, sighing in relief to find only a lawnmower and various gardening tools inside. She stepped into the shed, dropping the gun bag to the floor and began to root around for something to secure the door from the inside. She found a length of rope that she looped through the handle and tied up to one of the hooks on the pegboard nailed to the wall. It wasn’t Fort Knox level security but it would certainly alert her if someone tried to get inside.

She sat back from the door, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. Now that she was safe and secure, the adrenaline that had been zinging through her veins since they had been at the sheriff’s station began to taper off. She had been able to ignore all her fears as she kept herself focused on staying alive but now that she had time to think, they all came rushing back in a tidal wave.

She had no idea where Claudia was and if Quinton had already left the vet clinic then she had no way of finding them. In two days she had lost her entire family; everything that meant anything to her.

A sob tore from her throat as she realized that her greatest fear had come true. She was completely alone now. For the first time since all of this began, she let herself really cry. Not just silent tears but big, wracking sobs that hurt as she purged herself of the grief inside her. And it continued until exhaustion pulled her into sweet darkness where she was able to forget about everything for a time.

Subject File # 744

Administrator - You’ve lost people you care about.

Subject - Who hasn’t?

Administrator - Does that make it easier? Knowing that everyone has suffered losses.

Subject - No, it makes it worse because it means it’s so common it’s expected. It breaks my heart to know that it’s become normal to lose everyone you care about.

The day passed by with none of their people returning. Jose had said that Travis was right behind him but as the hours passed, Kim knew that something had happened to him. Jose tried to be optimistic, saying that the streets had been filled with the infected and he might have had to take the long way back here but it seemed more unlikely as day turned to night.

Eventually the children had started to grumble about being hungry and dinner had been served and eaten in a tense silence. As the sky turned to black and the stars came out, they put the kids to sleep in the station, Claudia joining them. She still hadn’t said a word but she had stuck close to Ruth, the little girl offering her some comfort, and she had curled up in the sleeping bag next to her.

The rest of the group had gathered around the fire, sitting in silence, staring into the flames, lost in their own thoughts until someone would inevitably glance towards the road, causing the others to do the same but there was never anything there. It was Jenny who finally broke the silence.

“I’m going to walk up the road to check. They could have gotten turned around in the dark.”

“You sure about that, honey?” Kim asked, glancing down at her protruding belly. Jenny should have been resting, not stressing herself out but it really couldn’t be helped. Her only family was out there, and though it was doubtful walking the road would do any good, Kim understood the need to do something instead of just sitting around waiting.

“I’ll go with you,” Janet volunteered, “That’s if you don’t mind checking in on the kids, Kim.”

“Not a problem.”

The two women went to the minivan and loaded up with their weapons of choice and headed out, the beams from their flashlights dancing through the trees. Ana cleared her throat and patted Jose on the knee, causing him to startle out of the light doze he had fallen into.

“Time for you to get to bed,” she insisted, standing up and looking down for him to follow suit.

“Fine,” he grumbled as he rose to his feet. “But I want you to wake me in a few hours, Kim. Jenny is right, they might get turned around in the dark so we should have someone out on watch.”

Kim wanted to tell him it was fine, that he should get a good night’s sleep. He looked exhausted, the lines in his face deeper than usual but she knew that to refuse him would insult him.

“Why don’t you both take the cots in the station,” she suggested. “At least you’ll get a few hours of sleep in comfort.”

Ana nodded her thanks and herded Jose off, who put up no protest at her fussing. Kim knew that meant the man had to be more tired than he was letting on. He seemed to live for putting up a fight against Ana’s mother hen ways.

“You want to crash too?” Kim asked Trey when they were alone and he shook his head.

“I don’t think I can fall asleep yet.”

She put an arm around his shoulders and he rested his head against hers. “I know the feeling, little man.”

“It’s weird, Mom. A couple weeks ago I didn’t even know most of these people and now I’m freaking out that they aren’t back yet.”

“Honey, you shouldn’t be worrying about that.”

It hurt to know that he was suffering anxiety over all of this. She didn’t want him to feel like that. She was his mother and she was supposed to protect him from this kind of worrying.

“I can’t help it. It’s like they’re family now. Is it weird to think that?”

She shook her head. “It’s not weird at all. I feel the same and I think the others do too. Sharing a traumatic event can create a special bond between people, even ones that are total strangers. It’s normal for you to feel this way.”

“But Trey, I want you to know that even without them, you and me, we’ll be okay. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“I know, Mom. You and me, we’ve always taken care of each other. I guess I just don’t want us to have to be on our own again. Not if we can help it, anyway.”

“Me neither, little man, me neither.”

They sat there, gazing into the softly glowing fire and eventually Trey shifted, laying down and using her leg as a pillow. She idly stroked his hair as he dozed off, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She looked up at the moon, looking at its position in the sky to judge the time as Malcolm had taught her.

He had been a wealth of information for them, happy to share his knowledge so they could make it through this crisis. He was a good man and over the weeks they had been here, she had thanked the fates for bringing him to them on that highway so many times she had lost count.

She was worried about him. She told herself it was because without him, the entire group would be lost. He was their leader and he had promised to lead them to sanctuary. It definitely wasn’t because she was developing feelings for him. No, that was impossible.

It was just her physical attraction mixing in with her admiration for him as a leader. She had only known him for a short time and nothing had actually happened between them so it wasn’t possible to develop any feelings.

Of course, she cared about him. She cared about everyone in the group, even Alan. Trey was right, they had become family since this all began. It would be impossible not to care about all of them.