The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus (32 page)

While the two men kept their eyes peeled for any signs of their family, Malcolm kept his attention focused on sussing out any trouble of either the human or infected variety. Though the streets appeared deserted, they couldn’t forget that it had seemed that way the last time they were here and that hadn’t turned out well.

They followed the directions Claudia had given them, retracing her steps onto Riley Drive, a residential street with homes on one side and a wooded ravine on the other. Some of the homes were boarded up while others had doors left wide open, all of the driveways empty of any vehicles. He wondered if they had been boarded up to make a last stand or to keep out looters while the owners left town for the evacuation centres.

Malcolm noticed tire tracks that went off the road into the wooded ravine, the mark of someone who hadn’t managed to successfully make the flight out. The terror the people must have felt as they fled their homes, unsure where they would find safety. Perhaps they had even had someone with them, someone they loved, that was infected and they had tried to find them help, not knowing that they were already as good as dead.

He turned his thoughts away from speculating on what had happened to the townsfolk, focusing back on the current task.

They
had
 to find Travis and Veronica.

The group had already suffered the loss of the Garcias and he didn’t know if they could suffer anymore losses. They needed this victory, not just to appease the two men with him, but to show everyone that there could still be hope in this world. He knew that without hope, the group could not carry on for long.

The death of hope would be the death of them all.

“Any insight you guys can give on where your brother and sister would have gone?” Malcolm asked the men as they rolled down the street.

“They could be holed up anywhere,” Quinton said. “If Veronica had her pick, she’d head to somewhere wooded. That’s where she’d feel safest.”

“And Travis would want to stay in a car, he’d want to stay mobile,” Alan said.

Well, that was a bit of a dead end. It would all depend on who was in charge of their little pair.  

“All right, then we’ll follow Claudia’s directions back to the station. We’re bound to find something that will tell us which way they went,” Malcolm said, taking a left at the next intersection but he came to a stop as the street came into view.

Half a block down over a dozen people were in the middle of the street and, as one, their heads turned at the sound of the cruiser’s engine. If the dark bloodstains covering their clothes weren’t hint enough, the fact that the group sprinted towards them instead of away told Malcolm that these were more of the infected townsfolk.

“Better figure out another route, doc,” Malcolm said as he shifted the cruiser in reverse and hit the gas, speeding away from the threat. He yanked the wheel hard to the right, the tires squealing in protest as they swung around and Malcolm slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop as he shifted back into drive.

Before he could jam on the gas and get them the hell out of there, a gunshot sounded in the distance, the pop ripping through the silent ghost town. Malcolm glanced back down the road and saw that the infected had come to a stop, their attention drawn from the cruiser to the gunshot.

Another shot went off and the infected moved once again as a unit, this time sprinting off in the direction of the sound. Malcolm let out the breath he’d been holding and relaxed his white knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“What the hell you waiting for?” Alan cried out. “Follow them. Those things will lead us right to where those shots went off. It’s got to be Travis.”

“We don’t know that,” Malcolm said. “It could be the men who attacked you at the pharmacy.”

“Then we kill those fuckers. They’re the reason we’re in the mess in the first place,” Alan spit back, his grip tight on the barrel of his shotgun.

Malcolm glanced back at Quinton, who was infinitely calmer than Alan. He was taking his time to consider the entire situation instead of operating on pure emotion.

“I think it’s worth checking out,” Quinton said, “But we do it carefully. We’re looking for our families, not revenge.”

Presented with less emotion the idea didn’t seem so bad, provided Quinton stayed on board with the no revenge plan. As long as he had Quinton on his side, they’d be able to keep Alan on a leash.

Malcolm turned the cruiser around and headed in the direction the freaks had gone. all of them straining to hear any more gunshots to pinpoint the location.

They turned a corner onto what Malcolm soon realized was the town’s main street, judging by its four wide lanes and the businesses that lined the street. He wasn’t exactly comfortable being this exposed but they really didn’t have a choice. Besides, if someone was watching the street, they’d already been spotted. He just had to hope that the gunshots were considered more important and anyone on watch would have already been dispatched to check it out.

They approached the main intersection and he was so focused on finding the source of the gunfire that it was almost too late when he saw the truck barrelling towards them on the passenger side.

Malcolm heard the truck’s brakes squeal as he jammed the cruiser’s gas and she bolted forward with a screech of rubber on pavement. The two vehicles narrowly missing each other and Malcolm cranked the wheel hard, pulling up on the hand brake and sending them into a 180 before coming to a halt facing the intersection.

The truck had come to a stop diagonally across the intersection, the cab facing away from them, the occupants hidden from view.

“Is it them?” Alan asked hopefully as he leaned forward to look out the windshield. The driver’s side door popped open and everyone held their breath as they waited for the driver to get out.

Malcolm caught a glimpse of a red ball cap as the driver ducked out of the cab followed by a bald headed passenger. Two rifle barrels poked up over the back of the truck aimed right at the cruiser.

“Get down!” Malcolm yelled moments before gunfire sounded and the windshield shattered, raining glass down on his back. He glanced over to see Alan shoving his shotgun through the broken glass and Malcolm’s ears rang when he pulled the trigger.

Malcolm took advantage of Alan’s cover fire to release the parking brake and shift the car into gear. He glanced back at Quinton, who was laying across the backseat, gun in hand, flinching as Alan fired off another round of buckshot before ducking back down. More shots went off in their direction but Malcolm ignored them as he barked out orders.

“I’m gonna swing this heap around. You two lay down fire, keep ’em distracted, make as much noise as you can. We’re gonna use the infected to our advantage.”

He didn’t wait for their input, hitting the gas to get them moving and when Quinton and Alan began firing, he sat up higher to look over the steering wheel, keeping his eyes on the surrounding street. This had to work. They needed to get away from the rednecks but more importantly they needed to make sure the fuckers didn’t follow them back to the camp.

He sighed in relief, sending up a silent prayer when he spotted the first of the infected burst forth from behind the buildings on main street. He slammed on the brakes, leaving the cruiser as a perfect target and therefore the perfect distraction for the rednecks. The pinging of bullets riddling the metal frame filled the air for a few moments before it stopped, the gunfire now directed somewhere else.  

Malcolm chanced glancing up to see that the rednecks had been forced to turn their attention to the infected who had now swarmed the streets. Malcolm took advantage of the distraction and gunned the cruiser, speeding off down the street and  leaving the sound of gunfire behind. Malcolm took several wild turns, wanting to put as much distance between them and the rednecks as he could, just in case the rednecks had managed to follow them.

Their heaving breaths and the hum of the engine were the only sounds that could be heard in the car, the gunfire having faded off in the distance.  

“I don’t think we can chance going back there,” Malcolm said, “At least not now.”

“I’m not abandoning my brother!” Alan bit out, his nostrils flaring in anger. It was obvious that adrenaline was still coursing through his veins and Malcolm knew that he was going to have to be careful with this.

“We aren’t abandoning him. All the gunfire is going to rile up the infected in that town. The streets aren’t going to be safe to travel. Travis will know that and he’ll hide out, wait until things calm down. With him holed up, we have no hope of finding him, at least not today. We’ll come back tomorrow.”

“If you don’t want to stay, fine. Stop the car and I’ll get out,” Alan said.

Malcolm glanced back at Quinton, looking for some help but he found the doctor staring at him with the same flinty anger. “He’s right. Stop the car and we’ll get out. You go back to your camp.”

Malcolm shook his head. “You don’t even know if they are still here. For all we know, Travis and Veronica made their way back to camp while we were here. What’s going to happen when I show up there without you guys? Then we’ve got to mount another search party for you two.”

“You really think they’re going to be there?” Quinton said, snorting in disbelief. “Come on, man, you know the odds of that.”

“What about the fact that you got a pregnant wife back there waiting on you?” Malcolm said, glaring at Alan before turning it on Quinton. “And you’ve got a sister who up until a few hours ago was catatonic. How are they going to feel when I show up without you?”

It was obvious by the way they wouldn’t meet his eyes that neither one of them had given a thought to who they would be leaving behind at the camp. “You two need to think about who needs you more: Travis and Veronica or Jenny and Claudia.”

Malcolm waited, allowing them both the time to consider what he was saying and he knew by the easing of the tension that was radiating off of both men that he had gotten through to them.

“Alright, back to camp.”

Subject File # 745

Subject - She says she hates me.

Administrator - That’s typical teenager behaviour. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I’m sure you said it to your parents.

Subject - Course I did. Thing is I meant it. I hated her more than I ever hated anyone in my life. Hard to know if ya got the stuff to be a parent if the one ya had was worse than shit.

The sign declaring the entrance to the park loomed over the van as Veronica steered them slowly through the gates. Hannah squealed in excitement, talking to Audrey a mile a minute but Jackson blocked it out, his focus on watching for any threat around them. A large parking lot was off to the right and the visitor’s centre stood to the left of the main road into the park. The parking area was empty, just a vast stretch of concrete that ended where the forest began. The visitor’s centre was dark and lifeless, sun glinting off its empty windows.

The only sound came from the tires of the van coasting along the road as they drove by the centre, coming upon another collection of signs that listed the name and distance of different places within the park. There was another sign marking the squat building looming up ahead on the road as the main ranger station.

“I think we should stop here,” Veronica said, slowing the van down and nodding at the station. “They’ll have detailed maps of the park in there.”

He grunted his agreement and she pulled the van up to the front of the ranger station. The two of them leaned over the dash to study the building. It was one storey constructed of plain brick. Two windows stared out at them like empty black eyes. Place looked as dead as the visitor centre.

“There’s got to be a back exit. I can go around and find it,” Veronica said. “You go in the front and we sweep the place.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he replied, sitting back to unclip his seat belt. “Just give me a signal when ya found a way in.”

“Wait, you can’t leave us again,” Audrey interrupted.

“Y’all will be fine. Just stay in the van,” Jackson replied.

“We weren’t fine last time!” Audrey cried out and he noticed the white knuckled grip she had on the arm rests. Girl was scared shitless. He kept forgetting they were still just kids. They hadn’t made much of a fuss since he picked them up and that made it easy to think that they were taking all of this in stride.

She had the same look he’d seen in the mirror more times than he could count. It was the same one he had when his mom would come home strung out, dragging some strange man back with her into her room and he’d have to cover his ears to block out the sounds of sex and violence. It was fear of a child who didn’t have anyone to protect them.

“I’ll go and you stay here with the girls,” Veronica offered and he could see relief flood through Audrey, her tense shoulders relaxing as she sat back in her seat. Well, that sealed it. If it made them feel better, he’d stay.

He watched as she slipped from the van and made her way to the station door, which was locked tight. He watched her until she disappeared around the back of the building in search of another entrance and then turned his attention back to the girls.

“Ya know, I’m…uh…I’m sorry ‘bout what happened back at the garage,” he stuttered, knowing he had to make it right but not knowing how to do it. “I shouldn’t have yelled at ya when ya were just tryin’ to look after yourself. That was my fault, shouldn’t have left ya on your own.”