The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus (34 page)

“We’ll do the watch duty night and day now. I also want us to do it in pairs. They will be posted at the road coming in with one of the walkies. They see anything, they can radio down and warn us. I also want everyone who can handle a weapon to be armed at all times.”

“I can take the first watch,” Claudia volunteered.

“I appreciate the offer but I think it’s best me and Alan take it,” Malcolm replied.

“When was the last time you or Alan slept?” she asked. “You aren’t going to be any use if you fall asleep out there.”

“She’s right,” Quinton interjected when it looked like Malcolm was going to argue. “We barely got any sleep at the clinic. We’re dead on our feet. We need to sleep a couple of hours at least or our reaction time will be seriously compromised.”

Malcolm levelled Claudia with a serious look. “You sure you’re up for this? I’m not saying this to be a dick but a day ago, you were catatonic. Can you do this?”

She nodded, her chin held high and proud. “It won’t be a problem.”

Malcolm still eyed her skeptically and Kim stepped up beside Claudia. “I’ll be her partner. We’ll be fine.”

Malcolm watched her carefully for a moment, reading her, and whatever he read satisfied him.

“Alright, we’ll set you up with one of the walkies. We’ll get a few hours rack time and then we’ll have the service for Jose and Ana.”

The decision having been made, the others quickly dispersed to the tasks their arrival had interrupted. Jenny followed her husband at a distance as he stalked into what Quinton presumed was their tent. The children resumed their play as Janet took up watch over them. Kim took Claudia over to the van where they kept the weapons, arming themselves to go on watch.  

“You can crash in the red tent over there,” Malcolm offered with a nod towards the canvas shelter.

“Thanks,” Quinton said, appreciating the gesture even though he wasn’t so sure he would make good use of it. After everything, he dreaded the thought of closing his eyes. He didn’t know what he would see but he knew it would be nothing good.

“I’m going to check in on Craig before I crash.”

Malcolm nodded and directed him to the tent that belonged to Craig. He could see Craig laying on the stretcher through the open tent flap, resting comfortably. He ducked down into the tent and started when he noticed Lorraine sitting in the corner across from Craig.

“Shit, sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here,” Quinton told her and she gave him a tired smile.

“It’s okay. I didn’t want to be too far in case something happens.” She had been sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest but now she stretched her legs out in front of her, wiggling her feet. “His vitals have been steady. Blood pressure 80 over 60. Temperature is one oh one.”

He pulled down the blanket that covered Craig’s chest, carefully lifting the bandage and examining his work. No excessive bleeding, no outward signs of infection, everything seemed to be in good shape.

“He’s doing well,” he said, straightening the blanket as Lorraine sighed audibly. “When he wakes up, get him to eat and drink something. He needs to build his strength back after the blood loss.”

“I’ll do that, thank you, Doctor.” She gave him a once over, her forehead wrinkling slightly with concern. “And if you don’t mind a bit of advice, as a medical professional, you should get some sleep. You look like you’re about ready to pass out.”

“I’m going to take your advice,” he replied with a wan smile. “But if he needs anything, I’m on call. Just have them page me.”

He managed to coax a genuine smile from her and felt a bit lighter on his feet. He exited the tent and made his way to the one Malcolm had pointed out. Several sleeping bags and pillows were scattered about inside and he unceremoniously dropped onto them face first.

At that moment it hit him how very bone tired he was and he realized that his fear of being unable to shut off his brain was unfounded. It was easier than he ever imagined to let a dark, dreamless sleep take him away from it all.

Subject File # 750

Administrator - You’re always the first one to laugh. You seem to find enjoyment in everything.

Subject - Is that a bad thing?

Administrator - No, not at all. I think it is wonderful that you can find something to be happy about.

Subject - Good because sometimes it feels like if I don’t laugh about it, I’m going to lose my damn mind.

The sun had started to fall behind the top of the mountain range when Veronica began to look at the map for a place to camp. The night would be on them quickly once the sun disappeared completely behind the mountains and she wanted the camp up before they lost the light.  

The map marked a small rest site for hikers up ahead.  It was nothing more than a water station to fill up on clean water before venturing into the backcountry but it would work for them tonight. It was off the main roads that wound through the park and that was enough. They would be safe from any prying eyes and it was hard to believe that any infected had managed to make it all the way out here yet.

“Up on the left there is a rest site. We can stay there tonight,” she told Jackson, who only responded with a grunt.

She had been surprised to find he had no problem taking orders from her. Judging by his appearance, all rough edges and a big chip on his shoulder, she would have pegged him as a man who wouldn’t take to a woman ordering him around. Guess what they said about judging book covers was right.

“Are we going to sleep in the van again tonight?” Hannah asked. “I don’t want to. It hurts my neck.”

“We’re gonna sleep in the tent tonight,” Veronica told her, grabbing a hold of the dashboard as Jackson steered the van off road to bump and dip along the dirt trail to the rest site. “We can even have a bonfire.”

“Can we roast marshmallows?” Hannah asked, clapping her hands excitedly.

“‘Fraid we’re fresh outta marshmallows, Squirt,” Jackson said, “But we still got some cookies back there.”

“Can I have some now?” she asked eagerly, trying to turn around in her seat despite her seatbelt keeping her in place.

“First rule of camping is you set up your site before you do anything else,” Veronica told the girls as they pulled into the clearing.

A small brick building was at the centre of the clearing, a sign out front listing it as
Rest Site #9
. There were two bathroom doors marked
Men
 and
Women
 along with several water taps and fountains sprouting from the side of the building.

“We’ll unload the van while Jackson checks out the bathrooms. Once camp is set up, then we can talk about the cookies.”

The girls were eager to get moving on their tasks and were quick to climb out of the van. Veronica followed them around to the back while Jackson went to the building.

The girls’ parents had been smart enough to throw their camping gear in the van. It wasn’t anything elaborate but the tent and cooking equipment would come in handy. A couple grocery bags were filled with canned vegetables and boxes of different foodstuffs. Jackson had been right, lots of carbs but not much in the way of protein. Not that it mattered, the woods around them were teaming with game, it was just a matter of hunting it down.

“Did you find the cookies?” Hannah asked, pushing up on her tiptoes to look into the bags.  

“I did,” Veronica replied, pulling out the coveted bag but she kept it out of Hannah’s reach. “But you’ll have to wait until after dinner.”

Hannah scrunched up her face in annoyance. “Are we gonna eat granola bars again? They’re gross and feel weird in my mouth.”

“No granola bars for you, lucky girl,” Veronica replied, touching the tip of her finger to Hannah’s nose. “Tonight’s menu is soup. Now you help your sister unload the tent and sleeping bags while I set up the cook stove.”

By the time Jackson returned from the bathrooms, Veronica had dinner heating on the cook stove and had helped the girls spread out the canvas tent.

“Place is empty,” he said as way of greeting. “Well runs on a manual pump so we can use the bathrooms if we want.”

“Good. Why don’t you help the girls set up the tent while I go gather firewood?” she suggested. “I want to check out the woods, see what’s out there.”

His brow furrowed and his eyes darted to the surrounding woods that were slowing growing dark before coming back to her. “Ya sure ’bout that?”

“I’ll be okay. I grew up in a place a lot like this,” she told him. “I won’t go too far, be well within shouting distance. Just keep an eye out so the soup doesn’t scald.”

“Holler if there’s a problem then,” he said and went to help the girls, who were making more of a mess of the collapsible tent poles than actually helping.

She left them to it and disappeared behind the tree line, letting the forest shroud her. It was quieter here, the canopy of the trees muting the world beneath them. She heard the occasional flutter of wings and trilling call as the birds settled in for the night. The chorus of insects would start up soon, replacing the melody of the birds with their own unique song.

The deeper she moved into the woods, the more the weight on her shoulders began to ease. She found peace in nature. This place was untouched by the outside world. It didn’t care that humanity was self-destructing. It continued on as it always did and always would, the petty problems of humans meaningless to Mother Nature.

Here among the trees, she could forget everything that had happened for a moment. She could finally breath again, inhaling deeply to savour the musk of the moss and rotting leaves that was turning death into new life. There was always hope to be found in the forest, the cycle of life moving along smoothly, as reliable as any clock. It grounded her to know that this place would always be the same. Nature played by strict rules and you knew that there would never be a sudden game change.

She began to pick her way through the trees, keeping an eye out for wood good for burning. As she bent down to retrieve some fallen branches, she spotted several animal tracks in the dirt. Looked like it was a run rabbits used, judging by the different prints crisscrossing over each other. A couple of snare traps over the run and they could be having fresh rabbit tomorrow. Much better than soup and granola bars.

It had been a while since she had fashioned a snare but it would come back to her. Her father had spent countless hours of her childhood making her practice building them. It wasn’t something you forgot. Two Y-shaped sticks for the hook and base, her shoelace as the noose and a bent sapling for the engine. She could do it in her sleep.

It didn’t take long for her to find what she needed and soon she had two traps set up along the run. If she was lucky, they’d be eating fresh meat for breakfast. She said a silent prayer of thanks to her father, wherever he was now. For the first time, it didn’t constrict her heart to think of him no longer being with her. Being here, putting his lessons to work, made her feel closer to him and eased the pain of the loss just a little bit.

Her exit from the woods was much slower than her entrance, her shoes now difficult to walk in without laces, the tongues flopping around trying to trip her up. She finally pulled them off, figuring bare feet would be easier.

When she emerged into the clearing, she was pleased to see the tent standing, Audrey and Hannah carrying their sleeping bags inside while Jackson knelt to pound in a stake. When he spotted her, he came to help her with the wood.

“Ya go native in there?” he asked, eyeing her up and down and she looked down at herself. Her bare feet were filthy and pieces of bark and leaves clung to her jeans and t-shirt, her hands covered in dirt, even under her fingernails from digging in the earth to anchor the snare. She was sure there was probably more dirt smudged across her face too.

“I got back to my roots,” she said, grinning up at him. He looked at her strangely, his mouth open slightly as he took a breath, seeming ready to say something but he must have thought better of it as his mouth closed again.

“Is Audrey still doing okay?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder at the tent where she could hear the girl’s muffled voices.

“Guess so, no blow ups or anythin’ yet. I think they’re better when they got somethin’ to distract ‘em.”

“Have they talked a lot about what happened to their parents?” she asked.

Jackson gave a shrug. “Not much. Audrey saw what went down but we had to explain it to the little one. Not sure if she quite gets what is goin’ on though.”

“I think maybe I should talk to them about it. I’m no child psychologist but I’ve been trained in grief counselling. Nothing extensive but it’s required by the school board that we know the basics.”

“If ya think it’ll help to talk to ‘em, go for it.”

“I’m pretty confident that I won’t make it worse.”

“Well that’s a ringin’ endorsement if I ever heard one,” he deadpanned and she snorted ungracefully as laughter burst out of her.

She didn’t know if it was his toneless voice or the serious set of his brow, or a combination of both, but she couldn’t stop laughing. She doubled over, clutching her stomach as tears sprung to her eyes, gasping for air between peals of laughter. It felt good to laugh like this.