The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus (8 page)

Subject - When he holds me.

They left the outlook at dawn, their little convoy making its way on back roads through rural farmland and forest. Kim had not been surprised when no one had chosen to stay behind. Even Alan had agreed to follow Malcolm, though she was sure that was after some pressure from Jenny and Travis.

Their convoy had made good time, putting more distance between them and that awful highway. Her throat clenched shut every time she thought about it. It haunted her so much so that she had dreamt about the highway last night.

They had all been there again but this time there was no Malcolm to tip them off and when the soldiers had arrived, they had been happy to see them. Everyone had been smiling and laughing, believing rescue was finally here. Those smiles had still been on their faces when the soldiers had opened fire.

She had watched, paralyzed, as the bullets tore through them one by one until only she and Trey were left standing. She tried to reach out for him, warn him to get away but she could do nothing but watch as her baby boy was riddled with bullets, his lifeless body crashing to the pavement.

She had woken drenched in sweat, her heart racing as she gasped for air. She told herself it was just a dream. Nightmares were a common result of trauma, she knew that. Still, knowing the reason she had them did little to erase the fact that the terror she experienced was very real and hard to shake.

The dream had left a sense of dread hanging over her. She had tried to bury the memory of it but it kept resurfacing the instant she let her guard down. It didn’t help that they had taken the back roads through farm country with nothing but flat fields as far as the eye could see.

The boring scenery and straight roads provided little distraction as she drove the pick up. Her companions in the cab weren’t the liveliest of company either. Travis and Alan had volunteered to take the spots in the truck bed and she had been left with Jenny and Trey, who had both promptly dozed off twenty minutes into the trek. So that had left her alone with her thoughts, probably not the best combination but she didn’t have the heart to wake her son or the pregnant woman.

She was thankful when the right blinker on the minivan in front flashed and the brake lights came to life. Something to distract her. The convoy pulled to the side of the road and the truck bounced on its springs as Travis and Alan hopped out of the back. Jenny and Trey were roused from their sleep, blinking wearily as they looked around.

“Why’d we stop?” Trey asked around a yawn.

“I’m not sure, I’ll check it out,” she said, hopping out of the truck and groaning as her stiff muscles protested their sudden use. Malcolm had gotten out of the van and moved to the hood of the pick-up, Travis and Alan beside him and Craig coming up from behind them where he had parked the cube van. Kim joined them as Malcolm spread a map across the hood of the pick-up.

“There is a gas station a couple miles up the road,” Malcolm said, pointing to a spot on the map. “This far out, it probably only services the farms. There’s a good chance they’ve gone untouched by all this.”

“What if they have no interest in sharing with us?” Craig asked. “I saw it happen in the city. People started hoarding right quick and had no interest in parting with their stash.”

“We can negotiate with them,” Malcolm said. “We’ve got the food. We can always find more food but there is a finite amount of gas in this world. We need as much of it as we can get if we have any chance of making it north.”

“And they may not be up for negotiating either.” Craig shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking on the balls of his feet before looking up at Malcolm. “What I’m getting at is if they don’t want to work with us, are we going to
take
 what we want?”

Malcolm was silent, contemplating the implications of what Craig was asking. Kim had wondered about it herself. It had been one thing to take the abandoned cars. The owners were long gone--most likely dead--and they had
needed
 them for their immediate safety. But the idea of stealing from people who would fight them was different. It was wrong.

She watched Malcolm, waiting for his answer, hoping that it would be the same as her own. She had admired him for his bravery last night, part of the reason she was following him was because she believed he had honour. She did not want to be disappointed.

“No. If they don’t want to work something out with us, we leave them be. There will be other places.”

She was relieved to hear it and she could see the others felt the same.

“Craig, I want you to lead the way in. When you can, I want you to turn the van around so the broadside faces whatever buildings are there. As soon as you stop, duck down and wait on my signal. Kim, you and I will use the van for cover. Park behind it and wait while I check the area out. Wakefields, you’ll keep watch from the truck. No one moves a muscle until I give the signal.”

Everyone accepted the orders without question. Malcolm had become their unofficial leader in the short time he had been with them. She supposed it had been natural. He had been the one to lead them off the highway and provide a plan for them. He oozed authority from every pore. He was the obvious choice as the group’s leader and she had the feeling that the others were relieved they did not have to take up the mantle themselves.

With the plan sorted, they all climbed back in the vehicles, Craig heading out first, Malcom following him in the van and Kim took up the rear position in the convoy. She related the plan to Jenny and Trey, both of them now wide awake as they prepared themselves for what they would find at the gas station.  

It wasn’t long until a structure appeared in the distance. A stout building made of cheap siding and tin roof not too far off the road. The tall sign at the side of the road advertised it as a gas station and diner, home of the best rhubarb pie in the county.

The small parking lot out front was empty, no obvious signs of life as they turned onto the lane. Malcolm’s plan was executed perfectly, Craig swinging the cube van around and Kim stopped the pickup when its front bumper kissed the side of the van. She watched with baited breath as Malcolm climbed out of the minivan, ducking into a crouch as he rounded the front end of the cube van and disappeared.

It felt like hours that they waited in silence, ears straining to hear any signs of trouble. What if there were people here and they were the type to shoot first, ask questions later. What if the infection had reached here as well and there were a bunch of cannibals waiting to rip Malcolm to shreds.

She jumped off her seat when Malcolm’s voice boomed loud from the station, giving them the all clear. She looked to Jenny and Trey, realizing they had been just as startled. Laughter bubbled up out of Jenny and Kim was quick to follow suit, Trey joining in too. The three of them enjoyed the moment of levity as they climbed out of the pickup.

Malcolm was happy as well, coming around the rear of the van with a smile on his face.

“The place is empty but the pumps are still working. There’s enough to fill up all the tanks and jerry cans. Travis, Alan, you two can work on the fuel.”

“The building is split into the gas station and a diner,” Malcolm told them, “Craig and I will see what we can find in the gas station. The rest of you can go through the diner, gather up anything we could use. There’s a bathroom so might as well get the kids in there. Once we leave here, we’re heading straight for the park, no stopping.”

Everyone nodded and took off on their marching orders. The diner was a simple greasy spoon with a Formica counter stretching across one side of the room, several red vinyl stools tucked underneath and a serving window to the kitchen behind it . A few booths covered in faded red vinyl were against the windows of the opposite wall, silver napkin dispensers glinting in the sunlight that filtered in. The place smelled of old grease and stale air punctuated by the faint odour of rotting food, probably from the refrigerators in back.

As Janet led the kids to the bathrooms, Kim noticed a piece of white paper in the middle of the counter, almost glowing against the faded grey linoleum.

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it onto me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25:45-46

The gas pumps are still on. There is food in the kitchen. Take what you need and God bless.

She took another look around the diner and noticed the crosses that were over the doors and the serving window. There was also a small statue of a saint next to the old cash register. Obviously the owners were religious. Kim figured that it was lucky for her group, they were bound to find less and less charity in this world as time passed.

“How kind of them,” Ana said, having come up beside Kim to read the note.

“It’s kinda passive aggressive if you think about it,” Trey said looking over her shoulder at the note. “It’s talking about Judgement Day and how the good people are taken up to Heaven and the bad people stay behind to be punished. The people who wrote that think they are going to be called up and they are helping out the heathens left to be tortured. It’s like a condescending pat on the head for us.”

“Such a cynic,” Kim said, her voice equal parts exasperated and affectionate. “Maybe they were just being charitable without any other agenda.”

Trey merely rolled his eyes at her optimism but Kim didn’t take it to heart. This wasn’t anything new. In the last few years, he had taken up the typical teenage mantle of bucking all authority, from the school administration to the Church. Everything and everyone that thought they knew the right way was up for questioning.

“Come on, let’s get our business done here. Malcolm will want to be heading out as soon as possible,” she told him and they went back to the bathroom where the twins were standing with Jenny, waiting on Janet and Ruthie.

“Any of you ladies have a tampon?” Janet called through the door. “The dispenser in here is empty.”

“Gross,” Trey said and Kim nudged his shoulder, frowning down at him.

“Come, let’s check the kitchen for anything we can use.” Jose came to Trey’s rescue, the two of them disappearing behind the swinging door.

Kim realized that postmenopausal Ana and pregnant Jenny weren’t going to be any help on this one. “I’ll go check my bag in the truck. Be right back.”

Despite the extensive depths of her oversized purse, she came up empty handed. She frowned, looking around a moment before her eyes lit on the gas station. Maybe they had a couple shelves stocked for travellers in need.

When she entered the gas station, she found Malcolm behind the counter, going through a stack of maps.

“Everything alright?” he asked, looking out the windows to the parking lot.

“Everything is fine,” she assured him. “We’re just in need of some feminine products. I was hoping I might find some in here. The note said to take what we need.”

“Yeah, that was nice of them to leave the pumps on,” he said, nodding to an identical note taped to the front of the register.

“Trey thinks they are being passive aggressive. Rubbing in our faces the fact that we were left behind to suffer God’s wrath,” she told him as she began to search the shelves.

“Now that you mention it, it is a bit of a slap in the face.”

Kim couldn’t help but laugh at the resentment that tinged his voice. “You and Trey will definitely get along. Cynics at heart.”

“Maybe, but I’m also practical. Slap in the face or not, I’m more than willing to take their charity.”

She rounded the shelves, passing by the door that led to what she assumed was a back room, glancing up at the cross that was nailed above it. “But you’ve got to admit that it is easier to take it when you know it was given with kindness.”

“You might be onto something,” Malcolm said and she stopped her search to look up at him. “We should enjoy it, there’s not going to be much of it left soon. People will begin to compete for resources and places like this will be stripped clean of anything useful.”

“You know, I’d like to get back all the time I spent teaching Trey how wrong it was to take something that wasn’t yours. Seems like such a waste now,” she said and turned back to her search. She smiled when she spotted the familiar blue and yellow box on the bottom shelf. “Aha, here we go!”

She knelt down to pull out the half dozen boxes that were covered in a fine layer of dust. Obviously they had few female customers in need pass through this way. Thank God there were no expiration dates on them. Might as well clear the shelf because she didn’t think tampons had made it onto Malcolm’s list of supplies.

She gathered the boxes up in her arms and went to stand but a sudden warm draft of air behind her had her spinning around in her crouch to see the storeroom door open and a man standing there.

She wanted to scream but the sound died as her throat closed tight and terror froze her body in place. She could only watch as the man tensed, ready to spring on her. His mouth gaped open, white phlegm curdled at the corners, and a savage growl spilled out.

From the corner of her eye she saw movement and the infected man’s attention was taken away from her onto Malcolm. He barrelled into it, sending them both crashing to the floor beside her, Malcolm’s hands clamping around its head and slamming it hard into the linoleum. The infected man let out an unearthly howl that was cut short as Malcolm repeated the move, smashing it face first into the ground. He continued to do it again and again until the figure was limp and lifeless beneath him.