The Tide: Deadrise (15 page)

When they reached the street, they followed it east. Dense trees shielded them from the hordes of Skulls Meredith heard howling and screaming at the apartment. Small houses lined the cracked one-way street. She and Dom continued running in the grass beside the road to muffle their footsteps. They started to slow when they came to the end of the street.

“We don’t get many chances for a romantic stroll through the neighborhood like this,” Dom said.

“Nothing more romantic than being strapped down with weapons, covered in Skull gore, and smelling that rotten Skull odor drifting on the wind,” Meredith said, pushing through a thick outcropping of trees and bushes to the wide-open expanse of a golf course. She could make out the scattered silhouettes of wandering Skulls. The creatures trudged across the rolling landscape aimlessly. Meredith hoped it stayed that way.

“Miguel, Dom here,” he said into the comm link. “We’re near a golf course just outside the city. What’s your location?”

“Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.”

Meredith pulled the map up on her smartwatch and found the location in seconds. She shared it with Dom.

“Excellent. What’s the best route?”

“Get through the golf course and follow the Potomac. You can’t miss us, and you’ll avoid plenty of Skulls that way.”

When they ended their comms with Miguel, Meredith caught Dom’s eyes. “I hate golf courses, and I’ve never been a fan of those golf resorts.”

“Why? Too much open space?”

“No, I just suck at golf.”

“That makes two of us,” Dom said. “If I’m going to a resort, the only water hazards I want to mess with are the poolside bars.”

“Next stop after getting the ship back: Nassau.”

Dom shot her a meaningful look.

“Fine, we can save the world first. Then Nassau.”

“Then Nassau,” he agreed.

They set out once more, and true to Miguel’s word, their journey to the rendezvous with the rest of the Hunters was uneventful. They spotted several Skulls, but most of the creatures had been drawn to the city. Meredith guessed the ongoing skirmish with the military had helped clear this area out. She and Dom followed a running path that took them alongside the river. It hadn’t been so long ago that Meredith had actually used this path when she ran the annual Marine Corps Marathon, yet another harsh reminder that people only ran for survival now—not recreation. They stuck to the bushes and ditch beside it for cover until they reached a series of small wooden bridges through a marsh. A low, birdlike whistle caught their attention. Shapes moved out of the shrubs to their right. Meredith tensed, but then one of the figures gave a friendly wave. It was Miguel and the rest of the Hunters.

She rushed first to Spencer and gave him a dose of antibiotics to help with his infection. The group shared water and rested for a few minutes before continuing the hike south to Mt. Vernon. If they kept up their current pace, they could be there within a few hours. Meredith could almost sense the excitement in Dom’s gait. Careful and stealthy as he was, there was an air about him she recognized. It was the same thing she’d seen back when they’d been partners and they’d just finished an assignment. It meant he would be seeing his family soon.

They trudged silently through the muck and brush. The cries of Skulls became more sporadic. There were no more distant cracks of gunfire or the thumping of helicopter blades. But the quiet was abruptly shattered by a call over the comm link.

It was Adam. “Dom.” His voice was panicked and shaky. “Dom, you there? We’re in danger.”

***

K
ara packed the rest of her belongings in a hiking bag and grabbed Maggie’s collar. Adam was speaking to her father over the radio he’d been working on as they hurried from the gift shop. Navid gently shut the back door behind them. Before it closed, she heard the sound of the front door crashing open. Voices boomed, angry and excited.

“Where’s that fucking dog?”

“You making shit up again?”

“Fuck you!”

“I heard the damn thing, too. That’s good eating.”

Sadie grabbed her sister’s sleeve. “They don’t sound friendly,” she whispered.

“No, they don’t,” Kara said.

The group ran down the stone walk behind the shop toward the reconstructed slave quarters. Probing lights shone, flashing from inside the windows of the mansion, and more voices rang out.

“Looks like we weren’t the only ones who thought this would be a decent hideout,” Navid said, clutching a rifle to his chest.

“They’re everywhere,” Kara muttered.

“It was too good to be true,” Adam said. His glasses had slipped down the bridge of his nose, and he adjusted them. “Best bet is to get the Zodiac. We can travel upriver and meet the others.”

Something crashed through one of the mansion windows. A huge portrait, glass raining around it, hit the ground. The frame cracked and broke. The distinct guffaws of several men followed.

“That’s for you, Martha!” Kara stared at the ruined portrait of Martha Washington. The thrum of motorcycle engines rumbled across the lawn in front of the mansion. Tires kicked up soil and grass, tearing through vegetable and flower gardens. As more and more of the men joined the mob, Kara found she was almost more scared of them than the Skulls. At least she could predict the creatures’ instinctual behavior. These men were arrogant, wild, and apparently unafraid of the Skulls. Whether it was out of pure ignorance and stupidity or a true testament to their ruthlessness and power, they weren’t people she wanted to encounter. Kara was more than happy to follow Adam out of the estate before the men caught wind of them.

They ran down the sloping hill behind Washington’s mansion past the stables. Lights shone from several of the smaller buildings now as the men searched the estate. Adam raced down a dirt path, constantly playing his gun barrel before them, as Kara, Sadie, Maggie, and Navid followed. Soon, the pathway dead-ended at a small wharf where they’d left the Zodiac from the
Huntress
.

Adam signaled for them to stay low. He prowled the shoreline. As he drew near, lights from within the wharf flickered on.

A voice from inside yelled, “Check this shit out!”

Four more men came running down a path opposite from where Kara and the others hid. Their boots stomped over the wooden planks as they rushed to examine the Zodiac. Kara’s heart sank. Sadie interlaced her fingers with Kara’s and squeezed tightly. Adam had dropped to the ground, and now he hugged the riverbank to remain out of sight as he slowly made his way back to Kara and the others. One of the men pushed the Zodiac into the river, and then the others hopped in. They started the motor and raced the boat in circles. They hollered and laughed as they took the craft northward along the river, back toward the steep lawn behind the mansion. More men, all cradling weapons, walked down the path to the wharf. Like those Kara had seen in the parking lot, they wore varying amounts of camouflage. A few had bandanas over their hair or tied under their necks. One wore a necklace that Kara thought was made out of Skull claws. She shuddered.

“If that boat’s here, some of those military bastards are probably around here, too. Don’t let ‘em out alive,” the man with the Skull-claw necklace yelled at the others. He directed them to break up into small groups and search the property.

Adam returned a moment later. His glasses were slightly askew, and he was out of breath. “We need to get out of here. We can meet the Hunters somewhere else.”

“Who the hell are these guys?” Navid asked. “Some kind of survivalists?”

“Marauders, looters, I don’t care what they are,” Kara said, “but I want to get out of here.”

One of the groups had started up the dirt pathway. Adam gestured for Kara and the others to run. Kara was the fastest runner of the group, and she led them off the path and into the woods. They dodged between trees and leapt over fallen logs. In the distance, she heard the rumble of truck engines and the coarse shouts of the raiders as they looted the estate. When she reached the riverbank, Kara turned to see military trucks drive straight through the wooden fences surrounding the livestock enclosures. Several of the men started loading boxes from the gift shop and restaurant onto the trucks, and Kara hoped that they might just take the supplies and go.

Adam seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Might be safer if we lay low. Let them do what they came to do. There’s no easy way off the estate without running into them.” He slowed as they pushed deeper into the woods near the ticketing booth and main entrance.

The parking lot ahead was filled with men on motorcycles, plus a couple of parked SUVs. Sadie huddled up to Kara as they watched in silence. Kara kept her grip on Maggie’s collar tight and clamped one hand around the dog’s muzzle. Adam and Navid crouched with their weapons shouldered and at the ready. They waited like that for several minutes. When three men started walking toward the edge of the woods, Adam drew himself up a little taller and aimed at one of them. He gestured for Navid to do the same.

“Hold Maggie,” Kara whispered to Sadie. She got a bead on the third man with her own gun. She kept her breathing shallow and light, ready at any moment to pull the trigger. Every bit of her focus was concentrated on those men. This was just like hunting with her father, she told herself. Waiting all day in the deer blind and relying on practiced patience when a buck finally came into view.

The men stopped short of the trees, and one lit a cigarette. He passed a lighter to the other two, and they all shared a smoke. She couldn’t understand why anyone would dare suck in that poison now. Tarring the insides of their lungs wouldn’t help them outrun a pack of Skulls. She lowered her rifle and started to draw back into the underbrush.

“Drop it and turn around slowly,” a menacing voice said from behind them, followed by the click of a pistol hammer.

Kara clenched her jaw. She’d been so intent on the smokers that she’d allowed them to be flanked. Judging by the frustrated look on Adam’s face, he shared a similar sentiment.

“Go on, now,” the man said, his voice smooth. “Set ‘em down right there.”

Kara lowered the rifle. Adam and Navid placed theirs beside it.

“Now turn around slowly.”

Kara turned to see the person who’d outwitted them. It was the man wearing the Skull-claw necklace. Four more men stood behind him. One wore shoulder pads made of Skull plates. Another had fashioned a helmet spiked with bones. The hunger and intelligence in their gazes rivaled the hate in the Skulls’ bloodshot eyes.

“Nice guns you have there.” The Skull-claw necklace man smirked and gestured casually to his small gang. “As you can see, you four aren’t the only hunters in these woods.”

––––––––

N
avid was thrown against the tiled floor. His arm hit first, followed swiftly by his face. Pain shot up his elbow and through his already broken hand. The injury was a constant reminder of his battle with the cowardly traitor James atop the Mass Gen hospital. Not all those who had survived the outbreak were as noble and selfless as Kara’s family and the Hunters.

“Look what we caught!” the man with the Skull-claw necklace yelled. The gang’s cheering voices filled the room. When the Skull-claw man had first mentioned being hunters, Navid had feared he was referring to the actual
Huntress
and Dom’s crew. He’d thought these people might be some strange paramilitary or counterintelligence group looking to root out the real Hunters. But the statement had been nothing but an ironic coincidence. These men weren’t anything as sophisticated as a military unit.

They were savages.

A steel-toed boot caught Navid under his ribs. The blow knocked the breath out of him. He curled up in agony as the Skull-claw man laughed.

“Boys, we finally got some fresh meat!”

More laughter.

Navid had no idea if the man meant his words literally. He tried to conjure pleasant memories of Abby, tried desperately to think of anything that would prevent him from becoming a blubbering, hysterical mess begging for his life. But another kick to the gut short-circuited his mind with pain.

Another body landed hard on the floor next to him. With her hands tied behind her back, Kara had no way to break her fall. She caught Navid’s gaze. The young woman had showed unwavering bravery in the short time Navid had known her. She had been so determined to find a cure, to reunite with the Hunters, to help her father save the world from the Oni Agent. Now in her eyes, Navid saw nothing but fear and desperate anger.

The men treated Sadie no better, tossing her down next to her sister.

A rope was wound tightly around Maggie’s muzzle, and they tied her up to a column in the middle of the room. The dog whined, her tail between her legs, as she watched her human family helplessly. Adam was shoved down next. His glasses fell off and skidded away. The Skull-claw man stomped on them and ground the pieces with his boot.

The man circled the group, posturing for the crowd. Navid struggled to his knees. This time no one kicked him or pushed him. If they planned to kill him, he at least didn’t want to die lying on his back.

“What are we going to do with them?” the Skull-claw man asked.

The men threw out all kinds of vulgar answers. Navid cringed at the suggestions, and he prayed the Skull-claw man didn’t intend to follow through with any of them. But the way some of them were eyeing Kara and even Sadie made him sick.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” the Skull-claw man said. He sauntered to Sadie. Using the tip of a knife, he lifted her chin up slightly. The point dug into her skin, and a trickle of blood coursed down her neck. Some of the men snickered. He moved to Kara next and pinched her cheek with his thick fingers. She cursed at him, but her words only made him laugh.

Then he walked to Navid and knelt in front of him. The man’s eyes were a warm shade of brown, and in any other face, they might have been friendly. Pitted acne scars marred his skin. He had a neatly trimmed beard, unlike the matted facial hair worn by many of his compatriots. His black hair was pulled back in a tidy ponytail. He smiled at Navid, showing off a glint of gold among his brilliant white teeth. “What’s that look for, boy? You mad?”