Plagued: Book 1 (25 page)

“I'm looking for them, sir.” She gave him her best innocent face. “My comm is offline. I don't know where to report.” She pointed towards the dangling wire.

“Juniors!” the officer said in a disgusted tone of voice. “Plug it in,
idiot!
”

He fiddled with the wire, restoring her link to active. It buzzed to life with orders.

She pretended to listen the radio. “Got it, sir. Thank you, sir.” She saluted. “Post office is the assembly point,
sir.
”

“Do you know where that is?”

She played dumb since it was working so well, and shook her head.

He rolled his eyes. “Dumb ass. Look.” Pointing across the street, he grabbed her tactical vest and shoved her in that direction.

“Move it, Junior. Double time.”

“Yes, sir!”

She trotted away, not looking back, trying to act normal. Which was funny. She'd left normal behind a couple of days ago.

Crossing the street, she saw the battered white sedan just around the corner. She was only halfway through the door before Hugo gunned the engine and roared down the street. Sky had to scramble to keep from falling right back out and he almost lost her on the corner.

Pulling the plug on her comm once again, she threw Mary's cell phone out the window along with the helmet. Struggling out of the vest, she tossed that as well. They all had GPS location devices inside.

“Put these on!” He handed her the thigh and armbands she'd worn before. “They're closing off downtown. I've got a route from my mother.” She took his phone, tucking it under her chin as she slid the signal dampers on. “Read it to me. We're on Churchill. Go from there. ”

The route from Hugo's mother eventually took them down a commercial driveway past a shuttered warehouse and onto a gravel service road. The road ran alongside the railroad tracks. The car twisted and turned trying to gain traction as Hugo sped far faster than he should on the loose stones.

They followed it for several miles, roaring across railroad crossings without regard for cross traffic.

Neither of them spoke. The reality of what had just happened, the realization she was now labeled a traitor to her country, was not lost on Sky.

She kept her eyes on the cell phone map. “Up ahead, turn to the left and stop, it says.”

Hugo pulled over next to a gray hatchback parked under an overpass. “This must be where we change cars.”

They dashed inside. The key was in the ignition. 

Sky checked the phone. “Expressway to the 101. Take it south.”

In the distance, she could hear sirens and the
whoop-whoop
of Guard vehicles.

Hugo's phone buzzed and Sky dropped it in surprise.

Picking it up off the floor, she held the screen for Hugo to see. The video chat sign was blinking.

“Do it,” he said grim-faced.

She tapped the app on and was not surprised to see the smiling, handsome face of Quill.

“Enjoy the show?”

Sky felt so much rage and anguish she actually couldn't think of any words to express it. She wanted to hurt him, wipe that smile off his face and make him bleed.

Hugo had no such problems, he broke into a long tirade of swearing and name calling. When he was taking a breath to start on another round, Quill held up a hand.

“Enough, brother. You are displeased. Yet consider the alternative. I could have killed her. Would you have preferred that, brother of mine?”

“You're demented Quill” Hugo raged. “She's an innocent.”

“As was I and were you. ”

“Why?” Sky breathed the word. Still shocked by the course of the morning's events. “I did everything you wanted.” 

“How better to punish parents than hurting their children? I was going to settle for killing you and making your mother watch. This, though, oh, this is
so
much better! Now I have destroyed you in front of her loving eyes. The little patriot exposed as a vile traitor. A blood thief! The worst crime of all. And what of her sister? The lovely and wanton Kara?”

Another picture came up on the screen, shaky and a bit fuzzy. The picture was clear enough to show Kara being marched out of Eloise's house in handcuffs, Home Guard officers on either side.

The phone snapped back to Quill. He cocked one eyebrow and adopted a look of mock concern. “Who will believe her innocent in all this profiteering? Carrying the illegitimate love child of her traitorous commanding office. Found only this morning, a suicide, complete with a damning note of his traitorous bombing of the armory for his Victims Army pals
and
his adulterous pleasures. His pregnant lover led away in handcuffs, her good name muddied by scandal and an evil sister. Even if Kara is acquitted, her child will always be tainted by the father. What a naughty girl Kara is. ”

“Let her mother go, Quill. Please,” Hugo spoke more quietly. Trying to keep his voice calm. “She's both served her purpose and been served up to it, just as you wanted. Emily Murphy has witnessed the ruination of her children's future. Isn't that enough?”

“What about
my
future, brother!” Quill snarled, his handsome face transformed.“My life was stolen and perverted because Emily Murphy released a formula that creates monsters.”

“She didn't know,” Sky protested.

“You think not? She did
exactly
what her masters ordered her to do. This little operation is not the first time they've dumped an experimental drug on us with her help. ”

“I don't believe you,” Sky nearly choked on the words. Her mouth was dry from the shock of the morning's events. “She was trying to save lives. She did save lives.”

“At what cost, Skylar?” he demanded.

On the screen, they saw him grab Sky's mother and give her a vicious shake.

“The sins of the fathers and the mothers shall be visited on their children. Witness your daughters' lives as they go down in flame. ” He shoved her back towards the bodyguard. “Revenge is sweet.”

Quill terminated the connection.

Hugo put his hand on her leg. “You have to come with us.”

“Where?” Sky said dully. Her brain was buzzing like a swarm of hornets. So loudly, she could hardly hear herself think. Maybe she was going into shock. She couldn't summon up enough energy to care.

“To England, of course. We have a jet at San Jose International. Our government will give you sanctuary. My father will see to that.”

“I don't want to go with you. I want to go home.”

“Look at me Sky, look.”

She turned her eyes to his. 

He glanced away from the road. “Just for now. You know you can't stay here. They won't put you in prison. They'll execute you.”

“Eloise, my friends. Rickey,” she pleaded. “I want to be there when he wakes up. I don't even have a passport.”

Hugo turned off the 101 at the airport exit. “The Home Office will make the necessary arrangements by the time we arrive in London. Don't worry. I'll take care of you.”

He looked concerned, but at that moment all she wanted to do to that handsome face was hit it. “I don't want you to take care of me. I want to take care of myself. I'm going to be a diplomat, goddamn it!”

“Not now. Some day. What you did was for the greater good. Not for my nation. Not yours. For humanity. That, ultimately, has to be what people like us make sacrifices for.”

Chapter 28

Blood Loss

Despite the fact she had no real I.D. and was still in her Tactical gear, airport security proved no obstacle to Hugo's highly illegal escape. A quick glance at some papers Hugo flashed and the guards waived the car through a private, secure entrance Sky didn't even know existed. Guards at the next two checkpoints gave only a cursory glance to the documents, waving them on as well.

They pulled up to a mid-size jet with a flag Sky didn't recognize painted on the side. Piling out of the car doors, Hugo said he'd be right back, running over to talk to several people in dark suits and sunglasses. They looked very much like the man he had shot in the blood vault that night of the stealth bikes.

The whine of the jets increased to a roar. Everything was happening too fast. She looked desperately at the rolling brown hills in the distance. She couldn't smell the dried grass and oak from here. All she could smell was diesel and the sweat of her own desperation.

“Thank you, my dear.”

Helena St. James appeared at her side and Sky jumped a foot.

“Those were desperate measures. You saved me from torture and death at great sacrifice to yourself. I can almost forgive your mother. Not quite but almost. You must understand, Hugo and all of us are working to make this a better world.”

She had to say something. “He didn't give me much choice.”

Helena raised an eyebrow and pulled back just a little.

Not quite how she meant to put it. “I mean. He's only got a few weeks and he wanted to spend them with you. Though I didn't expect to destroy myself in the process.”

Her eyebrows came together and she pursed her lips as though she didn't understand Sky. “What do you mean by only a few weeks?”

Oh my God, her hand flew to her mouth, maybe they hadn't told his mom “The transfusions,” Sky stammered. “They're not working. He said the virus is mutating.”

Helena seemed to consider what Sky said then gave her a brilliant smile. “Don't be ridiculous, Hugo is O-negative just like his father and me. He's fine.”

“But...but,” Sky stammered. “The bracelet. It's azure. And the blood transfusions at the hospital. He's AB positive. He said.”

She gave Sky a superior smirk, almost laughing. “A ruse. Negatives draw far too much attention. Who's going to suspect a poor little AB? You of all people should of realized that. He sees ghosts. No one but Negatives see ghosts these days. Come on, let's get on board, I need a drink.” She turned and walked briskly up the loading stairs. It looked to Sky like she even jumped the last step into the plane.

Negative?

Hugo was a
Negative?

She swayed, the world titled one way and refused to tilt back. 

Was she nothing more than a puppet dancing as Hugo and his family pulled the strings? Her sacrifices for nothing?

She saw the shadow that had followed during her escape. The form shimmered into hazy clarity.

Her enhancement had leveled up. Just as the doctor predicted. She was seeing ghosts or whatever her brain interpreted those energy emanations from that unknown spectrum to be. The shadow approached. She didn't want to see it.

Not that one.

Please.

Not Rickey.

He walked towards her and she shrank back. It was so strange to see him out of his chair. Standing straight and tall. He looked good in his skinny jeans, navy v-neck sweater and Converse shoes. He kept coming, she put her hand
s out as if she could hold him. Or push him back. She wasn't sure which.

The shadow passed through and beyond her. No matter what the Guard psychiatrists thought, Sky knew this was Rickey's ghost. He was dead but, somehow, he'd been watching out for her today.

The shadow hovered near. She took a step and then another, following. Ducking under the fuselage of the jet, Sky saw several men in gray coveralls loading large metal crates into the luggage hold. A lot of crates. Each had a label on it reading, “Keep Contents Refrigerated” and she could hear the buzz of motors from the refrigeration units.

One of the men in a black suit, the ones who'd been talking to Hugo, walked to her, holding out a cell phone. Rickey's shadow shimmered away and was gone.

“He wants to speak to you,” the man said.

She didn't have to ask who.

He pushed the phone forward. “He still has your mother, Miss. I'd play nice.”

She tapped the button. It was a video call.

Quill's hair was mussed as though he'd been caught in the wind. He looked dashing, like a movie star. “Hello, Sky. Just thought I'd share this with you before you got on board.”

“What? What can you possibly do to me now?” her voice was flat, emotionless. There was nothing left in her to give at that moment, to care.

He smiled slyly. “Nothing. I want nothing. I've called to warn you.”

“Against who? You're my biggest enemy,” she laughed bitterly. “Listen to me, not even a Senior in Tactical and already I have an arch enemy.”

“Maybe, maybe not. You know how I was taken by Social Services as they so laughingly call themselves in Britain.”

“Yes,” she answered guardedly, not knowing what could be coming.

“I wasn't in lockdown alone. Hugo was right there with me. How could he not? We're twins. Fraternal, not identical. I was born first, and, according to British law, I inherit the title.”

She shook her head violently. “You're
lying.
”

“I'm not. Ask him. Our families have so very many secrets. That's what binds us together. The lies of our parents, the lies we tell each other. Would you like to know what my brother's special power is?” Quill put his face close to the camera and whispered, “He makes people fall in love with him.”

The screen went dark for a second before switching to a TV channel. “Breaking News,” scrolled across the little screen followed by Sky's I.D. picture from Tactical. A voiceover spoke, “Wanted for High Treason and blood theft. Skylar Murphy-Christensen. Presumed armed and dangerous. Do not approach. Call 911 if you see her or have information on her whereabouts.”

The screen switched back to Quill's handsome face. “Just thought I'd share.”

Sky dropped the phone to the ground and walked away.

“Sky!” Hugo ran to her from the front of the plane.

She walked to him, let him grab her hand, pull her up the stairs and into the plane. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Rickey's shadow follow, Alex trotting at his heels. Hugo was speaking to her. She didn't hear.

He steered her into a seat by a window, sliding into the one on the aisle. Running his fingers through her hair, Hugo kissed her tenderly on the cheek before buckling her seatbelt and then his own just as the jet began to taxi to the runway He held her hand tightly.

Quill said they'd been in Social Services together. He and Hugo. His brother. His O-negative, ghost-seeing, lie-telling twin.

'His power is to make people fall in love with him.'
Quill's words echoed in her head.

How many more lies had Hugo told her? 

The engines roared and the little jet climbed quickly. Sky watched the brown hills of her home fall away far below. She was heading into the unknown, trailing her dead behind her. Everything and everyone she loved taken away. Labeled a traitor. Maybe she was. They had the blood on the plane. It had not been destroyed. Who knew if they were going to destroy it or use it. She thought she could trust them. Trust Hugo.

She was wrong.

There are no zombies in this apocalypse, but there are monsters here.

To be continued in, Plagued 2

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