Stranger King (6 page)

“Stiar is gone,” Lena said quietly, “We have at least one spot.”

Kozol said, “The others were on a mission in North Vancouver. Unless they got back to the office, Sam would have left without them. I don’t think they had a chance, and if they did, they may not be safe to travel with anymore. But Sam … if I believe in anything on this planet, I believe in her. She’s never once let me down. We’ll take five. Most won’t survive, maybe one of us won’t survive. But we have a chance.”

“I want to take Charlotte,” Lena said. “We need a vanguard now that Stiar is gone. I think we can trust her.”

Calvin nodded, “Charlotte is a good woman. I would take her, too. I know a few others. You both eat and rest. I’ll come back to you when I have them assembled. I know you like being in control Kozol, but you’re going to have to sit tight and trust me on this.”

Kozol reached out, his fingers tracing against Calvin’s arm. They looked at each other, sad smiles on both their faces, before Calvin left the room.

“Never pictured you to be a romantic,” Lena chuckled.

Kozol sighed. “Better late than never. Funny thing, the end of the world. It puts your priorities in order pretty quickly.”

Kozol hesitated before he asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

Lena thought about her answer before replying, “I have to be. When we’re safe … well, then there will be time to not be okay.”

Chapter Ten

Lena woke
to a dark day, icy rain pouring from the clouds. Kozol gently snored beside her and she woke him up with an elbow to his gut. He stirred, looking at the light coming into the room.

“Calvin isn’t back yet?” Kozol asked sleepily.

Lena shook her head. “It’s only been a few hours. I meant to sleep for much less than that, but…”

“We’re both exhausted,” Kozol said, “We should get rest when we can. We’re lucky with the weather today. We won’t have to wear the suits the entire time. I think they’re starting to rust a bit.”

“We should get some plainclothes. We need to blend in with the rest, just in case.”

“And because our superpowers start running out at midnight?”

“That too, like a drug-addled Cinderella. Will it be just as before?”

“Not quite,” Kozol admitted, “A lot of the drugs have changed your chemical makeup. We were born to run in the day, even if we haven’t for decades. Your body will adjust; the drugs just helped with the side effects.”

“Stiar gave me ginger candies for the first few weeks,” Lena said with a sad smile, “I wish I had some of those again.”

“You miss her.”

“She would be better at this than me.”

“She believed in you,” Kozol said quietly. “She picked you. I didn’t think you could … but when I saw you that first day, I could see what she saw. You are strong enough, Lena. If any of the three of us survive, it will be you.”

“It should have been her,” Lena admitted, “She was stronger than me, tougher than me. I should have saved her, Daniel. She just died… I didn’t even know. Maybe she asked for help, maybe…”

Lena met his glance just as the ground beneath them began to shake. They looked at each other with fear. Lena jumped to the window, struggling to see through the grey and she realized she was staring through smoke. She turned, seeing Kozol load his pack with the contents of the footlocker.

“We need to go,” he said, “Grab what you can and meet me by where we came in.”

“You’re going after him?”

“I have to,” Kozol said, “But you can get away. Get out of here, head east.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she swore.

As the ground shook again, she shoved the last supplies into her pack. Kozol kicked open the door and preceded her down the stairs, pushing their way through those who tried to flee upward. Lena smelled the smoke first, raising her shirt around her mouth. Kozol faltered and she grabbed his hand to lead him out of the house. Others fled past them and she looked up, seeing the town of Hope ablaze.

She tossed Kozol a weapon, putting a pistol for herself in her belt. They shuffled through the frosted mud, the icy rain pouring down on them, hissing in competition with the spreading fire, yet the flames roared on.

Lena sniffed, smelling the odd sweetness in the air, “Propellant. This fire’s manmade.”

“Another plague purge?” Kozol asked, his voice faltering slightly.

“Let’s just get Calvin and get out of here,” Lena replied.

They ran for the edge of camp. In the chaos, there was a crack of rifle fire and Lena heard a thud behind her. She turned her head, seeing Kozol lying in the frosted mud, grabbing his side as he howled. Lena kneeled beside him, pressing a hand against the blood seeping from his gunshot wound. She looked up, seeing one of the camp guards looming over them, rifle in hand.

“What the hell are you doing?” Lena shouted.

“This village must be cleansed,” he replied, his voice sturdy and practiced. “No one must leave to infect the others.” On his back Lena could see the round curve of a flamepack. He’d been part of the group lighting the town on fire.

Lena nodded, as if accepting her fate. As the guard levered the bolt action of his hunting rifle, Lena reached into her holster. She whipped out her pistol and shot him straight through the chest. His body crumpled to the ground.

She didn’t waste time, she gathered Kozol up and carried him over her shoulder as she made her way to the barbwire fence.

She slowed as she approached, hearing the repeated pops of gunfire. She glanced around the corner of the last house and swallowed as she watched snipers pick off those who were willing to attempt the fence and rip their hands to shreds to climb over. She paused, trying to think. She looked over, seeing a disheveled Charlotte shooting back at the snipers in the tree line from the cover of a nearby shed.

Lena called out to her and the woman turned, shaking her head at the sight of the two of them.

“Got a plan, Daywalker?” Charlotte shouted back.

Lena joined her. “Maybe. Keep on an eye on him, and cover me!”

Lena laid Kozol by Charlotte’s feet, the man protesting at being left behind. Lena ripped off the sleeve of her shirt, balling it up and pressed it to his side. “Stay with Charlotte.”

Lena jogged back down the road to the dead guard. She rolled the man over to get to the straps of his flamepack. She checked the canisters, relieved to find them undamaged. She hoisted the weapon onto her back. It was heavy but no worse than carrying Kozol.

She didn’t go straight back to the fence, instead she circled around, counting on Charlotte to keep the sniper’s attention. From the corner of the next street over Lena could see Charlotte’s silhouette against the flames as she took shots at the hidden enemy.

The flamepack had a range of fifty plus feet but the gap between any kind of cover and the edge of the tree line on the other side of the fence was nearly twice that. Unless she wanted to step into the open, she would need some height. She glanced up at the building above her. The flames had a foothold, care of its consumed neighbor, but its leading edge, the one that mattered, was untouched.

Lena leapt for the nearest handhold and began climbing. When she reached the top, she could feel the heat on her skin and she struggled to breathe through the smoke.

She stayed low and readied the flamepack, unhooking the nozzle from its cradle. She picked her target, angled the nozzle, and pressed the trigger. The igniter clicked and a thin stream of liquid fire arched high over the fence. In a bright flash, the trees burst, the brush taking off in flames that illuminated the uniformed snipers who fled from their posts. She ducked, hearing a bullet whizz past her. She shrugged out of the flamepack and drew her pistol, managing to shoot down a fleeing enemy and another who’d stopped to aim in her direction before she turned her attention to the climb down. The sounds of rifle shots faded to the opposite edge of the camp. Their path was clear.

“That was your plan?” Charlotte shouted at her when she returned, “Setting our exit on fire?”

“It got rid of them, didn’t it?” Lena yelled back, pulling Kozol across her shoulders, “You’re going to have to help me get him over the fence.”

“What makes you think I’m helping you?”

“You’re coming with me!”

Charlotte scoffed, “You’re mad!”

Lena yelled back, “And staying here is sane?”

Charlotte swore, “Shit. Fine. I’m coming with you. But I’m not climbing that damn fence. Get out of the way.”

Charlotte disappeared and returned a moment later behind the wheel of an ancient pickup truck that someone had lovingly restored to gas-guzzling prime. Charlotte gunned the engine and rammed the fence to the ground. Charlotte threw open the passenger door and gestured for them to hurry up and get in. Lena carried Kozol forward as refugees streamed past them to climb over the remains of the fence and run for the burning trees.

Kozol bucked against her, “Calvin,” he moaned, “You told me we’d get him out. I need to find him.”

Kozol’s blood ran down the side of her body as she paused to reply.

“Hey, Daywalker,” Charlotte shouted, “If you’re crazy enough to go after him, I’ll take your friend. I have coordinates for an old bomb shelter further up the highway. We’ll meet you there.”

“Okay,” Lena agreed, transferring Kozol to the front seat. Charlotte gave her the coordinates and she took them down on her wrist pad, “I will be back, Kozol. I promise.”

Lena ran back into the inferno, calling Calvin’s name as she went. She rushed past other refugees, shooting one guard who tried to stand in her way. She heard her name called and she turned to see Calvin, his face and hands covered with blood.

Then she noticed them. Five others were standing with him in a group, looking around in concern, pistols out. That made their number nine, not eight. She thought then of Kozol slowly bleeding to death in a bomb shelter and it chilled her further.

“We need to get out of here,” Calvin shouted, “We’ve been trying to get over the fence, but their snipers keep cutting us off.”

“The other way is clear. It’s on fire, but the flames flushed the snipers out of hiding and there are fewer people shooting at you.”

“Great,” one of the men grumbled, “Bloody terrific.”

“Lead on,” Calvin said, “Get us out of here.”

Lena led them back through the burning town, wary of the smoke that was building around them. In a fearful thought, she worried the itch in her lungs was more than smoke inhalation, but tossed it aside. She had only been in contact with Calvin and Kozol since arriving, the odds were…

And yet when she saw Calvin’s ashen face, she started to wonder.

Her first priority was to get them out of the fire.

As they made their way into the forest, she called up her compass application on her wrist pad, trying to figure out how to make their way to the bomb shelter. With the grid down, she wouldn’t be able to figure out a precise route so it would have to do. She was lucky enough that the wrist pad still had a charge at all.

Covering her face again, each of them with a hand on the shoulder in front, Lena led them over the mountain, the smoke rising with them as they tried not to breathe in the ash and soot.

They cleared the worst of it, the rain making a smoky mist across the sky. She pulled out her compass again and made her calculations. The shelter was only a few hours away and hopefully the other two would already be there.

*

Lena was weary as they entered the shelter, Charlotte closing the heavy door behind them. The others went immediately to the ration pile, drinking water so quickly that one vomited in the corner and apologized profusely.

Lena went over to Kozol’s side, Calvin’s face paling as he saw Kozol’s poor condition. Charlotte said softly, “I’ve done the best I can, but I’m not a doctor.”

“I am,” a young woman called out from the refugees. She was fairly short, skin like sandalwood, eyes like molasses, her black hair buzzed close to her head. She walked over to them, pulling back Kozol’s bandage with care as she examined the wound.

She looked over at Calvin and said, “I need some assistance. Will you help me?”

“Gladly,” Calvin replied.

“Then go over with the others and get them something to eat. You’re making me nervous.”

Calvin grumbled and did as she asked. The doctor then turned to Charlotte, “I see you’ve been treating it with alcohol. That’s good, but continued use will cause an infection because of the sugars. I need something cleaner than that. I will also need a knife and a needle and thread. I’m sure you should find something to do the trick here.”

“You’re just going to take the bullet out?” Lena asked.

“The wound will heal better without it. He hit mainly tissue, which is lucky. His stomach muscles might never be strong again, though. If we had a full surgical team, I could do something. But this is what I can do to save his life.”

“Are you a surgeon?”

“OB-GYN,” the woman laughed. “But you’d be surprised what strange injuries you see at a free health clinic. I’ve seen my share of gunshot wounds before. My name is Janiya by the way. That way you know what to yell at me when it turns out we all have plague.”

“Do you think any of us do?” Lena asked.

Janiya shook her head. “It’s hard to know. I doubt it. I don’t even know if it actually exists or if it’s just mass hysteria. People tend to lose their heads in chaos. They also seem to love any excuse to shoot each other. That’ll stop when bullets become a bit more scarce.”

“We have a stockpile,” Lena said, “It’ll serve us until we get to the base. We can figure it all out there.”

Kozol looked up at her groggily and murmured, “We have too many.”

Lena said nothing, but Janiya raised an eyebrow, understanding the intent if not the exact meaning. Charlotte returned with her tools and Janiya took them gratefully.

“Alright ladies,” Janiya said, “You may not want to watch this bit.”

*

Calvin sat up with Lena as the others slept in an exhausted pile under the damp blankets. Kozol was slightly off to the side, making sure nothing would tear his stitches, Janiya sitting by his side in a protective stance, even as she dozed off.

“The other four,” Calvin said to her quietly, “There’s Henry, the redhead. He’s a survival guide for American tourists. He’ll know what we can and can’t eat out there. Shannon to the right of him, she’s military. Ours, not theirs. The man beside her is Jean. He escaped from the east. Apparently the American-occupied north is not faring well right now either. He’s a carpenter. Always useful to have one of those. That last one is Elias. He’s an ex-Jesuit, and he’s got a rather mean right hook. He also happens to be fluent in six languages.”

“There’s still too many of us. And if Sam is there…”

“We’ll figure it out,” Calvin replied, “We’re not leaving anyone behind. Besides…”

“We might not all make it even that far,” Lena said quietly.

Calvin looked over at Kozol and sighed, “No, we might not.”

*

When they woke the next evening, the smoke had settled and it was easier to breathe. They waited still another day, hoping that whoever had started the fire would be far enough away.

Kozol was strong enough to walk across the shelter.

*

As the sun set in the sky, the nine of them walked out of the shelter, closing the decrepit door behind them. The fires had settled now, and the sky was clear enough to see the stars. With the directions Kozol had given her, Lena led the group forward, Charlotte at her side with shotgun in hand, and Shannon bringing up the rear, her quiet stance a comfort as they moved forward.