Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) (11 page)

   “How far is it to
the
hospital from the
tip of the state park
?”

   “Three point nine.”

   Bret’s breath hissed out of him, I grimaced. Jenna tilted her chin up, her eyes narrowed slightly. “So it’s either
another seven miles…”

   “Or another thirteen,” Lloyd finished.

   We grew silent; I could feel the tension in the air. “Well thirteen isn’t so bad,” I said softly.

   “That is not the mission!” Lloyd said sharply.

   “Lloyd…”
   “We were given explicit instructions on our goal
,
and our approach.”
   I was surprised by Lloyd’s insistence, but then again I had never been through boot camp, or military training. As far as he was concerned he had his orders and he was going to obey them. Jenna looked stricken; her eyes were wild with fear. “We were never told which route to take,” I said softly
trying to make him see reason
.

   “We were told to take the safest and most direct route possible. This isn’t even on course.”
   My patience was quickly unraveling. Jenna had a chance to see if her family was still alive, and we were going to take it. “Her parent
’
s lives…”

   “
Our
lives, the lives of
many
!” Lloyd interrupted angrily
. “The needs of many greatly outweigh the needs of a few.”

   “Lloyd!” I said sharply, shocked by his words.

  
His air of youthfulness vanished as he leveled me with a withering
gla
re. My eyes widened slightly as I took an involuntary step back. “I am not the bad guy here.
You
are the one that wanted to do this mission, and we
will
do it.”

   “It’s only a slight detour.” 

   “It’s a six mile detour a
l
ong more populated roads.”

   I looked helplessly
at
Bret and Jenna. Bret was thoughtful, his hands clasped behind his back as he rocked on his heels. Jenna looked about ready to cry, but there was a growing air of fury around her. “I’ll go by myself.”

   “No one is going anywhere by themselves!” I
told her
. “Lloyd…”

   “This is not a democracy.”

   “We are
not
in the military!” I snapped
at him
.

   Lloyd’s jaw locked. “I am
,
and I have my orders.”

  
“Enough!” Bret finally inserted. “We are not separating; we are not deviating from the mission. Part of our goal was to try and find survivors. Jenna has a lead on where we could find some. It
i
s
part of the mission Lloyd, it may take us a little longer, but
it is still part of the mission.”

   I couldn’t stop the admiration and relief that filled me as I turned to Bret. I would have sat here and butted heads with Lloyd for hours until one of us just gave up or I completely lost my temper. Leave it to Bret to find reason
and logic
to
use against the stubborn soldier
,
instead of anger and hostility.

   “We cannot leave here knowing that we chance leaving survivors behind,” Bret continued, his tone level and encouraging.

   Lloyd was silent for a few moments, thinking over Bret’s reasoning. “You
’
re right,” he finally relented. “We cannot leave the area without first se
eking
out the possible survivors.”

   I breathed a sigh of relief, Jenna let out a small cry of delight as she threw her arms impulsively around Bret. I bit back a smile at Bret’s look of shock and disbelief as he awkwardly managed to hug her back. “Address?” Lloyd barked out.

   Je
nna was bee
t red and grinning
brightly
as she pulled away from Bret
and rattled off the address
.

***

   I was regretting our decision, regretting the fact that we were now standing
on the edge of
the main street in
Plymouth staring down the tree lined
road
s. There were trees but they weren’t much coverage, and the two
and three
story buildings
offer
ed
no protection
from anything above. A few of the buildings had been destroyed. I didn’t have to ponder what had
been capable of doing
that, I’d been unfortunate enough to watch one of the larger octopus/tick
/jellyfish
things level the antique store our mother had been in the basement of.

   Apparently some of these buildings had stood in the way of one of the monsters
,
and some poor victim.
I had no idea how we were going to make it
down that street
without being spotted. Lloyd was consulting the GPS looking for an alternate route, but everything seemed to be miles out of the way and we had already lost a day just getting this far.

   “Maybe if we wait till night,” Jenna said softly.

   “There is no cover,” Lloyd retorted.

   I studied the street, taking in the awnings, debris, and open doorways. I had made it down a street even more open than this once
,
and nearly been caught
.
Cade
had
saved me…

   I shut the thought forcefully down. My hands fisted as
I
continued to take everything in.
There was no Cade anymore
;
I would have to save myself this time
, and every time after this
. We would have to save each other.
No matter what
,
I wasn’t going to give up the hope of possibly finding Jenna’s parents.
“We can do it,” I insisted. “Under cover of darkness, and using the buildings, we can do this.”

  
“Bethany…”

   “Look,” I pointed to the street, to the piles of rubble, to the vast amount of stores
and restaurants
with their doors thrust open. “In daylight there doesn’t appear to be a lot of hiding places, but at night, under darkness, and
hiding behind the debris,
we can move swiftly through the
town.”

   “Bethany,” Bret said again.

   Even Jenna was hesitant, fear shone in her eyes. “We can go back, go to the hospit
al first, and then try my aunts,
”
she suggested.

   “That will easily take another day or more,” Lloyd muttered, frowning at the GPS. “Damn thing is acting up.”
   “What’s it doing?” I demanded
, the sharp edge of fear stabbing me in the chest
.

   He shook it, slapping it lightly against the palm of his hand. I glanced nervously toward the sky, but the large ship
that had settled over Boston over as year ago
was not visible right now, and the smaller ones didn
’
t seem to be about. It was hard to tell though; they were silent, and as fast as any racecar. I searched the woods, but birds still chirrup
ed
within the trees
and
thee
was a chipmunk searching for an acorn as he dug at the base of a tree
. There didn’t appear to be any imminent danger, but my skin crawled as Lloyd slapped the GPS again, shook his head and clipped it to his belt.

   “It won’t register any other route. We either double back or go through.”

   “Why?” Jenna inquired nervously.

   “Could just be a bad spot.”

   “Or it could b
e something blocking the signal or satellite.
”

   “Yes,” Lloyd admitted.

   “Why do I feel as if we’re being herded?” Bret muttered.

   “The animals are still out, I think we’re relatively safe until nightfall,” I pointed out.

   “And then all bets are off,” Lloyd said softly.

   The day pas
sed
slowly, the
movement of the sun seemed excruciatingly slow as it shifted position in the sky. I tried to rest, tried to sleep, but my mind would not shut off. I kept opening my eyes to stare down the street. I had sounded confident when I
’
d said we could make it down there. I wasn’t so sure anymore. The more I studied it
now
, the less hiding places there seemed to be.

   I stood up, suddenly unable to take s
itt
ing still anymore.
Bret’s eyes followed me as I paced anxiously toward a scraggly looking pine tree and leaned against it. I didn’t want to look at the street anymore, but
my eyes were
inexorably drawn back to it. I felt as if I were missing something, as if there was something I wasn’t seeing.

   I frowned, trying hard to take
everything
in
. I may have grown up nearby, but I didn’t know Plymouth all that well
.
F
or one thing it was huge, and
for another I had hated to ride in cars after surviving the accident that
had
killed
my father. I had not done the
school
fieldtrip
s
to
Pl
i
moth
P
lantation
,
or the Mayflower
II
,
so I probably knew even le
ss
about
the town than most of the kids I had gone to school with.

   “Has the town always looked like this?” I asked Bret. “Minus the damage of course.”
   Bret studied the street for a long moment before shrugging absently. “More or less, I mean there
were always
more people and tourists moving about, but I’m sure it hasn’t been
busy
like that for awhile.”

   I continued to study the street
;
slowly it began to dawn on me what
exactly
was wrong
with this picture. “There’s nothing left,” I breathed.