Read Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Aria Michaels
“Wasn’t anything there, bro,” Banks said, shaking his head. “Probably just one of the guys tossing shit around at the James place. Nothing to worry about.”
Zander bristled at the mention of his last name, his fists clenching tightly at his sides. I crawled toward the front of the van, positioning myself next to him and lay my hand on his shoulder. I motioned for everyone to stay down and be quiet as we listened in on the soldier’s conversation.
“This is stupid,” Fletcher said, pacing back and forth in front of the barricade. “How the hell did I get stuck on babysitting duty with
you
?”
“How can you say that Fletch?” Banks said, holding his hand over his heart. “I thought we had something special.”
“Man, shut the fuck up,” Fletcher said, shooting him a look over his shoulder. “Here we are, in the middle of the goddamn apocalypse and we are stuck playing shadow puppets while everyone else is out there doing something
real
.”
“Nah, man, this is real. We are running checkpoint while they sweep James’ house, man. That’s kinda huge. I mean, I heard this guy was E99, Fletcher,” Banks said, leaning back against the wooden blockade as he lit another cigarette. “Those guys are straight up, bad-ass.”
“No way, those guys are solid. It’s, like, impossible to make E99 without being a damn psychological robot,” Fletcher said, tapping his temple and not sounding convinced. “Why would we need to sweep, if the guy made the cut?”
“Dunno man. Lincoln says the dude went bat-shit crazy after his last stint in the sandbox,” Banks shrugged, puffing out a long chain of smoke. “I bet you they find some wicked crazy stuff in the guy’s place, though. Supposedly he used to be in charge of some serious X-files kind of shit.”
“Yeah, or he was just plain nuts, and they ain’t gonna find jack,” Fletcher snapped. “I should be up at MCH, working relief and containment, not sitting here watching you chain smoke yourself to an early grave. I’m the best E1 we got, and yet, here I sit, doing crowd control in a goddamn graveyard.”
“It’s not that bad,” Banks said.
“Man, ain’t nobody even
here,
” Fletcher screamed, throwing his hands over his head.
“Everyone is busy either being dead or wishing they were,” Banks said, kicking at the loose gravel at his feet.
“Whatever man, we should all be at the hospital,” Fletcher said, absently checking the sights on his gun. “That’s where they really need us.”
“You don’t want nothing to do with that shit, I promise you,” Banks said, his face suddenly serious.
“What are you talking about?” Fletcher said, dropping his gun back to his hip.
Banks pushed himself away from the barricade and looked over his shoulder as he walked to Fletcher. He lowered his voice to a near whisper before he spoke again.
“I don’t know what you think is going on up there, but it sure as hell ain’t a rescue mission,” Banks muttered, shaking his head. “Them assholes with the CDC ain’t trying to help
any
of those people. They just needed to find a couple gammas to use as lab-rats. And, hey, what better place to do that than a damn hospital, right? The rest of them are getting tossed into these so-called quarantine zones until they can be
dealt with
.”
“Bullshit,” Fletcher scoffed.
“It’s true, man,” Banks said. “I heard Metz on
sinc-gars
earlier. Suits said they ain’t taking any chances with exposure. They told him there’s is no cure for the Gamma Virus, and since there’s no way to know for sure if someone is infected—”
“They can’t do that,” Fletcher said, though even he didn’t look like he believed it.
“Yeah, man. They absolutely can.” Banks’ face was hard as stone. “
They
can do whatever they want. You think it’s a coincidence they mobilized our units into shelters just before Icarus hit? That even though it was a
drill
, we just happened to end up with all the weapons, food, and supplies we would need for this mission?”
“Shit.” Fletcher rubbed his hand down his face.
“Exactly,” Banks said in a hushed voice. “You helped load the trucks right?”
“Yeah,” said Fletcher.
“Of all the crates and shit you loaded, how many of them were labeled
medicine
?” Banks crossed his arms over his chest.
“You’re telling me it’s a burn?” Fletcher nearly dropped his weapon to the ground. “But there are survivors up there, Banks—
uninfected
survivors.”
“Which is none of your concern, soldier,” said a tall figure emerging from behind the guards’ truck.
“Corporal Metz,” Fletcher choked out, as both men straightened. Each clasped their arms behind their backs, squaring their shoulders in parade rest.
“Looks like you are getting your wish, Fletch.” Though he spoke to Fletcher, Corporal Metz’s eyes never left Banks. “You and the other
competent
members of your unit are being reassigned to MCH. Find the rest of your squad on the east checkpoint and be ready to move out in five, understood?”
The tall soldier’s voice was so commanding, I nearly followed the order, myself. Fletcher nodded and took off at a dead run, straight down the middle of the dark street. Banks stared straight ahead, as Metz slowly circled him.
“Private Banks,” he said, a look of clear disgust on his face.
“Corporal Metz,” Banks nodded, his eyes glued straight ahead, unblinking.
“Once again, your big mouth gets you in trouble,” Metz growled. “You have not stopped running your mouth since the day you darkened my doorstep, have you, Banks?”
“No, Corporal,” Banks bit out, watching as Metz walked over to the nearby truck. “I suppose I haven’t.”
“That may be the most intelligent thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth, Private Banks,” Metz laughed.
He shook his head as he stepped onto the footboard and reached into the cab through the driver’s side window. Banks, still silent, clenched his jaw in response. The animosity between the two soldiers was palpable. The mutual hatred rolled off of them in waves, barely kept in check by the fragile boundaries of military protocol.
“Private Banks,” Metz said, smirking as he shook a can of spray paint and walked back to where Banks stood. “Look down at your feet.”
“Corporal?” Banks arched a brow in confusion.
“Go ahead, Banks. Look down,” he said, with mock sweetness.
The young soldier obeyed, tilting his chin to look down. Metz laughed and walked in a circle around him as he slowly painted a ring on the pavement around his feet.
“Do you see that circle Banks?” Metz stood and crossed his arms, a smug grin on his face.
“Yes, Corporal,” Banks said, his anger barely in check.
“This pretty red circle here is your new home,” Metz said, tossing the can into the air and catching it. “I made it special, just for you. Do you like your new home, Banks? ”
Banks nodded, his nostrils flaring.
“Wonderful,” Metz said, grabbing the pack of smokes from Banks’ front pocket and replacing it with the can of spray paint.
“Corporal?” Banks spat the other man’s rank at him like acid.
“Okay Banks, from this point on, you will not leave your home unless I directly order you to do so,” Metz said, lighting up one of Banks’ cigarettes. He waved the pack in front of him and blew the smoke into Banks’ face. “If you take a shit, it had better land in this circle. If you fall asleep, you will snore in this circle. If you are attacked, by a fucking
gamma freak
I had better not find a single piece of your worthless carcass outside of this goddamn circle. Are we clear,
Private
Banks?”
Metz was an inch from Banks’ face, challenging him.
“Crystal,” Banks ground out, staring straight ahead.
“Perfect,” Corporal Metz said, his voice dripping with false cheerfulness.
He patted Banks on the head as if he were a child, did an about-face, and laughed to himself as he made his way back toward the truck. Banks stood in his circle, his jaw clenched and his hands in tight fists, staring daggers at the back of Metz’s head. Metz stopped just as he reached the front of the carrier and looked back over his shoulder at Banks.
“You know, you really shouldn’t smoke, Banks.” Thick gray smoke billowed past his lips, as he tossed the half-full pack of cigarettes onto the hood of the truck. “These things will kill you.”
“Asshole,” Banks muttered, flipping Metz off, long after he had gone.
After a while, the soldier grew restless in his circle and shifted his focus to getting his smokes back. He was careful not to step out of bounds though that was most likely out of spite. After a few failed attempts, he had the brilliant idea to use the butt of his rifle to knock his cigarettes from the hood of the truck. When they landed on the pavement in front of the vehicle, he used the gun to rake them across the pavement until they were within range.
We managed to sneak away while Banks was distracted with his nicotine retrieval. Rather than going back the way we came, we cut across a couple yards and dodged behind a little brown house, a half a block away from the checkpoint.
“This is bad,” Jake said, as he rounded the corner of the house. “I mean, this is like, really bad.”
“Breathe, Jake, we’ll figure it out,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.
“No,” he said, shrugging away. “There’s no time to figure it out, Liv. They are sending in reinforcements already. We have to get to the hospital and we need to go now!”
“Calm down, Jake,” Riley gasped, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” he said, pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind his head. “The CDC and the U.S. Army are rounding people up like its Nazi-fucking-Germany, and you want me to
calm down
?”
“Jake, we will go after them, I swear,” I said, undeterred.
“But, my mom. My little sister—Jesus, you guys, we have to
do something,
” Jake said, raking his trembling fingers through his hair as he leaned back against canary yellow siding of a neighboring house.
“He’s right, y’all,” Falisha said. “We need to get there before shit gets messy.”
“But we are already
here
,” I said, “and we need to get that information. I don’t know what, but this salvation thing, and the connection between Zander’s dad and Gunther…it
means
something. Something important.”
“Seriously?” Jake waved his hands wildly. “You are talking about files and maps. This is my
family
, Liv. Those soldiers are not going to wait, and neither can we.”
“I know, but we need—,” I started, at the same time Jake said, “You need to listen to—,”
“What we
need
is to split up,” Zander said, effectively silencing us both.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, turning on Zander.
“I’m sorry, Liv, it’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said, squeezing my hand.
“We should stay together,” I said, panic washing over the knot in my chest. “We
have
to stay together.”
“I can handle this one, myself,” Zander said. “You should take them to the hospital and help Jake get his family back.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“Those people have no idea what’s about to happen to them.” Zander’s eyes implored me. “Liv, someone needs to get them out.”
“I won’t leave you, Zander,” I said, surprising even myself when I didn’t have to think twice about it.
“It’s the right thing to do and you know it,” Zander said, addressing the group.
“You’re wrong, Z,” Micah said, finally joining the conversation. “This is all wrong.”