Curiosity ate away at her until she finally moved back through the kitchen and into the living room. Kneeling near the window, Emma parted the wood blinds just enough to see the area beyond her front yard. There were fewer of those things moving about, although there were also no signs that anyone with a pulse still occupied the area.
Normally, her street was home to more cars than it could comfortably handle. Parked end to end, her neighborhood, most days, resembled a used car lot. The innate ability to parallel-park almost certainly should have been a prerequisite for purchasing a home along Taft Avenue.
Making multiple trips to the neighborhood at all times of the day, she insisted on a two-car garage. One of only three homes on the street to offer that luxury, she commended herself on the forethought. The daily crusade to locate a parking spot wasn’t a battle she was willing to fight. Today was different for many reason, although the visual was off-putting. More people than vehicles. But not really people at all.
Back through the house, she made her way into the bedroom. The photo album was the first to be packed into the bottom of her oversized duffle, followed by the Project Ares file. Next were three pairs of jeans, four t-shirts, a zippered hoody, a wool beanie, four bras and every pair of panties she owned. How do you pack for a trip you know absolutely nothing about?
Slinging the black BXF duffle over her shoulder, she grabbed a second, smaller bag which contained her wallet, passport, identification, and the pistol Major Daniels had asked her about. Past the second bedroom, and into the garage, her stomach growled. Reminded that she hadn’t eaten anything in nearly twenty-four hours, she set her bags on the cool concrete floor and started for the kitchen.
Reaching the archway between the hall and the front room, the sound of a vehicle skidding into the driveway pulled Emma away. She ran through the house and moved back into the garage as a car door slammed. Boots on the ground and then the side gate opening. Quick, quiet voices could be heard beyond the side door as Emma rushed over.
“Hello?” she said.
“Emma Runner, we’ve been sent by—”
Pulling open the door, two men. One tall, light skinned, and bald. The other, average height, build, complexion, and without any distinguishing features, except the tribal tattoo extending nearly an inch above his thick black turtleneck.
The tall man manufactured a hasty smile and held out his hand, ready to take her duffle. “My name is Bret, this here is Chad. We’ll be assisting you today. But we must go now.”
“Sure, okay.” Handing the oversized duffle to her new best friend Bret, she reached for her purse and followed the men to the side gate. Reaching the driveway, another gentleman sat behind the wheel of the light silver Hummer H2, staring into the rearview. From the shoulders up he was dressed much the same as the other two, and even through the windshield, held an air of absolute confidence.
The man who called himself Bret held open the rear passenger door as three of those things from the street took notice. And as Emma reached in to set her bag on the seat, her empty right hand looked out of place. “Wait,” Emma said. “I have to go back.”
Attempting to move away, she was caught from behind. Bret, the larger man with an astonishing reach, held her by the arm. “Ms. Runner, we’re leaving. There isn’t time for anything else.”
Struggling to free herself, Emma pulled away. “My phone, it’s still on the charger in my back bedroom.”
Stepping into her path, Bret said, “It’s too late. We must go now.”
The other two men shouted from the interior of the Hummer as Emma stood her ground. “I’m going back for it, you can leave without me if you have to.”
Scanning the street and the potential threat, Bret shook his head. “Ms. Runner, we’ve risked quite a bit coming here, please—just get in the back. There really isn’t time.”
“No,” Emma said. “I’m not going without my phone.”
“I don’t think you understand, Ms. Runner, I meant exactly what I said. If you stay here, you will die. There really isn’t a choice.”
Again shaking her head, Emma said, “
You
don’t understand. The only connection I have to my family is on that phone. You can let me go get it, or you can leave.”
Looking past the oversized SUV, Bret placed his hand over the weapon protruding from his hip. “I’ll get it for you. Tell me where it is, get in the vehicle and I’ll go after it. That’s your only option, and it has to happen right now.”
“Okay,” Emma said. “Back bedroom, straight in from the garage. It’s sitting with the charger on the nightstand.” Handing over her keys and sliding into the back seat, she closed the door.
Placing her bag on her lap, she turned to thank the tall man, but he was already gone. Faint footfalls disappeared along the side of the house and as the driver backed into the street, he yelled, “Brace yourselves.”
Maneuvering through a backwards U-turn, the driver seemed impressed with himself, as he punched the gas, and slid backward into nearly the same spot he’d occupied moments earlier. Turning to the average-looking man in the passenger seat, he said, “You wanna take care of those two?”
“Let’s give him a minute. I don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention our way if we don’t have to.”
The driver laughed. “Yeah, like this morning. I still can’t believe you two made it out of there in one piece.”
More concerned with the crowd that had begun to form across the street from her driveway, Emma moved to the center of the bench seat. “Can I ask you guys something?”
“Sure, Ms. Runner,” said the driver.
“Do you guys have any idea what all this is? That man, Major Daniels, he said this is happening everywhere. Was he serious?”
Mr. Average with the neck tattoo turned in his seat. “Yes he was. We’ve had reports that it goes as far away as—”
Banging at the rear window and then the door flying open, Bret was back. He slid in next to Emma and set the phone and charger down on the seat. “Go, Go, Go. We’ve got company on the next block, and it isn’t going to be pretty. We may have to get out and fight these things.”
The man behind the wheel shifted into drive, slammed his foot down onto the gas pedal, and turned right out of the driveway. “Where am I going? Back the way we came?”
“No,” Bret said. “Go left at the corner and then take the first right after the torched van. We’ll pick up Central after the freeway—if we make it that far.”
Emma buckled her seat belt and turned to Bret. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet; I still have a job to do.”
As the SUV sped away from her home, she powered on her phone and pulled up her messages. Still no communication from her brother. Instead of sending another wasted text message, she decided to call. Leaning away from Bret, she pressed the phone to her right ear and waited.
Voicemail.
“Ethan, please. I need you to let me know somehow, that you’re okay. I got a few weird texts from mom this morning and I think maybe her and dad need some help. I’m back in California now, so please let me know—”
Brakes locking, and the squeal of warm rubber gripping the roadway forced her attention through the front windshield. As the Hummer relented to its own forward momentum, Emma tightened her grip around the phone, pulled her legs to her chest, and instinctively held her breath.
As the Hummer slammed into the sea of bodies that filled the far left lane of Central Avenue, Emma rebounded against the constricted belt, as Bret was launched from his seat. Gliding forward through the hailstorm of shattered glass, the large man somehow slipped through the void between the two front seats and came to rest atop the center console.
Her world went silent and although Emma didn’t remember hitting her head, the goose egg rising from her left temple told her otherwise. She winced as she leaned forward, and grabbing the collar of Bret’s black blazer, she strained to pull him back. Impossible. “Bret… Chad?”
No response.
Sitting back and looking down at her phone, the call to her brother had already ended. And glancing out through the shattered windshield, she watched as the horribly disfigured crowd descended on the front half of the embattled SUV.
Ethan, I hope you’ve made it somewhere safe. I love you
.
Ben was there at the door and then he was gone. He’d led the horde away from the building and then returned. He still carried the weapon he’d taken from Ethan and didn’t appear to be slowing down. He was back now, and as David leaned against the wall, Carly shouted down the empty hallway. “Ethan, come on. Ben’s outside, we have to go.”
Already running when he came through the door, Ethan moved quickly to his friend. Against the wall, he stood at David’s side and reached for his right arm. “You ready?”
Removing the sheets he’d tied around the double doors, David pointed out into the lot. “I’m fine, I can walk. But we have another problem.”
As Ben moved in through the doors, still attempting to catch his breath, Ethan stared out past the handicapped parking at the stationary truck. “What’s this?”
Ben began to speak, but was quickly shut down by Ethan, who grabbed the much smaller man by the throat. “I’m not dealing with you just yet, but I will. Stay the hell out of my way, and I might just let you slide on the ass kicking you have rightly earned.”
“But,” Ben said.
“Not now.” Leaning in, Ethan pulled the nine millimeter from his hand, checked the magazine, and slid it back into its holster. Now turning to Carly, he said, “Who are they?”
“We don’t know. They flew into the parking lot just as we saw Ben running this way. They drove their truck over a whole lot of those things and then backed up and got stuck, right where they are now.”
“We helping ‘em?” Ben asked.
Carly turned to Ethan and tightened the straps on her backpack. “We have to, we can’t just leave them out there.”
“Okay, the kid and I will go get them, and you and David get to our truck. We’re all leaving together.”
David nodded in agreement. “Let’s go.”
His hand on the younger man’s shoulder, Ethan said, “Can you still run?”
Ben nodded.
“Okay, stay on my right shoulder. If we get jammed up, you take off and lead them toward the back of the parking lot. I’ll get whoever’s in that truck out and away. We’ll meet at the armored truck over there.” To David and Carly he said, “Give us some time to draw them away, then go wide and don’t stop for anything—no matter what happens.”
Carly took David’s hand and stood behind Ethan. They waited as the last few Feeders moved away from the building and joined the group moving toward the curious blue pickup. She rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, “We’re together now. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”
As he watched Ethan and Ben walk off around the right end of the crowd, David hugged his bride-to-be. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” And with the massive stone column temporarily shielding them from the eyes of the horde, David took Carly’s hand and started for the truck.
Maintaining a decent pace, his limp was now nearly undetectable. Alongside Carly, he continued to eye the growing crowd as more spilled out of the street and into the rear lot. Thirty feet from the armored vehicle, he stared straight ahead and gritted his teeth, attempting to force the pain to the back of his mind.
Guiding Carly to the side door, he climbed in behind her and fell backward into the cold steel wall. Pulling his right leg into his chest, he massaged his ankle and watched out the six-inch by twelve-inch window.
Ethan had already sent Ben off. The kid ran back toward the building, drawing the crowd away from the blue pickup as he waved his hands in the air. Sprinting across the snow-dusted rear lot, Ben was able to lose most of those who followed as he weaved through the sparsely populated vehicles.
Reaching the pickup, Ethan waved the driver and his passenger out. “Let’s go, we’ve got another vehicle. We can get you out—”
Before he could finish, the driver opened the door and stepped out. The thirty-something, dark haired gentleman stood nearly as tall as Ethan and had a good ten pounds on him. He looked back into the cab and then waved Ethan over. “My friend is hurt, she needs to see a doctor. I’ve got to get her inside. It can’t wait.”
As two wayward Feeders stepped away from the herd, Ethan pulled his baton and flicked it to full extension. “Stay here.” Walking across the short greenbelt, he moved to the first and swung hard. The deep thud of solid steel striking bone was unmistakable as the body dropped. Dodging left, he swung backhand and winced as his shoulder reminded him of the events earlier in the day.
The second attacker failed to go down, and as Ethan wound back for another strike, an explosion from just beyond his line of sight, blew off the right half of the attacker’s face. Following through, Ethan’s lateral momentum carried him off his feet, and into the damp grass. Quickly rebounding, he stood and moved to the man holding the gun. “Thanks, but I’m sorry, I’ve got to cut this short. We really have to go. And listen, there’s no one left in that hospital. They’re all gone. You either come with us now or you’re on your own. We’ve got plenty of room and the woman you just saw hop into that armored truck is a nurse. She may be able to help your friend. But it has to be now.”
The man from the blue pickup glanced into the cab of the truck and back to Ethan. “Okay, let me get her out.”
Ethan had already begun jogging back to the truck as Ben reached the end of the employee parking lot. The kid jumped a six-foot wrought iron fence as if he we’re stepping up onto a sidewalk, and was already sprinting back toward the building when Ethan called out. “Ben, let’s go.”
Reaching the truck, Ethan opened the side door and waited for Ben to climb inside. David and Carly sat with their backs to the cab, speaking in hushed tones as Ethan motioned out into the lot. “Those people from the blue pickup—they’re coming with us. The passenger is hurt and needs some help.”
Carly nodded and then got to her feet and stood at the door. “Okay, help them get inside and let’s go.”
Ethan moved to the pair now approaching and helped the woman passenger up into the truck. As the driver also stepped inside, Ethan paused at the door.
Where the hell am I going to take these people
?
Closing the door, Ethan moved into the driver’s seat and started the armored vehicle. As Carly and David were getting familiar with the two new guests, Ben slipped down into the passenger’s seat. Avoiding conversation, Ethan drove out through the exit at the opposite end of the parking lot.
Pulling out onto Longview Road, David knelt between the two front seats. “Ethan, what’s the plan?”
“We need to find Shannon and then I’m going to my apartment. I need to get ahold of Emma and make sure she’s okay. Then I’m going into the city—to get my mom and dad.”
“Well then,” David said. “You’re gonna want to hear what Carly has to say.”
“David, nothing is going to change my mind, I’m—”
“She knows where Shannon is.”