“
I know I can find something, Dad,” said Anna now, and Jared nodded along, too.
I looked at the boy. “What do you need?”
“Access to the computer in the observatory.”
“Fine.
Promise me you and Anna won’t sneak off or anything...we’ll wait for you here.”
The boy had actually looked relieved. “I promise.”
And he and Anna dashed up to the observatory.
* * *
It was almost thirty minutes later.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. A sort of irritated burning seemed to be working over my flesh. I rubbed my skin absently. Mercifully, Carla hadn’t been summoned anywhere. We didn’t talk. Mostly, I didn’t want to talk. My brain kept replaying the scenes with my brother, the basement, the APB, and my daughter yelling at me, accusing me of doing something horrible to my brother. The space rock.
Space rock?
I thought again.
Unbelievable.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” she asked.
“Nothing, why?”
“You’ve been rubbing it for a few minutes.”
I shook my head. “I’m just worried about Anna. Do you t
hink we should go check on them?”
“
No, let’s give them a few minutes longer.”
“I can’t imagine what they’re doing.”
“Kids and technology seem to go hand in hand,” said Carla. “Using a computer or smart phone is hardwired into them from birth.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. My head ached. When had I last eaten? Carla was watching me closely. Too closely. Why was she looking at me like that? I felt a rare flash of irritation toward her. I don’t think I had ever been irritated by Carla.
A call came through her radio. A group of kids down the hill were creating some havoc at the Greek Theater.
She looked up from the radio. “I can ignore it.”
“
You shouldn’t.”
“
I want to stay with you, Jack.” Her eyes said more than her words. Unable to stop myself, I suddenly leaned over and kissed her. She returned the kiss softly.
“
Jack...” she whispered.
Whoa. Too much was happening. My head spun a little. From the kiss. From fatigue. Shock. Maybe all three.
“
Take your call,” I pulled away. “You have to. I’ll take the kids.”
“Take them w
here?”
Where, indeed? “I guess we’ll have to go home. I’ll leave my truck here and we’ll hike down.”
Carla’s radio summoned her again. She spoke into her attached mic. “Ten, ninety-eight.” Which, in police speak, meant she was available for the assignment.
“
I’ll come by later,” she said.
I nodded, thought about kissing her again, and decided against it. After all, I really wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want our first kiss to get her sick, too.
Warmth spread into my heart as I watched her drive down into the mist. The feeling was, I was certain, love.
At least, I hoped it was.
* * *
Just as I headed up the steps, Anna and Jared exited the building. My daughter carried a notepad with her. It was open and filled with what appeared to be scribbled writing.
She saw me and her eyes widened. “
Daddy. You won’t believe—”
“
Shh,” I said, looking around again. “Let’s head to my quarters first and talk about it.” We appeared to be alone at the observatory. That, I knew, could be deceiving.
You’re being paranoid,
I thought. The quarters was a one-room office near the observatory. Walking distance.
“But, there’s no one—”
I lifted my finger to my lips, then patted my right hand over my left twice; it was the sign for “beware.”
Anna nodded immediately. Jared, of course, blinked in confusion. My father had lost his hearing in the military, and I had learned sign language at an early age. I had passed it on to Anna, who had picked it up easily.
She signed:
All right, Daddy.
Spoken or not, I loved when she still called me
Daddy
.
* * *
Inside our quarters, which was just a single room, complete with a mini-fridge, a bathroom, a couch and a cot, I signed again for her to keep quiet. I hoped there weren’t video bugs in addition to the probable audio ones.
“
How about we make dinner?” I said, then signed the word: house. I added, “I don’t know about you two, but I’m starved.”
Anna nodded, getting it, and Jared was smart enough to stay quiet. She said, perhaps a little excitedly, “Sounds great! I’ll make some spaghetti.”
“
Sure,” I said. “I’ve got a hankering for some pasta.”
Anna signed:
Hankering? Really?
Oh, shut up,
I signed and winked.
I gathered my first aid kit and hunting knife. I caught Jared’s attention and pointed silently to the bow and arrow hung on the wall. His eyes widened a little, but he obediently took them down.
“Just l
et me use the bathroom,” Anna said convincingly. She was perhaps a little too good at this lying business for my liking. Anyway, she shoved her notepad and laptop into her backpack. She looked at me and signed:
Anything else?
As I glanced around, my eyes landed on a wilderness survival book. I grabbed it. I turned on the TV, and cranked it up a notch or two louder than usual.
A few minutes later, with the TV still blaring, the three of us slipped quietly out the bathroom window and made our way down through the back trails toward home.
We were hiking through the woodlands.
Anna kept wanting to tell me about what she’d learned, but there was only so much I could focus on. For some reason, I was having trouble focusing on, well, anything. I insisted on silence. I had to.
Both Anna and I, and probably Jared, too, were accustomed to listening out in the wild. I kept my ears cocked for any sound other than the nature surrounding us. Someone following, perhaps.
Or something following us.
Why that thought occurred to me, I didn’t know, but I shuddered despite the fact that my skin still felt hot. No, not hot. It felt...burned, as if I’d spent the day at Santa Monica Beach.
We continued on. I fought a sense of fatigue. I didn’t get fatigued. I could generally hike these trails all day long—and often did just that, on my various patrols.
Anyway, I figured we were lucky so far to have refuge in the Los Feliz house. The place was undisturbed when we entered through the back door. I said a silent prayer of thanks to anyone listening.
We were all starved. We had spaghetti anyway, leftover spaghetti, which we feasted on upstairs in my office so as not to disturb our guests in the cellar. No, our prisoners.
No, my brother, goddammit.
“
Look, Dad,” Anna spoke through a mouthful of noodles while retrieving her notebook. “A lot of these space rocks—meteors—landed all over. And others are getting really sick, too.”
I perused her handwritten notes as I ate. “Why didn’t you just print all of this?”
Jared spoke up. “
It would have been easier to track us, sir. As it was, I had to hack into another data base. I found one in Colorado.”
I nodded, impressed. But it was the notes that had my attention. A dozen people were sick in China. Some in Nepal, as well. As I leafed through the pages, I learned that this infection from space rocks was a global event.
“Look here, Dad.” Anna guided me to the second-to-last page of her notes. “I copied this from a blog from someone living in Nepal. This person reported that some of the sick ones are biting—and even eating—other people.”
I set my fork down having suddenly lost my appetite. I did my best to decipher my daughter’s scribbled handwriting:
If anyone is reading this, please help us! The infected ones are so very, very strong. They are attacking us, biting us, eating us. Those who have not escaped were eaten by our own people—by those we knew and loved. Eaten alive. If anyone can read this please...
Anna was on the verge of tears again. I wanted to hold her, except Jared did it for me. The little fucking bastard.
Calm down,
I thought, surprised by the sudden flare of anger within me.
I pushed down my useless jealousy. Anyway, now I was beginning to understand the magnitude of all of this. I now knew why those agents had so desperately sought my brother and his friend.
They’re eating us...
Jesus.
From her notes, I deduced that the afflicted people in Third World countries had gone through the sickness, followed by a period of feeling better. Those in Germany, Australia, and North America weren’t feeling better. I chewed on that when
I saw that Jared had already wolfed down his dinner.
Anna had done a good job of research, but I didn’t think all of this had hit her yet. She was mainly concerned about her uncle, except how any of this wild information could help Joe, I hadn’t a clue. At least, not yet.
“Would you like some more?” I asked Jared.
“Well, if it’s no trouble...” I sensed his fear, and I didn’t blame the kid. Hell, even I was nervous about going down into the kitchen alone—and Joe was my own goddamn brother. At least, I thought he was my brother. Eating other people? God help us. I rubbed my face. At the very least, I needed coffee. And lots of it.
“
I’ll get it for you,” I said and stood.
“Be careful, Daddy,
” Anna pleaded.
“
I’ll be all right. I won’t make a sound.”
Once outside my office, I
drew my gun. After all, I had another reason for going back down. I had to see my brother.
* * *
Since I knew the cellar door always creaked, I grabbed the WD-40 from the kitchen shelf and sprayed the hinges from the outside. I waited a minute or two to let it seep in, and then turned the knob.
No squeak. Score one for the good guys. I sidestepped the known creaky areas of the stairs and stopped my descent when I had my brother and his friend in sight.
They were both still there, thank God, standing there in the dark, motionless. A very deep shudder rippled through me. They did not look human standing there. They did not look normal. They looked like they were...waiting. Silently waiting.
Jesus Christ.
I could see their eyes, glowing red from even here. The meteor, I thought. Something is in them. Something not of this world.
They are so very strong...
Biting us...
Eating us...
They still hadn’t noticed me there on the stairs. Apparently, noise was the key to disrupting their quiet state. I backed up the stairs again and softly closed the door.
* * *
The sun was setting. I drew the curtains closed, draping a blanket over the windows to make sure that no light leaked out. I risked lighting a small candle, which I placed on the floor between us. The truth was, I felt like shit. I needed to nap. Badly.
I never thought cold instant coffee would taste good, but it gave me the boost I needed. The caffeine cleared my head. Jared wolfed down his second serving of cold spaghetti.
Anna eyed me suspiciously. “You saw them, didn’t you?”
I nodded, too weak to lie.
“Well, h
ow are they?”
I ran a hand over my face. “About the same. They didn’t see me. I was thinking they might be looking a little better, but...”
“But what?”
“Nothing.” I decided not to mention the odd way they had just been standing there quietly.
Mercifully, she let it go. “Better, r
eally?”
“Somewhat. But
I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
“
But according to the information we found, yes, some of the infected
are
getting better!”
The last few days had aged my Anna, but she still had the optimistic innocence of a hopeful teen. “Why don’t we just wait and see, honey?”
“
Can I go down to see him?”
“
No.”
“
Why not? We can all go together.”
“Absolutely not
.” I didn’t want her to see her uncle like that.
She opened her mouth to protest, but I jumped in.
“We’re all tired, baby. We need to get some rest. In the morning, we can decide what to do next.”
Jared asked, “Do you want us to set up a watch?”
“
Good idea. You two sleep first. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”
I gave them separate blankets. They both knew better than to sleep too close together in my presence. Still, Jared held Anna’s hand as they eventually drifted off.