Sanctuary Page 10

  “Why’re they just standin’ there?”

  “They’re watching us,” Quinton whispered, his voice equal parts confusion and fear.

  A sense of dread swamped Jackson when he saw the freak that had pointed at him walk across the lot to join them.

  It had been a man who had probably just hit the legal drinking age before he got infected, dressed in shorts and a undershirt that had once been white but was now covered in dark stains that had to be blood. As it approached the others, Jackson waited for the fight to begin, remembering what had happened at the evac centre but it didn’t come. The middle aged one made a bunch of gestures with his hands and for a second he thought they were all talking to each other but he knew that wasn’t possible. The only sounds that came out of freaks were snarls and screams.

  “That ain’t right. Never seen ‘em act like that.”

  “You’re the expert on them then?” Quinton said, that cocky attitude back. Jackson took a deep breath before he answered him, looking for some sort of calmness to keep him from strangling the dick.

  “Me and the girls, we went to an evac site before we met up with y’all. Football stadium all locked up behind a fence and it was filled with ‘em. Soon as one spotted me, he came runnin’ and all his noise brought a bunch more but when they came to join him, they started fightin’ each other. Seemed like when one of ‘em got worked up, it riled the others up too. None of ‘em stood ‘round just watchin’.”

  Except that’s exactly what they were doing now. He felt his stomach twist with dread when the younger freak trotted back to where it had come from.

  “They’ve got a plan.”

  Jackson turned at Quinton’s quiet words, so low that he almost didn’t hear them. “Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout?”

  “The freaks planned all of this. They purposefully split all of us up and then herded us here.”

  “That ain’t possible. Those things ain’t got a single thought in their heads. They don’t even talk, how they gonna plan out somethin’ like this?”

  “We don’t know that. We’ve just never heard them talk. Besides, talking isn’t the only way to communicate with each other,” Quinton said. “Animals can’t talk but they can communicate with each other. They make sounds, read body language, all things the freaks can still do.”

  Like the freak pointing to the ladder and the others running to it.

  Jesus Christ.

  “They’re forming packs,” Quinton continued, “And those three watching are the alphas.”

  Though he had been thinking the exact same thing, he still couldn’t believe it was happening. He’d been almost nose to nose with one of those things, there was nothing intelligent behind those eyes.

  “How the hell is that possible?”

  “Deep down, humans are pack animals. The infection strips away society’s civilizing effect, leaving just our natural instincts. It makes sense they’d eventually fall back to that old pack instinct. It makes them more effective predators too.”

  Made as much sense as anything else and who was he to argue with someone a hell of lot smarter than him, at least when it came to science and shit.

  “Okay, so they’re packs now, what do we do?”

  Quinton moved back from the front edge of the roof and headed over to the opposite side where there was a narrow alley just wide enough for delivery trucks to pass between the building and the chain link fence at the edge of the property. Jackson came to join him, the two of them peering over the edge. Six freaks stood in the alleyway, all their eyes trained up on the roof. A couple of them started growling when they spotted them and one of them ran straight to wall to try and climb up, his snarls drifting up to them.

  “Well, good news is that their intelligence is a sliding scale and some of them are still mindless,” Quinton said. “Bad news is that we’re pretty much surrounded. We try to climb down and they’ll take us out before we can get far.”

  “They ain’t movin’ much, easy pickin’s really. We can shoot our way out,” he suggested but Quinton shook his head.

  “Gunshots are what brought them here,” Quinton said. “We risk bringing a shitload more of them down on us if we start shooting.”

  Jackson stepped back, cursing at the idea that they’d been outsmarted by a bunch of freaks. Course, it was half their own fault for underestimating the bastards. They were still humans, after all. Sick humans, but still humans.

  “They probably did the same thing to Malcolm and Claudia,” Quinton continued. “They’re probably pinned down somewhere at the dealership.”

  Jackson wondered about the odds of Malcolm and Claudia finding a safe spot to stay out of the freaks' reach. There had been way more than what were currently standing guard over the strip mall. They could still see some of them prowling around the cars in the lot. There was always the chance that the freaks had gotten to Malcolm and Claudia but Jackson wasn’t ready to bring up that possibility to the older brother.

  “Yah maybe that’s it.”

  Really didn’t sell that one.

  Quinton had a small smile as he shook his head. “Alphas always eat first. If the freaks had gotten anybody, those three out front would be over there enjoying the spoils. Malcolm and Claudia are alive.”

  “We could radio ‘em,” Jackson said, nodding to the radio that was clipped to Quinton’s belt but the doctor shook his head.

  “If they’re hiding, I don’t want the sound of the radio to give them away to the freaks. We’ll wait for them to radio us.”

  “What if they’re thinkin’ the same thing? Don’t want to disturb us neither.”

  Quinton seemed to consider it, running a hand through his hair as he looked out at the lot.

  “Malcolm told Lorraine to go but she won’t stay gone. She’ll come back for us. All we got to do is put up some sort of sign to let her know we’re up here. And if the others get clear, they’ll see it too.”

  Quinton took off his pack and gestured for Jackson to do the same with his. “Come on, I got an idea.”

  Subject File # 749

  Subject: I’ve tried to shelter the kids as much as I could but I don’t think it worked. And maybe it was wrong of me to even try.

  Administrator: Well, you know your children best. You know what they can and can’t handle.

  Subject: I don’t know about that. They continue to surprise me with what they can handle.

  “Mom, how much longer is it going to take?”

  Matthew kept his head down, his focus on the paper in front of him where he was carefully drawing what looked like a green robot. Mark was the one who had abandoned his drawing to watch her, waiting for her to answer his brother’s question. Which meant it was Mark who wanted to know and Matthew was acting as his mouthpiece, as he often did for his quieter brother.

  “I’m not sure exactly but Uncle Malcolm said they’d be back before dark.”

  “No, we mean how much longer to get to the island?”

  “A few more days, I think.”

  It was hard to predict. The original plan had been two more days but that was based on them having free access to fuel. If everything went well with Malcolm and the others, they’d hopefully be able to stick to that plan but, she knew better than to count her chickens before they hatched.

  Besides, it could bring them bad luck to assume they’d bring back everything they needed.

  Mark put down his marker, sighing. “I wish we could be there now. I hate being here.”

  “I know, honey.”

  It pained her to see what her children’s lives had become in this new world. Uprooted from everything they knew, dragged halfway across the country with only a simple understanding of why it was happening.

  At least Ruthie was young enough that she was easily adaptable. She sat beside Hannah, the two of them happily working on their own drawings. As long as there were familiar faces around her, she was content. But at ten years old, the twins were smart enough to realize the danger they faced.

&n
bsp; They had seen people killing each other first hand. They had listened as the others talked about the island with reverence and hope. They knew the adults saw it as a safe haven where they could finally stop constantly looking over their shoulder.

  “You know, you boys don’t have to worry. I know we keep saying the island is safe but so is our camp. We’ll keep you safe no matter where we are.”

  “I know, Mom. It’s just so boring here,” Matthew said, selecting a red marker and going to work on the robot’s eyes, “But the island is gonna be fun. Uncle Malcolm said he’d let us sail the boat when we get there. It’s gonna be so cool.”

  Mark nodded in agreement. “And Lorraine said she’d show us how to catch fish bigger than Ruthie.”

  Janet laughed then, the guilt that had been tugging at her easing. They weren’t scared. They weren’t worried. They were just looking forward to the fulfillment of promises of fun, like any normal ten year old. Maybe they were just as adaptable as Ruthie was, even at their age.

  The rumble of a car engine sounded up the road and Trey, Kim and Veronica moved to the gate, guns in hand.

  Janet stood up, ready to grab the kids and get them inside the office building at the first sign of trouble.

  An unfamiliar SUV appeared around the curve in the road and came to a sudden stop in the short drive that led to the gate. Alan’s head popped out of the driver’s side window, hand waving frantically, and Trey ran to unlock the gate so he could drive in.

  The SUV came to a stop next to the station wagon and Alan jumped out, his face pale and eyes panicked. When no one else jumped out, Janet’s blood ran cold.

  “Audrey,” Janet called to the teen who had been sitting nearby reading a book but was now on her feet, a worried look on her face. “Can you stay here, watch over the kids?”

  Audrey nodded and Janet headed to the SUV, where the rest of the camp had already gathered.

  “Where the hell is everyone?” Veronica was asking Alan when Janet joined them.

  “We got swarmed by freaks!” Alan’s voice was shaking, his eyes wild. “There were hundreds of them! I couldn’t do anything!”

  Janet felt her knees go weak at the news, reaching out a hand to brace herself on the hood of the SUV.

  Swarmed...Hundreds...

  She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the dark thoughts. No, this wasn’t as bad as it looked. Malcolm could take care of himself and he wasn’t alone. They could be right behind Alan.

  “There was no stopping them,” Alan said. “We need to get out of here before they swarm this place!”

  “If you got out, the others could have too,” Kim reasoned. “We have to wait for them.”

  Alan’s eyes went wide, distress clear on his face. “You want to wait, fine, wait, but we’re going.”

  He turned to Jenny. “Get your stuff, we’ll take the SUV and go.”

  “Alan, we can’t just leave everybody,” Jenny said, putting a hand on his arm but he shook her off.

  “I told you that they are coming here. Do you want to die?” he barked at her. “Do you want the baby to die because that’s what is going to happen. They’ll come here and rip the baby right out of you and make you watch as they eat it!”

  Jenny gasped, a hand covering her mouth in shock at his horrific warning.

  “Now get in the car and I’ll get our stuff,” he ordered, stalking back to the cube van where they had stored their packs.

  “We have to go look for them.”

  Janet was surprised to hear Craig’s voice. She had forgotten for a moment that he had been resting on his bed in the back of the station wagon. Obviously Alan’s arrival had woken him up and he had shifted himself to the open hatch door. He bit back a groan as he shuffled himself to the tailgate.

  “Craig, you can’t,” Janet said, moving to his side and putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from trying to stand. While she completely echoed his sentiment, the young man was clearly still in pain, sweat already beading on his temples from just the strain of getting himself to the tailgate.

  “We can’t just leave them,” he replied, his brow creased with determination, ready to go fight for his friends.

  “We aren’t going to leave them,” Veronica said, looking to Kim and she nodded. “We’re going to help them.”

  Alan cut through the group as he headed back to the SUV, his and Jenny’s packs over his shoulder. He popped the back door and tossed them inside before turning back to Jenny.

  “Come on, we have to go, get in,” he ordered but Jenny balked.

  “Alan, everybody is right, we can’t just leave--”

  “We are leaving now! Get your ass in the fucking car now!”

  Jenny’s head snapped back as if he had slapped her and she looked at her husband as if she didn’t recognize him. “Don’t speak to me like that, Alan.”

  His pale face went red as he stalked towards Jenny and grabbed her arm. “We’re going!”

  He began to drag her towards the passenger door but Jenny dug her heels in and tried to wrench her arm away. “Alan, let me go!”

  Janet shot over to the struggling couple and grabbed Alan’s wrist, pulling on it to try and break his hold on Jenny. “Let her go!”

  Alan held on and Janet saw the blaze of pure fear in his eyes. He was like an animal caught in a trap, terrified and ready to chew his own arm off to save himself.

  “Alan, please, you’re hurting me.”

  Jenny’s fearful plea seemed to break through the fear and he let go of her.

  “We have to go,” he said, no longer angry. Instead his voice was pleading, his eyes fearful.

  An engine rumbled in the distance and another SUV came barrelling around the curve in the road, heading straight for the paver’s lot.

  “Jenny, we have to go now!” Alan repeated, his voice shaky and his eyes wild.

  The SUV pulled into the drive and braked hard, the wheels kicking up gravel as it came to a stop in front of the gate. Trey was running over to open the gate but the driver’s door was already opening.

  “Jenny, please! They’ll kill me!”

  Before Janet could really register what Alan had said, Lorraine had jumped out of the SUV, the normally calm woman’s face twisted and her body almost vibrating with fury.

  “You left us!” she screamed out, her eyes only for Alan and Janet saw the man’s face had paled again. Lorraine stalked through the gate and headed right for Alan. “You coward! You absolute fucking coward! How could you do that?”

  Alan was cowed against the SUV he had brought and he looked over to Jenny.

  “I didn’t do anything!” he said, his voice high pitched and panicky.

  “Exactly! You didn’t do anything!” Lorraine demanded, her voice catching and tears appearing in her eyes. “Instead of helping, you left them!”

  “So did you!” Alan shot back.

  Lorraine shook her head, her hands balling into fists. “Malcolm told me to!”

  “Where are my brother and sister?” Veronica demanded, cutting into the argument and straight to the chase.

  Lorraine gave Alan a final reproachful look before turning to Veronica. “A bunch of infected showed up at the dealership.”

  “A bunch?” Kim repeated. “He said there were hundreds of them.”

  Lorraine scoffed. “Maybe fifty at most. We were handling it but then Alan bailed rather than helping and it ruined everything. Malcolm told me to get out of there before I got pinned down so I came back here for help.”

  The air turned black with the curses that were let out by the group as they realized what Alan had done. It was Veronica who moved first, stepping towards Alan, her arm moving in a flash as she nailed him in the jaw with a hard right hook. He stumbled a couple steps, a hand cupping his injured jaw and Veronica grunted in pain, shaking her hand as she began to pace, breathing hard.

  “That’s why you wanted to leave!” she cried out. “You knew we’d find out what you did!”

  She stalked towards Al
an and he flinched, throwing up his arms to block the expected blows. His cowardice seemed to stop her, her upper lip twisting in disgust as she looked him up and down.

  “Anything happens to them, I’m going to kill you,” Veronica vowed, her eyes bright with anger as she turned back to Lorraine. “We’re going back there.”

  Lorraine nodded. “It’s likely they are pinned down somewhere. I think our best bet is to drive there and use the vehicle to lure the freaks away and give the others a chance to get away.”

  “Do they still have radios?” Craig asked.

  “Malcolm and Quinton had them,” she replied. “I don’t know if they still do.”

  “Okay, so then we can go get them,” Craig said, trying to stand but he was slow to get moving and Lorraine called for him to stop before he could get vertical.

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” she said. “You’ll just tear your stitches trying. Veronica and I can go.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Kim said. “We’ll stock up on ammo and I’ll drive while you and Veronica shoot as many freaks as you can. Then we radio the others and get them out of there.”

  Alan took a step forward. “You can’t take the SUV I brought back. It’s mine.”

  If looks could kill, Alan would have been dropped at least eight times.

  “You touch any of the vehicles and I’ll put a bullet in your head,” Veronica threatened, her eyes flashing with barely contained violence and Alan shut his mouth. “Come on, let’s gear up.”

  Veronica stalked over to her van where they stored their extra weapons, Lorraine following behind her after a final look of disgust at Alan. Kim was about to follow but Trey stepped in front of her.

  “I want to come with you,” Trey said but Kim shook her head. “You’re staying here too.”

  “I can do this, Mom,” Trey insisted. “I’m not a little kid.”

  Before Kim could shoot him down again, Craig spoke up.

  “I need you to stay here and help us out. Me and Jenny can’t exactly move fast if anything happens here and we can’t trust Alan. It’ll be up to you to help Janet look after everyone here.”