Earth Zero: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Next Book 2) (21 page)

“Go,” Kokona said to him.

As he vanished into the trees, Huynh wondered silently why Kokona had deprived him of another kill.

Her telepathic response was cold and sharp and nothing the Buddha would ever say: “
Monsters need to eat, too
.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

President Abigail Murray couldn’t sleep so she rose from bed long before the dawn.

Her residence was a lean-to constructed of loose sheets of tin, designed for privacy instead of protection from the weather. The temperature inside Luray Caverns was constant but chilly, so she often wore heavy clothing for comfort. This morning, she didn’t even dress, just eased into slippers, draped a blanket around her flannel nightgown, and headed through the caverns.

Only a few lights were strung to alleviate the permanent dark inside the cavern. The shielded bunker in the heart of the caverns also held some gasoline generators, but those were only used in emergencies. Not many survivors chose to live at these depths, preferring instead to at least be able to see the distant haze of sunlight during the day.

Some of the five-hundred-plus people living in and around the caverns never ventured outside, convinced of the sun’s constant ion bombardment, air-borne mutant viruses, and the more immediate threats posed by Zaps and monsters. Conspiracy theories hadn’t died with the apocalypse as she would’ve thought—they just shifted targets from political puppeteers to the natural world. The entire universe was against them now, not just foreign terrorists and shadowy cabals.

The brusque odor of wood smoke hung in the air, drifting through the crevices seeking natural chimneys through the hills above them. As Murray walked through the clusters of tents with their sleeping occupants, she once again felt the weight of responsibility for their care. That was why she kept a residence in here instead of the secured and shielded bunker fifty feet below the surface, which had two guards posted around the clock.

She was nearly to the cavern entrance when she heard the first low thrumming of a chopper. It had been running nightly recon missions in a three-hundred mile perimeter, seeking any human outposts that hadn’t been contacted by radio. A number had been found, ranging from populations of half a dozen to nearly a hundred, but the pilots were under strict orders not to evacuate them. The caverns had plenty of room but few resources, and gathering all of the region’s people in one area would be too risky.

The Blackhawk’s red lights winked off and on as it approached from the north, a dark bug against the aurora-filled heavens. The landing would probably wake Helen Schlagal, but she was an early riser, too. Murray waved to the guard at the cavern entrance, whose face was lit by the glow of a cigarette. She was halfway to the base when the chopper’s engine hiccupped and died before catching again. It wobbled in flight, and now she could see a thin trail of dark exhaust trailing out from behind, whipped by the rear rotors.

She ran toward it as it descended between the trees, taking an erratic path, its nose dipping precariously forward. She braced for an explosion, but instead the chopper slammed into high tree branches, the rotor blades chewing at the foliage. Then the chopper slid backward, its tail spearing the ground with a percussive crunch.

Ground crew at the landing pad rushed toward it as the fuselage flopped forward and crushed the thin runners on which it landed. The windshield shattered and a small piece of metal whirred high over Murray’s head. By the time she reached the wreckage, the ground crews were already searching for personnel and standing by with fire extinguishers.

Only two people were pulled from the wreckage. The pilot, Vicky Hardwick, suffered a broken arm and a vicious cut on the cheek, but her helmet had protected her skull when the windshield collapsed and the cabin crumpled like aluminum foil. The other occupant was her general, Arnold Alexander.

Alexander’s shoulder sported a blood-stained bandage and his face was bruised. He was unconscious as he lay on the ground beside the chopper, and Murray knelt beside the medic attending him.

“Alive but beat all to hell, Madam President,” the medic said. “I’ll have to run some tests, but barring internal injuries, he should be okay.”

Murray left the general to the man’s care and went to where the pilot sat on a truck tailgate. “Warrant Officer Hardwick,” Murray said in greeting, returning the woman’s salute. “What happened?”

“We were on a routine recon to Baltimore and we spotted a strange column of colored light. We attempted to circle it but it created interference with our instruments. From what we could tell through the night-vision, the Zaps have constructed some kind of energy-collection process and machinery. Since the rest of the city is mostly leveled, we took some infrared photos and were heading back when we saw a similar light column in D.C.”

“Two different ones?” That meant the Zaps were doing more than adapting to their environment, they were developing their own technology. She’d been secretly afraid of this development, because humans not only had no means of advancing their technology, they couldn’t even manufacture more of the weapons, ammo, and equipment they had left. The Zaps were progressing while the human race was slipping back to its Neanderthal roots.

“We knew General Alexander was making a foray into the capital, so we made a sweep for aerial support,” the warrant officer said. “There were some firefights underway. We could see the muzzle flashes. We went in lower to provide support with our machine gun. We didn’t see any weapons in use by the Zaps, but the buildings were falling all around our troops. Some of them just collapsed on the spot, no sign of injury.”

Murray’s gut tightened. Choppers flew with a minimum crew of four, so the fact that Hardwick was the only crew member to return was a bad sign. And Gen. Alexander would never abandon troops in the field—the old leatherneck would fight to the death first. “So you checked it out?”

“When we landed behind what looked like the battlefront, where our trucks were parked, we could tell right away something was wrong. The air was vibrating and the ground seemed to have this little tremble you could barely feel. Like a thunderstorm when the electricity is gathering up to spit out a lightning bolt. There was no sound at all, though, besides the burning fires and the gunshots—no explosion or anything—and almost everybody dropped dead.”

The volunteer tending to Hardwick’s facial cut grew solemn and serious. Hardwick winced as a wet cloth touched her wound, but she continued. “The general was lying on the ground, his legs moving, so we were loading him up when the blast or ray or whatever it was struck again. And that’s where the rest of my crew went. I fell and heard the bones in my arm snap, but I didn’t black out.”

“Anyone still in the field?”

Hardwick shook her head, looking down. “Don’t know for sure. I don’t think so. When I got off the ground, I made a sweep, and I swear, the closer to that column of light I got, the stronger I felt that little tickle of electricity. Whatever that ray is, it’s coming from whatever they’re doing. Like they were sucking down the sky and smashing it into some kind of silent killer beam. The chopper started shaking and I was afraid it would disintegrate and drop out of the sky, so I headed back.”

She peered up at Murray with such a look of misery that Murray patted her good arm. “You did the right thing, Warrant Officer.”

“I lost the chopper and probably some of our guys.”

“You didn’t kill them. That was the Zaps, and don’t you forget it.
They’re
the enemy. They’re the cause of all this. Okay?”

Hardwick pursed her lips and nodded. Murray returned to check on the general, who was now awake and trying to sit up, ignoring the concerned requests of his caretakers. “Madame President,” Gen. Alexander said when he saw her, deep pouches under his eyes. “I regret to inform you that the mission failed. No survivors.”

“We haven’t even started this war yet,” she said. “The Zaps are going to learn the hard way who really owns this damned planet. Gather in the ops room at oh six hundred.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She turned to see Schlagal in the gray haze of dawn, helping the crews remove ammunition and cargo from the wreckage. Murray went to request her attendance at an emergency cabinet meeting.

Directive 18 was at hand.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

When the van door opened, DeVontay blinked at the pink light of sunrise, cumulus clouds ridged with purple and gray drifting to the south.

Rachel was already awake, and Bright Eyes had no need for sleep. Squeak was still curled up in a pile of blankets, her face smooth and unworried.

“We’re moving out,” said the soldier who’d opened the door. Behind him came shouts and the rattle of activity.

“To where?” DeVontay asked.

“Ask the colonel. I just follow orders.”

DeVontay woke Squeak, who seemed dazed, and gave her a drink from a water bottle. They climbed out of the van to find the camp in a frenzy of activity as soldiers packed their gear and loaded it into trucks. The chopper that had delivered them to the camp fired up its engines and lifted off, whipping red and yellow leaves from the treetops. The October morning was chilly and their breath was visible, but already the sun was burning away the frost.

The soldier marched them through the bustle of activity to the command post. DeVontay’s initial estimate of the camp’s size now seemed small—there were a number of tents tucked under trees along the slope, as well as several more transport trucks. The soldiers stared at them, obviously not used to seeing Zaps up close.

When they were ushered inside, the colonel put down the radio mike and turned to them without a greeting. He motioned to a man standing to one side of the entrance. “This is Captain Antonelli. He’ll be your liaison and it’s his job to keep you alive as long as necessary.”

The captain looked at Bright Eyes with open revulsion. Then he studied Rachel with hostile curiosity. “You’re from the bunker at the Blue Ridge Parkway? Near Milepost 291?”

“How did you know?” Rachel asked.

“We seized it for the government,” Antonelli said. “Franklin Wheeler described you two. Didn’t tell me you were half Zap, though.”

“Where is he? Are they all safe?”

“I don’t know. He took off with the boy to look for you.”

“How long ago?” DeVontay asked.

“You have your orders, Captain,” Col. Munger said, waving them outside as the radio crackled and a transmission came through. DeVontay picked up the words “
high casualties inflicted by unknown weapon
” before they were escorted outside by the guard.

“We promised the colonel we would help,” Rachel said to Antonelli. “We’re on your side here. So why can’t we help each other?”

“We were attacked,” Antonelli said. “I lost two-thirds of my unit, but Franklin saved the rest of us by inviting us into the bunker. The next day they went to Stonewall to find you. They never came back. And then some of my troops were slaughtered—”

“Inside the bunker?” DeVontay said. “That place is nearly impenetrable.”

“One of my men…” The captain pointed at Rachel’s eyes. “He went like you, I guess. Part Zap. He must’ve done it.”

“What about the baby and the girl?”

“He took them. I mean, I think it was the baby—I told all of this to the colonel. She’s an evil little bitch. She was behind the attack that killed my people. We have reason to believe she’s heading for Wilkesboro.”

“Kokona’s harmless!” Rachel said.

“You
would
say that, wouldn’t you? Tell that to my dead soldiers.”

“You’d better not let her reach Wilkesboro,” Bright Eyes said.

Antonelli was stunned, as if he didn’t expect the Zap to be capable of comprehensible speech. “What do you mean?”

“They don’t have a leader. They can be defeated now. But if she unites them…”

Antonelli considered this. The troops were already moving out, marching to the road in twos and threes or piling into the backs of the trucks. “You say she has a telepathic ability that all mutants will respond to?”

“If they are in proximity. The range depends upon the available energy. Around Wilkesboro, I would estimate that’s about a twenty-mile radius.”

“So that would mean you could pick up on her if you were close enough?”

“Almost definitely,” Bright Eyes said. “She might detect my betrayal and somehow block me from reception. But I would likely locate her before she could sever the communication.”

Antonelli glared at Rachel. “And you? Do you have any of that Zap ESP?”

Rachel put her arm around Squeak’s shoulder and pulled the girl close. “Not really. I get a kind of tingle, but I’ve been away from them too long. I’m mostly human now.”

The colonel came out of the command post, securing his cap firmly atop his head as if ready for business. “You ready to roll, Captain?”

“Yes, sir. They say they can lead us to the Zap baby.”

“I can’t risk the whole operation on that, Captain. Take them along with your private and try to infiltrate the town. The chopper’s going to drop you as close to downtown as it can get. If you can take out the baby, do it. Otherwise, we roll as planned. We’ve got reports of these energy sources in several cities and we’re trying to hit them all at once in a coordinated assault.”

“Yes, sir.” Antonelli saluted and the colonel headed down the hill with his adjutant following, the radio strapped against his back.

“What about the girl?” DeVontay asked Antonelli. “She can’t be in the middle of a fight.”

“I can’t let you go,” Antonelli said. “I figure Rachel here is less likely to betray me if you’re the collateral damage. I don’t know how Zaps think, but if she’s got any human left in her, she won’t risk her boyfriend and an innocent child.”

“Yet you
would
risk an innocent child?”

“I didn’t invent war, Mr. Jones. I just fight them. And win them, if possible.”

The chopper returned from whatever morning mission it had undertaken, and as it settled in the clearing, most of the camp was already abandoned. Aside from the litter and smoldering heaps of campfires, it was difficult to believe that several hundred people had camped there.

“Private Kelly!” Antonelli called, and a red-headed woman in a white T-shirt with an unbuttoned camouflage shirt headed their way.

“Do I have to ride in the helicopter again?” Squeak asked.

“It looks like it, honey,” Rachel said. “We’re going back to town.”

“Can we find my mommy?”

DeVontay and Rachel exchanged a look that only Bright Eyes caught.

So many people to find. And some of them might not be around anymore.