Chapter 19

Each time the mutated coyote dog mix snapped towards my legs, I landed a strike to its back—a strike that did little to injure the beast.

The coydogs thick skin made it hard to cut with the flanges, and the only weaknesses I could find were the open sores under the brown fur. Large gashes to its face looked like someone flayed its muzzle to the bone. The protruding hips and ribs a sign it hadn’t eaten in months. My small digs into the rotten flesh left bloody cuts, but didn’t cause the damage I hoped for.

With my mace held high, I lunged at the beast and slammed downwards, missing when it jumped away. With quick reflexes, wild animals were hard to hit when they didn’t attack blindly. More often than not, I lost my balance and found myself out of position.

The coydog darted towards me, and I swept my arm back, landing a weak blow to its face. The strike didn’t stop the animal, but it wasn’t so eager to charge. I took advantage and lunged once more, but it jumped out of the way and remained just out of reach. A back-and-forth struggle with both of us growing fatigued.

We circled each other, waiting for the other to move until I made the mistake of ignoring my surroundings. A tree root rising above the dirt was the perfect ground hazard for someone careless, and I fell forward, landing on my chest.

I twisted to my back as quickly as possible, but the dog had my leg in its vice-like mouth. Thankfully, the bite wasn’t able to penetrate deep into my hardened skin. I kicked the creature’s head repeatedly with my other foot, knocking it free and onto its back. Before it could get up, I leaped to the tired animal, slammed the club into its face, and pressed the handle across its neck.

The donkey sized monstrosity struggled, kicking its legs frantically to push me away. Still, I held on and pressed the mace harder into the animal’s throat. Despite the rot covering its body and the putrid smell escaping its mouth, the animal looked like a dog. A pet I always wanted. I closed my eyes and pressed as hard as I could, ignoring the yelps and counting to 30 even after it stopped moving.

“I think it’s dead.” Dan dragged two bodies towards me, the two he killed while I struggled with mine. “Do your thing miss manipulator.”

I ignored his attempt to anger me. My arms were heavy, and the comedown left my body twitching. I didn’t care about his taunts, so like before, I pulled and pressed the particles within the body, dragging them to me. From both sides, I drained two dogs of their essence slowly as I replayed my failures.

“I think I need another weapon.” My mace didn’t work as planned. On exposed skin, each attack caused massive damage. On thick hides and fur, every strike lacked the force I needed.

“Why’s that?” Dan sat on a rock not far and scanned the forest. We made a lot of noise.

“It bounces off. Doesn’t kill them like the scabs.”

He grabbed a twig from the ground and twisted it in his hands. “You broke that dog’s face, so it works. Be thankful the priest you robbed carried the Scepter of God, and not the Sword of the Spirit.”

“What? What’s the Scepter of God?” I asked. I had never heard of either, and Lia never told me about those when she read The Bible.

“You really don’t know, huh?” Dan scratched the back of his head and turned towards me, stick pointed in my direction. “The Helmet of Salvation, Shield of Faith, Breastplate of Righteousness, Belt of Truth, Boots of Peace, and The Sword of the Spirit. Order members called it The Armor of God.”

The priest had a helmet, vest, belt, boots that were too large, and a mace. “He didn’t have a shield or sword.”

“Well, he was probably a genuine believer. Not all of them used the arm and leg guards. Their bodies were the shield of faith. Not many could use a sword. They got basic training with guns, hand to hand, and a simple weapon they could swing around. They called the maces, Scepters of God.”

I nodded my head and continued. My right hand drained the closest coydog first—a mix of pure and corrupt essence that I’d have to filter—and I nearly finished the second before Dan jumped to his feet. A familiar roar came from the forest, and the shaking trees mapped the movement.

A black bear barreled towards us so quickly the twenty-foot maples snapped at the base of their gray trunks.

“Stand up and stay still,” Dan said in a calm voice. “Face it, but don’t make any moves until I tell you.”

It was easier said than done. The bear’s body was thin, with a long neck and slender legs. One leg was raw, and half its fur was missing. Even though it was the size of a car, the animal didn’t carry the weight it should have. Food was scarce, and the bear was starving. Our battle rang the dinner bell.

“Hold your arms up and back away slowly. If it charges, don’t move. It’s just warning us.”

The beast stood on its back legs, towering at least 15 feet. We were ill-prepared to fight something as large and powerful as the bear, even one in such poor health. Dan and I moved from the coydogs towards the moss-covered boulders behind us, shuffling through the dense layer of dry leaves to avoid tripping.

The thud from the bear’s front legs landing vibrated through the ground, and it moved towards the bodies, sniffing the air with each step. Emaciated from the lack of food, the bear didn’t appear to care about us as long as it took the bodies, the coydogs with almost half the essence remaining.

When we were fifty feet away, the bear charged like Dan said, and my muscles tensed. Dan looked every bit as nervous as I was, but he didn’t move. Just as the bear slowed, a gunshot rang through my ears. A bullet struck the animal’s leg, and Dan slapped my helmet.

“Grab Allie and run,” he shouted before taking off towards Chris.

I sprinted to Allie, who cursed in Chris’s direction while Dan yelled. We set them at different points with the rifles to cover us. Unfortunately, Chris shot too early.

“Let’s go,” I yelled. Pressing every particle I had into my body, I lifted Allie from the ground and rushed through the remaining woods. At nearly the same height and weight as me, Allie was awkward to carry. Thankfully, the bear didn’t chase for long.

I stopped at the dirt road and collapsed to my knees to catch my breath.

“That idiot. He just told everyone where we are.” Allie kicked the gravel on the road into a cloud of dust, upset by her brother’s action, and cursed until I stood up.

We walked two miles down the narrow street covered with fallen branches in silence. Neither of us had the energy to push through the frigid winds and talk about the hunt. Not when we’d go over everything again once we made it back to the abandoned house. One of the numerous homes that remained in the area.

Overgrown fields with rusted tractors. The region had no shortage of farms, and the farmhouse we found was a perfect spot to keep warm and search for beasts. The home’s pantry was mostly empty, but the basement had plenty of pickled food, and the garage full of tools kept Dan busy.

We circled the house, looking for any signs of movement, but there was nothing. I entered first, checked each room, including the cellar, then dropped onto the floral-patterned couch. Dan wasn’t back yet, but he would be soon.

Allie poured two glasses of water and handed me one. “We’ll need to leave tomorrow.”

I took a sip of the icy water, filtered from a brook behind the house. “Yeah.”

As safe as the house felt, we had to move on, anyway. The breach would open in a month and a half. Plenty of time, but we didn’t want to arrive late. Last-minute refugees would find themselves in the worst conditions. If the base existed, we wouldn’t have a way to blend into the community before things got bad.

Dan found a radio and listened for signals, but there was nothing. If the Albany fortress was there, they weren’t advertising themselves.

I finished my water, and a few minutes later, Dan walked into the house, dragging Chris behind him. Dan already gave him an earful judging by his demeanor, and Allie didn’t want to pile on. None of us were perfect; we all made mistakes. Chris couldn’t tell if the bear would attack. He only tried to protect us.

“Allie, you good?” Dan lowered his voice more than usual and ignored me.

“Yeah. Tell Chris to apologize with food.”

“I’ll put him to cook right away.”

I laid my head back and stared at the popcorn ceiling and brown fan, allowing my mind to go blank. Throughout the rest of the day, even during dinner, none of us talked. We were exhausted, not physically but mentally. Staying alert at all times wore us down.

“I’ll take first.” Dan prepared to sit in the recliner next to the woodstove. The night would be frigid without a fire.

“No. I’ll take it.” I tried second watch and hated it. Forced to wake in the middle of the night and fight against the stress of travel made the next day drag worse than not sleeping at all.

“Whatever. Don’t rely on that stupid helmet and make the rounds like I showed you. Wake me at one.” He walked down the beige-carpeted hall towards the room he selected across from Chris, who already settled for the night. Even if they gave him a hard time, Chris carried most of our supplies, keeping our arms free.

I zipped my coat and sat on the reclining couch, a flannel wool blanket over my lap kept my legs warm. Although the furniture was dusty, it was dangerously comfortable. Falling asleep would be easy if I wasn’t careful.

“He’s a good kid, ya know?” Allie sat next to me and brought her knees to her chest. “Chris didn’t have many friends, but he used to be so sweet. He didn’t mean to put us in danger.”

I didn’t think Chris was wrong, at least not the way they did. “No, I never said any—”

“We lived in Syracuse, the suburbs, anyways.” She pulled the recline lever on the other side and leaned back. “When the scabs first appeared, they locked the city down. Mom and Dad had a few months of rice, frozen vegetables, canned food, and stored gas. But it wasn’t enough.”

I didn’t know much about Syracuse other than it snowed a lot because of the lakes. I had never been there. The tuition was too high, so Lia and I didn't apply to the school.

“By the time the fifth breach opened, food riots were already happening, and Dad shot someone trying to break in.” She wiped her eyes with her sweater’s sleeve and sniffed to clear her nose. “Dad left when he started his transition. Mom stayed behind. When she turned and attacked… I think Chris still blames me for that.”

Losing a loved one hurt. Killing family was almost impossible. People thinking they could save their families were the reason so many scabs ran free. They locked them away, hoping to keep them safe until doctors found a cure. An uncontrolled scab couldn’t tell people apart. After they changed, they attacked anyone they saw.

“Five percent after the fourth breach, twenty percent after the fifth.” Allie turned towards me and tucked her hair behind her ear. “One out of four people. Dan reached us in time, and we’ve fled ever since.”

I didn’t know the exact numbers. Not long after Montreal, the base limited any information on the outside world. But 25 percent wasn’t too far off from what I remembered.

“Did you, how did you learn about Albany?” I turned over to my side and stared at her, the same way I did with Lia when we were young. “Did you hear anything about the south?”

She shook her head and pulled her legs tight. “Dan told us what he heard, so we went with that. But he only knows about the cliffs. He’s never been there.”

Although I knew where they were, I never made it either. “What about Greer?”

Allie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “We saw an army group, armored vehicles, and we headed in their direction, but they started shooting at each other. Maybe 20 soldiers died, and the others stripped their gear. We met people on the way, and they told us about him. About the split in the military. We’ve seen Greer’s people a few times. Never turned out good.”

I leaned my head back and thought about the fake soldiers at Lake George. I didn’t think so at the time, but they might have been part of Greer’s group. Before I asked another question, Allie’s breath became shallow, and she fell asleep. I grabbed a blanket from the rocking chair and covered her. She had a room like the rest of us, but sleeping alone was hard.

I pieced her world together with mine and felt embarrassed. I wanted to be the one that twisted a knife into Mike’s stomach, but I couldn’t even survive by myself. After seeing the real world, I wasn’t sure if anyone could. Nobody was whole anymore. I think Allie accepted that.

While she slept, I cycled the essence through my body—six grams with close to half being decay products that I had to filter out. After learning from Dan, removing the corruption would only take six or seven hours. I’d pee it out like a bad urinary tract infection.

Three grams would remain, with fifty percent to me and the rest split between Chris and Allie. Even if Allie and Chris couldn’t help right away, we didn’t want them to become liabilities. And we were relying on Allie for the fortress. The stronger she was, the more powerful her ability. At least we hoped things worked that way.

Once I finished my last round, I woke Dan, grabbed a blanket, and laid down next to Allie on the sofa. We’d have to move on and find our next safehouse. But I was too tired to worry about where we’d go. I put my helmet on and set the alarm. Five hours of sleep. That’s all I’d get. Five hours until another miserable day of travel began.