Chapter 25

Threads from injected worms linked Dan’s mind to his soul. The same ability that destroyed him helped the repair process. Although I wasn’t done, he had near control of his body.

Combining my weaving ability with the worms’ threads, I created fragile bridges until healing finished. The soul had parts I hadn’t touched on before. Layers were easy to figure out, but I understood little outside of that. If the cliff fortress existed, hopefully, someone could answer my questions.

With the connections gradually forming, Dan could manage his body, but talking was a way off. Chris would no longer have to carry him, and Dan gained partial control over his ability. We’d need it.

Even though we hadn’t dealt with trackers for over a day, we couldn’t assume they wouldn’t come. I didn’t think we’d be free of future problems either. We needed someone else, someone more skilled than me.

“We should go here.” Allie drew a line with her finger down a side street connecting two larger routes. “From where we are, it’s three miles to this road, then 7 miles to this intersection. After that, we’re set.”

Allie mapped our route the entire time after we escaped, which allowed us to travel around Schenectady and the city of Albany itself. Most roads went through open farmland and light forests. Not once had we come across people, mutated animals, or scabs—a rare patch of luck.

“There’s no way to the cliffs from there.” I didn’t see any route or side roads leading to the fortress, but the map didn’t list every minor street, so it was hard to tell.

“Gardner road to route 156. We hike the rest. A mile or less.” Allie hummed her words like the day I met her, and she packed her bags.

We hadn’t seen signs of the military, but she was optimistic. Ten miles of road and a mile of forest. We could probably make it before the sun set, but wandering the woods close to dark wasn’t smart. Which meant we’d need a new place to sleep before searching in the morning.

With no better ideas, I nodded, and Chris loaded Dan with our supplies. He wasn’t able to fight, but he made for a good pack mule. Chris enjoyed the company. Dan’s eyes let us know the feeling wasn’t mutual.

Nearly 7:30 am, and it still wasn’t fully bright. December 2nd. One day from the fortress, 19 days from the breach. We decided if the fortress existed, but collapsed, we’d dig our way in somehow. Surviving in the open wasn’t possible. Not when the Essence beasts woke, and mutated animals transformed.

I opened the barn door and searched the area. Without Dan, the job fell to me. I was a poor replacement. Thick forests or open fields—unless it was paved, I sounded like a kid popping bubble wrap wherever I stepped.

Thankfully, there was nothing around from what I could tell. Chris left with Allie, and Dan followed close behind. That we hadn’t come across anything in two days scared me, and my body twitched from the tension building. If that was how Dan felt the entire time, he hid it well.

There were no street signs left standing on most roads, but thankfully Gardner’s road was the first intersection we’d encounter. It wasn’t large, but we wouldn’t have trouble finding it.

Snapped power lines that would have been dangerous when electricity ran through them were a nuisance to step over on the wide state route. There weren’t many cars down rural streets, and other than our footsteps, tree groans as dark clouds rolled in were the only sounds to break the dreary silence.

Unfortunately, the groans became louder, and the weather worsened.

Arctic winds blew from the northeast, and the temperature dropped rapidly. The first drops of rain fell, and we hurried our pace, stopping only for a moment to layer on heavier clothes. Not long after, sprinkles turned to drizzle, and drizzle turned to sleet.

By the time we found Gardner’s road thirty minutes later, the air was well below freezing, and we were in an all-out blizzard. A mild morning turned into a raging winter storm within an hour. We needed to find cover. Three miles back to a drafty barn, or a risky path forward. I scouted ahead.

Allie, Chris, and Dan huddled below a blue spruce, and Chris provided warmth. I left and ran through the nasty weather. Strong winds created snow devils and built three-foot hurdles. Charging through became difficult, but I found a driveway leading to a house less than half a mile away—a house with a problem.

A two-story colonial protected from the wind by large trees, stocked with seven issues. Equilibrium level signatures, but seven nonetheless. Scabs or Greer’s people, both were a possibility, and I had to make a decision, one that affected more than me. I didn’t like the responsibility.

Was it possible for another person to have an ability like Dan or have the same training as the man in Waterford? It was possible. Were they armed? Probably. Would we freeze to death if the temperature dropped lower than what Essence and Chris could handle? Definitely.

The scent of burning wood penetrated the wind and made things easier. The house had heat and the barn didn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was the smartest thing to do, but I decided. The temperature continued to drop, and there was no telling how low it would go. I would try to take the house, and if I failed, I would use the blizzard’s cover to escape.

White with black shutters, I circled the building for any signs of traps, but the snow made it impossible to tell. Slowly, I approached the rear and looked for ways to enter. Boarded windows and a white door that blended into the vinyl siding.

Taking my mace, I banged three times on the back door and jumped away.

“Who’s there!” A loud shout and the boom of something hitting the doorframe. “Eric, go check.”

“Huh? Why don’t you check?” A second man said. A deeper voice than the first, unwilling to step into a dangerous situation. “Probably just the wind, old man.”

Two people talking. They didn’t sound like handlers with scabs; they were regular humans. Scared, and like me, wondering what to do next.

“If someone’s there, you better answer before I put holes through that door.” The first voice threatened to shoot, which meant he was in line with the door, and unsurprisingly, they armed themselves.

The type of gun mattered, though. I was no expert, but it was probably a rifle or handgun if they carried it with them. It was unlikely that they lived in the house and had a larger weapon, but it wasn’t impossible. Reasoning with people worked best. That’s what Allie always told Dan. I took a breath and tried what she said.

“Don’t shoot. We just need a place until the storm ends,” I shouted as loud as I could and didn’t have to wait long for a response.

“Then you better find one somewhere else!”

It didn’t look like reasoning was going to work, and who knew how far the next house was. Vest, helmet, and hardened skin—I’d survive a gunshot or two. I wouldn’t hurt them, but I wouldn’t allow them to send us to our deaths.

I didn’t bother saying any more and ran back. The heavy snow clung to one side of bent the spruce branches and made a small pocket where Allie, Chris, and Dan escaped most of the wind.

“I found a place. Better than the barn.”

“Thank God.” Allie jumped from the bed of needles, hugging herself and shaking. She looked as if she would freeze solid at any moment.

We tied the rope around our waists and pressed through the driving winds. Daylight or not, the blizzard was so intense it became impossible to see at times.

By the time we made it within 100 feet of the house, the storm had caked each of us in snow and left us mentally exhausted. No matter how strong we became, there was always something to counteract strength.

Swirling gusts didn’t care how powerful we were; they only cared about weight.

Before I went, I had them hide behind a large oak tree and told them about our situation. Greer’s people or not, we needed a way in, and I didn’t think they could help me. More of us rushing a door would only make things harder.

“Amy, just talk to them, ok?” Allie grabbed my jacket sleeve and gave me the same advice she did to Dan.

Dan’s stare said exactly what he thought. I wanted Allie’s way to work, but that probably wasn’t possible. We didn’t have her ability or her personality. Leading made you dirty your hands with brutal decisions. Following kept you clean and let you pretend they never happened.

Sometimes, leaders had to become a bad person, and I was tired of leading.

After promising to try, Dan stood ahead of Allie and prepared for the worst. The blinding snow made it easy to cross the yard unnoticed, and nobody bothered to guard the front of the house. When I reached the red door, I filled my lungs with frigid air and tried reasoning once more.

“Open the door!” I shouted my request as loud as possible, then let them know how bad our situation was. “Or I’ll open it myself.”

“Fuck off!”

For some reason, Allie’s approach didn’t work. They wouldn’t let us in, and they had weapons, but I still didn’t want to hurt them. I pulled my knife from its sheath, strengthened my arms and legs, turned my night-vision on, and charged.

My first kick broke the locks, and two wild shots hit whatever was blocking the door; one more and I was inside. A large room with five people peaking down the stairwell to my right, and two men with rifles directly across from me. I lunged towards them with my knife before they took another shot, and screams from the second floor erupted.

“Stop!” A young girl ran down the stairs, and a woman pulled her back. “Please stop!”

Before anyone moved, I knocked the men to the floor and flashed my blade as a warning. Leading turned me into a bad person.

“I won’t. I won’t hurt you if you stay still.” After taking their rifles, I sheathed my knife and yelled for Dan. A few minutes later, they stomped the snow from their boots and entered the house.

“Hello.” Allie hummed a greeting and waved once she walked inside, then turned to me with a confused look when the snow blindness faded.

I stepped back but kept my eyes locked on the stairwell. “They don’t want us here.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, mumbling something about Dan, and moved towards the group, smiling. “I’m Allie, the girl in the helmet is Amy, and those two are Chris and Dan. Maybe everyone can relax, ok?”

Dan clenched his fists, and Allie smacked his arm. Chris didn’t seem to care, and I watched the second-floor in case they hid weapons. A tense standoff for absolutely no reason.

“You barge in, then tell us to relax. Is that a joke?” Perhaps in his sixties or seventies, the older man yelled across the room while Chris blocked the door shut with a sofa chair.

I moved to speak, but Allie pulled me away. “Sorry. She’s actually really nice, but it’s freezing outside. She was just worried cause I’m pregnant.”

Dan’s neck nearly snapped off, and Chris stumbled behind me. If not for Allie’s pinch to my arm, I would have questioned what happened during their trip from Syracuse.

Allie rubbed her stomach while looking down and smiled. With a warm glow on her face that lit the room, she sat at the end of a now empty couch. “So once the storm ends, we’ll be out of your way.”

Outside of Chris and Dan, who hadn’t figured it out, the mood lightened immediately. It was nice to see people still cared about something, and hard to imagine how they made it so far. Two grade-school boys, a teenage girl, a woman in her late thirties, and an older woman. Most likely a family that somehow survived intact.

“Dad, Eric, everyone, let’s calm down.” The younger woman, who looked like she was beautiful at one time, held her hands up and turned in my direction. “Just a misunderstanding, that’s all.”

I nodded my head and stood next to Allie. Dan and Chris dropped their bags, and she picked through them, humming until she found what she was looking for. Five cans of soup, three cans of nasty chili, three cans of red beans, and five cans of turkey meat.

“Shut up Dan.” Allie stacked the cans on the floor, and Dan’s body seized, clearly pissed about how she read his mind. “You know, it’s not bad when you mix it.”

Allie slop. That’s what Chris affectionately called it. It was a lot of food for the four of us, but it wasn’t much for eleven. That was the problem with large groups. Still, sharing a meal brought people together.

“Tada.” Allie opened her arms with a smile, and nobody cared about what happened before.

It was December 2nd, 19 days until the sixth breach. Nineteen days until we found out how bad things would become. And although we were over a week late, Allie decided it was time to celebrate Thanksgiving.