Spore Series | Book 5 | Torch Read online

  The infections started with a spot around his right nostril. A dot of wetness he easily wiped off, only to reappear a few hours later. The nurse had confirmed it, and so began the end of his life.

  Despite his doomed prognosis, he wouldn’t allow himself to wallow in self-pity. But he couldn’t sleep, and a restlessness stirred in his bones. He wanted to go out and do something while he still could.

  A knock snapped him out of his thoughts. Randy absently picked up his surgical mask where it lay crumpled next to him. He slid the elastic cords over his ears.

  “Come in!” he called out, raising his voice to be heard through the mask and door.

  The handle turned, and John slipped into the room. The man wore a similar mask as Randy, and his green eyes peered over the top. His reddish-brown hair appeared fluffy and clean, pushed back from his forehead like he used his fingers as a comb.

  The man wore new jeans and a button up flannel shirt. He looked more like the rugged teacher he professed to be than the leader of the Major. He stepped to a line of blue tape that marked the proper distance required to avoid the spore spread. “How’s it going, Randy? You don’t look sick at all.”

  “I don’t feel sick except for a sore throat. But we found some fungal growth earlier, so I’m definitely sick.”

  “That’s what they told me.”

  “There isn’t a cure.”

  “I know.”

  Randy’s eyes fell to the floor as a deep silence lingered between them. He didn’t have to prove himself anymore. It felt good to have earned John’s respect. He’d lived up to his promise to John and to his parents’ memory. He only wished he didn’t have to leave Tricia and Jenny so soon.

  “I’m sorry, man.” The leader’s voice broke. “I hate that this happened to you.”

  Randy lifted his eyes. “I just got out of the doghouse with everyone, too. I mean, I think I did.”

  “You’re definitely out of the doghouse. You might even be top dog.”

  They shared a shaky laugh, then John clasped his hands in front of him. “Is there anything I can do?”

  Randy tilted his head in thought. “There is, actually.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I want to do something before I go.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Something big. Something important. Something for the Major. I can’t stay in this room the whole time, you know. I can’t just sit here until I...” He let his words trail off, emotion welling.

  “I wouldn’t want to,” John replied with an understanding shake of his head. “Are you thinking of maybe a fishing trip or a diaper run?” His lips quivered with a smile. “You know we’ve got six pregnant women now. We’re going to need a lot of diapers soon.”

  “As honorable as that might be,” Randy said. “I’ll pass. I was thinking more like flying a jet over the Colony and strafing their Jeeps.”

  John laughed. “Give me a few hours. I’ll see if I can find something for you to do. Something really badass.”

  “You’re the coolest boss I ever had.”

  “Thanks. In the meantime, is there anything else I can get for you?”

  He gave John an imploring look. “Man, if you can find some old Colts games to put on the TV. I’d sure like to see one.”

  “Old Colts games? You want me to go house to house looking for VHS tapes some half-drunk fan recorded off Monday Night Football?”

  “Yep. But it doesn’t have to be the Colts. I’ll take anything at this point.”

  “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

  The man left the room, and Randy pulled his mask off and dropped it in his lap. He looked at the mask’s soft inner lining where a small spot of black had stained it.

  Chapter 4

  Jessie, Dayton, Ohio

  Bryant pulled the black RV into the subdivision on the west side of Dayton. It was a middle-class cluster of bi-level homes and ranches. Heavy, solid structures built in the ‘70s with vaulted ceilings and unique angles that easily distinguished one home from the other.

  “It’s right up here,” Jessie said from the passenger seat, pointing to a basic house sitting off the street. She stood and moved toward the rear of the bus. “I’ll be back.”

  “Do you want me to come?”

  She thought about it for a moment as she stared at her childhood home. She started to say “no,” but her breath caught in her chest, and she released it with a heavy sigh. “I may actually need the support.”

  “I’ll come.” Bryant put the vehicle in park and turned toward the living room. Dex and Weissman sat in a pair of bucket seats watching a movie on the wall display. The two were still pale-faced and weak but getting better. They always had a spit cup nearby, and the cabin was constantly filled with the sounds of hacking and coughing.

  Despite the noise, Fiona lay sleeping against Weissman’s chest. It had to be hell trying to breathe with Asphyxia in his lungs and a child laying on him.

  “Weissman, you don’t have to let her lay on you. Put her someplace.”

  “It’s okay,” the soldier said. “She reminds me of my little girl.”

  Jessie nodded, announcing, “We’ll be right back.” She followed Bryant through the large living room and into the utility room, complete with a computer terminal, a storage locker full of high-powered weaponry, and other emergency supplies.

  They stepped into a clean room with racks of Tyvek suits and protective apparel, but they didn’t need it. They’d already been infected and treated with the serum. They passed through into the decontamination chamber and stood by a set of stairs leading down to a door.

  Bryant adjusted his grip on his carbine, and Jessie checked the weapon tucked into her rear waistband. They shared a look of affirmation, then she placed her hand on a security reader next to the door. It popped open, and the pair stepped down into the hot, summer heat. They moved slowly, carefully, looking around before they ventured too far from safety.

  Jessie pulled a control device from her pocket and clicked a button. The door shut behind them with barely a sound.

  Her eyes lingered on the sleek-looking RV. It was a beauty, on the inside and out. It had taken Dex a few minutes to figure out the communication system, and they’d contacted Kim to find her well ahead of them on the road.

  “Which one is yours?” Bryant asked.

  “This way,” Jessie said. She led him up the cracked sidewalk to a ranch home with two cars in the driveway.

  She stood looking at the black sedan and an older model SUV parked side-by-side. Memories of how they smelled flooded back to her. The SUV’s old cloth seats. The scent of clip-on air freshener her mother attached to the vents.

  Allowing those thoughts to wash over her, she stepped around the vehicles and into the yard. She walked beneath a wide pear tree and up to the front porch.

  A cloud of gnats lingered around the stoop, and she waved her hand to brush them away. Then it struck her.

  “Look, Bryant. Bugs.”

  The soldier shook his head as he walked through the annoying swarm. “I never thought I’d say this, but I love gnats.”

  “I think it’s a good sign,” she said with hope in her voice. “Nature is fighting back.”

  She swatted the bugs for ten seconds before she realized she was stalling. With a shake of her head, she pulled open the storm door and faced the old faded wooden door she’d grown up with. It held three rectangular windows offset from one another.

  Jessie steeled herself for the worst-case scenario and raised on her toes to look inside. She could see all the way through their living room and dining room to the back of the house.

  Her mother had always kept things tidy. She folded their throw covers neatly and stacked them at the end of the couch. She placed a single afghan blanket on the recliner. She insisted they keep their dining room table clean, and she got angry if anyone left so much as a jacket or mail package on it.

  As Jessie looked on, it was clear to her the place had not se
en her mother’s touch in some time.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Looks like someone has been sleeping on the couch,” she said with a frown. “There’s clutter all over the dining room table. It’s a mess.”

  Bryant shrugged. “Okay, my apartment on a normal day.”

  “You don’t understand my mother.” Jessie shook her head. “She wouldn’t allow that mess. She fought with Dad about it all the time. She fought with everyone. When she said cleanliness was next to godliness, she meant it. She expected us to do our chores, end of story. We never skipped or tried to get out of them. My brother and I decided early on it was easier to just do them and move on with your day.”

  “Smart mom.”

  Jessie stared inside for another five seconds. “I haven’t told you guys anything about my family.”

  Bryant peered over her shoulder through the next highest rectangle. “I was always here to listen.”

  “I didn’t want to go into it,” she said. “We had so much else to worry about. Fiona. The serum. Burke. I could face the end of the world fine, but I couldn’t face finding my family dead. Being here brings back memories...” Her words trailed off. She shook her head and turned away, stepping off the porch.

  He caught her arm and held her firm. “Where are you going?”

  Jessie reeled on Bryant with fiery eyes. “They’re dead. I’m sure of it.”

  “Hey, I’d give anything to walk up to my parents’ front door right now. I’d love to know if they’re dead or alive. To be a hundred percent sure. But they’re back in Virginia Beach.”

  “You still have Melissa.”

  “Yes, and I’m grateful beyond belief. I might even get a chance to see her. But even if I couldn’t. Even if I’d never talked to her again, I still would have wanted to know for sure. To gather her possessions and put her to rest, physically and in my heart. No matter how hard it hurt.”

  Jessie gave a halfhearted effort to escape his grasp, but he squeezed her arm and held firm.

  “If you walk away now, you’ll regret it. I’m telling you.”

  Her eyes flicked to the driveway where she’d drawn hopscotch squares with her best friend, Tenika when they were girls. Her gaze slid to the pear tree her father had planted the day she was born. They’d grown tall and strong together, and she’d climbed the low branches well into her teen years.

  The back patio was where her father had set up their first telescope. As an amateur astronomer, he’d encouraged Jessie and her brother, Ellis, to look at the stars from a scientific standpoint. He inspired them to gaze beyond small town Dayton and strive for bigger things.

  “I’ll go first and check the rooms,” Bryant offered. “I won’t let you see anything that might upset you.”

  After a pause, Jessie relented. The soldier was right. She couldn’t walk away from her childhood home without at least stepping inside. She had to know what had happened to her family and put them to rest before she moved on.

  “Thanks.”

  Bryant reached out and tried the knob, finding it locked. He put his shoulder against it experimentally, drawing a crack from the frame. He looked back at her, and Jessie nodded that it was okay.

  With his wounded hip, kicking the door was out of the question. Instead, the big soldier threw his shoulder into it. The frame cracked more, bending inward and allowing the door to come open a quarter of an inch.

  He smashed it one last time, and the wood finally snapped. He fell forward before something caught around the door’s bottom edge. He kicked and shoved until he could slip inside. Then he bent and picked up a towel someone had jammed beneath it.

  He lifted his finger to his mouth in a shushing motion. “It looks like they tried to block the spore clouds. Someone might be alive in here.”

  Jessie shook her head but wouldn’t get her hopes up. She’d been in New York City. Thousands of people had stuffed towels beneath their doors, but that hadn’t helped them one bit.

  She pushed through the narrow space and stepped into her house, expecting to be assaulted by the stench of lingering corpse rot and unfamiliar quiet. The family pet, a six-year-old Rat Terrier, would normally be barking her head off, wagging her little behind and running circles around Jessie.

  “No Dinky,” Jessie frowned.

  “Dinky?”

  “My mom and dad’s Rat Terrier.”

  “Oh.”

  Jessie stepped into the middle of the room to stand in front of the couch. She wrinkled her nose. “It doesn’t smell like death.”

  “Okay, that’s a good thing.”

  As she’d seen from outside, covers lay half thrown on the couch and tennis shoes and clothes cluttered the floor. It looked like a homeless person had checked in at the Talby Hotel, messed things up, and left without paying.

  Bryant stepped through the dining room with his rifle barrel pointed down. Jessie glanced at the pictures on the mantle before turning toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

  She stepped to the hallway and peered to the end. A bathroom lay off to the left, and her parents’ room was one door past that. Her bedroom was the first door on the right, followed by her brother’s at the very end.

  She crept past the basement door and continued toward her bedroom. Maybe her parents hadn’t been home when the spores hit. A friend could have driven them someplace, she supposed.

  If that were the case, she’d pick up a few personal items and move on. They couldn’t afford to stay long. Their lives depended on getting back on the road.

  Her footsteps creaked on the old wooden floor. She paused at her bedroom door, taking in the pure silence of the place. It wasn’t right, but it was reality. And it was better to see it for herself and to know the truth.

  She put her hand on the knob, glancing into her brother’s room at the end of the hall.

  Jessie froze.

  Had something moved in there? Had it been a trick of the light?

  She paused a moment more before turning the knob and pushing open the door. Flicking on a flashlight, she shined it around the room, smiling at the astrology posters hanging up. The light drifted across her pictures of her and her father at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the small shelf full of old science fiction books.

  She’d left it neat and undisturbed, and her mother kept it that way for when she came home. She stepped inside, but movement exploded from the end of the hall.

  “Get off her stuff!” someone yelled as they charged at her. It was a well-muscled but thin man, swinging a weapon overhand at her in the narrow hallway. She caught a glimpse of an aluminum bat before it struck the ceiling with a thud.

  Jessie threw up her arms to block it, but Bryant was suddenly there. He shoved her into her bedroom as he pushed past her. She heard a gasp and a grunt, and something slammed against the wall. When she rushed back out, she saw Bryant had the man pinned to it with his rifle raised near the man’s ear.

  She’d recognized him already before being shoved out of the way. He had the same slender build as her brother, but his beard had grown out scraggly. His bushy hair looked wild.

  “Ellis?” Jessie rested her hand on the soldier’s arm to restrain him. “Is that you?”

  The man stopped fighting and stared down at her with a wide-eyed look of disbelief.

  “Jessie?”

  “Yeah. It’s me.”

  Bryant looked back and forth between the two before he stepped away, dropping the man to his feet on the carpet. Jessie threw her arms around her brother and hugged him tight. She gasped in relief, tears tracking down her cheeks.

  Ellis returned the gesture but with a gentler squeeze. “Whoa, sis. Don’t kill me, now.”

  Something bothered her about the situation, and she pushed her brother away and held him at arm’s length. She tilted her head in confusion as she studied his face. “I’m glad to see you, bro. But where’s your mask?”

  *

  “I just never needed one,” Ellis said, and he popped a potato chip in his
mouth and crunched down.

  The three sat around the kitchen table having waters and sharing a bag of nacho flavored tortilla snacks. Jessie held Dinky in her lap with her cheek pressed against the little beast’s head. His rear wagged and dipped as he whined and sucked up all the attention he could get.

  She hadn’t stopped crying since they’d found her brother. And if Dinky hadn’t been running interference, she’d still be hugging Ellis to death.

  “The spores came when I was at the park with Jasmine,” he said. “The weird dusty clouds rolled in on the wind, and just like that people were running for their lives, choking, and dying.”

  “What about Jasmine? Did she...” Her words drifted, leaving the implication hanging there.

  Her brother nodded sadly, eyes darting away. “Yeah. It got her, too. And there I was standing there like a fool. I guess there wasn’t anyone left to notice.”

  “I’m sorry about J. She was a good girl.”

  “Yeah, she was.” Ellis made a noise and then a shiver ran through his entire body. “Anyway, I came home and found Mom and Dad.”

  “Where?”

  “Out back, working in the yard like usual. Trying to get some kind of monster tomatoes to grow or something. You know them.”

  Jessie nodded as fresh tears flowed.

  “And... that’s where I put them.” Ellis’s tone dropped. “Back in the garden where they always wanted to be.”

  She stared at her brother. Her chest grew tighter and then relaxed. It tightened again in a cycle of heartache that never ended. She was sweating, and chills coursed up and down her arms.

  She clung to Dinky for warmth and reassurance.

  “I still don’t know what the stuff was except for what they told us on the news. Something about a fungus or chemical sprays that caused it.” Ellis shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter what it was. We did it to ourselves this time.”

  Jessie glanced at Bryant who’d left himself out of the conversation, allowing the siblings to catch up. She turned back to her brother. “I’m part of the team working on a cure. We’ve been in Yellow Springs the past week, but we’re moving on to Arkansas to a facility there.” She leaned across the table and touched her brother’s arm. “I think you should come with us. You have a natural immunity to the spores. You could be part of the solution.”