Pestilence Rising Read online

  Chapter 8

   

  I went to the window to see what was going on in the yard. At the front of the house, clouds darkened the sky once more, bringing with them a misting rain. This time, Gideon brought a bigger truck and a van packed with eleven enforcers in SWAT gear - helmets and all.

  I was more interested in his ride - an SUV that looked like ours on steroids. It was black like every other Center vehicle but had a push bar mounted to the front and tires made for off-roading. In fact, he had driven it over the creek at the base of the driveway. That truck plus a couple of the guns the Center guys carried would assist our escape and defense efforts considerably.

  “I want that truck.” I told Celeste.

  “We should work on surviving first.” She said.

  Gideon waved his hand around in a circle and shouted for his men to surround the house. They followed orders quickly, with the synchronization of well-trained soldiers. A pair with rifles hung back. Nigel ordered one to the tree with the broken swing. He sent the second soldier back to the van, where the guy climbed up the roof.

  “They'll want you alive, so they can take you back to the Center for study. They don't need me. Maybe you should try to get out alone. That way, if I don't make it, Michael still has someone searching for him.”

  “Your protection is of equal importance to my mission. I will not leave you behind.”

  “Alright. Those two guys, one in the tree and the other on the van, they're snipers. They shoot long-range. Their aim is probably really good. Make sure you don't give them a clear shot. Stay out of sight as much as possible.”

  She understood.

  “The other men appear to be wearing bulletproof vests and helmets. If you punch them, unless you can hit hard enough to break through Kevlar, they won't feel a thing. They have guns, too, as do Gideon and Nigel. We can't take them all at once, so I'm thinking maybe we could draw a few of them into the house at a time and we'll have more of a chance.”

  “That sounds like a very good plan.”

  “Thanks. Hours of virtual military ops have honed my battle strategy skills.”

  “I don't know what that means.”

  “It's probably just a really good line of bullshit, anyway.” I carefully avoided giving the snipers a clear line of sight to my skull as I opened the window to address Gideon, “That pretty suit of yours is going to get ruined in the rain.”

  “All the more reason to let me in and not make a scene.”

  “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin.”

  “Come on, Hunter. The front door is already open, for Christ's sake. You aren't holed up in a fortress.”

  “You should ravage them all. We can make a run for the truck.” Celeste suggested.

  “I can't. A house down the block is too close. Remember the enforcer outside the motel? Who knows how many other people I affected. I don't know what the range is. I can concentrate it on a single person if I get physical contact.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It's a theory I'm working.”

  “Hunter.” Gideon called from down in the yard.

  I forgot my own advice for a second and turned to the window. A shot pierced the glass. I dropped to the floor.

  “Holy shit. They aren't messing around.”

  A dart filled with an emerald green substance had landed on the bed.

  “It's a tranquilizer dart.” I explained to Celeste. I'd seen them before.

  On a couple of occasions when I set the trap for a fellow anomaly, Gideon's team would arrive before the webcam turned off. Those were usually the bad cases, a ravager like me or anyone he thought might bolt at the first sign they'd been made. When a person was hit by a dart like that, any threat they posed was neutralized immediately.

  Celeste reached for it.

  “Don't touch it.” I stopped her, but then I had an idea. I wrapped a scarf Michael bought for Sarah around the needle and stuck it in my pocket. “That might come in handy.” I returned to the window, “Tell your boy he missed.”

  Gideon cocked the pistol in his hand and yelled, “Tear gas!”

  Windows on the first floor broke. I ran to the top of the stairs, saw smoke pouring through the first floor and toward me. Like a fool, I covered my face with my shirt and plunged into the fog. Celeste went after me without hesitation.

  “Try not to breathe.” I told her.

  Gideon ordered his men, “Bring them to me but not before you've broken a couple of bones.”

  I have to say - I wasn't feeling the love.

  Celeste disappeared into the fog. I slipped into the kitchen just as two men came in through the broken front door. I held my breath, picked up a dining room chair by the back and held it up in anticipation of the first enemy. I would have to hit him and run to avoid getting hit by bullets or darts or whatever the hell they were packing.

  Helmet plus goggles came into view. I swung the chair at his face like I was trying to hit a home run, and he fell backwards into the man behind him with a shout.

  I ducked into the fog, covering my face again and stumbling blindly through the house. My eyes were on fire. I vowed to snatch the next pair of goggles I got close to as I tripped over furniture and corners where the walls met. I could barely breathe.

  The thud of a falling body in the living room shook the floor. Celeste was doing her thing. Earlier I'd noticed that the rooms on the first floor were laid out around the staircase. The rear section of the house held the utility room, a pantry, a mudroom, all leading to the back of the living room.

  I went that direction only to have the handle of a gun connect with my face. I threw all of my weight into my attacker. We fell, me on top of him to the floor, at the feet of another enforcer. I remembered the tranq dart in my pocket. The second soldier took aim. I scrambled from the first man down, planting a solid kick to his head. I lurched forward, dart extended like a knife. I twisted from the path of the shot I knew was coming. The muzzle flashed. My needle found flesh at the base of his neck and he fell unconscious, almost immediately.

  His gun dropped from his hand. I wasn't sure if I could see well enough to shoot, but I grabbed it anyway and fired at the guy I'd just kicked in the head. Blood sprayed from his arm. No Kevlar there, I guess. And the soldiers in the house had bullets instead of darts. Very inconsistent.

  I snatched the goggles and mask off the guy closest to me and pulled them over my face. It didn't reverse the effects of the tear gas, but the burning waned well enough that I could almost see. I stayed low in the fog, moving into the living room.

  Celeste was a dark blur in the haze. A soldier grabbed her from behind. I fired at his back. I doubt the bullet found its way through or around his vest, but he went down just the same. She transitioned into a roundhouse kick with the grace of a ballerina. It found its mark, an enforcer I couldn't quite make out. Helmet plus mask flew, a shadow through the gray. She followed with a devastating upper cut.

  As I approached her from behind, she swung. Her arm stopped inches from my face.

  “You should not be so sneaky.”

  “Grab their guns.”

  She took two pistols lying on the floor and held them up. I gave her a five-second lesson in what I knew about firing a gun, which wasn't much beyond what I'd learned from movies and video games.

  A man moved in from the front of the living room, a second from the back. We couldn't see them yet, but their boots fell heavy on the floor. My partner and I stood back-to-back. I fired into the fog, where I thought I detected movement. Two shots from my target's gun flew wild, sinking into walls, as he collapsed.

  Celeste and I dove to either side as the second man approached from the front of the house. He appeared above me. I kicked him hard in his left knee, and Celeste pounced from the other direction, shooting him point-blank as she dragged him to the floor.

  All of a sudden, the house went quiet with the exception of rain on the roof and the porch.

  “How many was that?” She kept
her volume to just above a whisper.

  “I counted eleven coming out of the van. Two of them stayed outside, so nine came in. Gideon was still out there last time I saw him. Nigel, too.”

  “What's going on in there? Hunter? None of my men are responding. Would you like to explain why?”

  We positioned ourselves under the front window. The tear gas was starting to dissipate there. I removed the goggles and mask. We checked our ammunition. I had two bullets left. Celeste had a half clip in one gun and a single shot in the other. I tossed her nearly empty pistol aside.

  “Do you want me to shoot them?” She asked.

  Gideon was an asshole, but I still felt weird about killing him. I followed his orders for years. The idea of him not being around anymore was surprisingly disconcerting to me. He was a fixture, a given.

  “We should concentrate on the snipers first. Although, I don't know how that's going to work. Their range is farther. Their aim is better.”

  “I'm tired of standing in this rain.” Gideon's voice strained with irritation, “Where are my men?”

  “Come in and find them.” I would give him a warm welcome.

  “How about I burn the house down with you in it? That sounds like a better idea.”

  Celeste wiped her brow with the back of her arm, “We need to move.”

  I popped up in the window and squeezed off a couple of rounds at where I thought Gideon might be standing. A dart breezed through the window to plant itself in the floor.

  I told Celeste, “I have an idea. The only way to get them to back off is to give them what they want. Have they seen you?”

  “I don’t believe they have.”

  “Okay, for all they know, you could be dead or gone. We know you heal fast. What about drugs? Do you think you could be immune to chemicals?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I'm going to give myself up -”

  She put her hand on my arm, “You can't do that.”

  “I am burning this house down in 30 seconds. Nigel, bring me the blowtorch from the van.” Gideon said loud enough for us to hear.

  “There's no other way. I'll surrender. Wait until you see an opportunity and then attack. Their guard will be down once they have me. Hide when they come in to search the house, so you can ambush them.”

  “What if he kills you instead of letting the snipers shoot you with the darts?”

  “Game over. I don't see any other option. If this works, just make sure you don't kill Gideon. I need to talk to him.”

  “This is a very bad plan.”

  “I'm not exactly fond of it, either. Let me know if you think of a better one.” I rose and moved over to the section of wall next to the front door. “This is not going to be fun.” I considered running out the back, into the flooded farm field where they might have to get off their asses and chase me.

  Michael, you had so better be worth this shit. I put my hands up and stepped into the doorframe.

  “Where's the girl?” Gideon asked.

  “Dead.”

  “Put him down.” He commanded and I swear, before he even finished those three words, I was kissing the porch. The world went black.