The Death: The Complete Trilogy Page 18

  Rivers turned to Frank and said, “Spread the word to be on the lookout for Daryl Jenks. If you find him, bring him to me immediately.”

  “Yes, sir,” Frank answered and walked away.

  “And Frank, put some eyes on the Jenks property. I want to know what’s going on there. He has some hardware that I want.”

  Day 192

  April 11, 2021

  Jenks Residence, Reed, Illinois

  Devin shot up from the large recliner chair and looked down at his hand, which was wet. He wiped it and focused his blurry eyes to find Brando sitting next to him.

  Brando’s excitement grew when Devin woke up, and he did his best to wag his tail. Standing on three legs, he whined and tucked his head under Devin’s hand.

  “Hey, boy, did you hear something, or do you just want some love?”

  Brando nuzzled more, showing his real interest was getting attention.

  “Oh, I see, you want to be petted.”

  “Hungry?” Tess asked from the kitchen.

  “What? Um, what time is it?” he asked. The last thing he remembered was looking out the window, then darkness, or at least so he thought.

  “It’s six twenty,” Tess answered as she began to prepare some fresh eggs.

  “I guess I was tired.”

  “Bri said you didn’t move after taking over.”

  Devin stood, stretched and walked into the kitchen. He pulled a chair out and sat down. The muscles in his back, legs and arms were still sore from the run he made the other day carrying Deborah. In fact, his body hadn’t truly recovered from the running, hiking and fighting he had been engaged in for over a week straight. Never in his life had things been so up and down. This was worse than right after The Death broke out.

  “I’m tired and sore,” he moaned.

  “Suck it up,” Tess joked.

  “Listen to you, drill instructor. Um, can I ask you something?”

  “Oh no, not another BS question about my politics.”

  “No, not that at all, I’m past that. I was wondering what happens when we get to your place and there’s no message or note. Have you thought about that?”

  “No, I don’t think about it. Travis said he was leaving me something, and I trust him completely. Unless the place burned down, it will be there.”

  “Who’s to say someone didn’t take it?”

  “They didn’t; it’s hidden in our secret spot. It’ll be there,” she said as she stopped cooking the eggs and looked at Devin.

  “Good, let’s hope that it gives us some answers.”

  “It will. It might not give us all the answers, but we’ll know more than we know now.”

  “When were you and Travis getting married?”

  “June 3rd is our wedding day; I’m hoping we can still make it happen. Of course, it won’t be the white wedding I was expecting, and the honeymoon certainly won’t happen, but if there’s one thing I want to do, it’s marry that man. I love him and want nothing more in this world than to find him and become his wife.”

  “Am I invited to the reception?” Devin joked.

  She turned back to the range, turned the gas off, and placed the eggs on three plates. With a thought at the front of her mind, she turned around and spit it out, “You know getting married means more now than it did before. It holds something special, much greater than before all of this. I know this sounds corny, but the human race now rests on us having babies and growing out of the ashes.”

  “But didn’t you say that giving birth is difficult?”

  “Yeah, but we can’t give up; I won’t give up, ever. Mr…what’s your last name? God, I can’t believe I don’t know your last name.”

  “Chase.”

  “Mr. Chase, as you get to know me more, you’ll see that I’m really an optimist. Don’t laugh, but we can turn this all around. It won’t be easy, obviously, but I believe in the end, we can prevail.”

  “Speaking of politics, ever thought about running? Nice speech.”

  She tossed a hand towel at him and finished, “No, really. I won’t quit, that’s why I, now we, keep heading to North Carolina. If I thought otherwise, I would never have left my parents’ house.”

  “Tess, you’re an impressive person, you truly are. You inspire me, you really do,” Devin said.

  “I wasn’t looking for validation.”

  “I wasn’t giving it to you. I’ve changed, and I credit some of that change to you, and a part of my change requires me to be honest to the people I care about.”

  Tess looked at him and cocked her head affectionately.

  “We’ve only known each other for a short time, but I trust you with my life. I just hope that I can be the person you’d feel the same way for, in a platonic way, if you know what I mean.”

  “I’ve seen the change in you, and I can say the same thing. We’re a team.”

  Devin smiled hearing that.

  Tess turned back around and served the eggs. After delivering a plate to Brianna, who sat on watch from the front porch, she came back and sat down.

  The conversation she and Devin had minutes ago made her feel good and hopeful despite the realities of their current situation, which she needed to have clarity on.

  “Dev, how long are we going to look for them? And don’t say as long as it takes.”

  “I thought you were an optimist?”

  “With a streak of realism tossed in there.”

  “It’s a good question, but leaving now just doesn’t seem right, call it a gut thing.”

  “You know that the mayor will be making a visit, and Turner’s people will eventually show up. We’re lucky no one’s shown up yet. I just think we’re risking everything.”

  “Listen, if you and Brianna want to go, go. I’ll stay around a couple more days, then catch up with you.”

  Tess exhaled heavily. His answer was not the one she wanted to hear. It wasn’t that she wanted to stop looking for Hudson or Daryl, but the realities told her that if they hadn’t found them by now, there was a good chance they were already dead, and all they were doing was risking themselves by looking for ghosts.

  “I won’t leave you here, but let’s give this thing a drop dead time, please,” she put forth for him to consider.

  Devin heard everything she was saying and agreed, but he also felt an allegiance to Daryl for helping Tess when they needed help the most. To him it was the honorable thing to do, and the word honor was something he had mocked in the past, but now he clung to it and revered it. He did know, though, that he couldn’t risk Tess or Brianna just so he could look forever; she was right.

  “Two more days, we leave in two days, deal?”

  “Deal, but since we’re going to be here, let’s figure out how to use that machine gun.”

  Denver International Airport

  With a straight edge in her hand, Lori traced a three-inch line that represented the top of the carved granite rail for the new capital’s balcony. She leaned back and looked at the completed sketch, but her scrunched nose gave the expression that she wasn’t happy with it. Taking the large eraser, she rubbed out the line, added the ends farther apart and lined up the straight edge again. This time she pressed the pencil tip down harder and broke off the tip.

  “Damn!” she exclaimed in frustration as she threw the pencil.

  Her frustration stemmed not from the pencil but from her personal situation with David. She tried hard not to focus on them, but how could she not think about losing her family? Last night proved to be sleepless, something she had become accustomed to since losing Madeleine and the lack of sleep wasn’t her friend. She was always someone who needed her rest, all eight hours. With David and Eric gone, her pregnancy and no sleep, she was a wreck. Her meeting this morning with Chance and the team was not a shining moment for her. She had shown up disheveled, and her patience with Chance and his bloviating was gone. During one of his long speeches, she had interrupted him five times. When the meeting ended, he showed his displeasure by pu
lling her aside and asking her to never show up like that again. She apologized halfheartedly, grabbed her notes, and left the meeting.

  She had thrown herself into work to distract from her personal dilemmas, but it wasn’t working. It felt like every minute she could either see David’s shocked expression when he walked in on her and Horton or hear his last words just before boarding the helicopter with Eric. The one word that she tried desperately to block out was Eric calling her a whore. That was painful, and something she didn’t know if she’d ever forget anytime soon. She had thought her kids hadn’t been aware of her past indiscretion, but how foolish could she be, kids heard everything that went on in a house. She was lying to herself if she actually thought Eric or Madeleine hadn’t heard the fights between her and David. They had to know, and the idea that Madeleine knew and never spoke to her about it before her death made that another torturous thought. She would never get a chance to explain herself or ask forgiveness.

  With her mind full of a myriad of emotions ranging from anger to regret and sorrow, she wished she could down the bottle of wine she saw sitting on the counter next to her. Rubbing her belly, she talked herself out of popping the cork and just guzzling the bottle. Anything to help take away the pain she was feeling or fill the void in her heart.

  With her work not able to take her mind away from her troubles, she put her shoes on and left her residence. Maybe a walk would help, some exercise and fresh air outside. She meandered through the passageways till she reached the elevator. As she reached for the button, the bell sounded and the door opened.

  There in front of her was the last person she wanted to see, Chancellor Horton.

  “Lori, hi, good to see you,” he said warmly.

  “I’ll take the next one,” she snapped.

  “Oh, come on, don’t be like that.”

  The door attempted to close, but he held it open.

  “Are you really going to act like nothing happened?”

  “Please let me explain.”

  “Just leave me alone. I don’t know what you think, but I’m married, pregnant and need to find a way to get my family back,” she barked and walked towards the stairwell.

  He exited the elevator and followed behind her.

  “Chancellor Horton, leave me alone!”

  “Lori, stop,” he said desperately, grabbing her arm firmly.

  “Let me go!” she bellowed and tried to pull away.

  His tone lowered, his grip tightened, and his face drew close to hers. “Stop and listen!” He opened the door to the stairwell and pushed her inside.

  “You’re hurting me.”

  When the door closed behind them, he said, “The world you knew before is gone, and it’s not coming back. That's something you need to come to grips with, period. I’m going to be very candid with you, something I never was before. I tried this nice-guy bit, but that doesn’t seem to work with you.”

  She struggled and tried to pull away, but each time she resisted, his grip grew tighter.

  “You’re hurting me. Let me go.”

  “Lori, I will have you. It’s that simple. You’re meant for me, your DNA was tested, and you’re compatible with me. You and I are a perfect match; our children will be perfect.”

  What he was saying frightened her, which made her resist more. She slapped his face.

  He brushed off her hit, grabbed both her arms, and pressed her against the wall. He leaned in till his face almost touched hers and spoke slowly and deliberately. “You’re my DNA match. You and I will produce offspring for the new world we’re creating. You may not like it, but that’s how it is. I didn’t want this either when they told me, but when I saw you, well, let’s say I was suddenly happy about the selection made for me. I thought I could bring you here, wine and dine and seduce you. It was all too perfect, I thought, we needed an architect, your DNA was a match for my new mate, and so here you are. I was wrong about you, though. You had some surprises, like this baby for one,” he said, then touched her belly.

  His touch made her cringe.

  “Get off me!”

  “ You see, we knew about your past; it was all documented. Your history, your spread across the Internet, your searches, your old e-mails; everything about you we’ve had for a long time. We’ve been collecting data on everybody for a very long time. We know you, Lori Ann Roberts, we know you had an affair, we read the e-mails, we know everything.”

  Lori began to cry as he continued to spill the sinister scheme to her.

  “If you do not give into me, I will have David and Eric killed as well as your baby. Their blood will be on your hands. It’s your choice, plain and simple,” he finished and let her go.

  Terrorized by his confession, she pushed him away and ran up the stairs and out onto the main terminal level. Her body was shaking so much she felt as if she’d go into convulsions. Her mind spun from the horrible things he had told her. She wanted it to be wrong, to be a lie, but deep down she just knew what he was saying was true. All of this around her was the lie. For the first time she had finally found out the truth, and it was worse than she could imagine. She thought of David and Eric as well as the baby. What was she going to do? Her erratic weaving through the terminal drew the attention of several people.

  “Are you okay?” a man asked, coming up to her.

  She held out her arm for him to keep his distance and kept walking.

  More questions came, but she knew the answers. What he’d told her was the truth. All of this was some master plan, some scheme. She then asked herself, ‘Was the virus a part of this? Did they kill everyone so they could build a new world order?’ The thought of that was too much; her head spun and vertigo began to set in. Off to her right she saw old passenger seats and hurried over to them. She plopped herself down, rested her head back, and began to cry heavily.

  Day 193

  April 12, 2021

  Jenks Residence, Reed, Illinois

  Devin stood up and raised his rifle at the lonely silhouette coming down the driveway. Had it not been for the full moon, he wouldn’t have seen the person at all.

  “Stop right there!” he ordered.

  The shadowy figure kept coming, the steps short and slow, but still coming.

  “Damn it, stop right there,” he barked, his finger now on the trigger, and his stomach tightened.

  The person stopped, mumbled something unintelligible, and collapsed in the driveway face first.

  Thinking quickly, he called out for Tess and Brianna, then pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and clicked it on. The light splashed out on the driveway and onto the person lying motionless on the ground. He waved it up and down and saw it was a naked man. He immediately thought it could be Daryl. With urgency he stepped back from his covered position on the deck and ran towards the man. When he reached him, he identified him as Daryl.

  The front door flew open; Tess and Brianna came running out with guns in their hands.

  “Over here, it’s Daryl. Help me get him inside.”

  Brianna and Tess sprinted over to Devin and Daryl.

  “Oh my God, he looks bad,” Tess blurted out.

  They all picked him up and began to carry him inside when Daryl mumbled, “I’ve had better days.”

  “We got you, buddy,” Devin said.

  Once inside the house, the three operated like a well-honed machine after having dealt with medical emergencies so often. They began addressing Daryl’s battered condition.

  His body was covered in dirt and mud, which only acted as a cover for the cuts, bruises and scrapes that covered his body. His face was swollen from what must have been repeated hits they could only presume were delivered from fists.

  As they worked on him, he kept mumbling most of which was unintelligible, but one word he kept repeating was clear: “Rivers.”

  The first time he said it, Devin and Tess thought he was mentioning the location of where he had been held, but after the fourth time, they knew it meant Mayor Rivers. If he was invol
ved in his abduction and torture, then he was a party to Simon’s activities, and with Frank being spotted with him, he also had something to do with that group of marauders.

  Daryl took what little energy he could muster and grabbed Devin’s arm.

  “What is it, buddy?” Devin asked.

  Daryl pulled him closer till Devin was close enough to him and said, “Hud, they have Hud.”

  Devin’s eyes opened wide with shock at the news. He looked at Tess and said, “They have Hudson. The cannibals have Hudson.”

  “Where is he?” Tess asked.

  Daryl tried to sit up, but he just didn’t have the strength and fell back onto the bed.

  “Just rest, you tell us where we can find him, and we’ll go get him,” Devin said.

  Shaking his head furiously, Daryl said, “Heavily armed, too many.”

  “But we have a machine gun now,” Tess arrogantly said.

  “No,” Daryl snapped.

  “You need to rest, get some fluids in you,” Devin said.

  “Coat closet, IV, get it,” Daryl mumbled.

  Brianna took off and got the IV and needle.

  “Here,” Tess ordered. She took the IV from Brianna and quickly injected it into Daryl.

  “Bedroom, top drawer nightstand, small box, get it,” Daryl instructed.

  Brianna again took off and returned promptly with a small locked box with a dial combo on top.

  “Eight, five, eight, three,” Daryl said.

  Brianna followed his instructions and unlocked the box.

  “Bag, give it to me.”

  She handed him a Ziploc bag filled with a whitish powder.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Tess asked, a tinge of judgment in her voice.

  “It’s not like that,” Daryl said as he opened the bag and brought it to his face. His swollen eyes looked at the three then he lowered his face.

  “Unbelievable,” Tess snarled and pulled the bag away.

  "Stop I need to wake up!" Daryl snapped.