Suppressing an urge to flee Pitt coaxed his face into a broad smile just as he and Jonathan had done in the medical center. Having already smiled so much his facial muscles were sore.
Pitt found it was nerve-racking to walk directly at the changed person. He had to concentrate not only on the smile but also in keeping his eyes directly ahead. He and Jonathan had learned the hard way that any eye contact was viewed suspiciously.
The man passed without incident, and Pitt breathed a sigh of relief. What a way to live, he mused sadly. How long could they survive this cat and mouse game?
Pitt rounded the corner and approached the supermarket. The first thing he saw was a group of cars parked directly in front of the store. What worried him was the fact that their lights were on. As he got closer he could hear their engines were running as well.
Reaching the edge of the parking lot, Pitt saw a tight group of people emerge from the store and begin to climb into the cars. Soon the sound of slamming car doors reached him.
Pitt dashed ahead and ducked into the shadowy doorway of a building at the edge of the entrance to the supermarket's parking lot. Almost immediately the cars began moving and turned in his direction. As they gathered speed they formed into a single line. Pitt pressed himself back into his hiding place as the lights of the leading car swept across the front of him.
Moments later the first of the six cars passed within twenty feet of Pitt. It hesitated momentarily before turning out into the street, giving Pitt a fleeting look at the smiling faces of infected occupants.
Each car in turn passed. As the last car hesitated, Pitt caught his breath. A shiver of abject horror passed down his spine. Seated in the backseat was Cassy!
Unable to restrain himself and without considering the consequences, Pitt took a step forward as if he'd planned on racing to the car and yanking open the door. The low-level ambient light washed over him, and at that moment Cassy glanced in his direction.
For the briefest fraction of a second their eyes met. Pitt urged himself forward, but Cassy shook her head and the moment passed. The car lurched forward and quickly accelerated off into the night.
Pitt staggered back against the darkened door. He was furious with himself for not having done anything. Yet deep down he knew it would have been hopeless. All he could see when he closed his eyes was the image of Cassy's face framed in the car window.
17
5:15 A.M.
The dazzling desert night sky that had been awash with stars was fast fading to shades of pinkish blue as the promise of another day brightened the eastern sky. Dawn was coming.
Beau had been on the terrace off the master bedroom enjoying the night air since he'd heard the good news. Now he was impatiently waiting for the last few minutes to pass. He knew the meeting was imminent since he'd seen the car come along the driveway and disappear from view in front of the mansion.
Beau heard footfalls through the bedroom and the sound of the latch on the French doors opening. But he didn't turn around. He kept his eyes rooted at the place on the horizon where the sun was about to appear for a new day, a new beginning.
'You have company,' Alexander said. Then he withdrew and closed the doors behind him.
Beau watched the first golden rays of sun sparkle forth. He felt a curious stirring in his body that in one sense he understood but in another sense he found mysterious and threatening.
'Hello, Cassy,' Beau said, breaking the silence. Slowly he turned around. He was dressed in a dark velvet robe.
Cassy lifted her hands to shield the rays of the sun which silhouetted Beau's face. She couldn't see his features.
'Is that you, Beau?' she asked.
'Of course it is I,' Beau said. He moved forward.
Suddenly Cassy could see him clearly and she caught her breath. He'd mutated further. The small patch of skin behind his ear she'd inadvertently seen on her previous visit had spread to the front of his neck up to the line of his jaw. Some fingers of it had even spread up onto his cheeks in a serpiginous margin. His scalp was a patchwork quilt of thinning hair and alien skin. His mouth, although still smiling, was now pinched and thin-lipped, and his teeth had receded and yellowed. His eyes were black holes with no irises, and they blinked continuously, with the lower lid rising up rather than vice versa.
Cassy shrank back in utter horror.
'Don't be afraid,' Beau said. He moved up to her and placed his arms around her.
Cassy stiffened. Beau's fingers felt like snakes as they wrapped around portions of her body. And there was an indescribable feral odor.
'Please, Cassy, don't be afraid,' Beau said. 'It's only me, Beau.'
Cassy didn't respond. She had to struggle against an almost irresistible urge to scream.
Beau leaned back, forcing her to again look into his transmogrified face.
'I've missed you so much,' Beau said.
With a sudden, unexpected burst of energy, Cassy screamed and pushed herself free. The move caught Beau completely by surprise. 'How could you say you missed me?' Cassy cried. 'You're not Beau any longer.'
'But I am,' Beau said soothingly. 'I will always be Beau. But I'm also something more. I am a mixture of my former human self and a species almost as ancient as the galaxy itself.'
Cassy warily eyed Beau. One part of her told her to flee, another part was paralyzed by the horror of it all.
'You will be part of the new life as well,' Beau said.
'Everyone will be a part, at least those who are not harboring some terrible genetic flaw. I just had the honor of being the first, but it was a random event. It could have been you or anyone else.'
'So, am I talking with Beau now?' Cassy asked. 'Or am I talking with the virus's consciousness through the medium of Beau?'
'The answer, as I've already said, is both,' Beau said patiently. 'But the alien consciousness increases with every person changed. The alien consciousness is a composite of all the infected humans just like a human brain is a composite of its individual cells.'
Beau reached out tentatively to avoid frightening Cassy any more than she already was. Compressing his snakelike fingers into a fist of sorts he stroked her cheek.
Cassy had to steel herself against the revulsion she felt to allow this creature to caress her.
'I must make a confession,' Beau said. 'At first I tried not to think about you. Initially it was easy because of the work that had to be done. But you kept creeping back into my thoughts and made me comprehend the beguiling power of human emotion. It is a weakness unique in the galaxy.
'The human in me loves you, Cassy, and I'm excited about the prospect of being able to give you many worlds. I long for you to want to be one of us.'
'They are not coming,' Sheila said. 'As painful as that reality is, I'm afraid we're going to have to accept it.' She stood up and stretched. It had been a sleepless night.
Through the cabin's windows the early morning sun could be seen bathing the tops of the trees on the western shore of the lake. The surface of the lake was covered with a mist that the rising sun would quickly dissipate.
'And if that's reality,' Sheila added, 'then we have to get our asses out of here before we have uninvited visitors.'
Neither Pitt nor Jonathan responded. They were sitting on opposing couches, slouched forward with their chins craddled in their hands and elbows resting on their knees.
Their expressions were a mixture of exhaustion, disbelief, and grief.
'Well, we don't have time to take everything,' Sheila was saying. 'But I think we should take all the data and the tissue cultures that we hope are producing some virions.'
'What about my mom?' Jonathan said. 'And Cassy and Jesse? What if they come back here looking for us?''
