Barnes looked up at the blank faces around him. “Well, don’t look at me, I ain’t from this neck of the woods. I couldn’t tell you how close we are to Charlottesville—”
“We need intel, a map. We need to get our bearings. We need a plan—” Tawny said.
Barnes let out a low whistle, “Hold on.” He pulled off his pack, reached inside and took out the NSA GPS tracking device. “There’s some extra functions on this I didn’t get to explore back at the Smithsonian. I wanted to save the battery. Maybe, maybe—” Barnes switched on the device. The screen lit up and he scrolled through a variety of displays. He stopped and looked up, holding the screen for them to see. “That’s what I’m talking about—”
Mercy focused on the image, “It’s a map, and that’s… us, the flashing red dot?”
Barnes nodded, “It sure is. It’s a you-are-here signal. So according to this, we’re about twenty klicks northeast of Charlottesville.”
“Twenty klicks,” Mercy repeated. “That’s doable on foot, after a rest and some food—”
Flynn pulled a face, “What’s the range of that thing?”
Barnes raised an eyebrow, “Well it’s GPS, so the range is global… satellites permitting. Hold on… I see where you’re coming from.” He returned his attention to the device and fiddled with the settings. “Holy fuck—”
“What?” Mercy said. “What is it Barnes? Barnes?”
Mercy pulled at his sleeve so she could see the screen.
Green dots—? Wait—
Mercy looked up, “Those green dots, that’s the alpha queen and her pack isn’t it?”
And Rose—
Barnes nodded, “It sure is… and they ain’t in Charlottesville—”
Tawny brought her rifle up, “What the hell? Where are they then?”
Mercy glanced around, her voice quiet, “They’re here, somewhere up ahead. In Barboursville—”
Hunter killers. These alphas aren’t feral anymore… they’re NSA-modified hunter killers—
“Those crows, the alphas… they could be linked,” Flynn said.
Mercy pulled out her HK45 pistol and racked the slide. There’s no sign of the NSA train up ahead. There’s no sign of NSA at all… it can only mean the alphas jumped off somewhere along here. Why, is anyone’s guess—”
“These things ain’t dumb,” Tawny said.
“OK, so we haven’t been rumbled yet. We’ve still got that advantage—” Mercy lowered her voice.
“And we’ve got this,” Barnes held up the GPS tracker.
“We’re close,” Flynn added.
“So the hunters could become the hunted,” Tawny hefted her M4 carbine.
Mercy rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, “Maybe if we had some frags, some stun grenades, more firepower, but there’s just the four of us… and those fuckers are fast. No… we need a plan, we need intel, we need—”
Barnes collapsed to the ground his arms and legs jerking. His eyes rolled up and he started foaming at the mouth. A second later he vomited and began choking.
Christ—
Chapter 18
Crash
“What the hell? Barnes—? Has he been bit?” Tawny exclaimed, levelling her M4 at Barnes.
Mercy knelt beside Barnes, she examined his neck and arms, “No, this is different… he’s been acting strange. It’s drug withdrawal, he’s been using speed and probably some other shit to get himself through the last few weeks. Here, Flynn, help me roll him on his side, we need to protect his airway. Don’t stick anything in his mouth. Tawny, eyes out, three sixty degrees—”
Flynn and Mercy managed to roll Barnes into the recovery position. Mercy extended his neck by lifting his jaw. The seizure lasted twenty seconds then subsided.
“Shit, do you think his lips are blue? Where in hell was he getting speed from anyway?” Flynn said.
Mercy leant in to check Barnes’s breathing, “Wherever there’s people there’s drugs. The NSA’s been using speed to keep their own troops going. Remember Deadstick and the Professor, back in Norfolk? They were supplying the NSA with drugs weren’t they? Barnes has been looting meth and pills from every NSA soldier we nail. He’s got a habit—”
“Our very own Navy SEAL junkie… Christ,” Flynn responded.
Mercy looked around, “Yeah, well, he needs help, and we’re not going to get very far with him in this state. I don’t know about this kind of stuff. Tawny? Have you any idea?”
Tawny glanced at Barnes, “Yeah, it depends on what he’s been taking. But we’ve limited options out here, so it’ll have to be cold turkey or else—”
Mercy frowned, “Or else… what?”
“Or else we get more drugs for him,” Tawny finished.
Mercy closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.
Christ, not another headache, not now, not—
Flynn stirred, “Rose’s gonna have to wait. We need to get the big guy to safety. Someone’s gonna need to stay with him for the next twenty four hours; watch his breathing, keep him hydrated and warm.”
Rose—? Barnes—? Don’t make me choose—
“Come on, you and me Mercy. Help me lift him, we’ll take him to that abandoned train in the siding over there. I’ll stay with him, you and Tawny can go find food and water. We needed a rest anyway. We’re in no fit state to engage with the alpha queen at the moment—” Flynn said, shouldering Barnes’s sniper rifle and kit.
Thank you Flynn. Thank you for making the decision for me—
Tawny checked out the first few abandoned carriages and returned minutes later, “Train’s empty. Looks like someone used it as a shelter a long time ago. There’s old gas canisters and rusty tins. It’ll do as a shelter, we can make it secure—”
Mercy and Flynn carried Barnes to the nearest carriage and lifted him up the steps. They placed him carefully on the floor, rolling him on his side up against the wall.
Mercy checked her watch, “It’s 11:37 am; we’ve got the afternoon to find some food and water. You’re right Flynn, Rose will have to wait. We can do a recon and make a plan—”
“And we’ve got this,” Tawny tapped the GPS device. “We can use the tracker and Barnes’s scope to spy on the alpha queen and her pack. See what’s going on—”
“Yeah, intel is everything,” Mercy said. She gave Flynn a look.
I don’t want to leave you. Not again,
