Flynn gazed into her eyes, “We’ll be fine. I’ll stay with Barnes, you go, use the remaining daylight to get supplies. When you come back knock three times on the side of the train so I’ll know it’s you. Here take this—” Flynn handed Mercy his M4 carbine.
Mercy shook her head, “No, you keep it, I’ve got my pistol. Anyway, we’re going to try and avoid trouble and we’ve got the biotech for normal tropes—”
Stop drawing things out. Go, just go, do it, leave—
Mercy embraced Flynn then turned away before he could see the tears in her eyes, “Yeah, understood. Stay awake Flynn, for him and us. I want no more crap today. Come on Tawny let’s rock—”
Tawny nodded at Flynn and followed Mercy to the door, she glanced back. “Lock up after us, there’s stuff you can use to jam against the doors. The windows are intact in this carriage apart from the small one at the end, you can block it off with some of this trash,” she kicked at some of the garbage on the floor.
Flynn smiled, “Go on, get out of here. Look after Mercy. I’ve got this—”
“Later Flynn,” Tawny turned and went through the door.
Mercy led the way. She checked the GPS tracker and continued along the railroad to the nearest buildings. She showed the tracker to Tawny.
“The green dots have moved to the western edge of Barboursville, do you think they’re leaving?” Tawny asked.
“Who knows? Who can imagine what’s going through the mind of that alpha bitch?” Mercy replied, the anger unmistakable in her voice.
She’s going to get away again—
“I’m not sure those things have minds,” Tawny replied. “We can search the buildings on this side of the town, we should be OK there,” she tapped the tracker’s screen.
Mercy put the device away and looked ahead, “Let’s do it. Remember, we don’t know what your biotech is capable of yet. You should be invisible to normal tropes, unless you attack them… then they’ll wake up to you. But we don’t know for sure, so follow my lead. We go in stealthily and we only attack if we’re attacked—”
“Understood,” Tawny replied.
They walked down the main road. A road sign proclaimed: US ROUTE 33.
We’re headed the right way—
The breeze rustled the long grass on either side of the road. Birds sang in the trees, crickets chirped in the weeds, honeysuckle scent laced the air.
Everything seems normal… except for those damn crows in the sky—
Mercy halted at the first building.
Looks like some kind of small school or something—
The building was set back from the road on its own plot of land, the driveway winding through an overgrown front lawn.
Mercy looked at Tawny, “You ready to do this?”
“You bet,” Tawny answered. “We’re gonna get us some nice steaks and beer in this place.”
“Yeah, right. Always think positive. Aim high—” Mercy walked through the open gate. She stood in the driveway and waited, listening.
Tawny closed her eyes, “This smells like… old death—”
Mercy glanced at Tawny, “Is that just you… or is it your biotech talking?”
Tawny shrugged, “I dunno, a bit of both maybe? This place feels… undisturbed, it’s from the time of the Fall—”
“Jeez Tawny, you make it sound like an undiscovered tomb from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt or something,” Mercy replied. She pulled out her combat knife. “Let’s keep it quiet—”
Mercy went up to the nearest window. Drapes obscured her view. She moved to the front door, it was locked by an iron bar and a heavy padlock.
“Someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to make this place secure,” Mercy said, peering in through the stained glass panels on either side of the door.
Tawny let out a low whistle, “Look, over here—”
Mercy joined Tawny in front of the next window. A piece of cardboard had been taped to the inside of the window. Faded words were scrawled on the card, the message still clear.
“PLEASE HELP US—” Mercy read out.
“Shit… this doesn’t feel right,” Tawny said.
Mercy tensed, “What? You think it’s a trap?”
Tawny shook her head, “No, not that. It feels like some bad shit went down here, like some kind of crime, CSI stuff—”
Mercy looked through the window. “There’s a stroller in there and some kids’ toys on the floor,” she hesitated. “Come on, let’s go check round the back—”
They pushed their way through weeds and brambles to the back yard. A climbing frame and a set of swings stood in one corner.
“You know what?” Tawny said, “This feels like a nursery or a day care centre or something, but I didn’t see a sign out in front—”
Mercy drew near to a large rear window and peered through the glass, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. “Jesus—”
Kids, they’re just little kids. Shit. What the hell happened here?
The large playroom was full of wasted trope children. Their faces were gaunt, their bodies painfully thin.
Tawny looked through the window and let out a long sigh, “Old death… like I said. They locked their kids in here. This shit is from the Fall—”
Mercy pulled away from the window, “Yeah, look… the back door and the fire door further along, they’ve both been barred and bolted—”
“Maybe they were trying to protect them or—” Tawny said, stopping abruptly.
Use them as food? No—
Mercy nodded, “I saw something like this once… back in New York. Parents can’t kill their kids when they’ve been bitten. There was this place I came across… a five-story brownstone on the Upper East Side… 61st Street I think. It was a crèche, looked like there was a few adults looking after all these kids. But the kids had turned, every last one of them, there were locks on all the doors. I stopped counting after forty six kids—”
Tawny pulled a face, “What? You mean the parents got together and put all their infected kids in one place?”
“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. Maybe they were holding out for a cure, you know… in the early days there was talk of a
