Yeah, I remember what he said about the eyes—
“Is that thing switched off?” Mercy pointed at the tracker.
Barnes nodded, “Yeah, it’s off. I suggest we only use it when we really have to.”
Mercy nodded slowly then stopped, “Wait… me and Rose… we killed Mitchell. We riddled him with bullets. I saw his face and—”
She broke off, staring into space.
Flynn was in like a flash, “And—? You saw his face and… what?”
Mercy ran a hand through her hair, “It was him… me and Rose, we checked. But he looked different, older, like an old man. He looked like he was in his eighties, nineties a shadow of his former self—”
“That doesn’t fit,” Tawny said.
“Yes, it does,” Barnes interjected. “Reyes said the mind transfer, this whole brain emulation takes its toll on the body, so what you say absolutely fits. It was Mitchell you killed, it was his physical body, aged, decrepit but his mind has escaped and now exists in the digital world.”
Tawny shuddered, “You make him sound like—”
“God,” Mercy whispered.
God. Help. Us.
Flynn threw his arms out, “So, what are you saying? Is this alpha queen and her pack leading us into a trap? Are we being played? And what the hell has Rose got to do with all of this?”
Mercy nodded, “I’ve learned it’s healthy to be paranoid when it comes to the NSA and Mitchell. Yes, maybe we are being played. Maybe we’re not. Do I think Rose is integral to this? Yes, maybe not in Mitchell’s plans but yes in the alpha queen’s plans. Maybe she’s carrying out her own agenda and Mitchell is along for the ride or maybe he’s controlling her fully… we just don’t know—”
Mercy stopped and turned to look at the distant mountains. She pointed west, “All I know is Rose is a prisoner and she’s being taken somewhere by this bitch. I intend to find her. This mind transfer thing has just confirmed my belief that we need every advantage we can get. So yeah, we’ve got to find Billy-Ray’s daughter, we need local knowledge if we’re to stand a chance of getting Rose back—”
And there it is—
“We’re getting Rose back,” Tawny echoed.
“That alpha bitch had better watch out,” Flynn said.
Barnes shook his head and closed his eyes.
We’re getting Rose back—
Chapter 22
US-33 West
Mercy examined the map Flynn had taken from the lumber yard office.
Twenty five miles via US-33, then Route 633, then Route 810… then Route 628 and Route 601 to Mission Home—
“I wish we had transport,” Tawny said, as they trudged along US-33.
“Like that Chevy Camaro back there,” Flynn replied.
“Yeah, well, I was thinking more of a Jeep Wrangler, that beast would eat this road,” Tawny said.
“What about you Barnes? What would your ride be?” Mercy asked.
“1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback,” Barnes said, without hesitation.
Flynn nodded, “Nice… if it was good enough for Steve McQueen it’s good enough for us, right?”
Mercy looked at Barnes, “I thought your ride was a Harley-Davidson? Route 66 and all that—”
Barnes nodded, “Sure is, that’s the dream… for that trip. Rest of the time it’s the Mustang. What about you Dawes? What’s your dream ride?”
Mercy shrugged, “I dunno. I read about the Paris-Dakar Rally in a magazine, the photos were amazing. I liked all the 4x4s… I guess it’s a tie between the Hummer H3 and the Toyota Hilux Dakar—”
Tawny let out a low whistle, “Get you. You like the real mean machines. It’s a pity, we’re spoilt for choice but there’s the one recurring problem… there ain’t no fuel.”
“Yeah and the tyres are mostly flat,” Flynn added.
“Yeah, welcome to the Stone Age,” Mercy said.
They continued on foot, sticking to the centre of the road, avoiding buildings. They went around the smaller settlements and towns by taking to the fields. Barnes used his compass to navigate the route.
“There’s a distinct lack of road signs,” Flynn commented.
Mercy nodded, “Yeah, you’re right, we’ve not seen any signs for a long time—”
Barnes grunted, “The National Guard removed a lot of road signs in some areas around the time of the Fall. It’s old-school; try and throw people off the track, avoid the population moving around in the great panic. It’s instinctual… at the time of world meltdown people head for the hills. They go to their holiday homes, their hunting lodges… to shelter from the storm, hide it out, hibernate, back to the woods and all that shit—”
“So, they wanted to prevent people from running to safety?” Flynn said. “Well good luck with that, everyone had GPS on their phones back then—”
“Like I said, old-school,” Barnes replied.
“Yeah, anything to prevent the infection from spreading. They’ll have seen what was happening in the cities, all those roads gridlocked. Yeah, it makes sense to remove the road signs. Well, we’re good with this map and your compass, we’ll get to where we’re going old-school,” Mercy said.
“Yeah, there’s a lot to be said for analogue as opposed to digital,” Tawny added.
“There’s a lot to be said for being off grid,” Flynn said.
They pressed on, filling their water bottles whenever they came across a stream. The day wore on. Mercy could feel sweat running down her back. Her legs and feet began to ache from walking on the hard road surface.
We’ll get there when we get there—
Seven and a half hours later they passed through a small settlement.
“There… a sign,” Flynn pointed into a ditch. He leant over, peering down, “It says Boonesville… we’re in Boonesville—”
“Are we nearly there yet, mom?” Tawny said.
Mercy checked the map, “We’re on the money, just a few klicks out from Mission Home.”
“OK kids, it’s hard, we’re all tired but we’re close. We don’t know what the setup is in Mission Home, there may be this one girl… there may be others with her. So we all get to stay extra frosty… the most dangerous part of the mountain climb is
