She just had to find him.
Michael handed back the letter, and she read it again before folding it and putting it in her pocket. Picking up Heath’s ring, she placed it on her middle finger. It was a little too big, but she didn’t think it would fall off.
Then she pulled on Heath’s shirt. Go Goblins!
“I’m going to Vancouver,” she said.
“I thought you might say that.” Michael smiled.
“You don’t have to come.”
“I have this far. Do you really think I’d leave you now? I’d probably get lost trying to find my way back home. You’re stuck with me.”
NOTHING
We all die alone.
No matter how many friends we think we have. No matter how many toys we own. No matter how many lies we tell each other.
We all fall down.
We’ve all been silenced. There are no more stories to tell, no people to listen. I could send this message in a bottle in the hopes that one day someone might find it, though. I wouldn’t even have to write a story; all I need is six numbers.
There are six different types of killers in the world.
1. Those who kill quickly. Efficiently.
2. Those who enjoy making each murderous moment last forever.
3. Those who kill the soul and leave their victims alive.
4. Those who kill accidentally or in self-defense.
5. Those who hunt to feed.
6. Those who hunt for the game.
The Baggers fall into all categories. I’d like to believe I’m a one or a four, but I’m really more of a six. It all depends on the day.
Game begins.
Game ends.
So quick.
Would you like to play a game of hearts?
The evil that infects us has always been around. Since the dawn of time, before names could be named, before words were written down—they have always existed. There are no records because they leave behind no trace. How do you chronicle something you cannot see?
Once upon a time an ancient civilization grew. It prospered. The people were happy and intelligent. They created cities and erected great monuments. But something always happened. They grew greedy, perhaps, or maybe they took more than the earth was willing to offer.
And that’s when their downfall began. The darkness that lies beneath started to stir.
It always notices. They always come.
They kill.
There are ruins all over the world, testaments of the atrocities, and burial chambers of the lost souls. But the facts are always misinterpreted. History is inaccurate.
Things are different today. We are all connected in one form or another. We build things in China and pay for them in America. When our computers break, we talk to people halfway around the world to get them running again. On one continent millions of people go hungry while on another they grow fat.
Because of these connections, now they will destroy us all.
We are all together in this game.
I’m talking in riddles again. I’m sorry. It happens sometimes. My brain is broken and I don’t know how to fix it.
When it’s time for me to die, promise you’ll be the one to stop me. No mercy. Let me die alone.
ARIES
She was wrong. She’d figured it out before she got halfway back to the apartment block. She never should have allowed Daniel to talk her into leaving. But even though she knew she was wrong, she didn’t turn around.
Instead she went for reinforcements. But that turned out to be more difficult than she imagined.
“We have to go back.”
She stood in the middle of the room; surrounded by all the people she’d risked her life protecting. They had followed her from the very beginning, but this time around they wanted to stay put.
“Think about what you’re saying,” Jack remonstrated. “They’re in the store and you want us to go there? That’s like asking to die. We’re not fighters, Aries, we can’t take them on.”
Joy nodded. “They’ll kill us.”
“I don’t want to die,” Eve said. Nathan put his arm around her and pulled her close.
“But it’s the right thing to do,” Aries said. “And we have weapons now. We’ve got all those baseball bats. I’d do it if it were one of you.”
“That’s the problem,” Jack said. He paused for a few moments, as if trying to figure out the right words. “Daniel’s not one of us. We don’t know him.”
Aries stared out at the faces of her friends. “He still helped me,” she pointed out. “I’d be dead without him.”
They all avoided her gaze except Colin, and he was smirking.
“Fine,” she said. “Then I’ll go myself.”
Turning, she fled the room, trying very hard to control her temper. How could they do this to her? To Daniel? Just let someone die like that, it wasn’t right. Sure, it wouldn’t be easy, but her father used to say that no good job comes easy.
The problem was that she knew they were right. It would be a death trap going back to the store. They’d managed to stay alive this long because they avoided conflict. They hid in the shadows and did their best to remain invisible. Not a single one of them actually knew how to fight.
Including her.
She was fooling herself. Even with a weapon at her disposal she didn’t think she could use it. The biggest thing she’d ever killed before was a horsefly, and that was after it took a big chunk out of her leg. And yet they had to start fighting back, didn’t they? Otherwise the monsters would win.
In the kitchen she grabbed a package of chocolate chip cookies, then silently snuck up to the third floor where she could be alone. No one ever went into the far corner room, because they considered it too dangerous. Closing the door behind her, she turned and inched her way along the side of the room toward the section where the building had caved in. Sitting down, she dangled her feet over the edge and leaned against the wall. She liked sitting here. If she closed her eyes and only allowed herself to feel the breeze against her skin, she could pretend she was sitting on the edge of a mountain-top with nothing but valleys of trees and raging rivers below.
Ten minutes later Jack came and found her. He inched along the wall until he was close enough to sit down. It was a big move for him; Aries knew he didn’t like heights and it was making him nervous sitting at the edge.
“I guess you think we’re all a bunch of monsters,” he said.
Aries handed him the bag of cookies and he took one. “As opposed to what? All the other monsters?”
Jack made a face. “Okay, we deserve that. But we’re scared. I’m terrified. It’s one thing to go out looking for supplies. But to go straight into the lion’s den is another story.”
They sat together on the edge of the building, eating cookies. Outside, the sky was cloudy. It was threatening to rain again. Good, because there were still a few fires downtown that could use a little extinguishing.
“I’m not disagreeing with you,” she said after a while. “I’m fully aware that it’s suicidal. Why do you think I’m still here?”
“Something finally got through that thick head of yours?”
She laughed through a mouthful of cookie.
“I’ll tell you what,” Jack said. “Let’s get up at dawn and go take a peek. We’ll scope out the building from a distance. If it’s safe, we’ll go in and check up on your Daniel. Besides, the shirt you picked out for me is too tight. I can’t trust a gal to do my shopping. What’s this world coming to?”
She laughed again and offered up the bag of cookies a second time. But Jack wasn’t paying any attention. Peering out into the darkness, his eyes narrowed in concern.
“What do you see?” She tried to follow his gaze. The road below was nothing but shadows.
One of the shadows moved.
And then another.
A third farther down the street—a shadowy person stepped from a doorway and moved behind a parked car.
Aries
turned her head slightly and checked in the other direction. She could see more of them moving, sticking close to the edge of buildings, trying to maintain secrecy. But she saw them.
And a whole lot of them were coming.
“We need to get back inside,” Jack whispered in her ear.
She nodded. As quietly as possible, they moved away from the crumbled edge and back toward the hallway.
They found us, she thought. We all knew something like this would eventually happen. We couldn’t stay hidden forever. It was only a matter of time.
They raced along the hall and down to the apartment they’d been using, where they found the rest of the group in the kitchen.
“Change of plans,” Jack said. “There’s a whole lot of them outside. They know we’re here.”
Everyone started talking at once.
“They can’t get in, right?” Eve said. “They can’t break through the door. It’s solid metal.”
“How many?” Joy asked.
“Where?” Nathan immediately got up and went to the window.
Colin didn’t say a word. He backed into the wall behind him, his face instantly pale.
The time to not panic was ten minutes ago. All eyes turned toward Aries. Why her? Why not Jack? He was much better at this sort of thing. Why did they expect her to have all the answers?
“At least twenty,” Aries said. “Maybe more. And no, I don’t think they can break down the door. And unless they have a ladder they can’t reach the windows.”
“That’s the least of our problems,” Jack said, joining Nathan at the window. “One of them is carrying gasoline. I saw a jerrican.”
“What does that mean?” Eve asked. Her voice grew higher and more breathy with each word.
“They’re going to burn us out,” Joy cried, just as a flaming bottle crashed through the window, sending glass, gasoline, and fire across the room. Eve screamed. Nathan bolted into action, jumping straight into the flames and stomping on them with his boots. Aries grabbed a blanket and joined him.
Another bottle sailed through the air, hitting the wall this time. Glass and fire rained down onto a couch. More flames instantly sprang to life.
The sounds of bottles breaking came from other rooms in the building. They were attacking from all sides. The room grew thick with smoke as the fire spread too quickly for them to control. Aries’s eyes watered, and she couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her face.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jack screamed as he beat at the flames with an old pillow.
“Downstairs,” Aries said. “Come on. Let’s go! Stay away from the windows.”
She waited at the door until everyone ran past. Jack was the last; he grabbed her arm and pulled her along.
“Ready to try out our emergency plan?” he asked.
She nodded.
It was time to leave. They’d planned for this, knew where to meet one another in case they got separated. But in all their careful preparation, neither of them ever thought it would be this sudden. She never expected they’d be driven out with such force.
“They’ll kill us,” she said, coughing harshly. “The second we open the door. They’re waiting to peg us off one by one.”
“Then we’ll have to outsmart them,” Jack rasped.
“If we run at once, they might not be able to catch us all.”
“Not much of a plan,” he said.
“Do we have a choice?”
He shook his head. “It’s not like we can distract them with ice cream and cookies. We’re flat out!”
She gave him a sad smile. It was typical of Jack, always trying to lighten the moment with humor.
They regrouped in the hallway. Even in the dark she could make out the terrified expressions on their faces. The smoke wasn’t as bad there, but already they could hear the crackle of flames getting closer. If they didn’t move quickly, the entire building could collapse down on them.
“We’re gonna make a run for it,” she said. “We don’t have a choice. If we stay here we’ll die. If we go outside, there’s a good chance that we’ll make it. Nathan, Jack, and I will go first. We’ll try and create a diversion. We’ve got four radios between us. If we work together we should be able to stay in contact. We’ll meet at Second Beach like we planned.”
“I want my own radio,” Colin said.
“Fine,” Aries said. She wasn’t going to disagree with him. Not when there was so much at stake and such little time. “Everyone grab a baseball bat and nothing else. No need to weigh ourselves down.”
“I should be going first, too,” Joy said. “I may be the shortest, but I can run the fastest. If I can get them chasing me, it might work.”
“I’ll stick with Eve and we’ll follow after,” Nathan said. “We’ll share a radio.”
“I’m with team Jack,” Aries said. “Colin and Joy can each have their own radio, then. Everyone okay with that?”
They all nodded.
“Let’s get going, then.” She turned and ran down the hallway to the second floor apartment where they were storing the radios and the rest of the supplies. Jack and Nathan followed.
She tried hard not to think about what would happen next. There were at least twenty monsters outside, quite possibly more. The odds of all of them getting out alive were slim. When she looked over at Nathan and Jack, she knew they were thinking the exact same thing.
How was she going to bear it if one of them died? They were her new family, even Colin with all his faults.
The answer, she realized, was already there. She would just live. The same way she’d been surviving all this time. Although she’d kept hope alive, she knew deep inside that her parents were most likely dead, along with almost everybody she’d ever known. Sara was dead, and she’d loved her more than anyone else on earth. So were Ms. Darcy, Becka, and Amanda.
And she’d coped. She’d survived.
No matter how much of a leader she didn’t think she was, she’d get them through this. Leaders had to make tough decisions. She was making one now. She’d deal with the consequences later.
In the apartment, she gathered the radios and handed them over to Nathan, keeping one for her and Jack. From outside the window, she could hear the crowd of human monsters. They were getting excited.
No more than five minutes had passed since they set the building on fire. Funny, it already felt like hours.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Jack said suddenly. He was over by the window, looking down at the street. “Some guy just ran straight into the group. He’s fighting them. Stupid nut’s gonna get himself killed.”
Aries’s heart jumped into her throat.
Daniel?
MASON
Mason found the motorcycle on the side of the road just outside of Chilliwack. He was so close now to Vancouver and his promise to Chickadee. For the next few hours he drove the bike at top speed, twisting in and out of stalled traffic, rarely using the brakes, and even jumping into the ditch in some places. Several times the bike wobbled beneath him, threatening to spin out.
It was a miracle he didn’t crash. No, that wasn’t the right word. It was a curse.
Vancouver was a ghost town.
The bike ran out of gas right in the middle of the intersection at Main and Hastings. He got off it, letting it drop to the ground, and staggered down the street in the direction that felt right.
Everyone he cared about was dead and he felt cheated. He should have died in the school explosion along with his friends, his body under tons of concrete. The only reason he lived was because his mother got into that stupid car accident.
He didn’t deserve to live. His mother’s sacrifice was all in vain.
The guy back in Hope was right about him. He was a monster. A good person would have done a better job. He would have made the doctors help his mom in the hospital. He would have noticed that Chickadee needed medication, maybe even as early as Banff when she first checked the pharmacy. He never should hav
e accused her of doing drugs. Why hadn’t he picked up on it and done whatever it took to get her the medication she needed? Instead he’d ignored the signs, even when he knew something was wrong.
He should have figured out that Paul was acting weird when he told the story back in the hotel. If he’d convinced Paul to stay behind, Chickadee wouldn’t have felt so betrayed. She might have been more honest with him and told him sooner. But instead she had been afraid he’d leave her too. He should have done something to make her understand that he never would have gone. That he’d be with her to the very end. He kept his promise, didn’t he? He’d come to Vancouver.
He could have saved her.
Several blocks in the distance he could see the beginning of downtown Vancouver. Huge buildings graced the skyline, many of them still standing, although most of the windows had been shattered. He knew Stanley Park was on the other side. There wasn’t much farther to go now.
East Hastings was a mess of looted buildings and trashed cars. Garbage was heaped in doorways, and the streets were scattered with bottles and useless retail goods. The whole place smelled like urine and desperation. He deserved to be there.
The smoke reached his nose before he saw the flames. A block later, he came across the ambush. A group of monsters disguised as humans circled around a building, carrying Molotov cocktails. They were tossing the bottles through the windows one by one.
How many people were trapped inside?
Now the group of crazies gathered by the back doors, obviously waiting for the moment when the trapped people tried to make a run for it. Some of them brandished baseball bats and one or two were holding knives.
These monsters didn’t deserve to live. Trapping people like mice. It was a mob mentality, cowardly at best.
He didn’t deserve to live either. The one good person who truly deserved to walk the earth was buried back in a shallow grave in a town falsely named Hope.