Crucible: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Next Book 5) Read online

  Squeak cried out in shock, and K.C. said to Murray, “I don’t have to follow your orders. I’m not one of you.”

  “Don’t go,” Murray said, but K.C. was already retreating. The distant gunfire was now punctuated by screams.

  Delores let out a cry of anguish and aimed at the Zap nearest her. She poured her magazine into the Zaps’ head, destroying its features and causing slivers and shavings of alloy to bounce to the street. When she was out of ammo, Lonnie took up the job, the gunfire deafening as its echo bounced along the flat surfaces.

  The Zap stumbled and nearly fell, the first sign of vulnerability. But they’d run out of ammo long before they stopped this solemn, expressionless army. Murray tossed her pistol to the street.

  “Stand down!” she shouted.

  Delores and Lonnie both looked at her in dismay, clearly juiced up on adrenaline and ready to fight to the end. Murray couldn’t tell them that meeting the Zap baby was their only hope. To finish this mission, they needed to remain alive.

  “I can’t take it anymore,” Delores wailed, moving her left hand to her forehead as if unwilling to face her approaching doom.

  Lonnie tossed his M16 aside and closed his eyes, his rhythmic muttering likely the cadence of a prayer.

  K.C. had vanished around the corner behind them, Squeak in tow. Murray only hoped the duo would find a place to hide until all this was over. Yet she couldn’t foresee an end—even if she managed to capture or kill Kokona, how would they ever escape the dome? Wouldn’t the destruction of its power supply kill them all in the process?

  The Zaps swept around them and closed ranks, the front rows continuing on in pursuit of K.C. and Squeak.

  Murray looked into the strange, lambent eyes of the closest Zap. “What are you?”

  She didn’t expect an answer. But several of them opened their mouths at once. “We are us.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  DeVontay was busy digging at the bunker door with the blade of the can opener when it suddenly vanished.

  At least, that was the effect, even though he realized the change happened over the course of a split-second. The wall material simply changed its state to a liquid and dropped like a sheet of water, flowing into the alloy below it until the outline of the door stood empty.

  But he didn’t care about the fractured laws of physics, because Rachel stood on the other side of the opening.

  He called her name, his voice cracking with emotion. He started toward her, but Kokona called from Rachel’s embrace. “Aren’t you glad to see me, too?”

  I should’ve killed the little bitch when I had the chance.

  Instead of responding, he hugged Rachel, whose eyes seemed to spark and glint even more vividly than before. She shifted Kokona to her left arm so she could return DeVontay’s hug, clinging to him with a powerful desperation and intensity.

  “I thought you were dead,” she whispered, and DeVontay wondered if Kokona could read her mind.

  At the moment, he didn’t give a damn. “You can’t get rid of me that easy, honey.”

  When their lips met, Kokona giggled and said, “People are disgusting. All those germs and bacteria.”

  Rachel broke the kiss and said to Kokona, “I’m not people. I’m halfway like you, remember?”

  “But not enough,” Kokona said.

  Rachel peered into the simulated bunker past DeVontay. “Where are Franklin and Millwood?”

  “They escaped,” Kokona said.

  “You know?” DeVontay imagined the two escapees had been caught and punished. “What have you done with them?”

  “I haven’t done anything to them,” Kokona said. “Yet.”

  DeVontay longed to wrap his dark hands around the tiny mutant’s neck and squeeze until the downy head popped off. But he still didn’t know how intimately connected the child was to Rachel. If their telepathic bond ran too deep, he might lose Rachel in the process, and he wasn’t willing to make that trade.

  And Rachel couldn’t harm the child due to some deeply held loyalty, even beyond any psychic manipulation Kokona might be employing. They’d both spent several years raising Kokona, when she joined their family after a battle with Zaps. But while DeVontay could see the baby as nothing more than a treacherous killer, Rachel still harbored love for it.

  DeVontay looked past the opening, expecting to see Zaps standing in the hall. But there were no guards on duty. Kokona must’ve known that neither DeVontay nor Rachel were capable of harming her.

  Whatever the reason, this reunion with Rachel filled his heart with warmth. All the despair and worry of the past two weeks faded. He didn’t care that she was half mutant—the human half was more than enough woman for him.

  As he embraced and kissed her again, Kokona allowed them long seconds of intimacy, and then patted her chubby hands together. “Enough play time,” she said in that high, thin voice that DeVontay had grown to loathe.

  “Drop her,” DeVontay said to Rachel, hoping she had the willpower to impulsively free herself.

  Rachel shook her head, near tears. “You know I can’t.”

  “DeVontay,” Kokona chided. “We’re family. We need to stick together.”

  DeVontay’s cheeks burned in anger. “Then how come you let your Conglomerate stick us in this hole in the ground?”

  “That wasn’t my doing, I swear,” the child said, with a passable imitation of earnestness.

  “Looks to me like you’re running the show.”

  “No, I’m not,” she said. “And that’s why I’m here.”

  Rachel turned the baby until she could look Kokona full in the face. “What are you talking about?”

  “We all need each other, see? You both need me to protect you. I need Rachel to carry me. And DeVontay needs you or he really has nothing left to live for.”

  “You’re not doing this out of the goodness of your heart,” DeVontay said. “What’s the deal?”

  “I need you, like I said. As long as you’re alive, Rachel will obey my every command. But I can’t get rid of those other two babies on my own.”

  “Mouse and Wisp,” Rachel said to DeVontay. “That’s what I call them.”

  “Clever,” Kokona said. “I just call them Thing One and Thing Two. They must’ve been orphaned, because they never received names. Those names will do just fine.”

  “I thought you could read their minds,” Rachel said, and DeVontay could tell she was baiting the baby into revealing hidden secrets.

  “Only in close proximity,” Kokona said. “And the amount of electromagnetic interference in this city is incredible.”

  “Is that why you separated them and sent them to different parts of the city?”

  “I needed a chance to plan. We’re weaker when we’re apart.”

  “So you want us to get rid of them for you?” DeVontay said. He’d tucked the can opener in his back pocket when the door had turned to liquid. He could draw it and peel open Kokona’s neck in seconds.

  “That’s the idea,” Kokona said. “Then the city would be all mine.”

  “And why should we trust you?” Rachel said. “You’ve stabbed everyone in the back, including your own kind.”

  “I’m still going to need a carrier, that’s true. But DeVontay can stay with us and help run the city. We’ll be a family again. Just like back in the bunker.”

  “Except half of us are dead,” DeVontay said.

  Rachel’s brow furrowed. “Stephen and Marina?”

  “Marina’s dead for sure, and Stephen probably is.” He watched Rachel’s face crumble, but decided to continue on. “Squeak is with K.C. They’re supposed to be waiting outside the city but a group of soldiers attacked—”

  “Self-defense”’ Kokona said. “Nothing personal, just war.”

  Rachel wept again at the news of Marina’s death, while DeVontay stood clenching and unclenching his fists. Survival was a battle of attrition, and every human was frail in the face of massive environmental changes. But natural disasters were expe
cted. No one could’ve anticipated the unnatural emergence of the Zaps and their monsters.

  The fear and rage welled up in him, amplified by the anguish in Rachel’s tear-stained face. He pulled the can opener from his pocket, whipped the blade down against Kokona’s neck, and pressed hard enough to elicit a shriek of pain.

  He’d always heard the expression “seeing red” and figured it was just one of those clichés, but his lone good eye seemed to cloud with blood. His whole world was reduced to the thin alloy blade and the baby’s soft brown skin.

  Part of him knew this was a mistake—Rachel’s life, and maybe all of their lives, depended on Kokona. But he couldn’t help himself. He was willing to throw it all away just for one hot, final moment of sweet revenge.

  But before he could make the cut, Rachel’s free hand clamped around his wrist. “No!”

  Her strength was remarkable, grown even more potent since Kokona’s rejuvenation in Wilkesboro. DeVontay struggled for a moment, but Rachel swiveled her hips so the baby was out of danger. He looked at Rachel’s rigid, blank face. Her eyes flashed hostility, or maybe that was what he projected into those twin coruscating pools.

  Rachel squeezed harder. DeVontay opened his mouth to speak, but he had no way to articulate his shock. In their time together since meeting in Charlotte shortly after the solar storms, they’d rarely had a disagreement and certainly never engaged in violence toward one another.

  He tried to pull free but she only gripped harder. Kokona let out a high, coarse laugh, apparently delighted at the conflict. DeVontay dropped the can opener and it bounced to the floor with a dull clatter.

  Rachel released him and he stepped back, rubbing his wrist. He’d have bruises. “What was that all about?”

  “What do you think?” Rachel said. “I’m her carrier. I can’t let you—or anyone—hurt her.”

  DeVontay kicked the can opener across the silver floor. “Why did you put this in here?” he shouted at Kokona. “You knew it could cut through this fucking fake metal, didn’t you?”

  “Of course,” the baby replied. “I didn’t want to imprison you, because I knew you wouldn’t leave without Rachel. But I couldn’t let Mouse and Wisp know that, could I? They’d have been suspicious.”

  “So you knew he might escape?” Rachel asked Kokona.

  “I didn’t know that for sure. It’s not like I can read DeVontay’s mind. But watching you two for the last few years, I have some understanding of love. Not what it feels like, of course—not like the control I hold over you, for example. But it’s something unique that makes you human.”

  Something you can exploit. But DeVontay kept his mouth shut. He hoped to do some exploiting of his own.

  “And you want me to kill those other little freaks for you?” DeVontay asked.

  “It’s in your best interest. They believe you’re bound for the factory. Fresh meat for the machines.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “They’re off doing what they think are important jobs. Because they’re the smart ones, right?”

  DeVontay looked at Rachel. He couldn’t read her expression. He’d just have to trust his instinct and hope she was still in there somewhere. “I’ll do it. I’ll kill them for you. But I’ll need Rachel’s help.”

  “Of course,” Kokona said. “I need her to help me hold this whole place together after Wisp and Mouse are gone. She’s proof that humans and mutants can live together if we’re willing to overlook our differences.”

  “I want your guarantee that Franklin, Millwood, and any other humans will be safe, too.” DeVontay knew the little Zap would tell whatever lie was necessary in order to seize power, but maybe she’d be on her best behavior while he was watching.

  “I can’t make any promises about what Mouse and Wisp will do,” Kokona said. “Which is all the more reason to get rid of them.”

  Even though DeVontay was used to the talking baby, he again marveled at her intelligence. Frozen in physical development, plump and fragile, she was nonetheless the perfect ruler for this new world—strange, dangerous, and totally devoid of soul.

  “Do you have any ideas on how to kill them?” Rachel asked Kokona.

  DeVontay was surprised. Rachel had once sought to be a peacemaker, a bridge between the two races. When push came to shove, though, she always chose humans. He liked to think it was because of him, but she was fond of Franklin and the other members of their extended family. Still, she never relished killing Zaps.

  Those divided loyalties might even lead her to kill him in the wrong situation. DeVontay counted on love to save him, and love was even more frail and fragile than a Zap baby’s bones.

  “DeVontay’s a killer,” Kokona said. “The perfect man for the job. He’ll figure it out.”

  DeVontay didn’t disagree.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The air in the tunnel had steadily become less stagnant as they moved deeper beneath the city.

  Franklin remarked on the fresh breeze, the first words he’d uttered since the battle with the huge rat. The deep throbbing grew louder as well, which Franklin took as a sign that they were approaching something. He didn’t think it would be a good something, but anything was better than this foul sewer channel.

  The branches off the tunnel had increased in width and frequency as they went, allowing more light. Franklin was tempted to try one of them, but they were half the diameter of the tunnel. He didn’t want to risk encountering a creature with even less room to fight.

  “What do you think DeVontay’s doing?” Millwood asked.

  “Probably carving his name into the prison walls. We shouldn’t have left him behind.”

  “So he’s really hooking up with your granddaughter? And you’re cool with that.”

  Franklin poked his length of pipe before him to move aside a dangling length of cable. “I figured you were a liberal.”

  “Because I smoke dope? No, I don’t mean the black-and-white thing. I mean, her being a mutant and all.”

  “You ever been in love?”

  “Sure. Plenty of times.”

  “Then you know it makes you stupid as a stump. I didn’t have any say in it. They survived together when the shit hit the fan, and I guess it worked for them.”

  “Did he love her before the…before she changed?”

  “Yeah. But is it any different than loving someone who gets cancer or goes blind? You don’t really get to say who loves you. It’s not your call.”

  He thought of K.C. and wondered if she was still waiting for him outside the city. He’d heard gunfire shortly after they’d been abducted by Zaps and taken into the penthouse suite. Franklin had no way of knowing if K.C. had been dragged into that battle.

  Millwood grunted in pain, and Franklin saw that his wound was still bleeding. “We’re going to have to wrap that before it gets infected.”

  “Mutant bacteria in my bloodstream,” Millwood said with a theatrical groan. “That’s just what I need.”

  “Hey, maybe you can become a half-Zap, too.”

  “Don’t even joke about something like that, man.”

  “We’ll be out of here soon. That rumbling is getting louder.

  The vibration was strong, rippling the gray surface of the water. The tunnel had traveled more or less in a straight line, but Franklin had no concept of their location in relation to the city above. They could be in the heart of downtown or near the dome perimeter.

  What if it leads all the way outside?

  He recalled seeing a sluggish, ash-colored creek in the fire-ravaged valley outside the dome. Maybe the drain system led there. He wasn’t sure how he felt about escape. Like DeVontay, he was reluctant to abandon the other people who might be inside the dome.

  Millwood, evidently weakened from blood loss, now used his pipe as a cane instead of a weapon. Its tip thunk thunk thunked behind Franklin as they slogged onward.

  They went another forty or fifty yards when Franklin saw a slatted grid of bright light ahead of them. He
fought the urge to run toward it, knowing Millwood couldn’t keep up. The throbbing was so loud that it hugged his body, and his heart seemed to want to fall in rhythm with the sonorous beat.

  Millwood called to him but he couldn’t hear, so he shook his head and pointed to his ear. He bumped his head on a cast-iron pipe, but his watch cap spared him a knot on his skull.

  Tunnels of equal sizes branched off to both sides of them, and the flow of water doubled in volume. It all drained into a large hole that dropped away into chilly darkness, trickling and gurgling.

  When he reached the grid, fresher air rolled over him in waves, although it reeked of a chemical pungency. He shivered due to his wet clothes. The grid was a large metal circle set in concrete, with thin strands of steel crisscrossing so that water could flow through but no animals could enter.

  “No way,” Franklin said.

  “Move your fat ass out of the way so I can see,” Millwood said, wriggling up beside him.

  “If you insist,” Franklin said, turning away from the horrible sight.

  He slid to a sitting position in the slimy muck, soaking clothes that were just beginning to dry. The vision of the nightmare factory was burned into his brain—a sprawling metal cavern packed with activity, with dead Zaps floating in chambers of yellowish fluid, metallic Zaps stacked against the wall, and an enclosed version of the plasma sink that had blown the hell out of Wilkesboro.

  “Oh, man,” Millwood said. “Oh man, oh man, oh man.”

  “I’m done, Millwood. I could handle the end of civilization—hell, I spent my entire adult life banking on it—and even those zombie savage mutants that wanted to tear my eyeballs out. I could wrap my head around telepathic mutant babies. I could even deal with my own daughter getting zapped up and becoming whatever she is. But this…”

  “Zap cyborg robot thingies.” Millwood didn’t sound too distressed. “What did you really expect?”