Marina hesitated in answering. “Yes…”

  “So could your boy help us in tracking others?”

  Marina couldn’t help the anger that was building inside of her, despite the logic in what the general was saying. “I… don’t know… maybe. Who do you want to locate?”

  “The bastard that’s causing all this. Daniel Copeland!”

  Marina looked at the general wondering if she knew Jasper was his son. “How would it work? Jasper helping exactly?”

  “You’re the closest the boy has to a mother. So that would be up to you. But if we find Copeland, then perhaps we can get to him. End all of this before it gets worse.”

  Marina nodded.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Amos ran across the single-lane country road and into the branches and leaves on the other side. Joel and Dalton were already waiting near the trunk of a large tree which mostly shielded them from the bright sun above them. Keller being the last of the four-person group joined them.

  Without talking, Joel gestured with hand signals for them to move through the woods towards the town.

  Walking fast but as quietly as they could, they moved through autumn leaves and across the hard mud ground until a fence was visible up ahead.

  Joel gestured for them to stop and he looked at Amos first and then Dalton. Both nodded so Joel started walking again, being mindful to use his own senses to seek any sign of life around them.

  The ivy-covered fence stood about six feet, with a door at the left corner. Joel walked to it, immediately noticing the chains that bound the handle. Placing his hands on them, he pulled. They twisted then snapped.

  He slowly pushed the small latch up and pushed the door inwards.

  He was at the bottom of a large garden, with shrubs and trees at the edges and in the distance, a two-story wooden house, with a patio outside the back. He couldn’t see any movement beyond the windows. He crept inside, waving the others to follow.

  Keeping their M4s pointed downwards and in silence, they walked onto a stone slabbed path and followed it to the back of the house. Joel walked up three steps to the deck and tried to avoid the creaking planks as he peered through the glass doors to a living room. His senses weren’t picking up anything. He looked back to Amos and Dalton again. They both shook their heads, confirming his instincts.

  He hoped the door was unlocked and was rewarded when he pulled and it slid across. They all then quickly moved inside.

  Silently they moved from room to room in the large property, but as with the home on the hill, it was completely empty.

  They all met back up in the large hallway near the front door.

  “Any of you sensing life nearby?” Joel said. He was relieved to use his voice.

  Dalton sniffed the air while Amos lowered his head in concentration.

  “There were people in this property, maybe a week ago,” said Dalton.

  They both waited on a response from the young man.

  “I’m picking up… thoughts… but not in any of the houses around us. These are maybe two-three miles to the…” He walked forward and looked through the small panes of glass that surrounded the front door. He pointed to his left. “Over there.”

  Joel pulled out a paper map which had been printed back at the camp. “Right, so we must be…” he pointed at a street to the east of the town. “Somewhere here. So you’re saying the corporation is to the west, so that would make them be…”

  “At the school,” said Keller, looking at the map.

  “Yup.” Joel looked at Amos and Dalton. “You think we can get closer without being noticed?”

  Dalton thought for a moment. “Yeah.”

  Joel looked at Amos.

  “We need to go slow so I can keep taking a read on our surroundings, but yeah I think we can get closer.”

  Keller smirked. “We just gotta hope they don’t have another one of you,” he said to Amos.

  It was a thought Amos had had before. What would happen if he met another like himself? Him probing their mind while they did the same to him? The feedback loop from hell. Would his brain explode?

  It was a situation he would rather avoid.

  Joel looked at his radio’s LCD display. “We’re making good time. It's only been forty-five minutes. We’ll take it road by road and cut through properties rather than use the sidewalks. If anyone sees or hears or, err… senses anything tell the rest of us, and then hide.”

  They all nodded, then made their way to the back of the house and left the way they entered.

  Walking down a narrow path along the side of the house revealed they were in one of the towns many neighborhoods.

  A basketball hoop was attached to a garage door opposite them. Disturbingly, a basketball sat deflated below it.

  Homes, most single story, constructed from red brick, plaster, and wood sat along both sides of the road. They ran across lawns and driveways avoiding the sidewalk where they could, moving ever westwards.

  Joel kept checking with Amos to see if they were close enough, but the young man kept shaking his head. So they kept on going.

  As Joel was going to suggest they just enter the next large home they run past, Amos stopped abruptly. He placed a hand to his temple as if a particularly bad headache was taking shape, then he looked at Joel.

  “I can sense them.”

  Joel pointed at the closest building, a two-story complex which appeared to contain apartments.

  They ran across the edge of the overgrown lawn onto the path and into the entrance lobby. Without stopping, Joel pulled the exterior door open and they all quickly moved inside.

  “Let's try one of them on the floor above,” said Joel, moving into the stairwell.

  Soon he was looking at a landing with four numbered doors. As the others clambered up the stairs he quickly mapped the orientation of the building in his head and moved towards 2B, ignoring a low rumbling coming from the direction Amos had indicated.

  In one swift movement, he pressed his shoulder onto the redwood door and, with a short sharp push, the lock broke and he pushed the door open.

  A baseball bat swung through the air which he narrowly managed to sway back from. It smashed into the masonry sending dust from the wall to the floor. Before the man could withdraw it, Joel grabbed it from him, his eyes beginning to turn black when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “They’re human!” said Amos.

  Joel looked back at the unshaved sweat covered individual. Then a baby started crying, a woman talking softly, trying to get it to be quiet.

  “Shit,” said Joel. He walked inside the hallway, pushing the baseball bat into the man's hand and waved the others behind inside.

  In the small living room, a woman with jet-black hair sat on an equally modest sofa, holding a baby to her chest. The man pushed past Joel again and placed himself in front of the woman and her child.

  “We’re no threat to you!” said the man.

  Joel raised his hand. “We’re not with the others in the town. We’re from another camp. We can help you.”

  The man’s face contorted to one of confusion. “You’re one of those human vamps aren’t you?”

  Keller and Dalton had already walked past Joel and the family and were now standing at the double window, peering through the drapes, past the small balcony to the school in the distance. It was visible above the roofs of stores which lined the main street in front of them.

  “Yeah, but I’m on your side,” said Joel.

  The baby started screaming again.

  Keller looked at the toddler wrapped in a blanket and then at the woman. “You really need to keep that thing quiet.”

  She nodded and started rocking back and forth. The baby responded by changing its screams to low murmurs.

  The man looked at Amos who was holding the side of his head. “W… what’s wrong with him?”

  Joel looked over his shoulder. “What you reading?”

  In Amos’s mind was a scene of military vehicles, soldiers in black uniforms and Alkrons. Some types of which he had not encountered before. He jumped from consciousness to consciousness grabbing what the persons eyes were witnessing then moving onto the next. All was going fine until he was standing in the middle of a desert.

  He could feel the heat from above and from the sand below. Then he realized he was riding on a creature. Some form of animal he had never seen before. He would have guessed an elephant, except it was covered in scales. He turned. Thousands of vamps were following him. In his shock, he overbalanced and fell…

  “Amos!” shouted Joel a few inches from his face.

  Amos looked at him, blinked then looked at his surroundings. “Okay, that was weird.”

  “What happened?” said Dalton, now more interested in what was happening inside than outside.

  Amos reached for the wall, then leaned against it. His mind briefly kept the desert scene, then it started to fade. So instead he focused on what was happening at the school. He took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Just a lot of minds. I reckon they got a few hundred soldiers. Lots of vehicles. Few APCs, few tanks. They also got about twenty-five Alkrons. Few hybrids and wolves amongst them. Also some others I’ve not come across before.”

  Joel looked at the two near the window. “Any sign they heard the baby or know we’re here?”

  Keller shook his head. “Nothing’s moving this way.”

  Joel nodded to himself then looked at his radio. “Good. We’ll stay here for a few more hours, then an hour before sundown head back.”

  He then looked at the man who was still hovering with his back pressed up against the woman behind. Joel held his hand out. “I’m Joel Garret.”

  *****

  The hours rolled by with Amos stripping what information he could from the open minds just a few miles away. Thankfully he never came across another like himself or had a strange vision of deserts and monsters, and as it neared 5 p.m. he had filled his entire notebook with names, places, and the occasional scribble.

  He handed it to Joel whose smile grew the more he flicked through the pages. He placed his hand on Amos’s shoulder. “This is what we need. Now we get the hell out of here.”

  Joel realized the man whose apartment they were inside, and who was named Darren Atwood, was standing behind him in the hallway. He slowly turned, fearing what he was about to be asked.

  “Take us with you… please!” said Darren.

  Joel felt the eyes on him from the living room. He looked down, trying to think of a way to get them back out of the town without being seen. A screaming baby in a confined space is one thing, but outside? The sound would carry for a hundred yards, and that wasn’t taking into account the hybrids that could hear much further.

  He looked up at the desperate man. Joel’s mouth opened but no words came from it, so he closed it again.

  “There’s no way we can take them with us!” said Keller, moving away from the window. “We’ll have a hundred soldiers on top of us within minutes!”

  Darren’s wife, Joanne, appeared, standing in the doorway to a bedroom. “I can put my baby inside something, it will muffle the sound. I swear there will be no noise.”

  “If you leave us here, they will find us. It’s just luck they haven’t already,” said Darren.

  Joel sighed then looked at the parents. “Find something to put the child in. But do it quick we need to leave.”

  Keller turned away in frustration while the man and woman quickly set about searching for something suitable to quieten their baby’s noise.

  “It’s my call. I’ll take responsibility,” said Joel. He looked at Amos and Dalton, both remaining silent.

  Soon the parents reappeared. The woman holding a navy blue holdall with a secure looking handle. The top part was open and Joel could just about see the baby wrapped up inside. He wasn’t sure if it would completely mask the sounds if the baby started to scream, but it was better than nothing and he reckoned they could still move quickly with it. Both parents also had backpacks across both shoulders.

  Joel looked at both. “We’re going to be moving quickly, in an easterly direction. Keep as close as you can to buildings and away from the sidewalks. If you hear anyone or a vehicle coming, just do your best to hide. You got that?”

  They both nodded.

  Joel looked back at the others. “Keller, you’re on point, Dalton, cover our rear. Amos, if you—”

  “Yup, I’ll let you know.”

  Joel pulled open the front door, and they all walked out onto the landing. The sun, now low above the horizon, bathed the walls with an orange hue, and they all quickly made their way to the ground floor and then without hesitation, outside. Joel and Dalton could hear slight baby noises coming from the mother's bag, but nothing that would register to a human.

  The road to the west stretched out before them. Joel could swear it was twice as long as before and the sky above it was a few shades darker than the rest.

  They set out at a good pace. He kept looking back to see where the three humans were, and they were keeping up.

  Good. We got this.

  The two-story house they previously emerged from beckoned a few hundred yards off. They kept scurrying along, moving through the long grass when they had to.

  Joel increased his pace to the home. He wanted to make it to the path at the side. Stopping at the alleyway door, he looked back.

  The others were now running, not jogging, for they saw what he could. At the other end of the long road, the setting sun was glinting off a moving vehicle.

  They all ran past him into the path alongside the building. Joel stopped Dalton as he went to move past. “Did they see you?”

  “No idea.”

  Joel swore then locked the gate to the rear of the property. The others were already halfway across the garden heading towards the bottom gate to the woods beyond.

  The sound of an engine increased as Joel went to follow, but he stopped on hearing the vehicle do the same.

  As the others ran out into the trees, Dalton looked back. Joel waved him away. He moved through and closed the gate.

  Joel ran through his options. They must have seen something otherwise they wouldn’t have just stopped. If he killed those approaching the house, more would be sent out. Perhaps even searching the hills a few miles off. He could try and lead them away, but they might realize he wasn’t your basic vamp and you could get the same result. There was only one solution.

  He quickly pulled his military jacket off, wrapped his M4 and sidearm in it, and dropped it softly down the other side of the garden fence. He then quickly ran inside to the kitchen, pulled all the cupboard doors open making sure to make noise, and when he found human food, pulled the metal ring from the top of the tin of pear halves in syrup.

  When the two soldiers eventually made it to the back of the house and peered inside, all they saw was a starving human eating a can of fruit.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Marina, Jess, and Jasper walked up the steps to the old courthouse. The stone steps and pillars were now a shade of muddy pink as the sun hovered low on the horizon. They walked into the shadows and then into the impressive marble lobby, which was lit by what appeared to be gas lamps.

  Galloway and a woman Marina had not seen before both stood near the dark wooden counter which a soldier was sitting behind.

  Marina, with the others following, walked to the general. “Well, we’re all here.”

  The general went to speak when Jess took a step closer to her and looked up. “Are you a good or bad vamp?”

  Galloway produced a smile, slightly bending down. “Good most of the time, but bad to those who have been bad. How’s that for an answer?”

  Jess smiled.

  The general referred to the woman next to her. She was dressed like a CEO with a pencil skirt, white shirt, and her long dark hair in a ponytail. “This is Amanda Groves. She’s a psychologist, and our expert on the otherhumans, as we are calling ourselves.”

  Amanda offered Marina her hand which she shook. She then offered her hand to Jasper who, despite his sunglasses covering a third of his face, expressed a look of surprise. He looked at Jess, who nodded then shook her hand as well.

  “Okay, I’m going to leave you all to it,” said the General and disappeared into a dimly lit corridor.

  “If you would all follow me, we can sit in my office,” said Groves.

  As they moved behind the woman, Marina noticed Jasper moving closer. A few hours earlier she had sat him and Jess down and explained how Jasper could help everyone if he could give them some information on where his father might be. But she also said it was completely his choice.

  Soon they were seated on a comfortable sofa while the psychologist sat opposite in a chair. She noticed Jasper was staring at a particularly bright plastic sports car toy. “You like cars?” She leaned down, picked it up and offered it to him. He took it, smiling and turning it over in his hands.

  “I’m not sure what your mother has told you about why I wanted to talk with you, but I need your help in finding someone.”

  Jasper nodded while still looking at the shiny plastic toy.

  “I’ve not spoken with someone with your abilities before, so I don’t know how it works. Is it easy or hard for you to find someone?”

  Jasper shrugged his shoulder.

  “It helps if he has something that used to belong to the person,” said Jess.

  “Umm, well we don’t really have—”

  “You want to locate Copeland?” interrupted Marina.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you should know that Jasper is his son…”

  The psychologist's eyes widened. “What?”

  Marina took a deep breath. “It was not appropriate to mention anything before now, but the point I’m making is I don’t think Jasper needs anything to help him locate his… father… I think he just can.”