Afflicted

So I closed my eyes. Perhaps I was a coward. Or maybe I was just hoping that when I opened them again it would all turn out to be some kind of horrible nightmare.

Chapter Twenty Three

Lincoln

As I pulled back into the street, I spotted the coach outside the Lewises house. Aubrey and my mom were just getting onboard, both of their faces stained with tears.

I directed my truck to the side of the street and waited for them to leave. I didn't want to face them. I hadn't found Katy and Reese yet and I didn't even know where to begin with Diane.

I watched as the coach pulled away and headed off down the street towards the city.

I put my foot down and the truck lurched forward as I headed to the house. I pulled it up onto the drive, not bothering to avoid the grass verge.

I grabbed the satphone from the passenger seat and shoved it in my pocket before making my way inside. The darkening sky had brought a cool wind with it and I hunched my shoulders against it in my thin shirt. I'd make sure to grab a jacket while I was here.

I headed for the cupboard under the stairs where I'd left my kitbag and grabbed it before moving to the kitchen.

I needed to move quickly so I didn't want to bring my entire kit but I needed to make sure I was prepared if things didn't go to plan.

I filled a smaller pack with some essential supplies and strapped a few knives to my belt alongside my pistols. I'd have felt even better with an assault rifle but it hadn't crossed my mind to bring a weapon like that when I took compassionate leave.

Once the bag was packed, I dialled Hawker.

“Is it done?” I demanded as I shrugged into a jacket, shouldered my pack and left the house. It was a few blocks to the nearest trail entrance and I wanted to get into the forest as quickly as possible. The more ground I could cover before nightfall, the better. Not that the gloomy light beneath the grey clouds was a whole lot better anyway.

“It looks like she's just outside Orville town centre,” Hawker’s voice came and I didn't fail to notice her unenthusiastic tone. “Or her cellphone is anyway. There's no way to know if she's even alive-“

“Has it moved recently?”

“Well yes but it could have been stolen or-“

“I doubt anyone stuck in that town is going to be concentrating on stealing from corpses if it's as bad as you're saying it is. I'm going to do this with or without your help so cut the attitude and make your choice,” I snapped.

“Sorry Sir,” she said hastily, remembering her chain of command. “I just wanted to make sure you knew what the chances of finding-“

“Needle in a haystack. Got it. Can you send the GPS location to me?”

“Consider it done,” she confirmed.

“Let me know if you get anymore intel,” I added.

“It's all gone quiet here but I'll see what I can find,” she said, her voice was a little off but I didn't want to get into what else was worrying her now. She'd let me know if whatever it was was going to affect me.

“Okay.” I hung up on her as I started to run.

It had been six years but the streets were as familiar to me as if it was yesterday. I used to run them often, trying to escape my father when he was in a bad mood or just to avoid going home at all. I knew all the shortcuts and back alleys and I darted between them effortlessly.

I started to glimpse trees between the houses as I neared the start of the Highborn Forest. It was popular with hikers and filled with trails that led in all different directions. Not all of them crossed the river and headed towards Orville; plenty twisted away uphill for miles to viewpoints which looked back at the river and beyond.

As I jogged down the final street, the trees appeared ahead of me like a wall of green. The end of the town was so abrupt at the edge of the tarmac and I'd always found something welcoming in the trees. As I approached them that feeling didn't materialise.

Instead of beckoning me forward, the line of woodland seemed more like a barrier. If trees could talk I felt like they'd be screaming at me right now ‘stay out!’.

I paused at the edge of the trail and craned my neck to look up at the trees. They seemed bigger than I remembered but I could have been imagining it, seeing what I expected because of the contamination.

It didn't matter anyway, I wasn't turning back.

I took a knife from my belt and spun it between my fingers before holstering it again. I was armed, trained and I knew where I was headed, hopefully it would be as simple as that.