Chapter 3
"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." -T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"
Hobbes tried to navigate the city streets as best he could, but with Golda it was just too hard. Cars and trucks blocked the streets. Some were abandoned by their owners and with some; the drivers were dead behind the wheels. "Influenza, my ass," Hobbes said as he ran down the street towards the CDC building. He felt a strong urgency, he doesn't know where it came from, but he needed to get there fast.
Claire watched as Darien seemed to be mesmerized by the blood on his shirt and on his hands, "Shock, it must be shock." Claire snapped herself out of the trance and hit the button to let her inside the room. Darien was still standing and she ran up to him, "Darien, let me see."
"I think I'm okay, Claire…its him."
Claire saw the doctor stumble and fall to the ground. Everything had happened so fast. Claire had not seen the struggle. Darien had somehow turned the gun around and it went off, sending the bullet into the other man. The blood on Darien's shirt came from the doctor. She still checked Darien lifting up his shirt and checking for any wounds just to make sure, "Come on, let's get you a clean shirt and get the hell away from this place."
"He was ordered to kill us, Claire." Darien was obviously still in shock.
"Look, Darien, we have to go now!" Claire pushed him out of the isolation and found a clean scrub top for him. Just as Darien changed his shirt, the power went out.
"Don't suppose you have a flash light do you?" Darien asked.
"The emergency generators should kick in any moment." As if on cue, the emergency lights came on and gave the lab an eerie yellow glow. "Let's go find Bobby," Claire said as she pushed Darien along.
Darien and Claire ran down a hall that had bodies all over the place. Some were leaning up against the wall and some were flat on the ground. Their faces in an eternal state of distress stared back at Darien and Claire. Blood had started to coagulate around the noses and mouths of the ones claimed by the flu. The area around the eyes was puffy, much like you would expect from a few insect bites. As Darien ran by one corpse it turned its gaze on him, "Dark man's coming for you, Darien."
Darien let out a scream and Claire screamed with him, "Dahrien, don't do that!" Her English accent was thicker than usual in her moment of fear. Her heart was skipping was so fast she thought it would explode from her chest.
"I'm sorry, but I tend to get scared when a dead guy talks to me okay," Darien said clutching his chest. It was all he could do to keep the quicksilver from flowing.
"What?" Claire looked around, "There's no one alive here, except us of course and we won't be if we stand around chit chatting!" Claire's tone was full of fear.
"Claire, I know what I saw and heard…" Darien paused, "Did you hear that?"
"Yes, it sounded like it came from down there," Claire felt Darien put a hand on her shoulder and she was quickly covered in coldness.
"Don't make a sound and keep contact with me," Darien started to walk towards the sound and then stopped, "What are we doing? Let's go the other way."
"I'm for that," Claire kept her fingers wrapped around Darien's hand. The sounds were getting closer, "It sounds like someone is running."
"Maybe not everyone is dead or they sent someone in to make sure we're all dead," Darien whispered. "Oophfff," he tripped over a hand that belonged to a corpse and he fell taking Claire with him. He landed on the corpse and Claire landed on top of him, "Augghhh, God!! Claire, get up…get off me!"
"Fawkes!!! Claire!!!" The familiar Brooklyn laced accent called out.
"Bobby? Bobby!!! Is it really you?" Claire hustled to her feet and ran towards Hobbes.
Darien leapt off the corpse and shuddered. He rubbed his hands over his clothes and noticed that Claire was gone, "Hey, Claire!"
"Over here, Darien. It's Bobby!" Claire's voice sounded relieved.
"Oh man, Hobbes!" Darien followed the direction of Claire's voice and quickly found Hobbes. The three embraced. "Okay, I'm all for reunions, but can we take this outside and out of this little shop of horrors?" Darien said in a trembling voice.
"I'm with you, partner, it's creepy in here." Hobbes led them out of the CDC building and to the outside world, "It's not any better out here."
This was the first time in three days that Darien and Claire saw outside. The two looked at each other, "This is not influenza." Claire stated.
"My God, what have we done?" Darien asked.
"Brought about the end, my friend." Hobbes commented.
Cars were butted up against each other, bodies lying half in half out of cars. Some people died right on the bus benches and some just fell on the sidewalk or the street. There were fires off in the distance and two close by. Sounds of rioters could be heard off in the distance with some sporadic gun fire. The smell of death was certainly in the air.
"We better not stay here too long, it's getting dark." Hobbes couldn't keep his eyes off the tragic sight before him.
Darien looked at Claire and understood Hobbes' concern, "I think we should arm ourselves too."
"Already took care of that," Hobbes handed Darien one of his weapons and handed Claire her gun. "Now, let's find someplace safe to go and get you some clothes, partner." Hobbes had noticed that all Darien had on was sweat pants, a t-shirt and no shoes or socks, just his bare feet. The three moved quickly down the street, keeping their eyes on their surroundings.
After going shopping while avoiding some rioters, the trio made it back to what was left of the Agency. Hobbes had been disappointed to find that Golda had been stripped and was not going to be driven again. Another casualty claimed by Captain Trips.
Darien worked on the keypad to the Keep to get the door opened. The electricity had gone out and the back up generator never kicked in. Within minutes, Darien and Hobbes had by-passed the locking mechanism and the door slightly opened. That gave them enough room to push it open enough to slide through. They propped the door open just in case it decided to slide shut on them.
Claire rolled out the sleeping bags and Darien put together the battery operated lamps. They quietly ate the food that didn't need to be cooked. It was a lot to take in. The world the way they knew it had changed in the course of a week. For all they knew, the three of them were all that was left of the Agency.
"Okay, so what's the plan? We obviously can't stay here." Darien broke the silence.
"We head east," Hobbes stated.
"Let me guess…Hemingford, Nebraska." Darien jokingly said.
Claire looked at Darien in shock, "The old black woman?"
"'I'm 106 years old and I still make my own bread'…" Hobbes stopped and looked at Darien and Claire.
"Whoa…okay, now this is freaking me out. How can we be having the same dream?" Darien looked at Claire.
"This is impossible," Claire chuckled.
"Yeah, that's what you said about Big Foot," Darien retorted. The silence came over them again as each of them tried to figure it out in their own minds.
Hobbes broke the silence, "I say we go to Nebraska and find out what all this means. There are other survivors out there; maybe they're having the same dream. That's the only way we're going to get to the bottom of this."
"Or they're dreaming of the other guy," Darien added. Claire and Hobbes turned their gaze downward. "Wait, you two dreamed of the dark man too?"
"The one with the face buttons on his jacket?" Claire said in a shaky voice.
"I didn't notice that, I was too busy being scared," Darien settled into his sleeping bag.
"I'll take first watch, Fawkes. You need to get some rest. We'll leave early in the morning. Hopefully those mooks out there will drink themselves into a stupor and sleep well into the morning." Hobbes checked his gun and started for the door when he turned around, "Claire, can you ride a motorcycle?"
"I've only ridden on the scooter, but Darien drove it. I'm a fast learner, I can manage." Claire winked at Hobbes.
Hobbes thought for a moment, "We'll give you a quick lesson. Motorcycles will be our best bet to move around the road blocks. We'll each have one just in case one breaks down. That okay with you Fawkes?"
"Fine with me. We'll need some more camping equipment too. We should think about using one tent. There's safety in numbers." Darien said.
"Good point, Darien. It would be best to stay together as much as possible." Claire settled into her bag and snuggled up close to Darien. Hobbes watched with a cautious eye and chased the jealousy away. She was only looking for comfort, knowing that she was not alone. Like a kid does when they have a bad dream and this was one bad dream. They would need each other if they were going to survive.
During the night, nothing happened and Hobbes was grateful. Still it was strange camping out in the Keep. The memories of the place seemed so distant now. Good times and bad times experienced in one simple room. Now it looked like that time when Darien went quicksilver mad and it took both Claire and Hobbes to inject him with the counteragent. The Keep was in such a mess that day. Before he woke up Darien for his shift, Hobbes glanced around the dimly lit room and smiled. He heard a moan from Darien and knew what he was dreaming about.
Darien's watch was now over and things had remained calm, except the dreams. "Hey, Claire, time to wake up." Darien shook Claire and she moaned. He smiled at her, "Now, don't give me that, at least you didn't have guard duty."
Claire opened her eyes and smiled, "I can stand guard too you know."
Hobbes sat up, "It's time already?"
"Yes, oh fearless leader," Darien started to roll up his sleeping bag. He caught the gaze he was getting from Hobbes, "Well, you are the oldest on this field trip. That's makes you leader."
Hobbes glared at Darien, "Experience, my friend, it's all about experience."
Hobbes got up to get his things together. Before they walked out, they looked around. This had been home away from home for two years. It was a room that Darien loved to hate, but it was also the room where the madness ended with one simple injection. It was a place were friendship was born and a bond forged by loyalty. Darien had always hoped that one day he would say good bye to this place and the tan leather chair, but this wasn't the way it was supposed to turn out. He was supposed to walk away with the gland out of his head and out of his life. Now the chances of that happening was gone because of a germ that you couldn't even see. The future for Darien was as unsure as it was when he held his dying brother in his arms.
Things were still the same when they walked outside. Darien sighed, "Guess it's not a dream after all."
"No and we better get moving." Hobbes started to walk up the street. It was hard for them not to look and stare with disgust at the corpses lying around. He had seen the Official and Eberts go down hill fast. Hobbes assumed that by now Eberts was gone as well. Every corpse Hobbes saw, he saw the face of Eberts and Borden.
Darien wished he could show more dignity for them and turn his head away, but human curiosity was too much to control. It was hard for him to think of the Official and Eberts in this condition and he was glad he didn't see them. The hardest for him to bear were the children and the babies, so innocent and yet they had to suffer for the mistakes of the adults. He wanted out of the city and out into the country fast.
At around 7:30 in the morning, Hobbes, Claire and Darien made it to the Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership. They went inside and didn't spend too much time being picky. They all three decided on the same model, but in three different colors. Claire picked the blue FLSTC/ Heritage Softail Classic. Darien picked a two tone red/black bike and Hobbes chose the all black one. They fitted their bikes with saddlebags and passenger back seats for the backpacks they were going to get.
The three of them ran around the dealership like kids in a candy store, picking up what ever they would need for their trip. Hobbes spotted a map and started checking out which way to go while Darien and Claire continued to help themselves.
"You know, Claire, I expect to hear sirens any moment." Darien smiled as he put on a jacket.
"Me too, Dahrien."
Darien always did enjoy the way her accent made his name sound. He shook his head as his two best friends shared in the occupation of his past life. But was this really thieving at this point?
"Okay, I think I have our route," Hobbes announced.
"Our rout…really?" Darien said pronouncing the word differently.
Claire laughed and tried on a denim jacket for herself, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her mouth opened wide when she saw the boots, "I want those…" she walked quickly and picked up the classic black rider boots. She went to the back and found her size. She walked out of the back wearing blue jeans, a black shirt, the black boots and the blue jean jacket. "Hi guys," Claire said as she strolled around displaying her new found clothing.
"Whoa…you are born to be wild, Claire." Darien said. "How come you never wore that around the Keep?"
The last time Hobbes had seen Claire dressed for action was when they were going to rescue Darien from Chrysalis. But this, this was by far the hottest she's ever looked. Hobbes let out a low groan, "You look great, Claire."
Claire put on her sunglasses and pulled black gloves out of her back pocket, "Lets ride."
Darien and Hobbes looked at each other. "I think I'm going to call her 'Hopper'," Darien commented. He and Hobbes got up and went on a little shopping spree of their own.
With the camping equipment and backpacks finally loaded on their bikes, Darien, Hobbes and Claire were ready to ride east. For some reason they had decided to avoid Las Vegas all together so their travel plans were to go to Phoenix and from there, to Hemingford, Nebraska. The first leg of their trip would take five and a half hours non-stop. Since that is too long to sit on bikes without a break, they agreed to stop at the half way point. From Phoenix, Hobbes figured another five hours of travel time until they reached Chambers, Arizona with a stop at the half way point in Flagstaff, AZ. The city of Chambers would be the place to stop for the night.
They got on their freely acquisitioned bikes and made their way east on I-8, the interstate road that would lead them out of San Diego and towards Phoenix.