Chapter 16

Salone Valonte

I stayed huddled behind a low wall, cutting off my view with what was going on with Alex and the rest. I held my hand in my head, trying to clear my thoughts, trying to sort out what had happened...but I knew what had happened already. I had run away, like a scared little kid. That's all I was. I was just a little kid. When I was needed, when Nikole had taken the full force of that flash grenade, I had scampered off, scuttled away into hiding. I felt like a coward.

There was talking going on behind the wall. After a while, I heard the clatter of what sounded like metal objects hitting the ground, followed by the quick shuffling of feet. Alex's voice soon followed, calling out my name.

"Salone!"

Standing up, I took a peek over the wall. Alex was holding two people at gunpoint with what looked like a very big sniper rifle. Next to Alex, Nikole was poking the barrel of a shotgun into the chest of one of the guys. I specifically heard her say "How do you like your own crap shoved in your face?" while I gathered up the courage to say something.

"Y...yes, Alex?"

"Get over here, and meet our new...'friends'. These are za guys who killed Josh."

Pulling myself over the wall, I saw Alex twitch involuntarily. I stopped, puzzled at first before his words finally registered...

Had they really killed Josh?

Thinking back, I tried to recall what had happened. There had been a glare of light. Alex had froze. There was a gunshot, and then another. Nikole had grabbed her gun and started firing...shouted at Alex...then he had shaken himself up and helped carry Josh out of the way. Looking back to where we had lain Josh, I studied his body. He...he didn't move. Matter of fact, he hadn't moved for what was more than natural. He...he really was dead.

Before I knew it, my insides were swelling up with fires and rage.

"You...you bastards. You freaking bastards. Why, huh? Why kill Josh? What did he do? What did he do to you? Answer me!"

Before I realized what I was doing, I was screaming into the one of their faces. He had startingly bright eyes that seemed to be grey. Grey-Eyes stared at me defiantly, his demeanor and facial expressions unwavering as he opened his mouth.

"He was already infected. I saw the bite mark on his leg. I did him and the rest of you a favor. But if you would be so kind as to remove your head from your rectal cavity, I would like to inform you that there are a bit more pressing matters at hand."

"The only 'pressing matter' here is how we're going to put you down. Right, Alex?"

I looked up to Alex. He seemed to be staring off into the distance, up into what was soon going to become a dark blue horizon. On the very edge of the sky, a plane drifted slowly by, leaving white trails of puffy smoke. Wait a second...

A plane?

"Hey, guys! Look at that, a plane!"

I pointed up into the sky like a four year old pointing at a giraffe. Everyone's heads snapped upwards, watching it pass. Nothing was said for a long while, until Alex decided to clear his throat.

"You know, I actually vould not mind hearing these 'more pressing matters' of yours now, Trent. Vhat is it that you speak of?"

Grey-Eyes who was now seemed to be named Trent, turned to Alex. He calmly opened his mouth, speaking in a smooth, soft tone.

"That's exactly what this is all about. Did you see that airplane in the sky? I can guarantee you that that airplane will never see a runway ever again.."

Almost on cue, a pair of twin fighter jets screamed across the sky, heading off towards the direction of the airplane. My mouth was slightly ajar as I lowered my gaze back down to Trent. He blushed slightly, continuing his story.

"Right then...As I was saying before, that airplane will never see ground. It's flown a bit too closely to something that it wasn't supposed to see. All of this...this whole area, probably this entire state, is quarantined by the government. Nobody comes, nobody goes. Nobody knows."

I was confused. I wasn't the brightest little crayon, but his articulation of speech confused me. However, Alex seemed to have the same problem.

"Vhat are you trying to say here?"

Trent sighed, taking in another breath.

"What I'm trying to say here is that in a short matter of time is that we will all be dead. This entire thing is already covered up. It's nothing but one big military exercise, designed to test a new toy of theirs..."

"And uh...vhat exactly, is this toy supposed to be?"

I could tell that Trent was enjoying this. He was playing the role of the intelligent, almost all-knowing informant, and he knew it. Striking a facial expression that could only be justified for a cheesy cult movie, he went on, relishing in the spotlight.

"A weapon."

Somehow, I had felt like I knew he was going to say that. What else could it have been? A dogsled? Apparently though, Alex had not seen much of American movies. Looking taken aback, he took a small step closer, lowering his voice.

"Vhat do you mean, 'a veapon'?"

"Exactly what I said. Oh, don't get me wrong. They didn't create these things. They probably stole one from another country, just like they do everything else. But the principle...the sheer magnitude of what these things can do...well, it's something to be sought after, now isn't it?"

Alex shook his head.

"Nyet, Trent. I do not follow."

"Ugh...look at it like this: If America were to have an enemy...let's say, China, and we wanted to devestate them, in ways scaling from financially all the way to politically, we could easily do so. A plague such as this, in the streets of China? Person after person infected. The government being criticized for not being able to effectively handle this threat, With all the knowledge on how and why in the hands of people who started it. But of course, to do so, one must have such a weapon tested. Tell me, any of you, how far have you been since this outbreak occured?"

No one said anything for a long time. Chirping in my thoughts, I muttered a reply.

"Well...I think I've been driving since...Oklahoma. Not sure where I am now."

Trent smirked. Watching his eyes, I thought I saw them breifly give me a quick up-down look. I hoped I was seeing things.

"Well Salone, guess what: You're still in Oklahoma. Imagine that, eh?"

I blinked. I had been on the move for almost a month. How...? But no, he had yet another answer, his talk the only thing keeping him from grinning. This guy just had to be gay.

"Like I said: quarantined. Did you ever noticed that, when driving, that pileups of cars and sings just seemed to...I don't know, seem to block any one way of moving? That you always had to double back? Ever wonder why you seemed to always find a way somewhere, but find the route you needed not accesable? Think about it for a second. Did it ever look like you saw the same signs in different places?"

Now that I thought about it, I started to put things together in my mind. I had always found myself on small roads and never long enough on the freeway. The one path I always wanted to take was always blocked off by something. I had never tried to link coincidences together, but now that I did...I felt like I was being choked by the chain they were forming. And Trent was getting ever more annoying about it.

"Now now, it gets much worse...you see, the point that I am coming to is that we won't be leaving this place alive.."

Everyone was already too stunned to really say anything. Trent seemed to mistake this for disbelief on his previous statement. Adding one last thing, he took a deep breath.

"That's right, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to die here."