Arrival (Planet of Last Resort #1)

Chapter 9

They were stopped in a small park off the two-lane highway. Melly and the others in her APC were crowded around the vids, staring at a steady stream of infected crossing the road ahead.

“We’ll have to wait for them to pass before we make it to the river and try to cross,” Jeff said, shooting her an apologetic look. “Could take an hour or so given the size of the group.”

She returned to her seat and dug in her pack for a snack. “It’s okay, I totally get it. I don’t want to be in the middle of any more infected mobs, not even if we are safe inside the APC. After we do get across the river it’s only two more hours to get home.”

“Barring further unforeseen problems,” he said. With a shrug he immediately apologized in response to her glare. “I can’t help being pessimistic. Comes with the job.”

Melly waved the ration bar in the air as she chewed and swallowed. “It’s okay, I’m used to you now. We balance each other—I’m probably too optimistic and you’re on the dark side.”

Everyone laughed as Jeff acknowledged her comment with a muttered, “True.”

“Well I’m an optimist,” Cody announced with a grin. “As long as my drones ain’t showing any more infected coming, you’ll only see me in a good mood.” A holo came to life in the well of the APC, showing a few infected stragglers at the end of the mob and then the landscape was clear beyond them.

Soon enough the APCs were on the move again and Melly leaned forward in her seat to watch as they approached the river. The bridge was a tangled mess as she’d seen before and abandoned cars littered the road. Cody pushed through where he had to and detoured to avoid other tangles until he paused at the riverbank, which was a gentle slope to the waterline. Melly remembered this was a popular spot for launching individual mini boats and rafts during the summer months due to the easy access to the water.

“Sensors show a pretty smooth riverbed here,” Cody said, studying the readouts. “Flow isn’t too heavy, depth is good.” Checking with Jeff, he added, “It’s about a hundred yards across.”

“You think we can make it?”

“No problem.” Cody patted the panel in front of him. “Gracie may not be the most up to date model but she’s tough.”

“Gracie?” Melly had to choke back a giggle. “You named this hulk?”

The soldier made a great show of being insulted at her question but his upbeat tone took the sting out of it. “Of course. Can’t ask the lady to do her best for us if we won’t even name her.”

Assuming this was a soldier’s superstition, Melly swallowed her mirth and nodded. “I see. Of course.”

“Safety restraints,” Jeff said, fastening his own as he spoke. “Once we’re in the current there may be rough parts.”

She heard him checking with Trent in the vehicle behind them over the subaural com and wondered briefly if the other APC had acquired a name as well. She was tempted to ask but decided this wasn’t the moment for lightheartedness. She got a death grip on her seat as the APC tilted and headed down the sloping bank to the water. She had a flash of panic when the vids showed the water coming up over the hood and submerging them. The vehicle shuddered as it moved into the full force of the current and Cody wrestled with the controls, visibly working hard to keep them on course. The engine whined and spun up.

“Is an APC really meant to go into the water?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard, forgetting the subaural com in her fright.

We’ll be fine , Jeff replied . It’s not their primary mission but they’re tough machines and Gracie can handle it. You don’t see us leaking anywhere, do you?

As if his words were a sign, a tiny gusher burst through a seam near the window, even though the shutters were up. Melly gasped and rushed from her seat to avoid being soaked. Did you jinx us?

Jeff and the soldiers were laughing. Not likely. We’ll clean up on the other side.

Zach moved to stuff a rag into the spot where the water was jetting. Sorry about that, doc. Maybe Gracie didn’t appreciate your doubting her.

Unsure if he was serious or not, Melly didn’t respond. She took the seat next to Buddy, who was watching with his ears cocked at an alert position. Petting his silky fur was soothing and she decided they’d needed the dog for this if nothing else.

“You’re better than a tranq inject,” she whispered into his ear. “Good dog.”

It seemed to Melly the river crossing took forever and her nerves were tied up in knots the entire time but Gracie didn’t spring any more leaks and eventually the APC clawed its way up the opposite bank. Jeff called a halt and the group exited the vehicles so the soldiers could do a visual inspection of the dripping metal boxes. Melly took Buddy for a short walk on a leash, Zach having packed up all the dog supplies he could find at the Moellar home before they left.

She enjoyed the fresh air and Buddy enjoyed the new scents and leaving his own on all suitable places.

Don’t wander too far, doc, Jeff said from where he was standing next to the APC’s . Just because there aren’t any mobs of infected here there could still be individuals. And where’s your blaster?

Realizing he was right and she was being too casual, she tugged the dog away from his latest fascination with a tree and hastened to rejoin her companions. Melly left her blaster in its holster at her hip, confident the dog would let her know if danger approached. Trent and Samms were on guard duty, weapons drawn, while Jeff and the other two men did their inspection.

“Are we good to keep going?” she asked, praying the answer would be affirmative. Being so close to home now was torture. Soon she’d have her answers about her family’s fate.

“Two more minutes,” Jeff said, walking over to join her. “They might not be home, you know.”

“If my parents needed to leave, they’d have written me a note.” Melly was confident. “They knew my arrival date. And then we can follow them to wherever they might have gone.”

The captain didn’t agree immediately but she chose to ignore his silence. She was well aware he wanted to get to their ranch site and whatever gear and supplies he had cached there in their cargo pods but Melly assumed he’d oblige her again and take her to her family if they had left the area for safer conditions elsewhere. After all, Jeff wanted to find survivors and people in authority—he’d said so multiple times.

Ten minutes later she and the others were back inside the APCs and on the move again. Cody’s drones were scanning ahead and behind for traces of the infected and finding nothing, which was reassuring.

“Not as many population centers on this side of the river, or at least not here,” Melly said. “The nearest big city is several hundred miles away.”

The closer she got to home, the more excited she became and also the more apprehensive. Surreptitiously she tried her handheld again but the call didn’t go through. She couldn’t even finish picking the address to send the com to before a harsh beeping cut her off and the screen flashed white static at her. “Can you send a drone or two ahead to my house?” she asked Cody, raising her voice to be heard over the engine, forgetting the subaural com until too late yet again. Using the near telepathic device didn’t come naturally to her the way it did to the soldiers.

Already done on the captain’s orders, he replied. The area appears deserted, doc.

Oh. Well thanks for the effort. Melly slumped against the back of her seat and stared at the vids. As the APCs got closer to her home and then entered the actual neighborhood, she grew tense, sitting at the edge of her seat and then standing, balancing against the motion of the APC, one hand on the frame of the driver’s seat to help.

Doesn’t look good, doc ,” Jeff said as they passed a series of closed up houses. Many had big red or yellow X’s on the doors, signifying illness or death inside.

Three homes in a row were burned to the ground and the one next to them was smoldering. She knew the owners of all of them, or at least who had lived there when she was young. Melly tried to ignore the bodies in the street, not wanting to see anyone she knew, much less her family. A car was crashed into a tree, power lines were down…the whole neighborhood was eerie and abandoned. Nothing moved other than their two vehicles. Melly saw a cat streaking away from one house and remembered the original vector for the virus was suspected to have been cats. But where did they acquire it?

“This is my street,” she said in excitement as the APC made a sweeping turn to the left. “My house is at the end of the cul de sac.”

Jeff spun his chair to face her. “When we get there, my men and I are going in first. We’ll clear the house while you wait in the APC, understand?” His voice was stern.

Melly swallowed hard. Although she hated the idea of anyone else going into the house before her, after all the events of the past few days she couldn’t protest on anything but emotional grounds. Locking down her first protest, she nodded.

Cody pulled into her driveway, Trent right behind in the second APC and Melly watched the vids eagerly, expecting her family to emerge from the partially open front door. The drivers maneuvered the big transports into position for a rapid getaway and then Cody cut the engine. The silence was startling.

“Groundcars parked in the garage,” Zach said.

“Yeah, noticed that.” Jeff glanced at her. “Could mean nothing.”

“Please can you go inside now?” she asked, voice breaking. Faced with the reality of her silent home, Melly was terrified and losing hope.

He squeezed her shoulder as he passed her on his way to the exit, Cody right behind. Zach had already unsealed the portal and stepped outside, blaster at the ready. The air wafting in was smoky and held the stench of death, causing immediate nausea in Melly’s stomach. Buddy shifted uneasily and a low rumble came from his chest. It was the first time he’d exhibited any caution or concern and she gripped the leash tightly.

The portal closed and she watched through the windshield as Jeff and the others formed up into a stack and went into the house as if expecting to be attacked, weapons drawn.

“No,” she said, scarcely aware she was speaking. “It’ll all be fine. They’re here.” Melly kept her focus on the dog, who licked her hand. “They have to be. Please don’t shoot my family by accident.” She knew she was being unfair to Jeff and his men, who she trusted implicitly but her mind couldn’t stop visualizing wild scenarios.

There were no messages over the subaural com and Melly was afraid to ask questions, suspecting she wouldn’t like the answers. Impatience mixed with dread flooded her mind. As long as there was no bad news, she could have hope a few minutes longer. She prayed to the Lords of Space her family had evacuated although the groundcars parked in the garage were a bad sign. Jeff emerged from the front door, heading in her direction, his face set in grim lines. Melly retreated to her chair, trying to breathe against the pressure mounting in her chest. The portal slid open and he stepped into the APC.

“Melly?” His voice was soft.

She swallowed hard and stood up, walking into his open arms and laying her head on his chest, tears already dripping down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Your parents are dead.”

The world spun around her and only his strong embrace kept her on her feet. “You—you’re sure?” she asked.

“We found them in the largest upstairs bedroom. She’d turned and he?—”

A wild desire to deny the truth of what he was saying caused Melly to put her fingers on his lips. “Don’t. Don’t say it. I want to see them.”

“No, you don’t. It’s bad, honey.” He stared into her eyes. “I know you’re a doctor and all but this is your family. You don’t need this vision—keep your memories of them as they were.”

Shock over the loss encased her in ice and she couldn’t speak over the pain in her heart. Finally she found words. “Can we bury them?” she asked, impelled to do the one final kindness she could arrange.

He heaved a huge sigh. “Do you think it’s safe for my men to handle the—to do a job like this?”

“The medical report said the virus dies within twenty-four hours of the infected being terminated,” she said. “Please? I can’t bear to think of leaving them where they are and driving away.”

Jeff studied her face for a long time, his own impassive. She got the impression he was balancing competing mission priorities against her very human desire to take care of her parents in the only way remaining to her. “All right, as long as the area stays clear, I’ll ask for volunteers. I’ll help.”

“I can do some of the digging too,” she said. Afraid to form the words she forced herself to move on to the next pressing topic. “And my brother?”

“No sign of him in the house. Your Dad left a note addressed to you.” Jeff pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it over.

Her hand was trembling so hard she almost dropped the precious paper. Jeff guided her to her seat.

“Take your time, sweetheart. I’ll be right here when you’re ready to go inside.” He leaned against the driver’s chairback.

Melly reached for his free hand and gave it a squeeze before unfolding the note, which had been sealed shut. It was hard to read with tears falling and she sniffed and brushed the moisture away impatiently. The paper was stained and torn at one side. Her father’s writing had always been bold, clear and strong but this note appeared as if it had been written by an old man scribbling, using the last of his strength.

“Melly, if you’re reading this, I’m so sorry your mother and I aren’t here any longer to help you. We tried to hold out but this plague is everywhere. Your mother succumbed yesterday but not before infecting me. I’m going to do what needs to be done. Know that we’re so proud of you and all you’ve accomplished, and will do in the future. I pray you can survive this horror our planet has become and help others to survive. You were the little girl rescuing lost kittens and taking care of people and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We love you to the moons and beyond, sweet girl.” It was signed Mom and Dad in wavering cursive. There was a line scrawled across the bottom in a different color of ink. “Mike is in the shelter.”

She took a deep breath and rose from her seat so fast she got dizzy. “My brother! He’s alive.”

Jeff took one step and stroked her arm. “Where, sweetheart? Not in the house—we searched.”

Melly pivoted and rushed to the portal. “In the shelter. I told you my Dad was perpetually preparing for disasters and one of the things he did was dig into the hillside to build a refuge of last resort. The note says my brother is in there.” She slapped the control again because the door was moving too slowly to suit her and then squeezed through the opening before the panel had fully retracted, scraping her elbows as she went. She broke into a run as soon as her feet hit the ground, heading along the side of the house and toward the open land beyond. Buddy loped after her, barking wildly.

She heard Jeff cursing and over the com he said, Zach, Cody, with me out back. Doc’s little brother may be alive in some kind of a shelter.

Melly ignored everything, intent on reaching the hidden entrance to the family shelter, which her father had placed in a grove of trees to prevent anyone from finding it from above. The door leading below was camouflaged and as Jeff and the two soldiers he’d summoned arrived, she was dragging the camouflage nets aside. The men helped her and in a moment the access was revealed. It was a solid, plain door, with no markings to indicate what lay below. There was a closed box at one corner and Melly laid her hand on it, palm down as her companions watched.

“Persona lock,” she said, “Set for our family’s DNA markers.”

Jeff drew her back a step or two as there was a loud click and the box opened. A few simple controls were inside and she had to take a deep breath and calm herself enough to remember the proper sequence to open the actual door. She fumbled her first try and managed to get the code right on the second attempt. The panel slid aside, revealing stairs leading into the ground.

“We’ll go first,” Jeff said in a tone that brooked no argument. His grip on her upper arm was tight. “Zach, take point.”

Buddy was nosing around the small clearing and barking. Cody caught the dangling leash and gave it to Melly. “If you don’t want him running off better hang onto him.”

She nodded, taking a deep breath of the air coming from the refuge. It was musty but there was no smell of death. As soon as Jeff released his hold and entered the tunnel she crowded right behind him. “Mike!” she yelled as she ran down the stairs, causing deafening echoes. “Mike, it’s me, Melly. And I brought friends.”

Buddy barked as if to emphasize her point.

Jeff held up a hand and they halted. “I know you’re anxious but keep it down, doc.”

The tunnel leveled out and since it was short, lit now by the lamps attached to the soldiers’ blast rifles, she could see the sealed door at the end. In a few hurried steps she was there, pushing Zach and Jeff out of the way. “I can open this like I did the outer door.”

“You can’t get in here,” said a quavering voice from the hidden speakers. “Whoever you are, you’d better go away. I—I’ve got a weapon.”

“Mike, it’s me, Melly,” she repeated. Hoping the audio feed was working. “We’re here to rescue you.”

Could he have a weapon? Jeff asked in her head.

My Dad stored all kinds of supplies in there so yes, it’s entirely possible. Out loud, she addressed her brother again, “I’m going to open the door so please don’t shoot us.”

There was no reply so she punched in the code. As soon as she hit the final key and the door began to cycle, Cody grabbed her and put her behind him. Jeff and Zach did their best to flank the door in the narrow space available and when the door was partially open, they burst through.

“Don’t shoot him,” Melly screamed, terrified. “Let go of me,” she gritted out, struggling in Cody’s grasp.

All clear, captain? Cody asked, maintaining his hold.

Clear, let the doc come inside .

Rubbing her arm, Melly rushed away from Cody and stepped over the threshold. It was dim in the shelter but she saw her brother standing between Jeff and Zach and the next instant he came barreling into her like a freight train.

“It is you,” he cried. “Dad said you’d come but it’s been so long and it’s so bad out there?—”

She held him tight. “I’ve been trying to get here for days. Are you all right? You didn’t get sick or —or bitten?”

“Mom—Mom bit Dad,” he said in a choked voice. “And then I didn’t see her again. He was sick but he brought me out here and told me to stay until I ran out of supplies or you came, sis.”

Wordlessly she hugged him and they cried together while Jeff and his men stood aside respectfully. Trailing his leash Buddy circled around Melly and her brother and whined, pushing his cold nose against her arm and then Mike’s. The boy startled and pulled away from her, so she let him go.

“Is this your dog?” Mike asked, going to his knees and letting Buddy sniff his hand. The dog was all over him, wriggling in excitement, trying to sit in his lap, even though the animal was about the same size as the boy. “What’s his name?”

“This is Buddy,” Melly said. “He’s kind of all of our pet right now.”

I think I know why Zach was so sure we had to bring him, Jeff said over the com. He obviously thinks your brother is his human.

“Who are these guys?” Hugging a still ecstatic Buddy, Mike stared at the soldiers.

“This is Jeff, Zach and Cody,” she said, indicating each man. “They’re my friends. We met at the spaceport and they saved my life. They brought me here to find you…and Mom and Dad.”

The three men murmured quick greetings. Jeff stuck out his hand and gravely shook Mike’s. “We should get you out of here into the fresh air, kid. You did a great job hanging out in here and waiting for your sister.”

“I was scared,” Mike said, voice shaking a bit. “When Dad…when he brought me here and then when he left me alone. I had my books and my games on the handheld and at first I could see what was going on outside but then yesterday the vids failed.” He closed his eyes for a second. “I think being cut off was okay with me actually. Those—those people came through here a few days ago and they were like monsters from a trideo. I saw them chasing a person and—and…”