Pulse: Retaliation (Anisakis Nova Book 2) (16 page)

38 – Mandy Sillvers

Mandy was infected. The second she woke up she knew. She felt it like pins and needles coursing through her blood. If she focused hard enough, she thought she could feel the worms slowly making their way around her body. They ate at her insides as they moved between skin and muscle, as they burrowed into her organs. Her stomach was churning and she saw an aura around everything, around the night sky, the stars.

Her breath caught in her throat. She was alive. Her limbs felt numb, then she realized it was because she was pinned under dead bodies. A bullet hit her in the upper shoulder and she felt it like a fire poker digging into her body. Tears welled in her eyes as flashes of emotions flooded her.

Joy; she was
alive.
Fear; she was infected. Dread; what would become of her?

She'd survived eight months in isolation for a cruel death. No, not even death. Mandy would turn into one of those crazy infected and hurt people. What sadistic things would she be capable of? Mandy couldn't imagine hurting another person for her own pleasure, yet that is what she was destined for. Or she'd carry them in her stomach like the children she could never have, a sick cosmic joke.

Nearby, someone moaned. Mandy smelled sweat, acrid and terrible like in her house. Underneath the initial tang it smelled earthy and sweet. It scared her, how much she found herself enjoying the smell. She was in a ticking time bomb waiting for her end,
everyone's
end.

Then it hit her. She shifted her hips and felt the discreet metal case containing MAC still in her front pocket. They'd taken her backpack and guns, but hadn't searched her pockets. Their mistake could save her life.

1. Must be administered prior to Stage 3 (coma).

She wasn't in a coma yet. There was still time. Mandy jerked her right arm as hard as she could. It shifted just slightly. She pulled again and it began to slide free, but she was too weak. Her mind only saw the pain and begged for her to give up. After a third attempt, ignoring the nausea sweeping over her, she pulled it free.

It took everything she had not to scream as blood began flowing into her arm, an excruciating pain made worse by the bullet wound she'd sustained earlier. Minutes passed before she could squeeze her hand and finally dislodge the rest of her limbs and climb from the bodies.

There were so many. Everyone in the hospital lobby and more. The clear night sky bore down on them, the piles of bodies glistening dark with blood. Parasites slithered over them, searching for new hosts. Mandy spotted one at least two feet long, it's round mouth opening and closing hungrily. They swarmed the bodies like vultures on carrion.

But they weren't interested in her. She was already infected and they seemed to know. As Mandy looked at her feet she watched the worms navigate around her to other bodies. A handful of small ones burrowed into the neck of the man who'd been pinning her leg down. She'd thought he was dead, but his body quivered as the worms disappeared into his flesh. They left trails of blood dribbling down his neck where they entered.

Mandy couldn't stop herself. She turned and vomited, acidic bile splashing onto the concrete.

She had to get out of there.

No one was watching the bodies. No one cared. Mandy crawled as fast as she could, opting for speed rather than discreetness, finally getting to her feet once she cleared the horror of the parasite feeding grounds.

She didn't know where she was or where she should go. A deep sense of fatigue was taking hold. Part of her brain wanted to shut down and go to sleep. It wanted her to go back to the sweet smelling sweat.

A sudden brutal image of her parents, stabbed hundreds of times, popped into her mind. The thought alone was horrifying enough, but what was truly harrowing was that she liked it. She wanted it to be real, to feel her hands wet with blood as she stabbed them.

"Stop!" she told herself, clutching her head. Mandy fought the feelings and urges as she looked for somewhere safe to administer a dose of MAC.

Strip mall. Restaurant. Burned down houses. Abandoned cars littered the road. Then she spotted a tiny espresso stand in front of a tire dealership. Mandy stumbled to it, praying to God no one saw her. It seemed like a very inconspicuous place to hide.

Once inside, she pulled the door shut and laid on a rubber safety mat. It was sticky from syrup residue and had a distinct smell of cherry. The windows were high up, granting her privacy. Mandy propped herself up against a mini fridge and pulled the case from her pocket, her hands shaking as she drew up the vaccine into a needle.

"You're brave," she whispered to herself. "You are in control."

The needle felt like nothing compared to the agony the rest of her body was in. Anisakis Nova was wreaking havoc on her physically and mentally. She kept her eyes open, repeating the mantra in her head until it became white noise, then she let herself remember Matthias and how much she loved him.

Images of hurting people flashed in her mind again. She fought them. Her mouth was dry, her body hot, then she was freezing and couldn't stop drooling. Disgusting yellow sweat poured off her in rivulets, pooling on the rubber mat underneath her. Every fiber of her being was fighting the infection.

Hours passed. Mandy wasn't sure what memories were real or concocted by her fevered brain. Bits and pieces of her childhood popped up, but were grotesquely skewed. In them her father had the head of a jackal and her mother was a giant cricket. There was a tangible sense of dread lingering in even her happiest recollections.

Though slow, the memories began to run out. It was as though the parasite was dredging up everything, scanning her life for information, and when there was nothing left her mind became blank. Eventually a quietness worked its way in. It started small, then grew bigger until she felt like she was gaining control again. The sensation of razors and needles in her bloodstream faded.

It wasn't until the glow of morning crept through the windows that Mandy felt good enough to fall asleep. Her mind and body were utterly exhausted from battling the parasite within her. As her consciousness gave way, she felt pride.

The parasite wouldn't claim another victim today.

39 – Pvt. David Stewart

They'd been fighting annies all night, mowing them down as they moved through Tacoma. Becky's intel, so far, seemed to be right. The annie population was booming in the area. His squad had already rescued two moving vans full of healthies. Annies were taking them somewhere for sure, but the squad hadn't found much yet. There were outposts of infected, but nothing his squad couldn't handle. Most were unorganized and Stewart doubted they had anything to do with what he'd witnessed so far. Just stragglers.

Problem was, Stewart knew they'd eventually run into something they couldn't handle. Everyone was low on ammo, everything they'd scavenged from the loss of the rest of their platoon finally running out. Norris had thirty seconds of burn time left. That was it. They were supposed to use military issued canisters of a napalm-like fuel the flamethrower was suited for, but in a pinch they could make their own or use something else.

Fuck, he'd consider putting gasoline in a super soaker and using his zippo if it meant he had a fighting chance against the poppers.

Pratt used some strong wording when he suggested Otto let the squad move closer towards downtown and away from the suburbs. A week ago, Otto would've shredded him for talking back to an officer and questioning orders, then do it and act like it was his idea. The new Otto didn't give a damn. He just nodded and told him to do what he thought was best.

They were here alone, just his platoon, because Charlie had orders to stay and defend the hospital. There were no platoons to spare, especially for a potentially hopeless task such as following up on intel like Becky’s. Once they'd worked their way into the outskirts of Tacoma proper and found it infested, Otto radioed higher up. Their orders were to continue searching Tacoma for a confirmed infected base of operations.

Stewart looked out from his vantage on the Humvee, scanning the city for signs of life. Tacoma was a dead zone and had been for months. It was the perfect place for a bunch of those wormy fuckers to be hiding. Made perfect sense and he wasn't sure why no one checked here first to begin with. He wanted to kill every last one of them because to him, the only way of eradicating the parasite completely was to wipe it off the face of the planet.

The fact that Becky's church wanted to help the parasite take over made him sick.

Some of the groups they trailed were headed in this direction. It wouldn't surprise him if they were abducting healthies and storing them in a big warehouse, doing God knows what to them. Everyone knew they were taking 'em, but not where or for what.

His squad was going to rest in a tire store they spotted off the main road. It had an expansive parking lot and the only thing behind it was a railroad, then forest. Good place to defend.

As they turned into the parking lot, his eye caught movement in an espresso stand nearby. Someone was in it. He signaled the driver.

"Movement at 9 o'clock!"

The humvee came to a halt. They exited the truck and got into formation, closing in on the stand.

Then a woman came out. Battered and bloodied, she stumbled from the stand and froze with her hands up.

"Identify yourself!" Gonzalez shouted.

Stewart knew she wasn't infected the moment he saw her. She had a pair of blue eyes so clear and bright they looked white even from where he was standing. She wasn't jerking around like the annies do. And she was afraid. Hell, she was so fucking afraid her body shook. She had blood all over her.

"M-my name is Mandy Sillvers," she said. Her body swayed. "I'm not infected."

"
Stewart, Hallock, Carew, move in
," Pratt ordered. “
Alpha and Bravo teams, create a perimeter
.”

If they hadn’t already intended to stay in the tire store, Stewart knew they’d have left her behind. It was her lucky day.

Stewart took the lead. Up close, beneath the dirt, she was pretty in a simple hometown girl kind of way. He did a field check on her. Field checks scared civvies sometimes, but they had to do it. He ordered her to lie on the ground spread eagle while he patted her down for weapons and checked for infection.

She wasn't infected, but she'd been through hell.

"Clear, sir," Stewart said into his mic.

"
Alpha and Bravo, sweep and clear the tire store
,” Pratt ordered.

The woman stayed back with him, Hallock, and Carew while the rest of the platoon cleared out the tire store. Pratt went in with the platoon while Otto stayed in the Humvee. He eyed Mandy with mild interest, but had no questions. Once they got the all clear, they moved the vehicles up to the building and entered.

Inside was untouched and smelled like new rubber, a scent he'd always loved. It reminded him of working at his uncle’s shop when he was a teenager. As they filtered in, taking up posts around the doors, Mandy stuck close to Stewart. He found a waiting room and sunk into one of the chairs. His muscles were stiff and used to being active. They wouldn't relax.

Barbie plopped down next to him. He tilted his head back and slung one arm over it to block the light. He could sleep through anything, lucky bastard.

"You're in pretty bad shape, lady," Stewart said. He looked over her dirty clothes. "You need anything?"

He didn't have much to give her. No clothes at least. Food was in short supply, but he was willing to split something with her if she wanted.

Norris walked by carrying a flat of dusty water bottles as if on cue. "Found a bunch of shit by the front desk. Grab a few."

Mandy did, taking four bottles without a hint of hesitation. Norris was amused by her, but didn't seem interested in conversation. He drifted away, doling out the found goods to the rest of the squad.

"I got shot in the shoulder," she said, as though she just remembered. "Right here."

She was covered in so much blood and gore it was hard to see much of anything. "Fuck, lady! You should've said something sooner."

Stewart retrieved his own med kit. Depending on how bad the wound was, he could do some field first aid. He doubted it was that bad if she was still up and about. He came closer to her, holding up the kit. She stopped him, raising both hands as she did when they first met.

"I want to be honest with you. I
was
infected. I was really sick and could feel those things inside me. But I took this stuff I found, some vaccine. I think I'm okay now."

Stewart shrugged. "As long as you took the MAC, you're fine. Still carrying the parasite, but—"

"What!?"

"Damn, keep your voice down. Anyway, you're still infected, but the parasite can't grow any bigger. How big was the one that got you?" Stewart found it strange she didn't know. Everyone knew how MAC worked. It was what saved—well, was supposed to save—the world.

"Oh." Her voice was small. She leaned back, tilting her chin towards the ceiling. He took the opportunity to sit closer to her and take a look at her shoulder.

"You didn't know? How could you not know?"

She didn't answer, just stared into nothingness. Her outburst had drawn the attention of some of the squad who peered with mild interest. "I'm going to cut the shirt to get to the wound, okay? Just going to clean it up and see where we're at."

Stewart cut away the sleeve of her shirt. Sure enough, a bullet appeared to have grazed the top of her shoulder. He'd seen worse. Using rubbing alcohol and gauze he began cleaning out the wound. Mandy didn't even flinch as the alcohol hit the wound.

"I've been underground for eight months."

Barbie, apparently not asleep, laughed. "Sure. What, you have a sweet bunker or something?"

"Yes, I did," she said, a little more kick in her tone. "What, is that so hard to believe?"

The fierce look in her eyes and
bring it on
tone shut Barbie right up. He shrugged and returned to his napping position. Stewart finished cleaning the wound and began irrigating it. She needed a few stitches.

"Shit, that's cool," Stewart admired. "You didn't have a radio or something?"

"At first. Then it went down."

He threaded his needle and focused on a few strategic stitches. She did wince now, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. Their conversation stopped until he'd finished and was taping a bandage.

"Were you by yourself?" he asked.

All patched up, Mandy finished off her second bottle of water, then set to work with the third washing her face and hands with tissues on a coffee table in front of them. As the dirt came off, he noticed again how pretty she was.

"I was by myself. It was fine at first, but then something happened and my internet and radio went out. I had no way of communicating with the outside world. I was afraid of what it would be like if I came out, so I stayed." She took a deep breath. "I was getting paranoid. Then the power went out, and I used up all my backup sources. I started getting a little stir-crazy and eventually I decided to just take my chances and leave. I didn't know about the vaccine or how it worked. I found some of it and kept it with me just in case. When the infected took me and I escaped—"

"You were taken?" Stewart glanced at the rest of the squad, all of whom were giving Mandy their full attention now. Some walked closer to hear her better. Carew jogged off to retrieve Pratt and Gonzalez who was there even before Mandy began talking again.

"Yes. I was taken by a group of them to a hospital or clinic. It looked old. There were a ton of them there." Mandy seemed happy to be providing useful information. She leaned forward as she spoke, looking from Stewart to Pratt. "There was this guy, a crazy mad scientist or something. He came out and saw all of us and just snapped. He fired a rifle into the group. I got shot. The next thing I know, I'm awake outside under a bunch of dead bodies and there’s parasites crawling around. I knew I was infected right away. I felt so off. I crawled away and took the MAC in that espresso stand. Then you found me."

Pratt came over, kneeling next to her. "Would you be able to tell us exactly where you were?"

Mandy shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know exactly. I wandered for a while. I was out of my mind. But I can tell you it wasn't that far from here. I might be able to get you in the general area."

"Do you remember anything else? Did you hear an infected say anything unusual?" Gonzalez asked.

"Yeah, now that you mention it." Mandy paused to think. "The scientist guy was yelling about how we weren't good enough. He was talking about mutants. It didn't make much sense to me, but it was obvious he was in charge."

Stewart felt a swell of adrenaline. The other men were whispering to each other, adjusting gear and finishing off their food.

"But there's no way you can take them on." Mandy said, her voice barely a whisper. "They have that entire place taken over. There's probably hundreds of them and what, ten of you?"

"She's right, Sarge," Stewart admitted. "We can't take them ourselves."

"I know, Private," Pratt said, pulling out his radio. "We’re calling it in, then we're going to get eyes on it for ourselves. We're doing this right.”

Stewart grinned. "We're going to blast them into fucking oblivion."