“We just go outside?” one of the kids asked.
“Uh-huh,” Miss Collins said. “Right on the ground.”
While the boys looked excited about this prospect, the girls didn’t appear to be happy at all.
“We’ve got to make it fast,” Brandon said. “So everyone get going.”
When the groups separated and did their business, Brandon and Loni ended up being the only two who didn’t need to take a break.
“Who are these people we’re hiding from?” Loni asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
She looked almost hurt. “Yeah, I would.”
He realized she was probably right. “They’re the ones who’ve made everyone sick.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded.
“And they want to make us sick, too?”
“Probably.”
The others started returning.
“I’ll tell you more later,” he whispered.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Ellie ran back to him and held her arms out, but instead he grabbed her hand. “Need you to walk for a little bit, okay?”
She looked disappointed, but nodded.
He was about to tell everyone, “Time to move,” when they all heard a voice yell back toward the house, just loudly enough for them to make out the words.
“Come on back! No sense in hiding! We’re here to help you, not hurt you!”
Several of the kids looked at Brandon, wondering if he’d made a mistake.
“Get back here! Now!” The last was shouted in a harsh burst, like there’d be trouble if the order wasn’t followed.
“We need to keep moving,” Brandon said. “Let’s go.”
They had been here. They just weren’t here anymore.
The living room was covered with blankets and pillows and makeshift beds. There were several personal bags, too, and an open jar of peanut butter and a box of crackers in the kitchen, all of which led Judson to believe they’d left in a hurry not that long ago.
The fact that the Suburban was still there meant that either someone had picked them up — which seemed highly unlikely — or they had left on foot. A quick search around the perimeter revealed a few footprints out back leading into the woods. Unfortunately, because the cold had made the ground hard, the tracks soon disappeared.
“Goddammit,” Judson said. They were just kids. Why did they have to complicate things?
He looked all around, trying to get a sense of where they might have gone, but each direction was as good and as bad as another.
What he needed to do was flush them out. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Come on back! No sense in hiding! We’re here to help you, not hurt you!”
In the silence that followed, he listened for any sound of movement, but there was nothing.
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
“Get back here! Now!” he shouted, anger sneaking into this voice.
Control yourself, idiot.
A crack off to the right — slight, distant. A branch breaking. It could have been anything, or it could have been them.
He looked back at his team, and pointed in the direction of the sound. “Spread out.”
Brandon spun around the moment he heard the crack.
A dozen feet behind him, Billy looked horrified, his foot still on the branch he’d snapped in two. “Sorry.”
Brandon looked past him in the direction of the house. They were probably far enough away that it wouldn’t matter, but still…
“We need to move faster,” he said. “Watch your step, but try to keep up.”
He started out again, his pace doubled.
He hoped it would be enough.
Chloe pulled the Audi to the side of the road. A hundred feet ahead was the driveway to the house where Brandon had apparently spent the night. As she started to open her door, she could hear Josie doing the same in the backseat.
“Uh-uh. You’re staying here,” she said.
“No way,” Josie said.
“There are armed men up there.”
“Yeah, I know. And what if one of them finds me here while you’re gone?”
Chloe frowned. She didn’t think that was likely, but it didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. “Okay, but stay behind us, and when I say down, you get down.”
“I will.”
Once out of the car, Chloe and Miller supplemented the guns they were already carrying with additional ammunition and, in Chloe’s case, a seven-inch KA-BAR hunting knife from Miller’s duffel bag.
“What about me?” Josie asked. “I know how to shoot. Dad taught me.”
“At targets, yes,” Chloe said. “Not at a person.”
“I could if I had to.”
Chloe looked at her. “Maybe, but not today.”
They ran along the edge of the road, then turned into the woods and worked their way toward the house, parallel to the driveway. It wasn’t long before they spotted the large troop truck. It was stopped in the middle of the driveway, blocking access.
Chloe motioned for the other two to wait. She continued forward through the trees until she was even with the vehicle’s cab. Not seeing anyone inside, she switched her attention to the area beyond the vehicle. She could see the house now. It was a large, modern vacation home that, at the moment, had its front door halfway open. Parked in front of the house were the Suburban and the military sedan that had been following the Audi.
Standing between the two cars was a member of the Project Eden team, holding a rifle. Chloe double-checked to make sure he was alone, then made her way back to Miller and Josie and described what she’d found.
When finished, she locked eyes with Josie. “This time, you stay right here until I motion for you to join us, understand?”
Josie nodded.
Chloe and Miller went around the back of the truck and into the woods on the other side. From there, they worked their way toward the house, stopping just shy of the parking area.
From this angle the soldier’s back was to them. Chloe pantomimed what she wanted to do, and Miller nodded.
Chloe moved in silently behind the soldier, while Miller held back several feet, covering her with his gun. Five feet away, she launched herself, arm flying around the guard’s neck. He tried to bash her with his gun as he struggled to throw her off, but Miller moved in and ripped the rifle from his hands.
The man attempted to yell through his constricted windpipe, but managed nothing more than a feeble gasp. His face started to turn red as she clamped down harder. His desperation grew, even as his attempts to free himself weakened.
Finally, his body went limp, but Chloe didn’t release her grip. She had zero compassion for anyone associated with Project Eden. They had taken her past from her and killed her friends, not to mention the little matter of the genocide they were in the middle of committing.
No, she had no compassion at all.
When she was sure he was dead, she laid him on the ground and looked at Miller. He’d been keeping watch while she finished off the guard. He shook his head, letting her know the noise had gone undetected.
Harlan had reported seven men in the Project Eden team that had gone into the mountains. Six more to go.
They moved to the open door of the house, expecting to hear noises inside, but the house was eerily silent.
Keeping low, Chloe crept into the foyer, and peeked around the corner into the rest of the house. Blankets and pillows were scattered all around the living room, but the room itself was unoccupied.
Good, Chloe thought. Christina’s warning had worked, and Brandon had gotten them out.
The question was, had the Project Eden team found them yet?
Chloe and Miller located the back door and headed outside, hoping they weren’t too late.