Burnout (The Invasion Chronicles Book 1) (15 page)

And no.

No.

She was not going to die.  Not like this. 

Ava scrubbed at her eyes, and grabbed one of the clips for Jim’s pistol.  “Okay,” she said.  “Okay.  Together.
”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” Caleb chanted under his breath as they ran. 

The only sound in the street were their footsteps, the rhythmic slap of rubber on asphalt echoing weirdly.  There was noise growing behind them, though; other footsteps that grew faster and more numerous by the moment.  They approached the sharp turn that would take them onto Brook Haven Street, and from there it was only a couple of blocks to Mountain Brook.  Lydia pushed for more speed.  The silent houses on either side of them were a blur in the deepening shadows. 

“We can’t—can’t get too far ahead of them!” Caleb shouted. 

Lydia risked a glance over her shoulder, and swore she felt ice bloom in her blood.  The swarm following them looked enormous, larger than it had looked from the Royce’s window.  Most of them were staggering, the jerky, almost mechanical gaits Lydia had become familiar with over the past three months.  Some of them…

Some of them were not.

“Uh…not an issue!  Faster is better,” she shouted back.  Caleb looked behind them, and let loose with a string of curses that would have made Grandpa proud.  “Basically,” Lydia agreed, and pushed herself harder. 

They ran for their lives, and Lydia prayed to anyone who might be listening that they would not have to deal with anything lying in wait ahead of them.  Despite the number of Burnouts following, the things were still silent.  No screams or cries, no panting breaths.  The only sound to indicate the Burnouts were behind them was the echo of footsteps.  The things were getting closer.  Closer and closer, and she was running harder than she’d ever run in her life. 

“We’re gonna make it,” Caleb called.  Lydia couldn’t believe he still had breath to shout.  “It’s all right, we’re gonna make it.”  They turned onto Brook Haven, and relief flooded through Lydia.  The street ahead of them was deserted, no figures waiting for them.  A few still bodies lay in the street, lying half on the curb, or stretched out in front of an abandoned car.  Lydia recalled the shots that had rung out the night before right before Caleb and Zack had appeared, though, and paid them little mind. 

Almost there.  They were almost there. 

The first of the things pursuing them rounded the bend onto Brook Haven, and here it got tricky.  They had to make sure the entire swarm followed them…it would do no good to circle through the neighborhood and get back to Meadowbrook Court, only to have to take out another set of stragglers and start the cycle over.  They needed to lead
all
the things away.  And that meant making sure all of them kept chasing them. 

“We’re gonna make it!” Caleb shouted again, and Lydia grinned fiercely as she realized he was right.  They were only a block and half away from Mountain Brook.  The Burnouts racing along behind them had gained…but not enough.  They were going to make it. 

She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

They were a hundred yards from Mountain Brook, well ahead of the group of Burnouts, when Caleb darted around an abandoned car with all four doors hanging open. As he ran past, a long, muscled arm snapped out of the passenger side near the floor.  It wrapped around Caleb’s knee with the speed of a striking snake.  He cried out in surprise, his arms swinging in a wild pinwheel. 

“CALEB!” Lydia shrieked, skidding to a halt.  Caleb was already bringing his blaster to bear, but the Burnout gave his leg a sharp jerk, unbalancing him and sending him toppling.  It boiled out of the floor of the car, eyes gleaming, jaws hanging open. Caleb kicked and flailed, trying to get his gun up.  It had been a man, even more muscled than Caleb, and it was
fast
.  The thing’s other hand latched onto Caleb’s belt and dragged him forward, all in the space of a heartbeat. 

Caleb jerked and twisted wildly, trying to bring the gun up while staying out of range of the teeth, but he was jammed up against the still-open car door.  Lydia tried to track the Burnout’s head, but Caleb was moving too much for her to get a clear shot.  The Burnout was halfway out of the car, swarming over Caleb like a rabid animal, its mouth still gaping.  How much contact with a Burnout was too much?  How long did it take to infect someone? 

Familiar warmth shot through her.  She clenched her fingers around the blaster and
pushed
.  The Burnout attacking Caleb jerked as though it had been struck. Its whole upper body lifted off Caleb like someone had grabbed the back of its neck and yanked, and Lydia fired.  Caleb was scrambling out from under the still body even as it slumped down to the ground, still half in and half out of the car.  Caleb wrenched himself to his knees as Lydia lowered her weapon.

She blinked rapidly a few times, and looked up to find Caleb staring at her with wide eyes.  She dashed forward and grabbed his arm, helping him out from under the bulk of the Burnout. 

“Come on!” Caleb yelled as the two of them took off again, racing ahead of the crowd of Burnouts. “It’s just up here!”

Lydia almost cried out when the green and white street sign marking Mountain Brook came into view.  Almost there.  They were almost there.  Caleb poured on another burst of speed, his long legs outdistancing her by a few feet.  Lydia lengthened her stride as well, pushing her already burning legs for just a few more inches between her and the Burnouts.  Caleb already had the charge rod out, and Lydia started fishing the keys out of her pocket. 

“There!” Caleb whooped. 

Lydia’s head snapped up, zeroing in on the vehicle Caleb was pointing at.  An older model Ford truck was parked haphazardly in the middle of the street a few yards away.  It was black or dark blue, and a mismatched bright red camper shell was over the bed. The gas cap hung open on the side.  Caleb whooped again and pumped his fist in the air. 

“Go, go, go!” Lydia hollered, and they sprinted the remaining distance. 

She made sure the immediate area was clear of Burnouts, before locking her attention on the truck.  They split up as soon as they reached the vehicle, Caleb darting around to the gas tank and keying open the secondary port right below it, while Lydia yanked the keys out of her pocket and threw open the driver’s side door.  She scrambled into the cab, her stomach unclenching the slightest bit once she was able to shut the door behind her.  She heard a hollow, metallic thump as Caleb pulled the depleted charge rod out of its port and just dropped it on the ground. 

There was no time to rest, however.  She scrabbled at the ignition switch, shoving the key in and tensing as she waited for Caleb’s signal.  She stared out the windshield, focused on the Brook Haven intersection.  The Burnouts were appearing around the corner—slower now that she and Caleb were out of their direct sight. They would have to do something to get their attention again if any of them started heading back the other way.  She swallowed, her breathing still ragged in her ears. 

Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, gritty bits of worn vinyl flaking off underneath her sweaty palms.  The Burnouts at the head of the herd—the ones that had been the fastest—seemed to be looking back and forth across the width of Mountain Brook.  Lydia bit her lip. 

“Caleb?” she called. 

A Burnout at the very front of the pack suddenly started lurching up the center of the street.  They had been spotted. 

“Caleb?” she called again, her shaking fingers tightening on the key. 

“Gimme a second!”

The Burnouts were moving faster—grouping up in a knot together and rushing forward. Within moments, the street seemed
full
of them.  Had there been that many before?  The ones in the lead were barely a few houses away from them. 

“Caleb!” she screamed. 

“Go! Now! Go!”

She heard the tailgate flip down, and the truck rocked as Caleb threw himself into the bed.  Lydia didn’t wait to be told twice.  She twisted the key violently, only to realize with shocked disbelief that it refused to turn all the way in the ignition. 

“Jiggle it, jiggle it!” Caleb shouted desperately. 

“Jesus Christ, are you kidding me?!” She gave the key a few vigorous shakes, and then turned it again.  This time the engine roared to life, and the screen set into the dashboard flashed red when the vehicle couldn’t connect to the highway guidance network.  She searched frantically for the switch that would allow the truck to be driven manually, crying out when she found it on the opposite side of the steering wheel she was used to.  She wrenched the switch down and waited for the screen to go blue before throwing the truck into reverse. She stomped down on the gas just as a single, silver-veined hand smacked against the driver’s side window.  She screamed out loud, and then screamed again as the truck shuddered into gear, accelerating backwards faster than she was expecting. 

“Girl, what the hell?!”  Caleb screamed.

The truck thumped over the curb and onto the sidewalk before Lydia thought to hit the brakes, and she heard Caleb cursing as he was thrown around.  She threw the truck into drive, and her eyes flicked uneasily over the dashboard.  It was an old model, and didn’t have a lot of bells and whistles on the dashboard, but the truck was a lot…bigger…than Mom’s car.  And it
had
been three months since she had done anything more than ease a car into position in the barricades. 

The Burnouts were still swarming towards them.  She stomped on the gas again, clutching the steering wheel so tight it
hurt
.  The truck peeled forward, no doubt laying a thick trail of rubber down.  She jerked the wheel around, sending the truck careening away from the mob and further down Mountain Brook.  How could she get away from the throng without leading them right back home?  There were a few side streets she might be able to take…but for the moment, she had to lead the group behind them farther into the development. 

The tires squealed again.  She tried to remember what Mom and Grandpa had taught her when she was cramming for her driver’s test, but she could barely keep the truck under control as she wove from one side of the street to the other with all the finesse of a drunk on a three-day bender.  She side-swiped one of the cars parked on the street, taking out its mirror.

“Stay straight!  Stay straight!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She looked in the rearview mirror, watching the mass of Burnouts stumbling after the truck with animalistic determination.  She backed off on the gas nervously, slowing; she had to make sure they followed.  With one hand, she groped behind her until she found the latch that opened the back window, nearly sending the truck careening up onto the sidewalk again in the process. 

“Can you try not to kill us before we can even enjoy survivin’ that?” Caleb barked.

“Sorry!”  Lydia jerked the truck back onto the street and sped up again, weaving around the debris in the road with more confidence.  She looked in mirror one more time, hissing between her teeth.  The Burnouts were still following, but growing smaller in the mirror.  She returned her attention to the road in front of her, quickly getting her bearings, and casting about for some route that would take them home.  She and Ava didn’t often run this way, but she was sure she could get them back. 

She followed Mountain Brook another few hundred yards, before turning onto another street that she knew dead-ended back at the opposite end of Brook Haven from Meadowbrook Court.  Without the Burnouts bearing down on them, driving became much easier.  She threaded through the occasional obstacles of abandoned vehicles, kicked over trashcans, and random debris, the harsh rasp of their breathing the only sound in the truck. 

Lydia looked around the vehicle’s interior as she drove, curious.  Empty candy wrappers littered the floorboards, and someone—Lydia would put money on Zack, given what she knew about him so far—had glued a Wolverine action figure to the edge of the dashboard, so it looked like it was poised to spring at the driver.  There was a sour tang in the air when she breathed: the ground-in scents of sweat, blood, and dirt, products of too many hot days spent in the truck’s cab with no relief. 

“So…how long have you had your license, again?” Caleb asked at length, breaking the silence.  Lydia felt her cheeks color. 

“Uh, about three and a half months?” she replied, looking everywhere but Caleb’s steady gaze in the rearview mirror.  Caleb was silent a moment, and Lydia waited for him to make the obvious connection.  It did not take long. 

“Wait,” he said, his words edged with suspicion, “so…you had a driver’s license for, like, two weeks before this all went down?”

“Basically, yes,” Lydia admitted with a sheepish half-smile. 

She didn’t tell him she had barely passed the driver’s test in the first place, passing by only two points.  There was a rustling sound, and Lydia glanced up into the mirror to see Caleb slumping down amid what looked like a pile of blankets and pillows in the shadowed interior of the truck bed. 

“Well, I guess I can’t argue with the results. Thanks for saving my ass back there.” 

Lydia sped up a little and bit her lip, staring at Caleb in the mirror.  “Are you okay?” she asked cautiously.

Caleb seemed to realize what she was driving at.  “I won’t Burn.  It didn’t get hold of me long enough.”

“You sure?” she asked, though a wave of relief swept through her, a bit surprising in its intensity.  Caleb smiled at her, warmth flooding his dark eyes.