Edge of Instinct: Rabids Book 1 (16 page)

“Giant bug zapper,” she muttered. Tandy chuckled beside her, nodding his agreement.

“Nice thing about it though, we don’t gotta worry about no creepy crawlies climbin’ on us while we sleep tonight.” She glanced around, and a morbid thought struck her.

“If it kills so many things, why aren’t there more carcasses lying around.”

“Rabes ain’t the only predators in the world, honey. Animals gotta eat, too.” Amiel shuddered thinking of the animals slinking around in the night carrying off the remains of anything stupid enough to try and cross the field border. On the other hand, it was nice because she wouldn’t have to stare at what was left. They sat down, enjoying a silent meal together, both scanning the horizon for threat. Several hours later as the sun began setting, Amiel found she couldn’t keep her eyes away from the tree line. Her skin tightened, the hairs on her arms and neck sticking up like she’d stuck her finger in an outlet. Rubbing at it did nothing to dispel the horrid feeling.

“Best catch some sleep, Amiel. You’re gonna fall off that bike into a coma tomorrow otherwise.” Tandy’s teasing voice broke through her silent vigil. She nodded, tossing her duffel on the ground for a pillow. She could feel the lack of sleep and the stress eating away at her reserves, though she doubted she’d be able to sleep with this creeping sensation rolling over her in consuming waves. She wondered how long a person could function without sleep. Truthfully, she was surprised she had made it this far. The last week hadn’t exactly been conducive to restful nights and she’d never been good at late nights. Laying her head back on the bag, she glared up at the swiftly darkening sky. Eyes fixated on the North Star, her memory shifted to how she and Jaron used to lay out on the roof, and he would try to point out the constellations. She could never see them, but that didn’t stop Jaron from trying. Eventually she gave up and pretended to see them, just to please him. Tears stung her eyes, and she rolled to her side, grasping the tags in one hand. She prayed life would take on new meaning for her in her new future. She feared the likely solitary existence ahead would allow the full crush of grief and loneliness to destroy her.

As the exhaustion settled in, Amiel lay floating in a fog. The noises of the outside world flitted across the muffled landscape of her mind, but her body lay comatose. Her eyes remained closed tightly, and somehow she knew she was floating between wakefulness and slumber, paralyzed in the shift. Her mind analyzed every sound; the railroad snoring of Tandy somewhere nearby, the sizzling and snapping of the energy field playing the role of bug zapper, the distant cries of animals hunting in the night. She made an effort to move her body, yet it refused to respond, leaving her to helplessly float in that dark fog. Though part of her mind panicked at the realization that she was trapped in this state, another part of her felt completely at ease, feeling for a brief time that the weight of life was lifted from her shoulders, leaving her to bask in the vague comfort of weightlessness. The feelings of ease won her over, and she turned her mind toward thinking, analyzing the situation. Her body lay sprawled in the comfortable position she was last aware of, laying on her left side, her left hand still gripping Jaron’s tags.

Jaron’s tags…now those were a real mystery. They definitely served as a kind of warning system when danger was nearby. But was it danger from just Rabids, or did it encompass all dangers? She paused, and thought back to the times that the tags had warmed during her arguments with her mother, or in Geno’s presence. Obviously they were not Rabids, so perhaps the tags reacted to her stress levels? Her instincts warned her of danger, and the tags reacted in a more physical way of warning? She placed that thought to the side for later, and moved onto another.

She thought back on the few snippets she had read in Jaron’s diary before she had read the scary one that had sent her running. He had mentioned receiving dog tags in his entries about his basic training, but had not gone into detail. Amiel thought back to Alexander and the other soldiers that she had met at the funeral. She couldn’t remember if they had worn the same tags or not. She made a mental note to contact Alexander or one of the others in Dallas and see if they had answers for her. Her mind shifted to her last conversation with Jaron, to his statement about his tags being recycled if she didn’t take them. If she made Alexander aware of the tags in her possession, would he be obligated to take them away? That was something she wasn’t willing to risk. She’d just have to force herself the rest of the way through Jaron’s frightening journals if she wanted answers. If she weren’t such a wimp, maybe she’d already have them.

Intense heat suddenly seared across her skin, muscles bunching so tightly they jerked her from the odd floating slumber. Amiel blinked blearily, noting how dark the outside world had become. Her eyes scrunched in confusion as she noted the fact that she was sitting in a low crouching position. How had that happened? Tandy lay nearby, still snoring. The animals she’d heard in the distance while sleeping were now silent, and the calm of the fog had been replaced with the heavy sense of danger.

The tags branded her skin with their heat, but her body made no attempt to pull them away. Her jaw clenched, eyes narrowing as they swiveled left to right searching the darkness ahead. On cue, the hairs on her skin rose so far off of her body it was almost painful in its sheer electrical stimulation to her nerves. Her gaze stopped roving, settling on a single spot of darkness. Movement soon followed, and the tags heated to blazing intensity as the movement formed into the shape of a man. He stopped just on the edge of the shadows, leaving an unsettling edge of aggravation in her as she recognized the figure for who it was. It was the Raider from the shop. Ten more shadows followed the man, also waiting on the edge of darkness. As though in a sick replay of the night before, his lips stretched into a devilish smirk, and he motioned his followers forward. As they neared, a jolt of heat shot through Amiel’s body. She let out a grunt of pain, clutching at her heart. Tandy jerked awake, guns at the ready.

“What’s going on?” He blinked hard, clearing the sleep from his eyes. Just then a bird took to the air, belatedly fleeing the approaching Rabids. It didn’t get far, hitting the field and disintegrating with a squawk. Having assessed the situation Tandy let out a grunt, lowering his guns. “No worries, field’s still up. They can’t get through.” He glanced her way noticing her agonized state.

“Y’all doin’ okay, honey?” She shook her head, sweat beginning to bead at her forehead. In all the years of her heart problems, she’d never felt pain like this. Were her mother’s warning coming to fruition and her rebellions were leading to a heart attack? She glanced back up at the approaching Rabids.

“They’re c-coming closer,” she gasped out. He nodded, scooting closer to her, awkwardly patting her back.

“Field’s up. They ain’t getting’ in,” he reaffirmed, watching her closely. “Y’all havin’ a panic attack or somethin’?” Amiel’s eyes rose to meet the Raider’s. His smirk was as confident as it had been the night before. A hand lifted to wave at her, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the memories of fear that resurfaced with that simple movement.

“It’s him,” she groaned as another spike of pain shot through her, felling her to her hands and knees. Then everything went black.

Amiel

When she came to, the sun was stretching its bright fingers across the land. Her entire body ached to the point that she couldn’t move. Her eyes were grainy and ultra sensitive to the light of sun. The world tipped around her as she lifted her head, and for a moment disorientation assailed her senses. Her mind panicked as it registered the inability to move. Glancing down revealed the source of paralysis; strong ropes tying her expertly to a pole. She squirmed, but couldn’t move an inch.

“Tandy! Tandy, where are you!” she gasped in a panic. Had the Cutthroats managed to break into the field and taken them prisoner? She thought hard, yet couldn’t remember anything after eating her dinner. Her eyes widened as footsteps approached cautiously from behind. Twisting as far as she could, she saw Tandy’s chap clad legs heading her way, relief flooding inward. When he came fully around to the front she was able to see that his eyes were tired, and brimming with a mixture of suspicion and concern. One of them was blackened.

“Oh, Tandy, what happened to you!” Her panicked whisper sounded far too loud in her own ears, unsure if their attackers were still nearby and Tandy was risking his life to help her escape. He paused some distance away confusion now entering the fray of emotion in his gaze. Exasperation choked her, wondering why he was taking so long to free her. They were going to get caught again. “Hurry and help me get untied before they come back!”

“They?” he asked, unsure.

“The ones that tied me up,” Amiel replied, now feeling her own hesitation. What was wrong with him?

“Y’all gonna be alright if I let ya out?”

“A lot better than being tied up here waiting for the bad guys to come back!” What was wrong with him? She was not at all enjoying the way he was looking at her. Not to mention her head was now added to the list of body aches. He eyed her cautiously, slowly shifting his body weight from one leg to the other, but making no move to aid her. Amiel’s heart suddenly thudded with the realization that they hadn’t been attacked at all. Tandy had tied her to this pole.

“
You
tied me up, didn’t you? Why?” Her pained accusations rang through the early morning air. Never in a million years would she have thought Tandy would betray her. She’d grown close to him over the last several days, trusting him. Logically she knew she shouldn’t have trusted him so quickly and easily, nor should she be so surprised at this betrayal. Yet she did, and she was.

“Y’all really don’t remember, do ya?” he asked slowly, that ‘you’re crazy’ look in his eyes growing by the minute. She glowered up at him, angry at Tandy and angry at the tears that threatened in her eyes.

“No, I really don’t remember. One minute, I’m eating and the next you’ve got me tied up like dinner!” He flinched at her raised voice, his gaze following a single tear as it trekked its way down her cheek.

“Hells Bells, Amiel. Y’all ain’t makin’ it easy on a man.” He ran a hand over his mustache in his unconscious way. “I don’t wanna have ya tied up, honey, I really don’t. But after last night, I ain’t so sure it’s safe to let ya go neither.” Frowning she followed his hands as they gestured to the camp around them. It was then that she noticed the camp was in disarray, like a huge wind had tossed everything about, and she and Tandy were both covered in dirt. And with these sights, her stomach hit bottom. Something was wrong, she could feel it in the pit of her stomach. And somehow she couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been her fault.

“What happened?” The strangled whisper filled the heavy air between them, seemingly echoing off of the tension.

“I woke up to find ya crouched over in pain, and Rabids comin’ at us. You were flushed, shakin’ and grabbin’ at your heart. I thought y’all were havin a panic attack. Then ya said ‘it’s him’ and fell forward, screamin’ out in pain. I went to help ya up, but ya threw me off and made a run for the Rabids. I had to jump on ya to keep you from hittin’ the field. You fought me tooth and nail, screamin’ like a banshee. For bein’ such a lil thing, y’all sure are strong. It took all my strength just to keep ya away from the field.” She stared up at the camp in abject horror.

“You’re saying that I did all this?” Her eyes shifted to land on his blackened eye. “I did
that
to
you
?”

“A bit of a damper on an old man’s ego, getting’ beat up by a lil girl,” Tandy admitted, only half joking. “I don’t think ya did it on purpose though. None of your hits were aimed at hurtin’ me, just tryin’ to get outta my grip. I simply got in the way.” He shook his head with a grim chuckle. “It’s a derned good thing we didn’t get to the self-defense trainin’, or you’d be a pile of ash over there.”

She stared at him for a long moment, praying this was some sort of sick joke. Then the faded memories began to surface. Strange sensations of floating in her dreams, and not being able to move. The searing heat that woke her. Rabids slinking out of the darkness, and the face of the male Raider from the garage. But not a single thing after that. Tandy kept talking, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Tried talkin’ ya down, but it weren’t til the sun started comin’ up that things changed. The Rabids left, and y’all passed out cold. I was dog tired by then, but didn’t want ya runnin’ for the field again, so…” He shrugged. “I trussed ya up like a feast pig and caught a few Zs.” She stared at his feet, silent. There was no way she could have done all this. Was there? She thought back to all of the crazy things she had been doing lately, how out of character she had been, the darkness of her secret thoughts. The way she’d wanted to break her mother’s wrist at the hospital, and quite possibly nearly did. The sudden and violent mood swings that tried to overwhelm her at the barest of confrontation. The fact that she had nearly blown the head off of Tandy’s dog while asleep. The more she thought about it, the more depth her fear gained.

“I don’t know what to say.” Her body began to shake with the fear and self-loathing. “I think I remember the Rabids showing up, but after that, nothing. Nothing at all. Oh, what is wrong with me!” The tears fell freely now, streaking down her cheeks and splattering against her chaps. Tandy let out a slightly distressed grunt, hesitating in his spot, unsure what to do. Her chin lifted to stare at him with haunted eyes. “What’s wrong with me?” He crouched down to be face level with her, mouth working in an obvious search for something comforting to say in response, but coming up with nothing.

“You need to leave me here. Go home, get as far away from me as possible.” She shuddered at the thought of being left to die here, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of what she had done. What she was capable of doing again.

“I ain’t leavin’ y’all out here, honey, even if you was crazy. Which I don’t think ya are, probably just the stress getting’ to ya that’s all. I’d take ya back home if anythin’.”

“No! Please, I’d rather be left here than to go home again.” He looked to argue, so she rushed onward. “You can’t take me back, Tandy. And you can’t stay with me. I’m dangerous. Not just because of whatever I did last night.”

“Somethin’ else y’all wanna share with the class, then?” The caution was back in his gaze now.

“The Rabid that waved at me at the shop, the night you were gone. He’s got to be a Raider, because he’s smart, and terrifying. My brother’s journal talked about them, said they looked human, but they were super smart and evil as can be. He said they like to hunt, and they like to torture. I don’t know why, but this Raider…he’s hunting me, Tandy.” Tandy’s brow creased.

“Y’all sayin’ he was here last night?” He shook his head, refusing to believe. “Can’t be the same one. If it were, it’d mean he either found a way over the wall, or through the gate twice. And after that he’d have to of followed us the whole way here. I ain’t never heard of that kinda behavior.” She shook her head vehemently.

“It
was
him! He smiled and waved, just like the one at the shop. It was dark, I never saw exactly what either of them looked like, but I have no doubt they were the same. He’s after me, why else would he follow us so far?” She still hesitated to tell him about the dog tags effect on her. She already looked crazy to him, there was no reason she should hesitate. Yet she did. Perhaps out of a need to protect them, perhaps out of a need to protect herself.

“Maybe he’s after me, maybe he’s tired of me waltzin’ through his territory,” he offered, and for a moment she hesitated, wondering if she wasn’t the object of this obsession. She nodded, conceding. 

“Maybe. But he looked right at me, Tandy. I know at the shop there is no way he could have known that I was the one on the other side of the cameras. But last night, he looked right at me. Maybe it was because I was the only one awake.” She shuddered, recalling that look in his eyes. “Either way, he’s after us and clearly determined to get what he wants.”

“Well, in light of this information, if it really were the same Rabid, y’all had every right to be half outta your mind last night. Mixed with the lack of sleep and stress…” He still looked unsure what to do.

“Please, don’t take me back home! If you take me home my mother will stuff me in a hospital or an asylum. I don’t want to live out the rest of my days like that, Tandy. Please!” Tandy frowned.

“Stop it. Get ahold of yourself girl.” She knew he was right, knew that she would certainly be embarrassed by her behavior in the coming hours. But she couldn’t help it, her emotions were swinging violently with the momentum of the pendulum on a clock that she had no way of controlling. She was suddenly desperate to get away from anyone and everyone, to simply disappear. If she could get to Dallas, she could blend in with the crowd there. No one would know her, no one would know her dark issues.

“We’ve been lucky and haven’t even seen a Cut this whole way. And even the Rabids kept their distance until nightfall. I’m already half way there, I’ve got a pretty good handle of my motorcycle, and I think I can make it.” His eyes darkened, not liking what he heard and she fought to sweeten the deal. “I can pay you in full right now. The money is in my bag. “

“What! Y’all tellin’ me ya got all that money in your bag?” She swallowed and nodded. “I thought ya said you wasn’t stupid!”

“I also said I wasn’t crazy. But obviously that isn’t the case.” He deliberated for a long moment before producing a knife and stalking toward her purposefully.

“That were the dumbest thing y’all could ever say,” he growled. Her heart rate and breath quickened as he leaned closer with the knife.
No, no!
she mentally screamed at her body, fighting to force it into submission. She was
not
going to let herself go crazy on him again, no matter his motives. Losing herself like that, it was terrifying. If she was going out of this life, she wanted to go out in full command of her mind and body. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the blade coming down on her skin. The ropes that tied her to the pole slackened and fell around her waist. Amiel’s eyes flew wide, surprise etched on her face as he stood back from her, sheathing the knife.

“Wh…what are you doing?” Her hands gripped the ropes, as though the cut strands would somehow manage to keep her in check. It didn’t matter that the panic in her chest was now ebbing away. She didn’t trust herself in the least. He shook his head.

“Lettin’ ya go, whatcha think I’m doin’?” he grunted and shook his head. “Honestly, girl. Y’all told me you were naïve, but that was just plain dumb. Tellin’ a man to leave ya in the Vasts, and take the large amounts of money in your bag. Y’all are lucky I’m an honest man.” He shook his head, obviously still fuming. “Drivin’ the rest of the way to Dallas on your own. Y’all really got a death wish, don’t ya?” He held out a hand to her, offering to help her up. She eyed it warily.

“I meant it. I’m unpredictable and apparently dangerous…”

“Dangerous, yeah yeah, we already covered that.” He grabbed her reluctant hand and yanked her to her feet. “I coulda killed ya a hundred times over by now if I wanted to. Now if y’all are done bein’ dramatic, we should get back on the road if we wanna make it to Dallas by nightfall.” Amiel stared wide eyed, feeling both chagrined and nervous. He was right, she was being rather dramatic, but she was terrified of what she was capable of. He’d been so kind to her from the very beginning. He’d brought her all the way out here, for what she was sure was a quarter of the price he should have charged. He’d told her she would be putting him in danger with the Rabids, but he had no way of knowing she’d be putting him in danger from herself, too. She swallowed hard, trying to get a grasp on the torrential storm of emotions within.

“Maybe you’re the one with a death wish.” Her snarky reply earned only a grunt of dry agreement. Amiel’s gaze skimmed over Tandy’s blackened eye again. “I can’t believe I did that to you. I’ve never thrown a punch in my life.” He grinned back at her.

“Said I was prepared for PMS, but I guess I weren’t after all. At least y’all didn’t shoot me.” He winked, and she grimaced in return. Given that she’d nearly shot his dog and practically tried to kill him last night, she figured they both knew it was a lucky thing that she
hadn’t
shot him. Tandy eyed her intently.

“Amiel, stop lookin’ like a beat dog.” He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. When they reopened the blue depths were filled with gentle compassion. It was a look that suddenly struck her as being very near the look her own father had once given her as a child. She’d accidentally broken his favorite pen set, and after he’d thoroughly scolded her he had collected her in his arms and consoled her. He’d rocked her back and forth and told her that it had been an accident, and he wasn’t really mad at her. The thought brought the sting of tears to her eyes.