“Ayit yah. Ain’t gaht time for shaking hands. Ya’ll can call me Bubba, Ray, Bubba Ray, or B Ray. Most of my friends just call me Bray.”

  “This big guy is Barry. That’s Jaxon and this is Doyle. The boy is Joel and he’s deaf.”

  “Where’s Jamal?” Bubba asked her.

  Cass winced and shook her head. “We came across a Drol’ka Choth’den…at least a quarter blood. Jamal was keeping him occupied while we got away.”

  “Don’cha worry none about Jamal, Cassandra. I ain’t been knowin him as long as you, but he’s harder ta kill than a cockroach and got more lives than a barn cat. He’ll turn up.” Bubba assured her.

  “You seen any survivors?” Barry cut in.

  “The ones I seen was be’in herded into trailers like cattle.” Bubba looked at Cass. “We gotta get. Them fellers are about done with the town. They started spreadin’ out from town.”

  “We have to stay. Jamal told us to wait three days, in case survivors showed up. It’s only been two.” Cass explained to Bubba. “Kurt and Thomas aren’t back, yet.”

  “They won’t be back.” Bubba looked at the ground and kicked a piece of gravel.

  “Did they leave, already?” Cass asked.

  “Them boys gone Cass.”

  “What? How?”

  “The eaters have a staging area where they park all them trailers full of folks. They decided they were gonna sneak in and free ‘em.” Bubba paused. “Cass, they didn’t make it back.”

  “There’s still time, Bray. I’m sure they are trying to find their way here...without leading the drol’ka to us.”

  Bubba took her hands into his and looked her in the eyes. “They’re not comin’ back. There’s a half-blood in town. She’s the one runnin’ the show round here. We didn’t know it when they went in. I snuck down yonder…” Bubba nodded his head toward the town. “I had to know what happened to ‘em. That’s when I saw her. They strung them boys from the 75 overpass…they’re hanging right over Main Street. Right there front’a the McDonalds.”

  Cass yanked her hands away and stomped toward the army truck.

  “What are you doing?” Barry asked her.

  “Going to get them down!”

  “Don’t be a fool, girl. That’s a death wish, and you know it. You’re not a warrior! Those two boys could give twice the ass whoopin’ you can. What do you think you’re gonna do?” Bubba asked her.

  Cass stopped and leaned against the cool metal of the army truck.

  “Forget what Jamal told you to do. The situation done went FUBAR. Jamal wouldn’t want us to wait here to die. WE GOTTA GET.”

  Everybody’s attention was drawn to Bubba’s outburst.

  “You are Hol’den. You’ve been one longer’en I have. You know what your priority is. It’s the same as mine. Get the survivors and get to them mountains. That’s where the Kai’den will be and the Kai’den are our only hope. Let’s say Jamal’s alive and we can count him. There are three of us. Three! I ain’t heard a peep from across the river. The Hol’den in Sherman, the ones from DFW…they all head north. Where are they? Do you know? Have you heard from ‘em?”

  Cass shook her head.

  “We’re outnumbered. Our only hope is to tuck tail and run.”

  Cass stood straight and nodded.

  “We have to wait til dark. We can’t be on 75—there are too many big towns to drive through. We can head up the Highway 70 bypass. Just before Boswell, there’s a road I know that runs straight up to Highway 3. There’s not much on 3, until we get into Antlers. I’m hoping the Kai’den will be keeping Antlers cleared out, since its just below the mountains.” Bubba explained.

  “That plan is as good as anything I got. We can leave tonight.” Cass agreed.

  “There is one tiny hurdle…they got a small group watching the bypass. It’s not barricaded, but we won’t be able to sneak by.”

  “That’s not a small hurdle, Bray! Emmalynn isn’t going to outrun anybody. Are you suggesting we eliminate them?” Cass questioned.

  “Not at all. Too risky. I’m gonna play a little cat and mouse with ‘em. That little lady right there…” Bubba pointed at the Honda Civic, “is a bonafide sleeper car. I found her sitting outside the EZ Mart down the road. Somebody done throwed some money in her. DOC, twin turbos, forged internals, six-speed manual. I’m gonna mosey right by them fellers and let them chase me down the bypass while ya’ll run your asses right down the road and up behind us. I’ll exit on 78 and drag them a ways. Probably ditch ‘em around Achille and catch back up to ya’ll.”

  “Are you sure that car will do what you think it will? Besides that, every drol’ka within two miles is going to hear Emmalynn rumbling down the road.” Cass told him.

  “Well, I already set up a little distraction. At nine…gas station on Washington blows. Ten minutes later…one on East Main goes up. Then it goes University, First Street, then Arkansas.”

  “How the hell did you manage all that?” Jaxon asked Bubba.

  “You’d be surprised what you can do with some thermostat wire, a nine-volt battery, a battery-powered digital timer, a little gunpowder, and some PVC pipe.”

  “Told you, Barry. Redneck MacGyver.” Cass joked.

  “You sure did.” Barry agreed.

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Barry didn’t have his phone, he didn’t remember when he lost it, and he never cared for wristwatches. His wrists were always too big and the watch bands were always breaking. He was anxious, waiting for the first station to blow. Once it did, Bubba was going to head out. The rest of them would take off when the second station blew. Barry reached over and nudged Joel’s knee out of the way. The clock on the dash showed it was nearly time.

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  “At least we got the weather on our side.”

  “Thank God for cloudy nights and night vision,” Cass replied. “They might hear Emmalynn, but they won’t see her.”

  “Any minute, now,” Barry announced.

  An enormous explosion assaulted the quiet night all in one quick flash. Barry could hear the Civic slinging rocks as Bubba sped away. He waited until he turned onto the highway to turn on the car’s headlights. Barry only caught a glimpse of the car before it swerved onto the asphalt and vanished behind the massive factory.

  Barry looked toward Cass. She wore her night vision goggles and was anxiously rolling her fingers over the steering wheel. Barry tried to look for the Bronco behind him, but all he saw in his mirror was darkness. The next ten minutes seemed like an hour and when the second explosion detonated, it scared the shit out of him. It wasn’t even close to them, but the tension and anxiety had his nerves on edge.

  “Here we go.”

  The truck lurched forward and crunched gravel until they pulled onto the road. Barry couldn’t see a thing. He figured Joel would feel more secure if he could see what was going on, so he gave his goggles to Joel. In less than a minute, the truck was turning onto the bypass and picking up speed. Barry thought about Bubba and figured he should be in the middle of losing his followers right about then.

  “Have we passed the Highway 78 exit, yet?” He asked.

  “There it goes, now.” She told him.

  “We’ve got about thirty minutes to Boswell.” Barry figured.

  “Roughly,” Cass replied.

  “I guess I’ll just sit back and enjoy this beautiful blackness.”

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The drive was uneventful. They made it to Boswell, and turned north on Chief Pushmataha Rd. Barry began to get carsick from all the blind curves. After twenty minutes, they were slowing down to turn onto Highway 3. Another twenty minutes, and they were crossing over the Indian Nation Turnpike.

  “Highway 2 is just up the road,” Cass told Barry.

  “Good. Any sign of Bubba behind us?”

  Cass shook her head.

  “He’ll turn up. Probably took him longer to lose the drol’ka than he expected.” Barry tried to assure her, but he only half believed his assurances.

  Barry felt the truck slow and then turn to the left. He tapped Joel’s shoulder and waited for Joel to look at him. He told Joel it was his turn with the night vision. Joel nodded and took the goggles off. Barry took them and slid them over his eyes. The cab of the truck lit up in varying hues of greens, whites, and blacks.

  “How long until we reach the mountains?” Barry asked Cass.

  “Only about five minutes. Then we turn off the highway and start into the Kiamichi Wilderness.”

  “How far is it to where the Kai’den are?”

  “I don’t know, for sure. I guess we drive around until we find them…or they find us.” Cass told him.

  “How far do these roads go?”

  “We could drive for hours. These roads get rougher and rougher. Eventually, we may have to ditch Emmalynn. Some of these roads are too tight for her to squeeze through. We’ll pile into the Bronco and keep driving until it gets too tight for the Bronco.”

  “Too, tight for the Bronco? What kind of roads are that tight?” Barry wondered aloud.

  “The kind that are made for ATVs and hikers,” Cass explained.

  Barry stopped asking questions. He rolled his window down and looked into the night. At first, there were plenty of cabins and small houses along the road. Eventually, the asphalt road became a mixture of dirt and natural rock cobbling. As the road became bumpier, their pace slowed. With the night vision, Barry saw that the forest was alive with wildlife. Everywhere he looked there were sets of glowing eyes watching them drive by.

  The deeper they drove, the rougher the road became. About an hour after they left the highway, they pulled up to a small lake. Cass pulled the truck off the road and opened her door.

  “Time to downsize,” she announced. “Grab Joel and our weapons. I’ll Go tell Jaxon and Doyle they get to squeeze into the back seat with Joel.”

  “They're going to love that!” Barry joked.

  “Hey, beats walking.” Cass joked back.

  Cass walked to the Bronco and Barry heard Jaxon and Doyle grumbling as they folded the front seats forward and crawled into the back seat. Barry gave Joel a hand and helped him hop down from the truck. Once Joel was out of the way, Barry stepped into the truck and started to gather the rifles to hand down to Joel. He felt a rapid tapping on his leg. Barry looked down and saw Joel looking toward the little lake. Barry could sense Joel’s excitement as he hopped down and closed the truck door. He looked the way Joel was looking and saw a thin ribbon of blue-green light tracing the edge of the water. It started midways on the far side of the water and it was making its way toward them.

  The blue-green luminescence reached the nearest bank and stopped. Then Barry heard the faintest of footsteps coming toward them. He shouldered his rifle and yelled for Cass. The driver’s door squeaked open and he could hear Cass running toward them.

  “What is it?” She called out. “Do you see something? Barry? What—” She noticed the glowing water and heard the sound of footfalls approaching. “Announce yourself!” She ordered.

  The footsteps stopped. Whoever it was, Cass didn’t like the fact she couldn’t sense the person. They couldn’t be more than twenty feet away. From that distance, Cass knew she should be able to hear a heartbeat and smell their breath and sweat. She left her goggles in the bronco and her eyes were no use in this darkness.

  “Who goes there?” she called again.

  “It’s strange.” A woman’s voice answered. “I can sense Jamal’s touch in both your bodies, but only one of you is known to me. Who is this man, Cassandra?”

  Cass smiled at the familiar voice. Her apprehension dissolved as she stepped into the darkness.

  “What’s going on, Cass? Who is that?” Barry asked.

  “We made it, Barry. The Kai’den have found us!”

  “Come, Barry.” The darkness retreated as an LED lantern switched on. Barry’s eyes clenched against the sudden light. He blinked a few times and his eyes adjusted. Standing next to Cass was a very tall and slender woman. Her skin was porcelain and her hair was jet black. It was woven into a tight braid that draped over her left shoulder and wrapped around her torso a few times with the end tucked tight into the bottom loop. “It’s not often that I meet a Hol’den that I didn’t know existed.”

  Barry’s breath caught in his throat and his chest tightened.

  “It was Jamal. There was a Drol’ka Choth’Den—”

  “Silence, child. I know this Hol’den would not be standing before me unless Jamal thought it was necessary.”

  Barry heard the words and felt great relief.

  “Now, I must decide if I think it is necessary.”

  Barry’s short-lived relief was replaced with dread. The Kai’den approached him. His head barely reached her shoulders. She looked him up and down, then turned toward Joel. Joel’s eyes were wide and his breathing was rapid. The Kai’den took a step toward him and Joel took a step backward. She stopped. They stood in silence for a few moments before Joel smiled and stepped up to the towering woman. She placed her hands on the sides of Joel’s head. She pulled them away and snapped her fingers.

  Joel dropped to his knees and began to bawl.

  “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Barry lunged toward Joel and crouched down beside him, half-blocking Joel from the Kai’den.

  “It will be a process. I started with about ten percent auditory function. By the end of the month, he’ll hear better than any normal human ever has.”

  “You fixed his ears?” Barry asked.

  “I did. But just a little, to start. Never mind the boy. He needs some time to adjust. For now, you and I will take a walk.”

  Barry stood up and the Kai’den tucked her arm under his as she led him into the darkness in front of them. Barry looked back at Cass. She tried to smile, but she wasn’t sure what the outcome of their walk would be.