Children of the Plague

Chapter Twenty Four: Protector

~Chapter Twenty Four: Protector~

Lanni cut a path through Chinatown, straight back toward the MPC. Even at the end of the world, bright banners and colorful art clung to walls and awnings. In most places, the shops and restaurants butted up to one another, forcing her out of her way to a distant street corner, only to double back on the next street. To save time, she cut through the buildings.

They all smelled of dirty bodies and human waste, a sign that husks were using a building as a home, or at least a toilet. She charged through them so quickly that most of the husks had too little time to decide if she was a threat, a potential meal, or simply another husk on the run. Still naked except for a thick coat of mud and her underwear, she looked enough the part to make them hesitate. By the time they decided she was worth chasing, she had already left them behind.

Junior shadowed her most of the way, sometimes leaping and climbing onto rooftops, sometimes following her through the buildings. By the sounds accompanying him, he must have stopped a few times to snack on an easy catch.

She hoped the little monster would survive until she could observe it some more. It followed her around like a lost duckling now that Big Daddy was gone, but she didn't want to foster the thing. Her interest in this second generation mutant was strictly in finding more efficient ways to destroy others like him.

She came out of yet another Chinese restaurant near the northeast end of a playground called Columbus Park, wearing a way-too-big chef's shirt. It was white, with the red star of China on its sleeves and the word "Ping" on the lapel. She had also salvaged a three-foot steel pole from a collapsed storage shelf, and a utility belt with a chef's knife and sharpening rod.

Junior might or might not have followed her into that restaurant, but Lanni emerged on the Columbus Park side alone. Her hasty run through the city had taken her farther north than she intended, but she was still only a quarter mile or so from the MPC.

Junior chose a good time to become scarce. Only the District Court building and the park's trees shielded her from the snipers on the prison roof. He would have made an easy target for them at this range. Maybe she'd find him at the Starbucks once the chaos of the collapsed safe zone settled.

A few paces around the corner of the District Court, and she would be just one more husk to the rooftop marksmen. She had no intention of sprinting across the yard under their noses if she didn't have to. And in this case, she didn't have to.

She jogged to the parking garage entrance and ducked under the red-and-white-striped arm at the guard station. Her footfalls echoed in the cavernous garage, and she was pleased to see that the ramp descending to the sub-levels was still dry. Outside the safe zone, everything below street level had become a giant, filthy fishbowl.

The small tunnel she made in the western corner was on a lower level. Unless it flooded when the safe zone fell, it would take her to the prison laundry not far from the room she and Alex shared.

Halfway down the ramp to sub-level one, someone ran out from behind a minivan near the bottom and stopped to stare at her. Unsure if it was human or husk, she stopped and stared back. She didn't need to see the glint in the stranger's eyes to know it could see her.

It stepped closer, a few tentative paces turning into a confident jog. Two others fell into position behind it, all of them increasing their pace with each stride until they reached a full sprint. Their numbers grew with each vehicle they passed, others stepping out from between cars to join the race before Lanni even knew she was in one.

She had never seen husks in here before. They must have fled the slaughter up on the streets. Hoping to avoid more killing, she ran back toward the entrance. The door to the security station between the garage and the ground floor was always unlocked. She could duck inside, bolt it behind her, and then take the service stairs back down to her tunnel.