Torch Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  Author's Note

  TORCH

  a Lovelock novel

  Book two of the Lovelock series

  By Tricia Copeland

  Edited by Tia Silverthorne Bach &

  Proofread by Jennifer Oberth of Indie Books Gone Wild

  Copyright © 2020 True Bird Publishing LLC

  Superior, CO

  All rights reserved

  License Notes:

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be copied or re-distributed in any way. Author holds all copyright.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment

  25.12.2069 UNITED NORTH STATES WANTED BULLETIN: JEMA WALKER, 16, 5’10”, 130 LBS, OLIVE SKIN, DARK HAIR, DARK EYES, ASIAN DESCENT. WANTED FOR THREE COUNTS OF MURDER, CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. IF YOU SUSPECT YOU’VE SEEN HER, CONTACT 911 IMMEDIATELY. LAST SEEN APROXIMATELY 100 MILES SOUTH OF THE UNS BORDER WITH TROY MASTERSON, UNINCORPORATED GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO.

  25.12.2069 UNITED NORTH STATES WANTED BULLETIN: TROY MASTERSON, 18, 6’2”, 175 LBS, BLOND, BLUE-EYED, CAUCASIAN, WANTED FOR ONE COUNT OF MURDER, CONISDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. IF YOU SUSPECT YOU’VE SEEN HIM, CONTACT 911 IMMEDIATELY. LAST SEEN APROXIMATELY 100 MILES SOUTH OF THE UNS BORDER WITH JEMA WALKER, UNINCORPORATED GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO.

  26 DECEMBER 2069

  Troy clicked off the radio. “Well, happy Christmas to you too. I’m glad we didn’t listen to that yesterday.”

  I rubbed my Lovelock medallion and ID tags hanging around my neck. I couldn’t think about the men I’d killed. It would drive me crazy. “There’s nothing on vaccination centers. Why aren’t they distributing the cure? It’s been a week.”

  Wrapping his hands around mine, Troy kissed my forehead. “They have to clean and retrofit a plant, scale up. It takes a while.”

  I shook my head. “Dena already had the production location picked out. I heard them talking. It didn’t need any customization. They should be setting up distribution locations. I don’t get it. Hundreds of people are dying every week, and soon it’ll be thousands.”

  “Why withhold the vaccine?” Troy hooked his fingers in my belt loops.

  “You trust Owen and Dena after what they did to us? After they’ve refused to share the technology with other countries?”

  “No, not on a personal level. They formed Lovelock to develop a cure. Things like this take a while. You’ll see. They said they’d send crews to Europe and Asia after the plant was up and running. Aren’t we taking a break from saving the world?”

  Pushing up on my toes, I kissed him. “Sorry, we are. What’s on the plan for today?”

  Leaning over, he scooped a notebook from the dirt. He read aloud all the things we needed to check on including the water system, electrical grid, and sewer, and things to prep, like the soil for seeding crops. By sunset we’d serviced all the systems inside the cave. After cooking a rabbit, we ventured outside to inspect the solar panels and water lines.

  Motion caught my eye, and I dropped to the ground and slid an arrow from my quiver.

  “Hey.” He tapped my arm. “I thought we could catch some live ones, start raising them maybe.”

  A laugh escaped my lips. “Are you chasing them?”

  “No, with a net or trap or something.”

  “You’re really planning for the future, aren’t you?” I envisioned months in the desert, just Troy and me. Would they come for us? Were we sitting ducks? Troy seemed to think this was the safest place we could be, in the middle of what used to be Nevada, far from the UNS border, dead center of no-man’s land. But we weren’t original with our choice of hideouts. Coming back to Lovelock Cave, which Owen and his men hollowed out and built into an underground base, could be our worst or best move. What if he knew our location? He must, right? Maybe he didn’t care. At least one thing seemed probable, the Chinese couldn’t extract us from the interior of the continent without being noticed. Perhaps Owen figured he had us right where he wanted us.

  “Jema,” Troy whispered. “Are you listening?”

  I jumped as he bumped my leg. “Sure. You should probably leave the hunting and trapping to me. Put that on the list. Tonight, I’m killing us some food for breakfast.”

  Moving to my knees, I surveyed the landscape. Seeing a jackrabbit hop from one bush to the next, I released an arrow.

  “I want eggs,” Troy commented as we jogged to the downed animal.

  “Now you want to raise birds?”

  “Yeah, we could catch roadrunners. I saw a few of them. They should be easy enough to trap.”

  My eyes filled with tears, and grateful for the darkness, I ignored them. But my brain didn’t. Could we ever go home? Back to our pre-second-apocalyptic flu epidemic, post-global warming, semi-mandated lives? Having to pick from a handful of appropriate careers or a pool of potential mates didn’t sound as bad anymore. I scratched that last notion. The partner pairing thing still scared me just as much as Owen and the Chinese did.

  I’d ruined everything. Dad sent us to Owen to be safe, and I’d imploded my chance at a semi-normal existence. No, Owen, your uncle, double-crossed you. But your sister is alive, and the people with a cure are in power. You’re just tired. It’ll seem better in the morning.

  Scooping up the hare, I pointed at the cave opening. “That it for the night? I’m exhausted.”

  Troy caught my hand and pulled me to the road. “We still need to get our run in.”

  “You and the running!”

  “You still love me though.” His arms wrapped around my waist.

  “Yes, I do.”

  01 JANUARY 2070

  I slammed my hand down on the top of the radio. “Still nothing about vaccination centers. What’s the hold up? I’m calling my dad.”

  “You’re not calling your dad. They’re fine. Military and first responders, police, and essential personnel probably already got the vaccine.” Troy leaned over the fence and scooped up a hare. “How can you tell the males from females?”

  “When one gets pregnant, we’ll be able to feel the babies in her belly. We just need to keep checking every day. Who decides who essential personnel are?” I took the rabbit from him and massaged its belly. “No lumps yet.”

  We washed our hands and crossed to the roosting pens on the other side of the cavern. Troy ducked inside and checked the nests.

  “No eggs either. I’m sure your Uncle Owen—excuse me, President Elect Butler—has a list.” Exiting the cage, he rolled his eyes.

  “I hate this. The not knowing anything is driving me crazy.”

  “Six months, a year tops, and this will all be over. It’ll be like a long, bad dream.”

  07 JANUARY 2070

  “Okay, I’m officially confused.” Tr
oy cut the radio. “It’s been three weeks. They should at least have something about vaccination centers.”

  “Death counts seem to be holding steady which means they’re distributing the anti-viral to those that are sick, right?”

  “Who knows what they’re doing. If all that crap we went through was for nothing, I’m going to be majorly pissed.” Troy stomped towards me.

  “Hey, pregnant mama here. Calm down.” I held the hare out to him.

  “Fine, but I’m definitely going to need an extra-long run tonight.”

  “Does the answer to all your anxiety have to be to run?” I lowered the mother rabbit into its pen.

  “Maybe there’ll be some eggs. If I have to eat rabbit another day, I think I might kill myself.”

  “You could always eat one of the MREs. With the crops and animals, we’re going to have enough food for fifty people soon.” Cleaning my hands, I followed him to the bird coops.

  Troy opened the pen, and the road runners scattered. “The meal kits are for emergency use only. We have to be self-sufficient.”

  “Is that why I’m hurting my brain to learn electronics, fluids, and mechanics?”

  Reaching in a nest, he produced two eggs. “Hey, I stroked a rabbit’s belly to feel for a pea-sized mass that’s supposed to be a baby rabbit. You can learn to hack a computer. Besides if something happens to one of us—”

  “Stop, now you sound like my dad. I can fend for myself.”

  He kissed my cheek. “We take care of each other, right?”

  Leaving the eggs in the kitchen, we weaved through a tunnel to our hidden exit. I loved the feel of the cool air on my skin and the calming effect the darkness had on me. My shoulders relaxed, and I took a deep breath. Traipsing to the road, we stretched and started to run. At the half-hour mark, we looped around.

  Cresting a hill, Troy grabbed my arm and pulled me to the ground. Hear that? he signed to me.

  Holding my breath, I listened but shook my head. With his super senses, it didn’t mean anything that I couldn’t detect the sound. If he had, we needed to be wary. Staying low, we cut away from the road, stopping every fifty feet to listen.

  Vehicle engine, he signed.

  We slowed our pace. The highway passed eighteen miles northwest of us, and I wondered if he could hear a motor from that distance. Maybe many vehicles? But what would a convoy be doing this far from the border? My heart raced. Looking for us was the answer.

  At our next stop, I heard it, a low roar of an engine in the distance, the crackle of tires on asphalt, rocks pelting the hard desert floor in their wake.

  How many? How far away are they? Can you see lights?

  Troy nodded. They’re slowing down.

  Motioning to the cave, he took off. I forced all my energy into my crouched-style run. Even as the crow flies, we were still five miles out. But we’d prepared for this scenario. I carried a pack with two days of meals, water, and weapons on my back. We never left the cave without them.

  The hum of the engines grew, and we dropped to our bellies. Peering into the darkness, I made out two large trucks creeping along the road not a quarter mile away. I pressed my cheek to the sand as they passed, praying their infrared couldn’t detect us this far out. I lay there, staring into Troy’s eyes, gripping his hand, trying not to cry till the sound of the engines faded.

  I swallowed hard and rolled onto my side. “What now?”

  “I think we follow them and figure out who it is and what they want. What do you think?”

  My mind raced. The crescent moon made little light. If we stayed hidden and kept our distance, we’d avoid capture. Knowing the terrain gave us an advantage, unless they did too. I nodded and pushed up to a squat. We jogged through the brush, keeping low and stopping every few minutes to listen. Winding to our rear cave entrance, we climbed the hill above it.

  Cresting the top, we spied the two vehicles parked in front of the main entrance. I counted ten bodies milling about.

  “Whoever’s in there has it locked up tight,” a male commented.

  Troy jumped up. “It’s Miles.”

  Acting on instinct, I swung my arm out and hit his leg. He tripped but caught himself with his hands.

  “What the—” He spun to face me. “What was that for?”

  We don’t know why he’s here. What if it’s a trap, bait to lure you in? I signed as fast as I could.

  Troy sat beside me. I trust Miles. He would never betray me.

  They could have threatened his family.

  We watch then.

  Ten of them milled about, pounding on the garage bay doors every half hour or so. They walked out into the desert and then retraced their steps to the vehicles. When they climbed to the summit, we retreated down the hill, hiding behind rocks. As dawn approached, they gathered in front of the vehicles, and we reclaimed our vantage point.

  A female stripped off her helmet. “What if they’re really not here? What if their parents are wrong? What if they got caught? Or—”

  Her long blond hair, the way her legs splayed out and she folded them in, and her voice were things I’d never forget. “Avia.”

  “You’re right,” Troy whispered.

  We watched as one by one our former classmates abandoned their helmets. As a brunette released her hair from its tie, my breath caught. Bridge?

  My heart issued a thud as I remembered my prior abduction. “That’s Bridge. Remember what she did before? There are a lot of people who want to find us, not just Owen. We have no idea what’s going on at home.”

  Troy pointed at them. “Those are ten of our friends. Kids we’ve known all of our lives.”

  “And Bridge was your girlfriend.” I slid my phone from my bag. “Maybe we should call my dad.”

  “And risk it being traced? Bridge realized her mistake.”

  Lying on our stomachs, we listened to them talk about their drive from Oregon and search for us. Around mid-day all but two drifted to sleep. Hiking to the other side of the mountain, we leaned against a boulder, trying to figure out what to do. They’d only mentioned Troy’s father and mine. But if our friends had been coerced into this mission, maybe they’d keep up the ruse. Going inside would leave us with only one escape route, but staying outside risked detection by satellites. Ducking into our rear entrance, we opened some granola packs.

  Troy studied the satellite schedule, and we planned our surveillance and set alarms. Climbing up the embankment, we waited, watched, and listened for any sign that our classmates had been sent by Owen or marketeers. They didn’t use radios or phones but referenced a book often and seemed to be keeping to the same schedule we did, traipsing out into the desert, up the mountain, and back into hiding.

  As we finished our second meal at sundown, Troy stowed the plastic in his pack. “This is stupid. We have the element of surprise—grenades, guns, and a higher position—so let’s just go down there and figure out what they want. If Owen sent them, I think they’d be more organized, have an alternate plan for finding us, backup of some kind.”

  Abandoning my seat, I strode to the opening. We were running out of time. Our ration stash wouldn’t last forever. “Fine, you talk, and I’ll cover you.”

  We made our way up the hill and down to the ledge above the main entrance. Finding a large rock for shelter, I laid out the grenades and extra ammo.

  Troy inched to the edge, a gun barrel aimed at his friend. “Miles?”

  Miles turned to face Troy. “Troy? What the heck? You’re here? We’ve been waiting all day.”

  “You arrived last night just after 1100 hours.”

  “You’ve been watching us? Where’s Jema?”

  “She and a few of our friends have weapons aimed at you. Maybe start with why you’re here.”

  Miles and the rest of them spun around, eyes sweeping the mountain. “Your dad sent us. Things are bad in the States. Our parents are scared China is going to attack at any moment.”

  “So, they sent you to hide with us?”
r />   “No, they sent us to figure out how to get President Elect Butler to disperse the vaccine and share it with other countries. They’re administering cure doses to young people selectively, but only the military and essential personnel have been vaccinated. Supposedly, the cure and vaccine are expensive to make, so they can’t make many doses.”

  “So, you guys got the vaccine?”

  “Military and their families, first responders, and all the immune breeders did. It’s like Earth Council breeding rules on steroids. Jema’s dad said the Lovelock team was supposed to make things better, but they’ve only made things worse. At least when we cooperated with the Earth Council, nobody wanted to blow us up. That Zhou guy is seriously scary. No offense, Jema.” Miles rotated his head, scouring the scape above.

  Troy made them remove their shoes and strip down to shorts and tanks and stand spread eagle in front of the vehicles. It felt a little extreme to do to former classmates, but after what we’d been through, I liked that he wasn’t taking chances. We took their radios and phones and inspected every item and inch of the vehicles for communication and tracking devices.

  “Did you really kill those people?” Avia asked as I dumped her bag upside down.

  I glanced at Bridge. “I didn’t have a choice. They set up a site to sell us to the highest bidder.”

  Once satisfied they weren’t lying, we opened the garage doors and drove the vehicles inside. Watching our friends take in the compound, I remembered when we’d first come to Lovelock and how obstinate I’d been in my pursuit of a cure for my sister. We ended the tour at the kitchen and opened chili rations. Finishing the meal, Miles explained the plan for pressuring President Elect Butler and his new government to share the cure with other countries.

  Troy grabbed his plate and stood. “It’s not going to work. He’ll call our bluff.”

  Miles gathered dishes from the table. “You’re wrong. Your dad said it will, or at least thinks it’s our best shot.”

  “It’s been a long day. Let’s talk tomorrow.” Troy walked to the kitchen.