The First

Chapter 45

Alone, on a dark road, in the middle of the night.

Nice job Alexa. What do you think you're going to do when you get there?

Boogie men, bumps in the night, demonic possessions, and other such fact-less drivel had never bothered her. Now she couldn't look her own daughter in the eye and tell her monsters don't exist. With the tri-alleles running rampant, she needed to find the solution. If the darts don't work? She didn't even want to think about them not working. Hypothetically, they should work on a live specimen. Hypothetically.

Several miles south of the highway 22 junction, high beams illuminated the road from the turned over semi-truck and the black SUV. Her high beams lit up a tri-allele standing in the road behind Teagan. Alexa veered across lanes, aiming the Volvo straight at the creature. This would at least stun or knock him out. Maybe even give her time to shoot it with the formula?

Run baby. Run.

Teagan rolled out of the way.

The front end of the Volvo slammed into the side of the creature and stopped the car. Airbags exploded in all directions. From out of the corner of her eye, through the airbags, she realized she'd stayed on the road. But where had Teagan gone?

The engine rumbled and steam whistled from the front of the car. Though muffled, she thought she heard someone calling her name. She reached up to her keys and unlocked the doors.

Both passenger and drivers side doors opened.

"Alexa!" Ross wrestled with an airbag.

"Mom!" Teagan called out.

Before she could catch her breath, Teagan and Ross both pushed and pulled on airbags until their faces popped up on both sides of her. After taking several deep breaths, she blew the hair out of her eyes.

"I'm glad you're both safe. Where'd the tri-allele go?"

"Ran off. Are you hurt?" Ross gazed into her eyes. It wasn't a glance to see if she'd been injured. To her, it felt as if he'd reached into her soul.

"I'm not hurt. Could you please assist me? I do seem to be stuck at the moment."

One thick hand held back the airbag; the other took her left arm and helped her out of the car. Then he leaned over her and turned the car off.

When she stood, purple dots and squiggles danced before her eyes.

"Little wobbly. Did you hit your head?" This time Ross's eyes did a quick once over of her entire body.

"No. I'm fine." She searched her trench coat pocket, relieved to find the weapon she brought for him intact.

"Here." She handed him the pistol.

He took the gun and examined it. "This is a dart gun. What's it for?"

Still dazed and a bit woozy she pulled the box of darts out of her other pocket.

"It's the gene blocking agent, modified into a serum."

"For what, Mom?" She hadn't noticed Teagan who'd made her way to the other side of the car.

Alexa gawked at her daughter for a moment, making sure she wasn't hurt too bad. A small cut above her left brow and some other small scrapes and bruises.

Thank God she's okay.

"In theory, it will reverse the effects of the mutated gene, suppressing their altered DNA for a short period. And should render them vulnerable to our weapons." Her eyes fixed to Ross's.