The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus by Courtney McPhail Read Free Book Online Page B

Malcolm.
    “Well, I better get back to Trey. I won’t say anything to the others. I’ll leave it to you to talk to them about tomorrow.”
    They bid her goodnight and she walked back to the parking lot, unable to stop thinking about what Malcolm had said.
    End of Days .
    Sure it wasn’t the hellfire and demons scouring the earth she had heard about in Sunday school but maybe those were just metaphors. Maybe they were meant to symbolize the collapse of human morality. The Bible had promised that the sinners would suffer here on earth and what could the carnage on the highway be but suffering?
    But she couldn’t believe it. There had been children there and she could not--she would  not--believe that God could see them as sinners. No, what was happening now was out of God’s hands and solely in their own. Humanity had turned on itself down on that highway tonight and it was up to those who survived it to right that wrong.
    Malcolm had said that this island haven was meant to be where society rebuilt itself. It seemed only fitting that those who had escaped the worst side of humanity would rebuild it. They had witnessed the mistakes first hand and they wouldn’t let it happen again.

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    Subject File # 742

    Administrator - It must have been difficult to make it as far as you did with such a large group.
    Subject - It was. We lost some good people along the way.
    Administrator - So why did you do it? Why take on strangers when it would have been easier to keep it to your sister and her children?
    Subject - Because when you help people they help you.

     
    It had been quiet on the outlook as they watched the first on the highway go out. Malcolm and Janet had spent the shift sitting in a comfortable silence, neither one of them feeling the need to reassure the other with meaningless words. They simply took comfort in each other’s presence.
    The hours ticked by and soon he heard footsteps approaching the outlook. He had expected to see Travis and Alan coming to relieve them so he was surprised to see Jose emerge from the shadows alone. Malcolm had always liked the old man. Of course, he and his wife’s willingness to help his sister went a long way towards that. Malcolm knew that anytime he was out of town for work, the Garcias would be there for Janet in his absence. They were good people.
    “I wanted to talk to both of you, away from the others,” Jose said when he joined them on the outlook. “I know you have a plan for what happens next. What is it?”
    Malcolm looked to Janet and she nodded, letting him know it was time to start with the convincing. He related the plan much as he had to Kim, laying out the reality of the situation they were in and the only sensible way to deal with it. Jose lapsed into silence afterwards, taking his time to consider it all.
    “I’ll have to talk to Ana before I give you an answer,” he said finally, “But I know, after what happened down there, we can’t go home and we can’t stay here. Going with you, it is as sound a plan as I can think of.”
    Raised voices carried down from the parking lot and they were soon followed by Alan storming down the path with Travis on his heels.
    “Alan, just leave it--” Travis tried to put a hand on Alan’s shoulder he pushed him away. “No, Travis! He knows something and I’m going to fucking talk to him!”
    Malcolm knew he was the him  that Alan was looking for and so he stepped forward to meet them, Janet and Jose coming to stand behind him. It was a subtle move and maybe not one they even consciously realized they were making but Malcolm appreciated the support nonetheless.
    “You, Mister CIA , I’ve been thinking and I realized there is something off about what happened down on the highway. It seems pretty coincidental that you show up to warn us minutes before a blood bath started. Who tipped you off that they were going to do that down there?” Alan asked, pointing an accusing finger at Malcolm’s chest.
    “No one