Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

morning.”
    “Are they coming or going?”
    “Coming,” Sullivan said. “And it looks like they’re gearing up for something big.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 5 — Ryan Olson Part 1

    Dunn, Georgia
    March 31, 2012
    FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT…

    Lisa turned to Ryan, sitting in the passenger seat of the van, and smiled. They were finally a half mile or so from the compound. She had driven the van faster than Ryan thought possible, for which Ryan was thankful, since that meant much less time wanting to consume her.
    Ryan had spent the trip wanting to tear into Lisa’s flesh, and diving deep inside his mind to monitor and push down the alien urge. He craved the feast of her body, but was even hungrier to get to the compound so he could finally find his wife and daughter.
    Lisa had missed shooting his face off, but only by the fraction of a moment. She had moved her hand at the last second, after she said she’d seen something in his face change. She said suddenly he didn’t look like a man begging to die, but rather someone with everything to live for.
    Though she missed killing him, the gunshot had come close enough to shatter his eardrums. However, the pain and ringing had lessened in the past 20 minutes, perhaps thanks to his alien side, which seemed to foster fast healing.
    Lisa swung the van into the empty driveway of the compound, then looked over at Ryan. “I’m gonna leave the engine running.”
    “OK,” he said.
    Lisa climbed from the van and Ryan followed, turning his eyes to look anywhere but her back, hating himself for seeing her as easy prey. She pounded on the door for several minutes, though she didn’t have to. Ryan could tell that nobody was inside to answer.
    He cursed himself for not having known for sure if they’d left. He’d been so busy resisting the urges to kill Lisa that he’d not been tuned into The Darkness which had taken control of Charlie. The last he’d seen through the teen’s eyes, he was in the room, talking to the group. He could feel the same lust for death in the Darkness as he felt in himself. But the Darkness was also resisting the urge, for reasons Ryan couldn’t discern. Nor could he count on the Darkness continuing to resist. Perhaps it was playing the long game, waiting for something.
    Ryan tried to reach out and find The Darkness, but was coming up blank.
    “I’m kicking it in, cool?” Lisa said, breaking his focus.
    “Do your worst,” Ryan said. “But I’d check to see if it’s locked first.”
    Lisa said, “Duh,” even though Ryan would’ve bet that her leg was already twitching to go into action.
    The door swung open and Ryan inhaled more of his family’s lingering psychic scent. Not a lot was left, but there was just enough. He closed his eyes, imagining them so wholly that he could almost reach out and touch them. But all that was left was their auroras, echoes of their souls. He may as well have tried to touch a ghost. His heart crushed beneath the weight of his growing sadness.
    Ryan could smell Mary’s protective shield wrapped around their daughter’s heavy terror. Ryan longed to see more of their memories, maybe something specific, but those memories were now dead — dust drifting into a different wind.
    Something stabbed inside Ryan’s mind, sending him to his knees in a scream.
    “You okay?” Lisa looked down, eager to help.
    Ryan swallowed, then said, “Yeah, thanks.” He shook his head, then set his claw against it, rocking it for comfort. “I’m fine, just felt something … weird.”
    “You sure?” Lisa’s eyes said she wasn’t, even if Ryan was.
    But he wasn’t fine. Not at all. The pain was gone, but it was replaced with an increased hunger. Ryan wanted to tear Lisa limb from limb, he longed to taste her, and wanted to share her flavor with others like him. The others he was growing closer to by the minute.
    Ryan wanted to join them.
    With so many mutants and aliens around, Ryan could easily find the growing collective. He should just forget about Mary and Paola — it wasn’t like he could enjoy any sort of normal life with them — and feast on Lisa.
    Then he could join his new family.
    No!
    Fuck you, I’m still human!
    The hive in his mind grew worse for its volume. Ryan had to force himself to stand up or else he might not ever get up … not as a human, anyway.
    The living room felt emptier than it was. He saw signs of recent life — a bowl of batter and a couple of half-eaten pancakes on the bar — but