“How much do you need?”
That got Lydia’s attention. She swung her legs over the side, bringing herself up into a sitting position, legs dangling over the side. “A lot. My family’s big.”
“Then we’ll get you lots of food.”
Lydia squinted. “How do I know you won’t sell me out?”
“I’m a doctor.”
Lydia waited for more. Being a doctor wasn’t ticking her boxes.
“I swear on my Hippocratic oath as a doctor that I’ll get you lots of food for your family if you get us out of these cells.”
“Be specific. How much?”
Sam looked the woman over. She wasn’t as stupid as she looked. “A trolley.”
Lydia swung her legs back up on the bed. “Pass.”
“Two trolleys, then.”
“I told you, I have a big family.”
“Five trolleys,” Tommy said.
Lydia turned her head to look at him through the bars. “And you’ll help your lady friend deliver these items?”
“I will. After we deal with the Architect and the zombie army heading our way.”
Lydia considered the proviso. “Pass.”
“We have to save the city to get your food. Otherwise, there won’t be any food leftover.”
“Sorry, fella. I don’t trust the word of a man or woman when they say they need to do their thing before they can do my thing.”
Tommy almost growled. “There’s a zombie army heading our way. If they reach this camp, your family is dead.”
“Lucky my family isn’t in the camp then, isn’t it?”
“But you are. How long do you think they’ll cope without their main breadwinner?”
That made Lydia pause for thought. Her foot stopped swaying for a moment. Then she continued moving to her invisible beat.
“Don’t you care about dying?” Tommy said.
“Nearly died a dozen times,” Lydia said. “Doesn’t seem that scary.”
“It is when it happens,” Tommy said. “When you feel your heart slowing, finally coming to a stop, and you know your time is up. You start to choke and you can’t breathe. There’s no one around to help you. No one who cares.”
The sheer hopelessness he’d felt that fateful day of his passing almost overwhelmed him. Lydia looked at him with interest.
She swung her legs over the side and stood up. “Five trolleys is acceptable.” She extended a hand through the bars to Tommy, and another hand to Sam. They shook. Then she tugged them both closer. “And if either of you tries to welch on your agreement, I’m coming after you.” She jabbed a finger in their faces. It might have seemed threatening if she was pointing at just one of them, but pointing at both of them at the same time, and trying to make eye contact, head bobbing between them, made her look more comical than threatening. “Do you hear me? I’m coming for you.”
“Fine,” Tommy said. “So how do we get out of here?”
26.
SAM
“You’ll notice these cells aren’t permanent,” Lydia said, adopting the poise of a Harvard University professor. “They’ve been built to hold prisoners temporarily. Ordinarily, there would be guards sitting here watching us, but every hand is needed to take care of whatever danger is headed our way.”
She bent down and gripped the bed. Sam helped her, and together they lifted it, releasing the hooked bed shelf from the wall. They carried it over to the door, put one corner on the ground and, carefully measured by Lydia, slid the other narrow corner under the cell door’s bottom bar.
Lydia moved backward, still holding the door, and said to Sam: “When I say, push down. It’ll lift the jail cell door. It’ll tilt forward or back. If it falls backward, catch it. If it hits the ground, it’ll make a god-awful noise. So, when we lift this thing, we want to leap forward, grab the bars, and pull it back. It’s very heavy, so don’t try to stop it. Instead, let it slowly fall to the floor. Are you ready?”
Sam nodded. Sam and Albert carried out the same maneuver in their cell.
“On the count of three. One, two, three.”
Together, they forced the bed down. The hinges were simple bars with no locking mechanism. The door shrieked as it rose, shifting off the bolts and over the top. It began to teeter forward but Lydia was quick and grabbed it. Sam joined her, and together they stepped backward, absorbing its weight as the door fell slowly. It crashed onto the bed, the foam mattress absorbing most of the impact.
Sam stood momentarily frozen, staring at the open entrance of their cage. People rushed to and fro outside but none came to investigate.
Lydia reacted fast and leaped over the door. “Five trolleys,” she said. “You’ll find me at Roosters Farm. Don’t even think about welching on me.”
She took off at a run.
“Well, she’s certainly a character,” Sam said.
“And now we’ve got to creep back to the car,” Tommy said. “Were going to have to deal with the Architect ourselves.”
27.
TOMMY
By the time they returned to the car, Guy was standing outside and looked about ready to take off into the camp. He spread his arms wide when he saw them. “What happened? You were gone ages.”
Tommy swung the driver’s side door open. “We had a little prison trouble. Get in.”
“How did it go?” Emin said.
“The military isn’t helping us.” Tommy put his seatbelt on. “But we’re still helping them.”
Guy sighed. “One-sided relationships, how I loathe thee.”
“Hawk, I’m going to need you to keep an eye on what goes on here at the base.”
“We need Hawk,” Sam said. “You wouldn’t believe the trouble he got us out of in the city.”
“We’re not in the city now. The Architect will attack you, Hawk. We don’t want to give away our position by taking you with us.”
Hawk nodded. “I understand. But you should know: he’s going to know it’s you anyway. Your signal is different from regular zombies.”
“With an army to hide behind, it’ll be tough for him to pinpoint us.”
Hawk didn’t look sure about that. “Maybe. What do you want me to do?”
“Infiltrate the communication center and write fake reports. Use this ability you have to tell them exactly what’s happening and where. Concentrate the military’s firepower on the zombie army’s attack. We’ll take care of the Sphere.”
“Will do.” Hawk made to climb out of the car.
“Wait. You’re not going alone.” Tommy turned to Sam. “I want you to stay here and help the medics.”
Sam shook her head. “No.”
“There’s nothing you can do to help us. You can do more good here, with the military. We need you to stay here and take care of their injured.”
“We need or you need?”
Sam called his bluff. Tommy looked away. He’d never been a good liar.
“If you think I’m sitting back and letting you disappear again, you’ve got another think coming. I’m helping you. So is Albert. There’s one thing we have that you don’t, and that’s uninfected blood.”
“That’s what makes heading into the undead army so dangerous for you. Stay here, where it’s safe.”
“You’re wrong, Tommy. Our clean blood is what gives us an advantage. The Architect can’t detect us the same way he can you. We are invisible to him. He can’t see us. While the military provides a distraction for you, you provide a distraction for us. We can get closer to him than you, and can sneak in secret shots without him knowing.”
Tommy shook his head until Guy rested a hand on his arm. “She’s right, Tommy. I don’t like it any more than you do, but the truth is, these guys are better equipped to fight a zombified Architect than we are.”
A feeling of dread washed over Tommy, the sense he was going to lose her. What would he do then? He already knew the answer to that. Throw himself off the highest building he could find. There was nothing left in this world for h
im if she wasn’t in it.
Tommy steeled his heart. “Fine. But you’re not opening fire until the last possible moment, when he’s right on top of the base and about to rip through their defenses. Only then can you launch your attack. It’ll be about the only chance you’ll get. After that, he’ll know where you are. He’ll dispatch all or part of his army after you. Then you’ll turn and run. Do you understand me?”
Sam put a hand to his cheek. “I always understand.”
“But you never listen.”
Sam kissed him on the tip of his nose.
Tommy looked at her, unable to conceal the love he felt for her, the desperation to keep her locked up and safe. He wiped the smile off his face, focused, and turned to the others. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
28.
TOMMY
Just behind the first barricade, Tommy, Sam, and Albert climbed out of the car. They hustled around to the trunk. Tommy opened it, revealing the weapons they’d lifted from the secret base beneath Houston.
“These aren’t weapons,” Hawk said, fingering them. “They’re props for a sci-fi movie.”
“Careful what you touch,” Tommy said. “You’ll burn a hole in the car and destroy that tank over there if you’re not careful.”
“You’re not serious.” Sam’s grin faded. “Are you?” She turned back to the weapons and shook her head in disbelief.
Tommy handed them each a large pulse rifle. They were as light as a feather and made from a shiny material that produced rainbows across their surface. The weapons were shaped oddly, an arc in the shape of a teardrop with the thick end that fastened over the arm and narrow end pointed at their target.
“There’s no trigger,” Sam said.
“You have to tense your arm,” Tommy said. “It takes some getting used to. Fire a few shots into the ground to practice. Make sure the Architect doesn’t see you firing it until the last second. Oh, and it melts rocks, trees, everything.”
“Rocks?” Sam said.
Tommy nodded. “Rocks.”
Sam looked like she wanted to be sick.
Tommy turned to Albert and spoke in a low voice. “Can you show her how it works? I don’t want her to shoot herself in the foot.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Sam said.
“Nothing,” Tommy said.
He wrapped his arms around Sam, the large alien-like weapon hanging by her side. He braced her tight and kissed her on the lips, the neck, the forehead. He looked into her eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. He shut his eyes and said a prayer, to any god that would listen. Please take care of her. After thinking he wasn’t ever going to see her again, he was about to send her into battle, directly into the danger zone. But if they didn’t do something, something soon, she was going to die anyway.
Better to die fighting than to die a victim.
“I’ll see you on the other side,” Tommy said. “Keep a close eye on your radio. I’ll be in touch.”
“Don’t you mean a close ear?” It was a lame joke, and the smiles they shared were even weaker, but it was as good a note to end on as any other.
Tommy ran to the driver’s seat, hopped in, and hit the gas. The wheels spun as they took off. Tommy ran through the gears, leaving the only beating heart he possessed behind.
29.
HAWK
Hawk hadn’t suffered the same experience with military bases that the others had, but he’d still had plenty of experience with them over the years. He tugged the shawl closer to his face and took a couple false turns but finally heard the squeal of radios and the hissing of static and he came to the communications tent.
When he stepped inside, nobody looked up. People were far too busy rushing from one desk to another.
Hawk strolled between two long rows of desks. The other communications operatives spoke into headsets and scribbled notes, tapping codes onto a computer, and sending them out to similar equipment all over the city. Perhaps even all over the state. They worked fast, methodically, dealing with one issue after another.
He found an empty desk at the back, took a seat, put on the resting headset, and turned on the monitor. He shut his eyes, focused, and listened to what the Architect was planning, where the undead were heading. The undead army split into two separate bodies. One trailed the road, the other veered off to an outpost on the other side of the city.
The Architect had a plan. Hawk only needed to figure out what it was.
He picked up a notepad and pen and scribbled down some notes of what he’d seen. He glanced at the other desks where the workers attached a colored sticker to the top.
Great. Now, which sticker represents the outpost?
It was going to be a very long day.
30.
TOMMY
A huge dust cloud rose on the horizon, long before they saw any sign of the zombie horde. They lumbered forward, running as fast as their mutilated legs could carry them. Always forward. They wouldn’t stop even when their bones cracked.
“We ought to head around them, don’t you think?” Guy said.
“Way ahead of you.” Tommy swerved off the road and took to the dust flats.
“He’ll see us if we drive like this,” Guy warned.
“He’ll see us anyway,” Emin said. “He’s a zombie now and has that crazy mind control thing going on. He’ll sense we’re here.”
A helicopter thudded overhead.
Tommy leaned forward and peered up at the sky as the helicopter’s underside sailed overhead, drawing closer to the Sphere.
“You’re all going to die,” Tommy grumbled under his breath.
And yet, what was the military supposed to do? It was what they had been created for. To defend the nation against enemies, both foreign and domestic. They were doing what they always did. Unleashing holy hell.
A dozen more choppers joined the first and formed a long line, missiles at the ready. They drew to a stop and waited. The Sphere hadn’t stopped and continued toward them. Below them, spread out for a mile in either direction, was the largest zombie horde anyone had ever seen. They marched forward, heels kicking up clouds of dust that obscured the sun, turning it into a fuzzy dome perched above the horizon, and the dust swept like a curtain over the helicopters.
Tommy heard the familiar hiss of missiles released from the helicopter undercarriage as they zoomed toward their target, now obscured by the dust cloud.
The missiles reached the Sphere within moments. A second volley loaded and fired. The missiles struck the Sphere at prearranged targets for maximum damage. They had no idea which part to strike, so they struck every part.
After the smoke cleared and the noise died down, the Sphere rolled from the dust and the smoke to reveal it didn’t have a single blemish on it.
The helicopters floated in the air. Confused. How could they have failed to make even a scratch on the Sphere’s surface? The choppers peeled away, pulling back to the military camp.
I bet you’re wishing you accepted our help now, huh, asshole?
Tommy felt oddly reassured that in the trunk of their little car lay what might well be the only hope humanity had against this thing. More now than ever, the world needed the Death Squad’s help.
Please God, help us to not fail this time.
31.
HAWK
The helicopters weren’t the only attack formation. From Hawk’s vantage point in the communications center, he had a view over the entire battlefield—not visual, but with orders and commands.
A pack of undead was dispatched to take out a fortified building. The creatures broke in through the first-floor windows and the soldiers turned their gunfire inwards at their approaching death. At the most distant barricade, soldiers valiantly held their position. The undead drew tightly around them, giving them no choice but to retreat to the next barricade.
Hundreds of such encounters were taking place already. And the undead hadn’t even reached the ci
ty yet.
It was a war, and one humanity dare not lose.
Hawk listened to the squawks and shouts of panicked orders coming from helicopters and men. The opening salvo attack had been a failure, but the military was nothing if not flexible. The helicopters were charged with splitting off and attacking the undead horde.
Panicked realization dawned as the radio messages turned quiet. . .
They had no effective means of taking the Sphere out.
They were praying for a miracle.
32.
TOMMY
Tommy took a ramp, swung the wheel around and barreled left, heading into oncoming traffic. The car flashed its lights—what the driver thought he was doing on the highway with the giant metal Sphere rolling alongside it was anyone’s guess—but did not move out of the way. Tommy swerved around it and dropped a gear to make up for lost speed. The poor little car’s engine struggled to keep up with the punishment.
Up close, the Sphere was the strangest thing he’d seen in a long time—and considering what he’d seen lately, that was saying something. It was a ball of polished metal as if carved out from a single gob of ore. It appeared to have been fashioned from the same material as their alien weapons. It rolled, thundering across the landscape, crushing everything in its path. At its heart would be the Architect, protected within its thick armor. No wonder the military’s weapons failed to make a scratch. It was technology unlike anything anyone had dared even dream about.
“Hold on.” Tommy swerved onto a field and through a chain-link fence.
They were heading directly for the sphere, coming at it from the side. If they were lucky—very lucky—they could end this war right here, right now.
Tommy spun the wheel and slammed the brakes. They’d reached a ditch that ran the length of the field. No way their little car could traverse it. “Everybody out.”
Death Squad (Book 4): Zombie World Page 21
