“You think the missing crew would have gone down there?” Tate asked.
“I think we know what happened to them,” Bale said.
“He’s right, Jonah,” Bree said.
Jonah scanned their faces. He knew they were right, but he didn’t want to admit it.
“You want to leave now?” he asked. “We didn’t find anything. The crew might have tried to get down there and hide.” He motioned at the stairs. “Just because we found a little blood doesn’t mean they’re dead.”
“It wasn’t a little blood,” Tate reminded him.
Jonah gauged his support by their souring expressions. If he lost Bree, the others were sure to follow, so Jonah settled on a compromise.
“All right, let’s check this out,” he said. “If we don’t find anything then we’ll follow Tate out of here.”
The bargain appeared to work. Bree nodded and then Tate. Bale shrugged. He was the biggest of the boys, and Jonah needed him to watch his back in case everything went sideways. Bree made the announcement.
“Lead the way,” she said and then punched him in the arm for good measure. “And don’t whine on the way back.”
The grin on Jonah’s face quickly fell away. He stepped through the half-open doorway and started down the stairs. The bottom of the staircase revealed itself once they reached the midway point. Jonah waved off Tate’s groaning disapproval. He set his sights on the control box beneath the access panel on the wall.
“That’s what this is for,” Jonah said, holding up the override key. “I’m going to need help with the door.”
The idea worked; however, the implementation was much more demanding than any of them imagined. The override key unlocked the sliding door, but it didn’t produce any power to move it from its closed position. The task was left to the strength of Tate, Jonah, and Bale while Bree stood watch at the top of the staircase. The grunting grew loud as the frustration flared. The boys managed to produce a foot-sized gap in the doorway before they sat back exhausted.
“I don’t know if I can get through there,” Bale admitted.
“Well, you’re welcome to try and push it farther,” Jonah said. “But you’re on your own with that.”
The rest didn’t last long. Bree got on to them and Jonah was first, slipping through the opening and out into another long corridor. The light didn’t produce much of a view. The hall curved in both directions, neither way giving a hint at what lay beyond. Jonah waited until the others joined him. They had to tug on Bale’s arms to pull him out into the hall.
“There’s nothing here,” Bree said. “We can’t keep this up.”
Jonah was stuck in the middle of considering their direction and trying to ignore her suggestion.
“Just a little more,” he said.
Bree glared at him, and he pretended not to notice. Jonah had spent a good amount of time over the past few months trying to get her to notice him, but this wasn’t what he intended. He picked a direction and then started off again. He worked himself halfway around the bend in the hall before he realized no one was following him.
“Hey?”
The lack of response told him everything he needed to know. He’d lost the fight and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He took one last look before turning back. The light from the lamp reached the edge of a panel in the wall. Jonah gave in and spun on his heels and then took two steps before something echoed through the dark behind him. It took a moment for the sound to register, but the voices continued for several seconds. Jonah was surprised when Bale, Tate, and Bree rushed toward him.
“Did you hear that?” Bale asked, whispering.
Jonah nodded and waved him off. The conversation picked up again, shifting from time to time, indicating a number of speakers.
“Why are we whispering?” Bree asked, much too loud for Jonah’s comfort. He put a finger to his lips and she complied. “It’s just the crew,” she said. “You do remember that’s the whole reason we’re down here.”
Jonah nodded, but something in his gut kept him from calling out. Instead, he put out the lamp, leaving the small lights around their necks as the only illumination. Jonah motioned for the others to follow and then turned back for the control panel he’d spotted. The volume of the voices grew louder with every step, and the glow of a distant soft light pierced the darkness from somewhere near the door.
They were surprised to find a wide-open entrance at the end of the hall. The hidden light beyond the opening exposed the edge of a circular chamber. The light shifted erratically and the voices quieted. Jonah brought them to a stop before they cleared the opening.
“This entire section should go,” a man said. “Don’t argue with me,” he continued, obviously aggravated.
There was a garbled response, followed by the shifting of several feet. Jonah slid his face along the wall, beneath the control panel and took in as much of the space as his fear would allow. His eyes locked onto the front side of a long row of cells, the barred doors facing out toward the exterior wall. The cells were empty, but he got his first glimpse of the speaker near the center of the massive space. Another series of cells edged around the other side of an open column running down the center of the chamber.
The speaker wore a familiar uniform, similar to the look and style of the soldiers who’d remained in Canaan after the formation of the tribe and the expulsion of their commission. Patches and insignias Jonah didn’t rightly understand highlighted the black fatigues. There were a number of others, more than he cared to count. Each of them carried a gun, some holstered on their hips, and others with rifles slung over their shoulders. Jonah pulled himself from the view and quickly relayed the scene.
“We have to tell Mia,” Bree whispered. She slid in close to Jonah and slipped her arm under his. “This is big. I bet I know who those people are.”
The panic in her eyes was contagious. Jonah watched it spread across the faces of the others. He tried to keep calm. He agreed with her, but the moment he nodded a new sound arose from somewhere within the chamber. The noise slithered through the darkness, nipping at the kids’ ears. A horrible familiarity told Jonah what it was before he pulled away from Bree and looked back out at the space.
There was shifting movement beyond the initial group of workers. The apparent leader among them was focused on something against the back wall. The sound came again, and this time the moans of the undead were distinctive. Jonah moved without thinking, rushing across the exterior walkway and coming to a stop at the edge of the first cell. He heard a disapproving grunt from Bree followed by the soft footsteps of someone coming up behind him.
“You’re going to get us killed,” Tate said, sliding down next to him. His floppy brown curls hung down over his eyes until he swiped them out of the way. “What are you looking for?”
Jonah peeked back at the entrance. Bree and Bale stared at them, neither looking particularly pleased with his and Tate’s decision. Jonah motioned for them to stay where they were. Bree mouthed something to him, but he couldn’t make it out.
“I want to see exactly what they’re doing,” he said to Tate. “That’s what Rowan would want to know,” he assured him.
They were up and moving again, this time working their way along the side of the cells toward the open central row. Jonah stopped before the opening and discovered a wide staircase leading down into a long walkway spanning the length of the chamber. The backside of the cells towered over the central row on either side. Equipment lined the sides of the walkway, most of it beyond Jonah’s knowledge. A majority of the commotion centered on the area closest to the wall on the far end.
Several soldiers were hard at work, most gathered around a single device, lifting it from its position. Jonah’s intrigue was cleanly severed once he realized the wall at the far end wasn’t solid at all. A wide door was bashed in from the outside, and the resulting breakthrough gave way to an opening of an underground tunnel.
“They dug their way in.”
&n
bsp; Jonah considered Tate’s deduction and then shook his head.
“That’s a big tunnel,” he whispered. “They couldn’t have done that in such a short time. That’s been there for a while.” Jonah didn’t know why he was so sure, but something told him that he was dead on. “Look there.”
Jonah’s hand shot out toward several lumbering figures shifting in the darkness beyond the tunnel entrance. The sound of their moans increased in his mind the moment he saw them. The lights surrounding the soldiers shifted as they worked, and the displacement provided a haunting glimpse of the walking dead lurking in the background. The entire group of soldiers lifted the hefty piece of equipment through the opening and into the tunnel, disappearing from sight. The leader stepped to the side of the battered door and held a lantern up above his head.
Frantic movement within the dark tunnel forced Jonah to start down the stairs. He and Tate reached the first piece of equipment and ducked down beside it. Jonah slid his face out and found the view was clearer but the scene more frightening. The dead lined up against one side of the tunnel, each of them bound together by ropes connecting one wrist to the next.
“Let’s get moving.”
The sudden shout pieced the silence of the chamber with the effect of a gunshot. Jonah and Tate shook at the sound of the leader’s call but neither of them knew whom he was talking to. The reply was much more terrifying.
“We’re coming.”
It was impossible to pinpoint where the response came from, but it was obvious it was somewhere along the walkway surrounding the chamber. Jonah’s eyes ran up the stairs now behind them and then along the cells between him and Tate and the entrance. He knew they were stuck. He slid his face up even with the floor of the cells, and the bars on the backside of the cages altered his view. He found the soft glow of Bree’s personal light near the chamber entrance.
“Let the dead go,” the leader said. “We’ll come back for the nexus when the damage is done.”
Jonah didn’t have time to consider what any of the declaration meant. He glanced at the tunnel opening long enough to see the first of the undead pushing out into the light. Their moans grew with intensity as if they somehow understood they would soon be free to hunt for flesh. Jonah focused on Bree’s worried face as the sound of footsteps neared from somewhere on the walkway.
He motioned for her to go, and Bree refused. Jonah locked eyes with her and he nodded slowly, mouthing for them to get help. She silently pleaded with him until Bale took her by the hand. She waved one final time before they slipped from view and disappeared into the hall.
6
Mia was lost somewhere between wrestling with her thoughts and desperately attempting to get a few hours of sleep. Sleep had become one of her toughest foes. Sometime over the past few months, she’d lost the ability to simply lie down, close her eyes, and drift off. Her current predicament was no different from countless nights before.
She’d confided in Sara, and the elder council member found humor in the dilemma. Her words of wisdom danced through Mia’s mind from time to time. Responsibility for others is a terrible burden but one you will learn to appreciate in time. The assurance had yet to comfort Mia. She doubted she truly understood the insight hidden within the words.
Mia’s eyes popped open. She gave up on sleep for the moment and decided a walk might do her some good. She slipped her heavy coat over her shoulders and picked up her sword from under her cot. The heavy breathing of most of the others within the bay filled the air with a song of sorts as they blended in an echoing chant. She tied her sword off at her hip and slipped out into the hall.
The sheath tapped lightly against her thigh with every step, and it brought an awkward grin to her face. The katana sword had once been her father’s prized possession. He’d given it to her as he lay dying, forcing her to promise to lead the remains of the Cheyenne tribe to safety. She pondered from time to time if she’d truly accomplished that task.
A nip in the air forced her to pull the edges of her coat tight around her slender frame. The wind swept in from the open doorway at the far end of the wall: a constant reminder they were in danger. A horde of the dead was heading toward them. Their numbers would most likely swell beyond comprehension as they passed through Cheyenne. The cadre of infected leading the horde was something no one had ever seen. They’d evolved to a point that made it difficult to distinguish their minds from the living.
Mia crossed through the opening and headed for the stairs leading topside. A moment later and she was looking out over the wide plains surrounding Canaan. She was surprised by the view. Snow had started falling sometime in the night and it never let up. The thick pack was at least a foot deep and growing. The firelights of the distant lookout posts highlighted the otherwise perfect view.
Mia’s mind slipped back to the issues causing her sleepless night before a faint voice rose up to meet her. She spun around, her eyes moving to each of the isolated fires, before realizing the call had come from down in the entrance to the hive. Her hand instinctively went to the hilt of her sword. She’d nearly convinced herself that she was hearing things when the voice came again, this time the words clear.
“There’s been a breach.”
Mia was running before she processed what she’d heard. She was in the hall a moment later and she locked onto the figure rushing down the center aisle. The soldier was out of breath by the time Mia reached him. Lights sprang to life from the doorways lining the hall.
“Where?” Mia asked. “Where’s the breach?”
“Hive four,” the soldier responded between deep panting breaths. “The dead are pressing in from the new walkway.”
Mia was moving before the last of his description left his mouth. She already knew where it was and the distance to reach it would take all the strength remaining in her legs. She heard Rowan and then Asher’s voice call out behind her, but she didn’t stop for either. Mia reached the hive’s entrance before the traffic picked up. Several people were already moving in the same directions. Some of the soldiers carried guns; others appeared to have grabbed whatever they could get their hands on. A sudden sound of gunfire told her she had nearly reached her destination.
Mia burst around a final turn and came face to face with an intense confrontation. Bodies littered the wide walkway ahead. The dead had pushed beyond the entrance to the stairwell at the end of the hall and were now closing in on the living quarters. Mia drew her sword and pressed forward. A number of soldiers positioned themselves at the turn and slipped back behind cover, taking shots as the zombies neared. Mia realized the tactic was a losing battle and they would have to push them back into the stairwell if they hoped to save the living quarters.
“Move up,” she said as she stepped out into the center of the hall and saw the true measure of the enemy. “We have to clear the hall.”
The dead lined the walkway from one side to the other. Their numbers were staggering. The stench of their decaying bodies engulfed the hall in a wave of death. Rotted organs dangled from open wounds as peeling skin revealed half-eaten chunks of muscle.
The full sight of the morbid flock suspended Mia’s mind for an instant. The fear consumed her all at once and she had to force herself to continue. Gunfire pulled her back to the challenge and she stepped forward with her sword held high. Mia cut into the first row and her courage inspired those behind her to press forward. Blood splattered across her face as bullets tore through skulls.
She moved with deadly grace, her instincts reverting to the skills her father passed down. The edge of her blade sliced effortlessly through rotting limbs. The fight raged all around her, now most of the responding men and women of the compound forced to hand to hand fighting. Mia was aware of Rowan; he was close to her, matching her every step.
The battle continued until the respondents pushed the dead back to the end of the walkway and then the fight carried into the stairwell. The cramped quarters limited the advantage of the overwhelming numbers. Mia led the ch
arge until they reached the newly opened connection tunnel leading into hive five. Only then did she realize the line of the dead continued around the far turn with no end in sight. The size of the enemy was overwhelming and the number of losses the compound had already suffered proved they could not sustain the fight for much longer. She made up her mind on what to do quickly and turned to Rowan to help her.
“We have to take down this walkway,” she said as her eyes swept over the countless bodies littering the floor behind her. “We won’t survive this any other way.”
“This is what you’ve been searching for,” Rowan reminded her. “This is the only way to reach the generators.”
Mia was aware of the fact, but she couldn’t see it another way. If they couldn’t get to the generators before the horde reached Canaan, they would at least have time to retreat to Cheyenne. If they risked keeping the passage open, they might not live to see tomorrow. In her mind, the choice was already made.
“This is what we have to do.”
Rowan hesitated and as he did, Asher pulled in next to him. The blood on his face proved he’d already had his share of the fray.
“There must be another way,” Asher said and then continued on before Mia could object. “Push them back to the branching hall beyond the passage and we can try and bring the ceiling down on top of them.” He considered it for a moment. “We’ll have to hope it doesn’t collapse the entire passageway with it.”
Mia wanted more detail, but she didn’t get it. Asher spun around and ran off in the direction he’d come. The fight continued beyond the breach and the sounds of echoing screams pulled her away from her questions. Ammunition was a finite resource. The soldiers had the capability to build their own ammo, but the tribal council knew the supplies wouldn’t last forever. The amount of gunfire brought the reality of the supply drain to the forefront of her mind.
“We should pull them back to the doorway,” Rowan said as if reading her mind. “The confined space will be more effective than fighting them in the wide hall.”
The Decaying World Saga Box Set [Prequel #1-#2 & Books #1-#2] Page 73
