A surge of adrenaline pulses through my body. The Glock trembles in my hand.
The light shines through the crack as he pushes the door open slowly. He takes a single step into the office. The barrel of his pistol becomes visible. I contemplate grabbing the gun, and ripping it from his hand, but stay that foolish thought. I’m not confident I could win that fight.
A subtle ruff sounds from the hall. It’s muffled, but loud enough for me to hear it.
Damn it, Duke.
The man pauses, then backs away. The light remains stagnant on the floor for a brief moment, before it shifts to the wall across the hallway.
The growling grows louder. I toe the edge of the wall, and peer around the jamb. The black-clad figure stalks toward the office where Cassie and Duke are. He’s stout and tall, his wide frame filling the entryway to the office. His pistol is trained ahead of him as his light washes over the office’s cluttered mess.
Be quiet, Duke, please.
Duke barks, and I hear Cassie calling out his name.
I take a step back, and throw open the door to engage the threat.
The man recoils, and opens fire as he backs away. Duke yelps followed by Cassie screaming in horror. They exchange gunfire. White flashes breathe from the tip of his barrel. He continues squeezing the trigger without pause.
I fire at the gunman from behind. The bullet nicks his arm. The hulking brute drops the flashlight and turns to face me while palming the wound. He stares at me with a scowl.
The brute lunges at me as I squeeze the trigger again. He reaches out and swats my hand down as the Glock discharges. The bullet strikes the tile floor near my foot. He rips the gun from my hand and discards it down the hallway.
With a snarl, he bunches his fingers up within my coat, and lifts me off the ground with ease. To say he’s pissed would be an understatement.
“You shot me in the arm you little-”
Cassie continues to unload from the office. The bullets impact the door near his head. The brute ducks, and swings into the office to his right with me held tight within his clenched fists.
He punches me in the stomach, then strikes me across my jaw. The wind rips from my lungs, and my world goes black for a split second. My skull feels like it’s full of marbles rattling about. Even if I wanted to defend myself, my body slumps within his grasp and refuses to act.
The brute throws me over the desk. I tumble over the surface like a rag doll, and fall to the floor, stopping against a cinderblock wall. Prone on my side, I cradle my stomach, and try to catch my breath. The side of my face feels like it’s been bashed in with a sledge hammer.
Cassie rushes in, firing at will. Each shot goes wide, striking the wall and the large, thick-paned window above me. She’s not as poised as she normally is. Her aim is off, and she’s firing at random.
The brute dodges her attempts and disarms her with ease. He knocks the gun free from her grasp, then backhands her across the side of her face. Cassie crumbles to the ground and out of my sight.
I wheeze through my nose as I flop onto my stomach. The palms of both hands press to the razor thin carpet that broke my fall. The brute grumbles as he stomps my way. I push up, but my meager arms are slow to react. He kicks me in the stomach.
“Stay down, kid,” he warns with a hoarse growl.
I gasp for air as he towers over me. Pain lances up through my gut and pierces my skull. I’ve been beaten into submission, and I fear this is as far as we’re going to get.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Everyone’s a hero, until they get the crap kicked out of them. Something I’m all too familiar with.
“When life throws a left hook and catches you on the jaw, you shake it off, and get back up. Don’t ever give up, son. You’ll regret it if you do.”
Another life lesson that Dad drilled into me. One of the many nuggets of wisdom he offered when I’d get into a fight at school and get my teeth kicked in. Mom would pitch a fit and coddle me. Dad, not so much. He’d look me over with a judging stare, then ask if the other guy looked worse than me. I wasn’t known for being a skilled fighter, so most of the time, the answer was no.
“Hey, kid, wake up!” a distant, strange voice demands inside my head.
The memory of Mom and Dad vanish as he smacks me across the face. The stinging bite of his callused palm rakes across my tender, swollen skin. I grumble, then lift my weary head.
My vision is blurry, filled with a haze that makes it hard to see. I blink, clamp my eyes shut, then open them wide. Sunlight filters in through the windows nearby, illuminating the space and erasing the darkness.
Standing before me is a tall, slender man. Not the brute, but this guy is no slouch either. He rolls up the sleeves of his jacket, revealing tattoos that cover both forearms and a snake under the sleeve of his coat.
“Damn, Blain, you messed this kid up,” the man barks.
“The little punk shot me, Ranger,” Brute hisses. “His girlfriend almost took off my head with her piece.”
My head bobbles about like its fixed on a spring. Ranger grabs my chin and holds it in place. A throbbing pain stabs at every molecule in my skull. My ribs are sore, and ache with every breath I take.
I thought being in a helicopter crash was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It still is, but having my teeth kicked in by that bruiser is a close second.
“James!” Cindy calls out in a panic. I can’t see her, but she’s close.
“Leave the kid alone for Christ sake you piece of gutter trash,” Commander Reynolds barks.
“No freaking way. I thought you looked familiar,” Ranger states. “I thought for sure you’d bite it in that chopper. The more evolved munchers don’t normally let a good meal go to waste. Not sure how you slipped from their grubby hands. Pretty impressive, kid.”
I lick my lips, then swallow the wad of spit that’s caught in my throat. “Yeah. I get that a lot.”
Ranger releases his tight grip from around my jaw. He snickers and walks away. I try to move my arm up to rub my eyes, but my wrists are restrained by wire that’s coiled around them and attached to the seat of the chair I’m sitting in. Déjà vu much?
“James, are you ok?” Cassie asks.
She’s in a chair next to me with her arms tied off with more of the wire.
“About as good as can be expected. I think that guy might have loosened one of my teeth.” I don’t spot Duke on the floor near us, which sends me into a panic. My heart skips a beat. I blink rapidly, trying to clear out the film over my eyes as I search for him. “Where’s Duke?”
“That mutt of yours is with your sister,” Ranger answers. “He isn’t dead, yet. I figured she’d shut up if he was with her.”
The haze wanes from my vision, and I’m able to make everything out now. I skim over the large conference room we’re in. Aside from Ranger and the brute, I count one other thug.
To my left and against the wall, Cindy and Commander Reynolds sit in chairs with Duke lying on the floor at her feet. His hind leg is matted with blood. He stares at me with a sad look. Nestled between them is one more armed gunman who is just as beastly as the others.
“Are you ok, sis?”
Tears flow down her flushed cheeks as she nods. She runs the back of her hand under her nose. Oh, man. They don’t have her tied down at the moment. She doesn’t appear to be hurt, other than a few cuts and bruises.
“Everything’s going to be all right, Cindy. We’re going to get out of this.” I try to reassure her.
“False!” Ranger blurts out. “Well, you’re partially right. We’ll be fine, and so will your sister. I can’t have the merchandise damaged. As for you three, not so much.”
I focus on Ranger with a malevolent gaze and tug at the wire bound to both of my wrists. “You do realize that the military is coming, and the odds of them just giving you a ride out of here is slim to none.”
Dad always told me that the military doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, foreign or domes
tic.
Ranger doesn’t bat an eye. “To that I have no doubt. I’d imagine they’ll come barging in here with weapons drawn, ready to kill anything that looks like a threat. But times are tough, and those munchers out there have forced us to flee to greener pastures.” He points to Cindy and continues his yapping. “Your sister, being the special little ray of sunshine that she is, is going to help us in making that a reality. Not too many folks are immune to the munchers’ bite. Not only that, but they act as though she’s one of them. Staring at her as if she’s some sort of anomaly. I guess she is.”
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Cassie barks.
Ranger shakes his head, and looks away from Cassie.
“Too bad you survived that accident. I didn’t miss that mouth of yours. No worries, though. After we kill those soldiers and lift out of here in their chopper, those nukes are going to pound the western seaboard into oblivion, and you all will be a distant memory. If the blast doesn’t kill you, the radiation will. Speaking of which.” Ranger digs his hand into the trousers of his pants and pulls something out that I can’t see. “Our ride should be arriving soon.”
Man. What a piece of crap. I hate him more than Frank, that fat swine. They seem like they’re cut from the same cloth—both horrible people who deserve a fate worse than death. Frank’s already been dealt his. Ranger’s will be next.
A boisterous crashing noise echoes from the hallway, wiping away the smug smile smeared across his face. Ranger grabs the pistol from the table in front of him. He cycles a round and turns toward the double doors. His armed goons bring their rifles to bear, and take aim at the entrance.
“What the hell was that?” Ranger grumbles.
“Could be the military,” the brute answers.
Ranger rolls his eyes, then sighs. “It’s not the military, you idiot. They’re not going to just come stomping in here while making a ton of racket. They’re more crafty than that. Besides, it can’t be them. They just radioed us not too long ago saying they were inbound. No, it’s something else.”
Chasers. Great.
I look to Cassie, then glance over to Cindy and Commander Reynolds. All give me the same fearful gaze.
“What do we do?” Brute inquires while looking at Ranger.
“Take Simmons, and go check it out. Kill whatever it is.”
Brute nods at the other henchmen standing off to the side of Cassie. He sprints toward Brute, moving in a wide arc around the conference table and follows him out into the hallway.
I work at the wire, pulling and tugging my arm. The gunman standing between Commander Reynolds and Cindy steps away from them.
“Do not move from that spot,” Ranger barks. “Anything or anyone that comes near her, you put down.”
The gunman complies with a tilt of his head, and stays planted between them.
Cassie grumbles and grits her teeth as she struggles to rid herself of the wire. The side of her face is blood red and bruised.
“I can’t get my hands free,” Cassie says.
My arms pull in opposite directions of each other as I try to free my wrists.
“Me neither,” I whisper.
Gunfire echoes from the hallway, followed by the yowls of the chasers. A gut-wrenching scream calls out.
Ranger cranes his neck and tries to peer around the jamb. “Blain! Simmons! What’s going on out there?”
Commander Reynolds shoots me a glance, then nods at the gunman near him.
Blain emerges from the hallway with his face slathered in blood. He looks back over his shoulder at the corridor as he stumbles to the floor.
“Those things are coming! They ripped Simmons apart right in front of me!” he stutters while pointing at the hallway.
Commander Reynolds springs from his chair and punches the beastly man next to him in the kidneys. The gunman yelps in pain as the commander punches him again.
“What the hell!” Ranger growls as he turns and trains his pistol at the feuding men.
A throng of chasers rush into the conference room from the hallway, catching both Blain and Ranger by surprise. They try to scramble away from the enraged creatures.
The infected spread out and attack. Chaos erupts throughout the conference room as the chasers stalk their targets.
I pull and tug at the wire as hard as I can. If I can’t get free, I’m going to be eaten alive at any moment. Commander Reynolds is tossed from the beastly man’s back and thrown against the wall.
Cindy and Duke are nowhere to be seen. I glance about the scene of death and carnage, praying that they are not among the ravenous creatures attacking Blain and Ranger.
“You munchers aren’t going to get me,” Ranger snarls as fire spits from the end of his pistol. A dark-red mist sprays from the backs of several skulls.
Blain slashes at the creatures with a long blade, spilling copious amounts of their blood to the carpet.
I feel something grab my wrist. I flinch and try to pull away.
“Stop moving, James,” Cindy demands as she works at the wire.
Beastly opens fire at the chasers who are rushing toward him. A number of the infected leap up onto the conference table, then lunge at the towering goliath. He moves from target to target, trying to take as many down as he can.
“Um, James!” Cassie yells.
A small group of chasers stalk us from the right. “Cindy, hurry up!”
She releases the wire and runs out in front of us as they break out into a sprint. She plants her tiny frame in front of us as the creature’s charge with mouths wide open and arms stretched out.
Duke stands by my side, favoring his injured leg as he barks and growls.
“Cindy!” I cry out. The thought of watching the dead tear my sister apart brings me to tears.
I jerk my arms every which way, fighting to break free as the infected stop shy of running her down. They tower over her, chests heaving and bloodshot eyes staring at her, then to us.
The chasers growl, and snap at her, but she doesn’t move. They try to go around Cindy, but she blocks their path.
“Kill those damn munchers before they injure my meal ticket,” Ranger barks at Beastly.
He opens fire at the infected which draws their attention away from us. They rush him in a dead sprint. Bullets punch through the decaying corpses with ease, and exit through their backs. His gun clicks empty. The few still standing tackle him as he tries to run away.
Brute slashes through a chaser and discards the mutilated corpse. He’s bathed in their blood as he drops to his knees. A portion of his neck has been torn away. Brute huffs, then falls forward flat on his face.
Someone grabs my shoulder, which causes me to flinch, then pull away.
“It’s me, James.” Commander Reynolds works out both knots and sets me free. He moves over to Cassie and does the same for her.
Ranger ejects the spent magazine from his pistol and slaps in a fresh one. He cycles a round and kills the chasers feasting on Beastly’s large frame. He stands over the fallen goliath and places a slug in his head.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” he huffs. “No matter. As long as I have that girl, then I still have a chance. I just need to remove you three from the equation.”
Ranger trains the barrel of his pistol at my head. Cindy grabs my hand and hugs my waist. I catch sight of Bill stalking him from behind with his piece clutched in his hand.
“I’m not so sure your plan is going to pan out,” I remark.
The weapon barks. I flinch from the sharp report.
Cindy tugs at my arm. Ranger looks at me dumbfounded with a hole in his chest. He drops to his knees, then slumps forward.
I glance to the entrance, and find Bill leaning against the jamb. Trails of smoke plume from the end of his pistol as he offers me a wink.
You sly son of a bitch.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
We’ve survived this encounter, but the worst has yet to come.
Bill lowers his gun, then
collapses to the floor in a bloody mess. His face is long and tired. He’s spent and looks weak. Each breath that escapes from his parted lips is labored.
I rush to his aid, but I’m halted by the appearance of armed soldiers that materialize from the corridor. They funnel into the conference room with rifles shouldered.
“NOBODY MOVE!” a thundering voice barks.
I raise my arms in the air, then glance back to Cindy and the others.
The soldiers spread out while keeping their weapons trained at each of us.
Commander Reynolds approaches from my left, then points to Ranger’s dead body. “Captain Peterson, the threat has been neutralized.”
The soldiers check each of the men, and confirm their status with a tilt of their head.
Captain Peterson lowers his rifle and presses it against his chest as he advances toward us. He offers Commander Reynolds a sharp salute. “Sir! We need to evac everyone now! Raptor is inbound and will be delivering the package soon.”
Package?
My face twists in confusion as I struggle to decipher what that means. It takes me a few seconds to piece together what the meaning is. The bomb.
Commander Reynolds nods, then looks to me. “Get everyone outside and onto the choppers, now!”
Cassie and Cindy follow the soldiers outside in a dead sprint while Duke limps behind them. I rush around the conference table and head for Bill. I soldier blocks my path, halting me with his hand raised in the air.
“Don’t. He’s infected.”
The life drains from me as I stare at Bill’s sweaty, flushed face. He coughs up blood that trickles out over his lips. He shrugs his shoulders as I drop to my knees.
“It’s the end of the line for me, kid.” Bill pulls the sleeve of his coat up, showing me the gnawed flesh on his forearm. “Bastards got me earlier. Thought I gave them the slip, but they’re cunning.”
My vision becomes glassy as I fight to hold back the tears. I’m mad and sad at the same time. “You said we don’t split up. No matter what.”
“James, we have to go, now!” Commander Reynolds demands.
Dead State (Book 5): Evolved Page 16
