Books of the Dead | Book 9 | Dead of Winter

by Spears, R. J.

  “Is crash course really the best phrase to use in this context?” Alex asked.

  “Yeah, I should have rephrased that,” I said.

  Alex said, “Anyway, here’s the bottom line. We’ll have to find a way out of here, eventually. Our food supply will maybe get us into Spring if all of us stay here. If Joel and I go, that can help stretch the supplies.”“I’m going, too,” Brother Ed said. “So, that will leave more for the people left behind to eat.”

  “More for me,” Richard said, patting his stomach.

  Lori shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable, then said, “I can go, too. They’ll need what I know about what we’ve done with the vaccine. Plus, it’ll help the food stretch even longer.”

  “No, no, no,” Doctor M said, tapping his finger on the table with each word. “I need you here.”Richard knows a lot of what we’ve done,” Lori said. “He can step in for me.”

  “Well, I sure as shit know I’m not going,” Richard said. “So, with all of you gone, I can eat to my heart’s content. Plus, I can do anything Lori can do.”

  “You don’t know that much,” Lori said.

  “I’m putting my foot down,” Doctor M said. “Lori, you cannot go.”

  “You know you can’t order me around,” Lori said.

  “If you go, then my vaccine stays,” Doctor M said, narrowing his eyes down to mean little slits. “That is final.” He punctuated that sentence by crossing his arms.

  “Whatever,” Lori said, rolling her eyes. “I’ll stay. Besides, someone needs to look after Naveen and Nathan.”

  I wanted this conversation over and done with. “Then it’s done. We have an away team set.”

  Alex let out a little laugh and said, “Holy shit. Away team. You’re such a fucking nerd.”

  “Come on, give me a break,” I said.

  “Hey, man, you have to find the humor where you can,” she replied. “The truth of the matter is that we’re probably going to die before we make it to the river.”

  “Well, that’s a real morale builder,” I said.

  Chapter 32

  Breaking Through the Inertia

  It’s not every day that you start a mission that could be your very last. But in all honesty, this wasn’t my first rodeo. I had faced down death many times before. Of course, there was always a first and last time to die. The truth of the matter is that you only get to die once. There is no saved game you can recover from, but Kara was worth the risk.

  That said, I didn’t like the idea that Alex and Brother Ed were going to share in the risk, but they had volunteered. Why they did that was beyond me. I was just glad that I wasn’t going alone. I did know that if I could do it alone, I would have, but that got my odds of surviving down to about zero percent. If it had been ten percent, I might have tried it, though.

  There had been a couple of minutes that I actually thought about going by myself, but I didn’t have a death wish. I figured that going on my own got my odds of surviving down to about zero percent. If it had been ten percent, I might have still tried it.

  In the end, if I died that would mean that Kara was doomed to her half-dead existence forever. That wasn’t something I could live...or die with.

  The only upside was that Naveen wouldn’t be a part of that risk since I had told her that she couldn’t come along. At least, if this mission went sideways, I would know that she was safe.

  All these thoughts swirled through my mind as I waited for dawn to break, and we kicked off our little jaunt into the tunnels.

  Pounding sounded from my door as I pondered what lay before us, causing me to jerk to a sitting position. Apparently, someone was a little eager.

  Alex shouted through the door, “Rise and shine, buttercup.”

  I let out a groan loud enough that Alex must have heard it through the door.

  “The early bird gets the worm,” Alex said. There was a long pause, then she said, “Get out of bed, asshole.” That was followed by more pounding.

  “Take it easy. I’m getting up, I’m getting up,” I yelled.

  I pulled on my boots, grabbed my weapons and gear, and was on my feet in thirty seconds. I yanked the door open and saw that Alex was decked out in full-out tactical gear from head to toe. And it was all black. She had on a helmet with goggles wrapped around the top. Straps criss-crossed her chest, and an assault rifle dangled off it. There looked to be a hundred pockets in it, too, and they all looked full of ammo.

  “Geez, I feel totally underdressed,” I said.

  “I didn’t come here to play,” she said. “I came ready to rumble.”

  “And what’s with all the black?” I asked. “You look like you should either be in a goth band or goose-stepping down the street.”

  “Hey, it scares the shit out of all the perps,” I said.

  “You know, I don’t think the deaders give a shit,” I said.

  “Shut up,” she said. “You’re such a buzzkill.”

  “Why haven’t you used all this stuff before?” I asked, waving my hand up and down her body taking in the totality of her costume. “It sort of looks like you’re doing some cosplay.”

  “I’ve worn some of this stuff before,” she said, sounding a little hurt. “I just haven’t put it all together at one time.”

  I tried to save the moment by adding, “Well, it’s a great ensemble, if I don’t say so myself.”

  She crossed her arms and asked, “If you really want to kiss my ass, I can drop my pants if you want?

  I decided to quit while I was ahead and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

  We proceeded to the conference room where we had agreed upon meeting the night before. Surprisingly, Brother Ed was there, and he didn’t seem to be wearing his usual grumpy expression as he sat at the table as if waiting for a business meeting to commence. Richard, on the other hand, fidgeted with his rifle and other gear.

  “I didn’t think you were going to play with us today,” I said in Richard’s direction.

  “I said I would get you through the tunnels, but that’s it,” Richard said. “Once we get to the bulldozer, you’re on your own.”

  “That’s reassuring,” I said.

  “Hey, don’t be a dick,” Richard said. “I’m getting you there. You should be thankful.”

  “Sorry,” I said, putting my hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m eternally grateful for any help you can give us.”

  “Hey, it’s your funeral,” Richard said.

  “Lighten up, Richard,” Alex said.

  He rubbed a hand down his face and said, “Sorry. This just scares the bejeezus out of me.”

  “We’ve done it once,” Alex said. “We can do it again.”

  “That was no walk in the park,” Richard said.

  I decided to change the subject. “Richard, did you get the extra sat-phone and charger?”

  Richard patted the pockets on his coat, then brought out a satellite phone with a solar charger dangling down from it. This was one of three that we had at the hospital.

  “Yeah, here it is,” he said as I took it off his hands and stuffed it in one of my jacket pockets.

  “Thanks,” I said. “We’ll use it to give you guys updates.”

  “If you make it far enough to make calls,” Richard said.

  Alex leaned toward Richard and said, “One more negative comment, and I’ll give you something to be really negative about.”

  “Let’s try to act like adults here,” I said.

  Alex shot me the hairy eyeball, then asked, “Are we going by Casper?”

  “It’s the best and only route,” I said, but I couldn’t help but notice that Brother Ed stiffened up a little.

  “Don’t sweat it, Brother Ed,” I said. “We’ll get by as fast as we can.”

  “I’m not worried,” he said, but I could swear I saw a shiver pass up his body.

  “Who’s carrying the battery to start the bulldozer?” Alex asked.

  Brother Ed cleared his throat and said, “It was my i
dea. I’ll do it.”

  He hoisted up the battery and sat it on the table. It looked smaller than a normal car battery, but what did I know? Much to my embarrassment, even though I was a real adult and out in my own place before the Outbreak, my dad took care of my car. I remember him sneaking out of the house to come by my apartment to check my oil on Saturday mornings. Hey, I’m not proud of being a total slacker before the Outbreak.

  A memory of my dad standing in front of my car with the hood up, holding the oil dipstick, flashed in my head. A deep ache resonated in my soul, and I felt tears behind my eyes. What I wouldn’t give to be back in that time.

  “Hey, bucko,” Alex said. “Where did you go?”

  I coughed away the emotion then said, “Nowhere. Let’s get moving.”

  There was the slightest of hesitations in the rest of our “away team,” and a part of me had a moment of doubt that this mission was actually going to get started. Alex broke the inertia when she stood up and started in motion. Richard fell in behind her with Brother Ed making a show of pushing himself out of his chair as if it took enormous effort. But they were up and moving, and that caused a deep sense of relief to wash over me.

  Together, we started down the hallway when I saw Naveen step out of a doorway.

  “Please, Joel, let me go with you,” she pleaded.

  I pulled up when I got beside her and said, “No, you don’t have to go,” I said. I pointed at my backpack and said, “We have your blood samples in vials, and that’s all we need from you. There’s no use in you taking the risk.”

  “But what if they get broken?” She asked.

  “They’re packed in a hard plastic container,” I said. “They’re safe.”

  “What if they go bad because they get too warm?” She argued.

  I knelt next to her to get on the same eye-level as her. “Listen, I know you want to go, but I can’t take that risk. I know you want to help Kara, but it’s best if you stay here.”

  I left out the fact that I thought our chances of making it to Cincinnati were next to nothing. I also equated our chances to make it back to Columbus with some sort of cure was on par with a moon shot while driving a minivan.

  She threw her arms around me and squeezed me tightly in a mini-bear hug. Something inside me started to melt when she said, “Please.”

  Brother Ed came to my rescue, “Little missy, don’t you worry. We’ll get on down there and back in no time flat.”.

  Of course, he came across like he was speaking in a 1950s black and white western movie, but that was his gift or curse. It all depended on how you looked at it.

  “Brother Ed is right,” I said as I disengaged from Naveen, which wasn’t easy because she held onto me like an octopus. “The sooner we can get on the road, the sooner we can get back and save Kara. Besides, while we’re gone, you can work with Doctor M. Maybe he can make a breakthrough with what he’s learned from the vaccine he used on you.”

  “Do you really think that?” She asked, her eyes wide and moist.

  “Between what me, Brother Ed, and Alex are going to do and what Doctor M might be able to cook up, we’ll find something to help Kara,” I said. “I just know it.”

  I tried to sell it with a smile, but I didn’t feel like I had the conviction to back it up. Naveen must have bought it because she released me.

  “I love you, Joel,” she said, her voice shaking.

  “I love you, too, kiddo,” I said, and my voice seemed to echo the emotion in hers.

  I swear to you that I was close to breaking when Alex grabbed me by the shoulder and jerked me to my feet.

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Alex said. “With me by his side, he’ll make it back. Guaranteed.”

  “Okay,” Naveen said in resignation as her head fell to her chest.

  The only thing I knew was that I had to get the hell out of there. If I had waited a moment longer, I’m certain that I might very well have called the whole game off.

  Fortunately or unfortunately, Alex shoved me along, and we were on the move again. Within twenty steps, we were at the door to the stairwell down. Alex was in the lead and pushed the door open, stepping into the stairwell, and holding the door open for the rest of us to pass through.

  Once we were inside, she let the door slam with a bang that echoed up and down the stairwell.

  “Well, I guess we’re really doing this,” I said.

  “Did you have any doubts?” Richard asked.

  “No,” I replied, but then looked at Alex and asked, “Did you mean what you said to Naveen? That you really thought we would make it back?”

  She slowly shook her head back and forth with her eyes closed. When she finished, she cocked her head sideways and opened her eyes. “Fuck no. I think we’ll most likely die, but I sure as shit couldn’t tell the kid that. Best-case scenario, we make it past all those deaders and to the river. Then we die somewhere on the road or trying to get to Doctor Richter’s mad science lair.”

  “Well, that’s certainly a rosy outlook you have there,” I said.

  She answered by flipping me off.

  To put that little scene behind us, I started down the stairs when I heard a deep, resonant moan drift up the stairwell. That made me think that maybe Alex’s prognostication might be a bit too optimistic. With the ghost of Juan Soto awaiting us below, we might not even make it out of the building.

  Chapter 33

  Giving Up the Ghost

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Richard said as he pulled to a stop on the stairs.

  Goosebumps ran not only up my arms but over my entire body, flowing like cold water filling my veins.

  Brother Ed had the most overt reaction as he collapsed onto the stairs, landing so hard on his ass that I thought his hip might shatter. The car battery he was carrying slammed down onto the stairs and sent out a loud smacking sound. Richard shot him a nasty look, but Brother Ed didn’t seem to notice.

  The only one of us that seemed unphased was Alex.

  “It’s Casper, the unfriendly ghost,” Richard said with a shaky voice.

  Another moan that transitioned into a warbly wail drifted up the stairwell. In all my imagined conjurings of what a ghost would sound like, this was it, amplified by a factor of ten. It was so bad that I feared a little urine might have trickled out of me.

  Alex looked around at me, then up at Brother Ed and Richard, seeming to size us up.

  She said, “The only way around him is to go down on the streets, and I don’t like the idea of tangling with real and tangible undead over this fucking ghost.”

  “He sure as hell tossed Brother Ed around like he was real last time,” Richard said.

  “But Casper doesn’t have teeth,” she said.

  I tried to think confident thoughts like Washington crossing the Potomac or soldiers jumping out of helicopters into firefights. It didn’t help a lot, but it was something.

  “She’s right,” I said. “We just have to make it past Casper.”

  “And how are we doing that?” Richard said.

  “Any way we can,” I said.

  Brother Ed was still seated on the stairs, his face flat and emotionless.

  “Brother Ed, are you going to be able to do this?” I asked.

  For a few seconds, he didn’t answer, but then he blinked his eyes a couple of times, and I saw him start to emerge from his fear.

  “In the Bible, Stephen was stoned to death as a sacrifice,” he said, his voice quivering a little. “Christ’s own brother died by the sword to move the cause of good forward.” He swallowed hard and said, “I can do this.”

  “Don’t go getting all martyr on us,” Alex said. “We’ll make it past this bastard.”

  We started down the steps, but I thought I heard Brother Ed whisper, “Maybe.”

  I also heard him laboring to carry the battery, but being the selfish bastard that I was, I didn’t offer to take it off his hands.

  I didn’t want to kill our momentum, so I decided not to follow up on his la
st comment.

  We made it to the landing to the third floor, which was our quickest crossover point to the staircase that would lead us down to the tunnels. Of course, it just happened to be the last place we encountered Juan Soto’s ghost.

  The wail we had heard earlier had receded to a low moan, but that didn’t make it any less threatening. A part of me wished the floor was filled with zombies because facing down something you couldn’t shoot was too frightening. Still, I held onto my rifle like it was my lifeline.

  Alex opened the double doors, which put me in a position to enter first, which made me wonder if she had planned that. (Bitch.)

  But it was my duty, so I stepped into a long hallway. Just as before, doors lined the hallway on each side. The doors were open this time with a dim light streaming into the corridor, bathing the area in a pale blue light. No, there wasn’t anything scary about that. No, siree.

  Alex stepped into the hallway beside me and said, “Let’s move forward, chief.”

  “Am I the chief now?” I asked.

  “Chief, pal, mac, buddy, whatever the hell I want to call you at the time,” she said, but I could see her eyes taking in the hallway watching for any sign of Soto. She was ready to shoot. Not that it would help to do that from our past experience.

  Like her, though, I took comfort in holding my rifle at the ready.

  With Alex and me in the lead, we took long cautious steps down the hallway. Tacitly, I had assumed watching my side of the hall, and I knew she had her side covered.

  The moan dropped to a low-level drone, which seems safer, but didn’t give me any comfort. It didn’t seem any closer as we traversed the hallway, but neither did it seem any further away. Instead, it seemed to be everywhere in the hallway, wrapping around us like a mist.

  Besides the moaning, the only other noise was the sound of our footfalls on the carpet. In places, these sounded squishy from water that had leaked into the building from the outside.

  We crossed the halfway point, and I thought we might make it past Soto with no incidents this time. That kind of thinking was always a bad thing because it jinxed you. As soon as you started thinking like that, you knew you were screwed. Call me superstitious, but that’s how I think.