The Gristle & Bone Series (Book 1): The Flayed & The Dying

by Roach, Aaron

  “Not funny, Sharpe.”

  Ahead, the small boat arrived and throttled down in front of the sub. A sailor at the helm shouted out to Sharpe.

  “Good morning, sir. I’ve been told you have an intelligence operative aboard in need of a ride home?”

  Sharpe looked at Thaniel, raising a questioning eyebrow.

  Thaniel grimaced. “Fine,” he said, grudgingly, “I’m in.”

  Sharpe laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, then turned to the sailor. “Orders have changed, Ensign. Special Agent Jones here has opted to stay with me and my men.”

  -55-

  Kat had seen refugee camps and displaced peoples on TV before, from news footage and war correspondents from the Frontier, but she never paid too much attention to them. They were something to be pitied, of course, but they were too far removed from her own day-to-day life to matter. Now she found herself in such a place and wondered, was anyone was thinking of her?

  She let her hand drop from the chain-link fence that bordered the camp and turned her back to the woods on the other side. She walked through the muddied field to her housing unit and, as her feet moved through the grass’s wet condensation, she had to remind herself that the infection could only be passed through direct contact of rain on flesh. It wasn’t necessarily water that carried the virus, but the rain; and when droplets from the sky hit the ground, somehow the infection became neutralized and no longer dangerous.

  At least, that’s what the reports were saying.

  The first rain the camp had experienced was during Kat and Sophia’s first night there, when storm clouds had rolled in from the coast. She, Sophia, and their bunkmates had been inside their assigned housing unit – a shipping container converted into a trailer – when it began to fall. Moments before the first pitter-patter could be heard hitting the roof above them, Kat had suddenly been filled with dread, and the goosebumps on her skin had returned.

  Danger.

  Then, just like that first day beneath the pavilion in the esplanade, the sounds of angry screeching began to fill the air outside. They and the others in their crowded trailer had taken cover when it started, hiding beneath their beds as the sounds of battle, thunder, and screaming raged outside.

  The next morning, when the sun had risen and the storm clouds had passed, they stepped out of their housing unit to see hundreds of skeletal bodies littering the soaked ground. Soldiers were there firing single round shots into every lifeless skull. The bodies of the creatures were eventually gathered and burned in a massive pile, and Command officials at the camp had hailed the battle a great victory. Kat couldn’t help but wonder, however, if the outcome would have been different if the storm hadn’t hit when most of the camp’s residents were already inside for the night, and out of the rain.

  Now there was a barometer mounted on the outside of every trailer, and procedures were in place that required everyone to take cover at the onset of any rain, no matter how minor, which would be announced by the blaring of sirens throughout the camp. It was a good idea, Kat thought, one that had minimized the number of deaths when the next rainfall came a few days later. But it was the onset of the wet season and, safety procedures or not, she knew more people were going to die.

  “Hey Kat,” greeted Sophia as Kat walked into the shipping container that housed up to forty people on multi-level beds. Sophia was at the foot of her bunk fiddling with her slingshot, trying to repair the leather pad that was supposed to hold the shot. Since their arrival nine days ago, the girl had spent hours at target practice with the thing, taking out cans and bottles she found throughout the camp.

  “Ah, just like new,” Sophia said as she tied off the elastic. She stood up and put the sling in her back pocket. “So, what do you want to do today?” she asked.

  Kat smiled, “Up to you, kid. We could go help out with in-processing; I saw a bunch of new arrivals being flown in as I walked by earlier. Or we could go help with the latrines; they are digging new pits over on the west side. Or, better yet, you can go to school.” She was referring to the makeshift school near the center of the camp, set up to return some sense of normalcy to the refugee children’s lives.

  Sophia crinkled her nose at all three options. “How about we find Ward and Litz? They should have gotten back from their patrol by now.”

  “Ward and Litz, huh?” Kat responded. She gave Sophia a knowing look and the girl blushed. Though she wouldn’t admit it, Kat suspected Sophia had developed a schoolgirl crush on Litz. “Alright, let’s go find them. We need to get you out of this damn metal box. It’s a beautiful day outside and I suspect we won’t have too many of those in the near future. Might as well take advantage of the sunshine while we can.”

  They left their unit and began making their way south towards the soldiers’ barracks. As they walked, Kat made note of the ongoing changes to the camp’s infrastructure. The shipping container units were lined in rows of twenty, stacked four or five containers high, and seemed to go on forever. The camp itself covered dozens and dozens of acres and Kat guessed that it currently housed between a hundred and two hundred thousand refugees. Rumor had it that there were at least twelve such camps, or safety zones as Command called them, set up along the northeast with more being constructed further inland as the devastation from the infection snowballed across the country. There were even rumors of outbreaks happening in other parts of the world, and Kat wondered what the long-term plan would be if that were the case. Surely, the camps were only a temporary solution, but if whatever was happening was taking place everywhere, where else could they go?

  Those were problems for another day. For now, Kat directed her mind to focus on more immediate uncertainties. She and Sophia, along with the rest of the civilian population, were not permitted to leave the confines of the camp, ‘for their own safety’ as they were told. That meant that as the camp’s population rose, so too did the demand for food, water, and medicine. And as supplies of these diminished, unhappiness and unrest in the camp increased. Fights and isolated riots were daily occurrences, especially when rations were being distributed. She and Sophia had opted to go hungry on more than one occasion, rather than wait in a riotous queue for food.

  As they came nearer to the military section of the camp where the barracks were located, Kat’s worries were temporarily alleviated, and she ruffled Sophia’s hair. It had been the kid’s idea to befriend Ward and Litz, even when Kat wanted nothing to do with them. In the end, it had turned out to be a smart decision. As soldiers, Ward and Litz had access to certain things that the camp’s civilian population did not. Things like the news, better food, and knowledge of the inner goings-on of the makeshift city. The two men were willing to share these with them freely, asking nothing in return. If she had learned anything over the past ten days, it was that that type of kindness was a rare thing in a place where trade and barter were the foundations of the newfound economy, and certain services were demanded in exchange for goods, especially from the camp’s female population. Kat hoped that their friendship with the soldiers would also mean that she and Sophia would be the first to know if things in the camp started to go south. They had already begun stockpiling supplies for when that day might come.

  When they came to the fence that divided the military population from the rest of the camp, they took a left and followed the fenceline, keeping an eye out for the two men. On the other side, platoons of soldiers were going about their duties. Some were jogging in what Kat assumed to be PT exercises, others were directing a line of traffic in and out of a side gate, and there, near the quartermaster’s depot, were Ward and Litz. They and a few dozen other uniformed men and women were offloading boxes of supplies from the back of a massive truck. Sophia called out, and at the sound of their names both men looked up. Ward turned and said something to a soldier who nodded and waved them off. The two jumped down from the vehicle and made their way over to speak to them through the fence.

  “What’s the situation, boys?” Kat asked as th
ey came closer, nodding to the truck and its cargo.

  “Supplies from the town of Darby, about fifteen miles that way,” said Litz, raising a pointed finger towards a treeline to the north. “Just got back this morning.” Then he directed his attention to Sophia, flashing a smile her way, “How you doing, kid? How’s the target practice coming along?”

  Sophia blushed but didn’t respond.

  It was Ward who instead spoke up, “We lost two men on that supply run. They were pricks, but they didn’t deserve to die.”

  Kat was taken aback by Ward’s words. Not that the men had died, but that he had referred to them in such a way. Usually he was the more collected of the two and his anger now didn’t go unnoticed. “Why were they pricks?”

  Ward shrugged without reply, so Litz answered for him, “It’s a long story Kat. But it doesn’t matter. They’re dead now.” He paused, and looked out towards the woods again, “It’s getting dangerous out there.”

  “Was it the skeletals or the groaners that got them?” asked Sophia, breaking her silence. ‘Groaners’ had been the unofficial name used around the camp to describe the secondary infected, for the unnatural sounds they made.

  “Neither,” said Ward. “They were killed by civilians who didn’t like us coming into their town to take their supplies. That or they must have thought we were there to round them up and bring them here. In the end, we barely made it out with our lives. Good thing there was food in the supermarket, or those men would have died for nothing.”

  There was a certain sadness or regret in his tone that Kat picked up on.

  “You don’t agree with raiding the towns,” Kat said, matter-of-factly.

  Ward shrugged in that dismissive way again. “It doesn’t matter what I agree with, Kat. Litz and I, this is what we signed up for – to do what we are told. Command has told us to take the food from towns and to kill their people if they don’t like it, so we do. It’s not right, but orders are orders.”

  Sophia spoke up finally, “That’s a shit excuse and you know it, Ward.” Her tone was scathing, amplified by the smallness of her size. Ward’s mouth opened as he prepared to defend himself, but no words came forth. Instead, he gave her a sad, agreeing smile. “You’re right kid. It’s a shit excuse.”

  Kat watched the exchange and felt bad for the man. “It’s not your fault, Ward. If Command was providing us with enough food and supplies, you all wouldn’t need to go out there to get them yourselves.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not like Command was prepared for this either,” defended Litz, gesturing at the camp around them. “No one’s to blame. It’s a shit situation, for you, for us, for them, for everybody. It seems the only ones who got it good are the dead.”

  There was a long pause before Kat spoke up again, “Why don’t the townspeople just come here, or to one of the other safety zones? We have the fences that keep out the dead and the army is here. It’s got to be safer than out there.”

  Ward looked her dead in the eye and asked, “Do you want to be here, Kat? If you were out there, with the opportunity to provide for yourself, even with the risk of infection, would you willingly choose to come here, knowing you wouldn’t be allowed to leave?”

  Neither Kat nor Sophia had a response to that, and Ward sighed. “Litz is right, it’s a shit situation for everyone and it’s not worth talking about right now. Listen, we have to finish unloading these supplies and get them distributed throughout the camp, but we may be able to get away for a few hours later tonight. Certain things were discussed in this morning’s briefing, rumors of some crazy stuff going down which you guys should probably know about. Besides, Litz swiped some beer from the depot a few days ago and if we get caught with it, we’ll be digging latrines for days. We’ll bring it by. You’ll need it after you hear what we have to say.”

  Before the two soldiers turned to resume their duties, Litz reached into his pocket and pulled out a soda. He slid it through the fence to Sophia and chuckled, “No beer for you, kid, but you can have this.”

  With that, the two soldiers returned to their duties, leaving Kat and Sophia wondering what more there was to tell.

  -56-

  From his tree branch, Gabe watched the victorious raiding party swarm The King’s Fare supermarket, only to come out moments later with disappointment etched on their faces. In their hands, they carried a few meager groceries, nowhere near enough to feed their group for more than a few days.

  The soldiers had virtually emptied the store.

  As he was about to descend from the tree, something caught Gabe’s eye – Bishop running across the open expanse of Main Street. He raised his scope and followed the man, the darker part of his subconscious daring him to pull the trigger.

  Murderer.

  It would be an easy shot. One round, and Jacob could rest in peace, avenged.

  Gabe’s finger froze as Bishop ran past the soldier Gabe had killed. He choked down a sob at his own inaction. No matter how much he wanted Bishop dead, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t pull the trigger.

  Murderer.

  Bishop made his way to the bushes below him, to where the voice had cried out when the soldiers had rallied. Suddenly Bishop wailed, his sorrow unmistakable as he pulled the still body of Nathan Daniels from the brush. He fell to his knees, holding his dead son in his lap, and wept. He brushed away the hair to reveal Nathan’s gaunt, ashy face.

  Then howling was everywhere.

  The others of the raiding party froze as the dead announced themselves. The new enemy emerged from the woods on the far side of town, four skeletals followed by a horde of thirty or forty groaners, moaning and reaching out across the expanse of Main Street. One of the skeletals, the biggest of the four, stepped forward, tilting its head and listening. None of the raiding party moved or made a sound, save for Bishop, who couldn’t contain his mournful cries. The lead skeletal snapped its head at the pitiful sound.

  And then the dead charged.

  The others didn’t waste time in trying to defend themselves. They scattered, leaving Bishop and his son behind as they ran for the two waiting trucks. Bishop seemed oblivious to the incoming beasts and his comrades who had deserted him.

  Dammit!

  Gabe leapt from his tree, landing hard on the earth and twisting his ankle. He limped as fast as he could to the mourning Bishop and yanked him up by one of his shoulders.

  “We’ve got to go Bishop,” he muttered over the incoming shrieking.

  “My boy, my Nathan,” Bishop wailed, fighting him off.

  “We have to leave him, Bishop. We’ve got to go.” This time, Gabe grabbed Bishop by his shirt and physically pulled him away from the young man’s body. They stumbled into the brush and fell down a wet embankment, landing in a muddy ditch below. The shrieking of the dead drew closer and Gabe scrambled to cover himself and Bishop with mud and foliage. He didn’t know if it would work, but there wasn’t time to try anything else. Sodden and filthy, he threw himself protectively over Bishop and used his hand to stifle his sobs. For a heartbeat, Gabe envisioned himself suffocating the man, to have his vengeance then and there, but he kept his hand only heavy enough to prevent noise, not air, from passing through.

  Then, the skeletals were there, shrieking over the embankment and spilling more foliage and soil over their concealed forms. The creatures growled and chittered, sniffling at the ground around their bodies before grunting in frustration and sprinting off deeper into the woods. After a prolonged silence, Gabe was about to stand up when he felt a foot trip on his ribs and then a heavy weight on his back. Before he could register what it was, he felt and heard the trampling feet of dozens of groaners staggering over or near them, calling out death rattles as they followed after the skeletals. It was several minutes more before both men felt safe enough to move again.

  When they rose, soaked in mud and dirt, Bishop turned to him, his eyes red and swollen. “My boy, they killed my Nathan,” he mumbled, half dazed.

  Gabe looked down at his feet, not
knowing what to say. What he wanted to do was laugh in the man’s face, to tell him that a universal justice had been served. But he didn’t. Instead, he said, “Let’s go get him, Bishop. I’ll help you bury him.”

  They buried Nathan in silence at the bottom of the embankment. The mud was soft there and the grave easy to dig with their hands – a task, Gabe noted bitterly, he was becoming all too familiar with. When they were done, he took solace in the fact that, at the very least, Bishop’s son was lying in a ditch while Jacob was buried on a mountainside surrounded by wildflowers. It would have to be his only consolation for what Bishop had done. He couldn’t bring himself to kill the man, especially now, the poor wretch.

  Murderer.

  Gabe shook the voice from his head, “Come on, Bishop. It’s time to go.”

  The two walked through the forest in silence save for the crunch of dead foliage underfoot. They headed in the opposite direction of where the dead had gone, skirting around the edge of the town towards the road that would take them back to the mountain cave. They left the cover of the trees and made their way onto the blacktop. Their pace was slow, to accommodate Gabe’s pained and swollen ankle.

  After they had trekked for several miles, Bishop broke the silence. “Where do you suppose they’ve all gone?”

  “Who?”

  “The dead. On the day it all happened, this whole area was crawling with them.”

  “I don’t know, Bishop,” said Gabe, not necessarily in the mood to talk.

  Bishop didn’t pick up on his tone and continued softly, “The first time I saw one of them, I was in my car on my way home from the office. I’d left work early, you know? Once they started talking about evacuation, I knew it was time to go. So, I hopped into my car and started driving. Linda, my wife, she passed a few years ago – breast cancer – so it was just me and Nathan…Just the two of us looking out for each other.” He paused to shake away the tears welling in his eyes, and his voice cracked for a moment before he could continue, “I was just about to turn onto my street when I saw the thing. A skeletal running across the rooftops, leaping from one house to another, on all fours, then on two feet, then back down on all fours like a damn animal. I watched it; I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing, it couldn’t have been real. But it was. I saw it jump two stories and land on a kid like some sort of bird of prey swooping down on a field mouse. It was my neighbor’s kid, a good kid. He’d mowed my lawn a few times after Linda passed. What that thing did to him, Gabe,” He paused again, shaking his head as if the memory could be set loose from his mind. He didn’t go into further details. For that, Gabe was thankful.