Decay of Humanity Series | Book 4 | Dawn of Humanity

by Dawn, M. K.

  “We consider assets to be anyone we can trust. Those who want to rebuild this world and not take advantage of the suffering.”

  “And how long did it take you to figure that out about us?” Axel asked.

  The corner of Demarcus’ mouth twisted. “We meant to make contact with you earlier, right about the time you commandeered the wagon—brilliant by the way—but we ran into some trouble with the undead. By the time we regrouped, you were gone.”

  “Was that you?” Axel pushed off the wall. “At the museum? The people who saved our lives?”

  “It was.” Demarcus looked at Sloan, eyes soft and full of regret. “I’m sorry about your sister. We had medication for her but were too late. We caught up with you again as you were being taken in the by the Vegas group.”

  Tears stung Sloan’s eyes, but she said nothing for fear of breaking down.

  “Fun times.” Archer rubbed his eyes. “Those people were a real treat.”

  “Sorry we couldn’t find a way to get you out of there sooner.” Demarcus smiled at Molly. “You’re one brave little girl.”

  Molly beamed.

  “Wait a minute,” Axel spun around. “How do you know about that?”

  Max smirked. “Who do you think cut open the wall?”

  Archer tensed. “Why didn’t you pick us up then?”

  “We were dealing with The Boss and his men.”

  “How did that go?” Axel took a seat.

  Demarcus intertwined his fingers in his lap. “We stalled them, but there is only so much we can do with no ammo left.”

  “The explosions?” Archer asked.

  Demarcus nodded but didn’t elaborate.

  “Is he after us?” Sloan’s hand shook as she finished Max’s splint.

  “Who do you think brought the undead into the city?” Demarcus leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “L.A. was hit hard when all of this started. Most didn’t survive. And those who did, helped us start our community. We’ve worked hard at keeping the undead away. No people, no undead.”

  “So how did The Boss bring all those infested into the city?” Axel asked.

  “Fuck if we know. He’s like the damn pied piper.” Demarcus pressed his lips together. “Damn zombie movie bad guy wannabe. Wish I could cap his ass and be done with it.”

  “Whatever happens,” Max shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “we can’t let those people follow us back to the boat. Protect Catalina at all cost.”

  “I thought you said your mission was to protect the people?” Sloan picked up a homemade granola bar from the few that were left.

  “Catalina is the people who live there,” Demarcus explained. “Speaking of, we should head that way.”

  “We’re not going to stay here overnight?” Archer asked. “I just assumed.”

  “Not safe. The undead are out there in search of their escaped prey. It might take some time, but they’ll track us down.” Demarcus stood up and stretched. “Besides, the boat is only allowed to wait so long before returning to Catalina.”

  “When is the next boat scheduled to return?” Liyah stood as well.

  “After today? They won’t come back for a month.” Demarcus headed for the door. “We don’t leave much for supplies anymore. The island is pretty much self-sufficient.”

  Axel moved in front of the door and stared at Demarcus. “I’m confused about the whole boat situation.”

  “We left a month ago,” Demarcus explained, “and are scheduled to meet up with transport today.”

  Sloan gathered the children together. “You’ve been gone a month?”

  Max nodded. “Yes, ma’am. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to see my wife and baby girl.”

  Sloan’s heart contracted. “You postponed meeting with the boat to find us?”

  Demarcus furrowed his brow. “We did.”

  “How?” Archer asked. “In a city the size of L.A.?”

  The corner of Demarcus mouth twitched. “It’s where we find most people who come here, so we check there first. I mean…it’s the most obvious place to look for secure homes. Then we spotted the truck left outside the gate, and figured we were right.”

  “Thank you.” Sloan squeezed Max’s good hand. “Truly.”

  Max offered her a weak smile. “Don’t thank us yet. We still have to make it to the docks.”

  ***

  Without a vehicle, the trek to the docks was to be done on foot. Which meant they were exposed not only to the infested but the Vegas gang as well.

  Demarcus kept a steady jog. Like the stairs, they struggled to maintain the swift speed. When Molly and Blake could go no further, Demarcus slowed his pace.

  “Hold up.” Max, who had taken the lead at the halfway point, held up a fist.

  Sloan tucked Blake and Molly into her sides and held them close. Max signaled to Demarcus who silently led them into a nearby building. Moments later, several motorcycles passed by them with Mammoth in the lead.

  Archer grinned. “Son of a bitch. Now what?”

  Max checked his watch. “Shit, less than an hour to go. We have to get there, Sarge.”

  “How far away are we?” Sloan knew the answer wouldn’t be what they wanted to hear.

  “Not far,” Liyah assured her, but she still sounded worried.

  Max checked the road. “Clear. We have to hurry.”

  They rushed out of the building and down the street opposite of the way Mammoth and his group had gone. The smell of the ocean grew stronger the closer they got to the docks. For a brief period, Sloan had actually believed they would make it to the boat. That is, until she heard the roar of several engines approach.

  “Go!” Demarcus shouted.

  They sprinted toward the now visible docks and the altered ferry that was their salvation.

  Just as they reached the first plank of the wooden dock, a motorcycle sped in front of them, cutting them off. Sloan shoved Molly behind her, and Axel did the same with Blake. Isaak hovered close behind the twins, while the others made a circle around them.

  A dozen or so motorcycles and vehicles approached, stopping all around them. Men and women emerged and held them at gunpoint.

  The Boss was the last to show himself, wearing the same grungy eye patch and a smirk. “Well, fancy running into you here, of all places.”

  “You said you’d let us go!” Molly spat, surprising everyone, including Sloan, with her boldness.

  “That’s right, little girl, I did, but I never said for how long.” The Boss moved closer. “Why don’t you hand over that bag of yours?”

  “Fuck off,” Demarcus hissed.

  “Oh, you want to play it like that?” The Boss snapped his fingers, and two people emerged with an infested on a leash. This one, unlike the others guarding Vegas, was fully intact.

  “You’re not going to release that,” Max challenged. “It could attack your people just as easily as it would us.”

  “You’re right, of course.” The Boss cocked his chin, and the larger of the two men holding the infested punched the creature in the jaw.

  It howled out in pain. Nearby infested answered its cry.

  Sloan tensed, and her body trembled in fear of what would happen next.

  “Now.” The Boss clasped his hands behind his back and paced before them. “How long do you guess it will take the zombies to reach us? One minute? Five? Anyone care to put a wager on it?”

  “Fucking idiot!” Demarcus ground through his teeth. “They’re going to kill us all.”

  “No, no.” The Boss raised his hand. “You have a choice. We shoot you and your men on the boat who I know have explosives, and take said boat for ourselves. Or, you and your boat friends can surrender, we take the boat and leave you here with all our vehicles so you can escape the zombies. I must say, the latter sounds like a hell of a deal to me.”

  The infested grew closer.

  Sloan wanted nothing more than to agree to their terms, but the people at Catalina did not deserve the ty
ranny The Boss would bring.

  “We can’t let you take our boat.” Demarcus kept calm. How? Sloan would never know.

  “I don’t think you heard me,” The Boss sneered. “You don’t have a choice. We have weapons, you have a closed bag of unlit pipe bombs. Ready….,” his people cocked their weapons, “aim….”

  A shot rang out from somewhere in the distance. The Boss grabbed his chest and coughed. Blood stained his teeth as he cried out, falling to the ground.

  “What the fuck?” Mammoth spun around in a desperate attempt to figure out where the shot came from.

  Chaos erupted all around them. Infested rushed for them with several unknown vehicles trailing close behind. Shots were fired. At the infested and the Vegas gang alike.

  “Get to the boat now!” Demarcus ordered as he dumped the bag of explosives on the ground at his feet while Max worked with his one good arm to light them.

  Archer disarmed Mammoth and put a bullet in his chest.

  Sloan could tell he wanted to stay, and fight but they needed him. “Archer, come on!”

  They hurried onto the boat, the people on board taking the children, Axel, and Liyah inside.

  “Go in with them,” Archer told Sloan.

  “Wait!” Sloan freed herself from a man trying to guide her inside. “Who is that?”

  Archer wrapped an arm around Sloan’s waist. “It’s their people, Slash.”

  “They don’t have ammo and those people do!” Sloan argued.

  “She’s right,” one of the men told them, “only one of those vehicles is ours. I don’t know who the rest are, but they saved our asses.”

  Sloan grasped the side of the ferry as several explosions rang out. Two of the vehicles, who hung back away from the fighting, sped up straight for the docks.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me.” Archer sprinted down the ramp just as Angie emerged from the vehicle.

  Sloan cried out at the sight of her friends—Sam, Maria, and Tyler, all who had stayed at the prison. The rest exited the vehicles along with a few other women and weaker members of the prison group.

  “Do you know them?” the Catalina man asked.

  Sloan struggled to find words but managed a nod.

  Archer hugged Angie and ushered them on to the ferry.

  Sloan raced to Angie, throwing her arms around the neck of the woman she never thought she’d see again. “What are you doing here?”

  “Saving your sorry asses, apparently.” Angie squeezed her tightly.

  Demarcus and Max boarded, both breathless and bloody. Sloan would need to reset Max’s arm as it hung by his side once again.

  “Hey!” Demarcus grabbed Archer’s arm. “You vouch for everyone who comes aboard. Make sure none of the Vegas people sneak on.”

  “Got it.” Archer took post at the ramp.

  By the time the ferry left the dock, Sloan, along with Angie, Sam, Maria, Tyler, and Dr. Williams had settled inside with Axel, Liyah, and the kids.

  Demarcus gathered everyone in the room to address the group. “Welcome. I cannot begin to thank you all for coming to our aide. Your leader, Kat, tells me your journey has been a rough one. Make no mistake, we will take care of you as you have us. Without you, Catalina would be no more. Because we fought against the undead, our harbor will not allow us to debark without a thorough and quite frankly, intimate examination to ensure no one has been bitten. Please do not take this as a sign of distrust. Everyone must go through this process, including myself and my people.”

  Sloan closed her eyes, exhausted, but continued to listen.

  “Once cleared, we’ll head for the mess hall, get some food, and then housing will be assigned. Please, bear with us. We have never brought so many in at one time. But, rest assured, we have plenty of warm beds and resources to go around. There’s more to go over, but for now, rest. We have a ways to go before we arrive home.”

  Home? Sloan smiled at the thought before drifting off into a deep, peaceful sleep.

  Chapter twenty-four

  Axel

  “Molly,” Axel called from across the small two-bedroom house. “We’re waiting on you.”

  “Coming.” She bounced out of the room she and Blake shared, red hair going in every direction.

  It had taken weeks for Axel to adjust to this new way of living. Or perhaps more fitting, the old way of living. Where the kids had their own room and they could leave the windows open. Not that he ever did. Some habits were harder to break than others.

  Any mistrust they had of Catalina faded almost instantly after they arrived. The people here were some of the most genuine, kind souls Axel had met in his life.

  “How far is it to the beach?” Molly asked as they left the house.

  “Half a mile,” Liyah said where she and Isaak waited on the front porch.

  Sloan and Archer joined them a second later, basket of food and blankets in hand.

  Their houses were all next to each other, which added another layer of comfort. After living in such close quarters for so long, it was strange being so far away from his family.

  “No Angie today?” Archer asked.

  Sloan shook her head. “She wasn’t feeling well, which isn’t uncommon with pregnancy.”

  “Can we go now?” Blake could hardly contain his excitement.

  “Down the path,” Sloan pointed, “but stay where we can see you.”

  The kids took off, leaving the adults behind to talk, something they didn’t have much time for these days.

  “How’s the clinic, Sloan?” Axel asked.

  “It still needs some work, but I’ve done what I can in the month we’ve been here. What about the service? Archer loves it, but it’s what he’s used to.”

  “It’s not bad.” And the only way he could keep a gun on him at all times.

  He and Archer were both asked to join due to their experience.

  “And Liyah?” Sloan asked. “Did you find something you like?”

  She had tried out several different jobs over the past few weeks. “They have me working at the rec center, which I wasn’t sure about at first, but am now loving. Plus, when it’s slow, I can do whatever.”

  “That’s wonderful to hear.” Sloan shaded her eyes from the sun. “The children are fast.”

  Axel picked up the pace until they reached the beach. After years of keeping a close eye on them, he found it hard to give them some space. “Look at them, already splashing in the waves.”

  “They look like kids again,” Archer squeezed Axel’s shoulder. “It’s nice to hear them laugh.”

  More than nice.

  They settled down on the sand near the kids and talked for a while before being dragged out into the water.

  Molly was the first to take a break, rummaging through the basket of snacks.

  Axel joined her on the beach. “Hungry?”

  She nodded as she bit into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  “Are you having fun? It took us a while, but we finally made it to the beach.”

  A bird squealed, and Molly peered over her shoulder. “Daddy, do you think we’re safe here?”

  Salty air caught in his throat, and he coughed to clear it.

  She scrunched her nose. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” He beat on his chest. “Tickle in my throat.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Axel cleared his throat, not sure how to answer. The world was still overrun with infested. “Um, yeah, I think so. Why do you ask?”

  “Because,” she took another bite, “the infested are still out there. What if they find their way here?”

  “They can’t swim,” he reminded her, and himself.

  “But they couldn’t see, and now, they can.”

  Axel’s heart raced. “I don’t think we have to worry about that.”

  She stared off into the water. “There are also bad guys out there like The Boss. What if they find a boat?”

  “Molly,” he brushed her wind-blown hair
from her face, “I don’t want you to be scared of all the things that might happen.”

  “I'm not scared.” She threw back her shoulders. “At least, I won’t be after I join the military and learn how to fight like you and Uncle Archer. Then, I could protect everyone.”

  “You want to join the military?” After what happened in Vegas, he thought she never wanted to hold a gun again.

  “Yep. I can start taking classes at school.” She blinked her big, pleading eyes. “That’s okay, right, Daddy?”

  “Sure.” It was all he could think to say.

  “Thanks.” She finished her sandwich. “Do you think Mommy would be proud of me?”

  A stabbing pain shot straight through is heart. “So proud. Your mommy was the strongest woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. She did so much to save others and would be so proud that her only daughter wanted to do the same.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.” She jumped up and kissed his cheek. “There’s a paper you have to sign in my backpack. I’m going to go play.”

  She ran off leaving him there alone, heartbroken but also beaming with pride. Molly was growing up to become an amazing young woman and Blake a young man. He wished Britney was here to see how much they’ve grown.

  “Axel.” Archer’s voice cut through his thoughts. “You okay, brother?”

  He cracked his neck from side to side. “Yeah. Molly just told me she wanted to join the military.”

  Archer let loose a low whistle as he took a seat beside him on the sand. “Wow. Never saw that coming? You think she’s serious?”

  “Has the permission slip at the house.”

  Archer chuckled. “Give her a few weeks and see how it goes. It’s a tough program, even at her age. Plus, you know how quickly she changes her mind.”

  “Yeah, but I think this is different. Her confrontation with The Boss changed her.” Axel laid back on the sand, enjoying the warm sea breeze. “Maybe she’ll grow out of it, maybe she won’t. Might not be the worst thing in the world. We can’t hide from the infested forever.”

  “No, we cannot,” Archer agreed.

  They might be safe now, but that couldn’t last forever. They’d have to face the infested again and when that day came, he would do what he could to keep his children safe. But there was no guarantee.