The Deadland Chronicles | Book 4 | Siege of the Dead:

by Spears, R. J.

  Henry pointed down the wall at a group of people lollygagging at the top of a ladder. “Bonds, make those people get down.”

  “I don’t have that kind of pull, kid,” Bonds said. “These people have minds of their own.”

  Jo stepped closer to Bonds and said, “You need to tell them if they stay up on that wall, they are going to die.”

  “They tend to differ,” Bonds replied, but he was unable to look Jo in the face.

  “Let me try to get them down,” Molly said. She was standing a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest, avoiding eye contact with Henry.

  “What can you--” Henry started to say, but Jo put a hand on his arm to cut him off.

  “Let her try,” Jo said to Henry. Jo knew Molly needed something to do since Henry had put her on ice in every possible way.

  Molly fidgeted in place, shifting on her feet.

  Jo looked her way and said, “Girl, go get it done.”

  Molly didn’t hesitate and was off and running for the small group holding out at the top of the ladder. When she made it to the base of the wall, she let into the people up there, spitting out a torrent of curse words.

  Jo was too far away to hear every word, but they were able to pick up on the words, ‘limp dick,’ and ‘assholes,’ but that was it. Whatever she said, put those people in motion and pronto. One of the men came down, and he said something to her, but she just flipped him off.

  The group walked over to a larger collection of people who were congregated about fifty-feet off the wall. A few of those people looked warily at Henry and Jo. Bonds squirmed off to the side, trying not to be seen.

  A few feet away, Clayton worked with two of Bonds’ men to adjust the big metal door to block the hole. It took some effort, but they made it happen because they had to.

  As soon as it looked steady, Clayton said, “Those people don’t look happy.”

  “How is that door holding up?” Jo asked of the big metal door between the Humvee and the wall.

  “They’re pounding on it and working at the edges, but it is holding,” Clayton said of the zombies outside the wall, trying to take that door out to get inside. He knew that it would last longer than the gate, but he wasn’t sure how much longer. Besides, he was pretty sure they were going to need the Humvee at some point. The only saving grace was that some of the Sanctum people were able to get their hands on a load of ammunition for the .50 caliber gun.

  “We have some guys bringing wood to prop against the door,” Bonds said.

  “Well, get them here ten minutes ago,” Clayton said.

  Bonds tried to say something but gave up.

  “Get those people to the south wall,” Jo said to Bonds.

  Bonds winced at the command, knowing he had lost any sense of control over the situation. In one way, it hurt, but in another, he was glad to surrender the decisions over to these newcomers. If it went ass-backwards, they’d take the fall, not him. Of course, if it did fail, everyone might be dead.

  Still, he wouldn’t take the blame for it. He could live with that. And die with it, too.

  On the other side of the Sanctum, Lassiter was face-to-face with an angry man named Howie.

  “I’m not going,” Howie shouted into Lassiter’s face.

  “Howie, you have to go,” Lassiter said. “The back gate is failing. We have an open window now to get people out of this place before it’s full of zombies.”

  Howie was a tall, broad man with thick, dark curly hair and a nose that looked to have been broken more than once. Lassiter knew him to be what his father used to call ‘a tough customer.’

  “Why don’t we send more people to the back to help out?” Howie said, his face red from anger.

  Lassiter pointed over the wall to the field full of zombies. “Because of all of them. Plus, there’s a smart one out there with a rocket launcher. He could fire it at any moment, and we’re screwed then.”

  “Why didn’t anyone think of something like this?” Howie bellowed.

  “There’s only so many ways to go, and we did the best we could,” Lassiter said. “Now, please help me get people off the wall and to the north wall. We can get them out through the doors on the history building.”

  “And then what?” Howie asked. “Are we just expected to make a run for it on foot?”

  “No, no,” Lassiter said, “the plan is to circle around to the back dorm. We have supplies in there.”

  “You mean the one that you sent the old people to die in when the shit hits the fan?” Howie said.

  “It’s that or make a run for it,” Lassiter said. “The people on the back wall say they have a plan. Once all the zombies have come inside, they’ll block the back gate, locking them inside.”

  “So, we’re giving up our home for zombies to come inside?!” Howie asked as he tossed his hands in the air in exasperation.

  “The zombies will be controlled and trapped inside. We’ll be able to take them out a lot easier.”

  “What about these smart zombies?” Howie asked. “What if they break the zombies out? They seem to be doing a helluva of a job on the back wall of knocking holes in it.”

  Lassiter knew this was the big hole in the plan. As long as those smart zombies were out there with their rocket launchers, no one was safe, but there was no stopping that. Unless they could track down the smart zombies and end them.

  He glanced over to the groups of people being directed by Donovan and Mason to head toward the south side of the Sanctum. About three-quarters of the people were following the orders to evacuate. But Howie held sway over the rest of them, and they had dug in on the idea of staying.

  Lassiter looked back to Howie and said, “Listen, I can’t make you go, but it’s the best option we have to survive.”

  “And what about the old people that can’t make a run for it?” Howie asked. “Are you just leaving them in here to die?”

  “They’ll be put in the basements of the medical building and the engineering building. We can lock those off and keep them safe there. We have water and food stored down there.”

  “But for how long?” Howie challenged him again. “What if we can’t get back in? They’ll starve down in those basements. That or have to make a run for it themselves, and the zombies will take them down.” By then, Howie was nearly nose-to-nose with Lassiter.

  Up until that moment, Lassiter had kept his composure, but he looked down at his feet for a moment and took a deep breath. Then he raised his face to look Howie directly in the eyes. The set of his face was no longer passive or understanding. It was flat, and there was a sense of menace in his expression.

  “Howie, you’re going to do one of two things right now,” Lassiter said. “You’re going to step the fuck away from me, or you’re going off this wall on your head.”

  Howie opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

  “A few of us are staying back to open this gate,” Lassiter said. “We’ll take the Humvee over there,” he pointed at a Humvee parked a dozen feet off the gate. “We’ll head into the center of the Sanctum because we don’t want the zombies to head after the people getting out of the south and north sides. We have a plan to draw them to the center. Then we’ll drive to the north side and escape ourselves. If you try to do anything to stop us from opening that gate, I will shoot you. Now, your choice is to go with us, stay up on the wall and die, or find some hiding place inside. I don’t need to hear your decision, but know what I said is true, or I will make it true. Do you understand?”

  It took a moment, but Howie nodded.

  Lassiter took another look and saw that most of the people that had decided to leave early were making good progress. Donovan and Mason stood at the base of the wall, a part of the crew with him to stay back and open the gates.

  “I’m going to climb down the ladder, and I would strongly encourage you and your people to get down off this wall,” Lassiter said. “If you don’t want to make a run for it, you can join the old people in o
ne of the basements. I’m sure they’d enjoy the company.”

  With that, Lassiter walked over to the closest ladders and climbed down to join Donovan and Mason.

  When he made it to them, Mason asked, “Do you think they’ll stay up there or leave?”

  Lassiter spoke softly, “Howie’s a real asshole, but he’s not dumb. I’m not sure they’ll make a run for it with the rest of the people, but there’s no way in hell they’re staying up on that wall.”

  Five minutes later, Howie and his contingent made their way down a ladder about fifty feet away. Howie shot Lassiter a hot stare for several long seconds, then he and his people made their way into the inner part of the Sanctum, disappearing behind a building.

  “Well, they’ve made their decision,” Lassiter said, knowing that most likely, those people would probably be dead in a few hours. “Hey, I need someone to go get Karen Gray and your doctor. They need to be taken out of here.”

  “I feel like I should stay on the wall,” Donovan said. “Mace, can you go?”

  Mason felt like he should be staying, but he also knew he couldn’t refuse. “Well, okay.” He quickly rushed over to the nearest ladder and got down to ground level when he started toward the science building at a slow jog. Just as he got to the first building, he turned and looked back to his friend Donovan and wondered if he would ever see him again.

  Chapter 90

  Power Throw

  The smart zombie limped along the street, heading for the alleyway just a few feet away. Eli knew if the creature made it around that corner, he would get away.

  Eli turned to Gardner and asked, “Can you shoot him?”

  “Are you crazy?” Gardner responded. “All I can see is sky.”

  Eli looked up to the roof and saw the inside of one of the access hatches. Navarro gunned the engine, but other than roar, they went nowhere. Eli reached up to the handle of the access hatch and placed his hand on it.

  Gardner asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

  “He can’t get away,” Eli said as he turned the handle.

  “Don’t you fucking do that,” Gardner shouted. “They’ll get inside.”

  “What’s going on?” Navarro asked, unable to see much in the dark confines of the MAV.

  The hatched door fell open onto the deck of the MAV with a loud clang.

  “Close that door,” Navarro yelled.

  Eli ignored him and reached down for the canister of nerve gas. He tucked it under his arm, stepped up onto his seat, and grasped the rim of the hatch.

  “Don’t you go out there,” Navarro said. “You go out there, and I get this thing going, I’m leaving your ass here.”

  Once again, Eli ignored Navarro and pushed off his seat while pulling himself up with his free arm. He quickly passed his chest through the opening and placed his elbows on the exterior of the MAV. When he looked down the street, he saw the smart zombie limping away, a blood stream trailing behind him.

  Something happened that wasn’t totally explainable for any rational mind, but the smart one stopped and turned back toward the MAV. The creature and the man locked eyes, and something passed between them. A challenge. Something unspoken. Eli felt nothing but hatred for the creature, but in that moment, it looked on him with indifference. It had won. He had lost.

  That’s when Eli reached down and ripped his pistol out of his holster. He was pulling the trigger before he had even properly aimed. The first three shots bounced off the rubble, and the next one flew by the smart zombie, but the next two hit home. One struck the thing’s shoulder and spun it around. The next one looked to have hit home because Eli saw its head jerk violently backward, and the thing went down.

  A sense of tempered happiness passed through Eli’s soul. He had won. The damned thing was dead. At least, he thought it was.

  That was when the creature rolled over onto all fours, blood dripping down a long slashing wound cutting down the side of its head. It tried to stand but didn’t make it.

  It wasn’t a kill shot, Eli thought. He had just creased its skull.

  Eli’s mouth fell open as it started to crawl toward an alleyway just a couple of feet away. Eli whipped up his gun but was too late. A cluster of zombies stepped in front of the smart one and started toward the MAV. The last he saw of the smart zombie was its leg slipping around the edge of the building and out of view.

  Eli slumped down onto the top of the MAV. Victory had been so close, but he had let it slip away. The zombies were coming his way, and the damn creature had escaped. There was no time to waste. He had to get back inside and see if there was a way to get the MAV off this pile of rubble. He placed his hand down toward the lip of the MAV, but it fell on the gas canister.

  He snatched it up and examined it. It was an innocuous-looking metal cylinder with a small spray nozzle on one end. But there was nothing benign about it. Inside this canister was a nerve gas so deadly that it could kill an entire city block of humans. Maybe more.

  But it would revert a smart zombie into a human.

  The problem was that he was more than thirty feet away from the alleyway and there were at least twenty zombies headed his way. From what he had been told, the spray nozzle on the canister could spray ten feet, at most. That would never work. The creature was too far away.

  Compounding Eli’s problem was the fact that the zombies in the area were rallying. They had regained their feet and were coming toward the only food within sight. And that was him. Nearly twenty of them headed his way, grunting and groaning in eager anticipation.

  Getting out of the MAV to get to the smart zombie would be suicide. There was no way he could get to the creature before it got away.

  His mind whirred, looking for some option. Any option.

  He dropped his hands onto the canister, and he lifted it up. His fingers played with the nozzle, trying to find some way to extend the spray, but he didn’t see any way to do it.

  The zombies ambled their way toward the MAV, starting over the rubble in the street. The uneven surface caused a few to stumble, but they were persistent, getting up, and carrying on toward Eli. Wanting a piece of him.

  Down the street, the smart zombie closed on the alleyway, dragging itself along. The window of opportunity was closing quickly. Eli knew he had to do something.

  He hefted the canister, feeling the weight of it, and considered his options for a few seconds.

  “Get back in here,” Navarro yelled from inside the MAV.

  The zombies had closed the gap down to fifteen feet. Time was running out. He had to do something, and he had to do it now.

  He raised the canister in the air and pulled back his arm, knowing what he was about to do was a real Hail Mary pass, but he went with it. He yanked his arm forward, and the canister flipped end over end, flying over the heads of the approaching zombies. He followed it as it flew and watched it hit the pavement and slid toward the smart zombie.

  While Eli desperately hoped the canister might crack open, it sat harmlessly on the pavement. He reached down and pulled his gun from its holster and tried to aim through the oncoming zombies. Their heads bobbed back and forth, blocking his aim.

  He cursed and pushed his body up and through the portal hole, getting up on two feet and standing.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Gardner shouted from inside the MAV, and there was a sense of alarm in his voice.

  Eli now stood above the heads of the zombies with a shot down the street. The smart zombie was about to slip into the alleyway, but Eli had a clear view of the canister. He brought up his left hand to brace his shooting hand and aimed at the canister.

  The zombies were just about to the MAV, and the smart zombies had disappeared into the alleyway. Eli knew there was no more time and pulled the trigger on his gun, firing off four shots. The first two bounced off the pavement, but the third hit the canister, blasting a hole through its side.

  A cloud of green gas burst from the canister. It quickly started to fill the area, looking almost
like an innocent emerald mist. Everyone inside the MAV knew it was anything but innocent.

  Chapter 91

  Putting the Plan into Motion

  Henry watched a line of people heading off toward the south wall. Their shoulders were slumped in resignation. Henry didn’t blame them. There was nothing about this situation that he liked. The gate looked like it could fail at any minute, and they were attempting an insane escape plan that the Vegas odds-makers wouldn’t touch.

  Molly had done an excellent job getting them motivated, but doubts and fear had slowed down the progress. Despite that, a few had broken off from the line and were lingering, lost in indecision, ready to either return to the wall or retreat into the interior of the Sanctum.

  Kent had raised the big blade on the bulldozer, elevating the broken gate off the ground, but it wavered precariously, looking like it could go any direction. On top of it all, zombies were crawling under the gate. The few fighters they had held back took them out, but other zombies were beginning to wriggle their way over the bodies of these newly killed deaders.

  “We’ve got to get those people moving,” Henry shouted down to Bonds, who was down on the ground.

  Bonds turned around and threw his arms in the air in a gesture that said, what can I do?

  “They’re going as fast as they can,” Jo said.

  “It’s not fast enough,” Henry said.

  “Want to sic Molly back on them?” Jo asked.

  Henry shot her a sour look.

  “Lighten up, kid,” Clayton yelled from his spot next to the Humvee.

  “There’s nothing light about this whole situation,” Henry said.