Then there were the promises. She could be made whole. They all could be made human again.
The problem was that over time, it seemed like Lance didn’t want to be changed. That he was actually enjoying this half-life and the power that came with it.
But look where that got him? She thought. Where had it gotten any of them? Except for her, they were all dead.
She and Maxwell had a plan. They were going to ignore the voice and put it out of their heads. They were getting out.
That was all gone now, and she was left wondering what she should do? She also wondered if she really had a choice?
Maybe the presence behind the voice would actually fulfill on its promise if she did this one last thing? Maybe that was the only good thing that would come out of this whole cluster fuck?
She saw no other way out of this other than to move forward with the plan. What did she have to lose?
Chapter 100
Stuck
Henry watched the MAV rumble along, but it slowed precipitously, then shocked him when it slammed into a row of concrete benches and came to an abrupt stop. The Humvee, speeding just behind the MAV, hit the brakes just in time to avoid crashing into the backend of the MAV by a few inches.
“What the hell?” Molly said from on the wall.
Moaning and groaning grabbed their attention, and they looked to the gate where zombies were starting to shamble in. Everything was going according to plan, except for one thing. Both he and Molly were still up on the wall when they should be running into the center of the Sanctum. Below them, zombies ambled in and started to fill the courtyard.
“Henry, what are we going to do?” Molly asked as she watched the zombies flooding inside.
Henry unclipped the walkie-talkie off his belt and quickly clicked the talk button. “Lassiter, come in.”
“They’re coming,” Molly said, clutching at his arm.
He shook her off and said, “Lassiter, come in!”
“We’re going to get trapped up here,” Molly said, but she might as well have been talking to a wall.
“Lassiter!” Henry screamed.
“Yes!” Lassiter’s voice shouted back over the walkie-talkie. “We’re sort of busy up here, kid.”
“Listen to me,” Henry said. “It’s time to open the gate up front.”
More and more zombies shuffled through the gate. Molly didn’t even try to count, but she knew there were at least fifty. The only saving grace was that none of the deaders had looked up on the wall. Not yet.
“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Lassiter asked.
“THEY ARE COMING IN THE BACK NOW,” Henry said.
“Okay, okay,” Lassiter said.
Henry’s near scream got the attention of at least ten of the zombies, who immediately changed direction from heading into the Sanctum and moved toward the source of the sound.
“Henry!” Molly whined, and her knees nearly buckled.
Henry quickly realized that he had made a terrible mistake, but he had to convince Lassiter to act. He also admitted that maybe he could have been a little quieter.
“They’re coming,” Molly said.
“Shut up,” Henry said.
“They’re blocking the ladders,” Molly said.
And she was right. The zombies were at the wall and clawing at the rungs of the ladder. The only thing that kept them from coming up the ladders was the fact that they didn’t have the intellect and dexterity to do so. That didn’t make Henry and Molly any safer because they had no place to go.
Henry looked down the narrow walkway and saw no options in either direction. By the time they made it to the next set of ladders, the zombies from the outside would be inside. Granted, that was the point, but they were supposed to be safely inside the inner part of the Sanctum and far away from the undead.
“What are we going to do?” Molly asked, her voice on the edge of hysterics. “We are going to die up --”
The roar of an engine cut her off. When the two of them looked up, they saw the Humvee in full reverse, tearing across the courtyard toward the wall. Within five seconds, the Humvee crashed through a line of zombies, sending their broken bodies flying across the ground. Whoever was driving hit the brakes just in time but still ended up crushing three zombies against the wall.
Clayton looked up at them from the gun turret and yelled, “Jump down.”
It was only a six-foot drop, but the zombies standing around the sides of the Humvee didn’t make it so easy. One slip, and you were falling head first into a mob of the undead, and they would show you no mercy.
“You go first,” Henry told Molly, but she wore a terrified look on her face.
“Go NOW!” Clayton yelled.
Henry put a hand on Molly’s back and gave her a less than a gentle shove. She let out an abbreviated yelp but had enough presence of mind to get her body positioned to land on the top of the Humvee. It wasn’t a graceful landing, but she stayed mostly upright.
One of the more dextrous zombies got lucky. It got a handhold on the narrow lip along the top of the Humvee and had its foot on the tire, allowing it to push itself up to swipe a hand at Molly.
“Henry, jump now,” Clayton shouted.
Henry did as he was told, but he put a little too much into it. His feet hit the roof, but his momentum carried him forward. Off-balance, his arms flailed wildly, grasping for something to hold on to. They caught nothing but air, and he continued forward, heading toward the edge of the Humvee.
Molly lurched forward and shot out both of her hands, grabbing onto the back of Henry’s pants and catching his belt. His weight yanked her forward, and, for a moment, Clayton was sure both of them would go over the side, but Molly sat down, slamming her butt down hard onto the roof of the Humvee. Henry teetered over the edge for a few seconds but then fell backward and onto her.
The climbing zombie clutched at Henry, but Clayton had his pistol out, and he shot it in the face. It toppled over and fell into the cluster of zombies behind it.
Clayton slapped his hand on the roof and yelled, “Hit it, Jo.”
Jo did, indeed, hit the gas, shooting the Humvee forward. While there were manyzombies swarming around the Humvee, she quickly cut a path through and over them. Henry and Molly untangled themselves and carefully made their way to the gun turret as Clayton climbed down to give them room to get inside.
Henry made it to the portal and said, “Thanks,” as Molly started to climb down.
She stopped and looked at him, then said, “You’re welcome,” but quickly disappeared into the Humvee.
Henry scrambled his way to the turret, and just as he started down, the Humvee came to a quick stop, slamming his ribs against the side of the gun portal.
Inside the Humvee, Clayton asked, “Jo, why the hell are you stopping?”
“The MAV has stopped,” Jo answered.
“Why has it stopped?” Clayton asked.
Jo whipped around and shot him a hot stare. “How the hell do I know? Do you think I have x-ray vision or something?”
“Well, can you see anything?” Clayton asked.
Jo turned around to look out the window but had no clue why the MAV stopped other than it seemed like it rammed into some concrete benches. She saw no reason why it just didn’t roll over it or around it.
“No, they look like they hit something and came to a dead stop,” Jo replied.
A portal door popped open on the deck of the MAV, and a curly-headed man stuck his head out. At first, he looked off in the wrong direction, but he quickly flipped around and saw the Humvee and all the zombies behind it. He disappeared back into the MAV and slammed the door shut.
Clayton said, “That was Gardner.”
“Who’s that?” Kent asked from behind Clayton.
“He’s one of Jones’ men,” Clayton said.
“Why doesn’t he just drive that damn thing out of there?” Kent asked.
“Gards ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer,” Clayton said as he stepped toward
the ladder that would carry him upward into the turret. “The only way we’re going to find out is if I go over there.”
“But there’s zombies out there,” Molly said.
“This place is getting cramped,” Clayton said.
“Can you drive the MAV?” Henry said.
Clayton paused with one hand on a rung on the ladder, “I did drive one of these things for a little bit back at Wright-Patt. I’m sure it’s like riding a bike. You never forget.”
He left out the small fact that he ran his MAV into a wall back at Wright-Patterson and nearly broke the drive train.
As he started climbing upwards, he said, “It’s going to get a little noisy.”
Once Clayton was up-top, he pivoted the machine gun to aim it at the mass of the undead headed their way. He didn’t need to be precise. He was, indeed, aiming at something as big as the broadside of a barn.
He didn’t wait and let loose with a volley of bullets, ripping into the group surging their way. When it came to bullets, zombies always lost. The problem was that there were more zombies than bullets.
“Jo, move us closer,” Clayton said.
Jo did as she was told and gently moved up to the back of the MAV, barely knocking into it. Clayton wasted no time and pulled his body out of the turret. In one step, he was across the roof of the Humvee. He jumped onto the hood and then made the short leap onto the MAV.
He rushed to the portal door Gardner had peeked out of and rapped his fist on it.
“Gardner, let me in,” Clayton yelled but jerked his head around to check on the zombies. What he saw did not comfort him. The zombies had quickly regrouped and were marching forward, trampling over the corpses of the undead Clayton had just mowed down.
“Gardner!” Clayton shouted as he smacked his hand on the top of the MAV.
A moment later, Gardner slammed the door open, and he stuck his head out and asked, “Lewis, Dom is hurt bad. He can’t see.”
Clayton turned around and yelled back at the Humvee. “I’m going in. Get ready to move. If we don’t start moving soon, leave without us.”
Gardner once again disappeared inside the MAV, and Clayton followed him in a second later.
Jo turned back to Henry, Molly, and Kent. “Henry, do you know how to handle that machine gun?”
“No, but I’ll figure it out,” Henry replied.
“Get up there and get ready to shoot our way out,” Jo said. “We’re leaving with or without the MAV in thirty seconds.”
Chapter 101
If at First, You Don’t Succeed...
Lassiter looked down at Donovan and Mason as they stood just inside the front gates of the Sanctum. Both men were poised, ready to throw the gates open. They were just waiting for their fateful cue from Lassiter.
“Hold on,” Lassiter yelled as zombies below clawed at the gate and wall, trying to find some way inside to get at the tasty humans. He reached over and picked up a small duffle bag. Lassiter unzipped the bag and quickly extracted two of the six hand grenades inside. He zipped the bag and dropped it at his feet.
Things were about to speed up. The timing had to be perfect, or any or all of them could end up dead.
Holding the two grenades in his hands, he yelled down to the two men on the ground, “You guys ready?”
Donovan shouted back, “No, but I guess there’s no time to wait. So, yes.” His face was locked in a very sober expression.
“Get ready then,” Lassiter said as he pulled the pens. “I’m dropping them on three.”
Mason grabbed the latch on the gate’s locking mechanism, and Donovan readied himself to open the gates.
Lassiter started his count, “ONE, TWO, THREE.”
That’s when he dropped the grenades down into a scrum of zombies outside the gate. He didn’t wait to see them land, but reached down, grabbed the duffle bag and his rifle, then took off for the closest ladder. When he made his third step, the grenades went off, sending up a fiery cloud of smoke and a concussive boom.
Mason felt the blast through the door as it seemed to shift inward, and he thought he heard something crack in the gate. He gave the explosion two seconds to resonate through the mob of undead outside, and then he threw open the lock. Donovan grabbed the big opening lever and gave it a hard yank, but it did not budge.
He tried again but said, “It’s stuck. Maybe the explosion damaged it.”
Lassiter hit the ground, expecting to be heading into the interior of the Sanctum, but he saw the gates were not open. So, he deviated from his path and sprinted toward Donovan.
Mason stepped away from the gate as a plume of smoke and debris rolled over it and onto him, burning his eyes and making him cough.
“What’s wrong?” Lassiter asked.
“I can’t get it open,” Donovan said as he strained, trying to pull the lever down to open the gate. “Maybe the blast damaged it.”
“We’ve gotta get that damned thing open,” Lassiter said.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Donovan said, his face red from straining.
Mason came out of the dust cloud and stumbled toward the other two men.
Trying to talk through coughs, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s stuck,” Donovan said. “I think the grenades must have broken something in the opening mechanism.”
“Time for Plan B,” Lassiter said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Donovan said.
Lassiter lifted the duffle bag and said, “There are four grenades in here. I think three will take the gates down.” He unzipped the bag, took out a grenade, then held the bag out to the two other men. “Care to join me?”
“No, no, no,” Donovan said. “We can’t destroy these gates. For this plan to work, we need these gates intact or damn close to it.”
“We don’t open these gates, and there is no plan,” Lassiter shot back.
“There’s got to be another way,” Donovan said. “What about the opening mechanism? Can we fix it?”
“Shit, I’m not an engineer,” Lassiter said.
Mason saw that the two men were starting to get overheated with each other and stepped between them. “What about back to your plan, but we blow the opening mechanism up?”
“What if it fucks it up?” Lassiter said.
“Then we’re no worse than we are right now,” Mason said.
Lassiter rubbed his chin for a moment and said, “Well, that makes sense.”
“It’s the only play,” Mason said as he pulled the pin on his grenade.
“I guess,” Lassiter said, then he extended a grenade to Mason. “They’re going to start packing around the door again. You’ll need one of these to clear them out.”
“You know, if this plan works, we’re going to have to close these doors again,” Donovan said.
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we have to,” Mason said. “For now, we need these gates open.”
Lassiter looked to Mason, “I’ll blow the opening mechanism. You drop your grenade outside the gate, okay?”
“You got it,” Mason said. He left the other two men and climbed up the wall to stand over the gate. Below, zombies were starting to recover from the first round of explosions and were making their way back toward the entrance. It was only a handful, but even that many could make the next steps of the plan hairy.
Lassiter rushed over to an area beside the gate that housed the opening mechanism. He snapped open a large mechanical box and looked inside. Lassiter was a soldier, not an engineer. It was easy to see that he couldn’t make anything out of it, so he looked over to Mason and Donovan and held up his grenade. He nodded his head in their direction to signal what he was about to do. They responded in kind.
He pulled the pin, stuffed the grenade inside the box, then slammed the door shut. As soon as it clanked shut, he was off and running toward the gate.
Three seconds later, the metal door blew off the box, and flames gushed out of its insides.
Mason saw that
as his cue and dropped the grenade over the wall. Five seconds later, he felt a concussive force hit the gate.
Smoke filled the area around the gate, obscuring his view. He felt the pulse of adrenaline and anxiety flow through his body as he waited, the seconds ticking by slowly. Still, the dust cloud clung to the air around the gate.
Mason spoke quietly to himself, “Maybe having the back gate open will be enough.”
A lone zombie tottered through the smoke cloud, looking a little disoriented, shuffling away from the gate. Two seconds passed, and two more trudged out of the smoke, looking as if they had their bells rang.
“Well, looks like it worked,” Mason said.
“Get your ass down here,” Lassiter shouted. “That was the fun part. Now comes the shitty part of this plan.”
Mason knew that meant it was time to open the gates. He only hoped that blowing the opening mechanism didn’t lock the gates. He nearly jumped down the ladder and got in beside Donovan, who already had his shoulder against the gate, ready to push.
“One, two,” Lassiter said as he put his hands against his side of the gate. “THREE!”
Initially, the three men felt some resistance, but then the doors sprung open, leaving the Sanctum wide open for business.
The smoke cloud from Mason’s grenade was starting to dissipate, revealing that the zombies had finally regrouped and were ready to make their grand entrance.
“What now?” Mason said.
“We do our jobs by drawing them deeper into the Sanctum,” Donovan said as he lifted his rifle up to his shoulder.
“Oh yeah, that little thing,” Mason said.
Donovan took careful aim, knowing all he had to do was to fire his rifle to gain the attention of the zombies, but he thought he might as well make it count. He got the lead zombie’s head in crosshairs, and a second later, he pulled the trigger. Milliseconds later, the zombie’s head exploded into a corona of blood and brain matter, and it fell backward to the ground.
His fellow deaders took immediate notice of the man with the rifle standing seventy feet away with two other men by his side. They didn’t give two shits about their fallen comrades but went full steam ahead toward the trio of men.
The Deadland Chronicles | Book 4 | Siege of the Dead: Page 42
