Resurrect

by Amy Miles

  “Probably from the Flesh Bags, sir,” Fletcher calls out while holstering his weapon.

  “Negative to that,” Cap replies. “This blood is dry and definitely human. Fletcher, why don’t you take Jax and Nash with you and check around the perimeter to see if you find anything. If she did come through here we need to find her before more Flesh Bags catch her scent.”

  Cap reappears when he descends from the porch. I watch as he wipes a bloodied dagger against his camouflage pants before placing it into a small sheath on his hip. He looks like the kind of guy who is completely at home in his military garb and was most likely a soldier long before the world went to shit.

  “Ryker, Warren, and Nox will take the house. Monroe and I will check the outbuildings and clear them. Gather all supplies that you find and report in fourteen minutes. We head out in fifteen, so move your asses!”

  “What about me, sir?” The grim-faced girl that up to this point has been dwarfed behind Jax steps forward as each of the men move to follow Cap’s command. She looks young, probably no older than sixteen or seventeen.

  Cap motions for a bald soldier to go on without him and I assume that he must be the Monroe that Cap spoke of.

  “I know you want to see some action today, Kenzie, but we need you on navigation.” Cap steps down into the muddy yard and moves toward her. “You know the route as well as anyone and getting back to home base with these supplies is vital to our mission, so I need you to stay with the trucks and keep an eye out. If you see a Flesh Bag heading our way, I want you to send two shots into the air and we will come running.”

  “What about a Flesh Bag?” She asks when he turns to follow Monroe and I realize this must be their name for the Withered that I am familiar with. They must call the new ones Flesh Bags. I guess that’s as good a name as any.

  “Leave them be. They aren’t hurting anyone yet.”

  It is easy to see that Kenzie isn’t happy with her orders but she instantly stands down as Cap turns and jogs around the side of the building while I struggle to understand what I’ve just witnessed.

  None of the soldiers seems surprised by the monsters that were banging down my front door. Instead, they are cool, calm, and annoyingly collected while I, on the other hand, am still pretending not to be freaked out.

  These Flesh Bags are a bit too similar to the zombies that I’ve grown up watching on TV, apart from the running and tracking bit. I don’t remember them having a conscious thought beyond “brains.”

  “Don’t sweat it, Doll,” a dark-haired soldier calls as he saunters past Kenzie, drawing my attention back. He reaches out and touches the end of the ponytail that falls over her right shoulder and she instantly bats his hand away. “Best to let the big boys do the hard work so you don’t break a nail.”

  “Stow it, Ryker.” Nox grabs the soldier by the arm and hauls him away. “You’ve got a job to do so I suggest you do it and let Kenzie follow her own orders. Besides, if Fletcher sees you touching his girl I’m sure he’ll have something to say about it.”

  “Shove off,” Ryker growls and tries to shake Nox off but he holds on tight. “I ain’t under your command.”

  “No, but Kenzie is. You’ve already got two strikes against you. Care to make it a third and end up in the brig for a week?”

  Ryker turns his head to the side and spits. When he glances back, he looks as if he would like nothing more than to rearrange Nox’s nose. Nox lowers his hand to the gun at his hip and Ryker snorts, then heads for the stairs and slams the door shut behind him with enough force to send the remaining glass shards raining down on the porch.

  “You okay?” Nox asks as he comes to lean against the front of the truck beside her.

  “I get that you’re trying to protect me, but don’t. I can handle myself, sir. I’ve been dealing with pricks like that my entire life.”

  Nox laughs. “I wasn’t doing it for your sake. I’ve seen Fletcher angry.”

  A small smile disrupts the disgruntled look on her face as Kenzie chuckles. “Yeah, he does tend to get carried away.”

  “I’d imagine love can do that and far more to a guy when given the right motivation.”

  “But that would never happen to you, right?” Kenzie bumps her shoulder against him. “Mr. One Night Stand.”

  “Oh, that’s cold!” Nox grins wide, pushes off the truck, and moves toward the house. “I’m just waiting for the right girl to walk through my door.”

  “Sure you’d even know which one to keep around?”

  When he turns his back toward the house and flips her the bird, Kenzie laughs and then hauls herself up into the driver’s seat, slamming the truck door behind.

  “You just going to stand there, Warren?”

  I look straight down and see a younger guy standing off to the side watching the interaction, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He seems a bit on the scrawny side compared to the other men, possessing lean muscle instead of the excessive bulges of his brutish companions. Leaning closer to the window, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him somewhere before.

  “No, sir!” Warren salutes and then grips his gun tight as he hurries past Nox and up into the house. From below, I can hear Ryker already ransacking the first floor.

  Nox shakes his head and follows behind, but not before pausing to look back over his shoulder at the fields all around. They are vast and sprawling, fenced in with wooden railings that line the little dirt road that I stumbled down the night before. Many of the corn stalks left behind from the forgotten fall harvest stand rotting in the muddy ground, blocking a clean line of sight. Even from my height it would be difficult to see approaching Withered.

  Unease settles over me at the thought as I consider just how dangerous my escape will be through those very fields. Growing up watching horror movies has taught me to have a healthy dose of fear for fields like this, for now the monsters are very real.

  When Nox turns toward the house again, he pauses and kneels several steps back from the porch to brush his fingers over the ground. My heart thumps in my chest as I realize that he has discovered one of my footprints in the drying mud. The other soldiers are bound to find more if they look anywhere near the fence line.

  I step back from the window as Nox rises and return to the shadows just before his gaze falls on my window. Although there is no way that he can see me, I get a distinct feeling that he knows exactly where I am. He is a cautious one and reminds me far too much of myself. That means I need to prepare for the worst.

  Scrambling across my bedding toward my pack, I grab my ax in my right hand and the slightly less weighty hammer in the other as I listen to the commotion below me. It sounds as if a stampede of elephants is crashing through walls and overturning chairs, tables and anything else that gets in their way. The soldiers move quickly through the rooms, no doubt coming to the same conclusion that I did: this place has already been cleaned out.

  Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I close my eyes and take several steadying breaths as the floor begins to feel as if it is moving beneath me. It is much too warm in the attic with the sun streaming in and I suspect my fever is on the rise again. Soon enough, the others will receive word that I’m here and they will tear this place apart to find me. There is nowhere for me to hide and I am far too unsteady on my feet to make a getaway on the roof.

  So, I must wait.

  Several moments later, I hear the first pair of boots take to the stairs. Tension courses through my body as I think about the three bedrooms and single bathroom on the second floor. None of them will take long to search.

  “Find anything?” A voice calls out.

  “Nothing but your mama’s panties and I’m keeping them all for myself, Warren.”

  “That never gets old to you, does it, Ryker?”

  “Hell no. If you could see the look on your face you’d keep at it too.”

&nbs
p; “Bastard,” Warren mutters from directly beneath me, but I can’t make out the rest of his mumblings as the wooden floor creaks when he moves.

  Footsteps move farther away and it’s only when I release a small sigh of relief that I realize I was holding my breath.

  “Look at this shit,” a disgruntled voice that I am starting to recognize as Ryker yells. “There is floral wallpaper, drapes, bedding, and even some lame ass matching towels in here. Tell me you think some hot chick in her twenties lived here before this place went to hell.”

  “It was probably just some old nice couple.”

  When a loud crash from the room at the other end of the house makes me flinch, I am stabbed with fever aches all along my body. Sweat drips from my brow but I remain standing at the ready. I may not be 100%, but I won’t go down without a fight.

  “What’d you do before all of this, anyway? You always walk around like you own the place or that you think you are better than me.”

  “That’s because I am. The truth hurts but that doesn’t make it any less true. I wasn’t recruited like some of you sorry asses,” Ryker says and I hear the telltale groan of bedsprings. “I enlisted a few months before all of this shit went down. I was just out of boot camp and ready to save the world, one sexy lady at a time. Too bad that plan went straight down the crapper.”

  “So you’ve never seen any real action either, have you?”

  “I’ve seen more than you can imagine, asshat!” Ryker shoves the bed against a wall with a resounding thud. “You know what your problem is, Warren? You’re nothing more than a soft-spoken, big-hearted pansy trying to play with the big boys. One of these days you’re going to get into a real fight and then we’ll see just how well you handle yourself.”

  “I reckon I’ll do just fine.”

  Ryker snorts and I move closer to the attic hatch to press my ear against it.

  “What were you before the shit hit the fan? Some ivy league big shot living off of daddy’s hedge fund?”

  “You would think that wouldn’t you?” There is a pause of silence and I wonder what they are doing. On the first floor, I can hear boots walking about and know that Nox has yet to join the second-floor hunt. “I was a singer and I was going places. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of me. Must be because you’re from some backwoods hole in the ground and too stupid to open a magazine.”

  Even I know to expect the resulting punch but apparently Warren didn’t. Loud crashes and grunting echoes up to where I kneel as the two brawl. From what I saw of the two of them from my window, Warren doesn’t stand a chance in hell now that he’s poked the wrong bear.

  Boots thunder up the steps as Ryker’s cursing drowns out Warren’s cries of pain.

  “Enough.” Another loud crash comes from directly below me and I suspect the two brawlers just spilled out into the hallway. I cup my hand over my face to keep my cry of alarm muffled. “Let him go, Ryker.”

  “And what are you going to do about it if I don’t?”

  My eyes lock onto the mirror that covers the attic hatch when I hear the click of a gun. “I’ve got no qualms with putting you down right here and now like the dog that you are, Ryker. It’s your choice.”

  “You sure talk tough shit now that you’re Cap’s favorite. Wasn’t always like that, though. You think Cap will take kindly to you putting a bullet in his best soldier?”

  “Second best, and even that is debatable.”

  I can’t help but smile at that one. Nox has balls. I like that.

  The silence that follows stretches out too long and I realize that the two men are staring each other down, weighing out whether or not Nox would actually pull the trigger. If he really is anything like me, he would shoot without blinking an eye.

  Not being able to see what is happening is infuriating, especially when I hear someone slam into a wall. Warren cries out and stumbles backward as the two men start beating on each other. I can hear their curses and grunts easily through the hatch. Then a single gunshot sends someone falling hard to the floor.

  “You bastard! You shot me in the fucking arm!”

  “Stay down, Ryker or I swear I will take out your kneecap next.” Nox’s voice is clipped and held in check, but I can imagine the anger surging through him. “Warren, go grab Cap so he can deal with this piece of shit.”

  “You going to shoot me in the back, Nox?” I hear scuffling and picture Ryker trying to get to his feet. “Are you capable of being a stone cold killer?”

  “If I need to be.”

  “Ha,” Ryker laughs through the pain. “You always are a cocky little shit. I don’t see why Cap likes you so much.”

  “Maybe he’s attracted to my winning personality.”

  Ryker spits. “You may have him fooled, but I’ve been around a lot longer than you. There are rules in these parts and you’re toeing a dangerous line.”

  “I’m following orders. That’s a thing you seem to have forgotten.”

  A loud bellow from below sounds a second before a thud vibrates through the rafters as the two crash into the wall again. Dropping to my knees, I grip my hammer tightly as the floor begins to grow blurry. The heat in the attic has become too stifling and the energy I’ve expended waiting to defend myself has left me weak.

  Why can’t these two take their quarrel outside and leave me in peace? I use my shoulder to wipe a bead of sweat off my cheek.

  “You are nothing,” Ryker grunts but this time, his voice sounds strange, almost as if he has been placed in some sort of choke hold. From what I saw of Ryker from the window, he looked to be fairly stocky and more than capable of taking care of himself, but Nox has somehow taken the upper hand. I would wager that he has done his fair share of street brawling and learned a few tricks on how to play dirty when necessary.

  “Goddammit, Nox. Get off of me.”

  “Do you yield?”

  “Yield? Are you off your goddam rocker? This ain’t no wrestling match!”

  “Then why are you the one pinned to the floor?”

  I can’t help but smile again at the loud cursing that comes from Ryker. He would have been better suited as a sailor than a Marine with that foul mouth.

  “You want to explain to me what all of this is about?” I’d been so focused on imagining the scene below to notice Cap’s return. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.

  “Ain’t nothing but a misunderstanding,” Ryker says. I hear a grunt of pain and then boots shuffling across the floor in an attempt to rise.

  “I see.” The wooden hallway boards creak under Cap’s slow approach. “And that little bullet wound in your arm you’ve got must be part of that little misunderstanding too, huh?”

  For the first time, Ryker remains silent.

  “Nox?”

  “The issue is between Ryker and Warren, sir. I just stepped in to diffuse the situation.”

  “Diffuse? Seems to me like you’ve shot your brother in arms and ended up in a bar brawl instead.”

  “Yes, sir.” Nox’s tight-lipped response makes me wonder if Ryker managed to get a few good shots in before Cap arrived. “It won’t happen again.”

  “See that it doesn’t. Ryker, go load up. Fletcher and Nash need help with securing our guests.”

  “But he shot me!”

  “You’re a good soldier, Ryker, but you need to learn when to shut the hell up. If Nox shot you, then it was for good reason. That is on you.”

  I press my ear against the back of the mirror and listen to Ryker’s heavy descent.

  I hear a sigh from below. “Ryker may be a hot head, Nox, but he gets the job done. Go easier on him next time. We’re all on the same side and I’ve got orders to follow, just the same as you.”

  “And what job would that be, sir? To demoralize part of our team? He was using Warren as a punching bag for his own sport and you know that kid isn’t toug
h enough to win that fight.”

  Cap clears his throat. “I take orders from my superiors and I follow them without question, soldier. It would be wise for you to do the same if you want a decent life back home. I know things have changed a bit over the past couple of months and the rules don’t seem quite so black and white from what you’re used to, but the times we live in now aren’t easy. Sometimes things have to be done for the good of the many, and those things change a person.”

  “You talk as if you know this from personal experience, sir.”

  “I do.”

  I hear Nox clear his throat. “Is there something that I should be made aware of, sir?”

  “Not at this time. You’re a good man, Nox and I trust you with my life, but you and your squad are still new to the team. Some things just take time.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  I imagine Cap leaning back against the wall, looking tired and burdened by his position of authority. I can hear the weariness in his voice.

  “Meaning when you are ready to be a team player then we can talk again. Until then I expect you to keep your men in line.”

  There was a moment of silence. “May I request a transfer, sir?”

  “You want to move to another sector?”

  “No. I am not making the request for myself, sir. Warren is a good kid but he’s still green. Learning the ropes around the likes of Ryker won’t help him. I’d like to take him under my command.”

  “You already have four beneath you, Nox. You know the rules.”

  Beads of sweat drip from the end of my nose as I strain to hear. It sounds like they are starting to move away. Although a part of me is relieved that I have yet to be discovered, another part of me wants them to stay. It feels too good to hear human voices again, even if they are spoken in anger.

  Anger, rage, fear...those are all emotions that I can easily relate to.

  “Cyrus is a good man, Cap. He’s hard working, quick to train, and won’t take crap from the likes of Jax or Ryker. He would be an adequate trade to your command for Warren.”