Dead Life (Book 5)

by D. Harrison Schleicher

  “Start backing up.” I shouted through the open window.

  I fired down into the horde trying to thin out their numbers as Cindy backed down to the U- Haul. Al was nowhere to be seen in the cab of the truck. Gina had given up on the radio and was now trying to wave us off. We were about ten feet from the front of the U-Haul when the truck couldn’t go any further. There were just too many bodies between the two vehicles. The pile of bodies between the trucks was getting so high that soon the zombies, that continued coming at us from out of the woods, would be able to climb right up into the bed of the truck with me. I could hear Cindy yelling at me but my hearing wasn’t working too well. I was nearly deaf from firing my rifle nonstop into the horde. I could see Al was pushing gear up onto the top of the U-Haul through the air vent on top. I yelled for Cindy to start forward and saw Al climb through the vent.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” he yelled at me.

  “Trying to save your dumb ass,” I hollered back.

  “Get her out of here,” he shouted. “Stick with the plan.”

  “I will. Do you have another radio in here? Our radio broke.”

  “No,” he shouted, and started throwing grenades off the back of the truck.

  There was no use trying to talk to Al anymore, he was in grenade mode. As we crested the hill I saw Gina climbing through the vent to join Al on top of the truck. The last I saw of her she was firing her rifle off into the woods. Cindy crept the Ford forward and I continued to shoot as many zombies as I could while we made our way out of the woods. There weren’t many zombies coming out of the trees anymore but there were still plenty in front of us. Cindy drove over most of them and the ones that avoided being rundown turned and followed us, making it easy for me to shoot them out the back. After a while I knew we were getting close to the main road so I climbed back into the cab of the truck with Cindy.

  “I can’t believe we left them back there,” she said.

  “They’ll be okay,” I said. “They’re both on top of the U-Haul. The horde is thinning out. At least we won’t have any more zombies coming at us from the road. We’ll just have to deal with the ones coming across the creek.”

  “How can you say they’ll be okay? We don’t know how many zombies are in those woods. There could be thousands more coming after them right now.”

  “Trust me Cindy. Can you do that for me? I’m trusting Al to make sure that Gina gets out of this alive, so you have to trust me. When we get to the road turn left, drive real slow, we’ll make a lot of noise, and draw what’s left of them a few miles away. Then we’ll turn around and go back for them.”

  “You make it sound too easy.”

  “This will only take a few minutes. I promise.”

  We came to the main road and Cindy stopped. There were hardly any zombies out on the road so we sat for a few minutes and listened to the sounds of the explosions coming from back down the gravel road. If I were to be honest with Cindy I would tell her that I didn’t feel any better than she did about driving away and leaving Al and Gina trapped like that. I just couldn’t come up with any better ideas. Leading as many zombies off as we could wasn’t the perfect plan but at least we were doing something. Going back down there wouldn’t work. I was sure of that much.

  “We should get moving. The sooner we start leading some of them away the better.”

  Cindy looked like she was going to say something, then didn’t. She started honking the horn and drove slowly away. All the noise Al and Gina were making back down by the creek distracted the undead from the sound of the horn so I started shooting at them from the truck. The gunfire seemed to help a little and Cindy would stop the truck every few minutes to let our conga line of zombies catch up to us. This was going to take longer than I’d promised.

  Chapter 4

  I got back on the phone. “General you have to get that chopper out of here.”

  “I’ll do no such thing.”

  “Sir they’re up there ringing the dinner bell and we’re the main course.”

  “Then we need to wrap up this conversation so I can tell them to head back.”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want Parks. Find him, isolate him, and contain him. Then let me know when you have that done.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

  Lily grabbed the phone away from me.

  “Whatever you want sir. We’ll do it. Just get that chopper away from here.”

  “Corporal Flowers, is that with whom I’m speaking?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Finally, someone that’s making sense. Captain Downs knows what I want. You have forty eight hours.”

  “What happens after that sir?”

  “I send my men after his father. I know where he is. Tell Captain Downs his father is almost to Fort Leonard Wood.”

  Lily handed the phone back to me. “He hung up,” she said.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I couldn’t take it anymore. We don’t have a choice.”

  “I’m not doing anything that crazy bastard says.”

  “Yes we are. He told me to tell you we have forty eight hours after that he’s sending his men after your father.”

  “How the hell is he going to do that? We don’t even know where they are.”

  “Well he does. They’re almost to Fort Leonard Wood.”

  “We’ve got no choice Tim,” John said. “If that chopper sticks around much longer we’re all as good as dead.”

  I looked out the window at the mass of bodies gathered outside staring up into the darkening sky. As the chopper started moving slowly to the east the undead followed along. They never looked down. It was almost funny, watching them stumble into each other as they stared into the sky. Huge masses of them fell to the ground. One would go down then dozens more would join them on the ground. Some of the more agile ones were able to maintain their footing. Walking over and crushing the bodies sprawled on the ground at their feet. The chopper took its time leaving the area and actually circled back a few times so as to keep the interest of the horde on the ground. After about a half an hour the show was over and most of the zombies were gone from the vicinity. The ones that remained were too broken and battered to be of much consequence.

  Lily came over and sat next to me. After a few minutes she took my face in her hands, turned my head, and looked into my eyes.

  “We don’t have much of a choice here.”

  “You always have a choice,” I told her.

  “Not with General Simmons,” John said. “He’s used to getting his way. If we don’t do what he wants he’ll dog us forever.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So we do this and it all works out fine. We get the doctor and turn him over. What’s next? When does it stop?”

  “It doesn’t stop until we find your dad and dump these damn phones,” Lily said. “Maybe then we can get away from General Simmons.”

  She was right. This was my fault. I should have found a different way to contact my dad when this all started. Hell I should have gone AWOL and just went home. Then I would have never met Lily. I looked at her and suddenly I didn’t regret a thing.

  “Alright then that’s what we’ll do. General Ass wipe said they found the jeep about fifty miles west of here. In the morning we’ll find out exactly where it is and start there. I want to find that piece of shit before nightfall. Maybe we can use the good doctor as a bargaining chip. Somehow get the General off our backs for a while.”

  “We ought to get some sleep,” John said. “I’ll take the first watch. That way you two can take care of whatever it is needs taking care of.”

  “That might be kind of awkward,” I said.

  “Why is that?” John asked.

  “There’s still too many zombies out there. If something happens we should all be together.”

  “Just go. Most of those sorry shits left out there are too busted up to do a damn thing. You two don’t need a baby sitter and I sure as
hell don’t need one. If nothing else go sleep in a real bed. When I wake you up in a few hours that’s where I’ll be laying my tired ass. In a bed. Not sleeping on the floor.”

  “He’s right. You drove most of the day. You’re exhausted. The bedroom is right down the hall. We’ll be fine,” Lily said, taking me by the hand and pulling me towards the hallway.

  “Come get me in three hours,” I said.

  “Yes Sir. Captain Sir. Good night Sir,” John said, snapping to with a smart salute.

  I gave him the finger as Lily pulled me through the open door into the bedroom. Even though we were both exhausted there was nothing that could stop what was about to happen. A contest was under way. Winner take all and in this game there would be no losers. While Lily fought to get my shirt over my head I decided to go straight for my main objective. Pushing her back at arm’s length, while she struggled to regain her grip on the bottom of my shirt, I slipped my finger into the waist of her pants and pulled her closer, undoing the button at the same time. From there it was a simple matter of pulling her pants down around her ankles. In my limited military training I had learned one thing early on, don’t fight a battle that wasn’t necessary to the main objective. Although her northern territories were home to some mighty fine areas better known as the high ground, my main battles would be fought and won in the southern most regions of her body.

  I pulled Lily into my arms and kissed her deeply. She responded in kind. Giving her just enough time to get my pants unbuckled I spun her around, wrapped one arm around her midsection, used my other hand to apply a firm steady pressure to Lily’s upper back, and bent her slowly over at the waist.

  “Hold it right there cowboy,” Lily rasped, her voice two octaves lower.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “Just make sure you go in the right door. We accept no deliveries through the rear entrance.”

  “Wouldn’t think of it. I always use the front door. I enter with my head held high.”

  We made love several times over the course of the next hour. Even though I was tired deep inside my body something about this woman awakened every fiber of me. This was insane. Finally meeting somebody and falling in love when the world was collapsing around us. Good timing was never my strong suit. As I was falling asleep something that had been bothering me caused me to sit up.

  “Lily, are you awake?”

  “No, I’ve been asleep while you used my body for the past hour.”

  “Good, I need to ask you something.”

  “Let me guess. You want to know if I’m on the pill.”

  “Something like that.”

  “Don’t you think you maybe should have brought the subject up sooner?”

  “Yeah, I guess. It’s just you didn’t say anything so I just assumed you had it taken care of.”

  “That’s kind of asinine don’t you think.”

  “You’re right I’m sorry. Look I haven’t been with a lot of women.”

  “Are you saying I’ve been with a lot of men?”

  “No that’s not it. Let me finish. I just didn’t know how to bring it up.” Lily seemed to be getting mad and this was not something I was good at discussing. When it came to the fairer sex I had always been tongue tied. All I could do here was go for broke. “I’ve never carried condoms around with me. Lily, I’ve only been with two women in my whole life, and you’re one of them.”

  “Then I’ll quit teasing you. I can’t have children.”

  “That’s great.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  God I’m an idiot. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think now would be a good time to be having a child. That’s what I meant to say.”

  Lily started to get up out of bed. “I’m sure that’s what you meant,” Lily said. “What if I wanted to have children after this was all over? I’ve known I that can’t have children for five years. You’re the first person I told.”

  “Please don’t go. Maybe we can adopt.”

  “Oh yeah. When we’ve killed the last of the zombies we’ll just run by an adoption agency and pick a few up. Better still. We’ll keep the first stray kid we run across.”

  “I guess that did sound pretty stupid.”

  “You think?”

  “Yes I do and I’m sorry. I should have said something sooner.”

  Lily was out of bed by now and had gathered all of her clothes from where I’d thrown them around the room. She sat down on the side of the bed and started to get dressed.

  “I’m sorry too. This is wrong, we need to end this.”

  “End what? Our relationship? That’s crazy. All I have right now to keep me going is you. I love you Lily and that’s never going to change.”

  That was all it took. I could see the anger and resolve drain from Lily’s face as she threw herself into my arms and sobbed against my chest.

  “I love you too Tim. That’s what makes this so much worse. Any moment one or both of us could be dead.”

  ”You’re right. At any moment we could be dead. That’s why I’ll fight for every second I have with you. We’re going to make it through this. Together we can build a world where we’ll be safe. I believe that. Otherwise there would be no reason to keep on going.”

  “Well congratulations. You gave yourself a hard-on with that little speech of yours.”

  I looked down and sure enough she was right. Mr. Happy was back. I might not have convinced Lily that everything would be okay but my dick sure as hell had bought into it.

  Lily was rummaging around in her backpack. “I’ve got something for you. From now on out you’ll be needing one of these.”

  Before she handed me the little package she produced from her bag I knew exactly what was coming my way. “You are a dirty girl. Aren’t you?”

  We made love one more time that night before falling to sleep and no I didn’t use the condom she’d given me.

  John woke us as the sun was coming up that next morning. Lily and I were pissed at John for letting us sleep all night but he insisted he was fine. He’d slept in the car most of the day yesterday and planned on doing the same thing today. After all his crap the day before about getting a good night’s sleep I was more than a little surprised that John had let us sleep through the night like that. I knew damn good and well that he had to be as tired as hell. I reminded him that General Simmons and Dr. Parks might have something else in mind for us. John didn’t seem too concerned. He felt our chances of finding the good doctor ranked somewhere right between slim and none. I wasn’t as optimistic. Parks was like a bad penny, he’d show up eventually.

  I tried calling my dad but didn’t get an answer. The three of us talked it over and decided not to tell them about our arrangement with General Simmons. I was afraid dad and his group would come charging down here to try and help us out. The last thing I needed was him getting involved in my problems. Hopefully we wouldn’t be able to find Dr. Parks. If we did our plan was to kill him and tell General Simmons we found him that way. Who would be the wiser? I hoped like hell he was already dead. It’s not like they could perform an autopsy on his body to determine a time of death.

  The SUV in the garage was some foreign job but at least it was new and didn’t stink of cigarettes. John opened the garage door and we drove through the broken bodies that littered the driveway from the day before. I still found it amazing that the undead could function so well with their bodies so badly broken. We hadn’t gone far when our satellite phone rang. I didn’t hesitate to answer. I knew it was General Simmons and the time for avoiding his calls was over for now.

  “Good morning sir,” I said.

  “Good morning Captain. It’s good to see you’re getting an early start this morning.”

  I covered the mouth piece on the phone. “How does he know we’re headed out already?”

  “Is he tracking the phone?” Lily asked.

  “No way. We haven’t even got out of the driveway yet,” John said. “He can track us with
our phone but it’s not that sensitive. He’s got eyes on us somewhere.”

  Lily studied our perimeter in search of something out of place.

  I could hear General Simmons yelling as I brought the phone back up to my ear. “Where are they?”

  “Boy when I’m talking to you I expect your full attention. Is that understood?”

  “You didn’t answer my question sir.”

  “I’m not here to answer your questions soldier.”

  “Sir, I’m giving you my full cooperation here. All I ask is that you be up front and honest with me. You have someone watching us. It isn’t necessary to keep us under surveillance. Have your men join us.”

  “I told you before Captain, systems are coming back on line. I’m tracking you by satellite.”

  This was bad. If he had “the eye in the sky” on us we were screwed. Giving him the slip would be next to impossible. Even at night they would be able to monitor us through thermal imaging. We would be better off if he had someone actually following us.

  “I find it very comforting to know you’ll be watching over us General.”

  “Somehow Captain I get the distinct impression that your previous statement is less than the complete truth.”

  “At the very least I’m sure if we run into any trouble you’ll send help right away.”

  “That’s very true. The success of this mission is imperative.”

  “Speaking of our mission sir. Where exactly are we headed?”

  “Do you have a map?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good. Take highway 14 west. About fifty miles from your current location you’ll come across a grey Jeep wrapped around the guard rail. Call me back when you find it.”

  He disconnected and we drove for the next few miles in silence. I was racking my brain, trying to come up with a way to escape the control General Simmons now had over us. There had to be a way out of this.

  “We’ll figure this out Tim,” John said. “As soon as we come up with a way out we’ll take it. Don’t worry so much.”

  It was like he was reading my mind. “How the hell can we get out from under his thumb?”