Exodus

by Brian P. White

  Isaac scoffed as he and Rachelle followed, but every port they tried was sealed tightly. The best they could find was a pair of latticed windows. She drew her sword and smacked the glass in with the handle, cracking it open quite easily. She swiped at the remaining shards to clear the sill, but the lattice turned out to be some kind of wire screens similar to all those supply room walls. “Great.”

  “Let me see that, kid,” Lavon said, reaching for Rachelle’s sword.

  Rachelle reeled it back. “Don’t call me a kid. What do you want it for?”

  “I want to try and bash the screens in with it.”

  Rachelle thought about it, then came up with a better idea. She sheathed her sword, whispered her plan into Isaac’s ear, then turned and waited. When he got done looking at her like she was smoking crack, he shrugged and picked her up under her arms. She curled her legs into a ball until he positioned her just before the screens, then she booted the one on the right.

  The first kick nearly knocked Isaac off his feet, but he recovered well enough for her to try again with more stability. On the fourth try, the cage flew into the darkness beyond.

  She slipped herself inside, turning over to ease in slowly. Her shoes landed on some glass, but none of it jabbed her. She took a relieved breath and grabbed her skinny flashlight.

  The little beam revealed locked tool cages, which formed a hall into a small network of offices with lots of papers tacked or stacked. The sight of a smirking soldier startled the hell out of her, but it turned out to be a cardboard cutout with a safety message on it. A wall-mounted lock box had more keys on it than she cared to search, which made her groan, but some kind of form taped inside it listed what each numbered key opened.

  “You a’ight in there or what?” Isaac hollered from outside.

  She headed for the nearest door, which was bolt-locked. Finally, something easy. She let the others in.

  “Took you long enough,” Isaac said on his way in.

  Rachelle quietly mimicked his snarky attitude while letting Lavon in, then illuminated the key box and the tool room door in turn. “There’s the keys.”

  Lavon politely took the flashlight and shined it on the key form, then quickly grabbed a key like she knew where it was. “Parts room. Let’s find it.”

  “I want to find a truck that works,” Isaac insisted.

  “If we can fix yours,” Lavon suggested patiently, “we won’t have to move all those weapons out of it.”

  The big man paused for a moment, then nodded in mild defeat.

  Rachelle drew her sword, just in case. “Like you said: let’s find it.”

  From there they went into a large bay, where skinny windows lining the walls above the big doors revealed a couple of hummers, a semi thing, one of the armored monsters, a long van, and a few pickup trucks in various states of disrepair. Beyond that stood shelves full of vehicle parts, blocked off by a wall of latticed metal and another bolt-locked door.

  Rachelle followed the Marine’s lead, sword at the ready with an eye out for surprises. Fortunately, the place was as empty as everything else around here, which cheered her up and creeped her out all at once. They reached the cage door and caught Lavon gaping at the van like it was glowing or something.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked the Marine.

  Lavon’s awe quickly faded into an awkward grin. “Nothing. Why?”

  “You just looked … spaced out.”

  Lavon shook her head and unlocked the cage door.

  Isaac charged in like a hound sniffing out a fox. “Look for car batteries, fuses, anything electrical. If I’m right, they should still be good.” He picked up a big green block and smiled. “Lithium. Nice.”

  “I’ll try one of the Hi-Lux trucks,” Lavon said while searching the racks. “They may have similar parts, or we can at least carry whatever we find in here.”

  Isaac nodded without stopping his search. “That van could be useful.”

  “Yeah,” the Marine replied almost absently, like she disagreed, which made Rachelle curious. Before she could find out why, Lavon asked, “How far away are your people?”

  “Right by the interstate,” Isaac said while gathering several components to his chest.

  Lavon nodded. “A pulse like that only reaches about a mile or so, so they should be good.”

  Isaac left the cage and tossed the parts he had found into the bed of the nearest pickup. He popped the hood from the inside and approached the engine, after which he flinched and reached down into it. “Hey, Rachelle, come start this.”

  Rachelle rushed to the truck and got into the driver side. No key, but there was an ignition switch. She flipped it and the truck roared to life without hesitation. She laughed in amazement.

  “That’s good,” Isaac said. “Turn it off. We don’t want to suffocate.”

  She complied and got out. “Talk about lucky.”

  “Whoever left it just unplugged the battery. Let’s check that van and see what—”

  Something banged on the bay door … something with a distinct growl.

  “Oh, shit,” Isaac uttered. “How’d she find us?”

  “Well, we made a lot of noise getting in here,” Lavon lightly scolded him. “She can’t knock down that door. Right?”

  The continued banging affirmed that, but Rachelle was no less worried. “Alright. We’ve got one working truck, so that’s one problem solved. Now we need to take care of her.”

  Isaac glowered at her like she suggested they rob a bank. “Are you kiddin’ me? We need to go get Cody and Gilda, if they’re still alive.”

  “Hey, Didi was there for me when I needed her,” she snapped. “I’m not doing any less for her. If you won’t help me, then just give me one of the N.S.U.s.”

  The big man kept glaring at her, but he shrugged and dropped the backpack Cody lent him on the hood of the pickup. He opened it and tossed her a pen case.

  She opened the case and checked the device, which lit up with tiny sparks all around the skinny orange body. She sighed with relief.

  “How does that not fry her brain?” Lavon asked.

  “It’s supposed to be low-level,” Rachelle replied, “just enough to stimulate her memory or whatever. It’s worked for over two years. Now I just need to figure out how to get it into her head in the next two minutes.”

  Lavon snapped her fingers. “The office. We can bottleneck her in there, especially if she can’t see in the dark.”

  Rachelle was beginning to like this Marine. “Alright, then. Let’s do this.”

  She led the woman back to the office, banging on the bay doors to get Didi to follow her. Unfortunately, the office spaces provided no sound conducting walls to keep it; just brick. The window pouring cold air into the building was too high up for a zombie, but it would give her enough room to goad. She propped herself into the window and started shouting.

  The Death Doll rounded the corner and lumbered straight at her, snarling like a beast. Seeing her like this was as heartbreaking as it was gut-wrenching: a kind warrior reduced to another mindless feeder that indiscriminately reached inside for whatever bite of flesh she could get. Compassion, restraint, love … all gone. This was the monster her people feared.

  A hand smacked her back and pulled her back inside, putting her face-to-face with Lavon. “You fall asleep or what?”

  Rachelle forced a grin. “Just trying to figure out how to do this without getting eaten.”

  “You wait on the counter. I’ll lure her in and shut the door, and we’ll tackle her in the dark. Work for you?”

  It sounded feasible. Rachelle nodded. “Works for me.”

  Lavon rushed to the door and grabbed the knob.

  Rachelle hopped up on the counter, which she then realized made her bait, but she was in a good enough spot to jump when the time came. She ran through the various ways to pounce without getting eaten, but none of them looked too promising. “You’ll drop her before she gets to me, right?”

  The Marine n
odded. “I got your back. Ready?”

  Rachelle pulled out the N.S.U. and steeled herself. “As I’m going to be.”

  Lavon huffed, then yanked the door open and knocked on it a few times. Rachelle shut off her flashlight.

  It took four seconds for Didi to find the door and stumble her way in.

  “Here,” Rachelle shouted to make sure her mindless mentor didn’t see Lavon.

  Didi quickly zeroed in on Rachelle and closed in fast until the door slammed shut. She growled at the noise, but the room was too dark to see what she did next, as was the ground where Rachelle was supposed to jump down.

  “Lavon?” Rachelle hissed, which drew a growl her way.

  “Shit, I can’t see her,” Lavon said. Another growl.

  “She’s right in front of me,” Rachelle shouted anxiously, which drew another growl as Didi’s faint silhouette lunged for her. She fell off the counter and hit her head on the ground.

  Her head swam as her crown throbbed. She tried to speak, but what came out was unintelligible. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t move.

  A shadow loomed over her, growling, reaching for her. This was it. She was going to die by the diseased jaws of her best friend … her savior. Lord, forgive me.

  Suddenly, a light pierced the darkness, illuminating the growling Didi before another specter swept the monster away entirely.

  *****

  Isaac speared Didi full-force, but he crashed into the counter on the way down. His other shoulder throbbed, but the hands now clawing at him took precedence. Tackling a damn zombie with reinforced body parts wasn’t his brightest idea, but he wasn’t going to let his partner get eaten or the face-muncher in question break her vow on their young friend.

  “Get that door open,” he yelled as he tumbled on the ground with the snarling Death Doll.

  His demand went unanswered for a few terrifying seconds before the door squeaked open and the light outside pierced the office, revealing the starving rage on his leader’s face.

  Lavon appeared over him, hopping in place with a frown like a kid trying a Double Dutch for the first time. What the hell was she waiting for?

  “Get that N.S.U. thing,” he spelled out for her.

  The Marine ran past him, but before he knew it he was on his back against the base of the counter with the Death Doll snapping at his face. This face-muncher was hot for a piece of him, but all he could do was hear her soft voice in his head telling him to have faith, even as the real deal closed in for a bite of his neck. Those painted teeth drew closer and closer, her eyes filled with unbridled fury.

  But Isaac was not going out like this. In a desperate move, he punched the made-up zombie square in the face with enough force to knock her off of him. He scrambled to his feet and headed out the door, shouting, “Come and get me!”

  That she did, for she was on her feet almost faster than he was.

  He stopped several feet from the door and stood like a defensive lineman, watching the zombie to barrel through the doorway.

  “Yeah, bring it on, you undead bitch,” he muttered as Didi crossed the threshold, then ran at her full-on and tackled her to the cold, slushy ground.

  She growled and grunted as he mounted her back and pushed her face into the concrete pad. He called for Lavon when a sudden jerk put him on the ground. The Death Doll quickly topped him and swooped down again for a bite. He stopped her at the last second by shoving his elbow into her throat, but she closed in slowly, and he was getting tired.

  He turned his head to the side as she got closer and saw Lavon standing in the doorway with the device in her hand.

  “What’choo waitin’ for? Angels?” Isaac yelled. “Turn this bitch back on!”

  Lavon rushed toward him, but again hovered over the melee in confusion. “What do I do?”

  “Shove the damn thing behind her ear like Cody said,” he practically grunted as he pushed the zombie’s snarling jaws back, but his strength was failing him, “or else get her ass off of me.” If he lived through this crazy shit, he would whip his damn self into better shape.

  Lavon put Didi into a full-nelson hold and pulled her back, the new N.S.U. floundering in her fingers just above their heads. The zombie’s flailing proved more than the Marine could handle as they jerked this way and that.

  Not wanting to take a chance that the N.S.U. would break if it fell, Isaac slipped it out of the Marine’s grasp and pushed Didi’s head aside, doing his damnedest to keep his fingers away from her snapping teeth.

  “Hurry,” she said while yanking Didi left and right. “I can’t hold her much longer.”

  He readied himself to jab the device in place when he saw something behind her ear—the old N.S.U. He yanked it out and tossed it aside, but as he positioned the new one, Didi’s legs suddenly came up and crashed into his chest, pushing herself off while taking the wind out of him. He held onto the new device for dear life on his way down, but the zombie spilled atop Lavon and quickly turned over to munch.

  “Over here!” came from the office doorway, where Rachelle huffed with her hand on her head.

  Didi rushed toward the kid like Lavon wasn’t even there. Good thing zombies were so easy to distract, but now the Rachelle was about to get eaten.

  Isaac scrambled to his feet and hurried to grab the face-muncher before she grabbed her pupil.

  Rachelle, however, seemed prepared when she crouched and kicked Didi off her unstable feet, only for the maneuver to backfire when Didi crawled on top of the kid and roared.

  Oh, shit, Isaac thought with dread as he helplessly watched the kid scream under the Death Doll while it … paused.

  Didi just stared at Rachelle, whose frightened face stared back in wonder. It was as if the zombie was trying to figure the kid out.

  Rachelle smiled as the two stared at each other. “You remember me.”

  A faint, guttural grunt came from Didi, but the zombie continued assessing Rachelle. It was as if the girl had charmed the beast.

  Isaac had never seen a zombie do that before, but he couldn’t count on it lasting. He slowly crept up to the puzzled zombie and, when he was sure she hadn’t noticed him, he plunged the N.S.U. into the wounded flesh behind her ear and switched on the device.

  Didi stiffened, quaking sharply as her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and the rest of her fell right off of Rachelle.

  All three living bodies watched the dead one twitch feverishly on the ground, none of them sure of whether or not this was how it all worked. He had heard of what happened when Cody used it on Jerri’s husband, but seeing it was as confounding as it was jarring.

  The Death Doll grunted and held her head, claiming, “Oh, what the fuck?”

  Isaac laughed with great relief.

  Didi’s eyes moved about until they found Rachelle, then frowned. “Rachelle? Why am I on the ground?”

  The kid laughed and helped her stand. “Someone set off an E.M.P. It killed your N.S.U.”

  Didi flinched. “Who could do that?”

  “We’re just lucky you didn’t eat us,” Isaac said as he joined her, still huffing exhaustedly. “I mean, you gave me some bruises while trying, but I’m alright.”

  “You almost ate me, too,” Rachelle said as she approached Didi, “but then you stopped and stared at me, like you remembered me.”

  Didi cracked a sideways grin. “Well, you are special to me,” she said, then ruffled the kid’s hair, making her giggle.

  Isaac threw his hands out. “What about me?”

  Didi shrugged. “Give me a break. I’ve only known you a week.”

  That nearly pissed him off, but he was still glad to have his friend back.

  “What about the Sergeant and the nurse?” Lavon asked.

  A chill ran down Isaac’s spine worse than the tussle in the slush. “We’d better go find out.”

  CHAPTER 17

  RELEASED

  Craig struggled to keep up with Clarissa as she crossed the parking lot and the highway to search the
cozy-looking neighborhood. He had never been a parent, only a failed guardian, so he couldn’t imagine the turmoil raging within her that pushed her so hard. Plus, she had clearly put a lot more time on those treadmills in Sibley than he did.

  With her pistol poised ahead of her, she quickly checked each house in her path for any small clue that would lead her to her baby. Her cop father had taught her all he knew about guns and searches—made her into a bloodhound with a Glock—but there was no telling what she was rushing into. Would Hector get a word in before she shot him? Could Craig stop her?

  “There,” she whispered, then ran to the next house before he could ask what. She moved with such catlike grace and agility he barely heard the snow crunch under her little feet.

  He caught up to her as she peeked through an empty window. Before he could ask her anything, she moved on to the next window.

  A faint cry from inside caught their attention. She looked back and pointed him around to the front of the house. He nodded and watched her slither into the nearest window.

  He crept around the house, ducked under another empty window, and reached the front door. He took as quiet a breath as he could to prepare for whatever lay in wait for him and—

  “Give me back my baby, you son of a bitch,” Clarissa shouted from somewhere in the house, which was met by high-pitched wailing and a thick voice pleading in Spanish.

  Craig’s heartbeat tripled in his ears. He huffed, ran in, and turned into the first room.

  Clarissa aimed her pistol at the cowering Hector, who held little Amber in front of his head like a tiny shield. The baby cried but looked otherwise healthy.

  “Hector,” Craig shouted, which quieted them both. “Just give her back, okay?”

  Hector just quivered behind Amber.

  Trying to summon those two mandatory years of high school Spanish, Craig choppily told Hector he wouldn’t be hurt if he handed over the baby.

  The quivering man looked over Amber’s tiny head, regarded the pistol aimed at him for a long moment, and finally extended his little hostage ahead of him. “Lo siento,” he kept saying.