Zombie Apocalypse Series (Book 2): A Rising Tide

by Jeff DeGordick

  They cut right toward the woods before changing direction and skirting the bottom of the carnival up the hill to the left. They slipped into suburbia and headed south, and Sarah opened her mouth on a few occasions, ready to ask why they were taking such a roundabout route to get to wherever they were going, but she thought better of it each time. They could have just taken a left out of the gates and cut south across the field to arrive on the same path, and with that realization, Sarah knew exactly where they were going and that the odd path was simply to stay out of sight.

  They cut into the north end of the downtown area and slipped through an alley between two tall buildings. They stopped at the end and peeked out at the street to their left. A four-story hotel stood near the end of the street by the field, a small set of steps leading up to the front door that she'd seen the saboteurs enter the night before.

  "Is that the building you saw them go in?" Noah asked, pointing it out.

  "That's definitely it," she said.

  "And they went right through the front door?"

  "Yeah."

  Noah nodded to the other two men and they crept across the street, slipping into another alley. They climbed on a dumpster to hop a fence between them and the hotel, and they stopped at the back door.

  Wayne quietly turned the handle to find the door locked. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small leather roll, unfurling it and selecting a lock pick. He set the roll on the stoop and worked on the lock.

  "What am I doing here?" Sarah finally asked.

  "I want you to start getting more involved with us," Noah said with an earnest smile that was almost shy.

  "What are we going to do to them if we find them here?" she asked.

  He looked at her for a moment as if he was trying to gauge what her response would be, and then he said, "We're going to ask them a few questions."

  She felt her stomach lurch because she knew exactly what that meant, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be party to it. But she stayed quiet, trusting in him enough to hear him out.

  Wayne look back at them and gave a thumbs up, then he pulled the door open slowly and checked around the frame for any traps. When he was satisfied, he pulled the door all the way open and the three men entered, Noah waiting just inside and ushering Sarah in before he pulled the door closed behind them.

  They were in a long and dingy hallway with old scuffed, cracked tiles on the floor and paint peeling off the walls. There were a few offices and maintenance rooms that they passed on their way to the front. Wayne and Kenny took point with their hands on their rifles, carefully looking around and listening for any hint of someone else in the building. Noah stayed with Sarah as they followed.

  They went up a half set of stairs that brought them to the front door, then they rounded the banister and went up another set of stairs, ignoring the first floor entirely. As they went from floor to floor, they paused at each one, looking and listening for signs of the saboteurs' presence.

  As they started up the staircase leading from the third to the fourth and final floor, Wayne paused. The other three stopped in their tracks and listened.

  Faint voices drifted from somewhere above them, though they were too quiet to make out what was being said. Wayne started up again, his footsteps soft on the concrete stairs.

  When they reached the top, they pinpointed the source of the voices to the east that was unsurprisingly the same face of the building that overlooked Noah's Ark from across the field. A door with a tarnished number plate that read "Room 408" stood ajar.

  The voices flittering out from it became clear. "Aw, gimme a break!" someone said. "Of all the fucking luck I have... do you believe it?"

  "Do I look like I care?" someone else said. "Come on, give me them sweet, sweet smokes!"

  The sound of shaking dice came from the room, followed by them clattering across the floor.

  The four of them waited outside for a couple of minutes to get a sense of how many were in the room and what they were talking about, but it was just the two voices making idle chitchat.

  Kenny shouldered his way through the door and Wayne and Noah followed. They all started barking orders and pointing their rifles at the faces of two men sitting against the back wall rolling dice. Terror and surprise hung on their faces for a good long while, while they each backed up and slid against the wall, not sure how to react.

  Acting stupid, one of them ran for a gun halfway across the room as the other one got up and charged at Wayne. Wayne twisted to the side, redirecting the man's momentum and sending him crashing over a table, his legs bending backward and flipping over his head like a cartoon.

  Before the other man could get to the gun, Kenny put a well-placed round right through his leg. He collapsed immediately and slid across the floor right past the counter where his pistol was sitting. He yelled in agony as he pulled himself onto his butt and backed against the wall, not sure whether to clamp his hands around his leg or not.

  Wayne, Kenny and Noah stood there, almost surprised at how poorly the two men's attempts to defend themselves were. Wayne hoisted the man who crashed over the table up by the back of his neck, shoving him toward the counter separating the main area of the hotel room from a little kitchenette. Kenny just stood over the other man and quietly shook his head as he watched him cry and bleed.

  Noah found a couple of chairs in the room and lined them up beside each other, then Wayne and Kenny hoisted each man up and shoved them into the chairs, Noah aiming his rifle at them in case they wanted to go for round two.

  Wayne took some lengths of rope out of his jacket and handed one to Kenny and they tied each man nice and tight to his chair. The man on the left who Wayne tossed over the table was a tall, thin thing that looked like a gust of wind might blow him over. His face was narrow with sharp cheekbones and a tall forehead, and his hair was black with streaks of gray through it almost evenly spaced like a picket fence, and he had it coiffed just so. He sat there like a beaten dog, staring at the floor and frowning.

  The other one was still squirming around under his restraints a bit from the pain in his leg, but mostly he was just breathing real heavy in and out. His head was shaved bald and he had a thick brown beard, almost like the hair on his head decided to migrate south one day. He was a big man and gave Kenny a run for his money, but Kenny stood there staring down at him, amused that someone who looked so tough couldn't even take a single bullet without blubbering.

  "I guess these guys ain't the cavalry," Kenny said, smirking.

  The thin man on the left raised his head in defiance. "Fuck you," he said.

  Kenny's smirk widened a little as he walked over to him. The thin man started to sink a little in his chair as he helplessly watched Kenny's hulking figure loom toward him. Kenny raised a meaty fist and swung it through his face, his head bouncing around on his shoulders like a boxer's speed bag. The man let out a grunt and breathed shallowly, a thin red cut stretched along his cheek. Kenny turned to the other man and punched him square in the nose. It made a loud crack and blood oozed out of it, but he kept as quiet as he could and stared at the floor through tear-soaked eyes. His chest went up and down, trying to pump back in the air that had been knocked out.

  They were real quiet, like two little lambs, and Kenny started working them over just for the fun of it. Wayne finally stepped forward and told him to stop. Blood dripped down from his fist as he reluctantly backed off, and both men already looked like they weren't too far from death.

  Sarah stood at the back of the room, watching it all in horror.

  Noah pulled her aside. "I know this may seem shocking to you," he said quietly, "but we need to interrogate these two to find out what they were planning."

  "I know, but—" she started.

  "We have to do it, Sarah. If we don't, there could be an attack on Noah's Ark and most or all of us could die. And we obviously don't want that, do we?"

  "No..."

  "And violence is the only way were going to get it out of
them. There's no other way. And I know it's messy to watch, but I want you to be a part of this, to see exactly how we fight for survival. I don't want to sugarcoat this. This is the real world, and it's important for you to see it for what it is."

  She hesitated for a moment, looking at the poor shapes slouched in the chairs.

  He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Just stay off to the side and watch for now."

  She nodded and kept well behind the rest of them as a dreadful feeling roiled in her stomach.

  Noah walked up to the two men and looked them over as Wayne and Kenny stood to the side. "I guess I don't have to ask if Zed sent you," he said. "What I want to know is what Zed was planning last night." He looked at each of them, waiting for an answer, but neither of them spoke.

  Kenny marched up and pounded them in the face. Sarah winced with each crack, and it almost sounded like he was breaking their skulls. The prisoners let out a series of grunts and wheezes, and blood was freely pouring down their faces.

  "What was the plan?" Noah asked. "What was supposed to happen after you planted the bomb?"

  When they didn't answer, Kenny wound up his fist again.

  The big man on the right got scared and his eyes went wide. "I don't know!" he yelled.

  Kenny looked at Noah and Noah nodded. Kenny slugged the man in the face over and over again, and the man cried out, gurgling noises coming out of his throat. He made a horrible wrenching sound, then spit his teeth onto his lap.

  "What was supposed to happen after you planted the bomb?" Noah repeated calmly.

  Kenny approach them again, but Wayne waved him off. Wayne walked up to the thin man on the left who'd been quiet the whole time and knelt down in front of him. The man looked away from him as his chest rose and fell rapidly. He wasn't talking, but Wayne knew the fear was there. He grabbed the man by his balls and started to twist. It didn't take long before he was shaking and bucking in his chair hysterically.

  "Okay! Okay!" he squealed.

  Wayne let go and stayed kneeling, waiting to see if his answer was good enough.

  After the man caught his breath, he looked up nervously at everyone. "I know you'll want to hurt me again, but I don't know what Zed was planning," he said. Before Wayne could grab him again, he added, "He didn't tell us. He keeps everything compartmentalized. We don't even have the detonator for crying out loud, honest! He just said to plant it when the distraction happened and the guards weren't looking, and then we were supposed to come here and wait. Someone was supposed to come and relieve us this morning. I thought you might have been them when you busted in here."

  Wayne stood up and looked at Noah.

  Noah considered what he said, then he pulled Sarah aside again. He put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I want you to ask them some questions."

  She was shocked. "What?"

  "I want you to be an active part of this," he said. "All you have to do is ask the questions and we'll do the rest."

  "But why?" she asked, unsure.

  "Like I said, I don't want to sugarcoat any of this. I don't want to hide anything from you, and you need to know what's really going on. I want you to be a part of this and be one of us. I don't trust these kinds of things to just anyone."

  "But... I don't think I can do this."

  "You can do it. You'll be great."

  She hesitated, but the feeling of his hand on her shoulder and his warm smile gave her some comfort. She looked over at the beaten and bloodied men slouched in their chairs and finally she nodded.

  "Okay," Noah said, "did you notice how he mentioned that they were supposed to plant the bomb when the distraction happened?"

  Her eyes flitted back and forth, searching her memory. "Yeah."

  "Think about it."

  When she caught his meaning, her eyes lit up, like a detective discovering a clue.

  "I want you to ask him what he meant by that," Noah said.

  "Okay."

  She turned to the men and cautiously stepped closer to them. Noah stood off to the side and watched.

  The two men were back to staring at the floor and they weren't paying her any attention.

  She cleared her throat, her heart hammering. "What did... What did you mean about a distraction?" she asked timidly.

  The men stayed quiet.

  "Louder, Sarah," Noah said.

  She felt like everyone's eyes were on her, and a worm of uncertainty wriggled its way through her. "What did you mean about a distraction?" she asked again.

  "The lady asked you a question," Kenny said. He went up to each man and hammered him in the face, almost lifting the skinny one's chair off the floor.

  Sarah winced again with each hit, but as she looked at their miserable shapes, she realized there was nothing to be scared of; they certainly couldn't hurt her, and she was in charge. She took a step forward. "What distraction?" she said more forcefully.

  The skinny man slowly shook his head, still staring at the floor and his mouth twisted into a wide frown as tears rolled out of his eyes.

  Sarah waited for Kenny to throw another meaty punch across the man's face, but instead he just smiled. He stood next to the man on the right and rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle pat before moving past him into the kitchenette. He started pulling drawers open and shuffling his big hand through them, looking for something. On the third drawer, his hand stopped. "Wouldn't you know it?"

  He turned and strode back to the prisoners, his smile wider, devilish, something in his hand.

  The big man on the right was trembling in his chair. Blood continued to trickle out of his leg where Kenny shot him and pooled on the floor. "Please," he said, "my leg's goin' cold." His arms jerked under the rope, trying to reach for the wound in his thigh. "Have a heart."

  Their three captors exchanged glances and Noah gave a nod. Wayne went to the kitchen and pulled a dirty dish towel from a cupboard. He bent in front of the bald man and wrapped it tightly over his wound. The man winced as he worked and let out a series of rapid breaths, but when Wayne finished, he calmed down. The skinny one to the left watched the whole time, the nervousness in his eyes softening. The moment of kindness even had him looking up from the ground and glancing into Wayne's eyes before uneasily returning his gaze downward.

  Wayne stood up without a word and took a step back. Sarah still stood in front of the two men, waiting on an answer. Some of the tension in her softened as well as she watched the kindness of the company she kept. She was starting to understand that in a cruel world, there would be times where she would have to be cruel to survive, but she was relieved to see that there was also room for compassion.

  "So what of it now, big guy?" Kenny asked the one on the right. "Are you going to answer the question?"

  The man hesitated, mulling it over, then he briefly glanced up and said, "Like he said, that's all we know. That's all Zed told us." He stared back at the floor, his eyes flicking back and forth.

  Sarah looked back at Noah and he just shook his head. She turned her head back and opened her mouth to ask the question again, but all of Kenny's mass suddenly shifted in front of her and she took a clumsy step back.

  He grabbed one of the man's hands and held what he had grabbed out of the drawer up to it. It glinted in the sunlight coming through the window, a brilliant shimmer dancing along the long, thin silver.

  By the time she realized it was a nut cracker, Kenny already had the man's finger in it. He yelled out "Okay! Okay!" but Kenny didn't stop. He squeezed down and the man screamed bloody murder. His knuckle popped louder than anyone expected and Sarah turned on the spot, holding a hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting.

  She staggered out of the room and took a walk down the hallway, feeling dizzy. Noah came after her and had to chase her down two flights of stairs before he caught up to her.

  "Hold on a minute! Wait!" He caught her arm and she reluctantly stopped, still gagging a little. "It's okay! Don't leave."

  "I'm sorry," she sa
id. "I just need to get some air. I couldn't stay there." A small gag tied up her throat as she went for the last flight of stairs to get to the ground floor and outside, but Noah held her arm.

  "It's dangerous out there," he said. "Stay right here. You're okay, just relax." He wrapped his arms around her and slowly she calmed down.

  She began to cry. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

  "Shh," he cooed, running his hand through her hair. "I put you through too much. It was my mistake. I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

  As she quietly sobbed, muffled screams and cries of agony could be heard from above between the low bass of unintelligible voices and silent pauses. Eventually there were footsteps and Wayne called the two of them back up. Sarah looked at Noah uncertainly, but he told her that it was over and it would be okay. They climbed the stairs and Noah strode back into the hotel room as Sarah lingered in the doorway before slinking in.

  The two men in the chairs were still alive, though bloodied and bruised. The man on the right had three of his fingers mangled, but Sarah didn't see this, being careful to focus her view out the window toward Noah's Ark.

  "Guy was lying out his ass," Wayne told Noah. "They planted the bomb and were told to wait here afterward, just like they said, and Zed and the rest of the men do have the detonator, but these two were supposed to give the go-ahead over walkie-talkie when the coast was clear." He pointed out two walkies now sitting on the kitchen counter. "Then Zed had a squad that was going to blow the wall and storm the camp. They called it off when they saw us disarming the bomb."

  Noah nodded, turning one of the walkie-talkies over in his hands.

  "There's one more thing," Wayne said. "They infiltrated a spy in our camp. He's been relaying information about us and the layout of the camp to Zed, although these two don't know how."

  Sarah's ears perked up.

  "Who?" Noah asked.

  "It's Hank," Wayne said. "He's the one who picked the fight with Mark when the bomb was planted."

  "They said this?" Noah asked, looking at Zed's men.

  Wayne nodded.

  Sarah's eyes lit up. "So Mark was innocent. He didn't steal anything, right?"