Cassie (Adrian's Undead Diary Book 8)

by Chris Philbrook

“Well in that case, thanks. Right back at ya.” Abby reached up and thumbed her transmit button once more to pass along the message that they were all clear for the moment. Just as she was about to start talking a breeze picked up through the garage that chilled her to the bone. It felt as if winter was doubling its efforts. Immediately her skin tightened and she shivered intensely. The cold was unnatural, and it churned her stomach as if it had pierced her like a dagger. Hal turned to her, his face giving away that he felt the very same evil chill. As the wind whipped Abby’s ponytail into her face, she let go of the transmit button, seeing a wall of undead pour around the ramp ahead of them. Hundreds and hundreds of undead came around the bend, each stark raving mad with more emotion and rage than any of them had ever seen in the walking dead. It was as if every negative emotion had been poured into them and heightened tenfold. Abby’s stomach fell further than possible to her feet as an enraged battalion of the dead marched on them.

  “Kevin, we have a serious fucking problem here,” Hal said into his microphone. “I think they’ve found us. Something's changed.”

  A hundred feet from where Hal stood, Kevin double checked the wiring he’d just repaired and got to his feet, looking over to where his two teammates were standing. Kevin saw the massive influx of walking dead coming their way at a much faster than normal clip. He felt the cold, and as the hair on the back of his neck stood, he too knew something was changed. He reached up and thumbed his microphone, “We’re wired up. All good. Head to the exit and I’ll meet you there.” Kevin noticed that the communications were scratchy, almost as if they were being interfered with somehow, but that was impossible. No one should have that kind of technology now.

  Hal, Abby, and Kevin all started sprinting towards the garage’s vehicle exit. As they ran Kevin wished he had brought a SAW from home. Thirty seconds and a full belt of 5.56 would literally chop the entire horde down at the knees. Sadly, no light machine gun meant running was their only smart option. As the three met each other at a run on the exit ramp to the ground level, they didn’t let up one bit. The undead behind them were less than a hundred feet on their heel and the surface streets ahead were spotted with more. From broil to bake it seemed.

  “We need a hundred meters! A hundred meters and some cover and we blow it! Run as fast you can!” Kevin screamed as the three escapees tore up pavement. Abby slowly lost ground behind the two warriors, though she didn’t fall far behind. All three fighters kept their weapons up as best they could, snapping off rounds at the zombies that approached them. They could outrun everything behind them but the threats ahead must be dealt with. Kevin selected full auto and simply let loose a short burst into the upper chest of his targets. Following suit Hal did the same. Angry coughs of high speed 5.56 knocked the undead backwards or killed them outright when a lucky round walked up and hit their faces.

  All three were nearly spent when they reached the corner of a small bookstore about a hundred yards from the parking garage. Hal slowed to a walk and capped three closing undead in the forehead as Kevin freed up the detonator and readied it to level the building.

  “Guys, I could really use a loud noise right now,” Adrian said over the comms. He sounded… urgent.

  “Twenty seconds,” Kevin said over the network in reply. “Behind the building,” Kevin said to Abby and Hal. He looked around the corner of the bookstore at the garage, seeing the front edge of the undead was just thirty feet or less from reaching the safety of the street level.

  “Eat my ass motherfuckers.” Kevin ducked behind the cover of the building, readied the detonator to blow quickly, and with a grin, triggered it.

  Like a gift straight from heaven, carried on the thunder and lightning brought by the angels he heard the ear splitting detonations of the Semtex. It hurt him deep in the chest and ears as the sound of skyscraper sized dominos toppling whipped dust, broken glass and concrete debris past them harmlessly. The wind was biting and frigid, but the satisfaction of destruction, and buying time for their friend kept them protected and warm. The trio waited a full minute before peeking around the corner to see their handiwork.

  Kevin popped his head around the edge of the building and saw what he feared; the garage was damaged, but not toppled. Giant slabs of concrete had been shed off the structure, baring the structural steel below, and in one corner an entire level had collapsed. But the garage stood defiant, daring the three warriors to do more. Deep inside it through the dust the three watched as the undead army struggled back to its feet, ready to head their way once more. It was very literally like stirring the wasp's nest.

  “Fuck my life,” the Ranger whispered.

  *****

  Adrian and Michelle were absolutely surrounded by the dead. More than a hundred were ahead of them, and the route back towards the other three seemed more and more likely to be their only choice. Adrian had just radioed to Kevin in the hopes he could make some kind of distraction, some kind of diversion to buy them time.

  “We need to hunker down. Get inside a building, maybe move a street over to shake these fucking corpses. Get them running in circles,” Adrian said, shouldering his weapon and dropping three quick undead that had gotten too close to them. Michelle stepped back, dodging the hot casings that ejected from Adrian’s gun. She looked on as dozens more undead stepped up to fill the void they'd just left behind.

  “What about that restaurant?” Michelle pointed at a pizzeria right nearby. It was close, mostly glass fronted, but the door was ajar, and if they could get through the building quick and out the back exit, that might buy them enough time. It wasn't about fortifying a place. It was about creating obstacles.

  “Go!” Adrian said, exploding the jaw and head of a short, dead woman that had stumbled their way quickly. It seemed like the dead were moving faster than normal. Fevered. The two took off at their own sprint, flinging the door of the pizzeria open. Adrian shoved it shut after they got inside and twisted the lock. That done he spun fast and scanned the interior of the restaurant for targets quickly. It looked empty. Michelle's heart pounded as she tried to fill her angry lungs. They were both covered in sweat, and flecks of blood and gore.

  The world shook. Adrian reacted on instinct and grabbed Michelle and sent her to the floor roughly, trying to have her land on top of his own body to prevent injury to her. A funneled blast of air and shock came down the street, rattling the windows of the eatery to the point of nearly breaking. Adrian watched as pots and pans in the kitchen swung to and fro slightly from the shockwave of the explosions at the garage. Dust fell everywhere like snow.

  “You ok?” Adrian asked his companion, checking her for wounds. She was still on his chest.

  “I’m fine, thanks,” Michelle said, looking around in the restaurant with a slightly shocked look on her face. She pushed off of him with a frightened smile and looked at her arms and legs for injury.

  Adrian activated his transmitter to talk to the rest of the group, “Kevin, you guys ok?”

  “Building didn’t come down and it’s chock full of pissed off undead. We’ve certainly done something to piss someone off being here brother. They're moving faster. Smarter. I’ve got an idea though. If it fails… it’s been swell, and I’ll see you on the other side,” Kevin replied quickly.

  “Quit being a dramatic bitch. Drop me a line when you pull your ass out of the fire,” Adrian said as he got himself up into a crouch. The line was strangely filled with static. Kevin didn’t respond.

  “ADRIAN!” Michelle yelled, pointing over his shoulder deeper into the restaurant.

  Adrian’s instincts kicked in and he tossed his body in a barrel roll forward. He went away from where her eyes pointed. He felt contact on his hind quarters, shoving him forward and knocking his weapon free to the side out of reach. Michelle let loose a hand-stifled scream as she scampered away from the sudden melee. Adrian finished his propelled roll forward and spun around, his ass smacking into the tile floor of the restaurant hard. If he survived, it'd be difficult to walk the n
ext day. As he turned to face whatever it was that Michelle screamed at, he heard and felt a wet thump as an overweight male zombie crashed into the ground nearly between his legs. Wild arms and scratching fingers gripped powerfully at his upper leg, right near the scar the dog gave him so long ago. It felt like he had been struck with a metal garden rake. In a moment of clarity the large warrior realized that if he’d been wearing his thigh holster for his beloved Glock, the zombie would’ve grabbed on to it at that moment. He made a mental note to be appreciative for the weapon's jam, and his switch to the Kimber now on Michelle's hip. Adrian grabbed the home made knife his uncle created off his belt from the old K-Bar sheath and swung it in a sidearm hook motion. The blade punctured the zombie’s skull at the temple and sank nearly five inches in, rendering the enormous attacker still and silent. Its girth fell to the tile floor, and Adrian pressed the dagger in deeper, ensuring the brain was destroyed. He pried it out of the thick skull only after the twitching stopped. He wiped it clean on the shirt of the dead man, and sheathed the blade.

  Adrian panted as he grabbed his M4 off the floor and scanned once more for targets. He checked to ensure the weapon wasn’t damaged. The moment he caught his breath he exchanged looks with Michelle. She was wide eyed, traumatized a bit, but would be okay. She was tougher than this moment. Michelle watched as he crept to the front window of the shop to peer over the edge and into the street. After a minute of silent observation he turned back and scurried over to her.

  “Okay, it looks like—” Suddenly the outside world was punctuated by more epic sounds of destruction. Unlike the first blast this noise was sharp and short, and caused no shockwave. The two of them could hear the blast echo in the hollow city streets. Far in the distance there was a brief lull in the gunfire from the friends that had split off to try and blow the garage up. Adrian spun quickly to look out the window to assess their new situation, only to hear and feel a tremendous grinding, followed by a resounding eruption of noise and vibration. It sounded to both of them as if the garage had finally been toppled. More snow dust fell.

  “Kevin?” Adrian asked over the comms. “Abby? Hal?” No response came back, just static drowning everything out.

  “Are they okay?” Michelle asked him, her eyes fearful.

  “I don’t know. We should move to the back and try and see if we can slip out. The two explosions might’ve bought us enough time to get this done. Hopefully they’re okay.” Adrian felt rotten inside. He had a sinking feeling they weren't okay at all.

  Michelle nodded and got to her feet. Together they walked through the small pizzeria and through the kitchen, Adrian leading the way with his M4 up and searching for threats.

  The back door of the restaurant was a sturdy steel door with deadbolts. Adrian painfully twisted the deadbolts as slow as he could so as to make no sound. The last thing they wanted was to make the tiniest noise and draw attention back to them.

  “The end of the alley here, towards the left will put us right on the street Cassie’s work was on. There’s an intersection, then on the opposite corner is her building. It might be a hundred yards. Tip toe to the end of the alley, then if it’s pretty clear at the intersection, we run to the door of her building. Hopefully it’ll be safer inside.”

  “I’m tired, but I can manage that.”

  Adrian smiled and turned back to the door. He gently twisted the knob and pressed ever so slightly to crack the door. He peered out for a few moments, listening to the street before pulling it closed. “It’s clear to the street. Ready?”

  Michelle smiled, clearly exhausted. She looked dirty, grimy, and set. Adrian thought she looked beautiful. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Adrian smiled back at her, pausing. “I really appreciate you coming for this. You didn’t have to do this. I just… I thought you should know how much this matters to me.”

  Michelle lit up with a smile that fluttered Adrian’s heart. He hadn’t seen that smile in too long. Michelle reached up and gently touched Adrian’s cheek. “Adrian I believe that I did have to do this. If not for everyone else in the world, then for my own selfish reasons. Adrian sometimes it’s the right choice to be a little selfish.”

  Adrian shrugged with a smile, and the two slowly crept out into the alleyway, heading for a final showdown that neither of them could have expected.

  *****

  “There’s one support of the garage still holding strong. Cover my back,” Kevin barked, reaching to his back to fetch the AT4 anti tank weapon. Hal and Abby were already pointing their weapons and firing at undead that seemed to be multiplying exponentially. His request was not needed, and unheard over their gunfire. They were surrounded in nearly every direction by threats.

  Kevin, still on his knee, readied the heavy anti armor weapon to fire. He’d shot these several times before, and the memory of firing one came back to him promptly. He thanked his training as he looked to his back to ensure he wasn’t about to scorch Hal or Abby with his back blast. Both of his friends were engaged, shooting at targets approaching from his rear. If he shot right there, he’d burn them fiercely with the weapon’s exhaust. Kevin leapt up, jogged fifteen feet out into the open, and dropped to a knee again.

  Kevin lined the weapon’s sights up on an untouched concrete pillar near the center of the garage. The explosives weren’t planted there due to a shortage of both materials and time the other day, and that single column of concrete and rebar looked to be the lone piece of structure keeping the entire building upright. Given time, the building would crumble from the oppressive, immutable forces of gravity and rain, but time wasn’t something they’d brought extra of. Kevin hoped his guess was right, and fired the AT4.

  The 84mm projectile rocketed out of the weapon, hurtling forward invisibly fast, impacting the pillar near perfectly and exploding with catastrophic results. Immediately the level of the garage where he'd hit filled with concrete dust and shrapnel, shredding the bodies of the undead close to the pillar. Kevin tossed the empty tube to the ground and swung his M4 around, not waiting to see what would happen next. He shot a zombie that had gotten to within ten feet of his crouching position, then turned back to watch his assault’s effects unfold.

  The building visibly shifted to the side slightly, and with a groan that sounded like an army of giants retching out a dying moan, the building imploded, collapsing on itself with the rumble of thunder and the shake of an earthquake. Concrete dust jetted out in every direction as the building annihilated the dead inside it. Kevin started hooting and hollering as he ran like hell back to his two partners in crime. Even though a few thousand undead had just met their demise, thousands more were roaming, and both Adrian and Michelle were still out there. They needed help, and Kevin, Abby, and Hal were the only help coming.

  *****

  The last massive explosion signaled the end of all movement where the Soul and Savior were. The Warden’s work had seemingly emptied the entire section of the city where they were of undead, and the two walked carefully through the abandoned alley to the street beyond. The explosion had created a perfectly timed vacuum that they walked silently through.

  “Do you feel that?” Michelle asked quietly. “A strange chill in the air?”

  Adrian looked around, testing the environment with his senses. “Yeah. Strange is a good word for it.”

  “The last time I felt cold like this, Evil appeared. Evil spoke to me. Adrian we could be in a lot of danger.” Her voice was shaking, and that in turn made Adrian more than a little nervous. She was normally so resolute, and confident. Michelle reached down and pulled the pistol free of Adrian’s holster on her thigh. She’d never fired a gun before, but she suddenly felt like it would be necessary. Adrian noticed her holding the weapon and swallowed. He’d never seen her scared enough to use a gun before. It shook his resolve.

  “Well Michelle, we’re here. No turning back now, whatever might appear.”

  The pretty woman nodded and kept her pace next to the large man.

  Ad
rian reached the street and peeked left, his weapon searching for threats. Michelle was a step or two behind him and stopped cold when she saw the look on his face.

  “Adrian? Adrian what is it?” Michelle took another step forward and looked to where he had his gun pointed. Her mouth widened in shock.

  Standing shoulder to shoulder, packed hundreds deep as far back as they could both see, were the standing bodies of the dead. No number could be put on the size of the legion; a number was pointless, and served only to ruin hope. Standing one step in front of the rest was the dead body of Alan. Adrian recognized him instantly as an executive with Cassie’s company, despite missing an arm and being ravenously thin. Adrian and Michelle looked to the right where the intersection was that marked the corner where the entrance to Cassie’s place of work was. Standing lockstep, shoulder to shoulder to one another in that direction too was at least the same amount of dead, if not more. One step ahead of that wall of evil flesh Adrian recognized was Melanie, Cassie’s direct boss. Her normally plump body was sagging and deflated. Drained of all the charm Adrian remembered her having.

  Ten paces in front of the massive army of the dead and Melanie stood a solitary, dead woman. Michelle knew who she was. Her eyes were milky white, and her flesh sunken and withered, but her hair still had an unmistakable warm red color. If she were still alive, she would be very pretty. Michelle's heart sank in defeat as she realized that Cassie herself stood before them.

  All the color drained from Adrian’s face as he lowered his weapon and walked into the arena of the damned.

  The last piece in the game was moved into check.

  *****

  “Drive fucking faster,” Ethan said to Blake. The two vehicle column was speeding across the city at top speed, fifty miles an hour or more, trying to reach the area where Adrian’s group was.