Dead Summer
By A.L. Masters
© 2020 A.L. Masters
All Rights Reserved
Content Warning
This book contains occasional explicit sexual content, language, violence, crude humor, and triggering elements.
Be Ye Warned…
Chapter One
Breakdown
Jim
Jim glanced in the mirror at the small convoy following his cruiser.
After they pulled out of the store lot, a tidal wave of the dead appeared in the rearview mirror. They marched steadily along trampling everything in their path, even forcing aside parked and wrecked vehicles.
He shook his head at the devastation. He was glad they had finally left the store for good. It was a cursed place and a graveyard.
He counted the four vehicles to the rear. So far, so good.
Directly behind him, Ed’s twenty-six-foot rental truck swayed, and he saw Ed gesticulating violently at his passenger.
Jim smiled a bit. Poor Ed. He didn’t have much patience for Jean’s antics. She’d found a coping mechanism in her acerbic comments, and he was glad. Any healthy way that she could deal with Virgil’s death was all right in his book, especially when it provided a little entertainment along the way.
He picked up his radio and established communications.
“Cart-Rider One-Two, this is Mojo One. Do you copy?” he asked.
“10-4, Mojo One, this is Cart-Rider One-Two. Over,” Ed replied immediately. He sounded a little irritated.
Jim smirked and continued testing their comms.
“Barbarian One, this is Mojo One. How copy?” he asked Cam.
“Lima Charlie, Mojo One. Over,” Cam replied.
“Blackbird One-One, come in. Over.”
Blackbird One-One and Blackbird One-Two had been assigned to Jack Davis and Monica Reed. Ed said it was because of their black police uniforms, but Jim was fairly certain it was from some movie or other. Ed was a big fan of movies. Bradley had found an unlikely kindred spirit in him.
“This is Blackbird One-One, I read you loud and clear. Over.”
“Blackbird One-Two, how do you read? Over.”
Several seconds went by before Monica responded.
“Mojo One, this is Blackbird One-Two. Passenger requires medical assistance. Not urgent. I say again, not urgent. Over.”
Damn it.
Monica was driving Bradley and Peggy in an SUV. She was following Jack, who had Jonah and Jessica and the cat.
Cam brought up the rear with Angie. Jim picked up the radio and requested more information.
“Blackbird One-Two, what is the nature of the problem?” he inquired.
“Excessive vomiting, Mojo-One. Over.”
“All vehicles stop.”
Jim slowed and pulled to the side of the road.
He got out and saw Ed racing back toward Monica’s car as fast as he could manage.
Ed was fond of her, and he was pissed that he couldn’t ride with her. Peggy wasn’t doing well. The abuse had done some serious damage and he had enough experience from the police force to know that sometimes people couldn’t cope.
She hadn’t spoken or acknowledged anyone since he and Cam had found her yesterday morning. He still held out hope that time, and Ed, would help her…if she would let them.
Only seven days into the apocalypse and they had already been attacked by the living. Their group had suffered serious injuries.
It was the women who had suffered the most…and Nick.
He looked in at Nick, still and pale in the rear of the cruiser. They thought it was the safest way to transport him. He looked like he could turn at any moment.
“Nick, how are you doing?” Jim asked, opening the rear door so Nick could get some fresh air.
“Not so good,” he said, leaving his eyes closed. “The light hurts my eyes. It’s kind of pissing me off actually.”
Jim offered him a pair of sunglasses from the front. “Try these.”
Nick cracked one eye open, took the glasses, and sighed. “Thanks. Do you have any water? This fever is drying me out big time.”
Jim gently set a full bottle in his hands and told him to sip it. He looked back to the rear, where Ed had stopped near the rear passenger window of Monica’s suburban. “I’ll be right back.”
Jim jogged over, passing Ed’s truck and Jack’s car. He heard the loud yowling of the cat in its cage. That thing was a menace.
He approached Monica’s open window. “How is she?” he asked her.
“Peggy? She’s the same,” she answered. “Bradley is the one who is sick,” she said with a disgusted look on her face.
Jim peered at him and wrinkled his nose.
“He’s going to clean this up too! I’m not doing it!” she said and scowled over at him.
Jim walked over to where Bradley was seated, passenger door open. He was resting his head on the open door, taking deep breaths.
“Brad, are you sick? Do you need something?” he asked.
He was very concerned with the way Brad looked. He had turned almost green, and his forehead dripped with sweat. He wondered if he had been exposed to Nick’s infection somehow, or maybe some other infected bodily fluids.
“Please. I get…carsick. Really bad.” He moaned and held his hand to his mouth.
Jim jumped back, hoping to spare his shoes from Bradley’s vomit.
“I’ll get you something. Be right back.”
He jogged back to Cam’s SUV.
Cam got out as Jim opened the back door. He looked in at Angie and felt pangs of guilt and sadness pierce is chest. She was in bad shape. Not as bad as Peggy, but still critical.
He felt helpless.
She lay in the back on a small mattress. She was pale, bruised, and still. She had several broken bones, cuts, bruises, a concussion, and a swollen windpipe. They had a couple of coolers full of frozen bagged vegetables for her throat, and other injuries. They seemed to be helping with the swelling and she breathed a little easier than she had earlier.
Those fucking bastards paid the price for what they did. He only wished he could have gotten there before it all happened. They had all learned a valuable— and devastating— lesson.
He climbed into the back of the SUV, knelt next to the mattress, and placed a hand on hers.
“Angel, are you awake?” he asked in a low voice.
She stirred a little and took a shallow breath in. “Yes, though I wish I wasn’t,” she breathed out and grimaced.
Jim looked up at Cam’s hard face.
He had changed since that early morning when they took back the store and found out what had been done to their group. He was colder, harder.
His commands had become short, and unyielding. He no longer placed decisions with the group, even small decisions. He told them what to do, and they obeyed. Jim went along with it, for the time being. As long as the order was reasonable, he had no cause to object.
Jim knew why he had changed. He felt guilty. Jim tried to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, but Cam brushed him aside and said he had things to do.
“What time was her last dose?” he asked Cam.
“She had two pills only half an hour ago. She can’t have more yet.”
Jim lifted her hand kissed it. “We’ll get you some medicine in a little while. Go to sleep. We’ll be there soon.”
He grabbed the medication bag and jumped down. Cam held it open while Jim dug around inside.
“How’s Peggy?” Cam asked shortly.
“No change. It’s Bradley who’s sick. Motion sickness,” Jim answered.
Cam rolled his eyes and nodded a
t the motion sickness tablets wedged in the corner. Jim thanked him and jogged back to Bradley’s side of the SUV.
“Here you go. Take one. These will make you sleepy, and you don’t want to be sleepy if we run into trouble,” Jim advised.
He went back to the cruiser, checked on Nick, and closed his door.
He reached out and made sure everyone was ready to roll. They pulled back onto the highway and continued to their destination. The lodge was only another thirty minutes away, and he was thankful they had it.
He wanted to hurry and get their people settled and set up a security detail.
Ed
Ed bounced along in his truck, attempting to drown out Jean’s choice of music.
He didn’t have the faintest idea where she had gotten hold of this…this…foreign racket, but he didn’t like it one bit.
They had turned onto the lake road and were now traveling along the route that would take them to the dock. Everything looked the same so far, and he hoped another herd hadn’t found their way to the parking lot at the water.
He was much less nervous this time, mostly because the truck he was driving was so much smaller than the semi. Plus, he had been here before and was really looking forward to getting settled at the lodge.
“How do you know what they’re singing about?” he asked Jean, still annoyed.
“I don’t,” she said. “I like broadening my horizons. Virg was a gospel man, and maybe some old Hank if he’d had a beer.”
“But they could be singing about anything! They could be singing about S-E-X! or drugs! Or criminal activity! And here you are blasting it all over the neighborhood!” he shouted above the German industrial rock band.
“There is no neighborhood, Ed! We’re in the woods! Besides, it’s barely turned up. I can hardly even hear it,” she said, inching the knob up a little more.
“And did you just spell out the word ‘sex’, Ed? How old are you anyway?” she chided.
“You are one messed up old woman. Next thing I know you’ll be getting your nose pierced and getting a mohawk. 70 years old…. Geesh!”
Her response was to turn it up further and attempt to sing the lyrics in her quavery voice.
“dooooo, dooooo hastttt, doooo hast Mitch….” She bobbed her head in time with the beat.
He gave her a skeptical look, then considered the song. When did young folks give up listening to the classics?
“I wonder who Mitch is and why they’re singing about him,” Ed said after a time.
Jean shrugged in response.
Ed found himself singing the lyrics under his breath as he drove. It was a catchy tune.
Driving up the last major hill wasn’t nearly as challenging as it had been last time. He had easily made it up to the top. The right turn was still a bit tricky, but he handled it. Jean didn’t even have to shout at him this time.
“This is Blackbird One-One, all cars stop,” Jack said over the radio.
“This is Mojo One. Sitrep? Over,” Jim asked.
“Flat tire. Need security while I get it changed. Over,” Jack answered.
“Roger that. Cart-Rider One-Two continue to the end and park. I’ll double back and provide security here. Make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings, anything could have wandered in since we were here last. Over,” Jim instructed.
“10-4,” Ed replied.
Ed drove to the end of the road and pulled out into the circle they had cleared last time. Nothing looked changed, and the pile of bodies from their little battle was still sitting off to the side. They had considered burning them after they cleared the road, but they didn’t want the smoke to give away their position. Plus, the pile of corpses might deter anyone who decided to try their luck down here.
“Jean, look around before you get out,” he reminded her.
“Aye aye, sir,” she said and saluted.
Ed sighed and gathered his stuff. He lowered his window and glanced around before opening his door and climbing down.
A loud bang from the slamming door made him flinch, and he glared in Jean’s direction.
“Woman, do you have no sense of noise discipline?” he muttered to himself.
“I heard that,” she said from the far side of the truck. He gritted his teeth and checked out the area.
She could hear that, but she had to have the music going full blast?
He was starting to question her claim of deafness. It didn’t seem probable…not probable a’ tall.
Jessica
Jessica clenched her fingers into her cheap blue jeans.
When they were driving, she was fine, but stopping had caused her anxiety to flare up.
She hated being out here, where those things were.
She had been in the station for days. They had enough food and water, but not much else. She didn’t have any spare clothing like the officers did, and so had to wear her work clothes.
After two days, she began to smell.
After four days, they all did.
It was absolute heaven, getting to take a quick shower at the store.
She felt so bad for what happened to those people. She felt like they blamed her and the others for having to wait on them and getting trapped at Jack’s house for so long. Maybe if they hadn’t come by, they could have gotten back to their friends faster.
She heard the cat yammering in the back and wished they could just open the cage and let the thing go. It would probably be completely fine in the woods, and a lot happier. But Jonah and the cat had become inseparable.
He didn’t speak much, only sat and petted the cat.
She knew he was devastated at the loss of his mother. What was even worse, he had seen her die. How do you get over something like that? How would his father get over the death of his wife?
“What’s your cat’s name?” she asked quietly. She wanted to take both their minds off their troubles.
She didn’t think he was going to answer. She turned and glanced at him. He looked down. “Killer,” he murmured.
“Your cat’s name is Killer?” She smiled a little. “Should I ask why?”
“Because she kills things, obviously,” he said.
“Right,” she responded. She decided to stay silent.
She wrung her hands while she watched the woods. She didn’t like being surrounded by deep woods on one side and a cliff on the other. Practically a cliff anyway, maybe more like a bluff.
Still…it was an impassible obstruction.
She saw Cam walk past the car and lowered her gaze.
He made her extremely nervous. He took down those dead things like a machine, and she hadn’t seen any emotion on his face since he came back for them in the parking lot.
He was actually pretty terrifying.
She watched him walk over to Jim and Jack. Then Monica walked around the car to talk to Jim.
Jessica watched her put her hand on Jim’s arm. She said something.
He looked uncomfortable. He shook off her hand and smiled a little, but it was strained.
Jessica saw that Cam watched the exchange. His look turned calculating when Monica put her hands on Jim.
Jessica hadn’t been working for the department long, but everyone knew Monica had a thing for Jim. They used to be partners. Maybe they were more than partners back then.
She pulled a stick of gum from her purse and offered one to Jonah. He took it without a word, and they sat chewing for several more minutes.
She was glancing out the window, looking over the bluff, when she heard a shout from the woods on her right.
“Watch out!” she heard Jim say.
She turned back to her window and jumped in horror.
Not four feet away stood one of those monsters, and it was scrambling toward her window.
She screamed and jumped over the console to the driver’s seat.
“Stay there!” she heard Jack shout through the window as he ran for the walker.
“Jonah, get behind me!” she said, reaching an
arm out.
It fumbled along the passenger side, its hands squeaking across the glass. She hyperventilated and stared into the thing’s eyes. It was naked, and it obviously used to be a woman. She had grievous wounds to her stomach and neck.
The dead woman opened her mouth, her broken teeth and blackened tongue brushing the glass. It left streaks on black decay behind. It was sickening.
Jessica closed her eyes and heard crying from the back. It was coming from the boy and the cat.
“Everything’s going to be fine. The guys are going to get it,” she said, trying to keep her voice even.
She counted to ten in her head, and then once again. When she looked up, the thing was gone.
The door opened at her back and the smell of rotting putrid flesh filled the car. Strong hands grabbed her under her arms and hauled her out.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked her calmly.
She nodded and he released her. He opened the rear door and leaned in.
“Son, are you alright?” he asked Jonah.
Jonah nodded and turned away. The cat, in its cage, hissed and settled back down.
“What the hell Monica?! You were supposed to be watching that area! What were you thinking?” Jack yelled.
He was furious, and Jessica was glad it wasn’t turned on her.
“You were almost done. I only stepped away for a moment! They weren’t in any danger. I would have seen the thing before much longer anyway!” she yelled back.
Jack glared and turned his back on her. Jessica saw the anger on his face, the way he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. He was struggling to control it.
Jim took Monica by the arm and led her away. She couldn’t hear what they said, but he looked stern, and she seemed to calm down.
Cam stalked closer to Jack and Jessica. She edged to the car and scooted inside, leaving the driver’s door open.
“I won’t allow her to stay if she can’t take her responsibilities seriously. People’s lives depend on us. I don’t know how she handled herself at the department, but she isn’t a cop anymore, and I will kick her ass out if she puts anyone else in danger! Consider it her final warning,” he said, slinging a warning glance toward Monica herself.
Refuge From The Dead | Book 2 | Dead Summer Page 1
