He went out into the hall and did a quick patrol down the stairwell. The darkness and uneasy atmosphere made him claustrophobic. He could feel his breathing becoming shallower.
The red lens of his headlamp gave everything an ominous glow.
They hadn’t cleared any of the other parts of the building, so he was extremely cautious as he navigated the unfamiliar hallways in the dark.
Thunder crashed overhead and he could hear the wind picking up, adding to the menacing atmosphere. His dread increased.
The cavernous drill hall was faintly illuminated, but it wasn’t enough to provide him with a clear field of view. It was less claustrophobic, but he wasn’t sure if it was any less anxiety provoking.
He checked around, making sure the closed hallways remained closed. At the end of his watch, he went back upstairs.
He had an uneasy feeling that he couldn’t shake. He tried to rationalize it. Anyone would be uncomfortable in this situation. It was a normal reaction.
Wasn’t it?
Yet, it didn’t relieve his anxiety. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead and grimaced at his sweat-soaked t-shirt. He pulled the fabric away from his body, trying to dissipate some of the heat.
He looked over to where Cam was stretched out on the floor near the sofa. He was sleeping soundly.
How did he do that?!
As a former police officer, he had been in a lot of stressful situations. He had to learn how to close off his emotions from his work. Cops couldn’t lose their shit and do their job properly.
Cam, however, he took Zen to the next level.
Jim didn’t want to admit it, but Cam’s calmness in the face of all the horrible situations they had been through probably kept him from losing his shit.
He had an edge that Jim could only aspire to replicate. He couldn’t let those thoughts rule his head. He was tired, and he had trouble staying positive when he was tired.
He gently kicked Cam’s boot to wake him. He knew better than to get up close and personal. Cam’s eyes opened immediately, and Jim saw him clench the axe in his hands.
“Your watch,” he whispered to Cam in the dark.
Cam sat up swiftly, running his hand back through his hair.
“See anything?” Cam asked him.
“We’ve got company,” Jim said, motioning toward the window.
Cam moved up to the window and Jim saw his biceps bulge as he gripped the axe harder. Lightning illuminated his profile: Cam’s face was stone.
“Shit,” Cam said,
“Yep, we’ll be doing some more yardwork before we leave here.”
Cam
Morning came and Cam awakened Angie. They had let her sleep. Nick volunteered to take her watch, but Cam couldn’t get back to sleep.
His insomnia hadn’t just gone away because the dead took over the nation.
He wished he had a cup of coffee but settled for a bottle of water and an MRE pound cake with applesauce. It certainly wasn’t Jessica’s cooking, that was for sure.
He finished chewing the last of the cake as Angie sat up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She had beautiful hair. It was brown and shone red in the sun. The tips just barely brushed the top of her ass.
It was unfortunate that it was a hazard to her health.
He told her more than once that it was probably a bad idea to keep it that long, but she couldn’t bring herself to cut it. He was secretly glad.
He loved wrapping his hands in it…
Jim caught him staring and cleared his throat.
“Let’s get this mess cleaned up so we can leave,” Cam said.
Nick and Angie prepared to start firing down on the new crowd from their previous positions. Jim and Cam took the other window.
They commenced, now immune to the exploding heads and faces of the unfortunate walkers.
Cam stopped seeing them as people long ago— probably back during the first day, in the parking lot.
He really liked that thermos too and was sad to have to use it to take down a disease-ridden walking pus-bag. He couldn’t ever drink out of it after that, which was a real shame.
An hour later they were putting down the straggling Zs. The tents and the bodies on the ground made it difficult to see them all clearly. Angie had to take a break and stretch her hands and shrug her shoulders a bit to loosen up. He had become conditioned to it and shooting that long was still a little uncomfortable for him. He could only imagine how sore she must be.
When they were finished, Cam picked up his ruck, his weapon, and his axe and left the room. The others followed, their spirits buoyed because they were getting to go home.
They probably only had a small window of time before the fallen wave of dead was replaced by another.
They jogged down the stairs and into the large bay where they each took a Humvee. Cam wished they had brought along a couple of extra people to man the turrets. Monica and Bradley maybe.
They would all need training on the heavy weapons.
Nick opened the door, squinting at the bright cheery sunshine. He lowered his glasses and motioned the others forward. After he drove the last vehicle out, he shut the door behind them. Cam thought that was a good idea. They may need to come back some day.
Cam took the lead, driving out toward the front. He saw the dead piled up around the gate. Most of the dead were actually dead now, but a few ankle-biters still crawled along weakly, not willing or able to give up their fight for meat. He hopped out and raised a staying hand to the others.
He walked over to the fence and unlatched the mechanism. It didn’t roll open easily. Bony body parts and decaying flesh had caught all along the track on the bottom and he had to force it through.
He opened it up all the way and returned to the Humvee. He looked back at the others and thought for a moment, then radioed to Angie and explained how to shift into and out of four-wheel drive. She might need it.
He asked Nick if he understood and received an affirmative. They were good to go.
He switched to into four-wheel drive low and pulled forward. He felt the Humvee gain traction against the mound of dead and begin to climb a little before sinking down into the mire of decomposing corpses. He needed more speed or even the Army workhorse could get bogged down.
He didn’t relish wading through thigh-high rotting corpses, once was enough for any man.
He accelerated through, feeling the tires bump over some corpses and flatten others. Gore splattered the sides, and the stench became overpowering. It was like sitting in the middle of a slaughterhouse full of rotting remains in the summertime.
Not pleasant.
They all made it through, and he pulled to a stop, disengaging the four-wheel drive. He picked up the radio and realized that he would need to give them all a radio comms class or two once they got back.
“Go ahead and switch back to two-wheel, overdrive. We’ll be moving along faster on the highway but follow me. Don’t push it.”
They drove down the armory’s driveway toward the main road and he was unsure of what to expect. This area was rural and mostly residential, but they used it for some kind of evacuation route and that concerned him. They passed a couple of farms, seeing no signs of life.
Cam veered, braking suddenly at the barrier across the road.
What the hell?
Apparently, someone was taking advantage of this blind corner.
He called back and gave the order for the others to do a speedy reverse. He was glad they hadn’t followed him too closely, otherwise there might have been a pileup.
“Well…this day’s really turning into a soup sandwich,” Jim commented cheerfully, walking up to Cam’s window and leaning in.
Cam closed his eyes and counted to five.
Jessica
Jessica opened her eyes in the dark, feeling a heaviness in her lap.
She reached down and felt the top of Jack’s head. He was sleeping, hopefully. When the sun came up, Bradley was going to stitch up the
cut in his head. They would need to get out of here and assess the damage to the island too.
After Brad had come down with Monica, right before the tornado hit, he had shut down the generator. Pretty good thinking on his part.
After Jack lost consciousness, Bradley took charge. She felt better having a plan of action.
He said Jack should be okay, but they would have to make sure he took it easy for a while. He was going to have one heck of a headache when he woke up.
Jess looked at her watch. Dawn was a few hours away. She wondered where the other team was. She hoped they were safe.
Sporadic sounds of creaking and shifting filled the space. The others nervously eyed the ceiling overhead. It held so far, but they would need to leave soon.
“Jessica, do you think my Dad will be okay?” Jonah asked, subdued.
“Yes, I think he will. We’ll get him fixed up soon, and once he wakes up, we’ll all move somewhere more comfortable,” she replied.
She saw him thinking about it as he nodded and went to sit back down next to Brad. Monica was sitting next to Jean, who had woken up shortly after they carried her in here. She was her normal self and Brad seemed to think she would have no issues. They still had to monitor her for problems.
“Cam and the others should be back soon, don’t you think?” she said, hoping for agreement.
“They should, unless they got overrun or something,” Monica said, somewhat unhelpfully.
“Gee thanks. That makes me feel so much better,” Jess said with a sigh.
“Put your big girl panties on cupcake. This world won’t be kind to people who can’t handle reality.”
“I think I’m well aware of that,” Jess replied.
“Cut it out, both of you,” Brad said.
Surprisingly enough, Monica listened. She shrugged and got up.
“I’m going to go outside. I can’t stand being in here another minute,” Monica said.
“Come back and give me a damage report in ten minutes,” Bradley told her.
She raised an eyebrow at his tone, but he didn’t back down. She nodded and left. Jessica saw her enter the generator room and assumed she would exit via the movable vents back there. That was probably how they all would need to leave.
“I’m thinking we’ll probably need to be looking for a new place to sleep,” she said, trying to block out her anxiety.
“Yeah. Maybe the cabins are okay,” Brad said.
“Back in my day we had a tornado that took out an entire town. All dead,” Jean said perversely. “Even the animals. Folks were digging up bodies for months afterward.”
“Thanks, Jean. If that was an attempt to lift our spirits it failed miserably,” Bradley said, scratching his chin.
He was growing out his facial hair and she thought Ed was completely spot on. He looked just like that guy in the pirate movie…only smaller.
And more sober.
They looked up anxiously as the ceiling groaned again. Dust skittered down on them.
“I think we should get out of here now,” Jess said to them.
“Alright. I’ll help you get Jack out. Jean, can you go with Jonah?” Brad asked.
“Sure. We’ll go out there and have a look at those cabins. Maybe I’ll tell him all about my days during the war.”
Jonah sent them a pleading look.
“Keep it appropriate, Jean,” Jessica reminded.
“Well, heck! None of my stories are appropriate!” Jean said indignantly.
Bradley lifted Jack under the arms, dragging him backward through the basement. Jess hurried and went through into the generator room. The vent guards had already been removed and she waited for Brad to make it in.
“Here,” she said, rushing forward and helping to lift his feet up and out of the room.
Outside, it was still dark. All that was visible was a faint lightening of the eastern horizon. Jean and Jonah had wandered to stand in front of the cabins.
There was nothing left. Destroyed piles of lumber and other building materials were all that remained of their luxurious refuge, and the cabins fared no better.
It was all gone.
“Damn,” Bradley breathed in shock.
The devastation was crushing. Her spirits plummeted. They went from having a real place— a comfortable place— to being basically homeless. She wondered what they would do now.
“What do we do?” she asked them.
The women and Jonah looked to Bradley.
“We get the tents set up,” he said.
Angie
Angie walked toward Cam’s Humvee where Jim and Nick had gathered.
“What was that?” she asked him.
“Looked like a roadblock. Probably an ambush point, if those who set it up are still among the living,” Cam said.
She looked around, feeling an unnerving sensation of being watched, but could just be her imagination. She went back to get her rifle from the vehicle, feeling stupid for leaving it behind in the first place.
She walked back over to the men. Nick and Jim were talking about going back to cut a Humvee-sized hole in the fence behind the armory. Cam was looking off into the woods uneasily.
“So, what do we do now?” she asked him.
“I suggest we put our hands up really slow,” Cam said, raising both hands.
Angie and the others looked at him in shock.
“What?” Nick asked.
Jim was scanned the trees slowly, then followed Cam’s lead.
“Hands up! Now!” Jim whispered urgently to them.
Angie and Nick raised their hands. Angie looked where the men were looking and started to see shapes emerge. A group appeared through the brush, and they were armed. She swallowed, a phantom pain flaring in her throat.
“Well, well, well…travelers,” said a man.
He was dressed in a military uniform. The others were dressed similarly.
Angie was surprised to see a woman in the group, though she looked just as unwelcoming as the men. She was also wearing a uniform.
“I’m Colonel Roberts, and these are my guys. I’m going to need you to put down your weapons now,” he said.
Angie looked fearfully at Cam and Jim.
Jim was looking at Cam. Cam was staring hard at Roberts, and Angie could see his fists clenching repeatedly.
“Why should we put down our weapons? We’re no threat to you,” Cam said finally.
“First of all, because I said so. Those guns pointed at you right now aren’t fake buddy. Second, you people are criminals. You stole those Humvees, and probably a good amount of gear, from my armory,” said the colonel.
Cam nodded. “Fair enough. We put down our weapons and you let us go? Your word as an officer?” Cam asked.
The colonel nodded.
Cam looked at Jim, then back toward Angie and Nick.
He stared right through them, blinking rapidly, and sending a silent message. Angie didn’t know what it was.
“Give them your weapons,” Cam said, as he cocked his head to the side.
Nick’s forehead furrowed in a frown, then he nodded.
Cam walked forward and stood directly in front of the leader. He very slowly pulled his rifle sling over his head, and gently crouched down to lay it at the feet of the colonel. He turned back once more to Angie and the others, then faced the front.
He reached his hand up for the axe handle.
Jim had a sudden coughing fit.
“Uhuhuhuh! Sorry, I—” Jim’s apology was interrupted.
Cam swung the axe around in a tight arc, unlooping the sling in the process and buried the axe into Colonel Roberts’ left side. He jerked it out and used the momentum to bury it in the top of Roberts’ head, ending him forever. He’d done it just as if the man had been one of the walkers.
“What the fuck!” a man to the side shouted. He raised his rifle to shoot Cam.
Jim shot him in the face, and Nick fired at the other man. Angie stared in disbelief at the violence. It had
happened so suddenly, within seconds.
She saw the woman raising her weapon to shoot at them, and Angie quickly raised hers and fired, a three round burst hitting her squarely in the stomach.
Angie’s breathing came faster, and she felt light-headed. She looked over at Nick, who seemed to feel the exact same way. Jim was stalking toward the fallen men and taking their weapons. Angie went over to the woman she had shot.
She was still alive.
She took her weapon away and stood back up. She flinched and whipped her head around as gunfire rang out again.
Cam had executed the survivors.
They all walked over to Angie and the woman. Jim put a hand on Angie’s back in support and reassurance and she leaned into it. She didn’t feel well.
“Who are you?” Cam asked the woman.
The woman grunted in pain and clutched her stomach.
“Sarah,” she said.
“Why were you planning to ambush us?”
“It was Roberts’ idea. He thought people coming from the armory would have good weapons and stuff. He used to work there. He was the janitor.”
“That was a monumentally stupid idea, and it has gotten you all killed. Did you not consider the fact that people coming from the armory with all these supposed weapons, would also most likely use said weapons?” Cam asked.
“I told him it was a stupid idea, but he was the leader. The others were too afraid of him to speak up. He had connections to other groups, and he threatened to send their women and children off to those other groups. They are bad people,” she said.
“And you guys aren’t?”
“We didn’t hurt children, and the women didn’t get it too bad if we did as we were told,” she answered.
“Where did you come from?” Jim asked her.
“Roberts’ found me and the others in a jail in the next town over. We were trapped in there and he got us out. He had a small camp and took us there. It’s just up the road a bit, near the fairgrounds. We’re camped out at the pavilion there.”
“How many are back at your camp?” Cam continued.
“About twenty. Some men, but they didn’t like Roberts’ and his men. They were left to guard the camp. They’ll probably leave as soon as they figure out that we aren’t coming back. They just wanted to protect their families.”
Refuge From The Dead | Book 2 | Dead Summer Page 19
