“No,” Robert said. “Stand down. Alpha, Charlie teams… Fall in on the store. Let’s all be there when we find this guy. I’m en route. Over and out.”
Liam was surprised to hear they had found someone inside the store. Shelly had been so sure the woman’s husband was dead, based on what she read in the diary and what the woman had told her. Perhaps it was another survivor? Maybe the woman was double-crossing Shelly?
“Let’s go get this piece of shit,” Sam said, and all the distaste that had dissipated a few moments ago came crawling back into Liam’s stomach. Sam might have forgiven Liam for his son’s death, but he was still a terrible person, and Liam would need to ensure his actions didn’t affect any of the people he cared about.
Chapter 42
Grace winced and grit her teeth with every step on her injured foot. Shelly had given her something for the pain, but it hadn’t been very effective. Now it was as if the branch that punched through was still there, stabbing painfully into her flesh. She leaned on Shelly as the three of them hustled toward the store.
“It’s not too late,” Shelly insisted, but Robert marched on, determined—for reasons unclear to Shelly—to see the mission to the end. He walked quickly, as if the longer it took to get there the more likely it was that Shelly might be able to change his mind.
“It’s over,” he said. His breathing was slightly labored, the thin air and speed with which they moved no doubt forcing him to take only shallow breaths.
“It’s not, Robert!”
“In five seconds, we’re going to see my dad and if he hears us talking about this, I can’t help you.”
“Oh, so that’s it?” she asked dubiously. “You’re doing this for me? Well, trust me, I’m not asking for any favors.”
Robert stopped and faced Shelly. Grace, who’d been holding on to Shelly’s arm and been dragged along to this point, was happy to be able to rest her weight on her one good foot for the moment.
“I don’t care what you do or where you go after this,” Robert said, his voice low and stern. “But I don’t have a choice right now. All I can do is finish this out and then figure out what’s next.”
“And what is next?” Shelly asked.
Robert stared into her eyes and offered no response. Because there was none. He had no idea what would come next, but Shelly was certain that James would tell him.
“This isn’t you, Robert. You don’t kill people.”
“It’s not about killing people, it’s about…” His voice trailed off and he couldn’t finish.
“What is it about, Robert?” She allowed him time to think about it. When he said nothing, she offered, “And how many more people will have to die? As many as your father says?”
Before either of them said another word, James appeared with Kyle at his side. Grace remembered him. He was the shorter man from the day before, the one who tracked her through the woods with that other asshole, Tom. To Grace, he looked like a frightened, uncertain puppy following its master around not because it wants to, but because it doesn’t know any better. She caught his eye and he quickly looked away awkwardly—an even greater indication that the young man wanted to be elsewhere.
“There you are,” James said, his voice bellowing loudly. “Are we doing this or what?”
“Yeah, Dad, we’re just…” Robert watched his father’s eyes fall on Grace.
“Huh,” James mused.
“What’s up?” Robert asked.
“I figured you would have locked her up in the van, maybe.” Then he raised his eyebrows quickly and shook his head. “No matter. This might actually be better. Now she can watch her husband die.”
“Have I done something to you?” Grace asked. Her voice was unfriendly and exasperated.
“Excuse me, Miss?” James said.
Grace let go of Shelly’s arm and stood firmly on both feet. The pain sent lightning through her foot and leg, but she tried not to show it and remained steadfast.
“I understand you want me and my husband dead. This place holds a secret and you have to keep it. I get it, and that’s fine. But why do you hate us?”
James scoffed and appeared bemused.
“Seriously,” Grace continued. “Just do it already. Why does anyone have to ‘see’ anything? You got me, now just go find my husband and be done with it. What’s with all the, ‘she’s gonna watch her husband die!’ bullshit?”
James strode closer to Grace and he let his rifle fall at his side and hang from its shoulder strap. He produced a nine-millimeter pistol from a side holster and pressed it against her temple.
“Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice soft and hideous.
“I just want this to be over,” she said.
“Oh, don’t you worry… it’ll be over real soon.”
Grace heard the trigger mechanism tighten and James’ grin widened. “Good night, sweetheart,” he said.
“Dad,” Robert interjected. “We should really go.”
James turned to his son. His eye twitched and his breathing became heavy and scratchy.
“The longer we stall, the more time this guy has to prepare for us,” Robert insisted.
This finally seemed to register with James. His eyes regained focus and he winked at Grace.
“Smart boy, isn’t he?”
He eased his finger off the trigger and re-holstered the pistol. When he turned away, Grace caught Shelly firing daggers at her with her eyes, each one seemingly saying, “Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?”
Grace offered a sheepish curl of her lip and shrugged.
“Okay, let’s go” Robert said. “Dad… after you, sir.”
James smiled. “Kyle, you heard the man. Let’s move out.”
James and Kyle walked ahead of Robert, Shelly, and Grace. Grace again reached for Shelly’s arm for support. As she did, she saw Robert tug at the back of Shelly’s loose shirt. Shelly turned and Robert produced a small caliber pistol. There was no exchange of words; Robert only tucked the firearm into the waistband of Shelly’s cargo shorts and they continued walking.
Chapter 43
Grace stood next to Shelly inside the place she last saw Rose alive, and where she and Charlie had made a stand against the undead before they fled to the cafeteria just over a week ago.
The summit store.
The group formed a semi-circle around the door to the stockroom. A filling cabinet lay on its side and wedged the door closed. All the men had their weapons drawn and awaited the order to enter the room.
Just being here made the hair on Grace’s neck and arms stand up and her mind went back to the moment she and Charlie first happened upon Rose.
…zombies all around us…
…running out of bullets…
…Rose… she’s bitten!
Her body shook and she was back in the present. Grace hadn’t realized she bumped into Shelly, whose eyes widened with confusion. Shelly gently lifted her hands in a subtle get a hold of yourself gesture.
It was unusually quiet in the store. It seemed the men, who were at one time very vocal and arrogant about their actions, were now quite subdued and humbled. Apparently the men’s attitudes toward hunting down a human had changed now that the moment of truth was upon them.
There was nobody inside the stockroom, of course, and Grace tried to consider all consequences once they found out that Charlie was not on the summit. Would they figure out he was dead? Would the ruse be over? Surely they would ask questions, and Grace could only hope Shelly had some answers prepared.
She looked around at the group of men. She didn’t see Liam, the one Shelly said was on their side, but she had overheard James talk about dividing into two teams—one to remain in the store and one to head outside to the back door. There was an expectation that once the in-store team rushed inside the stockroom, the ‘target’ might try to exit out the back. If that happened, the second team would be there, ready to intercept.
Somewhere in her mind, compartmentalized along with th
e small piece of her psyche that wasn’t completely broken-hearted and shattered, Grace laughed. If these men only knew they had organized a search party for a man that no longer existed… there was a part of Grace that couldn’t wait to see the dumbfounded look on their faces.
“The fuck are you laughing at?”
Grace didn’t have to see who it was to know who had spoken; she recognized Tom’s voice immediately.
“It’s a well-known fact,” Shelly began, “that laughter is a natural reaction during times of major stress.”
Tom scoffed. “Whatever, Dr. Freud.”
Robert snapped his fingers.
“Tom, Shel… knock it off. We’re about to go in.”
Tom pounded a fist against his chest. “Well, hoo-fucking-rah.”
Robert glanced around quickly at the group. His eyes caught Grace’s briefly, and then Shelly’s, and Grace thought she noticed a bit of… hesitation, perhaps. Or was it maybe remorse? Maybe a silver lining?
His next words into the radio snuffed out any light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
“Dad, it’s Robert. We’re ready, over.”
Liam stood quietly with the others. They were outside in the rear parking lot, just behind the store. A large door that opened only from the inside stood between them and whatever they were about to discover.
A whole lot of nothing, Liam thought to himself.
James stood closest to the door. A few of the other men who had originally been tasked with searching other parts of the mountain now joined them and waited. Liam didn’t know any of them.
Peter leaned in close and whispered to Liam, “How did it go with Sam?”
The question surprised him and he had little patience to answer it. “Uh, it went good I, I guess.”
“Are you sure?”
Liam didn’t understand why it was important to his father at this moment.
“Yeah, Dad. I don’t… why are you asking me this?”
“I just want to make sure you felt safe.”
Liam laughed.
“Really? You pick now as the time to start caring?”
“Come on, that’s not fair. It’s not like I never cared.”
“Jesus, Dad.” Liam shook his head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Is it really so hard to believe?”
“Twenty-eight years of having you as my dad? Yeah, it’s a bit hard to take right now.”
“Well, for what it’s worth… I’m sorry. And I just want you to know how proud I am of you.”
Liam stared darkly into his father’s eyes.
“What are you proud of, Dad?”
Peter’s head tilted slightly and he knitted his brow. His mouth opened but before he could respond, Robert’s voice came over the radio. The team inside was ready.
It was time.
“Copy that,” James said into the radio. “Ready out here. Over and out.” James stuck the radio to a Velcro pad on his shoulder. Then he addressed the team: “Weapons ready, gentlemen. When this asshole comes running out, we intercept. We do not shoot. Nobody needs to catch an errant bullet in the chest. Understand?”
The group nodded.
“All right. Look alive. Here we go.”
Chapter 44
Robert gave a nod to the man standing closest to the door. Grace didn’t recognize him—he wasn’t part of the original group from the camp store—and thought he looked nervous, but was he compliant and turned the handle.
He opened the door slowly and quietly. Beads of sweat ran down his and many other faces despite the crisp summit temperature, and all weapons trained on the opening.
At first, there was nothing.
Several of the men looked at each other, confused. Even Robert didn’t seem to know what to do next.
“We know you’re in there,” he finally said. “So come on out.”
Grace recognized the sound that followed. It was just like the one she heard a little over a week ago when she escaped from the cafeteria on her first visit to the summit. There was a sudden indication of movement. Disjointed and vague. Then it seemed to find some direction and Grace knew what was coming.
Instinct told her to get out and her feet unconsciously moved backward. She could no longer feel the pain in her foot.
Shelly, who’d had her arm linked with Grace’s, looked back.
“What…” she started to ask, but then her face went white with horror when she understood Grace’s reaction.
The horde erupted from the stockroom and the undead were on the men closest to the door before they could squeeze their triggers. The secondary men, the ones behind the front line, stood motionless, their eyes having momentarily deceived them. None of them could believe what they saw.
Grace, unfortunately, had witnessed this kind of carnage before.
The element of surprise allowed the undead to surge through the first men they encountered. Sprays of blood, cries of agony, and chaos filled the room quickly, and Shelly finally pulled back with Grace as the zombies advanced on the team.
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” came the order from Robert, and the men, once frozen with fear, re-discovered their weapons and began shooting.
The initial gunfire was erratic, hitting only torsos and limbs, if anything at all. Grace understood, probably better than these men, that the only way to put down the dead was to destroy their heads. But as the men shot aimlessly and recklessly, Grace realized they were overwhelmed and underprepared.
She yanked Shelly’s arm and when their eyes met again, Grace nodded toward the front door. Shelly nodded in agreement, and then looked up and searched through the anarchy, presumably to see where Robert was.
Grace tugged her arm again. “There’s no time!” she yelled. “Now is our chance.”
Shelly gritted her teeth, nodded once more, albeit reluctantly, and they raced out the front door and into the open air.
“What the hell is going on in there?!” James shouted into the radio. “Robert, come in, over!”
The men all shared looks of concern as they tried to determine what had caused the commotion inside.
Then they heard the shooting. Lots of shooting.
“Robert, come in!” James shouted again, but there was no answer. He then turned to the group. “I need--”
“I’ll go,” Liam cut him off.
Peter reached for his son’s arm. “Liam, I--”
“I got it, Dad.”
As he broke into a run, James stopped him.
“Your dad’s right, Liam. You should stay here. Kyle…”
Kyle looked alarmed, like he didn’t want to be selected for any kind of side mission.
“Run back to the store,” James continued, “and see what’s going on!”
“But I--” Kyle refused.
“Hurry!” James shouted.
Without further dispute, Kyle took off.
His feet moved swiftly and he wondered if he was running so fast because James had ordered him or because he wanted to be as far away from the man as possible. As much as he didn’t want to go inside the store, he didn’t want to piss the man off any more than he had when they were together in the cafeteria. Kyle was terrified of James, and while the apple seemingly hadn’t fallen far from the tree, he was otherwise happier to assist Robert since it meant putting some distance between himself and James.
When he made it to the other side of the building, he stared through the glass door.
The inside of the store was pure chaos. One after the other, the undead emerged from the stockroom and ambushed Robert’s team. A few men were still on their feet fighting while others lay motionless on the floor, and Kyle couldn’t tell if they were dead or… dead. A couple of men had head wounds that were obviously fatal and Kyle didn’t concern himself with them. Others appeared injured but continued to roll around on the floor. Were they turning, or had they perhaps sustained only superficial injuries and were otherwise okay?
As he considered a variety of scenarios, movement caught his eye.
The two women, Shelly and the girl who were supposed to be with Robert’s team in the store, had apparently escaped and were now rushing toward the opposite end of the parking lot.
Were they injured? Had either of them been bitten? Did Robert know they were gone?
The way Shelly seemed to look left and right, pause… and then run again suggested they had left of their own volition and that Robert was completely unaware. Instinctively, Kyle wanted to call out to them, to ask if they were okay, but they were too far away and by now James would have expected an update.
Kyle saw the women change direction, and his eyes wandered along their new path. He saw what was ahead of them and knew exactly where they were going. It finally dawned on him what was happening, and he understood what he had to do now.
He tightened his grip on the rifle and entered the store.
Over the sounds of bullets and shouts and knife blades being plunged into the heads of the undead, Kyle shouted Robert’s name.
Robert shoved a zombie off him and turned to Kyle. “Where is everybody?” he asked.
“Outside!”
Kyle felt a sudden presence to his right and saw one of the men approach him. He recognized the man and thought his name was either Devin or Sawyer or Bailey, but couldn’t remember his name. He had been with a group covering another part of the mountain, but had shown up at the summit, with many others, on Robert’s orders. The man’s skin was ashen and his face was bloodied, much different than how Kyle remembered him from a couple days ago. He lunged toward Kyle with his mouth agape and teeth exposed. Kyle dodged to his left and shoved the man to the floor. When he pushed himself up, the man turned to Kyle and bared his teeth again. This time he let out a terrible, scratchy growl. He lunged again but his head suddenly exploded and the man dropped lifelessly to the floor. The shot had come from Kyle’s right.
Robert lowered his rifle and took a deep breath.
“Thanks,” Kyle said.
“That was close!” Robert warned him. “’Gotta take care of yourself!”
Kyle nodded.
Dead Summit: Containment Page 20
