Z-Boat (Book 2): Z-Topia
Page 27
A bright light shone down and the sound of a dozen guns priming made the hairs on Ally’s arm rise.
“Where’s Charlie?” a burly looking man asked.
“Dead, you didn’t hear the explosion?”
Groans and gurgles closed in.
“Get up here and bring the case.”
The smell of death made its way up to her. Something gripped her calf and she jumped, not expecting it. She kicked it loose and smashed the head with the butt of the prototype. When she examined the ground dozens of eyes mere feet away met her gaze.
“You need to send down some rope so I can—” Ally said.
“This hatch will close in two minutes, whether you’re up here or not.”
Ally wanted to scream in frustration. They knew she was surrounded by the things, the bright light in her eyes proof enough. If they thought scaring her would produce different results, they were mistaken.
“If you want the case send me some damn rope, and move your ass. I’m about to get swept off my damn feet.”
Someone grunted but moved. A minute later a length of cable appeared in front of her, best they could do on short notice she guessed. She grabbed it and made sure it was as tight as possible around the destroyed case.
A snap down the corridor let her know time had run out. The rest of the horde was less than a dozen feet away, rotten hands and boney fingers scratching her boots. They might be on their bellies, but it didn’t make them any less scary. The need to glance down every few seconds and worry about being pulled down into waiting mouths, elevated her fear. She ran and yanked on the cable.
“Start pulling.”
Ally made her way up the ladder making sure nothing happened to the ball as they reeled it in. Halfway up she heard someone swear and the case fell five feet before stopping.
“What the hell is going on?”
“The cable’s fraying. You need to move.”
Ally stayed a few feet below in order to catch the case if it fell again. At the hatch the same men who’d been with James pulled her up by her shoulders. When they looked at the case their displeasure was evident. She assumed they’d toss her right back into the tunnel and let the waiting mouths of the undead below take care of her.
The sound of metal grating made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Behind her the opening was shut and something heavy pushed on top of it.
“What the hell is this?” An older man poked her.
“I never said the case was usable, and as for its condition you can thank your buddy Charlie. He’s the one who thought it would be a good idea to use a damn decimator next to it.”
The man threw the case on the ground and what remained of it shattered. He stomped away and Ally waited to see what would happen next. Joseph sat on a bench across from her, a dejected look on his face. He bled from various wounds, and the hole in his head worried her. Nothing they could do about it now, either he was okay or damaged.
She didn’t have it in her to care anymore and walked away. After an hour of wandering she ended up in the control room. From the outside she heard several people arguing, but once she entered they stopped.
“Get out of here.” A large man pointed to the door to emphasize his point.
Ally waited a minute before saying anything.
“You have no idea what I’ve been through. I have seen more of this hell than you could imagine. I have been screwed over, had people try to kill me, and my life has been destroyed. I know you worked for an egomaniac who wanted to rule the world and now that he’s gone you’ve got no idea what to do.”
She stepped further into the room when no one told her to shut up or shot her.
“All of you are worthless mercenaries who don’t give a damn about anyone but yourselves. Which is fine, because the reality of the world we live in right now is every man for himself. Those satellite images you’re looking at, let me guess fewer and fewer bodies above room temperature.”
A young woman on her left spoke up. “It seems the outbreak is more severe than we anticipated.”
“Shut up, Rachel,” the large man said.
“Noah, it doesn’t matter anymore. There is no us or them, hell, if we aren’t careful there won’t be anyone.”
Ally cut in, “How well is this place stocked for rations?”
“For the amount of people here, a week at the most,” Rachel said.
“You can stretch it to two weeks then. While we wait we need to look at more of those tunnel maps and find out if there are any other places we can access to get more supplies. We’re going to be stuck here until those things die or we do.”
“Who the hell put you in charge? As far as we know you’re a traitor,” Noah yelled.
Ally felt the fire in her belly burn bright at the accusation. In the blink of an eye she was across the room and had the big man on his knees with his wrist in her hands holding his elbow high up behind his back.
“Never call me that unless you want to die. I love this country more than any of you in this room. I understand what it means to bleed for the flag you have on that wall. None of you give a damn about anything but the payoff so don’t dare call yourself patriots in my company. What Charlie planned to do was blackmail the world and kill those who didn’t pay up. He was the traitor.”
“None of you know what the hell is going on, and the only reason you have survivors out there is for appearances. I would like the human race to survive, and don’t give a damn who was in charge or what orders they left. As of now, consider them cancelled. I’m taking over this operation, if you have an issue with it feel free to leave.”
“You can’t come in here and take over. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Ally kicked the man in the side with her knee for good measure.
“I’m the one who’s been surviving on the outside for the last few weeks. They say I can’t die. You want to challenge me? Let’s go.”
The man rubbed his arm and looked away. None of the others came to his rescue or stopped her as she walked out of the room. They would never learn to trust one another, but if they could work with each other they might be able to come out of this alive. But she doubted it.
She caught a glimpse of the most recent satellite images. Billions of heat signatures once lit up population tracking display screens, there were less than a million now. They were outnumbered and nowhere was safe anymore.
The image of the girl with the rag doll came to mind. Could Ally save them? Would this ragtag group of cut throats be enough to fend off enemies ranging in the millions? Probably not, but like they said, she had a bleeding heart and would do her best.
About the Author
Suzanne Robb is the author of Z-Boat, Were-wolves, Apocalypses, and Genetic Mutation, Oh my!, and Contaminated. In her free time she reads, watches movies, plays with her dog, and enjoys chocolate and LEGO’s.
Table of Contents
Onset
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
About the Author
s