All The Beautiful People (A Dread Novel Book 1)

by Jonathan Yanez

  The next moment two guards followed Wade into the room, their expressions firm. Although they didn’t lift their weapons toward her, Taylor knew that was within their orders if things took a turn for the worst.

  Wade exchanged a stern glance with the doctor. “Dr. Spear, if you would sedate Miss Hart?”

  Taylor’s pulse quickened. Adrenaline leaked into her system as the fight or flight response kicked in.

  “We have to take every precaution, Taylor,” Wade said as Dr. Spear moved hesitantly to a tray with syringes. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

  Taylor stood from her chair as the guards advanced on her. She had a second to decide what she was going to do. There was no doubt in her mind she could escape. Even without her newfound power, she easily outmatched the four people in the room.

  As the first guard grabbed her wrist with a vice-like grip, instinct made Taylor’s decision for her. She would not be taken. She couldn’t allow herself to be drugged and in a cell while the darkness attacked the Ark. Too many people depended on her.

  With speed that surprised even her, Taylor struck out with her free palm. Her chop landed between the guard’s Kevlar vest and the chinstrap to his helmet. Her blow met his Adam’s apple with enough impact for him to gag and fall to the floor. The second guard received a kick to the groin that sent him falling to the floor after his partner.

  Although neutralizing the guards had taken Taylor a total of three seconds, the time was enough for Doctor Spear to lunge forward with the needle in her hand. Taylor stopped her in midair. With no more than a thought, she tore the needle from the doctor’s hand and redirected the point at her.

  With a large swallow, Dr. Spear backed up over the bodies of the fallen guards, her eyes never wavering from the syringe that hovered in the air tracking her movements.

  The doctor retraced her steps back until she stood beside Wade once again. Taylor maneuvered the needle until it halted in a position in front of the two of them. “I didn’t want this,” she said. “I’m not your enemy.”

  If Wade felt scared, he didn’t show it. Instead he waved a phone in his hand. Sirens blared throughout the building. “It’s over, Taylor,” Wade said, pocketing his phone. “That signal will send every available body to my position within seconds. You can’t win.”

  “Win?” Taylor said as she walked to the room’s door. “This was never about winning or losing. It was about saving these people from the attack that’s coming.”

  Taylor heard running boots down the hall. Any further conversation would have to wait if she was going to escape. Without another word, she allowed the needle to fall to the exam room floor and broke into a run.

  She only made it a few yards down the hall before she heard the shout to halt. Taylor ignored the warning. A window waited for her at the end of the long hall corridor. In a few feet, she would be through the window and outside.

  With her escape yards away, Taylor felt two electric currents course through her body. She willed her muscles to move forward but the stun gun was too strong. Taylor fell to the floor unconscious, mere feet from her freedom.

  CHAPTER 45

  No dreams came to her. Only feelings accompanied her unconscious state, the sensation of doom. Dread feasted on her psyche like a starved vulture gorging itself on a recently dead carcass.

  Taylor’s eyes fluttered open. It was becoming a habit for her to wake up in secure white-walled rooms with bright lights set into the ceiling. She could hear voices, something or someone tugging at her wrists and ankles. Slowly, the voices took on identities and then muffled words.

  “Taylor? Taylor, can you hear me?”

  It was Frank. Taylor opened her eyes fully to see Frank and Cidney working on the restraints holding her to a hospital bed.

  “What happened? Where am I?”

  “You were stunned,” Frank explained as he released the last restraint holding her to the bed.

  “And you were drugged,” Cidney said. “They drugged you really good.”

  Recollections of the events leading up to her present state stirred within Taylor. Closely following the return of her memory came the fear for safety for her friends. “You two shouldn’t be here. If Wade finds out you’re helping me, it’s not going to go well for you.”

  Cidney scrunched her brow with a forlorn look and said, “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “It’s a little too late for that,” Frank said.

  “What do you mean?”

  Although Taylor asked the question, she had a sick feeling she already knew the answer.

  Frank motioned her to sit up as he confirmed the worst. “About an hour ago, Jason and his team picked up a large mass coming toward the Ark. The surveillance drones caught sight of a…” Frank’s voice quivered, “…a gigantic mass of infected. Larger than we’ve seen here, larger than we thought possible in Alaska.”

  Taylor put a hand to her head. The anesthesia was wearing off and a lingering headache pulsed behind her eyes.

  “The mass of infected already moved past the automatic turrets. Captain Martin and his men retreated in time from the watchtowers. They’re setting up a defense around the compound wall as we speak. Every able-bodied man or woman is assisting with the protection of the base.”

  Frank’s voice had gone from stressed to fearful during his short explanation.

  Cidney tugged at her sleeve. The girl handed Taylor her boots with a wink. Mind muddled by the sedatives, Taylor realized that she wore the same clothes she had on when she was taken by Wade and his men. Taylor smiled at Cidney and accepted her boots. “How long have I been out?” she asked, tugging on her footwear.

  “Only since this morning,” Frank said with the same hint of fear in his voice. “It’s night now.”

  “And why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?” Frank asked.

  Taylor secured her second boot with a quick jerk of her wrists around the shoelaces. She lifted her eyes to Frank’s and met him with a level stare. “Why are you helping me?”

  Frank’s eyes roamed away from Taylor’s as he answered in a harsh croak. “I—don’t know how it’s all connected. I—I think there’s a reason you have your gift of telekinesis. I saw the report sent in by the drones. They are coming by the thousands, maybe more. These walls aren’t going to keep them out, something else has to.”

  Frank lifted his eyes to take in Taylor. She knew every word he had said was true. His eyes were a mix of distress and hope. Taylor rose from the bed with an awkward wobble.

  A distant popping sound could be heard from outside the facility. Taylor couldn’t help think the noise was similar to the sound of kernels popping in a microwave.

  CHAPTER 46

  “What is that?” Frank asked, turning to the open door of the lab room.

  “It’s gunfire,” Taylor said, making her way to the door.

  “Wait!” Cidney screamed. She ran to Taylor and wrapped her arms around Taylor’s legs in a huge hug. “Where are you going?”

  It would be easy to continue to walk and ignore the small girl’s request. Maybe the Taylor a few days ago would have, but an unexplainable change was occurring inside her. Taylor knelt down and took Cidney’s cheeks in both her hands. With the background racket of gunfire behind her, she kissed Cidney on the brow.

  “I’ll be back. I promise. Stay with Frank.”

  Cidney’s eyes pooled with tears. She nodded. “Be safe.”

  Taylor released the girl and stood.

  “What are you going to do?” Frank asked.

  Taylor shrugged. “I don’t know. I do think that the power I have was given to me for a reason. Maybe this is it.”

  Taylor turned her back to her two friends and walked into the hall. Frank was right. Wade must have ordered everyone to the outside wall. Every room she passed was vacant, every hall she walked down bare. As she got closer to the front entrance, the sound of gunfire grew. To her trained ears, she started picking out certain
weapons. Each firearm had its own voice in a conversation; M4-68s, FN P90s, even Kimber 1911s spoke of their fury in her ears.

  Taylor reached the front door. So far she hadn’t seen a soul. She knew that would change once she left the safety of the building. To her right stood a long rack of jackets, all except a few already taken. Taylor reached for a thick charcoal gray coat with a warm lining.

  A chill of fear poked at Taylor’s skin as she zipped up the coat. An almost tangible dread pushed against her resolve to leave the lab building and assist. A tiny voice in her mind listed reasons why she shouldn’t help.

  You don’t owe them anything. They drugged you and were going to use you as a lab rat. You can still run. There has to be a back exit somewhere. You can take Cidney and Frank. Running is the smartest option. Even if you do somehow succeed in fighting off the attack, what then? Do you think Wade is going to forget what you can do? Do you think there can be any absolution for you in his eyes?

  Taylor set her jaw and forced the voice from her mind. If she was going to have any chance at all, she needed to be focused. She could only control her own actions. If she made it to see the following morning, the rest would have to be sorted out then.

  Taylor braced herself and pushed open the door leading to the mayhem outside. The scene took her breath away.

  CHAPTER 47

  Taylor’s senses were overwhelmed. The cacophony of guns firing built to a crescendo that made her wish for earplugs. The wind’s icy fingers were poking and probing for any path through her layers of clothing. Most of all, she felt terror at the sight of the Ark walls.

  Frank wasn’t exaggerating when he said that every able-bodied man and woman had been called upon to defend the compound. The tall wall that protected the facility in a half circle was full. In a long, single-file line, bodies armed with fully automatic weapons rained down lead on the attacking horde.

  Although Taylor didn’t see the infected, she could hear them. Above the gunfire was a much larger noise. It took her a moment to identify the sound. It was the noise of thousands of collective moans and mumbles, spreading inner beauty, the infected wanted only one thing: to spread the darkness living inside them all.

  Without thinking, Taylor ran for the wall. If she could find Captain Martin first, surely he would see the benefit of her gift. He would see the tactical advantage to having her defend the wall and make Wade see it as well.

  Snow crunching under her boots, she made for one of the two stairwells leading to the top of the battlements.

  Her breath come out in harsh clouds against the freezing night air. As soon as the vaporous poofs exited her mouth, they were gone. Taking the stairs two at a time, Taylor broached the middle of the chaos. Runners climbed the steps up and down, bringing ammunition to those firing on the wall. A kind of desperation muddled the scene as the defenders fought back their panic. Everyone knew what was at stake. This was not a fight for their own lives; it was a fight for humanity’s existence on Earth.

  Taylor reached the top of the wall without being stopped. Her eyes raced across a dozen different faces, none of them anyone she recognized. Her need to find Captain Martin or even Jason was paramount but her curiosity of grasping the gravity of their situation won out.

  Taylor found a spot on the wall between an overweight man who looked as though he had never fired a weapon in his life and a short female with tears in her eyes. The moment Taylor looked over the edge of the wall, she knew Frank’s description had not been over exaggerated.

  Spotlights lined along the wall shone down on the mass below. Illuminated for all to witness was a sea of bodies, their number so vast they faded into the tree line hundreds of yards away.

  It took Taylor only a second to realize that there would not be enough bullets in the Ark to fight off the horde of infected, even if everyone on the wall manning a firearm were a trained marksman, which they were clearly not. A single bullet to the head or central body mass would be effective in taking down a single target. Fear laced with panic made all except a few of those on the wall spray bullets into the crowd like a fire hose.

  The only good news was that the main gate was holding. Even under the pressure of a thousand hands pushing against the steel gates, the doors into the Ark would hold.

  Taylor ripped her eyes from the scene below. She forced herself not to pick up a gun and help. If they were going to have any hope of fending off the attack, they would need something more powerful than bullets. She raced across the length of the wall looking for Captain Martin’s familiar face. She should have guessed that he would be at the section of the wall where the majority of the creatures were massing.

  Though the main gate was under no immediate danger of buckling, the infected humans below concentrated their efforts on pushing in the door. Hundreds of bodies littered the area in front of the main gate with the pile of dead growing by the minute. Already a pile of dead taller than Taylor was erected in front of the main gate.

  Captain Martin was shouting directions into his COM when Taylor approached. “That’s right,” he said to the soldier on the other end of the radio, “Make sure the main gate’s integrity is sound. They shouldn’t be able to force it open with their hands, but I don’t want any chances taken.”

  Taylor skidded to a stop beside the captain who looked at her with a furrowed brow. “Taylor,” he barked, “where have you been? I asked for you when we were ordered to defend the wall but no one had an answer.”

  Taylor thought through the dozen different explanations she could give the captain, at that moment none of them seemed to capture what she wanted to say. How did you tell someone that you could help using telekinetic powers?

  “Taylor, are you alright?” the captain bellowed over the sound of the firing weapons.

  “Yes!” Taylor yelled back. “I can help you. You have to trust me.”

  The captain’s eyes moved between Taylor, the attacking abominations on the other side of the wall and back to his own men. “What are you talking about?”

  There was no point of holding anything back; Taylor knew she had to tell him. “The serum they gave me to save my life after I was bitten, it did something to me. I’m connected to them somehow.” Her breath caught in her chest. There was no time to sugar coat the truth so Taylor laid it out for him as plainly as she could. “The serum they gave me fought back the infection and gave me the ability to move things with my mind.”

  Captain Martin took the new information in stride. He paused to look down the sight of his M4-68 assault rifle and place a clean shot between the eyes of an attacking infected. The creature was climbing the growing mound in front of the main gate. “Well, if you can help, we could use it.”

  A grin crossed her lips. She knew if anyone could understand the asset she could be to the survivors in the Ark, it would be the captain. Her joy dissipated faster than the puffs of air coming from her mouth as Taylor caught the figure of Wade Treadstone stalking down the wall toward them. There was no doubt that he had seen her.

  Taylor was tired of running. If he wanted another confrontation, then she would give him one. Wade walked toward Taylor and the captain with a guard flanking him on either side. If his face was any inclination of his attitude, it didn’t bode well for Taylor. Wade stopped a few feet from her, his face red from the cold. “I should have guessed what Frank was up to when I couldn’t reach him on the COM. Miss Hart, you need to follow me back to the laboratory building immediately.”

  Taylor squared her shoulders. “I’m not going. And I’m not running this time either. I’m here to help. You need me to push back this attack.”

  The defiance in her eyes met equal intensity in Wade’s stare.

  “Sir, we could use any help we can get at the moment,” Captain Martin cut in. “If Taylor does indeed have some kind of edge we coul—”

  Wade raised a hand, cutting off the captain, “No, she’s going back to the lab. Taylor is a danger to herself and to all of us. She’s going to be sedated.” Wade motio
ned to the guards behind him. With raised machine guns, the two intimidating figures moved toward Taylor.

  Taylor’s heart drummed in her chest. She didn’t want to kill anyone, especially soldiers that were only following orders. As she prepared to raise her hands and send the guards flying back, Captain Martin stepped between Taylor and the approaching guards.

  The captain barked a few orders to his men on the wall. In an instant, guns were pointed in every direction. The guns weren’t aimed down where they should be, they were placed in the face of the defenders on the wall. Taylor took a step back, shocked. She thought the captain would stick up for her; however, outright rebellion was something she didn’t think possible in the old veteran.

  Disbelief spread across Wade’s face as his two men pointed their guns at the group of the captain’s men who outnumbered them three to one. “This is outrage!” Wade shouted, spittle flying through the frigid air. “I—”

  Before he could finish his threat, Jason ran up to the group and skidded to a stop. He was sweating despite the cold. His eyes were twice the size Taylor had ever seen them as he took in the events surrounding the group. “Whatever is happening here, we have bigger problems. The infected have nearly reached the top of the wall!”

  Surprised glances were exchanged among the group. “They’re not attacking the main gate because they think they can break through it,” Jason waved with an outstretched arm, balancing his gun in his free hand. “They wanted us to kill them there. They’re building a mountain of bodies to climb over!”

  CHAPTER 48

  There was an unspoken agreement of peace as everyone in the standoff followed Jason’s outstretched hand. The racket of firearms in the air shattered the night sky. Taylor turned her attention to the main gate, fear sinking its teeth deep into her. The pile of dead infected bodies had quadrupled in size. It didn’t take Taylor long to comprehend why. Along with the pile of bodies the defenders on the wall had put down, those infected by the virus were dragging their dead comrades and piling them in a huge mass of corpses.