DEAD: Darkness Before Dawn

by Brown, TW

“Sounds good,” Kevin agreed.

  Together, the pair moved from yard to yard. It was slow going, especially since they were doing their best to be quiet. Twice they had to put down a zombie that had found its way into a back yard. Once, they had gotten surprised when the zombie in question was a creeper hidden in the tall grass.

  They had finally reached the end of the street, but nobody was there waiting for them. Twice Kevin called out in a whisper, but neither time was answered.

  “You think they froze when they heard the sounds?” Kevin finally asked.

  Catie only shrugged and jogged over to one of the houses and began to scale it. Once up, she crouched down and began to walk around to see if she could spot any movement. All she saw were a few individual and small clusters of the undead in the area all converging towards the direction of the still raging fire. They were easy to spot since they made absolutely no effort to conceal themselves. That, she mused, and the way they always seemed to be tripping and stumbling over everything.

  “Anything?” Kevin called up as he grew more and more anxious as well as impatient.

  “Just zoms…but it also looks like that fire is starting to spread,” she called down as she moved to the lip of the roof, swung her legs over and dropped.

  Just as she hit the ground, a gunshot rang out.

  3

  Pleased to Meet You

  “Sorry, miss, what did you say your name was?” I asked as I walked back into the bedroom with two bottles of water that I had liberated from my travel bag; which I had yet to unpack, thank you very much.

  “Dick,” a muffled voice wafted through the big down comforter.

  “Katrina Dick, hmm…” I said, trying to sound as serious as possible. I was rewarded with those gorgeous blue eyes peering up at me from a section of the comforter that folded down very slowly. Her blonde hair was sticking up every direction except straight. On some, that might have looked awful; on her it just looked sexy.

  “If you must know, my last name is…” and then her voice trailed off and her expression changed.

  Why were there tears brimming in her eyes? What the hell had I done?

  “Sorry,” she sniffed and waved me off as I made to take her in my arms.

  I scooted to the end of the bed…almost. Actually, I scooted to the end of the bed and then kept going. That is how I ended up falling on my butt. And with that graceful act, the mood was officially dead.

  “Oh, Billy, are you okay?”

  Katrina scrambled out of the covers and crawled to the end of the bed to look down at me. She still had tears in her eyes, but now there was an expression of concern…which quickly evaporated and turned into a grin within about ten seconds…maybe less.

  “Men are pigs,” she huffed.

  Her eyes had tracked lower and now I was covering my stuff with a pair of water bottles. Yep, see through plastic, I am a genius. In my defense, I had not been aroused visibly until she came to the edge of the bed and I had her naked upper body just…dangling, for lack of a better word, right above my head. And since it has been longer than I care to admit since I have seen a pair of breasts on a living woman, I think my biological reaction was perfectly natural and normal. The equation is simple; teen boy plus boobies equals boner.

  “Sorry,” I apologized, although not very sincerely.

  Getting to my knees, I looked up to where she was now sitting at the head of the bed hugging a pillow and looking like I had just run over her puppy. In my limited experience with girls, I knew one thing for certain—I don’t know squat about women.

  “I don’t know what I said, but I didn’t mean to ruin everything.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said with one more big hitch in her voice. She paused, and I could tell that she was trying to get herself back together, so I just stayed quiet. Finally she resumed speaking, “I just had not thought about it in a very long time.”

  Still keeping my mouth shut.

  “I was married before all of this. So my name was Katrina Duncan, but now…” Her voice trailed off and I risked opening my big fat mouth where I was sure that I had more than enough room for at least one of my feet.

  “How about just Katrina, you could be all mysterious like Madonna.” I knew there were some other celebrities that went by a single name, but that was the only one of my mom’s CDs that I could immediately picture.

  She smiled, and through her tears, that just made her all that much more beautiful. Not for the first time, I was wondering what the hell she saw in me. Here was a woman about ten years older and cute. I had just reached the age where I would have been old enough to vote; kinda heavy, I mean, I was an offensive lineman on the football team for crying out loud. What on earth could this woman see in me?

  “You’re so cute when you don’t know what to do,” Katrina laughed as she wiped her eyes. “It is like there is this great big neon sign over your head flashing “Clueless” in bright pink letters.”

  “Why pink?” I muttered.

  “Billy?” Carol’s voice called from outside the front door, saving me from whatever embarrassing answer she was about to give.

  “Just a sec!” I hollered as I searched for a pair of clean sweat pants in my field bag. I had to settle for the “least dirty” since I had just gotten back and not had time to do any laundry.

  I opened the door to find Granny Rambo (as only I was allowed to call her) standing with a pair of men I didn’t recognize. They were both armed and had serious expressions. I was about to ask what was up when they shoved her into my living room.

  “Hey!” I snapped catching Carol as she stumbled past. She shot me an apologetic look that really had to struggle to get past the anger.

  “Shut up and put your hands in the air, kid,” the man on the left growled as he and his companion stepped inside and shut the door behind them. “Now, we are gonna give you the same offer we gave the old lady here…”

  I saw Carol’s face grow just a bit redder; they obviously did not know who they were dealing with. I had been out in the field with this “old lady” and seen her kick some serious butt.

  “You tell us if there is anybody else in this apartment complex and we will add them to our hostage list. Nobody has to die, but your group stepped in where it was not welcome, and we don’t take kindly to strangers coming in and reaping the fruits of our hard work.”

  “I just got back from the field,” I said with a shrug. I fought the urge to glance back down the hall to my bedroom. “Far as I know, Carol and I are the only ones living here.”

  A few seconds later, there was a pounding on the door. “Other units are clear,” a voice said and the door opened to reveal three more men with M4s and dark combat fatigues.

  They looked like real soldiers. I was starting to wonder if we had gotten everybody except that bastard Winters like we thought. After all, when Jon, Jake and I were inside their little compound, it was not like we did a meet and greet with everybody.

  “So, you guys must have been pals with Winters.” I really could not think of any clever way to broach this subject. Now, all I could do was hope for a couple of things; first, that they would reveal at least some sort of information; second, that Katrina would hear it and sneak out the window to tell somebody. Yep…a longshot on both counts, but I didn’t have any other choice that I could see.

  “Who?” the first man asked.

  “I think he must be talking about somebody from that other military camp,” one of the three men who had just come in spoke up. “That group that was doing all the crazy stuff—”

  “Can it, Red,” the first man cut him off. I glanced at the one now identified as “Red” but had no idea why they would call him that. His hair was sort of brown.

  “So, what exactly do you boys want?” Carol asked.

  “We want you and your people gone…out of our town.”

  The first man stepped up close to Carol, and I thought he was going to hit her. I got ready to jump in and go down swinging the moment
that happened. Carol must have some sort of sixth sense because she shot me a warning look that had me frozen.

  “I didn’t realize that this place had been officially claimed by anybody,” Carol continued. “And judging by how dirty the apartment was that I just moved in to and cleaned…I am guessing that you or any of your people have not been out this way. So when you say you want us gone from your town…just what exactly are you referring to, young man?”

  “We were here first…and then those other bastards showed up and we have been fighting them for months…and now three other groups are in this city, each one trying to claim it. Well, since you are the last to arrive, you can be the first to leave.”

  “And what makes you think that we have the authority to speak for our group?”

  Carol was really giving this guy the business. For one, she had not taken a step back when he crowded her; and for another, she was simply standing there with her arms folded across her chest and glaring up at this guy who had a big ass rifle in his hands like she was the one who was armed and in the power position.

  “Funny thing that you mention that, because our plan was to take one of you prisoner and have the other deliver the ultimatum,” the man said with a sneer. “Now me, I said take the kid there because he would obviously have value. Only…now I think we are taking you. I bet he stands watch, but you are the one writing the watch list. You just strike me as somebody that I bet carries some clout around here.”

  “And where are you taking her?” I asked. I wasn’t stupid. There was really not a damn thing I could do to stop them. Sure, Vin Diesel might be able to pull some bad ass stunt and kick all these guys’ asses, but I was definitely no Vin Diesel.

  “We are taking her to our main camp. If we don’t see your people packing their crap and heading out of town by sunset in two days, then I will start sending pieces of her to your doorstep where you can deliver it to whoever is in charge and deciding to ignore our demands. And when this old lady finally kicks over, we’ll just grab somebody else. We have a good idea where you folks are staying. Pretty arrogant bastards the way you are sprawled in such a large area…but that just makes our job easier.”

  Part of me figured that this guy was giving up too much information about the intel he had on us. He obviously wanted me to know that they had us staked out. But there comes a point when you give up stuff that you might not want the enemy to know; and yeah, we were definitely on enemy status now.

  “Take me,” I insisted. “You got it all wrong about Carol. She isn’t all you think she is. She’s just a grouchy old lady with a piss poor attitude.”

  I saw the way Carol shot me a dirty look, but if I could not take these guys out and save her, the least I could do was take her place. I sure didn’t like the idea of being cut into little pieces, and I honestly don’t know what made my mouth just blurt that stuff out, but I had to do something…say something to try and save Carol.

  “Nice try, kid, but I think we made the right choice,” the first man said, producing a set of cuffs and slapping them on Carol’s wrists.

  “Wow,” Carol said with a smile, “I haven’t been cuffed since the Sixties…almost forgot how these babies felt.”

  I stood there with a helpless feeling churning in my gut. I had to do something, I knew I didn’t stand a chance of taking out all these guys, but I could not just stand here like an idiot while they walked off with Carol. Somehow, my feet moved and before I really knew what I was doing, I charged the guy closest to me. It just turned out to be the one they had called Red.

  I got in a few good licks. I even heard something snap when my shoulder caught him in the ribs. There was some yelling, and I heard Carol telling me to stop or something like that.

  Then…something slammed into the back of my head.

  Darkness came quickly.

  ***

  The first thing I remember is a dull ache that seemed to come from every single part of my skull at once and meet in the middle, directly behind my eyes. I tasted the coppery flavor of blood in the back of my throat.

  “You idiot,” a voice whispered as a cool damp cloth was wiped across my forehead.

  I was seriously disoriented, but I began to remember fragments of what had happened. I felt my heart sink at the realization that those bastards had managed to take Carol.

  “What were you thinking?” another voice said from nearby.

  “Shhh,” I said, and then felt my skull vibrate from my own noise.

  “Can you sit up yet?” another voice asked.

  Damn, how many people are in my tiny apartment? I wondered. I tried to open my eyes, but the first light that poured through my slitted lids felt as if it was a white hot poker being stabbed into my brain. I squeezed them shut and shook my head.

  Big mistake!

  The movement made me nauseous and I felt as if I was going to hurl. I forced it down, determined not to embarrass myself any more than I had already done with Katrina present.

  “Listen, Billy,” at last I recognized the first male voice as Simon Paul, “I know you are feeling like warmed over crap, but you are the only person that got a good look at these guys. You spoke with them. Did they say anything that could help us find them?”

  I considered it for a moment, and then it came to me. It was not much, but at the moment it was the only clue that we had to go on.

  “They said they thought we were pretty arrogant the way we spread out over so much area. I think that, whoever these guys are, they are holed up in a location that gives them the ability to keep eyes on us.”

  “And Katrina said something about how they are giving us two days to get out or they start sending back pieces of Carol?” Cool, Jake was here…all I needed now was Dr. Zahn.

  “Can we get to the questions after I have had a chance to look at my patient?”

  Bingo! I heard a few mumbled apologies and felt the hand slip behind my neck and probe around on what I was now certain had to be an epic knot on the back of my head. I winced a few times, but I fought the urge to scream. Two reasons: Katrina was close by, and I knew that if I screamed, the pain in my skull would probably cause it to bust open and spill what brains I may or may not have all over the floor.

  “I realize this is going to be unpleasant, Mister Haynes,” Dr. Zahn said, “but I am going to need you to open your eyes.”

  She was right. It was awful. I wanted to hurl, but I guess I didn’t have anything left in my system because I just dry heaved a little before settling down enough so that the doc could give me a checkup, which apparently included shining lights with the intensity of a thousand suns directly into each eye.

  “Definitely a concussion,” Dr. Zahn mumbled as she did her thing.

  Of course this was also giving me a chance to get a look around. I was not in my room…or even in my apartment for that matter. I was in some sort of medical ward. I did not realize that we had gotten this far along with our settlement that we had anything like this in place.

  At last, the torture was over and Dr. Zahn started making notes on her clipboard. Which led me to my next thought which was, Wow, Dr. Zahn has on scrubs and is carrying a clipboard…this is almost like a real doctor’s office.

  “Can I speak to him now?” Jake pushed his way through the small group clustered around my bed.

  “Yes, but keep it brief, he needs his rest.” The doc turned to everybody else in the room and made a shooing gesture with her hands. “As for the rest of you…out. The young man needs his rest.”

  I made eye contact with Katrina who I could tell wanted to stay. I hoped my look conveyed that I was okay. I sure could use Jamie right about now to tell me what to do.

  “So, Billy, what the hell happened?” Jake asked the moment the room was empty.

  I related everything I could remember. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. I’d had a few concussions over the years from football, so I knew for a fact that I was definitely not able to give the man what he needed.

  “Katrina was in my
room,” I finally admitted. “Luckily she stayed hidden or something because those goons never found her. If they had, I would almost bet she would have been taken along with or instead of Carol.”

  Jake gave me his best country boy smile. It didn’t help that I knew this aspect of him was all a big façade that he kept in place so folks underestimated him; I wasn’t sure how to interpret that smile.

  “So…getting yourself a little action,” Jake said with a laugh. “Good thing, you definitely needed something to get your mind right.”

  I wasn’t going to even hazard a guess as to what he was trying to imply. Instead, I forced myself to sit up just a little bit straighter despite how bad it made my head throb.

  “Listen, we don’t have a lot of time. Those guys were not the sort to kid or make idle threats. We will start getting deliveries that I’d just as soon not have to open.”

  “I have a few ideas about where they could be posting up,” Jake admitted. “I just wish that you were okay to come with me. I don’t know much about some of these new people and I don’t know any of them well enough to try and plan a mission like this.”

  “Simon Paul is a good choice,” I suggested. “He was the leader of his group, and I think he could hold his own.”

  Check me out…giving recommendations about who would be best to run an assault mission on an enemy camp.

  Jake gave me a nod and then got up and headed for the door. He paused, but he didn’t look back. “Get better, kid. We are gonna need you on your feet.”

  After he left, I leaned back and closed my eyes. I was starting to feel less like Billy Haynes, the high school kid, and more like Billy Haynes…a man. It felt strange to even think such a thing. But if I was being honest with myself…that was what was going through my head.

  ***

  “What in the world do you think you are doing?” Dr. Zahn’s voice came from behind me and caused me to jump.

  “I need to get out and help do something.” It probably would have played a lot better if I hadn’t taken that moment to get a little woozy and almost trip.