She found Patch joined at the window by the other three kids, all of them looking out into the yard. “Who is that?” she heard Patch say to the others.
“I don’t know, but she’s dirty,” Vince answered.
Patch took a deep breath, anticipating having to call Renee in again, but was cut off by her hand going over his mouth. “What are you snot-lickers talking about?” she snapped at the kids as she realized she was sounding like David at the moment.
“The girl that’s outside,” Patch answered. Look.”
Renee looked out and saw a young girl about her age standing in the driveway looking at the raised bridge that was keeping her from coming any closer. The girl was in tattered clothes, and covered in either dark mud or blood. She had long black hair with straight cut bangs, giving Renee a good look at her young face. She looked very frightened and tired. “Go tell David to meet me at the bridge, and tell him we have a visitor,” she said to Patch. “And don’t be scared if he’s in a bad mood. Tell him, anyway.”
Patch took off while his entourage of Vince, Jacob, and Melinda followed close behind. As she watched Patch disappear out the back door, Renee picked up a rifle and headed out the front for a closer look at the girl, joined by Storm, who was curious, too, about the visitor.
As Renee slowly approached the girl, she realized the stains on her clothes were most definitely dried blood. What she couldn’t tell, was whether it was from the girl or someone else. As she got closer, the girl finally caught sight of Renee and started calling out to her for help. Renee stopped a good distance from the raised bridge, deciding to wait for David to show up before making a decision on what to do next. She also watched Storm, who hadn’t started barking yet, which she would if the girl was infected.
The girl cried out for help one last time and then dropped to the ground. Renee’s instincts took over, and she started to run to the girl’s aid, when unexpectedly a loud shot rang out from behind. She turned and found David running in a full sprint with his pistol still smoking from the shot he’d just fired into the air. “Stop! Don’t get any closer to her.”
“We have to help her,” Renee yelled back.
“We will if we can, but we have to make sure she’s not infected first,” David answered as he arrived at her side. “You lower the bridge, and I will check on her. Keep your gun pointed at the ready, and if she makes any sudden moves, do not hesitate to shoot. I mean it, if she gets up and acts anything like a slab, drop her immediately. Do you get it?”
Renee nodded with understanding and moved over to the winch for the bridge. As she lowered it, she kept an anxious eye on the girl in front of them. She could still see her breathing, but couldn’t tell if it was faint or not. She watched as David cautiously walked over to the girl, pulled a couple of long plastic zip ties out of the back of his waistband, and then leaned down to wrap them around the girl’s legs and hands before checking her vitals. Storm also moved in and started cautiously sniffing the girl, but keeping her distance at the same time.
“She’s still alive, but I need you to come over and check her for bites,” David said as he waved Renee over to his side. “Give me your gun and thoroughly check her.”
Renee moved in and started to look the girl over, being especially careful when she got near the girl’s mouth. The girl, no older than Renee, looked like she hadn’t had near as easy a time surviving as she had had. The girl was very malnourished and had several bruises and old cuts covering her body, but she didn’t find any new bite marks or open cuts or scratches. “She looks clean.”
“Let’s get her to a secure place, so we can get her cleaned up and question her once she wakes,” David said. He handed Renee’s gun back to her and then scooped up the young girl.
As they were walking back to the house, Renee swore she could hear David grumbling, but couldn’t make out the words. “Are you saying something to me?”
“Nope,” David answered before mumbling again. Renee moved a little closer and finally caught a little bit of what he was saying. It sounded like he was asking God, “Why me? Why me? Why another teenager? Why not a bikini model for a change, or a cheerleader?” But she couldn’t be completely sure that’s what she was hearing.
Entering the house, they bolted past all the staring eyes of the younger kids, and went straight to Hunter’s room, where they put the girl on Hunter’s bed, and David quickly secured her to the head footboard with a couple more zip ties before leaving to get some water and rags to clean her off with.
While David was gone, Renee ran back to her room and got some clean clothes for the girl. When she returned, David passed off the chore of cleaning her up to Renee and told her he would be right outside if she needed him.
A couple of hours went by and Renee was asleep in a chair across the room from the girl, when she heard the bed starting to creak, and then suddenly the girl screamed as she realized she was tied down. Renee jumped up and moved over to the girl to try and calm her down, but failed miserably at the attempt when the girl saw David come running into the room with his pistol drawn to investigate the screams. Renee surveyed the situation and then pushed David back out of the room and shut him out by locking the door. “I got this. Just give me a minute.”
Renee walked over and quickly cut the straps holding the girl’s feet to the bed before she moved up and started trying to talk to the girl. “My name is Renee. We are not going to hurt you. We just had to make sure you didn’t turn into a slab. If I free your hands, will you please stop screaming?” Renee got a positive nod from the girl.
As she freed the girl’s hand, she watched as the girl jumped off the bed and into a corner, crouched as tight as she could get. Renee grabbed a glass of water and gently slid it over to the girl before asking what her name was.
The girl grabbed the water and chugged down the entire glass before she looked up at Renee. “Tori. Everybody calls me Tori.”
“Okay, Tori, you are safe here now. Just relax and everything will be okay.”
“No, we’re not safe,” Tori answered. “Not from them. They will kill us all when they get here.”
“The slabs can’t get to us in here. We’re completely safe.”
“No, not the slabs, but something else, something worse. The woman in black was worse than any slab. She killed them all,” Tori answered before she started to cry.
“Whoa, slow down. Who or what is this woman in black?”
“She came at us last night, her and the other man. They had monsters with them, in chains. They didn’t even ask questions until they had killed half of us. They wanted to know something about a camp in Tallahassee and if we were from there. When my dad said no, they unleashed the monsters on everybody. I watched as she bit my mom and ate her, starting at her neck.”
“This is not good,” David’s voice rang out from behind Renee.
“Why? What does all this mean?” Renee saw the key that David used to get into the room placed on a table.
“Get her situated and then meet me in the garage. We need to talk.” David left the room.
Renee heard his footsteps as he headed for the back door and then immediately left the house. She then turned to face Tori to try and calm her down.
It took her almost an hour to get the girl to settle back into the bed so Renee could find out what had gotten David so spooked. As she got to the garage, she found David standing next to the Devastator, along with a stockpile of weapons lined up next to it. Most of the arms she recognized, but there were some she had never seen the likes of before. “What’s going on?” Renee startled David with her appearance. “You really freaked me out with what you said earlier.”
“I need you to listen, and I need you to keep a clear head about what I’m fixing to tell you. Can you do that for me? This is going to sound crazy, but this is all true.”
“Is this about Benjy being a vampire?” Renee blurted out before David could continue.
“You know about that? Why’d I ever think Hope wouldn’t te
ll you?”
“Yeah, she told me to keep it a secret. But what does this have to do with the girl in there and her story?”
“There is so much more that Hope doesn’t know about, and I’m fixing to give you a crash course in exactly what she doesn’t know. You have a much more stable attitude and smarts about you. But this is some seriously messed up stuff, and I need you to believe every word I say. Can you do that for me?”
Renee nodded she prepared herself for whatever it was David had to say.
Chapter 24
The next morning began with a knock and two much younger kids standing there with a tray of food for them. Awake for hours, Hope jumped up, and walked over to accept the offering. One of the kids wasn’t much older than her little brother, and she squatted down to one knee to talk to him.
“Hey, there. How you doing, big guy?” she said as if she were back home talking to Patch himself.
“I’m good,” the little boy said. “Why are you so big?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Hope answered, used to how she appeared to little kids. “Where’s Jeremy this morning?”
“He’s in the room downstairs. He told us to tell you to come down when you’re done with breakfast. Bye.” The little boy took off in a run down the hall, the slightly older girl right at his back.
“That went well,” Hunter said from behind, still wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“Not a smartass word out of you today.” Hope dropped a box of dry cereal at Hunter’s feet, and then tossed one to each of the others who were sitting up. “Let’s get this show on the road. We have to get out of here soon and onto Colorado. According to the message I intercepted, they said we had five to seven days, tops.”
“Well, let’s go.” Hunter picked up the pile of fatigues and military clothing left at the door for them while they were asleep. “Hey, look, they even found something in your size.” He tossed the rolled-up clothing to Hope
As she unraveled it and realized what it was, she got weak in the knees and had to sit down.
Morgan caught Hope’s distress and walked over to see what was wrong. She found Hope was just sitting, staring at a football jersey, and with tears coming out of her eyes. “Hey, what’s up, girl? At least they had something your size. Why the tears?”
“It’s nothing,” Hope answered as she turned around and slipped off her dirty shirt and slid into the large football jersey. As she watched Morgan leave her side and get changed herself, Hope found a mirror and caught a glimpse of her standing in it. She smiled at the image and mumbled to herself, “Dad would be proud,” before she headed towards the door with her cereal box in hand.
They found Jeremy again in his office, just staring at the large map on the desk, lost in thought. Hunter gave an announcing cough. “Hey, you wanted to see us?”
“Yeah, I hope you were able to get some rest last night. I’m sorry about the whole locked doors thing, but we gotta be careful for a while until we can fully trust you. I hope you understand.” Jeremy motioned for them to take a seat. “Hey, sorry about the jersey, but that was the only thing we could find in your size.”
“No, it’s perfect,” Hope answered. “This is exactly what I needed.”
“Okay, then, I figured I would give you a list of chores to choose from, stuff to keep you busy, and to see where you can help us the most,” Jeremy said as he slid a daily jobs list over to them to look at.
“Dibs on the mechanic’s shop,” Hunter replied as soon as he saw it on the list.
“I’ll go with the guard duty,” Morgan chimed in.
Trip. “I’m good with the kitchen.”
That left Hope still looking up and down the list for something that resonated. “I see you have weapons maintenance crossed off.”
“I’m not going to allow you access to the weapons,” Jeremy answered. “Not yet. Like I said, there’s that trust issue.”
Hope looked at the man. “Let me show you something. Take your bullets out of your gun and hand it over.” She could see the hesitation in Jeremy’s eyes. “C’mon, now, I said no bullets.”
Jeremy hesitated and then complied, curious to see what Hope wanted to show him.
Hope grabbed the gun and closed her eyes. She then started to dismantle the weapon and spread the parts out on the table before she reassembled it with her eyes shut. She then opened her eyes and handed it back to Jeremy. “You have considerable carbon buildup on the slide, and the spring has been over-oiled, which is going to do nothing but gunk up, and eventually not recoil enough to eject a shell. I imagine the firing pin’s in the same condition, but I couldn’t tell with my eyes closed.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. Okay, but you will have to have a guard with you for the time being, and no ammo.”
“Alrighty then, let’s go be productive.” Hunter eagerly jumped up and headed out into the hall and started asking directions to the mechanic’s area.
“Is he always that energetic?” Jeremy walked the other three out of the room and towards their designated areas.
“Only when he can work on motors. He’s kind of a grease-monkey at heart,” Morgan answered before she got handed off to her guard station partner for the day. “See y’all later,” she said before she disappeared.
Jeremy took Hope and Trip to their areas, and then disappeared for the day.
The work shifts were only for five hours, and Hope was the first one to return to their room from her day at work. She went in and sat down to have a moment to herself, when she looked up and saw the little boy from the morning peeking into her room, trying not to be seen. “Come here. I won’t bite.”
He slowly walked in and just stared at Hope for a long uncomfortable minute before he spoke. “Are you here to take me back to my mommy?”
“What? Oh, I don’t think so. Why do you want to go back to your mommy?” Hope answered, not sure if this was a test by Jeremy.
“No, I don’t want to go back to her. She tried to bite me and Daddy. I think she actually did bite Daddy, but he wouldn’t say so.”
“Where’s your daddy now?”
“He chased after our neighbor Jessie and didn’t come back. Jeremy brought me here and told me one day I might get to see my mommy and daddy again. But I don’t think I want to see them again.”
“Well, then you just stay here with Jeremy, and I’m sure you’ll be fine then.” Hope found herself fighting back tears.
“Okay, big lady,” he said as he again ran away and disappeared down the hall, almost knocking Morgan down as she came into the room.
“We have got to get out of here,” Hope said as soon as she made sure Morgan was alone.
“Damn, it was hot out there today.” Morgan grabbed a towel from a basket and wiped the sweat off her face. “Why? What’s going on?”
“I’ve got to get back home to Patch. He needs me there with him.” Hope took to her cot.
“Well, not to discount your desire to see your little brother again, but I learned a lot about the camp today from the little chatty Kathy I did guard duty with. And, yes, her name was Kathy. She told me anything I wanted to know. How was your day?”
“Got a complete inventory of the weapons, and they’re loaded for battle. Learned where they’ve stored our weapons, and I was even able to get this back.” Hope flashed the hilt of her Ka-Bar stuffed under her shirt to Morgan.
“Cool. Where are the guys at?” Morgan started to gather up some extra clothes to get ready for a shower.
“Just got here myself. Think I’ll join you for that shower, though. They said it was down at the end of the hall on our floor, but be warned, there’s no hot water.” Hope grabbed a towel for herself.
After about twenty minutes, the girls returned from their brisk shower only to find Trip had returned from his time in the kitchen, stretched out on his cot and sound asleep. Morgan walked over and slapped him on the leg.
Trip opened his eyes. “Where’ve you been?”
“Shower time,” Morgan said. “So, what
did you learn today?”
“Well, the lunch lady in the kitchen was the lunch lady for the school. Stayed behind to keep an eye on the kids, and ever since has been their prisoner. She’s none too happy, and none of them are allowed to leave. There’s still seven adults trapped here. And she has no idea where they’re kept, since every evening they are blindfolded and led to a room that none of them recognize. The nurse that worked on us was, you guessed it, the school nurse, and the man that I met yesterday was the vice principle. As for the others, I couldn’t get anything more out of her because we got some company and she shut down after that. Oh, and Hunter was right. The others are the adults that survived the outbreak or escaped from here after the kids threw their little coup.”
“Don’t ever mess with my deductive abilities,” Hunter said as he caught the tail end of Trip’s dialogue as he walked into the room. “Well, ladies and gent, I have some good news. They have a fully functioning 1980 Ford Bronco in the shop. Well, at least fully functioning once I put this back into it.” Hunter flashed them a peek at the distributor button he had stashed in his waistband.
“Now, how do we put all this together so we can get out of here?” Hope asked.
“Have any of you ever heard of a tater gun before?” Hunter asked to blank faces. “Well, tomorrow I’m going to build one, and then I will show you what I have planned. Now let’s go get some chow and head to the basketball court in the gym. I have placed a challenge to the other guys in the shop to a game this afternoon.”
“I think he has Munchausen syndrome,” Morgan stated, taking to her bed.
“Nope, just trying to gather as much info as I can. And what better way than a pickup game of basketball that we’re going to intentionally lose. Hunter switched shirts and headed out to the cafeteria.
“Well, let’s go. Seems he has a plan,” Trip said as he followed Hunter out the door.
Humanity's Hope (Book 2): Juggernaut Page 12
