Surviving The Dead | Book 9 | War Without End

by Cook, James N.

  Ferguson had not known that, Kaminsky realized. He had thought if he came here and stonewalled and pretended not to know anything, he could protect himself from prosecution. Probably was not even aware of the nature of the new laws that had been passed. But he was learning, that much was certain. He was getting a crash course in apocalyptic law enforcement, and he was not liking what he saw.

  “Clock’s ticking,” Kaminsky said. “Offer expires in ten seconds. You won’t get another one.”

  Ferguson looked at him with pure hatred, his breath coming more rapidly.

  “Get as mad as you want, big guy. It won’t save you. I’m going to get what I want one way or another. Might as well make it easy on yourself. Five seconds.”

  Ferguson held up a hand. “Okay. You win. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  Kaminsky sat back in his chair and smiled.

  “One thing though,” Ferguson said.

  “What?”

  “I don’t wanna go into no witness protection.”

  Kaminsky blinked a couple of times, and then let out a torrent of genuine laughter. “You sure about that? Gonna be some real angry motherfuckers out there after you testify.”

  Ferguson looked him in the eye again, and this time, Kaminsky saw resolve.

  “This is my home. Ain’t nobody gonna run me off it. I’ll tell you what I know, and then I walk, but that’s it. We got a deal?”

  Another laugh. “Fine by me, pal. It’s your funeral.”

  “We’ll see about that. Now what do you want to know?”

  Kaminsky pulled out a voice recorder, a gold pen, and a notebook.

  “Let’s start with Heinrich.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Eric,

  BSC Headquarters

  After we stopped to pick up Muir’s rifle, Gabe got a call on the radio that his family had arrived safely at headquarters. One of his men, however, had been killed getting them there. When Gabe asked what happened, the head of security said he was killed by a Draugr. At this news, Gabe passed a shaky hand over his face and asked after the condition of his wife and daughter. They were both in the infirmary being treated for minor injuries. Gabe ordered that they be given one of the executive suites as soon as they were out.

  The gate guard hurried us through upon arrival. I hopped out of the Humvee at the headquarters building, but Gabe stayed. I stood watching as he sped off toward the helicopter pad. One of BSC’s Blackhawks had already landed and was waiting to take him onboard. He climbed in, and the big machine soared away toward the spires of smoke rising above the city.

  When I turned around, my crew and Hicks’s team were all standing on the shoveled courtyard in front of the headquarters building. The sun had finally crested the horizon, erupting in shades of scarlet and orange over the buildings to the east.

  “So what now?” Holland asked.

  “What now is I go see my family,” I said.

  “What about us?”

  “I’ll talk to the receptionist inside. See if there’s someplace you can clean up and get a bite to eat.”

  “I have a room at the officer’s barracks,” Hicks said. “But my team will need a place to rest.”

  “Sure. Give me a minute.”

  As it turned out, on the way to headquarters, while I had been staring out the window at the city passing by and thinking about my family and not listening to Gabe talking on the radio, he had given the receptionist instructions to set my guys and Hick’s team up in rooms in the visitor’s suites. I thanked her and went outside to deliver the news.

  “I don’t even know where that is,” Cole said, eyes roving from building to building as if he could discern their purpose by staring hard enough.

  “She’s sending someone down to take you over there,” I said. “Should be out in a minute.”

  I stayed with my guys until a woman came outside and asked which one of us was Eric. I raised my hand.

  “Your wife and son are upstairs. I called a driver to come pick these gentlemen up.”

  On any other day, I probably would have looked around as though confused and said, ‘what gentlemen?’ and waited for the groans and insults to fly. But today I just was not in the mood.

  “Okay.” I turned around and looked at my team. “I’m going to head on up. These buildings have working phones, so call the receptionist here if you need anything.”

  “You gonna be alright?” Cole asked.

  “I could ask all of you the same question.”

  My crew looked at each other.

  “We will be fine,” Great Hawk said. “Assuming the Blackthorns and the Army can bring the outbreak under control.”

  “I still say this is horseshit,” Thompson said. “We should be out there fighting.”

  I let out a sigh. “Don’t worry. Something tells me we’ll get our chance. Maybe not today, but soon.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Holland asked.

  “You heard what Hicks said about the Draugr,” I said. “All a Gray has to do is eat too much and it turns into one of those things. There are millions of them out there. Think about it. How long do you figure it’ll be before they start showing up in the wild? A year? Less?”

  As a unit, my team all turned and looked at Hicks. For a few seconds he fixed me with an irate glare. Then he turned his attention to his friends, looked at each of them in turn, men he had known for years and fought beside and suffered hardship with and called his brothers, and lowered his gaze.

  “He’s right. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “What else do you know about those things?” Thompson asked. “And how long have you known about them? Because I’ve gotten a few letters from you over the years, but none of them said anything about fucking giant ghouls.”

  Hicks looked up. “Ethan, believe me. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You know too much as it is. That goes for all of you. You can’t talk about what happened today; you’ll be endangering yourselves and anyone you tell.”

  Thompson walked close and stared hard at his old friend. “People are going to know about those things after today, Caleb. The secret is out. What the hell do you think you’re protecting at this point?”

  Hicks stared back, his face blank. “There’s still a lot you don’t know, Ethan. For now, it’s best if it stays that way.”

  “Best for who? You? The government? I think I can decide for myself what’s best for me. And I think all those people dying out there have a right to know as well.”

  Hicks’s jaw twitched a few times and he swallowed. “It’s not my decision to make.”

  “So you’re just following orders then?”

  “Yes, I am. Just like we all used to do in the First Recon. You followed orders the same as I did, so you know how it is.”

  Thompson continued to stare for a moment, then shook his head. “What happened to you, Caleb? We used to sit around and complain about guys like you. You used to hate guys like you. When did you decide to become one?”

  “Hey,” Muir said, stepping into Thompson’s personal space. “You’re out of line, amigo.”

  Thompson looked at him. “And who the fuck are you, exactly? How does a cage fighter end up working for Homeland Security?”

  “None of your goddamn business, that’s how. Now do yourself a favor and back off.”

  Thompson’s face began to redden. “Or what?”

  Muir smiled, the brown eyes glittering dangerously. “Or I make you.”

  I looked pointedly at Hicks. He nodded slightly and put a hand on Muir’s shoulder. “Alex, that’s not necessary.”

  Muir stood still for a minute, the eerie smile still firmly in place. Then he slowly raised his hands and took two steps back. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  “Thompson,” I said.

  He looked at me.

  “That’s enough. This isn’t helping.”

  He looked back at Hicks briefly, then shook his head and walking away. Hicks looked at his team and motioned
toward the other end of the courtyard. They all gave a final glance my way before following him. I walked over to the Hawk, stood close, and spoke quietly.

  “Think you can keep these guys in line until the van gets here?”

  He nodded and patted me on the arm. “I will keep the peace. Go and see your family.”

  “Thanks.”

  *****

  Allison and the little guy were not in the suite.

  I remembered there was an observation deck on other end of the building and walked over to it. As I stepped through the door and back out into the frigid morning air, I saw the bundled figures of my wife and son standing at the edge of the wide balcony. They were staring toward Bricktown. A column of smoke reached high into the air in that direction and I saw a helicopter circling low over the area.

  Little Gabriel turned at the sound of the door, saw me, and I felt my chest tighten as his precious, red-cheeked face lit up with excitement.

  “Dada!”

  I forced myself to grin and started toward him. “Hey buddy.”

  He tripped before reaching me, but the ankle-deep snow broke his fall. I got to him just as he regained his feet, lifted him up, and pulled him into a hug.

  “I missed you,” he said as he wrapped his arms around my neck.

  I kissed him on his cold forehead. “I missed you too, son.”

  Allison walked over to us and put a hand on Gabriel’s back as she leaned up to kiss me. I could not help but notice she went for the cheek and not the mouth.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” she said.

  “Yeah. Me too.”

  “What happened out there?”

  I let out a deep sigh. “It’s a long story. Mind if we go back to the room?”

  “Of course not.”

  Allison held the door while I carried the little guy inside and set him down on the carpet. Back in the room, we all stripped down a few layers, took off our boots, and went into the kitchen. Allison made coffee while I sat down at the table. I put Gabriel in my lap and held him close. He seemed to pick up on the mood I was in and laid his head against my chest and let me cling to him for a while.

  When the coffee was done, Allison put a cup in front of me and sat down. None for her, though. I looked at her stomach, did a little math in my head, and realized her due date was in three weeks.

  “How’s the baby?” I asked.

  She smiled a little and ran a hand over her stomach. “She’s sleeping right now.”

  I nodded and tried to think of something to say. “You do okay while I was gone?”

  Allison did not look at me. “Not really, Eric. I was worried sick the whole time.”

  I nodded again and tried not to show the lancing streak of pain that traveled from my chest to the base of my skull at hearing her say that. Gabriel stirred in my lap and announced he had to go potty. I set him down and watched him scurry to the bathroom.

  When the door closed, Allison looked at me. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m not hurt.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  I let out a shaky breath, put my elbows on the table, and rubbed my face a few times. My hands came away streaked with red.

  “Shit. Am I bleeding?”

  “A little. It’s mostly dried now.”

  I went over to the kitchen sink, ran some warm water, and scrubbed my face. Gabriel was out of the bathroom a minute or so later, so I went in and looked in the mirror.

  I had taken off the tactical gear and body armor and left it outside Gabe’s office before going to check the suite for my family. The only thing I had kept was the black fatigues. My shirt was soaked through with sweat and my pants were streaked with mud, dirt, splinters from the firefight at the Red Barrel, and blood from the firefight at the warehouse. There was a long scratch on my left cheek, but I had no idea from what. My hair was matted from being under a helmet for so long and there was dried blood in my short beard. I ran some more water and cleaned my face and beard as best I could and ran a comb through my hair. When I was done, the scratch was still there, but I looked marginally less disheveled than I had before. I went back out into the kitchen and joined Allison at the table.

  “How bad is it out there?” she asked as I sat down.

  I leaned back in my chair and studied her. There were bags under her eyes. The eyes themselves were red-rimmed and the lines of her face had deepened from exhaustion and worry. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and looked as if it had not been combed in a few days. Her clothes were wrinkled, the collar around her neck was stretched, and her shirt was stained from having a three-year-old using her as a napkin.

  “It’s bad, but not as bad as it could have been.”

  “I take it you weren’t able to find all the big Grays?”

  “Draugr,” I corrected without thinking.

  Allison frowned. “What?”

  I blinked. For a moment, I considered manufacturing some lie to cover up the mistake. But then I looked at my wife again, thought about how difficult all of this must have been for her, being stuck here alone and pregnant with a toddler running around and without her jackass husband to help her out, and I could not bring myself to do it.

  “That’s what they’re called. Draugr.”

  It was her turn to blink. “Who calls them that?”

  “The government, apparently.”

  Her mouth hung open as she dipped her head and peered at me intently. “And you know this how, exactly?”

  I took a sip of the coffee. It was good. Just the right amount of sugar. No cream.

  “Let me set the little guy up with a movie.”

  “Okay.”

  Instead of Spongebob Squarepants, Gabriel wanted to watch Bubble Guppies. I got it running on the laptop in the bedroom and shut the door to drown out the overwrought theme music.

  Then I sat down with my wife and told her everything.

  All of it. Even the parts I was supposed to keep secret.

  By the time I was done, I was leaning on the table with my hands clasped together and Allison was clutching her stomach with both arms. Her expression reminded me of disaster victims I used to see on the news.

  “My God, Eric.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “So what happens now?”

  “You know, you’re the second person to ask me that in the last hour.”

  “What?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure what happens, Allison. We’ll have to wait and see.”

  “I’m not talking about the government.”

  I furrowed my brow at her.

  “I’m talking about us. What are we going to do?”

  There were a lot of contexts I could take that in, so I decided to hedge my bets. “You mean as far as protecting ourselves from the Draugr?”

  “Yes.”

  I let out a breath. For a moment there, I thought she was talking about our marriage.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “I need to think about it. See what our options are. We can’t really do much until the baby is born. And we have to see what kind of shape the city is in…you know. After.”

  “Do you think they can stop it? The outbreak, I mean.”

  “There were seven sites where the Draugr were being held. We got two of them, and I’m pretty sure the FBI got two more. That only leaves three, and there’s thousands of troops responding. This isn’t like the early days, Allison. We know how to fight the infected now, even if they are bigger and faster.”

  Allison seemed relieved at that. “Good.”

  I slid my chair closer to hers and put a hand on her knee. “You don’t need to worry. We’ll be safe here.”

  “I know. But I kind of feel bad about that, you know? Like, what right do we have to sit inside a fortress while everyone else has to fend for themselves?”

  “I know what you mean. But think about it this way. Who benefits if we leave here on moral grounds? What good does that do for anybody?”

  Allison, pra
ctical woman that she is, shook her head. “None. None at all.”

  “Look, it sucks that not everyone in the city can be here, but that’s not our fault. And we would be stupid not to take advantage of the fact that we have access to this place. Especially having a toddler and with you being almost nine months pregnant.”

  “Speaking of,” Allison said, looking up. “What if the hospital can’t take me?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. If it comes down to it, I’ll deliver the baby myself. You’ll just have to walk me through it.”

  Allison smiled, then smiled a little more, then leaned her head back and laughed. “Eric, if I have to ask anyone to help me deliver this baby, you can damn well bet it’s not going to be you.”

  I did my best to look wounded.

  “Who then?”

  “Thompson has medical training. I’m sure he could help.”

  “You know, all kidding aside, that’s actually a good point. You want me to ask him about it?”

  “I already did.”

  The wounded look was no longer fake.

  “What? When?”

  “Before we left Hollow Rock. I told him there was a possibility I might go into labor before we reached the Springs, and if I did, I wanted a trained medical professional to help me.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said he’d be honored.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course he did. Fucking boy scout.”

  Allison laughed again, and it warmed my heart to hear it. Sensing an opportunity, I took her hand and said, “Listen, honey…”

  She sat up and put a finger over my lips. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to apologize for leaving me here by myself and risking your life to try and save the city, right?”

  The finger left. “Uh…yeah. Pretty much.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  I stared at her blankly for about five heartbeats. “Really?”