Books of the Dead (Book 3): Dead Man's Land

by Spears, R. J.

  How could I leave and let them take that kind of risk? I asked myself. But another voice spoke up and said, You’re getting ready to do something that is certifiably insane.

  That voice was the one that Greg had heard and seen in all my “out-of-the-box” actions and why he had selected me to be his replacement. At least that’s the juicy rationalization I told myself as I kept running, the sound of gunfire and explosions ringing out behind me.

  I made it to the back of the complex, at a loading dock where I saw our people packed into a large mob, all trying to get into vehicles. Kara shouldered her way out of the crowd with Naveen and Madison in tow. Jason followed them, looking fragile as he nudged his way through all of the people. When Naveen saw me, she broke free from Kara’s hand and rushed toward me, dodging in and out of the crowd.

  She slammed into me at a full run and nearly knocked me off my feet.

  “Joel, I’m so scared,” she said, her face pressed against my chest. “I thought I would never see you again.”

  The shouting from the mob was nearly loud enough to suppress the sound of the battle going on at the front of the complex. Kara broke through the people and pulled Madison along as they came up to me. “Everyone’s panicking and trying to just make a run for it.”

  I had been afraid of this. Panic was overriding any of their logic and regard for others. It was every-man-for-himself mentality reigning over every other instinct. Some fool had to put a stop to it or else a lot of people were going to die. That fool would have to be me.

  I pulled my pistol and fired two shots into the air, and the commotion came to a dead halt as all eyes turned to me.

  “Listen up, folks,” I shouted, “there’s just enough room on the vehicles for people and weapons, but nothing else.”

  While their intellects knew this, their fears didn’t want to accept it. I watched the people as they sized up the person standing next to them, wondering if it came down to it, if they could take them. This could become a free-for-all in an instant if panic started flowing again.

  “I don’t have time to commence an organizing committee for who and what gets to ride out of here and how fast,” I said. “We’ve made it this far by cooperating, and that’s what we’re going to do now, right?” I nodded my head and looked at as many people in the eye as I could. While the fear was still there, something else was going to work on them, and I could only give credit to their conscience and the Big Guy upstairs.

  “Every truck will have one warrior,” I said as I searched the crowd for the best fighters we had. I saw Russell and said, “Russell, you take a truck.” I surveyed the crowd and found Larry standing in among the people. He was a nervous one, but he would do. “Larry, you’ll take a truck, too, and our older folks, along with the kids, will get on with him.” My eyes fell on an older guy named Danny. “Danny, you take the next truck.” By now, Russell and Larry were in action, ushering people toward one of trucks. “Yeah, you see how this works. When we run out of room on the trucks, then those people will have to walk, but you’re the strongest and the healthiest.”

  A few hard stares came my way, but I met them measure-for-measure. “Sorry,” I said, “this isn’t fair; it’s just the way it is.”

  Something with a long hard edge pushed into my back, and I turned around to see Jason holding out his dry erase board. I looked down and read it: “I can stay and fight,” it read.

  I slowly shook my head. “Sorry, big guy, but you’re too important. You have to go.”

  He erased the board with his sleeve and wrote furiously. “What if I won’t?”

  “Then I’ll konk you in the side of the head with this,” I said, holding up my pistol, “and we’ll drag you to the truck.” I tried to soften that message with a smile, but it was hard to force one of those when the world was coming down around us. “You know you have to go. Please don’t fight me on this.”

  He stared long and hard into my eyes, and I watched as he slowly surrendered. He nodded his head and then stuck out a hand for a handshake. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into me for a hug. I whispered in his ear, “You’re the key, and you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.”

  He pulled back and then pointed at me and mouthed the words, “No, you are.” Then, he wrote on the board again and held it up. It said, “Or the craziest.”

  I turned to Kara and said, “You’ll take one of the trucks with these guys, plus whoever else you can fit.”

  “I want to stay,” she said.

  “There’s no time to fight me on this,” I said. “They need you,” I said pointing to Jason and the girls. I leaned in close to her and whispered, “Our baby needs you.”

  Her eyes held strong for a couple seconds and then faltered as she fell into me for an embrace. I hugged her for all I was worth, and then our faces met. It could be our final kiss, and we went for it. I wanted it to last forever, but a crashing explosion sounded overhead, and a section of the roof buckled down with a gout of flame.

  We broke the kiss, and I pushed her toward the closest truck. “These good-byes are really killing me. You’ve got to go this time. Like now.”

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

  “I’ve always got some crazy scheme.”

  “When don’t you,” she said, but it was more of a statement than a question.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said.

  There was something else she wanted to say, but I cut her off. “You’ve already said it, so you don’t have to say it again. Just get going.”

  I ended the discussion by turning and bolting off towards a shed, just off the back of the dock where we kept the ATV. We could have said goodbye a thousand different times in a thousand different ways, but it wasn’t going to get any easier, and the longer we drew it out, the better the chance the goodbye would be permanent.

  I didn’t turn around for a second glance because if I did, I would have had to go back to her and the girls, and I would never leave their side. I knew that wouldn’t work because the man Russell called the Lord of the Dead would hunt us down. I just knew that. So we had one narrow chance to survive this, and I had to take it.

  The ATV was in the shed, as it has always been -- ready and waiting. We only used it sparingly because of our limited gas supply, which made me wonder when the last time the thing had been started. I said a quick prayer and turned the key, and it choked and sputtered for a few seconds, but then roared to life.

  I punched the accelerator and tore out of the shed, riding along the back of the building and away from the people I loved the most in the world and I dreaded turning the corner. The problem was that I had a destination, but I didn’t have a clear travel route because nearly every avenue would be blocked by a horde of the undead.

  Earlier, I had seen the way the horde was working its way to encircle the complex, looking for a way to cover us on all sides. Thankfully, their normally slow pace was even slower due to their armored augmentation, so those escaping out the back looked to have a clear way, at least, for now. But that window of escape was quickly closing. I, on the other hand, would be driving right into the lot of them.

  My mind raced as I ran through all the possibilities. I could try a direct path and attempt to stay close to the building’s perimeter, hoping that Lord of the Dead hadn’t started to tighten his grip on us, but I knew that as soon as I got out front, I’d most likely be caught up in a mob of the undead. Even if I made it around them, I’d still be out in the open and a ready target. I traced along some other routes and finally decided to try a path through the woods on the north side of the complex. It was a narrow one that might accommodate the width of the ATV, but that was yet to be seen.

  I was quickly running out of the comfort of the wall of the back of the complex. As soon as that occurred, I’d be out in open territory, ready to be mauled by the undead or taken out by any fool with a gun. Hoping to reduce my exposure as a target, I hunkered down over the handlebars and roared past the edge of the building.
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  As soon as I got past the edge, I tilted my head and looked to the west. It wasn’t a reassuring sight, because a mob of zombies shuffled along around the north side of the complex, but I did have some leeway. It would be close though, since the entryway to the path I was targeting was closer to the front of the complex than it was to the back.

  I had the ATV wide open and was tearing ass across the field at warp speed, hoping that would give me enough clearance. I just knew it was going to be tight, very tight.

  The wind whipped around my face, cooling down my overheated body as I felt my heart beating furiously in my chest. The ATV bucked on the uneven ground, and it was a fight to keep it on course and upright. The zombies were getting closer by the second. Just like before, they looked twice as fearsome in their armored form as they did normally. This whole effect was accentuated by the fact that I was rocketing into their midst at a rapid pace.

  The gap was down to fifty feet, then forty, and then thirty. Locking on to me, a small group of zombies broke from the crowd and started on an intercept path, cutting my narrow window to the path down to a sliver. The ATV had no more to give, but I simply willed it to go faster, hoping that would work somehow.

  The zombies were coming at me like a bad 3-D movie. They were so close. I lay across the handlebars, almost becoming one with the ATV in those final seconds. The collision course was set. At the last possible moment and at that speed, I turned the handlebars, hoping to keep the whole thing from toppling over and crumpling me like a wad of paper. I saw a flash of movement as a zombie shot out a clawed hand, and I felt something tear into my shoulder and down my triceps, but I was past them in an instant. A terrible burning pain seared down my shoulder, and something hot and wet trickled down my arm.

  The path was just ahead, and it looked smaller than I remembered, but it didn’t matter because I was committed now.

  The ATV bounced over an exposed tree root when I entered the cave-like entrance into the woods, and my head popped up just in time to connect with a low hanging limb. I saw stars for a couple seconds, but kept both my hands on the handlebars, which was a good thing. It was quite dark under the canopy of trees, and after only a few seconds on the path, I saw someone standing dead center on the trail. It could have been one of the deaders, but they usually didn’t stand in a posture of indecision. They were the full-steam-ahead types, so I guessed it was one of the living and not one of ours. The upper part of his body leaned toward one side of the trail, while his legs seemed to want to be on the other.

  There were trees on either side of the trail, so I had nowhere to go, but that instinct within me, that told me not to run over people kicked in, and I slammed on the brakes.

  The tires tried to find some traction on the muddy path, but the betting odds for me to get the thing under control were way against me. I think the odds in Vegas said it was more likely that a zombie apocalypse would happen. Wait a second....

  I felt the vehicle start to rotate as the man standing in the trail slid out of my direct field of vision which now was filled with the flash of trees and dark green leaves whooshing by my face. Futilely, I gripped the handlebars, trying to force my way out of the skid, but the ATV was having nothing to do with my efforts, and, in fact, I think, scoffed at them.

  The ATV bounced violently off a tree, sending a shockwave up my arms and spun nearly 360 degrees from the blow. Nearly at the end of this out of control spin, I felt an impact on the back fender. It wasn’t gentle, but it wasn’t the sledgehammer it could have been.

  The ATV faced back toward the complex when it finally came to a complete stop. I didn’t wait for whom or whatever I had hit to recover, but yanked out my pistol.

  Whomever I’d just hit was splayed across the trail and looked completely out of it.

  Anthony watched from the ridge of the hill, a smile of satisfaction spreading across his face. Yes, it hurt to smile because of the scars from his burns, but this one was worth the pain. He was winning.

  The people in the complex were putting up what looked like a token resistance. Anthony did concede that he was taking heavier losses than he had expected from his front line soldiers and they still hadn’t breached the building yet. In time, he thought.

  He swiveled his head to look over to Felix, who was locked in total concentration as he maneuvered his soldiers into position on the battlefield. Felix’s soldiers were being battered by grenades and fierce fire coming from the first and second floors of the building, but that wasn’t going to last. The third floor was starting to burn as a result of the mortars Norman was dropping on the roof. The fire would burn the people out like rats. It was either burn or face down the undead. Not much of a choice, but one that he had engineered and he was just fine with that

  Anthony’s smile widened, but then, the world changed – dramatically, because life was like that at times. Felix’s head exploded in a corona of blood, and he fell backwards on the ground, his legs kicked convulsively and his arms stretched out above his head – or what was left of his head. Blood pooled around his neck and shoulders in an ugly red puddle.

  The sound of the shot followed, echoing in the hills. Something in Anthony told him to get down, and he listened to this voice, ducking down just as he heard a whizzing noise, followed by the dull thud of the bullet striking the side of one of the buses. Anthony frantically looked to right into the woods, and then to the south, he saw a muzzle flash. An instant later, Norman cried out.

  Anthony shot his gaze in Norman’s direction and saw Norman down on one knee, holding his shoulder as blood seeped between his fingers.

  “I’ve been shot,” Norman cried out. “Holy shit, I’ve been shot.”

  “Get down, you idiot,” Anthony hissed as he fell to the ground.

  Norman swiveled his head and looked at Anthony with an expression of disbelief, as if to say, This isn’t supposed to happen. We’re the winners.

  Another shot came and Norman finally got the picture and threw himself to the ground.

  “What are we going to do?” Norman asked, his voice rising.

  Anthony pulled out his pistol and said, “Two can play at this game.” He popped up and fired off three quick shots into the woods and then ran in a crouch, back toward a bus situated behind the other vehicles.

  “What about me?” Norman asked, like a small child pleading for help.

  “You have a gun! Use it!” Anthony shouted back at him.

  Anthony climbed onto the bus, and when he felt it was safe, he stuck his head up to survey the situation. Norman had his rifle in play and was firing unrestrained into the woods. Limbs and leaves fell to the ground like snowflakes. Anthony thought he saw a dark shadow rush deeper into the woods, but he couldn’t be sure.

  Rats are in the woods, he thought.

  Norman burned through a magazine and stuck in another one as he backed toward their tractor-trailer. He fired a few shots more as he retreated.

  Anthony’s fingers went to his control panel, and with carefully controlled finger presses, he sent Norman’s soldiers headed off into the woods in search of the rats. He looked out to the battlefield and saw Felix’s soldiers wandering aimless without direction. He ran his fingers over the keyboard again and re-engaged those soldiers, back onto the attack. The armored zombies went back into the fray, trudging toward the front of the main building.

  Although his view on the north side of the building was now somewhat obscured, he saw something that was disturbing. Ryan’s zombies were no longer on their path to the back of the complex, but instead wandered aimlessly like Felix’s zombies had done.

  A fissure broke in Anthony’s facade of self-satisfaction, and he shouted into his headset, “Ryan, what the fuck are you doing?”

  Chapter 28

  Facing the Enemy

  Things were going slower at the dock than Russell wanted. Despite Joel’s outburst, only a few vehicles had left the building. There were still four trucks going nowhere fast. People milled about as if it were a breezy
summer day and not a zombie apocalypse. Some internal clock told him that they were running out of time. He wanted to scream at these people, but knew he’d get nowhere. They didn’t know him and his credibility with them was quite low. He pivoted and looked around the loading dock, spotting Kara. Maybe she could tell them?

  He ran to her and said, “We need to get these people out of here.” There was a slight edge of panic in his voice.

  “I know; I know,” Kara said while looking around at the half-loaded truck.

  “People are taking entirely too many things,” Russell said.

  “Hold on a second,” she said and turned her attention back to the interior of the truck, where Naveen, Madison, and Jason sat. “Girls, don’t get out of the truck for any reason. Do you hear me?”

  Both of the girl’s eyes went wide, and they just nodded.

  “Let me see what I can do,” Kara said, and then she strode across the dock to the other vehicles. When she got in among them, she put one hand to her lips and blew out one of the loudest and shrillest whistles ever heard. It was doubtful a gunshot could have been as effective.

  All heads turned in her direction.

  “Listen up, everyone,” she shouted. “You need to stop taking time for supplies and get out of here.”

  Some of the people stood still, vapid looks on their faces, but most did move and grabbed the last couple of items they could, leaving the rest littered around on the ground. Someone fired up the engines of two of the trucks and sped out of the dock area.

  Steve Hampton and Mrs. Hatcher were in the vapid crowd and just stared at her.

  What a pair, Kara thought.

  Mrs. Hatcher broke from her spell and asked, “If you think we’re in such an all-fired hurry to get out here, little missy, then why are you still here?”

  “Apparently wasting my breath on you,” Kara said, pivoted, and went back to the truck. When she got alongside the truck, she said, “We’re leaving in two minutes, with or without these fools.”