BESIEGED (HUNGRY Series Book 2)

by Lawrence Herbert Tide

The flash dazzled his eye and caused him to close his eyes for a brief moment, and a picture of the back of his eye appeared on a nearby small screen, with its complex network of veinlets, an image as unique as a fingerprint.

  A melodious beep sounded in their ears, and the color of the outline of the door went from red to orange, then, a second after, to red, while a click was heard. A hissing was heard and then the door slid to the side, leaving the passage to Vlad, who was followed by the two prisoners, always held in check by his men.

  When Vlad, Johnny, Bo, and the guards had passed the door, it quickly closed behind them, but none of the prisoners paid any attention to it. Their attention was too much drawn to what they discovered, open-mouthed, around them.

  "My God, this is Paradise!" exclaimed Bo, ecstatic as he admired the office into which they had just entered, with paintings of Masters hanging on the walls, mixed with various surveillance screens, which broadcast external shots. These attracted, and even magnetized the attention of the two men. One of the cameras showed, in particular, zombies that approached the truck again. Obviously interested in something, the creatures seemed to look up towards the camera.

  Arms and hands appeared in the field of the camera, in addition to flapping wings that blocked the view from time to time, among feathers floating in the air. Hands and arms swung new chickens on the undead, which were fighting to catch them.

  Bo watched a chicken being torn from the hands of one creature by another, who separated the animal's head from its body with a single bite at the neck. Disgusted, he saw the head fall at the feet of the zombies, one of which fell on its knees and gobbled the whole head. Its jaws could not be heard munching, since the surveillance camera did not seem to have a microphone but given the mixture of blood and flesh that flowed from the creature's open mouth, it was clear that it found the meal very crunchy.

  "The laws of Nature are indeed cruel, but they are so for a good reason: it is the law of the strongest."

  The recognizable voice made the two young men turn around, and they saw Adams sitting behind a magnificent mahogany desk. He motioned in the direction of two seats in front of him, and, bantering, said with a sneer, "I beg you, gentlemen, sit down."

  Bo began to move forward towards one of the seats but he stopped on station, emitting a small complaint of pain.

  He had just received a little elbow to his ribs from his friend who remained immobile, scowling at him.

  The young man of color then looked at the old Administrator defiantly. This provoked a cold and dull, fulminating anger in the latter, and as the young black man and the old politician looked at each other, Bo told himself that all this did not tell him anything worthwhile.

  Adams laid his cold eyes, like those of a reptile, on the blond young man, and said with a mocking tone, "So, always obeying and following your friend Johnny like a little dog, huh? No more will than that of an invertebrate? "

  This sentence caused Bo to turn toward the old man, red with anger, and say, "Get lost, old fossil!"

  Adams snorted with contempt and replied, "I had hoped that at least you knew how to behave," and at that, he made a sign with his hand to Vlad, who noisily slapped the young man.

  The latter was on the verge of falling and was caught up just in time by Johnny, who kept him standing firmly. The old man in white costume had a smile as great as his favorite hand-man had, and added, "Stand still, and all will go well."

  Johnny gave him a look of hatred, and then he and Bo looked into each other's eyes nervously. They had both realized that they would never be allowed to come back alive to the Community!

  ***

  Red was in total darkness, eyes closed. She felt as though her body was floating, and even, at times, no longer felt it at all.

  No more sensation... A total release of her worries...

  And these impressions disturbed her nevertheless... as also began to disturb her a grave, and gentle voice, at the same time, coming to her from afar. Very far, across time and space...

  The voice of her father...

  "Honey, you have to get up. You do not give up, you cling to life."

  She returned in herself, as if she wanted to hide under the sheets of a virtual bed, imaginary, trying to stay warm, motionless, passive...

  "Come on, take your courage, stand up, Red," said a more serious voice, as loud as thunder.

  She felt her body again, in all its discomfort, and even began to feel pain, here and there. She wanted to deny reality, but she felt that reality would leave her no choice.

  And when this reality corresponded to the imposing and palpable presence of Harry Jackson, no one could remain indifferent...

  Red opened her eyes and then saw the face of the good man of color, who looked at her, smiling, and said, "At last she comes out of limbo!"

  "Red…"

  This voice, Hiroto's voice, made her jump, even though she did not recognize in its tone the old man’s usual strength and authority. Opening her large green eyes, she could not help rubbing them with her hands, for it was as if they were both sticky and full of sand. She turned her head and saw her grandfather, lying on the seat-bed on which she had put him, also in the same horizontal position as her. He smiled and asked, "Are you OK, Red?"

  "I would prefer to know how you are... I'm glad to see that you feel good," she added, smiling.

  "You should never have given so much blood, you could have died by emptying yourself, during the transfusion!" murmured the old man, with an air of reproach in his attitude as he looked at her.

  "He's right, it was foolish," Harry said, looking stern. "Transfusing someone like that, unattended by a doctor, is a crazy idea!"

  "It's the crazy side of some Universal blood donors like me," said the young redhead while smiling shyly, to which her Master bluntly replied, "Only major donors are allowed, normally!"

  Red closed in upon herself, at the same time relieved to see him alive, and disappointed not to be thanked for her effort to save him. The old Japanese breathed a deep breath and looked away, obviously angry.

  The silence was established between the two in the passenger compartment for several minutes, silence which was interrupted twice by beeps. As Harry approached them, embarrassed, looking softer, he murmured, "The bottom line is that you feel better, both of you, and that you both take back strength!"

  And that's when he gave them both a microwaveable dinner tray, which had just been heated by the microwave oven, which occupied a small place on a table protruding from the inner wall, near the passenger seats.

  The girl devoured the meal offered, drinking a lot of water, thanking Harry for this meal, thanking also the fact that the oven could be fueled by the powerful lithium battery of the hybrid van.

  Hiroto ate more slowly than she did, but ended up eating enough to say, "Well, we're going to be able to get down to business, Harry. We need to get your son and his friend Boris out."

  "I will rescue them... you’re far too weak!"

  "You’re wrong, I feel better," and saying this, the old man suddenly sat down. It was then that his face became white. He collapsed on his back, luckily on the soft couch, sinking into unconsciousness.

  "That’s what I said," Harry murmured, heading for the sliding door.

  "Harry," Red yelled. "Where are you going? You want to fight them all alone?"

  "Why not?" the good giant replied. "After all I've gone through and suffered, I trust that I can... but you... you stay here!"

  With that, he unlocked the heavy sliding door with one hand and pushed it to the side, as if it was made from plastic. And then realized that he was facing a female living dead. Dressed in a magnificent parade dress, in which its modeling body still showed seductive shapes, it had a half-torn cheek, probably torn to pieces by a zombie when it had still been human. Opening wide-eyed, blood-stained and surprised eyes, it grunted when it saw him.

  Harry hit the creature very hard at the plexus, sending it flying back several yards. This caused it to knock
back two other zombies, the trio crashing into the dust, near the intermingled cluster of their predecessors.

  Harry closed the sliding door and locked it with a key. Then he ran into a deeper part of the forest, which he reached very quickly with great strides. Red watched him leave through the van's windscreen. And she could not help but be impressed by the man’s speed. How can he run so fast, despite his enormous mass? How does he manage to do that?

  Zombies occasionally came from behind bushes or trees, trying to attack him, but like a quarterback playing football, the giant with the cap easily circumvented them. Sometimes he charged them like an elephant, jostling them on the way.

  Red turned to look at Hiroto. He remained lying unconscious on his bed. She approached him and, standing in front of him, contemplated her grandfather. He was sleeping deeply, having gotten back his color. Only rest will surely save him, she said to herself.

  That’s when she let her gaze drift towards his sword, which was in its scabbard, that she had respectfully placed near him, on the long armchair on which he was lying. She grabbed the scabbard, and grabbing with emotion the black hilt of the bladed weapon, she pulled it out. This caused reflections of the dim interior light to play on the metallic surface, depending on the angle of the blade.

  She heard a groan behind the sliding door, then something scrawling on its metal surface. Carrying the scabbard in one hand and the blade in the other, she began to walk toward the door.

  But she suddenly stopped. And then sighed lengthily, looking down, depressed.

  Then she turned again around, and returned to her grandfather, whom she contemplated, the saber still in her hand. And finally, she put it back in its sheath, before putting the whole in a horizontal position, near the old Master. She was glad to see him so calm. She smiled, telling herself, He’s saved, and he’s got a shelter here.

  "I'm not sure I deserve your sword, Sensei... and it's yours until you die." She became silent again, sighing with vexation, and walked away from him. She then headed toward the aft part of the vehicle, with the aim to sit again on one of the front seats, and wait.

  Wait. Wait, and wait again... while Harry Jackson was going to risk his life for the others. As she walked slowly, she felt guilty. Guilty for her uselessness...

  Then one of her feet stumbled over something, and she fell.

  She just caught the rear edge of the driver's seat, avoiding falling completely, shocking her knees. These hurt her, the metal floor far from being as soft as the body of the zombie on which she had fallen from the tree, when she was a child.

  Red was going to get up when she noticed something. It was below the driver's seat.

  Black plastic, tied by a rope and a knot, seemed to envelop something. She touched the edges of the cloth, and felt that there were hard and protruding objects inside. She opened the knot of the rope and opened the bag to reveal blades. These sparkled within the dim light, as if they were made of diamonds. They all seemed to have been badly cut, not with an industrial quality. Some of them were totally sharp blades. Others had a thick rounded outgrowth.

  She saw one in particular, the circumference of which was, on one side, in the shape of a flattened oval stem, and, on the other, formed an extremely fine blade.

  She lifted the object, holding it by its oval side. Its borders weren’t really smooth but weren’t really sharp. The whole was about the same size as a saber. It shone even more, showing multicolor light reflections, now that, held high in her hand, it was well lit by the interior light in the vehicle. It threw a thousand spots everywhere, like a disco-ball. She remembered what Bo, who had left the package in the truck, had told her about this strange material.

  Red looked at her Sensei who was resting quietly, and took a deep breath. She walked toward the sliding door, hearing behind it screeching noises and grunts. And standing in front of it, she hesitated.

  Then she began, inwardly, to count...

  One... Two... Three!

  She suddenly unlocked the door and slid it open as fast as she could.

  Cold air interspersed with putrid odors welcomed her, while roars, coming from nightmarish silhouettes before her, made her red hair rise on her head.

  The girl jumped to the ground and, turning around, quickly closed the sliding door behind her, closing the lock with the double of the van’s key she possessed.

  Then she turned again, swallowing hard, ready to face her destiny, despite her stress, which was triggered by the cries of the creatures in front of her.

  ***

  Stress

  Johnny and Bo had the impression of being heavy underdogs, though the former continued to hide his emotions while keeping his impassive side. The henchman who was near them, on the roof of the truck, at their backs, also showed a cold face.

  "Well, guys, having fun?" asked Vlad, his trunk protruding from the open roof window. Another of his acolytes continued to throw cackling poultry over the ledge, exciting the creatures below. Some stretched their lean hands towards the roof while others, on the dusty soil behind them, were fighting for bloody debris of flesh.

  "Johnny, we're doomed," whined Bo, his heart beating fast.

  He drew back just in time one of his feet, which was near the border of the roof, which was almost caught by a bunch of bony hands and claws. They scraped the rim of the truck on which they were forced to stand.

  Johnny shrugged, but inwardly, he didn't feel reassured. He had the impression that he and his friend were like prisoners of sea pirates from a long time ago. These had fun putting their prisoners on a plank above the sea and making them stumble toward hungry sharks.

  "Well, clowns, your Master Hiroto doesn't seem to be ready to save you," Vlad shouted at them, laughing hard before continuing, "He ought not to reveal to the Community what we're doing here, or you're finished!"

  Vibrations were heard, and looking at him, the two prisoners saw the henchman pull out his smartphone and talk. His voice was covered by the roars and screams of the creatures around them. However the two young men felt their anxiety grow even more, when they realized that he was watching them with an even more worrying smile. He hung up and shouted, "Program changes, guys... Adams has hidden many guards all around the Community, and anyone who tries to approach it without authorization will be shot without warning.

  “Your Master will not warn anyone. Do you know what that means?"

  He stopped talking, waiting for their answer. A minute passed by and neither of the two young people dared to say a word. Vlad resumed, "If you want to know what it means, it means... that you serve us no purpose alive!"

  He looked at the henchman who, behind them, still held them, and he resumed, trying to keep his voice strong enough to be heard above the din, "Let them go to the edge and, if they don't jump, shoot them."

  The man nodded and, turning to Bo and Johnny, he yelled, "You heard? I count three and then you jump, or I kill you like dogs." The two young men remained motionless, looking at him, one with fear, the other with an air of distrust.

  Vlad and his two hit men snickered, and the armed man said, "One..."

  Bo hesitated, preparing to move forward, but he was restrained by Johnny, who shook his head no, no, no.

  "Two..." The man stepped forward, his gun almost touching Johnny's back.

  "Thr..."

  A noise was heard below, and all the people on the roof were amazed by what they saw.

  The zombies were falling one beside the other below them, in a very rapid wave, like dominoes collapsing, as if they were mowed down by something.

  "What is..." Vlad said, leaning a little more to see.

  Behind them, on the other side of the truck, a new line of undead collapsed.

  The armed man leaned over, and that's when Johnny turned around and caught with one of his hands the man's armed hand. Bending painfully the hit man's wrist he struck with his other hand the man at the temple with the back of his fist.

  The henchman lost his balance and his weapon and fe
ll. He shouted while falling on the mass of creatures lying below. Many bone-sided hands closed by reflex on him, while half struck by the fall, he sought slowly to disengage himself.

  Johnny, who had managed to stay steady with Bo, began to run toward Vlad. The latter, who saw him coming, looked down and shouted to someone in the truck, "Pass me your gun!"

  He was kicked in the face before he could react or anything could be passed to him, and he fell backwards, at the foot of the small ladder.

  Johnny grabbed the top of the bars with the intention of jumping on him.

  He suddenly felt that he was grabbed. It was the henchman who had just let go of the bag of chickens on the roof, and from behind, he was trying to smother the young man of color, putting his hand on his throat with the goal to stifle him.

  The hit man was violently punched in the back.

  This made the man release Johnny and, turning around, he was hit a second time, this time in his face by Bo, who had joined them. The man fell through the open window and hit head-first the metal floor, knocking himself out. He finally lay on the floor near Vlad, who was already unconscious.

  "Vlad, what's going on?" they heard on an inner loudspeaker, and everyone recognized the frightened voice of Adams.

  The latter, still sitting at his desk and watching, dazed, everything which was happening on his various control screens. He concentrated his attention on the henchman in the middle of the zombies, who was trying to escape their clutch. Unable to get up to flee their many hands he began to scream, "Help me!"

  His voice stopped when claw-like fingers lacerated his belly and, shredding it, extracted his bloody guts. The eyes bulging with the pain, he saw more zombies crawling toward him, obscuring his sight.

  He then felt an excruciating pain in his chest.

  One of the creatures had just plucked out his heart and he saw it plunge its jaws into the still beating bloody mass.

  "My God!" exclaimed the Administrator, gazing with great eyes at the man being shredded into pieces under the mass of the creatures. Sweat dripping from his bald forehead, he shouted at a microphone, "Vlad, answer me, where are you?"