by T. W. Brown
“Few hours.”
Kevin moved out from the shade of the trees and looked skyward. He was not foolish enough to think he could actually tell time by the sun, but he knew well enough that the blazing orb had travelled a considerable distance since he’d laid down for that nap.
All of his fears scurried forth from the darker shadows of his mind. Each one offering up horrible possibilities of what fate had befallen Aleah. He began to pace nervously. More than once, somebody would try to talk to him, but they would soon give up when it was obvious that his mind had checked out.
Time seemed to come to a standstill and Kevin began to get a feeling deep in his gut. Was this the ability of premonition? he wondered. Was he becoming more in tune with his sixth sense now that the Old World had been stripped away? He had read enough stories where that sort of thing happened. Just as quickly as it arose, Kevin banished the thought. In his logical mind he knew better.
“You are making people nervous,” a voice said.
Kevin looked down to discover Rose standing there. The look on her face indicated that she was one of the people he was making nervous.
“Aleah will be fine,” Heather said from beside him. He had no recollection of her having strolled up.
His mind was simply too consumed with worry. What had he been thinking, sending her off like that? He was supposed to protect her, but he had allowed himself to be governed by emotion instead of logic. Why was it a crime to keep her safe? It was a logical step to send out people who were not susceptible to the zombie contagion and keep back those who were.
“Kevin!” Bill’s voice cut through Kevin’s morose thought process. “We got incoming…I count five. Looks like our people.”
Kevin scrambled up the slope to the highway where Bill, Jose and Jane were standing with hands shielding eyes from the sun which had now slipped down to the western horizon and would be dipping from sight within a few hours.
It took everything in his power to not go running across the open expanse between him and Aleah. He wanted to sprint, arms open wide, scoop her up and kiss her. It seemed to take forever, but at last the group reached the interstate. Kevin had to suppress a smile when they looked both ways before crossing. Were they expecting traffic?
“She’s gone,” Adam announced. “But we found a pretty nice housing development. From the looks, the entire community evacuated to some sort of horse racing track on the other side of town. There is some serious military hardware over there…but no signs of anybody living. The fence looks to have been breached in at least three places.”
“There is still a concentrated zombie presence,” Aleah said as she pulled off her riot helmet. “But if we can actually draw them out, I think it is worth looking.”
“The only real concern is the absolute massiveness of the whole place,” Adam blurted. “Seriously, I have not seen anything on this scale. It looks like they tried to just secure too much area. And if they did it early on, who knows how many people came in infected. It looks like they turned the campground across from the track facility into some sort of medical center. There are a lot of zombies in uniform, man.”
Kevin pulled out his atlas and took a look at the area. Sure enough, there was a massive resort complex called Adventureland. He hadn’t really noticed it before, or if he had, he obviously dismissed it. He had to admit, as far as a location for a FEMA center, it was probably not a bad one. It certainly held a number of advantages over a local high school. The infield of the horse racing track would be able to house thousands; add the camp ground and the expanse of parking lot…it was a fairly solid idea.
That night they sat around the Dakota Hole fire and discussed how they might be able to get inside the overrun rescue center and scavenge. The more Kevin heard, the more he felt there might be a veritable treasure within that busted fence line.
“I have a question,” David finally spoke up after several instances of whispering back and forth with Heather. He seemed a little embarrassed when all eyes turned his direction.
“Go ahead,” Kevin encouraged.
“If this place is such a great possibility for weapons and supplies, how is it that nobody else has made a run on it?”
“Maybe they have,” Kevin conceded.
“But Adam says he saw stacks of crates that looked unopened.” David was gaining more confidence as it was clear that his concerns were not being dismissed.
“It could be a number of things.” Kevin let his gaze pass over everybody. He wanted them to be sure they knew what this mission could mean. “If this place was setting up for a long holdout, then it is likely that they brought in massive supplies. If they were hit by a herd, or even if the attack came from within, anybody who could make a run for it may have done so without having time to grab things. In the past year, how many times have you had to leave everything behind and just run for your life?”
With the exception of Heather and Aleah, they all looked back at him blankly. He had forgotten that these folks had been safe inside their compound almost from the beginning. And when they’d left, it had not been a hurried exodus, they had been able to grab what they wanted and depart in relative peace. They had not been through what he and his people had been through. And Rose…well…she was a different story altogether.
“Consider yourselves lucky,” Kevin sighed. “Anyway, even if people have come through, they couldn’t take everything. And I would bet that a lot of them would pass this place by just because of all the zombies you say are wandering around inside that fence.”
A sound from beyond the trees made everybody jump. Weapons were being drawn in a flurry and sixteen people were ready to confront whatever came through the trees and brush. A thud and cry sounded, and then more scuffling. At last, a figure staggered through and stopped. The Dakota fire hole did not produce much ambient light, and so nobody moved until a familiar voice whimpered.
“People…bad people…” Cherish Brandini staggered a few more steps and fell to the ground in a lifeless heap.
14
Soul Scarring
Forcing down the bile that was rising in my throat, I lobbed the second grenade. I tried to ignore the fact that I saw a body go airborne in the maelstrom of dirt, grass, smoke, and fire. The hardest part was pretending that the body was not in at least three separate pieces.
Giving the signal, I unslung my M4 and charged forward. The stench of fresh death was so thick that it turned my stomach. The haze cut visibility down to just a few feet of actual clarity. That is probably why I did not see the mangled torso that I tripped over.
Sprawling on my face, my rifle clattered away and came to rest against the body of a woman. I got to my hands and knees and crawled to retrieve my weapon. A low moan froze me and I had my knife in my hand on instinct alone. The woman’s head lolled to face me and I saw crystal blue eyes staring back at me. The left one was marred by the rupture of several small capillaries and had an ugly red smear marring the white. Red…not black, my mind pointed out.
It made little difference. I did what I had to do and finished her off. As my brain slowly allowed me to see the rest of the picture, I convinced myself that I had done the right thing. Her left arm was gone and blood was still pumping in rhythmic jets from the ugly stump that remained. That stopped seconds after I plunged my blade into her temple.
I heard the sounds of battle erupt around me. Tracers whizzed past in both directions. I had no idea how many we’d killed, much less how many remained. I did know that the camp was not incredibly large. I had a feeling that we took out a lion’s share in the initial blasts.
I inched forward to the mouth of a tent that was mostly collapsed. Something stirred and I brought the stock of my rifle up to my shoulder. A man staggered out, flinging the tent flap aside and kicking his feet loose from something that had him tangled. He probably never saw me. I doubt he even realized he was dead despite the two steps that he took before collapsing to the ground.
I scurried forward and glanced insi
de. When I saw movement, I did not even bother to look any closer. I sprayed a few five-round bursts into the tent. Satisfied, I moved deeper into the camp. I passed something to my left and, try as I might, I could not help but stop and stare.
It was the upper half of a girl no older than Thalia. Brown eyes stared dully to the sky through a mask of dirt, burnt flesh, and blood. What had I done?
Somebody grabbed my arm and I spun to face Darla. She glanced down at my feet, but her hard features gave no indication of shame, pity, or even condemnation. She shoved me forward.
“This is so wrong,” I muttered. I was not sure that she could hear me over the sounds of gunfire, moans, crying, and screaming.
“Worry about it later, Billy!” Darla snapped. She had turned me to face her again and was practically standing nose-to-nose with me.
“That little girl couldn’t be any older than Thalia.” I felt my voice break as I drew closer to tears.
“And if we fail in this mission, that little girl will be Thalia!” she snarled. “Yes, this sucks, but if we don’t do this, then it will be our people on the receiving end. Is that what you want?”
It wasn’t. However, that did not mean that anything changed about the way I felt inside. It was almost like I could feel my soul being torn apart and run through a wood chipper, dipped in salt, and then set on fire.
I took a deep breath and looked around. I was not alone in my feelings. I saw one member of my team on her knees beside a lump of flesh that was not large enough to be an adult. She was crying all the way up until a burst of gunfire made dark splotches across her chest.
“No mercy,” I said, more to myself than to anybody who might have been able to hear me.
The first few steps were more of a stagger, but I fell in beside Darla and we gunned our way into the center of this camp. A large tent to my left was shaking as those inside were obviously scrambling into action. Without pause, I grabbed my third grenade and tossed it into the open flap. A man had just stepped into that space and had just enough time to look down at the deadly little pineapple that rolled between his legs. The explosion could have been comical if you divorced yourself from the instant carnage. The tent blew out like a giant bubble, and then it collapsed in on itself. Nothing moved as smoke poured out of the lumpy mess.
“Billy!” a voice yelled. I spun to my right to see Doubting Thomas limping in my direction. He was clutching his left leg and I saw that his hands were dripping wet with blood. “We got trouble.”
That was sort of obvious, which meant he meant that there was something even worse than what we were already dealing with. I was about to ask when something hissed by overhead. A second later, there was a tremendous explosion that sent me flying.
I shook my head to clear the ringing in my ears, but it was useless. That noise was going to stick around for a while. Plus, shaking my head only served to send pain shooting down my neck. I quickly patted myself with my hands and checked. No blood, or at least not enough to indicate that I was seriously injured. Darla was a few feet in front of me and rolled onto her back. At first I thought that she was dead, then she turned onto her side and spat out a mouthful of dirt and blood. She had something about the size of a pencil sticking out of her cheek. I watched as she reached up, found the object, and yanked it free in a spray of frothy blood. A crimson river was running down her face, but she had the presence of mind to rip free a piece of her tattered shirt and smash it into the hole that pierced her cheek.
It took me a few seconds to realize that the roar of gunfire that had been raging only seconds ago had reduced to a few random pops. From where I had landed at the base of a tree, I had a terrible view of the surrounding area. I had a smoldering camp one way and a smoldering wooden play structure the other. With tall grass on every side, smoke rolling by on the gentle breeze, and my back literally up against a tree, I could not see any of my team with the exception of Darla and Doubting Thomas.
Doubting Thomas was on his stomach about five feet away from me with his hands over his head. He looked up and I could tell that he was surprised to discover himself still among the living. I had obviously been stopped by the tree that I was now leaning up against and he came to me on his belly.
“A group of twenty or thirty were coming in from behind us by the looks of it. I don’t know if they were even aware we existed, but they have three guys packing RPGs.” His hands sort of went wide as if to bring my attention to the destruction.
Darla made a wet sound and then spat out a mouthful of blood. “Where did you see them last?” she asked once her mouth was clear. It almost sounded as if she were underwater.
“Back from where I was coming from.” Doubting Thomas pointed almost exactly back the way that we had used for our approach.
“You two rally everybody that you can and move to…” I looked around to gather my bearings. I saw a gentle slope on the other side of what was left of the mangled wooden play structure. “Get up on that hill.”
“What about you?” Doubting Thomas asked.
“Somebody has to take out those RPGs,” I said with a shrug.
“I’ll go with you!” he blurted. I glanced down at his leg and he seemed to suddenly remember that he was injured and added weakly, “You can’t go after twenty or thirty armed enemies on your own.”
“You still got your grenade?” I asked. He nodded and I held out my hand. He and Darla both plopped a grenade down into my open palm.
“It is still a suicide run,” the man sighed.
“I don’t plan on trying to take them head on,” I said as I checked my M4 and started towards the smoldering play structure.
I wriggled my way under a square wooden platform that was only a couple of feet off the ground. I would not be able to move much, but I would also present a very difficult target. They would have to hit my location with another RPG if they wanted any shot at all of taking me out.
I could not see much if they got close, but I would have a good view of any who approached from back the way we had come in. I would wait until I saw whoever was toting those RPGs before I side armed a grenade with the hopes that it would roll or bounce far enough to take out the greatest number.
I did not have to wait long. The first few came in looking every bit the part of a bunch of rednecks on a hunting trip. The guys toting the RPGs were whipping around like a cartoonish example of a policeman doing a room sweep. I gauged the distance and waited. As they drew closer, I slipped the pin free of the first grenade, being sure to hold the lever tight so I did not blow myself to bits.
Distant gunfire caused them all to freeze, and I hoped that they did not decide to alter their current course. Everything seemed to downshift to slow motion. One of the group took a single cautious step and then another. At last the group started to creep forward once more.
My lungs felt like they were on fire which is how I came to realize that I’d been holding my breath for an indeterminate length of time. I let it out slowly through my mouth and felt a cool rush as oxygen was sucked back in just as gently.
“Holy Christ!” a man gasped. “Those animals murdered Matt’s kids!” I heard gasps and saw the entire group adjust and come in a rush almost directly at my location.
I held my breath deliberately this time. They stopped and gathered around what had to be the remains of one of the children. Having seen it myself, I knew the horror that was being taken in by these people. I felt a slight pang of self-loathing start to build and just as quickly I stamped it down. I replaced the scene unfolding just a few yards away with the idea of my group clustered around the remains of Thalia…Levent or Rabia for that matter.
They were distracted. This was my chance. Shifting around just a bit, I slung my arm forward and let the grenade go skittering and hopping across the ground. I watched as it pinged off of one person’s boot and came to rest.
“What the—” I think I heard.
The blast that came just a second later ended that thought. Swinging my rifle around and
out in front of me, I watched the dirt cloud for the first signs of movement. A dark shadow materialized and I squeezed the trigger. Something tried to rise, but I adjusted fire and sent another burst for good measure.
I saw a figure dashing off to the left and a few more to the right. They ducked into or behind the nearest tent or tree. It was a useless effort. Three more bursts ended with bodies spinning wildly from the impact of bullets and then falling to the ground.
I scooted backwards and came out from my cover after I was satisfied that there was nothing still moving. Just as I came up to my knees, Darla, Doubting Thomas, and several other members of my team popped up from the fringe of tall grass that covered the slope of the nearby hill that I had sent them to. I could tell that we were short a few from what we started with, but I could hold on to hope that maybe we were just a bit scattered at the moment.
Breaking into a jog, I did my best not to look at the carnage we’d inflicted. How could we cause so much death and destruction in such a short time? And was this result being played out with the same or even more horrible outcomes elsewhere? With the battle seemingly over, my conscience was now at full volume in my head. It was letting me know in no uncertain terms that I’d committed an act of atrocity. What made it worse was the fact that I’d seen those children in the camp before committing to my attack. I could not fall back on ignorance. I was a deplorable monster, no better than some of the scum we’d come across or heard about and done away with in the past year.
“We need to move!” Darla hissed as I rejoined my group.
I looked from one face to the next and saw very visible expressions that mirrored what I was feeling. Well…on everybody’s face except Darla’s.
“Why?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from the others and focusing on the one person in our group that seemed to be taking everything in stride.
“Two herds are coming,” she said.
Judging by the way she said it, I had to assume that they were either very close, very large, or the lethal combination of both. I turned back the way I’d just come from and scanned the few streets and open fields that I could see. Darla’s hand grabbed my arm, and she led me to the top of the gentle slope that we were standing on. When we got to the top, it was easy to see why she was in such a hurry.
