“Well, there’s your problem,” Scratch drawled.
“Move,” Miller said, though she stayed on the ground. The others obeyed. They got to their feet and ran up the slope toward the mouth of the cave.
“Get inside,” Miller ordered. She rolled over onto her back and studied the sky outside. The drone was coming back for another pass. It would be too late now, whatever its motive. She still wasn’t sure if it was trying to kill them or herd them like cattle. Either way, they were going to be underground soon. They had made it.
“Penny, come on!” Sheppard called. He was in the cool shadow near the entrance. Scratch looked ready to come out and get her.
“Stay there, I’m coming.”
Ears still ringing, Miller picked herself off the ground. She stumbled up the slope before the drone returned and followed Scratch, Rat, and Sheppard into the deep mountain caves.
CHAPTER THREE
After all the bright sunlight and so many loud explosions, the sudden silence in the shadowy underground cave was startling. Miller found herself temporarily blinded. The cool darkness seemed to have swallowed her friends alive. She closed her eyes to allow them to adjust. Then she opened them again. At first glance, the cave opening appeared empty. She couldn’t find her people, but they were probably just hiding in the boulders or flat on the rocky ground. The air smelled a tad rancid and cold water was dripping from somewhere high above them. Miller stood up and cupped her palms to make her words carry. She did not shout.
“Is everyone all right?”
Something moved a few yards to her right. Scratch appeared, a tall specter rising up from the damp gloom. His hands were moving and Miller could hear faint slapping sounds. He was patting the sand and dust off his clothes. “All arms and legs accounted for here, Penny.”
“I’m good,” said Sheppard. He was over near Scratch.
“One hundred percent,” said Rat. Her speech was a little slurred, but that was probably still from the beating Miller had given her just the day before, when they were both accelerated and on the zombie virus. It was still damn good to hear her voice, but then their bond was odd, to say the least.
Sheppard approached Miller. “You want to tell us what that was all about?”
“Say that again?”
“You hesitated in the face of a threat, Penny. Twice in ten minutes. That’s not like you.”
Miller stared at him, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She didn’t know how to respond. What the hell had she been thinking, anyway? She looked away. “Duly noted, Karl.”
Sheppard had the good sense to drop it.
Scratch coughed. “Just one other thing.”
They all turned to look at him. “Yes?”
“I mean… what the fuck?”
Miller was still having trouble seeing. She blinked and turned her head back and forth. She wanted to soak up their immediate surroundings to get a plan formulated. She went with him. “Which what the fuck do you mean?”
“Which what the fuck do I mean? I mean, what the fuck they used fucking drones?” Scratch pointed at the ceiling of the cave and thus the now invisible sky above. He turned to Sheppard. “Don’t your friends back at Crystal Palace have anything to do with their free time besides to try to run us down and blow our collective shit to bean soup?”
That’s kind of a rhetorical question, Miller thought. Before Sheppard could speak, Miller filled in for him. “And it gets worse.”
Scratch coughed dust. “Oh? How so?”
“Crystal Palace didn’t send them, Scratch. There’s no runway there. That’s just a helicopter base. They had to have come from somewhere else.”
Scratch walked closer. “Then from where?”
To Miller’s surprise, she, Rat, and Sheppard said, “Mountain Home,” in total unison.
“What, are they reading our minds too now?” Scratch looked at Penny for a long moment. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Penny—well, same thing with you, Rat—but exactly who the hell can read your thoughts? Can anybody on their side? I mean, now that you guys are, like, zombie whisperers? Maybe that is how they tracked us down so quickly this time. If so, they already know where we are right now. What’s next, an anti-bin Laden bunker buster bomb?”
Sheppard clapped Scratch on the shoulder. “No one is reading their minds, Scratch. I can guarantee that.”
Rat said, “Mountain Home won’t know much. Not yet, anyway. All they’ll know is we’ve gone to ground in this general area.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Sheppard took one step forward in the darkness. “Well, that telepathy thing between super soldiers, Scratch? It only works when they’re accelerated. It’s a very short range effect. As you know, I was in charge of the latest program and ran it from the beginning. Penny and Rat are fine. I can assure you no one is reading their thoughts, at least not right now. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be coming after us and soon.”
Scratch leaned up against the rocky wall of the cave. He crossed his arms. “Okay, but I bet I can read Penny’s mind right now.”
“You can?” asked Miller, suddenly nervous. Scratch sounded sincere. Both Rat and Sheppard stared at him too. Scratch enjoyed the moment and then put his fingertips to his temples as if concentrating.
Miller smiled, not sure anyone could actually see it. “Go for it.”
“Okay,” Scratch said. “I hear you loud and clear, Penny. You’re about to say that now that our rides have been destroyed, and because all our gear is burnt toast, we’d best go find some new resources and weapons or we’re going to be seriously screwed.”
Miller couldn’t help but smile. “Gee, was I thinking it that loudly?”
Sheppard had puffed up like a kitten reacting to a mirror. Scratch had gotten him genuinely worried. For some reason Miller found that fact amusing. Sheppard said, “That was just a lucky guess. Scratch was never accelerated, after all. He couldn’t possibly be reading your mind.”
Miller ignored Sheppard. He’d missed the joke and was just covering his own ass with that remark.
“Jesus, Karl. That was just a joke.” Scratch was still on the last conversation. He put a hand on Sheppard’s shoulder. “You need to chill, amigo.”
Sheppard stared ahead of them and down into the darkness. He finally said what everyone else had been thinking. “Do you think that any of Father Abraham’s cannibals are still around?”
“I doubt it,” said Rat.
Miller nodded. “If they had any sense, they ran away right after Terrill Lee blew Father Abraham’s brains all over the desert. We warned them about the bomb. I mean, who would be stupid enough to stay?”
“When the end-times nuke didn’t go off on schedule,” Scratch added, as if trying to convince himself as much as anyone, “and they finally started running out of food, the rest of them would have headed for what’s left of civilization. That would have been their only sane move, right?”
“That’s what worries me,” Sheppard said, “They weren’t sane. And there are only so many little towns in the area to raid for food.”
Miller shook her head. Her ears had finally stopped ringing. “You’re right about that, Karl. Flat Rock is the only town in this area. You’d have to go all the way over to Elko to find anything worth stealing.”
Sheppard said, “So you think they’re gone.”
Miller said, “Let’s verify that before we get caught with our pants down.”
Scratch smiled. “Cool. I didn’t know it was going to be that kind of party.”
Rat spat on the rocks. “I’m thirsty. We have any water?”
No one answered. Miller just pointed toward the dripping sounds coming from further inside the cave. “A seemingly limitless supply, if you don’t mind the bat quano taste. Might be smart to boil it first.”
“I’ve got some purifying tablets,” Sheppard said. “We’re okay.”
“Then we go in and see where it leads.”
“Is that the best plan, Penny?” S
cratch hooked a thumb back toward the mouth of the cave. “Do you reckon those drones are still out there looking for us?”
“They don’t have that much fuel,” said Rat. “My bet is that they went looking for other prey or back home to base.”
“I wouldn’t count on that happening so easily,” said Sheppard. “If the drones were sent from Mountain Home, they’re here for us and they’re going to be on station or replaced until they’re reasonably sure we’re dead. That’s state of the art equipment with lots of loiter time.”
“What happened to the ‘I’m a doctor, not a drone expert’ speech you gave me in the Hummer?”
“I didn’t know about weapons systems, Penny. I didn’t say I don’t know anything at all.”
Scratch snorted. “I’m going to go look and see if they’re still up there.” He didn’t wait for a response or permission. He jogged back up the slope toward the mouth of the cave. “Maybe we can still get the flying fuck out of here without ending up on some redneck cannibal’s dessert tray.”
The dust had cleared from the small cave entrance and sunlight was coming through. It seemed quiet outside, but then the acoustics in the cave were lousy and compressed. Miller wavered, wondering if Scratch might not be smart to check outside, despite the risk. The Mountain Home drone pilots could be playing chess with them, perhaps flying ahead to a suspected exit to ambush them when they came out on the other side, or God forbid planning to blow up and close all known exits. Scratch had a point. They might have flown away. On the other hand…
“Scratch,” Miller called. “Hang on there, cowboy. Let me think on this.”
Scratch didn’t respond, just continued to head toward the mouth of the cave.
“Scratch! Get your ass back here,” Rat hollered. Her voice echoed through the damp cave and bounced back. “They have infrared gear on board. They’ll spot you immediately and…”
The sudden explosion was deafening. A shock wave ripped through the confined space. The walls trembled and the ground rolled like a wave on the ocean. The thin stream of light that had come from the mouth of the cave abruptly vanished. Miller went blind again. The air was suddenly dense with dust and falling gravel. The noise faded away. Miller could hear large rocks moving around and someone groaned.
“Scratch!” Miller called. “You dumb redneck son of a bitch! If you got yourself blown up, I’ll kill whatever’s left of you.”
No answer.
“Scratch?” Miller scrambled to her feet, heart thudding in her chest. “Scratch!”
Miller coughed. They were all hacking and wheezing now. She couldn’t keep talking, because the dust in the air was too thick. She covered her mouth with her sleeve and tried to inhale some kind of air she didn’t have to chew into submission. She sat on the rocks near where she’d been standing. She couldn’t see a damn thing. This would be one lousy time for a massive zombie attack.
“Rat?” called Sheppard. “You okay?”
“Peachy keen.” Rat voice sounded far away from Miller now, and kind of scratchy, but that could have been from the screeching tinnitus caused by the new explosion.
“We have to go find Scratch,” said Miller, or perhaps someone else nearby. It was hard to tell. She wondered if she’d been concussed.
“We don’t have any light,” said Sheppard.
“Well, then rub some rocks together and light your farts if you have to. We are going to find Scratch.”
“Okay, calm down, Penny.” Rat’s voice was suddenly nearby. “We’ll find him.”
“What’s that?” asked Sheppard.
Miller looked around. There was a new light coming from the far side of the cave. This time it was bright, moving light.
“Scratch?” called Miller. Her hearing had returned.
“Wrong direction,” whispered Rat. “Let’s arm up.”
Miller felt her beltline. There had been a pistol there not long before, and her rifle had been lost in all the chaos. “I think we have a problem.”
The artificial light steadied and stopped. It was clearly some kind of lantern or flashlight. It pointed off into the darkness. Whoever it was didn’t know where they were. Miller felt her skin go cold. Was it the cannibals, or some brand new kind of threat? Dust tickled her nose and her chest felt sore.
Sheppard said, “Are they zombies?”
“I don’t smell anything,” Miller said.
“Ever seen a zombie carrying a flashlight?” Rat said, dryly.
“Well, they damn well better not have learned how.”
“Who’s there?” The strange male voice was coming from around a corner of the cave. “Show yourselves.”
“Stay where you are! We’ll shoot if we have to,” Miller bluffed.
“Hold your fire!” cried a second voice, this time a woman’s. “No sense everyone getting all shot up when we haven’t even finished with proper introductions.” The light came a little closer. “Are any of your people injured?”
Miller and Rat stood shoulder to shoulder. Miller answered. “We may have lost one of ours in that last explosion. We’re worried about him. If you ain’t going to kill us, we could sure use your help.”
“We’re going to step forward. Lower your weapons. We’re the good guys.”
Rat snorted. “I’ve heard that one before. And your check is in the mail.”
The light appeared in the form of a kerosene lantern. It was held high by a young man about twenty-five years old. He wore torn jeans and a faded work shirt. He was followed by a woman in her forties, similarly attired. Both of them had stringy blond hair. They both carried handguns, but had them pointed at the floor. Miller didn’t recognize them from the last time they had visited these caves. Maybe they weren’t even Father Abraham’s people.
“Who are you?” asked the young man. He seemed cautious but friendly.
Before Miller could answer, Sheppard said, “We are just some unlucky travelers, like everyone else these days. Look, our good friend may be in real trouble. Could we get you to bring your lamp this way?”
The young man looked to the woman as if waiting for orders.
“Go on, Brandon, help them,” the woman said. She tucked a black revolver in her pocket.
“Thank you,” said Miller. “We are much obliged.”
And all of them headed back out toward where Scratch had last been seen. The flashlight beam sliced the dark with surgical precision. It was comforting to be able to see their surroundings. There were a lot of sharp rocks and depressions they could have tripped in. Rubble was piled everywhere due to the explosion.
Brandon shook his head. “What the hell did all this?”
Miller and Rat exchanged a glance. Miller didn’t have to be accelerated to know how Rat felt about telling the truth to these people. They could not be trusted until further notice.
Sheppard, however, didn’t get the memo. “We reckon it was a drone-launched Hellfire missile.”
Brandon didn’t even break stride. “Fucking drones are back, Allison.”
“I heard him. I’m right here, remember?”
They knew all about the drones. Miller noted their names. “Any sign of Scratch?”
Rat, Sheppard, and Brandon were already digging through the rubble.
“This is pretty solid,” said Brandon. “Where was your friend when all this came down?”
“Right about there,” Rat said
“I swear to God,” said Miller, “if he went and got himself killed—in the dumbest way possible, I might add—I will never forgive him.”
Rat kicked at some rocks. “I’m sure Scratch is fine, Penny.”
At the mention of Miller’s name, Allison and Brandon looked at each other. Miller caught the exchange and it worried her just a tad. The lantern light sent tall shadows up the cave walls. Somewhere a bat squeaked.
Miller turned to Rat. “The only indication we have that he isn’t dead is that we haven’t found blood splatter or any little bitty pieces of him scattered all over this cave, whic
h is pretty thin evidence to hang your optimism on.”
Miller reached over and took the lantern from Allison. She shined the light around the inside of the cave. “You people obviously know these caves better than we do. Is there any way our friend could have gone a different way? Gotten sealed in and run from the attack, maybe. Taken a different tunnel?”
“Sorry to tell you, but I doubt that,” Allison said. “This is the only tunnel that comes through this area.”
Brandon said, “Unless the explosion opened one up. That could have happened. There are a lot of abandoned mines around here.”
“Is there another way out?” asked Sheppard. “We can’t exactly stay down here forever.”
“If there is,” Miller said, “he would have found it by now.”
“Yeah, come this way,” said Brandon. He took the lantern from Miller, and headed back the other direction. The woman, Allison, waited while Miller, Rat, and Sheppard followed Brandon. She brought up the rear. They concentrated on walking. Miller kept her eye on the pistol in Allison’s hand. She wanted to get it away from her as soon as possible.
They walked silently through the cave tunnels, following Brandon’s light. After a few moments, they could see the natural light of morning coming in from ahead. They had discovered how to make their way above ground. Still, Miller felt sick with worry. She rooted for Scratch in her mind and prayed they were about to find him.
Brandon led them up a curving slope. The rocks turned to tightly packed dirt. She could see human footprints everywhere, barefoot and wearing shoes. Quite a few people had passed this way; Abraham’s people, most likely.
When they went through the slightly bowl-shaped cavern, which was open to the sunlight and deserted, Miller drew a deep breath. She looked up at the sky—not for the drones, but for spectators.
It was the arena.
This is where she had been trapped by Father Abraham and forced to fight for her life against several zombies—and the first time she had observed them exhibiting triad behavior, always working in threes. She said nothing to the others, but knew that Sheppard and Rat had probably recognized the spot as well. A moment later, they were back in the darkness, blindly following Brandon again. Allison kept her hand on the butt of her pistol every step of the way.
The Hungry 5: All Hell Breaks Loose (The Sheriff Penny Miller Series) Page 4
