Rage Against the Dying (The Secret Apocalypse Book 8)

by James Harden

  A few seconds later the gunfire stops and the town falls silent and then Kenji is standing over me, offering his hand. “Rebecca? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. You?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go. Before more of them show up.”

  I look back down the road towards the dune buggy. “Wait. We should check their vehicle for supplies. We should at least take their weapons and their ammo.”

  “We don’t have time. We need to go right now.”

  “This will only take a second. And trust me, we’re going to need more weapons.”

  Lots more.

  And bullets.

  We need to prepare for war. Because right now we are vastly outnumbered. I saw at least fifty people when we made our escape from the fire station, maybe more.

  I run back towards the dune buggy.

  “Rebecca, what are you doing?”

  Kenji begins to yell at me, but then he eventually starts running. He knows he’s not going to change my mind and he knows better than any of us that we need to start stockpiling weapons and guns and ammo.

  Kim leans out the side of the truck. “What the hell are you two doing?”

  We don’t answer her. There’s no time. We just need to grab these guns and get the hell out of here before reinforcements turn up. We grab three rifles, one handgun. Some ammunition. Not a whole lot unfortunately. Looks like they used up most of their bullets while they were chasing us. We’re about to head back to the fire truck when suddenly one of the men crawls to his hands and knees.

  He reaches out for me. His hands are cut up and bleeding. His face is bleeding.

  Kenji stands over him, like an executioner, gun pointed directly at his head.

  “No,” I say. “Don’t shoot. We need him.”

  “What are you talking about? We don’t need him.”

  “We do. We take him prisoner. We make him talk. We make him tell us everything we need to know about these people. How many people in their group. How well armed they are. Where they’ve been living. We make him tell us everything.”

  Kenji lowers his gun because he knows I’m right. Because he preaches this kind of preparedness every single day.

  Know yourself.

  Know your enemy.

  He presses the barrel of his gun against the man’s temple. “You are our prisoner now. Do you understand? You try anything, anything at all, I put a bullet through your skull.”

  The man lowers his head, blood pours down his face. The fight has left him.

  “Time to go,” Kenji says to me. “Time to disappear.”

  Chapter 22

  “Who the hell is this?” Kim asks.

  “He’s our prisoner,” I answer.

  “We’re taking prisoners now?” Maria says. “Is that wise?”

  “We need to know what we’re up against. We need to know who we’re up against. This guy will tell us everything we need to know.”

  “And if he doesn’t cooperate?” Kim asks.

  “What do you think?” Kenji answers. “If he doesn’t cooperate, we kill him.”

  Kenji puts our prisoner in the back seat. We don’t have anything to tie him up with, so Kim sits right next to him with one of our newly acquired rifles pointed at his gut. Jack and Sarah scooch over, making room, keeping their distance. Maria moves up front with me.

  “All right,” Kenji says, jumping back into the driver’s seat. “Let’s get the hell out of here. And let’s ditch this truck.”

  “But how do we hide this thing?” Maria asks. “It’s massive. And where do we hide it?”

  “You’re better off heading for the suburbs,” our prisoner answers. “The houses…”

  Kim raises the gun, points it at his head. “We didn’t ask you for your opinion. And why the hell would we do anything you suggested? Why would we take your advice? How stupid do you think we are?”

  “I’m not… lying… not trying to trick you. I’m dead. If you people don’t kill me… he most definitely will. He’ll torture me first. Make an example of me.”

  “The suburbs?” I ask. “Will there be any place to hide this thing?”

  “We’re not going there,” Kim says. “It’s obviously a trap.”

  “He won’t check the suburbs tonight,” the man says. “Not enough time. He’ll want to be long gone before daybreak. This will give you a day to hide. A day to get away.”

  “Which way?” Kenji asks.

  “Turn left up here,” he says. “Need to go around the walls…”

  And Kim can’t believe we’re listening to this guy. Can’t believe we’re taking the risk. “We’re not actually doing this, are we?”

  “We ditch the truck in someone’s backyard and make sure it’s out of sight,” Kenji says. “We set up across the road. Some place with a good view of the street and the surrounding areas. If they follow us, we can defend ourselves. If we get overwhelmed, we can disappear into the suburbs, into the houses and the yards. Plenty of hiding places.”

  “This is crazy,” Kim says. “They’ll find us. This guy is leading us into a trap.”

  “We’ve got the advantage for the moment,” I say.

  “An advantage?” Kim fires back. “What advantage? We’re out numbered. Out gunned. We’re driving around in the world’s biggest target.”

  “We got away. They’re all back there. All of them or most of them. You saw. There was a lot of people back there. But they were all stunned, they all panicked. Which means we’ve got a head start on them. Which means we have time. It means we can ditch this truck and make sure it’s out of sight. And then we can hide. It’s not a long term solution, but it’s a start.”

  “Don’t forget about the Desert King’s threat,” Maria reminds us. “If we’re not gone by the time the sun comes up, he’s coming after us. Or his people are coming after us.”

  “They’ll have to find us first,” Kenji says.

  Our prisoner points up ahead. “Keep going. This is the nicer part of town. Big houses. Big yards.”

  “This ends bad for you,” Kim says. “If you’re lying, this will end so badly for you.”

  “He’s not lying,” Sarah says softly, letting us know that she is conscious and not dead.

  “How do you know that?” Maria asks.

  “Yeah, how the hell could you possibly know that?” Kim says.

  “Because he’s not afraid of us,” she answers. “He’s scared of his own. Trust me, I’ve been there. I know what it’s like.”

  “She’s right,” he whispers. “I’m already dead. Shoot me now if you want. Get it over with. Or you can shut the hell up and let me save all of your lives.”

  “And besides,” Sarah adds. “I was going to tell you to head for the suburbs anyway. It’s the best place to hide right now. The Desert King… his people, they’ll check the pub first. And then they’ll check the town. If we move into the suburbs, further away from the walls, further away from the town, the longer it will take them to find us.”

  We didn’t really have a choice. The suburbs, the nice part of town, it was as good a hiding place as any. From there we can hide, we can fight, we can run away if it comes to that.

  “Hold on to something,” Kenji says. “Hold on tight.”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “There’s a barricade up ahead.”

  Another makeshift barricade. Smaller than the other one. It consisted of a few cars parked all in a row and a wall of tires. Kenji puts his foot to the floor.

  Jack leans forward, slightly concerned. “You’re going to ram it?”

  “Got a better idea?”

  “No. Not really.”

  “Hold on everyone. Brace yourself.”

  Kenji accelerates and we pick up speed and the fire truck makes light work of the barricade.

  “Keep heading along this road,” the man says. “Not far now.”

  “So tell us,” Jack says. “Why are you so afraid of your own people. What the hell is going on here?”

  Our p
risoner has his head lowered. He is still bleeding profusely. “It’s a long story,” he says, deflecting Jack’s question.

  Kim digs the gun into the man’s ribs. “Well, you better start talking and you better make sense or else we’re going to leave you on the side of the road.”

  The man wipes some blood of his face and takes a deep breath. “The guy in charge, Xavier, he’s bad news. Not sure what happened to him. I don’t think he was always like this. I don’t think he was always a psychopath. But with everything going on, it’s like, I don’t know, it’s like a switch went off in his brain. Something snapped. Whatever made him human, civilized, that part is gone. I think he truly believes he needs to act this way, to scare people, to use fear as a weapon. Force people to follow him and fear him. I think he truly believes that he needs to be a monster in order to be an effective ruler and leader, to keep people safe.”

  “Where are you guys situated?” Kenji asks, getting straight down to business.

  “About an hour’s drive away. There’s a few small towns in the area. But this place, Kingswood, it’s the best. This town is basically untouched. And Xavier won’t leave now. He’ll be back every night until he’s picked it clean.”

  “The best?”

  “This town has more supplies. More places to loot. And now that the infected have left. It’s like Christmas. It’s like… it’s like this town is our own personal shopping center.”

  “What do you know about the walls?” I ask. “What do you know about the Desert King?”

  “Not much. I only know what Xavier has told us.”

  “And what’s that?” Kim asks, getting impatient.

  “That the guy is a coward who hides behind the walls while the rest of us starve and die. He refuses to help people. Refuses to save anyone but himself. So Xavier declared war on him…”

  “War?”

  “Yeah. He’s building an army. He’s getting ready for an assault, getting ready to make that first strike.”

  “How?” Kenji asks. “Those walls are high.”

  “No idea how he’s going to do it. But he’s going from town to town. Going as close to Adelaide and the bigger towns as he dares, forcing people to join him, forcing people to contribute.”

  “Are you saying there are other people, other survivors close by?” I ask.

  “Not many. A few people here and there. Most people are happy to join up. Happy to get off the road. Most people we find, they’re out in the open, exposed. Most people are starving, dying. They’re all too happy to join up, to do anything. They’ve already survived so much. The dust storm. The monsters. The dead. The living.”

  The man starts passing out, his head droops forward…

  “Stay with us, buddy,” Kim says, slapping him in the face, showing him absolutely no sympathy. “We’re not done with you yet.”

  “Up here,” he says, without looking. “Pick a house, any house.”

  Kenji swears.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “This is a cul-de-sac. It’s a dead end.”

  Kim grabs the man by his shirt collar. “You led us into a trap!?”

  “Calm down,” he says quietly. “It’s only a dead end for vehicles. But if anyone comes down this road, you slip out the back. They can only follow you on foot.”

  Good point.

  Kim let’s go of the man’s collar but she is still not happy. “I don’t like this. We need to ditch the truck and find a place to hide. We need to tie this guy up and find out who we’re really dealing with.”

  “I already told you,” the man says. “You’re dealing with a monster.”

  Another monster.

  Another enemy.

  I shouldn’t be surprised.

  The man said they were building an army, preparing for war. I’ve seen enough bloodshed to last a lifetime, but something tells me I’m going to see a lot more, another lifetime’s worth. Something tells me I’m going to see this bloodshed very, very soon.

  Chapter 23

  Even with Kim protesting the whole time, we take our prisoner’s advice and we pick a house at random. It’s a large house with solid walls and high ceilings. But most importantly it has excellent views of the street. As long as we stay vigilant, we should be able to see anyone coming from a fair distance.

  I volunteer to watch the street while Kim watches our prisoner. Kenji and Maria fix Jack’s stitches and re-bandage his leg. They check Sarah’s arm. I’m actually pretty impressed with how clean the wound is. It honestly looks like it will heal fine. I know to Sarah it probably doesn’t feel like it will. And at the moment it probably, most definitely does not feel fine. But at a glance, it looks to be doing pretty well.

  Kenji makes sure the area around their stitches is clean, and then he makes sure they both take their anti-biotics, because the last thing we need is one of them, or both of them, getting a bacterial infection. We put Sarah in a bed down stairs, towards the rear of the house. We do this because firstly, she definitely needs rest. And secondly, if we need to get out of here in a real hurry, this is the way we will go. Out the back. Over the neighbor’s fence. Disappearing through their yard so we can hide in another house.

  Maria tells Jack to get some rest as well, but he says he’s not tired and he says there’s no way he’s going to miss out on having a say about what we do next. “If I’m not here to make sure you guys don’t do anything stupid, who will?”

  “So what now?” Kim says, ignoring Jack. “This is a real nice house, but we can’t stay here. Now that we’ve patched up Jack and Sarah, maybe we should hit the road.”

  “Yeah,” Jack says, agreeing with his sister. “We can take the fire truck, drive as far away as possible.”

  “Bad idea,” our prisoner says. “There are three main roads in and out of this town. And Xavier has got people watching all three. And now that the dead are gone, I’m guessing these patrols will set up camp.”

  “Why are we still listening to this guy,” Kim asks. “We don’t even know if we can trust him.”

  “He led us to this place,” I say. “So far so good.”

  “Give it a minute,” Kim says. “No one’s here yet, but who knows what’s going on out there. We killed his friends. Sure they were attacking us, but we killed them and now they clearly want revenge.”

  “They weren’t friends,” the man says quietly. “Xavier… he chooses people, the worst people, the best people. Gives them the vehicles. Tells them to patrol the roads. To scout the surrounding towns. He gives them the go ahead, the power, the authority to do whatever they want, as long as they report back to him. He encourages them to be violent. Rewards them for their violence and brutality.”

  “And you were with these people?” Kim says. “You were violent? You were brutal?”

  “I was good at it,” he says, completely not defending his actions.

  “Good at what exactly?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Yes, I do,” Kim says. “I really, really do.”

  He looks away from us because he obviously can’t make eye contact when talking about what he’s done. And I’m hoping this means he feels ashamed about what he’s done, that he feels remorse. “We recruited people. Promised them the world. Delivered them hell if they resisted. Used fear as a weapon. Used anything they held dear as leverage. Their lives. Their family. Their friends. It worked every time. But most people don’t care. As long as they get fed. As long as they’re safe. They’ll do anything.”

  “No one is safe anymore,” Maria says. “Nowhere is safe.”

  Maria says this like she is reciting a cardinal rule for survival. Because we have learnt this lesson over and over. And we will continue to learn this lesson over and over.

  “What’s your name,” I ask.

  “Clark.”

  “That’s a fake name,” Kim says. “Clark Kent, is it? Are you serious? Does anyone believe him?”

  “Kim, can you please calm down,” Jack says. “You are not helpin
g.”

  She backs off because I think she realizes that she’s getting too worked up and too angry to think clearly. I can tell she wants to interrogate this guy, to really interrogate him. And I am sure she would do this. I am sure she would resort to torture. She will do this for the best reasons and the best intentions. She will do this because she only wants to be sure that we’re all safe. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the best intentions. The road to hell is paved with the bones of the tortured and the torturers.

  “What else can you tell us?” Kenji asks.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. We want to know everything. How have you survived for so long? Where have you been living?”

  “Who the hell is Xavier?” I add.

  “I met up with Xavier early on, before anyone really knew what was happening,” he answers softly, thinking back. “Before I knew what kind of person he was, or rather, what kind of person he had become.”

  “Where were you?”

  “Adelaide. I got out of the city before it became totally overrun. Before the military started killing anything that moved. My family didn’t make it.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Maria says.

  Kim shakes her head. “Everyone has lost family. Everyone has lost their loved ones. He’s just trying to get us to feel sorry for him.”

  Once again, Jack has to tell his sister to calm down.

  Clark doesn’t seem to mind the treatment. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I messed up. Should’ve got them out earlier. We had a house in the country. A weekend getaway place. Should’ve gone as soon as the military lost control. When I finally made the decision to go, we left at night because I figured it would be easier to move around in the dark, easier to hide from the cops and the military.” He lowers his head. “So damn stupid. We heard them before we could see them. You know the noise… the howling scream. It’s like a moan of pain, a scream of anguish. A primeval howl. My kids were terrified. They clung to me. They wanted me to tell them it was going to be all right. That I could save them. That it was all a bad dream. I think it was at that moment I realized I had condemned us. I was just as scared as my kids. I didn’t know what to do. We were surrounded. And I watched them die. They were torn away. Pulled out of my arms. My wife. My kids. My whole world.”