Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise

by Kinney, Matthew

  “It’s his hair, and that’s the t-shirt he was wearing. I think I see the sleeve of Wombat’s racing jacket, too.”

  “I want every person that can shoot a gun to get to the back windows and clear us a path,” Snake said with a sigh. “I’m not leaving them out here.”

  He put the radio away. “Boys, we’ve got a couple of bodies to retrieve, but this is strictly volunteer,” he said, checking his weapon. He climbed off his bike, not surprised when the others joined him. Windows were already opening as shooters in the building began to take out the dead that were gathered around the fallen men.

  By the time Snake and the others reached the pile of bodies behind the building, there were only a few of the dead still standing. Most of the shooters in the windows pulled back so they wouldn’t risk hitting anybody with friendly fire. Moose and Gunner continued to keep the area clear so that the men on the ground could retrieve the bodies.

  Snake looked down at what was left of Hawk’s body. The man had probably died instantly when he’d hit the pavement. His head had been badly crushed which also meant that he shouldn’t revive.

  “We’re going to need two body bags,” Snake called up to Fish, who promptly disappeared from the open window.

  While two of the men gathered Hawk’s remains, Snake looked around for Wombat. He saw a large corpse covered in fresh blood, but he didn’t recognize the man. It looked as though the dead had been chewing on the body for a while. The machete that was imbedded deeply in the man’s back looked like the one that the Australian carried, and when Snake walked closer, he could see the arm of Wombat’s racing jacking sticking out from beneath the large body. Snake pulled the machete free, and when he moved the heavy body aside, he saw Wombat. Beneath him, there was another man who looked like he had died recently. It seemed odd to Snake that they’d all fallen in the same spot, but it didn’t really matter, and he knew it. He was just desperately trying to think about anything but the two men he’d just lost.

  The body on the bottom had a crushed head, so Snake wasn’t worried about him turning, but he grabbed a pike to finish off the others. The eyes sprang open on the big corpse, and Snake moved fast, thrusting the metal pole into the man’s skull before turning to deal with Wombat. He looked down at his friend, dreading what he was going to have to do.

  “Sorry, buddy,” he said, lifting the pike up once more.

  ~*^*~

  ~45~

  Lansing Compound

  Lindsey sat in the helicopter, numb. She had no idea where she was being taken, and when it came right down to it, she really didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was to remain strong enough to keep from giving them Autumn’s name. She knew that it was likely that she’d be tortured and killed, but she would do her best to take her secret with her to her grave. She remained silent on the flight, tears soaking her blindfold as she replayed Wombat’s final moments over and over in her mind. When the helicopter landed, she was pulled to her feet and led outside by the guards. The blindfold was removed, and she was taken to a large van and shoved into a seat near the front. She saw that Doune was already sitting in the back between two guards. The man that Henry had called Wayne took the seat to her right. After Lee turned the helicopter over to the co-pilot, he hurried over to join the others at the van.

  “Sir, can we talk about this?” he asked, sitting on Lindsey’s left. “We had a deal.”

  Henry turned in his seat to look back at the pilot. “We’ll talk later, in private.”

  From the back of the van, Doune asked, “What do you hope to gain from kidnapping us?”

  “We are aware of the phone call you made to Los Angeles,” Henry said, “and we know that one of your residents is immune. We just need to know who it is. I realize that our methods for arranging a meeting were a bit barbaric, but we have no intention of harming anyone.”

  Lindsey was shocked by the lie, and she started to reply, but Lee quickly slipped an arm around her shoulder and clamped his other hand over her mouth, leaning close to speak to her.

  “Doune doesn’t know what’s going on, and Henry wants it to stay that way,” he whispered. “If you want to keep him safe, don’t say anything.”

  Henry’s smile never faltered, and Lindsey realized that Lee was right. Doune probably had no idea what had happened on the roof. From where he sat in the back of the van, it wasn’t likely that he could tell that Lindsey was being hushed, either. It might even appear that she was with Lee by choice. The thought bothered her, but at the same time, she didn’t want to do anything to endanger the doctor, so she nodded, letting Reynolds know that she’d cooperate.

  Lee pulled his hand away from her mouth but left his arm around her shoulder.

  “We knew that it wasn’t likely you’d be allowed to talk to us,” Henry continued, “so drastic measures were taken. I apologize for that. All we ask is that you spend a little time with us, familiarizing yourself with our colony. Once you’ve had a chance to do that, you may decide for yourself whether or not this person would be safer in our community than at the hospital.”

  “The decision wouldn’t be mine to make,” Doune said.

  “Oh, I’m sure you could convince the others,” Henry said. “You must realize that this could be the only hope for finding a cure; the only chance to save mankind. And, of course, we’d need your help. We’re more than happy to provide you with a lab and any equipment you would need.”

  Doune didn’t reply, and Lindsey wondered if he might be considering the offer. She hoped that he wouldn’t be swayed by the smooth-talking madman.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  As Snake mentally prepared himself to use the pike again, he looked down at Wombat’s body and realized that the dead hadn’t gotten to it yet. The body had been covered by the larger man, so only one arm had been exposed. Snake knelt down to check Wombat’s bare hand and found it free of bites. He could see marks in the racing jacket, but the teeth hadn’t made it through the thick material to the flesh. If Wombat hadn’t been infected, there was no reason to put the pike through the man’s skull, though there were small cuts on the biker’s hand that concerned Snake. He knew that he should destroy the brain, just to be safe, but Lindsey and some of the others would probably want to see Wombat’s body to say goodbye. Snake really didn’t like the idea of anybody viewing it with a hole through the head if it could be avoided. An image like that could stick with a person for a long time.

  After pondering the problem, Snake decided that he’d use the pike on the back of the skull where it couldn’t be seen. He reached down to grab Wombat’s jacket, but stopped when he heard a groan. Letting go of the body, he picked up the pike again. He raised the weapon and was about to bring it down when he stopped suddenly, thinking that he’d seen Wombat’s chest rise and fall, almost imperceptibly.

  “No way,” he said, considering for the first time that the biker might have survived the drop from the roof. Wombat had landed on a pile of bodies, which may have buffered his fall. Unlike the body upon which Wombat had landed, the biker’s head hadn’t been crushed. Holding his breath, Snake leaned down and felt for a pulse, watching Wombat’s eyes carefully for movement.

  “Get a gurney out here, right now!” Snake yelled. “He’s still alive!”

  As shots continued to rain around them, Wolf hurried over to check for himself.

  “You’re right, Boss. His pulse is weak, but it’s there.”

  “I came so close to putting that pike through his head,” Snake said. “I should have checked, but . . .”

  “Don’t beat yourself up,” Wolf said. “I don’t think any of us would have checked after a fall like that.”

  “I should know better than to assume,” Snake said, kneeling down to say a quick prayer over the injured biker as they waited.

  A stretcher was lowered from the second floor window, and Keith came around the corner a moment later to help transport Wombat.

  “You’ll probably want to put
him in one of the trucks,” Keith said. “I came over the wall.”

  Snake hadn’t even thought about that, but now that they’d walled in the park, it was a long way from the back of the building to the front door. The trucks had returned shortly after the bikes, and all three of them were parked in the street.

  “Let’s do that,” he said.

  “I’ll take one side,” Keith said as Snake took the other. “Careful. He’s probably got all kinds of injuries.”

  They lifted the stretcher into the back of the closest truck, and Keith climbed in with him.

  ~*~

  Lansing Compound

  When the van came to a stop in front of a home that could only be called a mansion, Lee opened his door to get out, taking Lindsey’s hand in his. Loto came to stand beside them, and when Lindsey began to look around, Loto lowered his voice and said, “Don’t even think about running.”

  The two men stayed with Lindsey while Henry escorted Doune up to the house, speaking pleasantly to the doctor as they walked. There were guards behind them, but they kept their distance, adding to the illusion that Doune was a guest, rather than a prisoner. Once Henry and Doune disappeared inside the house, Loto turned to Lindsey.

  “Don’t try to talk to the doctor. It’s going to cause you both problems if you do.”

  She didn’t acknowledge the warning but simply stared straight ahead.

  Eventually, a man appeared at the door and motioned with a thumbs-up.

  “Let’s go,” Loto said.

  Lindsey tried, unsuccessfully, to free her hand from Lee’s grip. The house was an architectural masterpiece, but she didn’t notice any of the expensive furnishings and valuable art that they walked past. She was taken to a large room with tile flooring, where Lee had her sit down. He asked for some towels, and after pulling the racing jacket off, he checked her wound. The bullet had gouged a channel of flesh from her upper arm, and it was bleeding badly.

  The maid returned quickly with towels and a mop and immediately began to clean up the blood on the floor. Lee held a towel against Lindsey’s arm, doing his best to slow the bleeding.

  When Dr. Chan arrived, he seemed surprised to see Lindsey. He checked her arm and told her that she’d have a scar, but the wound wasn’t going to kill her unless she’d been infected.

  “It’s going to need stitches, but I can’t treat you until a blood test has been done,” he told her.

  Henry walked in to join them. “You’re lucky I wasn’t shooting to kill,” he said.

  “You weren’t?” Lindsey asked. “It looked to me like you were shaking in your boots when you pulled the trigger. I assumed it screwed up your aim, but maybe you just can’t shoot well.”

  Henry’s eyes grew cold, and both Dr. Chan and Lee quietly urged Lindsey to stop.

  “Perhaps you’d like to find out how well I can shoot at point-blank range?” Henry asked, pulling his pistol out and jamming it under her chin.

  Dr. Chan froze.

  “Please, Henry,” Lee said, reaching a hand out then pulling it back, as if he wasn’t sure what to do. “Please don’t kill her.”

  “Go ahead,” Lindsey said, staring at Henry with hatred in her eyes. “Do it, you coward.”

  For a moment, Henry’s eyes blazed with rage, and Lindsey could feel the tremors in his hand as the muzzle dug into her flesh. She took a deep breath, hoping the pain wouldn’t last long once he pulled the trigger.

  “Ah,” Henry said, pulling the gun away. “I see. You’d rather be shot than face an interrogation. That’s understandable. I’ve watched a few of them, and they aren’t pleasant. Yours will be worse than usual, I promise.”

  Lindsey didn’t bother to reply.

  ~*~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  The truck backed up to the door, and Fish hurried out to help Keith with the stretcher. They moved Wombat to a gurney then took him to the fifth floor where Dr. Sharma was waiting.

  “I’ve got a pulse,” she said. “Are you sure he fell from the roof?”

  “No idea,” Keith said. “But they found him out back behind the building, so it’s likely. He’s been in contact with the infected, too.”

  “That’s a long fall,” Dr. Sharma said, beginning to cut away his clothing. “There’s probably a lot of trauma.”

  “I’ve seen ER patients who have survived falls that should have killed them,” Keith said. “His legs don’t seem to be broken, so he probably didn’t go feet first.”

  “That’s not pretty when that happens,” Dr. Sharma said. “Let’s see what we can do for him.”

  ~*~

  Lansing Compound

  Lindsey was taken to the second floor where Loto stopped in front of a room and unlocked the door.

  Henry said, “I’d give you Eric’s room, but we’re still trying to get the stench out of it. I hope he didn’t make too much of a mess on your roof when he was . . . dropped off.”

  Lindsey glanced at Lee, who had tensed up. So he had been telling the truth when he’d said that Eric was supposed to be dropped off from much higher than he was. Maybe that bit of information would come in handy if she needed Lee’s help.

  “I’ll leave you two alone,” Henry said. “I’m sure you have plenty to talk about. Remember, Lindsey, you can either talk to Lee, or you can talk to me with Loto’s assistance. I don’t care, as long as I get the information I want.”

  Lindsey looked at the big guard, who crossed his arms over his massive chest. He looked as though he could crush her with one hand.

  “There will be someone posted outside this door at all times,” Henry said.

  The guard named Wayne arrived with a set of restraints. He handed them over to Reynolds.

  “Use those,” Henry said to Lee. “I don’t want her getting away and missing out on all the fun we have lined up for her.”

  Lee took Lindsey inside the room and closed the door behind them before letting go of her hand.

  She immediately went to the window, disappointed to find it covered with bars on the outside.

  “Lindsey, I’m sorry,” Lee said. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  “Which part?” she asked, staring through the bars. “The kidnappings, the shooting, or the slaughter of my friends?”

  “None of it,” he said, after a slight hesitation. “Henry said that he wanted to talk to you, and I thought that we could convince you to stay with us.”

  “I had already told you that I didn’t want to come here.”

  “I thought if you saw how it was here, you’d change your mind,” he said. “Henry promised me that nobody would be hurt.”

  “But you did know that he might bring us here by force?”

  “I knew that it was a possibility, but he promised me that we’d only bring you here for a short visit to show you around. He said we’d talk to you and take you back.”

  “It was still wrong, Lee.”

  “I know.”

  “How can you still trust him?” she asked.

  “I just think it’s best for everybody if the immune person is brought here.”

  “And why is that?” she asked, turning to face him.

  “Like Henry said, this place is safe. It’s much more secure than the hospital, and we have medical facilities that have more advanced equipment than what you have. We can fly in specialists who can help end this plague if we have access to this person. Or we could even fly him or her somewhere else if it makes more sense. We just want to be able to make a vaccine.”

  “Do they want a vaccine for everybody or just for those of you who are worthy of living inside the walls?”

  He was silent for a moment, mulling her question over. “I guess I never asked myself that,” he admitted.

  “I think I know what the answer is.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “If I could take it all back, I would.”

  “But you can’t,” she said quietly. “There’s nothing that will bring Wombat and Hawk back.”

  ~*
~

  St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing

  Snake found Sparky near the cafeteria.

  “Can you fix the elevator?” he asked the electrician.

  “I’ll try.”

  “Good. I ain’t running up all those stairs.”

  It only took Sparky a few minutes to get the elevator running again.

  “Thanks,” Snake said. “Why don’t you give me an escort upstairs, since I haven’t been through quarantine?”

  Within minutes, he was standing on the fifth floor, talking to Amelia.

  “Let me get this straight,” he said. “A buttload of soldiers came out of the stairwell with Dr. Doom and took him up to the roof.”

  “What’s buttload?”

  “Uh, a lot,” Snake said.

  “Not soldiers,” Amelia said. “Men with uniforms, but not army. They looked different. Four or five of them, not a buttload. You need to go find him! Bring him back.”

  “Amelia, we’re doing our best,” Snake said, frustrated. “I’ve got guys out on bikes trying to follow the chopper. Problem is those birds can move a whole lot faster than we can, even when the roads are good.”

  The tiny, dark-haired nurse put her hands on her hips, and Snake prepared himself for another tirade.

  “You know why they took him?” he asked quickly before she could start.

  “No, they didn’t tell me. I told them to leave him alone, and they just acted like I wasn’t even talking.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Snake said, turning to leave.

  “I got one of them. A big guy,” she said, lifting a heavy stapler off the desk. “Got him with this.”

  “You nailed one of them with a stapler?” he asked.

  “Not nailed,” she said. “I threw it at him.”

  “Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Snake grinned as he headed down the hall. He went to the room where Dr. Sharma was checking Wombat over.