With the car still twenty feet away, Henry stop climbing and turned his head. Moose smiled when he saw the fear in the other man’s eyes.
“This is for Marla, you son of a bitch,” he said, gunning it.
~*~
When the vehicle impacted the tanker, the explosion sent a shockwave throughout the community. Before the smoke even cleared, the mangled dead began to find the gap in the wall. Most of them crawled, though others moved forward in various states of dismemberment. The noise, of course, drew others, who began to emerge from the alleys and side streets, all moving toward the walled compound.
~*~
Lindsey lifted her head when the sound of an explosion filled the air and shook the buildings around her. Looking back the way she’d come, she saw smoke rising into the sky and wondered what had caused it. When she almost tripped over a crawler, she knew that she was pushing her luck. She was far too tired to be outside with the dead. She desperately scanned the houses and apartments for something suitable.
Before long, Lindsey found herself walking in the dark. The moon illuminated her path when it wasn’t hidden behind a cloud, but she was disheartened to realize that it was already setting. It was going to be a dark night very soon and she needed to find safety before then.
The thought had barely left her head when the moon disappeared behind a cloud and Lindsey found herself in almost complete darkness. Terrified, she had no idea whether or not the dead could smell her or sense her in some way, other than visually. She and Autumn had discussed this with Doune before, but he’d had no answer. The moon peeked back out seconds later, preventing Lindsey from walking into a dead man. She froze, not sure what to do. As she slowly turned her head, she caught sight of more of the dead. Her hands began to shake as came to realize she was standing in the middle of a small horde.
~*^*~
~61~
Lansing Compound
Snake had carefully chosen the group to accompany him on the mission. He trusted Wolf with his life, and hadn’t had to think twice about including him. Gunner was better with a rifle than anybody Snake had ever met. That also meant he was valuable at the hospital since he could pick off targets at a long distance. Snake had thought long and hard about it, and had finally decided to include him, knowing they might have to take out some snipers if it became necessary. The rest of the choices had been even more difficult. He wanted some young, strong fighters to balance the group. With Hawk dead and Wombat out of commission, there weren’t too many others that had come to mind. Out of Snake’s thirty or so remaining men, only about a dozen of them were under forty, and most of the younger ones were recent additions to the group. Snake knew them all, but bringing them on a mission like the one they had planned was a little different than taking them on a supply run.
Dumbo was too softhearted, and Snake wasn’t sure the young biker could take out a live human, even if other lives depended on it. Fish was in his thirties, and he could fight, but Snake had to leave someone behind who could help delegate tasks to Snake’s remaining posse if an attack happened. Jack was the man in charge, but he’d be busy getting the rest of the residents to safety. Fish had good intuition and could make fast, smart decisions, as long as they didn’t involve doing math in his head. He handled pressure well and had a knack for strategy.
Snake had briefly considered Helga since she was one of his best fighters, but she was also volatile. He also didn’t think she’d be an acceptable choice on the mission considering how she felt about Lindsey. Snake had finally settled on two men who were in their early thirties, but had proven themselves to be strong fighters. Keith would be going along as well. He hadn’t dealt with the dead as much as the rest of them had, but he was a quick learner and he had skills that the others didn’t have. His experience as a climber would be helpful when they had to scale the wall. If there were any injuries, Snake knew that Keith’s medical skills might also come in handy.
As the group waited, an explosion rocked the neighborhood. The billowing cloud of smoke that rose into the sky told Snake all he needed to know.
“Boys,” he said, swallowing a lump in his throat, “let’s do it.”
The small group left their hiding spot behind a garage and followed the road to the wall, watching carefully for any snipers still in the towers.
Keith arrived first, throwing a homemade grappling hook over the wall a couple of times before finally making it catch. Yanking the rope twice for good measure, he began his ascent.
As Snake noted the ease with which Keith scaled the wall, he wished he’d taken better care of himself. Not only was Snake no longer a young man, but the extra pounds he carried would make the feat more difficult for him. He watched as Keith pulled himself to the top then surveyed the other side for any signs of danger.
Standing on the wall, Keith walked precariously several feet and stopped next to a tower, pointing at what Snake assumed was some kind of egress down the other side. The RN moved the rope over then motioned for the others to come up.
Wolf, Gunner and the two younger bikers followed Keith up the wall, ascending more slowly and clumsily than Keith had done, but making it to the top, nonetheless.
When it was Snake’s turn, he eyed the wall warily. It seemed much larger than it had when the others were climbing. Tugging on the rope, he swung back, planting his feet against the hard surface. Pleased with his progress, he pulled his leg up higher, which caused him to loosen his grip and fall flat on his back. When he regained his breathing capability, he looked up to see the others staring down at him with a mixture of pity and amusement.
Keith pulled the rope back up and tied some knots in it before lowering it back down.
Snake looked it over, seeing one large loop and two smaller ones.
“The big loop goes around your waist, and the smaller ones are for your legs. We’ll pull you up,” Keith said, still glancing cautiously around.
“He’s got company,” Wolf said, pointing to several walking corpses emerging from the trees.
One of the bikers raised his rifle, but Wolf pushed the barrel back down, shaking his head.
“You do that, and it won’t just be the dead we’ll have to worry about.”
Snake turned to see the flesh-eaters walking toward him and quickly slipped into the harness.
When he was done, Keith and the others began to pull on the rope.
“Now get your feet on the wall,” Keith said.
“Better hurry,” Wolf said, looking concerned.
Snake once again lifted his feet to the wall, this time staying above the ground. He couldn’t see the dead, but the sound of shuffling told him they were not far behind him. Unwilling to waste a second to look back, Snake lifted his legs, one by one, rising in an agonizingly slow climb up the vertical surface as the others strained against his weight. A few feet up the wall, he felt a hand grasp his head. Fortunately, the ghoul only succeeded in removing Snake’s skull cap. Had his hair been exposed, Snake was certain he would have been pulled to a slow, painful death. When he finally crested the wall, he was relieved to see a platform with stairs on the other side, next to the tower.
“Glad somebody works out,” Snake said as Keith helped him over the top of the wall to the landing.
“If we survive this,” Keith said, “I’m putting you on a workout regimen.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Snake agreed. “I guess a diet wouldn’t hurt either.”
The descent down the stairs was easier, much to Snake’s delight. Finding themselves in a small park-like area, they set off in search of Henry’s house.
~*~
Henry’s eyelids fluttered open as he lay on his back, trying to make sense of his surroundings. A repugnant smoke filled the air, obscuring his vision and causing his lungs to burn. His world existed in silence, as the explosion had undoubtedly ruptured his eardrums. Involuntary tears tried in vain to wash the caustic haze from his eyes. Despite this, Henry smiled. He was alive. Once again, nature had chosen him
for survival. He had proven himself worthy of this new world that only the strong, the smart, and the deserving would inherit. The absence of pain told him that not only had he survived, but the explosion had left him, surprisingly, intact. As he attempted to rise, an invisible weight seemed to be holding him down. Frustrated, he lowered his eyes, shocked to find himself bathing in a pool of his own blood. Where his legs had been, there were mangled stumps wrapped in tattered clothing. As his eyes strained to examine the rest of his body, he could see that an exposed bicep hung from a bloodied bone on an arm that was severed below the elbow. His other arm was unnaturally twisted beneath his back. Again he tried to move, and again what was left of his body refused his request. Through dancing layers of smoke, a head appeared, its milky eyes staring at Henry as it slithered toward him on the ground. Henry watched helplessly as the rest of the body came into view. Like Henry, the corpse was not complete, but it was able to creep toward him as it pushed its tortured remains forward using the stub of a leg. In a serpentine manner, it lifted its head as it inched toward its meal. The old man could only wait in silent terror as the ghoul finally reached his torso. Henry could feel nothing but fear as the creature began to feed. Slowly, other figures emerged from the murk, their hollow eyes intent on the dying man. Paralyzed, Henry watched as the mindless deviants stripped the flesh from his body and placed his soul at the gates of Hell.
~*~
Lansing, Michigan
Lindsey felt herself start to panic, but she managed to stay still. Though two of the ghouls were just a few feet away, neither of them had made any indication that they’d noticed her yet. She debated on turning around and going back down the street, but she knew there were apartment buildings ahead that might provide shelter for the night. Very carefully, she took one step then another, moving in silence through the shadows in the street. She glanced up to look at the moon and realized that it was going to be covered by clouds again before long. If she hadn’t gotten past the last of the horde by then, she’d be in serious trouble. Increasing her speed just a bit, she continued to weave her way through the dead. When she started to move even faster, one of the creatures moaned and turned her way, causing her to slow her step again. She held her breath and carefully sidestepped a dead woman in a bathrobe. Moving past a group of three zombies, she finally began to see a clear path ahead. Heart pounding, she forced herself to keep moving at her current pace until she reached the open space. Even then, she continued to walk for another two minutes before breaking into a run. Moments later, the moon disappeared. Lindsey ran four more steps before tripping over a crawler and tumbling, head over heels, onto the pavement.
~*~
Lansing Compound
The streets were eerily empty, unlike the buzzing community that Eric had described. Snake hoped that the explosion in the distance and the black smoke still billowing on the other side of the community were keeping most of the residents safe within their homes. Then again, maybe they were busy trying to keep the dead from funneling through whatever openings the explosion had made. The sound of numerous gunshots in the distance lent credence to this theory. The small hole that they had planned to make as a distraction would have been little more than an inconvenience, but when Moose had rammed the tanker, that had all undoubtedly changed.
It took them a while to find the sprawling estate that surprisingly fit Eric’s description of Henry’s house. To Snake’s disappointment, it was surrounded by six-foot high walls.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” he said, shaking his head.
“I think you may be in luck,” Keith said, pointing to the adjoining property, which had a helicopter parked on the front lawn. “Isn’t that Reynolds’ chopper?”
“Best part is I don’t see any walls around it,” Snake said, smiling.
“What are the chances that he has Xena in there?” Wolf asked.
“It’s worth a shot,” Keith said as they left their hiding places to hurry across the street.
When they approached the residence, the open front door suggested that nobody was home. They moved quietly through the house to the kitchen, where Lee was sitting at the table. When Snake saw the pistol on the table, he lifted his rifle in the pilot’s direction, but Reynolds didn’t even flinch.
“Where’s Lindsey?” Snake asked.
Lee glanced up at the men with no expression. Lifting the remains of a bottle of Tequila to his lips, he took a long swig.
Keith reached over to grab the pistol, and Lee made no attempt to stop him.
Reynolds finally broke his silence. “I wondered if you guys would show up,” he said, his words slurred. “Drink?” He held the bottle up to the others.
“Swore the stuff off,” Snake said lowering his rifle. “Lee, where’s Lindsey?”
Reynolds stared at the table for a moment then said, “Gone.”
“Gone where?” Snake asked.
Reynolds looked like he was struggling to find the right words.
“Do you mean she’s dead?” Keith asked, voice rising in concern.
Lee closed his eyes and nodded in affirmation.
Keith looked away for a long moment before asking, “How did it happen?”
“It’s my fault,” Lee said, carefully pronouncing his words in an attempt not to slur. “I just wanted her here with me, safe, then Henry . . .”
“Henry killed her?” Snake asked.
“He had his heart set on it,” Lee said, taking another swig, “but I let her go. I figured she’d have a chance, at least. I came back to take her away from here and found out that she’d already made it over the wall.”
“Then how do you know she’s dead?” Snake asked.
Lee pointed to the radio that lay halfway across the room on the floor.
“I heard the whole thing. They chased her into a horde of the dead. By the time they reached her, there wasn’t much left. It’s my fault.”
Snake let out a long breath, looking away for a moment. He’d lost Hawk and Moose, and now Xena, who had become as much a part of his team as the others. Snake hadn’t been there to help any of them, and he hadn’t been able to save Jessica or Marla, either. The guilt weighed heavily upon him, and the burden was threatening to crush him as he asked himself what he should have done differently.
Keith swore quietly, shaking his head.
“We should have been here sooner. We could have saved her.”
“We wouldn’t have gotten over the walls without Moose doing his part,” Wolf pointed out. “And it took a while to get everything ready. There’s nothing we could have done that would have changed the outcome.”
Lee nodded and lifted the bottle to his lips and finished it off. “On the bright side,” he said, dropping the empty bottle onto the table, “your diversion worked like a charm. The guys on the radio said that Henry rode the tanker into oblivion. Honestly, I never thought he and Brandi would make it back to the walls.”
“Brandi?” asked one of the young bikers, surprised.
“Wait, Henry’s dead?” Snake asked at the same time, his mind filling in the pieces of the puzzle that had been missing.
“Yes. I dropped his ass off on the outside, along with his bodyguard and Brandi. That little bitch was feeding him your every move.”
“That explains her interest in Dumbo,” Wolf said. “I thought it was just because he was doing her work for her.”
“She used to talk to most of us,” one of the younger bikers said. “She asked a lot of questions, now that I think about it.”
“Why the sudden change of heart,” Snake asked, his eyes still on Reynolds.
“I looked in the mirror,” Lee said. “I didn’t like what I saw. I sat there twice while the old man slaughtered innocent people. When it came to Lindsey, I couldn’t let him do it.” He reached for the bottle, frowning when he saw that it was empty. “Not that it made any difference.”
“What about Doune?” Snake asked. They still had a mission, and he was determined to see it done. He would m
ourn his fallen friends later, in private.
“He’s safe,” Lee said. “They need him. I can take you to him if you’d like.”
Snake shot Wolf a look, wondering if he could fully trust Reynolds.
Wolf shrugged his shoulders. “Do we have a choice?”
Lee swayed as he got to his feet.
“Try anything, and you’re a dead man,” Keith said, making sure the pilot had a clear view of his rifle.
“Don’t do me any favors,” Lee said, keeping a hand on the table to steady himself. “But a word of warning; the doctor may not be exactly on your side anymore. They’ve been working on him since he arrived, and it looks to me like he’s settling into the community.”
~*^*~
~62~
Whispering Springs, Nevada
Miranda sat next to Dan after getting the computer set up. Eventually, the picture appeared on the TV screen, and Petrov explained how he had been forced to create the parasite.
“I knew I couldn’t let Gayne release this plague on the population. I told him that I would trade him the parasite for my family, but I gave him a placebo instead. Once I received the call that my family was safe, I went out to destroy the infected test subjects and every remnant of the parasite. I thought that Clarence had left the building, but when I opened the door to the lab, I heard screams. He had set all of the test subjects free, and they were killing the workers. I tried to stop him, George, but he had a gun. He told me that he couldn’t let me live since I knew who he was. He tried to kill me, but I didn’t get close enough to give him a clear shot. I was able to slip out the back door after fighting off several of the monsters that I’d created.”
Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise Page 53
