Deserted with the Dead (Book 2): Fortress

by Riva, Aline

  Chapter 2 : The Crossing

  “They're heavily armed. I knew they would be. We should turn back.”

  David drove on towards the distant gates, where four men stood with loaded guns ready, their sights set on the approaching vehicle.

  “Maxie, we can't turn back at the sight of other living people with weapons! Take a look at that shopping centre – car park looks a bit rough, few smashed up cars, weeds growing through cracks here and there – but the place itself – look at the shutters, they're down, they're not compromised! That's where we need to be.”

  “I bet that place is heavily guarded inside too – and what makes you think anyone in there would want to share with us? The only thing we have in common is we're all alive and not infected. It doesn't mean we share an agenda of any sort.”

  David kept on driving, taking the car down the long, straight road towards the gates.

  “We'll soon find out.”

  Tara checked her weapon.

  “I'm ready.”

  “Me too,” Lauren said from the back seat, and Maxie, sat beside her, shot her a look and shook his head.

  “No one listens to me! It was okay when you needed a boat and someone to sail it for you, what am I now, a spare part? I know about bastards, David – I've shared cell time with enough of them over the years. There are certain types of people who thrive in a world like this one – and most of them are not nice, just remember that.”

  “And some of them are just like us,” David reminded him.

  “Just don't forget that I warned you,” Maxie replied darkly.

  Then they reached the guarded gates and Lauren and Maxie exchanged a look, as Maxie glanced to his rifle on the floor and the gun up tight against Lauren's thigh as she sat there concealing it.

  The men at the gates were all in combat clothing, all heavily armed. Around the wire fencing that surrounded the former plaza car park were other guards – dotted here and there, some male, some female...David glanced about and guessed there could be up to ten around the fencing, but it seemed the heaviest and most effective of the guards were placed here, at the gates...Had they been summoned because visitors were not trusted? If that was the case, he didn't blame them for caution. Since the world had gone to hell there were all kinds of crazy people out there, from the slightly deranged to the full blown variety of psychos – human against living dead didn't mean all humans were on the same side, some were as bad as the reanimated corpses, just in a different way... Suddenly Maxie's warning made sense as the gates opened, but the armed men now stood in front of it, weapons in hand but not raised as all sights were set on the car.

  “I hope you're wrong,” David muttered as he cast a glance back at Maxie.

  “I want to be wrong,” Maxie replied, “But I've got a bad feeling about this...”

  Then one of the guards stepped forward. He tapped on the window and David pressed a button and the glass slid down.

  “Hi there,” he said warmly, “I'm David Harley, these are my friends Tara, Maxie and Lauren.”

  As he had spoken he had gestured to each one of them. Tara had smiled reluctantly, Maxie and Lauren had given him a cautious glance, and the tall, heavy set guard with dark hair and a single scar that streaked down the right side of his face had kept a tight grip on his weapon.

  “State your business here.”

  “Business?” David exclaimed, feigning surprise, “Business? This is a mall, right? Me and my girlfriend thought we'd have a family day out shopping...”

  Tara looked downwards, smiling as she tried not to laugh.

  “Family?” exclaimed Lauren.

  David quickly introduced the occupants of the back of the car.

  “How rude of me, I forgot them! This is my daughter Lauren and the older guy who keeps glaring at me like he wants to shut me up, kill me or possibly both is my Dad. ..No... wait...Granddad....he's my Granddad!”

  As he looked around at Maxie, the older man glared at him.

  “Your smart mouth will get us all shot!” he said under his breath.

  “Leave your weapons and step out of the vehicle,” said the guard, “You will not be permitted to enter bearing arms for reasons of safety.”

  “Are you leaving yours here too?” David asked, meeting his gaze intently.

  “You will leave your weapons in the car and get out,” the guard repeated.

  “While you're still standing there armed?” David replied, “What happens then? You shoot us and take the guns and any spare ammo we might be carrying?”

  “You were responsible for the explosion this morning.”

  “I'm not surprised if you saw it,” Tara added, leaning closer as she looked over from the passenger side, “Yes, it was us. We blew up a petrol station and a horde of undead too. You should be thanking us – less for you to watch out for.”

  “We should just leave,” said Maxie in a low voice, “They don't want our company, David – let's go.”

  Then the man gestured to the guard beside him, who went around to the back passenger door and opened it.

  “Everyone out,” he ordered.

  “Hey, you want to drop the attitude!” David said sharply, “We came here looking for survivors, that's all!”

  The man raised his weapon.

  “OUT!” he yelled.

  David raised his hands, making a move to step out of the car as he noticed Tara had concealed her gun in the pocket of her jacket. She was still sat tight with a wary look in her eyes, caught between compliance and readiness to fight – in times like these trust in strangers was thin on the ground at the best of times...

  “There's really no need for this ,” David began as he stepped out of the car, hands raised, “In these times we all need the means to defend ourselves -”

  He turned his head sharply as a scuffle began in the back of the car.

  “Let go!” Lauren yelled as the guard kept his hand clamped about her arm and tried to drag her out.

  “Let go of her!” Maxie yelled defensively, then as the guard roughly dragged her again she struggled and gave a cry of pain as his grip tightened and she was jerked roughly from the car, then tumbled to the ground. David saw a flash of a weapon, shouted Don't, but in that split second Maxie had fired a shot that had sent the guard sprawling on to his back on the pathway, blood seeping out from a fatal wound.

  “Shit!” Tara hissed, her hand closing around her own weapon.

  David's eyes were wide as he saw them coming towards the car...a group of six, seven, then ten, then more than fifteen, the people kept coming, out from the perimeter, then from the upturned shutter of the formerly locked down mall. They were standing around the car, leaving the four of them trapped as accusing eyes glared at them.

  “What did you do that for?” Lauren demanded, looking to Maxie as she stood up and brushed dust from her clothing. Then she looked about the people who had gathered around the car – all were armed.

  “Fetch Mr Lester!”one of the guards yelled as he stood over the body on the ground.

  David looked back at Tara, shooting her a warning glance that she got right away as she left her gun on the seat in plain view and then got out.

  As Maxie left the car last of all, defiance blazed in his eyes as he ignored the weapons trained on them as if the hostile stares of the people surrounding them meant nothing at all.

  “I was protecting you!” he said to Lauren, “That's why I did it! Man drags woman out of car? Man plus three other men, armed and dragging a woman? Doesn't that add up to a rape scenario? It does to me!”

  “You thought they were-”

  “Yes,” he said honestly as the guard closest covered him with a rifle, and he raised his hands in the air, while his gaze still fixed on Lauren, “Yes,” he said again, “And I'd kill for you, is that what you wanted to know?”

  “You'd -”

  “Yes.”

  David and Tara had been witness to this little veiled declaration of Maxie's love for Lauren, it had answered a
question that had long been silently posed as the two of them had grown closer but seemingly never close enough...Now it was obvious, the way all the emotion he had held back now burned in his eyes like pale blue fire.

  Lauren was still stunned by his admission.

  “You killed for me – to protect me because -”

  “Just leave it,” he said, looking away from her, “It doesn't matter now. The guy over powered you and I misinterpreted his intent and killed him. I'm guessing that means we're all in the shit and I'm sorry....Nothing more to say...”

  The guard whose boots were now in the blood of the fallen man stepped closer, his weapon firmly trained on Maxie.

  “You'll die for this, outsider,” he said aggressively, then he glanced to the others adding, “All of you will!”

  Tara stood motionless beside the car, casting a glance at David, whose warning glance back was all she needed: This situation had gone wrong in the worst possible way, now compliance was their only hope of getting out of this alive...

  For a short time, they remained surrounded – long enough to get a look at the people who looked very well considering the state of the world, healthy, well fed and not one person's clothing bore tears or patches to the fabric, no doubt they were all enjoying what the well stocked mall had to offer in every way... They were a mix of men and women, all ages. All regarding the newcomers with hostility...

  Then as someone made their way through the crowd, the people parted like a wave. He stormed into view, a tall, slim guy somewhere between thirty five and forty, wearing a fine suit. His left hand was a very well crafted metal prosthetic and rage burned in his light brown eyes as he looked to David, the women and then to Maxie, who was guarded more closely than the rest.

  “Get on your fucking knees!” he yelled, “Now! Do it!”

  And he whipped a handgun from his pocket, holding it in a firm grip, as Maxie obeyed, not daring to look to the others as he heard a gasp from Lauren.

  Maxie looked up from the ground, the gun was pointing in his face, and the man who stood over him in polished shoes and a costly suit had fury in his eyes.

  “You killed one of my people! You came here to kill all of us, didn't you?”

  “No,” David said as he slowly lowered his hands, “We came here to find other survivors -”

  “You'll speak when told or shut your mouth! I'm Rick Lester...Mall King to these people and we are safe here, SAFE! How dare you shake that sense of safety these people don't deserve that and I won't tolerate it!”

  David fell silent, seeing a flash of real fury in Rick's eyes, as he had spoke his finger was twitching close to the trigger of the handgun he had trained on Rick. It would be impossible to jump him, they were all covered by the armed guards and the many people who had come out of the mall, who also held weapons...guns, knives, hammers...the list was endless.

  Rick's eyes widened as he leant closer to David.

  “HAVE YOU GOT THAT?”

  David nodded, saying nothing.

  Rick stepped back, let out an exhausted breath and then with the gun still in his intact hand, brushed his hair out of his eyes with a sweep of the back of his hand.

  “Good,” he replied, sounding somewhat calmer, “Now, what happened here? Why did one of my people wind up dead?”

  He looked to Maxie as anger still smouldered at the back of his gaze, suggesting he would fly off the handle at any moment if he got an answer that provoked him.

  “Your guard here...” Maxie looked to the body bleeding out copiously on the ground, “Grabbed hold of Lauren ...” he indicated to Lauren, who looked pleadingly at Rick, who looked back to Maxie, listening intently.

  “He grabbed hold of her and dragged her from the car. We are strangers here, what was I supposed to think, we get surrounded by men with guns who drag a woman from the car? In this world, the way it is now, the festering shit pit of depravity it's turned into? What was I supposed to do, sit there and hope for the best? I had to defend her!”

  Rick caught a spark of something deep in Maxie's eyes, and then he nodded.

  “She's your woman?”

  “Apparently I am,” Lauren replied, blinking away tears as she looked to Maxie, who refused to meet her gaze after making his admission.

  Rick stood over the four of them, looking down at the man on his knees as he made his decision, lowering his gun and putting the safety back on before placing the weapon back in his jacket. Then he turned to the remaining guards.

  “We've heard his story. We just have to be sure he's telling the truth. Was the girl mistreated in any way?”

  The other guards exchanged a glance.

  “WAS SHE, OR NOT?” Rick yelled as his eyes fired up with frustration as he sought out the truth.

  The guards exchanged a glance, nodding.

  “Yes, Mall King. She was dragged forcibly from the car...”

  Rick looked to Maxie.

  “Get up,” he ordered.

  Maxie got up from the ground, pausing to brush dirt from his clothing.

  “I didn't mean to kill anyone -”

  “I decide what happened here, okay?” Rick snapped, then he looked to the guards,

  “I want that body buried but first, shot in the head – just to be sure if stinkers dig him up he doesn't join them. And take these people away and lock them up – for now, they're prisoners.”

  As the guards seized them, David tensed, looking to the car and their discarded weapons as a wave of panic washed over him as he thought of how they were trapped and out numbered and now unarmed.

  “Let us go!” he said sharply.

  Rick had turned to walk back towards the mall, but on hearing his plea turned sharply back, eyes blazing with anger.

  “Let you go?” he fumed, “Why the FUCK would I do that? You came here and shot one of my men! We're a big group of people... we have kids back at that mall, some families came here for protection and I'm not letting you or your friends out of my sight until I can be sure you can be trusted, do you understand? Because if you won't comply, I'll have you shot – and your friends too.”

  David's gaze stayed fixed on him, seeing a look of steel in the eyes of the man the people called the Mall King. He wasn't bluffing, this man had just made a promise, not an empty threat...He glanced to the others, who were offering no resistance as the guards prepared to lead them away.

  “Let's all stay calm,” he said, “I understand why he's doing this – he has people to protect. And so do I...none of you do anything stupid, okay? We can get this sorted out!”

  Lauren and Tara nodded, Maxie looked at him regretfully as once again he turned over in his mind the terrible mistake he had made by squeezing that trigger.

  Then they were led away by the guards, but Rick was already absent – he had gone on ahead, making his way back up the path that cut through the car park, heading once more for the safety of his domain, the Fountain Plaza Mall.

  Chapter 3: The Consequence

  Panic had hit as soon as they had been lead into the mall – they all felt a flash of fear, being confronted with yet more people, this place was three levels high and crammed with shops and fancy stories that still looked like they belonged in the old world, despite the blankets and make shift bedding on the floor here and there, this place was so vast and there were people on every level, some looking over the balconies, down into the middle of the mall where the marble fountain spouted water and the bottom of it glittered with coins – wishes made as pennies dropped into the fountain in the days before the dead claimed the planet. One look at that water made David turn away, because he felt pretty sure every single man, woman or child who had pitched in a coin and made a wish had not lived to see it come true, because the world as it used to be was over now, it was gone...Yet being confronted with the sight of this place so very much intact, made their hearts ache for the life that used to

  be. This place was like a time capsule – no undead had ever entered, only the living, who had made it home and by
the looks of every one of them, fared well for it... The men wore clean clothing. The women like wise, they all looked well groomed and some women even wore make up – these people had managed to hold on to the past very well thanks to the vast mall, and it looked like they would probably do so for a few years to come – the place no doubt had vast supermarkets filled with tinned and dried food.

  The lights were on and he guessed as long as their generators kept working, life would go on like the people here were trapped in a bubble, unaffected by the world outside. On every level he saw children amongst the adults who peered over the balconies – most were at least ten or older, that made horrible sense because the older children would have been stronger and faster, able to run when the invasion happened...

  But every face he saw looked back at him and his group with mistrust at least and at worst, utter hostility. He wanted to address them, explain the situation -but it was pointless. They only listened to their leader and until he was satisfied, not one person who lived in this mall would accept his version of the truth...

  They were led past the fountain, passing more shops that were varied and colourful but still intact – a department store, a carpet shop, a jewellery store, more clothing shops, another super market and then a shoe shop. Now they were at the far end of the back corridor on the ground floor of the mall, and the door they came to was marked Security. It was unlocked and the guards led them inside, then the door closed firmly as a heavy lock slid into place and an electronic bleep sounded.

  “That's just great!” David said angrily, his balled up fist thumping the wall as he turned to look about the room that was effectively now a holding cell:

  There was a camera on the wall and a table and some chairs and more chairs over the other side of the room. In the next room, where the door was open, it looked to have once been a small office – but the kettle was without a connection and there were no tea making facilities. Even the monitors that had once been in the next room were gone – no doubt moved to another part of the building, because the inside of the mall didn't need watching any more – but the outside did, because that was where the undead lurked...