Generation Dead Book 2: What You Fear

by Joseph Talluto

  Dad nodded slowly. “I think we can manage something. We’re going to have to get coordinated soon, so listen up.”

  Chapter 59

  I moved along the water’s edge, trying to keep as low profile as possible. I could see a sentry standing by the front of the entrance to Navy Pier, but I wasn’t sure if there was another one. The trees along the water’s edge helped a great deal, along with the years of growth from the grass, but they also kept me from seeing things, too. I had no idea if there was a large contingent of zombies making their way over to me or not.

  I had slipped out of the bass boat when we made the locks which led to the lake. My father and the crew were going to execute the other part of the plan, which was to distract and attack from another side. If they were very lucky, they would be able to even the odds a little before storming the place.

  As I approached, I was hit with a small, nagging doubt. What if Ben wasn’t here? What if he had made his way to another destination and we were walking into a major horde of zombies? I began to worry that all the confidence I had felt earlier was wasted. Then I suddenly realized that I could have asked the guy back at the apartments where Ben was, but I killed him before I thought to ask.

  “Ah, hell,” I said aloud, not thinking about my whereabouts.

  I thought about them soon enough as a deep groan answered me from the other side of the trees. That groan was answered by another, and another, and another. I didn’t wait for them to come exploring, I kept low and ran for all I was worth, trying to get some distance between me and the spot where they would come looking. Zombies were kind of dumb that way. They zeroed in on a sound and checked it out, and if there was something for them, they killed it.

  I ran for about one hundred yards, and then I reached the street. I kept to the overgrown bushes that lined a small, U-shaped turnabout in front of Navy Pier, then without worrying about a sentry, I crossed the road and made my way over to the gate that closed the area off. Ten seconds later, I was inside the gate, hiding behind a small bush, where I tried to catch my breath.

  I held my breath, though, when voice above me said very clearly, “What the hell has stirred up Zeke out there?”

  Another voice answered. “What are you talking about? They always make noise over here.”

  The first voice sounded skeptical. “No, this is something different. They got wind of something. Think one of those stupid collectors is sniffing around again?”

  “Likely. I’ll call it in. Then we’ll see if the dumb fuckers want to come over and have their asses saved.”

  The first voice chuckled. “That was funny. Waving them to the gate then slamming it shut while the zombies are on their tails. Man, they screamed when the zombies started ripping into them. What did that one girl say?”

  “’It’s not fair! You’re not fair!” the first voice said sotto voce, in a mockery of the victims’ voice. “She fought pretty good, but they ripped her apart.”

  “Had nice tits, if I recall correctly.”

  “Right up to the point where that big zombie bit them off.”

  “She was still alive when he did that, right?”

  “She lived a long time. Her hands were still trying to push them off when they were eating her insides.”

  I had heard enough. Obviously, I was in the right place. How the hell they didn’t see me come over the gate is a damn mystery, but it worked for me. I looked at the wall, and saw there was a window about fifteen feet above me. A large sill underneath it blocked a good part of the view of the gate, which explained why they missed me. A door was further down the wall, and I slipped over to it, trying to keep quiet as I moved through the brush. I didn’t know if there were more guard posts, but I began to doubt it. This place was about as secure as you could find in Chicago.

  The door opened easily, and I moved up the stairs. What I needed was on the second floor. The corridor I was in was dark, save for a single bulb burning at the top of the stairs. That told me all I needed to know about whether or not this place had power. Given the weakness of the light, there wasn’t much, but they had enough for their needs.

  I listened at the door for a moment and heard one of the guards talking on the phone. He did a lot of, “Yes, sir.” And “No, sir,” and finally, I heard, “Okay, sir.” I knew then it was time to move. I tuned the knob quickly and quietly, drawing my pistol as I did so. I was carrying a Beretta 92 again, mostly because it was big and carried a lot of bullets.

  I opened the door and stepped in, bringing my gun up. Two men were ten feet from me and both had their backs to me. They were three feet apart and one had his feet up on the desk that had been shoved up to the windows. The entire second floor was covered in windows, and by the angle of the man leaning back, he couldn’t even see the street, let alone someone under his window. The other man was leaning back now, too, having gotten whatever instructions he was going to get from his superior. I began to wonder how many men were here, but I had to deal with this pair first.

  I stepped forward and kicked the legs of the chair of the leaner forward, sending him crashing to the floor. I used my gun like a club and smashed the second man in the teeth as he turned to the noise. The first man I kicked in the head to get his attention, and then kneeled on his chest near his neck. His hands stopped moving towards his waist when I shook my head at him and stuck my gun in his mouth. I pulled a second gun from my waist, my father’s stainless old .45. The big gun must have looked huge the man holding his bloody mouth, since his eyes got very large.

  I wasted no time. “Cooperate and I won’t kill you right away. Don’t, and I will. Decide now.”

  Chapter 60

  Both men looked at each other and nodded slightly. I got off the man on the floor and put away the 1911. Stepping back, I held the gun on both men as I signaled them to their feet.

  “Put those chairs back up. Weapons on the floor. Slowly. Now back up to the window.” I gathered the guns and put them in my vest. “Now, who’s got the key to the gate outside?” I asked, keeping an eye on both men.

  The man I had upended pulled a ring of keys from his belt and held up one. I waved my gun at the stairwell and both men started down. I waited a second to make some space between us, and then followed. At the bottom, I told them to stop.

  Pulling some zip ties from my pocket, I told Bloody Mouth to tie his partner’s hands together. When he had finished, I did him the same favor. “Wait here,” I said.

  I slipped outside and checked for any activity. There were several zombies wandering the trees over by the traffic circle, and I could see dozens more in the grassy area just beyond it. That would do. I unlocked the gate and opened it slightly. Hurrying back to the stairwell, I found the men had used their time wisely. One of them was trying to chew through the zip tie of the other, making for a very compromising situation.

  I kicked the man doing the biting in the ribs and slammed an elbow into the head of the one getting bit. I was suddenly very mad and the words of the two came back to me about letting that collector die.

  “You like to bite things? Then I think you should go where they bite back,” I snarled, grabbing the men by their hair and dragging them outside. I didn’t give them a chance to shout or raise an alarm; I just threw them outside the gate, shutting it behind them. I gave them a final piece of advice.

  “You might have a chance if you run along the water. Maybe.” I wasn’t feeling very positive about their chances, but then sometimes I just never knew.

  The men stood up, looked at their approaching doom, and decided it might be worth it to run. They took off for the lake and disappeared out of sight. The fact that they didn’t scream told me several things. One, there weren’t that many people here. If there were a sizable force with decent firepower that could have rescued their asses, then they would have stayed and yelled their fool heads off. It also told me that the nearest buildings to the city were likely empty. I wouldn’t have much to worry about if I was careful. Lastly, they ran exactly wh
ere I wanted them to, which would signal to my father and his crew that I had done my job and the sentries on this end of the pier were taken care of.

  That would get us to the next stage of the assault, which was to get everyone to the south side, allowing me to scout and make recommendations for a landing. I thought about going up top to the Ferris wheel, but I had an aversion to being shot out of the sky. Not sure why that bothered me, but it did.

  I moved around to the nearest building and checked a door. It was a parking garage, and I was hoping to see plenty from the top side. I didn’t bother with the parking area. It would be faster just to take the stairs. I didn’t know how long I had before the men I had released were discovered to be missing, but I figured I had an hour at the most.

  On top of the garage, I could see most of Navy Pier. It was a massive complex, with restaurants, a shopping center, an amusement park, and a miniature golf place. Along the south side, two huge boats were tied up. One was labeled the Spirit of Chicago, and the other was unknown, the name being hidden. However, the Spirit was enormous, easily one hundred fifty feet long. It looked like it was used for long cruises and for travelling to other states. No way was that big boy going to make it down the river. For one thing, it would never fit under the bridges.

  I could see two large buildings toward the far end of the pier, and the furthest had a huge glass dome covering it. I had a feeling about that last place, and was very anxious to try it out. But first things first.

  I got out my radio. “Uncle Duncan, you there?”

  The response was immediate. “Loud and clear, kiddo. Got your message. Two very scared men just ran past our position, each one looking like he was going to make sure the other guy fed the Z’s first. Where are you?”

  “I’m on the parking garage, about to head towards the back dome. When are you going to make some noise?”

  “Two minutes. Be ready. By the way, your dad wants his gun back.” I heard a chuckle from someone in the vicinity of Duncan.

  “He can have it. Where’s the safety on the dumb thing?” I joked.

  “Oh, Lord. Put it away before you shoot yourself.”

  “Where can he pick it up?” I asked.

  “We’re on the big boat, so don’t worry, we’ll get to you.”

  “Got it. Heading down. Out.”

  I got back to the ground floor and made my way carefully along the north side. There wasn’t much in the way of attractions on this side, so I began to realize I was moving along the service side of the pier, the place where they made deliveries and such once upon a time. It made sense; they sure weren’t going to use the lake.

  I moved steadily along, and when I glanced back, I saw I had travelled about halfway to my destination. It was then that I heard a huge explosion and even from my side of the Pier I thought I could feel the concussion from the blast. For a brief minute, I wondered if Uncle Duncan had blown up the big boat. A second later, I could see a cloud of dark smoke billowing up into the air. Between the blast and the smoke, I wouldn’t doubt if half the zombies in the city were headed this way.

  I could hear shouting and it sounded like someone was yelling over a loudspeaker, but they might have been inside a building. I kept to the service road and made my way along the buildings, trying to keep out of sight.

  I was crossing another service entrance when a voice behind me shouted out.

  “Don’t move! Stop where you are and put your hands in the air!”

  Chapter 61

  Damn. So much for surprise. I complied with the order and put my hands about ear-high, turning around slowly. About three feet away from me was a man about my height, although he was a little shorter. He was thin, but looked to have a wiry kind of strength. He had a knife at his belt and a big rifle he was pointing right at my face. That last part was a little disconcerting; I’m not going to lie.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The man asked, stepping closer. I could see he was nervous, likely never having to deal with something like this before.

  “Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me,” I said, averting my eyes and ducking my head away. An idea popped into my head and I decided to run with it. “I was collecting in the city and I heard the explosion. All of a sudden, the zombies are all over the place, and I barely made it to the lake before they chased me this way. I climbed the fence and was looking for a place to stay safe until the zombies went home.” My words came out in a rush, and I wanted them to be overwhelming.

  “All right, all right! Just shut up for a second. I have to take you in, and we’ll see what they have to say about you,” the sentry said.

  “Oh, thanks, man. I got separated from my group and I don’t know where they are or even if they’re alive. But I’m real glad someone is here to…” I didn’t finish my sentence, as I used my little speech to step closer to the man. His gun had stopped pointing at me, and I grabbed it, jerking it away from him, and then shoving it back into his face. His hands came loose and I threw the rifle into the lake.

  The man scrambled to his feet. “Son of a bitch! You’re gonna regret that,” he said, putting himself into what he must have thought was a threatening pose. His hands were up and his feet were apart, obviously expecting me to attack in some preconceived way.

  Trouble was, my teachers had one rule when it came to fights and zombies. Win. So without much buildup, I wound up and kicked him in the shin of his foremost leg as hard as I could.

  His eyes bulged and he instinctively leaned forward to grab his leg. As he came up, I used the forward motion of his head to increase the impact of the punch I had aimed at his face. His head snapped sideways, and I brought the other fist I had waiting into his collarbone, right below his throat. That punch threw him backward and left him gasping for air on his back. I grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him over to the edge of the pier where I threw him in the water.

  I ran from there, trying to put some distance between me and the eventual yelling that would likely erupt form the man in the water. The first person to find him would know I was here, and I wanted to be further away and hidden by that time.

  I reached the end of the big building and I was wondering how the heck I was going to get inside, when a small door opened from where the big glass part was and the long brick building. I slid towards the building, trying to seep into the bricks and not get seen. Two men came outside and both were carrying guns. One propped the door open with a small stick.

  “Steve’s not checked in, think something happened to him?” The first one said, a red headed gent wearing all black. I thought back to the encounter with the all black females up in St Charles and wondered if there was a dress code.

  “That dope could drown, for all I care. Damn fool always going on about how he sees things or something’s breaking over the barriers. Stupid fuck. Probably thought that exploding propane tank was an attack.” The second man was huge, with broad shoulders and massive hands. Taking him on would suck.

  “Yeah, that’s what, the third one? Thank God, we put them on that small boat when they looked like they were dangerous.”

  They walked away and towards where I left the other man. Not wasting an opportunity, I slipped inside the open door and pulled the stick away, letting the door close slowly. I eased the door shut as quietly as I could, as I wanted some more time. In the back of my head, I wondered where my dad was and what they were doing. It seemed like there wasn’t as much pandemonium as we had hoped for and things were back to normal. I needed to find Ben and finish this.

  I moved down a long corridor and decided the time was right for getting serious. I was irritated at not finding Ben, scared about Jake, relieved at finding my father, worried about what Uncle Charlie was going to do to me for having a relationship with his daughter, and frustrated that our big plans were pretty worthless since they were used to things blowing up around here.

  I unslung my rifle and remembered the words I once read about the American Revolution. At the opening shots of the war,
Captain Parker of the militia told his men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon. If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.” Ben started this little fracas, and I was done with nice.

  Chapter 62

  I approached a larger hallway, and I could hear voices coming my way. Two men rounded the corner and suddenly stopped, their eyes going wide at the sight of me. Their reflexes were pretty good, as they both reached for the guns on their belts. I fired twice, dropping both men with shots to the chest. The heavy crash of the rifle in the hallway made my ears ring, but the echo of the shots bounced off the walls from the glass of the end hall to the front gate. For a second, all was still, but then all hell broke loose.

  Bullets started searching down the hallway, but since I controlled the entrance and no one could flank me, I was in a decent spot. Anyone coming in the front was meat, and if someone tried to come through the back, it was locked. However, that didn’t stop some people from shooting down the hallway. I think they were trying for some kind of luck with a ricochet, but that wasn’t going to happen with drywall.

  I crept forward, and when the occasional shot stopped, I peeked around very quickly. A barrage of firing sent bullets thudding into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, and I had to chuckle at the attempt.

  I pulled one of the guard’s guns and stuck it around the corner, shooting it randomly until it ran out of bullets. I heard some cursing and shouting before the shooting started again, so maybe I nicked someone.

  Suddenly, there was shouting. “Cease fire! Cease fire!” The shooting stopped and the voice continued. “Who the hell is in that hallway? What do you want?”

  I wasn’t inclined to make things easy, so I stuck the other guard’s gun around the corner and shot it empty, renewing the cursing and sound of scrambling to get out of the way of the flying bullets.