“Well, it’s the truth. And I want you to know.”
“No, that’s not what—I love you too, Mickey.”
He beamed.
“When you’re lying in bed sometime, think about me. Think there’s someone out here, in the world, and he’s thinking fondly of you.”
She couldn’t answer through her tears.
“Go now, girl.” He slapped a palm against the side of the Jeep.
She nodded and looked at him one last time. She eased her foot off the brake. As the Jeep pulled ahead she tilted the rearview mirror so she wouldn’t have to see him standing there alone. Lauren wiped the back of her jacket across her eyes.
When the Jeep was gone, Mickey sighed.
He looked up at the zombie staggering his way. The thing was decked out in a black full length North Face winter jacket. As it broke from the trees and stepped towards him, he considered the M4/M26 in his hands, then heaved it off into the woods.
“Moment of truth, Mickey boy.” He walked up to the zombie.
The thing stopped and looked at him, its eyes bloodshot and rheumy. He got up in front of it and stared right back.
A look of disinterest crossed its face and it made to turn away from him, but he grabbed it by the arm. “Wait a minute there, pal.” He pulled first one sleeve of the jacket then the other off the zombie. The undead thing protested shrilly but made no move to bite him.
The jacket stunk and was stained with mud and dirt, but it fit well and damn, it was warm.
The zombie stood looking at him.
“Thanks then.” He walked off the road into the trees, striking off towards the rising sun and the new day. The zombie watched him walk off.
It had taken Bear two days and nights of walking to return to Clavius City. When he left Gwen and slipped back outside the walls he raced through the night at a steady pace, shedding gear as he went, keeping only the essentials.
A full moon lit his path. When it departed the sun rose to take its place. He purposefully avoided the few zombies he encountered.
By early morning he stumbled across three sets of tracks in the snow and followed them. His pace quickened. His sense of urgency renewed.
As he drew closer to Julie, Buddy, and Singh he encountered more and more zombies. They staggered through the thick and densely furrowed chestnut trees, all in one direction, and he knew he was heading the right away.
When he broke through the trees into a clearing he saw the doctor swinging a tree branch, batting a zombie in the head. Julie was flat on her back next to a felled tree trunk, bundled up, clutching something. Buddy sat on a tree stump near her, out of it. A small fire burned.
Bear grabbed the zombie Singh battled by its hair and pulled its head back. He swung the flanged mace down and caved in its face.
“Bear!” Singh cried, relieved.
“Julie.” He ignored the doctor and made for the woman.
“She’s fine.” Singh’s voice trailed behind him.
“Bear.” Julie smiled weakly up at him. A baby wrapped in blankets was pressed to her chest.
He sank down beside her and tears welled up, blurring the vision in his good eye.
“It’s okay. I’m fine, the baby’s fine—”
“She’s okay?” Bear sobbed.
“He’s okay. It’s a boy.”
As if on cue the baby started to scream and Julie cooed, “Shhh, shhh, shhh.” She looked at Bear. “Little Harris, meet your godfather.”
He didn’t think the neonate could see him, but damn he looked just like his father. He reached out to the newborn, touching its wrinkled cheek with the knuckles of his hand, and the baby gripped his index finger instinctually.
“Got a grip on him this kid.” He was overwhelmed.
“Bear,” Singh said. “We really shouldn’t be moving Julie and the baby right now, but…” He gripped the tree branch and gestured to the woods at the zombies they could see and the ones they could hear. The doctor had a revolver holstered on his waist.
“I have to feed Harris now.”
“Of course.”
He strode over to Buddy and opened the man’s saddle bags. He rummaged through them quickly, his mind set on one thing. When his hand closed on the butt of the pistol he pulled the silenced nine, then checked the chamber and magazine.
Bear went and stood next to Singh, handing him the 9mm. “Use this if you have to.”
He looked one last time at Julie lying peacefully with the baby attached to her chest. She smiled up at him. He dropped all his gear save the mace, whatever guns were holstered, and knives sheathed on his body.
“They’re attracted by the birth,” Singh said. He had done a good job of cleaning up after the baby’s arrival, but the scent of blood and afterbirth gave them away.
“You stay here with Julie and the baby, with him.” He nodded to Buddy. “If you need me, fire one unsilenced shot, okay?”
“Got it.”
As Singh walked over to check on Julie, he walked up to the nearest of the zombies. It raised its pallid hands for him before he bludgeoned it. He moved to the next one and repeated the process. The mace rose and fell as skulls shattered.
He worked his way from zombie to zombie methodically, stalking through the trees, felling them where he found them.
“What’s Bear…”
“You rest now,” Singh said. “You and that baby are going to need all your strength.”
“Okay.” Her bottom still throbbed and she was worn out.
Singh sat next to her with the silenced 9mm in his lap. He looked over at Buddy, who was dazed. He wondered about the dopamine activity in the man’s brain today.
There was a cry from the trees. Singh looked up in time to see another zombie crumple. He watched Bear go about his work, moving in ever-widening circles, ensuring the safety of the clearing. Singh lost sight of him eventually.
Julie nodded off. When she opened her eyes the baby slept in her arms. Singh had moved and was across from her, feeding their fire. She propped herself up on one elbow. Buddy was still seated on a tree stump. Bear was nowhere in sight.
The pain in her lower body was intense, but she smiled, looking down on the sleeping Harris.
It would be better if she kept an eye on one side of the camp, while Singh watched the other. She tucked the blankets around the baby and laid it on a clear spot on the other side of the log. As long as she moved slowly she thought she’d be okay, though she was exhausted.
Buddy sat on the blackened tree stump and looked from Julie and the baby to Singh. The doctor noted that he was looking at him.
“Buddy? How do you feel?”
Come on, nigger, let’s finish what we started, you and me.
“All right,” Buddy tried to say but what came out was garbled. Singh shook his head and turned. He struck. The blow was sloppy but still toppled the unsuspecting doctor.
“Buddy?” Julie looked at him. The fear rose in her when she realized the man looking back at her was not the one she knew.
“Buddy?”
He advanced on her. She barely had time in her weakened, vulnerable state to stand and shift away from the baby to scream “Bear!” before he was on her.
He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down into the snow, dead leaves, and fir cones. She grunted as the air left her. The pain in her lower body exploded.
He fell on top of her, wrapped his big hands around her neck, and started to strangle the life from her.
She tried to gasp his name but his hold was solid. She could not speak, let alone breath. A torrent of thoughts flashed through her mind, but first and foremost among them was her baby.
She forced herself to pull her hands from Buddy’s wrists and reached for his face. Finding his cheeks, she tried to work her thumbs into his sockets. He took one hand from her neck, drew it back open-palmed, and cuffed her in the side of the head, stunning her.
“Buddy!” Singh wrapped his arms around Buddy’s head and hauled back, trying to pull the e
nraged man off Julie.
There was a low moan as a couple of zombies lurched into their clearing.
“Buddy! Get off—” Singh pulled back with all he had and dislodged the man. Julie grabbed at her neck and gasped for air as she sat up.
The baby slept where he was.
He twisted in Singh’s grasp and reached around, got a hold of the revolver on the doctor’s belt, ripped it free of the holster, and pushed Singh away. Singh staggered back three steps until he regained his footing. “Buddy, no.” He moved his hands out in front of himself, open palmed. The gun fired. The slug punched through his palm and into his stomach.
Singh tumbled back a few more steps, holding his middle. A burning sensation rushed through his guts. He looked at his hands and they were slick with blood.
“Buddy?”
His legs went out from under him at the same time Buddy fired a second shot. The bullet zipped by overhead as Singh dropped where he’d stood.
The zombies smelled his blood and stumbled towards his fallen form.
Buddy turned back to face Julie. As he did so her blade entered him low in his side, between his ribs. He let out a mangled yell and dropped the revolver, throwing himself on the woman. Both of them hit the ground. They struggled but he was much larger and stronger and filled with rage. He climbed on top of her. Julie clawed and slapped at him.
He grabbed her around the neck and started to slam her head against the ground. Spittle flew from his mouth as he muttered gibberish.
One of her hands found the knife in his side. She yanked on the handle. He bellowed but reached down through the pain, found her wrist and pulled it from the blade. He gripped Julie’s arm in one hand and grabbed the knife handle where it protruded from his torso, wrenching it out of his own body, screaming as he did so.
Her legs kicked and flailed. He stretched her arm out. He pressed her forearm tight to the log and drove the knife through her wrist, deep into the bark of the tree beneath, pinning her there. Julie screamed and cried.
Buddy kneeled over her, bleeding, listening to the sounds she made. He had an erection.
The bullet entered his lower back. His hands shot behind him as if reaching for it. His torso straightened and he went rigid.
Singh sat up with a second pistol in his hand. Buddy looked down the barrel and Singh hesitated momentarily. It was just enough time for the first zombie that lurched into view behind the doctor to reach down and grab him, pulling him back. The pistol fired into the air.
Singh screamed as the zombie’s teeth sunk into him.
Bear had a hand on either side of a zombie’s head and was squeezing the life out of it. Both its eyes dislodged from their sockets and hung down on its cheeks from the optic nerves. He stopped and listened, ignoring the grunts of the zombie in his hands.
There was a gunshot off in the distance.
The booker launched itself through the air and landed on his back, latching on. He rolled forward, the move tossing the beast from him. The creature slid from the snow and sprang back up, growling at him. Three other zombies shambled towards him as the booker prepared to attack once more.
Julie was still pinned to the tree where Buddy had left her. She rolled halfway over onto her stomach and pulled her backpack towards her, going for something inside. Her clothes had ridden up and part of the Cosette tattoo on her back was visible.
Buddy stuck his booted foot on her chest and flipped her back over. Julie’s face was streaked with tears and mucus. Long strands of her hair were sweat pasted across her face.
“Buddy—Buddy, no, please—”
He fell on her again, securing his grasp on her neck and squeezing, his forearms shaking with the effort. Julie clawed at him with her one free hand but he ignored the scratches she opened on his face. Blood ran down his cheeks and neck. Her nails stopped ripping at his face and her legs stopped kicking. Her hand went limp beside her, and he was still unaware.
A gunshot behind Buddy gave him pause. He let go of the dead woman and turned around.
Singh had shot one of the two zombies that were eating him. The thing reached up to its forehead and touched the hole there, then promptly rolled over.
The doctor struggled with the second zombie. The creature tore flesh out of his exposed neck. Singh tried to get the pistol in its face.
Buddy shut his eyes from the pain in his back and side.
He stood and went over to his saddle bags, rummaged around within, and pulled his hatchet out. He limped over to Singh and the zombie and cleaved the beast’s skull.
Singh tried to aim the gun at Buddy but he couldn’t steady his hand. He wound up bringing the pistol snug against his own belly. His other hand reached up for his neck, squeezing as best he could. He was losing blood, but the zombies hadn’t hit his artery or he’d be dead by now.
Buddy looked up. There were more zombies entering the clearing. He limped over to the first and killed it with his hatchet. He had some trouble prying the blade from the thing’s head but finally freed it in time to bury it in a second beast’s face.
There was someone behind a tree watching him. The thing pulled itself back behind the trunk, out of sight.
No, Buddy thought, suddenly petrified. His wounds screamed at him. He grew aware he was bleeding all over the place. Had the thing been holding its own head?
Singh tried to control his breathing.
He watched Buddy standing there, looking out into the woods.
Buddy was talking to himself. Singh watched him stoop with great effort and retrieve his saddle bags, then sling them over his shoulders. Buddy looked around, ignoring or not seeing the doctor lying there. He focused on the sleeping child.
Oh God, no… Singh couldn’t move.
A few minutes later Bear burst from the trees. He did not see Singh at first. The doctor watched as the giant spied Julie and the man’s shoulders drooped.
Bear looked down on Julie’s inert form. He looked up to the sky. There were tears in his eyes. He fell on his knees beside her and opened his arms, imploring the heavens, letting loose a howl of anguish and sorrow.
In the woods beyond Buddy was brought up short by the cry. He heard a rustle and turned. Something was following him, coming for him through the trees…
Markowski? No…how…
When he turned to look back in the direction of Bear’s howl, the brain following him stopped and stood perfectly still. The creature lacked anything resembling human intelligence but it could smell blood and it knew fear, and this man it was after was bleeding and very afraid.
Bear reached down, removed the knife from her wrist, and threw it off into the woods.
“…bear…”
He went to the grievously wounded doctor.
“What happened, Singh? Where’s the baby? Where’s the boy?”
Singh tried to speak, tried to explain what had happened, but all he could manage was a dispirited “…buddy…”
A new look came to Bear’s eye.
He retrieved his pack, slinging it over his shoulder.
Buddy.
He drew one of his Glocks and walked back over to Singh. The doctor looked up at him, blinking. Without a word he fired a single round through the dying doctor’s head.
Buddy.
Buddy lost his footing and went down to a knee. One of the saddle bags landed in the snow, the other draped loosely over his shoulder. He gasped as a bolt of pain shot up his spine. He was breathing hard, sweating and bleeding, and they were talking about him again.
…he can run but it won’t help him…
…leave him alone will you…
…you saw what he did with the kid didn’t you…
…run Buddy just run…
His bare hand had gone out to break his fall and was buried in the snow. He looked down at it like it didn’t belong to him. He didn’t feel the cold.
…I’m comin’ for you boy…
He turned and looked over his shoulder in time to see something disappear behind
a tree. He blinked and looked again but it wasn’t showing itself.
He knew who it was coming for him.
…get up Buddy get up and move…
Yeah, Harris. He righted himself, staring at his snow encrusted hand curled up into a claw, his arm bent at the elbow and pulled in tight to his side. He tried to pull the saddle bags back into place with his one good hand, but couldn’t quite do it.
Crusade (Eden Book 2) Page 31
