“What’s that sound?” Jane asked.
The engine shuddered once then died.
Jesse tried to restart it, but nothing happened.
“Inside! Now!” Everett yelled. “Follow me!”
The three jumped out of the Humvee and ran to the big, bay window by the front door. Looking around for something to break the glass with, Everett felt Jesse push him aside. “Move!”
She fired into the glass, and a section the size of a bowling ball shattered. Leaning back, Jesse raised her foot and kicked the glass until making a hole big enough for them to climb through.
“God, they’re close! I can hear them,” Jane whined.
Everett took off as fast as his old legs would let him. He was breathing so hard, he feared a heart attack was only seconds away. “Come on. The library doesn’t have any windows, and the doors are solid oak. There’s a trap door in the floor that leads to the garage. Hurry!”
“What kind of man lived here?” Jesse asked, inches behind Everett.
“The smartest man I’ve ever known,” Everett said. “Here, through this door!”
They scrambled inside the room then slammed the door shut. Everett turned the deadbolt then backed away. “Need a flashlight, please.”
Jesse held one out. “Hurry up, then turn it off. We’ve got to stay quiet or they’ll hear us.”
Flicking the light on, Everett went straight to the shelf he remembered the book was on. Sure enough, it rested in the same place. History of Nuclear Power by James A. Mahaffey. Everett had never been so glad to set eyes on a book in his entire life.
“Shit! Did you hear that? Turn the light off!” Jesse whispered from behind him. “They’re here.”
Everett did, and the three huddled together near the bookcase.
Warm breath grazed Everett’s ear. “Where’s the trap door?”
“Follow me,” Everett answered Jesse’s question with a whisper of his own.
Dropping down to all fours, Everett felt around in the dark for the large desk in the middle of the room. He found it after bumping into it. His fingers found the edge of the Persian rug and pulled it back. The sounds of the dead outside the front door made him work faster. It took only a few more seconds to find the latch and open the door. Sticking his arm down as far as it would go, Everett turned on the flashlight. Thankfully, nothing was in the tunnel except cobwebs and dirt.
“Be careful climbing down,” Everett urged while guiding Jane’s hand to the opening.
The sound of breaking glass sent all of them into a panic.
Jane lost her grip and tumbled down the hole. Her yelp of pain made Everett’s heart pound. “Go!” Everett yelled.
Jesse went next, followed by Everett. As he lowered the trap door, the sounds of growling and mumbling from the hallway made the hair stand up all over his body. He secured the latch, hoping the corpses hadn’t figured out how to open doors.
“Jane? Are you okay?” Jesse asked.
“Didn’t break anythin’, just sprained my ankle.”
“Can you walk? How far to the garage, Dr. Berning?” Jesse asked.
“Two hundred yards, tops. Maybe we should wait here a few minutes? Let Jane rest? You know, give them all a chance to gather in the house so we can slip out back to the Humvee?”
“Why, so we can sit there and pray for it to start?” Jesse shot back.
“Sorry. I’m old, and I’m not thinking straight. This was my first encounter.”
Jesse laughed. “You just broke your cherry, old man. No fun, is it?”
“Not at all. So, what’s the plan? Do we just wait here until the others arrive? You know they’ll come looking if we don’t return.”
“Fuck no. This is way worse than bein’ in the cave. This is like bein’ trapped inside one long casket. Any vehicles in the garage? Keys?”
Everett smiled, a real smile, for the first time in days. “There’s another Humvee. Dr. Thomas loved that thing. the keys are on the wall, at least, they were when we left.”
“Information we needed like ten minutes ago! Go, lead the way. We gotta get out of here before I lose it. This is too close for comfort for me!”
“You’ll do just fine, Jesse. I don’t doubt that one bit. This way,” Everett said, pointing forward. “We’ll need to walk, though. My legs are about give out and Jane can’t run.”
“Long strides, Doctor. Long strides. I’ll help Jane. God, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I want to go back to the cave.”
“Me, too. There’s probably a ton of spiders in here. God, I hate spiders!” Jane mumbled from behind them.
“I do, too, but not as much as those corpses above us. Let’s go!”
“How long does it take to give some stupid kid medicine? Wake him up from nappy-time? They should be back by now.”
“I agree, Warton, which is a first for me. Something’s wrong.”
“Gee, Clive, glad my thoughts got your seal of approval.”
“Shut up! Both of you,” Denaryl yelled. “Warton, is there an off switch on your mouth?”
“Only when it’s eating, licking, or sleeping,” Kevin remarked. “I’m serious, though. We need to go check on them. My gut’s on fire.”
“Yeah, mine too,” Denaryl said, staring at the monitors. “And I can’t see shit except black forest. They coulda got ambushed. Those dead pilots might have bitten others.”
Kevin shook his head. “Maybe, but I suspect the little visit by those two broads was staged.”
“That’s crazy,” Clive said. “You really think an old woman and young girl would risk their lives and trek through those dangerous woods alone?”
“Don’t you?” Warton answered. “Age doesn’t matter when it comes to dark intentions.”
Denaryl stood and checked his weapon. “As much as I hate to admit it, Warton’s right. Something is wrong, and our brothers are out there. So is Dr. Berning, and our number one priority is keeping him safe. We let our guard down earlier, but I say we make up for that mistake now. If we’re wrong, no harm’s been done. If we’re right, well, then we do what we do best. Winters? Just in case things go sour, go get the bag with Dr. Berning’s notes. We might not get the opportunity to come back if we run into trouble. Warton? Get the keys to the truck.”
“Thank God! A real mission. Anything’s better than being trapped here,” Clive shouted.
The men left the control room and headed topside. Warton laughed. “This is the first time we’ve all worked as a real group while agreeing on our objective. Just like old times.”
“Except this time, our enemies are corpses, but okay, I get the analogy,” Clive laughed.
“If our suspicions are correct, shoot to kill. No questions, no explanations. Bury those civvys.”
Not another word was spoken as the men stepped out into the night. Pulling down their night vision goggles, they snuck through the woods on silent feet, adrenaline high and senses heightened.
Twenty minutes later, Denaryl held up his hand. The men stopped, pausing to listen. Footsteps from about fifty yards away crunched through the dry leaves. Faint light from a flashlight zigzagged through the woods.
Four separate strides, no doubt. And they were coming up the trail.
Fast.
Denaryl gave the signal, and the trio fanned out, heading to intercept the intruders.
A UNITED FRONT - Thursday, December 25th – 8:15 p.m. – Central Standard Time
“Stop pacing, Mom. You’ll just tire yourself out. They’ll be back soon.”
“I can’t sit still. Feels like I’m about to jump outta my skin. I hate waitin’!”
Turner chuckled softly. “Yeah, patience was never one of your virtues.”
The look on his mother’s face reminded Turner of all the times he’d said the wrong thing as a kid. Just like his father, Turner feared no other person on the planet, except the walking corpses, other than his mother.
“You realize this is an exercise in futility, right? Our friends will
come looking for us, and when they get here, they won’t play nice.”
“I don’t believe anyone was talkin’ to you, grunt,” Lamar snapped back.
“Dirk. My name is Dirk Kincannon. You got cotton in your head, old man? How many times do I have to tell you we aren’t military?”
“Once a government tool, always a government tool,” Turner yelled back.
“Does your father fall into that category, too?”
“You shut your mouth! My husband retired with honors, and he regrets every minute he was under their control!”
“So do we, ma’am. Trust me. That’s why we left. We aren’t animals, you know.”
“Maybe not, but you aren’t quite human, either. Y’all were just gonna leave us here. Let us die without even warnin’ us what was comin’! That’s cold-blooded reptile behavior in my book.”
“There’s not enough room for all of us! It’s not personal. We’ve had to make some really hard choices during the last few days. This was one of them.”
“Denton, right?” Lamar asked.
“Yeah. Drake Denton.”
“Okay, Drake? If you don’t want to take another nap, then by all means, continue runnin’ your trap.”
“Let’s tone things back a little. Sound reverberates in here. All this yellin’ is givin’ me a headache.”
“Mom, please, sit down. Everybody will be back soon, and then we can get the hell outta here.”
“We can’t take you with us, I’m sorry. Though a brilliant plan you had here, there simply isn’t room.”
“Then we’ll make room, Mr. Kincannon. The choices are simple: your pilot makes two runs, the first with our group and your doctor. The second will be for the rest of you.”
“Pardon me for being rude, Mrs. Addison, but are you crazy? You really don’t think we’ll agree to that, do you?”
“If you want to keep your precious doctor alive, you will.”
“What are you going to do if he doesn’t make it back? What happens if they die out there? Then where will your leverage be? I’ll tell you—dead.”
“That’s enough!” Lamar roared. He rose from his perch on the cot. “I know what you two are up to. Tryin’ to whip us into a frenzy, make us so angry we lose focus on you—give you a chance to escape. Ain’t gonna happen. Be quiet or I’ll shut you both up!”
Turner looked over at his mom, afraid she was close to passing out. He doubted she’d slept more than three hours in the past two days. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, and her face was drawn tight. He could see the veins in her neck pulse with a rapid heartbeat. “Mom? Help me move to a different position, please? My back’s in a bind.”
“Sure thing, baby.”
Turner waited until his mom leaned down to help him move. Once she was close enough, he whispered, “Mom? Sit down. Your blood pressure’s spikin’, isn’t it?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t. You really want to pass out, or worse, and leave Lamar as the only one between me and those men?”
The words, said with the intention of forcing his mother to sit down, worked. “Okay, but just for a minute.”
The second the sentence left Martha’s mouth, the sound of gunshots filled the cave.
“Someone’s firin’ outside!” Lamar yelled, running toward the entrance.
“Wait! It could be the other men!” Martha screamed.
“Or, it could be Walt and them fightin’ off the dead! Either way, I ain’t sittin’ here waitin’ to see what comes through that door!”
“Lamar, don’t!” Turner yelled, but it was too late. Lamar disappeared through the door.
Martha walked over and picked up two rifles. She handed one to Turner. “Shoot them if they try to leave.”
Turner said a silent prayer while watching his mother disappear into the night.
“Mason! No!”
Cooper’s heart broke as the boy’s head exploded in front of him. Chunks of Mason’s blood and skull splashed across his face.
All touch with reality gone, Cooper lost it. He ran full force, firing rounds in the direction of the bullet. “He’s just a kid! He’s just a kid!”
Cooper’s body jerked to the right when a bullet tore through his shoulder. He didn’t care. Rage thrummed through his system, blocking the pain. He kept running, following the flashes from the guns bursting from the barrels with each round.
He knew he hit a target when a man’s voice yelled, “Shit!” up ahead.
“Ready for another one, you bastard? Come on, come on out here and face me like a man! Only pussies hide in the shadows, pickin’ off kids! Come on!”
“Drop your weapons, or we’ll take all of you down. The first shot was a warning!”
“You drop yours, asshole, or we’ll kill Dr. Berning! Got a gun to his head right now!”
The familiar voice of Martha Addison made Cooper wonder if he was dreaming.
“I said drop them! If you want to make that flight, you’ll need him, and the map!”
Kyle and Teresa came up behind Cooper and stopped. Kyle grabbed Cooper by the shoulder, yanking him to the ground. “That’s Martha, but what the hell she means, I have no clue!”
Sounds of a scuffle about thirty feet head of them made Cooper’s skin prickle.
“Walt? That you out there?”
“Lamar?” Kyle answered.
“Yeah, we got em. Come on up.”
Cooper looked back at Mason’s body on the trail. “Go ahead. I’ll fetch him.”
“Let me help,” Teresa added.
“No. My responsibility. You stay with Kyle.”
Teresa shook her head. “No, I’ll help. He was a good kid.”
“Hang on, Lamar. We’ll be right there,” Kyle yelled. He turned his attention back to Cooper. “We can’t risk buryin’ him in the dark. Come on, we’ll carry him the rest of the way. Tomorrow mornin’, we’ll give him a proper burial.”
“You’re bleeding!” Teresa interjected.
“You take a bullet?” Kyle asked.
Shoulders sagging with grief, Cooper nodded once and walked away, tears streaming down his face. He wished the bullet that took out Mason would have missed and hit him instead.
“Go through that door, nice and easy. Try any fancy tricks and I’ll blow a hole through your heads. Guaranteed.”
“Where’s the rest of them?”
“Keep walkin’, hands up,” Martha said from behind the three men. Two were carrying the body of the third, who’d taken a bullet. “Set him on that cot, right there, then back away.”
“Rice, what happened to Winters?” Dirk asked from his spot on the floor.
“Took one to thigh. He’s bleeding out. Fast. Where’s Dr. Berning? We need him!”
“He ain’t here, so you best use your field trainin’,” Martha answered.
“What? You said—”
Martha stopped and pointed the rifle directly at the man named Rice. “I lied. Best not waste time worryin’ about why, just help your friend. Lamar? Get them the first aid kit.”
Lamar moved across the cave floor in quick strides. Grabbing the kit, he tossed it across the room.
“You okay, Kincannon? Denton?”
“They’re fine, I assure you. We ain’t killers like y’all are.”
The other man standing next to Rice snorted. “So, that comment about blowing our heads off was a joke, right?”
“Warton! You and Rice shut up and concentrate on Winters. Right now,” Dirk yelled.
“We just need a ride on your plane. Give us what we want, and everybody lives,” Martha answered.
“I knew something was wrong,” Denaryl said. “I knew it!”
Rice and Warton turned their attention to their friend. Martha backed up several steps toward Turner. “What’s takin’ them so long?”
“Probably had to pick up the supplies they dropped durin’ the ambush. They’ll be in directly, Ms. Martha,” Lamar answered.
Martha didn’t say another word while watch
ing the five men in the cave. Her gaze bounced between the two tied up on the floor, and the three across the room at the last cot. Her heartbeat was erratic, and she felt lightheaded. A weird buzzing noise rang in her ears. Martha feared she’d vomit any second. She knew Turner was right—her blood pressure was sky high.
“Hey! They’re back!” Turner yelled, drawing Martha’s attention to the door. “Thank goodness! Oh, my God! Chief Hollingsworth? Is that you?”
Martha’s mouth went dry when only three people walked inside. She noticed Kyle’s clothes were covered in dried blood as he made his way toward her position. The haunted look on his face made chills scramble up her back. Turner’s question—and the answer staring back at her from across the room with a wound to his shoulder—made her breath come in short gasps.
“Kyle?” Martha whispered. “Where’s my husband? Reed?”
He was right in front of her now, tears running down his dirty face. Kyle didn’t need to say a word. The answer ripped from Martha’s chest, tearing a hole through her heart.
“No. God, no!” Martha screamed, falling to her knees.
“Dad?” Turner whimpered from across the room.
Martha tried to get up, go to her son. She couldn’t. The buzzing in her head increased as sobs shook her body. The room went dark.
Walter. No. My Walter. What am I going to do without you?
“What happened out there, Kyle?”
Kyle finished bandaging Cooper’s shoulder before answering Turner’s question. “Now’s not the time for that discussion, Turner. Just know your dad died a hero. He saved my life. We’ll talk about that later, once your mom wakes up. I don’t want to tell the story more than once, because I don’t think I can. Okay?”
Tears ran down Turner’s face, making Kyle feel worse than he already did. “She’s gonna be okay, right?”
“Yes, son. She just fainted. She’ll be fine.”
“Did Bailey and Allsop?” Lamar whispered, letting the words trail off.
Kyle shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know what happened to them. They decided to go it alone to get their families.”
Tainted Future (The Rememdium Series Book 3) Page 19
