It seemed incredible this wasn’t well known. Perhaps at the time Raleigh and his wife didn’t want negative aspects of his voyages to get out. Explorers of that period waged a constant PR campaign to woo investors to finance their risky and dangerous ventures. It was an amazing story. Were some of the natives carriers of the disease all their lives? It must have been a different strain.
Charles stirred and opened his eyes. He tried to sit up but collapsed in a fit of coughing. Virginia knelt behind him and propped him up on her knees. The coughing calmed and he took a sip of water from the glass she held.
“Can you talk?”
“Sort of.” His voice came out as a croak.
“What happened?”
“More water?” She helped him drink.
“But first, did you find the insulin?” Virginia nodded. He relaxed a little. “After I left you, I made a wide circle around the courthouse to get to the far side of the cemetery. Those ghouls were still massing at the fence on this side but hadn’t broken through. That woman that we saw was Sue Norris. I found her near the north gate. She was bit; one of those things tore half her face off and her eye was just hanging. I didn’t know what to do so I helped her up and half carried her back here. Carson let us in and that’s when it hit the fan. Your neighbor took one look at her, drew his gun and started yelling at me to take her outside or he’d kill her. That wasn’t going to happen. She was still a living, suffering human being and scared to death. Larry wouldn‘t stop hollering. Daniel woke up and was crying for you, then the dog came out and started howling like the devil was in the room. Finally, Kincaid came up behind, knocked Larry down and took his gun. He quieted down after that and slinked off.” He took another sip of water.
“Sue didn’t last long. She bled out. When it was over, Kincaid volunteered to take her out and do what had to be done. We picked her up and were carrying her out the door but we‘d waited too long. She revived and ripped into Kincaid’s arm. She got a good bite too. He shook her off but she was in full hunger mode by then and kept coming at him. It was all I could do to toss her out and get the doors closed. Larry showed up to help with that. I cleaned out the bite but Kincaid knew what was coming. He said he needed to do some thinking and went up to the roof. Next thing I know, Larry came running in saying he saw Kincaid fall from the roof. I should’ve made him go home when all this started. He stayed to help me and now he’s dead because of it.”
“Or he might have died on the way home. No place is safe. This isn’t your fault.”
“Yes it is. I brought Sue in here. I caused this.” He closed his eyes and leaned back. Virginia thought he had gone to sleep but then he spoke.
“The bastard jumped me and took my gun. I remember coming to and trying to get to the bathroom to get some of this blood off then nothing until I woke up and saw you.”
“He’s gone. The doors were open when Gabriella and I got back. We’re lucky the infected didn’t wander inside. The children were asleep but we didn’t think anyone else was here. Carson‘s gone too. I‘m worried.”
“Carson wouldn’t leave those children alone.”
“No. That‘s why I‘m worried.” She rose and walked to the window. The wind howled and gusted, driving swirls of snow around the lurching dead. “Well, one reason anyway. The other is- Gabriella and I saw Kincaid’s body. Someone shot him in the head.”
“He must have shot himself as he stepped off the roof. I should never have let him go up there. I saw the look on his face when he realized he would turn into one of those things.”
“You couldn‘t have known.”
“He was my deputy, one of my people. I let him die.”
“You didn‘t let him die, Charles. He made his own-” she stopped as they heard a series of dull thuds. They echoed distantly from above. They looked at each other. “The roof? How did they get to the roof?” Virginia grabbed her shotgun and ran to the stairs.
The roof entrance door was jammed. Someone had completely mangled the doorknob; bent it so it wouldn’t turn. The thuds continued but weakened then ceased altogether.
“Ok, it could be one of them BUT they don’t give up that fast if ever. Maybe it’s-” she kicked the knob hard, it shuddered but held. The banging started up and she heard a shout this time. She kicked the knob again. Nothing. She yelled, “Stand back!” and took aim at the knob.
The report rang her ears and the recoil from the shotgun hurt. Worse than that- the door still wouldn’t open. A hand closed on her shoulder and she spun around, taking aim at- Charles. He held up both hands, an ax in his left one.
“You know, that shooting out the lock thing only works in movies.” he said mildly. He smashed the doorjamb until it was loose enough to pull the lock past it. Carson fell inside.
They got him onto one of the reading room sofas and wrapped him in their coats. His lips were blue; his hair rimed with ice. He shivered, shook, and couldn’t speak for several minutes.
“I’ll kill ‘im. If I ever see that s.o.b again I’ll kill ‘im.” His teeth chattered with cold.
“What happened?”
“Larry. When I seen him following Kincaid up to the roof, I figured he was up to no good. He didn’t like Kincaid none. He don’t like you neither Charles. Now you and me been on opposite sides of certain issues from time to time but we kept our relationship professional. No hard feelings on either side.” Charles nodded in acknowledgement but barely suppressed a smile.
“I followed him up. He went after Kincaid and I heard him saying, ‘Do it before you turn’ then something about ‘dying with dignity.’ Kincaid told him to leave ‘im alone and walked over to the edge of the roof and just stood, lookin’ down. I heard Larry say ‘That’s you if you don’t do something about it.’ Kincaid ignored him. That’s when Larry pulled a gun out of his boot and shot him cold dead in the head. I know I yelled something and he turned and saw me. I ran for the door but I slipped and must have knocked myself out. When I came to, he was gone and I was trapped out there. I was near froze to death.”
Charles’ expression was murderous. Virginia went up to the landing. The shotgun had kicked hard and her side hurt. She lifted her shirt and saw fresh blood. She sighed and tried to remember where the first aid kit was when she heard a chime and felt a vibration in her pocket. It took her a few seconds to realize it was her phone. Hands trembling she pulled it out. A voicemail! Why hadn’t she heard it ring? The screen showed her mother in law’s number. She punched in her password and heard her daughter’s voice.
“Mom? Mommy, when are you c-coming? There’s no ‘lectricity. Grammy says we have to st-stay away from the windows so they don’t find us like they found Granddad. Granddad is out in the yard but Grammy says he can’t come in now. Mom?” The last whispered word ended with a sob that tore her heart. The stutter Anna had struggled so hard to conquer was back. She hit Reply but got a series of clicks in response. The call wouldn’t go. The snowfall continued and the wind swirled it round the streetlamps and the wandering dead. Every flake that fell trapped her here and she felt the weight on her soul. It was still a couple of hours until dawn. She stumbled over to the apse where Daniel still slept, lay down close beside him and closed her eyes.
The electricity went out sometime before sunup. The temperature inside the building dropped rapidly and by eight o’clock, it was obvious it wasn’t just a power blink. It was not coming back on. The only bright side was that the snow had stopped and the sun came out.
Virginia stood on the roof, somberly taking in the magnificent mountain scenery. The virgin snow softly blanketed the streets. In contrast, the dead creatures moving through them were a dark stain on the landscape, mocking the real resurrection once reverently celebrated in this old building. Their numbers had increased overnight; the streets even more mobbed than before. She left the roof and went below.
Daniel now had a playmate. Marisol was helping him build a fort with books. The sound of their laughter was like balm. The library staff would have a fit
if they ever came back to work but the activity kept the children warm in the now freezing building. All of them tried eating cold powdered soup for breakfast this morning but it was a disaster. It was time to get out. They had already let Larry’s dog run free. Over protests from Mari, the excited dog slipped through the doorway and had no trouble evading the dead. He would have been in danger if they encountered infected in the close quarters of the tunnels.
“Virginia, you are coming?” Gabriella took her arm and steered her toward the reading room. They discussed escape scenarios. Marisol needed more insulin and soon so they plotted routes taking them near drugstores. Neither thought going back to the hospital a good idea.
“I think we’re all agreed we have to go.” Charles looked better today but, like all of them, unwashed and hungry. “Be sure you have everything you want to bring with you on your back. If we find a way out, we won’t be coming back here.” The adults all carried firearms and Charles had stuck the fire ax in his belt as well.
Even colder air met them in the basement. Charles went first into the small root cellar. Boards blocked the lower portion of the opening in the wall but, rotten with age and damp, they came down easily. He stepped into the darkness and the others followed. Shining the flashlight, they saw that after a few yards the passage to the left was blocked almost to the low ceiling with rubble. They turned right and walked into the yawning black.
Chapter 15
Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide,
And lead thee hence through the eternal place,
Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,
Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,
Who cry out each one for the second death
Dante Alighieri
The tunnel sloped downward almost immediately. The walls were stone blocks; Charles thought it was granite. Wooden buttresses shored up the ceiling at intervals and looked in good shape for work over one hundred fifty years old. The smooth dirt floor was mostly unobstructed, which was good because they were using just the one flashlight, conserving the others.
“Where do ya think this goes? I sure don’t want to walk into no zombie fest.” Carson scratched his head with the shotgun.
“I’m hoping this connects with the storm drains closer to the edge of town where it should be less infested. We’re going in the wrong direction for that now but maybe we’ll come to a turning. “
Just as Charles finished speaking they came to a split and took the left passage, estimating this should lead them east out of downtown and toward 531. All had agreed previously that this was their best choice. From there, Carson could get to his mother in law’s trailer where he suspected his children were. He had little doubt that Debi (his ex or maybe not his ex, Virginia had a hard time following the ups and downs of the relationship) had everything under control and the children were fine. There were also two pharmacies there, at the end of Broad Street, which should have everything Marisol needed.
A few minutes’ walk brought them to a seeming dead end. No door in the wall, no grate or cover in the ceiling. Charles paced the tunnel floor, kicking up puffs of dust and dirt. Gabriella raised her eyebrows at Virginia, who shrugged. Charles kicked around a few more minutes until they heard a clank. He knelt down to tug on a metal ring set into the floor. It wouldn’t budge. Carson gave it a yank; the wooden plate it was attached to splintered. They picked out the pieces. Training the flashlight into the hole, they saw a concrete floored hallway with covered electrical conduits running along the walls.
“Service tunnel. But for what building I don’t know. This is something like a sub basement just for utility connections. It could be a way out. But we’d likely have to go through the building first.”
“Perhaps we will find food?” This from Gabriella.
“Or we might be food.” Virginia crouched by the hole, looking down. “Put it to a vote?”
Hunger won out. The service tunnel terminated in a short flight of steps leading to a metal door. They eased it open, cringing as the hinges squeaked, to find more inky darkness on the other side. Moving cautiously, swinging the flashlight side to side they saw no evidence of violence but Virginia thought she smelled- something not right. It wasn’t until they turned a corner and Mari slid in a puddle of it that she identified the smell of urine. The hall widened at this point and they saw hospital beds with IV drips, tubes and bags neatly arranged along the walls. They stood still, listening, and heard labored breathing. Charles cautiously shined the flashlight on one of the beds onto the face of an elderly man, hooked up to various machines that no longer functioned. He was not conscious. The next bed revealed another man, younger, in the same condition. All the beds held unconscious patients. They were in the coma ward of the hospital.
“We do not want to be here. I say we turn around and leave right now.” Virginia whispered. “We can’t help any of these people and the rest of this place is crawling with infected.”
“Wait. I think I know where we are. The cafeteria is in this wing and just outside is a storm drain grate.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I bussed tables there one summer in high school. There’s a covered stoop off the cafeteria and the drain grate is just to one side. We used to throw our cigarette butts in there after break.”
“You smoked?”
“Yes, Virginia, I was a teenaged hoodlum. Can we discuss my past another time? That grate was loose too. Every time a truck drove over it, we had to kick it back into place. I‘m sure I can get to the kitchens from here.”
They moved on. The corridor grew lighter as they went above ground. There were windows now and they saw the sun still shone blindingly on the snow. The glass doors to the cafeteria were just ahead and they saw they had company waiting. Two infected stumbled around the tables. Another, in a motorized wheelchair, was jammed up against the salad bar. Moving in quickly, Carson took out the two walkers with close range headshots. Gabriella belatedly covered the children’s eyes but they didn’t react. Ignoring the wheelchair bound ghoul, Charles led the way to the double kitchen doors.
“These used to operate on independent sensors so that no one would try to go in the out door or vice versa and crash into each other. They probably locked when the power went out but if I slide the bolt out of this slot then- presto!” He pulled the door back.
Hell spewed out. The overwhelming stench of dead, rotted flesh poured out first with the dead themselves seconds behind. An enormously fat woman with metal sutures hanging on flapping skin lunged out first. Rotten chunks of black flesh fell out of her opened chest and onto Charles as she took him to the ground. He held her snapping mouth inches away from his face and Virginia couldn’t get a clear shot. She tried to position herself better when she felt a hand close on her calf and pull her off balance. A white coated doctor gnawed on her booted ankle.
“Why would so many be in the kitchen?” she shouted over the moans and gibbering filling the air.
“How would I know?” Charles sounded indignant.
The doctor pulled her to the ground and she found her shot, taking off the top of the sutured woman’s head. Charles got to his feet and buried the ax in the biting doctor’s skull. Black ichor clung to the blade. They looked up. Carson had both children slung over his shoulders and Gabriella stood in front of him, firing shakily. There had to be forty infected surging around and more still in the kitchen. Getting out the kitchen door wasn’t an option now. They ran back the way they came. The dead followed.
Most were still slow but the less damaged ones were fast and never more than a few yards behind. A particularly fast one in blood soaked scrubs and tennis shoes seemed fixated on Marisol and made clumsy grabs at her as he ran. She screamed. The corridor grew dark again at basement level. Virginia switched on her flashlight. The dark didn’t slow the dead at all.
They sprinted past the coma patients. The entrance door to the service tunnel was just down the hallway. As close as the dead were, they wou
ld be on them before they could open the door and get out.
“It’s stuck!” Virginia tugged hard. They put their backs to the door and shined their flashlights down the hall, braced for the attack.
“Move!” Charles pushed her out of the way, pulled hard on the handle and wrenched it open then turned to face their pursuers.
Something was wrong. Their searching flashlights revealed no dead close on their heels. The corridor was empty. They listened.
“No!” Virginia was agonized. The sounds were unmistakable. Satisfied grunts and moans echoed down the hallway. The dead had found easier prey and now fed on the bedfast comatose patients. She began to cry, silently. They all slipped through the door into the service tunnel. Daniel reached for her and she held him close. He was shaking and hiccupping; his face wet with tears. She rubbed his back until the shaking stopped. “Ok?” He didn’t answer, just buried his face in her shoulder.
They backtracked to the original entry point. This time they climbed the pile of rubble and removed enough of the stones and debris to squeeze through. This side of the tunnel narrowed quickly and soon they were reduced to crawling. Claustrophobia took hold.
“Charles, I am uncertain I can do this.” Gabriella sounded panicked.
“Please, everybody, hang in there. This is the way I wanted to go in the first place and I think we’re close.”
I can’t do this either, Virginia thought. The roof of the tunnel scraped her head as she crawled forward with her elbows tucked under her chest. The blackness closed in, and it was hard to breathe. She stopped. Waves of panic buffeted her and she fought down hysteria. The musty, earthen smell of the tunnel was suffocating. I can’t die here in the dark, as if I crawled into my own grave. She started to back up, drawing protests from Carson behind her. She couldn’t go back; she was afraid to go forward. Rocks now scraped her shoulders as the tunnel tightened more. She reached for Charles ahead but he was gone. Hearing a shout, she struggled forward and suddenly fell into a shallow pit of stinking, cold mud, with empty space all around her. Stumbling into a surprised Charles’s arms, she kissed him hard on the mouth then turned around as Carson and Daniel emerged from the hole in the wall, followed by Gabriella and Marisol. Through the metal grate above, a shaft of sunshine poured down like a benediction. They were in the storm drains.
The Living Dead (Book 1): Contagion Page 11
