Devil's Details: Z Is For Zombie Book 4

by catt dahman

“And some fell in. Then the Zs fell in,” John said. He couldn’t look them in the face now.

  “That’s horrible,” Beth said, “were they infected when they fell?”

  “Yes.”

  Teeg just held her.

  Kim got Teeg to hand Beth to him and took her chin in his hand. “Bethy.”

  She saw his eyes watering. She yanked away, and he caught her again at the edge as she looked down. She had to see for herself, no matter what it was.

  Limbs at strange angles, broken, a man she had seen around. Two children: they made Beth’s heart hurt. She felt pain gathering in her throat. There were women there. Then, Beth leaned back against Kim, letting him hold her steady. She turned and looked again.

  “Oh, no, okay.” She allowed Kim to help her walk away from the edge of the pit. “She couldn’t get a word out that made sense.”

  “Carl, can you do as I asked? We’ll be that way in a while to make our way topside for what needs to be done.”

  Carl had been speaking with John. “Sure, after, she says.”

  Kim nodded, understanding the man’s fierce loyalty to Beth. “Beth,” he said as he squatted where she sat, defeated-looking, “I need you just to hang on one second, and then you can be upset. You and Julia are seconds to Len. Julia isn’t here. We don’t have time to go through this again, and we can’t. You can’t handle this right now: tomorrow, yes, tonight, no. So, you have to put someone in charge of security of the whole compound under George. Mark, Juan, and Pan are not here.”

  She looked at Conner and Teeg, then at Kevin and Carl and John.

  “It has to be enforced at once. I’ve been there. He’ll break, Beth. I promise you, he will break.”

  “You were always Len’s second before,” she said, “Will you all really enforce it?”

  “If you give the order,” Carl said.John nodded; Teeg mumbled and then nodded.

  Conner seemed to look a little better. “I will,” Kevin nodded.

  “Okay. As Len’s second, I appoint Kimball Decker as Head of Security for the compound of the US Militia. You are to relieve Colonel Bernhart of duty, at once.”

  “Done, Alex,” John called, and he leaped back over to the far side.

  “Godspeed, Beth,” Alex called to her.

  Beth let Kim hold her arm as they walked; she felt shaky, but it wasn’t fear, shock, or any emotion she could define. Kim knew what she felt, a deep-seated need to make someone pay for this in screams and blood. It was a ringing emotion that was crystal clear and loud in the ears that made it feel as if a person were going to explode.

  There was nothing but that emotion building; only people who thought pain could be exquisite, that pleasure could be painful, that happiness could bring about tears, and that fear could cause sexual excitement would understand the emotion. It was pure, complicated, and all consuming.

  Beth wondered how long she would see the two faces in the pit that caused this rage; would she have nightmares, too, or would they just haunt her during every waking hour?

  24

  Rage

  When Kim and Beth got back, Kim asked if Misty, Cory, and Nick would join them. The three quickly went to help the rest finish, and Beth called to Rae to say they were almost finished and would be coming up. For a while, they drank water to hydrate, and Kim watched Beth go over the master list of all residents.

  Maybe the hybrid, if there were one, was lying in the pit dead.

  Beth nodded at Kim when he suggested that, but she didn’t think so.

  When the others got back, they had another five with them who were well checked out. Beth marked them off of her list, nodding to herself.

  “Can you ID the ones you know?” He helped with names until Beth was happy with the results. She folded the pages and put them in her pants pocket.

  “You don’t look okay,” Misty said, hugging Beth.

  “I don’t think I am. You all ready for this?” No one looked it. “Let’s go.Rae, Rev, we’re coming up.”

  Upstairs, Conner pulled Rae and Rev over quickly and spoke to them as planned, asking everyone to slow down and let them get sorted. They walked into the lobby of the dorm and then into another room where they handed off the five to be checked, again.

  “Please, don’t rush anyone. Give us a few minutes, please,” John asked those who were waiting.“We have to finish protocol. Please, just stand back, let us get our breath, and follow what we need to do.”

  Beth asked, “Who had the gate?”

  “I did,” Juan tried to go to her, but Len held up a hand.

  “Did anyone leave the compound?”

  “Yeh. How’d you know? We had a car go out; the protocol isn’t to keep people from leaving but from getting in, right? And they wanted out when everything went to hell. I saw it anyway; one of the guys let them leave, and I made sure they knew they wouldn’t be allowed back inside.”

  “That’s true. No blame, Juan. They were told they couldn’t come back right then, maybe for days,” George said.

  Beth asked him, “Did these five leave?” she called out the names.

  “Yes, that was them,” Juan responded.

  Kim looked at Beth in shock.

  “Master list, and I accounted for everyone but five.”

  “We just got word and figured it out right before you did, Beth. She tried to cut Andie’s throat, but she must have been interrupted ‘cause she ran before she finished. ‘Andie will make it,’ Steve said. She was damned lucky.”

  “Carla tried to kill Andie?” Kim asked, clearly upset. He traveled with the woman, and she was a murderer?

  “She’s a hybrid; she and Robbie both are. The man they killed was the raw meat they needed to eat; then, she bit the woman, a mistake, and all hell broke loose because the infection spread.

  They ran downstairs and infected someone, and you know what happened. They got out by making the jump. She must have carried him across when she jumped, or there’s another exit. Andie and I saw her when we got to the second floor, covered in blood that I thought was from the fight, but then she was gone, and I forgot I saw her.She must have wanted us shut up since knew we would remember. Only, I was too busy for her to find. It spread then. She and the other three, I’m guessing, she worked them up, and they fled.”

  “I didn’t know to keep anyone in. No one did,” Juan said.

  “Of course, you didn’t. It all happened fast, and none of us knew who it was. It nagged at me, and I remembered seeing her. She went downstairs, and we sealed everything. She wasn’t marked off the master list, so she got out.”

  “We found a secondary exit,” Carl said, “we didn’t know that it was used.”

  “She had time to explore, and she found it, I’m sure.”

  Beth told them that a team was needed at the other end of the tunnels to get those people checked.

  Len smiled, “About time.” He wanted to see his adopted family, too.

  Rae, Rev, Cory, and Kevin went that way to get it done, taking a few with them to speed it up.

  Kim cleared his throat. “Ummm, Colonel. Len, with utmost respect and admiration for your work, I have been appointed Head of Security and will relieve you of duty temporarily.”

  “What? Is this a joke?”

  George frowned.

  Misty asked for a chair. “Have a seat, Len.”

  “No, I’m not going to sit. What the hell is Kimball talking about? He can’t do shit.”

  “As your second, I appointed him. I was relieved as well. We don’t know how this works; we aren’t soldiers, but we’re trying hard to do this by a new book: by what is right, works, and makes sense.”

  “We voted and agreed, Len,” Misty added.

  Across the room, Mark and Juan both looked stunned and ready to ask questions. Julia caught on first that her support was needed fast. “Len, sit, please,” she said as she motioned for Juan and Mark to wait patiently.

  “I will have to restrain you if you don’t,” Teeg said miserably.

 
“Okay, I think you’ve all lost your ever-livin’ minds, but I’ll go along for a few minutes, and then I’m planning on kicking some ass.I am relieved of duties and you, too, Beth? I’ll bite…ha-ha…bite. Funny.” Len flopped down.

  “I was relieved temporarily so someone down there could make tough decisions as I was emotionally unable to. At this point, so are you…about to be.”

  “Me? Emotionally unable? Ummm, Beth, what the hell is up; why would I be?” Len stopped talking. Teeg, Beth, and Conner all were in tears.

  George held up his hand again before anyone could run to them. “Stand down. Please.”

  Beth couldn’t talk but made a little wave at Kim to continue. This was why he was chosen.

  “Sir, Len, ” Kim took a deep breath, “ Maryanne and Toni were both…they’re dead, Len.”

  Steve slipped in with a syringe in hand, but it took four to hold Len down so Steve could give Len the injection as he fought to get to the stairs and find Maryanne and Toni. No one wanted him to see the chewed, broken bodies of the pretty woman and sweet little girl who lay at the bottom of the pit, infected and turned, shot by Conner and John.

  “Jules, I hand the power over to you,” Kim told Julie, “Head of Security and US Militia.”

  “So voted,” Beth called out robotically.

  Julia nodded her thanks but went to sit with George who had settled into a chair brought to him. It took almost two minutes for the meds to kick in so that Len would stop fighting and yelling obscenities. Steve told them to use the litter and restraints he ordered to get him to medical bay.

  “Are you sure?” George asked Beth, knowing it was a useless question.

  “I had a visual, George. I did it as my last duty before Kim took over,” Beth said. “I want to say now that every member working on this with me deserves a note of valor and bravery. I also ask for Kim to be appointed head of his own team ASAP and as a second to Len as Julia and I are. He showed unbelievable courage and calm during a time of extreme stress.”

  George nodded. “Julia, noted?”

  “Got it,” she said, “Maryanne? How can she be gone?”

  “Because Carla was a disgusting hybrid bitch,” Beth said.

  “If I had known, I would have tossed her…or maybe…shot her and the kid,” Kim spat. “She thought I was one…before…when she followed me; then, I wasn’t; that’s what she meant by thinking I was like them.”

  “I’d like to see my family,” said Beth calmly as she stood up, passed Juan who waited for her, and left the room, looking dazed.

  “What the hell?” Juan exploded. “What happened to her?” He was face to face with Kim in seconds, ready to start swinging.

  Carl and Teeg tiredly separated them.

  “Her eyes look dead,” Julia said. “I’m going to stay with her; someone let Matt know where I am. Juan, give me time with her.” She bolted out of the door with Misty calling the same back to Mark.

  Now Mark yelled.

  “I said knock it off!” George threw a vase across the room so it exploded on a wall. “My, God, we’re all in pain from loss: losing Maryanne and seeing Len that way; we’ve all lost it tonight,” he said as he took in a deep breath, “Give them some time. I know you men are worried about the ladies, but give them a little time to take this in and process it.”

  “I’m calm,” Mark said, “Misty is okay and needs to be with her best friends. You’re right, George. We have bodies to bury.”

  Juan nodded. “I get it. Beth needs some time; they all were close to Maryanne. We need to get them buried.”

  “I can’t take it in, yet,” George said, “I feel as if we lost part of our hearts tonight.”

  Kim watched everyone file out and stayed until he and George turned off the lights and closed the door.

  When George asked Kim if it were bad, meaning Beth’s mind-set, Kim answered that yes, it was.

  George calmed everyone. Julia and Misty were there to soothe Beth, but no one got it. Mark and George might have a little of an idea. Andie might. Julia would. But only Len, Kim, and Beth truly understood and got it.

  Only Len and Kim really knew why Beth’s eyes, normally bright green, went so dark and why she had the thousand yard stare and false calmness. It was that emotion Len and Kim knew. Now, Beth felt it.

  Beth: she was rage.

  -Fort Worth: 2013

  About the author:

  catt dahman lives with her husband, child, four cats, a dog, and a ferret outside Fort Worth. She graduated from A&M and has a Master’s degree. She’s been writing for thirty odd years. She enjoys the genres of westerns, horror, and splatter punk. Find her at www.cattd.comor facebook : https://www.facebook.com/chainsawcatt or https://www.facebook.com/CattDahman