by Mike Staton
Just as it tipped away from her, she got her toes around a scrap of wire. She felt it bite into her foot and she winced with the wet trickle that followed, but held on fast, dragging the lightweight piece with her as she swung. A few heartbeats later and she’d used it to stabilize herself. She twisted, like a ballerina, around the pivot point created by the scrap of metal, but didn’t let it disorient her.
She took a deep breath and listened. With any luck, the bastards upstairs wouldn’t have heard the incredible ruckus she’d caused in getting a tool.
Chapter 27
Percival flexed his fingers around the grip of his M16. He stood at the intersection of an unnamed dirt road, he’d kicked the snow away until he’d confirmed it, and Holbrook Lane. He pointed at a large oak tree. It hid partially in the heavy snowfall. Even the road sat buried beneath a few inches of white, fluffy drift.
He found the undisturbed snow helpful and harmful. Without it being disturbed, he could tell no one’d come through this area. Of course, they left blatant evidence of their progress through the winter wonderland. If the snowfall kept up, it’d ultimately hide their progress, but for the moment, it would be excessively easy to track their progress.
“And we know we’ve got a couple miles to go yet.” Lieutenant Adams nodded toward where he pointed. “We can’t come at this place head on. If they were listening in, and let’s be honest, they probably were, they know we’re coming. What do you think they’ll do when they see us walking up?”
“Shots fired.” Judith shook her head. “Probably won’t waste time waiting to hear what we’ve got to say.”
Lieutenant Adams nodded. “We need to treat these folk like they’re hostile already.”
“And we need to make sure we know where the hell we’re going. Couple miles up an unnamed dirt road isn’t exactly perfect directions for getting to the place we’re looking to get to. How do we know we won’t walk right past it while hiking through the snowy fields and shelterbelts?” Percival didn’t want to continue arguing. He wanted to get under way. Every moment lost was another moment they might lose Kat for good and miss the opportunity to bring the military jackholes to a vigilante justice. Not that he ever intended to bring the latter reason to Lieutenant Adams’s attention. He didn’t expect she’d see eye-to-eye with him on that.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve navigated blind to the target.” Lieutenant Adams shouldered her carbine. “We also need to hit them sideways. Hitting them head on isn’t going to do anyone any good.”
“We ain’t any good to anyone dead, Percival.” Judith’s head twisted to face him. “We should split from the road.”
“And if we miss them leaving because we’re not on the road?” Percival couldn’t believe she was siding with Lieutenant Adams.
“They had serious armament on their vehicle. I’d prefer not to meet that head on either. Nor what they could be packing as far as small arms goes.” Lieutenant Adams shook her head. “And there’s no guarantee they’ll be coming out on this road anyway. There could be more roads that branch off. Regardless, if they’ve left by the time we get there, and we’re wasting precious minutes arguing over it when we want the same thing. If they’ve left, we’ll be able to follow the tracks they’ve left behind.”
Percival grunted. “Fine. Lead on.”
* * *
Kat raised the bit of metal the moment she ceased swinging. The sounds from above remained those of hurried movement. She couldn’t be certain what’d sparked their urgency, but she was thankful for it. It’d saved her from Hall and granted her the distraction to rip her way out, literally, from the ceiling.
She curled injured and bleeding toes around the scrap of metal and raised it with both feet. Gingerly she released it and swiftly moved her feet down to repeat the process until the bloodied bit of metal rose past her nose. She pulled herself up and delivered it to her hands.
The moment the warm metal touched her fingers, she relaxed her aching core and feet. She gasped for breath for a few moments before she snaked the stretch of metal between her fingers until she’d gotten to a strip of wire that’d tied two supports together. She wound the wire off the scrap of metal. She closed her eyes and felt her way through worming that bit of metal into the zip tie’s pawl.
Kat pried the teeth away and felt the tie loosen around her wrist. It took only a moment before her hand slipped out of the tie and she toppled to the carpeted floor. She hit hard and crumpled. She let her head flop to carpet and just lay there for a long moment, catching her breath.
Her body quivered with the micro-efforts she’d just exerted, but she was free. She allowed herself a few precious seconds before checking her vitals. Her big toe’d suffered a cut from the metal, but it was more aching that debilitating. Her side, where Hall’d last slugged her, screeched with every breath, but it too wouldn’t stop her from doing anything she could to escape and exact revenge on those who’d wronged her. She wiggled all ten fingers and toes, and flexed every muscle of her limbs. While sore and certainly tired, all worked as they were supposed to; despite being a punching bag.
“Priorities: get down. Done. Escape. In minutes.” Kat pushed herself off the carpet. She quickly snapped the clasp on her jeans and cinched her belt tight.
She spent a few precious moments giving the entertainment area a quick search, which yielded little in the way of weaponry. She had similar luck finding footgear. While the cut to her foot didn’t hamper her when she needed to ignore the injury, the zombie virus didn’t care to what hole it used to enter the body. A tiny cut on a toe made her just as susceptible to the illness as missing a limb and dipping the stump into fresh zombie blood.
She’d need footwear to safely traverse outside the room. Kat froze as she heard the door to the main floor open.
“Yeah, I’ll go get her. Don’t you worry.” A new voice said.
Kat took a deep breath, steadied herself, and moved straight to the shelf laden with snow globes. She swiped a snow globe, Nebraska, with a miniature of the capitol building.
She slid silently, ignoring the aches and protests of her body, next to the door. She closed her eyes and focused on listening for a hint of the man approaching. As the latch for the door turned, she hefted the snow globe over her head.
“I am not dallying.” The door opened and a thin man in military fatigues stepped through the opening. He turned back from yelling over his shoulder and Kat brought the snow globe down across his temple.
The snow globe exploded on impact, scattering shards of glass and water, mixed with a gush of blood from the young man’s temple. He staggered to the side under the blow and fell to a knee. His hand slowly came up to the gash on his head as he looked up at her with a dazed gaze. His eyes refused to focus on her.
Kat stared at him, looked at the blood spattered, thin, and young face, barely older than her. She swallowed and snapped out of her own daze as he mumbled something and started to reach for his sidearm. She whipped the snow globe up and quickly back down.
The tiny relief of Nebraska’s capitol building crushed across the man’s head and he flopped down.
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. This man hadn’t directly assaulted her, but hadn’t stopped it either. Then again, maybe he hadn’t known and had just been sent to collect her for moving.
She bent down, careful not to move too much in the area, she couldn’t afford to cut her feet further on the glass from the snow globe. She hefted her weapon above her head. She pressed her fingers of her free hand against his throat. His pulse was strong and steady.
He bled freely from the head wound, and might never wake from the blows she’d delivered, but for the moment he was alive. She let out a shaky breath. She couldn’t reason out if she were relieved or disappointed. Beating him to within an inch of his life had been far more difficult than easing the trigger on Bloku.
She swallowed and let the snow globe roll from her fingertips as her hand dropped from the raised
position. It thumped dully against the man, eliciting no further response, and rolled to the carpeted floor. She slipped both hands under him and rolled him to his backside.
She paused and listened over her shoulder. The attack had gone off quietly, but if someone were standing at the top of the stairs and purposefully listening…
After a few second of silence, Kat stepped over Dolphi, as printed on his uniform, and straddled his hips. She set about stripping him to the waist, manipulating his limp body from her perch. She paused once she’d finished.
“Your eyes pop open and I’m crushing your throat.” She hastily shed her blood soaked and wet hoodie and t-shirt before pulling his olive-drab undershirt and green digital camouflage jacket on. The shirt and jacket were both far too big for her, and slightly damp from the water of the snow globe, but it felt good to have something clean on.
She shimmied down onto his thighs and quickly undid his belt to relieve him of knife, light, and M9 pistol, with its accompanying spare magazines. A few seconds later and she’d risen from him and added the weaponry to her belt. The satisfying weight of being armed helped her to feel warm even if the basement remained just as chilly as before. She turned and stripped his boots and socks from his feet.
It didn’t surprise her when they didn’t fit her smaller feet.
Her attention snapped up to the stairwell leading out of the basement as she finished tying the second boot.
“Hurry up, Mark.” The deep voice she recognized from earlier called down. It belonged to Rodney, the man who’d interrupted Hall, and was accompanied by his heavy footsteps descending the stair. “We ain’t got all night and she’s just one little girl.”
* * *
Percival felt certain they were lost. No stars to behold overhead and the only physical landmarks to navigate by were obscured by darkness and snow. He’d lost count of the times he’d tripped over a root or half-frozen limb –he wasn’t sure which, and in the darkness his imagination assumed the latter- in the trek through fields. The situation was far from ideal.
He followed after Judith and Lieutenant Adams. The only plus side he could find in their status was that he’d yet to have crossed their tracks. But that could have just meant that they were moving in a very, very large circle.
Lieutenant Adams stopped her trek next to something he would describe as a fence post, but nothing else seemed to be anywhere near it, so he couldn’t be absolutely certain. Judith moved up next to her and Percival brought up the rear. He crouched next to the women.
“Where the hell are we?” He didn’t try to keep the anger from his voice.
“Farmer’s field.” Lieutenant Adams didn’t bother looking his way.
Percival didn’t like the answer. He could have figured that for himself. He grit his teeth and calmed himself some before speaking again. “Any idea how far from the farmstead we are? Or how far off the road? I mean, I feel like we’re lost and you’re acting very… male.”
“Male?” Lieutenant Adams’s helmeted head swiveled to face him.
“Lost and refusing to look for directions.” Percival twisted away from her to look around the dark, snow riddled field. He certainly wasn’t seeing any landmarks to navigate by.
“I’m not lost.” Lieutenant Adams shuffled her feet slightly.
“Got something in your helmet that tells you precisely where we are?” Percival brought his gaze back to her.
“Not precisely. And the battery is preciously low. But my HUD puts us a mile south, by southwest of a cluster of buildings, as the crow flies. GPS kills the battery quicker than I’d like and it’s only acc—“ She cut herself off. “You don’t need the specifics. Know that I know where we’re at and aren’t guiding us astray.”
“GPS in your hat?” Judith’s voice conveyed the smile hidden by her mask. “Tha’s so cool.”
“You have a satellite hookup, but aren’t able to call for backup?” Percival folded his arms over his chest, letting the M16 rest on its sling.
“Doesn’t work that way. We’re lucky it happens to be in the correct position and I’m able to use it as much as I am. On top of that, the battery’s preciously low now.” Lieutenant Adams flipped her visor up. “And I’m done explaining it. We’re coming at them sideways and I’m hoping their defenses are pointed at the road leading up to the house. When we hit the perimeter, visual range of the outermost building, we’ll divide and conquer. You two will hit what looks like a barn. I will skirt wide and enter the main house.”
“ROE, ma’am?” Judith asked.
“Keep things quiet. Attack if you’re attacked. Deadly force only when necessary.” Lieutenant Adams’s gaze locked onto Percival as she snapped her visor back down.
* * *
“Mark?” Rodney’s voice became more insistent the lower it got on the stair. “Ain’t time for hide’n’seek, Dolphi.”
Kat hastily rolled Dolphi’s unconscious body past the door’s visual range. She moved quickly and quietly out of the makeshift prison and into the darkened basement beyond. She could see enough to make out more shelves of storage and jars of, she assumed, canned vegetables and fruits. It was the sort of thing one would expect in the basement of a well-stocked farmhouse. She imagined the other side might hold another entertaining area or perhaps an office.
She ducked between two shelving units and drew Dolphi’s knife as Rodney’s bulky form hit the bottom landing. He took a step off the bottom stair and stopped, staring at the open door.
“Mark? Ain’t the time for a little poking, but props if you’re trying to get caught in the act and keeping her quiet in the process.” Rodney moved across the intervening space. “This ain’t funny.”
Kat heard, more than saw, Rodney snap the clasp on his sidearm. He dropped into a lower crouch as he neared the door.
Kat flicked her tongue over her abused lips and moved slowly toward Rodney. She adjusted her grip on the knife as her hand to hand training flickered through her mind. She felt certain that it wouldn’t compare to whatever Rodney was versed in, and hers wasn’t tested against a live subject, but she did have the element of surprise.
And that could mean all the difference. She’d have to be quick and precise. Krista’d drilled that into her in her first week. The colonel’d honed it in the rest of her time under him.
She stalked up the aisle created by two shelving units and out into the path Rodney took heading for the entertainment room. He remained oblivious to her presence. She waited until he hit the edge of the door and spoiled whatever night vision he’d acquired in the trek from the base of the stair. She sucked in the cold air and smothered the butterflies in her stomach. This man had endorsed Hall’s brutal torture of her as she hung helpless from a chain.
“What the fuck?” Rodney rose from his crouch when it became obvious she wasn’t there and Dolphi was out cold on the floor.
Kat sprung from her position behind him. She swept her knife through the BDUs of his right leg, and the soft connective tissue of his knee as well. She brought the knife swiftly back around and slashed his inner thigh from behind.
Rodney let out a yelp of pain and crumpled sideways into the doorframe as one leg suddenly refused to hold him up. He twisted and fumbled for his gun as he fell through the door.
Kat moved swiftly. She cleared the door in a swift hop on his disabled side and stomped his fingers out of commission. She didn’t hear his howl of pain, despite seeing his mouth open. All she could hear was the blood pounding in her ears as she dropped on him with the knife.
He got his ruined hand up between the knife and his throat.
She drove the knife down, through the meat of his palm and out the backside of his hand. He’d blocked the jab, but couldn’t stop her downward momentum. What she’d intended as a quick stick to his throat went off course and slid into his chest just below his name, Yeltz.
His gaze locked with hers, pale blue eyes pleading silently as he pawed weakly with his free hand. She didn’t even notice as it patted agai
nst her chest moments before he gurgled foamy, red spittle from his lips.
He shuddered and his gaze froze, the life fleeing from his eyes as his head lolled back and hand dropped weakly to the side.
Kat remained frozen for a lifetime, staring at the dead man beneath her. She’d watched the life bleed out of his body and she’d been the one to drive it away.
She let out a slow breath and took her bloody hands off the knife’s grip and rocked back onto her haunches. “Fuck…”
She should feel something, but all that came to her was a sensation of numbness. She drew in a breath, tasting the coppery tang in the air and let it out slowly as she wiped her hands on a clean portion of Rodney’s uniform. She didn’t bother closing his eyes. She didn’t think he deserved that dignity. He certainly hadn’t shown her such dignity when he’d walked in on Hall molesting her.
She rolled him on his side, relieved him of magazines for his sidearm, and his knife. She saw no reason to waste time prying Dolphi’s out of Rodney’s chest. This kill had been far from clean or quiet and his friends would certainly be on the way.
Chapter 28
Kat pulled the M9 from her holster, checked its chamber, and slid closer to the stairwell. She tightened her grip on her fresh knife and listened.
“I don’t care what you think you heard.” The voice belonged to Simon. “Get your ass down there and find out what the hell’s taking so long and if they’re going to town on her, make ‘em knock it off.”
“It was Hall’s pet project. Why not send him?” A gravelly voiced man asked.
“’Cause he’s twice as strong as you are, Private Grap. He’s needed to move the bigger pieces of equipment,” Simon answered.
