Trips scooched, inching like a worm toward Alexx. She sliced through his bonds. “Better?”
“Much,” Trips said, casting off the ropes.
Amos raised a hand, calling off the guard as Alexx stomped on a vampire's airway. The man clawed at her boot. “He won’t pass out,” Amos tittered mirthlessly, as he trailed the tip of Trips’ sword across the floor. The steel on stone made Trips cringe as sparks trailed across the floor. “You see, we don't need air. What we need is blood.”
Trips glared at Amos.
“Your blood.”
A guard approached and Trips used his wrist rocket, the one weapon they hadn’t removed. The vampire keeled over.
Trips turned to shoot Amos.
Amos raised a finger in protest. “Unh-uh. I wouldn’t do that. You’ll never see your girl again.” He snapped his fingers. The vampires that had been feasting on Mark and Amanda came to his side, like well-trained dogs.
Another volley of arrows flew, and the well-fed vampires dropped dead. Amos snapped his fingers, and a new vampire glommed onto Trips from behind. Not again!
The red laser beam of the wrist rocket flew around the room as Trips tried to fire. Damn! Out of ammo.
“Hey watch that thing!” Alexx said, shielding her good eye.
There was the clank of steel on stone, and Trips felt air passing near his ear. The grip slackened around his neck. Snake stepped into the room. “Where’d he go? Where’s the freaky fop?”
Trips sighed, rubbing his neck. “I don’t know. I’m just glad to see you, man. Both of you.” He smiled, as Alexx handed him his Claymore.
Snake, Alexx, and Trips spread out across the expanse to the barred windows. Trips checked Mark first. He was high up on the windowsill, immobilized by a new vampire feeding from the carotid artery in his neck.
Trips climbed up the ladder. Mark’s glassy eyes revealed only a reflection of Trips clenched jaw as he gutted the engorged underling. Mark suddenly awoke, covered in his own blood. The vampire tumbled to the ground as Trips spread his hand over Mark’s chest holding him upright. “It’s okay. It’s dead. He’s gone. I’m here.”
Mark fell into wracking sobs. “I’m going to turn into one of them.”
“No, you’re not.” Trips hugged him. “Ami says you won’t. It’s in the water. That’s what changes you.” Trips positioned the chain that held Mark to the wall. “Now hold still.”
Mark squirmed, trying to get away from his rescuer. “What the hell does she know?”
“She's a microbiologist. I don't have to explain to you. She says so.” He slid the tip of the sword into a link. “Now hold still.”
Mark rattled his chains. “Oh, well if Miss Thing says it's okay.”
“I'll leave you. Who's got the sword? Hmm?”
“Trips, I found your pack. I’ve got the bolt cutters,” Snake said, holding Amanda up on the next ledge over. “I don’t know if she’s still alive.”
“Everyone else is dead,” Alexx said as she helped Snake with Amanda. They lay her on the ground, then Alexx walked the knapsack and the bolt cutters over to the foot of Trips’ ladder.
“Get me out of here, now.” Mark rattled his chains. Trips slid his sword back into the scabbard. He took the bolt cutters from Alexx and cut the chain from Mark’s wrists. “Grab onto me.”
Mark’s arms flopped to his sides. “Oh, my God, my arms hurt worser!”
“That's the blood rushing back into them. Just stay still.”
”Snake or Dewey, I need your assistance, please,” Trips said into the comm, “Mark, you are dead weight. Just stay still. I can't hold you in such a precarious position on the ladder.”
Alexx kicked the two vampire bodies out of the way and punched her right fist into her left palm. “I’m right here, Trips.”
Trips looked down at her as he pressed Mark up against the wall. “Okay. So, do you want to tell me what to do, or shall I tell you what will work?”
“Who's she?” Mark asked, looking down at the pool of yellow light looking up at him. “That's Alexx. Didn't you meet Ichiro's girlfriend? Well used to be.”
“Shut-up,” Alexx admonished.
“Well, how am I supposed to identify you?” Trips huffed.
“You could introduce me as your friend, douche,” Alexx said, haughtily.
“Mark, please allow me to introduce you to my friend, Alexx Spiros. She's a douche because she runs off. Worrying us sick and getting us into situations we might well have avoided!”
Alexx huffed. Trips and Alexx stared at each other.
“She's your friend, really?” Mark asked, looking down at the pool of dimming yellow light, the outline of which showed a feminine form in silhouette. “She’s pretty, even with the eye thing.”
“Yes, and one of my dearest friends, darling,” Trips strained, holding Mark. “If you could just hold yourself up.” Trips huffed, as Mark sank. He glanced over his shoulder, down at Alexx. “Look Ally, I figure if you can catch him, like, maybe on your shoulders, then I'll come down and take him from you. But my arms are starting to give out, so if you have a better idea, then tell me now.”
“Let him fall,” Alexx said.
Trips huffed.
“No, seriously, I'll catch him. You overanalyze things. I'll catch him in my arms, not on my shoulders. Idiot.”
“Are you sure?” Trips sighed.
“Am I sure you're an idiot? Yeah. C'mon,” Alexx said, pounding her fist into her palm. “I'm stronger than you, big guy, remember?”
“She is?” Mark asked, doubtfully.
“Yeah,” they said in unison.
“Okay, you ready?” Trips asked.
“No!” Mark cried. Surprised, Mark stopped screaming when Alexx caught him. “I'm Alexx, a pleasure to meet you. Mark, is it?”
Trips stepped down the ladder and gathered with them around Amanda. “Shit. She’s out cold. Where's Dewey?”
“She had a faint pulse, I think.” Snake looked up. “I don’t know. I left Dewey below at the cages with the prisoners.”
Trips lowered into a squat, next to Snake. “We should get him up here. He’s the only one that knows how to do the real life-saving stuff.”
Alexx set Mark down on his feet. “He might be off-line. Too far below.”
Mark leaned into Alexx, and whispered, “Oh my God, are they talking about that fireman?”
“Yes, Dewey.” Alexx tried to raise her eyebrows and grimaced in pain. “Dreamy, huh? He’s the singer in Trips' band.”
“Oh, girl, come to daddy, and honey, what happened to your face?” Mark said, trying to raise one of his useless rag-doll arms.
Alexx explored her tender face with her fingers. “Hmm, bad huh? I got mauled. How bad is it?”
“Ow, girl, careful.” Mark winced. “Don’t touch.”
“Ichiro can hear you,” Trips said, looking over at Alexx.
“No, suh. I don't have the thing in,” Alexx said, sticking her tongue out at Trips.
“Yeah, but I can,” Dewey said through the comm.
“Dewey!” Trips exclaimed, standing up. “We need help. Where are you?” “Dewey? Come in, Dewey?” He asked as he tapped his ear piece.
“Trips, man, I need your help,” Snake was standing holding Amanda in his arms. “Trips, she's heavy.”
“We've lost Dewey. Okay, let's get out of here.” Trips riffled through the knapsack and found a mylar blanket and a fire retardant blanket. “You guys get all pissy whenever I say anything, but no one ever takes the initiative –”
Alexx cut him off. “You're so full of it! Dewey's taking initiative! He's actually saving people.”
“You tell him, sister!” Mark said, trying to use his limp arms.
Trips huffed. “All I meant was I think we should go in formation, and Snake and I can carry Amanda out on a blanket gurney. What say you, aye or nay?” Trips swiped at the sweat in his eyes.
“Well, duh!” Alexx said.
“See, Trips, that time you asked. You're inv
olving the people, man. You're learning,” Snake said. Trips huffed. Snake smiled.
“All I want to do is get the hell out of here. What's the plan?”
“You're so impatient,” Alexx said. Trips whipped around to look at her. She had a devilish smile on her face, despite the rising cuts and bruises.
“He really is. And arrogant!” Mark agreed. Trips huffed again. “But he's cute.”
“I'll just carry her,” Trips said, getting under Amanda to pick her up.
“I’ll take the lead,” Snake said, nocking an arrow into his bow. “We'll be home in time for tea, Trips, man,” Snake said, laughing. Trips made a strangled huffing noise. Snake laughed all the louder.
Chapter 32: You're Faster
The rescue mission was slow going. Trips, Alexx, and Snake had hacked a path through the clinging mosh-pit of zombies as they carried Amanda and Mark through the catacombs at the Mount Auburn Cemetery. They clambered into a narrow antechamber off the main ballroom to rest. “We still have to traverse the ossuary and climb up through the temple room to get out of here.” Trips lowered Mark to the floor. “This isn’t working. I’m going to need to find another way to carry you.”
“Yeah, I know,” Mark said, “And it’s taking forever.”
Snake raised a finger for silence then pressed a button on his earpiece. He glanced at Trips and shook his head. “No dice, too much interference over the short-range communications system which means we can’t call for help.” No one said anything, but Dewey was on everyone’s mind, deep in the tunnels, alone, leading the prisoners to safety.
Finally, Alexx broke the silence. “Dewey is the only one who knows what to do about Amanda.”
Trips rested against the clammy stone and pointed his water bottle at Snake. “Maybe you and Ally should switch off. You’d have a better chance at keeping us clear.”
Alexx squat down and held a water bottle to Mark’s lips. “Can you walk yet?”
Mark gazed unsteadily at her and leaned against Trips. “I…umph, no. The vampires had me chained for so long, I can’t.”
“He’s too dehydrated. Loss of blood.” Trips shook his head. “We have to carry him.”
Snake stretched his shoulders. “You should try the firefighter’s hold.”
“No,” Mark said.
“We can switch off. I can take him,” Alexx took a couple of sips of water and handed the bottle to Snake.
Mark pleaded, “No.”
“Makes better sense, cupcake,” Trips said, standing up and brushing himself off. “Too risky to rest longer. We should move out.”
Once they’d finished the water, Snake, Trips, and Alexx braced for the zombie onslaught, but the ballroom was empty when they peeked out the antechamber door. Alexx glanced at Trips over her shoulder, her bad side hidden in shadow. “Where’d they all go?”
Trips shrugged and cracked a smile. “The club scene is so fickle.”
The slain undead lay strewn across the expansive floor. Bodies were piled high next to the tiled pillars under the domes. They crossed the remainder of the mosh pit into the arched vestibule.
Snake adjusted Amanda over his shoulders as he surveyed the scene. He squinted down the dim catacomb halls. “Looks like it’s blocked.”
At the far end of the corridor was a writhing mass of once human flesh. The temple room was completely blocked off. Trips glanced over the staircase railing. “We could go down. See if we can find Dewey, or another way out.”
Alexx touched the oozing piece of gauze over her damaged face. “That's what happened to me. A meat fest.”
Mark shook his head. “Well, we’re not getting out that way.”
“Lean on me for a second.” Trips set Mark down and opened his phone. “Let’s hope this works.” He clicked the camera feed and glanced at Snake. “Ichiro gave me an arrow with a fish-eye lens. I left it embedded in the wall of the temple room.”
Everyone leaned in to see the phone screen showing scads of people crammed into the temple room. A click and zoom showed Dewey with the help of three others holding the zombies at bay.
Snake nodded. “Dewmeister’s alright, but the sitch is not righteous.”
Trips eyed Snake. “It's you or me. One of us has got to distract them. Get them to chase us, so that Dewey can get those people out.”
“Right, but how do we get out?” Snake asked.
Trips shrugged. “Got to be another way out, or follow Dewey.”
Snake adjusted Amanda. “So you’re doing this?”
Trips rolled his eyes. “Aye, I guess I just volunteered.”
“I think there’s another way ‘round,” Snake said, “we’ll check it out, downstairs, beats waiting in that anteroom waiting to die.”
Trips held Mark’s eyes as he descended the stairs in Alexx’s arms. He raised two fingers to his lips in salute, waited until he could no longer hear his friend’s footsteps, then he turned to the business at hand.
He drew in a massive breath of the foul-smelling air, studying the writhing mass of zombie flesh, his legs quaking. A few more breaths and he raised his sword. With a sudden burst of energy, he charged into the mountain of meat-eating creatures, hacking at them. There was a rising roar as he succumbed to the crushing weight, wet tugs, pulls, slobber and foul odor. His heart raced. He could not breathe. He sank deeper into the crush, then burst forth, clawing out of the pile, unaware that he was screaming, unaware he was running as fast as an Olympic athlete about to break a world record.
He zoomed past the staircase through the mosh-pit, jumping and zigzagging through the piles of the dead. He miscalculated, and slipped, his knee bending at an awkward angle as the heels of his gloves took the brunt of the fall. His sword clanked hitting the stone floor. He stumbled up, dragging the sword and panting as he stumbled ahead. Regaining his footing, he glanced back over his shoulder, then blindly barreled into the soft belly of the massive Jolly Green Giant. The creature roared, lunging. Trips grabbed onto a slippery arm stump with his left hand and swung between the giant's legs clipping its Achilles tendon along the way with his sword. He continued deeper into the tunnels, leaving the zombies to fight each other.
Chapter 33: Fireman
Night was falling rapidly as Dewey checked his cell phone for the fifth time standing in a deep puddle in the center of Tower Hill. He wasn’t getting any signal. He clicked his tongue and looked up at the thick cloud cover. Without streetlights, outside was almost as dangerous as the tunnels below Mount Auburn Cemetery.
He stashed his phone and watched the most able-bodied assist the less capable one at a time down the slippery slopes. Those waiting in line huddled together on the edge the granite edifice, lowing and blubbering at the least little noise.
Dewey sloshed back over to the group. He felt like a sheepherder. He pointed west, into the distance. “If you want, you can go ahead, help each other out. It’s clear. No zombies. Everyone is gathering at my truck on the street.”
The man he addressed expression didn’t change; he didn’t seem to register any cognition. Dewey huffed, and twisted toward the teenaged boy running up the slope. He motioned for the kid to follow him back inside the tower. “Whatcha got?”
The kid was panting from his hard run. “Dad says it's clear on the road, Mr. Daud,” the kid swallowed hard, “but he suggests Wolfen Labs. It’s closer than Arsenal Mall.”
Dewey extended his arms into the pit supporting an older woman as she climbed out of the temple room. He mashed his lips together, pulling her out of the hole. “It’s warmer outside,” he said to the woman. He cracked his back, eyeing the youngster. “What are you saying? We break in?”
“No, sir, Mr. Daud. Dad works there. He’s got a key.”
Dewey nodded. “Okay, good. Tell your dad we'll do that. Getting off the street is a good idea, ASAP.” Besides, he wanted to find Trips, Alexx, and Snake. With the communication gear out of range, he’d need to go back in once he had these people settled. He tried to remember the kid’s name. “You’
re Billy? Right?”
“Tommy.”
“Okay, Tommy, help me get everybody out to the street, then we’ll go find your dad together.”
They hoisted the few remaining people out, then Dewey pulled up the ladder. “Don’t want any critters climbing up after us.”
Outside he changed his headlamp to a wide spray and the group made their way through the forested cemetery in the dark. There was no moon, no stars, just low hanging clouds threatening more rain. Single zombies and small pods got in their way numerous times, but the group avoided them or Dewey dispatched them, making his way behind the group to the street.
Exhausted, everyone assembled around Dewey’s truck on Coolidge Avenue. When Dewey arrived, he opened the gate on the back of the pickup and people climbed in. The group was too big for one load. Dewey scratched his stubbled chin, deciding he needed to stay in case more zombies came out of the woods. He dangled his keys from his index finger. “Hey kid, can you drive three-on-the-tree?
* * *
It was nearly morning by the time everyone was settled at Wolfen Labs. Dewey explained his situation to the Tommy’s father. The weary man shuddered as he saw Dewey to the door. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I have to.” Dewey nodded. “Just sit tight. Search and rescue’s been flying overhead. They gotta know we’re here.”
“We’ll keep trying the landline.” The man placed his taped together glasses more firmly on his nose. “No human should be left in that viper’s pit.”
“Thanks,” Dewey said as Tommy joined them at the door. He nodded a crooked smile at the kid and shifted his eyes to the father’s as the man put a protective arm around his son. “I knew you’d understand.”
Dewey felt he was leaving the band of refugees in safe hands as he took off toward Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Boston Under Siege (Book 1): Virus: Page 22
