The screams behind me rose to a frenzied pitch and the smell of blood reached me for the first time. I drew Hunger out of its sheath, pulling it up my body in the cramped space. The end was too wide to fit between the links and there was no space to try and swing it at the chain.
I placed the blunt end on top of the steel links and pressed down, hard. Trying to communicate my desires to the weapon had been futile in the construction yard, but it had adapted itself to help me survive several times on its own. I hoped it could understand more than a direct threat. I pressed it to the chain again, working to keep it in contact with the steel as the crowd rocked me back and forth in its panicked thrashing. Nothing happened. Frustration mixed with pain and starvation and fear and I stabbed downwards one more time.
Hunger’s tip narrowed and slipped inside a link. The wider part of the shaft jammed against the steel, then thinned into a broad blade, shearing effortlessly through the chain. The doors burst open and I was thrust outside, the crowd behind me crawling and shoving to get out.
Anne and her group had kept the area in front of the cars clear. Two inert wooden men lay on the ground, blown to pieces by concentrated shotgun fire, but others were crouched behind cars, waiting. It was a good tactic. Before too much longer, we’d be pinned between the force in the parking lot and a tide of Scavengers pouring out of the hospital doors. All they had to do was wait.
The area behind the cars filled and overflowed as the ER emptied itself. Most people clung to the side of the building, but others ran blindly out into the parking lot and were quickly cut down as they passed cars harboring Prime’s wooden soldiers.
I heard Emily’s voice, loud and sharp, as she tried to gain control of the crowd. Leon had one arm around her, keeping her upright as people jostled her, and together they managed to restore some semblance of order.
My leg was able to bear some weight now, so I limped to the open doors and slammed them on the tide of Scavengers heading towards us. The last thing I saw inside was a carpet of bodies strewn across the ER floor, some trampled, others cut to pieces, all covered with the hideous wooden bugs. A steady stream of the things was now pouring out of the disintegrating ceiling.
Even as I leaned against the doors to hold them shut, I could feel the plywood against my back vibrate as the creatures attacked it from the other side.
“Emily!” I shouted. “Tell me the storm shelter isn’t in the main building.”
She walked over to me, arms still waving people towards the wall. “The shelter? No, it’s under the physical therapy building over there.” She pointed at a squat, single-story building on the other side of the parking lot.
“Concrete basement?”
“I think so. It was a bomb shelter in the fifties.”
Leon put one hand on the plywood sheet behind me. “You think it’s safe from those bugs in there?”
“I hope so. As sharp as the jaws on those things are, they’re still only plant material, like rose thorns. I doubt they’ll be able to dig into concrete. That means all we have to do is hold the entrance to the shelter and Prime won’t be able to finish his harvest.”
Leon scanned the parking lot. Dozens of wooden men crouched behind cars or darted between them, changing positions to widen their line.
“It’s long walk to the shelter, Abe. We have over a hundred people here and a lot of ’em are wounded. Those things will be all over us as soon as we’re exposed, so how are we supposed to get everyone over there without turning this into a massacre?”
The wood at my feet splintered as a pair of serrated jaws broke through. They immediately clamped down on the edge of the crack and began tearing at it.
“Leon, hold this shut. Mrs. Emily, I need you to round up every able-bodied person here that has a gun. I also need about twenty strong men with their hands free. Can you do that?”
She nodded and waded into the crowd.
I limped over to the cars we were using as a barrier. The Mercedes was a four-door sedan, so I headed there first. I reached through the shattered driver’s side window and popped the locks. The heavy door swung open smoothly as I pulled it open as far as it would go, exposing the hinges where it was attached to the body.
Hoping that I had still had the strength for this, I slammed Hunger down on the junction between the door and the car. Instead of the heavy impact I was braced for, Hunger sliced through the hinges, the end of the door, and into the concrete of the parking lot. I stumbled and the door fell to the ground with a loud clunk. Hunger was long and thin and razor sharp.
I handed the heavy door to Jamal, who took it from me slowly, eyes wide. “The nurse over there will tell you who to give this to, then come back for another one.”
Hunger continued to cooperate, I have no idea why, while I sheared off the other three doors, plus the two from the Honda. Each door that I removed was snatched up by Jamal or one of his men and then handed off.
When that was done, I limped back to Emily and Leon. My leg was on fire and stiff as hell. It should have healed by now, but at least I was mobile. I pushed the pain away as best I could.
One of the men was bracing a car door against the ragged, widening gap at the bottom of the plywood barricade. Frenzied scraping and clicking could be heard from the door as Scavengers gouged and snapped at the metal.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled across the crowd. “Listen up! Anyone with a gun or a door, come to me. Everyone else bunch up against the wall.” I caught Emily’s eye and waved her over as well.
People began shuffling around and I saw more than one family separate after a tight clutch, car door on the ground next to them. It was humbling to see them find the courage to split up in order to help the group, despite the nightmarish situation they found themselves in.
Emily stepped up to me while wiping her hands on her scrubs and leaving bloody smears behind. She had been helping the wounded right there on the sidewalk next to the building. It was going to take more than a bunch of monsters to keep her from doing her job.
She shook a finger at me. “I told that young man who to give the doors to like you asked, but I surely don’t know what for. When we get to that shelter, you and I are going to sit down and have a long talk about what’s going on here.”
“Yes, ma’am, I promise. But for now, I need you to keep everyone together and moving. Do we have anyone who can’t make it to the shelter?”
“I have two that are on gurneys, but we can move them. My problem is that all these people are terrified. They’re doing what we ask right now, but when you get them out in the open surrounded by those things, well, I don’t know what they’re going to do. I also have several people with bites from those bugs and they need to be closed up stat. I have them compressing the wounds, but they’re going to need blood if we don’t do something soon.”
“Just do your best to keep them together and moving. Once we start this, we can’t stop. I’ll do what I can to hold the ER doors shut, but the bugs are going pour out of there sooner or later and we had better be damn close to the shelter when that happens.”
“What about those things in the parking lot?”
“We’ll do our best to keep them away from your group.” I took one of her hands in mine. “I promise you we’ll do everything we can, but we’re not all going to make it to the shelter.”
She squeezed my hand. “I know.”
45
Five men were lined up in front of me, each holding a car door upright. I moved down the line shattering each intact window with Hunger, now back to its usual baton shape. Glass fragments showered down across the men’s shoes as I worked.
Both Jamal and Netty had traded their guns for car doors, for which I was grateful. They were by far the largest of the men assembled here and I could count on them being able to carry and wield the heavy doors until the end. If nothing else, they were some tough sons of bitches.
The man with the camo baseball cap was one of the other volunteers. Next to him was a
bearded man in overalls and a man in a golf shirt with bulging biceps and a belly that hung over his belt. Good enough.
The sixth man was still pressing his door against the doors to the ER, holding back the tide of bugs trying to chew their way through. We were gathered close enough for him to hear, but he was going to have to leave that door where it was when we left.
I pointed at the physical therapy building two hundred yards away.
“That’s where we’re headed. Emily’s group is going to move in that direction as best as they can and we’re going to protect them. If one of the wooden men runs towards that group, you need to block them.
“Stay together, no more than ten feet apart if you can help it. If the wooden men try to go around either end of our line, the shotgunners on our flanks will deal with them. If they try to go through you or grab the door, just hold them off long enough for one of the shotgunners behind you to stick his gun through the window and shoot them. Don’t do anything else. As long as the thing has its hands on the door, it’s stuck with you and isn’t attacking the rest of the group. And be careful, don’t let them reach through the window and tear you up, push them back with the bottom of the door. Got it?” They nodded. “Anyone want out? Those things are fast and dangerous and they’re going to be right up in our faces. Nobody will hold it against you if you don’t want to take ’em on.”
The guy in the camo hat pointed at the group gathered next to the hospital. “Mister, you see that woman over there? In the white shirt with the little girl on her hip? That’s my family. I don’t give two shits what those things are, they’re not getting through. I’ll tear their fucking heads off with my bare hands if I have to.”
The bearded man nodded. “Fuckin’ A.”
I was starting to understand what Leon meant when he said that this was the last place on earth he’d pick to invade. “Alright. I know there aren’t enough of you to cover the group once we have a parking lot behind us as well as in front, so I’m going to be taking doors as we move so that we can get a second group together to bring up the rear. Don’t worry about it, just focus on sticking together and keep moving.”
I turned to the group of shotgunners behind me. There were eight of them, five men and three women. I talked fast and started pointing, we were running out of time.
“You two, stick to the right side of the guys with the doors. You two stick to the left. Your job is to take out anything that tries to go around the ends. Go for the legs if you can. It doesn’t matter if it’s still alive if it can’t catch us. Everyone else fan out behind the line, and for God’s sake, don’t shoot unless the end of your gun is in front of the doors. Stick the barrels through the windows or between the doors, but do not shoot unless the tip is outside the line. Understood?”
More nods. “Okay, everybody form up in front of the big group, we’re leaving.”
They ran in a ragged line toward Emily’s group, exchanging nervous glances and bumping into each other.
Christ. There was no way this was going to work. Out in the parking lot the wooden men were moving in closer to the hospital, but keeping just out of effective shotgun range. Most cars had a creature crouched behind or on top of it.
I limped to the now doorless Honda. “Anne and Chuck, take Jamal’s guys and get close to the defensive line. You’re floaters. Just watch for bad guys and do what you have to. Go.”
Anne gave me a quick hug, tight and fierce, and then left with the others. I moved around to the far side of the Honda and put both hands under the chassis. Bracing my good leg, I rolled it over, towards the front of the ER. It didn’t seem any lighter without the doors, unfortunately.
Leon saw me coming and waved the man holding the car door away, taking his place. I rolled the car over two more times. Leon jumped out of the way at the last second and the car tipped over against the front of the ER, pinning the car door in place.
I hoped it would give us enough time to get away, but already I could hear furious gnawing all the way to the top of the hospital doors. The Scavengers must have been piled up to the ceiling in there. The thought made me shudder.
Leon and I headed towards the group and I shouted, “Let’s go! Start moving! Walk fast, people.” Then more quietly I said to Leon, “Help Emily keep those people together, okay? No runners.”
“Got it.”
Over a hundred frightened people, young and old, healthy and wounded, armed and helpless, headed for the storm shelter and safety.
I wondered how many we would leave lying on the ground behind us by the time we got there.
46
We were an old stag surrounded by wolves. Emily’s group of survivors made us slow and vulnerable, dragging and stumbling fearfully across the pavement. The line of shield bearers and shotgunners shifted back and forth in front like a once magnificent rack of antlers bobbing uncertainly in a pitiful defense against the pack. The wolves around us were keen and unworried.
The wooden men gathered in groups around the cars, no longer bothering to hide behind them, most standing on hoods and rooftops, leering at us with their fixed, idiot grins.
Some of them had taken trophies from their kills, inserting dead, cloudy eyes into the hollow sockets on their wooden faces. The effect was horrifying.
I heard Chuck’s voice up front. “In the camo hat, move left, you’re too far out. Don’t get ahead of the line.”
The group was flowing past me like a stream around a rock as I broke a car window and unlocked the door. A burly man in a tie and slacks trotted over to me through the crowd.
“Emily told me I was up next.”
Trust Emily to keep one step ahead. I pulled open the door and lifted Hunger. It stretched out long and thin, its weird alien intelligence grasping my intent as I struck. The bottom of the door sagged to the ground, but I hadn’t cut all the way through. I had to give it another swing to finish the job. The door fell forward with a clunk and the man grabbed it and ran. Chuck’s voice guided him into the line.
I opened the rear door. In the back seat of the car was a crumpled up McDonald’s bag. The car smelled like grease and ketchup. Inside the bag was a half-eaten burger, crushed inside of a wadded up wrapper. I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth and sighed in pleasure as I chewed, sucking on the cold juices that ran down my throat.
“Sir? Mrs. Emily sent me over for a door.”
I looked up to see a heavyset man in a Panther’s jacket staring at me with revulsion in his eyes. Paper shreds were all around me. When had I torn the bag apart? Hell, when had I gotten in the back seat?
I got out and hacked the door off. We didn’t look at each other, he just picked it up and left.
The last two doors were quick. Emily’s volunteers took them away as soon as I could cut them free. The group was moving past now, so I hurried as much as I was able and rejoined the front rank. Even though I tried not to, I glanced into every car I passed.
“Chuck,” I called. “Split ’em up. We need two groups now.”
He jogged over and tapped men on the shoulder, then led them to the rear. Four shield bearers and four shotgunners, leaving five bearers in the front and four gunners, plus Leon and Anne. It was as good as it was going to get.
As I expected, the wooden men let us get to the middle of the lot, exposed on all sides, before they started hitting us.
One of them darted out from behind a minivan as we passed, aiming for the gap between the two lines of shield bearers, long fingers and arms outspread. People screamed and Emily’s group convulsed as some people tried to get away from the edge and some tried to get to the outside to protect them.
Unfortunately for the creature, Anne was the nearest shotgunner. She opened up with a controlled burst from the drum-fed, full-auto .410. She fired three rounds, but only needed the first. The hundred-and-nine grain lead slug blew the attacker’s shoulder apart, getting the knot in the process and throwing spinning fragments in all directions. The next two shots simply tore the rest of the arm off. The
creature went limp in mid-stride and skidded face-down across the concrete, coming to a stop ten feet from the group.
A cheer went up, and somebody shot a round into the air. Chuck settled them down. “Okay, that’s enough. It was just one, and we have a long way to go. Let’s pick up the pace.”
The next attack came from all sides. Nearly twenty wooden men charged in near silence, only the clacking of their feet against the concrete making sound. The quiet lasted until the shotgunners opened up in a deafening volley.
Most of the shots struck home. If nothing else, these folks knew how to handle their firearms. Unfortunately, few of the hits were disabling. Only one creature was put down by hitting the knot, and three more had a leg destroyed, limiting their mobility. The rest simply shrugged off the hail of buckshot and kept moving.
I heard the distinctive chatter of Anne’s .410 and saw several of the attackers drop. She was in the middle of Emily’s group, standing on top of a car. The people surrounding her clamped their hands over their ears as she fired calmly over the heads of the defensive line, the barrel of her weapon snapping from target to target.
She was magnificent, like some vengeful goddess from ancient mythology. The wind whipped her dark red hair into a streaming banner as she rained destruction down on the wooden men from on high, shattering their limbs and driving them to the ground.
With her support, the shield bearers were able to check the advance of the remaining creatures until their shotgunners could put them down. None of the attackers made it past the defensive line.
The last few wooden men retreated, diving for cover behind cars in an attempt to preserve their numbers. I looked around for Prime, as I doubted that was something the creatures had decided to do on their own.
Chuck bellowed over the crowd, “Go! Go! We’re close, keep going!”
Liar's Harvest (The Emergent Earth) Page 17
