Escaping Madness: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Live Free Or Die Book 3)

by Hayley Lawson

  As far away from him as possible.

  Now Martin was even farther away than he’d imagined, just when there was a chance of getting out of here. Murray looked for George, but he was gone. Where’s that ginger George now? Murray wondered. He scanned the area, but he was nowhere to be seen. For fuck’s sake!

  George wasn’t by the exit door trying to open it.

  He’d better not have gone after the women. Murray refused to have their blood on his hands. He already had too much of it staining his conscience. Murray did a quick search of Level Six. He didn’t want the others to know he’d lost George. What kind of general could lose one scrawny advisor?

  General Murray thought for a moment, then headed down the tunnel George was working in before Martin turned Mad. He didn’t want to go down there and see his son’s body after the women had killed him.

  “George, are you down there?” General Murray yelled from the beginning of the tunnel. He knew his voice wouldn’t carry far because of the roar of the industrial fans, so he yelled again at the top of his voice.

  “What?” Advisor George yelled back.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “My job!” George snapped. “Come down here and help me.”

  George must be thinking out his ass again. There was no way Murray was going back down that tunnel, and especially not to help George.

  “Leave the cameras,” he told him.

  “No!” Advisor George screamed. “I’m doing my job!”

  General Murray heard metal parts landing on the floor, and the scuffle of George’s shoes on the floor. George screamed, and a thud followed.

  Then Advisor George huffed, and he came into view with a face as pale as a ghost’s and blood down his white lab coat.

  George tried to catch his breath and pointed back the way he came. “There’s a dead body down there.”

  Murray looked at George, confused. Why was he making Murray go through this again? What kind of twisted person was he? Then he saw that George was being genuine.

  “It’s Martin,” Murray reminded him.

  Advisor George looked around as if he were looking for Martin, then back at General Murray. “Oh, yeah.”

  Murray frowned. Something wasn’t right with George. “Stand over there where I can see you.”

  George was confused. “I forgot, okay?”

  Wrong words.

  Murray glared at the advisor. “You forgot that my son died because he was saving you?”

  Advisor George twisted at his ginger hair, then tugged on it until it was in his hand.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Murray demanded.

  George tilted his head, pulling another clump out. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your hair. What are you doing to your hair?” Murray snapped.

  George looked at his open hands. He turned his hand sideways, and hair fell from it. “I don’t feel well,” George said. He certainly wasn’t acting well.

  Murray looked him over skeptically. “You’re not going to throw up, are you?”

  “Not that type of unwell. This type.” He tapped his forehead. Advisor George was a smart man. He didn’t need the glowing eyes and crazy physical behavior to know something was going on inside.

  “What are you saying?” Murray asked.

  George looked at Murray with horror in his eyes. “I’m infected.”

  “You don’t look it. You look like your normal scrawny annoying self.” Murray smiled, attempting to lighten the situation.

  “I will turn soon. You need to lock me up,” George insisted.

  Murray was taken aback, but when he thought about it, he realized that George wanted to be locked up to stop them from killing him, not because he was scared of hurting others.

  “You need to show me how to unlock the doors first.” Murray wasn’t going to let their only exit route die.

  George looked up at Murray with wide, frightened eyes. “You promise to lock me up and not kill me?” George waited for Murray to reply.

  “I promise,” Murray assured him.

  The two men headed up the stairs toward the door.

  “I need your knife. I’ve lost my tools,” George told Murray.

  Murray passed him one of his knives and George took the top off the control panel.

  The advisor paused. “You need to connect the red and blue wire together.” He shook his head. “My mistake, it’s the green and orange.” He shook his head again. “Why are there so many colors?” He turned to Murray like he knew.

  “Which color is it?” General Murray asked.

  George tilted his head in confusion. “For what?”

  General Murray was unable to contain his frustration. “To get out of here!”

  George clapped his hands over his ears. “Stop yelling at me!” George panted. “I can’t think over all your shouting!”

  Murray held his palms up. “Calm down George, I won’t shout again. I’m sorry. We just need to know which wires to cross.”

  “Why would you cross the wires?” he asked in a lost voice.

  Murray’s heart began to drop. “To get out. Remember?”

  George began to laugh hysterically. “We can’t get out. We’re trapped down here forever.” He sat down and started rocking. George had lost it, and there was no coming back from where he had gone.

  Murray took George’s shoulder to stop him from rocking. “George, snap out of it. You need to tell me what to do to open the door.”

  He looked up at Murray, big tears rolling down his cheeks. “I can’t remember.”

  Murray wanted to shake the answer from George, but he knew he had to get George into a secure room quickly before he changed. He’d given him his word, and he was going to stand by it.

  He placed a hand on the advisor’s shoulder. “George, maybe a lie-down would help you come up with the answer.”

  “To what question?” George asked. Murray knew in his bones that he would never get the answer from Advisor George.

  He guided George to one of the rooms a couple of doors down from Vera’s. He found it strange how quickly they’d gotten used to the groans from Vera and the banging on the door as she tried to escape. It just became…well, another sound.

  He opened the door, and George went inside meekly. “I am feeling a little tired. Wake me when it’s time to leave.” He walked to the bed, laid down, and closed his eyes.

  “Good night, George.” Murray closed the door. There was no lock on the outside, but he needed to lock him in because everyone was at risk if he turned.

  Peter arrived and walked over to Murray. “What are you doing?” he asked, raising his eyebrow, and then looking at the door. “Who’s behind the door?”

  Peter went to the door and opened it. He saw George on the bed in the same position as Murray had left him. “Lazy ass, taking a nap. Fuck that.” Peter made to go in and drag George out of bed, but Murray stopped him.

  “Don’t do it,” General Murray told him. Peter looked down at the hand on his shoulder, and Murray quickly removed it. Murray closed the door again. “He thinks he’s infected.”

  Peter grimaced. “I can’t say I like the whiny little prick, but I wouldn’t wish that ending on anyone. Actually, that’s not true. I wish it on one person—Afana.”

  Murray nodded in agreement. “Me too. I think we all do. I bet that bastard is the only one who can’t get it.”

  Peter shrugged. “Too true. I bet no one could bite through his tough skin.” They both winced at the thought.

  “His skin is like the bottom of an old man’s foot, all dry and crusty,” Peter added, and the men turned up their noses at the thought.

  “I’m glad I’m done being his bitch,” Murray admitted.

  Peter patted him on the back. “About time.” Both men nodded, sharing a moment. Finally, they could admit how they really thought about Afana without the fear of him killing someone they cared for and then them.

  Murray didn’t know how long their new
found freedom would last, but he would enjoy it while he could.

  5

  Everyone had gathered food from Massimo’s fridge and cupboards. The kitchen was going to be empty soon with all these hungry people to eat him out of house and home.

  “We need to watch over the house. We can work on guard shifts,” Ryder informed the group. They all agreed.

  “Willard and I can take the first watch,” Javier offered. “Then there will be less chance of him falling asleep and me getting attacked by a wolf again.” He looked pointedly at Fluffy.

  Fluffy paid him no attention. He was too busy searching under the table for scraps of food that had been dropped. Ryder thought, I’ll have to make him a plate of food. It looked as though Fluffy had taken Leandro over while he was drunk. Ryder couldn’t imagine Leandro doing anything like that if he was himself since he was such a clean person.

  Ryder remembered the two of them dancing in Koda’s kitchen while they were cooking for everyone, and the thought of Leandro’s hands on her waist warmed Ryder. She used to dance with the little kids in the bunker while Natalie would sing, and they would laugh, but this was different. She’d never danced with a man before, a man had never been that close.

  “There’s enough of us for two-hour watches. That way everyone can get a decent amount of sleep.”

  Everyone agreed with Ryder’s plan, and Javier closed the door behind him and Willard.

  “Where do you think they came from?” Ryder pondered.

  Everyone was silent for a moment, “I didn’t recognize any of those Mad,” Massimo admitted. “They weren’t from Pinewood.”

  “They weren’t from the mountain settlement, either,” Carter added.

  Dustin coughed. “I knew a few of them,” he informed the group soberly. “They were from Darkwell.” Darkwell had been overrun yesterday, but there had been a handful of people left. It appeared that the Madness had taken the rest of them.

  Massimo rested his hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m going to clean up.” Ryder left the kitchen to shower once again.

  When she returned, everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Carter hardly looked up from his food, just nodded and went back to eating. Ryder knew they were waiting for her. She had to figure out their next steps, and she was ready. She’d been waiting for this day for years. She couldn’t wait to pay Afana back for all the years he had stolen from her life and others.

  Ryder sat down and pushed the chair under the table. The meeting was in session, and all eyes were on her. “Thank you all for agreeing to help. For too many years Afana has been free to destroy hundreds of people’s lives, but we are going to change that. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s not going to be easy. But Afana has never come up against determination like ours before!” Ryder paused to take a breath, and the group filled the gap with cheers.

  “Graham, can we bring the horses to pull the cart for the weapons and other stuff?” Ryder asked Graham.

  “Sure, as long as me and Carter can ride Black Beauty together,” Graham said, winking at Carter. Those two had quickly built a boy-crush on one another.

  Carter winked back.

  “Whatever floats your boat.” Ryder chuckled. “Okay, this is the plan.” Ryder paused to make sure that everyone was listening. “The bunker is made up of six levels. The top level is Level One, where Afana lives and the advisors work. First, we’ll need to get past the two guards, Tank and Knuckles, or possibly two others, who won’t have weapons. Then there will be the generals, who will have guns. Their job is to guard the bunker, mainly to make sure people don’t try to escape. They won’t be expecting an attack, so we should take advantage of that. The entrance leads to Level One. We need to get to the lowest level, Level Six. We could take out the guards as we move through the levels. Well, until they notice us. We should try to save the bullets until after we’ve been spotted. We need to be ruthless, silent killers. I want those fuckers to suffer.” Ryder banged her fist on the table, and the men nodded with gritted teeth. So far, so good.

  Massimo gave her one of his twinkling smiles. “That sounds easy enough.”

  Ryder shook her head. “Yes, but then we have a problem with the cameras on Level One where the advisors are stationed. They watch the whole bunker.”

  “What’s a camera?” Carter asked.

  A few of the others listened closely since they didn’t know what a camera was either.

  Ryder did her best to explain, although she didn’t really understand how they worked. “There are these little boxes around the bunker that capture moving pictures of everything that’s going on, then somehow they transfer the images to another box with a screen to watch it.” Only Massimo appeared to understand, and Ryder was sure he was suppressing a chuckle at her description. “It doesn’t matter. Just be aware that the cameras are there. Also, the floors are glass so Afana can watch everyone.”

  Massimo looked disgusted at what he was hearing. “He was watching you all the time? Like you were ants in an ant farm.”

  Ryder nodded. “Yes. The only places without glass floors are the tunnels off the main sections. These tunnels are where we sleep, the hygiene area, and where we prepare food and do maintenance. The cameras caught everything there. Well, until I broke some of them.” Ryder smiled.

  Carter held his hand up for a high five, which Ryder didn’t return since his hands were covered in food. “Nice.”

  Koda’s face was solemn. “Tell me if I have this right. We have to get to the camera station on Level One, in case the cameras aren’t off. That’s where Afana the monster vampire is. Then move through the five levels to get to the lowest and free the women and children. Then get them back through all the levels and out to freedom?”

  Ryder nodded.

  Koda shrugged. “Sounds easy enough.”

  Koda’s attitude took Ryder by surprise. So far both he and Massimo thought they could do this with no problem.

  “I’ll take care of the cameras. They’ll be hooked up to the computers.” Massimo’s IT skills from his former life would come in useful. It had been a long time since he’d tinkered with computers, since after the World’s Worst Day Ever had happened, there were no more computers and no need for an IT guy.

  Fluffy howled as if to say, “I’m coming as well!”

  “Perfect bit of father son bonding time. After that, we’ll deal with Afana. Unless we come across him first! Then we’ll take him down, and the bunker will be ours!” Massimo spoke like it was going to be a walk in the park.

  Ryder wished it was going to be as easy as Massimo thought, but she wasn’t going to dampen their spirits now. “Great! Then the rest of us will take on the bunker. I’ll go into more detail on how we’re actually going to do that.”

  Ryder talked until her throat was dry, then took another sip and carried on. They had a plan, and each of their skills would play a key role in overthrowing the bunker. Each man was as vital as the next if they were to have a chance of coming out of that place alive.

  Ryder raised her glass. “We’ll set them all free. To freedom!”

  “Cheers to that!” Carter raised his glass, and everyone else did the same.

  “Here’s to ripping a new asshole in any fucker who crossed Ryder and the other women in the bunker!” Carter cheered.

  Ryder knew he meant Natalie as the other women. “Fuck, yeah!” Ryder agreed.

  6

  Hours had passed, and the moon had risen high in the sky while the gang had been fine-tuning their plan. They could all do with a bit of relief after the events of the last few days, and Massimo knew just what they needed.

  “Wait till you guys see this.” Massimo’s face lit up as he pointed to a big black box in the living room right in from of the sofa—the TV.

  He turned it on and tapped his lips with a finger in thought. “What shall I put on?” He looked at Fluffy mischievously. Leandro would have stopped him for sure. “The movies I’m about to show you are our history
before the World’s Worst Day Ever.” Massimo looked through his DVD collection, trying not to laugh. Tomorrow he’d tell them it was all made up, but tonight he’d have a bit of fun with them.

  Everyone had gathered around the TV. Only Kelvin had seen it before, and he knew that the large selection of movies didn’t represent reality. Massimo had played the same trick on him until Leandro had put an end to it, but there was no one to stop Massimo this time. Massimo gave Kelvin a look to as if to say, “don’t say a word.” Kelvin wasn’t going to. He actually thought it would be funny as well, so he grinned back at Massimo.

  “Why don’t you show them Star Wars?” Kelvin suggested. Everyone on the sofa turned to face Kelvin, then back to Massimo as the two went back and forth with different movie titles. Those that were sat on the floor tried to watch the pair, but after a bit their necks hurt.

  “I think we’ll save Star Wars for another day. We’ll need to do that in a marathon Sunday-style watching.” Massimo pondered for a moment. All of his favorite movies were whizzing through his head like was watching a countdown of the best movies of all time—Die Hard, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, any of John Wayne’s westerns.

  “It’s not that exciting,” Carter complained as he stared at the blank TV.

  After today they needed a comedy. Massimo looked at his Will Ferrell collection and pulled out Talladega Nights. He could screw with their heads another day on world history.

  He played the DVD, and everyone in the room fell silent, completely in awe. Massimo loved watching people’s faces the first time they saw the TV. They were mesmerized and laughed at all the right parts. Massimo was happy with his selection. The day’s events had been washed away by a few hours of laughter, just like in the good old days. The only thing missing was popcorn.