Dead Drop Series (Book 1): Dead Drop (Rise of the Elites)

by K. S. Black

  “You scared the shit out of me.”

  “You’re lucky it was me that heard that. They’re not going to let you leave.”

  “The hell they aren’t.”

  “You can say that if you want, but things have changed a lot around here. When everyone got sick and we became the Children of the New Dawn, Daniel turned into a whole different person. There was a big fight, and we lost a lot of people. Pete and a few of the others stopped some before they could leave. They locked the others up for a couple of days. When they tried to escape, Daniel went crazy and ordered Pete and his goons to kill them on the spot. And they actually did it. Daniel said that was the only way their souls could be cleansed.” Moon cast her eyes to the ground. “And they were family.”

  “That’s crazy shit. I stopped at St. David before I came here and took a look around the compound. I think I found the ones who escaped.”

  “Did you talk to any of them?”

  “They were all dead—infected.”

  “I thought they might be.” Her voice was soft.

  Kevin took a drink of water from the cup she handed him. When he finished, he waved at the two women. They nodded back. “So that’s why those two are here. They’re keeping an eye out on me.”

  “Yeah, they’re watching you, but of course they’re saying that they’re keeping an eye out for intruders or the punished ones. That’s what Daniel calls the infected. He’s full of bullshit if you ask me.”

  Kevin wasn’t expecting that kind of language coming from her. “Are you going to tell on me, Moon?”

  “Of course not. I want to come with you when you leave and so does Katrina. She sent me out here because she figured you might try to do something stupid and get yourself into trouble. She’s smart.”

  Kevin choked on the water. He coughed and spit some out onto the ground.”

  “Everything okay over there?” one of the armed women asked. She was slim with shoulder length hair pulled back in a ponytail.

  Moon patted Kevin on the back. “He’s okay, Ellen. The water went down the wrong pipe.”

  “You two better quit your dawdling. I know you have some work to do back at the house, Moon. Let Kevin finish his job.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Moon lowered her voice and reached for the cup. “Ellen does what Daniel tells her to do. I used to see her coming out of his bedroom a lot.You know what I mean? And now, she’s an enforcer like Pete.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” He whispered the words and handed her his cup, in case the women were still looking in their direction.

  “Katrina will tell you everything later. Don’t clean up before dinner and come late. When she asks for a postie, ask her what a postie is. No one likes that job, and you’ll get volunteered. I’ll get myself into trouble and get volunteered too.”

  * * *

  Dinner was almost over when Kevin sat down at an empty place at the table. As instructed, he didn’t clean himself up which caused the young boy and the woman on either side of him to scoot their chairs over and lean away from him.

  Katrina stood up with her plate and spoke to everyone in the room. “Sorry to bring this up, folks, but tonight is latrine night. I need two postie volunteers.”

  “What’s a postie?” Kevin asked.

  “It’s kind of like being a Trekkie,” Pete said. A few people snickered knowing what came next. “But instead of boldly going where no man has gone before, they boldly go where no man wants to go.

  “That doesn’t sound like something I want to do.”

  “No one does. Since you haven’t had the pleasure, yet, and you didn’t bother to get cleaned up for dinner, you are volunteered.”

  Moon laughed out loud. “What a moron!”

  Pete scowled at her.

  She stopped laughing and started fidgeting in her seat.

  “That was rude. You’re a postie tonight as well. You can show Kevin how we take care of the shit buckets.”

  “Aw, Pete. I’m sorry. It just slipped out. I’m all clean now. And these are my best pants.”

  “You two, let’s get to work.” Katrina motioned towards the door with her head.

  * * *

  “Are you freakin’ telling me I’ve been digging in shit all day?”

  “Chill out, Kevin. The compost you’ve been spreading has been cured for over a year and all the little bacteria and fungi and bugs have worked together to create the best fertilizer you could ever want. It’s not shit anymore. Here. Put these on,” she handed both Kevin and Moon some rubber work gloves. “But right now, we literally do need to shovel some shit. We can take our time. It’ll be easier to make a run for it when it’s not so light outside.” Katrina picked up the pitchfork leaning against the wooden bin.

  Postie duty was smelly work that everyone hated. It took the three of them twenty minutes to haul the kitchen and bathroom compost buckets from the house to a compost pile covered with hay and other plant clippings.

  “It needs to smell like we’re actually doing something.” Katrina opened one of the buckets and dumped the contents into the center of the bin. Tanya, another of Daniel’s enforcers, watched from several yards away as they worked.

  “Holy shit—that shit stinks!” Kevin wrinkled his nose.

  “Buck up buttercup. This is nothing compared to what we need to do to get out of here. We have an hour to an hour and a half if we’re lucky before they notice that we’re gone. We should be able to make it to the edge of town and start looking for a car. You ready to do your thing, Moon?”

  Kevin’s mind raced.

  “Kevin, are you listening?”

  “Yes. I’m worried that I might slow you down with my bum leg.”

  “Are you having second thoughts? I don’t know when we’re going to get another opportunity like this one.”

  “No. Let’s do this.”

  * * *

  Moon ambled over to a large green trash receptacle not too far from where Tanya stood. “Hey Tanya.”

  “You having fun doing postie duty?”

  “Yeah right. Shoot, I dropped my glove.” Moon leaned inside the bin, pretending to reach for the glove. The bin tipped over with her in it. “Ow! I think I hurt my wrist. Tanya, I need your help to get out of here.”

  “What were you thinking?” The older woman set her AR-15 on the ground and hurried over to help Moon extricate herself from the large container. As soon as Tanya moved towards Moon, Katrina raced over with the pitchfork. Kevin followed close behind her. While Moon feigned a wrist injury and struggled to keep herself from being pulled out of the container, Katrina swung at the side of Tanya’s head with the handle end of the pitchfork. The older woman crumpled to the ground.

  “Moon, get out. It’s clear.” Katrina handed Kevin a large wad of paracord from her pocket. “Tie Tanya up while I put the gag on her,”

  “Geez Katrina. How hard did you hit her?” Moon gawked at Tanya’s motionless body. Blood trickled down the side of her face.

  “As hard as I could.” Katrina’s expression was solemn as she tied a gag around the unconscious woman. She gave the bandana an extra hard tug before she tied the knot. “Bitch.”

  “I guess there’s no love lost between you two. Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Kevin said surprised at how much force she used.

  “You got that right.” She turned to Moon who was pulling three canvas bags filled with water and food out of the bin.

  Kevin picked the AR-15 off the ground and slung it over his shoulder along with the canvas bag. “Which way to Bisbee?”

  “Follow me. Are you ready for a run, Kevin? Moon, are you ready?”

  Moon tightened the elastic around her ponytail. "I'm ready."

  “I’ll stop if I need to, but you two keep going. I’ll catch up, but don’t get too far out of sight.”

  They alternated between running, jogging, and walking for the next forty-five minutes until they came to a road that led to the outskirts of Bisbee. Kevin hung in wit
h them the entire way, but his limp was pronounced whenever he slowed down to walk.

  “Where are all the damn cars hiding? We need one now.” Katrina let the words out between breaths.

  “How far away is the Copper Queen?” Kevin asked. He had his hands on his knees and was panting.

  “Maybe another twenty minutes if we jog.”

  “Take us there. If we can get there, I can find my truck.”

  “Aren’t they going to know that’s where we’d be heading? They’re not going to kill me. They need my expertise. Or Moon because they have plans for her. But you—they won’t hesitate to kill you.”

  “Unless you have a better plan, we’re kind of out of options. We also have the infected to worry about.”

  “I forgot about them,” Moon said through ragged breaths.

  “Okay. I’ll get you to the Copper Queen.”

  As they ran, Kevin recognized familiar buildings, even in the dimming light. This gave him a second wind. But the sound of trucks behind them quashed his newfound optimism. They hid behind the cars in a small parking lot just in time to watch two pickups with spot lights drive slowly by them.

  When the trucks turned away from them, Katrina stood up and pointed. “The Copper Queen is over in that direction. Let’s go.”

  “Slow down, Flo Jo.” He grabbed her arm. “My truck isn’t parked at the Copper Queen. I just know how to find it from the Copper Queen. It’s near the Gymnasium building.”

  Katrina cocked her head to one side. “What gymnasium? There isn’t a—oh, you mean the library in the old Gymnasium building. Christ. We could have already been there by now. We need to get to that street over there and cut through some yards. But the tricky part is going to be getting up and across Main Street without being seen.”

  Main Street was wide open with nowhere to hide. They stayed close to the buildings and made a run for it. Katrina was in front, followed closely by Kevin and Moon.

  “Cross at this next street. The building’s up ahead,” Katrina said.

  They ran bunched together until they reached the middle of the street. Gunshots shattered the stillness. They ran across the street as bullets hit the pavement around them.

  Stepping up onto the curb, Katrina looked over her shoulder. “Moon!” She ran back into the street with Kevin close behind her.

  Moon had fallen on her side. There was an exit wound in the middle of her forehead. Kevin used all his strength to pull Katrina back towards him and away from Moon’s body. On the other side of the street, a small group of infected came out from between two buildings.

  “She’s dead, Katrina. We have to leave her.”

  The infected were making their way to the street. “Shit! C’mon, we have to go.”

  She let go of Moon, and they started running again. Bullets tugged at Kevin’s t-shirt and jeans. He heard a truck approaching and motioned for her to hurry, not sure if he was heading in the right direction.

  If they cut through the houses on the other side of the street, the truck wouldn’t be able to follow them. They raced through more yards. Looking behind him, he spotted a truck and could see the infected huddled together in the middle of the road fighting over Moon’s body.

  Kevin yanked Katrina behind a fifth-wheel camper parked along the side of the road. “I don’t know where to go. I need your help.”

  Visibly shaking, she scanned the area trying to get her bearings. “Over there.” She pointed across the street.

  He saw the letters G-Y-M, and they ran towards the building. The truck was closing in. He stopped and pointed the AR-15 in the direction of the sound and waited while he motioned for Katrina to take cover.

  The vehicle crept out of the darkness. Kevin pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through the windshield. The driver put the truck in reverse and turned around the corner.

  Kevin pulled the trigger again. Click. “Are you fucking kidding me? Only one goddamn bullet!” He threw rifle over his shoulder and grabbed Katrina by the hand. “Run!”

  Behind them, an engine roared and tires squealed on the pavement as the driver peeled out towards them. They ran past the Gymnasium building and down a side street where he had left the Behemoth days before.

  His hand fumbled inside the familiar flowerpot, and he retrieved his keys. He unlocked the padlock that secured the Behemoth’s back doors and jumped down to help Katrina. When he put his arm around her waist to help her up, he touched something sticky and wet. “You’ve been shot.”

  “I know.” Her teeth chattered.

  Kevin shut the door and led her to the front passenger seat and buckled her in. A light moved across the windows. “When I say now, you need to cover your ears.”

  He yanked the cushions off the fold-out couch and exposed the gun ports along with his XM8. He slid the muzzle out of one of the ports. “Now!” He pulled the trigger and the rifle buzzed as it dumped an entire magazine into the passing truck. When he finished, the ringing in his ears made him wince with pain. He made himself focus on the pickup and looked for anything that moved but nothing did.

  Katrina moaned, and he rushed up front with his first aid kit to check on her. Blood had seeped through the fingers that she held against her side. “Let me have a look.” He turned on an interior light and gently moved her hand aside and lifted her shirt. “It looks like it went all the way through but doesn’t look too bad. The bleeding is already slowing down.” He put a large gauze pad against her skin. “Keep pressure on it.”

  “My knee.” she said, panting.

  He looked down at her leg. “Shit.” In the dim light, he hadn’t noticed that her jeans were soaked with blood. He pulled a knife from his pocket and slit the leg of her pants so he could take a look at the wound on her inner thigh above her knee. He bandaged her up as tight as he could but that didn’t stop the bleeding.

  “I’m taking you to Tucson. I have a friend there. He’s our best hope.”

  When Kevin turned onto Main Street, two pickup trucks were waiting for them. Gunfire exploded on both sides of the Behemoth and bounced off the armor plating. “Which way?” Kevin turned his head right. Then left.

  “Go right.”

  The Behemoth screamed as Kevin pushed her as fast as she could go. He aimed for the nearest pickup as it started to back away, but the driver wasn’t fast enough. The beast rammed the smaller vehicle forcing it to skid sideways across the road. The woman inside slumped against the steering wheel.

  Katrina guided Kevin through town and back to Main Street. He saw a sign for the highway, but before he could get there, Pete’s blue Tacoma rammed the side of the Behemoth but only managed to nudge it across the road several feet.

  If Pete wanted to play hardball, he was game. He put the fifteen-and-a-half ton beast in reverse and stopped when he was directly in front of the Tacoma. The engine screamed again under his heavy foot. The Behemoth’s massive body hopped and shuddered as it tried to gain traction on the road. Once it did, Kevin slammed into the passenger door of the Tacoma and stared directly at Pete as he pushed the blue truck across the parking lot. Its tires screeched in protest as it slid across the road.

  Pete shot wildly at the Behemoth’s windshield. Afraid that a bullet might hit the radiator, Kevin steered toward the parking lot and hit one car after another with the pickup stuck to its bull bar. Bloodied and banged up, Pete continued shooting sporadically. Kevin drove straight at the nearest building and drove the Tacoma into it crushing Pete inside. Kevin caught his breath. He felt no remorse about his bloody victory as he pushed the Behemoth to its limit all the way to Tucson.

  CHAPTER 60

  June 11 – Tucson

  At a little past midnight, Cooper sped toward Tucson Medical Center. Kevin followed in the Jeep. The infected that came out into the night after them were left behind to wander the street.

  The hospital, unlike many others in the area, had been evacuated and cleared of the dead while he was in California, but Cooper still worried about what might be waiting for the
m when they arrived.

  The likelihood that the young woman would survive was not good, even if they could find the supplies that his first aid kits lacked. She was going to need IV fluids, probably a blood transfusion and who knew what else.

  Kevin told him how he and Katrina had barely escaped with their lives. They had argued about taking her to the hospital, but the look on Kevin’s face was more than Cooper could stand.

  * * *

  “Hayley, stay with Kevin and Julie until they get inside. Once everyone’s in the ER, stay by the door and keep watch. I’m going to make sure it’s clear.” Before getting out of the Humvee, Cooper turned on the flashlight attached to the Tavor and checked for anything moving in their direction. He pushed open the ER doors and checked inside to make sure the interior was clear before he waved them in.

  Cooper waited at the door. Julie supported Katrina’s head as Kevin lifted her out of the Humvee. She grabbed an AK-47 from the door bracket closest to her along with a small backpack stuffed with bandages, gauze, and other first aid supplies. Hayley followed behind them and checked the rear.

  Inside, Cooper held one of the swinging doors to the treatment room open. He reached down and set the doorstop in place to keep it open.

  “Over here. But don’t set her down yet,” Julie said. “We need some light and a clean sheet.” She pulled a small LED flashlight out of her pocket and taped it to an exam lamp hanging from the ceiling.

  Cooper rummaged inside the cabinets and drawers for supplies.

  Julie retrieved a clean sheet from him and spread it on the hospital gurney. “Put her down.”

  “How’re you doing out there, Hayley?” Cooper asked.

  “I’m good. I don’t see anything outside.”

  “Look for a way to lock the door.”

  Julie made sure Katrina’s leg was supported as Kevin set her down. Katrina whimpered, but her eyes remained closed. Julie grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby tray and cut off Katrina’s pants. She loosened the tourniquet that Cooper had put on at the house. “I thought the bleeding would have stopped by now.” She re-did the tourniquet and frowned.