by K. S. Black
“Can I carry one of those cases, Dr. Young?” Cooper asked as they walked toward the vehicles.
“I’m good. And call me Alex.”
Cooper smiled at her.
Kevin and Julie were helping Katrina into the jeep.
“Kevin, Alex should probably ride with you.”
“Do you have any sunglasses, Alex? The sun is going to be up soon.”
“Unfortunately, I lost the pair I had.”
“Hang on.” He went to the back of the Humvee and pulled a pair of darkly tinted goggles out of a bag. “Alex.” When she looked at him, he tossed her the goggles. “Welcome to our motley little group of survivors.”
CHAPTER 61
June 11 - Tucson
Mark suffered from bouts of insomnia. He tossed and turned not able to turn off the nocturnal lunacy inside his head. Most of his thoughts revolved around Julie and what he wanted to do to Cooper Reid’s face. He thought he heard the familiar engine noises of the Humvee and the Jeep not too far away, so he got out of bed and went to the window. They were holed up in a house one street over.
He ran to the cluttered room where Ray was sleeping. “Ray, wake up!” Mark grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.
“Get off of me.” Ray sat up, his eyes half closed and heavy with sleep.
“We need to see if Julie’s okay. I heard the Humvee and the Jeep go by. They were bookin’ out of here. Maybe zombies swarmed the house. But I didn’t hear any shooting. I’m gonna have a look around over there. Something’s been bothering me about Cooper since we met. You coming?”
* * *
Mark jogged back to where Ray had parked the semi about a hundred yards from the gate in front of Cooper’s property.
“That big ass SWAT truck is parked in the driveway with the back doors wide open. I didn’t see the Humvee or the Jeep or any other vehicles. There’s a good chance that they all left together. We’ll need to ram the gate to get in because the wall may be booby trapped.”
“If someone’s there, we’ll just say we came to check on them because we thought there might be a problem and the only way to get in was to ram the gate,” Ray said. “It shouldn’t take that much to open it. I’ll only hit it hard enough to open it.” His lips curled into a sly grin.
“Don’t do anything stupid, man. And don’t make too much noise. You don’t want to wake the undead.” Mark laughed at his own joke.
Ray inched the semi forward until the gate gave way. He parked close to the front door near the Behemoth. Their flashlights illuminated the blood smeared on the handholds and the backdoor. Mark used his shotgun to move the back door so he could get a better look inside. Ray walked around to the opposite end.
“Holy Shit! You should see the front of this thing. Looks like it went through a war with all these bullet holes and dents. He must have run into someone, too. There’s a lot of blue paint. Wonder what kind of blood is all over the front—zombie or regular?”
“I’ll take a look in a second. I think that smart-ass hipster got himself shot up. There’s a lot of blood inside. And there’s a blood trail that leads to the house.” Mark followed the trail to the front porch. Ray took out his police issue Glock .22 and got behind him.
Mark tried the door handle. “It’s unlocked. They must have been in a big hurry to get out of here if they forgot to secure the house.” He poked his head inside. “Hello? Julie? Is anybody in here?”
Okami whined from his crate in the kitchen.
They swept the living room with their flashlights. Everything appeared normal except for the blood drops on the floor leading to the kitchen. An open first aid kit with its contents in disarray and a small tool kit were on the sideboard near the dining table. Two empty bottles of rubbing alcohol were on the floor.
A low growl rose from the crate in the corner and grew louder as the men approached. Ray knelt down and shined the light inside. “You better keep quiet, you stupid mutt.”
Dozens of paper towels, a bedsheet, and a couple of bath towels, all soaked with blood, littered the table and floor. A pair of bloody needle nose pliers and a small bowl containing a deformed bullet sat on the table.
Mark picked up the bowl and swirled the bullet around. “Wonder if it was that Kevin guy,” he said more to himself than Ray.
Ray shrugged his shoulders. “Where do you think they went?”
“I don’t know, but from the looks of all this blood, they probably didn’t have what they needed here. Maybe they went to the hospital to find supplies.”
“Maybe something forced them to leave.” Ray pointed his Glock around the room.
“Put your gun down, you idiot. No one forced them to leave or this place would have been shot up too. They’re all armed. Let’s check the rest of the house.”
Mark headed toward the bedrooms and found Julie’s room. Her bed was unmade, and he ran his hand over the sheets, grabbed the pillow, and inhaled the scent she left behind. An oversized Riverside Sheriff’s Department t-shirt lay on the floor. He picked it up and inhaled again. After he set the shirt on the dresser, he sifted through a small pile of her dirty clothes and found a pair of her panties.
“What are you doing?” Ray said from the door.
Mark stuffed the underwear into his pocket and turned around. “Just having a look around.”
“Julie would shit if she knew you were in here poking around in her things. You need to get over her, man. When you stop being a pervert, I have something to show you.”
He followed Ray. “Yeah, so what? We already knew about the computers.”
“It’s not the computers I wanted you to look at.” Ray picked up a photo of an older couple and handed it to Mark. “Recognize them? Think back about five years.”
Mark examined the photo carefully. “Shit. That’s Neal and Lisa Reid. That asshole is Cooper fucking Reid?” He kicked a hole through the wall. “He puts three cops in jail and walks away with ten million dollars after lying his ass off. Still makes me want to kill him thinking about what he did.”
“Yep, that’s the asshole that Julie wants to jump in bed with, in more ways than one.”
“Shut your fucking mouth up about her.”
“Whatever.”
“Just shut up. I’ll worry about what I’m going to do about Cooper Reid later. Right now, I say we take advantage of the situation and grab what we want out of here,” Mark said as he hit enter on the main computer’s keyboard. Nothing happened.
He pressed the power button, but then he noticed that the computer had been unplugged. He plugged it back in and turned it on. Of course, it was password protected. For kicks, he hit enter and an alarm went off that made him jump.
“What did you do? It sounds like it’s coming from the computer.”
“I just hit enter.”
“Forget about that, and come here quick. You need to take a look at something. Shut the door, so we don’t have to listen to that alarm.”
* * *
Mark felt like a kid in a candy store when he looked through the weapons stash. He and Ray spent quite a bit of time examining each piece. He extolled the virtues of each one before getting Ray to help him load them into the truck.
They continued searching the house. When they were done, they loaded the semi with the food, water, ammo, and propane that Cooper and Kevin had collected. They found Cooper’s liquor and took several breaks between trips back and forth to the truck. The breaks got longer and longer until it was almost dawn.
“We better haul ass. There’s no telling when they’ll be back.” Ray said.
“Yeah, we’re almost done.”
Mark placed the last of the boxes in the back of the semi when he heard someone approach. He turned around.
Cooper pointed a Kimber at his chest. “What the hell do you think you’re—”
Before he could finish, Ray snuck up from around the semi and hit him on the back of the head with the empty bourbon bottle. It didn’t break. Cooper staggered backwards. He tripped and
fell on his back but was still conscious.
Mark leaped from the truck. Although Cooper outweighed him, he had him pinned to the ground so that he couldn’t use his arms. He pummeled Cooper’s head with his fists. The back of his skull bounced off the ground with each strike.
Bloody and dazed, Cooper was defenseless.
“You’re going to kill him if you don’t let up.” Ray said.
He ignored him and delivered another blow to Cooper’s face. The skin on his knuckles split and had begun to bleed. “I know who you are, you stupid lying son of a bitch.” He spewed a string of expletives as Cooper tried to roll onto his side.
“Julie’s here,” Ray said.
Mark pulled out his Glock and aimed it at Cooper’s face, but Julie stepped in and pushed it away.
“Did you know that this asshole is the same asshole who sent my friends to prison? He ruined their lives. They were goddamn good cops.” He got off Cooper and stood up to face her.
“They killed my mother and father!” Cooper screamed.
Ray stepped over and backhanded Cooper as he tried to get up. He knocked him on his back again and cut him above his right eye. The other eye was already swollen shut.
“Stop it! Step away from him and drop your weapons.” Her voice was steady as she raised her AK-47 and sent the bolt home.
“What? You’re going to shoot us? You’ve known us for how long? And you just met this shitbag? You’re going to choose him over me? Over Ray? Over fellow cops?” Shock clouded Mark’s face.
“You haven’t acted like the cop that I first met for a very long time. I’ll shoot you if I have to, but my gut tells me that she’ll shoot you for a lot less.”
He followed Julie’s gaze to Hayley. Her XM8 was aimed at his head and her finger was on the trigger.
“What? That kid? I doubt she could even hit me from there.”
“I just watched her take out six zombies all by herself. She shoots better than you, so step away from him. Now! And remember, it’s her daddy you were just beating on.”
Before he moved away from Cooper, he spat on the ground next to his head.
Julie pointed her rifle from Mark to Ray. “Put your weapons on the ground and leave. Hope you’re not holed up too far from here because you’re walking.”
Ray stepped forward with his hands in front of him but still held his shotgun. “You’re really going to stay here now that you know who he is?”
Julie kept the rifle on Mark. “I knew who Cooper and Kevin were the day I met them. I went online and looked them up after they left. Cooper didn’t do anything wrong. He and his parents, not to mention Hayley, were victims of a corrupt system and couple of stressed out cops trying to cover their asses after they made a huge error in judgment. If I were you, I would have done a little homework. Did you read the trial transcripts? You would have found out what your so-called friends really did. But that story didn’t make the headlines. If you don’t believe me, ask Hayley. She was an eye witness to what happened that day.”
Hayley stepped in closer, her face like stone. He looked at Ray, and they put their weapons on the ground.
“The ones in your ankle holsters, too,” Julie said.
He and Ray bent down slowly and removed their pistols and set them on the ground.
“Now leave before I let her shoot you.”
“We’re fucking leaving. We want our truck back.” Mark pointed his finger at Julie. “Hope you all get eaten.”
“Shut up. I can’t believe I wasted my time with you. If I never see you again, it’ll be too soon.”
CHAPTER 62
June 11 – Tucson
Kevin got out of the jeep and ran to Hayley. “Hayley stop. What happened?”
She continued to follow Mark and Ray for several more yards, but she stopped and lowered her rifle. “They hurt my dad. I was going to shoot them.”
“Is he okay?”
“They beat him up, but Julie stopped them.” Her voice sounded hollow. She continued to stare at the men as they walked away.
“Come here.”
She stayed rooted where she was so Kevin went to her leaving Katrina with Alex. He pried the rifle from Hayley’s hands and slung it over his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. She pressed her face against his chest but left her arms at her sides.
“Let’s get Katrina back to the house, so we can check on your dad.” Kevin took Hayley’s hand and led her toward the jeep.
“I wanted to kill them, Kevin. I had my finger on the trigger. I almost pulled it.”
* * *
“Alex, can you help me get Cooper inside?”
“I can walk.”
Julie helped Cooper stand, but he immediately slumped against her. Her legs almost buckled under his weight. Alex grabbed him by the waist and slipped his arm over her shoulder taking most of the weight off her much smaller frame. Alex had an easier time keeping Cooper upright and moving forward.
“Kevin, you can take Katrina to my room,” Julie said. She spoke to Alex from across Cooper’s chest but didn’t look directly at her. “Let’s get him to his bathroom. The kitchen is covered in blood.” She paused for a moment and spoke again. “Kevin, I saw a padlock and a big chain in the garage that might work to keep the gate closed for now. Hayley, you better get Okami out of the crate.”
“Quit barking orders,” Kevin said as he guided Katrina towards the hallway. “Take a breath. I know you’re in cop-crisis mode but stop. You’re making me want to handcuff you to a chair.”
“If I don’t keep things organized, I’ll fall apart,” she said as she headed in the opposite direction.
* * *
Alex had been quiet since they left the ER, but now it was her turn to give orders. She started with Cooper after she and Julie got him into the bathroom. “You can sit on the toilet while I take a look at you, or Julie can get you a chair.” She glanced at Julie.
Julie swallowed hard.
“I can sit on the toilet.”
In the natural light from the thick glass block window, Alex studied her reflection in the mirror. She had removed her hat and the goggles. There was no difference between her face and that of any of the other infected. Her skin was taut against her skull giving her face a hollowed out, gaunt appearance. Veins and capillaries were visible through her sallow complexion. Her colorless lips were cracked and dry with deep painful looking fissures. She hadn’t gotten used to the extra teeth yet, but oddly enough, the face looking back at her didn’t repulse her.
Her physique had been transformed into that of a world-class track and field athlete but without all the years of intense physical training. Dante’s positive effect on both fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers had also made her stronger and faster than any top Olympian. Even though she had lost over thirty pounds of body weight, none of it had come from muscle. She no longer resembled the slightly overweight woman who worked out sporadically in order to maintain the high end of the Army weight requirements for a woman of her height.
She helped Cooper lower himself onto the closed toilet. His left eye was swollen shut. The right one was slightly swollen, but it was obvious that he could see out of it.
“Get me the red pouch I put in with the rest of the medical supplies. He needs stitches. Bring some of those chemical ice packs, too. He probably has some other issues besides a broken nose and a concussion. I’ll start cleaning him up.” She spoke to the reflection in the mirror instead of turning her head to look at Julie.
CHAPTER 63
June 11 – Tucson
Alex had given Cooper something for the pain that made him drowsy. He slept for a few hours in his recliner with a chemical ice pack on the back of his head where a large goose egg had formed. Another was laid across his eyes and nose.
When he awoke, the icepacks were warm so he took them off. Everything ached. The last time he checked, his face looked like a cross between Frankenstein’s monster and the punching bag for the heavyweight c
hampion of the world. If he kept still, the pounding in his head wasn’t as bad.
Julie, Hayley, and Alex sat on the other side of the room from him talking quietly. He wasn’t sure if they knew he was awake.
“Hayley, do you need to take a nap?” Julie asked as she put her arm around her. Hayley rested her head against Julie’s shoulder.
“I don’t think I could sleep even if I wanted to. I’m tired, but I’m on pins and needles. If it’s ok, I just want to sit out here with you guys for a while longer since Kevin’s busy taking care of that girl.”
“You amaze me. You’re so brave.” A bittersweet smiled formed on Julie’s lips. He guessed she was thinking the same thing he was. No thirteen-year-old should have to be that brave.
Hayley’s eyes brightened a little at Julie’s words. He was sorry for what Julie had to go through to get here. But her presence was something he wanted to get used to, especially after the incident with Mark and Ray.
“You people have some interesting friends. I’d hate to see what your enemies look like,” Alex said.
“You mean Mark and Ray? They’re not friends anymore. They could be jerks, but I never thought that they’d do something like this. Ray was my partner out of the academy, and I dated Mark on and off for almost a year. But that was a lifetime ago. I can’t believe I ever considered marrying him.”
“I could see the appeal in physical terms,” Alex said.
“That was then. But I thought I could still trust him. I trusted both of them. That’s gone.”
Alex tilted her head to the side. “I’ve only known you all for a few hours, but how the hell do you live here with that constant beeping?”
Cooper tried to push himself out of the recliner and let out a loud groan. “Get me to the computers.”
As they approached the closed door to the computer room, the sound became obvious.
“How were we not hearing this?” A lightning bolt of pain shot through his skull. He stood still and breathed through the pain before moving another step. Once inside the room, he sat in front of the main computer while Julie, Hayley and Alex looked at the screen from behind him.
