The Eden Project (Zombie Apocalypse Series Book 6)

by Jeff DeGordick

  "You know, it really doesn't have to be this way," he said. "Just say a few important words, and I can take you out of here. I'll make sure no one ever lays a finger on you again."

  Sarah was completely disinterested in what he had to offer. Her eyelids slid open, and she pretended to adjust to the bulb over her head.

  "I'd rather be slowly tortured to death," she quipped.

  He made a look on his face like a sad puppy dog, then he brushed his fingers against her chin and cleared her long blond hair out of her eyes, wrapping it behind her ear. "You hurt me so, you know that?"

  He raised his arm and smacked her across the face. The sharp slap echoed in the shed, and Sarah grunted and turned her head away from him.

  "I'm going to use my fist next," Dan said.

  He moved around her in a tight semicircle, skirting around the edge of the light. Sarah kept herself slumped to the side of the chair like a sad ragdoll. She didn't meet his gaze and instead looked at the dusty floor.

  "Last chance, sweetie." He regarded her, waiting for an answer, but she was silent. "Shame it had to be this way. I'm gonna get rough now. Maybe I'll change your mind."

  As he stepped near her she sprang up out of the chair and swung the knife at his head.

  But Dan raised his own arm up and caught her wrist in time, blocking the blow. His hand clamped down onto her wrist and pulled her off balance, then he hooked his leg behind hers and pulled her arm across his body, twisting her around and tripping her to the floor. Sarah let out a grunt as she hit the cement, and Dan, still holding her wrist, stomped down on her armpit.

  Sarah cried out in pain as she felt some of her ribs break. She rolled around on the floor, her arm still held up in the air, as she struggled for breath.

  "I hope you really didn't think I'm that stupid," Dan said, shaking his head. "Think I won't notice when the ropes I left tied around you are gone? It was a nice try trying to hide the knife under the bottom of your seat when I walked in, but that kind of thing doesn't work on me."

  Sarah looked up at him, her eyes squinting through the harsh light at his silhouette. "I'll give you one chance to let go of my arm," Sarah said, regaining her breath.

  Dan laughed, and in the confined space, it echoed and sounded like it was a crowd.

  As it died down, Sarah spoke again: "I'm gonna hurt you now."

  Before he could open his mouth, Sarah trapped his far leg by hooking her foot around it, then she lifted her other leg into the air and kicked the side of his knee as hard as she could. The joint in his knee popped out of place and his leg bent sideways. He screamed and let go of her wrist as he tipped over and hit the floor like a mighty redwood tree being felled. His hard armor slammed against the cement and rattled the shed a little. He wrapped his hands around his destroyed knee as he stared at it with horror in his eyes.

  Sarah got to her feet and kicked him in the face like his head was a soccer ball. His skull rolled around on his shoulders and smacked on the ground. The door to the shed opened and the other soldier standing guard came in, his eyes wide, to investigate the unexpected noises he heard. He was shocked to see Sarah standing and the other soldier twisting on the ground screaming.

  Before he could react to her, she already closed the distance and drove the knife into his throat. His legs gave out as he stumbled around in a crouch on rubbery knees. His eyes rolled into his head and Sarah retracted the knife, letting him slump to the floor and bleed out. She turned her attention back to Dan who was just starting to get out of his groggy daze. He spit a couple of his teeth out on the floor.

  Sarah spotted a length of chain sitting just at the edge of the light's circular glow. Dan tried to sit up, but Sarah crouched down behind him, digging her knee into his back and looping the chain around his neck. She held both ends of it in her hand and cranked his neck back against her knee.

  His eyes bulged out of his head and his hands feebly tried to break the pressure. But he struggled in vain as the life was squeezed out of him, and when his arms dropped limply to the ground, Sarah still kept the pressure on. After thirty seconds, she finally let go, getting tired. His throat had already turned vibrant shades of purple and blue, and his dead and bloated face fell forward and thumped on the floor.

  Sarah slipped the knife into her pants and took a moment to look at her mangled fingers. Seeing them now for the first time was quite horrifying. They were twisted into gruesome, unnatural angles, and she would need to reset them before she continued on. She put the handle of the knife in her mouth and bit down on it for the ensuing pain, and she knelt down and laid one of her bad fingers on the floor. With her knee, she gently pinned the finger underneath, creating enough pressure to hold it in place. When she was ready, she put her weight down on it and ground her teeth against the handle of the knife. She yanked her hand out to the side.

  The finger popped and excruciating pain rippled through her hand, making her arm numb up to her elbow. But she felt like it still wasn't quite in place yet so she yanked it one more time until there was another pop and another rolling wave of terrible pain. She repeated the process with the other finger, becoming so overwhelmed with agony that she almost passed out. But she held it together, biting deep grooves into the knife's handle now. She looked at her hand and slowly bent her fingers. It hurt terribly to move them, but they at least regained a little bit of function.

  She took the knife out of her mouth and escaped the shed without wasting any more time. Sarah hadn't seen where they'd taken her when they picked her up, because they pulled a black bag over her head as soon as she got in the Humvee with them. The next time it came off, she was strapped to a chair. Now that she was outside and she could get her bearings, she saw that she was in a fairly large military outpost. She could see rows of trucks and huge containers sitting on the pavement. A large building sat in the opposite corner of the outpost in an L-shape. She guessed it was some kind of storage building or administrative office. The whole area was fenced in, nice and tall with dense bunches of barbed wire cresting the top. From where she stood, there didn't seem to be an easy way out of here. But the thing that caught her attention most of all, was a guard tower near the middle of the outpost. If she could get up there, she would be able to at least get a good vantage point and see what was around.

  She didn't know where Trevor was... if he was still in the outpost or maybe if he escaped. But as she looked at the stairs heading up the tower, she saw they were all shrouded in the darkness of the night, and the outpost around her seemed to be fairly sparse in terms of soldiers.

  Sarah sidled up to the edge of the shed she'd been locked in and waited to see what patrols were walking around. A few guards here or there occasionally came into view, but it was obvious no one had known what just occurred in the shed. And she knew she wouldn't have long before the two dead soldiers inside were discovered. She would need to get out quickly.

  She made her way toward the middle of the outpost for the guard tower. She slipped from one piece of cover to the next, always being careful to peek around each corner and make sure the coast was clear.

  The night was particularly sweltering, and she saw some of the guards walking around without their helmets on.

  When she reached the foot of the stairs leading up the tower, she crouched low and bounded up the steel steps, trying to evenly distribute her weight as much as possible on her feet, keeping her footsteps silent. She felt totally exposed as she wound her way up the tower, but as she ascended she was able to keep an eye on just about everything in the outpost, and the cover of darkness kept her hidden and none of the soldiers patrolling around looked up and noticed her.

  She arrived at the top of the stairs and knelt down on the steel grating, pressing her shoulder against the wall of the guard post. Staying beneath the top of the wall, she walked around the corner to the open doorway.

  There was a solitary soldier inside fiddling with a radio, like he was searching for the proper channel. Occasionally some conversation was p
icked up, but nothing important. He leaned back in an office chair with his feet up on a desk, and there was a lamp sitting next to him that cast the guard post in a small circle of light. His helmet was off and he was pulling at his armor with his fingers as he fanned himself with a booklet. She could see beads of sweat rolling down his skin as she looked at him from the side.

  Sarah tossed a glance over her shoulder at the darkness below, then she zipped into the room.

  The soldier waved the booklet furiously, trying to cool himself down, and then his arm suddenly froze as Sarah plunged the knife into the base of his skull. Blood trickled out of the wound and Sarah caught his limbs, gently guiding his body down to the floor before he could fall out of his chair and make a clamor. She pulled the knife out and then looked down at his eyes. They were totally glazed over, and there was no mistaking that he was dead.

  With him out of the way, Sarah could survey the rest of the outpost without being spotted. She looked around at every side and corner of the outpost, but the fence was solid and tall all around, with no visible way to get over the barbed wire. Sarah let out a frustrated sigh, racking her brain to figure out how to get out of here. If only she could find Trevor, he might have an idea. After all, he somehow infiltrated the outpost, so he would know how to get out. That was if he hadn't already left.

  As Sarah searched around for a means of escape, she noticed a big plant down the road. It looked like a chemical plant or refinery of some sort, and she saw that the road led from the outpost directly to the plant, like the outpost was a waypoint.

  A pile of papers lay on the desk in front of her, and Sarah started searching through them, pulling open drawers and leafing through more papers and files.

  Then something caught her eye. A blue itemized sheet poked out from underneath a stack of papers on the right side of the desk. She wouldn't normally have paid any attention to it, but one simple phrase jumped out at her.

  Glutamic acid.

  Her eyes widened as she felt her heart skip a beat. She hurriedly pulled out the sheet and studied it in the light. It was in inventory, listing a number of different chemical products and their quantities. She looked at the top of the sheet and there was a name for a chemical processing plant and the date printed on it was only four days ago. Sarah looked at the plant in the distance.

  If she was right about this, she just found the final item.

  14

  Penned In

  "Holy shit!"

  Sarah leaned over the edge of the guard post and looked down at where the shouting came from. It was coming from the shed.

  The door to the shed stood open and Sarah saw a soldier back out of it. "Someone get over here!" the soldier yelled. He pulled out a walkie-talkie and began shouting a torrent of requests for backup into it.

  The other troops that were on patrol in the area all rushed over like a network of ants pooling on one spot. Sarah saw many doors in the L-shaped building on the other side of the outpost open, and more troops flooded out. There still wasn't that many men posted here, but all told there was now an alarmed gathering of a dozen or so troops by the shed. And if that wasn't bad enough, the flap of a nearby tent opened and Kenny lumbered out. He stood there and pointed his head up to the sky as if he was sniffing the air, then he set off toward the commotion at the shed. When he arrived, the other soldiers gave him a wide berth, backing well away from him as he walked inside the small building. A savage growl escaped his lips, and then he came out, looking around wildly.

  Sarah grabbed the inventory sheet she found on the desk and fled down the stairs of the tower. She wanted to be quiet, but she sacrificed it for speed this time, not wanting to be stuck up on the stairs when they found her.

  The soldiers started barking orders to each other and they all split up, searching through the outpost around every corner and in every nook and cranny. When Sarah reached the ground again, she stayed low and scurried past a tent and a pair of parked army transport trucks. There was still no detectable means of escape, so she would have to hide unless she wanted to take on all of the troops now gunning for her, including Kenny. She clutched the knife in her hand so tightly that it was a wonder she didn't snap it in half.

  Not knowing where else to go, she headed for the large building in the corner of the outpost.

  A soldier suddenly stepped out from around the corner of a large container on her way there and hit her in the gut with the back of his assault rifle. Sarah didn't see it coming and it knocked the wind out of her. She doubled over, gasping for breath, and the soldier grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.

  "I got her! Hey, I got her! Over here!"

  When Sarah struggled against him, trying to grab onto the rifle, he pulled her along with it, flinging her onto the ground. He grabbed onto the gun properly again and went to aim it, and Sarah rolled over and stabbed the knife onto his boot. But it was armored along with the rest of him, and it stopped the knife.

  The soldier kicked her in the stomach and she wheezed again, holding her midsection with her arm and rolling around, not able to fight anymore.

  "Stay down!" the soldier barked at her. He looked around frantically, waiting for his friends to get there and feeling proud of himself that he was the one to take her down.

  Then someone came, but it wasn't any of his friends.

  The arrow sailed through the air and pierced the side of his skull. As soon as the tip entered his brain, his body shut down and he fell onto the pavement.

  Trevor ran up to Sarah and helped her up. "Are you in one piece?" he asked.

  She looked up like she'd seen an angel. "I owe you one," she rasped.

  "I think that's two."

  The cascade of footsteps closed in on their position and Sarah picked up the soldier's assault rifle before following Trevor to the L-shaped building. They carried on through an open shutter door and found themselves in a loading bay. A couple of parked tow motors sat there next to some stacks of crates, but it looked like all the soldiers had rushed outside to find out what happened in the shed.

  The two of them worked their way through the building, indeed finding it to be a storage depot. Tall stacks of supplies and items on shelves lined a big room, and they snaked their way through, not knowing where they were going except for away.

  Trevor threw the bow over his shoulder as he looked over at the gun she had taken. "If we get cornered, you're going to have to make your shots count," he warned her.

  "They're over this way!" one of the soldiers in pursuit yelled. "I thought I saw one!"

  Sarah and Trevor ran to the back of the warehouse, looking for a good place to hide or for a way out. Ultimately, they found a little nook tucked away between a tall shelf in the far corner of the room and a stack of crates. They hid behind it in the shadows, and listened. The distant footfalls clapped along the floor as the soldiers spread out.

  Trevor held a fist up in the air to Sarah as he peeked out from the corner of the crates they hid behind. When he saw a break in the flow of the patrolling soldiers, Trevor urged her to come with him and change position. They slipped right through a gap in the enemy's ranks and moved with the flow of their own traffic, finding another temporary hiding spot. Trevor had an excellent sense of awareness and strategy, and he used it to their advantage to keep mobile and evade the enemy.

  But the one monkeywrench that was jammed into that system was marked by the angry growls and thunderous footfalls that came into the warehouse on the far end. Kenny was there, and Sarah knew from experience that he didn't search for someone in the traditional way.

  "What is that?" Sarah asked, training her ear on an odd sound in the distance. At first she thought it was something buzzing, but then it sounded like something straining against something else, sort of like metal grinding against metal. The sound waxed and waned, and then waxed again. A murmur grew within the soldiers and then as the straining sound grew louder once more, the soldiers began to yell and their footfalls became frantic. Even Trevor poked his he
ad out from around cover to see what the commotion was, confused.

  Suddenly, there was a huge crash from the other end of the warehouse that shook the ground. Sarah and Trevor couldn't tell what on earth it was, but then another sudden crash came a few seconds later, this one a little closer. A third crash came, and then like dominoes, all the shelves in one column tipped over and smashed into the next one. The two of them only had a couple seconds to realize that the collapsing shelves were coming for them before they got up and bugged out. In their surprise, they inadvertently split up and ran in different directions, losing each other.

  Sarah was on her own as she fled the carnage, now a new column of shelves collapsing toward her. The whole warehouse shook as pallets and crates of supplies fell from great heights and smashed on the cement floor. A variety of items spilled out, from ammo to food supplies to raw materials headed for processing at the chemical plant.

  Kenny growled in the distance as he charged through the wreckage, smashing any boxes that didn't already break and kicking spilled supplies out of his way. All the other soldiers had all but fled the warehouse, retreating into other rooms in the L-shaped building or heading out of it completely, more than happy to leave Kenny to his crazed routines.

  The booming footfalls sounded like they were coming for her, and gaining on her. Sarah fled through a door and down a hallway. She passed a number of small rooms, some of which looked like mini storage rooms, and others, offices. She took the hallway down to the end, and suddenly a soldier came through the doorway ahead of her. He stopped in surprise when he saw her, taking a moment to process the situation, then he raised his gun at her.

  She followed suit, but given all of their attributes, she was certainly at a disadvantage. But before he did anything, suddenly his face went white and he turned and fled. Sarah was confused by this at first, but then she heard Kenny's wild growls behind her and, looking over her shoulder, saw that he had entered the hallway and was coming for her.