Sarah leaned over him. "Hey! Mark, it's okay!" She placed a hand on the side of his face and tried to get him to look at her, but it was like he was in his own world.
Kenny suddenly marched up to them. He stood between two tables, his huge body taking up the entire aisle with his hands balled up into fists by his side. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded, confusion and anger on his face.
"It's okay!" Sarah tried to tell him. "He's just having a panic attack! He'll be all right."
Kenny twisted around on the spot and yelled toward the open cafeteria entrance for the guards to come. "Get out of the way," he said. "We'll put him in lockdown until he settles down."
"No!" Jenny cried.
"No, Kenny, please," Sarah said. "He'll be okay, I promise. Please let us take care of him—we'll get him right to bed and he'll settle down."
And as if a gift from God Himself in answer to her prayers, Mark started to settle down, still moaning, but becoming quieter.
Six guards rushed into the cafeteria and came up behind Kenny, waiting for orders. Kenny stood there fuming, staring Mark down and deciding what to do. Sarah had been so anxiously waiting for Noah to get back so that she knew he was safe, but now she was even more desperate for him to come back so she wouldn't have to deal with Kenny being in charge.
"Kenny, please," she repeated. "We'll take him up right now."
After a moment, he relaxed and his fists loosened. "Make it quick," he said. "Get him out of here and I better not hear another peep out of him."
"Thank you," both Sarah and Jenny said, though neither of them was especially grateful.
Mark began whimpering as tears rolled down his face and clung to his stubble. Sarah and Jenny helped him up to his feet, and he was still clearly disoriented, but he went along willingly. They led him out the back of the cafeteria toward the stairs at the back of the building as Kenny and everyone else in the cafeteria stared at them.
Jenny was so humiliated, but she just wanted her husband to be okay and she was glad that their kids were still asleep in bed.
They helped him up the staircase and brought him into the family dormitory. He had become quiet, just very softly whimpering with his eyes still closed. They laid him down in bed and Jenny pulled open the curtain to the next bed and checked on Sam and Jake, who were just starting to rouse from sleep.
"What's going on, Mom?" Sam asked as Jake's eyes fluttered open and closed. "I heard someone yelling."
"Nothing, honey. Everything's okay. Just get your brother up and go play in the lounge. I'll come get you in a minute and take you down for breakfast, okay?"
"Okay," Sam said, rolling over and poking her brother.
Jenny closed the curtain and came back to look at Mark who was squirming in their bed restlessly. She leaned over him and kissed him on the forehead. Beads of sweat touched her lips, and his skin felt almost cold. "Oh, sweetie, you're okay. Just relax."
His eyes slowly opened and he looked around at Jenny and Sarah standing over him. "I'm sorry, honey," he said. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just get some rest."
Sarah was about to leave the two of them alone when Mark's head turned to her. "Sarah."
"What is it?" she asked.
"I'm..."
"What?"
He motioned for her to come closer. Jenny leaned in too, eager to hear what he had to say.
He spoke again, his voice little more than a whisper. "I'm scared. I'm so scared."
"Why are you scared?" Sarah asked.
He swallowed a hard lump down his throat as his eyes rolled around in his head before focusing back on her. "They all hate me. They want to kill me, I can see it in their eyes. You have to help me."
"Nobody wants to hurt you," she assured him.
"They do," he said. "I need you to help me."
"How?"
"I want a gun."
"Mark!" Jenny harped. "Don't say things like that!"
Sarah was stunned. "You don't want that," she said.
"I do," he said. "Please, Sarah. I know you can get one for me. Please, I need a gun so I can protect myself. I don't want them hurting me, hurting my family." His words grew raspy, and each one took longer to speak as his eyelids sunk and his mouth stop moving entirely.
Jenny and Sarah didn't reply, as it looked like he was no longer cognizant, and he just muttered again under his breath that he wanted a gun.
Jenny wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, honey! Just relax, don't say things like that. Just stay with me, we're okay."
His eyes closed and he let her gently rock him to sleep. Sarah stepped out of the curtain and stood in the aisle, waiting for Jenny to completely calm him, then Jenny came out and thanked her for helping.
"I think we need to tell Noah about this," Sarah said. "You should still take care of him, but just to make sure he's aware so nothing bad happens to Mark."
"You can't tell him!" Jenny pleaded. "Please!"
"Are you sure?"
"I am. Just let me take care of it. I know I can help him, it'll just take time."
Sarah softly smiled and felt pity in her heart. "Okay, but if you need any help at all, come right to me and I'll do everything I can for him."
"Thank you so much," Jenny said, stepping forward and giving her a big hug.
While Jenny checked on Mark again to make sure he was safe and rested before checking on their kids, Sarah left and went out into the hallway to go back to the wall. With all the commotion in the cafeteria, she had no idea what was happening with Noah. Their operation must have been over by now, as she couldn't hear anything but the soles of her shoes slapping against the tile floor.
"You need to tell Noah."
Sarah turned around.
Kathy was standing behind her, waiting by the entrance of the family dormitory.
"Were you listening to us?" Sarah asked.
"That man is a danger to us all," Kathy said. "If you won't tell Noah, then I will."
Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What business is it of yours?" The temperature of her blood rose as she saw that same look of judgment on Kathy's face that she had the day before.
"It's all of our business," she said. "He's going to get someone killed!"
"Okay, that's just absurd," Sarah said defiantly. "He's been through a very rough time, and he could use a little compassion and support right now. It's none of your business; just leave him and Jenny alone!"
Kathy stood on the spot, her arms held tightly to her sides and her fingers tensely flexing. "Fine. If you won't tell him, then I will. Just as soon as he gets back." She could feel her own anger rising, and the judgment on her face morphed into an almighty holier-than-thou look. "I told him about your little talk with Barry, too!" she said, turning her shoulder in a defiant statement. "I heard the two of you talking about leaving!"
Sarah was hopping mad now. "So what! What business is it of yours?"
"Noah decides who comes in and who leaves!" she shot back. "We can't have people running around doing whatever they want!"
"What is your problem?" Sarah asked. "You seemed okay when I first came here, but now I see that you're nothing but a... but a two-faced bitch!"
Kathy looked like she had just been slapped. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth hung open. After stammering for a few seconds, she started to speak a retort.
Before she could finish half a sentence, Sarah said, "Oh, go fuck yourself!" in frustration before turning and leaving. She didn't look back, but she could hear that Kathy didn't move a single step.
She shoved the door open and went outside, climbing back up the ladder and returning to the wall. The guard next to her gave her a look, obviously seeing the agitation on her face, and decided better of saying anything. She leaned against the wall and stared out to the east again, a single tear of bitter rage and frustration rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away and refused to let out another.
She couldn't believe Kathy was daring to act so high and migh
ty when it was Sarah herself that had Noah's ear far more than she did. She was comforted by this fact and knew that no matter what Kathy tried to tell him, it would fall on deaf ears. She even thought how she would enjoy the bitch yammering her head off to Noah and then walking in behind her and have Noah tell her off.
She smiled at the thought. Yes, she would do that.
Just as soon as Noah got back.
The park was a smoking crater. Scattered zombies prowled the streets, hungrily searching for who had disturbed them. The storage park was in ruins, with the smoking husks of vehicles overturned and strewn, and black blast marks scorched on the pavement where the bombs had gone off. Down the road from the storage park, dead bodies littered the ground, riddled with bullets.
Noah crawled over one of them, his head hurting from where it smacked on the pavement, a thin line of blood dripping down into his eyes. He wiped it away as he climbed up to his feet, stepping over the body of one of his men.
Wayne staggered on behind him, his face beaten and bloody.
Noah looked down and touched the gunshot wound in his abdomen, wincing at the pain and inspecting the blood on his hand when he pulled it away.
They surveyed the dead bodies of all the men surrounding them. The five men they had brought with them were dead, as were all of Zed's men, including Zed himself. Noah gave his corpse a final look before turning his head and walking on. He glanced at the side street that Delroy and his men fled down and knew that he could run, but he couldn't hide.
Noah and Wayne didn't say a word to each other as they stumbled down the road. They both knew what needed to be done.
Ernie paced on top of the semi-trailer outside Zed's camp. He stared northeast where Zed and the rest of their men had gone, but still they hadn't returned. He looked up at the sun and then down at the shadows that were cast, trying to get a sense of the time.
The front doors to the warehouse opened and someone poked his head out. "They back yet?" the man asked from below.
Ernie gave another look down the road then turned to the man and shook his head. "Not yet."
"You think something went wrong?"
It was a good question. Ernie squinted in the sunlight, measuring it in his mind. "Nah, I don't think so."
"Well they should've been back by now."
Ernie sighed in frustration as he wheeled around. "I know that," he said. "If the boss—"
He caught something out the corner of his eye.
Two people were walking down the road and he squinted to see better. When he saw who it was, he yelled to the other guards to come to him as he raised his gun. "Hey!" he yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
Noah and Wayne came down the road, exhausted. It had taken them over an hour to get back, and the gunshot wound in his abdomen wasn't doing him any favors. He raised his hands and Wayne did the same. "We're unarmed!"
"I don't care," Ernie said. "I asked what you're doing here. Where's Zed?"
"He's dead."
"Bullshit."
"If he wasn't," Noah replied, "he would've been back by now. And you know it."
"You kill him?" Ernie asked, his trigger finger itching.
"It was Delroy."
"Delroy?"
"They killed everybody. We were the only two that escaped."
"What happened?" Ernie demanded.
"We rigged explosives all around the area according to Zed's plan and started setting them off, but we didn't realize that Delroy had set a few extra. He blew some of us to hell, and the rest of us scattered, but his men hunted us down and shot us. Me and Wayne managed to escape, but not before I took one myself." He moved his hand away from his wound and showed Ernie the blood on it.
Ernie stared at him long and hard, sizing him up. "You're lying," he said.
"I know we're the last people you want to see," Noah said, "but you know I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, go look at the bodies. They're all there—my men too."
Ernie looked back at the other guards who were standing around him, pointing their guns at the two of them, then he looked down at his feet, trying to think of what to do. "Shit!" he said, stomping his foot down on the roof of the semi-trailer. "Where's Delroy now?"
"I couldn't say for sure," Noah said, "but I would bet he's back at his camp right now."
"So what do you want to do?" Ernie asked.
"I know we've had our differences, but we have to put them aside and wipe out Delroy before he can do the same to us—tonight. Because I guarantee you that's what he's going to do to us."
The armed men standing atop the tractor-trailers and the roof whispered to each other, unsure.
After a long pause, Ernie sighed. "Boys," he called, motioning for the guards on the ground to open the front gate.
Noah and Wayne passed through and Ernie climbed down and led them into the warehouse.
15
The Man Behind the Mask
"Noah!"
Sarah raced down the ladder to the ground, her heart pounding in her chest. The guards opened the gates and Noah and Wayne walked in. She ran up to him, ready to throw her arms out and embrace him, but then she saw him up-close and stopped, her heart vaulting into her throat. "Are you okay?" she cried. "What happened?"
He had a thin gash across his forehead, but otherwise looked okay; it was Wayne who looked the worse for wear, the left side of his face black and blue, with a deep cut across the bridge of his nose.
"We're okay," Noah said, heading toward the building.
"Where are the others?" she asked.
Wayne's eyes fell at the mention of them, and they told the story by themselves.
"They didn't make it," Noah said.
She followed along beside them as they headed for the catwalk up to the second floor. "Noah, hold on a second," she said, grabbing him by the shoulder.
He stopped and faced her. "I'll tell you about it later," he said. "I really have to talk with Wayne and Kenny first. And I should probably get myself patched up, too." He looked down at his stomach and moved his hand and she saw the bloody hole in him.
"Oh my God! Are you going to be okay? What happened?" A million thoughts and worries raced through her head, but all he offered her was a faint smile.
"I'll be fine," he said, "don't worry. But we really have to talk business first." He grabbed her hands and brushed his thumbs over the backs of them. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead and she had no recourse but to glumly accept his request. They continued up the stairs and went through the door into the building. Kenny had caught up to them at this point and the three men disappeared into Noah's office.
Just before he shut the door, Noah poked his head back out like he was looking for someone. His eyes lit up and he said, "Can you get your supplies and come in here for a minute? Me and Wayne have to get patched up."
Sarah turned and looked at who he was talking to.
"I'll be right there," Kathy said with a smile before turning her head toward Sarah and flashing a triumphant grin. She got some supplies from the infirmary and walked into Noah's office, closing the door behind her.
Sarah was left standing in the hallway, stunned and angry. She stormed outside and took a walk around the building, trying to pace away her anger. At first she was angry at Noah, but she knew she was being irrational and her thoughts slowly reverted back to worry and confusion about what had happened earlier that day.
What she thought was going to be an hour at most turned into a meeting lasting most of the day. Kathy came out of the office early and went about her day, but the three men stayed in there for several hours, finally emerging in the early evening. When she took another run through the building and saw his office door open, she poked her head in and saw him lying on his bed with his hands on his chest, looking exhausted.
"Is now a good time?" she asked.
He lifted his head to see who it was and a tired smile came over his face. "Yeah, come on in."
She closed the door and sat on the bed next to him, brushing her hand over his leg. "Are you okay?" she said softly.
"Yeah, I'll be all right."
"What happened out there?"
He tried to think of the best way to say it. It was on his mind all day, and it hadn't gotten any easier. He got a little choked up and his eyes got misty. "Delroy set us up. All of us."
She cooed to him and continued to rub his leg. She wanted to hug him, but she didn't want to irritate his injury. Seeing him sad made her upset, but she was just glad he was still alive and in one piece. "That's why the others didn't make it back?"
"Yeah."
"What about Zed?"
He forced himself up with a painful grunt and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. She propped him up and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Delroy killed Zed and all his men, too. He planted explosives in the wrong places when no one was looking and set them off, pushing the zombies toward us. In the confusion, him and his men tried to gun us all down. Wayne and I were the only ones who got out alive."
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
"We're going to assault Delroy's base tonight and kill him. Him and his backstabbing friends."
"But I thought him and Zed were working together? Why would he betray him?"
"He had an opportunity to wipe us all out; he took it. Simple as that, really."
"So now I have to worry about you all over again?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You're going to go fight Delroy when you're in no shape to. You shouldn't go."
He laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not."
"You're not?"
"No, if it wasn't for this gut wound, I probably would, but I'm leaving it up to Wayne and Kenny tonight. I get to sit at home and rest."
"What's going to happen with Zed's men?"
"Me and Wayne stopped there on the way back and broke the news to them, so they're on board."
"They're going to help you tonight?"
A Rising Tide (Zombie Apocalypse Series Book 2) Page 14
