“Yeah, I’m up,” she said. “What time is it?”
Mason said, “I’m guessing three or four o’clock.”
“Oh my, you took the long end of it.”
“You were sleeping well, and I didn’t want to interrupt that.”
There was a moment of silence before they began to whisper back and forth. Shemika spoke up first.
“What time did she finally fall asleep?”
“It was a couple of hours into your sleep that she finally dozed off.”
“Do you think we’re going to get out of this alive?”
“I certainly hope so. There’s so many variables. When you think you’ve got it figured out, you find a monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix.”
“It wasn’t our fault, you know.”
Mason was silent for a moment. He was amazed that Shemika had already figured out that Mason was blaming himself for the death of Tynice.
“I think I know that. I can’t help but wonder how things would have ended if I’d just started shooting and pulled out of the pile of Ravagers.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” Mason was shocked by her response. “Had you done that, you’d be dead. She’d be dead. And I’d be alone again. Besides, we’ve seen hundreds of rounds pumped into those things and they don’t die.”
“Some of them do. I saw it. I just don’t know how yet.”
“We can figure that out later. At some point we’re going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. The one that we’re in is the most important. We have to stay focused on getting out of here and finding Lydia.”
Mason’s heart swelled when he heard her say that. Mason’s feelings for Shemika were now confirmed. “Good night,” he told her.
“See you in two or three hours,” she said.
Hours later, it was quiet outside the door. Light was shining in through the bottom of the door, albeit only a tiny bit. Shemika gently opened the door, exposing them to the outside for the first time since Tynice had been killed. She left a one-inch crack open, just barely enough for some fresh air and a little light.
Shemika looked around the tiny room and saw Tanara and Mason were sound asleep. Mason’s journal lay by his side and was within arm’s reach. At first, she looked away from it. The temptation to peek into Mason’s mind was overwhelming. She couldn’t resist the urge anymore. She was attracted to everything about Mason. He was charming, handsome, skilled, goal-oriented, determined, and an excellent protector. The only thing she needed to cement her feelings for him was a glimpse into his thoughts.
She quietly grabbed the journal and used the morning light to read what Mason had written. She started from the beginning, when he had left the Reservation to begin his search for Lydia. When she was done, and she knew that Mason had feelings for her too, she put the journal back in its place and looked out the crack of the door with a half smile on her face. It stayed there until she saw Tynice’s Ravager form walking by the door. It was close enough to smell Shemika’s adrenal dump. It screamed and ran at the door. It slammed shut, startling Mason and Tanara from their sleep.
“What is it? Mason asked. “What happened?”
The Ravager was outside, beating on the door.
“I opened the door to let in a little air and—” Shemika was interrupted by the look on Tanara’s face. She didn’t want to tell her what she had seen. “And I guess one of them freaked out on me.”
Mason could tell she was hiding something, but wasn’t about to ask what it was. He assumed the right thing, though.
“We need a plan,” Shemika said. “Any suggestions?” Her inquiry was directed straight to Mason.
“I say you and Tanara close your eyes and I lead you out of here like before.”
Tanara was shaking her head. She was obviously still horrified at the thought of going back outside.
“That’s where the plan failed yesterday,” Shemika said. “It’s not good enough.”
“It’s all we have. Until we know how to kill them, there’s no other option. Unless…” Mason paused in the middle of pitching his idea.
“Unless what?” Shemika asked.
“Unless I go out alone and lure them away.”
“How do you plan on doing that? You’re not even afraid of them.”
“I’ll think of something. I have to. These things have been here for days. It’s not like they migrate.”
“Okay, okay, let’s go with the closing-of-the-eyes thing,” Shemika conceded.
The three of them stood up, and as soon as they did, Tanara started crying hysterically.
“You’re going to have to gain control of yourself if we’re going to make it out of here alive,” Mason said.
The Ravager on the outside stopped banging on the door, and the room went silent.
“Tanara,” Mason said, grabbing her by the hand, “calm yourself.”
She stopped whimpering after a couple of minutes and closed her eyes. Mason slowly opened the door. The first Ravager he saw was Tynice. Her eyes hadn’t turned hazy yet, but there was no life in them. They were all dried up and void of expression.
Mason had Tanara’s hand, and Shemika followed behind Tanara. They made it about ten feet when Mason whispered back, “We’re clear of the Ravagers. Just keep moving.”
It was that comment that provoked Tanara to look back. A gentle breeze caught the back of her head as she did. She saw Tynice, who was facing in her direction. When she saw her undead sister, she broke down again. The same gentle breeze that felt so refreshing on the faces of Mason and Shemika carried the scent of human hormone to Tynice’s Ravager form. The creature screamed.
Mason stopped to turn around at the moment the Ravager began its charge. It was followed by several other Ravagers, all of which began their bloodcurdling screams.
Mason led them to the closest place of safety, an old van with broken-out windows. It was large, and from what Mason recalled, the creatures were unable to open doors or climb.
“Quick, in here,” he said, opening the door of the large church van.
The three of them ran inside and scooted into the middle. The bus had been stripped, and there were no seats, so they stood there and considered their next move. Mason considered shooting their way out, but Shemika was right, they had seen them absorb enough bullets to drop an elephant, so shooting at them would be a waste of precious resources.
Hours passed and Shemika had long since calmed, but Tanara was staring into the eyes of the Ravager that used to be her sister, and all she could do was cry uncontrollably. Tynice was reaching into the window like the other Ravagers were. Grabbing for Tanara, but coming up short. On occasion, Tanara would reach out and try touching Tynice, but Mason would grab her hand and force it back down to her side.
More hours passed and Tanara fell asleep crying. Mason looked at Shemika, who had also fallen asleep. It was far from night, but the lack of sleep the previous evening had them all struggling to stay awake. The Ravagers were no longer groping at them and were wandering around the area or standing motionless in the street.
Sitting there, alone with his thoughts, Mason considered waking Shemika and the two of them slipping away into the distance, leaving Tanara behind. All he could think about was all the time that was being wasted while Lydia was out there somewhere. He woke Shemika up from her nap and pointed at Tanara, soliciting a response.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“How do you feel about me and you sneaking away? She’s slowing us down and risking our lives.”
“We can’t leave her alone. Not like that. It’s cruel… inhumane.”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
Shemika came up empty.
Several minutes had passed when the Ravagers suddenly and unexpectedly screamed and charged at the van. Mason and Shemika saw that Tanara was having a nightmare. The attack was fueled by Tanara’s response to her nightmare. The impact woke Tanara from her sleep.
Mason looked at Shemika, and
she could see the look of sorrow and desperation in his eyes. Shemika understood what his facial expressions were saying. There was no other way. Tanara was costing them time and threatening their lives.
As Tanara screamed and peered into the undead eyes of her younger sister, Mason grabbed her with both of his hands and pulled her in close, wrapping both arms around her. She accepted the shelter and security that Mason was offering her, despite the previous night’s hard feelings, but Mason’s objective was a painfully difficult decision that he had made. He comforted her only for a couple of seconds, long enough to place his hands firmly over her mouth and nose. He wrapped his legs around hers as she kicked and tried to break free. He was asphyxiating his friend to save Shemika and his daughter, Lydia, who he was yet to rescue.
Tanara struggled as Mason held firm. Her eyes had a look of terror and sorrow as she slapped Mason’s body and fought against him with every move she made. She reached for Shemika, but Shemika couldn’t look. She turned her head away, forsaking her pleas for help.
In moments, the fighting was over. Tanara was dead and Shemika burst into tears. It was the first time Mason had ever killed a woman, and the act put a gaping hole of sorrow and regret in his chest that would never go away or be filled by any good word or deed. He wanted to cry, but he felt hollow and empty, like there was nothing left to give. The tears were replaced by numbness. Just like his emotions had been replaced by logic. Sometimes, tough decisions are forced upon us.
“We need to get out of here in case she turns,” he said.
Haven
Markus’s body was lying in a burn pit. He had been shot in the head by Romeo as soon as he found out he let the preacher escape. Romeo’s tolerance for incompetence was high, but the loss of the preacher was a mistake he wasn’t going to let go by unanswered.
After Markus’s death, he appointed Leroy Wilson as his new number one. His primary objective was to secure Haven and then find the preacher. Nothing short of success was going to be tolerated. Although they had penetrated the walls of the prison, Romeo felt that losing the preacher counted as an overall loss. They had still not been able to access the inner facility, and with the preacher’s prophecy of doom looming over Romeo’s head, he feared for his own safety.
Inside Haven
“Colonel, I’ve finished with the inventory, and I think with strict rationing and resourcefulness, we can last about a month if we keep the current number of mouths. Less mouths to feed would make things considerably easier,” Sanders’s chief of logistics said.
“What are you recommending, Captain?” the Colonel asked.
“Sir, even if there were only you, eventually we will have no food. They have time on their side, and no amount of rationing will save us. We need to take back the courtyards.”
“Go fetch Mr. Hughes, Scottie. This is a security matter now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Michael Hughes was the chief of security. When he arrived to see the Colonel, he was expecting bad news.
The Colonel was standing in the Colonel’s Court, looking out of the window at the masses of the Order’s people that invaded the courtyards of Haven. His back was to Michael when he knocked on the door.
“Come in,” the Colonel answered.
“Colonel, you called for me?”
“Indeed I did, Mr. Hughes.”
“How can I help you?”
“Do you see that mass of people down there?”
Michael walked over to the side of the Colonel and looked out into the courtyard. “I do.”
“They killed all of our tower guards and rovers, leaving nobody alive unless they were safely secured inside. It’s hard to tell how many more may have died if you weren’t in charge.”
“I do my best, sir.”
“Do you think you can round up enough people to successfully fend them off in open conflict?”
“We don’t have a lot of fighters, Colonel. We’re mostly blue-collared workers who’ve never pointed a gun at anybody. You took them in before they had to.”
The Colonel turned and faced Michael. “I’ve never pointed a gun at anyone, Mr. Hughes. I am an administrator at best. I don’t think I could accurately use a gun.” The Colonel turned back to the window. “But those guys down there… they outnumber us two to one, and each one of them is a killer.”
“Are you saying we should surrender, sir?”
“I’m asking you, is there any way, on this Godforsaken earth, that we can beat them?”
“I think we can dwindle their numbers with some unconventional and unsuspected tactics. I think they’re expecting a straightforward clean fight, but this is a war, and wars are not won by doing what the enemy is prepared for. They’re won through innovative strategies and dirty deeds.”
“That’s why I made you chief of security, Mr. Hughes,” the Colonel said, patting him on the shoulder.
Somewhere between Orland Park and Joliet
With the loss of Tanara and Tynice came the ability to ride Mason’s Harley Davidson Knucklehead. He’d picked it up after their escape from the church van and had been walking it along, preserving gasoline for when they needed it. Ravagers seemed to be particularly populated in and around larger communities.
As they pushed the motorcycle along the city streets, they heard some yelling, mingled with laughter, coming from up ahead. Mason stopped pushing the bike to focus their hearing on the sounds. The only thing Mason was able to hear were a few gunshots, some laughing sounds, and the word Smoka.
Mason and Shemika pushed the bike off the road as fast as they could and hid it behind a building, covering it with an old tarp that was blowing from a window. Mason held the edge of the tarp up for Shemika and said, “Get under here and wait for me. You should be safe. You have your pistol, right?”
Shemika pulled her pistol out. “Right here.”
“Good. Hang tight. I have to deal with this.” Mason handed her the edge of the tarp, and she tucked it under her body and remained still while Mason scurried off in the direction of the noise.
Mason moved into a position where he was able to look around the side of a building to see an old model tow truck driving around and around the block. There were Ravagers chasing the truck.
Mason couldn’t see enough from his position, so he moved across the street and accessed a building with a third-story view. From there, he saw a person tied to the boom. The truck was driving slowly enough to keep the hordes of Ravagers chasing them. The person tied to the boom appeared to be a man. They kept it raised just out of reach of the Ravagers, so that they were running and reaching for the man, but couldn’t get him.
When the truck circled back closest to Mason’s position, he saw two black men sitting on the back of the truck. A third black guy was driving with the windows up. One of the men on the back was controlling the winch and the boom; the other was taking shots at the Ravagers, none of which seemed to be causing any harm.
The man attached to the boom arm was crying out of fear. “Please, I’ve got kids. Don’t kill me.”
The two men just laughed as they used him to taunt the Ravagers and kept driving in circles around the block.
“Hey, Smoka,” the other man called out.
“Yeah?”
“We gotta be gett’n back to Romeo. He gonna freak. We been gone fo’ days.”
“Man, we found ’im a tow truck. It be worth the hassle, yo.”
“Still…”
“Okay, man,” Smoka said, tapping on the top of the old truck. Mason was now behind the wheel, and the previous driver was unconscious on the floorboard of the passenger side of the truck.
“Take us back to Joliet, Frenz’,” Smoka called out to the driver, completely unaware that his buddy was out cold and the truck had assumed a new operator.
There were no side mirrors or rearview window on the truck. The mirrors had been removed prior to Smoka’s acquisition of it, and the window was boarded up with sheet metal. Mason heard the command to head back to Jolie
t and had already hatched a plan.
Five minutes earlier
“Shemika,” Mason said, winded from his run back to the tarp where she was hiding.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What is it?”
“It’s the men I’ve been looking for. Do you know how to drive a motorcycle?”
“My daddy taught me years ago. Why?”
“I don’t have time to explain. I want you to wait ten minutes then drive the bike to Joliet. Do you remember the house where I hid my backpack?”
“Yeah.”
“Go there and hide the bike and wait for me. Don’t worry about Haven finding you. They won’t care about you when they see what I’m bringing them. Do you understand?”
“Got it.”
Mason tucked the tarp back under Shemika’s body and ran for a position along the truck’s path, where he waited to make his move.
Several minutes later
Romeo and his men were standing in groups of threes and fours, each assigned to develop a plan of attack to breach the inner parts of Haven, when the sound of breaking glass was heard, followed by an eruption of gunfire from the windows of the prison. Haven was raining down a barrage of bullets at the Order, killing several where they stood. Of those that survived, hiding out of view of the gunmen was the optimal choice at that time. They were all caught off guard by the sudden attack and forced into a scattered retreat.
“You’re going to die for that!” Romeo called out. “Every last one of you are going to die.”
Romeo waited for a response, but he was getting the express feeling that they were purposefully ignoring him. For a narcissist like Romeo, that didn’t bode well.
“Return fire,” he called out. The Order stepped out from their positions and fired back at the barred windows of the prison, but nobody was there to receive. “Cease fire,” Romeo called out. “Save your ammo. They’re toying with us.”
No Light Beyond Page 10
