Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation

by Zach Bohannon

  Everything had been fine, until they heard gunshots.

  “What’s that noise?” Mary Beth asked.

  “It’s nothing, honey,” Holly said.

  At the top of a steep hill, Will slammed on the brakes. Charlie lunged forward, catching himself on the dashboard. Holly and the kids slammed against the front seats and cried out.

  “What the hell, man?” Charlie asked.

  Will didn’t say anything. He simply looked ahead. The others joined him when the next gunshot rang out moments later. Followed by another. And another. Holly poked her head between the seats.

  “What’s going on?” Mary Beth asked.

  A quarter of a mile down the open road, a group of six or seven humans fought against a herd of Empties. There were several vehicles around them, including an overturned SUV. The battle took up the entire width of the road. From what Will could tell from a distance, the possessed outnumbered the living by about two to one.

  “We’ve gotta turn around,” Holly said.

  Will remained silent, observing the scene.

  The kids became restless in the back, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Dylan went to open his door and Holly shot back into her seat to scold him. She ordered him to stay in his seat and keep his seatbelt on.

  Will looked over to Charlie, who held a neutral expression on his face. Charlie shrugged, and Will nodded.

  As Holly appeared between the seats again, Will grabbed his sidearm to assure it was loaded.

  “Check that shotgun and rifle,” Will told Charlie, who had the guns by his feet.

  “What are you doing?” Holly asked.

  “We’re going to help them,” Will said.

  “What?” Holly grabbed onto his shoulder. “Will, the children. We can’t just run down there recklessly.”

  “Those loaded?” Will said to Charlie, ignoring Holly.

  Holly grabbed his face and turned it toward her.

  “Don’t do this.”

  “What if that was us down there, Holly?”

  “Please,” Holly said. “Turn around. We’ll find another way.”

  Will shook his head. “We’ll pull to within a hundred feet or so of them. Charlie, you and I will run out and help. Holly, you jump up into the front seat. If things go south, or any of the creatures come close, you turn around and head back to the top of the hill. If things get really bad, then don’t stop there. Keep going.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Holly said.

  Will said, “The children.”

  Holly wiped her eyes and nodded.

  “I wanna help,” Dylan said.

  “You keep Mar—”

  “No, I want to help.” Gunshots continued, and people screamed. “Will, pl—”

  “No,” Will said sharply. “You’re not helping. Now, hang on.”

  Will hit the gas. The tires squealed, the smell of burning rubber hitting his nostrils for just a moment. The SUV sped down the hill, toward the battle.

  The humans saw them coming and waved. With a better view of what was going on, Will saw that his estimates were about right. There were three men and one woman fighting against ten Empties. Several bodies lay sprawled on the ground, indistinguishable as having been human or demon. Will stopped the SUV, not slamming on the brakes this time. He reached over and took the rifle from Charlie, who grabbed the shotgun.

  “Go!” Will shouted.

  Leaving the vehicle running, Will exited. He and Charlie jogged toward the fight, slowing to a walk twenty feet away from the herd. The creatures had driven the humans back around their vehicles. Most of the Empties turned their attention to Will and Charlie. When that happened, one of the men fired a rifle. The first shot missed while the second connected, garnering the attention of part of the herd again.

  “We’re about out of ammo!” one of the men shouted.

  Will pressed the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and crept forward while aiming. He fired his first shot into the horde. It took him three shots to take down the first Empty, hitting it in the cheek. Charlie disabled one of the creatures with his second round of buckshot, blowing the thing’s leg off below the knee. It howled as it fell to the ground.

  The survivors smiled. The only one who appeared to still have a loaded weapon re-joined the fight. He approached one of the beasts and took it down from close range while its attention was focused on Will and Charlie. One of the other survivors drew a large knife, ran up to one of the Empties, and slammed the blade through the thing’s skull. They continued the fight until only the humans remained standing. When it was all said and done, smoke lifted from each barrel. The six humans found themselves among a spread of corpses that was covering the road.

  The man who hadn’t run out of ammo approached Will and Charlie, stepping over the fallen bodies.

  “Thank y’all,” he said, mumbling with a backwoods accent. “We for sure thought we was done for.”

  “It’s no problem,” Will said.

  He looked back to Holly and waved her to pull forward. Glancing back to the carnage, he observed the bodies sprawled across the road.

  “We lost three people,” the man said.

  “I’m sorry,” Charlie said.

  The man looked past Will and Charlie to the SUV. “How many’ve you are there?”

  The question made Will nervous. These people were armed, and he had yet to figure out how they’d gotten into this mess in the first place. He’d opened his mouth to respond when he heard the pump of a shotgun. He looked over to see Charlie with the shotgun aimed at the man who’d been speaking to them.

  “Charlie, what are you doing?” Will asked.

  “Lay down your weapon,” Charlie said to the man.

  “Charlie,” Will said again.

  “Shut up, Will.”

  Will was taken aback by the sudden change in Charlie’s demeanor. He gripped his own weapon tight with sweaty palms, wondering if he should aim it at Charlie and threaten him into standing down.

  “Where are the people who own that SUV?” Charlie asked, nodding his head toward the flipped-over vehicle.

  Eyes squinted in confusion, Will looked over to the SUV. It lay on its side. The side facing the sky was wrecked, as if it had rolled. There were bullet holes in the back. Will noticed the South Carolina plates that read: CLA BEAR.

  “Claire’s?” Will mumbled.

  “You’re damn right,” Charlie said. He took a step toward the man, who took two steps back and raised his hands in the air, still holding his rifle.

  “Whoa, now. I don’t know what you’re talking about, son.”

  “Where are they? I’m not asking again.”

  “Charlie, let’s just calm down and talk to them,” Will said.

  The man started to laugh. His yellow teeth showed from between his chapped lips and under his salt and pepper mustache.

  “I’m not sure why you’re laughing, but you better give me some answers now,” Charlie said.

  The others in their group laughed. The man, smiling, took two steps toward Charlie, gaining confidence.

  “You ain’t gonna shoot me,” the man said. “If you shoot me, you’ll never find them. Hell, you’ll never know if they’re alive or dead. Now, why don’t we put down that gun? Huh? Come on, how about it, nigger?”

  Will could see Charlie grip the shotgun tighter and his finger itched the trigger.

  “Charlie, don—”

  One of the men darted behind a vehicle, gathering Charlie’s attention. Everything that followed happened in seconds.

  Charlie shifted his aim and fired, hitting one of the other men in the stomach. As soon as he removed the gun’s aim from the leader, the man lowered his hands and raised his rifle into a firing position, aiming it at Charlie.

  Will, having dropped his rifle, drew his sidearm and fired. Not even a second after the bullet left the chamber of Will’s gun, the man fired.

  The man stumbled backward, removing one of his hands from the rifle and clutching his c
hest. Looking down at his hand, he found it covered in blood.

  Charlie stood with the shotgun still resting against his shoulder. The man’s shot had missed him.

  “Fuck you, bigot,” Charlie said, stepping within just a few yards of the man.

  The shotgun blast startled Will, even though he knew it was coming. The man’s stomach opened like a blooming flower and he fell backward.

  Will looked to Charlie, who stood there stunned at what he’d done. Smoke rose from the man’s stomach and the outlines of his innards showed.

  The survivor who’d hidden behind one of the vehicles reappeared from behind Claire’s SUV, aiming a gun at Charlie.

  “Charlie!”

  Charlie looked over and saw the man pointing the gun at him, and he ducked just as the survivor fired. Will’s eyes went wide and the bullet whistled past his ear. He lifted his own weapon and fired until his clip was empty. He wasn’t sure how many of the bullets connected, but the man fell backward, dropping the pistol out of his hand.

  The one remaining survivor—a woman—remained still in the middle of the road, her arms raised. She trembled, staring toward Will and Charlie.

  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. She turned and ran.

  Charlie dropped the shotgun and drew his own sidearm, aiming it at her.

  “Charlie, no!” Will yelled.

  He lunged at his friend and tackled him, but not before Charlie could fire off two shots.

  Lying on top of Charlie, Will looked down the road. Charlie yelled at Will to get off of him. The bullets had missed, and the girl continued to run.

  Will jumped to his feet and raced after her.

  Hearing him coming, the woman kept looking back.

  “Stop!” Will commanded.

  Crying, the woman continued to run. Will gained on her, having cut their distance in half. She finally stopped and turned all the way around to face him. Will slowed and stopped, standing about fifteen yards from her.

  “Look, we just want to know where our friends are,” Will said.

  “I can’t,” the woman said, wiping her eyes.

  “No one else needs to die.”

  “I can’t. I can’t go back. Not like this.”

  “Where? You can’t go back where?”

  “To him. He’ll torture me. He’ll make me play.”

  Will furrowed his brow. “Play? What are you talking about? Please, tell me where my friends are.”

  “Your friends are already dead. They have to be. I’m sorry.”

  “No, what do you me—”

  “I’m sorry.” She drew her knife from her hip and pressed it to her throat.

  “No!” Will yelled. He ran toward her, but only made it in time to catch her as she fell backward.

  The woman’s head went limp, and Will almost threw his back out as gravity took over and she went down. Blood seeped from the wound at first, and then poured.

  “Please, where are my friends?”

  But the woman couldn’t speak. She gurgled and coughed as blood came out her mouth.

  Angry now, Will shook her.

  “Tell me!”

  She coughed once more and took a final breath. Then she went still, falling completely limp in Will’s arms. He eased her down onto the ground.

  Charlie, Holly, and the two children approached. Will bowed his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he gazed upon the knife on the ground, covered in blood. A small river ran red from her body, paving a path across the highway.

  “Is Gabriel okay?” Dylan asked.

  The question drew Will’s attention away. He turned around to see Holly shifting her attention from Mary Beth to Dylan.

  “We don’t know, sweetie,” Holly said, kneeling down and putting her hands on his shoulders. “But we’re gonna find him.”

  “We need to search the vehicles,” Will said. “There might be some sort of clue to where these people came from.”

  “How do we even know they knew where they went? What if they just found the vehicle on the road and were scouring it?”

  “They knew,” Charlie said.

  Holly looked to Will, and he nodded at her.

  Will said, “Let’s check them. You guys go ahead, and I’ll be right behind you.” He drew his knife.

  “Come on, guys,” Holly said, and she turned the children away.

  “Sorry, man,” Charlie said.

  “It’s all right,” Will replied. “I just want to find them.”

  Charlie nodded, then looked down to the woman’s body. “You got that one?”

  “Yeah,” Will said. “Go start checking those vehicles.”

  “All right.”

  Will faced the body and kneeled down. The woman’s eyes remained open, staring up at the sky. Will rolled his palm over her face, shutting her eyes. He told her he was sorry, and then he assured that she’d never stand or open her eyes again.

  ***

  Among the vehicles left behind by the group Will and the others had just encountered was an old Winnebago. When Charlie searched it, he found a map that showed where Gabriel, Jessica, and the others had been taken.

  They moved all their things into the Winnebago and left their SUV behind.

  There was one stop to make before they went for their friends.

  ***

  It took them most of the day to travel back to the neighborhood. By the time they got there, they’d almost run out of daylight. The guards looked hesitant as the Winnebago approached. Then Will poked out and told them who he needed to see.

  They parked the Winnebago in the middle of the street, and a familiar face stepped out of a nearby house. Will exited the vehicle. His eyes drooped and he barely felt able to stand, a sudden sense of exhaustion traveling through him.

  “Will, what are you doing back here?” Timothy asked.

  “We need your help.”

  He explained to Timothy how they’d found the vehicle belonging to their friends.

  “My God. I’m glad you guys made it out okay. How do you know that your friends did?”

  “We can’t be sure that they’re there, but we have to go and find out.”

  “And where exactly is there?”

  Will reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. They went into the house.

  Timothy cleared off the dining room table and Will unfolded the paper, laying it out flat. Timothy’s wife, Samantha, entered the room. She frowned, puzzled by the reappearance of Will. She looked into the living room and saw Holly with the kids. Charlie pulled her aside to explain to her why they’d come back.

  What Will had lain on the table was a map. Charlie had found it inside the Winnebago. It had been marked up to show the different places the raiders had scoured, but most importantly, it showed where their home base was.

  “This is where you want to go?” Timothy asked.

  “Yes,” Will said.

  “That’s Shorewood. It’s only about thirty minutes or so from here. Really small town. Lives and breathes high school football. So what do you need from us?”

  Will told him what he needed. Timothy frowned, and Samantha immediately jumped in to protest. After a few moments, the commotion wore down. Will’s gaze remained on Timothy, and when the doctor turned around, he saw the looks of the children. Dylan had started crying, mumbling that he missed Gabriel. Holly hugged him. The boy’s face helped them have a change of heart.

  “All right,” Timothy said. “I’ll gather the others.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  As the Empties exited the back of the truck, Gabriel counted. He landed at the number eight.

  “We can defeat eight of them,” Gabriel said. “How many of these things did you have to kill out there before you ended up here?” Gabriel could only assume that Chase had spent time out in the world before showing up here. He hoped so.

  “I lost count,” Chase said. “A lot.”

  “Good. Then you know to aim for the head.”

  “The neck. Won
’t have time to be trying to draw that blade back out of their skulls.”

  Good point, Gabriel thought.

  “I only hope the edge is sharp enough for a clean decapitation,” Chase said.

  The crowd erupted again. Gabriel looked above the opposite goal post to see Ambrose arriving in the bandstands. He waved to the crowd like he was their king or savior. Nathan Ambrose settled into his chair and looked down to the two competitors.

  On the field, the Empties lumbered, and the truck raced off. A guard on the other side of the fence raised his hand and the crowd went silent. Next to him, another guard pointed a rifle into the air.

  Gabriel scanned the stands, looking for Jessica and Claire. He checked the seats where they had been brought the last time for Thomas’ game, but neither woman was there. He refocused on his own game, glancing back down to the two guards assigned with starting the game.

  The guard’s hand came down, and his counterpart fired the rifle.

  Gabriel and Chase took off.

  The crowd screamed.

  Chase’s longer legs gave him a slight advantage. Gabriel thought that perhaps Chase had been right and Gabriel wouldn’t have had to let him win. As Chase put a few extra yards between them, Gabriel found himself thankful that he’d made the deal with his competitor. He chugged his legs as hard as he could. No way in hell would he have beaten Chase to that ax. Not unless something happened.

  Then something happened.

  Chase tripped at the fifty yard line and fell flat on his face.

  For a moment, Gabriel thought to stop and help him.

  Shit, I can’t do that, he told himself. If he helped Chase up, both men would be shot; that was the rule. Instead, he kept running.

  He looked back. Chase had made it back onto his feet. Another twenty yards ahead, the Empties remained gathered in a herd. Gabriel still had time to give Chase the opportunity to catch up.

  Gabriel grimaced and pulled up, grabbing his leg. He didn’t stop, continuing to run, but now with a limp. As he faked a cramp in his leg, Chase raced by him. Most of the crowd cheered. Perhaps they also felt as if Gabriel could not win.

  Still limping, Gabriel worked his way to the right side of the field. He wanted to get as far away from the Empties as possible. Ahead, Chase reached the ax, yanking it off the upright. Again, the majority of the gallery clapped and yelled. Three of the beasts had broken off from the group and followed Chase. The other five remained focused on Gabriel.