As another zombie swung at Jake, he ducked the decaying arm, grabbed it by its torso, then shoved it towards Boris. Boris stabbed the zombie in the head and threw it out of the way. As he did so, Jake charged with full force, throwing the both Boris and himself out of that office window.
“Who are you to decide...” Jake grunted as he picked himself up from the concrete ground. “Who is strong or weak? Who are you to say who lives or who dies?!”
Jake saw Boris’s pistol that he lost in the fall. He quickly picked it up and pinned Boris to the ground.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
Boris tightly gripped Jake’s wrist, fighting to prevent Jake from shooting him at point blank. Boris then tightly caressed Jake’s bullet wound in his arm.
“Yeargh!” Jake yelped.
Boris then kneed Jake in the stomach, evading him. As zombies surrounded the two, Boris ran to a nearby bus, climbing on top of it.
Gotta stop him! Jake thought. Even with all these zombies around, he can still get away. He cannot be a threat to anymore people!
Pow! Pow! Pow!
Jake fired at Boris as he followed him to the bus. While shooting, Jake climbed up the van as well meeting Boris at the top. As Boris recovered from being shot at, he looked around to see piles of zombies trotting towards the bus.
Jake and Boris were now surrounded by a blanket of infected teeth and hands. They now had nowhere to go; if either of them stepped off of the rooftop of that bus, they would be dismembered and devoured. Boris was now trapped, with the zombies being around the bus he’s on and Jake standing a few yards from him, aiming a pistol at him.
“Jake!” Tyrese said through Jake’s radio. “We’re swinging around on Alpha’s bird to get you out! Where are you?!”
“We were so close!” Boris shouted. “We would have been the predators; the top of the food chain! We would have had the perfect society of warriors that many leaders could only ever dream of having! We would have rose up like these things, but only stronger. In this new world... WE WOULD HAVE BEEN GODS!!!!”
“See, Boris?” Jake replied. “That speech you just gave me proves that not only would you never know how to be a leader, but that you don’t deserve to be one of us! We’re supposed to sustain and preserve a future for humanity, and build up a home for all people, especially the weak!”
“So what now? I’m done for. I got nowhere to run. I lost my knife in the fall. You have my gun and people are coming to pick you up. What about me? Am I gonna be put on trial?”
“Like you said, Boris: Natural selection. In this case, it’s actually being done right.”
Boris looked around at the zombies, which were reaching for a meal that they could smell and see, but could not touch, like children window shopping at a bakery. Boris then turned his attention back at Jake, who kept his focus fixed on him..
“So you’re gonna kill me?” Boris asked.
“Can’t let you live to hurt anyone else,” Jake answered. “But at the same time, death would be too easy for a monster like you.”
Jake then spoke to HR-Team Alpha through his radio.
“Swing around,” Jake ordered. “But don’t lower the rope yet until I say otherwise.”
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Click!
Jake wasted all the rounds in the pistol, killing some of the zombies around him, but never taking his eyes off of Boris. He then removed the clip and threw it in the pile of zombies, then disassembled the gun, throwing the pieces in the thick blanket.
“Kyle wanted me to give you my regards,” Jake told Boris as he pulled out his knife, threw it at a zombie, then got in a fighting stance. “I’m gonna do just that.”
Boris gave an evil grin as he got in a fighting stance as well.
“We’ll see,” Boris uttered.
Boris then charged at Jake. As Jake swung, Boris caught his arm and started punching him across his eye. Jake quickly retaliated, catching Boris in the throat with the other hand and pushing him away, freeing his arm from Boris’s clutches.
Jake then swung two blows on Boris’s jawline. As he went for the third jab, Boris deflected the punch, to which case Jake resorted to the elbow in the gut, then shoving him back with the other hand.
As Boris stumbled back, he drop kicked Jake, pushing Jake back with full force while stopping himself from falling over the bus. He quickly picked himself up, then rushed over to Jake, attempting to stomp all over him. Jake cradled himself used his arms to block Boris’s boots. He timed each stomp and countered the next attempt, swinging his torso around to the back of Boris’s knees.
Once Jake rolled over, he picked Boris up by his shins and slammed him face first on the metal ground. Jake then crawled on top or Boris’s back and proceeded to slam Boris’s face on the rooftop of that bus. Boris caught himself, elbowing Jake in the side and headbutting him.
The chopper carrying HR-Team Alpha finally met up to the center of that prison.
“There he is!” Tyrese shouted as he found Jake and Boris wrestling on top of that bus.
“Throw the rope down!” Kyle responded.
“You heard Jake! Wait for it! Can’t risk Boris grabbing the line!”
Boris rolled Jake off of his back, pressing his right knee in Jake’s gut, and his left across one of Jake’s arms, then offered him a flurry of left and right hooks. Jake tried to strike back with his free arm, but Boris pinned it down and continued to tenderize Jake’s swollen face.
Grimm pointed his rifle at Boris’s head.
“No, don’t!” Kyle ordered. “You might hit Jake!”
As Boris went for a straight jab, Jake moved his head to the side, causing Boris to dent the rooftop of the bus, nearly breaking his knuckles.
“Geeyah!” Boris shouted as he shook his hand, trying to get feeling back in his fingers.
Jake used his strength to flip Boris on his back, pinning Boris underneath him. Jake furiously swung his fists around Boris’s legs, pounding his face in desperation to remove Boris’s eyes out of his sockets. Boris used his feet to throw Jake away from him.
Jake swayed from the leg force given to him. He fell at the edge of the bus, with his head dangling on the edge for the zombies like a chicken tied to a tree, awaiting to be devoured by a roaming alligator.
As a zombie swung, Jake quickly raised his head out of reflex, barely missing the rotten fingertips. As Jake tried to pick himself up, Boris slammed him back on the edge. Boris then used all of the strength in his arms, fighting to push Jake’s head in the impending doom.
Jake strained his neck in order to keep his head from being caught in the array of hungry beasts. He used one arm to brace himself to the bus and the other in an attempt to push Boris away from him.
“Look up, Jake,” Boris grunted as he held Jake’s head. “Those people above us are gonna watch their hero fall!”
I gotta act quick, Jake thought. I can’t let Boris get the best of me. Think, Jake; think!
With that, an idea popped in Jake’s head. He relaxed his neck, breaking the tension that Boris was applying. A zombie grabbed the beanie cap on Jake’s head and proceeded to dig in the cloth. Jake abruptly swung his head upward before the zombie could scratch his scalp, losing the cap on his head.
Jake continued swinging his head upward, knocking back Boris, who was stunned by the broken tension. As Boris stumbled, Jake grabbed him by his head and slung him against the edge of the bus.
Slash!
“Argh!”
One of the zombies swung at Boris’s head, which was dangling off the bus, and caught him on the side of his face.
As Boris screamed hysterically, he covered covered up his wounded face, forgetting that one of his arms was also dangling over the edge of the bus.
Crunch!
“Gyaahh!!”
Two more zombies in the overbearing crowd took a huge bite from that arm. Boris frantically yanked his arm out of the zombies’ clutches.
“Oh, God,” Boris kept repeating as he cowered away from Jake, trying to stop the bleeding in hi
s arm.
“How does it feel, Boris?” Jake asked as he inched closer. “How does it feel to be completely trapped and vulnerable? To be at the mercy of fiends? How does it feel, Boris?!”
Boris turned his attention to Jake, and his frightening cries quickly turned into hysterical laughter.
“Vengeance is bittersweet, is it?” Boris asked. “All that rage built up inside you, sparked by the death of your wife. It made you bulletproof. I guess I was wrong; You do deserve to lead this civilization, or at least you had to have enough rage for that to be possible. And if it weren’t for me, that wouldn’t have ever happened.”
“I think you’re in shock,” Jake responded. “Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you get it, Jake? To beat these monsters, you must become one. And you... you finally became a monster as well. We just might survive after all. I don’t know about you, but at least the human race will live.”
“Whatever helps you get through what’s coming next.”
Jake motioned for HR-Team Alpha to lower the rope for him to grab on. As Jake was being pulled up, he turned back, watching zombies climb up the bus and circle around Boris, who stayed laying down, laughing hysterically as he welcomed his imminent demise.
Chapter 23
The choppers landed back at the settlement in Mayo. Every one of the council members were immediately checked by the medics standing by and waiting. Tyrese’s face was cleaned up and patched with butterfly strips.
“We lost a lot of good men today,” Tyrese said. “It’s gonna be hell rebuilding our military.”
“We done it once,” Jake reassured. “We can do it again.”
“Here. You’ll probably need another set of these.”
Tyrese handed Jake a pistol and a K-Bar. As Jake thanked him, he left Tyrese alone to tend to the other survivors. Jake began making his way to Kaylee, who was in the infirmary tent.
Kaylee was conscious when the medics checked her out. She was hesitant and resistant a couple of times, but she still allowed the nurses to clean her up and patch her cuts. She was given a clean gown and a cleaner blanket.
Jake stood nearby the infirmary tent in case Kaylee or the nurses needed anything.
“Can I please get up?” Kaylee asked. “I don’t wanna be in here right now.”
“I strongly advise against that,” one of the nurses replied. “You were banged up pretty badly. We need to keep you under...”
“I know. I just need to walk around a bit and clear my head.”
“But, miss, please...”
“It’s ok,” Jake interfered. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
The nurses nodded and allowed Kaylee to leave the infirmary tent. She kept the clean wool blanket wrapped around her as she strolled next to Jake. They stayed silent together until they came across a small wooden fence. They both sat upon the fence and began conversing.
“How you holding up?” Jake asked.
“Difficult to say,” Kaylee responded with a slightly quivering voice. “Still a little shaken up.”
“Well if you want me to be quiet, it’s no problem at all.”
“No, it’s... it’s fine.”
Kaylee began to brush her eyes with her thumb, wiping away forming tears. She then tucked her lips underneath her mouth, taking a quiet breath before continuing.
“I tried so hard to fight back,” Kaylee uttered with a broken voice. “He was too strong and I was trapped. I just... I just gave in.”
“No,” Jake responded. “Don’t you do that to yourself. It’s exactly what Boris wanted. He wanted to mess with everyone’s head. In my case, it was my own sanity. In Alan’s case, it was his power. In Adam’s case, it was his family.”
“And in my case, it was my purity.”
Kaylee bundled herself tighter inside her wool blanket and began weeping. She buried her face in an attempt to hide her scars, hoping to preserve what she believed to be the only bit of self worth she had left.
“Well,” Kaylee sobbed. “He stripped me clean of that. I guess he won.”
“No he didn’t,” Jake stated as he knelt down in front of her. “Kaylee, look at me.”
Kaylee raised her trembling head from out of the wool, revealing a broken face, reddened with emotion, with damp spots underneath her eyelids. Behind the small scars was a scared and somber look, and her green eyes revealed her shaken faith and loss of self security.
“You always say, ‘It’s a matter of our hearts and our free will,’” Jake continued.
“So what?” Kaylee asked.
“So this was not by your free will. Your heart is still in the right place. Once this apocalypse started, every one of us were messed up by it and none of us will ever be the same once it ends; but it’s still a matter of where your heart is. I know that this is so much different in every way, but you can still get back up from this. I don’t know if what I’m saying is helping out any bit, but at least I’m trying.”
Kaylee fixed her sorrowing eyes downward.
“I believe you always quoted this to people,” Jake continued. “‘Blessed are those that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’ I don’t know what verse that is, but I do know that it has helped a lot of people here in this settlement, and they have all been through so much, even before Z-Day started. When you came here, you helped them through so much.”
“That’s Matthew 5:4,” Kaylee replied. “Since when did you start quoting Scripture?”
“Just now. But, I have already realized that I’ve been foolish. Yes, I believe in God, but I didn’t want to. I’ve been running away for too long. And little by little, you’ve been helping me get back on the right track. I was stubborn, but I’m done running.”
Kaylee’s eye’s began to glisten as she saw Jake lower his head. She gently rested her hand underneath his chin, positioning his head to gaze upon her once again. She then leaned forward and pressed her lips against his dimples, then rested her forehead against his.
“You saved my life,” Kaylee whispered as she brushed her thumb back and forth against Jake’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“You saved mine,” Jake responded. “You gave me a reason to believe in something again.”
“It was all God. He used me to get to you. He always has a plan for everything.”
“I guess you’re right. You said He was with me all along, and I believe you. I want to know more about...”
“LOOK OUT!!”
Kaylee quickly stands up, pushing Jake to the ground as she does so, only to be under the mercy of a zombie that broke through the open gates.
Crunch!
“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Jake quickly regains his footing, only to see more zombies entering the gate. He witnessed a handful of soldiers fight against some of the undead that broke through, while the last surviving Spartans held a line against the rest of the small horde that attempted to bust through. He quickly turned to Kaylee’s direction, eyeing the zombie that was biting a huge chunk of fresh meat from the side of her neck.
Jake furiously speared the zombie wounding Kaylee, slamming it to the ground. He pulled out his knife and began stabbing the zombie in the head until it stopped twitching. He then pulled out his pistol and began firing upon a couple other zombies that charged his way.
Papapap! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!
Once there was silence again, Jake turned around to see Kaylee lying on the soft bed of grass. She held pressure against the large wound against the side of her neck, trying hard to breathe past the pool of blood that poured down her windpipe.
“Oh no,” Jake whispered as he rushed to Kaylee’s aid. “No no no no no no no. This can’t be happening.”
Jake assisted in applying pressure to Kaylee’s gushing neck, refusing to believe that this was her last seconds of life.
“Don’t try to to talk, Kaylee,” Jake continued as he watched Kaylee gag and choke. “D-don’t try to talk. We’ll get this fixed. Okay? MEDIC! I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!!! C
ome on, Kaylee. Stay with me.”
Kaylee picked up her cleanest hand and weakly pressed it against Jake’s face. Jake then looked past Kaylee’s dilating eyes when she revealed a small grin.
“It’s okay,” Kaylee weakly mouthed as her thumb wiped a trickling tear off of Jake’s cheek.
Kayle softly closed her lips and leaned her head against the soft grass, tilting it to the side and covering up her fatal wound. She then closed her teary eyes one last time, smiling as she embraced death.
As Kaylee’s hand began to slide off of Jake’s cheeks, he quickly grabbed her limp wrist, leaving her still warm hand pressed against his face.
“No,” Jake whimpered as his voice began to crack. “Don’t do this to me, Kaylee. Not now.”
Jake used his other hand to pick up Kaylee’s still head, pressing her forehead against his once again.
“I need you,” Jake sobbed. “Please, I need you. Please don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
Jake’s repetition soon turned into silent blubbering, which quickly transitioned to weeping and mourning. Kyle heard the commotion as he ran to assist. He stopped a few feet away, falling down to his knees and weeping, realizing that there was nothing that could be done.
Jake then rested Kaylee’s head back on the ground and pressed the blade of his knife inside her temple. He then fixed his eyes to the starry sky.
“Is this what You wanted?” Jake asked. “Huh?! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?!”
Jake began to tear up once again as he continued shouting at the space above him.
“She didn’t deserve this!” Jake continued. “YOU HEAR ME?! SHE DIDN’T DESERVE THIS!! WHAT’S YOUR BIG PLAN, HUH?! IS THIS A DREAM?! IF IT IS, YOU BETTER WAKE ME THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!! YOU EITHER WAKE ME UP OR YOU BRING HER BACK, AND NOT AS A GODDAMN CORPSE EITHER!! YOU BRING HER BACK TO ME ALIVE AND WELL!! BRING HER BACK!!”
Jake then leaned over Kaylee’s dead body. He rested his head against her chest, hoping to hear at least a faint heartbeat. Realizing that Kaylee was now gone forever, never to wake up again, he continued crying over the rested body, remaining still until the medics arrived to take Kaylee away.
Z-Day Chronicles (Book 2): Rising Up Page 13
