They both looked up at her. The timid one's eyes widened and his mouth hung open as he stared at the hammer. The tough one started to puff out his chest and talk trash to her.
"Bitch, if you think you can—"
Sarah brought the hammer down on his skull with a sickening crack. His head sank immediately and he slumped forward, pulling against the other soldier who was now touched by utter delirium.
"Oh please! God, don't do that to me!" he cried.
Blood ran down from the other soldier's head and painted his face, dripping off his chin and falling onto the cement floor in a maddening, staccato rhythm.
"Give me the code to the building."
"Oh God, oh God!" He looked over at his partner. "Is he dead?"
"I don't know."
"Please lady, I'll do anything you want! I'll tell you anything! But I don't know the code!"
Sarah stood there, looking disappointed at him. She dropped the hammer, then she turned and disappeared behind the light again.
There was silence for a very long time until the timid soldier started shaking so hard that the other one next to him vibrated in rhythm.
Then the same agonizingly slow footsteps coming back to the light. This time Sarah was holding something else.
The soldier looked at what was in her hand and his eyebrows slanted up in a look begging for relief. He tried to hold out his hand and was restrained by the cuffs, tried to do anything to stop her approach, but she walked up to him, step by step.
"I swear! I don't know—"
She grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head back, but when she let go, he turned his head to the floor again. Sarah looked over her shoulder at Carly and motioned for her to join.
The light bounced around and Carly came into view, placing the flashlight on a crate next to them while she helped Sarah.
"Open your mouth," Sarah told him.
"Please, no!" he cried.
"Open."
When he still didn't cooperate, Sarah knelt down and grabbed his testicles through his boxer shorts. She squeezed and he began screaming in pain.
"Open your mouth."
He shook his head with his eyes clamped shut as tears rolled out the corners of them.
She squeezed again, and it felt like they would pop if she applied any more pressure.
As he was screaming, Sarah looked up at Carly. "Hold it open," she said.
Carly stepped in quickly and hooked one of her hands on his jaw and grabbed a big tuft of his hair with the other. He grunted and struggled, but Carly held him firmly.
Sarah let go of him and picked up the pliers. She caught one of his molars on his bottom row of teeth and gripped the handles tightly. A bloodcurdling cry erupted out of his throat as she yanked on the tooth. Blood started pouring into his mouth and the tooth became loose. After another burst of force, Sarah pulled it clean out of his mouth and dropped it on the floor.
She held the pliers in front of his face. "The code."
He shook his head and muttered something unintelligible with Carly's hands still prying into his mouth.
Sarah went in for another tooth on the top row and yanked it clean as he screamed again. She gave him another opportunity to talk, but he refused. She tried once more with one of his front teeth, really taking her time with this one and wiggling it back and forth. His whole body rocked and swayed as he tried to get away from her, but Sarah kneed him in the balls and Carly hunkered down and used her body weight to steady him.
The third tooth was plucked out of his head and dropped on the floor carelessly.
"Let him go," Sarah told Carly.
Carly complied and stepped back.
The soldier hunched forward and hyperventilated. His eyes were closed. His head pointed down at the floor between his legs as his mouth hung open, with blood seeping out and drenching his chest and underwear.
Sarah tossed the pliers away. She sat down on the floor next to him on the opposite side of the other soldier. She put her hand on his back and gently rubbed it. She looked up at Carly. "Get him some water."
Carly was confused, but she did as she was told. She found an old coffee mug on a shelf standing against another wall of the building and she poured some of the last remaining water in the bucket into it. She brought it over to Sarah.
"Help him drink it," Sarah told her.
Carly knelt down in front of the soldier and held the mug up to his lips as she tilted his head back slightly.
"Drink a little and spit," Sarah said.
The soldier seemed grateful for the drink and followed her directions. Carly moved out of the way as he spit on the floor in front of him, bloody water splashing around. They were patient and let him settle down, continuing to drink and spitting on the floor until the bleeding slowed.
"Now take some of it down," Sarah told him. "You haven't had anything to drink in a while."
Eventually he even seemed calm. Sarah just continued to rub his back. When he was finished drinking, Carly stood up with the mug between her hands.
"Are you hungry?" Sarah asked.
He shook his head.
"Look, I'm going to be honest with you," she said. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do. I'm just a normal girl living in this fucked up world, just like you are. I don't blame you for doing what you do. We both just ended up in different spots. But I know there's a part of you that feels bad for working for Glass."
He winced at the name, like he was thinking of the repercussions if his boss found him here.
"You're not like the other soldiers, I can tell. I know you're just doing whatever you have to to survive. And I hope you can understand that I'm just trying to do the same. You seem like a nice kid, and I really don't want to hurt you. But I also really need that code. I know you're scared of going against your colonel, but I have to stop him. And believe me, I have the means to do so. But I need your help."
He turned his head and looked into her eyes, trying to search for genuineness in them. And to his surprise, he found it.
"We're done here," Sarah continued. "Whether you tell us the code or not, I'm going to let you go now. We have a place where you can hide until this all blows over, and then you're free to do whatever you want, go wherever you want. If you want to stay with us, that's okay too. We're good people. We're just trying to do what's right."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key to his handcuffs.
"The code is 54925," he said.
Sarah paused, surprised that he actually said it. Then she told Carly to fetch a blanket for him as she knelt behind him to untie the rope binding him to the other soldier of questionable vitality and unlock his handcuffs.
"Carly?"
Hurried footsteps moved away from her and she looked back just in time to see the door to the building burst open and Carly flee out into the night.
"Carly, wait!" Sarah shouted. She left the soldier and ran after her, shoving open the door and being enveloped by the lukewarm night.
Carly had run quite a distance away from the building through a field and was standing near a small stream where the weed-choked ground dipped down in front of her.
"What's gotten into you?" Sarah asked when she caught up to her.
"I'm sorry," Carly said. Tears welled in her eyes and her throat choked up. "All that blood just got to me. I could smell it. I couldn't get it out of my nose!"
Sarah embraced her and Carly buried her head in Sarah's shoulder. "It's okay," she soothed. "I know you've probably never been party to that kind of thing before. I remember the first time I was. It can be a little overwhelming." She stared past Carly's head at a ridge in the distance, thinking back to when Noah had brought her along with Wayne and Kenny to interrogate the men from Zed's camp in the hotel and how she had run off in a panic at the brutality of it. That Sarah seemed like someone from so long ago; unrecognizable.
"Thanks," Carly muttered. She started to get her breathing under control. "Maybe just baby steps next time."
<
br /> "But we got the code," Sarah said. "It was important."
"I know."
For a long time they just hugged, Carly gripping onto Sarah for dear life. Sarah just held her for as long as she needed, and Carly took her head from her shoulder and slid it down onto the top of her chest. Their bodies felt warm together and comfortable in the tepid temperature, and eventually Carly started to rub Sarah's back ever so slightly. Then she began circling the tip of her forefinger along the fabric of Sarah's shirt. Sarah didn't mind it; it actually felt quite good. Then Carly pulled her head up and looked into Sarah's eyes, searching back and forth between them as she still held her tight. It almost seemed like there was a question on the tip of her tongue that she was about to ask, but she just kept staring. Her eyes traced back and forth, then they fell on Sarah's lips. And before Sarah could realize what was going on, Carly leaned in.
She kissed Sarah, almost shoving her lips onto hers in what was, in her head, a moment of utter, finally-realized passion. Fireworks went off in Carly's head and she felt the rush of butterflies in her stomach. She began to slide her tongue forward, parting her lips slightly and hoping beyond hope that Sarah would part hers.
But Sarah shoved her away violently.
Carly stumbled in the thick weeds, and when she recovered, she looked like someone had just shot her.
Sarah had much the same look on her face as she just stood there, arm by her side, completely dumbfounded.
A moment of silence and incredible tension hung in the air between them as they stared at each other.
"What was that?" Sarah asked, her voice coming out as little more than a croak.
Carly continued to stare at her, trying to take the measure of her, searching and hoping for something that didn't appear to exist. "I... I... I just..."
"Carly, what were you doing?"
Tears flooded out of Carly's eyes again and her face twisted into a caricature of her former self. "I don't know!" she shouted. "I don't know what came over me, I just... it's so peaceful out here and you're so pretty and the way you were holding me, it just seemed right! I thought you wanted it!"
Sarah was still utterly shocked and found it difficult to form words. "Carly... I don't know what to say."
"Well say something!"
"Do you... have feelings for me?" Sarah asked.
Carly guffawed and searched around as if getting consensus among an invisible audience. "Sarah, I've been in love with you for months!"
This shocked Sarah almost more than the kiss did. When she finally gained her composure again, she said, "But what about all that talk about not being gay?"
"I don't know!" Carly cried. "I was just trying to find a way to broach the subject with you! We've just been hugging a lot lately, and the way that you held me, I swear that you..."
"Carly... I don't know how to say this, but... I'm not interested in you. I don't do that... at all."
Carly stumbled again and had to steady herself, but this time it was due to the strength in her legs giving out. Sarah stood like a statue and just stared at her, so confused and not having any idea on how to move on from the situation. Carly held her gaze for one last moment before letting out a frustrated sigh like a petulant teenager and running back for the building, tears streaming down her face.
Sarah wanted to call after her, but instead she just stood there and watched her go. She heard the door slam shut in the distance, behind all the trees next to her that blocked her view, and Sarah turned around on stilted legs and stared at the small stream. Her mind was blank, like an empty house that had been abandoned long ago. She wanted to think of what to do, she wanted to think of what to say to Carly, but she found that she couldn't think at all.
A gentle breeze fluttered through the leaves of the trees above her as if to sooth her. Some crickets chirped in the distance, and the first thought that came to her was how utterly tired she was. Then she thought about Tommy resting at home in his bed. When her thoughts started to flow again, she found herself thinking about everything but Carly, as if her mind was trying to block her, and what had just happened, out.
Two gunshots rang out into the night. They were far away and muffled, like they came from inside the storage building.
Sarah wheeled around in horror. She didn't remember starting the action, but she found herself halfway through the field, running on rubbery, uncooperative legs. The night blurred past her and she didn't take her eyes off the metal door to the building painted in an ugly green, and she dreaded what she would find on the other side of it. Her mind was so wrapped up in a sense of revulsion at the possibilities that she didn't even think to wonder why there had been two gunshots and not one.
She reached the door and wrenched it open, stumbling inside.
Past all the boxes, crates and barrels that stood to either side of the aisle lay the familiar image that she'd seen coming into the building before: two soldiers tied up on the floor at the back wall. And Carly was standing next to them in the edge of the flashlight's glow, stiff as a board, wide eyes, and her skin as pale as a ghost. Then Sarah noticed a lot more blood painted on the back wall behind the soldiers and realized that each of their heads had a large hole in it. Confusion hit her as her body mindlessly continued to move forward to Carly, and she couldn't understand why Carly would have shot them, and why she didn't have a gun in her hand.
Then Sarah was struck in the gut. Hard.
She went down to the floor and gasped for breath. A soldier stepped out from the shadows and drove his knee into her spine, causing her to yell in pain. He grabbed her arm and pinned her to the dusty concrete so that she couldn't move. She struggled as she still fought to breathe, but he wrapped her arm up behind her back and then grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her head up so she could see Carly and the two dead soldiers.
More soldiers came out of the darkness between her and Carly and were visible in the off-glow of the flashlight. Then Carly was shoved into the middle of the flashlight's cone of illumination as Jack Glass himself stepped into view. He absolutely towered over top of her to the point where it almost looked like it would take two of her standing feet-on-shoulders to reach his height. His frame was so massive that it barely fit in the light, and any trace of what was on his mind was hidden behind his mask, that menacing purple skull staring at her with cold, soulless eyes.
Sarah tried to reach for the gun on her hip, but she could do nothing under the soldier's weight and leverage. She was completely powerless to do anything but watch.
Carly stared at Sarah and had a look in her eyes of apology behind the shock.
"I asked him what they told you," Jack Glass said as he looked over at the timid soldier that Sarah had been about to uncuff and was now sitting in a pool of his own blood draining from his slumped head, "but of course he said they didn't tell you anything." His voice took on a monstrous quality in the confined and echoing quarters of the building. The very walls seemed to reverberate with the bass and menace in his words. "So now I get to play the same game that you played with them."
"Keep her out of this!" Sarah said. Her voice came out in a higher pitch from the heavy weight pressed on her lungs. "If you want something, talk to me!"
Glass ignored her.
"You only get one chance," he said. He held his hand on Carly's shoulder and Carly shook with fear. "What were you trying to get out of them?"
Sarah wiggled and struggled against the soldier on her spine, futilely trying to break free. Her mind raced with a thousand ideas, but none telling her how to escape her predicament. Tears came out of her eyes as she looked at Carly, and for just a brief, fleeting moment, they shared an incredible bond like never before. Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but to Glass it was too late. Her chance was up.
Glass stepped behind Carly and wrapped his massive arm around her neck, lifting her feet off the ground and pulling her into his chest. Her arms flailed out to the sides and her legs kicked back and forth. He reached around with his other hand
and dug his fingers into her throat. Blood dripped down her neck and Carly screamed.
"Noooo!" Sarah cried in her deflated voice as she bucked crazily.
The sound of flesh ripping apart echoed as Carly's voice got tired, then Glass's fingers pierced the cartilage behind her skin and worked them at her trachea. Carly screamed again, more shrilly than ever before. Her eyes bulged in her head and her entire body convulsed against his like a flag in the wind. Then her scream finally fell silent as he tore into her trachea and began to fit his entire hand in the wound. Blood sprayed everywhere and her eyes rolled up into her head as her limbs fell limp. He began to go at it with both hands, working away at her spinal cord. Crunches and cracks echoed in the building, and this time it was Sarah's turn to scream endlessly. A final, horrifying ripping sound wormed into her eardrums, and with a strong yank, he pulled her severed head away from her body and held it up into the air like a trophy. He held her body by the cavity for a moment before shoving it down onto the floor and tossing her head on the ground in front of Sarah.
It bounced and rolled, coming to rest right in front of her. Carly's skin and eyes had already taken on a waxy quality and it seemed like she was looking at a figure from Madame Tussaud's museum.
Sarah's chest heaved violently and she vomited on the floor. Not even a full second of reprieve passed before she vomited again.
Glass looked down on her, that demonic skull hiding his emotion. He produced a handgun and slowly dragged it up from the floor, aiming it at her head.
Sarah looked away, trying not to gag again from what was next to her and the smell of her bile. Her body shook weakly from underneath the soldier and she waited for the crashing end to her long plans. Now, at last, it was her very own final curtain. And there was no one to save her.
The bridge was silent aside from a couple of crackling barrel fires to give them a meager light for watch duty. Even the bandits that were normally up at this hour were tucked away in their tents, leaving only a few to patrol and stand on guard. The one that had led Sarah and Bill to his boss when they arrived earlier that day sat on a dinette chair that looked like it was ripped right out of the 70s. He gave out a loud sigh as he stared over the edge of the bridge and into the dark expanse beyond. A cool breeze picked up and touched his rosy cheeks. He smiled.
Zombie Apocalypse Series (Book 5): Scourge of Evil Page 14
