Jack kept his team behind him and approached the body with care, flashing the light down into deadeyes. A horrific smell oozed from the floor as the body shuttered, twitched and then stilled. Jack’s thoughts were critical, but they were his. To have survived the shift and then chose an unhuman path of deadly drugs frayed his hope for the human race. “Was it worth it?” He asked aloud in a soft tone.
Forced to step over her, she remained unknown to them. One by one they left her to help the savable. A scream resonated down the corridor. This time the cry was louder and fiercer than those before. Jack turned toward the sound not liking what he was seeing.
“It’s a bloody jungle, Jack,” Ryan whispered into his mic.
“Let’s just get our team and get out.” Trying to hide his concern, Jack began to move his team.
The school's destruction reflected sadness torn apart by kids and adults wanting nothing more than to damage. A place where kids should learn to excel not destroy. Desks and chairs lay heaped against the walls, and some fragments stuck in the ply board windows in a display of rage. The walls should have looked colorful with all their graffiti artwork, and yet it looked so gray. Darkness had made its home here. A place where emptiness housed the insane and the insane lingered in the darkness. The sounds alone were enough to drive one crazy let alone the silence that followed it.
When they came to the gym, Jack paused at the door. Hidden in his vest was a gas-filled canister. There was an explosion of movement as he opened the door, pulled the pin and tossed it through the door. Slamming the door, they slid to the opposite corridor and hugged the wall. They got ready for all hell to break loose.
The doors flung open, and a slight shudder of what sounded like thunder rolled through the massive opening. Several figures emerged into the dim light of Jack’s flashlight. Stumbling through the opening to escape the gas was human forms. The distraction bought Jack’s team time to shoot. Sending hollow souls into midair, bullets caught and ended lives broken. Casings clambered at Jack’s feet. Adam held the light behind them shooting with his free hand and lighting up the target with the other.
The sharp smell of gunpowder and gas bursting through the air was no match for the stench of dead or dying. Jack bent forwards and flinging another canister into the gym.
There was a “Clank” and then silence. The second round of people hurling through the door knocked one another down. Jack and his team retreated backward fanning out into the hall to form a barrier. People screamed. The smell exposed into the corridor reeked of rot and septic. Schooltime was long since over, and the building reverted into a rats nest for the addicted. The population fell to lost numbers, and new souls were making their way toward heaven.
No choice but to smother the infestation, the team swept the mob with a spray of bullets. A mound of rotting flesh was forming just beyond the now broken doors of the gym. Several of the diseased lunged toward them dodging bullets and using sheer insanity to press through the falling. Their faces so horribly disfigured and a pure evil drove them forward. In the end, the Shift had won again.
Disgusted Jack and Ryan stood side by side as they had many times before this. It was difficult to accept these battles when people lost lives to fight the wars on drugs when they could be fighting for better reasons. A product, standard chemical once found in garages, medicine chests and drugstores, the death of a human race that could have survived. With the drug available, it created a new danger to those just trying to survive. Someone was producing and dealing out this drug. Jack knew the problem needed solving. No drugs, no crazies.
“How did you know they were in there?” Trenton asked Jack.
“You couldn’t smell them?” Jack said. “How long has this been going on?”
“Four months maybe,” Adam said.
“Time frame?” Jack asked. “The drug?”
“After a few weeks, it’s much irreversible. Crazy addictive. They destroy themselves without even knowing it.” Adam said pulling his magazine from his gun and replacing it with a fresh one. “You’d think they’d come out and fight, but they don’t. They wait.”
“How many?” Jack asked glancing down the hall.
“Too many to count. None of these crazies are kids though. They’re just desperate people who have lost everything.” Adam replied.
“At least they’re not zombies. They're much harder to kill.” Trenton said.
“They may not be zombies but they sure as hell looks like it,” Ryan said.
“They’ll eat anything when they get hungry.” Trenton’s voice quivered.
“Anything.” Jack wearily looked at Adam. He had a feeling the residents at the school wouldn’t be helping to regain population.
“Anything,” Adam repeated.
“Let’s find our team and burn this fucker down,” Jack said feeling disgusted.
“Pools just ahead,” Adam said.
“Hold this,” Jack said handing the flashlight to Trenton. “Stay behind me.”
Filled with a little more than rage, Jack didn’t hesitate at the next set of doors. He jiggled the handle this time appraising the inhibitors of the room. Gathered in and around the pool fifteen figures hovered. Trenton stayed with Jack as they unloaded their weapons into the charging shadows of the pool. There was an explosion of reply gunfire that forced Jack and Trenton to take cover near the entrance to the showers. Ryan and Adam pulled back through the doors to take cover.
The ones with no weapons moved through the doors. The hostiles with weapons turned toward Jack and dove. Jack shot the last one who charged at them. The woman appeared rabid. She had no weapon, but she wore enough blood to hide her ethnicity. Jack stepped back as she fell to the ground. The bullet had ripped her thigh muscle open but hadn’t killed her. She coughed out a blurb of sounds, saliva and drool slipped from her mouth. With sharp and filthy fingers and fingernails, she started to crawl. Seldom did Jack worry about whom his victims were or what they had been. Jack, called on to do a job, he did it willingly. Ryan stepped in behind him. Jack stood and stared down at the battered woman. He raised his gun. All glimmer of life in her eyes darkened. Down the barrel of the gun, he saw a hint of desperation. She might be someone’s mother, sister and she was someone’s daughter. He stood there trying to look into what remained of her soul. The release of the bullet came from Ryan’s gun. A shot of barrel fire exploded in the darkness of the poolroom, and the bullet caught the woman between the eyes ending all suffering. A spray of red blood splintered into the air. The aroma of blood became slightly overwhelming. Jack reached into his pocket and withdrew a small jar of Vic’s. He dipped his finger in the ointment and then rubbed it under his nose.
“Another beautiful day in paradise,” Ryan said, reaching out for a dip of ointment himself. “Remind me to thank Riley when we get back.”
Ryan spun around. Jack turned facing the darkest of shadows. The man who’d thrown the grenade stepped out of the darkness. He grunted first and then drew in a deep rigid breath. “You killed em all.”
Ryan raised his gun, but Jack reached out with his hand and pressed the barrel downward. “He’s not infected.”
“Like hell,” Ryan said looking at the man.
“We just want our people. We’ll leave your house but not without them.” Jack said as the man stepped into the light. He could see the grime smeared on the man’s face, but there were no sores.
The man smiled revealing all intact white teeth. “You’ve already cleaned this house.” He said. “I’ll be moving on to the next one.”
“Why’d you try to kill us back there old man?” Adam asked in an angry tone.
“I don’t see as good as I use to.” He said. He turned his head slightly to the left, and it became obvious that his left eye was of no use. The lid remained unmoving when the right eye blinked. He pointed to the eye and said, “I was in a fight with the devil. You can’t stop and ask everyone if they’re on that damn stuff.” His voice raised a notch.
“You fighting the
fight?” Jack asked.
“Trying. I’m not as good as I once was. I’m getting a little too old to tussle with others.”
Jack grinned ever so slightly. He reached in a pulled out a piece of paper stepping forward slowly. He extended it towards the man. “Tell him Jack sent you.”
“Are things changing? How many people survived?” he asked suddenly charged. “Can he fix my eye?”
“It’s time to graduate old man,” Jack said pointing at the paper. “I need to find my team. They should’ve been here. If they had, none of these people would be alive.”
“Two men and a cute redhead?” The man asked shyly.
“Yes,” Ryan said with invested concern.
“Well, now son you best be hurrying up then. The devil himself took the red head. The others are chasing down the ones who took her.” He pointed to his eye once again. “I don’t mess with him anymore.”
Ryan looked over at Jack. “What’s your name old-timer?”
“The kids use to call me Gene, Mean Green Gene. I guess they thought it was funny.” His expression turned solemn. “I was the caretaker for this school and the elementary schools as well.”
It was a reminder of yesterday. Time lost and a time forgotten. Jack held out his hand for the second time, “Jack, Jack Colton, Gene. I am pleased to meet you.”
Gene stepped forward about caution and safety. He gingerly took Jack’s hand. It was something he probably hadn’t done in a longtime. The gesture was a handshake between men.
“Go there,” Jack said pointing to the paper. “What direction?” He asked.
Gene rolled his head to the side, hesitant. “He’s a sick man,” Gene said lowering his gaze to the floor. “How did he survive the shift? He has a black soul.”
“Gene, I’m going to have someone pick you up,” Jack said watching as the shadows of the late afternoon were quickly turning to darkness. Time was running out. “What direction?” Jack asked again. “We don’t go home until we have all of our team.”
“You can help me?” Gene asked almost childlike.
Jack looked Gene in the eye. He touched his ear and spoke, “Chandler, do you copy?”
“Go ahead Team leader,” Chandler replied quickly.
“We just sent everyone home from school. I need a pickup. A new team member ASAP. His name is Gene.”
“Copy Desert One. Pick up at the back entrance. ETA thirty minutes.” Chandler said. “A larger storm front is coming up behind you fast.”
“Affirmative.”
Gene stood silent for a minute and then looked away. “He’s taken up residence at the Hyatt, but you better have a few more men. That devil makes the real hell seem like a playground for amateurs.”
Jack chuckled. “I’m in,” Jack said patting Gene gently on the shoulder. “Gene, welcome to the family. You like the desert?”
Gene produced a slight but weary smile.
“Let’s go,” Jack said. “I’m missing Lynn’s coffee.”
“Coffee?” Gene said lifting an eyebrow.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The way Dragon saw it, Ray was a snake, a dead one, road kill torn apart by vultures and left to rot on the hot highways of hell. There was no telling if he was even still in the country. Dragon wasn’t taking any chances. He’d find out where Ray was squatting in hopes he hadn’t left his buyers too soon. Once Ray left the country, it’d be impossible to find him.
Dragon drove the open streets. The ones not cluttered with debris and headed for the first big building he saw. The Tundra made getting over scattered objects easy and cutting a path to get to where he needed was challenging. Larger buildings nested the infected. They liked the bigger and darker buildings making for a large tomb and a place where they could look out over the city. Dragon was searching for the addicted. Once he found a group of them, he would find Ray.
Lucky for Dragon he just happened to have some bargaining candy otherwise there’d be no getting any information. The goal was to find someone who could speak clear enough for him to understand. He got out of the truck. Both his legs felt like branches, stiff and barely bendable. Pins and needles shot through the nerve endings the price to pay for sitting too long. Moving faster than a snail’s pace, he walked towards the door and turned the handle. The sick were looking for handouts and welcomed strangers. Stepping into the darkness, Dragon felt a rush of dehumanizing sadness for those who mulled in this obtrusive gloomy world. It stunk to high heaven and held not one appealing quality. The environment was bleak, a depressing thought the damaged died here. The lack of life could leave the strongest of men vulnerable.
The sounds started as soon as the light sliced into the darkness. A thin stream of daylight seeped into hollow space. A low guttural sound shot out from a nearby corner. From somewhere deep inside a long-drawn-out cry followed. He hated the sounds, detested lost words now infected by drugs.
“I have candy.” Dragon said feeling deadeyes on him.
Dragon stepped around the corner towards a flickering light. In the center of the building was a large tub. Inside, a fire glowed producing both warmth and aroma. A single pipe rigged at the roof directed the smoke to keep moving in an upward direction.
There were no silhouettes of people through the glow, but he knew they were there. Dragon stepped forward regardless of lingering in the shadows. He withdrew a few baggies from his pockets and laid them on a makeshift bench. Chairs, rather tires, surrounded the fire. A slight hint of warm rubber mixed with the air. It grew the closer he got to the fire.
She stepped from the darkness. At first, Dragon barely made out her shadow. He saw her body hunched forward. Her hair tangled in a large knot that hung around her face. Dragon could see through the light that her clothes tattered and thin as tissue paper. Her smell was foul. She looked at Dragon with eyes set back so far in their sockets, they looked lost like lakes of black water. Tears suddenly gathered and then fell from her eyes streaking her sunken face. Dragon caught a hint of emotion. Then her eye shifted to the baggie. With surprising speed, she reached out, but Dragon was quicker, much faster.
“I need Ray.” He said dangling the candy in front of her. Her eyes danced with a dull light tracking the white power.
She grunted and stepped back. The smell was almost too much for Dragon, but he was in the right place. Even through the sagging skin and knotted hair, he knew the woman was in her mid-twenties.
“What a waste,” he said aloud.
He shook the baggie again. The woman’s head came upward, and she stood a little straighter. She was forcing a word through her throat as if trying to remember how to use the muscles in her throat and mouth.
“Ray.” Dragon said again.
“Uh tell.” She choked out. Saliva fell to her chin.
“Do you know how long it took you to learn how to talk when you were a baby?” Dragon asked her, angered. “Weeks maybe. A few words here and there.”
She grunted out a few sounds. Seeming, she grew frustrated because she couldn’t answer.
“You spent twenty-some years learning to be smart, right? Twenty-two maybe?”
The woman shook her head. More drool but this time it fell to her blouse. A tear formed in her eyes.
“And it took you all of about two days to destroy the very brain cells you produced. For this!” He said shaking the bag irritably. “You’re stupid. You’re a crazy woman.”
She let out a screech. The sound coming from her vocal cords high-pitched and agonizing. It did exactly what Dragon wanted. She called the rest of them out. The pack gathered around the fire and around him. He uncovered the AR-15 from under his coat he held with one hand and held the baggies in another.
“Who’s first in line?” He asked.
“You can’t win you know.” A deep voice came from within the darkness.
Dragon turned in the direction it came. The wax people parted to make an opening. “Win?” Dragon responded gazing into the darkness. He squinted craning to see a hint of whom was appro
aching.
“They can’t talk. Not anymore anyway.”
Dragon raised his weapon. The silhouette was tall and armed. The man moved in Dragon’s direction bringing the tip of the barrel up and in Dragon’s direction. Through the glow of the fire, Dragon watched him stroke the trigger.
In the Shadow of the Tiger (The Fighter Series Book 2) Page 25
