Rise of the Necrotics (Book 7): Into The Woods

by Bates, Bradford

  Max groaned as I knelt next to him, and I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. He was still alive. I wasn’t sure why the thought of losing him affected me so much. We hardly knew each other and didn’t exactly have the most auspicious of beginnings, but I didn’t want to lose him. Max had earned my trust despite my reservations, and I didn’t want to go on the rest of this journey alone.

  “Jesus, I feel like I got hit by a bus,” Max slurred as he rolled into a sitting position.

  I handed Max one of our canteens. “More like five busses.”

  He looked around him at the bodies and shook his head. “Guess this means talking’s off the table.”

  “Oh, I talked to one of them.” I pointed toward the man who tried to crawl away. “Something about a group of guys called the Falcon’s Alliance. He said there were sixty-five of them.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to fight them all.” Max tried to stand up and fell back down. “As much as I want to kill them all, I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge.”

  “Either way, we can’t stay here.” The five dead bodies had seen to that. “Just keep sipping on that water, and I’ll get our gear ready to go.” I wondered if Max could even walk, but we couldn’t chance staying here. Eventually, they’d send someone to look for these men, and we couldn’t be around when that happened.

  “You should probably just go without me. I’m not sure I can even stand up yet, let alone walk.” Max looked around, his eyes dazed from the beating.

  “I’m not going anywhere without you. So let’s just nip that idea in the bud right now. I’ll carry our gear, all you have to do is limp along behind me, got it.” I jabbed a finger at his chest, and glared at him until he got the point.

  Max held up both of his hands in surrender. “I got it.”

  Turning away from Max, I got to work. There were a lot of things to do and not a whole lot of time to do them.

  Chapter Five

  Max Meridious

  I still felt like shit and despite my previous declaration of not feeling good enough to fight, killing every last one of those bastards was feeling more appealing with every step. It was too bad what my wounded pride wanted to do and what we needed to do weren’t aligned. If the Falcon’s Alliance was deeply entrenched in Camp Verde even killing them would pose problems. While I wouldn’t mind shooting a few of them, we couldn’t risk putting any civilians at risk. The last couple of days had left enough demons nipping at my conscience, I didn’t need any more.

  Looking down the scope of the AR, it would have been easy to take out any of the fifteen Falcon’s Alliance members milling around the entrance to town, but by the time I shot more than three of them, the other twelve would be shooting back, and I didn’t like those odds. Not when it hurt to walk, let alone run. Although the little white pills Holly produced were helping with the last part just a bit.

  I continued watching the men move lazily about through the scope as I spoke to Holly. “If they have the same amount of men on the other end of town, that accounts for half of their men.” I set the rifle aside and turned to look at Holly.

  “Yeah, but it also leaves half of them scattered around.” Holly frowned as she watched the men from the trees.

  “Only if none of them are sleeping, or out looking for us.” Who knows, we might get lucky. They could still be searching for their five dead friends.

  “The only way to be sure would be to circle this whole damn place, and by the time we made the loop things might have changed.”

  We were both thinking it. At least I was pretty sure we were on the same page when it came to our missing surveillance. It sure would have been nice to have access to one of the Hilltop’s drone operators right about now. Real-time data on movements and numbers was indispensable out in the field. Sometimes you had to deal with what you had. A bird in the hand and all that jazz. What we had was the two of us, desperation, and a will to survive. I had the feeling we’d be just fine.

  Holly knelt down so we were on the same level. “Needless to say, avoiding the group in front of us seems like a good idea. Maybe we can find another point of ingress to the north.” Holly pointed in a direction I could only assume was north. “That will take us to the other side of town and at least give us a better picture of what we are dealing with.”

  It was hard to argue with logic like that, especially when I didn’t have a better plan. “Let’s do it.” I looked over all our gear. “We need to find a place to ditch this stuff. Once we secure a vehicle we can come back for it.”

  “It might be risky. Load up your go bag with food and extra ammo. If we can’t make it back for any reason, we need to have enough to make the hike to Flagstaff.”

  I started dumping extra magazines for the AR into the bag, followed by bullets for the Desert Eagle and food. Damn thing probably weighed fifty pounds now, but I wasn’t willing to give up anything I packed. The ammo was heavy, but if things kept going the way they were, we would be wishing it was heavier before too long.

  Holly smirked at my bulky bag as I slung it over my chest. A girl looking at a guy like that was enough to give him a complex. “What? I like to be prepared.”

  Holly grinned back at me. “My very own boy scout, how cute.”

  “I’ll remember that when you’re out of ammo and I have to save the day.” Eat that Holly, boy scouts always win. Be prepared wasn’t just a motto, it was a life choice.

  She continued smirking at me, but her eyes started to twinkle. That was when I knew I was in trouble. Turning away from me, Holly strode confidently into the forest. “That’s assuming I can’t take your weapon anytime I want.”

  Watching her sashay into the trees didn’t leave a lot of room for hope in that regard. Something about the way she moved when she took out Bob told me I wouldn’t fare much better than he did in a fight. As the branches closed around her I wondered how many of Holly’s powers I’d seen? I had the distinct impression Holly was holding back around me. After years of hiding her abilities it was probably hard to just be herself.

  Not wanting to get left behind, I scooped up the AR and climbed to my feet. Everything still hurt, and I was more than a little embarrassed I let those guys get the drop on me. My stomach had done its thing to warn me, but I thought it might have been a reaction to Holly’s cooking and not actual danger. It was a great ability to have, but it was also hard not knowing if you needed to take a shit or start shooting when your tummy gave a little rumble. Maybe I’d start shooting first next time. It took less time to buy new pants than it did to heal from an ass-kicking. Gun out first, shit later. The message came through loud and clear each time I took a step.

  On top of it all, there was the very real possibility I owed Holly a life debt. That was if you believed in those kind of things. There was no doubt in my mind the men would have eventually killed me without her help. It didn’t exactly make sense from a rational point of view, but the world was so rarely rational. Now with the necrotics flooding the streets people had to be damn near capable of anything. And where were our saviors in DC when we needed them the most? Probably getting their families out of the country or locked in a bunker somewhere, and you know there was one asshole trying to get the green light to drop a nuclear weapon on American soil.

  Pleasant thoughts aside, it was time to move faster. My taskmaster was once again setting a grueling pace. All of my willpower was pouring into the next step. I couldn’t have cried out and asked Holly to slow down even if I wanted to. What was the damn hurry anyway? We weren’t driving a car out of here in broad daylight. Not unless the plan changed to kill a bunch as we made a run for it.

  Holly continued to jog nimbly through the forest, as my thoughts followed the pain through my body with each jarring footfall. Each time I lurched forward it felt like tiny daggers were poking into my lower back. The same sensation ran up and down my arms, while each breath felt like it could be my last. Slowly I repeated a mantra to myself. Ankle, knee, hip, back, and by the time I finished grind
ing my teeth through the last word it was time to repeat the mantra again. Each moment passed that way until Holly finally slowed to a walk.

  A few minutes later Holly rested her back against a tree and looked down at her boots. I couldn’t tell if she felt guilty or couldn’t stand the sight of me. If I was on the other end of the situation, I knew guilt would be hanging over me like a cloud. Shit, I felt guilty now. Not because she had to deal with a broken partner, but because I failed to act when I had the chance.

  It would have been easier to just start shooting, but the men on the freeway could have killed us and chose not to. It was my mistake to assume the entire group was made up of like-minded individuals. Hesitating was a huge mistake, one I wouldn’t be making again. Once I realized I was in trouble, the bastards hit me with a taser before I could draw my gun. The butt of a rifle to the head later and I didn’t have a chance. The sweetest sound I ever heard was the four quick shots Holly fired. Four thunderclaps and I was free.

  Holly peered around the tree and turned to look at where I was crumpled on the ground. “I’ve got eyes on four men down there. It’ll be easy enough to sneak around them if you can keep up.”

  She said the last part with a smile. It was the same kind of taunt Garfield would have used to keep me going on a long run. Here it felt twice as good, because it meant Holly hadn’t given up on me. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. Despite the fact I’m a little gimpy, I have more than enough left in the tank to keep up with you.” It was a lie and a bad one. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and wait until next week.

  “I guess we’ll see about that,” Holly quipped, although the slight twinkle was still in her gaze as she continued. “If we can make it into the center of town there doesn’t seem to be any activity.”

  I let out the most unmanly of grunts as I pushed myself back up and moved to where Holly was crouching behind the tree. Looking out from her position, I could make out four men with rifles guarding the road out of town. A few more moved up and down the main street. Most of the men appeared to be stationed back the way we came from, which was good for us. It was about time a small amount of luck came our way.

  The four men on the road out of Camp Verde were going to be a problem. They weren’t just going to let us leave, and I wasn’t in any kind of condition to try and take them out silently. Holly might have been able to take all four of them, but not before someone sounded the alarm. Getting chased out of town by the chopper wasn’t on my to-do list. So we had to sneak past these guys and create a diversion. If the men took the bait, we’d could make it to Flagstaff before they could catch us.

  We were so close to Flag now, I could taste it. Just a few small hurdles and all of this would be over. Holly would find the cure, and everything would go back to normal. At least as normal as things could be with a million people wiped off the planet. I grimaced as my knee dug into the ground and I watched the four men lazily gaze off into the distance. Maybe they were wondering if things were better to the north. I hoped they were. We might not be able to do anything for the people that already died, but if we could stop the infection from spreading we could save so many others.

  Holly stood behind me looking over my shoulder, her face pulled into a frown. “They are going to be a problem.”

  “Nothing a strong independent woman like yourself can’t handle.” God knew, if it came down to more than pulling a trigger I wasn’t going to be of much use.

  “So what? You want me to take out all four of them while you take a breather.” Holly quirked one eyebrow in challenge. “Not very manly of you.”

  “Actually, I was thinking of lying down while you handled it, but you have the gist of it.” Try that for manly. I was a lion, baby, king of the jungle.

  Holly sucked in a sharp breath as she watched the men move. “I might be able to do it, but one wrong move and the rest of them will swarm over us like ants.”

  “Well if it comes down to making some noise, I’ve got that covered.” I patted the AR. Holly looked a little worried about my mental state. Sure I wanted some payback, but the guys that beat me up were already dead. So I was willing to get the hell out of dodge without completely losing my shit and killing a bunch of people.

  Leaning the AR against a tree I grinned at Holly. “Or,” I was enjoying watching the conflicting emotions play across her face so I let the moment drag out for a bit, “we could just create a distraction and make a clean getaway.”

  Holly looked surprised by my response. “I don’t know how you do it. I’m still so furious. Part of me wants to go down there and kill them all for what they did to you.”

  “Who knows, there might be time for that later.” I grinned trying to keep the tears from my eyes. It meant a lot to me that she was willing to murder so many people for hurting me. It might not say much about me as a person, but I found it kind of hot. “You know, after we get you safe.”

  Holly smirked at me. “Sneaking around and stealing things is more my style anyway.” Holly pointed at me. “You know, before I met you I used to be respectable. Now I’m talking about stealing a car like it’s something me and the girls used to do on Saturday nights.”

  “It takes certain people a lifetime to find out what their passions truly are. Be thankful that you found yours so early.”

  “Asshole.”

  My face hurt when I smiled, but that didn’t stop it from happening. Looking down at the four men I wondered how they ended up here. Not the most pleasant thoughts for men you might have to kill, but thoughts I was having just the same. Joining a group of like-minded individuals probably sounded great at first, then you noticed maybe they were into more than just popping off a few rounds at the range. By the time you realized you needed to get out, the group had their hooks in you, and it was too late. Maybe the men down there wanted to be there about as much as we did.

  Wanting to be here or not didn’t change the fact that they were and we needed to get through them to have a chance. I moved away from our lookout and back towards my bag. Inside I found a few of the miniature smoke bombs from my vest, and a small bottle of lighter fluid. “Think we can find something that will burn down there.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we can come up with something.” Holly winked at me and then started moving through the trees toward town.

  Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I rushed after her. The damn woman was going to be the death of me. Still, following her provided a hell of a nice view. It was just the thing I needed to take my mind off the pain. A small chuckle escaped my lips, as I thought about what Garfield would say if he saw me now. The laugh sent a ripple of pain through my body, and I instantly regretted it, but not the view. I still liked the view. Who knows, maybe one day I’d have the courage to get over the pining stage, and we could enter the keeping our relationship secret from work stage of things.

  Holly moved down the hillside like a mountain goat. I lumbered after her, grunting tripping and sprawling my way through the shrub brush. Holly probably would have been laughing her ass off if she wasn’t so worried someone might have heard us. She was already kneeling behind the truck we’d seen from above while I was face down on my belly after my ankle gave out. Two of the men were moving back toward the truck. I waved my hand in the air hoping Holly would see it and then ducked below the level of the tall grass.

  Freeing the Desert Eagle from my hip was an exercise in pain, but I felt better with my hand wrapped around the grip. Holding my breath, I waited for some indication that they found Holly. Slowly I let the air out and poked my head above the grass. The two men had stopped at the truck and were leaning against the front end sharing a cigarette. Holly hesitated for a moment, and then almost as if she sensed the timing was right, she took off running without looking back. She ducked around the corner of the building, and I lowered my gun, now it was my turn to start moving.

  Crawling down the hillside wasn’t an appealing option, so I forced myself into a crouch and started making my way down. I moved ke
eping the truck between myself and the men. I was close enough to hear one of them laughing now. The other one pointed over his shoulder at something on the screen, and then they both started braying like donkeys. The world couldn’t have gone too far downhill if you could still watch fail videos on YouTube.

  The shenanigans playing on the screen were just the cover I needed to make it down the last few feet of the hillside. Ducking behind the truck, I looked toward the building Holly had hidden behind and saw her face poking out from around the corner. She held up a hand and flicked her eyes toward the truck. I caught her meaning and gave a curt nod as I readied my body to run. Holly motioned for me to run, and without hesitation I took off. The first few steps were a wobbly mess that threatened to dump me in the street right in front of the two men, but my gait evened out, and I made it to Holly before I fell flat on my face.

  Garfield would have been embarrassed by my performance, but then again I was always pretty sure he’d been made of solid rock. A few bruises and a cracked rib or two wouldn’t have kept him down. For that Garfield had to be bitten trying to do the right thing. If he could see me now, he’d probably start shooting. The way I moved jerkily from one spot to another made me look like one of the necrotics.

  “That was some of the sorriest shit I’ve ever seen. I’d laugh if it didn’t look so damn painful.” Holly winked.

  “Imagine what it would look like if you hadn’t given me those pills.”

  Holly shook her head clearly trying to banish the image I’d conjured. “Speaking of pills, you should have another.” Holly walked closer and opened her hand.

  “I’m not going to be much help if things go sideways.” I eyed the pill wearily. Sure I’d dabbled with some marijuana back in the day, but I’d never screwed with the harder stuff. While I wanted the pain to be gone, I didn’t want to get shot because I was too fucked up to fight.