"If I could kill that asshole and send him to Hell, I would," he said. "But look at me. What am I supposed to do?"
"There's nothing wrong with being scared," Sarah said. "You don't think I'm scared? I am. But I don't let anyone see it, and that keeps me strong."
Tommy considered her words.
"Besides, you might've even saved my life back there. It's not wise to go against a scratcher when you don't have to, especially if you only have a little knife."
"Why do you call them scratchers?" he asked.
"A little girl I used to know called them that. The name sort of has meaning to me, I guess."
"Is she... gone?"
"Yes."
Tommy scuffed his feet across the cracked asphalt. "This world's so fucked up," he said miserably. "Sometimes I think about how things used to be. You know, when I was a kid. It seems so long ago I can barely remember it, but I just remember it being... happy. I guess anything would look happy compared to this."
"That's why we fight," Sarah said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I used to have a son," she said. "Did I ever tell you that?"
"I don't think so."
Sarah cleared her throat, preparing to tell him the long story, but then the spirit of brevity touched her instead. "He died. We were on our way to Noah's camp and he didn't make it. But we made that journey because of him. He taught me that there were things more important than just struggling to survive. The old me would have given up a long time ago if I had to face any of this, but I'm not like that anymore. I think about my son every day now. I didn't used to. For a while I tried not to think about him at all, like it would block out the pain, but it never did. I lost my baby, the only thing still linking me to this earth, and in his honor I'll never give up. No matter what happens."
"So what happens if we kill this guy and stop him from making things worse?" Tommy asked. "Won't there still be zombies everywhere? Won't everyone still be dead?"
"So what if they are?" she asked.
"Well... what's the point, then?"
Sarah stared off down the road in front of them. "Noah may have been a complete asshole, but he did light a couple fires under me in retrospect. I don't know if he ever meant any of the things he told me, but there's no reason why I can't make them a reality. As long as there are still good people, there will always be a way forward."
He looked at her with admiration. "You're, like, the coolest person I've ever met," he said. "Seriously, I wish I had balls like you."
She just smirked. He started to say something else, but she said, "Hold up—" and held her hand out in front of him.
The long and winding road they traveled on finally came to the dead end that the sign had advertised. But standing at the end of it was nothing but a short section of guardrail and endless woods beyond.
"I don't get it," Tommy said. "Where did they go?"
"We missed something," Sarah replied.
Tommy was confused, but she immediately turned and began trotting back along the road, getting a feeling that she knew what was going on. He followed along briskly to keep up with her, and when they got a quarter of a mile back the way they had come, she saw it.
"Here," she said, standing at the side of the road among the overgrown weed-choked grass.
From a distance, it looked no different than any of the other scenery they passed, but once up close they could see a set of tracks coming off the road where the ground was bare. The tall grass drooped over them, giving some camouflage, but they were unmistakable now. They stretched into the woods through a narrow path between the trees, perhaps just big enough for an eighteen-wheeler to pass through.
"Where the hell are they going?" Tommy asked.
"Good question."
Without any hesitation, Sarah entered the path. The tall grass and weeds brushed against her wrist and tickled the back of her hand as she carefully navigated her feet along the bare ground beneath. Tommy followed her, and suddenly he became very quiet. The mystery of the whole thing coupled with them moving through an eerie and still woods was more than enough to give him the creeps.
Neither of them said a word as they journeyed deeper toward whatever it was that awaited them. Sarah found her heart starting to beat a little quicker as she considered exactly what it might be. Thoughts of another laboratory like the one Amanda had led them to in Raleigh came to mind, then she conceived that it was another looming military base entirely. Or maybe it was simply a depot, used to pick up or drop off supplies. But why was the location so secluded?
The tall grass and weeds eventually receded and gave way to the barren forest floor, leaving a clear view of the tire tracks that had been etched along the path. They were sunken deep into the dirt, and they looked like this path had been in use for years. They crept through the woods for half a mile before they heard something up ahead like running water.
They came to the edge of the forest and saw that a river stretched from side to side in front of them down below in a valley. The river was at least fifty feet across and there was no way to safely get over it either on foot or by vehicle other than a suspension bridge that connected one side to the other. The woods picked up again on the opposite side from Sarah and Tommy, and then there was what seemed to be a wider path beyond that disappeared around a bend.
Engines rumbled in the distance and yellow-white light splashed across the trees on the other side of the river. A truck came around the bend and headed for the suspension bridge.
"Hide!" Sarah said to Tommy.
The two of them quickly moved off the path and found the thick tree off to the right that had roots largely above the ground, creating some cover for them to hide behind. They lay on their bellies and peeked over the top of them, affording themselves a view of the bridge as the first truck rumbled over.
Behind it, another tractor-trailer approached, followed by another. The second truck waited at the foot of the bridge for the first one to finish crossing. The suspension bridge creaked and bowed as the first truck slowly lumbered over it. It was a fairly modest bridge considering the load that was being carried over it, and it was constructed only of thick wooden boards and wire rope. But it seemed sturdy, and before long the second truck began to cross over.
Their headlights crawled over the tree roots that Sarah and Tommy hid behind, but they remained undetected. When the three had crossed and disappeared along the path back onto the road that they had come from, the two of them waited for the last two trucks to come, but they never did. After waiting a few minutes to make sure they weren't coming and listening to the sounds in the distance to reinforce their decision, they got up and cautiously began to make their way across the bridge. Tommy got cold feet and made sure his objection to continuing on any farther was well known, but Sarah didn't care. She knew there was something strange going on and she wanted to find out what it was. It could have been nothing, but it also could have been something very important. Carly was on her mind and as soon as they were done here, they would be heading straight for Axel's camp to retrieve her, but for right now they had to cross this bridge and find out what was on the other side and discover the reason for all the secrecy.
The bridge felt unsteady beneath their feet as the wind gently swayed it from side to side. Tommy wanted to hold on to the wire rope on the side, but he had a terrible fear of heights and the thought of even peering down at the river some forty feet below made his stomach churn. So the two of them carried on quickly, feeling like they would be rats trapped in a cage if they suddenly heard another engine roar into life in front or behind them. But they reached the other side undisturbed.
Another set of deep tire grooves stretched along the ground on the other side of the bridge, but as the path widened, the tracks faded into an entirely chewed and worn floor of compacted dirt leading toward the bend in the path. They navigated around it and saw that the path opened up into a large clearing sitting in the middle of the woods. The only thing in it was
a long, very plain building maybe fifteen feet across by eighty feet deep. On the front of it was a long shutter door stretching almost the entire fifteen feet and a numbered keypad sitting on the wall next to it. Other than that, there were no identifying descriptors on the building whatsoever; even its walls were left a dull cream color.
But the remaining two tractor-trailers were nowhere to be found. Sarah entertained the idea that they were parked on the opposite side of the building from them, but the building itself wasn't much larger than one of the trucks, and as she skirted around the left side of the clearing, she saw that wasn't the case.
Just then, two soldiers came out of the darkness at the far side of the building and walked toward Sarah and Tommy along the door at the front. They were difficult to spot at first with their black uniforms in the darkness, and Sarah and Tommy scrambled to get into cover behind the tree line.
The soldiers stopped in front of the door and looked around at the woods as they continued their conversation. They were a little far away, and their words were muffled underneath their helmets, but Sarah could pick up most of the conversation.
"When's the next shipment supposed to come?" one of them asked.
"Tomorrow night," the other replied. "Should be plenty to keep the boss satisfied."
"Yeah, I'll bet," the first one said. "Well, that's good enough for tonight. Let's get on the horn and let them know everything's tight on this end. I could use some damn sleep."
"I hear you," the second one said.
They started for the keypad and the one in the lead paused and turned around suddenly.
"Hey, you hear about what happened at the base tonight?" he asked.
"What about?" the second one said somewhat nervously.
"Relax, just some activity in the woods. We think someone was trying to check the place out. Probably more bandit assholes."
"Anything happen?"
"No, I don't think so. They probably scared themselves half to death at their own shadows, shit their pants, then ran away."
The other one laughed. "I swear, we oughta just wipe those fags off the earth. Might be something fun to do for a change."
"I don't think the colonel would go for that."
The first soldier turned back to the door and punched something into the keypad. A moment later the big shutter door whirred into life and rose off the ground. Sarah and Tommy could only see it from an angle looking more at the side of the building than the front, leaving only a thin area inside visible.
As the two soldiers walked into the building, one of them said, "Do you think all that stuff in the woods has anything to do with Bill?"
"Beats me," the other said. "But knowing his history with the colonel makes me think you might be on to something. Maybe old Bill is feeling nostalgic and wants to see the boss for old time's sake. Maybe continue where they left off..."
"Ha, that'll be the day."
And then the soldiers disappeared inside and the shutter door began to close. Neither Sarah nor Tommy could see anything, and when the door shut completely they were left in silence with more questions than answers.
"What's going on?" Tommy asked at last. "Where did the trucks go?"
"I don't know," Sarah replied. And she really didn't. She scanned her eyes along the edges of the clearing, looking for another hidden path leading further into the woods, but it was too dark to make out most of it. The only other answer was that the trucks were parked inside the building, but it looked like it was barely big enough to fit one truck, let alone two.
But she put the trucks out of her mind for a moment and thought about what was in the building and why it was all the way out in the middle of nowhere. She walked out into the clearing to the protests of Tommy and made her way up to the building, inspecting the door and the keypad.
Either the trucks picked something up or they dropped something off, and judging how full the tires of the three trucks that had passed by them along the bridge seemed compared to when she first saw the trucks roll by onto the dead-end road, she suspected that they had dropped something off. Whatever it was was inside there now, and Sarah wanted to know.
But for now she had to let the mystery remain and linger in her mind like a puzzle that was missing an important piece. She and Tommy had to go pay Axel a visit. And now her mind was preoccupied trying to decide what she would do to him if anything had happened to Carly before they got there.
9
Vengeance
Day broke by the time they arrived. The first bandits that hadn't been on guard duty and had the luxury of sleeping through the night were just starting to stir and train their groggy eyes on the horizon from their vantage point on the interstate. Sarah and Tommy walked along the bridge, tired and ready for sleep. But it wasn't time for that yet.
One of the bandits standing on the perimeter of the camp spotted them. He rubbed his eyes first to make sure he was seeing right, then he called out. "Yo, two in the front! Hey... it's that lady!"
The other bandits started to come around and see what he was talking about. The flaps of a tent flew open and Axel stepped out, turning his head sharply to the commotion. His eyes narrowed and he scrunched up his face in disgust. He knew this moment was coming, and he turned his body and slowly strode to the edge of the encampment. The morning sun glistened on his sweaty and dirt-streaked torso. His hair was just as matted and greasy as ever, and his breath stank of the cheap whiskey that one of his men had found him and an old can of questionable tuna.
"Where is she?" Sarah demanded. She walked right past the bandits standing guard at the edge of the camp and up to Axel. She was a little taller than him and he stared up into her eyes with a twisted look on his face as he seethed his rotten breath up at her mouth and nose.
"I've been expecting you," he said coolly. "Don't worry, been keepin' her safe for you all night." Axel turned and waved his arm at someone near the back of the camp. "Bring her over!"
Sarah stood on her toes and leaned each way to try and get a good look over the heads and tents filling the camp. She saw movement and before long Carly was escorted by a bandit to the front. She had a rather blank look on her face and Sarah couldn't quite tell what was on her mind. She came peaceably enough, and only when she was standing in front of Sarah did she speak.
"Sarah, I'm so glad you're okay!" Carly cried. She threw her arms around Sarah and squeezed her tighter than she ever had before.
Sarah withstood the pressure and hugged her back half as hard, a little uncertain. "I was going to say the same for you."
Then Carly shot her a look that told her to get her out of there as quickly as possible.
Sarah held her at arm's length and looked her up and down. "Did they do anything to you?" she asked.
Carly shook her head. "No, but the quicker I get out of here, the better." She turned her head and stole a quick glance at some of the bandits standing behind her who smirked and leered at her, staring at her ass.
Sarah didn't believe her and carefully scrutinized her one more time, but there were no marks or bruises or anything to indicate that anything had happened to her. And she also knew that she'd worked up a number of scenarios in her head on the way over here, and maybe she was just building up these terrible phantoms herself.
She pulled Carly by the shoulder over to Tommy, and he escorted her out of the camp. She looked at Axel dead in the eye with complete disdain. Even if he was somehow a perfect gentleman through the night, she had nothing but hatred in her heart for him and his kind. But they still had business. "I'll keep in touch with where to go from here," she said. "Keep training your men and have them ready to go. We'll be hitting the base before long."
Axel laughed. "You still want to do this, lady?" he said. His face suddenly turned serious. "Macklin's one of them freaks now! How's his own camp even supposed to run now?"
"I'll take care of it," Sarah said sternly. "Nothing's changed." Axel was silent, but his face contorted into all manner of disgust, disrespect and d
efiance. Sarah felt a fury rise up in her and she marched straight up into his face and stared hard into his beady eyes. "You train your men and you have them ready," she snarled, poking him hard in the chest. "And if you pull any shit like this again, I won't be so friendly next time." She gave him one last look daring him to say anything, then she turned and left with Carly and Tommy.
Axel seethed behind her, standing in the middle of his men and feeling humiliated. He gave an angry gesture with his arms behind her back telling her to go fuck herself, then he turned and started taking his anger out on his men, harshly ordering them to do unnecessary tasks.
When Sarah, Carly and Tommy got clear of the camp and off the bridge, Sarah turned and took Carly by the shoulder. "Did they touch you?" she asked again.
Carly shook her head. "No..." She looked in Sarah's eyes as if she was confused why Sarah was so insistent. "Sarah, I'm fine, honestly. Creeped out, yeah, but none of them touched me. They just gave me a ratty cloth to sleep on for the night and I didn't touch any of the food they tried to give me, so I'm starving. I just want to get back."
Sarah's gaze softened. "Okay, let's get you back, then."
The three of them traveled to the small farmstead that Sarah and Carly had taken as their new home, and Sarah filled her in on what she and Tommy saw along the hidden trail in the woods.
Sarah put her feet up on the ottoman and slowly moved back and forth on her rocking chair. She held the plate up to her chin and shoveled in more mashed potatoes. She was so tired that even her fork felt heavy, but she wanted to make sure that Carly was fed and okay after her brief experience with Axel. When she finished, she was going to hit the hay.
Carly and Tommy sat on the couch on the other side of the living room, digging into the food that Sarah made them. She'd opened up a few cans for all of them and cooked it on a portable gas stove. She'd found it when they were still back at the church, pillaged from a house in the city, and she was glad to have it. She had rarely ever seen them anymore, and it was helpful that she could cook on one without having to start a fire and create smoke now that she and Carly wanted to keep a low profile and not let their presence be known whatsoever to Jack Glass or his minions. And as luck would have it, she found two propane canisters for a barbecue sitting in a shed on the property.
Zombie Apocalypse Box Set 2 Page 28
