The Grave Diggers
Page 16
Kaiden looped the rope around the cuffs and tied a knot.
Together, she and Tate hoisted the other end of the rope, pulling the figure to their feet; the figure wobbled briefly before gaining their balance.
* * *
Back at the base, Cooper’s empty room was dark. His cell phone lay on the bed. The phone began to beep, and the display lit up: Caller ID: Unknown. It beeped several times, but there was no one to answer it.
* * *
Kaiden took a sack out of her backpack and removed a bell with a length of chain attached to it, then wrapped the other end of the chain around the ankle of the hooded figure.
Tate fished a knife out of her bag and pushed the handle into the hands of the bound figure.
"Hang on to that," said Tate. "It's the only thing that can save you, because after what you've done, I sure as hell won't."
* * *
Cooper’s phone stopped beeping, and lay quiet and inanimate as if it had never made a sound. Darkness rushed in to fill the void left by the bright display.
* * *
Tate looked at his watch and nodded to himself. "About time to finish this up."
He picked up the slack rope and began pulling on it, lifting the hooded figure off the ground until the bell swung freely under his feet.
The figure’s protests were muffled beneath the hood.
Tate tied the rope off around a short but stout tree, and walked back to stand in front of the hooded figure.
"After we leave, you can either hang here until your hands rot off, or you can try to cut yourself down. If you choose the latter, every step you take will ring that bell. Since we stirred up a lot of those undead eating machines not too far from here... well, few sounds carry like a clanging bell. Personally, I've seen what those things have done to people. Laying there, watching your limb ripped off and eaten in front of you is a hard way to go. Maybe you'll decide to open a vein with that knife before they get to you. Either way, I don't care. We're done here."
The hooded figure’s yells were nothing more than muffled sounds, but it was clear they were trying to say something.
Tate reached up and pulled off the hood, then pulled the wadded up sock out of the figure’s mouth.
* * *
The quiet of Cooper’s room was broken as his cell phone began beeping. The same unknown caller ID was on the display.
Footsteps ran up and stopped outside the door. Keys jangled as someone dropped them on the floor.
The phone kept beeping, taunting someone to reach it before it fell silent again.
The doorknob rattled and light flooded into the room from the hallway.
Cooper ran to the bed and snatched up the phone. "Hello? Hello? Mr. Red? I'm sorry, I was..."
A soft, young voice came over the phone. "Big brother? Is that you?"
All strength left Cooper’s legs, and he sat heavily on the floor. "Julie? Sis, is that you? Is everyone okay? How did you get this number?"
* * *
Tate looked into the terror-filled eyes of the man strung up in front of him.
"My time's running short, Mr. Red. If you have something to tell me, make it fast," said Tate.
"I was just doing my job," pleaded Mr. Red, as he tried to keep his voice from trembling.
"Like cutting that little girl’s finger off?" asked Kaiden. "That part of your job, too?"
Mr. Red's eyes darted between Tate and Kaiden, searching for any sign of clemency, but only finding cold resolve.
"I've told you everything I know. But... but I could help you. Be a resource like a... an inside guy."
In the distance, they could hear the whine of the Black Hawk turbines spinning up.
"If we could use Cooper's phone to track you down, in spite of those amateur encoded repeaters, just think of what we can do with your computer, cell phone, all those files we took from your apartment," said Kaiden. "Don't get me wrong. If it was up to me, I'd love to have you on the team, but Jack's got trust issues, okay? Okay. Bye-bye."
She picked up the dirt-covered sock Tate had dropped, and stuffed it back into Mr. Red’s mouth as he began to sob pitifully.
She shouldered her backpack and headed towards the sound of the helicopter.
Tate paused a moment longer, looking at the hanging man’s terrified eyes. "Don't give up, Red. There's a least a five percent chance you'll get out of this alive, and if you do, and you make it back to your friends, tell them the Grave Diggers are coming for them."
The End
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Digging Into The Story
While reading this book you may have asked yourself, ‘When did this happen? In the future, or is this a parallel world, or what?’ You might (even) have gone back and reread some of it, thinking you missed the key sentence that explains it. To answer your (assumed) second question, no, this isn’t a parallel world. In answer to your (equally assumed) first question the answer is the near future. I know. That doesn’t exactly put a pin on a year, but if it’s any help in narrowing down a date, you probably have enough time to work out your evacuation plan and stock up on MRE’s before society is cannibalized by the undead.
I kept to current military gear because most equipment has a long service life before something new comes along. Look at the M14 rifle, for example. It first saw action in 1961 and is still in service 55 years later. I did cave to the temptation to come up with a fictitious weapon because, come on, it’s cool.
One Last Thing
If you think you’ve seen all there is to the Vix in this book you’d be very mistaken. I’ve grown up on zombie lore and, like you, feel that once the monster has stepped out from behind the curtain you’ve seen it all. What kind of storyteller would I be if I did that to you? There’s more to the Vix you haven’t seen yet, and judging by how creeped out people got from reading the early copy of my next book, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Chris grew up on George Romero, Rambo, Star Wars and Tom Clancy, a formula for a creating a seriously good range of science fiction, action, paranormal, and adventure novels.
Chris is currently working on The Grave Digger series, an action packed thrill ride that will have you hooked right up to the last page. It’s Tom Clancy meets Dawn of the Dead and X-Files, and it’s guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Jack Tate, ex-Delta operator, has assembled a rag-tag team of rookies and motley group of wannabes is all he has to go up against a secret cabal who are plotting a takeover of the United States. Can they do it before time runs out?
website: chrisfritschi.com