Surviving Rage | Book 2

by Arellano, J. D.

  Soon enough, she’d slip up, testing the military forces to the north one time too many, and when she did, they’d hammer the shit out of her and her crew. When that happened, the door would be open for the Skullcrusher.

  They’d strike while the Scorpion’s crew was weak, overrunning their defenses and taking over before they had a chance to regroup. Once they’d done so, they’d make a point of publicly executing her and her bitch of a girlfriend in front of those who’d been under her rule.

  Everything had been planned out perfectly. They just had to wait for the right moment.

  But now he wouldn’t be part of it.

  Not with the hole in his chest that made it impossible to breathe.

  Not while an impossible amount of blood pooled on the dirt road underneath him, growing rapidly as it left his body.

  What exactly had happened?

  Who attacked them, killing T.J. with a knife from twenty yards away before shooting him from behind a split second later?

  More importantly, how had he missed him?

  Try as he might, he couldn’t move, though he knew he had to. He needed to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, if it could be stopped, but no matter how much his mind told his arms to move, they refused. He was just so...tired.

  Maybe he just needed to sleep for a bit.

  Rest his eyes….

  Crunching sounds nearby made him refocus momentarily.

  “Shit, man, this muthafucka’s dead. T.J., too.”

  “Unhh…” Deon managed.

  “Damn, hold up. Deon’s still alive!”

  “Not for long, though. Look at dat hole.” It was Skull Crusher’s voice.

  “Help…” Deon said weakly.

  “Ay, turn him over.” Skull Crusher ordered.

  Deon felt a hand roughly pull against his left shoulder, turning his body over so that he was on his back.

  ‘The sky is so blue….’ his mind told him as his eyes struggled to stay open.

  Skull Crusher’s face came into focus, hovering above him. “What da fuck happened?”

  “Chased man here…” he muttered, struggling to force the words out. “Had...little girl...with him….”

  Deon wanted to rest. He closed his eyes.

  Slap!

  A hand rocked his face, jarring him awake again.

  “Tell me more. Who the fuck did this over a little girl?” Skullcrusher asked.

  “Girl…” blood spewed forth from Deon’s mouth as he choked. “...immune.”

  “Shit…” one of the other men said from behind their crew’s leader.

  “Shut up.” Skull Crusher ordered. Reaching down, he took firm hold of Deon’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes as he asked, “Where is she?”

  “Other...man….to-to-took her…” he spat out blood, trying to clear his airway. “Help...me…” he pleaded.

  Skull Crusher’s face pulled up and away, leaving Deon’s rapidly diminishing field of view. A dark circle came into focus above his head.

  Skull Crusher pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into Deon’s brain.

  “Let’s find that fucker,” he said, turning away from the man’s dead body. “Get the girl. She’s gotta be worth something.”

  Together, he and his men walked back to where they’d parked the black Cadillac Escalade he favored.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX

  Palo Alto, California

  “Honey, I’ve got a plan.”

  Looking at her husband’s face, Serafina could tell right away that she wasn’t going to like whatever he had in mind.

  “What is it?” She asked cautiously, before stealing a glance towards the windows at the front of the bank. Of the five large windows, three had cracks, spider webbing outward from impact points.

  “I’m gonna lead them away. Get them to chase me.”

  “No fucking way,” she responded, shaking her head firmly.

  “Sera, if we wait, they’ll overwhelm us in here. There’s no way - ”

  “No. We stick together.”

  “Listen, we don’t have enough ammo, and don’t have the right weapons to fight off that many of them.”

  Serafina looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “So what, you’re just going to run and have them chase you? What if they catch you?”

  “They won’t.”

  “You don’t know that!”

  Daniel shook his head. “I know, but look, Ashley can barely walk. I’m the best runner out of all of us, and with the weight I’ve lost over the last two weeks, my endurance will be even better. I can run, lead them into somewhere they’ll have a hard time getting out of, and then come back and we can get away.”

  “Like what?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Serafina’s eyes, filled with intensity, held his. “I mean, where would you lead them to?” Pointing to his pocket, she said, “Show me the map.”

  Pulling it out quickly, Daniel found the area they were in and showed it to her.

  Looking down at it, Serafina studied the map as the crazed beings at the front of the building continued to pound on the glass, screaming in rage as they broke their hands and feet on the plate glass.

  “Here,” she said, pointing. “The community center.”

  Daniel frowned in response, not following her thinking.

  “Lead them across the fields. You know how the baseball fields have that opening near the dugouts, where you have kind of zig zag to get to the other side of the fence?”

  Daniel nodded, understanding now. “They’d never be able to figure it out.”

  “Exactly.”

  Daniel looked down and used a part of his finger to measure the distance to the park. “Looks like just over a mile. I can easily reach the park in under ten minutes. I get across it, leave them there, and come back. Altogether, it should take me about twenty-five minutes.”

  Serafina looked up and him, tears in her eyes. “Are you absolutely sure you can do this?”

  “Nothing’s certain, but I’m sure that if we stay here and let them keep throwing themselves against the glass, they’ll eventually get in. If they do, we won’t survive. This,” he said, pointing at the map, “is the best chance we’ve got.”

  Serafina nodded, closing her eyes as she tried to hold back tears.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  Looking over at the sound of the voice, they saw Paul standing there, a resolute look on his face. Before they could question him, he continued. “You need back up, and someone that can see beyond twenty yards. I’ve been running cross country for the last three years.”

  The young man took a deep breath, swallowed, and looked at each of them in turn.

  “Let me do this. I owe all of you.”

  Hugs and kisses were exchanged between Daniel and his family before each of the women hugged Paul, telling him to be careful and to take care of Daniel.

  When one of the windows cracked even louder, Daniel knew they were out of time. Taking his rifle off his shoulder, he passed it to Ashley. “I can’t run with this. If you have to use it, remember your lessons.”

  Turning quickly, he rushed over to the business loan area in the bank and found what he needed. He grabbed four clipboards and passed two of them to Paul.

  “Alright, it’s time, he said, heading for the back door to the place. Using the keys he’d taken from the security guard, he found the one that unlocked the rear door. Passing them to Serafina, he nodded and said, “I love you,” before stepping outside, followed by Paul.

  As the door closed and latched behind him, he nodded at Paul, took a breath, and whispered, “Let’s go.”

  The two of them quietly snuck along the edge of the parking lot to the front of the bank, staying behind cars, trucks, and the small bushes that lined the business property, until they reached the street.

  The dozens of infected fought with each other as they tried to break through the glass at the front of the bank, solely focused on those contained within.


  Until Daniel and Paul began beating the plastic clipboards together.

  CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

  The infected screamed nearly in unison as they looked and turned towards the sound of the noise. Without hesitation, they burst into action, fighting to move away from the bank in pursuit of the two men.

  Daniel and Paul dropped the clipboards and ran.

  The chase was on.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN

  The Salt Ponds, South San Francisco Bay

  Inside one of the warehouses used by the Cargill company for packaging and shipping refined salt, Logan pulled the long strip of cotton that he’d taken from his t-shirt around Isabella’s shoulder, tying it tightly to hold folded pieces of the shirt in place on both the front and back side of her shoulder.

  “Is that okay? I have to make it tight, otherwise the pieces of cotton will slide down.”

  Isabella nodded, blinking back tears as she looked at his chest.

  “Hurts a lot, hunh?” he asked, turning his head in an effort to make eye contact with the young girl.

  Isabella nodded. “Yes, but I just…” she turned away briefly, swallowed, then turned back and lunged forward, wrapping her left arm around him. “Thank you for saving me,” she said as tears flowed from her eyes.

  Surprised by the gesture, Logan brought his arms up and gently wrapped them around the girl, being careful not to touch anywhere close to her wound.

  “Of course,” he said, simply. “You’re…” he wanted to say family, but felt it might not be well received. “Part of Daniel and Serafina’s family. They’re good people.”

  Slowly back out of the hug, Isabella looked up at him hopefully. “Are they with you?”

  Logan shook his head. “No. Daniel was hurt pretty badly when Joe hit him.”

  Isabella’s eyes widened upon hearing the news. “Oh no...Is he okay?”

  He nodded slowly. “He’ll be okay. He and the family are headed towards San Francisco. I’m supposed to use the radio in the Prius once I’ve...rescued you.”

  “We left it back there,” the girl said, gesturing back in the general direction they’d come from.

  “Okay,” Logan replied, nodding. “Maybe we can hike back there and - ”

  His words were interrupted by the sound of a single gunshot, coming from close by.

  He reached out with one hand, placing it on the girl’s left shoulder, indicating that she should remain silent. Loud voices came from somewhere nearby on the roads that ran between the mounds of refined salt.

  Probably near where he’d killed the two men, he reasoned. Lowering his voice, he whispered, “Listen, we have to get out of here, okay?”

  The girl nodded.

  “I need you to stay absolutely quiet and stay right behind me. Step where I step, walk when I walk, and stop when I stop, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  He thought for a second, then said, “Going back for the Prius is too risky. We’ll head towards the little moped I left just outside this area. We’ll have to catch up with the others in San Francisco. As a matter of fact...” he closed his eyes and thought about the area they were in. Having grown up northeast of San Francisco on the outskirts of the small city of Vacaville, he had a pretty good knowledge of the area, and if he was right, there was a bridge just north of where they were. One that would take them across the southern part of the bay, towards San Francisco.

  ‘Dumbarton bridge,’ he said to himself.

  “We’ll head north, towards the bridge,” he finished, looking at Isabella and nodding.

  “Okay,” she said. “That’s where Joe was headed, too.”

  Standing up, he moved to the door, motioning for her to remain where she was with his hand. Opening the door a few inches, he peered through the small gap, looking for signs of movement. He saw none, but heard the voices close by.

  They had to move.

  Now.

  Using his hand, he urged her to join him where he was. She rushed to his side, moving with a graceful athleticism he hadn’t expected. Where most kids her age were awkward and clumsy, she moved with surefooted smoothness, placing one foot in front of the other quickly and silently.

  “Okay,” he said, looking into her wide, dark eyes, “Stay close to me. We’re getting out of here.”

  She nodded.

  Opening the door, just wide enough to slip through, he moved outside, keeping his eyes fixated in the direction of the voices as he held the door open with one hand. When Isabella was through the door and standing behind him, he felt the door slip out of his hand. Panicking, he looked for it, desperate to stop it from slamming closed and giving away their position.

  Isabella’s eyes met his as she carefully guided the metal door back into its frame, taking every precaution to make sure it closed silently. When she was done, she looked at him and gave a slight smile.

  He smiled in return, then pointed in the direction they’d be going. Stepping forward, he glanced down at the dirt surface of the road, making sure there was nothing that would make noise.

  He led her away from the warehouse, heading towards the road east of the salt ponds, where he’d left the scooter. As they moved, he became more and more confident that they’d make it to the small motorbike without being spotted while at the same time being distressed.

  The voices were moving in roughly the same direction as they were, only along a parallel path.

  Though he’d managed to park the little scooter behind a small bush, his attempt at hiding it had been rudimentary at best, and if the men nearby hadn’t seen it when they’d arrived, they’d surely see it when they headed back in that direction.

  With it still being there, they’d realize he and Isabella hadn’t left and were still close by.

  Even worse, if he and Isabella didn’t hurry, they’d arrive at the same time as the men.

  Glancing back at Isabella, he made sure she was paying attention, then made a forward rotating gesture with one finger, indicating that they would be moving faster. He didn’t wait for confirmation before he began moving more quickly, working his way back towards the scooter, occasionally glancing in the direction of the voices.

  It sounded like there were at least four, maybe five men in the nearby group. Too many for him to fight off.

  Heck, he’d been fortunate to get the drop on the two men he’d taken out earlier.

  He rushed forward, willing the edge of the salt pond area to appear. When he heard the voices on the next row over, he reached back, grabbed Isabella by the wrist, and broke into a run.

  “Yo! What’s that?” A voice called out.

  “Someone’s there!” Another voice answered.

  “Probably the fucker that killed Deon and T.J.!” A third voice added.

  The sound of men running came from the other side of a large mound as he and Isabella ran, no longer worried about stealth. Stealth was no longer an option. Their only hope revolved around speed.

  Finally reaching the edge of the salt ponds, he guided Isabella through a gap in the chain link fence and across the road. Jumping onto the moped, he motioned for her to get behind him as he inserted the key into the ignition and started it.

  “Hold on!”

  He pulled back on the throttle, causing the bike to lurch forward, out of the bushes and onto the road. He leaned to the right as they turned down the street that ran parallel to the salt ponds, heading north.

  Shots rang out, pinging along the pavement as they fled. Logan leaned down, bringing Isabella down with him as he tried to reduce the size of the target the men behind them were aiming at. He swerved as he drove the moped, trying to confuse the men as well, but he quickly realized that it soon wouldn’t make a difference.

  The sound of a powerful engine roared behind them, and it was getting closer.

  Looking ahead, he saw a cross street.

  “Stay down!” he yelled to Isabella, raising his voice to compete with the noise of the road. He pulled harder back on the throttle,
though he knew he’d already brought it back as far as it would go. The little engine was giving him everything it had.

  It just wasn’t enough.

  Glancing in the side mirror, he saw the black SUV accelerating towards them, its big tires crushing the random cans, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and other debris in the road effortlessly. A section of molded plastic bumper flew skyward, bouncing off the Escalade’s windshield before tumbling down the road behind it. The men chasing them were barely three hundred yards behind and closing fast.

  ‘Shit,’ he thought, returning his focus to the road ahead. Nothing could be gained by focusing on the SUV. His only hope was to find a way to slow the vehicle down.

  WIthout slowing he turned onto Thornton Avenue, causing the moped’s small tires to squeal in response as they struggled to handle a maneuver they were far from designed for. The moped wobbled, threatening to fall over, eliciting a scream of fear from Isabella, but somehow managed to make the turn, leaving small bits of rubber on the road as it propelled itself forward, carrying them ahead. Logan saw industrial buildings on both sides of the road, with numerous large trucks parked along either side. Unfortunately, the road itself was wide open, meaning the SUV would have no issues accelerating as it continued to close the gap.

  Looking back once more, he saw the Escalade skid sideways as it made the turn, sliding across the intersection and swiping against a Volkswagen Beetle, ripping off its mirror, denting its side, and shattering the glass of its windows.

  The impact slowed the SUV momentarily as it rebounded from the impact, allowing Logan and Isabella to regain precious distance between themselves and the men that chased them.

  The road ahead split, with Marshlands Road heading off towards the water and Thornton Avenue continuing on towards the Dumbarton Bridge. Though the smaller road was enticing, a quick glance to the left showed that the road remained at sea level as it headed towards the wetlands, whereas the bridge quickly rose upwards as it extended west.

  Following Thornton Avenue, he guided the moped around the curve, still leaning forward as he tried to minimize their drag in an effort to coax more speed out of the little motorbike. Isabella’s left arm was wrapped tightly around him, squeezing him with everything she had as they leaned into the turn.