Reimer kept his eyes on the cowboy, his fingertips resting over the frame of his Carbine.
“You know Dr. Hill?”
“Where the hell is she?”
“We’re looking for her,” Reimer said. “The bunker’s been overrun. Did you have people looking for her there?” The burly man with the baseball bat lowered his bat and looked wide-eyed at them.
“Oh, no…TWO men?”
“Yes,” Reimer said. “The corpses got them before we got there. Dr. Hill wasn’t there.” The big man looked to park ranger, who already had his Glock lowered. Both men then turned their glance toward the cowboy.
“Ford, they’re here to help. Put it away,” the big man said.
“Bullshit,” Ford snarled, his gun still pointed at them. “You think I’m gonna trust her with THESE guys.”
“In case it’s not obvious enough, we’re with the military,” Gordon said.
“Three of you?” Ford said, chuckling. “What is your plan exactly? Take the Doc through the black forest and extract? Looks to me like you barely survived the first trip. So, it’ll be a cold day in hell before she goes with you.”
“How do you know how we came?” Reimer asked. Dunn, on the other hand, didn’t care to know. He was growing impatient in addition to being enraged.
“How ‘bout we just shoot you and go on about our day?” he shouted. Ford smiled, as though wanting to accept the challenge. The burly man noticed the revolver slowly turning toward the nervous marine.
“Ford, DON’T!”
“Shut up, Tanner,” Ford said.
“We could use their help,” Tanner said.
“The hell with that,” Ford said. “They’d be dead right now if not for us. Probably should’ve let it be that way.”
“They’re good, man. Fuck, man! They killed a mutant!” the park ranger said.
“Yeah? So have I,” Ford muttered. “I’m not leaving the doc in these guy’s hands. They’ll get her killed.”
“Get her killed?” Reimer said. “You consider yourself Dr. Hill’s caretaker or something?”
“Kept her alive so far,” Ford said.
“Not convincing me, considering you can’t find her,” Reimer said. Ford narrowed his gaze, fixing his eyes on the Corporal. Reimer carefully watched him, specifically his eyes. He held his own hand steady, ready to grab his M4 if necessary.
The revolver lowered as Ford looked high to the sky a mile behind the marines. Everyone turned to look at what he saw. A fizzling streak of light had launched through the air like a rocket.
“Flare!” Tanner said.
“That’s her!” Ford said. “Probably heard the gunfire and knew we were close by.”
“Wait,” Dunn said. “How do you know that’s her?!”
“I gave her that flare gun,” Ford said. He holstered his pistol and ran past them, moving along the edge of the cliff before disappearing behind the trees. The other four followed. As they passed by, the burly man, Tanner, waved to the marines, gesturing for them to come along.
Reimer and Gordon didn’t hesitate to join the group. Dunn paused for a moment to take a breath. He felt uneasy about these people. However, they led to the objective. With Reimer and Gordon accompanying their group, what choice did he have?
Wiping the sweat from his forehead onto his sleeve, he took off after them.
CHAPTER 18
The mouth of the cliff started to bend to the right, forming a near perfect semi-circle. Running clear of the trees, the group could see the cliff wall ahead around the bend. At the mouth of the cliff was a giant horde of the undead.
Ford ran at the front of the group, gauging the numbers as he went. There were at least two hundred of them down there. Corporal Reimer caught up with him and pointed his finger down at the foot of the cliff.
“I see them just fine. You don’t need to…”
“No! Look above them. On the wall!” Reimer yelled. Ford squinted and leaned forward. There she was. He could see Dr. Hill clinging on a rock shelf about twelve feet above the horde. She kept her back pressed to the cliff, the toes of her boots protruding over the rounding bump she balanced on.
“Holy crap!” Tanner said. “How are we gonna get her off of that?”
“We got rope,” Reimer said. “One of us will have to go down and get her.”
“Let’s get our asses over there first,” Ford said.
The group hustled around the bend. As they neared Dr. Hill, the combined groans of the undead grew louder and louder. Several of them bunched at the mouth of the cliff, compressing those unlucky enough to be in the front. Arms with sagging skin reached up at her.
Dr. Hill took each breath slow and deep, keeping her nerves as calm as possible. She hugged her athletic figure against the wall to keep as still as possible. Even the slightest of movements caused pebbles to break from the tiny ledge. She had dropped her pickaxe during the climb down. By then, there were only three ghouls. But with the twelve-foot drop, she couldn’t risk landing without injury, which would leave her susceptible to the ghouls.
She had one flare left and debated how long she should wait before using it. One thing she did know was that she had no plans to die. She didn’t believe in offing herself. She believed that a good life awaited, and she needed to overcome great turmoil in order to get to it.
Above her, the team assembled at the edge of the cliff.
“DOC!” Ford called down. Hill looked up, seeing her friends along with men in military gear standing over her.
“Hey!” she called back. “Kinda in a pickle here.”
“I’m Corporal Reimer with the U.M.S.C! Just keep still. We’ll pick you up,” Reimer called down.
“OH! Well, okay! I thought I’d take a stroll, but if you say so…” she joked. Reimer didn’t offer a return comment. The day had been long and much had been lost. He unpacked his harness and strung it over his waist and shoulders. Gordon secured the rope to a nearby tree, pulling tight to make sure the loop was secure.
“Give me the rope. I’ll go down,” Ford said. Reimer chuckled.
“Cowboy, I’ve known you for about two minutes,” he said. “You even know how to do this?”
“How do you think we’ve survived up here this long?” Ford said.
“Good point,” Reimer said. “But the answer’s still no. This is my job.”
“Fine.” Ford leaned close. “But don’t think this means I’m letting you take her out of here. You hear me?” Reimer knew his answer wouldn’t be well received, so instead he opted to give none.
He slung himself over the ledge and pressed his feet to the wall. He bounced away, descending several feet at a time. He looked down below him, seeing nothing but writhing corpses crowding the ground. The stink rose with the air, thickening with each step down.
The group huddled at the ledge. Dunn inched to the side, still wary of these new companions. It wasn’t clear they were to be trusted. Already, he was growing anxious of a future clash. It was clear they would resist Dr. Hill leaving with them, should they ever find a way out of the area.
At the moment, he chose to focus on the task at hand. Reimer was about halfway down now. The undead were growing increasingly flamboyant, likely excited at the sight of fresh meat coming their way.
“Almost there,” Reimer called out to Hill. She didn’t venture any sarcastic response this time. Instead, she was breathing nervously. She felt the ledge shift under her feet. Gravel rolled down the slope. The shelf, which was practically a bolder wedged into the side of the cliff, was starting to give way. Reimer could see the slight wobbling taking place. He only had seconds to go.
Kicking hard against the wall, he freefell the next fifteen feet, re-securing the grip on the rope and landing right beside Hill. He reached his arm out and she threw herself on him, wrapping both arms under his shoulders. The shelf dipped, not coming out of the wall, but sloping at an angle impossible to stand on.
“Okay, hang tight,” Reimer said. He looked back up to the gro
up. “I got her! Mind pulling us up?”
“Yes!” Tanner cheered, high-fiving with the two Japanese men. He and Gordon teamed up around the rope and started pulling up. Ford hurried behind them and grabbed a fistful of the rope to help. All three of them pulled at once, hauling Reimer and Hill up the cliff.
The park ranger looked down over the ledge, informing the other how far they had yet to pull. They pulled together, coiling the slack behind them. After the third pull, Dunn decided to grab the rope behind Ford and help. As they tugged in unison, he watched the cowboy. Ford took no notice of him, as he was focused on the task. Dunn glanced to the Japanese men. They had moved several yards to the side as a couple of corpses roved out from the trees. They bashed their heads with their metal pipes, eventually impaling them with the tips. With them busy and everyone distracted, Dunn watched Ford. It was clear that he was the leader of the group. His mind raced through several scenarios, his anxiety causing him to fixate on the worst cases. Each of them involved a deadly altercation with this group.
Perhaps, once Reimer and Hill are up…
The presence of his sidearm somehow became more evident on his thigh. He was a fast draw. The cowboy’s attention would be off of him. The big man didn’t appear to carry a gun, he’d be easy to neutralize. If he acted quick enough, he could get them and then the ranger.
A rustling in the brush brought the silent planning to an end. He dropped the rope and whipped around, securing his Carbine and aiming it into the trees.
Feeling the added tension to the line, Ford and Tanner looked back.
“What is it?” Ford asked.
“Don’t know,” Dunn said. Now the park ranger was looking back, his hand clasping the grip of his Glock. The Japanese duo both reached again for their revolvers.
The snapping of twigs drew their attention to the left, where a small group of undead stepped from the same spot as the recent two. The park ranger rushed in to assist. He jumped into the action, bringing his machete over the forehead of a heavyset ghoul. Dunn watched the melee as it took place. It appeared that the corpses were few enough in number for the survivors to handle. At this moment, he started to question himself over his recent thoughts.
Was I really thinking of going that far?
His mind went back and forth on the topic, as though he had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. His breathing grew heavy and a new sweat accumulated at his brow. He began to wonder if he had lost his nerve. All he truly knew was that he didn’t want his remaining friends to die, or any other soldiers for that matter. The memory of Cable screaming under the ground carried in his brain as though it was presently happening. A flood of anxiety struck him.
He looked back to the woods, hearing a high-pitched shriek. It almost sounded like a person in pain.
Next came the sound of fast paced footsteps. Another shriek filled the air.
It came lumbering from the trees. It was a scrawny figure, only about five-foot-six. Its skin was as pasty white as drywall. Its head was perfectly round, the eyes bulging from the sockets, displaying catlike pupils. Its jaw had mutated, the cheeks almost completely gone, exposing pointed sharp teeth where the crowns had previously been.
Its hands were gone, the flesh around the wrists peeled back, revealing a dark red flesh as spear-tipped bones protruded from the forearms.
“Holy…” Tanner muttered. Dunn aimed his rifle and initiated pressure on the trigger.
At that moment, it darted into the group with the speed of a cheetah. Dunn fired off a shot, the bullet going wide as it closed.
“JESUS!” He panicked, dashing to the side. The group split apart, everyone but Gordon letting go of the rope. Suddenly, all two-hundred-and-seventy pounds were resting on him, causing him to stumble to the edge of the cliff.
Dangling twelve feet below, Reimer and Hill tensed, hearing the horrid sounds above.
Ford drew his revolver and fired, striking the ghoul in the neck as it sprinted. Like all its brethren, it felt no pain. It cocked both arms back at shoulder height and closed in on the park ranger. Two shots from his Glock punched through its chest as it lunged. It tackled him to the ground, the pistol bouncing from his hand. The park ranger yelled out as it repeatedly stuck him in the gut with both arms. Blood sprayed in large gushes, smothering its white skin.
Ford fired again, the .357 caliber bullet skidding off the back of its head. The mutant slammed its face down into the ranger’s mashed torso, its shark-like teeth ripping chunks of entrails free. It looked at the others, face stained bright red. It jumped off of the ranger as though weightless as a bird. It let out a horrifying shriek as it ran at them again. The group scattered, bullets whizzing in a frenzy.
The ghoul jumped like a grasshopper, landing on top of Tanner. Teeth immediately came down on his face, tearing his cheeks and lips as the spear bones stabbed into his belly. The burly man stumbled back, dropping his baseball bat in fright. He pressed both palms into its belly and pushed, but it held on like a cat. It yanked its head back, teeth tearing away scraps of cheek, then clamped its jaws onto his hand. Tanner screamed as flesh and bone tore away. The creature shook its head, severing the index, middle, and ring finger from his right hand.
Consumed by pain, shock, and confusion, Tanner fell on his back, the creature still on top of him. A series of grunts left his lungs as the mutant punched its forearms through his ribcage, showering the cliffside with blood.
Gordon watched in helplessness as the creature ravaged the man just ten feet from where he held the rope. Below him, Reimer tried pulling himself up. They could see glimpses of the creature as it tore into Tanner. Behind it, Ford and Dunn rushed in.
The creature jumped to its feet, ready to attack. Dunn fired an automatic at full blast into the creature’s chest and face. Like the other mutant, its skull had evolved to withstand gunfire. However, it wasn’t hardened to the same extent. The final few rounds cracked the forehead, causing the creature to stumble back toward the ledge. The formerly round skull was now disproportioned, the bone having been broken. However, the brain was still intact.
Ford threw himself at the beast, knocking it back with a kick to the chest. The mutant staggered backward and tipped over the ledge.
“Adios, motherfucker,” Ford said.
In its fall, the creature threw its arms out wildly, the tip of the bones splintering against the earth that made up the cliff. In that same moment, it found itself hugging the wall, its right arm lodged in a crack between two rocks.
Reimer and Hill looked down. At the same time, the creature gazed up at them. One eye bulged completely from its socket as the broken portions of skull shifted. Blood, both human and its own, trickled from its mouth. It dug its arms and feet into the cliff and began its climb.
“Get us up!” Reimer yelled.
The survivors assembled behind Gordon and helped him tug back. Reimer pulled one of his Berettas and aimed down. The creature was ascending rapidly, its head now appearing as soft as membrane. With the constant jolting and swinging, he couldn’t fix his aim. He fired off a shot, the bullet missing it by a yard. Subsequent shots produced the same result.
“Get us up!” a terrified Dr. Hill called out. They were just a few feet from the ledge. The Japanese duo reached down and grabbed Dr. Hill by the wrists. As they hauled her up, Dunn and Ford reached for Reimer. They grabbed him by the vest and yanked back. He cleared the ledge, just as the creature had lashed out at them. It missed, almost losing its hold of the cliff in the process.
Ford drew the hatchet from his belt and rushed toward the cliff edge. The mutant was only two feet below the shelf. It looked up at him, smiling with prickly teeth.
He swung his axe down on top of its skull, splitting bone and brain matter as it carved down to the base of the neck. The head peeled apart in two folds, and the mutant fell freely into the horde below.
Dr. Hill rested on her hands and knees, brushing strands of blond hair from her eyes. Sounds of labored breathing turned her g
aze over her left shoulder. Tanner was still alive, his entire torso appearing as if he had fallen over a buzz-saw. She put her hand over her mouth and looked away…only to see the park ranger’s corpse.
“Ohhh…my god,” she was nearly sobbing.
Ford stood over Tanner, barely recognizing his face. The flesh around the mouth and eyes had been chewed. Muscle and bone tissue were exposed on the right side of his face, including the edge of his eye socket. He shook in pain, unable to speak.
“Sorry, man,” Ford said. He pressed the muzzle of his revolver to his friend’s temple and squeezed the trigger.
CHAPTER 19
The journey from the cliffside was long and quiet. Hardly a word was spoken within the group as the marines followed the survivors along a hidden path downhill. They had walked the edge of the cliff to an incline that led down a large hill. On their way, they passed several ghouls, many caught in barbed wire fence. There were several rows of this fencing strung up in the forest as they approached the lake. With struggling bodies entangled and dead ones lying about, it resembled a World War 1 battlefield.
Even Dunn didn’t ask questions about their destination. At the moment, with no pickup available, they didn’t have much choice other than to put their faith into this band of survivors. The leader, Ford, took the lead, with Dr. Hill at the center of the group. The group formed a tight circle around her. There were no qualms that she had to be protected.
Only a few stray ghouls walked the path, all easily eliminated by Ford and his tomahawk. A chill began to overtake the air. The fog had thickened, moistening each person.
“Don’t swallow it. Try not to let it in your eyes,” Hill whispered back to the marines. Reimer nodded, wiping some of the condensation off his forehead with his sleeve.
“What if we breathe it in?” Dunn whispered.
“Don’t,” Hill said. She had already put a medical mask over her face, as did the others. Realizing the marines didn’t have any, she handed out a few spares. The supply balanced out, as these were intended for the other members of her group.
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