All The Beautiful People (A Dread Novel Book 1) (20 page)

CHAPTER 47

Taylor’s senses were overwhelmed. The cacophony of guns firing built to a crescendo that made her wish for earplugs. The wind’s icy fingers were poking and probing for any path through her layers of clothing. Most of all, she felt terror at the sight of the Ark walls.

Frank wasn’t exaggerating when he said that every able-bodied man and woman had been called upon to defend the compound. The tall wall that protected the facility in a half circle was full. In a long, single-file line, bodies armed with fully automatic weapons rained down lead on the attacking horde.

Although Taylor didn’t see the infected, she could hear them. Above the gunfire was a much larger noise. It took her a moment to identify the sound. It was the noise of thousands of collective moans and mumbles, spreading inner beauty, the infected wanted only one thing: to spread the darkness living inside them all.

Without thinking, Taylor ran for the wall. If she could find Captain Martin first, surely he would see the benefit of her gift. He would see the tactical advantage to having her defend the wall and make Wade see it as well.

Snow crunching under her boots, she made for one of the two stairwells leading to the top of the battlements.

Her breath come out in harsh clouds against the freezing night air. As soon as the vaporous poofs exited her mouth, they were gone. Taking the stairs two at a time, Taylor broached the middle of the chaos. Runners climbed the steps up and down, bringing ammunition to those firing on the wall. A kind of desperation muddled the scene as the defenders fought back their panic. Everyone knew what was at stake. This was not a fight for their own lives; it was a fight for humanity’s existence on Earth.

Taylor reached the top of the wall without being stopped. Her eyes raced across a dozen different faces, none of them anyone she recognized. Her need to find Captain Martin or even Jason was paramount but her curiosity of grasping the gravity of their situation won out.

Taylor found a spot on the wall between an overweight man who looked as though he had never fired a weapon in his life and a short female with tears in her eyes. The moment Taylor looked over the edge of the wall, she knew Frank’s description had not been over exaggerated.

Spotlights lined along the wall shone down on the mass below. Illuminated for all to witness was a sea of bodies, their number so vast they faded into the tree line hundreds of yards away.

It took Taylor only a second to realize that there would not be enough bullets in the Ark to fight off the horde of infected, even if everyone on the wall manning a firearm were a trained marksman, which they were clearly not. A single bullet to the head or central body mass would be effective in taking down a single target. Fear laced with panic made all except a few of those on the wall spray bullets into the crowd like a fire hose.

The only good news was that the main gate was holding. Even under the pressure of a thousand hands pushing against the steel gates, the doors into the Ark would hold.

Taylor ripped her eyes from the scene below. She forced herself not to pick up a gun and help. If they were going to have any hope of fending off the attack, they would need something more powerful than bullets. She raced across the length of the wall looking for Captain Martin’s familiar face. She should have guessed that he would be at the section of the wall where the majority of the creatures were massing.

Though the main gate was under no immediate danger of buckling, the infected humans below concentrated their efforts on pushing in the door. Hundreds of bodies littered the area in front of the main gate with the pile of dead growing by the minute. Already a pile of dead taller than Taylor was erected in front of the main gate.

Captain Martin was shouting directions into his COM when Taylor approached. “That’s right,” he said to the soldier on the other end of the radio, “Make sure the main gate’s integrity is sound. They shouldn’t be able to force it open with their hands, but I don’t want any chances taken.”

Taylor skidded to a stop beside the captain who looked at her with a furrowed brow. “Taylor,” he barked, “where have you been? I asked for you when we were ordered to defend the wall but no one had an answer.”

Taylor thought through the dozen different explanations she could give the captain, at that moment none of them seemed to capture what she wanted to say. How did you tell someone that you could help using telekinetic powers?

“Taylor, are you alright?” the captain bellowed over the sound of the firing weapons.

“Yes!” Taylor yelled back. “I can help you. You have to trust me.”

The captain’s eyes moved between Taylor, the attacking abominations on the other side of the wall and back to his own men. “What are you talking about?”

There was no point of holding anything back; Taylor knew she had to tell him. “The serum they gave me to save my life after I was bitten, it did something to me. I’m connected to them somehow.” Her breath caught in her chest. There was no time to sugar coat the truth so Taylor laid it out for him as plainly as she could. “The serum they gave me fought back the infection and gave me the ability to move things with my mind.”

Captain Martin took the new information in stride. He paused to look down the sight of his M4-68 assault rifle and place a clean shot between the eyes of an attacking infected. The creature was climbing the growing mound in front of the main gate. “Well, if you can help, we could use it.”

A grin crossed her lips. She knew if anyone could understand the asset she could be to the survivors in the Ark, it would be the captain. Her joy dissipated faster than the puffs of air coming from her mouth as Taylor caught the figure of Wade Treadstone stalking down the wall toward them. There was no doubt that he had seen her.

Taylor was tired of running. If he wanted another confrontation, then she would give him one. Wade walked toward Taylor and the captain with a guard flanking him on either side. If his face was any inclination of his attitude, it didn’t bode well for Taylor. Wade stopped a few feet from her, his face red from the cold. “I should have guessed what Frank was up to when I couldn’t reach him on the COM. Miss Hart, you need to follow me back to the laboratory building immediately.”

Taylor squared her shoulders. “I’m not going. And I’m not running this time either. I’m here to help. You need me to push back this attack.”

The defiance in her eyes met equal intensity in Wade’s stare.

“Sir, we could use any help we can get at the moment,” Captain Martin cut in. “If Taylor does indeed have some kind of edge we coul—”

Wade raised a hand, cutting off the captain, “No, she’s going back to the lab. Taylor is a danger to herself and to all of us. She’s going to be sedated.” Wade motioned to the guards behind him. With raised machine guns, the two intimidating figures moved toward Taylor.

Taylor’s heart drummed in her chest. She didn’t want to kill anyone, especially soldiers that were only following orders. As she prepared to raise her hands and send the guards flying back, Captain Martin stepped between Taylor and the approaching guards.

The captain barked a few orders to his men on the wall. In an instant, guns were pointed in every direction. The guns weren’t aimed down where they should be, they were placed in the face of the defenders on the wall. Taylor took a step back, shocked. She thought the captain would stick up for her; however, outright rebellion was something she didn’t think possible in the old veteran.

Disbelief spread across Wade’s face as his two men pointed their guns at the group of the captain’s men who outnumbered them three to one. “This is outrage!” Wade shouted, spittle flying through the frigid air. “I—”

Before he could finish his threat, Jason ran up to the group and skidded to a stop. He was sweating despite the cold. His eyes were twice the size Taylor had ever seen them as he took in the events surrounding the group. “Whatever is happening here, we have bigger problems. The infected have nearly reached the top of the wall!”

Surprised glances were exchanged among the group. “They’re not attacking the main gate because they think they can break through it,” Jason waved with an outstretched arm, balancing his gun in his free hand. “They wanted us to kill them there. They’re building a mountain of bodies to climb over!”

CHAPTER 48

There was an unspoken agreement of peace as everyone in the standoff followed Jason’s outstretched hand. The racket of firearms in the air shattered the night sky. Taylor turned her attention to the main gate, fear sinking its teeth deep into her. The pile of dead infected bodies had quadrupled in size. It didn’t take Taylor long to comprehend why. Along with the pile of bodies the defenders on the wall had put down, those infected by the virus were dragging their dead comrades and piling them in a huge mass of corpses.

Taylor kicked herself for not understanding their strategy from the beginning. The maniacs on the other side of the wall had a plan all along. They were sacrificing thousands of their own to build a ramp to the top of the wall. Maybe if the defenders had realized the scheme transpiring, they could have changed their tactics. Now, it was too late. With a few more feet of corpses piled on the already growing mountain, they would be able to jump up and reach the edge of the wall.

Everyone was caught in the same spell that rendered them useless as they grasped the master plan of their enemy. They watched through unbelieving eyes as those still moving below carried their dead brethren to the top of the ramp and threw them down to build their siege tower.

Taylor was the first to snap out of the trance. She looked directly at Wade, defeat already in his eyes.

“I’m going to help,” she said in a tone that didn’t leave room for argument. “If you want to shoot me, then shoot me.” Taylor turned on her heel and ran for the area of the wall that would be breached first, half expecting to hear gunshots meant for her trailing behind.

She shifted her thoughts away from being shot in the back to focus on her next plan of action. She arrived as the breach was completed. Those on the wall closest ran in terror as multiple infected launched themselves off the ramp of bodies and gripped the edge of the wall. It was beyond her to blame those that ran. Only a small portion of the defenders were trained soldiers. Most of them were technicians or aides who had been ordered to stand and fight.

Then they came. First only a few, then by the dozens. Clawing, yelling from long dried out throats, the infected breached the wall. This was it. Taylor did her best to slow her pulse and calm her breathing. Reaching deep down inside she searched for the power that made her different.

It didn’t take long for those consumed by the virus to notice her on the wall. A group of four sprinted at her with hungry eyes. Moments from impact Taylor found what she was looking for. Extending her right hand in a sweeping motion, those racing toward her with murderous eyes were blown backward as if a battering ram had made contact with their bodies. The force was so great that Taylor heard bones in their body snap under the pressure as they sailed over the wall.

Instinct won out and Taylor ran to the middle of the wall. Her training as a soldier and Cleaner repressed her fear and calmed her pulse. Sometimes using her arms, other times only thinking the commands, Taylor beat back the horde. Bodies littered the ground and flew through the air as she pushed them back.

When she could, she sent them airborne back into the Alaskan woods; when she couldn’t, she crushed them where they stood. The faces of the defenders were looking at her in amazed wonder. Then Captain Martin’s familiar roar could be heard getting them back into position.

Seconds, minutes, time passed with no meaning as Taylor fought the darkness. It was while Taylor lifted a particularly large infected with a chest wound showing the white bone of his sternum that her feet lifted from the ground.

The interesting thing was that she wasn’t afraid. She looked around as she continued to hover higher in the air but no one was around. After a second she realized that somehow
she
was doing it. She accepted the idea that she could lift herself like she had known it all along. Taylor used the same mental power as when she lifted items to lift her body above the throng of fighting below.

Although guns were being used, the intensity of the shooting had diminished. Ammunition was running low. Taylor knew that something drastic needed to be done. No matter how many infected she sent flying back or necks she snapped, there were always more. A never-ending supply of crazed humans bent on maiming and destruction.

She looked at the ramp of dead bodies being used by the infected as a springboard to the wall. The siege tower had grown in mass. It now reached the lip of the wall from the ground. Taylor’s stomach turned as she considered how many bodies it took to construct the sloping structure. From her perspective above the ramp, it looked like a tangled mass of arms and legs. Without certainty on the mechanics of her flight ability, Taylor remained just out of grasp from the dead below.

She moved to the ramp of bodies, taking inventory of the situation. Captain Martin had set up firing lines on either side of the section of the breached wall. Taylor was able to take out the majority of the attackers on her own, the rest that got past her were funneled to one of the two firing lines.

If ammunition wasn’t a factor or fatigue hadn’t started to set in, Taylor would not have moved toward such a drastic plan. However, ammunition was low and she didn’t know how much longer she could continue at her current pace. She found herself in unknown territory when it came to understanding her new limits. Already her skull beat with a dull ache. Her muscles felt as though she had been lifting in a gym for hours.

Taylor stopped herself above the edge of the wall where the ramp of dead rested against the Ark’s outer boundary. She dug deep within herself, concentrating on the mass of deceased piled on one another. Doubt that she could move such a large mass pushed against her mind. The ramp had to be a hundred yards long and as deep as the wall was tall.

Feelings of doom like a voice not her own crept into her mind. A foreboding feeling came with the sensation, abating any action. Taylor couldn’t tell whether it was her own self-doubt or some exterior alien force, but it spoke to her.

You cannot fight the rising tide of the deep. The darkness will consume the light. You may succeed today, but your struggle will prove ultimately futile.

Taylor fought the voice. The presence of trepidation felt so intense, she knew she did not have the ability to summon such a feeling on her own. An unknown force different than the many voices of the infected was speaking to her. The shadow threatening to consume humankind had not only a single distinct voice, it had also chosen to speak.

Taylor closed her eyes.
I don’t know who or what you are, but you are wrong. The light has not forsaken us and I will see you destroyed.

She pressed her mind against the ramp of dead leading to the Ark walls. Anxiety of letting those in the Ark down prodded at her resolve. Taylor gritted her teeth, and with eyes shut she willed with all her strength to save those inside the compound. Nothing happened, no matter how intently she ordered the structure of bodies to move.

The moment she was about to give in to defeat, Taylor felt warmth. A tingling sensation spread from her feet up through her torso to her face. Heat gave her strength. Taylor built up the will inside for one last push.

With everything she was, with her new power to defend the light, every fiber in her body fought the darkness. With a scream that would have made the most feared warrior shudder, Taylor pushed against the morbid slope of departed souls.

She opened her eyes now to see if it had worked. The ramp below, the dead bodies littered around the wall, the infected crawling up toward the wall, were all blown backward into the forest. It was like an invisible tidal wave washing the wall dry. Something like a shockwave hit Taylor and pushed her back in the air accompanied by a noise that sounded like the strike of thunder.

With her eyes open, Taylor saw the cause of the warmth she felt. The sun was cresting the tree line, heralding a new day. In every direction, the bodies of the infected, those alive and dead, were blasted into the Alaskan wilderness.

A cheer rose from the defenders as with renewed strength they pushed back the last stragglers of the infected.

To say Taylor was tired would be an understatement. Fatigue desperately pulled at her muscles. Order was almost complete as she touched down on the wall. The last echoes of discharged weapons were sounding across the wall. Against all odds, the Ark was safe, and everyone knew to whom they owed their lives.

The fear that would naturally come from seeing Taylor’s powers was lost against the deep relief the defenders felt. Those not tending to the wounded came to her, shaking her hand and expressing their wonder and gratitude. Taylor smiled and accepted their cheers.

Captain Martin and Jason were among the crowd.

“Apparently there’s a lot I missed,” Jason said between his cracked lips. “But whatever it is, I’m glad you did it. You saved all of us; maybe even humankind.”

Taylor smiled, too tired to reply. Her eyes searched the crowd for Wade. Although she half expected him to march up and demand her surrender, he was nowhere to be seen.

Captain Martin studied her gaze. “He won’t touch you now. You’re a hero. You have my support and the support of every single soul in this compound.”

Taylor nodded. She knew what the captain was saying was true. The coming days would be harsh. Not only would she have to watch her back from those who were frightened by their inability to define what she had become, but the darkness had a voice and it was still out there.

“You did it!”

The voice shook Taylor from her contemplations. Above the whoops and hollers from the soldiers around her, Cidney’s voice cut through the chaos. The little girl ran over the fallen bodies, ignoring the gore around her, and skidded to a halt beside Taylor.

Frank ran behind her, breathless. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop her.”

Taylor waved his apology aside and stooped to lift Cidney. Despite how tired she felt, lifting the girl seemed like the right thing.

“Look,” Cidney said with an outstretched finger. “The sun, it’s so pretty.”

Taylor directed her gaze to the rising ball of fire along with everyone else. “That’s like you, Taylor,” Cidney said. “That’s like you driving back the dark.”

Everyone within earshot paused to reflect on the young girl’s words. Taylor smiled at the parallel. Surrounded by friends and an inner peace she had never known growing inside, Taylor knew the human race still stood a chance.

END BOOK ONE