Betrayal (8 page)

She wanted to cry, to plop down right where she was and accept that God just didn’t want her or anyone else left alive on this planet
. Yet her will to survive drove her forward, creeping in the shadow of the wall.

***

Snatching Jared’s pistol and placing it at the small of his back, Trevor looked down at the corpse. Blood was pooling out beneath him.

“Sorry, kid,” he said. “You were dead weight.”

“The same could be said for you, Spence.”

Trevor’s neck turned so quickly he thought it a miracle it hadn’t snapped.
Seeing Gunnery Sergeant Bell standing at the entry of the grocery store with the head of Jonathan Redman in the grip of his left hand tightened Trevor’s gut. He retrieved the pistol and emptied the clip. Bell stood staring as each bullet entered his flesh.

“Done yet?”
Bell said.

“Where the
fuck
did you come from?” Trevor tossed Jared’s gun and drew his.

Bell shrugged. “I guess you can say that I’ve been hanging around. Not much else to do when you’ve been abandoned by some hotshot pussy, ya know?”

“You were all dead,” Trevor said, aiming for the Sarge’s head. He steadied his breathing and pulled the trigger.

As if the man were a ghost, Bell dissolved from sight and reappeared with each shot. Every time he drew closer to the man that had left him here only a week ago. By the time the magazine was dry, Tre
vor was standing face-to-face with a dead man whose eyes were glowing orange.

“Good to see ya again, Spence.” Bell thrust his knee into the pilot’s gut. “I was beginning to miss that face of yours.” He held up Jonathan’s head. “This man, he died because of you, and now everyone at the Colony will die because of you as well.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Carol made it to her office unscathed. By the time the door shut
, she was in tears. So many people out there were dying, and the best she could tell was that it had all started with Rafael. The pool of drying blood she nearly slipped on only affirmed her supposition. Outside, a few more gunshots went off and even more people were screaming.

Her entire body was shaking when she reached her desk. She opened the top drawer and gasped when she found her set of keys to the buses was missing. Tossing aside useless papers and foldout maps, she sniffled
. The keys were nowhere to be found. Opening the side drawer she retrieved her revolver, checked the chamber, and slammed it back in place.

Gun in hand, Carol swept her office. After a five minute search she gave up and sat at her desk
, defeated. She set the revolver down, lowered her head, and cried some more.

Why?
The question circled her head for a few moments. Why was this happening? Why couldn’t she find the keys? Why did Bell and the other marines have to perish, leaving them damn near helpless? Why was it her that, after two years of leading the living damned, had to feel such an overbearing loss?

She stole a glance outside and watched for a moment as the innocent and scared were feasted upon by folks that had minutes ago been just as innocent and scared. The transformation was so quick that it was hard to believe those
undead monsters had once been human.

She averted her
gaze from such a sickening sight and it landed on her revolver. Wiping away her tears, Carol sniveled and reached for the weapon. Taking one last look at her failed attempt at carrying on, she cocked the hammer back and was taken to the darkness with a
bang
.

***

Kimberly slammed shut the back doors and rushed over to Alicia, setting the rifle on one of the seats. She knelt down and placed a hand on her weeping sister’s shoulder.

“Shh, shh, shh, swe
etie,” she whispered and hugged Alicia.

“What’s…? What’s happening?”

Kimberly pulled away and cupped Alicia’s reddened cheeks. The little girl’s eyes were puffed and snot drizzled to her lips.

“We’re getting out
ta here, baby girl,” Kimberly said, trying to hold her own tears back. She had to be strong, she knew.

An
explosion of fists bashing against the bus sounded from the rear door, and both Kimberly and her sister jumped.

“Let us in, let us in,” a muffled voice pleaded.

“Alicia,” said Kimberly, “I need you to stay here.” She turned to the back door. “Don’t listen to what they say, okay?”

Alicia breathed deeply and continued crying.

Kimberly shook her. “
Okay?
”

Before she could answer, Kimberly retrieved the backpack beside Alicia and ran toward the front seat. Fishing out the set of keys that Rafael had given her two nights ago
, she found the ignition key, slammed it home, and brought the engine to life.

Her heart began racing when she couldn’t remember what Rafael had instructed her to do next. She glanced back to Alicia, who had her face buried in her hands while the pounding continued on the back door.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, sis.” Kimberly twisted her neck and her eyes landed on the steering column. “What the hell did he tell me to do next,” she muttered. Feeling around, hoping the touch of something in the darkness would set her mind right. Her left hand ran across a smooth, round knob.

The lights!

Kimberly pulled back the knob and the area in front of her was flooded with a pale yellow glow. She closed her eyes.
Pull down the lever on behind the wheel,
she remembered.
“D” is to go forward; “R” is to go backward; “P” is to park.
She looked ahead; the first gate, a chain-link barrier with several locked chains, was her initial obstacle. The second was a wooden gate which opened inward and was secured with a big wooden post running across the middle of it. Rafael had assured her that something he called the “plow” would force open both gates. The only thing she had to do was put the lever at “D” and depress the right pedal by her feet.

A
surge of pounding sounded from the entrance beside her. The door practically danced in its frame as whoever was out there tried getting in.

“Who’s the whore now
?” she screamed, and pulled down on the lever. “What the hell?

She floored the right pedal
, but the front of the bus only roared; no slack was received from the lever. She pressed down on the left pedal and immediately remembered Rafael instructing her to do so. Setting the lever to “D,” Kimberly looked up.

“Oh my god,” she said, feeling her heart skip a beat.

Kimberly cupped her mouth and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Rafael stood in front of the bus, his shoulders rising and falling. His face was painted red and his eyes were clouded with death. He held in his hand a long strand of intestines. Kimberly shook her head and sniffled. The last two months of her life had been spent doing all she could to provide for Alicia, and then she found another person who warmed her heart. Now that man snarled at her. She released the brake and floored the gas pedal, sending Rafael flying into the fence as she plowed through it. The upper half of his torso fell flat on the hood; specks of blood spattered the windshield.

“Hold on, Alicia,” she yelled
over her shoulder.

The wooden gate was only feet in front of her. Kimberly braced for the impact.

***

Corporal Payton hunkered down into a prone position
and brought out his night vision binoculars. The dead were plowing into the Colony as one of the buses made its way north.

He took out his radio and keyed the microphone. “Bell, you there? Over.”

“
Go ahead. Over
,” replied the Sarge.

Seeing the crowd outside thin out,
Payton said, “Looks like we’re a little late to the party. Over.”

“
That so? Over
.”

“The Whiskeys have made it in, sir. But, we’ve got us a mobile unit h
eaded toward the mountains. Over.”

“
Track them. I’ve got the pilot; the son of a bitch is turning. Gonna take him back to the Doc and have him injected with some of the good stuff. Over
.”

Payton smiled; he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done so. “I hope he died kicking and screaming. Over.”

“
He did. Now track that package. Doc wants a new army and we’re gonna give it to him. Over.
”

EPILOGUE

Flakes of snow trickled down from the heavens as the sun made its ascent on the horizon.
Kimberly and Alicia sat by the fire and ate their cans of soup. The girls had no idea where they were going, or how they would get there, but, for the moment, they were at peace.

Two days ago the Colony had been destroyed. Kimberly knew she had played her part in it, yet she couldn’t find the emotion to feel sorry. Ever since they’d arrived, they
had been shunned. She supposed it wasn’t just her and little Alicia, though that thought didn’t bring her much comfort. People, she remembered, before the infection hit, weren’t much different. But back then they’d had their mother and aunt to help take care of them, to tell them everything was going to be okay.

As she looked to Alicia, who was picking at the veget
ables in her can, Kimberly knew more than ever that it was now her responsibility to tell Alicia that everything was going to be all right. And she’d done so ever since they’d escaped from the Colony.

The woods in the mountains were at peace with the world. Not once had they stumbled across any
of the dead, and not once had they seen or heard a predator. Deer, much to Alicia’s liking, were all over the place. Though they weren’t as friendly as the ones held captive at their old home, they were still just as beautiful.

Kimberly
looked down at the notebook beside Alicia. Her drawings were now of nature and all the beauty that it beheld instead of
them
or other people who truly meant nothing. That thought stirred up her memories with Rafael. She felt a pang in her heart knowing that she’d never see him again except in her dreams. His touch, the warmth radiating off of him, made her smile.

“Why are
you smiling?” said Alicia.

Kimber
ly blinked then scooted next to Alicia as the embers from the fire floated away with a gust of wind.

“Because,” she said, “I’m finally happy.”

“Me too.” Alicia tossed aside a piece of carrot from her forkful of soup and stuffed the rest in her mouth.

True, her life—
their
lives—would have been that much more animated if Raff had survived, but, she guessed, part of him had: he’d taught her how to drive, how to shoot, how to hunt, and, most of all, how to love. That was enough, she supposed, as she swallowed the last of her mushroom soup.

Nature was calling
. Kimberly stood and reached out for a stretch.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom, Alicia,” she said. “Stay close to the fire until I get back, okay?”

Alicia nodded and tossed aside a few more carrot pieces.

Kimberly made her way her way into the brush on the opposite end of the bus, pulled down her pants, and relieved herself. Just as she was buttoning up, the sound of a twig snapping rang out from behind. She made to turn
, but something wrapped itself around her like a giant snake. Before she could scream to alert Alicia, a giant hand cupped her mouth.

“Stay quiet, little girl,” a familiar voice whispered.

She turned around to find the cherry of a cigar inches from her face. Behind it, two orange eyes glared at her.

“We’re only going to make your life… easier.”