Deadlocked 6 (32 page)

I ran as fast as I could, down the thoroughfare that led to the blazing field. The creatures rushed in, and I could feel their breath on my neck. Hands grasped me, but I pushed on. I needed to get as far from the Rollers as I could. I shot the ones in front of me to clear a path, but the rifle quickly ran out of bullets. Soon, there was nowhere left to run as the horde closed in around me. Their chorus of growls seemed to wash over me as I ran out of room to flee.

Above it all, I could hear Annie's rifle echoing through the night. I glanced back up at the steeple and saw the glint of her scope as her muzzle burst forth another shot. Her aim afforded me a few more seconds, and I blew her a kiss.

*   *   *

Annie Conrad

David had heard Dante screaming his mother's name, and rushed to the bottom of the ladder that led to the steeple. He screamed out to me, "Can you see her? Is Mommy out there?"

"Get back inside," I yelled down to him.

"Can you see my mom?"

"Yes."

He started to climb up the ladder. It was nearly impossible for him with his missing foot and hand, but he was determined to get up to me. He wrapped his good arm around one wrung and then hopped up to the next.

"David, get back down. You can't climb up here."

I was precariously perched in the wooden loft, with the bell at my back and my feet anchoring me at an uncomfortable angle. There were zombies appearing from buildings throughout the town, and I had to focus on killing the ones closest to Kim. I couldn't waste a second to argue with David or force him not to climb up the ladder.

Then I watched as Kim started to walk away from our circle.

"What are you doing, Kim?"

My mother was on the truck closest to Kim, and was screaming out to her. She tried to crawl through the razorwire to help Kim up, but my sister started to run in the opposite direction. She was headed up the hill, into the maelstrom of Greys. I held my breath, afraid that I might scream if I didn't, and then started firing. I took shot after shot, with hardly a pause between. I had a line of magazines on the edge of the steeple's window and it only took me a few seconds to reload when needed.

The rest of the Rollers gathered along the top of the trucks and were trying to provide cover for Kim, but she was already too far for any of them to accurately aim at the zombies closest to her. I wasn't concerned about hitting her, and continued to kill whichever of the creatures dared come near her.

I expected the horde to focus on the noise from our gunshots, but the entire wave of creatures escaping the buildings that lined the road seemed to surge only at Kim. I did everything I could to keep her safe, but it was only a matter of time before she was overwhelmed.

"Can you see her?" asked David.

"You need to get down, David."

He ignored me and pulled himself up onto the ledge to my right.

"What's she doing?" He was terrified, and his voice cracked when he saw her.

"Close your eyes."

"What's she doing?"

"David, close your eyes!"

I kept shooting with Kim in my sights. She stopped, and then turned to look directly at me. I fired at a zombie to her side, but it only afforded her another second.

She blew me a kiss, and then I saw a bottle in her hand with what looked like tissue paper hanging from the top. She lit the tissue fuse, and I suddenly understood what she was doing.

The horde closed in on her, and then an explosion ripped them to shreds. Whatever bomb Kim had been hiding was strong enough to destroy the façade of several buildings around her. Debris shot into the sky as hundreds of zombies evaporated into mist.

"Kim! No, no, please, no! Kim!" I heard my mother screaming and then
I reached back to grab David.

I pulled Kim's son to my chest as I burst into tears. I screamed out my sister's name and held David as close to me as I could. I trembled and wailed. My legs buckled, and I nearly collapsed off the edge of the steeple as grief overwhelmed me. My sister was dead.

David was calm as I held him. I could hear my mother screaming out with every ounce of strength she had. Her agonized cries echoed through the dusk as I whimpered with her.

Kim's son put his hand on my face and I looked at him, terrified that I'd have to explain what happened. He was calm, almost emotionless, as he asked. "Did Mommy save us?"

"Yes, David. Yes she did."

Then he started to cry, but he did it calmly, almost as if his grief was too much for his body to express. A tear fell down his cheek as he looked out at the fire in the distance.

He stared into the bleakness and said, "I always knew she would."

TO BE CONTINUED

Beatrice was anxious to get off the helicopter. It had been years since she'd flown in one, and never cared for it. They touched down on the basketball court outside of the cottage that sat above the facility. She waited for the pilot to come back and unlatch her from the harness that secured her to the bench.

He smiled and said something as he approached, but the whirling blade of the copter was too loud
for her to hear him. The helicopter had an enclosed seating area, but she was still forced to wear a helmet that blocked out the noise. She pointed at the cumbersome helmet when the pilot looked at her, and he nodded to let her know it was okay to take it off.

"Thank God," she said as she pulled the helmet off. "That thing is murder." She pushed at her wig to make sure it was still on straight.

"How was the ride?" asked the pilot, trying to make small talk with her. She despised it when they did that.

"Absolutely dreadful, if you must know."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

She nodded and glanced down as he unbuckled the straps that held her
in. "Sure you are. Just hurry up. I'm sick of being on this damn thing."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He went to the door of the helicopter and pulled at a few latches to allow it to open. Then he used both hands to slide the huge door to the side. The wind from the spinning blades rushed in and Beatrice covered her face as she yelped.

"God damn it," she said. "Why are you opening the damn door when the blade's still spinning?"

"Sorry. I thought you wanted to get out as quick as possible."

"Shut up." She pushed him to the side and started to descend the steps that led to the concrete below. "You're hopeless. Isn't anyone going to help me?"

A tall, black soldier rushed to greet her from the other side of the court. She took his hand and allowed him to lift her off the final step and down to the pavement. The pilot waved to the soldier, who gave a thumbs up back, completing a greeting that Beatrice didn't care about. She scowled at her surroundings, squinting to avoid getting any debris in her eyes as the soldier guided her towards the cabin.

The helicopter behind her started again, kicking up the wind once more, as the soldier opened the door to the cabin for her. She rushed in, and then brushed herself off. "I swear, there has to be an easier way to do this." She adjusted her wig again and looked at the soldier. "Do you know how long I've been traveling?"

"Nope," said the tall stranger. He had a tattoo of a gun on his neck and she grimaced at it.

"Fourteen hours. Can you believe that? This is barbaric, plain and simple. And to not have Jerald here to meet me? Well, I promise someone's going to hear about this. Here," she said as she took off her coat. She held it out for the man. "Take my coat, you oaf."

"Fuck off," said the belligerent man.

"Excuse me? I'll have your head on a spit if you don't change your attitude. What is your name soldier?"

He pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her. "The ugly bitches call me Levon."

What can I say about that? Perhaps I should start by apologizing for leaving our friends at such a low point! Believe me, it wasn't easy, but this is what the story needed. This series has had a lot of ups and downs, and I knew that I wanted the end of this book to bring us as far down as we've ever been. This is the dark chapter of the saga, where our characters reach their worst moment. For me, the end of this book works perfectly, even if it kills me to have written it this way. I was devastated when I realized that Kim had to die!

So, as is the case with the Author's Notes in this series, let's examine the theme I was going for in this book. At its core, Deadlocked 6 is about the degradation of family. The original series was about what makes a strong family, so I knew that I wanted this series to focus (at least partially) on what can pull a family apart. In this book, we step into the story and discover that things aren't all that great between the characters we met from the first series. Billy and Laura are at odds, and there is a deep schism threatening to separate the family that was built up in the first series. That was the central theme here, and I tried to focus in on that.

I decided to try a new way of writing this book, by switching between characters for each chapter and dealing with a
wide assortment of them. Each part of the book (there were 4 parts total) focuses on a few different characters and allows each of them a chance to give us their perspective on things. One of the big debates in the writing world is whether or not first person narrative is an effective way to write a novel. A lot of people think that doing a novel in first person is too limiting, but I've tried to tackle that headfirst in this book. In my view, the switching perspectives helps to provide a richer experience here, giving us a chance to see how characters feel about one another, without an omniscient third person voice telling us. Instead, we get an inside view of each person's mindset, and I think that works well for this story.

The relationship between Hero and Kim was the most important one here, and my favorite example of the use of first person narrative happens with them. The character of Faith is first viewed through Kim's eyes. At the time, Kim's a cold-hearted soldier, and she kills Faith without a second thought. In the next chapter, we're given a chance to see her victim from Hero's viewpoint, and suddenly we learn that Faith's death has a much larger impact than we'd initially thought. That is the catalyst for Hero's change, and I really think the switching perspectives makes it more powerful for the reader as well. I was happy with how that part turned out.

I didn't get a chance to deal with Ben and Harrison very much here, but I've always wanted this series to come off as somewhat realistic, which meant they had to be sidelined. A lot of books that I read have characters who can survive massive injuries and then hop right back up to act like action movie stars again. That always bothers me, so I try to make sure that my characters react plausibly to injury. Ben and Harrison went through hell in the last book, so there's not much of a chance of them taking the lead the day after for this one. That being said, Ben and Harrison still have one of my favorite storylines here. Harry's struggle with drugs, and desire to push Ben away, was a way for me to add in one more dynamic that feeds the theme of families falling apart. After all, drugs are something that tear a lot of families up.

I would also like to take the opportunity to talk about some of the other underlying themes that people might find here. I often receive letters from fans that appreciate the religious themes that can be found in these books. The reason I appreciate these letters is because the fan assumes I'm putting that theme in here to fit with my own beliefs. That's not the case. I pride myself in silencing the author's voice when I write. I try desperately not to allow my own religious or political beliefs to sneak into my writing. In my view, if I allow myself to do that, then I'm stealing the book away from the characters. My own political or religious beliefs have no business getting into my character's heads. Their thoughts belong to them, and I try to let them run with it.

In this book, the climax occurs as the characters are huddled around a church. In the past, the Rollers set up their wall around a Captain's Tent, and at the end they're doing it around a church. It's impossible not to see that as symbolic, and the way I looked at it was that it was indeed symbolic, for the characters of the books. You, the reader, can take it anyway you want. There's no right or wrong way to interpret that.

Similarly, the Rollers are split between a desire for war and a desire for peace. Neither side is right. Take the book however you want, but the way I see it is that the characters are all right, in their own way. Heck, even the bad guys in these books are right in their own minds. I haven't put any villains into the books that wear black hats and curl their mustaches (although Jerald is pretty close). I try to make it apparent that if we got into their heads, we might come away thinking they were the good guys. In this book, we start out thinking Billy might be wrong, but when we get a chance to see him in action we see that he's got the best of intentions. It's not that he loves war, but he wants to do everything he can to protect the Rollers. Actually, I think the villain in this book is Kim - until she comes to the realization that she's allowing hatred and a desire for revenge to tear her away fro
m what's important: her family.