Generation Dead Book 2: What You Fear (26 page)

That would get us to the next stage of the assault, which was to get everyone to the south side, allowing me to scout and make recommendations for a landing.  I thought about going up top to the
Ferris wheel, but I had an aversion to being shot out of the sky.  Not sure why that bothered me, but it did.

I moved around to the nearest building and checked a door.  It was a parking garage, and I was hoping to see plenty from the top side.  I didn’t bother with the parking area
. It would be faster just to take the stairs.  I didn’t know how long I had before the men I had released were discovered to be missing, but I figured I had an hour at the most.

On top of the
garage, I could see most of Navy Pier.  It was a massive complex, with restaurants, a shopping center, an amusement park, and a miniature golf place.  Along the south side, two huge boats were tied up.  One was labeled the Spirit of Chicago, and the other was unknown, the name being hidden.  However, the Spirit was enormous, easily one hundred fifty feet long.  It looked like it was used for long cruises and for travelling to other states.  No way was that big boy going to make it down the river.  For one thing, it would never fit under the bridges.

I could see two large buildings toward the far end of the
pier, and the furthest had a huge glass dome covering it.  I had a feeling about that last place, and was very anxious to try it out.  But first things first.

I got out my radio.  “Uncle Duncan, you there?”

The response was immediate.  “Loud and clear, kiddo.  Got your message.  Two very scared men just ran past our position, each one looking like he was going to make sure the other guy fed the Z’s first.  Where are you?”

“I’m on the parking garage, about to head towards the back dome.  When are you going to make some noise?”

“Two minutes.  Be ready.  By the way, your dad wants his gun back.” I heard a chuckle from someone in the vicinity of Duncan.

“He can have it.  Where’s the safety on the dumb thing?” I joked.

“Oh, Lord.  Put it away before you shoot yourself.”

“Where can he pick it up?” I asked.

“We’re on the big boat, so don’t worry, we’ll get to you.”

“Got it.  Heading down.  Out.”

I got back to the ground floor and made my way carefully along the north side.  There wasn’t much in the way of attractions on this side, so I began to realize I was moving along the service side of the pier, the place where they made deliveries and such once upon a time.  It made sense; they sure weren’t going to use the lake.

I moved steadily along, and when I glanced
back, I saw I had travelled about halfway to my destination.  It was then that I heard a huge explosion and even from my side of the Pier I thought I could feel the concussion from the blast.  For a brief minute, I wondered if Uncle Duncan had blown up the big boat. A second later, I could see a cloud of dark smoke billowing up into the air.  Between the blast and the smoke, I wouldn’t doubt if half the zombies in the city were headed this way.

I could hear shouting and it sounded like someone was yelling over a loudspeaker, but they might have been inside a building. I kept to the service road and made my way along the buildings, trying to keep out of sight. 

I was crossing another service entrance when a voice behind me shouted out.

“Don’t move!  Stop where you are and put your hands in the air!”

Chapter 61

Damn.  So much for surprise.  I complied with the order and put my hands about ear-high, turning around slowly.  About three feet away from me was a man about my height, although he was a little shorter. He was thin, but looked to have a wiry kind of strength.  He had a knife at his belt and a big rifle he was pointing right at my face.  That last part was a little disconcerting; I’m not going to lie.

“Who are you?  What are you doing here?”  The man asked, stepping closer. I could see he was nervous, likely never having to deal with something like this before.

“Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me,” I said, averting my eyes and ducking my head away.  An idea popped into my head and I decided to run with it. “I was collecting in the city and I heard the explosion.  All of a sudden, the zombies are all over the place, and I barely made it to the lake before they chased me this way.  I climbed the fence and was looking for a place to stay safe until the zombies went home.”  My words came out in a rush, and I wanted them to be overwhelming.

“All right, all right! Just shut up for a second.  I have to take you in, and we’ll see what they have to say about you
,” the sentry said.

“Oh, thanks, man.  I got separated from my group and I don’t know where they are or even if they’re alive.  But I’m real glad someone is here to…” I didn’t finish my sentence, as I used my little speech to step closer to the man.  His gun had stopped pointing at me, and I grabbed it, jerking it away from him,
and then shoving it back into his face.  His hands came loose and I threw the rifle into the lake.

The man scrambled to his feet.  “Son of a bitch!  You’re gonna regret that
,” he said, putting himself into what he must have thought was a threatening pose.  His hands were up and his feet were apart, obviously expecting me to attack in some preconceived way.

Trouble was, my teachers had one rule when it came to fights and zombies.  Win. So without much buildup, I wound up and kicked him in the shin of his foremost leg as hard as I could.

His eyes bulged and he instinctively leaned forward to grab his leg.  As he came up, I used the forward motion of his head to increase the impact of the punch I had aimed at his face.  His head snapped sideways, and I brought the other fist I had waiting into his collarbone, right below his throat.  That punch threw him backward and left him gasping for air on his back.  I grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him over to the edge of the pier where I threw him in the water.

I ran from there, trying to put some distance between me and the eventual yelling that would likely erupt form the man in the water.  The first person to find him would know I was here, and I wanted to be further away and hidden by that time. 

I reached the end of the big building and I was wondering how the heck I was going to get inside, when a small door opened from where the big glass part was and the long brick building. I slid towards the building, trying to seep into the bricks and not get seen. Two men came outside and both were carrying guns. One propped the door open with a small stick.

“Steve’s not checked in, think something happened to him?” The first one said, a red headed gent wearing all black.  I thought back to the encounter with the all black females up in St Charles and wondered if there was a dress code.

“That dope could drown, for all I care.  Damn fool always going on about how he sees things or something’s breaking over the barriers.  Stupid fuck. Probably thought that exploding propane tank was an attack.”  The second man was huge, with broad shoulders and massive hands.  Taking him on would suck.

“Yeah, that’s what, the third one?  Thank
God, we put them on that small boat when they looked like they were dangerous.”

They walked away and towards where I left the other man.  Not wasting
an opportunity, I slipped inside the open door and pulled the stick away, letting the door close slowly. I eased the door shut as quietly as I could, as I wanted some more time.  In the back of my head, I wondered where my dad was and what they were doing.  It seemed like there wasn’t as much pandemonium as we had hoped for and things were back to normal.  I needed to find Ben and finish this.

I moved down a long corridor and decided the time was right for getting serious.  I was irritated at not finding Ben, scared about Jake, relieved at finding my father, worried about what Uncle Charlie was going to do to me for having a relationship with his daughter, and frustrated that our big plans were pretty worthless since they were used to things blowing up around here.

I unslung my rifle and remembered the words I once read about the American Revolution.  At the opening shots of the war, Captain Parker of the militia told his men, “Don’t fire unless fired upon.  If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”  Ben started this little fracas, and I was done with nice.

Chapter 62

I approached a larger hallway, and I could hear voices coming my way. Two men rounded the corner and suddenly stopped, their eyes going wide at the sight of me.  Their reflexes were pretty good, as they both reached for the guns on their belts.  I fired twice, dropping both men with shots to the chest.  The heavy crash of the rifle in the hallway made my ears ring, but the echo of the shots bounced off the walls from the glass of the end hall to the front gate.  For a second, all was still,
but then all hell broke loose.

Bullets started searching down the hallway, but since I controlled the entrance and no one could flank me, I was in a decent spot. Anyone coming in the front was meat, and if someone tried to come through the back, it was locked. 
However, that didn’t stop some people from shooting down the hallway.  I think they were trying for some kind of luck with a ricochet, but that wasn’t going to happen with drywall.

I
crept forward, and when the occasional shot stopped, I peeked around very quickly.  A barrage of firing sent bullets thudding into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, and I had to chuckle at the attempt.

I pulled one of the
guard’s guns and stuck it around the corner, shooting it randomly until it ran out of bullets. I heard some cursing and shouting before the shooting started again, so maybe I nicked someone.

Suddenly,
there was shouting.  “Cease fire!  Cease fire!” The shooting stopped and the voice continued.  “Who the hell is in that hallway?  What do you want?”

I wasn’t inclined to make things easy, so I stuck the other guard’s gun around the corner and shot it empty, renewing the cursing and
sound of scrambling to get out of the way of the flying bullets.

“Stop shooting, you asshole!” The voice yelled.  “What the fuck is wrong with you?  What do you want?”

I went over to the two dead men, pulled the guns off of them and with a heave, threw one into view of the others.  There was a collective gasp and more swearing, and at the pivotal moment, I stuck the dead man’s gun around the corner and fired some more.   I had to be seriously pissing off everybody.

“Son of a bitch!  You’ll pay for that!”  The man was clearly agitated. “You can’t stay in that hallway forever!”

I tossed the second man out and waited.  There was no response, which was a concern.  I slowly eased away from the wall, keeping an eye on the corner, trying to see them before they saw me.

The cold barrel of a gun on the back of my neck stopped me in my tracks.  I raised my hands and was relieved of my rifle.  My Beretta was taken from me and my knife and tomahawk were taken as well.  My sword was removed, and through all
this, my captor didn’t say a word.  However, the gun on my neck never left for an instant.  I kept my hands up, but my mind was a flurry of calculations about how fast I could move and how long it took for a finger to pull a trigger. Every equation I tried had a single answer.  I was fucked.

Chapter 63

Suddenly,
the barrel was lifted and I heard my captor laugh to himself.  I turned around and saw three people standing in front of me.  Two who were obviously women were pointing rifles at me, and they were the flanking bodyguards of the man who held a small stainless pistol at his side.  His white hair looked slightly unkempt, but he was well dressed and well fed.

“Hello, Ben
,” I said.

“Hello, Aaron
,” Ben said.  “How’s your family doing?”

I nearly risked it right then.  I calculated the odds and they were really close.  If the two guards blinked at the same time, I was going to give it a go.

Trouble was, Ben knew it.  He backed up out of reach, and the guards did the same.  Ben smirked at me and waved the gun in the direction of a service door that had been cleverly painted to match the wall.  I shrugged and walked behind him, still flanked by the guards.  They walked behind me and aimed their guns in a cross pattern.  They could shoot me and miss Ben, so that opportunity was gone.

Since I wasn’t already dead, every moment was an opportunity. I just had to choose the right one. We walked down a dark corridor, past service doors and rear entrances to shops with their names on the doors.  At one
point, the corridor darkened, and I slowed slightly, but one of the guards jammed the muzzle of her gun into my neck, so that opportunity was wasted.  At the end of the corridor, Ben opened a door without looking back and walked through it.  I followed and raised my eyes to what must have once been a magnificent sight.

The room was huge, easily the size of a few houses. A gigantic dome rose above two stories of windows, creating a massive space.  Outside the
windows, I could see the lake, and there were a couple of boats tied to the end of the pier.  Ben led me up onto a stage, and directed me to a single chair sitting in the middle of it.  I sat down and put my hands in my lap.  The guards flanked me again and Ben went over to a small switch on the far wall. He put down my guns, knives, and sword. From my vantage point, I could see nearly one hundred and eighty degrees of the lake.  In its day, it must have been beautiful. The sun was getting higher, and the glass was lighting up with multiple hues of blue and green.