S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) (123 page)

“So blast it already.”

“You blast it! I'm not wasting ammo on some random—”

A shot rang out, and the zombie slammed back onto the debris pile. Jessie almost cried out as her trapped ankle got pinched. Thankfully, the pressure immediately subsided when the twice-dead corpse rolled off.

“If she's underneath all that crap, then she's already dead.”

“Does that mean we don't get our money?”

“Quit your whining, Penny. Of course we do. Split four ways, just like we agreed.”

“You mean five,” Henry Jayco corrected. “There's Rosie too, now.”

“It was you I forgot.”

“Screw you.”

“Found her Link,” Rosie announced triumphantly, not eight feet away.

Jessie's heart nearly stopped beating.

She felt the pile shift again as someone started to climb on top. Once more, pain knifed through her ankle, and she had to bite her tongue to stifle the cry. A figure passed over her, blotting out the sun for a moment. It circled around, then returned. Rosie looked straight down the hole at her.

“See anything?” Emerson asked.

“Naw.” She shook her head and stepped away, kicking a board across the opening. “Bitch must've known we'd follow her out of the arcade. Bet she left the Link here to trick us.”

“Yeah, and probably booby-trapped the roof to collapse on us,” Jayco added.

“Fucking A,” Emerson agreed. “That bitch is starting to piss me off.”

“How'd she know we were tracking her?” asked Penny.

“She isn't stupid,” Rosie replied. “If she's smart enough to hack the network, she's smart enough to know Arc'll be tracking her Link.”

“Or Grant told her.”

“Don't be stupid, Henry. Grant didn't know. You think Arc would tell him anything after that stunt he pulled back there at the shuttle? Did you forget that he let that bitch in here?”

“No. And don't call me stupid. I'm not stupid.”

“
I'm not stupid
,” Jo aped. “Christ, what a pussy.”

“Hey! I'm not the one who let her get away back there at the wall! I was all for shooting her, but you wanted to get all fancy for the cameras.”

“Bonus points.”

“Screw that,” Henry whined. “I just want my money.”

“Keep it up, pussy, and I'll do to you what I did to Grant.

“He didn't deserve that.”

“Are you complaining? ‘Cause you can give me the extra half mil that's your share for taking him out, you know.”

“Jesus, people,” Emerson said. “Can we stop snapping at each other for one minute and find her?”

“Yeah,” Penny said. “As soon as we collect that bounty, I'm ditching all y'all shitheads and finishing
The Game
on my own.”

“What? Because two million smackaroos ain't enough for you?”

“Pocket change compared to what I could be making after two weeks killing Players.”

“You'd have to kill a hundred just to—”

“Yeah, no prob. I could do that in my sleep.”

“Nothing counts if the network's down. Makes me want to burn that bitch even more for fucking everything up.”

“Shut up, everyone,” Emerson said. “Rosie's right. We're wasting time here. That girl's probably halfway to Brookhaven by now.”

“What's your hurry, boys? I say we pull that heap apart and check to make sure.”

“No hurry. It's just that this place gives me the creeps,” Emerson replied. “I feel like I'm being watched.”

“Man, talk about pussies,” Jo joked. “You didn't complain about all the cameras inside Gameland.”

“That's different. I don't like this place. Nobody's watching us here.”

“Well, you go ahead, Jo,” Rosie said. “Waste of time pulling that heap apart, if you ask me. As for me, I ain't breaking my back. I'm going to Brookhaven to wait for her there.”

“You damn well better be right she'll be there.”

“Believe me, she'll show up.”

Their voices started fading away.

“So remind me again why we didn't just head there in the first place?”

“Because, you dipstick. Arc told us to take Grant out first.”

Jessie slowly let out her breath. She knew she'd caught a lucky break. Rosie had seen her, hadn't she? But now she wondered if maybe she hadn't. The bottom of the hole, two or three feet down, would've been dark. And Jessie's face was probably black with mud and filth.

Or maybe Rosie had seen her and was planning on circling back after ditching everyone so she could keep the bounty all to herself.

Either way, Jessie knew she needed to get out, and soon. She didn't want to be stuck if and when Rosie returned.

Besides, if the network failed again, they wouldn't have to kill her, because she'd already be dead. Without her Link device, the failsafe program in her head would activate her implant.

She pushed on the pile again, hoping to get it to shift. Something slipped off and banged when it hit the ground.

“Hey guys!” a voice shouted nearby. It sounded like Henry. “Stop, guys! Wait!”

She could hear his feet pounding as he ran after them.

“Damn it, guys!” he shouted. “Didn't you notice I was gone? I was taking a freaking piss!”

They laughed until Jessie couldn't hear them anymore.

* * *

By twisting, she managed to gain a little leverage and was finally able to pull her foot out of her shoe. Slowly, she widened the hole above her by pushing aside the boards and shelves. It was exhausting work, but she eventually managed to worm her way out.

More than once she feared the noise would attract other Undead to her location. At one point, her muscles cramped and dizziness overwhelmed her. When she finally emerged forty minutes later, she was shaking so badly that she had to sit down with her head between her legs until the world stopped spinning.

She drank a little water, then immediately vomited it back up again. When there was nothing more but thin yellow bile, she got up.

Naturally, the bike was completely ruined.

She retrieved her backpack from beneath the desk in the office, found a pair of black biking shoes that fit, then set out after the others.

By then they had an hour on her, but she was fine with that. Now that she knew where they were going, she needed to come up with a plan for dealing with them once she caught up. Maybe she'd hit them with an EM blast, just like she had the night she broke into the arcade. It wasn't very creative, but it proved quite effective.

She ate as she went, forcing water and food into her mouth, even though she left much of it regurgitated along the side of the road. Her head hurt, and there was a tender spot just above her right temple. Once or twice she had to stop and rest, waiting out the dizzy spells. But by jogging at a steady pace she made good time.

She almost ran into them just west of North Patchogue, about two miles from Brookhaven. If it wasn't for the dozen or so IUs surrounding them, she actually would have. And if the five weren't so distracted with trying to stay alive, they might have seen her.

Rosie was still with them, which surprised Jessie.

She slid down the berm of the highway into the weeds with a sigh of relief and watched as they fought off the Undead. She had no desire to help, no intention of immersing herself into their little game. It was obvious they still thought of this as such, the way they were going about it, shouting tips at each other the same way Ashley and Micah used to in his basement.

Penny was the first to fall.

Jessie could see it happening before it actually did and almost jumped up to warn her. The woman had gone to the aid of Henry Jayco, who was grappling with an Infected that had a hold of his arm. She picked up a loose chunk of the highway and raised it over her head, yelling at Henry to hold still so she could get a clear shot without also braining him by accident. Jo joked that it wouldn't make a difference, as far as he was concerned, and Emerson laughed.

But while Penny jockeyed for position, another Infected Undead detached itself from the group and wandered over to her unseen.

It bent over and closed its jaws deep into her armpit and didn't let go. Even when the chunk of road slipped from her hands and took a huge divot from its head and crushed its shoulder, it remained attached to her. There was a horrible tearing sound as it ripped muscle and skin away from her ribcage. Penny collapsed to her knees with a screech that was sure to bring even more of the dead to her. The stitching of her uniform failed and a large panel of fabric folded away. She dropped to her side as blood geysered into the air, screaming and clutching with her hands at the hole. She didn't even try to protect herself from further attack.

Not that it mattered by then.

None of the others came to her assistance. By then they'd figured out this was for real and were too busy saving their own lives.

Penny's shrieks infuriated the attacking horde. More joined them from the surrounding areas. Their numbers swelled to twenty, then thirty.

Jessie had to give her credit. She lasted a long time, considering how much blood was gushing out of her. And the volume of her screams was surprising given that half her chest was missing by the time she was done. Only when her final scream dwindled away to a wet gurgle, did the three other Live Players make a break for it.

All but Rosie. Jessie couldn't see her anywhere. She must have fallen.

One of the remaining ran straight up the road toward Jessie.

“
No no no!
” she whispered, pressing herself even closer to the ground. “Not this way!”

“Jayco!” Jo shouted after him. “Where are you going? This way!”

He stopped and turned. That was his first mistake. Several Infecteds converged on him, and he stayed to take them out. That was his second mistake. His third was not shooting himself in the head when he had the chance.

They fell on him. His screams did not last nearly as long as Penny's.

The remaining Undead throng lurched after Jo and Emerson. Jessie watched them until they disappeared out of sight. Then she stood up, her head spinning, and made her way down the road toward what was left of Penny, Henry, and Rosie.

Penny's head was completely separated from her body, the stump of her neck gnawed down well south of her shoulders. The skull was nowhere to be seen. A handful of Undead shoved at each other. They buried their faces inside the growing hole that was her chest cavity, squabbling over the juiciest organs. Her hands were also gone, everything but the bones stripped right up to the elbows.

Jayco was in much better shape, which was actually worse. One feasted on his chest, while another had somehow torn through his uniform and was devouring his left buttock and thigh. Jessie knew it wouldn't finish before he reanimated. She didn't want to be around for that.

She hurried past the scene, giving the dead enough berth to defend herself if need be. But they didn't rise from their quarry. They didn't even notice she was there.

The heat of the road was already baking the flesh and gore, making her stomach clench. Steam rose from the bodies, carrying with it the stench of their infection. Flies swarmed by the thousands.

Jessie stumbled into the grass and fell to her knees.

Get up!

She just wanted to sit for a moment, until her stomach and head felt better.

Get the fuck up!

Just a few minutes.

She finally did get up, and was surprised to see that Jayco was gone. From the dried, bloody footprints on the road, she knew he'd risen and wandered off.

Did I pass out?

All that remained of Penny was her pelvis and a few dripping fragments of the larger bones. A skinless, faceless Infected crouched over what appeared to be the head of a femur. Each time it clamped its toothless gums over the bone and tried to bite through it, a foul black sludge oozed out of its ass, and Jessie realized it was Jayco.

His one good eye settled on her, and he snarled and stood up. The motion forced more shit from his ruined backside. It ran down his legs in a putrid stream of diarrhea and undigested muscle.

He stepped toward her.

Jessie grabbed their abandoned packs and hoped one of them held her stolen Link. She tried to run, but before she could go ten steps, her legs gave out on her. She collapsed to her hands and knees on the baking surface of the road.

She could smell Jayco getting closer. She managed to get to her feet again and staggered over to the shoulder. Her vision tunneled.

Below her, coming through the grass, was a lone figure. At first she thought it was Rosie, but then she saw that it was too short. This was the size of a child.

Her stomach cramped up again. She tried to rise, but she had nothing more to give. Down she went, and the grass crackled as the dead child made its way up the berm toward her, while Jayco came from behind.

 

The children surrounded her on all sides, preventing her from escaping. There were hundreds of them. Thousands. And they were all whispering inside of her head, accusing her, blaming her for turning them into the things that they had become:
You killed us, Jessie Daniels. It's your fault we're trapped inside our dead bodies. It's your fault we're monsters.

She could feel the tears on her cheeks. She was crying, not because of what she had done, but for what they wanted her to do now.

Free us. Free us. Free us, Jessie Daniels.

But how could she do that? They were just children.

You know what you need to do.

One of them stepped from the group, a girl. She was so small, so fragile. She wore a dirty white dress with a wide crimson bow. It had come undone and dangled like two ribbons of gore on either side of her hips. In her arms was a huge white rabbit with a chocolate milk stain on its belly. It was dead, too.

No
, Jessie wanted to say.
It wasn't me. I didn't do this.