The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle (27 page)

CHAPTER 35 
  CROSSING
AGAIN

The bridge, like every other in the city, had been blown,
leaving bergs of rubble poking through the surface of the Ohio River. Nathan
and Ronnie continued to move north, sticking as close to the banks as possible.
They had decided to make their way to Neville Island, an industrial island
which was home to a coke plant and other industrial factories. It didn’t matter
that the bridges were gone; they could just walk across along the river bottom,
but, Boomer would have a difficult time crossing the river for a second time.
Neville Island would make for two shorter crossings, allowing them to rest on
land halfway across.

Boomer came bounding back from his hunting trip; he had been
bringing Nathan and Ronnie various small game animals ever since finding them.
He seemed to instinctively know that they needed to feed. The two zombies took
the little gifts and devoured them as they arrived.

“Shouldn’t be too much farther,” Nathan said with a mouth
full of opossum.

Ronnie grunted in response. Boomer took a break from hunting
and walked with them for a while. He kept an alert eye out for any possible
danger; his tail never ceasing to wag emphatically. Although the dog had little
left in his tank, being with his master gave him renewed energy.

They walked at a steady pace in relative silence, save for
the constant squishing and crunching of zombie snacks the pair were noshing on.
Nathan couldn’t help but reflect on the events that had transpired in only a
day’s time. His mundane existence seemed like a lifetime ago. He had to chuckle
to himself, because technically, it was. Within hours, his life had ended and
now he and his comrade-in-arms were doomed to wander the earth as new members
in the ranks of the undead. The sight of Pittsburgh in flames tore at him, for
he knew in his gut that the rest of the world most likely suffered a similar
fate.

What was to become of them now? Would they be able to find
Eve?
Was she still alive?
The idea that she had made it, that she
was surviving somehow, had kept him going. If he had to face the harsh reality
that she was gone, then his already hopeless situation would be too much to
bear. He pushed that possibility out of his head. Until they found hard proof
either way, he had to stay positive; had to keep going.

Although he and Ronnie didn’t feel fatigue or exhaustion,
Nathan was tired. Trying to wrap his brain around their situation had almost
caused his head to explode. The other thoughts that were giving him trouble,
were those of Sunshine. It was strange enough that a little girl, of all
people, would be capable of organizing and leading such a vast army. Then there
was the mental attack that she had unleashed on him. He didn’t know how that
was possible. He had seen other animal species exhibit a chemical-based method
of communication, through pheromones of some kind. No, it wasn’t
chemically-based. There’s no way she would have been able to get inside his
head the way that she did; he could hear her inside his mind. No chemical could
do that.

He pondered the logistics of Sunshine's ability as they drew
closer to Neville Island. Ronnie was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked.
Nathan wasn't the only one reflecting on their new life. Surprisingly enough,
they hadn't encountered anyone as they made their way; neither living nor dead.
He knew they weren't alone though. Abhorrent cries from the undead, mingled
with the wails of the human victims continued in the distance. Gunfire echoed
through the valley. Its cadence was sporadic; the military was losing. It came
down to simple numbers. The infected were adding to their ranks at an
exponential rate. There's no way the soldiers could hold against the onslaught
of the growing horde.

Nathan stopped and grabbed Ronnie's arm. "Look dude,
there."

Ronnie followed his gaze and saw the small canoe caught
against the brush along the shore. "Cool, a boat! Wait, why do we need a
boat?"

"We don’t need a boat," he answered as he made his
way down to the water. "Boomer does."

"Right on," Ronnie said with a perplexed look on
his face. "So, why do we need a boat?"

"Man, you really need to stop eating people. I think
it's starting to get to you. WE don't need a boat, but Boomer does. That little
dude has been through hell; he won't be able to make it across the water in his
condition."

The pair looked at the dog. He looked ragged. His long fur
that had once been soft and shiny was now matted and caked with dirt and blood.
Small twigs and leaves mingled amongst the tangled mats of hair. Despite his
appearance, Boomer stood proud, wagged his tail, and wore the biggest smile on
his face. Nathan grinned and turned his attention to the dingy and started a
visual inspection. "It seems to be intact. Some minor surface damage, but
it should make it across just fine."

A few minutes later, they had enough brush cleared to drag
the boat down to the shoreline. Boomer immediately jumped into the boat.

“Hold up man,” Ronnie said as he hastily made his way up to
the road. A moment later, he returned with a stop sign, post and all. “Thought
we’d need a paddle,” he said with a grin.

Nathan flashed a "thumbs-up" and took the sign as
he settled in at the bow of the craft. Boomer sat in the middle and Ronnie sat
in the back after shoving off from shore. Nathan guided the trio across the
Ohio River, being careful not to splash too much with the stop sign. Any
attention would be unwelcome attention.

Nathan caught a glimpse of something on the shore. Whatever
it was, it moved too quickly to glean any detail; just moonlight dancing across
something almost...metallic. It was gone in an instant, as if it weren’t ever
there at all. He thought of that moment at the subway tunnel. In the
split-second that he saw the creature emerge from the tunnel entrance, he
remembered seeing the same metallic-like surface. Nathan shuddered at the
memory. He hoped with every fiber of his being that the monster in the tunnel
hadn't followed them.

He moved his focus from the thicket of brush and began to
scan the shoreline for a suitable place to run aground. Satisfied with his
decision, Nathan directed the canoe towards a small inlet approximately fifteen
meters away. An uneasy feeling rose in his gut as they drew closer.

Boomer must have either sensed it too or felt his master’s
tension rise. The dog became rigid and alert; on the lookout for whatever
unknown danger awaited them. Nathan stayed on course and kept an eye on the
embankment above the water. He didn’t want to deal with an ambush while they
were still vulnerable in the boat.

Just as before, Boomer was attuned to Nathan’s wavelength,
and leapt out of the boat just before touching ground. He scrambled up the
slope and held position at the top of the embankment; darting his head back and
forth as he allowed his humans time to reach the shore. The pair made their way
up the bank and joined their furry protector.

“Good boy, Boo,” Nathan said, giving the dog a hearty pet on
the scruff. Boomer gave a satisfied grunt and began walking north, away from
the river.

“Dude, where’s he going?” asked Ronnie.

“I have no idea. Here boy!”

Boomer stopped and turned to Nathan and gave a whimper.

“Maybe we should follow him,” he contemplated aloud. “Eve
wouldn’t have stayed at the apartment, it’s not easily defensible. He must know
where she is.”

Ronnie looked at the dog and nodded in agreement. “Word. That
little dude is smart as fuck.”

The three headed north, into the borough of Bellevue, unaware
of the growing horde that amassed ahead.

****************

Moments later, a large form emerged from the river. Two large
padded feet planted onto the soft earth of the river bank, displacing the mud
from the immense weight of the beast. The icy waters of the Ohio rolled off the
hard, shiny quills that covered the beast.

Turning its head from side to side, the creature reached out
with all its preternatural senses. Large pointed ears rotated, silver eyes
scanned, and large deep breaths pulled air into the sensitive nostrils and
through the massive snout. Having located his targets, the hulking animal moved
in a northward direction—after Nathan and Ronnie.

CHAPTER 36 
  NEXT STEPS

“You want us to do what??!!” Rachel asked incredulously.

“It’s worth a try,” Evelyn stated calmly. Her expression was
cool and collected, but her mind was anything but. This is hands-down the worst
idea I’ve ever had, she thought.

“So you’re telling us that your big plan is to try something
that you saw on TV?” Daniel chimed in.

“Look at it logically for a minute,” she rebutted. “Just
about every creature on Earth emotes pheromones or some kind of chemical
identifier.”

“Sorry sugar-tits, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to agree with
the kid,” interrupted Shawn. “I think you’ve seen too many Walking Dead
episodes. If they’re smart enough to take orders, then they’re clever enough to
see through your bullshit.”

God, she really hated this guy. “Scientifically speaking, the
odds are good that if we smell like them, they’ll think we’re one them. Carlos,
you mentioned that you were a biologist, right? Back me up on this.”

All eyes turned to Carlos, who, like everyone else, was
struggling with the proposed course of action. Carlos smiled nervously. “Yes,
what you’re suggesting does seem to be plausible, but at this point, it’s just
a theory. We need...we need to test it.”

“Who the hell is crazy enough to test it?” Alison asked. She
knew full well that there wasn’t anyone here stupid enough to attempt what
Evelyn suggested.

The room went silent. If the army of dead hadn’t been right
outside, you could have heard a mouse pee on cotton. The group stood in the
uncomfortable moment as everyone looked at each other, wondering who would go
through with this crazy plan.

They exchanged nervous glances and objections with scared
expressions. The quiet weighed with a palpable and unbearable weight. Finally,
Shawn released a long, exasperated sigh.

“Jesus, I’ll do it,” he said, annoyed. He stood up and moved
towards the back office where Ethan was.

“It’s obvious that none of you have the grapes to take any
initiative, except maybe for you,” he said, nodding to Evelyn.

I stand corrected,
Alison thought.
HE is stupid
enough to try this
.

Sam quickly put himself between Shawn and the doorway which
lead back to the office. “Okay cowboy, just hold on a sec. If we’re going to
see this through, let’s make sure we go about it the right way.”

Shawn paused, conceding to Sam’s request.

Turning to Evelyn, Sam continued. “Alright, just so we’re all
on the same page here, you want to cut open Ethan back there and drench Shawn
in the infected blood. Then, send him outside to see if those things mistake
him for one of them. Does that about cover it?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Evelyn nodded.

“Wait a minute!” Theresa blurted out. Heads turned in her
direction in surprise of the meek woman’s sudden outburst. “Have you really
thought this through?”

“What’s there to think through?” Sam asked. “It’s either
gonna work or it’s not.”

Theresa looked panicked. “Well for starters, what about
infection? Have you thought of that? You all want to go back there and go
swimming in that poor young man’s blood, but have you stopped to think that you
might infect yourself, or everyone else?”

Apparently, nobody had thought of that.

“So help me God, if one of you yahoos gets me infected, I will
eat every single one of you,” Rachel spouted.

“Hold on everybody,” Sam interjected, raising his hands to
gain control of the conversation. “Before we all start tweaking out. Carlos,
any idea how contagious this thing is?” he asked, pointing his thumb behind him
towards the back room.

“Well, it’s obviously contagious, given the sheer numbers of
them. I can only assume that the majority of the population has become
infected; looking at the numbers in relation to the short time frame this has
all occurred in.”

“You see?!” Theresa interrupted. “We’re all going to get it!”

Carlos shot an irritated look. “HOWEVER,” he continued. “I
don’t believe we can get infected by cutting one of them open. I haven’t seen
any evidence of water-borne or aerosol vectors, meaning that we can’t get
infected by breathing the virus—assuming it IS a virus. No, I think that
whatever this pathogen is, it needs to enter directly into the bloodstream.”

“There, you see? Perfectly safe,” Shawn quipped
sarcastically.

“You ARE going to want to be careful though,” Carlos
continued. “You aren’t going to want to get any blood in your eyes or mouth and
you should definitely cover any exposed cuts.”

“That seems easy enough,” Shawn stated.

The group continued to work through the remaining details of
the plan, completely unaware that Bill was no longer with them. In fact, nobody
noticed that he sat slumped behind the large display of ball gags and flail
whips. Thick dark ooze had been seeping from his dead mouth for a good five
minutes. Dark veins spider webbed out from the puncture wound on his hand where
Ethan bit him.

Bill snapped his eyes open, revealing his crimson eyes.
Hypersensitive ears could hear the humans in the room talking. He also heard
their heartbeats, their blood coursing through their veins, and every breath
that they took. Bill rose to his feet. The smell of flesh bombarded him.

The group was too engrossed in their plan to put poor Ethan,
who was now hissing within Sam’s office, out of his misery. They also failed to
notice Bill creep his way towards them until it was too late. Zombie-Bill
wrapped a bony claw around Rachel’s face and clamped his distended jaw over her
shoulder. In one quick jerk of his head, he tore her right platysma muscle and
clavicle bone from her body.

The blood-curdling scream that followed jolted the group.
Eight heads whipped around in unison. All eyes fixated on Rachel, who now knelt
on the floor screaming at the top of her lungs as she glared at the gaping hole
in her torso. The group’s eyes then moved their attention to Bill. Blood and
flesh seeped out of his mouth as bone crunched within his powerful jaws. Bill
cocked his head to the side, as if he were listening to something—or someone. A
loud screech erupted from Bill.

“Shit!” exclaimed Shawn, as he whipped his crossbow up.

The ex-porn shop clerk lunged forward towards Evelyn. The
whisper of the crossbow bolt travelled through the air, followed by a juicy
“thwack” as the bolt penetrated Bill’s left temple. His body hit the floor with
a heavy thud at Evelyn’s feet.

Moments passed as everyone stared at Bill’s body; still
processing what had just happened. Finally, Rachel, who at this point had all
but lost her voice and was now reduced to whimpered sobbing on the floor,
blurted out, “HELP ME!”

“Oh my God,” Alison gasped, regaining her senses. “Rachel,
you’re going to be okay,” she reassured.

Daniel, Pete, and Chatty rushed to assist Alison. Bill,
Shawn, Carlos, and Evelyn circled Dead-Bill.

Shawn was the first to speak. “Did anyone else see what I
just saw?”

“All I saw was my former employee snack on Mrs. Cowan and try
to eat Eve,” Sam replied.

“No, before that,” Shawn elaborated. “A few seconds before he
sprang, he paused. It looked like he was listening to something. Like, maybe he
was listening to orders.”

“Orders from whom?” Carlos asked.

“I dunno, but whoever it is, they seem to have a real hard on
for sugar-tits here,” Shawn quipped, nodding towards Evelyn.

“Look asshole...” Evelyn started.

“Alright,” Sam interrupted. “He could have went for any of
us. There’s no way to be sure he was targeting Eve specifically.”

 “Shawn’s at least part right,” Evelyn said. “I saw it too;
before he attacked. He tilted his head and waited.”

“That’s exactly what I saw,” Shawn agreed, surprised to have
Evelyn’s corroboration.

“Okay, so based on the behavior of the ones outside and what
we just saw, I think we can assume that they're organized,” Evelyn continued.
“What I don’t understand, is how Bill got infected in the first place? Did
anybody see him get bitten?”

The consensus was that nobody saw anything. Carlos kneeled
down by the body and rolled it onto its back, being wary of the mouth and
immense claws. He searched for torn clothing or any other sign of injury; aside
from the bolt to the head. Commotion grew behind them as the others frantically
tried to save Rachel’s life.

“Found it!” Carlos exclaimed. “Here, on the hand!”

He cautiously held the right claw and pointed to a small
puncture wound on the palm. A black latticework of capillaries radiated outward
from the wound.

“Goddamn,” Sam muttered. “He must have gotten nipped by Ethan
when we brought him in.”

“Interesting...” Carlos said, more to himself than the group.

“Find something else?” Evelyn asked.

Carlos examined Bill’s claw-hand closer. “Look here,” he said
as he pointed to one of the razor sharp talons. “There are grooves running down
the full length of each nail...” he trailed off.

“Yes?” Shawn prodded, impatient for Carlos to get to the
point.

Carlos followed the nail-groove up the length of the finger
until he reached a bulbous knob where the fingernail used to be. “It looks like
the claws are in fact, elongations of the distal bones. See how the bone has
ruptured through the end of the finger?” he asked as he pointed to the ragged
flesh around the base of the three inch nail.

Sam, Shawn, and Evelyn nodded, indicating that they
understood. Carlos continued.

“This groove runs along the top of the claw, starting at this
bulbous area where the fingernail used to be." Carlos then squeezed the
swollen bulge on the top of the finger. Immediately, a greenish liquid oozed
out and flowed down the groove towards the tip of the claw.

"What the hell is that?" Sam asked, the disgust
clear in his voice.

"Venom," Evelyn said, beating Carlos to the punch.

"I think that's a fair assumption," Carlos agreed.

They shared an uneasy look. They all knew that Bill didn't
have any noticeable scratches on him, which meant that there was another method
of delivering the toxin to potential victims. As if reading the collective
thoughts, Carlos turned back to the body, focusing his attention on the mouth.
He opened the lower jaw and pulled out the enlarged tongue.

"Do you think it's in their spit, too?" Shawn
asked.

"I don't think so..." Carlos trailed off again as
he inspected the forked tongue tip. "Ah! There it is! Look here," he
said, pointing to a barb situated in the base of the fork. "The venom sac
must be inside the tongue; that's why it's so swollen. It seems as though this
barb acts like a hypodermic needle, injecting the toxin into the bloodstream.
Much more effective than saliva alone."

Commotion erupted from behind the group as Alison shouted.
"Hold her down!"

Rachel was convulsing on the floor, thick dark ooze was
spurting from her mouth as she gurgled for breath. The gaping wound where her
shoulder used to be was gushing, soaking the towel that Alison was using to
stop the bleeding.

"Chatty, grab her ankles! You guys try to grab her
arms!" Alison barked, desperately trying to help the old socialite.

"Stay clear of her mouth!" Shawn shouted over the
chaos. "She's got a stinger in her tongue!"

In unison, Daniel, Pete, and Chatty backed away from the
dying woman, who continued to spasm in the growing pool of dark liquid. A
newly-forked tongue shot out of Rachel's mouth, whipping around for its first
victim. Loud crunching sounds signaled more mutation; bones had begun to break
through her fingers.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Daniel.

Before their eyes, the woman they knew as Rachel had
transformed into one of the monstrosities which held them trapped. Dead-Rachel
let out a chilling hiss as her red eyes fixed themselves on Chatty.

THWACK!

The large machete blade buried deep within Dead-Rachel's
head, silencing the grotesque noises from the creature. Evelyn twisted the
blade and pulled it free.

"Everybody needs to back up and stay the hell away from
these things before we ALL get infected," she said, panting.

She received no argument from anyone as they moved away from
the corpses. They congregated at the far side of the shop and gazed upon the
remains of their former comrades. Finally, Evelyn turned to the group and broke
the silence.

"This changes nothing. We continue with the plan."