The Dead Series (Book 4): Dead End (34 page)

“You got it,” Rick told him. “Always look on the bright side.”

Entering the mess hall, Tick-Tock didn’t recognize any of the thirty or forty men and women gathered there. Feeling slightly self-conscious, he wished he were back with his own people. He had been given command of two platoons earlier in the day, and he knew this was where he belonged. Meetings and planning sessions were great, but action was better. Of all the briefings he had attended when he was in the Marine Corps, most had been BS sessions with no real aim or purpose other than to tell you things you already knew.  

Rick entered after him, causing everyone to come to attention. The Commander waved them to their seats as he said to Tick-Tock in a quiet voice, “Now you get to see my General Patton imitation.” After a second, he added, “Or maybe General Custer, in this situation.”

Tick-Tock smiled, thinking that it might not be that bad. Rick had a no-nonsense style about him that seemed to cut through the bullshit and get right to business.

Walking to a map of the area pinned to the wall, Rick said, “This is a brief overview of our situation. We have our backs to the lake, and we have a group of dead-asses coming at us from the southeast, and an even larger group coming at us from the west. We’ve had little to no success drawing them off or wiping them out due to their size. We circle around them and pick at them, but we can’t seem to turn them away from us. Our best guess is that the herds are so big that we can’t attract enough of them to turn them.

“Our estimates are that the group from the southeast will hit the two smaller forts in about two hours. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this. Our recon teams put their numbers at about three to four thousand. We can hold against them with no problem and eventually wipe them out, but the problem is that the herd coming at us from the west has four times that number of dead in it. For those of you that have been on the back side of these dead-asses, you know that nothing can stand in front of them. Their outer edges are estimated to pass within a mile to the south of the fort in four hours. We expect scattered contact with smaller groups ahead of the main herd within an hour.”

Pointing to a secondary road on the map that led directly from Jasper to the compound, Rick went on, “What I propose is to draw the group from the southeast in and wipe them out. Right now, they’re moving directly at us cross-country. They’re pretty spread out, so what I want to do is lure them onto this road, where we can deal with them as a whole. We need to do it fast, though. We want them gone before the herd coming at us from the west has a chance to join up with them and follow them right to us.

“The second part of the plan will be to lead the bigger herd straight down Highway Sixty-Three. At its closest point, it only comes within four miles of the fort, but like I said, the outer edge of them will come within a mile. We know the dead-asses have some kind of sense that leads them to us, so we have to do whatever it takes to keep them on the road. The hard part will be the timing. We need to draw in and wipe out the herd coming from the southeast while we slow the big herd until we’ve dealt with the smaller one. Once that’s done, we can lure the big group all the way to Louisiana if we want to.”

Looking at the men and women in his command, Rick asked, “Any questions?”

Expecting the next thirty minutes to be a waste of time as everyone tried to shine by asking the most intelligent question, Tick-Tock was surprised by the ensuing silence.

“Very well, then,” Rick said. “I want the commanders of the two smaller forts and their platoon leaders to stay behind, along with Tick-Tock. The rest of you know what to do and are dismissed.”

As they filed out, Tick-Tock took in the resolve on their faces. These were the men and women that would have the hardest job. They had to be continually moving as they ambushed the dead to slow them down while at the same time trying to attract as many as they could from the flanks of the herd. The range on the porcupines wasn’t that great, so they had to shoot and move. If they faltered one little bit, the wave of Zs would roll right over them.

When they were gone, Rick said to those that remained, “We need to figure out how to get the group coming from the southeast out of the woods and onto the road so we can deal with them. They’re scattered all over, so we’ve got to lure them in and wipe them out. It’s not like the big herd, since it stays primarily on the highway. Any ideas on how to draw them in?”

Thinking back to the time at the radio station when Steve attracted the dead while he dropped down onto a MRAP full of supplies and weapons, Tick-Tock asked with a smile, “Have you ever heard of Jap Slap Theater?”

Russellville Regional Airport:

After climbing onto the truck, Heather held Cindy against her. She had wiped Linda’s blood off the little girl’s face but could see where it still stained her clothes. Knowing that shock could kill just as easily as a bullet or a knife, she was relieved when Cindy came out of her catatonic state.

Feeling her stir, Heather said, “It’s okay, we’re on the truck now. We’re almost there.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Cindy mumbled. “Linda is dead. You’re all trying to protect me, and you’ll all be dead. You’re just walking around until you get shot or bit.”

In a quiet voice, Heather said, “You can’t think like that, honey. In just a few minutes, we’ll all be safe.”

“Nowhere is safe,” Cindy mumbled. “The only thing that was safe was my pistol. Linda even gave it to me, but it got knocked out of my hand when Igor pushed me down. The gun made me feel safe, like I can take care of myself. It seems like everyone dies when they try to protect me. I need to do it myself.”

Surprised, Heather asked, “You had a gun?”

Cindy nodded against her shoulder and said, “Linda taught me how to use it. She said it was for emergencies.” Looking up, she asked with wide eyes, “Can I have another gun? If something else happens, I want to be ready. Maybe next time, I’ll be able to keep one of you from getting killed.”

Heather thought about it for a few seconds before reaching into her pack and extracting a small pistol. Looking Cindy directly in the eye, she said, “This isn’t a toy.”

“That’s the first thing Linda told me,” Cindy said. “She taught me everything you taught her.”

“Then you need to remember everything she told you and do it,” Heather said. Handing the little pistol over, she added, “This was Brain’s mother’s pistol. He gave it to Steve, and Steve gave it to me. I’ve been carrying it around ever since we left the radio station.”

Looking at the CAR-15 leaning next to her and the pistol holstered at Heather’s hip, Cindy asked, “Why did you carry that little gun all this way when you have all these bigger guns?”

Not wanting to tell the little girl that she kept the pistol in case she needed to use it on herself if she were bitten, she said, “I just put it in my pack and forgot about it.”

Satisfied with the answer, Cindy took the small pistol. After looking at it for a few seconds, she extracted the clip and cleared the round in the chamber. Heather had to help her insert the bullet back into the magazine since her fingers weren’t strong enough to do it. After putting the weapon back together, she put it in the cargo pocket of her pants.

Looking up at Heather, she said, “Now I feel safe.”

***

Leaning in close to the man on his right, Steve asked over the roar of the truck engine, “How far to the base?”

Major Jedidiah Cage looked up from his map and replied, “About twenty minutes. We have to make a detour once we get over the bridge. On the way here, we ran into a roadblock. A building collapsed onto the road.” Looking down at the covered body of Linda, he added, “That’s why we couldn’t get to the airport sooner. I’m sorry you lost one of your people.”

Reminding himself that the dead were the ultimate cause of all this death and destruction, Steve didn’t blame Cage for being late. In fact, while he had only met the Major a few minutes ago, he felt comfortable in the man’s presence. When the officer and his soldiers had arrived, he had been the first person to get out and ask if they were all right. When Steve explained what had happened, Cage took charge of the situation, ordering his medic to take care of Igor and his men to take the two bandits into custody. Within minutes, he had situation completely under control and everyone loaded into the trucks.

Looking over to where Cindy and Heather were having a quiet conversation near the cab, Cage asked, “Is that the little girl that’s immune?”

Steve nodded and said, “She was bitten a couple times and never turned. We found her in Clearwater.”

Cage gave a low whistle and said, “You’ve brought her a long way, my friend.”

“And not just in miles,” Steve answered quietly. “She’s had a rough time of it, so make sure your doctors take it easy on her.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Cage told him. “We’ve been searching for anyone that’s resistant to the HWNW virus since this all started. With everyone shooting the people that got infected, we don’t know how many of the immune got killed off. What you have here is one of the rarest commodities on the face of the Earth, so the doctor in charge is going to treat her like the crown jewels.”

“Is there a cure to the virus?” Steve asked.

“Doctor Connors told me that she’s close,” Cage told him. “She needs one more test subject.”

“Will the anti-virus kill the dead?” Steve asked.

“Yes,” Cage answered. “We all call it an anti-virus, but it’s more of an eradicator.”

Excited by the news, Steve asked, “How long will it take to create?”

Cage thought about it for a minute before saying, “I’m not a virologist, so I can’t say for sure, but I would guess a few days at the very least. Maybe weeks, though, I really don’t know.”

Thinking of Tick-Tock and Denise back at Fort Redoubt, he knew they didn’t have days. He had witnessed firsthand how close the Zs were to the fort and guessed they only had a matter of hours before the huge herd of dead reached its walls.

With concern in his voice, Steve said, “I’ve got some friends back in Texas that are in a tough spot and don’t have much time. Is there some way we can evacuate them?”

Cage briefly explained what was going on in Washington, D.C., and finished with, “As far as I know, everything is grounded until the situation is resolved. The only thing we had orders to do was to locate and pick you and your group up.” Seeing Steve’s crestfallen expression, he added, “When we get back to base, I’ll contact D.C. and see what we can do. How many people do we need to pick up?”

Thinking of all the men and women at Fort Redoubt, Steve answered, “A few thousand.”

Leaning back slightly, Cage said, “You have a lot of friends. You must have been a terror on Facebook.”

Steve chuckled at the joke, then explained about Fort Redoubt, finishing by saying, “There’s really only eight people that were in my group, but we can’t leave the rest of them to die.”

Shaking his head, Cage replied, “I might be able to swing a couple of choppers, but that’s about it.”

Hoping that the helicopters got to the fort before the dead overran it, Steve said, “Do whatever you can to get my people out, Major. If you can pull everyone out, that would be even better. They’re the only reason we made it here.”

Cage nodded solemnly and said, “I’ll do what I can.”

The truck engine revved, causing Cage to stand up and look over the cab. After briefly scanning the area, he ordered, “Everyone get ready to run the gauntlet. Doesn’t look too bad today, but it’s still going to be bumpy.”

“The gauntlet?” Steve asked the Major as he sat down.

“There’s a ring of dead surrounding the camp,” Cage explained. “We have to bust through them to get in and out.”

Worried that the safe haven they were going to was about to be overrun, Steve asked, “Is your fence secure?”

“The dead aren’t at the fence,” Cage answered. “One of the eggheads invented something that keeps them back a ways.”

Steve began to ask what it was, but the whining of the dead quickly grew too loud to continue. Seconds later, he could feel the truck start to shudder and bounce in a familiar way as it struck down and rolled over the first of the Zs. Looking around at the soldiers accompanying them, he was reassured that they didn’t appear worried. After a full minute of being bounced back and forth and up and down, the ride steadied and the truck slowed considerably.

Curious, Steve half-stood and looked over the tailgate. The second truck, its front grill and bumper splattered with body parts and black blood, was just clearing the ring of dead. Expecting the Zs to follow the vehicle in a loping run, he was shocked that they stayed where they were. Looking to his right and left, he saw thousands of the dead standing just inside the trees and brush that ringed the camp. Now that they were away from the whining of the reanimated corpses, he could hear a new sound coming from the Zs. It was a moaning, painful sound.

Turning to face the camp, Steve could see it was ringed with concertina wire and a tall chain-link fence. Seeing the insulators spaced equally across it, he guessed it was electrified. Looking back at the horde of dead, he also knew that it would be no barrier if they came at it in a rush.

Rubbing his arms, Steve suddenly realized that the hair on them was standing up. Reaching up to run his fingers through his hair, he could feel it prickle.

Seeing him doing this, Cage explained, “You’ll get used to it. It’s one of the side effects to the Malectron.”

In awe, Steve asked, “Is that what’s keeping the dead back?”

Cage nodded and said, “It’s the only thing between us and them.”

Sitting back down, an idea started to form in Steve’s mind. Seeing they were approaching the gate, he tabled it for later. First they would get Cindy to Doctor Connors, then he would find out if he could pull his plan off.

When they were safely behind the wire, Steve studied the camp as they drove through it. A majority of the structures were tents or shipping containers, with signs in front of them touting their use. Looking down a side road as they passed, he saw the camp had a barbershop, a quartermaster and a mess hall, along with a hospital. It all looked hastily put together and like it had been here for years, rather than months. Ahead of them on a slight rise, he spotted the only permanent structure.

Seeing where he was looking, Cage said, “That’s where we’re taking Cindy. The farmhouse is where they set up the lab. We can turn her over to Doctor Connors, then I’ll find some quarters for you and your people. I’ll make sure that Doctor Connors keeps you updated on her progress.”

Hearing this, Heather half-stood and said defiantly, “One of us is going with her, Major. We’re not leaving her alone for a second.”

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, Cage said, “Calm down. I’m sure that won’t be a problem. We want Cindy to be as comfortable as possible.”

Satisfied, Heather said to him, “Good, I’ll stay with her first.”

Cage nodded, his attention drawn away by the squawking of his radio. Picking it up, he hit the transmit button and said, “Major Cage here, over.”

Loud enough for everyone to hear,
a tinny voice came through the speaker saying, “Major, it’s Fagan. We’ve got a fire in the radio room, over.”

“How bad, over?” Cage asked.

“We can’t tell yet, sir,” Fagan answered. “They just finished putting it out when I got here. There’s still a lot of smoke, over.”

Looking at the men in the back of the truck, Cage regretted having left Fagan behind. He needed someone he could trust to finish escorting the civilians to the farmhouse, but his first priority was seeing how bad the damage at the radio room was. He doubted Hawkins would try anything, but you never knew. Not having time to explain everything that was going on with the doctor, he called for the truck to stop and pointed to a Second Lieutenant and said, “Perry, I want you to deliver the little girl to Doctor Connors. No one else but Connors. Once you’ve done that, I want you to bring the rest of these people to my office.”

“Yes, sir,” Perry acknowledged.

Nodding once to Steve, Cage said, “The Lieutenant will take care of you.” The truck had barely rolled to a stop before he climbed over the rear gate of the truck and started running in the direction of a small plume of black smoke rising from the far side of the camp.

As the truck started off again, a feeling of unease washed through Steve at the thought of Heather escorting Cindy. He knew it wasn’t the little girl’s fault, but it seemed like everyone that chaperoned her ended up dead. Correcting himself, he looked to where Igor lay on the floor and thought, Five dead and one wounded.

Shaking the feeling off as they pulled up in front of the farmhouse and got out, he told himself that they were probably in one of the safest places in the world right now. Looking up to the porch to where a man in a white lab coat was introducing himself as Doctor Hawkins, the personal assistant to Doctor Connors, he felt reassured. Hawkins looked and sounded very professional as he explained that Doctor Connors was in the middle of some tests and had sent him to greet them. Hawkins had no problem with Heather escorting Cindy and even seemed to welcome the idea, putting them all at ease with an ongoing banter about how happy he was that they had made it here safe.

One by one, the remains of the group hugged Cindy and told her everything would be okay. The little girl made Steve promise that he would take care of Pep and made everyone else promise to look out for each other. When they were finished with their goodbyes, Heather kissed Steve, took the little girl’s hand and followed Hawkins and another man toward the front door.

As they drove away, Steve thought to himself,
what could go wrong?

***

After entering the farmhouse, Hawkins turned to the right and stopped in front of an empty desk as he said, “Like I told you earlier, Doctor Connors is in the middle of some tests right now, so you can wait for her in the parlor.” Nodding to the man that had accompanied him, he added, “I have my own duties to attend to, so I want to introduce you to Sergeant Cain. He will be in charge of your security while you’re here.”

Heather turned around and nodded at Cain, who had taken up a position of parade rest behind her. Spinning back to address Hawkins, she felt the cold metal of a pistol barrel pressed against the base of her skull.

In a low voice, Cain started to say, “Don’t do anything stupid,” but barely got the words out of his mouth before Heather sprang into action.

Dropping Cindy’s hand, she raised her left arm in an upright ‘L’ and spun at the waist, knocking Cain’s pistol out of his hand. Letting her momentum continue to spin her around, she followed up with a fist to the man’s jaw. Dropping her hand to her pistol as she spun back, she stopped when she saw Hawkins already had his out, its barrel pointed directly to where Cindy stood frozen in shock.

“Don’t do it,” Hawkins warned. “I will kill the child if you so much as twitch.”

Despite being confused at the sudden assault, Heather recovered quickly. She didn’t know what was going on, but she also knew that it didn’t matter. Her first priority was taking out the threat in front of her. Watching Hawkins’ eyes, she waited for him to take them off her for as much as a second. She had been a cop once and was trained to draw her weapon and put three in the black in less than two seconds.

From behind her, Heather heard a groan and rustling as Cain got to his feet. Knowing she didn’t have much time, she waited for Hawkins to give her an opening; instead, he stood unmoving, staring at her like some type of unblinking predatory lizard.

Feeling a tug at her waist as Cain took her pistol, Heather didn’t give up, knowing that he also had to take the CAR-15 slung over her shoulder. All she had to do was wait for him to try and take it, and she would show him and Hawkins another trick in hand-to-hand combat.

Seeing Hawkins nod for Cain to proceed, she got ready to attack. She would take control of the rifle and disable the man behind her with two moves and put three bullets in the doctor’s head before he knew what was happening.

Expecting to feel Cain’s hands on her, she instead heard him say, “Fucking bitch, I should have done this coming through the front door.”

Heather’s world went black as his fist smashed into the soft spot behind her ear.

Near Jasper, Texas:

Tick-Tock banged a crowbar in a steady beat against the tire rim hanging from the roll bar of the Jeep Wrangler as he yelled, “All-e-all-e-in-come-free. Come out, come out wherever you are.”

The Jeep bounced heavily, almost throwing him over the side.

Angrily, he called to the driver, “Take it easy. You almost tossed me to the wolves.”

“Sorry, sir,” the woman replied. “Some of these holes are so overgrown that I can’t see them until I hit them. Are we close enough yet?”

Looking at the mob of dead following them, then at the road only a hundred feet to their front, Tick-Tock slid into the passenger seat and said, “Yeah, we’re close enough. Even the dead-asses can’t miss us. Get us onto the blacktop.”

The Jeep accelerated, bouncing so hard that Tick-Tock told the driver to slow down.

“Sorry, sir,” she replied. “I just hate being this close to those things.”

“Well, this is the last of them, so you can relax for a little while,” Tick-Tock told her. “There are going to be a few stragglers here and there, but the guys from the smaller forts can deal with them.” Seeing relief on the woman’s face, Tick-Tock added, “My guess is that we’ll move to the west after this, so don’t relax too much.”

The Jeep bounced onto the road, its ride smoothing out enough for Tick-Tock to climb in the back again. This was his second trip into the boonies to draw in the dead, and his arm felt like lead from swinging the crowbar. Despite this, he started rhythmically striking the tire rim again.

Judging the distance between the dead and their Jeep, he called out for the driver to slow down, explaining that they wanted to draw the Zs in, not outrun them. Looking ahead, he saw where the trees started on either side of the road to create a thick barrier on either side of it. These would act as a funnel to keep the dead bunched up. Fifty feet further on, he spotted a red line spray painted from one side to the other on the asphalt.

“We’re almost in the zone,” he yelled to be heard above the whining of the dead. “Slow down just a little. We want to make sure we get as many as we can. Try to keep us about ten or fifteen feet in front of the fastest ones.”

The driver nodded, switching her fearful gaze between the rearview mirror and the road in front of her.

Tick-Tock looked at the trailing mass of dead, their bodies torn and twisted as they loped, scurried and scampered after the food that stayed just out of reach. Most of them were completely nude, showing a variety of gruesome wounds that leaked black fluid, but a few were dressed. Looking closer at these Zs, Tick-Tock could see dried blood staining their clothes to mingle with the black ochre leaking out of their bodies. Glancing to the south, he guessed that a stronghold somewhere had recently been overrun and its occupants zombified.