The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) (23 page)

Hank looked up at her, eyes filled with fear and panic.
  This was not how anyone would want to go out.
  He screamed out in agony as one of demented
gouged out a huge chunk of flesh from one of his calves.
  He tried to say something to Kelly, but
couldn’t get the words out.

She reached over the edge, grabbing Hank’s forearms.
  Struggling, she tried to help him up the
slick pipes.

“Go, just...”   Hank
whispered between gritted teeth. A
grimace of pain stopped him from finishing his sentence.

Kelly continued to pull at his arms.
  She dropped the flashlight while trying to
get a better grip on Hank’s arms.  
Seemingly in slow motion the light spun and flipped its way down into
the swarm below. She could no longer see
Hank’s face but heard him when he spoke.

“Go, get out of here with
Sam.”   Then he let go.
  Simply let go of the pipes and allowed the
horde to pull him down.

Kelly tried to hang onto his arms, but Hank’s weight was too
much and he slipped out of her grasp.  
She couldn’t believe it. She sat
there, hunched over, nearly in shock. He
didn’t make a noise, just disappeared into the darkness.
  The demented ripped into him, issuing viscous
growls. Kelly hesitated for a moment,
but the vision of Sam alone on the roof flashed through her mind.
  Knowing Hank was gone and no amount of crying
was going to bring him back.

Using the pipes to guide her, Kelly made her way back to the
roof access. She almost broke down when
she looked up and saw Sam’s precious face staring down at her, his face glowing
in the warm dawn sunshine. He knew the
instant she showed up. Tears welled up
in both of his eyes and his lip began quivering.
  Embarrassed, he turned away, making room for
Kelly to climb up on the roof with him.

On the roof she enveloped Sam in a tight hug.
  “I’m sorry Baby.”

Surprisingly he did not cry for long, pushing away after a
moment. “We have to go Mommy.
  They will get us.”

It saddened her greatly that Sam was growing up faster than
any boy should, but he was right, they had to keep moving.
  She glanced around the open rooftop, looking
for the best way off. The roof was
surrounded by a two foot stone wall with a wide cement cap.
  On one side of the building a pair of metal
rails with cross rungs bent up and over the wall.
  It had to be a ladder that made its way to
the ground below.

“Over there, let’s get to the ladder.”

The two of them rushed across the roof.
  The wrought-iron ladder made its way down the
side of the building to the back alley.  
There was no movement in the street below, so she climbed over the wall
and began down the ladder. Once her head
sunk to the height of the wall she motioned for Sam to follow.
  As she moved down she helped Sam get over the
wall, making sure his feet found the narrow rungs.
  The two of them rapidly made their way down
to the pavement below.

The alley was littered with trash, but
there were no infected within sight.  
Several yards away was an overturned dumpster,
its contents spilling out onto the asphalt.  
Just beyond was a street leading away from the dry cleaners.
  All Kelly could think about was getting away
from this place. She grabbed Sam’s hand
and said, “This way Honey.”

They made it partway down the alley before gunshots rang
out. The loud bangs were coming from
somewhere inside the dry cleaners.
Hank?
 
Can’t be.

“Is that Hank?”   Sam
asked.

Kelly didn’t know what to say.
 
I saw him die...or did I?
  It was dark, but there was no way he could
have made it. “I don’t think so Honey...we
need to keep moving.”   As shots continued
to ring out she questioned this decision, but knew she could never help whoever
it was anyways. Growls coming from
somewhere behind her were a reminder that they had to keep moving.

With Sam right beside her they made the corner onto the next
street. A crooked green sign marked it
as West Graves Road. She tried not to think
about that too much. The road was
littered with cars. Most were jammed
into each other. There was movement at
the far end of the street beyond the large pileup.

Wanting far away from the dry cleaners, she looked down at
Sam and said, “Let’s get through these cars and find a way out of the city.”

“What about Daddy?”

Kelly had been thinking about Tom as well.
  He was still alive; she knew it...or was that
what everyone thought until the bad news was proven true.
 
Am I
just in denial?
  She had known Tom
for a long time and it would take a lot to bring him down.
  He had always been a fighter.

She was just reaching back to help Sam climb up on a
Civic’s hood when she heard something.
  The sky above Kelly was clear and blue.
  She looked further down the street and from
her elevated vantage point she could see a small horde of infected surrounding
a truck a few blocks away. The noise
grew louder and it was clear it was not coming from the infected.
  They must have heard it as well.
  The entire group suddenly became very
agitated, shaking, pounding into the truck, and some of them shifting around in
the street, staring at the sky.

Whump...whump...whump...

Chopper, the sound was clear now.
  It was difficult to tell in which direction
it was. All the buildings caused the
sound to echo and bounce all around.  
Kelly pulled Sam the rest of the way on top of the hood and then stood
staring at the sky. Even though they had
no luck getting help from the pilots before, Kelly knew she would do everything
she could to try to wave them down. The
volume continued to grow. Finally
movement appeared above the buildings just beyond the surrounded truck.
  The helicopter looked strange.
  It had what looked like long metal pipes
stretching out both sides. Kelly thought
she would jump up and down, but instead just stood there trying to figure out
what was attached to the chopper.

The pilot hesitated directly above the street at the far end.
  He then maneuvered the chopper in a circle,
facing directly down the street toward Kelly and Sam.
  The insect like form, with poles stretching
out fifteen feet or more to each side, began flying along West Grave, headed
for Kelly. Now she couldn’t decide if
she should duck and hide or try to flag it down.
  Undecided she just stood
there watching it.   As the chopper
approached the surrounded truck infected scattered, rushing to the sides of the
street. As it neared she could see the
long booms were chemical sprayers. A
fine sheen of droplets cascaded from multiple tips, wetting the pavement below
and leaving an opaque mist floating above the ground.

Kelly looked to the nearest car and rushed toward its
partially open side door. “Quick, get
in.”   She shouted to Sam.
  Opening the door the rest of the way, she
stood to the side as Sam ran and dove onto the back seat.
  Kelly followed him in and slammed the door
closed.

The roar of the helicopter’s rotors thundered toward
them. Kelly peered out the side window
just as the insect like beast flew over the car.
  Splattering liquid made its way across the hood
of the car, and was followed by a strange crackling noise.
  It reminded Kelly of sizzling bacon.
  The white mist rose from the pavement and car
hood, shrouding them in an eerie fog.  
The noise stopped, replaced only by silence.

“What’s happening?”  
Sam whispered.

Kelly continued to look out the windows.
  “I don’t know Hun.”
  She was not sure if the mist would hurt them,
but she was glad to be in the car. It
only took a few minutes and the mist slowly cleared away, leaving only a glossy
residue behind. Kelly climbed out of the
car. The air had a slight chemical smell,
reminding her of vinegar. The chopper
could still be heard, but was out of view somewhere behind the tall buildings.

“Ewww, what’s that smell?” Sam
said as he stepped out of the car.

Kelly looked back toward the truck that was previously
surrounded by infected. None of them
remained; the truck sat alone. She knew
they needed to use the calm to try to get out of the city, but something tugged
at her.
Infected don’t surround empty trucks.
  At least that is what she hoped.

The two of them worked their way over and around cars.
  Spokane had taken on a strange quiet.
  Only the distant thrum of the helicopter
could be heard. As they neared the beat
up old truck Kelly thought she could see someone inside.
  The dark form was sprawled across the
seat. Blood and grime covered the
window, making it difficult to see inside, but once Kelly got to the truck she
could see a person on the seat. Her
heart pounded with hope. Unable to
contain the excitement she rushed around the back of the truck to get to the
other side. She raced up to the
passenger window. Using her shirt sleeve
she wiped away the grime and peered through.

“It’s Daddy!”   She
shouted.

“Daddy!”
  Sam shouted from behind her.

Kelly tugged at the door handle but it was locked from the
inside. “Tom...Tom, it’s me!”
  She yelled at the glass.
  He didn’t move, but she could see his chest
rise and fall with life. Looking in the
back of the truck she found an old chunk of iron pipe.
  “Stand back Honey.”
  She said.  
Kelly slammed the metal pipe into the side window.
  There was a loud crack and shards of glass
exploded inward, cascading on top of Tom.  
The pipe clanged to the ground. Kelly
quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open.

At her touch Tom slowly blinked his eyes open.
  He had to be dreaming.
  Her face looked down at him, tears streaming
from her eyes. He heard Sam’s voice,
small and fragile. His eyes stung from
the light. He had never imagined heaven
being so incredibly painful.

“It’s me baby. Wake
up.”   Kelly said.

Behind her Sam bounced around, giddy with excitement.

Everything came flooding back to Tom.
  Lincoln, the school, the infected chasing
him...Sam...they had gotten Sam. Kelly had
him, she had done it. He was so proud of
her.

“We have to move.  
Where are you hurt?”   Kelly said.

Tom laid there thinking about it and then he let out a low
laugh.

“What?”

“Everywhere.”
  He said.  
Thinking back, he remembered the gunshot and all the blood running down
his arm. “My arm...bicep got shot.”

His face was pale.  
Kelly realized he had lost a lot of blood.
  After he sat up she quickly checked over his
wounds. Using a torn off strip of shirt
she bandaged him up as best she could, knowing he would need further attention,
but it would have to come later.

“Where are they? I
was surrounded.”

Kelly told him about the helicopter and the spray. He sat thinking for a while.

“Hank and the others?”

She looked down at the ground and shook her head.

Tom felt a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach, but also
knew they had to get moving. Grieving
would have to wait. “Let’s get out of
here.” He said while slowly standing
up. Pain shot through his entire body.

“Look what we found here.”  
A booming voice said from behind Kelly.

She spun around to see Lincoln and Austin standing fifteen
feet away. Both of them looked
terrible. Bloody cuts covered their
bodies, red soaking through their clothes.  
They looked like the losing end of a war.
  Lincoln held an AR-15 pointed directly at
Kelly.

Anger welled up inside Tom.  
He wasn’t sure if it was the dirtbag Lincoln
or the traitor Austin that made him angrier.  
They were both scum of the earth and wouldn’t seem to go away. Tom just started to say something, but Lincoln
shouted for him to shut up before he could get a full word out.

“We’re done talking.”  
Lincoln said.

The hate in his eyes was evident as they bore into Tom.
 

The shot rang out, echoing off the brick buildings.
  It took Tom a second, but then he realized
the shot had come from somewhere behind him.  
Kelly and Sam still stood in front of him.
  Austin did as well.
  Lincoln lay sprawled out on the pavement, his
AR off to the side. Blood pooled around
his body, slowly spreading out, forming a small stream running to the
side. Austin stood in shock, staring
down at the grisly wound in Lincoln’s chest.

Austin slowly looked over at Tom, fear filling his
eyes. Tom watched as blood exploded out
of the back of Austin’s head just as he heard another loud boom.
  Austin crumpled to the pavement next to his
dead leader. Tom was a bit dumbfounded,
it had happened so fast.

Kelly slowly turned back around, looking Tom in the
eyes. There was both fear and
satisfaction there. Tom knew exactly
what she was feeling. Even if he got
blown away right now, at least he saw Lincoln’s demise.
  Kelly slowly lifted her head, looking just
above Tom. A slow grin spread across her
face. Tom turned around and looked in
the same direction. About a block away
towered a four story brick building dotted with narrow windows.
  On the rooftop stood a
lone man, rifle at his side, waving his free hand above his head.
  Tom immediately recognized him.

Little Sam did as well.  
“Hank!”  
He shouted.

******

It took them several minutes to reach the rooftop.
  Hank leaned up against the stone buttress
that surrounded the roof. With a grin he
said, “You all though I was a goner didn’t you.”

Nobody said anything, they were all just glad to see him.