The woman was stricken by startled silence. Her lips parted to scream, but nothing escaped her mouth. The lead figure among the infected descended down upon her with ravaging thirst. He grabbed hold of the sides of her face and forced her head back before Mia looked away. A whimpering squeal was cut short, followed by the gurgling sound of someone drowning in their own blood.
Mia turned around and pushed her back against the inside wall. She closed her eyes and slid down to the ground. The sound of Jacob’s waddling feet neared, but she didn’t bother to open her eyes. She felt his presence as he leaned in close and looked out at the scene unfolding in the park. His gruff voice carried in a whisper.
“They will take over everything,” he said.
Mia’s eyes snapped open as she spun around on her knees. She spoke up, louder than she meant to, but it was too late to do anything about it.
“This is what you knew?” She froze in silence, her eyes bulging in the darkened interior. Neither of them moved for an agonizing time. Mia continued when she was sure nothing was about to dive in through the window after them. “This is the evolution you knew was coming,” she whispered.
Jacob nodded, never taking his eyes from the scene. He flinched once and the thought of what caused the response scared the hell out of Mia.
“How?” was all she managed to say. “How?” she repeated, filled with despair.
He took one last look and then turned around, sliding down to take Mia’s place beneath the window. “I can’t explain it in a way that would make any more sense to you,” he said and then shrugged. “Soon there won’t be enough of us left for it to matter.”
Mia sat down and pulled her knees up close to her chest. She thought she might get sick. She wiped away the tears forming in the corners of her eyes and threw herself forward, forcing her legs to hold her as she stood. The pain in her heart nearly knocked her back down.
“Get up,” she said.
Jacob stared up at her, unsure of what she expected him to do.
She quickly explained. “You may have given up on us, but I never will.” She looked past him, ignoring the movement in the park, focusing instead on her burning home. “They may have gotten out.” She paused. “Some of them anyway.”
Jacob stood up slowly, allowing his back the necessary time to adjust. “You want to go out there?” he asked.
“We have to,” Mia said, never taking her eyes off the building. “I’d rather die trying than sit here and do nothing.” Her thoughts were on Jonah, but she refused to release the agony. She needed the fuel. “Stay here if you want to.”
Jacob shifted uncomfortably, his stare moving between Mia and the opening in the top of the tunnel in the corner of the room. Mia found the only other exit from the room and headed for it. She didn’t look back for Jacob even after she stepped into the adjoining space. One side of the room was collapsed, leaving only a slight gap open to the outside. Mia was on her hands and knees before Jacob caught up to her.
“It will take you out between this building and the next,” he said. “We’ll have to crawl to get out to the street.”
Mia nodded and started forward. The crumbling walls forced her closer and closer to the ground until she was on her stomach. She had to reach out with both hands and drag herself ahead, pushing with the edges of her boots. Grunts and groans from Jacob told her that his slight frame wasn’t making the way any easier for him. The sounds of the murderous crowds in the streets grew as she drew closer to the far end of the opening in the wall. She was out in the open before she realized it.
Mia never stood up, the fear of being spotted more than enough to keep her close to the ground. Jacob’s directions proved correct. The far end of the adjacent building had collapsed and the result left a V-shaped barrier, blocking out the view of the street running north to south in front of the remains of both structures.
The way forward was another small gap, this one beneath the crumbling wall in the side of the adjacent building. The opening was larger than the initial pathway, but the view didn’t provide any additional confidence that it wouldn’t come crashing down on top of them. Mia low-crawled across the alley and directly into the breach, rising up on to her hands and knees once she was out of the open. She waited in the shadows of a new room for Jacob to complete the crossing.
“Just a little farther,” Jacob said between gasps, pointing out at an adjoining hallway. “There’s a way out midway down the hall.”
Mia was at the exit before Jacob gathered the strength to pick himself up off the floor. Her wide eyes were on the front of the tribal council’s building. The size of the infected mob was only outnumbered by the countless dead circling the group like vultures waiting for scraps. In the end, it wasn’t the infected or the dead that caused her body to quiver.
“By the gods.”
The words slipped from her lips. She pointed out something for Jacob as he approached. He leaned against the far side of the door trying to see what had her attention. The shock of it caused his knees to buckle. Jacob’s mouth opened to spit out some explanation, only to discover he didn’t have one.
The infected had gathered in a semicircle, using the front of the tribal council’s building as a barricade. They lined up, keeping the dead from breaking through their ranks. The infected lashed and shouted dead-speak in the air like baying wolves, but they held their positions. A smaller group of people stood clustered together, cornered between the infected and the front of the building like trapped animals waiting for certain death. Mia grabbed the doorframe to keep herself from falling. The swirling pain and anger churned inside her, enough to make her sick. She recognized several members of the tribe pressed against one another: men, women and children, most crying in a terrified craze.
“We have to do something,” Mia said.
“Do what?” Jacob asked and then grabbed her by the wrist before she could step out into the open. “You’ll get yourself killed and you won’t save a single one of them.”
Mia snatched her arm away, but she didn’t take another step. A series of movements from the infected crowd ended the argument. Those positioned at the farthest point from the side of the building moved first. The infected backed out of the way, forcing the swarming dead back as they went. The infected near the building walked in behind the group of survivors and drove them to move.
The utter terror on the faces of the living spoke volumes. The children continued to wail and weep, the youngest clinging to the adults. A low growl rose from the infected, the beat rising with the pace. The urging forced the living to walk as the infected moved alongside of them.
“What are they doing?” Mia asked.
“They’re taking them,” Jacob said. “Like prisoners,” he added.
Mia felt lost. “But why?” She shook her head as the entire procession turned and headed east along the main street. “What could they possibly want with…” An idea came to her before she finished. The darkness of her thoughts was too difficult to relay.
“They’ve learned,” Jacob said, “they can’t completely destroy their food source.”
Mia shivered despite herself. “But?”
“They can keep them alive,” he continued, “if they keep the dead off of them.”
Mia’s entire body shuddered. She wanted to know how any of it was possible, but she wasn’t sure she could stomach the answer. Instead, she focused her attention on a small pack of zombies breaking off the larger horde, trailing the captives. A number of the infected lunged away from the ranks encircling the tribal captives before being pulled back in line by a vicious roar from someone near the front.
“There’s something going on,” Mia said. She was out onto the sidewalk before Jacob could react. “They’re chasing something else.” She reached the end of the building and slipped her eyes out to find the infected procession already two blocks away.
“We can’t go out there,” Jacob warned. “If they see us, we won’t be able to outrun them.”
Mia
took one last glance at the front of the tribal building. There was no sign of the dead and the clearance was enough to get her to move. She was out in the open before she considered what she was doing. She kept the tail end of the mass marching east in the corner of her eye while focusing on the face of the tribal council’s building.
She hit the stone front with enough force to knock the wind out of her. Mia felt the pain in her palms as she tried to lessen the impact. She spun around and pressed her back against the building before the air rushed from her lungs. She tried to watch the departing horde, the separating group of the dead, and Jacob all at once. The old man had followed her, but his spent legs left him moving across the street at a slow trot.
He reached her, slowing to a crawl at the edge of the sidewalk. He raised a finger to say something but quickly went back to trying to catch his breath. Mia studied the open entrance of the building and found no sign of movement in the darkened interior. Part of her wanted to try to reach the rooftop to search for survivors, but something in her gut told her there would be nothing but a painful vision waiting for her.
She grabbed Jacob by the sleeve and pulled him along as she crept toward the side of the building. A full view of the street quickly explained the sudden break away of the dead. There were more survivors, how many she couldn’t be certain, but she counted at least a dozen. The group was moving north away from the tribal buildings. The survivors were a good distance ahead of the trailing zombies, but several infected mixed among the undead were catching up.
Mia spun around, pushed Jacob, and forced him to run. They were on the other side of the building a moment later, heading north along the street parallel to the group of survivors. Mia had her knife in hand, not certain how much good it would do her. She was aware of her surroundings, mentally locking onto the landmarks she knew. Their direction would lead them straight into the outlands with very few places to make a suitable stand between where they were and the city boundary.
Mia’s speed increased with amazing strides. It wasn’t until she lost sight of the burning tribal rooftops that she remembered Jacob. She came to a stop and discovered the old man a full block behind her. He was pressing, running with his arms in full extension on each step. His mouth was wide open and it appeared as if he might collapse at any moment. Mia’s concern for him didn’t override her thoughts of her kin. She waved Jacob on and waited until she could hear his panting breaths before pushing down the road between the major cross streets. Mia reached the far end of the building and the sounds of the coming multitude hit her before she took in the view.
The darkness could not hide the terrible state of the fleeing tribe. They were a pitiful sight, twenty of them at most, a majority of them hobbling and stumbling as they ran. They’d managed to pull away from the larger trailing mass of the dead, but a handful of infected were closing in fast. Mia took one last look at the remains of her people and then dashed out into the street.
The faces came into view one at a time; Mia knew them although her mind couldn’t place the names amongst the chaos. There were children mixed within the group, most clinging to their loved ones. Blood and muck marked them all, young and old alike. The terror was overwhelming and a certainty of death clung to every set of eyes. One voice rose from the group, forcing Mia to take notice.
“Father?”
Arkin struggled to run, a man on either side helping him go. His chest was bare, stained crimson from cuts and gashes. He clung to his guides with the last of his strength. His eyes met Mia’s and the profound sadness nearly brought her to her knees. Mia’s voice shook as she tried to keep the goal of survival in mind.
“You can’t outrun them,” she said, barking out orders. “Everyone who has the strength to fight must do it now.”
The remains of the tribe came to a slow halt. Confusion washed across their faces as the trauma of the moment took hold. Arkin encouraged the others to follow his daughter’s commands.
“We must stand and fight.”
The sound of the council elder’s voice broke through the devastation. Several of the remaining men took up what little arms they had and turned to face the infected. Mia stepped past her father as the others pressed into an alleyway. Jacob rushed in to join her and together the last of the Cheyenne Tribe stared down the coming fight.
11
It was difficult to get back into the building. Rowan struggled to hold Garret’s weight as he lowered him off the roof. Garret reached a broken window three stories down, hanging onto a makeshift rope they pieced together. Rowan swung the rope hard enough to give him the momentum he needed to grab the ledge and pull himself inside. Rowan’s descent was quick, and they crouched beneath the window looking at an open doorway leading out into the main hall.
“It’s quiet,” Rowan said.
“Too quiet.” Garret kept his back against the wall and forced himself to stand. “They were everywhere.”
There wasn’t a hint of the dreadful dead-speak. Something drastic had happened during the time Rowan was on the roof. He found the same question digging into his brain.
“How did they ever get up there?”
Garret shrugged. “Most of us were sleeping.” His eyes never left the doorway. “Somehow they got past the watch, I can’t imagine.”
“Mia came after me,” Rowan said in a sheepish tone. “I got hurt and she came back.” He kept their encounter with Jacob to himself. “She’s down there somewhere and it’s my fault.”
Garret started for the door. “Well, if she hadn’t come looking for you in the first place, she’d probably already be dead.”
Rowan nodded in silent agreement and walked after him. The hall was painfully quiet. There was no sign of movement in any direction. Rowan couldn’t shake an odd feeling that they were alone. They reached the entrance to a stairwell and he pushed the handle and looked in at an empty landing.
“I don’t understand,” Rowan said. “They were after me. They nearly got a hold of me before I reached the window.”
Garret pressed his hand against the wall to keep himself up. He took a step forward and nearly collapsed. Rowan knew he wouldn’t admit that he needed help so he grabbed his arm and pulled it around his neck without asking.
“It’s going to be a long way down,” Garret said, eyeing the stairs.
Rowan pushed the door the rest of the way open with his foot and started in. “Then let’s get it over with.”
The descent took much longer than either of them would have imagined. Garret’s wounds forced him to stop at every landing. He ground his teeth with each step and had to sit down before attempting the last few floors. Neither of them spoke and the silence was never broken. They reached the bottom floor and Rowan led them directly out the main entrance of the building. They looked around, bewildered. There was no sign of the mindless mob nor the blood-crazed, infected horde corralling the dead.
“Where would they go?”
Rowan listened to his own question as if it were a riddle.
“They who?” Garret asked.
“Survivors,” Rowan said and then lowered his voice. “Mia.”
“Let me go.” Garret pulled away and managed to stay up on his own. He eased down onto the pavement and then stretched his legs out. He tore a section off the sleeve of his shirt and began to wrap it around his blood-soaked pant leg.
“Survivors.” Garret said the word with the hint of a laugh, but something else in his voice made him sound like he might burst into tears at any moment. “I hope there’s enough survivors to go looking for.”
Rowan hesitantly placed a hand on Garret’s shoulder. “Let’s start with one.”
Garret brushed his hand away. “I only need a moment and I’ll be ready to move.”
Rowan was instantly reminded of the distance between them and how little they got along. He took a few steps away and waited. Garret got back to his feet on his own and then urged Rowan to continue with a head nod. The morning light slowly settled in between the buildings as
they made their way through the city. It took a while for Rowan to realize he’d subconsciously followed the route the hunting parties took after the council’s decision to verify his accounts of Darian’s death. The direction struck him when they came to a stop at the corner where he first discovered Mia and Jonah were following him. Garret studied the sky beyond the buildings ahead of them.
“We’ll be at the boundary soon.”
Garret hadn’t posed it as a question, but Rowan figured that’s what it was. He’d picked up on the faint sound of dead-speak and used that as his guide for their direction. There was little else to steer them.
“We should rest up for a while,” Rowan said. “There’s no telling what we’ll find.” He had to believe Mia and Jonah were out there somewhere. He told himself that the infected ran off because they were chasing something, and that something was most likely the surviving tribal members.
“Let’s see if we can get up onto a roof.”
Garret’s idea was a good one. If they could reach the building where he, Rowan, and Barrick first saw the invading horde of infected, they’d be able to see the outlands, and with luck, survivors. They walked another few blocks before settling on a building. The edge of the city was in sight, and there was a good chance the view would give them a hint of where they needed to go next.
Garret’s strength was holding. His wounds didn’t appear to be as bad as Rowan initially thought, but it was obvious they weren’t going to get any better without rest. Rowan’s strength wasn’t much better. He didn’t know how much longer they could keep moving.
They settled on a three-story structure set on a corner lot of the block. The stairs ran all the way to the top floor, but the climb was slow going for the fading climbers. They were forced to kick open the rooftop door, smashing the lock in the process. Rowan stepped out with his knife in hand, unsure if he had the strength to fight if he needed to. Garret was reduced to leaning against the doorframe.
The Decaying World Saga Box Set [Prequel #1-#2 & Books #1-#2] Page 53