As I passed by each room, I was able to see that dawn budding in the east. A dim yellow glow bathed the horizon. I knew that worked in my favor. If I were going to try to thread the needle of the zombie herd outside, I’d need a modicum of light to do it. A flashlight would be a ‘come and get’em’ beacon.
It only took me a few minutes to make it to the doorway, and that’s where I stood, weighing the decision of taking this one in a million chance to get to Kara. I wasn’t fooling myself. This was an act of desperation. Or insanity.
This half-baked plan would most likely get me killed, but Kara was worth whatever it took.
Some bit of reason must have still resided in the recesses of my mind as I placed my hand on the doorknob because that’s where it stayed. Opening the door, meant going downward. Once I passed through to the second floor, I would be in it, as they say. Sneaking through the hundreds of zombies below would be akin to trying to construct a suit of armor out of cardboard to take on the zombies in hopes that it would protect me.
The seconds ticked by and my hand remained on the doorknob. Each second I delayed felt as if I were figuratively and literally shutting the door on any chance of saving Kara. I felt as if a clock were ticking away in the back of my head, counting down to the final buzzer. The pressure of it threatened to boil over inside me, but somewhere in the back of my grief-addled mind, some kind of logic and reason must have been at work. What Alex and Richard told me bounced around inside my brain along with the desperate need to do something. Anything at all, even if it was suicidal.
Going out there on my own was truly a death wish. Maybe I didn’t want to live in a world where Kara was no longer counted among the living?
I tightened my grip on the doorknob, working up the resolve to turn it and open the door. But I didn’t do it.
Ultimately, what kept me from opening the door and going down was Naveen. If I went down those stairs, I’d be leaving her alone among a group of strangers. Sure, Brother Ed was there, but in his current state, he was about as warm and fuzzy as a cactus. (Not that he ever overflowed with joy and life.)
I knew I could trust Alex and Richard. Lori would probably look out for Naveen, too, but I’m not sure Doctor M wouldn’t dissect Naveen to see how she ticked after successfully taking the vaccine.
I felt my grip on the doorknob loosen, and my hand fell to my side.
It was like giving up on everything I ever cared about, and it broke my heart again.
“That’s more like it,” a voice spoke off to my right, and I jumped nearly a foot in the air.
When I looked that way, I saw Alex leaning in the doorway to the room to my right, her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face.
“What the hell are you doing lurking there?” I asked in that breathy way that people do after they’ve had the shit scared out of them.
“You think I didn’t know you’d try some stupid shit like this?” She asked.
My head fell, and I glanced at the doorknob again. It was just an inanimate object, but it seemed to taunt me with its possibility of hope -- a chance so remote, I’d be better off attempting to walk to the moon.
“When I lost Rebecca, I wanted to die,” she said. “I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, taking out as many of those undead fuckers as I could.”
I didn’t meet her gaze but asked, “What stopped you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was my selfish need to survive. Maybe because, being a cop, I had to put others above myself. But I pulled myself back from the edge. You need to do the same.”
“But she’s out there.”
“And what are you going to do if you find her?”
That was a good question. My plan had only taken me to the finding part.
“I could bring her back, and maybe Doctor M could find some miracle cure or something.”
She sighed and said, “The Doc’s all in on his vaccine. Sure, it brought Kara back from the dead, but does anyone want to be what you’ve said she’s become?” Before I could respond, she added, “Sorry if that sounds harsh.”
“Maybe the team in Cincinnati could do something?”
“And how the hell are you going to get her to Cincinnati? You chartering a plane? There a half-million dead things out there in this city alone. You’d face nearly that number or more down there. Double down on the impossible, and you still get the impossible.”
I slowly turned my head and looked at Alex. “She might be inside there somewhere. We might be able to bring her back.”
“Well, you won’t do it by getting your ass killed on some half-assed suicide mission. You know that, right?”
I just nodded my head.
“You’re not even getting out of the building if we don’t clear out those first two floors,” she said.
I knew what she was saying was true, but it felt a hell of a lot like surrender. Like I was giving up on Kara, and it was crushing my soul.
“Listen,” she said, “I don’t know if anything can be done for her, but you have Naveen to look after. Once we run out of supplies, we are out of options, and so is she.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “I know you’re right, but I can’t give up on Kara.”
“Maybe you don’t have to, but we need to take care of our supply problem first.”
There was no denying her logic. I looked over to her and asked, “When can we get started?”
Chapter 19
The Visitation
She wasn’t sure how she did it, but she made it through the night without losing her mind. Maybe it was a by-product of her new half-life. Somehow, she was able to make her new reality to recede into the background. It wasn’t sleep. It was more like lowering the power in her brain, but like sleep, she could only keep reality at bay for so long.
The hunger simmering in her stomach grew while she was away. She wasn’t sure what to do about. She just knew she’d never do what the undead did. She’d never feed on the living. She’d end this pathetic half-life before she did that. This, she promised herself.
But as the hours ticked by, she wasn’t sure if it were a promise she’d be able to keep. Even being half-dead, some little sense of self-preservation made its presence known. It didn’t want her to die. It wanted what it wanted and she knew what that meant even though the thought of it repulsed her.
The room used to be a conference room for the maintenance staff at the complex. An over-large oval conference table sat on its side, its legs sticking out perpendicular to the floor, looking like a fossilized and extinct creature from the past. A dry-erase board sat on the wall, filled with projects and deadlines and other information that used to matter. Now, it was just as irrelevant as the room.
Her mind ran over the things to do next, but none of them seemed more attractive as doing nothing. She wanted to retreat again into her trance of nothingness, but it eluded her.
That’s when she heard a voice speak behind her. It was smooth and resonant, but with a rough quality making her think of broken glass being melted down.
“I sense you are in great pain,” the voice said.
When she turned, she saw a broad dark figure in shadows in the doorway. He was taller than most men, but what stood out was his red glowing eyes. This was out of the ordinary, but since Kara was in an extraordinary state herself, she accepted it. At least, for the time being.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“I have many names,” he replied but remained cloaked in the shadows.
“Where did you come from?”
“I think it matters more that I am here, than where I’ve come from,” he replied.
“What are you doing here?” She said and started to stand, but then she chose to remain seated, settling back into the seat.
“I’m here for you.”
“What do you want from me?” She stood then and took a step back.
“I’m here to ease your pain,” the man said, but he remained in the shadows of the doorway.
“How will you do
that?” She asked.
“I will make sure your unborn baby lives.”
Her hand went to her abdomen. “How did you know about my baby?”
“I know a great many things,” the dark man said, and there was a playfulness to his tone. “Most of all, I know you wouldn’t be where you are if it wasn’t for Joel Hendricks.”
Shaken, Kara’s mouth opened to say something, but instead, she said kept quiet.
“You wanted to stay back with the old man south of town. Joel talked you out of it, didn’t he? And this was after that other man had his way with you.” He paused, letting that sink in. “You nearly died. And look at you now.” Again he paused letting those thoughts work their way into her mind much like a corkscrew. “Look at what he’s done to you.”
“But he loves me,” she said, her voice barely audible.
“Does he?” The man asked. “Then why are you here and he’s up there in that building?”
Kara didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but finally spoke, “I left him. I had to.”
The man was quiet this time until he broke the quiet. “And why did you do that?” He let the silence work its way on her again. “Because you don’t belong with him anymore.”
“Why are you saying these things?” she asked, her voice strained. “What do you want?”
The man stepped out of the shadows, and she saw that by any definition, he would be called handsome. Almost devastatingly so. His hair was jet black and slicked back. His cheeks were high and set at sharp angles. The glow had diminished from behind his eyes settling down to a dim red light behind them. When he smiled, she could see his perfect teeth, but couldn’t help but notice that his incisors were longer than most people, giving him a predatory look.
“I just want some information,” the man said.
“And what is that?”
“Something very simple. I want to know if Jason Carter is still alive.”
Chapter 20
Battle Plans
Alex was totally and completely right. The only way to get to Kara was to clear out the first two floors. So, I got on board with that. The only thing she didn’t know was that I had an ulterior motive.
An idea was brewing in the back of my mind, spurred on by something Richard said earlier. I figured if I couldn’t go through them or over them, I could try going under them.
Richard had mentioned the tunnels underneath the hospital complex connecting most of the buildings. If we could get the bottom two floors cleared out, then maybe I could get into the tunnels and make my way to Kara - wherever she was. Of course, there was the little fact that he said the tunnels were death traps, filled with zombies, but I’d figure that out when it came to it. Or die trying -- which was the more likely scenario.
This plan was a ‘one step at a time’ sort of thing unfolding when opportunity or inspiration hit me.
The only shortcoming with making a second attempt to clear out the zombies using our old plan was that we were down a ‘man.’ With Kara out of the picture, we needed to draft another member to our clearing party. Doctor M was a no-go. Lori could probably handle herself if it came to it. There was no way I was letting Naveen participate. I had lost enough of my loved ones lately.
That left Brother Ed. (Sigh.)
I gently rapped on his door and waited for ten seconds before knocking again. Alex stood behind me, and a sense of impatience rolled off of her in waves. Richard was behind her, but he seemed a little more chill.
“Bust the door open,” Alex whispered from behind me.
I looked back to her and said, “I’m trying to be a little more subtle.”
She reached around me and pounded hard on the door. “Is that subtle enough?”
I swiveled my head back on my neck, looked toward the ceiling, and said, “Not really.”
“I didn’t knock it open,” she said in an attempt at an apology.
The door cracked open and a tired and drawn looking Brother Ed peered out at us, his eyes slitted and sleepy looking.
“What do you want?” He asked, his voice a monotone.
I said, “We need you, Brother Ed.”
“For what?”
He was definitely keeping his sentences to a minimum.
“We’re running low on supplies. Since we don’t have....have Ka--, a fourth member for our clearing party, we were wondering if you would help.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It really seems like a lost cause.”
I started to say something, but Alex shouldered her way past me and said, “Listen up, Mr. Ed or whatever the hell you want to be called. You may be all doom and gloom, but we need you up and off your ass. Richard says you’re well enough to pitch in. Besides, if this is a lost cause, why aren’t you taking a header out the window and ending all our misery?”
A small fire burned behind Brother Ed’s eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, little Missy. I’m not supposed to be here. God was supposed to call me home, but your nurse there,” he pointed at Richard, “brought me back.”
“Wahhh, wahhh,” Alex said. “We’ve all had hard lives since the shitstorm of the dead washed over the planet. It’s time to nut up or shut up.”
“If that is the case, I plan to shut up,” Brother Ed said as he started to close the door.
Alex shot out her hand and placed it flat against the door, stopping his effort as she matched her fire against his. “Our only other choice is drafting Naveen,” Alex said. “Do you really want to see that little girl down there fighting against a horde of the undead? Or are you going to man-up?”
Brother Ed’s gaze fell to the floor, and he didn’t look up for nearly five seconds. When he did, he said, “I don’t like you very much.”
“I’m not here to win a popularity contest,” she said. “What’ll be? You or Naveen?”
I was pretty sure Alex was bluffing but wasn’t one hundred percent there.
Brother Ed took in a long breath and slowly let it out. “Let me get my things.” He disappeared from the doorway a second later, and I could hear him rustling things around inside his room.
Richard leaned in close to Alex’s and whispered, “You were pretty hard on the guy.”
“You said he’s healthy enough, right?” She asked.
“Yes, basically. He’s a little out of shape, but he can probably handle himself.”
“You better be sure because he’s on your team at the other end of the floor,” Alex said.
So, we’re using the same plan with us as the decoys?” Richard asked.
“Unless you’ve got another one,” Alex said.
“What about this mysterious guy we saw open the door?” Richard asked.
“Watch your six and don’t let the asshole slip in behind you this time,” Alex said.
Brother Ed’s door opened, and he stood in the doorway wearing a heavy leather jacket and heavy gloves. In his hands, he held a fire ax complete with the red handle. Over his shoulder was a sling that held his rifle and on his side was a dual holster with guns on each hip.
“Well, don’t you look like a badass?” Alex said.
Brother Ed sent her his patented sour scowl. “If we’re doing this, let’s stop flapping our gums and do it.”
Fifteen minutes later we were back down on the third floor after using a back stairwell that bisected the floor. I called it our secret passageway and Alex said I sounded like I was a five-year-old.
We ran Brother Ed through the routine. He and Richard were there to make a hell of a racket to draw the zombies to their end of the floor. Alex’s and my role was to carefully lure manageable handfuls of zombies on to the end of the floor where we would dispatch them. (I know I’m made it seem easier than it was. In truth, it was dangerous as hell, and there was a likelihood it would go to hell in a handbasket at any moment.)
Ultimately, we’d take out a mass of them and work our way down to the first floor where the real fun would begin. We’d have to take out whatever zombies were down t
here anyway we could then find a way to secure the building. And oh yeah, not die while doing any of this.
We were about to leave our little huddle when Brother Ed asked, “Who is this stranger you said opened the door before?”
“Hell if I know,” I said. “Richard, you saw the guy.”
“I didn’t get more than a glance at him, and he was in shadows,” Richard said. “Me and Kara--” he cut himself off and winced as he looked at me, “Sorry. I didn’t want to say her name for fear....you know.” He looked away from me.
“It’s okay,” I said, putting on a brave face but it was far from that. It was like someone stabbed me in the heart at the mere mention of her name.
Richard continued, “We were walking toward the other end of the floor when I heard a loud click behind me. When I turned around, I saw a dark figure at the door, opening it. I would have tried better to get a look at him, but, you know, a hundred freaking zombies were coming through the door, and that sort of took my attention.”
“But why didn’t the zombies go for the man?” Brother Ed said.
Richard looked to me and then to Alex, and then he hunched his shoulders.
“Where could he have come from?” Brother Ed asked. “All of you have been in the building since the Outbreak. Did you see anyone like this before?”
It was Alex’s turn to scowl. “I don’t think we’re down here to open up a criminal investigation or a missing person’s report. We’re here to kill some fucking zombies.”
Brother Ed stepped toward her and raised a hand, “But this is important. Richard and I will be down there and, to me, it seems important that we know about this man. He’s either been here all along, or he came in later.”
“There is no way he’s been here the whole time we have been here,” Alex said. “I would know if someone was creeping the building.”
Richard rubbed his chin and said, “If he’s not been here, then could he be one of Kilgore’s men who got separated or left behind?”
“Hell if I know,” I responded. “That still doesn’t answer the question as to why the zombies ignored him.”
Books of the Dead (Book 8): The Living Dead Girl Page 10