“I should have stopped her,” I said, feeling lost again. A man drifting on the sea of melancholy.
“Like what?” Alex said. “She didn’t look like she was listening to you at all.”
“You saw it?” I asked.
“We saw it all from our second-story window,” Richard said. “What did she say to you?”
I closed my eyes and let out a long, slow breath of air. That was the last thing I wanted to go over again.
“I thought I could get through to her,” I said. “For a second, I thought I did.” I paused and rubbed my hand across my face. “At least she didn’t kill me.”
“That’s a pretty low bar,” Alex said.
“Death would be a blessing,” Brother Ed muttered.
“That’s enough of that shit, old man,” Alex scolded him, and he shut up. She turned her attention back to me. “You were lucky to get out of there alive. From what we could see, it looked like she might have been poised to kill you herself.”
“She’s still in there,” I said but wasn’t sure I believed it. “I know she is.”
Those and other lies are things that get you through the day when you’re up to your neck in despair and hopelessness.
“She was leading them,” Alex said. “Maybe she didn’t need to kill you herself. That little army of hers was headed right at you before you ran off.”
“How does that work?” Richard asked.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alex asked, giving Richard the hairy eyeball treatment.
“How does she lead them?” Richard asked.
“Maybe she wasn’t leading them,” I said. “Maybe they were just following her? All I could tell was that they seemed to group around her, but when they saw the people inside, they were off and running.” I paused. “More like shambling, but they came with her to the main hospital. It was like they were moths, and she was the flame.”
“Now, what the hell are you talking about?” Alex asked.
“When I watched her. Her with them. It seems more like they are drawn to her. Like she attracts them.”
“Does any of this shit make any difference?” Alex asked. “She’s out there with them. I know you still love her in some sick sort of way that I can truly understand in my own twisted way. But listen up. She led them along the street, and she broke down the door to let them in to kill those people. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. That’s what we saw.”
“You should have taken her out,” Richard said. “She’s clearly crossed over to the dark side.”
“And you need to shut your damn mouth,” I said, feeling heat rise into my face.
“The zombies can’t make it inside our building on their own,” Richard said. “What the hell keeps her from smashing her way back into our building? She’s already done it once.”
“But she hasn’t done that again,” I said.
“What keeps her from doing it?” Richard countered. “I mean, she just did it with the main hospital. I’m telling you that she’s too dangerous to let her live.”
“You’ve already made your own argument,” I said. “She’s had every chance to do it but hasn’t. I think no matter what she is, there’s still something that is still human inside her. Something that keeps her from attacking us.”
“And how long does that last?” Richard asked, his voice rising throughout the question. “She’s got to be taken out.”
I made a short step toward him, and he must have seen something in my expression, because he took a step away from me. “And you need to shut your mouth.”
“Enough!” Alex said, stepping between Richard and me. “This shit isn’t solving anything. We’re not fighting among ourselves.”
I gave Richard a hot stare wanting to tell him that he’d better not cross that line again.
Richard let out a long breath, and I felt the tension in the room drop a couple of levels. “Well, she didn’t kill them all,” Richard said as he crossed his arms. “There’s someone out there.”
“What?” I asked.
“There’s a survivor,” Richard said. “A young boy and he’s creeping along the side of the building while the zombies chowed down on whoever was inside. That’s what we were doing. Trying to sneak downstairs to get to that kid.”
Something swelled within me. I couldn’t define it, but there was a sea change inside of me.
I said, “I’m saving that boy.”
I’m not sure those words came out with all the conviction of King Arthur and his famous knights, but I was ready to slay the dragons and save the kid. I only hoped this zeal that flowed over me wasn’t just compensation for losing the woman I loved.
Chapter 22
A Hint of an Idea
“Where did you see him?” I asked.
We had made our way back up to the second floor and stood at a bank of windows overlooking the street below. I scanned the street that ran between our side of the street and the main hospital where the zombies attacked and killed these new people.
That same street teemed with zombies left over after the assault on the hospital, but they seemed less organized. Instead of moving with intent like before, they looked a little aimless. With the feeding frenzy over and those people dead, the zombies went back to just being the wandering dead.
Richard pointed down the street and westward. “You see that depression in the wall between the hospital before it gets to the loading dock?”
“Yeah,” I replied, but I was somewhat distracted as I examined the mini-horde in the street, looking for any sign of Kara. The one thing that I had noticed when she was present was that the zombies seemed to clump around her. I saw no tight masses of zombies. Instead, they were spread out in small groups, shuffling along. In the final rays of sunlight coming out of the west, I couldn’t help but see blood glistening on some of the zombies.
“I don’t know why we’re doing this?” Brother Ed asked. “There’s no way that little boy made it. He’s a goner.”
“Stick a sock in it, Ed,” Alex growled out.
It wasn’t like Brother Ed not to bristle at being called Ed, but he retreated into his sullen shell again.
“Keep looking,” I said.
All of us were as quiet as owls as we searched the nooks and crannies of the main hospital. I’m not sure Brother Ed was even looking at all, but to his credit, he hadn’t retreated back up stairs.
The zombies shuffling around the area didn’t make it easy to see anything as they criss crossed our view constantly, still doing what they always did, which was look for food. I truly hoped that this kid Richard had seen didn’t come up on their menu.
“Do you think he went back inside?” Richard asked.
“That’s always possible,” Alex said.
“Are we going in after him?” Richard asked.
“Hell, no,” Alex said. “I want to find that kid, but it would be insane to go inside. We have no idea how many deaders are still in there.”
She had just finished her sentence when I caught something just at the edge of the loading dock. It was at ground level. Just a tiny movement, but it grabbed my attention. It was under the overhang of one of the loading docks. I didn’t say anything at first because it could have been just some shifting shadows, but I locked in on the spot.
After about thirty seconds, I saw it again.
“There,” I said, pointing at the loading dock. “Down at ground level under the overhang of the dock. I think I saw a hand withdraw into the shadows.”
“You sure?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” I said, but, in truth, I wasn’t one hundred percent confident.
“Hey, I see it, too,” Brother Ed said, and I was surprised to hear some excitement in his voice.
“It’s a hand,” Richard said.
“But is it the kid’s?” Alex asked.
Richard’s eyes narrowed, and it was easy to see that he was concentrating his focus on the hand. After about ten seconds, he said, “Yeah, I think it is.”
&
nbsp; “Because if it were a zombie, it certainly wouldn’t be hiding in the shadows,” I said. “That’s not their way.”
“No, it is not,” Alex said. “But what the hell are we going to do with all the deaders roaming around down there?”
That’s when the boy made a move. He slipped out of the shadows and edged toward a short set of stairs that led up onto the dock. His motions were slow and deliberate as he paused when any of the zombies strayed nearby.
He looked to be no more than ten-years-old, based on his size, but I had to give it to him. He was showing the poise and restraint of someone much older. At his age, I would have been pissing my pants and screaming at the same time. I was close to doing that very thing at my current age almost daily.
“He’s up on the dock, but I don’t see anywhere for him to go,” Richard said.
“And anyway for us to get to him,” Alex said, then added, “and if we go in there shooting, we’ll just draw in more from the west.”I looked off in that direction and noticed what she was talking about. There had to be a couple hundred more zombies milling about in the main intersection at the end of the block. The only saving grace was that it was a long block, putting them over a football field away. They churned around there with some spinning off and heading our way, but with an equal number heading further to the west, north, and south. If you looked at it with my morbid sense of humor, you’d think it was like a carousel of the dead, only without the calliope music.
“I don’t see a way to make this happen,” Alex said.
“If we don’t do anything, that little boy isn’t going to make it,” Brother Ed said.
“But we might not make it if we try it,” Richard said.
That was my opening to put my unique perspective to work.
“But I have a plan,” I said.
Brother Ed groaned.
Alex rolled her eyes at me and said, “Lay it out, brother.”
Richard stuck an index finger in the air and said, “Wait. Is this like one of your normal plans that looks crazy on the surface and somehow ends up with you risking your life, but you ultimately pull a rabbit out of your hat and miraculously survive?”
“God, I hope so,” I said.
Chapter 23
On the Way to a Rescue
Well, my plan was pretty much the way Richard laid it out. For most sane people, that meant it was probably headed for disaster. On the upside, it was simple. Don’t ask me if it was survivable because I couldn’t guarantee it.
The basic layout had me doing exactly what Richard said. I would work my way down to the west side of the courtyard. Then I would do whatever I could to get the zombie’s attention and draw them away. Alex, Richard, and Brother Ed would then find a way to get to the kid from the east.
Easy-peasy, the kid is safe.
The one thing I can tell you is that it didn’t work out anywhere close to the way I thought it would. In every plan, there’s always a wildcard.
Even though it was my plan, it was still hard to leave them and head off on my own. I could see a look in Alex’s eye. It was like she knew she would never see me again. She was just too tough to give me a hug when we went our separate ways, though.
That led to me working my way back into the research building.The damage done in the attack by Colonel Kilgore forced me to take the south stairwell all the way to the third floor. Usually, that wouldn’t be all that dramatic, but it meant passing back through Juan Soto’s territory. I can say that wasn’t anything I wanted to do on my own, but it was my idea and my burden to bear.
I couldn’t help but notice that I had slowed my pace as I hit the landing between the second and third floor. Please don’t think ill of me. Despite my stupidity-based bravery at times, at heart, I think I’m a chicken. Still, I kept making my way up the stairs, albeit slowly. What kept prodding me along was that young child hiding out there in grave danger.
Somehow I found myself standing outside the door to the third floor. The domain of our little ghost. Okay, he wasn’t little, and was quite menacing. I know he had a hard-on for Brother Ed, but I wasn’t sure he didn’t have the same dangerous affinity for all of us.
Reaching down deep, I stuck out my trembling hand and grabbed the door handle. For some reason, it felt extra-cold in my hand, but I’m sure it was all in my head. That cold seemed to seep up my arm and chilled my shoulder and chest. That was when I began to consider stepping out and heading up to the fifth floor, but time was against me. And the boy.
That kid wasn’t going to last much longer, so I ripped the door open and started into the long corridor that seemed to be a half-mile long. I was about ten steps in when the most unholy wail rolled my way from the recesses of the hallway, rumbling over me like thunder. If I had felt cold before, I felt absolutely tundra-esque as the wail seemed to vibrate through my body.
“What are you doing here?” It yelled.
Any forward momentum I had was completely gone.
“I told you not to come down here,” the voice yelled again.
Oh, I had no doubt that it was, indeed, Private Juan Soto, and he sounded very pissed.
“The Colonel was right about you and your kind,” Soto shouted, and his voice echoed off the walls like they were coming off 1,000-watt loudspeakers. The overwhelming volume made my ears ache, but I knew that was the least of my worries.
“You should all be wiped off the earth!”
I had no idea what I could do. We had all witnessed what Soto was capable of. He had come close to killing Brother Ed more than once.
So, I reverted to my old ways. I took the same tack of my childhood when bullies menaced me. I put my head down and started forward. My first two steps were tentative, but by my fifth step, I was close to full speed. Like old times, I figured there wasn’t a problem so big you couldn’t run away from it.
“Stop!” Soto screamed so loudly that I thought it vibrated my skull.
I half expected him to yell, “You shall not pass!” next, but I wasn’t listening. Listening meant cutting my speed, and there was no way in hell I was slowing down.
“You can’t escape me,” he yelled.
Chugging along, I was doing everything I could to prove him wrong. Despite me thinking I would never make it to the end of the hall alive, I discovered that the doorway was coming up fast.
Then suddenly and unexpectedly, something began to rush at me from behind at an alarming speed. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle up. Something collided with my back, and I felt my body being lifted off the floor. Some sort of spectral force had taken control of my body, propelling me forward.
While Soto hadn’t been able to stop me, he could certainly hasten my exit. Flying forward, I put my arms up to brace myself for impact. I hit the doors at the end of the hall, doing what felt like a hundred and one miles per hour. The collision wasn’t kind to me, but when all the chips fell, I had traversed the length of the third floor. Albeit, I ended up in a crumpled ball outside the doors.
Although I was pretty beaten up, I was alive and past the dreaded ghost of Juan Soto. But my night was far from over. I still had to get down to the street level to save that boy. And that’s what I aimed to do.
Chapter 24
Rescue Mission
Once I made it down to the main floor, I had a view out across a parking lot with about two dozen deaders roaming around. My objective was a half of a block away, and that was the loading dock. In all honesty, I was being overly optimistic. It was really an entire city block, and it was a long one.
I couldn’t see the boy at all. The distance and the wandering dead prevented me from doing that, but if he had stayed where he was, then I had a place to head. Truthfully, I didn’t expect him to have moved. It would be suicide to run into a street full of zombies, and while this kid had some poise, it had to take extreme effort not to panic.
Of course, I didn’t doubt at his age, I would have made a run for it. Then again, at his age, I would have been zombie food already
because I would have been scared shitless. No, I was not that well held together at ten.
My challenge was to get past the zombies in the parking lot. Then to get to a place where I could make my distraction to draw all the deaders away from the kid. Of course, I had to not get dead doing it and make it back to safety.
This was not one of my greatest plans, but that kid wasn’t going to make it much longer. I just couldn’t see his luck holding, no matter how much he had his shit together.
There was an out-of-control row of evergreen bushes along the wall outside the door. I figure they’d provide me some cover, but that would only get me a tenth of the way toward where I needed to be to draw the zombies away. So, with no other safe avenues, I ducked behind the bushes and made my way along the side of the building, knocking limbs out of the way as I moved. More than once, I got slapped in the face by a limb, but it was better than having my face bitten off by a zombie.
I reached the end of the line when it came to getting cover from the evergreen bushes and stopped to assess my next step. In the back of my head, I sensed a ticking clock getting closer and closer to chiming the end of time for that kid, but I’d do him no good if I got taken down.
When I looked across the street, I discovered I had a much better view onto the loading dock. I even saw a dark form almost hidden back in the shadows that I’m sure was the boy. Unfortunately, I saw about forty to fifty zombies shuffling around in the street. For some reason, I got this feeling they were like bloodhounds sniffing the air for the scent of human prey.
Although I was very acquainted with the undead, I had never really locked down whether zombies could track us down by our scent. It was a theory of some of my past zombie-fighting colleagues, but I had yet to prove it out. The truth be told, I wasn’t ready to start a blue-ribbon fact-finding committee to get to the bottom of that issue at that very moment. And for sure, there weren't any federal grants to apply for to hire a team of egghead scientists to research it.
Books of the Dead | Book 9 | Dead of Winter Page 10