Deliverance of the Damned

by Jean Marie Bauhaus

  Another one stepped into her path. She grabbed it by the shoulder and stabbed it in the brain. It fell. She raised her knife, ready for the next, but none took its place. She looked around. The shamblers had thinned out. Their people were so spread out among them that the teams they’d started out in were no longer even a vague concept.

  She spotted a shambler writhing on the ground a few feet away that had apparently tripped over one of its fallen comrades. She went over to dispatch it, and then noticed another one, several yards away, zigzagging its way toward her. She got up to take care of that one and then scanned the field for another.

  She made her way across the field, taking out a shambler here, another there, wondering idly as she went how long it would take them to clean up all the bodies, and what they would do with them. Bonfires? Mass graves? Leave them until they’re nothing but bones? None of those options sounded pleasant. Her vote was for whatever option would be the quickest way to get rid of the death stench than hung in the air.

  Stopping near the edge of the woods, she looked back toward the prison. She’d wandered a long way from the others, but everyone had spread out, and by this point her people outnumbered the few remaining shamblers. From this distance she couldn’t even make out which of the black-clad hybrids was Alek.

  She started to head back, looking forward to a long, hot shower to wash away the blood and guts and rid her skin and hair of the stench she feared would live on in her nostrils for days. But the snap of a twig in the woods made her turn. She held still, listening, watching. It was probably just an animal, if there were any left in these woods. But then she saw movement deep in among the trees, caught an unmistakable glimpse of dingy blue flannel.

  She should go get help. She shouldn’t tackle it alone. What if there were more? What if she wandered into a swarm?

  But if it was only one lone shambler, it would take her less time and energy to take care of it alone than to hike all the way back for help.

  She crept up to the edge of the woods, studying them. The ground was thick with dry leaves. If there were more, she’d surely hear them rustling around in there. As it was, the one she was after would be certain to hear her coming, but that couldn’t be helped.

  Knife ready, Hannah stole into the woods as quietly as she could, which wasn’t very. She kept her head on a swivel, looking all around for another glimpse of that dingy blue flannel. She’d gone several yards before she stopped to listen for sounds of movement.

  “Hey, girl,” said a familiar voice. Hannah swung around and was met with something hard slamming into the side of her head. She caught a brief, clear glimpse of her Uncle Eddie’s face before it blurred and everything went dark.

  THE SHAMBLER DROPPED in a lifeless heap. Alek looked for another, but found none. He took off his helmet to better survey the field, and discovered his compatriots in a similar state, looking around for what to do next.

  They’d done it, down to the last zed. He smiled at their success. Tucking his helmet under his arm, he started back toward the prison, calling everyone to follow.

  “Excellent work, everyone,” he called as they all gathered around. “Our next order of business will be to dispose of all these corpses, but for now I think you’ve all earned a well-deserved rest.”

  In the back someone let out a cheer, and it quickly caught on, echoing through the small crowd as they shook hands and exchanged hugs and pats on the back. Alek looked around for Hannah, itching to greet her with a congratulatory kiss. As he scanned each face in the crowd, counting as he went, he frowned.

  One of them was missing.

  And he couldn’t find his wife.

  He swallowed the lump trying to form in his throat and called out, “Has anyone seen Hannah?”

  The celebrating died down as everyone looked around. Alek spotted her teammates, looking as confused and concerned as he felt. “Rabbi, Tim, you were on her team. Did you see where she went?”

  Tim shook his head. The rabbi raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Once we got into the fray, we all lost track of each other.”

  “Yeah, man,” said Tim, “and with these uniforms and helmets everybody looks alike.”

  Alek nodded. “Okay,” he said, fighting to keep his voice calm as he imagined her lying out in the field injured, or worse. “That break will have to wait. Fan out. Check every body you come across. Check under them, too. She might be trapped.”

  As the others turned to head back into the field, he stood there a moment, trying to decide which direction to go. Normally, he’d be able to track her by smell, but the rotting stench of a thousand corpses made that impossible.

  “Hannah!” he called, and then stood still, listening. He still had his hearing. Even if all she could do was whimper, he should hear her.

  But there was nothing.

  Alek rubbed his face, trying to rub the worry off of it, and picked a direction, straight out from the prison gate, calling her name as he went.

  THIRTY- TWO

  IT WAS TOO EASY.

  Dressed head to toe in black, no one noticed her striding across the field, too focused on the destruction of those miserable creatures. Even climbing and picking her way over a small mountain of corpses had drawn no unwanted attention. She waited inside the gate, watching, waiting for her signal.

  And then she heard the fear, the hint of panic in her former beloved’s voice, and smiled. Eddie had done well. No one would return to the prison as long as Alek’s pet was missing.

  Esme walked right in. She strolled down familiar hallways and followed her nose to the common area. The sheep gathered there in a neat little flock, waiting for the return of their shepherd, with no one to protect them from the wolves. None of them so much as glanced in her direction as she strode purposely past them. She could kill every one of them with her own hands, but she had a mission to accomplish. She kept going.

  She almost slowed as she recognized the white-haired woman and the brat, but kept moving, suppressing the overwhelming urge to walk over and snap both their necks.

  She made her way up to the catwalk, back across the cafeteria and up the stairs that led to the control room. There she found a bank of screens, two of which showed the sheep milling about below. Most of the others displayed empty cells and corridors. But they weren’t all empty. Esme leaned in close to the one displaying occupied cells in the maximum security wing, studying them until she recognized the occupants. She smiled.

  Then she found the radio, turned it on and tuned to the right channel.

  “Oklahoma calling Council HQ.”

  She waited. There was a crackle of static. And then a voice. “Go ahead.”

  “I have a report for Balthazar, and a request for instructions.”

  Another pause. The voice filled with suspicion. “This isn’t Julia.”

  “No. This is Esme, and Balthazar will most certainly want to hear what I have to tell him.”

  A slight pause, shorter this time. “One moment.”

  Esme smiled. Mission accomplished.

  THIRTY- THREE

  HANNAH’S FACE HURT, and her head hung like a dead weight, too heavy to lift. Beyond that she was only vaguely aware of her own body, but that awareness grew as she fought her way back to consciousness. Something hard pressed against her back. Her arms stretched painfully behind her, with her legs straight out in front. She tried to readjust, but couldn’t move. Her wrists were bound, and so were her ankles.

  That realization jolted her thoroughly awake. She tried to look around, but had to shut her eyes against a wave of dizziness and nausea—symptoms of a concussion. It wasn’t her first.

  She opened her eyes, moving her head slowly this time as she took in her surroundings. She was in the woods, seated on the mossy, rocky ground, tied to a tree. And she was alone.

  No, she wasn’t. Leaves crunched behind her, signaling someone’s approach. Or some thing’s. A shambler? Hannah wrestled against her bonds, but that only made them grow tighter. Then
she went still. If it was a shambler, maybe it wouldn’t notice her and would pass her by.

  But it wasn’t a shambler—not unless the dead had learned how to whistle. Suddenly the moment before she’d lost consciousness came back to her, a vision of the face she’d glimpsed.

  A face she’d hoped never to see again.

  “Mornin’, sunshine.” Eddie came around to crouch before her, well out of kicking distance. “Sorry for that shiner you’re gonna have, but I didn’t figure you were likely to listen to reason.”

  Hannah stared at him, unbelieving on multiple levels. “You want to talk to me about reason, after everything you did?”

  He shrugged, and it made her want to punch him in the face. “All I did was kill some vampires. Something you’d have been helping me with if your head was screwed on straight.” He stood up and came toward her, avoiding her feet. Once he reached her, he bent down and gripped her face, forcing her to look at him. He looked into her eyes a moment, then released her and stood up, shaking his head. “What the hell did he do to you?”

  “He saved my life.”

  “He stole your humanity, girl!” He stood back, staring down at her with a look of disgust, mingled with pity. Hannah met his gaze and held it. Again, Eddie shook his head. “Serves me right for not killing him when I had the chance. I had to go and get creative. I shoulda known that would backfire.”

  Hannah didn’t argue. She knew Eddie’s prejudices ran too deep for it to do any good. She watched him, studying him. He looked terrible. He’d shaved off his beard and cut his hair since she’d last seen him, and his face looked gaunt, his complexion pale and anemic. Dark circles ringed his eyes. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and telltale pinpricks covered his neck.

  “You’re one to talk,” she said. “Who have you been feeding?”

  Eddie flinched as though she’d struck him. She’d touched a nerve. His mouth twisted into a grimace even as he forced himself to relax. “Never you mind.”

  But suddenly it came to her. They only knew of one vampire unaccounted for. A vampire who had a way of making men do utterly stupid things. The queasiness that overtook her had nothing to do with her concussion.

  “Eddie, what are you up to?”

  “Up to? You mean besides surviving? I just want to talk. I saw you out there and wanted to give you one more chance to stick with your family. But I can see it’s already too late for that.” Anger contorted his face. “What about your brother? Did you turn him, too?”

  She didn’t dignify that with an answer. She had more important concerns.

  “Please, Eddie. Let me go.”

  “What, so you can kill me?” He scoffed.

  “I won’t kill you if you untie me. But if you don’t, and I get loose on my own...”

  They stared at each other as her not-so-veiled threat sank in. Then Eddie grinned, clearly not taking her seriously. “So tell me, do you still eat real food?”

  Hannah sighed. “Yes.”

  He nodded. “Well, then. I’ve got some breakfast cooking up over here. You sit tight a bit and I’ll bring you some.”

  He disappeared from her line of sight, and after a moment, the rustling leaves faded to nothing.

  Hannah leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Then she tried to remember everything her daddy ever taught her about getting out of restraints.

  THE SEARCH WAS PAINSTAKING and slow. The longer they went without finding Hannah, the more Alek struggled to fend off a sense of dread. He made his way across the field, stopping to overturn each fallen corpse as he went.

  Reaching the edge of the woods, he hesitated. Would she go in there alone? He grew grim as he considered. As smart as she was, sometimes her courage and determination overrode her common sense. He didn’t doubt she’d plunge ahead if she believed she had good reason.

  Still, he looked back toward the prison with hope. Perhaps this was all a misunderstanding. Maybe she had seen that they were finished and gone back inside to check on Noah, or to inform the others. He unclipped the walkie from his belt and raised it to his lips. “Konstantin to base.”

  A moment later, Ned responded. “Go ahead.”

  “Has Hannah come back there?”

  A long pause while Ned undoubtedly asked around. Then a brief crackle of static before he said, “Someone came back inside a while ago, but nobody saw a face. Whoever it was, they didn’t stick around long. Maybe they forgot something.”

  Frowning, Alek looked back over the field, doing a mental count of each person as they combed the field for Hannah. Nobody else appeared to be unaccounted for. He lifted the radio and pushed the button. “Do me a favor, Ned. Check around for her and have her call me if you see her.”

  “Will do. Over and out.”

  Alek considered going back to look for her there himself. Something about all of this felt off somehow. If it wasn’t Hannah they’d seen coming back inside, who else could it have been?

  But like Ned said, someone might have forgotten something and gone back in for a few moments before rejoining them out on the field. And if Hannah was still out here, injured—or worse—he’d never forgive himself if he stopped searching before they found her. If she was inside, then she was safe. Either way, he could afford to keep looking.

  He headed into the woods. He didn’t get far before something grabbed his attention. A smell, almost hidden beneath the lingering scent of rotting flesh, but distinct enough to stand out. He pressed further into the woods, following the scent until he could identify it: meat. Not rotting, but cooked, as if someone had fired up the grill in the middle of the forest.

  Focusing on the smell, Alek followed his nose further in among the trees. He slowed to a stop as a glimpse of bright yellow appeared through the brush up ahead. He kept going, using his knife where necessary to cut through the underbrush until he reached a clearing. In the middle sat a modified school bus.

  Alek’s stomach churned with recognition. The last time he’d seen the bust, it had been full of sick and undernourished women and children who had come to him for vitamins and vaccinations.

  And on the front, that sick son of a bitch Eddie had mounted the heads of his friends.

  Alek shoved his way through the folding door and climbed the steps. There was no sign of Eddie or anyone else, but there were plenty of signs that someone was living in it—including a recently extinguished camping stove, atop which a frying pan still sizzled with animal grease.

  He found a palate of blankets at the back of the bus, pulled one up and sniffed it. A wave of shock went through him as he recognized the scent. Not Eddie. Not just Eddie.

  Esme.

  Someone had gone back to the prison, and Hannah was missing. Alek burned with anger and worry. He threw down the blanket and grabbed the walkie. “Konstantin to Ned. Come in.” He waited. No answer. “Konstantin to base. Please respond.”

  Still no response.

  He pressed the button again. “Konstantin to Burell.”

  “Go for Burell.”

  “Something’s wrong. Get everyone back to the prison. Now.”

  “Roger that.” A moment later the captain’s voice rang out again, calling the other walkies, ordering everyone back.

  Alek switched off the radio. He didn’t want it announcing his presence. He returned it to his belt and then drew his handgun. Then he kicked open the bus’s emergency exit and jumped to the ground.

  He stood still a moment, listening. Somewhere, deeper in the woods, he heard whistling. He couldn’t tell exactly where it came from, but it seemed to more or less be the same direction in which the scent trail that had brought him this far led. Alek followed it, dreading what he’d find at the other end.

  UNFORTUNATELY FOR HANNAH, Eddie learned everything he knew about tying knots from her father. But unfortunately for Eddie, a knot was only as good as the rope used to tie it.

  Hannah didn’t know where he had gotten the rope he’d used to tie her up, but if whatever bound her hands was as old an
d frayed as the rope around her ankles, she liked her chances of escape.

  Sure enough, loosened fibers fell and tickled her hands as she worked them back and forth against the bark of the tree. She could only move a few centimeters, making it a painstaking process. But after a few minutes the rope started to give. She stopped a moment to let her tired arms rest, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

  What were Alek and the others doing? Had they noticed her missing? She’d been an idiot to go into the woods alone without telling anyone.

  And what about Esme? She couldn’t say for certain how she knew, but her gut told her it was she who had turned Eddie into a walking juice box. Where was she now, and what was she up to?

  She thought of Noah, and Paula, and the rest of the humans, back in the prison with nobody to protect them. They were sitting ducks.

  Hannah opened her eyes, leaned forward, and pulled as hard as she could. The ropes started to give. She kept pulling, putting all of her inhuman strength into it.

  The rope broke at last and her hands flew free. As tired as her arms felt, she didn’t stop to rest. She heard whistling, faint at first, but growing closer, soon joined by the rustling of leaves.

  He’d taken her knife. She picked at the knot at her ankles, digging her nails in and tugging frantically. The knot loosened just as Eddie appeared from behind the tree. Her hand flew to her holster, but found it empty.

  “Looking for this?” Eddie pointed her own gun at her.

  “Eddie.” She held up her hands and gathered her feet beneath her. “You don’t have to do this. You said you wanted to be reasonable. I’m listening. Let’s talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “What about Noah? What will happen to him if I’m not around? He’s helpless. And he’s fully human. He doesn’t deserve to suffer.”