by Burgy, P. J.
“If you're going to be on the island, Miranda, do one thing, okay? Guard Lena. You got that?” Kara said, pointing at the other woman. “You guard that little girl with your goddamn life.”
Miranda was rubbing her cheek, saying nothing.
Renshen waved them away. “Go on then. Get'r outta the way.”
With Tommy and Miranda out on the water, Tommy using the one big paddle they'd placed on each raft to take them to the island, the others continued to prepare for the evening.
Kara left the guard shack for the fourth time in half an hour, grumbling to herself as she stepped out onto the grass. It was too quiet. The stars were out and the moon was bright, though the red lights were on now and the entire fort was bathed in an eerie glow. There were guards stationed at some of the many UV lamps along the top of the wall, the purple spotlights searching the grounds for movement.
There were no night animals out there in the fields and the crickets were dead silent. She'd expected to hear the Wailers crying as soon as the sun had set, but logic had reminded her that they'd been all tucked away waiting at Pleasant Tree. They'd be on their way now, of course, but there was some time. No, there was something else she was waiting for that she figured would have been there by now. The cool breeze felt good on the skin of her brow, as she was beginning to sweat more than she cared to admit.
Since the sun was down, Kara wasn't taken aback to see Russell's face. He was talking to Renshen near Gencho's smithy shack while her two brothers looked on. Whatever the topic had been, the conversation stopped when Russell nodded toward Kara as she approached and the men all sent their attention her way.
Kara frowned. “What?”
Renshen cleared his throat. “You sure 'bout this, Yusha? Seems like a bad idea.”
“Not a lot of good ideas at our disposal. Seems like the best of the worst to me,” Kara told him and then glanced at Russell. “What? You don't like it either?”
“No,” Russell replied. “I think it's terrible.”
“Could go sideways real fast,” Gencho said, lighting a cigarette.
“I don't know,” Tengen said, smirking. “Could be entertaining at best. Horribly disastrous at worst. What do we have to lose, eh? I can see the beauty in it, Little Sister.”
Russell turned away, wrenching to the side, and gagged on the grass.
Gencho covered his face, reeling back and sidestepping around his shack. “Ah fuck. Sick, man. What the hell?”
“Do you need a towel?” Tengen asked, nose wrinkled.
“No,” Russell said, wiping at his mouth.
“Fuckin' gross,” Gencho grunted.
“Don't mind Gencho,” Tengen said. “He only wants his own barf on the grass around his shack. Like marking his territory.”
“The fuck?” Gencho moved toward Tengen and Kara stopped him with a raised hand.
“Come on, guys. Knock it off. Please.”
“Yeah, save some of that for the fight tonight.” Renshen said.
“Easy for you all to say. I'm a fucking joke, after all, right? He can say whatever the hell he wants to me and you don't bat an eye. You've been more polite to the goddamn Infected chump-no offense, buddy-in the last few hours than you've been to me in years.” Gencho held a gloved hand outward, brows furrowed.
“None taken,” Russell said and strolled over to the water's edge.
“You boys can sort out your feud in the mornin', can't yah?” Renshen asked.
“Depends if we're both alive,” Gencho replied.
Tengen sighed loudly for effect, and closed the distance between the both of them, having to look up at the taller man. “When I say the things I say, it isn't because I hate you. It's because I love you, and I know you're a better man than the one you allow yourself to be. I miss that guy, Gencho Jones. I miss my big brother and I wish he'd come back. So, I'm a little rude to the fellow who replaced him sometimes. I'm sorry about that. I won't do it anymore. Just, bring back my brother, okay?”
“I'll see about that,” Gencho said.
“Sentimental sappy shit. I'm about to barf too. Get it together,” Renshen muttered and stalked off toward the garage. “Yusha, if yer plan works and we all survive tonight, remind me to beat these two knuckleheads into the ground. I'll make 'em regret makin' me listen to all that, bet you the moon.”
Another hour had passed. The air was heavy in the fort, the guards, all suited up in their gear, stood ready with their guns. The sentries on the wall were scanning the ground for anything, any movement, any sign of what was about to come. Inside the walls, Kara held her helmet at her side and then put it on. Through the glass of her visor, her comrades glowed red in the lights as they stood around her in the yard, waiting near the closed front gate. Renshen. Gencho. Tengen. Russell. Hodges. Broderick Tate. Jensen Hooper. Tommy Reed. So many more. So many friends. Family. Loved ones.
Up in the nests, way up high, the first call rang down.
“Someone's out there!” The sentry stated.
“Who?” Renshen called up. “An Infected?”
“I don't know,” The sentry replied.
Renshen signaled to Hooper and the two of them jogged over and then scaled the ladder up the wall. Kara chased after them, climbing up to get a better vantage point beside her father as they looked down at the ground directly outside of the walls, beyond their gate. The UV spotlights reached out about thirty feet from where they hung, and at the edge of the shadows a single figure stood with their hands up, unarmed.
As he came into the light and flinched, Kara recognized him immediately.
Frankie Reed spoke in a loud voice, “We don't need to fight, you know.”
“Oh?” Renshen said. He turned slightly. “Take him down!”
Frankie slipped back into the darkness, narrowly avoiding a bullet that hit the ground right where he'd been standing. The sniper in the bird's nest cursed under their breath. Kara's heart was pounding in her chest.
“You're going to waste all your bullets on us, when you needn't fire a single shot,” Frankie said, his voice coming from somewhere outside the reach of the light.
“Is that right, Frankie?” Renshen asked. “I know what yer doin', and we ain't havin' it. So, come on out into the light, old friend. I'd like t'see yer face. We've missed yah.”
“You missed me, all right, old man.” Frankie chuckled. “There's a lot more of us than there are of you, and your walls aren't stronger than the weapons we've brought. But, it doesn't have to end in bloodshed, Renshen Bui. We really only want one thing.”
“Yeah? And what's that?” Renshen asked.
“The girl,” Frankie answered.
“We ain't givin' yeh shit,” Renshen said.
“We only want our mother back,” Frankie said.
There was movement in the shadows and Kara saw a few figures skirting the edge of the light, their pale bodies as fast as fluid out there. She had her rifle up and took a shot at one of the figures, missing them when they dove back into the night.
“She send you t'talk to us, eh? This Meredith?” Renshen asked.
“She figured you'd have an easier time talking to someone you knew,” Frankie told him. “Honestly, she cared about your feelings in this matter. We wanted to at least attempt diplomacy, Renshen. We aren't monsters.”
“You killed them folks at Pleasant Tree. Makes yah monsters in m'book,” Renshen said.
“Their deaths were tragic, yes,” Frankie said. “Unfortunate casualties. We tried to offer them our gifts, and it didn't take for many. We would make the offer to you all as well, but I think I know what your answer would be. Therefore, all we do request is that you return her to us. Please.”
“Damn polite of yah. Color me impressed. Come on out, Frankie, and I'll come down an' shake yer hand.” Renshen pulled out his rifle and trained it at the road in front of the gate door.
“I tried,” Frankie said. “I guess there's no other way to do this.”
Renshen called back out, “Guess not.”
The dogs began barking on the island. Kara stiffened up, lifting the visor so she could search the night again. The first of the cries came, the somber scream of a Wailer. Then another. And another.
“Kara.” A woman's voice drifted on the breeze.
“Meredith,” Kara whispered.
At that moment, what seemed to be the cry of a thousand Wailers filled the night and Kara dropped back, shaking her head at the wall of sound that threatened to drive her mad.
The UV lights swung to and fro as the strong, lanky bodies of the Infected rushed in. They were throwing themselves at the walls, ignoring the searing pain of the lights. The mindless hordes, hundreds of them all at once, swarmed the front gate and began to attempt scaling the wall in single leaps, clambering over one another as if trying to form a dog pile.
The gunfire erupted from above them, the guards in the high nests shooting downward to keep the things from getting close to the walls. Renshen and Hooper were firing on the countless figures, pale, slobbering, shrieking, that came as a flood from the night.
“They're going around!” A cry came from the nest.
Jensen Hooper reloaded his rifle. “There's plenty of 'em right here too!”
For the next few minutes, there was only the sound of gunfire and shrieking. There were tens of dozens of Wailer corpses on the grass down there, and more kept coming. The guards on the south wall fired at the hordes as they ran the perimeter, the creatures undeterred by the burning UV torches. These ones were bold, all aspects of self-preservation pushed aside completely. Flesh blistering in the light, they threw their bodies against the wall and fell as bullets pierced their skulls. More came to replace the fallen.
Kara reloaded her rifle, taking a second to look behind her. There were very few guards on the ground within the walls. Most of them had climbed the ladders and were currently shooting at the Wailers. Kara turned back to the fight, and something caught her eye. Out there, running alongside the shambling, poorly dressed things, was a muscular, pale body with long, blonde hair. It was Michael. He disappeared just as quickly, and Kara clenched her jaw.
The firing of the rifles was tapering off, fewer Wailers coming now. Kara scowled, eyes moving across the dead things down there. The cries went silent and the night became still and heavy once more. It was now that Kara could hear her heart pounding again, and she swallowed, trying to catch her breath. She'd lost herself in the frenzy of the fight.
“You had your chance,” Meredith's voice was creamy, poisonous. “When we come in, there shall be no survivors. None turned. None gifted. We will eat you. Every , Single , One of you. Slowly. We will not let you die right away. I want you to feel my teeth in your flesh.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Renshen said. “But y'ain't gettin' in. How many of yah do we gotta kill t'prove that t'yah?”
“No wall is impenetrable. No fortress too strong,” Meredith sang. “Your precious Kara proved that. And from the ruins of fallen Salvation, we bring your doom.”
“What the hell does she mean by that?” Renshen turned to Kara.
A cold chill took Kara's spine and she gasped. “No.”
“While you were all shooting at our feral children, we were slipping in against your walls,” Meredith called out. “Slipping in and slipping away. It is too late now. You had your chance.”
Kara backed away from the wall and went to the ladder. She motioned to her father, to Hooper, to the guards on the wall near her. She beckoned them away, toward the ground within the fort. “They got the explosives! They're going to blow the wall apart, they're-”
It happened at the southern wall. The sound was deafening. Metal twisted. Wood burst. Dirt and rock blew upward and outward as the explosives detonated and a huge hole was ripped into the side of Blue Lagoon. The percussive waves moved across the water, sending ripples across the surface. Buildings on the island shook, the people huddling there crying out in fear.
Kara became aware of the screaming at the source of the breach and she was on the grass, face down for a moment. How had she fallen? She pulled herself back up, struggling until Renshen Bui grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet.
“Get to the rafts! Get to the rafts!” A guard ran toward them from the southern wall, rounding the lake and skirting around the dismantled bunkers. He must have been thrown to the ground as well during the explosion and been injured, judging by his awkward gait. Behind him, pale bodies began to pour into Blue Lagoon through the gaping wound in her side.
On the wall near the breach, guards were firing down at the horde.
Renshen and Hooper rushed to the shore and began to open fire on the Wailers behind the frantic guard, but there were too many of them, and they were too fast. The guard was caught, pounced on like a rabbit. It didn't stop Renshen and Hooper from shooting, even when the agonized shrieking started. The Infected were tearing their prey apart, pulling his armor away, digging their teeth into him. The instant he had a clear shot, Renshen shot and killed the hapless sentry, sparing him a worse death.
Kara ran over to the left, seeing Gencho and Broderick Tate climbing down from the wall to the ground. Russell jumped down, landing on the grass.
“Helmet on, Russ,” Gencho said. “We're about to shine some UV at these assholes.”
Russell did as he was told and Kara took out her flashlight.
The things tried to climb up to the guards in their nests, but the snipers were faster than the Wailers. Bodies rained down from the rafters, bouncing off of the hard earth below. The lake served as a way to force the creatures to group together in smaller droves in the land around the water, allowing the guards near the gate to shoot at the horde from a safer vantage point. From up on the wall, the UV torches pushed the Wailers into thinner lines, keeping them from scattering and spreading out over the land surrounding the lake.
It was the sheer number of the things that was becoming a problem as the minutes passed. They had gathered together close against the side of the garage, close enough to the shore to reach the rafts. The UV flashlights wouldn't last all night, though if they used them one at a time, sparingly, it kept the Wailers from getting close too quickly.
The purple light glowed, reflecting gently off of their helmets. Kara reloaded again, looking around for Tengen. He was somewhere out there, an idiot with a pair of swords, hacking away at the Wailers. She finally spotted him, and was relieved to see him firing a gun from the wall far further down. He wasn't alone either. Two other sentries were fighting by his side, taking out any Wailers that tried to go for the ladder near them.
Gencho grunted. “Skill and finesse, my ass.”
“We may wish we had swords soon,” Hooper said, crouching to reload.
“What do you mean?” Gencho asked.
“We're goin' to run out of ammo before we run out of targets,” Hooper answered.
“So they'll let us shoot at these dumb ones all night?” Gencho rolled his shoulders, his expression hidden by his visor. “Sacrifice all them just to get at us?”
“They would usually replace their fallen with whoever turned,” Russell stated. “In this case, I think Meredith doesn't care how many she loses.”
“I can't see in this damn thing,” Hooper muttered, standing up, and then took off his helmet. “If I get any Wailer blood on me, hope to Christ that the vaccine works.”
“I don't plan on lettin' any of 'em get that close, Hoop,” Renshen said.
“When y'run outta bullets, are you gonna go over there and start punchin' them, Ren?” Hooper asked, turning to grin at Renshen Bui.
“Nah, I'll prolly start runnin' em over in the Bella,” Renshen replied.
In the darkness, the screams of the Wailers grew louder though Kara could only see the ones directly in the line of the small, purple flashlight they had placed near their hiding spot. Her eyes were adjusting to the sudden night that enveloped them, the bright stars and moon casting a dim glow on the pale bodies inside the walls of Blue Lagoon.
She
kept firing, trying to take down as many of them as she could, or at least the ones she could see. Russell's vision was better than hers and Kara imagined that he could see all of them. In that moment, despite it all, she felt grateful that she couldn't. She didn't want to know how many of them were coming, running at them and slobbering in anticipation of tearing them apart.
Behind the endless shrieking and the sound of gunfire, Kara became aware of another noise. Russell grabbed her by her shoulder, his head tilted, his body stiff. He heard it too obviously. Though the horde was descending on them, Kara paused. Gencho and Renshen continued to fire, unloading their rifles at the swarm even as the sound of squealing rubber became louder outside of the walls. And then, the blaring horn from a rover vehicle tore through the chorus of Wailer cries.
“They're here,” Kara breathed.
Turret gunfire rippled through the night and the Wailers around the lake reacted to some inaudible cue, spinning on their heels and turning about to face a threat from a different direction. There had be multiple turret guns, twenty or more, firing at the Wailers outside of the walls.
Then, Kara heard it, a long, low horn blowing a single mournful note. That was no rover vehicle. The Infected were pouring back out through the breach in droves, obeying the command. More rover horns were blaring, and Kara could see the faint purple glow emanating off of the UV lights on top of the rovers circling Blue Lagoon.
Hooper paused in the middle of reloading. “Well hot damn, it worked.”
“Them Red Brethren sure took long 'nuff gettin' here,” Renshen said.
“Looks like they were gathering an army,” Gencho said.
“All that for little old me?” Kara couldn't help but smile. “I guess they heard my broadcasts after all.”
Gencho turned to Kara. “After all the things you called 'em, I'm not surprised that they came in force, Little Sister. And after dark too. You're a beast.”
Outside of the walls, the Red Brethren were clashing with the Wailers.
Gencho took a step out, peering at the fort grounds as the Wailers scattered on the land around the lake. Kara followed him, rifle pointed forward. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the low light for only a moment, as the sky became bright with three howling bursts of fire, then the entire inner fort became visible.