“I’m guessing that’s where we’ll be sleeping tonight?” Angie asked.
“Yep.”
Cam opened the back of the Humvee and grabbed two cans of linked ammo and carried them to the side of the Humvee, sliding them close to the turret. He went back twice more, getting six cans in all. Six hundred rounds. It wouldn’t last long, but he wanted to save the linked ammo. They could take out the rest with the rifles from the top floor.
He climbed up into the turret and got the ammo can situated on the tray. He fed it in and double charged the weapon. He knocked on the roof.
Jim pulled the Humvee around to the front, and as they approached, Cam started firing. He used short bursts to conserve ammo and keep the barrel from overheating.
The dead fell in waves under his fire. Groups here and there disappeared, reddish-black droplets spraying the faces and torsos of their undead companions.
Cam noticed that quite a few of the dead were in uniform. That answered the question of where the guys went.
He didn’t dwell on the individual faces of the dead, not that he would recognize anyone anyway. These were too far gone to be identified by anyone.
In one of the lulls in shooting, he heard the report of Nick and Angie’s M4s from an upper window.
Good, that would help.
They continued firing into the dwindling crowd of Zs. Darkness was approaching, and Cam didn’t really want to be out here after dark. He used up the last can of ammo he’d placed at his feet, then dropped down into the Humvee and told Jim to take them around back.
“We get them all?” he asked.
“We’ll have to see when we get upstairs, I couldn’t see past the tents out there,” Cam said.
“Yeah, what was with the tents?” Jim wanted to know.
“I guess they had some kind of evac camp set up, might be where all those people came from.”
Cam estimated that they had taken down a thousand dead that day. A thousand and one if he counted his buddy upstairs. It was a lot to take in.
Those thousand had once been someone’s family members, spouses, children.
He really needed to stop thinking about that.
Jim pulled the Humvee indoors with the others. They exited the vehicles, carrying their rifles and their bladed weapons. Jim closed the bay door, and they made their way upstairs. On the third floor, they methodically went to each closed room checking for dead.
Behind the third closed door, they found one.
“Oh shit,” Jim said.
Inside the small office, a corpse rested behind its desk. This one was really dead. The woman, judging by her stature, had shot herself in the head. Jim, white faced, turned his back to the sight. He rested a palm against the wall and leaned his head against it.
“Sorry,” he told Cam.
Cam knew it was a terrible sight, but he wasn’t really affected by it anymore.
“It just reminded me of Peggy,” Jim explained.
“I’m sorry,” Cam said, clasping Jim on the shoulder.
Jim left the room. Cam carefully looked around but didn’t see anything worth scavenging. Out in the hallway he stopped Jim from entering the other rooms.
“I’ve got this. I want you to go in there with them and help finish off those down in the yard.”
Jim nodded and jogged off toward the others. Cam heard them firing sporadically. This was good training for them. Targets that move provided them with better practice than the ones they had on the island. He listened a moment.
When he heard Jim’s rifle firing along with the others, he continued to clear the rooms alone.
Jessica
Jessica was putting together a quick supper when Jack and the others came in.
She laid out the fried chicken, biscuits, corn, and mashed potatoes and let people serve themselves. Jack took Cam’s seat at the head of the table, and Jean took the foot. The others filled in the other places sporadically. Jonah, in what had become his new normal, sat as far away as he could.
He hadn’t said anything to Jessica or Jack all day.
“Bradley, I want you to act as my second-in-command until the others get back,” Jack said suddenly.
The others were startled into silence.
Bradley was an unexpected choice. Jack hadn’t even mentioned it to her.
“Me?” he asked, looking at the others.
“Yes. I think you have potential. You saved your friends’ lives back at the store. That took bravery and quick thinking on your part. You derailed a potentially bad situation by thinking creatively. I think you would make a fine leader someday.”
Jessica could see Bradley visibly sit up straighter in his chair. It was remarkable.
Jessica took a bite of her food and looked over at Jean and Monica. They didn’t like each other, but they had both obviously hoped for the leadership position.
Jessica was glad it was Bradley though.
Monica was too…unstable. Jean was too unpredictable. Jonah was too young. And she…well, she didn’t want the responsibility. She didn’t know the first thing about leading others.
“Your first task is to develop a new watch schedule for us to use until the others get back. Be sure it covers the entire night and rotates shifts as necessary. Second, I want you to revise the training schedule to reflect our current number of people. Cut back the number of supplies and the number of hours. Keep the PT schedule the way it is.”
Jessica groaned at that. She hated PT.
Cam showed them basic exercises that he wanted them to master, including running. So far, she was the slowest runner, couldn’t even do one pushup, and forget about climbing the rope.
The others made it seem so easy.
Heck, even Jean ran faster than her, and she was old!
“I don’t suppose you’d give us a little break from all that, would you?” she asked, batting her eyelashes over at Jack.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
“Nope.”
Jess made a face and glanced at Jonah. He was glaring at her again, and at this point she was used to it. She looked away.
“I’m going up to take a bath,” Monica said, leaving the table abruptly.
She was obviously pissed.
Jack sighed and looked at Brad. “Get the watch schedule done after supper so we know the order… and give Monica the two o’clock timeslot.”
He got up and went to the library. He was going to do something leaderly she supposed. She got up and began taking the dishes into the kitchen. On the way back in she ran into Jean, who carried a stack.
“I’m glad I ran into you dear, there was something I wanted to talk about,” she said, as if their meeting had been a coincidence.
Jess suppressed a laugh and nodded.
After the dishes had been stacked in the hot, soapy water she pulled on her apron and Jean did the same. They washed in silence for a few moments. Jean sometimes took a while to say what was on her mind. She finally spoke up after drying a plate.
“I just wanted to check and make sure you’re practicing safe sex,” Jean said, looking at Jessica solemnly.
Jessica’s face burned with embarrassment.
“Jean!” she said, lowering her voice. “That is none of your business!”
“Well, now, that’s not so true. What if you get pregnant? A baby would be everyone’s business, I should think.”
She washed a plate and dried it. “And then you’ve got your venereal diseases. Why, there are so many of those floating around these days. The world is just riddled with it!” she exclaimed loudly and shuddered for effect.
Jessica pinched her lips together to keep herself silent. She vacillated between busting out into laughter or crying in mortification.
Jean was just trying to be helpful, she had to keep reminding herself.
“Back in the old days folks had all kinds of crazy methods to prevent these things. There was one, in which the man took his penis…”
“Oh God!” Jessica cr
ied, laughing hysterically, tears leaking from her eyes.
“Jean, I don’t need a talk, okay?!” she said, trying to catch her breath.
If she heard Jean say penis one more time.
“What’s going on in here?” Jack said, coming through the door.
Jessica covered her eyes and turned her back to him.
She had no idea what Jean would say to him…
“I was just telling Jessica here about the old days. Why, back in my day we used to…”
“She was telling me about her life back when she was a girl!” Jessica said. “Back before they had indoor plumbing and electricity.”
Jean glared at her for that.
“I’ll have you know, my folks were the very first on our road to get electricity in all four rooms of the house! We did have an outhouse though, very handy things too. Though I don’t miss going out in a blizzard to do my business, no ma’am.”
Jean had turned back around to finish the dishes.
Jessica was thankful to have averted the crisis. Though there was no telling what she would come out with next. The best thing would be to get Jack out of here quickly.
Jack looked from Jessica to Jean, and back. He shook his head and frowned.
“When are you coming upstairs?” he asked.
“I’m almost finished here. When is my watch?” she asked him.
“You can have first watch,” he offered.
He was so sweet to her!
“Okay, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” she said.
She needed to change into her gear and get her weapon.
Cam had assigned them some night vision goggles to use when they were out doing their patrols. She didn’t like them though. She was constantly running into things and tripping over the ground.
It was weird how you couldn’t tell just how far away something was, or how steep.
Jack left, and she hung her apron up and thanked Jean for helping.
She went upstairs and walked into her room. Arms reached out from behind the door to grab her. She spun around and lifted her legs, placing them around Jack’s waist. She could feel that he wanted her.
“Do we have enough time?” she asked him, breathless.
“We sure do,” he replied huskily.
◆◆◆
A couple of hours later, Jessica was walking near the far side of the island.
Following the track, it was about two miles away from the main lodge. Through the woods was rougher terrain, but shorter distance. They tried to do at least one complete round of the island on each guard shift. She didn’t really like being out in the dark alone, but she did it anyway.
What would she tell them? That she was a big old scaredy cat?
It had started raining before she had come outside, so she brought a raincoat out with her. She was glad for it now.
The rain became heavier, and the wind picked up. There was a storm coming. She looked at her watch. She still had an hour to go. Maybe it would pass by quickly.
Cam was very serious about these patrols, and she didn’t want to slack off. They were counting her to keep them all safe, and she wouldn’t let them down.
She walked around, trying to listen for anything odd or spot anything out of place. It was almost impossible though.
Lightning flashed, followed several seconds later by a clap of thunder. She paced nervously. There wasn’t even anywhere to take shelter.
On the shore nearby, the normally calm water began to churn and crash against the bank.
Lightning struck nearby, so close she could see the blinding flash destroy the top of a tree on the opposite shore. Thunder boomed overhead, shaking her to her very core.
It was time to get back. This was a very dangerous place to be.
She started jogging. She was weighed down by her gear and rifle but moved more quickly than she probably ever had thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her.
The rain stung her face and blurred her vision. She could smell the ozone congealing thickly in the air. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed once again, closer this time.
She pushed harder.
When she was a mile away from the lodge, she heard a terrible whooshing. The sound of wind rushing furiously around and around.
“Oh God!” Her voice was carried away by the wind.
In a flash of lightning, she saw the tell-tale black funnel across the lake.
It looked to still be on land, but she knew it could jump any minute. She sprinted, ignoring the fire in her legs and her heart that beat too fast.
The roaring of the tornado grew ominously close.
As she came into the clearing behind the cabin, Jack sprinted out the back door.
“Jess!” he yelled, running for her.
He reached her and pulled her along faster. Her legs were wooden, and she was hyperventilating from the intense effort, yet she couldn’t stop. He pushed her ahead of him in the door.
“Get downstairs!” he shouted at her as he took off for the stairs.
Screw that, she thought and followed him.
She heard crashing outside, to the front of the lodge. As she passed the window, glass shattered and flew past her face. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her face away, but she was too slow. She felt stinging pain covering her face and drops of wetness trickling down. Blood dripped into her eyes, and she wiped it away, running up the stairs.
She saw Jack pushing Jonah ahead of him toward the lobby. He saw her on the stairs and looked horrified.
“Jess, go!” he shouted motioning downstairs.
She grabbed Jonah and pulled him along, protecting his face from the dirt and debris coming in through the broken windows. She heard more clattering and creaking from above and looked up.
The roof!
She took Jonah into the basement and told him to stay before she ran back up. She needed to make sure everyone made it downstairs. As she turned to go back into the lobby, she saw Monica and Bradley rushing down toward her.
“Jack’s getting Jean!” Monica yelled.
They kept going, but she continued up the stairs. The twister was almost on top of the lodge now and she could hear the top of the roof being pummeled and torn apart by the wind.
“Jack!” she called out.
She rushed toward Jean’s room, and they came barreling out. Jean was dressed in a long nightgown and robe. Jack shouted at Jessica to get back downstairs, then he picked up Jean and ran.
They made it to the kitchen before the roof collapsed.
Jessica lunged into the basement stairway and felt a heavy weight slam her to the stairs. She plunged down the hard, wooden steps.
She felt someone else smack down on top of her legs.
Lumber and building materials crashed down on top of the destroyed ceiling, blocking their exit from the basement. High pitched whooshing filled their ears, and the air pressure caused them to pop.
One of her arms and both legs were trapped under a heavy weight, but she blocked her ears and eyes as best she could.
The noise was too loud to hear anything, and the darkness was absolute. She lay there in terror, drops of blood seeping from her wounds. Finally, she felt a shifting of the weight on her legs, lessening the burden.
She was able to reach down amidst the fury of the blowing dust and dirt and find the headlamp in her pocket.
She pushed the button and saw the collapsed stairwell in the glow of the light. Jean lay beside her, unmoving. Jack scooted over and strained to lift a beam that had kept her pinned to the floor. When he had shifted it enough, she scooted out, feeling the bruises already forming.
He looked worn out, and he had a gash on the side of his head that was bleeding freely.
“Come on!” he yelled over the rushing wind.
He pointed to the doorway to the basement, partially hidden under debris. She crouched down and crawled under. The knob turned and the door grated against the frame as it opened. She fell into the basement.
She felt hands
dragging her deeper into the room.
“Where’s Jack?!” the person yelled.
It was Bradley.
“He’s getting Jean! Help him!” she told him.
She saw his lantern lighting the small, crushed stairwell as he crawled through the wreckage to reach Jack. He began backing into the basement again, holding Jean’s upper body firmly in his arms.
Jack finally crawled through and collapsed on the floor.
She scooted over to him and put pressure on the side of his head.
“Dad!” Jonah cried out, coming toward them.
“Help me get him to the wall,” she said.
As the storm still raged overhead, they got Jack to the wall, where Monica sat. They all clustered together, united against the storm.
Jack’s head lay in Jessica’s lap, where she firmly held her hand over the wound.
Bradley got up and disappeared, coming back a few moments later with a bandage. He wrapped it around Jack’s head, and they sat down to wait.
Chapter Fifteen
Damage
Jim
Darkness had fallen, and thanks to the night vision that they had acquired, Jim could see what lurked in the dark.
He saw more dead filling the space they had cleared yesterday. He saw their eyes, strangely light, as they shifted along the fence. They would have to take this newest group out before they could leave in the morning.
He was afraid that they’d be stuck in an endless loop of killing and waiting, and killing and waiting, until they ran out of ammo.
He heard thunder rumble in the distance, and watched the clouds move in to obscure the moon and stars. He removed his NODs and rubbed his eyes. The things gave him a headache. Maybe it was the stress?
Angie was curled up on the small sofa, sleeping restlessly. He walked over and looked down. She still had the faintest bruising on her face and body. He knew her ribs still bothered her by the way she held them sometimes.
She had lost fat from the exercise plan that Cam had started them on. It was weight she could not afford to lose. They needed to make sure she ate more.
Refuge From The Dead | Book 2 | Dead Summer Page 18