by Suzanne Robb
“What the hell’s wrong with him?” he whispered.
“Don’t know. He’s trying to call the back-up troops and none of them are answering.”
Dale examined the room they were in. Scratching and moans from outside. Great, they were trapped.
“They’re not coming. They were supposed to bring the extra guns.”
“It’s okay, Rogers, we’re going to be fine,” Dale said in a calm voice.
“No we’re not, you idiot, listen.”
Rogers held his communication link open and put it on external mode. The screams of men and women echoed around the room. Growls and moans dominated. A few voices begged for mercy. For a bullet to the head.
The scratching intensified and Dale noticed the antique hinges giving way. Rogers ran to support it with his shoulder and Janelle pushed a wobbly desk that fell apart halfway to the door.
“We need to find another way out of here.”
Janelle pointed the massive weapon at the wall and fired. A doorway created, like in the studio. Janelle went through first then waved Dale to follow her. They were in some sort of outer room and debated which way to go next. Rogers made the decision for them when the sounds of splintering wood reached their ears and the room was overtaken by a mob of zombies.
Dale spared a second to watch the man go down. One of the creatures bit his face and pulled half the skin off as he gnawed side to side with decayed gums.
“Kill me,” Rogers rasped.
Dale grabbed the handle of the first door he could find and forced it open. Inside he and Janelle once again tried to create a barricade and were more successful. An old pole made of steel lay on the ground and a large portion of the roof had caved in leaving a length of metal about nine feet long and a foot wide. Together they were able to maneuver it so they were safe—for now.
Janelle turned to him. “Okay, now that I got you here what the hell do we do?”
“Keep moving. I’m looking for a particular room and need to get there as soon as possible. Blast us doorways and everything will be fine.”
She stood with an expectant look on her face. “Fine, keep your secrets, but hold onto that gun. We’re going to need it.”
Dale smiled as she went to work. The loss of Rogers didn’t bother him too much, the goal was close enough for him to know a lot of players were going to get taken off the board soon.
* * *
Ally had far too many questions and not enough answers. Considering how fast the situation was spinning out of control, she needed to focus on what she came here for.
“James, I take it you’re in charge?”
“Yeah, and mind telling me why you aren’t surprised to see us here?”
“Stories my grandfather told me. I thought he was crazy, guess not. Though I’m curious as to how you’ve managed to stay alive. The horde should have taken you over.”
James laughed. “Unlikely. We had them caged. You tripped a sensor releasing them. If we hadn’t known you were coming they would have picked your bones clean.”
“And just how in the hell did you know we were coming?”
“You underestimate us, everyone does.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s all you’re going to get.”
“Whatever, I need to find something. It’s what Joseph Erdman is after.”
James walked over to the table and sorted through the maps pulling out the one Ally needed with frustrating ease.
“And how do you know Allgood doesn’t want it?”
“He’s not smart enough; all he cares about is power. And don’t bother with Richards either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Richards asked.
Ally made eye contact with him and smiled. “Because if you were after what I was, you’d have killed me already.”
James stepped back. “You can’t be serious. That’s not the answer. Hell, it’s what we’re here to protect.”
Ally swung around and made sure she had the old man’s attention. “I’m dead serious, and it is the answer. You aren’t asking the right question. See, Erdman knows about them. All the other super powers had them as well, but when the firms took over they were dismantled. But I know there was no way this country would leave itself defenseless. My grandfather told me of a few brave men appointed to keep guard generation after generation.”
Ally moved to the screen and hit a few buttons. A new image appeared, the world as it was before everything went to hell. Thousands of red dots lit up the map. Then she overlaid it with a scan of the Earth today. The only places with blinking red dots was America, North Korea, Israel, and Russia. In the US there were seven in total, scattered around the country.
“What is the right question for that answer?” James asked in an aggravated tone.
“The question is, what would insure Joseph Erdman’s ascension to power and take out a few problems at the same time?”
“He’s not that crazy. Plus he had access to them in his own country, take a look. Our intel says—”
“Your information is wrong. The man lost if after his family died. His goal has been the total and complete domination of the world, and the eradication of anyone who ever got in his way. Including his own country when they condoned the death of his family to keep him in line.”
Richards hit the table with his fists. Ally looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Will someone tell me what you’re talking about? Because it sounds a lot like nukes, but that would be crazy. We have enough crazy shit going on, adding them to the mix would be insane.”
Ally sighed. “It isn’t crazy. Back when there was a president and vice person, they each carried something called a Ball. A briefcase containing codes to activate a nuclear response. We know one was destroyed when the vice person went down in the Atlantic. The other has never been recovered, and since the president was never seen leaving the Old House…”
“If he stayed there, why did we come here?” Richards said in a superior tone.
“Because this is the only place that can override anything he does. From here we can destroy nuclear ability.”
James smiled and poured a cup of coffee. Ally kept an eye on him. There was something about him that was driving her nuts, she knew him from somewhere. As he handed her the perfectly prepared tepid drink it all fell into place.
* * *
Joseph watched Trevor lead but keep a wary eye on Hank. They needed to push things along, but the constant interruptions by zombies was getting tiresome.
Burroughs was in the lead at the moment and Hank covered the rear since they only had two sets of glasses. Out of nowhere they heard a blast then screaming. The hallway in front of them swarmed with the undead.
Before they had a chance to retreat, Burroughs was grabbed. A zombie with a slack face on the left side and a useless arm swinging back and forth took the first bite. Maynard fell backward and crab walked his way back to Joseph and Hank.
“There was nothing I could do.”
They watched as some of the group stayed with the body and gorged themselves. The screams irritated Joseph and he motioned to Trevor to take care of it. With a single shot the militiaman killed Burroughs.
Joseph took in the macabre scene. Using Trevor’s glasses he saw it consisted of men, women, and children. He took in their clothes noting they were for the most part from the poor section. At least his dream of erasing the useless members of society was working.
When he led there would be no lower class, he would make sure of it. The zombies themselves were in various states of decay. Some had obvious bite marks, others had large portions of their bodies missing, making one wonder how they still functioned. Joseph, though scared, knew nothing would happen to him. He’d been chosen.
The sound of the gun seemed to urge the group on because they moved faster down the hall widening the gap between them and the zombies. Trevor tried to open several doors, all of them locked. Joseph didn’t panic. His man would not let him dow
n.
A door gave way and Trevor pushed Joseph, Hank, and Maynard into the room. Slamming the door shut they went to work barricading it. That’s when Joseph noticed another door had been blocked within the last few hours. Allgood was near.
Chapter Twenty-two—
Ally held the cup in her hand as if her life depended on it, and in a strange way wondered if she might be right. The man in front of her was supposed to be dead. Searching other faces to see if she could find another one she’d ached for throughout her childhood. She sipped the liquid, smiling at the sweet taste. Sugar was something rationed at the best of times. Richards hadn’t said anything, maybe he didn’t know. Perhaps time had aged him too much to be recognizable. Whatever the reason she kept this one thing for herself. She played along, as usual.
“Sir, Allgood and Erdman are both in the Old House.”
“Hmm, they must have the prototype.”
This got Ally’s attention. “What are you talking about?”
James turned, she felt him peering into her soul trying to ferret out what she knew.
“It’s a weapon we developed. At first it was a large hand cannon to make doorways in case you were trapped somewhere. Considering where we live, it was more necessity than anything else. When the zombies appeared, the ‘altered’ ones, we realized it was the only thing capable of taking them down. Williams and his damn experiments, we lost a lot of good people.”
“Do you have any here?” Ally wondered if getting useful information was always going to be so difficult.
“No, one of our guys panicked and ran off with them. From what we can tell he joined up with Allgood’s team. The cases might be with his caravan at the Old House.”
Ally put her cup down and rubbed her forehead. The stirrings of a headache and the pain in her ribs made themselves known. She had to act, and soon. Joseph and Allgood were going to be in a faceoff and both of them lacked key information. More puzzle pieces needed sorting.
She grabbed the map of the underground escape tunnels and headed for them. Richards behind her. A large hand grabbed her arm and she fought the instinct to shake it off.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“The Old House, I need to stop them from killing each other. As much as we may not like it they need our help or a bad man is going to become the next world leader.”
James drilled his eyes into hers. “How can you be so sure?”
“My grandfather told me to trust my instincts. I was missing a few pieces of the puzzle but they’re starting to fall into place. I assume you’ve disabled the ball?”
“Years ago, but we can reactivate it from here.”
“Why would you do that? If it’s even possible this place needs to be destroyed.”
James gave her a sad look then turned and walked toward a bare section of wall. He put his hand on it and she watched as a light scanned his fingerprints and his retina. A small hiss escaped and then the wall sunk back and moved to the side.
“This is the main reason we stay here. The nuclear threat was a concern, but hope kept us going. We have a document to help us pull ourselves back together as a country. A way to do it right, so we’re all equal.”
Ally thought back to Charlie and his obsession with memorabilia. He’d told her a story once about something called the Declaration. Something written by the people who founded the United States two thousand years ago. She laughed at the time, but now here was a man who she was supposed to trust telling her it was true.
She walked to the wall with halting steps. Inside the room it sat in a special case, it didn’t look like anything special, but what it stood for would unite the country under a single leader and perhaps lead to rest of the world to follow in their footsteps. As much as she wanted to believe she reminded herself there was a much more imminent threat. The zombies, and now with more and more altered ones, the Declaration might not mean a whole lot unless the undead vote held some weight.
“James, I get that you need to protect this. Keep this ember of hope alive on the off chance we can stand again as a nation. But right now, it’s irrelevant. We need to do something about two power hungry men about to duke it out, and the outbreak.”
“But we can use this now to stop them. We can put someone in power, reinstate the military and take care of it,” James stated.
“You know as well as I do this is no time for an election. We don’t even have a suitable candidate, let alone a way to let people vote without risking life and limb. Outbreak first, now let me go do what I need to do.”
Richards stood at the door waiting for her and she wondered if he would stab her in the back on the way or wait to do it on front of the others to prove allegiance. Not that it mattered, she was going to make sure they all paid, especially the one who’d been pulling their strings all along. She didn’t appreciate being made a fool of.
The door slid open and the rusty track screeched in protest. Footsteps behind them let her know they were either being followed or escorted. When she turned the person standing there didn’t surprise her, he was expected.
James stood in full protective gear, though it was worn at the edges. Two guns were holstered on each side and two crisscrossed his chest.
“I know the tunnels better than you and can activate a tram to get us there faster.”
Ally nodded and moved aside as he punched in a set of numbers and lights flickered on. As they climbed down the rickety ladder the smell of musty water reminded her of home, and the drip of water echoed. The vastness of the underground system shocked her. All of it making her think of the Betty Loo.
A hundred feet down and still going Ally worried about where James might be taking them. “I thought this was part of the sewer system. Just how deep is this place?”
“A few decades before the fall, something happened and the government dug deeper tunnels for the safety of those in seats of power. They feared an attack in which there would be no time to excavate. They built elevators, hatches, and secret stairways leading down here. This series of tunnels is two hundred feet below ground, encased in ten feet of solid steel, and fifty feet of cement around that.”
Ally took in the information. When her feet landed on the something solid the sound echoed up and down several times before stopping. Richards seemed just as shocked as her, though it could be an act. She waited for James who hit a button hidden in the wall and watched as the ladder rose.
“No escape then?”
“I have to protect my people, can’t leave a way to them, they’re vulnerable enough. Let’s move. We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
James led them to a frail looking vehicle. Ally watched as he turned something and a loud noise roared down the corridor. A rank smell, a tad similar to what hung in the air topside, emitted from the back of it. The movements were jerky, but smoothed out. James was right, he knew the area. Ally counted at least five places she would have taken a wrong turn, and made sure to make a mental note of numbered markers. As they neared their destination she checked over her weapons. Loaded, extra ammunition, armor functional, and several knives within easy reach. A fit of tremors struck her and she hid her hands. A few more hours and these damn effects would be gone.
“We’re here,” James said, the vehicle rolling to a stop.
Once more he went to the wall and hit a button, this time a ladder lowered. Ally knew what they were going to face once they went up and took a deep breath. Richards held his hand out to her and she knew what he was doing. Accepting the offer he helped her out of the seat, she exhaled when nothing shook or trembled.
With a smile she nodded to James, now or never.
* * *
“Trevor, open the damn door,” Joseph ordered.
He watched Trevor push and shove, and then Hank and Maynard helped out. A cracking sound and victory was theirs. Though when they entered the empty room Joseph sighed. He examined the surroundings. He’d memorized every bit of information on this place and knew where
they were, outside the oval room. One more barrier to cross and victory would be his.
“Try and find another door.” Joseph knew their time was short.
Maynard turned on him and aimed. Joseph ducked out of instinct and watched as a wretched smelling corpse fell over him. A bit of flesh snagged on something, causing it to peel off exposing putrid liquid beneath and atrophied muscles. As it writhed on the ground making grotesque noises Trevor kicked it away. Joseph watched as he crushed the head using a piece of concrete. The skull exploded and bits of soft bone and brain splayed out like mush. The puddle of dark liquid oozed out in a strange pattern and Joseph lifted himself off the floor only to be yelled at.
“Down, stay down damn it and move farther into the room!”
Maynard fired several shots and Joseph heard splats, cracks, moans, and groans. The sight of things hitting the wall around him made him uneasy. He scurried into the room and shoved himself into a corner. Trevor got to his knees and used a pile of debris to level his rifle. With precise movements he fired his weapon. Each pull of the trigger corresponding to something falling too close for Joseph’s comfort.
Taking a chance he glanced toward where the zombies gathered. Dark liquid glistened on the front of their vests, their faces devoid of emotion. Once his men, or Allgood’s, it didn’t matter. They were dead now. Joseph pulled himself out of observation mode and heard the crack of someone’s rifle. A zombie’s head snapped back and the body fell forward. Then another. He watched in morbid fascination as these things dropped again and again. They were supposed to be able to think, plan. Everything he saw here proved otherwise.
“Ha, this is going to be easy. Look how stupid they are, they’re walking into your bullets.”