Chapter 36
Fire
Lucy was waiting for me at the back of the lodge. She had an armful of branches.
“Thank you,” she said. Her voice was flat, and when I looked in her eyes they were empty.
I nodded.
“I’ve started a signal fire,” she said.
“No, we can’t do that.”
“I already have.”
I stared at her for a moment then ran around the side of the lodge.
The fire pit was filled with wood and paper. The mound was already burning, orange-and-yellow flames flickering in the late afternoon light. A broad pillar of smoke rose up into the air. Lucy appeared beside me and threw the branches onto the fire. Smoke billowed from the pit, catching in my throat.
“But you were going to the ranger station.”
“Alex is too badly hurt. There’s no way he’d make it on foot, and we don’t have enough fuel to use the bike.”
I looked around us at the forest. “But the fire will bring people.”
“That’s the point, Marcus. We need help!”
“No!” I spun away and ran back to the lodge.
Alex was standing by the door, and I nearly knocked him over as I charged past. I grabbed a bucket from beneath the sink in the kitchen and filled it with water. As I hurried outside, the shadow berated me for my stupidity. I should kill them now, while Alex was injured and Lucy’s guard was down.
But I needed to put out the fire first. I tapped my knuckles against the side of my head. “Shut up!”
Alex watched me with fear in his eyes as I crossed the living room and went outside. I brushed past Lucy toward the fire. She grabbed the bucket’s handle. “No, Marcus.”
“We can’t have a fire,” I said, almost spitting each word.
I yanked the bucket, freeing it from Lucy’s grip. Water splashed across the ground. I threw the rest over the fire. The wood hissed and popped, but if anything the water just generated more smoke. I hurled the bucket across the camp in frustration.
I heard a rattle of metal. Two zombies stumbled out of the forest, near the trail that led back to the river. Fishing line from my perimeter was caught around their ankles, and they dragged a cluster of tin cans behind them.
I pulled the knife from my belt and moved toward them. Anger and frustration roared through my system. The shadow joined in, but its cries were of delight. I’d barely made it three steps when there were two loud bangs and the zombies fell to the ground. Lucy was standing just behind me, a pistol in her hands.
I pressed my hands against my forehead and looked toward the tree line. In my mind, I could see them out there in the shadows—a hundred, a thousand zombies swarming from the forest to tear us apart.
Something touched my shoulder, and I spun, my knife flashing in the waning sun.
“Easy, Marcus.”
It was Lucy. Her left hand was held out, palm up, but I could see the gun in her right. It was ready if she needed it.
“It’s okay,” she said.
The fire had grown stronger, the flames flickering higher as they were fed by wood that had been drying in the summer heat for months. There’d be no putting it out now.
I clenched the knife. “Damn!”
“Shhh…” Lucy said.
I opened my mouth to respond, but she raised her hand. “Listen.”
At first, all I could make out was the crackling of the fire. Then I heard it.
The low-pitched thumping of a helicopter’s rotors.
Chapter 37
Rescue
The chopper swept over the camp, the backwash sending smoke and dirt swirling into the air. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Lucy waved her arms over her head, shouting after it. I simply stood there, watching it circle around for another pass. With all the dust, smoke, and noise, it felt like the end of the world. At least for me.
The helicopter dipped its nose and flew toward the camp, slower this time. A machine gun was mounted in the aircraft’s open doorway, and I could see the gunner. He pointed down then tilted the weapon toward us. Lucy was still waving her arms above her head and shouting for help even though they’d obviously already seen us.
The lodge door was open, and Alex stood there with a huge grin plastered all over his face.
The helicopter dropped lower until its skids were almost brushing the tops of the trees. The gunner leveled the machine gun at us. I could see the belt of ammunition hanging beneath the weapon, swaying with the motion of the helicopter. It was almost hypnotic.
The whine of the helicopter’s engines shifted in pitch as it slowed and then stopped, hovering above the open area behind the lodge.
Lucy ran past me. “Let’s go!” Her voice was filled with excitement and relief.
I felt nothing but dread.
“Come on, Doc,” Alex said.
He was still using the ski poles as crutches, but it didn’t stop him from almost running along the walkway after Lucy.
The helicopter dropped out of sight.
Run, said the shadow, its voice so clear in my head it was as though it were standing beside me.
I almost did.
My feet took three steps toward the forest of their own accord. Only the thought of the workshop and the possibility that I’d lose the leather case stopped me. There was still a chance I could salvage the situation. If I could just deal with the helicopter.
I ran along the side of the lodge, grabbing another of the ski poles on the way. If I could somehow wedge it into the chopper’s engine…
I dropped the pole as soon as I reached the clearing.
Lucy and Alex were standing a few feet away, hands raised above their heads, faces tilted downward to shelter from the debris being blown about by the helicopter. Two soldiers had taken up position near the aircraft and were kneeling, automatic rifles trained on Lucy and Alex. A third soldier was walking toward them with a pistol in his hand.
One of the kneeling soldiers turned her weapon toward me. I stopped moving and raised my hands.
The man with the pistol got to within ten feet of Lucy and Alex and then stopped. “Place your weapons on the ground,” he shouted. His words were almost drowned out by the sound of the helicopter.
Lucy nodded and threw the gun away, well out of reach of all three of us. I removed my knife from my belt and did the same.
“My name is Captain Faraday.”
“I’m Lucy, this is Alex, and that’s Marcus.”
“Is there anyone else here?”
“No… not anymore.”
“Are you infected?”
“No.”
The captain tapped his forehead. “What about that?”
Lucy raised her hand to her head. Blood was smeared across her forehead, and her hands came away sticky. “It’s just a cut, an accident. Alex has a broken ankle, but we haven’t been bitten.”
“What about you?” Faraday said to me.
“I’m fine. One of us was bitten, but he’s been dealt with.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed. I swallowed, trying to relax my face into what I hoped was a natural, and honest, expression.
“Captain!” shouted one of the soldiers.
A zombie had stepped out of the forest, drawn by the noise of the helicopter. It was a woman. By the state of her clothing, she’d been wandering around the wilderness for weeks. The captain nodded, and the soldier fired once. The back of the zombie’s head exploded, and she collapsed to the ground. Behind her, three more zombies stepped into view.
“Zees on the right, sir.”
“Dammit,” said Captain Faraday. “Take them out.”
Three more shots, and three more zombies dropped to the ground.
“Come on!” said Faraday, waving to us. “Get in.”
Lucy and Alex ducked down and ran toward the helicopter.
I sensed rather than heard the zombie behind me and turned as he made a grab for my head. His movements were slow and clumsy. I sidestepped the attack and pushed
him to the ground. There were two more zombies just behind him. My knife had fallen too far out of reach for me to get it. I backed away toward the lodge and Lucy’s pistol.
More gunfire crackled around me, but the number of zombies was increasing. Lucy and Alex had reached the helicopter, and the soldiers were backing toward the door too. Captain Faraday waved at me to hurry up.
A female zombie shuffled into sight around the end of the helicopter. Captain Faraday fired at it. The shot hit her in the shoulder, making her stagger backward into the rear rotor blades. They ripped the back of her head off, splattering blood and bone across the side of the chopper before she fell forward into the grass.
The two soldiers climbed on board the helicopter and took up seats opposite Lucy and Alex. Faraday waved at me again as the whine of the helicopter’s engine increased in pitch.
I’d reached Lucy’s gun, and I bent down and picked it up. Another zombie appeared in front of me. I aimed the gun and fired. The weapon bucked in my hand, and the shot went wide. I fired again, this time hitting the ground at the zombie’s feet. I moved toward the lodge, away from the helicopter. Alex was shouting at me, his words drowned out by the roar of the engine.
Something grabbed my arm. I twisted, bringing the gun up and firing as the zombie launched himself at me. The bullet tore through his shoulder, barely slowing him down. I screamed as his teeth clamped down on my arm. Panicking, I slammed the heel of my hand against his forehead and pushed.
My fingers slipped on rotten skin, but the pressure on my arm eased. I pulled away, rammed the pistol against his temple, and fired. The zombie’s head exploded, blood spattering my face.
I clutched my arm and let out a cry of frustration. Faraday was on the helicopter now. He slowly shook his head at me then called back into the cockpit. The chopper wavered slightly then lifted off the ground.
Alex leaned from behind Faraday. He was shouting at the captain and pointing at me. Faraday shook his head. When Alex looked at me, there was despair written across his face. I slowly raised the gun and gave him a casual salute. He returned the gesture.
Another zombie stumbled into sight. I backed toward the lodge door, praying it was unlocked. Still clutching my arm, I fumbled with the handle for a few panicked seconds. Then there was a click, and the door swung open. I fell backward into the dining room, kicking the door shut behind me.
I leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. Outside, the sound of the helicopter grew louder. There was gunfire and the rapid chatter of the machine gun. Then the firing stopped, and the helicopter’s engine faded away, leaving me in silence.
I looked down at my arm. The sleeve of my jacket was covered in blood and bile where the zombie had clamped itself on to me. I took a deep breath and slid the sleeve up, exposing my arm.
I smiled.
The bite hadn’t made it through my jacket.
Chapter 38
Alone Again
I slept like the proverbial baby that night. Everything was so quiet, just the soft moaning of the zombies outside to lull me to sleep. Despite their presence, I felt perfectly safe. The lodge was well built, and they showed no signs of trying to get in. Maybe they thought I was dead, just as Lucy and the others did.
When I woke the next morning, I remembered the zombie’s jaws clamping down on my arm, and a sudden burst of terror hit me. I hurriedly pulled up my sleeve. There was a large, oval bruise where the zombie had bitten me, but he’d failed to break the skin. It wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat, but I’d been lucky—both not getting bitten and having the opportunity to get rid of Lucy and Alex.
The farewell salute had been a nice touch, but maybe I should have fired a shot as soon as I got into the lodge—just to reinforce the impression that I’d taken my own life.
Looking through my bedroom window, I could see the bodies of fifteen or so zombies scattered around the grass. Another zombie, this one still walking, stood at the edge of the forest, staring blankly into the distance. Two more knelt by one of their fallen comrades.
I checked my gun. It still had three rounds in it, but there were probably more somewhere in the lodge. The shadow ran its fingers down my spine, and I shuddered. It whispered to me—Mike. In the excitement, I’d forgotten about him.
The sun was already out, and the room was warming up. I took a deep breath and stretched, savoring the cracking of my bones. Then I went downstairs, whistling as I took them two at a time, and made breakfast. After I’d eaten, I moved around the lodge, looking at the zombies outside.
I spotted six of them, but they were spread about, and they were all just standing motionless, waiting. I reloaded the gun, found another knife, and went outside.
There were two zombies standing near the fire pit. Maybe they’d been drawn there by the flames, perhaps driven by some remnant of their former selves to find warmth. Either way, they knew not to get close enough to catch light. A thin ribbon of pale smoke wound up into the sky, but that was all that was left of the fire now. I’d douse it once I’d dealt with the zombies.
I was able to get to the first one without being seen, and I rammed the knife into the base of his skull before he could react. The movement attracted the attention of the second zombie, a girl in a set of biker leathers. She’d obviously been in an accident. The right arm of her jacket was heavily scuffed and dotted with grit. The side of her skull had been torn away, exposing the brain within. It made her an easy kill.
As I pulled my knife from biker girl, I heard a muffled groan. Another zombie had appeared, one I hadn’t seen on my initial reconnaissance. He was big, probably twice my weight. Thankfully, he was very slow. He lumbered toward me, and I ducked under his outstretched arms and drove the knife up into his jaw. He let out a wet, gargling cry and went limp. He dragged the knife from my grip as he fell, and I cursed as I retrieved it. I was getting careless. There were still at least four zombies near the lodge, and who knew how many more waiting in the forest. I needed to be more careful.
I moved around the buildings until I could see the entire clearing. The two zombies crouched over the corpse were actually eating it. They were picking at its flesh, gradually stripping the body to the bone. I’d never seen the phenomenon before. Every other zombie I’d seen had been seemingly oblivious to others of its kind.
The other zombie I’d seen earlier was still standing motionless at the edge of the forest. Another was near the path that led to the workshop. He was staring up at the trees, his mouth slack.
If I were a better shot with the pistol, I’d have used that to take some of them down. But as I’d proved the day before, I was no marksman, even at close range. It would have to be my knife.
Staying crouched, I ran across the clearing as quietly as I could, toward the zombie by the path. The grass brushing against my legs sounded incredibly loud, but he didn’t hear me until I was almost on him. I caught him in the face, and the knife embedded itself in his right eye. My momentum carried the zombie over. I pulled the blade free as he fell and then slammed the heel of my boot into his face, shattering bone.
The feeding zombies were twenty feet away, but they’d seen me. They rose from the corpse, their movements languid. Bits of flesh clung to their faces from their meal. Behind them, the slack-jawed zombie in the forest was still staring up at the trees.
My pulse was racing. I could feel the shadow delighting in the carnage, urging me on to bigger and bloodier things. I moved to the flattest piece of ground I could find, kicked a couple of rocks out of the way, and then waited for the zombies to come to me.
Both men wore identical outfits, were the same height, and despite the decay, their features were almost perfectly the same. They must have been twins. Their clothes had been beige originally, but now they were soaked with blood. One of them had a strip of pale flesh hanging from the side of his mouth—more remnants of their feasting. There was no sign of how they’d died. Their movements were slow and deliberate, and it gave me plenty of time to plan my attack.<
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The two of them reached me at the same time. The first twin went down with a single blow from the knife. I swept the point down onto the top of his head. It sank deep into his skull, but the zombie stayed upright. I pulled the knife free. He wavered slightly until I rammed my forearm against his chest. He fell, but in the time it had taken me to knock him over, his brother had gotten hold of me.
He clamped one hand around my arm and clutched at my throat with the other. I ducked forward. His fingers grazed my head, one ragged nail tearing across my scalp. I swung the knife upward. It sank into his arm, just below the elbow. Bone snapped.
The zombie let out a deep-throated cry of rage and clumsily tried to grab my face. This time, I was ready for him. I rammed the knife into his throat, cutting off the cry. I twisted the blade and pulled it free as he collapsed to the ground.
While I was fighting the twins, another zombie had come out of the trees. She was old and decrepit. What few clothes she wore were torn and rotten, exposing the decaying flesh beneath. Ribs, stark against her gray skin, poked through split flesh.
She wobbled unevenly toward me, a tattered chunk of meat clutched in one hand. I steadied myself, and as she stepped into range, I swung the knife. The blade sank deep into the side of her head, and she fell to the ground. She lay there, twitching, making one last effort to cling to living death. Then she let out a soft moan and lay still.
The zombie near the path seemed completely oblivious to me. I walked right up to him, weapon at the ready, but he just stood there, looking up into the trees. I got as far as picking a spot on his neck for the knife when the shadow stopped me. I was wasting an opportunity. I could come back for him later.
I lowered my weapon and walked through the forest toward the workshop.
Chapter 39
Two Men Remain
Serial Killer Z [Book 1] Page 18