The Infected (Book 3): Nightfall
Page 20
Eric clutched his scalp and rocked back on his knees. From her back Karen kicked into Eric’s chest with both feet, sending him into the stove’s window. The glass shattered and sliced his back. Eric laid half inside of the oven. His wounds were compounding and slowing him down. Blood trickled off his forehead. Karen rolled to her side and made another attempt at the gun. She noticed the look on Eric’s face. The arrogant asshole that walked through the door was second guessing his house call.
Jim could hear the confusion on the other side of the truck as the gunmen tried to aid their fallen friend. They were yelling at each other rapid fire and they had completely stopped shooting.
“Oh, my God, dude! He’s bleeding out!”
“Guys, I’m hurting bad!”
“What about Eric?”
“Fuck him man we’ve got to go!”
“Eric’s got the keys!”
“Shit, I don’t know!”
“I think I saw kids in that van!”
“This is so fucked! We are so fucked!”
The way the group talked to each other and how quickly they fell apart when one of them got shot helped Jim conclude that these weren’t battle hardened soldiers, but weekend warriors. Jim got his feet back under him. He had to make his move. If he stayed here they could easily surround him. The fear in Karen’s voice gave him the courage and strength he didn’t know he had to stand up and charge around the end of the truck.
Before Jim knew it he was up, and charging towards the four gunmen that had circled around their wounded friend. He moved at high speed and caught them off guard. With the butt of the gun he came down full force into the back of one of their heads.
“GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS IN THE AIR!” Jim barked at them. He held the barrel of his assault rifle inches from their faces.
“Don’t shoot! It wasn’t our idea to stop here, man!” One of the men dropped his gun and put his hands up in the air.
Leon hung his head around the side of the Subaru and watched Jim take control of the gunmen. The revolver they found last night rested in his sweaty fist. He had been aiming at the gunmen before Jim raced over and now Karen’s husband was in his sights.
I could do it. In the confusion no one would know it was me.
Karen would be all mine. I did an amazing job as Dad this morning with the girls.
Leon squeezed the trigger and the hammer began to pull back on the revolver.
She could be mine. All I have to do is shoot.
“Jim! It’s me!” Troy’s head bobbed up from behind the stone fence.
“TROY?” Jim called out.
“Yeah!”
“Get over here and get a gun on these assholes!” Jim kicked away a few of their rifles that they had dropped to put their hands in the air.
Troy stood up and blocked Leon’s shot.
Damn it!
Leon relaxed his trigger finger, “I got time.”
Frank peeked a look at the action from the back of the Cruiser, just as Sara stepped from the driver’s side. She was showered in blood.
“Oh my god! Were you hit?” He raced to her side. As he neared the open door he could see where the blood had come from. “Oh, no!”
“Devon’s dead! They killed him!” Sara had lost it. She reached back into the car, grabbed her shotgun and headed for the gunmen.
Karen reached her pistol and turned to face Eric. He leapt to his feet and grabbed ahold of her wrists to keep the gun pointed towards the wall. Karen squeezed off a round. It ripped a hole in the kitchen wall and sailed off into the garage. The collision sent the gun clattering over the counter top and into the dining room. Eric pinned Karen into a corner of the kitchen. He swung a devastating hook that caught her in the cheek. Karen saw stars as she spun around and her head and hands landed in the sink. She was slumped over the counter with her head in the stainless basin. Eric stood behind her with his groin pressed against her butt.
“You think you’re safe?!” Blood flew off his lips and splattered the back of her shirt. “You are not safe.” He dropped an elbow into the center of her back and followed it up with a jab to her skull. Karen teetered on the brink of unconsciousness.
“I am going to cause you so much pain.” He dropped another elbow into her back.
Penny’s favorite cast-iron skillet was still in the sink next to her head. Leon had used it to make pancakes that morning. Her fingers curled around the handle.
Troy racked another round and stood over the group of gunmen. Jim wanted to give the big guy a hug, but there was no time.
“I gotta check on Karen!”
Leon stomped across the front yard and took a stance next to Troy. He stuck the revolver against the back of a gunman’s head. “Go check her out. We’ve got them covered.”
Cliff rolled to his back. His body ached everywhere from the car crash. His brain throbbed. He had blacked out for a moment. Something was in his eyes. He wiped his face and rubbed at his eye sockets with his hands and they came back red. Cliff was not sure where he was and what had happened to him. In a flash it all came back. He looked up at the opened van door. It was quiet inside the vehicle.
“No!” Cliff wailed as he got up on his elbows. He struggled to get to his feet. Cliff pulled himself up the side of the van and peered into the busted window. He couldn’t see anything. It was too dark. Something was on the window. He tapped at the back of the van as he made his way around to the sliding side door. “Babies…?” he whimpered. “Tina…? Morgan…?” Cliff slid the door open and a pool of red poured out onto the street. Cliff fell to his knees a broken man.
Jim raced to the front door only to find it locked, “KAREN!” He stomped his foot into the door to bust it open, but the solid oak held firm.
The noise at the door caught Eric’s attention and he was about to strike a right cross into the back of her head when he turned slightly toward the noise. Karen could feel his weight lift off of her back. She stood up from the sink, spun into him and with both hands squeezing the life out of the pan’s handle, nailed Eric in his jaw. His face cracked and his jawbone snapped. He spun like a top and collapsed to the wood floor. Jim kicked at the door again and again until the frame gave and the door swung open. He stepped inside the house just in time to see a blood covered Karen straddling Eric. She lifted the pan above her head.
“Karen don’t!” Jim pleaded.
Karen held the pan high in the air and looked at her husband standing in the kitchen entryway.
It’s a dream.
He isn’t real.
This asshole punched me senseless and now I’m hallucinating.
The suffering had sent her over the edge. She swung the skillet down onto Eric’s face. Her face had already started to swell when Eric’s strikes had landed. Jim dropped his gun and rushed to her side. She threw her arms up and around Jim’s neck and began to cry. He lifted her off of the dead body and carried her out of the room quickly.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be all right. I got you.”
“Daddy?” Valerie called to her father.
“Baby, it’s me!” Jim carried Karen toward the couch to set her down. Valerie crawled out from behind the couch. She paused for a minute and helped Robin get out from their hiding spot.
“Girls!” Jim set Karen down on the sofa and knelt down in front of her. Seeing both of his children alive and racing toward him filled Jim with more emotion than he thought was possible. Tears instantly streamed down his face. Both girls climbed up into their father’s arms. Jim kissed them over and over again.
“Where were you Daddy?”
“Mama’s hurt.”
“We stay in Ganny’s bed.”
“What happened to your head, Daddy?”
They hammered him with questions he couldn’t begin to answer. It had been twenty hours of misery, loss and fear but all of that was washed away with the simple embrace of his sweet children. Jim interlaced his fingers with Karen’s. She wasn’t ready to tell Jim what had happened. She was covere
d in blood and it was clear she had just gone ten rounds with the stranger that was lying dead in the kitchen. Jim wanted this moment with his family to last forever, but a commotion was erupting outside.
“Girls, stay here with Mama. Daddy has to check on his friends.” None of the females that were clinging to Jim wanted to let him go. He gave all three of them another round of kisses, “I’ll be right outside and back in a second I promise.” He had to pry the little arms off of him. The commotion was now a full on screaming match.
“Karen!” Jim gave her hand a squeeze. She had zoned out completely, possibly shock. Most likely she had a concussion. “I’ll be right outside.” Jim waited for her to nod at him before he stepped out of the living room.
Without thinking about it Jim picked up his rifle before going outside. An argument was taking shape and Jim could make out who was yelling bloody murder. He paused and waited in the doorway. He just realized that he did not want to step back out into this zombie filled world. He wanted the people outside to solve it without him. He was sure that they would look to him for the answer and he did not want the blood of these men on his hands. He stood still, closed his eyes and listened.
Sara was scream-crying at the gunmen, “You killed him! You killed Devon, you fuckers! You’re dead!”
The four men huddled on their knees around the injured man. Two of the gunmen were using their hands to put pressure on their friend’s injuries.
“Please, someone help him!” One of the men playing nurse begged.
Troy stood between her and the five men. He did not know what to do, but he was not about to step aside and let this young lady gun these men down in cold blood.
“Hold on! Hold on! We will figure this out!” Troy tried to calm her down.
“There is nothing to figure out! They’ve got to die!” Frank stood by Sara’s side and was one hundred percent on board with her idea.
“Guys, we don’t know what’s going on here. Try and calm down.” Leon chimed in.
“Look at that car!” Sara pointed at the PT. “That’s Devon’s blood.” She pointed at her face. “This is Devon’s blood! He’s dead because of these assholes. What are you going to do call the cops? There are no cops!”
“Big fella, step aside and let us take care of it.” Frank slid the bolt back on his rifle.
“Don’t let them kill us! It wasn’t our idea! Talk to Eric! He’s inside!” One of them pleaded.
“Just let us go and we will never come back. We promise! We’re sorry! It wasn’t our idea. Eric’s the one you want!” A second one begged.
Jim stepped out of the house, “Eric’s dead. My wife killed him. It looks like she had a good reason.”
The news of their fallen leader hit the five men hard.
“Please let us go! We’re not bad people. We were just following orders.”
Right when Jim was about to step back into the house and continue his reunion with his family he paused. Something was moving at an incredible speed across the front lawn. It was at the corner of his eye when he first noticed it. At first Jim was sure it was an infected coming to take a bite out of someone until he saw that it was carrying something.
Without a word or even the slightest noise Cliff closed in on the five gunmen. The first one didn’t see it coming. Cliff chopped down onto the injured man’s chest. The saw blade drove through the man’s ribs and it was like a blood grenade had gone off. The four other gunmen were hosed with their friend’s blood. Cliff swung the saw like a maniac. Over and over again he hit them. The victim’s cries for help were cut short by his wicked blade.
Leon leaped back and Troy stepped away quickly. Jim and his crew were caught completely off guard. They stood silent. No one moved. They just watched. Afraid if they tried to intervene that he would turn his blade on them. Once there was nothing left wiggling on the ground Cliff released the handle. The saw was stuck in the skull of his last kill. He took two steps back, turned away from his handy work and sat down on the grass. He sat quietly and stared off into the distance. It was only at that moment that the rest of them noticed the crime scene in the van.
“Oh my god,” Jim said under his breath.
The man’s actions were justified.
Jim thought about what he would do if it was his family in that van. He didn’t need to see any more of this and began to head back inside. The thrill of holding his family tight to his chest was too great. He needed to feel their love before he lost his mind like his neighbor.
He would cry for Devon later.
He would mourn with Cliff later.
He would make a plan for tomorrow later.
He would worry about Brother Paul and his crazy followers later.
Right now he had to patch up his wife and hold his children. He needed to tell them that he loved them a million times. The three females inside were the only things that mattered to him now. As Jim stepped across the doorway he heard a noise in the distance. It was a low rumble. It sounded like a fleet of dump trucks coming over the horizon. It was the sound of a thousand infected zombies stomping their way across Vancouver and heading straight for them.
Just fucking fantastic! Thought Jim.
The End.
Thank you for checking out The Infected: Nightfall. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. It would mean the world to my family and I if you could take a couple of minutes and leave an honest review. Books on Amazon are measured by reviews and total downloads. The more reviews I can get the more people will have a chance to see my books. Then they too can join in on the fun of the Infected World I have created. When people see honest reviews it helps them decide if they want to take a chance on me. It also helps me figure out what I need to add or take away in the sequels to make future books even more fun. I check every review I’m given and they truly help me become a better writer. Thanks again for your time.
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Coming soon. Sweet Home. A story of a small mountain town in Oregon that is visited by a few homicidal maniacs one New Years Eve. Only the strongest in town will survive the night. Expect this book sometime winter of 2015.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21