Survive (Book 1): Salvation

by Veronica Smith

  Chapter Thirteen – Spring 2032

  “Where are you taking him?” Tamar asked, defiantly, holding onto Michael’s arm.

  “He didn’t make the cut,” the uniformed man stated simply, pulling on Michael’s other arm.

  After four years, Tamar understood and accepted what had happened to her. She had no choice, at ten years old she barely remembered her previous life. The Z.E.D.s had raided her small village for new recruits as well as many others. The three young men from her village were now trained Z.E.D. soldiers, having forgotten their life before and the atrocities that caused them to be here.

  All the children that were taken had been used for a new program idea. They were trained even more rigorously than the adults were. They were taught at a very early age how to kill people. Tamar’s first kill came when she was only eight and she cried the entire time. Gradually it made her cold and uncaring. This was her life and nothing was going to change that. The only feelings she still held were for the other children, the ones taken with her as well as those from other settlements. There had been a total of thirty-six children in the program but they were slowly washing out the ones that didn’t pass the tests. They only wanted the best.

  “Where is he going?” Tamar asked again as Michael was wrenched from her hands.

  His eyes met hers in a silent good-bye. The washed out children never came back and were never seen anywhere at the camp. So far, eight children had been removed over the years from the original thirty-six taken.

  “What’s going to happen to him, Tamar?” Michael’s six-year-old sister, Marci, asked her.

  Tamar could only shake her head in confusion and hold Marci tight. Tamar had thought Michael was actually doing better in training than Marci and was surprised they took him first. Tamar was the Z.E.D.’s prize champion in the training program. She excelled in all forms of fighting, maybe because she decided early on to accept what she couldn’t change. She threw herself into her training and became the darling of the Imperials, the name for their Young Assassin group.

  She was the best fighter and even at such a young age could out-throw any Z.E.D. soldier with a blade. She was a crack shot with any gun, despite the little practice they had; ammo was rationed carefully in the outlands. She favored blades the most although she also excelled with bow and arrow, and even spears. She seemed content with her new life and the only time she had doubt was whenever they took a child away. She was determined to find out where they went and decided to do some investigating at her first chance.

  Later the same day they came for Marci.

  “No!” Tamar whispered as quietly as her outrage would allow.

  At first, she thought they’d be whipped in secret or outright executed. Whipping was the favorite method of punishment around here. She’d seen many soldiers whipped publically as examples; even the man with the braid who killed her parents. Inwardly she cheered when he got his twenty licks. He vanished shortly after that and she never saw him again. The rumors were he went AWOL. He wasn’t the only one, and he had a huge bounty on his head, along with all other deserters.

  She managed to find out where Marci and Michael were taken, and it was much worse than she could ever imagine. It was in a section of the camp far from the training and beyond their hearing. She was hiding behind a tent and kept looking around to make sure no one snuck up on her. She wouldn’t be able to hear anyone over the snarling of the zombies that were in the shallow pit. The same pit that contained Marci and Michael!

  The children were in the pit with only spears and bats for weapons while three zombies: two former people and a dog, were released inside with them. The men watching all around were making bets to see how long each child would live.

  It was fucking entertainment!

  She heard someone call it The Arena and wanted to throw up at the atrocity. Michael held the spear in front of him and pushed his little sister behind him, thrusting the bat into her hands. The dog attacked first and Michael shoved Marci to the side while he ducked to the side himself and used the spear to impale the dog as it jumped down at them. It wasn’t a head injury so the dog squirmed and growled, stuck in the middle of the spear. Michael stabbed the spear into the ground, immobilizing the dog for the moment. Cheers and jeers erupted from the audience. During that time, the two human zombies had gotten closer to them and he turned from one attacking zombie when his sister screamed. She swung the bat at the other zombie, but was too short for a head impact. The zombie grabbed her by the hair and bent over, biting the top of her head.

  “Marci!” Michael wailed in anguish.

  He heard more cheers from the men and knew they would never let him leave the pit alive. He ducked the zombie in front of him and swung around, grabbing up the bat from the ground at his sister’s feet.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to her, knowing she couldn’t hear him. He egged the zombie on, making it follow him in the direction he was intending. Soon he was right in front of some of the excited Z.E.D.s. One of them even yelled to him, “Come on, boy! Five more minutes and I win big!”

  Michael narrowed his eyes. This was his target. This man was in the front row and was easily within reach; the pit was less than two feet deep. Suddenly Michael ducked to the side and swung the bat, breaking the knees of the man who yelled to him. He cried out in pain and Michael wasted no time. The man fell forward as his knees would no longer support him. Michael grabbed him by the hair and yanked him in front of the advancing zombie. The zombie didn’t care who its target was; it clutched the soldier and bit into the side of his head. The other soldiers instinctively backed up at the sight. They were here for entertainment, so many didn’t even bring their weapons with them. Tamar silently cheered Michael on, even as an armed Z.E.D. aimed and fired. Michael dropped to the ground, dead instantly. Tamar shuddered but glad that Michael wouldn’t reanimate. She could imagine the soldier explaining the waste of that one bullet to his commander.

  More Z.E.D.s ran into the pit and killed the remaining zombie then huddled around the bitten soldier, looking to each other to decide who would finalize his death. No one noticed Marci, having turned into the undead herself, as she slowly got up, and advanced on the backs of the soldiers. She was small for her age but one soldier with his back to her was bent enough that his shirt came out of his waistband and the succulent pink flesh was calling to her. She was on him and tearing the flesh from his lower back before anyone noticed.

  Way to go girl! Tamar thought.

  At the soldier’s scream, they turned and two of them stabbed her in the head. But karma is a hard bitch and while they turned to take care of her, the first bitten soldier that no one had finished off yet turned himself. He reached out while he was still on the ground and bit into the leg of a soldier who didn’t have his boots on. The teeth tore through cloth and skin. Three more soldiers finally did what they should’ve done to him from the start.

  “It didn’t go through the cloth,” the bitten soldier swore, panicking, seeing the others walking towards him with their weapons out.

  “It didn’t bite me! I swear!” he begged although blood was already staining his pant leg.

  The one Marci had bitten in the back didn’t deny it. He just dropped to his knees in front of his best friend, nodding at him to finish him off. A quick thrust of his knife and it was over. Even though they used these two children for their entertainment, they lost three of their own.

  “It’s still not even. Not even close!” Tamar whispered through gritted teeth, “But when I’m done with them, it will be. I’ll make it more than even.”

  Chapter Fourteen – Present Day 2035

  Tamar woke with a start, her fire red hair in disarray from sleep. She dreamed of Michael and Marci often. They haunted her dreams but she never avoided their memories. That was when she decided to escape; and take all of the Imperials with her. It took six months to plan and convince the others. They lost nine more to washing out in addition to Michael and Marci before they were able to escap
e.

  She led a group of seventeen children to freedom as soon as she could. When they finally did escape, it was silent and unseen. If they were lucky, no one would notice them missing until morning; six hours after they escaped. That gave them a great head start. They used all the skills they had been taught—stealth, how to cover their tracks, and how to silently kill the few soldiers they came across in their escape. Everything the Z.E.D.s had taught them was now being used against them. They ran for almost a week, killing zombies and a few roaming cannibals along the way. They managed to steal all the weapons they’d been training with so they were safer than any Z.E.D. patrol.

  Then they found the valley. It had several small caves and one large one. They explored them one by one, clearing them out. They found an underground river that fed into two of the caves. The larger one had a pool of clear, clean water that even had fish in it. They decided to make it their new home. They blocked off the entrance to the smaller cave so no zombies would go in and possibly contaminate the river, rocky entrances kept them zombie free before. Blocked and camouflaged, that smaller cave would serve as a backup to run to if necessary.

  Tamar was now thirteen but was wise beyond her years. They had to learn how to survive on their own. While the Z.E.D.s taught them how to kill, they didn’t teach them how to live. They wanted their little squad of assassins completely dependent on them. Life was hard the first year, especially the first winter. They lost four children to starvation and cold, in just that season alone, but this new life made them stronger and closer than ever. They kept up their training and practicing. Every single one of them—even the youngest, now just six, the same age she was when she was taken—wanted revenge on the Z.E.D.s. They were experienced enough for it, but now that there were only thirteen of them left, they knew they’d never stand a chance.

  “Movement on the western road,” Zach said to her as he ran into the cave.

  His sentry partner, Alexis, stayed back to keep an eye on the caravan of trucks growing closer.

  “Imperials!” she called out. “That may or may not be the Z.E.D.s. If it is, then we wipe them out. If not, we find out who it is and what they want.”

  Several of them followed Zach to his post.

  “They’re still coming but they aren’t moving very fast,” Alexis said. “In fact, they keep looking out the window like they’re looking for tracks.”

  “Z.E.D.s?” Tamar asked, almost hoping the answer was yes.

  “No way,” Alexis said, “I’d say these were Raiders, the resistance fighters that the Z.E.D.s always told us about; some that they were training us to kill.”

  “But we don’t know for sure,” Zach said in disgust. “They could be cannibals.”

  “Doubt it,” Alexis replied. “From what I’ve seen of the cannibals, they aren’t very organized. And not very good at tracking.”

  “But are Raiders our enemy?” Zach asked.

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Tamar said, cryptically.

  She once heard someone at the Z.E.D. camp say that and didn’t understand it at the time. Now, though, it made perfect sense. “If they are the resistance, I’m willing to not kill them outright until we find out why they’re here. I know they aren’t tracking us. We’re too good to leave tracks.”

  The other kids smirked and nodded. Then continued to watch them and saw that they weren’t changing course.

  “I guess it’s time to go see what’s up,” Tamar said.

  Chuck had that feeling crawling down the back of his neck. He could always tell when there were eyes on him and he felt it now. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

  “Still see the tracks?” he asked Paul.

  “Oh yeah, they tried to cover them up and they stay off the road,” Paul replied, not taking his eyes off the ground as they drove slowly, “but I can tell.”

  “It can’t be the ghouls,” Joe said, “they don’t cover their tracks well; don’t know how to cover their tracks worth a shit.”

  “Look sharp,” Chuck told Steve, who was driving. “There’s a large boulder on the right that could be hiding someone.”

  Just as they got close to it, a log slid out across the road. It wasn’t big and they probably could’ve driven over it but for the spikes imbedded in it. The base of it had been flattened so it wouldn’t roll.

  Ambush!

  Steve hit the brakes and the entire caravan came to a stop. Everyone opened the doors and ducked behind them, their eyes trained in all directions, weapons held ready. Chuck was about to call “fan out” when he saw a young woman with fiery red hair step out from behind the boulder.

  Woman? She’s just a girl!

  She held two very long and sharp blades in her hands and showed no fear; only gripped the blades more securely. Chuck held up his hand to the rest of his team and made a show of setting down his club before walking forward and stopping just before the log. They were about ten feet apart and stood there for a moment, sizing each other up. Tamar noticed his missing arm and wondered how it happened and how he still survived with only one hand.

  “I can go first if you want,” Chuck said with a chuckle, “or we can do the ‘ladies first’ thing.”

  Tamar tilted her head. Ladies first? What does that mean? Is he insulting me because I’m a girl? I’ll make him eat those words!

  “Talk,” she ordered.

  “I’m Chuck,” he said, not even putting out his hand to shake.

  This girl was tense but rightly so. He noticed her stance and knew immediately, young or not, she could be dangerous to anyone that threatened her and hers. He glanced around.

  Speaking of hers, where are the rest of them?

  Suddenly six more children, holding weapons just as dangerous materialized, three on each side, spread out around his caravan.

  Aha!

  “Hold!” he yelled, making sure none of his team got itchy on their weapons.

  The girl only whistled and the children stopped and held their places.

  “We seem to be at a stalemate,” Chuck said to her.

  “Why are you here?” she asked bluntly.

  “We’re looking for a cannibal tribe that took our people,” he replied, honestly. “You don’t look like a ghoul, so we have no problem with you.”

  Ghoul? She’d never heard that term to describe them before but since she read the meaning once in a book, it made perfect sense.

  “You aren’t a Z.E.D,” she said, not questioning but observing.

  Chuck nodded, a hint of bitterness on his face, which Tamar didn’t fail to notice.

  “We’re a combination of two Raider groups. Mine is far from here to the east. Antonio’s had been north of us but was taken by cannibals and his compound burned to the ground. We tracked the ghouls to several places and we’re sure we have the right tribe based on what our trackers have seen. Too many prisoners to be anything but our people.”

  “You know they’re eaten don’t you?” she asked, coldly. “There may not be any one left to rescue.”

  Rick came forward slowly and now he spoke, “There were quite a few people there. Too many for them to uh . . eat all at once. They’d keep them alive so they could keep eating them.”

  Tamar nodded thoughtfully, “So you need to find them first, huh?” she asked.

  “We do.” Chuck answered, “Do you know where they are?”

  “I do,” Tamar replied. “Let’s see what we can trade for this information.”

  When the raiders pulled out the bags of jerky, she salivated. Meat was hard to come by; animals weren’t as plentiful as they were in the past. And they were all sick of fish. Although it was fresh and they didn’t have to dry it, they were eating fish stew, broiled fish, and fish soup. The thought of eating something besides fish made her lick her lips.

  “It’s not made of fish, is it?” she asked.

  “Fish?” Chuck said, “I’ve never heard of anyone jerking fish. We don’t have any fish near us so it’s been a long time since we
’ve had any. Some of these guys have never even had fish before.”

  Tamar immediately thought of another trade that could be made. She called her kids to her and they all conferred before she sent two of them off and turned back to Chuck.

  “You can come back with us,” she said. “We can discuss the cannibals’ location and maybe trade some fresh fish for that jerky and some other things you might have. But if anyone threatens us, we will kill you; kill all of you. We’re the Imperials, not just a bunch of helpless kids. There’s a lot more to us than looks would imply.”

  Chuck didn’t doubt her. They went off road and slowly followed the kids, all of whom were able to keep up a jog and stay ahead of them. When they pulled to a stop, two of the kids pulled away a false wall made of tree branches and brush. Chuck was amazed at how perfectly it looked like the rest of the land.

  Genius!

  It opened up to a valley where several caves could be seen. Since the kids used no vehicles there were no tire tracks to have to hide. Once the last truck was through, they put the false wall back. As they drove toward the caves, they saw three of the kids trotting off in the direction they had come from. As they pulled up to the largest cave, a few more children came from the mouth, all holding weapons. Chuck looked around in wonder and counted a total of thirteen of them.

  They had to have been living out here for years!

  He waved the rest of the team to come forward and they all stared in shock at the sight of all the children with not a single adult in sight. Antonio came forward and when he saw Tamar walking towards them they both gasped in recognition at the same time.

  “Murderer!” she shrieked and pulled both her blades.