The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie

by Evans, Mike

  Joey said, “Ok Shaun I’ll get it made, I'll see you later ok.”

  Shaun didn’t say anything. He turned around and walked back towards the front, seeing Greg on his way out. Greg said, “Where are you going now? There’s still plenty of those things out there aren’t there?”

  “Yes there are too many of them right now. You’ll never be able to make a break for it hauling Ellie. We passed plenty of apartments on our way here. If you make your way up top to one of them you should have plenty of line of sight to know when someone finally comes looking for us on the main road. There’s no way they are going to take the interstate with as many cars that were flooding the road.”

  “So what are you getting at? I know we’ve been on lock down there for a while. I know you want to take out the Turned but I've told you, Ellie’s told you, and I am sure others have also. You can’t always throw yourself in harm’s way you need to worry about yourself as much as others sometimes Shaun.”

  Shaun walked back to the rear entrance, shielding his eyes and trying to not let the newly exposed sunlight leave him entering the outside blinded. “I probably should take people's advice but with the way today’s going and Ellie’s condition, there isn’t a lot I can do about it.”

  Greg said, “Well then let me go. If I hadn’t lied in the first place we wouldn’t have been out here.”

  Shaun didn’t respond, his adrenaline was flowing and he was having issues dealing with his feelings towards Greg at the moment. The vision of Ellie on that slab was making him sick. Shaun said coldly, “Give me a half hour and try and get to one of those apartments or condos. You can fire off a couple shots and keep trying the radio if you see someone. Just leave out the front. I’m going to draw them away on the side.”

  “But did you hear me? I said I could-”

  Shaun cut him off. “You could’ve done a lot of things Greg. I don’t think that lying should have been one of them.”

  “But we’ve been locked down forever. What’s the point in living if we are just going to die locked away and hiding?”

  “Right Greg, I totally agree! We need to save those that are left, kill Turned that are dead but we have to be organized and ready and have backup for God sakes. I can’t really say how pissed I am right now. If I haven’t made it blatantly effing clear then if Ellie doesn’t make it, if something happens to her, you and I will be having an entirely different level of conversation. Like I said, half hour come out the front and don’t waste any time! Try not to screw it up Greg, Joey and Ellie are counting on you!”

  Shaun didn’t say anything else he pulled a white ski mask down and zipped his coat as high as it could go. Greg watched him, wanting to call him back but knew there’d be no changing his mind. It was the second time they’d split up per Shaun’s orders and he hadn’t been happy about it either time. He checked his watch and knew that every time they separated that there was something horrible that had happened. The last nine months had been easy mentally because they had not had to worry about the stress that they had gone through the first three days considering how many people they loved or cared about that they had lost. Their previous time was simply spent with working out and learning the drills until they could try and do them in their sleep. Greg had wished one thing which was just that instead of waiting for the news, that they would have never shut the gates as well that they would have started the training from day three.

  Chapter Ten

  Greg went back to Joey who was busy constructing. He was seriously impressed with the makeshift sled that Joey had constructed for Ellie. “Why did you make it so big Joey? I mean it looks like a great sled.”

  Joey looked up but not paying attention to anything but the task at hand. “I wanted extra room on it for the ammo cans and you still need to get supplies for us to bring with. Ellie’s gonna need water and food when she wakes up.”

  Greg spoke without thinking; his optimism for her outlook was not as great as Shaun and Joey’s. “You mean if Ellie wakes up, Joey.”

  “No, Greg, that isn’t what I meant, she’s going to wake up. She’s going to be ok! You tell Ellie that you are sorry, now!”

  Greg felt like he couldn’t remember the last time that he had made a good decision or said the right thing. He was keeping a running list going in his head of things he was going to be trying to change. He knelt down by Ellie putting a hand on her arm and whispered, “I’m sorry Ellie, I don’t know what I was saying. Of course you are going to be alright. You need to get better soon though. You are driving that boy of yours crazy.”

  Joey patted him on the shoulder and said, “We are family Greg, we need to be nice to each other and take care of one another, that’s something my dad used to tell me.”

  It was in that moment that Greg looked down at Ellie knowing that he didn’t think if the absolute worse happened, that he’d be able to put her out of her misery. He looked over his shoulder at Joey, “You’re right Joey, we are family. Look, you’re doing a great job. I’m going to grab some supplies and we can wait for Shaun’s time to be up.”

  Joey, who’d barely stopped working, went straight back to finishing. Greg walked around the store collecting meal bars, water, and anything that was useful and easy to consume and that had high calories that could be eaten without cooking.

  When the gunfire started it came in spurts of ten with only seconds in between. After the fifth round he started to suspect that it was growing further away with each new burst. When he had everything he thought that they would need to get the through a few days he stuffed it all into a milk crate that he’d grabbed from the back of the store. By the time he was done he could just barely hear the echo of Shaun’s rifle. He saw Joey had wrapped Ellie in his coat to keep her legs warm and had her on the makeshift sled and ready to go.

  Greg walked around the contraption and checked it out. When he deemed it would be sturdy and safe for her he slapped Joey on the shoulder. “Good job Joey. What about your coat, aren’t you going to freeze out there?”

  Joey pulled at his hoody. “Nah, if I got this and I'm in charge of pulling her I'm gonna get plenty of workout that will keep me warm.” He patted at his stomach and said, “Besides look at all this padding I got, I think that I'm gonna be just fine as long as I got my hat and gloves on.”

  Greg thought of his own physique as well as Ellie’s and knew if they were outside for too long that the two of them would surely freeze if they didn’t have coats on and relied on a hoody to keep their frames warm. He checked his watch and said, “You get her to the front and get these supplies attached to the sled. I need to go check on something.”

  Joey nodded and not thinking to ask where he had to go. Greg ran through the back to the opposite side and raced up the ladder to the roof. When he climbed out he sat listening. The quiet was both good and bad. He knew Shaun could run but the snow, ice, and Turned everywhere gave him doubts if he would see his friend again no matter how well he’d thought out his plan. Greg was halfway down when the blasts and gunfire began again and started much faster and further away than before.

  Chapter Eleven

  Half hour before

  Shaun walked with a purpose towards the front door but stopped himself just shy of pushing the sliding doors open. When he realized what he was doing he slapped himself across the face. “Get it together Fox. We won’t be around to fix what dad did if we don’t pay attention.”

  Shaun turned around and ran for the side fire exit. He pushed it open slowly, praying the bell would not go off. When it didn’t he let out a deep breath of relief. He squeezed through the doorway, keeping it as closed as possible.

  He pushed the door tightly shut after kicking the snow out of the way so that it locked again. Shaun pulled on the door making sure that if someone was going to enter they’d have to give themselves away and break the glass out of one of the doors or windows. Shaun heard snow crunching from behind him. He swung his rifle but a bloody and vein filled hand was gripping his arm. He winced at the
pain. He tried to pull it away instinctively but the only way he was getting his arm back was if it was removed and handed to him.

  He looked at the hand that had him in its grasp and saw frostbit, bare skin. He didn’t waste time screaming at it. He knew it no longer spoke, and even more so it didn’t care if he was in pain. He pulled at his arm trying again to free himself but this time the Turned picked him up off of the ground.

  Shaun looked down at his boots dangling freely in the air. His weight compared to the Turned man’s strength made Shaun look to be as light as a feather. He slammed Shaun into the wall once, twice, and a final third time. Shaun wasn’t sure if he was going to pass out, but would be damned if he was going to fail anyone on the inside. He tried to get at his rifle but it was trapped between himself and the Turned.

  It reached in, trying to take a bite out of his arm. Shaun snapped his head back hitting it in the face repeatedly until it staggered back almost losing its balance. Shaun pulled his pistol but before he could use it, the Turned grabbed his hand then pulled itself in and head butted Shaun in the face. Blood ran over his lips and into his mouth filling it with a metallic taste that he hated.

  The Turned raised him again, let go of his pistol hand and opened its mouth for a drink of the fresh blood. Shaun dropped his handgun due to the pain. Shaun winced from what he was sure was a broken nose, while trying to blink as quickly as he could to get the tears out of his eyes, but with no such luck.

  When it came in again for another drink, its mouth wide open and extended, Shaun pulled his knife from his sheath and slammed it into the side of its head. The knife stuck into its skull but did not pierce the brain. Using his left hand, Shaun open palm hit the pommel of the knife but was unable to send it home and make the kill. Switching tactics he yanked the knife out and when the monster lifted its head Shaun rammed the knife up underneath its chin.

  It dropped Shaun and wildly clawed at the knife that was now lodged in his mouth, trapping the jaws shut. Shaun scrambled for his pistol, forgetting that he had the rifle slung over his shoulder, as the adrenaline took over his body and mind. Shaun watched as the Turned grabbed the knife and screaming in frustration, pulled it back out from its mouth.

  Shaun could just barely see anything with the tears in his eyes. He aimed the pistol at the first thing that he could make focus of and fired two shots into each of the Turned’s kneecaps. Its legs buckled and it toppled over to the side. It started crawling towards Shaun while reaching and trying to grasp at him with its hands. Shaun quickly scrambled up from the ground and crab walked backwards. He aimed to squeeze off one more and thought about the Turned that would be coming this way from the multiple rounds. He knew that he shouldn’t fire off any more if it could be avoided.

  The blood coming from his face alone was going to be intoxicating to bring them this way. He let the rifle fall from his side. He used it to push himself up off of the ground. Shaun stumbled forward towards it, making sure not to fall, knowing even without the use of its legs it was just as deadly as any other type of predator that was out there. He would not underestimate it.

  Shaun brought a foot down hard into its forehead snapping its head backwards. When it came back towards him Shaun had a boot ready and kicked it in the face and then brought the rifle down onto it three more times. The echo of it hitting its head was almost as loud as a gunshot would have been. Its face collapsed into the snow. The top of its head was split open and Shaun used the heel of his boot to bring it down as hard as he could into the bloody hair, putting it out of its misery and taking away its ability to cause hell upon others.

  Shaun collapsed onto the ground but only rested there for a minute. He’d planned on being out of the area by now, not three feet from the side door. He knew that he’d told Greg a half hour and would have no way of retracting that request now. He collected his pistol, brushed the snow from it and slid it back into his hip holster. He found his knife bloodied and resting in the snow.

  Shaun started to run but fell into the snow face first. He laid on his stomach for a second, the cold snow on his cheeks feeling like needles being dragged across his skin. The pain from his nose was impossible to deal with. It was throbbing. The snow made it feel better and worse at the exact same time. He got up slowly while looking around and seeing that there would inevitably be more than one of these things around.

  Shaun took a deep breath, sucking up the pain and pushing it away to be dealt with later. He rolled down the hill with the scent of his blood telling the Turned exactly where they needed to go to find him. Shaun went at them with ten shot bursts, not wanting to stand still any longer than he needed to or could allow to. He knew that he only had so much time to stay ahead of them.

  Shaun started weighing his options and couldn’t say that he was in love with any of them. He evaluated the very cold day and for the recent freezing temperatures and thought back to when he used to tag along with his Grandpa Fox. Grandpa would judge the ice and the older, confident man would never worry about walking across once he made the decision. Shaun saw the bridge and knew that there were few options, and that if it didn’t work he’d have no choice but to take out as many of them with what he had left on his person as possible. Shaun picked up his pace until the air coming in was as bad as one of the Turned trying to choke him out. He screamed over his shoulder baiting them, “Come on you stupid shits, let’s go!”

  Shaun slung the rifle back over his neck and shoulder and pulled one of the last two grenades that he had. There was only four seconds from the time that he dropped the pin before they would explode. He hoped that this would work because the idea he knew was not as great as it could be. He dropped the first one of the grenades on the ice as he ran across it, slowing down for nothing.

  The blast was earth shatteringly loud and sent him off of his feet even with the distance that he had ahead of them. Shaun dropped the second one just a moment before he had meant to and was unable to go any faster on the ice. He looked over his shoulder after the first blast and could see frost bitten hands up in the air and waving as they sunk to what he hoped would be their icy graves. When the second one went off the ice split and it was like the crack was searching for Shaun and hunting him just as the Turned were now. He tried to race and outrun it but it did no good.

  The ice beneath his feet disappeared and the cold water of the lake that was supposed to be his savior was now his prison, submerging him beneath it. Shaun disappeared under the ice; the pieces that had made their way open for him to enter the dark grave reformed above him trapping him beneath.

  Shaun did his best to stay calm but it was not that type of a situation. He pounded on the ice and was only able to scream on the inside, doing his best to keep the small breath that he’d taken in before he’d gone under from disappearing. Shaun clawed at the ice until he saw feet and figures above him that were clawing back at him.

  Shaun’s blood from his nose made it difficult to see as it flowed in the water around him, in a red mist. Whatever was walking around on top of the ice started clawing at him but it was too thick for him to be reached through it. Shaun pulled out the pistol loaded with forty five caliber bullets and sent five of them through the ice above him and into the one trying to get him. It disappeared, leaving a trail of black as it made its way away. Shaun ran his fingers alongside the ice where he’d shot, finding one of the bullet holes and placing his lips beneath it sucking air in the best that he could.

  Shaun sent the next five shots into different spots and when he was out of ammunition, holstered the pistol and sent an entire magazine of thirty rounds on full auto from the rifle, through the ice until it broke free, letting him escape from his frozen prison. Shaun pulled himself up on the side of the ice taking a large a breath and gasping quickly for as many as he could get into his lungs.

  He tried to grip the ice more firm but it was near impossible with the numbing that was racing through his body and the weight of his wet gear and clothing. Shaun managed to pull himself up j
ust enough to get his leg on the edge of the ice and remove himself out of the water. His gear and clothes felt like they weighed an extra two hundred pounds and they were getting heavier and stiffer by the second. The Turned had left and he wasn’t sure where they were but even in his near hypothermic state he still wondered if his friends had made it from the grocery store safely and found a new shelter. It definitely was something that he was praying had a fireplace in it or he knew he would most likely not last the night in these frigid temperatures.

  He heard a growling and rolled to his side, one of the Turned that he’d shot multiple times was lying there handicapped by his injuries that looked to be spinal in nature. Shaun retrieved his pistol as he was unable to pull up and aim the rifle at the moment. He aimed a shaking hand at it and fired the pistol, but the only thing that he heard was the sound of a click going off, no primer being struck by the firing pin. The cold was not only slowing down his physical abilities but seriously affecting the way he was capable of thinking and the speed that he could do it with. He fumbled at the small button to hit the magazine release, letting it drop to the ice and that was the last thing that he saw before the lights went out.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shortly after the four left, back at the base

  Kya and Patrick were walking the gates, holding hands and trying not to shiver in the cold. Their free time for not having training or helping to find something to do and stay useful and do their shares was limited. “So where do you think that they are?” Kya asked.

  Patrick said, “I don’t know, I'm a bit lost that we haven’t found them yet. I mean, it’s a big base but how hard can they be to find? If Shaun isn’t on the range or on patrol I'd think that they’d be somewhere easy to find. It is cold as hell out; I wouldn’t assume they’d be outside enjoying this lovely weather”