Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands

by Brian J. Jarrett

  The minutes passed like hours as they made their way through the tunnel. The sound of the storm grew louder as they walked, and Chloe had never before been so glad to see a thunderstorm.

  As they approached the light, Cindy suddenly turned right.

  “What are you doing?” Chloe asked.

  “That takes us outside,” Cindy replied. “That’s where the carriers are. This branch of the tunnel takes us to the other building.”

  “What other building?”

  “The smaller one behind it. I don’t think Daddy and the others use it much.”

  “Don’t call him that,” Jim said from behind them. “He’s not our daddy.”

  Chloe shushed him. “Focus, Jim.”

  The group veered right, into a section of the tunnel that turned back into more blackness.

  “We’re almost there, I think,” Cindy said.

  They walked slowly, almost at a crawling pace for another few minutes until Cindy stopped them.

  “Here it is,” she said. She let go of Chloe’s hand and began feeling for the door in the darkness. “Got it,” she said. She grunted as she pulled on the handle. “It’s stuck.”

  Chloe felt her hopes fade. “Locked?”

  “No,” Cindy said. “I got it open a little, but I’m not strong enough.”

  “I’m coming, hang on.” Chloe walked toward the sound of Cindy’s voice in the dark, unable to see anything at all. Eventually her hands found a wall made of rough brick. She felt along it until the surface of a smooth metal door replaced it. She gripped the handle and pulled. The door budged, but only a bit.

  Chloe took a deep breath and prepared to pull when she heard a shrill shrieking erupt from directly behind them in the pitchy darkness.

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Zach and Jeremy wandered through the darkened corridors with no idea of where to go. They had to stay a step ahead of the carriers and the fire if they wanted to get out of the building alive. What they’d do once out in the open remained to be seen.

  They continued along the seemingly endless series of connected hallways, searching for a way out. Another stairwell, a fire escape or anything else would suffice. The sound of the carriers in pursuit behind them had diminished, but they both knew that didn’t mean they were safe. Carriers didn’t give up easily.

  After making their way down yet another darkened hallway, they began to hear the sound of the storm outside grow louder. After coming to another T-shaped intersection, they peered around the corner and both ways into the perpendicular corridor. They could see at the end of the adjoining hall a flash of light.

  A window…and a chance.

  “This way!” Zach said to his brother.

  They walked quickly through the dimly lit hallway, hurrying as much as they could. Lightning continued to fire outside the window, bringing with it the inevitable rumble of the subsequent thunderclap. Wind blew in their faces, forced into the hallway by the raging storm outside and funneled into high velocity by the narrow corridor.

  They arrived at the window to find the glass completely broken. Rain blew inside, soaking the already rotting floor. Piles of leaves accumulated in the corners, deposited over many years of neglect and dilapidation.

  Both Zach and Jeremy plunged their heads through the window, looking around at their surroundings. The ground lay three stories below them, unyielding and out of reach. No fire escapes could be seen, but a floor below them they found a tunnel stretching between the building in which they now stood and a second, smaller building behind them. The roof of the connecting tube was made of smooth glass, curved like an arch at the top. The tube’s glass, thicker than window glass, remained intact and unbroken.

  “That’s our way out,” Zach said, pointing to the tunnel. “We head down to the second floor right below us and go through that tunnel into the second building.”

  Jeremy agreed.

  They turned to head that direction and heard the unmistakable sound of carriers behind them. In the dim light they saw five hunched figures walking through the hallway to where they stood. The carrier in the lead reared its head back and let out another blood-curdling scream as it locked eyes on its prey.

  Zach felt hot fear shock his system like an electric bolt. His panicked mind raced for a solution, but he couldn’t find one. The carriers blocked the only way out. There would be no way they could get past them and down to the glass tube walkway. And now that they’d been spotted, only seconds remained before the predators closed in.

  Zach glanced out the window again, looking down at the glass tube stretching between the buildings. A three foot drop separated the window sill from the roof of the tube. He had an idea. A crazy one that probably would get them both killed, but a plan nonetheless.

  “Follow me,” Zach said.

  “Where to?” Jeremy asked.

  “We’re going to walk across that tube to the other side.”

  “We can’t get down there!”

  “Not through it. On top of it.”

  “We’ll fall.”

  Zach considered that. “We might.”

  Jeremy looked out the window at the tube. “I’m scared.”

  “Me too.”

  The carriers screamed from the hallway.

  Then they charged.

  “Now,” Zach said. “You first. I’m right behind you.”

  “I don’t think I can, Zach.”

  Zach turned away from the carriers bearing down upon them and looked his brother in the eye. “You can.”

  Jeremy nodded. As the carriers closed in, Zach helped his brother onto the window ledge, swinging his feet outside.

  “Just let go,” Zach said.

  Jeremy took a deep breath, looked down at the glass tube walkway below him and pushed off.

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Ed raised the rifle and pointed it at the place he’d last seen the man with the gun. In the darkness he couldn’t see anything much beyond a dozen or so feet in front of him.

  “Come on,” he said to himself. “Where are you?”

  He strained hard in the darkness, but no matter how hard he tried he could see nothing of the group or the man holding the rifle on them.

  Lightning flashed again and Ed caught sight of the man. He now stood in a slightly different place. Ed lined up the sights of the rifle on the figure, but the light dissipated, leaving behind only darkness.

  Ed pulled the trigger, firing blind.

  With no way of knowing if he’d hit the man, Ed used the cover of darkness to his advantage, making his way toward the group. He navigated the rooftop to where he’d last seen them, the cold rain drenching him. He blinked rain out of his eyes as he struggled to see in the dim light.

  He emerged from behind another rooftop air conditioner and a group of shadowy figures appeared before him.

  “Trish!” Ed called out.

  “Ed!” she replied. She ran out of the shadows and hugged him. “You’re okay!”

  Ed glanced down and saw a body lying on the rooftop. His blind shot had been dead on.

  “Where are the boys?” Trish asked.

  Ed didn’t know what to say.

  “Oh, no…”.

  “I don’t know where they are,” he replied. “We got separated. They could be anywhere. I haven’t been able to find them.”

  “We’ll find them,” Jasper said.

  “We have to get off this roof,” one of the women said. “This building’s going up in flames.”

  “You’re not going anywhere, Ed Brady,” a voice said.

  Alice took a step forward, the dead man’s rifle in her hands.

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  Jeremy struck the roof the glass tube walkway feet first. The rain made the surface slippery but he gripped hard, stopping himself from sliding completely off. He righted himself on the top, centering his balance. He spun around on his belly and faced the window from which he’d jumped, looking up through the drenching rain pounding him from above.

&
nbsp; His big brother now sat on the window sill, legs out. He gave one look back before pushing himself off just as the muscular arm of the carrier reached out. A second too late on his jump, the creature’s claws caught Zach’s shoulder, slicing through his shirt and gouging the flesh beneath. Zach yelped as he fell, the blow knocking him off balance, causing him to fall too close to the edge of the tube.

  Unable to arrest his fall, Zach slid off the top of the walkway and toward the ground below.

  Chapter Eighty-Six

  “You left me to die back at that freak church,” Alice said.

  “Put the rifle down,” Jasper said.

  “You shut the fuck up,” Alice replied.

  “What are you doing?” one of the women from the group asked.

  “Shut up, bitch. This is personal business, long overdue.” Alice turned her attention back to Ed. “You left me behind and your whore girlfriend over there just let it happen.”

  Ed didn’t reply. He stood, rifle still in hand.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Alice continued, a sly smile spreading across her face. “Can you get me before I get you? I doubt it. I’m already cocked and loaded here.”

  “Maybe I’ll take my chances,” Ed said.

  “Go ahead, John Wayne. But when I pull the trigger, I’m not gonna shoot you.”

  Alice pointed the rifle at Trish.

  Ed froze.

  “That’s better,” Alice said. Rain pelted the rooftop, the lightning storm overhead still raging. “I could be persuaded to let your girlfriend go. Hell, I’ll let all of them go, as long as I have you. What do you think, eh?”

  “Ed, no,” Trish said.

  “It’s okay,” he said. Sarah was dead. Zach and Jeremy might be dead too and if they were he knew there’d be no way he could go on after that. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe a quick bullet to the head would be a merciful fate.

  He tossed the rifle down and held up his hands.

  Trish screamed. “No!”

  Alice smiled. “I’ll bet you never expected me to follow you, did you? You know, I thought for sure I’d lost you there for a while and then these fucking hillbillies caught me along the Interstate. I figured it was all over for me then, but now here we are. What are the chances?”

  “Slim,” Ed said. “Looks like luck was on your side.”

  “Looks like it was,” Alice said, raising the rifle. “Goodbye, asshole.”

  She squeezed the trigger and the shot echoed throughout the stormy night.

  Chapter Eighty-Seven

  “Chloe…” Sam said in the pitch black darkness of the tunnel.

  Carriers screamed from somewhere in the tunnel. It sounded close. Really, really close. She felt her blood run cold as she pushed on the door, only to find it wouldn’t budge.

  “Come on…” she said under her breath. She took a step back and slammed into the door.

  It budged, but only a little.

  Chloe took another step back and put all her weight into the door. Carriers shrieked behind her as the door flung open, the rusty hinges crying out in protest.

  “Inside!” Chloe yelled. She heard the children run past her, their small feet making shuffling noises in the darkness.

  “Sam!” she called out.

  Snarling came from the darkness, closer than ever now.

  “Sam!” she yelled again.

  Growling erupted from the darkness.

  “That’s all of them,” a voice said from beside her. It was Sam.

  Chloe’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest with relief. She leaned into the door, but found it to be as stubborn closing as it had been opening. Sharp talons clicked across the stone floor of the tunnel, just outside the door in the darkness.

  Then the door seemed to move on its own as Sam leaned his considerable mass into it. It shut just as the first carrier slammed its body into the metal. The blow pushed both Sam and Chloe back a step, forcing the door open a few inches.

  Chloe pushed hard on the door as the carrier shoved against it with its superior strength. Sam put his back against the door and dug his feet in, relying on his leg muscles to keep the door closed.

  “Look for a lock!” Sam said, grunting hard.

  Chloe searched along the edge of the door for anything resembling a locking mechanism. The carrier outside the door screamed, a combined sound of hunger and frustration.

  “Hurry!” Sam called out. “I can’t hold it much longer!”

  Chloe continued feeling along the door jamb, but found nothing. Another slam against the door made her jerk hard and cry out.

  Sam groaned. “Find the lock!”

  Chloe searched as sweat beaded on her forehead, dripping off and onto the stone floor. Her fingers eventually happened upon a deadbolt lock set within the door. “Got it!” she yelled. “Push!”

  Chloe shoved her shoulder into the door along with Sam, forcing it shut. She twisted the lock into place as two more bodies struck the door, jarring it on its frame.

  “Go find something to block this door,” Sam said. “This lock will only hold for so long.”

  A light appeared from deeper within the hallway. A moment later one of the children appeared holding a candle. The girl had long blonde hair and a thin face. Too thin.

  “I found this in one of the rooms,” the girl said. “There’s a bunch of them in there.”

  “I could kiss you right now,” Chloe said. The little girl smiled.

  Chloe turned to Sam. “I could kiss you too.”

  Sam smiled. “Then why don’t you?”

  Chloe leaned in and kissed Sam on the lips. Behind him the carriers howled in frustration.

  “Now hurry up,” Sam said.

  Chloe turned to the little girl holding the candle. “What’s your name, honey?”

  “Posey.”

  “Well then, Posey, you and I need to find something to keep this door closed.”

  Chapter Eighty-Eight

  Zach reached out for his brother as he slid toward the edge and the ground three stories below. Jeremy lunged forward, gripping Zach by the hand. He pulled hard. Zach’s momentum threatened to pull Jeremy up over the edge, so Jeremy gripped harder and allowed himself to slide toward the opposite side as a counterweight. Zach’s fall was arrested, but his feet dangled over the edge and toward a lethal drop to the ground below.

  Jeremy pulled hard as his brother struggled to get back on top of the arched walkway. The pounding rain made everything slippery and nearly impossible to find purchase. Jeremy looked down the length of the glass roof and noticed a seam running perpendicular where the glass sections met. A metal band covered the seams, bolted into place. The edge of the metal rose an inch above the glass surface, providing a small lip.

  Jeremy reached out and gripped the metal lip of the band, pulling hard. He felt as if his arms might pull out of the socket, but he ignored the pain. Zach gripped Jeremy’s arm, climbing up it like a rope, pulling himself back up and onto the top of the arched glass roof. He swung his leg up toward the top.

  He slipped back down again, off the tunnel’s roof.

  Jeremy gripped hard and pulled, stopping Zach’s fall. He yelled as hot pain ripped through his shoulder joints. His fingers ached, his muscles sang with pain. He couldn’t hold on much longer, he knew.

  Zach attempted to swing his leg back onto the roof. This time he made it, sliding the rest of his body back onto the top of the roof, regaining his balance. Behind them the carriers howled as one began to crawl through the window and onto the glass walkway roof.

  “Go!” Zach yelled over the torrential rain.

  Jeremy spun on his belly and faced himself toward the second building. On the other side another broken out window sat above the tube, in the same place as the building behind them. If they could make it there, they could crawl through it.

  He began to belly crawl toward the window, balancing precariously on the top of the sloping structure. He heard the carriers screeching behind him as they stepped out a
nd onto the roof of the walkway. He crawled faster, but he could only move so fast and still maintain his balance.

  He glanced back to see his brother crawling behind him. Behind Zach a carrier crouched on top of the roof. It stood slowly, its muscled figure lit only in silhouette. It took a step forward and then another, now only three feet behind Zach. It took another step and slipped on the wet glass, screeching as it plummeted toward the ground below. It fell for a second or two before striking the wet ground with a dull thud.

  Jeremy continued crawling toward the other side of the walkway. The carriers still inside the building behind them howled as a bright bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. The rain continued to pound, showing no signs of letting up. “Zach! You okay?” he called out. He didn’t want to chance looking back again and forcing himself off balance.

  Zach answered, saying he was fine.

  Jeremy focused his attention on the end of the walkway. He crawled across the glass as quickly as he could, navigating the metal seam covers and the long, open expanses of slippery glass. The carriers growled and whimpered like dogs behind them. He didn’t look back at them again. He heard another screech as a carrier fell from the tunnel roof behind them, striking the ground below. It was a grim reminder of how precarious their situation was.

  An eternity later, Jeremy arrived at the end of the tunnel. He looked up at the window sill in front of him, sitting only a couple of feet from the glass roof of the tunnel. He’d have to reach up and grab it without losing his balance, a feat that seemed nearly impossible on the slippery surface.

  He took a deep breath. Blinking the rain out of his eyes, he reached toward the window sill. His fingers found purchase and he gripped the edge, pulling himself to his feet. His right foot slipped and he had a heart-stopping moment where he thought he might go over the side, but his left foot stayed in place and he pulled himself back up on the top of the glass. He pulled himself in through the window and turned to help Zach, reaching out a hand through the open window and gripping his big brother’s hand tightly. Zach stood now. Gripping the window sill, he pulled himself up and into the building, sliding in on his belly and collapsing onto the floor inside.