Emma: Part Three

by Lolita Lopez

  Max looked up to Jack’s perch and nodded. Do your job.

  “Here. You’ll need these.” Laird slapped a set of keys in his hand. “You can take Rooster.”

  He followed the man’s pointing finger to the ruggedized 4x4 truck with a double-cab and roll cage. A damned 50-cal had been mounted on a swivel base in the bed.

  “I’ll drive.” Chloe Morgan, ax in hand, appeared from the shadows. “I’ll take you out there and get you back alive with Leila and your soldiers—but I want my sister and her baby out of this hellhole on the first helicopter.”

  Max wasn’t in a position to bargain. He needed an extra set of hands. She seemed capable enough so he tossed the keys at her. “Deal.”

  Glancing at Rafe, he transmitted his order. The mother and the child are on the first medevac transport back to base. They’re light enough. The extra weight won’t matter.

  Done. Get my men back.

  Yep. He raced toward Rooster with Chloe at his side.

  “You’re gonna need this.” Limping and grimacing with pain, the youngest Keaton boy threw weapons into the bed of the truck—shotguns, pistols, more ammo and even grenades. He pointed to the harness attached to the roll cage. “Buckle up, sir. Chloe drives like a bat out of hell.”

  “I heard that, Lane!”

  Lane just grinned and stuck his head in the passenger side window. “Chloe, the floor panels and undercarriage are all reinforced. You’ve got enough clearance to mow those sons-a-bitches down. You bring back my sister, and I’ll get your sister and the baby on that helicopter without a scratch.”

  “You fucking better, Lane.”

  “Have I ever let you down?”

  “Nope.” Chloe cranked the engine and gave the monstrous beast a burst of diesel. “You ready back there?”

  Max whacked the top of the cab. “Let’s roll.”

  Within twenty seconds, it became clear that Lane Keaton hadn’t been joking. Chloe Morgan had some serious skills behind the wheel, but she was a lead foot.

  Grateful for the harness keeping him in the bed and behind the mounted machine gun, he leaned down to yell at her through the small window there. “One of my snipers is feeding me intel. He says go straight fifty yards then make a right. We should come up parallel to the girl soon after that.”

  “Got it.”

  Concerned she had never been in combat, he said, “When I open up with this gun, it’s going to be very loud.”

  “I know.” She answered calmly and kept her eyes forward. “Hang on.” She neatly executed the right turn, and he managed to hang on to the roll cage and not be hurtled out of the back like a slingshot. “You still with me?”

  “I’m with you.” Hearing the hissing snarls of the approaching undead, he expelled a steadying breath. “Whatever happens, you keep your foot on the gas. We only slow down to grab the girl and my men.”

  “Not a problem.” She switched on the high beams. “I see Leila! Oh shit.”

  He didn’t have to ask the reason for that expletive. Oh shit was exactly what he was thinking when he spotted the sprinting pack of bloody, rotting Biters hot on Leila Keaton’s tail. Like Emma, she dressed in men’s clothing but hers was better fitting and obviously tailored to her smaller frame.

  And damn. That girl could run. Even loaded down with a shotgun, pistols and ammo, she was booking it across the dark plain.

  “Get up alongside her!” Max hoped Leila would understand that she had to jump into the bed while he laid down suppressing fire. “Don’t slow down too much.”

  Chloe blared the horn and punched the gas. Leila lifted a hand overhead to let them know she had heard them and made a quick cut to the right so she could pass in front of Rooster’s path. She cleared his field of fire so he unleashed hell with the gun. Zombies jerked as the rounds tore through them. The sight of the nasty bastards falling made him grin with satisfaction.

  As Chloe eased off the accelerator, Max took his hands off the gun just long enough to reach out and grab onto Leila. He snatched her up by the back of her thin jacket and one upper arm and hauled her into the back of the truck. “She’s in!”

  Chloe hit the gas again and got them the hell out of there. He opened fire on the Biters racing after them. The wind kicked up as the storm rolled closer, and the horrid stench of death and decay soured his gut.

  Leila scrambled to her feet and opened up a second can of ammo for the .50-cal. “Your men are hurt. I’ve got them tucked away in a safe spot but one of them took a gut shot. He’s bleeding out bad. The other one took a round to the thigh and one to the knee.”

  After rearming his weapon, she stuck her head into the small window between the cab and bed of the truck and gave Chloe directions back to the site where his men were waiting and wounded. “And make sure you swing us wide around, Chloe! We’re right in the line of fire between the town and this attack. The sooner we clear out, the sooner the folks back at Purgatory can let loose.”

  “There!” Leila shouted and pointed to a position just north.

  “I see them.” Max could just make out the shape of one man firing from behind a boulder that he was using as cover. As the vehicle pulled in front of them, Leila took over at the big gun and Chloe stepped out of the cab and began firing shotgun blasts to try to suppress the swarm of zombies heading right for them.

  A dog the size of a damn pony snarled and growled until Leila shouted, “Grim! Quiet!”

  The dog yowled loudly and paced back and forth. Hackles raised, the great black beast seemed to sense that danger was all around them.

  “Butler’s out cold,” Butch shouted as Max jumped down to help. “The truck came out of nowhere. Someone fired a shot from the back of it. It was a big round, boss. It tore him right up!”

  Max surveyed the damage done to one of the Zed squad’s finest soldiers. The bloody mess hanging from his gut wasn’t survivable, not tonight. They were too far from a hospital and medical evacuations wouldn’t be possible until they got the security situation under control. Butler was going to bleed out and die, probably in the bed of the truck.

  “Leila! Cover us!” Chloe Morgan had backed her away around the front of the idling truck, firing round after round from that shotgun until she was right near the two downed cyborgs. She grimaced at the sight and smell of Butler’s mortally wounded body. “Sweet Jesus.”

  “Help him into the front seat,” Max ordered with a quick gesture to Butch. “I’ll get Butler.”

  Chloe nodded and hurried to Butch’s side. She gave him the support he needed as he limped to the truck and slid into the front seat. When she returned, Chloe didn’t utter a peep of protest when Max gestured for her help with Butler. She climbed into the truck first and helped slide the man’s injured body onto the bench seat and then scrambled into the driver’s seat.

  Max slammed the door closed and jumped into the bed. The dog followed him, landing with a heavy thud in the back and smartly getting out of the line of fire. He nuzzled up against his mistress and whined at her.

  Max took over at the gun and asked Leila, “Can you give my soldier aid?”

  “Yes.”

  He grabbed her arm, stopping her before she had a chance to get too far. “We’ve got air support coming in hot and fast. We need to get some place safe and out of the line of fire. I don’t think we can make it back to the town, not with all these zombies surrounding us.”

  Leila bit her lip. “I know a place.” She glanced at Butler. “But I don’t know if he’ll survive the move.”

  “We have to try.”

  “All right.” She stunned him by wiggling her way through the small window along the rear of the cab instead of hopping out of the bed and using the door. “Chloe, drive us to the tombs!”

  Judging by the string of expletives that left Chloe’s mouth, she wasn’t thrilled by that idea. Nevertheless, she hit the gas and they sped off into the night. Max fired at everything and anything that moved. The transmitter embedded in his brain continued to feed updates from Ra
fe and the incoming pilots ready to rain hellfire down below.

  “Hold on!” Leila called out. “We’re about to take a hard turn.”

  Max braced himself two heartbeats before Chloe wrenched the wheel. The vehicle nosed down as it descended an old washed out creek bed. Grim slid across the bed, his nails scratching at the metal, and whacked into Max’s hip. The full force of two hundred plus pounds of that furry beast slammed him into the roll cage, smashing his upper arm. He winced. Come sunrise, he would be black and blue.

  “Get that fucking door unlocked, Leila!” Chloe Morgan was halfway out of the driver’s seat as she screamed at the other girl. “I’ll help with the wounded one.”

  “Yep.” Shotgun in hand, Leila dove out of the backseat of the truck and raced to the entrance of what looked like a culvert. She had lost her jacket and a shirt in the backseat, probably using them as trauma dressings for Butler. The thin tank she wore wouldn’t provide much cover or warmth once the storm hit.

  While he jumped down from the bed of the truck, he zeroed in with his night vision enhancements and spotted the sealed door there. “What is that?”

  “Tunnels,” Chloe explained as she helped him lift Butler out of the backseat. “People around here call them the tombs.” She made a face at the eardrum piercing squeal of a heavy metal door swinging on rusty hinges. “You’ll see why soon enough.”

  “Grab the weapons, Butch,” Max ordered as he carried Butler to the entrance of the tunnel. “And anything that can be used for first aid.”

  “There’s a box under the backseat,” Leila shouted as she ran back to help them.

  Grim suddenly barked, the sound one of pure warning.

  “Hell!” Leila lifted the shotgun she had been carrying and fired over the rear of the truck. “Y’all need to move. Now!”

  He didn’t pause to look back. He ran faster with Butler’s limp body in his arms and ducked his head as he entered the tunnel. The dank, wet smell of contained air punched him right in the nose. Underneath it all, he caught the scent of detritus and death. He decided not to venture far from the entrance and very gently put Butler on the ground.

  He rushed back to the door. “Come on! Move! Move! We’re right in the flight path!”

  His internal sensors clanged as Logan’s jet flew closer and closer. Seeing that Butch needed help, he raced out to give the cyborg a hand. Chloe and Leila were right behind him, both of them firing at the undead horde falling and tripping and rolling down the embankment. Grim barked incessantly.

  With a rough shove, he pushed Butch into the tunnel and then stepped out of the way as Grim barreled in behind them. There were three more shotgun blasts and then the sound of boots and scraping metal. Something heavy hit the cement floor. He spun around at the sound and spotted Chloe’s ax. Both women were fighting to secure the door. He shouldered them out of the way and yanked it hard to form the seal.

  A second later, the entire tunnel shook as the ground was pounded by bombs. The roar of the fiery torrent hit the door so hard the heat of it knocked him back a few feet. The women recoiled and Grim growled loudly.

  As the bombing continued up top, labored breaths filled the darkness. He could see the women, but they couldn’t see him. Leila slapped at the utility belt around her waist and freed a flashlight that she used to illuminate their space. The beam jumped around the small tunnel. “There should be some more first aid supplies, water, canned food and some emergency lanterns just beyond that first turn. Daddy has survival stashes all over the place.”

  “I’ll go,” Chloe said, picking up her ax. “I’m not good with blood.”

  “I don’t mind it.” Leila handed over her flashlight. “Watch out for snakes and rats.”

  “Will do.” Chloe whistled softly at Grim who padded along quietly behind her.

  Leila turned toward him, her expression one that was trusting even though she couldn’t see a damn thing in the dark. “Tell me what you need me to do.”

  “We’ve got to get some pressure on these wounds,” he said, rushing back to Butler’s side.

  “I’m not sure what sort of trauma dressings we have in here.” She plunked the metal first aid kit onto the cement. “I used my clothes and tried to push it all back inside, but I’m not sure it worked.”

  “You did the right thing.” Max was impressed by the way she had remained calm throughout this entire ordeal.

  “Here.” Butch, his voice tight with pain, tossed a package at them. “It’s a chem-light. It won’t be much help, but she’ll be able to see enough.”

  “Thanks.” Leila smiled back at him before tearing into the package with her teeth and snapping the chem-light in half. The eerie yellow-green glow lit up her face. She clamped the light stick between her teeth and started digging through the first aid kit.

  Together, they wrapped and packed the gaping slash in Butler’s belly. It was bloody, miserable work, and in the back of his mind, Max knew it was too late. Leila’s expression told him she knew the man was too far gone, but she didn’t stop working. Like him, she wanted to try. Butler deserved that.

  “Found it,” Chloe announced as she dragged a heavy bag of supplies back to their location. She held a battery-operated lantern in the other. Her ax was resting on top of the heavy bag. Grim nosed at the nylon duffel in search of food but Chloe waved him away from it. “Get!”

  “You can stay with your soldier.” Leila wiped at her hands with a couple of packaged wipes. “I’ll deal with the other one.”

  “The other one has a name,” Butch said with a groan.

  “I know.” She knelt down beside him and started working on his injured thigh. “I just don’t care.”

  “Harsh.” Butch hissed when she ripped open his cargo pants with a sharp knife she’d plucked from a sheath on her hip and started prodding the wound with her fingers.

  “Smart,” she countered. “Men like you? You’re trouble. I have no interest in getting to know any of you. You’re all just cyborgs to me.”

  Butch laughed darkly at that but kept still as Leila bandaged his wounds. Chloe handed out water and then turned the cranks on the battery-operated lanterns while they waited for the bombing to end and the all clear to sound. Max slid down to his ass and stretched out his legs next to Butler. He couldn’t get a read on Butler’s med chip. It had been too badly damaged. Gripping the soldier’s hand, he kept his fingers on the man’s thready pulse and listened to the increasingly ragged and weak breaths escaping his throat.

  When Leila was finished, she sat on the other side of Butler and took his free hand. For all her talk about not getting close to cyborgs, she seemed unable to let Butler die without showing him kindness or warmth. Watching her with his dying soldier, he thought of her brother. The boy was dead, and she didn’t even know it. Unless Chloe let it slip, he didn’t plan to say a word. The last thing he needed was for her to breakdown.

  “Tell me about the tunnels,” he said, his voice low as Chloe talked quietly with Butch.

  “Back before the war—years before the war—they used to run drugs up from Mexico through these tunnels.” Leila reached out for Grim as her grizzly beast belly-crawled toward her. “After the war, people hid out here. They survived like moles for years, but eventually, the food ran out and the drought hit and then it started.”

  “It?”

  “They ate each other,” Chloe piped up from a few feet away. “They started with the old people and worked their way down until there wasn’t any fresh meat left. That’s when they started farming their food.”

  Max wrinkled his nose with distaste. “Farming?”

  “Like hogs,” Chloe explained. “They kept the young women penned up and used them for—well—you know. The ones who couldn’t get pregnant? They went to the slaughter.”

  “That way,” Leila indicated with a wave of the chem-light, “you can still see the old farrowing pens.”

  He frowned. “Farrowing pens?”

  “Hogs,” Leila explained. “The pens where
they birth hogs are called farrowing pens. That’s basically how they treated their women. Bred and farrowed until they were worn out and sent to slaughter.”

  Max had seen and heard some horrible things during and after the war. Cannibalism wasn’t anything new. It was a disgusting and horrid thing but desperate people made agonizing choices. But to farm their own women for food? He couldn’t even fathom the horror.

  “If you keep walking down the tunnels,” Leila continued, “you’ll see the bones lining the walls. My granddaddy was one of the men who found this place and the mole-people who lived down here.”

  “What happened then?” Butch was clearly invested in this ghastly tale now.

  Leila twirled her chem-light. “They called it the culling. Not long after that, the first buildings went up in Purgatory.”

  Leila checked the bandage on Butler’s stomach and grimaced. “We weren’t supposed to come here. It was forbidden by Daddy, but Lance and Lane brought me down here once when we were on a supply run at Purgatory. They led me over to the old bone piles to play hide-and-go-seek. But they left me there.”

  “They did not!” Chloe sounded horrified by the very idea of it.

  “They did, but Luke came for me.” She smiled. “Luke always comes for me.”

  “I bet your Daddy was pissed at your brothers.”

  “He belted their backsides so hard they couldn’t sit down for a week!” She grew quiet for a few moments. “Lance made it up to me. He gleaned some lemons from this property we were breaking down, and Mama made lemonade for me. I’d never had it before—and haven’t had it since.” Her voice grew wistful. “It was one of the last times we were all together as a family.”

  Leila drank from the metal canteen Chloe had given her and then wiped at her mouth. She poured a little of the water in her hand and held it out to Grim who slurped noisily. “There was a second explosion, right?”

  “Yes.” Max checked Butler’s pulse again. He didn’t think this was the time to tell her how it had been set off or why. She’d only feel guilty about Luke running after her.

  “My dad? My brothers?”