The Dying of the Light (Book 1): End

by Jason Kristopher

  No one in the group had ever seen me this focused, this scared before, and I think I frightened them as much as myself. I turned to Gaines, and gestured to the door.

  “I need this door down now, big guy.”

  Dalton didn’t hesitate, trusting in me to know what was right. One well-aimed kick just above the door’s handle, and his massive tree-trunk legs and bare foot slammed the door open, a shower of splinters and a screech of tortured metal announcing our entry. I rushed into the room.

  Empty.

  “We need to find him. Quick,” I said. “Check everywhere.”

  Barefoot, I exploded out of the barracks door, grabbing the first guard I saw as Kim came out after me.

  “Reynolds. Have you seen him?”

  “Who, sir?” asked the young guard, perplexed.

  “Reynolds! Tom Reynolds!”

  “Oh! Captain Reynolds headed toward the lake, sir.” I started to run off, but stopped as the guard continued. “Sir, he didn’t look… well, sir, he looked a bit off. And he had his issue sidearm with him, sir.”

  Kim and I exchanged glances and took off for the lake. I had a feeling I knew exactly where he was going.

  The picnic area was large, but not that large. We found Reynolds sitting on top of a park bench, staring towards the lake. I noticed the bottle of Jack Daniels in his left hand, the pistol in his right. Waving Kim back, I approached slowly.

  “Hey, buddy,” I said, moving closer.

  “Stop right there, David,” he said, putting the barrel of the gun under his chin, clearly intending to stop me. It worked.

  I took a deep breath, and sat down on the grass nearby. “Talk to me, Tom. I’m here to listen.”

  He looked right through me for a moment, but then brought his eyes to meet mine and I could see them glisten with unshed tears.

  “I thought I could do this, David. I thought I could handle it,” he said. I said nothing, merely listening and waiting for him to continue. “During the mission, I was okay. I heard him go down, and I was like a robot. Didn’t feel anything. Just another resource for us, gone in a heartbeat.”

  He swallowed, and the tears started to fall. “In the C-17, I was fine. In the briefing room, I was fine. Walking back to the barracks… fine. Then I get to my bunk, and I see all his gear, and…” He lowered the pistol, pointing it at the ground and scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his other hand, spilling quite a bit of the whiskey in the process.

  “I lost it, David. I don’t remember when I picked up the gun, but it doesn’t matter. How am I supposed to keep this up? What’s the point? You’ve seen the numbers, you know what’s going to happen. It’s inevitable.”

  I took another deep breath, and just listened. Rebecca, my long-gone fiancée, had told me I was a great listener; now was the time to prove it. That’s a conversation I need to have, I realized and glanced at Kim standing off to the side. Speaking of secrets never told. Not going to go well, that conversation.

  Unfortunately, Tom saw the look I darted at her, and grimaced. “See? You have someone. I don’t. Not anymore. Those damned walkers took him from me. I hate them so much.”

  “I understand, Tom, believe me.”

  “You can’t understand!” he yelled, swinging the gun in my direction. My heart nearly stopped. “No one here can! It’s not just the walkers, either. It’s that asshole Ames. Fucking redneck homophobe.”

  This is it. This is where I come in.

  “That motherfucker?” I said. “I’ll kill him. If Anderson doesn’t do it first. What’d he do now?”

  “No, it’s not…”

  “Screw that,” I said, interrupting him. “We’ve got too much to deal with without having some bigoted shithead causing more problems.”

  “It’s just a couple taunts, David. He’s obviously trying to control…”

  “Bullshit!” I yelled, as angry as I’d ever been in front of Tom. “I’m tired of this shit. He had his one warning, as far as I’m concerned. I’m going to fuck this asshole up, right now.” I stood, moving quickly to Tom’s side. At this point, he was so amazed to see me this angry, he wouldn’t have noticed a full marching band behind him. He barely flinched as I took the gun from him, racking the slide. “I’m gonna find him, and when I find him, I’m gonna kill that motherfucker, because this is just too much.”

  I turned to storm off, and got about three paces before I heard a very unexpected sound behind me: laughter.

  “Oh, you marvelous bastard,” said Tom.

  I turned, the pistol held at my side, pointing down.

  “Bastard? What did you just call me?” I said, hoping against hope that it had worked.

  “You are one crafty son of a bitch, David Blake,” he said, all but falling off the park bench as he stood up and took a swig from the bottle. “You had me going, there. Totally, 100 percent fooled.”

  I handed the gun to Kim as she came up next to me, and she turned to head off the crowd who had crept up, including our Alpha squad teammates.

  “Why, Mr. Reynolds, whatever do you mean?” I asked, affecting my best — and worst — ‘southern belle’ accent.

  Drunk though he was, Tom was still in possession of some of his faculties. “You got the gun away from me.”

  “I did.”

  “Because you never get mad.”

  “Hardly ever.”

  “So I was surprised.”

  “You definitely were.”

  He laughed again, and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. “Thank you.”

  “You realize, of course, that I may have shit my pants when you pointed that gun at me.”

  “Just means you’re a pussy.”

  “Fuck you, man,” I said, laughing, and I was relieved when he joined me. “We need you, Tom. All of us, even that asshole Ames, though he doesn’t know it. Don’t quit on us now, dude.”

  He looked at me, and I had the sense that once again, that I was being weighed and measured. I must’ve passed the test, because he nodded and smiled. “Okay. I’ll stick around for a while. After all, someone has to save you from yourselves.”

  “Kiss my ass, ya fuckin’ queer.”

  “Ha! Now you’re gettin’ it!” One arm around my shoulders, and the other around Kim’s, we walked back towards our squadmates, who crowded around us. Tom slapped Gaines on the back, glancing at the now fully-attired Rachel, who rolled her eyes and smiled.

  Obviously one of those new bunking situations was working out well, I thought.

  Back in the barracks, I sat back down on my bunk, Kim next to me. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She suddenly looked up at me, worried.

  “David, you’re shaking! What’s wrong?”

  I put a hand out in front of me, and I marveled at how shaky it was. “Must be adrenaline, I guess. I’ve never been so scared.”

  “How’d you know what to do?”

  I snorted. “I didn’t have a clue what to do, Kim. I wanted to shout at him, to slap him, to tell him anything that would help. He either had to stand or fall on his own, and then I realized that if I could just get to him, just snap him out of that world of grief and pain he’d built for even a second, then maybe I’d have a chance.”

  “Well, it worked.”

  “Yeah, I guess it did.”

  She looked at me sidelong for a moment, and I couldn’t read her expression. “Seems like Dalton and Rachel are doing well, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, it sure does. Of course, she is pretty hot, so…”

  I laughed as she pinched me and smiled, and then it was her turn to laugh as I tickled her relentlessly. Her giggles had turned into pleas for mercy when there was a loud banging on the wall from next door, and we heard the voice of Powell.

  “Keep it down, ya lousy sons-of-bitches!”

  Kim and I both turned to the wall and echoed each other without meaning to. “Fuck off, Powell!”

  We collapsed laughing, and Powell swore. A few seconds later, we heard his door open and close
and his retreating footsteps down the hallway.

  “Probably going to sleep in the motor pool,” I snickered.

  Kim turned to me, and the moonlight coming through my window framed her beauty as she pulled her t-shirt off over her head. “Now that he’s gone…” She smiled as she pushed me back on the bed, and then squealed as I flipped her over and kissed her.

  They say that there’s a connection between sex and death; I’m not sure if it’s true, but I certainly wasn’t going to find out tonight. The base alarm sounded, the loud “whoop, whoop” of the general alert startling me out of bed so fast I dumped Kim on her ass on the floor.

  She didn’t even blink as she pulled her shirt back on, along with the rest of her uniform, and she was out the door with me as we mustered in front of the barracks. Commander Anderson came running up to us, and Kim saluted. Anderson returned her salute.

  “Well done, Barnes. We’ve had a breach in the lab section. Outfit your team and get them over to Building 8 ASAP. The other teams are gearing up, but they’ll be backup.”

  “Yes, sir!” Kim said, turning to me even as I was giving the order to gear up. A good XO knows when to give orders, and when not to. Kim had taught me that.

  “Alright, you heard the man. Gear up! Two minutes!” I joined the rush into the barracks, and grabbed my gear and Kim’s as Anderson continued the briefing. I was proud of our team as we reassembled with twenty or thirty seconds to spare, ready for action. Anderson had vanished, evidently gone ahead to take charge of the situation or to meet with the colonel. Kim looked us up and down.

  “Team! Prepare to move out!” We moved into marching order, and I was filled with pride once again as we readied ourselves. “Move out! Double-time!”

  We made it to Building 8 in less than four minutes, passing through the perimeter that had already been set up by the other teams. Kim stopped us at the main entrance to the medium-sized building. “Bravo and Delta squads, cover the other two exits.” Janet Turner and Jake Powell took their squads off to either side of the building, and Kim turned to Greer, Charlie squad leader and CO of 2nd Team. “Greer, take the fire escape on the west side. Wait for my signal for entry.”

  Maxwell trotted up with Anderson in tow as Greer and his team moved out. Anderson raised his radio and the alarm finally cut off.

  “Major, we have a serious situation here,” said Maxwell.

  “Yes, sir. I assumed so, sir.”

  Kimberly was in her no-nonsense mode, but Maxwell chuckled all the same. “Of course. Apparently one of the technicians responsible for feeding Chauncey got lazy, and got bit.”

  We all sucked in an involuntary breath at that point, realizing what that could mean for the rest of the lab personnel. Hopefully containment held. I don’t want to have to shoot any more friends.

  “Unfortunately, despite the guard hitting the alarm, the tech managed to get out. Apparently the motor on the secure door was faulty and it didn’t close fast enough.” A guard was always on duty near the Army version of a ‘panic button,’ and all the doors were supposed to close super-fast and automatically. The system was supposedly tested on a regular basis, but sometimes maintenance wasn’t done.

  And now we’ve got a brand-new specimen. Won’t Gardner be happy.

  “He’s locked in the main specimen room for the moment. You’ll go in and take him out, along with anyone else who’s been compromised.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, major, don’t let me keep you.”

  Kim didn’t even redden. “No, sir. Alpha squad, move out!” We entered the main doors into the brightly-lit corridors of the scientific heart of AEGIS. Moving fast, we headed towards the rear of the building, where the specimens were all kept. As we passed the main corridor, I noticed the door to Dr. Adamsdóttir’s office. It was closed and locked, and the lights off; I hoped that she had left for the evening already.

  Suddenly we heard screaming from the direction of the specimen room. “Charlie Six, go,” Kim whispered into her mike, and waved us forward. We picked up the pace. As we reached the outer door for the room, Reynolds and Gaines covered the hallway, and Eaton and I readied ourselves as Kim reached for the door, Martinez on its other side. Another scream blasted forth from inside, but none of us were fazed; we might as well have been made of ice for all the effect it had. We had a job to do; nothing else mattered.

  Kim cleared the door, and I wasn’t sure whose bullets hit the zombie first, mine or Eaton’s. Crouched over the body of another luckless technician, it had turned our way as the door opened, but had time for nothing else as our shots splattered its brains all over the wall behind it.

  Why am I completely unsurprised? I thought as I recognized the technician I’d seen from my earlier experiences with Chauncey. Or rather, what was left of him. I didn’t even recognize the other one.

  “Walker down,” I muttered as we crouched and moved into the room in formation, seeming to watch everywhere at once. Reynolds looked calm as he put two rounds in the head of the corpse on the floor.

  “Charlie Six, report,” Kim said into her mike as she scanned the room.

  “Charlie is all clear, ma’am. No sign of walkers on the second floor.”

  “Roger. Rendezvous at east stairwell, first floor.”

  “On our way.”

  I looked around the room, but didn’t see any other active specimens. There were a few quiescent bodies on tables covered in sheets here and there, but nothing moving. The door to Chauncey’s cell was open, and I heard a soft clinking from inside.

  Kim glanced at me, and I shrugged. “I think we’re clear, ma’am.”

  “Oh, shit.” This soft comment from Martinez drew my attention, and I saw him looking at Reynolds, who was in turn looking at a sheet-covered body. Or mostly covered, anyway.

  Oh, fuck me. They couldn’t have… I walked up behind Tom and ever so slowly put my hand on his shoulder. He didn’t even flinch; didn’t move at all as he looked down at the man who had almost been his lover. Victor was laid out on the slab as neat as could be, grey and lifeless. I didn’t see the bite that had killed him, but the two holes in his forehead from a ‘neutralization’ order were clear enough.

  There were no tears from Reynolds now, just a blank stare. What I saw in that stare scared me. Maybe he’d truly turned a corner and let Victor go that fast, or perhaps he’d just locked away all emotions.

  Will we all become like that? I wondered. Empty, just like the walkers? Remorseless, fearless, the only difference being body temperature? God, I hope not.

  I pulled Tom away, and sat him down in a nearby chair, where he just stayed still, lost in his own private hell. I looked up at Kim as she came over, gently laying her hand on his other shoulder.

  “Gaines, Martinez, go meet up with Greer,” Kim said as she touched her mike. “Command, Alpha Six.”

  “Command here; go ahead.”

  “The building is clear, sir. No indications of activity outside the specimen room. Two walkers neutralized.”

  “Roger, Alpha Six.”

  We collected Reynolds and moved back outside the main entrance, Gaines, Martinez, Greer and the rest of Charlie team joining us. Maxwell met us once more.

  “Well done, major,” he said as the clean-up crew moved past us in their bright white environmental suits and flamethrowers.

  “Thank you, sir. Permission to speak freely, sir?” At the colonel’s nod, Kim continued. “Sir, what the hell is going on?” Maxwell raised an eyebrow, and Kim flushed. “Sir, I’ve never seen a walker turn that fast.”

  “What do you mean, major?”

  “Sir, he was practically completely turned by the time we got there. That’s, what, maybe ten minutes? The fastest I’ve ever seen — and the fastest recorded in the records you gave us — was well over an hour. So I have to ask: what the hell is going on?”

  Though I’d never seen him stunned, I think that was the closest I will ever get. The colonel appeared as though he’d been hit right between the ey
es; poleaxed, my granny would’ve called it. That expression didn’t last long, though, and was quickly replaced by one of anger.

  “I am going to have a little chat with our dear friend Mr. Gardner,” he said, and stalked off. Commander Anderson looked at us and shook his head. I’m sure as hell glad he’s not coming for me, I thought. Dude is pissed.

  Commander Anderson dismissed us, and we returned to our barracks, still keyed up from the excitement. No one said a word at Kim following me into my room, and I smiled at her as she turned back to me.