by Brant, Jason
He waved back, his hand lingering in the air for a moment. His thumb cocked toward to the driveway, and he made a steering motion with his hands.
Cass nodded and waved again before turning back to the woman.
Lance grimaced as his tender skin on the back of his hand brushed against his pocket when he reached for the keys to the Jeep. “Let’s go take a look.”
Chapter 17
They rode in silence for twenty minutes as Lance guided them along small, auxiliary roads leading into Greensburg.
Over the past several weeks, those who went on scavenging runs had learned which highways were overrun with abandoned cars and destroyed overpasses. They’d mapped out the fastest ways to get to the stores that hadn’t been completely ransacked.
As they passed the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus, Lance finally asked a question that had bothered him since the major had arrived that morning.
“What happened in Annapolis?”
Colt watched the destroyed campus through his window. Several of the buildings were blackened from fires that had raged there shortly after the collapse of the safe zone. The burned-out husks of cars crisscrossed the parking lots and small side streets.
“I lost the majority of my men,” Colt said finally. “The entire city was infested with those blind bastards. We tried to clean them out, but things went to hell, and I lost dozens of good soldiers.”
“We heard there were a lot of survivors living there because of the docks and the water. What happened to them?”
“Most of them died. The Weres attacked night after night until the camp finally fell.” Colt clenched his hands. “There were several hundred people there when we arrived. They were arguing over who should be in charge. The idiots were holding elections if you can believe that.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Lance followed signs leading them to Route 30. The highway wound around the eastern side of the city and would take them close to their destination. The road was clogged with destroyed and abandoned cars, but they would only have to follow it for a half a mile or so.
Colt smirked over at him. “An election in the middle of a war is the kind of stupid shit we did in the old world. Democracy doesn’t work in the midst of chaos.”
“And I suppose that you think you could do a better job than anyone else?” Lance slowed down as he worked the Jeep around a twenty-car pileup at an intersection. He skirted around it, taking them through a parking lot before hopping a curb and getting back on the road. “I blew a man up who said something similar.”
The words came out before Lance thought them through. They hung in the air between them, an unintended threat. Colt laughed.
“You blew up a crazy man who was forcing men to rape defenseless women. I want to keep people alive, not create barbarism. I have no interest in being a leader of men, Lance. I want to help as best I can and then move on. We’re in a war with the Weres, and I intend to win it. That’s my goal—extermination.”
Restaurants and stores lined both sides of 30, their doors shattered, windows smashed.
The eerie silence of the once-bustling city never ceased being disconcerting to Lance. He hated the quiet of it. The empty buildings of the old world were constant reminders of what had been lost.
“The difference between us,” Lance said, “is that I’m not willing to kill people to save others.”
“You killed this Ralph fellow, didn’t you? You did that to save Cass.”
Lance turned onto a side street and put the car into park. He shut off the engine and turned to Colt. “He was actively trying to kill us. It’s not like he was making decisions I didn’t care for. The man was a murderer, a rapist, and a psychopath. You’re talking about stopping people from running their own lives.”
“A garden can’t grow if it’s infested with weeds.” Colt got out and rolled his neck. It popped and cracked.
Lance eased out of his seat, hissing as his legs brushed the fabric. How long would it take his burns to heal? The constant pain weighed on him more than the looming night.
He looked across the street at an abandoned restaurant that used to be a Primanti Bros. They made some of the best sandwiches Lance had ever had. They mixed odd ingredients that shouldn’t have worked, but tasted delicious.
“I could use a burger topped with fries and coleslaw about now,” he mumbled as he walked past Colt.
“What? Coleslaw on a burger?”
“They were known for doing weird shit like that. Sounds nasty, but it worked. People in the ‘Burgh went nuts over it.”
“I’ve never understood Yanks.”
As Lance approached the front, he heard the mewling sound that Adam had described. It was nearly identical to what they’d heard in Latrobe.
“Hear that?” Lance asked.
“Of course.”
“Have you heard that anywhere else?”
Colt paused, listening. “No. This is something new.”
They worked their way around to the back of the restaurant, following the sound. It got louder as they walked, filling the area behind the building.
The hole Adam had talked about was thirty yards beyond it, dug into a patch of earth between two parking lots. It yawned nearly fifteen feet wide, its girth far beyond what Lance had seen in Latrobe.
The odd, difficult-to-describe sound came from within.
Colt bent to a knee before it and stared into the darkness below. “I wonder how much of this city has tunnels running underneath it?”
“If it’s anything like Latrobe, then I’d guess a whole lot.”
Colt bent lower, turning his head sideways so he could listen better. He stayed that way for nearly a minute before straightening out. “Goddamn. They’re communicating.”
“What?”
“That sound we’re hearing is a rudimentary form of communication.”
Lance frowned. “You mean they’re talking?”
“Sort of, yes.”
“How can you tell?”
“Those noises are coming from several different creatures. One makes a sound, then another responds. On and on it goes.” Colt stood and gestured to the edge. “Take a listen.”
Lance knelt down. He couldn’t tell if it was the same Vladdie making all the sounds, or a group of them. The tones of the sound shifted, so it was possible that Colt was onto something.
He stayed at the edge, resting on his knee, letting the implications settle in. “If you’re right about this, then we’re screwed. That would explain how they’re able to come up with plans.”
Dread settled in the pit of his stomach. His shirt, soaked through with sweat, clung to his back and shoulders. The sun inched its way closer to the horizon. Soon, the infected would pour from these openings in a torrent of gnashing teeth.
He felt helpless as he listened to them.
When the Xavier virus had taken hold of the country, Lance thought that he’d witnessed the extinction of mankind. He’d watched people being carried away into the night from the window of his apartment, listening to their cries of agony and fear. The power had gone out. The government had collapsed.
But he’d survived.
Found friends.
A girlfriend.
He had a child on the way.
Now, he realized, the small flame that was the last remnant of the human race was about to be extinguished. Everything he’d fought for, all that he’d built, would be destroyed under the onslaught of the beasts waiting under his feet.
It would only be a matter of time before the camp’s defenses would fall. He had to get them away from there.
“Cass.” Lance stood, his eyes narrowing, jaw set. No matter what he had to do, he would get Cass some place safe. “We have to get back and warn everyone.” He turned around. “We have to abandon the com—”
His ears rang as something in Colt’s hand barked.
Searing pain exploded in his leg, just above the knee.
Lance collapsed at the edge of the hole.<
br />
His hands explored the agony in his thigh as blood poured through his fingers. He looked to Colt for help, confused, unable to think. What had hit him?
The major stood before him, a pistol held in his hand. He aimed at Lance’s chest. “I’m sorry about this, Lance, I really am. I meant it when I said you were a man of action. You’ve done well for your people, but you’re going to get them all killed. If I don’t take care of you now, then you’ll do everything you can to thwart what needs to be done.”
“You fucking shot me!” Lance gaped at the pistol, comprehension finally settling in. The throbbing in his leg made it hard to think. “What are you doing?”
“I’m killing you.”
“Why?”
“I just told you why.”
The gauze around his legs soaked through. The dirt under him turned to mud as his life poured from his wound. He felt woozy.
Mouth dry.
“Don’t do this.” Lance licked his lips, but his tongue was too dry to wet them. “There aren’t enough of us left to keep killing each other.”
“By taking you out, along with a few others, I’ll save many more. This is what I do now, Lance. I make the hard decisions that you could never make. There is a cost to save your people. This is the down payment.”
Lance looked into Colt’s eyes and saw the determination there. Pleading was pointless. Colt had brought him here for this exact reason.
“Goodbye, Lance.”
“Wait.” Lance released his leg and put his hands in his lap. The blood flow increased. He grew lightheaded as he stared at him. “Don’t let anything happen to Cass. Please, don’t hurt her.”
“You have my word. I’ll keep her safe.”
Lance closed his eyes and bowed his head. He fought against the sting of tears, refusing to give Colt the pleasure.
The gun cracked.
Pain ripped through Lance’s chest. He fell backward, tumbling into the hole.
His legs hit the angled bottom of the tunnel first, sending a fresh wave of misery into his bullet wounds. He collapsed on his stomach in the dirt, facing the shadows extending under the parking lot.
He tried to push himself up, but his arms lacked the strength.
His eyelids grew heavy.
Breathing was difficult.
A shriek came from somewhere further down the tunnel.
Slowly, painfully, he craned his neck to look at the darkness stretching under the city. He could hear the infected down there, could smell their sour stench.
Lance’s eyes rolled around as he attempted to peer up at Colt. He could see the massive man’s shadow extending a few feet down the wall of the hole, but not the man himself.
Lance tried to tell him to fuck off, but the words wouldn’t form.
He struggled to take one last breath as he faded.
And then he was gone.
Chapter 18
Cass paced back and forth in front of the cabin.
“Where the hell is he?” she asked Brown. “The sun is going to set in less than half an hour.”
“He’ll make it,” Brown assured her, though his eyes betrayed his concern. “Besides, he has the major with him. He’s in good hands.”
“They both should know better than to stay out this long.” She opened and closed her hands repeatedly as she paced. “I’m going to kick his dumb ass.”
She tried to force her thoughts to other things, but she couldn’t help it.
As much as she’d tried not to have feelings for Lance, she’d fallen completely in love with the goofy bastard. Finding out that she was pregnant would have horrified her six months ago. Now, she couldn’t wait to hold their child.
That fact alone still mystified her. They were in dire straits, their very survival called into question every single night. Being pregnant would slow her down, make her vulnerable. Cass refused to be a hindrance. She would always pull her weight. Being pregnant didn’t jive with this new, harsh, unfiltered world.
And yet, here she was, expecting and happy. Lance had broken down a section of her defenses, and she loved him for it.
During their nights together, sweaty and exhausted, caught in the euphoria of their dirty deeds, Lance had often spoken to her about his depression. He’d opened up about how she’d dragged him out of a dark place, given him something to care for. As humanity fell apart, Lance York had pulled himself together.
And he credited her with his newfound love of life.
What she had never shared with him was that he had done the same for her.
After the death of her father, she’d fallen into a cycle of self-loathing and sabotage. A seemingly never-ending parade of men came through her bedroom, stopping just long enough to make the pain go away for a few hours. She held everyone at arm’s length, knowing that she couldn’t be hurt if she didn’t allow anyone too close.
Lance had chipped away at her hardened exterior day by day.
Just as he claimed she had saved him, she knew that he’d done the same for her. As she stood by the driveway, pacing and nervous, she decided that she would tell him just how much she cared for him that night. Expressing herself in that way had always been difficult, but she knew that he deserved to be told what he meant to her.
After she finished kicking his ass for being so careless about the time.
“Goddamn it. Where the hell are they?”
“Calm down, Cass.” Eifort sat in a lawn chair, feeding rounds into extra magazines for her M4. “As much as we make fun of him, he’s a tough guy. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Does he?” Cass shook her head. “He set himself on fire last night.”
“And saved the camp,” Brown said. “Think about something else. Did you get to talk to any of the soldiers? Do they know what all Colt has planned?”
Cass put her hands on her hips and breathed deeply through her nose. She looked at the sky again and cringed when she saw that the sun had disappeared behind the trees. When Lance got there, she planned to kick him square in the nuts. “Two of them said he wanted to meet with the Wildman, but we already knew that. They weren’t very talkative.”
Most of those in the camp stood around the edges of the forest, guns slung over shoulders or leaning against legs. They watched the trees in nervous silence, waiting for the inevitable battle.
The helicopter sat in the middle of the field. It had returned two hours before and landed. The pilot, a smarmy man with a cocksure attitude, had told everyone that he’d been out running reconnaissance missions most of the day. He’d refueled his chopper and had the guns reloaded.
He leaned against the door, smoking a cigarette. If he was concerned about the coming Vladdies, he didn’t show it.
The other soldiers stood with the guards. They looked calmer than the civilians did, but not by a lot. Their unease didn’t quite sit well with Cass. If they were so hardened, so intent on wiping out nests, why were they so nervous?
Cass checked the driveway again, chewing her lower lip. “I’m going out to find them.”
“The hell you are.” Brown stood and pointed to the tree line. “The sun is down. It’ll be dark in a few minutes.”
“That’s exactly why I’m going out there. It’s going to be dark, and Lance hasn’t come back.” She headed for the bank of vehicles by the side of the cabin. “Don’t bother trying to—”
Movement at the end of the driveway caught her eye and she paused, squinting against the growing darkness. “Thank Christ.”
The Jeep’s engine whined as it accelerated along the gravel. They were coming in fast.
Cass crossed her arms over her chest and put on her best pissed-off expression. She didn’t want Lance to see how frightened she’d been for him. He needed to understand that he couldn’t pull this kind of garbage ever again.
As the vehicle pulled beside a group of trucks and parked, Cass saw that only one person was inside.
Her heart raced when Colt stepped out. A ball of lead formed in her stomach. “Where�
�s Lance?”
Colt strode toward her, his face sullen. “I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean ‘you’re sorry’? Where the fuck is Lance?”
“What’s going on?” Eifort stood from her chair and moved beside Brown.
“He didn’t make it.” Colt stopped in front of Cass, locking his eyes on hers.
“What?” Cass shook her head. “I don’t have time for this. It’s almost dark and—”
“We found a large tunnel in Greensburg.” Colt looked to Brown. “When we were standing in front of it, one of them jumped out of it and grabbed him. I tried to shoot it before they disappeared into the tunnel, but...”
He trailed off as he turned back to Cass. “I’m sorry.”
“If he’s put you up to this as some kind of sick joke, I’m going to kick both of your asses.” Cass stepped closer to him. “Now tell me where he is.”
Colt held her gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Cass looked back to the empty Jeep, fighting the sinking feeling settling in her midsection.
“He’s gone? You left him out there?” Brown asked. His deep voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. He took Eifort’s hand.
“There wasn’t anything I could do. The thing was so fast that neither of us even saw it coming.” Colt kept looking at Cass. “I would have done anything to save him, but they were gone before I had time to get a shot off.”
“I’m going to get him.” Cass started toward the trucks. Panic saturated her thoughts as she imagined Lance being dragged into the darkness by a Vladdie.
“Cass, no.” Eifort came after her. “It’s too late to go out.”
“Fuck that.” Cass broke into a run. She was ten feet from the backend of a dented Silverado when powerful arms wrapped around her. “Let me go! I have to save him!”
The arms lifted her from the ground and spun her around.
Brown and Eifort stood in front of the cabin. Tears ran down their cheeks as they looked up at her. Eifort’s lips quivered.
“I’m sorry,” Colt said again from behind her. He carried her toward her friends as she squirmed in his grip.