I looked into the rotting face of a middle aged man. There was a bite mark on his shoulder. The woman hanging was probably his wife. She had probably committed suicide after killing her husband. The man had a bullet hole in his temple. It’s a shame that she didn’t kill him before he had taken a bite out of her. Then it would have been a situation of rescuing her instead of putting her out of her misery.
I approached the twitching body. She couldn’t scream, the rope didn’t allow enough air for that. Yet, she became visibly excited as I approached her. Those rotting hands of hers began to reach out for me. I felt them graze against the top of my helmet.
I didn’t know how to put her down. The ceiling was unusually high and I wasn’t anywhere near tall enough for a head shot with my knife. Fortunately, the chair she probably used to hang herself was nearby.
I wheeled the chair in front of the poor woman and climbed on top of it. I was now level with her head. I wanted to put her down with one swing, so I waited until she pivoted at just the right angle and I pulled back for a swing.
She grabbed a hold of the strap on my helmet.
I freaked out completely and the wheeled chair went flying out from under me. It’s a very natural instinct to reach out when you’re falling down. Unfortunately for me, my natural instinct led me to reach out and grab onto the rope by which the woman had hanged herself with.
Her head was cranked back at just the right angle, so her biting me wasn’t a problem. No, that wasn’t my worry at all. My worry came from the razor sharp knife that was still in my hand: the very same hand that had instinctually grabbed the rope around her neck as I fell. There’s something to be said for Cold Steel knives. They are sharp as hell, and, believe it or not, my knife cut through the rope, and both of us landed on the floor in a heap.
Unfortunately for me, the woman landed on top of me. At that point I realized that her neck was no longer craned backwards. She was free to bite me.
I struggled. She struggled. Her jaws came towards my face with a ferocious snap. I barely saved my nose from being removed. I had my free gloved hand on her neck, but the hand that held the knife was trapped between us. Her breath was horrible. I was gagging as I struggled against her.
She finally changed her position on top of me by lifting up her upper body. The good thing about this was that her movement freed my knife hand. The bad thing was that she had moved in order to strike me. Her fists began to rain down upon me, one after another. Fortunately for me, most of them ended up on my helmet.
It was hard to keep my wits about me under the onslaught, but my hand once again found her neck as she came forth with another attempt at my face. The skin of her grayish neck began to peel away under my glove.
The second attempt to bite me actually worked in my favor. It gave me the brief moment I needed to gather my senses and go on the attack. I started to stab at her side beneath the ribcage. I realized that it wouldn’t kill her, but I was hoping to at least distract her enough to allow me a chance of escape.
It didn’t really work.
The zombie woman barely even registered the fact that I was stabbing her. The fluids in her body began to gush out of the wounds I was creating. Following all the fluids were a number of internal organs as well. No doubt they were pushed out due to all the pressure in her abdomen from the bloating. It was a disgusting mess. The handle on my knife was actually becoming rather slippery
When she pulled back to start punching at my head again, I finally saw my best chance. I pulled my blade free of her side and grabbed the rope around her neck with my free hand. I pulled her back towards my face. The sudden motion on my part knocked her slightly off balance and as she came towards me, I brought my knife up under her chin.
The kill was instant. My weapon pierced from under her chin all the way to her brain. The poor woman collapsed on top of me.
I pushed her off immediately and got to my feet. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins. My legs again felt weak, and my hands were shaking. Actually, my entire body was shaking.
I didn’t know whether to let loose with a triumphant Tarzan type yell or rush to the bathroom and get sick. The situation was just way too close.
I almost died.
I guess it’s one thing to shoot them from somewhat of a distance, but it’s another thing entirely to lock yourself into mortal combat with one of them and emerge as the victor. I made up my mind. I felt sick. My head began to swim, and I sat down on the edge of the bed.
That’s when I noticed Merrick sitting there as proper as you please not far from the remains of the zombie. She had been attacking the woman’s legs as I struggled with her upper half. Merrick had done about as much damage as I had. The woman’s right leg had pretty much been severed at the knee and her left was badly mangled. She must have been making a lot of noise as she savaged the woman’s legs. Merrick always makes a lot of noise when she attacks, but I never even heard the smallest growl.
“Why do you think that was?”
I think I was so caught up in trying to survive that I just pretty much blocked out the world. I ended up sitting on that bed for hours. I was still sitting there when the sky began to darken outside. I hadn’t heard from Jax. I hadn’t heard anything from anyone. I was alone in hostile territory. I could still hear the moans of the living dead echoing around from outside the house.
I wasn’t terribly safe. Jaxon had broken the back door to the house. For all I knew, there were already some unwanted guests entering the home in search of a living meal. The room was rather dark when I actually heard the creaking of the back door. The only light available was coming from a window in the bathroom.
I didn’t know where my knife was.
I didn’t want to use my firearms. The noise was way too loud even with silencers, and I didn’t carry a 9mm on my hip like Jaxon. I carried a .45. It was a hell of a gun, but it didn’t silence anywhere near as well as Jaxon’s Sig. I needed my knife.
I frantically began to search the floor. Merrick was wagging her tail as her gaze shifted between me and the door to the room we were in. She knew we weren’t alone. I felt the icy chill of fear begin to crawl up my spine. My stomach began to churn acid as I searched and searched for my knife. It was the only weapon I could even begin to fathom using. I needed my knife.
I heard footsteps approaching me.
I heard the soft click as the doorknob was gently turned. Merrick began to whine, and suddenly, my hand closed upon the handle of my knife. I could feel the smoothness of the wood through my glove. I could feel the metal of the guard and finally, I felt the heft of the weapon as I lifted it in my hand.
This is funny, but I actually remember this quite well. I stood up with that big knife in my hand and felt like I had just pulled Excalibur out of the stone. I felt that powerful. I finally understood why Jaxon was such a bladed weapons buff. They made you feel like a warrior. I knew my blade was good. I knew my blade would not fail me. I had finally become a warrior. Was I still afraid? Yes, I was, but not as much as the enemy lurking behind the door was going to be.
I moved across the room as the door pushed slowly open. A crouched figure entered the room. I would destroy it easily. I could destroy it easily. My enemy was only one lonely figure, and it would take legions to bring me down.
I swung my blade towards its head.
I have no idea what happened after that. Suddenly, my entire arm was numb. An almost electric pain was jolting around near my armpit and I was swung violently forward and turned around all at the same time. My back should have slammed into the wall, but I was stopped inches before the impact. Again I was driven forward until I fell forward onto the softness of the bed. I had a brief moment of confusion as I awaited the final act that would surely end my life, but it never came. Instead, I felt powerful legs wrap around my torso and I felt the snakelike squeeze as those same legs tightened around me. Finally, I heard the familiar laughter as my attacker began to spank me.
“I’m sorry, did you
say spank?”
Oh yeah, Jaxon was having a great time. He had me face down on the bed underneath him and he was spanking the hell out of me while cackling the entire time. I knew it was him the moment he tied his legs around me. I’ve wrestled with him before. He said he was teaching me how to defend myself, but in reality I think he just enjoyed bullying me.
I found myself laughing out loud at poor Georgie’s expense. All the suspense leading up to a massive spanking. I felt bad. I really did. I just couldn’t help but laugh.
I’m sure it sounds pretty funny to hear, but if you were me during that situation, well, it wasn’t really funny. The spankings only stopped to be replaced by a drum beat on my helmet as the bastard continued to laugh at me. The real insult came when I felt Merrick begin to hump my leg.
“Okay,” I complained. “Okay, I’m done. Let go of me.”
“Hold on,” Jaxon said. “Merrick isn’t finished.”
Fortunately for me, he was joking. He released me and scooped up Merrick into his arms.
“Did Georgie take care of you baby?” Jaxon said to his dog. “He better have, or we’ll beat him up again won’t we?”
“Where the hell have you been?” I asked. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?”
Jaxon didn’t even look around the room as he answered me. He had probably taken in the entire scene within a second of entering.
“My first guess is some weird type of orgy,” Jax said. “But I’m going to be just fine if you never share the details with me.”
“Oh, that’s lovely,” I snarled. “Now where have you been?”
“I was leading the zombies away from your hyperventilating ass, or did you already forget how I totally saved you earlier?”
“You left me here.”
“Because you couldn’t run anymore. I thought you were going to have a heart attack on me. Hell, I thought you were already dead. Why didn’t you answer your radio?”
“Nobody called me on it.”
“The hell we didn’t. I must have called you a billion times. I was very worried about my poor Merrick being left with your candy ass, but I thought you might need a bodyguard.”
I then remembered that I had turned off my earpiece. I wanted to turn it back on, but the humiliation would be more than I could even think about bearing. I would wait to turn it back on when Jaxon wasn’t paying attention.
“What happened to the helicopters?” I asked. “I heard you radio in for them.”
“I just needed them to point out a clear escape route. Man, this area is seriously hostile.”
“I don’t get where they all came from.” I said. “That was another trap, wasn’t it? One second the street was deserted and in the next second we were swarmed.”
“Yeah, we walked into another trap. There were zombies stuffed in houses all up and down that road. I don’t even want to guess how our little friend accomplished that one, but it’s the second time I fell for it. There won’t be a third.”
“So the tracks in the desert…“
“Were probably part of the trap. She knew we would go look for Kingsley, and she probably wanted us to be near that house so that we could hear some noise coming from it. Not sure about the burial in the desert, but I’m pretty sure the tracks were a plant.”
“She probably knew we would head off in that direction,” I thought out loud. “Where else could we go?”
“Yup, and she probably has traps like that all over the place. We just happened to step right into one of them.”
“Maybe this is out of our league,” I said. “This chick is smart. Eventually, she’s going to either take us out one by one, or we’re going to step into another one of her booby traps and finally get caught.”
“I don’t think Kingsley is dead,” Jaxon said.
“Come again?”
“It doesn’t make any sense to kill him. I didn’t think the desert burial made any sense to begin with, but if this vampire is hunting us, wouldn’t it make better sense to keep Kingsley alive?”
“No, why bother? It would be a lot easier to kill him off and, yeah, why would she bother to bury him? That doesn’t make sense. Then again, why would she keep him alive?”
“If you plan on setting a trap, you’re going to need some decent bait.”
It made sense. Maybe it was too good to be true, but it made sense. There was a chance that Kingsley was still alive. It didn’t mean that he was going to stay that way, especially if we didn’t rescue him sooner rather than later, but we had a chance.
“How are we going to find him?”
“No idea,” Jaxon said. “We’re going to have to wait for the vampire to make the first move. Until then, I think we need to play things as if we actually believe that he’s dead. That’ll cause her to show some cards.”
“Then we need to get out of here,” I said. “Let’s call back those choppers.”
“Why call back the choppers?”
“You don’t hear all those shamblers out there?”
“So?”
“We’re kind of trapped here,” I said.
“Nah,” Jaxon said. “While you were having your little slumber party, I already went and picked up the Jeep.”
Getting to the Jeep wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I’ve ever tried to do in my life. There were still way too many shamblers outside the house. That we actually made it to the Jeep is all that’s important. Jax had Merrick and I get into the vehicle while he took out all the zombies that had gotten close enough to make him uncomfortable.
He made it look easy.
As soon as I started the engine, he hopped in the back seat and started popping off shots while I drove us out of the area.
“Are we headed back to the safe zone?” I asked.
“No, we are going to meet up with everyone else at that mountain church off Westwind.”
“The church all alone on that big hill?” I asked.
“Yeah, they are extracting that lady and kid that Nick saved. If we’re lucky, Nick will get on the helicopter as well.”
“That church isn’t off Westwind by the way,” I said.
“Well, you can see it from Westwind so we can figure it out from there, asshole.”
“I don’t need to figure it out. I know how to get there. I was just wondering if you did.”
“I could find it,” Jaxon said. “Does that bother you?”
“Does what bother me?”
“My awesomeness,” Jaxon said with a smile. “I understand that a lot of people are put off by my awesomeness. So, when you pointed out that the church wasn’t actually on Westwind, I assumed that maybe you were trying to make yourself feel a little bit better.”
“Well, I am better at directions than you are.”
“So are a lot of people, but that doesn’t make them awesome.”
“What’s your definition of awesome?” I asked.
“I don’t need a definition. I’m the living embodiment of awesome. Don’t waste your time with definitions, you geek. Just pay attention to the things I do, and possibly you will be fortunate enough to one day understand.
“Do you actually believe that shit, you arrogant prick?”
“Only if it irritates you.”
“I’m immune to you,” I replied.
“I don’t think you are,” Jax said.
“Too bad for you then, because I am.”
“What about if I tell everyone how you hid in some house like a little girl while I whooped undead ass all around the neighborhood?”
“I would actually be more shocked to find out that you hadn’t already told everybody that I was hiding in that house.”
Jaxon started laughing.
“You already told them didn’t you?”
Jaxon started laughing harder.
“I’m not liking you right now. I want you to know that.”
Jaxon then tapped his earpiece.
“Dudley,” Jax said. “Tell Georgie what you said about him hiding out in t
he house.”
“Not right now,” Dudley said.
Suddenly Jaxon became very serious.
“What’s up?” Jaxon asked.
“Nick set off another booby trap. We’re in a bit of a jam.”
“What about the extraction?” I asked.
Jaxon looked at me questioningly. I knew he was wondering why my earpiece was suddenly working again.
“The extraction has already been completed. Now how soon can you get here?” Dudley asked.
“Very soon,” Jaxon answered.
I hit the gas, and we moved.
I made it to the long road that leads up to the church in just a few minutes. In the middle of the road was the other Jeep. Fortunately it was empty, because there were about fifty zombies passing by it as we pulled up.
“Kill the engine,” Jaxon said.
As soon as I killed the engine, we could hear the zombie screams and muffled shots coming from further up the hill. They were already in the middle of a fight. The zombies running up the hill were just going to be the topping on the cake.
“Get to the top of the hill and stop,” Jaxon ordered.
I started the engine once again and floored the gas. We hit the top of the hill and the entrance to the churches parking lot mere moments after the group of zombies. Dudley, Javie, and Nick were across the parking lot at the entrance to the church. Nick and Javie were shooting at the zombies coming out of the church while Dudley was firing on the zombies we followed up the hill.
Jaxon was already out of the Jeep and charging into battle. He moved so quickly it was almost frightening. The tomahawk and knife were in his hands. Jaxon was screaming for all he was worth. He was trying to get the zombies to focus on him. If they actually reached Dudley and the others, they would be smack dab in the middle of a small horde and that could only be fatal.
I started screaming as well. It wasn’t working, the zombies were still charging towards Dudley even as Jaxon reached the rear of the pack and started chopping them down. I started blaring the Jeep’s horn. It was way louder than I could scream. It actually worked. The zombies slowed their pace immediately and turned around to see Jaxon in their midst.
The Regulators - 02 Page 15