“Do they look like they need our help?”
“No, but it’s the polite thing to do.”
“I guess that depends on why they’re helping us,” I said before walking back to the front of the house.
It took about another fifteen or twenty minutes before the area was completely secure. Our saviors had not once tried to make contact with those of us inside the house. An eerie silence breathed over us when they were finished. Nobody said a word. It was almost as if everybody was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It lasted half an hour. Everyone stayed put and rested during the all too brief intermission.
Then a body dropped ungracefully from somewhere above and landed in the front yard.
Nick and I could hear the wet slapping sound it made as it slammed into the dead grass. Icy fingers began to climb up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand straight up. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good.
“Why the hell can’t they just be on our side?” Nick asked. “Why do they need to go and fuck things up?”
“Why throw a body at us?” I asked. “That doesn’t make much sense.”
“I knew they were too good to be true. I just knew it.”
I wasn’t really paying attention to Nick at the moment. I was studying the body. My brain wasn’t giving me much of a clue, but something about the body seemed awfully familiar. I felt my eyes widen in my skull when I finally figured it out.
“Nick,” I whispered. “He’s wearing a bite suit. I think its Kingsley.”
“No way,” Nick replied.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m going out there.”
“Listen up everyone,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “I want you all up to the front of the house immediately. I’m going out there and I want backup.”
“So they just threw Kinsley’s body onto the front lawn?”
That’s exactly what they did.
“Why would they do that?”
I’m not sure. Maybe they wanted to get our attention. Or, maybe they just wanted to freak us out a bit.
“Was Kingsley alive?”
That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? At the time, we didn’t have any idea. All we could see was a lump in the grass wearing our protective gear complete with the tactical vest and the high bite collar. The lump wasn’t moving.
“I don’t think you should go out there,” Dudley said after everyone had gotten a look out the window. “This seems like some sort of a setup.”
“Yeah,” I answered. “But that’s our buddy out there and he doesn’t look so good. I want everyone to file out behind me but stay next to the door in case we need to make a hasty retreat back into the house.”
I walked out into the yard slowly. I could hear Merrick whining behind me as Dudley held her by the collar. I stayed on the concrete path all the way to the sidewalk. I was scanning the area all around me. I looked above the houses. I looked in the trees. I looked everywhere.
As far as I could see, the area was clear.
Kingsley was in a heap to the left of the concrete path and just before the sidewalk. He still wasn’t moving. When I reached him, I feared the worst. His skin was cold and clammy. His eyes were closed. I unzipped his bite collar and reached in his vest. I wanted to see if I could feel his pulse.
“Jax,” Kingsley whispered. “Is that you?”
“Yeah buddy,” I whispered back through an ear to ear smile. “It’s me. Now let’s get you out of here.”
I immediately let my mp7 dangle by its strap and shoved my hands through the arm holes of his vest in order to haul him to his feet. He felt lighter than usual. I was wondering when he’d eaten last. His arms went around me in a hug when he had both his legs underneath him.
“Jaxon,” Kingsley whispered in a voice too low.
“Yeah Kingsley,” I answered. “I’m here. Let’s get you moving.”
“Jaxon,” Kingsley whispered once again. His rank breath was on my ear. “Stop bossing me around.”
I was about to ask him what he meant, but he didn’t give me a chance. His arms tightened around me as if they were made out of steel, and he spun me around so that my back was towards the rest of the team.
I was in shock. I was speechless. I didn’t understand what was happening. I couldn’t understand what was happening. The punch came, and I didn’t even see it. He hit me right under the jaw and I went flying back towards the team. Suddenly, I understood. I understood the violence. I understood the power.
But I didn’t like it.
I understood it, but I was crushed. I was devastated. All I could think was that I should have tried harder to find him. I shouldn’t have killed the vampire. I should have caught her sooner and made her talk. I should have made her tell me where he was. I failed him.
I failed him, and she turned him.
Kingsley was a vampire.
Thoughts of protecting him raced through my mind. I wouldn’t let anyone harm him. I wouldn’t let Hardin or anyone else stake him, or burn him…or…or…try anything to finish him off. He was my friend. I let him down.
I failed him.
I failed him.
“Kingsley,” I said through a mouth filled with blood. “Try and control it. I’m here for you. All of us are here for you. We can beat this thing. We can maybe even find a cure.”
None of the team had moved, except for Nick. He had his mp7 up and ready to fire. If Kingsley made the wrong move, Nick wouldn’t hesitate. I wanted to diffuse the situation before Kingsley got hurt.
“Nick,” I said. “Lower your weapon. “Kingsley’s our friend. He just needs a moment to get himself together.”
“Is that what I need Jaxon?” Kingsley asked. “You’re telling me what I need now?”
I couldn’t understand what was happening.
“I’m just trying to help,” I answered. “It’s not your fault that they did this to you. I want to help you.”
“I don’t want your help, Jaxon,” Kingsley said in that low voice. “And nobody did anything to me that I didn’t ask for.”
“What?” I asked. It was all I could say. One little word. I just didn’t understand what I was hearing.
“I asked for this,” Kingsley said. “I wanted it. I was tired of being weak and afraid. I was tired of being forced to endanger my life time and time again while you played the hero.”
“Who forced you to endanger yourself?” Dudley asked with an angry tone.
“HE DID!” Kingsley shouted while he pointed down at me with a clawed finger. “HE FORCED ME! HE FORCED ALL OF US! ARE YOU TOO BLIND TO SEE WHAT HE DOES TO PEOPLE?”
“He didn’t force you to do anything,” Dudley said calmly. “We do what we do with our own free will.”
“Really?” Kingsley asked. “What do you think he would do if one of us tried to quit? What do you think people would say if I had quit? I think they’d be calling me a coward right now. I think people would be ridiculing me. I had no way out.”
“Nobody would have thought anything like that,” Dudley said. “Why would you…?”
“You’re a liar,” Kingsley interrupted. “Either that or you just don’t know him like I do. He’s controlling. He forced me to follow him back into this fucking city. Eventually, he would have gotten me killed. I was terrified and I was sick of being afraid. Now, I don’t have to be afraid. Now I’m the king of the mountain.”
“No,” Georgie said. “You’re just a monster that needs put down.”
“Come and try it Georgie,” Kingsley said. “Try and put me down. All of you are now expendable. The Master doesn’t care about anyone but Jaxon. He wants Jaxon all for himself.”
“What are you talking about Kingsley?” Dudley asked. “Your little Master is dead. Jaxon killed her this morning.”
Kingsley began to laugh. It wasn’t a pretty sound. It was more like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to do something. The situation was rapidly heading towards the point of no return, but for
the life of me I didn’t know what to do.
So I just sat there. Right on the sidewalk, still on my ass with blood dripping down my chin from the tongue I damn near bit off when he nailed me with that uppercut.
“She wasn’t the Master,” Kingsley said with a triumphant smile. “She wasn’t even close, not by a long shot, but the Master is coming. He’s coming for Jaxon. He wants Jaxon to pay for what he did. Do you remember what I told you Jaxon?”
I had no idea what he was talking about. I was still numb and in shock.
“I told you that you were in over your head,” Kingsley continued. “You were just too stupid to listen. You have no idea how long I’ve resented you. You have no idea how much hell is coming for you. You have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy this. I can’t wait to see your little self important world come crumbling down upon you. When this is all over, you won’t be anything more than a footnote in history. Nobody will even remember your name.”
Somewhere in the back of my mind it occurred to me that Kingsley was rather talkative at that moment. He was normally a quiet guy. It probably wasn’t the best thing to notice at the time, but it just struck me as odd.
“I think you’re going to be pretty disappointed, you fucking traitor,” Dudley snarled.
“Right,” Kingsley said. “I’m a traitor. I’m a traitor because I don’t want to follow an egotistical man that will eventually get me killed. I can’t be the only one here who feels that way. I know I’m not. What about you Javie?”
“What about me?” Javie asked in a quiet voice.
“We’ve always been tight,” Kingsley said. “Join me and we’ll get away from here. We’ll spend the rest of our lives traveling the world and living it up. Just me and you, what do you say?”
“Were Javie and Kingsley as close as he was implying?”
Yeah, they were pretty tight. I felt bad for Javie at that moment. He had been really worried about his buddy and just when he thought things were going to turn out alright, he finds out that his friend jumped sides. Even worse than that, Kingsley was asking Javie to bail on the team and join up with him.
“You can’t live any kind of life,” Javie said. “You’re dead and you’re a monster just like Georgie said. I won’t go anywhere with you, but I will do my very best to put you down.”
The shock on Kingsley’s face was almost humorous. He really truly expected Javie to join him, but the shock didn’t last long. His face quickly turned to pure fury, and the black drool began to drip from his lips.
He went after Javie.
He was fast, but Nick had been waiting for him to make a move. The spray of wooden bullets stitched across Kingsley’s chest and he screamed out an inhuman wail. Then one by one, everyone began to drill him. He spun and twitched and wailed across the yard before he found his feet and ran off down the street.
“I always knew that guy was an asshole,” Nick said.
“Everyone back inside the house,” Dudley said.
The team started moving. Well, everybody started moving but me. I was still sitting on the sidewalk, not even bothering to wipe the blood off my chin. Dudley noticed that I wasn’t moving and hauled me to my feet by my vest.
“Are you hurt?”
I didn’t even acknowledge that he was talking to me. I was just, I don’t know, empty. I was having a very difficult time accepting what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that Kingsley had turned on me.
“Jax,” Dudley said as he gave me a little shake. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head that I wasn’t injured.
“Let’s go,” Dudley said as he dragged me back into the house.
“This isn’t the first time a friend had turned on you. Tito betrayed you as well. I don’t think I’ve ever asked you personally, but did you feel the same way when Tito committed his betrayal?”
I don’t really think Tito betrayed me. I think he more or less betrayed himself and the people that were following him. It’s not really the same thing. I don’t think Tito would ever have wished me harm.
I thought about what he said for a brief moment before I realized that he was right. When I spoke with Tito, he was filled with regret. He admitted that he did what he did because he was jealous. He never wished harm on anyone.
“What happened next?”
We were inside the house. Dudley had removed my canteen and was forcing me to drink. The water would heal up my tongue and he was pretty worried about the amount of blood. Everybody was staring at me.
“Why are you all shocked?” Nick asked. “It was pretty obvious that that guy had some sort of problem with you. Hell, I noticed that he was kinda mental the minute Jax showed up at Georgie’s house.”
I was pretty sure he was looking at me, but I ignored him and sat down against the wall. To say the least I was defeated. Having a friend betray me was beyond my comprehension. It’s happened before of course, never to that degree, but it’s happened. I’m sure it’s something that happens to everyone at some point in time.
The thing is, I could never in a million years even conceive of betraying one of my friends. It’s just something that I could never do. To me, my friends are my family. That means something to me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always mean something to other people.
“What do you mean?” Dudley asked.
“I mean that Kingsley is a resentful bastard,” Nick answered. “I could practically see the resentment drip from his mouth every time he said something.”
“He did seem sort of nervous when we came back into the city,” Georgie added. “I just can’t believe that he did what he did.”
“I think he’s fundamentally weak as a man,” Javie said. “He wasn’t man enough to let anyone know that he was too chicken shit to come back. It was easier for him to just blame Jaxon for all his problems.”
“The only problem with that bullshit,” Dudley said. “Is that Jax did a lot of shit for that traitor. Seriously, where the hell would Kingsley be if it wasn’t for Jax? He’d be dead, that’s where he’d be. Think about it. Kingsley doesn’t possess the drive or will to have survived the outbreak.”
“You got that right,” Georgie added. “He was even starting to come a bit unglued before we led everyone out of the city. I remember the way he started drinking and the angry comments he would make. We should have seen this coming. Kingsley was just too weak to be a member of this team.”
“It’s just unfortunate that Nick is his replacement,” Dudley said.
Everyone began to laugh. Well, everyone but Nick.
“Seriously,” Dudley said as he offered me his hand to help me up. “You were good to him, Jax. You were a great friend. You saved his life. The villain in this story is Kingsley. The hell with him, all right?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “The hell with him.”
I think it was the support that snapped me out of it. I was still hurt. I still felt betrayed, but I realized that I had done nothing wrong. I mean, it’s not like I’m a mind reader. To start resenting me because he was too afraid to speak up for himself, well, that kinda seems to be more of his problem than mine.
“Hardin,” I said after tapping my earpiece. “Send in one of the helicopters for an extraction.”
“Good idea,” Hardin answered.
Everyone was looking at me once again.
“We need to get those survivors out of here, boys,” I said. “We have some vampires to hunt.”
Everyone began to cheer. Even Georgie, which was a bit of a surprise. I would have been less shocked if he would have sucked his thumb and pissed his pants.
It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of a chopper above our heads. Georgie had led all of the survivors into the living room to await their extraction. The plan was to just lead them to the helicopter and then hop into the Jeeps once it was back in the air.
As soon as the house began to vibrate, which meant that the chopper was descending, we led the survivors out to the front yard. We wanted to make the extraction as
fast as possible. There may not have been any zombies in sight, but we weren’t about to take chances.
Everyone was looking up as the helicopter lowered itself from the sky. The pilot was going to bring her down right in the middle of the street so all of us hung back in the front yard in order to give it plenty of space.
Something black streaked through the sky.
“Did you see that?” Javie asked.
I’m pretty sure everyone saw what he was referring to. It’s just that nobody was exactly sure of what it was. To me, it looked as if a black shape zipped through the sky and landed inside the helicopter.
It was only a few moments after that when I had figured things out. The helicopter began to spin around wildly. The nose of the craft was lifting up and down in an erratic pattern. Then things got even worse as the chopper did a nosedive straight into the asphalt.
Right before it crashed into the street, I saw the black shape shoot from the helicopter and streak across the sky to the rooftops of the houses further up the road.
I was amazed that there was no explosion, but the crash was deafening regardless. The sounds of tearing metal as the body of the aircraft crumpled against the ground was grotesque. The blades of the helicopter sliced into the street and sent chunks of metal and asphalt straight towards our group.
I took down at least four of the survivors and covered them with my body. Dudley was on the ball as well, and he shielded the ones I couldn’t grab. I could hear him grunt as he was pelted by debris.
When things finally settled down, I ran to the chopper. I knew it would be a wasted effort on my part, but if there was even the slightest chance that the pilot or crew were still alive I was going to help.
Nick was right behind me. He was telling me to be careful. He was worried that the broken remains would explode. I climbed over the wreckage and investigated the bodies. The pilot was dead. I knew it before I even checked his pulse. Two of the soldiers were also gone, but the third soldier, he died in my arms.
I was pissed.
“It was a vampire that attacked the helicopter, wasn’t it?”
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