“Where’re all the people?” James asked. “I know it’s a small town, but still.”
“They might’ve left before everything went down the drain,” Connor said.
Going further north, they came to the next building and found a door on the far side. They entered, clearing the small, two-room house, then exited and stood outside, planning their next move. To the northwest was a small building, and farther to the north, sitting in the middle of a clump of trees, was a large house.
A gunshot split the night. From the same direction, another shot sounded. The brothers crouched down, trying to pinpoint the sound. The brothers stood there for a couple of seconds as the sporadic sounds of gunfire came from the large house to the north. A sound behind them made James turn, raising his AR. His laser rested on Emmett’s chest as he ran up.
“Friendlies,” Emmett said as he stopped next to them. The girls were a few steps behind him, doing a good job of covering his six and keeping their heads on a swivel.
“Gunshots,” Connor said, “to the north in the big house.”
“Roger, we heard those,” Emmett said.
“What’re you thinking?” James asked.
“Let’s take a look,” Emmett said, leading the way to the house.
James let the women go first, then he and Connor brought up the rear. As they got closer, a scream could be heard from the large house and Emmett picked up the pace. He went around to the front door, taking the steps two at a time. Moving up to the door, he put his shoulder against the wall. The girls stacked up on the other side. Connor, followed by James, came up to the doorway.
“May I?” Connor asked.
Emmett nodded. “You two take the lead. I’ll follow and the girls will bring up the rear.”
The door was open and Connor swept into the room with James at his heels. Inside was a large room with a door leading off to the left, a long hallway in front with rooms going off of both sides, and a dining room with an open doorway to the kitchen on the right. Connor looked right and James looked left. It was empty but looked more like what they’d come to expect. The table was tipped over, along with the chairs, and household items were scattered around the room. As they moved further into the room, James noticed the door to the left was open, with stairs leading down. He could hear scuffling and groaning coming from down there.
Emmett came in behind them, hearing the same thing. “Go, we got up here!”
The brother’s didn’t hesitate. Connor took the lead, heading for the stairs with James right behind him. Taking the steps two at a time, they quickly arrived at the bottom and emerged into a scene straight out of a horror movie. The basement was one large open room filled with at least two dozen zombies, but that wasn’t the worst of it.
There was a family of four in the far corner. James watched, unable to help in time as the family was overrun by zombies. They went down fighting but were still torn to pieces without discretion—father, mother, and two sons. The similarities to their own family made the brothers freeze and stare in horror as their screams filled the room with a cacophony of pain. Their flesh was ripped from their bodies as the savage creatures descended on them in bloody fury.
The zombies in the back couldn’t get at the fresh meal and instead turned toward the brothers. James was so shocked, so horrified, that he didn’t even notice the zombies only a few feet away and closing in. He wasn’t seeing the faces of some unknown family, but his family as the zombies tore them apart. His brother was there, twitching as a zombie ripped his intestines out. His mother screamed as teeth sank into her flesh and blood squirted from a gouge in his father’s neck. And, in a moment of complete vertigo, he stared as a zombie tore the flesh from his cheek.
5
Picking Up the Pieces
A suppressed gunshot made James jump as reality came crashing back in. Another shot sounded behind him. He watched as two zombies fell to the ground. Four more were in front of them, arms reaching, only feet away. He didn’t have enough time to bring his AR all the way up to his shoulder, so he began to rapidly shoot, aiming with the laser. He hit the kneecap of one of the zombies, causing it crash to the ground. His brother had recovered quicker and had one of the zombies down. Two shots behind him took down the last two zombies. He was finally able to get the AR to his shoulder and finish off the crippled one trying to claw its way to them. By now, more of the zombies were coming at them from the far corner, their insatiable hunger driving them for more.
“Upstairs!” James yelled.
He turned around, noticing Ana and Alexis standing a few steps up with their rifles at their shoulders, aiming at where the six zombies had just been. Connor turned and ran, following the girls as they sprinted up the stairs. James took one last look at the massacred family in the corner, then quickly followed.
That’s not us, he thought.
Determination replaced shock and horror as he swore to himself that he wouldn’t let anything like that happen to someone he loved. At the top of the stairs, Emmett was standing with his back to the doorway, keeping an eye on the rest of the house.
“It’s a good thing we came down when we did,” Ana said as all four made it to the top.
“What the hell was that?” Alexis asked, looking between the brothers.
“Later,” James said. “For now, we have to take care of these.” He motioned with his gun at the bottom of the stairs and the zombies that were beginning to climb.
James and Connor stood side-by-side in the doorway and took the zombies out as they tried in vain to climb the stairs. After a couple of minutes, there were so many bodies piled up that the rest of the zombies couldn’t climb over them. The brothers had to move halfway down the stairs to be able to look farther into the basement and take out the remaining zombies. After killing them all, they climbed back up the stairs.
“Is it clear?” Emmett asked.
“Yeah,” James said.
“Good. Time to get the rest of the house,” Emmett said.
“You haven’t yet?” James asked.
“No,” Emmett said, “When we didn’t hear any gunshots, I sent the girls down to check on you.”
“Good call,” James said. “Okay, let’s finish this.”
“I’ll take the lead,” Emmett said. “Connor, get the door. James, stay back and cover me as I go in. Girls, you got our six?”
“Yes, sir,” Alexis said and Ana nodded.
“Moving out.”
Emmett moved to the kitchen, Connor at his heels and James behind them. The girls kept their backs to the three men while keeping their eyes and guns on a swivel behind them. Emmett and Connor swept into the kitchen and James hung back, just outside the room. After clearing it, Emmett came back out. James stepped aside, waiting for Connor to pass, then picked up behind them. In the hallway, two doors opened to the left while a single door led to the right, and at the end of the hall was a door to the backyard. Emmett cleared the first room on the left. James glanced in as he walked by. It was one of the sons’ bedrooms. There were video game posters hanging on the walls. A feeling of déjà vu swept through him.
I owned most of those posters too.
He moved on, severely shaken. Emmett and Connor went into the room on the right. James stayed outside, covering the last door while the girls covered the way they’d come. The room Emmett and Connor were in was the master bedroom. There was a door on the far wall, leading to the bathroom. The room had a large bed and two makeshift beds on the floor with piles of food and other items scattered around.
When they finished with the room, the group moved onto the last one. This was the other son’s bedroom and also looked oddly similar to Connor’s, complete with a pet ball python.
“Clear,” Emmett said, lowering his gun and exiting the room.
Connor stood in the middle of the room, looking dazed. The girls followed Emmett to the front room, but James walked in to stand next to his brother.
“Freaky, isn’t it?” James asked.
“Freaky, doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Connor said.
“Did you . . . did you see our faces, when . . .”
“Yeah,” Connor said, looking at James in confusion. “You too?”
James nodded. “I think our minds are more strained than we think.”
“I think you’re right.”
“But that wasn’t us,” James said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And that wasn’t mom and dad.”
“It might as well have been. We helped that family about as well as our own parents.”
“We couldn’t have done anything. Either time.”
“If we hadn’t stopped in Miles to get those damn suppressors . . . If we’d just shot everyone in the next town and moved on . . . If we could’ve driven faster—”
“Connor! We couldn’t have done anything. If we’d arrived earlier, we might be dead too. Who’s to say we would’ve seen the Red Xs coming and been more prepared? And what if we’d run into a group of them on the road? They would’ve opened fire before we had a chance.”
“But we should’ve tried harder. We should’ve been there. Something . . . anything!”
“But we weren’t and we’re alive now. There has to be a reason. They wouldn’t want us to lose ourselves or our faith because of their deaths.”
“Our faith? What the hell got you so optimistic?”
“I don’t know . . . a dream, maybe?”
“A dream? Are you kidding me?”
“No, but I can’t remember. I just remember feeling at peace and now I know.”
“Know what?”
“I still have my faith and God is still with us.”
“With you maybe. He left me when he let our parents die,” Connor said, walking over to the glass cage with the ball python.
James wanted to tell him about his ribs and that he thought he might’ve been healed, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t even know what to believe—about his ribs or the dream—so James let him be. He knew Connor was still struggling more than he was.
Was it really a dream that made me so sure? James thought. How could that give me such peace and certainty?
He felt his side. His ribs still didn’t bother him. He wondered, once again, if he’d only pulled a muscle or done something worse. Had he been miraculously healed? Even with his faith restored—mostly—he still didn’t know if he believed that. It had to have been just a pulled muscle or something. Didn’t it?
“This takes me back,” Connor said softly, staring down at the six-foot snake curled under a fake log.
The ball python was a gorgeous snake, with black and golden-brown markings running the length of its body. Taking off his tactical gloves and shoving them into a pocket, he removed the top of the cage. He slowly reached in, lifting the log. The snake looked up at him with dark eyes, testing the air with its forked tongue. Connor let his hand rest next to the snake on the wood-chip-covered ground. Then, gently, he picked it up. At first, it acted nervous, trying to slither away, but Connor let it move from one hand to the other. After a minute, the snake calmed down and was slowly slithering around in his hands.
“Just like Squeezer, eh?” James asked.
“Yeah,” Connor said with a faraway look in his eyes. “Just like him.”
James left his brother alone and looked around the room until he found extra wood chips and a small plastic travel cage.
“What’re you doing?” Connor asked.
“We’re taking Squeezer 2.0 with us,” James said, putting the wood chips, plastic cage, heat lamp and other supplies into a backpack he found in the room.
“We can’t just take him. Plus, who wants a pet snake at the end of the world?”
“Exactly.” James smiled, throwing the backpack on and replacing the lid on the glass cage.
“How’d you plan to keep him alive?” Connor asked, still holding Squeezer.
“He’ll probably die, but better for us to try than let him be eaten by zombies while stuck in a cage. You know you want to keep him.”
“This is just so weird.”
“Remember Zombieland?”
“Of course.”
“Enjoy the little things.”
Connor shook his head, but a small smile tugged at his lips. “Fine, but if it’s too much work, I’ll let him go.”
“Fair enough,” James said. “Now, I’m holding a cage that doesn’t make a very good weapon. Cover me?”
“Of course, bro,” Connor said, putting Squeezer around his neck and grabbing the AR that hung at his side. James went out the door first, feeling like an idiot as soon as he saw Emmett and the girls.
How am I supposed to explain this one? Oh, hey guys, we’re taking this snake because I feel like it might help Connor deal with the loss of our parents and make him remember the good times. It might be weird, but just accept it, okay?
Luckily, nobody asked what he was doing, but they did look at him like he’d lost his mind—which he very well might have.
“You two are the weirdest people I’ve ever met,” Ana said, shaking her head.
“What’s the cage for?” Alexis asked.
“A ball python,” James said, nodding to the snake looped around his brother’s neck.
“What the—” Alexis began.
“You keep that damn thing away from me or I’ll shoot it,” Emmett said. “I hate snakes!”
“Oh, sweet!” Ana said, going over to get a closer look.
“Enough horsing around. We need to get back to the buses,” Emmett said. “I’m ready for some shut eye.”
“Yes, sir,” James said. “That sounds great.”
They moved out in the same formation as before. Squeezer was content to ride the whole time wrapped around Connor’s neck and James knew the snake was drawing heat from contact with his brother’s skin. Emmett and Connor cleared the last building while James waited outside with Alexis and Ana, taking a break from holding the cage.
“So what happened back there?” Alexis asked.
James didn’t know how to explain. “It was . . . us.”
“What?”
“There was a family of four in the basement, similar to our family. I saw . . . I saw our faces as the zombies tore into their flesh.”
“Whoa, that’s freaky,” Ana said.
“Are you guys doing okay?” Alexis asked, concerned.
“Yeah . . . mostly . . . I think,” James replied.
He had no idea what was going on or how to feel, constantly up and down like a rollercoaster. One moment he was able to forget all the horror and pain, and the next it all came crashing down on him. If it continued this way for much longer, it was going to break him.
“Very convincing,” Ana said.
“A good night’s rest will help,” James said as he heard the guys coming out. He picked up the cage and could tell Alexis wanted to talk more, but she didn’t say anything.
“Clear,” Emmett said, exiting the building. “Let’s head back.”
They arrived at the buses without incident. James took the cage over to the backseat of his truck and noticed that Olive and Mila were gone. At first he began to stress but then realized they were probably just in a bus. Setting the cage in the back seat, he moved his rifle and the shotguns to the gun rack in the rear window. Then he moved the cage to the middle seat and buckled it in. That should hold it. Placing the backpack with the snake supplies on the floorboard in the middle seat, he walked over to where Peter was talking with Emmett.
“James, Peter was asking about the houses. Which ones are clear?” Emmett asked.
“I’d use the long building over there and those two small buildings. Leave the rest to sleep in the buses,” James said.
“What about the bigger houses?” Peter asked. “I was hoping we could use those.”
“I wouldn’t sleep in them if I were you. They aren’t secure,” Emmett said.
“Do we know if anyone’s been bitten?” James asked.
“I don’t think so,” Peter said. “That’s how it happens, right?”
“Yes,” James responded. “How about you gather everyone here and we can tell them what’s going on.”
“Okay, give me a few minutes,” Peter said as he walked to the buses.
“You wanna tell ‘em?” James asked Emmett.
“Nope. I’m not big on speeches.”
Great, I guess it’s up to me then.
“I’m gonna take Connor and the girls and gather all the weapons we can find,” Emmett said, walking toward a large barn to the south of the road.
After a few minutes, Peter had all forty-three adults gathered together, the kids staying on the buses, and went to stand by James. “Everyone, this is James—one of the people who helped us escape.”
“And almost killed us before that,” Randy said from the crowd.
“Yes, we did,” James said. “You’ll understand why when I explain. The world has ended, or at least the world as we used to know it. Things have fallen into chaos. Even you can see that. The dead aren’t staying dead, and don’t even ask me how it’s possible because I have no idea. But once someone is bitten—sometimes even if they die without being bitten—they come back. Zombies, is what we call ‘em, but you can call ‘em whatever you like. They don’t think, they don’t feel pain, and as far as we can tell, most of their bodies are dead. But the brain, that’s the important part. It’s what keeps them moving and gives them their hunger for flesh. Kill the brain and you kill the zombie. That’s the only way. Any questions?”
“How smart are they?” Mila asked from the front of the crowd, watching him intently.
“Not intelligent at all, as far as I know. They can’t open doors or form any sort of thought beyond their desire for food. They can see, but not very well. Their hearing is as good as ours, and noise will draw them. But their ability to smell is the best. Sometimes it’s like they can even smell the blood pumping in our veins.”
“How can their sense of smell be better than ours?” someone asked.
“I have no idea. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but then again, I don’t really care. I know how to kill ‘em and how to survive. That’s all that really matters. Anymore questions?”
The Brother's Creed (Book 2): Battleborn Page 6