Hounded | Book 3 | Hounded 3

by Douglas, Ellie

  Seven others had joined Bellamy, all armed and ready to fight for their town. Bellamy was still unsure of what to do. He wanted to fight them, but even with his military training, he knew they were outmatched.

  Three more Humvees pulled up alongside the others and more men stepped out, all armed with an arsenal big enough to take out a small city. They had everything from bazookas to bayonets, grenades, automatic weapons, and sniper rifles, and God only knew what else they had in their Humvees concealed from Bellamy’s sight. Then, slowly and steadily, a tank came into view as it made its way through the middle of the town.

  His thoughts pained him so severely that he felt ill. His head jolted upright. He knew they couldn’t fight these thugs off, but there was no way he’d give them the women. Thinking deeply, he sifted through his thoughts and tried to come up with a workable plan.

  “You can have the town. We keep our women and weapons,” Bellamy said in a croaky voice that could have been mistaken for a child’s.

  “If you’re not the fucking leader, douchebag, then don’t try to offer up a deal. Send out your leader or I blow up this fucking hotel.” Clarke’s voice took on a savage gloat.

  Clarke’s men filled the hotel parking area. They gathered, chatting quietly as they waited on orders. Bellamy examined their faces through the grated window. They were all covered in dirt, and sticky with dust and grime. Sweat had streaked their faces, lining them with white marks. Like a wake of buzzards, they stood with guns loaded and ready. The thing that bugged Bellamy the most was their expressions, smirks plastered on their smug faces along with an eagerness to kill.

  Bellamy knew they wouldn’t blow up the hotel. It was to be their quarters. This realization gave him the time he needed.

  “Okay, I’ll get the leader. He’s on the fifth floor. Give me a little time, because my legs are full of arthritis and I don’t walk too well these days,” Bellamy called out in the same voice, buying them some extra time.

  He scooted closer to Harry and the others. “We don’t have much time. We’re going to have to leave now. Get as many as you can to the fire escape and pray they don’t have any shitbags covering it. Get the women and children into the forest. Someone grab food and weapons. I’ll keep these assholes distracted for as long as possible. They have no intention of setting any of us free, so get the hell out, and fast, you hear me?”

  “Yeah, dude, but what about you?” Harry said looking squarely at Bellamy.

  “I’ll do it,” Fred whispered. “I’m riddled with cancer, so I’m a walking dead man already. Just go get your families safe, and everyone you can. I’ll keep them at bay for as long as possible.” By now, Stanley, Abe, Trevor, and Rene had also joined the small group.

  “What the fuck, I got nothing and no one, so I’ll stay here with these guys and help. Just hurry the fuck outta here, man. These guys are loaded to the max,” Stanley pointed out, as if they hadn’t already noticed that.

  Bellamy gave the group a thankful look as he and the others took off. It wasn’t long before they were all descending the rickety old fire escape, one by one, as soundlessly as possible.

  Nakos carried as much of the baby stuff as he could, and Millie had the baby strapped to her in a cocoon-shaped harness. Julie, Calloway, and Timothy were next. Each one quietly stepped through an opening and disappeared into the forest.

  “I’m getting tired of waiting,” Clarke declared, raising his voice from the parking lot.

  “He’s just arriving now,” Fred said as he stood up, raised his arms above his head, and shuffled out the door.

  “You… Surely you’re not this town’s leader,” Clarke yapped, and then he laughed at the sight of Fred.

  “I am, and the name is Fred Sparks.” Fred put on his most aggressive sounding voice. Clarke walked toward him and gave him a queer look. With anger in his eyes, he thrust his Colt Python under Fred’s chin and pulled the trigger. Fred’s skull erupted, spilling his brains across the parking lot in a ruby glow of muck.

  Clarke waved his hand in a circular motion to his troops, who immediately went into the hotel through the doors. A spectacular light show lit up the foyer as the gunfire began. Abe managed to shoot one of the men in the head and another in the neck before he was dispatched. His body jumped about as though he were dancing as it sprayed blood in every direction and then collapsed into a crumbled heap on the foyer floor.

  Stanley got some shots off and missed nearly every one of them. The chaos was too much for him, which allowed the invaders to get close and grab him. He succumbed to their beatings before they shot him in the head, face, and stomach.

  Rene got off a few shots, injuring one man in the arm and another in the leg, and then he was disposed of. Trevor shot four of them in the face, head, and upper chest before he became riddled with bullets. Six other townspeople who had decided to stay behind were swiftly taken out, but not before they’d blocked the entrance to the lounge bar where the stairwell led upstairs, allowing the others a little more time.

  Almost every door in the hotel was locked tight. It would take a couple of hours to search the entire five floors. The troops did a search, but all they found were the sick and dying, who they enjoyed shooting in the face. Everyone else had fled.

  “Search this town!” screamed Clarke, aka Carl Clarke. The town was pretty much empty. What stragglers they did find were terminated on the spot.

  Clarke was pleased. He had a new castle to house his increasing army of currently seventy-eight strong men and thirty-two women. What he desired more of were women, and he’d stop at nothing to find them.

  He sent fourteen of his finest to find the missing townspeople, bring back the women, and terminate the men and children. Like a vampire, he could smell the women. He wasn’t going to stop until he had them all.

  Without transport, Bellamy didn’t know where to lead the group. His priority right now was to get them the hell out of the forest. He didn’t know how many had made it out.

  Rushing through the forest, he headed towards the base of the White Mountains. In his mind, a lodge might be there that they could bunk in for now.

  Every fifty feet, he urged the group to move faster and not stop for anything. He’d tell them to keep moving, then run another fifty feet in front of them.

  He cleared a path by making good use of a machete that Harry had brought with him. People were getting tired and Hope was crying.

  “She needs to be quiet,” Bellamy snapped.

  “She needs to be fed,” Millie snapped back.

  “We can’t stop. It’s not safe. Can she hold out for a little while longer?” Bellamy had lowered his tone, flashing a quick smile at Millie.

  “I guess, but how long is a little while?” Millie said with a snap still in her voice.

  Bellamy didn’t want to retort with sarcasm, so he just shrugged his shoulders and took off another fifty feet ahead of the group. With the moon only a quarter crescent, there wasn’t much light. He thought he saw something up ahead, but it was just more trees.

  They’d been on the run for three hours. The sun finally began to show itself, casting rays of orange illumination through the treetops.

  Another fifty feet later, he came to the road. Facing the bottom of the south side of the White Mountain, across the road, was a huge sign advertising the local campsite, Camp-a-Lot. This was where he would take the group.

  He dashed across the road. Gripping the machete tightly, he chopped down the sign, then ran back across the road and pushed his way through to the far left of where they were waiting.

  He took a rock and smashed the glass covering the sign, tore up the cardboard, and hid everything under some brush. After piling leaves around it, and some more twigs and a loose log, he covered his tracks with more foliage as he made his way carefully back to the group, ensuring his tracks were completely covered.

  “Why did you do that?” Lily asked. confused.

  “So the dicks following us won’t know which way we’re heading. I�
�m going to plant some tracks up that way.” He pointed across and up a short distance from where they would be heading.

  “How?” she asked.

  “I’ll take ten people with me. It’ll mark the ground as if a group had gone through, and then we’ll run down the road. They can’t track us on asphalt,” he said proudly. Before she could respond, he added, “Have one of the men stand hidden behind the trees at the entrance to that trail, so we and the others will know where the path is.”

  “Can I go with you?” Lily asked, her breathing ragged.

  “No, babe, it’s best you lead the group to the campsite. Please go now. Hurry, okay? And don’t look back,” Bellamy urged as he took ten of the group with him and created his diversion.

  Bellamy had to go at least three miles away, sending a few in other directions to divert the hunters from their trail. Lily led the remaining group into the forest, along the path toward the campsite. Doug stayed back to show Bellamy and the others where the path was.

  Forty-five minutes’ walk into the deep forest brought them to a sign directing them to the back entrance of the camp. Lily could feel her chest tightening and stomach fluttering. Please, God, please let there be no zombies here.

  Lily stopped, turned sharply, and put her hand up like a stop sign. When everyone got close enough, she told them all to be quiet and not to use any guns. She got many disgruntled groans, and one, somewhere in the back, called out something. She couldn’t make out what it was.

  Turning back around, through the trees, she faced the cabins used for youth camps. She headed for the whitewashed mess hall, the main meeting space for the campers. Three vans sat in the gravel parking lot along with three cars, all empty.

  “Remember, no guns, knives and clubs only” Lily ordered as she kicked up the dirt heading toward the mess hall.

  Timothy hung back with Anya as Jason caught up to Lily.

  “Allow me,” he said sweetly. Jason opened the door and was instantly jumped by a zombie teenager, her face a mask of bloodied, darkened slop that looked like a decayed slushy and covered her from chin to forehead. Her ear on the right was gone, and the other barely hung on. Her mouth gaped wider as she closed in on Jason. He kicked out, lost his balance, and went down like a deflated basketball.

  Lily grabbed the zombie girl by what hair she had left and tugged her head backward. She shoved her dagger under the teen zombie’s chin and pushed it up into her skull, swiftly ending her life for the second time. Lily pulled the zombie teenager outside.

  Jason, now bug-eyed and flushed red from embarrassment, staggered to his feet. As everyone began to pile in, he was shoved further inward. Terrified of moving any more, he tried to ground himself. But it was impossible, as the girth of the group gave him little wiggle room. He now faced a long hallway that led to a kitchen.

  On edge, the timid twenty-two-year-old somehow ended up in the front of the group. Though he was eager to get in the back, it was impossible to move other than forward. Sucking in as much oxygen as he could, he stumbled onward. Two feet from the door leading to the kitchen, the line stopped pushing. He released the breath that he was unaware he’d been holding, slid down to the floor on his knees, and gasped for more air. He was having a panic attack, but no one noticed. Everyone was turned the other way, focused on what Lily was saying.

  “Take as many with you as possible and start searching this mess-hall. And remember, knives and clubs only, and for those of you who don’t have weapons or are too young, stay here.” Lily took off with three members from the group and began searching the mess hall. There wasn’t much to look over with only three other doors off the long hallway, one to the kitchen, one to the laundry, and one to the toilets.

  The bigger room that adjoined the entrance was filled with wooden tables and chairs. At the end of several rows of those sat five pool tables, three large TVs, half a dozen computers, and a ping-pong table that was nestled against the far wall on its side, ready for someone to put it up and begin a game.

  After the search, people began to gather in the room with the tables. Everyone found a seat and rested. Millie fed baby Hope, and Lily stood guard with three others in the foyer, waiting on Bellamy and the others to show up. Her heart pounded in her ears. She was terrified of the mercenaries following them.

  Two and a half hours passed and she began to fear the worst. Suddenly, her eyes grew as big as dinner plates, seeing shadowy figures emerging from the forest. Raising her 9mm, she was ready for them.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks when she quickly realized it was Bellamy and the others. She pulled the door open, dashed to him with open arms and held him closely. He kissed her, slipping his hand around her tiny waist, and walked inside with her. The others had already gone in.

  “Was there much trouble here?”

  “Only the one zombie was here, a teenager, hon. It was a damn teenager.”

  Bellamy squeezed her and whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry you had to face that, hon.” He wiped a tear rolling down her cheek and hugged her hard before turning to the others.

  “Has anyone checked out the cabins yet?”

  “Actually, no, we’ve only searched the mess hall.”

  “Well then, let me grab a few men and go huntin’,” Bellamy said in an Elmer Fudd voice.

  Lily laughed and then kissed his lips softly. And there it was again, his manhood standing like a saluting soldier in need of readjusting. He couldn’t get that under control around her. It just seemed impossible. He shifted uncomfortably to the side, grabbed her ass, and called out for Harry, Calloway, and Oliver. Lily turned and slapped a quick kiss on his cheek as he left the mess hall.

  Armed with crossbow and daggers, along with the machete that Bellamy still held onto, they began the search of the cabins.

  “Where there’s one, there’s gotta be more,” he said as he opened the first cabin. The ripe stink of old fish and rotting shit stung them like an out-of-control wasp hive. Particles of dust rose to the air like floating diamonds, soon falling like rain around them. Three teenagers lolled their heads around at the sound of the men entering, their arms automatically reaching forward as their mouths snapped at the air, the same as the zombie dogs. Pus-filled sores erupted as they ambled closer to the men.

  Bellamy took out a young man no older than fourteen, even though it was hard for him to do that. Harry took out another the same age and Oliver took the last one out, perhaps the leader of the cabin. He looked older, though it was difficult to tell with the amount of decay and sores that covered their bodies. They dragged the bodies out into the parking lot, unsure of what they’d do with them just yet.

  The next ten cabins were much the same, the last one holding six teenagers. Lying on the floor dead were two dogs that looked like hunting dogs. One still alive on the other side of the room made a surprise lunge toward Oliver, who swiftly shoved a long knife through its skull.

  “How’s it possible that those teenagers were sharing a room with dogs?” Bellamy asked, not really asking anyone in particular.

  “Fucked if I’ll ever understand, but just looking at things, it seems they aren’t food for each other, so teaming up makes sense. Zombies are zombies no matter the species.” Oliver suggested.

  Each of them contemplated the idea that the zombies were somehow working together as they dragged the bodies outside. It caused shudders to run down Calloway’s back, the idea sparking a new threat to their survival. When everything was cleared out, they had a pile of adolescent teenagers built up like a stack of firewood.

  Bellamy scratched his head. They all looked at each other, each of them clueless of what to do with the bodies. While they thought about things, Bellamy retrieved the keys from the lobby of the mess hall and tried the cars.

  All three of the vans were diesel and turned over, and all but one of the cars started. Now they had transportation, though it wasn’t enough to transport all of them at once. Bellamy still had no idea where he was going to take everyone. He and the other two
retreated inside and began putting their heads together for ideas with the others.

  After much deliberation, a middle-aged man by the name of Cody Fox came up with an idea that had everyone thinking.

  “Why don’t we head to Canada or even Alaska? I don’t think the zombies could survive the cold. We’d be safer there and away from the thugs that took our town.” He seemed to glow with his idea, as if he’d turned into Isaac Newton.

  “That’s all very well, but how do you think we’re all going to get there? There’s not enough transportation, not to mention it’s not winter, so there’s no snow yet,” Harry said, looking sternly at Cody.

  “Well, that too is an easy fix. Get a few of you guys in one those vans, and go look for a damn bus or something else, more cars, anything – shouldn’t be too hard to find, right? As for it not being winter yet, well at least it’s a place to start, right?” Cody said with a spark that glowed his blue eyes brighter. His short hair, out of place, seemed to bounce around without him moving, like a ghostly wind had fluffed it.

  “What about Alcatraz?” Anya suggested having remembered a school trip there. Knowing how fortified it was already, it would be ideal, she thought.

  “What if the hunters find us while our best men are out looking for transport?” Ankti asked as she sputtered out a wet cough.

  “Why don’t we go to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island?” Harry suggested firmly.

  An eruption of noise took place as everyone started to speak at once, throwing ideas out. Looking around the room, Lily carefully counted heads. Doing the math with three eight-seater vans and two cars, they could take thirty-four people out of sixty-six total.

  “Bellamy!” Lily called him over to her.

  “What’s up, babe?”

  “Just wanted to let you know, I did some calculations and we’re going to need additional transportation for thirty-two people. There are sixty-six of us here and only the five vehicles. Any ideas?” Lily held his hand and looked almost pleadingly into his eyes. Their safety net, their home, was gone, and it was now up to them to find another.