“What are you talking about?” she hissed, with spittle flying everywhere as she ground her jaw in excruciating pain.
“Don’t act innocent, bitch. The bastard before me in this here town, in this very room, collecting titties. Want me to do that to you?”
She could feel the heat from his breath as he spoke, his hand gripping tighter on her breast. She was terrified it would tear right off her chest.
“Liberty Island.”
“What did you say?”
“I said Liberty Island!”
Clarke released his hold and her breast centered itself. It was red and raw. Thirty-Three screamed out in agony, writhing around like an earthworm.
“Stop fucking moving, I’m not done with you yet. For now, stay that way for a day. That’s your punishment. I have your friends to deal with. Which one shall I torture first?”
“You don’t have to torture any of them, please!”
He snickered as he stood up and left the dungeon. She was alone in the dark with two guards posted on the dungeon stairs, standing on the landing like the Queen’s Guard and not moving at all. She could hear them breathing. She tried to get them to unchain her, but they just ignored her.
She had no idea how much time had passed before she relented and allowed her eyes to shut for a little bit. After many hours of burning pain her knees and hands went numb and the cramps took over her muscles, leaving her breathless.
Mentally and physically exhausted, she tried to relax her body but couldn’t. The position in which she was chained gave no relief. She would die that way, she told herself, and she wished for it.
She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious when she was jolted awake abruptly by a sharp sting running down her spine. He was back. Her torment was only beginning.
“Turns out the others were very eager to agree with you. Seems your group has headed to Liberty Island, and soon my men will head that way.” He paused briefly before speaking harshly again.
“Right now, it’s your turn, bitch.” He laughed so maniacally, it sent jolts of electricity through her very core. Every hair stood on end, her body revolting in protest at his touch. The bile raced quickly up her throat, then projected across the dungeon floor.
“God! Please, no!” she managed to say as her entire body cringed.
“It’s time to play, bitch.”
CHAPTER 18
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
“Well, doesn’t this feel familiar?” Calloway asked of no one in particular, though Nakos flashed his pearly whites in a kind of joker’s grin.
“It does, sadly enough. I thought those days were behind us. Seems nothing is set in this damn new world. So let’s just friggin’ pray we find us a big enough vehicle,” Bellamy said as he drove up the mountain road.
“Any ideas?” Nakos asked as he looked out the window.
“Yeah, kind of, but I won’t know ’til we get there.”
“Where is ‘there’?” Nakos and Calloway asked almost in sync with one another.
“The lodge. There has to be a lodge up here for tourists, right? So I’m thinking…”
“You genius!” chuffed Calloway, cutting Bellamy off.
“You mind explaining to me?” Nakos asked with a frustrated confusion spreading his dark eyebrows wider apart.
“I’m thinking that if there are tourists, a tourist bus might be lying around. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for,” Bellamy said as he continued up the winding road.
“Maybe. Let’s hope you’re right,” Nakos said as he played with his big hands.
An hour and half later, they were nearing the summit. The road spat stones as Bellamy drove into the parking lot, low clouds casting smoke-like flumes.
He reduced his speed and casually drove farther in. Just ahead, tucked away in a crescent-shaped cove, was a rectangular building. It looked like a towering villa spreading along the cliffside.
The entire bottom level was just windows, giving a view of the mountains and forest, which was breathtaking. Bellamy could only imagine the beautiful scene during sunrise or sunset. Deep in thought, he carried on. To the left of the building, their luck favored them with three coach buses lined up side by side.
Nakos gulped as he spied them first. With a shaky hand and no words, he pointed to a row of rotting, walking corpses.
What horrified Nakos and the others the most was that they stood in single file with zombie dogs heeled at their sides. At least fifteen human zombies and twenty zombie dogs were in the line. They were working together, just as Bellamy had feared when they’d cleaned out the cabins.
Spittle dripped from the zombie humans’ mouths, while a gooey slime formed cobweb shapes around the dogs’ mouths. With uneven, blackened teeth, misshapen feet, graying white skin, and their no-eyes, they all turned toward the car.
Stretching their arms forward and grunting in some alien language as they shuffled closer, the human zombies advanced and the dogs followed suit. Scraps of hair stuck to their rotting scalps. Flaking, pustulant skin brimmed with open sores that oozed over their ripped, stained clothes. Even with the windows up, the car’s occupants could smell them. That putrid stench seeped into the car, gagging them. Bellamy could see the remains of uniforms on some of the bodies, which were clearly workers from the lodge.
“Get your guns ready. It’s showtime,” Bellamy said as he grabbed two Beretta 92Fs.
“Wait… If we open the doors, they’re going to rush us like a stampede, so what’s the plan?” Calloway asked as he loaded two 44s.
“We go out the right side of the car and use the car as a shield,” Bellamy said nonchalantly and with a hint of sarcasm.
“Ready,” Nakos announced as he held his hand on the door handle.
“Okay, boys, let’s rock and roll!” Bellamy yelled.
With the doors opened, they ducked behind the car and began shooting, Nakos got one of the zombie humans in the foot and it came off easily, as if a toupee had blown away in a sudden gush of wind. The bone splintered and the dead corpse fell forward. The dog next to it appeared to feel something for the now crawling zombie, as it momentarily heeled by the zombie human’s crawling carcass.
Another zombie dog jumped onto the roof of the Mazda. Looking down, it let out a growl that sounded like sloppy wet custard. Then it pounced right on top of Nakos, biting down hard around his right arm. He wrestled with the dog as he straightened his other arm, then bent it inwards, sliding it under the dog and then pulling the trigger. Blood exploded downward, covering Nakos in thick black gunk. He looked like he’d just rolled around in oil.
The dog rolled over, not dead yet. Panting a horrible grizzly sound as it got to its feet, too fast for Nakos’s liking, it bit at his leg while another jumped right over the Mazda. Bellamy ducked and rolled, shooting the dog as it made the jump, hitting it in the stomach and spraying Bellamy across the face and chest with putrid black fluids. Swiveling on his heels, Bellamy now faced that dog as it rebalanced itself from its back to its front.
The zombie dog took a stance of determination, making a charging sound that had a discernible click clack to it. Bellamy wasted no time in putting a bullet between its eyes. It slumped over sideways and finally died. Calloway used his knife to get the one off Nakos, just as another leapt over the car and knocked Calloway to the ground.
“We can’t take them all!” screamed Calloway as he got to his feet and fired at another one that came around the side of the car.
“We got no choice, brother!” Bellamy called out. Jumping onto the roof of the Mazda, he glared at the walkers. “Jesus Jesse James!” he yelled as he sprayed Winchester 9mm NATO 124-grain full metal jacket into the sea of oncoming moaners.
He watched a few hit the pavement, falling over one another and splattering gore. The horde stomped over those that had fallen. They were closer now, a stone’s throw away.
Together, Nakos and Calloway looked down at the oozing bite mark on Nakos’ forearm. His skin was already lined with flaming red
torn flesh surrounding the bite, which was an angry reddish-purple. His vision blurred and something in his mind snapped. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d torn his shirt from the waist and tied it around the wound. Blood stained the fabric immediately, but at least he didn’t have to see the teeth marks anymore.
“You’re going to be fine,” Calloway said empathetically as Nakos stared up at him with wild eyes. “You’re going to be just fine,” he repeated.
Bellamy looked over his shoulder. “You two okay down there? Need some firepower?”
“We’re good, just reloading!” Calloway said as he jumped onto the Mazda’s roof, pulling Nakos up with him. There were bodies everywhere. Calloway took aim at a nearby zombie and shot it through the neck. The thing folded, then fell, revealing three more behind it.
Bellamy holstered one of the pistols as he brought the Remington 870 shotgun off his shoulder, but before he could load a shell into the chamber a zombie human leapt at him. It grabbed his tee shirt but failed to gain purchase on his flesh. The only thing that saved him was the shotgun separating them. He rammed the barrel under its chin and into its head.
Like a toilet seat, the thing’s head lifted backwards, hyperextending. Its mouth opened, revealing curved teeth gleaming with bloody spit. Its tongue, thrashing like a fish out of water, flung a froth of curdled goo. Bellamy tucked up his feet, planted a boot into its stomach, and kicked it hard while leaving the shotgun stuck in its head. As it crumpled to the ground, he jumped off the car and put his boot to its head, pulverizing it like a squashed rotten apple. He pulled out his Remington 870 and shook it clean before aiming and taking out another that was getting too close.
Nakos jumped off the car and skidded on his ass, as a dog that had been protecting a human zombie came from behind it. Gripping his.44 Magnum with both hands, he shot twice before it fell to the side. Kicking it off him, he got to his feet, aimed, and shot two more in the head.
“Where the fuck are they all coming from? I didn’t see those dogs behind them.” Nakos yelled in shock.
“No idea. It seems they’re protecting the human zombies,” Calloway called back over the gunfire.
“I can see that,” Nakos replied as he darted out of the way of a human zombie. He turned on his heels sharply, shot the thing in the back of the head, and whirled himself back around, only to be faced with another dog. A small terrier had started nipping at his heels. He kicked it off before lowering his Magnum and shooting it in the head.
“Watch out!” Bellamy screamed as he ran past Calloway, shooting nonstop until the bitch was down. Another lodge worker twice dead. He grimaced at the sight of her. Her clothing was so tattered that her breasts, two rotting pear-shaped mushy blobs, were exposed. He swung back around as he killed another and then another. He paused to reload when a poodle suddenly bit at his ankle. “Not again,” Bellamy hissed, then kicked it as hard as humanly possible. It shot back a good ten feet, enough time for him to shoot it.
By the time it was finished, they were all covered in blood and bite marks.
“Fucking lodge better have a first-aid kit and a shower,” Bellamy stated as he made his way toward the entrance. The doors were locked. He blew away the locks with one shot, kicked the doors in, and entered carefully. Standing silently in the doorway, he heard groaning noises in the distance as a smell permeating the space.
“Looks like hunting season isn’t over,” Nakos said as he stealthily roamed around the lodge.
A sign hung above the entrance, Welcome to Woody Woods Lodge. Bellamy wanted to shoot the sign down. He noticed the entire building was nothing more than glass and wood, architecturally resembling something from Spain. Accent colors from the deep ocean, complemented the above-sea-level breeze of the mountains.
Plenty of long hand-carved pews were arranged around ten-foot-long fireplaces. Trophy deer heads and bear heads hung on the high walls, ready for viewing by the many tourists as they sat sipping hot cocoa with whipped cream. Bellamy’s mouth watered at the thought of a hot cocoa. Shaking his mind back into focus, he began searching alongside the others.
“Oliver will be proud,” Calloway said with a gloating smile spreading across his lips.
“What? Why’s that, Calloway?” Bellamy asked as they moved further in.
“Well, apart from killing my own dog and some of its neighbors, this is the first time I’ve shot, like really shot. Hell, I’d even lost my damn gun when Oliver was getting Timothy and me to your place. So yeah, I’m proud of myself. In a matter of weeks, I’ve grown up.” He smirked to himself, slapped his brother across the shoulders, and walked off with a skip to his step.
“Yes you have, my brother, that you have.” Bellamy looked at the polished wood floors, noting how every step they took made an unnerving echo.
Across the luxurious lobby, they faced more double doors. Calloway stood beside Nakos, armed and ready. Bellamy pushed the doors open. Two woman zombies snapped their heads toward them. and then came their shuffling, aimless walk that made them resemble marionettes. Both were wearing cleaning uniforms, their nametags barely visible through the torn material, blood, and dirt.
They could smell the repulsive stink. It was so overpowering that they all felt nauseated. Bellamy popped one in the head. Calloway got the other. They kept looking, holding their noses as they stepped over the corpses, until they found themselves in a conference room. Only one zombie man was in there. His missing nose, ears, and one eye made him look like a melted wax candle. He wore what remained of a suit. His bulging white eye stared, offering no recognition or cognizance. Calloway put a bullet through his head, and he went tumbling down in an explosive rain of plasma.
They checked every corner of every room. Nakos found two first-aid kits. Bellamy found several bathrooms and took it upon himself to go through the tourists’ suitcases until he found clothing to fit them all.
After their cold showers, they tried the buses. Two were working, but both were low on fuel. Calloway tended to Nakos’s bites while Bellamy siphoned gas from two others and filled the one they would use. It had enough room to take 60 people. More than enough room, he said to himself. They agreed that Calloway would drive the Mazda back, and Bellamy would drive the bus. They looted what they could and got on the road again.
CHAPTER 19
CAMP-O-LOT
“Come on, Trudy, you can’t be serious,” Julie said as politely as she could.
“Look, Julie, I know you mean well. But it’s been three hours and Bellamy hasn’t returned. We can’t just sit here and wait for the hunters to find us, or worse, the zombies. We’ve made up our minds, and we’re going,” Trudy firmly stated.
“You’re right. We can’t physically stop you. We just wanted to keep you all safe. Bellamy will be back soon, I’m sure of it,” Lily said with a big wide smile and hope in her eyes.
“We love what you and Bellamy and the others have done for us, honestly we do. We won’t ever forget. But this is something we have to do. Please understand,” Jess said as she tied her laces and pulled her sweater on.
Trudy, Jess, Dallas, and five others from Ethan’s group left. Lily and Julie waved. Then Julie walked off and Lily watched them leave. She felt a cold shudder ride up her spine as she closed the door. Sitting next to Ethan and Timothy, she gave them the I failed look. They knew the women had tried to stop them. Hell, everyone tried. But they were set on getting out, and no amount of convincing could make them stay.
Ethan was pretty torn up over the group leaving. Most of them were the first he’d collected to build his community back in Tyringham.
A few of the group were becoming deeply panicked. Chatter amongst them was almost causing a brawl, as some believed Bellamy wasn’t going to return. Milo was getting noisier, which also impacted them.
Lily tried everything to convince them. Some, too fed up to listen, packed what little belongings they had and left on foot. Ethan felt beside himself, and Harry was powerless to stop them.
They all knew t
hey’d never make it on foot. The hunters were out looking for them, and there were zombies out there. It was just a matter of who would find them first. Lily shed a tear while holding Hope. The group was thinning faster than anyone had expected. She desperately needed Bellamy to return.
Two more hours had gone by and most of the group was curled up sleeping, when the door to the mess hall door opened and in walked Bellamy, Calloway, and Nakos.
Millie ran to Nakos, throwing her arms around him and kissing him everywhere. Then she noticed his wounds and different clothes, so she had Doc Leo look him over.
Lily and Julie were just starting to wake up to the commotion when they saw who it was. They sprang to their feet and charged to their men with open arms. Timothy held back before hugging Calloway.
“Did you find a vehicle?” asked a voice from the back of the group.
“We did, and it’ll take you all.” Bellamy said as he looked around the room. “Where are the others?”
“We lost eight about three or four hours ago, then another twelve. They all said they didn’t believe you’d return. Little did they know, when you make a promise, you make good on it.” Lily kissed him hard on the lips and swooned into his open arms like a joey crawling back into its kangaroo mother’s pouch.
“I think we should leave now. I know you all must be tired, but it’s best we leave before the hunters find us,” Bellamy said.
There were no arguments. Everyone packed up what they had and boarded the coach liner. They knew in that luxurious bus, sleep would be easily found.
“Ethan, would you like the honor of the first drive?” Bellamy asked.
“Sure thing. Plan’s the same, right?” he said, looking at both Bellamy and Calloway. They both nodded, eager to start.
“The first city we hit, we search for threats and take them out, and then find weapons, food, water, and fuel,” Bellamy said as he got into the bus and found a seat with Lily. They snuggled closely together. Bellamy was exhausted. Sleep arrived five minutes out of the parking lot.
Hounded | Book 3 | Hounded 3 Page 14