Hounded | Book 3 | Hounded 3

by Douglas, Ellie

  The man jumped up, startling Calloway. “Put your gun down, dude!” Bellamy snapped.

  Calloway lowered his weapon as the man approached Bellamy. With an extended arm, they shook hands, and then he shook Calloway’s.

  “I’m Bellamy. That’s my brother Calloway, and you are?”

  “Jackson, and my son William.

  “Nice to meet you both. It’s best we get out of here. We haven’t finished searching yet, so stay inside here. We’ll come back for you, I promise,” Bellamy urged as he and Calloway left, meeting Oliver and Harry on the other side. All but one room had been checked.

  Oliver pulled the door open and immediately he was hit with the rotting dead smell. Five bodies were in there, all in patient gowns, and all craved for food. Calloway started shooting, but he missed three times before getting one of them in the leg.

  ***

  Jackson ordered his son to stay in the room while he went to see if he could help. Just as he got to the door, a zombie girl no older than nine had somehow wandered past the men and right out the door. Her clothing was torn in places and covered in crusted-over blood stains. The sores covering her body looked like she’d been placed on a rotisserie, and after being roasted like a human BBQ she was now covered in maggot-infested, pus-filled sores.

  Her mouth, what was left of it, hung flapping over her chin. She had no nose and half her hair was gone. One eye protruded outward, while the other had turned upside down. Her little hands were missing digits, and part of her upper chest had a cavity the size of a coffee cup, showing her decaying tissue and blackened, broken ribs. Boils along her neck and face had ruptured and oozed yellow-looking curdled muck.

  Jackson slid on the slippery floor as he tried to stop himself from knocking right into the little girl. He wasn’t fast enough and slammed right into her, knocking her over with him. She landed right on top of him. Without warning, she sunk her razor-sharp teeth into the side of his neck, pulling out a long string of muscle as if she was pulling sticky toffee from her mouth.

  Jackson let out a series of high-pitched screams. Bellamy swiveled on his heels, took aim and shot the zombie girl, but not before she’d managed to chew another chunk of Jackson’s neck, bringing it to her mouth in a hungry, convulsive move. She went blasting back a good three feet, spraying Jackson with cold coal-like liquid before coming to a standstill. Her tiny body curled up, stiff like an ironing board, the back of her head blown out from the force of Bellamy’s Beretta. The men dashed up to Jackson. He was holding the side of his throat tightly, as bright red fluid sprayed and dribbled out like a faulty fountain.

  “Who’s this?” Oliver asked as he crouched down to inspect Jackson’s wounds.

  “We found him and his son in one of the rooms. That’s Jackson, and his son is William,” Calloway said.

  “Please look after my boy, promise me?” Jackson gurgled out through blood-soaked spit.

  “I will, Jackson, I’ll look after him, I promise,” Bellamy said as he held Jackson’s other hand.

  William squeezed past the others, leaping onto his father.

  “Daddy, no! Daddy, don’t go! Please, Daddy!”

  “It’s all right, son… Cough… These here… Cough… Nice folk are going… Cough… To look after you. I swear… Cough… You’ll be fine now.” Every word he spoke came through as a wet, hacking, liquid-soaked coughing fit.

  “No, Daddy, they can fix you!” William looked desperately at the men. “Please fix my daddy!” Tears stained his cheeks pinkish, white.

  Oliver had already run off to get the doctor. Both Leo and Jasper came rushing in. Leo was very quick at stopping the man from bleeding out.

  “He’s one lucky son of a bitch. That zombie only just missed his jugular. He’ll make it. Help me get him to a bed.”

  “He’s bleeding a lot,” William said as he squeezed his dad’s hand.

  “It looks worse than it is, son. Your dad will be just fine.”

  “Please, the zombie dogs took my two sisters and Mom. He’s all I have left,” William sobbed.

  “Would you like to help me stitch him? You can hold his hand while I fix him.”

  William gazed into Leo’s eyes, nodding ‘yes’ while swiping wetness from his cheeks.

  “Shit!” Nakos cried. Without elucidation, he ran off back to the bus. Nakos raced right to Ankti’s side. She’d fallen into another deep sleep. He picked her up, ensuring the blanket remained covering her. Taking her inside the medical building, he placed her on a bed.

  “Leo, when you’re done patching up Jackson, I have Ankti ready for you.”

  “Sure thing, I’ll be done in a couple minutes. Just stitching Jackson up.”

  “We’ll wait at the entrance,” Bellamy called out as he and Calloway left.

  “Nakos, why did you yell out and then bolt like that?” Oliver asked him.

  “I didn’t want Ankti being left alone in her state, so I made the doc promise not to leave her. But he had to come, so I had to go to her.” Nakos sounded panicked and Oliver couldn’t work it out, not until he saw Ankti’s skin. Part of the blanket had shifted, exposing her arm. Oliver’s muscles seemed to grow bigger when he flinched, and they twitched when he removed his dark sunglasses to rub his eyes. His throat and neck seemed to expand like the Incredible Hulk. His hand moved down to his long dark beard, which he tugged twice before shifting his Heckler & Koch MP5A2 back over his enormous muscular shoulders. Oliver backed up, just a fraction. It was written all over his face.

  “She isn’t one of them,” Nakos grumbled as he gawked coldly at Oliver.

  Oliver could see her nails were gone, and the exposed sores with pus dripping from them like butter melted over an ear of corn.

  “You sure about that?” Oliver said, with a frown that bore deep into the sides of his temples. Again, he rubbed his bald head, with a look of bewilderment.

  “No, she’s just contracted something, but I don’t know what. That’s why I want the doc to check her out.”

  “I’ll take a look while we wait for Leo,” Jasper said. Pulling back the blanket, he stood back immediately. His eyes grew as large as peach stones, his hands began to sweat, and his skin crawled.

  “I may only be a cosmetic surgeon, but I’m telling you, she’s one of them. Just look at her skin,” Jasper said while backing out of the room.

  “Since when do those things talk, Jasper? Because she’s communicating, so she can’t be one of them things. It must be something else,” Nakos said as he fidgeted while waiting on Leo.

  Both Oliver and Jasper just looked at one another, unsure of what to make of it all.

  “Mate, did she get bit anywhere, anytime?” Jasper asked while practically hugging the doorframe, having to step aside to let Leo in.

  “Nope, no one’s bitten her,” Nakos replied before turning his attention to Leo.

  “Okay, let me check your sister out. While I do so, please tell me everything you know,” Doc said. As he stood over Ankti, his belly jiggled around. His puffed-out cheeks made him look like a chipmunk. Shifting part of his hair to one side, he began examining her.

  “Not much to tell, Doc. She hasn’t been well since before the town was taken over. I dunno, like three, three and a half months maybe? Before getting ill, she was grumpier than usual, but other than that, I’ve not noticed anything else. Except, of course, what you’re now staring at.”

  “She came to me before the town was seized. George had scratched her. I gave her antibiotics, but I don’t think they worked. Her skin – Jesus, her skin is falling away, exposing the layers underneath and in some areas bone. Are you sure she wasn’t bitten by something?” Leo asked as he inspected her more closely, using his hands to indicate he needed more light. Jasper and Oliver pointed their flashlights directly on her body.

  “Not bitten. So what do you make of it all?”

  “Let me see if she’s responsive. I need to get her to answer some questions. It’s not like I can take any samples of her tissue and check them u
nder a microscope. That’s beyond my expertise.”

  The doctor looked around the room. Pulling open glass cabinets and finding some hydrogen peroxide, he opened the bottle and smelled it, “Yes, this will do,” he said through coughs as he held it under Ankti’s nose. Her head twitched sideways and her arms flung outward before dropping back at her sides. Her eyes fluttered open, revealing even less lashes than earlier.

  “Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” Leo asked.

  “Groggy, hungry, and very tired. I just want to sleep. Nakos, what’s going on? Where am I?” Her voice was etched with dryness and rattled like a loose bolt being tossed about amongst clothes in a dryer. That distinctive clickety-clack sound as it bounces around hitting the metal.

  “You’re in a medical building. We’re getting you fixed up,” Nakos declared while hovering over her with a warm smile. He pulled on his ponytail to tighten it back up, leaned down, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  “What’s the verdict, Doc?” Nakos almost begged.

  “I don’t believe she’s turning into a zombie, so I’m ruling that out.” He stood at her feet inspecting the missing nails, when it finally dawned on him. “Aha!” he said aloud.

  “What is it?” Nakos said with urgency.

  “She has necrotizing fasciitis.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a flesh-eating disease. She probably got it from the scratch that George gave her, and the antibiotics I gave her weren’t strong enough. I’ll hunt round here to see if I can’t find something stronger.”

  “I’ll help you look,” Jasper said, feeling more relaxed after the doc’s diagnosis. Oliver also felt better knowing she wasn’t turning into a cannibalistic zombie.

  A few moments later, Leo returned.

  “I found some penicillin. She’s not allergic to it, is she?”

  “Nope.”

  “Good. I also found some clindamycin and vancomycin. One of these should work. I can’t take cultures to determine the appropriate antibiotic coverage. For now, this is our best shot. I also found some Ambien. It will knock her out so she’s more comfortable. Best to keep her sedated until the antibiotics take effect.”

  “How bad is it?” Nakos wearily questioned, his eyes fixated on his ill sister.

  “I can’t sweeten this, Nakos. It’s best you prepare yourself for the worst outcome. If she makes it, it’ll be a bloody miracle. My advice, as shitty as it is, is it’s best to say your goodbyes while she’s still lucid. If this keeps on metastasizing, she will lose her speech, as it will eat away at her vocal cords. I wish I had better news for you, Nakos, I really do.”

  “Can’t we stay here and get her treated? We’re in a fucking medical building, so surely there’s something here that will heal her?”

  “It wouldn’t matter if she was here, in the bus, or on a surgical ward in one of New York’s finest hospitals. Without a proper medical team to assist with the right amount of medications, it wouldn’t help in the slightest. I’m afraid there’s nothing, other than the antibiotics. It’ll at least slow it down.”

  Nakos didn’t know what to say, he picked up his sister and made his way out, bumping into Bellamy and Calloway on the steps outside.

  “What did the doc say?” Bellamy asked as he walked alongside Nakos.

  “She has a flesh-eating disease, necrotizing fasciitis, he said.” Nakos’s eyes welled up as he got on the bus. Harry and Oliver had taken Jackson and William, put them on the bus, and introduced everyone to them. Jasper had already returned to the bus, taking a seat next to Keith and Hazel. Ethan had taken back Crunchie and sat with Timothy.

  Space at the back of the bus was made for Ankti to be laid down for the remainder of the trip. Millie sat near the back with Hope. Nakos gave Hope a kiss and then kissed his wife, before taking a seat on the floor. He held his sister’s hand and talked to her about their childhood, reminiscing about all the good times they had together, before the sedative took effect and she slept.

  “Next stop, New York,” Bellamy announced, starting the bus. And once more, they were on the road again.

  CHAPTER 25

  NEW YORK

  Before Bellamy had even reached New York, the black smoke lingering in the air darkened the day like a bad thunderstorm. Cars, body parts, gore, and lots and lots of dried blood littered the surrounding areas. The tallest buildings licked flames to the skies as if a gift to God himself. So much destruction! The city was completely in ruins.

  He swallowed hard. Lily kept looking out the window. Her heart sank to her feet and her pulse quickened. At that very moment, she wasn’t sure they’d made the right decision. She leaned into Bellamy, firmly squeezing his thigh. She also swallowed hard. Looking over her shoulder, she could see the forty-eight others, and their eyes full of fear, too.

  “Looks like World War II,” came Harry’s strained voice as he joined them up front. The worst sight of all was the huge number of zombie dogs. They seemed critically abundant, some loitering by abandoned cars, some feasting on remains like vultures, some in packs, and others just dragging their bloodied bodies around like windup toys, slowly but never really dying.

  It wasn’t long before they saw a few human zombies sauntering around with zombie dogs close by, mouths hung wide and biting at the air. Bellamy noticed a few buildings had been reinforced. They had boarded up windows and doors, presumably with survivors inside, which gave him a little more hope. Tylor made his way toward the front of the bus.

  “You’re gonna have to get us to Battery Park.” Tylor spoke way too quietly. Lily turned around to face him, steadying herself with the rails.

  “What was that, Tylor?”

  “Head to Battery Park, that’s where the ferry will be.”

  “Bellamy, do you know where Battery Park is?”

  “Sure do, babe.”

  “Think you can make it through this?” Lily pointed out front.

  “I’ll do my best, babe.” He was navigating his way through the carnage as if he was walking in a minefield.

  Tylor nudged at his thin moustache, scratched it, and then pulled on his shoulder length sandy hair. His honey-colored eyes seemed to fill with wetness, and it was as if he was crying without crying.

  “Are you okay, Tylor?”

  “No. How can I, or anyone of us, be okay with all this outside?” He hung his head down low. He’s so very shy, thought Lily. She tried reassuring him, but he wasn’t having a bit of it. He just flopped into the nearest seat and looked vacantly at the monsters outside, clutching at his stomach as though he was about to vomit.

  Half an hour in, not even close to Battery Park, Bellamy suddenly pulled hard on the steering wheel. Lily toppled backward, falling on her ass. Tylor hung on tight to the railings with one hand as he extended his other to help Lily up. The bus sagged back and forth as the sound of brakes filtered through the bus full of screaming passengers. They all braced themselves as Bellamy did his best to stop the bus. It swung and shook as if a great wave had engulfed it. Then suddenly it crashed into the side of a brick building, sending rubble and dust into the air.

  A sudden collective bunch of screams rang through the bus from behind Bellamy.

  “Anyone hurt?” he called back. Everyone, almost simultaneously, said that they were all fine.

  Oliver abruptly stopped his car, seeing the bus slam into the building. He had no idea why they’d crashed. Rushing out, he got on board the bus.

  Bellamy told everyone to stay put and keep quiet as he and Oliver stepped out of the bus. They began by checking the tires, shocked to see that one had been shot out. He looked around but couldn’t see much of anything until a shining light ran the length of his front up to his eye. He blinked rapidly as the light continued to go back and forth in front of his vision. He looked up and saw an Army man, jumping and waving frantically at him. He had rosy cheeks and a wide smile as he jumped in the air, pointing with his arms, indicating he was coming down. Bellamy poked his head into the bus, ch
ecked that everyone was still okay, and told them to wait there. They all hovered by the windows while Bellamy stepped out to stand next to Oliver.

  Moments later, a young man appeared in full Army attire. His cheek color intensified, brightly flushing, as he extended his hand to shake Bellamy’s.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to shoot your tire out. Was aiming for the thing that’s now under your bus. Dang metallic blue fly flew right into my eye the moment I was pulling the trigger.” He took a deep breath and continued. “Man, it’s been so long since I’ve seen another person, let alone a large group such as yourselves. You’re all a sight to behold. Please, tell me no one was hurt, right?”

  The Army guy couldn’t stop smiling. He waved frantically at the faces staring at him through the window. In doing so, he nearly lost his M4 rifle. His eyes flickered embarrassment as he slung it back over his shoulder, stood at full attention, and faced Bellamy.

  “Private First-Class Ryker, Thorn.”

  “Are there more of you?” Harry asked, looking up to where Ryker had emerged.

  “No sir, just me left. The others were overwhelmed by those rotting dogs.” He kept talking.

  “Best follow me inside. The streets are full, and our noise is attracting them to us, so let’s go,” Ryker hastened to add, his voice warm and soft.

  Bellamy looked at the group, surveilled the area, and agreed. Everyone got out and followed the private inside. Julie and Lily hugged Ryker, thanking him. Ryker was a little confused. He’d figured they’d all hate him for accidently blowing out their tire.

  “Ryker, what happened? Where’s the rest of the Army?” Calloway asked eagerly as he stared into the face of the young private.

  “Come sit, and let’s talk over coffee. I have enough to give everyone, so please, make yourselves comfortable and help yourselves to food and drinks.”

  Ryker led them all into a large room. The building he’d been living in used to be a DMV, with access to the roof, large rooms, and clear sightlines to the outside world.