Her last question was a particularly curious one. Asher had told her what he knew about the power supply designed for the safe sector. She didn’t pretend to fully comprehend the details, but she did understand that the smaller generators were never meant to sustain the sector indefinitely. They were meant for emergency shutdowns with reliance on reconnection to the compound’s main power source.
“That’s not what… All I meant was...”
Mia couldn’t stop herself from grinning at his lack of response.
“What we need to do,” she said, speaking over him, “is to create the safest path forward that we can for the entire tribe.”
Mia motioned to Sara then sat down as the elder woman stood. Sara started in on the plan they’d discussed in detail as they stared down into the gorge waiting for any sign of life.
“We can gather a team to secure the way down to the generators,” Sara said. “We’ll send as many soldiers as we can spare to make the way as safe as possible. There are a number of engineers that can start right away once the way is clear.”
“And what about the trek to Cheyenne?” Hinnick asked.
Mia was surprised the boisterous council member had managed to keep quiet for as long as he had.
“We’ll send out Marcus’ team today,” Mia said as Sara retook her seat. “There’s no reason we can’t do both actions at the same time as long as we have enough volunteers.”
Walker gave in for the moment although he added a long sigh before speaking up.
“Then let’s go ahead and vote on it.”
Mia excused herself and headed for the door. Her abrupt escape was out of character, but she felt that she had to get a breath of fresh air or she might collapse. The ending of the debate told her the path forward would be approved and that was good enough. She would no doubt be asked to participate in selecting the teams for both pieces of the plan. Her growling stomach and blurring vision said she would need something to eat in order to get her strength back.
She stepped out into the main hall and was met by a figure moving toward her from the shadows. Her heart leapt up to her throat. In her hazy state, she reached for her sword and discovered she’d left it near her things beneath her cot. A frail light came to life beneath a familiar plump face.
“It’s me,” Gabriel said.
“Please don’t do that,” Mia said, placing her hand over her thumping heart.
“Sorry, I wanted to hear what the council planned to do.”
Mia nodded and found her smile.
“Walk with me.”
The fear in the young boy’s eyes remained even when he returned the smile.
“You were in there for a long time,” he said.
“Those meetings are never quick,” she admitted. “Most of the tribe’s issues are very complicated.”
“What did they decided about Jonah and the rest of the knights?”
The choice of words caused her smile to widen. Mia was instantly reminded of the name chosen for the group’s moniker. She shook her head despite herself. It took her a moment to realize that Gabriel hadn’t actually heard any of the council’s debate.
“We didn’t talk about it.”
“Wait, what?” Gabriel stopped. “Why not?”
Mia urged him to keep walking.
“You have to understand the council’s purpose,” she tried to explain, finding herself drawn back to the sober reality of Sara’s advice. “The council must do what’s best for the entire tribe.”
Gabriel’s stunned expression spoke volumes.
“Don’t they care?” he managed to get out. “Don’t you care?”
The apparent agony in his words nearly brought Mia to tears. She’d held up her mask of strength for the council, but the facade was quickly fading. Mia took a deep breath.
“Of course I do,” she said. “It’s the most important thing to me right now. Nearly everyone I love is down in that hive.”
Gabriel nodded then kept his stare on the floor. They made a final turn and the volume of chatter increased throughout the passage. The main hall was alive with movement as people streamed in and out of the numerous doorways. Mia felt the urge to stop. She took Gabriel’s hand and made him look at her.
“Don’t give up hope,” she said and he nodded again. “Rowan and Asher are down there and they won’t come back empty-handed.”
♦
Sweat streamed down Rowan’s face. The heat intensified with every step as he worked his way down the stairs between the floors. He persuaded Asher, Bree, and Bale to wait at the top of the staircase. Bree forced him to verbally acknowledge her objection to his plan before she would let him go. The girl’s tenacity was an undeniable quality, unmatched by the boys that followed her around.
The dead were close. Rowan couldn’t hear anything above the constant chorus of moans. His view of the hallway at the end of the stairs instantly jogged his memory. He was positive this was the place he last saw Dr. Olric and the undead boy they called the nexus.
Rowan headed toward the end of the hall, now moving at a snail’s pace. His heartbeat competed with the undead wails, thumping in his ears. A hidden glow highlighted the wide opening ahead and provided the first glimpse of the cages lining the sprawling area. A shadow moved across the light and Rowan froze.
He had to force himself to move again. Rowan edged along the outer wall until the first sign of the dead came into view. The cages were full, an extensive line of cells crammed with decaying zombies. The light emitted from somewhere beyond the front line of cells, filling the walls with horrific shadows.
The first of the dead laid eyes on him and the wailing rose with grisly desire. The erratic movements focused Rowan’s attention. He strained to see through the dark shadows, but knew for sure what he’d found. The cages did not hold the dead alone. The infected pushed up against the bars the moment they discovered his presence, their eyes burning a hole in him. Their growls pierced the moans of the dead as they lashed wildly, willing to rip themselves apart to try to get their hands on him.
Rowan swallowed his fear and stepped through the opening. He was mid-way around the chamber when he found the living. The central row split the cages that covered the entire area, dropping down several feet below the rest of the floor. The view was not what Rowan remembered.
Several figures were hard at work removing the last of the equipment that used to line the central row. The entire scene struck Rowan at once and the reality came to him a moment later. The dead and infected in the cages weren’t put there for the sake of safety. These people, Dr. Olric and the commission’s people, he guessed, were planning to open the cages when their work was through. Rowan guessed that they were at least partly responsible for the pack that tried to get into the rest of the hives through the breach.
All of the growing theories rushing through his mind came to a halt as his eyes settled on two small figures. They were on the ground, their hands bound behind their back, sacks over their heads. Rowan knew at once, who they were. He also knew there was no way he could get to Jonah or Tate without getting himself or them killed in the process. His deliberations came to a sudden stop when something pressed up against the back of his head.
“Don’t move or I’ll put a hole in you.”
The voice was cold and calculated and Rowan thought he was as good as dead. He waited for a slight release on the pressure against his head before making his move. Rowan spun around as fast as his momentum would allow, dipping his head and bringing his elbow up at the same time. The gun went off inches from his face, and the blast sent a shockwave through his ears that nearly brought him to his knees.
Rowan felt the back of his arm smack into the gun as he finished his uncoordinated turn. The result of the spin left him face to face with a man trying to bring the weapon up for another shot. Rowan wrapped his arm over the gunman’s hands and squeezed then brought his knee up directly between his legs. The impact dropped the gunman with one strike but he refused to let go of the gu
n. The weapon fired again, this time sending a searing pain through Rowan’s side.
Rowan took a step back then kicked his leg out before the gunman could regain his bearings. Rowan’s boot caught him across the jaw and snapped his head back. The weapon hit the floor a second before the back of the gunman’s head. Rowan picked the gun up and readied his own. Both barrels leveled off at a flood of commotion now centered on the opening in the escape tunnel at the far end of the central row.
Rowan expected to find a number of soldiers dashing toward him with weapons at the ready. Instead, he discovered most of the figures already within the tunnel entrance and the remaining moving toward it. The boys were gone. Rowan made it down a single step before he realized what the unwelcome guests had done to cover their tracks. In a cruel twist of fate, the intruders had employed the same tactic Rowan used to make his escape a few months ago.
The dead poured out of the cages in a tidal wave of decomposing flesh. Rowan raced toward the chamber’s entrance as the first of the infected broke through the undead pack. He reached the hall counting at least half a dozen infected chasing after him. The moment he hit the hallway, he discovered a trio of personnel lights not far from the entrance at the bottom of the staircase.
“You were supposed to wait up at the top,” he yelled.
Asher, Bree, and Bale didn’t appear to need encouragement. They spun around and sprinted up the stairs long before Rowan reached the first step. The howls of the trailing pack of infected filled the passageway with sheer terror. Rowan called out directions before he reached the top of the staircase.
“Get us back to the platform.”
His mind couldn’t process all of the difficulties that lay ahead. He switched over to survival mode, and for him, there was no hope in standing their ground. Rowan hit the top step and turned, reaching full speed in a few long strides. He caught a fleeting sight of Bale before the brawny boy slipped around another turn. Rowan nearly smashed into him when he reached the bend and found all three of them waiting on him.
“We can’t outrun them,” Asher exclaimed.
“We’re not going to wait here and find out,” Rowan said then stepped around them and located their entry point through a hole in the ceiling. “Get your butt up there,” he said to Bree then motioned to Bale, “and you next.”
Bree didn’t question him. Bale paused long enough to peek back around the corner before moving himself in position to help her. The boy jumped up and grabbed a handhold when she was through the opening. The volume of the wailing dead and baying infected told them that their time was nearly up.
“Go ahead and…”
Rowan’s directions trailed off as he turned to find Asher already dangling from the ceiling. Bale and Bree grabbed his arms and pulled. Rowan stood under the opening, gauging the jump when the first of the infected rounded the corner. Rowan launched himself as the rest of the pack pushed in after the first.
Rowan felt his grip go as the infected grabbed his feet. Bale caught him by the wrist a split second after his fingers slipped off the edge of the opening. Asher lunged out for him, nearly tumbling down through the gap in the process. Rowan felt one of the creatures biting on his boots and he kicked wildly to try to get away. He screamed up at Asher and Bale as they braced themselves and yanked on his arms. The pull broke Rowan free and flung him up through the opening. He flipped in the air and landed on his back on the floor above.
“That will buy us some time,” Asher said, extending his hand.
Rowan grabbed him and popped up on his feet. The room spun around him for a moment. He gathered himself long enough to find the nearest exit. He motioned for Bree to move and took one last look down at the growing crowd in the room below before running out after her.
Bree’s skills were on full display as she led them back to the debris-laden hall where Rowan and Asher initially found them. The sounds told them when the infected managed to get up through the breach and their determination was singularly focused. Asher was first through the crawl space among the rubble followed quickly by the others. They stood at the open elevator doors, looking up at the darkness above.
“We’re going to have to climb,” Rowan said.
Bale leaned out and grabbed the rope. He was ascending before Rowan got out a warning.
“We were followed,” Rowan said. “Be ready for anything when you reach the open door.”
Bale grunted a response before Asher started up after him. Bree steadied herself at the edge of the elevator shaft. Rowan waited for Asher’s legs to clear the rope before tapping her on the shoulder. She didn’t jump, instead turning to look at him.
“We’re going to leave them?”
“They were already gone,” he explained. “They took them into that tunnel.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Then why aren’t we going after them?”
Rowan looked at her youthful face and was struck by the worry in her eyes. It took him a moment to realize the concern was not for herself, but for the friends they left behind. The rising sound of the dead forced him to glance down the hallway before focusing on her again. He nodded and acknowledged her concern.
“If they wanted to kill them, they’d be dead already,” he said and the intensity of his statement caused her to pull away from him. “I’ll go after them,” he continued. “I won’t let them vanish, but I can’t risk all of our lives for the sake of theirs.”
Bree crossed her arms ignoring the sheer force of the echoes of the dead and infected as they closed in.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” she asked.
Rowan rose up to his full height.
“No,” he said plainly. “I’m here to get you back alive and then we’ll figure out what to do.” She started to object, but he didn’t let her. “Now get on the rope and climb.”
Bree huffed and growled something under her breath before she grabbed the rope and leapt out into the shaft. Rowan watched the distant sunlight disappear among the crawl holes in the debris before he hopped out after her. They reached the elevator opening three stories up and gathered in a tight circle. Asher relit the lantern he’d left behind and the beam revealed an empty hallway.
Rowan led them forward as nefarious sounds rose up the elevator shaft behind them. They reached the first branch of the passage before the truth of their situation flashed in front of the light. The few of the dead milled across the hall in a mindless order until the beam drew them in. Rowan calculated the odds as he marched forward without hesitation.
The scattered zombies turned toward him as he approached. He knew a mob was close, but hoped they would reach their exit before the dead found them. Rowan used his knife, figuring his gun would call out the others. The first of the dead tripped over its own exposed intestines as it reached for him and Rowan caught it above the eye with his blade.
Bree stepped around him, holding onto a long, flat piece of metal she’d scooped up off the floor. The girl knew how to defend herself and her talent was evident in every move she made. An arcing swing cleaved her makeshift weapon in the back of a zombie’s head. She spun around for the next attacker before the first foe hit the floor. Bale moved in next to her and the two attacked with horrifically precise strikes. They were near the far end of the hall before there was enough clearance for Rowan to see beyond the turn.
The path was littered with dark figures all now focused on the commotion at the end of the hall. Rowan recognized the opening where he and Asher encountered the undead mob and he knew their means of escape was within reach. He forced them to run, dodging between the scattered dead instead of engaging them. They reached the main hallway before the majority of the decaying lot focused on the fleeing flesh. The final turn revealed sunlight cascading in from the open gorge.
“There,” Rowan shouted, “head for the light.”
Bale was first to leap over the partially collapsed wall from the main hall and into the ruined area adjacent to the gorge. Rowan saw movement ahead of them, but di
dn’t process it before it was too late. Hands reached out for them from every direction. The dead moved about the space, thrown into a frenzy by the arrival of the living. Guttural moans erupted all at once and the panic was overwhelming.
“Help.”
Rowan heard Asher, but didn’t see him. Bale managed to push through the mob and reach the landing overlooking the gorge.
“Climb,” Rowan yelled as he spun around.
A burst of flames focused Rowan. The lantern shattered and lit several of the dead’s tattered clothing. The eruption of light revealed Asher on his back, Bree standing over him trying to keep the dead away. Rowan rushed toward them as Asher struggled to get up on his feet. Bree put one of the creatures down as it lunged for him, but another one was too quick.
The zombie grabbed a hold of Asher’s arm and sank its rotted teeth into his hand. Rowan reached him a step too late. He pushed the creature back and it took a chunk of Asher’s skin with it. Bree acted before Rowan, bringing her makeshift cleaver down with precision, lopping off Asher’s hand at the wrist.
Asher roared in agony as Rowan forced him to move his feet. They followed Bree to the landing as more of the trailing dead poured in from the hall. Bree glared at Asher’s bloody stump. Rowan had to shake her to get her to look at him.
“Climb now,” he said.
Bree dropped her weapon over the side of the landing and let it fall into the darkness of the gorge. She jumped up, grabbed a hold of the net, and started her climb. Rowan spotted Bale mid-way to the surface and a flurry of activity at the edge of the gorge above him. He grabbed Asher and wrapped his belt around his wrist to try to stop the bleeding.
“We’re going to have to do this together.”
There was no recognition in Asher’s eyes. Rowan gripped the bottom of the net and forced Asher to reach for it with his good hand. The first of the dead spilled out onto the landing as they started to climb. Rowan looked down once more in time to see the entire landing packed full with mindless figures, each one reaching up for their lost meal.
The Decaying World Saga (Book 2): Season of Decay Page 9