I looked at George, confused. “My team?”
“Yeah, Miles. You were second in command of your squad. Pike is dead, so now you’re in charge.”
I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. It gave an ending to Pike’s story. Full stop. The End. His legacy was over, and I was taking over his team.
I swallowed. “Yes sir,” I said. “We’ll leave as soon as the sun’s up.”
A gunshot rang out in the distance, reminding us of the horde of zombies at our front door, bringing us from one horrifying reality to the next.
“We’d better get out there and see what we’re up against,” George said, putting an end to the meeting.
CHAPTER TEN
I RAN TO THE TRENCH, my assault rifle bouncing up and down at my side. I held a spear in one hand and a pistol in the other. The guns were only for emergencies.
I reached the trench, and began stabbing at the zombies trapped inside with my spear. Everything was made green and grainy thanks to my night vision goggles. They’d made enough progress with the trench during the day that the zombies couldn’t get out at first. The more of them that fell in, though, the easier it was for them to scramble out. There weren’t as many as last night, which meant that running out to stab them every few minutes with a spear while they were trapped was sufficient.
I finished off the last of the living dead, and turned around to run back to the destroyed section of The Wall where Daniel and John stood.
“You’re next,” I told John when I got back as I handed him the spear.
He put on his night vision goggles and took the spear from me.
“You’re supposed to keep those on, you know that, right?” Daniel said.
“Yeah, yeah,” John said as he tried adjusting the goggles on his face to get comfortable. “They’re just so heavy, plus everything being green makes me nauseous. My stomach’s been in so many knots today it’s going to be sore. Just trying to give it a break.”
Daniel chuckled. “Just giving you a hard time, man. No need to soliloquy.”
“Oh, someone learned a new word,” I said with a teasing smile.
I couldn’t see his eyes because of the goggles, but I’m sure Daniel rolled them.
“How about we keep an eye on the zombies like we’re supposed to, eh?” Daniel said.
He was right, so I turned and watched a zombie fall into the trench fifty yards away, still smiling from my dig at Daniel. It wasn’t even that good of one, but I’d been so upset and on edge that I was milking that small moment of happiness for all it was worth.
One by one, the zombies would fall in. Once there were five or six of them, John took off running to kill them. I looked to my right and left, and every twenty yards or so I would see another person leave their group of three to do the same.
John came running back after less than a minute, and tossed his spear to Daniel, took off his goggles, and sat on the ground, all in one smooth motion. He looked green to me because I was wearing goggles, but I had a feeling that if I took them off and shined a light on him, John would still be just as green.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “All that running, the goggles…” His eyes glazed over.
“Whoa, hey! No puking on me!” Daniel shouted.
John swallowed and slowly stood. I grabbed his arm and helped him up. “I gotta go get some water,” he said.
I fought back a laugh. “Yeah, you do that,” I said, struggling to keep my composure.
Once John was out of sight, though, Daniel and I busted out laughing.
“Oh my god, he looked so sick!” Daniel said.
“Oh man, the way his eyes just glazed over,” I said laughing. “He really wasn’t feeling it!”
“You’ve got that right!”
I looked at Daniel, and realized how ridiculous the two of us probably looked. The night vision goggles sticking off our faces as our heads bobbed up and down with laughter. This, in turn, made me laugh even more. And it felt amazing. To finally be able to laugh again? To be joyful, even at something so stupid? It felt incredible. Just that small amount of pleasure made me feel like a million bucks.
For the next few hours, Daniel, John, and myself shot the shit while taking turns killing zombies. And for the first time in a long time, I had fun.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
USING THE BOLT CUTTERS, I snipped a hole in the chain-link fence that surrounded the back yard to the hardware store. It was decided that going through the back was the safest bet since the remains of the creatures were closer to the back door. No need to cross the entire store right underneath the creatures if we didn’t have to.
I pulled back one side of the hole I’d made in the fence, and motioned for John, Daniel, and then Peter to go through. I went through last. I turned and motioned to Julia who sat in the idling van that everything was okay, and for there to be radio silence.
The key to this mission was complete silence. If the creatures were still in there, alerting them to our presence was the last thing we needed to do.
We began making our way across the yard, taking our time in reaching the back door. I pointed my gun at the door, ready to take out anything that came through it. To the left, Daniel swept the area with his gun, making sure anybody or anything were not hiding behind some of the empty shelves that once held wood and other supplies. To my right, John did the same. Behind us, Pete followed with his pistol pointing at the ground. The only sounds were the wind blowing, our feet walking, and Peter’s bag of scientist gear brushing against his side.
In the back of my neck, a creeping sensation began to form. Small at first, but then it began to grow. I did my best to ignore it, but it wouldn’t let me. As much as I tried, it just got bigger and bigger, forcing me to surrender to the thought it tried to produce.
I think we’re being watched.
For a split second, I took my eyes off the back door. I did a quick visual scan of the area, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Which was wrong. There should’ve been a group of dead bodies from the people I killed while defending myself.
I looked at John, but he hadn’t noticed. I stopped the squad, and put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look at me with questioning eyes. I looked and pointed at the dried blood in the dirt that was more black than red. His eyes grew wide, and he nodded in realization. The grip on his gun tightened, and he began scanning the area with more scrutiny.
I turned to my left and leaned close to Daniel’s ear. “Something’s wrong. Stay sharp. Might not be alone.”
Daniel nodded, and he too began scanning the area with closer attention.
“What’s going on?” Peter whispered from behind me. I almost jumped he scared me so bad.
“Nothing,” I said, not having time to explain to him. “Just be as fast as you can, alright?”
Daniel nodded his head, and the pistol in his hands started to shake just a little.
I turned around and tried to ignore the face that behind me was someone who was terrified, had little gun training, and wielded a pistol.
But then I became just as terrified.
Up ahead, no less than ten feet away, the back door to the hardware store stood open.
“That was just closed, right?” John whispered as softly as he could while still being heard.
I nodded my head. “Did you see anybody come out?”
They all shook their heads.
“Maybe it was the wind?” John asked.
“It would have to be blowing from the south to open that door. The wind is blowing from the east.”
My stomach twisted in fear. I was right. We weren’t alone.
“Go back to the van,” I whispered.
“But Mile—”
“—Go back to the van!” I whispered as forcefully as I could.
Peter gave me a look that said he’d be protesting this call as soon as he could.
Daniel and John, however, nodded their heads. They knew how bad this could go if our next few actions weren�
��t taken with extreme caution.
The three of them turned and began making their way back to the hole in the fence.
I lingered there for a few seconds, searching what I could see of the inside of the store. The sunlight that entered didn’t travel far before being consumed by the darkness.
And inside that darkness, I could see two pure white eyeballs staring back at me, silently watching.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I SAT in the passenger seat of the van, watching the back door of the hardware store. Behind me, Peter complained.
“Just let me go in there! I’ll go by myself,” he pleaded.
“You’re full of shit, Pete,” John said. “If Miles were to say okay to that right now, you’d shit yourself and say never mind!”
“No I wouldn’t!” Peter protested.
Yeah, you would, I thought to myself. I didn’t speak, though. I didn’t have time to argue with Peter and his suicide mission. I was trying to think about how we were going to get into the store. I’m sure Peter wouldn’t believe me if I told him, but I was on his side. I wasn’t going to leave until I had remains of one of the creatures for Peter to study. I wanted to know about them just as much as Peter did. Both to satisfy my own curiosity, and for the sake of the people at Jefferson Memorial. I had to know how to defend them.
“—the worst idea I’ve ever heard!” John said as I tuned back into their conversation.
“What idea?” I asked, desperate for anything, even just the seed of an idea.
“Peter says we should blow the roof off to let in some sunlight, which if you say is true, would kill some of the creatures and make a path for us to get inside,” Daniel explained.
“Which you’d be an idiot for actually thinking would work. First, they also disintegrate in sunlight, which means you’d have nothing left to study. Second, we don’t have the explosives we need to pull off something like that. Lastly, it’d let every person and zombie anywhere close know exactly where we were at.”
Again, John was right. I’d already thought of that idea, but threw it into my mental trash can for all the reasons John listed.
"What do you think, Miles?" Daniel asked.
It was weird having him ask me something like that, seeing as he was a few years older than me. I almost thought he might've been testing me, but since Daniel doesn't leave the bank often, he probably just trusted my opinion as someone who did.
"I'm thinking," I said. "We have to get the stuff for Peter, no question," I said aloud to no one in particular.
"Right," John began. "But doing so without getting ourselves killed? A little tricky."
A little tricky was right.
"What if we drew them out of there so Peter can get the samples he needs?" Daniel suggested.
"It's a good idea," I said. "But they aren't that stupid. The only reason they went into the sunlight earlier was because their momentum made them. They tried stopping themselves. They aren't going to come out into the daylight."
"Well why don't we jus--" Peter began.
"No, Peter," I interrupted him. "We aren't waiting until nighttime. We aren't going to give them the upper hand."
Peter sighed. I turned to look in the back where they all sat in various spots on the floor. Peter had his head in his hands. "I really need those samples, Miles."
I took a deep breath. I needed to stay calm, but my frustration was rising. "I'm on your side, Peter. I want to find out about these creatures just as much as you do."
"Atras," Peter corrected me.
We all looked at him, puzzled.
"What?" John asked.
"An atra. It's what I'm calling the creatures. It's Latin," Peter said with a smile.
Of course it was Latin. Peter came up with the names for anything that needed them, and he was obsessed with Latin.
"Okay then, I want to find out about these atras as much as you do. But I'm not going to lose any lives in the process."
Peter nodded. "I get that, and neither do I. But whatever we're going to do, it's going to be dangerous. There's no way around that, Miles."
I sighed and turned back around. I looked out the windshield at the empty back alley. Potholes littered the asphalt road, thanks to the relentless Texas weather. I felt like crawling into one of those potholes and disappearing for a while. All these people were waiting on me to make a decision, and no matter which one I made, people's lives were going to be put in danger.
If we went into the hardware store, any number of us could die. But if we didn't, we'd be in the dark when it came to the atras, putting everyone's lives at Jefferson Memorial in danger. We needed to learn everything we could about our new foes.
Our eagerness to learn got us in trouble, however.
There was a thud at the back of the van, then another. More thuds sounded from the right side of the van until it was a cacophony. I looked out the window in a panic, and locked eyes with just one of the many zombies that were trying to break into our car.
In our focus to learn about our new enemies, we forgot all about our old ones.
“Drive, Julia!” I shouted as I kept my eyes on the zombies.
“I can’t!” she shouted back.
I turned to ask why not, but I saw why. At the end of the alleyway stood a Xenomortis.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“OH SHIT,” John said.
I didn’t know what to do. I sat in the passenger’s seat of the van, frozen. The blood drained from my face, and I gripped the seat around me until my knuckles turned white.
The Xenomortis began walking toward us, dragging one of its legs behind him. Its hard, rocky grey skin glistened red around its mouth. Probably blood from its last victim.
“It’s not charging,” Daniel said, almost shouting to be heard over the thuds of the zombies.
I shook myself out of my daze. Daniel was right, it wasn’t charging, which meant it hadn’t seen us yet. It was probably just investigating the noise the zombies were making.
“Julia, turn the car off,” I said as I unbuckled my seat.
“What?” she protested.
“Just do it.”
Julia obeyed, and then followed me into the back of the van. “Everybody get as low as you can,” I said.
We all lay down on the floor of the van. My feet were pretty much in John’s chest, and the back of Julia’s head was next to mine.
“We should just drive through the yard of the hardware store,” Julia whispered.
“We won’t be able to pick up enough speed in time. The Xenomortis would be on us in a heartbeat,” I explained. “Our only option is to not be seen.”
As if on cue, I looked up and could see the Xenomortis appear in my line of sight. It didn’t look into the van. It stopped and stared at the zombies for a few moments with its reptilian eyes, watching them try and break into the van.
I looked at the passenger’s side-view mirror, and could see some of the zombies continue to throw themselves against the van, but a few of them turned to look at the Xenomortis. They stared back at him with their dead eyes.
The Xenomortis grunted, and a few more zombies turned their attention toward him. Still, some had their attention elsewhere. The Xenomortis grunted again, this time a little louder. Now all but two were still trying to get into the van. I couldn’t see these two, but I could hear them hitting the back door of the van.
The Xenomortis began walking toward the back. I watched in the side-view mirror until he disappeared around the corner.
I held my breath. My heart thumped in my chest, pumping fear and adrenaline through me. Sweat began to bead on my brow as my throat completely dried up.
The Xenomortis let out a heart-stopping roar. It sounded like a million soldiers storming into battle, yelling all the way.
The thuds stopped, and so did my heart for a brief second.
Two distinct squishing sounds penetrated the silence.
I looked up to the side-view mirror, and the Xenomortis appeared around the corner, co
vered in black zombie blood and guts. The Xenomortis walked past the zombies without looking back, and the group of about ten zombies shuffled behind, following it as if it was their master.
The Xenomortis went around the left of the car and disappeared from view. I listened as it shuffled toward the hardware store. The sound of metal being torn apart filled the air, and my mind raced at the possibilities of what could be happening.
I sat up, but motioned for everyone else to stay put. I crawled up to the front of the van and peeked out the driver’s mirror.
The Xenomortis shuffled toward the hardware store, heading straight for the open back door. After a few moments, it reached it, and didn’t stop as it disappeared into the darkness of the store, with the zombies following right behind.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AFTER A FEW MOMENTS of dead silence, everybody else sat up. They all looked out of the window making sure the Xenomortis was gone.
“Where did it go?” Peter asked, searching the outside for any sign. Then he saw the destroyed chain-link fence. “Don’t tell me…”
I nodded my head. “It and the zombies all marched right inside the hardware store.”
“You mean the zombies followed it?” Daniel asked.
Before I could answer, John jumped in. “Do you think we could talk about this while we’re driving away from one of the most dangerous situations we could ever be in?”
“Yeah,” I said as I moved to the passenger’s seat.
Everybody held their breath as Julia started the van. I swore it had never been that loud before. Julia did her best not to just punch it. She eased the van forward until there was enough distance between us and the hardware store that she could accelerate without the engine noise attracting any unwanted attention.
“So where were you?” John asked.
“The zombies,” Daniel began. “You said they followed the Xenomortis.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. I turned around in my seat to get a look at the three guys in the back. “The Xenomortis got the zombies’ attention, and the two that ignored it, it killed.”
The Mortis Desolation (Book 1): Mortis Page 4