The Mortis Desolation (Book 1): Mortis

by Logan Rutherford

  I couldn’t help but smile at the reunion she would soon have with her family. “You’ve been a lot of help, Nina. Thank you. You can leave whenever you’d like. We have a lot of work to do.”

  She smiled and nodded her head. “Thank you. My father is the leader of my town, Riven, about fifty miles from here. You’re welcome to come with.”

  I chuckled. “It’s a tempting offer. I know the place, and I remember hearing it’s very secluded. We have our own home to take back, though. But thank you.”

  Nina nodded her head. “Of course. It’s an open invitation. I really cannot thank you enough for saving us.”

  I stood from my seat, as did Nina. “Don’t mention it,” I said. “It’s something hopefully anyone would’ve done, if for no other reason then to take out a few Roves.”

  Nina wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I was taken aback and wasn’t sure how to respond. I settled on giving her a couple of pats on the back. “In any case, thank you.”

  A warmth grew from my chest and spread across my body. I couldn’t help but smile. It felt incredible to finally have something go right. To be responsible for making such a direct and drastic difference in someone’s life. At time when everything was going terribly wrong for me, there was a ray of hope. I began to long for a time when something going wrong was the anomaly, not the other way around.

  I took a deep breath. As I exhaled, I spoke under my breath. “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “I WANT to go with them,” Rachel said.

  We stood around the hotel room we had set up camp in. Rachel stood with her hands on her hips, the expression on her face that of determination.

  “Rachel, we don’t know who these people are,” I said.

  “Yeah, we do,” Daniel said, pitching in.

  I turned to him and cocked my head, waiting for him to explain more.

  Daniel leaned back and eyed me while scoffing. “Don’t you play dumb, Miles. You told Nina yourself you’ve heard of her settlement.”

  I looked away and gritted my teeth. Okay, so maybe I exaggerated a little. I did know a bit about Nina and her people.

  “Riven is secluded in the forest, and has lots of former military people there. Frankly, if they weren’t content with where they are, they’d be our biggest threat at Jefferson Memorial,” Daniel said with a hint of arrogance in his voice.

  “Yeah? Well if they’re ex-military, why has the leader’s daughter been in slavery for almost a year? Why didn’t they do anything to try and save her?” I asked, regaining my confidence, as I was sure I’d just won this argument.

  Daniel stood there for a moment, stumped. “Maybe they did, alright? You don’t know one way or the other. But the fact of the matter is that they have supplies. Supplies we need. They could have medicine for Julia and Pete.”

  “They just have broken arms. They aren’t going to die.”

  “Actually, Julia could get an infection from her wound if it isn’t taken care of properly, and that’s not something I’m one hundred percent sure I can prevent with our limited supplies and given the germs and diseases that cover every surface out here. She needs to be somewhere sterile,” Rachel said. “And as for Pete, he’ll be fine. However, there could be things there for him to set up a mini-lab or something so he can begin some preliminary research.”

  I turned to Pete who was sitting up on one of the beds, leaning his back against the headboard. “She’s right,” he said with a shrug. “Sitting around here waiting for you guys to do whatever you’re gonna do with Jefferson isn’t doing us any good. At Riven I can at least try and figure out what’s going on.” He raised his broken arm, set in its makeshift cast. “I’ll do nothing but slow you guys down with this thing.”

  I sighed and looked down, trying to process everything. They all had good points, and them going to Riven would be the best option. Still, I hated the thought of splitting up. I couldn’t do my best to protect them if they were fifty miles away. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing them. But trying to convince them to stay would be selfish. They needed to be in Riven. To be in their element.

  “Miles,” Daniel said in a soft tone. “We’re not asking your permission. We’re going. We just want you to be okay with it.”

  I looked up at him. “Yeah, I get that. But we?” I asked, puzzled.

  Daniel sighed. “Yes, we. I’m going too.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Daniel stopped me.

  “Miles, just listen. I’m the most diplomatic out of all of us. Riven is full of ex-military, and they owe us one. We saved their leader’s daughter. That’s a huge bargaining chip. If I can get a relationship going with them, get them to trust me, maybe I can convince them to help us drive out the Roves.”

  I thought about it for a moment, before it clicked. I smiled and nodded my head. “Oh man,” I said with a laugh. “That’s a great idea! If we could get them on our side…” The possibilities flashed in my mind, and I was filled with hope. “We could actually do this. We could actually take back Jefferson, and do it with ease.”

  Daniel smiled and nodded his head. “I’m glad you understand. It’ll work out great.”

  I began to figure out what I could do to help. “Okay, so whoever doesn’t go with you can come with me. We’ll scout out Jefferson, try and figure out what’s going on. Then we’ll go to Riven, meet up with you all, and then figure out how we can pool together our resources to driving the Roves from Jefferson Memorial. Sounds good?”

  “Sounds good,” Daniel said. He extended his hand, and I reached out to shake it.

  “You make sure you get those soldiers on our side,” I told him with a smile.

  Daniel let go of my hand and shrugged. “How can they say no to this charming face?”

  I chuckled. “Good luck to you too, Rachel.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you all soon. You’d better get going. Nina and her group aren’t too far ahead of you.”

  “What? No car for us?” Pete asked, his eyes widening.

  “Not unless you find one along the way that can fit us and all of Nina’s people,” Daniel said.

  Pete slumped back. “Dammit,” he cursed under his breath.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  IT WAS ALMOST nighttime as I parked Mila’s Range Rover in the parking lot of a church a few blocks away from Jefferson Memorial. The day was in its golden hour, as the sun was setting on the horizon. I took a deep breath and turned to look at my squad.

  John looked at me from the passenger seat, while Mila sat in the back, screwing the silencer onto her gun. Frankly, I was surprised that she came. She had no obligation to, and even held disdain for Jefferson Memorial. Still, she probably felt like keeping her mind off the massacre at Brinn, as well as getting answers to whether all of this really was connected.

  “You two ready?” I asked.

  “Yep,” John said.

  Mila just nodded her head, opened the car door, and climbed out.

  John looked at me and motioned his head toward where Mila stood outside. “She good?”

  I watched Mila for a moment through the window as she stood there staring at the horizon, waiting for the two of us to emerge from the car. I looked back at John. “Are any of us?”

  John sat there for a moment and sighed. “Yeah, alright.”

  We both exited the car, and the three of us walked to the front of the Range Rover.

  “It’s a few blocks down the street,” I told Mila, pointing down the road. “We’ll need to stay hidden, there’s no telling what’s out there. This is just recon.” I made sure I emphasized that point to John. “So, no being a hero.”

  “You telling that to me or to yourself?” John asked with a sly smile.

  I chuckled and shook my head. “Just something the both of us need to keep in mind.” I turned my attention to Mila. “How well do you know the area?” I asked.

  She shrugged and examined the street around her. She pointe
d at the dilapidated strip mall across the street that used to house a thrift store and a laundromat, along with a couple of other niche shops. “Sean and I spent a week there and scouted out every inch of a ten-mile radius last year,” she said in a monotone. “Even spent a good time studying your place.”

  I stood there studying her face for a moment. There was nothing there, nothing behind those eyes. I felt her pain, to an extent. While I’d not lost everyone in my life, I did lose the ones that meant the most. So I understood what she was going through.

  “You sure you wanna come with us?” I asked. “You could stay with the Rover if you wanted. Totally fine with us.”

  Mila shook her head. “No, it’ll be good for me. Let’s just get moving.”

  I nodded my head. “Okay, yeah. Let’s go see what the Roves are up to at Jefferson Memorial.”

  * * *

  It was almost completely dark as we reached the gas station across the street from Jefferson. I stood at the ladder attached to the back of the building, and gestured upwards. “You can go up first, Mila.”

  She nodded and let her assault rifle hang loose at her side. She climbed up the ladder, followed shortly by John.

  I climbed up last, and when I reached the roof, got down on my stomach like John and Mila were. The roof was flat and gave us a clear view of Jefferson Memorial straight ahead, surrounded by its tall wooden wall.

  “There’s home,” John said, his voice somber.

  I said nothing in response. I couldn’t find the words. Sadness and anger hit me in waves. I should’ve been behind those walls with my people—my family. Instead I was lying on a gas station roof, looking for any sign of weakness that could give us an invasion for our retaliation.

  Of course, there were none to be seen. The Jefferson Memorial Bank took up the entire block. Not the building itself, but the area around the bank as well. The small fields that we made by spending months breaking apart the concrete; the area where we parked the vehicles; the gathering area where a lot of time was spent hanging out when there was nothing else to be done; and the outdoor shower area. The entire compound sat behind four giant walls that surrounded the block. We had spent a lot of time on the place, and security was a huge focus. The Wall was tall, and the closest buildings were further away than normal, thanks to the wide road surrounding the place and the small field of grass on each side. This provided whomever was on the wall with a large line-of-sight. That, coupled with our weapons, trench, and The Wall itself, meant we hadn’t been worried about people or zombies getting into our home. All that preparation, yet our enemies just walked right into our front door and took the place out from under us! Now all those security measures were really biting us, because I couldn’t see a weakness.

  “Is the hole still in The Wall? I can’t tell,” John said, straining his neck to try and see.

  I shrugged. “I can’t tell from here either. If it’s not already, you can bet they’re hard at work on it. By the time we get a plan put together and execute it, you can be sure it’ll be prepared, though.”

  “Dammit,” John cursed under his breath.

  I sighed. “Yep. Dammit.”

  “Hey, Frank, come in Frank,” a voice said. It sounded as if it came from somewhere to our right, the opposite side of the station.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I instinctively pressed myself harder against the gas station roof.

  “Yeah, Frank here,” a gruff voice said. He was somewhere by the right wall.

  “Slaves are locked in their rooms for the night. Boss says you and Johnny are to bring the prisoner in ASAP. Go through the back door, take him right to the safe.”

  “You got it. We’ll be there shortly,” the man I assumed was Frank responded. The sound of two sets of footsteps went from the right side of the building, around to the front. The front door swooshed open, then shut.

  John turned to look at me, the look on his face asking what was going on. I just shrugged and mouthed I don’t know.

  I began inching backwards toward the ladder.

  “What are you doing?” Mila hissed barely above a whisper.

  “Seeing what’s going on,” I replied as quietly as I could.

  I reached back with my feet until I felt the ladder. I inched backwards until I had to begin climbing down the ladder. John and Mila followed closely behind as quietly as they could.

  When I reached the ground I clicked my gun off safety and made my way to the edge of the gas station. I peered around the corner and saw no one was there. I stepped around the corner, but someone grabbed me and pulled me back.

  Mila pushed me against the wall, her hands pinning my shoulders. “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  I pushed her hands off me. “I’m seeing who the prisoner. It’s obviously someone they want to keep a secret.”

  “We’re not supposed to be heroes, you said that yourself. Strictly recon,” she whispered, throwing my own words back into my face.

  I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have time to argue. This is someone important. We could use it to our advantage somehow.”

  “How are we going to do that when we’re going to get ourselves killed by Roves before we get the chance to?”

  “Listen,” I said standing up tall and straight and taking a step forward. Mila held her ground. “I’m doing this whether you like it or not. I’m not letting someone else become a slave to the Roves if I can help it. They’re going to torture them, and probably kill whoever it is. If I can stop that, I will. Maybe whoever it is knows something about what’s going on, or what the Roves are doing with my home. So you can jus—”

  I heard footsteps emerging from the front of the gas station, along with some whispering. I stopped talking, and pulled my gun up to my shoulder.

  “You can help me or not, but I’m doing this.” I turned to John. “With me?”

  John nodded and flicked his gun off safety.

  Mila was visibly angry. “Fine. But for the record, this is stupid. We don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into.”

  I ignored her last statement and turned the corner. I stayed close to the wall of the gas station as I sneaked to the front, the light of the moon illuminating the way.

  I peeked around the side and saw three men standing in front of the door. Two in front, one in back. In between them stood somebody that towered above the three men. The moonlight wasn’t bright enough for me to see who he was, plus he was facing away from me. But his figure was slender, and he was probably close to seven feet tall.

  “Come on, Jim,” the man in the back shouted into the gas station.

  A young man came out of the door. “Sorry, sorry,” he said as he put on his baseball cap. “Couldn’t find my lucky hat.”

  “Alright, well, let’s go,” one of the men in front said. They turned around and began walking toward Jefferson Memorial, two in front, two in back, with their prisoner in the middle.

  I got a glimpse of the prisoner and my knees felt weak. Mila was right. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

  Because their prisoner was an alien.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  THE ALIEN STOOD tall and regal. Its shiny grey skin reflected the moonlight now that it was in the open. It wore a black suit that looked as if it was part of his body. Its head was angled up in the back, almost to a rounded point. Its facial features had no sharp edges; everything was rounded and smooth. It didn’t even have a nose, just two oblong holes for nostrils. Its face was expressionless. It stared ahead at Jefferson Memorial, and walked as if it was going for a stroll down the street, not to a place filled with pain and misery.

  I turned to John and Mila. “I’m going to rescue the alien, and I need to know right now if you’re in,” I whispered.

  “In,” John said.

  Mila sighed. “In.”

  “Okay, I’ll take out the two in the back. Mila you take out front left, John front right. Let’s go.”

  I pulled my gun up to my shoulder, but kept it p
ointing at the ground. Keeping myself low to the ground, I walked fast down the front of the building until I was directly behind the group that was taking their alien prisoner to Jefferson Memorial. They were at the edge of the gas pumps, almost to the road. I raised my gun and took aim. I waited a couple of seconds for Mila and John to get in place. Once they did, without saying anything, I took out the Rove in the back left. He fell to the ground with a thud, and Mila took her shot, taking out the one in the front.

  I took out the one in the back right a second later, and John took out his target just as the Rove was turning around trying to figure out what was going on.

  The alien didn’t move; he just stood over his captors, looking down on their bodies.

  We crossed the parking lot of the gas station, keeping our guns trained on the alien.

  “I was wondering when you would show up,” the alien said as we got close. I was surprised at how young his voice sounded. It had a raspy, slightly nasally quality to it, like he was someone in his twenties.

  “You were?” I asked, confused.

  The alien stood up even straighter and turned around. His face looked slightly panicked and confused. “Wait, you’re not with the—” he stopped himself. “You’re not who I was expecting.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re not who we were expecting either,” I said. I lowered my gun and motioned for Mila and John to do the same. “It’s dangerous around here, come with us.”

  The alien looked at us suspiciously. “How do I know you can be trusted?”

  “We just killed your captors and saved you from a world of pain. That’s not enough?” I asked.

  The alien looked off, his disturbingly humanoid eyes showing he was thinking. “I will come with you until I am safe. But then I must go on my own.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. “This way.”

  I turned around and began jogging toward the back of the gas station, and down the road, leaving Jefferson Memorial behind me.

  * * *