“Figures,” she lamented out loud. I hate tequila.” She twisted off the cap and poured a greedy belt of the spirit into her mouth and onto her face. Her wound was oozing a seeping flow of warm, salty blood, and some of the liquor found its way onto her open cheek, sending jolts of electric pain in lightning waves to her brain. She swooned, her head in a cloud of pain.
Seating herself on one of the few remaining intact chairs, Kit spent the next few minutes finishing the more than half a bottle of tequila. She never left the bar again, ending her the remaining moments of life exactly how she wanted.
Chapter 75
Carter saw the headlights and knew what had happened. He was surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. He was pretty sure that it was the last truck in their convoy, which had been lost. He wondered who it was for a moment. They couldn’t afford to lose anyone.
If the Colonel was right and there were dangerous people encamped out in Shotgun Cove, Colonel Bear’s militia was going to need every able body at their disposal. He was tempted to swing around and help sort things out. The rest of the vehicles could move on toward their objective. Carter could rescue the survivors and the supplies and then be on his way in no time at all.
Before they had departed, however, the Colonel had been very clear. Carter was to keep them moving forward no matter what happened. He had agreed and was bound to follow that order, but it certainly chafed his pride. It felt to him like he was running away from a fight.
He stopped his truck once he reached Shotgun Cove Road and waited for those behind to catch up with him. The Colonel’s Hummer pulled alongside Carter’s own idling truck and the passenger side window was lowered.
Colonel Bear asked, “D’you see who it was?”
Carter shook his head and spat a brown mouthful of tobacco and saliva, “Nope. Too far behind for me to catch ‘em. You?”
“No, but Sorensen thought it might be Dwight.”
From inside the Colonel’s big ride, a voice from the backseat confirmed, “I’ve seen everyone else’s rig but his. He was a dumbass behind the wheel anyway. He had no business driving. It was his truck though. Dumbass.”
“You want me to—?”
The Colonel cut Carter off. “Nope. We can’t afford any delays. The longer we sit here, the more of those things show up and the more time we give them that done us wrong to prepare for us.”
Carter wanted to point out that it was very unlikely that the people in question were even remotely aware of the militia’s presence, but he didn’t want to be proven wrong. He silently closed his window and put his truck back into gear.
The militia convoy sped away from Whittier, leaving behind Dwight’s wrecked truck and the people who had been in it to fend for themselves. With any luck, those militiamen involved in the accident would be able to survive long enough for Carter to figure out a way to return to them. If not, Carter figured they would just have to determine a way to get back with fewer troops.
When the convoy departed, they left behind something else, something much more sinister and threatening. The horde, thousands of undead strong, was gradually picking up steam and following the living toward the Shotgun Cove sanctuary. The militia was like a bastardized pied piper leading an army of death from the city.
Chapter 76
“Shoot ‘im goddamnit!” barked Carter.
The middle-aged man shook his head defiantly. “I did but he keeps comin’ at me.”
Irritated by what he perceived as incompetence, Carter gritted his teeth and bit back his anger before it found his voice. It had been some time since they had seen skins capable of running. It was certainly disconcerting, but Carter had been able to control his emotions and his fears. He expected everyone else to do the same. It was the only way they would be able to survive the Colonel’s war.
They had arrived at the first residence along Shotgun Cove Road, a mobile home, which was more mobile than it was home. The yard was little more than a cleared lot with a gravel bed thrown down as a driveway. There was a red Ford F250 with as much rust and mud along its frame as paint. Its windshield was spider-webbed with cracks, some of which ran the length of the vehicle. There were a couple of other remnants of trucks covered with blue tarps and a few lean-to sheds serving to cover various tools, animal traps and snares, and old engine parts. It looked like the place had been there for generations, but Carter knew otherwise.
Shotgun Cove was a fairly new development. He was unaware that the road had ever been finished and building had begun. Yet, there stood one of Shotgun Cove’s luxurious residences, full of glitz and glamour and evidence of the good life.
Carter was surprised that any community planners would allow this to be the first thing that visitors to their end of the road would encounter. If he looked at the property in a certain way, it reminded him of pictures he had seen of frontier cabins during the homestead era. He suspected that those homes likely looked and functioned very similarly.
All Carter saw was the chaos of the yard and its surroundings. When a furious ghoul sprinted from a dense stand of thin trees and assaulted Carter’s truck, everyone in his vehicle gasped. The monster’s face was partially burned, the grotesque wounds crusty, its chest peppered with gunshots and possibly buckshot.
Carter slammed on his brakes and sent the creature sprawling awkwardly into the trees and out of sight for a moment. He and his passengers leapt out of their truck and took up firing positions as the other vehicles in their convoy arrived.
Sensing that the middle-aged man was not going to be able to stop the skin before it crossed the small yard, Carter pulled his revolver from its holster and quickly pulled the trigger. The creature spun around, the bullet pounding violently into and through its chest. He hadn’t killed the thing, but he had stopped it long enough that someone else was able to bring it down with a shot to the back of its head.
Carter said calmly, “Nice shot.” There was no response other than quiet.
The four of them stared at one another for a second, wondering what else they should suspect to find in Shotgun Cove. Apparently it was no more free of the undead than was Whittier, and the ones in Shotgun Cove were still able to run.
The question about how many more they might encounter was partially answered in the next few seconds when another of the beasts emerged from the trees nearest the passenger side of Carter’s truck. Before any of them could react, the thing had sprinted across the yard and was upon the middle-aged man, shrieking with both fear and pain when its hands wrapped around him from behind.
The female fiend used all of her weight and her preternatural strength to force the man down to the ground and plunge her teeth into his neck at the same time. She ground her teeth together back and forth until she was able to pull away a large section of the man’s flesh, splashing both her and his face with jets of warm, very red blood.
The man standing next to the two struggling on the ground fired his pistol, striking the still living man instead of his awful assailant. The woman barely took notice as she chewed off another morsel from the man’s already violated throat.
The other man was stunned still, incapable of doing anything more. He was still pointing the gun down at the creature as it feasted upon the now dead man. He watched the hellish banquet but his mouth, opening and closing slowly, was silent. He raised his pistol and fired its few remaining bullets into the demon but not a single one hit its mark. He backed away slowly, hoping someone would do something before she pounced.
Ready to move on to her next victim, the zombie jumped up to her feet and was ready launch herself at him. The man, Nelson Dewey, felt suddenly faint and weak in the knees. He wanted to run but couldn’t find the will to take the first step.
Carter pointed his pistol at the woman and fired without a moment’s hesitation. Her head bucked from right to left sharply as the top of her scalp and much of the left side of her head hurtled away, following the bullet that had just scrambled her brains and killed the infection fueling her
rage and her hunger. The monster fell over without so much as a whimper.
Nelson stepped back nearer to the doors on his side of the truck. He looked down at the carcass at his feet and then over at Carter. “Thanks. I don’t know what I would have—”
The hungry teeth of the man attacked and bitten by the woman cut off his words. The new attacker snapped his maw down onto Nelson’s neck, including his dangling earlobe. The devil pulled back its teeth still gripping firmly to Nelson’s skin as it was pulled away from the tissue and bone beneath. His severed veins and arteries became raging fountains of red and his eyes rolled back into his head.
Carter pulled his trigger once, the bullet going through both skulls, one right after the other. The two men collapsed into a single heap of knotted, lifeless limbs. He looked around to verify that there weren’t any others coming at him before saying to Colonel Bear, “And that was only the first house.”
Unimpressed, the Colonel said, “We need to keep moving. We need to find them.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Are you questioning me, son?”
Carter hated it when he called him son and the Colonel knew it. His adrenaline still boiling in his blood, Carter’s first instinct was to shoot the Colonel but he controlled his rage and waited a second before answering.
“No, sir. Just want to verify our unit’s readiness, sir. Maybe you should just send me in. A clandestine op.”
“No,” the Colonel stated. “This is about justice, and justice can’t sneak up on those needing to face its code. Justice should be direct. It should be bloody and violent if necessary, but it must be blunt and unwavering.”
“Sir.”
“And, Carter? Stay sharp. We only lost two because we’ve gotten complacent. We can’t expect the skins to be slow like they were back in Soldotna. These there are fresh. We need to stay vigilant and not take any chances. Understood?”
Carter nodded but wanted to add that maybe seeking revenge in Hell wasn’t wise. He knew he the Colonel would ignore him, and perhaps think that Carter was getting soft, so he held his comments and his doubts to himself. The Colonel had, after all, proven time and time again that his judgment was sound.
Chapter 77
“How much more can we safely fit on the boat?” asked Jerry as he hefted another box of food and other sundries onto Serenity. Jess and Danielle, the only two in their group having any maritime experience to speak of, shrugged their shoulders.
Jess shrugged. “I don’t know. I just hope we don’t run into any really bad weather.”
Rolling his eyes up at the ceiling, Jerry lamented with a little humor in his voice, “In the winter? In Alaska? In Whittier? We’re fu—”
“Try to keep it positive,” Danielle said. “We can do this. The weather is clearing. Serenity is a good boat. William trusted her and I think we should. He would have wanted that.”
“Sorry. You’re right. I just...”
“What?”
“I don’t much care for being out on the water.”
Wrinkling her forehead, Jess asked, “Weren’t you raised in Alaska?”
“Yeah,” Jerry said. “So what?”
Taking the box from Jerry and carrying it the balance of the way into the galley below, Jess said “Some Alaskan.”
Acting wounded, Jerry said, “Really? After all that I’ve done...?”
Danielle tried to soothe Jerry’s playfully hurt pride with, “Now you know how much we appreciate all that you’ve done for us up to now. I don’t think you’re any less of a man even if others might have their doubts.”
“I don’t think you’re helping.”
Grabbing another box and carrying it down to Jess, Danielle said over her shoulder, “Sorry, ‘cause that’s as good as it’s gonna get.”
Jerry’s smile vanished and he looked around the sheltering cove. “Can you guys hear that?” he called to Danielle and Jess.
Danielle appeared at the foot of the short staircase leading into the belly of the boat. “Hear what?”
“It sounds like a motor.”
“A motor?” asked Jess, whose face was suddenly next to Danielle’s.
“Yeah. Like a motor on a boat or something?”
“You sure?” Danielle wondered as she ascended the stairs.
She heard it too, then nodded and looked down at Jess. “He’s right. It does sound like a boat motor and it’s getting closer.”
Her face white as a ghost, Jess pleaded “Oh Jesus. What should we do?”
Chapter 78
Abdul, Mia, and Danny were marching back through the woods along a well-worn path to William’s lodge to get another load of supplies to pile onto the sled they were pulling. They hadn’t seen any signs of zombies in the two runs they had already made, but they could not afford to become complacent. Mia pulled the sled while Abdul and Danny continually scanned the trees all around them for any threats.
Danny was by far the most prepared to deal with any of those threats and both Abdul and Mia knew it. Under different circumstances, such a realization might be considered a threat by an adult, but Abdul and Mia respected Danny’s experience, especially his recent target practice with Jerry.
Their first passage through the forest, though accompanied by the trio now out on the boat, had been the most harrowing. Every little hint of movement and every single noise in the forest had made all of them jump. They moved slowly, cringing at the cacophony the sled made as it traveled over the snow and frozen foliage.
They unloaded the sled quickly, piling the material into the boat, which had been pulled up from the water and onto the shore. Serenity, like a floating treasure, bobbed gently on the sheltered cove’s peaceful waters and beckoned to them.
The discussion about who would take the boat out to Serenity and who would transport the supplies from the lodge to the shore had already been had, but it didn’t make Abdul, Mia, and Danny feel any better watching the other three row away. They knew the journey through the woods was a quick one, but the woods harbored an ever-changing unknown, which could pounce on them at any moment.
When they cleared the trees into the lodge’s yard, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Seeing Neil up on the top of the structure looking down on all of them was just that last little bit of security they all needed to settle their minds. He waved to them and shouted down to Jules to open the door.
Neil was waiting with the little girl when the three of them got into the house. “Okay,” he announced. “This time, I’m going.”
Mia shook her head and pointed at the bandage wrapped around his shoulder. “You’re in no shape. Besides, Emma was going to spell me so we don’t need you.”
Abdul looked over at the younger woman and shared an uncomfortable smile. He didn’t think that was what to say or how to say it to Neil and wondered how it would be received. Neil went back upstairs, taking two steps at a time. He came down just as fast, pulling his fleece shirt over his head and buckling his belt holding the holster.
It was obvious to all of them that he was going no matter what they said. Emma appeared from the kitchen, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which was spilling from around its seam and onto her hand.
Neil asked, “Jules make you lunch?”
Licking her hand hungrily, Emma nodded. “Yep. Just the way I like ‘em.” She winked over at Jules, doing her best to wink back but instead only accomplished blinking both eyes in an infinite gesture of cuteness.
As if they had planned it all along, Emma cocked her eyebrows and asked Neil, “You ready then?”
Mia looked at Emma and then back at Neil, shaking her head in disbelief. Their little act seemed almost rehearsed. “So what’s the plan then?” she asked. “You two obviously have it all figured out for the rest of us.”
Neil let spread a smile that none of them had seen in quite some time and said, “Not quite yet, but we’re getting there.”
Jules smiled back up at Neil, who touched her softly on her head. She said,
“We have been here for a very long time.”
Nodding, Neil agreed, “Yes we have.”
Chapter 79
Much of Shotgun Cove yielded the same experiences for the militia and their determined leader, Colonel Bear. There was death and killing at every stop and around every corner. At one point, the Colonel deemed it wiser to burn the lodges as they came to them, making an offhand reference to the total war tactics employed by Sherman on his march to Atlanta.
Through all of the day’s activities and the gruesome scenes that erupted time after time, the Colonel never removed his posterior from his seat in the Hummer. Carter’s irritation had diminished quite drastically from before but he could still feel a rise in his pulse when he looked over at the large man. The Colonel was barking orders to others but rarely did he do more than use his oversized vehicle as a weapon.
When they came to a lodge that dwarfed all others, the Colonel changed his tune. “This looks like a good place to make camp. Let’s run a sweep and then set up a perimeter. Carter, you take charge. We’ll be right behind you.”
“Figures,” hissed Carter.
The Colonel heard Carter’s comment but elected to say nothing. He thought he had noticed a divide widening between the two of them recently and attributed that, like everything else that had gone wrong lately, to the loss of Sullivan. Interestingly, Carter’s changing opinion of and attitude toward the Colonel was one of the few things that could be clearly connected to the Colonel’s original lieutenant’s untimely death.
It was Sullivan who had trained and controlled Carter, making the younger man a protégée of sorts. In so doing, Carter developed a profound respect for Sullivan and, because Sullivan was so loyal and deferential to the man, for Colonel Bear as well. With Sullivan’s sudden departure, Carter spent more time directly with the Colonel, which meant that both men got to know the other much better. That, unfortunately for the nature of their relationship, was not working to either man’s benefit.
Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (Book 4): Resolution Page 41