“Omaha’s the biggest city I’ve seen. Haven’t left the state much.”
“When did the Vectors attack you?”
Cody eyed me for a second, like it was strange of me to ask him a question. “Same as everywhere else,” he said. “Big cities. Small towns. Didn’t matter.”
Now that he mentioned it, that’s exactly how I understood it. The reason we’d lost the war when the outbreak happened was because we didn’t know where the infection was coming from. People got infected left and right—lots of people—at the same time. I’m pretty sure Vectors hadn’t bitten Cassidy or the other kids who had left school that day. They would’ve made a big fuss about it, before going to the hospital.
“Memorial Day,” I said. “We left a week after.”
“Smart move. You missed all the chaos, I bet.”
“We had a good view of it from Jewel’s window.”
“Your sister’s a riot! She’s smarter than you, too.”
I scrunched my brow. “I could’ve told you that.”
Cody laughed again. “But you won’t admit it.”
“Not in a million years. Especially not to her.”
We had a good chat the rest of the way to the terminal. It made me claustrophobic, being so close to a building after walking out in the open for so long. Now we had to find a way inside without anyone catching us, alive or otherwise. I checked the fences in front of the building. Not one Vector in sight. The place may have been safer than the Holiday Inn, which made me worry.
Somebody had left the service door open a crack. Cody invited me to take the lead. Being in close-quarters called for fast action. We made our way past the technician lockers and climbed upstairs until we reached a terminal gate. Nothing out of the ordinary caught my attention, except I’d never seen an airport so empty—or so messy. Luggage and clutter of every kind imaginable made it clear that scavengers had been there. They’d beaten us to the punch. Cody kept going.
“Your girlfriend’s a piece of work though, Jeremy,” Cody said. “I can’t seem to figure her out.”
“Dude—she’s not my girlfriend. Not really.” Not that I’d mind if she was my girlfriend.
“Really?” Cody turned back to me with a big smile on his face. “You know if she’s available?”
“I don’t know. Never bothered to ask.”
“Better speak up, or someone else will.”
Speaking up was never a problem for me. Opening my mouth before thinking my words through was the problem. I have this habit of rubbing people the wrong way, without any intention of causing trouble. I was the quiet one in my group of friends, and that’s why I’m better at talking on paper or on the Internet. I could think of what I wanted to say first, before I opened my big mouth or clicked send. Cody made a good point, though. I couldn’t use pens or keyboards in this world. To win a girl over, I had to adapt and speak my mind.
Cody spoke his mind. By doing so, he became our leader without saying it. “Why was she in the healthcare center?” he asked. “They had her in there since—”
“I was there, too.” He could pry all he wanted. I wasn’t about to spill her secret.
“Not nearly as long, though.”
“It doesn’t matter. We should head back.”
“Hold up.” Cody blocked me. “You hear that?”
I listened. Chloe was getting antsy.
We weren’t alone.
Cody nocked an arrow and approached the unmoving escalators. I heard moaning, but I couldn’t see where it came from. I followed Cody to the ground floor, and I paused in my tracks. Vectors stood behind several airline and car rental counters. Their arms rose when they saw us. I aimed at a man in a navy-blue suit, waiting for him to move around the counter. He stayed put. As did the others. The rattling of chains bounced off the walls and echoed in my ears. Smiling, Cody took aim and nailed the navy-blue suit in the forehead.
He fell fast like a limp sandbag.
“Weird,” Cody said, looking around the corner. “Since when do these things stay behind counters?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Just like the woman at the inn.”
Cody walked for the car rental counter, hopped carefully on top, and looked over to the other side.
“What in the hell is this?” He motioned me over. “Have a look at this, Jeremy.”
Doing so would blow our cover—but I figured a couple seconds wouldn’t hurt. What I saw on the other side of the counter nearly made me swear. The Vector had a cuff on his ankle, linked to a chain. Bolted to the floor. Someone had done this to the Vectors, but who?
What if that woman at the inn was chained?
“Let’s get back to the girls,” I said. “Come on.”
Cody suddenly grabbed me and threw me over the other side of the counter. My face nearly landed in oozing Vector muck. I had my fist balled when Cody jumped down and covered my mouth. He raised a finger to his lips—the universal sign of shut the hell up.
Doors flew open, followed by the voices of half a dozen men. I thought Cody was attacking me, but he threw us both out of sight. What about Chloe? She came around the counter a second later, her stiff yellow hair standing on end. I held her collar tightly, hopeful and grateful that the newcomers hadn’t seen her, or us.
“We’re first,” said one of them. “Not surprised.”
“I hear Malcolm’s no early bird,” said another.
Their voices weren’t nearly as rugged as the people in David City—more urban. I kept Chloe quiet while Cody sneaked a peek at the strangers. Having a look for myself wasn’t worth the risk. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my .40, hoping I wouldn’t need it.
“We didn’t drive all this way for shade.”
“Calm down,” said the first one. “He’ll come.”
“Does he really have a stockpile?” asked another.
“Yep, and that’s why we’re taking no chances.” Laughter accompanied the loading clicks of their pistols.
Dealing with Vectors was bad. Now we were stuck in a trade situation with a bunch of armed dudes. We had to leave the place. I read the same thought on Cody’s face. If we so much as stood up, they’d spot us. Chloe gave us a low whine, her tail wagging slightly. Could I use her decoy trick to maneuver around these guys? Probably not. She’d run right back to us.
“I hear Malcolm’s a crazy son of a bitch,” said another with a Hispanic accent.
“What tipped you?” The first laughed. “His pets?”
I glanced at the motionless corpse beside me.
Pets? Who in their right mind would keep Vectors as pets? The thought of it made my head swirl and my stomach churn. If someone had bolted these Vectors to the floor, I didn't know what they would do to a couple of kids hiding behind the counter. The one at our inn was behind the counter. The girls were in trouble.
“We have to go,” I whispered.
Cody nodded. “We might catch them off guard if we spring at them.” His eyes landed on my Berettas. “I doubt these guys will hesitate to use what they got.”
Gulping, I raised my .40 and .45 and waited for Cody’s signal. He readied an arrow and drew back.
“One,” he said. “Two . . .”
“Put your guns down!” a new voice shouted. “On the ground! All of you on the ground, now!”
You know when you’re about to jump into a pool and someone yells at you to stop, and you fling your arms back all awkwardly to balance yourself? That was me right then. Our spring froze to a squatting position as more people stormed into the lobby. Twice as many. Their tone was different, organized and professional. The military? I wanted to peek. Cody beat me to it.
“Good,” he whispered. “Cops.”
If there really was a police force still intact, perhaps things weren’t so terrible in the city of Lincoln. You can always rely on law and order to come and save the day.
That’s what I was taught in school.
“What’s this?” asked the first. “Who are you?”
“
You’re Thatcher from the south side?”
“What’s it to you? We’re here to see Malcolm.”
“Afraid he’s running late,” said another cop. “He told us to meet you here.” Their next round of chuckles unsettled me. I’ve never heard a group of police officers sound so diabolical in my life. “You should know better, Thatcher, bringing firearms into an airport.”
“What does that make you? Airport security?”
The cops laughed again. “Something like that.”
“More like zookeepers than security,” said another.
“And it’s feeding time. Get’em on their feet!”
Feeding time? My jaw fell as much as my stomach did. A quick look at the Vector beside us made it clear what they’d meant. With nothing to eat, it would have become a Crawler by now. But they acted like Stalkers, menacing enough to ward off those who would enter. Whoever this Malcolm was, he was using Vectors like scarecrows. The inn receptionist was one of them!
“They’re at the hotel,” I said. “We have to go.”
I don’t think Cody heard me. He had his head low. His eyes shifted, as if his mind went into overdrive to think up a plan. Before I could speak, my radio bleeped. Cody shot me a look while I scrambled to turn it off.
“What was that?” asked one of the cops. “It came from over there.”
“Where’s the Hertz guy?” asked another. “Did he get loose? We’d better find him.”
Footsteps were coming our way. Right for us.
Triple crap!
We never should’ve left the girls alone. Be it my nerves or the heat, sweat was pouring down my face. These people were about to find us and use us as lunchmeat, but then the smacking of punches gave me hope new. A fight broke out. The captured group was making a run for it, giving us the distraction we needed. Cody grabbed my sleeve. It was our turn to run.
Chloe followed at my heels as we ran around the counter and bolted for the escalators. I didn’t bother to count how many men were in the lobby. A pair of them threw a guy in a trucker outfit over the Delta Airlines counter. A Vector-induced scream met my ears next.
We were halfway up the steps when they’d spotted us. “Stop those kids!” cried the first cop. “Shoot them!”
Bang! Crash! Zzat!
The glass barriers exploded ahead and behind us.
Cody had his bow over his shoulder before we ran down the technician stairs, just as two men reached the terminal floor. Our hasty retreat went by in a blur, except for the outstretched arms of a dead air-traffic controller we had missed. Cody couldn’t stop in time. He slid under its legs instead, tripping it as he passed. I jumped over. So did Chloe. I heard new screams behind us after that. Our pursuers had become Vector snacks.
I’d thought that people only fed other people to zombies in movies, to build unnecessary tension or something like that. Not for real! What that author had said in his survival book had become relevant: Good people will show their true natures as society collapses.
“Bad idea,” Cody said, running across the runway.
“You think?” I answered, racing through the hole in the fence. “I could’ve told you that before we left.”
“So why didn’t you talk me out of it?”
I almost stopped. He just went there. “Really?”
He glowered. “Let’s just get the girls and split.”
My mental gears switched from I’m-so-scared to I’m-so-pissed-off within a millisecond. Like the drops and turns of a roller coaster, Cody had this special talent for messing with my head. It was one thing to admit that he had made a mistake, but displacing his mistake on me was a new low. He might as well have punched me.
We ran the rest of the way and barged through the Holiday Inn doors. We were too late. A handful of stubble-faced men were holding our weapons. They had Kaylynn and Jewel in the lobby, hands behind their backs. Two more entered through the doors behind us.
A man with a scarred cheek grinned at us as he turned around. “Which one of you axed my Ilima?”
Malcolm wasn’t the tallest man in the room, but I didn’t put it past him to be the dangerous one. He had jet-black hair, combed back, and he wore a dark button-up shirt with bootleg jeans. He had a long scar on his face, starting at his temple and crossing over his left eyelid, down his cheek. Part of it was scabby. Someone must have recently scratched him up—pretty badly.
Kaylynn and Jewel struggled against the hands that were holding them. Most of the men were wearing military fatigues. Others had a variety that didn’t match, pulled from department store racks in a hurry. From what I could tell, they hadn’t done anything to the girls.
The scent of cheap hotel shampoo masked the rotting smell of the Vector laying behind the counter as Malcolm neared us. Cody was eyeing him carefully.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Cody said.
“No one really likes to cause trouble.” Malcolm shifted by the front desk. “No one likes to have their home invaded, or their welcome mat put out of her misery.” He nodded at the men behind us. “We’re making scrambled eggs this morning. You hungry?”
Malcolm’s goons took our weapons and made us sit in the breakfast area. Cody resisted at first, but he succumbed quickly when they flashed their weapons at us. With my Berettas taken and Cody’s bow and knives confiscated, we were defenseless. They searched my pack, and I was amazed that they didn’t find the .500 inside. We had an element of surprise if we needed it.
I checked our surroundings. Three exits. Eight men. Jewel’s face was a portrait of anxiety, and Kaylynn had the same gist in her eyes. Malcolm’s men planted them in the chairs across from us. Chloe growled at every stranger who was trying to grab her collar. Then my stomach grumbled. Getting nervous can make me hungry—and scrambled eggs didn’t sound so bad.
This wasn’t the time to think about food.
Malcolm made sure we were in our seats before he sat down himself. “Four kids, alive in a world like this. A downright miracle! We’ve seen platoons wiped out in a matter of minutes, entire military reserves cleaned to the bone in less than that. You kids don’t realize how lucky you are.” He leaned slowly towards Cody. “I take it you’re in charge of this little group?”
Cody scoffed. “Cut the shit. What’re you going to do to us?”
“Jumping right into it, huh?” Malcolm laughed. “Alright. We’ll go there.” He pressed his crossed arms on the table. “I’ve been told of your distraction at my airport. Survivors on the south side of town think they own this city, but they don’t dare come here. Do you know why?” We shook our heads. “What better security can a man ask for than a few flesh-eating ghouls?”
Cody glanced at the front desk. “You put it there?”
“Not just there,” Malcolm answered. “You’ll find ghouls all over this side of town. I set them up to keep people away, and someone’s got to feed them.” His men laughed. “I can’t let you tell the South Side what I have in store for them.” Malcolm glanced at the girls. “Or you.”
I couldn’t stop shaking. This was bad. If Malcolm had so much as touched my sister, I didn’t know what I’d do. But whatever I did, it wouldn’t end well. We had to do something, but there was no way we could fight these guys off. Talking our way out was even less of an option. I had to think. We needed a strategy, something off the beaten path that none of them would expect.
Kaylynn and I shared a glance. Her determined eyes told me exactly what I was thinking. Her infection was our ticket out of here, but was she going to unleash the monster, right in front of these guys, and Cody? It was a huge risk, but we didn’t have another choice.
Malcolm stood from his chair and ambled behind me. His hand grazed my shoulder as he passed. “I bet you’re wondering about this scratch on my face?” He touched the scar on his cheek, reenacting how he had received it. “I used to drive freight, and I’d normally stop here. When the pandemic got out of hand, I led people to the roof. Ilima worked the receptionist desk—I had a kind of crush on her.”
He stared at his men. Their faces paled. “To make a long story short, she wanted to leave. I tried to stop her. You all thought I got scratched by one of them, didn’tcha?”
I didn’t care, and I never asked for a monologue.
“Did you lock out all those people on the roof?” Cody asked.
Malcolm smirked as he made his way behind Cody. He was about to answer when Cody threw his chair back and balled his hand into a fist. The men sprang into action, yet Malcolm waved them off. Any chance of a peaceful negotiation was thrown out the window.
“How could you feed humans to the dead?”
Malcolm’s cool, sick smile never left his face.
Cody bared his teeth. “Ass-backwards douche!”
“They asked me to lock the door. They didn’t want to come down.” Seeing the men with their weapons raised, Malcolm had a reason for acting so cool. “If you want to hit me, do it. It’ll make you feel real good—so good you won’t mind if I feed your friends to my pets.”
Malcolm slid his hand behind his back.
“We won’t tell anyone,” Cody said. “Let us go. We’ll drive away. You’ll never see us again.”
“Sorry, son. Afraid I just can’t do that.” Malcolm said. “Let me shock some sense into you . . .”
Zap!
Cody cried out as he fell backwards. His body convulsed on the table. Kaylynn and Jewel backed away, screaming as Cody fell unconscious. Malcolm stepped away, holding a taser in his hand. His men held the rest of us down firmly. “Teenagers always think they have the advantage over their elders.” He strolled to Cody and slapped him in the face. Malcolm was the type of guy who liked to kick someone when they’re down.
Seeing Cody so helpless made me furious.
“Leave Cody alone!” Jewel cried.
Malcolm turned to the girls. His face leveled with my sister’s before he gestured at me. “Is this the brother you were telling me about?” he asked. Jewel looked down, nodding. He took her hand, asked the men for my Beretta, and placed it in her palm. “I’m about to do much worse to your brother and friend,” he said. “I might change my mind if you blast Cody’s brains out.”
My Zombie Summer (Book 1): The Undead Road Page 11