Other bodies started to move. Some were even more beaten up than the man in front of Ryder. A few had limbs missing, but that wasn’t going to stop them. They were all getting to their feet, and their eyes were all red.
Everyone around them was Mad.
The Mad on the ground weren’t dead. “They weren’t two-tapped,” Ryder told Maxwell. “Headshots. Try to save your bullets when you can.”
Then all hell broke loose. The Mad came at them, guns were fired, and bodies fell to the ground.
They were too close for Ryder to use her bow and arrows, so she used her knives instead, slashing any Mad that dared come near her. She wished she had Koda’s spear. He was able to keep them at arm’s length, whereas Ryder needed them to be closer for her to attack them. Koda stabbed the Mad with his spear, pulling it out and moving onto the next.
“Oh, fuck,” Carter said abruptly.
Ryder glanced at him. He looked fine, and was fighting off Mad with his axe. Ryder scanned the area. Yes, they had a lot of Mad to kill, but there weren’t any crazies running at them. They could handle this. They’d been through a lot worse.
“What?” Ryder asked during slashes.
“I’ve lost a bow,” Carter said in a panic.
Ryder was confused since Carter wasn’t an archer. “A bow?”.
“Yeah. It was one of Jessica’s favorites. She’s going to be pissed.” Carter was disappointed in himself.
Oh, a bow from his beard, Ryder realized. “She’ll forgive you.” Ryder smiled.
“I don’t know. You know what girls are like,” Carter said.
Ryder raised her eyebrow. She’d rarely been referred to as a girl. “What do you mean by that?” Ryder quizzed. Time to have a bit of fun with Carter.
Carter paused. He wasn’t sure what to say and didn’t want to end up at the end of Ryder’s knife. “You know, touchy about their stuff.”
“Hey, Vicky! Have you heard this? Apparently, us girls are touchy about our stuff,” Ryder yelled over the noise.
A crunch came from the skull of Vicky’s latest Mad as she swung. “Which dingbat said that?”
Ryder laughed. “I’ll give you one guess.”
Carter looked nervously at Ryder and Vicky, both women no one should fuck with.
“Carter,” Vicky ground out.
Ryder smiled. “Yep, the one and only.”
Carter gulped as they killed the next Mad.
The wolves went for the Mad, gripping their throats and not letting go until the Mad dropped to the ground. They quickly moved on to their next Mad.
Willard threw his knives into the oncoming Mad. Ryder knew he’d be useful at the bunker.
Fluffy went for a Mad who was heading toward Ryder and knocked him off his feet, then leaped onto the Mad and tossed him around like a ragdoll.
Dustin was getting up close and personal with the Mad, slashing and stabbing his way through them with the blades attached to his gloves.
Tightwad danced through the Mad, cleaving them in two with broad swings of his swords.
Vicky swung her shovel into a Mad’s face, and there was a loud crunch as her teeth were shattered. That didn’t stop the Madwoman; she came at Vicky with her toothless mouth open, her gums dripping with blood. The Mad didn’t care. She just wanted to drink the untainted blood coursing through Vicky’s veins and eat her fresh flesh.
The Mad had chosen the wrong woman to go after. Vicky swung the shovel again, and this time she made sure it landed properly. The Mad didn’t stand a chance.
“Graham was right. I get a stronger whack when I twist my hips.” Vicky thrust her hips from side to side and grinned, then slammed the shovel down on the Mad’s neck.
Vicky went for another Mad who was on the ground. This one wasn’t able to walk. It was pulling itself along the ground with its hands as it tried to get at Vicky. She slammed her shovel down, and this time blood sprayed up.
“Watch it! Oh, no, my sweater!” Tightwad exclaimed. He was standing close to the Mad and fighting off another one.
He looked upset as he stared down at his sweater, Ryder couldn’t work out what was blood splatter and what was the random pattern.
Ryder had to hold in her amusement until she’d fought off the hungry Mad who was coming for her. The Mad looked like a crazy she-demon with her glowing red eyes and her arms stretched out. She was screeching as though she were trying to tell all of the other Mad that there was some tasty fresh blood for them.
Ryder went for a quick kill—just sliced the woman’s throat and jumped out of the way. This was the quickest way, but it was also the messiest.
“Oh, Ryder,” Tightwad wailed. This time it wasn’t only his sweater that had been sprayed with blood. Now his face was dripping with it as well.
Carter winked at Tightwad. “See, that’s why I didn’t want to wear it. You can have mine when we get back.”
Tightwad swung his swords at a Mad. “Oh no…no…no.” He was a little breathless from fighting. “I could never take back a gift. That’s yours forever.” Tightwad grinned at Carter and kept slaying Mad.
Carter now wished he’d worn the sweater.
11
Ryder and the Merry Men, working with the local people, had killed all the Mad. They made sure they weren’t going to get back up again, and secured the mountain settlement.
They were all worn out from the fighting, except Massimo. My blood really is super-amazing, Ryder thought once again. It couldn’t be that super, though, since she was worn out.
Once everyone got their breath back, Ryder spoke to Maxwell. “Where are the kids?”
“They are in a cave by the watering hole where you washed your clothes,” Maxwell told Ryder.
Ryder knew that she couldn’t let being tired take control of her today. “You guys wait here. Retrieve any weapons, because we’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes.” Ryder knew they had to get back on schedule.
Ryder, Carter, and a handful of people from the mountain settlement made their way to the watering hole.
“Sorry about bopping you over the head,” Carter told Andrew. “And for tying you up,” he added to Maxwell. “Natalie is still alive. I had to help.”
Maxwell nodded. “We understand.”
Andrew, on the other hand, didn’t look like he understood. It actually seemed like he wanted Carter to go Mad so he could kill him without interference from Ryder and the others.
“What happened?” Carter asked Maxwell.
“It was crazy. All of a sudden people changed. We’d been out hunting, and everyone who was left in the settlement had gone Mad. We didn’t have a chance. There were too many of them. I’m glad you turned up. I don’t know what would have happened,” Maxwell admitted.
Carter was annoyed that he hadn’t been here when it all started, but he was glad he was here to finish it. “Holy shit, it must have been bad if you are glad I turned up. That has to be a fucking first,” Carter said.
“It was that bad,” Maxwell admitted. “The kids will be happy to see you.” The men smiled at one another.
“Were any of them injured?” asked Carter, concerned.
Maxwell shook his head, “No, you trained them well. Better than most of the adults.”
“Stop with all these compliments.” Carter blushed under his beard and waved Maxwell away, then winked. “No, actually, go right ahead.”
Maxwell shook his head. “You’ve been back for less than an hour, and you’ve already managed to wind me up.” Maxwell smiled.
Carter laughed. “I said, no more compliments.”
Maxwell nodded toward the cave. They were there.
Carter headed straight for the cave, and the other people hung back. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked the group.
“No. I think just one of us would be better. We don’t want to scare them,” Maxwell told him, and the others nodded in agreement.
Carter took a quick glance at his clothing. He had blood splatters all over him, and his hands were even wors
e. He wiped his hands down his pants to clean them, since he didn’t want to terrify the kids.
“Hey, guys. It’s just me. Don’t attack me,” Carter called loudly enough for the kids to hear him. He slowly headed around the corner, to be confronted by a group of kids pointing knives at him.
He instantly put his hands up and surrendered. They froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Carter, then they ran at him hugging him. Carter was overwhelmed by their reactions.
If he hadn’t been a big tough guy, he’d have a tear in his eye.
“Easy, guys. Are you trying to break me with these hugs? Maxwell told me you kicked some ass!” Carter told them proudly.
“We did! You should have seen us,” Tommy burst out. “What are you doing here? Did you rescue everyone from the bunker?”
Carter had only been gone for a few days, but it felt like these kids had aged years since he’d been away.
“Not yet. We were on the way there, and I thought I’d pop in and say hi.” Carter smiled. They didn’t need to hear the real reason, even though they already knew.
“Is Ryder with you?” Tommy asked, looking past Carter. Tommy fired questions at Carter before he could give him a full answer.
“Yes.”
Tommy grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. “Is she your girlfriend now?”
“No.”
“Why? She’s pretty.” Tommy inquired, and the other kids nodded in agreement. “She is.”
“Carter and Ryder sitting in a tree…” the kids sang, giggling.
“Guys, stop it. Come on, let’s go see Ryder and my other friends. I’ll introduce you to them.”
A few of the kids looked wary. They were scared to leave the cave.
The kids ran to Maxwell and the others, but Jessica wasn’t there. Carter panicked and called for her, and after a few moments, Jessica stepped out of the cave.
As soon as Jessica saw Carter, she folded her hands over her chest. “Carter, where’s your yellow ribbon?”
Carter had been right. She was pissed. Really pissed.
“And your braids look a mess,” Jessica chided. She walked over to Carter and began to fix them. She was also checking whether he’d lost any more.
“Nice to see you too,” Carter said as he was getting told off.
Jessica stamped a tiny foot. “You know, you were only borrowing the ribbons. I thought I’d told you that.” Ryder couldn’t help but snigger and Jessica shot Ryder a look as if to say this wasn’t a laughing matter, which made Ryder laugh even harder. They were both being told off by a six-year-old, and she looked damn cute doing it.
Jessica waited until Ryder had contained herself. “Come on, we’ll have to get your braids sorted out.” Her tiny hand slid into Carter’s, and he was glad he’d cleaned them. She led him in the opposite direction from Maxwell and the others.
Ryder wondered where they were going, but didn’t want to ask in case she got another scolding from Jessica.
“Jessica, do you want a shoulder ride?” Carter asked. Jessica took him up on the offer, and he lifted her up. After a few minutes, they came to a stone house, which was about the same size as Leandro’s bedroom.
Carter put Jessica down, and they entered the tiny home. Ryder was shocked at what she saw. She thought nothing could be brighter than Tightwad’s jumper, but it turned out she was wrong. The house was bulging at the seams with bright and colorful items. From ribbons to toys, it was a treasure chest of color.
“What is all this stuff?” Ryder asked. Her eyes were wandering around, trying to take it all in.
“It’s the kids’ toy box,” Carter told her. Jessica headed straight for the ribbons.
This toy box made the toys Ryder and Terrier had made in the bunker look pathetic. This wasn’t a toy box, it was a toy house. “Where did you get all this stuff?” Ryder asked.
“We collected it.” Carter smiled and knelt for Jessica to fix is bows.
Jessica pointed a finger at Carter. “The rule is, we borrow things from the toy box, but we must bring them back,” she said shaking her head at Carter. “You are always breaking the rules.”
Carter shrugged and grinned. “You know me. Rule breaker.”
Ryder couldn’t help but think about Tightwad’s face if he ever got in here. “Oh, my goodness. Tightwad is going to shit a rainbow when he sees all this!” Ryder held up brightly colored yarn.
Carter cracked up. “Shit a rainbow?”
Shit! Ryder placed her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, Jessica.”
Ryder didn’t need to be sorry. “Shit a rainbow.” Carter repeated it several times, and each time he did Jessica laughed louder. In the end, the three of them were laughing so hard Ryder’s ribs hurt.
Once Ryder, Carter, and Jessica had contained themselves, they headed back to the other kids. Carter looked a little better with his new neat bows.
Fluffy had come to walk by Ryder’s side, even though he’d been told by the others to wait behind for her. Ryder was happy he hadn’t listened, and so were the kids.
The kids looked around. “You didn’t say Fluffy was here.” They were joyful as they moved closer to Ryder.
Ryder remembered how she’d told them not to stroke him last time they were at the settlement. “You can stroke him if you want. He’s a soft furball.” Ryder smirked at Leandro, who just looked up at her and shook his head. Ryder smiled at the kids. “Take turns, though.” She smiled again when the kids did as she’d requested.
“Fluffy, watch them while I talk with Maxwell and the others,” Ryder told Fluffy.
The group moved away from the kids, who were still within sight but out of earshot so they couldn’t hear what the adults were saying.
“What are you going to do now?” Ryder asked the group. There was only a handful of people from the settlement left, and they all turned to Maxwell for an answer.
“I can’t take them back to the settlement after this. We’d need to do something with all the bodies.” Maxwell shook his head. “And there aren’t enough of us left to protect them if Afana’s men came on a raid.”
“There’s a town called Pinewood. They also just had a Mad breakout, but I’m sure they’d take you in. I can speak to Massimo and see if you can stay at his house until he gets back.” Ryder informed them.
“Would the kids be safe there?” he asked.
“They’d be safer there than here. To be honest, it’s hard to tell if anywhere is safe, with these random cases of the Madness. The people in Pinewood are good folks, and they’d help look after the kids.” That was one thing Ryder was sure of.
The kids made their way over to the group, “I want to go with you to the bunker,” Tommy declared, and a few of the others agreed.
Carter knelt to be on their eye level. “It’s no place for kids—” Carter began, but he was cut off.
Tommy’s little face went red. “We fought off the Mad. We can fight off anyone else after that!” Tommy said with more grit than most adults. It made him look old beyond his years.
“I need you to protect Jessica and the others, and once we’re done, we’ll all be together again as one big happy dysfunctional family,” Carter told him.
“You promise you’ll come back for us?” Tommy asked.
“Of course! Where else would I go?” Carter ruffled Tommy’s hair. “Let’s go. Sooner I go, the sooner I can come back.”
12
Afana dropped through the hole from Level One to Level Two, where the advisors and their families lived.
“Help us, Afana. Please,” a woman sobbed. Her infant son was in her arms as she ran toward Afana with one of the infected chasing her. This was new for him. Normally people hid in fear, and children would cry. These emotions were new for Afana, and he didn’t care too much for them. He just shrugged, and the woman looked at him in horror. That’s better, he thought.
She ran past him, and the infected got closer to Afana. With a mighty swing, he punched the infected, who flew across the bunker and crashed into the
wall.
“Thank you. Thank you,” the woman sobbed. He hadn’t done it for her, but for himself.
Afana headed for the Mad body that was on the floor, picked it up, and twisted its head until it crunched. That motherfucker wasn’t going to get up again.
He took a glance around. Apparently one of the advisors had the disease. Screams came from down one of the tunnels off the social area, then more women and kids ran toward Afana and past him. Some of them stopped suddenly, shocked when they saw the vampire, then kept running.
Thuds came from the back of the screaming pack when more were pulled to the ground.
Through a gap of the fleeing crowd, Afana saw a child on all fours bounding like a wild animal, still wearing her nightgown. The snarling child had blood on her face and mindless, glowing red eyes. She pounced on a woman’s back and sank her teeth into her neck, then thrashed her head to tear a chunk loose. Her hair swung violently as she pulled the woman’s flesh free.
Other infected saw that there was a new meal on the floor for them, and they surrounded the body and began to feed on it.
The uninfected were behind Afana, trying to get as far away from the danger as possible.
I’m the monster down here, not these little shits. Afana marched over to the feeding Mad and pulled them off the latest victim.
They thrashed around, trying to latch onto Afana, and an infected woman leaped on Afana’s back. She tried to bite him. Afana’s skin was tough, but the infected was relentless. Her teeth sank into Afana’s back, and he gripped her by her hair and dragged her off him. “You bitch!” He snapped her neck, then ripped the woman in two. He was furious that he’d been bitten, Advisor Robert’s blood samples had shown that Afana could get the disease if he were infected with a lot of the virus. One bite couldn’t transmit a lot of the virus. I just won’t get bitten again, Afana thought.
Another infected ran at him, but this time he wasn’t going to let the fucker bite him.
He pushed his hands into the infected man’s mouth and pulled. His jaw came away with a sickening rip.
Escaping Madness: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Live Free Or Die Book 3) Page 8