Dead Drop Series (Book 1): Dead Drop (Rise of the Elites)

by K. S. Black

  One by one they answered him. “Oorah!”

  The former corporal in charge of Jake’s ride said, “If home’s not there and my family’s gone, I’m going back to Tucson to find Cooper Reid.”

  “What makes you think he’ll still be there if you go back?” someone in the back of the LAV asked.

  “Hope. The same hope that keeps us believing that our families might still be alive.”

  CHAPTER 26

  May 12 –Tucson

  After breakfast, Cooper, Hayley, and Kevin went back to work getting the house back in order. Okami whined inside his crate. Too much glass and other debris still littered the floor and Cooper was hesitant about letting the puppy roam the house freely, especially after he pulled a glass shard from his left front paw earlier.

  Much to his relief, Hayley had handled the events of the past week much better than he thought she would. Kevin’s mood seemed to have lifted somewhat, but it was hard to tell. Maybe they were both putting up a front. But there was too much to do to worry about feelings right now. At least he didn’t find any signs of infection when he checked Kevin’s gunshot wound the night before. He told himself to be grateful for the little things because the little things were better than nothing.

  “Hayley, would you show Kevin the survival pod and how to secure it?” This was a test. He wanted to make sure that she wasn’t going to panic after the ordeal in Rohnert Park. He thought it would help if she had Kevin with her. He tried not to be obvious as he watched her reaction.

  “No problem. C’mon, Duck Dynasty.” She pulled Kevin up off the couch.

  “Duck Dynasty?”

  “You know—those guys with the long beards and the hair—duh. You’ve got that same kind of thing going on now. And you’re starting to have other issues, too.”

  “Like what?” Kevin frowned at her.

  She sniffed the air next to him. “Like you’re starting to have that old man smell like my dad.”

  Kevin’s frown turned into a half-hearted smile. “You’re going to be a real charmer when you grow up, kid. If you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of the apocalypse. You should have seen me before. The ladies loved me.”

  “Ha. Ha.” She pranced off towards the pod.

  Cooper slapped Kevin on the back. “That was harsh.” He sucked air through his teeth as he shook his head.

  “Did you hear what she said about you, old man?”

  He did, but it didn’t bother him at all. What did bother him was the fact that Hayley seemed to be handling everything a little too well.

  * * *

  With the three of them working, it only took a few hours to get the house tidy and the new supplies put away. The living room became the repository for their new arsenal of weapons and ammo. Cooper noticed that Kevin couldn’t stop looking at the three machine guns. His excitement was like a kid with a brand new BB gun.

  Cooper examined the contents of the living room armory with guns and ammo laid out on the floor. He needed to find more, but first, he had to make sure the area around his home was secure and that meant checking all the houses around them. This would be his job. Kevin needed to rest his leg, and to his credit, he had worked hard and hadn’t complained even though it was apparent that his leg bothered him quite a bit. As for Hayley, he didn’t want her around dead bodies if he could help it.

  * * *

  Cooper knew all the neighbors on his street by face and name. His closest next door neighbors, retired elementary school teachers from New York, were the only ones he spoke to on a regular basis. Relative newcomers to the area, the Abbotts planned to raise alpacas, pot-bellied pigs, pygmy goats and miniature horses for a traveling petting zoo that they planned to take around to schools and other special events to help educate children.

  On the day of the attacks, he figured they were still in Utah. They made the trip to purchase a pair of alpacas for their petting zoo and had asked him to keep an eye on their house until they got back. But they weren’t coming back. He had liked the Abbotts. They were kind people who never had anything bad to say about anyone. He didn’t want to think about what had happened to them or the rest of his neighbors, for that matter.

  The Abbott’s property had two good-sized pastures on its three acres with enough grass to keep a few horses, cattle, and chickens if they wanted. The grass had grown tall while he was gone. Months before, he had spent a couple of afternoons helping them install a solar powered, automatic sprinkler system.

  Situated behind the house was a mostly empty barn that looked more like a prefabricated, metal garage with four roll-up doors that could easily fit four cars with room to spare.

  * * *

  With a disposable hazmat suit over his armored clothing, Cooper was soaked with sweat before he finished checking the Abbott’s house, the first of eight on his street. Most of the houses sat on a couple of acres like his. There were no real surprises. Of the eight houses, only three contained dead bodies, five in all. He recognized each face.

  The other houses were empty. He had no idea where the owners had gone. When he was preparing to leave for California, he had so much on his mind that he neglected to check on anyone on his street. He regretted that.

  He loaded his neighbors’ bodies and their contaminated bedding and rugs into his trailer and drove to a dirt road a mile and a half from his house. The road led to a spot in the desert where locals would sometimes go to shoot cans and plastic water jugs. He unloaded the trailer and doused the pile with gasoline. He stripped off his hazmat suit and threw it on top.

  Although he wasn’t a particularly religious man, he hung his head and recited the twenty-third Psalm, one of the bible passages he had memorized for Sunday school as a child, and lit the fire.

  * * *

  “How many people do you think have died so far?” Kevin asked.

  “At least half the population, maybe more. That’s just a guess. I don’t know about other countries.”

  “That’s how many people, roughly?”

  Cooper did some calculations off the top of his head. “Close to one hundred and sixty million people.”

  “So whoever unleashed all of this had plans in place for disposing of all the bodies.”

  “They must’ve been planning this for quite a while. I’m guessing those mock military exercises that were being con-ducted all over the country for the past couple of years were a good way to get everything in place. Look how fast the FEMA camps were set up and how fast the dead were ready for disposal. But I bet they weren’t counting on so many people dying.”

  “I’m assuming the soldiers in the black uniforms are Americans. How could they turn on other Americans like that?”

  “I don’t know. The incentive must’ve been pretty damn good or they were coerced somehow.” Cooper looked down at the ground. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep Hayley safe, but it was stupid to think we could hide out until this blows over. This is never going to blow over. There must be others out there like us and like Jake Johnson and his crew. I’m going to find as many of them as I can once we get everything settled here. I don’t know about you, but if we’re found, I’m not going down without a fight.”

  CHAPTER 27

  May 12 – I-10 East to Texas

  After navigating past the car choked highway, the convoy stopped just east of El Paso for fuel and a quick and emotionally subdued farewell. Over half the vehicles were headed northeast towards Dallas. Jake’s group, now down to four LAVs and two Humvees, remained on I-10 and continued east making their way around thousands of abandoned vehicles.

  They planned to go as far as Fort Stockton before refueling. The last stop for his LAV would be his parents’ ranch outside of Austin after a detour through San Antonio first. Anxious to get home, Jake’s excitement was mixed with dread.

  Taking the Fort Stockton exit, the vehicles pulled into the first truck stop they came across. The men got out and stretched their legs. The two corpsmen riding with Jake, Matthews and Hanson, s
potted a small hospital across the street beyond a dirt field.

  “Hey sarge, we want to go look for medical supplies over at that hospital.” Matthews pointed to the building across the road.

  “Sounds like a good idea, but first, I’m gonna help secure the area. I’ll join y’all after. Don’t leave until I get back.”

  After a quick inspection of the vehicles, Jake and the others surveyed the surrounding area for unusual activity. The lack of normal daytime noises set him and the others on edge, but most of the men went into the truck stop to scrounge around for anything to eat that didn’t resemble an MRE.

  He grabbed his M4, gas mask, and backpack before heading over to the spot he had last seen the corpsmen. The dipshits couldn’t wait for him? They were already halfway across the dirt field. He jogged so he could catch up with them. They rounded the building and disappeared. It didn’t take long before he caught the first whiffs of decomposing bodies. He donned his gas mask and slowed his pace. He was having second thoughts about going to the hospital but said he would accompany the corpsmen so he kept walking.

  More crows than he could count had settled in next to the building and in the parking lot. Their harsh calls filled the air and bounced off the building. Jake steeled himself for what he knew he was going to find.

  As he came around the corner, he saw a large metal container filled with hundreds of bodies wrapped in plastic sheets. Dozens of crows were ripping through the plastic with their beaks and feasted on the bloated corpses. Some of the bodies had been pulled from the container and lay half eaten on the asphalt. What the hell kind of animals had done that?

  About twenty yards away, he saw three bodies face down in the grass. Their orange racal suits were in tatters, but their air supply units were still attached. Gutted and missing limbs, they had been baking in the sun for at least a couple of days. Having already seen enough outside, he made his way to the entrance, not sure if he wanted to go any further.

  The corpsmen had better be quick. He wasn’t staying around for much longer. “Docs.” He lowered his voice to a whisper.

  No one answered. The power was out but enough ambient light shined through the windows to see. The corridor was littered with gurneys and medical equipment. With his carbine ready, he checked each open room. “Anybody here? Matthews? Hanson?” He continued to whisper.

  Hanson blasted through the swinging doors with a towel held up to his face. Blood covered his right sleeve. He rushed past Jake on his way out the front door.

  “Where’s Matthews?” Jake wanted to follow him out but wasn’t leaving until he found the missing corpsman. He pushed the swinging door and checked the hallway. Empty. The nurses’ station was up ahead. Rustling noises came from behind the counter.

  Careful not to make any noise himself, he peered over the counter. At first, he thought the three people bent over Matthews were performing CPR. They weren’t. They were ripping at his flesh and stuffing parts of him into their mouths, their faces and hands covered in Matthew’s blood.

  A nurse, who had been trying to wedge herself between two others to get to the body, looked up at him, her scrubs covered in fuck-knows-what. She opened her mouth and released a piercing screech before she rushed at him. She was faster than anybody he had ever seen on any of the track teams at the state championships in high school. He wasn’t going to be able to outrun her.

  He turned towards the swinging door. She dove at him but undershot her mark and only managed to trip him up for a second. He slid past her on the tile floor. She got back up and tried again. Jake turned on his back and hit her square in the chest with both his size twelve boots. She flew a couple of yards through the air and landed on her feet.

  He aimed and pulled the trigger on his M4. The rounds walked their way up her body. The last bullet made her nose disappear inside her head.

  When the shooting stopped, two crazies stood up but made no effort to move in his direction. They kept eating. Without hesitation, he unloaded the rest of his magazine and headed to the front door. He could hear banging and screeches behind closed doors as he ran out of the hospital.

  Hanson was running across the road. He caught up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him behind the first vehicle they came to. Dropping the empty magazine out of his carbine, he reloaded. “Grab your weapons!” he yelled at no one in particular. He wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.

  Most of the marines were still inside the truck stop, either in the c-store or in the restaurant, except for a lance corporal and a private first class who stood watch outside. They hustled behind the truck with him and Hanson.

  Hanson slid to the ground babbling. “Crazies got him. They fucking ate him.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Doc?” the lance corporal asked.

  Hanson didn’t answer.

  “You remember those crazies back in L.A.?” Jake asked. “There’s a bunch of ‘em at that hospital. Matthew’s dead. Y’all lock and load! Make ready! We’re in the suck, and we need to get the fuck outta here!”

  “Everyone else is inside, Sarge.”

  “Go get ‘em. But keep an eye out. Those crazies are fast and strong. One almost got me, too.”

  “And you, PFC, take the doc and get him into a Humvee and help patch him up if he’s hurt. Use gloves and put on a mask. I don’t know if he got bit. If he did …” He wasn’t sure what they would need to do, but he didn’t have time to worry about it.

  When the other marines returned to the campsite, Jake told them what happened at the hospital and gave them jobs pumping fuel and standing guard. At dusk, they were only half way finished refueling the vehicles. He checked on Hanson. The corpsman was still shaken up, but the only physical injury he had received was a busted nose.

  “Sarge!” One of the marines standing watch pointed to the field.

  Everyone turned to look.

  A large group of infected were making their way across the field. Shots rang out. Jake heard a LAV start up and watched as it headed toward the field straight for the center mass of a group of crazies. The vehicle plowed through them. Bodies flew through the air like ragdolls before the LAV ran them over.

  After four figure eights, the LAV returned to the truck stop to a chorus of whoops and oorahs. None of the marines complained about having to decontaminate the LAV. The impulsive act had given them a diversion and boosted their sagging morale.

  Forty-five minutes later, all the vehicles were filled up and carried extra fuel. The convoy headed east for about an hour before setting up camp in the dark off of I-10. Conversation flowed as freely as the alcohol they had taken from the truck stop.

  Each marine had his own take of how Corporal Hyatt had run over a hundred crazies. Some of the estimates were as high as hundred and fifty, although Jake estimated the actual body count was closer to forty.

  CHAPTER 28

  May 13 – Tucson

  “I’m heading out to Home Depot. I want to get my hands on as much propane as possible before it’s gone. Are you two okay with cleaning the houses I marked?” Cooper would have liked some backup, but he didn’t need to be dragging Kevin out with his bum leg. Besides, Hayley would be safer with Kevin around.

  “Sure thing, Pops,” Kevin said as he put his arm around Hayley’s shoulder. “Are you ready, Sis?”

  “Shhh! You’re going to get me in trouble. He has his grumpy face on.” Hayley turned to Cooper. “We’ll be fine.”

  They needed safe places to go if they ever needed to leave the house for any reason. The houses where he didn’t find any dead bodies were ideal for that as well as storage. Kevin and Hayley’s job was to go through each house, wipe down the sur-faces with bleach and open up the windows to let fresh air blow through for a few hours.

  * * *

  He pulled into the Home Depot parking lot ten miles from his house. One of the entrance doors had been smashed in. He guessed that someone had driven a truck through the door to get inside, but there were no vehicles anywhere
around and the area looked deserted. Part of the mangled doorframe lay off to the side. Bits of broken glass sparkled in the sunlight.

  The prefilled twenty-pound propane tanks were locked in cages near the doors. The bolt cutter he pulled out of the back of the Humvee made quick work of removing the lock.

  He backed the Humvee up over the curb to get as close as he could and loaded the tanks into the trailer. When the trailer was full, he loaded the rest of the tanks onto the roof rack and inside the Humvee. Using a tarp and some rope he already had on hand, he strapped the tanks down in the trailer but needed another tarp and more rope for the tanks on the roof.

  Sweat ran down both sides of his face. Even though his suit was lightweight, it was soaked with sweat. He was getting overheated. It wasn’t going to be much cooler inside looking for supplies, but at least he’d be out of the direct sun.

  Before going inside, he drove the Humvee forward twenty yards and parked against the curb. He made sure to lock it just in case. At first glance, the store didn’t look too bad, considering the circumstances.

  With a shopping cart in front of him, he scanned the aisles for duct tape, batteries, flashlights, disinfectant, soap, paper products, tools as well as more rope and a couple of tarps. Within fifteen minutes his shopping cart was full.

  As he was about to leave, a bullet pierced the wall fifty feet away from him. The report from the gun had caught him off guard. After ducking down and scuttling for cover, he glanced outside. Two gangbangers were on his Humvee taking the propane tanks down from the roof.

  Another gunshot. But he couldn’t see the shooter. He stuck his head out from around the aisle to get a better view. Several feet away, a potted plant exploded. A large pottery shard sunk into the meaty part of his cheek. When he pulled it out, he felt blood trickle down his face and onto his neck.