The woman stood very still for many seconds possibly fearing that movement would bring her death despite Rene’s words. Rene finally turned his back to her, walked to the ATV, sat down and lit a cigarette. The woman watched Rene smoke and that seemed to convince her that he was telling the truth. She took a few cautious steps away from the group watching them for a reaction. When none came, she quickly picked up her pace, faster and faster until eventually she was running away. The woman glanced over her shoulder only once looking for pursuit but didn't find any before she was lost from sight in the trees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They stood there for about ten minutes before they all loaded back into the ATV and drove back to the pile of cars closest to town. Once behind it, Rene was dropped off, weapons and supplies were collected, and the hunt was on. Due to Rose’s inexperience in the woods, she’d take the role as the main point person, Henry would be Rose’s back up spotter, and Aaron would do what he did best as the silent backup, the undetectable “ghost” in the woods. The three set off at a hearty pace. Their pace, mixed with Aaron’s intimate knowledge of the surrounding woods, meant they’d likely catch the woman quickly and then they could just hang back and trail her until she led them back to her group.
As the team progressed into the woods, Aaron quickly picked up the woman’s trail. If she was making any effort to hide her tracks, she was doing a pretty poor job. Even Rose noticed broken branches or footprints in the mud as they moved along. All three were wearing earpieces so they could communicate with each other without having to see each other. If all went as planned, Rose would be the only person that might possibly be seen if they were being watched and Rose did the best she could to prevent even that. They’d all gotten some of the last new batteries for their earpieces so they didn't have to worry about them dying. Rene had thought there was no more important mission right now and had made sure they had the best possible gear. All their weapons had been cleaned thoroughly and they were well stocked with ammunition.
A few miles outside of town, they’d finally caught up with the woman. As Rose came to a slight ridge, she heard Henry in her ear telling her to stop. Peeking over the top, Rose could see the woman off in the distance, her back to Rose and moving away. The woman’s pace had slowed significantly since leaving town and Rose could see that she appeared to be soaked in sweat. It was a warmer day, maybe 50 degrees, but far from hot. “Must be nervous,” Rose muttered softly to her earpiece. “She’s covered in sweat.”
“Maybe having a hard time finding her group?” said Henry.
“Possibly,” said Aaron. “Let’s keep on her.”
After the woman had crested the next hill, Rose started up again following her. They continued that way for about another hour. They’d let the woman go for a while, then they’d catch up and watch her plod on again. After a long time with none of them talking, Rose finally asked, “Do you think she even knows where she’s going at this point?” Rose was seriously doubting that she did, they seemed to be going around in circles.
“We follow until she gets back to her camp. They couldn't have been that far away if they sent her to scout. I imagine she’ll be there soon,” said Aaron, no sign of impatience or fatigue in his voice.
Aaron was eventually proven right. They only had to catch up to the woman two more times before she finally made it back to her camp. Rose crept up to a thick cluster of trees to lay eyes on the woman after she crested another hill and found a small encampment just ahead at the bottom of the small hill she was now perched on. As Rose peeked through the trees, she watched the woman enter the encampment between two dirty, beat up trucks. There were six trucks total which were arranged in a large circle around a cluster of tents and a large bonfire in the middle. There were several motorcycles parked inside the ring of trucks and Rose could see about twenty people walking around the camp.
“I have her camp,” said Rose to her earpiece.
“I see it,” answered Henry.
“Hell’s Angels,” said Aaron.
“What?” said Rose. “Like the biker gang?”
“Yep,” answered Aaron. “Most of the men have Hell’s Angels jackets on. Unless they stole them, I think we’ve got a biker gang.”
“What’s the plan?” asked Henry.
“I’m going to circle around to the far side of the camp,” said Aaron. “See if I can get a better idea of how many there are.”
Rose hunkered down behind a tree, swung down the AR-15 off her back, checked it was fully loaded and ready to go, and clicked the safety off. A group of survivors was one thing, but an outlaw motorcycle gang was another. Rose supposed it was possible the woman had a child at the camp, but more likely she’d been lying to save her neck.
Narrowing her eyes, she scanned the camp again. The woman they’d been tracking had now made it to the inner circle of the camp and others were coming out to greet her. All appeared to be armed in some way, some with hunting rifles, a few with AR-15s, some with other guns Rose couldn’t identify. The woman walked over to a man with long black hair standing near the fire, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. The kiss seemed to drag on and on and those that had come out were now quickly moving away from the couple to different areas of the camp near the trucks. The woman broke her kiss with the man, looked right at where Rose was hiding in her cluster of trees, and pointed right at her.
The woods around her exploded. Rose could hear bullets ricocheting all around her as the trees were ripped apart. Rose knew there was nothing she could do but stay low and hidden behind the trunk of the tree she was luckily behind. After several long seconds, the gunfire slowed and eventually stopped. Rose could hear Henry asking in her earpiece, “Rose, are you ok?”
In reply, Rose twisted around the tree, looked down the new laser sight on her AR-15, placed the red dot on their former captive’s face and squeezed the trigger. Rose sent three quick blasts and was rewarded with two headshots and a throat shot before the woman’s body fell backward into the bonfire. Rose had to quickly hide behind her tree again as another rain of bullets came down upon her location. However, the number of bullets whizzing past her location seemed to be fewer than the number of shots she was hearing. It could only mean that Aaron and Henry had joined the fight. Risking a peek, Rose looked down at the camp. Rose could see several dead bodies on the ground around the bonfire including the long haired man their former captive had been kissing. Rose was still taking fire at her location and had to keep ducking behind her tree, but she could see that two other locations were being fired upon as well. Henry’s location was off to her right and Aaron’s was on the far side of the camp, almost across from Rose. The people firing on Aaron had their backs to Rose and so Rose concentrated her fire on them first. She found one person and put two shots into his back before taking cover and then moving on to another target. A branch above Rose exploded from a bullet impact raining twig shards down on her as she lined up another shot. Rose aimed for a man’s head but ended up hitting him in the lower torso. Rose then ducked back again as more bullets came her way.
The noise of bullets seemed to be getting more and more sporadic as time went by. The battle appeared to be going their way. Rose took another peek around her tree and saw a man stand and throw what looked like a fist-sized rock toward Henry’s location. Only as it sailed toward his general location did it dawn on Rose that it wasn’t a rock, but more likely a grenade.
“Holy shit Henry! Get the fuck out of there!” screamed Aaron in Rose’s ear. But no sooner had Aaron said it than a fireball exploded from Henry’s location. The blast toppled Rose backward, but she recovered quickly. She leaned out to shoot down at the grenade thrower but was instead greeted by more intense gunfire from the camp. Everyone shooting at Henry had now turned their attention to Rose. Ducking down behind the tree, Rose could do nothing but wait for the hail of bullets to subside.
Rose didn't have to wait long though, as fast the bullets had come at her, they’d stopped. Rose looked
out to see that Aaron had charged the base and was now shooting at the remaining group of bikers left alive from the cover of one of their own trucks in the circle. The remaining group was behind another truck diagonally across from Aaron and Rose. Rose, no longer under fire, carefully lined up her shots and took out two more bikers before having to reload. Rose pulled out another magazine, ripped out the empty one, and jammed the new one into place, racking a bullet into the chamber, standing and aiming down at the bikers again. There only appeared to be a few left as Aaron had taken out several as well. Rose had no more clean shots and the remaining fighters seemed well protected. Rose rained fire down on their location hoping to get lucky with a hit but instead her rifle jammed after several shots. Rose took the rifle off her shoulder and tried to clear the misfed bullet but couldn't get the slide back to eject it. Rose would have to slam the butt of the rifle on the ground while pulling the slide back to clear out the errant bullet. But as Rose unslung the rifle strap and raised it above her head to slam it down on the ground, she saw the grenade thrower rise up out of the remaining group of bikers to throw a grenade at Aaron. Rose couldn’t see Aaron behind the truck and he likely didn't know a grenade was about to be heading in his direction.
“Grenade! Aaron Grenade! Get down!” yelled Rose hoping he’d hear.
The grenade thrower reached his arm back to throw the grenade at Aaron but before he could bring his arm forward...his head exploded. Rose was initially puzzled, but realized the shot had come from Henry’s location directly behind the remaining group. The grenade dribbled out of the man’s lifeless hand back into the group of bikers. They scrambled to grab it, but all were engulfed in the resulting explosion. The truck they were hiding behind was thrown into the air, flipped, and landed on its roof near the bonfire in the middle of camp.
After the noise of the second explosion had finished echoing, all that was left was silence. Rose did a few quick peeks around the tree but didn't attract any further gunfire and decided to move down into the camp. Rose quickly checked where the remaining bikers had been but only found char and gore.
Rose moved across the camp, past the burning woman in the bonfire and the dead bodies littered around, and over to the truck Aaron had been behind. Rounding the truck, she found Aaron squatting near one of the tires. Aaron had been shot in the right hand and it was a bloody mess. Aaron had also sustained several grazes from bullets. Aaron was just finishing wrapping a bandage fashioned from his jacket around his right hand as Rose came up to him.
“Aaron are you ok?”
“I think I’ve stopped the bleeding for the most part, but we need to get back to town so I can get this fixed. Where’s Henry?”
“I don’t know, I thought he was dead, but he shot that guy throwing a grenade at you.”
Aaron seemed surprised at the mention of a grenade coming at him, but didn't ask about it. Rose noticed that he no longer had an earpiece in and likely never heard her warnings. “Are you ok to walk?” asked Rose.
“Yes, let’s get Henry and get going.”
Remembering her jam, Rose took a second to finally clear the misfed bullet from her rifle before moving quickly toward the woodline where Henry had been. It wasn’t hard to find as the woods were still smoking from the grenade blast. Inside the blast zone, they found Henry. He was lying on his side, his rifle tucked under him. Henry was missing both of his legs, one below the knee and one above it. Rose went to him and tried to find a pulse but failed. Henry was dead. He’d used the last moments of his life to save Aaron’s. Rose looked to Aaron who was standing over Henry’s body. Aaron appeared in shock seeing his close friend lying dead on the ground in front of him. Rose opened her mouth to say something to Aaron but all she could hear was high-pitched, inhuman screaming. Aaron turned and looked at Rose confused, as if she was the one screaming, but realized it wasn’t her. It was rather coming from the nearby woodline.
Aaron seemed to be puzzled, but Rose had never forgotten that sound and it chilled her to her core. Rose could feel the color draining from her face. “We need to leave. Right now,” said Rose very quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aaron looked to Rose again as if to question her, but recognizing the fear that was evident on her face, it all seemed to click in Aaron’s mind. Rose began to move back in the direction they’d come upon the camp. Aaron lingered for a second, glancing at Henry’s body before joining her. They’d just passed the woodline when they could hear something crashing through the woods near them. Rose looked over to her left and could hear it coming from that direction. Rose knew they wouldn’t be able to outrun it forever and they needed to find a position of advantage. “Start running now!” said Rose to Aaron as she took off at a sprint.
Aaron quickly lagged behind, slowed by his injuries. Rose could hear the crashing getting closer and closer. Rose, now well ahead of Aaron, reached the crest of a nearby hill, slid to stop while turning and dropping to one knee, unslung her rifle, and aimed it back in the direction Aaron was coming in one fluid motion. Rose felt the side of the rifle verifying the safety wasn’t on. The seconds seem to drag by as Aaron lumbered closer and closer. As Aaron came into view, he spied Rose with her rifle aimed right at him. He tripped on a root and fell, slamming his mangled hand into the ground. Aaron yelled in pain and started to stand up again.
“Stay down!” yelled Rose. The thing crashing through the woods came into view as Rose yelled. It was a woman, naked but for a few wisps of shredded clothing, thin but muscular and covered in mud with nappy tangled hair that may have brown but appeared more black now. Aaron obeyed and dropped back to the ground with a thud. The woman was fixated on Aaron and didn't see Rose at all as she sprinted the final distance. The woman let out another scream as she went in for the kill. Rose popped off round after round into the woman who, at first, didn't seem affected as the rounds ripped through her chest, arms, and legs. However, after the sixth round, she dropped in a heap and tumbled forward coming to a stop just shy of Aaron’s feet. All was quiet again.
Rose stood, rifle still pressed to her shoulder. She quickly moved in and fired a round into the woman’s head at point-blank range. Rose then slung the rifle onto her back and squatted down to help Aaron to his feet.
“Are you ok?” Rose asked as Aaron stood.
“Yeah, I thought you were going to shoot me for a second. I got it at the last moment, though,” said Aaron giving her a half-smile, half-wince. Aaron wasn’t thinking clearly, whether it was battle fatigue or maybe a concussion, Rose wasn’t sure. Rose reciprocated the smile but it died on her lips. Off in the distance, several more screams and yells could be heard. Wordlessly, Aaron stood and they continued on.
It was getting dark and they appeared to be in the last hour of dusk as they continued their trek back to town. The screams in the distance were regular and seemed to be never-ending. Aaron and Rose kept moving as fast as they could, but the screams always seemed to be only a short distance behind them. Rose felt like they weren’t putting any distance between them and the infected. But after what seemed like an eternity, Aaron and Rose stumbled upon the main road. Running down the road, they eventually could see the outermost pile of cars in the distance. Aaron recognized it as the pile on the southern end of town. Moving around the pile, they found it dark and deserted as always. The innermost pile right outside of town was much different. Flood lights were burning brightly and people could be seen distantly walking around. As they approached, guards came out to meet them. Rose and Aaron were put into separate ATVs and driven in different directions through town. Aaron was brought to the infirmary in the center of town and Rose was brought back to Rene’s. She was told that Rene was home and was awaiting their arrival.
At Rene’s house, Rose found the front light off but the house flooded with candle light. Rose thanked her driver, grabbed her rifle and slung it over her shoulder as she walked up to the front door. Opening the door, she found the living room packed with people, with more in the dining room. Adeli
ne was the first familiar face Rose saw. All conversation seemed to have stopped and all eyes turned to Rose as she closed the front door behind her. Adeline came up to Rose, “My father is waiting for you in the kitchen.”
Adeline led Rose through the crowd and back into the kitchen. All eyes seemed to be fixed on Rose as she made her way through the silent room. Rene was seated at the table with several other men. All were drinking coffee. One of the men stood as she entered and offered Rose his seat which she took.
“You’re back later than expected. Tell us what’s happened,” said Rene. He didn't appear anxious, but did seem to be in a somber mood.
Rose looked around at the other men in the room. She didn't know any of them. Some she’d seen around town, but none were soldiers and all were Rene’s age or older.
“These are the other leaders of the community,” said Rene realizing Rose was being hesitant around the other men. “I’m Mayor as well as the leader of our defenses, these other men are in charge of other areas: farming, water, sewage, and others. They can be trusted with anything you might have told me.”
Break Away (Jordan Rose Duology Book 1) Page 18