~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Shit,” said Aaron as he turned and ran back in the direction of the Northern barrier. Rose grabbed Adeline’s arm pulling her into motion and they both ran back together following Aaron, Adeline’s gaze lingering on the headless man’s body as they left. It was way too quiet as they approached the pile of cars and the bright lights of the northern barrier. Rose couldn't see anyone moving around which worried her. As they moved into the light, they saw why-everyone was dead. Most were still at their posts where they’d been when Rose had left them. Many were face down, but a few were face up and even fewer appeared to have fought back prior to being killed. As they searched through the fallen, there wasn’t one survivor. Care had been taken to make sure each was dead, though none were shot. All had been bludgeoned, sliced, hacked, or stabbed to death. Like the man who’d tried to kill Rose with the sword, all these men had been killed with weapons other than guns. This told Rose that there were two options: either they were choosing to fight this way to shroud their attack or Rose and Aaron’s attack on their camp had taken out most or all of their guns and ammunition. Rose wasn’t sure which, but she knew that, more importantly, whoever had killed all these men were no longer here and that meant they likely headed into town.
Aaron had come to the same conclusion. “We need to get into town and warn the people on the south side they have attackers coming up from behind.”
“Alright, let’s get moving,” agreed Rose, and she started to head down the road toward town. However, Adeline was still lingering at a large cluster of dead bodies.
Rose turned around and jogged up next to Adeline. One of the dead was a tall man with dark hair. Rose recognized him as the one she’d seen in Adeline’s room only a few nights ago. Rose put a hand on Adeline’s shoulder, and Adeline turned to look at Rose. Rose expected tears or even a look of sorrow upon finding her dead ex-lover, but if Adeline felt sad at all, she didn’t show it. She’d been focused on the bodies and gave Rose a confused look. “What is it?” asked Rose.
“No one heard anything? I don’t understand,” she said.
“It must have been a small group. They probably worked their way through from person to person killing them quickly before anyone noticed what they were doing.”
“So there probably aren’t a lot of them?” asked Adeline.
“I’m not sure,” said Rose, glancing down the road toward the town and growing impatient. “They’re skilled enough to cause lots of problems, though, so we should get moving.”
“Okay,” said Adeline. She started to move with Rose but stopped suddenly as if she just realized something. “Rose,” said Adeline. “Their guns...some of them don’t have guns.”
Rose stopped and looked back at the closest group of dead. While not every one of them was unarmed, several were. The missing weapons had been taken randomly, likely to mask the thefts and possibly giving the attackers an advantage by hiding their real numbers.
“Good catch Adeline,” said Rose turning to run again. “They’re armed now!” she called to Aaron who was up ahead. Adeline followed Rose away from the northern barrier and as they caught up to Aaron, they all ran together toward town. “These guys aren’t messing around,” said Rose. “They know what they’re doing and they’re doing it well.”
Slipping into the darkness beyond the northern barrier, the trio made their way into town as quickly and silently as possible. They didn't encounter any more bikers, but as they got closer to town, they didn't become any less desperate. The screaming from the infected had gotten much louder the further south they traveled and there was a constant wail coming from the southern end of town now. The night was also filled with almost constant gunfire and explosions. There was a large battle happening on the southern side of town and Rose couldn’t tell if it was going well or not. The three made it into town unharassed, and following Aaron’s lead, made for the Town Hall which doubled as the command post in times of emergency. Outside the Town Hall were several large banks of lights being powered by generators. Below the lights in the front yard were about twenty beds, a combination of military-style cots and beds from houses, each filled with injured soldiers being treated. It looked to Rose like something right out of a Civil War film if not for the lights illuminating the work of the men and women tending to the injured.
There was blood everywhere, tears and screams as bites were tended to, limbs were amputated, and bandages applied. Rose eyed the large collection of injured and their proximity to the leaders of the town inside the Town Hall literally yards away. This wouldn’t have been her first choice for an infirmary location, especially since many of those injured could very soon be the enemy. Right now though, she had more pressing matters and followed Aaron inside the hall. The building had once been a church that was later converted to office space when it was made the Town Hall. While most of the building had been sectioned off and made into offices, the main rectory of the church, with it’s stained glass windows and exposed oak beams, had remained and was used mostly for Town Hall meetings, or in this case, battle strategy.
As they entered the hall, several heads raised, including Rene’s. A central table was ringed with about ten people, all people Rose recognized from Rene’s house hours earlier. Leaving the table, Rene walked over to Adeline and without a word, gave her a hug. It was the most fatherly thing Rose had ever seen Rene do and was a testament to how dire the situation was.
Breaking the hug, Rene looked to Aaron. “Do you know what’s happened on the northern barrier? We’ve had no reports from them and a runner I sent to check has not returned.”
“We were there helping to defend but we left to check the east walls. When we came back, everyone was dead. We were attacked by the Hell’s Angels. They did this,” said Aaron, angrily clenching his fists and jaw.
If Rene was surprised, he didn't show it. His eyes were like dark hollow pits and his face was expressionless. Rene nodded at Aaron and turned to the men at the table.
One of the men at the table slammed his fist down. “How can this be happening?” he grumbled, despair clear in his voice. “We were so well prepared.”
“Many people were prepared my friend,” said Rene softly, “but their cities were turned to dust just the same.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rose, shocked at the pervasive feeling of hopelessness coming from everyone in the room.
“We can’t hold the mass of infected at the southern barrier. Not forever. There are too many of them and we will run out of ammunition soon. They’re like ocean waves relentlessly breaking on our defenses in the south and just like the ocean, they will find another way in through the cracks soon enough. With no defenses on the east, west, and now north, we can’t hold back the tide.”
To Rose’s left, Adeline began to cry. Aaron reached out and curled her into his chest where she continued to sob. Rose, however, didn't feel like crying. She felt like fighting. Specifically Rene.
“You’re just giving up?” she said incredulously, stepping toward Rene. “I can’t fucking believe this! You can’t come up with another way to fight back because there are too many infected out there? And a fucking biker gang shows up and that breaks you? You’re just going to sit in here and wait to die? Well I’m sure as hell not. You can do whatever you want in here, but I’m going to go out there and try and save some fucking lives! Lives you said you needed to protect!” Rose was now yelling at Rene and pointing in his chest. “You’re being a fucking coward! Fight! All we can do is fight! No one is going to let you survive in this world. You have to earn it now. You have to fight to survive or you’ll just be another mindless infected in that mob. You convinced me to fight for this city and that’s what I intend to do!”
With that, Rose turned and stormed out the door to the Town Hall and back into the night, slamming the front door behind her. Rose could see fires in the distance but that was nothing compared to the anger burning inside her. The infected were coming and Rose knew she didn’t have much tim
e to prepare for the upcoming battle.
Still shaking with anger, Rose made her way down the front steps of the Town Hall and began prepping for the coming battle. She could only hear sporadic gunfire and explosions now from the south. As she was checking her ammunition levels, Rose heard the Town Hall door open behind her. At the top of the stairs were Aaron, Adeline, Rene and another man from inside. “Let’s do this Rose,” said Aaron, chambering a round into his shotgun and smirking at Adeline who answered with a playful elbow to the arm. Aaron had removed most of his bandage and as a result had gained more use of his hand. Rene and the other man had AR-15s slung over their shoulders and as Rene walked down the steps, he leaned in close to Rose. “No one calls me a coward,” he said with a wink.
Rose didn’t want to let her rage go, but her initial anger at Rene evaporated in that quick moment. Rose couldn’t help it. She was grateful to Aaron, Adeline, Rene, and a man whose name she didn’t even know for not letting her fight alone. Any lingering doubts she had that she didn't belong to this community were now gone. She was as much a part of this community now as if she’d been here from the start. These were her people and she would help them live, laying down her life if needed.
Aaron, Adeline, and the man from inside walked down the steps to join Rene. Rose reached out her hand to the man. “Thank you. I don’t know your name.”
“Mark,” the man said shaking Rose’s hand. “Mark LeBrec, I’m in charge of equipment maintenance.” Mark was about as tall as Aaron but about thirty years his senior. He was mostly skinny except for a large gut and brown eyes with brown hair as well as a few day’s growth of stubble on his face.
“Thank you for helping us Mark. We’re going to need all the help we can get,” said Rose. “The infected should be here any time now. I suggest you all prepare yourselves.”
“Glad to be of-” Mark began to answer but his words turned to gurgles as he spoke them. Rose had been turning away from Mark as he was speaking and when she looked back, half of Mark’s neck was missing. Mark’s eyes were large as his hands instinctively came up to his neck. Blood was spurting from the gaping wound. Rose stood in shock gaping at Mark as he began to stagger and gasp for air.
Rose was tackled to the ground by Aaron as a crack like a whip filled the air. The top half of Mark’s head blew off as his body fell backward. It was only then that Rose realized they’d come under fire. Rose quickly regained her senses and wriggled out from under Aaron slightly. “What’s happening?”
“Someone is shooting at us!” said Aaron. “We need to find some cover!”
Rose and Aaron scrambled for the closest cover, an old Toyota Camry, its engine compartment and trunk now used for flower beds, near the yard filled with the sick and wounded. As they ran for the car, shots rang out from several different directions. Bullets whizzed by Rose and Aaron’s heads and smacked the ground near their feet. By some miracle, neither had been hit by the time they reached the safety of the car. Rene and Adeline were already there. Adeline’s eyes were red with tears but Rene’s face showed a steely determination. Rene popped up quickly and fired off several shots at the closest shooter, but their attention had moved from Rose’s group to all the sick and wounded still exposed in the yard. Rose could see glimpses of the shooters as it had started to get lighter outside. They were the bikers. They had no mercy as they filled the yard with bullets. Many of the injured were making an effort to run but due to their injuries, were easy prey for the gunmen. One by one the wounded were picked off. The doctors and nurses helping the wounded to find cover were not spared as all were methodically gunned down. Adeline began to stand from her crouch behind the car, but Aaron pinned her down tight to the ground so she could be spared the carnage. Rose and Rene continued to shoot at the cover the shooters were shooting from, but that only slowed the slaughter.
As the last of the wounded were mowed down, the shooting ended suddenly. Instead of pressing the attack on Rose’s group behind the car, the shooters quickly melted back into the pre-dawn gloom as quickly as they’d appeared. There was silence in the yard once more punctuated only by the ever-present and now somewhat closer screams of the infected, the occasional burst of gunfire, and explosions of landmines and grenades. The defenders on the southern barrier were still fighting somehow.
Rose and Rene stood and surveyed the field of death laid out in front of them. People were scattered all over the yard, shot down as they tried to flee in every possible direction. Men, women, children, teenagers. It didn’t matter. All had been killed. The massacre had turned the grass of the yard from fall green to a deep slick red. Rose couldn't even fathom the cruelty it takes to kill wounded and the medical staff trying to help them. Rose vowed to herself she would avenge them. These bikers needed to be killed-slowly and painfully.
“Payback motherfuckers!” came a shout from the far side of the yard. Rose and Rene lifted their rifles at the sound but there was nothing they could do but watch as helpless bystanders. A man, crouched down on one knee with a large tube resting on his shoulder, unleashed a burst of flame in the direction of the Town Hall. The fireball seemed to cover the distance of the yard almost instantly and smash through the front doors they’d only just exited a short time before. Less than a second later, the building seemed to double, then triple, then quadruple in size as it exploded in a huge plume of red fire. Rose and Rene were both thrown onto their backs and the car slid about a foot backward knocking over Aaron and Adeline.
Rose was blinded by the explosion and a ringing in her ears was all that she could hear. As she blinked her eyes, her vision started to return and she could see that Rene and the others were suffering similarly. Staggering to her feet, Rose looked to where the Town Hall had been previously. A shattered cement pit that used to be the basement was all the remained of the building. Large shards of still-burning wood were scattered as far as Rose could see. All the glass in the surrounding area was gone and some of the bodies in the yard, the ones that hadn’t been blown away in the explosion, were burning. Rose looked away from the destruction and bent down to help Rene to his feet. He appeared dazed, but otherwise uninjured. Rose looked to Aaron and could see he was talking but she couldn't hear him, all Rose could hear was the ringing. However as she concentrated on his mouth, she could start to pick out some of the words he was saying by reading his lips. Aaron was saying something about “danger” and “south.”
Rose wasn’t sure what Aaron was trying to say but he seemed worried. The more Rose focused on his mouth the less the ringing in her ears seemed to persist and she could faintly start to hear Aaron as if he was in a long tunnel.
“...get south...” Aaron said. “...n’t last long...”
Rose was putting the pieces together now. They needed to get to the southern barrier. Rene had gotten the same message and was slinging his rifle onto his back and moving off toward the south. Aaron was helping Adeline to her feet and following Rene. Adeline had appeared to have moved on past despair and now had the look of someone who was determined but had no hope of survival. Rose checked her rifle making sure there was a round in the chamber, slung it, and ran after them. As her hearing returned she plunged into the early-dawn now more determined than ever to fight, vengeance driving her on.
Chapter 14
They didn't have to go far to pick up the trail of the bikers. They appeared to be headed south toward the town’s remaining defenses, seeming in an effort to finish the job by attacking them from behind. It seemed silly to Rose that the bikers would continue the fight in the face of a horde of infected just for revenge, but whatever their motivations, Rose wasn’t going to let that it happen and the race was on.
Rose and her group headed south down the road leaving themselves more exposed, but able to travel faster than the bikers could who were moving through the woods. Rose wasn’t sure how many there were, but she got a glimpse of some of them now and then in the distance ahead. Stopping quickly and lining up her rifle, she fired off several long-range shots at th
e men in the woods and was rewarded with a cry of pain. That would be one less they had to worry about. Aaron and Rene were doing the same but with less luck. Adeline just stuck close to Aaron’s hip and didn't shoot, concerned more with just keeping up. As they approached the southern barrier, the men in the woods began to fire back periodically and Rose and company had to slow down and enter the woods themselves so they’d have more cover. Rose signaled for Adeline to continue to the barrier with Rene while she and Aaron continued through the woods. Thinking that they’d not expect it, Rose and Aaron would try to come up on the group from the rear and take them out while they were focused on the remaining defenders at the southern barrier. Using the bikers’ own strategy against them seemed quite fitting to Rose.
While the sun hadn’t come up yet, it was getting much lighter so Rose and Aaron had to travel quickly. They silently moved through the woods and were able to quickly drop in behind the bikers. As careful as the bikers had been before when they attacked the Town Hall and the northern barrier, they seemed to be making for the southern barrier as quickly as possible putting little effort into concealing themselves. Rose figured that it was purely revenge at this point for them. The town’s defenses were gone, the town itself was burning, its leaders were all dead and there were infected at the gates. The bikers had won. Now they were just getting greedy.
As Rose and Aaron gained on them, she counted six men. There was a possibility there was more, but she doubted it. They seemed so focused on getting to the southern defenses that they likely hadn’t sent out a rear guard. Shooting without aiming, Rose tried to line up her rifle at the backs of the running men several hundred yards ahead of her in the woods. Emptying her magazine spraying bullets in their direction, she saw two men fall. Aaron did the same and dropped another. The remaining three dove for cover and immediately returned fire.
Break Away (Jordan Rose Duology Book 1) Page 20