With the meeting concluded, everyone filtered out except for a handful of residents who stayed behind and waited for Kyle. Yankee Dave, David, Ron, Benjy, and Brian sat back down and waited for the room to clear out.
Benjy walked over to Kyle. “Bucko, I’m going to leave tonight to secure my place, but I will be back tomorrow to help out. I will bring a couple things back with me that might help defend this place a little better.” Benjy gave Kyle a knowing smirk, shook his hand, and took off before Kyle could ask what the hell he’d been referring to. Kyle just grinned at Benjy’s retreating form then shook his head to focus his thoughts. He turned back to the rest of his closest friends and his grin faded.
“Alright guys. Figure out what we need to do to make this happen. I for one won’t be leaving this camp without a hell of a fight.”.
CHAPTER 36
EIGHT MONTHS PRIOR TO THE CAMP H INVASION
Benedictus and Christo
As the last light of the sun faded into the horizon, Benedictus gathered the last of his supplies into his backpack and exited the Garrison Building in which he had slept for the last day. His consort Norris, who had diligently finished packing his own backpack as well, joined him outside a moment later.
Benedictus took in the scene before him and wondered if the devastation of the once famous buildings surrounding him were an omen of things to come. A deep sense of foreshadowing gripped him and he felt certain it was all a precursor to the battle ahead to prevent the extinction of the human race. He looked down at himself and felt a slight sense of disappointment at the state of their condition. Mere months ago, he and his fellow Council members were the most powerful people in the world. Now, they had been reduced to scurrying around in the darkness, hiding and sneaking around from place to place, doing their best to stay alive with the rest of the remaining human race. He sincerely hoped that whatever the reason for their summons to Florida, it would include a plan that put them back into their rightful place amongst humanity.
Norris approached from behind and interrupted his train of thought. “Master, we are ready to leave. Is there anything I can tote for you?”
“No, my friend, I have this,” he replied, as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and moved toward the main gate of the Alamo.
He arrived to find Christo and his own consorts already waiting. He greeted his longtime friend with a simple nod of his head as they peeked out of the main door to make sure the coast was clear.
“The patrol just came by a moment ago and won’t be due back again for about 30-minutes,” Christo said. “It is time to go.” He then moved out the door and headed out into the darkness toward the Gulf of Mexico. Benedictus and Norris quickly followed. As they moved from one alley to the next, staying mostly in the shadows, it was a short time until they were on the outskirts of the city and able to walk in the open a little more comfortably. They knewthey would either have to find a place to hide and rest soon, to avoid detection from the patrols during the day, or acquire some transportation to get them to the coast more quickly. As they kept moving, they stayed just slightly off the main roads and did their best to remain silent. Finally, they were given the opportunity to acquire transportation in the form of a lone jeep as it came down the darkened road.
Christo sent Cecilia to the edge of the road to flag down the driver and keep his attention on her. The rest of the group stayed in the ditch, hidden from the approaching headlights. Cecilia was beautiful, and a very petite young woman in her early 30s, and gave no hint of being a threat. As they had predicted, the driver quickly stopped to offer assistance.
As the Jeep came to a stop, the driver was the first to step out and approach the young lady. He was dressed in military-style gear and was armed with an automatic rifle and a handgun holstered to his hip. As he approached Cecilia, three more men dressed similarly quickly joined him.
“Well, miss, what are you doing out here all alone in the middle of nowhere?” the driver asked. He greedily eyed her top to bottom as he walked around her, making no effort to disguise the dangerous need in his eyes.
“I was driving back into San Antonio when my car broke down and I started walking and looking for help,” Cecilia said in an overly ditzy way. She played her part well and had them practically salivating from the moment she opened her mouth to reply.
“Well, you’re going the wrong way for help, since there is literally nothing in that direction for miles on end,” the driver said. “Why don’t you climb in with us, and we’ll get you someplace safe.” He looked over at one of his companions and nodded his head and gave a devious wink. His companion then walked into the shadows and slowly pulled out a small bundle of rope from his leg pocket. He started to uncoil it as the driver walked Cecilia toward the jeep and talked to her to keep her distracted from the other men.
As the man with the rope prepared to spring, he turned back toward the distracted woman and found himself face-to-face with Christo, who had approached the would-be assailant in total silence. Christo slammed the web of his hand into the man’s throat and dropped him to his knees, gasping for air. Christo then turned to see if he had been discovered. He found the driver kicking his feet in a futile attempt to escape his captor as Benedictus held him up by his throat with his bare hands. The other two men from the Jeep were doubled over on the ground, partially gutted, as they both tried to keep their intestines from spilling out on the ground from huge matching incisions. Consorts Norris and Lucia stood calmly next to them as they wiped their blades and put them away.
Christo turned to look at his victim, who had turned an impressive shade of purple, indicating that he might have hit him too hard and completely crushed his throat. He turned back to Benedictus. “Keep that one alive, if you don’t mind. I have a few questions for him. I don’t think this one here is going to make it.”
Benedictus lowered the man to the ground and quickly disarmed him of his weapons and pinned him against the Jeep. “We have a few questions for you, and your cooperation is going to determine your fate,” he said in a calm and authoritative voice that was more fearsome than any screamed threat could have been.
“Anything, just please don’t kill me.” The driver continued to whimper and pleaded for his life as he was released, yet he showed the smallest bit of intelligence and stayed pressed up against the fender of the Jeep.
Christo approached the man. “If you tell me everything I want to know, I promise I won’t kill you. First off, how many patrols are on this road between here and Corpus Christi?”
“Just one more, right on the outskirts of town, and then two more, in the town proper,” the driver answered quickly, while he looked at his partner lying behind Christo drawing his last breath.
“Good. Now, tell me how it is that you were able to fight off the infected so quickly and survive the plague that has taken over this world?”
“We just didn’t give up. The governor of Texas took control of the Texas National Guard and organized us against it until he was killed by the very infection we were fighting. We never waited for the federal government to come. We just took matters into our own hands. Every able-bodied person was armed and told to kill first and ask questions later. It was a slaughter house here for a couple of months, but we remained vigilant and put anything down that even remotely looked infected.”
“So far you are doing marvelously. And last, who is running the military here, and where can he be found?”
“Someone named Frank. I’m not even sure where he came from. We just get our orders over the radio every few days. I’ve never even met or seen him, and as far as I know, his headquarters is somewhere in Dallas.” The driver hoped he had earned his life with the answers he had so freely given.
“Very good. I thank you for your cooperation. Now, we will be taking your vehicle and be on our way,” Christo said, as he made his way to the driver’s door.
“Thank you for letting me live, sir,” the man said, clearly shaken from the ordeal. He made no threatening
movements and slowly stepped away from the vehicle to get out of their way.
“Oh, it’s not up to me if you live,” said Christo. “The decision falls to my young lady here, who I assume you were about to show some sick version of Texas hospitality to. Well, before I stopped your friend there with the rope, in any case. Cecilia, it’s your call, but whatever you decide, please hurry as we need to be on our way.” Christo then climbed into the driver’s seat to turn the Jeep around.
As he made a three-point turn in the middle of the desolate Texas road, he was not surprised to hear a loud scream that was abruptly cut short. Once he had the Jeep turned around, he pulled up and let the rest of his traveling companions climb aboard. The last to climb in the back was Cecilia, who asked for a towel to wipe the blood splatter off her face and hands.
“I see you opted to not let him go.” Christo chuckled.
“I probably showed him more mercy than they were about to show me.”
Benedictus sat down in the passenger seat, and they drove off towards their destination, comparing notes on what they had just learned.
Hours later, having avoided all the remaining patrols, they pulled into a very secluded section of beach just south of Corpus Christi. They hid the Jeep by burying it in a deep-water channel and made their way to the boat Benedictus had waiting for them. As they arrived at the beach, Christo saw a rather large yacht waiting just off shore. “I thought you said you had a small boat to take us on our way,” he said with a smirk as he looked at Benedictus.
“This is small compared to my personal yacht. Come now, my friend, did you expect me to offer you anything less than this? You should know by now that I wouldn’t treat you with any less respect than this, my friend.” Benedictus turned as he heard a small craft approach the beach through the waves. “Ah, our taxi is here. Let’s get down there and get on our way before the great Kane starts to wonder if we’re coming.”
As the five members of the party boarded the little rubber boat, they said a temporary good-bye to Texas. They all knew that sooner or later they would most certainly return in an effort to make contact with the new people in charge, and to find the mysterious Frank who had managed to somehow quell the infection.
CHAPTER 37
Hope and Rico
Hope looked out into the rain and darkness and was amazed by how completely dark it really was. Except for when the lightning flashed, she felt as if the world completely vanished a mere two feet from the edge of the tower wall.
“Man, I didn’t think it would be this bad out here tonight,” Hope said to her watch partner Rico.
“I don’t know how you talked me into this. I need my head examined being out here with you. If the rain and wind don’t do me in, your dad is going to throw me to the slabs if he is as mad as you said he was.”
“Don’t worry about my dad. He likes to talk tough, but he won’t do anything to you. I’m 18, and he’s got to let me grow up eventually, whether he wants to admit it or not. Besides, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong up here.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s just your dad has this aura about him. Like it wouldn’t take much to set him off … not when it comes to the three of you. And I don’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever he decides to do to me if anything happens to you. I mean, he’s a big dude, and to be completely honest, he scares the crap out of me.”
“Well, if we’re being honest, I wouldn’t worry about my dad so much as Uncle Ron and Uncle David. They do all his dirty work for him when it comes to guys hanging around me. You remember me telling you about Tony, the one who was chasing after me for months? Well, when Dad introduced him to David and Ron one night, they stepped outside with him and he left shortly after and never called me again. In fact, two weeks later, he withdrew from school, and nobody’s seen him since.” Hope finished her retelling and waited until Rico went pale as he soaked in what she had just said. Suddenly, she started to laugh at Rico when she realized that he believed her. “I’m just kidding. You need to relax a little.” She punched him in the arm.
“That was not funny, especially after I just admitted to being terrified of your dad.” Rico gave a huge sigh of relief.
“Shut up,” Hope said.
“I’m just saying—” Rico tried to say as Hope’s hand cupped over his mouth.
“No,” she whispered, pointing out into the darkness. “Shut up and listen. Something is out there.”
The two teenagers listened as they tried to hear through the pouring rain and the howling wind. At first there was nothing to be heard. “There. Did you hear that?” Hope whispered to Rico.
“I’m not hearing anything. You sure it’s not just the wind?”
“It’s down at the base of the wall right in front of us. Hand me the light.” Hope took the flashlight from Rico. She shined the light over the edge of the tower, but from her angle, she couldn’t see the location and the source of the noise.
“I’m going down to ground level to see what I can find,” she said as she headed to the ladder.
Rico decided to follow, and after a few slippery steps down the ladder, he was on the ground with her. Hope stood directly in front of the watchtower wall as she tried to peer through the holes out into the darkness beyond.
“You see anything?”
“Nope, just keep quiet and listen,” Hope instructed. “Oh, and watch your step. There’s a huge stream of water between us. I just stepped in it, and water flowed over the top of my boots.”
Suddenly, the noise which had been quite muffled from up in the tower, reappeared. It’s sounded like something was rubbing up against the wall, like the sound of a tree limb or bush brushing against a house in a slight breeze.
“There. Did you hear it that time?” Hope asked as she peered through the hole again in the direction where she heard the sound.
“Yeah, it just sounds like something has blown up against the tin on the other side of the wall,” Rico replied with a little bit of relief. “You see anything?”
He’d barely finished asking her if she was okay just as Hope let out a gut-wrenching scream.
“What’s wrong?” He could see Hope as she tried to leap back from the wall, but instead, she fell straight down. She landed in the stream of water flowing behind her and immediately became submerged. Rico threw down his gear and lunged forward to grab her and lift her out.
Hope exploded out of the water spitting and choking. “My foot! It’s got my foot!”
Rico tried to look down at her foot to see what was the matter, but it was submerged in the stream at the edge of the wall. He leapt over and started to extract her foot from the water, but her foot was not the only thing that came out of the flowing stream. A badly decomposed hand came up with it. He reached down and yanked the foot free of the hand and pulled Hope back to safety.
As the two fell backward to a safe distance, they both looked to the location of the hand and watched as the rest of the body started to wiggle and emerge from the ground.
Apparently, the small stream of escaping water had created a washout under the wall and a slab had found the hole. As the rain washed the mud away from its eyes and face, the slab recognized the two targets in front of it as food. It launched out of the hole the rest of the way, and in a flash it clamped its teeth onto some part of Hope’s leg.
Rico froze for a split second at the sight of the vicious attack. Then, suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminated the night, and he found Hope had been able to jam the steel toe of her boot into the slab’s mouth and hadn’t been bitten.
“Grab your gun and shoot him!” Hope shouted out over the ensuing thunder.
Rico leapt backward to where he had dropped his gun to retrieve it. After he felt around in the dark for what felt like an eternity, his hand found the handle of his 9mm handgun in a small puddle of water. Quickly, he turned and jammed the gun into the side of the slab’s head and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. Again he squeezed, but got the same result. “Shit, the
ammo’s wet!”
Hope, who had recovered from the unexpected attack, had quickly grown tired of the threat. She reached over to her other leg and withdrew the seven-inch Marine blade strapped to it. She quickly extracted the knife from the sheath, leaned down, and plunged the Ka-Bar into the top of the slab’s head. Immediately, the slab went limp and slipped down into the muck from which it had emerged.
Rico reached down and pulled Hope back to her feet, and wrapped his arm around her. Hope, safe from the slab, threw her arms around him in a tight hug and tried to choke back a strangled cry as the gravity of the situation sunk in. Rico held her tight and supported some of her weight as he felt her begin to go weak as her adrenaline began to fade.
The two of them stood in the rain and enjoyed the moment together as the rain washed away the mud and fear they had both just experienced. Suddenly, Rico let out a small grunt that morphed into a heart shattering scream.
Hope opened her eyes, and found herself face-to-face with a slab that had sunk its teeth into the side of Rico’s neck. Blood from his jugular sprayed out, and Rico began to convulse as she was thrown out of his arms.
Hope, who had not yet dropped her knife, lunged back toward Rico to dispatch the new threat. With a quick stab into the eye of the slab, it released its grip on Rico and fell motionless to the ground. Rico followed the dispatched slab, and Hope grabbed him to steady him as he fell down. She checked his wound and upon seeing the extent of the damage, the bottom fell out of her stomach. She knew what the bite meant and the damage to his throat was irreparable.
Humanity's Hope (Book 1): Camp H Page 15