Zombie Rush 4

by Joseph Hansen

  Beaten up? Is it anything we should be concerned about? Tasha asked.

  She had a rough time getting out of DC; it turned into a madhouse almost immediately and she fell into the wrong hands. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to activate her beacon before she left her office or we would have never found her. That’s something you all need to be aware of; some very bad people have taken to the streets in many of the cities and towns around the country. It’s going to take a long time to ferret them out, so it would be better to stay here until things straighten out. The general said this as if he were relating the latest weather forecast.

  Okay, that’s all good and fine, but back to these so-called Ragers; where did they come from, General Kyle? Tasha pressed.

  Well, they come from … zombie blood. Too much exposure to the skin, the ingestion of, or the inhaling of zombie blood has an adverse effect on some people. Like cancer, not everybody is susceptible to it.

  A gong went off in Lisa’s head and Mustafa unconsciously grabbed her shoulder.

  “The blood mist last night and this morning,” Mustafa couldn’t help but say.

  “I know, Mustafa. We probably created more harm than good yesterday when we destroyed all of those Zs on the highway.” They fell quiet and listened to the general continue.

  If you feel there is a chance you might become infected, then we recommend you wear a re-breather or filter of some sort over your face. The scientists in Colorado are following up on this as quickly as possible, but we hope there are no other complications resulting from over-exposure, and we do feel there might actually be a cure, but it has eluded us up to this point.

  Wow, I can’t thank you enough for being so open and honest with us, General Kyle. You have probably saved many lives with that one statement. Information has proven to be one of our greatest tools here in Hot Springs.

  We are aware of that, Tasha, and we plan on continuing the practice. In the past, we were dealing with foreign nations, where a level of secrecy was necessary. With how the world has changed, we don’t even know what kind of world powers are left. Every country seems to be affected by this plague with the exception of some of the Pacific Island nations—namely the Samoan Islands, Tonga, and Fiji. We also have some naval vessels heading home right now that appear to be unscathed by this plague, and they will join us as soon as we can establish a base for them to dock. There are a substantial number of survivors in the UK and Russia, but we haven’t been able to contact anyone in France or Germany.

  That is grim news, General. Is there anything else you would like to add?

  Yes. Bear with us through this transition phase. I’m sure we can re-establish a system of governance that everyone will be happy with, General Kyle said encouragingly.

  Thank you for your time, General and Madame President. Come back and talk to us any time, Tasha said.

  *

  Lisa turned the radio down after the broadcast so that she barely heard the gentle voice of Cat Stevens singing Sad Lisa. It was obvious that Mustafa was at a different place when it came to the arrival of the president and all of the glory that goes with it. Lisa didn’t feel right about it. She’d had a lot of hard decisions to make in the past, and she never believed she had to worry about the consequences of those actions. Now, she felt as if the proverbial bill was due and all of her credit cards were maxed out.

  The compound was going need the few supplies they had managed to salvage from Little Rock, but with barely enough drivers to move half of the loaded semis, it could be lean. They took as many perishables as they could, leaving the rest for a return trip if one was possible.

  The town of Benton looked like a ghost town as opposed to the bustle of activity that they had left it in. A solitary head peeked out from a brick building, searching the streets for danger. Lisa assumed that a group of Ragers was just ahead of them, and she knew there were more behind. These things seemed to be on a preset course and there was no distracting them, though each group seemed to have a different objective in mind—if they had a mind or thought process at all. They moved in different directions or patterns as if some unseen goal or scent spurred each group on.

  Lisa waved to the man standing by the door, and he looked at her as if she wasn’t even real. Then, with a quick shake of his head, he furtively moved out onto the street and, in a half bent-over fashion, he ran to her truck window.

  “What happened here? It looks like a street cleaner went through,” the man asked.

  “I don’t know; I just got here. How many people do you have in there with you?”

  “Ten I think, maybe twelve.”

  “Did you hear where Officer Krupp ended up?” Lisa asked. The man bowed his head and gave her a soft-eyed look. “What is it?” A moment of panic crept into her tone.

  “Well … he had some trouble getting into the armory. Seems his woman friend was wearing high heels and couldn’t run so he had to carry her.”

  “High heels? What the fuck? Who is wearing fucking high heels?”

  “I know, right …?”

  “Did he make it?”

  “Yeah, but he got bit. Now they’s just waitin’.”

  “At the armory, you say?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay … start getting everyone ready to fall back to the compound. It isn’t safe out here anymore.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” the man said without ever giving his name and headed back to his shelter. Lisa sped up, suddenly feeling an urgency to get to the armory.

  *

  She stood at the doorway of the darkened room, listening for sounds of his breathing. A single nightlight cast a glow across the opposite side of his face that made him look distorted, and she knew this could be it for him. She didn’t know what she felt for Krupp. He would never let her close enough to find out if there was anything beyond simple attraction. There were times when she didn’t trust him, didn’t like him, and maybe even hated him, yet there were other times when he was the ally she wanted by her side, the one who she knew would get the job done, the one who cared enough to make a difference. Or did he? She didn’t know; all she knew was the one constant thing between them: Lisa liked the way he looked. In her mind, he was the way all men should look. Tall, trim yet thick in the shoulders and chest with corded muscles in his arms and legs, not to mention a penetrating gaze.

  Slowly, she entered the room, allowing the door to close behind her and keeping her hand near her gun in case it was already too late and he had turned. Halfway across the room she heard his breathing, but it sounded ragged—stuttered or double-spaced somehow. However, breathing meant that he was in fact alive, and that in itself was encouraging.

  She stepped closer and looked at his rugged, yet perfect, face and couldn’t stop the rush of feelings that sent a flutter through her chest.

  Before she was aware of what she was doing, Lisa leaned over and gently placed her lips on his as he slept. She wouldn’t call it impulse or some long desired thing as much as it was just the moment, and that was how she would think of it in the future; it was the moment she realized she could love. She always felt she had the capacity, but never had she felt it or even had a concept of what it felt like. It was new, exciting, and warmed her to her toes in a silent wave. Her body tingled and her cheeks flushed … and she liked it. She had feared it for so long, but now it was here, sudden and unexpected, and she liked it … a lot.

  To her surprise, his lips parted. She tasted him, and it felt right.

  *

  Ed couldn’t help but inwardly blame Lu for him having been bitten. If it wasn’t for her manipulations and games, she never would have been wearing those high heels and been dressed in an outfit that displayed zero common sense—especially when running from zombies. He would like to say he had a thing for Lu, but he didn’t; in fact, he didn’t even really like her. She felt that she had some kind of leverage against him due to some things that happened on the way to the compound when they first met, but she didn’
t. He had known people like her before and he suspected that she wouldn’t be above enhancing the truth just a bit to make him look bad. There was no feeling here, no love or even lust. Just a middle-aged woman who was very good at fucking her way into a secure, safe place.

  He found a room in the back of the armory where a small bed and nightstand had been set up so someone could take a nap. He sat down as Lester took a look at his wounds.

  “There ain’t gonna be no stitching this, at least not here or now. I can wrap it good and that will stop the bleeding, but there isn’t much else we can do,” Lester said.

  “Stitches would probably be a waste of energy at this point, Les. Just let me get a little shuteye. There isn’t much we can do while those things are about anyway. Come get me if something comes up, or come shoot me if I turn.”

  “What? Is that some kind of fucking joke?” Lester asked, amazed at his callousness.

  “Yeah, it was meant to be. It didn’t turn out so well though, did it?” Krupp said with a chuckle.

  “Not so much,” Les replied and looked toward Lu, who seemed to be more concerned with the cleanliness of the room than her boyfriend’s life.

  *

  Lu sat in the dark in an old recliner that had obviously been chased out of someone’s house, due to the New Orleans Saints insignia in the pattern. She watched and wondered as Krupp slept. Anybody seeing her would see a woman who was concerned for the wellbeing of her man. The problem was, that just wasn’t who Lu was. She felt she had already put way too much work into this relationship—if you could call it that—to have it go belly up. Krupp’s passing would leave Lu vulnerable in a broken world and surrounded by a lot of unsavory people. Lester seemed nice, and she caught him looking more than once, but he wasn’t right for her tastes. Lester didn’t have enough going for him to be with someone like Lu.

  In her previous life, Lu looked for a man with a title and money—preferably old family money. She had settled for an old family name, but unfortunately they were out of money and looking to their only son to change that. They scrimped and saved in order to send him to Yale, and he chose MIT instead. It was actually a better fit for someone of his intellect, but his parents didn’t see that as a true way to power—nor did Lu. All of the presidents were Yale and Harvard or at least Stanford educated, but no, he chose MIT because he actually planned on working for a living. He made enough money, but Lu found herself trapped within a pit of suburbia, where no one would get to see her glory, doomed to die old, withered and empty. She had an ungrateful son who looked at her with contempt from the day he was born. Whether this was true or not or even possible didn’t matter to someone like Lu. That was how she saw it, so that was how it was.

  The only thing she had in common with her family—including her daughter who was the opposite of her and continually criticized her mom for eating meat and wearing leather—was that Lu loved to shoot handguns. Her son and husband were into the whole physics thing when it came to speed, velocity, and power, while Lu focused on nothing more than a 9mm HK or Colt. Her daughter, on the other hand, spent her time at the range shooting skeet and actually won some competitions which, in Lu’s opinion, was incredibly strange for a vegan.

  Now the world had changed. Power and influence was no longer determined by wealth; it was by strength and position instead. Krupp was third down on the line for power; if he didn’t work out, Benson was an option but he never even acknowledged Lu. Either way, both of them had a thing for Lisa. The bitch with the foul mouth was the one who was the real power, and in Lu’s mind she had to go.

  At some point in her scheming, Lu fell asleep.

  Chapter 16

  True Colors

  Lisa was shocked when Krupp’s lips responded hungrily to hers. She could see the sliver of open eyes, so he knew who was kissing him. Slowly, his tongue crept out and their lips parted as an animal-type urge slipped between them. His hand came out from under the covers, rested on her hip, and slowly slid down toward her thigh while his other cupped the left side of her face.

  “Surprise,” Lisa said as she pulled her lips off of his.

  “What took you so long?” Ed said with a smile.

  “Ah … I am a little insecure about my looks,” Lisa said half joking.

  “Girl, you never need to worry about that. I’ve seen you covered in zombie guts, and you were still sexy as hell,” Ed said, all thoughts of Lu forgotten. Until …

  “What the fuck?!” Lu exclaimed.

  Lisa pulled her head up and started to slide toward the end of the bed, shocked that someone else was there. Then she saw an arm in the shadows come up in a motion that she was all too familiar with. Her training instincts in high gear, Lisa dove to the floor when she saw the muzzle flash. She felt the tug on her shirt sleeve before hitting the floor and kept moving around the end of the bed, coming up and moving in low toward the arm holding the gun. Her hand hit the arm, pushing it up just as the muzzle flashed again and sent a bullet into the ceiling.

  Lu’s strength surprised her as she brought the gun down, and Lisa forced it to the side as it fired again. Lisa hit her with a right cross and then kneed her in the stomach before twisting the gun out of her hand. She hit her again with another right cross, sending her to the floor before she changed her grip on the gun and pointed it at Lu.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” a male voice shouted as it entered the room. The man went over to the window and raised the blind, filling the room with daylight. “Oh fuck,” was all he said.

  Lu pushed Lisa back, not making any move for the gun, and bolted from the room before running down the hall screaming.

  “She killed him! She murdered him while he was sleeping!” she screamed over and over.

  Lisa, who was still unclear what was happening, looked at Krupp. Half of his face had been blown off and any hope of his surviving the bite was gone. The hollow-point bullet had entered between the bridge of his nose and eye and blew out the back of his head, leaving his face a mass of hanging flesh.

  “Oh no,” she said meekly as tears came to her eyes. How could the day go any more wrong than it already had? She saw three-quarters of her force slaughtered and the only man she was attracted to had just had his head blown off. It couldn’t be worse than it was right now …

  “Put the gun down, miss,” the man said cautiously.

  “Look, my name is Lisa Reynolds …” she said as she turned to see Lester from the storage compound holding an M4 pointed at her chest.

  “I know who you are; now put the gun down or I’ll do to you what you did to Officer Krupp there.”

  “What? I didn’t do this! It was Lu.”

  “Lu? Lu loved him; she would never shoot him,” Lester said, having bought into Lu’s game. “Now put the gun down.”

  “Look, it’s her gun,” Lisa said as she held out the 9mm weapon, causing Lester to pause a moment with doubt before continuing.

  “I don’t care nothing about that, Lieutenant Lisa; now put the gun down,” he said forcefully as he inched his way toward a chair where Krupp had his things draped. “Now the other one.”

  Lisa complied as she pulled the gun out of her holster, never telling him about the forty-caliber Rhino inside of her coat.

  “Okay, now turn around and put your hands behind your back,” he said as one hand reached out and pulled some zip ties from a pouch on Krupp’s belt.

  Lisa was ready to make a move for her gun; for what purpose she didn’t know, but she was ready until another man she didn’t know showed up with a rifle pointed at her as well.

  “What are you going to do with her, Les?” the man asked as Lester zip-tied her hands behind her back.

  “Don’t know. The Army is in control of Hot Springs now so we gotta turn her over to them, I guess,” Lester said.

  Lisa’s shoulders sank. “I didn’t kill him. It was Lu, okay?”

  “I find that a might hard to believe, Lieutenant. Just last night they were arm in arm like young lovers, so the th
ought of her pulling the trigger on him is a bit hard to take in right now. Okay, load her in that truck she came in and haul her ass back to Hot Springs and tell them what happened.”

  “By myself?” the man replied to Lester.

  “No, take that cop kid, Ernie, with ya. If I’m going to run things here, I don’t want him around.”

  It wasn’t ten minutes later, and Lisa found herself sitting in the back seat with Ernie pointing a rifle in her face.

  “I didn’t kill him, Ernie.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me, Lieutenant. I’m just doing my job,” he said with a smirk before continuing. “Tell you what, you be real sincere and maybe they’ll give you a break … just like you did me.”

  His words brought flashbacks of how much she disliked the punk cop. How she had beat him down and banned him from guns after he roughed up Skit, and the public humiliation she caused him by not trusting him. But how could she trust him? He had left Tanner and the others up on that bridge to die. Ernie was a punk motherfucker then and he was a punk motherfucker now. She would just have to wait until she saw Benson to plead her case.

  *

  “Good morning, Officer Benson. I trust that you are feeling better,” General Kyle said as he stood respectfully outside the tent Benson called home.

  “If you call feeling useless as being better, then I guess you could say so,” Benson said, hinting at his loss of responsibility since their arrival. “Please, come in.”