Riposte (The Redivivus Trilogy Book 2)

by Kirk Withrow

  Without taking his eyes off the infected mass across the parking lot, he offered a weak nod of his head. Seeing the small window of opportunity and not imagining they would be fortunate enough to get a better one any time soon, Ethan knew they needed to make a break for it.

  “Kate, we need to clear that fence now. If we wait any longer, we’ll likely be surrounded. Who knows how many of these shitheads are in here with us. We can’t give them a chance to box us in,” Ethan said in a firm but quiet voice.

  Still struggling to catch her breath, Kate offered a few quick nods to indicate she understood and agreed.

  “We also have to assume that all the noise drew additional infected from outside the fence, so we need to move cautiously all the way back to the gas station. You good?” Ethan added.

  Once again, Kate nodded as she shifted forward like a runner easing onto the starting block.

  Ethan checked his vest to make sure his pistol and knife were in place and ready to go before peering out from around the thick hedge. “We move on my signal. Melee weapons only unless you have no other choice. We can’t afford to draw them to our position with the sound of guns blazing. We move quickly and quietly, covering each other’s six along the way,” Ethan said in a tone lacking any trace of the stress and fatigue it held a few moments ago.

  From his concealed position, he saw the teeming mass of infected off to the left. Numbering at least fifty, the entire group still appeared to be preoccupied with the balloons, though he knew the diversion would not last forever. In all likelihood, those at the center of the group had already lost interest and were merely being held in place by those still pressing in on them.

  “Looks clear. Get ready to move on three,” Ethan said. After a quick three-count, the soldier slid out from behind the shrubs with Kate right on his heels.

  They had covered only five of the twenty-five yards to the fence when Kate detected the unmistakable scent of danger very near them. Fighting the urge to stop and search for its source, she took an unintended stutter step, causing her feet to become entangled. Her right foot kicked the back of her left leg, sending her sprawling headlong onto the pavement.

  To her credit, Kate made very little noise despite what was certainly a painful impact with the ground. She made so little noise that Ethan did not immediately register what had happened. Whether the things were attracted by the sound and commotion of her fall, or they—being the source of the noisome odor—were already in the neighborhood, Kate did not know. They were on her in an instant. Sensing the significant increase in the cloying stench, Kate rolled onto her back to ready herself for whatever was coming. The pain in her hands and knees was dwarfed by the sight of the two ghastly revs bearing down upon her, voracity flaring in their milk-glazed eyes.

  Before her stood an infected man with what had to be his infected son. Even with all the horrendous damage so commonplace among the infected, their relationship was undeniable. They lurched toward her in unison like a father and son out on a weekend hunting trip, full heads of curly red hair blazing in the moonlight. And, of course, they have those same blighted eyes... A dark crimson void existed in place of the father’s nose making him look like Bozo the Clown’s deranged cousin. The son’s face, on the other hand, was untouched. Kate wished a ruddy mask of dried blood and dirt could obscure his adolescent visage, as seeing such an unscathed reminder of his former life proved to be far more painful. Her thoughts shifted briefly to Sean and Aaron, and she struggled to stay focused. The thought of everything the plague had taken from her caused an intense jet of anger to flare inside her like an unattended wildfire during a summer drought.

  Kate scissored her legs hard, instantly knocking the child to the ground. Rolling to her left, she planted her right foot on the infected father’s hip. She came up to her left elbow and kicked out hard, sending the infected man reeling back. He stepped in a pothole in the weathered parking lot and toppled over backward, his head slamming against the pavement with a hollow, resounding thud that sounded like a gunshot in the night.

  Skidding to a halt, Ethan pivoted in time to see Kate leaping off of one rev, and toward the lolling form of another already on the ground. He saw a glimmer of deep red as her knife slid out of the infected child’s temple with a moist, sucking sound. Before Ethan had taken two steps in her direction, her blade plunged deep into the other rev’s skull with a muted thunk!

  A splatter of blood and brain fluid flew from the tip of her vicious blade as she whirled around with feral tenacity burning in her eyes. Catching Ethan’s stunned but approving gaze, and seeing no other infected in the immediate proximity, she relaxed visibly and allowed the stress of combat to dissipate in waves. Even in death, Sean and Aaron keep me safe. She rushed to catch up to Ethan, feeling the adrenaline ebbing in her bloodstream.

  Before turning back toward the fence, he asked, “You okay? I’m sorry, I never saw those two.”

  “I’m good,” Kate replied. “Just a little scraped up, that’s all. They didn’t bite me,” she added showing the deep, gravel-pocked abrasions adorning both of her palms.

  Their conversation was cut short by the moans of the revs nearest the edge of the horde. They had clearly taken notice of Kate’s scuffle with the errant father and son duo.

  Ethan flashed Kate a worried look before the two broke into a sprint, hoping to cross the remaining fifteen yards to the fence before the revs could close the gap. Although the survivors were certainly faster, the horde near the balloons had become so large that it began to flatten against the fence forcing several revs to within ten yards of where Ethan and Kate were headed.

  Gasping and out of breath, they crashed into the fence nearly fifteen seconds before the first of the infected reached the same location. Once again lacing his fingers together to form a stirrup, Ethan said, “Kate, up and over! Hurry!”

  Kate leapt forward, planting her foot solidly in Ethan’s waiting hands before vaulting up and over the fence. Immediately, she spun and scanned the darkness around her, recalling Ethan’s concern that the noise might have drawn other revs to the area. Although she saw and heard nothing in the grassy field around her, she remained less than comforted; being well aware of the dangers the darkness could hide. Before she had time to dwell on her precarious situation, the sound of unbridled exertion and blunt force trauma grabbed her attention.

  Spinning back toward the fence, Kate was horrified by the tangle of festering limbs scrambling for Ethan’s flesh as he engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with at least a half dozen revs. In the darkness, she could just make out the former soldier whirling like a dervish amidst the small cluster pressing in upon him. When one rev was hurled from the fray or slumped to the ground, it was quickly replaced by the next in line. The fracas seemed to last for an eternity, as she stood transfixed by the perpetual motion of the struggle.

  Her reverie was broken when she heard Ethan’s voice booming over the intensity of the battle. “Kate, get out of here! Run!”

  She did not comprehend the struggling man’s words initially. When she finally realized what he was asking her to do, she became enraged at the thought of losing yet another friend to the plague. “No way! Hold on!” Kate exclaimed as she took a decisive step toward the heavy metal fence.

  As though snagged on a low-lying tree branch, something tugged on the hem of her jacket. A cold chill purled down her spine when she felt a slight give followed by a more vigorous pull. Drawing her knife, she spun around with a ferocious downward slash. The momentum of her twisting body had the effect of off-balancing the groping rev, pulling its center of mass across its body as it stumbled forward. The combined downward force of her razor-edged blade and the rev’s forward momentum allowed the knife to puncture the thin bone covering its temple, subsequently short-circuiting its maligned brain. Its vice-like grip went permanently slack. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw the ghastly silhouettes of several more revs approaching, drawn to the commotion like moths to a flame.

  Glan
cing back to the melee on the other side of the fence, she could no longer make out which figure was Ethan, though from the snarls and blood spray she knew he was still in the fight. With despair settling over her heart, she realized there was nothing she could do to help him. If she tried to go back, the approaching revs would drag her down before she could climb to the other side. She told herself she would not be much help in the fight anyway, that she would probably just get both of them killed. Deep down, she was unsure if she really believed that, or if she was merely trying to justify what she knew she had to do.

  Ethan’s voice, more strained and desperate, called out above the monstrous din once again. “Kate! Get the hell out of here! Run!”

  The line of revs grew closer, moving single-file in the darkness, and Kate knew it was now or never. Backpedalling, she felt tears threatening to flood her eyes as she bellowed into the night.

  “Ethan!”

  12

  October 23, 2015

  Dallas County, AL

  Peering through the thick pall of inky blackness, two wary figures watched the men busy siphoning fuel from the gas station’s underground tanks. One man was hunched over the manway working a hand pump while the other stood sentry with his back to them. When the two clandestine figures emerged from the rear of the country store less than a half hour earlier, they had been surprised to discover that a truck had arrived while they had been scouring the store’s backroom for supplies.

  The smaller figure, a woman, immediately felt threatened by their undetected arrival, and said in a soft hiss, “Let’s just take them out so we can move on.”

  The larger, more pensive male considered the suggestion for a moment before shaking his head in disagreement. “They don’t even know we’re here. They aren’t a threat to us. In fact, they’re doing the same thing we are—scavenging. We should stay hidden and let them pass.”

  Though she did not like it, the woman reluctantly agreed and the two concealed figures watched from the shadows. After approximately ten minutes of surveillance, the smaller figure heard a sound like glass shattering in the distance. Straining to hear the noises of the outside world, she heard nothing else aside from the low clang of the hand pump. The woman slunk over to the side of the store facing the hotel, focusing intently as if that might somehow allow her to clarify what she heard. She noticed that the man standing watch also focused his attention on the hotel, thus confirming her suspicions about the source of the sound. While the man working the pump seemed to pick up his pace, whatever they heard had not been sufficient to cause them to abandon their efforts to acquire the fuel.

  Muffled by the brick and mortar walls of the quaint little store, a dull groan came from behind the building, garnering the undivided attention of the two figures holed up inside. The larger figure cursed under his breath when he saw the lookout react to the sound. “Shit, one of them is looking in our direction,” he muttered.

  Not wasting a second, the woman spoke before slipping out the rear of the store to assess the threat bearing down upon them. “I told you we should have taken care of them and gotten the hell out of here while the coast was clear.”

  With a resigned sigh, the man hung his head as she signaled for him to keep an eye on the front of the store before disappearing out the back of the building.

  * * *

  Having evaded the pursuing revs by luring them into a creek bed bordered on each side by a steep bank, Kate slogged along with tear-stained eyes. Discouraged and disheartened, she was so sick of the damned plague and all of the death and destruction it left in its wake. While she knew it was not really the fault of those who contracted the deadly pathogen, she could not help but feel contempt for them and their horrific actions. Her thoughts drifted to Sean and Aaron, to all of her family and friends, and to Ethan. Why did so many good people have to die? For what?

  Still at least fifty yards away from the gas station, she heard the sound of footsteps somewhere behind her. Panic coursed through her veins as she turned. The darkness surrounding her seemed thicker and blacker, pressing in on her from all sides. As though a veil had been thrown over the moon, all light seemed to vanish from the night sky and she was unable to see the approaching danger. She tried to breathe but found that anxiety’s firm grasp had complete control of her lungs. Footsteps growing louder, Kate’s vision narrowed as the crushing grip of hypoxia threatened to choke the life out of her optic nerves.

  Accepting this as the end, Kate sagged to her knees. Although she was unsure of what was happening to her, or who or what was about to be upon her, she once again felt a certain peace in knowing it was all about to be over. She did not bother to close her eyes for she could see nothing anyway. Deep down, she wished the encroaching darkness would merely take her away before the monsters stalking her got the chance to have their way. Anticipating the quietus, she heard a wholly incongruous and unexpected sound coming from directly in front of her. A voice, at once familiar yet impossibly alien, shattered the darkness of the night sky. Kate’s vision slowly returned, as though the words were laced with light. What she saw made her eyes go wide with disbelief.

  13

  October 23, 2015

  Dallas County, AL

  “Ethan?” Kate questioned with doubt flooding her reeling mind.

  “Kate, are you okay? We need to get moving,” the spectral form replied, his dark outline contrasting against the faint illumination of the night sky beyond.

  “…but…the infected…they…” Kate stammered, clearly unable to articulate the emotional roller coaster inside her.

  “We can talk about it later, but now we need to move before more show up,” Ethan added as he extended his hand to the cowering woman.

  Together, they raced across the open field despite the untended, waist-high grass that obscured their footfalls. While the limited visibility made him worry about the possibility of a mangled rev lying in wait in the steppe like a lion stalking its prey across the Saharan grasslands, Ethan worried more about the likelihood that every able-bodied rev in a mile radius was now moving in their direction. That thought spurred him on, forcing him to move faster.

  Emerging from the tall grass, he spotted the vague outline of the gas station about thirty yards ahead. The mammoth black H2 stood out sharply against the lighter backdrop of the concrete parking lot. As they inched forward, Ethan suddenly froze in his tracks, holding a hand in the air to signal Kate to do the same. A linear streak of light flashed momentarily near the pumps as moonlight reflected off brilliantly polished steel. Thinking of the weapons and equipment his two companions carried, Ethan could not imagine what could have caused the bright flicker of light.

  “What is it?” Kate whispered.

  Without taking his eyes off the scene ahead of him, Ethan replied, “Light—a reflection I think, but from what I’m not sure. Something seems off.”

  Through the mirky blackness, he thought he could see the faint outlines of John and Reams crouching next to something on the ground. Maybe they’re having trouble siphoning the fuel. Then, as though an apparition were weaving in and out of the ether world, Ethan caught sight of a dark, ominous figure towering over the two kneeling men. Suddenly realizing what was happening, he fought his gut reaction to stand and shout a warning to the endangered men. Deep down he knew it was too late for that, and such an action would only serve to sign the two men’s death certificates. If they were going to help them, Ethan knew they were going to have to use stealth and force to regain the upper hand.

  “John and Reams are in trouble,” Ethan said. “Looks like someone got the drop on them. I can see them on their knees with at least one person standing behind them. If we are going to have a shot at helping them, we need to act now.”

  Ethan witnessed a frightening transformation as he informed Kate of the situation. He no longer saw the cowed, helpless woman he found in the field moments ago. Instead, the face he saw appeared hardened, adorned with an uncompromising cast of savage determination. Her menacin
g eyes stared straight through him to the spot where John and Reams were being held captive, causing a shiver to ripple down Ethan’s spine. Thank God I’m not on the receiving end of that stare!

  Sensing the need to intervene before Kate’s unexpected wrath led to her to do something rash, Ethan said, “Hold on! So far I’ve seen only one person but there must be others. No one goes anywhere alone and survives for long these days. We should observe the situation for a minute to see what we can learn about them before we go charging in.”

  As if in response to his words, a smaller figure moved into view next to the first person. Despite being fairly close, he could make out relatively few details about the captors in the low light. Dressed in black from head to toe, the two individuals blended seamlessly with the darkness making them all but invisible except when they moved. One of the captors was taller by at least a foot and possessed the solid disposition of an oak tree—moving only rarely, and always deliberately. On the contrary, the shorter and wirier of the two seemed to be in perpetual motion, giving the impression of a cunning fox.

  A low moan came from somewhere behind the mysterious attackers. Ethan watched the smaller figure break away, twirling as a pair of vicious brush tools appeared out of nowhere to decapitate the approaching rev with a single, decisive slash. He heard a faint whistle as the steel whirled through the air at lightning speed, followed by a wet thwack and a soft thud like a sack of potatoes being tossed onto the pavement. A second later the figure reappeared behind John, the honed edge of one of the brush tools pressed firmly against his neck.

  Kate inched up alongside Ethan, taking in the scene for the first time. Ethan could just make out the hushed words of the larger man warning the smaller person to take it easy. “There are two of them!” Kate said in an excited tone that she struggled to hold to a low volume. If Kate was honest with herself, she thought it looked like her two companions were about to be executed at any second.