But she didn’t want to die, either. The zombie would chew her face off in moments if she didn’t stop it, but she could only stop it if she got her gun free from Isaiah’s grip, and it seemed the only way to do that would be to kill him.
The zombie shrieked a victory cry as it neared Abby, coming within arm’s reach. She stared into its dull, lifeless eyes, her heart pounding in her chest like a snare drum. She looked back up at Isaiah, saw him smiling down at her, still gripping her hands in his.
With a loud yell, Abby released her left hand from around her gun and actually ripped it free from her glove and Isaiah’s grasp. Throwing her hand to the side, she caught the handle of her tomahawk, yanked it free from the zombie, and smashed the blunt end into the side of Isaiah’s head.
His hands went limp as Isaiah fell to Abby’s side. Her own hands freed now, she turned the gun on the zombie and fired into its face at point blank range three times.
With both threats neutralized, Abby got up just as Isaiah seemed to be trying to get up himself, but a swift kick to the head put him back down.
Abby stood alone in the darkness, illuminated only by the light from her rifle, still laying on the floor. Her shoulders heaved and shuddered as she fought to control her breathing, realizing for the first time that the factory was silent. No screams, no gunfire.
Chapter Fourteen
Before she did anything else, Abby dragged Isaiah’s limp body over to the nearest steel beam and bound his hands around it with flex-cuffs from her tactical belt. She then retrieved her left-handed glove and her rifle and swept the flashlight around her, looking for a way out.
A loud sound echoed in the dark expanse, the sound of a door opening. Abby dropped to one knee and raised her rifle.
“Nate! Abby!” cried Hiamovi.
“Hiamovi! I’m here!” yelled Abby. She stood and pointed her rifle up to the ceiling, hoping to make her light seen.
“We’re coming, Abby! Are you hurt?”
“No! I mean, yeah. But it’s not bad. I’ve got Isaiah.”
Moments later, Chris, Chad, Yuri, Mike, Max, Jax, and Hiamovi all stood in front of Abby.
“Is he dead?” Chad asked, gesturing towards Isaiah. He was moving a little now, but not much.
“No,” Abby replied.
“Good,” said Chad. He set his rifle down and unsheathed a large knife hanging from his side. “Fucker’s gonna get his.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Abby said, stepping between Chad and Isaiah.
“Get out of my way, Abs.”
“I handled him, it’s over. I won’t let you kill him.”
“Why do you care?” Chad shouted.
“Because it’s wrong! Doesn’t matter what he did, you can’t just kill him when he’s our prisoner!” Abby looked to Jax, hoping he would use his authority to stop Chad, but the discomfort on his face as he stared at the wall told Abby exactly where he stood.
“The hell I can’t! Now move!”
“Hey dude, you need to calm down,” said Hiamovi, stepping up beside Chad.
“Fuck you too, ‘Movi. I’m doin’ this!”
“No, you’re not! It’s wrong!” said Abby.
“I could give a shit! Ain’t no one out here but us, so fuck your ‘right and wrong’ bullshit!”
Chad shoved Abby aside and took a step towards Isaiah.
“I said no!” Abby screamed. She turned back towards Chad and threw a hard punch at his head. He didn’t see it coming in the dark and Abby’s gloved fist knocked him to the ground.
“That right there,” Abby said, turning to address the rest of the group, “that attitude of ‘no one else is out here’ stops now! That’s the same bullcrap that sparked every massacre and atrocity I’ve seen out here! That’s the attitude Isaiah had! It’s the attitude Adam and Henry had! You don’t get to do whatever the hell you want just because nobody is around to punish you! We’re better than that! You’re better than that!”
“We’re out here to scout the terrain and provide help, not kill prisoners! We’re supposed to be civilizing the Wild, not joining it! Maybe Isaiah deserves to die for what he’s done, but it won’t be done by us, not here and certainly not when he’s no longer an active threat. The main element will pick him up, and he’ll be tried for what he’s done. That’s what’s going to happen here, and if you don’t like that you can take it up with me!”
Chad had regained his feet and stood with the rest of the group by now. Abby saw the resentment in his eyes, but he was no longer clutching his knife, at least. She waited for a response from him or the others, but none came.
Finally, Hiamovi stepped forward to break the silence. “Guys, we still need to find Nate.”
“He’s not with you?” Abby asked, softening her tone.
“Everyone eventually made it outside, except for you and Nate. Found you, but Nate didn’t respond.”
“He’s right. Let’s cut the shit and find Nate,” Jax said.
They left Isaiah where he lay, confident that he’d be going nowhere anytime soon, and went deeper into the factory. They called out for Nate as they walked but received no response. A hopeless dread began to creep into their hearts.
After a few minutes of searching up and down long aisles and hallways, and several scares as they happened upon the lifeless bodies of zombies, they saw a faint glow of light from around a corner. They approached the light source and confirmed their worst fears.
Nate sat on the floor, leaning against the wall with his chin resting on his chest as a crimson pool grew in his lap. Blood dripped from the single gunshot wound to his head. His rifle rested on the floor next to him, and his sidearm was in his hand.
“Guess he was…bit,” Hiamovi said.
“Yeah,” said Jax.
“Son of a bitch,” said Yuri, drying tears with the back of his hand. “Couldn’t even wait to say goodbye before offing himself?”
Abby shook her head and said, “The goodbyes are the hardest part when you’re bit. Trust me.”
Jax stepped forward and knelt in front of Nate. He closed Nate’s eyes and cut the dog tag from his boot, just as he’d done for Kurtis.
“Always faithful,” Jax said.
“Always forward,” everyone said in unison.
Jax pressed the dog tag to his lips then slid it into his shoulder pocket.
“Let’s get him outside,” he said. “Hiamovi, help me carry him.”
***
Abby sat with her back against the outside wall of the factory, holding her balled up shirt in her hands. On a normal day, removing her shirt would elicit some whistles and flirtatious jokes from the guys, but no one even seemed to notice this time. She’d put on a fresh one soon, one not stained with Vic’s blood, but not yet. Right now, all she wanted to do was sit.
Moving aside one strap of her black sports bra, Abby glanced at the elongated burn mark just above her heart, left there by the hot brass ejected from Vic’s rifle. That’s gonna scar, Abby thought as a grimace formed on her face. One more for the ever-growing collection.
Two more, actually. Abby gingerly touched the bottom of her left ear, which was now missing a tiny chunk of cartilage. Isaiah’s knife had fortunately missed her eye as he intended, but it stabbed right through her ear. She sighed and let her hands fall back into her lap.
Isaiah had returned to his senses as they left the building, shouting at them and attempting to call down God’s wrath. When she listened closely, she could still hear some muffled shouts coming from inside the factory, but the ringing in her ears made this hard to decipher.
Todd had managed to get into radio contact with the main element and two helicopters were inbound as fast as they could fly. One was bringing a team of MP’s to officially arrest Isaiah. The other was for Vic, an ‘urgent-surgical’ casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) piloted by Air Force PJ’s, the most elite medics in the US military. Vic was stable, but in danger. Miguel had stopped the bleeding and fed Vic a constant stream of IV drips and even
his own blood, but those were only meant to keep him alive long enough for the chopper to arrive.
Nate’s body would be transported back with Vic, as well. Yuri was taking the loss harder than the others. He and Nate were close and had worked together for years as snipers. He sat cross-legged in some grass with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he cried. Jax sat next to him, putting an arm around the grieving man but saying nothing. He’d been there before, and Yuri would talk when he was ready to talk.
Hiamovi stood under an old flag pole, chain smoking cigarettes as he stared at nothing in particular. He hadn’t smoked in months, but the stress of the last hour apparently dragged him back to an old habit.
Abby pushed herself up, leaving her bloodied shirt on the ground, and walked up to Hiamovi.
“You can’t have one, so don’t ask,” Hiamovi said without looking at her. “You’re better than that.”
“But you’re not?”
“Seems that way,” he said, holding up the smoldering cigarette in his quivering hand.
Abby gently plucked the cigarette from his fingers and dropped it on the asphalt, crushing it under her boot. “You’re better than that, too,” she whispered.
Hiamovi sighed and said, “It’s not like I didn’t know we might lose some guys out here. But...but it feels like it’s getting harder, not easier.”
“I know,” Abby said. “I feel it too.”
Hiamovi turned and looked into Abby’s eyes. He ran his hand through her hair and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Abby replied, smiling. She stood up on her toes and kissed him, their first kiss since entering the Wild weeks ago.
“Ahem,” said Chad, prompting the pair to break off the romantic reunion far sooner than they would have liked. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but…may I speak with you, Abby?”
“Of course,” said Abby. She kissed Hiamovi one more time before walking away with Chad.
“I’m sure you know what this is about, so I’ll cut to the chase,” he said as they walked away from the others. “I’d like to apologize for my behavior back there. I was angry and wasn’t thinking clearly, and I nearly made a terrible mistake. I shouldn’t have yelled at you or shoved you. So…I’m sorry.”
Abby waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s hardly the worst thing someone’s done to me.”
“Still, it wasn’t right. Just like you said. I hope you can forgive me someday soon.”
“You were forgiven before you asked. No hard feelings. I hope I didn’t hurt you when I hit you back?”
“Nothin’ I didn’t deserve,” Chad admitted with a chuckle. “Just a bruise, that’s all.”
“It’s not like you’re the first girl to physically assault Chad when he deserved it,” said Miguel as he approached the two of them.
“What’s up, Doc?” Chad said with a small grin, mimicking a famous cartoon rabbit.
“Just checking on her,” Miguel replied, pointing at Abby. “You alright? Jax said you got your ear cut off.”
“Oh, just a little piece,” Abby said, turning her head towards Miguel and pointing to her ear. “I’m fine, but no more earrings for me.”
“And that burn mark there? Any pain?”
“A little, yeah.”
“Sit.”
Miguel unslung his medical pack and opened it, first retrieving a small cloth and a bottle of water. He wet the cloth and handed it to Abby, telling her to gently press it against the burn for a minute while he prepared the rest of his things.
“Is Vic still good?” Abby asked.
“Yeah, as good as he can be after losing that much blood. PJ’s should be here any minute now and they’ll take care of him,” said Miguel. He gestured for Abby to move the cloth, then rubbed an aloe gel onto the burned skin. After that, he opened a plastic package that contained a burn dressing. He pressed this onto the burn and taped it.
“We’ll have to change that daily for the next couple of days,” he said as he put away his stuff.
“Got it,” Abby replied.
“And Vic wants to see you, by the way.”
“Okay.”
Abby stood up and strolled towards Vic, who was lying on Miguel’s collapsible stretcher on the ground with his eyes closed.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
Vic opened his eyes and turned towards Abby, a small smile forming on his pale face. “Damn. What’s cookin’, good lookin’?”
Abby smirked and put her hands on her hips. “Vic, I swear to God if that’s the only reason you asked me to come over here…”
“No, no. I tease,” he replied. He talked slowly, trying to conserve his strength. “Thank you for everything you did. That took guts.”
“I just did what I had to.”
“No, you didn’t. That was above and beyond. And hey, if I don’t make it, you did everything you could to save me, you and Doc. Don’t take it too hard, and definitely don’t let Doc blame himself.”
Abby grabbed Vic’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I promise. But don’t worry about that, we’ll see you again soon enough.”
Vic smiled but didn’t respond. Abby checked the pulse in his wrist while she held his hand; it was weak. She looked up into the cloudless sky, searching for black helicopters. That’s when they heard the thrumming of rotary-wing aircraft engines grow steadily louder.
They’d already marked out a landing zone using a bright orange tarp weighted down in the middle of the nearest open area, but Jax also pulled the pin on a pop can-shaped smoke grenade and threw it out towards the tarp. The smoke hissed out of the cylinder slowly at first, but as the wind caught it and whipped it around it soon billowed into a large cloud.
A voice crackled over Todd’s radio. “Raider 1, this is Padre. I see green smoke. That you, boys?”
“A-firm,” Todd replied.
“Alright, comin’ down.”
The CASEVAC chopper touched down first while the second bird flew in a figure-8 pattern over the factory. Jax and Hiamovi carried Vic on a stretcher up to the helicopter as the PJ’s hopped out to assist. Miguel ran alongside the stretcher, yelling to the PJ’s to tell them Vic’s latest vital signs and what he’d been doing for him.
Yuri alone carried Nate’s body in his arms. The PJ’s looked on with silent reverence as Yuri gently laid the body onto the floor of the helicopter. Before the PJ’s secured it for flight, Yuri looked into Nate’s face one last time and placed a trembling hand on his arm. His mouth moved as he said something, but the noise of the helicopters drowned it out. He then turned and gave the chopper room to take off.
“Alright dudes,” came the voice over Todd’s radio as the helicopter lifted back into the sky, “we’re outta here. Let me know when you’ve got the asshole loaded up.”
“Righty-oh, daddy-oh,” came the reply from the pilot of the other helicopter, which now broke from its figure-8 pattern to land.
There was less urgency surrounding this touchdown, as the life of a good man didn’t hang in the balance. The helicopter actually powered down and the pilots hopped out to unload boxes of MRE’s, water, and ammo while the MP’s marched into the factory, led by Jax, to retrieve the prisoner. They reappeared a few minutes later with Isaiah, now in real handcuffs and a black sack over his head, obscuring his vision.
No one said a word as the procession moved past them, heading towards the helicopter. Most of the guys refused to look at the maniac responsible for so many deaths, but the others watched him through eyes ablaze with anger.
Abby watched as well, but there was no anger in her eyes. Well, she was angry. But she didn’t let it show. Instead, she looked at Isaiah with pure indifference, as one might watch an ant scuttle by.
Chad, however, could not resist a parting shot at Isaiah. “See you at the gallows, pal. A short drop and a sudden stop.”
Isaiah stopped suddenly when he heard this, but he did not turn towards Chad. He whipped his head aroun
d to face Abby instead.
“You too shall face a drop, demon that calls itself Abigail. From a far greater height than a gallows,” Isaiah said. The MP’s shoved him along, pushing him towards the helicopter as the pilots returned to their seats.
Abby shook her head at Isaiah’s nonsense, watching as he was seated in the helicopter and then strapped in to further immobilize him. The enormous blades of the helicopter slowly began to turn as the engine whined, and within a minute its wheels were off the ground as it took to the air.
***
The group moved on from the factory, but they didn’t get far before night fell and they took up shelter in a house. The talking had been kept to a minimum all day, and the only words spoken at the house for the first several minutes came from Todd as he called in to the main element over the radio, confirming that they’d survived another day.
Abby sat in the corner of one room, holding her copy of Ivanhoe in her lap and staring at the old book. Jax had returned it to her after retrieving the extra food and ammo from Nate’s stuff. His bookmark still poked out from the pages, about two-thirds of the way through the book.
“He never finished it,” Abby said to Hiamovi, who sat down next to her.
“Guess not,” he replied.
She sighed, then tossed the book across the room. It struck the far wall and fell to the floor, landing on its open pages.
Hiamovi glanced at Abby, then stood up and walked towards the book. He picked it up, smoothed out the bent pages, and handed it back to Abby, who took it without looking up at him.
He sat back down without a word, but he did give Abby a look. She met his eyes and understood the meaning. She shouldn’t throw away the book just because it was a memory of Nate, and she knew that. The old Abby had broken in for a moment, seized the book, and flung it away. But she was gone again, already banished back to the shadows.
Abby scooted closer to Hiamovi and laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks,” she whispered.
Hiamovi put his arm around her, still silent while outside the wind moaned.
His Name Was Zach | Book 3 | Their Names Were Many Page 12