Refuge From The Dead | Book 3 | Dead Fall

by Masters, A. L.

  The first part of Cam’s plan was accomplished. Now he was waiting to hear from the inside how things were going. They provided the catalyst, now it was up to them in there to do their part.

  He scanned the area for Angie.

  He spotted her form a short distance away in the woods. She was leaning against a tree, wiping her mouth. He knew it was hard. He was glad she was keeping it together. One meltdown could affect them all.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, going over to her and putting a hand to the back of her neck.

  She nodded but looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He slung his rifle and pulled her in close. She clutched the front of his OCP top, and he rubbed her head.

  “Listen carefully. I want you to take a deep breath. Now, let it out slowly.” She complied. “Again, five more times,” he said.

  “You can cry later, all right. After we get home to the cabin, you can cry all you want. Hell, I’ll probably cry right alongside you, but not now. Don’t do it now.”

  She finished her breaths and looked a little calmer, more in control. Good. He needed her to be strong now. He needed to be sure that he could count on her to fulfill her part of the job.

  “Okay, when the Humvees are in place, you’ll take your position just like we talked about. All right?” he asked.

  “Roger that, sir,” she said, with a small, wan smile on her face.

  “Good girl,” he whispered.

  He watched her return to help Trap with the weapon and ammo. It was a heavy load for an old man, but he seemed to be managing it. They were almost into position.

  Now, they just needed to hear from Cam.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Surprise

  Cam

  Cam was making his way to each posting.

  The guards and civilian fighters had done an admirable job. They had rounded everyone up and moved them to the cafeteria. It was the most secure place that they could use as a holding area for a large amount of people. He went to the upper corridor last.

  He didn’t know what he would find behind the women’s doors, but he was prepared for anything, including an attack.

  What he didn’t expect to find was a man chained to a bed that was bolted to the wall. A man that was extremely familiar.

  “John?” Cam said, entering the room after giving it a visual sweep.

  “Don’t worry, it’s clear,” John said.

  Cam gave the room a visual sweep anyway. It had been decked out with expensive furnishings. Curtains lined the walls and layers of rugs padded the hard floor. It was like a different world.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked John, walking further into the room.

  “Well, that’s a long story. The short version is this: I was tricked.”

  Cam shook his head and went over to study the lock and chain. He would need to send someone to find some bolt cutters.

  “Wait here, I’ll send someone to free you,” Cam said distractedly.

  “Wait! Don’t trust the women. Not one of them. They found out about your plan, and they don’t like it. They are looking for trouble,” John warned.

  “I’ve got it handled.”

  Cam left the room, leaving the door open. He gestured for a couple nearby guards to come closer. The other was still clearing rooms.

  “Grab a pair of bolt cutters and free John from—” He looked back to the door. “…Callie’s room. Take him and everyone else to the cafeteria with the others. Watch for weapons!” he told them.

  “Weapons?”

  “Yeah, this group of women apparently aren’t very happy about the change-over. John said they are looking to cause some damage in retaliation. Don’t let that damage be you.”

  Cam left them to their jobs and went downstairs. He needed to contact the teams outside and give them a sitrep. They were probably anxious to know what was happening.

  He bypassed the cafeteria door and went to the front entrance. He pulled the radio from his cargo pocket and keyed the mic.

  “Mojo One, this is Barbarian. How do you read?” Cam transmitted.

  “Barbarian, this is Mojo One. We read you Lima Charlie. Over.”

  “I’m coming out. Hold your fire. Meet me at the gate. The rest need to hold their positions. Out.”

  Cam watched as Jim walked forward to the gate. He opened the front door then and raised a hand in greeting. He saw the smiles on the faces of his team members.

  Jim greeted him at the gate with a slap on the back, though his expression changed when he saw the blood on Cam’s shoulder.

  “What the hell, man. You’re bleeding!” he said, alarmed.

  “Just a flesh wound,” Cam explained.

  Jim stepped around to Cam’s side and examined the wound. It wasn’t horrible, but it needed to be disinfected and covered with a bandage.

  “How did this happen?” Jim asked, reaching behind him for his IFAK.

  Cam watched as he pulled a small applicator of iodine out and coated the wound. He then applied a bandage. Jim noticed his frown.

  “What, did you want me to apply the tourniquet?” he joked.

  “Yeah, over your mouth,” Cam returned.

  Jim continued to secure the bandage and then checked over the other wound on Cam’s side. It was just a graze and he disinfected it but didn’t bother with a bandage.

  “Thanks,” Cam said when he finished.

  “So, what are we down to?” Jim asked.

  “We’ve got a small group of agitators that we know of. They didn’t want Jax and his men to be taken down. The trouble is this group is entirely women. They haven’t been located yet, and we don’t know if they are armed.”

  “So we find them, get this place running smoothly, then go home?” Jim clarified.

  “Yes, though I hope we don’t have to kill them. Maybe we can work something out. For now, I want to take Nick in. I want someone covering my ass who I can trust. You take charge of the area. Watch the perimeter but remember that it is mined.”

  “You got it. Watch your ass. Ang will be pissed if her future husband gets hurt right before the wedding,” he teased.

  Cam smiled and left to go get Nick from the Humvee.

  ◆◆◆

  They proceeded to the cafeteria, each alert for the danger they knew still existed.

  Cam wanted to make sure that everyone was accounted for, then he and Nick would do a thorough search of the prison itself. There was only so many places they could be.

  The cellblocks were in lockdown, so they would be confined to the main prison itself.

  Cam rapped loudly three times on the door and the low murmuring of voices within stopped. The door was unlocked, and he stepped through.

  Hundreds of eyes focused directly on him and Nick, some with confusion and some with smiles of happiness. He was glad Nick had put on his shades. It would keep these people from getting antsy about his eyes.

  As far as the fighting went, most of these people still didn’t know what had taken place while they were sleeping.

  He walked up to the front of the room and looked around through the crowd. He spotted old folks, middle aged and young adults, even some older teens. No children. He didn’t like to think about why.

  “I guess you are all wondering why you are here,” he said loudly to the expectant faces.

  He saw some nods.

  “What I’m about to say may surprise the hell out of you, but I hope you’ll give me a chance to get through it without interruption. Okay?” he asked.

  He received a few “okays” and some more head nods.

  “As of this moment, the prison belongs to you. The warden and his men are dead. You are officially free people again.”

  The crowd looked at him in a stunned silence. This hadn’t been what they were expecting. They stared for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

  “Well, how do you feel about it?” he shouted.

  The crowd stood up and roared its approval. Hundreds of people cheered and clapped. Some were
crying. It was a testament to just how much Jax had been hated— just how much terror he and his men had caused these people.

  He was sure that he didn’t even know half of what they had endured. He didn’t need to. It was obvious.

  Everyone carried on for some time.

  People milled around excitedly, sneaking glances at him and Nick between sentences. Cam was glad they were happy. Glad he was able to save these people from any further injustices committed by Jax. There was still the deal with the missing women though.

  He turned to speak to Nick when he felt someone approaching from behind. He turned quickly and spotted John.

  “John!” Nick said incredulously.

  “Hello Nick, how are you?” John said.

  He looked different these days. Thin and unkempt. No longer the top dog at SuperMart.

  “I’m fine. Where the hell did you go? Back at the store when everything started…where were you?” Nick wanted to know.

  Cam had to admit that he was curious too, but they needed to get a move on. The longer they stood here, the longer the danger existed out there.

  “Let’s see. After James and the boys shut themselves into that semi, I decided that I’d rather be dead than trapped in the back of a truck during the apocalypse. Not when I had stuff all prepped back home. So, while you guys were messing around up front, I left through a door in back and jogged over to a nearby fast-food place. Boy that was harrowing, people were attacking each other, things were attacking people. People were looting the sandwiches— it was just bad all around. I finally found a car that someone had left idling on a side street and took off home. About a month and a half later, these people found me and brought me here. Unwillingly, I might add,” he said, glaring.

  “Well, that clears that up. Now, we’ve got to go. Stay here for the time being,” Cam said, leading Nick away.

  Cam decided to get Beverly and bring her out here to the main part of the cafeteria. She had been back there long enough, and he could assign a guard to take her place. He pushed open the door to the kitchen and stepped through.

  “Stop! Go back!” a voice shouted from within.

  Too late. He glimpsed a couple of women huddled in the corner. Beverly was on her knees. One of the women had a pistol aimed directly at her. The other had Bev’s rifle slung over her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” Bev said to Cam as he stepped further in with his hands raised.

  Nick was directly behind him with his rifle trained on the armed women.

  “Now, just hold on here. There is no reason for anyone to get hurt,” Cam said, attempting to deescalate the situation.

  “Cam…” Beverly said tiredly, she stopped and just shook her head.

  “Fuck that,” the woman with the slung rifle said.

  She raised the rifle and aimed at Beverly, who covered her head with her hands.

  “Tina, no!” the woman with the pistol yelled.

  Cam watched in helpless horror as the woman slowly pulled the trigger. The sound of the click was deafening in the quiet room. There was no round in the chamber.

  Thank God.

  He took that moment of surprise to attempt to snatch the pistol from the woman in front. She sidestepped and turned it onto him.

  “I’m pretty proficient with this,” she said. “You try that again and you will end up keeping Jax company…wherever he is,” she threatened.

  “Okay. All right. I had to try. What would you do in my situation?” he supplied.

  “Probably the same thing,” she said with a wry twist of her lips.

  “Callie, just fucking shoot them and get the keys. Enough fucking around,” Tina complained.

  Tina…he had heard that name before. Lonnie had mentioned it.

  “I’ve heard of you,” Cam said. “Lonnie said something to me the day I got here.”

  She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That man is seriously screwed up in the head. I hope he’s dead.”

  “I haven’t seen him,” Cam said.

  “He’s probably down in maintenance drinking. He has a little room down there. He thinks its secret, but I got in one day. He keeps his disgusting secrets there,” she said mysteriously.

  Cam could tell by the look of loathing and hatred on her face that they weren’t going to like whatever they found down there.

  “Look, just let us go and we won’t hurt anyone. Just unlock the door,” Callie said. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to kill you all, and I will…make no mistake,” she warned seriously.

  Cam thought that she was probably telling the truth. He debated his options. Would it be worth it to try and disarm them? It could get Bev and Nick killed, not to mention himself and anyone that came in from the cafeteria.

  “Okay, I’ll unlock the door.” Nick threw him a secretive glance. He knew exactly what was behind that door, seeing as how he and Trap had gone out and set the things early this morning.

  “Step forward carefully and unlock it. Don’t open it,” Callie ordered.

  Cam did as she said, eyeing Tina nervously.

  She looked like she was batshit crazy and five seconds away from killing them all— for fun. It looked like she was trying to figure out how to get a round chambered. He hoped to God that she didn’t figure it out before he got the door unlocked.

  He slid the key into the padlock, unlocked the door, and stepped back with the keys and lock in hand. He moved back several more steps and made his way back over to Nick.

  Nick was sweating bullets and watching Tina very carefully. Good, he realized who the real threat was in this situation.

  “Okay, now I want you all on the floor, face down and hands out, while we leave. Count to one hundred,” Callie instructed.

  Tina rolled her eyes and pantomimed shooting them each in the face. “Come on, Callie. Let’s go!”

  From the floor, Cam peeked as they opened it and went through, shutting it behind them.

  Cam counted out loud.

  “One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six…Seven...Eight…”

  He never made it to nine. The violent explosion from the mines tore through the silence of the morning hour. Cam could hear the boom clearly from here and he knew there was no chance they made it alive. He wondered if they would reanimate.

  “You weren’t kidding about the bombs, were you,” Bev said and sat up.

  “No,” Cam replied.

  “We never joke about explosives,” Nick added.

  They got up and brushed themselves off. Several guards raced through the door then and look right to Cam for an explanation.

  “It’s okay. We found two of the women. We suspect the others are down in maintenance,” he said.

  “Take Bev to the cafeteria and tell everyone they need to remain there until we come back. A threat still exists. Make sure they know that.”

  “Yes, sir,” the guard replied, leading gesturing Bev to go first.

  “Let’s go find the rest,” he said to Nick.

  ◆◆◆

  One of the guards helpfully supplied Nick with his rifle and ammo, and they jogged down to the basement.

  Down there, the air was thick with the smells of laundry, oil, diesel, and mold. It was cold and damp. A fitting hideout for one such as Lonnie.

  They scanned the area but saw no other rooms off the main corridor. They checked each area, including behind machines that supplied the prison with power and water. He started to get frustrated on the fourth pass when they heard a metallic bang nearby.

  They whirled around and stalked toward the area from where the noise came.

  There was only the electrical room. Inside were panels and consoles, and Cam had no idea what most of it was. He was hesitant to touch anything.

  “What about behind there?” Nick suggested, pointing to a small door set higher up on the wall.

  It looked like a large electrical box and had WARNING: HIGH VOLTAGE stickers covering the front. Cam looked over at Nick, who shrugged and gave him a nod.

  Cam opened
it up and was surprised to see a small room with another door beyond. This was a normal door. An old door.

  The smell of rot and mold permeated the small space and Cam wished he could cover his mouth and nose with something. Anything to take away the horrible stench would do.

  No time though.

  Nick reached out and kicked open the door. The hinges and frame were so old and rotted that the entire door just fell in.

  It worked out well, as he and Cam had a full view of the occupants inside the room. The living ones and the dead ones. It was something that he wished he could unsee.

  Never in his life had he seen anything so depraved, so gruesome. It was so far beyond crazy that the light from crazy would take a million years to reach it.

  Cam forced himself to block out the depraved acts that Lonnie was committing with the bodies in the room.

  He fired two rounds into his head, dropping him instantly and interrupting his pleasure. He shifted his fire to Johnny, who was frozen in a similar position.

  “No!” Johnny shouted and attempted to dive for cover, upsetting his dead companion’s position.

  Cam fired three into Johnny and lowered his rifle. There was nothing else in here that required a bullet.

  “Nick, get in here,” he said, looking back at Nick’s shocked and sick expression.

  He knew just how he felt. He felt dirty for even stepping foot into this room, like his soul was contaminated from being in proximity to such evil. He scanned the bodies on the floor.

  The girls were dead, really dead. They hadn’t turned yet. He supposed that was a good thing.

  Cam wasn’t sure his sanity could have taken it if they had been reanimated while Lonnie and Johnny had perpetrated their crimes.

  “Were they just…I mean…did I really just see what I thought I saw?” Nick asked in shock.

  “Yes.”

  Cam went into the room, stepping gingerly over the corpses dressed in lingerie. They must have been brought down here and killed recently. Perhaps these were the missing women?

  “Oh God, Cam…there are pictures here. Fuck!” Nick said crying out.