Refuge From The Dead | Book 3 | Dead Fall

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Refuge From The Dead | Book 3 | Dead Fall Page 27

by Masters, A. L.


  He put the back of his arm to his eyes and turned away from whatever horrors they had contained.

  “Let’s go. I can’t stay here anymore,” Nick said, leaving the room.

  “I agree. I want to get rid of all this though. We can’t leave this here.”

  Nick only nodded and went to the janitor’s supply closet back in the laundry area. He returned with some heavy-duty trash bags, some institutional, heavy-weight shower curtains, and bleach.

  “Bag up the pictures, videos, magazines, and cameras in one bag. Put the…body parts… in another. I’ll get the girls wrapped up. We’ll bury the girls and the guards we took out earlier. These assholes, we’ll burn.”

  They worked hard and fast.

  Cam closed off his mind to all the little, and not so little, atrocities that Lonnie had stockpiled down here. It was worse than the worst crime scene ever discovered. It was more atrocious than the aftermath of any battle he had ever fought.

  No firefight could match it.

  “I think they had something to do with the missing kids,” Nick whispered, and Cam’s blood went cold.

  He had heard rumors, but now they had the truth. These people had indeed deserved everything that Cam and his teams had dealt out to them. They deserved worse.

  Cam wished he could rewind time and re-kill every single son of a bitch that every had any part of Lonnie’s activities.

  “Come on, let’s leave. We’re finished. We can get some guards to drag these bodies upstairs,” Nick said, hefting one trash bag.

  Cam saw him shaking and knew exactly how he felt.

  Cam lifted the other bag and led the way out of the basement from hell.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Planning for Thanksgiving

  Ed

  “Ed! Get in here you old fart! We’re waiting supper on you, you know!” Jean yelled out the cabin’s back door.

  He scowled.

  Sometimes he wished they had just dropped her off somewhere after they left the store. Like in another state somewhere where she would likely find her way back.

  He didn’t know how Virgil had put up with her all these years. No wonder he had heart problems. The damned woman was a nag and a harpy!

  Ed knocked the mud and manure from his boots. He had been out tending to the animals, something that he found he enjoyed very much. It had been a long time since he had responsibility for livestock, and he had missed it.

  Back in the late fifties and early sixties, his father had taught him all about farming and chores. One of his first chores ever was to gather the eggs and clean the chicken coops. Then, he had graduated to feeding and milking the cows. When he turned fourteen, his pa had paid him a dollar a week for the work.

  At the time, it seemed like a good chunk of change, and it was. Kids today would laugh at that, but it was enough to take a girl to the movies and go out for sodas afterward, with a little left over.

  He stepped into the warm kitchen and sniffed appreciatively. It was filled with the smell of simmering soup and fresh bread. The smell of bread always reminded him of his mother. She would spend every Tuesday baking their bread for the week. It was the best bread…

  “Ed! Come on already. Are you getting senile?” Jean shouted from the dining area.

  Ed washed up in the sink and hurried to the table. He guessed he wasn’t changing his clothes.

  He sat down at the only empty space and looked around. Everyone was here, chatting and laughing. It did kind of feel like the holiday season a little. It would be even better when Cam and the others came back.

  “All right, dig in everyone,” Cara said as she passed around the bread Jessica had made.

  Cara and Jean had made the soup.

  For some reason, Jean had taken Cara under her wing. They spent a lot of time together, mostly with Jean teaching Cara new things, but sometimes Cara taught Jean a thing or two.

  Mostly lessons on not judging a book by its cover.

  “So, Jack says he’s making a run into town tomorrow. I’ve decided to go along,” Ed said around a mouthful of bread.

  Jack looked up suddenly, unaware of Ed’s volunteer status. “Uh, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” he said. “Cam wanted you to stay here and rest…recuperate.”

  “Yeah. Ed. I don’t want to you to go out there,” Jess said.

  Natasha and Sasha were sitting next to Bradley, watching the conversation.

  “I think he should go. It will give Jack a little backup, and it shouldn’t be as dangerous as what the others are doing,” Brad said.

  “See!” Ed said. “We’re just going to a town close by, right? I can even stay in the vehicle. I’ve done plenty of missions before this and I plan on doing more after.”

  “I guess,” Jack said skeptically.

  “Good. When do we leave out?” Ed asked.

  “Same as always,” Jack said, looking apologetically at Jess.

  “I know you don’t want me to go, Jess, but I’ll be fine. I don’t believe my time has come just yet,” he said and winked. She smiled slightly, then ate another piece of bread.

  “I’m going too then,” Jean said.

  “Hell no!” Ed and Jack shouted in unison.

  “Oh yes I am. I have to get some things. Alone,” Jean insisted firmly.

  “Absolutely not,” Jack said, putting his foot down. “You tell me what you need, and I’ll get it for you.”

  “No. It’s my private business and I’ll go whether you take me with you or not,” she said, staring at them both. “Now, I think I may have a slightly better chance of survival If I go with you two…but if you want me to die out there…” She trailed off and Ed rolled his eyes.

  “Sounds good. You can take the car. Better leave out early so you have enough daylight,” Ed said cheerfully.

  “Ed!” Jess said in rebuke.

  “Oh, come on now, I’m just kidding. Of course the old bat can come with us. What would we do without her?” Ed said.

  “Probably have a perfect mission,” he mumbled under his breath.

  “What was that?” Jean asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “I know why you’re always so mean to me, Ed. I know all about it,” she said knowingly.

  “You don’t know where your head is half the time,” he protested.

  “You’re just a bully because you like me,” she said smugly.

  “I do not! The very idea!” Ed said, appalled at the notion.

  Natasha, Bradley, Sasha, and the others laughed until Ed turned to them. “I can’t believe you let this crazy person live here!” he said, then left the room, taking his bowl to the kitchen.

  He heard them chuckling for a while longer, while he remained in the kitchen. He poured himself a drink and sipped on it as he considered what he would need to take tomorrow.

  Weapons, ammo, winter gear, headlamp, hatchet… He would have to ask Jack what else. He was taking last watch tonight, so he would already be up in the morning before they left. That meant he would need to get to bed soon and get a good night’s sleep.

  He tossed back the rest of his drink and left to go upstairs.

  Jean was insane, there was no other explanation!

  ◆◆◆

  Ed woke at four the next morning. He was groggy from tossing and turning during the night.

  He was having strange dreams of his late wife, Brenda, again. He remembered vague details, but they were fading fast from his memory as well. They were sitting on his old front porch back home. Brenda was talking to him about something serious. He remembered being completely happy in the dream. Completely content.

  He looked at his wristwatch and groaned. He needed to get his coffee and get out in the cold for his watch. He sat up and tossed back the covers, wincing as his joints protested.

  It was chilly in the room, and he shivered a bit while he dressed. They had the fireplaces, but they only used the ones upstairs on really cold nights, and so far, they hadn’t had any.

  He pulle
d his heavy coat from the hook over the door and went downstairs in the dark. The cabin was silent, but there was a very faint glow coming from the door of the kitchen. Only the top half of the Dutch door was open.

  He smelled coffee percolating on the stove and wondered who had gotten out of bed so early.

  “Well, old man. Get yourself in here for a cup. We don’t have any of that fancy shmancy cream you take, just sugar and powdered creamer,” Jean said is a subdued tone.

  Apparently, the early morning hour had toned her down a notch.

  If only she could be toned down several notches throughout the day…

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Ed said.

  “If I minded, I wouldn’t have offered,” she retorted before pushing his cup toward him and plunking down the powdered creamer.

  “It’s just a saying,” Ed grumbled.

  “Some sayings are better left unsaid, my momma always said.”

  “Take after her, do you?” he asked.

  She glared at him and sipped her coffee.

  She was wearing a housedress like the ones his Brenda used to wear back in the old days, the waffled kind with the zipper down the front and the pastel patterns.

  Young ladies these days wouldn’t be caught dead in the things, he theorized. Too old fashioned.

  “Good morning, Ed,” Jessica said, stepping through the doorway and going to make herself a cup of hot tea. She was wearing a housedress similar to Jean’s.

  Well, there goes that theory.

  “Morning, Jess. Why are you up so early? You need your rest,” Ed said.

  “Oh, I couldn’t sleep. Between the bathroom trips and the hunger, I just couldn’t stay asleep. I’ll have breakfast ready around six.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it. Well, I guess I’ll be back around then. Got to take over for Mac. Let him get a couple more hours of sleep,” Ed said, standing and stretching.

  He stepped out into the frosty morning. It was still dark, and the grass crunched under his feet. He breathed in and felt the cold burn his nose. It made his eyes water, but the fresh air was invigorating.

  He found Mac returning from his final patrol of the perimeter and relieved him of the job.

  He went to check on the livestock first, before going on his own patrol. The chickens were still roosting and would be for a while longer.

  One of the girls would come out later and break the ice on their water and feed them. Same with the cows and goats.

  Ed was thinking that one of the cows and a couple of the goats were pregnant and he needed to mention it to Brad. If he was going to be acting as their doctor, then he needed to start studying up to be a veterinarian too.

  He spent the next two hours wandering randomly around the cabin property. He made sure that he varied his route. Cam said it was best to always change up the routine so that you weren’t predictable. It made it harder for an enemy to attack. It was good advice.

  They had heard something like it back before he was sent to Vietnam. Charlie always got the predictable ones in the end.

  ◆◆◆

  The sun was glistening on the frost of the front yard when they stepped out of the cabin to get along on their way. They would be taking one Humvee and the pickup truck.

  Ed volunteered to drive the truck…alone. Jack was taking the Humvee, and Jean was going to act as a gunner.

  Jean on the fifty-cal…never thought I’d see the day. Hope Jack knows what he’s doing.

  They started up the vehicles. They took longer to start in the cold, but finally they did. He tossed a wave to the people waving from the porch and turned around carefully.

  One thing he liked was, every time someone left, they were given a sendoff by everyone. It made him feel special, like a real part of a family.

  Shoot. They were family.

  He followed Jack down the rutted track of frozen dirt, toward the back road that would eventually lead to the highway. He saw a few deer, which was nice. He hoped they thrived here, but not so much they drew in the dead.

  Out of curiosity, he switched on the radio and ran the autotune through the stations, starting with FM and then AM.

  He wasn’t expecting to hear anything…which is why he was absolutely stunned when he did. A voice!

  Sonofabitch!

  He flashed his headlights madly and put the truck in park, then turned up the volume.

  “…anyone there, we are…out at the…decommissioned…. we have a…. ter and other…”

  Ed listened carefully, making out few words here and there. He shushed Jack as the message repeated itself. The reception was so bad that he didn’t get any more information.

  They stared at the radio expectantly, but the message had ended. The radio went silent. Ed noted the time. Maybe they would broadcast again tomorrow.

  “What do you make of that?” Jack asked him.

  “I don’t know. Did it sound like a recording to you? All that static…I couldn’t make it out,” Ed said.

  “Yeah. I don’t know if it was a recording or not, but I know one thing. There are more survivors out there. Maybe some good ones,” Jack said hopefully.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Ed said, but he wasn’t too sure. “Let’s listen again tomorrow morning and see if we can catch more. They have to be fairly close by, right? I mean, it was an AM band.”

  “Ehhh…I don’t know. AM waves travel pretty far at night. It’s early in the day now though, so I’d say they are fairly close. Two hundred miles or less would be my guess,” Jack said.

  Ed whistled. “Imagine that. Another group that close this whole time.”

  “We don’t know that they have been around the whole time. They may have just moved or be a traveling type group. Cam will know what to do when he gets back.”

  They started again, this time reaching the highway with no more radio messages. Ed left the radio on, just in case.

  The rest of the drive went by quickly. They decided to go back to town instead of the small community at the crossroads where the sporting goods store was. Ed wasn’t excited to see town again, that was for sure. He was happy to be useful though.

  He owed Cam and the group a lot, and maybe this was a way to start making up for it.

  He watched the horizon as they neared the outskirts.

  There was the bank…the gas station…the appliance store. He saw tall, dead weeds reaching high along the sides of the road and in the cracks of the sidewalk. Potholes were developing in the road. Windows were darkened with dirt and dust. It gave him a strange feeling, seeing this place again. It was like a different world.

  It was a different world.

  It was weird to think that a little over six months ago, this place was busy with people. People with no worries about being eaten by the dead or kidnapped and enslaved by a rogue warden. It was sad. Depressing.

  The season is just getting to me. All the clouds and gloomy days. No greenery, no flowers…

  They pulled into a small hardware store off the court square. A few dead lingered listlessly around the closed and shuttered businesses nearby. They didn’t seem very excited to see them, Ed thought.

  He got out and met Jack and Jean, who were also puzzled by the lack of response from the dead down the street.

  “What do you make of that?” Ed asked, gesturing to them.

  “Don’t know,” Jack said.

  “They’re probably just cold. Give ‘em a chance to warm up and smell us. That’ll get them moving right along,” Jean said.

  For once Ed had to agree. The cold could have slowed them down a bit. Maybe it would kill them. Then again, maybe it would help preserve them longer…he didn’t know.

  “Ed, you and Jean pull security. I’m going in to get the generator. I’ll find a furniture dolly to bring it out to the truck,” Jack said.

  “Jean, why don’t you watch the right and I’ll take the left. That way we can keep a good eye out and still not have to look at each other,” Ed joked.

  “Sounds good to me. Earplugs
would be good too, then I wouldn’t have to listen to your stupid jokes,” Jean retorted.

  They watched as Jack went in cautiously.

  He was gone for quite a while before the dead started creeping up on them. Ed knew they’d have to take them out soon, but he was hoping Jack would come out and give him a hand. He didn’t want to use the rifle and draw even more attention.

  He wasn’t sure that Jean was up for a hand-to-hand battle with a corpse.

  “You going to do something about that?” she said, nodding her head to Ed’s approaching danger.

  “In a minute,” Ed said.

  He scanned the area, still debating on whether to use the rifle or the machete. Machete would be better, he finally decided. Just as he pulled back his arm to swing, he heard a loud report nearby.

  The decomposing mass of flesh, barely recognizable as human, fell forcefully to the pavement. The bullet had done some real damage to the thing’s head.

  “Jean! Damn it! We’re trying to be quiet here!” he shouted.

  “Then stop shouting! Besides, I had no choice! There’s a whole other group coming this way. You had best start shooting!” she urged.

  Ed turned and looked where she had pointed, and his stomach dropped. It wasn’t a big group, but still…it was a group. Maybe fifteen or twenty. More than he wanted to take on without Cam or Jim for backup.

  “Jean, go get Jack. I’ll get on the fifty,” he yelled.

  She took off running as fast as she could— which was considerably fast for a woman of her age. Ed mounted up in the turret of the Humvee and charged the weapon as he had been taught. He fired methodically, not wanting to waste too many rounds.

  Jack and Jean came back out as he was taking down the first half. Jack watched Ed nervously but let him continue and finish the job.

  As the last Z fell, Ed released the weapon.

  “Wheeeeww! I ain’t done that in a long time!” he yelled, grinning.

  Jack smiled at him ruefully, but Ed could tell he was a little irritated.

  “Ed, you guys know this was supposed to be a quiet mission. Get in, get the stuff, and go. Now we’ll have every damned thing, alive and dead, coming after us. We need to get that genny and get going. Now!”

 

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