After many (MANY) months, I’ve finally gotten around to editing and revising Outbreak. There were a lot of mistakes in it, that really should have never been there (first time author, but I know better). Thank you for your support and kind reviews. I hope you enjoy this updated version.
And now, on to book 2!
After a lot of work, Undead Nation: Revenge is finally available. This novella is the third and final installment of the Undead Nation series in which Alex Kemp has struggled to keep his family safe in the face of the apocalypse.
“After Alex Kemp and the New Hope colony are betrayed by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Hill, Alex and the few remaining survivors begin a feverish hunt to rescue Alex’s young daughter and exact their revenge. But after infiltrating the army, Alex is unable to discover where the man is hiding, until he and the others begin receiving mysterious envelops from an unknown person. Envelops which contain information to the whereabouts of Jonathan Hill and Alex’s daughter. Now they are in a race to rescue the child before they are discovered, and before the hordes of walking dead overrun them.”
Revenge is available at Amazon, or as a free download here. All I ask is an honest review at Amazon.
Thanks for your patience and support. Enjoy the finale!
“Contact on the southwest. Two slow movers heading this way.” The call came down from roof and everyone on standby jumped into action. Alex was on duty as the backup and headed up the ladder for confirmation. Over the last couple of weeks the Beard farm had grow to include thirteen additional souls who had been lucky enough to stumble upon them. The first contact that they had with these refugees had almost been a disaster. Just days in the wake of their near deadly arrival, the same mistake had been made concerning the living, uncontaminated survivors.
The Cahn boys had been on lookout, a mistake that Alex had never let happen again. Thinking that they would eliminate the approaching zombies at a distance that would not require them to have to burn the bodies, each of the boys began firing on the targets without alerting anyone or getting confirmation. One of the four targets was hit, a cloud of red blood spraying out the back of the victim. The boys began celebrating, giving each other high fives and missing the fact that the three remaining targets drug the fourth to cover. Zombies do not spray red blood from gunshot wounds and certainly do not care for their fallen.
Liam had been on his way to the rooftop to relieve the brothers when the shots rang out. He darted up the remaining steps of the ladder to find the two whooping and carrying on as if they had won the war. Grabbing the binoculars that were hanging on the side of the ladder, Liam asked for the two to show him where the zombies were. Grinning, they pointed to the north and Liam searched for the approaching danger. His face drained of all color.
“Man down!” he yelled. “Man down! We got an living man down! Dammit, you two just killed a living person because you’re too stupid to check.” Liam raced down the ladder and was greeted by Dr. Cahn as he prepared his medical bag to go help.
“Don’t forget the dog,” he said casually as if this were just another day at the office. Alex hurried in with Shawn and Luke in tow.
“Shawn and Luke, you’ll accompany Liam and Dr. Cahn to check on the victims. Sam and Sid will head to the roof to take over the watch. Boys!” Alex yelled up through the roof access. “You’re done. Get your asses down here now!” Alex looked to Dr. Cahn, realizing that he was about to discipline the man’s sons and not sure how he would react.
“They screwed up,” Dr. Cahn told Alex. “They did not double check before pulling the trigger, and because of that, someone is dead or dying. They suffer the consequences…as you see fit, sir.” Alex hated when they called him sir. Since the first night at the farm, after listening to his ideas and plans for their survival, he had been declared the leader of their group and taken to calling him ‘sir’ all of the time. This bothered Alex more than he would let anyone know. They were placing their survival on him simply because he had read a book.
The Cahn brothers skulked down the ladder, not wishing to face the punishment that was sure to await them below. They knew they had screwed up, and screwed up big and they were in for it. Their eyes locked on their father’s once they had set foot on the bottom rung of the ladder awaiting his stern words of disappointment.
“Oh no,” Dr. Cahn said to his sons. “You’ll receive no such luck. You screwed the pooch, and the punishment that awaits you from Mr. Kemp here will be far worse than any I could put you through. I have to go clean up your mess if I can. You’ll have to face him.” Dr. Cahn shouldered his bag of medical supplies and turned towards the door. “Let’s go, gentlemen. Paula,” he yelled through the farm house, “We’ll have wounded when we get back. Make sure everything is ready.” Paula had become Dr. Cahn’s right hand man ever since he had found out that she was a registered nurse with six years of emergency room experience. The two of them had made a near perfect team, taking care of any medical emergency either big or small with extreme care and precision.
Everyone but Sam was on duty at the perimeter exit. These procedures had been put in place in the event that some unforeseen zombies lurked just outside the entrance. Sid Beard, Liam’s younger brother, started up the backhoe loader and slowly backed it out of the entrance to allow the truck with Dr. Cahn and the others to leave. Everyone tensed for a moment until the truck had cleared and the backhoe was moved back into place.
The Cahn brothers stood behind Alex with sullen expressions on their face. Alex turned to meet them stone faced and terror rose within them. “We…we’re s…sorry, sir. It was an accident.”
“Shut up,” Alex snapped. “This was no accident, this was carelessness and stupidity and because of it someone is most likely going to die. You little shits couldn’t even bother to warn everyone else before you started blasting holes on anything that moved. There were signs that could have prevented this, but you two couldn’t care less to look for them.” The two boys were literally shaking as they stood facing Alex. The others who had gathered for the perimeter defense were now watching the goings on with increased interest. “Your father seems to think I have a right to punish you as I see fit. And what do you think about that?” The brothers stared at the ground, kicking imaginary rocks at their feet in a vain attempt to avoid the question.
“I asked you a question,” Alex yelled suddenly startling the brothers and everyone else gathered around. “And a question deserves an answer! Now I’ll ask it again; do you deserve to be punished for your stupidity?”
The boys looked nervously at each other, neither one wanting to be the first one to speak. “Answer me!” Alex shouted.
“Yes sir,” the younger of the two squeaked.
“What?!” Alex shouted again louder than before. “Man up and speak your mind! Do you deserve it?” Both boys nodded slowly and looked at their feet. “Fine. We’ll decide your punishment when we see just how bad you fucked up. Give me those rifles.” Alex held out his hands for the weapons and the brothers handed them over. “Now inside both of you, and I don’t want to see you until I come and get you.”
The boys quickly retreated under the fury in Alex’s eyes, the tears flowing freely down their cheeks.
Alex stood in the middle of the stagin area listening to the thump thump of the rotor blades and watching the helicopters circle in for a landing. The remainder of Alex’s Stryker team finished collecting their supplies and checking equipment. Having finished his own preparations at four in the morning, Alex now relished in these few minutes he had to himself.
The quiet thoughts were broken by someone calling him by name. At least by his false name. It wasn’t until they had been screaming lieutenant for a time that he shook himself out of his fog and turned to acknowledge the soldier calling him.
“The commander would liek a workd with you.” Alex nodded his understanding.
“I’ll be right there.” Alex took another moment longer before leaving the staging area to see the commander. The first of the transport choppers were just touching down.
A flurry of activity greeted Alex as he made his way through camp. The arrival of the choppers meant the Alpha teams would head out soon, and everyone raced to finish the last of their preparations.
Finding the commanders tent, Alex waited outside while one of the guards went inside to announce his arrival. A moment later the guard had returned and held the tent flap open for Alex to enter. Alex gave a quick salute as he entered.
“Commander…” Alex began, but was immediately cut off before he could finish.
“I don’t like this,” Commander Travis said sternly cutting Alex off. He stood behind his desk holding out an opened manilla envelope. Alex fought to keep his face from turning white as a ghost when he noticed that it was the same manilla envelopes that his informant had been using to send information to him. He composed himself as best he could before speaking.
“I’m sorry, sir. What are you talking about?”
The commander slapped the papers down on his desk. “You damn well know what I mean, lieutenant. You have been receiving an awful lot of these envelopes, and apparently this one contains sensitive information. So I have to ask, just what other information have you been getting in those envelopes?”
“I’m not sure I see the problem, Commander. Those have come straight from central command, through the proper channels.” Alex struggled to keep his voice level against the rising panic he felt. The commander slammed his hands on the desk at pushed himself up. He starred menacingly at Alex.
“Don’t you dare be insolent with me, lieutenant. These papers,” and he stabbed his finger at the stack lying haphazardly below him, “is sensitive information, meant only for privileged eyes. What makes you so privileged?”
Alex shrugged, knowing it would make the commander mad and hoping he was right. “Not sure. Just got some weird message about looking over old data for any inconsistencies or patterns. Haven’t found anything yet.” Alex got the effect he was looking for. Commander Travis looked furious with him. He hoped enough to distract the commander from making any connections.
“Do you expect me to believe that?” Commander Travis said, barely controlling his anger. Alex shrugged again.
“It really doesn’t matter one way or the other to me. I’m just following orders. Same as you.” Alex had hit the button he was looking for, and the commander exploded.
“How dare you, you insolent like peon!” he shouted, pounding his fist into his desk. “You are nothing more than a worthless grunt. Someone to be used and tossed aside. Following orders? That’s a cop out. You’re up to something you shouldn’t be. I can feel it.” Commander Travis stopped his rant too late, suddenly realizing that he had lost his control. Alex stood stock still and silent and waited for the commander to break the silence.
“Here,” Commander Travis said skidding the papers across the desk. Alex reached out and caught them just as they slid off the edge. “You and your men on the Alpha teams for this outing?” he asked trying in vain to compose himself. Alex nodded as he rearranged the papers into an orderly pile. A wicked sneer crept across the commander’s face. “Then maybe this is the last time I will see you.” He let the words hang in the air, now trying to make Alex uncomfortable.
“Maybe,” Alex responded and snapped a quick salute. “Permission to be dismissed, sir?”
“I’ll find out what you’re up to, lieutenant. And when I do, you’ll wish the deaders got you.” Alex finished his salute and without another word, turned and walked out of the tent.
The flap of Alex’s tent pulled back and Hayden stuck his head through. “Am I late?” he asked. Liam rolled his eyes.
“And just how are you supposed to be late to a secret meeting?” he snarked.
“Uh, good point,” Hayden said. “What have I missed?”
Liam handed a stack of papers over to the younger man. “Nothing yet. We’ve just been going through the information. Haven’t really made much headway yet.”
“What’s in it?” Hayden asked, taking the proffered papers.
“More troop movements from before the outbreak, political assignments…just seems a bunch of stiff that doesn’t seem to fit together.” Liam shook his head. “Alex, I think this guy has us chasing our tails. None of this makes any sense.”
Alex sat behind his desk, squeezing the bridge of his nose. Various papers from different packages were strewn on the desk in front of him. “I’m starting to agree with you Liam.”
Everyone continued looking over their various papers in silence, switching with one another as necessary.
“This is useless,” Martin called out. “None of this makes any sense.”
Grumblings of approval spread around the room. Liam leaned closer to Alex, still hunched over his desk.
“I think I’m starting to agree,” Liam said. Alex nodded slowly.
“I think I do to. I can’t see a pattern, or even a point to all this.”
A few more moments passed in silence before Hayden spoke up. “You got a map?” he asked casually. Alex looked at him, surprised. He indicated his desk and began clearing things from the buried and forgotten map.
“What are you thinking?” Liam asked, helping to unearth the map.
Hayden shook his head. “Nothing in particular. Just wanted to see these things plotted out on a map.” He shrugged. “Having some trouble visualizing it.”
The men finished clearing the map as everyone in the tent gathered round. “Okay,” Alex said. “What next?”
Hayden scanned through the documents in his hands. Selecting one, he handed the paper over to Alex. “Where are these?”
Alex glanced at the document. “Troop movements? We’ve already looked at this.”
Hayden nodded his head. “I know. But we’ve all looked at this information in pieces. I’m curious to see if anything makes sense together.”
Alex shrugged and started plotting points on the map. “Okay,” Alex said, placing the last mark on the map. “What else?”
Once more, Hayden flipped through the stack of papers in his hand. “How about this one?”
Alex took the paper and chuckled when he saw what it was. “Congressmen? Why do you want that?”
Hayden shrugged. “Not sure. It’s one more set of data points. Plug in enough, maybe we’ll see a pattern.” He shrugged again. “Couldn’t hurt.”
It was Alex’s turn to shrug. “Alright,” and Alex quickly plugged in the data points. “There,” he said and stepped back from the desk. Everyone else leaned in.
“All of these points,” Luke Berryman said, pointing to the dots, “the Congressmen are all conveniently located in or near troop concentrations.”
“Standard procedure,” Donovan spoke up. “Each of those are safe areas. Places where government leaders can be taken in case of an emergency. Those troops are there to protect them?
“A lot of good that did,” Luke said. Everyone turned to face him.
“What do you mean by that?” Liam asked.
“Well, look,” he offered the report he was holding. “This is the report detaining all fo the secure ares. Looks like quite a few of them didn’t make it.”
Luke handed the paper over to Alex. “Plot the fallen safe zones,” Theresa said. “Which ones didn’t make it?”
Alex carefully studied the paper before reaching for the map. He laid markers on their sides as he came across ones that fell. “And what does that tell us?” he asked.
Theresa shook her head, eyes moving over the map. “Nothing. Just where some big wigs got popped.”
“There’s got to be more to it,” Hayden said. “Something is missing, we just haven’t figured out what it is.”
“Okay,” Alex said. “Go through everything. Every piece of data, every mention of any of these places. Let’s plug in the data points and see what we come up with.”
Heads nodded around the gathered men and everyone split up into groups to pour over the stacks of data available. It wasn’t long before names began to crop up.
“Here’s one,” called Luke.
“More here,” Martin offered.
“Good,” Alex said. “Let’s get everything collected and we’ll plot it out.”
Everyone continued shuffling through papers, scanning for any mention of troop movements or secure government facilities. Nearly half an hour passed before all of the data had been sifted through.
“Okay,” Alex said, calling his team back around the map. “What have we got?”
Everyone looked to each other, waiting for the first to speak. Donovan spoke up.
“More on the troops,” he said. “Supply lists. Not very consistent among the groups, but that could be due to difference in troop allotments.” Donovan handed the documents over to Alex. He shrugged his shoulders. “Would be interesting to see.”
“Okay,” Alex said with a sigh. Grabbing a Sharpie he began quickly writing numbers next to the various troop locations. Finishing the last, Alex stood back from the map. “Huh,” he said, still looking at the map.
“What?” Hayden said. “What do you see?”
Alex looked up from the map startled, almost as if he forgot anyone was there. “Well, the numbers don’t match.”
“What do you mean they don’t match?” Donovan said, leaning over the map to look closer.
“Christ, none of us can see anything,” Theresa said and snatched the Sharpie from Alex’s hand. Pushing Alex out of the way, Theresa bent over the map and hurredly drew visual representations of the numbers. Squares of varying sizes indicating food and supplies, circles showing ammunition and weapons shipments. “There,” she said, tossing the capped Sharpie on the map and stepping away.
Everyone leaned in towards the map to see the new information. “This doesn’t make sense,” Hayden said. “Why do some of these smaller places have more supplies than the other?”
“I believe that’s what I said,” Alex sniped, eyeing Theresa.
“Yes, but now we ALL can see it,” Theresa said.
“Okay, back to the data at hand.” Liam tried to get everyone back on track. “Look at the map. Those area that received the most supplies survived the initial outbreak.”
“And the amount of troops does not correlate to survival or supplies.” Theresa shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything here.”
“Now just wait,” Dr. Cahn spoke up. He had been silent the entire evening until now. “These are only three data points and we have a lot more information here. Before we just give up the ship, lets see where the rest takes us.”
Heads nodded and everyone agreed. Each man in thrun handed over their information. The data, if possible, was carefully added to the map and sorted into their appropriate stack along with the others. An hour passed without any significant revelations.
“Yup, pretty sure this is pointless,” Luke spouted, breaking the silence in the room.
“I’m starting to agree with you,” Dr. Cahn agreed. “None of this makes any sense.”
“Now wait,” Hayden spoke up. “There’s still a lot more information to go through…”
“And it’s all the same,” Luke interrupted. “We’re just going around in circles.”
“What if we look through everything we’ve got left. Filter out anything that’s not the same thing we have already seen?” Theresa offered. Everyone in the room pondered the solution. Liam finally agreed.
“Okay,” he said. “But only for another half hour. We could waste all night and the next day going through this stuff.”
“Agreed,” Theresa nodded, and once more veryone shuffled through their seemingly unending stacks of data.
“Here’s something,” Liam offered, looking carefully at the papers in front of him. “But for the life of me I can’t tell what it’s talking about.”
Alex crossed over and took the proffered document from Liam. He studied it for a moment before speaking. “Looks like some kind of medical document. Lots of government speak, but I think there’s something about a vaccine, or a shot, or…something.”
Now Dr. Cahn took the papers. He scanned them quickly, flipping back and forth between the pages. “These are orders for some kind -of vaccine,” Dr. Cahn said. “But,” he started flipping through the pages of the report again. “This doesn’t make sense.”
Alex looked over the doctor’s shoulder, trying to figure out what had the man stumped. “What’s the problem, doc?” The aging man shook his head.
“These orders seem to be for the same vaccine, but they don’t match.” Dr. Cahn held the papers out to Alex, pointing first at one set of orders, then flipping the page to show the second. “Do you see them? Here and here?” Alex once again took the documents and studied the orders for a long time.
“So just what is Etamox?” Ales asked. Dr. Cahn shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t know. I’ve never heard of it before. And I’m not sure why there are two different variations of the order, either.”
Alelx continued looking between the papers. “Etamox-a and Etamox-c,” he said quietly.
“How are the vaccines distributed?” Theresa asked. Alex looked up from the papers, then over to Dr. Cahn. Handing the papers to the doctor, Alex picked up the Sharpie and hunched over the map.
Dr. Cahn began reading off the various locations and doses of the Etamox vaccines. As they continued, everyone gathered close to see if this newest information resulted in anything new. The more data sets that were plotted, the more everyone realized something was not right.
“I don’t like what I’m seeing,” Theresa said stunned. The data laid out before them showed a disturbing picture, one in which the secure areas and troop strongholds receiving Etamox-c were completely destroyed. The remaining strongholds, those which received the Etamox-a vaccine, survived.
“I don’t think this necessarily proves anything,” Dr. Cahn said. “Coinsidence?”
“That’s a pretty big coincidence,” Alex offered. “Considering everything else that’s gone on…”
“What?” Luke interrupted. “What are you suggesting? Conspiracy? That someone did this on purpose?”
“I’m just hypothesizing,” Alex said defensively. “You have to admit that there are some pretty big coincidences.”
“But conspiracy?” Luke argued. “That’s big. Are we really saying that someone actually planned this?”
“Why not?” theresa said. She stood over the map, arms crossed and defiant. “Why couldn’t someone have planned the demise of those places?” Theresa’s posture dared anyone to cross her. Luke took the challenge.
“That’s bullshit and you know it! For what reason would anyone want to do what you’re suggesting? For that matter, just what are you suggesting?”
Theresa’s face was hard, anger flaring in her eyes. “I’m saying someone planned for those strongholds to fall. That they set it up, put things in motion. I’m saying that maybe the destruction of those places was not an accident. Maybe not even this outbreak.”
Murmers erupted around the group, each voicing concerns or agreements to the accusations Theresa offered. Luke was the loudest and most adamant. “Bullshit!” he said once he found his voice. “Total bullshit! Do you hear what you are saying?! You are accussing people of mass murder…”
“And why not?” Theresa interrupted. “People have done a lot worse.” The silence in the room was palpable. Luke looked around the room at each person standing around the desk.
“Does anyone else think that all this was planned?” Luke challenged. “Does anyone else believe this all was intentional? Do you?!” Luke’s voice raised in pitch and ferocity as he challenged anyone to go against him.
“Things are starting to look a little fishy,” Alex said calmly. “You have to admit that things are…”
“I don’t have to admit anything,” Luke spat. “We are jumping to a rediculous conclusion, and based on what? A few dots on a map? Information given to us from someone we don’t even know, and information we can’t even trust to be true?” Luke waved at the map, dismissing the information it displayed.
“We all agreed to trust the information,” Alex reminded him. “If we start nitpicking every piece of paper…”
“You mean being smart?” Luke interrupted him. “I will not blindly follow, Alex. And I for one think that this,” again Luke waved a dismissive hand at the map, “is a load of bullshit. We are forcing conclusions. We’re not using our heads.”
“And you’re refusing to look at all the options,” Theresa snapped.
“What?! I’m not refusing to look at anything, but his makes no sense.”
“Then what’s your theory?” Theresa said, cutting the man off. He simply shook his head, barely able to control his rage.
“I don’t know!” Luke shouted. “But this isn’t it. It can’t be!”
“Who were the Congressmen in the failed safety zones?” Hayden stood looking at the map, barely listening to the argument that raged around him. He rubbed his chin and appeared to have heard none of the heated exchange. Hayden looked up from the map and starred at Alex as if nothing else were going on in the room. “No, seriously. Who was where?”
“What does it matter?” Luke snipped. “They’re all dead.”
“Exactly. And if there is a conspiracy… Listen, I’m just curious who was where.” Hayden looked from Luke to Theresa to Alex. Alex just shrugged his shoulders.
“Okay. I’ll humor you.” Alex dug through the papers until he found the one he was looking for. He handed the paper to Liam and uncapped the Sharpie.
Liam read each name on the list, giving Alex enough time to locate their position on the map and notate it. After every name had been recorded, everyone studied the map in detail. “Great,” Luke snarked, “and just what did we learn from that?”
Everyone remained silent for a time, still focusing on the map before them. “I’m not sure I see much of anything there,” Alex commented. Still everyone remained silent, lost in thought. Just as Luke seemed ready to lose his temper, Hayden spoke up.
“Does anyone remember back to the last election?” he asked, looking up from the map. “Anyone remember all the controvercies that went down? Weren’t some of these dead Congressmen involved?” Everyone leaned closer to the map to look closer over the names written there.
“I remember some of it,” Dr. Cahn offered. “Some pretty low points in this country’s history, even considering it was politics. But were all of the dead Congressmen involved?”
“Senator Hutchinson,” Donovan offered. “He lead the rally call against the current administration, didn’t he?”
“Former administration,” Alex corrected. “There is no government left to speak of.”
Donovan rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Former government. Wasn’t Hutchinson very outspoken about the quote-unquote, evil practices of the Dalmer Administration? I seem to remember President Dalmer getting pretty pissed over some of the things that were being said about him.”
“I remember that too,” Cahn said, now looking at the map with more interest. “And here,” he pointed to a spot on the map. “Representative Page…he stood with Hutchinson on the House side, organizing those in the House of Representatives against the administration. Is there a connection?”
Another moment of silence engulfed them as each considered their own thoughts. The silence was broken by a curse from Alex. “Shit. Take a look at this,” he said, handing the paper he had been reviewing to Dr. Cahn. The man examined the paper for a moment before giving Alex a quizzical look.
“The President?” Cahn asked quietly. Alex nodded his head and leaned forward to X-out a spot on the map.
“Apparently the President’s compound was one of those that was lost in the outbreak. The President is dead.” The revelation of that news was a weight that pressed down on the room. The leader of the free world, the President, had been killed in the outbreak of the zombie war.
“There goes your theory,” Luke said, breaking the silence. Glaring eyes turned on the man. “What? You were all leading up to the conclusion that the President had conspired to release the virus. I don’t think that is viable now since he is dead.”
“No one said that President Dalmer did anything, Luke,” Cahn countered. “We are just looking at all the angles.”
“So it wasn’t Dalmer. Who did release the virus?” Eyes now shifted to a very beligerant looking Theresa Hill. She stood next to the desk, arms crossed, looking defiant. “Who else, that is still alive, would have benefited from killing over half the human population of the United States?”
“Seriously Theresa?! You still want us to believe that someone planned this…” Theresa cut Luke off, mid sentence.
“Yes. We haven’t finished going through everything yet. There is still a connection that we haven’t made. We just need…”
“Shut up! Jesus Christ, woman! You just won’t leave things well enough alone! No one planned this! No one is to blame! No one is guilty! The world has gone to shit and you have to blame someone for it, don’t you?!”
Theresa came flying across the desk at Luke, grabbing at the man’s clothes and swinging wildly at him. Everyone jumped back in surprise before collecting themselves and reaching in to separate the two.
“Knock it off!” Alex yelled, struggling with Liam to keep a hold of the fighting woman. “Knock it off!” Theresa relaxed some, stopping her struggle with the two men who were holding her back. Tears streamed down her face.
“I think we’ve done enough for tonight,” Dr. Cahn said quietly. “I suggest we all get some sleep. We are heading out to a new site tomorrow. Alpha team, correct?” Alex nodded, not taking his eyes off Theresa in case she chose to go after Luke again.
“The doc’s right. We leave tomorrow at noon, Beta teams heading out at 9 AM. Everyone needs to get some rest and check their gear. It’ll be a long couple of days to a week before we are back, so that will give everyone some time to collect their thoughts and calm themselves down before we discuss this again. Okay?” Heads around the tent nodded in agreement and everyone slowly started to make their way out. “The same goes for you,” Alex said to Theresa. Her eyes never left the back of Luke as he left the tent.
“Fine,” she growled, and pushed her way past the two men. Both Liam and Alex watched her exited before looking back to one another.
“Keep an eye on her, Liam. I don’t really trust her tonight.”
“I had the same thought,” Liam agreed. “I’ll talk with Donovan and we’ll get things arranged to keep an eye on her.” Liam shook his head and smiled. “Damn, that was exciting. You think that someone really did all this on purpose, Alex?”
Alex shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. “Not sure. But there are some big coincidences that I don’t think can be easily written off. We definitely need to keep an eye on all this.” Alex clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Try and get some sleep tonight, and let me know if I can help with the watch.”
“Will do,” Liam said and hurried out to find Donovan.
“How’s the doctor doing, doc?” Alex had made a point to visit the infirmary to check on Dr. Cahn after his unfortunate run-in with the woman survivor. She had clocked him so hard, Dr. Cahn had trouble remembering his name.
The nurse at the front desk smiled and chuckled. “Dr. Cahn? Oh, he’s fine. Been up and about — against doctor’s orders — checking medical charts and giving the rest of the medical staff grief over their care of the patients.
“Sounds about right,” Alex smiled back. “How about the woman survivor we brought in? Her and her son?”
The nurse’s smile immediately disappeared. “We don’t keep survivors here. They are over in Z block…”
Alex interrupted her with a wave of his hand. “Yes, yes. I know the procedure. I also know this was a special case. Nurse…?” The young nurse looked around to make sure no one was watching.
“Nurse Saunders,” she said.
“Nurse Saunders. I am in charge of the military training for this facility. I know that there is a secure room in this building for special cases.” Alex smiled wider and leaned in closer. “I’m also the one who brought them in.”
The nurse looked around again, checking once more for anyone within earshot. She resigned with a sigh and looked back to Alex. “She’s not good, sir. They’ve got her on suicide watch twenty-four seven. Not really for her, but…” She shook her head. “They’re worried she’ll hurt the kid.”
Thensmilenhad faded from Alex’s face to be replaced with concern. “Thanks Nurse Saunders.”
“Becky,” she said quickly. “Becky Saunders.”
“Thank you, Becky. Do you know where I can find Dr. Cahn?”
Becky smiled and gave out a small chuckle again. Not many people laughed these days, and Alex found himself enjoying the few times he heard it. “Dr. Cahn is probably in the recovery room, hovering over the patients instead I’d staying in his own bed. Through those doors.” Becky pointed to a set of double chrome doors which looked as if they had seen many people pass through. “First right. He’ll be in there, no doubt.”
Alex’s smile returned and he patted the desk. “Thank you.” Alex quickly passed through the doors, turning right as the nurse had instructed him. As he approached the door, Alex could start to hear the unmistakable voice of Dr. Cahn. Apparently, he was engaged in a heated debate with someone.
“Listen, Dr. Cahn,” an exasperated voice said, “I know you are just trying to help, but…”
“But you are wrong,” Dr. Cahn cut in. “This patient…”
“Is recovering fine.” The younger doctor cut him off. “And Dr. Cahn, you need to remember you are a patient here too. I appreciate your help, but…”
“But nothing. You are…”
“Dr. Cahn,” Alex called, catching the man’s attention. Alex smiled and waved the doctor over. Cahn looked back to the young man and pointed a finger at him.
“I’m not done with this,” he threatened and turned to walk away. The young doctor rolled his eyes and returned to his rounds. Alex was laughing at his friend by the time he has crossed the room.
“You know they can handle this, right? It’s what they do.”
“They aren’t doing it right,” Dr. Cahn snapped.
“No, they aren’t doing it your way,” Alex quipped. “Let them do their job, doc. We need to talk.”
The two men left the room, walking quietly for a moment. It was Dr. Cahn who broke their silence.
“I don’t know much about the woman,” Cahn began. “I know that’s what you are going to ask. She’s on suicide watch, kt in quarantine until she is cleared. The watch is really for the boy. They’re worried she might hurt him in the state she’s in.” Dr. Cahn shook his head and looked over at Alex, a pained expression on his face. “I’m more worried about the boy. He hasn’t spoken since we got him out of there. With everything that kid’s gone through and seen…” Dr. Cahn’s voice trailed off and he shook his head. “He’s going to need some serious help.”
“And how are you doing?” Alex asked. The doc was looking better than when they brought him in, but the long months had taken their toll on the already aged man. The doctor shook his head enthusiastically.
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Cahn insisted. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
“Okay, doc, calm down.” Alex squeezed the man’s shoulder. “I just wanted to check in on you and let you know we’ve gotten some more information from one…benefactor.”
Dr. Cahn’s eyes lit up and he looked around to see if anyone was listening. “Anything important?”
Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. Haven’t looked at it yet. Just got it in this morning. We’re meeting tonight after dinner to take a look at it.”
“I’ll be there,” Cahn said enthusiastically. “I’ll see you for dinner.”
“Sounds good, old man,” Alex ribbed. Dr. Cahn glared at him. “Take care of yourself, doc.”
The older man chuckled. “Oh it’s not me you need to feel sorry for.” And with that, the doctor turned and pushed his way back into the recovery room. Alex could hear the man yelling for the doctors.
“Contact! Multiple targets inbound!” Calls were coming in from all sides of the warehouse. The horns of the trains rang through the streets, calling the undead to their demise. Targets were tracked and counted, but no shots would be fired unless the Stryker team’s position was in danger of being compromised.
“Good god,” Hayden exclaimed. “There’s so many.”
The dead were everywhere. Thousands upon thousands streamed through the streets of Independence, shuffling towards the sirens and their awaiting demise.
“We have to warn them,” Dr. Cahn urged. “They have no idea what’s coming their way.”
Alex didn’t hesitate. “Hayden, Liam, get on the radio. Let the base camp know what’s coming. Theresa,” the lone woman of the Stryker team started, “how much ammunition do we have?”
Theresa did a quick calculation in her head. “About a thousand rounds per person.”
“Set back one hundred for each and pass out the rest. We are going to do our best to thin out this crowd a bit.”
The Stryker team dispersed around the rooftop, taking up positions that would give them the best vantage point to attack the oncoming dead. “Make sure every shot drops on,” Alex called out. “Happy hunting!”
Gunfire erupted across the rooftop. Zombies fell with each crack of the rifles, but no sooner than one fell, another was in its place. The sounds of gunfire drowned out the moans of the zombie horde below, but despite their attempts, no amount of gunfire seemed to make a difference.
“Fast mover!” came the call from behind Alex. He and Dr. Cahn turned to see Jenero Croft running across the rooftop yelling. “Fast movers,” he called repeatedly until everyone had given him their attention. Fast movers was the code for someone alive and running from a zombie. They were relatively easy to spot since the runners were typically moving significantly faster than the shambling death chasing them.
Everyone broke off their attack to follow Jenero. Looking over the edge they could see a break in the mass of corpses making their way to the trains. In their place were three people, a man, woman and young kid. The woman pulled the boy through the streets. The man followed close behind, manically looking about him, trying to fend off any danger approaching. The man never saw the zombie coming.
When running through a heavily infested area, most people know to look for the obvious threats. Zombies around a blind corner, the zombie that’s stuck behind a bus stop or large stand of trees. What almost everyone forgets are the zombies that have been damaged or have decayed beyond the point of being able to walk or stand. Everyone forgets to look down.
The zombie, or more correctly the remaining pieces of the zombie, reached out and grabbed at the man’s ankle. He fought to keep his balance, but the delay was more than enough time for the zombie to attack.
The man screamed, his cries of pain carrying even over the gunfire and deader moans. The broken teeth of the creature tore into the man’s flesh, blood pouring from the wound.
The zombies head exploded as a bullet tore through the creature’s skull just above its left eye. The shot was not well placed, and its trajectory continued through and shattered the man’s ankle. He crumpled to the ground.
The woman and young boy turned when they heard the scream behind them. Hurrying back, the two reached for the injured man to help him, but his head snapped back. Blood and brain matter spattered the concrete behind him.
“This way! This way!” someone on the roof began yelling. Their cries were joined by the others as they urged the woman and boy to find safety. “The warehouse,” Theresa called over the cracks of rifle fire. She stood, waiving her arms to get the attention of the two survivors. As if in a daze, the woman grabbed the child and pulled him in the direction of the warehouse.
“Martin! Ronald! Phillip!” Alex yelled. “Get downstairs and find a way to get them in here!” The three men jumped to their task, reserved desperation evident in their motions.
The gunfire picked up as the Stryker team cut a safe passage through the zombies that stood between the woman and the warehouse. Theresa continued her shouts of encouragement. The two reached the walls of the warehouse and were none too gently pulled inside.
“Ceasefire!” Alex called and the guns of the Stryker team immediately fell silent. “Donovan, deploy the team to cover the warehouse perimeter. Hold fire unless there is a danger of breaking in.” Donovan nodded and quickly barked out orders.
Moments later the rooftop was once again secure and Alex made his way towards the rooftop access.
The door slammed open as Alex reached it and a screaming woman flew at Ales, fists seeking purchase on anyone around her.
“You fucking bastard! Murderer! You killed my husband!” The storm of fists and vulgarity caught Alex by surprise and he stumbled backwards trying to avoid both. The trio of men who had pulled the woman to safety stood back, making no attempt to come to Alex’s aid. They had apparently met the same ferocity below.
Dr. Cahn stepped between the woman and Alex, hands up and pleading. “Please, miss. Please calm…” The smack of her fists connecting with Dr. Cahn’s jaw made the trio wince. Dr. Cahn dropped like a rag doll.
The woman resumed her attack on the man now standing before her. Alex had regained his composure and looked to be ready to end this fight when Theresa Hill stepped between.
“Listen!” she screamed. “Listen to me! You’ve got to stop this. You’ve got to take care of your boy!”
The woman continued her attack. Theresa reached forward, grabbing one of the woman’s wrists and yanking her around. As the woman spun, Theresa wrapped herself around the woman, pinning her arms to her sides.
“Look!” Theresa yelled in her ear. “Look at him! You’re all he’s got left! You have to take care of him!”
The young boy stood next to Martin Howard, leaning against the tall man’s thigh. Martin had an arm around the boy, pulling him close for comfort. Seeing her son caused the woman to stop struggling and she deflated in Theresa’s arms, great racking sobs now overtaking her. Theresa still held the woman tightly, but now in support and sympathy rather than defense.
After a moment the woman pulled away from Theresa, reaching out for her son. She drew him into her arms and hugged him. The two cried in each others arms.
“Thanks,” Alex said. “I thought for sure she was going to get me.”
“Shut up,” Theresa snapped. “I didn’t do anything for you. I did it for her and her son.”
Alex stepped back, stunned. “Okay,” he said timidly. “Thanks anyway. “Alex caught eyes with Martin who could only shrug at the exchange.
“Phillip,” Alex called motioning the other closer. “Get on the radio. Call in for an emergency evac.”
“Evac?” Phillip questioned. “They’ll never come get us until after the Beta teams have been through.”
“Tell them our position has been surrounded and compromised. Tell them we’ve got survivors in need of medical attention.”
“But we’ve got Dr. Cahn here,” Phillip said. Both men looked down at the doctor who was slowly being helped to his feet. Phillip snorted. “You’re right. We need to get them to a doctor who didn’t just get his bell rung.”
Phillip hurried off to make the call. Alex stepped up behind Theresa. She didn’t seem to notice his hand on her shoulder or the gentle squeeze of reassurance. Theresa watched the mother and son, her own tears washing uncontrolled down her face.
Father, husband, teacher, weekend writer. Addicted to all things Apple and have a weird obsession with fine writing products (seriously, I can't get enough of them!). If you think I have time for anything else, you are a funny, funny person.
