The Secret Apocalypse (Book 8): Rage Against the Dying Page 8

  “Because we’ll lead them straight to the others,” Maria answers. “We’ll lead them straight to Jack and Kim and Sarah.”

  Damn. They’re right. Hadn’t even thought of that.

  “Follow me,” Kenji says. “We might be able to lose them in these houses.”

  We had run fast and far. A few blocks at least. We were now away from the town center, away from the shops and businesses. We were now surrounded by houses. Kenji runs down the driveway of the nearest house. The driveway leads down the side of the house to a fairly large backyard.

  “What now?” Maria asks.

  “We need to hide,” Kenji says. “Inside.”

  “Did we lose them?” she asks.

  The sound of gunfire answers Maria’s question. Bullets smash into the house.

  No, we most certainly have not lost them.

  “They know we’re here,” Kenji says. “They won’t stop.”

  And we all know what has to be done.

  “We lure them back here,” Maria says, her voice becoming serious. Cold and distant. “We create a diversion. They won’t be expecting it. They think we’re unarmed.”

  “Diversion?” I ask. “With what?”

  “Whatever we can find.”

  We move up on to the back porch, the door to the house is wide open.

  “Careful,” Kenji whispers. “We might not be alone here.”

  Unfortunately, there’s no time to do a scan of the house, no time to check every room and every possible hiding place. Maria quickly finds what she’s looking for in the kitchen. I can’t quite see in the dark. But she’s got her hands full of supplies.

  “What did you find?” I ask.

  “Party sparklers. Birthday candles. Matches. A lighter. Firestarter liquid.”

  “What have you got in mind?” Kenji asks.

  “Like I said, we create a diversion. Something to draw them in. I say we light these sparklers. All of them at once. When they come to investigate, we make our move.”

  By ‘make our move’, she means kill them with our make shift spears. She means kill them quickly and quietly before back up arrives. But I’m not entirely sure this is a good idea. I mean, these people have automatic weapons. They’re shooting to kill. They’re shooting first. They’re prepared to ask questions later.

  There is absolutely no hesitation.

  Will we be quick enough to get the jump on them?

  Maria obviously thinks so. She grabs a small trash can, lights all of the sparklers at once and creates a small fire. The shadows cast by the flame and the light from the sparklers come to life.

  Kenji is over by the back door, waiting to see if our pursuers have followed us down the driveway. A split second later he moves back into the kitchen and nods his head. “They’re here.”

  He grabs the lighter fluid off Maria and starts squirting it all over the place. He leaves a trail of fluid out of the kitchen, toward our hiding place in the living room. I move back into the living room of the house, my eyes darting all around. There’s the front door of the house. The hallway that leads off to god knows where. The staircase that leads to the second floor.

  My eyes see nothing, but my imagination is in overdrive and I can see undead monsters and serial killers hiding in every shadow.

  Meanwhile, our pursuers stalk their way onto the back porch. We know they’re on the back porch because the floorboards creak under their feet. We then hear the back screen door open.

  They enter the kitchen.

  I hear a scuffle, a quick shuffling of feet as they spread out and take cover once they see the trash can with the sparklers and the small fire.

  I hear one of them slip on the lighter fluid, swearing under his breath. “What the hell?”

  And then Kenji lights a bunch of matches in his hands and he waits.

  For one second.

  Two seconds.

  Three.

  He places the matches on the ground and the lighter fluid ignites and a small flame races along the floor. In an instant the kitchen is engulfed in flames. One of the men screams in pain and falls at our feet, through the kitchen doorway. I had no idea they were so close. He is screaming and burning and writhing in agony. He drops his gun.

  Kenji grabs the rifle and stabs the man in his throat with his spear in one motion, killing him instantly, putting him out of his pain and misery. I’m not sure if the other two pursuers make it out alive.

  I have no idea if they’re unscathed or unburned.

  No time to check.

  We’re already out the front door, we’re already down the street, in the next yard over, jumping the fence, heading back towards the Kingswood Tavern, back to the others.

  As we run through the night, adrenalin is once again flowing through my veins and the wind is rushing in my ears. And I am definitely becoming numb to all of this.

  Chapter 13

  Like I’ve said before, sometimes I get a feeling in my gut. Sometimes, I just know that something bad is about to happen, or that it’s already happened and we’re about to find out. I think we all have this instinct, and I think constantly running for your life, constantly fighting and surviving and nearly dying every waking minute hones and heightens this instinct.

  Anyway, we make our way into the pub and right on cue Kim comes at us with her spear and for a second she actually looks like she’s going to kill us.

  But then she sees us, sees our faces and she says, “Oh thank god. It’s you guys. I thought…”

  “Yeah, we know,” Kenji whispers. “We’re not alone. We’ve got company.”

  Kim looks at the rifle in Kenji’s hands. “I see you’ve found another one.”

  Kenji nods. “Must be my lucky day.”

  We follow Kim up the stairs, into one of the rooms that has good views of the intersection below. It’s hard to see in the dark, but we should be able to see anyone moving around.

  “Did you guys hear that gunfire?” Kim asks.

  “Yeah, that was directed at us,” I say.

  “Are you OK?”

  “Yeah, sort of.”

  “They backed us into a corner,” Maria says. “We had no choice.”

  “You killed them?”

  “We had to. It was us or them.”

  “They’ll be out for blood now,” Kim says. “They’ll want revenge. It’s just the way people think now. It’s the way of the world now.”

  “Maybe it always was,” I say.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Kenji adds. “They were going to kill us. They shot first. They shot without warning. These people are hostile. They’re killers. Maybe they weren’t always killers, but they’ve turned, they’ve changed. And now we need to deal with them. We need to treat them accordingly.”

  “We killed one for sure,” Maria says. “Maybe two others.”

  “I’m not sure that’s entirely significant,” Kim says.

  “Really? How many did you see?” Kenji asks.

  “At least fifty. Maybe more.”

  “Damn. This is not a fight we can win.”

  “No. And they appear to be all heavily armed. At least, the ones I saw were armed.”

  “So what happened?” Maria asks. “And where are the other two?” She asks, looking around, realizing that we are alone. “Where is Jack and Sarah?”

  “Like I said, I saw at least fifty people. They came through here, along this street. We watched them from this window. Initially they stuck to the shadows. They were real careful. Moving slow. Taking their time. And then I think they realized they were alone, that there are no infected people here. They had a brief meeting and then they split up. A group of them headed straight here. They were looking around downstairs. I’m pretty sure they took all the hard liquor from behind the bar. Anyway, I figured it was just a matter of time before they decided to come upstairs and look around. We had to go. We snuck out the back. Out on to the street. There were more people hiding down there, but I don’t think they saw us.”

  “Where did
you go?” I ask.

  “Made it back to the church. Figured there wasn’t much in there they’d want.”

  “Wait,” I ask. “How did you move the others? How did Jack make it?”

  “Jack limped for the most part. Had to carry him some of the way down the stairs…”

  Kim is strong. One of the strongest women I know. She told us what she did and how she did it. She had picked up Jack, put him on her shoulders. Carried him down the stairs. When they needed to run, she carried him. “I told them to stay low, to hide as best they can. Told them to assume these people were dangerous. Sarah is still passing in and out of consciousness. Came back here to get the supplies and to wait for you guys.”

  “OK,” Kenji says, thinking out loud. “Looks like we’ve got a new player in town. A new threat.”

  Great. One more thing to run from, to fight, to kill.

  Society has definitely fallen, I think to myself. We’re running and fighting strangers, other survivors. This is bizarre. We should be banding together, helping each other and working together to rebuild. But this is not the case. So who gets to claim the ruins? Who gets to rule in the aftermath? How many desperate survivors will die fighting to make their claim?

  “Was this always going to happen?” I ask. “Were we always going to turn on each other? The survivors, I mean. And that’s what we are, we’re survivors. Some of us are strong. Some of us are lucky. But we survived when millions of other people died. Nearly everyone died, but we made it. And the reward for cheating death, the reward for living is that we get to fight each other for the scraps, we get to fight for whatever is left of this world? That is a terrible reward.”

  We are desperate. That’s what the woman in the Fortress had said. Desperate. This event, this plague, it had changed people, sent them back to the bad old days. The eye for an eye days. There’s no reason to keep the savage beast at bay, not anymore. Especially when people are now being rewarded for being beasts, for being savage and ruthless. For taking what you want and taking it by force. Because if you can’t be stopped, if you can’t be controlled or defeated, it means you are the victor. It means you get the spoils and you get to be King.

  And I know I have to change. I know this… I just don’t want to.

  Anyway, no one answers me, no one adds to this conversation because no one wants to think about the bigger picture right now.

  “My guess is that the people behind the walls stay home at night,” Kim says. “I figure they only move around during the day. At night, the scavengers from out of town come out to play. And I’m guessing since Marko has herded all of the infected out into the desert, I’m guessing these people, these scavengers will want to take advantage of this. They’ll be checking each shop, each house, all the pubs and restaurants.”

  Kenji swears under his breath. “Damn. This is going to be a long night.”

  “So what did you guys see?” Kim asks. “Did you find a car?”

  “No,” I answer. “But we did find one of Marko’s scouts.”

  “Scouts? Excuse me?”

  “It would appear that Marko has got people working for him, spying for him,” Kenji explains. “Well, we only know of the one. Gabe was his name. But there might be more.”

  “Was?”

  “He’s dead,” Kenji says. “Again, it was us or him.”

  “Great. So there could be people watching us and spying on us and reporting back to Marko?”

  “Yes.”

  Kim shakes her head and I can tell she is thinking about what this means. As far as I can tell it means we might never be safe from Marko. Even if we find a place that is isolated from the infected, it means that someone could be watching our every move, reporting back to Marko the Maniac. Helping him hunt us down.

  “What do we do?” Kim asks.

  But before anyone can answer her, we hear the distinct sound of a wooden floorboard creaking under a heavy boot.

  Someone is coming up the stairs.

  We move into the next room quietly, crouching down, once again hiding in the shadows.

  A rough voice says, “See? I told you someone is here.”

  “You think it’s the son of a bitch who’s been taking our people?”

  “Look, we don’t actually know that someone is taking our people. They could just be abandoning the cause. I understand that. Not everyone is cut out for this kind of life.”

  “You think Bruce is the kind of guy to just up and leave all by himself? He loved doing what he did. He was a hero. He didn’t abandon us. Someone got him. Someone took him. I heard stories about this place, man. People been disappearing for years. Decades.”

  “Shut up. You’re going to scare yourself.”

  “Hey, what the hell is that?”

  “It’s a homemade spear. Damn. I don’t envy these people. They’re practically unarmed.”

  I still have my spear. But Kenji is without his. Despite this, Kenji doesn’t look too worried. I guess he’s got a rifle now. And I think he’s got a knife. So he’s not completely unarmed. Kim also has the magnum.

  My mind races through each and every weapon we have available. In an instant, I weigh up the pros and cons of each one.

  The guns will be effective, deadly. But they’ll be way too loud. The noise could draw the rest of the gang right to us.

  My spear, Kenji’s knife, these will be silent. But to use them we’ll have to get close. Real close.

  “No. Not the spear,” the man says. “What’s that? Is that what I think it is?”

  The footsteps are coming closer, getting louder.

  Kim swears under her breath. “I left the bags in there,” she whispers.

  Our supplies. Our food and water and medicine. Our parting gifts from the Desert King.

  Gone.

  “It’s a couple of gym bags,” says one of the men. He then unzips the bags and pokes around. “They’re full of goodies.”

  “Looks like the Desert King was feeling generous. You think he gave these to some people passing through?”

  “Yeah. A parting gift is what he calls it. Nice and generous. That’s how it starts. Trust me, it doesn’t last.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “Keep your eyes peeled. Stay alert.”

  “No. I mean, what do we do if we find them? Do we take them back? Do you think he’ll want to see them?”

  “You know the drill. We take the women first. The men if they cooperate. If they don’t cooperate…”

  “Yeah…”

  There’s a pause. One of the men is thinking this whole thing over. I can feel a slight hesitation.

  “What’s wrong?” one of the men asks.

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine. Look, I know you’re upset about Emma. But you need to let it go. You know what happens. You don’t want to piss off the big guy.”

  My mind is racing; my imagination is running wild. These guys are up to no good. The people they’re with are up to no good. Marko has herded the infected away, but in doing so he’s opened up the town to these scavengers and marauders, these killers and murderers.

  I turn to Kenji. “What do we do?” I whisper.

  It’s pretty damn dark in here, but there’s a streak of moonlight coming in through the window and I suddenly realize we’re not as hidden as we could be. As we should be.

  Kenji closes his eyes. Lowers his head. He whispers, “They’re complacent. Arrogant. They think we’re weak. They think we’re unarmed.”

  He then stands up and motions towards the voices and the other room with his head, giving a signal to Kim. She reads his mind and snatches the spear out of my hands. Together, they move into the other room. They do this quickly, silently. And I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to watch this, but I follow them anyway.

  Kenji has a knife in his hand and he moves to the rear of the nearest guy. He covers the guy’s mouth so he can’t scream and he slits his throat in one swift movement. In an instant, in a heartbeat,
he ends this guy’s life. He then pushes his lifeless body, practically throws it on top of the other guy, still kneeling over the gym bags, still digging through the supplies, still taking a mental inventory, picturing how he’ll be rewarded for his efforts.

  His reward is death.

  The body hits him, dead and heavy. He is knocked off his haunches and he falls awkwardly over on his side. And he’s not expecting this, and before he can say anything, before he can swear or take a breath, before he can raise his gun, before he can ask what the hell is going on, Kim drives my spear into his back, into his heart.

  And the death toll, our personal body count, it just keeps on rising.

  Chapter 14

  My mind is racing. My heart is racing. We’ve now killed at least five people tonight.

  Wait, we’ve killed more.

  Gabe.

  The old man and his lackeys.

  But we’ve killed at least five of these people, assuming the others in the house were all burned alive. And I can’t believe I’m starting to forget, starting to lose count of how many people we’ve killed tonight. This is not good.

  None of this is good.

  Because we’ve made another enemy. We’ve started a war.

  No.

  They started it. They shot first. They shot without warning because they wanted us dead. We also heard them talking about taking the women they find, the men if they cooperate. For what purpose? Who knows? Nothing good would be my guess. So yeah, we didn’t start it, but we’ll sure as hell do our best to finish it.

  This is the new world and we better get used to it.

  I better get used to it.

  “Grab our bags,” Kenji says. “And their guns. Don’t use them unless we absolutely need to. We need to get the hell out of here.”

  I relieve one of the dead men of his rifle. It feels extremely light. Too light to contain a full magazine of bullets. I hand the gun to Kenji. “I don’t think we have many bullets.”

  He slides the magazine out to have a look. “No. Not many. But it’s better than nothing.”

  The other gun is the same. So now between all three rifles we only have a handful of bullets. I’m guessing these two were probably saving their bullets for an emergency, or for themselves if either of them got infected. Then again, maybe they had already used up the rest of their bullets on someone else. They certainly seem to be a trigger happy bunch. But Kenji is right, this is better than nothing. These rifles and these few bullets are a lot better than our home made spears.