Aftermath (21 page)

Tony shook his head. “We’ve been talking on the radio with those soldiers. They need me in here.”

Then came more of those terrifying howls, and they were a lot closer. Tony’s eyes were wide in fear. “They’ve picked up your scent,” he said, scared out of his mind for Paige and her friends. “Go!”

Paige grabbed Tony in a quick hug. “Stay safe.”

“You do the same,” he replied. “And say hi to Valerie.”

“I will,” she hollered back, as she and her friends raced off down the path.

***

The howls were a lot closer now, and coming more frequently, as Paige and her friends sprinted out from a path, and back onto the mall. The mist was far behind them now, and there were no signs of the guards. It was only those howls. And that scared the hell out of her.

They were reaching the end, where the mall emptied out into the field. And on the far side of the field lay the tunnel entrance.

Paige’s legs burnt, and she could only imagine how bad it was for the kids, but they were all fueled by adrenaline. And those howls were fueling that adrenaline. If they stopped, or fell, they were dead. She wasn’t sure if all the ammo left in their rifles could take down one of those things, much less a pack of them.

Her shoes came down on the soft crunch of dirt. They were finally sprinting the last leg of the trek across the field. Already she could see the piles of rubble which masked the bunker leading to the tunnel.

Suddenly more bullets were whizzing past. Holy crap, she thought. There was nothing to hide behind out here. They needed to get to those mounds of rubble.

Paige dared one quick glance back. A dozen guards were coming at them from the mall, and another dozen were coming at them at an angle from her left. She just had to keep going, this last twenty yards, and then it was ten, and then it was five…

Suddenly Drew yelled, tumbling to the ground beside her. Paige skidded to a stop, racing back to him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I think I’m hit,” he groaned. Paige’s eyes went wide. Not this. Not now.

Chad dropped to the ground next to them, returning covering fire towards the guards.

Paige turned to the kids. “Go!” she ordered. “Get down in the tunnels.”

Randy and Trish raced off, as Paige turned back to Drew. “Here,” she said, wrapping her arm around him, “we need to get behind the rubble. Can you stand?”

He nodded, as she helped him to his feet. They hurried the remaining yards to the rubble, then ducked behind it, as bullets ricocheted off the concrete. Paige and Chad spun around, firing at the guards. Several were already down, but the rest were still coming.

“How bad is it?” she hollered to Drew, firing off another burst.

“I think it’s gonna be okay,” Drew replied.

“Get down in the tunnels with the kids. We’ll cover you.”

Drew sprinted over to the bunker door, and ducked through it.

“Oh, shit,” Chad exclaimed, staring off across the field to where the mall ended. Paige looked over. A dozen hybrids were now bounding across the field towards them.

“Go!” Paige screamed, and the two of them bolted over to the bunker, and disappeared through the door.

***

Paige and Chad scrambled down the slick rungs as fast as they could. There was no way to lock the entrance, so all they had to rely on was speed. Drew’s injury worried her, but it didn’t seem like it would slow him down. They’d have to deal with that when they found the soldiers. And hopefully a field medic.

Paige hopped down the last of the rungs, landing in the tunnel. Chad came down seconds later. Drew and the kids were waiting there for them.

“Go, you guys,” she ordered. “Just keep going, and don’t stop.”

“What about you?” Trish asked.

“I’ll be right behind you,” she nodded. “I just need to do something to slow them down.”

“Come on, squirrel,” Drew offered, wrapping his arms around the kids. “Those guards don’t stand a chance,” he added, shooting Paige a wink. She gave him a smile, praying it wouldn’t be the last.

There was already a ruckus coming from above, as the guards were scurrying down the rungs. “We’ve got company,” Chad hollered, firing off a burst up the chute.

“Try to stall them,” Paige shouted back, as she raced over to the generator. She dug through the duffel bag, and found one of the flashlights still there.

Then she looked at a fuel gauge on the generator, which showed it to be half empty. But it was a large tank, so hopefully that would be enough.

Behind her, Chad fired off several more bursts up the chute, as several bodies tumbled down next to him.

Then howls came down the chute, echoing off through the tunnels.

“Oh, shit Paige!” Chad hollered. “How much longer?”

“Two minutes,” she hollered back.

“Not sure we have that long,” he replied.

Paige dug her teeth into the threading at the top of her sleeve, and ripped an opening. She tugged off the sleeve, then set it on the ground. Then she slipped the magazine from her rifle, and removed several bullets. In the distance, Chad was still firing up the chute, but she couldn’t let that distract her. She had to stay focused.

She pried several of the bullets from the shells, then sprinkled the gunpowder across the shirt sleeve. She unscrewed the cap from the generator’s gas tank, then looked around for the starter switch. She found it near the gauges.

She took the butt of her rifle, then bashed it down on the starter switch. It took several hits, before the switch came lose. She pulled it from the hole, then tore off the two wires attached to it. She tapped them together, and it sparked.

“Chad, give me a hand,” she hollered.

Chad raced over. “Here, I need you to hold this, while I light it,” she said, handing him her sleeve.

Several hybrids crashed down onto the floor of the tunnel, growling, and snarling. They sniffed, then spotted Paige and Chad.

Focus, Paige kept telling herself, as the hybrids bounded towards them. She tapped the wires together, while Chad held the sleeve just above them. The wires sparked, and the sleeve caught fire.

Chad handed the sleeve to Paige, then fired off a burst at the hybrids. It was almost a waste of ammo, but seemed to slow them down just a bit.

“Go,” she said, as she shoved one end of the sleeve into the gas tank.

They sprinted off down the tunnel as fast as they could. “How long’s it take?” he asked her.

“Duck now!” she hollered, and they hit the deck. Three, two, one, and then boom! The generator exploded in a fireball, incinerating the hybrids.

“Are you okay,” he asked, as debris rained down around them.

“Yeah,” she nodded, climbing to her feet. She flicked on the flashlight, and the two of them ran off down the tunnel.

The Militia

Paige and Chad jogged the final few yards of the tunnel, to where it opened out into a rugged desert canyon. The morning sun was just peeking over the ridge, as the two friends hunched over, catching their breaths. They were miles from the city, and feeling like they had just run a marathon. Which they had.

Both of them were exhausted, and thirsty, and hungry. Paige couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. But it was sometime before she and Drew had gone off to rescue Chad.

“Lower the rifles, and keep your hands where we can see them,” a voice hollered from a crag.

Paige and Chad both squatted down, setting their rifles on the ground. “We’re friends with Valerie,” she hollered, then adding, “and Trevor and Lucas.”

At that, a dozen armed men dressed in military fatigues stepped out from the crags, and from behind bushes. Paige and Chad had been completely surrounded.

“Everyone stand down,” hollered a rugged looking soldier, “they’re friendlies.” He approached them, extending his hand. “You two must be Paige and Chad,” he offered, “I’m Jesse.”

This soldier, Jesse, looked to be in his late twenties, and Paige had no doubt he’d seen more than his share of combat deployments. He just had that hardened look about him she’d seen in her dad’s Army buddies.

Two of the soldiers ventured past Chad and Paige and into the tunnel.

“Why don’t you two follow me,” Jesse instructed them. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

Paige and Chad both smiled at the thought, as they followed Jesse over to where two of his men had sat down. One of them had an RPG resting across his lap, while the other held a mean looking machine gun.

“Guys, say hi to Paige and Chad,” he offered, addressing his men.

“Kurt,” nodded the guy with the RPG.

“Justin,” nodded the other, shoving a handful of food in his mouth.

Jesse nodded to a ridge above them, adding, “That’s Wes up there with the 50 Cal.”

Another soldier, Mike, hauled over a box of field rations, handing them out to Paige and Chad. MREs, smiled Paige, never thinking she’d be so happy to see them again.

“Thanks,” Paige smiled to Mike, before turning to Jesse. “You guys are Rangers,” she said, nodding with a smile.

“How’d you know that?” Jesse asked.

“Your patch,” she replied, nodding to the curved patch on his sleeve. “My dad was a Ranger captain.”

“No shit?” Jesse smiled, “then it really is a pleasure to meet you.”

Suddenly gunshots echoed from the tunnel, followed by ferocious howls. Everyone hit the ground, aiming their rifles at the tunnel.

The two soldiers sprinted from the tunnel, diving for cover behind rocks. And seconds later a monstrous hybrid stormed out.

The Rangers all opened fire, throwing everything they had at that thing. But it wasn’t going down under the small arms fire. It spun towards Paige and the soldiers.

“Kurt!” shouted Jesse.

Kurt had hoisted the RPG to his shoulder. He fired off the rocket. It whizzed towards the hybrid, and blasted it into gooey chunks.

Then a second hybrid bounded from the tunnel. From the ridge above, Wes unleashed the 50 cal on it, spitting out armor piercing rounds longer than Paige’s hand. It ripped the thing to shreds.

Everyone waited for a moment, seeing if any more were coming.

“Any more?” Jesse hollered to Russell, one of the Rangers who’d ventured into the tunnel.

“That’s it,” Russell hollered back. “Just two.”

“Kurt,” Jesse turned to the Ranger who’d fired the RPG. “Have Danny and Todd seal that entrance.”

“Yes, sir,” Kurt hollered back, racing over a ridge. He returned moments later with two more soldiers Paige and Chad hadn’t met yet. Paige assumed there were probably a lot more out there as well.

These soldiers raced over to the tunnel, and heaved heavy backpacks through the opening.

“Fire in the hole!” hollered one of them, as everyone ducked for cover.

Seconds later, a thunderous blast blew the tunnel entrance into rubble and dust, as huge chunks of rock crashed down over the entrance. No more hybrids would be getting through this morning.

Paige and Chad rose, dusting off their clothes. She turned, checking out the rock slide. They really could have used all of this firepower back in the city.

“Hey, is your name Paige?” a soldier hollered from the top of a ridge.

“Yeah,” she hollered back.

“Your friend wants to see you.”

Paige jogged over the top of the ridge, and was immediately met by Trish, who grabbed her in a hug. Her eyes were filled with tears.

“Trish?” Paige asked. “What is it?”

Trish just shook her head, and ran off. Then she noticed Randy, just sitting on a rock, and kicking at the ground.

Paige followed the soldier over the side of the ridge, and what she saw almost made her heart stop.

It was Drew. And he was laying there, with a massive blood spot on his chest. A medic stood nearby. But even from this distance, she could tell there was just too much blood.

“Drew,” she cried, rushing over, and kneeling beside him.

“Hey, Rambo,” he whispered, managing a grin. But she could see the pain in his eyes.

She looked at all that blood. It was everywhere. She turned to the medic, her eyes pleading for hope. But he could only shake his head.

Tears rapidly filled her eyes as she turned back to Drew. “Does it hurt?” she asked, wanting so desperately for there to be a way for her to comfort him.

“Not anymore,” he whispered back. His breathing was getting shallower.

“I’m so sorry,” she cried, sniffing back a tear.

“Don’t be,” he whispered. “We did good back there.”

She buried her face in his shoulder, and wept.

He reached over, and gently stroked her head. “Don’t be afraid to let people in, Paige O’Connor,” he whispered to her in a voice that was quickly fading.

She leaned up. “I won’t,” she whispered back, her eyes now completely filled with tears. “I had this homeless boy who taught me how.”