Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel (92 page)

“Three.  Four, if you’re including me, but I’m currently out of the car.”  Mathias was trying to keep the air light and friendly.

“Any infected?”

“I sure as hell hope not.”  Mathias was also being honest.  That was probably a good thing.  Alec really hoped he knew what he was doing.

“Get them out of the car,” the soldier ordered.

“That may take awhile,” Mathias told him.  “The man in the passenger seat uses a wheelchair.  Currently the driver is trapped between him and that lovely mature tree, and a kid, my brother, kind of had some heavy bags fall on him.  I was helping to free him when you ordered me out.”  Mathias had emphasized the words ‘kid’ and ‘my brother
.’

“Just get them out,” the man ordered again
,  “we’ll wait.  You can also take out any supplies you’re carrying.  Don’t worry, we aren’t going to steal them from you.”

Clearly these guys had dealt with other travelling survivors.  Promising not to separate them from their things was important in gaining trust.  Hopefully, they kept that promise.  Alec would see to it that at least one of them stopped breathing if they tried anything fishy.  He still had the combat knife he had used to kill the zombie trapped under his garage door.  There was sure to be some infected blood still on the blade.

“All right.”  Mathias looked at Alec, who nodded.

Alec opened his door and pushed.  It was hard to open uphill without being able to use his legs as leverage.  Mathias helped pull it open all the way.  He also helped Alec climb out, and set him down on the hill, sitting with his back against the front tire.

“You all right there?” Mathias whispered as he set him down.

Alec nodded and whispered back, “I’ll keep an eye on them while you help the others.”

The way Alec was sitting gave him a perfect view of the soldiers on the rim of the hill.  They had slackened their holds on their rifles somewhat, but Alec made sure they could see the pistol in his hand.

Mathias disappeared into the backseat, but it was only a short time later that Riley popped out of the front.  She had bits of safety glass in her hair but otherwise looked unhurt.  She and Alec exchanged a brief and subtle nod before she went to the trunk.  He
listened, as she had to pry a bit to get it to open.  It had probably warped a little from the impact.  She then lifted the bags out and placed them against the rear tire where they wouldn’t slide off down the hill.

Alec’s bag came out through the back door then and was put in the same spot.  Danny’s backpack followed shortly after.  Then Shoes.

“You didn’t say anything about a dog,” the soldier who was doing all the communicating called down as Shoes made his way over to Alec.

“You don’t have something against dogs do you?” Mathias called back as he climbed out of the car, Danny following him.

The soldier made a show of irritated posturing, but said nothing about it.

All the packs were taken out of the back, and then finally, Alec’s wheelchair.  They didn’t bother to unfold it though, as there was no way it could be used on the steep slope.  Even those with working legs were having difficulty with it.  Alec had put Shoes on his lap to make sure the squat dog didn’t end up sliding away underneath the car.

He watched as the soldier with the microphone went up to the one who did all the talking.  They exchanged a few hushed words before microphone man walked off.  Orders coming through from higher up.  The one communicating with them didn’t look happy.

“We’re sending down a rope to help you up,” the soldier informed them.

It took a few moments, but sure enough, a rope came snaking down the hillside.  Handy knots were already in place.

“Do you need any help getting up?” Mathias asked Alec.

“I’ll be fine on my own.”  Alec put his pistol in his pocket.  He lifted Shoes off his lap and handed him to Danny.  Danny had managed to fish a small rope out of somewhere, probably Alec’s bag, and tied it to the dog’s collar.  It made a better leash than the string they had been using yesterday.  Alec realized he had no idea why Shoes had a string for a leash instead of a real one, and there was no one to ask.

He grabbed hold of the rope that had been lowered for them and started to pull himself along.  The hill was thankfully covered in dirt as opposed to rock, like some of the other hills in the area.  Dragging himself up, hand over hand, was therefore slightly less painful.  Dirtier though.  When he reached the top, the soldiers there bent down to help him over the edge.  They let go of him quickly and allowed him to watch the others climb up.

Riley came second, her bag on her back and dragging LeBlanc’s.  Danny was behind her wearing his own backpack, Shoes’s new leash in hand.  The dog climbed without the use of a rope, chuffing like a little train as he went.  Mathias had the hardest task.  Alec’s bag was slung across his back, while his own pack was hanging off his front.  He climbed the rope with one hand and dragged the wheelchair with the other.  His military training was shining through.

Alec also took a quick look around at the top of the hill, trying to get a feel for these guys.  Their truck was a large, white monster, so out of place on the back roads.  It was broken into two sections by a solid-looking yet flexible accordion-like piece.  The front section resembled a Hummer, while the longer back end was more like a tank.  It had no windows and only one pair of small doors in the rear.  All the tires were rough, off-road types, four on the front section, six on the back.  Alec figured the back section must be able to steer itself in some way, or else it would never have been able to navigate these roads.  There were six soldiers in total, or at least there appeared to be.  There could have been more that Alec couldn’t spot.

When Mathias finally reached the top, the soldiers quickly coiled up the rope and stashed it in a compartment on the side of the tank-like section.

* * *

“So what now?” Mathias asked, sitting to take a quick breather.

“Well, we’d like you to come with us.”  The lead solider motioned with his head to the truck.  They had all lowered their guns when the rope had been let down, but still held them in their hands.

“Oh yeah?”  Mathias raised his eyebrows.  “Last time I saw some of you guys, you tried to kill me with a flame-thrower.”

Danny suddenly looked worried.  Neither he nor Alec had heard that before.  In fact, Alec didn’t get much of a chance to ask exactly what had gone on with Keystone.  Last night he had only been told the part of the story that occurred after he and LeBlanc had run into Riley.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”  The soldier actually sounded like he meant it.  “There has been a split within Keystone.  Some of the higher ups are having some different ideas about what’s to be done.”

“And how do I know you’re not on the side that shot me?  You know, my chest still hurts from that.”  Mathias lightly patted his chest.

“You were shot?”  Danny sounded
really
worried now.

“It’s okay, kiddo,” Mathias quickly reassured him, placing a hand on his helmet.  “I had a vest on.  Just left a nasty bruise is all.”

Riley gave a side glance that suggested there was a little more to it than that, but didn’t say a thing.

“We’re trying to help people, not kill them,” the soldier said.  “We’re gathering as many people as we can, and we’re taking them to a safe place.”

“We’re already going to a safe place, thanks,” Riley told him.

“Places you may think are safe are not.”  The soldier had no idea about the Bishop plans.

“Believe me, this one is.”  Riley kept walking the line between being polite and being rude.

The soldier just looked at her.

“What will you do if we don’t go with you?”  Mathias asked the important question.

The soldier thought for a moment, probably thinking of the best way to phrase his words.  “In most cases, we would force you to come with us.”  The truth was a surprise.  It looked like it was a surprise to the other soldiers as well.  “I personally don’t think we’d be able to do that with you.  If you don’t want to come, we can’t make you.  At least, not without several casualties on both sides.”

Damn right
, Alec thought.

“However, since your mode of transportation got destroyed, I don’t think you’ll make it out of these woods.  They’re crawling with zombies.  When that woman told everybody to go north, it meant the zombies were sent north as well.  All throughout the night they’ve been spreading.  Most of them are still congested on the highway, but they’ve been coming further and further into the woods in search of things to infect.  I don’t think you’ll get far.”

“That woman was named Chant.”  Mathias went cold.  “She was trying to save people.”

“I know,” the soldier nodded.  “She was very brave, I commend her.  She did what she thought was best, and that message likely saved a lot of lives.  You must have known her.  I’m sorry for your loss.  I do wish however, that she had left Marble Keystone’s name out of it as it is now making our job much tougher.  As you can imagine, we’re not getting a lot of trust.”

“Let us talk it over,” Mathias finally said.

“Sure.  Just don’t take too long.  The zombies are coming.”  The soldier stepped away and got the others to follow him so that they could talk in private.

“What do you guys think?”  Mathias turned to the group.

“I don’t know.”  Riley shook her head.

“Me neither,” Alec agreed.

Danny shrugged.

“What do you think, Shoes?”  Mathias looked at the dog.

Shoes looked up, hearing his name.  He wagged his tail once as Mathias looked down at him, probably hoping for a treat or a scratch behind the ears.

“I don’t know what that means, Shoes.”  Mathias kept a serious tone as he spoke to the dog.

“Whether we trust them or not, he has a point,” Riley said.  “Without a new ride we’re likely to become zombie lunch.”

“I say we go with them,” Alec decided.  “It’s not like we really have a choice.”

“Danny, you cool with that?”  Mathias looked at his brother.

“Did they really try to kill you with a flame-thrower?” Danny asked.

“Someone did, but not these guys specifically.  If they were, I would have shot first and not bothered with questions later.”  Mathias was honest again.  Alec
liked that quality in him.  “I’ve never met these guys.  They probably worked in a different branch.  A lot of people from branches all over the world have been flooding in over the past week or so.”

Danny thought it over.  “Okay, we’ll go with them.”

Mathias nodded and turned to the soldiers.  “We’ve decided to hitch a ride.”  He spoke loud enough for them to hear.

The apparent leader of the group nodded and walked to the back of the truck.  “You’ll have to ride in back with me.  There’s not enough room up front.  Also, it’s safer back here.”

The back of the truck was opened.  Inside, the walls were thick, white metal, and the floor grey steel.  It was well-lit, and there were benches running along both sides.  Some cargo crates were piled up against the front end, but there was more than enough room for everyone and their stuff.

Mathias climbed in first, and Riley handed him all of their bags and Alec’s wheelchair.  He then hopped back out and helped Alec over.  The soldier offered to help as well, but Alec refused.  He got into the back of the truck and sat on a bench.  There were no seat belts, but there were straps on the wall he could hold onto if he wanted.  After the experiences Alec had been having with vehicles lately, he wished there were seatbelts. 

Everyone climbed in and found seats along the benches.  The soldier they had been talking to climbed in behind them while another shut the door.  There were two bangs from the outside, and the soldier banged back.  They were ready to go.

“So, what are your names?” the solider asked.

“I’m Mathias Cole, this is my brother, Danny.” Mathias handled the introductions.  “That’s Bishop and that’s McGregor.  And the hairy one is Shoes.”

Mathias gave Alec a look.  He had introduced them by their last names on purpose.  He was letting them know that he was uncomfortable with these people.

“Good to meet you.”  The soldier nodded to each of them.  “I’m James Brenner.”

The engine roared to life, the vibrations of it easily felt through the benches.  Alec wondered if they were heading in the direction of Riley’s place, or if they were heading away from it.  Either way he felt like a fish in a fish bowl.  Trapped.

Walker

Abby picked up a revolver off the floor and turned it over in her hands.  Tobias had told her and Cender about what he had seen, and Abby guessed that this was the room that the individual had been dragged out of.  It looked like there was one bullet missing from the revolver.  The shot Tobias had heard must have come from it.  She looked around the room but saw no blood.  The shooter had missed.  She then found the bullet hole high up in a wall.

“Find anything?” Cender asked as he showed up in the doorway.

Abby held up the gun so that he could see it.  “I think this is where he was taken from.  He fired off a shot but missed.”