Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation (20 page)

“Find Lizzy
and have her send a few people along the outer edge of their camp to circle
around. I’ll do the same with Harvey. Tell Kimberly to not drop the other bomb.
We’re going in.”

She
relayed that message to Kimberly, twice, and darted off toward Lizzy. As I
moved, Tara noted what I was doing. She grabbed Dale’s shoulder and both
sprinted my way, replacing their sniper rifles with M-16s as they moved. I wish
I had that level of agility and grace. My weapon swapping tended to consist of
dropping one on the ground while I used the other. I had yet to master swinging
a rifle off my back and replacing it with another on the move. Doing so while
running was an impossibility.

“Some
are crossing the ravine on the other side,” I explained. “We need to get close
enough to kill them.” Giving orders to kill had become very easy over the past
few years. I rarely even thought about it nowadays.

Telling
those we passed what we were doing, mostly so we wouldn’t be shot on accident,
the three of us cut behind Harvey’s squad and reached the ravine where it
touched our line. From there, we followed the edge. I didn’t see any ropes, but
there was no reason to doubt Xavier’s report.

“Where
are they?” I demanded, speaking into my radio.

Tara
fired three rounds into the chest of a raider, a skinny man wearing his jacket
and a pair of socks, nothing else. He fell back, and the hatchet he was holding
landed in the dirt beside him.

“Center
of the ravine, past the part where it curves inward,” replied Xavier.

I could
see where it bent in toward the camp. We were close.

“Dad!
We’re being shot at.” Mary sounded frantic. “Lizzy’s hit! I think Tim was too.”

My heart
rate skyrocketed. “Who else is with you?”

“Terrance
is here, and Michelle.”

“We’re
almost at the spot. You sit tight. The other Pave Hawks are on the way.”

I should
have just gone ahead and had all of them attack at the same time, but, no, I
had to be considerate of Yellowstone maybe getting hit by a few thousand
zombies. As if we hadn’t learned how to lead them away. As if they couldn’t be
dealt with, provided they weren’t guided by raiders. It had happened once
before. It could be happening now. God, this sucked. What was the right choice,
and had I royally screwed up?

Dale
dropped to one knee and shot a woman who had just swung out on a rope
stretching between two trees. The ravine wasn’t very wide, maybe twenty five,
thirty feet. I had no idea how deep it was. Since she was hit in the throat, I
don’t suppose it much mattered.

The
small group waiting to cross turned and charged. The Zablocki twins calmly
began to target them, focusing on whomever was raising a weapon. Those who
simply ran at us were left for me. How considerate. I did my part, however, likewise
opening fire. Unfortunately, the distance wasn’t great, and two managed to
close.

“Dad!”

I found
myself flat on my back, one on top of me. I’d managed to swing my gun to the
side to block the knife he carried, catching him in the wrist. I might have
even broken his arm, but that didn’t stop the other hand from grasping my face,
dirty fingers trying to gouge out my eyes. Struggling, I whipped my head to the
left, and his hand slid down to my throat. That was hardly an improvement as my
ability to breathe suddenly vanished. The man was strong.

My right
hand went to my hip, the other trying to push him away. I fumbled for my
pistol. He slammed me in the face with his free arm, and I saw stars which
quickly began to grow black. Then fingertips brushed against the handle of my
knife. Jerking it free, I stabbed sideways as hard as I could. The blade hit
and scraped against his ribs. His grip was not broken. I struck again. This
time the weapon sank deep, and he screamed.

Air came
flooding into my lungs, and I managed to get a foot up. With a shove, he
tumbled back, and Tara shot him. I glanced at her. Her gaze lingered just long
enough to ensure I wasn’t hurt. She then returned to the more pressing task of
killing the enemy. With roaring flames highlighting an otherwise dark night,
and plenty of chaotic shadows dancing about, simply finding a target could be
difficult.

On my
other side was Dale. He’d been attacked by the second raider. Like me, he had
been unable to shoot the man outright. Unlike me, he’d managed to bring the
stock of his rifle up and slam it into the fellow’s face. The man was down and
unconscious, so I tore some strands from his shirt, using these to bind both
wrists behind his back. There were a few things I wanted to know.

“Prophet’s
on the other side,” said Tara suddenly.

“What!
Where at? Are you sure?”

“Saw his
black leather when a light turned on.”

I peered
into the darkness. There was no sign of anyone. Whoever turned on the lantern
had switched it off again promptly, likely as not getting slapped by his
comrades for giving away their position.

“Rope
was cut,” added Dale.

So much
for following them. Mary!

“Mary,
you there!?” I cried, almost screaming into my radio.

“Here.”
Her voice was ragged. “I’m okay.”

Thank
God for that.

“What
about Lizzy and the others?”

“Michelle’s
dead. Lizzy took one in the side, but I don’t think it’s bad. Tim got one in
the hip, but that’s just a graze. Terrance twisted his ankle. It’s not broken,
hopefully, but he’s hurting. May not be able to walk.”

I hated
losing anyone, but keeping Mary alive was a priority. Michelle’s family might
not like hearing this, but I’m sure they felt the same about their loved ones.
And, while I didn’t adopt Mary until shortly after her fourteenth birthday, I
considered her every bit as much my child as Asher.

“Are you
safe right now?” I asked.

“No one
else is shooting. I think they’re all gone. I can’t see anyone.”

“Kimberly,
you listening?”

“I’m
here, Jacob,” came her response.

“Drop
the remaining bomb on the other side of the ravine. The prophet crossed over. I
can’t follow, so I want you to burn him up.”

“On it,”
she answered.

The
homemade napalm blossomed thirty seconds later. I have no way to telling if we
got the bastard or not, but it was the best I could do. Once the other Pave
Hawks arrived, they would scour the area and shoot anything they found.

*
* *

“Two
burned bodies,” said Harvey. “Neither is the prophet. One might have died from
the fire. The other was put out of his misery. No tracks that I can see either,
too many rocks. None of the planes have spotted anything, and the one with the
heat sensing gear is having trouble due to the fire. At this point, they could
be ten or more miles off, anywhere to the north, west, or south.”

I cursed,
loudly. “How many escaped?”

“Five,
ten.” He shrugged. “I don’t think that many managed to cross over, and a few of
those tried to keep fighting. Tara and Dale said they hit several before they
finally turned and ran. Those bodies are separate from the pair we found
further off.”

The
firebomb used on the far side of the ravine proved effective, and the fire it
started quickly grew out of control. It spread incredibly fast, and I was
guessing several thousand acres were now aflame. It had pushed west due to the
wind. This was something at least, the fire moving away from our position. Regarding
the campsite, those flames had also spiraled more than I’d expected. After we
recovered Mary, Lizzy, and the others, Harvey was forced to pull most of the
militia back. Again, the wind favored us, pushing the conflagration up against
the cliff and ravine that had bordered the raider camp.

“What
about the Pave Hawks?”

“The
choppers are all back in Yellowstone,” said Mary. She was sitting on a fallen
tree a few feet away. “We can call them if we need to. Kimberly radioed in a
little while ago too. She saw deer running, and they were barely able to get
out of the way of the fire. Do you think the raiders could?”

“No way
any of them are faster than Bambi, but I want a body to be certain. I hate having
to make assumptions.”

“You
might, by a God given miracle, find some bones, the way the fire is now,” said
Harvey, “but I wouldn’t count on it. There’d be no way we could tell who they
belonged to anyway.”

I stared
at the desolation on the opposite side of the tiny ravine yet again. Maybe
those who’d vetoed my earlier plan of burning the raiders out of the woods
weeks ago had been correct. Fire attacks clearly had some serious drawbacks
that needed to be taken into consideration. Oh well, nothing I could do about
it now.

“Let’s
pack up and get going.”

“Finally,”
murmured Mary.

“We are
going say the prophet is alive, since we have no proof to the contrary, but the
raiders are gone as a group. With a handful making it out, if that, and none
known to exist anywhere else, they are no longer a threat.”

“Yay!”
My daughter was less than enthused. “We win.”

“Mary, call
in a helicopter. You can ride back with Xavier or whomever and visit Lizzy in
the hospital. Go ahead and give Captain Briggs a detailed report too.”

She
perked up at that and quickly called in the request. Lizzy and the other
wounded, along with Michelle’s body, had been flown out on the Pave Hawks
shortly after the battle.

“We’re
finally back to just having to deal with shamblers,” I concluded, feeling less
than satisfied.

“Amen to
that,” said Harvey.

“Enjoy
the peace while it lasts. You know we’re going to be a launching point in the
effort to clear the country of the things, whenever the government gets around
to it.”

“At
least they’re stupid and don’t shoot back.”

“And
there are over three hundred million of them, not counting Canada or Mexico,” I
commented, “or Central America for that matter.”

“What
about our prisoner?” he asked.

The
raider I’d bound the night before was currently tied to a tree with a very
bored Tara and Dale watching him.

“Might
as well get to the questioning. Stick him in a chair next to the ravine, close
to the edge but facing the camp. I want him to be looking at the bodies of his
buddies and thinking about plummeting down and splatting. It might help.”

The
twins had to slap and punch him a few times – the man was determined to resist
– but they soon got the raider into a folding chair and secured him with plenty
of duct tape. Tara also stripped off his jacket. That did not go over well. The
looks directed at her were of pure hatred and malevolence.

“Xavier’s
on his way,” said Mary.

“That’s
good. You might want to be elsewhere.”

Her eyes
widened. “Why’s that? What are you going to do?”

“I’m
going to find out what he knows, and I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll
talk without persuasion.”

She
hesitated. “I’ll stay.”

“You
really should go, Mary.”

“You
should,” agreed Harvey.

“No.
I’ve seen what they do, and I’ve been in lots and lots of fights.”

There
was a big difference in having to defend yourself or others and pre-meditated
violence against a helpless, restrained target. Still, I couldn’t find it within
myself to send her away. Was that exhaustion, or was I becoming too hardened by
all that had happened?

“Where
is the prophet going?” I asked. “This assumes he didn’t burn to death.”

The man
didn’t utter a word.

“Dale,
remove his shoes and cut off three toes.”

Mary
turned a nasty shade of green but did not avert her eyes.

“Put
some gloves on first. He might have all sorts of nasty things floating around
in his blood.”

I hate
latex gloves due to a particularly severe allergy. I never use the things, can’t
even wear them for more than a few seconds before I start breaking out in a
rash that will quickly become unbearable. This didn’t mean others should
neglect some elementary precautions.

“I ain’t
telling you shit!”

The
raider’s words were determined, but he was squirming. It was not clear if this
was because Dale had donned the gloves, taken from one of our first aid kits,
or if it was because Tara had severed the heads of two of the dead, one being a
woman, and was lining them up in front of the captive. She apparently
understands psychological tactics, or perhaps Tara watched lots of old horror
and war movies. I’d have to ask her later. Neither twin had ever mutilated the
dead before. In fact, they generally ignored the bodies of those they killed,
aside from recovering any weapons or useful supplies.

“Your
boss ran away and left you here,” I pointed out. “All your friends are dead.
Your families are dead, buried in a cave back that way. Trust me on that one. I
dug in far enough to see the bodies. You really want to join them?”