Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation (44 page)

I likely
sounded grim because the smiles I received in return were quite malicious.

“As soon
as you’re ready, let me know and I’ll have Tara shoot the sentry. Her and Dale
can cover the building as snipers. Me, Mary, and Lizzy will stay here as
reserves.”

Lizzy,
somewhat surprisingly, did not object.

Renee
set off. Accompanying her was Michael, who had come on the mission. Harvey also
got going, with Tim in his squad. The two boys were anything but friends.
Still, they seemed to work well enough together, taking their duties seriously.
Better, there had been no fights, shouting matches, or any other conflicts concerning
my daughter’s affections.

“They’re
ready to go when you are,” said Mary.

“Tell
Tara to take the shot.”

As
before, we were using suppressed weapons.

“Renee
and Harvey are moving.”

“Mary,
go ahead and face the opposite direction. Wouldn’t want any zombies coming up
behind us.”

“Dad…”
She grumbled something but went ahead and shifted position.

“Lizzy,
scan the general area as well. If there’s lots of noise, we will bring them
down on us.”

She
nodded slightly.

“Dale
says the building is still quiet,” announced Mary. “Renee is inside what looks
to be a loading dock. There are motorcycles there, a mix of dirt bikes and
Harleys. Got supplies stacked up too, enough to feed a large group all winter.”

We would
be taking that home with us.

“She’s
sitting still until Harvey gets in. He’s having trouble with the door. He says
it’s not barred but seems to be blocked by something. He…” Mary paused. “It was
a raider who fell asleep leaning against it. He might be stoned. Harvey can’t
smell any liquor, but the guy is totally not responding, not even when he was handcuffed
and gagged.”

“Got a
few zombies off to the east,” said Lizzy. “They are just walking around. Don’t
seem to have heard us yet.”

“That’s
good. Anything from the twins?”

Mary
checked. “Same. It’s quiet.”

Some
muzzle flashes lit up a window on the first floor. More soon appeared on the
second. Then the sound of gunfire broke the silence. A few seconds later Tara
and Dale began shooting.

“They
are awake.”

“Like
it’s not fucking obvious, Mary.” Lizzy drew her pistol and set it on the ground
beside her. “The ones to the east are shambling toward the building as fast as
their shitty little legs can carry them.”

“Mary,
ask the twins what they’re seeing.”

“Um,
they see… Renee and Harvey are on the third floor. Bottom two are clear. Okay,
Tara says lots of zombies are heading this way, a whole lot, like maybe a few
hundred. Harvey says lots of resistance. Dale says more zombies are coming from
the other side. I don’t know which way he’s talking about.”

“More
and more my way too,” added Lizzy.

I peered
around the corner. “Mary, tell Tara and Dale to get down here now. We are going
inside the raiders’ building. We’ll barricade it so the dead can’t get in.
Worst case, we have the helicopters pull us off the roof. Let Renee and Harvey
know what we’re doing, and have the pairs get inside if they aren’t already.”

By the
time the twins were beside us and our outer ring of militia accounted for, the
squads inside had pushed the surviving raiders back to a corner room on the
structure’s top floor. That was excellent. The zombies, not so much. Hundreds
had morphed into thousands, and all were closing on our location. It was one of
those things you had to expect in a town that hadn’t been properly cleared.

“Time to
go,” said Lizzy.

I
allowed her to lead the way inside, with Tara and Dale flanking me and Mary.
Just past the door was a raider, unconscious and tightly bound.

“Move
him to the corner.”

Dale
dragged the man to the side. The building was a commercial structure,
apparently a small warehouse. The windows were few and far between, and what
did exist were situated fairly high up so that wasn’t an issue. The door itself
was composed of steel. There was no crossbar, but it did have a sturdy lock
which I secured.

“Lizzy,
check the other entrances. Have someone watch each one. Then join us on the
second floor. Whoever is keeping an eye on this door can kill that asshole if
he wakes up and starts making trouble. Otherwise leave him.”

She
hurried off, and we made our way to the staircase. It was located next to a
freight elevator.

“Renee
says it’s about over. Harvey got some flash bangs into the room. The raiders
are all wobbly headed now.”

Wobbly
headed?

“They
are handcuffing everyone,” Mary concluded.

“Let’s
check the windows real fast,” I suggested, “before joining them.”

The
zombies on my side were quite numerous, and by that I mean it was a mass of
bodies. There wouldn’t be, couldn’t be, any departure save by air.

“Bad
over here,” called Mary.

“Lots of
them,” confirmed Dale.

Tara
simply nodded her agreement.

“Mary,
have Renee and Harvey send me their six biggest guys. I want them downstairs
stacking crates against the doors. After that, we move everyone up top and seal
the door to stairs behind us. I don’t think they’ll get past both, but if they
do get into the stairwell, we can pick them off one by one. We should have
enough ammunition.”

“Might
not,” commented Lizzy. She had joined us on the second floor.

“We’ll
see what the raiders have on hand.”

“I’ll
take the twins to help with that.” Lizzy glared at them. “Get moving. You two
know weapons better than anyone.” Her gaze shifted to me. “You and the little
twerp move on up where it’s safe.”

*
* *

“What we
got?”

Renee
gestured around the room. Handcuffed to iron support beams were nine raiders,
two women and seven men. The guy we found by the front door, who was apparently
an inept sentry, was still unconscious. I was beginning to think he might be
overdosing, not that I was going to do anything to help him. The important one
was in the center, a tall, slender man with long gray hair, clad in black
leather.

“How
about weapons, food, and gear?”

“Their
guns are dirty,” said Tara.

The
twins maintained their trademark blank expressions, but I think they were
upset. The pair had a thing about firearms and did not take kindly to having
them mistreated.

“Mary.”

As soon
as an opportunity presented itself, Michael drifted over to speak with her. My
daughter was a few feet behind me, helping Lizzy patch up our wounded. No one had
been killed or seriously wounded, although Tereza might have a cracked rib. If
so, it was a small price to pay, considering her body armor stopped the round
from blasting through her midsection.

“You
okay?”

“I’m
fine. Almost wasn’t. A raider came out of a bathroom right behind me.”

“What
happened?” asked Mary.

“Tim
shot him.”

“Tim?
Really? I guess I’ll have to thank him later.”

Duty
wins out over personal desire. Thank the Lord. Still, it might be best to talk
to Briana and see if we couldn’t set Tim up on some dates with other girls his
age. There was no shortage in the Black Hills, and he was a decent enough guy.
A girlfriend would likely end the drama once and for all.

“What
are we going to do with them?” inquired Harvey. “Should we question them?”

“I
packed a dental drill,” said Renee.

“We’ll
use it if necessary, but I think they’re beaten. Just look at their eyes.” I
turned toward Dale and Tara. “Get a few others and go up on the roof. I want
you to catch me a zombie, just one. Maybe loop a rope around it and haul it up.
Don’t kill it, but definitely chop off the head. I need an intact head.”

“What
are you going to do?” asked Renee.

“Nothing
good, nothing decent. But first, I do want to speak with them.”

*
* *

As
expected, they were ready to speak, aside from the prophet. He just shot us nasty
looks, ignoring our questions. Receiving no guidance and clearly despondent, the
others answered freely. They were the last of their band. Once numbering
thousands of fighters and several times that in dependents, a mere nine
remained. Correction, eight. The guy who was stoned suddenly woke up. Startled
at seeing us, he jerked upright, found he couldn’t move that far, slipped, and
cracked his head open on a piece of metal. He twitched for approximately ten
minutes.

Anyway,
after crossing the ravine, they succeeded in avoiding the fire and eventually made
their way to Casper, Wyoming in order to meet up with their scouts and anyone
else who managed to survive. I never would have guessed they would select that
place as their fallback position. It was the site of one of their worst
defeats, the spot where we destroyed a good portion of their forces. Regardless,
they spent a few weeks in the city, plotting revenge. Eventually they moved on,
passing to the west of the Thunder Basin National Grassland in order to reach this
place, one of their old safe houses, without being detected.

The
journey was not without incident. Caught in a thunder storm, they were forced to
seek shelter in an abandoned barn. A herd passed by, saw their lights, and
attacked. The zombies were too numerous to be beaten back, and they lost half
their number before escaping. More died after they reached Belle Fourche. But,
determined to make us pay, they kept at it, initiating an elaborate system of
spying in the hope they would find an opening or opportunity, anything.

“Think
they told the truth?” asked Mary.

I
nodded. “I do. Opinions.”

“Truth,”
said Renee. “They weren’t lying.”

“I
agree,” added Harvey.

“What do
you two think?”

Tara
looked at her brother. Dale looked at his sister. Neither commented.

“It’s
the fucking truth,” said Lizzy. “After all this time, we finally won. There
aren’t any others left.”

“We won
lots of time,” protested Mary. “We lived and they all died when they attacked the
castle.”

“That’s
not a win, girl. That was just surviving with a whole bunch of good people
ending up dead, not counting that bitch, Cherie, who can rot in Hell.” Lizzy
began to mumble to herself. “I should have dug that head out of latrine. Just
know it.”

“We won
some battles,” I said. “They won others. Wyoming was lost, the castle and the
Nebraska National Forest too, in the end. They failed to take Yellowstone or do
more than cause trouble in the Black Hills. None of that matters anymore. The
war is over, for good.”

“What do
we do with them?” Renee looked at the others. “We have to decide. The guys
already have everything of value on the roof. We can fly it out at any time.
The stuff too heavy to cart off is piled by the loading dock. We can get it
later if we do a proper raid. Sun rises in less than an hour. It’s almost time
to leave.”

I walked
up to the prophet. “You haven’t said anything. Now’s the time.”

He
stared at me, silent.

I
sighed. “Bare the left arm of each and tie a tourniquet. Then get the zombie
head and give each a bite. Not this one.”

“Justice,”
declared Lizzy. She didn’t look happy or elated – no one did – but neither did
she or anyone else show the slightest hesitation. “I’ll do it.”

The
looks of extreme hatred the prophet had been throwing our way increased
exponentially. A few of his followers cursed us, and one woman begged for mercy
saying it was her husband who did the bad things, that she was one of the
family members who never got involved. Maybe it was true. Maybe not. It made no
difference.

“Toss
the head. We don’t need it any longer. Uncuff the prophet and bring him.”

I headed
for another room, one we had searched earlier. It was unusual in that one wall
was composed of thick wood planks. It appears to have been a quick and cheap
modification intended to subdivide a larger space.

Dale put
a round in the decapitated zombie before allowing Lizzy to throw it out the
window. He couldn’t stand the idea of not killing one of the things if the
opportunity presented itself.

“Over
there.”

While the
twins dragged the man toward the wall, punching and slapping him the entire
time – he was doing his best to be uncooperative – I collected four large
galvanized nails from a nearby bucket. Each was nine inches long. Sliding a
large washer down each, I then retrieved the heavy mallet I’d spotted earlier.

“Dad,
what are you doing?”

“The
washers are so he can’t pull free.”