Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) (23 page)

Turk sat back-to-back with Sarah. It was clear now that she
was as much of a prisoner as he was. His wrists were bound. His ankles weren’t.
These guys were amateurs. Still, he found himself outnumbered twenty to one.
Those odds were not in his favor. They didn’t have to be, though. He only
needed to take out as many as it took to get away.

Three men sat twenty feet away. They paid little attention
to their prisoners.

Turk pulled and twisted and jerked his hands, working the
rope to the point where it was loose.

“Can you sit still?” Sarah said.

“Quiet,” Turk said. “I’m trying to get us out of here.”

She lowered her voice. “You’ll get us killed.”

“I don’t plan on dying. If you don’t want to, then your best
bet is to shut up and stay behind me.”

“They’re all armed. You’ve got nothing.”

“I got a knife in my boot. That’s enough.” He slipped his
left hand through the rope. He drew his right foot back and reached down for
the tactical knife hidden inside his sock. Now, he only needed one of the men
to approach.

Rustling in the woods caught his attention. He straightened
up, closing his hand around the knife. His bare shoulder blades brushed against
her cool, damp shirt. She pressed back against him. Turk scanned the area
around them, but saw nothing.

“I’m gonna cut the rope,” he whispered. “Keep your wrists
together. After I’m done, I want you to start coughing and gagging, like you’re
choking.”

“What? Why?”

“That’ll draw one of them over here.”

“Why don’t we just run?”

“You wanna get shot?”

She said nothing.

“Tell them it’s a bee sting and that you’re allergic, all
right?”

He felt the back of her head rub against his as she nodded.
A moment later, she began to cough and hack. Her lower back pressed against his
for support as she leaned forward.

“What the hell is going on over there?” one of the men
yelled.

“She said ‘bee’ and then started freaking out,” Turk said.

All three men rose. Two walked over. The other jogged off in
the other direction. Turk assumed the man left for help. That gave him thirty
seconds to work with, give or take. He watched the men approach. One went to
Sarah’s left, the other to her right. Turk had to act now.

He rose quickly, powering himself into the air by launching
off his right foot. He sighted the man on Sarah’s left. Before the guy could
react, Turk twisted and drove his left hand down at an angle. His thick fist,
clenching the folded tactical knife, met the side of the guy’s head near his
right eye. Blood sprayed in an arc in Sarah’s direction.

The other man pushed off his knees and straightened up.
“What the hell?” He reached for his holstered sidearm.

Turk tossed the knife in the air in front of him, catching
it with his right hand as he lunged toward the man. The guy barely managed to
get a hand to his waist by the time Turk clotheslined him with his left arm. He
opened the knife, brought it to the guy’s throat and held it tight to the man’s
flesh.

“Sarah,” Turk said. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“He’s got a gun on his hip. Take it, then take the one from
the guy on the ground. I want you to put one in my right pocket, handle out.
Got it?”

“Yeah.” She stepped around Turk and did as instructed.

He felt the heft of the pistol weighing down his pants, reassuring
him. “Okay, now, aim that other one at this guy’s head while I grab that one
you just gave me.”

She emerged from behind him, gun drawn and aimed at the guy.

Turk closed the knife and passed it off to his left hand. It
might come in handy soon. He retrieved the pistol from his pocket and held it
to the guy’s head.

The man breathed heavily, grunting and groaning. Other than
that, he cooperated.

Turk started to walk backward. “Get behind me, Sarah.”

Through the trees, more men approached, including the guy
who had killed Marcus. It took every ounce of will power Turk had to keep from
shooting the man. He couldn’t. At least, not yet. He had to get Sarah out of
here. Now that he knew where the men camped, he could return late at night and
take them all out while most of them slept.

Three men stepped into the clearing. Four more followed.
There were others coming up from behind. They were armed with rifles, pistols
and shotguns. A couple had submachine guns.

“Back off,” Turk said. “I won’t hesitate to shoot him.”

The guy who’d killed Marcus laughed as he stepped forward.
“You think we care if you shoot him? Shit, I’ll do it for you.” The man hoisted
his rifle up and aimed in Turk’s direction.

“I’m not kidding,” Turk said.

“Neither am I. So if you’re going to do it, do it.”

Turk didn’t move. Sarah’s hot breath hit his upper back in
quick spurts. He reached behind and gestured for her to take a few steps back.

“Now, you might have been tough enough to watch your brother
die, but I doubt the others inside that bunker could handle the same happening
to you. I know they’ll cave and open up for us. So, here’s how this is gonna
work. You go ahead and kill him. Or let me. Doesn’t matter. Then, when we get
inside your place, I’ll make you watch me slaughter every last person in there.
We’ll keep you alive for a few weeks afterward. I figure a guy like you has a
wife or a kid in there. You’d have to in order to sacrifice your brother,
right?”

Turk said nothing. Anger clawed through him. His finger
pressed against the trigger, removing any remaining slack.

“Now, you let my man go, and you’ll get the quick death
after we gain access. All your people will be allowed to leave peacefully. The
women will have an opportunity to stay of course.”

“Goddamn you,” Turk said. “I’m gonna fucking kill you…”
Something caught his attention.

“Oh, is that right? Well, you might succeed. Hell, it’d
probably be doing me a favor.” The guy laughed.

Turk didn’t. He barely heard the man speaking. Behind the
group opposite him, the forest moved like a rapidly flowing stream. He
squinted. His grip relaxed on the man. Faces emerged from the green and brown
canvas. Before he could shout an instinctive warning, two men flew backwards.
Their screams, high and shrill, pierced the quiet landscape. Turk imagined the
gaping wounds and spraying blood. It wasn’t hard to do. He’d seen it before.

The other men spun around. They found themselves face to
face with a horde of the afflicted. Some started firing. Others froze. They
didn’t last long. Those things knew to descend upon the weak.

“Run, Sarah.” Turk cocked his arm back and drove the pistol
into the side of the man’s head, letting him crumble to the ground. He turned
and sprinted toward Sarah. When he caught up, he grabbed her hand and pulled
her along. “You gotta go faster.”

“I’ll fall,” she said, panting.

“Can’t worry about that. I got you. Go all out.”

They raced through the woods. Turk knew those things were
capable of moving at a high rate of speed, even if just in short bursts. He
hadn’t seen it happen yet, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. Turk had no
intentions of being around when they did.

After a quarter-mile, Sarah stumbled and fell to the ground.
Turk’s sweaty hand couldn’t hang on. He stopped, turned her over and assessed
her for any injuries. Her knees, elbows and forearms were scraped, but not
severely. Her breathing was ragged. She gasped for air.

“Do you have asthma?” he asked.

She shook her head in short bursts.

“Get the wind knocked out of you?”

She nodded.

“Easy, Sarah.” He lifted her up and kept going, moving at a
fast pace. They needed distance.

“I’m fine now,” she said a couple minutes later. “You can
put me down.”

Turk set her down. He leaned his head back and took a few
deep breaths.

“You okay?” she asked.

“This kind of thing used to be a picnic for me,” he said.

She gave him a curious look.

“I was a SEAL for twenty years.”

She took a seat on a fallen log. “So that’s why you weren’t
afraid.”

Turk leaned back against a tree trunk. “No such thing. The
trick is controlling the fear. You let it take hold of you, and you’re a dead
man. Or woman.”

“Well,” she said, “I was scared and I couldn’t control it. I
ran ‘cause you said to run.”

Turk let the quiet pervade for a few moments. “What’s your
story, Sarah?”

“My story? Like, my life story?”

“Yeah, but starting a week or so ago.”

She kicked her legs and placed both hands palms down on the
log. “I guess we can start the day the world went crazy. I got kicked out of
college last year. My folks told me to stay in Charleston. They didn’t want me
back home. So I did the normal thing, waiting tables at two different
restaurants, one at breakfast, the other at night. I saw the reports right
before I left work. People started freaking out. I tried calling my parents,
but couldn’t get through. I hung around for a couple days, but it was obvious
things were worse than they first reported. I still couldn’t get through to my
parents. So some guy offered me a ride on the back of his Harley. Figured I’d
ride to Atlanta.”

“What happened that you ended up here?”

“We came across a group of those crazy people. You know the
ones who got all sick and wanted to eat everyone else? Anyway, the guy I was
with, he slowed down his motorcycle, told me to get off. I did. He went
charging toward the group. No clue what he was thinking. Two of them took the
brunt of the impact. The others piled on him. I hopped the guardrail and fled
into the woods. Thought, well, hell, I’ll just keep walking west. As long as I
kept the highway close by, I’d be all right. You know, that way I’d miss anyone
traveling on the road, and the woods would provide me with cover.” She drew her
legs in and crossed her arms over her knees. “These guys found me while I was
sleeping. I managed to get away. Then you came along. Now here I am.”

Turk nodded and said nothing.

“What about you?”

“Same.”

She laughed. “Come on, I told you my story. It’s your turn.”

“Some other time.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.” He paused a beat. “I’m not trying to
brush you off. I need to focus. And we need to get moving again.” He jabbed his
thumb over his shoulder. “We’re gonna head that way for a bit. I don’t think
those things are gonna follow us, but if they do, we’re better off not walking
in a straight line. Plus, that’ll help us circle back to my bunker.” He walked
over and held out his hand. “Ready?”

She nodded as she took his hand.

They walked quickly and quietly. Turk scanned the area ahead
and to the sides. Occasionally, he tossed a glance over his shoulder. They were
alone. At least, it seemed that way.

“Got any family?” she asked.

“Wife and daughter. You’ll meet them soon.”

“You sure you have room in this bunker for me?”

Turk thought about his brother’s room. “Yeah, we got room
for you. Even if we didn’t, you think I’d just leave you outside or send you on
your way to Atlanta?”

She shrugged. “You don’t know me from Adam. And you don’t
owe me anything.”

“You’re coming. That’s the end of it. Let’s just walk.”

They continued on, passing through a broad clearing filled
with high weeds. Turk glanced up at the darkening sky. They should have at
least two hours of sunlight left, yet the sky looked black. Something bad was
brewing over the Atlantic. How far away was the storm? Not much later, he heard
the first rumbles of thunder.

“We need to pick it up,” he said.

“How much further?” she asked.

“A mile or two,” he said. “I’ve got a good idea where we
are. Up ahead, the woods will thin out a bit. We need to stick to the edge, and
we’ll find it.”

They pushed further through the forest. The clouds broke up
for a few minutes, allowing the orange and red rays of the setting sun to
penetrate through the trees.

“What do we do if it gets dark?” Sarah asked.

“Stop,” Turk said. “Won’t do us any good to try and find it
in the middle of the night with no light.”

Sarah looked up. Turk followed her gaze. The clouds had
swallowed the sky again.

“What about that storm?” she asked.

Turk shrugged. “We try to stay out of the wind.”

“That’s your suggestion? You don’t have some Special Forces
trick up your sleeve?”

He laughed.

“What’s that?” she asked.

He stopped and drew his weapon. “What?”

“That smell. Is it smoke?”

Turk raised his nose into the air and took several short
breaths. At first, he didn’t notice it, but then he felt the tickle in his
throat and the sensation of watching a bonfire burn passed through him.

“What’s it coming from?” she asked.

“We need to find out,” Turk said. “If the woods are on fire,
we’re in trouble. Come on, this way.”

He led her toward the woods’ edge. The smell of smoke grew
heavier. A haze hovered in the air, thick enough that it became difficult to
see the tops of the trees. The further they walked, the lower the smoke got.

Thunder cracked above them. A tree branch splintered and
fell. Raindrops pelted the canopy of leaves above them. Light penetrated
through the haze and trees, indicating they’d reached the edge of the woods.

“There,” Turk said. “Can you go faster?”

“Yeah.”

They ran the remaining distance. The ever-present smoke
burned Turk’s lungs as he exerted himself. Instead of thinning out, it seemed
to get thicker. They reached the last line of trees. Turk sprinted toward the
familiar field. An orange blaze rose out from the ground. Dark smoke billowed
into the air. Embers fell throughout the clearing. Scorched grass glowed red
before fading to gray. The area hissed as raindrops fell from the dark clouds.