Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) (24 page)

“What is this?” Sarah asked, clutching to Turk’s arm when
she caught up to him.

“Home.” Tears fell from the corners of his eyes as he
thought about his friends and family trapped inside. Without knowing the source
of the fire, it was impossible to tell if they were safe, burned alive, or
choking to death.

The winds picked up. The fire whipped around. Thunder and
lightning drew nearer at a more consistent rate. The rain grew heavier.

Sarah pulled at Turk’s arm. “We have to seek shelter.”

Turk didn’t budge.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she said.

He turned toward her.

She grabbed his arms. “There’s nothing you can do, Turk. The
storm will pass. We’ll come back after and figure it out. Okay?”

The rain washed the tears off his cheeks. He nodded, grabbed
Sarah’s hand and led her away from the blazing inferno. Marcus had dragged them
all to hell after all.

“About a quarter mile ahead there’s an old shed. We can stay
in there. We’ll be exposed, but at least the elements won’t get us. Unless the
thing falls down, I guess.”

They ran past the blaze. Turk avoided looking at it.
Lightning clawed across the sky above and the thunder cracked, rumbling the
ground. The wind swirled around them. They reached the weathered shed. The
front door flung back and forth, banging against the galvanized steel siding.

Turk went inside, gun drawn, and cleared it. “Come on in.”

Sarah entered, pulling the door shut behind her. It didn’t
latch. Turk threaded a rope around the handle and removed any slack. Fading
light peeked in through the painted over windows.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said, wrapping her arms around him.

Unable to avoid thinking about the probable outcome, Turk
buried his face into her shoulder and cried.

“That’s it, just beyond those trees.”

Sean followed Derrick’s outstretched hand and saw a faint
glow through the tangle of leaves and branches. Shadowy figures lined the path.
His mind matrixed them into humans.

“You’re sure no one is gonna be between here and that first
guard?” Sean asked.

Derrick said, “Yeah, as sure as I can be.”

“All right. I don’t want to take any chances from this point
on, so lift your arms in the air.” Sean ducked his head and pulled the MP7 away
from his body. He pressed the barrel into Derrick’s back, between the shoulder
blades.

“This your plan?” Derrick asked.

“Yeah, for now,” Sean said.

“Just don’t shoot.”

“Can’t promise that.”

“What?”

“Relax, Derrick. You’re my bargaining chip. I’m not going to
shoot you.” Sean paused. “Unless I have to,” he added.

“Not funny.”

“Who says I was trying to be funny? Anyway, time to shut up
and move.”

Derrick led the way with Sean close behind, trusting the man
to lead them safely through the woods. He remained focused on the environment
around them. Despite Sean’s apprehension, nothing stood out. Although he feared
he’d lost his edge long ago.

They reached the clearing. The two men dropped to the
ground.

“I want you to go out there,” Sean said. “You’re gonna say
your partner is back there, hurt. He collapsed. You need help.”

“Okay. Then what?”

“Lead him to me.”

“You gonna kill him?”

“No, just put him to sleep for a bit.”

Derrick stared at Sean, chewing the inside of his cheek. His
mouth twisted to the right. “All right. I’m ready whenever.”

“Go,” Sean said.

Derrick rose, walked to the left about twenty feet and then
made his way to the man standing watch. Sean was impressed with the way the man
staggered and stumbled, nearly falling as he reached the sentry.

Sean reached down and stroked Marley’s fur to soothe him. He
kept his weapon aimed at the guard. If Derrick had plans to sell him out, he’d
do it now. Sean moved to his left, taking cover behind a tree. This gave him a
head start if things went wrong.

The two men interacted animatedly. The guard tried to turn
and walk toward the camp. Derrick grabbed his arm, spun him and pulled him
toward the woods. Even at this distance, in the dark, Sean could see the
serious look on Derrick’s face. The guard bought in and both men headed toward
the spot Sean had been hiding.

Sean crept from one tree to another, positioning himself
closer to the ambush spot.

“Where’s this guy?” the guard said.

“Dammit,” Derrick said. “He must’ve ran. I swear he was
here. Son of a bitch took me from his house all the way out here, through the
woods and all.”

Son of a bitch
, Sean thought.

He emerged from behind the tree, hidden in the darkness. The
dog followed.

“Don’t either of you move a fucking muscle,” Sean said.

Both men straightened up.

“Hands up, drop to your knees, face on the ground.”

Neither man moved. They glanced at each other.

“For Christ’s sake, Derrick, it won’t take much to get me to
pull this trigger. I can hide before the rest of your men can get out here.”

Derrick dropped to his knees and bent forward.

“Who the hell are you?” the guard said.

Sean rushed toward the guy. He slammed the stock of his MP7
into the side of the man’s head. The guy crumpled over. Sean lifted his weapon
and drove it down again. Warm blood sprayed, coating his arms.

“I… I… I—“

“Shut up, Derrick,” Sean said, grabbing the man by his hair
and pulling him up. “You lost every ounce of trust I had in you. If someone
needs to die…” Sean glanced at the motionless body on the ground. “If someone
else needs to die, it’ll be you. Now put your damn hands behind your head and
let’s go.”

They stepped into the clearing and made their way toward
camp. A couple dozen tents filled the area. Some were dark. Others were lit up.
A quiet murmur filled the air. It smelled of steak and body odor. Sean’s
stomach was conflicted.

Beyond the tent area, wooden skeletons rose out of the
ground.

“What’re those?” Sean asked.

“New housing, prison, shelters,” Derrick said.

“Where’s your dad?”

“Straight ahead.”

They pushed forward. A man ran toward them, stopping when he
realized what was going on. Sean held a finger to his lips. The man stuck his
hands in the air. Sean gestured for him to get down on the ground. The guy did.

They climbed a set of steps. Wood popped and cracked under
their feet. Sean’s boots thumped as he crossed the deck to the door. He turned
so that his back was against the wall. He looked back at the area they had
passed through. The guy still lay on the ground. There was no one else nearby.
Marley took a seat at the edge of the porch, watching the camp.

“Open the door,” Sean said.

Derrick reached for the handle. “Locked.”

“Knock.”

Derrick did. A few moments later Sean felt vibrations
through the wood. The lock clicked, the door cracked open, and a light shined
in their direction. Derrick’s head blocked it out.

“What are you doing out there, son?” a man asked.

Sean pushed off the wall and drove his shoulder into the
middle of Derrick’s back. They hit the door, knocking it open and sending
Derrick’s father to the ground. Derrick tripped over the man. Sean lost his
balance and stumbled. He tucked his right arm to his body and rolled off his
side into a sitting position. The men were between him and the open door. He
had to act before one of them got out and alerted the others.

Derrick’s father rose, glanced back at Sean and then headed
toward the door.

“I’ll shoot,” Sean said. “And I won’t miss.”

The man froze. He reached out and closed the door. The air
turned still. The man turned to face Sean.

Derrick got to his knees. He reached out for his father. The
man slapped his son’s hands away. Derrick crawled toward the wall. Sean felt
bad for a moment, having shamed the man in front of his father.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

“Someone you fucked with,” Sean replied.

“I messed with no one. My guys went out to investigate a
property we felt might contain survivors.”

“Survivors my ass. You came out there, guns drawn, ready to
kill whoever got in your way so you could steal whatever they had.”

The man sighed, and said, “You misinterpreted what we were
doing there.”

Sean shook his head. “Wasn’t me. My wife is the one who
killed your men. All but one. I’m responsible, too.”

“What do you want now?”

“Give me your name first.”

“Phil.”

“Last name?”

“Do those matter anymore?”

He had a point. “Phil, your men took my daughter and my
friend. I want them back.”

“Or you’re going to shoot me, right?”

“You, your son, every last person here if you don’t hand
them over.”

Phil gestured toward the table. “May I?”

Sean nodded. He followed Phil with his MP7 as the man
crossed the room, turned a chair around and sat down.

“Join your father, Derrick,” Sean said.

Derrick rose and did as instructed, taking a seat next to
Phil. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

Phil lifted a hand. “It’s okay, son. I can see why this man
overtook you.” Phil gestured toward Sean’s arm at the tattoo peeking out from
under his sleeve. “What branch and how long?”

“Air Force, twelve years. Was forced to retire eight years
ago.”

“Combat control?” Phil asked.

“PJ,” Sean replied.

Phil nodded approvingly. He reached his arm across his body
and pulled up his sleeve. “Green Beret. Twelve years active, eight reserves.
Left on my own accord about eight years ago.”

“What about the other men here?”

Phil shrugged. “A couple were with me back then. Most are
locals. Doesn’t make them any less dangerous, or helpful.”

Sean said nothing.

“What region?”

“Everywhere,” Sean said. “Mostly Africa at the end.”

“Ah, Africa. My brother was lost in Africa.”

“You’re not trying to stall me, are you?” Sean said, adding
a gesture with his gun.

“No, I’m trying to make a point about the hellish state the
world is in now.”

Sean felt his gut tighten. “All right.”

“My brother was Spec Ops, too. Delta Force, to be exact. He
went down to Nigeria and never came back. They sent a team of Rangers out there
to do an extraction. I asked to go along, but they denied me. Maybe for the
better, ‘cause those Rangers never came back. Maybe for the worse, too. I think
that if I’d been there, this stuff going on now wouldn’t be happening.”

“Why’s that?” Sean said.

“Few years back, I got some information on what happened to
my brother. Turns out, they’d stumbled upon some hidden facility. A medical
testing facility. I guess stumbled is the wrong word. They were sent there.
Someone here knew all about it. They knew that a mess had grown out of control.
And you know, if you don’t clean up a mess like that, it has a way of seeping
in deep and causing problems that might not show up until years later. So, they
sent those men in there. Sent them to their deaths is what they did.”

Sean said nothing.

Phil narrowed his eyes. “I got the papers back there if you
don’t believe me.”

Sean shrugged. “Didn’t say I don’t believe you. What
happened next?”

“Like I said, a company of Rangers were sent in. They
failed, too. Whatever was down in that facility was bad, bad, bad. Eventually,
someone called in the bombers. They carpet bombed the whole damn area without a
thought to the men that were stuck down there. They could have been imprisoned,
you know. Instead of sending a thousand troops, they dropped five hundred pound
bombs. Yes sir, that’s what they did.”

“The men were all dead,” Sean said.

“That was the point of the bombers, I’d presume,” Phil said.

“They were dead before the bombs hit.”

“Oh, yeah? And how would you know that?”

“I was there.”

Phil leaned forward. “What do you mean you were there?”

“After Delta was captured, and the Rangers didn’t respond,
they sent SEAL Team 8 out. My partner and I joined them. The mission was
labeled rescue and recovery, but it became apparent that there was no rescue
involved. On the way to the first rendezvous, Jules and I ran into one of those
things. We called them the afflicted, mostly. They reminded me of zombies from
old horror flicks, and like you saw on television just a couple weeks ago. Only
these things were more like monsters, or an alien species. Some could run
faster than you could track. They could jump. Their eyes glowed bright and
intense. Your file mention any of that?”

Phil nodded.

Sean continued. “We lost two men before we even got inside.
The rest fell shortly after that. Some were sick, others butchered. I had to
shoot my best friend in the head because he’d fallen sick.”

“We got something in common then.”

“More than you realize. The bomb didn’t kill all those men,
Phil. The Rangers were dead. They didn’t last long. Their bodies littered the
hallways. The guys from Delta had been taken down to a lower level. They were
imprisoned in a cell. Those things surrounded them. A group of SEALs had
penetrated the level above and made visual contact. I was told the floor below
had over a thousand afflicted trying to get at the Delta guys. They broke
through the first barrier of the cell block housing our guys.” He paused and
studied Phil for a moment. “They knew it was over. And they’d seen what those
things did to people. They didn’t want it to happen to them. They asked to be
given a warrior’s death. They banded together, turned their back to the SEALs
and waited for the end, holding each other up until the last one fell.”

Phil ran his thumb and forefinger down his cheeks and over
his beard, pinching the hair together at his chin. “Thank you, PJ. That answers
a lot of questions.”

Sean nodded. “Welcome.”

“I have one more, though.”

“My name?”

“Are you Sean or Julian.”

“Sean Ryder.”

“I was wrong,” Phil said.

“About what?”

“Last names do mean something.” He paused for a beat, then
turned to his son. “Derrick, go to the door and yell for Ralph. Sean, you can
sit next to me and hold your gun to my head. I’m going to send my best man to
get your daughter and your friend. You’re free to become a member of our
community. I’ve got a spare room in here you all can share.”

“I’ve got somewhere to go,” Sean said.

“Understood. I’m not going to keep you here any longer than
you want to be. We’ll give you one of our ATVs, a map of the backwoods here,
some gas, and whatever supplies you can carry.”

Sean nodded. The man had flipped too soon, too easily. No
bond over an event that happened eight years ago could be that strong.

Could it?