DEAD: Blood & Betrayal: Book 11 of the DEAD Series (16 page)

The riders apparently spotted the trailing elements and went into a wide formation; this put three riders up on each side of the gulley and four riding abreast down the middle. Chad was so intent on trying to watch the big picture that it took him a few seconds before he realized that one of the riders’ horses had started to veer away from the group. It was one of the three riding along the right side of the gulley as he faced them.

When the rider slid sideways and then fell from the back of the horse, disappearing in the grass that was tall enough to brush the bellies of the horses, that was when Chad realized that there was a problem. In a flash, everything went bad. From both sides, arrows flew and the ten riders were being taken down before any of them had a chance to draw his or her flare gun and signal that there was trouble.

Chad jumped to his feet and pulled his own. He jammed the parachute flare into the gun and aimed skyward. A sudden pain came from his leg. He looked down to see a wooden shaft jutting from his thigh.

“Ah-ah-ah,” a voice from behind him warned.

Chad spun to see three hooded figures at the base of little boulder. One of them had the drawstring of his bow pulled back, arrow aimed at him. Another was pulling another arrow from a quiver and the third had a wicked axe held across his or her chest. The metal caught the sun and gleamed brightly, sending a beam of light into Chad’s eyes.

His mind made a snap decision. Judging by how the riders had been treated, he did not expect that he would be allowed to live under any condition. These people were here with a deadly purpose. He had no idea if they were part of an invasion, or just a nasty group of raiders. He was not anxious to find out. Chad took his chances and flung himself backwards and into the creek below. As he fell, he prayed that, if he did strike one of the rocks jutting from the water, it killed him quickly.

***

Jody dropped down low in the grass. The place that Pitts called home was a farm in between the two settlements. It was actually a stopping place for some as they made their way back and forth. Pitts was no fool and recognized the need for a rest area of sorts. He had a small staff on hand who kept the farm going and manned grills and the like during the warmer months.

Jody was still blown away by this revelation. Pitts had been one of his most vocal and strongest supporters during that whole trial. He had even been the one to come over to Jody’s house one night and say that the only reasonable outcome had to be exile.

“Are you completely sure?” Jody whispered to Jan.

She nodded. “I was just as surprised when I heard where they were going to take her. I thought that fellow was on our side.”

“So did I,” Jody said, not hiding his disappointment.

“You guys want me to just stay here?” Tracy asked.

Jody turned to face the man. He did not want to hurt Tracy’s feelings, but he had already seen enough to know that the man was out of his element in a situation such as this. Tracy was not a fighter. It was not a bad thing, it was just not a good one at the moment.

“If they get out and run, you need to be here to see which way they go. If Jan and I do not make it out, you are to go back to Danny. He will know what to do.”

“I can believe that,” Jan muttered.

Without another word, Jody started for the house. There was no sign of any of the workers out doing anything in the massive garden. Jody had been out here a few days ago and arrived just after sunrise. Even at that early hour, the garden had been a beehive of activity.

“Something is wrong here.” Jody stopped.

He brought up his field glasses and scanned the house. It was actually quite modest considering. And there was an area with luxury RVs lined up for the summer staff to use as quarters. This was one of those things that had become like a rite of passage. Kids waited until they were old enough and then signed up to work out here. It was no secret that the man took excellent care of them. It had surprised Jody at first, but one night, Pitts had confided in him that he’d always wanted a family. When he made sergeant, he saw the men under his command as his children. It was nice, but had never filled the hole. Now, he had a fresh batch of faces every spring and summer.

“You mean how there is nobody working?”

Just as Jan spoke, a figure emerged from between a pair of the RVs. He was holding a long sword in one hand and a pistol-sized crossbow in the other. The light was not the greatest, and shadows played hell, but he swore he saw movement in the front window of one of the RVs.

He watched a little longer and counted five men patrolling the area of the vehicles. He also spotted one man on the second floor balcony that jutted from the right side of the house.

“We may be dealing with a seriously lopsided situation,” Jody whispered. “But I have an idea.”

He laid out his plan to Jan who nodded. After one final check of their gear, both separated and went their opposite directions. Jan was headed for the right side of the house and Jody was moving around to the rear of the RV area.

He was able to drop down into an irrigation ditch at one point and pick up his pace considerably. At last he came to the spot where he was almost dead center of the eleven RVs that were side by side. He peered up over the edge of the trench and saw one man leaning with his back up against the side of one of the vehicles. He was taking a piss!

Jody knew this was a perfect opportunity and moved to the left a little in order to be at the man’s back. He came in fast and quiet. Just as the man was stuffing himself back into his pants, Jody sprung; clamping one hand over the guy’s mouth, Jody drove his blade into the kidney. The man went stiff and then slumped to the ground.

As quick as possible, Jody rolled the man under the nearest RV and then crawled under himself. He scanned until he located the other four sets of legs. He judged where each one was and picked out the one farthest from the rest. He knew it would be tricky from here on out, and realistically, he only gave himself a fifty-fifty chance at success.

The next sentry walked past and Jody rolled out quietly from under the RV. He was just about to attack when the person suddenly spun to face him! It was a young woman, maybe early twenties at best. On sheer reflex, Jody thrust his blade forward. It plunged into the woman’s throat. She coughed and gagged on her own blood. It was not loud, but it was apparently enough. He heard somebody call out. A second later, footsteps were coming on the run.

Jody had just enough time to drop, roll, and drag the body under the RV when a set of legs came into view. He held his breath until they passed. As soon as they did, Jody looked around and then came out the other side. He was just rising to his feet when a voice made him freeze.

“Hands in the air, Mister Rafe,” a man said with unveiled menace. “Any move other than that and I plug you right here, right now.”

Jody did as he was told. He laced his fingers behind his head and waited for whoever this was to approach. For the life of him, he could not place the voice.

“On your knees, you know the drill.”

Jody did as he was told. There was a distinct jangle that he recognized as handcuffs being pulled out. He was considering the likelihood that he could drop and kick his feet out when his captor approached. He knew that he was dead either way. Why not go out fighting?

He spied the shadow of his captor and prepared to give it his best effort when the person behind him made a strange grunt. There was a brief second where Jody was deciding whether to turn around, but before he could act, a body landed hard beside him. The person’s head was turned at an awkward angle; glazed eyes stared at him with the blankness of death.

“You Jody Rafe?” another unfamiliar voice asked.

***

Entry Twenty-nine—

My back is killing me. I spent all day today helping a small settlement with the repairs on their main gate. A herd of a few thousand undead hit them and the sheer weight of them eventually folded down the wall as well as the gate itself blowing wide open.

On the plus side, they saw my girl. She was using the name “Mary” when she arrived. I guess she managed to move beyond the area where her reputation is well known. I was almost as surprised to discover that I am almost to Old Seattle. According to these people, I could reach it as early as the day after tomorrow.

That got me to wondering if perhaps Seattle might be her target. Lots of old buildings are still standing. Sure, they are not up to code any longer, but who cares about that sort of thing these days? Also, there are at least forty settlements in and around that area. The zombies that once roamed the streets have all moved on and left behind plenty of places for people to shore up and settle. The old city sat in between the Cascades and the Olympics. There is plenty of water and an abundance of islands that are supposed to be populated with fairly large communities by the modern standard.

She would have basically an endless supply of children in a place like this. It is no secret that the clans in this region are a warlike bunch. The area has established trade, but everybody seems to have taken sides in one dispute or another.

Supposedly it goes back to some old dust up between some of the soldiers at Fort Lewis and some of the sailors at Bangor. Toss in some Marines for good measure and you have a built in rivalry. As settlements were established, those divisions became part of the landscape.

She might be able to operate for quite a while before the word crossed the battle lines. Likely, these groups would blame each other. She would become secondary.

I know I am giving her a lot of credit. However, one thing that I have learned over the years is that crazy does not always equate to being stupid. She might know exactly what she is doing. It is equally likely that she is selling the children, using them as barter, or any number of possibilities.

I have to find her soon and put her down.

Entry Thirty—

I was so damn close that I could taste it.

She was in this very settlement just yesterday. She left this morning. On the sad side, while her description brought instant recognition, nobody recalled seeing a child. I also think that the only reason she was not still here or had this place in an uproar is because the youngest child is almost two. Apparently there has been a span of infertility here.

It is funny how folks start believing in things like curses and other nonsense so easily. They have been holding fertility rituals every day for almost five months according to one young man. (Basically orgies if you want to call things as you see them.)

Judging by what I saw, there might be something wrong with the gene pool. This place reminded me too much of that little spot that Burt Reynolds and his gang stopped at before they went off on that damn fool canoe trip. I swear, if I would have walked past a kid on the porch with a banjo, I would not have been in the tiniest bit surprised.

Fortunately, they did not live up to all of the stereotypes that movie created. Nobody was the least bit mean, and not once was I asked to squeal like a pig.

I only stayed long enough to get some supplies and then I was back out in the woods. I saw one of the first zombies that I have seen in a week. It was just one, and the thing almost had me feeling sorry for it. It was caught in some think vines and had fallen down into a stream. It could not quite lift its head out from the water, and I swear that it looked like it was actually blown up a bit like a water balloon. It was at the bottom of a very steep hill or I might have gone over and ended the poor thing’s misery.

My camp for tonight is up on top of a big green water tower that could have been mistaken for one of the alien invaders from
War of the Worlds
. I can see fires of various sizes burning in every direction. Even more impressive, I can see that many of the skyscrapers of the old Seattle skyline have become home to probably more people than I have seen in all my travels. It is like the stars have come down from the sky.

Things could get really difficult or I could strike gold. I will be spreading the word about “Mary” to each community that I stop in. That way, even if I do not actually catch her, these people can be aware that a very nasty wolf is hiding in sheep’s clothing.

Tonight, I will get some rest. I have this feeling that it is about to get crazy. And while it could just be nerves or whatever, I always make it a point to trust what I feel. I think we got too far away from that before. We relied on people to tell us how we should feel instead of looking inside ourselves and making that decision.

11

The Geek’s Wife Awakens

Catie’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around and was amazed to discover that she was in a clean white room with a bed, water pitcher, basin, and a window that looked outside and allowed all of the sunlight to pour in. However, she was more surprised at what she did not discover. There were no bars on her window. She was not chained or manacled, and the door to her room was wide open, revealing an equally clean hallway.

At that moment, a woman wearing what looked like a short-sleeved white uniform walked past. She had a clipboard in hand and was busy scrawling something. Catie tried to sit up and call out, but the attempt left her dizzy and she only managed a moan. That was apparently sufficient. A moment later, the woman was beside her bed, leaning down with a peaceful smile on her face.

“Catie Dreon, nice of you to join us,” the woman took Catie’s arm and made a check of her pulse and then attached a cuff and took her blood pressure. She shook a thermometer and stuck it in Catie’s mouth; all with amazing proficiency and a sense of ease that made Catie lie back and allow all of this to happen without protest.

Catie looked the woman up and down. She was of middle age with short brown hair, muddy brown eyes, a few creases on her face where wrinkles were just beginning to take hold, and a gentle smile. Her hands were soft and warm, no signs of callous. It was when she looked down at the woman’s hands that she saw the long healed scar of a bite on the forearm.

“So, how are we feeling?” the woman asked.

Catie was still staring at the woman’s scar. She had to tear her eyes away to meet this stranger’s gaze.

“Huh?” Catie asked, still not entirely sure what to think.

“I asked how we are feeling,” the woman repeated without the slightest trace of annoyance. If anything, she smiled even brighter.

“Who the hell are you?” Catie asked, making a point of easing up very slowly into a sitting position.

“I am the floor nurse. My name is Bonny Tate. I was bitten over four years ago and got run out of my home because I was considered a danger to others. I was taken in by a group of Elliot’s men about six days later when they found me trapped on the roof of an apartment complex that I had spent the night in and woke to find surrounded by about a hundred walkers.” The nurse sat down in the chair beside Catie’s bed as she recounted her tale. “I studied to be a nurse and now I am the day shift floor supervisor here. I like long walks in the park and sunsets.” Bonny winked. “Your turn.”

Catie eyed the woman. She was having a difficult time with the situation. Worse, she could only remember bits and pieces of the meeting with Elliot. She did know that, at some point, she had gone a bit (for lack of a better term) cuckoo.

“My name is Catie. Catie Dreon. I came here from out west with my husband. We were checking to see if any of his family managed to survive. After that, we got a little caught up in a nasty bunch of crap and he was brutally killed. I was looking for a safe place to have my child when I fell into all of this.” Catie threw her arms out to gesture at the room.

“Well, Catie, I have some very good news for you. Since you are visibly showing signs of being pregnant, we already gave you a full checkup and both you and the baby seem fine. There was a bit of concern over the sedative that was used when you had your…” Bonny’s voice trailed off for a second and her smile faltered, but she recovered fast enough that Catie would have probably missed it if she had not been staring right at the woman, “…episode. The good news is that it did not seem to cause any problems that we could see. Both hearts are beating just fine.”

Catie eyed the woman even closer now. She was being pleasant, and even downright kind. That was simply not at all what she expected. Granted, she did not really know what she did expect; all she knew for sure was that it was not this. It was too…
Stepford
.

“What’s the game?” Catie finally asked. “If I get up and try to leave the room, what happens?”

“Well,” Bonny pushed her chair back and stood, “you will certainly draw attention. Those hospital gowns don’t cover much in back, so everybody will get a good look at your butt.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Catie growled.

“If you would like your clothes, I will get them for you and you are certainly free to go. Elliot did wish to be made aware when you recovered, so I will send somebody to let him know. Beyond that, there is nothing holding you here.”

Catie made a face. She was having a hard time believing any of this. Another woman came to the door and stuck her head inside while Catie was still trying to figure out what exactly to say or do next.

“Should I bring a tray?” the woman asked.

Bonny turned to Catie with a raised eyebrow. “Are you hungry? Breakfast was just served. It would be nothing to grab you something to eat before you go.”

Catie wanted to refuse, but her stomach had other plans and answered for her with a gurgle. She nodded, feeling betrayed by her own hunger. When the tray arrived a moment later, she wolfed it down and discovered that she could have probably taken on another of equal portion.

“I will have somebody bring you a sack lunch before you head over to meet with Elliot,” Bonny said as she left the room once Catie’s clothes were delivered.

Despite everything, Catie was still surprised when she discovered that her clothing was freshly washed and a rip on one of the legs of her jeans had been stitched up. She was not exactly sure how to take things, and her confusion was actually increasing. After all, these were the bad guys. She recalled that much of the dilemma that she had struggled with as she spiraled into some sort of mental breakdown.

Once she was dressed, she stepped out of the room and into the hallway. The first room that she passed contained a woman. She was holding a newborn up and nursing. An instant sense of caution hit. She remembered hearing that women in the Beastie Boy compound were being used as baby factories. She had taken three steps past the room when she stopped in her tracks.

Spinning on her heel, Catie walked back to the room. Each step, she waited to hear somebody demand that she stop; nothing of the sort happened, and she ducked inside the room. The woman looked up at her and her face was instantly that of confusion.

“You aren’t one of the nurses,” the woman said, her voice a bit shaky.

“No, my name is Catie.” She took one more step inside and then stopped when she saw obvious concern crease the mother’s brow as she clutched her child just a little tighter. “And I am not here to cause any trouble, I just haven’t seen a baby in a while. I am expecting my own before long.” She pulled her heavy jacket open and ran a hand on her own belly for emphasis.

The woman relaxed visibly. She eased her baby back up to allow the infant to resume nursing. “He was born last night. His name is Jonathan.”

Catie smiled and made a tentative motion forward. When the mother nodded, she came up beside the bed and looked down at the mother and child. From her position, she could see the horrible scarring around the collar bone, but her eyes were more interested in the baby. The child was beautiful. He looked pink and absolutely perfect.

“He’s gorgeous,” Catie breathed. She reached a tentative hand and brushed aside a lock of fine, curly blond hair. “Congratulations.”

Catie turned and left. She did not see anybody try to stop her or even shoot her a questioning look. She took the stairs and was surprised to discover that she was on the sixth floor of a building. She hadn’t taken the time to even look out her window and had not realized she was that high up.

She received another surprise on the bottom floor; the stairs were gone. There was a series of rungs bolted to the wall. Also, there was some sort of ramp mounted on the wall that could easily be removed. That had to be for anybody unable to use the metal rungs.

The entire bottom floor was cleaned out. The windows were gone, but there were huge steel shutters that could be drawn and a massive grate that looked like a king-sized jail cell door that could be pulled shut.

When she walked outside, the warmth of the sun was verging on actually being hot. She turned to get a better look at the building that she exited and was astounded to see that it was well over a dozen stories high. Turning her attention back to this compound, Catie saw only a few people moving, and all with a very deliberate purpose. This was in stark contrast to the multitude of wandering citizens of Montague Village. Another thing that she noticed was that, while there were not many actual people on the street, every single one of them wore a weapon.

Then she realized something else about her surroundings. This was very likely what had once been downtown Chattanooga. None of the buildings had any real discernable markings, but there was no mistaking the feel of the place as having once been a city center. Also, and there was a chance that they might just not be in sight at the moment, but she did not see anything like a fence. The entire area looked open.

Catie unfolded the piece of paper that Bonny had given her when she handed over her clothing. It was a hand drawn map as to where she needed to go to find Elliot. She reached a building that had no visible entrance. It was shorter and a bit squat by comparison to many of the others, and it sat across the street from what had once been a large, open parking lot. There was a massive overhang that jutted from this structure, and the entire front of it was sealed off with the same sort of heavy steel grating. It sort of looked like they had cut the sides off of train cars and then bolted them to the front of the building.

“You Catie Dreon?” a voice called from above.

Catie craned her neck and had to shield her eyes to see the woman up on the roof of the building. “Yeah,” she hollered.

A rope ladder was tossed over. She was about to protest. Climbing a rope ladder was no easy task. If it just hung in space, it would wiggle and move all over the place. She was concerned about her condition, but she was also not entirely confident that she had shrugged off all of the effects of having been sedated. To fall from any height to the concrete below would be painful if not fatal.

“Clip the bottom into those eye bolts,” the woman called down as if she could read Catie’s thoughts.

Catie saw the bolts jutting from the concrete. Sure enough, the bottom of the rope ladder had heavy clasps. She did as instructed and climbed up to the roof.

“Elliot is inside, not hard to find, he will be in the pit.” Catie’s face must have given her away. The woman chuckled and actually flushed a bit. “The reading pit. It is like some sort of ode to the Seventies. Bean bag chairs and crap all piled around with books everywhere.”

“Books?” Catie almost spat the word.

“Oh, this place used to be the library. It is still mostly intact. Not a lot of people made runs on libraries when the zombies started wiping out civilization. Strange, I still remember being at a store. Folks were grabbing food and all that stuff, but I actually saw some idiots hauling big screen televisions and video games. Can you believe it? This place? Not even a single smear of blood on the floor. So not only did it never get looted, but nobody tried to hide here. Sort of shows you how screwed up priorities were back in the day, doesn’t it?”

Catie could not help but laugh. She walked to the metal door that allowed her to enter, casting a glance over her shoulder at the woman just before she ducked inside. Here was another woman; granted, she was probably nearing or at the end of her child bearing years, but her presence did not fall in line with the stories she’d been fed.

Catie was only halfway down the stairs when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She looked down to see Kalisha running for the corkscrew stairs that she was currently descending. She also spied Caleb. The boy was sitting in an area that had to be the “pit” of reference. Elliot was sprawled on a massive, brown bean bag chair, book in hand.

Catie did not hide her smile. She hurried down and met Kalisha who had sprinted to reach the second floor where the stairs deposited Catie amidst rows of tall bookshelves.

“Can you believe this place?” the little girl said, throwing her arms up and spinning around to indicate the massive open library.

“It is certainly something,” Catie admitted.

She disentangled herself from the second hug and then followed to the stairs and down to where Elliot waited. As she did, Catie’s eyes were scanning the room for any signs of trouble. She did not see anything extraordinary. There were men and women wandering the rows of books, some thumbing through one title or another, but nobody seemed to be paying her even the slightest bit of attention.

Catie walked up to Elliot and stood, her eyes still habitually scanning everywhere. Despite the good vibrations emanating from just about everybody and in every situation, she could not help but be cautious.

“Please, Catie, have a seat.” Elliot gestured for any of the bean bag chairs scattered about. A few were occupied, but there were at least twenty that were not.

Catie lowered herself into one of the squishy chairs and had to wriggle and squirm until she was in some semblance of a seated position where she could see Elliot. The man did not make any attempt to hide the bemused smile on his face. Caleb was actually giggling and Kalisha had her hands over her mouth and was looking at something that had suddenly caught her interest over her left shoulder.