DEAD: Reborn (22 page)

12

Rock,
Geek, Hard Place

Kevin turned slowly in a full circle. There were too many places that the zombie boy could have vanished. He looked at the ground, but it was no help. He could see the signs of his little scuffle with the mountain of a zombie that lay dead just a few feet away, but of that filthy little boy…nothing.

Kevin toed at a few piles of garbage and even peeked under and inside a few knocked over garbage cans. There was no sign of the boy. After grabbing his ax, Kevin moved with even more caution towards the silo.

Inside the huge cylindrical space was the box. It was still sitting against the far wall. Scooping up some of the dried out corn husks, Kevin made a little mound a few feet away from the unstable dynamite. Creating a ‘bridge’ from still more of the dried out material, Kevin fished out his piece of flint. Checking for about the tenth time to ensure that the door was still open and that there was no scary little zombie boy standing in it, Kevin sparked a flame and, once he was certain that it had caught, ran as fast as his prosthetic foot could carry him.

Just before he emerged back into the sun, his mind screamed in warning,
This is where the zombie lunges out and grabs you just as you exit, you idiot!
He almost fell when he exited as his body and mind could not quite agree on whether he should be running or stopping. Thankfully there was nothing nefarious awaiting his appearance.

Moving down the almost completely obscured dirt road that would be fully reclaimed by Mother Nature this time next year, Kevin made it almost to the paved road that woul
d take him back to the others by the time the explosion came. When it did, it was far bigger than he had anticipated.

His eyes tracked skyward
while the fireball rolled up as it seemed to be in a race with the smoke. Then he saw the first large pieces of debris; some of it headed his way!
This is like the bomb in Heath all over again
, his mind scolded.

Fortunately, most of the larger pieces fell way short. A few of the other chunks rained down nearby, but Kevin had managed to find refuge under an old model pickup truck that sat roadside on four flat tires but rem
ained high enough for him to scurry beneath as the pieces of sheet metal began crashing down.

Just as Kevin crawled out
, once he was sure the sky had disgorged its last bits and pieces of the silo, he froze. Popping up out of the ditch from across the road was that filthy zombie child from before. With purpose, Kevin strode across the street, machete raised.

The face that turned up to him almost caused him to freeze. It was like any other zombie, but for the briefest of seconds, he was sure that he saw something register on its face. Could it have been fear? The machete came down and split the head a
lmost in two.

Turning around, he half-expected to find himself surrounded my more of the little monsters. He was only partially relieved when there was nothing. But that was only partially true. Fro
m all directions, he could see singles and small groups of the undead converging on this newest stimulus. Considering the size of the blast, he expected that they would be coming for miles.

He was within sight of the cemetery when he heard the first scream. Quickening his pace, Kevin’s eyes scanned for two things: movement and a place to hide. He found a clump of shrubs about ten yards from the fence that surrounded the
cemetery and tried to see anybody or anything.

It seemed that everybody was on the far side of the ridge. He could barely make out the roof of the stone crypt entrance; Catie was no longer perched up there; not that he actually had expected her to have remaine
d up there the entire time he was gone.

Mo
ving cautiously, he could hear more yelling, but it was now sounding like taunts and jeers. Yet, every few seconds, there would be a shout that sounded like somebody in pain. As he climbed the fence, he was almost positive that he heard Heather yelling “Stop it!”

He hurried up the long, gentle incline and reached the top prepared for a fight. He had no idea with who or what, but his weapon was drawn and he thought he was ready for anything.

He wasn’t.

Hanging upside down from one of the blackened mon
uments that looked like an angel with spread wings was a man. His hands were bound and he was tied by the ankles, his head about three or four inches from the ground. Surrounding him and in a frenzy were several of the children. Many of them held long sticks or clubs and were batting at the man like a meat piñata.

Heather looked frantic
, running from one child to the next, trying to get them to stop. Aleah was doing the same, but Catie was nowhere to be seen. Sean was in the midst of the children, egging them on.

Kevin cleared his throat as he made his way down the hill. Nobody seemed to notice…or care. A loud crack was followed by a grunt of pain as one of the kids connected solidly with the ribs of the man. This elicited cheers from the group and more pleas from Heather and Aleah.

“Stop,” Kevin called over the din.

Both women tur
ned, looks of relief washing over their faces instantly. However, the children showed no signs of stopping. None of them so much as even glanced in his direction.

One of the girls, perhaps twelve years old, snatched the heavy stick that was easily as long as she was tall and almost as big around as her leg, from the boy who had just scored the hit. She swung with a form that would have made a major league baseball player proud. Kevin felt himself wince
, and a little flash of sympathy pain bloomed in his groin. The man yelped, but that was quickly drowned as he vomited.

“ENOUGH!” Kevin shouted. This time, heads turned.

The kids initially looked like typical children caught in the act of committing some form of mischief. They turned to Sean and back to Kevin. By the time they had returned their attention to him, they wore the same face their leader possessed: defiance.

“This is one of
them
!” Sean spat.

“Says who?” Kevin waded into the group of kids surroun
ding Sean and the man hanging from the tree.

“He says!” Sean spat, kicking at the man’s head for emph
asis.

“That’s not all he was saying,” Heather spoke quickly, for
cing herself in between Sean and the target of his rage.

“He was lying!” Sean insisted, but Kevin actually saw something in the boy’s face that gave away his own lie.

“What all did he say?” Kevin asked.

“He said that one of their foraging parties was supposedly doing things that the others were not aware of, and that those men were being dealt with when the compound came under a
ttack,” Heather started in when nobody else seemed to want to talk. “He said that there were eighty-seven men and women—three that were pregnant—in that compound. Only three of them managed to actually get out, but that he did not know if the other two were still alive because they’d been forced to split while running for their lives.”

“These are the people who killed Fish…did those terrible things to—” Sean was almost in tears.

“Stop!” Kevin barked. “Are you saying that this person, the one you are doing this to, that he was one of them?”

“Well…” Sean glanced at the man and then his eyes went to the
ground. “I didn’t see any of them, but—”

“No, you don’t get to say ‘but’ when you are doing to this man what you are doing. You are either sure or you are not. Which is it?”

“I…” Sean’s voice ended in a strangled sob. Heather quickly rushed to him and wrapped the young man in her arms.

“K-k-kid,” the man coughed, causing Kevin to jump. He hadn’t realized how close he’d moved to the stranger. “Some of m-m-my men…what they did…” He began to cough again, blood flecking his li
ps and then beginning to trickle up his face and drip in a patter that suddenly sounded like thunder in Kevin’s ears.

“Cut him down,” Kevin ordered.

The children standing around simply stared at him. A few looked to Sean who was still being held and comforted by Heather.

“NOW!” Kevin ordered.

The spell broke and several of the children began fumbling over each other to cut the man down. None of them thought to try and catch him; or maybe they did but decided against it. The man landed with a thud and a loud exhale as all the air was forced from his lungs.

Kevin moved in amongst them, gently setting them aside and kneeling beside the man. Kevin winced at the ruin that was his face. He looked up when a rag was shoved almost in his
own face. Deanna held out the wet cloth with a look that Kevin read as embarrassed.

“Thank you,” he said with a nod and tried to wipe the man’s face as gently as possible.

“You say that some of your men attacked these kids while out on a supply run?” Kevin asked. “How did you find out, and is that what we heard this morning from inside your compound?”

“A couple of Derek’s boys were drunk and one of them started running their mouth. Said something about snagging some girl and how her boyfriend tried to play the hero.”

“Fish,” a voice sobbed from behind Kevin.

“He said something about a camp that was ripe for the plucking…one of my guys heard it and told me. Derek had only been with us about a mo
nth. That was why he was sent out on a supply run with his little gang of fellow survivors. First thing we establish is if a person is ready to help the group. He came back with a helluva haul. We didn’t even think to ask—”

“That was our stuff!” Sean growled. “We had to leave
almost everything behind when those bad men came.”

“And when we found out about it…we were going to find you…bring it back. We dealt with Derek and his gang.” The man was able to open one eye. Kevin was amazed at how blue it looked amidst all the purple bruising and the blood.

“Liar!” Sean screamed. He lunged at the man, but Heather held him and would not let go.

“Why would I lie about something like that…why would I walk into your camp—” the man began, but this time it was Kevin who cut him off.

“About that…what was your name? I don’t think I caught it. And how did you just mange to stroll into these kids’ camp?/ It’s not like you can MapQuest their address these days?” Kevin knelt in front of the man. He wanted to be able to look him in the eye.

“We questioned Larry, one of Derek’s men last night. We were trying to pick them off one at a time. These were some big boys. The kind you would just as soon not have to tangle with if you know what I’m saying.” The man gave a weak chuckle that turned into a cough. “And my name is Doug…Doug Smith.”

“Well I hope to be able to say that I am pleased to meet you some day, Mr. Smith.” Kevin stood and turned to face the children, Aleah, and Heather. “Now…where is Catie?”

“She said that she saw something,” Aleah answered. “And the next time you just up and leave to go do something stupid, would you mind letting us know?”

Kevin wanted to defend his actions. A number of excuses came to mind; he didn’t want anybody else being in the area, somebody needed to stay and look after the children, and a few others drifted through his consciousness.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking,” is what came out of his mouth. Truthfully, he was just tired. Also, he needed to wind down from the operation and just wanted to be alone for a few minutes. He had a lot to consider.

“And what did you blow up?” Heather asked.

“A case of dynamite…oh, and an old grain silo.”

“What?” Sean pushed away from Heather. “You blew up the whole other case?”

“You know what happens to dynamite when it goes bad, kid?”

“Dynamite can go bad?” Sean got a suspicious look on his face like he believed Kevin was trying to mess with him.

“Yeah, and when it does, it sweats nitroglycerine.”

“My grandpa took that for his heart,” one of the little girls said.

“Yeah…not exactly the same thing,” Kevin explained. “This kind of nitroglycerine is really unstable. One bump or even if two pieces rub together wrong and ka-blooey! When dynamite gets old, it sweats out the nitroglycerine inside of it. All it might take is for you to sneeze.”

Kevin felt that he was exaggerating, but not by much. Sean was looking just a little bit pale. He had a feeling that the young man had made some plans with that other case of explosives.

“Now, can we get ba
ck to Catie? When did she leave? Which direction did she go?”

“I’m right here!” a voice said as the young woman came
winding her way through the blackened stones to where everybody was gathered.

“Where did you run off to?” Kevin asked.

“When this guy showed up, I went to see if he brought company,” Catie explained.

“Only three of us made it out,” Doug rasped. He was sitting up now, but definitely favoring one side and his legs were splayed.

“I wasn’t talking about you and your friends.”

“How bad is it?” Kevin knew immediately what she had gone to see.