Deadrise (37 page)

"What did they find?"

"This was a new strain of the virus altogether. It spread through his entire body inside and out, transforming him into…something different."

"What?"

"The scientists at the hospital are unsure. They tell me he is still in metamorphosis."

"Metamorphosis?" Jenkins asked incredulously.

"Yes. They tell me his appearance is no longer…human."

"Ron." Jenkins whispered to himself. "What about him? Is he conscious? Is he aware?"

"The doctors tell me no. When he shot himself in the head it did kill him, so to speak, but his flesh kept living."

"Are you sure?" Jenkins asked. He and Ron had made a pact. They would kill the other before letting them become one of the deadfucks.

"The doctors were quite specific about the matter."

"About this new theory of yours?" Jenkins wanted to get off the subject of Ron.

"It’s not my theory. In fact I find the whole thing rather ridiculous." The General chuckled, a dry monotone rumble. He could see Jenkins staring at him in anticipation.

"Those eggheads at the hospital think this whole thing might be extraterrestrial."

"Fucking Aliens." Jenkins said with a snarl.

"You don’t believe it do you?"

"Take a look around General. The dead walk! Certain deadfucks can shoot guns and commandeer vehicles! The prospect of aliens doesn’t hold a candle to that."

"Perhaps it
is
an Army Super Soldier experiment gone awry?" There was no conviction in the Generals words.

"That don’t account for the strange black aircraft." Jenkins said. "Fucking aliens!" he barked again.

"We don’t know that for sure." General Parker said.

"Give me a fucking break General!" Jenkins snapped. A shocked look came over the Generals face. He was not used to being spoken to like that. "I’ve been face to face with those deadfucks. I was so close to an Alpha that I could see the back of his skull through his empty eye sockets. Those things are pure evil General. There isn’t an ounce of good or humanity in them. Their only purpose here on earth is to destroy humanity. They are either aliens from another planet or demons from the pits of hell. Either way, they must be destroyed." Jenkins realized that he was leaning forward in his chair, his white knuckled hands gripping the edge of the desk.

"I agree with you one hundred percent."

"Then where the hell were you when we needed you at Douglas?" Jenkins asked savagely. The General was taken aback by Jenkins sudden attack. "I know the call for back-up went out. I heard it myself. Why didn’t you come?"

"And leave ourselves defenseless?"

"That is a bullshit excuse General and you know it. You could have supplied air support with the Apaches. You could have sent a couple hundred men."

"I’ll not explain myself to you Sergeant!" The Generals voice was edged with anger. "I have my own problems to deal with. Do you think I wanted to do nothing? I was preparing to send Apaches in when the report of the F-16's being destroyed came. I wasn’t about to send those birds out to join them. You yourself said the Fort and hospital were well defended but they fell anyway. If I would have sent men it would have been to certain death." Jenkins knew the Generals words were true. With a shake of his head he sat back in his chair, finishing his cigarette.

"Look at us." The General said with a smile. "At each others throat over things we cannot change." The General reached into another desk drawer and pulled out two shot glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He poured them both a shot and passed one to Jenkins. Jenkins put his cigarette out in the ashtray and took the glass of whiskey. He drained it in silence and sat it back on the table.

"Regardless of what our enemy is, they must be destroyed." The General said.

"The wave coming up I-80 toward Kimball Junction is an advance scout. They are coming up to test your defenses. What is the range of the missiles on the Apaches?"

"Approximately two miles."

"Twice the range of their RPG's." A wide smile spread across Jenkins face. "Have your choppers hold a position at the maximum range. As soon as they come out of the winding canyon let them have it with everything those Apaches have. Once they’re finished have the ground forces go in and clean up." The General picked up the telephone on his desk and relayed the instructions to whoever was on the other end.

"It’s done." He said, setting the phone back down on its cradle.

"Tell me about the perimeter fighting?" Jenkins asked.

"The zombies keep pouring out of the forest from the southern & western perimeters."

"Right out of the forest?"

"Exactly. But those are easy to handle. It’s the Alpha’s out there that are acting as snipers and using grenades and RPG’s to try and blow gaps in our defenses so the zombies can get in. The Apaches are having a hard time locating the Alpha’s in the forest, and when they do spot them they are often times looking down the barrel of an RPG."

"They got in through the sewers down at Douglas." Jenkins said.

"Capt. Sheen passed along your information and we’ve got men guarding the main entrances." Jenkins could see that General Parker still wasn’t giving the cunning and intelligence of the Alpha’s the respect it deserved.

"Guarding the entrances? You need to send men down into the sewers, sweep them clean and fortify all entrances into the city. If there is a way in those bastards will find it. It may already be too late."

"Perhaps we should return to the war room? It will be much easier to issue commands. But before we do I have something for you." The General reached into another drawer of his desk and pulled out a small bit of cloth. He slid it across the desk to Jenkins. It was a pair of Colonel’s wings. "It will keep Captain Sheen off your back and see to it everyone else obeys your orders."

Jenkins grabbed up the pair of golden wings. "I told you I was through with all of this."

"I know you did, Colonel. Don’t worry, it’s temporary."

"Why do you need me General? You’ve got plenty of officers and fighting men. What makes me so special?"

"Besides your experience in combating the Alphas, you're also an Army Ranger. Most of my officers and many of my troops are national Guardsmen, very few combat veterans. Your skills and expertise in city and guerilla tactics will be put to good use."

"I want to see whatever it is Ron has…mutated into."

"I’ll arrange it for first thing tomorrow morning."

Jenkins looked down at the wings in his hand and asked himself what the hell he was doing? He didn’t need these complications. But if Park City fell, Rainbow Lake was not that far away. With a heavy sigh Jenkins pinned the wings to his lapels. When he was finished General Parker was already heading for the war room. Jenkins stood up and followed…

Chapter 40

Monday, June 25, 2001

Rainbow Lake, UT

8:45 PM

All of them had gathered out back on the deck to enjoy the evening; Matt was just popping the top on his second beer when the radio beeped and Jenkins voice came over.

"Jenkins to home do you got a copy?"

"Copy." Matt answered. "How is everything going down there?"

"It could be better. I thought the city militia was better organized but it turns out there’s a bunch of dipshits running things around here." Matt could hear the frustration in Jenkins voice.

"Have the zombies have broken through into the city?"

"One superzombie managed to slip through and raise a little hell but we shut it down. An advance force from the city came up Parley’s Canyon this morning."

"How big?" Matt asked.

"Five Alphas and a couple hundred deadfucks. They were trying for Kimball Junction but the Apaches tore them apart."

"No more since then?"

"Just the regular perimeter fighting. But even that has died down to almost nothing. The boys on the line must have killed at least a thousand deadfucks. I’m sure more are on their way up. How are things going up there?"

"Good. We got the bus and rig unloaded and most of the stuff put away."

"Any sign of Zack?"

"None at all."

"What about our neighbors?"

"Nothing from them either."

"I learned a few things up here today." Jenkins told him all about the strange aircraft that had attacked Ft. Douglas as well as the various theories the army was tossing around. He finished with what had become of Ron’s body.

Rick did not take that well at all. "THOSE FUCKING BASTARDS!" He screamed aloud. "LET HIM DIE WITH A LITTLE DIGNITY!" He threw his beer can aside and stormed away into the house.

"Can’t you get them to burn his body?" Matt asked.

"There’s no body to burn." Jenkins answered. "They told me it has undergone a complete transformation into…something. I’m going to see it tomorrow but there is no way I can convince them to destroy it. This is something new. They are acting like a bunch of kids who just got a new toy." They all fell silent, each of them pondering for themselves what that truly meant.

"I’m going to sign off for the night." Jenkins said somberly. "I’ve got some things to take care of before I hit the sack. Jenkins out."

"Copy Jenkins. Home out." Matt turned off the radio. A silent, sad mood had fallen over the group. The sounds of Rick and Jennifer’s sobs were carried down on the wind.

"Where the hell has my dog gotten off to?" Scotty said to break the air of depression that hung about them. He slowly climbed to his feet and grabbed his rifle.

"ZEKE? HERE BOY?" Scotty whistled and walked off toward the house.

"I guess we had better turn in ourselves." Matt said. "We have a lot of work to do come morning." He stood up and took Susan’s hand.

"I’ll relieve Jennifer and take watch until 3 am." Mac said.

"I’ll relieve you." Matt said then he and Susan walked arm in arm into the house. Mac drained the remainder of his beer, crushed the can and tossed it aside. He stood up and clapped David and Samantha on the shoulder.

"I’ll see both of you in the morning." He picked up the remainder of the beer and went inside. Samantha stood up to go in but David stayed in his chair.

"Are you coming in?" she asked.

"In awhile." David said. "I just want to look at the stars for awhile."

"If you want to talk about things, my offer still stands." Earlier, when she had taken him his dinner, she had been shocked at how lost and confused his eyes looked. He hadn’t seemed that shell-shocked when they first met at Ft. Douglas; it had been his mother who was in bad shape. Now she was finally coming out of her daze while David seemed to grow more distant. Seeing his pain she had sat and talked with him. Actually she had done most of the talking. David mostly sat there and stared off into the surrounding forest, barely acknowledging her presence. When Scotty had relieved him from guard duty she told him that if he ever needed someone to talk to she would be there.

But even now he just stared into the night sky, not answering her. She knelt down beside him and put a hand on his cheek, turning his eyes to hers.

"You just can’t keep things bottled up inside." She said softly. "We’ve all been through hell these past few months. We’ve all lost loved ones."

He turned his face away; his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "My dad was my best friend." He said, blinking the tears from his eyes. "He died trying to protect my family. I tried to help him but I was too weak. I tried to help." David leaned forward and cupped his face in his hands, trying to hold the tears back, but they came anyway. Samantha pulled him tight, her own tears running down her cheeks as she held him.

"I’m so sorry." She said, kissing his head.

"They shot him and I laid there like a coward. It’s my fault he's dead." His body shook with sobs.

"No. No." Samantha said and pulled him even tighter. And there they sat for sometime, David venting his pent up grief and Samantha holding him and gently stroking his back. At last there were no more tears left in David and he slowly pulled away, wiping his eyes.

"Thank you." He said, squeezing her hand softly. "I thought I could handle it you know. I mean, I knew it was going to be rough but I figured that with my mom and sister we could get each other through this."

"You still can." Samantha said.

"My sister and Matt got married!" David said harshly. "What the fuck was she thinking? How could she just get married three days after our father was murdered? When Mom and I needed her the most! How could she do that?" He sounded so betrayed.

"She needed love."

"Mom and I were there for her." David stammered.

"She needed the kind of love you or your mother couldn’t give her." David’s eyes flashed with anger at that but Samantha put her hand over his mouth before he could speak. "Who are you to judge her? Everyone needs someone to lean on from time to time. Your sister needed someone. They both needed someone. And they found each other."

He wanted to tell her to shut her fucking mouth! To ask her who the hell she was to be telling him what his sister felt. But she was right. As he looked into her brown eyes he felt his anger subside, replaced with loneliness like he had never felt before. Before he knew what he was doing he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. To his surprise she was kissing him back.