Retaliation: The Mortis Desolation, Book Two (4 page)

T
he sun blasted
Ira as she marched down the road at the back of the slave chain. She shuffled down the road mindlessly, her feet begging for rest. She had only been walking for an hour, but with the heat and the constant tug of the people she was tethered to constantly reminding her to pick up the pace, she was wearing thin. Even worse, there seemed to be quite a way to go before they reached the place called Jefferson Memorial.

"Have you ever heard of the Roves going this far outside of Dallas?" Isabel whispered back to Ira.

Ira looked behind her to make sure the guards at her back weren't paying attention. They were a few feet back, and the two of them were talking amongst themselves. She faced forward, looking at Isabel’s back, tied to her just a few feet ahead. "No, I haven’t,” Ira whispered back.

The rope jumped up and down as they walked together. Ira rubbed at the cuffs at her wrist, as the heat and sweat rubbed her skin raw.

"What do you think this place will be like?" Isabel asked.

Ira was glad Isabel couldn’t see her face. It had a look of annoyance on it. Ira didn’t care to speculate about what their new place of torture would be like. All she really cared about was putting one foot after the other and not passing out. "I don't know, Isabel. Maybe they’ll give us a prize for being the first slaves at this new outpost,” she said with biting sarcasm.

Isabel chuckled, finding Ira’s sarcastic joke more funny than it actually was. A guard at the back heard Isabel’s laugh.

“Hey, quiet down. Just walk," he shouted at them.

Ira marched along at the back of the line. Fourteen people marched along ahead of her.

The only sounds were those of the guards murmuring and of feet scraping across the ground. Ira wished she were riding in the back of a truck like slaves usually did when transported. It was rare that they marched this long in a slave-line like she and her crew were being made to do. The only times this would happen was when gas was low, when there weren't enough vehicles to spare, or there were too many people being transported. She figured the latter was the case in this instance. Especially since this Jefferson Memorial Bank place was somewhere far away. They wouldn’t send gas-guzzling trucks that far, especially just for some slaves. They weren’t worth the gas to the Roves even though the slaves were the ones holding up the Rove empire. The slaves did all the work, and the Roves reaped the rewards.

Ira’s mind wandered to her past as it usually did when she was doing something mindless. She thought of the settlement she lived in with her family. They lived in an apartment complex outside of Dallas and had a good life for a while. Then the Roves decided they wanted what she and her people had and took everyone for slaves. At least, those who didn't fight back. Those who fought back were shot, like Ira’s brother. She could still remember the look on her older brother’s face as he was shot down by a Rove soldier as he tried to fight for her freedom. She tried to force the thought out of her mind, but she was finding that task difficult. Her mind had nothing else to think about because all she knew was pain and darkness.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the gun going off. Her head jerked up as the slave-line stopped.

“Why you stopping? Keep going. The threat has been taken care of," the guard from behind her said.

Ira looked behind her for a split second and saw the twitching body of a zombie lying on the ground. Apparently, it had gotten a little too close.

"Hey, I said turn around and walk," the guard said.

Ira turned her head forward. She continued to shuffle along the deserted road outside of Dallas, begging for the moment when she would no longer have to walk anymore.

A couple more shots rang out behind her, and Ira’s heart beat faster. The guards didn't seem to be making a big deal about it, so she knew that she was safe. Well, relatively speaking. But still, they were outside the Rove border, and there were a lot of zombies on the outside. Zombies were something that she didn’t have to worry about with the Roves. They had all sorts of different lookouts, guards, and walls set up. The zombies were not a problem, and if there ever did become a problem, they were taken out swiftly.

But she was not in Rove territory anymore. Now, there could be zombies anywhere, and there were only five Roves with guns to keep them at bay.

At the same time though, the zombies could overpower them, and it might mean death for her. That was something that couldn’t happen when living within their borders. Then again, she could become undead. That was not something she wanted to experience, as it seemed to be a fate worse than a Rove slave. Ira felt inkling of fear within her. Not a fear of death, but a fear of becoming undead.

Ira continued walking down the road when more shots began ringing out around her. Something wasn’t right; there were too many shots fired this time. She looked behind her and saw zombies emerging from the pits on the side of the road. The two Rove guards behind her were shooting them, stopping in their tracks in order to have better aim and accuracy.

Shots pierced the air from front of her, and she whipped her head around to look. The three Rove guards at the front of the slave chain were shooting at zombies who were emerging in front of them.

Everybody in the chain stood perfectly still, watching the Roves take out the zombies with ease. Isabel turned and met Ira’s eyes, filled with fear. Ira tried her best to look strong, but she could tell she was failing. She didn’t want to be killed by zombies, and while the chances of that happening was slim since the Roves seemed to be taking care of the situation, there was still a chance, and that frightened her.

A guard behind her screamed. Ira turned and saw a zombie sink its teeth into one him. The other guard looked on the scene, not sure if he should try and shoot the zombie, for fear of shooting his comrade. That was just enough distraction for the zombies to get the jump on him and take him out too.

Now the air was full of screams. Those of the dying, those of the undead, and those of the slaves, who began to run.

I
ra let
out a shout in pain as her body slammed to the ground. She hadn’t been looking, so when everybody in the slave chain started to run, she wasn’t ready.

She was drug across the ground, gravel and rock tearing into her skin as she tried to stand up. She couldn’t. Everyone was running too fast.

She let out yells of pain as her head hit the ground. Her body was being torn apart by the road. To her relief, everyone stopped.

She looked up, her body racked with pain. But then she saw
why
everybody stopped.

More zombies were coming from in front of them, blocking the way. She tried to stand, but the pain she was in and the fact that her hands and feet were bound kept her on the ground.

Isabel turned and reached down to Ira, and Ira began to reach out to grasp it. Before she made contact, however, a zombie came from nowhere and took Isabel down to the ground.

A scream grew in Ira’s throat, but she kept it suppressed. The zombie tore into Isabel as she screamed in pain and agony. Ira felt her stomach clench and her eyes water as she watched one of her best friends being torn apart in front of her.

Ira looked up and saw that most of the slave line fighting off zombies. It was proving unsuccessful, however, as they had nothing more than their bound hands and feet to fend them off. The Rove guards had long since run away with their guns.

There were probably twenty zombies attacking the group, with more coming quickly. Most of the zombies were preoccupied with the slaves who were putting up a fight, while others were devouring the lost, such as Isabel.

One of the zombies, however, saw Ira. She tried to back up on her hands and feet, but she was still bound to Isabel at her waist, who was also tied to thirteen other people. As Ira tried to move away from the approaching zombie, she tugged at Isabel’s body, causing the zombies devouring Isabel to look over at her. They, too, began to crawl toward her. Ira didn’t know what to do. Her head was flooded with options, but she ’couldn’t pick one out. She was paralyzed by all of them.

A knife came from nowhere and cut the rope that attached her to the rest of the slave chain. Ira looked up and saw a young woman with long brown hair standing above her. The woman used a knife to kill the zombie closest to her and reached out a hand to help Ira up. Ira took it.

“We have to run. I don’t have time to remove your bonds, so be careful, and don’t trip,” the woman said as she took out another zombie.

Ira wasn’t sure what was going on, but when the woman who saved her began to run where the zombies weren’t as thick, Ira followed.

She had just enough slack in the bonds at her feet to fast walk without difficulty. She was still faster than the zombies, and the woman who saved her was slow enough to reach Ira should she need her assistance.

Ira was able to stay out of most of the zombies way, and those she wasn’t able to avoid, the woman would clear out. Most of the zombies had their attention on the feast of fourteen slaves. Their screams filled the air. Ira did her best to block them out, but she could feel her emotions welling up inside her. Tears threatened to flow from her eyes, but she fought them back. She had to focus on getting off the road.

The woman in front of her reached the end of the road and began descending down the side, crossing the ditch. Ira reached the shoulder of the road, close behind. The woman climbed up the other side of the ditch. Ira looked behind her, and saw that the zombies were beginning follow. She was like a wounded gazelle, unable to escape. She limped as fast as she could, the bonds around her ankles keeping her feet close.

“Wait!” she yelled out to the woman. Ira’s hair stuck to her sweaty, bloody face. She looked behind her, and the zombies were relentlessly marching toward her. She turned back around to call out for the woman again, but as she turned her head, she saw a flash run past her.

She followed the blur as the woman lunged at the zombies, hacking at their rotten flesh with a machete. Rotten blood and flesh sprayed onto the back of Ira’s neck as she reached the edge of the road. She began to go down into the ditch, but lost her footing and tripped. She rolled over once before coming to a rest in the shallow ditch. She had to take a moment to catch her breath, as the stumble knocked it out of her.

Arms wrapped around her shoulders as she was the woman who’d saved her twice now pulled her up the other side of the ditch. “Get up!” she shouted. “We have to run. My car isn’t that far.”

Hope fluttered in Ira. If she could just reach the car with the woman, she’d be safe. She began hobbling up the other side of the ditch, her rescuer keeping a grip on her bicep to keep her from falling. Ira saw a small, tan-colored, old truck sitting just a few feet away, the driver’s door open and engine idling.

Ira clenched her teeth and hobbled toward the truck as fast as she could. Blood from the wounds she sustained dripped down into her eyes. She wiped it away using her sweaty arm.

Just a few inches away from the passenger side door, Ira reached out for the handle and opened it. She clambered into the seat, having to do an awkward hop to get in thanks to her bound arms and legs. She slammed the door behind her and turned in her seat to see that the woman who saved her was already in and putting the truck in reverse.

The truck peeled out before doing a sharp turn to face the opposite direction. The truck rocked back and forth, and for a split second, Ira thought the truck would flip over. The woman showed no fear on her face. Just determination to get out of there.

Ira looked in the side mirror and saw the zombies stumble into the ditch, trying to chase after the truck. She looked past them and to the horde that gathered around where the other Rove slaves were. She thought she could see a hand reaching out of the pile, trying to escape. But soon the hand was covered by another zombie, and Ira wasn’t so sure if it was real or just her imagination.

She turned her eyes back to the small field in front of her. After a hundred yards or so, Ira and her savior reached a small road. Going left would have led them back toward Dallas, while right would lead them further outside of Dallas.

To Ira’s relief, the woman turned right.

“Thank you,” Ira said.

“You’re welcome,” the young woman said. She gestured toward the handcuffs and rope tied to Ira’s feet. “Once we’re clear I’ll pull over and get those off you.”

“Thank you.” Ira realized that she’d just said thanks twice, and for some reason it embarrassed her.“I mean, for getting this off me,” she said.

The woman chuckled to herself as she brushed her long brown hair behind her right ear. “What’s your name?”

Ira hesitated for a moment before answering. “Ira. Ira Dever. And yours?”

“Ashley Finch.”

I
sat
on the couch in John's room, staring at the floor. I was oblivious to the world around me until I heard a knock at the door.

John looked up from the book he was reading and looked at me.

I shrugged and crossed the room to the door, looking through the peephole. I saw a man standing there in a gray T-shirt that was tucked into a pair of camo cargo pants.

I opened the door. "Can I help you?" I asked

The young man smiled. He looked to be in his twenties, and his hair was cut short. The stubble on his cheeks shifted as he smiled to greet me. "Good afternoon, Miles. My name is Tim. I'm here because Mr. Griggs, head of operations for Bunker Bravo, would like a word with you.”

I turned my head around and looked at John, a way of telling him to “get a load of this.”

John smiled. He closed his book and set it down on the coffee table. He stood up and began walking over to me. "You, one of the big guys will see us? Didn't do anything wrong, did we?"

"Of course not. He would just like a word with you."

"Well, we'd be happy to speak with him. However, we’re going to want to bring to our friend Mila along with us," I said.

"Mr. Griggs requested you and your partner. He didn't say anything about this girl, Mila," Tim said.

I shook my head. "Sorry. I won't go unless Mila can come too.” It had been a while since I'd seen Mila, and I didn't want her to get the feeling that we were ignoring her. If she found out that we went and saw the leader of this place without her, she wouldn't be too happy about it. I viewed her as a strong ally, both inside the bunker and out. I did not want to get on her bad side.

"I'll have to see what I can do," Tim said.

"When you do, you know where to find us,” I said as I shut the door.

I looked through the peephole to make sure Tim was gone.

"Wow, the leader of this place? That seems like a big deal," John said.

"Yeah, it is a pretty big deal, I think. Somebody running this kind of operation must have a lot of power.”

"So what's our angle?” John said as he leaned up against the bar that separated the kitchenette from the living area of the apartment.

I leaned against the back of the couch and began to think. "We need to show them that we're not the enemy, but that we also don't want to be their soldiers. We’re their allies," I said.

John nodded his head. "So you’re gonna ask if we can leave?"

"Yeah, of course. This place is awesome, and I would love to live here, but our friends need us, and we can’t just sit around here living this luxurious life while they are out there trying not to get slaughtered by the Roves.”

"If if that's what you want to do, we’ll do it."

I was very thankful to have a friend like John. I needed him to have my back, and he knew that I would always have his.

"What about Mila?” he asked. "She seems like a loose cannon."

"Everyone she cared for just got slaughtered by strange creatures, creatures that these aliens know anything about.”

“Yeah, what the hell is up with that? I mean,
Genari?
They’re just living here with humans like it’s no big deal.”

“I have no idea what’s going on with that. It’s such a normal thing here that nobody’s thought to explain it to us yet,” I said.

“That’s definitely something we should ask this Mr. Griggs character.”

“Don’t worry,” I said as I stood up from leaning on the couch. “We’re going to be learning a lot of things here pretty soon.”