Rise Once More (24 page)

Chapter Twenty Six

Misery or Missouri

Eve couldn't believe her eyes, she was miles away from the ranch, yet here stood Alex in front of her. “How did you know where to find me?” Eve asked.

“You're not as quiet as you might think you are. Another hint, when a woman is traveling alone at night, always check the back seat. You would be surprised what is hiding back there. You mind telling me what the hell that was about?” Alex asks.

Eve hung her head, afraid to show her face, she knew in the back of her mind that just before that beast was going to attack her she had a sudden change of mind. She didn't actually want to die, she just felt like there was no future to look forward to anymore. Now Alex had saved her life once again.

“I suppose you want to take the car back,” Eve asked.

“
Nope. You can have it, because I am coming with you.” Alex said.

“
What about your family and your little compound back there?” Eve said.

“
They will be fine. They could really use some alone time to deal with the truth. So where are we heading?” Alex said.

“
I don't really know, didn't exactly have a plan. I just wanted to be away from all of this.” Eve said.

“
I know a place we can go. Not too far from here and we could be there at first light. Get in.” Alex said putting on his best charming face. Eve relents, and sits down in the passenger seat. Alex drives away, the Jaguar jumps when it drives over the body, and a slosh like sound can be heard coming from the rear tires.

Eve smoked another Dunhill, and then fell back to sleep, the heated seats were very comforting. The ride of the Jaguar was very smooth, and that too helped her drift off. The bumps in the road acting like an infants swing, slowly rocking her back and forth from side to side.

Alex was starting to wonder if Eve was going to be the first to snap. His years in the service had given him an ability to sense when someone just wasn't right and dangerously close to harming themselves or others. Eve kept tottering over that edge, each time he had intervened, and couldn't help but wonder if the next time he wouldn't be able to save her.

The drive gave Alex a time to think about the past, more importantly their past, and the place they were going was no mistake. It might be therapeutic for her to spend a little time back home. Give her a chance to remind herself of happier times, maybe even give her something to look forward too.

The sun had just settled into its early morning roost, slower in pace than the previous rush time of rising in the early morning. The time on his watch was 9:04 AM. The Sign up ahead read Steelville Missouri. They had reached their destination.

Steelville was their old stomping grounds, spent most of their childhood and teen years in this quaint little town. The very same town Alex wanted to escape when he joined the Marines. Finally a chance for him to leave this tiny placed, filled with even tinier and dimmer dreams. He yearned to see the world, and the corps offered him a golden ticket out.

He had hoped Eve would have liked the idea, but it had backfired big time. Alex knew that Eve would never go back to the BOZ, he was ok with that, he was pretty much ok with anything as long as she was with him. He had made mistakes in the past, but was hell-bent on correcting that. She might never forgive him, but he had to try there was nothing else to lose.

Alex drove around the sleepy town, it was decimated, some of the buildings were burnt out, and others were pillaged, with the entry doors open wide. One house in particular stood out to him that was Mrs. Phinnies house, well at least it was her house. The door lay on the now dead lawn, ripped clean off its hinges, as if a wild grizzly had wanted inside. The paint was chipped away by what looked like hundreds of scratch marks, too small to be a bear or other wild animal, they were human scratch marks.

A blood smeared streak went down the length of the door, with even more blood near the window seals, no doubt from people cutting themselves over the broken glass attempting to gain access. Various items were cast into the lawn as well. A snow shovel, shattered porcelain statues, a bowling ball, and a set of golf clubs. It appeared to be the scene of a stand off, the occupants throwing their prized possessions out the window at the onslaught just a few feet away from them. Below the large bay window, which is where her kitchen used to be, the same kitchen she made cookies for the class on opening day, laid the bloodied and twisted remains of her metal walker.

The knitted satchel still attached to the top handle bar, and a small trail of butterscotch candies spilled out from the contents of her pouch. He spotted one of her brown diabetic shoes under a hedge, laying awkwardly, with her meatless shin bone sticking out of it. She hadn't just been bitten, her aging frame was no match for her attackers, and they quickly over whelmed her and ate her.

Alex could see a few infected stragglers wandering the mostly emptied streets. Another trip through the town confirmed, at least in his mind, there are no survivors, and if there were any, they were hiding very well. By all logics, at least a few had survived, but they would be so disoriented and lacking of supplies to pose a serious threat. Most likely would run away the moment they were discovered.

Alex screwed on his silencer, double checked his clip, placed a few spare magazines on his lap, and drove the car slowly through the neighborhoods. He decided to make a game of it. Total kills he could rack up before Eve woke up; double points for shots within one car length of distance. Triple points for full head explosion. He slowed the car to a creeping pace of about 15 mph, he hummed the tune bulls on parade, he timed the shots to match the point when the chorus started again. His finger tapping on the steering wheel to keep the rhythm.

Come wit it now! Poof
! Another body rocked back by the force of the spent bullet exiting the cranium.
Rally 'Round yo family. With a pocket full o shells.
Boom! Another infected down, this one a small girl, possibly only 7 years old, she was wearing a sundress and carrying a Dora doll in her right hand. It took two shots to finish that one. One round for the man eating the little girls left leg, and finally one to put her out of her misery.

To Alex it wasn't any different than killing in combat. There were many similarities that could be drawn between the two, but the infection added another element, not one of getting the job done, but actually performing a kind act that they couldn't carry out themselves.
This is too damn easy. At least make it a challenge boy.
Alex said to himself.

Alex drove the car into an apartment complex parking lot, he spotted several infected, and taunted them to come closer. He extended his arm out the window, driving dangerously close to each one, slowing the car, and then accelerating quickly; taunting them, slowing until they could almost reach, and then speeding off again. He herded them like cattle, using the car like a giant metal Australian shepherd, its engine barking commands at them not too stray from the herd.

The car was much more agile than the infected, and confident he had formed a tight enough group, he drove the car out of the parking lot. He placed the car in park, gently as not to wake Eve, because he wasn't done with his game. Alex exited the car, this time a second pistol was in his left hand, and he placed several loaded clips on the trunk of the car.

He walked forward, raised him arms to the sky, and leaned his head back. The infected shuffling eve faster now, but Alex didn't flinch. He was in an almost meditative state, as if he was drawing on some unseen energy around him; it coalesced around him, and gathered into every cell of his body. His mind was the last part of his body to feel the rush, the thrill of the hunt, and the adrenaline that was now running through his veins. The words of the song echoed once again inside his head.
Bulls on Parade!

Alex stepped forward, swinging his right arm in an uppercut like move, the barrel of the pistol stopped directly under the chin of one of the infected. Poof! The shot sent its head exploding out in every direction. A cloud of crimson fog crept out into the air, with fragments of bone and teeth coating the infected behind him.

Alex used his left hand to pistol whip one of them, it quickly stumbled back from the impact, wasting no time Alex spun around and fired three rapid fire shots into the next infected. POOF! POOF! POOF! The bullets tore through the old woman's face, three separate holes oozing blood in the shape of a triangle, and she fell to the ground limp. Alex stepped onto the chest of the infected still on the ground, trying to stand back up from the pistol whip a second earlier. His boot dug into its rib cage, as he applied his full body weight, he could hear ribs snapping and the former human's lungs collapse in a slushy gurgle noise.

He aimed both guns at its writhing face, fired both  almost simultaneously, the sound of each round only a fraction of  a second apart. PAPOOF! It ceased to move, and he felt the chest completely deflate.   Alex felt something swipe across his back, and he spun around delivering a solid kick to the chest.

The infected stumbled back, but did not lose its footing. This one must have been a fresh recruit, the body of a younger male, barely in his mid twenties stared back at him. His eyes weren't black, as the blood covering his eyes hadn't necrotized yet. It was even possible that a human, a very weak one at that, might even still reside in that diseased brain.

Confused, scared, and filled with an inescapable rage that yearned to kill everything around it. He was wearing a gray work shirt, the kind a mechanic wears, its sleeves cut off, revealing a tattoo of a rebel flag on his arms. A name tag on the right pocket stated his former name.
Todd.

Todd did not come after Alex. Maybe he sensed the danger before him; instead he remained standing, breathing heavily and staring forward blankly. Alex was confused by this action for a second, expecting him to rush head on, raised his pistol up to fire, until he saw a reflection on the metal slide of his gun.
Eve!

Alex turned around to watch as four more infected closed in around the car. They were less than ten feet away, and closing in fast. Luckily for him, their brains could only function on a very basic level of instinct, he had left the driver's door wide open. Had they still had the cognitive function of a normal human, they would have walked around to gain easy access through the open door.

They didn't. The infected were all converging on the passenger side, staring down at Eve sleeping, and salivating at the golden opportunity of catching her completely defenseless. Alex jumped onto the hood of the car, kicking one in the head, knocking it to the ground, and firing several rounds into another. POOF! POOF! POOF!

Alex jumped off the car, both feet aimed at the head of last one, as it struggled to stand from his previous kick, it made a squish and a pop as he landed. He stepped to the side and fired another round in its skull just to make sure. POOF! Alex turned around in just enough time to hear Eve scream.

Todd had walked over to the driver's door and was attempting to drag Eve out of the car.
You little hick motherfucker!
Alex said to himself. He ran over to the driver's side of the car, Todd's body was only partially inside the car, and Alex fired a round into Todd's lower back. Todd's spinal cord exploded rendering his legs into a useless pile of degenerating muscle.

Alex grabbed the belt loop of Todd's ragged jeans and attempted to pull him from the car, but Todd had a firm grip on the driver's seat. His hands dug deep into the upholstery. His face filled with rage and madness stared menacingly at Eve. She screamed and kicked at his face, her hands fumbling for the door handle.

Alex reached forward, this time grabbing a fistful of Todd's hair, and yanked back violently. To Alex's surprise he felt something give away, and Todd's body lean forward. Alex's hand slowly came back, still clutching the hair, but the skin had separated itself from Todd's skull. Alex tossed the bloody handful of flesh away, and reached for Todd's shoulders.

Eve watched the scalp give way, leaving nothing but a wet yellowish and red dome behind, which only made her even more desperate to escape. Todd's bloody skull cap, his blood filled eyes, and his snapping yellow teeth were the things Eve could only imagine came straight out of hell.

Todd reached forward once again this time his hand finding purchase on Eve's knee. His massive hands could easily wrap around her small legs, especially at the smallest point just behind her knee. Todd latched on and began to tug at her, pulling her closer to his snarling mouth, and Eve screamed loudly calling out for Alex. “ALEX!”

Alex had had enough of this bullshit, if this bastard wanted a fight he was damn sure getting one. Alex placed his left gun deep into Todd's back and fired. POOF! Then he pulled him back a few more inches, and fired once more into a fresh portion of Todd's spine. POOF! He continued to drag him backward, each time pausing and firing; severing yet another section of nerve endings, and increasingly making him a paraplegic by force. POOF POOF POOF!

The final shot was at the base of Todd's skull, his body could no longer resist, the only movement came from his snarling mouth. Alex finally drug him completely clear from the car, Todd's body laying on the cold pavement below, and Alex stood over him. “No one!” POOF! “Fucks” POOF! “With” POOF! “ME!” POOF!

Alex looked around at the carnage, bodies strewn about, blood soaking the pavement and spent brass shells all around the car his pockets now empty. The car contained Eve, his only family, and the words re-entered his mind.
Bulls On Parade.