The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle (24 page)

“Okay, happy fun time is over,” she said, pulling her sweater
down with enough force to dislodge Ethan’s hand from her chest. “I think it’s
time to set that bone, don’t you think, doc?”

“Um...yes, that sounds about right. This should be clean now,”
Alison responded.

“I’ve got another bone that needs set...” Ethan joked in his
best pick-up voice he could manage.

“Wow, really?” was all Evelyn could respond with. She
returned to her spot across the counter from Alison.

“Before I can stitch him up, we need to set this bone,”
Alison said, anxious to get this over with. “Stand at his feet. When I tell you
too, I want you to pull his foot towards you, hard.”

“No problem,” Evelyn answered, an evil smirk appearing on her
face.

She positioned herself by Ethan’s feet and grabbed the ankle
of his injured leg. Alison placed her hands over the two broken ends of the
bone. Ethan was flat on his back now, delirious with pain, fever, and the
thought of Evelyn’s glorious breasts. The painkillers had begun to take effect
which didn't help his coherence.

In one swift jolt, he felt a hard tug on his foot along with
hard pressure on his shin. The broken bone crunched back into place, the two
jagged ends meeting together like a puzzle piece. Ethan almost jumped out of
his skin from the shock of the pain, which felt worse than anything he’d felt in
his life.

“Oh, did that hurt, big boy?” Evelyn chided, the sarcasm
dripping off every word.

She assisted Alison with closing up the wound and splinting
the leg, then walked over to Sam, who talked with Pete, Bill, Daniel and Shawn.
The way it sounded, they were arguing about the circumstances that led to
Ethan’s injury.

“So what happened out there?” she asked.

“This asshole fucking sneezed and it threw off his aim,” Pete
said, pointing to Shawn.

“Look, I said I was sorry. I don’t know what you want me to
do about it now,” Shawn replied defensively.

“Uh, excuse me...someone? Anyone?” Theresa called out. “Is
this normal for a broken leg?”

Everyone turned to look at Theresa, who had been trying to
lower Ethan’s fever with a cool rag. They saw the red vomit oozing out of
Ethan’s mouth. Rachel, who had been watching nearby, not out of concern but out
of pure curiosity, cast a disgusted face at the gross display.

Alison rushed around the makeshift medic station, upset that
she missed something during her evaluation of her first patient. “Oh shit,” she
said upon seeing the thick red syrup that was now pooling on and around Ethan,
who fell into unconsciousness. “Someone turn his head so he doesn’t drown in
that crap.”

“What the hell is that stuff?” Sam asked.

“I honestly have no idea. It can’t be a result of his leg
wound, and that vomit isn’t consistent with an allergic reaction.” She placed
her head on his chest and was able to hear a faint, irregular heartbeat. His
breathing was labored and raspy. “It must be his shoulder wound. Quickly, get
his shirt off.”

That task proved more difficult because nobody wanted to
touch the thick goop that rapidly accumulated. Finally, they managed to get his
coat and shirt off. What they saw caused a silent panic throughout the survivors.
Ethan’s right shoulder was white, almost translucent. Dark red lines which
looked like tree roots spread out and weaved a lattice pattern underneath the
pale skin. At the center of these dark tributaries was a small hole near the
end of his collar bone.

“Excuse me, people...” Carlos said from the front door. He
had been keeping watch with Chatty ever since they brought Ethan inside. “We
seem to have a problem. A big problem.” He kept his voice calm, but it was
shaky.

“In case you haven’t been keeping up, we kinda have a problem
over here too,” Bill responded sarcastically.

“I don’t think you understand. It would seem that Ethan’s
tortuous screams outside has, um, attracted some unwanted visitors,” Carlos
replied.

Sam rushed from behind the counter and headed for the door.
“How many unwanted visitors, exactly?”

Before Sam even got there, Carlos managed to push out one
word through his panic. “Hundreds.”

Sam pushed past the rotund biologist and lifted one of the
blinds just enough to peer out past the bus. Outside, he could see a group of
creepers inspecting the remains of their recently deceased brethren. They
looked up towards the building. Carlos was right. Behind them, Sam was able to
make out hundreds of ghouls in the bright moonlight. They all just stood there,
staring at the Pleasure Palace.

Sam turned and hustled back to the weapons cache. “We’re in
the shit now, ladies and gentlemen. Things are about to get bad. They know
we’re in here and I’m pretty sure they aren’t here to shop, so everyone arm
yourself, we’re in for a long night.”

Rachel spoke up. “So what the hell are we going to do about
them?”

“I think the better question right now, is what are we going
to do with him?” Shawn asked, looking over at Ethan, who was now paler than
ever. The dark red spider webs under his skin had spread across his entire
upper body and his breathing was shallow and rapid.

“Well, ain’t that some shit,” Sam whispered to himself.

CHAPTER 31 
  TUNNEL
TROUBLE

Nathan closed the trap door and dropped down to the floor to
find Ronnie noshing away on a couple rats that he had caught. The sight caused
hunger pains in his own stomach and he knew that he had to eat something. It
had been quite a while since he devoured those pigeons on the rooftop.

He looked around the room and took in their surroundings. The
walls were not normal cinder block, as he would have expected, but large stone
slabs that looked decades old. The room was near perfectly square, each wall
extending about forty feet. Lining the walls were large metal shelves, all were
empty, save for the random box or five gallon bucket.

Nathan thought it was a bit odd that Ricky called this a
sub-basement, since he didn’t remember going into an initial basement. Glancing
up, he noticed that the ladder which led up to the trap door was a good
eighteen to twenty feet high. They must not have built a basement at all under
the bar for some reason or another.

Ronnie kept slurping up rodent remains, periodically
belching, then laughing to himself. He had the right idea; load up on the food,
because who knew when they’d be able to eat again. Nathan scanned the floor for
any signs of life, hoping that his friend hadn’t already eaten everything. His
night vision reassured him that he wasn’t going to starve, as the floors and
shelving were teaming with vermin.

Five minutes later, Nathan had succeeded in devouring eight
rats. He would have liked to have feasted more, but they couldn’t stay there
any longer. Sooner or later, the people they had left to die in the bar would come
after them, or even worse, the Horde would find a way inside the bar. No,
staying here any longer wasn’t an option.

“We’d better get moving, buddy. I’d like to put some distance
between us and that horde.”

“Fo sho,” Ronnie agreed, as he licked his fingers and hopped
up onto his feet.

They walked over to the opposite side of the room. A narrow
staircase that led down to a large steel door, which looked as though it
belonged on a submarine or some other type of water vessel. As they walked down
the stairway single file, Nathan had to stop mid-step. A strong, powerful voice
boomed in his head. One single word, echoed clearly in his mind.

[TRAP!]

Ronnie was about to turn the large lever-handle to the door
when Nathan stopped him. “No, wait!”

“What’s up?” Ronnie asked, his claw still outstretched to
open the door.

“I’m not sure. I just got this really, really bad feeling.”

“Oh, I know what you mean. I get those all the time. Like
when you think you have to rip a massive fart, but a little more comes out than
you bargained for?” Ronnie gibed.

“No, I mean I think that something is waiting for us on the
other side of that door,” he replied, completely ignoring Ronnie’s humorous
quip. “Let’s do this slow and quiet, alright?”

Ronnie nodded in agreement, his demeanor becoming as serious
as Nathan’s. He might like to joke around, but he wasn’t stupid either. Over
the years, he’d come to trust Nathan’s gut feelings that he would have from
time to time. To his knowledge, they’d never been wrong.

He clasped the door’s lever-handle and stood near the right
side as Nathan got as close to the left side as possible. After a silent count
to three, Ronnie pulled the lever and pushed the door, opening it just enough
for Nathan to slip through. As expected, the old steel creaked and squealed as
the hinges moved, echoing throughout the sub-basement and the space beyond.
They both winced as the echoes of noise lapped at the stone walls around them.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Nathan mumbled under his breath as
he slithered through the opening in front of him. Ronnie followed and pushed
the door closed. Returning the door lever to the “locked” position, he then
bent it around a metal support rod that crossed the door, making it impossible to
re-open from the other side.

“Good thinking,” Nathan whispered. Ronnie replied with a
goofy smile and a thumbs-up.

They both turned to view their new surroundings. Extending
roughly one-hundred-fifty yards was a long passageway. It was narrow, but there
was enough room for the two of them to walk side by side. They made their way
down the corridor. There was no light that they could tell, but their vision
allowed them to see well enough. The floor sloped downward at about a fifteen
degree grade. They were going deeper into Mt. Washington. He wondered where
this would come out.
The sewers? Outside? No, they hadn’t made any turns.
There
was no way they were going towards an exit.

“Good news, homes...no ambush,” Ronnie whispered.

“We’ll see,” Nathan whispered back, not convinced.

Noises sounded behind them. They grew louder. “Looks like
they found a way into the bar.” He observed. A moment later, pounding began to
sound on the door. The lever moved, but no more than a quiver, as Ronnie had
wrapped it around the door’s support bar.

There was no going back, so, ambush or not, they continued
forward down the sloped passage. Ahead, they saw another door just like the one
they had passed through. They approached with caution, ignoring the erratic
pounding behind them, focused on the new door and what might await them beyond
it.

As before, Ronnie took up position at the lever as Nathan
readied himself to go through. Another three-count and they were through the
second door. Again, Ronnie bent the door lever behind them. They were standing
against a long wall that stretched as far as they could see to either side of
them. In front of them, a large tractor trailer blocked their view of what lay
ahead. Moving around the semi, they saw that they were on a two-lane road and
that cars sat in gridlock, but only in one direction.

“Holy shit!” Nathan exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We’re in a
tunnel!”

“Which tunnel?” Ronnie asked as he looked back and forth for
any immediate danger.

“Has to be the Fort Pitt tunnel. We must have gone through an
old access passage. I never knew you could get topside from the tunnels,
although I guess it would make sense. If the tunnels collapsed at some point,
they’d no doubt put in escape routes.”

Ronnie started getting more anxious. “Wow, that’s super
interesting, bro, but don’t you think we should get the hell out of here? The
last time we were in a tunnel, it didn't go so well.”

“Yeah, of course,” Nathan said. “We still don’t know if we’re
in for any trouble here, so keep your eyes peeled.”

“Like bananas, bro.”

The pair made their way down the tunnel, not sure of the
direction they were going. They moved silently and kept their focus on any
hunters that might already be in there with them. Five minutes later, they
approached one of the entrances. Orange, flickering light cast strange, dancing
shadows onto the tunnel ceiling and walls, framing the abandoned cars in an
eerie silhouette. Nathan cursed to himself, because he could see the burning
city beyond the tunnel. They had gone the wrong way. Something else caught his
eye. Movement.

Nathan grabbed Ronnie by the shoulder and pulled him down
behind a car. He pointed to the scattered cars at the mouth of the tunnel.
Squinting his eyes against the glare, Ronnie saw what had spooked his buddy.
Crouched behind the various wrecks, were dozens of creepers. Nathan had been
right, there was a trap waiting for them. The dumb fuckers thought they’d be
walking past the entrance; they weren't expecting the pair to come from inside
the tunnel.

Ronnie made the “let’s get the hell out of here” hand signal
and faded back into the darkness from which they came. Nathan was right on his
heels. Once they had put enough distance between themselves and the now failed
sneak-attack, Nathan was the first to open his mouth.

“She’s close, man,” he said.

“Who? You mean that psycho Sunshine chick?”

“Yep. Those assholes back there didn’t think to wait there
all on their own. She told them to wait there, which means that she’s close by.
My bet, is that her and her minions are sitting right above us, just waiting for
you and me to stroll on by.”

Ronnie contemplated this as they continued towards the other
entrance. “Ya know, I’m starting to hate that bitch,” he said as he started
laughing.

“Shhhh!” Nathan implored.

It was too late. Ronnie’s chuckle had bounced its way down to
the other end of the tunnel and alerted the dead that lay in wait. Zeroing in
on the sound, they began sprinting towards the other end.

****************

Sunshine hissed in pleasure. Her soldiers had located the two
young zombies and were now in pursuit. Her hiss evolved into a demonic cackle
as she leaped of the overlook edge and somersaulted into a controlled slide
down the massive hillside. An instant later she landed hard on the concrete,
causing a spider web of cracks to spread from under her feet.

Without hesitation, she charged into the dark opening which
penetrated the mountainside. Her children poured onto the pavement behind her
and followed her like a tsunami of death.

****************

“Fuck, we need to haul ass!” Nathan exclaimed as he heard the
ensuing Horde billowing behind them. They began to sprint towards the gloomy
light ahead, the entrance and their salvation growing closer with every step.

“We’ve got to get to the river!” he yelled as they emerged
from the tunnel.

They darted to the right and ran into the brush that lined
Route 51, which ran parallel to Mt. Washington. If they followed the road, it
would lead them to the West End Circle, and in turn, the West End Bridge.
Nathan knew that the bridge was likely destroyed by the military, but he had a
hunch that there would still be a detachment of troops there. Behind them, they
could hear the wails and screams of their pursuers.

They kept off the road and continued to travel through the
dense trees and brush. Despite the rough terrain, the two companions were
covering ground in good time, attempting to put some distance between them and
that demonic little girl. Unfortunately, their progress wasn’t enough to grant
them safety. The throngs of dead warriors were gaining on them, their cries of
blood-thirst amplified with every passing moment.

The West End Circle was now in sight, and just as he had
hoped, the regular Army did in fact post a company of soldiers at the bridge.
Looking up to the sky, he saw the large moon overhead.
Kinda wish the clouds
would come back. That moonlight is going to make it hard for us to get close to
those soldiers undetected.

“Alright buddy, we’re heading for the Army, okay?” Nathan
called to Ronnie.

“Which one? The one in front of us, or the one behind us?” he
said with a chuckle.

“Ahead of us. Go as fast as you can when I say so. This is
going to get pretty messy. We’ll need to kick a little ass for a few seconds,
but once the Horde arrives, we should be able to break away from the fight.”

Sunshine was close. He could feel her mind probing his
subconscious, trying to snake into his thoughts. She called his name, but the
voice didn’t sound like that of a child. It sounded older, like a woman. No,
not like a woman, more like a strange combination of woman and child, as if two
voices were being overlaid on top of each other; they were saying the same words,
but out of sync.

Nathan shook his head, trying to jar the voices from his
consciousness. He and Ronnie closed in on the soldiers ahead, their body heat
and life force illuminating the pair’s enhanced vision. Behind them, the
marauding zombies were right on their heels. The undead soldiers at the head of
the pack pushed on with renewed vigor; the sight of their prey within their grasp
only motivated them further.

“Look sharp buddy, we’re going to be in the shit here any
moment. Stick close, I don’t want to get separated when this gets ugly,” he
yelled.

“No worries, bro. I don’t plan on getting shredded all by
myself,” Ronnie replied, glancing behind them. “Fuck, they’re right on top of
us!”

Nathan looked back, his friend was right. A mass of bodies
rolled with a swell of bloody claws, teeth, and bodies—gaining speed as they
chased them down the slight hill that ended at the West End Bridge. He moved
his attention back to the unit of troops ahead. Fifty yards away and closing
fast. He could see some of the soldiers look in their direction, scared
shitless. They no doubt heard the Horde’s carnality steaming full-speed towards
their position.

Nathan gave one last instruction to Ronnie before they
reached the encampment. “Head to their left and try to circle behind them. We
need the mob to hit them head-on.” Before Ronnie could answer, they were upon
the troops.

The sound of machine gun fire erupted into the night as the
two zombies leaped into the air and sailed over the razor-wire barricades that
circled the Army. Landing smack dab in the middle of the enemy, they ducked,
rolled, jumped, and dodged their way towards the far left, pushing deeper into
the humans’ defenses. Almost immediately, the Horde thundered through the
barricades as if they weren’t even there. The razor-wire shredded the zombies
in the front of the mob; limbs, heads, and guts rained down upon the terrified
soldiers as the swarm of dead pushed through.