The Hungry (Book 2): The Wrath of God (10 page)

"Fuck me," Psycho muttered.

"Would you shut him up?" Miller said.

Hanratty scowled at her reluctant colleague as they walked on through the shadows. "You're the one who wanted to keep him alive."

The darkness was oppressive, an almost palpable thing that followed them through the dim, foul corridors, all of which were empty save for the occasional body part or blood splatter. The damned place was as seemingly endless and confusing as a corn maze. Sheppard had acquired a flashlight from Lovell, and was frantically checking wall signage. It was all in a code that meant nothing to the others, but was the only way they had of finding their way out of the abandoned underground tunnels.

The going was slow. At first, Psycho had no intention of proceeding at all, much less quickly or quietly. When they weren't dragging him, he was spitting out phrases laden with bravado, such as "Ripper, we're coming for you!"

"He's going to end up somebody's dinner if he keeps this up," Scratch said. "I say we leave him behind, trussed up like a Thanksgiving ham."

Psycho thought about that for a time. He stopped talking.

"Let him be," said Miller, "I'm more concerned about the rest of us."

"You sure we can't just waste him, Penny?"

"How about I waste the long-haired hippy?" Psycho lunged toward Scratch. Lovell had to strain to keep him under control. Miller speculated that being overcome and betrayed had caused Psycho to lose the rest of his tenuous hold on reality. In any event, Scratch'd had enough. He nodded at Lovell, who let go. Scratch feinted left, struck out with his right fist, hitting Psycho in his already bruised face. Another fist went into his gut. Psycho bent over in pain. Scratch drew back to hit him a third time, but Miller caught his arm.

"That's enough," she said. "This isn't how we treat prisoners, Scratch. Not even loudmouth, irritating, uncooperative prisoners." Miller looked at him for a long time. She wondered if he made the connection between Psycho's situation and his own when he had been her prisoner a month before. "You get that, don't you?" It wasn't really a question.

Scratch relaxed and lowered his fist. Psycho laughed and spat on Scratch's boot. Scratch gave a low growl, but did walk away. Hanratty watched the incident with something akin to respect on her features.

Miller turned to Sheppard. "How far?"

"The hangar is just up that corridor, Penny."

"Good." Miller went back to where Psycho was doubled over on the floor. She knelt down next to the man. He did not look up. "Hey, in case you hadn't noticed yet, they weren't out here waiting for you. You were going to die with us."

"Save it," Psycho said. "I ain't helping you."

"I don't get it," Miller said. "You've been loyal to Rat for years. Ripper offers you some dough, and you flip off your own conscience? Why get suicidal to protect someone who'd only planned on leaving you behind, cowboy? We're trying to save your sorry ass. What good is money if you're too dead to spend it?"

Psycho didn't have a quick answer. Miller had scored.

Miller continued. "Look, I don't give a shit what happened to you in the past. You have some mommy issues? Fine. Get a shrink. Right now, I'm offering you a chance to stay alive. And I'll be willing to put my life on the line to protect you." She paused to let that sink in. "You got a better offer than that, I'd suggest you take it, but there are no other deals on the table. Until one comes along, stop being a crybaby and get up."

Psycho looked at her in the dim light. The perpetual scowl slid off his face, replaced by something a little less hateful. He was interested and curious now. He squinted to see if Rat was nearby. She strolled over to stand next to Miller. The two women eyed Psycho evenly.

"Lovell, help me up," Psycho said, finally. He struggled to get to his feet. Lovell pulled him up by the arm. He stared at Miller but deliberately avoided Rat's eyes. He seemed ashamed. "Lady, I ain't much good to you handcuffed."

"Are you going to be a good little boy?" asked Miller. She flashed him a knowing grin.

"Yes."

Miller wondered if he would append 'ma'am' or 'Sheriff' to that, but when Psycho didn't, Miller figured that was as good as she would get. Behind Psycho, Hanratty shook her head. She wasn't sure about the move, at least not yet. Next to her, Scratch frowned. Behind Psycho, Lovell just shrugged.

"Don't make me regret this, Psycho," Miller said. She nodded to Lovell. Lovell, in turn, looked at Rat. After a long second designed to save face, Rat inclined her head as if to agree. Miller made a mental note of that exchange. Rat still had allies. She would have to work on gaining Lovell's loyalty another time. For the moment, adding Psycho to her team would have to do.

Lovell unlocked Psycho's cuffs. Psycho moved slowly, first rubbing his wrists, then checking his gut and his face. He glanced at Scratch, who merely ignored him. Miller made a calculation in response to that as well. She didn't want a repeat of the scene in her jailhouse when she'd released Scratch after an almost identical speech. Miller had armed him, and he'd promptly shot her deputy in the face. Scratch didn't fuck around much. Psycho and Scratch now had a nasty history between them. She'd have to work on diffusing the tension, assuming they were all still around.

"This is all very touching, people," said Sheppard, breaking the silence, "but we still have the small issue of finding Ripper and Brubeck, and then getting the hell out of here. Can we focus, please?"

Rat took that as her cue. "All right. Let's move."

Lovell took a step forward. No one else so much as lifted a foot. Everyone turned to Miller this time. She'd won the majority without saying a word.

"What's the plan, Penny?" asked Terrill Lee. His cold shoulder stung Rat.

Miller stood a little taller. She glanced at Rat, who sagged a bit. "What's next is that we all work together to survive," she said in a commanding voice. "Let's get our asses out of here. We are going to make it back to the helicopter, assuming it's still there. We're going to commandeer it and fly home. Lovell, I overheard you talking to Terrill Lee about helicopters on the flight here. You
can
fly, right?"

"Yeah, I can fly. And if the helicopter
isn't
there?"

"We punt," Miller said. "We adjust to the reality of our situation. But we do not slow down or waste time fighting amongst ourselves."

The group waited.

Miller turned to Sheppard. "Karl, you worked here. You know this place better than anyone else. Can you get us out of here?"

"Ready and waiting."

"Okay, do it. Rat, Lovell. Check ammo. We're going to need every round." Miller turned to the others. "The rest of you keep your eyes open. We know there are zoms here. Some are still stumbling around looking for appetizers. Don't fuck up. You do not have my permission to get eaten. We may not have enough rounds to put you out of your misery."

Scratch belched. "Got it."

Miller said, "And everybody keep on the lookout for weapons. We need guns, knives, shovels, chain saws, a flamethrower if you can find one. Commandeer anything that will keep us alive." She looked at Rat. "How many rounds have we got left?"

Rat hesitated, but Miller could see that Hanratty realized that she'd lost command, probably once and for all.

"I got thirty-four here," Rat said, sullenly.

"Lovell?"

"Eleven."

"All right. Forty-five rounds to get us topside. Choose your shots carefully. If we don't find a weapons cache, we'll have to hope that it's enough to get us home." Miller looked at each one of them in turn, settling on Sheppard last.

"Like I said, you're the guide, Sheppard. Let's go."

Sheppard moved slowly but confidently. Miller waved them into a sequence. Lovell came close behind, followed by Terrill Lee, Psycho, Miller, Scratch, and Rat. Miller made sure to keep Psycho away from Scratch. She was pretty sure that Scratch wouldn't start anything, but she couldn't be so certain of Psycho. She let Rat take Tail End Charlie. Miller figured the Major wanted a little alone time, perhaps to contemplate the loss of her authority. Miller sympathized a bit, but was already sick of all the group therapy shit, the drama she'd had to deal with on this trip. As long as Rat didn't decide to put a bullet in the back of her skull, Miller was happy just to let her stew.

They moved down a long corridor and through a decimated dining hall. Headless corpses were strewn about. A long string of rancid entrails festooned the glass cafeteria counter, a row of spoiled pasta. Despite the gross out, Miller salivated at the thought of food. They exited into yet another corridor and walked about a thirty yards. Psycho was smacking his lips and humming a bit, but otherwise well behaved.

Sheppard stopped at a set of double doors. "Here's the hangar, Sheriff."

"Excellent," Miller said. "Rat, you have the rifle and the most rounds. You and Lovell want to take a peek in there and tell us what there is to see?"

Rat glowered but followed orders. She and Lovell opened the doors slowly. They looked out into the darkened hangar. Miller heard the moaning sounds beyond. Rat stepped back. "Holy shit." They eased the doors closed again.

"What is it?"

"We have a problem, Sheriff," Lovell whispered. "I counted maybe fifty or sixty bad guys out there."

"Where the hell did they come from?" asked Terrill Lee.

"My guess," replied Scratch. "Ripper let 'em loose to fuck us up."

Miller frowned. "That would mean they know we're out." She turned to Rat and Lovell. "Have they noticed us?"

"Not yet," whispered Rat. "But if we don't keep our voices down, they definitely will."

Miller swallowed dryly. She was hungry, thirsty, tired, and needed to pee like a racehorse. But all that would have to wait until they were a long way away from this damned God-forsaken military base. Why the hell had she let the boys talk her into this?

"Sheppard," she said, "we got another way out?"

"I see two options, Sheriff," Sheppard said. "We go out the front or out the back." He eased one door open and peeked out into the hangar. They could all hear the faint echo of shuffling feet and an occasional low moan. "Okay, right now the front isn't looking too good. So I recommend we take the back way."

"And where's that?"

Sheppard turned a bit green. "It is across the hangar, in the north-west corner. There's a cargo elevator and a stairwell. Penny, I recommend we shoot for the stairwell. The last thing we want is to get trapped in a big metal box between two floors of zombies."

"Kinda like this whole base, you mean?" said Terrill Lee. He was grinning nervously. Everyone ignored him.

Miller peeked through the doors. The zombies were still milling around, following the path that the team had taken from the main ramp to the generator room, and then back to the medical wing. Sheppard was right. If they got onto that elevator, no one would be speaking up because they'd all be dead or moaning for food within a matter of minutes. They were trapped. It was almost as if the creatures had planned it. They were directly between Miller and her team and where they needed to go.

"Sheppard, is there any way to get us closer than this? I don't relish the idea of charging through the middle of that pack of meat sacks."

"There was, Penny, but it's blocked. It was two corridors back, and to the left. Someone had barricaded it."

Miller considered. A few different ideas went through her head. None of them seemed as if they would work. She opened her mouth to give the order to go back. That's when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Scratch saw it too and dropped to one knee. Had it been there seconds ago? No. It had been dark down the hall, but now there was a light at the end of the corridor. It was a moving light.

"Oh, shit," Miller muttered.

A gruff, heavily accented voice came from the far end of the corridor. "There they are!"

"Don't shoot, you dumb bastards!" Miller shouted. She started waving her arms.

Too late. Ripper opened up with his M-4. The sound was overwhelmingly loud after the grim whispering. The bullets made startling, clanking sounds wherever they hit the riveted metal walls. Miller could imagine the horde of monsters in the other room pausing, turning, reacting, and coming their way. Now they were
really
trapped.

Rat returned fire. "Go!" she shouted. She fired a few well-placed rounds, forcing the attackers to duck and cover.

Miller pushed the doors to the hangar open. She jumped through. Miller was followed quickly by Terrill Lee and Scratch. Sheppard, Lovell, Rat, and Psycho did not appear behind them. The sporadic firing, however, continued. Perhaps the mercenaries had pinned one another down. Either way, Miller knew her people would soon be out of ammo.

"Penny, we've got another problem," said Terrill Lee. He pointed.

As Miller had feared, the excitement had not been lost on the zombies. Nearly all of them had turned toward the double doors. They were moaning with hunger as they approached the unarmed trio. Miller fought back an urge to laugh. Her nightmare scenario just kept coming closer and closer no matter how hard she fought to prevent it. Maybe Psycho had a point, just let reality slip away. Perhaps life was easier that way.

Abruptly, the gunfire ceased. Rat's voice could be heard shouting, "Fall back!" The doors opened, and Psycho and Rat came rushing into the room. The zombies were headed their way. The front row was a line of reanimated soldiers in blood-splattered, torn uniforms.

Miller said, "Where's Sheppard?"

"Lovell's got him," Rat replied, panting.

As she said this, Lovell came through the doors. He was half-carrying Sheppard, whose left leg was seeping blood. Sheppard caught Miller's worried look.