Zombified (Book 2): Shady Oaks (9 page)

Chapter 12

Mick almost fell twice before finally spotting a group of men huddled together on the ground pouring over a map. He skidded to a stop and as they turned surprised faces up to him, gasped out, "Captain Sears, where is he?"

"Thanks," he said with a wave of his hand as one solder pointed down the road and told him to keep going around another bend in the road, where he should find the captain. Without another look, he sprinted away, breathing heavily. Adrenaline and pure fear drove him on; he felt he couldn't get there soon enough.

To his relief, as soon as he rounded the corner he saw Sean first and then Scott. That meant the captain was close by and he frantically scanned the area. He spotted him as Sean walked over.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

To his surprise, Mick brushed Sean aside in his hurry to talk to Sears. "No time! Have to talk to the captain right now!"

One look at his father's frightened face and Sean knew something was up and followed him. Scott noticed the odd exchange and joined them as Mick raced up and jerked the captain around by his arm.

Captain Sears recoiled in alarm and his expression turned to surprise when he realized he had Mick before him.

Mick held up a hand, panting heavily. The three other men exchanged glances as they waited for him to catch his breath.

"I heard on the radio," he said between gasps. "Bad stuff! Malcolm's men aren't coming here!"

"What!" Captain Sears exclaimed. Now it was his turn to grab Mick by the arm. "So what did you hear?"

Catching his breath, Mick stood straighter and the captain released his arm. "Malcolm sent them to surround Shady Oaks; apparently he plans to take the whole damn town hostage if we don't leave here! He plans to have another talk with you - but that flash-bang will be going off before that happens. His men are almost in position, they plan to subdue our patrols and move in if they don't hear from Malcolm within the hour."

They all looked at their watches. "We have less than five minutes," Sean said softly. "Sure looks like they're not going to hear from Malcolm."

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet," Captain Sears said with a thoughtful look. "If we can get in there and grab Malcolm before the deadline I bet we can make him talk. So, let's make him our priority. Soon as that flash-bang goes off, we're in there and we locate Malcolm as quickly as possible."

The captain turned to Scott. "Go to the edge of the trees and see if you can spot him now, then we'll know where he is without searching."

"Sean, stay with me," he said before turning toward Mick. "I need you to go back and monitor the radio again. I know you don't want to, but I need to know if there's any change of plan or if they're moving in on Shady Oaks. Don't worry about radio silence, if you hear anything important, you call Sean up."

Mick frowned, and then nodded reluctantly. "You're right, I don't like this, but I'll do what you ask. He turned to his son. "I'll call you on our usual frequency if that's okay."

Sean patted the walkie strapped to his hip before taking it out and fiddling with the dials. "I'll be ready."

As Mick was leaving, Scott trotted back and he stopped to listen. "I spotted Malcolm by that big building where we heard the zombies and he's talking to a couple of his men."

After glancing at his watch once more, Captain Sears scanned the area behind him where his men were now in position and ready to go on his command. "When you hear the explosion, that's your signal to move out. Everyone knows what to do, stick to the plan and we should be successful."

Mick felt a nudge and Scott whispered in his ear. "Dad, you need to get going, we need you to let us know what they're doing down by Shady Oaks. Don't worry, we'll be okay."

"You're right," he whispered back. As he turned once again to leave, he saw the men jump in response to the flash-bang going off. Without another look back, he put his head down and ran.

****

"Look, there's a big camp over there!" Mark shouted.

"Let's stick to the plan before we go near it because I don't particularly feel like being shot at," Harry shouted back as he swung the copter toward the edge of the meadow.

He was surprised at how large the lake was; he estimated it was about the size of two football fields. The meadow formed an almost perfect circle around the water and past the meadow was the tree-lined periphery. The camp was on the opposite side, with rows of tents and buildings between the meadow and tree line.

"We'll go ahead and follow the meadow around and take a look first."

Mark kept his eyes peeled for any signs of life. As they neared the south end, he heard a loud explosion and jerked his head up. He and Harry exchanged surprised looks.

He looked down and over to his right again to see a sudden flurry of activity around the camp. Men came pouring from the trees, surging forward toward the tents and buildings.

"Must be our guys!" Mark exclaimed excitedly. "We need to figure out how we can help them!"

They were already at the south end of the meadow and Harry was beginning his turn when he saw someone near the tree line standing on a road and waving at them. He pointed toward the man. "Do you see that guy, isn't that Mick?"

Mark turned and tilted his head to see. Harry turned slightly to give him a better view. "Yeah! That's Mick!"

Mark waved back and Harry went lower, hovering a few feet above the ground. Mick began to head toward them and as he approached, something below them caused Harry to look down. What he saw made his mouth go dry. Without taking his eyes off the sight before him, he reached over and gave Mark a hard nudge in the ribs.

"Mark! What is that? Look!"

Mark peered down at the ground and at first his brain couldn't quite catch up to what his eyes were seeing. He shook his head slowly in disbelief and when he looked back up at Harry; his face was white with shock.

Before speaking, he noticed Mick and pointed. "We have to warn him!" he shouted. "He's walking right into it!"

Harry nodded grimly and headed straight for Mick, who stopped dead in his tracks and began to back up.

"We can't go any closer because of the trees!" Harry said loudly. "What do you want to do?"

"If you can get a little bit lower, I'll jump out and find out what's going on and warn him at the same time."

With a nod, Harry swung in and after opening the door; Mark gingerly put his feet on the rail then leapt toward Mick. He would have fallen if Mick hadn't reacted and caught him almost before he touched the ground.

Mick helped him stand then gave him a good shake. Mark looked at him in surprise. Mick was clearly angry and gave him another shake.

"What in the hell were you trying to do? Kill me?"

"No, we were trying to save your life," he retorted as he stepped back from Mick. "Come here."

Mark led him toward the edge of the meadow and motioned for Harry to show him. Harry had moved up and back once Mark was off, now he slowly came back and the wash from the copter's blades revealed what was hidden in the long grass.

Mark heard Mick's sudden intake of breath as they both beheld the horror before them. There were naked zombies all over, held in place with thick leather collars and leashes staked into the ground. These weren't normal zombies, either. Each one was missing the lower half of their bodies from the upper thigh down so they could only crawl. They overlapped just enough to be able to touch hands.

"Anyone going in there wouldn't be coming out," Mark shouted over the roar of copter. "That's why we came at you, to make you move back."

Mick immediately remembered the solider he'd seen crawl into the meadow and swallowed hard. "Thanks," he managed to get out around his dry throat. "You saved me from a nasty death."

As Harry once again backed away, Mark said, "We heard an explosion and saw men running toward that camp up there, what's going on?"

"They're going in to get the hostages." He glanced at the copter. "Look, I don't have time to explain it all, I need to get on the walkie and have Sean pass on a warning to not go in that meadow. In the meantime, it might be helpful if you two go back to town. The man who runs the Connor Group has sent most of his men to Shady Oaks with the idea of taking over the town. They need to be warned and there's not a minute to spare."

Mark was dismayed to hear the news and shook his head glumly. "All right, we'll be on our way." He waved Harry back and as the copter slowly approached again, he turned and held out his hand. "Good luck; hopefully we'll see each other soon."

Mick didn't like the tone in Mark's voice, but nodded and shook his hand. "Going to think positive," he said while pulling out his walkie. "Okay, got to run!" Without waiting for a reply, he spun on his heel with the walkie up to his mouth and headed for the truck with the radio.

Mark got as close to the meadow as he dared and tried not to look down as Harry edged the copter close enough for him to grab a handhold and jump on the rail. The copter tilted a bit and he quickly jerked the door open and scrambled inside.

Once firmly belted in, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. He quickly filled Harry in on his conversation with Mick and as they swung around to head back, Mark tapped Harry on the arm to get his attention.

"What do think about us buzzing the camp, maybe we can cause a little more confusion to help them out."

"Could be dangerous, but I'm willing to give it a try."

"Let's do it then," Mark said resolutely as he automatically tightened his seat belt.

"We'll go in low and fast then head straight back to town."

As they roared toward camp, Mark had a sinking feeling when he realized a small group of soldiers were entering the meadow. He pointed and when Harry saw what was happening, shook his head.

"We can't save everyone, Mark. I'll go over their heads then hover for a second above the meadow in front of them hoping they see what's there, but it's the best I can do."

"Okay," Mark replied sadly. He watched the men stop and fall back for a moment, but as soon as they hovered over the meadow, the men headed in their direction with raised weapons.

"We can't stay here!" Harry shouted as he gunned it and turned toward camp.

Mark watched the men enter the meadow then turned away. He didn't want to see what would happen next. Behind him he heard rapid gunfire that quickly faded away. He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"We tried and that's all we could do," Harry said in a dismal voice. "Let's see if we can be more effective at the camp."

Mark rubbed his forehead and opened his eyes. "Maybe Mick was able to let Captain Sears know we're the good guys by now.

"Let's hope so, don't relish the idea of being shot."

They shot across the meadow and rocketed across the lake toward the camp. To their surprise, there didn't seem to be much of a fight going on.

"Wow, looks like they've pretty much rounded up everyone." Mark said with relief in his voice. As they passed over a white tent he pointed. "There's Captain Sears with Mick's boys, Sean and Scott, and it looks like they have everyone who was taken hostage with them!"

"Awesome!" Harry replied with a big grin. Before reaching the camp, he swung to the right. "I don't think we need to do a flyover and possibly take fire, let's head back."

"Sounds good to me," Mark replied. As they passed the large wooden building on the end, he looked down. What he didn't realize was that he was looking at Malcolm, who was on the verge of releasing all two hundred and thirty one zombies jammed tightly inside.

Chapter 13

Charlie stood with the others grinning like an idiot at his friends. Everything happened as he'd hoped, although it didn't go quite as he envisioned.

As soon as he tossed the flash-bang, Charlie grabbed Jenny and Brooke by the hand and pulled them to the floor. They were able to cover their ears and close their eyes right before the blinding flash and explosion. The concussion stunned him temporarily, which he wasn't expecting, but he was on his feet and pulling the girls up with him before the two men guarding them had been able to even move after they fell to the ground. He yelled at them to run, which they did and he went the other way to retrieve Jake.

Charlie almost smacked into him when they both tried to go through the plastic dividing the tent at the same time. Grabbing Jake by the front of his shirt, Charlie spun around and pushed Jake in front of him and together they ran out of the tent just as several soldiers rushed past them to subdue those still inside. A few of the soldiers even waved as they went by, most of them knew the Shady Oaks and Ambrose folks.

Now everyone was milling around and talking all at once. Charlie noticed a small group of soldiers leading several of Malcolm's men into the other large tent. He watched for a moment then approached Captain Sears and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Charlie! So good to see you!" Sears said with a chuckle.

"Good to see you, too," Charlie said as he returned the grin. He gestured toward the handcuffed men. "I don't see Malcolm or his bodyguard, are they being held somewhere else?"

"I have men searching for him as we speak."

Charlie sighed with relief, confident Malcolm would soon be in custody,
and then smiled when a small truck pulled up with Mick and Jimmy inside. He started walking over to talk to them when the sound of gunfire erupted off to his left.

He paused and from that area, Charlie saw two soldiers running toward them with weapons drawn. The first one to reach them shouldered his weapon and addressed the captain with fear in his voice. "Sir! We got a ton of zombies coming out of a building and they're headed this way!"

Captain Sears stretched to look over the man's head and frowned. The area as far as he could see was still clear, so perhaps they had enough time to try and stop them and get the hostages out.

As he shouted orders, they heard an engine rev up and a truck appeared from behind the tents. Charlie realized it was the flatbed he'd seen earlier, only now the back contained the body of Malcolm's son still in his tube, along with Malcolm and his contingent of scientists and doctors. A generator was humming in one corner to keep Connor's oxygen and other equipment going.

For a moment, everyone was caught off guard and paused to watch the truck trundle away. Charlie gritted his teeth when Malcolm had the nerve to smile and wave as they reached the trees and disappeared from view on the dirt road leading off the mountain. Malcolm managed to throw a major distraction their way so he could escape with his son.

Captain Sears began barking orders again and everyone moved faster when they heard more gunfire, this time more rapid and sustained. He walked over to Sean and Scott and grabbed each one by an arm.

"Get all these people down the road, load them in one of the trucks and get them the hell out of here!" he shouted in their faces.

The brothers nodded and turned toward their family and friends. "Follow us, stay out of the meadow, we hug the tree line!" Sean yelled as the gunfire got louder.

Charlie was certain he could hear moaning in between shots and shouting, and tried to get a quick look toward the sounds, but there were too many soldiers in the way. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up.

"Time to go, let's move," Scott said grimly in his ear. Charlie nodded and joined the rest of the group, which now included Mick and Jimmy again. They followed Sean as he began to jog down toward the trees. Scott took up the rear, looking almost constantly over his shoulder. As they reached the trees, he chanced one more look and immediately froze in place.

Trying to fight down panic, he turned and sprinted past Charlie and the others to whisper something in Sean's ear. The look on Sean's face alarmed Charlie and as he started to look back both brothers began to yell at them to run.

Sean turned and ran down the road as Scott began to hurry everyone along. Once Charlie passed him, he again took up his position in the rear with rifle in hand. Charlie wanted to see what was happening behind them, but at the same time was afraid to look.

Fortunately the truck wasn't too far down the road and Sean helped everyone up into the back as Scott ran past them to jump in the driver's seat. Designed to ferry troops back and forth, this truck was covered and had benches for them to sit on. Sean jumped in and pulled up the tailgate, cautioning them to hold on as he knelt and swung his rifle around to point it outside.

Charlie took a quick glance at everyone; all of them were panting and sweating. Mick and Jimmy were trying to calm Brooke while Jenny and Jake sat holding hands and talking quietly. Sean reached outside and gave the truck a couple of hard smacks, Scott had already started the vehicle and the truck lurched forward.

"Going to be a rough ride," Sean said as he turned to face them. "So hang on and sit tight."

Charlie scooted closer to Sean and asked, "What did you see back there?"

Sean threw a quick glance at the others before turning his attention to Charlie. "I saw our guys slowly retreating," he paused and swallowed. "And that's why," he said in a low voice as he pointed toward the camp.

They were in a spot on the road where the trees were sparse and what Charlie saw sent shivers down his spine. There were zombies all over the camp and halfway across the meadow, apparently they weren't bothered by the zombies tethered to the ground. He saw a few trip and fall, only to slowly get back to their feet and continue on. Sean was right, but now the soldiers were retreating at a much faster pace.

"Are we going to make it out of here?"

"Oh, we'll make it," Sean remarked with resolve in his voice. "We may have to get out and hike back to town, but we will make it."

Charlie didn't like the thought of having to walk all the way back, but he liked the thought of being surrounded by zombies even less.

"I hope so," was all he could think of to say as he watched the zombies spread out and move ever closer toward the roads.

****

Cindy and Judith looked up in surprise as Mark and Harry burst through the front door with such force that it slammed into the wall, leaving a hole where the doorknob punched through.

"We have a bad situation, I'm going to ring the bell," Mark said in a rush. He waved toward Harry as he spun on his heel and raced out the door. "He'll fill you in!" he shouted over his shoulder.

As both women stared incredulously at Harry, he tried to grin, but failed miserably. He sat down on the edge of the couch next to Cindy.

"There's not much time, so I'll make this quick," he began with a shake of his head. "We ran up to the lake and found a huge camp up there; Mark tells me it's the Connor Group. By the time we got there, Captain Sears and his men had control of the camp. Before that though, we ran into Mick and he explained to us what was happening."

"Mick! Did you say Mick was up there?" Cindy asked in amazement. Then her eyes narrowed as she looked toward her friend. "Judith, our hunch was right, they did head up there."

Harry nodded. "Charlie is with the other people who were held hostage, but they all seem to be fine."

At their relieved looks, he continued. "We were able to talk to Mick, but only for a few minutes. He warned us that most of the Connor Group is headed this way, they plan to take over Shady Oaks."

Cindy's eyes widened in amazement as she digested what he said and Judith gasped loudly.

"We need to warn everyone about what we're dealing with here!" Judith declared as she jumped up and headed for the door. "We've had drills for zombies, not for people coming after us!"

Harry held up a hand. “Wait, I have a favor to ask.” As Judith hesitated he said, “Could you please find Bitsy and your son, and send them back up to the farm? I'd like to see them both safe and out of town.”

“
I can do that,” she replied. “They're at my house putting up the eggs, I'll stop there first.”

"Grab Megan and Darrell, too," Cindy said hurriedly as she stood to retrieve her pistol and Mick's shotgun. "I'll run by Rose and Dexter's to make sure they know and can pass it along."

With a curt nod, Judith turned and rushed out the door. Cindy hesitated for a second when the church bell began to ring, and then she disappeared down the hall.

Harry stood and walked over to the door, leaning against the jamb to look out. There was already a flurry of activity as people began to leave their homes and congregate around what Harry assumed was city hall and most likely the sheriff's office. A big man in a police uniform that seemed to be two sizes too small for him pushed through the crowd and started yelling orders; from Mark's description of the man he surmised he was staring at Dexter.

He turned as Cindy reappeared and thrust a rifle toward him.

"I am assuming you're familiar with firearms," she said as he examined the gun. She handed him a box of ammunition, which he slipped into a jacket pocket.

"Unfortunately, yes," he murmured as he examined the rifle. "Never did care for guns, but my father insisted that we, Bitsy's father and I, learn to hunt. Gabe took to it, but I never did enjoy the sport."

"Now you need to know how in order to survive," Cindy replied as she checked her pistol before placing it in the holster on her right hip. She shouldered Mick's shotgun and nodded toward the door.

"Let's get going."

Harry opened the door. "After you."

****

He was out and somehow knew where he wanted to go. In the dim recess of his mind was an image, an echo of a memory which drew him. He still retained some basic intelligence and cognitive thinking, which gave him a definite advantage. Another plus, since he was one of the test subjects given fluids, he was able to think and not be driven by need alone.

He used the power of his thoughts and emotions, such as they were, to force the others to follow him. Once he had been someone people looked up to and admired. The embroidered name tag on his white lab coat, now torn and heavily stained, once identified him as Dr. Robert Jamieson. Now tattered and half torn off, what was left of the tag simply identified him as "Rob."

After he was bitten by one of their test subjects and turned, a few of the doctors in Malcolm's employ jokingly called him Dr. Brainiac, Dr. Cerebrum, or Dr. Synapse. Cruel men, they led him around like a prize pony until they tired of their games and experiments on him. Then they tossed him in with the others and forgot he ever existed.

Not that it mattered, he didn't care about anything other than to satisfy their ever-present thirst - it was what they all wanted - it drove them on and was always foremost in their collective thoughts.

Although he wasn't as needy as the others, but he could feel the beginning pangs of thirst stir within him. He knew where to go to find what they needed, but at that moment the others were attracted like lethal magnets to the people all around them, so he relaxed and let them have their way. For now.