Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (51 page)

“Oh, my God!” shouted Eddie.  “Ian!”

“I got it, Eddie!  Get the
hell
back!” shouted Flex.

He raised his gun.  There was no saving Ian now, for he was being torn to pieces. 
As Flex sighted in on the writhing bodies,
the female flipped
over in one sudden motion.  Now she was on her back
with Ian’s body atop hers, and she continued to tear at his flesh, the blood running into her horrible, gaping mouth.

Flex was forced to fire directly at Ian.  He
fired round after round
into Ian’s body, hoping they would penetrate enough to kill the zombie beneath him.

While he wasn’t directly aware of it, he heard other weapons firing at the same time, and the flashes as West and
Bell
emptied their magazines were welcome.

But
it seemed
the feasting monster had
anticipated all possible scenarios, pulling
Ian’s center mass over its head, now chewing through the muscles in the boy’s back.

Magazines ran out.  Flex’s weapon clicked – empty. 

The silence was broken only by the sounds of Ian’s body being horribly violated. A bloody hand pushed through the center of the boy, reached down and tore open his chest cavity.  The hand easily snapped ribs, widening the wound, providing access to the boy’s heart.  It gripped the barely pumping organ, ripped it from the boys body and sank back inside with a sucking sound.

What became of it then, Flex could not think about.  The slurping grew louder as the female devoured Ian’s heart.

As though aware of the reprieve, t
he creature
scrambled to its feet
,
hauling
Ian’s body up
in front of
her.  Powerful, dead arms held his body up, shielding her head, and she thrust it forward with a strength Flex had no idea
she or any of the others
possessed. 

Ian’s
heartless, shredded
and
bullet-riddled
body flew through the air toward Flex and West
.  B
oth men
jumped from their respective chairs to the floor
. 
Flex hit the ground, avoiding the flying body, but
Ian’s
steel-toed
boot caught
Lawrence
West on the top of the head
, knocking him hard against the chair he had just vacated.

Ian’s body slammed against the wall behind the
row of chairs, rolling down and landing on top of West as Flex
twisted
out of the way.

Now Flex was among what he hoped were corpses.  A moment later, he knew his earlier concerns had been valid.  A hand clutched his ankle.

He kicked at it, but the grip was strong.  Flex looked at the hand, and saw a creature pulling toward him, mouth open, teeth bared.  Twelve inches away. 
Eight inches.  Now f
ive.

His heart pounded. 
Flex jerked his leg again, but another destroyed hand reached out, clamping him at the knee.  As he watched in horror, sure he was about to become a victim of the undead apocalypse that had overtaken the earth, the heavy stock of a gun slammed into the cranium of the biter, splitting it in two like an overripe watermelon.  The slick, cold muck soaked through his pant legs, reminding him
that these were not warm-blooded, living things.

These were cold, dead
, living
things.

In his shock,
Flex looked up to see Eddie holding his Rangemaster by the long barrel, breathing hard.
  The stock dripped black blood.

He looked back where Red Eyes had been.

She was gone.  Flex wiped at his eyes.

Smoke began to pour into the room from a door in the rear, over thirty feet away.  He blinked.  It was open
, perhaps by
the female as she had made her escape, perhaps not.

“Are you okay, Flex?” asked Eddie.

“I am,” said Flex.  “I wish I could say the same for your friend.” 

“
Where the hell did she go
!” said
Bell
, scanning the room
.
  Flex knew he was concerned she would pop up beside him next.

West
groaned, got to his feet and leaned over to offer Flex a hand
.  Flex took it and got to his feet.

“You hurt?” asked West.

“No,” said Flex.  “No bites or scratches, thanks to Eddie.”

“Good.
”

Bell
walked up, his red face dripping with sweat.
 
Both he and West
looked back at the rear door, from which smoke continued to billow. 

“I’ve neve
r seen anything like that, Flex,” said
Bell
.
 
“
She was here one minute, and
gone
the next
.  Maybe through that door
in the back, or
the way we came in
.”

“We have to go after her,”
Flex
said.  “She might
be headed after
Jimmy and Nikki
.”

Flex went up to Eddie and put an arm over his shoulder.  “You want to wait for us out there?”
nodding toward
the visiting room.  “Close the doors and just breathe a bit?”

Eddied looked up at him.  “I heard what Ian said.  I shot him, right?  My bullet?”

“I don’t know
, Eddie,” lied Flex.
  “I doubt it.”

Eddie shook his head.  “Whatever.  I’m not resting. 
We gotta find
Jimmy and Nikki.”

*****

“Why on foot, Hemp?” asked Vikki.

Hemp stopped to answer, keeping his voice low.  “The females are intelligent, the ones I’m looking for. 
I have
a pretty good idea where they hide, but we’re going to have to be smarter to catch them.
 
They’re not
far from here.
”

“
That’s no
t
comforting. 
Would
a
net help?”

Hemp looked at the redhead.  “Yes, it would help very much,” he said.  “Do you have one?”

“Yeah, sure.  It’s right on the wall of the bar.  Hadn’t you noticed it? 
It has
shells, a ship steering wheel,
and other
stuff
hanging off
it.  Decoration
s
.”

Hemp smiled.  He had noticed it, but it hadn’t clicked as something useful.  But it
was
a net, and it was pretty heavy, from his memory of it.

“Let’s get it,” he said.  “It may be exactly what we need.”
  They turned back to Three Sisters Bar
, which was only
a few strides away.

Ten minutes later, they had the décor items removed, and the net rolled up. 
They again waved good bye to their friends and neighbors waiting inside. 
Hemp carried
the net
over his shoulder as they stepped into the night
once more
. 

“I like this gun,” said Vikki
, hefting it in her hands
.  “Feels like one my boyfriend had.”

“It’s a good gun,” said Hemp.  “Glad Mason shared it with you.”

“He was getting dirty looks,” said Vikki.  “People will come around, though.  The kids need protection too, if they’re on their own.  .22 rifles aren’t enough.  Not against this shit.”

“I agree, and as you know we’ve never had issue with young people learning how to handle high-powered firearms.  It’s a requirement nowadays.”

“Where are we going?”

“Basement of the State House.”

Vikki stared at him.  “Why?”

“Because when we saw the writing on the wall, Kev and I talked about
setting a trap for the smart ones
. 
The
basement has
an exterior door
that can be pulled open, but not by the typical infected.  They haven’t the intelligence to pull open a door without guidance and connection to the red-eyed females.”

“And those women are smart enough to pull open doors?”

“They’ve done far more complex things,” said Hemp.  “Telling a girl to unlock a door indicates high functioning thought processes.”

“So how do you draw them to your basement?”

“
The females work largely at night for better cover.”

“They’re that damned smart?” asked Vikki.

“Smarter,” said Hemp.  “The fact is, we know they’re there, because Kev watched them go in on camera.
  They seem to wait indefinitely until they have numbers before attacking, if at all possible.
”

“
Wait,” said Vikki.  “Why would you use the State House basement as a trap? 
We were using
that building
as a base for a long time.”

“
The door
from the basement to the interior of the State House
has recently been
triple dead
bolted
, Vikki.  They could not have made it inside.  We practically dropped bread crumbs for them to
find it, though
.”

Vikki shook her head.  “I’m afraid to ask.”

“
No need,” said Hemp.  “I’ll tell you. 
When the hunters would bring in deer
or moose
,” he said, “We would save the organs and
have
them
scattered
beside the walkway leading to the basement door.
”

“Is
that
what stank out there?” asked Vikki.

“It did not stink to them,” said Hemp.  “It was only left out at night,” he said.  “Crews picked the pieces back up at 5:30 AM and refrigerated it until midnight, when it was put out again.”

“Quite a plan,” said Vikki.  “But it worked.”

“Yes.  Based on the video surveillance, I estimate there are at least thirty of the intelligent ones in there.  I would like two of them; one pregnant, and the other just of child-bearing years.”

“How do we draw them out?” asked Vikki.  “We can’t take on thirty of them.”

“I have a terrible idea,” said Hemp.  “But it’s a good idea.”

“So how’s it terrible?” asked Vikki.

“You’ll see soon enough,” said Hemp.  “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” said Vikki.  “This shit is fun.  I wanna shoot something.”

“How about
shooting
that
?” asked Hemp, pointing to a figure staggering up the street toward them. 

Vikki felt the side of her belt for the spray bottle of Urushiol that Hemp insisted everyone carry.  It was still highly effective on the ratz and the regular infecteds.  They had both taken WAT-6 as well, which meant that
they
would be protected should any
pink eye
vapor come their way.

“Should I shoot it or use the oil?”

“You
already
know how to
handle
a spray bottle.  Give him fifteen feet, then take your shot.”

“Fair enough,” sai
d Vikki. 
She raised her weapon, trained the scope on the figure’s head, and then slowly lowered it again, looking confused.

“What’s
wrong?
” asked Hemp.

“Nothing,” she said.  “No, everything’s okay.
  It’s just dark out.  I can just see a silhouette.
” 

“He’s one of them,” said Hemp.  “While it’s possible, it’s dangerous and pointless to imitate that shuffling gait.”

She raised the weapon again and looked through the scope.  Her finger slowly squeezed
the trigger
and the shot rang through the night
.

Black mist and skull fragments erupted from the creature as its arms flew outward and it buckled at the knees.  It crumpled to the ground. 
Vikki lowered her weapon and looked at Hemp. 
“I want to see,” she said.  “exactly where I hit it.”

“Be my guest,” said Hemp.  She scanned the roadway on both sides
as she walked.  When she reached the corpse,
she
leaned forward
, looking down at it
.

“Oh, my God!” she screamed.
  “Hemp!”