Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (56 page)

The thrashing creature caught within snarled and tore at the woven rope, but she got no closer to being free.  The cuffs had hooked around it, so try as she might, she and her shot leg were captive.

“Oh, my God!” shouted Kimberly, jumping away from the creature. 

The other test subject screamed at the top of her lungs, but Scofield jumped over the bundle and held the door as Vikki came through, holding on to the other end of the line, still connected to the spear gun
even while the spear itself was deeply embedded in the creature’s midsection
.

“Don’t worry!” said Vikki.  “She’s caught in our web pretty good.  Close that door, Doc!  You don’t know what we saw out there.”

Scofield did.  He turned to Hemp.  “Are you okay?  Goddamn, you both look fit for a shower and a long, long nap!”

Rebecca’s face had gone pale white, and she pressed herself against the far wall on the other side of Kevin Reeves’
hyperbaric
chamber.  Kimberly went over to her.

“It’s okay, Rebecca,” she said.  “It’s caught.  It can’t hurt you.”

“That’s right,” said Vikki.  “We just rode with it in the back of the van, and we’re alive.  She can’t move.”

“She is moving!” said Rebecca.

“She’s struggling,” said Kimberly.  “She’s doing that because she’s trapped.  Right Hemp?”

Hemp tried to catch his breath.  His lungs ached from the thick smoke in the air.

“There’s … a fire,” he said.  “Coming … fast from the north.”

“Isn’t that where the prison is?” asked Scofield?  “Where Flex and them are?”

Hemp nodded.  He knew it all too well.

“Another thing,” he said.  “We found Jimmy Dickson.”

“Oh, my God.  Is he okay?” asked Kimberly.

Vikki shook her head, and tears flooded into her eyes.  “No,” she said.  “I killed him.”

The spear gun fell from her grasp.  It didn’t matter.  The creature was going nowhere.

“You what?” shouted Rebecca.  “You killed Jimmy?”

Jimmy had been
well known
even among the
girls
in their twenties because of his mature, good looks and
bravado.

“He wasn’t himself anymore,
Rebecca
” said Hemp
, looking at Vikki
.  “You know that, Vikki.  He was one of them, and he was already dead
when you put him out of his horror
.”

“Where’s Nikki then?” asked Kimberly.  “He was alone?”

“We only saw
Jimmy
,”
wept
Vikki.  “He was staggering down the middle of the street, and I … I shot him.
  I didn’t know it was him.  I thought something was familiar, the clothes or something, but I …
”

Kimberly went to Vikki and pulled her into her arms, holding her
as only
a sister could.  Vikki’s heaving so
bs racked her body as she sank into her sibling’s embrace.

The zombie in the webbing struggled, reminding Hemp of his next task.

“Doc,” he said.  “We need to get her strapped down and stabilized, and quickly.  Do me a favor and prepare that gurney with restraints.  I need to go talk to Gem and Charlie.”

Hemp pushed through the interior door and walked the
corridor
into the main room of the bar.  Since he’d left, they had switched from generator power to candles.  Hemp was glad. 

It was common pra
ctice; i
f there was no essential need for power, they moved to lanterns and candlelight.  The sheer volume of bodies in the room provided much needed warmth, and there were over sixty people in the room
at present
.

Hemp saw Charlie immediately upon entering the room, because she was the only one running through the group toward him.  Her arms flew around his neck, and she held him, saying nothing.

“I’m fine, Charlie.  Tired, but fine.”

“I was so damned worried, babe,” she said.  “I had my headphones on trying to distract my brain with Marty Friedman, but fuck if it didn’t work.”

“I don’t know who that is, but I’m sorry he couldn’t help.  Let’s go to Gem.  I need to tell her something.”

“Flex is okay, right?” said Charlie, her voice like dull metal.

“As far as I know, yes,” he said.  “Come on.”

Trina lay over Gem’s lap, sleeping with a string of drool hanging from her lower lip.  Hemp leaned down and kissed Gem on the cheek.

“Hey, professor,” said Gem, her eyes desperate, pleading.  “Flex?”

Hemp shook his head.  “No.  But we found Jimmy Dickson.  He’d turned into one of them and Vikki shot him.”

Charlie drew in her breath suddenly.  “No,” she said.

“Really?  Oh, Hemp.  Where the hell is Flex, then?”

“As far as I know he’s either at the prison looking for him and Nikki, or he’s on his way back.  It’s all I know.”

“Jesus, Hemp,” said Gem.  “He’s been gone way too long.”

“I agree,” said Hemp.  “But it’s dangerous out there, Gem.  The fire is moving fast, too.  From the north.”

“That’s where the prison is,” said Gem, now sliding Trina off her lap and laying her in the chair as she stood.  Trina moaned, but did not awaken.

Gem held the little girl’s sleeve so she wouldn’t fall out of the chair.  “We need to send someone, Hemp,” she said.

“We can’t, Gem.  Flex is a big boy.  We know he knows how to stay safe, and what’s more, how to keep others safe.”

“That’s right, Gemmy,” said Charlie.  “He’s got others with him.  Nothing brings out
Super Flex
better than when he’s got others to watch out for.”

“How long has he been gone now?  Two, three hours?”

Hemp shrugged.  “I don’t know, but I can say that we need to give him more time to get back.  Take care of the girls, and I’ve got to get back in the lab.  I don’t want you there because I’ve got one of the female creatures back there.”

“Are you ready to test with the girls?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how long it lasts, the new wafers.  I don’t know what it does, but it could last just a few minutes.  An hour.  I just don’t know.”

“I’m moving to a seat beside the other door,” said Gem.  “I’ll keep an eye out.  You get your experiment done and walk back out here with good news.”

“Okay,” said Hemp.  “You tell me if your good news arrives, okay?”

“You’ll hear me scream from the lab,” said Gem, forcing a smile.

“I’ve no doubt of that,” said Hemp.  He kissed Charlie and walked back to the lab.
  He took great comfort in the fact that although he did not look back, he was certain his wife’s eyes did not leave him until he disappeared into the hallway.

*****

Flex used the GPS, even though he was certain he
woul
d remember the way back to the bar.  What they saw as they reached the outskirts of town wasn’t promising.

Home after home was burning, and the flames still stretched out as far as the eye could see. 
Even the two story homes were ablaze, sending leaping red, yellow and orange pyres into the sky, the sparks flying on the breeze, setting new fires where before there
had been
none.

They saw more
burning men and women, some staggering blindly, others writhing
on the ground in
the
final throes of death
.
  Flex wondered, watching them burn, if they felt pain at all in their already dead states, but it wasn’t something he thought about much and considering what they were, he didn’t give a shit anyway.

Flex thought of the radio on the seat and grabbed it.

“Hemp!  Gem!  Anyone read?  Charlie?”  He released the button and waited.

A car exploded just to their right, no further than twenty feet away, and twisted metal and flames rained down in front of them as Flex swerved the wheel, throwing everyone to the right side of the truck.

The cow catcher scraped the roadway with a harsh screech, and the truck righted itself again.

The radio crackled.  “Flex!”

It was Gem.  He pushed the button.

“Gem, it’s me!  Is everyone okay there?  Has the fire reached there yet?”

“No, not yet.  Are you okay?  You sound okay.  Are you?”

“I’m fine.  We’re all fine.  We didn’t find Jimmy
.
”

“
We
found Jimmy, Flex.  Rather Vikki and Hemp did.  He’s dead, Flex.
  He
was one of them
.
”

Flex closed his eyes.  Nikki’s tears erupted instantly, and he heard West behind him, doing his best to comfort her.

“We’ll talk about it later, Gem.”

“Oh, my God,” said Gem.  “
Nikki’s with you.  Jesus, Flex, I’m sorry. 
Tell her I’m sorry, babe
, but I’m so fucking glad she’s safe
.  Really sorry.  God, what an idiot I am.”

“
You just told her
, and she is safe
,” said Flex.  “Look, Gem.  We’re about five miles out, and we still can’t see the end to this inferno.  The wind is howling out here, and the flames are moving
in a wall toward downtown
.  You all need to think about moving south.”

“We’re in no position to go anywhere, Flex,” said Gem.  “More people are showing up here every few minutes.  They’re starting to fill up the hall to the lab.”

“Fuck,” said Flex.  “I’ll radio again when we’re closer.  If we
reach
the fire
line
we’ll figure it out from there.”

“Flex, the building is brick, so we should be okay. 

There’s plenty of parking lot around it
for
a buffer
, right?
”

“I hope so.  Take care and stay safe, Gem.  I’ll check back in soon if I’m not back.”

Flex dropped the radio on the seat and slammed on the brakes
, throwing everyone forward
.

“Holy fuck,” he whispered.
  He could now see the end of the flames, just two blocks up.  To each side of them, there was no
visible
end
to the destructive force that burned out of control, destroying everything in its path
.

But
beyond that,
keeping just ahead of the searing flames,
were zombies and ratz.
  Hundreds of the former, maybe thousands of the latter.

Men, women, boys,
girls
and rotter ratz
.  All dead.  All fleeing certain death by burning.

A switch in Flex’s mind clicked. 
“We need to
block the roads ahead with vehicles and
set a ton of back fires to trap them,” said Flex.  “Lucky those fuckers are so slow.”

He picked up the radio again.  “Gem, you there?”

“Flex, what is it?”

“
Are Dave and
Nelson there?”

“
They are
, but Dave’s been asleep.  After what happened to Lisa, he’s dealing with some tough emotions
.
  What’s going on?  How far out are you?
”

“
Gem,
with regard to Dave,
you and I both know it’s hard.  We’ve all lost people, and we’ve had to get up and fight without time to grieve.  Hell, I don’t think I’ve grieved fully about the loss of Jamie, and I know you haven’t had time to really process the loss of your aunt and uncle
.  The fact is Dave’s a quick thinker and
we need him
.  See what you can do, okay, babe?”

“I will, Flex.”

“Okay.  If he agrees, give him
your keys and tell him
to grab Nelson and
head north, staying on the easternmost roads, and make sure
they have
a radio on channel 19.  I think
they’ll
be able to get through on
Jericho Street
, so we’ll meet
them
there.  We need your winch.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have time to go into it, Gem.  We’re safe for now, but none of us will be if we can’t slow this onslaught.  They’re coming, babe.  Hundreds, if not thousands of them.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.  Let Dave know, but try not to alert the others yet.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice low and monotone.

“And Gem?”

“Yes?”

“Be looking for a place to hide.  If I don’t make it back, I have to know you’re safe.  There’s nothing we’ve got in our arsenal that will stop this many.”