Fury Rising (34 page)

Karen held back the piece of broken fence, allowing Janey to crawl through on her hands and knees. Andrew went next, his shirt catching on a piece of wire.  He froze, trying to twist his body around to break free, only to end up scratching his arm badly enough to draw blood. Andrew’s mouth opened, letting loose a howl loud enough to wake the dead.

“I’ve got it.” Janey grabbed his arm and pulled but she only made things worse.

Throughout the Plaza, there were new screams of terror. The ferals had reached the gate and were quickly tearing it apart. The fencing could only support so much weight. They climbed over each other to reach the top, barely noticing the barbed wire, jumping to the ground and inside the compound.

Some of the Baggers opened fire, but the closest ones were quickly overrun. The ferals didn’t care who they attacked. Five of them tore into a solo Bagger, bringing her down in a flurry of grunts and growls, mauling at her with their hands until she fell, disappearing underneath a sea of body parts as the ferals tore her to shreds.

Aries dropped to the ground, her fingers frantically trying to free Andrew from the fence. It seemed the more she struggled, the tighter the cloth stuck. Finally Clementine shoved her aside and reached down with both her hands, tearing a good-sized strip right off the shirt. Unceremoniously, she shoved Andrew through the hole, which reaching out to grab Casey who was lined up to go next.

“Hurry,” Karen shouted.

With a loud groan of metal, the ferals brought down the gate. Aries watched as they started to pour in. Several more Baggers had lined up and were firing into the crowd, but the ferals simply climbed over the bodies of the fallen and continued on. They didn’t notice or care that their comrades were dying.  The only thing they appeared focused on was getting inside.

What they would do once they started catching people wasn’t something she wanted to think about.

              Daniel had been right. There were hundreds of them. And they were all completely crazed. This was the first time she’d really seen a feral. She’d heard stories of them, of course, but hearing about it was completely different. They didn’t seem to have any focus. They simply ran and attacked. It reminded her a little of the first night when they’d hidden in the garage and watched the Baggers pulling people from their homes. Jack and her had been glued to the tiny window, witnessing the Baggers destroy the entire block. But even back then, Aries had seen the calculating plans of the Baggers. They had a purpose, which was to get in and kill everyone before moving onto the next house. This was different. The ferals weren’t on a mission. They looked like they were doing this for fun.

              This was the very definition of the word frenzy.

              When the last child crawled beneath the fence, Clementine followed with Aries right behind. Right now, the most important thing was getting those kids on the boat. After that, she’d try and figure out how she’d make it back to get the keys. Aries ignored the little voice screaming at her about suicide missions and being stupid. She only had a single gun and she didn’t even know if it had bullets.

              But they didn’t have any other options.

              “Aries.”

              Karen had already ushered the kids down the path towards the harbor. Clementine grabbed her arm, trying to get Aries’ attention. She’d been staring at the fence, trying not to watch, unable to look away. The ferals had taken over. Although there were several Baggers fighting back, it was difficult to tell who was who. And the humans. There were still dozens of them running in all directions. She recognized Leonard Mack, the ferry operator. He’d managed to climb onto the guard platform with a few others. They were holding shovels and fighting back against the ferals trying to climb up after them.

              They would have to go back and try and help the others. Aries couldn’t leave them there to fend for themselves. Somewhere in that crowd were Jack and Joy. Larissa. Others she’d spent months getting to know. But where? How would they all survive long enough to find each other?

              She caught up with them by the yacht. Karen had already managed to get Janey and Casey up onto the deck. She scooped the dog up into her arms next because Andrew was refusing to do anything until Cleopuptra was safe too. The poor animal was shaking, refusing to walk the bridge between the boat and dock. She carried her across and dropped her by Andrew’s feet. He immediately threw his arms around his furry friend.

              “It’s going to be okay,” Andrew told the dog. “I’ll protect you.”

              “I want you all to go inside,” Clementine told them. “Go down and find the bedroom. Stay there. Janey is in charge. You have to listen to her.”

              “I can fight too,” Janey argued. She held a kitchen knife in her hand.

              “No, you have to protect them. You’ve been their guardian all along,” Clementine said. “No one else can do it, except you.”

              “We need to get this boat on the water,” Karen said. “Forget the keys. I’m more than happy to let it float out with the tide and worry about things later.”

              “We can’t,” Clementine said. “There are others still in there. We can’t leave them.”

              “Screw that. I owe no one anything. You can stay or you can go back, but I’m getting out of here.”

              Clementine looked like she was ready to punch Karen. The strange girl stood her ground as they glared at each other. Aries looked back at the Plaza. There were still plenty of ferals outside the gate. The Baggers were starting to organize. The ones on the ground were fighting back, along with some of the humans. More Baggers rushed from the darkness of the casino. She even saw a Bagger start passing out guns to some of the humans. Leon was getting his wish. They were coming together to fight.

              “Look,” Aries said, getting between them. “We can’t leave without trying to save some of them.” She pointed back towards the Plaza. “They don’t know we’re here yet. It’s the compound they want.”

              “It’s only a matter of time,” Karen said. “And there’s too many of them. We can’t take them all.”

              “We have to try.”

              Karen let out an exasperated breath. “Fifteen minutes. Then I’m untying those knots and floating out of here.”

              “I’ll be back before then with the keys,” Aries promised. “Where are they?”

              “Leon has an office on the second floor. It’s a big room. Third on the right from the elevator. Has couches and a big table. He keeps them in the drawer at the second desk. It might be locked though. I’m not sure.”

              “I think I can manage it.”

              A loud crash filled the air. They all turned to see that the ferals had brought down one of the guard towers. The wooden beams collapsed, sending debris and humans crashing to the ground. The ferals instantly tore into the pile, grabbing at anything they could get their hands on.

Aries turned and started running down the plank and back to the Plaza. Behind her, she could hear Clementine struggling to keep up, hindered by her bad leg. Aries wanted nothing more than to tell her to stay at the boat and keep an eye on Karen, but she knew Clementine wouldn’t listen. Aries understood. Those were Clementine’s friends too. Aries knew that even if she were injured badly, she’d still hobble along and do whatever it took to try and save them.

              She reached the fence first and crawled under, holding up the chain for Clementine. When they were both through, Aries reached out and touched her arm. She took the gun and pressed it into Clementine’s hand.

              “You take it,” she said. “Try and get as many people as you can on that boat. Find Jack and the others. Get them safe.”

              “You can’t go in the casino by yourself.”

              “Watch me,” Aries said. Without giving Clementine a chance for rebuttal, she turned and raced past the stage and towards the big glass doors.

Mason

              The explosion wasn’t powerful enough to knock him off his feet, but he still felt the wave of heat press against him, even from far across the road. The Baggers closest to the car didn’t stand a chance. They disappeared beneath a wall of fire.

              Raj was gone. Michael too. There would be no bodies to bury. Mason felt a twinge of sadness, knowing he’d have to face Clementine with the news. He was pretty sure she’d understand. This, along with the information that Mason personally believed she didn’t kill Michael, would hopefully give her enough closure. Of course this was all under the assumption they would make it back alive. The Plaza was still a long ways off and if Shintz had been telling the truth, things weren’t going any better there. Mason fought off the thought. He couldn’t think that they were already or almost dead. He couldn’t give up without trying. No, they had to hurry.

              But Mason couldn’t look away from the fire. Memories of his former life flashed between his eyes. His mother’s car accident. Being at the hospital when he’d gotten the news that his school had been bombed and everyone he knew died. Getting attacked by his first Bagger. He’d gotten drunk and torched the house, driving away with the flames burning brightly in his rear view mirror. He’d believed at the time that destroying everything would make him feel better. He’d wanted to feel vindicated. The whole world had been falling down around him and the fire had been the only thing he could control. But it hadn’t worked. He’d gone on to one irrepressible event after the other, constantly being unable to do anything but watch everything disintegrate before his eyes.

              He thought he’d found peace in this new world. At first, he’d been angry. He fought everything and everyone. He wasted precious time refusing to trust Chickadee and Paul. All those nights with Daniel hunting Baggers, trying to take down their new world order. Pushing himself away from Aries. And when all those things hadn’t worked, he’d accepted his fate, staying at the Plaza of Nations, doing everything he could to try and keep everyone safe. He’d distanced himself again, closing himself against the world. Mason had convinced himself that if he did these things, no one would ever get hurt.

              Then he met Casey and realized everything he’d told himself was a big old lie.

              It bothered him that he’d wasted so much time pretending people didn’t matter. That if he tried hard enough, he could survive on his own and never be hurt again. He may not have been searching for a new family, but he found one. And he’d do anything to protect them.

              The Baggers couldn’t be reasoned with. They couldn’t be comrades, fighting for the same cause. Anyone who thought this would be wasting their time. Even Aries, with her weird power, was wrong in the idea that she might become strong enough to turn them back human. With monsters like Leon in charge, there would never be harmony between human and Baggers. Hadn’t they already learned this lesson over and over? Twiggy, the old one-legged man had warned him, right before he tried to kill Mason.

             
I think the disease just got too deep.

What disease?              

Humanity.

              The Baggers were the byproducts left behind from some sort of ancient evil. A deranged Mother Nature type creature living beneath the earth. Whatever this being was, it was horrible and responsible for every other atrocity throughout history. Twiggy had told him as much, allowing Mason to go through his scrapbook collection of destroyed societies. And now that it had done its job by destroying the world, it had left the Baggers in charge and moved on, leaving humanity to try and clean up after the mess it created.

              This evil couldn’t be stopped or reasoned with. You can’t kill something that doesn’t want to be found. If it wanted to hide away and play coward, then Mason would focus his attention on the things he could destroy.

The only good Bagger was a dead Bagger.

              “Come on,” Daniel said, grabbing at his arm. “We can’t fall apart now. The others are going to need us.”

              “Do you think Shintz survived?”

              “Maybe. I’m not sticking around to find out,” Daniel said. He’d pulled off his hoodie and was tearing off strips of fabric. “Your arm. We’ve got to stop the bleeding.”

              Mason looked down at the gunshot wound on his shoulder. He’d almost forgotten it was there. Nodding, he took off his shirt and allowed Daniel to quickly tie a piece of fabric over the wound.

              “Bullet went right through,” Daniel said. “You’re lucky. It didn’t hit the bone.”

              “I feel completely blessed.”

              “Better than a kick in the pants.”

              Mason pulled his shirt back over his head. He flexed his fingers, opening and closing his hand. Painful, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

              “You still okay?” Daniel asked Jordan.

              “Yeah,” Jordan said. “I’m good.” He’d been holding some tissue against his nose and when he pulled it away, the bleeding appeared to have stopped. “I got lucky. Could have been a lot worse.” His voice trailed away as he glanced at the burning car.

              “There’s a Toyota dealership up the road,” Daniel said. “We can get something there. We’re not letting her go, Tourist Boy. Not today. She’ll hold out until we get back. You know her. Aries is a fighter. She’ll help those kids too. No one else has to die. We’ll stop it.”

              Mason nodded. He hoped if things were going badly, Karen would keep her promise and get the children out to the boat.

              “How quick can we get there?”

              “Depends how fast we can find a car. An hour? Maybe even sooner. We don’t exactly have to be quiet anymore.”

              “Let’s make some noise then.”

              “She’s going to be…”

              The side of Daniel’s head burst into a spray of blood.