Jake's Law: A Zombie Novel (26 page)

He threw the package as
close as he could to the inside wall of the dam and watched it sink into his pond. He hoped Reed’s expertise proved itself. If not, they would all soon die. He saw movement inside one of the tents. He threw back the tent flap with his finger on the trigger ready to fire. Instead of Levi’s men, he saw three women, one pregnant. They were wet, frightened, and expecting death. They were also unarmed. He didn’t know if they were willing residents, but judging by their bruises, they were as captive as Jessica. He might be a bastard, but he wasn’t a woman-killing bastard.

“Get out of here. Get as close to the head of the canyon as you can. Climb as high as you can. If you don’t, you’ll die.”

One of the women nodded. He watched them disappear into the darkness. He worked his way as near to the kitchen tent as he could before cutting loose with the shotgun, firing as quickly as he could pull the trigger. Keeping their heads down was more important than accuracy, but he watched one man fall holding his stomach. Just as he hoped, firing erupted all around him, as confused, frightened men fired in fear at anything that moved. He hoped Jessica didn’t get killed in the crossfire. Twice, he had to shoot men who spotted him, but by crawling along the muddy ground and using whatever cover he could find, he reached the kitchen tent. It had taken longer than he had anticipated. Time was running out.

Levi
stood just inside the tent silhouetted by the cook fire, yelling orders and gesticulating wildly with his pistol. Jessica lay on the ground at his feet, alive but afraid to move. For one brief moment, their eyes met. He saw the fear fade, replaced by hope. He motioned to her to remain on the ground out of harm’s way. Then he raised the shotgun and aimed at Levi, a perfect target against the flickering flames. The rage inside him leaped from his heart to his trigger finger, as it slowly caressed the metal. One slight tug and it would all be over.

At that moment, two things happened. The bomb exploded behind the dam,
sending a geyser of water soaring into the air, and one of Levi’s men crossed in front of him, taking the full blast of the double-ought pellets. Levi, now alerted to Jake’s presence, grabbed Jessica by the hair, lifted her from the ground, and used her as a shield. His eyes searched for Jake, and then, as the rumble from the collapsing dam increased, he pushed Jessica in front of him and raced toward the jeep. Jake tried to follow, but now several of the men spotted him. He hugged the ground and fired at them.

T
he final collapse of the dam shook the ground, as stones groaned under the pressure of the pent up pond of water. If he remained where he was, the water would wash him away with the rest of the filth. He jumped up, swept the AA-12 in a semi-circle as he ran, and raced after Levi and Jessica. They had already reached the jeep and were driving toward the open gate. He veered to intercept them, but then saw the five-foot high wall of water rushing down at him. He had to make a decision – run for the safety of the path, or risk death in pursuit of Jessica.  He glanced one more time at the wall of water bearing down on him like a runaway freight train. He would never make it to the jeep. Jessica saw him, and for a moment, he thought he heard her call his name. Then the jeep was through the gate.

H
e reached the path just ahead of the rush of water. As he sprinted up the steps, he knocked down one of Levi’s men seeking safety from the flood just as he was. The man tumbled into the water and was swallowed by the raging current. Men, trees, tents, his grandfather’s house, the animal pens, vehicles, Reed’s RV – all vanished in moments, swept away by the relentless flood and crushed against the stone wall. The wall bulged under the immense pressure as water cascaded over its top. It poured through the open gate seeking release, but there was too much water for the narrow opening. With a sound like a wooden board snapping in half, the wall collapsed at two points – the gate and the wash. The river erupted through the gaps and swept down the canyon, taking with it everything he had worked so hard to build.

He stood on the path and watched his past disappear like a bad dream. He doubted that the
jeep could outrun the deluge, but for Jessica’s sake, he prayed she made it. The full brunt of his failure struck him like a hammer blow. For a moment, he stood on the edge of the path and contemplated leaping in, joining his past and ending his bleak future. A hand gripped his shoulder – Reed.

“Is she …?” he asked, unable to complete the question whose answer he dreaded.

Jake shook his head. “She and Levi escaped in the jeep.”

“Will they … will they make it.”

“I don’t know.” His legs gave way and he collapsed on the ledge. “I don’t know,” he repeated.

Below them, the water was receding, flowing back into the banks of the wash, no longer impeded by the stone wall across the canyon. In its wake, it left
total destruction. Of the seventy-year-old former ranch house, nothing remained to show it had ever existed. The canyon floor was swept clean. As if the hand of a blind avenging angel had come down to aid him at the cost of all he held dear. Of the dozen or so men, there was no sign. They, too, had vanished, victims of his revenge.

“Let’s get out of this rain,” Reed suggested and began trudging back up the path toward the house.

Jake remained where he was, staring at the aftermath of his binge of destruction
. He had certainly lived up to
Jake’s Law #10 – Serve revenge in big doses
, but he wasn’t as certain that he agreed with
Jake’s Law #11 – Be willing to lose it all
, not if all included Jessica.

* * * *

Jessica’s head still reeled from the blow that had sent to her to ground at Levi’s feet. She sat in passenger seat, too woozy to remove the seat belt and throw herself from the jeep to escape. The roar of the flood slowly receded behind them, only to increase in volume as the road threaded through the winding canyon. She could feel the ground trembling through the tires of the jeep as the wall of water rushed at them. She hoped it swallowed them.

Jake had come for her
. She clung to that thought as the jeep bearing her and Levi plunged recklessly through the night. He might have only come for his ranch, but she preferred to think he had come for her, and for Reed. When she had seen him lying in the mud outside the tent, her heart had swelled with hope. Then, the dam broke. Jake had been willing to destroy everything he owned to free her.
Or to kill Levi
, another part of her acknowledged. She preferred the former.

Now, his ranch was gone, washed away by the flood. He might be dead as well.
She had last seen him running from the flood. At least Reed was alive. He was the one on the ledge firing the machinegun, out of reach of the raging torrent.

Levi rounded one last corner and left the flood behind. He reached the
river, a raging torrent, and drove through at full speed. The engine sputtered, as water poured into the cab, but didn’t die. Then they were through and were safely on the other side. She found no comfort in her newfound safety. She had lived so that Jake could find her. Now, he was gone and she was still Levi’s prisoner. She had no hope for her future. She would kill herself or force Levi to kill her. She only hoped she got one last opportunity to kill him.

“Your boyfriend’s dead,” Levi said, gloating.

“So’s your girlfriend,” she taunted. “I bet it hurts knowing she betrayed you.”

“Not as much as the knife blade
sliding into her belly hurt her.”

“You’re a monster.”

“I’m alive. You’re alive. That’s a start.”

“He destroyed everything he owned to kill you. He would have, too, if you hadn’t run like a
frightened rabbit.”

Her insult struck home. “I ran from the flood, not Blakely.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I bet you’ll have a hard time sleeping at night, wondering if Jake is alive.”

Levi slammed on the brakes. The jeep slewed sideways as it skidded in the mud, finally coming to rest facing the direction they had come. If the night had not been so dark, she knew she would be able to see veins popping out on his face and neck.

“If Blakely is alive, I’ll make certain he knows where I am. After all, I have something he wants. You’ll be my bait.”

“That’s big talk in the dark. Let’s see what you look like in the daytime when Jake comes for you.”

“Maybe you’ll get your chance.”

He slipped the jeep into gear and spun it in a circle on the road, pointing it toward San Manuel.

2
2

June 28, 2016     Galiuro Mountains, AZ –

Jake
brushed broken glass from his favorite leather chair and sat down, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He hadn’t bothered with a glass. Sipping wouldn’t wash away the pain. So far, half the bottle hadn’t either. He still had his house, although it was a bit shot up and worse for wear.
And I’ve still got my health,
he whispered to himself, chuckling at his sarcastic wit.

As he took a long drag from the bottle, he noticed
Reed’s pained expression. He sat opposite Jake. Like Jake, he was thoroughly soaked and mud-streaked and uncharacteristically quiet. His glasses were gone, lost in the battle. At first, he thought Reed’s sour expression was for his benefit, a reminder of his bitter failure. Then he noticed the blood on Reed’s shirt.

“Are you hurt?”

“Just a scratch. I hardly felt it.”

Jake pushed himself up from his chair. “I’d better take a look at it. You’re bleeding like stuck pig. Take off your shirt.”

Reed winced as he removed his shirt. Jake gasped when he saw the wound in Reed’s stomach. “That’s no scratch.” He leaned Reed forward and searched his back. “The bullet’s still in you.” He stared at Reed. “It has to come out.”

Reed’s mouth dropped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I have to operate.”

“You
! You’re drunk.”

“Do you see anyone else?
And I’m not drunk, not yet. Look, the bullet has to come out. Otherwise, you’ll bleed to death.”

“Have you ever removed a bullet before?”

“No.”

“Have you ever performed any surgery?”

“Still no.”

“Well
, that sucks.”

Jake ignored him. “You’re filthy. Go take a shower. I’ll find my
surgical kit.”

Reed stood with Jake’s help. He was unsteady on his feet. “If you kill me, I’ll haunt you.”

Jake winced at Reed’s threat. He had enough ghosts haunting him now. He didn’t need one more. “I’ll be careful,” he promised.

While Reed showered, Jake gathered the
instruments and items he would need for the surgery. He had pieced together a small surgical kit from items looted from a veterinarian’s clinic. He was sure Reed wouldn’t mind that Fido may have been the previous patient on which the tools were used. Xylocaine was his only pain killer. He filled a syringe with the local anesthetic. He had nothing stronger with which to knock Reed out, nor the knowledge to use it if he had. Suture needle, thread, probe, forceps, hemostats, and scalpel – he had a limited kit, but it should suffice. If a large vein or artery had been nicked … He preferred to not to let his mind go there.

Reed entered wearing only a towel
draped around his waist, his belly fat rolling over the edge. He was pale, forlorn, and frightened. He eyed the surgical tools warily. He held one hand over the wound, but blood still seeped between his fingers. “Where do you want to perform this miracle surgery?” A slight quavering in his voice betrayed the insouciance of his words.

Jake waved
him toward the kitchen table, which he had cleared off. Reed shrugged and lay down on the table, which creaked and groaned in protest to his weight but held together.

“I can’t knock you out,
” Jake warned, “but I can deaden the area with a local, xylocaine.”

“Just make it quick,”
Reed replied.

“This may hurt a bit.”

Jake drove the needle home and injected the xylocaine just under the skin near the wound, which was still bleeding. Reed winced and clenched his fists but said nothing as the needle went in. While he waited for the area to numb, he explained to Reed what he was going to do. Reed listened attentively until he reached the part about extracting the bullet.

“What if it’s in too deep?”

Jake had worried about the possibility also. “If it was a small caliber slug. It shouldn’t be a problem. If it was a high velocity bullet … well, I’ll have to dig deeper.” The longer it took him to extract the bullet, the more likely the sedative would wear off before he finished. The pain would be excruciating. “Can you take it?”

“I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“No, not really. Are you ready?

Reed nodded.
“Just try to make the scar small so it won’t show when I wear my Speedo.”

Jake understood that Reed’s attempt at humor masked his fear.
He was almost as afraid as Reed. He took a deep breath to try to quell his own apprehension. He had slapped bandages over wounds in Afghanistan and splinted broken limbs, but other than removing the cactus thorns from Jessica, his surgical experience was limited to stitching up a goat that had nicked its side on barbed wire. He prodded the area with his gloved finger to test the numbness. Reed didn’t respond. He had to work quickly before the anesthetic wore off.