Orpheus Born (6 page)

I yelled up to them. "Okay, that's far enough!" I stopped with a bit of a jolt. I braced my feet on the sill and tried to open the window. Of course it was locked. Ruddy lived here, after all. I pulled my sidearm and  warned my team that they'd hear shots. I wasted a few rounds on the glass, then kicked out the rest. It was pitch black, so I turned on my flashlight to make sure I was alone.

Nothing.

I squeezed through the pane and untangled myself. I pulled the rope a couple of times to signal for more slack, then tied it off to the bottom of one of the heavy bedposts. I stuck my head out and yelled for them to join me. Mutt shimmied down the rope surprisingly nimbly for a man of our age. The kid just kind of floated in effortlessly.

The three LED beams lit up the entire room. Ruddy was neater than I thought he'd be. The only clutter was on a table in the corner. On it was a collection of wires and electronic components. I guessed he was building his own illegal listening device or something. "Let's head on down. Minimize the beam with your thumb."

As I left the room, I tried to place the smell that permeated the room.

I led them downstairs and we went right to work. I kept a wary eye on the zombies at the windows, but their attention was fixed upwards. Sam and Fish must have been drawing their attention to keep it off of us. Team players all the way.

"Found the bags." Mutt threw duffels at us. "Kid, you get the boots." I handed him the list of sizes, too.

Mutt and I started loading up. We grabbed a few handguns, shotguns, and AR15s. That was really all we needed for guns. We dumped in ammo by the armload.

"Hey, kid, come here a sec."

"Sir?"

"Lift this."

Merrick grabbed the handles and pulled. He seemed surprised by the weight. Mutt and I chuckled. The kid reset himself, lifted, and got it onto his shoulder.

Mutt golf-clapped. "Change of plans, kid. We'll load the bags, you get to hump them up the stairs and rope 'em."

"Got it." He walked to the stairs, stopped, and looked back at us. He shifted the weapons bag, grabbed the boot bag, and lugged them both up the stairs.

"Makes a heckuva pack mule," Mutt said.

"Don't tell Trager this, but I'm glad we brought him. It would take forever with just the two of us."

"We're not breaking any records standing around here and jawing, either."

"Point taken."

We went back to looking for gear. I loaded up another bag with hunting knives, multitools, gloves, flashlights, batteries, pretty much whatever I thought might be useful in survival.

Or my own personal agenda.

"Hey, we need BDU's?"

I thought about it for a second. "Not me. I kind of like this jumpsuit, and we have a million of them back at the hospital."

"I'm thinking the same thing. Hey, radios! 20+ mile range."

"Perfect, I-"

Merrick almost got himself shot when he returned without announcing himself first. My reflexes took over and I drew.

"Whoa! Sorry!"

I let out a breath. "That's a good way to get yourself killed."

"Sorry," he repeated. "I, uh, had a thought."

I waited for a moment. "And?"

"Right! You said this guy was a big survivalist, huh?"

"You could say that."

"So he must have an emergency stash around here. Weapons, lights, cash..."

"And food."

"Yeah."

It was a pretty good idea. There was a big store of food at the hospital, but a stash of MRE's wouldn't hurt, and we were right here. "Five minutes. Then we go."

We headed to the back of the store and found Ruddy's office. I thought Ruddy would understand if we ignored his "KEEP OUT" sign just this once. I motioned for Merrick to open the door; we covered him.

We saw Ruddy hunched down in the corner, moving something around. I could hear him mumbling about something. I didn't know him all that well, but I was glad that he was alive. He represented hope. "Ruddy, hey, it's Cameron Holt."



I heard the mumbling and I figured we were clear. He was alive, and we’d have another useful guy to bring back to the hospital.

But when he turned around…he was inhuman.

I’ll be honest; I froze. I had no chance of getting my weapon up in time. He sc
reeched something incomprehensible and came at me. I kicked him in the gut hard enough to make any normal guy double-up and spit blood, but Ruddy charged through it. He crashed into me and I stumbled over another bag of gear. I went over backwards and landed on my back. I tried to put my forearm into his throat, but I had no leverage.

He chomped down on my shoulder, and I screamed more in horror than pain.

Mutt and the kid saved my life. Mutt grabbed Ruddy by his shoulder holster and tore him off of me, while Merrick picked up the weapon that I’d dropped and splattered Ruddy’s brains all over the side wall of his office. I kicked him off and jumped to my feet.

I unzipped my jumpsuit and took off my t-shirt in a panic. I looked at my shoulder, but couldn’t see anything. “Fuck! Light!”

“Boss, you ok-“

“Gimme some fucking light on this!”

A circle of pure white light framed the bite marks on my shoulder. I rubbed my hands over the wound and looked at them. No blood. I wanted to relax, but I remember a fall that Ethan took when he was about four. He was running around the dining room and slipped on a rug, smacking his forehead on the corner of a side table. I picked him up and looked at the spot while he wailed. For a few seconds, I didn’t see anything, then the blood started to pour. It looked a lot worse than it was; head wounds typically do. He was fine a few minutes later.

But this time, if I saw blood, it might have been one of the last things I ever saw.

I kept wiping and looking, wiping and looking.

“Jesus, can you hold still for a minute? I can’t see a thing!” Mutt yelled. I stopped and tried to bite down the panic. “Yup,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“Yup, what???” It was the end, I knew it.

“Yup, I sure am glad we decided to keep these jumpsuits. You’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” Merrick asked.

“Yeah. The marks are already fading, boss.” I must have had a doubtful  look on my face, because he said, “If I wasn’t sure, do you really think I’d be standing within face-chomping distance? I’d pull out my piece and start telling you about the rabbits.”

“The what?”

Mutt and I both laughed. “Tell you later,” I said as I slid my shirt back on and zipped up my jumpsuit. From that point on, it was officially the only thing I’d wear on a mission. I was convinced.

My pulse eventually returned to normal. I thanked both of them for their quick action, covered up the rest of Ruddy with a camouflage tarp that I thought he’d just love to be buried in, and we searched the office.

The kid was right. There were cases of MREs stacked against the back wall, right next to an open hidden access panel. Ruddy must have been pulling out his supplies in preparation for withstanding the siege, or somehow running from it. I told Merrick as much, and he got this "aw, shucks" look on his face. He grabbed boxes of MREs and double-timed them upstairs.

A silence descended on the bottom floor, and I chanced a look at the front of the store. Those things just kind of milled about outside. They must have lost interest in the guys on the roof. They certainly couldn't see, hear, or ... and this was a scary thought ... smell us, either. My mind started to wander. I thought of Jackie and Ethan, and I wasn't doing them any favors by dicking around. I had work to do.

Mutt seemed to share the same sentiment. "Jameson returns in about ten minutes. What's say we help the kid out?"

I instinctively looked at my wrist at the watch that normally would be there. As of that moment, it was on my bathroom sink. Dammit, I liked that watch. I scanned the glass cases in front of me. Of course Ruddy had survival watches, too. I walked around to the back of the counter and helped myself to a few. The other guys might need one, too, and I'd hate to think we might handicap ourselves on a mission because someone didn't have a watch.

I loaded up a final bag. Mutt hefted his to his shoulder and took the stairs. We met Merrick as he was coming down. "Perfect timing; I can hear the chopper coming back."

"Bags loaded?" Mutt asked.

"Yes, sir. Did you guys happen to see a key down there?"

Mutt shrugged and grunted. I just asked why.

"He's got a safe in that crawlspace. I figure there must be something valuable in there."

"No key, sorry."

Merrick got a look on his face, the look of an epiphany. If I'd been paying more attention, I would have jumped all over it. He said, "I think I know where it is!" and bounded down the stairs.

I shouted at him to hurry up, and Mutt and I continued to Ruddy's room. We dropped the bags next to the tied-off ropes and attached them. I leaned my head out the window and yelled, "Last two bags! Pull 'em up!" I felt the slack in the ropes tighten. Mutt and I hefted the bags out the window and watched them go upwards and out of sight. A single rope came back down, waiting for a passenger.

"After you," I said to Mutt.

He tied off a simple but sturdy loop. He maneuvered out the window and sat with his legs dangling over the side. As he slid his foot in the loop, he asked, "Where's the kid?"

"I'll get him. Just get up there and make sure we didn't forget anything."

"Copy."

I heard Sam say, "Any time now, gentlemen!"

"Yeah, yeah! Bring me up!"

I hit the stairs again. All of a sudden, I had a bad feeling. I couldn't explain it, but I drew my weapon and headed back down. I whispered Merrick's name. I got no answer.  I stepped off the last stair and repeated his name.

"Yes, sir!"

I was wound so tight at the moment that the casual nature of his response kind of freaked me out. I holstered and walked back into the office. He had a set of keys and was trying each one in the safe. "Have any luck?" Seeing as the safe wasn't open, it was obvious that he hadn't.

"No. He's got a million keys. When do we leave?"

"Should've been a couple of minutes ago. Let's move."

He nodded, defeated. I didn't check to see if he was behind me; I just assumed that he'd followed. I was halfway to the second floor when I heard, "Wait, there's something in his hand..."

It all clicked. The wires. The smell. Ruddy was exactly the type of guy who, in the face of death, would want to take as many enemies as possible with him.

The explosion confirmed my thoughts, and the concussion knocked me out.

Thankfully, not for long.

I was face down on the stairs, pointed downhill. I could hear, but everything sounded like it was coming through a hundred feet of hose. I opened my eyes and tried to blink away the dancing white spots. I wasted five seconds doing that before I noticed the numerous shapes moving at the front of the store. The shapes were clumsy but determined, and they moved without any concern for the dancing orange lights between us

I heard someone yelling my name, asking if I was okay. I turned my head and saw the radio a few feet away. It barked at me. "Holt! Holt! You okay!" I grabbed it and tried to respond, but the words wouldn't come. I pushed up and got my feet under me. Unsteadily, but I was up.

I tried to yell for Merrick, but if it came out at all, I don't know. I became aware of the heat on my skin and the smoke finding its way into my lungs. Mutt yelled at me again. "Holt! Hold on! I'm coming back in!" I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs. It didn't work, but the sight of all those things pouring through the blown-out doors and windows did.

I turned and ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I heard thunder on the stairs behind me. I screamed into the radio, "Negative! NEGATIVE! Those things are inside!"

I slammed Ruddy's door and hoped they didn't know where I went.

Pipe dream.

They pounded on the door, and I held it as best I could. The rope dangled outside the window, tantalizingly close. I wanted to think that I had enough time to get a good grip and be hauled to safety before those things got to me, but I didn't like my chances at all.

"Holt!"

I smelled burning flesh behind the door. Those things were
on fire.
And still coming. "I'm here." My mind raced, looking for a way out. "Mutt, how deep is the ledge?"

"What?"

"The ledge right beneath you! How deep is it?"

"About a foot! Oh, God, bad idea ..."

"I gotta go for it! That'll give me a chance to grab the rope!" I was halfway out the window and trying to find a handhold. I literally had only a five second head start before the door collapsed beneath the onslaught. As I'd suspected, most of them were on fire, but moving as if they didn't even notice. I swung the rest of my body out onto the ledge and made a grab for the rope, but it was whipping around in the chopper's downdraft, and my fingertips just brushed it.