Season Of Decay (The Decaying World Saga Book 2) (25 page)

Rowan was still, hanging on to the rope, dangling two levels above his target. He studied the undead boy and realized the thing was stuck in the corner. The light shifted from its face and it lunged up at Rowan. The attempt highlighted its leg wedged between the side of the elevator shaft and a large metal beam. Rowan smiled.

“I’ve got you now.”

He studied the layout as best he could and walked across the face of the wall as much as the rope would allow. Rowan maneuvered himself until he was above the corner opposite of the nexus. He continued his downward climb until the end of the rope was near his feet. Luck finally broke on his side, leaving the distance between the end of the line and the bottom of the shaft less than his own height. He studied the floor, guessed at the safest spot, and let go.

The landing wasn’t as painless as he’d hoped, but he shook off the sting in his ankles. The undead boy broke into a wild, lashing fit. It growled and roared in a snarling response to the invasion of its space. The boy’s face lit up in the light and the ferocity of its actions seized Rowan mid-step.

It took several moments before the creature seemingly accepted that it could not get its hands on the tempting flesh directly in front of it. Its sunken cheeks were marred with slits along the skin, revealing a bulbous, blackened tongue. The lack of movement gave Rowan the nerve to take a step forward. He reached the center of the shaft before the approach drew a new response. The undead boy examined him with renewed interest. Rowan steadied himself and slipped his jacket off from around his neck.

“Are you going to hold still for me?” he asked as he spread the jacket out in front of him. “We’re going to go for a little ride.”

Rowan’s plan was half concocted when he moved within arm’s reach of the boy. A well-placed boot to the mid-section crumpled the boy in half. Rowan was on top of it in a single step, throwing the jacket out like a fishing net. He made sure the head was covered before pulling the sleeves around its shoulders and chest. The entire event was over in a matter of seconds, leaving the flailing zombie covered from the head down to mid-chest, where the sleeves were held in place by a knot.

Rowan took a step back to admire his work, which gave him time to wonder what in the world he was going to do next. He knew the rope was his only choice, but what he was going to do with it, he wasn’t certain. He took a closer look at the undead boy’s slight frame and guessed that he could easily lift the weight. Rowan grabbed him by the shoulders and prepared to move.

The end result was something closer to laughable than horrifying. Rowan wiped the sweat from his brow and readied himself to climb. The undead boy dangled above him, thrashing his hands out by his side, his head and face hidden by the jacket. The whole endeavor took a lot out of Rowan and a long look at the darkness above left a doubt in his mind. He wasn’t sure he had the strength in him to finish the climb let alone pull his prize up after him if he did. He took a drink from his canteen and accepted the truth of his situation. No one was going to come to his aid; if he was going to get out, he was going to have to do it one hand over the next.

25

The frantic race against time pushed everyone to the brink of collapse. Marcus led the small group to the edge of Cheyenne with Mia’s help then pushed them on through the night. They kept north for a long time, trying to avoid the wide-open fields beyond the city’s border. The high grass provided cover, but the snow made the terrain difficult to cross.

They’d lost one of their own in the confrontation with the infected and most of the others were wounded in one way or another. Mia still wasn’t sure how bad off the damage was to her head. She was forced to let Bree wrap the wound on her forehead in order to stop the bleeding. Mia managed to run on her own after a time, but her legs were never as surefooted as she needed. The result left her tripping in the snow more times than she could count.

Mia concentrated on keeping one foot in front of the other. The chatter of their pursuers clung to them throughout their escape from the city. Silence returned once they reached the outlands and there was nothing but the muffled sound of crunching snow beneath their boots as the first sliver of light rose from the horizon. Marcus brought the company to a stop and they gathered around him.

“Not much farther,” he announced looking from one set of eyes to the next. “We should reach Canaan before the sunrise.”

Most of the onlookers nodded, lacking the breath to speak. Mia took a long swig from her canteen then offered it to Bree. The girl took it and finished off the contents. Mia’s mind was already on what lay ahead. She pushed herself out to the center of the circle, resting on her knees at Marcus’ side.

“Spread the word,” she said, “the moment we reach the compound. Everyone with the strength to fight needs to be ready.” Mia raised her voice to make sure they were paying attention. “Those who can fight will help clear the way for those who can’t. The survivors will make their way to the gardens.”

Bale shifted then got to his feet.

“Did you forget what’s following us?”

Mia shook her head.

“We’ll guide them east away from the compound then rely on Marcus and his teams to get us back to Cheyenne.”

She knew there was a great number of
what ifs
in her plan, but it was the best she had. Mia would have to convince the tribal council that there was no other way. Her mind was made and she understood the consequences no matter how much it hurt. If Rowan couldn’t find the nexus, she would never see her brother again. The faces of the others told her that they also understood what it meant. Bale nodded.

“Then let’s get going.”

It wasn’t long before Marcus once again proved his worth and experience. The glowing embers of dying campfires dotted the snow in the distance. The horizon lightened enough to reveal the remains of the Canaan compound. Figures moved between the fires and the gap in the snow leading down to the entrance of the hive.

Mia found herself focused on the gargantuan hole in the ground beyond the entrance. The nexus was down there, somewhere. She felt a surge in her gut that propelled her forward. Mia pushed the group over the final ridge and down into the heart of the compound. She reassured herself that the others knew what message needed to go out to the rest of the tribes before heading off in search of Sara.

She was mid-way through the entrance hall when her mind slowed down enough for her to take in the movement around her. The sleeping quarters lining the entryway were alive with intense commotion. Everyone from the men to the women and children were frantically gathering their belongings. It took another couple of strides before she stopped. Mia peered in the doorway at the commotion and caught sight of Bree and Bale storming toward her from one corner of her eye and Yaffa from the other.

“I’m glad to see that you’re still breathing,” Yaffa said, smiling. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but you’re going to need quite a bit of catching up.”

Mia spun toward her. The woman’s thick dreads were pulled back behind her head and the circles under her eyes hinted at the way she’d spent the time since they’d last seen one another.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Mia said. “Where’s Sara?”

Yaffa’s smile slipped off her face. She pointed back in the direction she’d come from.

“The tribal council has been going at it since sometime late at night,” she said, turning and matching Mia’s stride as she started to move. “The safe sector was abandoned.”

The statement brought Mia to a sudden stop. She shook her head trying to process what she heard. The stop allowed Bree and Bale time to catch up with the women.

“A…abandoned.” Mia forced herself to continue on her way. “How’s that possible? How could they get out without anyone knowing?”

Yaffa shrugged.

“Everyone’s still trying to figure that one out,” she said. “But it’s more than that. There’s people down there going through everything and it’s not what we thought. There’s nothing down there.”

The news forced Mia to stop again.

“What do you mean nothing?”

Yaffa shook her head.

“I haven’t seen it for myself, but apparently they’ve been running out of food for a while–”

“Power,” Mia said, cutting her off, “What about their power? Their generators?”

“Destroyed,” she said. “All of it.”

The surge of excited hope was sucked from Mia in an instant. She put one foot in front of the other.

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” she said. “We need to evacuate and we need to go now.”

It was Yaffa’s turn to stop.

“A lot of people are doing that anyway,” she said.

Mia spun around and nearly smacked Bale in the process.

“The horde is barely a day out,” Mia said. “And that army of whoever they are is probably in the process of surrounding Canaan as we speak. The only way any of us survive this is if we try and break through before the horde reaches us.”

“You mean fight them,” Yaffa said plainly. “You want to go to war.”

“Not a war, if I can help it,” Mia said. “We fight to break free.” She thought about it. “I have a feeling the war will be inevitable. If we survive that long,” she added.

Yaffa’s eyes widened as she realized something.

“They can’t go out there,” Yaffa said, looking past Mia into the personnel quarters. Mia followed her stare to the countless people preparing themselves to run away. “They need to know where to go and how to get there without being slaughtered.”

Mia took a step, this time determined not to stop until she had the tribal council in her sights.

“And that’s exactly what I plan to do.”

The walk to the tribal council’s conference room took longer than ever before. The halls were littered with people, all of them in a desperate search for one thing or another. Their faces were filled with a simpler look of panic. Mia sent Yaffa, Bree, and Bale off in different directions, each with orders to spread the word to as many people as they could. The message was simple, everyone should be prepared to move out
together
, and more importantly, they need to be prepared to fight for their freedom.

Mia had no fewer than a hundred concerns running through her mind when she approached the council’s conference room door. The sound of the arguing boomed out into the hallway to greet her. Marcus was the lone follower from the group when she stepped through the doorway. The entire council was standing around the edge of the table working their way through multiple disagreements at the same time. Mia found Sara in the midst of the fray and headed toward her. The elder councilwoman locked eyes with her and the two met midway around the table. Mia was surprised when Sara embraced her.

“I did not think I would see you again,” Sara said, pulling back. “There’s a great deal of news.”

Mia nodded.

“I’ve heard some of it from Yaffa, but it won’t matter much once you’ve heard what we’ve seen.”

Sara started to say something then stopped. She took Mia by the hand and headed for the table. Mia snatched Marcus’ wrist before he could go slink out into the hall and pulled him along for the ride. They waded through the crowd until they were standing at the edge.

“I believe,” Sara said, shouting. “Everyone’s going to need to hear this,” she continued when the voices lowered around them.

Mia stole a peek at Marcus before addressing the group.

♦

The debriefing wasn’t as smooth as Mia hoped although she was prepared for it. The tribal council listened to her and Marcus’ account of the trip into Cheyenne with no interruptions. The conversation soured over the description of the condition of the gardens. Relaying the news about the horde reaching the city didn’t go over well at all.

Mia nearly gave up on the lot when they shouted over her at one another as to what they should do. She turned her attention to Sara and the news of Rowan’s relative success and consequently his redeployment down into the heart of hive six. The knowledge of Connor’s capture gave her a renewed hope that she might be able to parley him for Jonah’s safe return. She couldn’t figure out how she could get it done before the horde came swarming down through the halls of Canaan.

“It doesn’t change anything,” she said at last. “There’s only one way we survive this.” Mia turned back to the table and yelled out across the room. “This is the one way any of us get out of here alive.” The decree brought the room to a silent halt. “We don’t know how strong the Northern Continental Alliance is, but we have to make our decisions assuming they are strong enough to crush us out in the open. I think it’s safe to believe from the recent events surrounding the safe sector that they know everything about us. They’d never been challenged before we took Canaan and now they believe the compound is ripe to be retaken. Which is precisely why we must rush out to meet them.” She swung her stare around the table. “They’d never expect it.”

“They’ll out gun us,” Hinnick said.

Mia cut him off before he could spread his doubt.

“Of course they will, but we’ll have surprise on our side,” she said. “And by the time they know what happened, they’ll have to contend with the horde.”

There was a collective ah ha moment from the council as the last tidbit sunk in. Mia let the full weight of the information take hold before she started on the next set of directions. There were plenty of objections still hanging over the group, but she pushed past them all. There was enough support for her to persuade them to stop debating and start moving.

The entire tribal council funneled out of the conference room in a shapeless gaggle as each of the hive representatives and their supporters attempted to get out at the same time. Most of them were still hanging on to questions, but Mia was confident she’d made her point. The gardens were enough of a safe haven to keep everyone focused even if she wasn’t as certain as she was letting on. She’d learned enough about leading people over the past several months to know confidence was more about how your carried yourself than what you were stewing over on the inside. Mia didn’t let down her guard until the last of the council disappeared. She looked around and found Marcus and Sara staring back at her.

“You can breathe now,” Sara said, in her calming way. “I believe you’ve done enough.”

Mia doubted that. She was holding onto the hope that she could bring her brother back. She wouldn’t allow herself to think about how much she needed Rowan and longed to have him close. Mia’s mind focused on the lone hope she had, the one thing Rowan had already provided her. She spoke up without really considering what she was saying.

“I’m not going with you.”

Sara’s motherly expression slipped from her face. Marcus popped up from his chair.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Sara answered for her.

“You’re going to try and exchange Connor for Jonah.”

Mia nodded.

“I have to try.”

“I’ll go with you,” Marcus said.

His dedication surprised her.

“No,” she said. “They’ll need you. They won’t make it without you.”

Sara nodded at the scout as she approached Mia.

“I’m not certain either oath is more dangerous than the other.” She offered her arm to Mia. “There is someone else you need to consider.”

Mia took the woman’s arm and tucked it under her own. She knew the comment was aimed at Asher. Marcus fell in behind them as they headed for the exit. A flurry of noise met them echoing down the hall from beyond the far turn.

“Asher’s stubborn,” Mia said. “I think he’d rather die down there trying to save us.”

Sara chuckled.

“Seems like a common theme for the men that follow you.”

Mia smiled despite herself.

“There’s not much time,” she said then reconsidered it. “I could try and talk to him.”

Sara patted her hand.

“It wouldn’t be wasted time.”

Mia nodded, now determined to try to convince Asher to leave. The truth was that the tribe would need his skills once they reached the gardens. She hoped that would be enough. She hoped they could find the safety they needed to rebuild the fragile tribe they’d managed to piece together.