The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (91 page)

In fact, watching the two, arms outstretched, walking into one another, I could almost have imagined they would embrace and hold one another, an expression of love.

It was when her teeth closed on the meaty flesh of Carville’s cheek ripping it away, that the illusion died, as surely as she had all those months ago.

Carville’s agonizing scream filled the destroyed lab, but it was short lived.  When her rotted jaws closed on his throat and ripped it from his neck, his life spilled in flowing, scarlet rivulets to the floor and his screams became gurgles.  Seconds later, as I watched in fascinated horror, Carville fell limp, only remaining upright by the grip of her oddly powerful arms.

I walked up behind her, put the pistol to her head, and fired a single round into her brain.

She collapsed atop of the man who’d fathered her.

It was over.

I ran to where Billy lay and tried to wake him.

****

Rory sat on the floor and leaned against the wall beside Gary, his expression revealing that he was more pissed off than scared.  He was wrong, in my humble opinion.  He should have been an equal amount of both.

“
Gary, there are two ways this shit will end.  Not one.  Not three,” said Flex.   “Way number one is that you’ll be dead.  Way number two is that you’ll be alive.  What’s it gonna be.”

Gary
stared at us, his eyes moving from one to the other.  His blonde hair was neatly trimmed, and he looked as though he should be wearing a damned sweater tied around his neck.  A preppy dickhead.

“I need to radio upstairs.  It’s where they keep your friend.”

I looked at the others.  “Should we just go up?”

“There are doors you’ll need to get buzzed through.  Mr. Carville’s not stupid.”

“He’s gonna die if he’s lying,” said Flex, with a shrug.  “What the hell.  Give him the radio.”

I did.  He turned it to channel 22 and put it to his lips, his eyes on Dave’s gun, which was pressed against his temple.

He pushed the button and said, “Code Z.  Let them go.”

Flex punched the little blonde prick square in the nose, sending his chair flying backward, him in it.

Dave put his gun away as Flex’s arm was completing its follow through from the blow he’d administered to Gary.

At the very moment the gun bottomed out in the holster, the low thumping that had been just barely audible since we’d gotten inside stopped, and was followed by a bone-jarring blast.

It knocked us all off our feet and the ceiling above us collapsed, chunks of drywall and insulation raining down on top of us.  The front doors, heavy mahogany, blew outward off the hinges as if they were made of paper, and we lay there among the debris, stunned.

My ears rang.  Loud.  I saw Gem, and vaguely wondered about the baby she carried inside her.

I held my nose and blew, trying to pop my ears, but nothing happened.  It only hurt.

Everyone was climbing back to their feet.  Serena was slower than the rest to get up, and Dave went to her and helped her to her feet, then steadied her.

“Serena, are you alright?”

“I can barely hear you,” she said.  “Muffled.”

“I think it’s getting better,” I said, and it was.

“Jesus Christ,” said Dave.  “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t have a clue,” said Gem, rubbing her ears, her Uzi hanging from its strap. 

“Baby, are you alright?” asked Flex, going to Gem, his hand moving to her stomach.

“Yeah, I’m fine – at least I think so.  Ears are screwed, just like everyone’s, but I just got knocked down, is all.  I’m really fine, babe.  Something tells me we need to move.”

Flex went to Rory, who was moaning as he rolled on the floor.  “Get off your ass and take us to where Hemp is.”

“My damned leg is busted,” said Rory.

Flex pulled him up, and Rory’s left leg flopped to one side, clearly broken at the knee.  Flex searched the floor, then looked up at the ceiling.  “Shit.”

I looked up.  Half of an air conditioning unit was visible, and the other half was three feet from where Rory writhed on the floor.  It had apparently fallen and smashed his knee.”

“Leave him, Flex.”  I turned away from them, searching through the sprinkling dust and debris.  “Hemp!” I called, running down the hall, barely able to hear my own voice.  I had my crossbow back in my hands and ready.  I didn’t bother dusting the crap out of my hair.  I was going to find my husband, and if I didn’t look my best when he saw me, so what.

I barely heard the footfalls of everyone running behind me.  Suddenly, two men came charging around the corner.  They both had camouflage on, and carried sub-machine guns.  I took the first one out with an arrow to the neck, and dropped quickly down. 

We’d surprised them.  Dave was right behind me and took my cue.  His silenced pistol laid down the other one as his center mass collapsed inward, blowing through his back.  His weapon, which had only seconds before been trained directly at us, clattered harmlessly to the floor.

“Hemp!  We’re here!  Where are you!”

We all shouted now, running through the hallways that led into large and small rooms.  Hemp was not here.

“Upstairs?” I asked anyone.  “Is there a basement?”

The lights were on, but I didn’t know that we could trust an elevator in case Carville or his crew cut the power.  “Open every door.  Find some stairs leading up or down,” I said.  “Let’s stay together, though.  We’re a powerful force that I sure wouldn’t want to come across.”

“Truer words have never been spoken,” said Tony, awe in his voice.  “One fuckin’ night and you did what we couldn’t do for months.”

We pulled open a door and found stairs leading down.  The stairwell was lit only by three low wattage bulbs, but we could see.  There were three flights down, and I’m not sure about anyone else, but I took them three steps at a time.  I reached the bottom door first and pushed it.

I wouldn’t budge.  I got back and charged it, ramming it with my shoulder.  The latch wasn’t engaged; I could tell that, but it wouldn’t open more than an inch.

Everyone stood on the landing behind me now.  “Let’s shoot the shit out of it,” said Gem. 

“One at a time,” said Dave.  “Everyone else, cover your ears.  I’m pretty sure they’ve had enough damage, and it’s going to echo in here.”

“Flex, you go first,” I said.  “Empty it in a straight line.  Let’s see if we can cut this thing in half.”

He looked at me.  “That’s a damned good plan, Mrs. Chatsworth.  Allow me.”

I covered my ears, and Flex stitched a straight line across the door, and dots of light appeared from the other side.  He reversed his direction, and ran out of rounds.

Gem moved in next, her replacement Uzi in her hands.  “Plug ‘em,” she said, then waited until we’d all complied.

She held down the trigger and followed Flex’s perforations.  The solid wood door now looked as though it could, with another good burst, be broken through.

“If I didn’t get to help out, I think I’d regret it for along time.  Please,” said Tony.  He raised his MAC-10 and ran a line of bullets slowly along the path that Gem and Flex had cut.  When he was done, he kicked his leg out, and the bottom half of the door fell away, dangling from one hinge.

He ducked through the hole and we followed.  When we got inside, we saw what appeared to be an enormous wall of Plexiglas leaning against the top of the door we’d just blown in half.

The floor was a disaster area, and clearly where the explosion had originated.  Every tile was blown from the ceiling, and the walls were pocked with shrapnel.  A man lay dead on the ground, and inside a large area that appeared to have once been enclosed by Plexiglas or some other clear, thick material, lay two dead bodies.

The rest of it was impossible to decipher.  It might have been a lab, based on the stainless steel and what looked like equipment, now in pieces.

“I hope the hell he wasn’t in here,” I said, taking it all in.

Then a voice.

“Charlie!”

My heart dropped.  I didn’t want to turn around, because I was so damned afraid it was my bum ears playing tricks on me.  It sounded so damned British, and it sounded so much like Hemp Chatsworth.

I squeezed my eyes closed, the fear gripping me.  When I opened them again, I saw all of my friends, and they were smiling.

“Charlie,” said Dave.  He put his hands on my shoulders.  I looked at him.

“Turn around.  Go ahead, girl.”

I hesitated too long, and Dave pulled one shoulder and pushed the other, and suddenly I was turning.

“Oh, my Charlie,” said my husband again, as my eyes met his.

There he was, limping toward me, a man’s arm over his shoulder.  My battered husband gripped this man’s hand and kept him on his feet.  His face was battered and cut, his clothes were in rags, but he was smiling at me, and I dropped my bow and ran to him as fast as I could.

I don’t know what everyone else was doing behind me, because when I saw his face, they all disappeared.  I reached him and had to stop myself from pushing the man he helped from his arms to pull him into mine.

I put my arms around both of them, and I kissed his face, his lips, his forehead, his eyes.  I kissed him everywhere our faces touched, and I told him I loved him over and over.  I don’t even know what he said to me.  It didn’t matter.  I had my husband back. 

He was back.

And then everyone was behind me, their hands on my back, on Hemp.  Flex and Tony took the man from Hemp, and when his arms were free, I fell into them and held him so tightly I never wanted to let go. 

He held me back.  My cheek to his, I wanted to stay that way forever.

“Charlie,” he said.  “Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay,” I said.  “We know the way.”

His arm still around me, he said, “Guys, we’ve got another problem.  Billy here has told me something disturbing.”

“What?” asked Dave.  “Is it about the Code Z?”

Billy looked up, his bruised and battered face swollen and black.  “Yeah,” he said.  “It means they ordered the zombies to be let loose.”

“Where?” asked Serena.  “How many?”

“There are about thirty of ‘em,” said Billy.  “Kept ‘em for when Hemp here learned how to cure ‘em.  Also for an emergency like this.  Figured they’d be harder to fight if someone tried to take the place down.”

“Where are they?” asked Gem.

“In the yard.  They could’ve come in, too.  I don’t know.  They were kept in a cage beside the main garage.”

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” said Hemp. 

“I’ve had my surprise,” I said.  “The best.”

Hemp bent over and untied his shoe.  He pulled out a latex glove and reached inside.  He looked up at us.  “What time is it?” he asked.

Flex checked his watch.  “It’s 6:45 or so,” he said.

“Then I’m good.  Here.”

He held out a wafer.  I took it from him.  “What’s this?” I asked.

“It is a neutralizing cookie.  It makes you invisible to the zombies, in a manner of speaking.  They cannot detect your scent, and the vapor is powerless.”

“Are you fucking shittin’ me?” asked Gem?  “Is it safe for the baby?”

“Gem, I have no idea.  All I know is that it works.  If we’ve got thirty or more creatures out there, I’d recommend each of you take one, and do it quickly.”

Nobody had to be told twice.  Each ate their cookie.

“These suck,” said Tony.

“They’re effective,” said Hemp.  “Damn.  I forgot to tell you.  Sit, quickly.   All of you.”

I don’t remember sitting.

****

The moment their rear ends touched the floor, all of them had gone out.  I was immediately relieved I’d remembered to have them sit.  I’d already given Billy a wafer.  He turned to me.

“Hey, buddy.  Thanks for saving me.”

“My pleasure, Billy.  I never got the impression you were a bad guy.”

“I’m not.  That’s why I’m gonna do something for you.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll be right back.  Was it the Sex Pistols?”

I looked at him, confused.  “Was what the Sex Pistols?”

“What your lady loves so much.”

I smiled, knowing exactly what he had in mind.  “Yes.  But Carville doesn’t have any of that stuff, does he?”

“His daughter sure did, and it’s all here.  The entire … what do they call it?  Discography?”

“I believe so, yes,” I said.  “If you insist, then hurry.  They’ll be awake by the time you get back.”

Billy limped off.  He’d make a good addition to
Concord.

In five minutes, I began lightly slapping their faces, and each awoke groggy, but all recovered fully within a few more minutes.

“So, we’re . . . neutral now?” I asked.

I nodded.  “You are.”

“That’s crazy,” said Tony.