The Hunger (Book 3): Ravaged (22 page)

“You aren’t. You’re giving me a chance to get revenge and save Cass.” Lance wedged himself behind an overgrown bush, trying his best not to rustle the branches. He kept his voice just above a whisper as he leaned close to Liz’ ear. “Now get out of here and stay close to Paul. He’s tough and smart. He’ll keep you safe.”

“He’s going to make me jump out of an airplane.”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t crazy.” Lance felt a coughing fit coming on and held a hand to his chest while he rode it out. The tickle in his throat disappeared after a few seconds. “No matter what you hear while you’re driving away, don’t come back. You hear me?”

Liz nodded. A watery sheen covered her eyes. She opened her mouth, but closed it again before she said anything.

Muffled voices came from behind the house.

Lance held his finger to his lips and then pointed at Paul. He gave her a small wave as she backed away, her tears coming even faster. She waved back before turning and running down the driveway. She jumped in the passenger seat of the Bronco.

Paul sat behind the wheel. He gave Lance a tiny salute.

Then he started the truck.

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C
ass kneeled before the large hole behind the house. Her fingers curled over the edge, dirt working its way under her nails.

The stench of spoiled meat wafted from the tunnel. More of the odd mewling sound came to them.

“Hop on in,” Colt said. “No point in wasting time.”

“You haven’t told us where we’re going.” Cass stood and turned back to him. “What’s down there? How far do we have to go?”

Colt twisted the handle of her axe in his hand, making the blade spin. “We don’t know for certain, but we believe the nest is closest to this tunnel based on all the activity around it.”

“Where is the helicopter anyway?” Adam asked. Most of the color had drained from his face as they neared the hole. It was clear to Cass that he had little interest in going down there. She couldn’t blame him—this wasn’t what she had in mind either.

“Pittsburgh. He had to refuel.”

Colt’s men stood around him. There weren’t many of them, but they were all armed with rifles and shit-eating grins.

The day of their arrival, she’d been impressed with Colt and his small entourage. Now, she couldn’t wait to get away from them. Their aggression and cavalier attitudes had her on edge.

Joe spat in the dirt. “What are we going to find down there?”

“Maybe you should ask the woman who walked right into a nest in Pittsburgh.” Colt gestured to Cass. “I’m surprised she never told you about it.”

Everyone turned to her, waiting.

“That was over a month ago. Adam was there too. Things have changed since then, but it was a real shit show in the subway. Bones and bodies were everywhere. The Vladdies were asleep then, but they woke up while we were planting explosives and damn near killed us. Just be prepared to see some awful things and keep calm, no matter what.” She shrugged at Colt. “That’s all I’ve got. Let’s get this over with.”

Colt pointed at the hole with her axe. “After you.”

“Give me the axe back first.”

“I don’t think so. I’d rather not have you jam it in my back.”

Cass glanced at the sky and frowned. The sun had already begun its march toward midmorning. Daylight was burning, and she had a long way to go. She turned and lowered herself into the hole, feet first.

She spun around, facing the men watching her. Her hands held the edge as she continued down, her feet dangling over nothing. When she was fully stretched out, her hands above her head, she let go and dropped the last few feet. She landed on the slope and slid along it, stopping in the middle.

Darkness yawned ahead.

“Bag.” Cass held her hands up, and Joe tossed her pack down. She caught it before kneeling down and reaching inside. She pulled a flashlight out and clicked it on, pushing the shadows further into the tunnel.

After pulling the pack over her shoulder, she walked a few feet further, having to hunch at the waist to fit. Thuds came from behind as the others followed. She waited there as everyone got their own lights out.

Three of Colt’s men stayed behind. Cass didn’t bother asking what they were doing.

Colt came up beside her. “Lead the way.”

“I don’t know where I’m going.”

“None of us do. Lead the way.” He turned back to his men. “Don’t fire unless you have to. I’ll take point with Cass and use the axe if anything spots us.”

Cass saw fear pass over Joe’s eyes as he twisted the cap of his flashlight, turning it on. His hands shook. Adam, though calmer, had a slight tremble in his hands. At least they didn’t have Greg with them again. The moron had nearly gotten them killed the last time.

The sound was louder there. Cass turned toward it and started moving. Her quads burned after twenty yards from having to walk with bent knees.

The darkness swallowed them as they went. The walls danced under the shadows from their lights.

Cass followed a curve in the tunnel to the left, fighting off cramps that threatened to overwhelm her legs. She paused and dropped to a knee, rubbing her quads. Colt stopped beside her, staying in a squat position. His face showed no signs of discomfort, though sweat covered his bald head.

A separate tunnel broke away, snaking off to the left. Cass held her light into the opening, but couldn’t see anything besides dirt walls. Colt cut his hand toward the opening and looked at his soldiers.

Two of them broke away from the group and slipped down the side tunnel, moving quietly. Each had a bag of explosives hanging on their backs.

Colt gestured for Cass to keep going.

The sound grew louder, the stench less palatable as they continued forward.

The tunnel opened up after another twenty steps, the walls sloping away. Cass slipped to the left, following the wall, not wanting to walk further into the darkness, afraid of losing her bearings. If they needed to flee, she had to keep track of which direction they headed, what turns they took.

Colt whispered, “Keep your lights pointed low. Don’t let the beams wander.”

Another odor wafted to them as they inched forward—rotting meat. Cass had to breathe through her mouth. She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting the urge to retch.

Her foot bumped something and she paused, looking down.

A limbless torso stood against the wall, the severed neck pointing up. She could see the white backbone sticking free of the meat. Flies buzzed around.

Joe gagged behind them.

Colt glared at him until he got himself under control.

They pressed on, going deeper. The smell grew worse. More body parts came into view. Some were little more than gnawed bones glistening in their lights. Others had chunks of flesh clinging to them.

Most rested against the wall or in piles, not blocking the main path.

Though rudimentary, there seemed to be an organization to the layout. The bare bones were stacked together, separated from the meatier portions. Cass remembered the haphazard way the bones in the subway tunnel had been strewn about.

This was nothing like that. There had been no leftovers down there. Here, the meat appeared to be stored, saved for later like leftovers.

And not all of the carcasses were human. The remnants of deer and cattle were mixed in with the portions of man-flesh. The stench threatened to make Cass vomit as she moved past the piles, attempting to cover her nose with her free hand. She wanted to follow the remains with her light, to see how far into the room they stretched, but she dared not.

If the beam from her flashlight fell across a Vladdie, they would be in deep shit.

Colt put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. He took his pack off and quietly laid it beside the largest pile of bones, nudging a cracked skull out of the way. When he rejoined them, Cass continued.

The sound they’d heard from outside was much louder now, the characteristics of it slightly different as they got closer.

The wall sloped to the right. Deep gouges covered its damp surface. Cass followed it for a few dozen steps before coming to a drop off in the floor. Darkness continued where the path had been, yawning out into an open space.

Cass stopped, her toes inches from the edge. She clicked her light off and angled it up before turning it back on. A brick ceiling was twenty feet above them, its surface slick with dripping water.

The incessant sound was even louder here. Cass could hear distinct differences in it now, as if it came from multiple sources, all spanning out before them.

Colt leaned close, whispered, “Toss the bags.”

“Are you nuts? Do you want to get us all killed?”

“I didn’t ask. Toss it. We’re near the center of the nest. I can smell ‘em.”

Cass turned her light off again, and aimed it at the ledge beneath them. She held her breath as she clicked it back on. The wall beneath them dropped fifteen or twenty feet before running to a muddy floor.

After slipping the pack from her shoulder, she pressed it against the wall before releasing. It tumbled down and landed in a small puddle, splashing the water away. No shrieks came.

Cass held her hand out for Joe’s bag, and he passed it over. She did the same thing she’d done with her own, watching it land in the puddle.

“What is this place?” Joe whispered.

“I don’t know. Something with sewage or water runoff, if I had to guess.” Colt kept his light aimed between his feet. He looked back at Adam. “Give me your bag and come up here. I have to see what that sound is.”

Adam handed it over. Sweat beaded on his forehead and lip. His eyes were wide, his hands shaking slightly.

“I’m going to toss this in as far as I can. When I throw it, everyone aim your lights out into the middle of the room.” Colt grabbed both ends of the bag and pulled it behind him, his arms cocked to throw it. The axe rested on the floor by his feet. “We’ll only have a few seconds before they come for us.”

Cass glanced at the axe, but averted her eyes quickly, hoping Colt hadn’t noticed.

Colt reared back and threw the bag. It flew into the darkness, tumbling end over end. “Now,” he hissed.

They flipped their lights up, casting the beams to what Cass assumed to be the middle of the room.

She nearly fell backward at what they saw.

The cones of light fell across the writhing bodies of hundreds of Vladdies. They sat, stood, and stretched across the floor, piled beside one another. Their mouths worked, a mewling, gutteral sound coming from them.

Cass stared, awestruck. She’d never heard them making any sound beyond a shriek or a cry of rage. Listening to them uttering other sounds shook her to the core. She was reminded of a video she’d seen of a species of primate in Africa, gesturing at objects and making odd, lip-smacking sounds.

The Vladdies weren’t speaking, not even close, but hearing them attempt to communicate in such a way struck a fear into her that she hadn’t experienced in weeks. They’d discussed the progression of the infected, but they’d never dared to guess at how far they’d come.

Brown was right—their minds were rebooting. The final result of it, what would become of their primitive minds, Cass didn’t want to find out. If she had any shred of doubt that they needed to flee the compound, it was expunged in that moment.

The Vladdies shrank away from the light, yowling in pain and surprise. They leapt to their feet, fleeing into the shadows.

“Run!” Colt hissed.

Cass heard the others flee back up the tunnel. Their flashlights spun wildly as they turned and ran. Cass stayed in place for a moment longer, cutting her light along the far edge of the room.

Vladdies stood around the walls, digging feverishly at the dirt with their clawed hands. Loose earth flew out between their legs, spraying in the air behind them like they were dogs searching for bones in the backyard. The drone of the feverish work mixed with the guttural mewling, creating the sound Lance had first described hearing in Latrobe.

They were digging the earth out, creating a new world under the old, dead one.

The infected stopped when the light hit them, and they spun around.

The throaty noises stopped, the digging ceased. Silence hung in the air for a split second before an explosion of shrieks echoed through the cavern. Their rage filled the burgeoning, underground city.

Chaos erupted. The thunder of a thousand stampeding feet shook the ground as they came for her.

Cass turned to run when a fist caught her in the temple. Cascading colors burst in her vision. She fell to her ass, the flashlight slipping from her fingers. Her head swam, dizziness keeping her limbs from operating.

Colt smirked down at her. “You should have played along.” He spun on his heels and ran down the tunnel, his light disappearing around a bend.

The roars of the vampires drew near. The rumble of their pursuit sent vibrations into Cass’ backside and hands.

She pushed herself up, grabbing the light. Its beam reflected off the blade of her axe. She picked it up and staggered down the tunnel, her equilibrium still recovering. Dirt fell from one of the walls as her shoulder dragged along its surface.

The darkness seemed to press in on her as she picked up her pace. She held her flashlight as steady as she could, trying to minimize the way it flashed around. The strobing effect made her head spin.

Vibrations in the floor and walls grew heavier, knocking water from the ceiling in a torrent of drips, simulating rain. It plopped in her hair and soaked her shirt. Muddy filth ran down her face.

Her feet slid as she teetered past the reeking mounds of carcasses. She gagged as she breathed in their stench. Bone and blood gleamed under the cone of her flashlight.

Shrieks came from behind, closer and louder.

The first bend almost brought Cass down, the slick floor making her slow so she wouldn’t fall. The axe dragged against the wall, cutting a swath in the mud.

A wail came from ahead.

Cass raised the flashlight as she ran, spotting the place where the tunnel had branched off. Colt’s men had gone down there. The banshee-like cry came again.