The Renegades (Book 4): Colony (6 page)

I
t was
early morning when we rolled out of the elevator. We were cold, hungry, and thirsty but alive. Had we not sought shelter inside the elevator shaft or had tire irons for protection, it was very likely we wouldn’t have survived. Over the course of the next hour we carefully navigated our way through what remained of the streets of the Big Apple. It was a hellish amble through disorder and chaos.

The twisted ruins of skyscrapers protruded upwards out of a cloud of smoke.

While the idea of returning to the Coalition, the same people who less than twenty-four hours ago had held guns to our heads and tossed us out into the middle of Z land, might have seemed insane, we had few options. We wouldn’t return to the Hive. Each of us was at our breaking point; tired of running from Z’s and lunatics.

As for me, after the loss of Dax, I could barely see my way through the next hour. Every waking moment felt as meaningless as the next. Meaning? Was it now found in those around us?

The only thing that seemed to make sense now was finding out about the cure. What was keeping these people alive when others were dying? Who were the Coalition?

“Damn, I would kill for a beef burger around about now.”

“Oh, don’t you go there.”

“The smell of onions frying in a pan, melted cheese,” Baja continued.

Elijah picked up a half-chewed leg off the floor. “You’ll have to settle for this.”

Everyone groaned. So how do you navigate your way through a city of the undead? I would like to think it was as easy as blasting Bieber tunes and hoping that Z’s would run for their lives. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. We spent a whole lot of time ducking and diving, hiding behind dumpsters, slipping under vehicles, and climbing up fire escape ladders.

It was exhausting. The only thing we were grateful for, was that we hadn’t seen any more of those Z’s that could do freestyle parkour. Whatever the hell they were, they weren’t your typical Z. Ben said that if some people were immune to the infection, perhaps that’s why some of the Z’s had evolved. It all came back to what was the purpose of the biological weapon? Was it simply meant to kill? Mutate? All I knew was I didn’t fancy going up against one of those with a piddling little tire iron. I was beginning to miss my assault rifle.

The only one of us who had visited New York was Ben. He had come here five years ago with his wife. It was meant to be a romantic getaway.

“Okay, so run that by me again. You brought your wife here to wine, dine, and well…” Jess paused to frown. “You decided it would be romantic to take her to a gun shop?”

We all chuckled.

“What can I say, I love me some guns.”

“Amen to that, brother,” Elijah added.

“Maybe the apocalypse did her a favor,” Izzy said.

Ben stopped in his tracks and stared at her in disbelief before continuing on. None of us could believe she’d said that. He shook his head and walked on.

“What? Oh come on, Ben, I’m sorry. Geez, some people.”

Elijah came up alongside Izzy. “Ah, don’t worry about him. He’ll get over it.”

The trek to find this infamous gun shop took us in the direction of downtown Manhattan. Ben told us that not only was it the oldest gun store in New York but that included the United States. It was a place that was hard to miss. It stuck out like a sore thumb, literally. A large silver revolver protruded from the red brick store. It was called Shooters. Of course, Baja heard him wrong and thought he said Hooters. So he was disappointed upon arrival when he was unable to find the scantily clad women in tight tops.

“Shit, and there was me thinking I was going to get my dick wet.”

“In what lifetime, numbnuts?” Izzy said, gazing up at the three-story building. The store itself was on the ground level.

“Sweet cheeks, there is still hope for you and me.”

“Please. I would rather hook up with an Oscar Meyer Wiener.”

“Oh say it isn’t so.”

She pushed past him and he burst into a cackle.

On the outside the metal shutters were down. It was smothered in black spray paint and smeared with blood and shit. All a good sign, if you were mentally disturbed or just enjoyed the fragrant aroma of someone’s inner bowels. Elijah and Jess kept a nervous eye on the street.

“What do you think?”

“We could go up the fire escape or down the through the basement entrance.”

He was scouting both of them.

“You really are determined to get inside.”

“Shutters are a good sign.”

“Not ones covered in shit.”

“It means someone is trying to keep people away.”

I nodded slowly. “Or someone didn’t make it to the bathroom in time.”

He stifled a chuckle and hopped over the metal railing that cordoned off the staircase that led down to a thick red metal door. Ben tugged on it a few times but there was no chance we were getting through that.

“The fire escape it is then,” he muttered.

There was only one problem with the fire escape. It led up to the second and third floors that were beside the gun shop.

I jumped up and grabbed the flimsy excuse of a ladder. My body weight pulled it down without a problem but it wasn’t in good shape. One by one we ascended the rickety metal steps. I then used my tire iron to smash the window on the second floor.

We entered an apartment above a restaurant. By the lack of people rushing at us with guns or looking to bite us, we figured they had abandoned the place.

“Right, smart-ass, now what?” Izzy asked.

Ben went up to the dividing wall and tapped it with the end of his tire iron. He continued doing this until he was satisfied that a beam or brick wasn’t behind it. Then, applying as much force as he could, he slammed the tire into the drywall. White dust exploded everywhere, sending us all into a coughing fit, except for Elijah who was using his bandana.

“Well, don’t stand there, give me a hand.”

Jess kept an eye on the window while the rest of us began beating the living shit out of the drywall. It didn’t take long to break through, however we didn’t find ourselves in the next apartment. There was a gap full of insulation and when we tore that away, bricks.

Sweat was pouring down my back.

“Another great idea, Ben,” Elijah said.

“I don’t hear anything coming from you.”

“That’s because I save the best for last. I just wanted to see you make a fool of yourself.”

“Ah suck a big one,” Ben said, taking a few steps back from the wall and sighing.

“Right,” Elijah said. Without telling us what he was up to, he exited through the window. We assumed he had gone back down the ladder as we could hear his boots clattering around. A few minutes later we heard the sound of glass shattering. I poked my head out the window and gazed down, then up. That’s when I saw him balancing on a ledge, holding onto a drainpipe with one hand while the other hand smashed the upper window to the gun store. He looked down and grinned.

“Coming?”

He disappeared inside.

“At least one of us is thinking around here,” Izzy said, tossing Ben a scowl. Like a chain gang we moved in a line slowly across the ledge until we were all inside. I was the last one in. I ducked my head and hopped in. I was brushing myself off when I noticed all of them were standing up against the wall looking perturbed. My gaze followed theirs to a guy standing in the doorway holding an AR-15.

“Glad you could you join us,” he said. “Now get over there and drop the tire iron down along with the others.”

I shuffled off to the side and took in my surroundings. The room was dank-looking. Two lone beds, a closet, and a smashed TV set. The guy was in his late fifties. He had silver-white hair, a goatee, and a black patch over his left eye. He was swishing something around in his mouth. He spat a black glob of spit into a bucket beside him.

“Now I have to ask myself, why is Hive security breaking into my store?”

Baja stepped forward.

“Well you see, sir…”

He aimed his gun. “Boy, unless you have an itchy ass, I did not tell you to move.”

“Right,” Baja said, slinking back into his spot like a limp dick in a haggard foreskin.

“We are not security for the Hive.”

“Then explain why you are wearing their uniforms?”

I glanced at Ben.

“Don’t look at him. Tell me why?”

“We were sent out to find the Coalition and bring back anomalies. Those who are immune to the virus.”

“There is no one immune to the virus.”

“That’s not what we’ve been told.”

He looked me over suspiciously. “What do you know about the Coalition?”

“Not much. They are some resistance group.” I paused. “Look, you think you can lower the gun? We don’t mean you any harm. We were just hoping to find some weapons.”

“Steal, you mean?”

“Well, it’s not like anyone pays for anything anymore,” Elijah said.

“Does that give you the right to barge into a man’s home? I could shoot you right now and go to sleep with a clear conscience.” He sniffed. Right then a young girl came running up behind him, she couldn’t have been more than twelve years of age.

“Hannah, I told you to wait. Now go on back.”

She peered at us. She had dirty blonde hair and a hoodie on that had the word, Shooters on the front.

“Are they here to take me?”

The man glanced at us, nervously trying to juggle the rifle while pushing her back.

“No, hon, we aren’t,” I replied.

“Shut up. Did I tell you, you could speak?” He glanced at Ben who appeared to be edging his way closer. “And you, get back. Don’t think for a second that I won’t drop you.”

“Listen, if you wanted us dead, you would have shot us by now. Now, why don’t you go ahead and lower the gun and we can just talk.”

He narrowed his eyes, lowered the gun ever so slightly, and shot the floor in front of Ben’s feet. “The next one is going in your belly.”

Ben tossed his hands up and shuffled back.

“Hannah, go get me the zip ties.”

She stood in place, her young eyes sweeping over us.

“Hannah,” he yelled again. This time he turned. Perhaps it was ludicrous, or no longer caring if I lived or died, but I used that split second to rush at him. Now I would like to say the gun didn’t go off, but it did. He had age and speed working against him but I had the disadvantage of distance. Instead of trying to grab the gun from him, I just plowed into him like an NFL football player looking to make a touchdown.

We slammed hard against the floor.

His nostrils flared as he fought to stay in control but it was useless. Elijah wrestled the gun away from him while Ben and I held him down. Once he was completely overpowered he turned into a blubbering mess. I had to admit it was a little strange. Only a moment ago he was acting like his nads were made of rocks, now he was embarrassing himself.

“Hannah, run.”

Instead, the girl he was trying to protect came rushing to his side, telling us to leave him alone. He began sobbing.

“Mister, we aren’t going to hurt you. We’re the good guys, believe it or not,” Baja added.

“Now I’m going to release you, are you going to behave?” Ben asked.

He nodded.

Ben gestured for me to release his other arm. He immediately hugged the young girl. They huddled together tightly. As they did I noticed something on the girl’s arm.

“She’s been bitten.”

Elijah aimed the gun at her.

We all backed up and the man wrapped himself around her. “Don’t you dare,” he yelled at Elijah.

“Back away from the girl.”

“She won’t harm you.”

“She’s infected, now move.”

“Please listen to me.”

“I won’t tell you again.”

I pushed in. “Elijah.”

His finger was dancing around near the trigger, the gun pressed firmly back into his shoulder.

“Please, she won’t change.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“She won’t.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“She’s an anomaly,” he blurted out. A silence fell over us all.

Elijah cocked his head. All of us looked at her as if we were witnessing a new breed of human. We weren’t sure whether to believe him or not.

“Show them,” he urged Hannah.

She pulled back the sleeves over her arms to reveal gnarly bite marks, she then lifted her top and showed us several more on her stomach. Besides the appearance of teeth marks, and skin torn back in some areas, it looked no different than any wound that had healed. It wasn’t fresh or covered in the usual vein-popping sights that made you gag. Instead, all that remained was unsightly scarring.

Elijah backed up and lowered the rifle.

“How long since she was bitten?” Ben asked.

“Since she lost her mother. Maybe a month ago.”

“You’re her father?”

He nodded.

That’s why he was crying; he was trying to protect her. He must have thought the Hive was coming to collect. We spent a few minutes just staring at her. It was hard to believe that anyone could survive but right now we were looking at the first sign of real hope. Like a candle’s flame flickering in darkness, it was a glimmer. But that was enough.

“If you need weapons I have some but I’m going to need you to board up that window.”

I glanced back at the mess we had made. It would have made it easy for more Z’s to get through. At one point it wouldn’t have mattered but after seeing the way those mutated Z’s had climbed like spiders, it brought a whole new level of fear into the mix.

We helped him up and spent the next twenty minutes boarding up the window with a large piece of drywall and chipboard. It wasn’t ideal but it did the job. Elijah banged on it hard just to give it one last check.

As he led us down into the gun store I asked him a question.

“Have you seen Hive security pass through here before?”

“Every day. They don’t usually stop.”

“What about the Coalition? Do you know where we could find them?”

“I don’t, but I know a man who can help.”

We continued on down the staircase. Outside we could hear the sound of Z’s banging against the metal shutters, eager to get inside. Their snarls and moans reminded us of the risk. We were stranded in the middle of one of the biggest cities in America, surrounded by the undead.