The Redivivus Trilogy (Book 3): Miasma Page 18

  Not wanting to give Anthony too much time to think about her comment regarding Mother, she continued, “Also, the latest treatment we’ve been working on looks very promising. We’re just waiting on the scavenging team to return. I’m not sure when…”

  Anthony’s head shot up so fast that it startled Lin. The boy’s red-rimmed eyes blazed with frightening intensity. When he spoke, his voice possessed none of the despondency she expected. Instead, it was a strong, determined voice she might’ve expected from someone four times his age.

  “Wait? Why? Where are they?” Anthony demanded.

  Lin looked away and said, “We need the supplies they have in order to prepare the treatment. We expect them any time now.”

  Anthony was on his feet before she was finished talking.

  Garza’s brow furrowed as he watched the boy. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going out to look for them,” Anthony said defiantly.

  Before Garza could protest, Mother said, “That won’t be necessary, son. Stack and I are about to head out to do just that. You just returned from a mission. You need rest. Besides, you should stay here with Annalee.”

  Anthony looked like the wind had been taken out of his sails as his head dropped and his shoulders sagged. He knew Mother was right. He was exhausted and would likely only succeed in getting himself killed if he went looking for the scavenging team. Mother and Stack had a much greater chance of finding and assisting John’s group.

  Turning to Mother, Garza said, “I’ll help you guys clear the infected out of the compound on the way out. Then I can bring Charon inside. We had to leave him out there when we climbed up the south wall.”

  Mother nodded, and the three soldiers began readying their gear. Anthony moved next to Garza and began doing the same.

  “I’m going with you, Garza. Charon’s my dog, and it’ll be safer with two of us out there,” Anthony said.

  Garza couldn’t argue with that, and he didn’t try to dissuade him from coming along. He’d grown accustomed to having Anthony around over the last couple of days, and he felt much safer with someone watching his back.

  As soon as the makeshift fireteam was assembled, they made their way down the corridor connecting the keep with Building 18. The dark hall smelled of blood and death as they stepped over the bodies littering the narrow walkway. The sounds of movement echoed in the building’s dark recesses, as if to reassure them that there were still ample infected to contend with. Mother and Stack led them to the hallway that opened into the common area near the building’s center. When the two men had fled down the hall in the opposite direction at the start of the attack, the hall had been clogged with revs. Most had since wandered off in search of the building’s uninfected occupants, leaving those that remained spread out and easy to deal with. They dropped the revs one after another with well-placed headshots fired from suppressed rifles. While they were under no delusions that they’d completely cleared building, they managed to secure a path outside with relative ease. The light filtering in at the end of the long hallway was a welcome sight.

  When the group finally reached the compound’s north side, Garza stared slack-jawed at the destruction caused by the attack. His addled brain could hardly find the words that his dry throat struggled to make.

  “My God,” he said.

  They emerged through the gaping hole where the front door used to be. The explosions had left the ground covered with glass, debris, body parts, and mostly unmoving corpses. Innumerable spent shell casings lay scattered among the dead, highlighting the considerable fight Rooster had put up. Despite the improved ventilation afforded by being outside, smoke from the burning building as well as several smoldering corpses made them regret every breath they took.

  Stack gritted his teeth as he recalled the blast and the barrage of gunfire that followed. “I was in the armory when they hit us. It felt like the whole damn building was coming down. I came out and I saw Rooster, but…he…I couldn’t help him.”

  Even though he’d been on the opposite side of the building, Mother had felt the strong blast as well. All of the needless death and destruction left him shaking his head. What could possibly be worth all of this? He knew that to dwell on such horrors for too long was to risk being pulled under for good. Several revs shambling out of the haze provided a much-needed distraction as well as an emotional outlet. Brandishing their melee weapons, the team dispatched the ghouls quickly and quietly—generally with far more force and aggression than the situation dictated.

  “We should move out before more infected show up,” Mother said as he wiped the dark blood off his blade.

  With their immediate vicinity secure, they decided it was time to part ways.

  “Good luck, fellas. Bring them home,” Garza said.

  Garza and Anthony covered Mother and Stack until they disappeared on the other side of the wall. Garza turned to see Anthony staring at something in the distance to the right of their position. He squinted his eyes but couldn’t see what had captured the boy’s attention.

  “What is it?” Garza asked.

  Anthony looked confounded, and he didn’t immediately respond. After several seconds, the boy pointed toward the far end of the compound and said, “Movement. I think I saw someone on the roof over there.”

  Although Garza saw nothing, his first thoughts were of Judge. His heart ached when he recalled what Mother had told him about the sniper’s fate.

  “A person?” Garza asked.

  “A woman, I think—but I can’t be sure,” Anthony replied.

  Even though it was in the opposite direction of Charon, something compelled Anthony to investigate what he’d seen further. Given the boy’s strong sense about the issue, Garza didn’t resist. Less than three minutes and four revs later, they stood at the bottom of a metal ladder bolted to the side of a one-story section of the building.

  Garza flashed several quick hand gestures to inform Anthony that he planned to head up to the rooftop to check it out. He let his rifle fall to its sling before quietly climbing the rungs. At the top, he peeked over the edge of the building and caught a brief glimpse of movement. Unfortunately, it was gone before he had a chance to identify who or what it was.

  Not liking his odds if he were to come under attack while on the ladder, Garza hopped onto the roof and ducked behind cover. Cautiously, he peered around the corner but still saw nothing. He was considering the possibility that there hadn’t been anything there in the first place when a voice called out from behind him.

  “Garza?” the woman said.

  He wasn’t normally a jumpy person, but fatigue had worn his nerves down to the wire, and he nearly leapt out of his skin at the unanticipated sound of the voice. Despite instantly recognizing Lydia, Garza looked like a startled animal for the several seconds it took for the adrenaline coursing through his veins to wane.

  “Easy. It’s me, Lydia. What are you doing here?”

  Garza took in a huge breath as his eyes slowly decreased to their normal size. “Holy shit! You scared the hell out of me. Anthony saw someone moving up here, so we came to check it out. Come on. We’ll get you guys to the keep. Where’s Ava?”

  Lydia’s face darkened considerably. She didn’t have to say anything to answer his question.

  Garza put his arm around her and said, “Don’t worry. We’ll find her. Ava can take care of herself. She’ll be all right until then.”

  Although he had no way to be sure, he hoped what he’d said was true. He knew all too well that nothing was ever guaranteed, especially not now. With a gentle nudge, he led Lydia over to the ladder. She stopped and looked at him, her eyes a mix of hope, fear, and pain.

  “Annalee?”

  The word sounded the way her eyes looked, and the amount of emotion contained in that one word made his throat ache.

  Garza nodded tentatively and said, “She’s…she’s okay, for now. Lin thinks she can pull through. Come on, let’s go.”

  They descended the ladder
and joined Anthony on the ground. Garza worried about how he would take the news about Ava, but once again, the boy’s level of maturity surprised him. The three made their way back to the gate. Anthony covered Garza, while Lydia made sure nothing came in through the opened gate. Fortunately, all the revs in sight were still congregated around the smashed van and what Garza now knew was Rooster’s body. He silently thanked his fallen comrade for the distraction.

  Garza crept around the northeast corner of the barricade but still saw no sign of Charon. Hoping not to draw attention to himself, he quietly called for the dog. There was a commotion in the brush ahead of his position, and Charon came barreling toward him a few seconds later. Aside from being filthy, which was quickly becoming the dog’s baseline, he looked no worse for wear. Garza and Charon rejoined Anthony, and the three slipped inside without incident. Before sliding the gate closed, Garza looked at the van just visible through the hole in the barricade and thanked Rooster once again.

  “Rest easy, brother.”

  23

  John Wild studied the list carefully, checking off each item as it was loaded into the truck. The scavenging team managed to pack everything into six large cardboard boxes, which they positioned on the floor of the Bearcat’s passenger compartment. As he inventoried the last box, he tried not to get his hopes up for fear of invoking the law of averages. The mission had been too easy, and he knew from experience that nothing was ever easy anymore.

  The trip to the warehouse had been uneventful. Once they arrived, Plant and Animal made short work of the small number of infected loitering outside the building. John, Reams, and Cujo spent the next five minutes clearing the interior. From there, John directed each member of the scavenging team to different parts of the warehouse in search of the various items on the list. General Montes remained behind the wheel. In less than two hours, they’d all piled into the Bearcat and were heading toward the rendezvous point.

  The mood inside the vehicle was considerably more jovial than it had been on the way to their destination. In truth, they expected to go through hell each and every time they ventured outside the wall. The fact that they hadn’t done so this time made them feel like they were somehow gaming the system, and they worried that some divine power might find out and force them to endure more hardship as a means of recouping its losses.

  Given that they were considerably ahead of schedule, they assumed they would have to wait for Garza, Anthony, and Charon at the rendezvous point. That meant parking the truck out in the open in the same spot for an extended period of time—something they’d hoped to avoid.

  Plant flashed his signature smile and said, “We could stop for pizza. I know a great local joint along our route. The service might be a little slow, but the place should be dead this time of year.”

  Animal scowled at her companion for having the audacity to make light of their good fortune. John tried to conceal a smirk as he noticed Reams doing his best to hide the fact that he hadn’t taken his eyes off Animal the entire trip. Neither of them was doing a particularly good job. Despite Animal’s admonishing glare, Plant’s happy-go-lucky expression never faltered.

  From the driver’s seat, Montes called back and said, “I don’t know about pizza, but there was a small farm store that may be worth investigating. I noticed it on our way out. From the street, it didn’t appear to have been completely ransacked.”

  Montes being the group’s venerable voice of reason, no one questioned his suggestion. Supplies of any type were becoming an increasingly valuable commodity, and they were already in the field. Montes pulled the Bearcat into the store’s parking lot. Plant and Animal were out the rear door before the truck even stopped rolling. They’d taken on the role of de facto perimeter security, a job for which they were well suited, and one for which they had no real competition. Montes put the truck in park and shut off the engine. The eerie quiet sent a foreboding chill up John’s spine.

  Reams tried the store’s front door and wasn’t surprise to find it locked. Animal nodded toward a window that was slightly ajar near the back of the small store. She motioned for Reams to hoist her up, and she shimmied through without issue. His heart raced when she disappeared into the store. He knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but still he felt helpless and concerned.

  Inside, Animal found little of value despite the fact that the store appeared relatively unscathed on the outside. Whoever had cleaned the place out had done a thorough job. She casually strolled down one of the barren aisles toward the storefront.

  Plant rounded the corner and bumped into a worried Reams who was staring at the open window. He let out a chuckle and said, “Lighten up, Reams. She could probably kick your ass.”

  Embarrassed by how easily the other man had read him, Reams headed to the front of the store to sulk. Moments later, a lock clicked, and a small bell heralded the door’s opening. Animal’s deft hand shot up to silence its ring. They both froze when a dull thud came from the back of the store. To Reams it sounded like a nightmarish version of “Good afternoon. How may I help you?” Such a response was never a good thing during the apocalypse.

  The noise repeated several more times as Animal moved to investigate. Although she hadn’t noticed it before, the smell of death grew steadily as she moved deeper into the store. Panning her light around, she discovered a closed door labeled Office in the building’s back corner. She made her way to the door without a sound and listened for a moment. She heard nothing on the other side of it. Turning the knob, she shoved the door open forcefully. It slammed into something and ricocheted back toward her.

  Startled by the unexpected obstruction, Animal showed a rare display of human weakness and spun away only to collide with Reams’s muscular chest. She hadn’t realized he was right behind her, and before she could stop herself, she allowed herself to wilt into his arms. Reams didn’t hesitate, and he closed his massive arms around her. For the briefest of moments, the horrors of the world vanished from their minds, and they relished in the feel of one another. Reality came crashing in with a vengeance when Reams stared over her head at the ghastly scene that lay inside the cramped office.

  An elderly woman hung by her neck, kicking and swinging as though trying to get free from the rope holding her nearly two feet above the ground. The lower half of her long, denim dress was splattered with blood. At her feet was the dead body of the man Reams assumed had been her husband. His face was swollen grotesquely, and the back of his head was missing completely. A revolver lay by his side next to a blood-spattered note that read:

  No Food. No Water. No Hope.

  The shaky cursive handwriting looked distinctly feminine, and it immediately reminded Reams of his grandmother. He assumed the old woman had been bitten and decided to take her own life as a result. She probably had no idea that in doing so she was also taking the life of her husband. On the contrary, she’d likely believed she was protecting him. Death was such a personal thing that it had a way of tricking people into believing it was a monogamous event. In reality, death was like the neighborhood whore, always on the prowl for its next john. Reams couldn’t help but wonder if the old man had been unaware of his wife’s fate, or if he’d simply been unable to end her life before he took his own.

  Even though death had become as commonplace as the sun and the moon, these two seemed different. Reams couldn’t help but think about how he would’ve felt if he’d been in the old man’s shoes. The thought made him squeeze Animal a little tighter. He stepped back and pulled the office door closed.

  Plant called out from the darkness behind them, and Animal was thankful for the distraction.

  “Hey, guys. I think there are some things we could use over here.”

  The sound of Plant’s voice awakened Animal’s usual tough persona. Without a word, she turned, opened the office door, and buried the sharp hook of her brush tool in the side of the old woman’s head. The woman stopped moving instantly. Although it took some effort, Animal wrenched the bl
ade free from the thing’s skull. Reams thought he understood Animal’s pained expression as she pulled the door closed once again. Seeing the gory details of the old man’s experience made it impossible to ignore the fact that he could find himself in the same situation because of his feelings for Animal.

  Animal walked past Plant without inquiring what he’d found. “Let’s just get the hell out of here,” she said.

  Plant stared after her in confusion. “I thought this kind of shit warmed the cockles of your heart.” Under his breath, he added, “Whatever the hell cockles are...”

  For once, Animal ignored Plant’s smart remark and continued out the front door with Reams close behind her. Plant knew her well enough to know it wasn’t a good idea to say anything else. He sighed, set down the ceramic lawn gnome, and followed them out the door.

  John and Cujo covered the trio as they made their way back to the Bearcat. As soon as everyone was back in the truck, Montes turned to them and said, “Nothing worth taking, huh?”

  He took their silence as an affirmative and turned to fire up the engine. The low clicking sound made everyone in the vehicle look to the front of the truck as if expecting to see the source of the noise through the dirty windshield. General Montes tried the key several more times before turning to the others. All of the color had drained from his face.

  * * *

  “What’s wrong with it?” John asked impatiently.

  “How the hell am I supposed to know? I’m an aircraft mechanic. I know it’s hard to believe, but there are a few differences between this thing and the planes I used to work on,” Reams replied in frustration. The big man’s head was crammed under the truck’s hood as he scanned the components, hoping to see something with a giant blinking light that said “I’m broken.”