Fall of Hope (Book 1): Real Heroes Don't Wear Capes (16 page)

Gunner
never needed training. Sure, he might be a mess these days, but it
came natural to him. Whereas, Blackout had to push himself to keep up
with his mate. Sometimes he wonders whether the only reason he made
it was because Gunner put in a good word for him. He tried to push
the jealousy away, but it was difficult, especially after he got with
Elise.

With
the day darkening outside, Gunner stops before he comes to the lamp's
light. If whoever is in the next room is what he believes them to be,
their shadows will be meaningless.

What
happens if they are not?

Past
the shattered glass windows, where the breeze has become more chilly,
an office building moans. It falls sideways like a cripple and
smashes into the next building.

Gunner
motions for him to move, using the noise to conceal their footsteps.
Their shadows form across the floor as the building continues to
create a commotion. Ready, he waits for Gunner to give the order as
he peers around the door frame again.

“
There's
only one, over by the bed. Adult female.”

Before
Gunner can turn again, Blackout whispers the question he can no
longer hold back. “Is she, you know, one of them?”

When
Gunner pulls his “afraid so” face again, Blackout pulls
his attention back by grabbing the scarred flesh on his biceps.

“
I
don't—”

“
What
do you think?”

Looking
him straight in the eye, Gunner grits his teeth and says the word he
knows he will say, but hopes not to hear.
“
Yes.”

Like
Shield City where everyone they loved got ripped from them, and the
place they have been trying to outrun ever since.

Blackout
takes a deep breath and lets that knowledge sink in.

This
isn't like all the missions they did in the line of duty, this is
worse.

A
million times worse.

At
least then they faced creatures like the Inklay, or corrupt people
hell-bent on destroying the world. Now, they are up against their
own—innocent people like in Shield City.

This
isn't normal, or natural.

Many
used weapons the day their home fell and almost killed him. They used
rocket launchers, handguns or any melee weapon they could get their
hands on. However, most became an almost vegetative state with a
thirst for blood. And he isn't sure what was worse—being faced
with an RPG, or a reanimated corpse.

Definitely
an RPG. At least then I wouldn't be around long enough to feel the
pain.

As
he looks around the place, he cannot form any understanding.

If
the girl defended herself and killed the rest of her family, then
where are the bodies?

And
on the back of that, another question forms: how were they infected
in the first place? Back in Shield City the cause was a virus
injected to people while they slept.

So
what in God's name is going on here?

Gunner
motions for him to enter. Following his lead, they arrive back in the
double
bedroom where the lone figure hunches at the bed with its head bowed.
Her greasy brunette locks fall down to her shoulder and obscure her
face. The fluffy dressing gown falls to her dirty heels where they
peek out from her pink slippers.

Gunner's
boot connects with a spray can and sends it rolling in her direction,
but he doesn't hesitate as the woman turns toward the sound. Gripping
her hair in a bunch, he yanks her head backwards and drives the blade
into her throat.

Blackout
turns to keep watch and tries not to attribute the gargling to a
human who was alive not long ago.

Gunner—unhappy
with the results thus far, according to his growls—yanks the
knife free. The body writhes against him, trying to fight for
freedom, or his blood. Judging by her hissing, snapping maw, she's
after the latter.

In
response, he yanks the matted and filthy hair backwards again with a
series of weak crackles from her bones. This time, he digs the knife
through the temporal region with a quick thrust. The sound makes him
cringe, but is nothing he hasn't heard before.

When
the body stills, he tosses her forwards to get the putrid stench of
rot away from him, and she tumbles to the floor in a heap.

Items
vibrate around their feet as the ground rumbles. When Blackout turns,
he reads the confusion on Gunner's face before they are both rocked
from side to side. He holds his arms out for balance as it becomes
more intense. Then, just like that, the movement ceases.

Stepping
over the body without thought, Gunner gets to the entrance door which
hangs ajar. He peers out, then pulls back and brings the wood closed
with as little noise as possible.

“
There's
more down the hallway.”

Blackout
doesn't reply, but bends beside the woman. She looks like the girl in
the bathroom, but with harsher features and a prominent nose. Without
thinking, he pulls her robe open to check at the pale skin beneath.

“
What
are you doing?”

Blackout
crouches at the opposite side of the woman and peers at the gaping
wound at her neck. There are no signs of a smaller wound like a
needle mark, but that doesn't mean there isn't one concealed in the
mess Gunner created. Thinking back to the destruction of Shield City,
and how quick the chaos spread, it seems like the only likely cause.

But
where's the evidence?

“
There's
no gas.”

“
No
gas,” he admits.

“
But
if it's the same as home, then
there
would be signs of forced entry.”

“
How'd
you know there wasn't?” He glances at the open door to find the
lock unperturbed. “Perhaps they let themselves in, or one of
the family stepped outside, got bit and brought it in here.”

“
That
didn't happen.”

“
How'd
you know that?” Gunner's eyes regard him in a shrewd,
questioning manner, then he reverts his gaze.

“
Don't
you feel it? Something else is going on here.”

“
So
you're groping a dead woman?”

Lifting
her vest again from the open robe, he rolls her over and pulls up the
material to check her back. “Don't you understand? Remember
Alanna?”

Gunner
bows his head and his fist closes tighter around the knife.

“
What
they did to her wasn't the same. Help me find it,” he pants as
he lifts the cuff of her pyjama bottoms and pulls her slippers from
her feet.

“
Quit
it.”

“
We've
got to find it. We need to know what we're dealing with.”

“
I
said quit it,” he repeats with his jaw clamped.

“
Do
you know what it means if we find it? It means they've come in and
injected people with that shit! Only, not everyone because—”

Gripping
Blackout by the scruff of his neck, Gunner yanks him to his feet and
pushes him backwards. “Leave her alone!”

“
Man,
she's dead and we will be too if you don't—”

“
Don't
what, huh? She's dead, show some god damn respect.”

He
wants to argue back to make his point, but stops himself. They stole
Gunner's little girl—his little cowgirl—and made him
watch. He cannot face that again, despite having nothing left to
lose. But to know it is happening again here, and they're killing
god
knows
how many people for the sake of their experiments is too
much to take. And Blackout knows he will blame everything else other
than the injections he knows it to be.

It
doesn't matter.

However
this has come about, it all stems back to them and their dodgy work.

“
Let's
move. We've got to go right from here, there's no other way. We will
have to take them out.”

“
No
way around,” Blackout mutters to himself and clutches the
scissors. “How many?”

“
I
counted three.”

Gunner
leans on the door and opens it enough to peer out. “One to the
right. Two on the left. I'll take the ones on the left, but there's
an obstacle dead centre. On my go. Ready?”

When
Gunner looks back at his lifelong mate, he nods.

Ready
as I'll ever be.

“
Let's
do this shit.”

CHAPTER
SIX

“
And
that's only the beginning.” Danny drops the Play Station
controller to the floor with excitement. “I didn't think the
rumours were true about them killing one off.”

“
They're
both still alive.”

“
F
or
now, but just wait until the zombie hordes come at them. They've got
one knife between them.”

“
So
why are you turning it off?”

Danny
moves to the stairs where his mobile is charging. As he presses the
buttons, his features scrunch together.

“
This
phone is ridiculous,” he comments to himself before turning
back to Bobby. “It's half four. My mum's going to be back soon
and I forgot the cheddar.” Danny grins at Bobby's expression
and expands. “I forgot to pick it up while I was waiting for
your cougar loving ass. She'll whine at me if she comes back and
there's none in the fridge.”

Bobby
picks himself off the floor of fake pine wood and flicks the console
off at the back.

“
There's
cheese in the fridge,” Bobby comments, thinking about the pack
of mild he saw while getting a can of coke. What his mother don't
know won't hurt her, he hopes. After all, it is only pop.

Bobby
brushes his buttocks off and straightens himself and his clothes out.
According to Danny, there is only one way to play and enjoy “game
time”. That is by sitting on the floor with all the lights off
and any natural light blocked out. Even if that results in a crocked
neck from the TV angle, a numb rear and stinging eyes as soon as the
light hits them.

“
She's
making m
acaroni
and cheese for tea—the ultimate meal in history. You can't just
use one type of cheese, you know. Not if you want it to meet my
standards, anyway.”

Nodding
his head, Bobby rolls his eyes with a touch of melodrama and smiles.
“Don't worry, I won't tell the villains, Wanker Boy.”