Mad Swine (Book 2): Dead Winter (9 page)

“Justin, check your six,” I said. “We have another one over here.”

“Here we go,” Justin said. He immediately took up his tomahawks and began to bounce them nervously in his hands. I could tell his adrenaline was pumping as he prepared for action.

“Shit,” Kat said. She turned away from her post and started toward the mound of movement. “Justin, you be careful.”

“I got this,” Justin said. He was now full of nervous energy, bouncing back and forth from foot to foot.

As I started to move in to flank the creature its head emerged slowly followed by an arm and shoulder. Behind me I heard Chandra shout, “Oh, shit, we got another one here, people.”

Lara said, “Make that two more. This is getting serious.”

That stopped me in my tracks. I looked back at the two women and saw two more of the things breaking through the snow between them. Heads and arms were exposed and like the first, they were struggling to get their feet under them. In less than a minute they’d be up and moving, desperate for our flesh.

“Matthew, check
your
six!” Kat shouted.

I turned quickly on my heels and saw two more crazies rising. The two men were already exposed to the waist. The younger of the two had a shock of red hair plastered to his pale face. He was on his knees, trying to push himself into the standing position. Without hesitation, I waded forward and engaged him, burying the axe into the top of his head. His body went limp and he went down fast. I tried to disengage the axe, but it held firmly in his skull, buried deeper than I expected. I glanced at the other thing to determine how much time I had and found him too close for comfort. The older man, sporting a thick black beard and shock of curly hair, was already on his feet no more than five feet away. He moved awkwardly as he tried to navigate the snow on weak legs.

Dropping the splitting maul, I unsheathed my
Junglas
. I waited until Blackbeard was about two feet away before I swung my machete backhanded. The blade cut easily through his cold flesh, practically severing the head from his thick neck.

Aware that there was action going on around me, I looked up in time to see Justin removing his Tomahawks from his assailant’s body. Chandra was in the middle of her tripping maneuver while Lara was slugging it out with another infected, the aluminum bat twanging with each blow she struck.

Kat was on the move, grabbing Justin’s elbow and pulling him in my direction. “We have to move!” she shouted. “Now, before they overwhelm us!”

I was about to tell Kat to calm down, that we had things under control, but I saw the source of her anxiousness. All around the clearing, mounds of snow were beginning to form. Dark heads were emerging; arms and hands shot up into the cold air and milky eyes began to turn toward us.

“We’re in the middle of a fucking nest!” Kat said as she brushed past me. “Move it ladies. Move your asses right now!”

With my heart racing, I turned back to my splitting maul and tried to haul it out of the dead thing’s skull. I had to put a foot on the thing’s chin and hold its head from moving before I could free the steel. Lara and Chandra joined us now in our retreat. As I brought up the rear, I risked a glance back and counted eight of the undead moving in our direction.

“Faster,” Kat called over her shoulder as she bounded through the deep snow. She spotted more movement and shouted, “Justin, on the right!”

“Contact left!” Chandra shouted almost simultaneously and lifted her weapon to the ready.

“We’re being surrounded,” Lara said. “This is a goddamn ambush!”

There was no way the undead were capable of planning a calculated ambush, but Lara’s observation seemed to be correct. Although it seemed merely blind luck by all appearances, the crazies were in prime location to cut us off from our escape and surround us. I spun around and saw more of them in front of us. Kat used the Mosin to smash one closest to her, knocking it down to the left. As soon as it hit the ground, the creature attempted to get up. Justin had engaged the immediate threat to our right flank and was now facing another with his Tomahawks. On our left, Chandra had her hands full with two of the enemy. They moved slowly but somehow they had gotten too close. In just moments they’d be upon us in great number and we would be overwhelmed. At a glance, I estimated there were now twenty already on their feet and even more were emerging.

“Everyone use your guns. Open fire!” I yelled. This situation definitely warranted the use of our precious ammunition.

Just seconds later I heard Kat open up with the Mosin. The immense sound of the rifle made me jump and I could see Lara was also surprised by it. I pulled my 1911 from its holster, aimed at the closest threat, and shot it through the head. I shot two more that were on my left and closing in.

I turned and bound through the thick snow, closing the distance between us and our escape. I could see our wall about an eighth of a mile away. Kat had already reached the wall and I could see her trying to unhinge one of the ladders to flip it around for our escape. Justin was covering her with his pistol. He was firing from the hip, engaging targets but none of his shots were kill shots.

“Shoot them in the damn head!” I heard Kat shout at Justin. “You’re wasting ammo!”

Moving backward through the snow was awkward but I was motivated by fear. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I could feel myself beginning to sweat.
We are going to make this
, I thought, when suddenly a set of arms broke through the snow near my left foot and tripped me up, sending me sprawling onto my backside.

For a moment I panicked. Everything around me seemed to shut down as my heart jumped in my chest. I felt my eyes bulging and my breathing sounded like gusts of wind to my own ears. I kicked frantically, trying to dig my heels in and gain purchase, to create some distance between myself and the creature, but the snow seemed to have hold of me and the thing’s grip on my ankle was strong. The nails on its gnarled hands made a zipper-like sound as they raked across the material of my jeans and leather boots.

I tried to swing the axe at my assailant’s head, but the deep snow stifled my movement and the result was a shallow wound. Before I swung again, I took a second to carefully aim and smash my booted foot into the ugly bastard’s face. Its grip loosened for a moment and I used that time to my advantage and shoved myself backward. I landed about a foot away, hoping the extra distance would allow me time to gain my feet.

Instead, the thing lurched and caught me again, this time both hands taking firm purchase on my boots. My feet were effectively pinned. I’d have to risk a shot, I had no other choice. I could live with a gunshot wound to the foot. At least I’d be alive. I lifted the .45 with my shaking right hand and lined up my front sight. I stopped struggling so that my aim would be steady, but the thing took advantage of my stillness and moved in closer for the kill. My hand was shaking horribly, whether from cold or fear or both. My finger applied pressure to the trigger as I prayed my aim would be true.

Just as I was about to fire, I saw movement from my peripheral. Something quick and silver flew past me and I heard the
pong
sound of metal against flesh. Incredibly, the infected man’s face exploded into a bloody mess on my shins. I looked stupidly at my pistol for a moment, wondering what the hell had happened. Then Lara was pulling at my shirt, yelling for me to stand up and get my ass moving. I realized she’d just smashed the thing to oblivion with her aluminum bat.

Using my axe as a crutch, I pushed myself up out of the sucking snow and almost lost my balance again, backpedalling to try to keep up with Lara as she dragged me. Finally catching my stride, I turned to face forward. I saw Kat and Justin on the wall firing over us; I didn’t turn around, I could only imagine how many of them were right at our heels.

As we lurched through the deep snow I saw bodies littering the ground on both sides, their blood melting through the cold layers of snow. Some were shot through the head while others suffered wounds from blunt objects or edged weapons, but they were all dead. I spotted only one live one. It moved toward us on limber legs, reaching out toward Lara. Its pale face contrasted against the dark blood that stained its lips. The man was dressed in a blue suit; his tattered tie hung slightly askew, but his clothes were in otherwise good repair. As he drew near, Lara wound up and hit him with a loping shot to the abdomen and as his body bent forward, I used a golf swing to knock his head backward with the blunt edge of the splitting maul. He went down, but I didn’t turn back to see if he was dead.

Kat was waving us forward frantically in between firing thunderous shots from the Mosin. Justin continued to fire sporadic shots over our heads at unseen enemies. The sound of our footfalls and heavy breathing seemed as loud as the gunshots. Carried forward by fear, Lara and I reached the wall in less than a minute. Without pausing, Lara jumped onto the ladder and was up and over within seconds. I followed up quickly at her heels, reaching the top and throwing my leg over, blindly throwing myself down onto the safe side of the wall. I landed just inches from Lara. We both lay back against the cold ground, breathing like we’d just run a marathon. Plumes of steam arose from our lips almost in unison with every exhale. The cold air stung my lungs but tasted sweet.

Lara rolled onto her knees and immediately began to pull at my clothing, examining me. “Did he bite you? Did he break through your clothes?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said. I tried to sit up but Lara pushed me back down, continuing her investigation. I lay back and let her do her thing.

After a frantic thirty seconds of pat-down, Lara put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Let’s not do that again.”

“Not any time soon, anyway.”

We both laughed at that, giddy from the excitement.

“Nice to see you didn’t lose your sense of humor,” Kat said to me, having dismounted from her perch on the wall. “Because that’s twice today you almost lost your fucking ass and we had to save you.”

Thankfully, before Kat got her panties in a bunch and gave us a more thorough tongue-lashing, Sam appeared in her parka and smothered Kat in a big bear hug. Justin and Chandra jumped into a very animated conversation, emphatically rehashing kills they’d made. I noticed other folks from the community had gathered around, obviously drawn to the quiet side of town by our gunshots. Their voices were excited and they were all anxious to hear about our botched mission. Had one of our group been killed, things would have been completely different.

In all the excitement, Kat either forgot about Lara and me, or she’d already gotten over the scare we just gave her. Either way, she’d moved off to bark orders, probably to get a crew together to finish off the rest of the damn things that were now scratching at the other side of the wall. If we left them alone and the snow continued to fall and accumulate, they might be able to make it over the wall if the drifts were high enough.

Figuring Kat had things covered, I remained with Lara. I reached out for her hand and took it in my own. We both lay quietly looking up at the sky and listening to the buzz around us, relishing the moment. Small flakes lazily drifted down and were dizzying against the crisp blue sky.

Finally I said, “Thank you for not letting me lose my ass.”

“My pleasure,” she said. She turned to me then and with her free hand pulled her scarf away from her face. Her freckles contrasted against her milky white skin. “I think I’d like to show you how to make coffee.”

“I think I’d like that.” I felt a twinge of guilt in my gut, but it lasted only for a moment. I had to move on with my life at some point. My wife and kids would have wanted me to be happy.

After having nearly succumbed to the infected on our botched wood patrol, Lara and I returned to my house. Kat had taken charge of the clean-up operation, as I suspected she would, and I did not feel guilty about leaving the scene. There was no one I could trust more than Kat to make sure the job got done. And for once, I felt I deserved a moment away from the action.

Lara and I both stood in the entryway after closing my front door to the wind and wetness. We both stamped and brushed the light dusting of snow that clung to our clothes and boots. After taking her coat, I hung it over the banister on top of my own. Having stripped out of our coats, almost immediately the cold of the place enveloped us. Goosebumps sprung out on my arms and I tried to rub them away with my hands. In our stockinged feet, we ascended the stairs and moved into the living room where the carpeted floor was not quite as frigid as the tiled floor of the foyer.

While I watched, Lara walked slowly across the living room, her curious eyes taking in the place. I realized that this was Lara’s first time in my home. Before Mad Swine spread and changed the world, Lara and I were strangers to each other. Although we lived in a relatively small community, we had managed to live in obscurity of each other.

Having left the living room for the kitchen, I continued to watch as she walked slowly to the center island and leaned on the counter with her hands on the cold granite. With her back to me she said, “You have a really nice home.”

“Thank you,” I said. My wife would be the first to tell you that I was horrible with small talk. I couldn’t argue with her. Standing in the threshold between the two rooms, I simply stared at Lara’s back wondering what I should say next.