Orpheus: Homecoming (The Orpheus Trilogy Book 2) (29 page)

Orpheus started to walk Hedley to the embankment.

"What are you going to do? Leave him?" Hedley asked in between rasps.

Orpheus was busy asking himself the same question. Thompson hadn't moved since his heroics. He was probably still alive, but he couldn't possibly be more vulnerable. Orpheus figured that he could make it up the embankment, and then probably drive Hedley's Jeep down to at least get Thompson into a shelter of sorts while he figured something out. It was risky, but so was every other option. "Shut the fuck up," he said as he kept an eye on the tree line. "Someone from the school will find us."

Hedley stopped walking. "Keep telling yourself that."

The sudden stop almost made Orpheus fall over, but he righted himself. "What?"

"The school's gone. You think that Falcone was the only one with a trigger?"

Orpheus didn't want to believe it. His kids. His friends.

Not again.

He didn't have any more time to worry, as he saw more zombies fighting through the growth. He could kill them, but experience had taught him that these first few were probably the fastest ones that had broken from a large horde, a horde that would be here soon. If any of them were still alive to see it.

Hedley had asked him if he could commit murder.

Orpheus, having no other options, proved that he could.

He freed his tomahawk and drew the blade across Hedley's throat. The wound was deep, but not immediately fatal. It took a moment for Hedley to realize what had been done to him, then he began thrashing. Orpheus let him out of the headlock and pushed him away, but not before slashing Hedley's back with three quick, vicious strikes.

He didn't want Hedley to die. His blood was the most important thing.

The zombies broke through, and Orpheus once again found himself making a pretty big gamble. He hobbled to Thompson's prone form and tried to bring him around.

Thompson surprised him yet again by already being conscious. "I'm awake. Just figured I'd rest while you handled things."

Orpheus helped him sit up and prepared to fire if necessary. "We're going to have to move again. How are your legs?"

"If you hold me up, I can run. Can you?"

"I guess we'll find out."

Hedley moved in an erratic pattern, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his neck.

It was horrifying to watch.

Thompson said, "Asshole's making himself a big target."

Orpheus said, "Wait," as they both stood up, however unsteadily.

This time, the gamble paid off. The zombies immediately attacked Hedley
en masse
. He fell under their crushing weight and screamed for a brief moment while he was being torn apart.

"Go," Orpheus whispered, and they took off as fast as they could in the opposite direction. "Fast" was a relative term. Orpheus was holding Thompson upright while simultaneously using him as a crutch. Every step was absolute agony. Something in his knee was shredded or detached.

"Where we headed?" Thompson asked, already winded.

Orpheus was even more winded. "Cabin," was all he could muster. He estimated how far out they were. Maybe thirty minutes if they could keep up this pace, which was in serious doubt.

In the first few moments of their escape attempt, they managed to slip by the zombies heading toward the feast. Those were a hundred feet away and separated by dense brush, so they never noticed the pair of humans limping the opposite way. However, the farther out they got, the more they got noticed. They'd picked up pursuers.

If they both had been at a hundred percent, they would've escaped clean. The zombies weren't adept at picking through the brush, they just pushed through it however long it took.

The injuries were the equalizer. The only reason they were still alive is because they'd been spotted a lead.

A lead that was already dwindling.

Thirty minutes,
Orpheus thought.
Just keep pushing.

Ethan screamed into his radio. "Say what???"

"I said we lost the school!"

Ethan swore and slammed his foot down repeatedly on the roof of the Rhino. A soldier popped his head through the hatch to check on it, then thought better of engaging the lieutenant and slipped back down.

"How the fuck...? Wait, I don't want to know! Are you safe?"

Lena said, "Me, Jen, Tino, a handful of others are all that's left. We're heading to the pier. There's an emergency evac coming via ferry."

Another Rhino pulled alongside Ethan's. Tim appeared on the roof and stepped over to Ethan's side.

"When?"

"As soon as it gets here. An hour, maybe. I've been told that we need to be waiting for it, and that it won't wait long." Lena stopped talking, and the silence said a lot.

"What are you not telling me?"

"The op has been declared a failure." She paused again. "They're going to light the island up, and this time leave no doubt. Anyone left is SOL."

"Fuck!" He gave Tim a look that said,
Can you believe this? Again?
"Okay, we'll be there. Sit tight."

"You talk to Jameson?"

"Yep," Tim said. He flipped open a road atlas. "Here's where your dad's Jeep is. No sign of him, but someone's dead down there."

Rachel and Fish arrived at about the same time, and joined them on the roof via external ladder. The four of them huddled around the map.

"Hedley was the guy?" Fish asked.

"Apparently. Lena and Jen put it together, found an old photo of him with Dr. Doom."

Tim said, "We need to stop trusting anyone but us. It's always bad news."

"Agreed. Everything from this point stays off of the radio." He handed each of them a burner phone. "Lena and Jen have one, too. My dad's idea, of course. And I thought he was being paranoid." He held up the map. "My dad's last known location. He may or may not be travelling with someone. We have no idea how long ago he crashed or which direction he would've headed. Ideas?"

"Jameson can't find anything?"

"First thing we tried, Fish. The forest canopy is still too dense, and we have no idea if he was even looking in the right place."

Rachel took the map from Ethan. "I know where this is. We've been here before, babe."

"Really?"

"Yeah, on our way to your dad's friend's cabin. Remember? You wanted to ...” she looked at the others and blushed, “... have relations ... on the bridge."

Ethan chuckled. "That I do remember. What I don't remember is the way to the cabin. I mean, no clue."

"Me, neither."

"Hold on a sec." Ethan pulled up his GPS app on his phone and scrolled through the saved searches. "Of course not. That'd be too easy."

"Oh, my God," Rachel said. "Do you remember why we went to the cabin?"

"Yeah, to celebrate my birthday. I wanted to celebrate early on the bridge."

Rachel was getting excited. "What did I get you for your birthday? The thing you were dying to use?"

Ethan squinted, then his eyes grew comically wide. "Hot damn!" He grabbed her face and gave her a hard kiss. "What a great idea!"

"Care to clue us in?" Tim asked.

"We need to get to my dearly departed truck, which is probably surrounded by zombies still. We'll take my Rhino and send everyone else to the pier for evac."

"You don't want any backup?"

"Backup won't help, Rach, especially when we'll be constantly worried that one or more of them is trying to fuck us. And we have guys who need medical attention." He turned to Fish and Tim. "This is crazy dangerous. I can't ask you two to come this time."

Tim gave a dismissive look and said, "Shut up and let's go."

Fish clapped. "Now we're getting back into familiar territory. I prefer the 'us against the world' stuff.'"

The soldiers quickly transitioned into the three Rhinos. They were shouts of protest and offers to help, but Ethan invoked his rank and ended it quickly.

The four of them were safely on the move within a few minutes. Ethan drove and Rachel rode shotgun.

Fish and Tim sat at a round table, doing weapons checks.

"Hey, do you remember your first chopper ride with us, Bait?"

"I forgot how much I hated that nickname, but yes. Why?"

"
Die Hard.
"

"Come again?"

"I quoted
Die Hard.
Which is weird, because now we're living in
Die Hard 2.
'How can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?'"

O

The Rhino slowed to a crawl as it turned onto Main Street. Even though the amount of zombies on the street was encouragingly low, Ethan still proceeded with caution. "We all know how quickly they can converge. This is good, but we'll have to move fast."

"Where's your truck?" Fish asked.

"See that twisted hunk of metal that's tied up on that lamp post?"

Fish whistled. "You messed that thing up."

"Hey, I got hit by an armored car. And this is where we met Tim for the first time, although 'met' might be overstating it. So the tradeoff was almost worth it."

"Hilarious," Tim said. "I can't even come back at you, what with you two saving my ass and all."

Ethan and Rachel fist bumped. She said, "Bragging rights forever."

Fish interrupted. "When I'm the one that has to refocus the group, we're in trouble."

Ethan became serious again. "You're right. Quick and easy. We slide up, I hop into the truck to grab it, and we roll. If we can get out of here without firing at all, I'll consider that a win."

Jameson's voice came over the radio. "I need something to go on, Lieutenant. Wasting gas up here. How are we doing?"

The pilot sounded agitated. He was openly worried about Orpheus, and Ethan supposed that he should be, too. He was, in fact, terrified. But he was also supremely confident in his father. He learned his lesson a long time ago: freaking out never helps (although he still couldn't help freaking out about his mom). "Understood. We're at my truck. We should have something for you in a few minutes."

"We're hovering at the bridge. Out."

"Let's give it another minute before we move in," Ethan said. They still hadn't been noticed by the decreasing number of zombies. The few that they did see shuffled across the street, through the park, and out of sight, in as straight a line as they could muster.

"That's weird," Rachel said. "It's almost like we aren't here."

Fish cracked a window, and he soon was the only one who realized why. He'd seen it a dozen times before. "It's the helicopter. That rhythmic
whumpwhumpwhump
is the best zombie bait there is, even at this distance." He addressed Ethan. "Now's as good a time as any."

The Rhino stopped twenty feet from the truck. Rachel hopped behind the wheel, while the other two took up positions on the roof. He kissed his fiancée on the cheek and opened the door. The distance between the two vehicles was only a few strides, but time seemed to slow down as he took them. It wasn't the fear.

It was the memories.

Losing his mother and realizing that he couldn't go back. Getting hit by the armored car. Tim limping. Rachel almost dying.

Sister Joan.

His fingers closed on the handle. "Snap out of it, dummy."

He checked. He was still alone, and he got a thumbs up from Tim. He opened the door and slid across the seat. He leaned over so he could get a good look behind the rearview mirror.

The GoPro was still there, just as Rachel had remembered.

It had been an awesome birthday gift, and he couldn't wait to try it out. He really wanted to take it on the slopes when they went away to Lake Placid, but he wanted to get a better feel for how it worked before that. He had mounted it to his truck and had recorded a few interesting trips.

One of those trips had been to the cabin.

His fingers slipped off of the squeeze latch twice, but after repositioning them he was able to pop the camera free, then he grabbed the accessory bag from the glove box. He didn't wait another second before returning to the truck. He moved to the center lounge area, where his friends were waiting. Rachel was already taking them out of town the same way they'd come in.

He sat down and pressed the power button. "Nothing. No surprise there." They were prepared for this. He found the charging cord and plugged it in, then tried the power again. This time the display booted up with no problem. He accessed the menu and mentally crossed his fingers.

"Anything?" Rachel asked over her shoulder.

"One sec. I know it's here. It has to be."

He found a thumbnail that he recognized. The thumbnail was a still photo of Ethan carrying two duffel bags to the truck. "I was trying out the remote. This is the one." He grabbed a radio. "Jameson? Standby for directions. We're in business."

"Copy."

Ethan used the video as a turn-by-turn guide to the bridge. When they were nearly under the helicopter, they headed up to the cabin and the helicopter flew ahead of them, scouting.

"Anyone else think that was just way too easy?"

Fish had just verbalized what everyone else had been thinking.

When they reached the area of the cabin, that suspicion made all the sense in the world.