Stopping the Dead (10 page)

Brian

“I see him,” Brian said into the handheld.

“Copy that,” Corey came back.  “Do you see any other eyes on him?”

Brian scanned the area with his binos.  “Nothing.  Nothing at all.  You?”

“Same here.”

“Okay, pull back.  I’ll leave here in three.”

“Copy.”

Brian put the radio back on his belt, and started counting off the seconds as he sighted in on the shooter.  Ernst had the man by a foot and was dragging him down the stairs towards the rail yard. 

Fuck that’s got to hurt, Brian thought, but he kept the prick zeroed in.

Ernst disappeared from view just as Brian hit three minutes.  Pulling back from his spot he closed the window, sealed it, reset the camera, and hurried out of the warehouse.  He flipped the A4 safety on and slung it over his shoulder as he ran, boots thudding on the concrete of the warehouse floor.  Reaching the steps he took them two at a time and was at a dead sprint as he hit the passage between the two warehouses. 

Moments later he was racing up the stairs into the main warehouse, past Emily who sat quietly at the dinner table with Michael and Susan.  All of the lights were on in Ernst’s library, and the door to the outer yard was open.  Corey was at the gate prying a spear out of some prick’s neck while the smell of burning flesh quickly reached them.  Brian hurried to his brother and helped push the corpse away from the gate.

They worked together dragging the bastard off to one side, searching him and finding the pistol, a spare clip with four rounds, and a few knives as well as a key ring.  Gathering up the few salvageable items the brothers each grabbed a leg and brought the body to a pile of lumber and paper kept handy for any dead that they killed.
  They tossed the body onto the pile, and Brian dug out the kerosene from its hiding place.  He splashed on just enough to make sure that the body would burn, and nodded to Corey.

Corey stepped up, took out a book of matches, tore off three, lit them, and dropped them onto the pile.

“Go to Hell, you fuck,” Corey said.  “Go to fucking Hell.”

“Fuck him,” Brian said, and he resisted the urge to shoot the prick a few times with his own pistol.

Corey nodded and the two of them left the small alley, reaching the street in front of the warehouse at the same time that Ernst returned.  He was smoking his pipe, grinning around it at them, giving them a pleasant wave as if he’d just been down to the corner store for a cup of coffee and to read the newspaper.
  His rifle was over his shoulder, and his pistol in his free hand. With the other he continued to drag the unconscious sniper, who left a thin trail of blood behind him.

“Best get back in the gate,” Ernst said.  “I don’t think it’ll take the dead very long to find that blood trail.”

“Holy fuck,” Corey said softly.

Ernst didn’t pause as he passed them.  “What’s up
,
kid?”

“That’s Chad, Chad Peacock.”

“You know him?” Ernst asked as they entered the yard.

“Hell yeah,” Brian said.  “We wrestled together in high school.  He’s even in our reserve unit.”

“Well,” Ernst said with a sigh as Corey closed and locked the gate, “that certainly is a sad thing.”

“Why?” Brian asked.

“Why?” Ernst smiled and let go of the leg, smoking his pipe leisurely.  “I’m going to ask Adam to torture the fuck out of this prick so we know what’s going on over there, and then I’ll probably kill him.”

“Oh.” Corey said.  “Guess that sucks for Chad.”

Adam

Adam sat in a chair, watching the young man across from him slowly regain consciousness.  The young man was tied to a chair, arms and legs spread.  They were in the large communal shower in the basement.  Adam wore
disposable sc
rubs, and the young man was naked.  He had borderline malnutrition, bore several wounds from the encounter with the twins, and his teeth were smashed and lips swollen from his initial meeting with Ernst.  His back and the back of his head were fairly well banged up from the walk with Ernst, too.

The young man opened his eyes, and Adam smiled at him.  “So, you’re awake.”

The young man looked around, blinking.  “Where the hell are we?”

“A bad place.”

“Maybe for you,” he snapped, “but my brothers will come and get me out of here.”

Adam looked at him for a moment before saying, “You know, Chad, you’ve got a lot of confidence for a man with such a small penis.”

Chad’s face got red and he opened his mouth to reply when he realized what Adam had said.  “How do you know my name?”

“Chad Peacock, graduated from Alvirne High School, 2006.  Marine Scout Sniper trained, member of the Hudson PD, and a reservist with the Londonderry unit.  Now, Sergeant, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve been to SERE school, correct?”

Chad gave a cautious nod.

“Good, good,” Adam smiled.  “See, telling the truth is a good thing, and it’s going to save you an absolute shit load of pain.  Because you see, I’m a graduate of the SERE school myself, and I’m a twenty year man.  Combat medic.  You’re getting the idea,” Adam winked, “I can see
it now, and you’re absolutely right.  I know just as much about inflicting pain as I do about stopping it.  And right now,” he said, his smil
e dropping away, “I am sincerely looking forward to hurting you.  Not only did you kill my friend, you and your fucking prick buddies killed my dogs.”

Chad squirmed uncomfortable in his chair.

“Now,” Adam sighed, standing up.  “I’m going to gag you.  Then I’m going to cut on you a bit.  No questions.  Just a little chance for you to get to know what’s going to be coming to you for every question that you fail to answer truthfully.”

Adam walked over and leaned close, saying softly, “And I will know, Chad.  I will.  I always know.  Weird little thing I have, you know?  Now here,” he said, taking a rag up off
of Chad’s lap, “b
ite on this while I tie it down.”

Chad whimpered as Adam forced the rag amongst his broken teeth and tied it behind his head.

Adam stepped back, smiling.  “There we are.  Now, I just want you to remember this: we are not at SERE school.  This is not going to end pleasantly.  You are going to die before you ever leave this bathroom, regardless of how long it takes you answer my questions.  The only things that you get to decide are how much pain that you’re going to suffer, and how long I have to spend in the shower afterwards getting all of your blood
off of my face
.  Okay?”

Chad simply stared at Adam, wild eyed.

“Okay, good enough, I guess.”  Adam turned his back on Chad, walked over to a table set up with emergency surgery tools and some leftovers from the machine shop.  He picked up a simple scalpel and turned to face Chad, who was visibly sweating.  As Adam started walking
forward he paused, saying, “Now listen.  Do your best to be quiet please.  We actually have some kids here, and I really don’t want you to scare the shit out them, got it?”

Chad started screaming around the rag as
Adam approached.

“See,” Adam said, wagging the scalpel at him, “that’s the kind of bullshit that I’m talking about.”

Lee

“How long before we can start this plan of yours?” Lee asked
as she stood outside with the twins
.

“We’d like to start tomorrow morning,” Corey said.

“Yeah, especially after w
hat happened to Terrence today,” Brian added.

Lee nodded.  “Definitely.  I think that it’s more than doable.  Emily definitely seems like she’s capable of holding down the fort while we’re gone.”
             
“I think we should probably leave Adam here, too,” Corey said.  “I mean, if we only get the trailer in place tomorrow, and have to bring the loader right back here, that’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.”

“Definitely,” Lee said.  “What do you think?” she asked, looking at Brian.

“Same deal,” Brian said.  “Corey’s right.  We need to get the trailer in place, and the loader secured.  If we can do that and still flip the damned trailer on its side, fantastic.  If it’s a two day deal, then that’s fine, too.  No fucking around here.”

“Yeah,” Lee nodded.  “We’ve definitely run out of wiggle room.”  She looked at the two brothers.  “Get all of your gear prepped tonight.  We’ll talk to Adam and Ernst when their done with the sniper.  Sound good?”

“Aye aye,” the brothers said in unison, and left the room, talking to each other.

Lee shook her head, rubbing the back of her head.  Everything was getting a little tight, a little twisted.  Emily was down in the meeting room that Ernst had given her as an apartment for herself and her children, and, as he had explained to Lee, a way to give the rest of them a break from the kids if need be.
  Susan and Michael, though, we
re fantastic.

Lee smiled at the thought of the kids for a moment, then
she
remembered that
Emily had been forced to kill the man who had saved her and the children from their undead father.

This is so totally fucked up, Lee thought.  She
flipped the safety on her A4 and walked back inside, closing and locking the door behind her.  Ahead she could see Ernst sitting at the laptop, looking at something.  He smoked his pipe furiously, the bluish white smoke seeming to puff out like a train’s. 

When she reached him she put a cautious, gentle hand on his shoulder.

His eyes flickered over to her and he smiled.  “Hey Doll, what’s going on?”

“Doll?” she laughed.

“Reading too many Mickey Spillane stories lately.”

“Oh,” she grinned, shaking her head.  “The twins are getting ready for tomorrow.”

“Good.”

“Where’s Adam?”

“Still downstairs, questioning Chad.”

Lee tried not to shudder.  “Has he sent up any word?”

“No,” Ernst said, rubbing the back of his neck.

She slapped his hand away and started massaging his neck and upper back.

“Thank you,” he sighed.

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyway,” Ernst said.  “Adam won’t send up any info until it’s all gathered.  We’ll probably have to wait for him to shower, too.  Pretty sure that he was planning on being thorough.”

“I hope so.  What are you looking for?”

“Nothing yet,” Ernst said.  “Just making sure that every single avenue of approach is covered here.  I want to be able to see every possible way that those fuckers might come at us.”

“Do you think they will?”

Ernst nodded.  “Definitely. 
Their little leader only had a few extra rounds.  Chad’s half starved, and he had no extra rounds.  That means logistically they’re fucked, and they need to find some sort of way to supplement their basic needs outside of shelter: food and ammunition.  That’s us.  They’re a fucking organized group, so they must be raiding other survivors, if there are any.  They just didn’t think we were this well stocked, and they probably used the whole sniper plan before.”  Ernst sighed and shook his head.  “Fuck them.  Fuck them all.”

“So,” Lee said, looking from Ernst to the laptop.  “You’re going to watch the cameras.”

“Until one of the twin’s can relieve me.  Why?”

“Well,” she said, leaning clos
e to bite his earlobe gently, “
I thought that maybe you could ask me to sit on your lap.”

“And why’s that?” Ernst grinned.

“So we can talk about the first thing that pops up.”

Ernst

Lee was asleep on the bunk in his room and he held her hand as he sat beside her.  He said his
prayers and counted the beads with
his freehand.  Time passed steadily, and Ernst felt as the world was actually moving as it should.

A knock sounded at his door and Ernst looked up.

Adam, freshly showered, stood there, smiling at him tiredly.

“Kid gave me a workout,” Adam said softly.

“Not surprised about that.”

“No,” Adam said, “neither am I.
  He did give it all up though.”

Ernst smiled grimly.  “Not surprised about that either.”

“Well,” Adam said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the door frame, “they killed my dogs.  They’re not even fucking people as far as I’m fucking concerned.”

Ernst nodded his agreement.
  “So, what’s the story, morning glory?”

Adam smiled.  “Well, he said that they have about 150 people in the compound.  Maybe 70 of those are actually combat effective.  The others are basic day laborers who keep the high and mighty DEAD living like kings.  Thing is, though, they had an accident – Chad wasn’t sure what – and they lost a good deal of their food and ammunition, so they went back to how they started: raiding.”

“And we looked raidable to them?” Ernst asked, yawning.

“Yeah, go figure,” Adam said.  “Anyway, the word from toothy is that if he and
Parker didn’t call in by day three, the rest of the gang’s hierarchy would fear the worse and rally for a
full on attack.  Now they don’t have much fuel or ammunition, but there are some combat vets out there that can help their cause.”

“Well, that’s a lot of bullshit that we can’t have,” Ernst said.  “We’ll have to make sure that we set up an ambush to deal with them.”

Adam nodded.  “You know, I tried to leave him alive for you…but I must have nicked an artery
when I got excited
.  Little fuck bled out.”

Ernst shrugged.  “Oh well.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Don’t get rid of the body, though.  I’m going to need it for the ambush.”

“You knew this was coming.”

“Suspected that it would.”  Ernst said.  Carefully he let go of Lee’s hand, causing her to murmur and roll over onto her side, facing the wall.  He wrapped his prayer beads around his right wrist.  “Let’s go look at the tapes, huh?  We need to find a good place to fuck those little bastards up.”

Adam nodded, stepping back into the main room as Ernst left his bedroom.
  Together they walked out to the laptop and started sorting through the files that Adam had saved, matching them up with cameras that were still operating and broadcasting signals.

They sat for hours until they came up with the best spot possible.

“Definitely the old station house?” Ernst asked.

Adam nodded.  “Yeah, Chad said that while they don’t have a lot of fuel for the bikes, those that can ride will.  They want to make a show of force, intimidate us.  But that should be about the extent of their tactics.  You won’t have guys thinking about flanking us or sneaking in the back way.”

“Well,” Ernst said, “we’ll make sure that those options are taken away.”

“Fuckin’ right we will.”  Adam shook his head.  “I need a smoke.”

“Go ahead, light up.”  Ernst leaned back in the chair and stretched.  “I’m going to try and grab an hour or two of sleep before the day really gets going.”

“Sounds good, Ernst.  See you in a few.”

Adam headed for the front door, glancing back once to Ernst leaning over the laptop and typing something in.