The Week of the Dead (21 page)

In the Ditch

Chapter 48

Wednesday 0156 CST

Millington

H
e found himself at a forty-five-degree angle. He didn’t know how long he had been there. His feet were wet, and he was staring up at the night sky. He had lain as still as possible. He tried to collect his thoughts. His vision was blurry, and he headached. He saw different colors. He saw shadows. A new form of light danced on his head. He watched as he saw a shadow walking toward him. His chest felt heavy. It was being pushed down as something was trying to crawl up to his face. He tried to fight it off, but his arms were caught under something. A piece of motor vehicle had landed on his chest.

There was the face of a creature. It was still hungry even with being blown mostly in half. It opened its jaws about the clamp down on his neck. He tried to focus on what was happening. He saw the blood-red eyes and attempted to push the creature off him using the car door as a pry bar. As the creature bucked up for an attack, it was met with a giant boot. It looked like the biggest boot he had ever seen from his blurry perspective. “Nasty critter.” He heard through ringing ears. The creature was kicked off his chest. He felt the wind come back to him as the car door was lifted off him. He watched as the giant boots stepped over him. “Be gone, demon!” He heard as this giant slammed some stick-like weapon into the creature’s cranium. The body turned back to him. He had double vision as he looked up at the metal horns protruding from this giant’s head. “Easy lad. You’re safe.” Devin heard as the darkness took him over.

Safety Check

Chapter 49

Wednesday 0300

Kentucky

E
than awoke from his power nap. He was inside the helicopter. Jenna had her head in his lap while Josh and Ashley were in the floor next to him. He watched as Reynolds paced back and forth from the window. Ethan’s throat was dry. He stood up and walked to the flat of water at the front of the helicopter. He took a big gulp and resealed the lid. He walked to Reynolds at the window. He motioned the bottom of water against Reynolds’s elbow. He took the bottle from Ethan’s hands and took a drink. “We made it,” Ethan said with a smile. “Where are we going?”

Reynolds removed the bottle from his lips. “Fort Knox,” he said. “It’s the closest instillation we have. They made the base into a refugee camp.”

Ethan nodded as he looked out the window too. “You’re pretty good with that sniper rifle,” Ethan said.

“I was a sniper until I got a desk job. Life sucks when you get old, kid. You’re pretty good on your feet. Guess those videogames worked out in our favor.”

“What about Bartlett?” Ethan asked in a hushed tone.

“I guess we’ll find out when we land.” Nurse Amy had appeared behind them.

“You were the sniper on the roof?” she said to Reynolds.

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned to her.

She grabbed him by the shoulders. “You saved my life,” she said as she forced her lips on his. He was thrown off guard as he accepted this token of gratitude. The lights in the helicopter flickered on. People began to stir. “Ladies and gentlemen! We are doing a safety check before we land. I need you all to stand and take off your clothes!” They heard as a man in a helmet walked around the Chinook helicopter.

“What is this?” Reynolds asked.

The man in the flight suit came to him. “We are checking people for bites. There is no infection in the safe zone, and we intend on keeping it that way.” “One by one, people! Behind the curtain!”

Reynolds looked for the name tag. “Pilot, we are all secure. If you didn’t notice, we just survived an onslaught!” Reynolds was brushed off. “Look, I’m just doing my job. Keep your underwear on, and step behind the curtain. We are checking for bite marks. If you do not comply, I have been ordered to shoot you on sight!” he commanded. At the tail of the helicopter, there was a shower curtain that had been rigged to the wall. “For your safety and ours. One by one!” he repeated.

Ethan made his way back to the curtain. “If anyone is going to shoot these people, it should be me,” he told the man in the flight suit with a name tag that said
Raven.

“Very well, I get to save my bullets. C’mon people, we can’t reach safety without a little sacrifice,” he told the civilians in the helicopter. They all came to their feet. One by one, they went into the shower curtain with Raven and Ethan undressed. Ethan held his rifle out as Raven went over the skin with his flashlight. “Clear,” he said. “Next.” They went through the entire helicopter without anyone showing signs of infection. “Thank you for your cooperation!” Raven shouted as he went back into the cockpit. “We’ll be landing in twenty minutes!”

“A lot of fucking good that did us!” Josh exclaimed.

“It was for the good of us all,” Ethan protested. “Remember what the video said. ‘One of these things can take out an entire city.’ I hoped they would have something like this in place.”

“Why?” Josh asked.

“So we can sleep easy tonight.” The group gathered their things and went to the window. “Holy shit!” someone exclaimed. “Have a look at this.” Outside the window Fort Knox had become a city overnight. Concrete walls were built in haste as they had to expand to accommodate the massive forced migration of people. Outside the walls were dark faces as far as the lights could show. “Oh my God!” Reynolds exclaimed. There were tanks stationed outside that sat still. The helicopter took a smooth left as it aimed for the makeshift helipad.

The helicopter landed easily. The back door opened as the sound of the world came back to their ears. The blades of the helicopter came to a halt revealing a cool night breeze. It smelled of filth and decay. “Inside, all of you!” commanded Raven as he began unloading the helicopter. The second Chinook landed. Ethan met Richard’s face, and they extended a firm handshake. “Glad you made it out!” Ethan shouted over the rotary blades.

“Where’s Junior?” he asked. Richard pointed to the back of the Chinook. Ethan saw the giant hat bent over and vomiting.

“He doesn’t do flying,” Richard said as he motioned for help picking his son up to his feet.

“Daddy, let’s not do that again.”

“Yeah, sure thing, kid,” he said with a chuckle.

They made it inside one of the buildings. There they found people sleeping in the floor. “Not exactly a Four Seasons, but it will do,” Ashley joked. The men helped Junior find his feet with an arm over each other’s shoulders. They opened a door and found an empty chair for Junior and plopped his body down in it. “You’ll be fine, dude. Just breathe deep, and don’t puke on me.” Ethan saw someone move. “Are you human?” he said as he pulled his sidearm from his leg holster.

“Yes,” he said in a hushed tone. “Are you the ones from the helicopter?” The northern-accented voice asked.

“Yeah, had to evacuate. Sorry about that, been on edge,” Ethan said as he holstered his sidearm.

“Welcome to the fort. My name is Mike Harrison.” He saw the man stand from a lying position in a hockey jersey. “He doesn’t look so good. Is he infected?” Harrison asked as he walked toward the cowboy in the chair. Ethan extended his hand. “Ethan Simmons.” They shook hands.

“No infection, he just got air sick.”

“I’ve got something to ease him.” Harrison reached into his pockets and pulled out his pill bottle. “Take this, kid; it’ll help you sleep it off.” Junior took the pill from the old man.

“Thank you, sir.” He swallowed the pill dry and closed his eyes.

“I’ll give you a tour,” Harrison said.

The Vikings Elite

Chapter 50

Wednesday 0900

Millington

“H
ow long until it’s done?” he heard. He rolled over to find himself under a shaded tarp. Sitting beside him was a man in black boots and a kilt with a chainmail shirt under a vest. He was sitting in a fold-out chair drinking tea. He looked to his feet and saw another human at a grill with smoke coming out of the opening. He reached into his back. His revolver was missing. He sat up on his elbow. He immediately fell back on his back. His head was throbbing. The sun was out, and it burned his eyes. “Easy. Easy.” He heard. “You’re safe.” He heard the same voice. “Where’s that girl?” He heard in a brutish voice. A few moments later, Devin felt a gentle hand brush through his hair. “It’s OK, Devin. It’s OK,” Erica said.

“Where are we?” he said with a sore throat.

“We’re still where we were last night. We’re on the roof of the store. You passed out, and these men brought you back here. They’re good people,” she said as she stroked his hair.

“You had a concussion. You’ve been out for a couple of hours.” The booming voice said. “Here, drink some water.”

Erica took the jug from the big man’s hand and held it to Devin’s dry lips. “What’s that smell?” he asked in between sips.

“Well, half of what you smell is that chaos you were involved in last night, and the other half is Tara’s cooking.”

“Hey!” a female voice rang out.

“I didn’t say it was bad, my love.” The big man boomed.

Devin tried to remember last night but only flashes came to him. The big man and Erica helped him to his feet. “Devin, my name is Devin,” he said as he looked at the big chest of chainmail and the beard that seemed connected to it.

“My name is Michael, but my friends call me Redbeard or Red. You’re woman never left your side. She was good to you,” commented Redbeard. “This is my wife, Tara; my other men are downstairs with your men, the two military guys and a handful of people. We came here because someone was flicking the parking lights. We thought it was someone trying to signal us. Then the explosions happened.”

They walked over to the railing where Devin overlooked the carnage that he was a part of. “We rode up and saw you running around like a chicken with your head cut off, firing wildly into the crowd. We thought you were a madman until we saw what was chasing you. We rode up just as the explosion happened and found you in a ditch still alive.” As Redbeard spoke more and more flashbacks came to Devin in his mind.

“Thirty-seven. I remember taking thirty-seven down,” he said as he remembered the heat coming to him as he was midair. She and Redbeard looked at the tally marks already on his arm.

“We’ll do that later. You need to rest,” Erica said.

“Aye, I have no doubt. The rest were demolished in the explosions. Whatever your friend threw off the roof ignited all the vehicles in the parking lot. It was like a fireworks show. You ended up in a ditch. We rode up to you as one of those things was trying to finish you off.”

“You…you showed up and saved me,” Devin said looking at the massive man.

“Aye, I did. You were hallucinating badly. You grabbed your gun and began waving it at me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it was my fault. I know the feeling. That rush of adrenaline leaving your body is a real bitch. I would have done the same thing. We finished off what was left of them.” Redbeard was telling the story.

“You…you had horns. I remember you having horns,” Devin said blankly.

“That is true,” he said as he went back to his chair. He brought back a silver medieval helmet with a horn on each side of the faceplate. “Is this what you saw?” Devin nodded. Redbeard let out a big laughter as he hoisted his mace onto his shoulder.

“What are you?” Devin asked.

“My mates, my wife and I are the Vikings Elite.”

He was met with blank faces. He pointed at Tara’s matching leather vest with a logo of a skull with a crown and “Vikings Elite” written across the back. “You’re a motorcycle gang?” Erica asked.

“No, sweetie,” Tara interrupted from the grill. “We are the protectors of the weak and misfortunate.” This again was met with blank faces. “If anyone has trouble, they call us. We protect people the police can’t. We were in Atlanta protecting a young boy whose father was on trial for molestation. ”

“Aye, it is true. We are not 1 percent-ers. Last week, when the world was still what it was, we were stationed in Atlanta. A woman called us because her son had to testify against his father. She said the boy was scared. So we rode up and camped outside their house and took him to court as his personal bodyguards. It’s the image that frightens people,” Redbeard explained.

“What’s a 1 percent-er?” Erica asked.

Devin chimed in. “In any biker group, there are 99 percent and 1 percent. The 99 percent are the ones who ride around and don’t bother anyone. The 1 percent are the actual criminals and the ones everyone associates with biker gangs.” Redbeard nodded in agreement.

“What happened to the boy you were protecting?” Erica asked.

“The father went to prison. We were heading back with this shit storm happened,” Redbeard explained.

“Food’s ready,” Tara called out. More people arrived in armor and matching leather vests with matching logos.

“Friends, this is Devin and Erica. We are the Vikings Elite.” The big man threw his arms around his matching comrades. “We have Razor, Jericho, Tank, Malik, and Ferret.” Devin and Erica followed the faces as they took off their helmets. All the Vikings Elite carried medieval weaponry. They reached the end to Ferret, who stood a foot shorter than the rest of them. “He may be small, but he’s good with a blade,” Redbeard explained.

“Hi,” Erica said with a polite yet puzzled wave. Devin nodded and took another drink.

“I have a bow in the truck if anyone’s interested.”

Jamison and Walker had come from the sky hatch at the sound of Tara calling for food. “You scared the shit out of us,” Jamison said as he hugged Devin.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Devin joked.

“You looked like a fucking badass running around shooting,” Walker said. Devin took this moment and punched Walker in the chest.

“Next time, I’m throwing the goddamn bomb!” Devin said with a serious look in his eye.

“Food,” Jericho broke the stiff moment as he handed Devin a paper plate. “You need to eat. You took a good beating last night,” he said.

“You flew a good ten feet in the air, bro. It was awesome!” Razor commented.

“It didn’t feel awesome,” Devin said with a chuckle. “Thank you all…for saving me. My group and I are headed to Kentucky. We hear there is a safe place for us to lie low. You are welcome to join us.” They all looked at Redbeard who stared intently at Devin.