The Week of the Dead (41 page)

“Yeah man,” Carter said as he sucked some snot back in his head.

Carter led them to an industrial-looking kitchen. Clint began looking around. “Not bad, could use some sprucing up…and maybe a little elbow grease,” he said as he picked up a microwave burrito wrapper. “Since all the biters went down, some of us thought about turning back, but we decided that we needed to meet you and make sure you were legit,” Ethan offered.

“Well man, you gotta do what you gotta do man,” Carter said as he took another hit from the pipe and offered it to anyone who wanted some. Carter’s men were still cautious of the EMP. They set up Geiger counters around the structure.

Walker and Ferret were carrying bags of feed to Rex and a man named Fish. They found the ecosystem of the underground cavern to be welcoming. “So, if you’re all smugglers, why would you let us in?” Walker finally asked.

“Because, man, there is a new power in the universe. It’s no longer ‘right and wrong.’ Now it’s Alive or fucking cannibalism,” Fish said shining light on the realization of the last week.

“Why haven’t more people shown up yet? Didn’t you tell anyone else about this place?” Jamison asked.

“No,” Rex simply answered. “If word got out that there was a safe place with supplies, weapons, and solitude, this place wouldn’t be in any better situation than those refugee camps you all came from. The ones where the military is in charge and there are multitudes of Alphas coming to eat you. Otherwise, with a mass of people down here, it would get cramped. I’m surprised we had enough for your group. I pray that dysentery or the flu doesn’t break out,” Rex continued.

“But we have a doctor,” Walker said. “Doesn’t matter. The current situation caused the flow of antibiotic production to cease. We’re trying to remedy that by growing out own penicillin. But it’s a slow process.” Walker took this information like a paper cut drenched in lemon juice.

Reynolds and Razor were clearing out furniture for everyone to have a place to sit. Reynolds opened a store room to make room for more beds. He found a crate with a tarp thrown over it. His curiosity got the best of him. He heard footsteps to see Rex coming to help out.

“Hey man, what the hell is this?” Reynolds said as he nudged the box with his foot.

“Oh…that. That’s…uh. That’s a…side project. We were working on some home defensives, but couldn’t get the damn thing to work.”

“That’s some serious at home defense. Got rounds for it?”

“About enough for thirty minutes of constant firing at four thousand rounds a second.” Reynolds let out a whistle.

“The old man, Harrison, he’s some kind of engineer. We could get him to have a peek.”

“What’d y’all find?” Razor asked.

“It’s a goddamn Mini gun, XM133 to be exact. Sixty pounds of straight-up ass-whooping, ” Reynolds explained. “The second day, we raided a military compound. There wasn’t anyone left to defend, so we ‘acquired’ some supplies including this and some MREs and such.” Rex explained, expecting the military man to be cool with his explanation. Reynolds simply nodded, remembering what he said about investing in friends with guns.

As Clint was whipping up something to celebrate the end of their journey, everyone rejoiced and chatted among themselves. “The shower works,” said a familiar booming voice. Everyone gasped as they tried to put a face with the voice. The face didn’t match what they knew. The common clothes didn’t match either. “What do you think?” Redbeard said as he stroked his smoothly shaved skin. Tara was the first to grab him by the chin and inspect him. “All the years we’ve been married, you wait until the end of the world to trim that damn thing?” she smiled as she stroked his short red mustache and goatee and kissed him, rubbing his stark white cheeks. “I didn’t think you could get any uglier!” Devin said to him as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ethan was in Carter’s office watching the monitors with Jenna. He was monitoring the radio signals. He was still getting chatter from around the world. He didn’t understand most of it, but he heard a voice that seemed very familiar. “
Echo One-One to Echo Base.
”

“
Echo Base heard. What is it, boys?
”

“
Perimeter swept, heading inside for the night. Coming in from the south.
”

“
Echo Base to One-One. Enter when ready.
” Ethan listened to the chatter.

“Michaels!” Ethan shouted into the microphone.

“
Identify yourself!
” The radio spoke back.

“You left without saying good-bye. Where are you? I have a present for you!”

“
Somewhere you can’t find me.
”

“Sure about that asshole? I made it out of the Fort after you left us to die! Or did you forget about that?”

“
Radio silence on that! I was just following orders!
”

“I’ve got my own orders now. I’m going to find you, and every name of everyone you left at the fort will be carved into your chest. I’ll make damn sure you remember!” Ethan said as he tapped the revolver on his belt.

“
You won’t find me
,” Michaels responded. “
I’m too far away.
”

“I don’t give a shit! The blood of thousands is on your hands! I don’t care if I have to walk. I will find you!” Ethan shouted.

“
Good luck, seems the old man’s plan worked.
”

“Yeah, I guess so. Gonna take credit for his discovery?” Ethan was getting restless.

“
No, he wasn’t on orders from us.
”

“And just who the fuck is ‘us,’ Echo Base?” There was a second of silence.

“
Take care of yourself. Echo Base out.
”

“Go fuck yourself!” Ethan threw the microphone to the side and sat with his head in his hands. “Echo base?” he turned to ask to Jenna.

The group sat down and enjoyed their meal. Being in the cavern made them feel safe. Being with friends that had become family over the last week made them feel safe. They had endured enough for a lifetime. They decided to spend the night at Carter’s hide out and see what the world had in store for them tomorrow.

Epilogue

Saturday 2213 CST

Glasgow

C
arter’s walkie-talkie came alive on his belt. “Hey! Hey! We got a problem!” Rex’s voice was shouting so hard the walkie-talkie vibrated. Carter motioned for everyone to quiet down. Carter stuck a fork full of beans in his mouth and spoke, “What kind of problem, man?” Rex’s voice was speaking, but everyone heard the ominous background sounds. The sounds of screams and gunfire filled the dining hall. Rex’s words finally sank into everyone’s mind. “They got back up! And they’re pissed!”

“To the wall!” Ethan found himself saying as he ran without thinking. They all filed out. After climbing the ladder to the surface, the sky was filled with smoke, and the parking lot was empty except for Rex who was cowering as he looked over the wall in a crouched position. Reynolds was the first to come to Rex’s side. Reynolds looked over and saw bodies slamming themselves into buildings and people on the streets being tackled and eaten. “They just got back up!” Rex called out. The rest of the group lined the wall as they looked to the new faces of red eyes. These were a familiar sight, but the characteristics were different. Instead of being a slow-moving mob, these were running. There were no Alphas in sight. Only former humans began to feast on the living. At the sight of heads sticking above the concrete wall, a mass of bloody faces began running at the tall concrete wall. They moaned with excitement as their bodies pressed against the wall.

Over the commotion, there was a sonata of sounds. The group turned one by one to find Redbeard and others returning from the door pushing carts. Redbeard placed his shoulder armor on. He put his helmet on his head. The blank spot where his beard was displayed more chainmail. He reached down, slinging a belt of ammunition out of a box and around his shoulder. The brass casings clanked against his chainmail. His hands were wrapped around a M60 light machine gun in his hands. “Roo-yah!” Gavin was the next to join them. He closed the action of the AK47 he just picked up.

“Fuck yeah!” Tripod said as he went to grab another weapons cart. The rest of them, including Carter, Rex, and Fish, came to the weapons cache and picked up weapons. Magazines were slammed into rifles. Handguns were filled with magazines and stuck them in holsters. Rifles and shotguns were loaded and mounted. Everyone stood at the wall.

Everyone watched as the creatures tore down the sleeping city around them. Carter was the first to shoulder his rifle. “So much for the quiet life,” he said as he put a round into a grenade launcher under his AK47 and fired. The grenade whizzed through the air and connected with an overturned semitruck launching glass and metal into the air followed by fire. “Kill them all!” Carter shouted as he and everyone else released hot lead from the ends of their weapons. The air was filled with the thunderous noise of automatic gunfire.