Long Live The Dead Read online

  He thought that he could handle the landing, it looked so easy in the training videos they had watched but he was wrong. Whether it was a lack of skill or of concentration the end result was the same; the front wheel pulled suddenly to the side and jerked free of his left hand, trying to hold on his right hand hit the throttle and rear tire propelled the bike out from under him.

  Without the bike to catch him he hit the ground face first, knocking the wind out of himself which was probably a good thing, it gave him time to turn to the side before inhaling a lung full of sand. It took him several breaths to gather his thoughts and get to his feet.

  His face felt… wrong, that was the only way that he could think to describe it. Reaching up he felt his nose and knew why, it was twisted violently to the side. With tears in his eyes he looked around frantically, still wheezing and wincing in pain from the jarring impact. He didn’t think that he had broken anything other then his nose but it sure hurt his chest to breathe, there was going to be one hell of a bruise in a couple of days probably from his collar bone to his belly button.

  The cloud of dust was starting to clear and finally he could make out where he had lost his passenger. He limped over as fast as he could, he couldn’t yell but when he was close enough he called out to Baker to see if he was okay.

  Baker was face down, one arm out to the side and the other lay underneath his chest. He didn’t look like he was breathing.

  “Baker! Stay with me, I’m here, I’m here…”

  He grabbed Baker’s shoulder and tried to gently roll him onto his back. He defiantly wasn’t breathing. Checking his neck he couldn’t find a pulse either.

  “Shit, Shit, Shit…”

  As gently and quickly as he could he could he tipped back Bakers head to open the airway, pinching his nose he breathed a deep breath into Baker then let it out – it hurt like he had just hit the ground again but he wasn’t going to stop, he forced another breath into Bakers mouth.

  Moving back he began chest compressions… 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 –

  He thought that he heard a wheeze from his patient and leaned he ear into his mouth…

  Nothing.

  He began rescue breathing again –

  With his mouth pressed to Baker’s and his nose compressed shut Smith couldn’t inhale to scream. Baker had grabbed him in an iron grip and wasn’t letting go, he struggled as hard as he could, reaching into Baker’s hair he tried to pull their faces apart.

  It was no good – blood made his hand slip and what little space he had made snapped back shut like an animal trap. He managed a squeak using the last few dregs of air in his lungs when his tongue got bitten in half, he wasn’t sure if he had done it himself or not he thought, but in a few seconds it didn’t really matter as Baker ripped the rest of it out along with his throat.

  They ate dry rations for lunch which they could have eaten while they drove but they stopped anyway. Jackson took his time checking the engine to make sure they weren’t going to over heat and because there was no real high ground Ramirez climbed up on top of the Hummer to try the radio again without success.

  They re-fueled, checked the tires and made sure that all of the supplies were properly secured, anything they could think of to stall a little while. Even though they probably wouldn’t see anything yet they all watched their rear horizon for any signs of movement that would indicate Smith’s return. Of course, they saw nothing.

  Reluctantly Robert ordered them all back into the truck and they made their way onward.

  “Okay Jackson, here’s what I’m thinking, we’ve been making good time, even going a little slow. I want us to camp up on this side of the crest tonight instead of the other. When we get there I want to pick out a good spot with good visibility and I want to build a big fire, a bonfire so that Smith will have something to aim for if it starts to get dark”

  “You got it” Jackson replied. Robert sat back while the driver and navigator talked it out, pointing to the map and adjusted their course accordingly.

  “That isn’t what I’d do.” Greene offered unsolicited from his seat in the back.

  “I don’t really care what you’d do”

  “Oh but you should, as the leader of this group – should anything unfortunate happen to you –”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “No, No… it is merely the way I prefer to look at things, let me re-phase for the emotionally sensitive… As the alternate leader of this team I think that it is a mistake to further hinder ourselves more then we have already been inconvenienced.”

  “Inconvenienced? Damnit Greene! Mitch could be really hurt.”

  “There you go again; Mitch, Tommy, Henry… you are too damn familiar with the men who are under your command.”

  “Greene, let’s get this one thing straight right now, I don’t command any one. This is a team and as team leader I make certain decisions but I am the same as the rest of you, I’m not better then anyone here – and you thinking you are has always been your problem.”

  “No my problem is me not getting what is rightfully mine, all because my fool grandfather decided to give everything he had away. You should all be beholden to me and my family.”

  “Your Grandfather was a great man, his actions saved dozens of lives. He was kind and generous – he would probably be disgusted at the man you’ve become”

  “Maybe you ought to shut your mouth about my family.”

  “Maybe you ought to just shut your mouth or the first command I give around here will be to have you walk home.”

  “I’d like to see you try and make me.”

  “He’s right.” added Ramirez who had apparently been sleeping, as he sat up and pushed his hat up away from his face. “You couldn’t make him walk home. I say we just strip his ass naked and tie to the roof.”

  Everyone laughed except for Robert and Greene who just locked stares. This time it was Greene’s turn to look away first, his face took on an even darker cast than usual and he sat back in his seat. He looked like a rattlesnake coiling to strike… but not now. No, not now… but soon.

  VI

  As they got closer to the foothills they started to see more evidence of what had used to be towns or a small city. From time to time over the last couple of days they had seen what were once the cement walls of scattered buildings here and there but now the hollow shells were closer together and taller so they stood further up out of the banks of sand reclaiming the desert.

  They slowed down and explored the area a little, walking along side the Humvee as it crawled along and peering through empty doorways and windows. There was nothing to see, inner wooden walls had all rotted away, most of the roofs had given way too and lay broken and twisted on the floor. Rusted hulks that had once probably been air conditioners were unrecognizable now and functioned only to catch and shelter colonies of weeds.

  Finding an area that Robert liked the look of they started to make camp for the night. To gather enough wood quickly for the bonfire they unloaded the gear from the top rack of the Hummer and drove around gathering as many remnants of two-by-fours, trees, shipping pallets – anything that looked like it was dry and would burn well.

  Using the remains of a thick wooden post that had originally functioned to hold electrical wires, they built a corral about eight feet across around the base of the jagged ten foot tall column. They filled it with dry scrub to use as kindling then piled everything else on top in a rounded cone shape.

  When they were done, just to make sure they wouldn’t run out of wood and while they still had light - they made another run for fuel. They got back at around dusk just as visibility was starting to wane.

  Standing back - using a short piece of timber wrapped with ancient cloth they lit a torch and Jackson, having the longest reach walked around the base of the pyre and lit it in several places. It took a little while the light, the wind was picking up a little bit and the only fuel they had was the Humvee’s diesel and that would have only made things slower.
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br />   Finally it caught and flames started to climb their way up the structure, even the stronger gusts of wind couldn’t extinguish it after a few minutes.

  Tommy built himself a smaller cooking fire off of the main signal fire because the winds were buffeting them a little too much and changing direction suddenly. He cooked up another one of the stews that would make up the majority of their evening meals on the road, campfire cooking wasn’t something anyone in the bunker had ever really had to do so considering his lack of experience he was doing very well. People might joke about Tommy’s culinary prowess but he really was a good cook.

  Greene hadn’t said perhaps a half dozen words to anyone since the earlier altercation, he had always known that he was essentially alone in the group but their flagrant lack of respect had shaken him.

  The others talked freely over dinner but afterward they too grew quiet and watched the direction that Smith and perhaps Baker’s replacement if they sent one - would come.

  Ironically the glare of the beacon that would make it easier for Smith to see them, made it harder for them to see him. In deciding who should stay up to mind the fire, Greene, Jackson and Ramirez would take their turns tonight with Greene going first. As a result Robert and Tommy lay awake talking.

  “Do you think that they’ll let Smithy come back out” Tommy whispered.

  “I don’t know. We have to entertain the notion that they might not. I think that we should take our time in the morning and maybe set out a little late but we can’t waste too much time here. Greene is right, we have a mission and that has to take precedence some time.”

  “Now why did you have to go and say something like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “That Greene was right, now I’ll never get any sleep tonight.”

  They both laughed probably for the first time all day, Tommy had always been able to make him laugh, even in their darkest hours.

  “What about Etta’s ashes, do you know where you want to… you know… let her go?”

  Robert had thought about Etta a lot over the last couple of days during the long slow periods across bleak repetitive terrain but not about her remains, he wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye just yet.

  “No, I don’t know. I want to find somewhere really special.”

  “Yeah.” Tommy agreed nodding.

  They both stopped talking then and slowly Tommy drifted off to sleep. Robert stayed awake a while longer, every now and again he could hear Greene moving around keeping himself awake. How ever much of a snake Greene was, Robert doubted that he would kill them all in their sleep, but still it wasn’t until Jackson took over the watch that he found that he could let himself close his eyes.

  Jackson watched as Greene turned in for the night. He checked his watch, it was just after one. He would wait a little while to make sure that he was asleep before he relaxed his guard a little.

  His mother had always told him to have patience, trust in God and not to hate anyone, and he didn’t… but there were some people who didn’t make it easy. Growing up bigger then everyone else was difficult, he got teased a lot but usually only by the same few kids who he knew to try and avoid. By the time he hit his growth spurt as a teenager his new problem became hitting his head on lights and having to bend to get through doorways.

  Most of the hallways and rooms in the bunker were the same height, the rooms weren’t too bad if he was careful, but the hallways were worse – with conduits and cables running everywhere for easy maintenance access he had to stoop more. It was only in the bigger rooms like the Library or the Machine shop that he was able to stand up straight and feel comfortable.

  Reading had never been his favorite thing though, he did well enough in school but he had always rather use his hands so he had gravitated towards spending time working on things in the engineering department. Working with the metal and tools he had soon filled out his frame and what little teasing might still happen from time to time stopped.

  Even with hands as big as his he found he was able to work on smaller things too, he had learned to strip down a mechanical watch mechanisms and had repaired several manual wind and automatic watches for people. Some quartz too but the small button batteries weren’t easy to make and the supply of them had dwindled long ago so most of them had become simple decoration jewelry and useless family heirlooms.

  Stretching he got to his feet and walked around for a while. He tried to stay by the fire, the temperature wasn’t too bad but the extra warmth felt nice. The glow made it hard to see though, Smith probably wouldn’t be traveling at night but he still tried to keep an eye out for the bikes headlight coming their way just in case.

  After a while he needed to pee so he stepped over away from the fire, keeping himself half turned towards it for the light. Looking into the darkness after looking into the fire was pointless, he wanted some privacy but to save from pissing on himself he needed some light to see what he was doing.

  He was almost done when he heard a noise that was hard to distinguish from the patter of urine on scrub. Was someone else awake? It was too early for Ramirez, he’d probably have to wake him up for his shift. He couldn’t have missed the sound of the bike coming up he would have head that thing a mile away. Was it someone else in need of relief like him?

  As he shook off and fastened up he turned and saw a figure silhouetted by the fire light. Someone he didn’t recognize.

  “H-hello?”

  The stranger didn’t move.

  Jackson couldn’t see the person’s face, just a rim of light cast by the fire. Whoever it was, it wasn’t one of the team, this persons hair was long and greasy looking, unkempt. Their clothes were ruined and torn but still basically in one piece, it was their shoes seemed the worst off - almost like they didn’t have soles, the tops were there covering the feet but offering no real protection underneath.

  “A-are you okay?” he asked tentatively taking a small step forward to try to get a better look.

  The silent visitor twitched. Both arms were hanging loosely at its sides, Jackson looked at them more closely now and could see that they had long fingernails. Some of the women back home had long finger nails but they were neatly manicured and manageable, the stranger’s nails were too long, twisted, jagged and broken.

  This didn’t feel right… where had this person come from? Maybe they didn’t speak English. Maybe they didn’t speak at all. But they should be doing something he thought.

  He hadn’t bothered to carry around his MP5, that might have been a mistake but he still had the Glock on his hip and 17 rounds should be more than enough. Slowly readying one hand to grab his gun he also reached for the flashlight off of his belt.

  Still the stranger didn’t move.

  He clicked on the flashlight and aimed it at the strangers face. He only had a couple of seconds to try and take in what he saw. The man’s face was torn and soiled with dry blood, one of his eyes was missing and the other was gray and useless. Well almost, some ability to see must still have remained because the stranger reacted to the light and lunged for him.

  Startled by the sudden movement Jackson didn’t react as quickly as he should, he managed to get the gun from the holster but not aim it before the deranged ghoul was on him. He had a foot of height over the man and a lot of muscle mass but still for some reason this thing that had once been a man was possessed of a power disproportionate to his size. Jackson managed to get off two shots but didn’t want to risk hitting anyone else in the camp accidentally so he wrestled with the ghoul while he tried to get a chance to aim.

  Robert was already awake, at least a little. He heard Jackson talking with someone, he didn’t know who. Suddenly there was the sound of movement and then two shots. He sat bolt upright in his sleeping bag and tried to take in the scene.

  The others had awoken too, he could feel Tommy near him to his left, Ramirez and Greene were over to the right and beyond them was Jackson and… who? Jackson was wrestling with someone – everyone else was ac
counted for whoever this intruder was they obviously weren’t friendly.

  He tried to slip out of the bag and get to his feet but the fabric had gotten twisted around him and didn’t want to let go. By the time he did get free everyone else was already on their feet. They all seemed to be in shock, no one was sure what to do. No one wanted to fire and hit Jackson so for several seconds they just did nothing.

  Finally Ramirez moved, he grabbed his MP5 and extended the collapsed butt-stock of the gun and used it to beat against the side of the intruder’s head.

  At first Ramirez didn’t know what he was seeing, he recognized Jackson straight away but the “thing” he was grappling with took a little more comprehension.

  Maybe it was a trick of the flickering firelight but while it had the body of a man it didn’t quite look human – It didn’t have eyes for one thing, there were just dry hollow holes where they should have been, rimmed with dark crusty sludge. It’s skin looked dry too, drawn and stretched, brittle like aged paper.

  In the end it didn’t matter exactly who or what this thing was he had to do something. Snatching his rifle from the ground next to his bed he had to pause long enough to swing out the metal arm of the shoulder brace but as soon as it locked open he dashed forward and planted the butt against the side the creatures head.

  Once, twice, it took three times to break the thing’s grip from Jackson, any normal person would have probably been unconscious with just one.

  With enough of a gap now to raise his sidearm Jackson took aim at the ghoul’s chest and fired three times.

  Ramirez watched as the creature stumbled and span away as if it had been slapped not shot point blank with 9mm rounds. It never lost its footing, staying upright with its back turned for a moment before spinning back around to face them. Frozen in confusion and shock Ramirez couldn’t move, only watch as Jackson fired five more bullets into it.