7
Scott didn’t like David’s plan. In fact he loathed it, thought it was insane. He had no better ideas to offer, however, so he went along with it. They’d carefully selected which guard to make their offer to, and the chance to go through with it had arrived. The guards were out in full force today, as it was time for the prisoners to be rounded up for a breeding session. Chief Hole in His Neck was in command, flanked by six more of the dead, each carrying some type of fully-automatic military weapon. His subordinates opened the gate to the pen and led the prisoners out.
Scott, having been a captive for weeks, knew how things worked. He gave Hole in His Neck the sign that he wanted to make a trade. Hole in His Neck studied him, then motioned for his men to leave Scott behind.
When the others were all outside of the pen, Hole in His Neck stepped inside. Scott could swear he saw the hunger burning in the dead man’s eyes.
“Screw it,” Scott mumbled, hopefully too quiet for Hole in His Neck to hear. He cleared his throat and said, “David and I don’t want to go inside today.”
A look of utter confusion settled on the guard’s features. A human male who did not want to get laid was beyond his understanding.
Scott saw the look and misread it. “David’s the new guy. The one you just brought in.”
Hole in His Neck signed the question “Why?” He wondered if Scott had lost his mind, and he toyed with the idea of dispatching the human then and there. He needed more help tending to the women’s needs anyway; a new dead body walking around would help with his duty roster.
Scott gritted his teeth, steeling himself for what he was about to say. “Look. We’re gay, okay? We just want to be by ourselves for an hour to breed in our own way. Just this one time,” he added hastily.
Hole in His Neck smiled. A sick wet sound came from his exposed windpipe as he tried to laugh. He shook his head and shoved Scott towards the gate.
“Wait!” Scott urged. “You haven’t even heard what I’m offering in return.”
Hole in His Neck paused. It was not permitted to feed on the prisoners unless they broke the rules or offered non-vital pieces of their meat freely. Scott had been anything but a normal prisoner, and Hole in His Neck admitted to himself that he enjoyed the way Scott was begging for such an unnatural and shameful act.
“You could send one of your people with us, to make sure we don’t escape. I’m only asking for an hour.”
Using gestures, the dead man asked what he would get in return and indicated that it had better be worth such an affront to the rules.
“My legs,” Scott said firmly. “Both of them, all yours. I don’t need them to breed, and if I die from you taking them, you can stick me out here so you’ll have a permanent watchdog over the others until I rot away to nothing from the heat.”
Hole in His Neck held up his fingers, saying two guards would go with them, not one. Then he added that this would be the only time, one way or another.
Scott breathed a sigh of relief as the commander of the watch went to fetch David and the guards who would take them to the woods. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to work after all.
8
Bullets sparked and pinged off the asphalt as Riley ran for cover. He half fell, half rolled behind the carcass of an abandoned truck. The spray of bullets followed him, thudding into the truck’s frame.
Hannah and Brandon were nowhere to be seen. Riley had been cut off from them when the jeep full of dead soldiers appeared out of nowhere.
Riley cursed himself for leading his family here. There shouldn’t have been a road at all, not this far out in the country, much less a major one littered with the ruins of cars and trucks. The only things that should have been up there were trees and dirt trails. Riley didn’t have the faintest idea where the road led, but it had seemed safe. Figuring they didn’t have time to follow it in the woods until they could cut around, he chose to walk it. Now he was paying the price.
He heard the crack of Hannah’s .30-.06 somewhere in the distance.
Left without an alternative, he leaned around the end of the truck to see what was happening on the road. One of the dead stood several yards away, focusing its AK-47 on the tree line. Riley’s military training took over, and he seized the chance. His M-16 opened up, sending a stream of rounds into the dead thing’s chest and up its torso until, with a wet popping sound, the corpse’s rotting head burst like a melon, spewing brain matter onto the road below its feet. Its body spun, headless, and dropped. Riley was on his feet and running for a better vantage point before the body hit the ground. He’d only seen three of the things, and he figured he could handle them as long as he knew Hannah and Brandon were safe. But that was the problem, wasn’t it?
Riley felt fire tear into his shoulder, and the impact knocked him down. His rifle went skidding away from him. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw the dead man who’d shot him. The thing charged forward and lowered its rifle, to which was attached some kind of blade.
Riley didn’t move, waited to the last possible second and grabbed for the weapon as the thing tried to spear him with it.
Close combat with the dead was extremely dangerous. A bite, or sometimes just a scratch from their nails, was enough to infect a person with the lethal virus, or evil spirit, or whatever it was that gave the dead life.
Taking his opponent by surprise, Riley ripped the weapon from its hands and sent the creature sprawling to the pavement beside him. It rolled at him, biting and clawing for his flesh. The thing never saw him draw the .45 automatic. He blew the brains out the back of its head.
“Hannah!” Riley screamed, praying for an answer.
In the distance, the monsters’ jeep roared to life. Riley scrambled for his gun, then stopped and let out a whoosh of breath as the vehicle retreated. The road fell silent.
Blood stained the front of his shirt, leaking from the wound on his shoulder, but he didn’t feel it. He bolted, his legs pounding beneath him, to where he’d heard the shot from Hannah’s rifle. He skidded to a halt as he reached the tree line and saw Hannah in the dirt. His heart felt like it stopped beating as she looked up at him, revealing the tears on her cheeks, the blood on her hands. She was kneeling over Brandon, who lay in a growing puddle of red.
Spots engulfed Riley’s vision, and Hannah watched him collapse.
9
Scott and David put on a show for the two guards accompanying them outside the breeding center. They held hands and acted eager to reach a place in the hills where they could be together intimately. The guards led them about a mile and a half from the compound before the group stopped and one of the dead men pulled out a stopwatch from its pocket. “This is as far as we’re going,” the guard informed them, and he started the watch. “You better get to it. The clock is ticking.”
“You’re going to watch us?” David asked, horrified. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Tough,” the other guard grunted. “Get to jerking each other off or whatever so we can get back.”
“What’s the matter?” Scott laughed. “Are you horny too? Wanna join us?”
The guard blinked his single eyelid while the other laughed at him. Scott sprang forward, grabbing the laughing guard’s head and twisting it around so fast the neck broke with a sharp crack. It wouldn’t kill the dead man, but breaking his neck would immobilize him and leave him helpless.
The remaining guard raised the barrel of its weapon toward Scott, tightening its finger on the trigger, but
