Jeremy pulled Toni to her feet and looked back at Troy. There was so much he wanted to say but the words wouldn’t come. Troy smiled and shot him a mock salute. In spite of the tears burning in his eyes, Jeremy laughed. Then he nodded and led Toni out to gather what they would need.
20
The outer seal clanged as it dropped inside the corridor below, and minutes later a well-placed charge blew the inner door off its hinges. The mindless ones flooded down the passageway and into the base. Troy waited for them in the only unblocked passage to the control room.
A man dressed in the tatters of a tuxedo came tearing around the corner, pink saliva flying from his mouth as he saw Troy and howled madly at him.
Troy raised the automatic shotgun in his hands and fired, cutting the man in two at the waist. A woman in a bloodstained jogging suit was next, and Troy splattered her brains all down the corridor. When the shotgun clicked empty, he snatched up his M-16 and retreated towards the control room, firing on full auto into the increasing tide as he went.
In the control room, Sheena struggled clumsily to ready the handgun Troy had given her.
“You’re not going to need that,” Nathanial told her as the gunfire on the other side of the door was replaced by the sound of Troy screaming.
Sheena looked up at Nathanial and understood.
Finally the door burst open and a woman with matted gray hair and a bleeding hole in her left cheek led the creatures inside. Nathanial stabbed at his keyboard one final time.
Jeremy kicked the grate loose and leapt down into the garage. A quick glance told him that the area was clear of the infected—both breeds. He turned and helped Toni climb out of the vent.
Only a couple of vehicles were left, and only one that he knew for sure still ran. He tossed his pack into the jeep. “Get in,” he told Toni, “and hold on.”
Apparently one of the thinking infected had heard the thunk of the falling grate from inside the garage and was now opening the large doorway to check it out. Jeremy ran him down as he tore out into the dying rays of the setting sun.
The few attackers who’d stayed up top were caught completely off-guard. Jeremy took advantage of their confusion and plowed through them. He spun the jeep’s steering wheel, making a sharp turn toward the gardens and the rear fence. He was already deep in the fields when the first shots began to ping off the tail of the jeep.
He reached over and shoved Toni down in her seat. “Hold on!” he yelled as the jeep streaked towards the fence. He ducked under the dashboard as best he could, leaning over in his seat at the last second.
The jeep tore through the barbed wire, dragging a section of the fence as it made it clear. One of the tires blew out, but the jeep continued to roar forward until it crashed headlong into a tree.
Jeremy rolled out of the driver’s seat. His back felt like it had been ripped to shreds, and blood leaked from large gashes the barbed wire had cut in his T-shirt. He looked over his shoulder to see the attackers giving chase. “Toni, are you all right? We have to move!”
She didn’t answer and suddenly he realized she was no longer in the jeep. The barbed wire had caught her and had yanked her out. Her mangled corpse lay several yards back, tangled hopelessly in the fencing the jeep had carried with it. Jeremy knew she was dead from a single glance.
He grabbed up his pack from the rear of the vehicle and slung it onto his shoulder as the attackers opened fire again.
Suddenly the earth itself heaved under his feet and threw him into the woods as fire blossomed in a giant cloud from where Def Con had lain below it.
Epilogue
When Jeremy came to, night had fallen in earnest. The mob had been reduced to a scattered corpse here and there. Slowly dying flames could be seen inside the remainder of the fence around the Def Con complex.
Jeremy coughed and spat blood onto the grass beside him. He looked up at the full moon, and a visible shadow stretched across it, dampening its glow. Jeremy wasn’t a physicist, but he knew something wasn’t right about it. His mind groped for an explanation of the strange shadow until he remembered an old episode of the
Amy and Joe sat on the station’s roof. It was a safe place to be outside at night, a place where they didn’t really have to worry about the creatures.
Joe spread out the picnic blanket as Amy got the food ready. He had cooked up some rabbit meat during the day, and Amy, though still learning, had made something close to being fresh baked bread. Joe sat on the blanket and popped open a bottle of wine. He smiled as he filled a glass for Amy and passed it to her. She took it even though she couldn’t drink it, and she pretended to be thankful for Joe’s sake.
He sipped at his wine as she looked him over. Amy was nervous about telling him. She had mixed feelings on the matter herself. Part of her was thrilled and overjoyed, but her rational mind questioned how wise it was to bring a child into this nightmare. She had to tell him though. It wasn’t as if she could hide it much longer, and he deserved to know. Amy figured she would never get a chance to do it more perfect than tonight.
She reached for his hand. He was glancing up at the stars. The sky was odd this evening, the stars different somehow. Amy placed a palm on his cheek and gently turned his face so she could look deep into his eyes. “Joe,” she said. “I have something to tell you…”
DEAD WEST
Prologue
“Run!” Mark shouted.
Brent’s legs pumped as he raced to catch up to the train and Mark’s outstretched hand. He could hear the growls of the dead behind him, but he didn’t dare glance over his shoulder to see how close they were. Instead he poured everything he had into a final burst of speed. Mark grabbed him and pulled him onto the train.
Brent collapsed, struggling for breath as Mark, standing above him, opened up on their pursuers with his Winchester. He picked off the closest ones, his rifle spitting out spent casings.
The train gained speed and the dead fell farther and farther behind.
“Sweet Lord,” Brent blurted out. “That was too close.”
Mark laughed, propping his weapon against the inner railing of the car. “It’s what you get for volunteering for this job.”
“Maybe,” Brent replied. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
