Barely Alive (5 page)

Screams tapered to shrieks, weakened but without their manic peal.

Dominic had disappeared into the locker room.

Sudden silence cut the night sharper than the screams.

I pushed the damaged panel hanging at a twisted angle from the jam.

Dominic stood under the TV, facing a more than half-eaten girl whose blank stare wasn’t registering. Snake charming skills evident, Dominic treated her like a rattler ready to strike.

I froze – the tone of his voice reminiscent of something. I couldn’t move, hypnotized by his cadence. “You don’t want to hurt anybody. You’re hungry but you don’t know what will fill you up. So hungry. But you don’t want to eat me. I won’t taste good. I wouldn’t be good at all. You just ate a little bit, you can take a break. Relax. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. You’re safe now. You’re with friends.”

The creature shuffled toward him. The blood on her could be hers or from the rest of the carnage filling the showers. Dark red streaks decorated the walls and floor. Just over the edge of the half wall I could see the rivers of blood rolling toward the drains by the shower head islands. The smell, oh hell, the smells!

Where was Heather’s body? I couldn’t make out the features of two of the females. The walking corpse had mauled them with her nails. Huge chunks had been taken out of legs and arms, torsos, and pelvic areas. Muscle bright red against thin layers of yellow fat tissue.

I ground my teeth. Oh, help me. I wanted to run in there and roll around in all that blood and eat from the feast she’d left behind. Breathing through my nose – nope – holy dirty-minded nun – I could taste the meat as if I’d inhaled it. Through my mouth wasn’t any better. Deliciousness coated my tongue. If it’d started raining in the building, it’d be heavy with blood. I wasn’t so lucky.

In the same tone, Dominic spoke to me, holding the girl in his verbal clutches. “Paul, you need to tie her up. Get her into the center of the showers and push the rest of the bodies around her. Dump the gasoline and light them on fire.” His eyes hadn’t left her vacant gaze. “Paul, you will not listen to my voice any longer.”

A wave of cool air released me… from something. I think the bastard had hypnotized me.

His voice got louder and his words more compelling, but I didn’t care anymore. I pressed back against the wall and Dominic angled his body, forcing the girl to move with him.

Her back to me, I sidled up behind her and wrapped the rope around her torso and arms. Yanking with all my muscles, I grunted against her strength as she fought me. Her moans had a catatonic keen that gave me goose bumps.

But I won.

Trussed up, she craned her head in angles I’d never considered possible, snapping at me. Little wench.

Rope in hand, I maneuvered her over the body parts she’d treated with little respect. Obviously, she’d never had to go hungry or she wouldn’t treat food that way. She fought me all the way to the ground where I pushed her mauled rear-end into a seated position and tied the ends of the rope to the shower tower. Hey, that rhymed.

“
Shower tower. Shower tower.” The words became meaningless but the rhythm kept my mind off the buffet around me. Oh, hell. My body wasn’t ignoring it. Drool slipped from the side of my mouth. Are you kidding me? I wasn’t a mangy dog. I didn’t need to drool every time I got around something that smelled good.

The girl thrashed against the ropes, limiting my time to make it out. She’d break out fast, if I didn’t hurry. I wouldn’t be able to pile the bodies around her. She was strong and the gaping wounds didn’t seem to bother her, even as the rope rubbed into them.

Dominic was nowhere in sight.

The gasoline can waited by the door. I grabbed it, unscrewing the cap as I moved. I’d be damned – well, I already was, but – if she got out, it’d be a lot of work for me that I didn’t have the energy for. I wouldn’t make it through that smorgasbord again without a bite here or there. Hell, here
and
there.

Okay, I’m a bastard, but I had to steal a bite. I was starving and no one would know. The chunk of flesh I picked up from the ground was the size of a credit card. I popped it in my mouth and swallowed without chewing. The weight in my stomach seemed to release me from the twisting ache. I had a job to do.

Gas sloshed in the metal container. A whimper sounded from behind me and I paused. But it couldn’t be. Every person in that room was dead or about to be. There was nothing there.

The handle squeaked as I jerked it back and forth, dumping the contents on the remains. Maybe I’d mistaken the sound.

The girl froze and stared past my legs. I didn’t care. She was going to burn and I wasn’t getting trapped in there with her. I turned the can upside down and watched the gold-hued liquid mix with her blood-washed hair. Odd shaped chunks of scalp hung by millimeters of skin. Even with the gas soaking her body and clothes, she didn’t move from her pose. Staring behind me.

Another whimper. More definable. The girl jerked, gnashing her teeth near my knees but not aiming for me. More like instinct.

I stepped back, turning as I did so. Nothing moved.

Matches in hand, I fingered a sulfur-tipped stick. Three feet from her I slid the tip across the striking plate. Sparks and fffwwwt. The match lit.

In mid-stride I tossed it over my shoulder. There was no getting out of there alive – or dead – if you weren’t already headed out.

Heat – oh, glorious heat – stroked my back, my buttocks, my thighs, my neck. I continued to walk out, but I’ll admit I slowed down. I hadn’t been that warm in two weeks. Warm. Just baking.

The girl seemed to sigh behind me. Her wailing stopped.

At the half-wall I turned. She shrank into the fire as if she sought it. I wanted it, too. And jealousy ached in my torso. I wanted release. I wanted heat. I wanted to be free from this insatiable hunger.

Cold fingers wrapped around the outer portion of my forearm. And hell, I shrieked like a girl.

Chapter 5

Her dark hair hung in ringlets around her face, strands falling free from her loosely bound ponytail. Light from the flames flickered on her pale skin wet with sweat and water. She had pulled on a different t-shirt and shorts than what I’d brought her in. She was clearly not wearing a bra.

“
Heather. What are you doing?” When it’d been just me, danger wasn’t such a big deal. But she’d made it. And I couldn’t let her burn to death. “We have to get out of here.”

She whimpered. Probably shock. I could be so lucky. Things would work out well, if she’d forget my momentary weakness when I squealed like a Girl Scout.$$

Gas popped from the flames. “Let’s go.” I closed my fingers over hers embedded in my skin and yanked her to the door. I bent down and grabbed a stray pair of tennis shoes resting beside a detached hand. I handed them to her and wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders. I pushed the heavy, damaged door closed.

I breathed in, welcoming the cool-to-me air. I didn’t know exactly what had happened, but with how my life had changed in the last few weeks, I wasn’t surprised. A little scared maybe, but I’d rather piss myself than admit that.

“
Are you okay?” I looked down at Heather. She just stood in my embrace. She didn’t nod or say anything which disturbed me more than if she’d hit me or thrown up. “Come on, get the shoes on. We’ll get inside and find out what’s going on.”

She pulled them on without socks. In seconds she stumbled along beside me and I scanned the yard, now lighter with the predawn sky.

The warehouse and few extra buildings could have been on their own island they were so far from neighboring buildings. Even the nearest tree was more like a bush. Dust. Everywhere dust. And if you drove off-road, you made more dust. Joy.

Dominic’s shrill whistle sliced through the air. “Paul! Over here.”

To our left, Dominic stood with the other group beside the furthest outbuilding. I’d always assumed it was empty with its abandoned ambience skulking on the edge of the clearing. A pile of boxes stacked with little care teetered beside the leader. As we got closer, I recognized the name written on the side. Dr. Duncan.

Heather pulled from me, her eyes wide and her lower lip between her teeth.

Right. “I’ll be with you the whole time. No one is going to hurt you. I promise.” I drew her into my arms again and stabilized her from falling to the ground. We closed in on the guys. Her body was close enough to mine, hunger disappeared under other, uh, needs.

Dominic pulled a Glock from his waist band and held it up to Heather’s head.

I thrust myself between her and him. “Dominic, what the hell?”

His lips barely moved as he spoke through his teeth. His eyes never wavered. “Where did you find her, Paul?”

The metal was close enough I could smell it with my heightened senses – copper-lined hollow-point bullets – Dominic was serious. I released Heather who clung to my side. Hands up, I lowered my voice beneath the grumbling of the group. “She’s one of the girls, Dominic. I saved her earlier. She’s fine.”

“
Was she bit?” His eyes narrowed and he searched her form with his eyes.

How did I answer that and be honest? “The girl in there didn’t bite this one.” That would have to do. Hell. He didn’t need to know she tasted like honey wafers. My arm tightened around her.

Dominic’s gun lowered, slowly but as long as it was out of my face, I wouldn’t complain.

I glanced around the group and back at the warehouse. “What’s going on?” I faced Dominic and loved the inability to cower before him. I didn’t even feel like saying sir.

A glower darkened Dominic’s face. “We grabbed what we could, but that whole building is going up.”

“
All of it?” I met his gaze. He knew what I meant. An unknown number of creatures were locked below, chained in their personal kilns.

He stared at the building. A long pause filled with crackling and wind covered up the tension between us. Dominic had condemned people to this fate and then imprisoned them. He’d damn well better know if they were going up in flames or not.

“
I hope so.” Sadness and regret pulled his forehead down. He tucked his chin to his chest.

Being angry with him would have to wait. “What do we do now?”

Dominic wiped his hand down his face and breathed in deep. “We move our stuff into this building and plan.”

Up close, the new home-base lacked even more than it did from fifty feet away. Dominic pushed through a paint-chipped door. “Grab the boxes, guys.”

John and Steve moved boxes from the top and the rest followed. The urge to do what Dominic said didn’t even tickle my fancy. Heather and I waited until the remaining boxes had been moved before going inside.

Dust-covered windows kept the light out. Dirty linoleum darkened the solitary room and added some relief to the empty walls. No furniture. No more doors. Just the one to get in and out. No appliances or sign there was even food available or a place to prepare it. And with zero rooms, I’d have no place to keep Heather safe from the guys. Already a few had cast glances her way, one licked his lips and the other wiped at his mouth.

I pushed her against the wall beside the lone door. “Don’t move.” I whispered.

Dominic stood and stared at the new pile of boxes. He looked past the cardboard to the roaming mass of guys, then at me. A sudden smile split his face and the charming Dominic returned. “Guys! I just remembered, there is a whole fresh cow in the kitchen of the old warehouse, in the walk-in fridge. If you’re hungry, you’re going to have to get it – before the fire reaches that part of the building.”

I recoiled. There was no cow. I’d just been in there. What was he playing at?

“
Come on, I’ll show you where.” He crooked his finger at the suddenly very interested followers. It was like they couldn’t think for themselves. The excitement lit their eyes, hunger controlled them and Dominic, who had frightened them from eating, was giving them the go-ahead to go crazy on meat. All they had to do was retrieve it.

Intrigued by morbid curiosity, I followed, pulling Heather with me. The slight thing wouldn’t let go of my arm. She’d stopped whimpering and her shakes had simmered to a manageable tremor. I glanced down. Heather’s chin was up and her eyes steely. And there she was – the girl who’d shoved me and held me at bay with a dull knife.

Thirty feet from the warehouse, the heat reached a comfortable level for me, which meant it had to be unbearable for Heather. We stopped and backed up ten feet and watched from afar.

Dominic rounded the invisible heat force field, coming close to the building but not as close as the boys would get. He pointed toward the door and hollered to John who led his group into the door. I say “his group” because I washed my hands of idiots who couldn’t think for themselves. I get they were afraid of Dominic, but what the hell did they think was going to happen in a burning building? John could be the leader of the dung-for-brains. I was out.

The final boy went into the building and Dominic raced up to the door – fighting heat – and pulled it shut. He dashed back to the “safe zone”, turned, and watched.

In the handful of seconds, my heart went from sixty to one-hundred-and-eighty. I backed up another step, two, three, four…