Broken World (Book 3): Mad World (22 page)

“Shut up,” Angus growls at her.

Joshua continues to cut and the men ease off, but don’t let go. “He passed out,” Joshua says, almost to himself. “Vivian, check his pulse.”

I hold my breath and press two shaky fingers to his neck. His veins thump against my fingertips, and I have the overwhelming urge to shout for joy. “He’s alive!” I gasp. “He’s alive.”

Al’s arm thumps to the ground, and the sound is louder than any gunshot. More devastating than any explosion. Angus, Axl and Winston sit back, but I can’t move. Neither does Joshua.

“I’m going to need something to cauterize the wound,” Joshua says. “Does anyone have a lighter? Anything?” No one answers, and he swears. He swipes his hand through his hair. “We’re going to need to get to one if we don’t want him to bleed out.”

Joshua cleans the stump, then starts to wrap it in gauze. Lila rushes to Al’s side. Tears stream down her cheeks, and she brushes the hair off Al’s sweaty forehead. I didn’t even know she cared.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

Joshua shakes his head. He looks ten years older than he did this morning. “That’s not up to me.”

“We can’t just sit here,” Hadley says. She hasn’t spoken since we got to the clinic. I’ve never seen her look so pale or shaken.

The room is silent. Too silent. When did the dead stop banging on the door?

“They’re gone,” I whisper.

Every head turns toward the door. I hold my breath, waiting for the banging to start as the zombies throw themselves against it. Nothing happens.

“Where’d they go?” Winston asks.

Axl purses his lips and swears. “My guess? I’d say whoever let them in killed them off. Right now they’re probably out there raidin’ our supplies.”

“But who let them in?” Hadley asks. “How did they get here?”

“You know exactly how they got here,” Winston says calmly. “Mitchell.”

“Are you sure?” Joshua asks, sitting back. His arms are red up to his elbows, and his shirt and pants are saturated in Al’s blood. He doesn’t even try to clean it off. “Did you see anyone out there? I only saw the zombies.”

Axl shakes his head. “No, but Mitchell had the code. We all know he did it.”

Angus jumps to his feet and kicks the side of a desk. “Shit! I told you we shoulda let the damn zombies have him! Now look what’s happened.”

My heart drops as reality falls on my head. “They’re going to take all our food and weapons.” We worked hard to get that stuff. Lost people. Almost lost ourselves.

“Not the weapons,” Axl says, heading to the back of the room.

I jump to my feet and stumble after him. “What do you mean?”

“We hid the weapons after Angus beat the shit outta Mitchell. Didn’t want him to slit anybody’s throat in the middle of the night.”

“Where’d you hide them?”

Axl pulls a key out of his pocket and stops in front of the stainless steel refrigerator. The one that’s supposed to be full of blood and medicine. When he rips the doors open, I see that it’s full of weapons.

I exhale and slump against the counter. At least something’s going right.

Angus grabs my elbow and pulls me back. I jerk away, but he doesn’t look offended. His gray eyes are more serious than usual, and my heart jumps. Something is wrong.

“What is it?”

His mouth turns down, and he looks away like he can’t stand to meet my eyes. “Couldn’t find your mama.”

I blink and suck in a deep breath. How do I feel about that little bit of news? I don’t have a damn clue.

22
Axl

WE GET BUSY UNLOADIN’ THE WEAPONS. That teenage girl is on the floor next to Al, cryin’ like crazy. It’s gettin’ on my nerves. I didn’t even know they had something goin’ on ‘til yesterday.

Some of the women head over to see what we’re doin’. Hadley—who ain’t lookin’ so good right now—and Anne.

Moira’s with them. She’s wringin’ her hands, and her face is red from cryin’. “We need to find the rest of our people. Lexi, Darla, Jhett, and Arthur.”

“Arthur’s dead,” Vivian says. “He saved us.” Her voice shakes and she turns away, then goes back to pullin’ weapons outta the fridge.

Moira shakes her head and steps back. “But the others?”

“Jhett was up in the control room when this all started,” Winston says calmly.

Moira’s face gets even redder. She’s a mess, and she ain’t even lost somebody she loves. Nathan says something in her ear ‘bout watchin’ the kids, but she don’t move. When he picks up a gun, she ‘bout loses it. I ain’t got time for their drama, so I turn back to the weapons. Let Nathan deal with his own wife.

“What’s the plan?” Vivian asks, loadin’ her gun.

I tense and shake my head. “You and Anne are gonna stay here and stand guard while Angus, Winston, Nathan, Jon, and me take a look ‘round. See what we can see.”

Vivian frowns, and I get ready for a fight. No way am I lettin’ her go out there. It’s too dangerous and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.

Winston steps in. “Axl’s right. We need you two here.”

Angus shoves a second gun in his waistband. “Let’s get movin’. We don’t wanna let them bastards get any more of our shit than they already got.”

We head to the door, and Vivian grabs my arm. “Be careful.”

“I don’t plan on lettin’ any of them bastards kill me,” I say, kissin’ her forehead. “Not today, not ever.”

The doc is sittin’ on the floor next to Al still. The kid’s face is white and sweaty, and the bandage on his arm is soaked with blood already. Not sure if he’s gonna make it, but the kid’s got balls. I’ll give him that.

“How’s he doin’?”

The doc shakes his head. He’s lookin’ bad, too. Older than he did when we first picked him up. “I need something to cauterize the wound and the key to the cabinet so I can get him some morphine. An iron would work. I have one in my condo.”

I glance back toward the small metal cabinet. Can’t shoot it open, not without ruinin’ the meds inside. We maybe could pry it open. It looks pretty sturdy though, so I doubt it.

Shit. Why the hell can’t anything be easy? “Your condo’s on nine?” The doc nods, and I slap him on the back. “I’ll get it. Where are they?”

The doc jumps to his feet. “First bedroom on the right. The key is sitting on the top of my dresser. The iron is on the shelf above the washer.”

“I’ll get them,” I say, turnin’ toward the door.

The doc grabs my arm before I can take a step. “Axl. Hurry.”

Like we need more pressure.

I head toward the door where the others are waitin’. Angus looks more tense than usual. Probably ‘cause Darla’s missin’. He seems more concerned than Vivian. Ain’t sure if she cares or not. It’s weird Angus does, though.

“Let’s head out,” I say, pullin’ out my gun and givin’ Winston a nod.

He pushes the door open, and we all tense, but the hall’s clear of anythin’ movin’.

“Just bodies,” Angus says, steppin’ out. “We go down first.”

“Why down?” Jon asks.

Angus puckers his lips. “‘Cause I said.”

“Shut up, Angus,” I say, pushin’ past him and headin’ toward the stairs. “We start at the bottom and clear it out. Plus, we gotta get the key for the doc. Al needs them meds.”

There are bodies everywhere, and the floor is slick with black gunk. I gotta be careful not to slip when I step over ‘em. The lights flicker, and the hall reeks. Death and blood. Should be used to the smell by now, but I ain’t. It makes my eyes water and the back of my throat spasm like I’m gonna lose my lunch.

“Lotta fuckin’ zombies,” Angus mutters behind me.

“You think they just opened the door and let them in or what?” Jon asks.

I wish they’d shut the hell up. My gun’s raised, and my whole body is like steel. My finger’s over the trigger, and every sound makes it twitch.

We reach level six, and I stop, holdin’ my breath. There’s talkin’ in the distance. And laughter. A door closes one level below us, and I move, runnin’ down the stairs with my gun ready, jumpin’ over bodies. I pass a bloody mess—not a zombie—and my eyes land on a mass of blonde hair. That chick from Vegas or Vivian’s mom. Hope whoever it was, she went fast.

My finger’s over the trigger when we round the corner to level seven, but the hall’s empty. There’s only one condo on this floor. Anne and Jake, I think. Must’ve been where the bastards went.

“You wanna go in?” Angus whispers, comin’ up beside me.

I pucker my lips—dammit—and nod toward the door. “Pull it open.”

We all stand to the side with guns raised while Angus grabs the knob. He glances my way and I nod, tensin’ even more when he turns it. He rips it open, and I step forward. There are two guys in view, one to the right and the other to the left. I squeeze off one quick shot, gettin’ the one to the right in the shoulder before turnin’ to the second. He’s got his gun out, but before I can fire, Winston takes care of him. The bullet gets him in the neck. The bastard goes down without a sound, but the first guy’s screamin’ and cussin’ on the floor.

“Watch my back!” I yell, runnin’ toward him.

His gun is layin’ next to him, and there’s a pool of blood on the floor. He’s grabbin’ at the gunshot wound, screamin’ his head off like a baby. When he sees me he looks ‘round, then gropes the floor as he searches for the gun. I get to it first and kick it aside. It flies across the room and hits the fridge with a metallic bang that I can barely hear over this guy’s cussin’.

“Shut the hell up,” I yell, kicking him in the ribs. I press my gun to his forehead. “Anyone else in the apartment?

His face is red and covered in sweat. He shakes his head.

“What ‘bout everyplace else? How many of you are there?”

This time he just sneers at me. “Fuck you!”

Angus grabs the guy’s shoulder and digs his thumb into the gunshot wound. “I think you outta show a little more respect when a man’s got a gun to your head.”

The guy screams and shakes, and more sweat breaks out across his forehead. He swallows when Angus lets go. He’s pantin’ like a dog in heat.

“We brought a whole truckload.” His voice shakes, and his eyes dart over toward Angus, who is leanin’ against the counter. “Twenty guys, maybe. I didn’t count.”

“You come from Vegas? The Monte Carlo?”

He nods, and a drop of sweat runs down the side of his face. “Some guys showed up yesterday with a truck of diesel.”

We were right. Mitchell. Shoulda let Angus kill him.

“They told the boss all about this place.” The man pauses and swallows. “They said you were the people that caused all the problems a few days ago. You stole some girls and killed some guys. The boss has been cleaning it up for days.”

My hand clenches into a fist, and I slam it into his nose. The guy howls in pain, and blood sprays from his nose. “We didn’t steal nobody! They was our people!”

Winston grabs my arm and pulls me back before I hit him again. I want to. And more. “We don’t have time for this. We have to get back to Al.”

I take a deep breath and nod. “Yeah.” He’s right. I gotta control myself.

“Whatcha wanna do with this bastard?” Angus asks. He kicks him in the ribs again.

“Whatever.” I flex my broken hand. It’s throbbin’ all over again. “I gotta get to level nine.”

Angus shakes his head, and something flashes in his eyes. “You ain’t goin’ by yourself.” Is he worried ‘bout me? No. That’d be dumb.

Winston nods toward Nathan and Jon. “Go with Axl. We’ll be right behind you.”

Angus glares at Winston and spits. It lands on the guy at our feet. “You gonna try and stop me from killin’ him?”

“Nope.” Winston’s eyes cloud over.

I leave them to it, motionin’ toward the others as I head to the door.

We go down, steppin’ over more bodies. The air is so thick with death it takes a few minutes to smell the smoke, but by the time we hit nine, I can’t ignore it. It’s nothin’ like a campfire. It’s toxic. Chemicals.

“Something’s burning,” Jon says behind me.

“Yup.”

Nathan shakes his head and sniffs the air. He coughs. “Why would they do that?”

“Make sure we couldn’t use the place. They didn’t want none of us to live.”

“Shit,” Jon mutters.

“Yup,” I say again.

I stop when we get to nine and spit on the floor, tryin’ to get the taste outta my mouth. The air’s contaminated with more than just death down here. My throat feels raw from breathin’ it in, and my lungs burn. My eyes sting, too.

There are two condos on nine.

“Which is his?” Jon asks.

I shake my head and motion toward the one to the right. “Try this one first.”

Jon pushes the door open while Nathan and I stand back with our guns raised. Nothin’ moves, and the condo’s dark. Quiet, just like the hall. We go in and search the livin’ room and kitchen. It’s clear. Don’t keep my heart from poundin’.

I jerk my head toward the hall. “First room on the right.”

When I push the door open, I spot the key right away. A little silver thing on a black string. I grab it and shove it in my pocket. Now for the iron.

There ain’t a sound but our breathin’ when we head back out. Jon rounds the corner first, and before I can even take a step into the livin’ room, he goes down, screamin’ when a zombie slams into him. Nathan swears behind me and I raise my gun, but I can’t get a good shot. Jon’s strugglin’, and the bastard is chompin’ at anything he can get close to. His camo is covered in black gunk, and his scalp is rotted to the bone.

I whip my knife out and jerk the bastard up by the collar, shovin’ him away from Jon. When the zombie comes back at me, I jab my knife into the side of his head. Black shit explodes outta the wound and leaks from the zombie’s eye sockets, drippin’ onto the carpet.

Jon trembles and stares at his hands.

My jaw tightens. “You got bit.”

Nathan tenses and raises his gun, but Jon shakes his head. He flips his hands around a few times, starin’ at them with wide eyes. “No. I don’t know how, but I didn’t. He was right on top of me!”

I shove my knife back in its sheath and grab Jon, haulin’ him to his feet. “Good. Let’s get the iron and get outta here before another one jumps us.”

Angus and Winston are just comin’ down the stairs when we step out into the hall.

“You get what you need?” Winston asks. I don’t miss the blood splatters on his clothes and neck. It’s even worse on Angus.

Not that I care.

I hold the iron up. “We gotta get upstairs and get everybody out. There’s a fire somewhere.”

Something behind us grunts. I drop the iron and spin ‘round. There are a few bodies piled up on the stairs. They’re movin’. One of them bastards must still be alive—or whatever they are. Don’t matter though, ‘cause we’re leavin’.

“Leave it,” I say, scoopin’ the iron up off the floor. “We gotta get outta here.”

“Help!” comes a muffled voice from behind me.

I spin back ‘round to see the bodies twitchin’ even more and a hand stickin’ out from underneath.

“Son of a bitch!” Angus shoves his gun in his waistband and runs down the stairs. He throws a few bodies aside, and a tangle of blonde hair pops up. She lifts her head, and I cringe. Darla. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Angus helps her to her feet. She’s covered in the black gunk, and right away she starts talkin’ a mile a minute. “So glad you boys found me! I got separated and there were zombies everywhere. I was hiding and then these men came through, killing all of them. They said something about the Monte Carlo and I didn’t want them to find me, so I rolled these bodies on top of me when they weren’t looking. I knew they’d never look under a pile of zombies.”

Angus kisses her right on the mouth. I wanna spit. Instead I pucker my lips. Shit.

“You ain’t bit, are you?” I ask. Darla shakes her head, and I turn away. “Good. Then let’s get the hell outta here.”

Seven levels up, trippin’ over zombies the whole way. But everything is quiet, and the higher we go, the less toxic the air is. It’s still rotten with death, but there ain’t no smoke or chemicals like down below. Fire must be on one of the bottom levels.

“What do you think they’re burning?” Jon asks, puffin’ away behind me.

“Probably the whole bottom level,” Winston says. “It’s where everything we need to keep this place running is. Generators, air filtration system.”

“They must’ve turned all the alarms off,” I mutter. “Otherwise the fire alarm would be goin’.”

“That’s just great,” Angus growls.