Deadlocked 8 (37 page)

Ben had been swarmed, and I saw him flailing
beneath the mass of grey flesh and brown fur. He threw one of the
creatures off of his back, and I shot it dead. There was another
biting at his left arm, and I would’ve tried to take a shot at it
as well if not for the creature still at my waist, ripping and
tearing at my thigh and causing my entire body to shake.

The hound under my knee was gurgling and
snapping its jaws, but the shot it had suffered was weakening it
now, so I focused on the creature biting at my hip. I let my rifle
dangle from its strap as I drew my knife. I put my hand on the back
of the creature’s head and pushed it so that it sunk its teeth in
deeper to my skin, giving me more control and preventing it from
shaking back and forth so much. Then I set the tip of my knife
against the side of its eye and shoved it in, spearing its brain
and sending the knife pushing through the back of its skull, an
inch higher than where my hand was anchored.

I stayed where I was, with my knee planted on
the gasping coyote beneath me, and took aim at the creatures that
had taken Ben down. One by one, with speed and precision, I took
the dogs out. When I was finished, I ripped the knife out of my
first victim’s head and used it to still the creature beneath
me.

“Ben, are you okay?” I asked as I stood.

Ben pushed himself up and groaned forth a
less than intelligible answer. I could see that he was in bad
shape, and I started to run over to him, but my own injury sent a
wave of agony up through my side. I cursed, and then pressed my
hand against my waist to see how bad the coyote had gotten me.
There wasn’t as much blood as I’d feared, but I could feel the
wetness running down my leg and I knew that the animal had torn a
sizeable gash in me. The baggy jeans and sweats had provided a good
amount of padding, but not enough to prevent injury.

“I’m up,” said Ben, and I looked over to see
that he’d managed to stand, although the severity of his injuries
was glaringly apparent. His face was mopped with fresh, red blood,
and his left sleeve had been nearly torn away to reveal a long cut
that stretched at least four inches. The cut on his arm looked to
be his most grievous wound, and was pumping blood as I watched.

“Come on,” I said. “Get to the car. We’ll
drive back.”

He nodded in agreement, and we stumbled back
together. I put his arm over my shoulder and supported him,
although he was proving just how tough he was by ignoring the pain
he must’ve been in.

We got to the Range Rover, and I helped him
into the passenger’s seat before walking around to the other side.
As I went, I heard an odd, loud thumping in the distance. It wasn’t
until I opened my door that I saw where the sound was coming from.
Ahead of us, not more than thirty yards away, was a black bear
charging our way.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said
as I got in and searched for the keys.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ben.

“There’s a bear coming!” I jammed the keys
into the ignition and put the Range Rover into reverse before
slamming on the gas. Gravel jetted out in front of us just as the
bear collided with the front end, its massive paws immediately
denting the hood. It roared, and strands of blood and saliva flung
out onto our windshield as the creature tried to cling to us. Its
claws raked gashes in the hood, but I pulled out and then spun the
wheel to send us tearing back out onto the highway.

“Get us out of here,” said Ben as he watched
the bear running up the path after us.

“Gladly,” I said as we sped away. “How’s your
arm?” I asked as I dared a glance over at him.

Ben had taken off his shirt to wrap his
wound, revealing even more gashes decorating his muscular upper
body. Blood was quickly pooling on his seat, and soaking his pants.
I knew that he was in bad shape, and I drove as fast as I could
back to the rehab center.

The Rollers were in the parking lot, and they
waved excitedly as I pulled in. They looked happy, but I would
change all that.

I threw open my door and heard some of them
cheer my name. I yelled out, “We need help.” The Rollers
immediately responded, and rushed to my side. That’s when a sudden
realization struck me.

“Stop!” I screamed, and then looked back in
at Ben as he sat bleeding in his seat. “Don’t come any closer. Back
up. Back up!”

“What’s the matter, Annie?” asked one of
them.

“Is Clyde still here?”

“Yes, he’s inside.”

“Go in and get him, and tell him to bring
medical supplies. Ben’s hurt.”

“We can carry him in.”

I screamed out at them, “No! Stay back.”

“What’s the matter?”

Coming here was a bad idea. “You might get
infected. You all might get infected if you come near us.” I knew
that both Ben and I were immune to the Grey virus, but I wasn’t
sure about whatever virus had infected the coyotes.

I’d watched Harrison succumb to a new version
of the infection in less than a day’s time. It had happened after
coming in contact with a disease that had infected animals, and now
Ben and I had encountered the same thing out here. We might be
carrying an infection that could kill everyone I’d ever cared
about.

They did as I asked, and soon Clyde was
running out to help. He was determined to come straight to our
vehicle, but I stopped him before he could get too close.

“Slide me the kit,” I said.

He set the plastic tackle box down and slid
it across the pavement to me. “Annie, I can help.”

“No, no. You have to stay back. I need some
fresh clothes for Ben.”

One of the Rollers ran back into the facility
just as Billy came limping out. I heard him ask, “What’s going on.”
The Rollers explained the situation to him as I took the medical
kit over to Ben to try and help him as best I could.

Being a scout for the High Rollers meant that
you had to have some medical training, so I was able to clean Ben
off and assess the extent of his injury. His skin was turning pale
fast, and the amount of blood seeping from his wounds hinted at a
lacerated vein. I started with his arm and talked him through what
I was doing.

“Ben, I’m going to tie this band around your
arm to stop the blood loss. It’s going to pinch a little.”

“Knock yourself out,” he said as I climbed up
over him to get a better position. He laughed and set his hand on
my hip. “This is a nice position.”

“Yeah, you like that?” I asked. “Let’s get
you better and we’ll give it a try. Okay?”

“Sounds good.” He was fading. His voice was
growing weak, but he kept a smile on his face.

“Ben, Ben, stay awake for me. Ben.”

“Yeah.” His head was drifting to the
side.

“Ben!” I tied the strip of rubber around his
upper arm and pulled it tight. “Ben, you’ve got to keep talking to
me. Ben!”

“Why are you screaming at me?” he asked, but
kept his eyes closed.

I made a nervous attempt at a laugh and then
said, “You’d better get used to that, buddy. I’m a screamer if ever
there was one.”

That got a chuckle out of him, and he said,
“Tell me about it.”

I used my teeth to pop off the sealed top of
a super glue container, and then filled the wound on his arm with
the pungent fluid before wrapping it tightly with a long roll of
gauze. We continued to talk about what he was going to do to me
when he was feeling better. By the time I was finished, I was
certain he was going to be okay. His momentary daze was probably a
symptom of shock as opposed to blood loss.

The Rollers brought a change of clothes, a
sponge, and a bucket of water. I made everyone else turn away and
then forced Ben to get out of the vehicle and strip. He shivered as
I quickly sponged off the blood as best I could, and he complained
about the snow as it fell down on him.

“Annie, what can we do to help?” asked Clyde,
who was still standing ten yards away like I’d forced him to.

“We’re going to need to get everyone inside.
Everyone except Ben and me.”

“Why?”

“There’s a new virus, and it’s affecting
animals.”

The Rollers responded with a collective gasp,
and then several of them asked at once, “Animals?”

“Yes. While we were out, we were attacked by
dogs, coyotes, and even a bear. All of them were infected.”

“It crossed the species barrier,” said
Clyde.

“What does that mean?” asked Billy.

“It means you all need to get back into the
rehab center and stay put. We were attacked out where the trucks
used to be parked. That’s not more than three miles from here.”

“Did you ever make it out to the airport?”
asked Billy.

“No, but we did find out that Jerald has been
using drones to try and find us. We were coming back to warn you
about that when we found out that a huge caravan with plenty of
ammunition had moved through the area. We were afraid they were
headed here.”

The murmur from the Rollers grew as they
discussed what I’d revealed. There was one other thing I needed to
tell them, but decided to tell only Billy instead of announcing it.
“Billy, come here. I need to talk to you.”

I walked away from the Range Rover and
towards the trucks that were parked along the side of the lot. I
waved Billy over, but stopped him before he got too close.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but we
found someone that said he heard Jerald’s men talking about how
they’d captured Hero.”

Billy’s eyes widened.

“Like I said, I don’t know if it’s true or
not.”

“Why didn’t you want to tell everyone that?”
asked Billy, sensing there was a reason.

“Because I think there’s a chance that Jerald
and his men might be headed out to New Vineyard, and you’re going
to need to send the Rollers there first. I know you want to attack
the airport, but we have to make sure the new settlement is safe
first.”

“We’re also going to have to leave people
here to guard this place,” said Billy.

“Why? Just send everyone out to New
Vineyard.”

He shook his head. “Can’t. We just got done
delivering Jill’s baby.”

My jaw dropped in pleasant shock. “You’re
kidding me.”

“Nope. It’s a little boy, just like she said
it would be. There’s no way I’m sending her and that baby out to
New Vineyard if you think Jerald’s headed there.”

“For all I know, he might be headed here, or
he might be off somewhere else. I was worried he would’ve been here
already. They passed through Denver yesterday, and they left a lot
of carnage in their wake. They’re heavily armed.”

“Shit,” said Billy as he ruminated on the new
information.

“I’m going to go to New Vineyard,” I
said.

“No, Annie. You should stay here and rest. It
looks like you’ve been through the ringer.”

“You’re not going to change my mind on this,
Billy. There’s a chance that Ben and I have the new disease, and
I’m not going to put you or anyone here at risk. And we need to get
a warning out to New Vineyard as soon as possible. You’re going to
need time to get everything set, so let me be the one to go and let
Mom and the others know what’s going on.”

“You sure Ben’s in good enough shape to
travel?”

“Do you have any other ideas?” I asked.

“Leave him with us,” said Billy. “We’ll put
him in a car out here and keep him safe. Give him a chance to rest
up. It’d be good to have him somewhere close to Clyde, just in
case.”

“You have to tell Clyde to keep his distance
though,” I said with insistence. “We watched this new disease kill
Harrison, and it happens fast. You have to be careful.”

“We will be.”

“And what about Hero?” I asked, uncertain how
Billy would deal with the vague news of our old friend’s possible
capture.

Billy winked at me and said, “You let me
worry about that.”

Celeste

I heard the distinct click of the door to my
room pop open. I hadn’t been expecting a visit from Elise, but got
excited none-the-less. I stood up from my desk and walked over to
the shower door, expecting to see Elise walk in. I could see
through the glass shower door to the ready room beyond, but the
door to the main hall stayed shut.

I was certain that I’d heard the lock click
open. It was a sound that I’d spent my life eagerly awaiting as I
sat in this cell, and it was unmistakable.

The glass door to the shower was cold as I
pressed my hands to it, and it shook when I took my hands away.
That was odd, because the shower door was supposed to be locked
until the Administrators deemed it was time for me to leave my
room. I never expected the door to open as I gripped the handle,
but to my surprise I was allowed entry to the shower. When I went
in the shower didn’t kick on like it normally would; it stayed
silent and dark, just like the ready room beyond.

The lights usually react to my entrance by
turning on. Now the room’s sensors had to either be turned off or
malfunctioning.

I made my way into the ready room, my bare
feet sticking to the cold tile as I tiptoed through. The sound of
heavy boots clopping on the floor came from outside my door, and I
inched forward to eavesdrop. Something was happening, and I
wondered if one of Hero’s friends had returned to drop more bombs
down into the underground base.

My heart stirred at the thought, and I could
feel my blood pumping faster through my veins. Adrenaline surged,
and I knew that I was being given an opportunity to escape. The
possibility of this being an elaborate ruse by my mother came to
mind, but I couldn’t let that concern still me. I had to find out
what was going on.

I pushed at the door that led to the hall,
and it started to ease open. Then it opened with a sudden jerk that
caused me to yelp, and I saw a guard on the other side, dressed
head to toe in black armor. He stared down at me through his dark
visor, with tubes escaping his mouthpiece and running out on either
side over his shoulders to the respirator on his back.