Surge (105 page)

Yeah, I could have probably pulled the wheezer off of her by now, but this is karma. One, she’s been a hateful bitch since day one. Two, she tried to burn my Tomb Raider to death. And three, she had this coming. If she had just gone with the flow for once in her life, she wouldn’t have been served as an entree to a wheezer buffet right now.

When the wheezer tears into the front of Kelly’s neck, silencing her screams, I decide that’s enough. Stepping forward, I bury my hunting knife in the base of the feaster’s skull, before kicking him off of Kelly. She’s gasping for air, similar to how Olivia was when this bitch tried to burn her to death.

I should just let her choke on her own blood. Hell, I would love to let her suffer the death that she created for herself, but I’m not sure if that would be a mortal wound for her; or if the mutation will repair it. I can’t take the chance that the Gene K cells will turn her ape, therefore allowing her hunt survivors down in her new animalistic form; so I ignore her pleading eyes, and finish the job that the wheezer started.

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~><~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

After I ended Kelly, we all piled into the van and Tommy took the wheel. Carlos and Oscar drew out our route to the country club using back roads, so it should take us a little over an hour to reach our destination. Hopefully, the raiders will still be there, and we’ll be able to find Olivia. We’ve already been in the car for half of the journey, most of us sitting silently; that is, until I hear Cory’s whispered thanks from beside me.

“Thanks.”

“For what?” I ask.

“You saved my life,” he says.

“No, I just prevented that bitch from trying to kill you a second time.”

“Still saved me,” Cory counters.

“Fine, but you’re not welcome, since there’s no need to be thankful to me. Had I not lied to Olivia, none of us would be here right now, we’d be with her.”

“I’m not so sure,” Cory says, making me look at him. “I think that Olivia always planned on going out alone, she just went along with the idea of letting me go with her to appease me, but when it came down to it; she would have just snuck out like the guys said she did before.”

“Why do you think that?”

“She still feels responsible for Travis’s death,” he answers. “She told me about what happened, and it was Travis’s decision to go out. Yeah, she agreed to let him, but he still chose to do it. And even if he didn’t choose to leave our house, the raiders would have found their way in somehow. Livs said she heard them talking about how they were watching us for weeks.”

“Weeks?” Cory nods. “Why would they watch you for weeks?”

“Maybe to see if there were more of us?” Cory propose. “Or what skills we had? I don’t know, but I do know is that they made sure I left, before they went in.”

“Don’t start with that
‘it’s all my fault’
bull shit again,” I say when I see his crushed expression. “You didn’t know that you were being spied on, Travis didn’t know what he was walking into, and you were all unprepared and outnumbered anyway.”

“I know,” he says. “And I do, but it still eats at me, you know? The
‘what ifs’
? What if they told me about Liv’s pregnancy before I found the prenatals? What if I stayed? What if Livi told Travis no? What if Travis stayed inside and protected Livs? I know it’s wrong to be angry with the dead, but I was pissed at him for so long. I mean, how dare he leave us? How dare he abandon Livi and his baby?” Cory shakes his head.

“The shit that my head came up with was ridiculous, but that’s what happens when you’re alone. It’s quiet, so you’re left with just yourself for company. With the large amount of internal arguments that I was having daily, I thought I was going crazy for a little while. I would go from being pissed at Travis, to being angry with Olivia, then blaming myself. I was so confused as to who was winning the argument; that I had to focus on something else. I tried focusing on finding Livi, but it wasn’t enough. Two months of nothing, not a single clue as to where she was, or if she was even alive, it started to become an impossible quest. But when I met you, Sarah and John, you were the something else that I could focus on. My second chance, and I don’t think that I could ever repay you.”

“You already did,” I say. “You taught us how to survive, and I’d like to say that you were my friend up until about a week ago.”

“Yeah, well shit changes,” Cory says. I look at him, and see a quirk in his cheek, that I’ve seen him use when he’s teasing Olivia. I punch him in the shoulder.

“Asshole,” I mutter and hear him laugh. “I hope you know that shit is going to change, as soon as we get back.”

“What do you mean?” Cory asks.

“That you’re going to see a hell of a lot more of my mug around, if you want to continue being Olivia’s guard dog,” I answer. “After all, she and I are booked in the same cabin, I plan on making her happy, oh, and we’re married.” Cory nodded at the first two, but raises his eyebrows at the last.

“Yeah, I heard about that,” he replies. “And the fictional bun in the oven.”

“How’d you hear about it?” I ask.

“I think that
every
one heard about it,” Patsy says from behind me. I turn in my seat to face him, before he continues. “
‘Mrs. Benson, I demand that you get down from that table this instant. You’re carrying a child that you should be taking precautions with, not dancing across tabletops!’
”

“Oh my god, she didn’t,” I whisper.

“She did,” Patsy says with a grin. “
Dir-ec-tor
Dennington got her megaphone out, and shout that out across the Mess Hall.”

“What’d Olivia do?”

“She got this confused expression on her face, so Dennington congratulated her on her nuptials, and the pregnancy. That was when Olivia started laughing her ass off,” Webby replies.

“When Dennington repeated her order,” Ace picks up. “Ollie hopped down, pat her stomach and said,
‘But Junior likes to dance. Are you gonna deny a neonate his first wish?’
”

“
‘You have to show the child who’s in charge, before it’s too late,’
Dennington replied,” Cory says. “When Olivia said that
‘it wasn’t 1862, and for Dennington to get with this century,’
Denise stormed out of the room.”

“So, I take it that Olivia isn’t a fan of the director?” I ask.

“Nope,” Patsy says. “Didn’t like her from day one, but the feelings are mutual.”

“Oh well, you win some, you lose some,” John says.

“And it looks like we’ll be doing either in just a few minutes,” Oscar comments.

“Because we’re here,” Carlos adds.

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

My head snaps toward the window and I peer out. It’s midafternoon now, so I can see the dense tree line that Tommy pulled as alongside, but I can’t see anything beyond that.

“Where is it?” I demand.

“It’s a quarter mile down the road,” Wally says. “But we’re getting out here and walk down closer to it, so that we can see what we’re dealing with.”

“But we’re still going in today, right?” I ask. “We’re not putting it off?”

“No, we’re not putting it off,” Wally confirms, and I feel my blood pressure decrease slightly. To come all this way, just to sit around and wait, would have driven me crazy. “We just need a better idea of how to breach our way in.” I nod to say that I understand.

“That means no running in Rambo-style,” John says from beside Patsy in the back. I turn my head back to glare at him. “Don’t give me that look, I know you, and the first thing that you’ll do if you see something that you don’t like; is to run in and get yourself, or someone else killed.”

“I won’t,” I promise.

“That means anything,” Wally repeats and I nod again. “Even if it happens to do with Olivia, we stick with the plan.”

I clench my fist, but nod my consent. As much as I don’t like it, and I don’t, I know that I have to do as they say. First off, because if I don’t agree, they’ll just knock me out and stuff me in a trunk. Secondly, it could endanger the group. And thirdly, it could harm Olivia, and I would never put her in harm’s way.

“Alright, we’re going scouting,” Wally announces. “I want the same three teams in different locations. Each will take a position, and try to find out as much information as you can. Count the people, any weapons that they might use, and see if there’s any holes in their defense that we could use. No engaging with the enemy, not for questioning, or for attack until we regroup and strategize. Understood.”

“Understood,” the former military members respond, while the rest of us just say “Yeah.”

“Then move out,” Wally orders. “Keep your walkies on, and we’ll meet back here at 8:00 hours.”

Ace collects John and Tommy, while Patsy takes the twins. I’m guessing that they already planned which spot that they would spy from, because they split off in different directions before they disappear in the thick foliage. Wally lines us into our triangular position, before he too heads to the woods. It’s only about fifty steps into the woods that we reach the end of the tree line, coming up the edge of the green of a golf course.

Even with neglected maintenance for the last two years, the grass is still surprisingly green and lush, if somewhat wildly long since it hasn’t seen a mower in a while. It’s about half a foot tall in spots, but you could still tell that it was a golf course at one time due to the sand pits that have weeds popping out sporadically. Some areas are sunburned, but the majority is still intact, so I’m guessing that they used some kickass fertilizer when they planted it.

I turn my attention back to  Wally, when I see him crouch down and step back into the tree line. He only goes about four feet in, so that we can still see the golf course, but we wouldn’t be identifiable unless you were close, or someone was paying close attention. I’m hoping that their security sucks, but Wally doesn’t seem too concerned, he just keeps his pace steady and moves onward. Webby’s making the left corner of the triangle, and Cory’s center, leaving me the right corner, but we each spread out a little farther to try and blend in with our surroundings.

With the Wally and Webby in green fatigues, their clothing serves its purpose as a camouflage; while Cory’s sporting a worn pair of jeans and his brown leather coat, and I have grey cargos and my black leather jacket. You could say that black sticks out like a sore thumb in the woods, but it will blend in the darkness which should be taking over soon. Seeing as it’s the beginning of October, we’re well into fall now, so the sun is going down earlier and I know that I’ll be happy for the layer of protection against the chill that has been sweeping in at night.

No, it’s not about to snow any minute. Actually, I take that back, since you never know with New England’s fickle temperament; but I don’t think that it’ll be snowing for at least another month. It’s just about seventy degrees at night now, so a light jacket or sweatshirt would be fine. Fall has always been my favorite season because of its mild temperatures, and then there are the colors that are in the trees.

Like right now, for instance. As we walk, you can see some of the leaves are like someone painted streaks of yellows, oranges, and reds of different shades. Some being a rich red color, while others a pale yellow. Some even have a little bit of green left over, so you get a kaleidoscope of colors with one glance. Which would probably be why Wally spots the dude wearing a dirty orange jumpsuit in the trees.