The Dead Series (Book 2): Dead Is All You Get (29 page)

“Do you mean what happened at the checkpoint or Robbin-Sear?” I said, raising my hand unenthusiastically.

“Please don’t interrupt,” the mayor said. “We’re talking about the checkpoint. We’ll get to that other matter in due course.” He and O’Brien exchanged a look.

O’Brien stood, leaned forward with his hands on the desk and glowered at me. “Shut it, Pulaski, or—”

“Or what?” I said, getting to my feet. “You’ll beat me up again?”

“Let’s stick to the business at hand,” Walt said, trying to appear reasonable. “These folks were invited here.”

Reluctantly, O’Brien sat. I gazed around the room. Men in police uniforms guarded the exits. There was something about them—they didn’t look like cops to me. I took my seat.

The mayor cleared his throat and referred to a document. “We’ve done a thorough investigation and found that Black Dragon used excessive force in dealing with the intruders. This is in violation of your contract with the city. Mr. Pederman, care to comment for the record?”

Pederman stood, his hands balled into fists.

“Please use the podium,” Walt said.

Pederman complied. By his posture, I could tell he was struggling with his own anger issues. “Mr. Mayor, our response was in direct proportion to the threat. We were being fired on. Several of my men are dead as a result of the attack.”

“Attack? Are you sure it wasn’t a melée?”

Pedersen didn’t take the bait. “In addition, we had to deal with a large number of undead, who threatened us from the rear. We were, in essence, fighting two enemies.”

The mayor shook his head and turned towards Walt Freeman. Squinting, Walt referred to his own copy of the report. “We’ve done extensive interviews with the wounded civilians. Each of them—to a man—claims that your troops fired first. They were simply trying to defend themselves. So on and so forth.”

“That’s a load of crap!” I said, standing.

“Dave, sit down,” Pederman said. It was only because I didn’t want Pederman to get into more trouble than he was already in that I complied.

“Like-uh-said, we have sworn testimony to that effect,” Walt said.

The mayor glared at me, then focused his attention on Pederman. “Although we acknowledge that there
were
undead present—and, by the way, can we all agree not to use that term? It’s degrading. After conducting our investigation, we’ve concluded that your troops engaged in …” He quoted from the report. “Excessive violence, needlessly endangering civilians.” He looked at each of us, his eyes cold and lizard-like. “As a result, we conclude that you have violated the terms of your contract and are therefore in breach.”

The mayor picked up the gavel. “The order temporarily assigning authority to the Tres Marias Police Department is now permanent. All in favor?”

“Aye,” they said in unison, their voices monotone.

“Black Dragon will continue to report directly to Captain O’Brien until such time that a transition plan can be effected.”

I imagined drawing my weapon and putting a bullet into the head of each of those assclowns. I turned to Warnick, who seemed to be studying the men sitting at the table.

“This is bullshit,” I said.

“Be quiet, Dave.”

The mayor continued. “Captain O’Brien will go over the details of your new mission.”

The corrupt cop rolled his chair back and referred to his own set of documents. I didn’t know who I hated more—the mayor or him. For the next few minutes, he bored us with the mind-numbing minutiae of what we would be doing till we could be transitioned out. Our duties would consist of protecting the civilians in the command center and continuing our patrols, searching for survivors.

If we encountered draggers, we were allowed to neutralize them and incinerate their bodies. If we found survivors, we were to test them for the virus and shelter them at the command center. If they required anything more than basic medical care, we would be instructed to take them to the hospital. If there were further breaches of the town’s perimeter, we were to radio the police department and wait for instructions. This, ladies and gentlemen, was the extent of our mission.

“Any questions?” O’Brien’s expression said he hoped there weren’t.

“Do our patrols extend to the forest?” Pederman said.

“Yes, if you suspect that there are either survivors or infected persons.”

“Regarding the perimeter, what if our people are fired upon?”

“Radio us for instructions.”

“Are you saying we’re not allowed to defend ourselves?” I said.

O’Brien slammed his fist on the dais, which shook the entire structure. Taking a breath, he said, “You will radio for instructions.
Is
that understood?”

As O’Brien sat, the mayor took over again. “Second item on the agenda,” he said. “The isolation facility will be closed effective immediately.”

“What?” Pederman said. “But what about the patients?”

“That is no longer your concern. All in favor?”

“Hold on,” I said. “What if we encounter a civilian who’s infected but hasn’t turned yet? Where do we take them?”

The mayor looked uncomfortable. O’Brien leaned over and whispered something. Finally, the mayor answered the question. “To the police station,” he said. “All in favor?”

“Aye.”

We scoffed at this, but from the look of the Inquisition that towered over us, there was nothing we could do. I knew we needed to tell Isaac right away. We’d been at this for more than an hour. Finally, the mayor addressed the topic I asked about at the beginning. As expected, the city’s conclusions didn’t even come close to the truth.

“Now,” he said. “Regarding the incident at Robbin-Sear. After carefully looking into the matter, we conclude that the two police officers acted in self-defense.”

“That, Mr. Mayor, is completely false,” Pederman said, still standing at the dais. “Those two researchers were killed in cold blood. And Doctor Fallow was gravely wounded.”

“And your troops murdered twenty police officers,” O’Brien said. “That’s prison time, my friend.”

“So, we’re going to jail when it was your men who fired on us?” Pederman said.

“No one’s going to jail,” Walt said, his voice friendly.

“Really?”

The mayor kept his focus on his papers. “The incident is being treated as a case of friendly fire. All in favor?”

“Aye.”

The mayor brought his gavel down hard, the cracking sound echoing in the auditorium like a gunshot. The sound even startled Becky. “This meeting is adjourned,” he said.

The mayor and his entourage left the building before we could ask further questions. The men guarding the entrances vanished. We stood alone in the middle of the auditorium, no wiser than when we arrived. They may as well have turned the lights out on us. I thought of that old joke about mushrooms—kept in the dark and fed shit.

“Any thoughts?” I said.

Pederman was quiet. Here was a man who’d served in the army—who knew about chain of command, following orders without question and ignoring the daily crap that tended to run downhill instead of up. Now, even he seemed confounded by the whole filthy business—unable to understand how he could have done things differently in order to effect a different outcome—one in which we came out heroes instead of borderline criminals.

“We’d better get back,” he said, his voice even.

As I exited the building with the others, rain came down in thin sheets that felt like shards of broken glass on my skin. I could see my breath in the chilled air. As we made our way to our vehicles, a dark figure approached. I saw Greta’s rigid outline, the ears pointed forward in anticipation. She pulled at the leash, but Griffin held her tight.

The man stepped into a weak pool of light, pulling at his left arm. He was around thirty. Slim, with brown hair and eyes. Though his clothes weren’t shabby, they were dirty and bloodstained. He seemed weak and disoriented. I looked hard for signs of infection but didn’t see any.

“Why?” he said.

Great question, I thought. The eternal Why. Why had the plague come down on this sleepy town and ravaged it mercilessly till the few survivors were beaten and hollow? Why were we cut off, out of reach of the rest of the world? Why had evil decided to make Tres Marias its bitch?

There was one answer—the mayor. But why?

“Can I help you?” Pederman said.

The man didn’t seem to hear the question. He rocked gently in the light, touching his arm at the elbow like a kid who’d fallen off his bike and scraped himself up. Something enraged him and he tore at it, as if trying to pull it out of the socket.

“Take it easy,” Springer said.

Instinctively, we arranged ourselves in a half circle and silently unholstered our weapons. We didn’t point them, but kept them at our sides, our fingers on our trigger guards. Greta let out a low, steady growl. If she hadn’t been on a leash she would have laid into this unfortunate bastard six ways from Sunday.

The man was gibbering now, pleading with the raindrops that fell on his face. I could barely make out what he was saying. “F-first m-my wife,” he said. “Then … then my s-sss—dammit—my son. Mah … my little girl …”

He fell to his knees, sobbing, his body wracked with the painful memories of whatever it was that had happened to him and his family. I saw Holly about to go to him, but something told me to stop her—to keep her safe. Erzen went instead, holstering her weapon and putting a gentle hand on the man’s shoulder. Instantly, he stiffened and snatched her wrist with his good hand. Letting out a low, chilling moan, he jumped to his feet and slipped his arm around her throat, cutting off her air. We drew our weapons and pointed them at the man’s head.

“I’ll snap her little neck like a branch,” he said. “I don’t care anymore.”

Erzen struggled to reach her gun, but he grabbed her hand and jerked her arm behind her. She cried out. “It’s your fault,” he said into her ear. “My wife, my son, my daughter. Why did you have to burn them? I-I could have saved them! I wanted to save them!”

“Calm down,” Pederman said. “Tell me your name.”

“Shut up! It’s too late!”

As we watched helplessly he retreated, dragging Erzen with him. I thought about letting Greta go, but he might have time to kill Erzen before the dog could hobble him. The man continued moving backwards into the darkness. We began to follow, but a single gunshot echoing in the emptiness of the night stopped us. Erzen staggered forward, rubbing her throat and coughing. She didn’t appear to be bleeding.

Holly stayed with Erzen while the rest of us ran past her into the darkness. There on the wet asphalt, the man lay motionless, the left side of his head missing, rivulets of bloody rainwater streaming away from his body. Another figure stood close by holding a weapon at his side.

It was Hannity.

“Still not safe,” he said, and walked off, disappearing around a corner.

No one wanted
to tell Isaac. Holly, the guys and I stood there faking smiles as he lay in his hospital bed, weak and in pain. The room was surprisingly pleasant. Morning light streamed in through the large, single window, softened by the grime on the outside. Isaac was hooked up to an IV. On a side table stood a plastic pitcher of water and a stack of paper cups. A tray sat next to it with a half-eaten breakfast of weak-looking scrambled eggs and pale toast.

“How’s the food?” I said.

“Now I know why I became a doctor instead of a patient.” Isaac tried smiling, but I could see he was miserable. “They tried giving me Dilaudid for the pain. I opted for ibuprofen.”

“No wonder you’re grumpy.”

“Is this a social visit? I’m expecting my attorney.”

Pederman stepped past Warnick and Springer. “Doctor Fallow, we learned last night that the mayor is closing down the isolation facility.”

“They can’t do that—”

“It’s already in the works, I’m afraid.”

“But what about the patients? Our tests?”

“We don’t have any details yet, but it’s definitely off-limits.”

“And here I thought you guys were in charge.”

“Yeah, well. Our mission here is ending,” Warnick said.

“I see. Makes sense after what happened at Robbin-Sear.” Isaac tried sitting up. Holly and I each took an arm and helped him. He winced from the pain in his side. A small patch of dried blood crusted his hospital gown. “Thanks. If they’re shutting it down, that can only mean one thing for those patients.”