The Hunger (Book 1): Devoured (27 page)

Cass looked at Lance and shook her head. “We should leave.”

“No, you should eat and rest,” Brown said. “Both of you are nearing exhaustion.”

Someone screamed nearby, startling Lance and Brown. Cass continued staring at Lance, hands still attached to her waist.

“I have to see what’s going on,” Doc Brown said. “Please get some sleep. Your bodies can only take so much.”

He took a step in the direction of the scream when Lance caught his upper arm.

“Just one more question. The people that I left the hospital with, what happened to them?”

“Hmm? Oh, the mother with the newborn? She was on the first chopper out of here.”

“So Ashlee is safe? Do you know where they took her?”

“I believe she is. There are camps set up all over the countryside. She specifically asked to go to one near Greensburg, if I’m recalling correctly.”

Lance let out a sigh. At least she’d gotten away before everything went to shit.

“And my wife and her... boyfriend?” He almost choked on the last word.

Brown shuffled his feet, as if he felt uncomfortable talking about it. “They went with her in the same chopper. They were fine the last time I saw them. Now, I really must be going.”

He disappeared amongst the plethora of tents.

Lance stared off into space, feeling a little better. The three of them had gotten away. No matter what issues he had with Liz, he truly wanted her to escape the city. Perhaps she was already near Philadelphia, in search of her parents. Hopefully, Ashlee was tucked away in her uncle’s cabin, taking care of her little boy.

“Earth to dumbass. Are you there, dumbass?” Cass snapped her fingers by his face.

“Yeah, just giving myself a mental pat on the back.”

“What?”

“I helped three people get the hell out of here just when everything went down. Feels good.”

“Oh. Good for you then. Ignore my snark. Was one of them your wife?”

“And her boyfriend.”

“That must have been difficult.”

“Well, if I’m being honest, her boyfriend beat my ass and they left me on the sidewalk.”

“I really need to teach you how to fight. But first, we need to get out of here. Look around. This place is going to burn. Soon.”

The father of the family sitting by the fire looked up from his book burning.

“Hey lady, do you mind not scaring my kids?”

“They should be scared, and so should you.” Cass stepped directly in front of Lance. He could feel her breath on his cheek. “I saved your ass again in the river. You owe me. If we get out of here now, I’ll call it even.”

Lance locked his eyes on hers. “OK. We’ll go. But I
have
to get some food and water. Let’s grab two of those MREs and then we’re out of here. Deal?”

“Deal.”

She grinned at him, a small sparkle in her left eye. For a moment, he thought she might kiss him. He could have used that just then.

Instead, Cass stalked off, heading in the direction the soldier said the military tents were. Lance followed, wishing he’d kissed her rather than waiting for her to make the move.

They walked through the maze of tents. Lance was shocked at the squalor people lived in. He expected people to have little, but some of them didn’t even have shirts or shoes. Children played in the dirt, making car engine sounds as they swirled their fingers in circles.

A few women, their eyes blackened and cheeks yellowed, cowered in the corners of tents. Lance gritted his teeth at the sight of them, wishing he could get his hands on the men that assaulted them. What kind of monster would do that at a time like this?

Cass stalked onward as if she didn’t see them, eyes scanning ahead. She ignored catcalls as she moved by a group of men that looked at her like a piece of meat. Lance considered punching the nearest in the face, but he intended on keeping his promise to Cass—they would leave as soon as he got his hands on some food.

Navigating the maze of hovels and people took much longer than Lance liked, daylight burning too quickly.

They broke through the abundance of tents into a short clearing with police tape cutting off certain areas. Larger tents, each the size of a bus, ran in a line along the road leading to the front of the stadium. Soldiers hustled about, carrying supplies or helping the wounded.

A hand-painted sign leaning against the opening of a white tent read ‘FOOD’. Cass ducked under the yellow tape and went straight for it, ignoring the designated routes. She passed through the opening without waiting for Lance to catch up.

He followed her inside, having to walk around the stakes and ropes that held the structure up.

MREs and bottles of water filled the inside. Boxes and crates stacked atop one another, blocking the view of the back of the tent.

“Running out of supplies my ass,” Lance said.

Cass grunted. “It’s not much when you figure there are at least a thousand people in tents out there.”

“Lance?”

“What?” Lance turned around, looking for the person who said his name.

“Holy shit! You made it!”

Eifort stood behind a folding table covered in stacks of MREs.

“Eifort!” Lance walked over and proffered his hand. “Glad to see you’re still kicking.”

“It took you long enough to get here. I thought you died.”

“Not yet. I’ve had a couple of close calls though. Fortunately, I’ve got my guardian angel with me.” He cocked a thumb over his shoulder at Cass.

Eifort’s eyes widened as she took in Cass. “Where did you find her? She looks, uh, interesting.”

“It was the other way around—I found him.” Cass stepped over to the table. “I’m starting to think that you know entirely too many people in this camp.”  She nudged Lance in the ribs.

“Sergeant Eifort helped me—”

“Staff Sergeant, actually.”

“
Staff
Sergeant Eifort helped me get the people away from the hospital.”

Eifort stared at Cass’ butchered hair. “What happened to your head?”

“I’m a blonde, as you can see. I leaned too close to the garbage disposal.” Cass shrugged.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Ignore her—she’s a pain in the ass. So the doc told me that Ashlee got away with her boy. Thanks for helping.”

“I’m still ashamed that I almost didn’t,” Eifort said. “Anyway, you guys look hungry. Want some grub?”

She pulled two MREs off a stack on the table and handed them over. “Sorry I couldn’t give you more, but we’re on tight rations. We’re losing more contact with the outside every day.”

“So we hear. That’s why we’re leaving, actually. Cassie Sassy here doesn’t feel safe.”

Cass gave him a harder shot in the ribs. The elbow knocked some of the wind out of him, though he tried to play it off as if nothing happened.

Eifort gave them a confused grin. She leaned over the table, whispered, “It isn’t safe here. We’re running out of everything. We had to stop sending out patrols in the helicopter because our fuel is so low. I expect them to pull us out of here soon.”

“See? I was right all along. Dumbass.”

“We ran into one of those patrols. A couple of Special Forces guys blowing shit up. Are they here?”

“We lost contact with them.” Eifort looked at the table before her. “We’re losing people by the hour.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lance decided to change the subject. “We’re going for the mountains outside of Greensburg,” Lance said. “Do you know if it’s still safe there?”

“That’s the only place we still have radio communication with, as far as I know.”

Cass jerked her head toward the opening of the tent.

“Ok, Ok. Thanks for the food, Eifort. And for everything else. Keep your head down, you hear? Maybe we’ll see you in Greensburg.”

Eifort waved as they went back outside, the lowering sun bright against the light colored fabric of the tents.

Cass stopped at the police tape, her head swiveling from side to side.

“What is it?” Lance asked.

“I don’t particularly want to go back through there. Seeing all of those people is upsetting me.”

Lance understood. Watching the cowering women and starving children saddened him more than he could have expected.

“Let’s go around.” She pointed to the edge of the camping area on their left. The parking lot ended by a small roadway by the side of the stadium. “It might be faster anyway.”

It took a tremendous amount of willpower for Lance to keep himself from tearing open his MRE. Knowing that he had sustenance in his hand made him salivate. Cass kept her head straight, not looking at the mass of people in and around the tents.

A gray trailer on their left had large antennas and an array of satellite dishes atop it. Lance figured it to be the operations center, but he didn’t care enough to investigate it any further.

They approached the edge of the tents when someone shouted from behind them.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. Little miss smart mouth and her pussy boyfriend.”

Cass spun around, hand going to her holstered pistol.

“Don’t even think about it. Toss it.”

Lance sighed and turned around.

Two of the three soldiers they’d encountered on the shore stood behind them, rifles aimed at Lance and Cass once again. The older, wiser, and nicer of the three was nowhere around.

The men before them couldn’t have been more than twenty. Their baby faces betrayed their ages.

“I won’t tell you again, bitch.”

Cass lifted the gun from its holster and dropped it to the ground.

“Guys, let’s be smart about this. We’re leaving—there’s no reason to start any shit with us.” Lance doubted he could reason with these men. Seeing the way they glared at Cass, a combination of lust and hate in their expressions, answered Lance’s question as to who might be harming the women in the camp.

Shouts came from somewhere in the tents. Dozens of people screamed for help. The men ignored the sounds as if they weren’t happening.

Lance let his eyes roam the area around them, trying to see someone who could help. All of the other military members they’d seen were helping the people here—all of them except these two. He spotted a few service men, but they were too far away. Most ran into the tents, checking on what the shouting was about.

“You think we were just going to let Xena Princess Warrior’s attitude slide? We’re in charge now and we don’t appreciate taking shit from the peons.” The taller and tanner of the two kept his gaze on Cass, though he spoke to Lance.

Lance saw the man’s eye twitch every few seconds. That had happened to Lance a few years ago when he’d been fired from a job and they struggled to make ends meet. His doctor said it was stress and that he needed to take it easy. Clearly, the young soldier wasn’t handling things well.

“Everyone up front! Now!”

Fifty yards behind the soldiers, Major Reynolds burst from the command trailer. He spotted Lance and Cass and his two subordinates with their weapons pointed at them.

“Rodgers! What the hell are you doing?” He strode over to them, a glint of recognition on his face when he got a closer look at Lance. “York, right?”

“Is there anyone here that you don’t know?” Cass asked.

“Sir, these two were trying to... steal from the weapons cache.” Rodgers lowered his gun, saluting the major.

“Doesn’t matter. Get to the North Shore, now! We’ve been breached. If we don’t clear those bastards out, right now, there won’t be anyone left to use the goddamn weapons.”

Rodgers and his partner hesitated, casting glares at Cass again. “But—”

“
Now
!”

“Sir!” They turned and ran into the tents, disappearing.

Reynolds pointed his finger at Lance. “You and I are going to have a discussion later on. Everywhere I see you, problems follow.” With that, he followed his soldiers into the fray.

Cass picked her gun out of the dirt and stuffed it back in her holster.

“Can we not run into anyone else who doesn’t like you?” she asked.

“Hey, those two nitwits have a problem with you, not me.”

“Looks like they have a problem with a lot of women.”

The shouting in the tents intensified, frightened cries churning to pained.

“Now what?” Lance looked up at the sun, which was closer to the horizon than he would have liked. Where had the day gone?

“I told you—this place isn’t safe. We need to leave, now. I’m not even sure we can make to the shore before dark.”

People streamed from the tent line, dragging their loved ones behind them. Some had blood running from bites and scratches. Soldiers tried to maintain order, direct them toward the stadium, but panic pulled everyone’s strings now.

The fleeing crowd filled the street in front of the stadium, cutting off Cass and Lance’s escape route.

Knowing that Cass was right, they had to leave, Lance stepped in front of her.

He cupped the back of her head in his hand and pulled her face to his. He breathed her in as he kissed her surprised, stiff lips. They loosened after a moment and she kissed him back with vigor.

Lance pulled away after a few seconds, breathing heavily.

“What was that for?” Cass asked.

“Just in case.”

“Don’t say stupid shit like that. Just stay close to me so I can protect your out-of-shape ass.” She reached over her shoulder and pulled her battle-axe free. “Let’s do this.”

Lance took his Rambo knife from its sheath, gripping the handle so hard that veins bulged in his forearm. They tossed their MREs in the dirt, their hunger forgotten.

Together, they plunged into the tents.

––––––––

T
he screams grew louder as they moved through the makeshift camping grounds.

They only made it thirty yards in when Lance spotted the first daywalker. A woman, her skin desecrated by cuts and jagged slashes from razor wire, gripped a man’s head in her hands and drank from his gouged neck.

Blood poured down the man’s back, soaking his shirt and dripping to the ground like a broken faucet. He stopped fighting back after a few seconds, his body going limp in the woman’s arms.

Lance stalked forward, ready to plunge his knife into her eye when her temple exploded outward, rigidity overtaking her limbs as she fell sideways.