The Mortis Desolation (Book 1): Mortis (5 page)

“
O
h shit
,” John said.

I didn’t know what to do. I sat in the passenger’s seat of the van, frozen. The blood drained from my face, and I gripped the seat around me until my knuckles turned white.

The Xenomortis began walking toward us, dragging one of its legs behind him. Its hard, rocky grey skin glistened red around its mouth. Probably blood from its last victim.

“It’s not charging,” Daniel said, almost shouting to be heard over the thuds of the zombies.

I shook myself out of my daze. Daniel was right, it wasn’t charging, which meant it hadn’t seen us yet. It was probably just investigating the noise the zombies were making.

“Julia, turn the car off,” I said as I unbuckled my seat.

“What?” she protested.

“
Just do it.”

Julia obeyed, and then followed me into the back of the van. “Everybody get as low as you can,” I said.

We all lay down on the floor of the van. My feet were pretty much in John’s chest, and the back of Julia’s head was next to mine.

“We should just drive through the yard of the hardware store,” Julia whispered.

“We won’t be able to pick up enough speed in time. The Xenomortis would be on us in a heartbeat,” I explained. “Our only option is to not be seen.”

As if on cue, I looked up and could see the Xenomortis appear in my line of sight. It didn’t look into the van. It stopped and stared at the zombies for a few moments with its reptilian eyes, watching them try and break into the van.

I looked at the passenger’s side-view mirror, and could see some of the zombies continue to throw themselves against the van, but a few of them turned to look at the Xenomortis. They stared back at him with their dead eyes.

The Xenomortis grunted, and a few more zombies turned their attention toward him. Still, some had their attention elsewhere. The Xenomortis grunted again, this time a little louder. Now all but two were still trying to get into the van. I couldn’t see these two, but I could hear them hitting the back door of the van.

The Xenomortis began walking toward the back. I watched in the side-view mirror until he disappeared around the corner.

I held my breath. My heart thumped in my chest, pumping fear and adrenaline through me. Sweat began to bead on my brow as my throat completely dried up.

The Xenomortis let out a heart-stopping roar. It sounded like a million soldiers storming into battle, yelling all the way.

The thuds stopped, and so did my heart for a brief second.

Two distinct squishing sounds penetrated the silence.

I looked up to the side-view mirror, and the Xenomortis appeared around the corner, covered in black zombie blood and guts. The Xenomortis walked past the zombies without looking back, and the group of about ten zombies shuffled behind, following it as if it was their master.

The Xenomortis went around the left of the car and disappeared from view. I listened as it shuffled toward the hardware store. The sound of metal being torn apart filled the air, and my mind raced at the possibilities of what could be happening.

I sat up, but motioned for everyone else to stay put. I crawled up to the front of the van and peeked out the driver’s mirror.

The Xenomortis shuffled toward the hardware store, heading straight for the open back door. After a few moments, it reached it, and didn’t stop as it disappeared into the darkness of the store, with the zombies following right behind.

A
fter a few moments
of dead silence, everybody else sat up. They all looked out of the window making sure the Xenomortis was gone.

“Where did it go?” Peter asked, searching the outside for any sign. Then he saw the destroyed chain-link fence. “Don’t tell me…”

I nodded my head. “It and the zombies all marched right inside the hardware store.”

“You mean the zombies followed it?” Daniel asked.

Before I could answer, John jumped in. “Do you think we could talk about this while we’re driving away from one of the most dangerous situations we could ever be in?”

“Yeah,” I said as I moved to the passenger’s seat.

Everybody held their breath as Julia started the van. I swore it had never been that loud before. Julia did her best not to just punch it. She eased the van forward until there was enough distance between us and the hardware store that she could accelerate without the engine noise attracting any unwanted attention.

“So where were you?” John asked.

“The zombies,” Daniel began. “You said they
followed
the Xenomortis.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. I turned around in my seat to get a look at the three guys in the back. “The Xenomortis got the zombies’ attention, and the two that ignored it, it killed.”

“Holy shit,” John hissed.

“I saw part of it too,” Peter said. The color had yet to return to his face. “It was unreal. I couldn’t believe it. It was like the Xenomortis was recruiting, or ordering, or…I don’t know what. It was insane, though. And the fact that it went into the hardware store with the atras is even worse.”

John looked at Peter, puzzled. “What does the Xeno going in there mean?”

Peter gave John a blank look. “I don’t know, John. I have no idea. But whatever it is, it cannot be good. I doubt the Xenomortis was going in there to get an atras body for us.”

I turned around in my seat and looked out the windshield, watching the town go by as we headed toward the Interstate. To say I didn’t feel good about any of this would be an understatement. There was too much happening at once. Too much change going on, and I couldn’t grasp any of it. I missed the days of simple scout runs, even though those days were just a few ago. I missed shooting the shit with Pike as we drove back from one of those runs.

But most of all, I missed Ashley.

The knot in my stomach hurt so much I wanted to cry. But I wouldn’t let myself. I was a leader now. I had to be strong. If I wanted to cry, I’d have to save it until I was alone.

I couldn’t wait to be alone.

W
e crossed
over the trench's dirt bridge, and Julia parked the van. I got out, and before I could say anything else, my throat dried up and my pulse began pounding.

We had visitors.

Two large trucks with gun turrets mounted on the back of them sat parked in a v-formation in front of Jefferson Memorial Bank’s front doors.

"That doesn't look good," John said.

I walked as fast as I could to the trucks. Two people stood in the bed of each truck, decked out with body armor and assault rifles.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying my best not to sound defensive. They were the ones with the turrets, after all.

The one in the truck closest to me smiled, moving the tattoos that covered his neck. "My boss is in there talkin' to yours."

"About what?" My heartbeat quickened. "Who are you?"

"We're the Roves, and we're taking over."

I
stormed
into the bank with my two squad mates, Peter, and Daniel behind me. My thoughts were a jumbled mess. I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the cafeteria.

When I did, though, I couldn't believe what I saw.

George and the rest of the Founders were having a discussion with the Roves. Not ordering them to leave, not fighting them off, not screaming and arguing, but a discussion.

"What's going on?" I all but shouted as I got close.

There were eight of them, seven of us. They stood behind their leader, who was talking to George. He was tall, muscular, and intimidating. His skin was olive, and he looked at me with a charming smile.

I wasn't fooled, though.

He was scum. Rove scum.

"Miles, please, take a moment," George said. "The Roves are making us an offer."

I looked at him dumbfounded. "An
offer
?! And you're listening."

George darted his eyes away. "Yes, Miles."

"There's really no choice,
Miles
," the Rove squad leader said to me with a smile.

I lunged at him, but George jumped in my way and pushed me back. The Roves raised their guns, and Daniel and John pulled me back. Not because they didn't want me to hurt the Rove, but because they didn't want me to get killed in the process.

"Miles, listen," George said.

I paid him no attention. I just stared into the eyes of their leader. I felt nothing but hate for him. Pure, unbridled hatred.

"Listen!" George shouted.

I turned my eyes away from the Rove and to George. He almost never raised his voice.

"We don't really have a choice, Miles. We have to cooperate," George said. In his eyes, I could see he was conflicted by his decision.

"No, we don't," I said. Turned back toward the Roves. "I oughta just kill you all! I outghta just kill every last one of you!”

One of them took a step toward me, but the leader put a hand on his chest, stopping him.

"Miles, stop right now. You're not helping," Rachel said from behind George.

"Miles, my name is Darren," the Rove squad leader said in a voice that oozed with condescension. It infuriated me. "We're not here to bullshit you. Not one bit. If you
tried
to kill us all, you might succeed. I can tell you're angry. Anger is powerful. You might be able to get the drop on us. However," his face turned threatening, "if we don't report back soon, there'll be a hundred Roves on top of this camp faster then you can blink. Not even twenty angry Miles' could take all of them out." His smile returned. "So, George, why don't you explain to our angry little friend the predicament you're in."

George sighed and looked at me with sorrowful eyes. "The Roves want our camp. They're willing to rebuild our walls--
upgrade
them, even—keep us protected, from zombies, Xenomortises, everything. In exchange, they want everything. They'll be in charge. Their people will run it. It'll be like an outpost for them."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," Darren began, "the Roves are growing. We want to expand. Your camp is perfect for us. Good strategic location, you're fortified, and you have tons of supplies."

I don't think I could've hated him any more. "So we're just going to hand over everything we've built? To the
Roves
of all people?" I said to George, but it was directed toward everybody.

"I don't think you're understanding, Miles," Darren said with a smug laugh. He began to walk closer toward me. "If you don't hand it over, we'll take it from you. We'll kill anybody who resists, and those who don't, will be Rove slaves." He stopped just a foot away from me. So close I could deck him hard. "So if you don't shut up," he said. "That's exactly what we're going to do."

My entire body shook. I wanted to say something. Wanted to
do
something.

But I couldn't. Darren won. If I said anything, they'd start killing. I couldn't have the people of Jefferson Memorial's blood on my hands.

Was this it? Was I giving up?

I had to. As much as it killed me, I didn't have a choice. I knew Darren wasn't bluffing. The Roves would kill them. I was having a hard time believing they didn't take the bank by force in the first place.

I looked at the ground, but then decided to look Darren in the eyes. I wanted him to see how much I hated him. "Fine." I wanted to say more, but that's all I could get out.

Darren smiled. "Good, Miles. Good." He reached out his hand, wanting me to shake it. He was asserting his dominance. Letting me know he'd won.

I just turned around and walked away.

He may have won this time, but he'd issued an ultimatum.

A war was about to begin. A war for Jefferson Memorial. A war against Darren. A war against the Roves.

That was the first battle.

And as I walked away, I began to prepare for the next.

D
aniel
, John, Rachel, Julia, Peter. Those were the five people who stood before me. They had their packs on their shoulders, filled with precious supplies. Things we would need to survive out there.

“Are you all ready?” I asked them.

They nodded their heads.

I let out a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

We stood at the back door of the Jefferson Memorial Bank. We stayed close to the wall, and made our way to the edge of the building. I poked my head around the corner, and made sure there were no Roves standing around it. As I expected, there weren’t. There were a lot of zombies to deal with, so most of the Roves were out taking care of them. The only two that weren’t were standing in the back of their trucks, watching the front gate.

There were still only ten of them at Jefferson, but the cavalry would arrive in the morning. But we’d be long gone by then.

We dashed under the cover of night toward where all the vehicles were parked. Julia unlocked the van with her remote and the lights flashed twice, signaling it’d done as it was told.

I hissed and held my breath, afraid someone might’ve seen. Nobody did, however, and I scrambled into the passenger seat of the van. Everybody besides me and Julia climbed into the back.

Julia started the car, and I looked toward the guards in the trucks. They’d heard us, and raised their guns in our direction.

“Go, Julia, go!” I yelled at Julia as she stomped on the gas.

The tires spun in the dirt for a second before gaining traction and propelling us forward.

The guards fired their guns at us, but we were far enough away that most of them missed us. A couple of bullets, however, tore through the side of the van toward the top, creating the most frightening pinging sound I’d ever heard.

I rolled the window down and fired a couple of bullets behind us, trying to get them to back off. It didn’t matter, though. We were getting away. We shot out the hole in The Wall that the Xenomortis made just a few days before.

Everybody was made aware of us then. We turned left, our headlights lighting up the darkness. There were a couple of people out there running back from killing zombies in the trench. They dove out of the way of our speeding van and whooped and hollered at us, happy that we were escaping. Some of them even tried chasing after us, but we had no time to stop and pick them up. We’d be back, though, no doubt about it.

New holes appeared in the left side of the van as the Roves that were up on the parts of The Wall that hadn’t fallen down shot at us.

Julia weaved and swerved, making it hard to hit us. She turned left, going around another corner of The Wall.

Up ahead, I could see the dirt bridge in the trench that led to the outside. To freedom.

We came closer and closer.

Thirty yards.

Twenty.

Fifteen.

Julia started to turn the steering wheel to the right to line the tires up with the narrow bridge.

But as she did, one of the bullets from a Rove up on The Wall tore through her arm. It exited her and grazed my leg. I yelled out in pain, but then in fear.

The van veered toward the trench. Julia tried to get back on track, but she overcorrected. The van flipped across the ground.

One time.

Two times.

Three times.

Four.

I was vaguely aware of those in the back grunting and yelling in pain as they were tossed around like rag dolls.

The van came to a stop. My eyes were closed, but I could tell I was upside down. I opened them, aware of every bit of pain I felt.

My heart fluttered. We were upside down, alright…
in the trench
.

The zombies started banging on the van, desperate to have a taste of the meals inside.