The Orphans (Book 5): Civil War (24 page)

They nodded and both got back in the truck. Greg yelled, “Don’t miss me, Clary,” as they drove away.

Clary double checked everything including the ammo and couldn’t have felt better about the situation they had going for them. The fully stocked tank made everything a little bit better. He stared at the radio wondering what in the hell was taking Aslin and the others so damn long.

Chapter 22

Shaun and Aslin pulled down flight after flight full of containers filled to the brim with bags of blood. When they made it to the garage they repeated the process. Aslin sat on the step taking a minute to breathe. He said, “I’m getting too old for this shit. I mean it! We gotta get those things killed while there is still time for me to be able to enjoy the time.”

Shaun patted him on the shoulder, “You hang in there. If we can keep getting as much of this blood everywhere we go then we’re going to be able to get rid of these things before we know it. Do you think that it’ll really work, that we’ll be able to spread the word and make a dent in the dead?”

“I can only say yes, Fox, the idea of going the rest of my life fighting these bastards is more than I can handle. I’m not going to continue dealing with it. At some point we need to win or lose, but no one is going to need to last an entire lifetime like this. It isn’t any life to live.”

“So, you’d just quit at some point if we don’t make it?”

“Nah, I’d never quit but I tell you what…if I’m too old to fight there is a damn good chance I'll try and make it to an island somewhere and figure out a place that I can live out the rest of my days in peace.”

Shaun kept moving getting the blood in the bus. When he had it there he came back to Aslin tossing a few bags in his hands. He said, “I’m going to go up top, you radio up when you have the bus ready and I'll toss them, and once it looks like they’re going to go there and give us a break I’ll haul ass down here. Sound good to you?”

Aslin pushed up off of the step nodding. “You know the thing that sucks is that this damn day is still not even close to being over. When I was in my twenties I’d be taking a big ass bite out of today and asking for more. Now I need a nap and I’m sick of this shit. I still think that it’s ridiculous that we’re fighting fellow living, breathing,
humans
. We have enough for everyone and we’d be kicking ass and taking names, but they had to be douchebags and now look where we are.”

Shaun shrugged and said, “Can’t save the world without cracking some eggs. We can’t have an entire apocalypse without a few assholes. There wasn’t a shortage before the zombies came so we must’ve had a few slip by. What is it you old guys say that the good die young and-”

“The bad live forever. You get going and I’ll be ready when you are. You are going to be the one running things someday so you might as well try and get your plans ready to go now. Everyone looks up to you. Probably going to even more so especially as we rebuild, again.”

“I don’t want to lead anyone, but if they’re going the same way that I am then they can do whatever they want as far as following me. I just want the dead gone. You guys just stick around so I don’t have to be in charge this young. There’s no way I could handle that on top of everything else going on.”

“Shaun, good leaders never want to be in charge. If they asked for it, they weren’t worth a shit. You won’t really know what I mean until it’s too late and you’re there, kid. When it comes…just go with it. The nice thing is you’ll either soar or fall, and it won’t take long to figure out which way you will go. You don’t have much to worry about though, I think.”

“Okay, well great, that was what I needed to hear. You let me know when the bus is ready to go and we’ll go from there. How does that sound?”

“Like we almost have a half ass plan put together. It's all guessing isn’t it, everything we do, and we have no clue what these fuckers are going to do?”

Shaun said, “It’s better that we at least think about it. These could all be going horribly wrong. I’ll take luck any day of the week.”

“Amen to that, Fox. Now, get your skinny ass moving.”

*****

Shaun sprinted up the stairs keeping away from the hallway filled to the brim with the dead. Shaun pushed up to the room peering over and seeing that there had to have been hundreds. He thought about how many magazines he had on him figuring he could probably take them out within a half hour, but where there were hundreds now- there could be thousands more if he started firing off shot after shot. The dead would replace their fallen brethren and sisters. Shaun laid out the bags of blood along the edge of the roof making sure not to drop any of them. When he looked for a spot to chuck them into the distance he saw one of the dead staring back. His eyes seemed to be almost black and he did not blink; he was the only one in a sea of the dead staring at Shaun, or that seemed to even notice him sitting up there.

Shaun threw the first bag and watched as it soared outside of the circle of the dead splattering on the sidewalk. The blood bag exploded when it hit painting the street with it. Shaun felt hope as the blood wafted up into the air. The dead that were still fighting to get in slowly began to raise their heads looking around for the sweet nectar floating in the air.

When they turned to run the alpha released a guttural cry. It sounded no different from any other screaming that Shaun had heard from the thousands of dead in the past. The Turned stopped dead in their tracks. The ones that did not stop did so when the alpha made its way out of the crowd.

The dead seemed to part for him as if he were Moses in the Red Sea. When he got to the ones that were licking the blood like dogs in the street he picked the first up lodging a hand elbow deep into its skull and ripping it back out full of brain. The Turned went limp and when the others looked at it they stopped pushing and walked slowly to get back in line.

Shaun watched this in awe and the intelligence of this one scared him like never before. He radioed Aslin, “Hey, Aslin, they have a leader for this group. You will never believe what they just did.”

“Just get moving, Shaun, and toss some bags. I got the bus up and running, lucky for us the damn thing is filled to the brim with fuel. They must have had a busy week ahead of them and had it ready.”

“You don’t seem to appreciate the severity of the words coming out of my mouth, Aslin. I just launched a blood bag off the roof, and when they ran for it one of the Turned screamed and they stopped. Those that didn’t got their brains pulled out of their heads.”

“Can you still see it? Is he the only one that looks like he is in charge?”

“Yeah, so far it looks like there is just one. The blood thing might not work if they have these in every group.”

“But the important thing is you can see him, right?”

“Yeah, but-”

“But fucking nothing, shoulder your rifle and put two in its head. If another one looks like it's going to step up, you take them out too. Use your sniper rifle; we don’t need any extra sound that isn’t theirs. God knows how many dead are around this part of town. You got any questions, or are you already picking up your rifle?”

“I’m on it.”

Shaun clipped his radio and unfolded the bipod on the bottom of his rifle. He found the dead who was still staring at him. When Shaun found him in his sights he screamed one last scream. Shaun fired one shot sending it through the front of its skull, and when it came out the back it covered the dead standing behind him, and the darkness in its eyes became covered with blood and brains dripping from the newly created hole.

Shaun sat down for a second actually thankful that it went down. For a moment he wondered if it would work, or if it had been killed. Screams erupted from below that were almost deafening even on top of the roof. Shaun grabbed a blood bag slicing the top off it trying to get as little on himself as possible, and tossed it off the top letting it cover those in the middle. The dead started ripping at those covered in blood, tearing flesh from their skins and skulls from their necks, anxious for a taste.

Shaun watched for a moment thankful that it might work, and when he was confident that the command from the dead only lasted as long as his breath did he launched four more bags off the side of the building. When they smashed into the ground painting it a crimson red the dead flocked to it quickly seeming content and back to their normal blood hungry selves.

Shaun threw what he had left as far as he could and as the wind picked up they went further and further down the street in search of the scent. The only ones left near the building were the dead that had been torn into multiple pieces. When Shaun was sure that they weren’t going to leave the blood anytime soon, and that there were no dead watching him like the alpha, he turned and sprinted down the stairs taking them three at a time, almost biffing it a few times and going down head first.

When he was close to the garage he said, “Aslin, hit the opener for that door. We are out of here; I’m coming down the last flight now.”

Aslin let out a sigh, smiling with relief. He had not been completely sure that this was a good plan but nonetheless it had turned out okay. He watched the door as it rose. The empty parking lot void of dead was not what he saw. It creaked and screeched as it rose to the top. The dead that had been fighting to make their way to the front of the pack to get a taste of the blood that they so desperately yearned for were still there.

Shaun saw the feet as the door rose; he wasn’t stupid or cocky about his speed. He dropped to the ground switching his gun to semi-automatic fire and started taking out kneecaps. The dead collapsed to the ground and began pulling themselves by their arms in a bloody army crawl. The dead saw Shaun and the temptation of a meal kept them moving towards him.

He fired off shots until there was nothing left of their skulls. The door was now fully up and the dead that had been fighting their way up to the blood gave up when the gunfire erupted. The bullets that had struck had passed through the kneecaps that belonged to the targets and ended up fifty yards away lodging themselves inside of the dead straggling behind.

Shaun sprinted towards the bus pulling two grenades as he did. Aslin was already pulling the bus out the door and Shaun launched both of them one after another into the middle of the dead. Aslin started to say something but Shaun had timed them so that when they got to their destination it was time for them to go off. Fireballs rose as they exploded and sent pieces of the dead in every which way that they could. Limbs, skin, and guts hung from light poles. Aslin put his foot to the floor pushing the engine for everything it was worth. The force of the bus momentarily sent Shaun on a collision course with the floor but he righted himself gripping one of the seats on either side.

Aslin yelled, “Hold on to something, would you! We aren’t slowing down until I make it through all of these dead.”

“Don’t slow down for anything! I don’t care what happens. You get in the street and you don’t stop moving until we get back to the base!”

Aslin did as he was told and within a minute pieces of the dead were plastered to the front of the bus. The dead were in tow directly behind them with no sign of them giving up any time soon. The massive bus was too big to gain the speed they needed. There were too many randomly abandoned cars in the streets slowing them down when they needed to put distance between them and the mob of the dead.

Aslin was watching them nervously and said, “You think you could do something about the dead back there?”

“Yeah, I’d be happy to, any ideas?”

“Yes, you knock the window out of the back and then you spend every magazine you need to shoot out their legs from beneath them. Aim at the concrete maybe you’ll get some lucky ricochet into their brains. God bless you if you can actually take some of them out. But unless you got some short ones you aim low. I think it is the safest bet. If we can trip them up, then we can put the distance that we need between us and them. If you got any grenades left then be my guest. Take the two I have.”

Shaun took them stuffing them in his pockets as he ran to the rear of the bus knowing if they did get close they’d have an open invitation to fight their way inside. Shaun used the stock of the rifle smashing it into the glass. It did not shatter as he had wanted; it only webbed out looking like a spider had strewn a web across it. “Hey, Aslin, it won’t break! What the hell do you want me to do?”

“Shoot the fucking thing if it won't break, Shaun. Figure it out because they’re getting closer and there’s a shit ton of cars up ahead. At this point we aren’t going to be able go back to the base if we can’t get rid of these things. There are too many weak spots and we won’t be able to fight them off.”

Shaun shouldered his rifle sending off a ten burst and peppering the window, scattering bullets everywhere. The glass shattered and Shaun broke it out the rest of the way with the butt of his rifle, and this time it worked. The glass shattered behind him and only a few shards were sticking out along the line of the molding that had been keeping it in place.

Shaun started firing off a succession of shots not letting up until the first two magazines had emptied. The dead were falling quicker and the dead behind the falling Turned couldn’t keep their balance as they tried to avoid them. When Shaun thought they had a good handle on putting distance between them he lobbed the first and then the second of the grenades towards the leader of the packs feet and ducked back down on the seat.

“Cover up your ears if you can, Aslin, it is about to get loud in here. I just tossed two grenades out the window.”

The bus shook as both bombs went off. The sound of body parts hitting the back of the bus made him jump. He’d thought one of the dead had still made their way close enough to jump on. Shaun slammed in a fresh magazine and brought back the charging handle. He saw the best thing he had that day when there was nothing but dead for the eye to see. Except these dead were not moving; they were down and staying that way. The dead behind were trying to fight their way past them but they had gotten the distance which they needed and drove like the devil once they hit the first open path that they could take home.