Sever, p.17
Sever, page 17
“If it was just the Type Twos, they’d wander around, maybe form a large group intent on reaching the same target and getting themselves all fouled up, but the footage shows these things staying together and moving as one. They attack across a large front instead of all funneling toward a sound… Nope, there’s definitely a Type One keeping them focused.”
“Do you think it’s still in the city?”
“No telling, bro. We know the leaders can communicate, but we’re not sure how. I saw one of those fuckers point at my team when we chased them down a tunnel and half of the zombies left in the room turned and delayed us.”
“Okay,” Kestrel sighed. “I’ll go ahead with my plan to go into the city then. Any idea where one of those things might take up residence down there?”
“Well, that’s the hundred thousand dollar question isn’t it? There are so many theories out there, but I think that if it’s still in the city and not out with the army in Pennsylvania, then it would be somewhere downtown.”
“Downtown. Why do you think that?”
“We searched the periphery of that place thoroughly five years ago,” Hank answered with a sigh. “We spent hundreds of hours in the air as close as we could risk going near the areas of heavy radiation and we didn’t see shit for a long time.
Hank warmed to the idea of determining where the creatures may have hidden and continued, “There was always visual satellite imagery of a very large group of Type Twos staying downtown, even while there were massive firefights with the Army on the perimeter. Looking back on it, there was no reason for those things to stay downtown since we were making a shit-ton of noise during the fights; that should have drawn those things out to us.”
It was Kestrel’s turn to be contemplative. “Hmm,” he answered. “Well, it couldn’t hurt. I guess that’s as good a place to start as any. Do you remember if they were more concentrated in certain places?”
“I can’t remember them being more or less concentrated anywhere. When you guys flew into the city, did you notice anything?”
Kestrel thought back to the helicopter flight when they landed at the National Mall so they could go to the Archives. Nothing seemed necessarily out of the ordinary, although they did have to fight a running gun battle from the moment the team stepped off the birds. They had mobile sound buoys echoing throughout the city in an effort to draw them away, but it hadn’t worked entirely.
He continued to think about it as he drove back from the south to his home. The creatures clustered around the National Mall had attacked the team immediately. Then they needed gunship support to dispatch a large group that came down Pennsylvania Avenue to investigate the noise of gunfire. There were definitely creatures being kept near the area for some reason; the more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that it was because they were guarding the Type One.
Once he completed his phone conversation with a rundown of the basic characteristics of the zombies, Kestrel made up his mind to start the search, building to building, in the downtown area. It was going to be a challenge unlike anything he’d ever faced before, though. Just to get to the city center would be at least a 25-mile walk from where he planned to go in at Gainesville, Virginia. Of course, he could go also get a boat and go up the Potomac River right to the downtown. The only problem with that plan was that the Navy was likely still patrolling the water, so if they intercepted him, it was game over.
No, the best bet for him to accomplish the mission was to go overland, right up Interstate 66 all the way downtown. It was harder—and probably more dangerous given the ground that he had to cover—but it made sense to avoid the feds; they’d try to stop him from entering the city.
He laid out the sharksuit on the garage floor before going back inside. Kestrel grabbed a quick meal of canned pork and beans and then went into the backyard where he planned to dig graves for Rachel and Boomer before he left.
It was easier to dig one wide grave instead of two, but he was still sweating freely in the crisp October afternoon by the time he’d finished digging the hole. The shadows had lengthened across his yard, indicating that night was approaching fast. He used bed sheets to lower the stiffened bodies into their final resting place and said a few words that no one would ever hear. The quick eulogy made him feel better about burying a second woman in less than six months.
“Rachel, I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. You didn’t deserve this; you came to me for help and you trusted me to keep you safe. I failed. I failed you and I failed our nation when I didn’t finish the job the first time.
“I can’t make up for the fact that you paid for my failure with your life, and if we meet again in the afterlife I don’t expect your forgiveness. I’m going to kill that fuc— Sorry. I mean I’m going to kill that thing directing these attacks and give our country a chance to fight back. You were a great woman and I wish that we’d have gotten together under different circumstances.”
He shoveled a few scoops of dirt over Rachel’s body. It was just enough to put a thin layer of soil over the corpse and then he sat the shovel down. “Boomer, you were a good girl. You helped me through the toughest time in my life. I hadn’t known that those types of emotions existed in me before Allyson and you were there to see me through the sorrow and pain. Oh, here you go, girl. I got you something.”
He took her well-worn rubber chew toy from his pocket and gently dropped it down into the hole beside her. “Good girl,” Kestrel cooed and began the slow process burying both of them.
Forty minutes later, he topped off their graves by inserting a wooden plank into the soft dirt of each. He’d used a permanent marker to write the details of who lay there and then used a clear spray paint to cover the boards to keep it from fading away in the weather. Maybe once they defeated the zombies, someone would find their graves and relocate them to an actual cemetery for a proper burial with a permanent headstone.
That someone wouldn’t be the Kestrel; he was going to die on this mission. He’d survived the odds far too long and observed the death of his friends and relations far too many times. He’d be smart, take all the appropriate measures to ensure the success of his mission, but when it was over, so was he.
INTERLUDE
25 October, 0521 hrs local
Rocky Mountain Manor
Denver, Colorado
Thump, thump, thump. The pounding on the ornate wooden door sounded through the bedroom. “Mr. President! Mr. President, its Mark. Please wake up, sir.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Ryan; what does he want now?” Heather moaned.
The president briefly considered telling the White House Chief of Staff to go away. Of course, with the raging piss hard-on that he had, he also considered rolling over and having a go with his long-term girlfriend, Heather. She was usually willing to have sex whenever the president needed it, but later in the morning, not at… He looked at the bedside clock.
“Ugh,” Ryan Wilson groaned. In a louder voice, he called, “Mark, it’s five a.m.; what is it?”
“There’s a Priority Alpha message, sir.”
He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. “What’s Alpha mean again?”
Mark hesitated and then said, “Is Miss Wong with you, sir?”
“Just go find out what he needs, baby,” Heather said with a gentle push to his back.
“Hold on, Mark. Let me go to the bathroom and I’ll come out in the hallway.”
President Wilson went to the bathroom and relieved himself, watching the stiffness leave his cock disappointedly. He put his robe over his pajamas and walked out where two Secret Service agents guarded the doorway to his bedroom and Mark Namath stood with a cell phone. “What’s this all about, Mark?”
He held out the phone. “Sir, President Akulov is on the phone.”
“The Russian?” he whispered.
Mark inclined his head, “Yes, sir.”
Ryan mouthed the words, What does he want? Mark shook his head; he obviously didn’t know. He sighed and took the offered phone.
After clearing his throat, he said, “Good morning, Vitaly! How are you?”
“Ah, Ryan! It must be early, I’m sorry to wake you, but I have urgent news.”
He walked down the hall with the phone to his ear. “I’m sure it must be urgent for you to call at five a.m. so it’s alright, my friend.”
“Five a.m.! I’m so sorry; it is two in the afternoon here in Moscow. I would have called you later in the day if the information I have to tell you could wait. It can’t.”
Ryan stumbled down the stairs and Mark expertly caught his elbow to keep him from falling. He nodded his thanks to the man and mouthed the word coffee before answering the Russian president. “What information is that?”
“You have seen the news of the creatures from the District of Columbia coming ashore in Brazil, no?”
Ah, Ryan thought. So that’s what this is about. “Yes, Vitaly. I’ve been given a briefing about the zombies reaching South America as well as a few of the island nations in the Caribbean. They’re even starting to come up along the Gulf Coast and in Texas. Luckily, they’re disoriented when they first come out of the water, so we’ve been able to dispatch them before they could cause any damage and begin another outbreak somewhere else besides in the northeast. I’ve ordered our National Guard to line the coast and we’ve informed our neighbors that they should do the same.”
“Good, good! I’m glad that you are taking every precaution that you can, Ryan. It shows that you are the right man for the job.”
“Well, thank you. That means a lot coming from such a powerful man as you, Vitaly.”
“Taking appropriate precautions is what I want to discuss with you. There is no way of knowing how many creatures have escaped your nation and are now adrift in the ocean, is there?”
“No, of course not,” the president answered as he sat down heavily behind his desk in the Manor. It wasn’t the White House and the Oval Office, but they’d made a very nice headquarters for the federal government in Denver over the past few years.
“Then we can assume that there is the potential for these ‘zombies’ to wash up in Europe sometime in the future, no?”
Ryan accepted the cup of coffee that Mark brought him and then answered, “Yes, I guess there is a potential for that to happen if they were to somehow make it all the way across the Atlantic.”
“Good. Your words steel my heart for what I have ordered my Army to do, then.”
He paused with the cup raised halfway to his mouth and then slowly set it down. “What have you done, Vitaly?”
“I know that you have lost at least two full combat divisions of troops in the initial fighting, as well as many of your police officers and citizens to the zombie horde. I have ordered all four of my Vozdushno-desantnye voyska—our airborne divisions—to begin loading aircraft. They will parachute into an area of your choosing to assist in the fight against these creatures. This is a full twenty-six thousand men. I will also authorize two motorized divisions to fly into an airport in the United States, another twenty-four thousand. Yes, my friend, I am giving you fifty thousand soldiers to assist you in eradicating this scourge.”
Ryan almost dropped the phone. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting the man to tell him, but it certainly wasn’t that he was going to send fifty thousand troops to American soil. “That’s… Um, that’s a great gesture from you. But I really can’t accept it. We have a solid plan to funnel them into—”
“This is not an offer. Russia will either contribute soldiers to fight on the ground and thus prevent further spread of the creatures or we will bomb the United States to ensure that every zombie is destroyed.”
“I don’t… Are you declaring war on the United States?” Ryan asked incredulously. Mark, sitting across from the president listening to the one-sided conversation choked on his coffee and spilled what was in his cup across his shirt.
“No, Ryan,” the Russian answered. “I am offering assistance. I’m offering to put Russian lives at risk—toward a fight on your soil—in order to ensure that we annihilate the zombies before they destroy your country and then strike out against the rest of the globe. But I will do what I determine to be the best course of action for my nation if you do not accept my offer of ground forces.”
“What about defending your own borders?”
“I have sent missives to the European and African nations outlining my intentions and I have recommended that they guard their coasts, much like you have done in your southern states. I have also mobilized all of the considerable Armed Forces of the Russian Federation—more than two million men in uniform. We will not allow this disease to spread into Russia.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say thank you, my friend. We are in this together, not as Russian and American, but as humans against these creatures. Together, we will be victorious!”
Ryan’s mind reeled. It was true that they’d lost a large chunk of the Army that had been stationed around The Wall when the zombies broke out of the region, but he still had more than two million trained men and women already in uniform that he could put into the line, plus untold millions of militiamen. However, only about three hundred thousand of the military were infantrymen, the rest were logistics personnel, pilots and members of the Navy. The crack Russian forces would be a welcome addition to the defensive belt that the Chairman had established to the west of the Appalachians.
“Thank you for your offer of assistance, Vitaly. I guess we really have no other choice but to accept it at this point.”
“That is correct.”
“I’ll let my Army know to expect you and tell our Air Force not to shoot down your planes.”
“Thank you. Good luck, my friend. I will be in contact again soon. Enjoy your coffee.”
The phone clicked dead and the president sat it down on his desk. “What’s happening, Mr. President?” Mark asked.
“It looks like we’re going to be hosting the Russian Army for a while,” he replied.
EIGHT
26 October, 1344 hrs local
The Basement
Randolph, New Jersey
The constant sound of water dripping slowly nearby hammered into his brain and threatened to drive him insane. There was no telling how long that he’d listened to the dripping. He’d first noticed it the day that he was taken and beaten by the two men. They’d attacked him in the store while Maria—Oh, poor Maria!
The men attacked while he and Maria were separated. They dragged them away from the grocery store into a car, handcuffed together in the back seat. Maria was out cold, while he drifted in and out of consciousness from the blow to his head. The masked men had only driven a block or two when they went through an open garage door, which was promptly closed behind them.
Shawn didn’t want to leave the relative safety of the vehicle because he knew that once they were in the kidnapper’s place, the odds of escaping were much lower. The men punched and kicked him to get them out of the car and he finally relented, dragging Maria along with him. Then he had to carry her up the small set of garage stairs into a typical suburban home. Once they were inside, he was hit from behind again.
When he woke up, he was naked and handcuffed to the stair rails. Maria’s muffled screams caused him to look over to where the men assaulted her. They’d used thick cord to lash her to a set of thick, wooden closet rods. She was laid out with her arms and legs spread wide. They took turns raping her for a long time, flipping the entire contraption over when they decided to go a different route on her tortured body. Blood streamed from every orifice of his friend’s ruined body.
Shawn tried with all his strength to break the railing so he could go to her rescue, but he only succeeded in tearing the skin from his wrists where the handcuffs bit into them. The pain was excruciating, but it was nothing compared to what came next once the animals had temporarily satisfied themselves with Maria.
First, they used a mini baseball bat to beat him. It was one of those fan appreciation gifts that you got sometimes from a professional baseball game. The men laughed roughly as he pleaded for them to stop. By the time they were finished, his body was a mass of bruises and he could barely support his own weight. Then, one of the men, the blonde one he thought, came up with the idea to sodomize him with the bat. The other argued that he didn’t want his little toy ruined. They used a full-sized baseball bat on him, cramming it into his body and laughing maniacally at his pain.
He passed out and woke up naked on the concrete floor of a dark room, still handcuffed, with his feet taped together. He didn’t know where he was or how long he’d been there, but the dried, crusted blood on the back of his thighs made him think that he’d been there a while. Since then, the physical pain in his body had eased slightly when he lay perfectly motionless, but any type of movement was excruciating. He’d learned to roll to the corner so he could piss, but he hadn’t had to deal with the terrifying prospect of taking a shit after what those animals had done to him.
The dripping of the water in the next room drove him crazy. He could only imagine what those two sadists did to Maria upstairs, but he was certain that she’d never walk again if they escaped from this house. Even with everything that he’d endured, he never thought about giving up; escaping was constantly on his mind.
He was certain that he could escape. His captors hadn’t bothered check up on him since he’d woken up. Occasional thumps on the floor above him confirmed that he was in the basement of the house. He’d been too sore to try and slide his butt and legs through the handcuffs before, but he knew that having his hands in front would allow him to take the tape off of his feet. Then he’d find a way upstairs to rescue Maria.
