Chapter 27
“I’
ll be back by sunset
,”
Mia said with a hint of sarcasm before pulling Kyle up next to her. Not saying anything, he turned, looking her up and down as if to make sure she was real.
“
You forgot to mention yo
u’
d be burning down Kentucky on the way back
,”
she continued with a smile, as a shiny bead of water rolled down around her nose and onto her lips.
The only time
I’
d ever seen even a hint of a tear hit Kyl
e’
s face was on that chopper as he pulled Mia in close and embraced her tightly. With her head dug deep into his shoulder as he rested his chin on her brow, they both sat there, with their eyes closed, holding one another as if they were on borrowed time.
Twisting my wedding ring, I looked away and dropped my head down to my chest as my thoughts fell to being reunited with Jenn seven months earlier. Before she passed away giving birth to Tyler.
Pain always seems to follow the good moments.
Twisting around to the front of the chopper, I peered into the cockpit. To my surprise, I found that an old friend was busy keeping us in the air and pointed toward Avalon.
Reaching over to grab a headset hanging on a metal hook near my shoulder, I slid it over my ears and blew twice into the microphone to make sure it was connected.
“
I should have known yo
u’
d be part of this suicide mission
.
”
Turning around, the pilot smiled and simply replied
,“
Just like old times, huh, John
?
”
“
Yeah, I guess so, buddy. Thanks for coming after us. We probably owe our lives to you
,”
I replied, reaching over and patting him on the shoulder.
“
Not me. You have Mia to thank for that. She would
n’
t stop harassing me until we were in the air
.
”
He was a former resident of Fort Gordon, the Augusta Army base w
e’
d found shelter at before heading back to Avalon. His name was Cooper, and we had been through a hell of a time together trying to get from Augusta to Avalon in those first weeks of the apocalypse. The bond forged during that trip left me realizing that I should
n’
t have been surprised that Mia was able to recruit him to come out after us.
“
How long until w
e’
re back
?”
I asked.
“
Should
n’
t be more than a few hours. You should get some rest. The whole of Avalon is racing around preparing for the attack
.
”
He went on to explain that less than a mile from the front gate of Avalo
n’
s outside wall, there was a small army amassing. Filled with trucks, men, and a number of choppers that had airlifted in some sort of huge wooden boxes, the war zone was quickly getting ready to heat up.
“
Wooden boxes
?
” I questioned.
“
I haven't seen it myself, but the radio operator is telling me that there are a number of them. The
y’
re covered up by tarps, so nobody can see them well enough to know what they ar
e…
or what the
y’
re for.
I gulped hard, feeling my Ada
m’
s apple move up and down, then thanked Cooper once again and sat back down in the cabin. He was right. We would
n’
t have any time to prep, and I only hoped that Richard, who was still running things back at Avalon, was able to pull all the right moving pieces together. Between the Dead Shed filled with Zs, Kyl
e’
s all-or-nothing last resor
t—
Project BOHIC
A—
and a few other tricks up our sleeves, w
e’
d be able to put up a fight. However, after seeing that hovering gunship tear down the Stripe
s’
tree fortress, I knew in my heart of hearts that the odds of us pulling a win out of this one were very thin.
Noticing that Mia was looking out the window, I waved at her and pointed to my headset. After she slipped one over her head, I asked
,“
How are Tyler and Deanna with everything happening
?
”
“
Deanna is her old self, trying to get more information from people than she really needs. Old busybody
.
”
“
And Tyler
?
”
Her face grew serious, dropping my heart into my stomach. My palms went clammy as an icy shiver went up my spine.
“
We need to get back with the meds, John. H
e’
s doing OK, but as of about thirty minutes ago, we got word that h
e’
s starting to have a little trouble breathing
.
”
Seeing the look on my face, she continued with a forced smile
.“
Do
n’
t worry, John. Doc says that if we get back soon, he should be just fine
.
”
Cracking a half-smile, I gripped the backpack straps and pulled them tight.
“
Your boy misses you, John. When he heard your voice over the radio speakers yesterday, he sat up and started to crawl toward the radio table
,”
she said, while imitating a crawl by using her arms.
The little bugger knew my voice and had started to crawl. I shook my head, knowing that missing the first time he crawled was a small price to pay for trying to keep him safe; however, deep down, it still stung.
Looking over at Kyle, who now also had a headset on, and then back toward me, Mi
a’
s eyes narrowed as she let a sly smile grow across her face.
“
One other thing. That woman whose child you saved from the cafeteri
a…
Claire? Sh
e’
s been helping Deanna out with Tyler. Seems like yo
u’
ve made quite an impression on that one
.
”
That shit-eating grin, which I knew all too well, grew across Kyl
e’
s face, but he refrained from saying anything. Thinking back to the drug-induced dream
I’
d had the day before, I began to twist my wedding ring around my swollen finger.
Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, I looked up from my hand with a slight shrug and said
,“I’
m sure sh
e’
s just returning the favor for saving little Olivia
.
”
“
Yeah,
I’
m sure tha
t’
s what it is
,”
Kyle chimed in with a bit of a laugh.
Rolling my eyes, I looked the window and thought about little Olivia and all the other people that were back at Avalon. Sure, it was an underground bunker that sometimes felt like a catacomb, but it was also our home, and the people living there were good. W
e’
d built something at Avalon that needed to be preserved amongst the nightmare that lived outside its walls.
W
e’
d fought so hard to do what was right in a world of shit, a world where everything seemed wrong. Thinking back over the last twenty-something hours, I realized that
I’
d done whatever it took to get back to them. For the first time,
I’
d taken a ma
n’
s life. Not just a Z. Hell, killing Zs was easy. Killing a living person was something that
I’
d managed to avoid. Something that I had always hoped I would
n’
t have to do, but feared I may need to.
The look on the Hul
k’
s face as he took his last breath flashed before my eyes. Then I thought of Rodgers and the terror in his eyes as I pulled the trigger to cripple him in that underwater grave.
I’
d known what I was doing. I was killing people so that
I’
d be able to keep going. So
I’
d be able to save my son.
Running a hand over the backpack filled with the meds, I was
n’
t sure what, if anything, made me better or different from anybody else out there who was willing to do murder. At some point, in order to survive, w
e’
d all lost a little humanity, and mine was clearly gone. Was I really doing what was right in a world of shit?
I’
m not sure I have the answer to that. However, I can only hope that what
I’
ve done to keep goin
g…
to keep my friends and family safe will be worth the trade for my soul.
Feeling my eyelids weighing down as if the
y’
d been carrying boulders, I finally slipped off to sleep. Images of death filled my mind, but it had been a while since they really felt like nightmares. Now they were just dreams. The same ones I had every time I closed my eyes.
Some time later, I was shaken awake as the rotor of the helicopter hit some turbulence while we shifted to the side, making a wide turn. Sitting up, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and leaned forward to brace my arm against the cold metal side of the vehicle.
In the distance, I could see the familiar walls in the open field that surrounded Avalon. Sitting up straight, realizing we were so close, I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought about what
I’
d find there.
“
Why are we circling around
?”
I asked into the mic on the headset.
“
Gordo
n’
s army is sitting out front. Looks like they started pulling into the field. We need to fly around them. Do
n’
t want to get shot at, or worse
,”
Cooper replied while keeping his eyes fixed on the ground below.
Nodding my head, I shifted my body to look out the window as we continued to make a wide half-circle around the field. From the air, I could see multiple grounded helicopters, cars, and men running around and setting up all their equipment.
“
I
t’
s a rear operating base
,”
Kyle said.
I noticed both he and Mia had their faces plastered to the windows as well. Kyle appeared to be counting, trying to get a lock on how many men w
e’
d be up against.
Nobody took as much as a shot at the chopper. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm my nerves as I realized I was more frightened at the fact that they let us pass unscathed. We were simply flying into Gordo
n’
s web, and he was happy to let us do it.
Cooper lowered the chopper onto a landing pad that sat atop the Greenbriar Hotel, or what was left of it. A few months back a group of marauders had tried to enter our Avalon bunker through the hotel, which looked and felt like the size of the White House. After unsuccessfully attempting to break through the blast door, they decided the
y’
d set the former immaculate hotel on fire. With nothing and no one to put it out, nearly half of the structure burned to the ground before a lucky rainstorm passed overhead.
Fortunately, the landing pad on the less burnt side of the building was still mostly structurally sound, and we knew we could
n’
t exactly land out in the field at the moment.
Feeling the skids touch down, I was out the side door before Cooper had taken his hand off the yoke. Shooting my gaze out at the field, I felt like I ran into a wall as I realized what we were up against. A field of men all pointing at us as they moved back and forth, preparing for the attack. For some reason, it looked a hell of a lot more real from that rooftop than it did flying above.
With the rest of the group in tow, I bolted down a set of charred black stairs until we hit the ground floor and made our way through a series of hallways, some of which still had elegant paintings that had only been singed in the fir
e—
a subtle reminder of how prestigious the Greenbriar Hotel had been long ago.
With a bottle of the lifesaving medicine in hand, we reached what seemed like a large yellow wall with green horizontal stripes running down the side, circa 1970s. Kyle ran over to a small hidden seam and pulled the entire wall back to reveal a large rectangular iron door that led into our underground base. This back door had been used by the original builders of the Greenbriar to gain entrance to the trade show floor. When opened, it looked like a natural hall that led into a giant room where the Greenbriar staff would host enormous events. The unsuspecting guests would be inside the underground base and would
n’
t even know it. When closed, it created a seal that was as hard to get through as the rest of the cylindrical entrances to the bunker.