Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

“That’s a buck affected by the virus. Those horns are weapons so watch out for ‘em. Granted, ya know you can’t be hurt, but you’ll feel pressure from the attack. They can still toss you around too.” Patting his arm, she pointed. “That’s your first mission, but I’ll be here in case ya can’t handle it.”

Wiggling his brows, he opened his door. “There’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Okay.”

Grabbing the weapons, he hopped out of the vehicle. Walking towards the creature, he crept quietly. It hadn’t noticed him yet. “How do I kill the beast?”

Dani got out sitting on the hood. Pulling one foot flat, she lit a cigarette getting comfortable. “You can do it.”

The creature perked, head lifted, sniffing the air. He smelled the cigarette first and then Rob. Yellowish eyes turned, glaring at him. He snorted, pawing the ground. The closer Rob got, the more agitated the animal became. He lowered his head, antlers up, and charged him with amazing speed.

When the animal charged, he brought the sword around and it clanged off the antler. He felt his feet fly off the ground as he knocked him into a tree. The creature continued forward, goring him furiously.

Dani winced. “Ouch.”

“It’s a good thing I don’t feel this pain.” Grunting, Rob grabbed the antlers, pushing hard enough to force the creature back. He stood facing him, holding his bare hands out in front. “Come on you son-of-a-bitch. Let’s try that again.”

The creature turned, charging once more. As it lowered its head to gore, Rob grabbed the antlers on either side. Giving a quick twist, snapping its neck, he dropped him to the ground.

Placing her cigarette between her lips, she clapped. “Woo! Good job! Damn, you’re one o’ my best students!”

Bowing, he turned to her. “Why thank you, my lady. I merely used my God-given talents to render the animal useless.”

She smirked, motioning him back to the vehicle. “Alright, let’s get outta here an’ see what else we can find.” A flicker of action out of the corner of her eye changed her agenda. Flicking the cigarette, she quickly raced, standing back to back with Rob. “Watch out.”

He looked around, curiously. “Is this part of the training?”

Eight of the diseased surrounded them in no apparent order. Many of them were wearing torn clothes so dirty and bloody, it was hard to tell what color it was to start. They stood in a circle watching them, not attacking, not moving, but waiting.

“No.”

“What are they doing?”

“I dunno. Most of these know we’ll kill ‘em an’ yet they’re just standin’ there watchin’ us.”

“So let’s start killing them. They have to die anyway, right?”

She shrugged. “Good point.”

The two worked well together with one moving in time with the other. When one went low, the other went high, slashing out in attack and vice-versa as if they could read the other’s mind. It looked more like a well-choreographed dance routine.

One lunged at Dani, and Rob brought his sword up, severing head from shoulders in mid-flight. The blood flew, splattering the people close enough. The head rolled away a short distance, teetering slowly back and forth, growling before it stopped. The next came in low. Dani got Rob’s attention, leaping over his head. Bringing her sword down at just the right point, she split the man in half. Both sides slowly fell away from the body to the ground.

Rob turned in time and cheered. “Oh that was gruesome!”

A loud whistle pierced the night. It caused Rob and Dani to cover their ears in pain. It was a sharp sound like an air horn, and the group dispersed.

Turning, Dani looked around, curiously. “Okay, that’s never happened before.”

“I’ve never seen it. I think my ears are still ringing.” He wiggled his finger in his ear.

She tapped her earpiece. “Hey Vince, are ya there? It’s Dani.”

After a few minutes, his voice crackled in her ear. “Dani, Dani, what can I do for you? Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure to be honest.”

“What’s up?”

“I took Rob out for trainin’ an’ somethin’ really odd happened.”

“Oh yeah, odder than what’s going on now?”

“Oh yeah, way odder. I mean this tops the cake on oddness.”

“Okay, what happened?”

“Well, Rob had just defeated one o’ the diseased bucks. I watched from the truck an’ noticed a group surroundin’ him. We were standin’ in a circle of about eight of ‘em. I couldn’t tell what kind they were, but they weren’t Trollers. He beheaded one. I cut one in half. Then we heard this loud whistle an’ they scattered.”

“Wait, you cut one in half?”

“Yep, straight down the middle!”

“Righteous! What kind of whistle was it?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea, but it was loud. I thought it was gonna burst my eardrums. Have you ever heard of ‘at before?”

“No, I don’t know anyone who can control them.”

“Could they have figured out how to train a screamer to sound like 'at?”

“Not that I know of. I mean you hear about animals that are loners coming together in a school. I hope they’re not getting smarter. I’ll check on a few things on my end and get back to you. In the meantime you guys be a little more cautious.”

“Ditto.” She clicked the earpiece.

Rob looked at her. “Well?”

“He has no idea what that was. Maybe they might be gettin’ smarter.”

“Smarter good or smarter bad?”

“Smarter bad. We’ll head back, but in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for anything that moves.”

Getting in the jeep, she turned them around and headed back to Walmart. They hadn’t gone far before she locked up the brakes.

Rob braced the dash as the Jeep came to a screeching stop. “What the fuck?”

“There’s a woman in the street.”

Rushing out of the vehicle, they moved to her side. Dani bent down to her while Rob held a weapon in hand, keeping watch around them. “Let’s hurry this along. I don’t like it because it could be a trap.”

Dani nodded, reaching forward she touched the woman’s shoulder. The woman struggled to back away from her. “Hey, we’re not gonna hurt ya. Are you okay?”

She looked up, gripping Dani’s arm with tears streaming down her dirty face as she cried loudly. “Help me, please. I don’t know what happened.”

“Are you hurt? Were ya bitten or scratched?”

“No, I’m not hurt, but I’m really scared. Please, help me!”

Dani bent down, trying to get her attention. “Look, you’re gonna have to lower your voice before ya bring in more company than we really want.”

The woman stopped talking. Crying louder, she hid her face in her arms.

Rob looked around, growing frantic. “We got company coming in! What do we do?”

Looking around seeing some activity in the corner of one of the buildings, Dani sighed. “Pick ‘er up an’ let’s get ‘er back to camp. We can’t just leave ‘er here. We’ll find out what happened there.”

He handed Dani the weapon. Picking up the woman, he rushed her back to the Jeep. Opening the door, he slid her in the backseat and climbed in. Dani tossed the weapon at his feet and hopped in after. She took off down the road driving back to Walmart.

“I don’t like this,” Rob said, looking back at the frightened woman.

Dani tapped her earpiece. “Tyler, we’re comin’ in hot with a package. Open the doors an’ be prepared to close ‘em quickly.”

Tyler’s voice chirped. “You got it boss. Squad A is ready for action.”

Once at Walmart, the garage doors opened and she quickly drove inside. Squad A was on the roof and the group following met with a bullet to the brains as they unloaded on them. The doors closed tightly behind the Jeep and a few smashed into them. Bodies dropped, scattered in the street like a line from start to finish.

“Is it always this active around here?” Rob asked.

Shaking her head, Dani smirked. “Not even a little bit. Usually we’re sittin’ around, keepin’ watch an’ nothin’ happens. This is a special night. However, now we have to get rid o’ these bodies before they stink up the place worse ‘an it is.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.”

Opening the side door, Dani motioned to Tyler. “Get the woman upstairs an’ get ‘er somethin’ to eat an’ checked out. No one question ‘er until I get back. We need to go dump a few bodies.”

He nodded. “You got it.”

An hour later, Dani and Rob stood up against the roof wall. They watched the woman wolfing down the plate of food offered. It seemed she couldn’t chew fast enough for her hands to shovel the food in her mouth.

Leaning against the wall, Rob motioned to the woman. “What do you think her story is?”

Dani shrugged. “I dunno, but she’s really hungry.”

“I told you, it’s hard finding food out there.”

“Now that she’s eaten, let’s find out ‘er story,” she said, pushing off the wall. Grabbing a chair, she spun it around backwards and slid a little closer to the newcomer. She sat down watching her, resting her arms over the back. “Now that you’ve had somethin’ to eat an’ ya see we’re not gonna hurt ya, what’s your name?”

The woman looked at the group who had gathered around her. “My name’s Tessa Groves and it was awful.”

“Take your time. You’re safe here. Unless we invite someone in, they’re not gettin’ through those doors.”

“That’s what
they
thought too, and they were wrong. I work in the hospital or at least I did, and no one saw the nightmare coming. It just snuck up on us.”

Nell slid a little closer. “What nightmare is that, honey?”

“One you never believe unless you see it with your own eyes. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Twenty-Five

Tessa walked through the ward of the hospital, looking around curiously, as she made her rounds. She heard someone say something about the possibility of an epidemic, which was evident within the halls. There were two, and in some cases, three people in one room and the halls filled with cots, some even in stretchers stationed in the hall like a parking garage. People were flowing through the doors, suffering from the same sickness: sweating, bloodshot eyes, pale skin, flu-like symptoms, and extremely hostile. It was bad enough that a few of the nurses contracted whatever this epidemic was and infected the rest of the hospital.

Sweating profusely, one nurse fell against the wall, holding onto the railing. Tessa rushed over to help, wrapping an arm around her to stop her from falling. “Get yourself in a bed and let’s get you taken care of. You’re not helping anyone when you’re sick as well.”

She looked down the hall at how many nurses and doctors littered the beds and sighed. At this rate, they weren’t going to have any doctors to help the patients. Walking into her office, she closed the door and picked up the phone. She had a friend in the Contagious Disease Center. They went out a few times when he was in town. “Bob, I need some help over here. This is worse than anything I’ve seen before. People are pouring in the hospital by the buses. My doctors and nurses are getting just as sick as the patients.”

“Tessa, I don’t know what to tell you. Can’t you route them to another hospital?”

“I can’t! Every hospital is over capacity right now and it’s not getting any better. I’ve got people piling in the door where there’s a line around the building like a Starbucks! I need some help! You need to send someone out and find out what’s going on here. We’ve got an epidemic!”

“I’ve got calls all over the world about this so you’re not the only one. We’re getting to everyone as quickly as we possibly can. All I can tell you is to isolate those really sick away from the others.”

She sighed. “Bob, they
all
look really sick to me. How the hell do I tell which ones are sicker when they all look the same? I’m part of a small handful that hasn’t gotten sick from this yet and I don’t know how many more haven’t.”

“Okay, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but since we can’t get down there until at least a week I’ll tell you what we’re doing. We’re isolating all of them. Any of them who seem to be not in control, your best bet is to kill them.”

“Kill them?”

“Yes, there’s just too many. There is no cure and a few have gone stark raving mad, trying to kill people. We don’t know what this is, but if you’ve got that many, you need to start executing them.”

“Bob, that doesn’t make sense! This is a hospital! We treat people, not kill them.”

“These orders came from the Pentagon, Tess. Anyone who is sick is to be killed.”

“Wow, okay thanks for your help, Bob.”

“Oh, and Tessa, if you’re not sick, I suggest you leave the hospital and go hide out somewhere. Get somewhere alone, safe, and wait this out. If you have that many sick this could be bad.”

“I
can’t
just leave them.”

“You’re not listening to me. When I say
bad
, I mean deadly.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it! Find somewhere safe and don’t move!”

“Thanks Bob.” She hung up. Looking over the list of patients, it looked like it could be Santa’s list of naughty and nice. There were many people in the hospital and
all
of them sick.