The Becoming: Ground Zero (34 page)

“Fucking run!” Brandt ordered, shoving the two women forward. “She’s dead! Go! Scatter!”

Brandt waited for the others to pass him, his eyes scanning the buildings for the shooter’s location. It was a terrible risk to take, to stand still in the full awareness that someone was shooting at them. It was like painting a target on his ass and asking for the bullet. But Brandt felt some level of responsibility for the others, and he would
not
allow them to die under his watch. Not any more of them.

Another shot struck the pavement at his feet, sending up shards of black asphalt to bite at his shins through his pants. Brandt stumbled back and swore out loud, starting to follow the others as several more shots rang out. Thankfully, none of them came close to actually hitting him, though he had his suspicions about the nature of the attempt.

“Ethan! Find us some cover!” Brandt shouted, dodging side mirrors and abandoned luggage among the cars that lined the street. Cade stumbled forward and almost fell. She put out a hand to catch herself against a blue truck before Brandt could go to her aid. The echoing report of gunfire still rang in Brandt’s ears as he veered to the right, following the others into a dim alley that Ethan had chosen for cover. He only hoped none of the infected was sequestered in the alley too.

Thankfully, the alley was empty. Brandt skidded to a stop beside a dumpster, slumping back against the brick wall behind him and struggling to catch his breath.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck,
fuck,
” Brandt growled once his breathing slowed enough for him to manage speech.

“What the fuck was that?” Ethan demanded, jabbing an angry finger toward the mouth of the alleyway, his eyes hard as he glared at Brandt. As if it were
his
fault that someone out there had a gun.

“Keep your damned voice down,” Brandt snapped. “It was fucking … I don’t know, some asshole with an itchy trigger finger taking potshots at whatever the fuck moves.”

“Guys?” Cade said softly.

Brandt waved a hand at Cade to motion for her to quiet down as he glared at Ethan.

“I
told
you it wasn’t a walk in the fucking park here,” Brandt continued. “There’s not just the infected to deal with in this city. We’ve got to handle the crazy little shits with guns and too much time on their hands too.”

“Guys?” Cade said a bit louder.

Brandt rolled his eyes and finally turned to Cade. “
What,
Cade?” Brandt snapped. He didn’t mean to speak so harshly to her, but his irritation at Ethan had begun to override his senses.

Cade looked up at Brandt, and tears streamed down her face. That in itself was enough to stun Brandt’s irritation straight into submission. She looked down and pulled her hands away from where she’d clasped them tightly to her side. Brandt sucked in a sharp breath.

Both of her hands were covered in blood.

Even as Brandt and Ethan both darted forward to catch her, Cade staggered sideways into the brick wall beside her and slid to the ground with a gasp of pain.

“I think I’ve been shot,” she managed weakly.

Ethan lunged forward as Cade slumped over, and he reached her in three long strides. He caught the woman’s shoulders and helped her lie back on the pavement; then he tore at his clothes, pulling his jacket off. He wadded it up and stuffed it under Cade’s head for protection against the hard ground.

“Remy, Gray, guard,” Brandt ordered in three short, snapping words as he joined Ethan at Cade’s side. The two youngest members of the group moved quickly to obey, their weapons out and ready. Brandt lowered himself to his knees beside Cade. He smoothed his fingers over her side gently; his fingertips came back stained with red. “Where at?”

“Here,” Cade murmured, touching her side just below where Brandt’s hand had stopped. He could just barely make out a quantity of blood soaking into her dark jacket.

Ethan slid his hands underneath Cade’s back and helped her sit up slightly. “Come on, Cade. We need to get all this off you so we can see, okay?” he said as Brandt unzipped her jacket.

Cade grimaced as Brandt slid the jacket off her shoulders. When she lay back again, there was a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead from the exertion and pain. Brandt unbuttoned her flannel shirt and pushed it aside before he gingerly grasped the hem of her bloodstained tank top and lifted it from her torso. Cade groaned when the material pulled away from her wound, and Ethan caught Cade’s hand and held it tightly, rubbing her skin soothingly. Brandt sucked in a sharp breath as he got a look at the wound.

“What do you see?” Ethan asked, focusing on Cade’s face as she closed her eyes. Brandt shed his jacket and wrapped it around Cade’s side, pressing down hard. Cade choked back a muffled cry of pain, covering her mouth tightly with one hand.

“In and out,” Brandt replied hoarsely. “It’s ugly, but where it’s at, I don’t think it hit anything major.”

“It hit
me,
” Cade ground out through gritted teeth.

Ethan snorted and gave Cade’s hand a squeeze. “She’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t go into shock,” Brandt said. He let the pressure off the makeshift bandage long enough to take a closer look at the still-bleeding wound before pressing down on it again. The pressure elicited another pained cry from Cade. “We’ve got to get the bleeding stopped. And we need bandages.”

Remy looked back from her intent staring at the entrance to the alleyway, pulling a bag from her shoulder. She tossed it to Brandt, and it landed at his side with a soft thump. “It’s Theo’s bag,” she explained. “He shoved it at me before we left him.”

“Thank God for Theo,” Ethan breathed. Brandt tore into the bag and pulled out first aid supplies as he searched for what he needed.

“We have to hurry,” Brandt said suddenly, as if the thought had just occurred to him. “We’re not going to have much time.”

“Much time for what?” Gray spoke up for the first time since they’d entered the city. He picked up the urgency in Brandt’s voice and moved closer to them, gun in hand.

“Much time
until
what,” Brandt corrected. He started to hastily bandage Cade’s side, pressing down to use the bandage to staunch the blood. He wound gauze around her midsection rapidly to hold the padding in place. “If the sound of the gunshots doesn’t draw the infected onto us, the smell of blood probably will.”

“The infected can
smell blood?
” Ethan repeated incredulously. “I’ve never heard that before. Are you sure, or are you just jerking my chain?”

“Absolutely,” Brandt said, not directly answering Ethan’s question. He tied off the Kling Gauze around Cade’s waist. “I haven’t seen it, but I hear it’s possible. I was told there was some guy who put raw meat out on the street to lure infected out so he could shoot them down.”

“Raw meat?” Remy sounded as astonished as Ethan.

Brandt rolled his eyes. “Is there an echo in this alley or something?” He looked down at Cade, a soft expression in his eyes as he double-checked the dressing and ran his knuckles along her jaw. “You going to be okay, babe?” he asked softly.

Cade nodded and let out a slow breath. Her voice was strained when she spoke. “Yeah, I think so. It’s essentially superficial, right?”

“Yeah, all things considered. You’re bleeding like a mother fucker, but it could have been worse.”

Cade breathed out again and closed her eyes for the barest of moments. “We need to move,” she said. Ethan reached to brush her hair out of her face. Cade started to sit up, but a cry of pain slipped out past her lips. Ethan pushed his hands firmly against her shoulders, pressing her back down.

“Lie down, Cade,” Ethan ordered. “You need to take a few minutes to just rest.”

Cade shook her head stubbornly. “There’s not enough fucking
time
for rest,” she objected, panting slightly, winded by the pain. “We have to get out of here. Just help me up.”

“She’s right, Ethan,” Brandt said. “We don’t have time to wait.” He put his hands out to take Cade’s in his own, and she gripped them tightly. Ethan moved to help, sliding his own hands under her shoulders to push as Brandt pulled. Between the two of them, they managed to help Cade back to her feet. She staggered woozily and caught herself against the wall, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Do you think you can make it to Luckie?” Brandt asked. His voice was heavy with worry, and he rubbed a hand soothingly over her back.

“I have to, don’t I?” Cade replied. She looked up, past Brandt and Ethan to the entrance of the alleyway. “Now, about this bastard shooting at us.”

“What do you propose we do?” Ethan asked. He retrieved his jacket from the ground and offered it to Cade, but she waved it away and continued to study the alley’s mouth.

“I’m pretty sure if I can figure out where he’s positioned, I can take him out,” Cade said confidently, tugging her tank top down to cover the gauze.

“Are you sure?” Ethan asked. “I mean, I know you were a sharpshooter in Israel, but I don’t know if your rifle—”

“My rifle is made for shit like this, Ethan,” Cade replied. She motioned toward it, and Brandt picked it up and passed it to her. “I just need someone to hold me steady. And I need to draw him out to pin down his exact location.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Ethan demanded.

“I need bait,” Cade replied.

“Wait a minute,” Gray spoke up, stepping forward and putting up a hand as if to stop everyone. Cade frowned at him. “What we’re talking about is the
murder
of another human being. It’s not right.”

“Gray, Avi is
dead
because of another human being,” Ethan snapped. He turned on Gray, glaring and crossing his arms. “I know you didn’t care for her too much, and I didn’t either, but that doesn’t change the fact that she was one of
us
.”

“It also doesn’t change the fact that I can’t move fast right now, and that bastard is going to start shooting again the minute we walk out of this alley,” Cade said. “I’m not willing to make it this far only to get taken down by some trigger-happy moron. And the infected could be converging on this spot as we speak. We have to get out of here, and we can’t do that until he’s dead.”

Gray shook his head, but he didn’t seem too intent on arguing the point any further, much to Ethan’s relief. He walked away, back to the alley entrance, and Cade leaned against the wall, exhausted, as she checked her rifle for damage. Her hands trembled, and she frowned as she tried to steady them.

“So how do you propose we lure him out?” Brandt asked, pulling Cade’s hair back, his fingers deftly braiding it. Ethan watched this silently, and he couldn’t help but think of that night he’d accidentally witnessed the last time Brandt had done this for her. Brandt noticed him watching and added, “She can’t aim well if her hair’s in her eyes.”

Ethan nodded without comment as Brandt tied the braid off. Cade spoke as Brandt worked on her hair. “We need someone or something out in the street so I can figure out where the gunfire is coming from.”

“What about Avi?” Brandt suggested. Cade raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a possibility,” Cade acknowledged.

“Wait, what?” Ethan asked, lifting his own hand to stop them. “What’s going on? What do you mean about Avi and possibilities?”

Brandt looked past Ethan to the alley’s entrance and swallowed hard. “We need to use the body to figure out what direction the shot came from.”

“I was looking right at Avi when she got shot,” Gray offered suddenly. Cade’s eyes were bright as she turned them onto Gray. Ethan noticed just then that Gray’s jacket was soiled with a faint spray of blood droplets. “She was standing right here,” Gray said. He grabbed Remy and moved her to stand beside him, using her as a visual aid. “She was facing this way. You and Brandt and Remy were just ahead of us, right that way.” He pointed to an imaginary spot ahead of them. “She stood at a bit of a slant, toward me.” He shifted Remy a bit. “And she was asking something about how much further until we got to Marietta. The shot sounded, and it hit her in the back, right here.” He touched Remy’s back, to the inside of her left shoulder blade.

“Kill shot,” Cade murmured softly. “That was no accident.”

“She fell forward, like something had shoved her,” Gray continued. “But she didn’t fall toward me. It was more this way.” He jostled Remy again to indicate the direction Avi had fallen. “I don’t know if that’s any help or not.”

Cade nodded slowly and tried to look at her own wound. “He’s definitely shooting from off the ground,” she agreed. “My entry wound in my back is higher than my exit wound, which means he was aiming downward. Maybe from a second- or third-story window.” She lifted her rifle and carried it to the opening of the alley. She walked slowly, keeping a hand pressed against the wall for support. Brandt followed closely behind her and watched her worriedly.

Cade slid the barrel of her rifle over the corner of the wall. Her eyes focused as she aimed it in the direction they’d come, looking through the sight and studying the buildings behind them, trying to find one suitable for a sniper’s purpose. A faint grin crossed her face as she saw an opened window on the second floor of a building just a bit down the road from them.