Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) (4 page)

“Can I help?” he asked. The women shook their heads no in unison and continued working. Alex slumped to the ground and watched as the ladies did their work. He glanced up at the gate to witness the occasional zombie, moaning monotonously with limbs and head alike set ablaze by the fire that continued to rage outside the castle walls.

A pair of the undead attempted to get through the gates, helplessly pounding their charred hands against the steel, before finally falling over, dead once again, consumed by the purifying flames.

All Alex could do was watch and wait.

The fairgrounds were burning, his wolf was being stitched up after a vicious zombie bite, and he felt like hammered shit.

His right shoulder throbbed and his head still rang with even the slightest movement.

Things can only get better from here.

Chapter 3

Alex felt a hand on his shoulder and stared up into the eyes of Selina. He recalled the day’s events as he was rudely reminded of them with the slightest shift of his head and shoulder. His body ached and he found himself lying in the grass of the courtyard.

Selina held out an open palm with a pair of pills and a glass of water for him.

“Drink.”

“What happened to Shadow?!” he asked in a panic, sitting up and immediately regretting that. He took the water and waited for a reply.

“He is stable, still unconscious. We had to use even more anesthesia on him. He’s a tough cookie for sure. But Hannah says he’ll be good,” Selina said positively, smiling at him in an attempt to ease his worries. Alex grabbed the two pills from her hand and tossed them into his mouth, washing them down with the water.

“That’s a relief,” he said, before laughing at his own absurdity.

You might have a concussion though, Lancelot. And that shoulder is gonna need some rest, too. Hannah says she has a shot for your shoulder to numb it up. Might help,” she said, grabbing the glass of water from him. “She also said we’re gonna need to make a medical supply run.”

“Last Nick said, we couldn’t go to the hospital ‘cause the grounds were overrun with the undead. Did anyone ask him what he thinks? He really didn’t like that idea. And if that’s true, then I'm not a fan either.”

“He’s the one that said we should at least try it.”

“Great, then. Should make for an honest-to-goodness suicide mission,” Alex quipped, rubbing his head and eyes.

“The hospital in question is a good thirty miles east, too,” said the familiar voice of Nick. Alex turned to regard him and saw him standing over them, his arms crossed.

“The fire? How long have I been out?”

“It’s still going. Not intense like it was, but still going. Pretty much took everything along with it, far as the eye could see.”

“That was a calculated risk,” Selina countered, staring into Alex’s eyes. “Follow my finger,” she added, moving it back and forth, up and down, performing a concussion test, as Alex followed it.

“Indeed it was. Was just hopin’ for the best there. Can’t win ‘em all. Good news is, it seems to have drawn in and burned most of the undead that were surrounding the fairgrounds,” Nick added with a grin. “Gotta crack a few eggs and all that, right?”

Alex winced, catching a foul smell in his nostrils.

“You okay?” Selina asked.

“Yeah, but that smell is pretty nasty.”

“That would be the bodies burning,” Nick answered again. “It’s not there all the time, but when you catch it….”

“Right.”

“Bodies burning don’t smell like that,” Nick commented, drawing an odd look from Alex and Selina both.

“Well, they don’t!”

“You saved my life, too,” Alex said thankfully, nodding to the man. “I wanted to thank you.”

“It’s fine. You’re welcome. You’d have done the same for me, right?”

“”I’d like to think so,” Alex teased.

“Well thanks, kid. It’s gonna be a few more hours before the fires die down. Why don’t you guys get some rest?” Nick suggested, dropping to one knee and staring at Alex. “You okay? You got your bell rung pretty good.”

“I’ll live. So, what’s next then? The hospital or the food supplies?”

“Well, we need both. If we can get out, we’ll get the food and whatever supplies we can get first at the grocery store. I wanna make sure we got enough to make it through winter again. Then we’ll try the hospital after that. I’m thinkin’ we might need to make use explosives for that one,” Nick said, folding his arms over his chest. “Just to avoid things like this again,” he added, nodding toward the gate.

“It’s contained within the walls,” Liz said from behind them, referring to the fire. She proceeded straight over to her husband, hugged him tight and then rubbed the stubble on his shaved head.

“So the good news is that the zombies are dying in the fire,” stated Bryan, who stood beside Alexis, the pair soaked from head to toe, appearing right behind Liz. The bad news is that we won’t be doing any farming there until next spring.”

“When did you get back?” Alex asked them, making it to an upright position.

“While you were out. Nick and Kelly helped us back up the wall, just a bit ago.”

“It’s a lot harder to get up then it is to get down,” Alexis commented, cocking her head at them all and displaying a few scrapes along her forearms from the climb.

“Well, yeah!” Bryan added with a smile, “Gravity is an unforgiving mate, eh? But it was kind of fun though, right?”

“Fun? Maybe…,” Alexis said with a sheepish smile and a long pause. It was clear to Alex that she enjoyed her jaunt with Bryan, and he didn’t know if it was because she was being brave, or if she was just stupid, He’d have to weigh in on that one once he collected more evidence.

Yeah, they made it back without a scratch. almost,” Nick said as Alexis cleared her throat and held up her forearms again. “Though we almost dropped Bryan as we were pulling him up. That would have been something, eh?” Nick teased his fuzzy haired friend, who removed a cigarette from a pack located in his breast pocket and lit it, taking a long drag.

“Yeah, I’d have gotten a welt on my back for sure. Gonna need a cigarette run soon, too,” the man commented matter-of-factly, tossing away a match.

“Not our highest priority, but since you did risk your life there, we’ll shuffle things around, for you” Nick added, his arm still around Liz.

“How’s Shadow?” asked Bryan, staring from Selina to Alex.

“He’ll be fine. I’m sure of it. Thanks for asking,” Selina said, clearly wanting to take the lead on answering that question, which Alex appreciated, “He’s a tough one. Do you like animals?”

“Well, I do now. I’m taking care of Ben’s cat, Buster. He doesn’t seem to ever want to come out of ben’s room though. It’s kind of weird.”

“I’d say he almost doesn’t like to move, let alone leave Ben’s room!” Liz interjected with a deadpan look to Bryan.

“It’s like he knows that Ben’s not coming back,” Bryan added in almost a whisper, blowing out a ring of smoke.

“He just might,” Alex said, getting to his feet finally. His feet felt good under him as he steadied himself. “So what’s the plan, boss man?”

“The plan is, we wait until the fire dies down and then do some exploring to see what’s still alive out there. Then we make our runs when it’s safe to go.”

“It’s never gonna be ‘safe’, man,” Alex interjected cynically. He immediately regretted his pessimistic statement and shook his head.

“Safe-
er
, then.”

Alex looked up into the sky and realized that hours had passed, it was well past what he believed was noon by now as the sun crested and was leaning westward. Nick must have read his concern.

“If it gets too dark before we can get out of here, then we wait ‘til tomorrow, got it?” he said loudly, meaning to address the entire group with his tone.

“Safety first," Liz said, reiterating his point.

“I’m gonna scrounge up a bowl of Kelly’s famous ‘bean surprise.’ Anyone with me?” Nick asked. Everyone else nodded and mumbled their agreements, Phil and Kelly coming down the steps from atop the parapets to join them. The group slowly followed him into the castle, chatting among themselves.

Only Alex, Selina, and Hannah stayed behind, the woman still standing vigilant over Shadow, which Alex appreciated a great deal. She hadn’t even joined in their conversation and when Alex got closer, he saw that she was almost sleeping sitting up.

“You don’t have to stay, Hannah,” Alex said, though she waved his concern away with a gesture and a furrowed brow, as if the idea of leaving Shadow was absurd. He realized that after losing Tom, that perhaps Hannah’s need for a ‘win’ was high. He understood that completely if that were indeed the case.

“I’ve got something for you,” Hannah said, preparing a shot for his shoulder. “This will numb it up and at least make the pain go away.” She gave him the shot and tested his range of motion and appeared satisfied with what she found. “It’ll be fine.”

“Let me get you some food then?” Selina asked her kindly.

”I’m not the slightest bit hungry,” Hannah replied, not unkindly, as she inspected the wounds and dressings on Shadow. “This is incredible,” she said excitedly. “The smaller wound that you treated is starting to scab over, and the stitched area is not red or inflamed at all!”

“How is that?” Alex asked concernedly.

“I have no clue,” she whispered. “But I do know that this animal’s metabolism and healing capabilities are extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well, he
is
kinda special,” Alex said, unsure of what else to say. But, as he gave it some thought, he spoke again to Hannah, taking a seat right beside her on the grass. “I have noticed that he acts…more like a dog than a wolf, really.”

“You mean he is more domesticated?”

“Exactly. I mean, I don’t know shit about wolves, but it seems like he is smart…not just cunning. He acts on instinct, but it’s more,” he said, struggling to explain his theory. Before he could say another word, Shadow shuddered and then rolled over, licking at his wounded area, before trotting off to lay in the shade of the chapel that he and Selina called home.

 “Well, I guess I’m no longer needed then,” she added with a dry smile.

“He seems to be good?” Selina added, shrugging her shoulders. “Hannah, why don’t we talk a little? I wanna know more about Tom,” she said, pointing to the steps leading to the wall-walk above. “Up there.”

“Sure,” Hannah said, tearing up, then smiling and wiping away her tears as she slowly got to her feet. “I’d like that.”

As the women marched up the steps to the walls above, Alex wandered over to the gates. The fires were still burning, a good twenty paces or so from the gates, and he couldn’t see any movement within the smoke and flames any longer. He could make out what he believed to be husks and burned out corpses occasionally through the smoke, but they were few and far between. And it wasn’t long after that they too disappeared, consumed by the pitiless flame. It would be a while before the fires died out enough for them to wander out there. He peeked through the bars and caught sight of his van off to the far right, unmolested by the flames as of yet. He was glad he grabbed his important belongings a few days ago, knowing that whatever supplies were left behind might all be gone in the next few hours if the van caught fire.

He strode over to where Shadow was, lay down beside him on the grass, rubbed the nape of his neck, and closed his eyes.

***

Alex felt something wet on his cheek as he stirred from his slumber. He opened his eyes and saw that the sun was all but gone, fading fast behind clouds in the west. And then he felt another splash of moisture on his face. It wasn’t Shadow as the wolf was nowhere in sight. But, he looked skyward again and felt a few more drops of moisture upon his face.

Rain.

They hadn’t had much precipitation this year at all, he recalled, as he slowly made it to his feet. His shoulder and head still ached, but nothing like it was before he nodded off. Hannah and Selina were coming down from the wall just then, too.

“How’s it lookin’ out there?” Alex asked the pair, trying to remain steady. Judging by the state of their eyes, they had been crying.

“It’s dying down a bit. And I'm sure the rain will help stop it altogether,” Hannah said, pausing and then hugging Selina. “Thanks for listening,” she added, speaking directly to her. Alex shuffled away, back toward the gate and stared outside, seeing much blackness and ash where not long ago there were structures and bodies. The only things that might remain in the wreckage were things forged from the fires themselves. There was no movement still from what he could see, but the clouds overhead blocked out the sun, which was already nestled behind the western clouds. He could see the slightest hint of the sun behind the gray above him. They would simply have to wait it out until morning to see what remained after the blaze died out.

Alex watched Hannah, in scrubs of blue, as she disappeared into the mouth of the castle. He turned to stare back at Selina who plopped onto the ground, ignoring the increasing precipitation as she lay back, spreading her arms, seeming to enjoy the rain.