Zombie Dawn II: A Zombie Apocalypse Sequel (10 page)

Santos leaves me, dripping blood but
definitely not mortally wounded.  Bonnie tries to stop him but he killed her
without even thinking about it.  Twist and snap.  She was a gentle soul and
never had a chance.  Sadie also tried to interfere with Darius but to no avail. 
She ended up knocked out on the floor.

So it was three on one, and it didn’t
last long.  Lehman struck Jack on his arm with an axe, and Darius hit him in
the head with a hammer.  I figured it was over.  I was sure that Jack was
dead.  Just then, Luis got off a shot from the doorway that hit Dale between
the eyes followed quickly by a second shot to Darius’ chest.  Luis slumped to
the ground, passing out from his injuries, a look of profound regret on his
scarred face.  Looked dead to me.

Santos, still pouring blood from his
neck and face, turned to me with a triumphant sneer.

“I’ll take you now, bitch.  Big Shot
Jack is dead.  Your son is dead.  Once you give me my son you’ll be dead, too.”

I had picked up the razor blade that
Lehman had dropped, but I knew that Santos would have his way.  The weapon was
just too small.

He approached, gripping Lehman’s axe
in one hand.  He was fully aroused, at least by his modest standards.  I could
not believe that he could do this after what had just happened.  But I knew
that  he would not do it to me.

I held the blade to my throat. 
Santos stopped, with a confused look on his face.  I had somehow gained the
upper hand.  His little plan did not work with me dead.  I looked around, and
noticed Sadie and Luis just beginning to stir.  I cut myself a bit to distract
Santos, who gasped when he saw the blood flow.  Probably a deeper cut than I
intended, because I started to gray out.

36:       Mike’s
Journal—Just In Time

Ian and I ran as fast as we could
down to Santos’ compound.  We found a total bloodbath.  A bloody guy, looked
like Macias, dead or unconscious outside the door.  My dad, apparently dead, on
the floor with Lehman and Darius, who were clearly dead.  Lehman had fouled
himself in death and the smell was appalling.

A dead woman and another almost dead
woman slumped against the wall.  Santos, standing frozen, his back to the door,
with an axe in his hand.  And my mother, naked on a bed, holding something to
her throat, presumably a blade based on the blood sheeting from a cut on her
neck.  This tableau was enough to fuck you up for life, unless you had the
advantage of
already
being fucked up for life.

Ian and I didn’t even hesitate.  Ian
moved to the left so that he could shoot at Santos without hitting my Mom.  I
moved to the right.  My angle was not as good and a miss or through-shot could
have hit Mom, so I went for the legs.  Ian blasted Santos in the back with five
loads of buck as I shot him in the ass with a full fifteen round magazine. 
Most of this was after Santos was already on the floor.  I reloaded and emptied
a full magazine into his head and neck just to be sure.  When we were done,
there were more holes than Santos remaining.

37:       The
Mop Up

Afterwards, Mike and Ian, exhausted
beyond exhaustion, slowly mopped up.  Ian field dressed the huge hole in Mike’s
face as a temporary fix to staunch the bleeding.  He held Mike’s face together
with field dressings and duct tape, knowing that the scarring would be heinous.

Except for a few humans, most of whom
Mike allowed to leave under threat of death if they ever approached the Farm or
any of its citizens, they killed everything that moved.  Any backtalk, any
hesitation, and they mowed the humans down.  No mercy.

Actually, there were two exceptions. 
Kate insisted that Luis and Sadie not be killed, and in fact that they be
allowed to return to the Farm.  Mike shook his head but relented, figuring that
Luis would die from his injuries anyway.

All of the brains, wolves, and
shamblers who had remained were killed.  All of the babies in the nursery were ended. 
Ian and Mike noted, though, that some of the cribs were empty.

They killed several of the Inner Core,
who were sort of dazed and powerless after the deaths of Santos and Mariana.  Some
type of psychic link had been cut.  But they knew that some of the Core, some
of the brains, and many lower zombies had escaped.   As always, there had just been
too many to kill.  

As he dug through a pile of the dead,
looking for survivors to kill, Ian heard a gasping moan.  He dug deeper.  It
was Marvel.

“Of all of the fucking assholes to
survive, I can’t believe Marvel did!” exclaimed Mike.

“Yeah, we have rednecks in Britain,
too,” chuckled Ian.  “They’re always the last to die.  Want me to do it?”

Mike thought for a bit, then replied,
“Let him live.  At the end, he tried to be a human.  He regrets what he’s
done.”

Marvel cowered at Mike’s knee,
hugging and begging forgiveness.  “I’ll do anything you want.  Anything.  Just
tell me.  Please, please.  Don’t send me away.”

Mike struck him across the face,
using his open hand. Once, twice, three times.  “Get out, Marvel.  Don’t
mistake my compassion for weakness.  If I ever see you again, if I ever even
hear of you, I will kill you and everything you love--if you love anything.  Slowly
and painfully.  You have two seconds to get out of my sight.  In fact, you
better get down below the Mason Dixon line and never come north of it again.  Tell
any looters or shitheads that we will come and kill them if they ever come up
here.  Got it?”

Marvel limped slowly away, head held
low.  Ian’s gun on him the entire way.

“That fucker will hurt you some day,
Mike.”

“I bet he’ll try.  Or maybe he’ll
spread the word to stay away from the Farm.  More likely, he’ll get eaten
within ten minutes after he leaves this place.  He was nude and unarmed when he
left, after all.”

The two chuckled as they continued
their grim task.

Chapter 38:    Aftermath

Kate sobbed, holding Jack’s
unresponsive form.  He breathed shallow, gasping breaths, one after another,
his mouth set in a rictus of agony.  She could see that a portion of his skull
had been partially crushed by Darius’ blow.  When she put her hand there,
flakes of skull and even some gray matter stuck to her blood covered hands.  Like
many head wounds, the torn and tattered scalp bled violently.  All Kate could
do was wrap it, hoping to get Jack back to the Farm before he died.

She hadn’t even really noticed how
severe Jack’s other injuries were.  Jack’s right arm was partially severed just
below the elbow.  Kate wept as she tried to reattach it.  It flopped loosely,
connected to the upper arm by only a few strings of flesh.  Jack’s hand was
cold and white, curled almost into a fist.

Sadie convinced Kate that it had to
be removed, now.  Otherwise the bleeding could not be controlled.   Gangrene
would set in, and would kill Jack.  The arm was too damaged to save.

Kate nodded, finally resigning
herself to it, and Sadie quickly amputated, then cauterized the wound.  Jack remained
unconscious throughout, muttering a bit while they sawed through the ligaments
and tendons as his gore spattered on the floor below.

Chapter 39:  Return to the Farm

The trip back to the Farm was a
somber affair.  Ian and Mike found a vehicle, a Chevy Silverado four door,
while Sadie and Luis guarded Kate and Jack.

Ian decided that they had to blow the
entire armory before leaving.  At least block it off so there was no exit for
anything left down there.  He rigged several pallets of C4 on a five minute
timer, then joined the rest in the borrowed Suburban.  Jack was laid out in the
middle seat, comatose.  At least he’d had one lucid moment when he grinned at
Kate, tried to reach for her, saw his missing right hand, and passed out again.

As they drove away, the armory
imploded right on cue.  Ian and Mike exchanged a glance.  They knew that the
eradication of all zombies had to be the priority from now on.  Otherwise,
there would be no peace.  No safety.  No life at all.

The group arrived back at the Farm
the next morning.  They had noticed sentries and check points along the way, so
they knew that the word had spread.  Finally, a mile from the Farm, they were
stopped at a well manned checkpoint, commanded by the newly one-eyed Christina
and a bunch of strangers.

Christina and Ian almost got into it,
then realized that they were kindred souls when they each got a good look at
the other.  They lowered their weapons, chuckling a bit.  Knowing that they’d
get to know one another better over time.  Christina reminded Ian of his late
wife, Martha.  He reminded Christina of Cleve, somehow.

Christina wept when she saw Jack’s
head wound and missing arm.  She’d never seen Jack down and out like that. 
Usually he was moving around, laughing, talking, active.  Now, he was a virtual
zombie.  Still alive in a sense, but not really there.

She noticed Mike’s thousand yard
stare, Kate’s distracted babbling and wild eyes.  Jack had brought them all
home, but the price was so high.

Christina told them how stragglers
had been coming in since the battle, most of them decent folks.  Jim had let
them all in, but had set them up well away from the Farm itself.  He’d decided
that a loose alliance was better than risking close contact.  No one could be
trusted anymore.

Christina escorted the silent group
back to the Farm.

Chapter 40:    Kate’s
Diary—Reunion

I was ecstatic to see my Bobbie and
my Sean once again.  Many days, I’d known—really known--that I’d never see them
again.  Thank God I’m wrong so much.

They’ve grown a bit, and they threw
so much at me at once that my head was spinning.  Bobbie’s horses.  Sean’s
water supply.  Bobbie’s rabbits.  Sean’s chickens.  They’d been busy, and they
were actually thriving.  A bit of light in all of the darkness.

They were heartbroken to see Jack. 
The only good part was that Jack could sense that they were there.  I could see
the start of a smile, then he reached with both hands, then remembered he had
no right hand, and hugged first Sean, then Bobbie very weakly with his left, as
he tried to conceal the stump on the right.  Even though he passed out right
away, I was glad to see he was starting to come back.  Maybe.  We can hope.

Chapter 41: 
Mike’s Journal—Change of Plan

Even though he came to save me and
Mom, and even though he succeeded, and pretty much sacrificed himself, I don’t
know how I can ever feel the same about Jack.  He killed the only girl I’ve
ever loved.  How could he do that to me? 

Not only that, but he completely
botched the “rescue” of Mom.  Something changed forever.  Now, when I think of
him, I think of “Jack,” not “Dad.”  That part of my life is over.

I guess time will tell.  I do feel
bad for him because he’s so hurt.  How can he function in this world with only
one arm?  A damaged brain?  He’s not the same.  I guess he’s paid the price for
what he’s done, but I can’t forgive him.  Not yet, anyway.

Anyway, Uncle Jim brought me through
the Farm and the Fort.  They’ve been busy.  There are only a few signs of what
they call the “Battle of the Farm.”  The Fort is impressive.  The fields are
growing, the herds are increasing, all seems well.  Except for the eternal
threat of zombies and looters.

It will be my life’s work to protect
the Farm.  To eradicate the zombies.  To kill marauders and looters.  To create
a safe haven for my family, and for humans.  Including Jack, I guess.

In fact, Ian, Christina and I are
going out tomorrow.  Luis will be with us, too, but needs to heal first.  We
will not stop until we’ve cleared an area of at least fifty miles around the
Farm.  It will be all out war, until we are safe or I am dead.

Epilogue:

Some months later, Albert Miles
furtively carried a squirming human baby into the basement of the Burlington
Town Hall.  He carried it by palming its head with his freakishly huge hands.  Opening
a trap door behind a huge boiler, he backed down a long ladder into a rank
sewer tunnel.  As the baby squalled, Albert walked down the tunnel, swinging
the baby with his long arms, dreaming of Santos, feeling his loss.  Santos his
master, his love.  Gone, because of that horrible bitch, Kate, and her evil
husband, Jack.

After a long walk, Albert reached a
stair that led up to a utility room.  Rina, one of the few Inner Cadre to survive
the final attack, let him into the room.

“They will be happy to see food,” she
silently communicated.

“Yes,” he replied, making no sound. 
“It has been days since they’ve eaten.”

“It will not be enough for them.”

“I will feed only him.  The One.  Santos’
heir.”

“He misses his mother and his sister. 
And his father.”

“Does he know?”

“Yes, he knew immediately.  He has
grown.  He eats everything, including most of the other male spawn.  He sends
his message to all within his sight.  He is the true Heir.”