Value of Jade (Mace of the Apocalypse #2) Read online

  It rolled around near the barbecue pits, emitting a hideous cry of exasperation and frenzy that shook everyone’s resolve to the bone. They all came running out, horrified to discover that the creature making the commotion was Mike. Bill staggered backwards in shock at the sight, grabbing his heart. He immediately turned and walked swiftly back to his room, closing the door ripped with bullet holes and grabbing the bottle of whiskey, draining it in one long gulp.

  Dropping his head, Mace cursed for what had to be done. Raising his pistol, he fired a bullet directly into Mike’s head, showing no emotion as Mike’s skull blew apart and left a splattering of blood that spread out in an arc. Lisa was still in Mike’s truck, clutching Chelsea to her breast and weeping quietly. They both jumped a little at the shot. The day had seemed so carefree a few hours earlier.

  They gathered around Mike’s body, shaken by the loss and feeling humiliated for him by his condition. Jim and Yvette felt suddenly ashamed of themselves for laughing at the infected earlier.

  They were all the infected. It was just a matter of time before it happened.

  Mace began the search for Hannah, quite aware of the reason for Mike’s fallen trousers. He found her a minute later as he scanned his flashlight on the edges of the tree line. As he approached her, the infected that had attacked Mike was burying its mouth into her thigh with its teeth. When he got within a few feet the infected lifted its head, and Mace’s stomach turned at the bloody spectacle that locked eyes with him. It hissed like a threatened cat and as it began to rise he lifted his 9mm, shooting it in the face. As its face blotched into a crimson blur, Mace felt the warmth he had just felt in his heart begin to fade again like it had after Jason’s death.

  Jason. He had been forced to shoot Jason in the crawlspace under Jason’s Grandmother’s house. He had arrived too late to save him. Mace had been his mentor. Jason was only ten and he’d loved him like a son.

  He hadn’t had any crawlspace nightmares in a couple of weeks and had been too busy to drag up his ghost, but now those memories came flooding back like a bad hangover. He felt a dull ache as he closed himself off to the pain, walking over and deliberately putting four more slugs into its body before his gun clicked empty. He pulled the trigger two more times, then turned to stare at Hannah’s mangled corpse. She looked like a victim in a slasher flick, bloody beyond belief and grotesquely contorted, but what got him most were the dead eyes that stared directly up at him.

  Her face seemed to blur into that of Maria’s, who had the same dead stare after being strangled by John. A sudden urge to laugh hysterically rushed through him, and he thought he might be going mad. He pictured Mike running around with his pants around his ankles after slipping it to Hannah, the half-infected nymphomaniac, and it all seemed perversely funny.

  He shook his head to try to clear it, and then headed to Bill’s room, where Bill was sitting with his back against the wall, holding an empty bottle of whiskey. He knew he had to get himself together or he’d fall into a void again.

  Bill’s leg kicked out in surprise as Mace pushed open the door and his head lolled about as he tried to concentrate on Mace's face.

  "Bill, I'm sorry," Mace said.

  “I know,” came the drunken response. "He was all I had left." He closed his eyes and a loud sob burst forth as he began to slowly bawl. "Fuck this." He took another swig on the empty bottle, tilting it all the way back to capture the last drop then flung it across the room where it bounced off the wall. "What do I do now?" he said in desperation. He looked at the floor and said, "I want you to leave me. I just want to die here. I don't care."

  Mace tried to keep himself together. "I came here because I knew that is what you'd say. We're not leaving anybody behind. It's not what Mike would want."

  "I don't care right now. I'm done caring."

  "Do you have anything else to drink?"

  Bill studied his face, surprised by the question. "A bottle of whiskey."

  "I could use a drink. Why don't we toast to Mike."

  "To Mike!" said Bill as he staggered to his feet, fighting to keep from sobbing again. He went to a backpack by the bed and pulled out a fifth of Jameson. He unscrewed the cap and took another long slug.

  "To Mike," he whispered as he brought the bottle back down, staring at the wall with empty eyes. "To my boy." He stayed silent for a second before handing the bottle to Mace. "We're all going to die, you know."

  "Yes, I know. It's the only thing we know for sure on this earth. Used to be death and taxes. Now it’s just death." Holding up the bottle, Mace nodded at Bill. "To Mike. At least he went out with a bang."

  Bill laughed weakly. "He was shy with the girls. I can't believe he was banging that blonde." His smile disappeared. "She's dead too, right?"

  Mace just nodded.

  The room stayed silent for a few long seconds.

  "We're gonna spend the night here, Bill. We'll keep a few bonfires going strong and we should make it until morning. I hope you'll join us then. Like I said before, it's what Mike would want. Plus, we could use your skills. We don't have anyone here anymore with any real medical experience." Mace handed him back the bottle. "Mike was a good kid. Just got unlucky."

  "Right after he got lucky," Bill said quietly, shaking his head. "And he'll still be dead in the morning."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The work crew was long overdue and friends and loved ones were getting anxious.

  "I'm going to get Manny and a few men and go search for them," Bo said, grabbing the keys to his truck as Sarah continued to stare out their kitchen window, fretting.

  "It's getting dark, Bo. I don't care how many of those things have been killed, I still don't like the thought of you being out there after dark."

  Bo walked over and kissed her cheek. "Thank you for worrying about me, Darlin, but you know I have to go."

  Worry lines stretched across her face. "I know. If it was you out there I'd want someone searching as well. Just be damn careful." Turning on the water in the sink for no reason, she shut it off a second later. "Damn it, where are they?" Her voice rose with tension.

  Those that had recently turned were now moving swiftly towards the gated community, their madness and rage punctuated by the incompleteness of their evolution. Without the liquid to serve as a cocoon, there would be no immediate transformation. They would, however, be drawn back to the liquid in time. Like an elephant to water, it was now part of their communal consciousness, and distance or obstacles would not be a deterrent. Because they were the work crew, they knew subconsciously where the gate was and they led the lone surviving male that had gone through the full metamorphosis directly to it. Death and destruction were calling.

  Bo and the search team were just leaving through the open gate when their headlights fell on a mass of infected sprinting towards them.

  “Holy shit!” yelled Bo, as their presence was highlighted in the headlamps and they raced harder towards them. He stomped on the brakes, bringing the truck to a skidding halt. Throwing the truck in reverse, he yelled “We’ve got to get the gate shut!” to Manny as he turned his head around and punched the gas, squealing the tires and fishtailing backwards towards the complex.

  Three men stationed in the back of the truck started firing semi-automatic rifles immediately at the infected, who were less than fifty feet away. Two fired off each side of the truck, while the third rose to a standing position, using the truck’s spotlights positioned on the roof for a brace. As they backed through the gate at breakneck speed, Bo hit the brakes hard, and the guy standing held on tight, barely keeping from getting thrown out the back. The other two slid backwards, slamming hard against the rear of the truck.

  Bo jumped out and ran to the gate, which was pushed inward toward them. The sentry came running out of the guard shack, gawking in shock at the infected horde that was shrieking in fast approach. As Bo started to push it shut they roared in defiance, and the fully infected male crouched and leapt, eyes bulging as it sprang the last ten
feet of separation to land hard against the gate. The force sent Bo flying back as the gate sprang back open, where he tripped over backwards and slammed his head against the grill of the truck, knocking him unconscious.

  Manny ran towards Bo as the remaining men fired wildly at the creature. It screamed in outrage at the men with the guns and sprang again, this time over the truck as bullets raked its torso. It swung around, moving swiftly to attack them from the rear as the rest of the mob hit the fence line, coming at them fast.

  Manny yelled, “Take them out! Take them out!” as they stormed towards him. He ran to the driver’s side of the truck and dove in, firing it up. As he tried to put it into drive they ripped the door open and attacked, pulling him out and converging on top of him. The truck slipped into neutral and it rolled several feet forward, covering most of Bo from sight.

  Two of the men fired at the approaching horde as the last man fired repeatedly at the mutant infected that attacked from the rear, trying to line up a kill shot.

  The creature leapt towards him and knocked him down as more bullets punctured its chest. It ripped the gun out of his hands and thrust its jaws into his neck, a spurt of blood jetting out as it was torn open. The man’s screams of horror and pain turned to shrieks of madness almost immediately as the turning process took root.

  The other men were shooting in desperation at the mob that was coming upon them. Their shouts of instructions to each other was drowned out by the enraged shrieks of the infected horde as they collided into them, slamming them down into the ground and ripping them wide open. The ground around the truck was thick with blood in a matter of seconds.

  Sprawled out under the truck, Bo Thompson lay unconscious; the blackness of a forced slumber a merciful escape from the nightmares of the night. Blood trailed from the slaughter, snaking towards him like a newly opened spring as the horde moved on with its newly infected members, racing towards a once peaceful community with an orgy of murderous intent.

  Sarah heard the shrieks before the desperate clanging of the iron triangle. She knew instinctively that the compound had been breached. The screams that followed only confirmed her fears and she immediately grabbed her handgun and rushed towards the back door to head to the cellar entrance. She could hear Bo’s voice in her head, Run to the cellar if the compound is ever breached. You’re pregnant. You need to take care of the baby.

  Before she reached the back door she paused, realizing that by securing her and her baby’s safety it could cause other friends to perish. She thought about their breach tactics in case of a worst-case scenario. Travis had succeeded in establishing a series of traps and tactics if it ever happened. If the search party had already left the compound they could already be fifteen men short, counting the missing workers.

  She turned around and ran to their bedroom, where she pulled an M-16 from the closet and snapped a full magazine into place. She then quickly strapped a machete to her belt and slipped on a shoulder holster for the 9mm Glock she had thrown on the bed.

  A shriek erupted outside her bedroom and she looked up to see a creature from a child’s feverish nightmare standing outside the sliding glass door that led to the yard. Sarah screamed in panic and swung the fully automatic rifle up, shattering the glass with heavy rounds as the creature crouched and jumped, disappearing from view. She could hear it land with a thud on the roof.

  “Shit!” she said panic-stricken, shaken to her core, watching the ceiling wide-eyed as she followed its running footsteps overhead. She turned the machine gun towards the ceiling and rapid-fired in the direction of the sounds.

  She stopped firing and everything went silent.

  She was breathing rapidly as she hunched down, listening closely for any other sounds. She jumped as she heard more shrieks down the street followed by automatic gunfire, and then a great crash in the hallway let her know the creature had just plowed through the dining room window and was inside the house.

  Sarah bolted for the open space where the sliding glass door had been as the creature shrieked behind her. Entering her open backyard she could see someone shooting a flame thrower in bursts at a dozen infected a block away. A huge funnel of fire shot thirty meters over them, consuming them in its mass as smoke billowed off of it. Travis’ arsenal was being fully utilized.

  The night was lit up by the flames of the thrower as the infected burned, either continuing in outrage to run towards the operator or flee towards the fence line in fright. The ones that raged stumbled and fell as they moved forward, still hungry for the kill. She could smell their burning flesh as they stopped moving, flames still burning bright on their bodies.

  She turned to see the pursuing creature in mid-leap towards her and she brought the M-16 up, firing round after round as it came down on her. It collided into her, knocking her down, and the machete sliced into her thigh as the automatic rifle skidded away across the dirt.

  She instantly grabbed for the Glock, bringing it out and firing at the creature’s head. It dodged away towards the fire, the bullets missing it by inches, taking three fast leaps before suddenly turning direction and lunging to the left, attempting to come at her from behind.

  She screamed and fired at it again as she ran back towards her house, the leg wound bleeding freely, although she could feel nothing with the adrenaline pumping through her system. She stopped long enough to flip open a latch on the back porch and hit the propane gas switch which had been rigged by Travis. She then sprinted through the bedroom opening and straight through to the front of the house, where she flung the front door open, slamming it behind her.

  She ran as fast as she could. The pressure valve for a large tank inside the house opened fully once she hit the switch, pouring propane gas into the living room. Seven seconds after tripping it a burner ignited a small detonator, and as the creature dodged through the house ready to burst through the living room window, a concussion blast hit it full force as the gas expanded, knocking it against the wall as a flash of flames blew out the remaining windows in the house with a booming explosion. The creature shrieked in rage for a split second before it was incinerated.

  Gunfire could be heard throughout the community as the battle raged on. Sarah kept running towards their unofficial town hall, the place they would gather for a final battle, firing her pistol at an infected that was running across her line of fire. It dropped and another appeared in the direction it had come, changing its direction to race towards her. In the glow of the fire it looked demonic, and she emptied her pistol on it but couldn’t place a head shot.

  As its eyes bulged in murderous rage, she threw away the gun and pulled out the machete that was still attached to her belt. She was beyond fear. It rushed towards her in fury and as it came on her she side-stepped to the left, screaming, "C'mon!" as she swung the blade at its neck, feeling it slice all the way through. The head rolled for several yards as the body slumped to the ground. It came to a stop, facing her, and she recognized the features in the intermittent glow of the fires, even through the mutilation and infection. It was Manny.

  She gasped in shock and a deep and continuous abdominal contraction suddenly gripped her and she doubled over in pain. She could feel blood starting to trickle down her leg and knew it wasn’t from the machete wound. She remembered her vision and realized what was happening. She was losing her baby.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  "I wasn't sure if you were gonna make it," Mace said to Bill early the next morning. Bill was throwing his belongings into Mike's truck and turned around as Mace walked up behind him.

  "Neither did I. I don't know how far I'm going. I just know I'm not staying here." His eyes looked red, hollow and drained of life but his voice was steady. He turned back to finish packing his belongings.

  "Shawn and I just got back from a gas run," Mace said slowly and deliberately. Gesturing to the right, he said, "We found a good sized shuttle van at a Comfort Suites down the road. We thought we'd use it from here on out. At this point we can all fit in one veh
icle."

  Mace's eye twitched as he said the last words, but Bill's face remained calm. Mace continued. "Why don't you pack your stuff in the van and just leave the truck behind. This thing looks like its seen enough miles anyway."

  Bill looked at him seriously. "We both have." He turned and slowly gave the truck a long and sad look over. He remained quiet for a while. "I'll grab my things. I'll catch up in a minute," he whispered as he continued to gaze at the truck.

  Mace nodded, stepping back to turn away.

  "Wait," Bill said before he left.

  They locked eyes for a moment. "Thank you."

  Mace nodded again in understanding.

  Walking up after doing a quick sweep of their location, Shawn looked quickly at both men and said, "It's all clear. They all retreated back to wherever the hell they go." He nodded towards Bill and said solemnly, "Sorry about Mike, man. He was a good kid."

  "Yeah he was," said Bill in agreement.

  Back at the hotel, Lisa talked to Jade with Chelsea glued to her side, continuously looking around in fright. "I don't know how much more of this I can take," she said softly, trying to keep Chelsea from hearing. "It feels like back at the hospital, when it all fell apart."

  Jade took a deep breath, concentrating on Lisa's face, trying to keep it together. "We are almost there. We'll find out real soon if this was worth it. It has to be. You'll see." Glancing at Chelsea, she could see the fear in her eyes from the night before. She felt her heart sink.

  Lisa just shook her head. "I drank the kool aid, too, Jade. We all did. I'm just not so sure anymore. I'm losing hope."