This Dying World (Book 2): Abandon All Hope Read online

  “If you’re done playing with that one, this one’s all yours,” Jason called out as he drew the creature toward Dunford.

  “No prob, Gunny!”

  Dunford moved in behind the creature. Bringing his foot up, he planted his boot into the small of the creature’s back and forced it to eat dirt. He stood next to the thing, winding up like a professional golfer.

  “Fore!” he shouted as the thing raised its head. The weapon came down in a sweeping arc, imbedding the blade into the base of the creatures skull. The undead thing twitched and went limp.

  “That’s a penalty for showboating!” Jason laughed.

  “But I did it with style!” Dunford smiled.

  The two laughed as they walked away from the carnage they had wrought, making their way back to the road where their companions were waiting.

  “Dunford,” Jason began, trying to choose his words carefully. “You’re not going to look for other units, are you?”

  “No, Gunny,” he answered after a few seconds. “I was originally, but then I saw what’s been happening since we went into hiding.”

  “You’re going back home?”

  “Not entirely.” Dunford’s eyes began to glisten with moisture, his voice shaking slightly with his words. “I know they’re dead.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I got a text from my dad,” he answered. “He told me Rebecca and Emily, my sisters, they were infected. They attacked Mom and they bit him when he tried to save her.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. When did this happen?”

  “As soon as we hit dry land. I got the text then, but I didn’t get a chance to read it until we holed up.”

  “You kept it to yourself all this time?”

  “Didn’t see a need to talk about it.”

  “So you decided to look for any surviving units?”

  “That was the plan. But now, not so much.”

  “What now then?” Jason asked.

  “I’m going with Braden, err, Jeffries. He’s got family in Washington. The state, not DC. He shouldn’t be alone.”

  “I see,” Jason sighed, dropping his head. “I am a deserter.”

  “Gunny, I was just venting. I was out of line.”

  “No, you were right Corporal. I was so intent on finding my family that I was ready to turn my back on you when you refused to follow me.”

  “Gunny, you have family to get to. You at least know they survived the first night.”

  “Marines are family, too. And this Marine will not leave his men behind to fend for themselves. I’m not letting you two go at this alone.”

  “What about your family?” Dunford asked.

  “If anyone will survive this, it will be Chris. And Dan’s just too stubborn to let anything happen to his family. They’ll be okay until I meet up with them.”

  “Thanks, Gunny. It means a lot.”

  “There’s a catch, though,” Jason said, patting Dunford’s shoulder. “If things turn out bad, then you guys come with me.”

  “Sounds like a fair deal. But if we find his folks, I don’t want to leave them alone.”

  “I wouldn’t either. I’d rather have everyone come along, but I don’t want to force people from their homes. If they want to come, we’ll find a van or something. If they want to sit tight, I’ll respect their wishes. If you decide to stick with them, they’d be lucky to have you.”

  “Gunny,” Dunford asked with a tinge of trepidation. “Are we good?”

  “We’re good as far as I’m concerned,” Jason answered. “Unless you want to go for round two?”

  “I’ll pass,” Dunford said rubbing his swollen lip. “I’m still recovering from round one.”

  “You realize you didn’t have a chance, right?” Jason laughed. “You know those wonderful close combat drills you ran through in boot? I taught those.”

  Dunford stopped, staring at Jason with a befuddled look. Jason simply shrugged, walking ahead of the shocked Corporal. He couldn’t help chuckling as he walked away. Behind him, Dunford let out a small litany of expletives before he too started to laugh. By the time they had returned to the road, they were both roaring with laughter.

  Jeffries stood in the middle of the road, casting a confused glance toward Jason and Dunford. Murphy stood amongst the trees on the other side of the road nodding with approval. Titan weaved in and out of the bushes in front of him, sniffing at every plant and rock he came across. Finally, he lifted his leg to water a sapling that looked ready to fall over.

  “Well,” Murphy started, turning his attention to Jason. “You didn’t kill him, so I guess things are settled.”

  “Yeah,” Jason nodded. “I’ve decided to tag along with these turds for a while.”

  “I thought you might,” Murphy smiled. “I think I might go along for the ride too. Jeffries seems to think his mom makes the best banana pudding on the west coast, and I aim to put that to the test!”

  “Okay, I think our little rest stop has gone on long enough. That pie is starting to sound really good,” Jason said.

  “Good idea,” Murphy said, walking back over to the group. “Jeffries scouted ahead a bit, he says we’re practically there already.”

  “Is that so?” Jason asked. “I didn’t know we were getting into the habit of walking off on our own.”

  “Gunny,” Jeffries protested. “I maintained visual contact with Gunny Murphy. We’re so close to The Barn that it’s a wonder we didn’t see it already.”

  “The Barn?” Jason asked, hefting his pack to his shoulders.

  “It’s a marketplace, sells a lot of vintage and antique crap.”

  “Do a lot of antiquing in your spare time?”

  “My mom loves that kind of stuff. I send her little trinkets once in a while. That’s how I discovered the pie shop.”

  “Well then, you’re the tour guide. Lead the way.”

  “Aye, Gunny.”

  Dunford handed the sharpened e-tool to Murphy as they fell in behind Jeffries. Jason’s mood had lightened a bit. His decision to follow the young Marines had lifted a weight from his shoulders that he hadn’t noticed. The Corps was a brotherhood, and he could no more leave his brothers in arms than he could his brothers in blood. He would see them through their final mission.

  Chapter 12

  “Can I have a look at your hands?” Rosa’s caring voice lulled me back from my thoughts.

  Katie had cried herself to sleep in my lap. I just stared out the small opening in our steel armor, mindlessly watching the snow dusted landscape roll by. I’d let out more tears in those weeks than I had in my entire adult life. I had nothing left in me, so I just stared off at nothing, waiting for Chris to clue everyone in to what I already knew.

  He was bitten.

  Again, I would be forced to watch helplessly as another of my family died. I promised myself that I would not allow anyone else there to know the sorrow of putting a loved one to rest. Before Chris turned, I would do what needed to be done.

  “Dan?” Rosa sat down in the seat next to me. “Please, can I see your hands.”

  Without uttering a word, I lifted my palms for her to see. She took my hands in hers, looking over the cuts stretching across my palms. Her delicate fingers worked over the wound, cleaning the blood and filth away with cool water and a towel. I was amazed at how gentle her touch was. When sudden pain shot through my arm as she manipulated my fingers or removed small remnants of glass, she looked at me with tender and apologetic eyes.

  The sudden thought that not more than an hour earlier I was ready to put a bullet in her head sickened me. I questioned for the hundredth time whether or not the group would be better without me. In a blind rage I was ready to lash out and hurt someone who would lay down her life for any of us. If I could lose it that easily with people that I knew and trusted, what would happen when we inevitably came across other survivors? Was I simply too dangerous to have around?

  “You really could use stitches,” she said finall
y. “But we’ll have to make do with steri-strips for now until I can dig out something to stitch you up with. You’re lucky though, it doesn’t look like you damaged any muscles or nerves. Your pinky may not work right for a while, but I think you’ll heal up fine.”

  “Thank you, Rosa,” I said. “Joe…he’s a lucky man.”

  “Yes I am,” Joe boomed as he strode over to where we sat. “How’s he looking, dear?”

  “He’ll be okay,” she smiled. “I would like to get him some antibiotics if we can.”

  “I’ll see what we can do about that,” Joe replied. “You think he’ll be able to use this again?” Joe looked over at me as he drew my Glock from his coat pocket.

  “Not too much, but he should still have it, just in case.” She suddenly looked over at Joe with a confused stare. “Why do you have Dan’s gun?”

  “Rosa…Joe took it because–” I started.

  “I took it because his hands were bleeding and I didn’t think he would be able to shoot,” Joe interrupted. “Besides, I ain’t never shot a Glock before, decided I’d give it a whirl. Isn’t that right, Dan?”

  “Yeah,” I exhaled. “That’s right.”

  Joe smiled, but there was something different in his expression. Trepidation maybe? Distrust? Constipation? Whatever it was, I took it as the warning I knew it to be. Hurt her, and the undead would be the least of my worries. A point he made clear when I tried to take my gun from him, and he held on to it a second longer then he needed to before letting it go. He nodded at me and returned to the front of the bus.

  “I’m sorry,” Rosa whispered once we were alone again. She reached over and stroked Katie’s hair, her eyes glistening in the scant light. Katie groaned a bit before settling back down, letting out a tiny snore just loud enough to be heard over the groaning engine.

  “I don’t know how Katie got away from me,” she continued. “I tried to keep them together, but there was so much happening. It’s no excuse, and I don’t blame you if you hate me for it. I’m really–”

  “Rosa,” I interrupted. “Stop. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t pissed. But Katie is a handful, and when she sets her mind to something you’d have to chain her down to stop her. Abby and I never could find a crib that could hold her back when she was barely crawling. You have been nothing but loving toward us, and I know you wouldn’t intentionally put Katie in harm’s way.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her lip quivering. “She reminds me a lot of my cousin.”

  “Oh? Have you heard from her since–”

  “She died when I was young,” she interrupted.

  “I’m sorry, Rosa.”

  “Don’t be. It was a long time ago. She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was very young. But she never let it beat her. She stayed stronger than anyone else in my family. She was actually comforting the rest of us...when it was her time. That little girl was the oldest nine year old I have ever met. Katie has a lot of that same fire in her.”

  “Is she why you became a nurse?” I asked.

  “It’s part of it,” she answered. “A few months after she passed away, my parents were killed by a drunk driver. They were on their way home from their anniversary dinner when they were hit.”

  Rosa turned her head from me before the moisture building up in her eyes could escape. She took a deep breath, her shoulders shuddering slightly. I took her hand in mine, pain zinging through my palms as I did.

  “I moved to Chicago to live with my aunt,” she said over her shoulder. “I became a nurse so I wouldn’t feel so helpless anymore. But then my aunt died from kidney failure a year after I started working at County Hospital.”

  “Jesus,” I exhaled. “How do you get over all that loss?”

  “You don’t,” she answered simply, turning to face me again. “You learn to cope, but you move on. For me, I left the city and started a new life in the country.”

  “What if you can’t move on?” I asked. “What if it’s too much to live with?”

  “Then you live for Katie until you can live for yourself again,” Rosa said pointedly. “And you let the rest of us be your crutch when you can’t stand on your own.”

  “What if I can’t live through it again,” I asked under my breath. “I don’t know if I’ll survive it this time.”

  “This time?” Rosa sat up straight, cocking her head to the side with her eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”

  “When we left, after Joe pulled Chris away from those things. I was hoping he would’ve said something by now. I saw–” I hesitated, taking a deep breath before continuing. “His leg was bleeding. I think he might have been–”

  “Dammit!” Rosa spat. “Why didn’t you tell me!”

  She immediately got to her feet and stormed off toward the front of the bus, her attention locked on Chris. Joe smiled at her for a second before his eyes grew wide. He wisely stepped out of her way before she bowled him over. He stared back at me as she walked by, raising his hands up as if to ask ‘what the hell did you just do’.

  I just shook my head and shrugged. If pissing off women was a skill I could have listed on a resume, I would have been a CEO by the time the apocalypse hit. To be honest, I’m surprised it took as long as it did for me to hit one of Rosa’s hot buttons.

  The bus lurched and slowed, shuddering as it came to a stop on the side of the road. Chris swung sideways in the driver’s seat, stretching his leg out as Rosa knelt in front of him. Anna leapt from her seat, plowing her way toward them. She spoke to Rosa for a second before taking Chris’ hand, the edges of her lips curling down as fat teardrops ran down her face

  Joe’s head swiveled back and forth, his attention switching from me to Chris and back again, a look of worry stretching across his face. Everyone on the bus held their collective breaths as Rosa worked on my brother’s leg. She lowered the cuff of his pants and dropped her head.

  Chris stood, and Anna buried her face in his chest and sobbed. I knew then that my worst fears were realized. I closed my eyes and lowered my own head, trying to block out Anna’s cries.

  “Dan.” Chris surprised me as he took a seat next to me. I lifted my head to see Anna and Rosa sitting together in the row in front of me. Anna’s head rested on Rosa’s shoulder, deep sobs still racking her body.

  “Hey,” I answered without looking at him.

  “Why don’t you let Matt take Katie for a bit while we talk,” he said.

  I looked up to find Matt standing over me wearing a deadly serious face. Katie woke for a couple seconds as I handed her off, giving me the nastiest look I’d ever seen from a six year old. If the girl knew anything about swearing, I’m sure she would match my rather lengthy foul language vocabulary word for word for waking her up.

  “Dad gave me something back when I enlisted,” he said after Matt carried Katie away. “He said it was to protect me whenever I was in a tight jam. I’ve kept it with me since. It was old, and didn’t really work too well, but it still managed to protect me…until today.”

  “I know,” I said under my breath, lowering my head again.

  “I don’t think you do,” he replied. “For some reason he gave me this old boot knife. The blade is sharp as hell, but the sheath never did secure it. That knife leaves a pretty nasty cut when it gets pulled loose and dragged across your leg.”

  It took a few seconds for what he said to drill through the several dense cognitive layers before this new information processed into full comprehension. The two women in front of me were looking back, both smiling and fighting back laughter. I looked over to Chris to see a mischievous smile on his face.

  “You mean–” I started.

  “I mean,” he interrupted. “Rumors of my imminent demise have been highly exaggerated.”

  “I’m sorry,” Anna laughed. “He made us do it!”

  “Something about payback for a birthday singing clown telegram.” Rosa laughed.

  “You are a class A asshole!” I snapped at Chris.

  “We
’re cut from the same cloth, bro.”

  “So you knew that was me, huh?” I asked as the sixteen ton elephant resting on my shoulders suddenly flittered away into oblivion. My brother was going to survive another day.

  Provided I didn’t kill him myself.

  “Who the hell else would it have been?!” he chuckled. “Jason’s too busy to set that up, I never talk to Ryan, and all of my friends know better because they generally live within ass kicking range.”

  I heard Joe chuckling as he radioed something back to Mark. The bus shuddered violently as Joe pulled us back out on the road. A loud scraping noise filled the cabin as we accelerated, slowly easing as we picked up speed.

  “That is a real problem though,” Chris suddenly grew serious. “We’re going to have to stop somewhere for repairs, and soon.”

  “Can’t we just remove the plow and attach it later when we’re a bit further from that horde?”

  “It’s not just the plow. We’ve got bigger problems than that. Take a good whiff of the air.”

  “Not falling for that one,” I said. “You farted, didn’t you?”

  “Just do it,” he sighed.

  I sniffed the air, expecting to smell the wonderful bouquet of Chris’ digested breakfast. Instead I caught the faintest hint of chemical.”

  “Diesel?” I asked.

  “Yeah. We’ve been noticing it for that last fifteen minutes or so. It’s been gradual, but its building.”

  “Is it exhaust maybe?”

  “No, it’s too raw. Joe thinks it’s from the spare tanks in back.”

  “You think they ruptured?”

  “No,” Chris answered. “He rigged the tanks together as a gravity feed system straight into the main tank so we wouldn’t have to go outside to fill up as much. In order for the feed to work, there had to be an opening at the top of the tanks. That also meant the back had to be vented to keep fumes from building up. The vents are on the roof, so when we hit the porch–”

  “The vents were damaged when the porch roof collapsed,” I finished. “And who knows what happened to the solar panels too.”