The Dead Years (Volumes 4-6) Read online

  3

  Every unoccupied seat in the stadium represented another person that died at the hands of those things or even worse, turned into one. Sitting quietly in the leather backed seat of the skybox typically reserved for executives and their guests, he quietly looked out over the field. A slight smirk slowly began to form at the corner of his mouth. He didn’t even notice it at first, it just happened. There couldn’t possibly be a more perfect spot in the building for watching a football game than right where he was sitting, although no one would ever get a chance to know what it would feel like.

  William nervously shifted in his seat, waiting for her next question. He continued to turn his gaze from the field to her and back to the field. Time seemed to freeze as the thoughts of what was to come next terrified him. Her demeanor had drastically changed since the last time he met with her. She hadn’t been overly outgoing or friendly their first two meetings, although today something was different. He hoped Randy’s antics hadn’t sent her over the edge. William did what he could to make her understand what his group was going through, although he knew she didn’t care.

  “William…”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to do something… Something I said I wouldn’t do. Something I may end up regretting.”

  “OK?”

  “I want you to trust me and I can’t think of any other way to make it happen.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “You’ve asked me for my name nine times over the course of our two encounters and each time I told you I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

  “That is correct.”

  “Well, I’m going to need you to do something for me first.”

  He had no idea who this woman was, although he did know enough not to screw with her. It was fairly evident that the two idiots reported to her AND they appeared just as scared of her as he was, maybe more so.

  Her short dark hair fell just shy of her muscular shoulders. She looked as though she may have been in law enforcement or some other kind of physically demanding career. She was obviously uncomfortable with small talk and watching her continually mash her hands into the soft leather armrests made him uneasy. His best guess placed her very faint accent from somewhere in South America, although her grasp of English vernacular meant she had been in this country for some time. Her weathered skin and faded age lines also told him she spent a good bit of time outdoors.

  Chewing the edge of his bottom lip, William wanted to hear more. He knew she could sense his anticipation and in turn he felt her displeasure. “William, keep in mind when you answer that my men have been observing every detail of your group, listening to every conversation and reporting back to me since you pulled up to our gates. And you did arrive at OUR gates.”

  “No problem, we have nothing to hide. We’re running from the same monsters you are. We may even be able to help around here, if you give us the chance.”

  “We’ll see.”

  She took one last sip from her water bottle and placed it back on the small rectangular shaped Mahogany table between the two chairs as she stood and walked to the open area of the skybox behind the two rows of chairs facing the field. The half full bottle had dripped tiny beads of condensation down onto her pants and with one finger she flicked them to the floor. The uneven look on her face rapidly descended into a scowl. “I want the truth this time; why did you come here? Who told you we were here?”

  Not quite sure what to expect, William stood and made his way over to her. “I’ve told you our story multiple times, why don’t you bring one of the others in here to confirm what I have said?”

  “I think you need to watch your tone, and I may just do that. I have asked you so many times because frankly I don’t believe that your group just happened to see our lights on and decided to come check it out.”

  William rubbed his hands hard against his face. “That’s how it happened. We were overrun by Feeders and stopped to clear the way.” He began to speak louder and faster at this point. He was growing impatient at having to repeat himself. “Once we got back in the RV, Mason spotted the lights from the stadium and we figured there may be people here… friendly people.”

  “There is something you’re not telling me, I can read people very well and you’re hesitating and you’re leaving something out. I can tell.”

  “Alright… I AM leaving something out. The biggest detail of all, to me anyway, although it won’t mean much to you. I’ll give you the details if YOU give me your word that my friends and I won’t be harmed and for once you’ll let me know what the hell is happening here. Deal?”

  “Deal!”

  This was the most focused he had seen her in all the meetings he had with this mysterious woman. She didn’t break eye contact for a second as he began his brief story. “My Uncle Joe…”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “He’s dead,” William said as he paused to let the lump in his throat fall back.

  “What does that have to do with your showing up on my doorstep?”

  “Everything. He saved our lives… all eight of us. While we were out clearing the front of the RV, he saw that hundreds of Feeders started coming from the rear and knew that none of us were going to make it out of there alive. He stepped out of the RV and drew them away from us so we could get out of the area. He died to save us. When we got back in the RV to leave, Mason noticed your light.” William fought back the tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes.

  Her look softened as she hung her head and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry for your loss; your uncle did something most wouldn’t have the courage to do. I can tell how much you miss him.”

  That was it; he didn’t care what she wanted now. There was nothing else he could tell her and even though he hadn’t done anything physical in days, he was completely drained. The constant stress had taken its toll and he just wanted to be back with his friends.

  Both were silent before she slowly shook her head and looked back up at him. “My name is Marie. Before the end of the world, I was the project coordinator for food services here at the stadium. There was a grand opening scheduled for later in the week and most contractors were on-site when the infection showed up. I was actually taking an early lunch and showing my husband around the stadium when we were attacked… here in this room.”

  He hadn’t seen this side of her and as she tried to continue, the pain was evident. “My husband was a great man. He saved my life. He was able to fight off the first three that came to the door, although when they began to overtake him, he pushed through the crowd and slammed the door behind him. As he left the room he looked back and told me he loved me. I couldn’t do anything to help him.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear about your husband.”

  “Yeah, he’s still here. I go look for him sometimes.”

  “I don’t understand,” William said.

  “He turned into one of those things and is locked in the power room with the others. He went straight there and lured them all inside with him. When he tried to get out they piled on top of him and he was bitten many times.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “The men that are watching over your friends witnessed the whole thing. They are the ones that locked the cage after my husband was overrun. They saved me and many others.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “They were asked to leave.”

  William scratched his head and looked at Marie through squinted eyes. “Why?”

  “They didn’t serve a purpose here and our resources would have been used up much quicker if they were allowed to stay.”

  “Allowed?”

  “Yes, one of the men here had a few weapons hidden in his vehicle and he chose to stand with me. We asked the others to leave and they did.”

  “It doesn’t sound like they had much of a choice.”

  “True, although it doesn’t matter anymore. They are gone now and we need to get back to living our liv
es.”

  William was still confused as he walked back over to the seats. “Marie, if I may, I have one question. How is it that you still have power after all this time? I know this is a new state-of-the-art facility and it was said that it could supply its own power. But if you hadn’t opened yet, how is everything on and why don’t you shut off the lights at night?”

  “William, the absurd truth is that we don’t know how. The engineers were doing a demo for the owners when they were caught off guard by a large horde of Feeders, so no one ever turned the power off. Every so often the lights or air conditioning will go off in a different part of the building and then without reason it just turns back on. We don’t know how long it will last and we can’t even turn it off manually to conserve energy.”

  “Why?”

  “The big group that chased my husband…”

  “Yeah?”

  “The room they are locked in has all the controls. There must be over a hundred locked behind that gate.”

  “What about shooting them from outside one at a time and then going in?”

  “Not enough ammunition.”

  “Oh…”

  Marie made her way back over to the wet bar and reached below the counter. The squawk from the walkie startled William and he turned to see what she was up to.

  “Hey, it’s me; bring our guests up to the box… All of them.”

  “OK,” came a voice from the other end.

  He waited for her to put down the walkie before speaking. “Uh, what’s happening?”

  “William, I like you… and because of your background in medicine, I would like you to stay.”

  4

  The vice tightening around her head was relentless. Her hair felt as though it would break off when she began to run her fingers through it. Migraines had become part of her life since she was a young adult. April knew what triggered them and could usually self-soothe. This was different. The constant pain brought her to tears more than once in the last few days. As she continued to rub her head harder against the pain, she felt a warm fluid trickling down her fingertips. She was now bleeding.

  Another day without Mason… The short meals and the couple of hours spent together weren’t enough. April wanted to leave this place. She wanted to leave right now, just gather everyone, hop back in the RV and head to her father’s beach house. She didn’t particularly like what was waiting for them out on the road, although she had a feeling this place was not what it seemed. This place just didn’t feel right. There was something wrong with these people. Why would they lock them up like animals? Their explanation didn’t justify it.

  “April, you need to try to calm yourself. You’re going to have a panic attack. Just breathe,” Karen said.

  “I don’t know how you can be so clam. Why are they doing this to us?”

  “I have no idea. William told me he was going to get some answers today.”

  “Those guys aren’t talking! They haven’t even told us their names. I don’t like this at all.”

  “They haven’t hurt us and keep giving us food. I think they’re just being cautious. They probably want to make sure we aren’t going to hurt them.”

  A single tear ran down her cheek as she looked over at her son sleeping on the cot nearest the door. He lay facing the wall and hadn’t said much in the last couple of days. He usually sat and listened as April and Karen shared stories of life before all this happened. Justin only chimed in every now and again to correct his mother if she gave details of their history that made him look too much like an innocent child.

  April stood, wiping her face with her sleeve and walked over to Justin’s cot. She pulled the oversized orange and purple fleece blanket from the ground and covered him. The chill in the air was a welcome distraction, although she wondered not only why they constantly kept the air running, but also how long it would last before the power from the solar generators ran dry. The building seemed to run on autopilot, and this also made no sense.

  “Has that woman talked to Mason? I know they don’t give us much privacy, although William let me know at lunch that he had talked to someone other than our two friends outside.”

  “There’s someone else here?” April said.

  “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, so we need to keep it quiet.”

  “Who is she, what does she want?”

  “He wasn’t sure; he said she asks a lot of questions about why we’re here and what all of us did before all this mess.”

  “Like our careers?”

  “Yeah, kind of weird,” Karen said.

  “Why on earth would she…”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the same three knocks on the door. This typically signaled one of their daily meals or time together, although it seemed as though they just got back to the room from lunch within the last hour.

  As the door opened, Justin slowly turned over, sat up straight and tossed the blanket onto the floor in front of Stumpy. “Boy, you need to show some respect. Pick that up!”

  She wasn’t afraid of Stumpy in his oversized five dollar t-shirt, denim cargo shorts and hiking boots. In fact, he sort of amused her. April stepped between this man and her son.

  “Sir, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for trying to teach my poor boy right from wrong, although I think you should leave that to those of us that actually know the difference!” She extended her hand knowing he wouldn’t shake it and then turned to Justin. “Just humor the little guy and leave it on the bed.”

  The looks on their faces were different. Usually they just appeared bored and pissed off. They now looked stressed. Lurch stepped to the middle of the room. “Enough… just get your shoes on and follow me.”

  “Where are we going?” asked Karen.

  “Don’t worry about it, hurry up.”

  April sat on the cot next to Justin and slid her shoes on as she watched both men. The little guy had multiple lines of sweat running from his face and neck that were halted and soaked up by the collar of his t-shirt. He continued to pace back and forth across the room as Lurch checked the hall once again.

  The feeling of bile rose in her throat. She was nauseous, although the pounding in her head had stopped since she got to her feet and started moving around. She didn’t like the way they were acting. There was a sense of finality in their voices.

  While both men were deep in conversation waiting to leave, April pulled Justin by the arm and whispered something in his ear that no one in the room could hear. Karen turned to April, slowly shook her head in disapproval, mouthing the words “Not now.”

  Exhaling loudly and scratching his head, Lurch pointed to the door. “I’m only going to say this once. WE are the ones with the weapons. YOU do not have any. DON’T try anything funny or I WILL SHOOT ALL OF YOU… I promise! When we reach the other rooms, you will step inside and wait for me to give you the OK to move. We are going to get your friends and then meet with someone else. Don’t ask us any questions. We will not answer anything... Understood?”

  Raising an eyebrow, April looked at Justin and Karen. The three nodded in unison. “Understood,” they said.

  “Good, let’s go.”

  Stumpy made his way out into the hall, followed by April, Karen and Justin. They stopped briefly for Lurch to lock the door after exiting. “Let’s head over to the lovebirds next, and then we’ll go get the boys.”

  Justin had begun mapping the building in his mind from the first night they were here. He now had a pretty good idea of the layout in his mind. Each section they had been taken to was exactly the same, one main artery leading to three long hallways, each containing four separate rooms. He concluded that the stadium had twelve hallways total, two of which led to the individual locker rooms and from there into the dugouts for baseball season. He also knew they were being kept separate for a reason. The people holding them here were scared of something and he knew it.

  As they approached the hall leading to Adam and Savannah’s room, the two men
stopped and looked at one another. The unmistakable sound of a large group of Feeders swept through the area, as did the stench of their rotting flesh. “Keep going,” Lurch said. “We’re almost there.”

  Karen began to shake. “What…”

  Lurch put his hand on her shoulder and pointed down the hall as Stumpy led the group forward.

  5

  “Have I told you how much I hate these beds?” Adam cursed under his breath and sat back against the wall.

  “These aren’t supposed to be beds and I really don’t think our comfort is a top priority for these people,” Savannah said.

  Adam tossed the tennis ball to the other side of the room and wiped his hands against the front of his shirt. How is it that my heart is still racing? What are we supposed to do now? Is she my girlfriend? Do I take the lead? Do I wait for her to make the move again?

  “I’m getting you out of here Savannah. I’m getting all of us out of here!” Standing and walking to the door Adam cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck from side to side like a boxer getting ready for a fight.

  “You’re crazy, those guys have guns… AND they beat Randy like a dog for absolutely nothing.”

  “I can’t stay trapped in here another minute. Next time they come to take us out, I’m going after the big guy to take his gun. What’s the worst thing that could happen? I take a beating from those guys? I don’t care at this point.”