“I’m going up to the roof.” I had one of the cattle prods with me, along with my other weapons and my radio. “I’ll be giving you instructions via radio. Keep the windows closed.”
“I’m coming with you,” Kitten said, already scrambling out the passenger-side window, his cattle prod tucked under one arm. I didn’t think the Rabids could reach us up there on the roof, but then they’d surprised me before. Kitten had my Glock with plenty of replacement mags just in case. I wasn’t making that mistake again.
The sun was shadowed by clouds, but the Rabids didn’t seem to be all that affected by the light, which meant this was a new variant. These Rabids would be even more of a menace if they got loose. I braced myself against the metal cage mounted to the top of the Humvee and aimed the flare gun at the sky, firing off a shot to get their attention. The orange light flickered against the clouds, the movement catching a few of the Rabids’ attention as several others stopped shuffling around to look up at the sky.
“Rev the engine,” I said to Santi via radio and the Humvee’s powerful engine came to life. Attracted to the sound, they turned and set their sightless eyes on us. “Rush up on them now but don’t get too close.”
Santi did as instructed, prompting the Rabids into action, guiding them toward the shooting range. Thankfully, there were no weapons stored inside there. Those were in the armory.
“Keep it steady now,” I said to Santi as he dodged debris and dead bodies.
“They’re moving,” Santi said.
“If we can stay on the outer perimeter–” I started to say, but a loud thud cut me off as one of the Rabids managed to latch onto the ladder at the back of the Humvee. Fingers clawed at the metal, teeth snapping in mindless hunger.
“We’ve got a climber,” I said to Kitten in case he hadn’t heard the scuffle. He was ready with the cattle prod and jabbed the weapon downward, electricity crackling as it made contact with the Rabid’s shoulder. The Rabid convulsed and tumbled off, but it wasn’t long before he was right back on his feet, groaning in frustration and ambling our way.
“Keep an eye on that one,” I told Kitten.
“Yes, boss.”
“What do we do with the strays?” Santi asked regarding the Rabids on the fringes who weren’t following the others.
“We’ll circle back for ‘em,” I said.
We took a few more turns about the yard, using the cattle prod to prompt the stragglers into action. I hoped none of them remembered this and that the holes in their memory were at least as big as mine. Once all who we could see were contained, I hopped off the roof, and with the help of Gizmo and Wylie, secured the gate with chains and locks. The Rabids who’d been hiding now approached us, their hunger outweighing their caution. Macon and Kitten disabled them with the cattle prod to the spine, then jumped on their backs to hogtie their wrists and ankles with zip-ties. We left them wriggling like worms in the yard, still trying to inch their way toward us with little success.
“And that’s how you round up Rabids,” Macon said and gave Kitten a high-five. “What’s the next move, boss?”
I turned my attention toward the series of warehouses, all interconnected enclosed spaces with doors and closets and countless hiding spots where several more Rabids were likely hiding, or feeding, or both.
“Santiago, you stay with the Humvee. You’re our escape plan if we need it. Rafi, you guard the fields, disable any latecomers like we did these ones,” I handed him one of the cattle prods and a bundle of zip ties. “The rest of us are going to secure the command center, barracks, and mess hall in that order. I’m surethere’ll be several live Rabids inside, some of them hiding. We have to be prepared for anything.”
We adjusted our armor and checked our weapons, then I led the remaining squad to the command center, hoping there were some uninfected soldiers left to recruit, but the security wing appeared empty. Chairs were overturned, papers scattered like confetti on the blood-streaked floor. The monitors flickered erratically, displaying static or fragmented surveillance of the Rabids still wandering around inside the base, hunting. Their opaque eyes reflected ghostlike in the grainy video, their faces grimy with dirt and blood. I surveyed the videos and made an estimate. “Thirty or so live ones.” I turned toward Gizmo and Wylie. “You two stay here and be our eyes and ears. We’re going to need as much intel as possible as we go into the compound.”
“Roger that, boss,” Wyile said and took up a pair of headphones, passing another over to Gizmo. That left six of us to secure the compound–Kitten, Teresa, Artemis, Macon, Ansel, and myself. All of us were good fighters, even Ansel. He’d been training with Teresa, throwing knives and axes in the back forty, and from what I’d seen, he was pretty accurate.
“Barracks next,” I told them as we moved out in formation with myself in front and Macon bringing up the rear, similar to how we used to travel Rabid Country, all of us with our weapons raised and at the ready. The barracks were where it all began, according to Godara, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the pile of corpses that nearly blocked the entryway to the barracks, their bodies picked over and hideously intertwined.
“Don’t look at that,” I said to Kitten, who was pale as a sheet with a look of horror on his face. “We’ll figure out who they are later. Macon, confirm they’re all dead,” I said before moving us along.
The linoleum floors were slick with blood and the tracks suggested that the wounded had attempted to get away, only to be overtaken. Papers, clothing, and personal belongings were strewn about. In one corner of the room, bunks and mattresses had been overturned as if to form a blockade. One of the closets looked as if it’d been blown up with a grenade. The smell of rotting bodies was so bad that even the shield of our helmets couldn’t mask it.
Inside the adjoining washroom, was another disturbing scene. A soldier, having been bitten several times, had taken his own life, his service pistol lying beside him. “I knew him,” Kitten said softly at my side. “He was good at Spades. Hated vegetables but ate them anyway.”
“Try not to think about it right now. We’ll mourn them all properly later, I promise.”
If we survived.
Just then I heard a thump, swiveled around to spot one of the military-issued metal trunks jump. “There’s a live one,” I said to my crew, bringing their attention to it. We approached the trunk slowly, all of us crowding around with our weapons raised as I unlatched the front of it and lifted the lid.
The person inside was bloody, curled up in a small ball, trembling and clearly traumatized, but she didn’t appear to be Rabid.
“Audrey?” Kitten said and immediately offered his hand. I kept my eyes trained on the woman to make sure she wasn’t going to lunge at him and bite.
“Joshua?” she asked, blinking her eyes open.
“Yes, it’s me. Are you okay?”
