Z-Day Chronicles (Book 2): Rising Up Read online

  The window that Kyle spoke of opened, and a blonde woman revealed herself, looking up at the group.

  “There’s help!” the woman shouted inside the room. “We’ve got help!”

  “Are you alright, miss?!” Kyle called out.

  “Thank you so much! We thought we weren’t gonna make it!”

  Grimm bolted the rope to the concrete above the survivors, fasting it to the edge of the building. He bolted another piece of the rope to the rooftop, making sure that the rope was sturdy enough for everyone to climb down and back up.

  “We’re coming down!” Kyle shouted. “Stay clear of the window!”

  The woman nodded and disappeared into the room.

  “We’re gonna need to get these guys out quick,” Jake told the squad. “That chopper is making a lot of noise, putting us in the spotlight. Those things are gonna be running here from miles off.”

  Kyle climbed down first, entering the room a couple floors below them. He then pulled in some of the extra rope that was dangling further down and tied it off to a heavy bed next to the window. After motioning the others, Rodney climbed down, with the rest of the squad following him.

  “In here!” The woman persisted. “My boyfriend’s been bit.”

  The woman led Kyle into the bathroom. In there was a man laying on the ground unconscious. His right leg was patched up, but the blood continued to seep through the bandages. There was also another survivor, a young adult with short, curly brown hair, who sat in the main room just outside of the bathroom on the other side of the bed next to it.

  “We’ll take care of him,” Kyle assured. “Right now, we need you to get ready at the window. We’re gonna get you guys out of here.”

  Although the boy behind the second bed did as he was told, the woman stayed next to her boyfriend.

  “Miss,” Kyle asserted. “I understand you want to be in here with him, but we’re gonna have to amputate the leg. You don’t need to be in here with that going on.”

  The boy hurried out that window. Dike climbed up next, making sure the boy didn’t slip when trying to climb the rope.

  “Miss,” Kyle continued. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna make sure all three of you get out of here safe and...”

  “Three?!” The woman interrupted.

  Kyle gave the survivor a puzzling look.

  “Yeah,” he answered. “Three.”

  “Where did you get ‘three’ from? The only ones here are me and my boyfriend.”

  Just them?! Jake thought. L.T. wasn’t the only one that counted three. “We were contacted by someone that was here.”

  “I didn’t call you guys,” the woman replied, quickly grinning and tearing up. “I think it’s a miracle. You show up right when we need you.”

  Jake’s look of confusion abruptly changed to a shocked, attentive look. He quickly rushed into the living room.

  “DIKE!” Jake shouted. “IT’S A TRAP! GET BACK DOWN HERE!!!”

  By the time Jake called out for Dike, he as already halfway up the rope, and the survivor had already picked himself up on the roof. After standing up, the boy hastily pulled a small pistol from his ankle and aimed it at the rope.

  Pow! Thp!

  “AAAAAHHH!!!”

  Dike dropped from the building, losing his grip from the snapped rope. As he continued to fall, his feet bucked from the room’s entrance, flipping him around until his chest hit the railing on a balcony on the second floor. He then tumbled even faster until he kissed the concrete sidewalk, pummeling a couple of the straggling zombies as he did.

  “MAN DOWN!” Rodney shouted.

  Jason poked his head upward, firing rounds at the boy, who used the rooftop as his cover. The boy then fired back rapidly, pelting Jason downwards underneath his collarbone. Grimm quickly pulled in Jason’s body before it could tip over the edge.

  “Dike and Webber are down!” Jake called out to Kyle. “I repeat: Dike and Webber are down!”

  As Grimm took Jason’s place at shooting from the window, one of the pilots from the chopper pulled out his sidearm.

  Pap! Pap! Pap! Pap! Pap!

  The shooter took three of the five rounds the pilot shot, tumbling over the edge of the roof.

  As Kyle was hearing the commotion that was taking place, the unconscious man opened his eyes, which were now cloudy in color.

  Crunch!

  “YEARGH!”

  The man sunk his teeth in Kyle’s left forearm, severing an artery in the process. Fresh red liquid continued to spew as the lieutenant struggled to break free of the zombie’s grasp. As the woman tried to help, the zombie released Kyle’s arm, turning its attention on the blonde woman, and attacking her in Kyle’s place.

  Jake rushed into the small bathroom and noticed Kyle lying on the ground injured and the zombie feasting on the woman that used to be the dead man’s girlfriend.

  Pow! Pow!

  Jake fired two rounds, killing the zombie, and killing the woman whom it had mangled up severely. He then dragged Kyle into the main room where the others were at.

  “Oh God! Oh God!” Kyle kept repeating.

  “L.T.’s been bit!” Jake shouted.

  As the remaining squad tend to their fallen leader, Joseph hears the door banging frantically and rapidly.

  “There’s more!” Joseph shouted.

  Grimm motioned to Joseph, pointing at the second bed. The two of them pushed the heavy wooden frame next to the door, barricading it and preventing the zombies in the hallway from breaking in.

  Jake radioed the outpost.

  “This is Marshal Jaycob Riley! Emergency mission has failed! I repeat: Mission has failed! Corporals Dike Akiyama and Jason Webber are K.I.A., and Lieutenant Kyle Williams is in critical condition! We need immediate assistance!”

  There was no response on the other end of the line.

  “I say again! Corporals Dike Akiyama and Jason Webber are... Oh forget it!”

  Jake threw away the radio and assisted in trying to calm Kyle down.

  “That thing bit through his artery!” Rodney informed. “If we can’t get L.T. back to the outpost soon, he’s not gonna make it!”

  “Just cut it off!” Kyle shouted. “Cut it off now!”

  “If we do that,” Jake responded. “You could lose a lot of blood! We can’t risk it!”

  Kyle reached up with his right arm and grabbed Jake by the collar. His eyes were full of anger and fear.

  “DO IT.... SIR!” Kyle ordered. “Get it over with!”

  Jake nodded his head and told Joseph to help him hold Kyle down. Rodney tightly gripped Kyle’s right hand, and Grimm pulled out his double edged knife. His knife was smooth on one end, while the other end of his knife was toothed, making it the perfect tool for amputating Kyle’s arm.

  As Grimm rested his knee on Kyle’s left hand, he patted his leader’s shoulder. It was at that moment that Grimm raised his knife and jammed it in Kyle’s arm, just shy of his elbow.

  “AAAAAAGH!!!!!!”

  The others held Kyle down as he struggled, screaming and writhing in agony, with his eyes streaming with tears. Grimm proceeded to slice around Kyle’s infected arm, cutting into the muscle and nerves.

  “MAKE IT STOP!!” Kyle screamed. “MAKE IT STOP!!”

  “Hang tight, brother!” Rodney assured. “We’re almost done! Just hold on a little longer!”

  Thump!

  “AAAHH!!”

  Grimm had turned his knife around, hacking into Kyle’s bone with the toothed end of his knife. Once the knife bit into the hard surface, he proceeded to saw into the bone and through the sponge within it. Once Grimm had pushed his knife through Kyle’s bone, causing the teeth to interlock with some of the threads from the blood stained carpet, he threw Kyle’s severed arm in the bathroom with the other bodies.

  After the amputation was complete, Kyle stopped screaming and began slowly breathing and swaying his head back and forth. His skin started turning pale, and he began to shiver.

  “Hurry
up and get the tourniquet on him!” Jake ordered. “He’s lost a lot of blood and he’s going into shock!”

  Grimm used a pillowcase from one of the beds to tightly wrap around Kyle’s bicep, stopping the bleeding from the stump where his arm used to be. He then wrapped the exposed area with gauze from the medic kit.

  “Hey, Corporal,” Kyle whispered weakly.

  “I’m right here, brother,” Rodney answered. “Just stay with me.”

  “Guess we’ll find out... who’s right... about Pascal’s Wager.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. We are gonna find out, but not today. We’ll find out long after you hooked up with a pretty woman, grown a long gray beard, and had at least one great-great-grandbaby. You hear me?!”

  Kyle weakly nodded, fighting to keep his eyes open.

  “Sir!”

  Jake heard nose coming from outside the window. He turned around to see another rope dangling from the rooftop. The pilot and co-pilot had tied a bungee cord to the skids on the helicopter.

  “Hurry up!” The pilot called out. “We’re not getting any signal from base. Let’s get out of here and head back before these things get to us!”

  Jake ordered Joseph to climb up the rope first, while he and Rodney set up the stretcher and tied Kyle to it. Grimm climbed up next, and Jake tied the end of the rope to the top of the stretcher.

  “You go on up, Marshal,” Rodney said. “I’ll stay here and get the L.T.”

  Jake stepped over to Jason’s body and removed his dog tags, placing them in his pocket.

  “We’re gonna have to come back for these two,” Jake said. “I’m gonna get HR-Team Bravo to retrieve them. Or at least Dike’s tags, if all else.”

  While Jake climbed to the roof, Rodney harnessed the top of the stretcher to his vest. He then slowly climbed up the rope, with Kyle attached to him. As he reached the top, Grimm, Jake, and Joseph helped Kyle up, carrying him to the chopper. The pilot and co-pilot quickly took off, with the remaining members of HR-Team Alpha trying desperately to contact base while keeping Kyle awake.

  Chapter 10

  The chopper carrying HR-Team Alpha arrived to the outpost. Tyrese and Kaylee walked out to greet the arriving soldiers, unaware that they had taken a turn for the worst. As Jake, Joseph, Rodney, and Grimm rushed out carrying Kyle on the stretcher, Kaylee stood still in shock, cupping her hands over her mouth, while Tyrese quickly radioed the others.

  “Get the medics out here now!” Tyrese shouted through his radio. “Hurry!!”

  Tyrese rushed to help carry Kyle.

  “Where’s Corporal Webber and Corporal Akiyama?!” Tyrese asked.

  “They didn’t make it!” Jake answered. “We’re the only ones that got out alive!”

  The medics hurried to the war torn squad. HR-Team Alpha passed Kyle along to them like a baton in the Olympics.

  “Prep for immediate medical care for a critical patient!” One of the medics radioed.

  Everyone hurried to the infirmary, where nurses were waiting to tend to Kyle. Once the squad entered the tent, one of the nurses motioned to an empty bed. On the count of three, the nurses moved Kyle from the stretcher the medics were carrying him on, placing him on the empty bed.

  “I need fifty milligrams of morphine, stat!” The head nurse ordered. “Someone get the torch ready! And anyone who is not a nurse needs to leave the tent now!”

  Jake, Tyrese, Kaylee, Joseph, and the rest of HR-Team Alpha left the tent, giving the nurses enough room to care for Kyle. Grimm and Rodney sat down outside the entrance to the infirmary, with Kaylee knelt down next to them, and Joseph was standing next to Jake, who abruptly turned to Tyrese and shoved him.

  “Jake!” Tyrese responded. “What did I...”

  “Where were you guys at?!” Jake interrupted.

  “What are you talking about?! We were on standby in case you needed assistance!”

  “We needed your assistance, Ty! We tried to contact you and HR-Team Bravo! You didn’t respond!”

  Tyler gave Jake a stern look.

  “What do you mean, ‘We didn’t respond?!’” he asked. “We never got anything from you or Alpha!”

  Jake turned his attention to the communications tent that was set up near the other chopper, which was preparing to take off.

  “Get our radios checked out!” Jake ordered. “Someone may have tampered with them!”

  Tyrese nodded and rushed towards the communications tent. Jake began pacing back and forth near the infirmary tent. Kaylee stood up from where she knelt, and proceeded to Jake.

  “Jake... I..” Kaylee hesitated, taking a deep breath. “He’s gonna be alright. They’re gonna fix him; he’s gonna...”

  “You don’t know that!” Jake interrupted. “He’s already lost a lot of blood; let alone, got bit! Even if he does get out, he’s decommissioned without his arm!”

  “At least he’ll be alive.”

  “Maybe, but after all he’s been through with HR-Team Alpha, he won’t be able to handle civilian life.”

  Jake continued frantically pacing back and forth.

  “You don’t know that, Jake,” Kaylee continued.

  “Oh,” Jake replied, with a more aggressive tone. “And you do?! How do you know so much? Your faith? You’re always praying to your God to protect us as we go out. Well where the hell was He today? When Dike and Jason got killed by that nut job and when Grimm had to cut Kyle’s hand off? Where was He?!”

  Kaylee moved up closer to Jake, with an angry look in her eye.

  “Don’t you dare,” Kaylee asserted. “Yes, I know you don’t believe in God. You know what? That’s fine! You don’t have to, but don’t think you’re gonna sway me from something I believe in! Even putting God aside, I’m actually trying to assure you and them that everything will be alright!”

  “Yeah,” Jake argued. “And if your way doesn’t work, you’re gonna feel more foolish than a lot of people around here see you as!”

  Jake paused the moment he saw Kaylee’s look change. She looked as if her heart shrunk down down to the size of a pebble, then dropped into the dirt and grass below her feet. Her green eyes started to glisten as she tried to hold back her own tears.

  “At least I have hope for your friend, Jake,” Kaylee silently finished. “What do you have?”

  You idiot! Jake thought to himself. You shouldn’t have said that to her! That was low, even with all that’s going on right now! “Kaylee, wait.”

  Kaylee turned around and trotted away from the infirmary, refusing to look back at Jake, ignoring him. Joseph stepped up next to him.

  “Do you need me for anything, Marshal?” Joseph asked.

  “No,” Jake sighed. “Head back to your squad, Private. I’ll inform you of the next session of your training.”

  “Yessir.”

  Joseph saluted Jake and proceeded to jog away, but turned around before he could continue his pace.

  “Permission to speak, sir?” Joseph asked.

  “Go ahead,” Joseph allowed. “I know you have your input on that. Don’t want to keep it bottled up.”

  “I was just gonna say, sir: I’m not sure if she’s right about what she believes in, but I do think she’s right about Lieutenant Williams surviving.”

  With that, Joseph proceeded to his group at the gate.

  You and me both, kid. Jake thought.

  Jake turned to Rodney and Grimm, who stayed seated on the ground next to the infirmary tent.

  “You boys need anything?” Jake asked.

  “No sir, Marshal,” Rodney answered, with Grimm shaking his head. “We’re gonna stay here with L.T. We’ll keep you updated on how things go.”

  Jake nodded and met up with Tyrese at the communications tent.

  “The radios don’t appear to be tampered with,” Tyrese informed. “Doesn’t mean someone didn’t repair them while everyone was distracted.”

  “Get intel from everyone that was here during Alpha’s run,” Jake ordered.

  “Yessir.”
/>   Jake proceeded to leave the communications tent when Tyrese stopped him.

  “Jake,” Tyrese uttered. “I swear... I had no idea about any of this.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Ty,” Jake reassured. “Whoever did this will be found and will stand trial.”

  “I’ll start looking. Can you keep me updated on Kyle?”

  “I’ll do that. Whatever I find out, you’ll find out.”

  A couple of days later, as Jake was heading to the infirmary to check on Kyle, he was met by Senator Alan.

  “Marshal,” Alan started.

  “Senator,” Jake replied. “What brings you near the settlement gate?”

  “I actually wanted to talk to you about one of your civilian volunteers.”

  Jake stood crossing his arms, humoring the senator.

  “Go on,” Jake allowed. “Who exactly?”

  “That little Irish girl,” Alan answered. “What’s her name... Kaylee O’Brien?”

  “Now, Senator, you and I both know she’s innocent.”

  “Well how do you know, Marshal? You were out there with Alpha; she was here. That and she’s around the communications tent a lot.”

  “Well, Senator,” Jake chuckled. “The only way she would be able to tamper with the radios is if it was before dawn. Even then, since she is a civilian, she’s not allowed near the military outpost without an escort until 8 a.m. And she was with us the entire time we were transporting Lieutenant Williams to the infirmary.”

  “Maybe she had someone from the inside helping her out,” Alan persuaded. “I mean, after all... she is a beautiful young lady with a sweet voice, and since she volunteers... she could have convinced one of your own men to take action during that time of crisis.”

  “Alright, even if that is what she did, even if she wanted me dead, she would never want to kill Kyle; He’s like her brother. What would be her motive for that?”

  Alan paused for a moment and looked Jake in the eye and smirked.

  “I believe you already know what that is, Marshal,” Alan responded.

  Jake backed up a little and scoffed.

  “You’re basing your assumptions on her because of her religion?!” Jake asked.