Page 83 of Redemption
Dozens of bodies lie at my feet.
While I don’t know what led up to the bullet that caused Rico’s untimely demise, it’s understandable that the town would want to burn their dead rather than bury them. It takes less time, less of a chance for infectious disease to spread. But this? The abnormal number of fresh bodies lying right here? Not even looking like they’ve decayed more than a few days? All with bullet holes to the head?
I remind myself that we’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. That the United States literally lost almost eighty percent of its population due to the contagion. But it’s been over a year. And with the security they put in place to stop the zombies from infiltrating their camp, having this many unnatural deaths shouldn’t be normal.
“This is what they do,” Casper says ominously, inching closer to my side. “Stray from their beliefs and you end up in the fire.” He widens his eyes, his movements jittery and filled with panic. “Stay on the path,” he begs of me. “Stay on the—"
“Hey! Casper! You’ve taken a long enough break over there. Get back to work! New guy’s got to get familiar with thejob sooner or later! Trial by fire, as I always say!” Tank smiles, the emotion heartless and filled with sinister intent.
We go to do just that when, off in the distance, a man I didn’t get the name of tries to take advantage of Tank’s distracted focus and drops his shovel before darting off to the other side of the road. Tank, however, with a speed unbecoming of his size, turns and lifts a gun in the guy’s direction, firing a single shot directly into the back of his head.
Bullseye.
The guy goes down swift and hard.
“Hoooweee! Now, would you look at that?” Tank croons, grinning while twirling his gun around his finger. “More fuel for the fire. You two, grab him.” He points to the guys in the group next to us—Jim and Thomas. Silently, they put down their shovels and lift the man off the ground before heaving him onto the flames, almost like this is a regular occurrence.
Holy fucking shit.
“Oh, God...” Casper whimpers next to me. “That was Stone. Why did he? Shit...SHIT.” He turns to do the same—to run off into the woods behind us—but I stop him, dropping my shovel with an audibleclangand grasping his shoulders in a tight grip before he can make another move.
“Pull. Yourself. Together,” I whisper through gritted teeth to him. My previous work as a wartime squad leader returns to the forefront of my mind as I shut everything else down besides what I need to survive this fucking shitstorm. Casper’s body, however, remains charged and trembling with rage.
“I can’t fucking do this anymore. I can’t let them... Fucking...Cara. No more. No fucking more. We gotta get outta here. It’s only a matter of time before—”
I latch on to the tiny amount of information he deemed important enough to bring up during a time of crisis.
“Who’s Cara?” I ask, trying to get his mind on something vital to him, something that may mean more to him than his own life.
“She’s... She’s my wife. We came here together, but... but they... they took her. The things they do... You have nofuckingidea.” He doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t push him. We don’t have time to get into specifics, but I keep his focus on her.
With my voice barely a mere whisper, I reply, “Cara doesn’t want you to try to run away only to die like Rico or Stone. You need to stay strong for her. You say you want to get out of here? She’s going to need you alive to do so.”
Something must get through to him because he lifts his eyes to meet mine, determination overtaking the trepidation I saw only a moment ago. I incline my brows in return, indicating without words that we’ll continue this conversation later. Thankfully understanding, he nods back, and, like before, he turns and gets back to work.
I do the same, but my heart continues to pound beneath my chest.
He fears for his wife in this place.
Awoman.
Cole questioned the matter the day we stumbled into this town. He noticed there weren’t any women meandering about the town like the men were. We knew, statistically, there should be females in this town somewhere, but, at the time, couldn’t figure out where and didn’t have the motivation to stick around and find out.
But Casper has a wife in the community. Who, due to what she’s been through during their time here, he’s willing to undergo a rebellion—or at the very least, a desertion—for.
It begs a few questions, like, what the hell is really going on here? Where are all the women? And if they’re all being held somewhere together, hidden from the public’s view, what exactly could they be doing to Aly if this man is reacting this way? If it’s the deplorable darkness my mind is currently filling with...
Then where the fuck are the guys so we can find our girl and blow this place straight to Hell where it belongs?
Part 4: Double-O-Holy-Fuck
“We all have our secrets. We just didn’t get to yours yet.”
—Daniel Craig,No Time to Die
Chapter Thirty-Four
Aly
