Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands Read online

  He released the partially spent magazine and replaced it with a full one. He returned the partial to his pocket. He’d use that one later; for now he needed as many rounds as he could get.

  He approached the door and stood to the side before reaching out and jiggling the handle. Locked. Immediately the whispers ceased. Lester waited for bullets to fly, but none came.

  Lester stood in front of the door and inspected the lock. It was a flimsy thing, offering up nothing in the way of significant resistance.

  “Little pig, little pig, let me in,” Lester mumbled. He might have even chuckled.

  He kicked the door hard, planting his foot just beside the knob. It sprung open more easily than he’d imagined, causing him to fall forward with unexpected momentum. Two shots rang out, the bullets sailing just over where Lester’s head had been only a moment earlier.

  Lester pointed the rifle and fired twice, taking down the shooter. A woman, mid-thirties, haggard face. Not my type, Lester thought wryly. Red bloomed in two spots on her chest as she fell to the floor. Perhaps a dozen people—mostly women and children—filled the small room, huddled together.

  Lester heard the sound of footsteps from the end of the hallway. His pursuers had come for him, just not soon enough.

  He grinned and pulled the trigger.

  He didn’t stop shooting until every last person in the room stopped moving.

  * * *

  Ed rounded the corner and saw Lester enter a room at the far end of the hallway. A few moments later the chatter of gunfire echoed from within.

  “Oh, god, no,” Ed heard himself say. He felt numb all over.

  At least a dozen shots rang out before Lester stepped out of the room and glanced toward Ed and Terry. He turned and aimed the rifle.

  Ed and Terry both dropped to the floor as three gunshots exploded in the hallway, followed by the click of an empty chamber. Getting to his knees, Ed leveled the pistol, aimed and fired two shots. The first shot missed, the second caught Lester in the hand, causing him to drop the rifle. He cried out, but didn’t pause. Instead, he turned in the opposite direction and ran, darting down the adjacent hallway and out of sight.

  Ed and Terry pursued Lester down the long hallway. As Ed passed the room from which Lester had emerged, he stopped and stared inside, transfixed. He saw ravaged and bloody bodies piled on top of each other.

  And so many children.

  He wondered if his family was in that room. He felt dread and panic fill him up.

  “Come on!” Terry yelled from the hall.

  Ed turned away from the carnage and rejoined Terry as they resumed their chase.

  * * *

  Pain roared through Lester’s hand as blood dripped to the floor, creating a trail behind him. With his rifle now gone and his left hand useless, he could only run. The building he found himself in turned out to much larger than he’d originally thought, with dimly lit corridors spanning in various directions. Problem was, in all the excitement Lester wasn’t sure exactly where he was.

  The thought occurred to him that he might be able to hide out somewhere in the building. Find a room they didn’t use, maybe crawl up into the space above the ceiling. If he could hold out for a day or so he could possibly sneak out. Maybe at night, while they slept. There weren’t that many people left, at least not that Lester could tell and they’d inevitably leave something unguarded, some crevice not searched.

  He needed time to think. Time to come up with a plan. He scanned the hallway and found two doors. Limping on a wounded leg (and trying to ignore the fact that climbing a fence with said leg would be impossible), he tried the first door. Locked. He moved on quickly to the second door and tried the handle.

  The knob twisted in his hand. Lester pushed the door open and slipped into the small room, closing the door behind him. Sunlight filtered in from a glass block window perched high on the far wall, illuminating the room in a dirty hue.

  He turned from the door and spotted a man lying on a bed a few feet away. His face was bruised, his lips swollen and cracked. Somebody had worked this guy over good.

  “Who are you?” the man on the bed asked.

  Using his uninjured right hand, Lester retrieved his knife. He needed to shut this kid up before he alerted the entire place. Besides, it’d be nice to open one more throat before he left the place. Guns just weren’t as personal.

  Knife poised, he took a step forward.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  With all the gunfire, Jasper knew something was very wrong, but with his injuries he knew wasn’t going anywhere. He felt completely useless just lying there and not being able to do something to help. Anything could be happening. Had the compound been attacked? Were the people who’d kidnapped him coming back to finish the job? Or had the building been invaded by those strange and frightening apex carriers they’d seen?

  What if Tex turned on them? Maybe he sold them out to those creeps who destroyed his face.

  When the door to his room opened, Jasper held his breath. He hoped it was a friend, maybe Ed or Emily. Or at least somebody who could tell him what was going on and help get him out of the room. If someone could at least put a gun in his hand…

  But he didn’t know the man who entered. And that wasn’t good.

  “Who are you?” Jasper asked.

  The man didn’t reply. Instead, he brandished a long, sharp knife.

  Jasper swallowed hard.

  The man with the knife took a step forward.

  This is it, Jasper thought. Mr. Death has finally come back to collect. All those years after the virus the inevitable had just been postponed. He thought of his brother Robbie, long dead since the virus struck. Was there such a thing as heaven? Would he see his brother again?

  Lying on the bed and watching the man with the knife, Jasper found that somewhere along the line, after years spent not caring whether he lived or not, he’d become just a little afraid to die.

  The man across from him gripped the knife and took another step.

  Jasper swallowed again, his mouth dry like sand.

  Another step and then a flash of movement appeared from the corner of the room, out of the shadows, slamming into the approaching attacker and knocking him to the floor. Jasper heard the knife strike the floor with a metallic clang, followed by the sound of a struggle.

  A figure rose from the floor, still cloaked in shadow, approaching the bed.

  Jasper held his breath.

  When the figure stepped into the light Jasper saw the most perfect vision of his life. Emily stood before him, a bloody scalpel in one hand, her face beautiful in the anemic light. They looked at each other for a several seconds, their eyes connecting.

  Jasper thought he might be in love.

  Then he saw movement from the floor, in the shadows as the man with the knife got to his knees. He stood, the pale light revealing copious amounts of blood as it poured from the slit Emily had made in his neck.

  “Emily! Look out!” Jasper cried.

  Emily pulled back as the knife-wielding man lunged toward her. She ducked to the side as the knife sliced through the air, inches away from her face. His momentum carried him past her. Seeing her opportunity, she jammed the knife into the man’s back, grunting audibly as she drove the scalpel blade as deeply as she could. Their attacker fell hard, knocking over a table with medical supplies as he crashed to the floor. Lying prone, the man twitched once more before becoming motionless, a pool of dark red blood forming around the body.

  Emily ran to Jasper and hugged him.

  He hugged her back, just as tightly, as panicked voices echoed throughout the hallway outside the door.

  * * *

  With Lester dead, Emily left Jasper in the room to find the others. She met Ed and Terry in the hallway where they exchanged their own accounts of the events. She returned to Jasper to update him before joining Ed and Terry in the search for survivors.

  Ed found his family hiding in a vacant room within the building, gathere
d together with Tina, Dario and Reggie. He held them tightly for what seemed like forever, the knowledge of how close he’d come to losing them palpable.

  “We have to search the building, look for survivors,” Ed said to Trish. “Some people might be injured.”

  “Of course.”

  “The kids can’t see any of this.”

  “I’ll take care of that.”

  “I know you will.” Ed smiled. “I love you.”

  Trish lightly touched Ed’s face. “This isn’t your fault, you know.”

  Ed sighed, but didn’t respond.

  “I’ll help,” Dario said from across the room.

  Ed glared at him. “You won’t do a goddamn thing.”

  Dario opened his mouth, but didn’t speak.

  Ed turned back to Trish. “I’ll be back.”

  “Go,” she said. “I have this.”

  Ed left her with the boys and joined Terry and Emily in the search. They searched the common area, the room where Lester had first launched his attack, where Ed’s group of survivors had slept. There they found Tex’s body, along with the bodies of two of his men. After some more searching they discovered the body of Tony, who had only the day before helped Ed bury his dead. Now Tony numbered among the unfortunate deceased.

  Next they found the body of Herb. Bright red blood coated his bleach-white hair, the lower part of his face a jagged mess of torn muscle and shattered bone. Just feet away from Herb’s body they found Kevin Cook, felled by a bullet, the same fate that had befallen his partner.

  Ed attempted to prepare himself for what he’d find next, but when he actually saw it he knew that was impossible. The twisted bodies lying on top of each other, ripped to shreds, blood collecting in thick pools, seeping out of the room and into the hallway. Children, their eyes open, imploring.

  Terry turned away. “Jesus Christ, Ed. Why?”

  Emily wiped her eyes.

  “Do you want to check them?” Ed asked, turning toward Emily and gratefully averting his eyes from the horrific carnage before him. “You know, to make sure?”

  She shook her head. “There’s nothing I can do for them.”

  Ed nodded before closing the door. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. The words felt empty and hollow. Useless and pathetic.

  Emily nodded in return. “Let’s finish this. We need to account for everyone.”

  “What about the others? The ones not in this building?” Ed asked. “In your main group?”

  “There’s no one else,” Emily replied.

  “But Tex said—”

  “He made that up. He told everybody that story, trying to protect us. We were just a small group and this was our only building. He just took a lot of people in. He cared a lot for people, for all of us.”

  “I’m sorry about all of this,” Ed said.

  “It’s not your fault. Taking people in was what Tex was about. He took me in too. And it’s what he liked about you. He told me that.”

  “I still feel horrible about this. I know that doesn’t make it any better, but it’s the truth.”

  “It doesn’t. Nothing will,” Emily said. She glanced at the closed door. “Let’s get moving.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  With the group’s numbers greatly reduced after Lester’s rampage, the survivors of the massacre reformed in the supply room of Tex’s building. Chloe and Sam stayed together, sitting side by side while holding hands. Their heads down, they stared at the floor. Jasper had been moved from the infirmary to the supply room. Emily sat beside him. Dario and Reggie took seats facing Ed, while Autumn, red-hair still wild and unkempt from sleep sat off the side by herself. Her friends who’d also given themselves new names, Summer and Winter, hadn’t been lucky enough to avoid Lester’s rampage.

  Zach, Jeremy and Trish sat off to Ed’s side of the room, along with Terry. Ed glanced at Trish and she nodded in return, the sadness and sense of loss apparent on her face. Zach and Jeremy looked overwhelmed. He knew that look well. After so many years facing the horrors of the virus, his two sons had had more stress than any child should.

  Ed faced the assembled group of mourning survivors and found that he had no idea what to say. Things had gone so wrong, so quickly.

  “Go on, Ed,” Terry said. “Just say what’s on your mind.”

  Ed nodded. Despite it all, he was happy to have Terry Wilkinson by his side.

  “I’m not sure where to begin,” Ed said honestly, hoping the rest of the words would come to him as he went. “This is beyond terrible, beyond horrific. As most of you already know, the man who did this is dead. You can thank Emily for that.” He paused, still collecting his thoughts. “Look, I don’t have answers. I can’t make any of this any better. All we can do is figure out what our next move is and grieve for those we lost once we get to somewhere safe.”

  “What’s left for us?” Autumn asked, her eyes as wild as her hair. She glanced at Emily. “Everybody we knew is dead.”

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” Ed said, “but you’re welcome to come with us, you and Emily both.”

  “What, so you can get us both killed?” Autumn replied.

  “Hey!” Terry boomed. “Ed didn’t get anybody killed.”

  “Yes, he did. He brought that monster in here,” Autumn said, her eyes wet.

  Chloe looked up from the floor. “If anybody’s to blame, it’s me. I knew there was something wrong with Lester, I just didn’t know what.” She paused. “Or how bad it could be.”

  “Then why didn’t you say something?” Autumn asked.

  “I didn’t know he’d do what he did,” Chloe replied. “I swear.”

  “Then it’s both your faults,” Autumn said. “You and Ed.”

  “Shut up!” Sam yelled. “Just shut up and leave her alone!”

  “It’s nobody’s fault,” Trish said, redirecting the conversation. “Not Ed’s, not Chloe’s. Not Tex. It’s that psycho’s fault. He picked up the gun, he killed all those people. Him and only him.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Dario added. “You got your family. Autumn lost hers.”

  Terry glowered. “You got a lot of nerve saying that, you little prick. When the bullets started flying you were the first one to run.”

  Dario continued, ignoring Terry. “I pegged that guy Lester from the beginning. I knew he was trouble when I took him prisoner.” He pointed at Ed. “You let him go.”

  Ed glared, but didn’t reply.

  Dario pointed at Chloe and Sam. “How do we know those two aren’t going to turn around and do the same thing? Probably all in cahoots with each other.”

  “We didn’t do anything!” Sam yelled. “It was Lester.”

  “Dario has a point,” Tina said, her typically meek voice rising an octave. “We don’t know these two. We should at least put a guard on them.”

  “I’ll volunteer for that,” Dario said, looking at Ed. “Somebody’s gotta take charge around here.”

  “Asshole!” Terry yelled. “You sniveling little piece of shit.”

  The room erupted in a raucous flaring of tempers. Terry’s face went red and he hurled accusations and insults at Dario and the dissenters. Yelling escalated to screaming and with so many people in the room still armed, Ed saw this headed in a violent direction. They’d already lost so many people on this day. They couldn’t afford to lose any more.

  “Stop!” Ed yelled above the noise. The rabble in the room slowly dwindled to a hush as angry eyes bore holes through him. This is it, Ed thought. This is where everything falls apart. All these years he’d only ever been a father trying to get his sons to safety. He’d never intended to be anything more than that. And now he saw no reason to try to be, not anymore.

  “I never wanted this, any of it. I’m stepping down. If you want to continue with somebody else in charge, then do it. I’m heading out with my family tomorrow morning. We’ll take our fair share of the supplies, nothing more. The rest of you can have the truck. We’ll go our way, you’ll g
o yours.”

  “You can’t step down, Ed,” Terry said. “We need you.”

  Ed left the room without another word, leaving the survivors to carry on amongst themselves.

  * * *

  Ed lifted one of the plastic gasoline canisters off the back of the truck and handed it to Zach and Jeremy. The boys gripped the handle of the canister and carried it together as they made their way toward one of Tex’s vans. After a quick search revealed several sets of keys, Ed found the keys that went to the van in question, commandeering the vehicle for the next leg of their journey—without the rest of the group.

  “Is this a good idea, Ed?” Trish asked. She stood on the ground, behind the truck. “I thought we’d talk about something like this before we did it.”

  Ed fumbled with more items in the truck bed. “What would you have me do, go to California with that crew? Half of them want to kill me.”

  “I don’t know what I’d want to do, but I’d like to talk about it first. You don’t just get to make arbitrary decisions for your family.”

  “So now you’re against me too?” Ed asked, looking her in the eye. “Like the rest of them in there?”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “Sounded like it to me.”

  Trish took a deep breath. “Ed, you know I love you. You know I trust you. I know that this has been hard on you, but I’m asking you, have you thought this through? What’s your plan?”

  Ed sat on the truck bed and sighed. “Everything’s gone wrong. All those people are dead.”

  “They are. You said yourself there’s nothing we can do about that.”

  “That doesn’t make it any better.”

  “It’ll get better,” Trish said. “Eventually.”

  Ed nodded.

  “In the meantime, what’s your plan?”

  “We can’t do this anymore,” Ed said. “This group is too big. And these people are strangers to us. We can’t trust them.”

  “We can trust some of them; Jasper and Terry for sure.”

  “Of course, but we gotta stay small. We’ve survived this long because we’ve always been a small group. We trust each other. We rely on each other. All those people…it’s too much.”