Dead End (Book 4): A Very Dark Place Read online

  Her kind didn't need a lot of sleep. About two hours a day.

  It was when she left that Colleen made a point of moving closer to him, just holding him as he slept, for warmth. He thought that was why she'd been doing it at least. Until her hand found the front of his pants. It... wasn't unpleasant and he did like her, as complicated as the whole thing with her dead sister was. They'd been friends too, after a fashion, for a long time. Vicki and he weren't really going out even, so that wasn't the problem. No, it was that, as far as he could tell the girl next to him was asleep still.

  Acting out a dream or something.

  Frustrating, but he pulled back, so that she wasn't in contact with him as she twitched and moved in ways that would have been pretty nice if he could have justified taking advantage of her to himself. It really wasn't fair, but he just waited, until finally she woke up enough to find him in the dark and hold him close again. If she remembered the dream at all she didn't mention it, but it was time to be asleep. You couldn't see much in the dark room.

  He was hard though, which was a bit embarrassing. Mainly because she was pressed against him so solidly she would have been able to tell if she was awake.

  Jake finally managed to get back to sleep himself though, the room filled in the dark with soft snoring, and got up well before first light, taking the time to make sure the fires were lit in the empty bath houses and to start the forge back up. He'd put a large chunk of hardwood on the coals to keep it slowly smoldering all night, so he wouldn't have to start it again the next day, since it could take hours to do that. This way it was about forty minutes of work instead. He was out alone, which was against the rules, but there was no one to tell him it was wrong. Besides, the work really did have to get done.

  On the good side, when the attack came he was awake and already outside, so was able to see the torches in the hands of the people that ran from the woods. Fast. So either not human, or those crazy strong and fast cannibals Sammi and Heather had been talking about. Windigo. He ducked down, since they weren't zombies and would know where he was as soon as he fired. That meant he needed to move, because chances were they'd have guns too. There looked to be five with fire, but that didn't mean that was all of them.

  Taking a slow breath he let go of everything, not really carrying about anything for the moment, waiting for them to get closer. They were running to him after all. When the first one got about fifty feet away he pulled the trigger on his nine, making a female head explode. At least the hair was long, which didn't really mean it was a girl he realized.

  The second one went down just as fast, but the others managed to throw their fires at the house, one of them actually reaching the roof.

  Jake had to deal with the threat in front of him first and couldn't yell fire at all, since it could cause zombies to join the fight, which he really didn't need. He missed the last two men, who rolled and flopped in the snow in strange patterns that didn't make sense. It worked well he realized, because he just couldn't predict what they were going to do. He had to switch to his back-up weapon, rather than reload, which made them think he was out of bullets, at least the one on the left screamed to the other as they closed on him. It made him wince, and got that one shot first, the second hitting him hard and stripping the gun from his hand which got dropped.

  Jake felt the bite and a chill ran through him, nearly making him freeze as terror pulsed and flesh broke, until he remembered that this being wasn't a zombie. He pulled his new knife from its sheath, and stabbed the man as he tried for his throat, lying on top of him. The man finally stopped biting, trying to scream, which got him stabbed inexpertly in the throat for his trouble.

  Thankfully everyone else had realized what was going on and were trying to fling water on the torch that was slowly staring to work on the roof. It wasn't a vast fire, but no one was in love with the idea it seemed, which got most of them out to at least try to do something pretty quick.

  Unfortunately the noise they made doing it was enough to get a rather decent stream of undead started toward them. He was almost out of ammo, though he found his forty-five and managed to reload both as the shamblers crossed the field from the woods. They were coming from the road too, of course. No doubt from the back of the house at the same time. It made sense, but was a pain in the behind. Jake waited again, choosing his shots and then pulling back just before he was down to three bullets.

  Others were on the porch, most of them still half asleep, but holding weapons. A few even had axes with them, to take the heads as soon as a zombie went down. That or maybe they intended to fight that way, if they had too. It was a bad plan overall, but not everyone had a gun. It was better than nothing and would allow the others a chance to run and hide if it got that bad.

  It really wasn't though. It was a good fifty undead, and coming in a tight pattern, but he had four of them down already and just needed to get to work on the others as soon as he had ammo. His left arm hurt in an arched shape bite, but it was still dark enough no one could see it to question him on it. They'd have to think it was from a zombie after all. He would have. Hopefully they'd let him explain before shooting him.

  On the porch he grabbed new ammo from Molly, who looked scared, a bit pale and very determined. She had her own rifle with her, but it was too dark to see anything. Jake knew that it would be best to wait on the porch, but something told him he had to rush out and fight as a closer distance for some reason. He didn't know why though, but did it, moving fast, whispering for everyone to hold their fire.

  Otherwise they'd probably shoot him. He made trip after trip, the shamblers mainly old and slow, their feet less steady sounding than during previous encounters. After half an hour of this they all just... stopped. After a bit he realized that they weren't moving at all. Just bodies now. He didn't know what to make of it, but moved a crew out with axes, taking the heads anyway. It was just starting to become light.

  The flesh was hard and brittle, the impact on his arms painful in the cold, but nothing stirred or moved at all. They were just... dead. Like they were supposed to be.

  Jake didn't trust it.

  After months of constant struggle with the undying he knew that they didn't just turn back into regular corpses. Something had happened to these and that meant that someone had done it, most likely. If his guess was right it would mean that someone outside the House was there, doing it. Jake couldn't make out anyone yet. Slowly, almost as if someone was waving him in, he started to move toward the woods. It was the only place to hide after all, other than in the House. They had telepaths to stop that from being too easy tough.

  A small hand touched his arm.

  Sammi.

  "No. It might be a trap. We can't go in there until full light. We need to be careful here Jake..." She sounded ready to keep arguing the point, but she was just right. It would be a stupid thing to do, running off into the woods at night. Even if there were no zombies, which was far from assured, there could be cannibals left. There almost had to be.

  "Got it. Let's pull back then and get things ready for the day? We can send out a team later." Maybe someone that could tell the difference between a zombie, a cannibal and whatever had turned the undead back into true dead? Whatever that trick was, Jake needed it. They all did. it was amazing.

  Depending on how it worked it might just be the thing that could save them all. Even if it was just one guy with the power to do that, he'd take it. After all it was about a million times better than not having someone around that could do that.

  Still, the work had to be done and that meant more forge work. Today he planned to assemble his first air rifle. It was meant to be a little more powerful than what they could have gotten in a store Back Before, but the air cylinder wasn't that great, he didn't think. It was an early effort, but even a weak rifle would be worth making for the experience, he figured. That was what he worked on until breakfast, or nearly then. He had to wash first, because of the dead people.

  Nate and Carl joined
him for a scrub up, which meant they both saw the bite. Carl just grunted.

  It got Jake to grin.

  "Human bite. Cannibal from the first wave of the attack. I just have to watch for infection, not zombie-ism. Wait... is that a word? We need a phrase for that." He thought about it while scrubbing the wound. It stung but it wasn't all that bad. He'd had worst wounds and it wasn't going to make him change, so no big thing.

  Nate acted like it was a big deal though.

  "What were you doing out alone?" His voice was low and dark sounding. Pissed. Like he was about to really lay into Jake. Maybe physically.

  "The rules are there for a reason. Hell Jake, you made them up! No one goes alone. What if you'd died out there? Do you think I can keep this mess together alone?"

  Jake shook his head but didn't speak. There really wasn't a great reason for anything after all. He'd been out alone because he was feeling frustrated sexually. It wasn't so bad if he kept busy, but it was a chore getting anyone else to keep working like he did most days. Saying that wouldn't help anything however. No one could do anything about it. The problem was his. He needed to finish killing off the part of himself with any interest in things like that. It was just a little harder to manage than it seemed like it should be.

  If he was really the Very Good Man or whatever it probably would have already happened, but he wasn't that, so had to do things the hard way.

  "Sorry, just trying to get some work done. Everyone else was sleeping." He didn't add that if he hadn't been in place they all probably would be roasting about then, but Nate gave him a hard look anyway.

  "Sure. That or the night guard detail would have stopped them instead."

  Nate had been reading his mind again, which got him to immediately stop thinking. It worked to keep the telepaths out, but was kind of like saying he had something to hide. Which he did. He didn't know if Nate was in on the whole thing to put him forward as their hero or whatever. Lamont, the leader of the telepaths most likely was, but he denied it still. It didn't matter that much, but it was kind of working, so Jake didn't want to ruin the whole thing. Nate might just feel honor bound to tell everyone if he knew. Maybe not though.

  Honor wasn't such a big deal anymore.

  He washed and dressed again, into a new shirt this time, so the blood from the bite wouldn't show. Then he went off to breakfast, trying to enjoy the corn pudding stuff they had. Food was about his favorite thing anymore. It used to be music, video games and Rachel. Those things were gone now. Well, not music, but it was hard to find time for something like that, even though he should. They could play instruments after all, even if singing was a bad idea.

  Food though...

  It was definitely the best. He savored the dish in front of him, canned vegetables having been worked in, after being sautéed with various spices. Those actually belonged to him, having bought them off of Morris, the leader of the Teleporters. A group that had a real name, but it was something he couldn't pronounce properly, so he didn't try. He was supposed to make four knives for the man, once he was good enough. It would take a bit.

  Colleen sat next to him at the table, but didn't speak to him, just giving him sullen glances from time to time. He didn't ask why, knowing that it would be about him having left her sleeping. Technically he wasn't supposed to do that, but Heather hadn't come to hit him for it yet, so maybe it was alright this once. After the meal he started to head out to the forge area when Cam and Sammi came running up, both dressed a good bit more nicely than he was.

  It was the Bawdri Princes that got to him first, her hair golden in the morning light.

  "We're off to see my mother. Can you have Heather in with you two today? She said that wouldn't be needed, but it isn't just about safety, she needs to feel wanted too, just like everyone else."

  Colleen looked to be drawing a blank on the topic, but Cam made a face and then smiled about it as if she held a joke inside.

  "She keeps making the Bawdri leader mad, telling him he isn't all that important to the future. I'm almost positive she doesn't really know that and is just messing with the guy. He doesn't want her around for some reason anyway. Go figure?" It was clear that she thought it was secretly hilarious, but Sammi looked a little more serious about the whole thing.

  "Especially with mother and all that."

  She didn't elaborate and didn't need to. Jake had seen the woman himself. A zombie. Dead and infected, which shouldn't have been possible for a Bawdri, since they were immune to all disease, healing as fast as they did. Alyssian had been captured by someone and turned forcefully, transfusions of zombie ichor given until she transformed. It was a horrible thing and for someone to have done that to her on purpose was even worse.

  As far as he could tell it was the Technologists that had done it. A group of people totally dedicated to science and making positive advances. Why, or even how, he didn't know. They'd looked pretty guilty though, having tried to blow him up using a biological robot double of his mother. His already dead mom. He kind of hated them now.

  Just a bit.

  Unfortunately he didn't know where they'd gone, if he'd ever known where they were at all. Jake had been invited to visit with them and met five of the group, but when they'd gone back it had just been the bomb that looked like his mother trying to hug him. The rest were gone. It had obviously been a real city at one point and had a lot of technological looking stuff was left just sitting around, but they were gone.

  All of them.

  For the time being he was trying to be good and not blame an entire group for what had happened, but it wasn't easy. Really, if he could find out where they were Jake probably would have tried to go in and take them all out. Just in case. They were probably behind all of the problems. The zombies and the other things too. Maybe even the bad weather. Not that he could prove any of it.

  That was something to deal with later though. Right now he was needed to act as a babysitter for a pregnant crazy woman.

  "OK. She can keep Henry company. I'm sure they have a lot in common." For some reason that got a laugh from Colleen who didn't say why, and a baffled and slightly unfriendly look from the boy that was working the bellows.

  "Do not mock me smith. I won't put up with that, even if it means my death." He sounded so serious that everyone else had to look away.

  Jake didn't though.

  "Wouldn't dream of it. She can see the future and does constantly. Plus, you mentioned having some strange ideas about Human women and since Colleen wants to keep the peace she's been silent on the matter. You and Heather can have a conversation there, no doubt. She's pregnant." Shrugging he adjusted the coals.

  "It was by rape. Just so you know. I wouldn't call her a slut because of that, would you? It will be good practice for you, learning to deal with her." He pointed to the door just before she came in, her feet announcing her on the snow by making slow scritching sounds.

  She didn't look upset or anything, but it was clear that she got that she was being treated as a burden. It was true, so Jake just kept working as the others moved to get to their journey. That was a pretty strange pairing right there, since the two girls, Cam and Sammi, weren't really friends. Their people kind of hated each other and they weren't really able to trust fully yet. That would take time, no doubt. They were trying though and that was a good sign.

  Jake gestured for Heather to have a seat in the corner of the room on a heavy stump he'd put in to act as a low work bench. It meant cleaning the tools off of it first, but he had a real rack for them and could learn to use it for the day instead of being lazy and sloppy. She sat quickly enough and for once didn't start right in on berating him for anything or suggesting that they be the best friends ever. It was hard enough to tolerate her most days, much less have to be that responsible for her. There was actual silence for a long time even. For once.

  It wasn't any of them that broke it either, other than some pointing and trying to work together to fit the new air rifle together. It would look a
little funny, the barrel made of a narrow pipe and the stock carved by hand like it was. If it worked correctly it would hold ten shots and take its air pressure from bending it in half and then forcing it straight once. It wasn't ideal, but it would do for the moment. He'd put sights on it too, but didn't know if that would help at all.

  It was after lunch that they had it out shooting at a cardboard target and some pieces of wood. Jake wasn't happy with it overly. It was decent for what it was, meaning it actually fired and did so pretty consistently. It also reloaded itself each time, which had been something he hadn't really expected to work, even thought the book he'd had on it claimed it was possible. It just wasn't strong enough for anything except light hunting. Squirrels and rabbits maybe. It would work for that though and do it silently enough, so that was a plus. The next one would have to be a lot stronger.

  He heard a strange noise behind him, one that came in bursts, almost like hands clapping. When he turned his mind wouldn't make sense of what was going on at first.

  It was a boy with what seemed to be a stick hitting the ground over and over again. A very funny looking boy. Or, rather, he looked normal enough in his own person... White, brown hair and small, about five foot tops. What made him look strange was his clothing.

  It was a tight pair of brown pants in a stretchy material and a jacket that would have looked right on an aviator from the nineteen twenties.

  In short he was dressed like a Technologist.

  Chapter two