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  "Annie!" Laura saw her daughter's red hair rising up from within the office. Then the little girl's bright blue eyes peered over the edge.

  Reagan was prepared to drop Laura onto one of the beds and shoot the girl if needed.

  "Mommy?"

  "Oh my God, Annie!" Laura jostled in Reagan's arms. "Put me down. Put me down!"

  Reagan set Laura down as Annie ran through the row of beds with her arms outstretched and tears pouring from the corners of her eyes. The mother and daughter crashed into one another in unerring joy. Amid the rot of death and stench of blood, Reagan was staggered by the happiness he felt at the sight of their reunion.

  "Annie," said Laura, "what happened here?"

  Annie shook her head. "I'll never tell."

  * * *

  "What did you do?" asked Courtland as he ran back into his lab. "He pressed his hands against the side of his head and his oily black hair stuck out between his fingers as he gazed down at the horrific scene.

  Trev was doubled over, gasping, with a bloody pocketknife in his hand. At his feet, lying still in a growing pool of her own blood, was the girl that held the cure to the plague.

  "She attacked me." Trev grimaced as he clutched his groin. "The little bitch had it coming."

  Courtland was frozen in the moment as his heavy breaths grew calmer. He took out his revolver and pointed it at the pedophile.

  "What? You're going to shoot me? She had it coming. You're going to shoot me over some stupid little bitch? Fuck her! I only stabbed her a couple times. She's not dead, she's just unconscious cause I banged her head on the floor a few times." He stepped forward and held the knife out at Courtland.

  The first shot caught the redneck in the throat. He fell back against a cart that had a saturometer on it and the knocked the small machine to the ground where it bounced in Kim's blood. Trev dropped his knife and gripped his neck as his body twitched and his one good eye blinked rapidly.

  The second shot hit him in the head, and the bullet rattled around in his brain without coming out the other side. Trev fell to his knees as his eye rolled back, and then he fell face first into his victim's blood.

  Courtland knelt down to check Kim's body. He lifted her flowered shirt and found two stab wounds on the side of the girl's chest. One was a glancing blow that had simply cut her, but the other was oozing blood with each beat of her heart. He was encouraged by the blood flow, as it meant she was still alive. He pressed his hand against the wound with his left hand and then started to search through the pockets of his lab coat with his right.

  "Hi," said Kim's weak voice. She looked up at him and smiled as her face grew pale.

  "Hey, kid. You're going to be all right. I can fix you up."

  "I thought you were one of the bad guys." She closed her eyes. "I'm glad you're not. I'm so glad you're not."

  Courtland found what he was looking for: the shot of the mutated virus. He pulled it out of his pocket and squeezed the plunger until a blob of the pink liquid rolled down the needle. He needed to get the serum into her before she died. Then, if he could keep her alive for a few more minutes, he could test her again to see if her immune system had generated the coveted antibodies that he could use to protect himself from the disease.

  "I'm one of the good guys, kid. Don't you worry." He released her wound, which caused the blood to begin gushing out again, and stretched out her arm so he could find the vein. He held the syringe in his teeth as he tapped at her vein a few times. Then he set the needle against her skin and plunged it in. She gasped and tried to pull away, but he held her tight.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Don't worry. This'll help you."

  "It burns. Is this what you gave to Toby? Why are you doing this?" She didn't have the strength to fight and just started crying instead. "I thought you were a good guy."

  It didn't matter if she died. As long as the virus had a chance to infect her body, and her immune system could respond, there was a possibility that she could produce the antibody. Once it did, the girl could die and the antibodies would continue to mutate into the stronger version that he needed.

  Kim whimpered as the serum seared her from the inside out. "I want my daddy. I just want there to be a good guy. I want my mommy or daddy." She prattled on as the serum ravaged her senses. Her lips began to turn blue as her voice trailed off. "I wish a good guy would come and save me."

  "Sorry I'm late, kid," said a man's voice from behind Courtland.

  Courtland spun around and dropped the needle as he looked to see who was there. He never saw the man, and only caught the glint of the floodlight shining on the end of an aluminum bat as it slammed into his face.

  * * *

  Ben followed Annie, and the two adults that he guessed were her parents, to the helipad where Senator Vargas's helicopter had landed. He glanced around to make sure they were alone as the man climbed into the helicopter first.

  "It's a UH variant," said the man from inside the chopper.

  "What does that mean?" asked the battered woman that sat on the edge of the helicopter and held her daughter on her lap.

  "It's good news. I used to fly these back in the day. We should be able to get out of here and go check out where that barge was headed." He appeared behind the woman with a helmet and handed it to her. "Put this on."

  The woman set Annie down on the ground beside the helicopter as she adjusted the straps of the helmet. The little red headed girl looked around and caught a glimpse of Ben as he hid behind a stack crates. He ducked back behind them and cursed himself for being so stupid. His father had taught him how to hide, and how to track people without being seen. His inability to hide from Annie was an unforgiveable error.

  "Hi!" Annie cried out to him.

  "Who are you saying hi to?" asked Annie's mother.

  Ben tensed as he prepared to be revealed. There were still people that he needed to kill, and getting mixed up with this group wouldn't help him accomplish his goal. If Annie told them who he was, or that he was hiding behind the crate, it could compromise everything his father had worked for. He held his breath and prepared to run away.

  "No one," said the little girl and Ben let out a sigh of relief.

  "Good job, Annie," Ben whispered as he snuck back into the shadows of the prison.

  * * *

  Alex had nearly caught the stranger off guard, but the kid turned just before the hammer smashed his head in. Still though, the stranger that had arrived on the rubber boat was too weak to defend himself from Alex's strikes and the hammer still crashed down into the kid's shoulder.

  "I'm one of you!" The stranger said as Alex knocked him to the ground.

  "Oh yeah?" Alex kicked the kid in the side as he rolled off the pavement and onto the grass. "You're one of us, huh?"

  "Yes. I was told to meet you guys here."

  "By who?"

  "By our guy. The guy. You know who." The kid tried desperately to continue with his story.

  Alex tapped his clawed hammer against the side of his head. "I've got a pretty good memory, kid, and I've never seen you before. Want to try and tell me another story?"

  The kid rolled onto his back and held his hands over his head as Alex loomed above, ready to drive the hammer down. He'd been beating the bottom out of boats all morning long and figured it would be a fun change of pace to beat the brains out of a sniveling little piece of shit like the one he'd found sneaking around.

  Alex enjoyed watching the kid plead for his life. He kicked him again and waited for the pitiful little shit to start crying.

  "Get it over with then," said the young, thin man on the ground. "If you're going to beat me to death, then get going already. I'm sick of looking at you."

  "Whatever you say, shit head." Alex raised the hammer high and prepared to drive it down into the stranger's head. He kept his eyes on his target, and was surprised to see him pull a rock out from under his side.

  The kid slammed the rock into the side of Alex's knee and toppled
him. He screamed out in pain and tried to grab at the kid, but his slick poncho slipped out of his grasp. Before he knew it, the little piece of shit was beating him in the side of the head with the stone.

  Alex swung madly, but his wide arc missed the deft little bastard. He tried to stand up, but the stranger struck him again with the rock and this time the pain sent stars shooting through his vision. His mouth filled with the taste of metal as blood poured out of his nose. He glanced down and saw the crimson color splash on the green grass just before the kid stole his hammer and beat him in the back of the head with it.

  * * *

  "It ain't slowing down." Louis backed away from the road as the barge's horn blared loud enough to drown out his voice.

  "What the fuck is going on?" Jason stared up at the front of the oncoming vessel. "What are those boxes on it? Are they spilling out?"

  "Yeah," said Graves. "It looks like the stacks are falling over."

  "I'm going to go tell Courtland," said Jason.

  "All right." Graves pulled on Louis's sleeve. "Come on, we should hide somewhere. Just until after that thing crashes and we see if there's anyone on board."

  They watched as Jason ran up the thin road that led back to the safe house. Graves and Louis went the opposite way, toward the baseball diamond, and ducked down inside one of the dugouts.

  "What do you think is going on?" asked Louis as they watched the barge intently.

  "Fuck if I know. Maybe the driver got killed and its just been coasting here ever since."

  "Do you think it could be one of the other Blue Yards?"

  Graves laughed at the thought. "If it is, Courtland's going to kick their ass. We were supposed to try and avoid attracting attention to this place."

  "Fuck," said Louis. "Here it comes."

  The bottom of the barge scraped across the beach and a grinding noise started low before it grew louder than the air horn. Metal whined and bent, and the containers on the deck tumbled off and into the water. Graves squinted to see what was inside, but they were too far away to see much of anything in particular.

  "Hey," said Louis as he pointed at the beach. "Are those people?"

  More of the plastic containers tumbled off the front of the barge and Graves suddenly understood what he was seeing. He choked on his fear as Louis nodded.

  "They are, man. Those are people walking up out of the water."

  "They're not people," said Graves as he stood up. "They're zombies."

  CHAPTER ELEVEN -

  "We've got to go, Billy," said Levon as he stared out the back door of the dilapidated house to see if anyone else was coming.

  Billy set Kim's limp body on the kitchen table. "We can't until we stop her bleeding."

  "It's not going to take long for those fuckers to get back here."

  "She's dying, Hero. She won't survive if we can't stop her from bleeding so much."

  "Clyde's a paramedic, man." Levon pointed his gun out toward the amusement park in the distance where Clyde was waiting with the boat. "We need to get her down to him so he can do something."

  Billy found a rag on the kitchen counter and used it to press against Kim's wound. "I need some tape or something."

  "This place is fucked, Billy. There ain't no tape here."

  "Go look upstairs. The guy up there had a whole lab set up. See if you can find anything."

  "All right." Levon didn't like the idea of leaving Billy alone, but he didn't have any other choice. He sprinted up the stairs and back into the lab where Billy clubbed the guy in the lab coat that had been standing over Kim. The floor was soaked with blood and Levon's bare feet slapped in the mess as he desperately searched for anything that could be used to bind the girl's wound.

  The chain and collar that had been used to restrain the girl was lying in the blood with the key they found in the scientist's pocket still hanging from the lock. He picked the collar up and shook the blood off to check how wide it could be stretched.

  "There you go!" He was elated that it could be expanded and locked into a wider loop. He pulled off the padlock and dropped it to the floor before heading back to the door with the collar in one hand and the chain draped over his shoulder.

  "She's a carrier…" the scientist's face was smashed in from Billy's assault, but he still managed to mutter something and Levon paused to hear.

  "What the fuck are you trying to say?"

  "The girl…" his mangled face was nearly caved in and his teeth dripped like blood out of his mouth when he tried to talk. "She's a carrier."

  Levon kicked the scientist's shoulder, causing him to fall onto his back where he wheezed and trembled. "Carry this, you sick fuck." He picked up the massive machine that Kim's chain had been tied to and dropped it down on the scientist's head.

  He was equally satisfied and disgusted by the crunch of bone and the gush of brains and blood that spurted out from under the huge machine. Levon ran out of the room and back down the stairs to see if the collar would work.

  The front door was open, and Levon knew it hadn't been when he went up the stairs. He paused, then looked to his left toward the kitchen where Billy was trying to treat Kim's wound.

  A massive man stood behind him, wielding the aluminum bat that Billy had set down when he put Kim on the table. Levon screamed out a warning just as the big man swung the bat down.

  Billy began to turn as his attacker's swing, which had been aimed for his head, came down on the center of his back instead.

  Billy crumpled to the floor.

  * * *

  "There it is." Reagan pointed down at the barge that had landed on Hailey's End. He was familiar with the old island and the amusement park that had once thrived there. He'd taken his son there many times when it was open, but it was closed down due to a sewage leak a long time ago. It was a shame - Reagan had a lot of good memories of that place.

  "David and I had our first date there." Laura sat in the passenger seat and spoke into the microphone that curled over her mouth from the side of her helmet. "God, that feels like a lifetime ago."

  "You can say that again."

  "Do you think this is where they took Kimmy?" Laura held Annie tightly on her lap as she leaned to the side and stared out the window of the military chopper.

  "I hope so. All I know is that the last place they were able to track Billy to was on that barge. Let's hope it crashed into the island because he's a bad driver and not because he…" Reagan didn't want to guess.

  Laura tried to think of some other reason the barge had crashed. "It wouldn't be the first time he nearly killed himself on a boat."

  "I'm going to circle around a few times from up here. See if you can spot anyone."

  "I see a bunch of people."

  Reagan tried to look out her side, but he couldn't see what she was talking about. "Do any of them look like Billy?"

  "We're too high up to tell." Her voice had a concerned tone. "Reagan, I think they might be zombies."

  "Are you sure?"

  "No, but that's what it looks like to me. I think that barge crashed because it was being driven by zombies. They're climbing up the beach and running after…" She stiffened and looked more intently. "I see some people running. Go lower. Go lower!"

  He did as she asked and brought the chopper closer to the island. She instructed him where to go and desperately spied on a pair of men that were being chased toward the amusement area. "It's not them." She said with what started as disappointment and quickly turned to relief. "One of them is in a cop uniform."

  She watched as the one in the uniform, who had a short mohawk, tried to knock the other man down. The older one fell, but grabbed onto his partner. Soon, they were both swarmed by the ravenous horde.

  "Maybe we can save them and force them to tell us if they have Kim."

  "Yeah, except he's dead now. They got to him." She turned to the Captain with a worried look. "Reagan, this place is crawling with zombies. What are we going to do if Kim and Billy are here?"

  "W
e'll get them out." He raised the chopper. "I'm going to circle around. Keep an eye out for anyone alive."

  "What's that?" Laura pointed over by the edge of the small amusement park. "I think there's a guy by that small boat."

  * * *

  Levon fired all three of his bullets into the back of the man that had hit Billy. The giant staggered forward and dropped the bat as he fell to one knee. "Mother fucker." The hulking terrorist stood back up and turned to face Levon.

  "Good," said Levon. "I'm glad you didn't die." He wrapped the chain that had been attached to Kim's collar around his fist. "I want a chance to beat the piss out of you."

  "Bring it." The wounded man charged, seemingly unaffected by the bullets in his back. Levon had expected a brawl, and to throw at least a few punches back and forth, but that wasn't how this man planned to fight. The behemoth with the shaved head, sunken eyes, and bulbous cheeks reached out with his long arms and collected Levon into a bear hug as the two of them crashed against the wall beside the stairs.

  All of the air rushed out of Levon as the man crushed him in his arms. He struggled to worm his way out of the man's embrace, but his opponent was too strong. The big man grinned at him and said, "Get ready to die, coon."

  "You had to go there, didn't you?" Levon slammed his forehead down into the man's nose. It caused his attacker to stumble, and gave Levon the leverage to wiggle his right arm up a little. He did it again, and again, and again, until he was able to pull his arms out of the man's hug.

  "Goddamn it," said the giant as his nose seeped blood. He blinked from the pain and then shook his head to try and alleviate the stars that must have been spinning in his vision. "Who the fuck are you?"

  "My friends call me Hero."

  Hero slammed his chained fist down into his attacker's face. The first hit caused the man to release his grip and Levon fell to the floor. Even though the giant had been shot three times, and his head had been bloodied beyond recognition, Levon wasn't in the mood for mercy. A final, vicious uppercut sent the fake cop tipping over backward like a felled redwood. He crashed to the floor, if not dead then at least unconscious.