The 1000 Souls (Book 2): Generation Apocalypse Read online

  Farther down the hall, a light bulb had survived, and it provided enough white light for the flashlight batteries to be spared. They had almost reached this illumination when a dozen dark figures rushed from a doorway into the light, turning to flee. Tevy and company opened fire, chasing the rippers down the hall, shooting them in the back as they tried to escape the school. Some did make the far stairwell, but shooting from above stopped them in their tracks. They turned to face Tevy’s little squad, but it was too late for them to properly aim and shoot, because the humans already were firing, a steady and calm aim as opposed to the panicked shots from the trapped rippers. In a moment it was over, and Tevy drew his Glock and walked over to shoot each one in the head to ensure they stayed down.

  “Repair that!” he shouted to the parasites in their bodies.

  “Tev.” Elliot had returned to the doorway, and now he waved Tevy over.

  Elliot’s wide-eyed expression of horror was enough to warn Tevy that the room held a gruesome sight, but he was still appalled when he turned the corner and found a gymnasium full of bodies hung upside down from the ceiling, tied by their ankles, their hands stretching toward the floor. The high windows were bricked in, the only light provided by bulbs strung from the ceiling on white electrical line.

  The lights dimmed, and the sound of a generator outside puttering to a halt warned that the room would go dark, either because the generator was out of gas or someone had shut it down. But before the room went black, Tevy counted twelve people hung upside down with their throats slashed and buckets underneath them to catch every last drop of blood.

  “I guess that’s why he calls himself Vlad Who Bleeds,” said Elliot.

  A voice in the room disturbed them, a tortured plea with a familiar accent. The woman turned on her flashlight, and they entered the room ready to shoot, but the only conscious being sat naked and tied to a chair at the far end, his chest hair matted with blood.

  “Rad!” Tevy hurried forward, elated to find him alive, and if he was tied to a chair that must mean he was still human. They had done it! They had saved Radu against all odds even if he was a bit bloodied. But as Tevy knelt down to untie him, the man shook his head.

  “No.” His voice was a desperate wail. “I said, ‘please shoot me.’”

  “What?” But as Tevy looked up he could see a lot of the blood around Radu’s lips and teeth.

  “Get back.” Elliot aimed the M16 at Radu’s chest. “It’s not his blood. They made him drink. They converted him. He’s a ripper.”

  Fifteen - A Ripper on the Inside

  Kayla was never in love with Radu, but she did like him. When she spurned his attempts to get her in the sack, he wasn’t the least put off, like Canadian men, many of whom seemed to think they were God’s gift to women. She never had to suggest that they “just be friends,” because after she said no to his shameless advance, he became a friend as naturally as if they were kids or seniors, and sex wasn’t an issue.

  Sure, he always made it obvious that if she changed her mind he was willing, and he never failed to miss an opportunity to let her know how attracted he was to her, but somehow there was no pressure, no sense that he was expecting her to cave. He talked about other women freely, asked her advice, and even followed it, like when she said he should stay away from Rachel because she had her eye on a different man, the man she would later marry.

  Now, Kayla stood before Radu’s bound and naked body and had to judge his fate. The room stank of blood and excrement, and a subtle scent of rot promised a lot more to come if they didn’t bury the corpses today.

  “We’ve got to kill him,” she said. “What choice have we got? You can’t let a ripper live.”

  Mabruke had come when summoned, and Tevy and Elliot and some other woman were there, but the rest of the troops were using the dynamite to blow out the concrete blocks sealing the ground-floor windows. Occasionally, the ground under Kayla’s feet trembled, but the school was old and built on strong foundations during the beginning of the twentieth century. There was no fear that it would collapse as long as only the ripper fortifications were destroyed.

  Tevy stared at one of the swinging corpses. He reached up and tore off the victim’s shirt, then carried it over to drape Radu’s lap, hiding his genitals and giving him a modicum of privacy.

  “Can’t we let him go if he promises not to feed on humans?” asked Tevy.

  Kayla wished it could be so, and she understood Tevy’s need. He must feel responsible for not shooting the human traitors and saving Radu when he had a chance. But this was no time to be soft.

  “And what the hell would he feed on then?” she asked, trying not to sound angry and failing.

  Tevy met her eyes and she read an accusation in his expression. “Maybe you should ask Joyce,” he said. “Maybe she or her friend up at St. John’s knows the answer to that.”

  Kayla swore that her heart skipped a beat. Did he know about Bertrand Allan? Had he seen him that night in the woods?

  “Stop,” she said, before he could reveal the secret in front of everyone. She pleaded with her eyes, and Tevy gave a short nod. He would keep it secret, but Kayla sensed that he would be expecting explanations later.

  “She’s right.” Radu’s voice had strengthened, and that wasn’t a good sign. The parasites were repairing his body.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “They wanted information more than blood. They kept asking stupid questions like, ‘how many troops can the bitch call on?’ as if I would fucking know. They asked about tanks a lot, too. They beat me. They flogged me, but I tell them only that we came from St. John’s. I know I shouldn’t, but it hurt so very much.” His accent thickened as he spoke, his eyes roving around the corpses as if that was a better sight than his memories.

  Kayla feared even that was too much. “What exactly did you tell them?”

  Radu gave a slow and understanding smile. “Nothing important. I tell them we come by the buses. That we will fight under the general’s command. I tell them more buses are coming, many more and they are getting here today, now.”

  It took Kayla a second. “That’s a lie.”

  Radu nodded and smiled again, looking stronger by the minute. “Yes. Is a very good lie. They want information and I give it too them. I make them work for it, but I am hoping my death is good. I am hoping they are too scared to attack until they know about new troops.”

  “That’s it.” Tevy turned to Kayla, and she could see that he could hardly suppress his excitement. “That’s why we let him go. He can be our spy, feed them disinformation and feed us information.”

  Elliot let out a slow whistle. “You gotta know what the bishop would say about this. Aiding the devil if you let a ripper feed.” Elliot had slung his M16 and stood behind Radu, his Ruger drawn and aimed in the general direction of Radu’s left temple.

  “We don’t tell him.” Tevy turned to Kayla now. “He’s your friend. It’s your call, but wouldn’t it be totally awesome to have a spy right down in Chicago?”

  “But he’d have to murder to feed.” She wanted a way out but didn’t see that there was any loophole she could honestly use.

  “No he wouldn’t.” Tevy turned to Radu. “Look, if you go down there tonight, just tell the bridge guards you want to join up. Better yet, go to the Merchandise Mart. We could really use a spy in there. I tell you, they’ll take you once they see you’re a ripper, I’ll lay bullets on it. Just keep making stuff up about us and about how you became a ripper. Hey, even tell them that you, like, joined the rippers here voluntarily, that you figured St. Mike’s was going to tank and you wanted to be on the winning side.”

  Kayla resisted the urge to jump in between them. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Come again about how he wouldn’t have to murder to feed?”

  “They’ve got all those traitor troops up here from California donating blood. I know the rippers don’t like it so much, but it keeps them alive.” Tevy turned from Kayla to Radu. “Have you fed on a live hum
an?”

  Radu shook his head. “They murder them.” He nodded up at the inverted corpses. “They murder them and tell me I’m next, but then one says he has better idea, that he can make me sweat bugs. He gets a cup...” Now Radu looked to the ground as if ashamed. “He gets a cup of blood and puts it to my lips and plugs my nose. I promise myself that I will suffocate first, but my body breaths and I swallow blood.”

  “I’m so very sorry,” Tevy said in the silence that followed.

  Radu looked up. “Why? This is not your fault. You even come to rescue me when it is clearly hopeless. I am very grateful.”

  A metallic bang and a scream from the corridor followed by panicked gunfire stole their attention. Kayla ran for the corridor, the others in close pursuit, except Mabruke, who had enough sense to tell his trooper to stay with Radu.

  It was all over before Kayla got there.

  A dozen fresh corpses lay on the floor, and several people stood over them with guns aimed. Amanda already had her knife out.

  “What happened?” asked Kayla.

  “Bastards were hiding in the lockers.” Amanda pulled a head back and slit a throat. “Luckily, I got curious and opened one up. It was empty, but I spooked the ripper in the next one and he made a break for it, then a bunch more. It was a crazy turkey shoot for a second. We’re fucking lucky we didn’t shoot each other.”

  Kayla cursed herself for not thinking of this. It could have been a disaster.

  Mabruke took control before she could put her thoughts into words. “I want these all aired out and I want those bricks blown out of those windows.” He pointed at the fresh concrete block high in the wall above the lockers. He turned to Kayla. “I’m going to put together search parties to raid through the basement. You decide what to do about your friend, the ripper.”

  Elliot stood close to Amanda and took her left hand before she could move on to the next body. “Hey, clean the knife and come with us. Someone else can make sure they’re dead.”

  Amanda dropped her knife and hugged Elliot tightly, her head buried in his shoulder even though she had to crouch because she was taller. Judging by the shudder, she was quietly weeping.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said, patting her back with his free hand, the other carefully pointing the Ruger at the ceiling. He caught Kayla’s eye. “I’m gonna be a minute.” To Amanda he said, “Come on. Let’s go get some sunshine.”

  Kayla and Tevy headed back to stand in front of Radu, Tevy looking at her expectantly, Radu uncertainly. Mabruke called his trooper away, leaving just the three of them.

  Kayla knew the quick solution, the obvious solution to all this, was to put a bullet through Radu’s brain before Tevy could offer up any other arguments. That would be the easy way out.

  “How would he get information to you?” she asked instead.

  “We’d pick a place to meet just north of the Loop near the Mart. I go down there all the time anyway.”

  “Wait.” Radu looked panicked more than anything else. “They make me a ripper as torture, you see? They plan to starve me and say that I will tell everything when I get hungry for blood. It makes men mad.”

  “But no one will be starving you,” said Tevy. “You’ll get a ration of dead blood, and that’ll keep you from going crazy. The good thing is that you’ve never had living blood, ’cause that would be a mortal sin.”

  Kayla didn’t like it, but she could see the value. “This will only postpone the inevitable. He’s a ripper! Sorry, Rad, it’s not your fault and it’s killing me, but if we win the day in Chicago, there won’t be anymore blood donations, and then what?”

  Tevy looked uncertain but Radu was not.

  “Then you put a bullet through my brain and save me. The 1000 Live On.”

  Kayla looked up sharply at Tevy, but he was nodding as if not surprised.

  “You guys already are with the Ericsians, aren’t you?” he said. “That’s why you wanted to come along to meet them.”

  Kayla ignored him and turned her attention to Radu. “Promise me you won’t give away any secrets, especially about St. John’s.”

  Radu looked at Tevy and nodded. “He knows them all anyway. But the rippers, I only tell them lies.”

  Kayla took a deep breath and cursed the circumstances. Joyce would probably kill someone when she found out. Kayla knew that because even she would be furious if someone came to her and said they’d let go a ripper. And she and Joyce were the same soul.

  “Fine. Cut him loose and get him some clothes and find somewhere to hide him until sunset. But you,” she said, pointing at Radu, “don’t let me down. And you,” she said, pointing to Tevy, “you better be right. We’re taking a huge risk here.”

  Tevy nodded and didn’t look that certain himself. “He stayed with us in the woods. He didn’t bail. He won’t now.”

  “You better be fucking right.”

  *

  Mabruke accepted Kayla’s decision without argument, and this produced her first doubt in the 1000 Souls. She was young and untested. Was it wise to have such faith in her just because she completed a multiple-choice test with the same combination answers as Joyce? What if Radu told Vlad about any weaknesses at St. John’s? Did he know the secret of Bertrand Allan, that he was alive and a ripper? One thing she was now sure of was that Tevy knew, and Radu had said that Tevy knew all the secrets. What did he mean? It was time to ask.

  They walked together back toward St. Mike’s, because it was too far to go back to Wright Sanctuary and retrieve their bikes. Amanda and Elliot followed at a distance, holding hands and debriefing each other about the battle. Kayla put them in different groups, intentionally, before the attack, not wanting either to be distracted by the other’s safety. Amanda was with her in the frontal assault through the blown doors. Kayla chose to be in a different group from Tevy for the same reason, because even before she found out he was the Bertrand soul, the Dormant Hero, she was aware of an attraction, one that began that first night when she had to rescue him from the woods. It flamed when he stripped and stepped out to meet the Ericsian patrol, not because she was aroused by his nudity, but his selflessness, his bravery, both of which he seemed totally unaware of.

  The sun warmed them as it climbed through the morning. When they walked into the shade of the underpass at the Kennedy expressway, no one shouted to hear the echo as they had less than twenty-four hours before, when outbound on adventure. How long had it been since any of them had slept? Weariness overcame her, a desire to bust into the nearest house and find a couch or clean carpet where she could sleep. The thought of Tevy curled up next to her crossed her mind, but she forced the image away so that she could concentrate on the real issues. They would be at St. Mike’s soon, and she would be out of time to interrogate Tevy. She took the plunge.

  “Tevy, Rad said you knew all the secrets of St. John’s. What did he mean?”

  It was hard to tell what he was thinking, because he never stopped looking around, checking each side of the street, over his shoulder, and up at the higher buildings. Kayla made a note that she should learn to do the same. This was how one survived in the urban jungle with traitors as well as rippers as enemies. If only they’d seen the traitors with the nets on that building last evening, Radu might still be human. If only they’d traveled quietly as they did now, maybe the traitors wouldn’t have heard them coming and been prepared with nets.

  “Don’t know much,” he finally said. “Anything I should know?”

  Kayla forced down a surge of anger, but some of it slipped out just the same. “Don’t bullshit me.”

  Tevy nodded. “Fair enough. You don’t bullshit me, and I won’t bullshit you.” He met her eye in challenge.

  “Okay.” Kayla feared what he might ask, but it was a reasonable request. “We fought the same battle last night. Let’s just promise to always be on the same side.”

  “As long as you’re fighting rippers, I’m on the same side.”

  But he hadn’t answered her questio
n. “So what was Radu talking about?”

  “I know that Bertrand Allan is a ripper and fights for St. John’s.”

  Kayla kept all her curses to herself. No need to let him know what power he had with this knowledge. “What else?”

  “I know that at least some of you are Ericsians.” He spared her a glance before he returned to his ceaseless vigilance of their surroundings. Kayla became more aware of their surroundings because of it. They crossed the river, the scent of algae rising over the bridge. Ahead lay big box stores and the River Point Shopping Center. Cars sat on flat tires, still parked as if the owners might return from Starbucks or the sports store. Kayla remembered when she loved sports: hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, all a part of her life that seemed so childish and futile now. She should have been learning shooting, hunting, and combat. On her right a McDonald’s, the windows dirty but intact, reminded her of her empty stomach. How many times had she been this hungry since the apocalypse, a sensation totally outside her experience before her eighteenth birthday?

  He let her silence hang, and she was grateful for that. How to respond? She had promised no bullshit. “Yes, not everyone at St. John’s are Ericsians, believes in the 1000 Souls, but I am.”

  “Why?”

  Since Kayla struggled with that faith herself, now was not the best time to answer, but she made an effort. “Haven’t you ever met someone, and they were just like someone else you know or knew? And I don’t mean that they look the same, or they’re the same age or race or anything. They’re just the same.”

  Tevy shook his head. “Nobody comes to mind. I mean until I met you and Joyce.” He frowned and glanced at her before returning to his scrutiny of their surroundings. “That is weird, cause that’s what the Ericsians said, that you’re the same soul. Totally weird actually, cause I thought that after the battle that night just south of St. John’s, the way you both get angry when going into battle, like everyone around you are effing morons.”

  Kayla suppressed an angry retort. “I just like to make myself emphatically clear so that fewer people die.”