Rise of the Necrotics (Book 5): Bob's Bargain Basement Read online

  Rise Of The Necrotics

  Bob’s Bargain Basement

  Bradford Bates

  Copyright © 2018 Bradford Bates

  All rights reserved. This book is an original work of fiction, licensed for your personal enjoyment only. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  First edition: December 25, 2018

  Edited by: Jeanie Creech

  Proofreading by: Becky Bates

  If you need to contact the author, he can be reached at: [email protected]

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Also by Bradford Bates

  Chapter One

  Max Meridious

  We pulled up to the squat one-story concrete building. The roof couldn’t have been more than twelve feet off the ground, and the building stood there like an ugly square of grey against the black asphalt of the parking lot. Two overhead lights attached to the building illuminated the empty lot. The twin lights also highlighted the inch thick steel bars covering the windows. Bob’s didn’t look like much from the outside. It was seven hundred square feet of ugly, but I knew from experience the inside was worth the wait.

  I pulled the car around the back of the building hiding it from the road, and I couldn’t help but noticing the disapproving look on Holly’s face. Yeah, I got it. This place didn’t even look like it would sell ammo you could count on not to blow up when you fired it, let alone have a stockpile of almost everything you would need to start your own revolution. The good news was, looks could be deceiving.

  “Are you sure this is the place?” Holly asked looking out at the weeds poking up through the cracked asphalt.

  “Oh, it’s the place alright. There’s only one Bob’s.” I smiled over at Holly. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but I will tell you Bob has a flair for the dramatic.”

  Holly opened her door. “Yeah, if dramatic means you’re about to go bankrupt.”

  I climbed out of the car and looked around the parking lot. Holly was right, but if you judged every book by its cover, sometimes you got a gem, and sometimes you got a pile of shit with a really nice cover. There was also a zero percent chance that we weren’t on camera now. If Bob was anything, he was a fastidious bastard when it came to security, but I’d been in the shop the day he put in the one feature I hoped to exploit now. I walked around to the back of the car and grabbed the tire iron out of the trunk before returning to stand by Holly.

  “Trust me, it’s a lot nicer on the inside.” No one would ever believe it from looking at the exterior, but if you were a prepper or just into military surplus and hunting you couldn’t go wrong at Bob’s.

  “You keep telling me to trust you, but this morning hasn’t exactly been a bag of laughs.”

  “Ah, but a good host always saves the best for last.” I hopped on the hood of the car and held my hand out for Holly.

  She climbed up on the car by herself and then smirked at me while doing her best impression of a southern belle. “I do have to say, you’re always taking me to the most unexpected places.”

  Trying to suppress a very unmanly giggle, I tossed the tire iron on top of the building and used the hood of the car to launch myself towards the roof. It took me a few seconds to scramble up to the top and haul myself over. I turned around to offer Holly a hand only to find that she had already made it to the roof. Something wasn’t right there. Not that a woman couldn’t scramble up obstacles like a spider monkey. I’d seen American Ninja Warrior too many times to think otherwise. That being said, one didn’t normally expect a research doctor to be able to scale a building faster than Spiderman.

  Watching Holly now just reinforced that she wasn’t someone to screw with. Deadly good looks, mixed with a sharp mind. It was a dangerous combination. Throw in a pound of toughness and a dash of lightning quick reflexes, and Holly might as well have been protecting me. It dawned on me not for the first time that she probably didn’t need my help at all, which begged the question, why was she here?

  I dusted off my hands and tried to pretend like I hadn’t underestimated her again. “I’m not sure if this will work, but we aren’t getting in any other way.” It would take a tank to rip the bars off the windows, and I’d seen the door open so I knew it was a solid four inches of steel. “Bob doesn’t take a lot of chances.”

  “That much security for a dump like this seems like overkill.” Holly snickered looking across the cracked white roof.

  Walking toward the one irregular lump on the otherwise flat roof I snarked back. “Looks aren’t everything.”

  “Try telling that to a girl looking for a free drink on Friday night,” Holly quipped.

  “You don’t strike me as the kind of girl that accepts free drinks from strangers.” I’d seen so many horror stories about women getting roofied that I was surprised any woman would accept a drink from a stranger.

  Holly just smiled back at me. “Trust me, if you refuse the drink it just makes things worse. Assholes never take no for an answer. I mean what is it that makes guys think rejection is a giant sign saying try harder?”

  “Probably the fact that none of us would ever get a date if we didn’t ask more than once.” I raised the tire iron and brought it down on the bump in the roof. “It’s a fine line. Too much persistence and you’re the worst kind of creeper, not enough and the lady might decide you’re not really interested.”

  Holly seemed to ponder that for a moment as I kept cracking the roof open over the escape hatch. The plaster covering it tore away in big chunks, and I wondered how Bob ever planned to use it. Getting out from the inside would have taken a ladder and a lot of muscle. An escape hatch didn’t mean much if it took you a long time to open it. With most of the plaster removed the hatch was clearly visible. I turned to Holly with a triumphant grin on my face only to see her dropping to her knees beside me.

  “Cops,” she breathed out in a whisper.

  I could see the flashing lights now, and I held my breath. If we got caught here they’d take us to jail, and that was the last place I wanted to be. Nothing said fun like starving to death in a cell because all the guards had been killed by necrotics. That wasn’t going to happen to me. I put the tire iron down and pulled out my Desert Eagle. Shooting cops wasn’t something on my list of things to do today, but I wasn’t going to let them take us in either.

  Holly put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Just wait.”

  The cops drove past quickly, but they had their searchlights on. It didn’t feel like they were looking for us, but that didn’t mean they weren’t. If word of the necrotics already spread, the entire police department would be in chaos. It didn’t look like every man for himself yet, but that couldn’t be far off. I watched over the top of the roof as the cops continued down the street before sliding the gun back in my holster.

  The flashing lights drifted into the distance, so I turned back to the hatch in the roof. I brought the tire iron down once, and then twice, and finally a third time. On the third hit the hatch exploded upwards, almost taking my head clean off. At least that answered the question of how Bob wou
ld get out from inside.

  It took a few seconds for it to dawn on me that Holly had her fist wrapped in my shirt. It might have been possible that I would have died if she hadn’t yanked me back. I flashed her an appreciative smile as we looked down into the opening. It was dark inside, and I couldn’t make out a thing.

  My glasses activated and cut through the gloom of the interior. There was a display of jackets below us. Grabbing the edge of the roof I lowered myself down and moved the jackets out of the way. This time I didn’t turn to offer Holly a hand. At this point it seemed like a pointless gesture. As if to prove my point Holly hit the floor as silent as a cat just a few seconds later.

  Holly looked around the room. “It’s not much better on the inside.”

  “Ah, but didn’t I tell you Bob had a flair for the dramatic?” I reached out and took one of Holly’s hands. I wasn’t sure if she could see in the dark, but it wouldn’t surprise me after what I’d witnessed her do so far. The room was almost pitch black, though, so it seemed better to be sure than to make her stumble through the darkness. Not that I minded how her hand felt wrapped in mine.

  Holly didn’t jerk her hand away, but that could have just meant she needed the help, not that she had forgiven me for leaving her team behind. Now I was looking forward to showing her what really made this place special. Holly followed behind me as I led her toward a curtain that said dressing room and wondered what she must be thinking.

  “Max, I don’t think we have time to start trying on clothes.”

  Turning, I wondered how she had read the sign in the dark. Maybe she hadn’t. In a room full of clothes, guessing what the curtained area was for wasn’t a huge leap in logic. I dropped her hand and ducked behind the curtain. “Don’t leave a guy hanging.” I pulled the curtain aside indicating she should join me.

  “If you follow that up with a dick joke, I’m out of here.” Holly batted the curtain aside joining me in the small room.

  “Just keep your hands away from the balls.” She glared at me. “Walls, I mean walls.”

  “You’re going to have to start taking me to a lot nicer places before we start talking about your balls.” Holly flashed a wicked smile, clearly feeling like she put me in my place quickly. “Now tell me about the walls.”

  Instead of telling her, I reached out and hit a button on the wall. The room shook briefly and then the floor slowly dropped. It kind of reminded me of the elevator inside of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Holly looked a little startled. It was probably the same damn look I had on my face the first time I came to Bob’s. No one expected the dressing room to be an elevator. The ride stopped, and I pulled the curtain at the bottom aside so Holly could step out. I followed her and then hit the light switch on the side of the wall.

  The room lit up like a warehouse. Rows of lights went on one at a time until the entire basement was illuminated. I almost let out a low whistle as I took in the sight. Basements were uncommon in Arizona. You’d think with the heat that more people would want them, but the expense was so astronomical most people couldn’t afford it.

  In most of the country the soil stays the same no matter how far you dig down. Sure it might get a little more compressed, but with the right equipment it’s easy enough. In Arizona the soil is different, once you go about four feet down you run into a layer of clay that’s damn near impossible to dig through. If you can foot the bill, though, a basement in the summer heat is super sweet, or in Bob’s case a way to hide your best inventory from the casual pursuers.

  “Holly shit,” Holly whispered as she looked out over the room.

  “Like I said, a flair for the dramatic.” I gave Holly a big grin. “That being said we don’t have a lot of time. Bob’s big on security and he probably already knows we're here.”

  “Let’s split up. I’ll grab clothes and food for myself while you grab ammo and guns, then we’ll switch and get out of here,” Holly said in a tone that implied she was used to giving orders.

  “I’m good with that, but be quick. We’ve probably got about five minutes before things get interesting.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. Instead I started jogging toward the gun counter.

  I’d said a lot of things about Bob in the past, but now I was glad that he stocked just about everything. I grabbed two backpacks as I ran through the store before leaping over the counter. A quick hit from the back of my Desert Eagle shattered the glass case, and I started tossing boxes of ammo into the backpacks.

  When I thought I had enough I started grabbing a few boxes of high caliber ammo, and pulled a rifle and a cleaning kit off the shelf. A gun only worked perfectly if it was well maintained, and I wasn’t sure when I’d have another chance to get the supplies. With my bags full and an AR-15 strapped over my shoulder I headed back into the store.

  Holly ran past with a couple bags of her own, and I started looking for what we might need. It didn’t take long for me to grab a two person pup tent, a good solid iron pot, and a Zippo with a bottle of fluid. Once I was sure I had enough food to see us through, I grabbed a pair of jeans and a thick jacket. We were going to be heading north and, despite what people seem to think, we get plenty of snow just a few hours outside of Phoenix.

  I gave a whistle and pointed toward the elevator. “Time to go.”

  Holly grabbed her bags and started running to meet me. She stopped at a display of compound bows, grabbed two of them and some arrows. We almost looked like people on one of those crazy game shows where they send you into the store to grab as many things as you can in five minutes. Looking at Holly’s load I was surprised she could even walk.

  Things got easier for her when she handed me one of the bows. I gave her a smile. At least with these if we ran out of ammo we still had a fighting chance. A crossbow would have been cooler, but I left my angel-winged leather vest at home, so a regular bow would have to do. I set a couple of bags down and pulled the curtain back, only to find myself looking down the barrel of a twelve gauge shotgun.

  “Mind explaining to me what in the hell you think you’re doing?” Bob growled with calm confidence.

  I let the rest of the gear drop to the floor and held up my hands. “Would you believe me if I said it was an emergency?”

  Bob motioned for me to move next to Holly with the shotgun. “I’d be more inclined to believe it if you weren’t robbing me blind and smashing up my store.”

  “I don’t think we smashed anything,” Holly said looking around the room.

  “The big ass hole in my roof and the broken glass back there beg to differ. Now why don’t you get on your knees while we wait for the boys in blue.”

  I knelt down. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but the cops are a little busy today.”

  Bob looked us over. “I’m sure you had nothing to do with that.” Bob actually cracked a smile for a second. Maybe he was wondering if there would be a reward for turning us in.

  Holly smiled as she knelt down. “We might know a thing or two about it, but we’ve got pressing business elsewhere. If it’s a question of money, I’d be happy to take care of the bill.”

  “Money!” Bob roared. “It’s a question of respect. No one comes into my place and steals my stuff.”

  Holly smiled up at him, but it was a dangerous smile, the kind of look a cat had on its face right before it caught a bird. “I’ve got plenty of respect for your shop, but we don’t have the time to play games.”

  She darted forward landing on her belly and sliding towards Bob. The shotgun went off but he’d been expecting her to stand so the blast missed Holly, but it did one hell of a number on the display of wool socks behind her. She came up off her stomach in almost a yoga move, before her hands closed around the barrel. With a deft flick of her wrist she yanked the shotgun out of Bob’s hands, before spinning it around to face him.

  The move seemed almost impossible, like the kind of thing Bond would do with the help of one of Q’s gadgets. I was starting to think that maybe I had this all wrong. If Holly was Bat
man, then I was just Robin. No one wanted to be Robin. Climbing to my feet I moved our gear into the elevator, and then motioned for Holly to join me.

  “I’m sorry about this, Bob.” It was true this wasn’t exactly how I envisioned this meeting going.

  “Not as sorry as you’re going to be.” Bob reached behind his back, but before he could pull the pistol free Holly slammed the butt of the shotgun into his head.

  Bob slumped to the ground unconscious, and Holly took a few moments to put a pair of zip ties around his wrists. Leaning over the man she checked his breathing and then rolled him into the fetal position. A few moments later she had his gun out and emptied it before tossing it away. She pumped the remaining shells out of the shotgun and set it aside.

  At least Bob hadn’t recognized me, or at the very least if he did he didn’t say anything. If we stopped the apocalypse I wanted to be able to come back. “I didn’t know they taught badassery in medical school?” I quipped.

  “They don’t, I just happened to pick it up along the way.” Holly stepped into the elevator and gave me a look that said I’d better get moving.

  The more I learned about Holly, the less likely it seemed that she needed me at all. Maybe I was just a smoke screen for whatever her real agenda was. The whole time I thought I’d been picking her up as a bargaining chip, but maybe she had done the same with me. What if Holly was just using me to press her own agenda? She wanted Chen gone, now she had help. It wasn’t like the Hilltop Initiative could put the cork back in the bottle now, and what do all big corporations do when they get in trouble? They find a scapegoat.

  I looked over at Holly and wondered just what I’d gotten myself into. The only good news I could come up with was that for now she was on my side. That and we’d scored a pretty damn good haul. Before she could hit the button I stepped out of the elevator and searched Bob’s pockets for his keys. I didn’t know what he was driving, but I was sure it would suit us a hell of a lot better than the car I’d stolen earlier. With the keys in hand I stepped into the elevator, and we started going up.