Rise of the Necrotics (Book 8): Home Sweet Home Read online

  Rise Of The Necrotics

  Home Sweet Home

  Bradford Bates

  Copyright © 2019 by 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: March 18, 2019

  Edited by: Jeanie Creech

  Proofreading by: Becky Bates

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

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Also by Bradford Bates

  Chapter One

  Max Meridious

  Holly pulled the truck onto a narrow track between two trees. You would have never even known it was there if you were just driving by. Shit, I hadn’t even known the road was there until Holly turned. Unclenching my hand from the door was easy once I realized Holly hadn’t decided to kamikaze us into the trees for no reason. Still, she had made the turn with such confidence I never should have doubted her. Hadn’t she said something once about knowing the Flagstaff location? I couldn’t remember, everything was jumbled behind a cloud of pain.

  Sitting up cost me any of the remaining dignity I had left. A low moan escaped from my lips as I shifted on the truck’s rough leather bench. Whatever Holly had given me earlier was starting to wear off, or the pain was growing. I’m sure being passed out in an awkward position against the truck door hadn’t done my body any favors.

  I tried to smile, but my lips were cracked so it turned into more of a grimace. Hopefully I could still get the playful tone right. “Normally, I like to take a girl out to dinner before we go camping. You know, swipe right for a first date in the woods doesn’t seem very safe.”

  Holly snickered. “I’m the kind of girl that isn’t above taking a few risks. Plus, I picked the creepy wooded trail, so if anyone has the potential to be a serial killer it’s me.”

  “Oh, I get that.” I paused for dramatic effect and looked around nervously. “But I’m the kind of guy that prefers something a wee bit more traditional. Scary serial killer dates aren’t exactly my thing.”

  “Ah, this a little too Cabin In The Woods for you?”

  “With the way my week’s been going, I’m thinking the vibe will be much more Evil Dead. You know, one calamitous event after another eventually leading to everyone’s death.”

  Holly grinned, she was really getting into it now. “But didn’t Ash live, I mean the guy’s got his own show now. Plus the dude really knew how to deliver a one-liner. Give me some sugar, baby.”

  “That didn’t come until later.” Movie three to be exact, but I digress. The banter was keeping my mind off the little shivers of pain that rolled through my body. Plus, who didn’t love a girl that knew her horror flicks? I always thought women like that were kind of like cobras. I knew they existed, but I had yet to encounter one. I noticed she still hadn’t answered my question about where we were going yet. Holly neatly sidestepped it by distracting me with visions of horror movies past.

  “Touché.” Holly quirked one eyebrow up in the air and looked at me as the truck slowed to a stop. “Fancy a hike?”

  Just sitting hurt me enough to never want to move again, trudging through the forest didn’t sound all that appealing. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that and lived. You might as well say, I’ll be right back. No one ever comes back.”

  “In this case, I really hope we won’t have to.” Holly looked down at the steering wheel. “What you might not know about the Flagstaff facility is that it has an emergency tunnel.”

  Jesus, like a panic room for the whole facility. That didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence. The kind of people that needed an escape hatch were the kind of people fucking around with things they shouldn’t be. I’d always assumed we kept the viruses we found so they could be safely disposed of, but what if the Hilltop Initiative had been doing something else altogether?

  “Let me guess, just a quick jaunt through the forest we’re only hoping isn’t already crawling with necrotics.”

  “Being injured has made you a good deal less exciting, Max. Where is all the I gotta get you out of this building, stay with me if you want to live stuff?”

  “I got you out of the building as I recall, and if I’m not further mistaken, you are still alive.”

  Holly let out a groan. “Yeah, that helicopter ride was a real peach. Thanks for that, by the way.”

  “Well, I was almost murdered before I had to jump off the side of the building. Everyone’s got their own crosses to bear.” Now I was grinning like an idiot. I was pretty sure if we were going to start comparing crappy days, mine was going to win. All I wanted to do was watch a basketball game, and instead I was pulled into the apocalypse.

  She turned, meeting my eyes and then poked me in the chest. “Your cross is going to be lugging all your own gear. I can’t carry you forever.” Holly was smiling back now, but she looked fierce. Something about that look told me she was waiting for me to up the ante.

  Instead I rolled over like a puppy looking for a belly rub. Holding my hands up in mock surrender, I said, “Don’t be like that, Holly. I thought we were having a moment.”

  “Moment’s over,” she snapped opening her door.

  Just when I thought I’d messed up and misread the situation, Holly popped her head back in the door and hit me with her ravishing smile. It was almost enough to make me stop thinking about the way my ribs crackled as I shifted.

  Holly tossed the keys in the cup holder. “But just so you know, I’ve got a soft spot for broken things, so I’ll take pity on you this time.” She poked me again. “But don’t get used to it.”

  “Oh, please tell me there won’t be a next time,” I said with all of the flair of a Southern Baptist, and pretended to swoon. “I don’t know if my little ol’ heart could take it.”

  Holly giggled a little as she slipped out of the truck. A few seconds later I heard the back of the truck open up, and Holly started shifting our gear around. Oh man, I almost fucked up my chances, or did I? That was the thing with women, I could talk to them, I could make love to them, but I was never really all that sure what was going on behind the curtain. Basically, I was just tossing stuff against the wall and hoping it would stick when I was talking. Thankfully, Holly seemed to get my weird brand of, well, me. So at least I had that going for me.

  Climbing out of the truck wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. My back popped like a kid with his first roll of bubble wrap, and I was stiff from head to toe. Thinking about the hike in front of us seemed daunting, so instead of helping Holly like I should have, I started stretching my protesting muscles. Holly couldn’t have been doing much better than I was. It wasn’t like she floated all those miles we ran. We’d been running long enough for it to take a toll on anyone’s body, even a genetically modified someone. And yet Holly was about to lug my gear through the forest. Something about that shamed me into action, and I headed to the back of the
truck.

  A few minutes later I had my pack strapped to my back, and the AR cradled in my arms. Holly was carrying all of our ammo, but she didn’t complain about the unequal distribution of labor. Instead she started following a one-man track into the woods. Letting out a sigh, I hugged the AR a little tighter against my chest and trudged after her.

  It felt like it had already been hours, but Holly assured me that wasn’t the case as I grumbled along behind her. I’m sure she was tired of my whining. I was tired of it myself, but I deserved to whine a little bit, didn’t I? My ankle twisted on a stray stone, and I let out a startled squawk and almost fell on my ass.

  “It’s a good thing stealth isn’t a priority,” Holly quipped over her shoulder.

  “I’ve never been much of a ninja, I’m more of tank and spank kind of guy.”

  Holly turned and her eyes had a mischievous look to them. “Are you the tank or the spank?”

  “I guess that depends on who you ask.” I’d done my fair share of tanking in games, sometimes even with great effect. Other times the raid ended up splattered across the screen, instead of the boss. So I was the tank you called on when there weren’t crazy adds pouring in from all over the map, and I didn’t do more than a few swaps without fucking them up. In short, I was the tank and the spank, a real one-man show. Leroy’s got nothing on me.

  “Would I be a total ass if I asked how much further?” I tried to play it off light-hearted and not so whiny. There was no way to know if I succeeded or not and really I didn’t care. If we weren’t going to reach the tunnel soon, I needed a break. Plus, once we got inside the damn tunnel we still had to walk all the way to the facility. The way this was going we could be walking for another day at the very least.

  Instead of answering, Holly just pointed in front of her. Cut into the side of the hill was a metal door. It looked like an old shed or maybe the leftovers of some old World War II bunker. Holly stepped next to the door, and a panel opened on the side. She placed her eyes in the scanner, and as she stepped back a light above the door turned on. She turned back toward me and waved me forward as the door hissed open behind her.

  “Come on, Max, I want to show you something.” Holly stepped into the well-lit entrance and disappeared.

  I’d come too far to turn around now. Not that I had anywhere to go if I decided to walk away. There wasn’t a place left in the world that would be safe from this virus if Holly didn’t stop it. Leaving wasn’t on my agenda anymore. The only thing I cared about was protecting the woman standing in front of me. Holly had literally become the most important thing in the world.

  Shuffling through the doorway, I followed Holly out of the main room and into an anti-chamber. The door whooshed closed behind me sealing us inside. The room would have been downright terrifying if it weren’t for all the lights. The lights kept me from freaking out, but the contraption in front of me held all of my attention. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it sat on a single rail almost like a train would have ridden on two, and it had seats. The seats held most of my attention. Maybe I could try and figure out the rest while I was sitting down.

  “Hop on.” Holly pointed to a seat on the back before dumping her gear down and climbing behind the controls.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what is this thing?” I moved towards the open air seating area, wondering just how safe a train on one rail could be. At least the seats looked comfortable. Someone had taken the time to cover them in some thick white fluffy material, almost like seat covers in a car straight out of the seventies.

  “Come on, haven’t you ever been to Disney World? It’s the fucking monorail, Max.” Holly snickered as she hit a few buttons. “Only this one’s a little faster.”

  A whining noise started from somewhere underneath us, and Holly started pulling on her seatbelt. Looking frantically around, I found mine and slipped it on. I looked back up to the front of the monorail, and Holly had a manic grin on her face. She turned to look at me, and I almost cringed away.

  “Keep your hands and feet inside the lines at all times, we’re ready for takeoff.”

  I was starting to think this wasn’t the best idea. “Holly, I don’t think I’m ready.” Maybe there was still time to get off, or maybe this thing had a safety feature like at the amusement park that stopped the ride from moving if everyone wasn’t ready. Maybe if I undid my seatbelt some pimply seventeen-year-old kid would appear to tell me I was safe or get me the hell off this thing before I had a breakdown. I was just about to shout at Holly when her hand slammed down on the console in front of her.

  Nothing happened for a moment, and I started to smile as we slowly inched forward. This wasn’t such a big deal, why was I being such a wuss? Leaning back in my seat, I felt my grin widening. I could handle this. I mean anything was better than walking, right? Slowly I started to relax, and then the monorail took off like a cork shot out of a champagne bottle.

  After a few seconds, I pried my eyes open and watched the light from the entrance dwindle into the distance before blinking out of existence as we rounded a gentle bend in the tunnel. Now that we were moving I could see the single rail trailing out behind us. Was it cheaper to build a single rail, or did they just do it because it looked so much cooler? I mean who wanted to ride on a steady old two railed train when they could be doing this?

  The initial shock was wearing off, and I was starting to appreciate just how cool this was. I didn’t know how far out from Flagstaff we were when Holly pulled off the road, but traveling at this speed we’d be into the heart of the city in no time.

  “What you might not notice as we glide along the track is that we are also traveling downwards,” Holly shouted as she turned to face me.

  It made sense. The Hilltop wouldn’t want anyone digging around in the Initiative's business. “Keep the scary stuff in the basement, right?”

  “Sure, if your basement is located twenty stories underground in one of the most secure facilities in the world,” Holly deadpanned.

  So I liked to simplify things, get over it. With the outside world locked on the outside, maybe things hadn’t changed too much at the facility. With so much riding on Holly getting to a lab, I still couldn’t relax. We were supposed to be home free now, but something kept niggling at the back of my mind making it hard to relax. It also dawned on me that someone might be waiting for us when the monorail came to a stop.

  I mean the Hilltop would have someone monitoring this track. A secret underground monorail wasn’t much use if just anyone could hop on and get it running. Maybe Holly had a little more insight into what would be waiting for us at the end of the line. “Any idea what will be waiting for us?”

  “I’m hoping for a hot shower and some good food. That dehydrated stuff isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  Yep, the dried stuff only had two outcomes. Either you got the Hershey squirts, or you were backed up for days. It wasn’t even that the food tasted horrible, or that it gave you stomach pains either way; it was simply the fact that nothing beats real food cooked from scratch. Not ever. If someone tells you they buy the best food from the frozen or prepackaged isle, they are out of their minds.

  “I’m just hoping that whoever is waiting for us isn’t in a shoot first kind of mood.” I didn’t mean to kill the conversation, but I did. Holly’s mouth opened and hung there like she hadn’t even considered the possibility. She snapped her mouth shut and turned away from me to watch the tracks. Next time I wanted to say something that brought down the mood I was going to have to remind myself to keep my big fat trap closed.

  The monorail we were on started to slow down and bright lights awaited us at the end of the tunnel. Looking down at my feet, I mumbled to myself, “Let’s hope I was wrong.”

  Chapter Two

  Max Meridious

  The lights greeting us at the end of the tunnel were bright enough that I couldn’t see a thing. Holly’s body went stiff as we started to slow down, giving me the distinct impression this much
light in the tunnel wasn’t normal. She lifted one hand to her eyes as if shielding them from the glare would help. There wasn’t a thing on this planet that would help you cut through the halo of light that engulfed us. She might as well have been shading her eyes to stare directly into the sun.

  When Holly turned to face me her expression was tense and her eyes almost panicked. “Whatever you do, don’t move,” she hissed before turning back to face the lights and whoever was waiting for us behind them.

  I never liked to rub it in when I was right. Ok, who was I kidding. I loved to rub it in. “Hate to say it, but I told you so.” Saying the words didn’t actually make me feel any better. Maybe being right only felt good when it didn’t affect you? Like when I got to say things like I told you that girl was trouble, or don’t eat that third burrito. When being right meant possibly being gunned down in an underground tunnel then you weren’t really a winner.

  It didn’t help that my back was facing them and that I had a semi-automatic weapon in my hands. Holding the gun above my head, I made sure the barrel and the stock were pointed at the walls of the tunnel and not at the men behind the lights. “You fellas mind if I set this down.” When no one answered, my arms started to shake, but I gritted my teeth and fought through it. “A decision would be nice, this gun’s getting a little heavy.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have lifted it over your damn fool of a head,” Holly whispered as she continued to stare forward.

  “Toss the weapon away!” a man barked out. The edge to his voice didn’t leave any room for argument.

  I’d never been the kind of guy to do things the easy way, and despite how intense this situation was, my stomach wasn’t doing the jig, so I felt pretty confident we weren’t going to be shot just yet. “Mind if I just set it down, me and this old girl have been through a lot together.”