Running Towards The Abyss Page 14

  Benton stopped fifty feet before she got to the barricade and put the car in park. She stepped out with her hands up and waved.

  “Hey, Todd and Jermaine. Can you let me in?”

  “Miss Benton? We thought something bad had happened to you guys!” Todd answered, clearly excited to see Benton’s familiar face. He slung his scoped, bolt-action rifle over his shoulder.

  Chuck saw the young African-American man pick the phone back up, say a few words, and then watched both men scramble down to make an opening for Elizabeth’s Jeep, moving two vehicles so that she could drive through. They quickly reblocked the hole in the barricade and walked over to the stopped Cherokee. Jermaine carried his AR-15 with the muzzle pointing towards the ground.

  The young men observed the damaged and bloody hood, the cracked windshield of the SUV, and then looked inside the Cherokee expecting to see their friends. Instead they saw a big, heavily armed stranger staring back at them. Confusion was evident in their eyes.

  “We got ambushed at one of the truck stops. Everybody’s gone,” Elizabeth told the two students, motioning towards the backseat. “This is Chuck. He saved my life and he’s going to stay with us a couple of days.”

  Jermaine found his voice. “So Margo, Lamar, and Officer Storey are…?”

  “They’re all dead, Jermaine,” she said, quietly. “There were a group of men waiting for us inside the first truck stop that we went into for supplies. We’ll have a community meeting later and I’ll tell everybody everything. Right now, I need to go find Mr. Nicholson.”

  Benton drove away from the stunned sentries and McCain saw what was probably the main administrative building a few hundred feet beyond the barricade. As they got deeper into the campus he could see other buildings spread out over the hundred acre compound.

  “We’ll stop here first,” she said, pulling up to the administrative building. “We just call this ‘Admin.’ My office is here along with Mr. Nicholson’s. He usually hangs out here unless he’s out patrolling. He rigged up a phone system that connects to different points on the campus for the sentries to call in. Mr. Nicholson calls his office ‘the command post,’” she said with a chuckle. “The dining hall is right behind this building so we can drop off these boxes of supplies before we go over to the dorm.”

  As Beth pulled under the overhang in front of Admin, she drove by a firing position made out of two layers of sandbags. It would allow someone to step out the front door of the building and in two strides be in a position of cover to engage any attackers. A stocky, ruddy-faced, sandy-haired man exited the front door and was waiting for them when the vehicle stopped. Chuck saw his eyes take in the appearance of the Jeep, Elizabeth, and him.

  The man was wearing wire-rimmed glasses, clothed in khaki cargo pants and a green polo shirt. The shirt was tucked in, the pants looked like they had been pressed, and he had on black boots that must have been polished that morning. McCain saw a full size .45 automatic pistol in a holster on his side. Chuck also noticed that he had a strange cadence to his walk, as if he’d had an injury to one of his legs.

  Chuck took off his helmet and got out of the vehicle, leaving his rifle and body armor behind, but keeping his pistol belt on. Beth had already gotten out and was speaking softly with the man. The ruddy face softened as Elizabeth spoke and the two embraced. McCain saw him speaking quietly to Beth as they hugged. After a moment, Elizabeth turned towards Chuck and motioned him over, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

  “Chuck, this is Mr. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson, this is Chuck McCain, the man who saved me.”

  “Jake Nicholson,” he said, sticking out his hand. McCain took it.

  “It’s nice to meet you. Beth said you’ve done a great job securing this campus.”

  Nicholson sighed. “Thanks. It hasn’t been easy but I think it’s as safe as we can make it with what we have. Elizabeth told me a little of what you did. I’d like to hear the rest of the story later, but thanks for bringing her back. She’s very special to us.”

  Jake looked Chuck over and cocked his head. “Military?”

  “No, I used to be a SWAT cop but I did do a couple of tours with a Special Forces A team in Afghanistan as a police advisor. My last job was with the CDC Police. You?”

  “Marines. You were with the CDC? You guys were right in the middle of this whole zombie virus, right?”

  Before McCain could answer, the door behind them opened and a forty-something, redheaded woman, came out. She was wearing blue jeans, a green sweatshirt with the school’s logo, and a navy blue jacket with campus police patches on it. Her black leather utility belt held a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol, extra magazines, handcuffs, pepper spray, and a collapsible baton.

  “Elizabeth! We’ve been so worried,” the newcomer said, grabbing and hugging the younger woman.

  Nicholson motioned at the redhead and spoke to Chuck, “This is Officer Tina Miles. She was the other campus police officer who stayed to look after these kids when the zombies swept through.”

  Miles looked at Chuck, the empty SUV, and scanned the area. “Where’s everybody else?”

  Beth didn’t answer right away. Jake stepped over and put his arm around Tina.

  “Tina, this is Chuck McCain. Elizabeth and the team got ambushed. Everybody else was killed. They kidnapped Elizabeth but Chuck was passing through and was able to rescue her.”

  Tears began to flow down Tina’s face as she struggled to control her emotions. Jake kept his arm around her, comforting her.

  “I’m so glad you’re OK, Elizabeth. I’m sorry for the others but I’m thankful that you made it back to us,” Tina said. The two women hugged again.

  Jake looked around and then spoke quietly to Chuck, “Are you a smoker, McCain? I haven’t had a cigarette in weeks and I sure could use one now.”

  Chuck smiled. “Hang on a minute.”

  He walked to the rear of the Cherokee and opened the cargo door. He reached inside, rummaging through a couple of boxes before finding what he was looking for. McCain walked back over to Nicholson and handed him a carton of Marlboros.

  The man’s eyes lit up. “I think you and me are going to be good friends.”

  Ten minutes later, Benton’s Jeep Cherokee was backed up to the main entrance of the cafeteria. After gawking at the blood-covered and damaged front end of the vehicle, a group of chattering students started unloading the boxes of food and supplies. Word had spread quickly across the small campus that Miss Benton was back and all the residents flocked to the dining hall.

  Both students and faculty alike were delighted to see Elizabeth, wanting to hug her and ask her about what happened. She asked them all to wait until the vehicle was unloaded, saying that she would speak to everyone inside the large room about what had happened to her and the team. McCain stood off to the side watching Beth and observing how much everyone loved her. She was clearly in her element here, confident, with a smile and a kind word for just about everyone she encountered.

  Jake and Tina stood outside in front of the dining hall smoking their Marlboros, savoring every puff. A slim young man, his hair pulled back into a man bun, walked up to the two of them and spoke in a chastising tone, “Mr. Nicholson, Officer Miles, this is a smoke-free area. You’re not supposed to be smoking here.”

  Chuck had just come back out to talk with Jake and get a little more information on how secure the campus really was. He heard what the student had said and saw Miles turn away, trying not to laugh. Nicholson ignored the interruption, continuing to enjoy his cigarette, staring out across the campus.

  When the student didn’t take the hint that he was being ignored, Jake turned towards the young man and exhaled smoke in his direction, causing him to cough.

  “Bradley, go away. In this day and age, I’m much more likely to die from getting eaten by a zombie than I am by lung cancer.”

  As Bradley stomped angrily into the dining hall, Jake nodded at Chuck and smiled. “That was Bradley. He’s the student body president
and he’s got the hots for Elizabeth.”

  “Right,” said Chuck. “She told me about him.”

  Interested in seeing the interaction between Elizabeth and Bradley, McCain strolled back inside just in time to see the student body president trying to hug Beth. She didn’t hug him back, keeping her arms at her side and just said, “Hello, Bradley. Good to see you, too.” Unlike everyone else, Bradley did not get a smile.

  “I was so worried. I’m glad you’re OK. Maybe we can hang out later?”

  “No, we can’t. Look, I’m kind of busy right now.”

  Not taking the hint, Bradley released his hug but kept standing too close to Elizabeth for her comfort. She took a step backwards as the student kept talking. “Did you know that Mr. Nicholson and Officer Miles are smoking right outside that door? And who’s Mr. Seal Team Six over there?” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Chuck.

  McCain made eye contact with Benton and smiled at her, walking across the room to stand next to her. She looped her arm through his and said, “Chuck, this is Bradley Thomas. He was the student body president here. Bradley, this is Chuck McCain. He saved my life.”

  Chuck did not offer his hand to the young man, merely nodding at him.

  Beth walked away from Bradley, taking Chuck with her. “Thanks for coming over,” she said, quietly. “I was trying to figure out how to get away from him.”

  An attractive woman in her mid-thirties approached the pair. “Karen!” Elizabeth exclaimed. The two threw themselves into each other’s arms.

  “You had us all so worried, Elizabeth! What happened?”

  Ignoring the question, Beth said, “Karen, I want you to meet Chuck McCain. You’ll hear more about him in a few minutes.”

  “Chuck, this is Karen Foster, our campus nurse and my good friend,” Benton told him. “She’s the one who told me I was depressed and helped me get started on the road to recovery. Karen has done an incredible job of keeping us all healthy and has put together a team of EMTs and nurse trainees that look after us.”

  McCain and Karen shook hands. “It’s nice to meet you,” Chuck said.

  He saw the other woman’s eyes looking closely at Elizabeth, taking in the damage to her face. Karen’s eyes then lingered over him, noting the bruising to his face, as well. This must be some story we’re all about to hear, Karen thought to herself.

  “It’s good to see you smiling, Elizabeth. We’ve all been busy worrying about you but it looks like you’ve been hanging out with a good-looking man for a couple of days,” Karen said, both ladies giggling.

  Five minutes later, everyone was in the big room and Elizabeth began relating her ordeal. She gave a sanitized version of what had happened to Officer Storey, Margo, and Lamar. She started crying but regained her composure and talked about how the four men had kidnapped and beaten her. Her face still carried the bruises so everyone could see some of the evidence. Chuck saw a number of people in the dining hall wiping the tears from their eyes as Benton talked.

  “And just when I thought I was dead, this man,” she said, pointing at Chuck, “broke into the house and rescued me. He didn’t know me but he risked his life to save me, even getting shot in the process. Thankfully, his body armor saved him.”

  Everyone broke out in applause except Bradley. He merely stared at Chuck. He had already seen how Elizabeth looked at the big man. He shook his head, wondering what he would have to do to gain Elizabeth Benton’s love.

  After the clapping died down, Beth continued, “In just a minute, I’m going to let Mr. McCain share a few words. But before I do that, I want to say that I’m so sorry about Jason, Margo, and Lamar. I feel like I failed them and I failed you,” she said, bursting into tears.

  Several voices said, “No way. You haven’t failed anybody, Miss Benton.”

  Elizabeth held her hand up with a slight smile, “Thanks for that. Chuck and I talked about how it’s normal to feel guilt after going through something like this. But I just felt like I had to say ‘I’m sorry.’”

  The tears were pouring down Beth’s face as a stunning young African-American woman walked up to the front and put her arm protectively around the crying woman, leading her off to the side of the group. Chuck quickly stepped to the front of the room to take some of the attention away from Elizabeth so she could compose herself.

  “I told Beth that she doesn’t have anything to feel guilty about. This was a terrible crime committed by evil people. These criminals ambushed your group and there was nothing she could’ve done to stop it. And I want to say how sorry I am about your friends who didn’t come home. We’ve all lost people we love but it’s never easy.”

  Oh, its ‘Beth’ is it? Bradley thought. He just meets her a few days ago and now he thinks he can call her ‘Beth?’ He shook his head again.

  McCain continued, “I’d like to let you know what a tough girl Elizabeth is. Before I could even get to her, the kidnappers were trying to drag her out of the car into their house and she kicked one of them in the face and broke his nose. Later, while I was looking in the window and trying to figure out the best way to get inside the house to rescue her, I watched her kick one of them in the…well, in the groin area.”

  Elizabeth was smiling broadly through her tears and the group laughed loudly, happy for something to cheer about. “It’s OK to say ‘balls’ Mr. McCain,” said a girl seated on the back row.

  “Okay,” said Chuck, grinning, “Beth kicked the guy in the balls and that created enough of a distraction so that I could get in and get her out.”

  Beth interrupted Chuck. “Mr. McCain is being very modest. He killed all four of the men who murdered our friends and kidnapped me. Then when he was trying to get me out of that house to a safe place, pretty much having to carry me, we got attacked by a big group of zombies and he killed all of them, too.”

  The crowd buzzed at the revelation that the man in front of them had not only rescued Elizabeth but had also eliminated the people who had slaughtered their friends. The audience nodded appreciatively. McCain spoke for a few more minutes telling them what he knew of the outside world. While there were still groups of zombies in the area, he stressed that the biggest threat now appeared to be the breakdown of society and the roving bands of criminals.

  So this McCain guy is tough and knows how to kill people, Bradley pondered. But he’s old enough to be Elizabeth’s father. There is no way that she’s fallen for him. She’s just being nice to him because he saved her. And McCain better not be trying to put the move on her. He needs to find someone his own age.

  Chuck answered a few of the students’ and faculty’s questions and then Benton stepped back in, her composure now intact. “Mr. McCain is only going to be with us for a few days. He has a very important mission of his own that he’ll be continuing,” she said, looking into McCain’s eyes. “He put his life on hold to help me so I promised him some hot showers and several hot meals before we send him on his way.”

  Elizabeth held Chuck’s gaze for a moment. Even as she smiled at him, he saw the sadness in her eyes. He looked away, flooded with his own emotions. Would he ever see her again after he left this place?

  After the meeting wrapped up, Chuck saw Elizabeth speaking with Mr. Nicholson, who was smiling and nodding. Benton then turned and spoke with two younger women. After a few minutes, they hurried off, clearly on a mission.

  Nurse Karen rushed over to McCain and grabbed him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you for what you did,” she said, looking into his eyes, tears dripping out of her own. “Elizabeth is such a special person.” The nurse lowered her voice and said, “And you made her smile again, even after everything she’s been through.” Karen hugged him again and hurried off.

  Chuck walked over to Jake and Tina, just as the former Marine was sending a student off with some instructions.

  “I just told him to go fire up the generator so you can have some hot water. In fifteen or twenty minutes, you’ll have a hot shower,” Nicholson told him.

  �
�That’ll be great, thanks!” said McCain. “I can’t even remember my last one. Officer Miles, I have a question for you.”

  “Please, call me ‘Tina,’ and ask away.”

  “Do you know any of the Franklin County Deputies?” He handed her Mike Carter’s ID card.

  She looked at it and said, a hint of disgust in her voice, “Oh, sure. Mike. They call him ‘5-0’ from his time in narcotics. Where’d you get this?”

  “He was one of Beth’s kidnappers. He’s the one who shot me and gave me this,” he said, pointing at his still-bruised left eye. “I killed him and found his police ID when I searched him. Beth didn’t share with the group a part of her story that she shared with me. She told me that after your people got ambushed and had already been shot, Carter went around and put a bullet in everyone’s head. He was going to shoot Elizabeth, too, but one of his guys talked him into taking her along so they could have some fun with her before they killed her. What do you know about Carter, Tina?”

  The campus police officer’s eyes had grown large at these revelations. “He hated us campus police, that was for sure. I get it. We’re kind of like babysitters with guns, but every now and then we’d have something that we needed help with and we’d request the county to send us a backup unit.

  “Whenever 5-0 showed up, he always made it clear that he didn’t think we were real cops, and he always talked down to us. Some friends of mine who worked with Carter at the county told me there were rumors he was into some shady stuff, but their internal affairs could never build a case against him. Plus, he supposedly had dirt on the some of the brass over there at the SO.”

  “What kind of stuff do you think he was into?” Chuck asked.

  “My friends heard he had his fingers in a lot of pies: drugs, prostitution, stolen property. The biggest rumor was that he ran a big network of burglars and thieves who gave him a cut of their take to keep the heat off of them.”

  McCain nodded. “We may have a problem,” he said.

  He told Jake and Tina about the three carloads of suspicious people who had shown up two nights earlier at the kidnappers’ house.