However, their success would condemn him to a life of loneliness because only Windows had ever shown him any kindness.

Bowing his head, Lee sobbed.

Dravko crouched in a ditch opposite the main gate of the storage facility. The heat signatures of the humans tied to the perimeter defense burned bright against the cold night.

"They look delicious," said Tibor.

"Can it," Dravko snapped. "We promised Robson we'd help him."

"Half those people won't make it through the next few days."

"I said no."

Tibor growled. "If we were fighting with them inside the compound, at least we'd have a chance to feed."

Dravko didn't respond, although he agreed. A part of him hoped some of the gang members would try to escape.

Meat rolled over on his sleeping bag and wrapped a fat arm around Windows. His erection strained against his pants and pushed against her a.s.s.

"Come on, baby. It's our last night in this dump. Let's celebrate."

"That sounds great." Windows could already feel herself heading into that cold, emotionless void that allowed her to survive the constant molestation.

Meat stood up and slid off his pants. "Tonight I want a three-way."

"I'll get one of the other girls. Do you have anyone particular in mind?"

"Yeah." Meat pointed to Cindy. "Her."

Windows' fight-or-flight senses cranked into overdrive. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. She's watched us enough times to know what to do. Besides, she's the only virgin around."

Windows glanced over at Cindy, who sat in the corner of the unit, her legs pulled against her chest until the knees touched her cheeks. The girl's eyes widened with fear. Windows turned back to Meat. "You promised you wouldn't touch her."

"I never made no such promise. I've just never wanted to tap that s.h.i.t until now." Meat spoke slowly, his tone deep and menacing. He picked up his pants as he spoke and slid out the belt through the loops. "She's gettin' f.u.c.ked tonight. It's your choice whether it's gentle or not."

Windows stiffened and placed herself between Meat and Cindy. "I'm not going to let you tou-"

Meat slapped her across the face with the belt. The buckle hit her left cheek, gouging out a chunk of skin. Pain and shock shot through her body. Meat wrapped the belt around his right hand, with the buckle on the outer knuckles.

"All right, ya c.u.n.t. I'm goin' to beat the f.u.c.kin' s.h.i.t out of ya, and then you're gonna watch me take the b.i.t.c.h's cherry."

Robson breathed through his mouth, though it barely helped. The stench of decay had become so thick inside the school bus he could taste it. When he did open his mouth, flies crawled in. He had already swallowed back vomit half a dozen times, as well as G.o.d only knew how many insects. When he broke through the woods at the end of Parade Road into the open and saw the storage facility off to his right, his relief was palpable. He didn't have any fears about entering the battle of his life. He just wanted to get out of this rolling carnage house.

Veering right, Robson pushed his foot down on the accelerator, shifted into second gear, and steered toward the main gate of the outer defense perimeter. The bus slammed into it at over sixty miles per hour. The cowcatcher hooked the gate in the bottom right quadrant, slicing through the chain links and impaling the metal frame. Because of its momentum, the bus ripped the gate off its hinges and bent it over the hood. The upper left quadrant curled over and crashed into the driver's side windshield. Robson closed his eyes. He heard the shattering of gla.s.s and the sc.r.a.ping of metal against metal. When he opened them again, a piece of the upper gate support and the barbed wire strands stuck through the windshield.

Ignoring the damage, Robson kept his foot pressed on the accelerator and aimed for the metal security gate built into the brick wall of the storage facility. The bus slammed into it, and Robson felt his senses being overwhelmed: the sudden deceleration distorting his equilibrium; the pain of the seat belt digging into his chest and shoulders; the sound of metal grinding against metal; of rotters being tossed around the back; of flies and wasps being stirred into a frenzy; and of people yelling. When Robson opened his eyes, he was staring into the barbed wire. The crash had shoved the gate section through the windshield until it sat only a few inches from his face. He had busted through, and the front third of the bus sat inside the storage facility.

Robson unbuckled and slid out of his seat. He opened the folding doors, and then spun around and lifted the two-by-four from its mounts. The cage door popped open. Grabbing his AA-12, Robson jumped off the bus.

"Freeze, motherf.u.c.ker!"

Two gang members stood ten feet away, their weapons aimed at his face. Cries and yells could be heard all over the compound. The larger of the two men leveled a Remington hunting rifle at Robson.

"Drop your weapon and get on your knees!"

"Whatever you say." Robson tossed his gun back and to the side so it landed beside the bus, and knelt down.

"Jesus Christ!" said the younger guard.

"What's wrong, Billy?"

"That's him!" He gestured with his shotgun at Robson. "The one I was telling you about. That's the guy with the vampires down by-"

The first rotter stumbled off the bus.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO.

The two guards shifted their weapons from Robson to the lead rotter, a male in a soiled hospital gown. Robson used the opportunity to drop to the ground and roll under the school bus, grabbing his AA-12 in the process. The guards ignored him, concentrating on the main threat. They each fired a round, blasting apart its head and upper torso. It tumbled off the stairs and dropped to the ground, and two more took its place. The guards also took these down. While Billy reloaded, three more of the living dead staggered off the bus.

Price and Carter heard the school bus approaching seconds before it slammed into the outer gate. Both men jumped out of their seats and headed for the compound. Price saw his guards get the drawdown on the driver and heard Billy yelling, "That's him! The one I was telling you about. That's the guy with the vampires down by-"

Price could barely control his anger. "s.h.i.t. Those motherf.u.c.kers came for us."

"And they brought h.e.l.l with them." Carter pointed to the first rotter stumbling off the bus before taking off toward the rear of the compound.

Price ignored his second in command, focusing instead on the intruders.

From his position on top of the hill, Simmons watched the opening minutes play themselves out. He had to admit that so far this crazy scheme seemed to be working. Robson had inserted a dead horde into the compound and, as expected, now faced the compound's security detail. That's why he and Wayans were there.

Simmons centered his scope on the younger of the two guards by the bus. Before he could pull the trigger, he saw two men emerge from the office. He quickly calculated their threat potential. Neither carried weapons, and one of them got scared and ran off. This would be simple.

Switching back to the younger guard, Simmons realigned his scope on the side of his head. Tightening his finger against the trigger until he felt tension, he took a deep breath, steadied the rifle, and squeezed. The bullet struck the left temple and exploded out the right side of the guard's head. The kid dropped to the ground. A shot echoed from his right, and the other guard died a quick death.

Simmons swung his rifle toward the lone figure standing by the office door and centered the crosshairs on his face.

Price heard the twin thuds of bullets striking flesh and saw his guards go down. He immediately knew what was happening. Ducking and dodging to the right, he dove through the office door as two rounds ricocheted off the wall where he had been standing. Once inside, he slammed the door, half expecting another barrage of bullets to follow him. Nothing happened. Crawling to the back room, he grabbed his M&P15-22LR semi-automatic. If these a.s.sholes wanted to make this a blood feud, he would spill as much of theirs as possible.

First, he had something to take care of.

Simmons saw his target move out of the way at the last second and his bullet fragment against the wall. He kept the scope trained on the door until it closed. Not that it surprised him. No one would be stupid enough to come back out with snipers present.

Simmons panned his scope across the compound, searching for his next target.

"What the f.u.c.k is all that racket?" Earl asked, stepping away from Tracey. He went over to the door and stepped outside. He nearly s.h.i.t when he saw the bus imbedded through the front gate spewing out deaders.

"What's wrong?" asked Jake.

"We're under f.u.c.king attack. There's deaders in the compound." Earl came back inside. "Grab your weapons and get out there. Now!"

Earl yanked away two of the gang members standing around Tracey and forced them through the door. They never made it outside. The moment they stepped through the opening, a pair of bullets caught each one in the head, spraying the others in a cloud of blood.

"What the f.u.c.k are we gonna do?" demanded a Hispanic gang member.

"We're going to have to make a break for it."

"f.u.c.k that, man. They'll gun us down before we get twenty feet."

"No they won't." Earl grabbed Tracey by the hair and yanked her to her feet. "We'll have cover."

"What's goin' on out there?" Meat stopped beating Windows and stared at the door of his unit.

Windows tried focusing on the floor through her blurred vision. When Meat began his a.s.sault, she had lowered her head so the blows struck the back of her neck and would cause less damage. He had only hit her three times, yet it had taken a toll, leaving her dazed. Gradually, she became more aware of her surroundings, and knew she only had one chance. If she screwed this up, Meat would kill her.

When Meat turned from the door, Windows lunged forward on her hands and knees. She bent her head to the side, sucked one of his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es into her mouth, and bit. It crunched between her teeth. Meat howled. Windows opened her lips enough to let the ball sac slide into her mouth, bit down again, and whipped her head to one side, tearing it off. Meat emitted a m.u.f.fled croak. He collapsed to his knees, his hands clutched to his groin, blood pouring through his fingers.

Windows spit out the b.l.o.o.d.y segment and staggered to her feet. Meat's shotgun stood in the corner. She raced over and grabbed it, and then circled around the unit to get Cindy, keeping the weapon trained on Meat.

"Ya f.u.c.kin' c.u.n.t!" he sobbed, looking down at his tattered groin and the growing pool of blood on the cement between his knees. "I'm f.u.c.kin' gonna beat ya to f.u.c.kin' death."

"You're not going to do anything to me ever again, a.s.shole."

Meat saw Windows holding the carbine. "I took good care of ya. I kept ya safe from the others."

"You raped me, f.u.c.ker."

"Go ahead and kill me, c.u.n.t."

"I'm not like you. I'm not going to kill you." Windows lowered the barrel and fired two rounds that tore through Meat's upper legs and thighs. He screamed and fell over on his side, crying so hard from the pain he could not breathe. "I'm just going to leave you here and let your friends dispose of you."

Windows dropped the shotgun. Taking Cindy by the hand, she led her out of the unit and toward the kitchen.

Gunfire in the distance broke the silence, starting with only a few shots and increasing in intensity within seconds. Jennifer knew what that meant. Robson had made it into the compound and had engaged the gang. DeWitt pulled his Humvee off the shoulder and headed for the security compound, with Jennifer behind him. Soon they'd be joining the fight.

She hoped Robson would be safe until they got there.

Dravko tapped Tibor on the shoulder. "Let's go."

The two vampires climbed out of the ditch, dashed across the road, and entered the outer perimeter through the ripped-apart gate. Dravko headed for the first human staked to the ground, an emaciated middle-aged woman whose long brunette hair hung in straggly clumps. Dravko noticed her life signs were weak. As he approached, she cowered against the ground and wrapped the blanket around her for protection.

"Don't hurt me."

"I'm not." Dravko slipped up beside her while Tibor moved along to the next person. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're getting you out of here."

"Really?" Her voice was mixed with joy and disbelief.

"Yes." Dravko grabbed the chain as close to her wrist as possible and snapped the links.

"How did you do that?" she asked warily.

Dravko ignored the question. He pointed to the ditch across from the main gate. "Wait over there where you'll be safe. Understand?"

"Yes." The woman threw her arms around Dravko and hugged him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He patted her shoulders and broke the embrace. "I have to save the others."

Crawling out from underneath the opposite side of the bus, Robson got to his feet and rushed down to the front fender where he paused to survey the area. Across from him and to the left was the parking area. He counted a dozen vehicles, from cars to pick-up trucks and Humvees, all packed with boxes and supplies. To the right sat two parallel rows of buildings, two buildings to a row. These contained the storage units. The buildings ran the length of the compound. Robson peered around the bus. The guards who confronted him were being feasted on by rotters. The rest of the living dead sauntered around between the first building on the right and the perimeter wall.

Robson dashed across the open s.p.a.ce to the first row of buildings and stopped with his back to the wall. He moved down to the corner closest to the center path, raised his AA-12 into firing position, and peeked around the edge. He didn't see anyone. After turning on the barrel-mounted flashlight, he moved into the path between the two rows of buildings, staying close to the wall.

When Robson reached the first unit, he crouched down and wrapped his hand around the handle of the sliding door. Taking a deep breath, he lifted it. As the door slid up along its rollers, Robson did a quick pan with his AA-12, ready to fire on anything that didn't appear friendly. He found only a sleeping bag and a wooden crate with an unlit lantern on it. Removing a piece of chalk from his pocket, he etched an X onto the bricks to the left of the door and moved to the next unit.

The twin Humvees emerged from the woods along Parade Road. Jennifer followed DeWitt as he pulled off to the side, pa.s.sed through the broken outer gate, and circled behind the school bus to race along the perimeter wall, careful not to run over any of the people tied to the ground. When DeWitt reached the far right corner along the front facade, he stopped his Humvee against the wall and let Jennifer go on ahead. While his team disembarked, a few of the victims trapped on the defense perimeter called out to them, begging for help. DeWitt ignored them and ordered his people to climb onto the Humvee. When everyone was in position, he and Roberta hoisted Allard up to the top of the wall. Allard straddled the wall and reached down to help up Frakes.