The Colony (Book 5): Rising Read online

  The Colony:

  RISING

  by

  MARIE LANZA

  Copyright © 2014 by Marie Lanza

  http://www.MarieLanza.com

  The Colony: Rising is part 5 of The Colony series.

  The Colony – Rising is an original work of fiction by Marie Lanza, who holds the sole rights to all characters and concepts herein.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are productions of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  The Colony:

  It was the last thing they expected to run into outside of the school.

  Emma hadn't seen this many people alive in one spot since the beginning of the outbreak. She guessed there were thirty people who were a mix of men, women, and children. The group looked filthy, tired, and hungry. They would be better described as prisoners of Roy rather than guests whom he saved. It made her all the more pleased he was dead.

  Scott, with Sarah holding tight to her dad's neck, stepped out in front of Emma and Andy. Without a word he walked up to a man standing centered just ahead of the group. They stared, shook hands, and embraced in a strong hug.

  Scott turned around to Emma and Andy, "Pete, this is Emma and Andy. They saved our lives."

  Emma wasn't really up for much small talk. She didn't like standing still in the open, especially with the possibility of gunmen lurking around, or worse, the Carriers.

  Andy stepped forward and extended his hand to Pete.

  Emma looked around before following Andy's gesture and shaking Pete's hand. "We should get moving."

  "Leave? No we can't leave," Pete looked to Scott showing visible concern.

  Scott didn't appear he was going to be much help to Emma, and as soon as he opened his mouth she knew that she was right, "Roy has this placed stocked. Food, water, ammunition."

  Emma leaned in and spoke at a whisper, "from the looks of everyone here, no one has eaten in a month." Emma didn't want to make a public confrontation. "You think these people have the strength to put up a fight?"

  "Roy's group, with Roy dead, they're nothing but a bunch of cowardly bullies. They're out numbered, they’ve always been," Scott's words were solid.

  "Why are you out here then, if not for escaping?" Emma asked Pete.

  "We were escaping, but when we realized Roy and the few others were dead, we changed our mind. We might have a fighting chance. So we figured we’d find a safe place, wait it out, and take it back."

  "Then why didn't any of you take action before?" Andy asked.

  "Like we said, they have the weapons."

  "And they constantly kept us separated," Scott looked to Emma, "like you found Sarah and me."

  "We had all given up really, surrendered to just survive until we found an out. But now that Roy's dead along with several of his guys, we should get back in. Take it back," Pete was insistent.

  A little girl's high pitched scream shattered their discussion.

  Before anyone in the conversation could react, a woman pulled a knife and took on an incoming Carrier. It was a frail, lanky adult female. The woman grabbed the Carrier by the throat, nearly crushing its bones and holding it away from herself, then she plunged her knife into the side of its head with her other hand. The body collapsed and she turned to Emma and Andy. "We're not completely helpless."

  Pete looked over his shoulder at the woman, then back to Emma, "That's Beth, her daughter is among the children inside the school."

  "You don't need us to stay, so why not go back and take it yourselves?" Andy's interest was piqued since it seemed this group was perfectly capable of defending themselves.

  "You're right we don't. But good people need to stick together. How else is the human population supposed to survive?" Scott said.

  "Plus none of us have ever killed anyone still alive." This may have been an overshare by Pete.

  From the look of Scott's face he was a bit disappointed in that fact, especially since most of them had families they were responsible for protecting. Although they thought they were protecting their families by just surviving within the walls of the Village, under the rules of Roy - they had failed.

  The truth was out -- they needed people like Andy and Emma to do their dirty work.

  Andy stepped up, "I'm in." He looked at Emma then back to Scott and Pete, "We're both in."

  Emma hadn't really given any type of suggestive answer but Andy figured she would follow. They were partners and he knew she would support him. "And we get to take what we need from that supply room."

  Pete and Scott gave each other a long stare. "OK," Pete answered.

  "Great. How do we get back in?" Emma asked.

  Pete was pleased that this was happening, he nodded his head as he spoke, like he was about to pitch a big game plan to a committee. "OK. My tent is in the back of the village, placed right against the fencing. The fence there is cut, but you can't tell by just looking at it. None of those guys in there know about it. The exit in the back of the school that we used was locked off a few weeks ago and no one has been allowed in or out since."

  "We need to get everyone to a safe place. Then we need to think about how to take it back with just knives." Andy tried not to sound too discouraged, but he was completely transparent.

  "You have the rifle, that's at least something," Pete pointed to Emma holding her weapon.

  "With no bullets," Emma sighed.

  Sarah pushed down from Scott's arms and walked over to Emma while digging deep in her pockets. Sarah found what she was looking for, lifting her little hand up to Emma, "Will these fit that gun?" The little girl delivered a small handful of bullets.

  Emma kneeled down with a smile. "Where did you get these?"

  "I collected them while I played."

  "Yes, sweetie, these will fit." Emma took the bullets from Sarah and loaded her rifle. She had five shots, and if these men were like Roy, that's all she would need.

  Scott scratched his daughters head and picked her up to hug her. "Good job, Honey. Nice work."

  "Will it help us to get my dollies back?" Sarah asked.

  It was a sudden realization that there was still an untouched innocence in the devastated world. A purity that no one had been able to tar. Sarah collected bullets out of boredom, nothing more and with all the death surrounding her, all she could think about was getting back to her dolls. Little things that brought her comfort in a world torn to pieces.

  "Alright, there's one other condition," Emma swung the rifle over her shoulder.

  Pete was a little taken back, "Name it."

  "Every last one of those children in there are destroyed," Emma looked right at Beth. "Can we agree on that?" Emma didn't want those children walking on in purgatory for any longer. The thought of going back to the school already disgusted her, but she certainly wasn't going to go back and let those children continue to roam.

  Beth's face soured, but she seemed like a reasonable woman. She gave Emma a nod and began corralling the others to get moving deeper into the woods.

  "OK, John, help Beth, take everyone, hide in the trees. Scott, Alex, and myself will go with Andy and Emma. I think a smaller group is best," Pete gave directives to the group.

  "Sarah, Honey, go with Beth," Scott steered Sarah over to Beth who picked up the little girl.

  Walking around to the back of the village, Pete led them to his tent. Just like he said, the fencing was cut but rol
led out to look normal, only noticeable once you were up close. Pete rolled the fence back and unzipped the rear door of his tent that was backed up against it.

  It was a large cabin style tent, able to fit at least eight people. He only had a sleeping bag on the ground along with a pack of personal items.

  Pete quietly made his way to the zipper entrance and silently opened a small peek hole. When he felt it was clear, he waved at Emma who took it as the green light to crawl through the fence and into the tent. One by one the men followed until they were all huddled inside.

  "I don't see anyone," Pete said as he peeked through the eye hole opening he made.

  "What's the plan?" Emma asked.

  "This area goes right up to the glass doors of the building. From back here we can almost get up to see the front of the school. I'm guessing Roy's guys are probably holed up in one of the classrooms,” Peter continued.

  “What about the kids?” Andy asked.

  “Alex and I will go around front, see if we can't create a distraction and bring the kids on this end. We can knock them off one by one through the fence."

  "I've seen more of the inside than anyone. I'll take Emma try to flush the bastards out," Scott chimed in. "Andy that's where you'll come in. They'll try to flee, but you'll be waiting for them."

  "And what do you expect I stop them with?" Andy asked.

  Pete walked over to his pack and pulled out a long pipe, then handed it to Andy. "Maybe you can catch them off guard?"

  "Sounds like you guys have had this plan for a while," Andy said.

  "Like I said earlier, we just needed the right pieces in play. We couldn't do a takeover with the risk of innocent lives." Pete paused for a moment of admission to himself, "you brought us that, plus some needed confidence."

  "Lets’ get on with it." Emma was ready for everything to be over.

  The village was what they would have called a tent city before the outbreak. Camping tents lay among a handful of temporary buildings as makeshift homes for the survivors to live in. Emma supposed it wasn’t the worst spot they could have found themselves in, but she was grateful not to have been imprisoned there under Roy.

  As they made their way through the Village, the group tactfully moved past each building, staying first against the structures then behind the tents when they could. The village seemed clear of Roy’s men.

  The moans of the horde of little Carriers grew louder as they got closer to the main school building.

  Pete and Alex traveled down the fencing towards where they could see the front of the school to create a distraction and bring the Carriers away from the center courtyard. They immediately began to rattle the fencing that separated them from the Carriers, grabbing their attention.

  The little Carriers limped and bit at the air as they made their way to Pete and Alex.

  Emma stopped Andy before heading in, “Look”, she fell to her knees, pointing at their 2 o’clock, taking Andy with her. Scott instinctively ducked for cover with them.

  Two men were running away from the school.

  “There goes Lucky,” Andy sounded disappointed as he recognized his beloved friend.

  “Who?’ Scott was confused.

  “His rifle,” Emma informed him, annoyed to see the weapon stolen. “Torch this entire place if I don’t come out of there.” Emma whispered to Andy as she kept an eye on the fleeing men.

  “I hate this idea. Maybe I should go and you keep watch," Andy suggested.

  “No way. Besides, I'm faster than you.”

  “I would guess there’s two, three more at most of Roy’s men left with those two leaving.” Scott chimed in. “I got her back Andy. I owe her.”

  His words didn’t make Andy feel any better. Scott’s first priority was getting back out to Sarah, not keeping Emma alive. Even though he knew if anyone could take care of themselves it was Emma, Andy just wasn’t up for putting her to the test.

  Getting back in the village was the easy part. Now they needed to get in the school and navigate the dark halls with the released Carriers wandering throughout. They knew they had to flush out the remaining men if the rest of the group was going to be safe returning to the village.

  Emma was quite surprised the men didn't surrender by now. With the others fleeing from the school, it seemed they'd have only two choices, flee or surrender. Emma thought it was clear that if the men were pressed into a fight they were sure to die. It didn't seem likely they would have the types of personalities that would have them willingly sacrifice themselves now, especially for a dead boss.

  Most of the little Carriers seemed to have gathered at the fencing where Pete and Alex were making a scene. The children pressed against the fence, their arms so thin that they slipped through the chain links and clawed at the living.

  Emma wasn’t happy to be returning to the dark corridors of the school, but they had no other choice. She hoped this was, as the group had promised, a lucrative stock of goods. Even though she was going on a group of strangers’ word, it was all they had. The chance had to be taken. This could be a potential score of weapons and food that could last them for weeks, maybe months. Ever since losing so much of the stash she had collected before she met Andy, she had been uncomfortable by the lack of gear and supplies. Her thoughts were troubled by fear of never achieving that level of comfort again, a distinct possibility in a world where the only guarantee was death.

  There was only one agenda item that they had to hit in order to secure the weapons and food – Knock out the remaining of Roy’s men.

  Emma hadn’t noticed the dense smell that had settled in the closed hallways of the school her first run through. With every class room door shut, it was a thick and wet stench that blanketed the building, surprisingly without the usual smell of death.

  Unlike most buildings these days, the school also still held the memories through the halls. Over-sized bulletin boards with images painted by the students pinned in large displays, lettering on the doors with the teacher's name; all still in place, instead of the usual graffiti and blood spatter.

  Emma thought maybe it was simply because Roy kept the hallways clear, and the child Carriers outside.

  Scott took the lead down the hall while Emma kept a few paces behind him. Both keeping their backs against the wall, barely breathing with each step gliding across the floor, not making a sound.

  As they turned a corner down another hall, several of the doors were open letting the daylight shine through.

  “Better to split up, clear the rooms so we don’t get greeted from behind,” Emma whispered.

  They came to the first door that was slightly cracked open. Scott breezed by, stopping on the other side, watching Emma slip through.

  It was a large room that looked like a children’s science lab with high tables instead of desks, science equipment from beakers to microscopes. Emma was taken back by how tidy the place had been kept, realizing that went right along with Roy’s personality – control.

  Emma’s eyes caught another door on the other side of the room. She peeked out to Scott who was keeping watch, “Another room,” she spoke as softly as possible still remaining audible. “Clear the others.”

  Scott only nodded and moved on to the next room down the hall.

  Emma weighed the benefits of clearing a closed room against the possibility of anything that could be waiting for her on the other side. She knew that they had to cover all ground, especially with the possibility of someone hiding, just waiting for the opportunity to ambush. Emma cautiously advanced towards what she was hoping was only an empty storage closet, looking over her shoulder every few steps, making sure nothing was coming up from behind.

  Reaching the door, she took a pause before opening it.

  Emma listened for anything that may give away something was waiting for her on the other side.

  There was nothing.

  Without another moment of hesitation she opened the door. It was empty.

  Glass shattered behind her.<
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  Emma quickly turned to find a little Carrier making its way to her. Its legs were tied together, forced to use its arms to move across the ground. The Carrier was a little boy who appeared to have one of his arms mostly chewed off. Behind him a blood trail smeared along the floor from his freshly lacerated body where he dragged himself over the broken glass. He was so weak his raspy growl could barely be heard.

  Emma watched this tiny body continue to struggle. She wondered how long he had been this way, crawling around in this class room, waiting to feed. Emma thought about some of the many ways Roy possibly used him for his own needs - Guard dogs, scare tactics. Allowing this boy's life to continue on as his body disintegrated.

  Get on with it, Emma.

  Emma snapped out of her thoughts. Looking down, she was within inches of the Carriers grasp. The closer he got, the more desperate he became to grab hold and sink his teeth into her. Emma pulled her knife, knelt next to him, and pierced through his skull with her blade. She let him down gently before standing back up and leaving the room to find Scott.

  Scott peeked into the last room of the hall, surprised to find one of Roy’s men crouched, looking out a window.

  This is too easy – Scott thought to himself. He couldn’t remember the guy’s name, nor did he care. If he had a gun, he would have just fired it off from the door, but unfortunately that wasn’t his luck, he was only armed with a knife. Scott didn’t see a weapon on him or laying around. It appeared he was unarmed.

  This was Scott’s chance for payback. These were the men who endangered his daughter – his sweet little girl and threatened him with her life. He wanted all of them to suffer and wasn’t going to let this moment slip away from him. With a silent deep breath, Scott creeped into the room but moved swiftly towards the man.

  Within Scott’s first few steps, the man heard him coming, turned around and stood up to shield himself from Scott’s knife. He blocked Scott’s first blow, but stumbled back against the wall letting Scott get the better of him.