Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) (29 page)

Outside, the storm was building. Wind
battered the sides of the barn, making it creak and rattle. Someone
went over and slid the door shut.

Finn made eye contact with Luke, then
twitched his head slightly to the left, directing the man to that
side. In the background, Adrian shouted at him to step away, to
leave them be, but his voice was lost among the many shouts coming
from the crowd.

Finn saw an opportunity in Luke's
impatience. If he could draw the Wraith close enough to the fence,
Luke wouldn't be able to resist. He'd strike first so he could
claim credit for knocking the Wraith out. Finn actually hoped he
would. With his stun gun unused, he'd still have it for his escape,
or at the very least to zap the Wraith a second time. He wondered
if a second shock in rapid succession would be additive.

But what then?

His toes nudged the cable. They had
buried it beneath six inches of dirt, the end attached to the wire.
He filed it away as something he might use. Maybe he could tie Bix
up with it, choke him.

It, not him.

He stepped to the side, bringing
himself closer to the fence. Luke gave him a barely perceptible
nod. The Wraith matched Finn's movement, sidling closer, and Luke
stepped up to meet it. Silently, he slid the prod into an opening,
edging it toward the Bix-thing's back. But just as he was about to
jab, it stepped away, as if sensing the danger.

Finn tried again, circling around. He
grew alarmed at how far he was getting from the gate despite his
best attempts to stay close. Now he could see the crowd, could see
them pressing forward. There was no barrier holding them back, none
but their own fear of being touched.

On previous nights that fear had been
enough. But tonight was different. Now they pushed against one
another, jostling for a better view, eager for the bloodbath or the
salvation. They didn't care which.

Luke tilted his head toward a spot in
the corner, urging Finn to move the Wraith closer. Adrian had
climbed onto the stage behind Finn and was screaming at Luke. But
the man standing just outside the wire was beyond hearing anything
else now. His attention was focused entirely inside the
cage.

A smile twitched Luke's lips. Finn
tried to maneuver the Wraith toward him, but nothing he did seemed
to work. The creature acted as if it sensed his ploys and remained
stubbornly just out of reach of the sides.

Finn jerked a finger to the right, and
Luke nodded. Finn had angled the Bix-thing so that it was
completely blind to anything but him. It couldn't see the crowd
behind it, though it certainly had to sense it.

Rain lashed the side of the barn,
driven hard by the wind. The men yelled even louder.

The Wraith edged closer to
Finn, stepping slowly forward on all fours, sniffing at the ground.
Ten feet away, nine. Finn raised the stun gun and took aim.
Just a little
closer . . . .

"Bring it over to the wire!" Luke
growled in frustration, as if he could sense his chances slipping
away. "Over where I can reach it!"

The Bix-thing ignored Luke. It ignored
the crowd behind it. Finn's finger tensed on the trigger. He waited
for it to step forward.

And it finally did, sliding to the
side just as Luke extended his arm through the wire, once more
avoiding the shock meant for it.

It rose up onto its feet,
straightening its spine. It lifted its head and looked Finn
straight in the eye.

And winked.

Finn froze.
Had it just— Had that thing
actually—

Their eyes met and locked, and for
just the briefest of moments, he thought he saw a trace of the old
Bix in them. But then it hissed, and something passed through its
body, a spasm of some sort, and it took a step toward
him.

In a flash, their bodies crashed into
each other. Skin slapped skin. The Bix-thing howled at the same
time Finn screamed. Their arms went about each other and they
tumbled to the dirt.

"Kill it!" the men shouted.

The two wrestled for a moment. The
Bix-thing lowered its face to Finn's and opened its mouth beside
Finn's ear. The crowd saw them jolt, their bodies arching against
their spines, and they both went still.

Finn lay underneath, his head flopped
to the side, his eyes unseeing. His arm fell limp to the ground,
still gripping the unused stun gun.

"What did you do?" Adrian screamed at
Luke.

The crowd fell silent. Every man held
his breath in anticipation. Wind and rain pummeled the barn and
scratched at the roof. Several seconds passed before the men
realized that the spectacle was already over.

"What the hell?" someone asked. "Is
that it? What just happened?"

"We've been ripped off!" another
cried. "He killed them both with that cattle prod!"

"No, I didn't!"

The men began to yell in anger and
confusion. They pushed forward again, this time not bothering to
keep away. The risk was gone. No one was going to get
infected.

Adrian screamed at them to get back.
He jumped from the stage and shouted, "Move away! Make a path!" But
he couldn't stop them. They swept past, crushing against the chain
link, rattling it. The wire bulged inward, as if the men meant to
squeeze through the openings. They were enraged. They were
cheated.

There was a clank as the gate latch
was unlocked. Adrian screamed at Luke not to open it. He tried to
stop him.

Then the man was running across the
cage, his feet pounding the packed dirt. Rapidly at first, then
slowing as if he realized how foolhardy it was.

"Get out of there!" Adrian
shouted.

Luke stood uncertainly over the boys,
the cattle prod raised. he jabbed it into the Bix-thing's back.
"They's dead all right," he said, half in disbelief, half in
relief. He poked again.

"Zap them to be sure!"

"Botha them's dead!"

"How could they be?" Adrian screamed.
"It's not possible!"

"Zap them, Luke!" Billy cried. He
rattled the fence. "Make sure!"

"Okay, but—"

"Now!" Finn yelled, and aimed the stun
gun just as Bix rolled off of him, snatching the prod away. The man
jittered from the electricity, his mouth agape. He stumbled
backward and tore the darts from his shirt.

Bix stuck the cattle prod into Luke's
belly and pressed the button. This time, the man let out a shriek
of pain as he was thrown backward. Smoke rose from a hole in his
shirt. He lay on the ground unconscious. A wet spot appeared on the
ground beneath his crotch.

Finn reached down and grabbed the
second stun gun from Luke's belt, then ran toward the gate, howling
at the men who had entered the cage. There was a unified cry of
panic and they turned to flee. But they were too slow, and the gate
too small. They crowded the opening, punching and kicking to get
through.

Finn aimed for the closest figure and
pulled the trigger. The man shrieked as the darts bit into the
shirt on his back, setting off a chain reaction of screams from the
other men desperate to get away.

Come on!
Finn prayed, as he started pummeling the men with
the gun.
Come on, Bix! Hurry!

There was a
BOOM!
and the lights
above him dimmed. The stink of burning plastic and wood reached his
nose. A light bulb above his head exploded, sending more sparks to
the ground. Then several more blew in rapid succession. The place
went dark.

Flames rose, setting the straw on
fire.

Finn spun around. Bix was still
jabbing the cattle prod at the fencing, trying to short the
circuit. "It's blown!" he screamed.

He turned back and saw Billy pushing
his way through the fray, his eyes pinned on Finn. There was no
panic on his face, only the sort of clarity that hatred bestows
upon the manically obsessed.

Finn stood his ground while chaos
swirled about him. He didn't worry about any of the men attacking
him. They still hadn't realized he wasn't infected. They didn't
want to get anywhere near him.

Billy pushed his way through until
they were close enough to grapple. Finn raised one of the stun guns
and pulled the trigger before realizing he'd already expended the
darts. Billy grinned and charged.

"No!" Finn screamed. He jammed the
business ends of both stun guns into either side of the man's face
and pulled the triggers. Billy screamed and went down. His body
jigged on the ground.

A dozen men tried to draw the barn
door open, but they had to fight against the crushing weight of
those behind them. As the opening grew, they poured out through it.
Lightning flashed outside. Rain washed in.

Finn spotted Adrian in the middle of
the fray. He was fighting the runners, but he ended up being swept
out into the night. For a moment, Finn locked eyes with his, and he
saw the same hatred he had seen in Seth Abramson's a week
before.

"We need to get the horses," Bix
shouted into Finn's ear. He grabbed him by the arm and pulled. "We
have to get to Danny at the house before the others do!"

"The key for the woodshed!"

"Got it from Luke's pocket. He didn't
argue."

They waited for the men to exit, then
slipped out and made their way around the side of the barn. Luke
stumbled out after them, a dazed look on his face. Adrian appeared
out of the darkness and tried to steady him. Through the wind and
rain, Finn heard him screaming for help putting the fire out, to
save the equipment, to capture the boys. Flames erupted through the
roof. They raced up the side of the barn. The generator shed was
fully engulfed.

"Lightning strike!" Bix shouted, and
clapped Finn on the back. "Nice job grounding the
wires."

Then they ran.

Most of the men had scattered to the
dock and were trying desperately to get into their boats. The
surface of the lake was white from the downpour. A few more men ran
up the main trail. They slipped in the mud and fell. The boys
mounted the horses and rode after them. The pounding hooves sent
them diving into the brush.

Bix screamed at them as they passed.
With each lightning flash, he seemed to become more and more like a
crazed phantom, his undies hanging half-way to his
ankles.

"I thought you were going to zap me
for sure," he shouted at Finn as they rode.

Finn thought he'd fly off of the
horse's back at any moment. He gritted his teeth and replied, "I
almost did. I actually thought you were infected."

"I was convincing, wasn't
I?"

"That's not the half of
it."

"It's because of my mad acting
skills."

"Damn it, Bix. The immunity was just a
theory!"

"Well, now it's a fact."

Finn slid off the horse the moment they reached the clearing for
the house. He handed Bix the reins. "Get Danny and the others out.
I'll meet you at the barn in ten."

"Why the barn?"