Baker and his men were firing on the strikers with poor accuracy. But they were doing well anyway; picking off the clumsy infected that would run around a car or jump over a shopping cart. But what helped Baker and the others the most was how dumb strikers were and how they only operated linear. Put a wall in front of a striker and it’ll just try running through the wall. That was something the old man said. The hive slammed into cars and piled onto each other, getting crushed and only rolling around vehicles when there were too many in one spot.
Baker and his men set up a gun line along a station wagon and opened fire on the rolling wave of infected. It was enough to slow the bulk of the freaks down. The big black man, Lincoln, was the jumpiest of the army men but still was able to fire his Barrett REC7 assault rifle and hit many infected in the chest and abdomen. They weren’t kill shots however, but Torrez cleaned them up with his Remington shotgun. He just pumped and fired. Pumped and fired. Castle fired his M4A1 assault rifle with an average skill, but still was able to take down a few strikers with well-placed headshots. He still missed his target multiple times either from shaking or not taking the proper time to aim. Captain Baker, however, was a precision gunman who had already reloaded and took out everything in front of him; even the infected strikers his soldiers missed. He barked out orders for them to tighten up the line and his men adjusted, hoping to meet his standards and handle the monsters who were screaming towards the vehicle the soldiers used as cover.
Miles went sprinting for the car alarm, “Captain Baker and his men can handle the hive! We gotta stop that alarm! We gotta stop it!”
Antonio put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud for the captain. It was a loud whistle that the old man would’ve been proud of. Antonio waved at the army men and pointed towards the car with the alarm then turned to follow his brother. Baker saw the boys and the few infected that went running after them in pursuit of the alarm. The captain knew what they were planning but knew he had to concentrate on the horde in front of him. He would still have to lead these monsters to the trees, with or without the boys.
“To the trees!” Baker shouted and lifted a horn in the air and pressed the button.
“What about Bates?” Castle started backing up and fired into a relentless freak that slammed into the car and ate the bullet spray in the mouth and face before going down.
Across the lot, Bates was kicking at hands outstretched towards him and firing on the infected freaks clever enough to climb the vehicle he was standing on. Bates might as well have been on an island with how things were shaping out. More and more of the monsters were starting to swarm him.
Anderson stumbled about and put some distance between himself and the volatile vehicle. But many of the freaks were hungry for him and not the car. He pulled the trigger to his gun firing randomly at the slower moving lurkers chasing him, “Help! Help me please!” The strikers hadn’t reached him yet but they were moving quickly and would be on him soon.
Miles and Antonio reached the car after cracking some more heads and stabs to the temple. Antonio swung for the fences and bashed the head in of one lurker, then brought the bat down on the next monster and popped its skull like a watermelon. Miles jumped one and jammed his knife down into the infected person’s head.
“Eight!” Miles shouted.
“No way! Then I got fifteen!”
“Nuh uh!”
“If you got eight then I got fifteen!” Antonio went and bashed in the head of a striker who leapt at him with its mouth hanging open.
Miles threw the Berretta at the car’s driver window when he was close enough. He reached inside to unlock the door and snatched it open to climb inside.
Antonio ran to the hood and started hitting it with the baseball bat. “Hurry up Miles! C’mon!”
Yelps could be heard from Anderson across the way and Antonio shook his head when he saw he was struggling with a group of freaks. One of the monsters lurched towards Anderson and the man’s voice cracked when he screamed in terror.
The trunk popped open and Antonio struck the hood again with the bat. “The hood Miles! The hood!”
“Shut up!” Miles screamed from inside the car.
“It’s under the steering wheel!” Antonio turned and crack an infected in the dome and dropped it in one swing. “Eighteen!”
“Nuh uh!” Miles cried out. “You cheatin’! You cheatin’!”
The hood finally popped open and Antonio went to work removing the battery. Miles jumped out of the car and slammed the door. He aimed the Beretta at a striker running at Antonio and capped the freak with one shot. “Nine. You got it Antonio?” Miles asked.
The alarm finally stopped dead, and Antonio slammed shut the hood. “Yup! Now let’s get the fuck outta here!” He spun around just in time to crack another striker in the face before the two boys went running for the trees.
Both of them pulled out their airhorns and raised them above their heads. The horns blared and Anderson screamed when he was mobbed by the infected surrounding him. Many of the monsters turned their attention to the boys, running with their horns, but a few stayed to finish off Anderson, rabid like a pack of dogs. They were biting and pounding the man into the pavement while he screamed.
Baker and his men and Antonio and Miles all went charging for the tree with the hive chasing after them. They were all holding airhorns in each hand and blitzing the air with the sound. All the infected creatures chased blindly after the sound with ravenous intent. Antonio and Miles entered the woods first and went zigzagging through trees and bushes. Baker and his men tried to keep up with the boys but when they split up, Baker thought it best to work on losing the hive on his own. The captain yelled for his men to break off and they all scattered into the trees, still pressing their horns as they ran. The hive splintered to follow the noise but ran in every direction. Many ran into trees, slamming into redwoods so hard that bones were breaking. While others were splitting off indiscriminately, running blindly into the woods.
When it was quiet and Baker was sure no more freaks were running around, the captain went to find his men; all hiding behind a large tree.
Lincoln dropped to the ground after seeing the captain. “Captain Baker… are you… I mean, my god. Have you ever…” He was whispering but Baker shushed him anyway.
Torrez was standing up against a tree, clutching his Rosary and praying in Spanish. Castle was drenched in sweat. They all were.
“What about Anderson… and what about Bates?” Castle spoke low.
Baker peered around the redwood and saw the last of the infected disappearing in the distance. Miles and Antonio were nowhere to be seen. Carver wanted to get rid of them and now they were gone. Whether they went back to join with some group or not, they’d have a whole hive of infected hunting them down. Though after everything, the captain hoped the brothers weren’t dead.
“Let’s head back to the store.” Captain Baker started back towards the parking lot.
“What? What about the kids?” Lincoln pushed himself back up to his feet.
Baker continued marching, not giving a response, and stepped over the body of a mangled freak wrapped around a tree. When it tried reaching out for the captain, he put the creature out its misery with a heavy boot to its skull.
The parking lot of the Costco Superstore was an even worse disaster than it had been before. Now piles of bodies were littered everywhere and the asphalt was splattered with dark red blood stains. The trampled remains of some infected refused to die and were dragging themselves through the muck of their own ruined bodies. Corpses were shredded from assault rifle fire and shotgun bursts. The captain and his men went to where the monsters had piled on Anderson to find the soldier’s body was a mess of battered flesh and broken limbs. The sight was so sickening that Lincoln almost threw up. The sad part was that the infection had taken over Anderson and he was a barely alive freak.
“I got it.” Castle swallowed hard, fighting back a sensation to spit up his hash browns. But he fou
nd what little courage he had left and made his way over to the creature. “I can at least put him out of his misery.” He stood over the infected man and raised his gun, but Torrez stopped him.
“No guns.” Torrez said, “We don’t want that hive coming back here.”
Castle nodded and chose instead to bludgeon the creature with the butt of his gun.
Shuffling footsteps could be heard behind the soldiers and they all turned with their guns raised. “It’s ok! It’s me! I made it!” Bates was hunched over next to a minivan with his hands up.
“Bates… you ok?” Baker asked, relieved to see he hadn’t lost another soldier.
“Yeah.” Bates came stumbling over and laughing to himself. “That was fuckin’ crazy right? But we did it! We fuckin’ did it!” He took off his bandana and wiped his wet forehead.
“You think those kids made it?” Castle asked when he came back to the group.
“I don’t know. They could be halfway to Frisco by now, or worse.” Baker turned his radio on, “This is Baker. The hive is gone. We lost Anderson. Over.”
“Baker! It’s about time!” Carver’s voice came through the radio sounding intolerant. “You say the infected are gone? You lost them in the woods, over?”
“Yeah. The plan worked. Over.”
“Good. And Anderson was the only casualty, over?”
Baker held the radio to his mouth waiting a beat. “Yeah. One casualty, over.”
The receiver was quiet. Then Carver came back on. “And those boys? What happened to them? Over.”
Baker looked to the tree line. “We lost them in the woods sir. Over.”
“Damn it, you lost them? They could have run off with their group or went to find them!”
Baker just sighed.
“Speak of the little devils…” Lincoln pointed towards the trees and they all turned to see Antonio and Miles jogging into the parking lot.
“Well I’ll be damned.” Castle shook his head and chuckled.
“Sir, the boys came back. They’re here. Over,” Baker reported into the radio.
“Captain Baker, we can see you on the camera.” The new voice coming through the radio belonged to Julia. “Glad to see you all made it. And I’m sorry about Anderson. Over.”
Baker waited a few beats. “Yeah. We’re coming back in now. See you in ten, over and out.” The captain lowered his radio and clipped it back to his waistband.
“You little bastards are something else, man.” Lincoln held his hand up and Miles came to high five him gleefully.
“We gotta get the fuck back inside before them strikers try comin’ back,” Antonio said, breathing hard from running.
“I can’t believe that actually worked. How’d you get away from those freaks?” Bates was fidgety and his head twitched sporadically as he spoke.
Antonio saw his shake but let it go. “We just zigzagged through them trees and circled back when they thinned out. It’s not really--” Antonio stopped when he saw Bates twitch again, then he gave the man a quick once-over. “He’s infected.”
Bates reeled back some. “Wha--what? What are you talking about kid?”
“He’s got a scratch on his arm.” Antonio pointed with the bat he was still holding onto. Miles’s eyes went large when he noticed the scrape.
“What, this? I got it jumping on that car.” Bates looked between his comrades and saw the growing caution in their eyes. He twitched again. “C’mon guys. I fuckin’ took out all those infected and scratched myself on one of these shitty cars.”
“Is anyone else injured? Does anyone else have any injuries?” Miles chased himself in a circle trying to check if he had any scratches. The other soldiers started self-examining.
“I’m not infected! These little shits don’t know what they’re talking about!” Bates licked his hand and started rubbing at the scratch on his arm. “It’s nothing! Look at it, it’s nothing!” He wiped and wiped, but small pebbles of blood kept forming on the small wound. His head twitched again.
Antonio locked on. “Look, the virus got him! The first symptom is a nervous twitch! Y’all don’t know that?!” Antonio was pointing again with his bat and looking at Captain Baker. “We don’t know where he got that scratch from, but there was hella strikers on him and it ain’t no way he didn’t get scratched or bit or somethin’!” Antonio gripped his bat and slowly backed away from Bates.
“Screw you kid! I’m fine!” He turned to his commanding officer of seven years. “Captain, I’m fine.”
Baker could see the desperation in his eyes. Torrez and Lincoln were both still checking themselves and Castle was watching Bates hesitantly. The situation was growing tenser by the second. Baker looked twice at the scrape on Bates’ arm again.
“You got it jumping on the cars?” Baker questioned.
“Yeah!” Bates responded.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah!”
“Positive?”
“Yes!” Bates was shouting now, and Castle shushed him, worried about attracting any infected in the area; a few slow-moving freaks were still lumbering through the parking lot. “Look, I’m fine. I’m not changing or anything. It’s just a scra--” Bates shook violently again, this time the shaking all through his body. It was a roll of contorted spasms and his mouth hung open as he tried to speak but it came out in a snarl.
Before he could utter another word, a bang sent a bullet slamming into the soldier’s head and he whipped back and fell to the ground. Everyone turned to see the smoking gun firmly gripped in Miles’ hand. The boy sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. He moved his finger over the screen and double-tapped it.
“Zero. I’m out.” Miles said. “Are we headed back in?”
Chapter 5
Julia leaned over Nadine’s chair, staring at the monitor in front of her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. No one in the small room could. Lesly, Martyn, Ben, even Carver, were all left speechless as they watched Miles kill Bates in what looked like cold blood.
The major finally snapped out of his daze and was furious, “Did you see that? Did you see? These little bastards we’ve been keeping locked up in a room right next door to us are planning on killing us all!”
“We… we don’t know what happened out there.” Martyn muttered, finding it hard to believe the small, frail Miles would do something so shocking without reason. Killing the infected was one thing, they were senseless monsters, but this was a normal human being.
“We can see what happened right there!” Carver’s voice was booming. “He shot Bates! He killed him!”
“But look, Baker and the others aren’t tackling him or drawing their guns on him.” Martyn pointed at the screen. “They were all talking before he shot him. We don’t know what was being said.”
“Well I doubt Bates would’ve said anything that deserved that!”
“He was infected,” Julia said softly. She stood up straight, still looking at the monitor, and watched the men slowly make their way to the building. “The way they were talking, the movements they were making, the boys accused Bates of being infected and shot him to keep him from turning.”
“Bullshit,” Carver scoffed under his breath.
“It might be, but what other explanation can you think of major, besides your own paranoia. These kids don’t take chances. What benefit do they get from killing one soldier outside while their surrounded by three other men with guns?” She stared the major down.
He returned her glare and folded his arms. With no response to her question he closed his eyes and started heading for the interior of the store.
“Ben, go get Manson.” Julia turned to Ben and he was still stunned, looking at the monitor. “Ben!”
He shook his head and blinked rapidly. “Yeah… sorry.”
Julia softened her tone. “Go find Manson. We have to bring that body in here and check it.”
“Check it?” Martyn asked the question but his eyebrows lifted when he realized the answer himself. “To find out if
Bates was truly infected.”
“Or Carver’s right and those kids are actually just psychopaths.”
“Ok. I’ll go find Manson.” Ben started to leave.
“What do I… what do I tell everyone?” Lesly squeaked behind Julia.
“Whatever it is you better figure it out before Carver gets out there and spins the story however he wants.”
Lesly cursed and went running out of the monitor room. Martyn turned to leave as well, “I better head out there too. They may need medical attention or help with Bates’ body… or something.” The medical doctor shook his head and rubbed his eyes as he left the room.
Julia sighed and looked back at the screen in front of Nadine. “I need a cigarette. And I don’t even smoke.”
“This is just… insane.” Nadine typed on the keyboard in front of her and cycled through different cameras covering the exterior of the superstore. “But they’re gone. The whole hive is gone. Those two pulled it off.”
“Yeah.” Julia leaned in when the monitor’s display stopped on the back dock. Besides the dead bodies splayed out everywhere, the space was empty again. “But let’s not throw a parade for them just yet.”
In the sterilized family bathroom in the back of the store, Manson looked through a microscope on the sink near the rest of the science equipment he found in the Costco. The body Manson was examining, sat up in the stall, propped on the toilet. Burrows stood across the room, clutching his gun nervously and looking in at the corpse from time to time. The infection wasn’t known for bringing the dead back to life, but it did make people hard to kill and stay dead. Every few minutes Burrows was sure he saw the thing move.
“Fascinating.” Manson said under his breath but the soldier in the room still heard him.
“What?” Burrows craned his neck for some attempt at looking at the microscope from where he was standing.
Manson looked up from the instrument and eyed the nervous gunman. “Really Burrows? It’s been two days now. The specimen is dormant obviously.” Manson kicked back in his rolling chair and slid across the linoleum floor to the stall. Then he slapped the dead freak in the face and its head moved and the mouth hung open. Besides the tongue falling out, the dead creature didn’t respond to the slap.
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