Extinction Gene | Book 6 | 1 Day To Vengeance

by Maxey, Phil

  Sam could tell her mother wanted her father protected. She could feel the heat emanating from him, smell his sweat and hear his heart beating fast, despite his efforts to hide the pain. She nodded.

  “I’ll go with you,” said Tracey. “I ain’t staying cooped up in here any longer.”

  “Me too,” said the tall doctor. “I need to see what’s happening in this hospital.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Before Landon could reply, she kissed him on the lips, picked up her pack and moved to the door, then checking the corridor was clear, moved out into it with the others, closing the door best she could behind. She tried to recall the layout from when she arrived in the room.

  “We’re on the second floor,” said Barker to the group. “This way.”

  They moved swiftly along the glossy tiled floor to a junction. Stairs, ascending and descending were straight ahead, the corridor branching off, left and right. The gunfire outside had died down, being replaced with silence.

  Scott peered over the handrail. “I’m getting a real bad feeling about this.”

  A grunt came from down the hall, making them all whip their heads towards a thing which was bathed in late afternoon light from the nearby office windows. It used to be a soldier that much was clear, but its face was a smudge, its arms longer than they should be with coiling snake-like tentacles for hands. It limped in their direction, seemingly lacking the knowledge to walk as before.

  “We have to lead it away from the conference room,” said Jess.

  Scott took a few steps forward, waving his hands in its direction. “Over here! This way!”

  The thing stopped, its misshapen head lifting, then almost separating in half as a mouth the full width of the skull opened with countless rows of teeth visible even from twenty-feet away. It limped faster towards them.

  “Any idea of how we kill it with no weapons,” said Floyd.

  Scott walked awkwardly backward, past the stairs and into the other corridor, the others doing the same. “We lure it somewhere, trap it then find guns real—” He spun around. “Where’s the doc?”

  The other four turned around, not having an explanation. “No idea,” said Vance walking backwards with Jess, Floyd and Tracey.

  They passed beneath a sign mentioning wards and other rooms marked with ‘Radiology’ and ‘Cardiology.’

  The thing arrived at the junction almost at a gallop but then stopped, looking to its right, towards the conference room entrance.

  “No, no… over here!” shouted Jess.

  The thing whipped around to her, a growl emanating from somewhere deep within its pores, then moved right. Now all four were shouting, trying to steer the thing away from the frightened in the room.

  “Why’s it not coming after us!” shouted Floyd.

  Jess immediately remembered. “They’re immune! The things are drawn to them. That many in a small space, it’s like honey to a bear! It will draw the creatures in!”

  Scott pushed open the nearest office door. “We need something to—” The clatter of automatic gunfire burst from the stairs from someone they couldn’t see firing at the creature. Bullets tore into it as it flailed at the impacts, falling against the walls, knocking framed photos to the ground. Barker walked from the steps, awkwardly holding the assault rifle, firing as he walked forward, the creature moving towards him.

  Without thought Jess ripped a fire extinguisher from the wall, running forward, pulling the plastic cap clear and pulled on the trigger covering the thing in foam, blinding it as Barker continued firing. The creature collapsed to the ground as the conference room door opened, Landon, Owen and Andy looking on.

  “Give me that,” said Scott to the doctor, taking the weapon and firing a short volley of shots into what he presumed was the thing’s head.

  Barker let out a long breath. “Took it off a dead soldier on the ground floor.” There’s more of those things roaming the halls, and from what I could hear, a lot more outside… although they seem to be quieter now.

  The other of the two double conference room doors opened, Sam and Lachlan standing with her father.

  “The soldier’s changed…” said Tracey, looking at the quivering mess on the floor.

  Owen looked at those around him. “When we arrived…”

  “We don’t know this is our fault,” said Jess.

  “It’s just a coincidence then?” said Tracey.

  A numbing depression was returning to Jess. The young woman was probably right. Those that had just arrived had somehow infected those at the hospital… How could she had been so stupid.

  Sam scrunched her face up. “Didn’t they have the vaccine?”

  She looked at her mother for an answer but Jess had none. Was this Rackham’s plan all along? She felt sick. She should have known.

  Screeches echoed around the corridors, making everyone look back towards the junction. “We can’t stay here,” said Scott.

  “We can’t go out there!” said Gale from inside the room. Others agreeing with her.

  Scott looked at Barker. “What would be the most secure area in the hospital?”

  The doctor ran a hand over the gray bristles on his chin. “Maybe… the mental health ward. Secure access to the floor and rooms.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “In another block to our southwest. Building Two B. It’s just a hundred yards from the main entrance downstairs, but we’re not getting to it across the parking lot.”

  “Does this building connect to it?” said Jess.

  The doc shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “What about the roof?” said Sam.

  Scott looked at Jess then Vance, both nodding at her daughter’s suggestion.

  “This building’s a lot higher than the mental health block,” said Barker. “We don’t need to go all the way up. Maybe another two floors, then across to the west wing of this building where we should be able to find a window to a roof which gets us closer.”

  Scott turned to those in the large room behind him, while checking the magazine in his weapon. “You heard the man. Everyone stay close together and stay quiet.” He looked at Brad with the dogs. “Keep’em quiet, Brad.” The young man nodded then turned to the children making sure they were holding hands.

  Scott led the way, followed by Vance and Andy, Jess, Sam and Landon and everyone else behind, some holding their noses at the mess of skin and other organic material in the middle of the floor. Reaching the junction, Scott peeked around the corner and on not seeing any danger in either direction, moved onto the steps, ascending slowly, letting the barrel of his weapon direct his next movement. Even the grunts and screeches had now receded and mixed within the shuffling steps of the young and old were whimpers and sobs from those who were almost too terrified to move their exhausted bodies.

  He stopped on the next landing, beckoning others past him, led by Vance and Andy then caught up with them and came out to the fourth floor corridor. A dead body of a soldier lay bloodied on the tiled floor next to an overturned gurney.

  Barker immediately moved to him, checking for a pulse but found none.

  “Which way,” said Scott to him, looking down the dimly lit hallway.

  He awkwardly stood. “That way,” he said, looking to their right at the row of doors and brightly lit open area at the end.

  They quickly made their way along the corridor, arriving at the counter of a nurse’s station.

  Barker moved left into a new hallway of doors to patients’ rooms. “This way!”

  As the large group made its way past the doors, moving as quietly as possible, Tracey shook her head. “Weird we can’t hear the creatures, you sure they’re still—” She happened to be looking into a small room as a dark shadow moved past the window. She went to tell the others but they were already moving away, so she ran to keep up.

  Barker jogged left again at a junction and pushed open double doors to the protest of Scott behind him but the elderly man was already
through them. The others followed into a large ward of empty beds. The doctor was to their right, standing near a window. Scott and Jess moved quickly to his side and all could see the slim L shaped roof, roughly five-feet below which covered the distance all the way to the other building, a few hundred yards away.

  Jess looked up at the vibrant blue of the sky with not a cloud or unnatural flying creature to be seen.

  Scott unlatched the window then pushed it all the way open. A cool breeze rushed in.

  “Why can’t we hear them?” said Ford.

  Scott pushed his leg then torso through the gap, sitting on the frame. “I don’t know.” He braced for impact then dropped to the roof, trying to protect his injured leg, but still winced in pain as it touched down. Vance and Andy followed, helping the others down.

  Jess moved to the edge and looked upon a road which dissected the towering buildings. It was clear of any creatures or soldiers. The scene was wrong. Everything was wrong. She knew it and could do nothing. They were flies walking on a leaf with the spider’s web directly below them, the arachnid just waiting for them to take one more step.

  With Scott leading the way they skirted along the seven-foot wide concrete space, skipping over the occasional vent. Jess wasn’t the only one watching the sky and the windows of the other buildings looking down upon them. They arrived at another roof, one they had to climb up to and quickly did.

  Scott looked along the flat surface which ran all the way to another set of windows. “Is that it?” he said to Barker.

  “Reckon it is.”

  “Come on, let’s go. Almost there.” Scott moved forward, the others doing the same behind, the window to the new building only twenty-feet away. The main hospital building, all eight floors of it, looming over them, gave way to…

  Scott had only glanced to his left, but the sight was enough for him to jerk his head back in the same direction, towards the huge open space of the parking lot and the thousands of dark mutated bodies standing there. He stopped abruptly, making Vance and Tracey almost run into him, both then seeing what he had. Gasps and cries came the group behind.

  “Oh my god…” said Brad, pulling the kids close to him.

  “They’re not moving…” said Floyd.

  “Like statues,” said Owen.

  Scott flicked his attention back to the window just yards away, quickly moving to it and with the butt of his rifle smashed the glass, knocking the fragments away. “Everyone inside!” People ran to him, trying to pull their gaze away from what was a hundred-feet away and clambered up and into the hallway beyond. Sam climbed through, Landon about to do the same, but stopped, looking back at Jess who seemed mesmerized by the scene covering acres of concrete.

  “Jess! Come on!”

  She knew it was pointless hiding or running any longer. She moved closer to the edge of the roof, trying to plot a route down when a shadow swept across her and before Scott, Landon or Sam could react, claws attached to wings dug into her shoulder and lifted her into the air.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Fifteen minutes earlier. Galveston.

  Searing pain burned through Arlo’s wrists then back as he wriggled against the cord, trying to move and alleviate the discomfort. A growl came from outside. One of a handful of creatures that were within biting distance of the car. Guards left to watch him? No. The things outside were just a few of the larger mass that had made its way across the bridges and were sat waiting for the big event. Whatever that was. But he knew that even if he could muster the strength to use his legs, he wouldn’t make it more than a few steps from the sedan before the things tore him apart, or worse, absorbed him. Dissolving his flesh until he was just another part of them.

  Those he had traveled with were gone. Left minutes before with a swarm of things that soon moved from his sight, being lost to a complex of buildings.

  He took a breath then slowly sat forward, shifting himself slightly to the right, to the middle of the seats where he could see the…

  The keys were in the ignition. Was the soldier that stupid?

  Not dumb. Arrogant.

  The middle-aged, overweight, damaged individual in the back seat, was of so little threat that Finn hadn’t cared if the keys were left behind. Arlo was bound, wrists and ankles and anyway, he was surrounded by the things, eager to end another human life.

  His mistake…

  He slowly turned his head to the side, looking out the window to a vaguely human shaped thing which stood frozen on the sidewalk, a single-story wooden home behind. Its torso and legs bulged through remnants of a dark-gray suit, and a many veined neck with a snake-like skull, containing not two, but multiple human eyes too large to fully contain them, quivered and shook. Another three equally unexplainable creatures stood directly in front and to the right of the car.

  He took another breath in preparation for the pain. The next part was going to be the most difficult. If he could get the cords far enough down his wrist then hand, his arms being far enough apart, he could then slide them beneath his ass and eventually over the end of his legs then feet. If he couldn’t he would continue to sit in the car, waiting for when Finn and Rackham got bored of keeping him alive. And if that happened, no one was going to help the Keller’s kid.

  He heaved his wrists apart, being sure he heard cracking. Pain surged up his arms, into his shoulders, neck then head but he kept pulling and with rocking back pushed them beneath his lower back, then thighs, his knees being to his chest and then… The pain was too much, he had to stop, but he got another glimpse of the closest of the things outside, and forced his wrist the final distance until they sprang free from his boots.

  He fell back onto the seat, breathing heavy, trying to focus his thoughts so he wouldn’t pass out. But darkness was creeping into his vision. He raised his hands and did his best to slap his face, each impact bringing him a little further into the real world.

  Sit up, Arlo… Sit… up!

  He launched himself forward, lunging between the seats, awkwardly shifting over the gear stick and slid, fell into the driver’s seat.

  “Okay… I got—”

  He felt the spray from the fragments of glass from the driver’s windows before he heard it break. A stalk like thing was across him. A claw on its extremity was fumbling on the other seat. He was frozen in place, fear preventing him from moving at all. The keys were just inches from his hands, but he could feel the foul stench of something rotten just a foot away to his left, just beyond the broken window.

  With a flick of his bound hands he grabbed then turned the keys, the engine firing and slammed down hard on the gas, propelling him and the car forward. The stalk like limb retracted but not before it hooked into his shoulder, taking a chunk of his flesh with it. He groaned in pain but kept his foot hard down on the pedal slamming into another of the creatures which bounced off the hood then cracking the windshield before falling to the road. His hands were now on the steering wheel, his entire body on fire with pain, but that was okay. It was time to rescue Josh.

  *****

  4: 34 p.m. Galveston.

  The final moment.

  The pain in her shoulder was almost too much for Jess. She could feel the claws pulling at her muscle and skin, gravity being her enemy, but she managed to hear her daughter’s scream and hear the crack of booms from Scott’s rifle. None of it mattered though as the creature rose then dipped almost instantly to the parking lot where she quickly became aware of the things, the thousand of things which now inhabited the northern part of the island. They were moving away from a particular spot in the center of the parking lot, creating a circular clearing.

  The creature above released its grip near the ground but still high enough for her to drop and send a shooting pain through one of her ankles as it threatened to turn over. She fell to one knee, her breathing labored.

  “Mom...”

  Her head flicked up and with it came joy and sadness. Josh, his face full of flecks of blood and grime was standing j
ust ten-yards from her. But so was Rackham and a new face, one she knew was responsible for what happened at the school. Keeping her eyes on her son, she forced a smile. “It’s all going to be okay, Josh. I promise.” He started to cry, trying to pull away from the thing which had its hands clamped to his shoulders.

  Rackham looked different but the same, his features more refined, younger perhaps, but equally more demonic as if his face was a mask, hiding something else. He smiled then released his grip. Like a spring, Josh ran forward into the arms of his mother who hugged him tight, tears running from them both. “I love you,” she cried between sobs as did he. “It’s going to be okay. Trust me.”

  “You see, Josh. I kept my word.”

  Josh whirled around. “I hate you! We’re going to kill you!”

  Jess pulled him back then stood, her eyes fixed on the old man and his colleague. In her periphery ill formed faces and bodies, swayed and shuddered, all looking at her.

  Rackham smiled. “Finally, we are all together.” He looked beyond the mother and son to the large building where Jess had been taken from. “And Sam is nearby as well! All of us have so much work to do! And Sam has already started!”

  Jess shook her head, words starting and failing to make it to her throat. She knew what the crazed thing in front of her was going to say. She had suspected from the moment she heard the first screech and gunshot in the hospital, but she hoped the truth could be hidden somehow, that Sam would never know the part she played.

  Rackham snorted. “I see you know what your daughter did. How she helped—” He spread his arms. “— make all of this possible!”

  “None of this is her fault!”

  “Ah, but there you would be wrong, mother Keller. Her role was to provide me with enough genetic material for Finn and to create a modified version of the virus, so my children can live beyond their time, but there was a side effect, one which although not planned proved to be quiet useful. She would be my very own little Typhoid Mary and carry my creation all the way here, into the heart of the only enemy capable of stopping me…”