The Cure

by Jeremy P Horgan

  ‘About fifteen,’ one of the men mouthed to Samson quietly.

  Samson looked at Logan and Chuck ‘Savages,’ he said. ‘Every now and then they come by looking for something or somebody. Maybe snatch a child or woman if they can. We have the manpower, but they are surprisingly quick considering they are just rabid animals. The hunger turns them mad you see. We took one in once to see if we could feed him up and help get him mentally better. We kept him tied up as a precaution, nevertheless he escaped. But not before eating the guard.’

  ‘We saw one on our way here. He killed our friend,’ said Logan.

  ‘It’s very hard to defeat an army of monsters who don’t care whether they live or die. We’ll try to pick them off one at a time, but if they all get through our extra manpower won’t have any advantage. They don’t need weapons. If they get close enough it’ll be like fighting a mountain lion. They know we’re in here and they have the hunger, so they won’t leave until they get what they want. We need to finish this now. Will you fight with us?’ said Samson.

  ‘Yes,’ said Tallulah who was stood with the group behind Samson wielding various weapons. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Take up a place that is well covered and shoot anything that comes through that door when we open it. They don’t care about the dark and they have a strong sense of smell. When they come, they will come fast. Do not hesitate to put a bullet in them and do not think that they are human beings. They haven’t been human for a long time,’ said Samson.

  The men at the gate started backing away and getting in a position to make contact, whilst the group scattered in pairs behind anything that served as a shield. Samson raised his hand and held it in the air for what seemed like ages, before dropping it. The gate clattered upwards and everything became a blur.

  Logan watched what looked like a greyhound bound through the room on four legs and leap at one of the men headfirst. Before he knew it, the man was on the floor and the creatures face was covered in the man’s blood. Seconds later a bullet ripped through the air and into the creature. Logan felt real fear for the second time, since he heard his father condemn half the country to death and then watched his friend ripped to pieces.

  Gunfire rang out as more of these creatures, some dressed and some half naked rushed through the entrance. Some looked like vampires from old films he had seen. Pale and with glistening teeth and claws, but there was no doubt that these animals were once human.

  Tallulah didn’t know where to look. There was noise all around, whether it be the rat-a-tat of gunfire or the shrieks coming from the creatures. She held her gun tighter knowing she was the last line of defense and looked behind at the women and children huddled fifty yards behind her in the warehouse. It was absolute carnage and blood spilled across the warehouse floor as the men battled against these monstrosities, who had no issue with tearing strips of flesh from the men with their teeth. They looked like something from a horror film.

  The fighting seemed to go on for ages until suddenly it was quiet again.

  ‘How many left?’ someone shouted.

  ‘Seven,’ came the reply.

  The remaining creatures had got passed the first line of men and were hiding within the warehouse amongst the many tents and homes. Samson’s men and the group of boys turned towards where Tallulah and Faye were standing and shuffled quietly towards them guns pointed at potential hiding places. Suddenly another shriek and one of the things, a bag of skin and bones launched itself towards Chuck and pinned him to the floor. It shook for a while before Chuck rolled over revealing his machete sticking from the creature’s gut. ‘Whoa now. Too close for comfort,’ he said. ‘I make that six left.’

  ‘Arrrrrrrrgh,’ came the shout from Samson, as another Savage had jumped on his back and sunk its gnarly teeth into his shoulder. Samson swung around unable to reach it, his large arms flailing above his head. It grasped at his throat, as he managed to grab its head and wrestle it to the floor crushing its head into the ground. Blood oozed from his shoulder, but he dismissed it like it was nothing and held up his hand ‘five.’

  Tallulah blinked as she watched something moving towards the families. It was stood upright and fully dressed and it took a double glance to realize it wasn’t one of the survivors. It looked almost normal, other than the dark piercing eyes, as it turned and smiled at her. More human than the others but somehow even scarier because of the fact it or he was closer to them in the scale of this messed up new world order. She walked towards him; her gun raised in front of her.

  ‘Tals, what are you doing?’ whispered Faye.

  ‘He’s going for the children,’ she said moving forward with pace.

  As Faye stepped forward to put a hand on Tallulah’s shoulder to pull her back, two of the animals working as a pack took hold of Faye, one digging its claws into her abdomen and pulling her away into the shadows. Samson’s men shot towards the area Faye had been taken, before Logan’s voice was heard over the gunfire. ‘Stop. Let us go in there and find them,’ he pleaded.

  Tallulah was in shock, but her attention came back to the one headed for the back of the warehouse. Tears rolled from her eyes thinking about Faye, but she wasn’t about to let anyone else get killed. By now the creature was circling the children and eyeing up the potentially most delicious and filling meal, drooling at the thought of it. Tallulah lifted her gun. She was a few feet away as it turned around and faced her.

  She’d never seen anything close to what she was looking at now. A real-life monster who was looking straight through her and into her soul as if it knew every little secret and didn’t care who it told. Its eyes were sunken back and both eye sockets were black with dried blood around them. It smiled to revealed brown teeth like razor blades, easier to take down its prey quickly. That smile was one of a predator, who had no qualms about killing all and anything in front of it.

  She raised her gun with both hands and pointed it towards the thing in front of her. But as she did the creature raised its hands up in surrender, inch long talons on every fingertip. Hands still up, the smile departed and instead a rather sad and pathetic human being stood in front of her. It opened its mouth and a noise from the back of his throat implored ‘help me.’ Her hands shaking, she slowly lowered her gun. As she did so, she felt a warm liquid cover her face as the Savage pounced at her and Logan simultaneously put a bullet through its chest.

  Time had stood still but now frantically Logan took her by her hand ‘Three left Tals and two of them have Faye.’ They ran through the mass of shelters and tents looking for Faye.

  Seth was stood by a tent his hand over his mouth when Tallulah and Logan reached him. Inside the tent the two creatures sat huddled over Faye obscuring her body. Seth was paralyzed watching as Faye mouthed the words ‘kill me,’ to him. Logan raised his gun to the oblivious creatures, high on human flesh, and rained bullets from a machine gun into the tent killing everything in there. When he took his finger off the trigger he was out of ammunition and Tals sunk into him, her legs like jelly, sobbing uncontrollably.

  ‘We’ve got it,’ shouted Samson. Logan, Tallulah and Seth headed out to the opening where one of the creatures was hanging from a chain in the middle of the warehouse. ‘Logan, I underestimated you and your team. I’m sorry for the loss of your friend. She seemed very nice. I was skeptical of what you were telling me, and I know I haven’t been very forthcoming. I know you have your reservations about us, but I am not hiding anything from you. We have fought to survive this long and we live to fight until the next battle. We support your quest to find your Professor and thank you for what you are doing. You really are heroes. Tomorrow morning, we will escort you to the Police Station and the prison.’

  ‘And what next for that monster,’ said Logan.

  One of Samson’s men stood before him holding out a Samurai sword, which he drew from its sheath.

  ‘Next, for this one, who was once my brother, peace,’ and he brought the sword down slicing the creatures head from its body.
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  Next morning Samson kept to his promise and took the group the two-hour journey to the Police Station. The roads were quiet and despite Samson telling them that no-one would attack during the day they were still very aware of the preceding night’s events and what had happened to Faye. All were on edge and Tallulah in particular was understandably upset at the loss of her friend.

  ‘This is as far as we go my friend,’ Samson said to Logan

  Logan held out his hand and Samson took it and pulled Logan into him.

  ‘Just be careful in there son. Don’t go in guns blazing. Expect the unexpected,’ Samson said.

  Logan pulled his hand away sharply wondering whether this was some kind of threat. He had known early on that Samson hadn’t told him the whole truth about the Prison and this backed that up.

  ‘Thank you for your hospitality Samson. Until we meet again,’ said Logan.

  Samson bellowed out a laugh and turned and started walking away and the rest of his men turned and walked off into the distance of the city.

  ‘We’re on our own again now guys,’ he said to the remaining group.

  ‘Just how we like it,’ said Chuck.

  They entered the Police Station and split off, first checking that they were as alone as they hoped. The station was small but had offices spread throughout the main floor. Stairs led down to the cells, along with the entrance into the prison. Logan indicated to them to follow him downstairs and with his gun ready he moved forward.

  The staircase was dark and the only light in the cells was coming from the stairwell. They took out their torches and lit the way ahead. Downstairs the cells doors were open and one by one the group bunched together behind Logan examining each cell and moving along to the end of the corridor. They reached the last cell and Logan peered around the door. A loud screech rang out and Logan jumped backwards into the rest of them causing everyone to scream and panic.

  ‘Its fine it’s fine,’ Logan said, ‘It’s just a cat.’

  ‘Holy cow Logan. I thought it was one of those things,’ said Chuck ‘Are you trying to give me a heart attack?’

  Tallulah smacked Logan on the arm and the group started laughing, first slowly and then into raucous laughter. Even Logan broke a smile and then couldn’t stop himself bursting out into tears of laughter. Gradually the moment passed, and they looked at each other under the lights of the torches and Logan snapped back into army mode. ‘This is it guys. Time to save the world,’ he said dramatically.

  The tunnel entrance was at the end of the corridor and the metal door was ajar. It looked like it had previously been covered with a bookcase, which had been shifted aside, scratch marks on the floor. ‘That makes things easier,’ said Xander. They continued through the door and down another corridor which led to a junction. ‘The schematics say we go right, and two hundred yards up there should be an entrance to a stairwell that goes into the first floor of the prison. Then there should be a door that takes us into the maintenance room of the gantry,’ said Logan. ‘Right it is then,’ said Chuck.

  ‘Light. I can see light up ahead,’ said Seth. The door to the maintenance room had a window and light shone through to the top of the stairwell.

  Logan tried the door and it didn’t budge at first. Chuck joined him pushing and the door moved about an inch. All of them started pushing and the door swung open with the group falling into the room on top of each other.

  ‘Right,’ said Logan getting off the floor and composing himself ‘Now comes the hard part. For all we know the rest of the prison could be full of the vilest criminals to walk the face of the earth.’

  ‘Way to sell it to us,’ said Tallulah.

  ‘Or it could be empty,’ he said. ‘Which means our mission is over.’

  ‘Well when you put it like that,’ Tallulah replied. ‘Where now?’

  Logan pointed upwards to the ceiling.

  ‘Air-con system?’ Chuck laughed. Logan nodded.

  ‘We need to do this quickly and quietly. It’ll give us the best view of the prison and if the Professor is in here then a bigger chance of finding him. It will be slow and uncomfortable, but if we do it right the risk will be lower of us getting caught.’

  Logan was first up and then one at a time they climbed into the air conditioning shaft. It was a lot larger than they expected and at a crouch they could shuffle along quite easily. They came across the first vent, which opened into the top of a prison cell, but it was empty. Looking forward Logan could see that every five feet vents opened into more cells, so he knew they were heading in the right direction. He stopped short of the next vent and peered inside. At first he thought it was empty and was about to move on but then he saw a man move from below the vent into the middle of the cell. He turned and put a finger to his lips. ‘So, the prison was inhabited,’ he thought to himself. The Professor could be alive. But this wasn’t him and he knew he had to press on quickly. He turned again and held his hand down and whispered ‘quietly,’ to the rest of them.

  Moving from vent to vent he saw more men, ranging from two to sometimes five, in each cell, either playing cards or board games. None of them looked unhealthy or starving to death though and he wondered if this was as a result of the cannibalism he had heard of and seen with his own eyes at Samson’s camp. No sign of the Professor and they were coming to a bend in the air-con tunnel. They turned right again and continued along, peering into the cells, carefully trying to go unnoticed. Every now and then one of them would make a noise or cough and the group would stay deadly still until they knew they had gone undetected and then move on.

  It felt like they had been in there hours and they had almost done a full perimeter of the first floor of the prison. Reaching the end of the unit Logan scrutinized the last vent. It was a room with tables and chairs in it. Not an office as such but more like a makeshift guard room. It had windows into the main prison, but they were whitewashed so that no-one could see in, or out. He pulled out the prison map he had and deliberated their next move.

  ‘Tals,’ he whispered. ‘Looking at the map, if we climb down into this room, there is a stairwell next door which leads to the next floor up. We can then access the vent to the room directly above and do the next level. What do you think?’

  ‘So once in the room we need to go out into the prison to get to the stairwell?’ she replied.

  ‘It’s the only way to get to the next floor.’

  ‘Then that’s what we do,’ she said.

  He nodded and started removing the hatch to the room, dropping down and then helping the others down. He scanned the room diligently but quickly. ‘Right,’ he started saying to the group, ready to explain the plan. But before he could continue the door swung open and a man walked through the door, followed by more men with guns drawn. They had been caught.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The group were surrounded with the men’s guns pointed at their heads. Logan nodded compliantly and lowered himself to the ground, his own gun out in front of him and laid it down looking to the others to do the same, which they dutifully did.

  The door opened and a man covered in prison tattoos, whose head barely cleared the door frame, walked into the room. Almost unnoticeable behind this behemoth another man had also entered. Not as big but his presence seemed to fill the room. ‘Mr Logan Mathers,’ he said smiling.

  Logan remained calm but wondered how he knew who he was. ‘Television tio,’ the man said pointing to a screen up in the corner of the room, answering the unspoken question in Logan’s eyes. The TV was silent, but he watched his father sat at his desk talking on a loop. ‘There’s not much to watch, but he has plenty to say. The photo on the desk. You, right? A little younger, no, but still your father’s son. You of course know who I am, because that’s why you’re here.’

  ‘Look Sir, just give me a minute to explain Mr. Mendez,’ Logan said recognizing the ill-famed criminal

  ‘Sshh,’ he said putting his finger to his mouth ‘It’s been a long time since someone called
me mister.’ The men holding the guns at the group laughed among themselves. ‘He said you would come, although I didn’t think he would send children.’ Mendez paced the room passing each person and staring them down. ‘You are either very well trained or very lucky. Nobody has got in here since the food supplies started to run low.’

  ‘Mr Mendez Sir, we are here to help you, we’re looking for a man, a professor,’ said Tallulah.

  ‘Ah Princess, do we look like we need help? We know exactly who you are here for.’ He motioned to one of the men nearest the door. ‘Trae al professor.’ Mendez looked back to the screen pointing at The President. ‘A very clever man but surrounded with fools I’m afraid. Which are you Logan?’

  Logan waited to see if he was expected to reply but just as he started to speak a man walked into the room, hands voluntarily behind his back. The man was looking down at the ground and talking to himself ‘ah, Isaac, what have we here? Usurpers perhaps? Or are they assassins? Yes, assassins I believe. We have been expecting you. Please, please tell me why you are here, if not to do away with me?’

  Tallulah stepped forward again ‘Professor, you may not remember me.’ The Professor looked up at her. ‘Tallulah. It cannot be. Look at you, a woman no less. Do my eyes deceive me? But you have come here to kill me?’

  ‘No Professor, we are here to help you. You are in danger.’

  ‘I very much doubt that Princess,’ Mendez spoke up. ‘On the contrary, we are very much safe.’

  ‘The President, my father, and the rest of the surviving government have made a plan to release a toxin into the water supply, which will kill over half of the remaining population. They will be completely oblivious that it has even happened until people start dying.’

  ‘To what end? What purpose does this serve them?’ said the Professor.

  ‘The rate of the diminishing supplies against the remaining population means that humanity will be non-existent in months. They think by culling half of everyone left living that they stand a chance of rolling out sustainable living for the half of the population who live.’