Children of the Apocalypse (Mace of the Apocalypse #3)

by Daniel J. Williams

  “Hello?” Jim said, “Did you hear me?”

  Bitterness twisted up her face and she snapped at him. “Authorization? You want authorization? Do you even know who I am?!”

  Shrinking back, Jim didn’t know what to say. “Yeah, I mean, I know who you are. But I didn’t think anybody could just leave without notice.”

  “I’m giving you notice right now!” she said angrily. “There is a pocket of freaks out there that needs to be taken care of. It’s my job to keep this goddamn place safe, and that’s what I’m going to do.” She pulled the gate open and got back on her bike. “Close this once I’m out.”

  As she pulled through the front gate of the compound, Jim thought about getting on the radio and checking everything out. It was his first night as tower guard, though, and he didn’t know if it would come back to haunt him. He was still considered a newbie. Angela was an influential member of the compound, and he didn’t want to lose his position. He decided to keep it to himself.

  Angela rolled the throttle and raced away from the sanctuary, heading back towards the hangar. Her headlamp lit up the night before her as tears streamed down her face. She hunched down and pushed the bike towards its limit, speeding through the on-ramp and onto the freeway at dizzying speeds.

  As she entered the airfield entrance, she could see a few of the infected spread out and roaming aimlessly near the hangar. There were eight that had made it back inside after fleeing from the flash grenade. She had come to exact her revenge.

  As the headlamp drew closer, the infected raised their hands to cover their eyes, and Angela aimed for the closest one, revving the bike forwards. She was armed to the teeth, with the M-16 hanging across her back, two 9mm pistols in shoulder holsters and a large hunting knife strapped to her belt, along with three flash grenades and a boot knife.

  She popped a wheelie as she came upon the first one, and it shrieked as she plowed directly into it. As the bike lost control, she jumped off, landing hard on her side. The pistol in the holster dug into her ribs, and she winced from the pain as the rifle bounced off the pavement, its strap chafing her neck as it swung around. Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed the M-16 and sprayed the zombie’s body with rounds as it tried to get up from under the bike. It stared at her and shrieked, and she lifted the rifle, resting the butt against her shoulder before pulling the trigger and obliterating its head with a barrage of bullets.

  “C’mon, you fuckers!” she screamed as she turned the rifle towards the others who were now running towards her from different locations. Shrieks filled the air as they ran, and she lifted the M-16, blasting away at two of them and ripping their heads apart with sustained rounds.

  She turned the rifle towards one who was coming at her from the side, and the M-16 jammed. She immediately threw the strap over her head, tossing the rifle to the side as she pulled out the 9mm. Firing rapidly as it came upon her, she yelled out in rage as the last bullet found its mark and its head snapped back. It crashed into her from the momentum, knocking her down, and she lost the gun as her hand smacked against the pavement. She pushed the dead infected to the side, quickly climbing to her feet as another one rushed her.

  She had just enough time to pull the hunting knife from its sheath, bringing it up as it barreled into her. The knife punctured its chest, penetrating fully, and she lost her grip as they both went down.

  The last two now raced towards her from the hangar as she rolled on the ground, fighting off the infected and trying to keep clear of its mouth. It kept snapping its teeth at her, so she put her left hand around its throat, keeping it at a distance. Reaching down, she yanked the knife free from its chest with her free hand, her eyes growing wild as she screamed and plunged the knife into the side of its head.

  Its eyes rolled back and she let go of the handle, reaching for the 9mm in her second shoulder holster. Rolling over, she struggled to free it as the last two sped towards her closing the distance. The end was near.

  A shot rang out from somewhere behind the infected, and the first one’s head exploded, its body instantly collapsing to the ground. Another bullet punched a huge hole through the second one's chest as she was able to free her gun and bring it up. The creature dove for her and she fired, taking off its right ear as it landed on top of her, knocking her breath away. Struggling to catch her breath and push it away, it clamped its mouth around her upper chest, ripping out flesh and lifting its head in triumph.

  Angela gasped in pain as another crackle of gunfire sent chunks of brain matter splattering over her. The creature stopped moving and rolled off as she continued to gasp for air. Writhing on the ground in pain, a man slowly walked up and stood over her. It was too dark to see his face. He pointed a shotgun at her. “She’s a goner,” he said.

  Another man walked up next to him, staring down. “Why isn’t she turning?”

  “Don’t know. She will, though.”

  The pain of the bite wound intensified. Feeling more of the infection entering her blood stream, she fought to keep from getting sick. “Help me,” was all she was able to say.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  With the bus secured, Jacqueline began to work with the kids on an evacuation plan. Soon, Project Escape Neverland To Fly Somewhere Over The Rainbow was all the kids talked about or worked on, and they all were involved in one way or another.

  Story time was replaced with a nightly discussion concerning preparedness and survival techniques. The house was alive with animated discussions, some as silly as the amount of coloring books needed for such a long trip, or the type of candy bars that would provide the best nutrition. Jacqueline’s dream of a home filled with love and laughter was materializing, and she relished every moment.

  Woody and his Lost Boys (four of his closest friends who insisted they be called that), walked into the living room a week after the bus excursion, and Jacqueline could tell by their bravado they had finished their latest “top-secret” project. Woody had convinced Jacqueline to pull the bus into the barn on the promise that they weren’t going to mess with anything mechanical and that what they were doing was of the highest importance for the journey.

  Standing in front of the group, Woody was still trying to get used to appearing without his hat, which had been ruined during the pirate bus attack, and he self-consciously patted his hair with his hand.

  “You look fine, Woody,” Jacqueline teased. “Are we finally going to hear about what you’ve done to the bus?”

  Woody put his finger to his lips, but he could barely contain the smile that was dying to surface. “It’s top-secret,” he said, causing all the girls in the room to roll their eyes. He’d been saying the exact same thing every night for the last week.

  “Oh please,” said Alexi. “You’re like a broken record. Let me guess, you painted the bus yellow.”

  Woody started laughing, and Jacqueline realized it was the first time she had heard him laugh out loud. He had a hearty laugh, she thought.

  “It’s done!” Woody declared. “If you’d like to see it, you could use the zip line to get to the barn.”

  “Zip line?” asked Jacqueline.

  The smile on Woody’s face couldn’t have been larger. “Yep, the one on the roof.”

  “What?”

  Obviously pleased with himself, Woody continued. “We used some fence cable and wrapped it around the chimney."

  “What?” Jacqueline said louder, more concerned.

  “Don’t worry, we tested it already. It works fine.”

  Jacqueline put her hand over her heart. “Good Lord, you’re going to kill me.”

  Woody started laughing again as kids starting yelling with excitement.

  “I want to try it!”

  “Me, too!”

  “Me first!”

  “No way, I said it before you did!”

  The kids turned towards Jacqueline. “Can we try it?”

  “Yeah, let’s do it now!”

  Jacqueline’s head was spinning as the kids bombarded her
with questions and pleas.

  “Wait! Just wait!” she yelled, quieting them down for a second. Breaking out in a sweat, Jacqueline looked nervously at Woody. “How could you possibly know if it’s safe? Where does it go?”

  “It goes straight into the hayloft. We used a seat from the swing set and hooked it up to a pulley. I know it’s safe because I’ve already used it.”

  Completely stunned, Jacqueline didn’t know what to say.

  “How did I not know about this?” she said a moment later.

  “Because I didn’t want you to,” Woody replied with a wink. “C’mon!” he shouted, addressing the room. “Come check it out!”

  Darting through the room, he bolted past everyone, heading towards the stairs, which he ran up two at a time until he reached the top. He turned and waved for everyone to follow him. “C’mon! Who says we can’t fly?”

  Kids immediately jumped to their feet, following excitedly. As kids raced past Maya towards the 2nd floor, she squealed, “Wait for me, I’ve got the pixie dust!”

  Jacqueline’s heart was pounding as she did her best to keep up with the kids. She knew she had lost control of the situation. Following the kids into one of the bedrooms, her breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the kids quickly climbing out the open window onto the roof. “Wait!” she screamed, panting as she reached the window’s threshold. “It’s getting dark! Dear God, help me,” she said as she carefully climbed through the open window onto the roof with dusk fast approaching.

  The kids were all gathered around the chimney, yelling with excitement, and Jacqueline could see the cable tied around it, descending directly through the hayloft into the barn. “Oh my God,” she said to herself, as she started to duck-walk carefully across the roof tiles.

  Looking down to keep her eyes on her footing, she almost slipped as the kids screamed in delight. Stopping to brace herself, she lifted her eyes to see Woody speeding down the zip line on the seat of the swing, hollering all the way. He disappeared into the hayloft, before reappearing a few seconds later, waving with pieces of hay stuck to his clothes and hair.

  One of the Lost Boys was already pulling on a string attached to the swing, bringing it back up towards the roof, grinning like an idiot as the kids screamed over who would go next. Feeling like she might have a heart attack, Jacqueline tried to speak calmly, scared to get too excited and lose her balance. “Please, nobody else go.”

  None of the kids paid her any attention, her voice too soft for them to even hear over their own excitement. As soon as the swing was secured, another boy jumped on it, and the seat immediately started hauling back towards the barn.

  The kid was a quarter of the way down when they all saw the first infected. It had its eyes glued to the kid as he squealed with excitement down the zip line. More infected followed, and the kids on the roof screamed as their numbers kept coming. Many had no skin on their faces and were grotesque in appearance.

  The mutant infected suddenly appeared, racing past all of them as it zeroed in on the kid on the zip line. The kid was halfway down when the mutant leaped, grabbing him and ripping the swing and pulley off the cable. The mutant and kid disappeared from view.

  Everyone was momentarily silenced, staring in shock at the spot where their friend had been a few breaths before. Woody screamed at them from the hayloft. “Pirates! Run! Prepare for battle!” He disappeared back into the barn as the kids started screaming and scrambling towards the window.

  Jacqueline was panicky as she yelled for them to hurry, helping each one through the window as shrieks erupted below. A couple of kids slipped as they tried to maneuver too quickly across the roof tiles, sliding down the roof, reaching desperately for a handhold before falling over the edge, their eyes filled with terror.

  “No!” Jacqueline screamed as they disappeared. “No! God, no!”

  Maya was the last child, crying out in fear as she tried to carefully maneuver across the tiles on all fours. From behind her, Jacqueline saw two huge hands suddenly grab the edge of the roof. A second later the mutant infected sprang onto it, roaring as it made eye contact with her. Its eyes bulged out of its sockets, its massive head deformed and hideous. Rage erupted from its every pore. Spotting Maya, it roared again, moving quickly towards her.

  Jacqueline screamed, “No! Maya!” She pushed off the window without thinking, running across the roof towards the infected. As the creature reached for Maya, she screamed again in a protective rage, leaping towards it. She crashed into it, knocking the monster infected backwards, and they both fell over the edge of the roof.

  As they hurtled towards the ground, Jacqueline could see the fence post zooming towards them, and she clutched her hands to the mutant, aiming him towards it. The fence post ripped through its back, penetrating instantly all the way through and punching through his stomach into hers. She gasped as the post ripped all the way through her body, and she landed with a thud on top of the infected, dying instantly. The mutant roared, trying to get up, but her weight and the fence post kept it trapped to the spot.

  All around them, the infected shrieked as they tore into the young victims. The barn doors suddenly blasted open as the bus plowed through them, and Woody struggled with the steering wheel as the bus started to swerve. Aiming it towards the house, he could barely see over the steering wheel, even propped up on a car seat. With lightweight wooden blocks strapped to the pedals, he pushed down on the gas and yelled “Prepare to die!” as he ran into an infected with dark hair covering its entire face. It dropped, and Woody could feel the bus tires bounce over its body. “Yeah!” he yelled, until he saw Jacqueline lying on top of a giant, squirming infected with the fence post sticking up through her back. The post was covered with blood. His breath caught in his throat, and it felt like his heart stopped. He almost stopped the bus. He felt like crying, but his face grew deadly serious as he looked past her towards the house. If Jacqueline was dead, it was now his job to save them all.

  Inside the house, the kids all had spears and slingshots, ready to flee towards the barn.

  “Where’s Jacqueline?” screamed Alexi, looking frantically around for her. Maya clutched her leg, pressing her tear-stained face against it. She'd barely made it back through the window on her own and had been too scared to look behind her.

  “We’ve got to go!” yelled one of the Lost Boys as Woody pulled the bus in front of the back door, ripping the awning clear off the outside wall. The bus door whooshed open, and Woody ran down the stairs, swinging open the back door of the house. “Go!” he yelled as he turned and loaded a rock in his sling shot, sending it flying towards one of the rushing infected. They were coming at them from both sides of the bus. The bus was close enough to the house that the infected couldn’t storm them in a group. The rock smashed into its skull and it dropped.

  As the girls ran onto the bus stairs, the boys charged at the attacking infected, rushing to both sides to offer protection. One of the Lost Boys ran towards one, jabbing a spear directly into its open, shrieking throat. The spear tore out the back of its head, and the boy let go, pulling out his slingshot before the infected had even hit the ground. He took out two more with the slingshot before retreating back towards the bus. The girls who made it on the bus instantly slid up the bus windows, jabbing at the heads of the infected with spears.

  Alexi screamed in fright as she aimed at the head of an infected rushing towards her bus window, and the spear sliced into its eye socket. It shrieked, tearing the spear out of her hand as it backed away from the window before stumbling and dropping straight back, dead.

  “On the bus!” yelled Woody as soon as the last girl boarded. He waited at the door, firing as rapidly and as hard as he could with his slingshot, every shot a direct hit. He followed the last boy on and jumped in the driver’s seat, hitting the door lever. The door whooshed shut just as the infected reached it, and he started the bus, grinding the gears as he jerked it forward.

  Putting his foot down on the foam block, Woody moved
the bus slowly forward. He held his breath as he pushed in the clutch and tried to shift gears, grinding them hard before finding second. As he let out the clutch, the bus jerked forward again but didn’t die. The infected pounded on the sides of the bus as they ran alongside, enraged at the children's escape, and spears jabbed at their faces in response. The boys jumped up on the seats and continued to snap rocks at the creatures' heads with the slingshots as Woody fought the gears and the bus gained speed in third gear.

  As the infected started to fall behind, the reality of their situation hit them, and kids started openly bawling at the deaths of Jacqueline and their friends. Woody sat in the driver’s seat, gaining speed and confidence as he drove on. They’d defeated the pirates. Jacqueline would be proud. They’d made it out alive. Once he felt that they were safe, he would pull the bus over and study their “top-secret” project. He’d painted the map to Overland Park, Kansas, on the side of the bus, and he’d done it in glow-in-the-dark paint.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Angela had been strapped to the bed for seven straight days. She was stuck in an abandoned house somewhere, in a room that was covered in filth. The curtains were pulled shut, but there was enough light for her to know it was still daytime. Pulling weakly at her restraints, she was covered in an old, thick sweat from being delirious with fever for days.

  Despite her sickness, she could still remember the young man who had repeatedly snuck into the bedroom, providing her with antibiotics, water, and ointment for her bite wound. He had saved her life.

  Now, even though she was weak and still running a low fever, she was mostly just pissed. Pulling again at her restraints, she yelled out weakly. “Get me out of this bed. I need to use the bathroom.”

  She stopped tugging and listened for any signs of life. Hearing none, she tried to yell louder, squirming against the ropes that kept her secured to the bed. “Let me up! I need to get up!”