Naked, screaming creatures ran past with their feet slapping against the cold, wet tarmac.
Noah pushed aside the bushes, jumped up and ran out onto the road, screaming, following the throng of charging creatures.
Most of the naked bodies were heading towards the remains of the house on the corner; there was a large group on the front lawn.
Noah ignored them and started running straight across the park, heading towards the lorry. He was in luck, as well as the creatures completely ignoring him, there was a car turned on its side, blocking the lorry’s exit, and due to there being a thick fence around a bowling green in the park’s corner; the driver had no choice but to turn around and head back across the park, directly towards Noah.
18
Red, Betty, and Lennie
Newton Abbot, On a Roof
12:16 PM GMT
The gas explosion ripped away the side of the building, destroying the kitchen and half the wall. The wall they crouched down behind had twisted and buckled, but intact. Small chunks of bricks and stones rained down around them, pinging off the roof tiles. Thick smoke mingled with the heavy rain.
The small dog whined in Lennie’s arms.
Betty had her head forward with her hands over her ears.
“Time to go,” Red had to shout over the ringing in her ears. The mask muffled her voice. As she stood, she could see how devastating the blast had been. Part of the house had collapsed onto itself. The back wall was also gone, blown out onto a back parking lot.
“Let’s go,” she said. “We should be able to climb down here no problem.” The wall collapsed leaving part of it behind. It would be tricky, but not too difficult to climb down.
In the distance, she could see a thick column of dense smoke rising into the grey sky; mirroring the one she had just created.
Slowly, and carefully, they climbed down the rubble. They stood looking across towards two large apartment complexes.
“We should find somewhere to hide,” she stated.
Lennie stood cradling the dog, while holding the other bags. Betty stood mute, with a little blood trickling from both ears.
“Let’s go, we don’t wanna be out in the open for too long.” Red walked at a brisk pace toward the closest building.
The other two followed.
I’m gonna have to let Noah know where we have gone. If he returns and sees the destroyed house, he would think the worst. I will look for somewhere with wi-fi and send a message with Whatapp; she decided.
They needed to get inside, out of sight. The place looked abandoned, with all the smashed up cars and littered belongings.
Red noticed a golf club on the ground. She bent to pick it up. It was scorched black, but otherwise okay. It must have been tossed by the explosion, she mused.
“In here,” she said.
They were near the closest buildings front entrance. From the intercom system, she could see there were sixteen flats in the block. The chances of running into anything inside seemed much greater because so many people had lived here. However, she knew it would be riskier standing around outside.
The front glass double doors were smashed and hanging open. Blood pooled on the worn carpet and splattered up the wall near the entrance. There was no corpse near it. Red found it hard to believe that someone who had lost that much blood could still walk away.
“In here.” Red moved into a flat that had the door wide open, and was slowly knocking against the wall from the wind blowing along the corridor.
While Lennie and Betty stood just outside the doorway, Red ran around the small flat, to check it was empty. It was not. A bloated body lay on the double bed in the small bedroom, with another bloated body, covered in puss lying on the floor, after possibly rolling off the bed. Both were moaning in pain, and vibrating, as if her presence had triggered off some kind of reaction.
Red swung around to shout a warning to Lennie and Betty, but before the words left her lips, both bodies exploded simultaneously.
Betty slowly got back to her feet; the blast tossed her backwards. Lennie was groaning to her left, with the small terrier stood next to him, licking his face. Bits of plaster rained down from the ceiling.
Betty felt dizzy and disorientated. The air around her was filled with black spores, which was being sucked out the front double doors by the strong wind. Even though her nose and mouth were covered, she still held her breath.
Lennie slowly sat up and picked up Charlie.
“Stay here Lennie.” Betty slowly walked through the doorway into the small flat.
The blast was so powerful it had stripped the wallpaper off the walls, and blasted the wooden floor black in places. Glass was sprinkled everywhere from the shattered windows. However, what was most disturbing was Red’s motionless naked arm, lying on the floor, poking out from the bedrooms doorway.
19
Doctor Lazaro and the Squad
Newton Abbot
Courtney Park
12:18 PM GMT
Melanie was soaking wet, cold, and frightened. The lorry was bouncing, wheel spinning and skidding along the wet grass. She was lying on the roof of the lorry, holding onto a rope for her life. She could hear the naked creatures screaming around her from all directions. With her other hand, she held onto her jumper, because underneath was the plastic sheaf containing the folder, and all their hope.
The Captain knelt holding onto the rope with one hand and a container with another. He kept seeing the look of horror on Spice’s and Rogers’ faces as they were being ripped apart.
He knew he had no choice; he knew he had to shoot them, stop their suffering. He just hoped that when the time came, someone would do the same for him.
The truck jolted to one side, making them all leave the roof for a split second before they slammed back down. The driver had to swerve around the rut churned up by the helicopter.
The rain pelted the windscreen hard, blurring Coco’s view as he tried to miss bins and ditches. He did not bother avoiding the naked creatures. Blood constantly splashed up over the windshield.
“Get back to the road,” Trev screamed.
“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?” Coco yelled back, while swinging the wheel to one side to avoid a shallow dip and a tree root.
Franco looked like he was going to throw up at any minute. He did not look like he could get any paler.
The truck bounced up onto a wide concrete path that ran along side the large pond. Suddenly, the front wheel dipped, and then caught something. Within a fraction of a second, the truck tipped over, tossing everyone from the roof into the pond. It skidded along, after spinning around when hitting the thick pond wall. It slid along the wet mud, churning up grass. It halted when it slammed into a large oak tree.
One minute Melanie was bouncing on a truck roof, the next she was under water. Her head broke the surface.
Jimmy was floating face down in the water next to her. With what little strength she had left, she rolled him over. She could not tell if he was breathing.
Bull pulled himself out of the pond. His machinegun was clipped to his armoured jacket so it hung by his side. He shook the water from his eyes and gripped the weapon.
The Captain pulled himself out next to Bull. He could hear Echo’s voice off to the right.
The creatures caught up with the crashed lorry, and were charging straight at them.
“Doc,” Echo shouted, as she pulled Jimmy over to the edge of the freezing cold pond. With the Doc’s help, Echo rolled Jimmy onto the wide concrete edge of the pond. Melanie started to give CPR while stood it the water, leaning over him.
A loud creak announced Coco had kicked the twisted door open. The truck was wedged against a tree on its left-hand side. As Coco slowly pulled himself out, he noticed Trev and Franco were not moving.
“Shit!” Coco shouted.
However, he did not have time to check them, because the screaming of the naked creatures running towards them drew his attention.
/> It had all happened in a mere minute. One moment they were free and getting away, the next they had crashed into the pond and was surrounded by a frenzy of charging creatures that would give no mercy and leave none alive.
20
Noah
Newton Abbot
Courtney Park
12:19 PM GMT
Noah could not believe what he had just witnessed. The lorry had tipped and slammed into the pond before skidding along to hit a tree.
He halted in his shock, before continuing to run again. The rain pelted his bare body.
The naked creatures that charged past him completely ignored him.
The survivors of the crash gathered around the pond firing into the mass of charging creatures.
Even with their hopeless predicament, they were still his and the other’s best chance of survival.
As he got closer, he slowed down and started shouting, so as not to be shot by mistake. He waved his arms and screamed, “Help me. I am not one of them. I need your help.” He was close enough to get their attention.
A female soldier knelt on the pond’s wall, next to woman giving CPR to another soldier. The soldier raised her rifle and pointed it directly at him. Their eyes locked.
“I’m not infected. I need your help,” he screamed, just as Echo pulled the trigger and fired.
###
To be continued...
Part Three:
INFESTED
will be released in May 2013
About the Author
Glen Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He lives in a hotel on the English Riviera; a stones throw away from the beach. He loves to travel and has visited twenty-nine different countries, and lived in Mexico City, Mexico for far too long for a pale skinned European. He has also been married twice – and still refuses to say where he buried them. At present, as well as writing, he works as an Optical Technician.
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If you have enjoyed
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Part Two – Ruin
then don’t miss Glen Johnson’s other books.
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Part One – Outbreak
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Part Three - Infested
LAMB CHOPS AND CHAINSAWS Vol. 1
LOBSTERS AND LANDMINES Vol. 2
THE DEVILS HARVEST
THE GATEWAY (World One)
PARKINGDOM
THE SPELL OF BINDING (Part One)
WAR OF THE GODS
(Part One) THE DEVILS TAROTS
Also available from Sinuous Mind Books
For the latest news and updates about Glen Johnson, visit www.sinuousmindbooks.com
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
An Apocalyptic Tale of Survival
Part One: Outbreak
The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.
The story follows three different people, and their journeys of self-discovery through the changing world.
Noah Morgan is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job. Red is a nineteen-year-old female runaway, with a sad past and a disturbing secret. Together they leave behind everything they have ever known, looking for a safe haven.
Doctor Melanie Lazaro is working around the clock, under military supervision, in Exeter University’s Biomedical Sciences Department, trying to create a cure for the new pandemic that is turning humans back to their primordial roots, creating mindless killing machines with only one purpose − to eat.
Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.
LAMB CHOPS AND CHAINSAWS
Nine Disturbing Short Stories about the Darker Side of Human Nature
What are your neighbours really like once their front door slams shut? Are your children’s teachers’ sound-of-mind? Has your partner got an evil, sinister side? Is a member of your family a murderer? These questions, and more, are examined in a collection of nine disturbing short stories; tales about the darker side of human nature.
Read about a wannabe serial killer who starts his reign of terror on the wrong footing. A Kindergarten teacher who has deep psychological problems that jeopardizes the safety of the children. How a child of nine turns to violence in retaliation for drug smugglers slaughtering her parents. A fanatical mother who believes her thirteen-year-old son is possessed by the Devil. How one killer spirals out of control and in his haste for victims makes a fatal mistake. A government trained killer who was set up as a scapegoat. Or a serial killer who has captured the attention of the world, and has setup one final, sickening display. What does it take to push someone that little bit too far and turn them into a killer? Find out when a savage murder is committed over a packet of lamb chops.
Strangers will never seem the same again.
LOBSTERS AND LANDMINES
Another Nine Disturbing Short Stories about the Darker Side of Human Nature
Lobsters and Landmines is the second book in the Human Nature Series, following in Lamb Chops and Chainsaws footsteps, by continuing to look at the darker side of human nature, by delving into the dark twisted world of the sick minded, the perverse, the psychos and sociopaths; people who take pleasure from hurting others. Individuals, who could be your next door neighbour or your lover, even a close family member.
Read about a Captain who discovers the perfect lobster bait after a violent outburst. A HIV infected man who injects women with his tainted blood. A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert who has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam, who keeps females as slaves and children as objects to sell. Or the sad story about two friends who are forever parted on September 11th 2001. And the airhostess Jenny who finds the perfect job on a Brazilian airline, but it seems they want more from her than most employers. What about the sweet little old lady who wins awards for her cakes, but what are her secret ingredients? Or the doomsday prepper that spends every waking minute of everyday prepping for the end of the world, until one critical mistake changes everything. Or a computer firm that sells its algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals, but below ground, the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret. Finally, a businessman who realizes a little too late, what is truly important in life?
THE DEVILS HARVEST
A SHOCKING SECRET
Jacob Cain’s life changes forever when he starts to receive a series of reanimated corpses, each impart a fragment of a message. An ancient tale unfolds as old as time itself relating humanities darkest untold secret – the biblical story from the Devil’s point of view.
A DESPERATE QUEST
As the chain of events unfolds, Cain repeatedly finds himself confused and covered in blood. Suddenly he becomes a fugitive from the authorities, wanted in connection to multiple murders, his garden now a mass grave.
A HORRIFYING TWIST
Guided by one catastrophic event after another, Cain finds whole villages eerily silent with corpses littering the streets as a new plague from an unimaginable source starts to sweep the country. At an old farmhouse, he comes face-to-face with mankind’s worst nightmare. And buried in a field is the answer to all the riddles that climax in a terrifying, unearthly twist.<
br />
As Cain fights for his life, he must unravel the shocking truth, before billions die. He is all that stands in the way of a global pandemic on an apocalyptical scale.
THE GATEWAY
WORLD ONE OF THE SEVEN WORLDS
THE SEVEN WORLDS
Eons ago entities with god-like powers brought together seven worlds, joined them by means of conduits—Gateways—each supplying the next with what it lacked, from a surplus of what that world produced, making life on all seven worlds possible. Then they disappeared. Each world became an individual.
THE BROTHERS
Two brothers stumble on the Gateway passing from our world to the next, and are endowed with powers beyond comprehension, vital for survival in this hostile and intelligent world where nightmarish creatures feed on the weak.
THE WAR
Titanic battles rage; good against evil, magic against machinery, mortal against immortal. A civil war rages between spirit creatures and a powerful self-proclaimed God. Why is the American government sending an army of mass destruction with the latest military technology through? Time is short, the armies are amassing.
And what is the prophecy about scratched on a wall of a prison cell by dying hands?
PARKINGDOM
The Sixth Extinction 2: An Apocalyptic Tale of Survival. (Part Two: Ruin.) Page 6