There was no answer.
Jake was breathing hard, gasping for air. “Whoever is in there, come out! We need you now!” he cried out. If she was inside, she owed it to her town to help. If he was fighting for them then she should be too. These were her neighbors, her family, her friends. He was just a man who’d shown up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yet he was the one risking his life to save a man he didn’t even know.
Where the hell was the nurse?
Seventeen
Aby
Where the hell is the nurse? Aby thought. She had stayed with the man and was pressing down on his wound, but she knew she should be helping the others at the barricade. The mob was getting much closer now to the point where their chanting was terrifyingly real to her. She took a few calming breaths, telling herself that Jake would be back at any moment.
But he wasn’t showing up. She anxiously whipped her head between looking out for Jake and looking at the barricade. She desperately wanted Jake to be okay, to return with help, but it was looking less and less likely by the second. The man beneath her whimpered and Aby silently thought to herself that they were fighting for a lost cause.
Tears stung her eyes. This wasn’t the way things should be at all. She shouldn’t have to choose between running into battle and killing people or saving one of the innocent people on her own side. But in the back of her mind, she knew there was nothing she could do to save this man without the nurse. All she was doing was holding off the inevitable. She took the man’s hand, handed him his shredded shirt and pressed it over his wound.
“Keep pressure on it,” she told him. “I’m sorry, but I have to help the others.”
She thought she saw understanding in the man’s eyes but she knew she was hoping for it more than anything. She wanted him to tell her it was okay for her to leave him behind and that she shouldn’t feel guilty, but as she grabbed her rifle and ran back to the barricade, she knew that if he didn’t make it, she’d always have it on her conscience. Then again, she’d have it on her conscience if anyone else was shot because she was too busy to help them. Whatever she did that day, she knew it was going to stay with her for a lifetime.
As she made it to the barricade, she had a clearer view of what was happening. A battered minivan and several cars were crawling closer to them, flanked by prisoners on foot. Her eyes scanned over the enemy and she was certain she could see the evil in them just by looking at their faces. She could see the murderous look in their eyes. She swallowed. It was either kill or be killed. They were murderers. They’d take joy in seeing her die.
But she wanted them gone just as badly.
Aby thought they could take the truck and the cars. They wouldn’t be a problem. She aimed her rifle, ready for a showdown. But then she saw something that made her heart stop.
In the distance, there were more vehicles coming. The kind of vehicles that could turn their barricade into dust.
They were obviously once used for carrying heavy cargo, but the semi trucks coming toward them now only consisted of the cab. Still, a vehicle that size could plough through their defenses in seconds. They were heavier than any of the other vehicles put together. Aby’s heart was racing. How the hell were they supposed to compete? They had so many fewer allies, so many less weapons, so much less in the way of defense. They’d be relatively safe from ranged attacks, but the second anyone got close, they were doomed.
Aby could barely hear herself think over the sound of bullets flying, but when she glanced at Perry, she could see the concern on his face reflected hers. He knew that they were screwed. But Aby also knew that neither of them were going to give up. No one on the wall was. They were fighting for the only things they had left. If they were run out of the town, they might as well have been dead anyway. They needed Dent to stay alive. If that meant fighting to the death for it, then that was the way it was going to go.
Aby felt a pang in her heart as she wished Jake was by her side. She wanted to fight this battle with him, especially if it was destined to be their last. But he was nowhere to be seen and she had a fight to win.
“Aim for the drivers and the wheels!” Perry cried out, “That’s the only way to stop them!”
Aby did as she was told. She aimed at the approaching car and shot several times, but she wasn’t skilled enough to hit the wheels, and she clearly wasn’t going to be able to hit the drivers. Knowing that she was too amateur to hit the main targets, she switched to aiming at the walking prisoners flanking the cars. She felt relief as her first shot hit a target, felling him with a single bullet. She knew it was mostly luck, but if luck was on her side she was more than willing to take it.
Still, her anxiety was starting to get the better of her. Her hands were shaking and her vision was blurred by tears. She was gasping for air, but her lungs never seemed satisfied. She ducked down for a moment to get herself together. She closed her eyes and thought about what Jake would tell her.
Deep breath, Aby. Keep your gun as steady as you can. Absorb the gun’s recoil. Slow and even trigger pull. Don’t give up. If you believe you can do it, you can.
She silently thanked Jake, even though he was only in her head. By the time she resurfaced to shoot through the barrier, her hands were steadier. Even though the prisoners were far too close for comfort now, she felt a sense of calm wash over her. The worst that could happen was she could die. The best that could happen was that she survived, and so did her friends. But that would only happen if she was willing to fight bloody.
So she did.
After she’d managed to take a few of the walking prisoners down, she felt more confident about turning her attention to the cars. She aimed at the driver in the closest vehicle to her, which was still slowly trundling along. One idiot in the passenger seat had the terrible idea of leaning out to try and shoot at the barricade, and Aby hit her first headshot on him. It felt good being in control, but the feeling soon went away. As she tried to shoot the driver, her bullets did nothing more than crack the windscreen. It was a huge waste of ammo to keep trying, she realized. Cursing, she reverted to her old tactic, hoping that the vehicle would do little against their barricade anyway.
That mentality wouldn’t help when the semi trucks arrived, though. She knew that as a fact. If they managed to reach them, the barricade would be destroyed in moments. Even though they only had a total of three casualties on their side, and they’d taken down a lot of the prisoners, they were still massively outnumbered. They were still at the disadvantage, even though they were well prepared. Perhaps if the city folk hadn’t attacked, they’d be winning now.
But there was no sense thinking about what could’ve been. Aby gritted her teeth and continued to fire at the men. Darkly, she thought she’d rather be taken down by a bullet right then than face what would happen when they all tried to make it through into the town.
Some were already trying. Now that they were at closer range, some were trying to scale the tall barricade to get through. Since there were only a few bothering to try, Perry managed to shoot them down with ease, but without his expert shot aimed on the approaching attackers, the other quickly advanced toward the barricade. At short range, their weapons were useless. Soon enough, some were beginning to make it over the walls and so began hand to hand combat with knives and axes and handheld weaponry.
Aby withdrew her gun, unsure what to do. It seemed that their best bet was to move back a little and pick off the ones scaling the barricade, but there was too much chaos now to communicate her idea to the others. Behind her in the town, there was shooting and screaming and Aby’s heart stopped. Some of the prisoners must’ve gone the long way around and hit the weak spot in their defenses. If they had made it inside the town already, then there was a chance the battle couldn’t be won. There were so many of them coming from so many different places. How were they supposed to defend themselves now?
“Retreat!” Perry cried out, but it was too late. He was engaged in hand to hand combat within seco
nds. Aby’s head whipped from side to side frantically. She didn’t know where to begin.
And then her decision was made for her. A man in his prison outfit made it over the wall. He was practically foaming at the mouth, ready for a battle to begin. His eyes locked on Aby and he grinned, holding up a kitchen knife with malice. Aby backed up slowly, terrified. Her rifle was of no use at such close range. She wanted to beg the man for mercy, but she didn’t see how it would help. He clearly wanted to hurt her.
But she wasn’t going to let that happen.
There was a look in his eyes as he crept closer to her. It was animalistic and dark and completely terrifying. Aby held her breath, backing up even more. She needed to stay focussed. She couldn’t let any of his scare tactics throw her off or she’d be dead in a minute. He was bigger, but that didn’t necessarily mean better.
He let out a feral cry as he launched himself in Aby’s direction. She only just had the time to duck away from him as his knife sliced through the air. She scrambled back to her feet, aiming to kick his groin, but he slashed the knife again, cutting her leg. She winced, but it was only a scratch. She couldn’t let it distract her. As he tried to attack her once again, she ran. She needed time to think of a plan and she thought it was likely she was quicker than his lumbering body.
She ran until she was out of the thick of it all, but she had no weapon. She’d need to use his own weapon against her. She whirled around and saw that he was a few metres behind her. Crouching a little, she prepared herself to attack.
Don’t do this, don’t do this, don’t do this her mind told her. It was one thing shooting someone from afar, but what she planned to do next was going to haunt her for a lifetime. But she had to do it. If she didn’t, she’d end up dead.
The man’s eyes widened as she began to run at him. He didn’t have time to react before she kicked out at his groin while grabbing at his wrist at the same time. She wrestled the knife from his grasp as he bent double with pain from her kick. In a moment, the knife was in her hands. And then she was using it. Over and over, she stabbed at the man’s neck, blood spurting out like a fountain. She cried out in horror, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She couldn’t stop until she was sure he was dead. He tried to cover the wound with his hand, like stopping the blood would prevent his death, but of course, it was useless. All it resulted in was his fingers getting caught in the vicious stabbing.
By the time he collapsed to the ground, Aby was sobbing. She’d never done anything so horrific. But there were more and more prisoners swarming the town. She didn’t have time to cry. She didn’t have time to consider how she’d just changed herself forever. She only had time to register one thing.
Now she was just as bad as the prisoners who had stormed the town.
Eighteen
Jake
Jake kept pounding his fist on the door to the red house, hoping for some kind of miracle. He could see that the town was already flooded with prisoners, and he knew the man he’d sought help for was likely dead already, but he had to try. He would rather try and fail than give up entirely.
But there was no answer. He tried the doorknob and it was open already. Hoping to find someone indoors, he rushed through the house, looking through every nook and cranny to find someone, anyone, that might be able to help.
Upstairs, he saw that the door to a wardrobe in the master bedroom was slightly ajar. Flinging it open, he heard a scream from within and was faced with a young woman clutching a child. He shushed her quickly. The last thing they wanted was to attract any attention from any of the prisoners.
“Are you the nurse? We need help, there are people injured out there…”
The woman, regaining her composure, shook her head furiously.
“She’s not here...she left to go and help someone after the fight...please shut the door...we don’t want anyone to find us…”
Jake wanted to scream that she was selfish. Selfish for hiding away while everyone fought for her safety instead. But when he saw the child held close to her, he understood. She was being a good mother. She was much less likely to die if she stayed where she was. He sighed and closed the door to the wardrobe for her. There wasn’t much he could do if she was found by someone else, but that wasn’t his problem now. She’d made her choice, just like he’d made his to stay and fight. He didn’t know whether he would live or die, and he didn’t know if his fiance and friends would make it through. The odds were stacked against them. But he rushed back out of the house anyway. He was determined to find the nurse if it was the last thing he did.
He rushed back out of the house, but was immediately greeted by two prisoners. They were huge men standing side by side, looking hungry for blood. Hastily, Jake took his Glock from his belt and shot the first one that moved. The other let out a loud cry and rushed at him, but Jake managed to get out of the way of his lumbering form, vaulting the fence of the house and heading through an alleyway.
He had no idea where to look for the nurse, but the street he was on was pretty much abandoned, aside from the dead lying in the road. He knocked on a few houses without any answer before he reached one in the middle of the street. He knocked on the door and someone opened it, shoving the barrel of a shotgun in his face. Jake’s heart leapt and he put his hands up in surrender.
“Perry sent me!” he cried out desperately. “Don’t shoot.”
The man holding the gun was around his own age, but had the fury in his eyes of a man who’d endured years of pain, like a war veteran. He seemed to have no intention of backing down. “I don’t know your face...you’re not from here. How do I know you’re one of us?”
“John and Steve brought me here today...I’ve fought for you people,” Jake snapped. “Meanwhile, you’re cowering away in your home…”
The man pressed the barrell right up against Jake’s forehead. “Cowering in my home? This isn’t my home...the prisoners destroyed that. They broke in and they took everything from me…”
Jake felt bad for going at the man when he was clearly scared, but his house was the least of Jake’s problems. He shook his head.
“Look, man, we’re looking for the nurse. We need her. People are dying out here…”
“You want the nurse?” he snarled. “Well, she’s my wife. And she’s lying dead on the street.”
Jake turned in horror and saw a pretty young woman lying near the gate to the house. Her dress was stained with blood. Her eyes were still open and a shotgun wound had hollowed out her chest. Jake felt his entire body give in to the hopelessness of it all. He’d thought they had a glimmer of hope. He’d thought that somehow, she was the answer to all of their problems. And now she was lying dead on the street.
The man in the house shut the door before Jake even had a chance to apologize for his actions. It was too late to do anything to help the man. He still had friends out there who he could help, but he was just one man, and it felt like he was fighting a million. The past day had been nothing but an uphill battle. It would be so easy just to cave in. To curl up in a ball and wait to die. Hadn’t he suffered enough without having to live in a world where everyone was just fighting all the time?
But then Aby came to his mind and he knew there was no way he was stopping now. He had to get back to her and try to keep her safe. He had to make sure she was still alive. She was something to live for, at least. She gave him a purpose in life, a reason to carry on. Even in the hopelessness of it all, she was still the candle lighting his way.
So he rolled back his shoulders. He took a deep breath. He watched as two men rounded the corner and spotted him. They were armed with knives, but no guns. As they ran at him, he prepared to kill.
He grabbed an abandoned rifle from the nurse and aimed it directly at one of the men. Without hesitation, he shot the bullet straight through his head. As he collapsed and the other man ran at him with a war cry, he lifted the rifle and brought it down hard on his attacker’s head. The man went down on his knees after the second hit and J
ake continued to bash at him. He heard the skull crack. The man crumpled in a heap.
Jake had plenty more where that came from. He felt like he was running on fumes, but he was so angry that he felt he could kill a whole army of escaped prisoners if he had to. That was what would keep him going. He would find Aby and Megan, if he could, and then he’d grab their car and drive them out of there. Maybe he’d be able to save a few others along the way. But they were doomed if they stayed. His anger wouldn’t fuel him for long enough to save the whole town. They had to pick up the pieces and get as far away as possible.
As he crossed back through the opposite street, there was chaos everywhere. Vehicles had crashed into houses, spilling out whooping prisoners who were ready for blood. There were several fires burning. Jake saw that the vehicles were coming from the opposite direction of the barricade. Perhaps they’d gone off road and crashed through the forest, or made it through from the opposite end of town. But it also meant that Aby’s barricade might still be intact.
He ran as hard as he could. He pushed through his tiredness, telling himself that finding Aby alive would be worth the pain in his body and the anger in his heart. But when he reached the barricade, there was no sign of her at all. In fact, he couldn’t see a single familiar face among the dead or those who were still fighting. They seemed to largely ignore his presence, like he didn’t quite belong among the defenders or the enemy. No one was desperately trying to seek him out, at least.
It might be his only chance to run for his life, he realized, but he didn’t want to leave Aby behind. Not until he knew what had happened to her. Still, he couldn’t stay where he was if he wanted to live. Forcing his aching body to move again, he sprinted toward the woods. If the prisoners were in fact coming from there then he’d be in big trouble, but he knew that if Aby had gone anywhere, it would be there or Perry’s house, the two places that might be worth hiding in. No one would expect them to hide out in the open, so the wooded area seemed like a risky, but good bet.
The End of the World Series | Book 2 | Survive The Onslaught Page 10