by Jack Hunt
“What? Why me?”
“Because you slow people down, fat boy,” Billy said.
Ricky got up and started heading for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my sister. When you guys are done arguing, I’ll meet you over there.” With that said he disappeared around the corner. There was no time for further arguments. Sam agreed to go with Kiera and Ally while Corey went with the others.
“Any rules of engagement?” Corey asked the others as if they knew.
“Yeah, if you see the insane, run,” Billy said with a grin as he followed Sam out.
When they made it outside, it was quiet, too quiet. Sam held the door open and looked out into the backyard. Laundry that had been hung on a clothesline blew in the wind obstructing his view of the gate.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Remember, cover the skin on your hands,” Sam said. “You ready?”
Kiera tore some of her clothing and wrapped it around her hands. She took another portion and wrapped it around the lower part of her face like a bandana. The others did the same.
Luke shook his head. “Maybe we should hang back.”
Billy pushed his way past Sam. “Enough screwing around, let’s go fuck some people up.”
As they streamed out of the house into the yard all of them were on high alert.
Back in Hayden, Murphy tossed a balled piece of paper at the wall, yelled furiously and then flipped over a table sending a stack of books and a computer to the ground.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Kate went over to the crumpled paper and read it. It was a letter from Ally to her father to let him know where she had gone and that Kiera and Corey had gone with her.
“I thought I raised her better than this.” He banged his fist into the wall. “It’s Sam. I specifically told him not to go and he went and did the opposite.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
Without saying another word, Murphy stormed out of the house and headed for a truck. He began bellowing orders to several of the security guards to fill it with gas and load it up with rifles, ammo and supplies that would last for seventy-two hours.
“We’ll need to get approval.”
“Approval? I’m giving it to you,” Murphy replied.
“Hank, sir,” one of them spoke into the handheld.
Murphy hopped down from the truck and took the handheld off the man.
“Hank. You there?”
There was a few seconds of delay before he replied.
“Yep, go ahead.”
Murphy filled him in on the situation and told him he was going to be heading to Mount Pleasant. He wanted to take a group of ten people with him for additional security.
“Can’t do it. If you want to go, fine, but we have already taken a loss. There is no way in good faith I can give the go-ahead.”
“But it’s my kid I’m talking about here, and Kate’s.”
“Sorry, Murph.”
Murphy squeezed the handheld radio and then handed it back to the security guard.
“Let’s go,” he shouted to Kate and she hopped in. It would just be the two of them. After a short delay, they were about to pull out when security stopped them.
“We’ve been told that no vehicles are to leave the community.”
“I have approval.”
“Not for this vehicle,” Hank said appearing off to his left. Murphy had just about had enough of listening to this.
“Fuck the regulations. I need to cover distance fast and right now you are holding me up.”
“Murphy, I’m not trying to be an asshole here but we all know the risks of going out there. We’ve already lost a large number of people. The people here can’t handle another wave of loss.”
Murphy stepped out of the vehicle and walked up to Hank. “My daughter is out there. The same people that helped you are liable to get themselves killed and you want to stand here and lecture me? They risked their lives to regain this town for what? To have you turn away when they need your help?”
“Don’t play that card, Murphy. We have rules here. Had they listened and abided by them, they would be safe right now. I am not responsible once they leave the confines of this community. As much as I appreciate what they did to help, we were going to do it with or without them. Now if you want to take a couple of the horses then go ahead but the vehicle is staying here.”
Murphy looked at Hank with death in his eyes. “Fine.” There was so much he wanted to say in that moment but instead he chose to hold his tongue and take what was being offered. He didn’t blame Hank. There were more people to think about than just a few. They were looking to Hank to lead the community and create stability through rules and right now, Sam and the others had broken those rules.
“When you get back, we’ll need to talk about the future of your group,” Hank said.
“Our group? What? You thinking of kicking us out?”
“You weren’t here in the beginning.”
Murphy stared at him. He couldn’t believe what he was saying.
How quickly people formed cliques and forced others out if they differed from them. In times of desperation people came together but as soon as they were comfortable and the wolves weren’t banging at their door, they returned to showing their true colors.
Two security guards went and collected the horses. Murphy and Shaw slung their bags over before mounting them. Murphy gave Hank one last look before they rode out.
“Yaaah!” Murphy said, making the horse break into a gallop.
Sam stared through the scope on the AR at the corner of a house before he waved Ally, Kiera and Ricky forward. They had been doing this for the past ten minutes. Had there not been the threat of being attacked, they could have reached his home in a matter of minutes but they had to keep shifting their position. Luke, Billy and Corey had headed off in the direction of Tom’s place. Sam thought it would have taken a lot of convincing to get Luke to stay and help but when he realized that no one was going to leave, he knew his chances were better with the group.
“Do you see any?” Ally said.
“Over there. Two o’clock.”
Slowly and surely they moved like a snake through the streets until they reached Ricky’s home. They entered through the back gate and approached the rear door. The glass was smashed and there was blood all over the floor. Ricky stayed back between Ally and Sam while Kiera took the rear. He’d never seen how she would react in a situation of stress. The others he knew could handle themselves but Kiera was a wild card. Ally had reassured him that she had taken handgun training back in Hayden. She had proven that when push came to shove she could take someone down if required. Training was one thing. Reality was another. Sam moved into the house. The first room was the kitchen. Sam winced at the sight on the floor. A German shepherd dog had been killed. Its stomach contents were laid out on the floor, some of it had bite marks. Ally tried to shield Ricky’s eyes but he saw it and began to cry. The kid was only eight and the dog had meant the world to him. Through the kitchen, down the hall and inside the living room was Ricky’s mother with a large axe in her back. Her clothes had been torn and portions of her flesh had been stripped away from the muscle. Sam was fast to close the door. Seeing a dog dead was one thing, seeing your parent filleted was something that would scar him for life.
“What’s in there?”
“It’s empty,” Sam replied. He motioned to the stairs and they began to make their ascent while trying their best not to place their feet where it creaked. It was virtually impossible. Every step was met with a squeak. Sam slung his assault rifle around his back and pulled a large bowie knife out. He had already instructed the other two that they were only to use their weapons if required. Though there was danger in getting too close to the insane, a bullet would attract more and right now they needed time to clear each of the rooms.
When he made it to the top of the stairs he raised a finger to indicate to the o
thers to hold position. First he went into the bathroom. It was empty. He then tried the parents’ room. Nothing. Ricky mouthed something and pointed in the direction of the next room. Sam focused on his breathing and moved slowly towards the door. He placed his hand on the knob and turned it hoping that it wouldn’t make a noise. The moment he opened the door, he heard something move inside. It was fast and sounded like someone scampering across the carpet. The room was dark because the curtains were closed and outside was overcast. He took a couple of deep breaths and then stepped in. Immediately to his left was a dresser drawer covered in bracelets and torn-out pieces of paper from girls’ magazines. Across from that was a bed with a pink bedspread and white flowers. A slatted closet door was covered in blood and broken. Sam readjusted his grip on the knife, holding the blade out in front of him.
Again, he heard movement in the darkness. Sam held up his hand to tell the others to stay back. His heart slammed against his chest and he could hear blood rushing in his ears. Come on, you fucker! Then, in an instant a figure came out of the darkness rushing at him. It let out a horrifying scream. His survival instincts kicked in and he lunged forward with the blade and felt it make impact. A groan came from the shadowy figure, then as he pulled the blade it collapsed to the floor. As a band of daylight illuminated the figure, he saw it was a small girl. She couldn’t have been more than twelve years of age.
“Sophia!” Ricky pushed his way in and tried to go towards the body of his dead sister but Sam held him back. He kicked and screamed. “Why? Why?”
“She was changed, Ricky. That’s not her.”
Sam pushed her body over with his foot. Her eyes were bloodshot red and her face was covered in blood. Ally came in and pulled Ricky away. He was sobbing harder than any kid he’d ever seen. In a period of twenty-four hours Ricky had lost his entire family. How many others could say the same? This wasn’t just about a white supremacist group inflicting terror on America. They couldn’t have known what was contained inside those nuke suitcases. Smuggled into the USA back in the Cold War, the suitcases had found their way onto the black market and eventually ended up in the hands of those looking to right the wrongs of America, but in doing so they had unleashed something far worse.
Kiera looked at Sam and placed her hand on his shoulder. “There was nothing you could have done.”
7
“Have they gone?” Corey asked.
All three of them had made it a block before they were spotted by the insane. Billy was curled over nursing a stitch and a slightly bruised ego. He’d been all talk for the first five minutes, saying he was going to fuck them up and whatnot. The moment they let out a scream, he nearly wet himself.
“Keep it down.” Luke peered out from behind some drapes that smelled of cigarettes. They had been running non-stop, going through the backs of yards, over fences and through several homes.
“This was a bad idea,” Corey said.
“I told you, but no one listens to me.”
Billy was panting hard but not hard enough that he couldn’t crack some wiseass joke about Luke’s feelings being hurt.
“Careful.”
“Or what?” Billy said stepping up to him. Luke wasn’t in the mood for a pissing match. He wanted to get in, and find Tom, or at least see that he was dead — anything that would give Sam and the others a reason to leave this godforsaken town.
Corey slumped down against the wall. “So what do you think caused them to go mad? I mean they are like dogs with rabies.”
“A dog with rabies is disoriented, staggers and is weak.”
“I mean the kind of rabies that Cujo had. You know, foaming at the mouth, looking as though he wanted to snap shit up.”
Luke pulled away from the window and began looking around the abandoned house. It had been torn apart, graffitied and had massive chunks taken out of the drywall.
“Whatever it is, when they are shot, they don’t get up again. That’s all that matters.”
“And you know this because?”
“Because the two that Ally shot were still laying there.”
“And how do you explain the flesh eating?”
“I don’t think they are interested in eating, as much as going berserk.” He snorted.
Billy tossed a piece of a broken statue against the wall. “Crazy, isn’t it? Makes you wonder about the commie bastards that created it. They were obviously smart. Why bother killing thousands when you can murder millions by releasing a biological weapon that fucks up a person’s mind and makes them turn on each other? I kind of wish they were zombies, at least they wouldn’t be able to think, carry a weapon or climb.”
“Zombies can climb, dude,” Corey said. “World War Z. Didn’t you ever see that movie? Those suckers clambered up each other like a ladder.”
“Oh please. That was a pile of steamy horse crap. The real Z’s are the ones created by George Romero. The slow ones that dragged ass and groaned like mental patients.”
“Would you two shut the hell up? I think we’ve established these are not zombies, vampires or anything supernatural. It’s a virus, a disease, a fucking biological weapon that is being passed from person to person by way of blood or saliva.”
Billy looked down at his arms. “Crap, I hope they didn’t get any on me. One of them got real close when we were going over that fence. White froth was spewing all over the place. He could have painted a mural with the shit that was coming out of his mouth.”
Corey came over and pointed. “What’s that on you?”
“Where, where?” Billy began hopping around as though a spider had landed on his back. Corey started cracking up laughing and Billy punched him in the side of the arm.
“Asshole.”
“Should have seen your face.”
Luke went back to the window and looked out. “You know the one thing that worries me?”
“What?”
“Can they think like us?” He looked at both of them and they stared back blankly. “Well, they can grip a weapon and climb, what else are they capable of?”
Billy snorted. “Are you suggesting they’re smart? No. Hell, they didn’t see us bolt in here, now did they?”
Corey went over to where Luke was to get a better view of the street. “The question that begs to be asked is why do more of them come out at night? And if not all of them are out in the daylight, are they different from each other? And where are the others hiding?”
Luke shrugged. “I don’t know but I’m not sticking around to find out. Let’s go.”
He shouldered his AR-15 and sauntered out of the living room. As he was walking to the back door, one of the other two must have stepped on glass as the noise echoed in the emptiness of the house. He turned to say something to Corey when the window on the back door was smashed.
“Upstairs, now!” Luke yelled firing two rounds through the doorway. The first one hit a woman in the face and she collapsed, the next hit the shoulder of the guy behind her. Corey and Billy double-timed it up just as the door burst open. Luke unloaded a full magazine into the mob as they entered, all the while backing up the stairs. By the time he tossed that magazine and threw another one in, the walls were covered in blood splatter.
“In here,” Corey motioned to Luke as he rushed into the room. The very second he entered, all three of them pushed a bed up against the door, and then tossed a set of drawers on top. Billy went over to the window and shifted it up. Down below there had to have been at least twenty of them pushing into the house. It was like a mosh pit. Billy holstered the two handguns he had and crawled out the window. The other two followed suit. It was a semi-detached house. Billy lunged himself off the ledge onto the gutter pipe and began climbing up to the roof. The noise inside the bedroom intensified as the insane used an axe to force their way in.
Corey was gripping the side with fear and unable to move.
“Jump,” Luke said.
“I can’t.”
He was scared of heights and wasn’t even looking down
. He stared at the wall ahead of him. All the while the insane were making progress on the door. Luke had a good mind to toss Corey off that ledge. He would look at Corey and then inside the window. If he didn’t move it now, they were going to come through that door and both of them would be dead.
“If you don’t move right now, I will shoot you.”
Luke meant it too. He wasn’t going to die because the guy suffered from a fear of heights. There was far worse coming through the door. Corey didn’t believe him until Luke pulled his handgun and aimed it at him. “Three, two…”
Before he made it to one, Corey jumped. When he grabbed the pipe, one hand slipped and Billy slid down and grabbed a hold of him by the back of his collar. He groaned as he struggled to hold on.
“Holy shit, man, you really need to lose some weight.”
They began ascending after Luke joined them. When they had scrambled to the top they didn’t wait for the freaks to follow. They went over the peak of the roof and down to the other side. On the ground at the front and the back were now even more pushing their way in.
“Oh shit,” Luke yelled. Corey went back up and noticed that several of the insane were coming up the pipe. He aimed and fired.
“Come on, guys, we need to get off this.”
“Oh you think?” Billy hollered back as he made his way across to the other side to see if it was clear there. It wasn’t. They were trapped.
“We can hold them off for a while but I’m going to be out of ammo soon.”
It took a great deal of effort on Ally’s part to convince Ricky to leave the house. All he had ever known was gone now. The house felt empty, even though they were surrounded by memories in frames.
It was the noise of gunfire that caught their attention. By now they assumed the other three would have made it to Tom’s home. Within seconds of getting outside they could see what was going on.
They tried to make it as close as they could without giving away their position. Crouched down at the corner of a home, Sam looked on as the insane clambered up the pipe.
“We need to draw them away.”