“Everybody calm down. As I see it, whoever they are, they’re trying to funnel us down the off-ramp. That means we’re okay for the moment,” Jay said as she kept looking. “We really need some binoculars.” Jon reached in the truck and tapped Jay on the shoulder with a pair. “I got these when I went looking for the radios.”
Jay took the 10x42 Nikons and chuckled, “What else did you find?”
“Oh, just some stuff,” Jon said noncommittally.
As she glassed the area on both sides of the off-ramp, Jay thought she saw some movement. She kept moving the binoculars without stopping on the spot. “There’s someone about halfway down, under that oak tree. Don’t everyone look at once.” And of course everyone looked at once. “I could put a round in there to see if we could flush them out?” Jon said as he shouldered the .308 rifle Auddy had liberated from Charlie’s gun shop.
“No, if we do that then we are the hostiles, and they know that for sure. If by some strange stretch of the imagination these people are legit, then we don’t want to start a firefight.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Jon asked.
Auddy looked from her mom to Jon, then at Gwenn. “I say we get back in our vehicles and turn around, find a way around to the west. We won’t die if we don’t get in a battle, right?” She continued to glance at each of them, judging their reaction. To Auddy’s surprise, they not only looked like they were contemplating her suggestion, they looked like they might buy into it.
“If they let us go from here without a fight, then yes, I agree,” Jon said. “But we need a plan if they attack as we’re turning around.”
Jay nodded her head. “How’s this sound?” And she laid out a planned retreat.
Gwenn went to Jay’s SUV and Auddy went to her truck. They both got in and started the engines. Jon was standing behind his open door with his rifle at the ready. Jay was standing in the bed, scanning the surrounding area. Jon gave the signal to Auddy and she performed a three-point turn and drove up to where Jon was standing. Gwenn did the same and pulled up on the other side of Jon’s truck. In this position, both Auddy and Gwenn were facing east, and Jon’s truck was facing west. No one moved and Jon talked to all three of the girls in a low voice. “You see anything Jay?”
“I got nothing moving.” She paid close attention to the tree where they thought they saw movement before. “Auddy, Gwenn, how about your way?” They both replied negatively. “Okay, I’m going to ease into my truck in just a second here and we are going to head back the way we came. If anyone starts shooting at us, just keep driving. If your vehicle becomes disabled, get out and take shelter and wait for Jay and I to come get you. Everybody ready?” You could almost smell the adrenaline in the air. Jon slid into his seat and both Auddy and Gwenn drove back up the road. “Get down in the bed of the truck Jay,” Jon said loud enough for her to hear.
He leaned a little right to look into his sideview mirror on the passenger side when the windshield exploded. He didn’t bother turning around; he hit the gas, the back wheels spun an instant before catching the pavement, and the truck shot backward. Jay held on as best she could but her head banged into the front of the bed.
Two people rose up on either side of the road and began firing at Auddy and Gwenn. The guy on Gwenn’s side of the road stood behind a guardrail. He must have thought that it provided him with protection from being run over. He was half right. Gwenn was going about forty when she plowed into the guardrail where he stood. It was a glancing blow but it sent the man flying through the air. It smashed the left front fender of Jay’s SUV, but it kept rolling, so Gwenn just kept rolling too. The person on Auddy’s side was behind a four-foot-tall concrete abutment; even if she drove into it head on it would probably do worse to her old truck than it would the gunman. She was not beyond a bluff though and the guy had already seen his partner go flying. She steered toward him and laid on the horn. The guy turned and ran.
Jon drove in reverse for a couple hundred feet, then yelled through the back window, “Hold on!” He hit the brakes and spun the wheel to the right. The truck whipped around in a violent sliding skid that ended with the truck on its two left tires before banging back to the ground. Jon hadn’t seen Jay fly out, so he hoped she was still on board. He jammed the selector to drive and tried to stick his foot through the floor.
He looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see a shooter standing on the overpass. Then the rear window blew in and the mirror disappeared with it. He couldn’t imagine that Jay had held on through all that and began screaming for her. He almost peed his pants when someone grabbed his shoulder.
When Jon had told her to get down, Jay did. She slid underneath the tie strap that Jon had used to hold down the gear in the bed. When he pulled the high-speed bat turn, she folded in half around the tie strap, thinking the entire time that it would break and send her flying. It didn’t though, and other than a nice-size knot on the back of her head she was okay.
She was about to sit up when the rear window shattered and Jon hit the accelerator again. She recovered and sent a couple of shots downrange toward the guy on the overpass, but was sure she didn’t hit anything. She crawled through the back window and landed on the glass spread out all over the back seat.
Jon was yelling for her when she reached up and grabbed him by the shoulder. The truck slew from one side of the road to the other and nearly crashed. “AGwaAwushEAbgb!” he screamed at her. Or something like that, it was incomprehensible at best. When he finally got control of himself and the truck, he turned to see her laughing hysterically.
“What the fuck is so funny!” he yelled over the sound of the wind rushing through the truck. She just shook her head, pointed up the road, and continued to laugh. Ahead they saw Auddy and Gwenn, pulled off the side of the road with their rifles pointing back toward them.
Jay quit laughing and looked back. A single motorcycle was bearing down on them with a passenger. The passenger had a gun pointed at them. Jay rested the AR15 on the back of the seat, drew a breath, and slowly exhaled, squeezing the trigger throughout the process. The AR bucked just a bit and the driver’s head went back, smacking the passenger behind him. They both came off the bike, which remained upright and kept coming. The guy who’d been on the back got up and started running back toward the roadblock. “Stop,” Jay yelled to Jon.
Jon slammed on the brakes, throwing her into the back of the front seats. She watched the bike go off the road into the grass and fall over. “Back up, back up!” Jon had no idea what was happening as he couldn’t see shit with his mirror gone. He threw the truck in reverse and hauled ass backward again. “That’s good, stop!” Jay had made it back into the bed of the truck while he was backing up. Jon eased to a stop and watched as Jay ran off the road, bent over, and struggled to pick something up.
“Woo-hoo!” she yelled, and then Jon saw her coming back onto the road riding a Harley. It looked like one of the handlebars was a little bent, but she roared up the road and flew right past him. He looked back toward the roadblock and saw no other pursuit.
He put the truck into gear and drove to where all three women were hugging each other. After a few minutes, they decided which way to detour and set out on the road, Jay leading the way on the somewhat gnarly Harley.
Chapter 43
Day 11
South of Atlanta
Abe Dawson
Abe took off his pack and sat down on a handy log. He wondered if Dr. Pearson had figured out that he had loaded a virus into the computer system back at the CDC. He smiled to himself. That pompous ass had gone off project. Abe had been installed in his position to make sure that certain secrets remained so.
Dr. Pearson was part of those who were read into the project, but he’d become a liability. The entire complex was compromised; the mission no longer mattered, as far as Dr. Pearson was concerned. Dawson basically pulled the plug.
Brian kept looking at the screen as the turned kept massing. Something wasn’t right. He had specified tha
t twenty cage doors be released. That would be sixty more of the turned that would be freed. What he saw on the monitor was more than sixty. The general would have his ass if he let them all escape. They needed subjects to do research on. He ran out of the command center and said over his shoulder as he went, “Lana, stay here and monitor the cameras.”
He needed to close the door on the emergency stairway on level two. He had plenty of time; the turned wouldn’t be able to climb to the second level for at least ten minutes. He got off the elevator on the second level and went to where he’d left Eric. There were some bloody clothes, a few bones, and a boot holding the door open. He pushed the door closed and shook the handle. He was surprised when it came open. He picked up the phone on the wall and called Lana in the command center. “Lana, scroll to the stairwell and highlight the entire thing, then hit the lockdown button to the right.” He waited while he heard her scrambling around, typing furiously.
“Ummm, Doctor, I did what you said, but it turns green again as soon as I release the button.”
“No, you stupid bitch, push the lockdown button!”
She began to cry. “I am sir, it’s not working.”
“Oh, for chrissake, I have to do every fucking thing around here.” He slammed the phone down and walked back to the elevator. He pushed the button and waited. He was starting to become concerned after a minute when the elevator had not arrived. He did what everyone does. He pushed the button several more times. He even put his ear up to the door to listen for the sound of the car moving. He heard nothing.
He suddenly realized that the elevator was not coming. He turned and ran for the stairwell. He flung the door open and bound up the stairs, frantic to make it to the first level. He looked over the edge of the rail as he cleared the last step. The turned were only three levels down and they were shrieking their rage.
He ran the length of the hall and skidded to a stop at the command center. He crossed the room to find Lana sitting at the desk. She continued to push the lockdown button. The stairwell would blink red three times, then turn green. She pushed it again; red three times, then green. He pushed her aside, went to a command-line prompt, and entered the master code for a complex-wide lockdown. It would override all other commands and shut the facility down completely. It would be a pain in the ass to undo, but he felt it was necessary.
Alarms began blaring and he could see the outside window barriers coming down. They were three-quarter-inch hardened steel and strong enough to thwart a low-yield nuclear blast. The screen showed all systems blinking in red. The alarms went silent. The blast doors began to rise. The system showed the facility all in green. “What in the hell is going on here?”
Lana began to scream, and he was about to backhand her and tell her to shut up when he saw what she saw. The turned were boiling out of the stairwell on their level.
“Help me Lana.” He pushed the desk against the door, but Lana just stood there screaming. He shoved with all his strength. It wasn’t enough. At first, the turned only got an arm in the door. Then a second one pushed its arm through the gap. Soon it was apparent that he wouldn’t be able to keep them out.
“Oh my God, what have I done? What have I done?” he wailed, backpedaling away from the desk and across the room. The desk followed him, sliding across the floor as the turned pushed through the door. He heard a gun go off and turned to see that Lana had shot herself in the head. He scrambled toward her, intent on following suit.
He felt the hand close around his ankle and drag him backward. Then he felt something land heavily on his back. Then he felt the burning pain as the first of the turned bit into his leg, then the second latched onto his shoulder. He screamed, but that only increased their feeding frenzy. He felt every bite, so many bites. He prayed for unconsciousness to take him, but God must have taken the day off. Somehow he’d been rolled over and he saw them tearing at his abdomen. They gorged on his intestines as he watched. Then others ripped out his organs. As a doctor of medicine, he recognized each one. There was his stomach. There was his liver. A turned held a kidney in his hand and ripped into it like it was jerky. The last thing Doctor Brian Pearson ever saw was a large male holding his heart over his chest, then taking the whole thing in his gaping mouth.
Chapter 44
Day 11
Sewer system
Atlanta, GA
Susan, Julian & Simon
It was late afternoon when the trio made it out of the discharge tunnel. They sat on the bank of the Chattahoochee River taking a break. Susan was worried that Julian would leave her now that he didn’t need her as a guide. Simon worried that Susan would leave them now that they were out of the tunnels. And Julian was worried that he’d never figure out a way to fix the mess that had started when he created the vaccine.
They sat quietly while Simon threw a stone into the river every now and then. “So what now?” Susan finally asked.
Julian looked at her, his forehead wrinkled in thought. “I need to get back to my lab in Morgantown. Now that I know the CDC changed the vaccine, there may be a way for me to combat it.”
“I wasn’t asking about that. What now, with us?” She fixed him with a gaze that demanded he look at her.
“Ahhhh, ummm, I thought that was obvious?” Julian blushed under her stare.
“Simon, when you grow up, make sure you always ask a woman if she’d like to accompany you. That way she doesn’t feel like an idiot for asking.” Simon looked from Susan to Julian, then back again.
“Susan, would you please go with us to Morgantown?” Julian asked.
“I would love to go with you to Morgantown, Dr. Ruegg, of course.”
“You guys are nutty,” Simon said, shaking his head.
That drew a laugh from both adults. “You are right son,” Julian said.
They discussed the best plan of action. They’d used up a good portion of the day and needed to find shelter for the night. They gathered up their meager belongings and followed the river north.
Julian concluded that traveling by boat would not be an option. The river, while beautiful, had a strong current. Everywhere he looked, big granite rocks jutted from the water. Even traveling south with the current by kayak would take skill. Going north you would need a motorboat and knowledge of the river.
They hiked along the river for another two hours before coming to a bridge that spanned it. The trail that led from the river up to the bridge was steep, but they made it with some effort. Once on the road they found themselves standing in front of the entrance to a school of some kind. “It’s the Lovett School. I’ve read about this place,” Susan said. “It’s a private college prep school. There’ll be lots of large buildings. Not a good choice for us.” She headed off up the road toward the bridge. Not knowing what else to do, Julian hurried after her.
“How do you know all of this?” he asked, again hurrying to catch up with her.
“We’ve had security patrols going out to look around. They’d report back to Brian, and well, he would brief us on what they found.” The mention of Dr. Pearson dampened the mood immediately.
“Were you and he…” Julian couldn’t finish the question.
“Lovers?” she said for him. “No, he wanted to be, but I preferred to keep it professional. Besides, I always found him a bit creepy. Lana, on the other hand, thought he could do no wrong.”
“I am sure that he was somehow involved in changing my vaccine into a version that did this to people,” Julian said. “I do not know why, but my vaccine was tampered with intentionally. That is what caused the reaction, the violent behavior. I should have stayed at the complex and played dumb. Maybe I could have figured it out.” He was talking to Susan, but it was more as if he were thinking aloud.
Susan stopped and put a hand on his arm. “Julian, you didn’t cause this, and Brian and whoever he was working with would not have let you find the answer. If they did, they would have gotten rid of you. He was becoming a tyrant there toward the end.”
; North of the bridge was a little strip mall. They turned down the entrance to it and saw a doctor’s office. “Looks like it may work for a place to spend the night,” Susan said.
They opened the door, which was unlocked, and called out. There was no response. The office had the stink of death to it. “Wait a minute, there could be turned in here,” Julian said, holding Susan back.
She looked around the room. “No, if there were turned in here the place would be trashed. Every place they stay they destroy. Again, I’ve seen pictures.” They closed the front door and found the source of the smell. There were two bodies in an examination room, covered with sheets. A third and fourth were sitting in the receptionist area. One appeared to be the doctor. Or was it the nurse? It was hard to tell. The only reason they figured it out was the stethoscope in its pocket.
Julian had Simon sit in the waiting area and he and Susan removed the bodies. They opened all the windows and sprayed Lysol around, but it now smelled like a disinfected corpse. They also found the break room. There was some unspoiled food left and the water cooler was full. The water was no longer cold, but it was clean. They ate and drank their fill, then found rooms that had clean, uncomfortable examination beds in them. They rolled three into one of the larger rooms and set up camp. They decided one person should stay awake while the others rested. Susan volunteered for the first watch.
They heard the turned outside during the night, but none tried to get into the doctor’s office. When dawn broke, they began the search for a vehicle. Susan was the one who scored when she found keys on what must have been the doctor’s desk.
Julian was peeking in the windows of various cars in the parking lot when the one behind him began sounding its alarm. He about jumped onto the hood of the car he was looking at, then turned and gave Susan a look. She laughed and shut off the Mercedes’s alarm.
Apocalypse Family (Book 2): Family Reunion J Page 24