Marilyn went into the back of the helicopter to find anything that they could use to defend themselves.
“Yeah! Some psycho was eating my cattle! I put two shells into him but he kept getting up. Bastard took a chunk out of my arm but, I think I’m going to be okay. Over,” said Earl. Matthew lowered his head while speaking through the device in a low tone of defeat.
“Earl, can you get a hold of the authorities in Travis? We really need help, and so do you,” he said.
Earl was sitting in his kitchen, facing the radio that his son bought him a couple of years ago.
“You say there’s monsters over there? Are you kids on crack or something? Over,” he asked them. The man stood up from the chair and went over to the kitchen sink. He moved his arm under the running cool water to rinse the blood off. “Sucker got me good. Crazy bastard!” he said to himself in pain. He grabbed a kitchen towel and quickly wrapped it around his forearm. “Why the heck does it burn? It was just a bite…” Earl said. He started to cough up some blood while feeling a little tired. “Must’ve been a dirty hobo or something. I hope I didn‘t catch anything from him,” he said as his body started to shake. Earl fell back onto the kitchen chair while wiping the blood from his lips. “Alright, you said there were monsters over there? What kind of monster are you talking about?” he had asked through the radio. He had to repeat himself because it sounded totally crazy.
Matthew’s voice came through his radio, the boy sounded like he was rather in a bind.
“Listen! You have to call for help, now! Better yet, come down here to pick us up! Over!” Matthew said. Earl got up again to stop the constant blood that kept leaking out from the wound.
“Damn this bite hurts!” he said to himself. The man finally fell to his knees with more blood spilling out of his mouth. It felt as though his body was catching on fire. He collapsed onto the floor with his eyes turning white and a gross odor occupying the room. It stood up while knocking over some of the chairs.
“Earl! Earl are you there?! Over!” Matthew‘s voice had asked through the radio. The reanimated man turned to face the radio. It grabbed it from the counter and threw it down onto the floor.
Nothing came out of the radio anymore. Matthew dropped the device and went into the back where Marilyn was sitting.
“I think he’s gone. Remember, once you’re bit it’s all over,” he said to remind her. His love had a flare gun in her hand and some surgical instruments that were in a bag.
“These are our options,” she said. Matthew took two of the little blades that seemed to be really sharp, but they weren’t going to be useful against the creatures. The flare gun could come in handy though, maybe to distract them for a moment.
“Drop the blades, take the gun. We’re checking out of the hospital,” Matthew said to her. He opened up the sliding door once again to see that the roof had nearly two dozen of those things near the exit. “I think we’re going to have to take them all out to leaving,” he said. Marilyn patted his shoulder a couple of times to get his attention.
“Look over there!” she said. She was pointing in the other direction where what seemed to be a ladder’s rails attached on the side of the building. “We should try going down from there!” Marilyn said to her love.
He grabbed her hand tightly and ran with her to the ladder. But there were still too many standing near the building for them to sneak away. Marilyn was getting frustrated, which wasn’t a good thing. The girl had aimed the flare gun towards an ambulance in the parking lot. Matthew watched as his love fired the flare at it. The flame ball pierced through the driver’s window and landed on one of the seats. It didn’t take long for the vehicle to catch on fire which attracted the ones down below to it. Matthew kissed her deeply before she went down the ladder first. He stayed behind to throw a few of the creatures off the building that came close to them. The man in black had slid down the ladder until his feet hit the ground. He followed his love into one of the bushes near by to hide from a couple of them that were walking around the area.
“We need to get them distracted as well,” he said. Marilyn looked around the ground near her to find a stone the size of her fist. She lifted it up and handed it to him. He stood up tall and threw the large rock over to another car near the burning ambulance. The alarm started to go off which made the others lurking around turn to face it. They started to sprint towards the loud noise. He crouched back down to quietly walk across the rubble. He looked past the corner of the building to see none of them there anymore. It was finally clear for them to leave.
“Alright, let’s go!” he said with a smile on his face. Marilyn stood up and ran over to him. The two were last seen entering a neighborhood that lead to the center of town.
The library was dead quiet as all the windows were broken from the outside. It was early morning with the sun finally coming up to dry all the puddles that were left behind from the constant rain. Sarah and Roxanne quietly walked around a building to see the road that lead to downtown.
“I’m sure there must be a working vehicle in that area for us to use. Maybe a police car with some supplies in it,” Sarah said. The officer held onto Luke’s pipe as she ran down the field with the science teacher following right behind her. The two kept low and quiet when some of the creatures were seen eating some animals on the road. Roxanne had the pistol securely in it’s holster that was attached to her belt. The only time she would use it would be as if they were in a tight bind and it was no other choice. Otherwise the noise would attract more which is something only a idiot would do.
“It’s hard to walk in all this mud,” said Roxanne. She looked at her feet to see them dirtied up with blood mixed in. The rain must’ve washed the blood off the road and onto the field they were standing in.
“Quiet!” Sarah said as she lowered herself down when she saw movement near the courthouse. “I think someone is over there,” she added. Roxanne crouched down beside her to get a better view through the tall grass that they were surrounded in.
“Who is it?” Roxanne asked.
A soldier in black held a powerful looking machine gun in her hand while a civilian was by her side. A smile grew on Sarah’s face when she finally noticed who was with the unknown soldier.
“I don’t believe it! She‘s still alive!” she said in a happy tone. Roxanne looked around the grass until she found a small rock. The woman covered it in mud and threw it as hard as she could in their direction. The soldier heard a soft thud near by which made her ready the weapon in her hands. She made a motion with her hand to make the civilian woman crouch down with a large blade in her hand. Sarah wanted to whistle to catch her attention, but there was still too many creatures walking around between them. “I met that college student the first night this outbreak happened. I thought she died with my friend Jen. I’m so glad to see that she’s still alive,” she said. Roxanne pulled out the pistol and held it close.
“But the person she’s with, who is she? Some kind of special forces?” she had asked her. Sarah didn’t know, but she was going to find out.
The officer quietly got up and snuck up to the first creature that was facing away. She immediately started to swing the metal pipe against it’s head until it collapsed onto the road. Roxanne followed after her while keeping a careful watch on their surroundings.
“Isn’t this a bit reckless? We could be spotted and killed on sight,” Roxanne said. Sarah came up behind another one to impale the pipe into the back of it’s skull. It’s brains started to leak out of it’s mouth as it fell face first.
“We’ll be fine, just a little further now,” Sarah said.
She killed three more of the monsters before entering the Courthouse with her bloody pipe in both hands. Sarah was holding it up like a baseball bat, ready to strike anything that came out. Roxanne stood by the entrance to watch for any kind of activity outside. The officer felt a strong blow to the gut when she walked near the corner of a desk. The soldier in black came out with her gun aiming down
at the officer below. Sarah was going to get back up to finish what the other started, until she saw the barrel aiming towards her head.
“Alright, who the hell are you? Where is Kim?” Sarah asked the unknown soldier. The woman lowered the machine gun slowly with a confused look on her face.
“How do you know Kim?” the soldier in black had asked. The officer placed the pipe down slowly and stood up with her hands up.
“I met her two nights ago with my fellow officers. We rescued her from a few of those monsters that have been attacking everyone. My name is Sarah Parson, and I’m with the Little Bow Police Department,” Sarah had explained to her.
The woman finally lowered the weapon away from her before raising it up to her shoulder.
“Hate to break it to you officer, but you’re not in uniform,” she said. Hearing a familiar voice and name, Kim came out from behind the desk with a rather large hunting knife in her hand.
“Sarah?!” Kim said happily. She hopped over the desk to give the woman a strong hug. A few tears came down her face when the image of Jen came back to her. “She died! It happened so fast! Jen was pulled out of my window and she died!” she said in tears. The girl continued to cry in Sarah’s arms, but all she could do was hold her closer to comfort her.
“I know, James and I found her police badge near your place when we came back to get you,” Sarah calmly said. Kim finally released the woman to look around the room with her smile coming back.
“James? Where is he?” she had asked. She heard footsteps coming from the little hallway when Roxanne entered the waiting room. “Who is she? Where is James?” Kim asked Sarah again. The Science Teacher put the handgun back in it’s holster while leaning against the wall.
“This is Roxanne Delarosa, she is or was the science teacher for the high school. We just came back from there. There’s nobody else that made it out alive,” Sarah said with a defeated look showing on her face.
Crystal placed her finger against her lips to let them know to be quiet. Sarah slowly went down to retrieve her pipe from the floor while Kim brought up her large knife. Roxanne turned around to aim her gun down the hallway, incase anyone or anything came through where they did. Crystal went into the dark room first with the flashlight shining bright in there. Sarah placed her hand on Kim’s shoulder before following after the soldier in black. The college girl looked around the waiting room to see if there was anything they could use. Nothing but old newspaper clippings scattered on the floor that had to do with a case about a murdered victim a week ago.
“I read about that guy before. Said they found him beating a man to death outside of town. Could he have been fighting one of these monsters?” Kim had read to herself.
Roxanne was heading down the hallway that lead to the entrance of the building. She hid to the side in the small area before peaking out the doorway. From there, she could see a few of the creatures snacking on someone’s leg. The woman placed a hand to her mouth from the disgusting sight. She then turned to look at something that caught her full attention. It was something she had never seen before.
“What the hell is that thing?!” she said loud enough for Kim to hear. She came running down to peak through the door beside Roxanne.
“Oh no…” Kim quietly let out.
The large pale brute lifted up it’s leg and smashed one of the creatures that was feasting on a limb. The horde behind it all fell to their knee’s and fought for the remnants of the torn up leg. It stood tall when it faced the building that everyone was hiding within. The thing opened up it’s mouth to release a mighty roar that shook the area. All the creatures on the road soon stood up with their eyes slowly turning red. They began look up at the sky with blood spilling out of their mouths. Roxanne examined what was going on and noticed something about the new enemy.
“He’s activating them…” she said from her brief examination. Kim turned to face her with a worried look on her face.
“Activating? What do you mean?” Kim asked the woman. Roxanne pointed to the beast with the pistol as the crowd around it finally calmed themselves down. They were all staring at the Courthouse with their deadly crimson eyes.
“I think when it let’s out that scream, it activates something inside them to change. Now they’re all Revivals,” Roxanne had explained.
The large monster had grabbed a creature beside it with a tight grip. He ended up throwing it’s rotting body as hard as it could towards the Courthouse. Blood splattered near the doorway with the new threat slowly crawling towards them.
“I got it!” Kim said as she quickly impaled it’s head with the large blade, but it didn’t do the trick like it usually would. It kept struggling around with it’s mouth biting all around to get a taste of her. “Why isn’t it working?!” she asked Roxanne. She pulled the hunting knife out and rammed it down into it’s eyes instead. The creature stopped moving now but she knew that it wasn’t defeated just yet.
“We need to get out of here!” Roxanne told her.
Sarah and the soldier in black came rushing out of the back room with their weapons ready. They entered the waiting room to see that no one was in there.
“Let’s check the front,” Sarah said. The soldier raised her machine gun up while walking down the hallway to see a creature twitching on the floor. Kim was stabbing it repeatedly in the head but it just wasn’t giving up.
“Here,” Cindy quickly said. Roxanne and Kim stood back when the woman opened fire on the thing below. It’s head was torn to shreds from the many bullets that went through it. Sarah came up from behind with the pipe in her hands.
“A revival? What the hell is it doing here?” she asked them. Roxanne made a hand gesture for the two to look out the door, which they did. “What the hell is that thing?!” Sarah had asked as her eyes opened up more from the sight of the thing.
She took a step back after seeing the ugliest looking thing in her life so far.
“That is Subject-0. He’s the one I’m after…the one that could end all of this,” Cindy had revealed. The cop turned to face her with suspicion.
“Alright who in the hell are you? Really? I demand to know now!” she said to the soldier. Cindy slowly reached down her pants to pull a wallet out of her pocket. She tossed the black leather wallet to the cop. Sarah opened it up to see an ID picture with a badge inside.
“Crystal?” Sarah read. The officer turned to face her while holding onto the wallet. “Do you have a last name?” she asked. The soldier didn’t respond to her. “It says you’re part of the OPC unit. What the hell is that?” she had asked. Cindy had grabbed her wallet from her hands before putting it back into her pocket.
“Outbreak and Prevention Center. We’re a secret branch from the CDC,” she had explained. Kim was hearing this for the first time, which made her curious.
“Cindy, do you kill…people?” Kim asked. The woman shook her head while watching the monster’s movement outside. For some reason they were just standing there, staring at them which was pretty much on the creepy side.
“If I’m ordered to do it…I do. I don’t think you understand the purpose of my job. When we get word that someone is creating something that is a threat against the planet, we’re sent to deal with it. I’ve taken out a couple of evil people already that were messing with things they shouldn’t have,” Cindy had said to the three. She pressed the button on the machine gun that released the empty magazine. Cindy glanced over to Kim while shoving a new magazine into her weapon. “We need to get out of here now before they come for us. I take it that those aren’t the normal monsters we’ve seen so far?” she asked. Sarah and Roxanne stood outside with their weapons ready as the two others came out of the building. Cindy aimed her gun over in the monsters direction. “I would really be grateful if you have any information on those things over there,” Cindy said with a fake smile appearing on her face.
Roxanne pointed at the one behind them on the floor.
“As you can see, they just keep coming no matter how ma
ny times you stab or shoot them in the head. I believe you have to literally destroy 80% of the brain for it to stop. If that’s the case, then there’s no way for us to survive this if they catch us,” said Roxanne. She looked back to the large monster that finally started to move again. It opened up it’s arms and raised them up high.
“Go! Go now!” Sarah said as she had grabbed Kim by the back of the shirt.
She pulled her to the left as the other two followed. They could hear that massive scream that came from that one large brute. Roxanne turned back for a glimpse to see that all of the monsters were running after them with hunger in their eyes.
“Oh shit!” Roxanne let out.
The three looked to the side to see that the science teacher had instantly out ran them. Each of them tried to catch up to the woman, but she was just too fast for them. Cindy was right behind Roxanne without losing her composure or showing any signs of fatigue. Sarah held onto Kim’s hand tightly as they ran across the street where the other two went.
“The cars should be up ahead! We can hotwire one of them and get the hell out of this town!” Sarah said to Kim. That sounded like hope, something that Kim needed to hear at this time. Roxanne kept trying to open each car that she came across, but they were all locked.
“Damn it!” she said to out loud. Cindy came up from behind her quickly and used her machine gun to smack one of the ordinary monster’s away from the teacher. It’s head smashed into driver’s window. The soldier grabbed it by the back and threw it down to the road. She then used her boot to smash it’s brains in.
“You moron! Watch your surroundings! This isn’t the time to panic!” Cindy had said to her. Roxanne pointed back where they were just at the with the sounds of the dead echoing in the air.
Outbreak of the Living Dead (Book 1) Page 31