Naomi’s eyes were wide with fear. Tears streaked down her face. She was numb with shock. This infected man had hold of her. He was breathing over her – she could smell his putrid breath. All she could think about was how she was going to get infected.
Alex and Lindell watched helplessly as Naomi was dragged into the darkness.
238
Stu
On a beach
Somewhere on the shore in New York State
Slowly, Stu turned his head toward the direction of the hissing and growling.
Stood in the tree line, about thirty meters away, with its head lowered, was an infected. The woman was middle-aged and skinny to the point of being emaciated. Dirt and gore was smeared over tattoos that covered most of her thin body – a flowery vine pattern encircled her torso and arms and legs and up her now bloated neck. A branch was sticking out of her shoulder, where she must have fallen onto it. She seem unconcerned with the serious wound. There were also black feathers stuck to her face and shoulders, as if she had just eaten a crow.
Stu slowly got to his feet. There was nothing he could use as a weapon. He left his blade behind. All he had was a glove puppet and a beach full of peddles.
The creature had its hands on the limbs of the trees to either side. Her hands were twisted with fingers like claws that scratched against the bark, leaving a bloody nail behind embedded in the wood.
Stu started to move backwards towards the boat. There might be something in it he could use.
The creature raised its head and gave a loud guttural scream. Blood mixed with black phlegm flew from its gaping maw of a mouth. A whip-like tongue lashed around broken teeth. Her enlarged, bloodshot eyes locked onto her warm meal.
Stu stumbled and fell backwards, landing hard, knocking the wind from his lungs.
In that moment clarity returned – the crazy was blown from his cloudy mind. Sanity poured in as if he had been dropped into an ice-cold river.
Oh fuck, what have I done?
He scrambled to his feet and started to race towards the boat.
Behind him, he could hear pebbles being tossed through the air as the creature raced across the beach towards him.
Stu reached the boat and didn’t stop; he hit hard and landed face-first in the craft. He scrambled to his knees, while frantically searching for anything to use as a weapon.
He risked a quick glance behind.
The creature was mere meters away, with arms outstretched, and fingers clawing at the air, as its huge deformed mouth opened wider in anticipation of his warm flesh.
239
Frank and the others
Inside the superstructure of the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
Frank’s head was pounding. He had forgotten what a hangover felt like. But, he had only just drunk the bottle of wine. The hangover shouldn’t have surfaced until the morning. However, what with the stress of the attack, and everything else, his body decided to skip the middle part and go straight to suffering.
He could hear Smokie rallying the troops. She was good at stirring the people up, getting them ready to fight, or run, or whatever she needed them to do. She would have been a good female priest; he decided. She knew how to stir people, awaken needs they didn’t realize they had. He could just picture her stood in front of her congregation, filling the church to its limits.
He was passed a mug of black coffee by Sue. Sue gripped his shoulder in a reassuring, understanding way. At the same time, Tia licked his other hand. He gave the little dog a pet.
Frank sat in a corner, behind everyone. He was ashamed of himself. With everything that was happening, he managed to get pissed and make a fool of himself.
A drunk’s prerogative, he thought.
He caught the bible as it was about to slide off his nightgown. He held it tight.
So many words. So many stories. I have read it dozens of times, from cover to cover, yet, do I feel any closer to the knowledge of God? Does reading it over and over take me any closer to knowing Gods will?
He looked up, scanning the ragtag collection of survivors in the room.
What is your will now, oh Lord? To die, along with humanity? Would the animals of the fields and the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea still sing Your praises when mankind is wiped from the face of Your planet? Who will sing Your praises then? Who will call Your many names in supplication? Or, just like man, will You fade into a distant memory? You need us, because without us, You are nothing.
He was a little shocked at his thoughts.
All those years ago, when he realized what he had become, after killing so many, stood in a village surround by the dead – men, women and children he had killed, he thought he had been given a way out when he found the body of the pastor. The man was the same size, even looked similar. Surely it was a sign?
I did a complete one-eighty with my life, and all because I thought God had called me into His open arms. What if it was all just a coincidence? Everything just happening the way it did because that’s life. No higher calling. No special treatment. No heavenly Father reaching down and helping someone who strayed back onto the Road of Life.
His head was pounding. He hardly heard the words Smokie was saying. Something about finding someone?
He sipped the coffee. It burned going down his throat.
I deserve the pain; he reasoned as he took another gulp.
He closed his eyes and started to say the Lords Prayer. The only problem was; he had recited it thousands of times, over and over, to the point where he didn’t even listen to the words anymore. Now he did; he concentrated on each word as he muttered it. Then he realized; it no longer gave him comfort – the words seemed hollow.
240
Troy and the others
Inside the superstructure of the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
Troy had been waiting for a sign, something to show that everything happened for a reason. He had given up and lay on his bed, but now something was stirred inside him. He didn’t understand the feeling just yet, but he could feel it growing within – building up and consuming him.
He stood next to Frank in the corner and listened to Smokie.
Troy glanced down at Frank every now and then. Frank seemed preoccupied, stewing in his own drunken remorse. When he had kicked Troy’s door down, he seemed so sure, so full of confidence and swagger, now he sat hunched over and silent, as if he spent all his energy kicking the door in.
He could feel the photo of Sonja in his hand. In the other, he held a Beretta.
The person he had noticed from the walkway was infected. He spotted him. If he hadn’t left his cabin, would someone else have seen the man? Or was it destined that he was there, just at the right time and place. He spotted the problem, and now, because of his action’s Smokie was telling them what they needed to do.
He was in the right place at the right time.
Providence?
Maybe Sonja is guiding me, now she’s a beautiful angel? Maybe God is working through her?
A priest kicks my door down, then I spot the infected. That’s not a coincidence, that’s fate.
Since his wife’s death, God has been the last thing on his mind, apart from when he had been cursing Him – shouting, asking why she had been taken from him.
Now maybe He has a plan for me? Maybe I have to earn my place in heaven next to my wife?
Troy knew he had a job to do – he had to find that infected man and kill him, to save everyone onboard. He had been shown the way, now it was his responsibility to finish the job.
Maybe this vessel is Gods chosen ship – His new Ark, and the people onboard will go on to refill the earth after the pandemic has run its course?
Everything made sense. All his suffering and the dying world around him. God was testing him. Testing he was worthy of a place in heaven next to his wife.
“I’m ready, my Lord,” his whispered to himself.
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241
Bachman, Emma, Ralph and Pete
Zone 4
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
Bachman had no idea what was following him. He saw a lot of spindly legs and a wide head with snapping jaws, and he set off at a run, hoping to steer the creature away from the others. After he turned the first corner, he realized just how stupid his reasoning was – they all had weapons now, which they could use to help him fight the creature.
He raced down the road with the buildings crowding in around him. Dried blood was splattered everywhere along with the remains of body parts and clumps of hair.
He was getting pissed off with running away – all he seemed to do was run and hide. It was time to stand and fight.
He raced around the next corner, down a side alley between two tall buildings. He stopped and turned while holding the axe over his head. There he stood, breathing hard with sweat pouring down his face, waiting for the deformed animal to charge around the building.
Seconds ticked by. Nothing was coming.
Bachman realized he could hear some shouting and screaming. Slowly, he poked his head around the corner. Off in the distance, where he had first started running, the other three were stood facing the creature with weapons raised.
Shit, I ran off and left them to fight it!
He planned for it to chase after him, to lead it away. He wasn’t expecting the others to jump out to his defence. Now he felt stupid.
He hefted the axe and started running back towards the others.
He could see Emma poking at the creature with her broken mop handle, and Ralph swinging his chair leg like a club, while Pete slashed out with the claw hammer.
Bachman also noticed the creature. He couldn’t work out what it was supposed to be. All he saw was whipping tentacles and snapping jaws, mixed in with kicking legs and spurting black blood. It could have been an Alpaca? The neck did seem too long to be a horse.
While the others kept the creature’s attention, he raced around the side and ran up a wall to give him the altitude he needed. He jumped off the wall, sailing through the air as he slammed the axe down into what he presumed was the head. He then rolled and landed next to Pete’s feet.
The creature hollered as its spluttered and thrashed on the ground with the large axe wedged firmly in its skull. With a few more jerks it lay motionless.
“I wondered when you were coming back,” Emma said as she pulled the mop handle out from the creature’s throat.
242
Stu
On a beach
Somewhere on the shore in New York State
Stu stood his ground. If he was going to die, it would be stood tall facing his attacker with his eyes open. As he watched the creature charge towards him, he was reconsidering his macho stand, maybe closing his eyes wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
In the seconds it took for the creature to cover the distance, his life flash in front of his eyes. He always thought it was a myth that the condemned person got to see their life in one last Technicolor movie.
Images flashed across his mind’s eye.
First his childhood. His mother stood over him when he fell off his bike. Running through the woods being chased by his father playing games. With his two brothers, playing sword fights.
Then it jumped to college, and he was nervous as a freshmen.
He was then with his wife Clare on their first date. Her too short dress and tight top. Him with his best suit on, feeling completely overdressed. How she made him feel so relaxed, and he knew then and there he would spend the rest of his life with her.
Then his children.
A flash to holding his firstborn Clark. The tiny baby feeling so small in his big hands. More flashes as the other children arrived – next was Amber then Hanna.
Marks on the doorframe as they started to grow. Christmas mornings surrounded by presents. Holidays taken together. Perfect still life pictures of them all as if he was scanning through a photo album.
Thanksgiving meals around a large table, with all the relatives.
The last time they were all together and happy, mere hours before the outbreak started when they had just come back from seeing a movie together.
Tears started to flow down his face. His fists unclenched and his body relaxed, waiting for the slam of the infected creature.
A loud, ear shattering bang engulfed his senses.
243
Smokie and the others
On a walkway on the superstructure of the cargo ship
Somewhere off the shore in New York State
They were all split up into two groups. They would all head down to the area the man was last seen and enter the hatches close by. Then the teams would split, one lot fanning out and going towards the stern and the rest the bow.
Smokie would lead one group while Terrance took command of the other. He was still out of breath from just returning from below deck.
Sue and Frank were to stay behind and keep a look out from the walkway high up on the superstructure. They would have radios, in case they saw the man exit a hatch.
“Remember, he’s most probably infected, and if he is, don’t get too close. The human inside is already dead. Shoot first and ask questions later.”
Everyone nodded.
Smokie noticed Troy seemed overly pent up. She headed towards him as they started to file out the mess hall.
“Everything okay, Troy?” she asked as she gripped his arm. She noticed his eyes were very alert.
“Everything is working out great.”
It seemed like a strange thing to say. However, there is a lot going on and Troy’s bipolar mood swings seem like the least of her worries.
“That’s good to hear Troy.”
He gave her a wide smile and eagerly pushed his way ahead to get out the door to join Terrance’s group.
“Terrance,” she said while moving in close.
Terrance turned from talking with Caroline. He simply nodded.
“Keep your eye on Troy, will you.”
“Why?” he flashed Troy a look.
“I’m not sure, but I got a strange vibe off him.”
“Really? With everything that’s happened in the last few hours, I would think a strange vibe is pouring off everyone.”
Smokie didn’t reply she just watched Troy push his way out the door.
Terrance took in Smokie’s demeanour.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” he said as he made his way to the door.
Just then there was a ruckus outside on the walkway. People started pushing their way back inside, making a clearing. Lindell and Alex raced in. They were both out of breath and covered in sweat.
Lindell managed to say, “There’s a stranger, a man, and he has Naomi. He pulled a knife out on her and dragged her below deck before we could do anything.”
“He says,” Alex stated, “that if we don’t get off his ship, he’s going to kill her.”
244
Bachman, Emma, Ralph and Pete
Zone 4
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
They continued towards the weapons cache in Zone 8. There wasn’t much chatter after they killed the creature. They were still out of breath and anxious of what was around the next corner.
“Nice jump by the way,” Pete said.
“Um, thanks.”
“Nice technique, running off like that, making the creature turn its back on you while it fought us,” Ralph stated.
“Yeah, real convincing,” Emma added.
Bachman could feel his face flush. He didn’t have the heart to tell them it wasn’t his plan.
They were now inside the train tunnel. There was a train sat in the station as if nothing had happened, and it was waiting for passengers.
They scanned the platform for creatures before realizing the alpaca was the only inhabitant. They headed straight for the cabin walking the length
of the short four car train.
Ralph stepped over the blood and gore. They had been a few people on the train when the spores washed through the station. Their remains have started to stink.
“Will it work?” Emma asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Ralph stated. He was settling into the driver’s seat. He seemed to study the instrument panel for a few seconds.
“Um, press that, then unclip that, and then slow push that forward.”
The train started to move.
Bachman couldn’t hear an engine; he realized it must be run on electric.
The lights of the platform faded, and the dark tunnel emerged. Lights, spaced along the tunnels walls cast shadows along the track. The train didn’t go very fast, there was no need.
They only found three creatures walking the train tunnel, and the only adverse effect was Ralph had to put the wipers on to clear the screen.
They had five zones to go through to get to Zone 8. As the platforms flashed past they started to relax a little. It seems they are safe inside the metal sealed train.
They passed from Zone 4 into Zone 1, then Zone 6. The stations flashed past in a blur of bright lights and splattered blood.
As they approached Zone 7 they realized something was wrong – the train was slowing down.
“What’s wrong?” Bachman asked.
“I’m not sure; it seems to be losing power.”
“Look,” Pete said pointing.
Outside in the tunnel as they were approaching the platform for Zone 7, and the lights for the station illuminated the area; they could see the tunnel walls were awash in congealed blood and gore.
“The train gets its power from the tracks. If they’re covered in congealed blood…” he let his words trail off.
The Sixth Extinction America Omnibus [Books 1-12] Page 52