Countdown: The Wasteland Chronicles Book One

by Rashad Freeman

  She waited in silence, not totally sure if she’d heard anything or her sleep deprived mind was playing tricks on her. Minutes passed without another sound aside from Lenny’s faint, grizzly snoring that echoed down the hallway.

  Reluctantly pushing herself forward, Rebecca walked back towards the door. With shaky hands she leaned against it and rose onto her toes. Holding her breath she peered through the window back into the courtyard which was completely empty.

  Rebecca continued to stare outside into the darkness just beyond the gate. The air seemed to move there, like the shadows were swaying back and forth. She focused her eyes, straining to make out any detail.

  Suddenly, a creature she’d only seen once before erupted from the shadows and clambered over the gate. It’s thick, black fur was almost indistinguishable from the dark night. Claws clanked like grinding metal as they scraped against the heavy iron. The sound pierced the eerie night, making Rebecca’s arms erupt in goose bumps.

  The creature had the stature of a bear, but something about its movements gave it a human feel. It crawled on all fours, but had purpose like each action was deliberate and planned. Its hulking frame was unnatural, but it wasn’t clumsy it was calculated.

  It landed silently on the other side of the gate and sucked in the air through its narrow nostrils. Its red eyes gleamed in the night as steam rose from its mangled hair. Even from across the courtyard its teeth gleamed clearly in the dark, jagged, spear-like creations designed to kill.

  Rebecca froze; her feet were glued to the floor. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream, but fear kept her in place. She was trapped in her own body.

  One by one more than two dozen gangly beasts scaled the perimeter wall and gathered just outside of the spotlight. Rebecca couldn’t hear them, but she was sure they were communicating. They snapped their jaws into the air and tossed their heads back as they gathered into a pack.

  Rebecca could feel her heart beating in her throat. The thunderous pounding echoed through her body like a charging locomotive. The primal desire to live bubbled deep inside, spurring her to move.

  Suddenly, life shot through her veins and she pushed away from the door. She ripped around and sprinted full speed down the hallway.

  Bursting into the bedroom, she yelled for Lenny at the top of her lungs. Half asleep he shot up and fell off of the bed. With a crack and a flurry of obscenities, he slammed into the ground.

  “Lenny, they’re outside, they’re outside now!” Rebecca screamed.

  “Who? What…what’s outside? Becca what are you talking about?” Lenny asked as he staggered to his feet.”

  Rebecca charged forward and grabbed him by the arms. “Those things…those things from Atlanta, they’re outside now!”

  “Where?” Lenny asked.

  He was suddenly wide awake. His mind immediately cleared by the threat shifting him into survival mode. He was heading out of the door before Rebecca even responded.

  “Down the hall, in the courtyard,” she screamed after him.

  “Stay here,” Lenny yelled back then took off towards the red, steel door.

  As he neared it he slowed to a cautious walk. His bare feet fell softly against the concrete floor. His hands felt empty and he realized he’d left his rifle back in the room.

  Cursing himself he moved closer and slowly leaned towards the small, square window. He gazed outside, expecting the worst. Holding his breath, he nervously looked back and forth, but saw nothing.

  “What the hell Becca?” he mumbled. Stepping away from the window he rubbed his face and then looked out again. There was still nothing there. No monsters, no creatures, just the fleet of trucks they’d managed to collect.

  Lenny sighed and headed back down the hallway. He pushed the door to his room open and found Rebecca frantically pacing back and forth with an AK-47. At the sound of the door she whipped around and faced him.

  “You see them? You see them out there?” she said almost hysterically.

  “Rebecca, nothing’s out there. What did you see, how many?”

  “What?” Rebecca asked, almost in a daze.

  “There was nothing out there.”

  “Lenny, I know what I saw. They were there…dozens of them. They’re coming, please believe me,” Rebecca said with a quivering voice.

  Lenny stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm. He pulled her towards him, but stopped when a deafening bang echoed down the hallway.

  Lenny spun around and ran back out of the door. He stared down the narrow hall as another crash rattled the air and the heavy, iron door shook.

  He shuffled closer and closer to the door stopping just a few yards away. Rebecca leaned her head out of the room behind him, staring after him with fear drenched across her face.

  Something rammed into the door again, then again and again. Red paint chipped and fell to the floor as the door trembled and buckled. Lenny leaned forward and pressed his hand against the metal.

  “Lenny!” Rebecca yelled.

  Ignoring her, he swallowed hard and peered out of the window. The courtyard was covered with swirls of black fur and gleaming red eyes. Countless creatures moved about in a whirling storm. There were so many that Lenny couldn’t even see the ground, just their knotted black hair.

  The iron gate that enclosed the courtyard had been demolished and pieces of it dangled from the wall. Just past the crumpled and twisted metal Lenny could see the silhouette of a man, lurking in the shadows. He stared in disbelief as the man started to walk forward and the sea of creatures parted, creating a narrow path.

  Lenny focused hard as the man moved closer and closer. He strained his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

  “Lenny!” Rebecca screamed again.

  Lenny glanced back at her then turned back to the window. He suddenly gasped and choked on his own breath. The man’s face had come into full view and Lenny immediately recognized him as one of the men that had gone out with Maddox.

  “Neil,” Lenny mumbled in astonishment.

  Stumbling backwards, Lenny scampered down the hallway. He tumbled into the wall and then slid across the floor. Jumping back to his feet he yelled to Rebecca in a terrified voice.

  “They’re here! Wake everyone up we have to go now!”

  CHAPTER 5

  INTO THE NIGHT

  Machine gun fire rattled the air. Screams and cries of panic echoed into the night. The halls were flooded with people running hysterically, tripping over one another.

  Lenny tried his best to usher as many as he could into the cafeteria. Several of them took off in random directions. They were quickly swallowed by the darkness to never be seen again.

  Sweat poured down Lenny’s face as he stopped outside of the coach’s office. He kicked the door open and found Maddox still chained to the chair.

  “It’s happening isn’t it?” he said calmly.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Lenny responded curtly.

  He slung open the drawers to the desk and located a little, silver key. With trembling hands he unlocked the restraints and pulled Maddox to his feet.

  “Follow me!” he yelled.

  Together they bolted down the dimly lit hallway. Maddox followed right behind Lenny, mirroring his every move. Within minutes they had made it to the cafeteria and darted inside just as the doors were starting to close.

  “That’s it,” Tim said harshly. “We’ve gotta secure the opening.”

  He closed the heavy, metal doors and locked them. Mark tugged a chain around the handles then started to push chairs and tables against them.

  “If they haven’t made it now we can’t wait any longer,” Tim said, looking to Lenny for approval.

  Lenny looked back at the small crowd of people gathered in the center of the cafeteria. The civic center had once housed over a hundred refugees and now less than twenty of them clung together with dwindling hopes of survival.

  “I told you! I told you all, but you wouldn’t listen!” Maddox yelled and lun
ged at Tim.

  Lenny grabbed him and pulled him away. “Calm down Maddox, now is not the time.”

  Maddox struggled against Lenny, but froze at the sound of a woman’s scream just outside of the door. The room fell silent, an ominous calm hung in the air. Then there was a thud followed by a bloodcurdling growl.

  Rebecca grimaced and slid closer to Lenny. Tim shot an angry glance at Maddox and then looked to the rest of the group.

  “What is this Tim?” Lenny said and for the first time he could hear the fear in his own voice.

  “It’s them. It’s what we’ve been telling you all along.”

  Lenny stared at him skeptically with an open mouth. Tim shrugged his shoulders then looked around the room.

  “Okay people, stick together and we’ll make it out,” Tim said confidently. “Follow me.”

  With his gun in hand and a heavy duffle bag slung over his shoulder, Tim marched to the back of the room towards a silver elevator door. With little effort he pried it open and shined a light down the empty elevator shaft.

  “We’re going down there?” a short, dark-haired lady with hazel colored skin asked.

  “We are,” Mark shot back. “You can stay here Gloria.”

  She fumed and rolled her eyes at Mark. He made a series of sucking noises then puckered his lips at her.

  “Quiet!” Tim snapped at both of them.

  He pulled a rope from his bag and secured it to a brick column. He tossed the other end down the shaft and patted Mark on the back.

  “You’re up. If this rope can hold you it can hold anyone.”

  Mark curled his lips and grabbed the rope in his massive hands. He stepped to the edge of the shaft and glanced down. Reaching into his back pocket he grabbed two plastic sticks and cracked them in half. They started to emit a neon green glow and he dropped them into the darkness.

  Mark watched as they fell and then stopped like they’d been trapped in tar. He smiled and slowly started to lower himself down the rope.

  “I think I could’ve jumped down there,” he mumbled.

  “Why don’t you give it a try?” Lenny responded. “Just let go.”

  Mark nodded and continued to slide down the rope. In less than a minute he reached the bottom and yelled back up to Tim. “Hey, throw me my bag. It’s dark as shit down here.”

  Tim grabbed his beige rucksack and tossed it into the shaft. He could hear Mark grunt and then a bright yellow glow lit up the dark corridor.

  “Okay let’s move people,” Tim said as he started ushering them forward one by one.

  “Lenny,” a voice called from the other side of the door. “Lenny I know you’re in there. It’s Neil, why don’t you let me in.”

  “Fuck you Neil,” Lenny yelled back.

  “Neil, that’s Neil out there. We have to let him in,” Maddox elated and rushed towards the doors.

  Lenny darted after him and tackled him to the ground. “Something’s wrong with him Maddox. He was in the courtyard with those things, those creatures.” Lenny said and held him against the floor.

  Maddox gasped and shook his head. “No…no, I told you this would happen,” he grumbled.

  “Lenny I never thought running was in your nature. Why don’t you stay and fight?” Neil heckled.

  “Get him up!” Tim exclaimed. “We are leaving now!”

  “What about the children?” Gloria asked. Her arms were wrapped around two boys no older than eight. They were twins, one with blonde hair and one with hair as black as night.

  Tim sighed and stared at them. “We’ll carry them,” he responded. “But we need to be quick.”

  “I’ll see you real soon Lenny,” Neil said.

  Lenny ignored him and pushed Maddox away from the door. “Keep moving,” he yelled.

  One by one the survivors scampered down the rope into the elevator shaft. No one said a word, but a palpable fear was present in the air. They each took the rope hesitantly and clumsily slid down to the bottom.

  Once almost everyone was down, Tim helped Gloria onto the rope then grabbed one of the boys and followed after her.

  “Lenny, send Rebecca down and then you bring Nikko,” Tim instructed and nodded toward the twin with green eyes and wild, black hair.

  Nikko was standing to the side of the shaft, trembling as if he was freezing. Lenny gave him a reassuring smile, more to convince himself than anything else. Nikko looked back at him and returned a hesitant grin.

  “Everything’s gonna be fine,” Lenny said.

  He watched as Tim vanished below the floor then a loud bang sounded right outside of the cafeteria. The chains on the door rattled and yanked tight, but they held. Lenny glanced back then quickly moved Rebecca to the rope.

  “Climb fast,” he told her. “We’ll be coming down right behind you.”

  Nikko was still standing near the column where the rope had been tied. He stared back at the door as something continued to ram into it over and over.

  “Nikko!” Lenny called to him.

  The boy didn’t move. He continued looking at the door until Lenny walked over and grabbed his arm.

  “We’ve gotta go,” Lenny said trying to stress the urgency without frightening him.

  Nikko mumbled something back, but it was swallowed by the sound of the doors tearing free from the hinges and falling to the ground. Lenny looked up in horror as a mass of twisted hair and razor claws squeezed through the narrow opening. And in the middle of it all stood Neil with a sinister smile smeared across his face.

  “Run!” Lenny yelled, pushing Nikko towards the elevator and raising his rifle at the same time.

  Nikko stumbled backwards then collapsed to the ground. He tucked his knees into his chest and started to scream at the top of his lungs.

  Slowly moving backwards, Lenny fired a staccato of shots that caught the first creature square in the head. It tripped over its own legs and slid into a row of tables. He fired again and took three more down, but the swarm of beasts just kept coming.

  “This is more like it,” Neil called.

  Lenny smirked and fired a single shot that hit him right between the eyes. His body crumbled forward as Lenny turned on his heels and snagged Nikko by the collar. Dragging him, he rushed to the elevator firing blindly over his shoulder.

  “Grab the rope!” Lenny yelled at him. “Grab the fucking rope!”

  Lenny knelt down and unloaded his entire clip into the herd of raging creatures. Several fell to the ground, but were quickly overrun as the mass of death grew closer and closer.

  “My brother’s teddy,” Nikko screamed and slipped past Lenny.

  He darted forward lunging for a ragged, brown, teddy bear that was lying near the brick column. Lenny reached for him, but he was just outside of his grasp.

  “Nikko!” he yelled.

  More beasts were closing in as Nikko slid to a stop and grabbed the teddy bear from the ground. Lenny jammed another magazine into his rifle and sent a volley of bullets into the crowd. Another clump of creatures collapsed and slid across the floor.

  Still firing, Lenny looked up towards Nikko. The boy held his brother’s teddy in the air and smiled with a sense of accomplishment. He hugged it tight and grinned as he started to run back towards Lenny.

  Smoke spilled from the barrel of Lenny’s gun. Shells littered the floor, ringing out like bells in a symphony. Bullet after bullet exploded from the muzzle, the sound echoing across the cafeteria in thunderous waves.

  Suddenly, from behind Nikko, a shadow of swarming black fur appeared. Lenny rushed towards him, firing his rifle indiscriminately. He reached out his hand, but the swarm crashed down on the boy like a falling building.

  Lenny was thrown back by the sheer force. He hit the ground with a smack and his rifle spiraled off in the opposite direction.

  Struggling to his feet, Lenny looked back after Nikko, but there was no sign of the boy. There was only a sea of gleaming red eyes and drooling mouths glaring back at him.

  Sliding across the floo
r, he snagged his gun then turned and continued shooting into the swarm of monsters. “Nikko! Nikko!” Lenny yelled over and over.

  Nikko was gone and the creatures were closing in on Lenny. Left with no choice he limped towards the elevator. His ankle burned like fire with each step he took and his heart sank with the reality that he would have to tell Gloria.

  Grimacing, Lenny reached for the rope, but a beast lunged from the pack swiping its deadly claws across his back. He jolted forward, missing the rope and fell down the elevator shaft.

  With a thud Lenny landed on his back, the impact lessened by the rucksack he was carrying. He gasped in pain, but tried to stand back up.

  “Don’t move,” Tim called to him.

  He rushed to Lenny’s side and placed his hand over his chest to prevent him from getting back up. His paternal instincts seem to outweigh the threat lingering just above them.

  “I’m fine. I’m fine,” Lenny groaned.

  He pushed Tim’s hand away and jostled to his feet. Leaning on his knees he took a deep breath. “They’re inside, we have to move,” he spat.

  Mark ran to Tim’s side and stopped as he looked down on Lenny. Gloria followed right behind him, her hands waving frantically as she screamed.

  “Where is Nikko? Where’s Nikko?” Gloria asked over and over.

  Lenny looked at Tim and shook his head. Gloria glared at him for a moment then fell to the ground in tears. Her body flopped across the floor as she wailed in agony.

  Lenny wanted to comfort her, but he knew it wasn’t the time. A deafening snarl suddenly echoed in the darkness, drawing the attention away from Gloria. At the top of the shaft a set of fiery eyes gazed down at them. Rebecca threw her hand over her mouth and stifled a scream as more and more eyes appeared.

  “Fuck you! Fuck all of you!” Mark screamed.

  He raised his rifle and squeezed off a flurry of bullets. Empty shells rattled to the ground as the booming explosions shook the air.

  “Run!” Tim yelled.

  He darted forward beckoning the survivors to follow him. Lenny grabbed Gloria by the arm and dragged her to her feet. She pulled away from him and flailed her hands angrily.