Uncivil War: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

by B. T. Wright

  Jake set down the frame, readied his axe, and went into a crouch. His first thought was that his mind was playing tricks on him. He couldn’t have seen something at the end of the hallway, right? Impossible. If one of Amy’s infected parents had been there, they would already have lunged at him. Wouldn’t they?

  Jake, something’s not right! Emily’s words came to him in the silence of the hallway. These . . . infected . . . they’re changing. Evolving. This is more than just a virus.

  Jake scanned toward the front door, then to the back. The floor below him was carpeted. So it was possible something had moved without him hearing. Evolving. Emily had said they were evolving. He hadn’t seen that at his house, but maybe it has something to do with how long they’d been infected. Maybe the more time under whatever spell had taken them, the more they became aware as whatever kind of being they are now. Maybe they’d become used to their host and were starting to put things together. His mind was going in circles. It didn’t matter if they were evolving or not; he had to find the keys to the RV and get the hell out of there.

  A creaking sound came from the kitchen behind him. A pang of fear moved in Jake’s stomach. Something was in there with him. And whoever––or whatever––they were, they were trying to be quiet. Jake squeezed the handle on his axe and rotated toward the sound. His blood ran cold when a figure moved in front of the moonlit window. A silhouette of a man.

  Amy’s dad.

  It let out a terrible screeching sound and rushed toward him. Jake maintained his crouched position and held his ground, held the axe’s blade staunchly in front of him, and let it run right into him. When he felt the infected thump into the blade, he stood, kicked it backward, brought the axe overhead, and just when it started for him again, he slammed it down on the top of its head. The screeching stopped and it collapsed to the ground. He went to pull the axe free, but on the first tug, it stayed fixed in the skull.

  Thump thump thump thump thump.

  Footsteps came running up behind him and all he had time to do was put up his hands in defense before what used to be Amy’s mom was on him. Her momentum pushed him down, slamming onto his back, barely able to get her by her throat with his left hand before her teeth sank into his face. The glow from the window reflected in her black marble eyes. She kept savagely lunging for him with no other goal but to make sure he no longer drew breath. As he held her off, it occurred to him that she had purposely waited to come after him. They had somehow coordinated a trap. The dad was the distraction and the mother was to come in from behind for the kill. He shuddered as he wrapped his legs around her waist, helping to hold her in place. He slid his free hand down to his holster. He undid the strap, pulled the Beretta, and placed the tip of the silencer under her chin.

  As he squeezed his finger her demeanor shifted.

  “Wait.”

  But it was too late, he had already put a bullet in her head. He pushed her body off of him with his legs and shuffled back to the back door. Every hair on his body stood on end. Did he really hear what he thought he heard? Or was his mind playing tricks on him? Was it just a hiss that sounded like the word wait? It had to have been. These things had made no effort to talk up to that point.

  These . . . infected . . . They’re changing. Evolving. This is more than just a virus.

  If Amy’s mother’s demeanor hadn’t changed—softened—just before he heard it, he would have dismissed it entirely. But it did shift. And Emily’s words continued to echo in his mind as he heard the word “wait” over and over in his mind. If these things were evolving somehow, getting smarter, adapting, why wouldn’t they be able to pull the rope at his house to open the attic door?

  16

  Jake holstered his pistol and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. One ring later Jess answered the phone.

  “You’re okay! Where did you go?”

  “The RV was locked so I had to go inside the house to find the keys. How are things there?”

  “Okay for now, but they know we’re up here. They’re scratching at the attic door.”

  “It probably won’t be long before they pull the door down, so make sure someone is watching it with a gun.”

  “Pull the door down?” Jess’s tone was a mixture of fear and shock. “What do you mean pull the door down? How would they be able to do that?”

  “I’ll explain in a bit. Just be prepared. Jess, I’m in Amy’s house.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Pictures. And I just killed her parents.”

  “Good God, Jake. This feels like a bad nightmare. How is any of this actually possible?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Jake was quiet for a moment. The house was quiet too. But his house was in chaos, and they needed to move.

  “Listen, I need you to ask Amy where her parents keep the keys to the RV so we can get out of here.”

  “Hold on.”

  While Jake waited, he thought he heard something at the other end of the house. He tuned his ears, waiting for another sound.

  “On the nightstand in their bedroom. Far right side of the house upstairs. Hold on, she’s saying something else . . .”

  Thump thump thump thump thump thump.

  Jake pulled his pistol out when he saw a small figure running toward him in the hallway.

  “Jake, she said they could also be in the basement on her grandmother’s bookshelf. Her grandmother is in the house!”

  Jake didn’t hear Jess’s last sentence. He was pulling the Beretta’s trigger, sending a bullet through Grandma’s forehead. Her body skidded face down to a halt at his feet.

  “Jake! Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you.” Jake holstered his gun. “Anyone else running around here I should know about?”

  A pause.

  “She said no. You scared me there.”

  “Get everyone ready on the roof. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Be careful.”

  Jake put away the phone, walked down the hallway, then up the stairs. It was darker on the second level. He pulled his phone out and used it as a flashlight since his actual flashlight was with his go bag. Before he went any farther, he stopped and Googled directions to the University of Cincinnati, took a screenshot of the turn by turn text and messaged it to Jess. If he didn’t make it back to them, they needed to know how to get there. And Jake couldn’t help but feel like their cell phones wouldn’t be lasting much longer.

  Jake turned his phone back into a flashlight and turned right––a bedroom door was open there. He walked inside and checked the nightstand, and in a decorative bowl sat two sets of keys. He took them both. He gave the room a once over with the phone’s light. House shoes on the floor by the bed. Clothes laid out above it, a man’s, probably what Amy’s dad would have worn to work––if of course he hadn’t turned into some sort of monster. The room screamed normal. Something Jake had always run from since his “normal” parents had died in such an abnormal way. It was the reason he joined the Army. Ordinary had scared him because “ordinary” had gotten his parents killed. Ironically, all he could wish for now was that things went back to normal. But he knew his wish of avoiding normalcy had been forever granted by the gods at that point. He had a feeling that life was going to be anything but ordinary from then on. However long the rest of his life lasted.

  He noticed an iPod and headphones sitting on the opposite nightstand. He walked over and pocketed them, figuring Amy might a way to escape while all of them were discussing the gruesome details of this misadventure to her home. And maybe it would also be an escape for her while they were plotting the grim road ahead.

  Jake left the bedroom, descended the stairs, and checked the window by the front door. He didn’t see any movement, so he opened the door and ran for the RV, pushing the unlock button and jumping inside. Before he started it up he walked back through the cabin. It was an extremely nice RV. They must have been planning a long road trip, because no expense had been spared. There was a mini
kitchen, complete with a refrigerator where they could keep the Beritrix cold. A sitting area around a table with a couch across from it. And he found two bunk beds in the hallway that lead to what he assumed would be called the master suite and the adjacent bathroom. They’d truly hit the jackpot.

  He noticed a skylight in the roof overhead. He pulled the latch and it opened outward. Perfect for getting everyone into the RV after jumping there from the roof. With no more time to spare he rushed back to the driver’s seat, inserted the key, turned it, and the powerful engine roared to life. He pulled his phone and called Jess.

  “Jake, Tom has already shot three of them. You were right, they opened the attic door! How did they know how to do that?”

  Jess was starting to panic.

  “Jess! Get everyone to the roof with all of our things. Tell Tom to shoot the gas tank. When it blows I’ll be coming in hot. So be ready!”

  He ended the call, put the RV in reverse, and backed out of the driveway. He watched as a figure walked out onto the roof from the dormer window on his house. Tom. Below him the moon showed a crowd of infected still pushing inside the house. He cracked the window and could hear shotgun blasts. Jess and Tyler fighting off the infected from entering the attic. If Tom didn’t blow the SUV, it was going to be almost impossible to—

  Fire rocketed toward the sky down the block as the first SUV blew, then a second explosion sounded as the second SUV went up in flames. Jake mashed the gas pedal to the floor and the RV lurched forward. The crowd of infected shifted focus and began to move toward the burning vehicles. The plan had worked.

  Jake turned right and rolled through the front yard, smashing a couple of infected before slamming on the brakes just before the nose of the RV hit the wall of the house. He put it in park, ran for the skylight and pulled himself up and out to the RV’s roof. Tom tossed him his go bag and his AR-15. Amy came head-first out of the window and staggered on the slanted roof. Tom took her arm at the elbow and helped her to the edge of the roof. Below Jake, two infected began beating on the passenger side door of the RV. The explosion had garnered a lot of attention, but not every infected had moved toward it. Especially the ones in the house. Two more shotgun blasts rang out from the attic. Jake moved toward the edge of the roof, reached up and took Amy in his arms. As he walked her over to the skylight he reached in his pocket and handed her the iPod.

  “Here, go back to the back of the RV into the bedroom, shut the door, and put on your favorite music. Turn it up loud. But if you do hear something, don’t worry about. I’ll take care of it, okay?”

  Jake began lowering her into the RV.

  Amy looked at him, tears in her eyes. “Did you see my mom and dad?”

  Jake didn’t have time to think about it, so he lied. “No. They must have gotten out of the house before I got there.”

  Amy nodded. Jake lowered her and let go of her hands. “Do what I said okay? I’m going to get us out of here.”

  The two infected beating on the passenger side door had become six. The infected that couldn’t get out through the attic were coming back out of the house and stopping at the RV. Two more came running out of the front door.

  “We’ve got to go, Tom. Get them out of there!”

  “Jake!”

  Jess shouted his name from inside the attic. Her voice was filled with panic. Jake knew without seeing that infected had made it into the attic. They were about to be overrun.

  17

  Jake ran and jumped up on the roof, passed Tom, and moved quickly through the window. He was right. Tyler was holding his shotgun horizontally, pushing back a large male infected, desperately trying to keep them from coming in. Before Jake could step in, the infected forced Tyler backward, bulldozing him into the table that held the candle. It fell, and the flannel blankets below instantly went up in flames.

  “Jake!” Jess screamed once again.

  Jake raised the butt of his gun and slammed it down on the head of the infected man that was pushing at Tyler. He turned the gun in his hands, pointed it down the attic stairs, and began firing rounds at the half dozen waiting to get in. The shots were near deafening in that small space. Jake could feel the heat from the fire on his back. They had to go.

  Two more gunshots filled the room. Jake looked over his shoulder and Jess had shot the infected man that Jake had bashed to free Tyler.

  “Let’s go!” Jess shouted.

  Jake turned and waved Tyler toward the window. The back wall was consumed with fire. Jake watched as Jess went through the window and he ran over and followed Tyler out. As soon as Tyler’s feet hit the shingles, he lost his footing and began to slide toward the edge.

  “Help!” Tyler screamed.

  Jake jumped out through the window and swiped for Tyler’s hand, but he missed and Tyler kept sliding toward the edge. He was going over. And Jake knew the fall was the least of the worry, because he knew there were several infected waiting below.

  “Tyler!”

  Jess tried for the back of his shirt, but it was too late. Tyler’s feet went over the edge, but just before he fell into the crowd of flesh eaters below him, Tom was able to hook his arm under Tyler’s right armpit and for a moment had him stopped, dangling over the edge at the waist.

  “I can’t hold him!” Tom shouted.

  Jake got up from his belly and slid feet first to Tom, digging his heels into the shingles and grabbing him by his left forearm.

  “Pull yourself up, Ty. Pull!” Jake shouted.

  “I can’t! One of them has my foot!”

  “Pull, Tom! I’ve got you. Pull!”

  Tom took a death grip around Jake’s arm. Jake could feel the strain on him as Tom pulled on Tyler. After a few seconds of struggle, Tyler began to slide up onto the roof. Their effort had been enough. Tom made sure Tyler had a solid place on the roof, and then let go. The three of them took a moment to catch their breath.

  “Oh God thank you.” Tyler said.

  “We have to go. Now,” Jake reminded them.

  The three of them carefully rose to their feet.

  Tom turned to face Tyler. “You sure you don’t want me around, son?”

  Tyler answered with a shout of panic. Jake followed Tyler’s eyes fixed on something behind him, but he wasn’t able to turn his head before it was too late. Before any of them could make a move, one of the infected had come through the window behind them and ran right for Tom. Its momentum was too much for the unprepared Tom to withstand the force of the collision and it took him right off the edge of the roof.

  “Tom!” Jess shouted.

  Jake rushed to the side of the roof and looked over. He began firing into the crowd of infected, but Tom was like a drop of blood in a pool of piranhas. They had already encompassed him entirely. Blood-curdling screams filled the quiet night, until one of them ripped through Tom’s throat, quieting him too.

  “Tom!” Jake shouted, though it was just a reflex. There was nothing he could do.

  “Jake, help him!” Jess shouted. But her shout was already filled with sobs. She also knew there was nothing to be done.

  Jake moved over and jumped down to the roof of the RV. As much as he hated it, he knew this was the time to move, while the infected were distracted. He reached out his hand to Jess.

  “That’s it? We just leave him there? Is that what we’ve come to already?”

  Jake could see the hurt mixed with fear etched onto Jessica’s face. He wished he could take the pain away. He wished he could comfort her, but there were no words that would help.

  “What do you want me to do, Jess? Shoot them all? Waste our ammo?”

  “I want you to make all of this go away.”

  She was spiraling. He needed something to get her off that roof. To get her mind off Tom dying in front of her. There was only one thing that would do that.

  “I can’t do that, Jess.” The infected began clawing at the RV again. They had finished with Tom. “But we do need to go. If you want to stop by your sister’s house a
nd see if she’s still alive, we need to move.”

  Jess’s entire demeanor changed. With all that they had been fighting over the last hour, thoughts of not being able to get ahold of her sister had slipped her mind. She immediately jumped to the RV, momentarily squeezing Jake’s hand, then moving straight down through the skylight. Tyler followed onto the RV with Jake.

  “They just ate him alive, Jake. He saved my life, and they ate him alive.”

  Jake’s normally goofy and jovial friend was nowhere to be found. The face that Jake normally laughed with was in shock. This entire situation had sucked the life out of Tyler.

  Jake put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We’re going to find a way out of this, Tyler. We’re going to get to Cincinnati, get on that helicopter, and hole up with the government’s top officials until we figure a way to outlive this. You hear me?”

  Tyler looked down at the infected as they desperately tried to reach the two of them. “You really believe that, Jake? After seeing Tom get devoured like that?”

  “Do we have any other choice?”

  Tyler nodded somberly. Then, he moved past Jake, wiggling his way down inside the RV. Jake wasn’t sure if he did believe his own words, but he was a soldier. All of his training taught him to fight until there was nothing left. And while he didn’t know a lot of things, Jake knew that right now, they still had something to fight for. What surprised him was that an image of Emily came to him with that thought. With all the things they had to overcome to get to Mount Weather, that was the last thing he needed to be worried about.

  18

  Tyler turned left out of the neighborhood. Jake watched as the infected gave chase, the still-fiery SUVs their backdrop. Jess continued to try to make contact with her sister as she lay on the bed next to Amy at the back of the RV. Amy was still escaping with her headphones, just as Jake had hoped she would. The immediate plan was to stop by Jess’s sister’s house. Jake held little hope for finding Vanessa and her family alive, but he had to check. If for nothing else, Jess would need the closure.