Apocalypse Chronicles (Book 1): SunDown, Part 1

by K. , T. Dawn.

  There was a clank and vibrations started from downstairs. Rec was below watching the monitors and had released the aggs’. From our vantage point we could no longer see the men, but Zoe gave an 'okay' signal and then we heard their screams. There was another short burst of gunfire and then the snarls of the aggs’ drowned out the music and the yells of the men.

  A stray agg shot into the training area and darted around before collapsing in the sun. It writhed around for several minutes and then shriveled up and jerked around. Zoe moved to the Northside of the store roof and looked through binoculars.

  "No one else is coming!" She yelled to us.

  "Where are the other four?" I asked Tracy.

  "My guess is they're waiting for the others to report back." He replied with a shrug, eyes on the horizon. "Or dark."

  "What do we do?" Zoe asked, holstering her bow.

  Plugging one of his earbuds into his ear, Brandon spoke. "We could-" He was cut off by Rec's voice over the walkie.

  "We got guys trying to bust down the door to the west tunnel!"

  Tracy and Brandon flew down the stairs dodging reaching arms as they passed the station doors.

  "We're on our way!" I yelled back as Zoe and I followed.

  We rushed through the sun hall and down to the mess hall. Everyone had gathered at the door leading to the west escape route. They had piled chairs and shelves trying to keep the people out. Zoe rushed in to help.

  We could hear yelling on the other side of the door. Even with the furniture and everyone pushing against the door, it still vibrated with the force coming from the other side. Tom came panting out of Duncan's room with eyes the size of saucers. I stepped into the hall towards him.

  "Five men just entered the greenhouse! They found the escape hatch!" He grabbed a chair and started towards the hatch leading to the greenhouse.

  There was a loud pop and everyone looked around in confusion. Zoe's scream smothered the sounds coming from the other side of the door and everyone else dropped to the ground, huddling into the west bunker hallway. Tom's eyes glazed and he dropped to his knees, blood running down his face from a gunshot wound in his forehead.

  The second of many casualties that day.

  Chapter 7

  Tidal Wave

  NEVADA JUNE 7TH 2029

  Rec fired his rifle at the gunman and I could hear the man hit the ground and his gun slide. Mer dove behind a couch in the rec area, tucking his six-foot frame in and began firing with his handgun at the hall leading to the green house. From my vantage in the doorway facing the mess hall, I could see two men duck in and take cover behind a table.

  Tracy and Brandon were still behind me and had posted up behind the buffet table. Tracy fired arrow after arrow at the men behind the table. His arrows glancing off the surface of the table kept clanging against the wall behind them.

  Neptune was low to the ground and took out one of the men's knees. Tracy took the opportunity to plant an arrow in the fallen man’s head. Rapid shots started from the rec room and Mer returned relentless fire as the stuffing of the couch drifted through the air.

  Rec slid across the floor to cover Mer and they both huddled into the west hall. Another man jumped in next to the one behind the table and they started firing on the open doorway. The remaining enemy resumed fire into the rec room, ricochets bouncing off the walls.

  Brandon narrowly missed a bullet to the head, landing hard on his side. His music player fell from his pocket and slid across the floor, the headphones dislodging. Sigrid's 'Everybody knows' began to blare and accompany the chaos in the room.

  Tracy crawled forward to hide behind a table and got one of the men in the shoulder. While they were focused on Tracy, Boe surged forward and slid across the table they were hiding behind, plunging his blade into the neck of one before he could react. The one with the arrow in his shoulder slid back and fired a round into Boe's chest.

  "NO!" Abe screamed and Dom hauled him back before he could run into the line of fire.

  I pulled my head back and looked around at the horrified faces. Like a funhouse mirror, trauma warped the world around me. Tears and rage alike. Ria and her crew were crammed against the escape door, teeth gritted against the pounding from the other side.

  Zoe was using the hall door as cover, her and Rec trying to take out the gunman on the other side. Abe sobbed against a conflicted Dom. Viktor was hysterical hiding under Cer and Len, Nef was trying to comfort him as he grimaced against the pain in his leg.

  My eyes were drawn to the inner corner where Neptune was clutching the sides of his head and Bud was clamping his hands on Mer's throat. Neptune tilted his head back and looked over catching my eyes. He looked back at Mer and shook his head.

  "He caught a stray. We didn't realize until he collapsed." He pulled Bud's hands away and helped him settle Mer to the floor.

  Mer's black eyes were lifeless and blood pooled from his mouth. Neptune closed Mer's eyes and removed his jacket to lay over him. Bud was breathing heavily and his wild hazel eyes were unfocused.

  Before anyone could stop him he burst into the rec room, pushing Zoe back on his way. Without thinking I ran out behind him, trying to grab him. He took three bullets to the chest before he made it to the shooter. He ripped the gun from his hands and smashed it into his face until there was nothing but a puddle of skull and tissue.

  I pulled him away and Dom and Cer ran up to us. At first he tried to push us away, his adrenaline coursing at full speed. He quickly lost his balance and sank to the floor. Dom ripped Bud's shirt open, revealing the three large holes in his chest.

  "This one was too close to his heart, I don't know what I can do." Dom's normally steady hands shook furiously.

  "My name..." Bud struggled to speak. "Javier...its Javier Cortez."

  "That's great, Bud." Cer said with moist eyes. "What else do you remember? Tell me about it." We all worked to apply pressure to his wounds and stop the bleeding.

  I could still hear the banging on the west door and Tracy cursing as he tried to take out the last gunman. The yelling and noise began to blend together. I blocked it out and focused on Bud.

  "Your name is, Daniel." He coughed up blood. "We were...neighbors."

  "What a terrible name." Cer said.

  "Carter." Bud coughed some more. "Daniel Carter...and you're my...best friend."

  "Yeah man. Forever, right?" Cer said as a tear rolled down his face.

  "Down...down..." Bud coughed harder and more blood came up.

  "Down the way then." Cer gripped Bud's hand and cleared his throat.

  Dom pulled his shaking hands away and sank back as Bud's eyes closed and his breath stopped. I pulled off my jacket and placed it over him. Cer bellowed with inhuman fury and clutched Bud to his chest.

  The noise from the other room had stopped and the others began to file in. Zoe kneeled down beside her brother. Rec sat next to her and pulled her into his side. Neptune and Len came out of the greenhouse hall with drawn expressions.

  "We got the door barricaded, but if they come at it like they did the other door, I don't know what we'll do." Nep shifted in his rolling chair and ran a hand over his face. "We...we lost.” His voice broke and he put his face in his hands.

  Len grasped his shoulder in silent support. Neffery walked in with Viktor and sat him on one of the shredded couches. Abe drug his feet to sit next to Nef and Viktor.

  Ria's crew carried Mer in and Tracy and Brandon followed with Boe. I stood and directed them to my room where we placed them on the two bunks. Abe came in shortly after and sat wordlessly next to Boe's body. We left him in silence and filed back into the main room.

  "I'm going to check the feeds." Dom said as he shakily stood.

  "We have to get out of here." Glitch said to Ria aggressively. "If we had left when I said to we wouldn't be stuck in this mess."

  "This mess?" She sneered. "Kids. Children. These are children." She stepped into his face. "I will not leave them again." She growled.

&
nbsp; Everyone went still and turned to the exchange. Dexter looked around nervously and stepped back. Rec stood and stepped forward slowly.

  "Again?" He asked through narrowed eyes.

  "It was me." She said, her eyes still boring into Glitch. "I was the nurse in charge of you."

  Zoe gasped and sobbed, her eyes wide with disbelief. Rec went rigid and the others looked dumbfounded. Ria broke away from Glitch's stare and spoke to Rec.

  "We were outside watching the clouds. They calmed Viktor when he would have one of his fits. I could see Antrim coming. I knew I had to lead him away. Viktor wasn't this far gone when I left."

  "You mean when you abandoned us." Abe snapped from my doorway.

  "I didn't-" She raised her hands when he opened his mouth to argue. "Look, what do you kids remember about LifeSpark?" She asked expectantly.

  No one answered for a moment and then Abe spoke again. "It's a team dedicated to finding a cure for SunDown. They have labs all over the world where they test and research, trying to make a better life for us all."

  "Yeah." She nodded as if they should remember more. When no one spoke she continued. "LifeSpark started with three doctors. Dr. Lavitchney from Germany, Dr. Eleanor Zeilburg from the states and... "She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down.

  "And you?" Rec spat in disbelief.

  "I already told you I was a nurse. The third doctor was Ambrose Murphy." She looked back up. "Ambrose...Antrim Murphy."

  "You've got to be taking a piss." Tracy scoffed. "That monster is not a doctor."

  "He wasn't always a monster. He's after these kids for the same reason he recruited you." Ria pinned Tracy with her eyes and he shifted nervously.

  "Let's hear it." He gestured impatiently.

  "You all have cure strains. He's infected. It was promised to him that one of you would cure him of his insatiable hunger for flesh. He's here to collect."

  "Bullshit. I've been nowhere near a lab. I came over before the North Dakota sanctuary fell. I have nothing to do with no cure." Tracy was exaggerating his movements and pacing in front of Ria.

  "And you remember leaving the sanctuary?" She asked him. When he didn't answer she continued. "It's true. Your name was in the files, along with your picture. Not a face you forget."

  "If you knew he was coming why'd you leave us?" Zoe spoke roughly.

  "Because he knew it was against training and protocol. He would have never expected me to leave you. I knew he'd assume the lab was empty like the rest."

  "Why didn't you come back?" Zoe pushed.

  "Antrim knew what kind of clearance I had. He knew I could tell him where the last three labs were."

  "Three?" I gasped. "There were over four hundred."

  "Volunteers aged out. Strains were only successful into the mid-twenties of the patients. After that, they degraded..." She glanced at Viktor. "The side effects were catastrophic."

  "Like Vik and Antrim." Glitch stated.

  "Exactly. Antrim and Viktor were both infected at a young age. SunDown was stronger then. The cure strains used on them were more of a suppressant. Without regulated treatments they both cede to the virus."

  "So what happened after Antrim found you in Utah?" Abe asked.

  "Antrim followed me all the way to Canada. He was always too close to risk leading him back to you. By the time I slipped him and made it back, you were all gone. I went west and found these guys." She gestured to her friends.

  "Why wasn't Viktor asleep like us?" Zoe asked as she absently stroked Tom's hair.

  "Like I said, he wasn't so far gone. After his trials started to degrade his mind, he was pulled from the studies. I was alone with all of you, and he was a quick learner, so I taught him to help out. He's a ward of LifeSpark."

  "You didn't even leave enough supplies for us to live." Rec grated after a length of silence.

  "You were meant to sleep for a month. The supplies should have carried you for another two weeks. I was there in time. You were all gone."

  I glanced at Abe recalling our previous conversation. Zoe tilted her chin up with a conflicted look on her face. All this time they thought they were abandoned.

  "I had taught Viktor how to wake you up and how to seal you into the panic room. I showed him how to treat himself. Viktor and I put you all to sleep and I booked it, making as much noise as I could. Viktor must have sealed you in. I don't know why you were woke up so early."

  "Blue tube." Viktor spoke from the couch. "Blue tube to bay the bats."

  "That's right." Ria said with a sad smile. "The Lycantian strain in Viktor's blood is too aggressive. Without a counterdote he becomes...dim. He can't operate past basic functions. I think he may have over done it with his dosing. When we found him in that camp he couldn't even tell us his name. He's damaged I guess, but he's also extremely intelligent."

  "But he's better than he was. After the blood. Right?" Rec asked.

  Ria stayed silent for a moment, frowning at Viktor. "With the strain weakened, he'll become more like Antrim. It's a fine line."

  Viktor looked up then. His face troubled he shook his head. He looked almost angry at the thought.

  "The bats were so loud." He whispered.

  "That's why he woke us." Neptune said. "Like you said, he wasn't so bad off when you left. He must have realized he wouldn't be in a condition to wake us." He glanced at Viktor and Viktor nodded quickly.

  "So what do we do now?" Abe asked.

  "What Tom said to do." Cer stood to speak. "We go to Utah."

  "Easier said." Dom emerged from Duncan's room. "The sun hall is full of aggs’. The ones these guys were using. They're covered in protective gear. We know the west exit is compromised, probably the east too. Luckily it's harder to breech though."

  "Can you see anyone up there?" Zoe asked, standing up and sidling up to lean on Neptune's chair.

  "There are two men in the greenhouse and I can see six more pushing aggs’ into the station." He replied.

  "Antrim has an army of eighty-four." Brandon said.

  "Seventy-six." Tracy corrected.

  "How are we going to get out of here?" Dexter whined.

  "We can't get topside to see if the east exit has been exposed. How effective is the gear you put on those aggs’?" Rec asked Tracy.

  "Very. Sometimes they wiggle too much or dig at themselves and it shifts or falls off. We could hope for that."

  "I'll flip the shutters and throw the UV's." Abe said as he exited the room. "If there's a chance to get topside I'll take it."

  "Tony?" Nef called as his head lolled. "Lenny?"

  "Yeah, bro?" Len stepped over to him and bent to meet his eyes.

  "I don't feel so great." He slurred.

  "Let's put you to bed." Len helped him up and walked him into their room.

  "I'm going to stay on the feeds." Dom said, stepping out.

  "As far as we know there are still two vehicles up there. My jeep seats eight. Rec and Lil Red can take the reverse seats in the back. Cover our asses." Tracy mentioned.

  "Ricky's truck sits four at the most in the cab and that's tight. Anyone in the bed is going to be exposed. Idiot refuses to use the topper." Brandon explained.

  "Did you guys know about the east exit?" Zoe asked Brandon.

  He shook his head. "No, but we also didn't know anything about rushing in here like they did. Or that Antrim is a doctor."

  "I think it's obvious we were more in the dark than we ever thought." Tracy said quietly shaking his head.

  "So there's a chance they don't know about it either." Zoe said ignoring them. "I can't lift that hatch by myself. And it’s pretty loud. If anyone is near it, they could get to us before we could re-secure it."

  "We don't have any vehicles out there." Abe pointed out as he came back into the room.

  "It's a big risk. If they take all our exits, we're trapped and we can't keep them out forever." Rec said.

  "If I had both legs I could do it. Parkour has been second nature since I was a tot. Do yo
u know what kind of talent it takes to be six-foot and fly around like a damn lemur?” He punched his injured leg and then paled and winced.

  "Damn it, Nep." Zoe smacked him in the back of the head.

  "Ow! That doesn't help either." He snapped.

  "I can help with your leg. I'll take a look around and see what I can use." Glitch ignored Neptune's doubtful expression and exited the room.

  "I'll help. I need the distraction." Abe said as he followed.

  "We need to get Bud and Tom off the floor." Rec said quietly glancing at Zoe." When she just nodded slightly he patted her shoulder and turned to Bud.

  Cer was standing in front of him with a feral look on his pale face. The purple around his eyes seemed even darker. Red rimmed from tears, his eyes were haunting. He ground his teeth before bending to help Rec lift Bud from the floor.

  I stepped over to open my door again and helped them situate Bud next to Mer on one of the bunks. We stepped back out where Zoe was saying a quiet prayer over Tom. She kissed his head and stepped back so we could lift him.

  "We don't have a cemetery." She said quietly when we came back.

  "Never needed one." Cer said.

  "Guess everything is different." Neptune mumbled.

  "Dex and I are going to go check out that east hatch. Secure the door behind us. We can't just sit around and wait for them to find it if they haven't yet." Ria said, pulling Dexter up off of a couch.

  "I'm not going up there." He emphatically shook his head and fought her hold.

  "You are!" She yelled in his face. "You start carrying your weight now. Or you will be left behind."

  "I'm not going out there to die." He pulled free.

  "Then I'll kill you here." Ria pulled a blade from her waistband and stepped toward him. "Good people died covering your ass! It won't happen again."

  "Okay! I'll go." He violently adjusted his shirt and stalked off to the east door in the med bay.

  "How far out is the hatch?" Ria asked Zoe.

  "Mile and a half."

  "If we aren't back in an hour, plan to do what you're doing without us and exclude the east exit from your plans."