by Glen Johnson
Melanie could see the officer gulping.
“Do you really think that matters now?” The General hollered. “Unleash everything we have. Try to contain them near the walls, while we get the people underground.” He turned and marched out of the room.
Melanie and Doctor Hall followed the General and his group of lackeys.
The main control room was in chaos. There were people shouting orders, with others running back and forth.
Melanie noticed the main bank of monitors. It showed the walls had collapsed in several areas. The hordes were pouring through the gaps of tumbling masonry. Soldiers stood in rows, firing into the mass of undulating bodies.
Large M2 Browning machineguns stood on tripods at intervals along the line. Their destructive .50 caliber bullets shredded everything in their path. The creatures behind climbed over the remains of their companions.
“I want those people injected and underground now!” the General screamed. He then sprung around to the two doctors. “Doctor Hall, get Doctor Lazaro over to the preparation area, and get her injected and send her underground with the first batch!” He sprung around.
“Heather, go with them and get yourself injected and underground. Oh, and make sure Doctor Hall doesn’t screw this up.”
Heather was one of the people who followed the General around like a lost puppy. She looked flustered, as if she believed her place was in the main building, helping to direct operations, not baby-sitting two doctors. She had shoulder length blonde hair and a kindly face. She could have been anything from forty to fifty, and could have passed as a midwife in a maternity ward of any hospital, if it was not for her expensive taste in clothes – she wore a Dolce and Gabbana cream blouse and an auburn, knee-length Fendi skirt, with Manolo Blahnik shoes.
Melanie had also noticed that Doctor Hall had been flicking glances over at the woman since they entered the control room.
“My names Heather Kennedy.” She held out a hand to Melanie, while giving Doctor Hall an evil glare.
With all the shouting, the booms of explosions, and the muted sound of gunfire through the walls, Melanie found it strange that this woman wanted to shake her hand.
“For god’s sake Heather, we haven’t got time for fucking pleasantries,” Doctor Hall said through clenched teeth.
Heather dropped her hand before Melanie could grasp it.
“Jesus, Albert, do you always have to be such a cock!” She marched off towards a set of sliding doors, not caring if either of them was following her.
“You’ll have to excuse my ex-wife; she always was such a bitch!” Doctor Hall stated, as he took a cigarette out of the packet from his breast pocket. He followed Heather out into the hallway, while lighting the cigarette and inhaling deeply.
“What?” Doctor Hall said as Melanie caught up and walked along next to him.
“I think a little cigarette smoke is the least of everyone’s problems.”
18
Noah, Red, and the Squad
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
In Dartmoor Prisons Chapel
3:41 PM GMT
“Bull help me,” the Captain said, as he wedged his shoulder against a wooden barrier. However, just as they were both about to push, the hidden entrance swung open.
“Bull,” a voice said. A soldier stood in the glaring light from the exit, which was a wooden panel in the small antechamber next to the main chapel.
“Clint?” Bull said.
“I’ve been sent to take you directly to the General,” the soldier stated. He looked at the six people exiting the tunnel.
“Only four of you made it back, along with two civilians?” Clint asked. He was young and tall, and covered in masonry dust.
“It is crazy out there,” Echo said as she pushed by, glad to be out of the claustrophobic tunnel.
The booms of exploding poppers were much louder aboveground. The rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire echoed around inside the chapel, with the screams of dying soldiers mixed in. Different blasts could now be heard, not the dull popping of bloated bodies, but the sound of grenades and missile launchers.
“The way is clear for now, but they are swarming into the prison through multiple breaches.” The soldier pushed open the thick chapel door. The sounds tripled in loudness.
The chapel was close to the back wall, which was breached. However, even though the thick wall had caved in, a tall security, metal linked fence was still holding the swarming creatures back.
The chapel’s back door exited onto a forty-foot compact dirt area, used for storage that had a few smaller stone huts against one side, along with a long polythene greenhouse. A thin concrete path led to the back of the hub building, next to a row of what looks like prison warden houses.
A line of soldiers stood in the dirt, firing repeatedly through the fence, cutting the creatures down.
The Captain noticed what was happening.
“Stop firing!” he hollered. The sound of the rifles and large M2 miniguns drowned his cries out.
The Captain could not understand how the soldiers were so blind. The horde was climbing on the dead, using them like a mound, and now they could reach the top of the fence. They swarmed over.
19
Doctor Lazaro and Doctor Hall
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
The Preparation Area in Dartmoor Prison
3:42 PM GMT
“You know you’re not meant to smoke inside?” Heather said over her shoulder, without bothering to turn around.
Doctor Hall simply ignored her, and his next exhalation was even louder.
Heather returned the favour and ignored him.
The sound of fighting was dull but could still be heard through the thick walls. The muted explosions vibrated through the soles of their shoes.
“The Preparation Area is in the center of the building, right above the main lift shaft,” Heather explained for Melanie’s benefit. “Sadly though, almost a hundred Adam and Eve Finalists failed to arrive as scheduled. The General believes either their helicopters crashed, or they simply never got the chance to board.”
The long white hallway ended in a series of three thick doors. Heather pulled a card from her clipboard and scanned it on the center door. It hissed open.
Doctor Hall flicked his cigarette to the floor before following the two women inside.
Melanie found herself inside another contamination vault. The memories of the last one rushed back. She used a hand to steady herself against the cold metal wall.
A white mist hissed from vents in the ceiling, enveloping the whole chamber. Powerful fans kicked in, and the mist was sucked away.
As the thick door slid open, screaming filled the vault they just stepped out of.
“What the...” Heather’s words died on her lips when a naked teenager, who was saturated with blood and masonry dust, tackled her, knocking her sideways like a ragdoll.
Melanie was pulled back by Doctor Hall, just as a group of creatures noticed them.
Doctor Hall slammed his hand on the close button. The door gracefully slid shut. The creatures slammed against the thick metal door.
Through a small window, Melanie could see that one side of the large room had collapsed, with creatures pouring through. The handful of soldiers were already dead, with the remains of the Adam and Eve Finalists – men, women and children – being ripped limb from limb. It was a blood bath.
Her view was partially blocked when blood was smeared over the thick glass by a naked arm. She jumped when the hiss of the white mist filled the room, blocking her view out of the window.
20
Noah, Red, and the Squad
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
Outside the Dartmoor Prison Chapel
3:45 PM GMT
“Run!” the Captain screamed.
The fence was starting to buckle under the mass of bodies trying to climb over. The creatures surged across the compac
t dirt.
“Into the hub building,” Coco shouted as he led the way along the thin path.
The fence finally gave way. The creatures tipped, rolled, and then righted themselves in one move, while racing towards the soldiers.
Coco and Bull ran along the path, with Red and Noah close behind. Echo and the Captain jogged backwards while firing into the mass of surging bodies.
The line of soldiers fragmented; they knew they had no chance against the multitude racing towards them.
Noah gripped Red’s hand as if both their lives counted on him never letting go. Suddenly, movement caught Noah’s attention out of his peripheral vision. He instinctively stopped running, pulling Red to one side.
Naked bodies were pouring over the walls on either side of the thin pathway.
They were blocked in.
21
General Philips
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
Dartmoor Prison in the Hub Control Room
3:46 PM GMT
The General could see, via the bank of monitors, that every major part of the prison’s main wall was breached; creatures were pouring in by the thousands; all called from miles around by some higher, hive mind.
He just received confirmation that the Tibetan, Cambodian, Canadian, and Mexican pods had been tactically nuked. The Americans had evacuated Groom Lake and had remotely detonated a controlled nuclear device to destroy their pod. The only one remaining was the Madagascan pod – the cause of all the trouble.
The American president had given up waiting, and had approved complete blanket coverage of thermal nuclear warheads over the two hundred and twenty-two thousand square mile island of Madagascar. All eighteen Ohio-classed ballistic missile submarines had been diverted with their seventeen hundred warheads. It was estimated that it would take two days of nonstop firing to complete the mission. The projected twenty-two million casualties (if that many were still alive) would be chalked up as casualties of war.
The General was glad one world leader had the balls to do something.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his cabinet members, were hiding down inside a bunker one hundred feet below the Northwood suburb of London. Normally, it was the control center for the Combined Task Force 345, which was England’s control room for its four Vanguard class submarines. However, it was taken over to keep the British government running.
The Prime Minister and cabinet members, along with their families, were supposed to relocate to The Ark five hours ago. The reason for their delay was unknown, due to not being able to reach the Northwood bunker.
The General did not care if the Prime Minister was dead or alive. In his opinion, Parliament members come and go, but military leaders stay the duration. He had been in the army for almost forty years; he had seen eight different Prime Ministers inside number ten Downing Street. He ran the most important British secret bunker, not them. They would come and take a tour, umming and ahhing about how big and expensive it was. Then they would leave and never come back. They never truly believed they would ever need to use it.
As for the Queen and royal family, within days of the word pandemic being broadcasted, and the boarders being closed, they had all vanished. He had heard rumours that they were on a large luxury yacht in the middle of Loch Lomond in Scotland. They could all drown for all he cared.
The control room was in complete chaos. A live video feed, from the Preparation Area, showed that the creatures had entered the main part of the building and was in the process of killing England’s hopes for future repopulation.
It seemed hopeless.
Soldiers and civil servants were abandoning their posts. It was only a matter of time before the whole complex was overrun.
The General casually walked through the chaos of screaming and crying, and headed to his private office. His attendants had long disappeared.
The General walked around his luxurious office, with walls filled with books, and photos. He sat behind his large antique desk that once belonged to the Prime Minster, William Pitt the younger.
He stared at a photo of Echo and her mother Jane, who died when Echo was five.
The General pulled open a large bottom drawer and removed a black box. He pressed his thumb against a scanner that clicked and the lid slowly opened.
Outside, in the main control room, people were screaming louder. The creatures had broken in.
Inside the box was a small device with a simple keyhole. The General pulled a chain from around his neck. A key hung from it. Without any rush, the General inserted the key, pushed his thumb against another scanner, and turned the key. A piercing alarm resounded throughout the whole prison.
“T-minus twenty minutes,” a robotic female voice announced over the tannoy system, cutting through the alarm.
Explosives positioned around the grounds would level the complex, leaving the underground bunker unaffected.
The General seemed way to calm, as if on the verge of a breakdown. His whole military career was connected to The Ark. Everything he had been working for, for his entire working life, was collapsing around him.
His left eye twitched.
From the same drawer, he then removed a small case. He placed it on the desk. Inside was an injection system – the antidote for the gas. Without fanfare, he picked the device up and forced it into his neck. With a hiss, the fluid was in his system.
The General stood and brushed down his uniform. While ignoring the screaming on the other side of his office door, he strode to a bookcase and pulled down on a book – Z Wars by Max Brooks, which was his idea of ironic, and the bookcase slid open.
Somewhere in the prison, his daughter was fighting for her life. He had to find her and his sister, the only two surviving members of his family, and get them into the bunker.
The General disappeared down a hidden tunnel.
22
Doctor Lazaro and Doctor Hall
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
The Preparation Area in Dartmoor Prison
3:47 PM GMT
Melanie was back out in the hallway, breathing hard. She felt like she was going to have an anxiety attack. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees.
“This way,” Doctor Hall stated, as he walked across to another door.
Melanie noticed he held a metal, silver, bubble briefcase in his hand. She wondered where it had come from.
He must have snatched it out of the room.
Muffled sounds of screaming and gunshots echoed around the stark white walls. Distant concussive booms vibrated the floor and walls. The explosions sounded like they were getting closer.
“They’re everywhere!” Melanie muttered.
“Now, now, Doctor Lazaro, let’s not give up so easily.” Doctor Hall swiped his card. The door swished open. The hall was only three meters long and had a lift at the end.
“Shall we?” He held his hand out for her to go first.
“What? Where?” Melanie blurted.
“The safest place in this country – below our feet, underground.”
“We can’t, have you forgotten about the gas?” Tears of fear ran down Melanie’s cheeks.
“That, midear, will no longer be a problem,” he stated while swinging the briefcase in his hand.
“T-minus twenty minutes,” the speakers announced, as the alarm rang through the hallway.
“What now?” Melanie asked.
“To the bunker. And by the sounds of it, we’d better hurry.”
23
Noah, Red, and the Squad
Dartmoor National Park
Princetown
The Greenhouse Tunnel
3:50 PM GMT
Eaters scrambled over the wall, launching themselves through the air, slashing, and swinging their arms.
One hit Bull in the chest, knocking him backwards, to land hard on the concrete path. The wind was punched from his lungs, as his arms flew to the sides, releasing the r
ifle. The back of Bull’s head cracked against the ungiving surface. In his dazed state, he tried to bring his arms up to protect his face, but the creature was just too fast.
So this is how I die! Bull thought, as the deformed face of an adolescent male, with bulging, bloodshot eyes and a twisted, overstretched maw of a mouth, flew straight at his face.
Bull disappeared under a pile of frenzied naked attackers. His bloodcurdling scream filled the alleyway, then cut off into a wet gurgling, choking sound.
Coco stood back, firing at the bodies climbing over the wall.
The Captain and Echo could see what was happening to Bull, but they had problems of their own. Now the fence had collapsed a mass of creatures were surging into the grounds. The soldiers vanished under the piles of undulating bodies.
“Here!” Noah shouted to Red. He picked up a stone and tossed it through a window of a long snaking tunnel that led to the greenhouse.
While Red used a stick to rake the fragments of glass from the sill, Noah pulled his handgun free and shot a child of about eight in the head.
“Noah!” Red screamed.
Noah turned to find Red already through the window, holding her hands out to him. He ran and dived through.
The tunnel joined the greenhouse with a large building. Ignoring the feeble sided polythene greenhouse, they sprinted along the tunnel towards the stone building.
Noah could hear the squad outside fighting for their lives. He felt bad for leaving them, but his priority was to protect Red. Also the alarm ringing, with the robotic countdown sounded ominous. In any movie he had ever seen, a countdown never ended in anything good.
At the end of the tunnel was a thick door. With Red’s help, he swung it open. The room on the other side held something they were not expecting.