Getting next to each other and forming a line, two more joined them, each of them shooting nonstop. The group of dogs turned into a large pack, and then they emitted their debilitating howl. It was so deafening that none of them heard the water. Suddenly, they saw a powerful blast of water shooting the dogs backward. As the water splashed and sprayed over the dogs, it also sprayed the face and chests of Bellamy and the group, drenching them and startling them into panic as their faces were covered in water, limiting their view of the dogs.
“Come in here!” yelled a woman’s commanding voice. They looked up and saw the enormous red doors to the fire station wide open. Two firemen held onto the hose. As it blasted the dogs out of the way, Liam had already gotten most of the others into the firehouse. He stood next to the woman, waving vigorously at Bellamy and the others.
They ran fast, got to the doors, and scooted inside. Bellamy turned and shot at two dogs that had chased after them. Another fireman grabbed his fire axe, and with one fluid motion lopped off the head of another zombie dog. Blood shot out from the decapitated dog, splattering the fireman in the face. He quickly wiped it off and attacked another, slamming his axe right down the middle of its face and cutting it in two as if he was log-splitting.
More kept coming and were shot dead, leaving their coal-colored blood oozing and splashing about. As it mixed with puddles of water, it looked like someone had spilled diluted cans of paint. A man’s scream from across the road was heard.
Colman’s leg was being used as a chew toy. Flesh was tossed into the air in a frenzied attack. The dog was joined by another, which clamped down on Colman’s other leg. They started pulling and dragging him, tearing his flesh like he was caught in a can opener. Quickly, Harry shot at one while the fireman charged the other with his axe. He raised the axe above his head and swung down fast, chopping one side of the dog’s face clear off. He lifted the axe again, swung it down, and this time it landed where he’d aimed, right down the middle of the thing’s skull. Fluid the color of black tar gushed outward in a rush, soaking the fireman in it. The stink almost made him puke.
Grabbing Colman and swinging him over his shoulder, he walked with purpose into the firehouse, dropped Colman on a cot upstairs, then went back down. He finished off the other resilient bastard dogs that hadn’t been caught in the power of the hose. The high-pressure firehose had bulldozed the other dogs further back. Some of them disintegrated almost immediately, their bodies turned into mushy, chunky soup by the force of the water. It was a glorious sight and the group behind Bellamy was cheering and clapping. As soon as the firemen had the dogs demolished and the others blown further away, they withdrew the hose, coiled it up fast, and closed the large red doors.
Hazel’s screams intensified with her closer contractions.
“Get her upstairs!” a woman dressed in police riot gear barked. The fireman that was drenched in the fur, flesh, and blood of the reanimated mutts used a hose to wash off. He had stripped down to his underpants. Twenty-four-year-old Rose almost wet herself as she watched him. To her, he was beyond beautiful. His muscles bulged and came alive with each motion of his hands rubbing the gunk from his body. She wanted to be the hose. Silently giggling to herself, her eyes fixed on his dark skin. His silky, succulent, racehorse-like legs stood strong as he flexed his thigh muscles, sending a shiver down Rose’s spine.
She continued to watch him. Droplets of water had formed into little bubbles over his bald head, igniting it into a glob of iridescent glows. She was more than just awestruck with his beauty. She was totally infatuated. She soon learned that his name was Noah. Rose was unable to take her eyes off his wet white underwear, now semitranslucent and showing his form in all its glory. Unaware of licking her lips, she inched herself closer, only to be swept off her feet and urged upstairs.
Everyone immediately followed two firemen up the stairs. After getting Hazel onto one of the firemen’s cots, the rest of the group went into the rec room. Leo and Liam remained with Hazel. Jasper attended to Colman’s wounds, then joined the others in the rec room.
Half an hour had gone by before all the crew gathered together and the introductions began.
Bellamy stepped forward and shook the hands of the five now standing in front of them.
“I’m Noah, and this is Luke and Mason. That cop is Elijah and the sexy woman in uniform is Lucy.” She darted an ‘as if’ look at Noah.
Bellamy introduced himself and the others. It was a brief introduction, as he was never good at remembering names.
“Are there any more of you?” Noah asked. Bellamy began to answer, but then hesitated as Hazel’s screams shot through the closed door right into his ears, as if a cannon had been fired.
“Yes, there’s another group waiting for us at Battery Park. It’s where we’re headed.”
“You crazy? Damn, crazy fools, wandering the streets of New York. You know what’s going on out there, don’t you?” Noah inquired as he smirked a little, showing his perfectly straight white teeth.
“Sadly, we do. We had to split up. Long story, my friend, a very long story. How long have you five been holed up in here?”
“Pretty much since it started. The rest of our company was either comatose or eaten by the dead things. One day everything was right as rain and I was taking my two-year-old to the park, since I had a day off, and then the next thing, I’m called in. So I left my little girl with her mom. I went back for them, but it was too late. Those mongrel mutts had already made stew out of them. I returned here and found Lucy and Elijah already here. They’d been dispatched to this area when the rioting began. Luke and Mason are from two other fire stations.
“We banded together and did what we could. The rioting got too far out of control for the five of us, so we hauled ass in here. No more police or military were around to maintain order, so we were doomed from the damn start of that fucking virus. It was so well constructed, it put eighty percent of the population into a coma, leaving little defense behind to battle the walking-dead dogs.
“When the rioting stopped, due to most everyone being picked off by the dogs, we thought that was it, that it was all over and we were done for. If it wasn’t for the safety of this fire station, we would have been turned into human sludge along with all the others. Occasionally, we’ve seen survivors, but none the size of your group. You’ve done well to keep everyone alive. My hat goes off to you.”
They talked for another two hours, getting to know more about each other, what the world had become, and how they’d survived.
CHAPTER 34
NEW LIFE
Hazel began to writhe. She slid off the cot and squatted on the floor, bracing herself with the legs of the bed behind her. Sweat dripped from her temples, pooling into the corners of her gaping mouth.
“Doc, please… There is something horribly wrong, I can feel it.” Between heavy panting, she spoke sluggishly.
“I’ve done an internal, Hazel. The baby is not breech. You’re just experiencing normal…”
“Normal? There ain’t nothing normal about this pain!” she snapped. “Oh, dear God! Get it out of me, now!” she spat as she screamed out between contractions.
“You’re at seven centimeters dilation, so it won’t be long now. You’re going to have to get back on the bed. I can’t see the baby’s head with you squatting on the floor,” Leo calmly said, helping her back onto the bed.
Lucy had joined them in the room, bringing with her fresh towels and two clean blankets. Putting them on one of the other cots, she stood next to the doctor.
Liam held onto Hazel’s hand until she nearly broke the bones in it from squeezing it too hard. He pulled his hand free from hers and began massaging her shoulders, but she immediately pushed his hands away.
“Don’t you touch me!” she screamed. Liam was taken aback. His gaze hit the floor and then scanned the room briefly, looking lost. He didn’t know what to do.
“It’s all your fault!” she barked.
“Yes, yes i
t is,” Liam replied. Not knowing the best course of action, he went with whatever she said. It seemed to lessen the verbal abuse.
More intense surges exploded Hazel’s insides. She arched her back, pushed her feet into the mattress, and cried out.
“Make it stop, please… Fucking make it stop!”
“I’m sorry, Hazel, but I don’t have any pain relief for you, nothing that would work for this,” Leo said dejectedly.
“Fuck off then, everyone! Get out!” she hissed and spat as another contraction took over.
They all stayed, and Liam continued to talk her through it. The doctor was ready for the baby to crown. Lucy was on hand, ready to assist, having delivered two babies before, one in a car and one in a mall. She was used to this side of the birthing experience.
Hazel could feel her cervix opening wider, her uterus pushing her baby down. It was then that she got a bit of focus, biting down on her lip, clenching her jaw, and twisting her fingers into great knots as she gripped the sheets tightly. Her body glistened in a sheen of sweat. Her veins popped outward, looking angry and red on her neck.
“I need to push,” she panted as she held her breath through the next wave of contractions. Her body writhed about in agony. While her fingers gripped tighter onto the sheets that she had drenched in her sweat.
A brief moment passed that seemed a lifetime to Hazel.
“Yes, you can push now. You’re fully dilated,” the Doc said as he smiled gently at her grimacing face.
Hazel bore down, pushing with everything she had in her. She could feel the baby’s head crowning. Even before the doctor told her, she knew. She reached down and felt the warmth of the little head as it peeked through. She continued to push. The doctor had his hands ready to help the baby.
“Push hard, one more time,” he said as he took the baby’s head in his hand. With a gush of warm amniotic fluid, it was almost fully out. Its shoulders seemed to be stuck and his eyes flittered in a quick panic. Then he relaxed as she pushed one last time. The baby’s shoulders slipped out. He was able to put his hands under the arms of the baby and lift it out, quickly putting it to Hazel’s chest. Hazel was completely elated with joy and astonishment. She gushed a torrent of tears as her breathing began to regulate.
“You have a son,” Leo proudly said to both Hazel and Liam.
The baby started making a gagging sound like a gurgling. Leo quickly checked its mouth, cleaning out bits of tissue and mucus. He cleaned around its tiny nose, and he had Liam cut the cord with the scissors Lucy had supplied. The baby was placed back on Hazel’s chest, and he began to cry. Hazel also cried, quickly followed by Liam, who was overjoyed.
“Have you chosen a name for him, or is it too soon?” Lucy asked as she took the baby, cleaned and wrapped him up, and handed him back to Hazel.
Liam looked at Hazel. Without exchanging words, they both smiled and almost together announced the baby’s name, ‘Gabriel’.
CHAPTER 35
SURVIVORS
“You must have gone stir-crazy, being cooped up in here for the last few months,” Calloway said as he joined the conversation. Julie stood next to him, looking pale, frazzled, and exhausted.
“You have no idea,” Noah said as he offered protein bars to the group.
“You guys should join us. We can make a life on Liberty Island,” Bellamy said during bites of his chocolate protein bar.
“Besides, if it doesn’t work out, we can always come back and find somewhere else.” Lily said casually, making it sound so easy.
“What’s your weapons situation like?” Mason asked the group.
“We’ve been looting weapons since we were forced out of our town, from White Mountain National Forest to here. We have a good amount. How about you guys?”
“There’s a town there?”
“Yeah, I discovered it by accident. It was bought out from Virgin Studios by a psychopathic killing manic,” Lily said.
“We’ll fill you in more on that later,” Bellamy added. He finished his protein bar while listening to Noah.
“Well, those two have their police guns and batons. We just have our axes and that’s about it, though we have found out that our fireman outfits prove pretty useful against the biters. Harder for them to penetrate, plus Elijah and Lucy have their riot gear and that also shielded them from the bites,” Noah said, his voice strong and deep.
Rose was standing close by, her eyes fixated on Noah. She watched him turn his wedding band around on his finger before her gaze lifted, looking right into his deep brown eyes. He smiled at her, again flashing his perfect white teeth. She smiled back.
“Mind if I take a moment to discuss your proposition with my team?” Noah suggested as he stood and walked to the other end of the rec room.
“Of course not, take your time,” Bellamy answered, smiling.
Lily watched the small group of five discuss things. Bellamy slipped his hand around her waist, pulling her into him with a kiss on her head. She looked into his eyes and gave him a passionate kiss on his plump but dry lips. They hadn’t had a chance to be together, not with all the traveling, running, keeping alive, and escaping death. So, for Lily, this moment in time meant more to her. She felt alive and contented. She shifted and sat on Bellamy’s knee as Noah and the others came back over.
“We think it’s a great idea. We’re sick of being stuck here. We can even use the firetrucks to get us to Battery Park, provided there isn’t a massive obstacle obstructing us. Even then, we’re damn close now, so it won’t take more than fifteen or twenty minutes. There are seventeen of you, and five of us. How many have you got waiting at Battery Park?”
“Five adults, one child, and one baby,” Lily answered before Bellamy could, giving him a squeeze on his thigh as she shifted to sit next to him. Her thoughts were dejected and cluttered, bringing tears to her eyes. Remembering everyone that had joined them and those that they’d lost along the way was painful. She didn’t want to think about it. However, her mind took control and their faces appeared before her eyes like a slide show. Bellamy could sense something was upsetting Lily. Putting his arm around her, he gave her a gentle hug. She allowed her head to fall onto his chest while she watched the new group.
“We can easily fit all of us into the two trucks. Shall we get things started?” Noah said as he began grabbing things. The others did the same. They had everything they needed packed and ready in ten minutes. Calloway was impressed. They worked with speed and efficiency.
When Liam came through to the rec room, with Hazel and baby Gabriel, he had a request.
“Look, I know this is a lot to ask, but do you think we could stop at a baby shop on the way to the docks? We really need to get some stuff for him. Hell, man, he’s not even got a nappy or a single stitch of clothing, let alone something to sleep in.” Liam’s eyes seemed to beg as his fingers entangled around the sheet that was wrapped around Gabriel.
“I don’t mind,” Noah said. The others agreed with Noah that it was a reasonable request, one they were okay with doing.
“Besides baby stuff, if there’s a shop in the same area that happens to sell women’s clothing, then I’m all for getting out of this uniform,” Lucy said as she ran her fingers up and down her police uniform.
“Well, it seems we have a plan of action. Before we go, I’m going to show you shooters how to use the fire hoses,” Mason said, taking Harry, Calloway, Ethan, and Bellamy out to the trucks. Noah, Luke, and Lucy began getting the group onto the trucks. The bigger ladder truck could hold a lot more, so thirteen went on that and nine on the other truck. Coleman was put on first, as his injured legs needed to be extended.
Five minutes after driving the trucks out of the station, they were attracting many dogs. The group manning the top of the truck shot the dogs. It was a matter of shoot, kill, reload, and repeat.
Along Broadway, Noah spotted a baby shop. Five shops ahead there was an elite woman’s clothing store. He parked between the two. As prearranged earlier, Bellamy a
nd Harry would escort Hazel and Liam into the baby store. Ethan and Calloway would escort Lucy, Lily, and three other women into the women’s clothing store. It was agreed that they wouldn’t shop, but instead would grab clothes off the racks and bag them.
Bellamy ushered Liam and Hazel inside after making sure it was clear. Hazel walked slowly, as the pain was lingering like a thick swampy headache. Her legs felt almost jellified, and her abdomen felt gassy with a heavy bloating feeling as menstrual-like cramps hugged her deeply inside. She stood by, barking orders at Liam. Tears threatened to flow every now and again. She couldn’t understand why sadness was betraying her.
“Don’t forget, grab and run, and also grab baby things for Hope,” Bellamy said as he stood guard at the door. Harry chaperoned them, ensuring they would do as instructed. Time itself wasn’t the issue, but roaming dogs were, so they had to move fast. Liam grabbed a pile of bags. He didn’t care about colors, styles, or gender as he raced through, filling the bags with bedding, blankets, washing lotions, creams, baby bottles, towels, diapers, and clothing of all sizes.
He grabbed non-essential items like stuffed animals, musical toys, learning toys, and all the batteries he could lay his hands on, filling many bags. He had to make a couple of trips, leaving Hazel standing idly by yelling out to him, “Grab that and grab this.”
He made his last round, grabbing things for baby Hope, and the bigger items – bassinet, backpack, carry sling. He looked at the pre-packed Porta Cot, figured he could use it, and snatched it up. Struggling with the bags, he lost two of them as he carried them to the truck. He ran back and picked up the bags he’d lost. In the time he was doing this, Hazel had managed a slow painful walk, gathering a few of the more important items. Five trips were made in total.
Hounded | Book 3 | Hounded 3 Page 24