by Phil Maxey
A being with black eyes stood in front of the car. Despite its angular face, she recognized it as the man she was hoping to visit. Her heart sank, despite her fear. He had been a good man, sacrificing a high-paying job in Phoenix to look after his wife.
God. His wife.
She slowly moved her hand and put the car into reverse, then slammed on the gas pedal. The car charged backwards along the reasonably straight road, and only slowed when it started to scrape along the side of another vehicle. Taking her eyes from the thing that was motionless, she turned around to steer. Out of the corner of her eye she could see them, emerging from their homes, staggering forward, most covered in blood, all watching her as she tried to navigate her way along the road without crashing.
The car swung out onto the main street, and she slid the gear back into drive, and screeched away along the main road.
*****
Joel followed Jim’s pickup along the narrow country routes, with mostly desert, small trees, and cacti stretched out in front of them. A modern single-story residence came into view at the top of a small incline, its large windows boarded up. In its large driveway sat a black truck in front of an open garage. The driver’s side door was wide open.
“Three live here, a middle-aged couple and their brother. Over,” said Jim from Joel’s radio.
Jim’s vehicle came to a stop, as did Joel’s sedan.
They both got out. Joel looked back at Flint who looked enthusiastically at him. “Gotta stay there, buddy.” He ducked back inside and wound the rear window down a little.
Don’t think that window’s going to stop him from leaving the car if he really wants to.
Jim already had his shotgun pointing towards the house, and Joel unslung his M4 from his shoulder. As he walked towards the former sheriff, Jim pointed at the door of the truck, and the obvious large smear of blood along the side of it.
They both raised their weapons and walked forward. Joel couldn’t sense anything in or around the house, but that was information he wasn’t able to pass onto Jim without arousing suspicions.
Joel walked up to the stone-colored door, which was closed. He went to knock with the barrel of the gun but stopped. Instead, he walked around and stood where the living room windows would have been and tried to peek through the flat timbers covering them. Shaking his head, he walked back to the door, and banged on it.
There was no response.
“Ethan? Jerry? Laura? Anyone in there?”
Only silence came through the door. In fact, Joel was aware of just how quiet it was all around them.
Jim walked past Joel and into the garage. A tray of hammers and wrenches was tipped on one side, its contents strewn across the dusty floor, and more spots of dark red formed a trail which ran up to the door at the rear.
They both moved forward slowly. The door was open, and Jim pushed it with the end of the shotgun. He walked slowly into a hallway. A picture frame, showing a well-tanned man and woman, lay smashed on the wooden floor. Jim pointed towards the left end of the hallway, while indicating he would go to the right. Joel nodded and moved off towards the living room.
Before he entered he could smell the rot. But it wasn’t of the human kind, this was rotting food. He walked inside and immediately was drawn towards the far end where a large wooden table set on a tiled floor. On it were plates with flies and what was left of the previous night’s dinner. He walked forward, past a black three-piece sofa neatly arranged around a glass coffee table and more pictures of the couple nestled amongst vases on top of shelves.
He looked around the room, but there was no sign of any struggle.
“Think you’re going to want to see this…” shouted Jim down the hall.
Joel quickly retraced his steps, moving along the hallway and into the kitchen. It was a large space with three counters. That wasn’t what caught his attention, across the room was a good-sized hole in the ground, just in front of a large double-doored fridge.
Jim was kneeled, pointing his flashlight into it.
Joel then noticed the large smears of blood which were spread across the floor, most of which converged at the edge of the rip in the kitchen tiles.
“Was there an earthquake last night that I didn’t feel?” said Joel, joining him.
“This wasn’t an earthquake. I’ve seen something like this before, in the mine. It’s just until now I thought I’d imagined it.”
Joel kneeled, looking into the jagged tunnel which seemed to be a gateway to hell. “So, they’re digging tunnels?” It was an idea that was strange even to him.
Jim stood. “We’re not even safe inside our homes.”
“I wonder how extensive the system is.”
Jim looked at the large fridge. “Help me with this.”
They both shuffled and slid the heavy appliance a few feet forward until it dropped, then lodged in the hole.
“Might plug it for now,” said Jim.
Joel thought about the original plan for the morning. Sealing the mine tunnels. “Looks like we’re going to need more TNT.”
Jim clicked on his radio. “Reg. How’s things where you are? Over.”
A few seconds of static passed.
“Can’t find anyone, Jim. But we are finding some weird holes in the ground. Over.”
Joel walked to the window and peered through one of the gaps in the wooden planks out to the ground around the property. It was a mixture of dirt and sand with the occasional rock.
“Keep looking and stay away from those holes. Over.”
“Will do. Over.”
Joel turned to Jim. “What buildings in Bellweather are built close to the bedrock?”
Jim looked down in thought. “From what I can remember, most are on top of a good amount of sand and dirt before they get to anything more solid… apart from the school. I remember the construction foreman was constantly complaining about having to drill down into the rock.”
“Then that’s where we have to get everyone… whoever’s remaining.” Joel went to leave, but Jim had his hands on the edge of the counter. “What?”
“I’ve spent my whole life in and around this town… but maybe it’s time we left. If there’s only a few of us…”
“And go where? We don’t know if it’s any different anywhere else. We hunker down at the school, then figure out a plan to drive the vamps out.”
Jim sighed, then clicked on his radio, telling Reg that once he’s finished up the search, to get as much supplies as he can, then get to the school. He also passed the same message onto Claire at the hotel, and Bill, but the old man was refusing to take the advice. Jim looked at Joel. “Let’s check the other homes, then get to Bill’s.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Marina heard the heated discussion between Bill and his grandson, despite their hushed voices, as she walked down the steps to the basement. They both stopped talking when she appeared. “Anything wrong?”
“They’re digging,” said Evan.
Bill shook his head in displeasure at Evan being too honest.
Marina looked unsure. “Who’s digging?”
Bill sat on the edge of one of the computer desks. “The vampires. It would seem they are creating tunnels beneath the town.”
“Jim says we need to evacuate to the school,” said Evan.
“Why the school?”
“Because it’s basically built on top of a rock cliff, there’s practically nothing for the creatures to dig through,” said Bill.
Marina looked at the floor around her. “And we’re not on rock?”
Bill shook his head. “No, but as I was telling Evan, we are at a much lower elevation, they would have to dig far deeper to be able to get in here.”
Evan threw his hands up in the air. “We don’t know what they can do!”
Bill crossed his arms, looking at Evan. “I’m not leaving, and neither are you.”
Evan leaned in closer to his grandfather. “But we are ready if we need—”
“We’r
e not at that point yet.”
Evan’s cheeks were flushed, and he shook his head, walked to another of the desks and sat down in front of a keyboard and monitor.
Bill looked at his grandson. “We can’t leave, Evan. We’ll have nothing out there. Here, we have food, water, we have all of our research… we’ll die out there.”
A creaking step made Marina turn around. Jess was standing at the top of the stairs. “What is it? You okay?”
Jess sat on the top step, placed her head in her hands and started to cry. Marina ran up the steps, sat on the one lower down, and placed her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Hey, what is it?”
“We’re never safe,” she said between gulps of air.
“We’re not leaving, okay? We are safe here.”
Jess looked up at her mother with wet red eyes. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m sure if Bill wasn’t, he would leave.”
Jess looked past her mother to the bottom of the stairs.
Bill smiled. “We’re quite safe here, young lady.”
“But if they can dig—”
“The mine is halfway up the mountain, we are almost at ground level. And anyway, this basement is below the house above me, so if anything suddenly happened we just close this basement off. Okay?”
Jess nodded.
Bill looked back to his grandson. “Evan, can you see if we have any more candy left upstairs, maybe Jessica would like some.”
Evan went to frown, but then got to his feet. “Sure.” He moved past Bill and Marina. “Follow me, let’s see what we got left,” he said to the girl.
Bill gestured for Marina to come down into the basement, which she did.
Before he started to talk, Marina spoke first. “Are we safe here?”
Bill briefly looked down. “I think so, yes. The amount of tunneling they would have to do to even approach this property is… well unless these things suddenly grow more intelligent and understand how to use drilling equipment, I think there’s no chance of them making it this far.”
“But how are they even doing any digging? And why would they do that?”
Bill looked up the stairs making sure it was clear, then closed the basement door at the bottom. “Look at this,” he said, moving to the nearby computer screen. He tapped on the mouse a few times, shifting through digital folders until he found one that contained photos. Double-clicking, he opened the folder and a plethora of thumbnail images sprawled across the screen. He then started to click on them.
Marina put her hand to her mouth, for the photos showed a scene of death and destruction, and in the center of it, standing in the middle of a street in one of the main cities, was three of the scourge, their hands and faces covered in crimson blood.
Bill noticed Marina’s discomfort. “Sorry, I should have warned you. Many of these are quite graphic. They are from the first month, when news organizations were still reporting on the outbreak. Luckily for us, they provide a record.” He zoomed in on one of the creatures’ faces. Its mouth was open impossibly wide, showing multiple rows of scalpel-like teeth, with two much larger canines at the front. The photographer seemed to have captured the monster just at the moment of taking another victim.
“It looks like a cross between a Baboon and a shark,” said Marina.
Bill nodded. “That is well observed. Yes, apart from the thirst to kill and drink the blood of its victims, the virus seems to produce a mutation in humans, at least it appears so in some of those we have photos of.” Bill clicked on another image, then another. Each one showing the creatures taken by the scourge, and each mutated human looking slightly different to the last.
Bill stopped clicking and leaned back. “Who knows what other types of things the scourge created.”
*****
Jim and Joel pulled up outside the hotel, and quickly moved inside. A heap of boxes sat near the door.
“Claire? Kelly?” shouted Jim.
Joel walked into the dining area. Most of the chairs and tables had been pushed against the far wall. Reg appeared from the kitchen with another box.
“We need to get these supplies and everyone to the school as soon as we can,” said Joel. “We got maybe another four hours of light.”
Reg nodded and continued into the foyer. Joel walked into the kitchen. Silver counters and ovens filled a narrow area, with a freezer room at the back.
Kelly came out with frozen meat in both hands. She jumped a little on seeing Joel looking at her.
“Sorry…”
“It’s fine.”
“The meat in there still good?”
Kelly nodded, walking past him. He followed. Claire and Jim were in the back office.
Claire looked down at her old ham radio set. “Reckon we should take this, but that would also mean bringing the radio antenna on the roof as well.”
“I’ll go take a look,” said Joel.
“You’ll need to go into the attic, and then climb out on the rear ledge. You’ll also need some tools, you should find them up there.”
Joel nodded, and left, walking swiftly up the stairs and trying each door until he found another set of stairs, which he jogged up. At the top, he pushed open the rickety door, and walked into a shadow-infested space with a triangular shaped room. A number of boxes and chests lay covered in dust and webs. He quickly searched until he found the metal tool box, flipping its lid, then unlatched the only window and leaned out, looking up at the ten-foot high mast. Even his former self that could bench press two-seventy would have had a problem with the weight of the antenna, but he knew with his increased strength it wouldn’t be a problem.
He looked at what tools would be needed, grabbed them from the box, and stepped out onto the ledge. From this height he was able to see most of the rest of the town, including the school and even Bill’s place further down the valley. He set about loosening the bolts and brackets that held the mast in place.
After a short while he was holding the mast in both hands and lowering it down to the ledge. He glanced back out across the valley and noticed something different. Balancing the mast against the roof, he strained his eyes into the distance. A number of dark streaks were visible on the desert floor, seemingly veering in the same direction. He kept watching, and then noticed another darkened patch of ground, this one coming in from the north. From the distance he was, they looked static, but he was sure they weren’t there when he started taking the mast down some twenty minutes earlier. He then realized all of the lines in the desert were moving towards one point. Bill’s.
He quickly moved inside and ran down the attic stairs, then down the first floor stairs to the foyer. The boxes were gone, and the room was empty of people. He glanced through a gap in the boards on the windows, and the street outside was empty apart from his own car, and Claire’s truck.
“Anyone still here?”
“I am!” shouted Claire from the kitchen.
He quickly moved through the diner and into the kitchen. A noise came from the cold room.
“In here, Joel,” said Claire.
He walked past the kitchen appliances and into the icy air of the five-by-five space with silver walls and metal shelves. Claire was at the far end, trying to reach something behind a large container.
“We need to contact Bill.”
“Can you give me a hand with this, I dropped my car keys down the back of this thing and I can’t reach them.”
Joel moved quickly across the room and leaned down. He had to strain a little, but his fingertips just got enough purchase to lift them into his palm. “We need to contact—”
He heard the blast before he felt his shirt become sticky and hot. He looked down at his jacket. Blood was already starting to pour from small holes in it. As he turned around, a thunderous boom heralded the closing of the door, locking him inside.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Marina sat at the desk in the basement, looking at frozen-in-time screenshots from websites which were heralding the end of
the world.
“End of times?” said one, while another on a more positive note talked about what scientists around the world were trying to do, to stop the strange epidemic that was turning people cannibalistic.
In the news photos, buildings were on fire, and vamps roamed the streets. Cities seemed to be the worst hit, or rather wherever there was the highest concentration of people.
Behind her, Jess was playing another of the board games with Evan, while Bill was somewhere else, no doubt his head in a dusty volume, researching ancient civilizations.
She pushed her arms up high and stretched, wondering if she should get another cup of coffee, when the monitor in front of her wobbled. She reached forward and grabbed the top corner of it, steadying it, then clicked on the mouse again.
She scrolled down pages of more saved news websites, wondering what the same locations in the images looked like now. Her mind flicked back to a month earlier when she had left her sister’s. Janet had pleaded with her to stay, but things were out of control in Denver. She hadn’t heard from Russell in weeks, due to the lines of communication being down, so she packed up the car when it seemed the streets were empty, and headed back home to LA. She thought about the early days on the road and shuddered. She didn’t start out with any weapons. She had always been against them, despite Russell’s insistence of having one in the house, but more than once she and Jess had a close call, so when she almost ran over the body of some dead police officers, she took what she could from the corpses.
As memories piled through her mind, she vaguely picked up her daughter’s frustration of not being able to keep her warrior figure upright on the game board.
Her monitor wobbled again, this time its base shifting an inch to the right.
“Agh! I can’t get any of them to stand up now!” said Jess.
The boards and beams that made up the old walls started to creak all around her and, as Marina turned her head expecting to see Bill come down the stairs, the different events started to coalesce in her mind, forming one focused idea.