When she opened the door, she noticed Red’s backpack in the middle of the entranceway.
Huh, what are the chances of that? Betty thought to herself. She picked the bag up and returned inside.
The only clothes were a pair of jeans and two tee shirts and underwear, but it was clean. It also had a photo of Red and another female, who looked like Red but a few years younger, with an older man and woman stood between them. The woman looked like Red’s mother. It was hard to tell if the man was related because his face was obliterated by being rubbed over with a black pen until the photo disintegrated.
Strange, Betty thought. She tucked the photo back in the bottom of the bag.
Betty then went through Lennie’s bag and found a dark-blue jumper with a rainbow across the front that dwarfed Red, but would keep her warm.
With Lennie’s help, after drying Red and dressing her, she moved her to the front room, laying her on the long couch that still had its protective plastic wrapping over it. After shaking one of the blankets that rested over her shoulders, she laid it over Red’s motionless body.
Betty noticed the lump on Red’s head when she washed her hair. She perched on the couch next to Red and held her small pale hand.
“Come on dear, time to wake up now,” she muttered. She began to rub Red’s hand. It was so cold.
The strong wind made the curtains flutter. Betty got up and pulled them tight, while wedging the heavy china angels on the windowsill into the corners to stop the curtains from flapping around.
They didn’t help much; she thought as she looked at the statues of the angels. Where’s our God’s now? One china angel held a sword as if ready to defend the weak.
Betty was raised a strict Catholic. She was marched to church every Sunday in her best, regardless of weather or illness. However, unlike the other old people at Mount Pleasants Old Peoples Home, who seemed to grow more religious as their years mounted up and the time to finally find out got closer, Betty grew further away from believing there was a supreme being. In her opinion, there was just too much suffering and hatred in the world.
Marquis De Sade made her mind up when she read one of his books. He wrote, I think that if there were a God, there would be less evil on this earth. I believe that if evil exists here below, then either it was willed by God, or it was beyond His power to prevent it. Now I cannot bring myself to fear a God who is either spiteful or weak.
Betty agreed wholeheartedly with his statement, and it forever changed her view about God.
When the outbreak had first started, the TV channels and radio airwaves was full of preachers, priests, and evangelists screaming their beliefs, stating God had judged humanity due to his sins, his violence, his ignorance, his unrepentant ways.
On the second week, as the pandemic spread, and the infected jumped from millions to billions; people started to gather at the high places. Fires sprang up on the peaks around the world, with people screaming in every tongue. They made sacrifices to the Gods, of every type of animal, including human, trying to appease their anger. However, no Gods answered. There was no divine light – no celestial cure. The crowds thinned, and eventually dispersed under the knowledge that they were completely on their own.
The sound of Lennie playing with Charlie in the hallway, as the small dog scurried around, brought Betty back to the present.
Abruptly, the little dog froze while sniffing the air. It moved over to the door, and continued sniffing along the gap at the bottom.
A rubbing sound echoed around the small flat, as something scraped up against the other side of the door.
Charlie started growling, and the fur on his neck stood on end.
3
Doctor Lazaro, Noah, and the Squad
Newton Abbot
Courtney Park
12:26 PM GMT
“Doc, how’s he doing?” Echo shouted over her shoulder, as she continued to pump bullets into the charging mass of naked creatures while quickly swiping water off her gasmasks faceplate.
“He’s breathing, but only just,” Melanie responded, while placing Jimmy in the recovery position. Her body ached and shook from the cold water.
Jimmy coughed up the water from his lungs, and now lay upon his side, unconscious. His mask flew off in the crash. She could not find it in the murky, churned-up water.
Melanie might be cold and aching, but the freezing water succeeded in waking her up. It was just the kick she needed to shake off the last effects from the drugs the nurse had pumped into her, and apart from a banging headache, she felt almost normal.
“Behind you Bull,” the Captain shouted.
Bull spun around, while firing round after round. A naked middle-aged man plunged into the pond behind them, after tipping over the green railing that ran along one side. He floated to the surface with a blossoming red halo around his head.
“There’s just too many of them,” Bull screamed back, as the torrential rain poured down his faceplate.
The ammo container that was on the roof along with them bobbed up and down on the choppy ponds surface.
Coco stood braced against the truck’s door. There was no point checking on Franco and Trev, because the low-lying branches had punched through the windscreen and then through them.
So far, the creatures had ignored him, and were charging towards the gunfire.
Coco checked the truck’s cab. He could not see his machinegun; all he could see was splintered branches, ruined flesh, and lots of blood and pulp. He only had a Browning’s pistol on him. He unclipped the handgun and held it in his cold grip. The rain pinged off the truck’s metal surface. He was soaked to the skin.
He saw the naked male running and screaming towards the others. It was a neat trick, making the creatures think he was one of them. Pity it would not work for everyone.
Coco could see the Captain and Bull to one side, with Echo and Doc to the other, with Jimmy lying between them. However, he could not see Spice or Rogers.
Coco jumped down onto the wet grass, and ducked behind the overturned lorry. He needed to reach the others; he stood a better chance if they all remained together.
At least, the rain is working in our favour; he thought. The downpour will stop the spores from floating around.
Just then, a female child of about eleven changed direction and ran straight at him. The rain washed away the blood and dirt; she looked almost normal.
Coco raised his gun.
This is someone’s daughter. Someone raised her, loved her, and taught her right from wrong. Now she’s a delivery device for a fucking plant!
Coco watched as the thin naked child jumped the curb, racing across the slippery grass with guttural screams emanating from her wide throat. Her eyes were twice the size they should be, with veins holding her fractured skull together. Her throat was bloated and red, with a large deformed circular mouth with ruptured teeth protruding in all directions. Her features were pure animalistic; no human emotions remained – just hunger.
Coco pulled the trigger. The bullet went through her open mouth, exploding out the back of her head. She thudded to the grass, slid along, and hit a tree root. She lay unmoving, bleeding out.
“Forgive me,” he whispered.
“Doc, get that ammo container open, we need more bullets,” the Captain shouted.
“On it,” Melanie screamed back. She felt like she should be doing more.
I could be holding a gun at least. I have never fired one before, but how hard can it be – point and shoot. I’ve watched someone do it a thousand times in the movies. Hell, people are doing it right in front of me.
She waded through the freezing water. The rain was hard, splashing up into the faceplate. It was difficult to believe she was in a chest high pond about the size of a tennis court; it felt like she was in the ocean.
Melanie reached the bobbing container and started to drag it to the side. She tripped on something, possibly pondweeds. Her head went under for a second. It also felt like something large br
ushed up against her leg.
How big are the fish in this pond?
Gunfire echoed around her, distorted from the water in her ears. She managed to reach the wall. She could not lift the container out by herself; it was just too heavy, so she wedged it against the wall with her body and fumbled with the metal catches. She managed to swing the lid open after the second attempt. It was full of ammo magazines. It also had a few weapons held against the inside of the lid by webbing.
Echo stood up, while still firing, and jumped over Jimmy’s body, and walked along the wall to Melanie.
“Those,” Echo pointed, before returning her finger to the trigger.
Melanie pulled five magazines from the container and started filling Echo’s wide pockets.
Echo slapped her gun; the empty magazine fell over the side of the wall, clattering onto the concrete path.
“Another,” Echo screamed, without taking her eyes off the approaching mass.
Melanie smacked a full mag into her hand.
Within seconds, Echo was firing again.
“Get the same type over to the Captain and Bull,” Echo shouted over the sound of the rain, wind, and screaming creatures as she made her way back to Jimmy’s side.
Melanie gripped the container and then waded through the water over to the other two. Once again, something large brushed against her leg. She glanced down just in time to see a golden-red, scaled back. She felt relieved; she half expected a creature to leap from the water.
“Here!” Melanie screamed while stacking magazines next to the Captain and Bull.
“Thanks,” Bull shouted.
The Captain concentrated on the charging creatures.
Melanie fumbled with the webbing, and finally got a Browning’s pistol free. She turned it over in her hands. It looks so easy when they cocked and loaded it on the TV, she thought. She gripped the top and pulled it back. It was harder than it looked. With effort, she finally got it cocked. It was also heavier than she thought it would be. She gripped it with both hands.
“Behind you,” the Captain shouted. He had evidently witnessed what Melanie was doing in his peripheral vision.
Melanie spun around.
A bloated thirty-something female, who had obviously already been feeding, was wading across the pond towards them with her arms outstretched.
Melanie raised the gun in both hands.
She’s already gone. She’s been taken over by the host virus. She’s just an empty shell being used for transport, nothing more. She will kill and eat me without a moment’s hesitation.
Melanie’s finger gripped the trigger. The heavy gun shook in her cold grip.
The pouring rain bounced back up from the choppy ponds surface.
I have no choice. I have no choice. I have no choice, she repeated like a Tibetan mantra.
The naked female thrashed across the pond towards her.
Melanie aimed, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“Release the safety,” Bull shouted. “It’s a little lever on the top.”
Melanie fumbled with the gun. It was so heavy, and her hands were so cold. She found the lever and twisted it. She gripped it again in both hands and pointed it at the thrashing female.
BAM!
The first bullet hit the female in the shoulder, spinning her around. However, it did not slow her down.
BAM! BAM!
Two more shots, one in the chest and one straight through the females left eye. The woman tumbled backwards, and floated on the water, surrounded by her own expanding ring of blood.
“You’re a pro, Doc,” Echo shouted. “Remind me not to piss you off now you have a gun.”
Melanie grabbed some magazines from the container, and then slammed it shut. She did not know how many bullets were in each magazine, or how to change it once it ran out; but one-step at a time.
Melanie lined up the sights and pulled the trigger again. Another naked body hit the grass.
It is just like an arcade game; she reasoned, while trying to divert her mind from the fact that she was shooting real people.
“We need to pull back into a building again. We are sitting ducks out here,” Bull shouted.
The charging horde was unrelenting. They were appearing from side roads and from across gardens and out of smashed windows and broken doors.
Noah was freezing cold, crouched up against the ponds slimy wall. His body was shaking uncontrollably.
A hand appeared over the lip of the wall holding a handgun.
“You still alive down there naked guy?” a voice called.
“What?” Noah was at the first stages of hypothermia, and his mind was finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than screaming at him about the cold.
“Do your hands work?” the voice screamed down.
“I-I-I g-guess,” he stuttered with the cold.
“Then stand the hell up, take this gun, and bloody well help us!”
Noah climbed to his feet. “I’m cold and naked,” he mumbled in defense. He saw the female soldier that had saved him holding a gun out with one hand, while still firing the rifle with the other. She also looked cold and wet.
Noah was not cowering and hiding due to nerves; he did not want to bundle up into a ball and hope the world sorted itself out. It was just that he was so cold, numb, and lethargic, and it was such a relief to be near someone who could defend him with real weapons, that all the adrenaline that had been keeping him going all morning had washed away. He felt completely drained. He was too tired to even be embarrassed that he was stark naked in front of a female stranger.
“Do you think they give a shit if you’re cold, wet, and naked? Do you think that will stop them from ripping you apart and eating you while you’re still alive?”
Noah reached for the gun with wet, muddy hands. An image of Red, Betty, and Lennie came up in his mind. They were counting on him to save them.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
“Is it all ready to go?” he questioned, while spitting water from his mouth.
“Just point and shoot.”
Noah spun around, and was once again overwhelmed with the amount of creatures charging at them. He lifted the gun in both hands, aimed it at a naked skinny man – who had his right arm missing – and fired. Years of video games had honed skills he never knew he had in the real world. The bullet hit the man right between his disfigured eyes.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Echo shouted.
As if he was playing House of the Dead, Noah used only one bullet per creature; all were headshots. Noah concentrated on those closest to him. He only had a handgun, and he did not know how far the bullets would go and still be deadly.
Movement by the crashed truck caught Noah’s attention. He almost pulled the trigger, then he realized the man had army clothes on. The black man sprinted across the gap, firing at the creatures as he ran.
“Glad you could join us, Coco,” Echo shouted. “Where are Trev and Franco?”
“They didn’t survive the crash,” he stated, as he turned and continued firing.
Echo said no more, she just concentrated on taking down one creature at a time; she would mourn them later with a bottle of Jack.
It seemed hopeless. It almost felt like every creature in the area was heading in their direction. For every one they shot; three more ran around the corner.
We need a miracle to survive. We cannot keep this up for long. Even with the container, we will eventually run out of ammo, Echo thought. She was so tired and cold. Her fingers were going numb, and she had to concentrate on just pulling the trigger. Her bullets were already going wide because the rifle was becoming heavier with every passing minute.
Melanie managed to pull herself out of the pond. Her legs were almost numb from the cold. She leaned over Jimmy, checking he was still breathing. Every now and then, she would aim and pull the trigger, taking a creature down. However, the gun was getting heavy, and it was difficult to see the
blurs of pink flesh running along due to the rain lashing against her mask.
The Captain was shaking from the cold. His body was so numb he could no longer feel his limbs. A moment ago, he rattled off a long blast on the machinegun, not because the two figures charging towards him warranted so many bullets, but because his numb finger would not let go of the trigger.
A beeping sound drew his attention. It was not loud, just out of place among the screaming and gunfire. The beeping was coming from the field radio strapped to Bull’s back.
“Captain,” Bull shouted. He was unsure if the Captain had heard the beeping over the noise around them. Bull spun around to give the Captain access to the radio.
The Captain pulled the headset away from the waterproof casing. He forced it over his head.
“We need backup!” he screamed at whoever was on the other end of the military line.
4
Red, Betty, and Lennie
Newton Abbot
In an Old Peoples Flat
12:49 PM GMT
Betty was on her feet and at the door in seconds. She lifted up the small terrier and Sshhhhed it, and then gripped her hand over the dog’s snout to stop it barking. Charlie froze in her hands as if aware a predator was close.
Lennie seemed to understand something was wrong as he placed both hands over his mouth, as his eyes stretched wide.
Outside the scraping continued on the door. Then suddenly there was a thud as something hit the floor hard. Then nothing.
It did not sound like the frantic movements of a naked creature, which if it had heard them, it would be flinging itself against the door and blaring like a wild animal. It almost sounded like someone was injured.
“Take the dog,” Betty whispered.
Lennie took Charlie and held him close.
There was a spy-hole set in the door. Betty twisted her neck to put her eye to the lens. The fisheye lens distorted everything. There was a figure on the ground, but it was hard to tell anything else.
The Sixth Extinction: An Apocalyptic Tale of Survival. (Part Three: Infested.) Page 2