Day One (Book 2): Choices

by Michael McDonald

  Another Guard replied. “You shoot him and you die three seconds later.”

  “This thing will punch right through your body armor like it’s not even there, creating a massive wound channel as it passes through your body,” I explained, hoping to knock this trigger happy rent-a-cop down a few notches. “But go ahead, make your move if you don’t believe me!”

  “Shut up, Burke! I don’t need your assistance, nor did I ask for it. You just stand there and keep your mouth shut!” Morris told him and looked back toward me. “Don’t pay any attention to this idiot’s, they’re just running their mouths.”

  “Sounds like you got a little dissension in your ranks there, buddy. You might want to keep an eye on that one,” I stated, trying my best to drive a wedge in between the leader and those under him. If I could get one or more of them to doubt their leader’s success they might prove to be the miracle I needed to get me through the next ten minutes.

  “Idiots?” Burke questioned. “And just who in the hell are you referring to?”

  Morris turned to Burke. “Can we not do this right now; I’m sort of in the middle of something here.”

  “Yeah, making yourself look like the only idiot here,” Burke added. “Don’t forget how you got where you are now, Steve. We can just as easily take you down from that pedestal you’re on, as easily as we put you upon it in the first place.”

  As the mounting confrontation began to escalate, I was too wrapped up wondering what to do next to notice that Smith was trembling. Not trembling like someone that was cold would do, but someone that had been injected with something that was slowly beginning to take effect, because if I had, I would have used that small lull to escape through either side door.

  It didn’t take long for me to notice the trembling and in a whisper I spoke to him. “Are you alright?” Not that I was truly concerned with his health, I think it was more of a simple question to put my mind at ease. The trembling turned to spasms he couldn’t control, which caught the attention of a few of the Guards, and then Morris.

  “What’s going on with Professor Smith?” Morris asked me.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I injected him with his test serum to see if it really worked.”

  The spasms turned violent and he fell to the floor and when into full blown convulsions. I could see him dying right there on the floor and my human shield was now gone. Whatever I was planning in the back of my mind, I needed to initiate immediately as time was quickly beginning to close in on me.

  “Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good for him. He may need a doctor,” I said sarcastically. He could die for all I cared, and he could do it in great pain, which would make me all the more happier.

  “Professor, Smith. Are you alright?” Morris asked him, yet he didn’t answer.

  There was no hiding from the truth anymore. The Guards would not simply stand aside and let me walk past, let alone leave the school complex alive. They would kill me now, and then track Johnny and my Daughter down… their fate would be the same as mine unless I could dwindle their numbers down drastically, or possibly wipe them all out. However this was going to go, I wanted to ensure that every one of them died and horrible death. I would see to that personally.

  The talking was about to grind to a halt. Shooting would follow and I would get to find out first-hand which of the Guards could shoot and which ones could not. The only thing I could hope for is that a majority of them were bad shots.

  “Professor!” Morris yelled.

  I ran my hand over my chest rig and could feel the six full mags easily accessible. I took a deep breath of air and let it slowly exit through my mouth, preparing myself for what would come next.

  Smith thrashed about on the floor, obviously in a great deal of pain. In my mind though, whatever pain he was going through wasn’t enough after all that he had done in the past week. I honestly didn’t think hell would be enough pain for him, as I wanted him to suffer more than any one person ever had. I could feel the logic of the Young Woman coming out of me and I wasn’t against any of it. It felt just and right; as though this was meant to happen and I had been the one destine to supply that punishment. Those strangers that day that wanted to take what we had and kill us all crept back into my mind. At the time I had fought against the Young Woman, my worldly morals still drifting about like debris floating just above the outstretched fingers of flames in a fire, but now the debris had settled. The fire had consumed all that remained. I was the product of those flames… I am what was left.

  I was no longer naive to the world and what it had become.

  I was no longer trying to make sense out of that, which no longer made sense.

  I wondered if what I was going through was really my own thoughts, or those of the infection that somehow lay dormant within me somewhere? Once again though, it really didn’t matter what the answer was, as within the next few seconds all that would be changed forever.

  “Put your guns at your feet and kick them away… that’s the only way any of you are walking out of here alive,” I stated with the SBR pointed at Morris.

  He looked at me, unable to believe what he was hearing. “Are you kidding me?” He asked. “We have you outnumbered and trapped. It is you that needs to put your weapon down, if you want to live.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s put your idle threats to the test.”

  Smith abruptly stopped thrashing about. He lay still on the floor and blood began to come out of his nose and open mouth. From where I stood I could see it better than they could. I knew he was dead… no going back now!

  I had only ever been in one real gunfight, although the bullets were not actually targeted directly at me, more of just a general direction type thing, however, that was quickly about to change and every bullet fired in anger would be directed at me this time.

  “He’s dead,” One of the other Guards stated. “He killed the Professor.”

  Morris shook his head and smiled. “You really do believe you’re a madman, don’t you?”

  Could I do this? Could I really kill these people that were just trying to survive like me? Of course I could, and I wanted very much too.

  “This sorry son of a bitch killed Professor Smith!” Morris announced to his fellow guards, several of which began to make noise in order to psych themselves up and took up covered firing positions as I stood there in the middle of the hallway.

  “Get her out of here,” I whispered to myself seconds before shouldering the SBR.

  Gunfire, loud and directed gunfire, filled the hallway as I slipped back behind the wall to my left, releasing a flurry of bullets toward my foes in full auto. The screams of utter pain cycled through the momentary pauses of bullets whizzing by, although I was uncertain as to how many I had hit, it still put a smile upon my face to know that at least one gunman had been taken out of the fight. One less problem to worry about, I thought.

  Standing there against the wall, as a sea of bullets washed passed me, I realized soberly that my life could very well end at any moment and I thought about my Daughter and what she’d do without me. How would she deal with growing up alone and by some near chance that whatever this was ended as quickly as it had begun, how would she get along on her wedding day or the birth of her first child without me there? I know I was thinking extremely too far ahead and using far too many ‘what if’s’ to make sense of anything, but things like that meant something to me and it made me mad. And the anger I could use as a weapon to defeat those that were trying to kill me. It was the only true power I possessed.

  Morals and ethics mean absolutely nothing if you aren’t even alive. My brain told me and from the surface of my half assed plan a motivation I have never experienced before arose, rejuvenating me.

  “You’re not taking my life today, assholes!” I shouted, leaned out into the midst of the gunfire and began shooting back. The massive amounts of fire from my SBR sent several of the Guards behind cover, fearing any orde
rs of advancement upon me, while two more went to the ground and were no longer threats.

  I hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone at first, it had never been my plan, but I would be damned before I let these low- lives take what wasn’t there’s to begin with. They had already taken my Son from me, so they would take nothing else. I fired several more controlled shots aimed down the hallway. Another scream pierced through the barrage of fire and another one went down as I leaned back behind cover, hoping to get a few of them to rush me. It wasn’t long before they answered my wish. Halfway to me, with cover fire from their own people, I stepped out, only this time I was lower to the floor, and gunned them down and retreated back behind the wall.

  The rush of doing something so stupid filled me like the best narcotic and I welcomed it. I didn’t look at them as survivors, which made it easier for me to simply pull the trigger and watch them fall to the floor. I didn’t linger away from the wall long enough to see their blood fill and stain the tiled floor or watch their lives leave their bodies. I was focused on surviving and taking as many of them out as I could. If I was overrun eventually, I needed the numbers to be smaller that way I could stand up for one last fight. I’d die to save Johnny and my Daughter; there was no doubt in my mind about that now.

  “I thought you were going to kill me, Officer Morris!” I shouted. “This must really be embarrassing for you in front of your men that you can’t kill one guy, huh?”

  The gunfire continued, as did the screams of those that had been hit mixed with the orders that Morris was trying to give to his fellow rent-a-cops, although they were all hesitant to advance upon my location. That was pure suicide, as I had tactical advantage over them, if only for the moment, it was still better than being in their shoes and having numbers.

  “Keep running your mouth, asshole. It won’t be for much longer!” He replied.

  I had no idea if Johnny had made it to the chopper or if the Female Guard had found and stopped him, but I had to believe, until I knew otherwise, that he was still on course and things would quickly shift further in my direction.

  The seriousness of the situation stumbled out of the darkness and slammed into the door across from me. I looked to see several undead just outside the door, their lifeless eyes were stuck on me as they banged and clawed at the door. I simply smiled at them and waved.

  One escape route of mine was now cut off. I had one remaining, although with the amount of gunfire, which I’m more than positive was traveling far beyond the complex grounds, others would soon join the hunt, if not already underway. I had to leave soon… there was no other option.

  “Rush him!” I heard a voice shout. “Just go, stop standing around!”

  I flipped the selector switch from semi to full-auto and braced myself against the wall. If they were going to advance upon me once again, then I would take what little motivation they had and replace it with utter fear and a wall of lead.

  “GET HIM!” The voice added, more demanding this time around.

  The gunfire increased in sheer volume, so I was certain they were coming for me. I didn’t have to stick my head out and make a perfect target of myself, pure logic told me that, however, I did thrust the SBR into the hallway and pulled the trigger. The weapon recoiled again and again in my hands as the seventy-seven grain bullets exited the barrel and zipped down the hallway at several thousand feet per second, contacting human flesh and punching through a split second before a second and third round followed.

  It was too violently loud for me to hear if I had hit any of the approaching Guard’s this time around, but with a lull in the suppressive gunfire, I figured I had either taken all of the advancing assholes out, or they were simply finding cover to keep from getting killed. The SBR jerked one last time and fell silent; I wasted no time in ejecting the magazine and pulling a fresh one, inserting it into the mag well.

  “I’m really starting to get bored down here, Officer Morris!” I shouted as I hit the bolt release and the bolt stripped a live round as it slammed home. “I thought you guys really wanted to kill me?” There was no reply. There was no violent comment telling me that I would be the one to die. The gunfire had stopped and it was as silent as death down the hallway. I wondered what they were up to and kept my ears open, listening for the slightest sound that I could register as being out of place. I knew they couldn’t get to me directly, so they would have to find another way, as I didn’t see them giving up and just letting me leave now. I had taken the life of their dear Professor, so I knew that at least Morris was aware of what the sick bastard had been doing all along.

  It was at this moment that I heard the familiar sound of the rotor blades beating the air and knew that Johnny and Kember had made it to the chopper. I felt the weight on my shoulders, which I didn’t even know was there to begin with, dissipate, although it didn’t last long, and it screamed to me why the gunfire had stopped. I could no longer hear any of the Guards. They had to be going for the chopper. Not good.

  Johnny would be on his toes, especially with all the Guards in the complex running crazy and shooting, and I was comfortable with him watching my daughter. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her, he never had in the past, but my concern was not for weather or not he would defend her. It was based solely on the fact that with the blades turning, the turbine roaring, and the gunfire below, he might not hear them creeping up on him. The last thing I needed right now was a hostage situation to deal with.

  I grabbed the radio and quickly brought it to my mouth.

  Several more bangs upon the door called my attention back to the dead outside. A week above ground had started to take its toll on them, leading me to believe that none of them would be able to run, which meant I could easily get away from them. “They shuffle. I run. No problem,” I said aloud.

  The intensity of the gunfight still surged through my veins. With my weapon topped off and eager to send anyone in my way straight to hell, I made the first in a series of mistakes, which would ultimately spell disaster if I didn’t learn to make better choices. I pushed my body around the corner, instead of making the call to Johnny, expecting to see only those I had shot and came face-to-face with a single Guard. The barrel of his Glock was just inches from my face, but the suppressor on my SBR was just inches from his chest. We both froze as if not expecting the other to be there.

  “Freeze,” he said. “Drop your weapon and put your hands up.”

  I was close enough to actually see the bullet in the chamber, yet it all happened so fast that the fear was still lagging behind, which was a good thing. Soon it would catch up to me though and I would be at the mercy of its indecisive throws.

  The Guard slapped my rifle away and had it not been for the one pint sling holding it firmly to my body, it would have fallen away and made me a very easy target. With the next full motion, he pushed me backward as I fought to keep the barrel of his Glock from crossing my face once more. If I failed he would splatter my brains all over the far wall and I was done for.

  The far wall met us with a violent collision. I took most of the force and had to fight to keep conscious, although breathing became difficult, I still pressed forward and attempted to push him off of me. His hand spun wildly and it took both my hands just to keep his power from overwhelming me. In the back of my mind I wished for the Young Woman and her shooting abilities, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen this time. I was on my own against the world and to stay alive I would have to be worse than those things that were trying to kill me.

  I screamed as I fought with the Guard. His gun went off a few times and my ears felt as though they had been hit by those bullets. Everything around me was fading slowly and I had to do something bright within the next few seconds or else.

  “You’re going to die, right here!” He shouted.

  Two more shots exited his pistol before I was able to swing it to my right. Another shot was fired and hit the chain holding the double doors closed, yet neither of us realized that. I was focused on cou
nting his rounds and planning a massive counter-attack when he was empty – if I lived that long.

  He punched at me, missed and hit the wall, squealed like a little girl and gave me enough time to better take control of the weapon in his hand while I used my right hand to retrieve my own pistol. I shoved it into his stomach and watched the fear light in his eyes. He was too busy trying to keep control of his own gun that he didn’t have the time to swat mine away.

  I fired once.

  He flinched and looked into my eyes, astounded that I had shot him point blank. I’d never been so close to someone that I was in the process of killing before. So far it had been from a distance or from cover. I saw not only the pain in his eyes, but also the fear and realization that he was about to die. Death had a nasty, yet in your face, kind of way to show you that you were not in control.

  I saw my moment of opportunity in this struggle between life and death and I took it. I pushed off the wall and we both stumbled somehow, although I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, losing my grip on him halfway through the movement. He tried to catch himself, but he was too far off balance to do anything other than flail forward while trying unsuccessfully to stop. He hit the double doors and the left door partially opened. He quickly turned around to see me still trying to recover from being off balance myself. “I got you now!” He shouted and brought his Glock up to shoot me, however, before he could get a bead on me, the door was abruptly pulled open and he turned his head to see several of the undead engulf him. He screamed as they grabbed and pulled him out into the night. His weapon discharged several times and two of the dead closest to the door entered the complex after me.

  I shot both of them down and headed down the hallway.