by Tom Lewis
“Should we try another route?” Drew whispered back.
Paige thought about it, then shook her head. “There’s gonna be guards all over,” she whispered back. “We should just go this way.”
The others nodded in agreement. And then they were off.
Paige and Drew led the way, followed by the kids, and then Chad, as they followed the path over to the mall fronting her apartment. Then they turned, and headed down the mall, passing her apartment.
The guards out front seemed to be occupied with some conversation, paying little attention to Paige and her friends as they strolled past.
They were just passing the far side of her apartment pyramid, when suddenly a siren screeched from inside.
“Crap,” Paige muttered to herself, her face twisted up in a cringe. Someone had found the bodies.
“What’s that noise?” Trish whispered.
“Shh,” Paige whispered back. “Just everyone act normal.”
Paige and Drew had been setting the pace for the group. They quickened it up, ever so slightly, but not enough to draw attention.
Guards were now pouring out of surrounding buildings, and racing over to Paige’s building. Why couldn’t things ever go as planned, she thought to herself.
That siren was still going off behind them, as they reached the end of their mall, and turned left onto another mall. Now they were able to quicken their pace even more.
Suddenly a shout came from behind. “Hey! We need everyone back here,” someone was hollering. Paige had no doubt it was directed at them. And she also had no doubt it was a guard doing the shouting. That meant two things - one, she and her friends passed themselves off as guards. And two, they were about to be chased down if they didn’t comply with his order.
Paige fingered the sling on her rifle, just in case she needed to slip it off quickly.
“Time to run?” Drew asked in a whisper.
“Let’s keep going,” she replied back in a whisper. “Just pretend we didn’t her him.”
“GET BACK HERE!” the guard behind them was now shouting, “THAT’S AN ORDER!”
It was game over, thought Paige. It was about to get messy.
And then it did, as the guard shouted to someone else, “GET THOSE FIVE!”
“Go!” Paige hollered to her friends, and they took off running.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Chase
Sirens were going off now through the whole city, as Paige and her friends sprinted down the mall. The only thing working in their favor was that the majority of guards had scrambled to Paige’s apartment in response to the alarm, which left few ahead of them. But they needed to get off this mall, and put some corners between them and the guards.
“Follow me,” she hollered, as she veered off the mall, and sprinted for a path winding between two rows of buildings. She glanced back to make sure the kids were still with them, as she raced onto the path, and disappeared between the buildings.
Paige had no doubt that if it was just her, Chad, and Drew, they could easily outrun the guards. But the kids couldn’t. So her mind was racing through contingency plans they would need to take as soon as the guards closed the gap.
She turned right down another path, this one running along the backside of the buildings fronting the mall. She guessed that they were now running parallel to the direction of the mall, and that was the way they needed to go to get to the tunnels.
Then she could hear the heavy footsteps and clamor of the guards behind them. She took a hard left down another path, eager to put another corner between her group and the guards. She couldn’t allow the guards a clear shot. But either way, the guards were closing in.
They were approaching another path, when a bullet whizzed past her ear. Shit she thought. “Go!” she hollered to her friends, as she turned right down this next path, again running parallel to the mall, albeit some distance away.
As she spun around the corner, she dove behind a bush, signaling the others to keep going. She waited there less than fifteen seconds, before the guards sprinted around the corner. She had the selector switch on her rifle set to full auto, as she opened fire on the guards, spraying rounds across their ranks. All five of the guards were down.
Paige sprinted off after her friends, easily catching up.
“You okay?” Drew asked, quickly looking her over for bullet wounds as they sprinted down the path.
“Yeah,” Paige nodded. “No holes yet.”
Suddenly five more guards raced onto the path about twenty yards ahead.
“Duck!” Paige hollered, not missing a beat. They all dove to the side of the path, rolling behind bushes.
Paige, Chad and Drew opened fire, sweeping their barrels across the path. Two guards were down, as the others dove for cover.
“Cover me,” Paige shouted, as she sprinted off down a side path. Drew and Chad, opened fire on the guards, pinning them down.
“Where’d she go?” asked Chad, taking a second to reload, before resuming his shots.
“I dunno,” replied Drew.
Suddenly there was a burst of shots from down a side path up ahead. Paige stepped out into the path, waving at her friends to come. While the guards had been distracted, and pinned under fire from Drew and Chad, Paige had flanked them, coming at them from a side path.
Paige waited for her friends to catch up, then they all sprinted off.
***
Paige and her friends sprinted down a path, and out onto the mall. Paige didn’t see any more guards. At least at the moment. But the ongoing screech of the siren was sure to bring more of them out.
Then a new, and even more terrifying sound echoed across the city. It was one that Paige, Chad, and Drew instantly recognized, and sent a cold chill up their spines.
“Go, you guys! We need to go faster!” Paige rallied her team.
That sound was the banshee-like howl of the hybrids. And apparently their hosts had turned the hulking monsters loose on them.
Then Chad noticed something. A cloud-like mist was drifting up from drains along the mall. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“Paige,” Chad hollered. “The mist.”
“Don’t let it touch you,” she hollered back. She wasn’t sure if it was a repeat of the tear-gas from the dining hall, or something worse. And she suspected it was something worse.
Suddenly more gunshots were heard. Paige looked over, as dozens of guards were pouring out from surrounding buildings. They had to get back off the mall. She looked for an opening in the mist, which seemed to be forming its own barrier along both sides of the mall. But fortunately, as it rose, it was also keeping the guards from getting a clear aim at them.
She spotted an area where the mist was still low to the ground. “Over there,” she hollered. “Be careful of the mist.”
Paige dashed in that direction, as the mist boiled out from the drains. She leaped over it, coming down on a path on the far side of it.
Several guards across the mall made a run for it through the mist, and onto the mall. Then they halted, falling to the pavement screaming as their flesh singed, and boiled.
Chad, Drew, and the kids followed Paige’s lead, leaping over the still low lying mist, and coming down on the path. Paige slowed down just a bit to let her friends catch up, then they all raced off down the path.
She turned right down another path, so they were again running parallel to the mall. It was the only way she knew to keep her bearings in this crazy maze of twisting and winding paths.
On the far side of the building, she could hear more shouts and yells, as apparently other guards confronted that lethal mist.
Paige turned right down another path she thought would lead back to the mall, then stopped. It was a dead end. “Okay, everyone. Back that way,” she hollered, waving everyone back.
Suddenly bullets were spraying all around them. They dove into the bushes along the path, whipping up the rifles. Several guards sprinted around the corner, before duc
king back under a burst of shots from Paige’s team.
Paige, Drew, and Chad looked around. They were boxed in by buildings on three sides, with the only opening leading past those guards.
Then a burst of shots rang out from around the corner. It was followed by a shout. “Hey, you guys. Come out. It’s safe.”
Paige paused for a moment. She knew that voice. “Tony?” she called out.
“Yeah,” came the reply.
“Come on,” Paige said, springing to her feet.
“Wait,” Drew said, grabbing her arm. “Who’s Tony?”
“He’s Valerie’s friend,” she replied. “He’s on our side.”
Paige and her friends sprinted around the corner, and found Tony standing there next to the dead guards. Paige wanted to kiss him.
“You guys need to hurry,” he said. “They’ve been tracking you with drones, and there’s more guards on their way.”
“Are you coming?” Paige asked.
Tony shook his head. “We’ve been talking on the radio with those soldiers. They need me in here.”
Then came more of those terrifying howls, and they were a lot closer. Tony’s eyes were wide in fear. “They’ve picked up your scent,” he said, scared out of his mind for Paige and her friends. “Go!”
Paige grabbed Tony in a quick hug. “Stay safe.”
“You do the same,” he replied. “And say hi to Valerie.”
“I will,” she hollered back, as she and her friends raced off down the path.
***
The howls were a lot closer now, and coming more frequently, as Paige and her friends sprinted out from a path, and back onto the mall. The mist was far behind them now, and there were no signs of the guards. It was only those howls. And that scared the hell out of her.
They were reaching the end, where the mall emptied out into the field. And on the far side of the field lay the tunnel entrance.
Paige’s legs burnt, and she could only imagine how bad it was for the kids, but they were all fueled by adrenaline. And those howls were fueling that adrenaline. If they stopped, or fell, they were dead. She wasn’t sure if all the ammo left in their rifles could take down one of those things, much less a pack of them.
Her shoes came down on the soft crunch of dirt. They were finally sprinting the last leg of the trek across the field. Already she could see the piles of rubble which masked the bunker leading to the tunnel.
Suddenly more bullets were whizzing past. Holy crap, she thought. There was nothing to hide behind out here. They needed to get to those mounds of rubble.
Paige dared one quick glance back. A dozen guards were coming at them from the mall, and another dozen were coming at them at an angle from her left. She just had to keep going, this last twenty yards, and then it was ten, and then it was five…
Suddenly Drew yelled, tumbling to the ground beside her. Paige skidded to a stop, racing back to him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think I’m hit,” he groaned. Paige’s eyes went wide. Not this. Not now.
Chad dropped to the ground next to them, returning covering fire towards the guards.
Paige turned to the kids. “Go!” she ordered. “Get down in the tunnels.”
Randy and Trish raced off, as Paige turned back to Drew. “Here,” she said, wrapping her arm around him, “we need to get behind the rubble. Can you stand?”
He nodded, as she helped him to his feet. They hurried the remaining yards to the rubble, then ducked behind it, as bullets ricocheted off the concrete. Paige and Chad spun around, firing at the guards. Several were already down, but the rest were still coming.
“How bad is it?” she hollered to Drew, firing off another burst.
“I think it’s gonna be okay,” Drew replied.
“Get down in the tunnels with the kids. We’ll cover you.”
Drew sprinted over to the bunker door, and ducked through it.
“Oh, shit,” Chad exclaimed, staring off across the field to where the mall ended. Paige looked over. A dozen hybrids were now bounding across the field towards them.
“Go!” Paige screamed, and the two of them bolted over to the bunker, and disappeared through the door.
***
Paige and Chad scrambled down the slick rungs as fast as they could. There was no way to lock the entrance, so all they had to rely on was speed. Drew’s injury worried her, but it didn’t seem like it would slow him down. They’d have to deal with that when they found the soldiers. And hopefully a field medic.
Paige hopped down the last of the rungs, landing in the tunnel. Chad came down seconds later. Drew and the kids were waiting there for them.
“Go, you guys,” she ordered. “Just keep going, and don’t stop.”
“What about you?” Trish asked.
“I’ll be right behind you,” she nodded. “I just need to do something to slow them down.”
“Come on, squirrel,” Drew offered, wrapping his arms around the kids. “Those guards don’t stand a chance,” he added, shooting Paige a wink. She gave him a smile, praying it wouldn’t be the last.
There was already a ruckus coming from above, as the guards were scurrying down the rungs. “We’ve got company,” Chad hollered, firing off a burst up the chute.
“Try to stall them,” Paige shouted back, as she raced over to the generator. She dug through the duffel bag, and found one of the flashlights still there.
Then she looked at a fuel gauge on the generator, which showed it to be half empty. But it was a large tank, so hopefully that would be enough.
Behind her, Chad fired off several more bursts up the chute, as several bodies tumbled down next to him.
Then howls came down the chute, echoing off through the tunnels.
“Oh, shit Paige!” Chad hollered. “How much longer?”
“Two minutes,” she hollered back.
“Not sure we have that long,” he replied.
Paige dug her teeth into the threading at the top of her sleeve, and ripped an opening. She tugged off the sleeve, then set it on the ground. Then she slipped the magazine from her rifle, and removed several bullets. In the distance, Chad was still firing up the chute, but she couldn’t let that distract her. She had to stay focused.
She pried several of the bullets from the shells, then sprinkled the gunpowder across the shirt sleeve. She unscrewed the cap from the generator’s gas tank, then looked around for the starter switch. She found it near the gauges.
She took the butt of her rifle, then bashed it down on the starter switch. It took several hits, before the switch came lose. She pulled it from the hole, then tore off the two wires attached to it. She tapped them together, and it sparked.
“Chad, give me a hand,” she hollered.
Chad raced over. “Here, I need you to hold this, while I light it,” she said, handing him her sleeve.
Several hybrids crashed down onto the floor of the tunnel, growling, and snarling. They sniffed, then spotted Paige and Chad.
Focus, Paige kept telling herself, as the hybrids bounded towards them. She tapped the wires together, while Chad held the sleeve just above them. The wires sparked, and the sleeve caught fire.
Chad handed the sleeve to Paige, then fired off a burst at the hybrids. It was almost a waste of ammo, but seemed to slow them down just a bit.
“Go,” she said, as she shoved one end of the sleeve into the gas tank.
They sprinted off down the tunnel as fast as they could. “How long’s it take?” he asked her.
“Duck now!” she hollered, and they hit the deck. Three, two, one, and then boom! The generator exploded in a fireball, incinerating the hybrids.
“Are you okay,” he asked, as debris rained down around them.
“Yeah,” she nodded, climbing to her feet. She flicked on the flashlight, and the two of them ran off down the tunnel.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Militia
Paige and Chad jogged the final few yards of the tunne
l, to where it opened out into a rugged desert canyon. The morning sun was just peeking over the ridge, as the two friends hunched over, catching their breaths. They were miles from the city, and feeling like they had just run a marathon. Which they had.
Both of them were exhausted, and thirsty, and hungry. Paige couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. But it was sometime before she and Drew had gone off to rescue Chad.
“Lower the rifles, and keep your hands where we can see them,” a voice hollered from a crag.
Paige and Chad both squatted down, setting their rifles on the ground. “We’re friends with Valerie,” she hollered, then adding, “and Trevor and Lucas.”
At that, a dozen armed men dressed in military fatigues stepped out from the crags, and from behind bushes. Paige and Chad had been completely surrounded.
“Everyone stand down,” hollered a rugged looking soldier, “they’re friendlies.” He approached them, extending his hand. “You two must be Paige and Chad,” he offered, “I’m Jesse.”
This soldier, Jesse, looked to be in his late twenties, and Paige had no doubt he’d seen more than his share of combat deployments. He just had that hardened look about him she’d seen in her dad’s Army buddies.
Two of the soldiers ventured past Chad and Paige and into the tunnel.
“Why don’t you two follow me,” Jesse instructed them. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
Paige and Chad both smiled at the thought, as they followed Jesse over to where two of his men had sat down. One of them had an RPG resting across his lap, while the other held a mean looking machine gun.
“Guys, say hi to Paige and Chad,” he offered, addressing his men.
“Kurt,” nodded the guy with the RPG.
“Justin,” nodded the other, shoving a handful of food in his mouth.
Jesse nodded to a ridge above them, adding, “That’s Wes up there with the 50 Cal.”
Another soldier, Mike, hauled over a box of field rations, handing them out to Paige and Chad. MREs, smiled Paige, never thinking she’d be so happy to see them again.