The Spread

by Damon Hunter

  He looked at the screen and said, “Something urgent. We have to go.”

  “What?” Barrington asked.

  “Sorry, sir, the message says my eyes only. I’m sure Dr. General Thompson will brief you later.”

  Barrington nodded. He did not think Thompson would be telling him a damn thing, but there was no reason to argue with this man about it.

  “You had better get going, then,” he told them as they sat looking at him. Even though he was on the way out, he was still a superior officer in the TMRT and it would be better if Thompson’s men had Barrington’s blessing before they walked out on him.

  With them gone, he quickly got on his laptop to get a message to Vance. He felt sure the urgent call had something to do with Vance. If it were about some break in the quarantine, the alert would have gone to the whole camp and not just Thompson’s men.

  He did not include the alert in his message. He could be wrong, and if Vance and his group had a safe place to hole up for the night, Barrington did not want to chase them out of it into the threat-filled QZ just on a feeling.

  He left a short message telling them to avoid using phones, especially Katelin, and then left his quarters to see if he could find out some more solid information.

  Chapter 15

  Chen’s Liquor and Bait – Oceanside, CA

  Dinkin regretted not getting Simms’s gun before he went up the stairs onto the balcony. The one bullet would not have been enough to save them, but if he aimed it right and got the kid’s head right next to his, he figured he could have taken them both out before they became part of the mindless army of the infected.

  All he had was the nightstick and the axe. Both were horrible weapons to kill oneself with. They still did a good job against the amblers as he put the kid down and kept swinging. It would not be enough, and he knew it. If he did not have the kid with him, he might have just accepted his fate and let the horde overwhelm him, but it seemed wrong to let them take a ten-year-old kid.

  The ten-year-old tugged on his shirt. Dinkins almost did not turn. It did not matter much if there were infected coming up behind them—no need to look. In fact, getting taken down from behind without having to experience seeing the final bite coming sounded like the way to go.

  He turned anyway, just because ignoring a kid this close to death or worse seemed like the wrong thing to do.

  Gavin was pointing but not at the approaching amblers. Instead his tiny index finger showed the door at the end of the balcony, a mere foot or so from where Dinkins was swinging his nightstick. The previously closed door was now open.

  Dinkins clocked the closest ambler and headed for the door as Bo stepped out just enough for them to see him and shouted, “Come on. Get in.”

  He and Gavin went inside the apartment, and Bo slammed the door shut behind them.

  “Thanks,” Dinkins said as the horde descended on Bo’s front door, “but unless you have a few AK-47s and a whole lot of ammunition around, I don’t see us lasting long.”

  “Longer than you would have out there,” Bo said as his windows started breaking and the hands of the infected reached inside.

  They watched Gavin run into Bo’s bedroom, and they followed him in, closing the door behind them. Gavin immediately sat down on the bed and got back to work prying the dead hand off his arm.

  Bo saw him struggling to get the dead fingers to release their grip and bent down to help him. Between the two of them, they were able to pry the stiffening digits enough so that Gavin could slide the hand off his arm. It hit the floor, and Bo kicked it under the bed.

  “I don’t mean to sound like I don’t appreciate what you’ve done for us, but I don’t think this door is going to last,” Dinkins said.

  Bo nodded. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “I was hoping you had an idea. All my good ideas have turned out pretty shitty so far,” Dinkins told him.

  “Honestly, until I saw you and the kid out there, my plan was to sit here until they came and got me. I had to kill the girl I was going to marry today, and I didn’t really care.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “You and the kid looked like you cared.”

  Dinkins could not argue with him. He noticed the white gauze taped to Bo’s arm.

  “What happened?” Dinkins asked as he pointed to the bandage.

  Bo held up his arm. “Girlfriend.”

  “She bit you?”

  “Yeah.”

  Dinkins looked the young man in front of him over, trying to spot any signs of the rot as the first of the horde inside the apartment began to bang against the walls and door leading to Bo’s bedroom. He didn’t see anything other than the bandage.

  “How long?” he asked.

  “This morning.”

  “You seem fine.”

  “I feel fine,” Bo replied. He pointed to his door, which had begun to swell with the weight of the infected pushing against it. “I won’t be soon enough.”

  Dinkins looked at the door and wished he had the gun.

  “I guess we are all going to be bitten soon enough,” Dinkins said.

  “We can take the fire escape,” Gavin told them.

  Bo and Dinkins turned to see the kid by the window looking out into the alley.

  “They aren’t out back,” Gavin said as he anticipated their question.

  Both men stepped forward to look. The sun had gone down and the alley was not well lit, but neither could see anything moving.

  “Why wouldn’t there be any of them in the back?” Dinkins asked. “Didn’t one come through your window from the back?”

  “That was one of the smart ones,” Gavin replied. “The slow ones are stupid. They just go after things. None of them would think to cover the back.”

  Dinkins kept looking out into the darkness, shining his flashlight down in hopes of getting a better look below. The kid could be right, but it was dark enough it was difficult to tell.

  Bo tapped Dinkins on the shoulder, and Dinkins moved to let Bo take his spot by the window. Dinkins expected him to give the alley a closer inspection like Dinkins was. Instead Bo opened the window.

  “It could be infested down there,” Dinkins said.

  “Yeah, it could, but I’ve got no ideas and you said yours were all bad, so let’s give the kid’s idea a chance.”

  Dinkins nodded. Even if it was infested, they did not have any choice. It was either get overwhelmed in the alley or get overwhelmed in the apartment.

  “You first, kid,” Bo told Gavin after he had removed the screen.

  Gavin went through and waited on the small landing. Bo came through next. With the two of them on the landing, there was no room for Dinkins.

  Bo released the ladder and started going down, saying to Gavin, “As soon as there is room, start down. It will hold us all.”

  Dinkins stepped out on the landing and watched as Gavin started down the fire escape. If the kid was scared, it did not show. Once the kid was far enough down, Dinkins followed.

  “It’s clear,” Bo said after he had reached the bottom. Dinkins considered telling him to shut up. The amblers may be stupid, but they could hear. He held his tongue since he was glad to hear the alley was as safe as it looked from above.

  The three of them reached the bottom. Gavin pointed to the building, saying, “We need to go in and get my mom.”

  “Sorry, kid, there is no mom to get,” Dinkins told him. He felt bad saying it this way, but he could think of no way to tell the kid except to be straight about it.

  “You sure?” Gavin asked. It was dark in the alley, but Dinkins could see tears slowly rolling down Gavin’s face.

  “I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true. I’m sorry, kid, but we don’t have time to be sad right now. Your mom would want you to escape.”

  Gavin nodded as he wiped the tears from his face.

  Dinkins looked at Bo. “What now?”

  “I was counting on the kid. He was the man with the plan.”


  “He’s ten and just found out he’s an orphan. We may need to do the heavy lifting for a while.”

  Bo pointed west. “I don’t know. Go that way?”

  Dinkins shook his head. “The beach was a mess, probably still is.”

  “To go east we have to get past them. I don’t know if we can.”

  “How about we go west a block or so to get some distance and then go north? When we have some space between us and the horde, we turn east. Maybe if we can get away from downtown enough, the roads will clear up. We can snag a car and drive out of here. ”

  “Or we go west and get my jeep,” Bo said. “I took it to the evac point and parked it in the free parking by the harbor.”

  “Have you seen the roads?”

  “Yeah, but they weren’t letting any cars past the lot so they could keep the area clear for buses. We can go west out of the lot and have a clear shot until the beach.”

  “And then what? Does your jeep float? All the roads leading out of here will still be clogged for blocks.”

  “Who said anything about roads?” Bo said. “It’s a four-wheel drive. We can take the sand all the way to San Diego if we need to.”

  Dinkins didn’t look too sure, but he couldn’t think of a better idea. They worked their way out of the alley and started moving west.

  Chapter 16

  Corrigan’s Bunker - Fallbrook, CA

  “You still awake?” Ashley asked Cook, who was sitting still in the darkened room.

  “Yeah. I can’t guarantee I didn’t nod off, but I think I stayed awake for most of it.”

  “I’ll take a turn. I got my beauty rest.”

  “I can tell. Let me warn you, though—watching amblers wander around the property gets boring fast.”

  “Any messages?” Ashley asked, pointing at the computer.

  “Not last I looked, but I haven’t checked in a while.”

  Cook took a second to get Corrigan’s laptop out of sleep mode.

  “We’ve got something from your boyfriend’s contact.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend. What does it say?”

  “Nothing really useful. It just says to limit phone use, especially the kid.”

  “Vance’s kid?”

  “Technically I’d call the other two young adults, so yeah, Vance’s kid. Seems common sense. We know not to use the phones, otherwise why we would be here using Corrigan’s setup?”

  “We know, but does Katelin?”

  “I’m sure Vance would have told her.”

  “Did you see him tell her?”

  “No, but somebody probably did.”

  “I didn’t. Did you?”

  “No. I didn’t see her using it, though.”

  “Me either, though that could be a battery thing. It’s charged now.”

  “Doesn’t matter. She’s asleep right now and has been since after we ate. We’ll just have to be sure to tell her in morning or collect all the phones. Barrington would not send the message if he did not think it mattered. He is telling us that they are looking for her, and we both know if she gets online, they will find her and us.”

  “I’m sure knowing that will help you sleep.”

  Cook rose from the chair. “Lucky for me I can sleep anytime, anywhere. I’ve been in enough situations where I needed to sleep and couldn’t to pass up a chance at some solid shut-eye.”

  “I hear you on that one.”

  He pointed to the monitors. “Even if Talbot doesn’t find us this may be as good a nap as any of us are going to get for a while.”

  Chapter 17

  The Pacific Breeze Resort and Spa - Oceanside, CA

  For a few long minutes, Dinkins thought they were going to make it. The guy Bo was right. If they could get to his vehicle and get it to the beach, they could follow the shore all the way to Mexico if they had to.

  It seemed every ambler downtown was still busy attacking Chen’s place, and they had slipped out without being seen. The kid Gavin was right. The amblers were relentless but dumb. Dinkins kept the relentless part in the front of his mind as they ran. It helped keep his tired legs moving. The infected could be tricked, but they would never give up.

  Bo pointed—the parking lot was just a block away, sitting below a huge resort up on a hill overlooking the Pacific. They just had to get around the resort and they would be there.

  The lights were on at the resort. They saw movement in the lobby, and as they approached, it became clear no one moving around was not infected.

  “Shit,” Dinkins said.

  “If we stay quiet and keep moving along the road, maybe we can get around them,” Bo said. “We don’t need to go inside, just get to the parking lot.”

  Dinkins nodded and so did Gavin, as if the ten-year-old was in on the decision-making process.

  Dinkins turned off his flashlight. He didn’t want to do anything to draw the amblers’ attention, and with the moon, stars, and ambient light from the resort, they could see well enough to make it to the parking lot.

  They had not gone far when Gavin pointed to something ahead in the road. Bo and Dinkins followed his finger to see the glowing yellow eyes in front of them. The thing connected to those eyes made a sound they had all heard before back at Chen’s and then charged.

  Dinkins raised the axe but was not near quick enough. The vampire rotter hit him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. The impact of his body being slammed into the pavement knocked the breath out of him. The rotter had a chunk of his shoulder in its mouth before he could recover enough to know it was happening.

  It raised its head and spit out a chunk of Dinkins before making the howling sound again.

  Bo picked up the axe Dinkins had dropped and cut the howl short by putting an axe blade into its face.

  Bo tried to pull the axe out, but it was stuck in the rotter’s face. The rotter twisted its head, and Bo lost his grip on the axe. The rotter with the axe in its face started to rise from Dinkins to attack Bo.

  Bo was trying to get to the knife he used to killed Jenny when he saw it reach for him. Its claw-hand swipe missed as Dinkins grabbed the axe handle and stopped the vampire rotter’s progress. Dinkins brought his nightstick down on the rotter’s head with his other hand until the thing’s skull became soft. It slumped to the ground, and Dinkins pulled the axe free.

  They all looked toward the parking lot which had been their initial destination. The road leading to the parking lot was filling with the infected brought by the vampire rotter’s roar.

  Sergeant Dinkins put both the nightstick and the axe on the ground. He handed the flashlight to Gavin. “You guys better get going.”

  “What about you?” Bo asked.

  Dinkins pointed at the bite.

  “Maybe you are immune. I haven’t turned. I can’t be the only one.”

  “I’ve never been that lucky. Get going—I can feel it. I’ll try to slow them up until I turn.”

  Bo picked up the nightstick and axe.

  “We’ll never get to my jeep,” he said, but Dinkins was already running at the approaching horde.

  He stopped just short of the first one, and Bo thought he was going to punch it in the face. Instead Dinkins turned and started coming up the road, leading the horde instead of battling it.

  Gavin tugged on Bo’s shirt. “We should go.”

  Bo nodded and they started running the opposite direction. They made it to the main road and turned north, looking to get away from the mass of infected previously at Chen’s. They had no doubt the horde was following the vampire rotter’s call and headed in this direction. They were at the point where the Oceanside river met the Pacific on a bridge high above the water when they both put on the brakes and saw going north was not an option. The road was filled with men and women in Marine uniforms. Until the quarantine, Camp Pendleton was just around the corner. None of these men and women in uniform were not afflicted with the rot. Bo and Gavin turned to go the other way, but the other end was filling up with rotters as well.
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  In the panic to get away, Bo realized he led the kid and himself onto a bridge where there was nowhere to go. They were much too high up to jump.

  Bo looked in both directions, trying to decide which one offered the least resistance. The answer was neither.

  He looked at the ten-year-old standing next to him. He couldn’t believe what he was about to ask this fifth grader.

  “Jump or fight?” he asked.

  Gavin held the infected cop’s heavy flashlight like a club and said, “Fight.”

  Bo, who had been leaning toward jumping off the bridge, thought it was a shame a kid this brave had to die tonight as they stood back-to-back, preparing to fight a battle they had no chance of winning.

  Chapter 18

  The TMRT Eastern Compound – Escondido, CA

  Barrington made his way to the command center. It was a room full of people, each with their eyes focused on individual computer screens. Some were watching video feeds from inside the QZ. Others were simply watching for information coming across the QZ from the web.

  One of them was watching for anything related to Katelin Vance. If she was found, this man or woman was the one who found her. Problem was, there were thirty people in the room, and the one in charge of scouring the web for Katelin could be any one of them.

  He walked the room for a bit. He looked over technicians’ shoulders at their screens, hoping to see something to give him a clue. He saw nothing. Fact was, even if he were staring at the right screen, he would never be able to tell.

  After a bit, he did see Corning, the man managing the tech command center. He was a competent manager, and Barrington had a great deal of confidence in him. Barrington was glad to see him. It meant he had not gotten axed when Thompson came in and purged Barrington’s team. It gave Barrington some confidence in Thompson. It was good to see he recognized when someone was good at their job.

  Corning would know Barrington was no longer in charge and had been replaced, but both men were still in the TMRT, and Barrington still outranked Corning.