Savage Mist

by Jason Merchant

  Jamal wrapped his left arm around both Sheila's legs and they carried her into the house. They placed her in the middle of the living room and without explanation, began moving furniture in front of the doors and windows.

  “What is it? What did you see?” Heather asked nervously.

  “Nobody moves furniture for nothing, just help them.” Regina said as she ran next to Jamal to help move a heavy book shelf.

  An impact at the door shifted all the furniture they moved in front of it, and nearly knocked Jacob on the floor. The window shattered behind the bookshelf and it began to topple over. Regina and Heather tried to hold it up, but it was too heavy and being pushed from the other side, it fell over and revealed dozens of savages outside the house.

  Regina saw some keys hanging from a hook near the front door, she grabbed them, yelled for Charles to follow her and dragged Sheila into the garage. Jacob, Jamal and Heather began firing at the savages as they pushed into the house. There were too many to for just the 3 of them to take on, they’d be overrun in seconds.

  Regina found the door to the garage, she looked up and mouthed “thank you” when she saw a big full-sized van. She unlocked it and told Charles to get in, then she started it and blew the horn.

  “Charles, go back there and open the back doors.” she told him.

  He obliged, once one of the doors was opened he yelled, “c’mon.”

  Regina got out and ran around to the back, she picked Sheila up and rolled her into the back of the van.

  The others still hadn't come to the garage, Regina drew her pistol and went back into the house.

  “Hey, let's go, we got a car.” she yelled over the gunfire.

  Jamal moved first and ran to the van, followed by Heather who jumped in the driver seat. Jacob and Regina backed into the garage while unloading their weapons on the savages who followed, they closed the door once inside.

  They both jumped in the back of the van just before the savages broke through the door and flooded into the garage. Heather slammed on the gas and crashed through the old flimsy garage door. A crowd of savages were just outside the door, the big van mowed them down and pushed through them to the street. They sped away continuing east down the street watching out the back window as the savages gave chase but fell behind as the van gained speed.

  Sheila suddenly regained consciousness in the back of the van, her skin was pale, and damp and she was gasping for air. Regina was already next to her and began trying to calm her, she reached into the backpack that Jacob was carrying and pulled out a bottle of water. Sheila took a few sips and looked around trying to figure out where she was.

  “I was really hoping that wouldn't happen again.” Sheila said as she groaned and sat up.

  “You picked a shitty time for a nap lady.” Jacob said.

  “Well it's been a long day.” she said jokingly. “Where are we?”

  “Not from where we were last.” Regina answered. “We got lucky, I found this van in the garage. If it hadn't been there. . . It would have been over.”

  “I guess Seattle wasn't an isolated thing, I’m starting to think there might not be a safe place anywhere.”

  “Don't say that shit, we gon’ find your husband and my mom and a safe place. This is America, I’m sure the Army is getting ready to do something.” Jamal said with confidence.

  “It bothers me that it's been over a day and we still haven't even seen our Army” Heather said. “Something isn't right.”

  Xavier watched diligently from the 62nd floor of the skyscraper down onto the street, he was looking for patterns and areas that weren't being guarded. The Chinese military was creating a fortress in downtown Seattle and the United States military had yet to respond. Xavier couldn't understand why US forces hadn't moved in yet. Major Zhou must have been telling the truth, the US was over stretched on too many fronts.

  There was no way to get into the Chinese controlled skyscraper without being spotted and killed, the base of the building was surrounded. The number of helicopters flying overhead had increased and more troops were arriving from the piers. If Lisa was still alive, there was nothing he could do for her, not only was there no way to get to her without being caught, but he had no idea where she was. He was better off trying to catch up with the group and making sure Charles was taken care of, his mother was gone.

  Several armored troop carriers arrived near the tower and the soldiers dismounted into formation. As their numbers grew, Xavier thought it'd be best to leave the area while he still could. No sooner than he began to move toward the door, he noticed a large number of soldiers break away from the formation and move toward the building he was observing them from. His heart began to race, and he moved with quickness to the stairwell door, before he could open it, he began to feel dizzy, he passed out.

  Lisa woke up face down on the cold pavement. She grimaced immediately at the dull throbbing pain in the back of her head. She began to move her hand toward her head but froze when she saw a figure moving toward her from her from the corner of her eye. As she lay there, she began to see others roaming about. Savages. She didn’t dare move, not even to turn her head to search for an escape.

  She was breathing shallower than she wanted to, a dead body lay across her back, and a pool of blood had surrounded her. Bodies were all around her, the smell of blood was thick, she held back the urge to vomit. The savages moved around quietly and quickly, searching for prey. It wouldn't take much for one of them to look down and notice the movement of her eyes or the twitch of her finger. It was a mystery enough that she was still alive.

  She remembered Major Zhou had dragged her into the stairwell, she began screaming when she heard gunfire erupt. She begged and pleaded for the Major to spare her son as he pulled her down the stairs by the hair, he smacked her with the back of his hand. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, another group of soldiers ran past them to join the others in the fire fight, she broke down and screamed for Charles.

  Major Zhou dragged her as far as the sidewalk in front of the building before she finally noticed what was going, a mob of savages had made their way to the base before they could set up adequate defenses. The soldiers began fighting back but were quickly overwhelmed by the speed and numbers of the mob, they were being overran. An armored carrier was parked nearby and running. The soldiers began defending it, so the Major could get safely inside and escape. When a path was cleared for him, he let go of Lisa and ran to the transport vehicle. Lisa hesitated in surprise, no one had her detained and the soldiers were busy too fighting the savages.

  She ran back into the building, Charles needed her and if she was going to die, it would be by protecting him. She made it inside and into the stairwell before she was met with several soldiers running down the stairs. One of the soldiers pointed his rifle at her and began yelling, he motioned for her to turn around leave. Lisa put her hands up and backed up slowly into the lobby, the soldier grabbed her by the hair and pulled her outside.

  Once outside they were immediately assaulted by savages, they began fighting back and screaming. The soldier let go of Lisa and began yelling at her with his rifle trained on her head. Lisa could not understand what he was saying and instead just stared at him in terror. His focus shifted to something behind her, his eyes widened, and he quickly moved away from her. Before Lisa could turn around, she was truck in the back of the head and everything went black.

  Now lying there with a dead body on top of her and savages searching nearby, Lisa can only wonder what came of her son. She struggled to remain patient for an opening to escape, the anxiety brought on by the uncertainty of her son's fate filled her chest and belly. She only needed a small window to get up and run back into the building.

  The few savages that were in the area moved on around the side of the building, she couldn't hear any movement near her. She slowly turned her head to get a view of the street around her, it was clear. She rolled over to her back and shimmied her way from under the dead soldier, his facial
features had been mutilated beyond recognition, it scared her. She scooted away quickly and checked her surroundings once more. She heard a metallic bang around the corner, it startled her; she got up and ran into the building.

  The lobby was filled with dead Chinese soldiers and civilians who were probably part of the mob of savages. She hurried into the stairwell and up to the second floor, she stopped at the threshold to the hall, the sheer volume of blood frightened her. She carefully leaned into the hall to see it was clear, she then continued to the room they were held in and stopped at the door. She realized she may not be ready to see what had become of the group. . .of her son.

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and walked into the room slowly. The soldier that was shot by his own superior, Major Zhou, was still lying in the middle of the floor. The room was eerily quiet considering the scene she remembered before the Major took her from her son. It looked abandoned, like a stage set after a play. The Chinese soldier wasn't the only corpse left behind, to the back of the room was Carly, still seated on the floor, head down, slumped forward against an overturned office desk. She had been shot in the head, the blood had flowed from the wound, to her hair as it hung in front of her face, and drained into a large pool on the floor in front of her.

  Lisa began to tremble at the sight of Carly, but felt relieved not seeing her son's body beside her. She backed out of the room and began looking into the other offices to make sure the group got out of the building. She made her way around the floor before returning close to the office at her starting point. She checked the last room confident she wouldn’t find anyone since the other rooms were clear, but she was wrong. She stood at the threshold to the office as a deep grief filled her heart, she had discovered Jake's body.

  Jake was one of the few people she thought would survive anything, he was strong and brave. An immeasurable amount of hope left her as she stared at Jake, she was terrified, but not ready to give up. If the group survived, she knew they wouldn't leave a child behind. Lisa knew her son's life was in Xavier's hands, she took great comfort in that. She had to.

  Lisa gathered herself and moved toward the stairwell, she knew if the group wasn't there, they were most likely headed south like they had planned. She just needed to follow their original plan of leaving the city. Although, nothing about navigating the unorthodox warzone would be easy, she at least had a plan.

  The sun had begun to set, Lisa didn't know if it would be safer or more dangerous to move in the dark. Either way, the more time she spent waiting, the greater her chance of losing Charles. She searched the bodies in the hall and took a pistol and ammunition off one of the soldiers, she felt a rifle was beyond her capabilities. She ran into the stairwell and back down to the lobby, she would need to find a vehicle to catch up to the group. She looked out onto the street but couldn't see anything in good enough condition to use. She would have to proceed on foot until she found one that was useable.

  Xavier woke up at the entrance to the stairwell in a profuse sweat and a panic, the Chinese soldiers were probably closing in and he had no idea how long he was unconscious. He got up and slowly opened the door to the stairwell, he couldn't see or hear anything. They must be searching floor by floor as a unit. If he could get past them in the stairwell while they searched the floors, he would only need to find a way to slip past whatever soldiers were guarding the lobby.

  The sun was setting but it wasn't quite dark out, he would have trouble with stealth. None of it mattered, if he didn't get out now before they cleared the building, he would be caught when they eventually occupied it. He began running down the stairs, his heart raced as he concentrated on every step, a fall might create too much noise, so he couldn't afford any mistakes. He counted the floors as he descended: 61, 60, 59. . . He had a long way to go.

  He had just about made it to the 41st floor when the door opened one flight below him. He had too much momentum to stop and turn around without being seen, he was caught. A single Chinese soldier walked into the stairwell, his back was to Xavier. Too busy lighting a cigarette to get his fix of nicotine, he never saw the butt of Xavier’s rifle coming. He struck him in the back of the head so hard that it killed him, Xavier couldn't believe how much underestimated his own strength. Had the soldier kept his helmet on, he may have had a fighting chance, or at least just been knocked unconscious.

  Xavier started to continue down the stairs when he noticed one very important detail about the soldier, he was wearing a gas mask. It wasn’t completely covering his face, it had seemed the soldier broke ranks to take an ill-advised smoke. If he was wearing it, the rest of them were wearing one too. He lifted the soldier into a fireman's carry on his left shoulder, picked up his helmet and carried him up two stories. He sat him down just outside the stairwell door and closed it, he had a few minutes to swap clothes.

  The Uniform didn't fit perfectly, it was a bit tight, but no one would notice if he kept moving. He put on the gas mask and helmet but couldn't get it to fit right. He tucked his dreadlocks inside the collar of his shirt and adjusted the helmet's straps as best he could. The backpack would be a dead giveaway, he had to ditch it. He put the ammunition and magazines into his cargo pockets. If he was caught, they would surely kill him, he had killed one of theirs; they were Chinese soldiers invading America, they would probably kill him anyway.

  The stairwell was still clear, he hurried his descent and made it all the way to the lobby door. He was sweating and tired, his knees ached, he just had to make it outside and out of sight. He caught his breath, opened the door and ran through the lobby. He could hear someone yell at him as he ran, he ignored it and ran out onto the sidewalk.

  There was an enormous buildup of soldiers, they were preparing to move east and continue the invasion. The savages must have slowed them down. Judging by their absence, The Chinese must have gotten them under control, somehow. He needed to get out of the area quickly, before someone noticed he wasn't one of them.

  South was once again the best option, there was a large concentration of soldiers to the west and they were moving east. Helicopters circled to the east and the north, likely searching for more of the savages. The only way to truly advance east would be to move south around Lake Washington, the bridges were parking lots.

  Xavier began a slow jog south. He didn't want to draw too much attention in a full sprint, it was better to look as though he had a task. He ran past dozens of soldiers who were too engaged in their own tasks to notice him. He needed to make it only a few blocks before he was clear of the buildup, and out of the city if he wanted to live.

  Lisa kept low and to the shadows, she ducked behind cars stepped softly to keep from being heard. She navigated the debris easier than she expected, but tried not to get complacent. I would only take one mistake to bring more trouble than she could handle. It wouldn't matter if she was armed with a bazooka, stealth was her greatest strategy in escaping the city.

  The savages were fewer in numbers than Lisa had expected, she was able to avoid them with relative ease. She decided to get further from the piers and headed east to 3rd Avenue, once there she started making her way south again. There were three savages on the street just over a block ahead of her, she hid behind a box truck and waited for them to leave.

  A helicopter passed overhead behind her, it was flying east from the pier. She turned to see if it had spotted her, it flew by too quickly to notice her, she was still safe. She turned her attention back to the savages and gasped when she saw them running in her direction. She thought for a moment they had spotted her, but there was a chance they were just chasing the helicopter. She planted her back firmly against the back of the truck, maybe they would be running by too fast to notice her there.

  The savages sprinted right past her as she had hoped, she ran around the side of the truck to the front and watched the savages to make sure they didn't come back. As they disappeared around the block, she turned around with a sigh of relief, but it was premature, an armored carrier had come f
rom around the building and stopped directly in front of her.

  Lisa took off running east a block and then continued south, the carrier had rounded the corner right after her. The abandoned cars and debris slowed the armored vehicle, Lisa had gained some distance. Unable to keep up, the armored carrier fired several rounds from its gun at Lisa. The rounds ripped through a vehicle next to her and knocked chunks of concrete off the building to her right. Terrified, she dropped to the ground and covered her head.

  The gunfire stopped, Lisa lifted her head and scanned for anyone approaching. A car stood between her and the carrier, obscuring their view, she crawled away trying to stay quiet and out of sight. She cut herself on broken glass and concrete, willed herself to crawl over bloodied dead bodies. She was around fifty yards from the end of the block, if she could make it, she could escape around the corner and hide in one of the buildings.

  The door to the troop carrier must have opened, she heard boots running toward her. If they caught her, they might capture her, and she may lose Charles forever, but if Major Zhou found out she was still alive, he may kill her. She could hear them getting closer and her heart beat so fast that her chest began to hurt. Everything in her wanted to get up and run as fast as she could, but she knew the minute she did, she'd be shot. The boots were right behind her now, she turned around to surrender, and stared down his rifle into his unforgiving eyes and put her hands up.

  Xavier made it a block south before he saw a large formation of troops a few blocks ahead, he wouldn't be able to pass by them without being interrogated so he turned west toward the piers and continued a few blocks. He came to an empty intersection and stopped to catch his breath, he made it past the bulk of the soldiers.

  As Xavier scanned his surroundings he heard gunfire a block away, it sounded like a large caliber weapon, maybe a gun turret. He thought it would be better to avoid it, so he kept low and out of sight. There were cars all through the intersection, he stayed low and used them as concealment.