Savage Mist

by Jason Merchant

  “Okay, but what do we do? They have no way out, they're done.”

  “We need to make a distraction.”

  “With what?”

  “Look, there's a moving truck across the street, I bet the keys are in it.”

  “How the hell are you so sure?”

  “Who carries the keys to a moving truck? You move your stuff in it and then you move it out.”

  “But it's been parked God knows how long.”

  “Well the world kind of ended, so I’m guessing they changed their plans. Get those cinder blocks over there.”

  Regina opened the driver's door of the moving truck, reached over and felt around the ignition area for the keys. Her hunch was correct. She started the truck and moved it away from the curb, pointing its nose in the direction of the soldiers shooting at Xavier. She put it in neutral and applied the parking brake, then they placed the cinder blocks on the gas pedal. Regina sat in the driver's seat and shifted the transmission from neutral to drive, the truck lurched forward overpowering the parking brake. She quickly pulled the lever to disengage the brake and jumped from the cab.

  The truck accelerated toward the soldiers and drew their fire, buying time for Regina and Jacob to run to Xavier's aide. The truck crashed into a fence and came to a stop between the soldiers and Xavier. Jacob ran over and helped Lisa to her feet, Regina checked on Xavier.

  “You guys have no idea how happy I am to see you two” Xavier smiled.

  “Are you okay?” Regina asked as she touched his face and brushed his dreads to the side.

  Their gazes met, and they smiled. A feeling of warmth washed over Xavier, he had to remind himself that escape was a priority. Regina offered to help him to his feet, but he sprung up from the ground and was standing straight before her.

  They ran behind the nearest house and hurried down the street back toward the rec center.

  “Wait, Wait!” Lisa demanded, she had just fully regained her awareness and noticed they had reunited with Regina and Jacob.

  “Where is Charles? Where's my baby?”

  “He’s fine sweetie, he’s with Sheila at a rec center just down the street. That's where we’re going right now.” Regina said anxiously trying to get Lisa to calm down before she gave away their position.

  “We don't have time for this, guys, we have to hurry?”

  “Honey, you're sweating” Richard said as he rolled over to Sheila.

  She wiped her forehead with the inside of her wrist and examined it, she was drenched. She noticed her heartbeat was fast again and she was no longer tired like the rest of the group, this time she didn't feel as ill as she before.

  “Are you okay?” Richard asked.

  “Yeah, I guess. I think it's happening again.”

  “Are you hurting?”

  “No, I feel kind of invincible actually, I could probably kick your butt.”

  “So, now you feel like you could take me?” Richard laughed.

  Sheila laughed after realizing her faux pas “Well, I guess I never quite saw the chair as a weakness”.

  “Really? I always thought. . .”

  “That I didn't see you as a man anymore?”

  “Yea, I guess.”

  “No Richard, that was just you.”

  “All this time, I’ve been beating myself up, I’ve been beating you up too.” Richard eyes filled with tears. “You came back for me after the way I treated you. I don't deserve you.”

  “Again, No Richard. That's the thinking that has led to so much of our problems. You do deserve me, I’m your wife, through thick and thin. You never lost me, you lost yourself. I’m here forever.”

  They embraced one another in their arms and kissed more passionately than they could ever remember, they exchanged “I love you’s” and Sheila stood up to go look out the window.

  As she approached Heather, who had already assumed sentry duty and watched diligently from the window, a screeching sound startled them both from the other end of the building. It sounded as though someone had moved a large piece of furniture on the tile flooring.

  “We aren't the only ones here anymore” said Richard.

  “You two stay with Charles, I’ll see what it was.” Heather said as she lifted her rifle sights to her eye and walked toward the hall.

  “Maybe we should stick together, we’re splitting up our fire power this way.”

  “If you hear shooting, just take the boy and head towards the last place we thought we saw Xavier.”

  “No, we haven't survived this long by leaving people behind. What's going on with you?” Sheila demanded. “Stop, answer me.”

  “Okay, you wanna know my problem? We’re all going to die because there's no way we can move fast enough to escape anything. It was different in Seattle, everyone could run. Now we have guy in a wheelchair, an old overweight lady, possibly two wounded stragglers, and not to mention, a child.”

  “Hold on” Shanice said angrily, “I don't need yo’ damn help, you get you skinny little ass right the fu--”

  “momma, stop. It’s okay.” Jamal interrupted.

  “No, it's not okay. Lady don't you disrespect me like that, I ain't did shit to you. You don't get to treat us like we ain't shit because we ain't cops like you. My boy survived all of this and he helped y’all, you would be dead if it wasn't for all these people. You better remember that shit.” Shanice snatched her arm away from Jamal and walked toward the window with Sheila.

  “Calling somebody old and overweight, yo little scrawny ass gon’ need some overweight backup when them things out there is beatin’ some sense into yo’ stupid ass.”

  Richard rolled himself between the two and reminded them that there was still someone in the building with them. He asked one more time for Heather to stay with them, reluctantly, she obliged. The group spread out in the room and trained their weapons on the hall entrance as Heather ordered, they waited as the sound of the footsteps grew closer.

  Gunfire erupted outside, the group turned their attention to the window. Heather ran over to peek outside, dozens of savages sprinted past the window as a hail of bullets from the Chinese cut many of them down. An overwhelming number of explosions followed the gunfire, the group dropped to the floor and escaped the window just as it exploded inwards and shattered across floor. Sheila looked up from the floor to see Richards wheelchair overturned and her husband's head being beaten against the floor by a savage.

  Sheila rushed the savage and tackled it, she grabbed at its throat and squeezed until her fingers broke through the skin. The savage fought his way back to his feet, but Sheila refused to loosen her grip, even as the savage began to strike her repeatedly. Sheila yanked on the savage’s throat and ripped out his Adam's apple, blood sprayed from his neck as he swung wildly before collapsing from the blood loss.

  She walked over to Richard, his body lay lifeless, face down on the floor. Tears began to run down her face, but she was unable to speak, she got down on her knees and placed her hands on Richard's shoulders. She turned him over to look at his face, his eyes were open, and the entire left side of his face covered in blood. Sheila stared at her husband, she shuttered at an explosion right outside window. She didn't say a word, she just buried her face in his chest and cried.

  Heather knelt down beside Sheila, “Sheila, I’m sorry honey, but we have to go, it’s not safe here. We have to run.”

  “No” Sheila muttered before exploding Heather, “No!” she screamed.

  Heather tried to pull Sheila up from the floor, Sheila shoved her, launching her several feet across the floor and on to her back. Several more explosions shook the building as Heather climbed to her feet, she hesitated as she looked at Sheila and the rest of the group.

  “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. The rest of you, we have to go.”

  “We can't leave her” Shanice yelled over the gunfire and explosions.

  “If we stay, Charles dies. We all die.”

  Shanice looked at Charles and pulled him in clos
e to her, she didn't say anything, she just closed her eyes and nodded at Heather.

  Heather lead the way down the hall, Shanice and Charles followed. Jamal broke away and ran over to Sheila, he got down on his knees and hugged her as tightly as he could, Sheila didn't hug him back, but she didn't resist. When Jamal pulled away, she looked at him with teary eyes and then back to her husband's body. Jamal got up and joined his mother near the hall, he looked back at Sheila, then dubiously followed the group out of the building.

  The plan

  Michael couldn't believe what he had just witnessed, the man's strength and speed were phenomenal. He was also impressed by the woman he was with, she was strong, resilient. He would have to be smart when he approached them.

  He had gotten orders from George to capture the two and await transport, orders he wasn't sure he wanted to follow. If the Chinese ordered the biological strikes, the man he wanted could have valuable information and could describe any symptoms and side effects to medical professionals. It would make sense to question him. However, Michael was positive at this point that the Chinese had not used the weapon. The bombing attack on the freeway was confirmation, America had attacked its own people.

  The artillery blast had injured the woman, the man she was traveling with had to carry her. There wasn't a better time than now to approach him, his hands are full, and his friend was incapacitated. He drew his pistol and began jogging toward the man as quickly and quietly as he could. He was about 50 yards away when gunfire erupted, he jumped behind a car for cover.

  Not long after the gunfire started, a truck sped toward the area it was coming from, it crashed and must have distracted whoever was shooting. Michael noticed two people show up to help the man and the woman, they disappeared down the street. He missed his opportunity to make contact, now he had to escape the gunfire and artillery and hopefully re-acquire the man later.

  Chapter 16

  Together again

  Jacob stopped and turned back to Regina and Xavier, his face pale with fear as gunfire erupted beyond the houses in front of them.

  “Please don’t tell me that’s where we were going.” Xavier said.

  “It is.” Regina said as she immediately turned her sights to Lisa.

  Lisa tried to run toward the gunfire but stumbled as she took off, she had barely recovered from being knocked out.

  “Lisa, you can’t just run down there, you’ll die before you ever make it to Charles.” Regina said.

  “If he’s still alive.” Lisa said as she began to cry.

  “We have to get a closer look.” said Jacob.

  They proceeded to the edge of a tree line where they were face to face with three savages, Jacob fired his rifle into the chest of the first savage but was immediately taken down by another. The third savage rushed Lisa, taking her to the ground. Xavier sprung forth from the rear, he grabbed the front and back of the savage’s head who attacked Lisa and twisted until its head rotated almost a full 180 degrees, snapping his neck.

  He pulled the body off Lisa and ran over to help Jacob, the savage was on top of him. Xavier picked him up from behind by the waist, over his head, and slammed him to the ground, he then immediately positioned himself on top of the savage. He began beating the savage as harshly as the savage would have had their roles been reversed. The savage tried fighting back but lacked coordination and skill, brute force is all they relied upon. Xavier swatted away his feeble attempts at resistance and bashed his head into the dirt, the back of his head split open and he ceased.

  The others watched in fearful awe as Xavier’s humanity took a leave of absence, possessed with rage and bloodlust, he became unrecognizable.

  “Xavier” Lisa called out.

  Although timid, her voice froze Xavier in place as it quivered from her throat. He ceased his assault on the savage and turned away from the rest of the group in shame, he got up and walked over to the edge of the tree line.

  “Okay, Regina, Jacob, you hang back with Lisa, I’ll run to the building and see if the others are still there.”

  “Why wouldn’t they be?” Lisa asked as her voice trembled.

  “If they were smart, they got the hell out of there before they got sandwiched between savages and an invading army.”

  “Why don’t we all go? What if you run into trouble?”

  “No, Xavier’s right, we can’t all go, you took a pretty serious blow to the head, you don’t look like you’ve recovered yet” Regina said, “But you can’t go alone Xavier.”

  “I still feel the effects of the infection, I’m faster and stronger than all of you combined. I can be in and out quickly by myself and as long as I have these symptoms, I can handle myself against more than one savage. It’s safer this way.”

  Regina didn’t like the idea, but she knew she could trust Xavier, she knew if anyone could make it alone, it was him.

  “Okay look, you can wait for me here, I’ll be in and out. If shit goes south, just run south.” Xavier pointed off into the distance. “Find a gas station and wait near it, I’ll come to you, if it gets real again, find another one. I’ll be there eventually.”

  “And if you don’t?” Lisa said with visible frustration and worry.

  “I don’t think I got it in me to let you down,” he paused and took a long hard look at Lisa; her shape, her beauty, her concern for him. “I’ll definitely find you.”

  Xavier ran as fast as he could across the dark grass field. Bullets whizzed by him in swarms like hornets from a disturbed nest, he flinched and covered his head with his arms. Savages began to appear in front of him in the darkness, just shadowy images that ran as blindly as he did across the field. With all the abilities that came from the infection and chemical agent, enhanced eyesight was not one of them. Most of them ran right by Xavier, it was easy going until he collided with one and they fell to the ground.

  Xavier jumped up as fast as he could and squinted into the dark, searching for the savage. He swept the immediate area around him in every direction but saw nothing, the savage must have run off as confused as Xavier was. Figuring he was in the clear, he started towards the rec center. Had it not been for a fire burning in the distance, visible through an opening in the trees just beyond the building, he may have gotten completely turned around. He reoriented himself and resumed his mission.

  The gunfire intensified, the soldiers must have been advancing. Explosions lit the field again and exposed the frightening landscape for the horror it really bore. There were hundreds of savages, it was nothing short of extraordinary that he only bumped into one of them. They all sprinted towards the muzzle flashes, most of them cut to pieces by automatic weapons before ever reaching the tree line that concealed the troops.

  Xavier made it to the building and began looking for an entrance, he found the shattered glass doors and ran inside. He stopped as he remembered he couldn’t feel pain from his chest, his heart could explode without warning. After a few seconds of slow steady breaths, he ran down a short hall before coming to an opening, there sat Sheila, crying next to her husband's body. He stood up straight and lowered his guard. As he moved to approach her, a savage flew into the poorly lit room and tackled Sheila. Xavier immediately made a move for the savage but before he could, he himself was tackled from behind.

  The savage had Xavier in a headlock, his legs wrapped tightly around Xavier’s waist. He managed to get to his feet with the savage on his back but couldn’t pry his arms from his throat. Even though he couldn’t feel pain from the lack of oxygen, the other effects were still obvious, he couldn’t get enough air, then anxiety and fear set in and he was beginning to lose consciousness. He fell over backwards on top of the savage who maintained a lethal grip on his throat, he clawed at the savage’s arms desperately. The flailing slowed, and he began to slip away, as his vision faded he saw Sheila’s figure standing over him. She swung downwards with an object and suddenly the hold around his neck loosened and he gasped for air. He rolled over off the savage coughing and strug
gling to breathe while Sheila finished off the savage.

  Before catching his breath, Xavier began assessing Sheila.

  “Are you okay” he said with a raspy, wheezy voice.

  “No, I’m not fucking okay. The others left, they headed south not too long ago, you can catch them if you hurry.”

  An explosion shook the building and Jets could be heard roaring overhead again. Xavier could hear the soldiers yelling outside of the building, they were no longer in the tree line.

  “Sheila, we have to go.”

  “No, I went through all that to get back to him, just to have him taken from me,” She kneeled down beside him and stroked his hair. “I’m done, just go.”

  Xavier got up and grabbed Sheila from behind, he pulled her up to her feet and tried to lead her from Richard’s body, she pulled away. Xavier reached down to pick Sheila up over his shoulder, she kneed him in the face and shoved him to the floor.

  “Don’t do this Sheila, you know he wouldn't want this.”

  “I know he’d want us together, that can still happen.”

  “He would never want you to get hurt Sheila, you know that.”

  “It doesn't matter Xavier, look outside, no one can survive this. We aren't going to find safety, there isn't any. There's no use trying, it's impossible.”

  “I found Lisa” Xavier got up to his feet. “I don't know how, but I found her...or we found each other. We made it this far, we can keep going. There's still hope.”

  “Hope for Lisa and Charles, I lost my hope.”

  “You didn't make it through all this hell just for Richard, you made it because you're naturally strong. You’re a survivor. We need you, we need all the help we can get. Please.”

  Xavier could hear the Chinese soldiers screaming commands as they fought their way east, they were just outside the building. Sheila looked down at Richard, she kneeled and kissed him one last time on his forehead, “I’m sorry baby, I love you.” then she followed Xavier toward the front doors. Once they emerged from the building Xavier made his way toward the location he left Regina and the others, he told Sheila they were there waiting with Lisa.