Damned Are We

by Durman, Jason

  Corvo feverishly swung the butt of his shotgun down on pale hands that appeared over the edge of

  the balcony. He looked to his left to see two infected people climb up onto the balcony, eyeing him

  down ravenously.

  "Sorry, the diner's closed!" he yel ed, swinging the shotgun around squeezing the trigger. The blast annihilated the attackers' heads at point-blank range, sending their headless bodies flying back over

  the railing.

  Samantha cursed with the stress of the situation. A large number of Infected were assaulting their

  position, and there were more stil pouring out of the darkness. Just how many people in this damn

  city had been infected?

  Suddenly, Corvo noticed several people swarming into the workshop entrance below them. Shit...

  "Corvo, I thought you said you were covering the door!" Markus yel ed over his shoulder.

  "Just shut up and shoot!" he yel ed back, swinging his shotgun toward the dark doorway behind

  them.

  At that moment, the unthinkable happened. The light on the tower went out, plunging the area into

  darkness, save for the flashing of gunfire.

  "Crap!" Samantha swore. "The generator's stal ed!"

  "You've GOT to be kidding me!" Jacob yel ed.

  Corvo brushed aside the temptation to curse out loud. There was no time for that. "I'm going down

  there!" he announced, making for the doorway into the workshop in a low crouch.

  "I'l come with you – " Samantha began, but he waved her off.

  "I need you to stay up here, kid. Cover me when I'm on the ground." He quickly moved off before she could argue.

  Muzzle-flashes lit up the yard, continuously il uminating the writhing figures below. The bloodthirsty

  growls rending the air intensified. It was almost as if the Infected knew that they had their quarry

  trapped and cornered, with nowhere to go.

  Corvo moved quickly through the dark workshop toward the stairs that led off the upper catwalk and

  down to ground level. A sudden inhuman shriek caused him to swing the shotgun around to see a

  dark shape rushing toward him. One trigger-pul later and he was sprayed with a gratuitous amount

  of blood.

  "Son of a bitch – "

  He whirled to the sound of rushing footsteps to see a wild-looking woman emerging at the top of the

  stairs. Without hesitating, Corvo smashed her in the face with the butt of his gun, sending her

  tumbling back down the stairs. She came to rest at the bottom with a sickening CRUNCH and did

  not move again. Corvo leapt over her body several seconds later and rushed past the truck toward

  the main entrance. The hoist had lowered just over halfway to the floor.

  Damn, that thing is slow...

  "Where the hel 's the old man?" Jacob yelled over the roaring gunfire. "That truck ain't gonna lower itself!"

  "There he is!" Markus shouted, pointing to a figure dashing across the yard toward the generator.

  Several Common Infected immediately noticed Corvo and turned to attack. However, a hail of

  withering gunfire from above sent them tumbling to the ground, clearing the way. He reached the

  generator and immediately started pounding on the controls.

  "Come on, work, you Goddamn piece of shit..." he hissed through gritted teeth. He paused to swing his shotgun to the left and blow away an infected man bearing down on him, before turning back to

  his work.

  Markus fired his Uzi with a firm two-handed grip, kil ing any Infected got too close to them or

  Corvo. If that generator doesn't start working again...

  Suddenly, with a triumphant roar, the lights flickered back on and the generator rumbled with

  renewed life. Corvo sighed in satisfaction, but his celebrations were short-lived when he realised that

  he was completely cut off from the depot. He cursed and began to fire his shotgun at the large crowd

  of Infected coming straight for him. Several went down, but there were far too many, and the others

  screeched in delight as they rapidly closed the distance.

  He was screwed.

  THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! A hail of bullets slammed into the attackers above, clearing the way.

  Corvo looked up to see that Samantha and Markus had abandoned the defence of their own perch

  and were solely concentrating their fire to protect him from the Infected on the ground. To his horror,

  he saw countless others scaling the walls, threatening to envelop the maintenance shed.

  "Guys! Get inside and make for the truck!" he yelled. "Go now!"

  The others nodded and quickly disappeared through the balcony doorway into the workshop, but not

  before carving a clear path to the door through the Infected with their submachine guns for Corvo.

  He made straight for the ground entrance, firing only passing shots at anything that got too close.

  The other three survivors charged along the upper-level catwalk, firing continuously as they ran. The

  muzzle-flashes lit up snarling figures approaching from the stairs, but the combined fire from two

  Uzis and a shotgun sent them tumbling head over heels.

  "Almost out of ammo!"

  "Keep moving!"

  "The truck's almost lowered!"

  Thirty furious seconds later, the four regrouped back at the truck, and Jacob opened the door while

  the others covered him.

  "Get in!" he motioned frantical y.

  As soon as everyone was inside, he slammed the door shut, seconds before the incessant pounding

  began on the outside of the truck. Corvo shone the light on his shotgun around to find that they were

  in a large back compartment of the van. Pale, bloodied faces pushed up against the gril -reinforced

  windows of the cabin. Pushing his way roughly past Jacob, he moved through a narrow doorway into the driver's cabin and threw himself into the seat.

  "Uh, Corvo?" Markus' voice sounded anxious. "Are we gettin' outta here or what?"

  The pounding against the sides of the truck was getting louder, and it sounded as though several

  Infected had climbed up onto the roof as wel . Corvo looked up in alarm when he heard thumps from

  ahead, and saw several dark shapes climbing onto the front of the van. Quick as a flash, he raised

  his M1911 and fired several shots through the windshield at the attackers.

  "Corvo, we gotta go!" Samantha yelled from the back.

  "Alright, alright, hold yer horses!" he muttered, jamming the keys into the ignition. "I'm gettin' too old for this goddamn apocalypse horseshit..."

  With a loud roar, the truck blazed to life. He flicked on the powerful headlights to reveal a large

  crowd of people swarming in front of the truck, attracted by the bright lights and loud roar of the

  engine. With the tyres screeching in protest, Corvo jetted the van forward, slamming into several

  Infected, who immediately disappeared under the vehicle with a loud rumbling.

  "Buckle in!" he cal ed over his shoulder. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

  He found himself thanking the unfortunate previous survivors who had done such a good job of

  armouring the camper van. It easily cut a swath through the Infected as he guided it out of the

  workshop and into the road. The rumbling of bodies under the hulking vehicle continued without

  reprieve. Corvo grinned. This was the life.

  The armoured van burst out of the truck depot and shot out toward the city limit of Fairfield. It

  disappeared into the night, safe and away, leaving the mournful wails and cries of the Infected in its

  wake.

  Chapter 24

  The armoured truck trundled along the broken Highway 80, where it had been travel ing w
estward

  for most of the day, aside from very occasional and very brief rest-stops. Thumping could be heard

  every now and then from beneath the heavy vehicle – most likely infected people that tried to attack

  the truck.

  Samantha sat in the back cabin, looking out the gril -covered window to see night fal ing over a

  landscape of dirt hil s and dark trees, many of them without leaves. A dense fog hung over the area.

  She sighed and looked over at Markus, who was fast asleep in his seat. Corvo was in the process of

  cleaning his newly-acquired pump-action shotgun.

  Just over two weeks ago, Samantha never would have imagined in a million years that she would be

  hanging out with a guy like Corvo, let alone depending on him for her survival. But the elder man

  clearly cared for everyone in the group, and was a capable leader. She knew that she trusted him

  with her life more than anyone else now.

  Markus was great, if not a bit naive. Samantha appreciated his positive attitude, and it helped her out of the dumps when she was feeling down. But she had seen a lot of horror movies. They never had

  good endings. What sort of ending was in store for them?

  And Jacob...

  BUMP. BUMP. BUMP.

  "Jacob!" Corvo snapped. "Maybe try keeping us on the road, instead of deliberately swerving to hit infected people!"

  There was a short silence, and then –

  CRASH! A terrible screeching of metal against metal resonated throughout the cabin. The entire

  truck shuddered violently, and Samantha was thrown out of her seat. Markus awoke with a yelp, and

  Corvo's shotgun lurched out of his hands, bouncing around on the floor. The terrible noise and

  shaking were gone as quickly as they came, and the truck continued on its way.

  Corvo angrily got to his feet. "That's it. I'm gonna tear him a new one," he growled.

  Samantha stopped him. "Allow me." She made her way through the back cabin of the truck and

  passed through the opening at the end, into the driver's cabin. "Jacob, what the hell?" she

  demanded angrily.

  The biker kept his eyes out the window on the road ahead. "There are a lot of abandoned cars

  littering the highway. I misjudged and hit one."

  The young woman sighed, and dropped into the passenger seat beside him. "You are fol owing the

  right highway?"

  "Yeah," he grumbled. "But what's the big deal, anyway? It's not like we have anywhere to go."

  "We do have a place to go! Riverside!"

  "What's so important about some backwater suburbia town?"

  Samantha placed a palm to her forehead and closed her eyes, massaging her temples with her

  fingers and thumb. "If you remember, both safe-rooms we've been in have had suggested

  evacuation sites written on the walls. The army is holding out in Riverside, and it's the closest one.

  So unless you have a better plan, we need to head there."

  "I do have a better plan," Jacob replied. "We find a supermarket, grab some beer, pull up a few deckchairs and some shotguns, and have a little fun."

  "Jacob..." she sighed.

  "Hey, I know, we could even find ourselves a portable radio, get some tunes going." He turned to

  face her, grinning. "Hey, it goes along with your plan to visit smal -town America. What's more smal -

  town then sitting on the lawn with a shotgun, shooting innocent passerbies?"

  Samantha was about to tell him how stupid he was, but she found herself smiling. Whatever she was about to say was forgotten when she saw flashing lights ahead in the distance. As the armoured

  truck drew nearer to the lights, it had to swerve between increasing amounts of mangled cars strewn

  across the highway. Eventual y, Jacob was forced to stop the truck completely. Markus and Corvo

  appeared in the driver's cabin.

  "What's going on?" he demanded. "Why are we stopping?"

  Samantha pointed through the window at a graveyard of wrecked cars on the highway ahead. "Pile-

  up. There must have been some huge accident."

  "Road's blocked," Jacob grunted. "There's no way the truck will be able to plough through al this shit in front of us."

  Corvo contemplated the situation for a moment, and then turned and headed back into the rear

  cabin. "Alright, everyone. Gather your gear. We're making our way into town on foot from here."

  "Whoa," Jacob objected. "We're out in the middle of nowhere. We should try and find another way into town."

  "There is no other way into town," Corvo pointed out. " All the roads in are going to be like this."

  He stepped out of the truck into the cool night, aiming his shotgun out in front of him, while Markus

  and Samantha fol owed, both of them brandishing their Uzis. Jacob grabbed his beloved shotgun

  from under the driver's seat and reluctantly left the truck. Corvo cast his eyes warily to the dark tree-

  line on either side of the highway, keeping watch in case anything moved out there, while Markus

  surveyed the destruction in front of him, his hope starting to wane.

  "Come on," the older man said, motioning them forward.

  They made their way through the graveyard of abandoned cars. Samantha curiously shone her

  flashlight through the shattered windshield of one to see a decaying corpse in the driver's seat. She

  gagged reflexively, and made sure not to look inside any more cars.

  "It's pretty quiet out here," Markus commented.

  Corvo grunted in agreement. "That's fine by me. I'd rather not be ambushed by anything out here

  where there's virtually no cover."

  Samantha looked around at the horrific crash, and sighed. "All these people. Al these families. I

  wonder how many are left in the town."

  "My family was over in New York when the infection broke out," Markus said worriedly. "I hope

  they're okay..." He looked over at Corvo. "What about your family? Do you know if they got out in

  time?"

  The war veteran said nothing.

  Markus awkwardly looked over at Samantha. "How about you? Do you know where your family is

  at?"

  She looked away uncomfortably. Jacob noticed this.

  "Hey, Markus," he chimed in from behind them. "What do you say we save the conversation for

  when we're not open to attack from al sides?"

  Samantha breathed a sigh of relief, and looked back at the big biker with gratitude in her eyes. He

  simply nodded in acknowledgement. She turned back to the front and gripped her Uzi tighter, as a

  single tear rolled down her cheek.

  The four survivors continued their trek over the broken highway, maintaining a vigilant watch for the

  Infected.

  Jacob looked over his shoulder nervously, when he heard the sound of scampering feet in the trees

  nearby. He motioned for everyone to stop, and then slowly advanced toward the spot where the

  noise had come from. Markus went with him, while the others covered them from the road. They kept

  their guns trained on the bushes, their fingers tensed on the triggers. The bushes rustled slightly.

  Suddenly, a large deer bounded out of the bushes, nearly trampling Jacob in its desperate bid to

  escape. The biker yel ed as he fell to the dirt while Markus watched the deer prance away, laughing.

  Jacob picked himself up and brushed himself off, grumbling. "Watch out!" he called back to Corvo

  and Samantha. "Deer around here."

  "You got a problem with deer?" Markus asked, puzzled, as they made their way back to the others.

  "I hate deer."

  After another half an hour of walking, the group came to a dried-up river gorge that cut across t
he

  highway. A bridge used to span the gap, but had been destroyed by means unknown.

  "And of course the bridge is out..." Samantha grumbled.

  "Fantastic," Jacob uttered his annoyance.

  Corvo walked up to the edge of the demolished bridge and peered down into the foggy gorge. "It's

  not too deep," he cal ed. "If we go down into the gorge, we should be able to find a way up on the

  other side."

  Markus nodded in agreement, while Samantha and Jacob kept their reservations to themselves.

  They made their down into the gorge, where it soon flattened out at the bottom. As they crossed the

  muddy bottom, Samantha looked up toward the other side. On the far side of the river gorge, she

  could barely make out a mountain ridge through the fog. They presently crossed the dried-up river

  and found themselves standing below the concrete bridge abutment on the other side.

  "Another way up, huh?" Jacob said condescendingly.

  "Save it," Corvo snapped.

  "Hey, guys, there's a ladder over here!" Markus' voice drifted from nearby.

  Corvo shot a smug look at Jacob, who narrowed his eyes and walked over to the ladder without

  another word. The veteran went up the steel ladder first, and then covered the rest of the group

  when they fol owed.

  At the top, they were immediately confronted by the intimidating mountain ridge Samantha had seen

  earlier. Now that they were at its base, and could actually see it properly, they could discern the

  craggy outcrops and pointy peaks, high above. With the fog hanging in the air, the whole thing

  looked quite creepy. A road tunnel bore into the mountain, leading away into darkness.

  "Aw, hel . I think we gotta go through this tunnel," Corvo remarked sul enly.

  Samantha shivered, recal ing their experience back in the subway. "More dark tunnels? Oh, great."

  "At least there aren't two Leapers after us this time," Markus pointed out.

  "Yeah," Corvo remarked, staring ahead into the gaping maw of the road tunnel. "That's what I'm worried about. We have no idea what is in there."

  Jacob shone his flashlight into the tunnel and started walking. "Wel , if you three wanna stand

  around and whine, that's your business. Anyone who wants to stop bitching can feel free to join me."

  The others stared after him for a moment; surprised, impressed, and somewhat annoyed by his