The Extinction Pandemic: A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Hatchery Compound Book 1)

by Grayson Hawkins

  People really take toilet paper for granted when they have twenty rolls in their house, but when the group had gotten down to using copy paper to wipe their asses, Bryce held onto the stuff like it was gold.

  Some of the other stuff like charcoal and tiki lamps may have not have an immediate use to anyone, but who knew.

  Bryce and Benjamin left Jessica inside to load more shopping carts, and the two men wheeled their carts outside and started to throw the stuff into the back of the truck. There was no point being space conscious with this vehicle, because the truck bed was massive, even with the fuel tank on the back.

  After they loaded the first two carts, they went back in the store and got two more carts to repeat the process. Another twenty minutes went by as father and son loaded and unloaded the rest of their shopping carts while Jessica refilled the carts inside the store.

  As Jessica brought two more carts outside, they heard gunshots in the distance and people yelling. Smart enough to take a hint, the three of them unloaded their carts even faster than before.

  Just as they were about to jump in their vehicle, a group of people ran around the corner of the shopping complex. They carried a variety of weapons, the two men had a rifle and a shotgun, and a woman had a handgun. The rag tag group of people was at a full-out run toward Benjamin, Bryce, and Jessica.

  Bryce automatically shouldered his rifle and took aim at the group, because he wasn’t sure of their intentions. As he brought his sights in line with the group he saw that two of them were young children, who couldn’t be more than eight.

  The group saw Bryce and the others and started to haul ass toward them as they waved their hands. The male leader of the group took off at a full run with one of the children wrapped around his neck.

  “Stop where you are!” Bryce yelled.

  The group advanced toward them, and Bryce fired a warning shot, which skipped off the pavement five feet from the leader of the group.

  This successfully stopped them all in their tracks and the leader of the party started to bring up his own rifle.

  “If you move that rifle one more inch I’ll kill you in front of those kids!” Bryce yelled across the distance.

  The man complied, clearly defeated, as two more rifles were brought to bear by Benjamin and Jessica.

  “There’s a group of at least thirty of those things chasing after us, we’re on foot and we need a ride out of town now!” the man pleaded.

  The stranger had no sooner said the words than a group of infected rounded the corner, spotted the two groups of people, and charged forward.

  “Shit,” Bryce mumbled under his breath.

  Bryce told the group to lower their guns and run for the truck. They complied, at once, every one of them wanted to get the hell out of there.

  “Get in the fucking truck!” Bryce screamed.

  The group of people ran up to the truck and jumped in. First, the young children were all but thrown by what must be their mother and father into the back of the truck. The two children, although one was a girl and one was a boy, looked to be the same age and likeness, almost like twins. Next, an older girl jumped into the truck with assistance from the father of the group, or so Bryce assumed he was. Then, their mother followed; she was an attractive woman probably in her forties. Lastly, a teenage boy, Bryce guessed around sixteen and their father a grizzled-looking man, who was more than likely in his forties as well, but aged beyond his years.

  Just as Bryce was about to turn and run to the cab, the grizzled man yelled, “Look out!”

  Bryce turned around, and in the time it took for the family the load up, the pack had closed to within fifteen feet of the vehicle.

  Too close to make it, Bryce thought.

  Bryce brought up his rifle and took shots into the group of infected. He hit three or four of them, and sent them down immediately, but the group was getting close now and he didn’t make a dent.

  “Covering!” the father figure yelled above the sound of gunfire and the infected, and showered the infected with lead. “Get in the fucking truck!” the man yelled when Bryce hesitated.

  Bryce dropped his rifle into his sling and hopped up onto the truck bed. The barrage of cover fire rained down shell casings on top of Bryce and just as Bryce was about to slide his legs into the truck bed, something grabbed a hold of him.

  Bryce tried to kick and flail his legs, because he wasn’t sure what else to do in the situation.

  A round zinged by his head so close he could feel the heat, and immediately, the hand that grabbed his leg let go.

  “Drive, Dad!” Bryce screamed into the cab of the truck with all the voice he could muster.

  Benjamin put the pedal to the floor and squealed the hulking truck tires as he powered the truck onto the highway. The passengers in the back were thrown around and as the truck bounced over a curb, they cried out in protest.

  Benjamin guided the truck out of Payson while everyone else in the back held on for dear life.

  When Bryce finally felt that his group and his unidentified passengers were safe, Bryce told his father to pull over on the side of the highway.

  Benjamin drove another half a mile before he found a straight and open section of highway to pull over.

  Bryce indicated to the group of strangers that it was time to unload the truck.

  The head of the family was clearly wary, but he obliged and told his family to get off the truck.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Mogollon Rim, Arizona

  The group of strangers got out of the truck and stood near their father. Clearly, he brought a sense of security to his family. They gathered together in a small huddle with the father figure at the front in a protective pose. He wasn’t completely ready to attack, but he wasn’t relaxed either.

  Bryce looked at the man, recognized his ready stance and immediately took him as prior military. That was good, Bryce figured.

  Bryce reached his hand out and said, “My name’s Bryce Sloan. Thanks for saving my ass back there.”

  “Logan Bartlett,” the man extended his hand.

  Without any hesitation, Logan continued, “This is my family. My wife, Christine, my oldest, Robert, my middle child, Rebecca, and the twins, Sarah and Timothy.”

  Logan sounded off his family names without even a hint of worry. It seemed that a near-death experience could bring even strangers together.

  “Pleasure to meet you all,” Bryce said and honestly meant it. He had known the group for all of two minutes, but Bryce honestly sensed that they were not enemies. Compounded by the fact that Logan clearly had military experience, evidenced by tattoos that Bryce had spotted during their introduction, Bryce had a feeling that they were good people.

  After the introduction, Bryce told Logan that he needed a moment to speak with his group. Bryce walked over to the front of the vehicle to talk in private with Jessica and his father, but he kept an eye on the Bartlett family the entire time.

  The three hatchery members discussed the pros and cons of adding additional members to their group for a minute or two.

  “What should we do with them?” Bryce asked Benjamin and Jessica, “I can tell that this guy is prior military, and he did just save my ass back there.”

  “Isn’t that enough proof that they don’t mean us any harm?” his father answered

  “Fair enough, let’s see what they have to offer,” Bryce told them both.

  Benjamin, Bryce and Jessica stood at the head of the group and laid it all out in the open.

  “OK, so here’s the deal. We saved you guys back there, and obviously, Logan, you saved me too,” Bryce began. “The problem is that our home is quite secretive, and we don’t want everyone knowing about it. We haven’t found anyone else to bring into the fold, and we’re not entirely sure how to do that safely.”

  Christine gave Logan a concerned look, but Logan just stared at Bryce.

  “I guess the biggest thing we want to know is what your intentions are,” Bryce asked Loga
n.

  “Look, buddy, we were just looking to get the hell out of Dodge and find somewhere safe. If you don’t want to help us out, then let me know and we will be on our way,” Logan replied.

  “It’s over 40 miles to the next city, what do you plan on doing, humping it up the mountain?” Bryce asked with a puzzled look.

  “I’ll do whatever I need to do to keep my family safe, same as you will,” Logan replied.

  “Fair enough, that’s all I needed to hear. Can you two bring any valuable skills to our group? I don’t have the supplies to feed six more people, so you’ll have to pull your own weight,” Bryce said maybe a tad too coldly.

  “I am a retired US Navy SEAL, and my wife was a nurse in the Navy,” Logan replied, getting sick of the questions, but he rolled up his sleeves to show the emblem tattooed on his arm.

  Bryce looked to Jessica and his father, and the father and son exchanged a subtle nod.

  “That settles it, then!” Bryce exclaimed.

  With the threat extinguished for the most part, Bryce took a moment to admire their firearms. They had a fairly common Remington hunting shotgun, a Glock 19, a Glock 36, and a tricked out AR-15 platform. Upon closer inspection, Logan’s AR-15 looked more like an actual M4A3 with a selector for three-round burst and fully automatic.

  Bryce admired the military issue carbine, “Is that your service weapon?”

  “Yep, it’s my baby. Like hell I was giving it back to Uncle Sam. I parted it out and smuggled it back to the States,” Logan replied with a smile.

  “Damn, I gave mine back to the Army. I never shot it other than at the range, so I didn’t think it was worth it,” Bryce told Logan.

  “Mine went all across the Middle East, Somalia, Bosnia, and everywhere in between. It spilled blood and saved the lives of my brothers and myself. Fuck giving it back to the Navy,” Logan said with a sense of pride.

  “Well I’m glad you got to bring it home, it looks like it has come in handy,” Bryce said with all honesty.

  “You guys have any additional ammo for those weapons?” Bryce asked.

  “We have a few extra rounds of 5.56, but other than that, just what’s left in the magazines,” Logan said with a sad look.

  That was what Bryce thought, after he saw that they had only what they could carry on their backs.

  “Well, let’s load up and head back to the compound,” Bryce told the group.

  The family loaded into the back of the truck with Bryce, and Jessica got back in front with Benjamin. Benjamin started up the truck and they cruised up the hill toward the hatchery. After the short trip, they arrived to see Greg, Victoria, and Cindy outside with concerned expressions. Everyone hopped down from the truck, and Logan stood away with his family. Logan was smart enough to let Bryce take the lead with an explanation of who they were.

  “Who are these people?” Cindy asked right away, without a moment to spare.

  “These people are our new friends, Cindy,” Bryce shut her down as soon as he could. Bryce knew that these new people may not necessarily be their “friends,” but they needed all the help they could get right now, and a retired Navy SEAL and his wife who was a nurse was about as good as it was going to get. Bryce couldn’t believe his luck; it was almost too good to be true and he hoped that there wasn’t another shoe about to drop.

  “They needed help getting the hell out of the city and Logan here saved my life,” Bryce explained, and pointed toward Logan.

  Victoria had a more accepting look on her face after she heard the part about how Logan had saved her husband, so she waved everyone forward.

  “Come on in, guys, we’ve got a fire going inside, and as soon as the boys get the generator running again, we’ll cook up some dinner,” Victoria said.

  Christine looked at Logan, and silently asked for permission, which he gave her in the form of a nod. “Go on in, guys, I’ll help these guys get everything unloaded,” Logan assured everyone.

  “Robby, you stay with me and help us out,” Logan continued.

  Robert, or Robby as his family called him, nodded his head and stayed put to help.

  The women and children went inside to warm up by the fire, and Jessica parted ways to get dinner prepared. That left Greg, Bryce, Benjamin, Logan, and Robby outside as they looked at each other and sized each other up.

  Well, I guess it’s time to see how helpful they really are, Bryce thought to himself.

  “Come on guys, let's get this stuff off the truck,” Bryce waved them over.

  Before they unloaded anything, Benjamin moved the truck near the warehouse building, after which the guys used the carts to unload all of the supplies. After several trips back and forth by Robby and Benjamin, the supplies and small gas cans were all unloaded.

  Greg got another chance at to pick up the generator gas tank, after Bryce wrapped the straps around the tank and connected them to the Bobcat bucket. Greg slowly lifted the tank upward, since he learned his lesson the first time. This time he lifted the tank with ease and drove it close to the generator so that the fuel lines could be easily connected.

  They got all the lines attached and powered up the generator, which made all of their electrical devices spring back to life inside the crew quarters. The rest of the functions for the generator had all been turned off after they learned their lesson about saving power. Jessica had moved all the fish down the line toward the giant pond and cut off the power to all of the holding tanks. Now, the generator only powered the crew quarters, the warehouse, and the office buildings. Since the visitor center building was utterly useless for now, they left the power for that building turned off. The last thing that received power was the well pump. The well provided them with an unlimited supply of fresh water, which had been an absolute godsend. Since the well allowed Bryce to remove fresh water from his survival plan, it had been one of the number one priorities for Bryce when he chose the hatchery.

  Logan took a look around at their operations and nodded his head in approval.

  “You guys have been roughing it up here haven’t you?” he smiled, probably for the first time in a while.

  “Well it hasn’t exactly been a slumber party for us, but we’ve done okay,” Bryce replied.

  “This batch of fuel should last at least another month before we have to worry about going back into town,” Bryce explained. “We have an unlimited amount of fresh water with our well, food for at least another month, even with the addition of your family, and we have the hatchery to support us if we ever do run out of food.”

  “I hate trout,” Logan replied with another smile that was quite charming. For a grizzled combat veteran, he had a handsome look underneath his beard.

  “I don’t mind trout, but I wouldn’t want to have to live off them!” Bryce laughed rather loudly.

  “Come on, let's go inside, and we’ll show you how rough we’ve been living,” he added.

  Bryce and the others went inside the crew quarters to give Logan and Robby the guided tour. Bryce was sure that his wife had given the other Bartlett family members the tour while they unloaded.

  Since they were out of empty bedrooms, Jessica volunteered to bunk with Benjamin. She said it wasn’t a big deal, and that she and Benjamin had spent a ton of time together lately anyway. Plus, they had all lived together for a month now, so it was like they were all part of a new family.

  Bryce showed the Bartlett family Jessica’s old room and explained that since there were only two beds, some of them would have to sleep on the floor, but that they had plenty of sleeping bags.

  “Trust me, Bryce, this is much better than we have fared thus far. We’re lucky we ran into you guys down there,” Logan said with real sincerity.

  “Well, it’s worked for us so far, and we welcome you to our humble abode,” Bryce said with a mocking bow.

  The Bartlett family started to unpack what few belongings they had and settled into their new room. They all looked worse for wear and they decided to take showers and clean up a bit befo
re dinner. It had been weeks since they had a legitimate bath or shower. They had cleaned themselves with baby wipes, but it wasn’t the same.

  An hour or so later, the newcomers were all showered and dressed in some new clothes Jessica found for them. Her former coworkers had left all of their belongings when they left the hatchery in a hurry, and the extra clothes had become useful.

  The kids, however, had to wear clothes that were much too large for them and they were forced to roll up the sleeves and pants legs. Cindy said that she would modify some of the clothes for the kids to wear. Cindy was a very talented seamstress and had already worked her magic to make Trystan new toddler outfits. Since it was nearly impossible to go and pick up a new outfit, her seamstress skills had come in handy when the guys had torn their clothes, or when someone needed her to take in the waistbands on their outfits a bit. Everyone had lost weight over the past month, even though they had eaten decently. The extra work around the hatchery burned more than enough extra calories to burn through any fat reserves they all had stored up over the years.

  Greg and Benjamin carried over the table from the living room and set up some folding chairs around it to accommodate the additional members of their group. Jessica laid out a prodigious meal, with consideration to the rations she had to work with.

  The Bartlett family had not eaten a decent meal in weeks, and they looked the part. They all looked famished, and in need of a decent meal.

  The kids scarfed down two helpings each before they stopped and proclaimed out loud that they were going to explode, because they were so full. Logan and Christine, however, ate just enough to be satisfied and stopped, since they both wanted to leave enough for everyone else. They both knew how hard it was to come by food.