Nightmare-Z

by S. A. Lowry

  Once all the vehicles got into their positions and lined up along the strip of road, the assault teams hopped off with their weapons slung. Aaron’s men went across the road and used bolt cutters to subdue the shop’s padlocked door while Rigg’s men dismounted on the other side and stormed up the front steps of the police station. Riggs spotted the police motorpool he needed to hit out the corner of his eye and noticed the gate was padlocked as well.

  Upon entering the front door of the police station, Andrew took lead with his AK-47 up and ready to shoot. The rest of the men followed behind. They quickly began clearing all of the rooms and offices. Riggs took Lance up to the second floor and cleared that while Andrew, Dwayne and Randall took care of the bottom level.

  Nothing out of the ordinary was noted by either team. Just the normal lifeless corpses laying in the hallways. Andrew also noticed some of the detainees whom lie dead in their cells after never being let out during all the chaos. It appeared they had died of starvation or dehydration.

  Once Andrew and Riggs linked back up with eachother, they all entered the main office and began looking for the motorpool keys. Riggs opened up a wall mounted box with a number of labeled keys. All of them were number coded and broken up in groups by acronyms. Randall suggested that he just takes all of them so they wouldnt have to come back. Rigg’s obliged. On the way out, Dwayne reminds them about the armorery.

  “Screw that. I just told Aaron that so he’d agree to letting us do this. I’ll just tell him we didn’t find anything. Main priority is the damned vehicles,” Riggs informs.

  Dwayne raises up the usual eye brow as he done so many times before. Moments later the men hit the street. As they moved from the front entrance to the front gate, Riggs ordered Randall to jump across the road and grab up the bolt cutters from Aaron’s men as they waited by the fenceline leading up to the motorpool. Randall seemed agitated that he was picked out of the group to do this but decided not to say anything.

  Once he returned, Andrew quickly grabs it from his hands and snaps open the lock. Riggs passes out the keys and tell them to try the remaining dozen vehicles still left in the lot. As the men are dispersed trying to go through their keys attempting to open doors of multiple police cruisers, Riggs notices Aaron’s men bringing out boxes of ammunition and bundles of weapons back to their vehicles.

  Moments later, Lance is the first one to find a cruiser which he can get into and proceeds to start it up. Once the engine starts up, an excited Lance attempts to hop out of the vehicle to let the men of his group aware of the good news. As he does this, the sound of gunfire rings out into the street.

  Lance, out of instinct, quickly drops to the pavement chest first as an initial reaction of the loud popping sounds. More gunfire follows from there while hearing Aaron’s group across the street screaming and barking orders.

  Riggs, whom is now in a cruiser as well attempting to start one up, yells back to his guys to “keep trying” while he realizes his vehicle falls short of starting. The reluctant men are now fumbling with their keys and staying low as even more volleys of fire are heard. At this point, Andrew looks over to see what the situation is when he notices Aaron’s men ducking for cover and taking up positions behind their vehicles and along the walls of the local shops as they shoot down the road they just came in on.

  Cracks and bullets weezing by are noticed. At that point, Andrew realizes Aaron’s men is in a fire fight with someone else. “Hey guys! They are being shot at by someone!” Andrew yells back to the other members of his group as he takes cover behind a cruiser and pokes his weapon out towards the road.

  Riggs hops out of his vehicle in anger. “God damnit. Let’s go see what’s going on. We need these guys to get back,” Riggs barks as he calmly walks up to the street of where the gunfire is taking place while welding his weapon as if nothing phased him.

  The other men follow behind scanning rooftops and windows. Randall decides to stay in a cruiser as the fear overwhelms him. Andrew pushes ahead of Riggs up to a medium high concrete divider in the sidewalk. He pokes his head over to make out where the firing is coming from when he spots around five individuals down the street sprinting across the road as they are shooting in his direction. Two other men on motorcycles are falling in behind as they pass up the men on foot and proceed to use the buildings as cover in order to move up.

  Andrew begins moving his arms in different directions back towards the rest of the group signaling them to spread out and find cover.

  Riggs takes a knee behind a bus stop and yells back to Andrew.

  “What do you see?” Riggs shouts

  “Death’s Head! I am sure of it. Theres alot of them,” Andrew yells back to Riggs. At that point Aaron’s men return a hellish volley of fire back at the bikers. One of his men laid down flat in one of the pick up trucks decided to use it as a platform to unload rounds down the street with his RPK supported by deployed bipod legs. Andrew notices the man drop three Death’s Head instantly as they attempted to rush up the street from cover to cover towards the gun shop.

  Now more motorcycles are making the turn onto the main road behind the armed gunman whom are on foot pushing forward as they follow behind them shooting from their bikes. The men on the ground are staying on the sidewalks and going from shop to shop as cover. As they approach closer, Aaron quickly realizes he is about to be over ran as he is clearly out numbered.

  That is when Riggs and the rest of his group, with the exception of a hiding Randall, begins opening fire down the street towards the approaching bikers.

  Aaron sees this and uses this to mount his guys up on their vehicles. Aaron quickly pushes his guys out of the shop as Rigg’s men lay down effective supressing fire and begins frantically ordering them to mount up on the vehicles in order to escape while they still have time.

  As the men funnel into their vehicles one by one as Rigg’s group continues to engage the advancing enemy, the bikers notice this and begin lobbing more rounds towards Aaron’s vehicles. As a result, two of his men are shot dead instantly in the road as they attempted to get back in their vehicles.

  Aaron also makes a run for it once the first two went down and manages to hop in the lead cab safely. The remaining men in the shop, desperately try to make it to their vehicles as they are shot down in the back while opening the doors to their rides.

  At that point, Aaron and the remaining members of his group peel out and take off in a hurry without even attempting to collect their dead and wounded. Riggs notices five of Aaron’s men lie dead in the streets. Two more are badly wounded and are bleeding out as they desperately cry for help. In addition, two vehicles are left behind including the one with the weapons that was just taken from the gun shop. “That son of a bitch!” Yells Riggs.

  Dwayne, now leaning his side up against a concrete wall, refuses to poke his head out as he raises his weapon up from cover to spray down the road towards the attackers.

  “We need to get the hell out of here!” he frantically yells. Lance is held up behind a burnt out vehicle along the sidewalk. He stays silent at the moment as he positions his rifle below the vehicle and uses the break in space as a loophole to fire down the street. Lance spots more bikers sprinting across the road and continues to return fire on their location while effectively hitting multiple individuals in their limbs while they were moving.

  At that point, a mob of frantic screams and moans can be heard approaching off into the distance directly behind them. Everyone, including Riggs, looks back in horror as they spot several infected approaching their locations.

  Behind them however, they can hear what sounds like hundreds. Obviously being attracted by the loud noise. Now realizing they don’t have much time and will be surrounded soon, Lance begins to panic as he shifts his fire in the opposite direction towards the oncoming mob.

  “Riggs!” yells Andrew seeking help as the bikers now turn their fire in his direction and slowly begin chipping away at his concrete wall he lays behind for cover. Riggs, realiz
ing that his men had just been left to die and pressed for time, decides to run back to the police cruiser. He quickly hops in the driver’s seat and starts up the engine. As soon as he takes off, he notices Randall in the back seat curled up in the fetal position staring up at him with a scared look in his eyes. Riggs shakes his head and decides not to say anything.

  From there, he floors the gas pedal down and makes a sharp turn into the street. His vehicle is instantly riddled with bullets as he keeps his head low to the steering wheel. Bullets begin hitting the windshield and hood as well.

  Riggs attempts to position the police cruiser horizontily across the road between Andrew and one of the trucks left behind by Aaron with the guns on it. Once he does this, he quickly opens up the door on the driver’s side and crawls out facing towards Andrew and the rest of the group.

  “Come on you bastards. We ain’t got much time! Stay low and move to that truck!” Riggs yells back as he crouches and moves towards one of the trucks in the middle of the road.

  Once he is in the vehicle, he takes a glance through the backseat passenger side window, from which he had entered and notices the wounded men laying on the ground reaching their arms out to him for help. One of them is crying while the other keeps repeating out loud the word, “please”.

  Riggs places his head down attempting to ignore the doomed men. The rest of Rigg’s men pick up from their positions and move across the dangerous street, using the police cruiser Riggs just drove up for cover. Randall quickly crawls through the front and out the driver’s seat as bullets begin shooting through the cab.

  Riggs now crawls over the front seats of his vehicle and hops in the driver’s seat. Without delay, he quickly opens up the back door for everyone to funnel in. Once all of them are in the vehicle, including Randall, Riggs takes off down the road at a high rate of speed maneurving around debris and vehicles.

  Right as the hungry mob approaches his vehicle, he quickly turns off down a side road and out of sight. Attention is now directed towards Aaron’s men whom lie in the street all by their lonesome, screaming for help.

  The bikers see this as Trim Vain is asked by one of his captains from his motorcycle if they should finish off the remainder of Aaron’s men so the dead can not get to them. Trim Vain stays silent for a second as he observes their screams as the mob slowly approaches them with hunger in their eyes.

  “The dead got to eat too. Fuck em,” Trim Vain stoically states.

  The remaining bikers don’t say a word as they hop back on their rides and turn around to take off. “Come on Andrew it will be fine, don’t be scared!” taunts Amy as she pulls on his hand attempting to drag him down the stairwell with her to the locations of Cell Block B, C and D. Young Andrew nervously looks down from the guard rail of the stairs to the lower levels where lighting is out and only darkness can be seen.

  “We aren’t allowed to go down there, remember? It’s off limits!” Young Andrew reminds his friend Amy while attempting to offer an excuse to cover up his fear. A mischievess Amy however, isn’t buying it. “I have been wanting to go down there since forever! I could never get anyone to go with me though. Especially the grown ups! I think you are brave enough to go with me, aren’t you Andrew?” Amy suggests.

  “I don’t know. We could get in trouble,” Young Andrew admits as he places his head down weighing his options. An impatient Amy now decides to use reverse pschyology.

  “You aren’t afraid, are you?” Amy says with a grin.

  Young Andrew snaps back.

  “Hell no! When have I ever been afraid?” he asks.

  “I don’t know. I’m willing to bet right now.” she taunts.

  “Let’s go then,” Young Andrew orders as he takes lead while beginning to walk slowly down the stairwell.

  Amy quickly follows and grabs his hand as they guide eachother down. The further down the levels they go, the darker it becomes.

  “We need a flashlight,” admits Young Andrew.

  Amy tells him to hold on as she reaches into her pocket.

  “I got my dad’s lighter, see?” Amy boasts as she lights it up illuminating a small portion of their area.

  The further down they go, Andrew begins noticing a change of tempature and smell.

  “It smells so bad down here. Worse than garbage,” he explains.

  “Yeah I know. I think i’m about to throw up,” Amy says as she attempts to cover her nose and mouth with her hand in order to block out the stinch. The pair approached the steel doors of Cell Blocks B and C. To their dissapointment, the lever which was supposed to lower at a 90 degree angle to unlock the dead bolt, failed to open.

  “Looks like we can’t get in. We should go back up,” advises Young Andrew. Amy isn’t convinced.

  “Hey scaredy cat, theres still one more level. Don’t chicken out now,” Amy continues to taunt.

  Andrew shakes his head in disagreement.

  “Okay let’s go down there just to be dissapointed again,” Andrew sarcastically says expecting the door to be locked. Upon reaching the lowest level of the prison now, the darkness consumes them so greatly they wouldn’t even be able to see their hands in front of their faces if Amy didn’t have her father’s lighter.

  Once reaching the steel entrance door to Cell Block D, Amy attempts to raise up the lever. To her and Andrew’s surprise, the lever shoots up instantly. The sound of the locking mechanism is heard disengaging from it’s previous setting as the door creeps open slowly.

  Andrew’s eyes are widen now with fear and regret. He didn’t expect the door to open like it did, now he has to keep his word to Amy and go in. Amy quickly jumps behind Young Andrew and asks him to go first. Andrew, trying to act brave. reluctantly walks forward through the door as Amy follows behind him holding his shoulders.

  “Scary huh?” Amy exclaims. Andrew doesn’t respond. As the kids enter the corridor, they notice some flickering lights down the way illuminating parts of the hallway. Most of the lights are out. Once they reach the end, they come across a clearing in the center of the complex which appeared to be used as a common area for the prisoners due to the fact that it held old worn out couches, tables, a few book shelves and an old dusty television which probably didn’t work.

  Amy and Young Andrew begin looking around at the books and testing the softness of the couches by sitting on them for a brief moment. Once they are finished, Amy notices three levels surrounding the center common area. These levels can be accessed by stairs located in only one area of the complex.

  “Hey let’s go check out all the cells on the upper levels! Bet you we’ll find something interesting!” Amy suggests with excitement.

  Young Andrew isn’t interested at this point and still wants to leave, however, decides to make Amy happy by agreeing with her and following her up the stairwell.

  Once they enter the first level, she quickly begins testing each door to see if they would even open. To her surprise, all of them seemed to be unlocked. Her and Andrew inspected just about every single cell in that block without finding anything of interest inside. All they came across was personal hygeine items, newspapers and a few drawings. Amy seemed dissapointed.

  Andrew, now ready to leave once again, suggests that they go back now. Right when Young Andrew says this, Amy spots another corridor at the third level of the cell block with large white spray painted letters on the concrete wall reading “TO CELL BLOCK C AND B”.

  She quickly makes up her mind at that point as she takes off running towards it. Young Andrew falls in behind attempting to keep up so he is not left alone. Once Amy reaches the beginning of the entrance, she looks back to Andrew.

  “Come on let’s go! We’re bound to find something cool!” she excitingly states as she begins moving down the hallway at a quick pace.

  Andrew finally catches up to her. Upon entering the next cell block, it became known to them that the security level there was less than the previous one for they noticed the cells were four to five men rooms with bars encaging them i
n. Unlike Cell Block D, which was obviously maximum security.

  Upon entering, the pair noticed the area fully lighted as opposed to the previous one in which it was so dark you could barely see five feet ahead of you. In addition, they both noticed something lingering in every cell which comprised of three more additional levels as well.

  “What’s in there?” Amy curiously asks Andrew.

  Young Andrew can not make it out from this distance.

  “Well whatever it is, it’s not moving,” Young Andrew reasons. He then decides to approach the first cell to inspect what is inside. At this point the stinch, which already was strong enough, becomes almost unbearable. Bugs and flies can be heard picking away at something, including rats as well. Once Andrew approaches the bars, he grips both of them with his hands and pokes his head in.

  Amy stands back a few feet from him asking him what he sees. At that moment, Andrew begins walking backwards until he bumps into Amy.

  “What? What is it Andrew?” she curiously asks. Andrew is frozen stiff. He can not say a word at the moment for he appears to be in shock. Amy decides to find out herself as she approaches the bars in order to conquer the lack of light. Once she realizes what Andrew just saw, she backs up as well.

  “Are they all like this?” Amy asks Andrew. Andrew remains silent and consumed with fear. Not unsure of what to do at the moment, she begins looking all around her in circles as she observes each level and coming to the realization this isn’t the only one.

  “There are dead people in there,” Andrew states with a calm voice while still appearing shocked.

  Amy now quickly turns back to Andrew, “Yeah, there are dead people in every cell.”

  At that moment, loud music can be heard from outside the prison walls once again. The loud rumbling of motors and gunshots follow the sounds of the music.

  “We need to get out of here Andrew,” Amy quickly orders as she grabs his hand and takes off running back the way they came. Riggs accelerates on the gas. He begins reaching speeds of almost 110 mph down the freeway as he returns to Aaron’s prison. The mood in the cab of the truck can best be described as furious as all of the men, including Andrew, intend to have Aaron’s head on a platter for leaving them back there.