by Sean Kidd
CHAPTER 35
October 12th 2:05am
Kane sat leaning back in his chair, still running his thumb along the blade of the cane knife.
He glared at Sage and Kate, as they backed into the corner pulling against the chain, crying. “Well ladies, do you have any other questions for me?” The girls both whimpered, “No.”
“Well, if our business is complete here, let’s get you both to your new room.” Kane leaned forward in his chair, paused and stood up putting his knife in the back of his belt, “Cowboy!” he yelled from behind the desk. A moment later, the man wearing a large black cowboy hat walked into the office. The same man who had introduced his boot to Sage’s face. “Yeah, Boss!” Kane flipped his chin toward the girls, “Get them out of my office and throw them in the lockup. While you’re at it, get that old slab of meat off my cutting table. I’ll finish with her later.” Cowboy pulled a key ring off from his belt, lost in thought, while he fumbled for the right key. After a few seconds, he found the right one, and unlocked the girls from the rafter chain. “Come on, I’ll take you to your room.” The girls followed as Cowboy led them like leashed dogs. At the far end of the building, the Cowboy unlocked a large steel door. He swung it open with his boot, revealing darkness. No light came out of the room. It was like looking into an abyss. Dampness mixed with the smell of mold exuded from the room, washing over their faces. “I’m not going in there!” Kate screamed. The cowboy picked up his leg and put his boot heel in the small of Kate’s back. She landed face first on the cold tile floor. Kate’s chain was still connected to Sage and took her for a ride too. Kate made it up to her palms and looked back at the cowboy, “Please turn on the lights! Please!”
“What’s the matter girly, are you afraid of the dark?” The cowboy stepped outside the room and flipped on the switch. The lights came on warming the room. “Thank you.” Kate pouted. “Now keep your mouths shut! If I have to come back, I’m gonna throw you a beatin’ and then I’ll leave ya in the dark!” the cowboy barked in his southern drawl.
Sage helped Kate to her feet and heard a voice come from the back corner of the room. “It’s best not to mess with these guys, honey.” Sage looked up and saw a woman sitting on the tiled floor. She stood up and walked over to the girls and ran her gentle fingers across the blood on Sage’s chin, “Did that bastard do this to you?” the woman asked. “That cowboy guy kicked me when I was tied to their truck.” The woman took Sage’s hand and led her to the back corner of the room, “Let’s go to the faucet and get you cleaned up. My name is Jennifer. What’s yours?”
CHAPTER 36
October 11th 11:00pm
Bob was met with a hug when he walked into the lab twelve hours later. “Hey, you look tired. How’s it going?” Bob whispered in Sophie’s ear. “Dr. Marcil is removing the RNA and structural proteins from the cultured samples. We should have roughly a hundred doses in the hour. We’ll take the DNA blueprint with us, and we can process as much as we want in Atlanta.”
“That’s great!” Bob spouted. He walked over examining the red serum, “This is great work doctors, but unfortunately we still have another obstacle.” Bob held up the red bag of serum, “We need to get this to Atlanta. The General said the airports have been overrun by the dead, and our military is down to ten percent. So I guess another way to put it would be, we’re on our own! Our options are pretty limited. The best plan I can come up with is, we commandeer a vehicle, and start working are way south.” Sophie looked at Dr. Marcil, who was shaking his head yes, “We’ll do whatever we have to do, Bob.”
“Do either of you have a car?” Sophie reached into her lab coat and fingered her car key, hesitant to speak up, recalling the dream she had earlier. “I take the bus.” Dr. Marcil said, “But the college gives me a staff vehicle to use. It’s a Jeep Cherokee.” A bit of good news, Bob thought. “Where is the jeep, now Doctor?”
“It’s in the faculty parking lot. That’s across the courtyard, about 400 meters from the lab.” Bob pointed to a cardboard box on the floor, “The two of you start packing up the EMapp, and I’ll get the Jeep! Where are the keys Doctor?” The doctor thought for a moment, “Colonel, I believe the key is in the top drawer of my desk. I can draw you a map to the parking lot while we’re there.” Bob followed the doctor back to his office. He searched through the desk and finally came up with a single key connected to a MU key chain. The doctor sketched a quick map on a post-it note and handed it to Bob, “How do you expect to make it there and back with no weapons?” Bob recalled the woman he had seen attacked in the courtyard, “Very carefully Doctor. You don’t have to worry about me. I don’t have orders to die.” Bob took the key from Dr. Marcil and headed to the steel door protecting the lab from the outside.
“MARIA!”
“Yes, Colonel.” The artificial intelligence answered.
“Are you able to access the camera and let me know if there is any movement in the courtyard?”
“Yes, Colonel, I have already accessed my cameras and motion detectors. I’m not picking up on any movement outside.” Bob hesitated, looking at the camera, “MARIA, I’m going to have to ask you to break protocol. I may be coming back here in a hurry, and I’m not going to have time to go through the security process to get back through this door.” The speaker clicked on above Bob’s head, “I understand, Colonel. I am overriding protocol now. I will monitor my sensors and have the door open for your return.”
The door hummed, and Bob heard the grind of the steel bars retracting as the door opened. Bob was surprised to see it was dark outside. He had been in the lab for so many days he’d lost all concept of time. A quick look at the post-it note map, and he headed out the door. Looking around, the courtyard showed no unwanted visitors. The woman who Bob had seen, murdered and eaten in the courtyard was gone. Nothing remained but the woman’s red shoe. Bob didn’t waste any time. He took off running across the courtyard, focusing on the shoe as he ran by. Bob ran toward the bike rack for cover. He ducked behind a couple of mountain bikes and got his breathing under control. He still had a full fifty-yard sprint to the corner of the building. He took off again and wasn’t three steps into his run when he caught sight of a man to his right. The dead spotted him and started moaning. Its moan was so loud it border lined on a yell. Bob knew these things were smart, but smart enough to warn each other? Still a few yards from the building, he caught more movements. A small horde of dead was coming from the other direction. They were also moaning trying to give away Bob’s position. He looked around the corner, and it was clear all the way up to the faculty lot. He broke into another sprint, leaving the dead behind.
Bob wasn’t far now. He could see the lot at the top of a small knoll. Halfway up, his thighs started to burn. He knew he shouldn’t have given up jogging last year. When he crested the knoll, he looked at the lot and almost fell aback. The first row of the lot was permit parking for McGill University staff vehicles. There must have been ten jeeps parked in a row, all different colors. Why didn’t he ask Dr. Marcil what color the Jeep was? Bob could hear the mass of dead closing in on him. He ran up to the first jeep and stuck the key in the door lock. Not it. He kept trying working his way down the row. By the fourth Jeep, the dead were cresting the top of the knoll. Running out of time, Bob stuck the key in the fifth Jeep, and it turned. Thank God. He hopped in, shoved the key in the ignition and turned it. The Jeep started right up. The dead were right on top of him, smashing their faces against the Jeep’s windows. Bob heard the snapping of their teeth and felt chills run down his spine when he looked into those blue swirling eyes. Bob dropped the vehicle in reverse and spun his tires backing out. He stopped while he watched the dead he had backed into, work his way back to his feet.
Bob slammed the vehicle into drive and put the pedal to the floor. The sound of the tires spinning was muffled by the thumping of the bodies bouncing off the hood. One of the dead smashed out the passenger-side window and was clinging to the vehicle. The monster reached in clutching the se
at, pulling himself into the jeep. Bob swung his fist at the dead. He took his foot off the accelerator and turned sideways, putting his boot to the dead man’s head. The dead released his grip and fell away. Bob looked forward in time to see the courtyard bike rack in front of him. He jammed on the brakes but still hit the rack. Bicycles flew in every direction.
Bob came to a sliding stop with the bike rack still hung up under the bumper. He jumped from the vehicle and headed toward the steel lab door. A few yards away the door’s motor hummed. The steel bars retracted, and the door opened. Bob ran in without slowing and fell against the back wall, “Close it! Close it!” he screamed to MARIA. The door closed and locked. Bob was still sitting on the floor when the speaker above his head clicked. Sophie came over it. “Any problems, Bob?” He looked up the speaker and just shook his head, “Nope! Just a walk in the park.”
CHAPTER 37
October 12th 8:07am
The three of us ran, and we didn’t stop until we were back at my house. We saw a few dead, but they had not yet massed into groups. I hit the code on my parent’s door, and we all took up seats around the kitchen table. Chevy helped himself to the fridge and passed out sodas and broke a brick of sharp cheddar cheese into three pieces, “So where are you from?” Chevy asked as he handed Sidara a part of the brick. “I’m a student at Potsdam. They canceled all the classes, and a lot of people left for home. My family is down in Virginia, and I didn’t have a way to get there. I was trying to call my mom, so she could wire me money for a bus ticket, but I couldn’t get hold of her. Then things started going crazy. Everyone was sick, and the news said drinking the water would help. Then I guess it was poisoned, and they said don’t drink it. I just hung out in my room because I didn’t want to get sick like everyone else. I ate a lot of microwave popcorn and drank a lot of Coke. I finally left my room, and everyone had gone crazy! They were attacking each other right in the street. I figured it was a good time to get out of Dodge, so I boosted a car and skinned out. I ran out of gas just outside of town.”
“So where did you get all the Army gear?” I blurted out. Sidara looked down at her MOLLE vest and rifle. “About ten miles outside of town, I found a wrecked Humvee. That’s when I came across the dead soldier. It was in their supplies.” Still thinking about my mom, I asked, “Was there a woman in the Humvee?” Sidara shook her head no, “Like I said, there was just the soldier, why?” I rubbed my temples. My head started to throb. I wasn’t sure what was worse, the thought of my mom not being there with the wrecked Humvee, or those guys still having her. Chevy chirped up, “We’re looking for a Humvee too. Last night, we saw a Humvee drive by us with two girls tied to the back. At the time, we didn’t have any weapons, so we couldn’t help them. After we got here, Mr. Smith said that the same guys took Ty’s mom and the lady who lives across the street.”
"Who is Mr. Smith?” Sidara questioned. “He lives a couple houses down. He’s not infected.” Chevy having said it out loud made me think. Is that what it was, infected?
Chevy picked up where he left off, “So we’re gonna find those guys, kick some ass and get Ty’s mom back! Oh, and Sarah too. That’s what we were doing when we heard you being attacked.” Sidara looked at Chevy and Ty, “I want to get back to Virginia, but I want to help you guys find your mom first. So what was your plan?” Now realizing how bad it had been, I told her, “We were gonna walk around until we found the Humvee and then follow it back to their home base.” Sidara chuckled, “And just, how did you expect to follow a vehicle on foot?” A little embarrassed, I felt my cheeks turned red, “I guess we hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” Sidara rolled her eyes at me and giggled, “It’s a wonder you fools have made it this long. We need to come up with something solid. If those guys are driving around collecting women, they’re not going to be very happy to see us. They’re also in a big Humvee. If we’re going to find and follow them, we need a bad-ass vehicle. I mean something really tough and rugged! It needs to have big tires to be able to run over any of those dead things that get in our way. Do either of you know where we can find a vehicle like that?” Chevy was smiling ear to ear, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a single key connected to an imitation rabbit’s foot. He dangled in front of Sidara as he answered, “Yup!”
CHAPTER 38
October 12th 10:20am
“Really? You want to walk the three miles back to our apartment to pick up that stupid truck?”
“Yup, you know you love it.” Chevy said, knowing I’d never admit that his truck was the perfect vehicle, “Okay, I’m not saying your truck is the best choice, but…..I guess it will do in a pinch. What concerns me is the trip back to our apartment. We have to get through the city parking lot again. We almost got killed there last night, and the dark helped cover us. There’s no way we’ll make it across in the daylight.”
Chevy held up a finger, implying Sidara, and I should wait. He walked into the laundry room and out again. Chevy held up a chrome key chain that had the letters R/T engraved in red. I said, “Don’t even think about it!” Sidara looked at me, “What?” Thirty seconds later, we were standing in front of the garage door. Chevy hit the button and the garage door rose.
The three of us stood there in anticipation. When the squeaking of the door stopped, I spoke, “The 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. It’s got a 440 Magnum with a six-pack of Edelbrock carbs, heavy-duty suspension, and three on the tree. With its 390 horsepower motor, you could lift up the front end. My father told me that if I was ever sitting behind the wheel of this car, he had better be dead, or I would be.” Chevy glanced at me, “Let’s hope that’s not the case,” and tossed me the key. I sat behind the wheel and rubbed my thumbs against the leather steering wheel. I turned the key, and the huge engine gurgled making the car rock from side to side. I gingerly backed out of the driveway into the street. The loud dual exhaust was already attracting the dead. I dropped the car in first and inched down the street.
“Come on! Let’s see the nuts on this thing!” Chevy yelled. “I don’t want to scratch it.” I whimpered. “Are you kidding me? It’s the end of the world! Go! Go! Go!” I could see the dead starting to come out from every direction. I pushed my foot down on the accelerator, the engine rumbled. As we sped up, I could feel the G’s pushing my body into the seat. The dead in my rear-view mirror were shrinking in size. We came to a red light that hadn’t lost power yet and stopped. I watched the light for a few seconds, and then realized I was being stared at by Chevy and Sidara. “What are you doing?” Chevy asked. Without thinking I said, “I don’t want to get a ticket.” Realizing how stupid that sounded, I stepped on the gas without giving them a chance to respond. I took off, tires spinning and waking the dead. Sidara leaned up from the back seat, “I’m not sure where we’re going, but this thing is like an air siren leading the dead right to us. We better ditch it a few blocks from your apartment.” She was right. We couldn’t afford to lead them to Chevy’s truck. I came up with a plan in my head. A couple blocks from the apartment. I would crank this baby up to about 70, throw her in neutral, and kill the engine. At that speed, we should carrying enough momentum to coast us out of harm’s way. I followed my plan and killed the engine. The only sound we heard was the rubber on the pavement. As we slowed, I pulled the car over to the side of the road, coasting to a stop. In the rear-view mirror, I could see the dead gathering in the street, but they were confused and didn’t know what had made the sound. We snuck out of the vehicle, and I led the way. We were only one street over from our apartment. We jumped through the same hedges we had hidden behind the night before, when the girl with the broken leg was shot down in the street. We worked our way to the front and hid between the bushes and house, “Looks like it’s all clear.” Chevy said. I lifted a finger pointing, “That’s the truck right there in front of our apartment. Be careful when you turn the corner into the street. It’s pretty slippery.” Chevy shot me an angry look, “You’re such a dick, Ty!” I snickered at my own joke and asked Chevy, “How lo
ng does it take to put the snowplow on your truck?” Chevy’s mouth opened, “That’s great idea, Ty! It takes about a minute.”
“Sidara, I want you to give him cover while he hooks up the plow.” “Why? What are you going to do?” I motioned to the house, “When we left last night, I made sure the front door was closed.” The front door was open now, and the white door trim had a swipe of black ooze on it. There was someone in there. We headed across the street and split up at Chev’s truck. He hopped in, started it, and pulled in the driveway, so he could get the plow attached. I reached over my shoulder and pulled out one of my fusion swords. I paused at the threshold and listened. The October sun cast light through every window giving the apartment a warm orange glow. The smell that had once been outside the house, was now inside. A festering torrid stench bombarded my senses. As I carved my way through the aroma, I was startled by the creek of a wooden floor board, coming from Chevy’s room. I crept down the hallway, both hands on my sword, locked above my head. I gave the closed bedroom door a gentle push with my foot. As it swung open, a steady squeak of the door hinges gave me away. A dead woman who had her back to me, turned and charged with her teeth chomping. She released a moan that caught me off guard, sounding more like a cry. I was almost too late bringing down the sword, splitting the top of the woman’s head. I pulled the blade free and caught something moving in my peripheral vision. A little blonde girl, no more than two years old stood there looking at her mother’s corpse. She was moaning. I was fixed on her blue swirling eyes with the gray center. Her mouth, blackened and her body was covered with dark oozing cuts. Her diaper looked and smelled like it should have been changed days ago. I was surprised the sheer weight from the waste didn’t pull it off. The girl made a quick move, and I raised my sword. The girl wobbled toward me and wrapped her arms around her dead mother’s neck. I couldn’t distinguish whether she was pouting or moaning. Either way, it was because of my actions, I had just killed her mother. I can’t describe the feelings going through me. Part of me wanted to bring my sword down on the girl to put her out of her misery, but she was just a child. I quietly slid out of the room and closed the door. The moans from behind the door seemed to be echoing in my head. I had to pull myself away. I headed back toward the kitchen and started packing supplies. We had the truck now, which meant we didn’t have to carry the food. We could load up the back of the truck. I filled two laundry baskets with most of the food in the mud room. I peeked out of the window and saw that Chevy had already finished putting the plow on, and was walking toward the house with Sidara.