by Hoaks, C. A.
Brian and the group were out the door by full light. They dodged infected slipping from doorway to doorway, trying to hurry by horrible scenes of mayhem. By late afternoon when they got to the office building, Brian was ready to shoot at least two in his little party.
Margo squealed and gasped at the monsters at the most inconvenient of times. Twice she yelped and infected in the street turned to chase them. The group only survived the encounter by ducking into an office building and blocking the revolving door with a fancy lobby chair. Glass was shattering by the time they found the alley exit and escaped. Dale was hopeless to survive in a world where he needed to be agile and quick. Two of the construction workers frequently had to grab him under the arms and drag him along to keep up.
Getting inside the office building was quick and easy since Eugene had a key to the back door. He explained that the crew working on the rehab of the third-floor rooms was only allowed to work at night. The night security didn’t want to be bothered every time they needed to open the back door or loading dock to bring supplies in the building.
Brian and his group slipped inside the building. Eugene ushered everyone into a narrow hall, then pulled the door closed. They stood in the dark listening and sniffing at the stagnant air.
Billy asked quietly, “What do you think?”
“We’ll check it out,” Brian answered. “Billy, stay here. Eugene and I are going to check the lobby and security office.”
Brian left the group at the back door, then followed Eugene to the hallway. The window at the front of the building was intact while the reception desk stood empty. Brian felt a wave of relief when he realized the reflective glass hid any movement inside. He followed Eugene around the reception desk and opened the door to a back hallway. They walked past the security office open door, finding no sign of infected or the living.
Eugene grinned. “Looks like the guards split.”
“Looks like it for now,” Brian answered.
The two men made their way back to the others and led the group down a hall to a security office. Once inside, Eugene pressed a button on an intercom. “Anyone, here?”
Brian reached over and pulled hand over hand from the intercom. “We do this quiet,” Brian ordered.
Eugene nodded sheepishly.
After discussing the number of floors, layout as best Eugene knew, Brian spoke to the group. “Juan, you, Dale and the women stay here. We’ll come back for you.”
“But?” Juan started to protest.
Brian interrupted. “I need you to take care of the group if anything goes wrong. We need to clear each floor before we settle down.” He turned back to the men. “Billy, you and me, will check the offices on this floor, then move on to the third floor. Eugene and Leon take the second floor then move to the fourth floor. Don’t take chances.” He ordered. “If you see anything hinky, wait for us outside the stairwell door.”
Eugene grinned. “Got it.” He turned to Leon and slapped the big black man on the shoulder good-naturedly. “Come on, buddy.”
Brian and Billy cleared the rest of the first floor while the construction workers made their way up to the second floor where they had been working.
Brian and Billy, working as a team, made quick work of the half dozen offices after securing the front door. They were ready to clear the third floor when the construction workers appeared at the exit door.
“Second floor is good, boss,” Eugene announced. “We’re going to the top floor.”
“Be careful,” Brian ordered as Eugene disappeared back through the stair door.
Working together, Eugene and Leon cleared room after room. Eugene jerked open each door, moving to the right while making room for Leon to follow close behind him. Together, they looked into each of the top floor offices, then Eugene moved to the next office leaving Leon to secure the door behind them. They worked well together until they got to the executive suite at the end of the hall.
Eugene was sure it was more of the same, so he jerked open the mahogany door and charged into the well-appointed office. Leon, still admiring the sun dancing off the crystal canisters on the glass shelves behind the bar of the conference room, heard a loud curse. He turned just in time to see Eugene fall into the room.
Eugene was watching Leon when his steel-toe work boot caught on the fleshless leg of the mutilated body of the guard. Eugene stumbled, landing face to face with the torn and shredded remains with eyes. The hammer, once clutched in his hand, fell to the floor with a dull thud.
Horrified, Eugene jerked away from the gnashing teeth and picked up his hammer and drove it into dead man’s head. Blood, bones, and brains splattered across the expensive carpet with the first crack of the skull. Still angered at the sudden terror Eugene focused on the monster laying in front of him and destroying any chances of resurrecting again.
“Fucker!” Eugene yelled as he drove the weapon into the head again and again. He was so intent on destroying the monster, he missed a shadow step from behind the opened door until he felt a stab of pain on his shoulder. He yelped as he dropped the hammer and tried to pull away from the painful grasp. He rolled over and pulled free and kicked a boot into the face of the monster. When the dead guard stumbled back, Eugene crab-crawl away.
Leon burst into the room, saw the bloodied monster looming over Eugene and swung his hammer into the head of the guard. When the body lay still on the floor, Leon looked up to see Eugene getting to his feet.
Clutching his shoulder, Eugene stumbled across the room to the large ornate desk and collapsed onto the executive chair. Leon still stood over the monster he had killed, staring at Eugene when Brian and Billy walked in a few minutes later.
Brian sent Billy for the rest of the party and gave orders to put them in the office across the hall. He was to put the women and Dale inside and closed the door and bring Juan back with him. Brian took in the blood and gore of the room and crossed the blood-soaked carpet to stand in front of Eugene.
“Well, this sucks,” Eugene announced with a crooked grin.
Brian answered. “Sorry, man.”
Eugene reached in his pocket and laid a keyring on the table. “Only works in the back door where we came in.” He sighed. “I’d appreciate you not letting me turn.”
Brian nodded. “No problem. I’ll take care of you.”
When Billy, Leon, and Juan returned, they covered the bodies of the guards. Leon went back to the second floor to retrieve a large roll of construction plastic. After searching the guards, they rolled the bodies in plastic, then moved each of the bodies to the second floor and left them behind a pile of construction debris. Once the bodies were gone, they rolled up the expensive rug and got rid of it too.
They moved two couches into the executive office since the carpet was better for sleeping and provided the best view of the streets below. They disinfected the bite and bandaged Eugene wound but knew it would do nothing to forestall the inevitable. Eugene got Leon to help make a bed behind the desk when he could no longer sit up. He talked Leon into laying a piece of plastic down and cut a length of carpet from another office to rest on. He told them he didn’t want to them to watch him die. The rest of the group settled down for the night by dusk.
Brian set a watch schedule with two people keeping an eye on the street and Eugene throughout the night. Leon, Juan, Billy then Brian for the early morning hours when he expected Eugene to succumb to the infection. The last hour Brian sat near Eugene’s head listening to moans of pain then his final gasps. When the room fell silent, Brian picked up a letter opener from the desk and ensured he wouldn’t become one of the infected dead.
Brian pulled the plastic over Eugene’s body and woke Leon to help move him to the second floor as well. When Leon protested, Brian answered, “It’s not up for discussion. We’re going to be here until tomorrow or the next day, and I doubt any of us could deal with it.”
“Just seems wrong,” Leon mumbled as he picked up the end of the plastic wrapped body.
The group took Eugene’s death hard. They were quiet and only spoke when talked to. After getting everyone fed, Brian announced he and Billy would be looking through the building for supplies. When they returned mid-afternoon, everyone had managed to clean up with bottled water, and Leo and Juan volunteered to stand first and second watch so Brian and Billy could rest.
Brian took the early morning watch. He watched the street below from the darkened office window and thought about the last few days.
He had been dealing with a domestic squabble when the attack took place. By the time he had gotten his prisoner into the holding cell at the office and to the parade grounds, the bio teams were in place and directing emergency services. He was given gloves and a mask and ordered to assist transporting the sick and dying to a hospital half way across town.
Without anyone noticing, the colorless mist had drifted to a nearby residential area. No one understood the implications at the time, they were too busy trying to save the soldiers across the parade grounds.
Brian broke protocol and warned Liz when he saw the number of people writhing on the grass. He saw the situation was worse than anything ever imagined, so he broke protocol and urged his wife to leave. As the day wore on, he prayed his family had escaped San Antonio and were safely tucked away at her father’s hunting lodge. The image of his wife and girls safe kept him moving.
Brian still hated to close his eyes. Nightmares of the mid-town hospital still haunted his sleep. That was where he saw the first of the infected attack the living.
****
Dozens of bodies on gurneys had been pushed into a side hall not far from the emergency room when the ER was overwhelmed with patients. Without anyone noticing, the dead stumbled to their feet and attacked anyone who entered the temporary morgue. After half a dozen staff members had gone missing, the infected escaped and overwhelmed the emergency room where Brian had been waiting with two paramedics. It was chaos. Dozens of the dead, covered in the blood of those their victims, attacked the dead and dying. They tackled doctors and nurses when they tried to protect the vulnerable.
Orderlies, medics, and emergency staff raced into the mayhem to pull the infected from the physicians and nurses, only to be attacked themselves. Each and every one failed in attempting to save staff. Brian pulled his handgun but hesitated. Shooting soldiers and health care workers seemed so wrong.
Suddenly a shot rang out. After the first discharge, there was an explosion of gunfire echoing throughout the building. A female voice screamed, “Head-shots!”
Brian fired at an infected soldier, then another. With both shots, the approaching dead dropped to the floor. An officer with three enlisted men ran past him toward the door. Brian fired at the blood-covered dead following them, putting down three more infected dressed in scrubs.
The last man, running past him, grabbed Brian’s arm. “Gotta go, sir!” The young soldier pulled Brian back through the opening.
“Close the fuckin’ doors. Get it secured!” a commanding voice called out, as Brian and the soldiers ran back to follow orders.
“Help us get this door sealed, or we’re dead!” one of the soldiers called out.
Stunned, Brian helped slam the two sliders closed, then together, they wedged a couple landscape timbers into the track to secured them. The officer stood at the side of the building with a hand covering his bleeding arm.
The soldier who pulled Brian from the hospital had saved his life, but all he could think about was the people left trapped in the emergency room with the infected. He could hear their screams as they were being torn apart. With another barked order from the officer, the men ran to a nearby ambulance and hopped inside. Brian jumped into the passenger side of the ambulance, and the soldier behind the wheel accelerated, and they pulled away from the swarm of infected now spilling from the hospital and filling the parking lot.
The driver asked. “Where to, sir.”
“The base.” The officer snapped. “Get us to the fucking base.”
The driver stopped the ambulance a block from the gate, and the four men stared at the mayhem. Dozens of infected in uniforms wandered the grounds. A distant rattle of automatic gunfire set the infected into frenzies and they stumbled toward the sound.
“Any ideas?” Asked the officer, a hint panic in his voice.
“MP office. It’s a locked office and we have guns and ammo.”
Brian directed the young PFC driving the vehicle to the MP office. When they got to the single story concrete and steel building, they parked the ambulance and hurried into the building to the sounds of a man screaming deep within the building.
Brian secured the front door then led the three soldiers to the break room. “I’ll be right back.” He pulled a first aid kit from a cabinet then disappeared.
Brian walked into a secured office, pulled keys from a wall rack and walked down the hall to the detention cells. He approached the single detainee. “Shut the hell up!” he ordered.
The soldier behind bars asked meekly, “What’s going on? Everyone ran outta here, and no one’s been back for hours.”
“I’m letting you go. Get your ass home and protect your family.” Brian threw him the keys to a military vehicle. “It’s a sedan parked at the side of the building. Don’t stop for anyone. Infected people are attacking anyone they get their hands on. Do not engage with anyone. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Brian led the soldier to a side door, he looked through a small window, then gave the man a weapon.
“It’s clear. Get in the car, get home, then get your family out of the city. It’s the third sedan on the right, parked up against the building.”
Brian opened the door, the soldier ran out and down the row of cars. Hoping he did as he was told, Brian slammed the door closed. A moment later an engine cranked, and the sound quickly disappeared. Brian locked down the building and went back to the break room where he had left the injured soldiers.
“What’s the status in here?” Brian asked.
The PFC that had driven the ambulance stood up and answered. “I cleaned the wounds but not much in the first aid kit.”
“Let’s see to their wounds,” Brian answered.
Together, they bandaged each of the injuries on three of the four men then watched as they sickened. One by one they succumbed to illness. Six hours later, Brian put a bullet in Major Winston’s head, then two of his men an hour after that. The only soldier to survive was the kid that had pulled Brian from the hospital. PFC Billy Walker stood at attention waiting for Brian to tell him what to do next.
The kid was green as grass, but he knew how to take orders. That was a good thing.
Chapter 18
End and Beginning
Liz stared at Harry. “He would want me to find our girls!” She protested.
Harry moved his head from left to right. He would want you and the baby safe. “Your girls are with capable men. God willing, they’ll survive and bring them to you. You said your wallet was in the bag, your girls carried.” He swung a leg over his bike and held out his hand.
Liz stared at his hand for a full minute before she slid on the bike while whispering, “I can’t just give up.”
Harry cranked the engine and slipped the bike into gear. “No one is giving up on your family. We’re protecting this part and leaving the rest in His hands.”
They left the farm-to-market road and headed northwest on an even more narrow, less-maintained road. It was clear of traffic and road blocks. Few infected seemed to be in the area as a result. Four hours later, they stopped to let Harry consult a map. They were getting close to Kerrville, an area rife with back roads, hills, and canyons. It was a beautiful country with lakes, rivers and forested expanses that ignore the ugliness of the attack and the infected.
John and Liz wondered toward a set of railroad tracks as they sipped on bottles of water. Ahead, in the distance, was a big rig and trailer at the side of the blacktop. The truck lay on its side as if kic
ked out of the way by a petulant child. Liz wondered to the side of the road where vines of dewberries were ripening. She bent down and began picking the lush fruit, eating berry after berry.
“I got it figured out, but it will be a lot of back and forth,” Harry announced. Both John and Liz returned to study the map before Harry continued. “We need to head up to 16 then catch Ranchero Road, west to North Valley View Dr. north again to Rim Rock until it runs into Lehmann then north to Cully Drive. We’ll work our way around Peterson Regional Medical Center, then end up on 98 north,”
“That’s a lot of backtracking,” John commented.
Harry laughed, “You wanna go through Kerrville? I’m sure twenty thousand people won’t be a problem at all.”
John shrugged and headed for his bike. “I’m good.”
They got back on the motorcycles and slowly accelerated toward the wrecked trailer ahead. Liz glanced to the left as they rode by and she saw spray painted graffiti. Suddenly, she slammed her hand on Harry’s shoulder and screamed, “Stop!”
Harry and John both slammed on the breaks and came to a skidding halt. Harry turned around to see Liz jumping from the bike. He studied the large red heart painted on the smooth metal skin of the top of the trailer. A red heart with Amy and Claire’s names painted inside. To the side were three smiley faces, the first with bangs, the second with hair on either side of the head and the last bald.
Harry started laughing. “Well, well, well. I guess that’s a message for someone.”
Liz reached out to touch the dried paint. She slid her fingers along the swirls of red as if by touching it she could feel the soft cheek of her daughters. Tears streamed down her face.
Finally, John spoke, “Would someone tell me what the hell this is all about?”
Liz looked up and smiled. “My girls’ names are Amy and Claire.” She took a deep breath. “It’s meant for me. They’re safe.”
Harry nodded. “I’ll be damned. I think you’re right.”
Suddenly, a moan interrupted the conversation. The trio looked toward the road ahead and was shocked to see an army of infected stumbling over the hill toward them. Harry cranked his bike, and Liz slid onto the seat behind him.