Oh shit.
I stop and nearly lose my balance. I remove the Carbine and shoulder the rifle. My finger presses against the trigger, but I stop. It will just draw their attention more to me. Even if I do take out a handful of the infected, there will be many more to take their place.
The chasers turn and look in every direction. Finally spotting me, they howl at the sight of a warm body to rip into.
They rush down the corridor after me.
I bolt in the opposite direction. I flip on the light on my rifle to guide my way through the maze of corridors.
I’m scared out of my mind, running aimlessly through the halls of the abandoned hospital with a horde of chasers hot on my heels. I try to think clearly, plot out my next move as to how I’m going to make it to the roof before the choppers take off.
Think, James, think.
From what Commander Reynolds said, the roof wasn’t that far away from this floor. But how can I get there without using the stairwell?
I hook a right, and continue my mad dash. The yowls of the chasers remain in tow. Unrelenting and unwilling to give up, they stay the course.
Off to my right, the light plays over the walls until it shines upon an elevator door that is partially open. I stop just shy of the opening. Looks as though someone tried to check out the elevator but stopped.
I train the light through the gap, and find nothing more than a hollow shaft with no elevator. I peer down to the bottomless pit; it nearly paralyzes me in place. I take a deep breath and exhale. I scan from side to side quickly, and find a ladder on the far wall to my right. It has to lead up.
The tidal wave of chasers’ races toward me. It’s now or never. Live or die. It’s as simple as that.
I shine the light at the narrow edge that leads about the shaft in the direction of the ladder.
I secure the Carbine over my shoulder, and force the door open a hair more to allow me to reach the edge.
The pounding of the mob of chasers charging me makes my heart pound against my chest. I become lightheaded from the spike of adrenaline that fires through my veins. I don’t want to die and leave Cindy all alone.
My meager arms pull in opposite directions, forcing the door open wide enough for me to make my move. The infected close in, clamoring and reaching for my body.
I carefully move to the right. My fingers search the wall for anything to grab as my boots find the ledge. A ridge within the wall is discovered. It isn’t much, but it’ll have to do.
I slip down the ledge quickly, but cautiously just as the chasers arrive. Arms stretch out from the opening. Greedy fingers swipe at my jacket with the hopes of finding their mark. My breathing surges to the point that I feel as though I could hyperventilate.
Bodies are shoved from the edge of the opening, and plummet to the deep, dark abyss below. A dense thud marks that they found the bottom.
I make the corner, moving farther away from the chasers. My left boot stretches across and finds the ledge. I move over and continue going. The thought of my family keeps pushing me to battle through my fear of heights. The unrelenting groans and growls from the infected do little to help stay my nerves.
My hand brushes against the side of the metal ladder. It feels close enough to where I won’t have to reach too far. I climb onto the rungs and take another deep breath. My arms are on fire. What few muscles I have are being pushed to the brink of exhaustion. I can’t stop now, though. I must fight through, and get to the roof.
Up I go, leaving the frenzy of chasers stuck at the opening of the shaft. More dull thuds reverberate from within the hollow space. I keep my eyes focused on the roof.
Rung after rung is traversed until I finally reach the end of the line. The thumping of the blades of the chopper are heavy. My hand searches the wall blindly for a latch or something to let me out of here.
I can’t find the latch, or anything that hints at a way out of here. I’m so close yet so far away.
“Come on!” I angrily snarl.
I reach above my head and continue looking. The rigid façade of the brick wall turns to that of smooth steel. I find a crease in the wall. I lift, stretching as far as I can, and follow it up to a handle.
The tip of my finger’s toys with it. I need to move up higher. There’s one more rung to go before I am out of options. I take that final step and grab the handle fully as gravity fights to pull me back down to the endless ether below.
Holding tightly, I pull down. The hatch unlocks and swings outward. A gust of wind rushes inside the shaft, and pelts me like a thousand fists.
I grab the bottom edge and pull myself up. It takes what little strength I have left to pull my frame from the shaft and on top of the roof. I crumble to the rocky surface and flip over to my back.
The climb zapped my energy. I gasp for air as my arms and legs tremble from exertion. My body doesn’t want to move, regardless of how much I need to. My head falls to the right and I spot the glow from the lights inside the chopper.
“Get your ass up, James, and move,” Dad’s voice demands in my ear.
I roll over to my stomach and press up. My unsteady legs fumble underneath me, but still put me upright.
I make for the chopper, going as fast as my legs will allow. It feels as though I’m moving in ponderous slow motion.
One of the choppers on the far side of the roof takes off. It lifts into the air, ascending into the dismal night sky. Standing next to the aircraft near me, I spot Lucas pointing in the direction of the entrance to the roof. He’s but a scant inch away from one of the soldiers who is pushing him toward the interior of the chopper.
I wave my arms franticly, trying to snare his attention as my legs give out slightly. Lucas catches sight of me and points in my direction. The soldier twists to his left and follows his gaze.
Lucas waves me on, motioning for me to hurry up. The soldier turns back toward Lucas and forces him back into the aircraft. The soldier follows close behind.
I jump up on the steel grating to my left and push on through the torment festering in my legs. The pilots in the cockpit are cloaked in darkness, with only the faint hue from the glow of the instrument panels to light up their faces.
I dart around the front of the chopper and move off to the right. I make for the opening as an arm stretches out, followed by Lucas’s body.
He peers down at me with a huge smile plastered on his sweaty face. I take his hand. His eyes suddenly go wide with terror, the smile vanishing.
The soldier off to my right drops to a knee and opens fire. I’m not all the way in yet as the chopper starts to lift off. Lucas keeps a tight grip on my hand as he pulls me in.
I drop to the steel floor of the chopper in a mess of spent energy. Duke rushes over and slathers me in love with his tongue. He’s pulled away by Lucas as I lift up from the flat of my back. I glance out of the opening to find the chasers funneling through the doorway of the stairwell and scattering over the rooftop.
The gunship remains in front of the hospital. It sweeps from side to side as bright flashes of light illuminate from the hull. The building is pelted with missiles that fire nonstop from the sides of the aircraft.
Explosions erupt from the opposite side of the hospital, spewing out flames and busted concrete in every direction. The bottom floors are lit up with a yellow-orange hue that consumes everything.
The hospital buckles on the right side. The chasers scurrying over the rooftop plummet to their deaths as the building collapses. Fires and more explosives burst from the center of the devastation as a thunderous roar fills the air.
We drift away from the destruction, leaving the mass of chasers crushed and trapped beneath the rubble of the hospital.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
That was close. Too close in fact. I’m lucky to be alive. We all are.
The doors to the chopper are sealed shut, severing the flow of wind that has been gusting through the interior of the aircraft. All that remains is the thumping of blades above.
A dim light washes the interior in a haze of yellow tint. It isn’t much, but enough for one to see.
Arms latch around my neck from behind, and squeeze so tight it chokes me. I look to my right, and find Cindy bear hugging the crap out of me.
She finally let’s go after a few moments, allowing me to breathe. “Where did you go?” She punches me in the arm, then folds her arms across her chest.
I recoil from the blow. “I’m sorry. Something was left behind that we needed.”
Cassie, who is settled in directly behind Cindy with Duke by her side, offers me a warm smile.
I parrot it. My face struggles to form in a pleasant manner. I’m so dog tired.
Next to Cassie is one of the soldiers dressed in black tactical gear. His face is stern and void of any pleasantries. A hand presses down on my shoulder.
“Talk about cutting it close there, James,” Lucas says with a grin. “You must be part cat or something because you’ve been burning through your nine lives like crazy.”
I catch sight of Commander Reynolds sitting next to Lucas. He’s speaking with a soldier who’s off to his right. I remove the Carbine from my arm and hand it to the soldier to my left. He takes it from me and secures the weapon.
The satchel is pulled up and over my head. Gripping the leather straps, I hand it over to the commander. The bottom bumps into his leg, drawing his attention away from the soldier. He takes hold of the straps and lifts it up. He sets the bag in his lap and unzips the top. His hands burrow inside as he peers at the contents.
I hadn’t even realized it, but Doctor Harper and Ms. Jones aren’t present. Neither are the nurses who were with them. They’re probably in the other chopper that took off before us.
A sigh of relief forms on the commander’s face. He diverts his gaze down to me and offers an appreciative nod.
“You did a brave thing back there, James. It won’t be forgotten, son.” He reaches out with his hand extended toward me.
I shake it. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
Lucas nudges me with his boot. “You’re going to have to tell me how the hell you got to the roof when we land.”
I give him a thumbs up, and lay back down on the floor. There’s room for me to sit next to him, but I’m so tired and spent that moving my body over to the empty seat just doesn’t happen.
My eyes fix on the ceiling of the aircraft. The day’s events have taken their toll on me. Feeling the subtle vibrations and movements of the aircraft, I close my eyes and relax.
Silence befalls the aircraft. No idle banter or conversations fill the space between us. I imagine everyone is pretty exhausted from running for our lives in that dreadful hospital. It feels as though we’ve been in the air forever. I’m clueless as to how long it’s actually been, though.
The commander carries on conversations through a headset. The satchel is nestled between his legs on the floor. An unfolded map sits in his lap.
Cindy curls up next to me, still and motionless.
Duke’s head rests in Cassie’s lap. She runs her hand down his back toward his tail. Cassie’s eyes are closed, her head tilted back and resting against the padded headrest.
Lucas stares out of the window in front of me. I wonder what he’s looking at, or thinking of.
As for me, this is the first time, in a long while, I feel as though we have a moment to catch our breath. Now that we’ve found Cindy, and are with the military, perhaps things will look up from here.
Author Notes
Written December 6th, 2019
As 2019 comes to a close, I can’t help but to look back and reflect on a year that defined me as an author. I had many ups with some downs, but overall, I feel as though I made it to another level.
At the beginning of the year, I started a vision board for my 2019 author journey. It contained a meld of both professional and personnel goals that I wanted to accomplish.
A quick note here. If you haven’t heard of a vision board, it is basically a tool that helps clarify, concentrate, and maintain focus on specific life goals. A vision board is any sort of board on which one displays images that represent whatever you want to be, do, or have in your life. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s continue.
My vision board was full of both attainable goals and some that will take time to reach, but hey, dream big win big, right? I’m a big fan of swinging for the fences in everything I do. I always go for the homerun. It feels great when you connect and everything goes right.
For this year, I met a lot of my goals. Doing so really energized me and helped pushed me onward during those days where I just feel like I wasn’t making much headway with whatever project I was working on. It happens at times, which sucks, but I pushed through and forged ahead.
A few of the goals that I reached was hitting the bestseller list in multiple genres and making it into the top 100 of the most popular authors in science fiction and horror on Amazon. I also went to Vegas, for the biggest Indie Author Conference in the world, and got to hang out with over 1,000 fellow authors. This was such a blast and I’m looking forward to going every year now.
Some of the larger goals I’m still working towards is hitting the USA Today and NY Times bestseller lists and reaching finical milestones. I’ve got my eye on the prize and with each new day, and book, I’m getting one step closer to making those a reality.
At the end of the day, though, my biggest accomplishment is knowing that readers, such as yourself, are enjoying the stories that I write. Nothing warms my heart more than when I receive an email or a Facebook message from someone that picked up a copy of my book and loved it. I love that. It fuels my writing tank.
I’m really looking forward to 2020 and beyond. I have a few new series that I’m currently working on that will be released next year.
In closing, I hope your 2019 was great and that you’re looking forward to the future. If you have a question or just want to reach out, shot me an email or Facebook message and I promise I’ll respond.
Until next time, take care and watch your six.
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Dead State Series
Catalyst (Prequel)
Fallout
Survival Road
Executioner
Immune
Evolved (Coming Soon)
The Huntress Bane Series
The Huntress Bane (Short Story)
Tainted Hunter
Crimson Thirst
Afflicted Series
Genesis
Patient Zero
RipTide
Dead Reckoning
Afflicted Series Boxset (Books 0-1)
Afflicted Series Boxset (Books 2-3)
Ballistic Mech Series
Division
Inferno
Extinction
Payback
Also by Derek Shupert
Sentry Squad
Survive the End
Lycan Rising (Coming Soon)
About the Author
Derek Shupert is an emerging Science Fiction Author known for his captivating dystopian storylines and post-apocalyptic-laden plots. With various books and anthologies underway, he is also the author of the Afflicted series and Sentry Squad.
Outside of the fantastical world of sci-fi, Derek serves as the Assistant Vice President at Woodforest National Bank. During his free time, he enjoys reading, exercising, and watching apocalyptic movies and TV shows like Mad Max and The Walking Dead. Above all, he is a family man who cherishes nothing more than quality time spent with his loved ones.
To find out more about Derek Shupert and his forthcoming publications, visit his official website at www.derekshupert.com.
.Net
Dead State (Book 4): Immune Page 14