“Let’s get inside and find out if there’s anything left or if it has all been picked over through the years.” Beau stated as he came up beside of me and my women with Emily at his side and the others behind them.
I nodded and led the way toward the entrance to the building and once we had forced the doors open we were greeted by darkness as a dank, musty smell greeted our noses—I knew that anything could be lurking inside of this place and I took out my small LED flashlight and led the way through the dark corridors until we came to what I recognized as the gymnasium and that was when we came upon another mass of dead-heads; these were what had once been soldiers and other military personnel and they noticed us and came at us. I opened fire with my M16 on them as did my women with their weapons and the others next to us and within a few moments they were all dead and the floor of the gymnasium was covered with blood, brains and bodily matter, the area looked like it was clear and we spread out and searched the area—that was when I came upon several bodies that I knew weren’t bodies of zombies we had killed.
“Marauders…” I stated loud enough to where the others could hear.
“What, where?” Billy shouted as he came running over to where I stood.
He stopped and looked down at the bodies that were at our feet and he knelt down to examine them as the others came over as well, it looked like they had been shot to death and one of their throats was torn out; further examination revealed that it was unlikely that it had been done by the dead-heads that had been inside of the room.
“Looks like someone capped their asses and done a damn good job of it too.” Billy stated with an amused expression.
“Yeah…but who.” Beau answered as he and Emily glanced down at the corpses before turning back to rummage around the area.
That was when I noticed a nearby room that looked like it had been a sports equipment room for the school back in the day and I saw that it looked like it had been sealed shut from the inside; the outside of the door bore aged scratch marks and as I got closer to it I could see traces of old fingernails that had broken off from the assailants who had been on our side of the door years ago.
“This door is sealed shut and locked from the inside—it’s possible that our weapons cache is further in.” I stated as I turned and motioned to the others.
The others came over to where I stood with my women and Beau and Billy both pressed their hands against the door while I done the same, the door popped open toward us a few inches but then stopped as something on the inside was catching it; I shined my flashlight through the crack and seen what looked like a thick wire that was attached to the doorknob and tied off somewhere inside of the room.
“It’s being held shut by a thick wire—I think that I can take care of this.” I stated as I took out my combat knife and inserted it through the crack of the door.
After several minutes of maneuvering my knife around I felt the wire snap against the blade and the door opened with a creak—inside was an old corpse of a soldier who had obviously been the one who had fled into the room and sealed it shut; it looked like he had starved to death as there weren’t any other marks anywhere on his body. I looked past the corpse of the soldier and seen that the wall behind was covered with assault rifles and other weapons, this was the payout that we were looking for and smiles came to each of our faces as we entered the room and started looking over the weapons—that was when April let out a gasp as the corpse of the soldier behind us rose up into a sitting position and started to fight its way up; I quickly turned and pointed my magnum at the zombie’s head and fired blowing a large hole through the side of the creature’s skull. It fell back down and ceased to move at all, I brought April and my other women closer to me and we returned to what we had been doing.
“There is enough ammo here to last us through the next few months provided that we don’t have to fend off another marauder attack.” Billy stated with a pleased smile as he started to load the ammunition boxes into a small pile on the floor.
“I’ll go get the hummer and bring it around to those double doors over there—be ready to open them on my signal.” I instructed as I turned and headed out the door to the room.
I left the gymnasium followed by Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and April and out the front door to the school and over to the hummer helping the girls inside and then I got behind the wheel and started the engine—I drove over to the side of the building where the gymnasium was and I got out knocking on the outside of the doors; seconds later Beau opened them and he and the few others started carrying boxes of ammunition and weapons out and putting them into the area in the back of the hummer. There was a large number of weapons and most of those had to be propped up against the back of the seat, finally after a good twenty or so minutes we had loaded up everything of value and everyone got back inside of the hummer as I pulled back around the side of the school—I briefly glanced in my side mirror as movement got my attention from the woods behind us off to the left and I looked back and thought I seen someone or something running into the cover of the trees.
“What did you see?” Beau asked as I hit the brakes suddenly and rolled my window down popping my head out to look back.
“I thought that I saw someone dash into the woods…” I answered as I was still looking back on the area behind us.
“Let’s get going—it could have been one of those fucking marauders and we don’t want them to ambush us.” Billy stated as he wrapped his arm around Kayla tightly.
Without further delay I rolled my window back up and left the school heading back toward town the way that we had come, we were passing by one of the old gas stations when we spotted one of the large 500 gallon fuel tanks that we had used years before when we had been using the RV and I slowed down to a stop and directed the others’ attention to it.
“We still need diesel fuel—what we were able to siphon from that truck won’t last very long, not when the Echo-roamer uses diesel fuel too—not to mention the hotrod that uses regular gasoline.” I stated as I glanced around at the group.
“Let’s see if we can get enough fuel to fill that thing and if so we’ll hook it to the back and take it with us.” Beau answered as I turned into the lot of the gas station and drove over to the tank that was sitting next to the pumps.
It looked like whoever had been hauling the trailer with the 500 gallon fuel tank had just abandoned it as there was a broken steel bolt on the pavement not far from the end of the trailer—indentions from metal dragging could be seen on the pavement heading away from the scene and I quickly checked the tank and was shocked to find that it was almost completely full of diesel fuel.
“This tank is nearly full already—all we have to do is fill it up a little more and hook it up to the back of the hummer.” I stated with a smile as I turned to glance at the others.
Yuri and Marco found several large empty gas canisters nearby and they started siphoning regular gas from nearby wrecked vehicles as Beau and Billy worked to do the same with the 500 gallon tank—after several more long minutes Yuri and Marco brought over the gas canisters that they had filled and loaded them into the back of the hummer with the weapons and ammo and they went over to assist Beau and Billy who finished with the 500 gallon tank shortly afterward; it felt like we were being watched but when I glanced around the area I didn’t see anyone or anything and I quickly helped the guys lift the end of the trailer up and attach it to the back of our hummer and then once it was secure we all got back into the hummer and left that area headed home. We arrived back at the gate to our homestead close to dusk that same day and Beau and Marco once again got out and opened the gate long enough for me to drive the hummer with the trailer behind it through and then they closed the gate locking it before getting back inside—I drove down and parked the hummer beside of the well house and everyone got out and we were greeted by my family and the others who had stayed behind.
“How did
it go?” Hugo asked as he stepped forward and patted my shoulder.
“Good—we were able to find enough weapons and ammo to last the next few months providing that we don’t have to fend off another onslaught like we did the other day; we also found fuel that should last us awhile.” I answered as I hugged Remy and Ember and then my younger kids.
“Great, we should be okay then—we were able to mostly patch up the hole in the front wall, the tower will take longer to rebuild though and we’re out of cement.” Hugo stated as he directed our attention to the repairs to the wall behind us in the distance that had been made.
“That’s good—we’ll have to look for some cement here soon so we can rebuild that watch tower…in the meantime we need to get these weapons and ammo unloaded to where we can set up a parameter in case we’re attacked again.” I answered as I turned and headed toward the back of the hummer.
It took us several minutes to unload everything and get it taken into the main house and after that I returned to our bedroom upstairs and my women followed and we discarded our clothes and settled down underneath the covers of our bed falling asleep soon after; I was awakened sometime later that night by a noise in one of the rooms next door to ours—I swiftly but quietly got out of bed and put on my clothes and other gear waking Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and April in the process. I put my finger to my lips directing them to the noise that was coming from the next room and they quickly got their clothes on as well, I grabbed by AR-15 which was my closest weapon and I swiftly opened the door only to see a dark figure notice me and quickly dive out of the nearby open window landing on their feet like a cat and start to run toward the edge of the woods.
“Intruder!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I quickly dove out of the window after them.
To my surprise I too landed on my feet and I quickly took chase after the figure and I tackled them sending them to the ground on their face—by the sounds they were making I could tell that it was a female and I jumped to my feet and yanked the figure up after me only to be side kicked in the stomach as the figure retaliated against me; I recovered quickly and drew my combat knife holding it out before me. That was when the figure lunged at me and I swiftly slashed at them with a sweeping motion and they cried out in pain as the blade bore into their flesh—they kicked me again and I stumbled back disoriented and seconds later I felt the figure jump onto my back and wrap their arms around my neck trying to choke the life out of me; I did the only thing that I could at that moment, I backed up and rammed them into the side of the main house once, then again until they fell off of me and lay panting on the grass. That was when Beau, Billy, Hugo, Garry and Richard all appeared in front of the figure with their weapons pointed at them.
“That’s fucking far enough—don’t move or we’ll send you to the next world!” Beau shouted as the mysterious figure backed away and seemed to be surprised.
“Please—don’t kill me…I wasn’t trying to harm anyone…I just needed a place to hide from those marauders who have been hunting me and I remembered seeing this place a few months ago during a forced recon patrol…” The figure answered in a voice that seemed to strike a chord somewhere in my mind.
I strolled forward and went up behind the figure removing their hood until their face was visible, that was when the Covenant One members and everyone else around let out gasps of shock and disbelief—there sitting before us was Amy.
“You were killed by Bowman in his underground Romanian facility…four years ago…what the fucking hell is going on?” I demanded as I still clutched my assault rifle tightly as I was now joined by my women who came out from the main house behind me.
“Chaz?!” She choked in disbelief.
“Yeah…this is our homestead that you’ve stumbled into—I could have killed you, what are you doing here and how are you even still alive for that matter?” I demanded as I offered my hand to her helping her stand.
“I don’t know how I came back or what they did to me but I woke up in their laboratories about a year ago now and at that time it seemed like I had been in some sort of a stasis chamber…I was alive but it felt like they had done something to my body…” Amy stated in a distant tone as she glanced all around the area at us.
“I think I understand what happened…you were a carrier of the Redeemer Strain just like we are—those assholes brought you back to try and make you do their bidding.” Desiree stated as she stepped forward.
“R-Redeemer Strain…?” Amy answered in a bewildered tone.
We began filling her in on what we had recently learned from our trip to the Ringgold facility and Desiree even brought out the laptop with the information that we had acquired and she showed it to Amy—when we had finished she looked like she was about to be sick, or pass out one; we helped her to a nearby chair near the fire pit and waited until she was ready to talk again.
“So…we created those marauders from what we done in Winterset, Iowa…this is just so hard to believe—the Antitoxin Sample 3 was really the Redeemer Strain all this time…” Amy stated with a distant stare as she stared down at the grass at her feet.
“Yes…Bowman’s doubled edged sword against those he thought had robbed him of his happiness—there never was a real cure to this shit but from what Desiree has learned we do have an immunity to the T.H.C.A.I.A Toxin as well as the M.I.M.T.W.B.C.A Strain but in turn we’re all carriers of the Redeemer Strain.” I stated folding my arms across my chest as I spoke.
“So this Redeemer Strain created those enhanced marauder commandos…I have been on the run from a large group of them now for weeks—I guess that the only way I was able to elude them for this long was due to the Redeemer Strain in my body.” Amy stated in deep thought.
“We need to work on developing a cure for this new viral strain, everyone here except for Garry and April have been inoculated with the vaccine that we now know is the Redeemer Strain—it seems that when we synthesized the vaccine in New York City that it altered some of the components of the strain making it to where it failed to do to us what it has done to others.” Hugo stated as he stepped up before Amy.
“Well—I will help out as much as I can, I still don’t understand what those rat bastards done to me to bring me back but now I know that my friends are alive and I will stand with you until the end should it come soon.” Amy answered smiling as she exchanged greetings with her old Covenant One comrades and then with the rest of the group.
Everyone returned to their sleeping quarters and things calmed down, I could tell that what we had been talking about had caused worry to set into April’s mind and she pulled me to the side as Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe were undressing to return to bed.
“Baby…I’m worried of what the effects of what that strain could do to me…I know that you came in me earlier and that what you all carry has passed onto me now…I’m just afraid…” She stated as she hung her head tears welling up in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, April…I think that if the Redeemer Strain was going to cause widespread mutations inside of your body that it would have already happened by now—I have come to care deeply about you since you came into our lives and I will take care of you just as I take care of Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe; everything will be alright—you just have to believe that.” I answered as I took her into my arms.
“I know—I love you too and I’ll try not to worry about what may come further down the road.” April stated as she kissed me briefly before using the back of her left hand to wipe away her tears.
“I’ve been thinking about the same thing…I was cut and infected by the barbed tail of the original Entity back all those years ago and would have turned into one of those things had you not injected me with the Antitoxin Sample 3…which we now know was the Redeemer Strain…” Jennifer stated with a distant look.
“If you’re worried about the fact that you were injected with the Redeemer Strain before it was synthesized into a
vaccine then don’t be—the strain obviously cured you of the infectious T.H.C.A.I.A Toxin but failed to bond and that’s good, otherwise you would have been added into this “collective” of theirs a long time ago.” I answered as I gently stroked her hair.
“Yeah…I know…it had to have failed to work on me the way that it was intended to because otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you guys now and I sure as hell wouldn’t have a free will of my own.” Jennifer answered with a relieved tone.
“Let’s get some sleep—we don’t know what could be ahead of us…” I stated bringing her, Sheila, Chloe and April into my arms.
Together we returned to bed and soon after fell asleep, the night passed by and I woke the next day after having a series of strange dreams and I got out of bed getting my clothes and gear on—the girls followed and we went downstairs and out into the yard where my mom was serving breakfast; I could tell that our food supplies were starting to run low and even though the vegetable gardens that we had planted around the area were still producing a good amount of food I knew that the event of our food stock running out was inevitable.
“I had another of those dreams last night…one like the one I had back when we briefly stayed inside of that Wal-Mart Super Center near Columbia City, Indiana…that dream then predicted what we would face upon our arrival in Hollywood…in this new dream I seen the destruction of this homestead and our exile from its safety.” I stated as I glanced around at the group before me.
“I have been getting a similar feeling as of late—those marauders know where we are now and you’d best believe that Darkbourne isn’t going to let what we done to his Ringgold facility go without some sort of retaliation.” Hugo stated as he finished his plate of food tossing the paper plate into the fire in front of us.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 62