“How the hell are we going to do this without getting swamped by those fucking things?” Billy asked as he nervously shifted his assault rifle around in his hands.
“Guys, look—there’s a ladder leading to a hatch in the ceiling…” Morgana suddenly shouted as she pointed to something off to her left.
I glanced to where she was pointing and sure enough there was a ladder leading up to a ceiling hatch, I led the way over to it and quickly climbed up opening the hatch with some trouble; I immediately felt the cold rain hitting me in the face as I shined my flashlight around the area of the roof and I knew that we might be able to use the roof to our advantage. I motioned to the others and they started up the ladder after me, my women arrived next to me and then the others one by one—Richard and Marco had some trouble getting the large wooden crate up the ladder but with the other’s help they were able to and once we were all on the roof of the armory we looked around the area and my gaze immediately went to the door to the main part of the complex where all of the others were and I noticed that they had closed the doors shut as there was a large mass of dead-heads outside of them pounding on them trying to get inside.
“I hope that none of those fuck-heads got in at the others…” I stated in a concerned tone.
“I hope not either…maybe since they got the doors closed that means that they’re all okay.” Chloe answered with a hopeful smile.
“Let’s clear a path—we need to get back to the others.” Hugo shouted as he went to the edge of the roof to the armory and pointed his assault rifle down at the dead-heads that had piled up against the door below.
He opened fire and the screams of the zombies and other mutations echoed throughout the area as the rest of us joined in until they were all bloody masses on the ground—our attack had drawn the attention of the ones outside of the doors to the main part of the complex though, they were being joined by more that were coming in from the destroyed fence; that was when I saw something else moving in mass with the dead-heads and I groaned in disbelief as I noticed several of the hideous Faces creatures as well as a large bio-weapon that none of us had ever seen before. It must have stood at least sixteen or seventeen feet high, had an almost featureless face and a large, bulky torso and a large, fat stomach and legs—the most noticeable thing was the fact that it had regular corpses somehow mutated and fused to both of its hands and grotesque spines protruded from its hands through the corpses on its hands and around the bodies forming weapons.
“That’s a new one—how the hell are we going to get past that thing?” Beau shouted as we all looked on the new bio-weapon with unease.
“Guess we’ll call that thing a ‘Blighter’ as it seems to suit it well…good time to try out those new rocket launchers.” I answered as I nodded at Richard and Marco who opened the wooden crate and handed several rounds to me as well as Beau.
I took one of the rocket launchers and loaded it before pointing it at the bio-weapon that was coming toward us slowly, but steadily; I adjusted the sights and then told the others to stay clear to the back blast and then I fired—the rocket flew down and hit the creature in the upper torso exploding. The roar of the creature echoed around the area as the smoke and fire engulfed it and I had to wait a few seconds before I could see through the smoke enough to see if the creature was still standing—it was, but its entire left arm and most of its upper torso was gone; a large hole could be seen as blackish blood pumped and sprayed out all over the area.
“Hit the fucker again!” I shouted stepping aside as Beau aimed his rocket launcher at the creature.
Beau fired and his rocket soared down and hit the creature in the upper torso near its head and exploded—seconds later after the fire and smoke had cleared we watched as the remains of the massive creature toppled down onto the ground oozing blood and gore; it was destroyed and it looked like several of the Faces creatures had been caught in the explosions as they were laying on the ground nearby burning. The zombies were still coming and we knew that even though the bio-weapons had been dealt with that we still couldn’t get through as long as they were there, I aimed my AR-15 at several zombies and opened fire hitting them multiple times in the head dropping them as the others opened fire as well and by that time we had jumped down to the ground and I helped Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe down as the others followed; Billy suddenly pointed his grenade launcher at something behind us and fired an explosive round into a Faces creature that had appeared from behind us in a direction that had previously been clear. The round blew the creature to pieces and once we had gathered our wits we turned back to the still oncoming zombies and finished mopping them up enough to where we could make it to the doors to the main complex—I knocked and waited as Remy and Mace opened them and I was relieved to see that none of the dead-heads or other mutations had made it inside; I waited at the door as the others entered past me carrying the weapon caches and Rachel and Ivana ran to me hugging and kissing me before doing the same to Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe and I waited as Richard and Marco who were the last ones carried the wooden crate through the doors before I turned to close the doors. That was when a jumper zombie came flying through the doorway out of nowhere and it knocked me back into the floor—I was only stunned as the others turned and looked in horror as the jumper stood there screaming that horrible sound as it was preparing to leap at me again; that was when Ivana and Garry ran past me and Garry grabbed the doors pulling them closed as Ivana grabbed the jumper pushing it outside as the doors closed. A split second later there was an explosion that shook the entire structure around us as I quickly got to my feet with the help of my women and I rushed to open the doors and after several seconds of struggling I got them open only to be faced with the burning, mangled remains of not only the jumper zombie but also those of both Ivana and Garry; they had sacrificed themselves to save my ass and I dropped to my knees with the realization of what had happened. Rachel and Kari ran to my side crying out in horror as they gazed upon the remains of their sister—I wrapped my arms around Rachel sharing her grief as the others clustered around us.
“They gave their lives to make sure that you could continue living yours—let’s remember them how they were.” Hugo stated several minutes later as he patted my left shoulder.
“That’s all that we can do…let’s get moving…we have a long way to go.” I answered in a hollow tone as my women comforted me.
I led the way back into the main part of the complex and the others who hadn’t witnessed what had happened were filled in and then we all gathered our gear and the things that we had brought into the complex from our vehicles and we left the complex; once the obstructions had been cleared, I settled into the passenger seat as Jennifer drove out of the walled area and led the way out onto the roadway and we left the abandoned military complex behind us.
“You didn’t get scratched or anything, which is extremely lucky—I feared the worst when I saw that jumper bearing down on you.” Sheila stated as she looked over my body for signs of injury.
“I’m glad that I chose to wear my Kevlar vest…” I stated in a distant tone.
“I still can’t believe that Ivana is gone…” Rachel stated in a distant tone as she stared blankly out the side window.
“I know babe…I’m sorry that this happened, I feel like it’s my fault because if I had been more careful both she and Garry would still be alive…” I answered glancing at her and then hanging my head.
“It’s not your fault—it hurts that she’s gone but I understand why she sacrificed herself to save you; it wasn’t just because she loved you but because she wanted us to be able to continue loving you as well.” Rachel answered turning to face me as she took my hand into hers.
“Thanks…I’m glad that I got to know and love her for as long as I did.” I answered smiling.
We continued on into the morning hours and soon Jennifer had gotten us well past the borders of Cincinnati and continued north along Inters
tate 75 until we got to Interstate 70 and then I took over driving; the others in their vehicles behind us were okay and there hadn’t been very many signs of the undead over the past few hours. I led us onto Interstate 70 heading west—that would be our route until we hit Indianapolis and then our planned route would head northwest in the direction of Chicago; after an hour and a half, the sky opened up again and it was once again raining. I turned on the windshield wipers to full blast as I continued driving into the afternoon hours and the ride westward toward Indianapolis was mostly quiet—my women had all drifted off to sleep and the radio chatter from the others in the vehicles behind us was only occasional; there had also been little sign of the undead along the roadway and the main thing that I had had to deal with was wreckage along the road. In some spots the wreckage and debris from years past was so bad that I wondered if we’d even be getting through, luckily we had but I knew that it would be getting worse the closer to Indianapolis we got; I was lost in thought and the split second that followed as a bright object soared toward us from off to my left made me swerve to the right as whatever it was hit the pavement causing me to lose control of the Bronco flipping over onto the right side and then onto the top. My women were screaming and crying in fear as I struggled with my seatbelt finally having to cut it to where I could look out my shattered driver’s side window through the fire and smoke of what had obviously been a rocket attack—but from who?
“Are you girls okay?” I asked as I checked on Jennifer in the passenger side next to me before I checked on Sheila, Chloe, Olivia, Rachel and Roxanne who were all okay behind me.
Several of them had sustained deep gashes on their arms and legs but other than that we had been lucky.
“Chaz—are you guys okay in there?” Hugo’s voice shouted over the CB on the dashboard above us.
I grabbed the receiver and quickly spoke into it letting him and the others know that we were okay.
“What the hell happened?” I asked as I still couldn’t see through the fire and smoke that surrounded us.
“Fucking marauders is what it looks like…shit hang on!” Beau answered on the other end as we could clearly hear gunfire and shouting not only around us but on their end of the CB as well.
“What could they be hoping to accomplish with their master Darkbourne long dead?” Jennifer asked in a worried tone as we could now make out the dark forms of figures dressed in the familiar chemical warfare gear firing toward the others behind us with automatic weapons.
“I don’t know but we’ve got to route them and help the others—it’s one thing to be attacked by the dead-heads and other mutations but it’s a whole different thing to have to be fighting them!” I answered as a flashback of Noah, Christina and Jude’s deaths quickly came to mind.
“Let’s hit them from their flank—we can use this Bronco as well as the smoke and fire as cover.” Chloe stated firmly as she handed the other girls their weapons as I took my M16 into my hands.
I nodded and led the way out Jennifer’s shattered window until we were all out of the Bronco and then I spotted several of the marauders in front of us with their backs turned—they obviously thought that they had killed us and it would be their fatal mistake; I opened fire sending rounds into their backs causing blood to splatter as they fell to the ground on their faces and by the time the others turned and seen me the others of our group appeared and mowed them down with concentrated gunfire leaving them nothing more than puddles of gore on the roadway.
“Chaz—glad that you guys are okay…we feared the worst when we saw that rocket hit the roadway on the left side of your vehicle.” Hugo stated as the others grouped around us.
“I guess we’re going to have to still keep our eyes peeled for these fuckers from now and on…” I stated as Mace, Remy and Ember as well as my younger kids all shared hugs with me and my women.
“I wonder if the Bronco is still usable or if we’re going to have to find another vehicle…” Sheila stated with a distant stare.
“Let’s see if we can’t turn it back onto its wheels…” Billy stated as he and several of the other guys grabbed whatever they could find and set to turn the Bronco back over onto its tires.
Billy and Kayla brought their dune buggy around and used the hook and cable on the front to pull on our Bronco and after what seemed like a painstakingly long time, we were able to get the Bronco back right-side-up; the damage was only minimal but I knew that the next thing would be if it would even run and I held my breathe briefly as I turned the key in the ignition waiting as the engine sputtered before starting normally.
“That’s a relief at least—let’s get out of here before more of those assholes show up.” I stated as Hugo, Beau and several of the others came to my shattered window.
“We’re going to have to do something about those busted windows—those won’t protect you guys if we get swarmed by those dead fucks again…” Richard stated as he glanced over the outside of our Bronco with a concerned look.
“If we can find a scrapyard or something soon, we can weld pieces of metal barriers that will do the trick.” Hugo answered in deep thought.
We left shortly after that because the sounds of the dead-head masses were not far off and after what we had just been through we didn’t want to have to fight them off too—I led the way toward Indianapolis and soon the sun had set in the west and the rain was once again picking back up; I spotted the wreckage of a semi that looked to have been hauling junk back in the day and I stopped letting the others behind us know what I was doing and we quickly checked to see if there was anything that could be used to cover the busted windows in our Bronco. Many of the others stood around with their weapons in hand nervously glancing around the area as Beau and Hugo used their pressure tank and welding torch to attach the few pieces of titanium scrap that we were able to scrounge up and after several long minutes our Bronco felt secure.
“Let’s get going—there could be just about anything lurking around here in the darkness…” I stated as the others all got back into their vehicles and turned their powerful UV lights on illuminating the dark roadway ahead.
I had no more gotten into the driver’s seat of the Bronco and turned our lights on full when a rocket soared ahead from the Zetros where Hugo, Beau and a few of the other group members were and it hit something massive just ahead off to the left—I pulled onto the road and my lights illuminated what it was and I saw that it was another of the big bioweapons that we had encountered when we had been at the army complex, it was another of what we had nicknamed Blighter; the rocket hit the creature and exploded sending it flying backward into the ruins of a billboard and then to our shock and horror, dead-heads and other mutations seemed to erupt out of its body as it exploded in a cloud of gore.
“Holy shit—look out!” I shouted into the CB receiver as the surge of dead-heads plowed into the front side of our Bronco causing me to almost lose control again.
I was luckily able to speed up and run many of them completely over and Rachel and Roxanne stood up in the back opening the tarp before opening fire with their assault rifles on the dead-heads; the others behind us followed closely and within moments we had gotten through the surge of undead that had erupted from the Blighter and we were headed straight for the dark outline of Indianapolis.
“The first one of those things that we killed didn’t do that…just makes you wonder where these fucking things are coming from and what we’re gonna have to deal with next…” Billy stated on his end.
“Is everyone okay back there?” I asked into the CB receiver.
“Yeah—we’re covered with blood and entrails though—it’s nothing this rain won’t wash off though.” Seth stated on his end as I could hear Jamie and Lauren in the background.
“These things are getting thick as shit—I shudder to think how bad the city up ahead is gonna be…” Beau stated on his end.
I listened to the ot
hers talk back and forth as well as what my women around me were saying and soon I was pulling into the main part of the city—the roadways were a mess and many long-destroyed vehicles blocked the way; several sections of the interstate that we were using had collapsed and bore signs of explosion damage—as a matter of fact much of the area around us did.
“Did the military bomb this city or something back in the day?” Jennifer asked as she stared at the things we were passing closely.
“Possibly…we haven’t ever been to this particular city in the past before so this is new to me…they could have napalmed the streets trying to destroy the infected—doesn’t look like it was all that effective though.” I answered in deep thought.
“The cities and everywhere else were complete warzones back then…I remember where I was hiding out when the whole thing hit…still gives me nightmares.” Chloe stated with a shiver.
“Shit…” I stated as I got a good look at the roadway ahead.
“What?” Sheila asked as she and my other women stared ahead into the darkness.
Our lights had illuminated just enough of the roadway ahead for us to see that the streets were flooded with water—water that was at least ten to fifteen feet deep; there would be no way that we could proceed ahead on this particular route.
“There’s floodwaters ahead—too deep for us to tread through…we’re going to have to backtrack and find another way around this mess.” I stated into the CB receiver as I could hear the others questions on the other end as to why I had stopped.
Moments passed and with some minor issues I was able to get us off of the interstate and onto a secondary roadway that I was hoping would get us around the floodwaters—it didn’t help that it was still pouring down rain around us and I knew that the rainy weather patterns that we had experienced over the past several months had no doubt contributed to what we were facing now; I continued driving down the secondary roadway until I was forced to stop dead in my tracks as the roadway directly ahead of us was completely gone—a massive chasm spread out before us and the ruins of storm drains and parts of the sewer system could be seen along the sides of the gaping hole.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 73