[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “I don’t fucking believe it!” Noah shouted as everyone opened fire on the thing.

  That was when a large mass of dead-heads and other mutations surged into the smashed open area of the wall and started sprinting toward us as well.

  “Back inside of your vehicles—now!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  Everyone made a mad dash for their vehicles and we all managed to get inside before the creatures outside attacked—I knew that we had to get out of this place and fast before those things as well as the Wendigo broke inside of one or more of the vehicles, I started the engine of our marauder and grabbed the CB on the dashboard as a jumper zombie flew up landing on the hood in front of us.

  “Noah—you know what to do with that barricade gate!” I shouted as I revved the engine of our marauder.

  “Right—hang on!” Noah answered as he surged forward in his Mack truck smashing the gates wide open.

  I followed sending the jumper zombie off the hood in my forward motion before running it over as the rest of the group and the newcomers followed—both Hugo and Beau opened the rear doors of the Zetros and fired rocket rounds from the AT4 rocket launchers into the outpost that exploded creating a massive fire cloud that consumed much of the horde; the roadway behind us looked clear and the Wendigo wasn’t anywhere in sight either, I eventually took the lead and led my convoy past Lloydminster into Alberta and as morning started to approach the rain finally started to slack off.

  “Damn…what a night…” Sheila stated with a little huff.

  “Are you guys okay?” I asked glancing at each one of them briefly.

  “Yes—we’re fine, just a little shook up.” Jennifer answered as she glanced at the other girls.

  “We’re being hunted…” I stated with a troubled brow as I thought back on the times when we had encountered the Wendigo and then just a few hours before at the outpost.

  “We’ve got to figure out some way to put that thing down…sooner or later it’s going to kill someone at this rate.” Shae stated from the seat behind me.

  “What exactly is it…some sort of bioweapon?” Roxanne asked in a curious tone.

  “I don’t know…all I know is that it resembles a cryptid creature of Native American folklore that was known as the Wendigo; whether that’s what it really is I don’t know.” I answered as I stared at the roadway ahead.

  “The next big city is Edmonton…I can just imagine how that’s going to be with all of these things out here in the small rural areas being this thick.” Sheila stated as she went over the road atlas.

  “I’m starting to wonder if there’s really any place anywhere that can withstand these things…” Jennifer stated in a distant tone as she stared out the window.

  “Same here, baby…I’ve been wondering that for a while now.” I answered in agreement.

  We talked back and forth for a while and as the hours passed, we passed the outskirts of Edmonton and continued along highway 43 heading north—the sun was shining that day for the first time in a few days and it was good not to have to drive through the rain; that was when I noticed that the fuel gauge on my dashboard was almost empty and I knew that we were going to have to find somewhere to refuel, I picked up the CB microphone and asked the others behind us how their fuel situation was.

  “Running low…” Noah answered on his end.

  “Same here—been running on fumes for a while now really.” Joshua answered on his end.

  “Yeah—we’re all in need of gas or diesel…hopefully we can find somewhere to refill.” Darrell stated on his end.

  Shortly after that it was like some higher power had heard our words because there was a travel station up ahead on my right that looked like it might have working pumps, or at least still have fuel in the underground reserves; I led the way off the roadway and pulled up next to the first diesel pump as the others done the same with the other pumps. After checking the pump I found that it was dead, I turned to my women and they nodded knowing what we’d had to do in the past; I readied my assault rifle and led the way into the structure in front of us and found that there were remnants of decay here and there but most of it was old trash and shell casing that covered the floor. I led the way toward the back of the structure where I figured there might be an emergency generator and found one.

  “If we can get this thing powered up for at least five to ten minutes we can refuel our vehicles.” I stated as I met the glance of my women.

  I checked the gas tank of the generator and slammed my fist against the nearby wall in aggravation.

  “It’s out of gas…without gas there’s no way to get the damn pumps running…” I stated with a dark look.

  “We might have to siphon the fuel from some of those other cars and such outside…” Jennifer stated folding her arms across her chest after shouldering her weapon.

  “For once I wish that we could find somewhere with a working power grid…then we wouldn’t have to deal with this shit.” Roxanne stated with a huff.

  “Yeah, I know—same here but that’d be asking for too much, there hasn’t been anyone to keep the power grid operational in years…” I answered.

  “Hey baby—I found this over there near the door…” Rachel stated as he handed me a small plastic gas can that was more than half full.

  I took it from her kissing her deeply with a grin on my face knowing that she had just saved us who knows how much trouble—I stuck the dispenser into the gas tank of the generator and started pouring the gas; it took the next few minutes to get it filled and then after several tries I got it started and the lights on the ceiling above us flickered a few times before coming on fully.

  “That’s done it—let’s get back out to the others and get the vehicles refueled.” I stated as I led the way back out through the front of the store.

  After stepping through the door, I called out to Billy who was closest to us and asked if the pumps were working and he answered that they were—I returned to our marauder with my women close and started refueling as the others around us were doing the same; Darrell was filling the barrels that they were still hauling on the trailer behind them and Noah had just finished with his rig. It took us the next fifteen minutes to get all of our vehicles refueled as well as the reserves that we had with us and after that I led the way back onto the roadway not trusting the wilderness around us knowing that there were dead-heads and other creatures lurking around not far off, the day started to wane and the travel continued and it was nearing the evening hours when I noticed signs stating that we were passing through the small town of Fox Creek and soon we’d have to switch to highway 2 heading north for a while until it became the 35—which would eventually become highway 1 and take us into Northwest Territories; I kind of had a hard time believing that we had made it this far already, soon we’d be in Northwest Territories and then it’d be awhile longer until we were at our destination. I stopped along the roadway close to the town of Little Smoky and switched driving with Chloe as I was tired—I settled into the back with Shae and Rachel who soon after joined me curling up into my arms as the other girls continued waiting and watching as Chloe got our marauder moving again; I found myself falling asleep soon after but was woken a few hours later to the feeling of something wet and moist—I opened my eyes to see that Rachel was riding me, she was straddling me and she saw that I was awake and leaned down probing my mouth with her slender tongue. This continued for several more minutes until I felt myself let loose a cloud of semen into her and she smiled kissing me deeply as she settled down beside of me; I soon after fell back asleep and I didn’t wake until the small hours of the next morning to hear that my other women were talking back and forth and it sounded like we had already switched to the 35 and were passing by some place called Keg River.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked sitting up waking Rachel and Shae in the process.

  “Yeah, we just passed
by road signs stating something about Keg River…we’ll be completely out of Alberta soon…” Sheila answered as she glanced back at me.

  “I’m just wondering about the roads up there past Yellowknife…there aren’t any on the map…” Jennifer stated in a worried tone as she was going over the road atlas nearby.

  “Well, the route that we have planned takes us past the place called Rae and then north and northwest…I guess we’ll find out when we get there.” I answered as I leaned forward and looked over the map she was holding.

  “I’m sure that there are old logging roads or something through there—I mean, it’s the middle of nowhere but there are still small towns scattered up even further north than Echo Bay.” Sheila added.

  “I hope that we have enough fuel and supplies because once we get past Rae, I highly doubt there will be much of anything resembling civilization.” Roxanne stated with a chuckle.

  “Look at that…” Rachel stated pointing to a large embankment that we were passing.

  The entire area was covered with snow and even though it was now well past the middle of April, the snow up here hadn’t melted off yet.

  “That’s something else that we’re probably gonna have to deal with—especially after we get into Northwest Territories…we are going to technically be in the Arctic Circle after all.” I stated in deep thought.

  Shortly afterward Noah’s voice sounded on the CB and it sounded like the others behind us needed to stop and rest, Chloe who was still driving our marauder nodded and pulled onto the right shoulder of the roadway and we waited as the others behind us done the same; after everyone had stopped, I led the way out of our marauder with my weapons in hand and I inquired on what was going on.

  “Just need to take a short break…get some food.” Hugo stated as he and the other Covenant One members leaned against the side of the Zetros.

  I watched as several of the others spread out around the area of the roadway and our convoy with their weapons ready as the others opened the food stocks and got what they wanted—I couldn’t help but nervously glance around at the wilderness and scarce signs of civilization around us knowing that those dead-heads and other mutations were out there somewhere; not to mention the Wendigo creature that I knew deep down was still hunting us, I tried to put it out of my mind as my women gathered around me as well as our kids. A crack of thunder to the west caused me to glance toward the mountains and notice that a thick mist was starting to pour down into the valleys as there was yet another bad storm brewing and heading our way—I glanced at the others and they nodded knowing that we needed to be going; we got back into our marauder and waited as the others all done the same with their vehicles and then when they were ready I led the way back down the roadway away from where we had stopped. Within the next hour or so the storm was hitting us, the trees along the roadway were whipping back and forth and the rain was pummeling the windshield—the sky had become extremely dark and I was having to use our high beams just to see the roadway ahead as we neared the town of High Level, I had to swerve as I nearly ran into an old trailer with a blood-smeared boat that was pushed across our path by the strong winds; I jumped with a start as a bloody hand struck the side of our marauder as a surge of dead-heads swarmed around our convoy from the woods off to the left.

  “Fucking things…” I stated in an aggravated tone as I increased our speed running down many of them.

  We could feel their bodies being crushed underneath our massive tires and it wasn’t but a short time later when we were arriving in the main part of the town of High Level when I saw that the roadway ahead was blocked by wrecked vehicles as well as other obstructions and I had to stop not knowing how exactly we were going to get past it.

  “What’s up, Chaz?” Noah asked over the CB.

  “The road is blocked up ahead…I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to get past this shit.” I answered into the CB microphone.

  “Baby—look there!” Sheila stated pointing to an opening in the area ahead that looked like it would take us through a parking lot to some kind of small business.

  I nodded and started in that direction passing through the obstructions with ease and I was able to lead my group through the parking lot and around to the other side of the blockade and back onto the roadway that we had been using—the storm around us was really bad, the wind was blowing really bad and the rain was coming down almost sideways; as we continued away from High Level it seemed to get worse and as the day waned and nightfall approached the rain only slightly subsided, by the time it was completely dark we had made it past the town of Steen River and we were steadily approaching the last town we’d pass through in Alberta, which was Indian Cabins.

  “Fucking hell…what the hell is this…” I stated out loud as I could make out wetlands around the area we were passing through.

  It looked like the rain had swelled the river nearby and caused it to flood over the roadway that we were on.

  “Not this shit again…” Jennifer stated in an aggravated tone.

  “We should be okay as long as we take it slow…we don’t have any other choice.” I answered glancing at her and then at my other women.

  That was when Hugo’s voice sounded over the CB on the dash.

  “Are we going to be able to make it past those floodwaters?”

  “We should be able to make it—let’s be careful though.” I answered into the CB microphone.

  Swallowing the lumps in our throats so to speak, we started toward the floodwaters knowing that this could either make or break us and I led the way through first not having much trouble—the others behind us seemed to be doing okay and we were more than halfway through when Jennifer, Sheila and Rachel called my attention to the fact that there were bodies floating through the floodwaters past us and some of them were getting caught on the outside of not only our marauder but the others’ vehicles behind us.

  “Shit—those bodies are dead-heads!” Shae stated as several of the bodies came to life and started moving.

  They were trying to pull themselves up out of the water and get at the windows of the vehicles—I knew that our first and main priority was to get across this swell and then we’d worry about the dead-heads after that; luckily it didn’t take but another couple of minutes to get back onto the roadway on the opposite side that wasn’t flooded and Jennifer drew her large caliber revolver and rolled her window down long enough to cap the zombie that had been hanging onto the right side of our marauder. The others behind us were taking care of the other zombies that had grabbed onto the sides of their vehicles as well and after a few short minutes we were able to continue on.

  “That was kinda creepy…no telling how far off those things were carried by those floodwaters.” Richard stated on his end.

  “I’ve about had it up to here with rain…” Morgana stated in the background.

  Her statement caused several of the others to laugh but I knew where she was coming from—we had had more than our share of it since we had started out on this long and dangerous trip; there wasn’t much more conversation as we continued traveling into the early hours of the next morning, by then we had passed Indian Cabins and we were only a few kilometers from the Northwest Territories border as I could see the sign in the gloom of the early morning light.

  “That’s it—we’re almost to Northwest Territories…soon we’ll be at our destination and soon we’ll learn if this trip has been for a good cause.” I stated with a distant stare as I picked up driving again.

  As the night gave way to morning, we started seeing signs of the first town of the province that we’d be passing through—it was a place called Grumbler, we’d be on the same roadway until we got to the next town of Enterprise and then we’d turn left onto highway 1 just past Kakisa and then we’d turn right heading north on highway 3 past Fort Providence.

  “That’s a huge lake that we’re getting close to�
�” Chloe stated as we could make out the distant body of water on the horizon.

  “That’s Great Slave Lake…Yellowknife is located on the northern side of it—we’ll have to cross a small part of it when we get close to Rae.” Sheila stated looking over the road atlas.

  “Yeah—after that, we’ll have to figure out what road we’re going to have to take in order to get to Echo Bay.” I stated as I used the palm of my left hand to shield my eyes from the rising sun.

  It didn’t take long for us to reach the outskirts of the town of Enterprise and bypass it—there were legions of dead-heads and other mutations in and around the city that we were able to spot through our binoculars before ever getting close and we had been able to avoid them; I took highway 1 leading the way west toward Kakisa and it seemed like everyone’s eyes were on the massive Great Slave Lake that was only slightly smaller than Great Bear Lake in size comparison—I kept having this gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was wrong, that something bad was about to happen.

  “I don’t know what it is…but I have a bad feeling…” I stated as I kept my eyes on the roadway ahead of me.

  “That’s not good…I’ve come to believe in your feelings and dreams, you seem to have a psychic touch in these things…” Jennifer stated touching my right leg with her left hand.

  The next few hours was mostly silent as we passed Kakisa and headed north along highway 3 toward Fort Providence, soon after I led the way across a span of bridge that was mostly clear except for a few wrecked and burned out vehicles and once we were on the other side we continued northeast toward Rae and sometime around 3 pm we stopped to switch drivers, get something to eat and take care of bathroom breaks—most of us took care of business in some bushes not far from the roadway while a good number of others stood watch for signs of trouble; after that we continued and two and a half hours later we were getting really close to Rae—I could see the lake to our right and the massive bridge ahead that would lead us across and the feeling that I had had in the pit of my stomach got so bad at that point that I nearly vomited.