by Phil Maxey
Despite how focused she was on Scott’s story, she heard the footsteps coming from the nearby corridor and the unsteady heart beating.
Gregg stood in the doorway, his arm bandaged to his chest, another piece of gauze across his forehead. He smiled. “Hey there, Jess.”
For a moment she felt joy on seeing someone she’d presumed she would never see again and briefly returned his smile. “Good to see you, Gregg.”
Scott looked at the old man. “He’s a tough old boot, that one. Thought he was a gonna for sure. Anyway. Gregg, myself, and some others managed to get away.”
The strangeness of what Scott was telling her, then hit home. “Wait… that man. Lucas as you called him. He was injured, badly by what happened at Biochron. You’re telling me he changed?”
Gregg walked closer, awkwardly sitting.
Scott nodded. “Yeah he did, but it wasn’t like what I’ve seen before. It was like…”
“He was controlling the change?” said Jess.
“Yeah. You sound like you’ve seen that before?”
“Maybe…” Lachlan’s description of whatever Joan was, came to her mind.
“Point is of this little tale is that it scurried back to Biochron. I don’t know why it even came with us. It was like it was putting on a little show, and then killed who it could. So yeah, that place is where it is, as well as just about every one of those bastards from a thousand mile radius. They all started arriving yesterday. Can’t tell you why, but there’s no easy way of getting inside your company’s building.”
Anger started to rise inside her. She needed solutions. “You said you were going to help me…”
He looked at the dark-haired woman seated just behind him. “Meet Sergeant Luciana—”
“Luci,” said the woman.
“— Serrano. Expert in making things go boom. Or whatever the technical—”
She frowned. “I’m not an expert and my job was to stop things going boom.” She looked at Jess. “If you want to get into Biochron. You’re going to need our help.”
“You want to blow the… creatures up?”
“Well, I was thinking more of making a distraction, but yeah, that works too.”
“And you got what you need?”
Luci and Scott exchanged a brief glance, he rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah… about that…”
CHAPTER TWELVE
1: 34 p.m. Biochron.
I’m a ghost…
Sam floated in the ether. Her world had constricted to just a few feet in all directions, and she was dissolving. She had kept her eyes closed only opening them to gain glimpses of what was happening to her limbs, stomach and shoulders. All of which were now covered in a patchwork of holes. The substance she was swimming in was literally eating her alive. But strangely she was still breathing, her heart still pumping, her brain still functioning. She didn’t even feel much in the way of pain. Just a mild burning sensation, which she couldn’t even tell was coming from her body or her mind. The thing that was doing this to her hadn’t made anymore appearances, which she was thankful for. But she had heard the clanks and booms beyond the glass wall. He was out there behind the swirling currents of liquid, doing whatever it is that mad scientists do. She thought there were worse ways to die. She had come close several times over the past five days, but somehow had survived.
Not this time…
Voices came from outside her oily tomb.
Someone else?
She was curious who else was part of the crazy monster’s scheme and had become quite adept at maneurvering within the liquid. With a subtle push and an equally gentle wave of her hands and legs, she floated forward a few inches until her breathing apparatus touched the glass, and with a little more nudging…
She could see the room beyond the giant capsule she was in. It looked different to when she was in it with Joan, even more overrun with green-gray, organic material but the floor was still relatively clear, as was a bank of computer screens. The scientist was standing with his back to her and there was someone or something in front of him. Someone slightly taller, but she couldn’t see their face, just muscular, human—
The scientist turned around making Sam wiggle her feet to try to float backwards, but it was too late and the middle-aged man she hated smiled in her direction. More intriguing was the younger man. His impossibly muscular torso, naked from the waist up. Gaining a little momentum she became submerged once more within the liquid, the density of it providing her some comfort as she could no longer see the room outside.
A knock boomed through the glass. He… was knocking with his malformed hands on the wall between her and the world of insanity. She tried to pull away, knowing that his demonic face would soon make itself clear but she was at the end of the chains which held her, so instead she closed her eyes. A muffled voice came to her ears, regardless.
“Did you see what you have helped create? His name is Finn… and he will be the first of many! Your DNA, your genetic code helped create his own…”
She wasn’t sure where it came from but anger rose up within her and she pushed forward towards her captor, her mouthpiece and goggles banging up against the glass and to her delight the scientist recoiled. Perhaps it was what he saw in her eyes that put fear in his own. The smile, the one she hated soon returned though.
“Your time will be over soon. Your healing ability cannot sustain you forever. Just know, that your death has given birth to a new species of human being. Something your mother could have been part of… but…” He turned away.
But? But what?
There was something in the tone in his voice. Something about her mother… she was sure she sensed it…
Are you close, mom?
For a fraction of a second a dangerous emotion started to take root within her mind, but the hope of rescue would truly make her insane. So instead she closed her eyes and floated back into the green void.
*****
1: 51 p.m. Highway 63. Rufus’s House.
Meg and Rufus watched Vance with two other men emerge from the diner and walk towards them. She only knew them as Tyler and the shorter in height and older, Roy. They came up to the front deck.
“Reckon its dead, but we should burn it,” said Vance.
Rufus nodded. He had been strangely quiet, thought Meg, since the incident in the diner.
“We’re low on fuel,” she replied. “And most of the wood around here is going to be soaking wet.”
“I got lots of cooking oil in the storeroom,” said Rufus. “At the back of the diner. You can use that.”
“Okay. Where you want us to do it?”
Rufus pointed to their left, to a snow-covered field and trees at the back of it. “Beyond that field. About a mile off. Used to belong to a neighbor… burn it there. I don’t want the stench making its way back here.”
Vance nodded and with the other two, turned back to the diner and traipsed away over the compacted snow. Rufus moved back inside, but Meg walked down the steps, catching up with Vance. “Is there anyone still here?”
“Nope. They all left. Gone back to the school.”
“We may only have one day left of this madness, but…”
They all paused at the entrance, taking a brief look at what was still inside. Since the moment of chaos an hour before, what used to be a human had degraded into something else. Something even less recognizable and the stench confirmed it.
“But?”
“Tyler and I will get started making room,” said Roy. “Clear out those chairs and tables. Maybe find some tarpaulin or something to wrap it up in. And find that oil the priest was talking about.”
“Make sure not to touch it or get any of that stuff on you,” said Vance.
They nodded then pushed open the windowless door and went inside.
Meg moved a little closer to Vance. “People shouldn’t be in large groups. They should stay separated. In different rooms in the school if possible, in case—”
Vance raised h
is hand. “I hear what you’re saying. Yeah, reckon that’s a good idea. I’ll get on the radio and tell Sheryl.” He went to move away.
“Um, I haven’t had a chance to say it, but thanks for saving my life. And the kids.”
“Weren’t just me.”
“I know. I have a few more ‘thank you’s’ to give out.”
He nodded and followed the others into the wreckage inside. Meg being happy when he closed the door behind him. Despite the panes of glass at the entrance now lying in pieces on the frozen ground, it still provided some barrier to what lay within. She didn’t want to see or smell what the old man had become… what any of them could become. She looked back at Rufus’s home and sighed. The gathering had meant a lot to the old pastor and its subsequent descent into carnage, she could tell had hit him hard.
Josh appeared on the deck with Donnie, the small dog restrained by a home made leash. She waved but the boy just frowned and walked down the steps then along the path that ran behind the house. The door swung open for a second time.
“Hey, wait up!” shouted Agatha, with Toby and Helen, all suitably wrapped in winter clothing running to catch up with him.
It was a normal scene during a crazy time, and one that gave her some hope for the future.
“One more day,” she whispered and started walking back to the house. “And it’s over.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
2: 18 p.m. Southern Denver.
A cool breeze wafted across Jess as she stood in the once modern and proud lobby of the office building. The floor was covered in wrecked pieces of furniture, remnants of glossy magazines and shattered picture frames and beyond the jagged holes that were once ten-foot high glass windows, was the SWAT vehicle she was rescued in, bathed in the afternoon sun.
“You sensing anything?” said Sanchez to her left. Scott, to her right looked slightly bemused at the question.
She shook her head which wasn’t a completely honest response. She did sense some of the things, but she didn’t care. There were just a few, far less than what they were heading towards.
“We standing around here all day, or we doing this?” said a tall man with short cropped brown hair, who had been introduced to her as corporal Miller. Luci was to his right.
Scott looked at the volunteers. “By time I start the engine, I want all of you in the back. If you’re not, you’re not coming on our little adventure. We get to the highway, which is just past the exit over there—” he nodded towards the intersection beyond the parking lot. “— And it takes us all the way to the armory. Luci knows the building’s layout, so we follow her. We get what we need then we head straight to Biochron. And somehow in the middle of that shitshow she lays the charges and we go in and get the kid.” He looked at Jess who nodded.
Every part of her wanted to run out into the lot, find any vehicle with keys and drive it straight to her former workplace. But she knew that would be pointless. The best chance to rescue her daughter was keeping to the plan the more military minded had formulated.
“Let’s go,” said Scott, walking around destruction on the floor and stepping over the broken glass, waving his MP5 at the edges of the lot. “Looks clear!” He ran to the driver’s door of the large truck, pulling it open and jumping up. Miller did the same with the rear door and they bundled inside as the engine fired up and the truck moved off.
Jess sat opposite Miller with Sanchez to her right who was looking at the tall soldier.
“You got a problem?” said Miller to him as their vehicle bumped up and down.
“No problem.”
They sped over a curb, weaved around an abandoned brown 80s pickup and surged up the ramp onto the six-lane piece of road. Jess looked to the front, through the gap to the windshield and the columns of vehicles lined up against the walls to the left and right.
“We cleared them yesterday,” said Miller to her. “Makes for an easier ride into the city.” He looked to those up front. “Seeing any of the things?”
She already knew the answer, the tingling at the base of her skull informing her.
“Got a few stragglers on the highway,” said Scott. “If they know what’s—”
Jess grabbed the seat as the truck veered to the side. There was a crunch and a screech.
“Guess they don’t know what’s good for them,” he continued.
“How far is it?” she said.
“Not far,” replied Luci. “Few minutes if the highway is clear.”
Jess noticed Miller looking at her but chose to ignore the attention.
“How your kid end up at at the place that ended the world?”
The truck veered to the side again, this time avoiding an abandoned ambulance.
“It’s a long story.”
“Would be nice to know why I’m risking my ass.”
She met his blue eyes with her own. “Feel free to get out…”
He frowned, looking away. “And miss all the fun. Nah.”
They were soon heading deeper into the suburban sprawl the highway cut through, which was peppered with superstores and apartment complexes.
An ache took root across her forehead. “I think they’re—”
“Oh, here we go,” said Luci.
“They know we’re here!” shouted Scott, trying to be heard over the engine.
Jess leaned forward to see out front. Something with human legs, but multiple tentacles for a torso, its former human clothes hanging in rags, staggered down the muddy bank at the side of the highway. Close behind came something else, even more indescribable. Its four legs supporting a lizard like head which hung from a long scaly neck. This thing moved quicker, and charged past the other bounding onto the highway heading straight for the truck.
“Got one coming at us fast!” shouted Luci, sliding her window down and balancing her M4 assault rifle on the frame. She let rip a short burst, the bullets tearing into the thing, thirty-feet away. Its legs gave out and it fell to the concrete, but immediately strips of what looked like flesh sprung from its side, forming new appendages.
The truck sped past.
Luci looked back to the road. “We’re almost there! Everyone be ready!”
The truck swung a hard left at an intersection, weaving around remains of vehicles. Scott gestured to their right. Brown awkward things were running across the sandy ground of a building side, knocking over piles of pipes and cement mixers.
“I see them!” Luci fired off another round, this time continuing as creature after creature reached a chain-link fence that bordered the road, the barrier breaking apart as they pushed through in a frenzy.
“More on the left!”
Miller moved across the aisle, sliding one of the shutters covering the slits to the side and immediately fired.
Jess swallowed. The pain of the presence of the mutated people throbbed in her skull. She hated the sight of the things, but she hated she could feel them even more. Feel their blind hatred for anything human. Their want to assimilate people into what they were. The cabin swung violently, making those inside grab onto what they could as Scott took a hard right.
“More coming from the left!” shouted Scott again.”
“Get ready to jump out!” shouted Luci.
Sanchez said something in Spanish under his breath, while his fingers motioned in a cross across his chest. He and Jess both gripped their weapons.
Miller looked down to his side. “God ain’t gonna save you, pal.”
The truck made a sudden jolt left then right, then left again, the brakes coming in hard as everyone held on the best they could to resist the momentum.
“Now!” shouted Luci, pushing her door open, Miller doing the same at the rear, both jumping out and immediately firing at things rushing across patches of ground beyond the nearby roads.
Jess stepped off the back to a parking lot. Humvee’s and APC’s sat in neat columns behind a metal fence. She swung around to her right to face a few stories of brown-bricks, consisting of a wide block-like s
tructure lacking much in the way of windows.
Miller kneeled, firing left and right at hideous formations of claws and skin. “I got this! Go!”
It was then Jess realized Scott had a large pair of bolt cutters in his hands. He ran to a metal shutter for vehicles, immediately applying pressure to the chain across the latch. With a heave the links snapped and fell and with Sanchez the shutter was pulled upright.
“Come on!” shouted Luci to Miller, who turned and all five ducked under the barrier, pulling it closed behind them.
Thumps came from the ground outside with screeches as beams from Scott and Luci’s flashlights slid across a shell of a Humvee parked in a garage. The smell of paint and oil hung in the air and one of the truck’s doors lay on the stained ground. He ran forward to a work top which stretched along the left wall, picking up a tire iron, then ran back to the metal shutter just as something heavy slammed into it sending a bulge through the thin barrier. “Help me get this in place, before they break though!”
Jess beat Miller to Scott’s side, grabbing hold of the handle on the large door, holding it as the strips of metal repeatedly shuddered.
Scott slid the iron through the latch, lodging it against the ground and let go. “There. Done it.” He looked at the door, which was still shaking while growls came from just a few feet away. “Not going to hold for long.”
Luci jogged past the wrecked vehicle, up a small set of metal steps and pushed her light into the gloom beyond an open door. Miller started to talk but she held up her hand. The small group listened then she nodded. “I think we’re safe.”
They moved into a narrow corridor with a polished floor and bland gray walls. Despite the formidable exterior, the interior was small and cramped, but the few feet of concrete couldn’t keep the noise of what was building up outside, quiet. Everyone could hear the din of what had become of the city’s denizens. And from the sensation of a thousand needles pricking Jess’s skin, she could tell there were more coming from further afield.
