Capital Falling Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Winkless, Lance

  “Is it dead?” Jason eventually says.

  “Yes mate, it is, but we need to go, more might be coming.”

  The thought of more coming seems to spring Jason back to life and he starts to get up; he tries too quickly though. His head goes dizzy, so he has to stop on one knee to give time for oxygen to replace whatever chemicals his brain was flooded with, to keep going in the creature’s attack. He knows he is in shock; his limbs are cold and shaking and he feels very queasy, but he can’t try to recover here. Tyrone is right, more are probably coming, especially following all the noise that has just happened.

  The dizziness eases off, so Jason tries again to get to his feet and with the help of Tyrone, he manages it.

  “Where is Den?” Jason asks.

  “He went off to find the staff toilets; he wouldn’t use the children’s ones we came across, funny bugger.”

  “He has his moments, but we need to find him and get back to our Squad, I think they are under attack,” Jason tells Tyrone. “Are the back playing fields clear?

  Tyrone eases over towards the back of the classroom, the glass from the smashed back window crunching under his feet into even smaller shards as he goes, stepping slowly towards it, his rifle up, at the ready.

  “It looks clear. I think you were unlucky and got a stray one,” he says.

  “Unlucky is one way to describe it, I can’t believe how fast and strong that thing was, I thought I’d had it! You killed it just in time. Thanks, I owe you one,” Jason tells him seriously.

  “No need to thank me, bro, we got each other’s backs,” Tyrone says as he comes back across the room.

  “No doubt, but thanks.”

  “Come on, let’s go and find Denny boy,” Tyrone says, slaps Jason on the back and they leave the carnage of the classroom behind.

  Chapter 11

  “Any idea where the staff toilets are?” Jason asks.

  “No, but I guess they will be by the main entrance to the school, so this way,” Tyrone replies, taking the lead.

  The two men make their way through the dim corridors of the school, moving as quickly as they can, but deliberately, covering each other and checking their corners, taking no chances after what has just happened.

  As they approach the main entrance to the school, the light increases somewhat, the sun coming through the large windows of the square open area adjacent to the main doors. There is a reception desk at the side to greet visitors that come through the main doors, and various offices around the perimeter, but they can’t see any toilets.

  “Where the fuck is, he?” Tyrone asks.

  “That’s got to be the Assembly Hall through those doors,” Jason says pointing to a set of double doors opposite the main doors. “The staff toilets must be down that corridor there,” Jason’s arm moves to point down a corridor opposite them on the other side of the square.

  “Cover me,” Tyrone tells Jason and he steps out from the corridor to cross the square; he’s crouched down, his rifle aimed in front of him, and it swings from side to side as he crosses, checking blind spots. He reaches the other side and he immediately backs up against the opposite wall and points his rifle back towards Jason to cover him as he crosses.

  Jason crosses the square and enters the new corridor straight away, hoping the staff toilets are near; they are, just inside the corridor, on the left.

  “Here they are,” Jason informs Tyrone, who backs up towards him, keeping his rifle trained on their rear.

  “Go and get him, I’ll cover us from out here,” Tyrone says.

  Jason lets his rifle down, its strap holding it against the front of his body and he pops the holster on his hip open and takes out his Glock sidearm, which is far more suitable for confined spaces. Holding the piston up but close to him in his right hand, he pushes the door of the Gents’ toilet open with his left and enters.

  A second door is just in front of him and he pushes this one only slightly open and peers into the toilets through the crack.

  “Den, you in here?” he says quietly, but no answer comes.

  Surely Den hasn’t decided to use the Ladies’, Jason thinks to himself, Den can be a strange one sometimes and I wouldn’t put it past him… There is only one way to find out. He pushes the door open wider and goes in.

  Jason sees the feet first, sticking out of the end cubicle, along the floor and he immediately feels his body tighten. Something is horribly wrong. He goes in further towards the cubical and as he does, he hears a squelching sound. Fear is now coursing through his body again and he fights the urge to retreat back into the corridor, to tell Tyrone and get him to come back with him; his mate needs help and there isn’t a second to lose. Jason takes three quick steps forward and turns swiftly into the open cubicle, his Glock out in front of him at arm’s length now, his finger on the trigger.

  Den’s face stares at Jason, his head pointing to the right and propped up against the base of the toilet. Den’s eyelids quiver a small amount, but all the colour has disappeared from the skin of his blood-splattered face. And he must see Jason’s arrival because his mouth opens slightly in a futile attempt to try and say something to him.

  Jason’s fear is partly replaced by rage, rage at the creature that is on top of Den, its head buried into the side of Den’s neck, the top of the head moving as it eats. Jason himself had been so close to this fate only minutes ago, but Tyrone had found him just in time. He only wishes he could have been there for Den.

  The shot rings out around the close confines of the toilets as Jason shoots the Zombies in the back of the head if only that gave him any satisfaction, it doesn’t, all he feels is disappointment and sorrow that he wasn’t in time to save his friend.

  Quickly holstering his weapon, Jason drags the creature off Den, his anger giving him the strength to pull it out of the cubicle before he slams the limp body against the nearest wall. He then goes back into the cubicle to try and help his friend, even though Jason knows it is too late, the mission briefing making it very clear what happened if you were bitten. Den is not moving at all now, even his eyes are still, the quivering ceased. There is no sign of life at all, and there doesn’t even seem to be any blood coming out of his horrific neck wound.

  Jason barely hears Tyrone come into the toilets and stand behind him at the cubicle’s opening.

  “Bloody hell, man, how did that get in here? Err fuck, sorry Jay, this is bad,” Tyrone says, stumbling over his words before gathering himself. “Jay, we gotta go, sorry about Den, but we gotta go. They could be anywhere, that shot was loud!”

  “Okay, just give me a second to think!” Jason barks.

  “We gotta go, man,” Tyrone says, getting panicked.

  “I can’t leave him like this.” Just as Jason says it, Den’s body starts to convulse.

  Jason backs away from Den quickly, taken by surprise and not knowing what to expect next. The convulsing stops as quickly as it started though, and Den’s body goes limp again. Jason takes his Glock back out of its holster and aims it at Den’s forehead.

  “Whoa, what you doing?” Tyrone exclaims.

  “He’s going to turn; I’m not going to let that happen to him.”

  Jason refocuses his aim and goes to shoot, but can’t seem to pull the trigger. He tries to block out Den’s face, but it’s still there, looking at him. He tries to shoot again, his face grimacing, but he fails. He is just about to give up when Den starts convulsing, badly this time, and he doesn’t stop. Jason steels himself, aims, and shoots his friend in the head. Den’s body goes limp.

  “Let’s go,” Jason tells Tyrone as he pushes past him.

  They both have to put these recent appalling events out of their minds, and they both know that without it being said, they need to be fully focused if they are going to get out of this building and back to their Squad—if their Squad is even still alive?

  Jason takes the lead as they exit the toilets and he quickly takes the decision not to go back the way they came. The Zombie that got D
en must have wandered in through the open alleyway door into the building, and that means there could be more in that direction, so Jason takes them left out of the toilets.

  Moving slowly, Jason’s rifle aims forward up the new corridor while Tyrone’s rifle aims backwards, covering their rear. At the first door on the left, they come to a stop. Jason is planning to go into the first room on the left of the corridor they find, open the window and get out of it, and that will place them at the front of the building and closer to the road leading out of the school, up to the red gate.

  He tries the door handle, but the door is locked, and Tyrone gives him a pissed-off look when the door doesn’t open. There is one more door on the left side further down the corridor; they both hope for better luck there and move on.

  The two men breathe a sigh of relief as the door starts to open. Jason takes it slowly though, his rifle aiming into the gap and moving with the door as he swings it open to reveal an empty classroom. As he is about to step into the unfamiliar classroom, there is a definite echoing noise from somewhere inside the school, from the direction of the alleyway door. Swiftly, they both go into the classroom and quietly shut the door behind them.

  “I’ll check the windows, see what you can put up against that door to wedge it,” Jason instructs Tyrone.

  As Jason approaches the windows, he does so slowly, studying the carpark and grounds outside them; he’s not sure he could handle another Zombie smashing through the glass again. It all looks clear, so he goes over to the only one of the windows that opens, praying that it does open and isn’t locked. With another sigh of relief, the white handle pulls up and the window cracks open, letting a breeze that smells of smoke hit Jason’s face and increasing the sound of gunfire.

  “We’re in business,” Jason tells Tyrone in a loud whisper.

  “Let’s get outta here then, before we have visitors,” he responds as he finishes putting one of the small tables under the door handle.

  Jason, pushes the window wide open, climbs up onto the cupboard in front of the window, stoops and jumps down the short distance onto a small grass verge that is between the building and the tarmac. Tyrone is covering him as he goes. As soon as he lands, he moves to the side and crouches down, his back against the building, his rifle up and scanning to cover Tyrone’s jump.

  With them both out, Tyrone pushes the window closed before they move right towards the small road, staying close to the building and using it as cover. At the end of the building, Jason peers around the corner, down towards the playing fields. When he is sure it’s clear, he signals to Tyrone, who immediately runs, staying low across the small carpark to the flowerbed and trees beyond. Tyrone then nestles into the greenery, his camouflaged uniform doing its job and he covers Jason’s run. They repeat this well-trained method, one covering the other like clockwork as they move up the road towards the red gate.

  Jason is now one move away from the red gate, covering Tyrone from the side of the road, when he sees it; a Zombie comes out from behind the far side of the school building and onto the road. Shit, it’s too late to stop Tyrone! He’s already moving towards Jason’s position, and Jason holds his breath waiting to see if it sees Tyrone.

  For a moment, Jason thinks the Zombie isn’t going to see him, and it looks like it’s looking elsewhere. Jason is wrong; the Zombie does see Tyrone moving and immediately it takes off, sprinting unbelievably fast at him and as it does, it lets off a ferociously loud scream.

  Tyrone stumbles as he hears the scream, as if the scream physically jolts him and he nearly goes down, he manages to correct the stumble brilliantly though and he keeps going, not daring to look around. Tyrone races past Jason and is getting near to the gate, but the Zombie is catching him fast. Jason is quite sure that the Zombie hasn’t seen him in the undergrowth, so he waits, surprising himself by how calm he feels, as this female creature tears up the short road, nearing his position. When the Zombie gets within ten feet of Jason, he opens fire on it, shooting a short burst into its legs, which are ripped from beneath it and it goes down hard, its face smashing into the road. Jason immediately breaks cover, stands and shoots the withering creature through the head, he then turns and makes a break for the gate, reaching it in seconds, he jumps, placing one hand on top of the gate to help him glide over the top of it. Tyrone, is already over, with his rifle aimed over the gate to cover Jason’s retreat.

  “That was bloody well done, thanks mate, they are so fast, aren’t they?” Tyrone says still aiming over the gate to check no more Zombies are coming. When he is satisfied there aren’t, he ducks down behind the gate to join Jason who has taken a low position against the adjacent wall to cover the Barnard Road and to get his breath back.

  “It would be amazing how fast they are if it wasn’t so frightening mate,” Jason replies to Tyrone.

  They both go quiet for a moment, taking stock of their situation, which isn’t very inviting. Gunfire and explosions are constantly sounding, it seems from all directions; some of it is far off, but that noise is overpowered by the closer sounds of battle, the majority of which seems to be coming from the direction of the main road where they last saw their squad. Neither of them would have imagined that when they had left their Squad only a short time ago and they saw the poor people stuck in their houses, that they would be now jealous of those people and the relative security those buildings are affording them. The temptation to knock on the nearest door and take shelter is very tempting, especially from their exposed current position. Who knows, they may even be offered a cup of tea and a biscuit?

  “Are you ready?” Jason asks Tyrone, drowning any thoughts of them bugging out.

  “No time like the present, my good friend.”

  So, they move, leaving even the small bit of cover offered by the corner of the gate and wall behind. As soon as they turn right onto Barnard Road, they can see the junction with the main road. Somehow, they both remembered it being farther when they ran down from it to the school. Thankfully, it still looks relatively quiet on Barnard Road. They don’t take any chances though and move from one covering position to the next, working their way up to the junction, which they are both dreading reaching. Neither of them sees any people peering out of their windows as they go; the residents have retreated to take refuge wherever they feel safest in their homes, and who can blame them, with a battle against the Undead taking place one street over!

  Before they know it, Jason and Tyrone have reached the junction, stopping only about two meters away from it to assess what is actually happening, taking shelter in the opening to a path that leads up to a front door. Their vantage point is useless, however; all they can see is the junction and some of the main road that leads out of the city, which all looks the same as when they left apart from the smoke haze now hanging over the junction. The smoke is drifting up from where the battle is and from the noise alone, it is obvious they need to move position to get a look down the road towards the city.

  “Cover me, I’m going to have a look around the corner,” Jason tells Tyrone and starts to inch out of the opening and around to the right, following the low wall that traverses around the corner of the road. Passing the Barnard Road sign, he gets closer to getting a view, his head darting from one side to the other constantly looking for threats that might spring out of nowhere. Gunfire cracks and explosions are now loud and close; he gets down onto his belly, his rifle gripped in both hands out in front and he crawls the last meter or so. His legs and feet help push him forward and gradually the battle scene reveals itself to Jason’s unwanting eyes.

  At first, Jason’s shock is subdued by his confusion, and he struggles to make sense of the scene being acted out around 100 meters down the road. Trying to get his head around it, he is hampered further by all the smoke that blurs the view. His first impression is of a riot; there are agitated figures moving all over the wide road, and they seem to be concentrated around a mound in the middle. Then he sees it, his brain contorting as the realisation sinks in a
nd suddenly, the shock hits him.

  Machine-gun fire is erupting from the mound; it’s the Warrior, the Warrior is buried under a mound of Zombies, hundreds, if not thousands of them covering it completely, apart from the opening where the machine gun is firing.

  Someone is firing that machine gun, so the crew or at least one of them must still be alive inside the Warrior, but where is the rest of their Squad? Jason searches the mob, but he can’t see any Squad members. Have they retreated, are they dead or worse?

  Jason concentrates, looking closer, and eventually makes out one of the figures that looks like it is wearing camouflage but he isn’t fighting; he is climbing up the mound, ignored by all around, and he is going to the side of the small opening where the machine gun is firing. The figure, who is definitely in camouflage, stands and starts strangely clawing at its front. The figure then falls to the side straight in front of the machine gun opening, and as it does, the figure explodes into a ball of flames and smoke. As the smoke slowly clears, there is one thing missing; the sound of the machine gun has been silenced.

  “It sounds like World War Three! What is going on, how are the lads getting on?” Tyrone says from behind Jason, his legs bent and his back pinned to the low wall, his rifle aimed outwards.

  Jason doesn’t know how to answer Tyrone’s question, as he can’t find the words.

  “Jay?”

  “It’s terrible, have a look for yourself,” Jason eventually says, rolling onto his side to look at Tyrone.

  Both men’s concentration drops for a moment as they prepare to swap positions and they don’t see it until it’s almost upon them—and by then, it is too late to react. A tall long-haired male Zombie runs down the centre of the main road, its long black coat raised into the air, flowing behind it from the speed it is travelling at. Jason, panicking, tries to bring his rifle into some kind of firing position but he is too slow.