The Azrael (Book 4): Tricon

by Gagnon, Jesse

  “It’s locked, we missed it.” He admitted.

  The door clicked once more. He quickly opened it and they entered as an armed man closed the door behind them. Guns were directed at them. John and Savanna held their arms up in response.

  “Whoa, we’re friendly.” He explained.

  A man did a personnel inspection for weapons on John and a tall butch woman did the same to Savana. They were a bit aggressive in their search, not taking anything to chance. They also inspected their bodies for bites or any other infections. They took their guns, knives, ammunition and their gun holsters. Both of their identification cards were located and tossed over to a strong looking man in full SWAT body armor wearing an earpiece. He studied the cards while inspecting John and Savanna with a sharp eye. He smiled, turned away and mumbled into the earpiece. It was inaudible to John and Savanna. He was satisfied with their documentation and pitched them to a man next to him who clumsily caught them.

  “They check out. Send them up.” The man instructed and entered a room nearby. The door closed behind him. John and Savanna were directed with muzzles in their backs towards a staircase about two hundred feet away from the entrance to the building.

  The interior had been renovated with thick steel reinforced walls that shielded the entire space. The large doors that exited into the shopping portion of the supercenter were replaced with a massive steel plate that was laid on a line of steel ball bearings in a trench just big enough to hold them in tightly so the makeshift door could slide over them with ease. It was closed, locked in place by eight heavy bars. Four were attached to the door and could slide into a recess three feet deep into the floor while four bars were locked in place to a steel housing on the wall just above the door. A small stepladder leaned on the wall near the locking mechanism so the guards could activate the top locks more easily. Two armed guards paused their conversation as John and Savanna walked towards them.

  “Do you guys go in there for supplies?” John asked and nodded over towards the steel door.

  “Sure, we go in there all the time. You want a case of beer?” He answered sarcastically to John. The other guard laughed and shook his head in response. “This guy?” He continued while pointing his thumb at John and laughing.

  After John and Savanna were urged past them, John could hear the two men continue their conversation about his question.

  “What the fuck’s that all about?” John whispered to Savanna.

  “With the look of things, I doubt they have enough firepower to take the place over or they would have by now.” Savanna whispered back.

  “Smart girl, this one.” One of the men directing them down the hall responded to her remarks. He was about John’s size with a clean shave, a dark tan and greasy black hair slicked back into a ponytail. “The stairs, up…” John and Savanna paused. “…Go!” He continued.

  John and Savana exited the staircase and entered a room nearby. Several monitors observed everything inside and outside of the facility. A woman, maybe in her late fifties, toggled some switches and knobs on the console in front of the largest display screen. It highlighted the front of the building beyond the parking lot. It appeared that the original cameras had been replaced with a high definition version fitted with a strong telescopic lens.

  Five massive Azrael led a herd of several hundred, completely nude and malnourished Azrael, towards the building. After identifying each elder Azrael, the woman zoomed out and released a sigh. She shook her head as she turned to face them. Her face appeared older than it should have been and the glasses on her face hung at the bottom of her nose.

  “Not lookin’ good.” She griped.

  “We had nowhere else to go.” Savanna answered.

  “You could have driven into them. But, the looks of your truck…” She toggled the screen on another smaller display to show the damage of their vehicle. “…shows that you tried that already. And here you are.” She looked back up at them.

  “We didn’t see them until they were on top of us.” Savanna explained.

  “The fog?” She asked. Savanna nodded.

  “By that time it was too late. We tried turning around but were surrounded by those ones.” Savanna pointed to the naked ones.

  “The reborn.” She answered and sighed again. She took a seat and crossed her legs. She wore form-fitting dark blue jeans and an oversized gray hooded sweatshirt that had a Chicago Cubs logo on it. She removed a cigarette from a pack from the front pouch of her sweatshirt and placed it in her mouth. “You mind?” She asked gesturing to the cigarette dangling from her lip.

  “We don’t mind.” John answered for them. Savanna agreed with him.

  “Thanks.” She lit the end of it and took in a massive drag. She blew the smoke out the right side of her mouth, away from them. “You seem like smart people. They say you’re with the Highwaymen.” She paused and studied their id cards that a man left for her on a table near the door. She fidgeted with them in between her fingers. “Now, Savanna and John, those names are familiar ones.” She spoke around her cigarette as it clung to her dry lips on a wet spot that served as an adhesive to it.

  “What did we do?” John asked, hoping that it wasn’t bad.

  “Me and a handful of my men know your names well.” She took in another massive drag and removed the cigarette from her mouth with two fingers. “You saved my grandbabies at Landcaster Gardens from an approaching herd. They said the two leading the retrieval were Savanna and John.” She pointed at them with the two fingers holding the cigarette. “One of my men actually claimed to have met you during the rescue mission.” She finally exhaled out the side of her mouth causing a thick white cloud to settle next to her face. It bellowed and expanded almost hiding her face completely.

  “I remember Landcaster Gardens. We got lucky that we found them when we did.” Savanna remembered.

  “Patterson…Patterson. A Justin Patterson sound familiar to you?” John asked.

  “Patterson?” The woman pondered for a minute. “Yes, Justin used to be a sweet young man, if I remember right. He used to work for the guard until, well you know.” She stood up and studied the cameras. The herd was in the parking lot and surrounded the entire building. Most of them were nude. She mumbled something inaudible.

  “The Azrael have changed him.” Savanna admitted.

  “Not them…no, uh uh. It’s what man did to them…all of them.” She blew smoke at the screen.

  “The ones that were gassed?” John mumbled.

  “He told you about that?” She scowled.

  “We saw them at the Tricon facility.” He pointed towards the naked Azrael on the screen. “Said they were the sick people in town. The government had them executed with gas in fear that they would turn into zombies.” John remembered Justin’s story.

  “The lucky ones.” The woman answered and took in another big drag while squinting her eyes.

  “Lucky ones?” John was confused.

  “I’m lost, fill me in.” Savanna added completely unaware of the story. She gave John a confused look. The woman exhaled, studied the used up cigarette and squished it on the table, extinguishing the burning embers of it. She placed it in an ashtray nearby.

  “You see, when people are afraid of something they tend to react in excessive ways. The first caught that were actually infected were gassed. When that didn’t work they were lined up in front of a firing squad and shot until dead, which meant more than one bullet for almost all of them.”

  “Headshots…or sever the head from the body.” John added.

  “Exactly.” She scratched the back of her head and studied the large screen once more. She zoomed in on one of the Alpha Azrael. It sniffed the air and twitched its head back and forth following a scent in the air. “You see, those kids that joined weren’t experienced warfighters. They were those who wanted to serve their country while still living in their country. They had plans to go to college or no plans at all. They weren’t murderers.”

  “But it was the r
ight thing to do, destroy the brain. That’s what stops them.”

  “Correct. We know this now. But in the beginning, the Azrael didn’t look like they do now. They looked exactly like the person who they used to be. Sure, they had those creepy zombie eyes and moved like some crazed gorilla, but they were still human…like. These young men and women weren’t murderers. And when you have some scared shitless eighteen year old kid who probably just moved out of their parent’s house executing human-like looking people, things get ugly real fast.” She continued.

  “I guess that makes sense.” Savanna admitted.

  “Once the big wigs realized how much ammunition they used on those that had turned, they got the idea of gassin’ those that were showing signs that they were sick. They quarantined anybody that displayed unhealthy symptoms. Separated them like cattle for the slaughter. There were hundreds of them, men, women and children. They figured that it would stop the virus from spreading, thinking it was some new super cold virus.” She shook her head and studied the blank expressions on the Azrael as they roamed about. “And that brings me to you two. Why are you here?”

  “Tricon, our friends are going back to get more information about the place. I…” Savanna paused.

  “She was being held prisoner there. I just got her back from there and we have no desire to go back there.” John interrupted.

  “Thanks, John.” She patted him on the shoulder and smiled.

  “Don’t worry about it, Babe.” John winked at her.

  “So…?” She asked again and nodded to one of the men outside the door. He disappeared down the steps shortly after. John and Savanna noticed.

  “We were asked to scavenge for resources since we didn’t want to go back with them.” John answered.

  “So you expected this giant Supercenter was going to yield a good raid.” She asked.

  “I did but she believed it would get us killed.”

  “Smart woman ya got there. Let her make all the important decisions from here on out, okay.” She laughed and nodded towards Savanna.

  “That herd kept us from going anywhere else. So here we are.” John finished.

  “What’s going on here? I don’t understand what this is?” Savana asked while gesturing to everything around her.

  “John was right to come here. It’s still stocked full of items but there are hundreds of Azrael inside. We’ve taken everything from the back that’s of any use. But the shelves are stocked. The pharmacy is our main objective. The medicine in there could help thousands of people.”

  “But?” John interrupted.

  “But, it’s in the front of the store. We’ve lost fourteen men to this place already.” She admitted with regret in her voice.

  “Have you gotten anything worth a damn yet?” John asked.

  “Some of the vehicle maintenance items, fishing gear and sports equipment. All the guns, ammunition and knives had been picked through before we got here. Nothing too helpful, I guess. The further we go the more dangerous it becomes.” She explained.

  “I don’t mean to pry, but where you takin’ all this stuff?” John asked.

  She paused and smiled at them both. “The million dollar question.” Her eyes danced from the door to John several times.

  “Huh?” John was confused.

  “I guess that should have been your first question after you spilled all of your guts about your friends and Savanna, John.” She wore a wicked grin.

  “What’s going on?” Savanna became unsettled as a group of men entered the room.

  “Tricon, we work for Tricon my dear…” Savanna’s eyes grew. “Welcome home, Honey.” She finished.

  One of the men stuck a syringe in the back of her neck while three others wrestled with John. He managed to knock one of them out with a right hook to his temple and sent another backwards with an elbow to the stomach. A third came behind him and injected the same tranquilizing agent into the back of his neck. He continued to fight through the dose. His eyes blurred while a fourth man held him down with much effort. He watched as two men dragged Savanna away.

  “Savanna! I…” His words were interrupted by a punch to the face. “…you punch like a little bitch.” He spat blood and grinned as he brought his head up with much effort. It was the butch female from earlier that searched Savanna.

  “Is that so? Well, this bitch is about to fuck your world up.” She smiled and proceeded to punch and kick John in the face as two men held him down to both knees. The old woman gave him another dose after seeing the struggle.

  “Fuck…you...” John continued to shit talk. The butch woman and the two large men bloodied his face and broke his nose after several minutes of intense attacks.

  “Don’t kill him, dear.” The old woman instructed.

  “He killed Everett, Mom.” She put her hands on her knees and panted. “This piece of rat shit’s gonna pay.” The young woman argued and stood up tall cracking her back in the process.

  “And they will…they all will.” The old woman laughed and patted the young woman on the back. John fell to the fetal position shielding his head with his arms and brought his knees into his chest as the other guards continued to work him over. The butch woman sighed.

  “Fine…put him in the room.” She instructed after spitting on him followed by one more boot to his face.

  She wheezed and scowled from the work that she had to put into the ass beating. They exited the room and descended the stairs. The men pulled John to his feet and carried him downstairs to a room down the hall. As soon as they unlocked the door, they tossed him onto the floor and relocked the door.

  Why did the name Everett sound so familiar? John contemplated since it was spoken. A million other things sped through his mind about Savanna. He reflected on Mario and Simon. He wondered if they were in danger due to their loose lips. He wondered if Justin was a spy working for Tricon. He thought of Savanna once more as the drugs finally put him out.

  Chapter 38

  You in Danger, Girl.

  Travelling on a heavily weathered highway in search for a vehicle with gas seemed impossible the first fifteen miles into the walk.

  “We’ve been walking for over five hours. Why are there no cars?” Samantha sighed as she complained under her breath. She might as well have shouted it because all company present had amplified hearing. Thirty feet ahead Giselle responded.

  “That’s nothin’ girl. We jogged…” She turned to Toko. “…fifty eight or was it sixty-eight miles?”

  “It was only forty-eight, Miss Giselle.”

  “I could have sworn it was further.” Giselle scratched the top of her head in contemplation.

  Jason was about ten feet behind Samantha to provide rear protection for the young woman. She turned and noticed that Jason wasn’t even wearing shoes.

  “Do your feet hurt at all?” She asked while aiming her eyes at his dirty and heavily calloused feet.

  Jason stopped, glanced down and lifted one foot while inspecting it for any cuts or bruises. He plopped his foot on the pavement and shook his head at her. He followed with a shrug and quickened his step to catch up.

  “That’s nuts. Since I’m the only normal one here, could we take a break for a minute? I, uh, think I have a rock in my shoe or something.” Samantha lied trying to do anything just to take a quick break.

  “Sure, we can rest over there.” Giselle pointed to a house roughly a hundred feet from the asphalt at about a hundred and fifty yards up the street.

  “Where?” Samantha squinted down the road.

  “Right there. It’s white with blue shutters. You don’t…” She turned to see Samantha struggling to see anything at all. “Oh yeah, you can’t see that far. Well, it’s there, just follow us.” Giselle jogged ahead.

  Samantha started to jog and Jason grabbed her shoulder. He shook his head, no.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked failing to understand his point.

  He gestured to his eyes with his left hand and waved his right hand all ove
r.

  “Oh, they’re looking for any threats?” She asked.

  He nodded.

  As Giselle neared the house, a strong aroma of Azrael wafted by her. She listened for movement and heard a good many feet shuffling in no real cadence. She turned to Toko and lowered her posture. He did the same.

  “Can you see them?” She asked. He shook his head. “I think they’re behind the house. Follow me.” Giselle carefully trotted through the grass avoiding any tree branches or loose sticks that would alert their presence.

  “On your six.” Toko said.

  “On my what? When did you get so tactical?”

  “It just sounded cool. Did I say it wrong?”

  “No, it just sounds weird coming from you.”

  “Trying to blend in with all the Americans.”

  “Try losing the accent.” Giselle wore a devilish grin.

  “Well, that would take…” Toko paused. “…look over there.”

  He pointed to a large cattle sorting fence that had about eight Azrael pressed against the small sliver of fence he could see. They grunted and recoiled as they came into contact with the electric fence. It appeared as if they were trapped within. However, a potential meal could inspire more courage if the Alpha is hungry enough.

  “Shit, how many do you think are there?” She asked in a whisper.

  “I don’t know Miss Giselle, maybe a hundred or more.” He speculated.

  “We can’t stay here. Not with Samantha. Let’s head back.” She instructed and Toko agreed.

  *

  “Hey, do you smell…”Samantha was interrupted by Jason knocking her out of the way before being bitten into by a large Azrael male. She hit the ground and stumbled to her feet quickly. “What was that…oh shit!”

  She noticed the large Azrael holding Jason a few feet off the ground by his neck. Jason grasped at his throat attempting to pry its fingers off with no success. It was a foot taller than Jason was and was as big around as a silverback gorilla. Another Azrael about Jason’s size charged in towards Samantha. She removed a 200 lumens flashlight from her bag and shined it in its eyes blinding it. She sprinted towards Giselle.