The Azrael (Book 4): Tricon

by Gagnon, Jesse

  “Dr. Aoki will be with you shortly in Room 105.” A young woman spoke.

  François had not met her before. She stood up from behind the desk facing the front door and gestured to her right. She studied Taliah curiously, as they passed by. Dr. Louis speed walked to catch up. He nodded over to the young woman with a crooked smile. He had been attempting a date with her for a few months and wanted her to see him in action now that she was assigned to this new job. Unfortunately, today he was but a doorman and her interest had still not been established. She gave him a quick friendly smile and noticed her gaze into her book as she sat. Realizing that he had been less impressive than he wished, he gained a slouch.

  François entered Room 105, laid Taliah down on her back, and gently placed a pillow beneath her head. Dr. Ang adjusted the bed’s frame to form to her curves with a remote controlled device attached to it. François sighed and took a few steps back while placing both hands on his hips. Dr. Ang placed her right hand on his lower back and rubbed gently.

  “Thanks Jen. Can always count on you.” François smiled at her but still wore a worried face.

  “Don’t worry François. I’m sure she’ll recover. Dr. Aoki’s a real boffin.” She made an effort to comfort him. He nodded as he observed Taliah breathing lightly.

  “I hope so.”

  Three minutes later Dr. Aoki entered the room blinking excessively. Lines on his face indicated that he had been recently asleep.

  “You will have excuse appearance. I was not expecting patient this hour.” Dr. Aoki’s thick Japanese accent was difficult to understand. Yet, François figured it out when he noticed that Dr. Aoki was wearing house slippers.

  “Your appearance does not matter doc. Your expertise, however, is of extreme importance.” François answered.

  “This is Taliah Banks, am I right?” He asked.

  “Yes doc, this is Ms. Banks.” François responded. The doctor studied the clipboard that Dr. Ang handed him with all of her vitals and information she managed to gather since their arrival.

  “So, she came into contact with your saliva? Is this some joke?” The doctor squinted at the notes on the clipboard and back up at François.

  “Oui, Dr. Aoki. I had drowned and she attempted CPR on me.” François admitted.

  “Did she not know that you are...well, contagious?”

  “She should have. Is there anything that can be done? What’s your opinion?” François asked with genuine concern. The doctor handed the clipboard to Dr. Ang and sighed.

  He removed his glasses with his left hand and massaged the top bridge of his nose with his right hand attempting to wake himself up. He leaned over and lifted her left eyelid, revealing her light brown eye. He spread the skin wide inspecting every corner of it. He moved to her mouth and lowered her chin, inspecting her tongue. He followed that with his left hand gripping below her chin on her neck. He rubbed his fingers across her lymph nodes feeling for swelling. Dr. Aoki leaned in closer and smelled her breath as she exhaled. His left hand reached out to Dr. Ang for the clipboard and she handed it back to him. He placed his glasses back on his face and read the vitals again while adding his own notes.

  “So, what is it?” François asked impatiently.

  “She’s completely healthy as far as I can see. We’ll take some blood samples while also swabbing inside her mouth periodically for potential signs of the virus.” Dr. Aoki suggested.

  “She is also infected with HIV. Not sure if that was written down or not.” François added. Dr. Aoki studied the first page. Flipped it over and shook his head. He added the new information and returned his attention on François.

  “Take a moment to take care of François. There’s coffee in the break room down the hall. You should also take a dose of the serum, your hands are shaking.” Dr. Aoki instructed and left the room.

  François looked down and noticed his hands shaking. He sighed, studied Taliah’s face once more and left the room disgusted with himself.

  “It’s not your fault François.” Dr. Ang shouted over as he headed for the bathroom door down the hall. He paused in front of the door placing his left hand flat against it.

  “She was left with me to keep her safe. It was my fault, Jen. It is nobody’s fault but my own. I will be in the waiting room across the break room. Come find me when you have the results.” François instructed and entered the restroom.

  Taliah was placed on an IV and was given a towel bath by one of the nurses. All forms of liquids were extracted with extreme care in case the samples were contagious. Although in perfect health, her body remained in a comatose state, which puzzled Dr. Aoki and his staff.

  François injected a dose of the serum into his body and showered as it worked to correct his current deficiencies. With each hour beyond the twenty-four hour mark of taking the serum, certain motor skills deteriorate in a random sequence. The shakes were the most common indicator that it was time to take the serum. He hid the other indicator, self-induced vomiting. He swallowed it down every time it came up. His body tried to purge the stomach of all unprocessed foods. He had been having that indicator for a few hours while the shakes came second this time.

  He sat in the waiting room refreshed and ready for whatever news the doc had for him. His legs were crossed and he was reading a medical magazine dated four years ago when Dr. Aoki walked in with Dr. Ang and Dr. Louis. He noticed them, placed the magazine down and stood up.

  “So, what is the result Doctor?” François asked with a troubled look.

  “Well, there are lots of uncertainties with these tests...”

  “I ran them five times. I’m positive with the results.” Dr. Ang interrupted Dr. Aoki.

  “That being said, there are no signs of the HIV virus or the Azrael virus anywhere.” Dr. Aoki explained.

  François paused with confusion.

  “So, what’s wrong with her?” He asked.

  “Has anyone said anything to you about any other medical conditions that she might have?” Dr. Ang asked as she walked over to him with a small sheet of paper in her hand.

  “No, nothing else...what’s going on?” He asked looking back and forth between Dr. Aoki and Dr. Ang. He wondered what she was holding in her hand.

  “We had several types of blood work done and noticed a hormone called hCG in it. Curious, we had an ultrasound conducted and there it is.” Dr. Aoki spoke with a smile and pointed at a photo in Dr. Ang’s hand with his pen.

  “What does that mean? H...C G?” François’ asked.

  “François’, she’s pregnant...and it’s a boy.” Dr. Aoki answered.

  Dr. Ang handed him a picture from the ultrasound revealing a small human being.

  “She’s lucky! She’s six months and barely showing at all.” Dr. Ang marveled.

  “That’s...that’s amazing and disturbing. We...we were in a car accident. Could the...?”

  “The vitals of both are fine for now. Do not worry Mr. Messier. She will be studied closely from here on out. Any changes in her condition and we will contact you. Until then, get some sleep. Your eyes are twitching.” Dr. Aoki interrupted gesturing to François’ right eye with the clipboard.

  “Pregnant!” François mumbled and sat while studying every detail from the ultrasound printout.

  Chapter 41

  Where the Fuck Did They Come From?--Jimmy

  The day commenced to fade behind the trees as Jimmy hurried down the road towards the Veil’s hidden facility beneath Rend Lake. He was twenty-four miles away still and he had taken over a dozen detours to get that far. A vehicle up the road had its high beams on causing Jimmy to retrieve sunglasses from the glove box.

  “Assholes.” He spat.

  The road had become winding where he was and both sides of the road were decorated with trees for as far as the eye could see with an occasional side road every few miles. It was rare to find someone else travelling down the road and he studied his or her actions cautiously. Unbeknown to Jimmy, a sports utility vehicle without head
lights darted onto the road behind him from a side road. He was too busy investigating the vehicle ahead to notice a hard collision from behind sending him into the large garbage truck that blinded him in the adjacent oncoming lane. He tried to course correct as he was struck but it was too late and the vehicle collided with the heavily armored garbage truck at 45 mph head on. It crushed the front end and should have broken nearly every bone in Jimmy’s body. The car horn blasted a constant deafening tone from a shorted wire from the activated and expended airbag. The driver of the garbage truck exited the vehicle, attempting to see if, in fact, Jimmy survived. Once Jimmy’s engine caught fire, the man hurried over to the SUV and they drove off into the black of night.

  A loud ringing noise deafened Jimmy and he felt warm. His actions were taxing and he was barely able to move. His legs were pinned just below the steering wheel. He was confined to his seat due to the seatbelt mechanism being crushed and warped by the CB radio in front of the stereo. The smell of engine oil cooking brought the realization of imminent death to Jimmy and he gained all of his senses in an overwhelming wave that he could not control. Jimmy heard the crackling of fire and smelled the burning oil. He tasted the melting vinyl and the remnants of the airbag chemicals in the air while sensing every broken bone in his body. His left arm was shattered at the elbow and his hand contorted in a way that caused the bone from his wrist to jab into his ribs. Both of his knees were broken and splintered just above the kneecap. The airbag slowly deflated while suffocating particles in the air remained. As his senses stabilized, he heard the ear-piercing car horn, stuck in the on position. Jimmy retrieved a knife with his right hand that was in his right jean pocket and jabbed at the seatbelt buckle, trying to release the damaged button stop. Once that decision failed, he cut the belt with the serrated edge of the knife. Again, the blaring car horn drowned out any idea within his head adversely affecting each decision he made. After roughly ten seconds, he cut through the belt fabric allowing more freedom of movement. The heat was escalating and he knew the car was moments from being fully engulfed in flames.

  Jimmy’s busted legs were pinned beneath the bottom housing of the steering wheel as the wheel pressed uncomfortably into his ribs. He attempted to trigger the steering wheel tilting mechanism but he was wedged on the wheel too close to move it. The lever to lean the seat back and his pistol were to his left and his left arm was useless. He tried to reach over with his right arm with no success. He writhed and shook in anger, fear and frustration as the flames slowly cooked him.

  Suddenly, a small group of Azrael lunged into the car. One of them bit into Jimmy’s throat. In a furious rage, he shanked it in its temple multiple times until it stopped moving with the knife. A larger Azrael snatched the dead twitching Azrael out of the car while pulling on the back of Jimmy’s seat. Luckily, the flames kept it from entering the cramped space. It pulled his seat ferociously for about a minute until the seat snapped back exposing Jimmy to its drooling mouth. It bit into Jimmy’s face tearing the meat from his left cheek. The smell of its breath almost caused Jimmy to puke. Disliking the heat from the fire, its massive right hand grasped Jimmy’s right shoulder and yanked as hard as it could to remove his body out and away from the blaze. As luck would have it, his body was wedged and did not budge. He used the opportunity to stab the Azrael but it blocked the assault with its right hand and wrenched the knife from Jimmy’s weak off- handgrip. It howled at Jimmy’s face, spitting foul saliva into the fresh bleeding wound. The Azrael leaned in for another bite tearing a chunk of cartilage from his nose collapsing both nasal canals. Jimmy’s arm trembled while reaching around his waist for his pistol. The fucking thing was pinned to the steering wheel. After pulling back with another wad of face meat in its cheek, it discovered Jimmy’s limp arm. The behemoth brought it over to its mouth and fed. The sound of its teeth tearing into his flesh and chewing it was horrifying. He shook violently, attempting to break free and his broken right knee activated the steering wheel tilt and it lifted enough for him to retrieve his pistol. In a quick fluid action, he removed it, disabled the safety and placed two shots into its skull.

  While severely mangled, eaten and broken, Jimmy crawled over the dead massive Azrael carcass with two broken thighbones, a disfigured left arm and one functioning arm. He still clinched the pistol in his functioning hand just in case more were outside awaiting an easy meal. Once he escaped the burning vehicle, he hauled himself a few feet away into the grass. However, he still felt the heat of the fire and could taste smoldering rubber and flesh in the air. He turned to see both feet on fire and slowly climbing up his body. Instinctively, he rolled around in the loose dirt and gravel located between the road and the grass until the fire was out. He shot three shots wildly as he did the maneuver.

  He sat up, watched the car burn and wondered how he survived. The aroma of burnt Azrael stung his nostrils. In that moment, he remembered that his serum was in the trunk.

  “Fuck!” He shouted. Jimmy crawled over to the car and grabbed onto the rear bumper hauling him up. He struggled to push it up and quickly discovered that it was locked. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He spat out and glanced inside to see the keys glowing from the heat of the fire.

  Jimmy slid down back onto the asphalt clumsily and crawled over to the driver’s side. He reached into the scorching flames, grabbed the key, turned it and tossed it out of the car onto the road next to the car. Overcome with exhaustion, he collapsed next to the keys. Jimmy lay on his back and took in heavy breaths of burnt rubber, plastic and Azrael flesh. Knowing that he lacked the time to gather his wits, he rolled onto his broken knees. Jimmy placed his right index finger into a hole in the bottom of his shirt and yanked hard tearing a piece of fabric from it. He wrapped it around his burnt hand, snagged the keys with it and crawled over to the trunk. After pulling himself up again, he jabbed the key into the lock, turned the key, and the trunk flung open. Black smoke exited, blinding him and causing him to choke from it. He reached into the trunk and flung out his bag with an awkward motion with his right hand. It soared in the air and landed in the grass nearby. Satisfied, he dropped back to the asphalt and crawled towards the bag.

  A split second look in his peripheral vision alerted Jimmy to a group of three Azrael about fifty yards away from him.

  “The gun, fuck!” He noticed it by the grass where he was rolling the fire off him. He crawled over, grasped it firmly and shot two of them in their legs slowing them down. His third shot misfired and he slid the slide back while dragging it in the dirt ejecting the misaligned round. By this time, the herd was already biting into his crispy right leg. He didn’t feel it anymore and calmly shot a hole in its skull as it fed. The other two were dragging themselves to their feet and continued their pursuit. It was too late for them. Jimmy fired two shots at each one causing their face and skull to explode in reaction since they were only a few feet away. Splashes of Azrael blood coated his face and body from their brains and oozing blood that dripped when their bodies fell on top of him.

  Running on adrenaline, the will to live and the Azrael survival cells that ran throughout his body, Jimmy somehow managed to retrieve the bag and drag him to a tree that hid his presence completely. The rotting scent of the Azrael covered him and it quite possibly hid him from the other small Azrael groups that were drawn to the blasting horn, gunfire and aroma of death.

  He injected a dose of the serum into his neck and awaited the agonizing regeneration process his body would endure as it restored damaged nerve ends. He wondered if he would even survive the night or wake up from the sleep that beckoned him. As the serum placed his body into a deep comatose sleep, which out in the wild would leave him vulnerable to not just the Azrael but to hungry predators seeking an easy feast.

  About The Author

  Jesse Gagnon was born in Richmond, Virginia. He grew up with a love for art and science fiction. Like many interests in life, these were put aside but not forgotten. After a long chain of unfortunate events and a wife, a mortgage,
a dog and two children later, he found himself a job in the Navy. Jesse, his wife and two beautiful daughters moved to the awesome state of Washington, forty-five minutes from Seattle. Despite the lack of dry days, the scenery was unforgettable. He has always had a passion for the zombie genre and hopes the reader will escape into the world of the Azrael.

  Other books by this author

  Please visit your favorite eBook retailer to discover other books by Jesse Gagnon.

  The Azrael Series

  The Azrael: Surviving the Outbreak

  The Azrael: The Reckoning

  The Azrael: Alpha Zulu

  Illuminating the Darkness Series

  Illuminating the Darkness: Birth of Heroes

  Illuminating the Darkness: The Devourer

  Connect with Jesse Gagnon

  I really appreciate you reading my book!

  Follow me on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/TheAzraelZombieBookSeries/

  Brief Background History of Characters

  Dr. Joseph Schwinn: He is a Medical Virologist whose expertise in the anatomy of viruses and their effects on the human body is renowned worldwide. His research was published in science textbooks across all major colleges while other studies were accredited to discovering hidden genetic information that viruses contain. When the virus outbreak occurred he worked at BioTech Industries but was later released for lack of progress.

  John Masterson: He’s an original member of the Highwaymen who travels along with Savanna Samuels. His rough personality and tough exterior are attributed from his rough childhood. When he was in his early twenties he was an amateur boxer but quit two years into it to take care of his dying mother. She eventually surrendered to pneumonia. Her immune system had already been compromised by the HIV virus. The Scavenger Program was John’s way to help others who were suffering from another virus. He met Savanna six months after joining. She was assigned to John due to her tough personality by Simon Killbrook.