by Morris, SJ
“Well, we have to find out and destroy it all. If whatever I was given can be modified somehow to create a real antivirus, then we need to do that. I don’t think gassing the infected out of existence is plausible. There were over seven billion people on earth when all of this started, and I’ll bet my life that more than three-quarters of the population is now undead, and I’m not going to be responsible for dropping bombs on every continent hoping no survivors become casualties. We can only use the nerve agents in small quantities after we herd the infected together. In some cases, they’re already a herd, and we just need to be able to deliver the nerve agent in a safe way where no living things are in any danger.”
“I get it, Abby, but right now, we need to worry about securing this place and what to do with those who still follow Brigantine. We have until the sedative wears off, and we’ll have to make that decision first.” Stuart said as he swiped the card key for my room.
I entered and found Jack lying in my bed. He was secured with four zip ties for each appendage. I guess they wanted to make sure when he woke up, he had virtually no chance of getting free. I couldn’t argue with their logic.
Smith was sitting at the table with Lance who looked up at me as I entered the room. His eyes filled with tears as he ran to hug me. He sobbed in my arms for a few minutes, and I consoled him as best as I could. I was scared that if I spoke, I’d start bawling. He finally let go of me and looked down to my swollen belly.
“When did that happen?” he asked.
“It’s a very long story, but first, I need to know that you’re okay.” I pushed him to arm’s length so I could look him over.
“I’m fine. The beatings stopped after the first day here. I was just a prisoner, but they didn’t do anything with me. They took my blood the first day and patched up the injuries they gave me, but that was it,” he said wearily.
“Yeah, they told me if I didn’t cooperate and let them do tests on me that they were going to hurt you. I’ve had a lot of tests done over the last month, but in return, you were safe, so it was worth it. I’m glad you’re all right,” I said pulling him into another hug.
Stuart went next door to check on Grabner and Brigantine. He said they were both unconscious and secured, so I had time to recount everything to Lance. I left nothing out fearing that any detail or omission of the truth would haunt me later. I’d already seen how not telling the truth right away worked with Tyler. I hoped he was still okay back at the cabin. I hoped everyone was all right back at the cabin and safe, but I highly doubted it. We needed to get what we could do here done and make our way back home as soon as possible. It wasn’t going to be easy, but the way life was now, nothing was ever easy anymore.
Chapter 20
The decision was made to take the others who still followed Brigantine to the cage outside where the infected were in the courtyard. It’s the only place Stuart could think of where he could hold them all together and keep a close eye on all of them. He was worried someone would be sympathetic to a fellow soldier and let them out, so he wanted everyone grouped together and only people he absolutely trusted watching over them. I would have found rooms to secure them all inside the compound, away from the undead, but this was Stuart’s coup, so I stayed out of his decision-making process as much as possible.
Unfortunately, when they organized a team to clear the undead from the courtyard, they found someone had already opened the other set of doors, and the infected were out and about inside the compound. That sealed the deal with me; we needed to get out of here before things got worse, and the whole place was overrun.
I pulled Smith aside and asked him if he was planning on staying or going with me. He said he needed to go. He had no one here he could trust, and he agreed that the compound was the powder keg I thought it to be, ready to blow at any second. It was decided that Smith, Lance, and I would be leaving as soon as possible to make our way back to the cabin. We were going to be getting out, so I couldn’t ask for much more.
Smith left to pack the truck we’d be using with supplies for our journey to the cabin and Stuart was attempting to save what he could in the compound from the undead now roaming the halls. Stuart said he was going to try and seal off this wing at least so the infected couldn’t get to us. He seemed to be more worried about losing his research in his office that was on the other side of the complex rather than losing his life to the creatures he helped create. Stuart did right by us though, he helped us turn the tables on Brigantine, so I was thankful for his actions thus far.
While everyone else ran around, Lance and I were in charge of babysitting Brigantine and Grabner. I waited for the good doctor to wake up from her concussion. Once she was lucid, I told her the place was overrun and that we were leaving without her. She didn’t want to believe that everything she had created was quickly crumbling around her, but we heard the screams from over the radio confirming to her the soldiers were losing the battle against the undead within the compound.
“Tell me where the bombs are, who do I need to contact, and how to get the missiles in play?” I asked her as she began to weep.
“You can’t. We weren’t finished getting everything ready, so none of the bombs are equipped with the nerve agents yet. I’m not sure the nerve agent will even work the way it’s supposed to now either. The antivirus sure didn’t. What went wrong with it? It worked before. I saw the data for myself. How could everything have gone so wrong?” she questioned as she stared at the floor sobbing.
I didn’t want to tell her that Stuart screwed her over. I’d rather let her question everything she did rather than know the truth. I guess I was vindictive like that now. Still, I didn’t know if I should feel bad for her or just walk away. She got me to save her life based on a lie. She made me live my life based on her fabrications. I was done being her puppet. Lance and I just needed to get out of here. I finally saw there was no way she could help us.
Just as I stood to leave, the door burst open with a crash. It was Jack. He stomped through the door with the zip ties still around his wrists but a gun in hand and his eyes filled with rage. Before I could say anything, he pointed the gun at me, and I heard a blast.
I instinctively closed my eyes waiting for the searing pain of a gunshot through some part of my body, but I felt nothing. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Brigantine on the floor at my feet, a large puddle of bright red blood pooling around her now lifeless body.
“What the hell did you do Jack?” was the only thing my brain came up with.
“She’s gone. Now we don’t have to worry about her controlling us anymore Abby. We can be together now,” he said, pointing the gun down and reaching out to me with his other hand.
I had no idea what to do. Jack’s face was still full of anger. I didn’t know if he was honestly looking for me to go with him or if he meant Lance and me harm, so I froze. I just looked into his eyes and said nothing.
“Come with me, Abby. We can take Lance back to the cabin and find Tyler. We can be a family again. Just take my hand, and everything will be all right,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
After these last words, a despicable smile crept to his lips, one that warned me of danger. Lance turned to look at me, his eyes questioning what we should do, but I had no answer for him. The only thing I knew was that my gut was telling me Jack was not in his right mind. He’d lost whatever humanity he had left, but I had no idea how to handle him. Jack answered that question for me.
Jack lunged and grabbed me by the arm.
“You’re coming with me! We’re going to be a family again no matter what! Nothing and no one will stop me,” He growled through his clenched jaw as he dragged me towards the door.
“Dad... what are you doing? You’re hurting Mom. This isn’t you. What the hell is going on?” Lance’s question stopped Jack dead in his tracks.
“Lance, your mother doesn’t understand everything that’s happened. She thinks I’m the bad guy. When in reality the bad guy is now dead, right there.�
�� He pointed to Brigantine with his gun.
“Put the gun down, Jack. You’re scaring our son, and you’re scaring me.”
“You’re confused, Abby. Everything you’ve been through has you confused. You think you love Chris, but you love me. I am your husband, and you are coming with me!” he shouted, pointing the gun at my head pulling me in close.
“Dad stop!” yelled Lance as he lunged at his father.
Jack threw me to the ground as he and Lance grappled with one another. Lance put up as much of a fight as he could, but Jack was over a foot taller than he was and had him by at least fifty pounds. Jack grabbed Lance and put him in a chokehold. I screamed and jumped on top of Jack, punching the back of his head as hard as I could. I knew I wasn’t doing any real damage, but I continued to pound on him as hard as possible.
A blast from the gun silenced my screams, and I froze.
“Lance! Are you hit what happened?” I yelled reaching over Jack to try and see if my son was okay.
“I’m fine…I think…Mom, my leg burns.” Lance sputtered out.
He was hit. There was blood blossoming on his right thigh. I shrieked as I turned and raked my nails over Jack’s face. He looked down at me, now livid, his eyes glassed over with rage, as he tossed my body to the other side of the room with one thrust of his arm.
I met the wall hard with my back and felt all of the air rush out of my lungs, but I had to get up. I had to try and save my son.
Jack was now standing over Lance breathing heavily, almost grunting. He looked over at me and smiled again.
“I told you, Abby, if I can’t have you…then no one can.” He sneered at me and lifted the gun to point it at my face.
I swung my leg around to the back of his knees as the gun went off. The bullet slammed into Grabner’s still unconscious body lying on the floor. Oh well, one less bad guy to worry about. My kick to the back of Jack’s legs made him fall to his knees. I quickly looked around the room, and the only thing I found was a clean pair of scrubs on the bed next to me. I grabbed the pants and jumped up to knee Jack in the jaw before he recovered from his fall. His head snapped back, and I took this advantage to wrap the ends of the pant legs around my fists and tug the crotch over Jacks’ head to his neck. I pulled tightly with all of the strength I had left.
Jack dropped the gun as he began to struggle for air and claw above his head at me trying to pull me off of him. Lance watched the skirmish and grabbed the gun. He looked up at me, and I nodded yes, but I saw that Lance didn’t want to shoot his father, nor did he know where to fire that wouldn’t possibly hit me as well. He finally decided to put the gun to Jack’s knee, and he pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot filled the room at the same time Jack began to scream. His kneecap was turned into what looked like ground beef. I let go of the pants I was using to strangle him and rushed over to Lance. He was shot in the thigh and blood was rushing out of his body quickly. He had to be hit in the artery; the amount of blood pouring from his body all but confirmed my observation. I cried, now using the pants in my hands to create a tourniquet. I twisted the fabric as tightly as I could, but I was pulled off of Lance in a rush.
Jack grabbed me from behind and was pulling me tightly to his chest squeezing as hard as he could. My lungs felt as if they might implode, and it seemed as if my already delicate ribs were breaking again. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t. There was no air left inside me, and he clenched my body so tightly that I couldn’t expand my chest at all to pull any oxygen back in. My vision started to blur, and I heard another shot.
I was released from Jack’s hold, and I sucked in air greedily as I fell to the floor. My vision slowly came back into focus, and I saw Lance now lying on the floor with the gun in his hand. I looked behind me, and Jack was lying in his own blood. There was a red oozing bullet wound just under his eye. The fight with Jack was finally over.
I rushed to Lance who was barely conscious. His pants and the tourniquet were already soaked through, and I knew at that moment there was nothing I could do to save my son.
I hugged him and brushed his hair away from his pale face as I cried.
“Mom…” Lance whispered.
“Yes, honey.”
“Do you remember the song you used to sing to me when I was a kid? The one you’d sing every night when you tucked me in?”
“I do, sweetheart. You never let me leave your room at night without it,” I replied, smiling through my tears.
“Can you sing it for me one last time, please? I miss hearing you sing it.”
“Of course, honey,” I replied as I brushed his hair with my fingers softly.
“My sweet little Lance, so handsome and so shy. My sweet little Lance, as perfect as the stars in the sky,” I sang quietly to him as I cried.
“I love you…Mom.”
Lance took his last breath as he stared up at me with sadness and fear in his dying eyes. I grabbed his now limp body, hugged him tightly, and screamed. I screamed in anger for what Jack and Brigantine had done to my family. I screamed in pain for the loss of two of my children. I screamed at the world. I screamed out until my throat was raw.
Smith rushed in and looked over the bloody scene, and I watched the color drain from his face. He looked over at me, but I couldn’t do anything other than sob. Walking carefully into the room, he stepped over Brigantine’s body and reached out to lift me up. I didn’t fight him, but I didn’t help either. I didn’t have the strength to stand. I looked over at Jack’s now lifeless body, and manic anger filled my entire being. All at once, I was out of Smith’s arms and kicking Jack’s motionless body. I don’t know why I was doing it, but I was screaming and kicking the body of the man who destroyed my life. He betrayed me. He betrayed my children. He betrayed all of humanity. I wanted to kick and punch him until there was nothing left of him.
Smith grabbed me pulling me away. I finally registered the words he was yelling at me.
“Abby! We have to go! The compound’s overrun, and the dead are coming! We have to get out now!” he screamed.
“I can’t leave him here like this. My son deserves better,” I cried.
“Abby, we all deserve better than this, but sometimes the world isn’t fair. We have to leave,” Smith said quietly as he hugged me to his chest calming me down.
“I need to burn them. We have to burn the bodies. I can’t let the infected tear apart my son,” I begged.
Smith looked down at me with understanding and ran out into the hall. I stood there not knowing what to do, but Smith came back in quickly with a bottle of something clear in one hand and a lighter in the other.
He opened the bottle and poured the clear liquid over the four bodies on the floor. The smell told me it was rubbing alcohol. I turned to stand in the doorway as Smith emptied the bottle in the room. The fumes were already starting to burn my eyes. As Smith stood next to me in the doorway, he handed me the lighter and walked out into the hall. His gun was drawn, and I could hear screaming coming from somewhere down the hallway. The screams were getting closer, so I knew I was out of time. I ignited the lighter and tossed it into the room. The flames erupted in a rush and within seconds the entire room was ablaze. I stepped back and quietly whispered, “I love you too sweetheart. Goodbye, Lance, my sweet boy.”
Chapter 21
Smith and I ran through the hallways. I let him lead because I had no idea where I was going. I was pretty much running on autopilot anyway. I just felt numb. I wasn’t afraid; I wasn’t tired, I just…was. Losing Allycia was the most difficult thing I had ever experienced, but now to lose Lance, and at the hands of his own father no less. I was emotionally destroyed making the rest of our escape from the compound pretty much a blur.
The infected were everywhere. Some lunged at me, and some didn’t, so I guess the soldier Brigantine gave the modified antivirus to was able to create more abominations that would now be looking to devour me as much as they would any other living thing. So the cycle begins again with a
new strain of the virus. This new one is just as deadly to everyone else, but now, also deadly to me. My immunity was no longer a benefit. It felt like I had no one else, but I had to remember that Chris and Tyler were out there somewhere. I had to find them and make sure they were safe.
Smith and I made it to one of the large passenger vehicles that looked like a garbage truck on steroids. Smith started it up and used the EMF to keep the infected away. I might have thrown up a few more times, but the electromagnetic fields kept the dead from swarming the truck, so I didn’t care. Before long, we made it to the main road.
Thank goodness Smith was driving because I would have entirely missed the road. With the freshly fallen snow, I had no clue what was blacktop and what wasn’t. Out here in the sticks, everything pretty much looks the same when it’s covered in the white stuff.
We’d been traveling in silence for hours it seemed. I was finally able to get some sleep, and I had nightmares of watching Jack murder Lance over and over again. Except, in my dream, Allycia was also there. She was feasting on Brigantine as Jack killed Lance, and when they were all dead, they came for me with milky white eyes and infected black blood dripping from their faces. The nightmare kept playing over and over in my head until my body was jerked awake to Smith slamming on the brakes and the massive truck sliding into a group of infected.
I jumped up and rubbed my eyes as I tried to make sense of the scene in front of us. Infected were slowly mulling around everywhere. It appeared we were at a crossroad in the middle of some nowhere, small New Jersey town. A large building in front of us that had to be a bank, proudly boasted “The highest yield savings account around!” The building on the other corner was a Mom and Pop diner, Mom’s Diner to be exact. The infected seemed to be congregating a great deal around the diner’s large red double doors. The circular windows were covered over from the inside with newspaper.
