by Gary Chesla
A lone staggering figure in a blue pilot’s uniform turned and slowly dragged its rigid body towards the plane.
Chervy moved up behind the doctor and stared at the depressing sight.
“Shit Doc,” Chervy said. “That’s Sanders. What the hell could have happened to him up here?”
“I don’t know,” Doc replied in a whisper. “It could be why we don’t see anyone else. They could all be in trouble or they are hiding.”
“What do you think we should do?” Chervy asked.
“For our sake and his, we need to put him down,” Doc replied.
“I’ll get Davis to take him out,” Chervy said.
“No,” Doc replied as he held up his metal bar. “He is coming this way. Let’s just stay put, when he reaches the plane, I’ll take care of him. We need to stay quiet and not attract any attention until we know what happened here. We could end up stirring up a hornet’s nest. The rest of you keep your eyes open. Have someone watch the entrance to see if there is any movement inside.”
“How could the infected be up here too,” Chervy asked.
“Hopefully we can find an answer to that,” Doc replied. “And hopefully it’s an answer we can live with,” Chervy added.
The group all stood silent as Sander’s body staggered closer to the F-18.
Doc watched as Sanders moved around the back of the plane and Doc moved towards the back to wait for him to come around the plane.
As Sanders came around the tail of the plane, Doc brought the metal bar down on top of his head.
Sanders dropped to the ground, motionless.
Doc then leaned down to examine Sander’s body.
Sanders had bloody stains on the arms of his uniform where he had suffered numerous bite shaped wounds over his neck and arms.
Doc got up and turned to see the others staring down at Sander’s body.
“There are more of them around here somewhere isn’t there?” Chervy asked.
Doc nodded. “But whether they were already here or if they came from our base, I don’t know.”
“You mean the infection could have come from one of our own, like what happened on our helicopter?” Chervy asked.
“At this point, anything could be possible,” Doc replied. “We need to find the rest of our men. If it came from our base, we would possibly find one of our men infected without having any wounds. But again, if there was anyone here already infected at the facility, they might have been infected by the orange rain that could have occurred here like it did at Fallon. But I guess it doesn’t matter, it’s here and we have to deal with it.”
“Any advice how we should proceed?” Chervy asked.
“It would probably be good if we could get inside the facility,” Doc replied. “It would get us out of the open and tell us if what we are looking for is inside there or not.”
As Doc and Chervy were talking, Davis and Rogers came over.
“Excuse me Cherv,” Davis said. “I think Rogers found a way we can get inside the facility.”
“Where?” Chervy asked.
“I think I see a door on the bottom left corner of that big structure,” Rogers said. “It’s a metal bar door. It blends in with the rest of the structure and I almost missed it.”
Chervy and Doc stared over at the entrance.
“I see it,” Chervy said.
“It looks like it is hanging open,” Doc added.
“That could mean our men are inside the facility,” Davis said.
“But why the hell didn’t they close the damn door behind them?” Chervy asked.
“I’d hate to speculate on that,” Doc replied. “Everything that comes to mind doesn’t bode well for our chances here.”
“Davis,” Chervy instructed, “Take Connors and Reynolds and run across the road and circle back around to the door on the left. Doc, Rogers and I will go over to the base of the mountain and approach from the right. Keep eye contact with us and signal if you see anything.”
Davis nodded and with the two men, ran across the road.
Chervy led Doc and Rogers around the back of the plane and ran over to the base of the mountain.
Both groups slowly moved towards each other and approached the entrance.
Chervy stopped at the corner of the main entrance and looked through the bars into the outer entrance.
Inside the outer barrier of bars, about fifty feet in stood a massive metal door.
The inner massive door also had a smaller door that also hung open,
Chervy led Rogers and Doc over to the side of the small outer door where Davis waited.
“There is another door inside,” Chery whispered. “Take the left side, I’ll take the right.”
“Got it,” Davis said as he pulled the bars open and led his men inside.
Chervy, Doc and Rogers followed and moved to the right.
When they reached the door, Davis pointed to his eyes and then at the door, indicating he would take the first look inside.
Davis then stuck his head around the edge of the door and quickly pulled it back out.
“I think we’re clear,” Davis said.
“OK, let’s go,” Chervy said. “Go right inside the door and wait for the rest of us. Rogers, close this door so nothing can come in behind us.”
Rogers quickly moved over and pulled the barred jailhouse looking door shut.
First, he made sure the door wouldn’t automatically lock them all inside.
He saw a place for a padlock to be inserted, then saw the busted padlock on the ground.
“A padlock,” Rogers said as he pointed to the ground, “Our men must have busted the lock to get inside.”
“Let’s keep moving,” Chervy said.
The men moved in through the second door and entered the cavernous entrance to the cave like structure.
The tunnel ahead of them was fifty feet high and over a hundred feet wide.
The cavern went back into the mountain for two hundred feet. Lights built into the top of the structure glowed dimly, casting a soft light throughout the tunnel.
Built into the sides of the cavern were metal doors, reminding Chervy of the mausoleum where his father was buried, but on a much larger scale.
Every fifty feet, a door stood open to what Chervy assumed were rooms cut back into the granite walls.
“Holy hell this place is big,” Chervy said. “It looks like the place has its own source of power too.”
“Either that or the emergency generator is still working,” Davis added.
It wasn’t until they noticed Rogers sniffing the air did the rest of the men smell it too.
“Shit,” Chervy said. “It also smells in here like something we came here to get away from.”
Let’s not assume anything, just keep your eyes open,” Doc said. “Something happened here, but hopefully it all moved somewhere else.”
“Connors and Reynolds stand guard here at the door,” Chervy said. “Davis and Rogers, take the left side of the tunnel. Doc you’re with me. Let’s work our way up through here and be sure nothing is in any of these rooms.”
The four men started up the tunnel.
The first room on the left had a dozen tables in the room. Each table had a computer sitting on top.
The first room on the right was identical to the room across the way.
The second room was lined with file cabinets.
A hundred feet down the tunnel had two more identical rooms that were filled with religious artifacts.
The next two rooms were labeled administrative records.
Each room had two desks with computers right inside the room. The rest of the room was lined with more file cabinets.
There was only one door on each side of the cavern before they would reach the end of the tunnel.
“So far as good,” Chervy said to Doc. “I hope what you said before about hoping whatever happened here has moved on.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Doc said as he pointed to a bloody
trail that led to the last room on the right.
In the dim lighting it was difficult to see, but the doctor was right, as Chervy strained to look at the floor, he saw it too.
Chervy looked over at Davis and held his finger up to his lips.
Then he motioned for Davis to check out the last room on the left.
Davis and Rogers started towards the last room on their side of the tunnel.
Chervy started to move down the right side of the tunnel, but Doc grabbed his arm.
“Wait here,” Doc said.
“Why?” Chervy asked quietly.
“If there is anything in that last room, we’re in better position here. It will give us more room to maneuver.”
Chervy nodded, then turned to watch Davis.
Davis and Rogers moved down to the next door and carefully looked inside.
They were about to turn and tell Chervy that the room was some kind of machine room, maybe where the generator and air conditioning units were located.
But before they could signal Chervy, the cavern was filled with the sound of eerie moaning.
Bodies began staggering out of the room across the tunnel from where Davis and Rogers stood, shocked by the sudden noise and gruesome sight.
Chervy fired the first shot, shaking Davis and Rogers out of their state of shock.
Davis and Rogers raised their rifles and began to shoot the staggering bodies as they flooded out into the tunnel.
“Shoot them in the head,” Davis shouted.
“I am shooting them in the head,” Rogers growled. “Shut the hell up and keep shooting.”
“I have to reload,” Davis shouted, “Pick off the front runners until I’m ready again.”
“Hurry up,” Rogers shouted back.
Chervy turned and looked back down the tunnel when he heard shots fired near the entrance to the facility.
“Connors, what going on?” Chervy yelled.
“We have a mob at the outside door,” Connors yelled back, his voice echoing down the tunnel. “They showed up right after you began shooting.”
“Shit,” Chervy yelled.
“We have this Cherv,” Davis yelled. Old Rogers here is a damn marksman.”
“Are you sure?” Chervy yelled.
“They aren’t coming out of that room as fast as before,” Davis yelled back. “I’m sure.”
“I’m going back to check on Connors,” Chervy yelled. “If you need help, call out.”
“Come on Doc,” Chervy said. “You stick with me.”
Doc and Chervy ran back down the tunnel as Rogers and Davis continued to shoot at the infected coming out of the room.
When Doc and Chervy reached the other end of the cavern, Connors and Reynolds were off to the side of the inner door, firing through the open door into the outer entry way.
Chervy looked through the door and saw dozens of the infected throwing themselves against the door and the bars that ran across the front of the entryway.
“Get out there and shoot,” Chervy yelled. “They can’t get in to the outer area. You’ll have a better position out there.”
“We tried that,” Connor’s replied, “but we keep hitting the damn bars. Reynolds took a ricochet in the shoulder.”
Chervy looked at Reynold’s bloody arm.
“It just grazed me, but we decided to shoot from here before one of us got killed.”
“Where the hell did you learn to shoot?” Chervy asked as he pushed out into the outer entry way. “Aim your rifle and shoot them in the eyes. Take your time and make the shot. We have to take them down before they get that door open.”
Connors and Reynolds followed Chervy into the outer area, while Doc stood by the inner door, watching Chervy and then switching his attention back to Davis and Rogers, wishing he had more than a damn metal bar to use as a weapon.
The sound of gun fire echoed through the cavern for another thirty minutes before it died down to a trickle and then finally stopped altogether.
Chervy walked over to the bars and looked outside.
“Keep a look out in case there are some stragglers still coming.”
“Yes Sir,” Reynolds replied.
Doc walked up next to Chervy and looked at the pile of bodies on the ground outside the front of the facility.
He studied how the men were dressed.
“It looks like a lot of our men are out there,” Doc said.
“I noticed that too,” Chervy said. “let go see what Davis and Rogers had to deal with up the tunnel.”
Doc and Chervy walked quietly to the other end of the tunnel where everything had started.
When they reached the other end of the tunnel, Davis and Rogers were standing, staring into the room where all the infected had come out of.
Dozens of bodies laid on the floor of the cavern outside the room.
Most of them with half their heads now missing.
Blood and bits of flesh covered the floor and walls outside the room.
Chervy walked up and looked past Davis into the room.
Bodies were scattered around on the floor in the room.
Many of the bodies were little more than bloody skeletons with bits of flesh clinging to the bones.
“My God,” Chervy gasped. “What the hell was going on here?”
Doc looked at the men in the room, then looked at the bodies out in the tunnel.
“My guess is that our men were out front when they were attacked by the infected,” Doc replied. “They came inside for cover but it appears that many of them were trapped in that room. I believe the rest of the men retreated back outside and must have been cornered somewhere outside in a blind canyon around the bend where we couldn’t see them when we crashed. Once we started shooting in here, the noise attracted them back to the facility.”
“Where did the infected up here come from in the first place?” Davis asked as he turned away from the bloody sight in the room.
“I can’t say for sure, of course,” Doc replied. “But my guess would be the people that were working here at the Records Facility were infected the same way as it started at the base. The rain brought the virus down on them.”
“Are you saying we are no better off here now than we were back at the base?” Chervy asked.
“No,” Doc replied. “I feel fairly certain that the infected we just killed are all that is around here. There may still be a straggler or two around, but we shouldn’t have to worry about large hordes of the infected coming around. It will be impossible for them to get up here on this mountain.”
“That’s good to know,” Rogers said.
“Just keep wearing that mask,” Doc said.
“I can’t believe that we are all that is left form our base,” Chervy said. “This has all been a damn nightmare. I can’t believe this. Now what do we do?”
“We do what we came here to do,” Doc replied. “We’re still alive, I suggest we keep it that way.”
“I know you’re right, Doc,” Chervy replied. “But all of this is just so depressing. When is this ever going to end. It seems that no sooner then we think we have turned the corner, something else happens.”
“I honestly think the light at the end of the tunnel is within sight,” Doc said.
“Are you making a joke?” Rogers asked.
“No,” Doc replied. “I think we have finally, as Chervy just said, turned the corner. It should start getting better from here on out.”
“So what do you suggest we do next?” Chervy asked.
“First, I’d send someone outside to make sure there aren’t any stragglers nearby,” Doc said. “Then I would say we all get into one of these rooms for the night. The light will be gone soon and we need to get some rest. Tomorrow we either have to find the survival vault or get organized and find a way to survive for the next few weeks.”
“OK, Connors and Reynolds, check out front, then see if you can secure that outside door,” Chervy said. “Doc, what room do you think we should pick for tonight?�
��
“I think we should choose one of the administrative offices,” Doc replied.
“Why not one of those first few rooms?” Chervy replied. “They seem larger and there would be more space for us to spread out.”
“I have an idea,” Doc replied. “If I can find what I suspect might be here, we should find it in one of the administrative offices.”
Chervy looked at the doctor and grinned.
“I should have known you had something going on inside that head of yours,” Chervy said. “Let’s get things secured around here and get some rest. Something tells me Doc will be keeping us all busy tomorrow.”
Chapter 34
Wednesday, May 12th, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Mike gradually woke as thoughts of what the day would bring ran through his mind.
How many walkers would they run into today, could they get through the walkers or would today be the day their travels would end?
Would he finally be able to get home?
As he felt the warm bodies snuggled up next to him, he happily remembered that he was home, or at least he had been home.
Now he was in a house somewhere near the top of the summit, but at least he was here with Linda and Jamie.
He also remembered he was here with George too, as the little furry creature rolled over on Mike’s head.
Mike slowly opened his eyes and smiled at the two ruffled heads of hair resting on his chest.
He was tempted to swat the irritating kitten on his head, but he knew deep down, he was happy to see George too.
Mike knew before letting himself enjoy this feeling too much longer, he should get up and look outside.
The past few days he had been haunted each day by the gruesome creatures that always managed to put themselves between him and what he wanted.
Mike couldn’t lay here and enjoy this feeling any longer, knowing what could be out there waiting for him.
He needed to know if they were safe.
Mike slowly tried to slide out from under Linda and Jamie’s embrace.
