Some time passed as the officers drove down the shopping district. They were able to see nothing but bodies scattered across the parking lot. Most of the stores looked as though they were broken into or set on fire. It was probably due to the people panicking from the recent events that took place.
“This really is the end, isn’t it?” Sarah asked. She remembered what Jen had said earlier that night, then of the little girl at the old house on Route 45. The image of her swinging the bloody hatchet at her was still fresh in her mind.
“So Sarah, should we look for more survivors or just…leave?” James asked while keeping an eye on the road. The woman looked down at her gun, then to Jen’s police badge.
“Are we even the law anymore?” she quietly asked herself. “I don‘t think the badge or symbol we wear has meaning at this time,” she had continued. His eyes narrowed abit as he thought very hard about what she just said.
“No, we are still the law here. If we give up now, there won’t be any order in this town!” James had said with his voice trembling with both anger and fear.
He immediately pressed the gas pedal down to speed past a dozen of parked vehicles on the sides.
“JAMES!” Sarah had screamed out his name while buckling her seatbelt tightly. “Slow down!” she continued. The officer had pushed the pedal down some more which caused the vehicle to speed up past 70mph. He wasn’t going to let anyone else die. Not on his watch. He failed to save the News Worker from the creatures that broke out of a broken down van near the electronic store.
Sarah was holding onto the seatbelt for her life as she had her eyes closed shut. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY JAMES!” Sarah had yelled.
“PLEASE DRIVE RESPONSIBLE! WE’RE NO HELP TO ANYONE IF WE’RE DEAD!” she told him. The officer behind the wheel had slowly released his foot off the gas pedal. The speed was finally dying down which made her feel more at ease. But that’s when it happened. A large truck came from the left, clashing against James’s side of the car with great force.
They felt their bodies spinning around along with the vehicle that went toppling over into another street. The car landed on it’s top, crushing the red and blue lights that would turn on when pursuing a speeding car. Sarah was hanging upside down from her seat with the airbag pressed against her upper body. She started to heavily cough when regaining consciousness.
“James?” she asked in a weak tone. The woman turned her head slowly to see him smashed against the windshield down below. Many of his bones were broken and blood kept leaking out of his open mouth. He didn’t have his seat belt on at all since they left Kim’s Neighborhood. “Oh James…” Sarah let out softly. She was able to smell the disgusting stench again. She knew too well that the monsters were on their way to the wreckage. Sarah released the belt from her body which caused her to fall down against the hard metal ceiling. She grabbed the gun near the windshield, along with the bag full of ammunition from the back. Sarah felt a sharp pain on her left side. She learned that she was bleeding from the glass shards and Jen’s badge. They were lodged into her flesh near her ribs. The officer ignored the pain for now and attempted to escape the destroyed car before they could find her.
She was resting against an electronic store that had been literally broken apart from the inside. Most of the stuff inside had already been taken from the shelves. Some Televisions and Computer systems were on the floor near the entrance of the store. They were probably being readied to take but the thieves were scared away or eaten. She was able to see the turned over police car with a group of the monsters crawling inside it. They were taking pieces of her friend apart to eat.
“Damn it James!” she said to herself. “Why did you have to be stupid in the end?” Sarah couldn’t stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes when she watched James’s reanimated body come crawling out of the car. “This wasn’t suppose to happen!” she said a little louder. “We were suppose to save as many survivors as we could and escape this nightmare together! Why?! Why didn’t you listen to me?! You Idiot!” Sarah had screamed out to her former friend. She slid down along the wall with her body closing up. Her head was resting on her arms which were on of her knees. Sarah began to tremble from the memories that she had before this evil came into their lives. She could never forget one of her colleagues, especially James.
After a few minutes had passed, she was finally able to stand up from the cold sidewalk that was connected to the building. Sarah slowly reached down to her left from the pain before lifting the Police Bag up from the ground.
“Time to help the people of Little Bow, right James?” Sarah said to herself quietly. As the officer turned her back to the crash site, a large explosion had occurred. She slowly turned back around to see that the car was up in flames. Burning bodies began to walk out of the tall flames. Her eyes widened from the sight of James crawling out of the flames. Most of his flesh was either burned off or ripped apart. The woman dropped the bag to the ground before walking towards him with her bangs covering her eyes. She could feel her heart pounding heavily within her chest as her legs started to grow weaker the closer she got to him.
James was all twisted and torn up with his bones sticking out of the flesh. Those white pale eyes of his had looked all around until they finally had shifted up to his partner. Sarah slowly pulled her pistol out of it’s holster from the side of her belt. He started to crawl on the road as she brought the gun down to his direction. Her body was shaking from what she was about to do.
“Please forgive me,” said Sarah. The creature started to wheeze and twitch as it stretched an opened hand out towards her slowly. The horrible smell began to leak out of him which didn‘t phase the woman one bit. The moment he tried to grab her leg, the trigger was pulled. The little piece of metal had went straight through his head just above the left eye. The female officer could see some of his blood spilling out of the hole after he collapsed in front of her like a sack of rotting potatoes. The smell wasn’t as strong as the ones that were wondering around the streets. Maybe it was because he was mostly cooked by the explosion when it went off.
She had reached down to her side when the pain made it more difficult for her to move. The shards that were embedded in her side from the car collision wasn‘t the main cause of the pain. Carefully, she started to pull three of the glass pieces out of her skin. The last one she removed was Jen’s Police Badge. The warm blood started to leak out of her wounds. Sarah slowly stood up straight while bringing her hand up just above her right eye to salute the fallen officer in front of her. Near the burning vehicle more of the creatures started to crawl out of it with some of their clothing still lit by the fire. She had turned away and began to limp off with the injuries she sustained from the wreckage.
Feeling cold and weak, the officer felt her strength disappear which caused her to fall to her knees. Everything was getting unfocused when she tried to get back up again. A shadow figure started to run towards her from the distance. Her mind was telling her arm to move up and shoot the unknown figure, but her body wouldn’t listen this time.
“I guess this is it…” she said. Sarah had finally fell over to the side as she faced the dark sky above. The gun she had in her hand had fell out and landed against the cold road. The officer was exposed to everything out there, but she didn’t have any strength left to defend herself.
Phillip Blake was leading the way through the parking lot that was in front of the grocery store. Bruce kept up with the tall guy as his revolver was held firmly in his hand.
“Son, how close are we to the police station?” Bruce asked. Phillip quickly jumped over a boney body that was laying face flat on the road. The person was too torn up and mangled to return and attack them. At least that‘s what they hoped deep down inside.
“We’re getting closer, just a few more minutes and we should be at the west side of the building!” said Phillip. The Sheriff was trying to keep up with the athletic male, but his body wasn’t as young like it use to be.
“Slow d
own there son! I can’t keep up with your long legs!” Bruce said while catching his breath.
Bruce didn’t mean to sound like a prick, but he wasn’t going to be left behind in this large city known as Crimson Falls. Phillip ducked down beside a heavy looking turned over trolley bus to hide from some of the creeps that were walking nearby. Bruce sat down beside him when he finally caught up to the young man.
“Are we any closer?” Bruce asked. Phillip started to climb up onto the trolley before lending a helping hand to pull Bruce up with him. They were able to see more ground from this height.
“Yes, we’re a block away from the Crimson Falls Police Station!” Phillip said with a smile on his face. The Sheriff patted the man on the shoulder with a smile finally forming across his own face.
“Good work son! I’m sure the officers there could help us out,” Bruce had said.
They finally made it to the west side of the large building without running into any of the freaks along the way. Blake had signaled Bruce to follow after him from across the yard when it was clear. Phillip stood near the entrance to the building to hear some creatures stumbling around in one of the rooms inside.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be this easy,” Phillip said to himself. The Sheriff quickly made his way over to the young man while holding his revolver close to his side.
“Alright, I want you stay behind me. I’m going to go in first.” Said Bruce. Phillip knelt down to lift a heavy piece of lumber from the ground.
“Sir, please allow me to go first. I may not look it, but I‘m pretty strong. I use to play baseball in high school. So swinging this piece of lumber at them will be no trouble at all,” Phillip said while holding the lumber tightly.
Bruce thought about it for a few moments while stroking his moustache. He decided to let the kid go through with it after all.
“Alright, I’ll cover you. Just don’t do anything stupid to get us both killed, you hear me?” Bruce said while looking up to the young man. Phillip started to walk over to the West Wing Entrance with the thick piece of wood in his hands. The large wooden door was broken down with bloody hand prints smeared across it. From the look of the walls within the building, you could tell that they tried to barricade it to keep the things out. Phillip slowly entered the large hallway to see nothing but blood and torn uniforms scattered along the floor. He made his way deeper inside the large hallway while gripping his weapon tightly. Phillip looked side to side every few seconds when walking further. He hoped that nothing was going to come out from the desks that were placed against the windows to his right. The sheriff followed after him to witness the destruction of the police station’s west wing for himself. “This place is a total mess,” he had said to himself. Bruce kicked some of the bloody uniforms out of his way when he came to them. It looked more like a messy teenager’s room. His son Kyle came to mind which made him stop in his tracks. Phillip went on without him towards the end of the hallway. “My boy…” Bruce said sadly.
Phillip came across a badly scratched door at the end of the hall. There weren’t any boards nailed against it to keep them out like all the others. He had turned around to see the Sheriff standing near the entrance still.
“Sir, Is everything alright?” he asked the man. Bruce had looked up at first with no memory of what was going on.
“What?” The sheriff asked. He soon snapped out of his brief memory with his son to see Phillip standing by a door. “I’m coming,” said Bruce. The officer caught up to him with his hand resting on the doorknob in front of them. They stood in front of the office door to see if they were able to hear a rotting bastard on the other end. Bruce had his revolver ready incase anything tried to come out of the room that wasn’t human. Phillip placed his hand firmly on the door knob before twisting it slowly. The door opened up all the way as the one with the wooden weapon went in first.
The lights inside were flickering every now and then. It was probably because the generators were running on fumes. Bruce went inside the room after Phillip did to see nothing but turned over desks and chairs scattered along the white tiled floor. The lights continued to switch on and off with strange scratching sounds that could be heard from across the room. Bruce had patted the man’s shoulder while standing beside him.
“You take the left side and I’ll get the right,” Bruce said. They separated themselves by taking the different paths. There was some flipped over tables and desks in the middle of the office. Dried blood was covering most of the furniture in the room which made it difficult to keep a straight face. “Damn it stinks in here, but it’s not that bad. Compared to the monsters, this is a stroll in the park,” said Bruce while he examined the room. Phillip looked through some of the desks to see a body crushed underneath it. He decided to forget about that and meet up with Bruce at the end of the room.
Bruce stood by the wall that the flickering light kept flashing on. There wasn’t anything moving around or making the scratching noise anymore.
“It sounded like…well I can’t say for sure,” said Phillip as he moved his hands down to his sides. He tried to explain to the sheriff that it could’ve been a wild animal that somehow found its way inside.
“That may be it son,” said Bruce as he continued to talk. “Maybe a fat rabbit or a rat got in here. If it were a little bit bigger, we would’ve seen it with our own eyes. But this damn flickering light doesn’t help us.” Bruce started to walk back and forth in the office when he wasn’t able to find any sign of life or weapons in there.
“Sir! Wouldn’t the police have some recorded documents that could explain what happened here?” Phillip asked. “If it started slow, there could be some reports about grizzly attacks or sightings of the strange creatures,” Phillip added. The officer smiled again while patting the young man on his shoulder.
“Damn it boy, you’d make a fine officer with a brain like that. I would‘ve got upset and left this place already if you weren‘t here to give me a different view. Good job son,” Bruce said with a brief smile.
Phillip smiled from the compliment he received, but it quickly went away when he heard the strange scratching sound again. This time it was coming from behind the wall that they were beside.
“Do you hear that?” Phillip asked as he carefully placed his ear against the wall. Bruce did the same thing. They were able to hear a woman’s voice coming from the other side of the wall.
“Finally!” Bruce said with a great smile. “Folks that are alive! Maybe they’re from the C.F.P.D.!” he said out loud. Bruce looked around the room once more until he was able to find a door that was hidden behind a couple of desks. He placed his revolver inside his coat’s pocket while Phillip came over to his aide. Phillip helped the sheriff clear the doorway from all the desks that was keeping it closed off.
Once it was finally cleared, Phillip opened the door and ran into the next hallway without even thinking. He became scared out of his mind when an army of flesh eaters in police uniforms turned over to see him standing there. Bruce walked in as well to see the pale skin corpses staring at them. They watched as most of the creatures stumbled around within the tight space. Each of them started to reach out for their next meal.
“C’mon boy! We‘re not going to let them through!” said Bruce. The Sheriff had grabbed Phillip by the shirt to yank him out of the hallway and back into the office. He slammed the door shut and locked it from their end.
Phillip quickly ran behind a heavy desk to push it against the locked door. Bruce helped him set the desk against the door to keep the monsters from getting through. The men started to pile as many desks as they could against the first one that they placed. The wooden door was finally under attack. They were trying to break through to get into the office.
“Alright, we know that there is someone alive behind this wall!” Bruce said as he pointed at the young man. “Phillip! Go close the door we first came through and stack some desks against it. We’ll trap ourselves in so that nothing can sneak in from behind. I’m going
to shoot a few holes through the wall so we can see who or what’s on the other side,” said Bruce. The young man had ran off to do what he was told to do with the door. Bruce walked over to the wall that they were at a few moments ago. He quickly unleashed his revolver before aiming it up high so that it wouldn’t harm the possible survivors on the other side. Bang. One shot was fired, then another. Phillip was almost done fixing up the door so that none of the rotting meat heads could break in so easily. He had sat down on one of the chairs to catch his breath.
“I don’t get it!” said Phillip. Why didn’t we smell that horrible death stench when we came inside this room? I mean there was a whole batch of them in a tiny space, but they didn’t have that same smell like the others do,” he said.
Bruce thought about the same thing as he continued to fire his revolver at the wall. Finally something started to bang against the other side. The sheriff lowered his gun while smacking his palm against it too.
“I AM SHERIFF BRUCE MATTHEWS FROM THE LITTLE BOW POLICE DEPARTMENT! HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS CITY?!” Bruce yelled as loud as he could. More banging came from the other side of the wall. Phillip walked over to Bruce‘s side. He placed his hand along the cold hard surface before planting his ear against the wall to listen. It grew quiet. The sheriff was thinking about putting another round through the wall when a stronger force hit it. Bruce stepped back but Phillip decided to stay where he was.
“Sir! I can hear the woman’s voice! I can’t quite make out what she’s saying though!” said Phillip. Another powerful slam had shook the wall which caused Philip to jump back. Whoever was with the woman on the other side had to be pretty strong.
Chunks of the wall had flew past Phillip when a muscular dark hand suddenly broke through it. He quickly ran to hold the hand tightly for support.
Outbreak of the Living Dead (Book 1) Page 13
