by Adams, Taeya
He walked away, leaving Max rolling his misty gray eyes.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1: 32 pm
Austin walked slowly through the insane hospital.
Each time he came to an intersection, he looked all ways and goes on. His military boots pound through the empty halls. The only other thing that fills the halls was blood; not really fresh.
When he came to double doors, he took a deep breath and pushed the doors open. He entered the room, scanning what’s in front of him. It was some type of Movie Theater with chairs and a projector set up but scattered around with blood.
Austin’s heart decided to stop breathing as he heard growl, none human or undead growls; dog growls. He turned slowly and saw two guard dogs in attack mode. They are pure zombies. One of them has no side of his face and the other seemed to have no insides because his whole stomach was eaten out.
“Oh crap,” Austin muttered as the dogs charged at him.
Austin shot at the one German shepherd dog that had no insides. He doesn’t have time to shot the second so it tackled him. His gun flew but he doesn’t need it. Austin gripped the dog’s head and in a swift movement, snapped it. A cracking noise rippled through the room.
He quickly kicked the dog off of him and scramble to his feet.
A growl came as the dog got back up. His head hung by a thread of nerves and meat. Even though, the dog’s head was sideways and flappy, it charged again.
*****
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1:33 pm
Dean, Max and Zander stopped as they hear gun shots. They looked at each other.
Then they took off running in the direction they came in.
Dean felt weak and lost all of his color.
*****
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1:34 pm
Austin covered his face when he heard gun shots just as the dog jumped at him.
When he heard a thump in front, Austin peeked. The guard dog was lying on the floor in front of him, bleeding black blood from a blood wound. Austin looked over to see an old guy with a gun.
“Thought, you could use some help,” The old guy said. Even though he was old, he has a lot of tattoos. Behind the tattoo old guy was a military guy and two hippies.
“Do you know, Scarlett?” Austin asked the military guy.
The guy popped his gum. “Why? What’s it to ya?”
“I have her daughter.”
“Yeah, we got split though…”
Austin let out a curse. “You don’t have a case for Forres Tanner, do you?”
The guy took off the bag he had and threw it to Austin. “I do. It came like three days ago with some food.”
Austin thought it was the weirdest thing ever. Why would the doctor make zombies real then give food to dying people? Austin doesn’t know but he knows they have to leave. ”Let’s go. You could come or stay, I really don’t care.”
Just as Austin left the room he bumped into Max.
Max raised his gun thinking they are zombies. He relaxed a bit when he saw Austin but not all the way. He still had to keep his guard up with Austin.
“Let’s get out of here…,” Zander said.
Austin picked up his walkie-talkie. “Felix?”
“Boom?”
“Go ahead.”
“Finally!”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1:37 pm
Felix took out Dean’s lighter after putting the walkie-talkie in his back pocket.
He saw his reflection in the fridge and he has to admit, he looked so good; cargo shorts with a white long sleeve slick shirt and a bandanna wrapped around his nose and mouth. Lighting a flame, he flicked back the lighter and threw it.
Time seemed to tick slower as Felix ran and jumped into the vent on his back. The slick shirt let him slide around like wet soap on a tiled floor.
The lighter hit the kitchen floor and the whole kitchen ignited, becoming its own sun.
He smoothly pulled himself up when he got to the five ways in the vent and dropped down the hole that Forres made before, feet first.
At the bottom of the hole was Bex with a fire proof blanket. Felix fell on the now clear floor with a loud thump. Bex covered both of them with the blanket just as the fire came out of the broken vent. A couple of bangs rippled the hospital.
When the explosions and flames seemed to be done, Bex threw back the covers. Felix let out a laugh, standing. Pain would shot through him, if adrenaline wasn’t busy coursing through his veins. Everything around the two of them was either on fire or burnt. “Let’s go before this place collapses,” Bex coughed.
They ran out, dodging things on fire. Outside, burning objects were lying in the street. They saw the bus nearby and they ran to it, hopping in.
*****
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1: 43pm
After the blast, Austin’s group and newbies ran out of the tunnel. Most zombies’ attention was on the explosion and drawing near it. The people with guns cleared a path. They seemed to have run so far because everyone was breathing heavy and sweaty. No one talked but once they saw the bus, they started to wave their arm.
Eleanor pulled the bus near them and they all piled on the bus except for Dean.
“Come on, Dean,” Zander said, motioning for him to come.
“I’m sorry… I got bit…,” Dean said, looking at his hand. It was oozing blood that was black instead or red.
“You’ll be fine,” Zander reassured him. “We need to go.”
Dean looked over at Eleanor. She nodded and closed the bus door, starting to drive off.
“No!” Zander screamed and slammed his fist against the door. Another friend gone… He sat in the middle of the isle and put his head between his legs, willing himself not to cry.
Forres saw something. She looked up and saw an enormous thing. It was three stories tall. She stared as he easily picked up a car. The enormous thing was about to whip the car at the bus. “Eleanor!” Forres yelled, unable to contain herself.
Eleanor looked the mirror just the car came flying to them. She swerved the bus just at the last minute. The car landed right next to them. Glass shattered. She doesn’t wait for another car to fly. She drove quickly away from New York City with the sun following them along the horizon.
Austin stopped Eleanor at the dome. “Zander give us the next clue,” he ordered.
“Next clue for what?” The hippie girl asked. Zander grabbed the case and sat in front of Forres.
“Alright, listen up,” Austin started, standing in the middle of the bus. “We have rules. One, kill any walker even if they aren’t a threat. We can’t lose any more people. Two, no murdering, even though this is now a free world, no killing humans. Also that girl,” he nodded to Forres. “She’s our ticket to stay alive. She dies; we die. It’s simple. Got it?”
Most of them nod.
“But why?” The hippie girl asked.
“We just need to keep her alive. Have a problem with it, leave.”
“I want answers…”
Austin chuckled. “And I don’t care. I only care for the survival of Forres and Chyler. No one else,” Chyler perked up even though her eyes are watering because her mother wasn’t with them, neither was Sargent’s sister.
“Fine. We’ll leave,” The women stood and looked at her husband. He doesn’t look at her. “Fine,” she repeated and left the bus, alone
Felix whistled.
“Anyone else have a problem?” Austin asked.
The old guy raised two fingers.
“What’s your name?”
“Strix.”
“What’s your problem Strix?”
The old guy rubbed the back of his neck “More of a question. Are you the leader?”
“We vary a bit but for the most part, I’d say I am.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 4: 57 pm
Zander opened the case, completely ignoring Austin.
He picked up the needle and softly grabbed Forres’s arm.
Forres pulled her away from him, sticking her hands in her pocket and fingering the letter she was given by Sargent. Neither Bex nor Forres opened the letters, yet.
Zander sat bewildered for a second. Watching her face, he reached for it again but once again she moved. He searched her face.
Forres was staring at the ground.
Zander leaned and whispered, “I can’t cook.”
Forres took second to process his words before slowly looking at him.
“I can’t cook to save my life. I burn pans when I boil water. I can’t help but not think when I’m around danger. I just do and I deal with the consequences later. I just act fast and don’t think about how my actions could hurt others,” He continues. “I have been called potty mouth. I’m in love and I mean in love with Burger King and I almost cried when I realized that it closed because of the apocalypse.”
Forres smiled a bit.
Zander gave her a twisted smile. “I have so many flaws that even the apocalypse won’t give me time to tell you all of them,” Zander took her hand and she doesn’t resist. He injected her with the medicine.
“One of my best friends died today,” Forres whispered to herself, not believing it is true.
Doctor Greene popped on the screen.
“So many people died yet we live. We need to hold on to the little human race we have left…”
“As Jezabel once said, ‘the world is only over when we forget we’re still human.’” Eleanor stated, turning in her sit. “Let’s hold on to the human race for Jezabel and Jinx,” She raised her fist. She felt stupid but she did it anyways.
“For Sargent,” Bex added, raising her fist.
“For Ben!” Zander raised his fist.
“For Thaddeus and Parker,” Chyler raised her fist, wiping her eyes with the other hand.
“For Jackus,” Max said.
“For Dallas and Scarlett,” Austin raised his.
“For Dean,” The military guy raised his fist. Forres was pretty sure his last name was Mucky.
“For,” Forres stood. “All those who died or who are fighting to survive. We need to hold on and survive for those who can’t.”
The rest raised their fist.
Forres scanned her group of misfit warriors. “It’s up to us… No more killing humans or dying; enough with envy, discrimination or prejudice. It’s time to fight back and take control. We were born to do this… You with me?”
A bunch of “yes” rippled through the air.
“Good,” Forres gave a nod and sat back down and looked out the window at their new world.
Epilogue
Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 1: 59 pm
Doctor Greene sat back and relaxed.
“Tracy?”
“Yes sir?” Tracy asked and stepped up, clip board to her chest.
“Throw one of the clones in and start Phase Two: Water…”
Tracy sighed. “As you wish…”
|The End of Book One|
