H7N9: The Complete Series [Books 1-3]

by Campbell, Mark

  Ein kept his nose covered and waited in the shadows, terrified. His heart raced as he heard someone approaching.

  A police radio squawked, and footsteps stopped right outside the apartment door.

  “Foxtrot to Charley Command, be advised, I’ve found a door that appears to have already been forced. Do you copy—over,” a voice said from the other side.

  “Proceed, Foxtrot. Keep your head on a swivel. Copy?”

  “Foxtrot copies.”

  The front door creaked as it slowly swung inward.

  Ein panicked and blindly scrambled towards the bathtub with his weapon. He pulled the rancid corpse aside, flopped into the tub, and brought the ghoul atop of him. He retched and felt acidic bile creep up the back of his throat as his senses grew overwhelmed, but he didn’t dare cry out.

  He lay motionless in the tub with the dead man covering him. He hugged the rifle against his chest.

  The bathroom door opened, and an officer in tactical gear stood in the doorway with his M4 pointed towards the tub. The night-vision goggles attached to his helmet whirled as they adjusted into focus. His breaths through his gasmask were heavy and raspy. He scanned the room for a few seconds with the weapon’s laser and then lowered his rifle to click his mic. “Foxtrot to Charley Command, negative contact—over.”

  With the door open, tear gas wafted into the tiny bathroom and quickly inundated the air.

  “Copy, Foxtrot. Join Lemma on the next floor.”

  “Foxtrot copies. Heading out.” The officer turned and started to leave.

  Despite Ein’s best attempts, the tear gas proved too much.

  Ein coughed and tried to smother it, but his efforts were in vain.

  The officer spun towards the noise and pointed his rifle at the tub. He stepped into the bathroom and brought the gun to his shoulder.

  Teddy emerged from the haze of the tear gas and lunged at the officer from behind. He wrapped one arm around the man’s neck while simultaneously stabbing him in his throat with a kitchen knife. He reared back as he stabbed him, knocking the man off-kilter.

  The man howled in pain and squeezed the trigger as he twisted and contorted violently to get Teddy to get off of him.

  The ineffective shots struck the tiled backsplash behind the tub and shattered the mirror over the sink.

  Teddy continued his vicious attack as blood splattered onto the ceiling and covered his arm.

  A panicked voice came over the radio: “Shots fired! Shots fired! All units—report! Where are they coming from?!”

  The man elbowed Teddy hard in the chest and managed to knock him off of his back.

  Teddy fell backward. The bloody knife went sliding across the floor.

  The man woozily turned towards Teddy and pointed his M4 at him as Teddy tried scrambling for the knife.

  Suddenly, gunfire.

  Bullets struck the man in the back and blew out the front of his tactical breastplate.

  The man gave a final gasp and collapsed facedown a few feet away from Teddy.

  Ein sat in the tub with a wide-eyed, shocked expression as he held the AK-47 tightly in his hands. He heaved the corpse off of him and stepped out of the tub as he kept the weapon’s smoking barrel pointed at the back of the officer. “Teddy? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Teddy coughed and got on his feet as he wiped the blood splatter off of his face with his hands. He pried the M4 out of the dead man’s hands and glared at Ein. “But I would’ve been a hell of a lot better if you used that damn thing when he first came in.”

  “I was trying to hide…”

  “Well, goddamn, kid, if you’re too afraid to pull the trigger, why don’t you let me hold it next time?”

  “You have a pretty pissy attitude considering that I just saved your life.”

  Teddy gave him a skeptical look and pointed down at the bloody knife. “Who saved who?”

  A voice came over the dead man’s radio: “Charley Command to all units—report in!”

  “Lemma—clear.”

  “Echo—clear.”

  “Delta—clear.”

  “Alpha—clear.”

  Teddy rolled the dead man over with his foot, reached down, and keyed his mic. “Foxtrot is good.”

  “Charley Command copies. Continuing searching! Find where those shots came from—over.”

  “Smart,” Ein said.

  “It’ll buy us some time, but we still have to get the hell out of here.” Teddy quickly stripped the man’s boots off and stuffed his dirty bare feet inside. “Is it cold outside?”

  “Kind of, yeah… Not as bad as it was further north, though.”

  Teddy looked at his bloody t-shirt and sweatpants with a sigh. “Fuck it. I guess this will have to do for now.”

  “We need to go.” Ein looked uneasily at the door.

  “Give me a second.” Teddy crouched over the man and started rummaging through his tactical pockets. He pulled three flashbang grenades out of their holsters and hastily stuffed them in his pockets.

  “What are those for?”

  Teddy tapped on the goggles attached to the man’s helmet. “They’re all using night-vision… A flashbang will do us wonders if we get cornered, but I don’t think we’ll have to worry too much about running into any of them.”

  Ein looked doubtful. “I don’t see how you plan on avoiding them… It sounds like they’re crawling all over the place.”

  Teddy simply grinned and fired the M4 at the ceiling.

  Ein flinched and backed away, ducking. “Are you crazy?!”

  Voices started screaming over the radio: “Shots fired! Shots fired! They’re close!”

  Teddy crouched down and keyed the mic. “Foxtrot to base! I got them corned up on the top floor! Taking fire! Get up here!”

  “All units—fall back to—”

  Teddy ripped the mic from the radio and snapped the plastic housing apart. He flung the mic across the room and motioned for Ein. “That’ll keep them misdirected for a while. Come on!”

  Teddy hunched over and shot out of the apartment and into the hallway with the M4 ready. He coughed and gasped as he went through the tear gas.

  Ein followed with his AK-47 and noticed that Teddy was walking with a limp. Blood was starting to seep through the gauze wrapped around his waist and blot the shirt. “Are you going to make it?”

  “I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Teddy griped. He waved a hand in front of him as he walked, coughing, struggling to peer down the smoky corridor.

  Teddy came to an abrupt stop as he neared the elevator atrium. He held a hand up at Ein and signaled for him to wait.

  Ein froze and stared ahead with growing dread at the two officers from the tactical team who were waiting in the atrium with their M4 rifles pointed towards the stairwell door. He leaned over and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What are they doing?”

  “Waiting for us to try running down the stairs,” Teddy whispered back. “How’s your aim?”

  Ein reached up and rubbed his red, watery eyes. “Not too good, thanks to this damn gas.”

  “Same…” Teddy reached down and pulled one of the flashbangs out of his pocket. He eyed it for a moment before shrugging. “Guess we better even the playing field first, right? Close your eyes, kid.”

  Teddy pulled the pin out with his teeth and chucked the flashbang out into the atrium between the two officers.

  Both of them glanced down at it before realizing what it was.

  The flashbang went out in a shower of sparks and lit the atrium in a blinding white light.

  The two officers cried out and spun away from the light, tugging desperately at their night-vision goggles.

  Teddy and Ein hurried into the atrium and started firing.

  The blinded officers jolted and flailed as the bullets tore through them. They popped off a few wild bursts of gunfire before dropping their weapons and flinging backward against the elevator doors and crumpling to the floor.

  Panicked traffic came ov
er the radio: “Shots fired—they’re below us!”

  Teddy hobbled towards the stairwell door and shoved it open. He lurched inside and scanned the area blindly with his M4 before motioning for Ein to hurry up.

  Ein followed behind him as they made their frantic dash down the flight of stairs in darkness.

  Teddy dropped the M4 and gripped the handrail with both hands as he hopped down one step after another. He bent over and gritted his teeth as fresh blood continued to soak through his bandage.

  “They’re on the stairs!” a muffled voice said from high-above.

  Orange strobe lit the stairwell as the officers fired wildly from a few floors above.

  The bullets ricocheted off of the iron handrails and balusters. Errant rounds chipped away at the drywall and pinged against the risers.

  Teddy came to an abrupt stop when one bullet whistled right past his head and made him flinch. He pulled another flashbang out of his pocket, yanked the pin, leaned over the handrail, and hurled it straight up towards the men.

  The flashbang exploded mid-air and bathed the stairwell in white.

  The officers stopped firing and screamed out in pain as they hurriedly tried to pry off their goggles.

  Teddy and Ein seized the chance and continued down the next flight before coming to a stop on a tier stenciled with a large ‘2’.

  Ein started to head towards the next flight that led to the first floor, but Teddy reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder.

  “They probably got a whole battalion waiting down there,” Teddy warned.

  Ein glanced up into the darkness and could hear footsteps descending towards them. “What do we do then?! They’ll be here any second!”

  “This way!” Teddy pushed past Ein and opened the second-floor stairwell door.

  Ein followed after him.

  A few of the officers above started firing again, but their shots were even more erratic than before.

  Teddy pulled the pin on the last flashbang, tossed it into the stairwell, and slammed the door shut.

  As they ran down the second-floor hallway, they could hear the device detonate, and the shooting stopped once again.

  Ein looked at the apartment doors as he ran by, struggling to catch his breath. “Which one?”

  “Which way is the front of the building?” Teddy’s voice had taken on a poor, raspy quality again. He started to fall further behind Ein and kept one hand pressed against his bleeding wound.

  Ein looked over his shoulder at him, confused. “What? Why?”

  “You’re the one that came in here from the street, not me! Which way is the front, dammit?!” Teddy barked. He pointed at both sides of the hall. “Left or right?!”

  Ein hesitantly pointed at the right side, unsure. “I think that’s the front over there!”

  Teddy went to one of the doors on the left and tried the knob.

  Locked.

  Groaning, Teddy slammed his shoulder against the door a few times before collapsing on his knees, panting. He looked at Ein and shook his head. “I can’t do it… I’m too fucked up. I feel like my guts are trying to rip out of my stomach. You’ll have to do it, kid.”

  Teddy got out of the way and leaned against the wall as sweat dripped off of his face. He held a hand out for the AK-47. “Give that to me. I’ll cover us.”

  Ein handed it over.

  Teddy brought the gun to his shoulder and pointed it towards the stairwell. “Get that door down. I’ll hold them off.”

  Ein took a running start, slammed the side of his body against the door, and recoiled in pain. He took a few steps back and tried again.

  After six attempts, the frame broke, and the door swung inwards.

  Ein stumbled inside the apartment, rubbing his battered and bruised shoulder.

  Teddy brushed by and scanned the apartment with the rifle.

  It was a drab, modernly appointed place that had an inch of dust everywhere in sight.

  Teddy lowered the weapon and limped towards the sliding glass balcony doors. “Almost there.”

  “Almost where?” Ein asked with aggravation.

  “Quit bitching and just follow my lead.” Teddy unlatched the door and slid it open with a grimace. He stepped outside onto the narrow balcony.

  Ein joined him and looked around.

  The building had a typical metropolitan view of the building directly across from it. A narrow alleyway ran between the two buildings, cluttered with garbage bins and heaps of rotting, flattened cardboard.

  Ein heard the whirling drones overhead and the persistent wail of police sirens from the street.

  “We have to get down to the alley.” Teddy knocked the plastic furniture aside and peered over the handrail.

  “How?”

  Teddy pointed at one of the open dumpsters a few yards away.

  Ein backed away, shaking his head. “No way… I’m not jumping. Let’s find another way.”

  At the end of the alley, two drones dipped down low and started scanning the area. They swept their spotlights side-to-side as they advanced.

  Teddy dropped the AK-47, reached out, and wrapped his arms around Ein.

  “Hey, man, what the fuck are you doing?” Ein squirmed and tried to break away.

  Teddy squeezed tightly and shoved himself backward over the edge of the handrail.

  They tumbled down and landed hard on mounds of sacks full of molding, rotting trash. Rats squeaked and scurried out of the dumpster in angry protest as the pile flattened considerably.

  Teddy lay sprawled on his back, soaked in off-color runoff and covered with bits of decaying organic material. He groaned and flopped his arms over his head, struggling to catch his breath.

  Ein rolled off of Teddy and nearly sank to the bottom, his entire arm swallowed by filth. He pulled his arm up in disgust and clung to the trash bags for some sort of purchase.

  “Close the lid,” Teddy said weakly, voice strained.

  Ein reached up, grabbed the lip of the plastic lid, and brought it slamming down on top of them.

  They lay in the darkness and listened as the drones buzzed past overhead.

  Luckily, the drones didn’t stop.

  Teddy let out a relieved sigh and pressed a hand against his stomach. He grimaced but kept pressure on the wound to help control the bleeding.

  Ein sat up and started to push the lid back open.

  “Don’t,” Teddy warned. “They’re searching. We have to wait until things die down.”

  “How are we supposed to know that?!”

  “I guess we’ll know once the police sirens stop.”

  “What do we do until then?” Ein asked in an exasperated tone.

  “My suggestion? Get comfy.”

  CHAPTER 38

  Hours passed.

  As far as how many, Teddy hadn’t a clue.

  The intense pain radiating from his wound faded to a dull, yet persistent, throb.

  Even better was the fact that it seemed to have stopped bleeding.

  Ein was silent, but that didn’t surprise Teddy—he knew that the kid’s nerves were shot.

  He felt Ein tense every time a rat brushed across them or squirmed through the trash below.

  The fetid stench of trash and the sounds of the rodents scurrying all around them was unnerving.

  Worse still were the occasional radio squabbles and footsteps as officers passed unknowingly outside.

  Teddy lay motionless save for the few times a curious rat tried to take a bite out of him or pull at his bandages. He flailed around often enough to keep away most of them, but a few of the more brazen bastards tried him anyway.

  As he lay there, his mind started to wander.

  He wondered how far they were from the ocean and how they’d get there.

  He thought about his family’s farm near Dallas.

  He thought about the mutt from the work camp, Lucy.

  He even reminisced about Jane and Danny.

  However, an insidious thought kept creeping up to
the surface of his mind time and time again: the cough.

  Devin was coughing.

  Teddy knew why.

  The question was, how long would it take to spread?

  How far would it go?

  Who else had it aside from his clownish goon assistant?

  How bad would it be—only the folks in Dover knew that.

  He asked himself all manner of questions and didn’t have a damn clue.

  One thing he couldn’t help but wonder was if Ein thought about Devin and his sick companion too.

  He knew that Ein knew what the doctor back in Topeka said.

  Surely Ein had to wonder if Devin’s sudden bout of ill-health was more than a mere coincidence, didn’t he?

  Regret started to gnaw at him just as persistently and painfully as the rodents.

  I should’ve told him about Lizzy, Teddy thought remorsefully. If he knew, he would’ve never come to another city.

  Surely not everybody in Baton Rouge deserved to share the same fate as Devin and his cronies.

  How many innocents were sick?

  How many would die?

  All because Ein hadn’t a fucking clue.

  Teddy closed his eyes.

  It’s my fault…

  My fault…

  My fault…

  “Teddy.”

  Ein’s voice startled him.

  “Yeah?” Teddy turned his head towards him in the dark.

  “I haven’t heard any sirens in a while…”

  Teddy considered it a moment and realized that he was right. “Neither have I.”

  “Do… you think that we can find somewhere else now?” Ein’s voice was hopeful and had a childish quality.

  “I think it’s safe enough.” Teddy sounded unsure himself. He sat up as his back popped loudly in protest. He lifted the lid a few inches and peered out at the empty alley for several moments before flinging the lid up and open all the way. “Let’s go.”

  The fresh, chilly air cut right through them as a wintery breeze whistled past them.

  Ein clambered up and out of the dumpster first. He hopped around a few times and rubbed his tingling legs to get sensation back. He reached a hand up at Teddy while keeping an eye on the street. “Can you get out on your own, or do you need some help?”