by Phil Maxey
She slammed on the brakes, making most in the confined space inside the RV suddenly slam up against whatever was behind them. But that wasn’t what woke Joel. It was Jess’s scream that did that.
Everyone looked at the ragged assortment of bloodied limbs and torsos that lay spread out in all directions.
“They’re vamps,” said Marina, standing in the aisle behind the two front seats.
“They’re dead right?” said Mary, standing as they all crowded around trying to see out the front.
“Yup,” said Anna, both her hands still frozen on the steering wheel. Despite the rumbling engine in front of her feet, she couldn’t hear any heartbeats from the broken things that lay in front of them.
Joel scoured the scene. Something gold caught his eye. Twenty yards away, spent bullet casings glinted in the sun. “There was a battle here.”
“Any idea who won or lost?” said Hardin.
Joel looked across to Anna, ignoring Hardin’s question. “Why we on this road?”
“The highway was jammed with cars. No way through.”
He looked back to the discarded creatures scattered all around. “Keep driving, but go slow.” He reached down to the space in front of his seat and brought up his M4 assault rifle.
Marina pulled her Glock from the back of her pants.
Bill staggered forward from the back. “What’s going on? Why we—” He then saw the scene of carnage they were about to drive through. “Are we in Salt Lake City?”
“South of,” said Marina. She looked down at Jess. “Sit back down.” Her daughter obliged, and hugged her book to her chest.
Anna did her best to avoid driving over the arms and legs of the distorted bodies, but some could not be avoided and she winced each time the RV bumped, despite knowing that they were vamps.
“What’s that?” said Marina, looking at the corner of an apartment complex a few hundred yards in front of them.
As the RV grew parallel with the towerlike structure of a sandy-colored five story building, a white sheet, hanging from one of the top windows fluttered in the wind. The humans were not able to read what had been painted onto it, but the others could.
“Stay out of city. We have gone to the sanctuary,” said Anna.
They looked east to the range of peaks which soared into the sky.
“You think they made it?” said Mary.
Joel looked at the dead vamps around the RV. “I think they did.”
Bill sat down and opened the map which sat on the small table. “Unless we are willing to go hundreds of miles out of our way, all roads lead through the city to get to the air force base.”
“I don’t think they wrote that for no reason!” said Hardin.
Joel leaned forward and squinted at the blinding sun. “The vamps don’t like the direct light. If we’re going to go, this is the best time to do it.” He looked across to Anna who nodded and pulled away, bumping over more bodies.
Hardin huffed and sat back down on the sofa.
It wasn’t long before they were headed back north and were weaving between abandoned vehicles on a seven-lane highway. Luckily, on this stretch the cars and trucks were more sparsely spread out, but it was still slow going having to steer the large RV around the obstacles.
After driving for around twenty minutes, Anna slowed then stopped the RV.
“What’s it now?” said Hardin, getting to his feet and looking through the front window.
Up ahead, another highway passed over the one they were on, and, as with the apartments, a sign had been hung over the edge of the overpass.
Anna lightly pressed down on the gas and edged closer to the large sheets that fluttered in the wind.
Bill leaned forward to read what was written. “And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground”
“That something from the bible?” said Evan.
“Genesis Nineteen twenty-five,” said Mary.
Under the excerpt was also written, “This city is dammed! Stay out!”
Hardin waved his arm around. “You can’t seriously be thinking of keeping going in this direction?”
Anna looked across to Joel. “I’m not sensing anything, are you?”
He shook his head. It was a lie by omission. He was sensing something. Like the sound of crickets on a hot day. In the dark recesses of his mind he could hear the inhabitants of the city. But he was sure they were not aware of himself and the others yet.
Anna drove forward slowly. The sheets and blankets slid over the top part of the windscreen and then dragged across the roof.
They were plunged into darkness as more sheets hung on the opposite side, meaning they were now inside a tunnel.
“Can’t see shit,” said Hardin.
“We can,” said Anna. She could see the shadows contained nothing of threat and they passed through the other sheets and back out into the light.
The other side was no different to the previous section of highway. The occasional car or jackknifed semi, but nothing which gave any credence to the city being overrun.
The road widened to eight lanes and was banked by a small concrete wall, but due to the height of the RV they were able to look at the skyscrapers and other important looking buildings a few miles off to the east. Just below the highway, railway lines converged and a train, with three carriages, sat motionless as if waiting to enter the city’s station.
As they drove past, a flock of blackbirds that were resting on the tracks took to the sky.
“We’re not too far from the base, maybe another fifteen minutes,” said Anna.
The buzzing was still permeating Joel’s mind, but he ignored it, instead using his other senses to look beyond the highway they were on.
“Take the next exit,” said Bill.
Anna did as instructed and they were soon on a four-lane road, bordered by smart-looking homes, large stores, and the occasional mall.
“Salt Lake City is so clean and tidy,” said Anna.
“Even after the apocalypse!” said Marina, kneeling just behind her in the aisle. They both laughed.
“The base should be at the end of this road,” said Bill, looking up from his map.
After a few more miles, they arrived at a junction.
On a pole, an American flag fluttered in the afternoon sun, and a sign etched in stone on a plinth proudly announced they were about to enter an air force base.
Anna slowly drove them across the junction, past the sign and onto the road which ran to the main gate. On both sides, expansive lawned fields sat, the grass made yellow by the early autumn sun.
She stopped the RV at the booth which sat in the middle of the road. It was empty.
“That doesn’t bode well,” said Marina.
Anna drove on, weaving around a car which was on its side. She slowed as they past it. There were streaks of blood across the windscreen but no other sign of who drove it. She stopped the RV at another junction and looked at Joel. “Where to, this place is huge.”
He reached out with his mind and every other sense, desperately trying to locate any sign of humans. A conversation, breathing, footsteps, even a heartbeat would give him some indication of which direction to move in, but only silence echoed back to him, until it was replaced with pain.
As if a red-hot poker had been driven into the back of his head, he leaned forward clutching his temples.
“What’s wrong?” said Anna, leaning towards him.
The pain slid from his mind as easily as it had entered, but the reason for it lingered. “They’re coming.” His words came out between breaths.
The inhabitants of the RV looked through any windows close to them.
Anna’s head whipped around, from right to left. “From where? All I see is flat parkland.”
Marina stood upright. “Everyone quiet!”
They all froze in place.
The slight vibrations of the RV windows and internal pieces of furn
iture were obvious even to the non-scourge infected of the group.
Anna looked at Joel. “Where are they coming from?”
He closed his eyes. “From where we came. From the city.”
Marina moved swiftly to the back room, leaned on the bed, and looked out the rear window. The road they just travelled up looked no different, but there was something about the sky just above the road which made her squint. The air looked dusty, as if the fog of pollution had suddenly descended to the south.
“Let’s just get the hell out of here, there’s obviously no air force here left to hand that suitcase off to!” said Hardin, wiping a cloth across his forehead.
Anna looked at Joel who nodded back to her. She pushed down on the gas pedal, and they jolted forward then moved smoothly away, passing a running track then large blocklike buildings. One had a sign mentioning a medical facility whereas another, devoid of any windows, talked of ‘Engine repair.’
After a short distance, the landscape flattened out again.
“Stop!” shouted Joel.
Anna slammed on the brakes, and all eyes looked along the road which ran down a few miles to the northwest gate.
At first, no one was sure what they were seeing, for it seemed a volume of liquid was moving towards them, but Joel, and the others similar to him, could see more detail of the mass of arms and legs which were tearing at the dusty air.
“There are thousands…” said Hardin more to himself than those around him.
“Reverse!” said Joel.
Anna did so, then swung the RV around, and moved off back in amongst the various bland multi-story buildings.
Joel scanned each structure as they passed them by. “We need to get inside one of these… That one!” He pointed to the ‘Engine repair facility.’ From what he could see, it contained virtually no windows, and hardly any entrances. “Get us close to the vehicle bay door.”
“And when we get in, how do we get back out?” exclaimed Bill.
“I don’t know, but if we can’t fight that many off.”
As the RV bumped up a curb and Anna drove them across a small parking lot, Marina held Jess close with one hand and held onto the table with the other.
The RV rushed towards the entrance and skidded to a stop in front of the wide metal vehicle bay door.
Joel looked over his shoulder. “Everyone outside, we need to get that door open!”
He jumped out of the passenger door, while the others left by the other exits and all ran forward and stopped just in front of the pleated red shutter.
“Everyone, grab the bottom and pull it up!”
They did as asked, and it creaked then gave way, sliding upwards.
Anna then jumped back into the driver’s seat and drove the RV into the shadows inside the vehicle bay. Once it was clear of the door, Joel jumped up, grabbing the latch, and pulled it back down into the ground.
As they all stood in the darkness, the ground shuddered as if they were in the midst of an earthquake.
Joel knelt near the door, pressing it down. Everyone else joined him, lending their weight to it.
As the thunderous noise outside increased, so did the chaos in his mind.
What’s happening to me…
He looked at Anna next to him. Her mouth was opening and closing, but the chorus of rage and hunger was eclipsing any external sound. As a wave of fatigue washed through him, taking with it his strength, he slowly slumped to the side, and his world succumbed to darkness.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Marina looked at the man on the main bed in the RV. She presumed he was mid-thirties but, despite the beard, there was something about his features and skin tone that suggested he was younger. She wondered if it was the scourge virus that had given him a youthful appearance and if the same would happen to her.
No more skin products.
She laughed but quickly stifled the brief moment of humor before it turned into something darker.
Since he passed out hours earlier they had not been able to wake him. But his pulse was strong and breathing regular, so once the hordes of growls and shrieks passed by they moved him to the RV. They then reversed the RV to the shutter and jammed a tire iron under the back of it, which rested on the latch, securing the door.
She turned to the others who were resting where they could in the RV.
“How long do we have to stay here?” said Jess, hugging one of the RV’s small rose patterned pillows.
Marina sat next to her. “Probably until sun up.”
“Then where are we going?”
Hardin answered before Marina could. “That’s a good question?” He looked at Evan and Bill who were playing cards, and Mary’s back who was standing at the electric hob, cooking up some noodles for everyone. Anna was in the driver’s seat, her head back, while Shannon was in the seat next to her seemingly sleeping.
“That’s up to Joel,” said Marina.
“And why do we have to do what he says?” continued Hardin.
“He’s kept us alive this far,” said Bill, not taking his eyes from his cards.
Marina felt full of energy despite a whole day travelling and the events of a few hours earlier. She looked through the windscreen at the darkness, but was still able to make out a large cavernous space, full of huge airplane engines on rails, and robotic arms frozen in place.
She pulled her jacket sleeve back revealing her anniversary present from Russell. It said 6:35 p.m.
They hadn’t ventured ten feet from the RV since they pulled in to the vehicle bay, maybe now was the time to change that.
She looked down at Flint, who had his nose to the ground. “Want to go—” Before she could finish he got up, his tail wagging. “I guess that’s a yes then.”
“Can I come?” said Jess.
“I don’t know what’s in the building, Jess. I think it’s better you stay here until I know it’s safe.”
Her hope in her daughter’s face quickly dissipated. Marina put her hand on Jess’s hair, briefly stroking it. “Once I know it’s safe we can go for a walk, okay?”
Jess nodded.
Marina fished Flint’s leash out from one of the top cupboards, attached it to his neck, and pushed open the side door. As she did the driver’s door opened as well.
“I need to stretch my legs,” said Anna over her shoulder.
Both women, who were now more than they were a week earlier, studied the large almost completely black space in front of them. There was nothing remarkable about any of the machines, but Marina pulled her pocket flashlight from her jacket anyway, and switched it on.
They both walked forward into the gloom. Flint pulled on his leash, which even with her increased strength Marina had trouble holding onto.
“So how you finding… being different?” said Anna as they strolled past the beams and structs that towered over them.
Marina thought about it. “The sun seems brighter.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too, like it’s closer or something.”
They both smiled.
“Honestly, I feel the same… well, apart from—”
“The hunger…”
“Yeah.”
“And being able to see and hear better is a bit weird. Like I’m more—”
“Plugged into the world?”
“Yeah…”
They walked up a set of stairs which ran up the wall to the right of the large hall, and out onto a balcony, which skirted the inside just below the roof. They both briefly looked back down to the RV, and the glows within, and continued walking along the gantry. At the end they stopped at a plain-looking door.
Neither could sense anything on the other side, so Marina pulled the handle down and entered into a narrow corridor. Two sets of doors were on both sides, with a junction ten yards ahead.
Each door they walked past had important sounding titles stamped on them of the people that worked in the building. ‘Chief engineer,’ ‘Parts manager.’
They stopped at the junct
ion. Marina noticed one door to their right had ‘Roof access’ printed above it.
They were soon ascending a confined stairwell, to a final door, which took them out onto a large flat roof. They were glad to be outside.
From the height of the three-story building, they could see most of the airforce base around them, including the lake a few miles to the west. They both momentarily became transfixed by the orange and pink ripples catching the failing light.
Anna walked to the south side, and looked out to the way they came. A mile off, bodies rested on the fields and roads.
“Vamps” said Marina joining her.
“Not as many as before, but some stayed.” Anna peered over the wall. “Looks clear around the building.”
Marina stayed watching the creatures, static like statues. “As soon as we lift that door and try to drive out, it will pull them towards us. Who knows how many more are out of our line of sight up here.”
“Maybe we need a dis—”
Anna stopped in mid-sentence. She looked at Marina, and they both looked to the east, to the mountains. Miles off in the distance a sparkle of light was moving in their direction. It was accompanied by a barely audible clattering.
“Some kind of aircraft,” said Marina.
“I think it’s a helicopter…” Anna ran back to the stairwell door. “Wait here, I’ll tell the others.”
Before Marina could reply, Anna was gone.
Marina walked across the roof to the east wall, briefly looking every few steps to the vamps in the distance. They seemed not to notice the oncoming visitor yet.
Now she could hear the sound of the rotor blades a lot more clearly. Probably not loud enough for the woman she was a week ago to hear, but clear enough for her to know the chopper would be overhead within a few minutes.
