A Glimpse of Decay (Book 3): Lost in Twilight

by Santiago, A. J.

  “A build up—a gathering—of those things. They’re just on the other side of the wall…right behind us. Hurry, get your stuff. And don’t forget your tablet. We can’t afford to leave any of our research findings behind.”

  Irene grabbed a small carry bag and began to pack it with her clothing and toiletries. As she did so, she asked, “Do they think we’re in real danger?” She knew what the answer to her question would be, but she was trying to reassure herself that there was no reason to worry.

  “I’m sure that if there was no danger, they wouldn’t be moving us.” Jim walked up behind her and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He gently turned her towards him and said, “I’m sure this is just a precaution. They just want to be on the safe side in case—well, just in case.” He was doing his best to reassure her that they were safe and he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily. He knew that she had already escaped death in Kazakhstan and Maryland, and he didn’t know how much more she could take emotionally.

  “When is this ever going to end?” Irene asked as tears filled her eyes.

  Looking directly at her, Jim said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” He then reached behind his back and he retrieved a small handgun from his uniform pants. “Here, I want you to have this. Do you know how to use one?”

  “Yeah, I know,” she reluctantly said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “My dad took me shooting when I was younger.”

  “Well, hang onto this, just in case things get bad around here. Okay?”

  Irene took the weapon in her trembling hand and then relieved the moment when Roberts—gushing blood from all of the bites on his body—blew his brains out to avoid reanimating. She knew that if she was posed with the same dilemma, she would do the same. She shoved the gun into her bag and the two walked out of the room and into the hallway.

  As they walked out into the parking lot of the building that had once served as the living quarters for the family members of wounded soldiers returning from the war against terrorism, Irene was overcome by the stench of the horde that was lurking on the other side of the wall. The rising sun and the morning heat were bringing out the disgusting odor of the reanimated. She could hear their moans and shrieks and she rushed to jump into the awaiting Humvee.

  As they made the short drive over to the hospital, she asked Jim, “What do they plan on doing if they get into the base?”

  “I don’t know. No one has told me anything else. I think Farris and his group are already at the hospital. Maybe they’ll know something.”

  As the Humvee pulled up to the main entrance of the hospital, they saw that a make-shift barricade had been erected in front of the vestibule. Office desks, file cabinets and sheets of aluminum had been thrown together to provide some sort of barrier in the event the worst-case scenario played out.

  As Irene and Jim walked into the mall area, they could hear the shouts and hurried boot steps of the troopers as they attempted to seal off the other entrances into the building. A middle-aged female soldier, rifle slung across her back, saw the two and called over to them.

  “Captain, you need to make your way to the lounge on the fifth floor,” she said. “It’s just around the corner from the command center. Major Farris, Captain Cosgrove and Doctor Wang are up there with the rest of their group. You’ll have to take the stairs. The only elevators working are the service ones, and they’re being used for equipment and nothing else.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Jim said.

  As the two made their way up the stairs, Irene calmly said, “I’m not going to turn into one of those things—not if I can help it.”

  Jim stopped in mid-stride and looked over at her. “Same here.” He knew exactly what she was talking about.

  “And if I can’t do it, if for some reason something has happened and I can’t…end it, I want you to do it.”

  “Don’t worry, if it comes to that, I’ll do us both,” Jim proclaimed. “Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Damn, I just had de-ja-vu,” Irene said. “Or maybe I saw this same discussion in a movie or something. Oh well, who knows.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think they’ll be making any more movies anytime soon. If ever.”

  “I never really had time for movies anyway,” she said. “Heck, I never really had time for a relationship where I could go on a movie date.”

  “Well, if we make it out of here, I’ll take you to any movie you want to see. Deal?”

  “Deal,” Irene agreed.

  “Oh, just make sure it isn’t an apocalyptic movie, okay?” he kidded. “We’re living through the real thing—no need to see a movie about it.”

  ***

  “Make sure we have everything packed,” Morrow said to Davenport. “As much fuel as we can carry, and as much food as we can lug. If this place folds, we’re bugging out.” Morrow and Davenport were standing at the rear of Morrow’s track. The lieutenant ran his hand over the small beard he was wearing. None of the men had been able to shave for a week now. Water was at a premium and shaving and bathing had become a luxury of the past.

  “I’m with you on that,” Davenport said. “We’re all with you on that.”

  “There’s a small road just north of us—it runs along a creek and parallel to the freeway—if we have to, we’ll shoot our way through the wall on the northwest side of the perimeter, jump the train tracks and make our way to that little road. I think it’s called Holbrook or something.”

  “I like your way of thinking,” Cooper said as he walked up to the two men. He was carrying a box of rations that he was going to load onto one of the vehicles and he had overheard their conversation.

  “You think it might come to that…to us having to bug out?” Davenport asked Morrow.

  “Well, hopefully not, but it doesn’t hurt to have a contingency plan. From what it sounds like, there’s thousands of those things out by the main entrance. With that many of them, you never know what can happen.” Deep down inside, Morrow was feeling dread and fear. His gut was taut with anxiety, but he tried to present an image of composure and calmness. He didn’t want to show his men any weakness. He was sure that they were all feeling the same way, but he knew that he couldn’t afford to let them know that their leader was frightened. He needed them confident and resolute when the time came.

  “I wonder if the Russian soldiers went through this same shit?” Cooper asked out aloud.

  “Come again?” Davenport queried.

  “You know—like when all of this mess broke out over there. I remember seeing on the news that the Russian Army was trying to contain it before they decided to fuck it all up by nuking it. I just wonder what the grunts went through.”

  All three men stood in silence as they pondered over Cooper’s question.

  ***

  “Karnes, I don’t like this,” Darkowitz said. “Check it out.” Darkowitz was standing on the steel grate rampart that ran along the walls near the gate. Karnes, who had been down on the ground talking to several other troopers, quickly made his way up to the distressed sergeant.

  “Look,” Darkowitz said as he pointed over the edge of the wall. “See what’s happening.”

  Karnes cautiously raised up on the tips of his toes and looked down onto the mass of decomposition below. The stench was almost too much to take. What he saw made him freeze in horror. “Oh my God,” he said to himself.

  “You see what I’m talking about?” Darkowitz said.

  “Jesus Christ!” Karnes exclaimed. He turned to Darkowitz and asked, “Are these fucking things actually thinking?” He turned to look again at what was taking place below him—just to make sure that he wasn’t imagining things.

  The initial reanimated who had first approached the wall had been pinned up against it by the following waves. With the amassed weight pressed up against them from the swarm that was funneling its way down the street, the zombies along the wall began to be pushed down underfoot. A pile of undead was building up at the base of t
he wall and other walking corpses and fast-movers were now starting to climb up onto the mound of writhing and squirming bodies. It was only a matter of time before the wall would be overwhelmed.

  “Get riflemen up here now!” Karnes yelled. “Kill the fast ones!” Karnes grabbed his radio and keyed up. “Bravo-Six to SAMSEE Command, get me SAMSEE Actual, right now!” While waiting for Hartman to respond, Karnes yelled at the troopers who were manning the two mini-gun emplacements that were covering the barricaded gate. “Cut these fuckers in half so they can’t move!”

  “You want us to shoot now?” one of the gunners asked in confusion.

  “Yes, right fucking now!”

  “You got it!’ the trooper yelled back. He swiveled his gun in the direction of the growing mass of decomposing humanity and depressed the trigger. With a loud hum, the barrels spun to life and a stream of bright hot lead began to literally saw the bodies into pieces. The second gun joined in and the troopers with rifles began to pick off the fast movers.

  Karnes jumped down to the asphalt and covered his ears so he could hear his radio.

  “This is SAMSEE Actual,” Hartman said.

  “General, this is Karnes. I don’t know how they figured it out, but they’re climbing on top of each other in an attempt to make it over the wall. I need as much ammo is I can get over here.”

  Hartman trotted over to the table with the map. Looking down at it he said, “Alright, I need troops from the west wall to reinforce the main gate. Cowboy-Six, get your tracks over there too.” He turned to Youngblood and instructed, “Get the troops assigned to the hospital security to start ferrying ammunition out to the gate. Lieutenant Riggins, make sure the researchers are gathered in one area…just in case.”

  “We’re on it,” Youngblood said. The two soldiers broke into a run and darted out of the room.

  “What else do you need, son?” Hartman asked Karnes over the radio.

  “I think now would be a good time to get air support on the horn if there is any available,” the frantic sergeant answered.

  “We’re working on that right now,” the general said. He turned to Collier and pointed at her. “Get Dyess on the line and let them know that we need their support.”

  “Yes sir,” Collier said.

  “And let me know as soon as we hear something definitive from them.”

  “Yes general,” the frightened radio operator answered. “I just hope that we can keep an open line with them. Now that we can’t count on effective satellite comms, it’s hard working with the old transmitters and towers.”

  “Well, if you have to go to the roof and wave a damn antennae over your head, do it. Just make sure you keep an open line of communication with them!”

  ***

  “What the hell is all that noise?” Irene asked. The sound of gunfire was echoing through the cavernous hospital.

  “It’s shooting…and lots of it,” Jim said. “Shit, something is going down out there.”

  The group of researchers had been sitting in a staff lounge and discussing their most recent findings when the gunfire started. As Farris stood to make his way to the door to investigate what was going on, Riggins came bursting into the room.

  “What the hell is going on out there?” Jim asked.

  “Captain Rockatansky, please make sure that you all stay together and be prepared to evacuate the hospital if need be.”

  “Evacuate to where?” Farris asked.

  “And what’s going on down there,” Wang demanded.

  “There’s an assault on the main entrance to the complex,” Riggins explained, “and if we have to evacuate you, a Blackhawk will take you over to Naval Air Station Corpus.”

  “Naval Air Station Corpus?” Jim asked. “Do we even know if that place is still operational?”

  “The last we heard from them was that several vessels had been operating from there, but that’s all we know.”

  “What’s a naval air station?” Irene asked.

  “Basically it’s a naval base that serves as an airfield for naval aircraft and a port for ships,” Jim explained. “But I thought that place had been knocked out right at the onset of this mess.”

  “And when was the last time you had any real communication with the station?” Farris asked. He wasn’t too keen on flying out several hundred miles to a place that possibly didn’t exist anymore.

  “I’m sorry,” Riggins said, “I’m sure that all of you have a million questions, and I wish that I could answer all of them. I just need you to be ready to go…at a moment’s notice. The pilots are out at the helipad right now. I’ve got to go and check on other things, but if we do have to evacuate, someone will be up to get you. Oh, and one more thing, you’ll probably hear some loud explosions. We have an airstrike set up.”

  “An airstrike?” Jim asked in a befuddled tone. “Is it that bad down there?”

  “We just want to make sure that they don’t get over the walls, and we have access to some air support, so the general is going to use it.”

  “Well, can we at least get a couple of rifles up here?” Jim pleaded. Riggins ignored the question and ran out of the room.

  “We’re not going to make it out of here, are we?” Irene asked Jim.

  “Yes we are,” Jim said as the chatter of gunfire continued to fill the room. “I promise.”

  ***

  “Fuck Sarge, they’re still coming!” yelled the mini-gunner. “We keep shooting them, but more just keep climbing onto the pile!”

  Darkowitz raced along the rampart and shot at anything that got close to the top of the wall. He looked down at Karnes and he waved for him to come up onto the rampart.

  “They’re gonna make it over the wall!” Darkowitz screamed as Karnes trotted up to him.

  “Take it easy, sergeant,” Karnes said as he looked over the wall. “Just take your time…like with this one right here.” Emerging from the growing heap, a mangled woman reached up towards the wall. Karnes brought his rifle up to his shoulder and drew a bead on the forehead of the corpse, dispatching it with one shot.

  “Sergeant Karnes,” called the second mini-gunner, “we’re getting low on ammo!” The hum of the gun was deafening as the empty shell casings clattered down through an attached flex pipe that resembled an exhaust hose from a laundry dryer.

  “Hartman is working on getting us more ammo,” Karnes yelled. “And we’re going to get some air support in a little bit. Just hang on!” Barely able to hear anything, Karnes jumped down off of the rampart and stepped away from the wall. He keyed up on the radio and said, “Bravo-Six to all elements, let me know if you have any activity in your sectors.”

  One by one, each position checked in and all reported that their areas were quiet with no signs of the walking dead or infected. After quickly running several scenarios through his head, he said, “Bravo-Two and Bravo-Four, send me three mean each to the main gate…on the double.”

  The ammo is here!” Darkowitz yelled as a small truck pulled up to the gate. Two female soldiers jumped from the cab—one of them yelling at Karnes, telling him that the ammo crate was in the bed.

  Karnes ran to the truck and shouted at the trooper standing on the passenger side of the truck. Struck with fear, she looked up at the fight going on at the wall and she drew back towards the cab.

  “Private, get your ass over here and give me a hand. The quicker you do that, the quicker you can get out of here!”

  The trooper begrudgingly ran to the back of the truck while the other soldier, a tall and lanky woman, held her rifle at the ready and eyed the soldiers along the rampart. After Karnes and the scared soldier returned from taking the ammo to the gunners, the lanky soldier said, “Ellie, you go back. I’m gonna stay here and help out.”

  “But you can’t, Carrie. You gotta go back with me.”

  “No I don’t. Anyway, you’ll be fine. Now go—and don’t try to change my mind.” Carrie then looked over at Karnes and gave him a nod. Karnes returned the gesture and Carrie took of
f towards the rampart.

  “Okay, you head on back now,” Karnes told the frightened Ellie.

  Feeling torn between staying with her friend and seeking refuge back in the safety of the hospital, Ellie began to whimper. “But I just can’t leave her here,” Ellie sobbed. “We’ve been together since basic. She’s like my sister!”

  Karnes knew that he could use an extra shooter on the wall, but in her state of mind, Karnes also knew that Ellie would either get herself or someone else killed. He walked up to her and over the roar of the gunfire, he said, “Look, I know you want to stay with your friend, but you’re needed more back at the main building. It’s alright honey, go on back. She’ll be fine here. Now go.”

  Sensing some relief knowing that Karnes wasn’t viewing her as a coward, she jumped into the green army truck and sped off in the direction of the hospital. The sergeant then turned and ran back up to the rampart to join the others.

  “Carrie, help Darkowitz break open that ammo!” he shouted over the gunfire. He then looked over the wall and down at the attackers. He took a moment to study the things that had once been people—it was a mistake to do so because he found himself actually identifying with some of the attackers.

  The things—the people—that were so desperately trying to claw their way over the wall, were mere forms of who and what they had been before becoming victims to the plague. Many of the reanimated were showing signs of decomposition—skin starting to droop and complexions turning to dark green and purple. Others were recently turned—clothes still whole and skin still clear—aside from the initial bites and injuries that had claimed them. The array of reanimated spread before Karnes covered the entire spectrum of American society. Young mothers, grandparents, children, the corner street thug, the cop, the pizza delivery guy—they were all out there—growing in numbers.

  The infected—still living and breathing—were running about, jumping onto the growing pile of decayed and destroyed flesh. They continued to press their attack and screamed and wailed as they reached towards the soldiers along the ramparts.