The Last Days (Books I, II, & III)

by Julie Cooper Brown

  Blood poured from her face and mouth and she screamed and clawed at the bus.

  Jack lowered the window beside his seat and fired one shot into her forehead. They all saw her drop as the driver prepared to straighten the bus and head out, and they all saw her rise again.

  The wound in her head looked much like a gaping black hole, dripping blood and brain matter down the bridge of her nose, and her face expressed pure hatred. She ran at the bus faster than could be believed and she jumped, her fingers catching the top of the lowered window.

  She screamed and spit, she bit at the window until Jack used his knife to pry her fingers up, she let go and fell, cracking her head completely open and finally she lie still. Her bloody face had left smears of several different fluids across the window.

  The driver floored the pedal and they took off in a swerve, he struggled to get the bus under control and was able to get it corrected just before it would have slammed into a telephone pole.

  Angel ran down the aisle to Kate and jumped into her arms and snuggled deep into her chest.

  Kate hugged Angel tightly and asked about the whereabouts of the others. She needed no response as everyone quieted and their heads dropped in answer to her question. They were all dead.

  Jack broke the silence by introducing his self and everyone followed suit.

  Mojo told them what had happened since Tank’s arrival and Kate was very upset, but not surprised at their deaths.

  As Jack filled the others in on his own quest, and informed them all on how the virus got out in the first place, Kate questioned Angel about the key.

  “Angel, this is very important. Do you have a key of some sort?” Angel lifted her head from Kate’s chest and moved Teddy to her other hand as she dipped into her pocket and pulled out the little purple heart and held it out to her.

  Kate was not surprised to see it, only stumped on how Angel had ended up with it after she had seen Kimmy with it.

  “Did you take this from Kimmy?” She asked her as she took the key and examined it.

  “No, my Daddy gave it to me. Then the birds gave it to me. I didn’t know I lost it.”

  “The birds gave it to you?” She thought of their violent attack on Kimmy and figured that is how they got it. But what birds are intelligent enough to return something to its owner? This was getting stranger for her by the moment.

  “Yea, they flew all around me and one little birdie gave it to me. I don’t know how they got it. I thought it was in my pocket.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter now, we have the key, and it’s going to help us fight the scary monsters. And most importantly I have found you. I was so worried about you.”

  “I was worried about you too, Kate. I knew you were the one my daddy was talking about.” Kate thought that it could have been anybody and more than likely no one at all. If Kate and Dave had not shown up when they did, Angel would not have survived long enough for Jack to get there.

  She hugged Angel tighter and listened to the conversation that Jack was having with the others about heading to the shelter.

  The only problem now, was fuel. This was a large vehicle and probably didn’t get many miles to the gallon. They were going to have to fill up some time or another. They had a long trip back to Georgia.

  It was decided that they would try the next exit and get it done as fast as they could. But as usual everyone dreaded every stop they would have to make. They didn’t want to lose any more people than they already had.

  “Take this exit.” Mojo told Troy as the neared the ramp marked ‘Middletown’.

  “This area is not so populated; maybe we can get fuel with no problems. There’s a Duke Station as soon as you turn left.”

  “Okay, I know where I’m at. Troy said as he navigated the bus around the cluster of vehicles in the road. There weren’t many. And there weren’t many cars at the station either. Most places evacuated everyone to shelters in the area so most of the infected would be elsewhere. Still, they would have to look out for whoever had been in these cars.

  “Pull up next to the truck at the pump, maybe they had gotten filled. Then we’ll check the others. Let’s give it a minute though, see what pops up out of the woodwork.” Mojo said as he stood with his shotgun and everyone fell silent. The quiet outside thick and making them feel uneasy.

  Jack spotted an infected falling out of a car several feet from the bus and had a clear view. He shot once and it entered the top of the zombies head.

  “Let’s go!” Jack said and got off the bus as Mojo followed behind with the hose and can.

  “Let’s get this done quick. Troy, if it looks like you can get in the store, see if there is anything worth taking.”

  “I’ll go with Troy.” Kristen said as she got up to exit as well.

  “No,” said Mojo “you stay here with Kate and Angel.”

  “I’ll be fine, I wanna help.” She followed Troy inside and Jack already had the hose in the tank of the truck, which thankfully; was full. Mojo had found two more cans in the lot and was beside him giving him another when he was ready, and pouring the full ones into the bus.

  The bus was just about full and Jack was filling the cans again from other vehicles to take with them when Kristen screamed.

  They ran towards the storefront and could see through the glass, Troy had picked up a glass jar that looked to be filled with olives and slammed it in the face of a corpse as he turned to fight the infected that had surrounded him. The scene played out in silence until a scream broke from Kristen’s throat as she watched the attack in horror, unaware of the infected trudging up behind her.

  Mojo moved to go in but Jack stopped him. There would be no time. It was too close to her and in that second, Mojo screamed out her name and she turned to look as the monster pulled her down by her hair and bit into her. Still, Mojo struggled against Jack and broke free to run towards the door. Kristen looked at him and shook her head; ‘no’. He could see she was screaming the words “go back’ but he could not hear them over the loud buzzing of his own racing pulse in his ears. She held the palm of her hand out to him to signal him to stop. When she saw that he moved no closer, she ceased trying to get away and relaxed her body, giving herself over to the infected and making peace with her death.

  Mojo watched the death of Kristen and his eyes filled with tears, but still a sob did not break from his throat, though he felt he would burst from the strain of keeping it in.

  He broke from his trance as Jack grabbed his elbow and pulled him to the bus. The dead where on all sides now, all the noise having attracted them.

  Kate was in the drivers’ seat and slammed the doors shut as she pulled out of the station and onto the road leading to the highway.

  Mojo had nothing to say and sat in the very last seat near where they had stored the two extra cans of gas they had managed to accumulate. He was not in the mood for talking now. He was lost in his memories of life before the infected. There was no one from Tank’s left but him, and he was feeling really lonely for the first time ever in his life. Kristen had meant the world to him and he was blaming his self for her death. He had told her to stay on the bus, she had decided not to.

  Classic Kristen, always doing the complete opposite of what he asked. He had loved her though, and this was hard for him to take.

  Finally grief had taken over; he put his face in his hands and wept pitifully.

  Angel stood watching him in silence and began weeping a bit herself. She hugged Teddy tighter and went to sit in the seat directly behind Kate.

  “Not much longer now.” Jack said as he walked up to stand beside Kate as she weaved in and out of the cluster of vehicles in the road. They had been driving for seven hours but it felt like a lifetime.

  “I hope not, we are almost out of fuel again. Do we have any left from the station?”

  “No, I put all of it in the last time we stopped. We’ll get there before we run out. We’re only about twenty miles out now. We’ll make it just in time, probab
ly.” He said as he looked at the gauge. A quarter tank should do. He had never been there but had a great photographic memory and was elated that they were approaching their destination.

  He was worried for Pat and his son. He knew Dale was with them but anything can happen. He couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around Ethan. He would be fine once he saw that Ethan was okay.

  “So, the key is in the shape of a heart? Can I see it?” he asked.

  “Sure. You can hold onto it if you want. You’ll know what to do with it, I don’t.” She handed them the key and it was wet with the sweat from the palm of her hand where she had kept it since Angel had given it to her, afraid that if she put it in her pocket it would somehow disappear, destroying their only chance at survival.

  After drying the key off with his shirt tail, Jack inspected the key and noticed a pattern of tiny rivets on one side and micro sized grid marks on the other. The grids were almost impossible to see, but he sort of knew what to look for which enabled him to recognize them immediately. Definitely a key produced by O’Dey. He palmed it as well and they rode again in silence until they made it to the clearing where the entrance was kept.

  He didn’t have a radio anymore and could not contact Pat to let him know of his arrival. He didn’t want them to be shot upon entering.

  He knew that pat possessed the sense to realize it would be him coming in the door, because you had to have a code to enter. Dale he wasn’t all that sure about.

  “Stop here.” He told Kate and she looked around in questioning. They were in the middle of a field and she saw no shelter in sight. Jack recognized the look of confusion and told her, “its underground, the entrance is hidden. Let me out and wait here.”

  Kate opened the doors and stood up to watch him as he bent to the ground and lifted a flap of grass. He punched a few numbers and she heard a faint beeping and several loud clicks the lock on the door was released.

  “Kate, get them and come on.”

  He said as he dug under another flap to find the handle and pulled a hatch door up. A stream of pale blue lights beamed from the shaft and she ushered Angel out the door towards jack as she looked back at Mojo and told him to come.

  He didn’t say a word nor did he lift his head. When she saw Angel standing next to Jack, she walked to the back to rouse him from what she thought was sleep.

  Two thirds of the way there she noticed a large amount of blood pooled around his feet, she stepped through it anyway and shook him by the shoulders. His head fell back, his Ohio State cap fell off his head and his arms flopped out to the sides. She saw the pocket knife fall from his hand and hit the floor with a dull thud and a faint splash as it landed in his blood.

  He has slashed his arms, wrists to elbows. The grief had been too much for him. She was angry with herself for not checking on him sooner. He seemed like he was a good man and she was sad to lose him. Losing all of the people she had lost had really bothered her, but they were so close to some kind of safety and he had almost made it, he would have made it if he hadn’t done this. She turned and headed toward the doors of the bus, partly afraid that he would change and his corpse would rise up behind her and take her from behind. She stopped and looked back at him just to make sure that he wasn’t, she didn’t want to have to ‘kill’ him, too.

  “Kate, what’s going on?” Jack asked from the door. “Get him up, let’s go.”

  She walked off the bus and looked at Jack, she shook her head and said nothing as she moved down into the hatch and pulled Angel down into it above her so she could support her as she went down. Jack followed last and pulled the hatch down behind him, pressing a button and engaging the locks before he descended.

  “Daddy!” Ethan cried as he ran to his father, slamming into him so hard that you could hear Jack’s breath escape him from the impact of it. He wrapped his arms around Ethan and decided that that was not good enough. He picked the boy up off his feet and hugged him tight. Ethan wrapped his legs around his fathers’ waist and buried his face in his neck and began sobbing.

  “Ethan, it’s okay, son. I’m here. Shh. It’s alright.” Jack soothed him and stroked his hair lovingly, his eyes tearing up as well. He thanked God that his son was still okay.

  “But I thought you were dead. I thought the zombies got you and I was so scared! I was trying to be brave but it was so hard.” Ethan said between sobs and tried to dry his eyes.

  “I’m okay, see. Look. I’m not hurt at all. A little tired. Now, let’s get in here. We have to figure out how this works.”

  They walked from the hall into the main room where Pat was waiting with a knowing smile on her face, and tears misted her eyes.

  He hugged her tightly and she reciprocated. “So, happy you are here. I knew you would make it. Now, who are your friends?” She looked to Angel and Kate.

  “Kate,” she stepped forward and shook Pat’s hand. “And this little doll is Angel, Dr. O’Dey’s daughter. Pat, where is Dale?”

  “Dale didn’t make it. He sacrificed his self for Ethan and I. We were rushed before we could make into the field. I picked Ethan up and ran, Dale stayed behind to cover us. I turned and saw him being taken down.”

  Jack looked to Ethan and Pat answered his unasked question.

  “Ethan did not see, I kept his face in my shoulder.”

  Jack nodded, it wasn’t like Ethan hadn’t seen it before. He just wanted to keep him from seeing more he if he could.

  “All right, I’ve got the girl and the key. We need to get this started. Did you find the control room?” He asked.

  “Yes, and there was this as well.” She handed him an envelope containing a letter and instructions from O’Dey. “You want to read this first.”

  Jack removed the papers from the envelope and began reading…………

  If you are reading this, then I have obviously perished. I’m going to run through this quickly, I have no time to explain further than what is written.

  There is a key to the control board you will need to launch the chem-bombs. If you have the key, then you must have encountered my daughter. If she still survives, please tell her that I love her with all of my heart, and because of her the world will be right again. Now, I have some more information for you. The chemical that is being deployed will dissolve all organs of the human body, leaving only the skeleton.

  Upon further research of the virus before the death of Dr. Pierce, he discovered that the virus will eventually mutate enough for the change to be instantaneous with contact of any kind and killing them may be harder than usual, by this time you may have encountered this. In any case, the chem-bombs will destroy all human life left outside these walls. If there are any other survivors and you feel the need to try to rescue them before you set this plan in motion, and then do so with the knowledge that you may not survive your rescue attempt and will not be able to deploy the bombs, failing to rid this country of the dead. We were able to discover that the air will be safe to breathe within a month, but the soil will take a little over seven months before it will be safe enough to use for crops. So you will be here a while. Everyone try to get along, it should not be too hard considering what trials you may have endured together. Now, about your stay here.

  This facility is equipped with generators that have the capacity to sustain you at full power for one year. So if you don’t run at full power, you energy reserves will last longer. The air filters are high quality and the air you breathe in will not grow stale, nor will you suffocate down here. You have sufficient ventilation.

  You’ll find a food storage wing with enough non-perishables, as well as frozen meats, bottled waters and sodas to sustain up to fifty people for a year, which also means a lesser number of you will also lengthen its duration. You will find plenty of room here and several activities available in the rec room area. I hope you enjoy your stay, I mean this with sincerity. You have made it and I am happy for you. Angel, if you are there. I love you.

  Precisely follow the instructions on the next shee
t.

  To unlock the control panel you will need to enter 6588 into the keypad beside the panel.

  Once entered the cover will slide back and the board will give you a pattern in a sequence of colors, something like the game ‘Simon Says’ only much faster. It was not my intention to make it flow so quickly, I ran out of time so I didn’t have a chance to reset it.

  You will need to be very fast, with perfect hand/eye coordination, it will only allow you to make one error, when that happens, all lights will go out and a three tone beep will signal the next play of the sequence.

  If you get it wrong, the access board will lock for three hours, at which time you may try again.

  If you are not among infected and the door is securely locked, then this will not pose a problem. But given the situation, as soon as possible is the best option no matter how safe you think you are.

  Once you have completed the sequence and unlocked the control board, then enter the key into the slot and wait for the green and red buttons to light up. The screen will prompt you to enter the code activating the time lock, enter L365KZ. This will set the lock to disengage after one year exactly and not a moment before. I have put that setting in place because I am not completely sure that all Infected will die immediately. There was no chance to discover if the Infected with the advanced strain would be destroyed as quickly, so to be sure that none remain, you will be locked in. Once it’s set, there is no manual override. Make yourself comfortable.

  The screen will then prompt you to activate all locations, hit the green button and wait for the map to appear. When all lights across the map are green, push the red button. It’s as simple as that.

  Unfortunately I have no failsafe in place in case of malfunction. I pray that this solution succeeds.

  I wish you the best of luck.