While the creatures fed outside, with the wet sound of tearing flesh, and the content moaning of wild animals getting their fill, Betty tapped Lennie on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow her.
They quietly made their way into the front room.
“Put your pack back on, and give me the dog,” Betty whispered. She then emptied the few remaining items from Red’s bag into Noah’s. It was heavy, but with Lennie’s help, she struggled to get it on. Betty looked at the dog and then placed it on the carpet.
Lennie gave her a hurt look, possibly afraid they were going to leave Charlie behind.
“The little blighter has four legs; I’ll be damned if I’m gonna carry the lazy bugger,” she whispered.
Lennie slowly picked Red up. She looked like a china doll in his thickset arms, resting against his large chest.
Betty hooked Red’s bow over Lennie’s wide shoulders, and wedged the arrows into the top of his pack. Betty picked up the golf club minus a head, then walked over and shoved open the bedroom door, and led the way up the collapsed wall, furniture, and ceiling rubble. It was tricky going for Betty with her arthritis, and heavy bag – which she contemplated on just shrugging off her shoulders, but she managed to pull herself up onto the first floor, into a hallway leading into another front room. She just hoped that whatever was in the bag was important.
Lennie’s large feet found easy footing in the masonry rubble. The little dog bounced and danced around their feet.
The flat was empty. A lot of the furniture was missing, and clothes littered the floor, as if the owners had packed up and left in a hurry.
Betty stood looking out the spy-hole onto another corridor. The fisheye lens only showed a few meters to either side. Betty pressed her ear to the door.
Slowly, she cracked the door a little. Stale air rushed in. She pulled her jumper up more. She turned to check Lennie’s goggles and jumper were in place, and that Red’s mask had not slipped to one side.
Betty poked her head out of the doorway. The hallway was empty.
Now which way?
To one end, she could see an elevator and stairs. She strained her hearing.
Nothing.
Without warning, the small dog shot out from between her legs and pelted down the corridor. The terrier bounded along, whipping passed doorways. It reached the end of the corridor, sat down, and started scratching behind one of its scruffy ears.
Betty waited for a few seconds.
If there were any naked creatures around us, in one of the rooms, then they would be chasing the small ball of fur, trying to snack on the little flea ridden mongrel.
There was no sound of crashing furniture or pounding feet.
Betty slowly inched out of the doorway and headed towards the small dog, which was standing, wagging his tail, with its little pink tongue hanging out its mouth.
Lennie trailed along behind.
A soft murmur issued from Red’s lips.
Betty did not have time to check on her; Red would have to wait until they were all safely on the roof.
There were flat’s on either side of the hallway. A couple of doors were shut, but three were open. Betty walked passed them slowly, inching along, while gazing in, waiting for any telltale signs that there was life within, and whether that life was actively seeking food.
So far, so good, she thought.
The small ragtag group reached the stairwell at the end of the corridor.
Just as Betty was about to pull the heavy fire door open, the small dog cocked its head, its ears pricked up, and it started to whine.
Betty could sense something was wrong.
The small dog started growling.
Unexpectedly a loud explosion rocked the floor, as a wall halfway down the corridor collapsed into the hallway. Black spores danced in the concrete dust filled air.
Bloody hell, there must have been a bloated body just inside the flat, and as we passed we set it off.
Betty gripped the fire door and swung it open. The spores drifted along, heading towards them because of the suction of wind up the stairwell.
“Lennie, quickly!”
Lennie turned Red sideways so as not to whack her head on the doorframe. As he darted through, Betty was quick to follow as she pulled the door closed. However, the fire door mechanism caught as is slowed the door down to stop it slamming.
Betty looked through the small glass pane as the black spores rushed along the ceiling, churning toward the open door. With just a few meters to go, the door clicked shut.
Betty almost sank onto the floor with relief. However, in the haste to get the fire door shut, she had not noticed the little dog was growling, with its body pointed down the stairwell.
The screaming echoed off the stark stairwell walls, reverberating up the levels. Then, there was the sound of bare feet slapping against the steps, heading up the stairs.
43
Doctor Lazaro
6,000 Feet over Newton Abbot
Heading Northwest to Dartmoor
1:11 PM GMT
Melanie was wrapped in a warm blanket, and found herself inside a helicopter for the second time that day. In all the mayhem, and rescue, she forgot about the last flight and its outcome. Her hands gripped the webbing that held her in place.
Jimmy was still unconscious and strapped to a stretcher on the metal floor. The soldier put an IV drip in his arm.
Melanie looked around. This time, instead of being full of soldiers in military combat gear, the hull was full of civilians – men and women of different ages. They all looked like parents because they all had one child sat between or next to them.
It did not make sense. None of them were injured, or looked sick.
Why are they being transported to the Dartmoor military base?
The dull throbbing of the blades reverberated through the metal hull and against her back.
Melanie peered out the small window. The last time she had looked out a similar window, naked creatures were charging across the grass towards her. She could not see anything through the grey, pouring rain.
She turned to stare at the closest woman who sat to her right.
The healthy woman looked about twenty-five; she was Caucasian and had long silky mouse coloured hair with piercing blue eyes. She was dressed in neat, casual, ironed clothes. She was holding the hand of a little girl who was her spitting image.
Melanie leaned forward.
The woman noticed Melanie was going to say something, so she leaned sideways. The woman’s clean hair cascaded around her spotless cashmere jumper and expensive coat.
“Who are you all? Why are you being taken to the Dartmoor military base?” she shouted to be heard over the roar of the rotors.
“I am the same as everyone else on the flight,” she stated, while smiling, showing off her perfect white teeth. “I am part of the Adam and Eve project.”
44
Noah and the Squad
Newton Abbot
Courtney Park
1:13 PM GMT
Noah sat in the back of the Husky along with Coco and Echo. Bull was driving with the Captain in the command seat.
As they were preparing to leave the park behind, along with their four fallen comrades and the crashed helicopter and truck, Noah introduced himself, and thanked them for their help. He then explained where he had left his clothing.
The park seemed deserted, with just a handful of naked creatures feeding on the remains of the dead. Now there was no gunfire, there was nothing to attract their attention.
The Husky pulled up next to a bush near a large church. Noah jumped out, followed by Echo and Coco. They took up a protective stance. Noah appeared from behind the bush dressed in soaking wet clothes, with his mask on. He left the golf club on the ground now he carried a gun.
Noah climbed in first, with Coco and Echo to either side, so they could use the glass firing ports in the windows if they were attacked.
With Noah’s directions, they left Devon
Square behind and headed down Queen Street. The truck maneuvered around the burnt out, abandoned cars, and piled up debris.
As they passed a pizza restaurant on the left, a naked creature ran out of the open door and hurled itself at the truck’s bonnet.
Bull never stopped; he continued on, running over the naked woman. The truck bounced as it crunched over her body.
“Down there,” Noah said as they slowly drove up King Street.
“That one,” Noah said while pointing.
“Coco and Echo, take Noah in to retrieve his friends. Bull and I will stay with the truck.”
The Captain was not sure why he was taking time to help the young man and his friends, especially when there was a whole town full of people that needed his help. However, he would do what he could. If he could save just a handful of people while making his way to the base, he would.
Then again, he reasoned, with the amount of creatures charging us at the park, this man and his friends might be all that’s left in this dead town.
As the truck rolled to a stop, Coco and Echo jumped from the vehicle, with their weapons up and ready at their shoulders.
Noah climbed out slowly. He could not believe how fast, agile and alert the soldiers were.
They must be just as tired and wet as I am, he thought.
He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the front of the house. When he had first spotted it, he had not registered the devastation. The front room window was blown out, with black scorch marks up the wall, with burnt, twisted curtains flapping against shards of glass. The front door was pushed in, with blood smeared everywhere.
Please God do not let that be Red’s blood.
Coco took the lead. Slowly, he climbed over the barricaded front porch area and stood motionless, listening in the hallway.
Noah climbed in second, with Echo protecting their backs.
“God!” Noah whispered as he stepped into the hallway next to the stairs. All the wallpaper was burnt off the walls. The carpet was still smoldering. There had been a quick, flash fire. Bodies littered the hall, all twisted and black, with sticky puddles of boiled body fluids gathering around each one – the flash fire had crisped the outside, leaving the inside to slowly drip out.
It was impossible to tell if any of them were Red or Betty. However, Noah was confident none of them was Lennie; they were all simply too small. If Lennie was not here, then there was a good chance the other two were not either. In addition, he could not see any burnt clothing – all the corpses were naked.
With the smoke rising from the charred bodies, they were all glad they had gasmasks on.
Next, they moved into the kitchen.
“There,” Echo pointed with the rifle’s barrel. They could see the gas lighter melted to the floor from the blast that had engulfed the house and had blown the kitchen wall into the backyard.
“This was rigged,” Coco stated.
It was good news. Someone had orchestrated the fire, so there had been planning, so they could have had time to escape. So hopefully the bodies in the hallway were not the people they were looking for.
“Report,” the Captain said over the communications devices embedded inside Coco an Echo’s gasmasks.
“We are still checking. It looks like they are gone after they set a trap for a bunch of eaters,” Echo said.
“We are going to check upstairs,” Coco stated.
Upstairs was deserted, apart from the three bodies in the bed. Smoke still lingered from the fire, but little was damaged, just mostly scorched. They found the bedrooms patio doors wide-open.
“Here.” Echo pointed.
Down over the side against the wall was a dog collar.
“Charlie,” Noah said. “It belongs to a dog we found inside the house.”
Noah looked down over the collapsed wall, over across the parking lot toward the old people’s housing.
“They’re in there,” Noah stated.
Just as he said that, an explosion shattered the windows on the second floor within the building closest to them.
45
Red, Betty, and Lennie
Newton Abbot
In a Stairwell at the Old Peoples Flats
1:24 PM GMT
“Quickly Lennie, go up!” Betty shouted.
The screaming intensified. Bare feet could be heard slapping against the tiled stairwell.
There were only two floors for the creatures to race up, which they seemed to be doing with the phenomenal speed of rabid wild animals.
Lennie was in front, jogging up the stairs two at a time, with Betty close behind.
“Bugger this,” Betty said, while shrugging Noah’s bag off her back. Whatever was in it was not worth dying for.
The creature’s bodies could be heard slapping against the walls as they hurled themselves around the stairs, only one flight below.
We will never make it in time; Betty thought. I’m too old and Lennie’s too slow. At least, we will be together at the end.
Charlie though seemed to have realized the situation was different. He was no longer shaking with terror, or hiding; he was standing his ground, growling. Then in one bound, he was gone, shooting down the stairwell.
The screaming intensified when the creatures spotted the four-legged meal.
Lennie was breathing hard when he reached the fire exit to the roof, and with a mighty kick, he sent the door swinging open.
Betty was close behind.
Lennie stood in the pouring rain while holding Red in his arms.
Betty was in the process of swinging the fire door closed, just as Charlie shot through like a bullet from a gun. He had only confused and distracted them for a few seconds, but that was all that was needed to allow them to reach the door.
Betty checked the door. She held the metal shaft of the broken golf club, but here was nothing to force it into, to wedge the door shut. Her eyes scanned the roof; there was not a scrap of heavy furniture to barricade against the exit.
“Put Red down,” Betty shouted.
Lennie lowered Red’s comatose body onto the wet roof, and then shrugged the packs and bow from his back.
“Wedge your shoulder against the door Lennie,” Betty screamed, just as the first creature rammed the exit.
Lennie ran and slammed against the door.
The creature’s body had obviously hit the door bar, because it was swinging open, with a grasping arm thrashing around from the side.
Lennie hit the door like a freight train, forcing the door closed so hard it severed the arm just above the elbow. The arm twitched on the ground, while Lennie used all his strength to hold them back. However, many creatures were flinging their bodies against the other side of the door.
Betty looked around again. There was nothing on the roof, no covered areas, no large air-conditioning units, no air vents, and no small storage unit, nothing; the roof was completely exposed. They were trapped with nowhere to hide.
46
Doctor Lazaro
6,000 Feet over Dartmoor
1:27 PM GMT
Melanie was confused. The woman said no more and had returned to simply sitting, waiting to arrive at their destination.
The phrase, Adam and Eve sounded ominous. Whenever a biblical reference was given to something, it always took on a completely different meaning. To Melanie, the words invoked something new – a new beginning. With everything, that was happening throughout the world it sounded out of place and surreal, almost menacing.
After a few minutes, she removed her gasmask. She felt stupid wearing it – it felt wrong sat wearing one when everyone else looked so normal. She placed it on her wet lap. Rainwater gathered around her trainers.
Melanie looked around. These people seemed prepared for something. This was no thrown together group this was organized. They all looked content, not scared, and confused. These people knew exactly what was happening and where they were going and why; and that scared Melanie even more than if they were all crying and sca
red senseless.
Melanie had no idea how long a helicopter flight would take from Newton Abbot to Dartmoor. She knew the Moors were a vast four hundred square mile national park. She also knew that the Ministry of Defence owned large sections of the land, using it as training grounds for soldiers and weapons.
Living in Exeter, she had been to Dartmoor on numerous occasions. The scenery was beautiful, rolling hills, rambling brooks, and waterfalls, vast tracks of woodland and spidery ferns, and massive outcrops of rocks on the peaks, pushed up by violent upheavals millions of years past.
She went many times as a child during wintertime to play in the snow. The snow was only ever a dirty sprinkling in Exeter, but on the moors in was deep and pure white. Thousands invaded the moorland when it snowed. Parents stood in thick jackets watching their kids play on sledges. The sides of roads and car parks were wedged tight with vehicles.
In the summer months, climbers converged on the large rocky outcrops, and the rolling scenic hills attracted walkers of all ages. The moors were a welcome break from the overcrowded cities and towns; a place people could go to unwind and relax.
Melanie had many happy memories of the moors. Just two weeks before all the madness started; she had gone on a long drive over the moors just to relax and clear her mind. She parked in an area called Badgers Holt and walked down the riverbank. She had a picnic in the car, because it was too cold to eat outside.
Melanie stared at the blurry grey clouds out the small window. Rain pelted against the hull.
So much has changed since that day. So many have died and were dying. The world would never be the same again.
Melanie realized something had changed. The helicopter had slowed down. It was no longer heading forward, but downward.
The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The Squads First Three Weeks Omnibus [Books 1-10] Page 15
