by Maxey, Phil
It also wasn’t lost on her that it wasn’t long ago she was in exactly the same situation. Her life had become one long bid to stay alive, to stay ahead of the death which now lurked on the streets and buildings of every city and town.
She shook her head. The thought was too depressing. Not the emotion she needed.
They’re alive…
Somehow Josh and Landon had not only made it out of the motorhome, but had found their way back to her and Sam. She wasn’t a religious person but that was something close to a miracle.
A crackling from her radio made her jump. She figured that when Biochron realized where she and the others were heading they gave up on her. No matter how valuable she might have been to them, they weren’t going to go on a suicide mission. That meant though that they were free to use the radios.
“How’s it looking? Over,” said Landon. Part of her wanted to scream that she could see in the dark really well, but she couldn’t take seeing his reaction. He was married to something not entirely human.
“They’re still out there. Moving around the building. Maybe a few hundred. Too many for us to get through. Over.”
“Any getting closer to the entrances? Over.”
“Not that I can see. How’s Josh and Sam? And Tye? Over.”
“All three are quiet. Hardly talking to me or each other. They’re scared. Over.”
“We all are.” She looked at her watch. “Daylight in about twelve hours. Tell them that once it’s light the things will leave and we can get out of this place, and the city. Over.”
“You believe that? We’ve seen them in the daylight as well. Over.”
“I… yes. Tell them that. Over.”
“Okay… I love you. Over.”
She smiled. It’s funny how mere words can make you feel warm inside, she thought. “Feeling’s mutual. Over.”
A few hundred feet below, Landon looked over to the table and the three youngsters together beneath it, their backs against the far wall. Sam and Tye had a book in their laps, but Josh was turned to the side, away from them. The boy stroked Donnie who seemed to be subdued. Landon wondered just how much the animal sensed the unnatural things outside.
“So—”
Arlo made him jump a little. He had forgotten he was sat in front of him, Arlo being against the left wall near the stairs to the ground floor.
“— What you do before…” Arlo briefly looked away, retrieving the memory. “Police officer.” He flashed a joyless smile. “My mind’s a little mixed up.”
“What did you do?”
“Professional game player.”
“Like a chess master or something?”
Arlo scoffed. “No. War games and stuff. Used to play from my van… when I could get a good connection. Had an online channel. Did pretty well for myself.” He looked glum, his glasses teetering on the end of his nose. “Not really the most useful skill to have in the middle of all this.” He pushed them back up.
Landon wanted to say things would one day get back to normal, but in his heart he felt differently and he lacked the energy to lie. “You’re immune. Millions of others weren’t.” Arlo looked down and Landon immediately regretted his tone. “I’m just saying. If we make it four more days, then you get a chance to be anything you—”
Something clattered in the corridor to his right. He got up, pushing the door open slightly and angled his flashlight to see to the other end. A chair had fallen from the tangle of pieces of furniture that were stacked in front of the external door.
“What’s happening?” said Josh from beneath the table.
Landon looked back to his son. “It’s fine. Just a—” Splinters and lumps of wood exploded towards him, hitting the door he was holding, almost knocking it from his hand, but he dropped his flashlight regardless. He started to bend down, desperate for its flickering light, but in the glow from the basement, he caught a glimpse of a face in the gloom at the far end of the corridor. Almost human in appearance but distorted in anguish, as if it had been stolen from its previous owner. Giving up on the light with had fallen within the corridor, he grabbed the shotgun near the door, placing it in the gap and fired. Its boom illuminated the narrow space and the multi-legged thing which was creeping over the remains of the broken chairs, cupboards and shelves. It recoiled from the shot, scurrying back into the shadows. Landon slammed the door closed, looking at the remaining pieces of furniture then the frightened faces. “We need to barricade this door.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
7: 32 p.m.
Groans and expletives came from below Jess, from the ladder to the spire room. Meg’s red face appeared. In her hand was a flask. Jess quickly moved forward, taking it from her then leaned down, offering her hand. Meg clasped it and with one motion was lifted almost completely out of the opening.
“Whoa, you’re a lot stronger than you look!”
Jess awkwardly smiled. Then held the flask up. “Thanks for this. You would think being in a building surrounded by monsters would keep you awake, but not so much.” She took the plastic cup from the top. “Will you join me?”
Meg smiled then nodded.
Jess poured some cold coffee into the cup, then handed the flask back to Meg. “How you feeling?”
“Tired. Can’t remember the last time I slept. Once this is all over, I think I’m going to find a hole somewhere, climb in and sleep for about five days.”
“I hear that. Is it secure downstairs?”
“As much as it can be. Got some heavy shelving units in front of the basement door. So that route out is now cut off. Only way in and out of the basement is the stairs to the ground floor. Tracey’s inside the church, keeping an eye on the main doors and windows.” Meg nodded towards the small triangular panel of glass and the slight sparkle of some stars in the sky. “Clear night. Going to be cold.” She got up and looked out, but the city below was still a mass of vague shadow. “How you can see anything out here, I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to the point I need glasses!”
“Oh, I’ve always seen well in the dark…” Jess wondered how obvious her lie would be to the older woman.
“Right…” Meg let out a sigh. “I’m not sure if I would want to see what’s out there. But it would seem in the morning, we’re going to know anyway. Any plans on how we get out of here? If the things don’t want to leave?”
Jess had spent the last hour thinking about just that. She had asked Landon if there were any secret tunnels in the basement that led to the sewers or other buildings. In the movies when people were trapped in a building, there was always a secret tunnel that would lead them out. But there wasn’t. So the next idea was to cause a distraction. Get the creatures to chase after something else and give them a chance to slip out in a vehicle. Landon said he found one that they could use in the parking lot, on their west side, but they still needed to get to it and then get it started. If that was even possible, with creatures around effecting the flow of electrons. It was a long shot at best. She looked at Meg and smiled. “I have some ideas.” This lie she sold better.
Meg slapped her own thigh. “Good! That’s all I need to know!” She took a sip from the flask and grimaced. “Good grief, this is—”
Landon’s voice came from Jess’s radio just as screeches rang out from somewhere outside. “They’re… Corridor… trying…”
“Say again?” said Jess. “Are they inside? Over.”
“They’re trying to get into the basement! We’re holding them back for now! Over.”
Meg dropped the flask and started to climb down.
Jess took a quick glimpse outside again. Were there even more shapes moving in the dark? “I’m coming with you!” she said, following Meg.
In the basement, something solid slammed into the door to the corridor, making the kids yelp and the dog bark. Landon shook his head then stopped the movement, noticing Josh looking at him. He looked to Arlo. “It’s not going to last.”
“What are we going to do!”
&nb
sp; The sound of footsteps came from the stone steps, drawing their attention.
Tracey, out of breath, staggered into the smokey air of the basement. “Their breaking through the windows in the church! And the rear door to the parking lot!”
More footsteps were followed by Jess and then a bellowing Meg, who immediately bent over, placing her hands on her hips. Jess started to speak, but before the first word left her mouth an impact on the door, left a shuddering black claw trying to create a larger hole.
Landon raised his shotgun. “Everyone get upstairs! We have to make a stand up there!”
The claw pulled back, taking with it a good chunk of the top part of the door, while a mass of tentacles or maybe antenna squirmed on the other side.
“Come on, kids!” said Meg, grabbing a candle and shepherding the three of them between the shelves to the ascending steps.
Landon and Tracy both fired repeatedly at the thing emerging, making it screech and fall back into the darkness beyond the failing barrier. “Go!” he shouted to those around him. “I’ll hold it—” The heavy shelves flipped back towards him, sending him staggering back into a stone pillar just as they crashed down on top of him. Jess screamed, running towards the heap of wood, trying to locate Landon beneath it as brown tentacles wrapped around the door frame, ripping it from the stonework. Tracey fired her rifle repeatedly into the darkness of the corridor, Arlo the same with his handgun.
Jess fumbled on the ground, finding an arm and pulled Landon towards her while lifting the bookshelf with her other hand. “Landon!” He mumbled something in reply. She could see his left arm dangling uselessly from his shoulder and heaved him up to his feet and scrambled towards the steps. “Come on!” she shouted to those behind her.
Arlo ran with her, adding some lift to Landon, while Tracey fired towards the deep shadows beyond the opening to the corridor then walked up the steps backwards. They made it to the top of the stairs, then out into an office and slammed the door closed.
“Filing cabinet…” Landon grimaced. “Move it in front…”
Arlo and Tracey strained to move the heavy metal piece of furniture as sounds of what was left in the basement being destroyed, wafted through the wooden door.
Landon looked at his wife. “Jess, help them. I’m fine.”
She quickly turned, moved to the light gray set of drawers and with adding her one hand to Arlo and Tracey’s shoulders, pushed it across the door.
The sound of glass shattering came from outside in the church, followed by gunfire and shouts. The door to it flew open with the kids and Meg running back inside. “They’re breaking through the main entrance!” she shouted, closing the door behind her.
Jess looked at the only other door left. The stairs which ran up six stories to the room below the spire. “Everyone into the stairs to the spire! Now!”
“How we will get out!” said Arlo.
Jess looked at the kids, ignoring the question and frantically pointed to the small doorway. “Go now!” The kids ran into the staircase. She looked at the others. “We don’t have a choice!”
Landon nodded and awkwardly got up from the desk he was seated on, Jess helping him to walk forward.
The air was alive with the sound of things desperate to get into the small administrator’s room. A heavy jolt almost knocked the filing cabinet from the door. It tilted then fell back against the door, just as Tracey, the last of the group, climbed the small set of metal steps, pulling the arched door closed and dropped a heavy iron latch across it.
*****
8: 12 p.m.
Jess looked out at the things which filled every available space outside. A thin mist hung across the streets and sidewalks, illuminated by the moon and within it, oddly shaped entities walked, crawled and slid on appendages which seemed ill suited to the task. She lacked the vocabulary to describe most of the things she could see within her scope, but knew that it was not possible they could be naturally born. These things were manufactured by a virus, with a purpose she still didn’t truly understand. The Biochron man, the one she had never set eyes on before, who appeared to be in charge said she was responsible. Could that be true? Could her thirst for knowledge have unwittingly provided her company with keys to an insidious plan?
She shuddered.
A few hundred yards away, many floors below, something briefly emerged from the fog. A colliderscope of parts from various animals, including human, all combined into something that was definitely less than the sum of its parts. But despite it and the others appearance, something else jumped out to her. Unlike the previous members of the animal kingdom, these things did not attack each other. It was as if they moved with a single goal. A hive mind.
A hand lightly touched her shoulder, making her jump.
“Sorry,” said Landon. His left arm was bandaged, held upright with a piece of rag to his shoulder. “Didn’t mean to make you jump.”
“It’s okay. Just thinking.” She leaned back slightly, allowing him a view of the outside.
He shook his head. “I can’t see much, but…” He strained his eyes, leaning closer to the glass. “They don’t seem to be leaving…”
“No.” She looked back to the top of the ladder. “How’s everyone?”
He sighed while continuing to try to observe what he could. “As can be expected. We need a way out of this.” He looked back to her. “They stopped at the office. But it has to only be a matter of time before they realize where we are, and make a concerted effort to get up here. We don’t have much ammo left.” He smiled. “You got the brains and I got the looks remember.” It was her turn to smile. “So how we getting out of this jam?”
Unlike Meg, she knew he would know if she was lying. Problem was she had no idea how to get out of the church without the things knowing. There were too many to fight and he was right, they showed no sign of forgetting about their prey and returning to the Capital building. But she desperately wanted to give him and the others hope.
It’s just… there wasn’t any.
His smile dissipated and he looked away. “I see.”
“I will think of something, I swear. We’re not dying up here, Landon. We’ve survived through too much. I won’t accept it.”
He nodded, still not wanting to meet her gaze then looked up at her, this time his smile fake. “I know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
8: 56 p.m.
A tapping came from the ladder. Jess didn’t turn around from the nightmarish vision outside. It was preferable to what was about to climb up behind her. Another person come for a solution to how they will live to see another sunset. Another who would leave disappointed. Before they reached the top, she gave in and glanced at the ladder, but was surprised to see a mop of straggly red hair appearing.
Tracey climbed out, standing, then smiled. “How… are you?”
“Fine. Is there something wrong? Are the things—”
“No no. It’s quiet at the bottom of the stairs…”
Jess briefly nodded. “Needed a change of scenery?” She looked back to the small window. “Not sure if you’re going to like what’s outside though.”
“Actually, um… I’ve got an idea about how we can get out of this… mess, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“Go on?”
Tracey let out a breath and sat on the dusty floor, lit by a single candle, looking down, gathering her thoughts. She looked up at the older woman. “See… there’s this group called the immunes. I don’t know how they found each other, but they came out of Kansas City. I… well… me, Clint and Jay were with them. But we didn’t like what they were doing, so we—”
“Doing?”
Tracey looked away again. “Yeah, umm… the guy in charge. Isiah, he said we need to… protect ourselves and the only way we could do that, was if someone started to change, we would put them down. Like, before they changed and hurt someone.”
“You killed people when they changed?”
“Sometim
es before…” Tracey looked up into an expression of horror. “That’s why we left! They were crazy! He… is crazy. Clint and Jay aren’t exactly good people but they weren’t murderers, not like Isiah. So we got the hell out, but then they ended up dumping me…”
Jess shook her head. “What has any of this got to do with helping us?”
Tracey stood then moved to the window, looking out, nodding to herself. “Might be high enough.”
“What are you talking about? What might be high enough?”
“It might be possible to contact them with the radio. This is like real—”
“What? You want a group of murderers to come here and rescue us? Why would they do that?”
“Isiah might be crazy, but he is looking for others like us… well, me. Other immunes. Says they can start again. If he thought you were like, true immunes, he might come. Might try and get us out of the city.”
Even as Jess shook her head to discourage the idea from the young woman, her mind was thinking differently. Posing questions she did not want to face.
Do you want your children to die in this church?
How long will the water last?
She turned away, having no good answers.
“But we gotta send the message soon, as they were intending to leave and head north this evening… and if they come, you all got to pretend that you’re like me. Don’t mention the vaccine.”
