by Jeff Olah
Goodwin’s plan was all but complete. He’d personally done to Daniels’ family what two weeks in this hell torn world couldn’t. His life’s work devastated the planet and now he just wanted to get back home. He didn’t speak a word to the pilot. Turning away from the cockpit, he stumbled to the rear cabin, secured his restraints and sat in wait as the chopper raced toward earth.
William watched as the helicopter limped through the sky, just grazing the thirty foot spruce that lined the backside of Blackmore and hung his head as it moved out of sight. The intermittent sounds of the engine coughing and spitting as it descended out of the night sky ended with an abrupt explosion of sound, signaling the end of their battle.
“Everyone inside.” Mason looked at both men through haze filled eyes and they didn’t hesitate to comply. “Take Goodwin’s man as well.”
Randy headed back to the building with the help of William and both men reached Savannah at the door. William took control of Dalton. They made their way into the Command Center and as Eleanor watched them file in, she took notice of those missing. “Where are they? Where is my family?” Although she knew the answer.
He knelt next to her on the walkway, cradled her into his arms, stood and quietly spoke to her as he walked to the building. “April please stay with me. You are needed here.”
Her breathing slowed in the last minute and as he reached the door, she spoke in between the gasps for air and long pauses. “Mason… no, I don’t want to … please don’t take me inside. Justin is… he’s out here. I’ve seen him… he’s beautiful and he’s waiting for us. Let me go… I want to go to him…”
She smiled as her last breath escaped. Mason pulled her in close and dropping to his knees rocked from side to side. He cried as he tried to force images of her from their life together to the surface of his mind. He wanted them tattooed there for the times that were coming, the times he’d need to be strong. The times he would be alone. The darkest moments that most certainly lay ahead. Always.
He was lost; there was no plan to be made, no coming back from this, no way to right this. Mason scanned the area, his eyes resting on a portion of the courtyard seemingly untouched by the past days’ devastation. Not a downed Feeder within twenty feet and the patch of grass near the wall was unfettered. He moved through the yard and around the destruction, carrying his wife to the spot he chose for her.
The final body he came upon before reaching the unharmed swatch of land was overwhelmingly familiar. Holding his wife in his arms and standing over the body, he spoke to her. “April, I found our boy and I know that you’re with him. Please tell Justin that I love him… I love both of you.”
Mason laid April on the undamaged patch of earth positioned alongside their son and made his way back inside the building. Randy and the others had Dalton backed into a corner as Mason entered the room. The broken down man was being interrogated by the group and held the still functioning tablet in his hands as they peppered him with questions. All of which he answered quickly and precisely. As Mason moved through, Eleanor held her breath and the others parted, leaving him face to face with Dalton.
Dalton tried to speak first “I know you are…”
“No, not another word,” Mason said. Turning to William, Mason continued. “What is this thing he has?”
“Mason, it’s a device that can remotely operate every aspect of this facility. Its capabilities are endless,” William said.
“Can you operate it?” Mason asked.
“Sure but…”
Mason snatched it from Dalton’s hands and held it out for William. “Get familiar with it.”
Mason turned from the others, picked up the remaining nine millimeter left in the room and forced Dalton through the door and into the courtyard. Twenty feet beyond the rear wall, Mason pushed Dalton backward into a mound of lifeless Feeders. “You helped kill my wife and my son, for that you will never be forgiven, not by me… not by anyone.”
Mason didn’t allow him to speak. He fired one round into Dalton’s forehead, killing him instantly.
123
Mason only returned to Building One to obtain a clean white bed sheet to lie across his wife and son as they awaited their final resting place. He instead spent the remaining hours of darkness dragging the hundreds of Feeders away from the grounds of Blackmore. Every couple of hours while moving the inanimate monsters out of the courtyard, he’d lose himself, half expecting to see April or Justin peering through the open doorway. He was quickly reminded of the fact that he was now alone in this world.
Shortly after midnight, William left the others and made his way outside. He watched for a few minutes as Mason carried out his back breaking tasks before meeting him near the rear gates. The two men hugged, silently acknowledging the fact that this world had taken the people they most adored.
William stepped back, looking into the night. “Mason this is going to be really hard. I’m here if…”
This was not the time. Mason would come to terms with the loss in his own time. For now he wanted to talk about anything else. “Tell me what happened to you.”
After describing the story of how he ended up at Blackmore for the others only minutes before, the details were fresh in his mind. The two men worked together through the night clearing the yard of downed Feeders and destroyed helicopter parts as William told his tale.
“I watched my wife being torn out of the vehicle driven by that disgusting excuse for a woman Marie. As she drove away, there wasn’t anything I could do to stop her. Karen’s final moments are burned into my mind. Randy tried to help, although he was surrounded. I’ve already spoken to him about the details and thanked him. The next part is where it got a bit weird. Marie drove for the next hour or so, while I tried to find a way to escape, as the gun she held on me never left her side. She took me to an abandoned warehouse where she surprised a few friends of hers. They had a helicopter and kept speaking of a place in the Midwest that was safe. When they left the warehouse, two of the men flew ahead as Marie and a third man tied me up, tossed me into an SUV and followed on the ground. We arrived at that airfield where you all found the chopper and then somehow managed to steal it. When the three men ran out to stop you, I managed to get free and took care of Marie before hopping in the SUV and heading out the front entrance to the airfield.”
“Took care of?” Mason said.
“I think you know what I mean and after what she did to Karen…”
“No need to explain, I was just asking if she was gone.”
“Yes,” William said. “I made sure of it. She’ll never hurt anyone again.”
“How on earth were you able to find us here? There’s no way you tracked us in the sky for that long, especially in the dark.”
William nodded, “You’re right, there was no way to do that. Luckily for me, those men in black installed a GPS system in both the SUV and the helicopter, with what I can only assume was a remote tracking device. Long story short, it led me right to your doorstep.”
. . .
In the moments before the crash, Goodwin held tight to the seats on either side and set his jaw as his helicopter fell out of the sky and into the densely packed forest of the lower altitudes. The rear cabin was quiet as they began gaining speed near the treetops. One broken window. Debris entering the interior. The cabin twisting under the pressure. Slowing as it careened from one solid object to the next, finally breaking free and slamming nose first into the earth, Goodwin’s head snapping backward into the panel directly behind.
Blood ran down his neck as he released himself from the seat and crouched in the devastated cabin. Glancing into the cockpit, Goodwin shook his head at the sight of his pilot, penetrated multiple times through and through by the large spruce they inadvertently brought to the ground with them. He reached for the only weapon left on board, a small caliber handgun and placed it into his pants pocket. Removing his coat, he wiped the mess from his face, neck and hands and tossed it aside. Scanning the area to get his beari
ngs, he faced downhill and began walking.
Out of the clearing and beyond the trees, the wooded cabin came into view moments before finding Anton’s corpse, now reanimated and tied to a tree. “Poor boy, you never had a chance.” Goodwin moved in, put a round into his temple and began removing his blood soaked fatigues. “Where’d you put it son?”
Laying the man’s clothes out along the ground, he rifled through the pockets one at a time until reaching into his vest pocket and coming away with the laminated card. Clutching it, he picked up the clothes and headed for the cabin, light headed and on the verge of exhaustion. Entering the cabin, he laid the clothes out, secured both doors, and sat in the corner. “Those fools.”
. . .
After briefly commiserating with Eleanor, who had yet to speak, Mason left her and Savannah to themselves inside Building One. He returned with William to the exterior and continued the cleanup. By sunrise, the pair had emptied the yard of all downed Feeders and one by one cleared and secured each and every building within the facility. Randy counted and cataloged the arsenal stored in the basement of Building Six and brought to the surface the needed supplies.
The lobby was sealed and the massive gate that guarded the rear entrance was pushed closed by the men. William drove the SUV he used to find the facility into the yard and positioned it along the rear wall for added surveillance. William happened upon the landscaping equipment in Building Four and by midday, he worked at one side of the yard, laying to rest the two women he never knew. It didn’t matter to him, he wanted to keep his mind occupied and in doing so, said final farewells to Tessa and Parker.
Care was taken as Mason uprooted the earth to bury his father-in-law, his wife and his son. The questions he asked himself no longer mattered. The hatred had ran from his body hours ago and approaching sunset, Mason laid Richard Daniels in the grave located less than two feet from the one he’d prepared for April and Justin. The area, as pristine and untouched as it was, still felt massively unsuitable. Working through the remainder of the day’s light, Mason brought Eleanor to the finished site and let her have her private time to say goodbye.
Sunset fell on Blackmore and with Eleanor returning, Mason set out to speak to his loved ones alone. He walked slowly and for the first time in many days, felt at peace. He sat on the grass facing the three makeshift headstones and spoke to his family.
“When a loved one passes, people always say they’ve gone to a much better place. That phrase never really felt authentic until today. I am sorry. Richard, I am sorry that I never fully appreciated the complex man that you were. I am sorry that the two of us were not close. I should have tried harder. I blamed you for things that weren’t your fault and for that I can never forgive myself. I believe that you loved me and I now wish I would have told you that I loved you as well.”
“Justin my son, every moment of every day I spent with you will be among my best. Before you came into my life, I was a child. You helped me to see what it means to be a man and a father. I will miss every minute away from you and can’t wait till we meet again. Please take care of your mother as you always have and give her a big kiss for me. Son, I am sorry I wasn’t there to protect you and as much as I would like to, I cannot change that. Justin, I love you and will see you soon.”
Mason paused as the wind picked up and a cool breeze flowed across the courtyard. This brought a smile to his face as he continued. “April… I cannot believe I allowed myself one day away from you. The three months we spent apart was the worst time of my life until today. My stubbornness tore us apart and for that I will live out every day for the rest of my life with regret. Sweetheart, I don’t know how to go on without you. I don’t know that I can. You gave me a strength that cannot be replaced. Please take care of your father and give Justin my love every single day. This world is a terrifying place without you, although I know you’d want me to survive. For you I will go on. I will help the others. You taught me that.”
Forcing the lump in his throat back down, he finished. “April because of you I now believe that there is a place much better than this and I am glad you are there. It must be beautiful… You can show me when we meet again. I love you now and forever. Goodbye baby.”
. . .
The group was wrecked. Two solid weeks of sorrow, loss of life and living in the hell that followed the outbreak pushed them to the brink. The group’s emotions were raw and at the surface. Still, they somehow held tight to the last shreds of civility and decorum as the world fell down around them. Even so, they needed a blueprint; they needed answers for how to live what remained of their lives among so many others attempting to bring them down. These people were broken and needed a reason, a reason to continue.
Mason entered Building One as the others awaited direction from the Command Center. “William,” he said. “The perimeter is now secure…Lock us down.”
End of Book Four
The Dead Years
Book Five
VENGEANCE
124
California Coastline… The Morning of the Infection.
Twice the rain had begun to fall, if only to be halted by the ever so delicate slivers of sunlight as the new day forced its way into the world. She knew she needed to pry herself away from the television and wake him, as another tardy would land them both in the counselor’s office and the school year wasn’t yet half over. With this being his senior year and college on the horizon, she didn’t want her younger brother to have any excuses for not getting into the university of his choice and despised the thought of him using this as an excuse. Nearly seven thousand miles and an entire ocean away, the images from Southeast China pulled her from the burdens of the day.
“What is this?” she said.
Mass chaos filled the illuminated screen as street vendors were attacked by their customers and the outdoor market drifted into a fierce war zone as the Chinese military arrived. News reporters filed in behind the heavily armed men and captured the initial moments of the massacre. Those attacked by the carnivorous humans were caught off guard and made easy targets. Within minutes, those bitten also began to rise and became the second wave of infected that easily toppled the soldiers now running desperately low on ammunition. Originally appearing as a mass uprising of everyday citizens versus heavily armed opponents, the scene took on an entirely different perspective as the reporter and cameraperson were overrun. The footage was aired worldwide… and uncut.
Three remarkably normal looking men quickly moved atop one of their victims and actually began tearing the flesh from her face and neck, devouring each handful they came away with. As the camera continued to capture the images, the bloodcurdling screams and cries for help tapered off before the station cut the feed. Moments later, the channel transitioned to a fixed image of the station call letters and finally to a grey static backdrop.
Megan turned from the television and tried to shake the desperate feeling of helplessness from her core. She hated that she was left to be the sole protector and caregiver to her much younger, albeit extremely intelligent, brother. Living alone with him here in this six bedroom beach house was overwhelming. She never asked to be left with this house and its immense size had now become a burden. The tug of loneliness pushed her toward his bedroom. He was awake; at least he was a few minutes earlier and they needed to get moving regardless of how uneasy her choice of early morning programming made her.
Moving between the shards of sunlight that transitioned through the evenly spaced windows that lined the hall facing the front courtyard, Megan announced her approach. “Hey, are you up yet? We need to be out the door in less than twenty minutes.”
No response.
She reached the door, pushed it open and leaned against the frame. “What are you doing? Take the headphones off and…”
“Megan… have you… seen what’s going on?”
Her brother, only sixteen, would one day follow in his father’s footsteps and most likely become one of the world’s top minds. He w
ould graduate a full two years early and even though much younger than his classmates, he was well liked… even popular. He was friendly, pleasant and his boyish good looks often brought embarrassing attention from girls much older. Sean was a doppelganger for his father for more than just his intellect. They appeared to be twins separated by thirty-five years and in pictures many thought the pair were brothers. Just like his dad, emotions were something he could never hide from the world.
His face pale and his lips quivering, he sat in bed, covers drawn and returned his gaze to the computer sitting atop his lap. “What is happening to those people? Why are they doing that?”
Megan crossed the room, sat on the bed next to him and pulled the headphone plug from the side of the laptop, releasing the audio out into the room. The screams were much different from the overseas newscast she had watched via satellite feed only moments before and the voices speaking English told her it was altogether a different incident. “What are you watching?”
“Just some videos… it’s all over the web. It’s hard to tell what’s happening?” Sean closed his laptop, set it on the bed and moved to the closet. “Pretty disturbing stuff, those protestors are serious.”
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Megan said. “I hadn’t heard anything was even going on in China before I saw the news this morning.”
“China?”
“Yeah, that’s where all this is taking place,” Megan said.
Pulling down a hooded sweatshirt, Sean stopped and turned to his sister, puzzled. “Not what I was watching. The videos posted were from here… California, only a few hundred miles away.”
Reaching across the bed for her brother’s laptop, Megan motioned for him to continue getting ready and took it with her as she exited the room before stopping at the door. “Sean, what exactly did you see?”
