by Scott Shoyer
“I was thinking the same thing,” Riker said as he scanned the town. “This town was hit hard by the infection. Nobody had a chance.”
“Think we should look for survivors?” Teagan asked.
“This bus has been making a ton of noise as we rolled through town,” Riker said. “If there were any survivors, they’d have come out by now. We’ll honk the horn a few times once we’re all back on the bus.”
“That should do it,” Murphy said as he replaced the gas nozzle back in the pump. Brian and Stewart tightened the caps on the gas tanks and headed back to the bus. “We’ve got gas for a long time. One less thing to worry about.”
“Hey, guys!” Paula shouted out the window. “I found something!”
“Keep your damn voice down!” Noonan shouted. “You wanna attract every one of those things around here for miles?”
“Oh please,” Paula said with her typical Southern sass. “There ain’t none of those dead things around here. If there were, they’d already be all over us.”
“What did you find, Paula?” Riker asked.
“About ten to twenty miles down the road is one of Walmart’s largest distribution centers,” Paula said as she pointed to the map. “It’s not a store, but one of the main hubs in Central Texas that distributes to Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and every store in between.”
“We are getting low on food and water,” Murphy said as he looked at Riker.
“This could be like striking oil,” Braden said. “Some new clothes, find some new weapons… hell, maybe even find some beer.”
Riker quickly weighed the pros of cons of going to the Walmart hub and decided they had no choice. They were very low on food and water and could all use fresh clothes and new weapons.
“Besides,” Brian said, “if that place is anything like this town, it’ll be a walk in the park.” He looked at Stewart. “In and out in no time.”
“Nothing is ever that easy, kid,” Greg said to Brian.
“This was,” Brian said as he nodded toward the gas station.
“Don’t count on it being this easy,” Riker added. “Let’s get going. We need to get there while we have the sun on our side. We don’t wanna get trapped in there after dark.”
Murphy blasted the bus’s horn a few times, but there was no movement anywhere in town.
How many towns across America had died from the infection?
Riker noticed Toxic had never exited the bus and didn’t seem excited about the distribution center. Riker got up from his seat and decided it was time to have a talk with the man. Toxic had obviously seen something back at the trailer park that’d scared him--something more than just the creatures they’d fought off.
Something more monstrous.
3
Sub-Level Facility, Schoepke Springs
Spicewood, Texas
The weapon’s room was a survivalist’s, soldier’s, and hunter’s wet dream. The room was a two-thousand-square-foot rectangle with a large countertop in the middle of the room. Various-sized pistols, rifles, and machine guns lined the walls, while bullets of all calibers filled the drawers underneath the counters and the surrounding cabinets. The drawers also held grenades, flash bombs, and various combat knives and machetes. There was enough firepower in the room to overthrow a third-world country.
Maybe even a second-world country.
Wilder grabbed an AK-47 off the wall and loaded his tactical belt with several forty-round banana-shaped magazines. He slapped a seventy-five-round drum magazine into the weapon and slung it over his shoulder. The weapon was heavy, but it also offered the best firepower against the yellow-eyed creatures. Bullets wouldn’t kill those things any longer, but a few rounds from an AK-47 would sure as hell slow them down. The butt of the gun was also hard wood that could crush skulls in a pinch.
Wilder also grabbed a machete, a bayonet for the AK-47, and hooked some grenades to his vest.
“I wouldn’t worry about the bullet-proof vests, Cheryl,” Wilder said as he turned to her. “Those things don’t shoot back and it’ll only slow you down if we need to make a speedy exit.”
Cheryl wore the same style tactical vest, but didn’t carry any grenades. She felt the weight of the AR-15 in her hands and smiled.
“You comfortable with that weapon?” Wilder asked.
“Absolutely,” she replied. “I dated a gun-nut cop who taught me how to fire and handle various weapons.”
“I never said anything six months ago when we were fighting for our lives down here,” Wilder said, “but I’m glad to have you next to me. You’re a fierce warrior.”
“Thanks. That’s what years of MMA training does,” Cheryl said. “You should have seen me when I was on pain pills.”
“Looks like you know how to handle yourself as well,” Cheryl said.
“I’m a life-long soldier who was taught one thing: to kill.” Wilder’s mind wandered as he thought of all the friends and comrades he’d lost in pointless battles. All those wars and conflicts seemed even more pointless now. Right now, the world faced an alien threat bent on destroying the human race and taking the Earth for their own. It made all those other conflicts pale in comparison.
Wilder and Cheryl slapped magazines into their Beretta handguns and slipped the weapons into their holsters. They each grabbed extra magazines and were ready.
Also in the weapon’s room were Steele, Stefan, and Stacey. Steele also held an AK-47 with a retractable stock, which he kept folded. He’d also fitted his homemade holster for the sledgehammer around his waist.
Wilder helped Stefan and Stacey with their Berettas and showed them how to insert and remove the magazines. They were inexperienced with guns, and he didn’t want them carrying around anything bigger than a pistol.
“Okay,” Wilder said as they gathered around one of the large tables back in the common room. “The plan is simple enough. We’re going back up to the level above us and we’re going to see if we can find anything on that object up there that can be used against those bastards.”
Rickard stood far enough away from the group to show he didn’t support their decision to go up there, but just close enough to hear their plan.
“Howard and Jennie,” Wilder said as he turned to the scientists, “you’re gonna be our eyes and ears.”
“Mostly ears,” Howard pointed out. “The monitors were still down.”
“That’s okay,” Wilder reassured them. “We have the ear pieces and will keep in touch with you and each other, and as soon as you get visuals back up, you let us know.” Howard shook his head in agreement.
Then Wilder turned to Stefan and Stacey. “I want you two to stay behind Cheryl, Steele, and myself until it is clear up there.”
Wilder heard Rickard grunt and saw him shake his head.
“You two obviously know that object better than we do,” Wilder said as he nodded to Cheryl.
“What are you hoping to find up there?” Rickard asked. “We’ve been over that thing countless times and haven’t found so much as a crack on it. But you--you’re gonna somehow find a way inside it.”
“It’s better than sitting down here doing nothing, waiting to die,” Wilder said. He looked at Rickard and then turned and looked at Josef. “What are you two not telling us?”
Josef reacted as though Wilder had just slapped him across the face. “What do you mean?” Josef asked. “Nothing, of course. There’s nothing else to tell you.”
Wilder noticed Rickard was staring at Josef as he responded to his question.
Rickard is the snake in the grass here, Wilder thought. I need to talk to him away from Rickard.
“We don’t need you here,” Wilder finally said to Rickard. “If you’re not going to help us when we’re up there, then you’re a hindrance to us.”
Rickard looked Wilder in the eyes and sat down in his chair.
“Now,” Wilder said as he returned his attention to the others. “Let’s go over the plan again.”
4
AC
/DC Tour Bus
West I-79
“You don’t look as excited as the others,” Riker said as he sat down next to Toxic. Murphy kept the bus at a steady fifty miles an hour as they roared down I-79 toward the Walmart distribution center. The scenery didn’t really change in this part of Texas. From the windows of the bus, there seemed to be an endless landscape of flat ground and dirt.
“Aren’t you excited to get some new clothes and some food?” Riker asked Toxic.
“Uh, yeah… I guess so,” said Toxic as he didn’t take his eyes off the rolling landscape.
“What the hell is going on?” Riker asked bluntly. “I know that was a helluva battle back there at the trailer park, but what happened to you?”
Toxic turned to Riker and stared him straight in the eyes. Toxic didn’t know who the man was that butchered Gary and Reilly back at the trailer park. He couldn’t get the images out of his head.
Toxic had grown up on the streets. He’d had no siblings and no guidance. His mother had been a fifteen-year-old junkie when he’d been born and his dad had been nowhere to be found. He’d been was on the streets by the time he was eight years old and had found the brotherhood of gangs more comforting and supportive than anything he’d ever gotten from home.
After he’d proved himself to the other gang members, the more experienced in the gang had showed Toxic what it took to survive in life. You had to be hard, and you had to take what you wanted. No one would ever give you anything--not even if it was something that you deserved.
The most important lesson Toxic had learned from his fellow gang-bangers was to trust his instincts. If you got a funny feeling in your gut when you were selling drugs, you ran. There were probably police around. If you were walking down the street and the hairs on the back of your neck stood up, you got the fuck down. There was probably going to be a drive-by. When you stopped listening to your instincts, you died.
Toxic stared Riker in the eyes and knew he wasn’t the man who’d butchered Gary and Reilly. Toxic trusted Riker. For over two years, Riker had led their small group and kept them safe in that trailer park. And Riker always treated him as an equal.
“Something happened at the trailer park,” Toxic finally said. “There was something there other than those dead bastards dishing out death back there.”
“What are you talking about?” Riker asked.
Toxic told Riker what had happened and what he’d seen as he’d hid under one of the trailers. Riker sat there in complete silence and listened to everything Toxic said.
“Holy shit,” Riker finally said. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah, I know,” Toxic said. “And the scary thing is, that person is on this mother fucking bus right now.”
“And you’re sure you’re not missing any detail about the man?” Riker asked. “Any detail, no matter how tiny.”
“No, man,” Toxic said. “I could only see him from the knees down. And Gary and Reilly,” he added as his voice drifted off.
“Let’s keep this to ourselves,” Riker said. “I don’t want to send everyone into a panic. Everyone’s nerves are on edge as it is.”
“I hear ya,” Toxic said.
“I also need you to act normally,” Riker continued. “You don’t want the killer to suspect that you saw anything.” Toxic shook his head in agreement and sat up straighter in his seat.
“We’re about fifteen minutes away from the distribution center!” Murphy shouted from the front of the bus.
“Okay,” Riker said as he stood. “Let’s get our shit together and go over a few things before we get there.”
5
Underneath Schoepke Springs
Spicewood, Texas
Despite the painful changes that were happening to Fi, she’d never felt more comfortable. Wrapped in a cocoon, her body was being formed into something new, something unseen on Earth before.
It felt as though the worst was over. She’d felt her bones as they’d broken and reformed to create a new shape. Her skin felt as though it’d dissolved and grown back tougher and stronger. Fi’s teeth had fallen out to be replaced by something sharper and more deadly. She was aware of all the changes, but was somehow calm.
The cocoon felt like a safe place--her place--and nothing could harm her while she was in there.
Now that her body had been reshaped, her metamorphosis turned to her brain. Before she’d entered into her cocoon, the memories of her past life had become crystal clear. She’d remembered her mother and father and how her father had taken her to the zoo every week. She remembered the attack at the zoo and how a simple scratch from an animal had infected her father.
He’d brought the infection home, and once the hunger had become too great, spread it to her and her mother.
Fi remembered her life before the infection and before she’d mutated into something new.
Before she’d become a yellow-eyed creature.
But now she felt her memories fade away. She tried to grasp onto them, but they were being erased by a force she couldn’t control. Like files being deleted from a hard drive, Fi’s memories disappeared from her mind.
Until there was darkness.
Fi lay in her cocoon. The only things she felt now were the most basic of sensations--the tightness of the cocoon around her; the wet warmth of the material on her skin; the silence of her surroundings.
Once her mind was wiped clean of her former life, she felt new memories and saw new visions as they flooded into her brain.
She no longer saw the comforts and warmth of her previous home in the Arboretum area of Austin, Texas. Visions of a distant dying planet filled her mind--a planet that was being torn apart by the very technology the planet’s inhabitants had hoped would save them.
Large spacecrafts floated all around the planet and hovered over large platforms. Alien beings clamored over each other to get to the large crafts.
After a while, the crafts began to float away from the platforms and into the air. They continued to rise until the beings left behind on the platforms couldn’t see them anymore. Those beings knew their fates were sealed.
These were strange, foreign visions, yet Fi felt they were somehow familiar.
Instead of struggling with what she was, Fi decided to embrace what she had become.
Whatever that might be.
6
Sub-Level Facility, Schoepke Springs
Spicewood, Texas
Wilder led the others as they carefully made their way through the long corridor to get to the room that held the hatch that would take them to the upper level. The corridor was the only hallway that connected the upper facility to the lower bunker, and every fifty yards, there was a thick steel door that closed off the hallway. Wilder knew the combinations for the doors and had already gone through two of the vault-thick doors. One more door stood in their way.
“We’re approaching the final security door,” Wilder said as he talked into the headset. “Any luck on getting those monitors back up, Howard?”
“Not yet, Wilder,” Howard answered. “We’re working on it. It looks like some of the circuits were fried. We’re on it.”
Wilder turned to the others. “Looks like we’re doing this the hard way.” Butsko was always in Wilder’s memories, but it was in times like these that he really missed having his friend in his ear. Wilder knew the scientists were working hard to get those monitors back up, but he couldn’t help but think that if Butsko were in that room, not only would the monitors be working again, but he’d have gotten the exact count of how many zombies were in the room.
“We’re going to open this door the same way as the other doors,” said Wilder to the others, barely above a whisper. “Stefan, you’re going to punch in the code, and then you and Stacey will open the door slowly. Steele and Cheryl,” Wilder said as he turned toward them, “you’ll each be on one side of the door as it swings open, and I’ll be in the middle. If anything moves on the other side of this door, we shoot. Stefan and Stacey, you keep your
weapons holstered unless I give you the signal.”
They all shook their heads to let Wilder they understood their tasks. So far, they’d met no resistance behind any of the security doors. This door, though, was the security door that led to the room with the hatch that led to the upper level. Wilder knew this room was full of the zombies that, for the last six months, had been trying to break through to get to the bunker.
“The room behind this door is going to be full of those yellow-eyed creatures,” Wilder said. “Let’s be prepared and let’s not panic. We have a lot of firepower. Steele!” Wilder barked at the man as he stared at the door. “What’s the goal after opening this door?”
“Aim for the torso and knees,” Steele responded like a machine. “We can’t kill them, so we’re gonna disable them.”
“That’s it,” Wilder said as he slapped Steele on the shoulders.
Stefan punched the seven-digit code into the panel next to the security door. The red light turned green and Stefan waited for Wilder’s ‘go’ signal.
“On my count, Stefan,” Wilder said. Then to the others, “Get ready on three, two, one--”
Stacey and Stefan grabbed the thick steel bar on the door and pulled back. As the door opened, Steele moved closer to the opening. He held the AK-47 in the ready position and steadied his finger over the trigger.
As the door opened wider, Wilder jumped into position next to Steele, followed by Cheryl. There was only darkness on the other side of the security door. Wilder didn’t sense movement.
The heavy door hit the wall with a loud thud that echoed down the corridor. Stefan and Stacey pressed themselves against the wall. Each had their hand over their Beretta, but neither had unholstered their weapon.
“Sound off everyone,” Wilder said. “I’ve got nothing in my line of sight.”
“I’ve got no movement,” Steele reported.
“None on this side either,” Cheryl said.
“Come in, Wilder,” Howard said through his ear piece. “Come in. We got the monitors fixed. Repeat: we got the monitors fixed.”
