by Jack Hunt
Rage filled Sam at the thought that this was how he was going to die. Not at the hands of a skinhead or from some natural disease but from something made in a lab by a government that wanted to harm Americans.
When the bullets ran out, he tossed his gun and reached for the machete. If he was going out he was taking as many of them with him as he could.
“Come on, you motherfuckers!”
He ran at one and vaulted, slicing the air with the machete in an attempt to take its head off. He landed and Ally took out the guy that would have landed on him. He spun around and stuck his knife into the stomach of one. It gushed blood from its mouth and he pulled back fast and kicked the sick bastard back.
He turned to see Kiera jam a knife into the eye of a large man. It got stuck and she released it leaving her without a weapon.
“Here!” he tossed the machete to her. She caught it and he reached down and scooped up an iron bar that the last lunatic had dropped. He shifted, as a kid came at him. The thought of being infected was secondary to killing those in front of him. Men, women, children, it didn’t matter now. If there was a cure, it was too late for them. In that moment it came down to survival. As he slammed the iron bar across the face of one, its blood landed on his boot. He wanted to get it off but there was no time as they just kept coming. The sound of gunfire was attracting more and it was still daylight.
Right then the sound of gunfire increased, and grew louder. Sam spun around to see three soldiers coming down two of the alleys. They were covered in military gear and had masks and goggles on.
“Come on, you bastards, come and get it,” one of them cackled as he tore through them with hot lead. The soldiers couldn’t have arrived at a better time and yet they still weren’t out of the woods. What they were doing helped but they were just attracting more.
One of them shouted out. “Hey numb nuts,” he motioned over his shoulder. “Move your ass.”
Kiera and Ally backed up. As they were pulling out past the one soldier they saw one of them taken down by several of the insane. It happened so fast. They came up behind while he was shooting ahead.
“Michaels, let’s go!” one of the soldiers yelled to the other. All of them started pulling back towards an armored vehicle that was blocking off an entrance. As Sam got close he saw the insane crawling over the top of it. One launched in the air and his eyes widened. Thankfully one of the soldiers took it out before it even hit the ground.
“Go. Go!”
Everyone clambered up into the vehicle. As soon as the last soldier got inside and sealed shut the metal lid, the sound of bodies smacking against it made it echo inside. The one soldier with a heavy beard crawled up to the front and hit the gas and everyone jerked back.
They were on the way, safe, but with two people lost in the shuffle.
9
At a glance there were nine soldiers. After being processed, scrubbed down and handed new clothes Sam joined the others inside the warehouse. He had questions and a lot of them. Even though they had saved their ass back there, the sight of seeing military this far north initially concerned him. After having a bite to eat and listening to Billy regurgitate a story of how he had practically saved the other two, even though they rolled their eyes at him, one of the soldiers came in, pulled up a chair and sat down.
“As mentioned, I’m Corporal Stigers. I’m interested in knowing where you came from?”
“Didn’t you guys tell him?” Sam asked.
They just shrugged.
“Hayden. But we’re originally from Mount Pleasant.”
“And what’s the situation there?”
“Are you asking if there are lunatics?”
He nodded.
“Well, if we don’t count Billy, zero.”
“Hey!” Billy said. Corey smirked.
“How long have you been here?” Sam asked the corporal while scooping slop that passed for food out of the MRE bag.
“We arrived seventy-two hours ago. There were twenty of us to begin with, as you can see our numbers have drastically dwindled.”
“And your mission?”
“That’s classified.”
“Classified? I think we are little bit beyond secrets, don’t you think?”
“Son, when this shit storm has blown over and believe me, it will end, there will be a lot of people who are going to be held accountable for their actions. I don’t plan on being one of those pulled aside for shooting off my mouth. Am I making myself clear?”
“Whatever. What do you know about this virus?”
He stared at Sam.
“Are there any adults with you?”
“Answer the question,” Sam shot back.
The corporal’s eyes flared. “You giving me orders, son?”
“I’m not your son and I don’t care for people jerking me off. What do you know about this virus?”
He sniffed and pulled out a pack of Camels from his upper right pocket and proceeded to tap one out. He smirked as if finding something amusing.
“That’s why we’re here.”
“Are you telling me you don’t know?”
He cupped his hand around the cigarette and lit it before blowing out a plume of gray smoke.
“Let’s get something clear here, I’m under no obligation to tell you jack shit. Having to go out and save your dimwitted ass cost me a man. He was a good soldier, with a family.”
“Excuse my friend here, he tends to get a little fired up,” Luke said stepping forward. Sam huffed. It was typical. Luke would slide in at any moment if he thought it could make himself look good. “What he’s trying to say is we are concerned.”
“Concerned? That’s putting it mildly,” Ally added. “We want answers and the way we see it the government had to have known about this. What’s being done?”
He stared at Ally with an expression of interest. “Come with me.”
Rising to his feet he headed towards the far end of the warehouse. There were a number of offices along the far wall. Before he opened the door to one of them he told them all to keep their distance. Once the door was open, everyone peered inside. Tied up using more chain than a person would need to be restrained sat a soldier. His eyes were blood red and he was frothing at the mouth. The very second the door cracked opened he leapt to his feet and rushed forward only to find himself yanked back by the chain.
Ally pulled her weapon but Stigers told her to put it back.
“What the hell are you doing keeping him alive?”
“You know how hard it was to get him restrained?”
“Does it matter?”
“Listen, we have to start somewhere. After the initial bombs detonated we began to see an increase in people turning on each other. Our platoon is meant to combat and contain the threat, and where possible restrain one for further testing. Unfortunately, the doctor that was with us was killed. The rate at which they change is too fast.”
“If the doc is dead, then why bother keeping him alive?” Corey asked
“Our objective has not changed.”
“Then why haven’t you left?”
“There are survivors out there. Our mission is to serve and protect. We are not alone in this. There are other platoons heading into different towns across Idaho. We just happened to have been assigned to the northern region.”
“Twenty people?”
“Nine now but yeah, we make do with what we have. Understand we did not bank on staying in this shit hole but it seems this town is overrun so for now it’s our home base.”
He pulled the door closed and locked it. Not that it was going to do any good if that thing got out. It probably would tear the door off its hinges or keep smashing into it until it broke through. He began walking back to the main entrance.
“We’ve done our best to secure the perimeter. It’s not foolproof and with those bastards able to climb, it may only be a matter of time before they overrun us. That’s why we are focusing on killing as many of them in the day as possible.”
Sam caught up with him. “Ricky. The kid that died out there. He mentioned that at night there are more of them.”
Stigers nodded as he guided them outside.
“Care to elaborate?” Sam continued.
Stigers had his hands clasped behind his back as he led the way. “It appears the daylight bothers them, at least initially. Within a matter of hours they retreat, but eventually they adapt. Those ones you saw out there have been that way for some time. The doctor, before he died figured that they are evolving, adapting to the light.”
“So they are nocturnal?”
“I wouldn’t say that. But whatever the virus is created from, it exhibits initially nocturnal behavior in them. They mostly seem to come out at night. And yet they seem to be evolving as within a matter of days they are able to stay out in the day.”
He began discussing more of what they had learned.
“So far we have used daylight to our advantage. We have taken timber that’s been cut as you can see, and placed it around behind the fence, making it higher on the inside. It’s not perfect and in no way is it going to last but we are hoping we can kill those bastards before they clue in to what is being done here.”
“Clue in?” Luke asked. “You say that as if they are learning.”
He twisted around while continuing to walk forward. “They are. They haven’t lost all their human faculties. They die like a human but they also think like us to some degree. How much is to be seen but we have noticed they are getting smarter. They appear to learn from their mistakes. At night we stay inside, in the day we roam the streets and kill as many as we can.”
“And once you’re done?”
“We’ll move on to the next town.”
“About time the government started killing the right people, I was beginning to lose faith in our military,” Billy muttered.
“What?” Stigers asked.
Sam filled him in on their experience with the Commander and his men. He raised an eyebrow.
“There’s always going to be a bad apple among the group. We aren’t all like that.”
“Obviously,” Ally replied.
There was a sudden eruption of gunfire and everyone went on the defensive. One of the soldiers on the wall dropped his weapon to his side. “Sorry about that. We had a couple of tweakers.”
“Tweakers?”
“A name the men have given those recently turned. They tend to have the jitters like they are going through withdrawal. The doc thought it’s a reaction to the light. That’s why they all find a hole to crawl in until they fully change.”
“So you don’t think they have fully changed when they are infected?” Kiera asked.
“Oh they are gone. Trust me. There is no coming back from that, at least for now. Hopefully the other platoons have had better luck in keeping their doc alive.”
As he led them around the facility, Sam asked if they had at any point come across someone by the name of Tom Barrington. He shook his head.
“Sir! Looks like we have a cluster coming this way.”
“In the truck over there, you’ll find assault rifles and ammo. We’re going to need your help.”
Soldiers began hustling towards the front entrance. They had built a makeshift set of steps that went up to a ledge that went around a section of the lumberyard. Everything they had done had been slapped together in a hurry. There was no cutting, screws or nails involved; it was all stacked as is. Each of them rushed over to the truck and grabbed a rifle. When they made it to the top of the wall, they took in the sight of the group heading towards them. The gunfire had drawn them in and even though Billy had suggested hiding, they weren’t in the business of retreating unless required.
“Can they get up here?”
“I’ve yet to see one make it close enough to attempt it,” one soldier said, shouldering his rifle. “Before we stacked this here they were all over this place. Climbing fences is no different for them than it is for us.”
“Hold your fire,” Stigers said. Everyone had spread out across the wall area, and they were watching them shuffling forward letting out these high-pitched screams.
“Boss.”
“Hold your fire.”
Stigers had a fist in the air, when he dropped it everyone opened fire on them. An eruption of rounds went off. Their bodies flailed around then dropped. When the shooting stopped a few of the soldiers high-fived each other as though it was some game.
“What happens when you run out of ammo?”
“Nothing. We will have left before then.”
“That’s if you get out alive,” Luke said.
Murphy had just finished tossing water on the fire. It hissed and steam rose in the air amid a cloud of smoke. They had spent the past hour eating and talking and even though the thought of his daughter hadn’t left his mind, he wasn’t feeling as anxious as before. Kate had a way of calming his nerves and helping him to realize that he had prepared his daughter as best as he could. Her entire life had been a lesson in survival. To doubt her now would be to doubt himself.
“Well, let’s head out,” Kate said putting away a few items in the horses’ saddlebags.
“Back away from the horses,” a rough voice from behind them bellowed.
Murphy turned fast but a bullet snapped near his foot made him freeze.
“Don’t even think about going for that gun. Now come on over here. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Two rugged men stepped into the clearing with Winchester rifles pointed at them.
“On your knees.”
“Look, if you need food, take what we have but we need the horses,” Murphy replied.
One of them had a scar on the right side of his face. His dirty blond hair was tied back in a ponytail and he was wearing a black-and-white checkered shirt with a hunter’s jacket. He shot his pal a glance. “You need the horses? That’s funny; I just told my brother we need them.”
His brother motioned with the end of his rifle. “I won’t say it again.”
Murphy sneered and dropped down to his knees, Kate did the same. The two men didn’t look alike so he wasn’t sure if the scarred man was just referring to his companion as “brother” in general or not. The other had a baseball cap on, a graying beard and was wearing modern outdoor clothing. He went over to the horses and began rooting through the bags, all the while showing his presumed brother what they had.
“You know, I’ve not seen many people in the woods here. Where you from?”
“North of here.”
“Well, I kind of figured that. What town?”
“Hayden.”
“That shit hole? There’s survivors there?”
Neither Murphy or Shaw answered.
He sniffed and came over to Kate. “You’re a good-looking lady.” He ran his hand across her hair and sniffed it.
“Get the hell off,” she said.
“Feisty too. I like that. Maybe I’ll take you with me and teach you some manners.”
“Here, Buck.” He tossed some fruit over. Buck caught it and took a deep bite.
“Wow, now that’s what I call an apple.”
He placed one leg on a log and kept eating while maintaining his aim at the two of them.
“So where you heading?”
“South.”
“You don’t want to go that way. No sir, we are heading to the big north. Getting the hell out this country. We should have done it years ago, isn’t that right, Will?”
“Yep,” he muttered.
While Murphy was on his knees his one hand was sliding back to his leg where he had a knife in a holster around his ankle.
“Now I always knew they were going to fuck up this country, I mean look who they made president.” He shook his head. “He had no business being in a position of power.”
“You sound racist to me,” Shaw replied.
He chuckled and took another bite. “What, because I voice my distaste you immediately think I’m referring to the m
an’s skin color? I’m just saying that none of this would have happened had they not had that asshole in power. They act as though they know how to run this country but they don’t. Time after time they keep electing assholes but you know what. It’s not going to matter who gets in, the president is just a puppet to those around him.”
“He makes the decisions,” Shaw muttered.
“Like fuck he does. Financial advisers. Military advisers. Health advisers. They all tell him what to do. Hell, he doesn’t even write the words he speaks. Why do we even have a president? I’ll tell you why — because people are lost without someone to rally behind. They are like lost sheep without a shepherd. But here’s the clincher and man, this is a beauty. It doesn’t matter if that shepherd leads them down into the water and drowns the whole lot. Those that survive will still scream for another shepherd, you know why?”
There was a pause and neither one of them wanted to answer.
“Because they are all sheep.” He let out a bleating sound and then burst out laughing.
Murphy felt his fingers touch the handle. His eyes drifted to the other man who was still unloading the contents of the bags.
“Oh that was a great—”
Before he got the words out, Murphy in one smooth motion brought the knife around and threw it at him. It landed deep in his chest. Murphy jumped to his feet and plowed into the guy by the horses. The horses let out a cry as a gun went off and began jerking around. The horse’s rear end smacked into both Murphy and Will. They dropped to the ground. Another round went off and Murphy looked up to see Shaw looming over his friend. He wasn’t moving.
Murphy was on top of Will and forcing the Winchester rifle down on his neck when he croaked out the words, “Okay, okay. I don’t want to die.”
Murphy studied his face for a second or two and then pulled the rifle away from his throat.
“Get up.”
The man rose to his feet and looked over at his friend.
“He wasn’t my brother. Just someone I met along the way. I really didn’t care for his company but you know how things go. You do what you got to do to survive.”
