The Alpha Plague (Book 1)

by Michael Robertson

  Malice then twisted his features as he drew a deep breath that swelled his rib cage.

  “Oh fuck!” Rhys said.

  Higher pitched than Dan’s, the boy’s shrill primitive call sent ice through Rhys’ veins.

  The child’s scream came in three braying waves. It may have only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like a fucking lifetime. Rhys lost his breath when he looked over the car park wall at the carnage below. As one, the pack of what must have been one hundred or more diseased looked up… straight at Rhys. Their collective bloody stare drove frigid dread to Rhys’ core.

  When he turned to Vicky, he saw it in her eyes. Despite her tough exterior, he knew she couldn’t do it.

  Rhys headed straight for the boy and wound his baseball bat back as he ran. Just the thought of it weakened his muscles, but one of them had to do it.

  The aluminium bat connected with the kid’s skull. It only took one swing to extinguish the boy’s fury and knock him to the ground.

  To make sure, Rhys stamped on the kid’s head. His skull gave way like it was made from eggshell, and Rhys heaved at the sound of the wet crunch. Diseased or not, he’d just killed a little boy.

  When he looked up, Vicky stared at him. A mixture of pity and disgust played out on her face.

  The door to the stairwell creaked when Rhys pulled it open and pointed into it. “Come on, we’ve got to go if we’re to get away.” The sound of his voice echoed throughout the cavernous space.

  When Rhys stepped over the dead boy and into the stairwell, the door at the bottom crashed against the wall from where it had been kicked open. The scream of the diseased filled the space. “Fuck!” Rhys said.

  After he’d jumped backwards into the car park again, Rhys lifted the dead kid’s ankles and dragged him out of the way. “We can’t go down there, Vicky.”

  Vicky looked over her shoulder in the direction of the car park next to the one they were in.

  As he pressed himself into the now closed door, Rhys shook his head. “No way. No.”

  “What else are we going to do?” Vicky said. “There’s no other way.”

  The thunder of footsteps accompanied the screams that raced up the stairs. Rhys could feel their approach through the ground. “No way, Vicky. I can’t do it.”

  It clearly didn’t matter what Rhys could or couldn’t do, Vicky had made her mind up. She bounced on her toes and said, “Just watch me. If I can get across it at my height then so can you.”

  The ground vibrated to the point where the door rattled in its frame. With his breath caught in his throat, Rhys looked at Vicky and nodded—like he had any other choice.

  Vicky took off and ran at the wall on the far side of the car park at a flat-out sprint. Rhys couldn’t even move that fast.

  The screams grew louder, the diseased so close he could smell their fetid musk of death. No more than two floors separated them and Rhys now.

  Vicky didn’t break stride when she jumped up onto the metre-high wall that ran around the car park. She kicked off the top of it and flew through the air. No way could she make it. As her arms and legs windmilled, Rhys’ stomach flipped and he looked away. He couldn’t watch her fall to her death.

  Chapter Twenty

  When Rhys looked back, he saw Vicky had landed on the top floor of the car park on the other side. She waved him over. “Come on, Rhys, you can do it.”

  The first diseased that reached the top of the stairs hit the door so hard, Rhys nearly fell over. His shoulder stung when he pushed back against it.

  The second one didn’t catch him off guard as much, but as the third and fourth threw their weight against the door, Rhys’ feet slipped a little. If he stayed there much longer, it wouldn’t be a choice if he ran or not, the fuckers would be on top of him as they tore chunks from his face.

  The door pushed open a crack. Bloody hands slid through the gap. Diseased fingers brushed against Rhys’ right arm.

  While he gritted his teeth, Rhys pushed harder against the door, but his trainers slipped over the asphalt.

  A variety of hands poked through. From adults’ to children’s, bloody to muddy, black to white; every one of them had bloodstains. Every one of them wanted to grab Rhys.

  While he fought his losing battle, Rhys looked down at the dead boy. That could be Flynn if he didn’t get to him. He had to try to jump.

  When Rhys took off, the door flew open and crashed into the wall behind it. Chased by the wet slaps of feet, Rhys put everything he had into his escape.

  It sounded like thousands of them spilled out into the car park, but Rhys didn’t look behind to check; he didn’t need to.

  With his baseball bat still in his grip, Rhys ran at a full sprint across the car park. He kept his focus on Vicky and her calls of encouragement.

  The footsteps chased him. The footsteps gained on him.

  Worry lines creased Vicky’s face as she called out, “Come on, you can do it. Come on.”

  It sounded like rabid dogs chased him. The slathering rattle of bloodlust rode their phlegmy breaths. And the stench! Now they were on the same level, the fetid metallic reek damn near choked him.

  Rhys narrowed his focus onto the top of the wall, took three steps, and jumped at it. With his heart in his mouth, he pushed off with his right foot and leaped toward Vicky on the other side.

  Just as he left the wall, a hand caught his trailing heel.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Rhys snapped his foot away before the diseased’s grip could tighten around it. The gap between the two car parks may have been small, but at thirty metres from the ground, it felt a lot larger.

  When Rhys hit the other side, his legs gave way beneath him, and he crashed to his knees. The hard ground burned his kneecaps before he fell forward onto his shoulder. A shock ran through his entire body.

  He lay on the floor and panted, but he’d made it. He’d damn well made it.

  Winded from the landing, Rhys got to his feet with Vicky’s help. She wrapped him in a tight hug. The tough embrace aggravated the sharp throb in his shoulder, but he didn’t pull away.

  When Vicky let go, the pair watched the diseased on the other side. In the few seconds it had taken for him to get his bearings, the mob had swelled to at least seventy strong. They leaned across the gap as if their outstretched arms would be long enough to reach; all the while, more poured through the door behind them.

  As Rhys watched the slack-jawed and bloody-eyed diseased at the front, he said, “They’re not going to jump across. Let’s go before they realise they can cut us off on the ground.”

  After he’d shown the mindless mob the back of his raised middle finger, Rhys led their escape towards the stairwell on the opposite side of the car park.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The door at the bottom of the stairwell in the neighbouring car park creaked as loudly as the others, if not louder. As Rhys let Vicky through, he held his breath and listened out for the uncoordinated beat of clumsy feet against the ground. After the successful jump, they didn’t need to be screwed over by a squeaky door.

  While he kept the door propped open with his foot, Rhys pulled a fire extinguisher from the nearby wall and used it to keep the door held open. He looked at Vicky, shrugged, and spoke in a whisper. “If we just got away with opening this noisy fucker, the last thing I want to do is ride our luck by closing it too.”

  Vicky nodded.

  Once outside, Rhys ran to the edge of the car park on tiptoes. He looked up at the diseased that had chased them. They remained at the top of the car park, reaching across the gap between the two structures. He turned to Vicky, who was close behind. “They clearly don’t get where we’ve gone. I hope they won’t twig for a while. They may have speed and brutality on their side, but these things are as thick as lobotomised sheep.”

  When Vicky pointed in the opposite direction, Rhys nodded. With the diseased at the top of the car park, their opportunity to get away had come. Vicky took the lead and Rhys followed clos
e on her heels.

  They stopped before they ran out into the road, and Vicky peered around the corner this time. It was just a formality; confirm the place had been abandoned and then get the fuck out.

  But Vicky pulled back around and shook her head.

  Rhys’ heart sank. “What’s up?”

  Vicky stood aside to give Rhys the chance to look. When he poked his head around the corner, he saw the downed school bus and his entire body slumped. Most of the children had remained close to the vehicle. They’d been conditioned in their former lives to not wander off, and they’d seemed to stay true to that order, in spite of the disease.

  Rhys looked back at Vicky and shook his head. “There’s no way we’ll sneak past them.”

  With the coach lying in a pool of blood the size of a pond, Rhys watched the twitchy movements of the aimless children.

  Nearby screams snapped tension through Rhys’ body and he pulled back around the corner. When he looked at Vicky, he saw her eyes were wide and her breathing rapid. “We’re surrounded,” he said before he added, “Imagine what this city would have been like if the buildings hadn’t gone into lockdown.”

  “That was the point I was making earlier,” Vicky said. “We wouldn’t have lasted two minutes.”

  As Rhys searched their surroundings, he frowned. Then he saw it… the underground train station. When he looked back up at Vicky, she shook her head.

  “No way.”

  “But all we have to do is cross the street, and we can get the fuck out of here. Surely we’re better off taking our chances down there than we are up here?”

  “Have you forgotten there are fucking tunnels down there, Rhys? Imagine getting caught in a tunnel with those things.”

  “I don’t think the diseased are down there,” Rhys said.

  “And you think we should chance it on a hunch? What if it’s full of them?”

  Rhys closed the gap between them and grabbed Vicky’s soft hands. “We need to keep our voices down.” He rubbed his thumbs over the backs of her fingers before he looked into her eyes. “I think it’ll be safer down there. Besides, I don’t see that we have much choice. Staying up here is suicide.”

  “It’s a fucking tunnel, Rhys. What if we get cut off from both ends?”

  Another scream made Rhys jump, and he let go of Vicky’s hands. His voice shook and his body trembled. “We’re surrounded up here.”

  Vicky heaved a weighted sigh.

  “I don’t think there’s anything down there other than rats and darkness,” Rhys said.

  “Well, that makes me want to go down there more. I’d love to be surrounded by rats and darkness.”

  “It’s better than the alternative.”

  After a few seconds, she shook her head. “Argh! I hope you’re right.” While chewing the inside of her mouth, she turned away from him and looked at the train station. “I seriously hope you’re right.”

  So did Rhys. A quick check both ways showed it was clear. Before he could ask her if she was ready, Vicky ran at the train station at a flat-out sprint.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The metal escalator that led down to the train station had ground to a halt. As they walked down it, Rhys looked at his mismatched trainers. His and Vicky’s footsteps made too much noise already, but the walk into the station in his work shoes would have sounded like a flamenco dancer had entered the building.

  The escalator led into a huge underground amphitheatre. A sign hung from the ceiling in the centre of the room. It read ‘Welcome to Central Station’. “I’m always overwhelmed by how grand this station is,” Rhys said. His voice carried through the huge open space. “All of the others in the city are so functional. Although, it’s hardly a surprise considering it’s the one closest to The Alpha Tower. Everything’s grandiose near that place.”

  Vicky didn’t reply. Rhys figured she probably didn’t want to talk about The Alpha Tower.

  Every step reminded Rhys of how much he’d already run that day. Aches shot up through his thighs and down to his ankles as he descended with his baseball bat raised. The Rhys of ten years ago would have coped with the exercise just fine. With Vicky a few steps behind him and seemingly managing with ease, he kept his complaints to himself.

  When he turned to look back up at her, he saw that she, like him, had her bat ready for action as she searched the empty space below. There could be diseased in the shadows—not that the dumb creatures had the ability to hide; they had the subtlety of an elephant stampede.

  At the bottom of the stairs, Rhys stepped off the escalator onto the white tiled floor.

  Just before he headed in the direction of the platform, he turned to see Vicky had halted on the second to last step. “What’s up?”

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  A quick look at their surroundings, and Rhys turned back to Vicky. “Take a look around; if there were any diseased down here, surely we’d see more evidence of them. This place is untouched.”

  A deep frown darkened Vicky’s features.

  “Besides,” Rhys added, “the station is always deserted during the day. No one uses it after nine or before five. People don’t come and go in Summit City. If it ain’t rush hour, there isn’t ever anybody down here. You know that.”

  “And your point is?”

  “My point is what is there for the diseased to come down here for?”

  She stood and stared at him, wrung her hands, and said, “I dunno what it is. I can’t explain it. All I know is that I have a bad feeling… a really bad feeling.”

  Her anxiety put Rhys on edge. The gnawing concern in his stomach grew sharper teeth. Not that he could tell her that, he was the one who’d suggested they came down here, so he had to keep his shit together. “Look, I understand how you feel. Considering what we’ve just left behind up there, none of this is going to feel good.” While he held his hand out to her, he said, “Come on, trust me; this is the best way to go.”

  After another slight pause, Vicky took his offered hand and hopped off the bottom step. Together they walked toward the tunnel that led to the platform.

  ***

  A buzz of something electric hid around the next corner. The urge to stop parked in Rhys’ muscles, but he pushed through it. Diseased didn’t sound like that, so he shouldn’t worry.

  But Rhys did worry, so he raised his bat as he pushed on.

  When he rounded the next corner, he stopped dead. Two vending machines sat in a small alcove. Their bright lights shone in the darker tunnel.

  When Vicky caught up with him, she stopped too.

  “Does your card work in these ones?” he asked.

  “Yep,” Vicky said as she scanned the enclosed space as if the diseased could suddenly materialise from the walls.

  “Can you get me a Snickers?”

  Vicky frowned like she had a bad taste in her mouth. “What?”

  “A Snickers; you know, a chocolate bar. I need some sustenance.”

  “That ain’t sustenance, that’s poison.”

  Rhys shrugged. “Fine, I need some poison then.”

  After she’d rolled her eyes at him, Vicky walked over to the vending machine. She swiped the card through the machine’s reader then typed in a code.

  Rhys’ mouth watered as the machine whirred. The white metal spiral twirled and pushed the bar forward.

  The bar landed in the tray at the bottom with a thunk. Vicky retrieved it for him and tossed it his way.

  The wrapper rustled as Rhys pulled it open. It may give their position away, but he needed to eat. Also, the quicker he opened it, the less time he’d have to make the noise for. Rhys’ stomach rumbled as he took a huge bite; the sickeningly sweet and chewy chocolate bar sparked life through his taste buds.

  Vicky looked disgusted as she watched him. Her top lip lifted in an almost snarl and her jaw hung loose.

  Not that Rhys gave a tiny shit; he needed to eat. He spoke with his mouth full. “Aren’t you going to have anything?�
��

  Vicky shook her head and wrinkled her nose more than before. “I don’t eat that crap. I’ll get some food later.”

  “Suit yourself. You’re missing out though; this is good shit.”

  Instead of a response, Vicky stared at Rhys.

  Another shrug of his shoulders and Rhys led them away from the machines.

  ***

  The near silence held as they walked down the long tunnel that led to the platform. White glossy tiles covered both the floor and the walls. The place looked like something from the last century. Maybe that was the intention. The hard surfaces turned every footstep and rustle of the chocolate bar wrapper into an echo.

  After another bite of the Snickers, Rhys looked across at Vicky. Instead of returning his glance, she continued to scan their surroundings. A bend in the tunnel up ahead obscured their view, but with the noise those things made, they’d hear them from a mile away. Especially in the echo chamber they currently occupied. “So what was it like?” Rhys asked.

  For the briefest of seconds, she looked at him before she returned her focus to their surroundings. “What was what like?”

  “The Alpha Tower.”

  Vicky didn’t respond.

  “Come on, Vicky; don’t give me that confidential bullshit. The secret’s out. Pandora’s Box has been well and truly opened. Surely you can talk about it now.”

  The discussion seemed to cause her physical pain; tightness pinched her facial features.

  Rhys took another bite of chocolate and waited.

  The pair’s footsteps fell in synch with one another before Vicky said, “There were a lot of secrets.” She kept her focus in front of her. “Downstairs was pretty normal—grand and garish, but pretty normal. It was upstairs where everything happened. They’d turned the penthouse suite into a lab, which is where they made the virus. Everyone in the building knew about the lab, but so few of us saw it.”