Outbreak of the Deceased (Book 1): Immediate Survivors

by Barone, Cenz

  Little did the groups know, the woman with her daughter Maggie in the background had disappeared inside the storage room once more where she had gotten her daughter from, and she was out of her mind with grief for what happened to her daughter and was untying everyone within. The woman kept telling the tied up dead things, thinking they were ill and sick “Don’t worry, help is outside, they are talking about how they will take us out of here, it is time to go” the woman was moving the ropes which had been designed in a way which kept them all connected together and bound their feet and hands. Cherie had seen her disappear into the room and was curious as to what was happening but kept steady, thinking she needed to be outside to see what was happening with these soldiers.

  Then as the groups argued further there was a loud scream as the woman inside was attacked and as fast as it happened out from the room stepped several of those people and they went straight for the groups, all of the weapons turned but they were to close together, Grant was knocked onto the floor by the soldiers who pushed past him and Elise was shot in the arm and Nancy was also shot in the leg as gunfire reigned in chaos.

  Kenny fell over a chair as Baxter fired into the crowd, Gage had by accident killed one the soldiers, whose colleagues in turn, turned on Gage and tried to attack Gage, so all hell was breaking loose. Nancy crawled to the side firing her weapon and Melissa ran for cover. Laura smashed her baton into one of the people who appeared from the room, which was one of the dead things but it had no effect so she then ran. The people were attacking and biting at anyone they could and only the flickering flash lights provided insight into what was happening. Grant kicked one of them off him as he shouted “Get the fuck off me!” Grant managed to squirm away and made his way towards the back of the chair and fired his weapon at the person whom he thought was a threat and many of the people were hiding as the soldiers were shooting indiscriminately drawing the attention of the dead things as more turned out of the room at this point.

  Grant held onto a chair but as he stood up a bullet hit him in the back from one of the soldiers and this made him fall back onto the floor, Grant coughed up blood as the bullet had gone through his body and then he was jumped by the dead things who tore into him with their teeth and bites, Elise shouted for her friend but he was immobile, she could see through her flashlight what was happening. Gage ran up to Grant after punching one of the soldiers nearby in the jaw and Gage pulled Grant away from the dead things, as Gage fired at them. Kenny noticed Grant’s injuries and joined Gage to fire but Kenny was then knocked down by one of the other soldiers but clearly it was too late for Grant. Gage pulled him out but Grant was severed on his spine and his entire body was torn into pieces, he had been mauled. Nancy fired her gun into the dead things as she shouted for the others in her group to do so but they were surrounded and four of the dead things were dead and the woman who let them out had disappeared out of the door with her daughter, the woman herself had been bitten all over but still clung to her daughter and through the chaos had somehow managed to escape, herself now infected.

  The soldiers were on the floor with bullets in them or firing outwards as the dead things in the room poured out and two of the soldiers had been killed by the people and everyone was shouting in pain. In a matter of seconds but what seemed like hours, the situation was resolved when Baxter holding his weapon stood up and he saw through the gun smoke many dead bodies, with three soldiers dead, one of whom was unscathed, and two of the people with them were also fine. The dead things had been blasted by all their gunfire and were all on the floor not moving, the silence took over but it was hectic to make sense of.

  Only Baxter, Kenny, Cherie, Gage and Melissa were unscathed from their group, Laura, Elise and Nancy were all injured, but luckily with superficial injures from bullets and considering it was not a bite they were very fortunate. Laura’s arm, Elise’s arm and Nancy’s leg all struck by the bullets. Elise was crying bitterly as she stared at Grant and tried to wake him up but she could just make out in the darkness with the flickers of flashlight his eyes, which were wide open he was dead. Laura standing up tall as her adrenaline was pumping viciously throughout her body. Nancy was on the floor and sat up overlooking the group. Everyone stood up and heard loud noises outside. “There are more people coming” Nancy shouted and then she added “We have to go”. The soldier and two civilians ran out of the room upon hearing this, to escape. Melissa went down towards Nancy and helped her up as Baxter did also and Gage opened the door and trained his machine gun down on the impending people coming. The soldiers and the two civilians had long since gone. Elise cried as she shouted out Grant’s name, Cherie pulled her away, trying desperately to get Elise to go, Cherie shouted at her “We have to go, come on Elise. He has gone, there is nothing we can do for him”.

  Elise was a wreak, a broken wreck and they all left the room with Kenny taking one final look at Grant wondering if he would be next. Kenny being the last out and as he was about to step out, Grant sat up but from below but he was all torn to pieces and Grant stared at Kenny and growled being now one of the dead things.

  Kenny closed the door and joined the rest in the corridor, any sadness and sorrow he had for Grant’s death and now his visible rise as a dead thing needed to be put aside, they were will in tremendous danger. Gage was near the back and shouted at Kenny who saw the group heading in the left direction “Join them, I will provide cover” shouted Gage. Kenny followed Gage’s command as Gage provided the covering fire and moved back. “Where to Nancy” shouted Cherie “Down the corridor, straight on and just keep moving. I will tell you when to turn, we are almost there. We just have to get to section 2” was all Nancy said as Melissa and Cherie were both on either side of Nancy as they headed down moving her forward, knowing she was their only hope of getting to the car park. Gage watching the back still called out “Baxter, you take the front”. Gage said seeing Baxter was on the side of the group and Baxter went ahead pointing his gun forward and moving forward.

  Laura was now consoling Elise as Kenny kept close to them and had to push and force Elise to go forward as she struggled with her injured arm and thoughts of Grant. Nancy was directing them as Baxter kept firing when he encountered the dead things and Gage still provided the cover at the back. They finally reached section two and opened it up which was reached after going down a set of stairs and into a stairwell. Gage was further down the dark corridor firing and Nancy opened up the door with her key card and the group filed in “Gage, hurry up!” called out Nancy. Nancy then looked at Kenny who remained by the door as she said to him “Keep the door open for Gage as long as you can! It can’t be opened when it is closed without my key. Don’t let any of those things get into the car park”. Kenny nodded as Laura dragged Elise forward with Nancy in tow. This left Kenny by the door.

  After 10 seconds Kenny heard through the darkness Gage running as Kenny braced himself to close the door as soon as Gage reached him. Kenny was flashing his torch and Gage jumped towards him and then Kenny took a look back up the small stairwell and saw those dead things opening the door to head on towards them. Kenny closed the door as Gage said to him “There’s loads in there mate, we have to move on”. When the door was closed Gage and Kenny rushed along following Nancy and the others as the door behind them slammed shut, and within a few seconds they heard the door being banged by the dead things on the other side, and they moved up and along.

  Further down the corridor they passed a reception area and trailed it down the corridors, they were moving slowly as they finally reached the internal car park but they lastly had steps to climb. Gage turned to the girls “I will take her up, you lot check out behind us” Gage held Nancy in his arms and carried her up over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, she held tightly onto him and was telling him where to go as Baxter helped Laura and the rest move to the top floor. Elise was moving forward through her survival instinct. They went up slowly with their torches being the only light showing the way. At the top of the stairs Kenny was
the last to enter and they checked the scene. The car park was wide and massive, with inner lights on inside, the generator lights of the car park were on. Cherie said in relief “Thankfully”.

  Nancy was not kidding when she said she could guarantee vehicles and they saw how many there were, they saw buses and trucks and cars. The group trailed over and saw a massive 60 seated carrier bus “Is this going to be to big” shouted out Gage who eased down Nancy, but Nancy said “It’s the only one here which can hold us all”. We need one big enough to store equipment” Baxter lamented. “What equipment? The bus will handle all our back packs, what are you talking about” Cherie replied to him confused, and hectically Baxter replied “The equipment we will pick up on the way. Who knows what we will pick up, that bus might be too big to go into the countryside”.

  Cherie again was unsure how to respond to Baxter and what he was saying, in truth he was unsure himself what was coming out of his mouth, he was just panicking. Nancy then said aloud “I can’t drive the bus, does anyone think they can handle the bus?” Nancy was unable to drive it due to her leg being injured with the bullet but she did not think it was seriously damaged, yet she was unsure and played it safe as it was causing her much discomfort.

  Nobody said anything to Nancy outright but then Gage said “I might be able to”. “Do you have any experience?” demanded Nancy but Melissa shot back in desperation “Fuck experience, if he said he might be able to it is good enough for me” Melissa had fear all over her and then Nancy then shouted back at Melissa “No, we cannot fuck it Melissa, if we get stranded out there because he cannot handle the bus, we are done for”. So Nancy told him “You tell me now if you can definitely handle this, if not we find something else” Gage was not too confident as he said to her “I will find something else”.

  “We don’t even have the keys, even if we pick it the keys might not be on it” Laura screamed at them, and then she added “Where are the keys for any of these vehicles, we will have to check them all and hope one works” this must have been what Nancy said about being suitably operational Laura thought. Nancy sat on the floor and looked around then she said to Kenny “Kenny, over there, by that small light in the cabin, you should find keys inside there, just grab some and come back and click the buttons to find which key belongs to which vehicle”. Kenny followed where Nancy pointed and about 150 meters away was a small cabin with a light on inside. Kenny nodded and did as Nancy asked without a second thought.

  ” “Come on, we have to move” said a worried Elise. “Relax Elise those people cannot get down here, only those with the key card I have can get down. It was designed that way when they made this place a rescue station. There are more vehicles on other floors of the car park. Just go and have a look, we need a van that can take 20 people and enough storage for our equipment”. Nancy keeled over forward, massaging her leg which hurt her, she was in pain.

  Kenny went to the keys stand inside the cabin and began fiddling around taking as many keys as he could muster to carry. Gage went around looking for another vehicle as Laura, Elise and Melissa waited by the vehicles, using their weapons to scout around in case they were jumped. Elise was crying, she was sobbing and she exclaimed “I don’t believe he is dead” Elise was tear filled thinking about Grant, the state he was in. Nobody could do anything to comfort her, all Melissa said through her tears to Elise “I am so sorry” she tried to stop herself from crying did Melissa as she held her gun prowling around for any sign of a threat. Elise was recalling how brutally Grant was murdered and then Kenny reappeared from the cabin holding numerous keys, but he slipped over himself and fell on the floor near Nancy, he knocked his head on the floor as Nancy saw him holding it and she said “Your throat and now your head, what a bad day you are having Kenny”.

  Kenny could tell she was trying to find some kind of humour in their situation and Kenny caught onto this and replied mockingly “Still better than having a bullet in my leg” and Nancy could not help but laugh in fear as she said to him “No need to remind me”. Kenny quickly started picking up some of the keys he dropped and was clicking them hoping the electrical switch would ignite a vehicle nearby. Gage and Cherie could not find a decent enough vehicle and they returned and said so “There is nothing I can see. The vehicles are all too small”.

  “What do you mean too small, there are no jeeps or vans” stated Nancy. “Not big enough to take us all” responded Gage to Nancy’s question and then Kenny said “Why do we all need to go in the same vehicle we can find different cars” but this did not sit well with many around him. “We should stick together” Cherie said in response to him. “Safety in numbers, it’s served us well this far” answered Nancy in support but then Elise shouted at her with a scolding tone “Served us well so far! How can you say such a thing, Grant is fucking dead!” Nancy had no reply to her and then the group broke down into argument. Nancy was not trying to be insensitive but was just trying to get out of this car park intact.

  “Is there any hope for us” Laura cried out to herself. As Nancy said “Maybe we should try our chances in the bus, I can drive it”. Cherie replied harshly to Nancy by saying “Bullshit you can drive it, your leg is fucked Nancy. I am not going in that bus with you driving it with your leg like in that state”. Kenny then offered “I will drive it, how hard can it be” he said overlooking the bus even though he knew he was not use to it. Gage told him “Mate, I will have to go and see if there are keys in it first. I use to drive lorries for a living, I am sure I can handle a bus for fucks sake” said Gage as Kenny looked at the keys around him and said “Maybe it is one of these” the group all picked up the keys and tried them, clicking them. Melissa told them all in despair “You might be out of range of the cars the keys are for, for fucks sake”. Melissa picked up a key and clicked the button and most of the keys were electrical but they had no hits on vehicles nearby.

  “This is useless” muttered Elise. Gage then said “I can hotwire one”. Nancy then said “All of you pick up some of these keys and go around the parking lot, find one it connects to, we will have to find one soon”. Nancy then groaned as she held her leg, Elise was holding her arm which was bleeding and said “Those things could come out at us at anytime, hurry up”. Nancy reassured her by saying “I told you Elise, they won’t be down here. Only the key card has access”. The group argued amongst themselves again and Nancy just wished she had the ability to stand but then they went quiet as they heard a noise, the sound of a vehicle coming their way.

  “Oh fuck” shouted Laura as she held her weapon and everyone stopped their bickering and saw the vehicle come along the road of the underground car park towards them, they saw the lights on full beam “What the fuck is this” Gage said in anticipation as he pointed his weapon at the vehicle and all followed suit in pointing theirs, none sure what to expect. As it got closer they could see it was a very large camper van and the camper van reached them, and it stopped about 10 meters away from them, and then Baxter poked his head out of the driver’s window. He said “Look what I found”. The driver’s door opened and Baxter jumped out and said “The keys were in the glove compartment, I found it a couple of stories down, some luck right”.

  All had relief when they saw him. Nancy smiled thinking this was too good to be true. They were all amazed at Baxter who once more had proven himself to be beyond resourceful, he disappeared and none noticed when he did but when he reappeared he delivered the goods, just like he had done so in the university police station with the first floor clearance. His unpredictable and at times reckless behaviour giving them surprises. Baxter stared at them and moved across as he said “We have to move” this strength he had, they were all quiet before him, as their bickering problems and thoughts of what would have to be done to escape from the university receded. Baxter reached Nancy and put out his hand out and he offered to help her up, Nancy took hold of his hand and he grabbed her, she took hold of him and said “You are just full of surprises Baxter”. Baxter shyly nodded and then bega
n to move with Nancy towards the camper van.

  The rest of the group watched on, stunned at Baxter’s reappearance and as he held Nancy, he looked around at them and Nancy noticed they were motionless, she then shouted “Come on, let’s go!” Elise moved first eager to get on the camper van, those with back packs lifted them up and followed suit as Baxter moved with her. In the passenger section of the camper van, the door was opened by Elise who went inside as Baxter handed over Nancy who struggled to walk to Gage who helped her inside and Baxter went to the driver’s side. Baxter remained outside, adjusting his glasses as the group went inside. One by one they filtered within, as Baxter helped load them up. Laura took off her back pack and handed it to Gage who moved it inside. Then Laura came to Baxter, Baxter looked at her but Laura went within as she helped Melissa inside who was just relieved they had found a vehicle.

  Kenny stood near Baxter and said “Thanks mate” Kenny nervously went within as Baxter made sure all were inside and closed the door and then Baxter rushed to the driver’s seat and closed the door, he started up the vehicle and said “Don’t worry. I am use to driving things like this” he reversed the vehicle and then accidentally smashed the back of the camper van into a stationary car in a parking space. He added “I really am use to it!” he told them, due to their questionable looks at him. As Baxter began to finally drive away everyone settled into the back “We need to stop off and get some petrol, I saw a pump on the third floor, that’s where I got this from but I decided to come for you first. It is amazing this place has a petrol station in the underground car park” said Baxter.