The Azrael (Book 3): Alpha Zulu

by Jesse Gagnon

  “It’s his head…” A right hook from Steele connected on Chris’ left cheek sending his head to the right while dazing him. He staggered while trying to keep his balance. He shook his head and blinked numerous times in attempts to clear his vision.

  “Nobody asked you shit. Shut yo’ ass up.” Steele instructed.

  “Ooh, he took it like a beast.” One of the men antagonized the situation.

  “Get that nigga out the car.” He instructed again. They hauled Mario out and tossed him onto the street. “He’s probably faking it. Wake up bitch ass.” Steele kicked Mario in his side. He groaned but didn’t attempt to get up.

  “Come on man. His head’s fucked up. That’s why we were coming through here. He’s been through a traumatic head injury.” Chris attempted to stop the assault without any regard to his own safety.

  “Didn’t I tell yo ass to shut the fuck up?” Steele turned to Chris and cracked his knuckles and his neck by cocking it to the side. He bit his lower lip and shook his head. Chris raised his hands up again.

  “Come on man. Just leave him alone. Hit me again if you want to, just leave my friend alone.” Chris attempted to redirect their attention on him. He knew that he could take another punch by Steele. He hit hard, but it wasn’t any harder than how his older brother Jared hit him. His older brother fought in the streets often as he earned the respect of the local gangs. Jared sparred with Chris, two years his junior, to try to toughen him up. Chris didn’t plan on living his life in the same neighborhood and joined the service when he graduated high school. While three years in he found out that Jared was shot and killed by some punk that he fought the day before.

  “Is this guy serious?” Steele laughed and turned to his boys.

  “Nigga thinks you hit like a bitch, Steele?” One of the men said trying to entice a fight.

  “Well, I can’t have that now can I white boy. You challenging me?” Steele looked at Chris wild eyed.

  “Just trying to keep my friend here safe. That’s all Mr. Steele.” Chris tried to calm the situation.

  “That’s Captain Steele mothafucka.” Steele gestured to his rank insignia on his uniform. Chris bit his lip to avoid laughing at this clown claiming his staff sergeant ranked uniform meant captain.

  “Yes, sir.” Chris corrected.

  Steel looked over at John. His men were still beating the dog shit out of him. He shook his head.

  “All right I think we’re done here. There’s the fucking road.” He gestured to a pathway that led to another street to the east. “I’m not stopping you from walking. You just had to pay your respects when rolling through my streets.” Steele backed up, put his hands up and shrugged. “We’re not murderers. Just tryin’ to live.” Steele continued, turned around and walked away while shaking his head. He snapped his fingers and the five men that were beating John finished their assault. They snuck in a few more punches to his gut and the side of the face before they turned to follow Captain Steele. What on earth did John say to them, Chris thought.

  “Ya had enough? You ain’t shit. Hit like a little bitch.” John taunted the men as he brought himself to his feet. Chris had his answer. John, always a shit talker. Chris ran over and noticed John’s eyes were about swollen shut.

  “John…John are you okay?” Chris asked.

  “Uh, huh. I’m just peachy.” Blood spat out as he spoke. “Where’s Savanna? Savanna, Babe where you at?” He continued and searched for her.

  “They took her John.”

  “They what?” John hurried to the car and scanned the floorboard for his gun. It was gone.

  “She shot one and kneed another in the nuts. Their leader knocked her out before she did anything else. They brought her to those trucks over there.” Chris pointed to a large gathering of recreational vehicles and pickup trucks surrounded by a large group of men.

  “And you let them? You fucking let them take Savanna? You pussy!” John tackled Chris to the street and began to punch him in his side.

  “There were…shit…too many.” Chris struggled to get free as a few punches brought the wind out of him.

  “Who cares you should have fought. She fought, I fought, hell Mario would have fought if he wasn’t out cold. You fucking pussy!” John continued his assault while adding a few elbows to Chris’ forearms as he shielded his head from Johns punches. John definitely hit harder than Steele.

  “We can…” Chris paused to catch his breath after a shot to the gut caused food to come up his throat. “…get her back John.” Chris finished and turned to vomit.

  “We can what?” He asked and paused his beating on Chris. “How?” John added.

  Chris rolled onto his knees and leaned forward still spitting the remainder of puke from his mouth. He broke a strand of spit that stretched to the street beneath him with his right sleeve and glanced into John’s eyes. His eyes were watering from the recent vomit session.

  “Beneath the truck, where the spare tire goes I got my rifle.” He sat up and rubbed at his side. “See those buildings over there?” Chris pointed to an apartment building that overlooked the entire area. They’re not going anywhere. This is their home, the streets.” Chris suggested as they both stood to their feet.

  “We need to act now before they do anything to her.” John insisted.

  “We do this now.” Chris agreed. He walked over to Mario and tried to lay him in a more comfortable position.

  “What about Mario?” John asked while squinting to see Mario’s condition. His field of vision was fucked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “He’s not safe out here.” John attempted to search around for Azrael.

  “We got to take him to the apartment. I guess I can set up on the roof and survey the area.”

  “Shit wait! How close are we to Douglas Park?” John remembered the name of the last street they were on.

  “Two miles up ahead. Maybe closer, why?”

  “I can get some help. But I have to go there alone. Can you stay here with Mario?” John asked.

  “Are you sure?” Chris asked wondering what John had in mind. However, he knew that John knew this area much better than he did.

  “I don’t know. I just don’t think we can pull this off with Mario like this.” John shook his head at Mario. “Just point me in the right direction and I’m heading out.” John looked back up at Chris with concern.

  “Over there.” Chris aimed two fingers towards an alley that led to a larger street. “Hey man, be careful. There’s still Azrael out there.” Chris added. John winced at Chris’ hand due to his eyes swelling more and turned to where he pointed.

  “I know. I’ll be back soon.” John began to jog towards Douglas Park. Would they help him? They would definitely help Mario. It’s time to call in a favor. Five minutes into the jog John realized that he didn’t have a weapon. This is for Savanna. It doesn’t matter; he enforced his decision and picked up his speed while keeping an eye out for Azrael. He doused his body in the masking agent as he ran just in case.

  “Don’t worry Babe, your fly is coming.” John muttered.

  CHAPTER 28: THE GAS STATION STORE

  Giselle and Toko were making good time to reach the safe house by nightfall. Toko’s injuries were all but a memory and their bellies quickly needed more calories. They burned a considerable amount on their jog for the past six hours. They expended an excess running from a herd of eighteen led by the biggest Azrael Toko and Giselle had ever seen. The entire herd seemed well fed and matured as Azrael which added to their size and hunting prowess. One individual amongst the herd actually appeared familiar to Giselle. After thinking about it for an hour she finally figured out who it was. Sammy Wise, a Highwayman from the southern safe house district, was known for his edgy haircuts and exquisitely designed beard trimming. He swore that he was in the band ‘Crose Feet’. However, after research done by Jason, it was proved that he was, in fact, lying about the whole thing. The same rock-star look decorated that one Azrael along with a leather br
acelet with metal spikes on it. Now he’s travelling with his own band. Toko managed to slow them when they happened upon a construction site nearby. He grabbed a box of nails and tossed them behind them. They slowed a bit but powered through the pain and discomfort of it initially. It wasn’t until the healing process pushed the nails out, followed by their feet stepping again reseating the nail, did it actually cause them to slow and stop their pursuit.

  “We’ve got to eat something. I’m starving.” Giselle suggested.

  “We can make it before nightfall.” Toko persisted.

  “No, you don’t get it. I’m hungry now Toko.”

  “I guess your metabolism works much harder than mine.”

  “Whatever, let’s take a quick break. We can get running again once we’re done eating.”

  “Okay, Miss Giselle.” Toko conceded and they slowed to a brisk walk.

  “Over there! “ Giselle pointed to a gas station overgrown by vegetation. “They might have some snacks in there still. The windows aren’t busted out.” She continued.

  “We can check it out.” Toko removed his backpack from his back and rummaged through looking for anything edible. He found a pop tart crushed still in the wrapper and an old 12 ounce can of beer. “Guess I could use a bit more rations myself.” He admitted to himself.

  “I wouldn’t drink that crap. Just dehydrate you.” Giselle suggested.

  “Hai, however, the yeast and bacteria within the alcohol provide great nutrition for the virus.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Hai, it was discovered that, with moderation, of course, the bacteria in beer acted as high calorie boosts to the enzymes within the Azrael cells while the yeast amplifies the production of antibodies within B Cells which further increase the cells survivability.”

  “That sounds like a fun study group to be a part of.”

  “It was a good time.” Toko wore a big smile.

  “You did that study?”

  “Hai, I was pretty drunk a few times. Also, the side effect is that it took far fewer beers to get you drunk, oversaturating the virus cells with yeast. It then released the alcohol throughout the body while completely bypassing the kidneys.”

  “Sounds like a party to me.”

  “It was.” Toko joined Giselle at the window.

  She was searching inside the gas station store with her face pressed against the window. Nothing inside had been looted and all of the glass was intact. It sent alarms in Giselle’s mind, but she disregarded them as usual and pushed the door open. A bell rang proclaiming her presence within the store. Toko was not far behind adding the second bell to the ambiance of the place.

  “Hello?” She spoke and listened intently. The hum of a generator quietly vibrated the glass on the freezer doors. The smell of strong cleaning chemicals inundated the air. Dabs of blood on some of the items on the shelf revealed that someone or something was injured in there and it was recent.

  “What do you want?” A male voice exited the P.A. system.

  “Just looking for a few snacks, then we’ll be on our way.” Giselle responded.

  “Put back what you stole ma’am and we won’t kill you.” The voice returned. It appeared that they were being monitored by infrared cameras. The store was dark inside, however, Giselle and Toko could see just fine in the dark. She noticed the camera panning to follow her and heard the motor moving.

  “Listen, mister, I really need to eat something right now. If I don’t I’ll get very angry.” Giselle retorted.

  “And you don’t want that.” Toko added.

  “Are you threatening me? You hear that Ralph, she’s threatening me.” The man laughed.

  “Just let us have a few things then we’ll be on our way. No harm no foul.” Again Giselle tried to keep it peaceful.

  “What if I let everyone that walked in here take what they wanted? Then I’d be left with nothin’.” The man retorted.

  “I’m not like everyone else Stanley.” Giselle responded.

  “Wha… what you say? I never said my name.” The man sounded dumbfounded.

  “You didn’t. I heard your friend Ralph whisper it to you.” Giselle answered.

  “You ain’t heard nothin’ young lady. Put what you stole back on the shelf and I won’t shoot ya. I will do it.” The man admitted with a smug laugh.

  “Suit yourself.” Giselle spoke and started walking towards a hidden room behind the soft drink dispenser. The camera followed her.

  “Wh… where you goin’?” How did…ugh…” The man’s voice was halted by Giselle beating the living shit out of him. Ralph just put his hands up as if she were holding a gun on him.

  “I ain’t done nothin’ to ya.” Ralph admitted.

  Giselle broke Stanley’s nose and blackened both of his eyes.

  “Don’t ever threaten a lady again.” She threatened as she left taking their weapons.

  “How are we gonna defend ourselves if the zombies come?” Ralph yelled out to her. The door rang twice as they walked out. Both of their pockets and bags were stocked with high calorie energy bars.

  “Wasn’t that a bit harsh?”

  “No, not at all. I didn’t kill them did I?”

  “You almost killed the one guy… Stanley.”

  “Almost, but I didn’t.” She turned to him while biting into an energy bar that she just unwrapped.

  “You could have at least left them their weapons.”

  “So they can…” Giselle took another bite and chewed for a few seconds. “…shoot the next person that walks in needing some help?” Her last words were a bit garbled due to the thick and sticky energy bar.

  “Well, what about the Azrael?”

  “Survival of the fittest.” She wore a wicked grin and took the last bite of the bar. She dropped the wrapper in the street. “If they want it bad enough, they’ll survive. Besides, I left them a kitchen knife on the counter as payment for what we took. Come on, we can eat while we run.” Giselle urged, unwrapped another energy bar and bit into it. She picked up her speed to a jog. Toko followed right behind her.

  CHAPTER 29: I FIGHT FOR HER

  John kept to the sidewalks of the streets heading straight for Douglas Park. His right eye was about swollen shut and his left was halfway obstructed. His vision was severely impaired. He was without a weapon and alone in the streets that could contain an Azrael around any corner. So far he’d been lucky. His right ear was still ringing from the shotgun stock that struck it earlier producing a steady ringing hum in his ear masking most sounds from the right. His condition couldn’t have been worse, so he thought.

  Due to his enormous blind spot radius, he managed to trip over a dead body that lain half on the sidewalk and half beneath the rear tires of a car. He tumbled and struck his left shoulder on a fire hydrant. He hit the ground and rolled into the street in agonizing pain. His left shoulder was knocked out of place once again and it brought constant pain down his left arm along with the shoulder pain. He rolled around releasing short bursts of groans as he tried to push back the pain. To his luck, beneath the car in the corpse’s hand was a Glock with a suppressor on it. He crawled towards it and pried it from its stiff hand. He popped out the magazine and noticed eight rounds still inside. He pulled the slide back and a round popped out.

  “That makes nine.” He said to himself, latched it, placed the extra round back in the magazine. He inserted it in the weapon and released the slide placing a round in the chamber once more. He unscrewed the suppressor to check its condition. It looked intact. Finally, a stroke of luck, unlike that of the half eaten, half crushed corpse that lay next to him.

  He sat up ignoring his injuries and continued down the sidewalk. Three blocks up the road a small herd of four were gathered around a recreational vehicle banging on the doors and shaking it violently. John didn’t have time to see what was going on. Hell, he could barely see anything. He needed to be quiet and sneak around the block using the alleyway. Unfortunately, the alley was dark as shit and smelled like
rot. He didn’t want to walk into the mouths of whatever was leaking that funk. His only choice was towards the Azrael group. He had nine bullets, impaired vision, hearing, and a jacked shoulder. Could he take them out? They appeared to be freshly turned, so their strength shouldn’t be too overpowering, he thought. They sniffed the area and he was found.

  The Alpha pushed the others out of the way and headed straight for him. Did the masking agent not work? He aimed his pistol at the Azrael. He waited for it to get closer. He couldn’t afford to miss. He had to use only one arm. He turned so his left eye was aiming down the sights and held the weapon firm. Once it was roughly twenty yards away he gently squeezed the trigger and its head snapped back from the shot to its forehead. He felt the vibration of the gun discharging in his shoulder and it throbbed from it. The other three were about on its heels. He controlled his breathing and shot twice, slowing the lead. He then shattered its eye socket with a kill shot. The other two were only ten feet away. He didn’t have time to calibrate his shots. There were five more rounds left and he emptied the pistol at the two hoping that he would stop them both. His gun clicked and the slide locked to the rear. He was out. Fortunately, all of them were on the ground. Only one of them still moved. It had a hole through the center of its neck just below the jaw. It struggled to breathe and was making gurgling noises as blood poured out of its neck and into its throat. It was on all fours hacking up blood while straining to draw in air.

  John walked over to it and punched it across its left cheek sending it to the ground. It looked up at him and attempted to bite him. John sent another devastating right hook sending a tooth out of its mouth while dazing it. It hissed and gargled blood while grabbing John’s left shoulder. It lunged at him sending him backwards knocking John on his back and somehow managed to pop his shoulder back in place. He shoved the pistol in its mouth to keep it from biting him. It placed its palm on his face and pressed in as hard as it could. John was struggling to breathe and felt the cartilage in his nose moving out of place. Suddenly the Azrael fell limp. Blood dripped on John’s face from the neck wound as more poured out from the top of its skull coating Jon’s entire face in a red liquid mask. He tossed the Azrael off of him and brought himself to his feet. He was blinded by the blood and wiped it off of his eyebrows. Another figure stood in front of him. John backed up and brought his hands up in defense. Maybe more arrived due to the sound of the scuffle. He was ready to meet his maker.