90
Doctor Bachman
Inside an elevator
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
The elevator stopped one floor down. Bachman kept hold of the switch stopping the door from opening. He was sweating inside the suit, and not just from the heat, but due to worrying about what will be on the other side of the doors.
Embedded in the wall, in its own little alcove was a small fire extinguisher. It was half the size of a standard one, but better than nothing. In fact, it is easier to hold. It wasn’t much, but the metal would provide a stronger punch than his hand inside the thick rubber glove. And if he held the rubber nozzle, he could swing it like a club, giving it more of a punch.
So there he stood, in an inflated bright orange, hazmat suit, holding a small fire extinguisher. He pressed the button. The doors swished open.
Bachman had his finger ready on the close button while he scanned the new surroundings.
It was a corridor. There were doors to either side. Some were closed. Some were wide open. There were no bodies in the hallway, only dropped sheets of paper and some magnolia files. There was also no black tentacle like roots worming out of the doors into the hallway.
No pods or bodies. Being closer to the surface they had more time to get away before the spores reached them.
He waited for a few minutes. Each time the elevator pinged and the door started closing; he pressed the open button.
Nothing. No sounds.
He half expected a spindly black leg to slowly appear from a doorway. But it didn’t.
After waiting for five minutes, and seeing nothing, not even any spores, Bachman tapped the metal of the extinguisher against the metal frame of the sliding doors.
If anything was going to rush out, he would prefer for it to be now, rather than when he was halfway to the closest door. The suits weren’t made for running – they were barely made for walking.
On the floor about a meter away was an office chair. Why it was out in the hallway was anyone’s guess. Bachman moved to it, righted it, and rolled it back to the elevator. He then put it between the doors and locked the wheels so it wouldn’t roll away when the doors first bumped against it. At least now if he had to run back he could shove the chair out of the way and slam his hand on the button, so he didn’t have to wait for the lift door to slide open. Or the very unlikely scenario where someone else called the lift away.
He picked his metal improvised weapon back up. Then slowly he started heading down the corridor.
He was aware of how heavy the empty air tank was on his back, and how it was now useless dead weight.
The only sound was his heavy breathing, and the rubbing of the suit, and the squishing sound of the warm fluid soaked in his sock.
He reached the first room. He glanced inside. It was a plain, boring office. Everything looked the same as when the occupant raced out when the sirens first started blaring. A table, with an oversized chair, possibly for an obese worker, some filing cabinets against one magnolia colored wall, which had a collection of frames on. There was a computer monitor tipped over on the desk, probably from when a large stomach hit the table in their rush to evacuate. A line of paperwork was scattered around the floor and out the door.
He quickly looked back to check the chair was still in place when he heard a soft ping and the door of the elevator swish back. It hit the fabric of the chair and reopened.
He also noticed a large sign by the elevator that took up most of one wall that he hadn’t noticed when he was stood right next to it. It looked like a map. He headed towards it.
It was a map. It showed the levels the elevator stopped at. This level was admin it stated in a large bubble with You Are Here! They were all underneath the communication center above, with the pod room at the bottom. To the right was the main bunker, with its large sections. To access Wonderland, he would have to go down to level nineteen and walk along a forty-foot tunnel that exited in the science block in the main Zone 1 area.
He contemplated going to Zone 1.
Would the pods move over to the main section of the bunker? If there’s only one way across, then the likelihood that some of them would have made it across was unlikely. Wouldn’t they just head straight for the surface, towards more people – more hosts?
He had no idea. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that they could move.
As he stood studying the map, he held the extinguisher in one hand, and with his other, he used a finger to follow his location on the map. When he stood contemplating his choices, he dropped his hand to his waist, and absentmindedly fiddled with the knob to his radio.
The radio on his harness buzzed to life. It made him almost jump out of his skin. He had forgotten he had turned the volume down when General Gordon was shouting at him.
Someone was broadcasting over the radio frequency. “Is anyone out there? Repeat. Is there anyone else alive in the bunker? For god sake someone, please answer me. We are trapped! We need help!”
91
Tierra, and everyone else
In the barn
Just outside New York City
Tierra sat wedged in one corner of the large barn, with Dante asleep held in her arms.
The smell of wet straw and musty animals was overpowering. Yet there were no animals in the barn, just their lingering odor.
She watched the two King brothers, with Troy’s help, reposition the truck so it was snug up against one section of stalls, so the jeep could park next to it. It enabled someone stood behind the .50 cal to see most of the barn, and the truck blocked the remaining.
Alex and Lindell wrapped Cody’s body in a sheet of plastic that was resting over an empty barrow. Then Alex used an old brush to scrub the blood from the floor. He used water from a large barrow of stagnant rainwater. They left the body in a small outbuilding. They would bury it in the morning.
Tierra was cold and hungry. Her son’s body gave off little heat, and they had no food or water.
What a day! So much death. So much loss. So much suffering.
She watched Naomi stamp around. She had never seen her so irate. In all the confusion and fighting she lost her backpack. The way she was going on anyone would think it contained gold bullion. She was completely illogical. She started searching the barn in case someone had hidden it somewhere.
Frank was over ministering to Jessica, who was still unconscious. Alex pushed some hay bails down from a loft section, and they fashioned her a bed. They all had a hay bail each to spread out and make into a kind of nest. It was the best they had available, and warmer than nothing. Alex had found some blankets, but they must be horse blankets, to toss over the animals backs to keep them warm, because they reeked of wet horse and mold.
Everyone was ignoring the four blankets, for the moment, but as the night got colder, they would probably fight over them.
Troy locked himself in the truck’s cab.
Bonnie sat by herself, hugging her legs, with her head hung forward, with her hair cascading down over her knees. She sat crying.
Everyone gave her space to mourn, mainly because they just didn’t want to get involved. They were all tired, hungry and pissed off at losing everything. This morning they had everything they needed. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep them alive.
We are dropping like flies; Tierra thought as she hugged her son harder, pulling him closer.
No one will take you away from me again. No one. I promise. She kissed his head. You are never leaving my side again. Anyone who so much as touches you, I will kill them; she thought as she kissed his ruffled hair again, then smoothed it down with a gentle, maternal stroke.
His shallow, rhythmic breathing was music to her ears.
It’s the best sound in this dying world – the sound of my content son.
“We are going to be fine,” she muttered to Dante. He stirred in his sleep, wiping a hand across his grimy face.
She watche
d as Alex and Lindell snuck out the gap in the door and checked around the perimeter, before securing the door for the night. There was only one main door. There was a loft hatch, where bails were dropped onto waiting trucks, but that was too high to reach from outside. The high door ledge gave the best view of the sloping hill and road, and inside the barn. They would take turns keeping watch tonight.
Terrance stood behind the .50 cal, alert, just until Lindell and Alex returned. With him behind the powerful weapon, if something did get in, it wouldn’t last very long. Once Alex and Lindell returned to state everything was clear and safe Terrance would take the first watch up on the loft ledge. There was a wooden ladder that he could use to slide down and land right next to the jeep.
Ten minutes later, Alex and Lindell returned. They stated the area was clear and quiet. However, they also had a plan.
Lindell stated the farmhouse up on the hill had lights on. He told Terrance to keep an eye on everyone while he and Alex snuck up to take a look. He pointed out they needed food and water. The house might have both. They had no choice. Lindell had a machine gun and Alex a hand gun, leaving the other automatic weapon with Terrance. They squeezed out the door and Terrance secured it after them. At a brisk jog, they headed toward the lights.
92
Captain Stitt
In a muddy field outside the barn
Just outside New York City
Stitt was covered in mud, and he was cold. But he ignored it all. His mindset was focused on the objective at hand – to kill them all. They ruined his town, his plan. Now most of his men were dead, and his dream was in flames and overrun with the infected.
He had sent his five remaining men out in a large circle that encompassed the barn. Their radios were set to a military close quarter’s frequency. The chance that those inside the barn had a radio that could pick up their signals was very remote. Stitt was willing to risk it.
Stitt and his men had covered their faces and necks, and rubbed the wet mud on their clothing. As they knelt in the furrows, they were invisible – perfectly camouflaged.
It was almost pitch dark. Early nights in January. The clouds were churning above, promising another downpour. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Tornado season in the state was between June and August, but over the last few years, they have been very unpredictable. It wasn’t unheard of to get a touchdown in January.
Stitt stared at the dark sky. In the distance, the large, dense, vertical Cumulonimbus clouds were stacking up on the horizon. A massive thunderstorm was approaching. The atmospheric instability could be felt – the air was buzzing with the buildup. The wind was also picking up, dropping the wind-chill.
Stitt checked his watch.
5:44 PM.
He told his men to lay in wait, in a large circle, roughly fifty meters from the barn. They were going to attack at 6:00 PM sharp. He wanted the people in the barn to settle down. He hoped they would be exhausted, and most would be asleep.
Then as he watched he saw two figures come out of the large barn door and start checking around the barn’s perimeter. They only stayed within meters of the wooden structure. His men were safe, way out. The two silhouettes then jogged over to the collection of outbuildings. Then they stopped and stared over toward the farmhouse.
Stitt already noticed the lights were on. After he had dispatched everyone in the barn, and taken their jeep back, and the large truck, he was going to head over and take anything of value from the farmhouse.
The two people vanished back inside the barn.
Time to settle and wait. Patience is the greatest of allies.
However, his prey didn’t see it the same way. The barn door opened again, and the same two dark shapes jogged off heading for the house on the hill.
Here was a prize opportunity. He could kill two people away from the others, leaving less to worry about later.
Stitt got on the radio, and ordered Finch and Tanner to follow them up the hill and dispatch them quietly.
*
What Stitt, Lindell, and Alex couldn’t see was the naked people running up the other side of the hill, who were also being drawn by the lights.
93
Doctor Bachman
In the elevator
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
Bachman listened to the voice for a minute. He wasn’t sure why he waited so long.
“Please, we can hear someone breathing. We know someone’s out there! Please help us!”
Shit!
Bachman didn’t realize that even though he had turned his radio volume down that they could still hear him. He wondered how long they had been pleading for his help?
“Who is this?” Bachman simply asked in a brisk voice. He hoped he sounded like someone of authority.
“Oh, thank god, there is someone out there. We thought we were all that was left. It’s so good to hear another voice,” a male stated. The voice sounded strained and at the point of breaking. “We knew it was breathing, not static.”
“I repeat, who is this?”
“Sorry, I got carried away. This is lab assistant Peter Bunlow. I-I was in a clean room, checking on a batch of petri dishes when all hell broke loose. I-I watched through the thick glass as black spores poured through the ventilation system. I’m still in the clean room. It’s where I work all day, hours at a time.” He took a second to breathe. He was talking way too fast. It sounded like he was about to hyperventilate.
“You said we?”
“Sorry, yes. I’m here with lab assistant Emma Penburthy. She was helping me with trays nine through fourteen. We watched them all die, and then their chests expanded and exploded. It was horrific. And then–”
“Calm down Peter. Just tell me what level you’re on?”
“Yes, yes of course, we’re on level thirty-six.” His breathing was calming down now he knew they weren’t alone.
“You said you are with someone called Emma?”
As he talked, Bachman checked the map one last time then reentered the elevator. He pressed the button for level thirty-six.
“Yes, she’s here with me now.”
“Why isn’t she talking? Hasn’t she got a radio?”
“Yes, yes, she has a radio; it’s just she fainted when all the people started exploding. She’s awake now, but the fall must have damaged her microphone. She can hear us; it’s just we can’t hear her.” He paused. “She is showing me the thumbs-up sign to say she hears us.”
“I’m in the elevator, making my way down to you now. I should be on level thirty-six within minutes.”
“That’s not a good idea,” he stated. “I know; I know I’m about to tell him, stop waving your arms around. I can see them just as well as you can.”
“Can see what, Peter?”
“I don’t know what to call them? They are strange, black egg shaped pod thingies, and they are wandering about the level. There are three of them. They walk on spider-like legs. They are spinning us out man!”
“What are they doing?”
The elevator was three levels away and closing.
“They seem to be herding the people towards the stairs.”
“People? What do you mean people, you said everyone was dead?”
“They are; I mean, were. After the chest exploded black roots grew out, covering everything around them, along with a tall pod type thing that grew straight up. Then small growth started growing, emitting more spores. Then…” He stopped.
“Well, then what?”
The elevator had just stopped on level thirty-six. Bachman kept his finger on the close button.
“Well, then the bodies got up!”
“Up! What do you mean up? They are fucking dead?”
“That’s the thing; They’re not! The long root’s kind of separated from everything around them and, well, it’s hard to explain.”
“TRY!” Bachman shouted; he needed to know what was on the other side of the doors.
“Well, they have human legs, and some even have other bits of the lower half of the body. I can even see one with an arm intact. The legs are dragged along.”
“Along! How?”
“The tall pod split open, and they had legs inside! Then they kinda, well, they are walking around. They are propelled by the legs and roots that are used to move them about, like a deformed black octopus!
“It’s pretty fucked-up man!”
94
Emma Penburthy
In a clean room on level 36
The underground bunker
Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania
It was all madness, complete madness. Emma couldn’t believe what has happened. It seemed like a nightmare, one that keeps getting worse.
Emma only had low level clearance and was a simple lab assistant. Level 36 was the only section she had access to, apart from the small room she called home and the cafeteria. She had worked in the mountain bunker for only four months, during her gap year at university. Most of her friends traveled, but she had to work to pay off her bills, to take the burden off her parent’s shoulders. They wanted their daughter to have a career. Her mother cleaned rooms at a local motel, and her father worked nights at Wal-Mart. They wanted her to have options.
When the shit hit the fan and the world turned upside down, she was offered a place at the bunker, as a working civilian. Her parents and two brothers were not offered a place of sanctuary. At first, just like everyone else, she thought it would blow over like all the other supposed world pandemics that were forgotten about in a week. She had not heard from her family in over three weeks. She had no idea what was happening in the outside world.
Then it got weird when some of the work pods were converted to hold people. Then she saw an infected for the first time. They were naked and full of rage. Their face was deformed and ugly, with a wide mouth and stretched neck.
The Sixth Extinction: America (Omnibus Edition | Books 1 – 8) Page 24
