"I know. That's why I need you guys to cover me," the biker replied. "You al up for it?"
"Uh, of course we'll cover you," Samantha started, uncertainty in her tone. This plan was too risky.
"But – "
"No time for buts, unless you want to be carpet-bombed back to the stone age," he shot back, lifting the Colt M4 and getting ready to run. "You al need to make sure that nothing gets in my way, and
keep them off the van once I get in. I'll bring it back around – "
"Jacob," Markus cut in.
"What?!" he hissed irritably.
"Be careful."
After a moment, the burly man nodded in acknowledgement before turning back toward the van. It
was only ten to fifteen metres or so, but to him, it looked like a hundred.
Corvo stole a glance at his watch to see that it was nearing five-fifty a.m. He was glad he had taken the opportunity to synch his watch with Captain Wil iams'. At least now his group had an accurate
measure of how much time they had left.
The old man set his stopwatch and then nodded silently at Samantha. She rose and drew a bead on
the head of the nearest infected man with her Winchester rifle.
The stopwatch ran down the time:
12:30
12:29
12:28
"Go."
The gunshot from Samantha's rifle shattered the stil ness of the air.
The rest of the survivors stood up and immediately opened fire, their weapons clattering in their
hands as they cut a swath through the crowd toward the van. Coarse growls echoed across the
runway as the Infected noticed and swarmed toward them.
10:57
10:56
10:55
"Suck on this, you zombie bastards!" Jacob yel ed, throwing Corvo's last pipe-bomb out into the fray.
Many of the Common Infected nearby immediately lost interest in them and ran after the blinking
device, blissful y unaware of what was about to happen to them. The combined fire from Samantha's
hunting rifle and Markus' M-16 took care of any stragglers left in the way.
Jacob took off like hound out of the stocks. Moments later, the pipe-bomb exploded, wiping out a
sizeable portion of the Infected in the immediate area.
09:40
09:39
09:38
"Shit, there's too many of 'em!" Markus shouted as he paused to reload his assault rifle. The lull in the covering fire was met with a fierce push from the Infected. Jacob was forced to stop momentarily,
lift the Colt M4 and blow away the tenacious attackers that came too close to him.
"Over there!" Corvo shouted, doing his best to ignore the pain that shot through his body as he
pointed toward an immense bulbous figure in the distance. "Shoot that fucker! It'll distract 'em!"
Samantha immediately swung her hunting rifle around and drew a bead on the Spitter.
Blood, guts and bile flew as the bulbous man exploded. Many of the Infected nearby paused, sniffed
the air, and then ran in the direction of the Spitter's remains, leaving the way clear for Jacob to run to
the van.
He wasted no time, and, seconds later, barrelled into the driver's seat. Extremely luckily for him, he found the keys already in the ignition.
"Wel ain't that just dandy," he muttered to himself, gunning the engine and throwing the van into
reverse gear, running over several attackers behind him.
07:20
07:19
07:18
"Yes, yes..." Samantha whispered as she saw the white van come roaring toward them. She slung
her hunting rifle back over her shoulder and whipped up her pistol, as she and Markus focused on
keeping the Infected around them at bay. "So far, so good..."
The words froze in her throat when a rumbling roar reverberated throughout the air, and a hulking
figure emerged from behind the flaming wreckage of the C-130 Hercules, obviously drawn in by al
the noise.
The Thug.
Oh, shit. They had to hurry.
"Jacob better make this quick!" Markus shouted between the thunder of his M-16.
The biker in question made sure to run over as many Infected between him and his team as possible
on the way back, to make sure that they would not cause problems for them. Eventual y, he skidded
to a stop in front of his friends.
"Come on, get in!" he yelled from the open driver's window.
06:50
06:49
06:48
Samantha threw open the back door and helped Corvo into one of the seats in the rear compartment
of the van, while Markus laid down a barrage a cover-fire from next to the vehicle. Bullets sparked
the runway and the Infected howled as they swarmed toward them.
What was even more frightening was the huge shadowy mass of muscle that was thundering toward
them from the crashed plane.
"Get in, you fuckin' black bastard!" Jacob shouted.
Markus complied and grabbed hold of a hand-bar overhead. There was no time for him to scramble
into the front passenger seat, or to even close the back doors of the van. "Just go!" he shouted.
Tyres squealed and rubber burned as the van took off, smashing through a group of Infected that
had assembled directly in front of it. The still-open back doors of the van swung wildly as it swerved
toward a road. Enraged shouts and screams were all around them. Samantha gripped her seat
tightly, while Corvo never took his eyes off the stopwatch.
06:00
05:59
05:58
"We gotta move fast!" he shouted, as the airport vehicle tore out of the airfield. "We need to get at least five k's out, or this van's gonna be toast when the airforce arrives!"
"Uh, we got a more immediate problem than that!" Markus cried nervously, looking through the
opening in the back of the van to see the Thug approaching rapidly from behind. "Man, this guy
is fast! "
One kilometre.
04:35
04:34
04:33
"Hold it steady, Jacob!" Markus yel ed from the back as he let go of the hand-bar and raised his M-
16. "I'm gonna try slow this asshole down!"
The burly biker grunted in affirmative as he raced down a highway away from the town. Were they
headed north? West? Who knew anymore?
Markus opened fire straight through the opening between the swinging rear doors, his rounds
sizzling through the air. Most of them missed, but several hit home, the bul ets tearing into the Thug's
flesh. Injured as it was, the beast stil ploughed on relentlessly. He was starting to think it was
hopeless, but, eventual y, the monster began to slow down.
Two kilometres.
03:20
03:19
03:18
Samantha's fingers dug into the cushion of her seat. She had never been an overly-religious person,
but she found herself praying.
Three kilmometres…
02:00
01:59
01:58
"Jesus, drive faster! " Corvo yelled.
"I've got the pedal to the fucking floor!" Jacob roared back.
The war veteran groaned as his body ached. He did not care what it took, but they were going to get
out of this alive.
They had to.
Four kilometres…
01:00
00:59
00:58
Jacob ground his teeth in as he glared through the windshield at the road in concentration. The van's
engine roared as it was gunned to the absolute limit.
Markus watched in fascination as the Thug stil continued to purs
ue them! However, it was starting to fal behind.
00:30
00:29
00:28
A sudden shrieking in the sky overhead caught everyone's attention.
"What was that?" Samantha shouted.
00:10
00:09
00:08
The biker spared a glance up to see lights tearing through the sky, right overhead. He could just
make out the twin flames of what looked to be ten to fifteen jets, each one roaring as it shot
overhead.
00:02
00:01
00:00
The F-16 fighters approached the town of Newburg from the north, soaring toward the rise of
buildings at Mach 2. The city lay dark and silent beneath them.
Moments later, flashes and booms could be heard below as bombs began to rain down from above.
The city lit up like the fourth of July. Fires roared and buildings crumbled.
Angered shouts that fil ed the air were soon silenced as the flames consumed anything or anyone at
ground level.
Jacob tore the van down the highway, swerving to avoid wrecked cars littered across the road. He
could hear the explosions behind them. Were they far enough out?
Markus looked on in shock as explosions rocked the countryside behind them. The pursuing Thug was caught in a wave of flame, and, shockingly, caught fire! Its rampage slowed considerably as the
flames ravaged its body.
"Haha! Watch that fucker burn!" Markus whooped, unable to tear his eyes away as the flaming mass
of Thug eventually col apsed to the ground in the distance.
The survivors sat in silence for a moment as the van continued north along the highway. Eventually,
Jacob and Markus laughed, euphoria fil ing them at the prospect of their narrow brush with death.
"I told you guys we'd make it!" he cried, reaching over and pul ing the back doors of the van finally shut. He then crawled up past Samantha and Corvo and col apsed into the front passenger seat,
where he exchanged a high-five with the driver.
Corvo just sank back into his seat and closed his eyes, the wrinkles on his face becoming more
pronounced as he smiled. It had been one hel of a ride.
As the others celebrated around her, Samantha sat in a stunned silence as she al owed the
horrifying situation to sink in. An entire city had been wiped out by the Infection, right before her very
eyes.
One city of many.
Countless dead. How many more would follow?
The blood-splattered white van roared north along the highway to nowhere in particular.
Behind it, the sky flashed as the bombs fel and the city of Newburg burned.
Document Outline
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Damned Are We Page 36
