“Guys, stay real close together through here. With everything going on, we need to keep our eyes open,” Bryce said to the little convoy.
As they approached the far end of town, where the two highways converged, they drove by the gun store. Bryce, in the lead vehicle, noticed it at first, but none of the other drivers saw it, apparently. There were people streaming out of the gun store like it was on fire, and since it was clearly intact, something else must have happened. Just as this thought seeped into Bryce’s mind, three masked men ran out of the gun store and each of them carried a duffel bag. The masked men wasted no time at all and jumped into the bed of a nearby idling pickup truck. The pickup driver paid no attention to what was in front of him, because he was busy looking in his rear view mirror, and gunned the engine. The truck lurched forward, hopped the curb, flew into the street, and right into the rear fender of the Outlander right behind him.
“Holy shit!” Bryce yelled.
He immediately slammed on his brakes and jumped out of the car. Just as the men in the truck recovered from their jolt, they hopped out of the truck bed and began to train their rifles on the Outlander.
Five shots rang out like a bullwhip and broke the silence. The closest masked man took a bullet directly in the face, which totally shattered his mask and blew his brains all over the side of the white pickup truck. A second round caught him in the chest and knocked him down like a felled tree. The third round caught the second gunman in the shoulder and puts him on the ground, as well. The fourth and fifth shot went wide and hit the pickup truck as the third gunman took refuge.
After Bryce suppressed the gunmen with his .45, he dove into the Corolla, reached for his AK74 strap, and pulled the rifle out of the vehicle. He scooted back out of the car, dropped low to the ground, and brought the rifle up to his shoulder. During this move he charged the rifle, which slid a round into the chamber. He crouched and ran around the backside of his car and when he came around the corner of the vehicle, he squeezed the trigger and the rifle did not fire. In his haste to charge the rifle and get back into the action he had neglected to take the safety off. He disengaged the safety and brought the sights back into his vision. In that moment of indecision, the third gunman took the opportunity to raise his AR-15 above the truck bed and started shooting. Bryce dove for cover behind the Corolla as the shots rang out. The driver leapt out of the truck and tried to pull his wounded friend to safety behind the truck.
Bryce, laid on the ground, looked under his car and saw the rescue attempt unfold. Bryce wasted no time striking back, and he squeezed the trigger three times. The three shots hit the driver of the truck in the leg, and the downed man in the neck. Blood spurted into the air and splashed the driver as he in turn fell to rest next to his comrade.
Shots ricocheted off the pavement as the last surviving truck bed gunman tried to save the driver.
Bryce took cover behind a tire, and waited for the shots to stop. Out of the blue came a higher pitched gunshot.
It was Victoria’s little Ruger. Bryce heard one, two, three, and four shots. Suddenly, the AR-15 was silenced. Bryce took a quick peek over the trunk and saw that the last gunman was down, and hung over the side of the truck. Blood ran down his face in rivulets and splattered on the ground. Bryce quickly sprinted over to the Outlander and ran behind it to get a clear view of the backside of the pickup truck. Behind the last gunman stood Victoria, with a smoking Ruger in her hand.
Bryce ran over to her and saw that one of the little .380 rounds had found its place in the back of the man’s head. He ran around to the other side of the truck, where he found the driver in the middle of an attempt to scoot away on his ass, followed by a trail of blood.
When the last surviving gunman saw Bryce come around the corner, he weakly raised a .38 special. Bryce raised his AK-74 and shot the man in the chest four times, which effectively ended the gun shop robbery.
After an eternity to Bryce, their hearing started to return. Victoria walked over to Bryce and looked at him. She still held her Ruger in her hand, though she shook visibly.
“You okay?” Bryce asked her.
“I’m fine, I needed to protect you and Trystan,” she replied.
Bryce admired the strength in his wife. He had no idea that she had it in her to end a man’s life in defense of her family. He was absolutely proud of his wife, but also fearful for the emotional backlash it may cause her. Unfortunately, now was not the time to deal with these emotions. He compartmentalized the brutal killing of four more people in one day, and continued on with what needed to be done.
This time as Bryce holstered his sidearm, he noticed that there was no tremble in his hand like there had been from his first shootout today. It’s as if it only takes two shootings in one day, Bryce thought.
Greg finally got the courage to step out of his car and looked at the dead men who lay all around them. He looked at his “baby girl,” who had just killed a man, and then leaned over and started to dry heave.
Victoria didn’t skip a beat, “What do we do now?”
“We grab the bags they stole, their guns, and we get the fuck out of here,” Bryce replied.
He wasted no time at all, picked up the guns the dead men dropped, wiped the blood off with a rag and threw them in the back of his car. Then he grabbed the three duffel bags from the back of their pickup and, with a considerable effort, threw them in the back.
Bryce didn’t have to go inside the gun shop to know that the owners were most certainly dead, so he didn’t even bother with an attempt to give anyone inside the store assistance. He knew that they had to get out of there in a hurry, and right now his family needed him more.
To put an end to the awkward silence, they all got back into their cars and sped toward the hatchery.
Victoria called Bryce on his cell phone, instead of using the walkie-talkies, while they were driving. Bryce could hear Trystan in the background screaming, clearly shaken up from all the gunshots.
“What just happened back there, Bryce?” she asked him.
“What just happened was a perfect example of why we need to get out of town. Society is going to start cracking at the edges until the plague hits each individual town. When it does, all hell will break loose, and when that happens we need to be long gone,” he said calmly.
He let that sink in for a moment and then asked, “Are you okay with what just happened?”
She paused, and contemplated an answer, ”I think so.”
Bryce accepted that answer, “Well in any case, thanks for saving my ass back there.”
“I was just protecting my family, same as you were,” she told him. “I do have two questions though, why did you take their guns, and why did we leave?” she asked, “Shouldn’t we have waited for the cops to show up?”
“We don’t have time to sit and be interrogated by the police, those men were in the wrong and we stopped them. As for why I took their weapons, it was because nobody else needed them anymore and we do. I have a feeling things are going to be much different now.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hatchery Compound, Mogollon Rim, Arizona
The rest of the drive from Payson to the turn off for the hatchery went by quietly for thirty minutes until they arrived. They turned off the highway and drove up the winding road and parked in the parking lot. Bryce told everyone to wait by the cars while he checked out the area.
He left his rifle in the car, just in case some of the hatchery workers were still there, mainly because he didn’t want to freak anyone out. Regardless, Bryce had every intention of staying at the hatchery, whether someone was there or not.
Bryce walked up the trail through the many live tanks full of fish and headed toward the buildings in the compound. It looked like a ghost town compared to the same scene he saw just hours ago with workers milling about all across the hatchery. He checked in the visitor information center, and the building where they stored their equipment. Next, he checked the offices, but there was still nobody
to be found.
Lastly, he checked what he assumed to be the crew quarters, and when he popped open the door he found a gun pointed directly at his face.
“Who the hell are you, and why do you keep lurking around here!” yelled the beautiful blonde girl he saw before.
She stood in the doorframe holding a Colt 1911 .45ACP handgun. Bryce looked her over, and admired her aggressiveness. She could not be more than one hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet, but here she was, pointing her 1911 at him, finger on the trigger.
“I’m not looking to hurt you, miss, I’m just looking to get away from town for a little while,” Bryce said calmly.
“Well, why do you keep coming here and lurking around? I saw you here earlier today taking pictures of everything. You’re not some terrorist or something are you?” she asked, with the gun still on Bryce.
“No, miss; I am certainly not a terrorist. I am just looking to get my family out of the city to someplace off the beaten path,” Bryce explained.
She seemed to ponder on his words for a few seconds and then slowly lowered her gun.
“Well, why didn’t you say so then?” she replied.
"I think I just did," he said with a bit of a smirk. “Do you mind if my family comes up now? We would like to camp out for a little while to see if this virus blows over.”
“Normally, we don’t let anyone camp here, and we tell everyone to use the campgrounds down by the highway, but seeing as how it’s a mess out there right now and everyone else left the hatchery today, I suppose it’s okay,” she said.
Bryce released his grip on his .45 at the small of his back and extended his hand to introduce himself.
“My name’s Bryce Sloan,” he said.
“Jessica Owens,” she replied.
They swapped stories for a few minutes and talked about how they had gotten to this particular stage in life.
She briefly told Bryce how she was the maintenance person and caretaker for the hatchery. She was in charge of maintaining all of the vital machines and life systems that kept the fish healthy, and of course she handled every other aspect of the hatchery that was broken or needed attention. She had poured quite a few years into the place and she couldn’t abandon it, even when all of her coworkers had left this afternoon after they heard about how the virus had entered Arizona.
After Jessica warmed up to Bryce, he decided to fetch his family. Bryce knew the woman was clearly not a threat to him or his family, and even though she carried a .45, he knew it was only for protection and not for aggression.
Back at the convoy, he told everyone about Jessica and that she didn’t care if they camped out for a few days. They started unloading their camping gear and only enough food for the immediate future. Bryce didn’t want to notify Jessica of their true intentions.
After a few hours, everything was all set up in a small grassy area, which was clear of snow next to the hatchery.
Jessica came out of the little house to see what was going on at the ramshackle village next door. She casually strolled across the asphalt and addressed only Bryce initially.
“It looks like you guys are moving in over here,” she laughed.
“Well, hopefully not, it’s too damn cold to live out here,” Bryce replied.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to the rest of the family?” she asked.
“Sure thing. This is my wife, Victoria, and my son, Trystan,” Bryce said pointing to his family. “That’s Greg and Cindy, my in-laws.”
“Nice to meet you all,” said Jessica.
Everyone said “hello” in chorus, and Trystan said, “Hiyah.”
“If you all want to come inside and warm up, I was just about to cook up some dinner,” she said to the group.
The whole group looked to Bryce to see his reaction. He stopped to think about it for just a second, but did not want to hesitate too long.
“Sure, we could use some warm food, and a break from this cold, I think,” he replied.
Bryce and the rest of the group entered the crew quarters where Jessica lived. She gave them a quick tour of the house and they all found that it was surprisingly comfy inside. There was a large kitchen with a table that seated eight. Off the kitchen was a massive entertainment area with a fireplace, a large TV, and a game table. There were two sets of bathrooms, his and hers, and four bedrooms, each with a set of bunks. In each bedroom, there were personal effects from the rest of the crew members who worked here year-round.
Jessica explained that the other crew members had gone back to the valley to either make sure their families were safe or to catch flights to various parts of the country. Jessica had no family to speak of, and the hatchery had become her life. She chose to stay behind and make sure its essential functions continued.
After the fifty-cent tour, Jessica brought them all back to the kitchen where she got to work making a sizeable pot of chili.
While they waited for dinner to finish, they all bantered back and forth. They talked about the virus, what they thought might happen, and why Bryce had chosen to come here. He explained to Jessica that he wanted to be far away from civilization if the infection made it as far north as Payson.
Eventually, the chili was finished and they all filled their bellies with warm food. It was well enjoyed after the long day they all shared.
After they finished dinner, Jessica turned on the big TV in the living room area. No matter what channel she put it on, there was an emergency broadcast that played over and over. The transmission repeated:
“Emergency Alert: Please be advised, as of this time, the greater Phoenix metropolitan area is being evacuated. Please proceed in an orderly fashion to the rendezvous point in Tucson, Arizona where each civilian will be tested for the illness. To all military, law enforcement, fire fighter, or local militia member, please proceed to checkpoint Alpha fifteen miles north of Tucson. We need every able-bodied man and woman to hold off the infected population and ensure a safe passage for the non-infected population. End transmission.”
Everyone looked around the room at each other’s faces, and they were all wearing the same look of horror. This virus outbreak had spun out of control quickly and they had made it out just in the nick of time.
Unfortunately, not everyone had the same foresight as Bryce to leave town early.
Chapter Seventeen
North of Tucson, Arizona
Trevor Steele was a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. His unit had been called to Tucson to defend it against the infected and setup a quarantine zone. The “scientist types,” as Trevor affectionately called them, had been screening the incoming people for over three hours now and so far everything had been fine. The infected were rounded up and corralled into large quarantine zones where they had been locked down and heavily guarded.
The uninfected people were rounded up into large FEMA camps at the two University of Arizona stadiums inside the center of Tucson. One of the stadiums was air-conditioned and was set up with tents and cots. People were given water and food, and they were told to wait it out. The other stadium, a football stadium, was largely being used as a military staging operation and secondary screening area before letting people go into the enclosed arena across the street.
Everything had been going fine for hours now, and Trevor hadn’t seen a lick of action, which he was more than comfortable with.
Trevor’s military career had been pretty bland up until the Outbreak. His unit had been slated to go to Iraq, but was rescheduled due to a technicality. Since had only been active for the time it took to go through boot camp and Officer Candidate School, he hadn’t had another opportunity to see any action. Last week, he had been told that the kinks had been worked out and he was going to be shipped off to Iraq, as originally scheduled. They were geared up to go overseas when he got a recall order from his captain. Trevor was told limited information, but they told him that there was some sort of viral outbreak and the military was on high al
ert. His unit was to remain at Fort Huachuca in a high level of readiness in anticipation to be called upon in defense of the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area.
That order had came one day ago. Trevor and his unit had been called to set up a checkpoint at the convergence of Interstate 8 and Interstate 10, south of Casa Grande, Arizona.
Interstate 8 ran directly into San Diego, and the Army leaders were worried that it would be a direct route of infected people coming into Arizona. The checkpoint was there to keep any possible infected people away from Tucson, which was sixty miles south, and the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area, which was only forty miles north.
Later, they would learn that the six-hour drive from San Diego was far too long of an incubation time for the virus. People would succumb to the virus long before they made the journey by car.
What happened instead was that the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area fell by plane. Hundreds of emergency landings from the west coast landed in Phoenix due to infected taking over the planes. The crews on the ground had tried to stop the infected and quarantine them, but first responders had failed to fire on “innocent civilians” in far too many cases, just like the first responders before them.
By the time they figured out that the people on the planes were already goners, the police and hazmat teams had already let the virus spread into the sixth largest city in the country.
Trevor received word of the outbreak in Phoenix after they had already seen the stream of people flooding south from Phoenix. People had grabbed whatever they could get their hands on and jumped into their vehicles. The distance from Phoenix to Trevor’s current location was only a thirty-minute drive by normal standards, but during the mad dash out of the city it turned into hours.
When the government declared that the Phoenix Metropolitan area had to be evacuated to Tucson, Trevor knew all hell was about to break loose. His suspicions were turned into reality when the military had been given a shoot to kill directive on any confirmed infected.
The Extinction Pandemic: A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Hatchery Compound Book 1) Page 7
