by Crae, Edward
“I don’t have any family,” the other prisoner said. “I’m Gabe, by the way.”
Dan shook his hand. “Good to meet you, Gabe,” he said. “Do what you need to do. I gotta find my friends.”
“I’ll come with you. I might be able to help you find Drew.”
“Good. Let’s go, and keep watch behind us.”
They crept through the hall, heading toward a long corridor with dozens of doors on either side. The university signs had been covered with makeshift Gephardt signs, indicating the bizarre purposes of each former classroom. There were conditioning rooms, observation rooms, and finally, interrogation rooms.
Each interrogation room had a windowless door that was secured with a hastily-installed deadbolt. There were six of them in all, three on each side of the hall. Dan stopped, wondering how to go about checking each room without making himself a target.
A gunshot suddenly rang out from the nearest room; then, a heavy impact against its door. Dan backed up against the wall, aiming his rifle at the door as the handle began jiggling frantically. His heart raced, and he could hear Gabe shifting nervously next to him.
Then, the door opened, and a familiar face poked through.
“Jake!” Dan whispered.
Jake’s round, friendly face smiled as he came out; a bloody mop handle gripped tightly in his hand.
“Dan!” Jake said. “I thought you were dead.”
“So did I,” Dan replied. “I’ll explain later. We gotta find Drew.”
“Hold on,” Jake said, returning to the interrogation room.
When he emerged, he carried the guard’s rifle and a small backpack. “Some shit I’ve been collecting,” he said as he swung it over his shoulder.
Dan removed his own pack, retrieving the Apocalypse Compendium. Jake’s eyes lit up as Dan handed it to him.
“Ah,” he said, happily. “You found it. This shit is irreplaceable, brutha.”
Dan clapped him on the shoulder. “Nah,” he said. “It’s just a book. Friends are irreplaceable.”
“That’s sweet, buddy,” Jake joked.
“Can we get the fuck outta here?” Gabe said.
Jake led them toward the classrooms, where most of the prisoners were held. Though there was chaos outside, none of the hallways or rooms showed any sign of mercs. They were likely busy fighting off the military invasion, and had simply forgotten to give a shit about their prisoners. Most of them were probably being herded outside, anyway.
“The last time I saw Drew,” Jake said, “he was down this way.”
Another blast shook the building, and the lights flickered out for good. They all crouched in the darkness, waiting for the chaos to cool down before moving on.
“That’s a bummer,” Jake said. “Light’s kinda good for lookin’ for shit.”
Though Dan couldn’t see much, the sounds of rioting and gunfire were growing louder the further they went down the hallway. Dan stopped periodically to look through his scope and get his bearings, signaling when it was clear. The going was slow, but they were obviously getting closer to the courtyard.
Soon, the shouts of soldiers sounded behind them, and the three men ducked into a classroom to hide. At least a dozen mercs passed by on their way to join the chaos, probably having been somewhere on the upper floors.
“Maybe we should follow them,” Jake said. “All far back like.”
Dan nodded. “Good idea,” he said.
They crept out of the room, silently following the group of mercs until the light of the outdoors began to fill the hallway ahead. They kept a good distance between them, carefully navigating the cluttered hall to avoid making too much noise. Soon, they reached the end of the line, and the row of glass doors that led to the courtyard came into view.
The mercs stopped just outside the doors, squatting behind the clutter as they viewed the firefight outside. Dan could see prisoners in the distance, dragging the bodies of mercs around; beating them and stomping into the dust. The group of mercs they followed moved forward, preparing to burst through the doors and lay the prisoners to waste.
“Shit,” Dan whispered. “They’re gonna charge.”
Jake and Gabe both raised their rifles. “Shall we?”
“Hold on,” Dan said, fishing around in his pocket.
He pulled out one of the grenades he had procured. Grinning as he held it up. “I brought some coconuts.”
Jake grinned. “After you,” he said.
Dan pulled the pin on the grenade holding the spoon down as he stood in a bowler’s position. He released the spoon, drawing his arm back, and rolled the grenade down the hall as hard as he could. Dan counted in his head as the grenade bounced toward its targets.
1… 2… 3… BOOM!
The explosion was deafening, nearly bursting their eardrums, but the screams of the mercs ahead told them the grenade had done its job. As the dust cleared, they saw the bodies of the mercs lying sprawled about, and the bare steel supports of what used to be the wall of glass doors.
“Holy fuck,” Gabe said. “That was loud.”
Dan nodded his approval. “Let’s go.”
They charged toward the open wall, spreading out to take cover and watch the rioting. Military personnel had broken through the fence and were laying down suppressing fire as the prisoners ran toward them to escape. Gephardt mercs were pouring through the opposite side, firing randomly into the crowd, dropping civilians left and right.
Dan fished out the other grenade, moving up to the wall to find a good place to hurl it. A small group of mercs was held down behind an overturned truck, firing over the top of it. One of them held a rocket launcher, and was crouched in wait. Dan set down the grenade, raising his rifle to get the rocket man in his sights.
He zeroed in on the merc’s head, hearing Jake whisper, “Drop that fucker.”
Dan held his breath and fired. The rocket man dropped like a sack of shit. Dan dropped the rifle and grabbed the grenade, pulling the pin and lobbing it toward the rest of the group. As he released, he saw a merc stare right in his direction and raise his own rifle.
Dan rolled out of the way just as a bullet impacted the cinder blocks behind him. He heard the grenade explode, and rolled back to assess the damage. He grinned as he saw the pile of burning bodies.
“Got ‘em,” he said.
The three men charged through the doors, taking cover behind a concrete table that had been knocked over. The prisoners continued to pour out of the surrounding buildings, sprinting and zigzagging as they raced toward their freedom. The mercs began to appear in the window above, firing down into the crowd. Military men returned their fire, and several of them came forward with rocket launchers.
In the distance, the rumbling sound of a tank brought a much needed sign of hope.
“I hope that’s the good guys,” Jake said.
“I think it is,” Gabe said. “It’s coming from behind the military guys. If it was Gephardt, they’d be turning around or running.
A giant boom sounded, and suddenly the wall of mercs exploded, sending chunks of rubble flying everywhere. The bodies of black clad mercs fell to the courtyard, and the civilians and soldiers cheered as the tank rolled up into view.
“There’s Drew!” Gabe shouted, pointing to a pile of overturned tables.
Dan switched off the IR, looking through the scope. Drew was there, crouched low between the tables, waiting for the opportunity to make a run for it. Dan aimed at the wooden table next to his head, firing a round.
He stood just as Drew looked up in shock, waving his arms in the air. Even from this distance, he could see Drew’s goofy grin. Dan squatted back down, looking around the side of the table as Drew stood into a creeping position.
“Lay down some cover,” he said.
“Fuck that!” Gabe replied.
“Right,” Jake said. “Let’s make a run for it and meet Drew outside. He knows we’re here.”
Dan considered the plan. If they and Drew stuck to the
walls on their way to the breach, they could probably make it. The soldiers would cover them if they saw them, as they were doing with the massive waves of prisoners that were now escaping. The only problem was the risk of losing sight of Drew along the way.
But, seeing the chaos that was going on, it seemed like the only way to go.
“Alright,” Dan said.
He pointed to the breach, seeing Drew nod. The three men stood, watching behind them as the tank continued to fire shells into the building. Suddenly, the glass doors along that wall burst, and a horde of Shamblers poured through.
“Holy shit!” Jake shouted. “Go!”
Dan jumped up, sprinting toward the breach. The soldiers there advanced, laying down suppressing fire as the last of the prisoners passed them. Dan looked back, seeing the endless horde rushing toward them like a wave of rabid dogs. They fell by the dozens as bullets ripped through them. Thankfully, Drew was still in sight.
Dan’s lungs burned and his heart pounded like crazy. Though Gabe was keeping up right behind him, he heard Jake struggle to breathe as he ran. He looked back, seeing Jake’s pained expression. The big man was determined to follow, though, and fired behind him as he ran.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
Behind the assembled troops, another horde appeared. They fell upon the soldiers, clawing and biting their way through.
“Fuck!” Dan shouted.
He fired ahead of him, carefully aiming to avoid shooting the soldiers. There was a gap between them and the side of the building, and Dan set his eyes on it, leading his friends right to it. Drew sidled up, narrowly avoiding the hording undead as he crossed in front of the fray.
“Dan!” he shouted. “I thought you were dead!”
Dan shook his head. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”
He pushed ahead of Drew, clearing their way with a burst of rounds. The soldiers around them shot and bashed at the horde, desperate to get the prisoners to safety. The advancing horde in the courtyard crashed into them, flinging their bodies into their ranks and tearing into them. Everything was a clusterfuck of chaos, and Dan’s vision began to blur as he panicked.
“Move!” he heard Jake shout.
The big guy’s hands firmly pushed him forward, guiding him through the battle. A Shambler leaped up from the body of a victim as he approached, rushing toward him with its maw gaping open. Dan double-tapped it in the chest and heard Jake finish it off as he passed. Dan dropped his magazine, slapping another one in and firing at another group that broke off and rushed them. The three men took them down quickly, keeping the unarmed Drew between them. Then, Dan heard a scream.
Gabe was grabbed from behind, and flung to the ground by the tentacles of a raging Stalker. The pale, white creature hissed as it crunched the poor man’s skull with its fangs, ripping his head apart with an enthusiastic gulp.
“Don’t look back,” he heard Jake shout. “Keep moving.”
They made their way through the rushing soldiers, avoiding the Shamblers that leaped out from between them. He heard Jake grunt and groan as he bashed the undead with the butt of his rifle, knocking them away like a mad ogre. Soon, they were around the front of the building, emerging onto Atwater, breathless and exhausted.
“The Hummer is in the parking garage a few blocks away,” Dan said through his quickened breath.
“Good,” Jake said. “I’m fuckin’ finished.”
Dan looked back at the building, feeling a slight twinge of pity for the soldiers and prisoners. Though he knew the military would make short work of the infected, they would suffer massive losses. But, he thought, they would die in the most noble way possible; protecting those that couldn’t protect themselves.
He would remember their sacrifice.
Chapter Thirteen
“Everything was still in the Hummer when I got away,” Dan said. “How long has it been, by the way?”
“A month, I think,” Drew said.
“Seems like a fucking year,” Jake added. “That was some nasty shit I had to do.”
“Man,” Drew said. “What happened to you? I thought the mercs got you too. I was glad that they didn’t, but I thought it was because you were dead.”
Dan thought about it a moment. “I think I would rather have died,” he said. “But I got away.”
“Got away from where?” Jake asked.
Dan stopped and sat down on a concrete planter. The battle was still going on in the distance, but he did his best to ignore it as he gathered his thoughts.
“The psycho that was following us was still alive,” he began. “He was… changed into something fucked up. It’s hard to explain, but he was kind of like a stalker, only he was still sentient. He could even speak.”
Drew sighed, shaking his head in confusion. “What the fuck, man? How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” Dan replied. “Something about him already being a sociopath. That’s how he explained it.”
“He explained things to you?” Jake asked.
Dan nodded. “Yeah. But I’m not sure if he was telling the truth. I mean, how the hell would he know anything? He was just a fucking psycho hillbilly.”
“What happened there at his place?” Drew asked.
“Tons of fucked up shit,” Dan said, staring off into oblivion. “It was indescribable. He was somehow able to capture the infected, and use them in little games. He held me captive and man, he fucked with me good.”
“Jesus, man,” Jake said, shaking his head. “But he’s dead now, right?”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “I killed him right around the corner. I’ll show you.”
Dan stood, beckoning them to follow. He briefly thought of mentioning how the shadows had helped him, but thought better of it. It would just sound crazy. Besides, he wasn’t entirely sure he had actually seen them. They were probably just a figment of his imagination.
Dan saw the crashed car in the middle of the street as they rounded the corner. He led his friends to it, ready to point out Robert’s body. But, as he rounded the front bumper, all that was left was a puddle of goo, greenish with black chunks. The remains had been devoured.
He hoped.
“Fuck,” he said. “He’s gone. Did it really happen?”
Drew clapped him on the back, giving him a little comfort. “It’s all over now, buddy,” he said.
“I can’t believe he followed you here,” Jake said. “That’s just fuckin’ creepy.”
Dan slung his rifle over his shoulder, staring at the puddle of goo. “Alright, let’s go. Fuck him.”
They walked down the middle of the street; casually and fearlessly. There was no need to sneak now, as the merc base was gone. Whether the military would escape with the prisoners or not, Gephardt was done for—at least here. There was no telling how many of them were out there among the living, killing or enslaving whoever was left.
Traitors to humanity.
“Where to?” Jake asked.
“Well,” Dan replied. “Wherever the wind takes us. The house is gone. The forest is gone. There’s nowhere to go but… wherever.”
“Sounds good,” Drew said. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“I went there once,” Jake joked. “I didn’t like the chicken.”
Dan chuckled, but noticed the pained look on Jake’s face. He didn’t bring it up, though. It was probably just Jake’s mind making sense of everything that he had just been through. They had all been through a lot, and none of it would be easily forgotten. Perhaps now was a good time to mention Vincent.
“I saw Vincent on the outside,” he said.
Drew shot him a look. “He made it out?”
“For a while,” Dan replied. “But he didn’t make it long. Our pal made sure of that.”
Drew swallowed hard. Dan knew that he, like himself, had liked Vincent. He was another lost soul just trying to survive—albeit a slightly less law-abiding one. But, who cares? He was a brother; their brother. And now he was gone. Though
Jake didn’t react, Dan knew he was at a loss as well. Jake had always acted indifferent, as if he hadn’t really liked Vincent, but Dan knew the truth.
“Rest in peace, brother,” Drew whispered sadly.
They came upon the blockage that went across 2nd street. It was a pile-up consisting of several cars and a firetruck. From here, they would have to take the alley nearby. Dan led them between two coffee shops, down a long alley with steel on either side; obviously the back end of several restaurants.
There were gates along the way, separating the different sections. They were easily passed, as most of them were either open or knocked down. Many of the steel doors were open, as well, and they all looked cautiously into them before proceeding. Then, the last gate they came upon was secured with a hefty padlock.
“Shit,” Dan said. “We’ll have to go over it or around through one of the doors.”
“I’m not climbing that,” Jake said, breathless.
“Can’t we just shoot the lock?” Drew said.
“That doesn’t really work,” Jake replied.
Dan handled the lock, noting its rugged and heavy craftsmanship. There was no shooting it open. It would probably repel a bullet and kill one of them.
“Alright,” Dan said. “Through this door, then.”
He went to the nearest steel door, jiggling the handle in frustration. It was locked. Drew went to another one on the opposite side, turning the handle and pulling it open slowly.
“Jesus!” he shouted, slamming it shut.
Growls echoed from inside, and something slammed against the door, nearly knocking it off its hinges. As Drew backed away, Dan stepped up, aiming his rifle at the door. Down the alley—the way they had just come—shrill cries erupted. Infected appeared in the distance, drawn to them by the screams of the Shambler on the other side of the door.
Jake raised his rifle, firing a few rounds at the rushing mob. Dan ran toward the open gate, slamming it shut and latching it tightly.
“We’re fucked,” he said.
The steel door suddenly burst open, and a Shambler pounced through, rushing straight for Jake. The big man turned, unleashing the rest of his rounds at the screaming, cackling creature. More appeared behind it deep inside the building, but Dan rushed the door, bracing it closed with his body. Jake finished off the Shambler with the butt of his rifle, crushing its head into the asphalt.
