What Remains (Book 1): The Outbreak

by Barrett, Tyler

  The infected man who hadn't noticed Knight yet, and now had turned to face him. Knight stood frozen in place still unable to move, his mind full of thoughts of regret; his mind preoccupied, and his limbs weak from ejecting his stomach's contents. The infected man was still several feet away from him, but Kenji acted.

  "What are you doing? Don't just stand there," Kenji said moving quickly to get to Knight.

  The infected soldier was closing in on Knight who was too focused on Kenji now to notice how close he had gotten. The infected soldier’s hands grasped on to Knight from behind, grabbing him by his pack. They both fell to the ground, but Knight immediately caught himself and threw his fist into the infected soldiers face, and rolled over. Knight stood up, “Fuck!”

  Kenji grabbed his sword and pushed Knight aside. The infected soldier was closing in fast on them, and they only had a few moments before he would be within reach. Kenji quickly swung his sword at the man, cleanly cutting off his head, severing the spinal column. The infected man’s head flew through the air landing on a hood of a car, banging loudly against the metal, before bouncing onto the ground coming to a stop on its side; black thick congealed blood oozed out of it.

  Kenji let out a deep sigh of relief, glad that the infected soldier was no longer a threat. His moment of relief was short-lived; a chorus of moans was heard echoing in the early morning fog. Knight and Kenji looked into the fog, staring in fear. A single figure appeared from the fog, and then another. A few more moved into view in the fog, swelling the number of infected.

  They had found a horde, and it was heading straight for the group. They turned to run back and warn the others, hoping it wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 31

  The Bus

  Knight got up with the help of Kenji, and they both sprinted towards the barricade, where the others were. As they got closer and they reached the broken fence, they looked for the group but did not see them. Both Knight and Kenji both stopped and looked down the two side streets. Finally, they both moved towards the street they had come from and saw the group standing by the bus.

  Carter waved at them and jogged over, “We heard them from back here. How many are there?”

  Kenji shook his head, “No idea as soon as they showed up we ran, but there were close to fifteen. Probably more we just couldn’t see through the fog.”

  “What were you guys doing over there?” asked Carter.

  “I…” started Knight.

  “We thought we saw someone.” Said Kenji cutting off Knight, “But that doesn’t matter. We need to head back and take another street; the infected are heading this way.”

  “Round up all the civilians and tell Ramirez to come with us. We are going to check out the intersection from the way we came and make sure it’s still clear.” Ordered Knight.

  Knight had been brought back to reality when the impending advance of a horde sunk in. He was back to his usual self, at least for now. Kenji was still eying him, debating on whether this was a moment of clarity for Knight or if he was still crazy. He knew that he did not have a choice but to follow him for now until they were safe and secure somewhere.

  Ramirez joined them, and the three of them set off down the street at a jog. Their boots and Kenji’s shoes slapped the pavement beneath them, a rhythmic pounding. They slowed down as they neared the pile-up of cars blocking the street, making sure that no infected lay hidden in-between the cars. They weaved through the cars, making it to the other side without a problem. It wasn’t until the neared the intersection their hearts sank.

  They had found something worse; it came in the form of the infected, a horde that looked bigger than the first one. The group stopped and backtracked as fast as they possibly could.

  “Shit, what are we going to do? They are going to trap us if we don’t find a place to hide,” said Ramirez.

  “We can just duck into one of these shops and hide. I am sure the infected would just pass by us if they didn’t notice us. Let’s just hope we get back to the others in time.” Responded Knight.

  As they came upon the car pile-up again, they saw the civilians with Carter and Cooper, who had just reached the start of the pile-up. They all looked at the three men running back towards them and knew that something was not right. They all began to murmur amongst themselves while the three men made their way back through the cars. Finally, they made it through the cars again and back to the group.

  Carter spoke first, “What did you see?”

  Knight pushed past him, “There is another horde heading from that direction too. We need to get into one of these buildings and secure it, now!”

  The building on their immediate left had been an electronics store but had been looted out, with its front windows shattered. Across the street, the building had two giant glass windows that gave a perfect view of inside the building. Knight quickly assessed the situation, finding only one option. It wasn’t the ideal place to hide, but it was an option, the bus that had crashed into the building.

  If they were quick, they could go through the bus and into the building, since the back door of the bus was out in the street while the front entrance was in the building. There wasn’t enough gap for any infected into the building at any access point. It was the only option that Knight could see, so he decided it would have to do.

  “Move the civilians into that building, and go through the bus and hide,” ordered Knight, “Carter, you lead the civilians. The rest of the team will stay out here and watch your backs.”

  Carter ran to the other side of the bus and began to pull open the door. At first, it did not want to give, but eventually, it started to move, and then quickly collapsed. He stepped aside to let the civilians go on the bus. One by one they entered the bus, and one man made his way back towards the other door, avoiding the dead body of the bus driver as best as they could. The man struggled with the door, pushing with all his might, but it didn’t budge.

  A woman stepped forward and helped him, and together they both pulled hard enough for the door to open. The door was damaged from when the bus crashed, and the metal scraped across metal. After the door was open wide enough, they all quickly piled into the building.

  Carter called for the others, “Its open! Quick, get inside before the hordes show up.”

  The last civilian made their way through the door and into the building, which was dark, with only a small amount of light peeking through the parts of the wall that the bus and ripped away. Carter had just reached the door at the front of the bus but stopped to watch Knight and the others close the first bus door. As they finished closing the door, the first infected from the barricade horde could be seen in the fog.

  They all ducked low just to make sure that none of the infected could see them and began to make their way to the front of the bus. However, the civilians ran into a problem. There had also been a small amount of infected in the building that had come forth from the building they just entered. The infected caught several of the civilians off guard and bit them, and the civilian’s screams pierced the air in the room.

  Carter rushed into the room, following Nobuto and Ren who were the last of the civilians to enter the building. They squinted into the dark interior of the building, trying to make out who was part of their group and who was infected. An infected woman lunged out from the dark at Carter, who grabbed the woman and plunged his knife into the soft under part of the woman’s mouth. The blade went deep into the brain, killing the woman.

  Three civilians were bitten with the first sight of infected in the building. A man rushed at one of the infected and started to swing his pipe he held, knocking the infected off of his current meal, another civilian. More infected came forth from the darkened interior of the building, arriving and attacking the civilians with brute strength. Several people screamed, some in agony and others in fear.

  Carter grabbed Nobuto and shoved him back into the bus. Ren ran after Nobuto, shortly followed by Carter. Knight and the others had gotten on the bus as wel
l and were closing the door to the street. Cooper and the other pilots stayed by the door, shoving one of the metal pipes they were carrying to make sure the door couldn’t be pushed back open from the outside.

  Kenji rushed towards the door, trying to get to his friends and help them. Knight was faster and shoved him aside into one of the seats. He grabbed ahold of the door, pushing with all his might, closing it on the civilians trapped on the other side. The others stood rooted in place, watching Knight decide the fate of civilians. Kenji got out of the seat he had fallen into and started to scream at him.

  “What are you doing?! Those are people you are leaving in there! We could be helping them right now. We could be saving them!”

  Knight turned and looked at Kenji, “No, there are too many infected in there, we can’t take the risk of bringing an infected person with us.

  “Move out of the way,” yelled Kenji moving towards Knight, “I won’t let them all die in there while we don’t even try to save them. Those are my friends in there, people I know.”

  Knight pulled out his sidearm and aimed it at Kenji, “Back up, you aren’t going anywhere. And you sure as hell aren’t opening this door. I’m the one in charge here," a glint of fear in his eyes.

  Ramirez inched his way towards the two men, “Everyone just calm down, we don’t need anyone shooting each other. Right now, we need to get out of here.”

  The last of the screams were heard from within the building, and then only the eerie noise of the undead marching towards them. Soon the hordes would be right outside the bus, banging on the walls, urging the survivors to open the bus's doors. They all realized this would quickly become their tomb if they didn’t find a way out soon. Ren was the first to point out the fire escape on the roof of the bus.

  Cooper and the other pilots opened up the hatch, letting in the sound of the infected, amplifying it. Cooper helped one pilot up through the hatch offering himself as support up. The pilot held his hands down through the hatch to help up the others, and one by one each member of the group was pulled up. Knight was the last one to be pulled through, and while he waited, himself and Kenji had a staring contest.

  They each sized each other up; Kenji wanting to tell everyone that Knight was crazy and couldn’t be trusted to lead them, Knight wishing to leave Kenji behind, to silence him. They both knew that if either one started anything right now, they would both be in trouble, and if either one of them wanted to stay alive, they would have to put aside their differences for now.

  Before they both went up to the roof of the bus, Knight spoke to Kenji, “Just remember that you need me more than I need you. Those men out there follow me. They are my men. They do as I say, and if I say leave someone behind they will follow my order, you will do be best to remember that.”

  Kenji felt his temper flare up within him, wanting to lash out at Knight and make him pay for letting his people die. He stopped, though, knowing that what Knight said was true. Not wanting to make things worse he left and went to the hatch. He would have to convince the soldiers otherwise that Knight wasn’t all there in the head anymore.

  Once they were on top of the bus, they climbed up onto the building’s roof, where everyone else was waiting. The others were crouched behind the roof wall, trying to make sure they were out of sight. Carter and Cooper had moved to the other side of the roof, looking over the side of the building, looking down into the alley that ran behind the building. It was seemingly empty and cut through the city block parallel to the street they had just been on, allowing access to both ends.

  They both walked back over to Knight, who was peering down into the street. The two hordes converged, filling the street. They crowded around the bus, alerted by all the noise that the dead civilians had made, along with the rest of the group climbing on top of the bus. They moaned continually moving, looking for their next victim. Knight toyed with the idea of shooting every single infected through the head.

  These disgusting, vile creatures had killed his friends and trapped him in a foreign country. It took all he had, every fiber of his being not to unsling his rifle and methodically take down every last one of them. He would even drop the dead weight that was in his group, just take those he trusted, and leave the island if he could. It just did not feel right, watching those that should have lived, die, and those that should have died, still living.

  Carter spoke, breaking Knight’s train of thought, “Sir, the back alleyway is clear, but there isn’t a way down. What do you think we should do?”

  “We…um…,” said Knight turning towards them, “Grab a rope, and secure it. We can rappel down the side of the building; it’s not that far. We can escape while all the infected are drawn here on the bus.”

  Carter reached into his pack, digging for his rope. He found it and pulled it out, scanning the roof for the best spot to secure the rope too. Towards the back end of the roof, there was an exhaust vent of some sort, and Carter began to tie the rope around the vent, tugging on it to make sure it didn’t come loose.

  Everyone had gathered on the side of the roof waiting to go down the rope and head away from the infected. Carter and Ramirez gave all the civilians a crash course on how to use the rope and hooks. They were all ready to go and leave this horrid place; where many of their friends had died. They all wanted the sense of sanctuary that the military camp offered, and they couldn’t arrive soon enough.

  Carter went down the rope first expertly making his way down to the alley below. He quickly tugged the line signaling the next person to make their way down. Cooper followed after him, and Ramirez was shortly after him. A few minutes later they were all on the ground, and they started on their way down the alley towards the street that ended with the military blockade.

  By the time they reached the end of the alley they had noticed that the sky had started to lighten up and was no longer gray, but a light blue with an orange glow. The sun had finally risen, and the fog had begun to clear out. The fog had slowly started to lift, increasing the visibility on the streets. The street leading to barricade was clear, and they all moved down the street slowly.

  When they got to the intersection with the barricade, they moved through as fast as they could, heading on their intended course before everything had gone wrong. Kenji took a moment to look back at the bus, remembering his companions but pressed forward. They quickly moved through the area, and down the street, the horde had come from. It was clear why the horde had been in the area. One of the buildings had been completely torn apart, blood and dead infected strewn all over.

  The group didn’t stop to look, knowing that the horde was still nearby. They started off in a jog once they felt they were far enough away. They only had about ten city blocks before they would be back at the military camp. Moving forward to their camp, they made their way as quickly as they could down the streets, dodging more traffic jams and desecrated buildings.

  After a seemingly never-ending trek across the city, they arrived at the building they had made their camp. Knight slowed down as they approached the building, making sure there weren’t any lingering infected. He didn’t see any, so he signaled the group to move forward, and they crept across the street towards the building’s front doors. His eyes scanned up and down the street for anything that looked suspicious.

  Finally, he looked back in front of him towards the doors now that they were closer to the building. He noticed one thing that was out of place, different than before. There were two bodies on the ground mangled beyond, and they had large pools of blood around them. He signaled the group to stop.

  Knight approached the bodies slowly; he recognized the uniforms at once when he was closer. One body was in a jumpsuit, green, which meant it, had to be a pilot, and that could only mean Langston. The other body was missing the gear, but still was wearing the uniform that Knight himself was wearing and could only be Parker. He knelt next to the bodies to roll them both over to confirm it.

  He rolled the body he presumed to be Langston first,
and saw the name patch; it was indeed Langston. He grabbed the arm of the second body and began to roll it over, but was careful, since this body had a broken bone sticking out from the arm. He was right again: this body was Parker.

  Knight yanked the dog tags from around Parker’s neck and then did the same with Langston’s. He thought about closing their eyes, but there wasn’t enough left of either one to do so. Knight stood up and opened the pocket on his vest where he had put Smith’s dog tags. He paused for a second, looking down at the dog tags in his hand, wondering how many more he would have by the end of this. Knight signaled the group to come to him. He waited for the others but moved away from the bodies.

  The group crossed the street, Ramirez leading them to Knight, “Who is it? It kinda looks like Langston and Parker.”

  “It is. That means the base could be compromised as well, so we have to be extra careful from here on out,” replied Knight.

  “That's not a good thing...but are you sure you are alright? I mean shouldn’t we have been more careful back there?” asked Ramirez, referring to the bus. He wondered because Knight seemed distant and not fully aware.

  “We should have, yes. But we were rushed, and I had to act quickly, or we would have all been killed and infected, it’s that simple,” said Knight with a hint of annoyance.

  “Alright, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just pointing out that you have been on edge lately is all,” said Ramirez defensively.

  “You know the mission is fucked beyond all belief! I mean look around you Ramirez; we are the only living people for miles. We have lost friends and sacrificed a lot to even get to this point,” Knight growled, but caught himself and calmed down, “Sorry. Look, let’s just check out base; see if it’s compromised, if not rest a bit more. It’s been a long night.”

  “Sure thing,” replied Ramirez.