[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “What was it like in that thing?” Simone asked raising her right eyebrow.

  “It wasn’t too much different than the cockpit of a fighter jet…that’s actually what it looked like they used in the engineering.” Beau answered with a chuckle.

  “Let’s bring the vehicles inside so we can settle in—by the looks of things outside there’s a blizzard coming in.” I stated as I glanced out a nearby window at the whipping wind and the heavy snow flakes that were coming down.

  Jennifer and Sheila carried our kids and Remy, Mace and Ember followed as I led the way outside raising the steel shutter door and getting into the RV, it felt good to be back inside of the safety of what we had begun to think of as home and soon after I started the engine and drove it into the mobile weapons storage where the semi with the battle chassis was and the others brought in their vehicles as well. It was a little tight but we managed to park our vehicles in places where we wouldn’t have much trouble getting them out—the shutter doors had a thirty-five foot clearance and that seemed like it would be enough to get the semi with the chassis out when the time came to leave; Noah and Richard closed the shutter doors back again as the wind was blowing the cold air and snow into the room.

  “I hope that we don’t have to stay in this place for too long…it kind of gives me the creeps.” Christina stated as she held onto Jude tightly.

  “Yeah—but at least we should be safe inside of here, the only threat that we’ve found so far was in the sublevel boiler room and we disposed of it already; as far as the level 4 areas go—those are still locked and we have yet to find the keycard.” I answered as I stepped down out of the RV followed by Jennifer and Sheila.

  “I’ll get something cooked so everyone can eat.” My mom stated as she and my dad walked past us and climbed up into the RV.

  “Settle in guys…this really isn’t going to be that different then when we stayed in the airfield hanger in Winterset; we just have to stay here until the snow melts off the roads and the threat of more ceases.” I stated folding my arms across my chest.

  “Yeah…hopefully that won’t be too long from now.” Morgana added as she smiled over at me.

  It didn’t take long for the others to settle into the area, Noah and Christina found a sofa bed inside of the lounge and dragged it into the mobile weapons storage area and it looked like the rest of the group were setting up sleeping areas around and inside of the vehicles. My mom whipped up a batch of hamburger helper and we settled in for the night; after Remy, Mace and Ember were put to bed and Xavier and Darc Aiden were fed and put to sleep as well I laid down on the queen sized bed in the back of the RV in our room and waited as Jennifer and Sheila both discarded their clothes until they were nude—they then brought several thick blankets over and added them to the bed. The furnace in the boiler room below us was putting out heat throughout the compound but the cold air from the raging blizzard outside was creeping in through different cracks in the structure and around the steel shutter door, I wrapped my arms around the both of them and our lips met in heated kisses which led to us making love. The night inside of the compound passed off rather quickly and soon the next morning arrived, as the days and weeks passed it started to become apparent that Spring was right around the corner—most of the snow had melted off the ground and trees were starting to bloom out; everyone gathered in front of the vehicles that day and we discussed what our next step would be.

  “I’ve tried to keep track of how long we’ve been here and as far as I can tell it’s been about three and a half months—which would make it in the middle of April right now.” My sister stated as she took out a calendar that she had made herself and started writing in the pages.

  “Then it’s time that we get going—there’s no telling what Bowman has been doing all this time that we’ve had to pretty much be sheltered under the weather; we need to move eastward going through the lower parts of Canada and re-entering the States in Maine like we planned.” I stated as I glanced around at the rest of the group.

  “I’ll drive the semi that’s carrying the battle chassis.” Hugo stated as he turned and glanced at Amy, Desiree and Beau.

  “Okay—Noah, you and Christina gather as much supplies for the road as you can find and put it into the back of the transport truck; any food, ammunition or weapons that you might find here in this place.” I instructed turning to them.

  “You got it.” Noah answered as he and Christina along with their son Jude headed toward the staff break room.

  Everyone else worked to gather up their weapons and gear as well as other things that they had picked up since the beginning of our long stay at this facility and soon everyone was ready to leave, I walked over to the steel shutter door and opened them; as I watched them open my eyes adjusted to the sunlight and then I breathed a sigh as I seen what was waiting for us on the outside of the parameter fence and gate—thousands of dead-heads were there screaming, pushing and banging on the outside of the fence and I knew that we were going to have to move quickly if we hoped to leave this place alive.

  “Guys—we’ve got an army of those fuckers right outside of the gate, we’re going to have to hurry!” I shouted as I turned and ran back inside of the mobile weapons storage room.

  “Might be a good time to test out the battle chassis and see if it’s going to be worth hauling all that way.” Beau stated as he scratched his chin.

  “I agree, but let’s leave it on the transport platform that it’s on and just use its guns as we’re leaving—the rest of us will go first and we’ll be in front of you guys so none of the bullets hit us.” I answered briefly patting his shoulder.

  “Okay—I’ll go ahead and get into the cockpit.” Beau answered as he ran and climbed up onto the semi-truck bed and then up onto the platform.

  The rest of the group got into their vehicles and started the engines as I got into the driver’s seat of the RV with Jennifer and Sheila along with our kids, my parents, sister, niece Ella, Richard, Morgana and Simone in the RV behind me; I took the lead out of the building and I gunned the engine smashing through the gates that did little to no damage to the front of the RV and I saw that we were immediately swamped by the undead hordes. Several jumper zombies flew up landing on the hood of the RV in front of me and they screamed that horrible sound before I put my foot all the way down on the pedal causing the RV to surge forward at high speed—this caused the jumpers to lose their grip on the top of the hood and fall off where I immediately after ran them over; I glanced back in my side mirror and seen that the others were close behind and Hugo and the other Covenant One members had cleared the gate and Beau was now laying waste to the hordes that chased after us with the arm-mounted Gau-8 Avenger.

  Not long after that I noticed the Montana state line up ahead and after crossing it I seen that we were now on highway 191—Beau had ceased fire now and there weren’t any dead-heads behind us.

  “I guess it’s a good thing that we brought that thing with us, those assholes might have breached the vehicles otherwise.” Richard stated as he came up to the front of the RV and glanced ahead out the windshield at the mountains and forests before us.

  “Yeah, no kidding—I’m sure that it’ll come in handy on down the road in the near future as well…I have a feeling that Bowman isn’t anywhere near being finished as far as creating biological super-weapons and throwing them at us.” I answered in deep thought as I kept my eyes on the lonely road ahead of us.

  “Yeah…there’s really no telling what we might face next—we’ve got mutations popping out at us right and left and every place we stop at for a while ends up being more of a trap than a sanctuary.” Jennifer added as she placed her left hand on my right shoulder.

  “We just have to keep going—since Bowman more than likely knows by now that his Genocide creature failed in LA, he has more than likely moved back east somewhere; there’s even a good chance that he’s fled what’s left
of the US altogether.” Simone stated as she sat down in the couch not far behind us.

  “I was thinking the same thing…he knows that we’re on his trail and that we won’t stop until we find him and make him pay for what he has done—there’s a good chance that he fled to somewhere in Europe or Asia.” Sheila stated as she sat close behind me with Darc Aiden in her arms.

  “Daddy…do you think that mommy became one of those bad people?” Remy suddenly asked as she came to stand between Jennifer and me.

  “Sweetheart…your mother isn’t in this world anymore—she’s up in heaven with all of the others who were lost and she’s safe—I promise.” I answered as I glanced at her noticing the small tear that was forming at the corner of her left eye.

  “Richard—take over driving for me for a while, would you?” I asked as I glanced toward him.

  “Sure.” He answered as he waited until I came to a stop and got up out of the driver’s seat.

  I picked up Remy and carried her back toward the sitting area near the kitchen and Jennifer and Sheila followed as did Mace and Ember, I heard the CB radio come to life with Noah’s voice asking what was up and Morgana picked it up and told him that we had switched drivers; I sat down on one of the sofas and I placed Remy back on her feet.

  “Don’t worry—I won’t let anything happen to you, your sisters, brothers or Jennifer and Sheila.” I stated as I wiped the tears away from her eyes.

  “I know, daddy.” Remy answered in a small voice as I glanced up at Jennifer and Sheila who were standing before us holding Xavier and Darc Aiden with concerned looks on their faces.

  I got up and put Remy down on the sofa covering her with a small blanket before kissing her forehead—I done the same with Mace and Ember.

  “Take a nap, everything will be okay.” I stated as I looked down on her and the other two before their eyes closed.

  Once it looked like they were asleep, I walked over across to the other side of the area and sat down on one of the couches bringing Jennifer and Sheila into my arms.

  “It’s hard trying to explain these things to her as young as she is…same with Mace and Ember.” I stated in a low voice.

  “I know baby, you did the best you could though.” Jennifer answered smiling.

  “I can still remember when my mom died…I wasn’t that close to her due to certain circumstances but it was hard on me nonetheless.” Sheila stated in deep thought.

  “We’ve all lost someone along the way; we just have to focus on the future.” Jennifer stated as she rested her head on my right shoulder.

  The movement of the RV and the winding road that we were traveling on seemed nostalgic and before I hardly knew it I had fallen asleep right there on the sofa with Jennifer and Sheila in my arms and it wasn’t until sometime late that same day that a jolt from a pothole in the road jarred us awake; I got to my feet and looked toward the front of the truck and noticed that we were passing across plains and it seemed like we had left the mountains far behind us.

  “Where are we dude?” I asked as I leaned down between Richard and Morgana.

  “We’re on highway 2—we just passed a small town called Culbertson.” Morgana answered glancing up at me and smiling in a flirting manner.

  I took a look at the road atlas after she handed it to me and I glanced back out of the windshield at the roadway ahead of us.

  “Wow—you’ve done good, we’ll be out of Montana soon and crossing over into North Dakota.” I stated smiling.

  Richard drove for a little while longer getting us across the North Dakota state line and then the fuel reserve gauge inside of the 500-gallon tank on the trailer behind the RV started to indicate that it was getting low.

  “We’re going to have to stop and refuel—it’s amazing that our gas has lasted this long.” I stated into the CB receiver.

  “Yeah, we’re getting low ourselves—hopefully we can find a safe station that won’t be overrun by dead-heads or other mutations.” Noah answered on his end.

  “How’s your fuel supply Billy?” I asked again as I started glancing around the sides of the highway for signs of a station.

  “It’s getting really low—we haven’t fueled up since we first got into Idaho about two and a half months ago.” Billy answered on the other end with a chuckle.

  “Yeah—we’d already have run dry if we hadn’t of stopped and stayed at that facility as long as we did.” I answered as I spotted a large station up ahead and pulled off the roadway into the lot.

  I parked the RV and led the way out the side door with my M16 ready, Jennifer and Sheila accompanied me leaving our kids in the care of my parents and Richard and Morgana as well as Simone followed; Noah pulled the transport truck up beside of one of the other diesel pumps and Billy pulled his SUV up beside of one of the regular pumps.

  “I’ll go inside and check and see if the switch is on.” Kira stated as she drew her twin .45 handguns from the holsters at her hips and started toward the door to the station.

  “I’ll go with you.” Simone stated as she grabbed her M60 machine gun and followed.

  “I still don’t know how she uses that thing.” Noah stated as he came over and stood beside of me while nodding toward Simone as she followed Kira inside of the station.

  “I don’t either, but when you think about the fact that she was a member of Covenant One for a short time back in the day it’s kind of easy to see how she does.” I answered with a chuckle.

  Seconds later the two of them came out of the doors and reported that the switch to the pumps as well as the backup generator had been turned on—I grabbed the nozzle of the pump next to the RV and started refueling the main tank while the others done the same with the other vehicles; it took me about six or seven minutes to fill the main tank and then I went to the trailer that held our 500 gallon tank and I proceeded to refill it as well. Somewhere near the end a strong wind started picking up around the area and we all quickly climbed into our vehicles and waited as Hugo and the few others did a sweep of the inside of the station to see what kind of food supplies there were; it didn’t take long for them to return empty-handed and I waited as they climbed into the cab of the semi hauling the battle chassis.

  “Are we ready to move out?” I asked into the CB radio receiver.

  “Yeah—let’s hurry up and get going, I could hear sounds of the undead mutations getting close just as we were leaving the store.” Hugo answered.

  “Same here—I hope that we don’t have to refuel anytime soon.” Billy stated on the other end.

  “Sooner or later we’re going to have to look for a place to restock our food supplies—they won’t last until we get to the eastern seaboard.” I stated in deep thought as I kept my eyes on the roadway ahead of me.

  “Our best bet for that would be to try and find a grocery store somewhere down the line and see what we can find—chances are that all that will be there are canned goods.” Hugo stated in a distant tone.

  “Even so, we’ve got to find something.” I answered as I glanced down at the road atlas that Jennifer was holding out.

  “The next town that we’ll pass through is called Williston…there might be a grocery store there.” Sheila stated as she came to stand between us looking down at the map.

  “We’ve also got to be careful—there could be pockets of those same marauders from before; if we run into them again then there’s going to be trouble.” I answered grimly.

  The drive through western North Dakota was uneventful and the landscape that we were passing was drab and empty, around 5 pm that same evening Richard offered to take over driving.

  “Drive as far as Williston and then start looking for a grocery store—or anything else that you can find that looks like it would have food supplies; I’m going to get something to eat.” I answered as I slowed down and stopped the RV before getting up and heading back into the kitchen whe
re my mom and sister were looking through what was left in the fridge.

  Not too much longer afterward we pulled into the moderately small town of Williston and Richard drove down several desolate streets until he found a medium sized super market that looked like it had been partially barricaded up on one side; I climbed out of the RV with my M16 in hand and waited as the rest of the group clustered around me.

  “Be careful in there.” My dad stated as he and my mom held onto our kids.

  “As careful as we can be—there’s no telling what sort of situation we might be walking into, so everyone needs to be alert and ready to defend themselves at all costs.” I answered as I glanced around at the rest of my group.

  Everyone nodded and I led the way toward the doors of the super market, once I had reached them I tried them and seen that they were sealed tightly—a thick chain was wrapped around the door handle tightly and it was keeping the doors from even budging.

  “This can only mean one thing—there are people around here and they’ve got something inside that’s either of great value or great danger.” Beau stated with a dark look as I turned back to the others.

  “My gut tells me that we’ve walked right into a nest of those marauders who attacked and nearly blew us to shit back near Salt Lake City—I’m also sensing that there’s food inside of this building and a lot of it.” Desiree stated as she folded her left arm across her assault rifle.

  “Well—those assholes aren’t going to keep us from the supplies that we need; they don’t fucking own it!” I stated as I turned and used the butt of my M16 and smashed the glass of the door causing the pieces of plywood and other things to come tumbling down making a clatter on the floor.

  Seconds later a burglar alarm sounded and everyone glanced around at each other nervously, I kicked at the door and then aimed my assault rifle at the chain and opened fire—after several seconds the chain fell to the ground shattered and I pushed the doors open stepping inside followed by the others; I found the alarm and opened fire on it destroying it seconds later.