“Where are we, baby?” I asked as I kissed the side if Chloe’s face briefly.
“We’re near some weird place called Gyor—I took over driving this morning around daybreak because Jennifer was about to fall asleep at the wheel.” Chloe answered smiling over at me.
“Gyor…damn…we’re in Hungary already.” I stated with a look of amazement.
That was when the CB came to life with Billy’s voice.
“What’s up, Billy?” I asked picking up the receiver.
“Hugo and the others asked me to see if you wanted to stop somewhere up here to eat something—we can also rest up because we’ve been going all night.” Billy answered on the other end.
“Okay—let’s find a safe place where we won’t have to worry about being attacked.” I answered casually.
We soon after found a location that looked like it would be safe—it was what looked like it had been a park of some sort, there was a fairly large river that ran through the area and green, vibrant trees that resembled Willows grew along the banks of the river; Chloe pulled into the area and parked our Mustang as Jennifer and Sheila woke in the backseat—the others behind us pulled into the area as well as they formed a protective barrier around the area with their vehicles. The area around where we had stopped was beautiful, it was of course grown up in spots due to there not being anyone to take care of it for the past 11 years—Richard and Marco gathered firewood and brought it into the center of our camp and they built a fire around some river rocks that some of the others had placed in a circle.
“We don’t have too much further to go now…as soon as we pass Budapest and head east toward Romania we’ll have to start looking for the location of Bowman’s lair.” Amy stated as she sat nearby looking over the information inside of the briefcase that we had found inside of the mansion in Hollywood many long months before.
“Are there any hidden clues inside of those file folders or on that laptop that might help us figure out where that rat bastard is hiding?” Billy asked as Kayla clung to him.
“Not that I have found…there was however a signal that was emitting from a location not far north of the city of Brasov earlier though—the signal didn’t last long, only a few seconds and then it was gone.” Amy answered as she turned the screen of the laptop to where we could all see it.
“What’s in that area—like what sort of geological structure is there?” My dad asked in a curious tone.
Before she could answer the same signal suddenly started showing on the map of Romania once again and Amy zoomed down onto the location of the signal—it was in the mountains a few miles northeast of a town called Baraolt.
“That’s got to be it—why else would that location be showing up on the map.” I answered folding my arms across my chest.
“This briefcase and information was Bowman’s property so it would explain as to why the signal would be being picked up by this laptop—the asshole probably doesn’t even know it.” Hugo stated with a smile.
“We might even be able to hit him in a sneak attack and end his shit for good.” Beau answered as it looked like he was getting giddy.
“Don’t bet on it—the motherfucker challenged us to come after him, remember?” I asked with a dark look as I briefly glanced up at him.
“Yeah…I momentarily forgot about that—so much shit has happened on this long trip.” Beau answered as he got a serious expression on his face.
“Traveling at our normal rate we would arrive at this location in three days’ time—that is if we don’t stop to rest anymore after this.” Amy stated as she calculated the distance on the laptop.
“This is just going to be a short rest—so don’t get cozy guys, we have a score to settle.” I answered as I turned and headed over to our Mustang where I sat down on a small rock and started eating a can of beans.
Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe sat down next to me and brought our kids close—I could tell that they were worried, we had faced so many hideously mutated creatures since we had left the hotel in New York City and there wasn’t any telling what we could be going up against once we arrived at this location.
“Once Bowman has been dealt with all we can do is just keep killing dead-heads and the other mutations as we come across them and then maybe, just maybe it’ll all be over one day.” I stated as I looked off into the distance in deep thought.
“That’s what we all hope for, brother—a world where we can live in safety and peace without the threat of zombies and crazy, mutated monsters attacking us; I’m looking forward to it.” Billy stated as he and Kayla came over and sat down near us.
“With this vaccine we can also give the world its hope back that this plague that Nicolas Bowman created will one day end and people can start living again…I think back on that time…late October of 2000 when all this shit started—I was so naïve and clueless as to what it would become.” I answered as I glanced over at him.
“We all were, I think back on the years that Sheila and I hid in our apartment there in Ringgold—we didn’t know if there was anyone else alive outside, hell—a time or two I swore that we were the last ones.” Billy agreed as he wrapped his left arm around Kayla tightly.
“Let’s just focus on ending Bowman and his days of cooking up viruses and monsters and then let’s all go home…back to my house in Georgia there nine miles south of Lafayette—if it’s even still there.” I stated in deep thought.
We talked a bit more and a few of the group members took naps that lasted a couple hours and then we were all ready to pull out of there and continue toward our destination knowing that the hour was drawing close to where Bowman would answer for the things that he had done; I drove the rest of the day and through the night getting us past Budapest and it was around noon of the next day when I stopped to let one of the women drive as I was tired—Sheila took over driving as I climbed into the passenger seat next to her closing my eyes. I didn’t wake again until late that same evening when I heard Sheila announce that we had just crossed over into Romania, we were coming upon the city of Oradea and the landscape really looked different even though the sunlight was quickly waning—the roads were more narrow and I could see the dark outline of the Carpathian Mountains to the southeast.
“This place is beautiful…who would have ever thought that our travels to survive and find Bowman would lead us here?” I stated as I opened the steel plating in front of me so the cool night air could blow in my face.
The rest of the trip through the night was mostly silent save for CB chatter from the others and the occasional conversation that came up between us about cuisine and the other things that we missed and before I realized it I was waking up the next morning as jolts and bumps from the roadway woke me—opening my eyes I could tell that we were starting to get into the highlands and I glanced over at Sheila as she sipped on a cup of coffee and I kissed her face.
“Good morning baby, sorry about the potholes in the road.” She answered smiling.
“We passed through a moderately small town called Saschiz a few minutes ago—we should be there by tonight sometime if not early tomorrow.” Jennifer answered as she showed me the map that we had been using.
“Yep, we’re close—I hope that we can find this place without too much trouble.” I answered as I leaned forward and peered out the steel plates over my section of the windshield.
Several minutes later we were rounding a bend in the roadway when we suddenly came upon a large convoy of what looked like marauders—they were sitting in the middle of the road forming what looked like a barrier and the moment they seen our headlights they pointed their weapons at us as several of them raced inside of nearby vehicles and opened fire on us with mounted .50 caliber machine guns; Richard pulled up beside of us on my side and worked to shield our Mustang from the onslaught of bullets that were ricocheting off the armored plates on my side of our car—I spotted Yuri dash out the
back of the Gurkha with an RPG launcher in his hands and I watched as he fired the rocket into the left flank of the enemy convoy creating a large explosion that looked to have killed over a dozen of the marauders. I opened fire with our mounted .50 machine gun on several marauders who were fleeing into the nearby woods and that was when I spotted a mass of dead-heads and other mutations on the far side of the burning ruins of the enemy convoy—what was left of the enemy marauders were being savagely killed and torn to pieces by the undead and I knew that this was as good of a time for us to leave as any.
“Those assholes should create enough of a distraction for us to leave.” I stated as I turned to face Sheila.
Sheila revved the engine and sped ahead through what was left of the enemy convoy and the others followed behind us, some of the zombies and other mutations took chase after us but the bodies of the dead marauders behind us kept most of them distracted like I was hoping for and after several minutes we were finally in the clear and well away from the danger that we had faced. The rest of that day was uneventful and we traveled into the night and managed to make it to the town of Baraolt early the next morning and once we had passed through the major part of the town we found what appeared to be a well-used road that stretched off into the wilderness toward the mountain peaks to the northeast—the signal was still emitting from the same place it had been days before so we followed the road into the woodlands and the incline seemed to get steeper and steeper until we finally came to what appeared to be some sort of facility that was dug deep into the side of a granite cliff; as I looked on the structure the more I realized that it was the same place that I had seen in the dream over a month before.
“That’s the place—now we have to find a way inside and figure out where Bowman is holed up.” I stated upon everyone’s questioning glances.
“We better take as many weapons and as much ammo as we can carry—there’s no telling what he’s going to throw at us once we’re inside.” Hugo stated as he opened a duffle bag and started loading weapons and other gear into it.
“He’s right—pack as much heat as you can carry; we’re very likely to run into powerful bio-weapons inside.” I agreed as I opened our Mustang’s trunk and started collecting my own gear.
Once everyone was prepared and ready I led the way through the trees to a steel shutter that looked like it was an entrance, I opened it with some trouble and led the way inside—surprisingly the entire area we came into was well lit and it appeared to have an abundance of power; we were faced with a long hallway that was entirely white—our boots and shoes clicked on the floor as we passed down the hallway toward the doorway at the end. I opened the door and we came into a large antechamber of some sort—the inside of this room resembled an old mansion because it was filled with antique furniture and bookcases that were brimming full of large books; in the center of the room was a set of grand staircases that went to an upper level.
“Damn…this place is fucking huge—it’s going to take a while to figure out where he could be hiding.” Beau stated as he glanced around the room with a look of disbelief.
“I wonder if there’s any way that we can access a floor layout of this place…” Amy stated as she took out the laptop and started pressing keys.
After several minutes she called our attention to the screen as a detailed blueprint of the place came up—it looked like the laboratories where Bowman would most likely be found were all several levels beneath our feet; above us according to the floor plan were several wings consisting of luxurious sleeping quarters and even a large round room that resembled a conference room on the layout.
“We better check the upper levels first just in case—we don’t want to be walking into a trap.” I stated as I gripped my M16 tightly.
I quickly led the way up the stairs and into the upper levels and as I had suspected they would be—they were empty; every single room that we came to was vacant and looked as though no one had been there in a very long time.
“He’s in here somewhere—if not up here then down in the lower levels.” Beau stated in an aggravated tone as he shifted his assault rifle around in his hands.
That was when the sound of something large moving toward us from the landing hall near the stairs caught our attention, I led the way back toward that direction and stopped dead in my tracks as we came face to face with what was coming straight toward us—it was one of the bio-weapons that we had faced inside of the Hudson Pharmaceutical building back when we had traveled to New York City to synthesize the vaccine from the Antitoxin Sample; the Bishop immediately seen us and roared something awful as it flexed its massive arms to the sides of its body and raced at us with unbelievable speed—I opened fire on it with my M16 sending a hail of bullets into its upper torso and head area but the thing was still coming and the more we unloaded on it, the more pissed off it became. It charged headlong into Emily and Yuri savagely slashing them across their upper arms and torsos with its razor sharp claws and that was when I pulled out my .357 magnum and pointed it at the Bishops’ head as Beau done the same and we both fired—the powerful bullets tore through the creatures’ forehead and the side of its head blowing the top part of it completely off shortly after causing the Bishop to fall onto the floor on its face. Everyone ran to check on Emily and Yuri as they were sitting on the debris-covered floor bleeding profusely, Amy grabbed the large first aid kit from her bag and rushed over to them checking to see how bad their wounds were—Yuri had suffered a moderately serious slash wound across the top of his chest and lower neck area and Emily’s wounds were similar but mostly across her right shoulder and upper arm; Amy took out hydrogen peroxide and moved Yuri’s shirt and tactical vest aside as she poured the liquid on his wounds—she done the same to Emily. We watched them grit their teeth as the peroxide fizzed up and bubbled around the wounds and minutes later their wounds were cleaned off and sewed up by Amy and Desiree before they were bandaged up well, after helping them to their feet we all gathered around the corpse of the Bishop that had attacked us with concerned looks on our faces.
“This is one of the same damned things that we encountered inside of the Hudson Pharmaceutical Corp. building in New York City…that has to mean that Nicolas Bowman is definitely here—somewhere.” I stated with a troubled look as I worked to calm Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and my kids down.
“I’m not sure it was such a good idea for all of us to come into this place…maybe a few of us should take the kids back to the vehicles and wait.” Melody stated as Ella clung to her in fear.
“That might be a smart decision—I know that you guys don’t want anything to happen to your children.” Hugo answered as his gaze fell upon me and my women.
“Alright then—let’s take the kids back outside and then we’ll come back in here and continue our search.” I answered as I led the way toward the stairs.
We all descended down to the place where we had come in only to find that some sort of heavy steel door had come down and blocked off the exit.
“This wasn’t here before…” I stated as I felt around the door and then the side of the door for controls.
I found a numeral keypad seconds later and I examined it finding a large round button in the center of the device—I pushed it and a synthetic sounding female voice sounded from somewhere above us.
“System lockdown has been initiated—biohazard contamination detected in multiple sectors.”
“Son of a bitch—we’re trapped in here!” Richard shouted in anger as he kicked at the door.
“Well…looks like we’re all staying until the bitter end.” Morgana stated with a little huff as she blew at her hair hanging in her eyes.
“Let’s do what we came here to do, people—so we’re now locked inside of this place with bio-weapons running around apeshit; it doesn’t change a damn thing.” I stated as I turned and glanced around at the others.
“What about the kids, baby—we might
not be able to protect them!” Jennifer asked in a worried tone.
“Let’s go back up above and see what sort of rooms and defensive areas we can find—if all else fails a few of us can stay there and defend the children while the rest of us go below.” I answered as I hustled everyone back up the stairs.
We soon came into one of the luxurious bedrooms on the upper levels and seen that there was an abundance of antique furniture in that room that could be used to create a barricade—the door into the room was a thick wooden door with an electronic lock but I knew that it wouldn’t stop one of the more powerful bio-weapons from breaking through; so I grabbed hold of one of the nearby heavy armoires and started pushing it over toward the door with Richard, Billy and Marco’s help.
We overturned the tables and other smaller objects inside of the room and created a barricade out of them and then I stepped into the room beside of the bedroom that we were in and found that it was a simple, yet luxurious bathroom and that there weren’t any other exits out of that room.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 51
