“I’m glad that you seem to trust me now—my name is Zaine Carpenter as I mentioned before; it’s true that I was with the marauders who have added to the problems of the zombies and other mutations in this world but I want only to live in relative safety and peace.” The young man stated as he glanced around at our group.
“You seem to have a good deal of knowledge on what we will be soon facing from the marauder forces—is there anything that you can tell us about them?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe as Remy, Mace and Ember came over and stood nearby with their Dragunov Sniper Rifles in their arms.
“The marauder ranks have seemingly doubled since Bowman’s death—there were even rumors that the bio-engineers were working on sentry units; cybernetic soldiers to swell the front lines.” Zaine stated in deep thought.
“I didn’t know that that sort of technology could be created in this day and age…” Hugo stated as he scratched the side of his face.
“It wouldn’t be hard—you guys remember the battle chassis prototype mech unit that we used months ago before we left for Europe.” Beau answered glancing at him briefly.
“If we are facing cybernetic machines with guns then that is going to make things very difficult—it’s one thing to have zombies, mutations and biological weapons coming at you but when you’re facing machines that kill without human emotion it’s a whole other thing.” Billy stated as he and Kayla stood nearby with worried looks as Kayla held their 4 year old daughter Madison.
“I agree—these marauder forces seem to have declared all-out war against us and anyone else still alive out there and this Darkbourne figure seems to be exacting Bowman’s agenda from beyond the grave.” I stated in deep thought as I glanced around at the others.
That was when we all suddenly heard a sound approaching from the northeast and I glanced up toward the source of the noise and seen that a burning helicopter was coming right toward us, I got in front of Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe and gently pushed them behind me before doing the same with Remy, Mace, Ember, Darc Aiden, Xavier and Scarlet—the helicopter fell down and hit the field not far from where we were and exploded as a young female figure fell and hit the ground rolling over onto her chest; the explosion from the helicopter sent pieces of burning debris in just about all directions and most of us had hit the dirt and had our hands over our heads. I got to my feet making sure that my family was okay and then I quickly ran over grabbing the garden hose and turning on the water faucet—I ran over to the female figure who was struggling underneath a medium sized piece of smoldering metal and I used the water hose to cool the piece of metal off enough so Richard, Marco and Beau could help me lift it off of her. Once she was safe, Sheila and Jennifer as well as my mom came over with the first aid kit and they looked over the young woman’s injuries as I ran over to the burning wreckage of the helicopter and started dousing it with water—Hugo and Desiree grabbed fire extinguishers and ran over to assist me as the flames were starting to spread into the nearby woods; it took a few more minutes to put the fire out and get the wreckage of the helicopter to where it was only smoldering. I returned to where the young woman was now sitting in the grass surrounded by the rest of the group.
“Who are you and what happened to cause you to crash?” I asked raising my left eyebrow inquisitively.
“My name is Regan Bledsoe…I’m originally from the outskirts of Charleston, West Virginia…I spent several years with a group of others running and surviving against those things until they were eventually all killed off and from that point on I have been on my own; I traveled south and found that helicopter on the roof of a hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee and I managed to escape from the horde that was after me there…well…everything was going fine, I was originally going to fly to Atlanta to check out the CDC building but a rocket hit the tail of the helicopter not far to the northeast of here and that’s what caused me to crash.” The young woman explained.
“So you survived the original outbreak huh?” Hugo asked as he stood nearby with his assault rifle propped against his shoulder.
“Yeah…don’t ask me how I managed to survive on my own for the past four years but I have and I really thought I was a goner when I saw the ground rushing toward me.” The young woman answered as she glanced up at him briefly.
I introduced myself and my family and then the others did the same—afterward we told her the details of what we had been through the past 15 years and what we had been through not long before when we had traveled to Romania to confront Nicolas Bowman; Regan seemed to take it all in and she was surprised to hear that we had successfully destroyed the man who had been responsible for the zombie apocalypse.
“A lot of good it did us to go through all that damn trouble though, now we’re having trouble with marauders and someone they call ‘Darkbourne’…we took in a small group of what we thought were regular survivors back a few years ago after we returned home from Romania and they tried to steal the vaccines that we have against the infection as well as our weapons and food stocks—we killed three of them but the fourth one got away.” I answered with a dark look as I thought back on the events that had taken place what seemed like only yesterday.
“I see…I bet it was those marauder people that shot me down…it would have taken an RPG at least to do enough damage to make me crash.” Regan stated as she glanced over at the wreckage of the helicopter which was still smoldering slightly.
“Most likely—those dead-heads and other mutations aren’t the only things out there and soon they’ll be right on our doorstep.” I added in deep thought.
“I’ve developed some survival skills over the years and I am a good shot with just about anything you give me, I am willing to pull my own weight if you guys will have me.” Regan stated as she turned and faced me as well as the others.
“Okay, give her the vaccines and help her settle in.” I instructed as I turned to Hugo and the others.
Hugo nodded and waited as Sheila took four vials out of our travel bag—one for the T.H.C.A.I.A Toxin and the other one for the M.I.M.T.W.B.C.A Strain that we had created in Bowman’s underground facility shortly after I had been infected by the creature that had been Angie. Desiree had sharpened up on her knowledge of biological reagents and pathogens and in Amy’s absence she had become skilled in the things that Amy had been skilled in; she took Regan and Zaine into the building that served as our infirmary and she injected the vaccines into their bodies giving them the same immunities that we all shared and then we all gathered around the fire pit in the front yard to discuss what we were going to do.
“We’re running low on ammunition…we’re going to have to go out and search for some somewhere around here; the trip could be risky and very dangerous.” Beau stated as he poked at the half-burned out fire that sat before us.
“I’ll take care of it—I’ll need a few others to assist me in either the Gurkha or the Eco-roamer though.” I answered as I glanced around the group.
“We’ll go with you baby—you’ll need a gunner as well.” Jennifer stated smiling as she kissed the side of my face.
Chloe turned to Scarlet and knelt down before her before kissing her forehead.
“You stay here with your grandpa and grandma—we’ll be back.” Chloe stated as she stared into the eyes of our daughter.
“Okay, mama.” Scarlet answered with a light sniffle that showed her worry.
“We’ll be okay, we’ll be back soon.” I stated as I picked her up into my arms and kissed her forehead.
After putting her back down on her own feet, I turned to Remy, Mace, Ember, Darc Aiden and Xavier.
“Take care of things here—I know that I can count on you guys in my absence.” I stated as I hugged Remy and then the others.
“No problem, dad—you guys be careful out there.” Remy answered with a smile.
After a few more minutes of exchanging hugs I wa
lked over to our Mustang that we hadn’t used in several weeks and I opened the door tossing my weapons inside as Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe all done the same; Richard and Morgana got their weapons and gear ready and got into the Gurkha following us up the driveway as I led the way in our Mustang—I glanced back at the others in my side mirror and waved hoping deep down that it wouldn’t be the last time that I would see them. Yuri and Marco opened the gate and waited until we had sped out onto the roadway before they closed them back and as I glanced around at the ruins and devastation around us I couldn’t help but think back on all of the times we had been on the road traveling—trying to both find a safe haven as well as find Nicolas Bowman and make him answer for what he had done.
“Wow…déjà vu already…” I stated as I reached the end of the dead-end road that we lived on.
“I know baby, it feels so weird to be out on the road again after all of that time we have spent at the homestead.” Jennifer stated as she sat beside of me in the passenger seat.
“I just hope that we’re not attacked by those damned asshole marauders while we’re out.” Sheila stated with a hint of worry in her voice.
“Don’t worry babe, we just need to find a police station or something that might have adequate ammunition stockpiles.” I answered as I glanced back at her briefly in the rear view mirror.
I continued driving and we had made it about halfway to the town of Lafayette when I suddenly spotted movement ahead on the road—that was when we saw it, dozens of large abominations including dozers and rook creatures were tearing through the ruins of what looked like a barricade that someone had built and they had spotted us.
“Fuck—we don’t have the firepower to deal with those things!” I shouted as I turned off on a side road and sped away from the surge of dead-heads that were now coming out of the nearby cemetery joining them.
“Shit man—they’re right on our asses!” Richard shouted over the CB as he and Morgana struggled to keep up with us.
I sped around a wrecked fuel tanker and around the bend in the road and I glanced back as we all heard a loud crashing sound—one of the dozers had smashed through the tanker trailer and I could see the fuel pouring off of its body; that’s also when I saw Morgana raise up out of the front passenger door with an RPG in her arms. She steadied herself and fired the rocket into what was left of the tanker trailer causing a massive explosion that consumed the dozer creature that was covered with fuel as well as the other three behind it—the fire from the explosion was so big and spread out that we couldn’t see if any of the dead-heads and other mutations had been destroyed or not and I slowed down on the main highway and stepped out of our Mustang to glance back on the towering inferno as Richard pulled the Gurkha up behind us.
“Shit—they’re still fucking coming!” I shouted as I quickly got back into the driver’s seat shutting my door and putting my foot all the way down on the gas pedal.
I hadn’t gotten us more than a hundred feet when I saw that another massive wave of zombies and other mutations were surging toward us from directly ahead, I done the only thing that I could at the moment—I turned the wheel to the right going off the road and smashing through a wooden fence and into what looked like an overgrown barnyard as a large building sat in front of us that looked to somehow be fortified; I was turning to the left to come to a stop when something smashed into my side of our Mustang and caused us to smash into the front of the barn. I felt my head hit the windshield in front of us and seconds later I came to my senses enough to get my door open to where I could check on Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe—they were all okay just shaken up and I glanced about and seen that whatever had hit us had forced us to smash more than halfway through the doors of the barn and luckily our Mustang was only slightly dented as the heavy armor on the outside of the car had protected us; that was when I locked eyes with a young woman who was coming down from a loft section of the barn above us—she had dark brown hair that was slightly past her shoulders and as I got a good look at her I seen that she looked a lot like Morgana. That was when Richard and Morgana pulled the Gurkha to the other end of the barn and got out climbing over the tall gate coming into the barn and up to us—I collapsed to my knees as Jennifer and Sheila tended to the gash on my forehead; Chloe grabbed our weapons and knelt down next to me with a worried expression on her face.
“Jamie?” Morgana suddenly stated in a shocked tone as she came face to face with the young woman who was still looking us over intently.
“Morgana…is that really you…?”
“I haven’t seen you since 2006 when we were separated in Baton Rouge…” The young woman stated in a surprised tone as the two embraced in a hug.
“Are you guys okay?” Richard asked as he turned and glanced at the blood-covered right side of my face.
“Yeah…it’s just a cut…I’ll be fine.” I answered as Jennifer and Sheila used antiseptic to clean the cut while Chloe prepared a threaded needle to sew the wound shut.
We could all hear the dead-heads and other mutations screaming outside and for the moment the structure around us seemed to be holding—our Mustang had created a barrier in front of the front doors and it looked like part of the doorway had collapsed down barring the undead from gaining access—Richard had parked the Gurkha close enough to the rear entrance gate to where it would keep them out as they wouldn’t have enough leverage to get inside.
“Morgana…I’m glad that you’re alive—who are your friends by the way?” The young woman asked as she turned to the rest of us.
“This is Chaz Watkins, his girlfriends Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe—and this is Richard Barrett. Guys, this is my younger sister Jamie.” Morgana introduced as she turned and smiled at me in that same flirting manner as she often did.
“Nice to meet you—my name is Jamie Price—I came here a few months ago with two other people after having been on the road for several years; the guy who seemed like the most stable one of the group shot himself a few weeks ago and the other one took off during the night with over half of our food and weapons stock.” The young woman stated as she leaned against a nearby fence.
“So you’re all alone in this barn?” I asked as I got to my feet after Chloe had finished sewing up my wound.
“Yes—I didn’t know what to make of the situation when you guys crashed through the door over there; I thought for sure at first that it was one of those big motherfuckers that I’ve seen around here.” Jamie stated smiling as she glanced at me and then at her sister.
“What the hell hit us anyway?” I asked as I turned to Richard.
“It was some kind of creature—one that I’ve never seen before…fucking thing was huge and it had a long tail like a rat.” Richard answered with a troubled look.
“Great…sounds like there are new mutations starting to appear—as if the ones we’ve been killing for the past several years weren’t enough.” I stated with a disgusted tone.
“I don’t get how there are new mutations appearing—where the hell are they coming from?” Sheila asked as she and Jennifer exchanged glances.
“It has to be those marauders and that damned Darkbourne character…we’ve got to figure out who he is and stop him before he creates a creature that we won’t be able to fight back against.” I answered as I strolled over to the side of our Mustang.
“We’ve been cut off…the others back at the homestead aren’t going to know where to find us.” Richard stated as he gripped his assault rifle tightly.
“Where were you guys going?” Jamie asked as she glanced at me and then at my women.
“We were heading into Lafayette to try and find some ammunition—we’re starting to run low back at our homestead.” I answered casually as I climbed into the driver’s seat of our Mustang and picked up the CB microphone.
I fiddled with the control knob and after several long minutes of trying to get a signal out to the others back home
I gave up and got back out of the car with a frustrated look.
“Any luck?” Richard asked as he grabbed a large wooden beam from nearby and used it to brace the rear doors shut.
“No…as you said—we’re completely cut off from the others and we’re surrounded by those dead-head bastards outside…this could get bad.” I answered as glanced at Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe as they all wrapped their arms around my shoulders.
That was when I turned to the sound of something hissing and seen that smoke and steam was pouring out from underneath the hood of our Mustang—Richard noticed it too and we went over to it and managed to pry the hood up only to be forced to back away as smoke filled the room; I looked down and seen that a wooden beam from the door had been forced through the front grill of the Mustang and was lodged in the radiator.
“Fuck…the radiator is shot to shit…” I stated in a loud irritated tone as I waved my arms trying to keep the smoke out of my face.
That was when a loud crash got our attention to the area off to the right of the main part of the barn and that was when the horrible scream of a jumper zombie got my attention as it reared back and screamed before lunging at us—I opened fire with my M16 putting several rounds in its head before it dropped to the ground twitching; several more zombies screamed at us and I briefly seen that they had broken through a window in a room that looked like it had been used for storage.
“Up here—quick!” Jamie shouted as she quickly grabbed the nearby ladder and climbed up into the loft above our heads.
Richard climbed up next and then Morgana, Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe leaving me for last and I managed to make it to the top just before the entire ground level of the barn was filled up with zombies—there were new mutations in their ranks, mutations that I had never seen before. One of the new mutations was what looked like a female zombie but it didn’t have any eyes and its right forearm was mutated into what looked like a blood-covered blade, another mutation below us caught my eye as a creature shuffled through the regular zombies—this creature was tall and lanky and it had two small holes in the middle of its head just above a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth; it held its hands up toward the rungs of the ladder and I saw that its eyes were actually embedded into the palm of its hands. It grabbed the rungs and started to pull itself up and that was when I knew that I had to ensure that this creature didn’t get to us—I kicked the ladder down onto the ground amidst the undead and they screamed at me in the same horrible way that had always made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 55
