“Well…that’s it…we’re stuck up here with no other way down.” I stated as I brought my women into my arms.
“This loft is safe enough for the time being but it won’t stay that way for long—is there any other way that we can get higher?” Richard asked turning to Jamie.
“Yeah, there’s another loft above us over here but it’s really cramped and there’s a bunch of junk up there.” Jamie answered drawing our attention to another loft which was about eight feet above our heads.
This other loft stretched across about half of the area and there was only one way up or down—a questionable looking wooden ladder that looked like it was more than halfway rotted out stood before us.
“We’ll only use the above loft if it’s absolutely necessary…we need to figure out a way to get down to the Gurkha—if we can just get inside of it we’ll be safe.” I stated in deep thought as I walked over to the opening of the loft looking down on the spot where Richard had parked the Gurkha.
There were several dead-heads and other mutations pressed up against the side and rear of the vehicle and others were wandering around the sides of the barn—it seemed like those were unaware of our presence as they seemed more concerned with trying to get into the barn below; Jamie came over and handed me three bottles that were filled with liquid with rags hanging out of the tops of them and I realized that she had given me Molotov Cocktails.
“Where did you get those?” Morgana asked as she looked over the objects in my hands.
“I made them a few days ago…I figured that I might need them to help me escape at some point.” Jamie answered as she turned to briefly glance at her sister.
“These just might allow us to get down to the Gurkha…but we better be ready to move once these things are used—we’ll have a window of about three or four minutes before this whole place goes up in a towering inferno.” I stated as I glanced from the Molotov Cocktails down to the zombies and other mutations below.
“Let’s get going—we need to get out of here.” Richard stated as he stood near the opening of the loft looking down on the Gurkha.
“What about the ones outside near the Gurkha?” Jennifer asked with a look of concern.
“Once we use the first Molotov we can just gun those down—we’ll have to jump though…” I answered as I turned to her, Sheila and Chloe.
“Okay…let’s get this over with.” Sheila answered with a nervous tone.
I took out the cigarette lighter that I kept for emergencies from my left pocket on my pants and ignited the rag on the first Molotov—I tossed it down onto the ground of the barn and it shattered causing flames to shoot up through where the ladder had been as the creatures below were engulfed in flames; the fire spread quickly as the zombies and other mutations screamed and wailed in agony and I knew that it was only a matter of time before the flames hit the gas tank of our Mustang and I hustled everyone over to the opening to the loft and Richard went first jumping down onto the top of the Gurkha with a thud. He opened fire with his assault rifle putting several rounds in each of the zombies’ heads that were around the side and rear of the truck and he jumped down and barely got inside of the vehicle before the large creature that had smashed into the side of our Mustang causing us to crash appeared and started coming toward the Gurkha—this creature was heavily mutated and extremely grotesque, several tentacle-like things shot out of the things’ mouth and struck the side of the Gurkha; they looked like worms and each one of them had mouths that were full of pointed teeth.
“Yuck…what the hell is that thing?” Chloe exclaimed in shock as we all stared on the creature with dread.
“Chaz—catch!” Richard shouted as he opened the side door on the Gurkha and tossed me the same RPG launcher that Morgana had used earlier on the dozer creatures that had been after us.
I caught the weapon and checked to see if it was loaded—it was and I pointed the weapon at the creature that was now running around the side of the barn and preparing to charge at the Gurkha.
“Get down!” I shouted as I fired the weapon.
The rocket propelled grenade round flew down and hit the creature in the head causing an explosion that spread out and engulfed the northern side of the barn—we almost lost our footing as part of the lower structure started to collapse; I regained my footing and checked on my women, Morgana and Jamie, they were okay but the flames from below had now spread to the loft and I knew that we had a minute or less to escape. I glanced down and seen that the area was littered with burned pieces of the creature and its gore was everywhere—I jumped down onto the top of the Gurkha and waited as Jennifer came down first, then Sheila and Chloe before Morgana and Jamie came last; we all scrambled and got inside of the Gurkha as the entire loft where we had been seconds before was engulfed in flames. Richard put the pedal to the metal and sped away from the barn as the whole upper level collapsed and fell in on itself, we were headed back toward the homestead as the sun was starting to set in the west and we were rounding a corner when Richard took his eyes off the road for a split second—that was when something smashed into us and sent the Gurkha flipping over onto its top and the last thing I heard was the screams of the others as well as Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe before I blacked out. Nightfall had come and Yuri and Marco stood on the tops of the two towers that protected the gate looking out over the fields and woods that surrounded the homestead—they heard Hugo’s voice below and turned to glance down.
“Have either of you seen any sign of Chaz and the others yet?” Hugo called up.
“No…not a sign of them—I wonder if something has gone wrong…” Marco answered as he glanced at Yuri.
“I have bad feeling about this…we should organize search party before much more time passes.” Yuri stated with a troubled look.
“I agree, come on down—we’re going to discuss this with everyone.” Hugo answered as he turned and headed back toward the buildings which were all still illuminated as slight sounds of the running generators could be heard.
Moments later everyone met in the yard near the fire pit and the question of where Chaz’ group was weighed heavy on everyone’s mind.
“They’re not back yet and it’s getting later and later—they should have been back by now…something has happened.” Hugo stated as he stood before the group.
“Have we tried raising them on the CB?” Billy asked as he and Kayla came into the area carrying their weapons.
“Yes and there has been no answer—we need to figure out who is going and go see if we can find them.” Hugo answered glancing at Billy.
“Count me in—that’s my sister out there.” Billy stated as he started gathering his weapons and gear into their hotrod.
“We’re going too, that’s our family out there as well.” Remy stated as she, Mace and Ember stepped up with their rifles in their arms.
Once the discussion was over, Billy, Kayla, Remy, Mace, Ember, Zaine, Hugo, Beau and Regan had declared that they were going—the others would stay and guard the homestead to make sure that the undead mutations or enemy marauder forces didn’t breech their defenses; Billy and Kayla led the way with their hotrod as the others all followed in the Eco-roamer and once they had passed through the gate they headed north along the roadway until they were about a mile from where Chaz and the others had been trapped inside of the barn and that was when they saw the flames of the still burning barn through the trees and Billy turned off and led the way toward it—as they got close they passed by the destroyed remains of the fuel truck trailer and the woods—which were still burning slightly and as they got closer, they could make out the burned out shell of the Mustang that Chaz and his women had been driving and their hearts sank.
“That’s Chaz’ Mustang over in those burning ruins!” Billy shouted over the CB as he smashed through the fence and drove over into the field stopping a short distance from the burning remains.
T
he others followed and they got out with their weapons in hand and they investigated the area, after several long minutes Beau called the others’ attention to fresh tire tracks from where Chaz and the others had fled in the Gurkha.
“These tire tracks look like they are from the Gurkha…that means that they’ve got to be out there somewhere…grab the extinguishers, we need to make sure that no one was in the Mustang.” Hugo instructed as Beau and Zaine turned and grabbed several fire extinguishers from the Eco-roamer and handed them to several other members of the group.
They were shortly after able to cut a path to the passenger side of what was left of the Mustang and they examined the interior of the vehicle.
“There aren’t any bones or anything—even if they had been inside there would have been traces of their bodies…they didn’t die in this fire—that I am certain of.” Hugo stated as he and the others returned to their vehicles.
“Well where the hell are they?” Billy asked in an aggravated tone.
“I would suggest that we follow these tracks and see where they go—it’s our best bet.” Beau stated as he directed their attention back to the tracks in the nearby mud.
Everyone got back inside of their vehicles and they followed the muddy tracks that led back out to the roadway and then southwest before fading out on the pavement—they continued to head south until they came upon a familiar sight; the Gurkha was sitting on the right shoulder of the roadway on its top partially in the ditch and broken glass and pieces of steel and metal were all over the roadway. Everyone got out and quickly ran to the driver’s side of the wreckage and Beau turned on a powerful UV lamp and got down on his knees crawling into the wreckage—seconds later he came back out and shook his head.
“Are they in there?” Billy practically shouted.
“No—there are slight traces of blood here and there but they’re not inside…it looks like they were removed by someone after the wreck.” Beau stated as Remy, Mace and Ember began to weep.
“What the hell happened to them?”
“Were they attacked by those dead-heads and other mutations or what?” Kayla asked as she worked to calm down Billy.
“It looks like someone hit them…look at these tracks over here.” Zaine stated as he knelt down on the pavement nearby.
Everyone walked over to where he was and they saw the burnt rubber tire marks on the road from where someone had hit the brakes only seconds before plowing into the driver’s side of the Gurkha—it looked like whoever had been driving the other vehicle had hit them and then possibly taken them to some unknown location.
“Damn it to hell…”
“What if they were attacked and taken by those fucking marauders?!” Billy shouted as he kicked at the ground in anger.
“That’s a distinct possibility…we have to figure out where they were taken and rescue them before something bad happens to them.” Hugo answered with a troubled look.
“Zaine, is there anywhere around here where those marauders might have taken Chaz and the others?” Beau asked turning to him.
“Yeah…as a matter of fact there is—it’s a warehouse on the other side of the town of Ringgold; the warehouse was rumored to have a secret underground area underneath it—I was only there once when I was one of them, but I should be able to get us there.” Zaine answered in deep thought as he glanced around the group.
“Then let’s go—we can’t waste any more time.” Billy shouted as he and Kayla got back into their hotrod.
The others followed and they turned around and headed north in the direction of the town of Lafayette and the highway that would lead them northeast in the direction of Ringgold. Miles away I found myself in the most uncomfortable position and I fought to open my eyes which seemed to be matted shut with a sticky substance—the upper right side of my face throbbed and I figured that my stitches had probably been torn open; finally I managed to open my eyes and I found that I was in a large room that was vacant at the moment and the others of my group were around me—each one of us was chained to a steel rafter on the ceiling above and we were hanging at least a foot off of the solid concrete floor; I glanced around and noticed that Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe were waking up as well as Richard, Morgana and Jamie. Richard looked like he was hurt bad though and I knew that I had to figure out how to get out of my bindings and get us out of wherever we had been taken; that was when a loud crash got my attention as a steel door opened off to my right and several figures I recognized as marauders entered the room and stood before us as another much larger figure entered behind them—this figure was massive and they were completely cloaked as if trying to hide their identity from us.
The figure came over to me and stood there staring at me, I could make out burning red eyes from underneath the hood that it was wearing.
“Let me fucking guess…you must be Darkbourne.” I stated as I fought the pain I was in from being forced to hang by my wrists from the rafter above.
My comment was followed by eerie laughter and then the figure spoke and I was immediately taken back—I couldn’t believe my ears at what I was hearing for I recognized the voice that was speaking to me; it was the same voice that we had all heard only a few years before when we had traveled to the underground facility in Romania and confronted the horrors there—it was the voice of Nicolas Bowman that now spoke to me.
“H-How are you still alive…?”
“We destroyed you…blew up your hideout…” I choked as I struggled with my bindings.
“I must congratulate you for that effort for it was successful…in a way.” The figure answered in a hollow voice.
“What the hell are you talking about—let us go!” Sheila shouted as she started struggling next to me.
“You people thought that the facility where I done my experiments was as you had seen, but what you didn’t know was that I had created a clone of myself several days before your arrival and hidden it away from your explosives behind a blast door in a secure section of the facility—I was brought back here to the former United States by my subordinates and enhanced; I am far greater than the creature that you destroyed…I ceased to be just Nicolas Bowman…I became Darkbourne!” The figure shouted as it turned and strolled over to stand before Sheila and the others.
“What the fuck do you want with us?!” I shouted drawing his attention back to me.
“Revenge…but don’t worry…I’m not through with you yet by far—you seven will serve me as test subjects for my new viral strain; I call it the ‘Redeemer Strain’ and it will be the final step in my revenge against you and the ones who destroyed my happiness.” The figure answered as it turned and headed back toward the door it had come through.
The marauders that had come with it followed leaving us alone in the room to contemplate the things that had just been said.
“We’ve got to find a way to get out of here—our immunities won’t protect us against whatever that new strain is.” Sheila stated as she continued to struggle against her bindings.
“You guys have immunities toward the infection that those things spread?” Jamie asked as she suddenly stretched her left foot up just a few inches from her mouth.
“Yes—but…what are you doing?” I answered as I noticed her activities.
“I have a pocket knife in my sock…give me a minute and I’ll try to pick the locks on our manacles.” Jamie answered as she used her mouth to retrieve the knife from her sock and she used her right hand to grab the knife before inserting it into the keyhole of her manacle.
We watched as she soon had her hands free and she quickly got us all down before I led the way to the back of the room where it was hidden from view of the door at the far end of the room that Darkbourne and the marauder forces had used minutes before; I glanced up and noticed an air duct above us that was covered with an old vent grating that had several screws missing.
“Are you okay,
Richard?” Morgana asked with a worried expression as she glanced at Richard who held his left side with a pained expression.
“I’ll live…just need to get out of this place.” He answered casually.
“There—that’s our best chance…we have to find a way out of here and get back to warn the others.” I stated as I used a nearby crate to boost myself up to the metal grating.
Once I had removed the grating and climbed inside of the air duct I pulled up Jennifer, Sheila and Chloe and then helped Morgana, Jamie and Richard before turning and leading the way down the bleak and somewhat tight space—I came to what seemed like the first vent opening and I peering down through the cracks and seen armed marauder soldiers patrolling the area as what looked like scientists and other lab workers worked in biohazard contamination suits; it looked like they were working on viral research.
“What’s down there?” Jennifer asked from beside of me as Sheila, Chloe and the other three came up behind us.
“It looks like a viral development area—there are a lot of marauders down there with guns…we need to find someplace where it’s safe and find some weapons of our own; I have a feeling that we’re going to have to fight our way out of here.” I answered back in a whisper.
“I wonder what that Redeemer Strain was that that asshole mentioned…” Richard whispered back with a worried expression on his face.
“I don’t know but it sounded like it was more dangerous than both the T.H.C.A.I.A Toxin as well as the M.I.M.T.W.B.C.A Strains…whatever this Redeemer Strain is, I have a bad feeling about it.” I answered as I glanced at him before continuing ahead through the air duct.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 56
