[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “How many more of those assholes are there?” Garry asked as he focused his gaze on Billy.

  “I killed all of the ones that I could see—the front entrance yard looks clear, there are more likely further inside of the structure though.” Billy answered as he grabbed his weapons and gear helping Kayla with hers as well as their daughter Madison.

  I helped Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and April with their weapons and gear and then helped Remy, Mace and Ember with theirs before turning to aiding my younger kids; once everyone was ready I hit the control button on the side panel for the rear door to open and we waited as it opened with some trouble—stepping outside I noticed that there were a lot of bodies, almost too many to walk through and the air smelled bad.

  “Doesn’t look like those marauder assholes stood much of a chance here…I hope that there’s not something inside that we can’t handle.” I stated with a worried look on my face.

  I led the way to what looked like the entrance and I checked to see if the door would open, after several seconds I found that the door was wedged shut by something on the inside and it wouldn’t open more than a few inches—I took out my LED flashlight and shined it into the crack of the door and that was when hands covered by blood and rotting flesh suddenly shot out at me forcing me to jump back in alarm; whatever it was that was blocking the door seemed to also be keeping the dead-heads from getting out and I knew that unless there was another way inside of this place that it was useless to us.

  “Is there any other way inside?” Richard asked as he and Morgana came up to stand beside of me and my women.

  “There’s a secondary exit on the northwestern side over there—let’s go and check to see if it is still accessible.” Amy stated as she took the lead with her assault rifle in hand.

  We all followed her and she led us to what she was talking about—it turned out to be what appeared to be a loading dock, the steel shutter doors were more than halfway pulled down and when we got close to the entrance several dead-heads and other mutations came at us from inside of the complex; I seen that several of them were the creatures that I had briefly seen in the barn when we had been trapped just about a week before. Those were joined by what seemed like slow-moving shamblers that moved a lot slower than the zombies we were accustomed to dealing with—I aimed my M16 at the incoming mutations and put several rounds in their upper torso area and then in their heads which killed them; Chloe pointed her magnums at the others and fired putting bullet holes through each of their heads killing them. Once the creatures had been dealt with, I grabbed hold of the steel shutter and pushed it up until it was completely open and then I turned to the others and Beau seemed to know what I had in mind—he nodded and left back toward where we had left the M1134 Stryker followed by Emily; shortly after he pulled the vehicle around and then the rest of us directed him into the complex and once everyone was inside we shut the steel shutter doors and Beau turned on the bright lights of the APC which in turn illuminated the room around us.

  “Shit…there’s blood everywhere…” Sheila stated as she picked up her feet looking down at the floor beneath us.

  She was right, the concrete floor was covered with blood and we were standing in front of a large splotch of it that went off down a corridor to the left—it looked like someone had been dragged away from this spot and down that corridor; the smell of decay was thick and I knew that we were going to have to venture into the structure to find out where the undead were in order to clear them out—a task that I personally wasn’t looking forward to.

  “We’re going to have to scout this place and clear those fuckers out—this place is useless to us as long as those things occupy it.” I stated as I turned to the others.

  The others nodded and checked their ammo supply before we all gathered into a group.

  “The main group needs to stay here with the kids and hold this position—we’ll head into the structure to take care of the dead-heads and other mutations.” I advised as I glanced at my younger kids and then at my parents.

  Xavier, Darc Aiden and Scarlet went to stand with their grandparents as Billy and Kayla sent Madison over with them as well—I glanced at Remy, Mace and Ember and they nodded as they obviously knew what I wanted them to do; they clutched their Dragunov Sniper rifles and climbed up onto the top of the M1134 Stryker where they positioned themselves where they could shoot at anything that came through the doorway where we would be heading.

  “The rest of you might want to wait inside of the APC; once we get inside of those corridors we won’t be able to keep much of an eye on the area behind us.” I stated as I glanced at my dad.

  “That’s a good idea and sounds like it would be safest in there.” He answered as he and my mom started hustling my kids and the others back into the armored vehicle.

  My women gathered around me with their weapons in hand as Hugo, Beau, Amy and most of the other Covenant One members gathered their weapons and gear and done the same, I nodded and turned leading the way into the dark corridor that stretched away from where we had entered and my instincts told me to follow the blood trail that veered off to the left—there were bullet holes in just about every section of the wall that we passed and the blood and gore was starting to be more and more evident; that was when we rounded a corner and came face to face with what looked like over three dozen zombies and other mutations that were feeding off a large pile of marauder corpses that lay in the middle of the floor a few feet ahead of us. The creatures turned and noticed us and our lights shining on them and several of them let out the notorious scream as they got up and lunged toward us—I pointed my assault rifle at their heads and opened fire splattering brains as my women opened fire beside of me and the others around us; within moments all of the dead-heads were slain and the area was covered with even more blood and gore than it had been previously. Most of the marauder corpses were so badly chewed up that you could hardly tell that they had been living people and I smiled at the notion of what had happened—these assholes had served a maniacal madman who had created the plague that had damn near wiped out the human race and turned them into homicidal flesh-eating monsters; I found that it was appropriate that they should fall by the hands of their own creations.

  I aimed my M16 at the heads of the few corpses that were still intact and I put rounds in each of their heads—I knew that we didn’t need to have to worry about reanimates rising up behind us once we had passed. I led the way past the pile of carnage and down the corridor in a northwestern direction and we soon after came to what appeared to have been a mess hall for the marauder forces that had been holed up in this place—no more had we entered the massive room and shined our flashlights around when a horrible growing sound came from behind a table off in the western corner; I quickly shined my light in that direction that was when we saw what had made the sound. A creature that we hadn’t seen before rose up off the floor where it had been feeding on the severed arm of a marauder soldier and it turned and snarled at us—its head had large curved horns on it and its face was twisted and mutated, savage fangs could be seen in its mouth as blood and pieces of flesh dropped out; as I studied the rest of its body I seen that its torso and arms were that of a man but the lower half was that of a goat.

  “More mutations seem to be popping up all over the place…Darkbourne has been busy.” Hugo stated as he aimed his assault rifle at the creature and opened fire on it.

  The powerful bullets tore into its head causing it to fall backward to the floor where it tore about for a few seconds before becoming perfectly still.

  “There are more than likely more of those goat men things around here—let’s push forward and see what else is further in.” I stated as I shifted my attention to the doorway nearby that looked to lead into another corridor.

  Over the next few hours we forged our way through the infested structure killing whatever we found and it was finally around 3am the next morning when we f
inally killed the last mutation inside of the compound and I radioed back to the rest of the group at the APC of our progress; it took several more minutes for the others to make it into the mess hall where we had killed the Goatman creature and as we met up with them they looked around the area with worried expressions.

  “This place is covered with gore…are you guys sure that it’s safe in here?” My dad asked in a concerned tone as he exchanged glances with my mom.

  “It’s as safe as it can be for right now—we’re going to need everyone to team up and help clear this place out; we found a laboratory area toward the center of the compound that has adequate equipment for us to begin work on a possible cure to the Redeemer Strain.” I answered as everyone gathered around me.

  There was a little more chatter amongst the others before they started working on clearing out the mess that has been made by the undead onslaught and finally by morning most of the area had been cleared out including the barracks where everyone would be sleeping—we took the bodies of the marauders as well as the dead-heads and other mutations that we had killed and we dumped them into a pile in the rear lot of the compound; that entire area was fenced off with a sturdy fence luckily so we knew that we wouldn’t have to worry as much about a breech occurring from that side.

  “We better burn those bodies sooner or later—the stink is going to intensify if we just leave them like that.” Beau stated as he used a black bandana from his pants pocket to wipe the beading sweat from his face.

  “Yeah, good idea—let’s get that done before we head back inside.” I answered as I took out the cigarette lighter that I kept in my pants pocket for emergencies.

  Marco grabbed the nearby gas canister and started dousing the pile of dead bodies with the fuel and after he was finished I put the flame of the lighter to a piece of crumpled up paper that I had picked up inside and then once it was burning I tossed it over onto the bodies; we watched as the pile of corpses went up in towering flames and then we turned and headed back inside satisfied that that task was complete. Over the next several days we worked to fortify the exits that we found around the compound as well as finish cleaning up the traces of blood and gore that had been left behind since our arrival—Amy and a few of the other Covenant One members who understood basic chemistry holed up in the laboratory and began work on what they hoped would turn out to be a cure to the Redeemer Strain; Amy was using the information that Desiree had left and things seemed to look promising. Time seemed to pass off rather quickly, at least that is the way it seemed to me as the rest of the group spread out around us in the compound—Jennifer as well as Sheila and April had recently learned that they were pregnant and I smiled at the thought that in a matter of months my family would once again expand; I often had to shake the troubling thought that one of our children could be born mutated from the Redeemer Strain in our bodies and I was often forced to put my mind on something else until the thought of that had passed. Many months later I sat with my women at the monitoring station on the top floor of the main guard tower watching the landscape around our fortress when Sheila called my attention to movement down in the trees just off to the left of the main wall of the compound—I tightened my coat and grabbed the nearby binoculars looking where she was pointing and I was forced to cover my face as the harsh March wind blew in through the open nearby window of the tower.

  “Shit…it’s a marauder…looks like he hasn’t sniffed us out yet but if he keeps poking around he will.” I stated as I turned to my women setting the binoculars aside.

  “Baby…I’m having contractions…they are getting closer and closer apart…” Jennifer stated all of a sudden.

  I glanced at her and then noticed that Sheila and April were going through the same thing, I quickly grabbed the CB microphone and called down to Hugo and the others below.

  “Hugo—there’s a marauder snooping about outside not far to the left of the front wall; I would handle it myself but I need to get Jennifer, Sheila and April down to the infirmary because they are going into labor!” I stated into the receiver.

  “Alright, we’ll take care of the marauder—you take all the time you need.” Hugo’s voice answered on the other end.

  I sat the CB microphone aside and grabbed Jennifer’s hand as well as Sheila and April’s and Chloe helped me get them down to the room that had been set up as an infirmary months before; it took us several long minutes to get down there and once they were lying on cots my mom came inside as well as my sister, Regan and Kira and they helped start the delivery process. After around 36 hours I finally heard the sounds of multiple babies crying and I woke from the light dose I had been in and got up going to Jennifer, Sheila and April and I saw that we had three new children—one boy and two girls.

  “Let’s name the boy Avalon…” April stated as she smiled up at me after my mom had placed our son in her arms.

  “That sounds good.” I stated as I leaned down and kissed her for a few seconds before turning to Jennifer and Sheila who were each holding our new daughters.

  “Lorraine Arianna will be her name—after their grandmother.” Sheila stated with a smile as I kissed her as well.

  “Courtney—I’ve always liked that name.” Jennifer stated as our attention turned to her and the newborn girl she held.

  That was when the CB radio nearby came to life with Hugo’s voice and I turned and glanced at it remembering what had been going on right before my women had started going into labor hours before.

  “I’m here—what’s the status of the marauder that we spotted?” I asked into the CB.

  “We captured him and subdued him—he’s in the storage room just off from the mess hall under heavy guard.” Hugo answered on the other end.

  “I’ll be right there—we have to figure out why this asshole was snooping around here.” I answered as I turned and glanced at Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and April.

  After I was sure that they were okay I left the room and headed down to the room where the marauder prisoner was and Hugo, Beau, Billy and Richard met me at the door and we went inside together; the marauder looked up at us hatefully and I could tell that he was one of the elite commandos like the Chryse woman had been.

  “Beat me all you want to…you won’t get shit outta me!” He shouted as he spit across the room narrowly missing me.

  Hugo quickly struck him across the right side of his face with his gloved fist causing the man to hang his head as a large stream of blood poured out of his mouth.

  “You can make this easy on yourself by just telling us why you are here and what you assholes have been up to.” I stated as I stepped up before the man.

  “Fuck you!” The marauder prisoner shouted as he spit at me again this time hitting me in the face.

  I swiftly drew my magnum and bashed him across the face with the barrel of it before wiping the bloody spit from my face.

  “String him up—this fucker is going to tell us what we want to know.” I commanded as Beau and Billy picked the man up by his bound arms and they tied ropes to his bound hands and pulled him up to where he was standing with his arms stretched out above his head.

  “D-Do whatever you want to me…I’ll tell you nothing!” The marauder prisoner stated as he glared at me.

  “We’ll see—start cutting on him, piece by piece until he talks and tells us what we want to know.” I stated handing Beau my combat knife.

  As I headed for the door of the room I noticed the horrified look on the marauder prisoner’s face as he gazed upon the knife that Beau now held out before him.

  “Last chance to talk before I start cutting on you…what’s it gonna be?” Beau stated as I opened the door and left the room.

  I once again heard the prisoner scream the words ‘fuck you!’ but this time the defiance that had been in his tone earlier was gone and he sounded terrified—as I walked back toward the infirmary I could hear him screaming in agony as Be
au and the others interrogating him started cutting into his body with my combat knife and I could say that I felt nothing for him; I went into one of the nearby bathrooms and washed my face thoroughly feeling better once I had gotten all of the remnants of the bloody spit off of my face and then I left heading back and I opened the door to the infirmary and entered going up to the cots where Jennifer, Sheila and April were resting.

  “What’s all of that noise out there babe?” Chloe asked as she wrapped her arms around me.

  “Beau and a few others are interrogating the marauder prisoner—he still refuses to talk, he was refusing to tell us any information on why he came here so we moved to the next step…torture.” I answered as I stared down into her eyes.

  “I see…I hope that we can find out something soon, it makes me nervous knowing that a marauder elite found this place—that could mean that others might come looking for him.” Chloe answered with a worried expression.

  “I know babe, that’s why I am hoping that this method will grant some results—how are the girls by the way?” I answered as I turned my glance to Jennifer, Sheila and April who were now awake and sitting up on their cots.