[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “First of all, get ahold of yourself—panic will get people killed.” Josiah scolded as he briefly glared at her.

  “What I figure is that this thing—whatever it was that burst out of that corpse back there, it headed for the water and made its way to the outpost…then it somehow made itself look like the scout that had been sent out and obviously been killed and consumed; it then waited until the right moment to attack.” Amy stated in that technical tone of hers.

  “So, this thing not only has the ability to copy the appearance of anyone it devours but also to swim?” Peter Logan asked turning toward Amy.

  “That’s right…which makes this particular creature far deadlier than anything else we’ve seen before—it practically places it into the super-weapon class.” Amy explained as she opened her laptop computer and started going over the data from years before that we had gathered from Bowman’s lair and other facilities.

  “Nicolas Bowman and his clone Darkbourne are long gone, but their legacy lives on and soon it may be the one thing that snuffs out the human race altogether…” Hugo stated in a melancholy tone.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, people—we’ve faced down and destroyed plenty of bioweapons in the years since the fall of 2000; first order of business is to break out the heavy shit and get our asses back to the outpost and assess the damage and the death toll—then when we find that slimy fuck we’ll send it straight to hell.” I stated in a firm tone that seemed to renew the morale of the entire group.

  “Let’s not waste time then—let’s go.” Josiah added as he led his group back to their vehicle.

  I turned to the others of my group and they started preparing the strongest weapons we had in our possession—which included the AT4 rocket launchers and several regular RPGs; we made sure that our regular weapons were loaded and then we started back following Josiah and the others and within half an hour we arrived at the bridge; once we got to the entrance we pulled our vehicles up side by side and we got out with our weapons out and ready. The blood and gore was thick—it was all over the walls and the ground, chunks and pieces of bodies were here and there and they were so torn up that it was hard to believe that they had once been living, breathing human beings—part of the courtyard was also burning as it looked like there had been some kind of an explosion; a thick trail of blood and carnage could be seen leading into the ramparts and we cautiously followed it aware that this thing could jump out at us at any given moment. I could feel the tension in the air and I could tell that the others were afraid—something that I hadn’t really noticed too many times in the past, it made my skin crawl almost knowing that even after everything that we had faced and survived that this was the one thing that was damn near getting the better of us. We made it to what Josiah and the others recognized as the main assembly hall on the first floor and that was when we saw it—something massive and grotesque was attached to the wall above the wooden beams of the ceiling, it looked like some kind of sickening tumor that was somehow defying the laws of gravity completely.

  “Baby…” I whispered as I turned to glance at Chloe.

  She nodded and came up beside of me holding the M32 grenade launcher that she had used before and she waited with the weapon pointed at the mass on the wall as Josiah and the others of his group spread out in a firing line—seconds later I gave her the signal and she fired several rounds into the sickening mass that seemed to be absorbed into it; seconds later they exploded showering the entire area with slime and other putrid liquid. That was when something massive fell out of the mass and hit the stone floor underneath it with a loud thud—whatever this thing was, it slowly stood up and when our lights touched its body we could make out the same features that the corpse had that we had found in the woods near Fort Franklin—it was the same damned thing.

  “Fuck me sideways!” Billy shouted as the thing roared a deafening sound as it started lumbering toward us.

  “Kill the fucking thing!” I shouted as I opened fire with my assault rifle.

  The others did as well and as each round tore through its body we were able to drive it back against the wall—the thing suddenly shot out some sort of spine things that hit several of Josiah’s men impaling them; Chloe fired her grenade launcher again and the explosive rounds hit the creature in the upper torso area blowing a massive hole in its body as it fell to the floor oozing a pool of putrid, black blood. Josiah was checking on Michael, Lisa, Zachary, Hannah and Steele who had all been hit by the spines to find that they had been killed almost instantly—Josiah got to his feet with a bewildered look on his face and walked over to the nearby wall where a weapons cache was, he took out a long weapon that was soon after identified as a makeshift flamethrower. He shouldered the weapon and then started dragging the bodies outside into the courtyard, I helped him as did several others of my group and not long after that, he used the flamethrower torching the bodies—he stood there the whole time with a glassy look in his eyes as he watched half of his team burn; other bodies were soon added to the pile as we soon discovered that almost all of the other inhabitants of the outpost had been killed as well—only a small few had escaped the grisly fate.

  “I’m not fit to lead anymore…look what has happened to the people under my protection in just one night…” Josiah stated early the next morning as he stood before the fireplace in the first-floor meeting hall.

  “This could have happened to anyone—even us—those damned bioweapons are dangerous and they are getting more and more so as time passes by; you couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” I stated as I stood nearby with my women and the rest of my group.

  “Thanks for the consoling words…but this is it for me, I’m relinquishing command over to you from this point on—this is your place now…I hope that you can defend it better than I did.” Josiah stated in a broken tone as he and the other four of his remaining friends turned and left out the front entrance.

  I was shocked at his words—he had been one of the people who had built this place all those years ago and now just because he had suffered a loss he was just up and leaving.

  “I don’t know what to say…I mean, I understand how he feels but to just throw in the towel now just because he lost people…doesn’t make any sense.” I stated with a troubled brow.

  “We all deal with this sort of thing differently—to him, those people were his family and now that they’re dead I can see why he wouldn’t care to even stay here any longer.” Beau stated in deep thought.

  “Well—we’ve got a lot of work to do to try and make this place safe…we’re going to have to start sending out more radio transmissions to see if we can’t get more survivors in here; not to mention go out into the nearby lands and get as much supplies as we can find…that includes vehicles, ammunition—whatever else we can get.” I stated turning to face my entire group.

  Over the next few days we got the areas of the fortress we now resided over better fortified and we were able to go out to the southwestern areas not far from the Yukon Territory border and we were able to find more food supplies as well as a military installation where we found mountable parameter guns and a large stockpile of ammo—we knew that our guns would only be good for so much longer before they would become obsolete due to the supply of ammunition running out; it was around June 14, 2020 when a group of mostly female survivors arrived at our fortress and they described that they had heard one of the most recent radio transmissions that we had sent out and that they had come from different parts of what had formally been the United States as well as areas of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They were led by a young woman with long dark hair—she had blue eyes and her name was Sara Foster; her other companions included Victoria Bloom, Maggie Thomas, Lacey Maclure, Kristen Ross, Jason Blake, Danielle Burke, Chelsea Brandon, Amelia Chase and Amanda Jackson. They all seemed like they were capable of fighting and defending themselves and a couple of them were carrying a variety of we
apons including both assault rifles and melee weapons—I was a little apprehensive at first remembering that the marauder forces that once worked for both Bowman and Darkbourne were still out there and that it wouldn’t take very much for one of them to pose as a survivor and infiltrate our ranks; due to this we spent long hours talking to the new arrivals after they settled in to get an idea on them and where they came from.

  “I know that it seems like we don’t trust you guys, but we’ve had to deal with marauder forces in the past and we can’t take any chances.” I stated as I sat at a wooden table surrounded by my women and Angel as the new people sat before us.

  “It’s okay—we’ve had the misfortune of dealing with them too…they stalk the wastelands pillaging and burning, raping and murdering—as if those dead things outside weren’t enough for the survivors of the zombie apocalypse to have to deal with.” Sara answered with a dark look.

  “You’re welcome to stay here and help defend this place—there really aren’t many places these days for survivors like us to go.” Jennifer stated as she glanced at my other women and then back at me.

  We left to let the newcomers settle in and returned to the room that had formally belonged to Josiah that we had since claimed since his departure from the outpost—I could tell that a storm was brewing because the wind was picking up and blowing through the nearby opened window—I quickly shut it as the wind was cold for this time of the year.

  “I tend to forget that we’re in the Arctic Circle…” I stated as I glanced out across the distant waters of Great Bear Lake.

  “I wonder if all that thirty days of darkness during the winter time up in this part of the world is true?” Roxanne stated as she sat down on the edge of our bed nearby.

  “I don’t know—I wouldn’t be surprised if it was…good thing that we’re still in what should be considered the summer months.” I answered as I sat down next to her as my other women and Angel gathered around us.

  “Are you guys sure that you want me in your relationship?” Angel asked from behind me.

  “Yes—we’ve already accepted you.” Jennifer answered as she glanced around at the others.

  “Hugo told me earlier that they’re planning on heading west across Yukon Territory toward Alaska—he thinks that there might be a military base in that direction that could have the vehicles and things that we need to secure this place.” I stated in deep thought as I stared ahead into the flickering flames of the nearby fireplace.

  “That’s quite a trip—even from here…” Sheila stated in deep thought.

  “It’s probably about like us going back to Saskatoon and then back here again—really perilous mountains in that direction though…the chances of them having trouble on the way are high.” I answered still in deep thought.

  “After what happened a few months ago with that bioweapon, I don’t think that it’s a good idea for any of us to be leaving out—especially to somewhere that far off.” Chloe stated with a troubled tone.

  “I’d have to agree…until we can get more people here it’s going to hurt us more than help us to have half of the group leave to make a run that far away.” Sheila stated.

  “I’ll talk to them about it—we have started to make this place more fortified than what it was before, if we have to do a big run like that then maybe it can wait until winter.” I answered as I got up and headed for the door to the outside hallway.

  My women went about preparing some food inside of our room behind me as I opened the door and closed it again behind me heading toward where I figured Hugo and the other few Covenant One members would be—I was coming around a corner when I spotted Chelsea Brandon, she was coming toward me with a satchel slung over her shoulder and when her eyes met mine she smiled.

  “Hey, good looking.” She stated as she briefly rose up the left side of the white wife-beater top she was wearing and flashed me.

  I was taken back by this—I simply smiled and greeted her as she passed by me and I could feel her eyes one me as I went toward my destination; I arrived at the lounge area where Hugo and several of the others were and I could tell that they were serious about heading out.

  “Guys—I came to see if I couldn’t talk you into waiting until a later time to do this…we’ve just barely gotten on our feet here since the incident a few months ago; we’re going to need everyone here to defend this place in case something else were to happen.” I stated as their eyes met mine.

  “I understand that, Chaz—but the longer we wait without the proper means of defending ourselves the more we stand the chance of total defeat…that bridge out front lined with explosives isn’t going to keep a horde out of this place and even if we blow the bridge, all it’ll do is isolate us to where we can’t get fresh supplies in here.” Hugo stated as he stopped what he was doing to face me.

  “He’s right—this trip is to ensure that this place stays standing, we have to not only find more food and supplies but also more weapons…I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but it feels like we’ve been going in reverse instead of going forward—we’ve been steadily being forced back to living like we’re in the dark ages and something’s gotta change.” Beau added as he came over to stand by Hugo.

  “I can’t stop you from going, but if you do just watch your asses and get back here safe when you find whatever it is that you find.” I answered after several long minutes of debating the issue with them.

  “We will…count on it.” Hugo answered as he patted my left shoulder before heading to the driver’s side of the Zetros.

  “Josiah had an old map that shows a supply trail that they were using that heads west through Yukon Territory—it’s gonna be tricky with the elevation but we really don’t have any other choice at this point.” Beau stated as he showed me a wrinkled map with a red line drawn on it.

  “I’ve decided to go with them—we’ve decided I should say.” Richard stated as he and Morgana stepped up to me carrying their gear and weapons.

  I nodded knowing that I would just have to have faith that the people I had come to count on would return safe—I watched as Richard and Morgana got into their modified RV that they had come in and started the engine while Beau and Amy joined Hugo in the Zetros; minutes later the two vehicles left out the front and headed away from the outpost.

  “I sure hope and pray that this isn’t the last time we see each other…” I stated to myself as I watched them disappear into the distance.

  I turned and headed back up toward my room where I knew my women were waiting and it took me several long minutes to get there and when I did I saw that Chelsea was there talking to Rachel and Roxanne while Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe, Shae and Angel prepared food on plates around the table that was near the corner with the windows; Rachel got to her feet as I entered the room and came over to me wrapping her arms around my shoulders and neck kissing me passionately before holding out an object that as first I didn’t recognize until I seen that it was a pregnancy test—it was positive.

  “You’re pregnant?” I asked with a smile after we had stopped kissing momentarily.

  “Yes, baby—as far as I can tell about three and a half months.” Rachel answered with an excited tone of voice.

  “That’s great—I just hope that I can keep you and everyone else here safe…” I answered kissing her again before turning and heading over to the table.

  “You seem kind of down…what did Hugo and the others say?” Jennifer asked as she sat down next to me.

  “They left to carry out their plans of heading through Yukon Territory and then into Alaska…I didn’t try to stop them; I pleaded my case and then they made up their minds to carry through with it.” I answered as I stared at the food on the plate before me.

  “I see…I guess we’ll just have to make do with the lack of manpower—hopefully we’ve fortified this place enough to where nothing else like what happened a few months ago happe
ns again.” Jennifer answered biting her lower lip in what seemed like frustration.

  “We’ve been through tough times before—we’ll manage.” Sheila answered as she started eating her food.

  “At least we’re not having to be out on the road traveling again…” Shae stated with a smile.

  “I kind of wish that we were—at least if we were all out together, we’d be able to watch each other’s backs…this is just not knowing what’s happening out there…” Chloe stated with a melancholy look.

  “We’ll just have to trust Hugo, Beau, Amy, Richard and Morgana to be safe on the road and to accomplish what they set out to do—I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, those Covenant One members are tough as nails and they definitely know how to handle themselves.” I stated as I started eating.

  “How long have you guys been traveling the wastelands?” Chelsea asked as she joined us at the table.

  “Since the beginning pretty much—we weren’t in any of the major cities really but I can vividly remember when those dead-head assholes started attacking and eating the living…at first they were somewhat slow, you would only see them sprinting if they were riled up and hungry—since then they have evolved into what they are now and we have all these other crazy mutations running around ape shit…” I explained as I thought back on the days long gone.

  “Sounds about like it was for everyone still alive these days—the cities were a nightmare…I can remember being at my boyfriend’s house when the shit hit the fan so to speak…he of course ran off to save his own ass and left me to fend for myself.” Chelsea stated with a distant look on her eyes.

  She brushed her long, dark-brown hair from her face and looked to wipe a small tear from her eyes.

  “Sorry to hear about that—everyone’s been through the wringer at some point since all this shit began…sometimes it seems like a nightmare that never ends no matter how much time passes…we took down the man who was responsible for creating the zombie apocalypse and his clone that followed but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference really.” I answered with a distant look as my gaze went to the nearby window as rain began to pummel the outside of the glass.