[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “Let’s check this lodge out—if it’s safe enough we might be able to use it as a temporary base of operations while we’re searching for supplies.” I stated as I led the way out of our vehicle up to the back door to the building with my assault rifle ready.

  My women and the others followed closely and I checked the knob on the door finding that it was locked—I quickly took out my combat knife and started working on the door and within a minute or so it opened with a creak and I led the way inside with my flashlight shining ahead brightly; the place was in shambles and here and there I caught sight of bones and old remains of what had once been people, there was also a fair share of dried blood here and there and some of it was even smeared on the walls.

  “The air in here smells stagnant—which means that it’s been closed up for a long time…looks like there might have been survivors here at one point or another but they’ve been gone for a long time.” Billy stated as he looked over the scarce traces of food trash and empty beverage containers here and there.

  As we moved through the first-floor areas, we also noticed that there were old, dirty sleeping bags here and even sections of clothes line stretched across certain areas where articles of clothing still hung.

  “Kind of looks like whoever was here left in a hurry…” Chelsea stated as she and my other women clung to me nervously.

  A crash of thunder startled me as we all glanced toward the nearest window to see that a heavy downpour of rain had started coming down and lightning was flashing constantly—I knew that our vehicles would benefit from this but I was starting to question the weather patterns as of late; I turned back to what I had been doing and we finished our sweep of the first floor, I then led my women up the staircase in the foyer to the second floor and as we went we found more of the same.

  “More of the same…looks like there were a lot of people hiding in here at one time; I wonder what the hell happened to them all…” Billy stated as he and the others trailed behind us.

  “The world happened…it’s the same thing that happened back home in the states as well as all over the world—the outbreak went global and over the years since then more and more people trying to survive out there have died off.” I answered in a distant tone as I looked over a nearby object that was covered in old, dried blood—it was a baby’s car seat.

  “We might be able to board up these windows and secure the doors—like you said before—use it as a temporary base of operations while we’re hunting for food and other supplies.” Darrell stated in deep thought.

  “Let’s get to work and see what we can do…” I answered as I turned and started searching around the area for pieces of wood and anything else that we could use.

  My women joined me as the others spread out around the second floor and over the next several minutes we managed to find a few 2x4s, a few pieces of sturdy plywood and some wire fencing—Clancy and Thomas found a large container of nails and three hammers; I was heading toward one of the far windows on the third floor when I was suddenly startled as a dark figure darted out in front of me into another room, I grabbed my assault rifle from where I had it slung over my shoulder and I pointed it ahead and I ran after the figure and I arrived in a room that overlooked the city. That was when the figure came at me wildly swinging a large knife at my face—I deflected the blows from the blade and countered by bashing them with the butt of my weapon, which knocked them back into the wall; it looked like hitting the wall had knocked the breath from them as they lay there on the floor panting, that was when I shined my flashlight on them seeing that it was a young woman probably no more than 23 or 24 years of age. She had long wavy brown hair and blue eyes—she had pouty lips and a nose ring as well as a large silver hoop in her right earlobe; her entire right arm up to shoulder was covered with a tattoo sleeve and she wore tattered pieces of clothing.

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked still pointing my assault rifle at her.

  My women and Billy came running up into the room behind me as they had obviously heard the scuffle.

  “Who the hell is this and how did she get in here?” Billy asked in a confused tone.

  “I don’t know who she is—she tried to attack me a minute ago…I saw her running through the darkness and followed her in here—then she tried to kill me with that knife.” I answered as I used my boot to kick the knife away from the mysterious woman.

  “You’re lucky he didn’t kill you yet—speak—who are you and what are you doing in here?!” Jennifer demanded in an angry tone as she stared down at the woman.

  The woman got this defiant look on her face and looked away and it was obvious that we weren’t going to get anything out of her like this—I knew that whoever she was that she was a visible threat to us though, I grabbed a plastic tie from my bag and pulled the woman to her feet and with Billy’s help, I bound her hands behind her back and then we hustled her out of the room back down to the first floor where Darrell and the others had set up an area for us to all sleep; they had gathered cinderblocks and placed them on the stone floor in a square formation and they had a warm fire burning.

  “Who’s that?” Clancy asked as he noticed us prodding the mysterious female in front of us.

  “I guess she’s a survivor—we don’t know who she is because she refuses to talk.” I answered as I directed the woman to sit on the floor as I bound her feet together the same way that I had done so with her hands.

  “Hmm…I guess she could be part of whoever was here before—the ones who left all those ratty-looking sleeping bags and whatnot.” Sheila stated with a worried look.

  “We need to find food and supplies—that storm out there is going to complicate things I’m afraid and we have no way of contacting anyone back at the fortress or even getting ahold of Hugo and the others…we’re completely cut off.” I stated as I rummaged through the food items that we had recently found.

  “I found these in the kitchen area—not sure who they belonged to…but at least it’s something.” Kari stated handing me three cans of baked beans.

  “Good—we’ll have to see if we can’t find something more here in a bit…a city like this has got to have supplies and such tucked away somewhere.” I answered taking them from her.

  I proceeded to open the three cans and then place them on the makeshift cooking rack that Darrell had made out of a couple of metal clothes hangers.

  “Why did you people come here…this city is a death trap…” The woman suddenly stated as her eyes darted around at each one of us before they returned to me.

  “Are you ready to communicate now?” I asked turning to glance her way.

  “Just let me go…you guys can stay here and I’ll find another place—too much noise will lure one of those things here…” She answered turning away avoiding my question completely.

  “One of those things…?”

  “What are you rambling on about?” Rachel asked as she and my other women clung to me shivering.

  “You haven’t seen them…?”

  “Surprising…they’re all over this city and this valley…” The woman continued in a vague manner.

  “Mind elaborating on what the hell it is that you know?” I asked in a tone that probably screamed that I was getting aggravated at all this vagueness.

  “There are creatures roaming around this city that are huge…they probably stand as tall as an office building or taller—they have these long, pointed things protruding from both of their arms that they use to pretty much tear through whatever is in their way…their bodies are covered with a thick armor-like shell that makes them almost invincible…” The woman answered as she stared off into the distance.

  “Sounds like what Beau was telling me about—he said that they had encountered the same things on their trip to Anchorage…” I stated with a troubled look.

  “After hearing that, I’m not so sure of how safe we are here—a bi
oweapon of that size could smash through our barricades no matter how strong we make them…” Clancy stated as sweat poured down his forehead.

  “We don’t have much choice—we came here to find supplies for our fortress and the others back home, we can’t just tuck tail and run away empty handed.” I answered in a firm tone.

  “There’s a shopping mall over on the northwestern side of this city where you might find what you’re after…that’s one place that the group I was a part of wasn’t able to infiltrate—those dead things were so many over that way…” The woman stated hanging her head.

  “What happened to the group you were with?” Billy asked raising his right eyebrow.

  “They were all killed—some turned and came back as those things…I fled and hid here in this building…that’s been about two weeks ago now.” The woman answered glancing up at him as tears were visible in her eyes.

  “You can come with us as long as you don’t try to attack one of us again—we’re with a lot larger of a group back at our fortress on Great Bear Lake in Northwest Territories.” I stated as I strolled over to her and cut the bindings from her hands and feet.

  She got to her feet and looked us over—me mainly before she turned and headed back toward the third floor; figuring that she wanted to go her own way, I shrugged and turned back to my women and the others—I grabbed one of the cans of beans off the fire and ate some of it before passing the rest to Jennifer so she and my other women could have some. The storm was still raging outside and parts of the ceiling above us were leaking really bad and as I lay back on the bedding that we had brought from our marauder I started to wonder if this place was even worth staying in—I knew that we needed to find supplies and food as soon as we could and leave in case those bioweapons sniffed us out; I soon after started drifting off to sleep as my women curled up around me. I awoke sometime later that night to the sound of slight rain, it sounded like the storm had died down considerably and I got up from my spot grabbing the lantern and heading toward the restrooms I had seen on the second floor—I noticed that Darrell and Kari were on watch at the opposite end of the room we had been in and I didn’t think much about it as I climbed the stairs and headed in the direction of the restrooms; I got there heading into the one marked ‘men’ and I sat my lantern on the sink and started to take care of my business before heading back out where I was surprised to bump into the young woman from earlier as she was coming out of the women’s bathroom.

  “My name is Ivy…Ivy Singleton…sorry that I tried to kill you before.” She stated as she stood leaning against the wall close to where I stood.

  “Chaz Watkins—it’s okay, I don’t hold that against you—you didn’t know who I was.” I answered noticing her posture and body language.

  “You said that you have an outpost back at Great Bear Lake?” She asked again as a spark of hope could be seen in her eyes.

  “Yes—we have others there waiting on us, friends—family…I just hope that they are all alright.”

  “Right before we left out to hunt for food and supplies, we were attacked by a bunch of marauder assholes who tried to bombard our fortress with artillery…” I answered in deep thought.

  “I’ve had run-ins with those same kinds of people myself…I’m from Portland, Oregon…I was only eight years old when the shit hit the fan and everyone that I ever knew was either killed and eaten or became one of those things…” Ivy stated with a distant look in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry to hear that…everyone has been affected by this shit in one way or another…I lost my wife Angie in a car wreck during the following years after the outbreak had consumed everything—the women I’m with now are all girlfriends, even though a few of them are practically like wives.” I answered smiling slightly.

  “Sorry to hear about your wife…I was found by a man and his wife several years after I lost everyone and they raised me the best they could—they were killed a few years back and since then I’ve wandered from place to place, falling in with various groups of other survivors…one of them had this dude who was a tattoo artist before the world went to shit—he done the work on my arm.” Ivy stated as she showed me the tattoo sleeve on her right arm in better detail.

  “That’s cool—I have this reaper tattoo on my right forearm that our friend Clancy done a few years back.” I stated as I in turn showed her my tattoo.

  “Thanks—I like yours as well.” Ivy answered smiling.

  I could feel the attraction growing between us and I knew that she was aware of it too and I turned and headed back toward the stairs to the first floor as Ivy followed close—we were just about to the stairs when she stopped and called my name.

  “I have some stuff on the third floor—I need to go get it as I have decided to go with you and your friends.” Ivy stated as she turned and headed in the opposite direction toward the stairs to the third floor.

  “Need any help?” I asked as I started following her.

  “Sure, if you don’t mind helping me.” She answered smiling.

  I nodded and followed after her as she climbed the stairs—I followed her into the same room as before where we had first met and stood close as she gathered up a large pack that looked like it was loaded down with camping and survival gear; I grabbed it and held it as she picked up a few more things that were weapons and then she turned to me motioning for me to hand the main pack to her, which I did. She opened it and took out a few articles of clothing and then turned away from me removing the shirt that she had been wearing completely—I caught a glimpse of her breasts, which were large and firm and I looked away as she done the same with the pants she had been wearing; she turned back to face me as she pulled a white skimpy top over her breasts and then a pair of acid-washed cutoff jean shorts up over her black thong panties.

  “Like what you see?” Ivy asked smiling slyly.

  “Yeah…” I answered with a chuckle as sweat poured down the left side of my face.

  “I like what I see too.” She continued as she walked up to stand in front of me.

  She leaned forward and kissed me letting her tongue roam my mouth—this last for a few seconds before she stopped stepping back smiling before grabbing the rest of her gear and leading the way back toward the stairs down; I couldn’t help watching her walk and I had to put my mind to focus on something else as other thoughts had begun to creep into my mind. We arrived back on the first floor where my women and the others still were and I helped Ivy with her things and then settled back down with my women—Ivy settled down fairly close to where I was and she would glance at me from time to time smiling as I drifted off to sleep; the morning seemed to come quickly after I had closed my eyes and I awoke to my women and the others gathering their gear as it seemed like the time I knew would come had—we were going to have to go out into the city to scout for supplies.

  “Good morning, baby.” Sheila stated kissing me briefly as I rose from my bedding.

  “Morning, love.” I answered as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

  “We should probably go out on foot—we can duck in and out of the structures around us easier and avoid detection.” Billy stated as he readied his weapons.

  I nodded and glanced around to make sure that everyone was ready—Ivy smiled at me and I remembered earlier when she had kissed me and I couldn’t help but grin; I led the way out the back door past our vehicles that looked like most of the gore from before had been washed off by the heavy rain and we followed Ivy as it seemed like she had a good idea of the layout of the area. The trail led us to a grocery store that was partially caved in—Ivy took out a pair of bolt cutters from her pack and handed them to me directing my attention to the thick, rusty chain that was wrapped around the door handle; I took them and cut the chains causing them to clatter to the ground before handing them back to her and leading the way inside of the store with my M16 ready, the place was dark and silent as the grave.
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br />   “Let’s see what we can find…hopefully there’s something here.” I stated as everyone gathered into a circle.

  Everyone nodded and spread out to different parts of the store and I led the way toward the canned goods isle with my women and Ivy followed—most of what had been there was long gone but we were able to find a box of what looked like stuff that someone else in the past had started to gather but had left for some unknown reason; I didn’t have to wonder for long as to what had happened to whoever had left the supplies behind before I stumbled upon a rotting corpse that was in the last stages of decay. I covered my face and directed my women away from it knowing that the smell was enough of a reason not to come near, we gathered what we had found and met back with the others near the entrance where we had come in and saw that they had found several large boxes of not only canned goods, but also stuff like instant oatmeal and other dried goods; Billy had found a good number of vegetable seeds and what looked like fruit tree saplings and I smiled knowing that those things could be planted back at our fortress to help sustain a food stock.

  “Looks like we’ve found about all there is to this place…are there any other places around the area that might have stuff we can use?” I asked turning to Ivy.

  “Only a few more, but those dead assholes were thick in the areas last time I checked…” She answered in a worried tone.

  “This still isn’t enough—even with the seeds and saplings we’re going to wait for that stuff to germinate, and that’s even if there’s a greenhouse to plant it I back home.” Darrell stated in deep thought as he glanced over the things that we had gathered.