by Maxey, Phil
She looked at him. “I don’t understand.”
“There’s a lot to explain. But right now, you’re right we have to—”
An explosion of gunfire came from somewhere outside the glass windows far below, and the door to the office burst open.
“Sir, the creatures are inside the parameter!”
Rogers stood. “How the hell did that happen?”
“We don’t know, sir, but some of them appear to be our own people…”
Confusion flowed across the general’s face then evaporated. “The tech guys told me the virus had gone! What does Hayes say about it?”
“I don’t know. It’s just happened sir.”
“I want a full containment on the newcomers.”
Now it was Jess’s turn to stand. “This isn’t our fault!”
“Sergeant, take Mrs. Keller and place her in quarantine with the others.” The sergeant strode forward, grabbing Jess’s arm as she plucked her pack from the floor. As she protested her innocence while being pulled from the room, she glimpsed Rogers pulling a phone from his pocket, talking anxiously to someone on the other end of the line.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
2: 42 p.m. Ten miles from Galveston.
Josh’s eyes were heavy. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept, but it had been over a day. And despite the frequent sight of horror just yards from the car, his mind wanted to shut down and slip into a fantasy world where there were no monsters and life was as before. He looked to his left at the old, haggard man as woods and grassy banks moved past outside. Arlo’s eyes were closed. Perhaps he was sleeping. That was good. Maybe the monsters would take him while he was dreaming nice things.
He didn’t know why the man that called himself Rackham, and the driver Finn, kept Arlo alive. Josh could see no reason for it. But then Rackham sounded intelligent, like his mother. He probably had a plan, just like he probably had a plan for Josh and Josh hated that. Like it was all a big game, and he was a piece on a board being used by the players.
He looked back to the flat beige landscape which was now filling with single-story buildings, mostly warehouses from what Josh could make out. He had no idea where they were, or where they were going, but he felt like their destination was close.
“Good news—” Rackham’s comment jolted through Josh, but Arlo remained still. “— You will soon be able to see your mother!”
Josh continued looking out the window at the highway and the creatures galloping alongside. He wasn’t going to take the bait.
“Does that not please you?”
Josh frowned, trying not to meet Rackham’s eyes in the rear mirror. The thing that had got into the car back in Denver was now transformed into a distinguished looking man, wearing a black suit, black shirt and black tie. His hair was mostly black with streaks of white. He reminded Josh of some of the movie stars from the really old films. He was in contrast to the man next to him, Finn, who looked rugged. Josh thought he looked like a wrestler. “I know you’re playing a game with me,” said Josh, looking at the road which now also had a railway line running alongside it.
“Game? What game would I be playing? I simply want you to return to your mother. That is where we are taking you, and we will be there soon.”
“What will you do with Arlo?”
“I haven’t decided yet. It might be useful for him to continue to breathe.”
“I won’t play your game if you hurt him, or my mother…”
“Well, that will be up to him, but I’m sure Jess will be pleased to see you.”
Silence returned to the car as a seagull sailed peacefully overhead.
*****
3: 29 p.m. Galveston.
Jess looked across the faces of those sat inside the large conference room hall. A space still too small due to the thirty something people and two animals within it. Some stood against walls, others sat on the edge of the table or on chairs but each shuddered as muffled booms and cracks of automatic weapons reverberated through the double doors.
“I don’t understand how the creatures got here so quick!” said Owen. “We were at least an hour ahead of them!”
The same fact had been troubling Jess.
“Maybe some of the flying ones are causing them problems,” said Andy.
“They should be able to take care of it,” said Scott.
“Don’t sound like they’re taking care of it,” said Tracey.
Jess had her arm around Sam, while Landon sat close. He held his right hand inside his jacket, keeping it hidden, but she was sure she could smell the infection anyway. His examination only lasted a few moments before soldiers arrived and with the others who had wounds was hurried away to the room they were now in.
“Well, we can’t stay in here!” said Owen.
Scott got up and walked to the doors, placed his palm on the handle and tried to open it, but it remained firmly closed. “Locked from the outside.”
Helen sat between Toby and Agatha, a doll held to her chest. “Are the monsters coming?” she said to Brad, who was holding both of the dog’s leashes. He initially resisted meeting her gaze then looked down to her with a smile. “The soldiers are going to make them go away. We’ll be safe in here.” As he looked up and away his expression changed and he caught Jess looking at him.
A screech echoed outside, making everyone flinch.
“That sounded real close!” said Floyd.
Scott knocked on the door. “Hey, what’s going on out there? We can help!” The continuous muffled pops and screams were the only response. “Hello? Soldier, you out there?”
Vance, Floyd and Andy walked to the door.
“I think its time we looked for ourselves,” said Vance. “On three. One, two, three!”
Three shoulders barged the wood panels, instantly breaking the lock and flinging the doors open. The sounds of battle were no longer subdued and were from every direction and the four men moved into the corridor.
“We need weapons,” said Andy.
“Vance, Floyd, come with me,” said Scott. “We’ll find what we can and get back here.” He looked into the room at the terrified faces of the Newgrove townsfolk. “Everyone stay here. We’ll be back.”
Andy moved back into the room and started to close the doors when Jess pulled her hand from around her daughter’s shoulder. “Hey, wait!” She shouted towards the corridor, the three men halting their progress.
“What?” said Landon. “We need to stay here, wait for Scott to return.”
She looked between him and Sam. “I’m going to go and see if I can find the general.”
Sam stood. “I’ll go with you.”
“No. I need you to stay with your father.”
Sam could tell her mother wanted her father protected. She could feel the heat emanating from him, smell his sweat and hear his heart beating fast, despite his efforts to hide the pain. She nodded.
“I’ll go with you,” said Tracey. “I ain’t staying cooped up in here any longer.”
“Me too,” said the tall doctor. “I need to see what’s happening in this hospital.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Before Landon could reply, she kissed him on the lips, picked up her pack and moved to the door, then checking the corridor was clear, moved out into it with the others, closing the door best she could behind. She tried to recall the layout from when she arrived in the room.
“We’re on the second floor,” said Barker to the group. “This way.”
They moved swiftly along the glossy tiled floor to a junction. Stairs, ascending and descending were straight ahead, the corridor branching off, left and right. The gunfire outside had died down, being replaced with silence.
Scott peered over the handrail. “I’m getting a real bad feeling about this.”
A grunt came from down the hall, making them all whip their heads towards a thing which was bathed in late afternoon light from the nearby office windows. It used to be a soldier that much was clear, but it
s face was a smudge, its arms longer than they should be with coiling snake-like tentacles for hands. It limped in their direction, seemingly lacking the knowledge to walk as before.
“We have to lead it away from the conference room,” said Jess.
Scott took a few steps forward, waving his hands in its direction. “Over here! This way!”
The thing stopped, its misshapen head lifting, then almost separating in half as a mouth the full width of the skull opened with countless rows of teeth visible even from twenty-feet away. It limped faster towards them.
“Any idea of how we kill it with no weapons,” said Floyd.
Scott walked awkwardly backward, past the stairs and into the other corridor, the others doing the same. “We lure it somewhere, trap it then find guns real—” He spun around. “Where’s the doc?”
The other four turned around, not having an explanation. “No idea,” said Vance walking backwards with Jess, Floyd and Tracey.
They passed beneath a sign mentioning wards and other rooms marked with ‘Radiology’ and ‘Cardiology.’
The thing arrived at the junction almost at a gallop but then stopped, looking to its right, towards the conference room entrance.
“No, no… over here!” shouted Jess.
The thing whipped around to her, a growl emanating from somewhere deep within its pores, then moved right. Now all four were shouting, trying to steer the thing away from the frightened in the room.
“Why’s it not coming after us!” shouted Floyd.
Jess immediately remembered. “They’re immune! The things are drawn to them. That many in a small space, it’s like honey to a bear! It will draw the creatures in!”
Scott pushed open the nearest office door. “We need something to—” The clatter of automatic gunfire burst from the stairs from someone they couldn’t see firing at the creature. Bullets tore into it as it flailed at the impacts, falling against the walls, knocking framed photos to the ground. Barker walked from the steps, awkwardly holding the assault rifle, firing as he walked forward, the creature moving towards him.
Without thought Jess ripped a fire extinguisher from the wall, running forward, pulling the plastic cap clear and pulled on the trigger covering the thing in foam, blinding it as Barker continued firing. The creature collapsed to the ground as the conference room door opened, Landon, Owen and Andy looking on.
“Give me that,” said Scott to the doctor, taking the weapon and firing a short volley of shots into what he presumed was the thing’s head.
Barker let out a long breath. “Took it off a dead soldier on the ground floor.” There’s more of those things roaming the halls, and from what I could hear, a lot more outside… although they seem to be quieter now.
The other of the two double conference room doors opened, Sam and Lachlan standing with her father.
“The soldier’s changed…” said Tracey, looking at the quivering mess on the floor.
Owen looked at those around him. “When we arrived…”
“We don’t know this is our fault,” said Jess.
“It’s just a coincidence then?” said Tracey.
A numbing depression was returning to Jess. The young woman was probably right. Those that had just arrived had somehow infected those at the hospital… How could she had been so stupid.
Sam scrunched her face up. “Didn’t they have the vaccine?”
She looked at her mother for an answer but Jess had none. Was this Rackham’s plan all along? She felt sick. She should have known.
Screeches echoed around the corridors, making everyone look back towards the junction. “We can’t stay here,” said Scott.
“We can’t go out there!” said Gale from inside the room. Others agreeing with her.
Scott looked at Barker. “What would be the most secure area in the hospital?”
The doctor ran a hand over the gray bristles on his chin. “Maybe… the mental health ward. Secure access to the floor and rooms.”
“Where’s that?”
“In another block to our southwest. Building Two B. It’s just a hundred yards from the main entrance downstairs, but we’re not getting to it across the parking lot.”
“Does this building connect to it?” said Jess.
The doc shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“What about the roof?” said Sam.
Scott looked at Jess then Vance, both nodding at her daughter’s suggestion.
“This building’s a lot higher than the mental health block,” said Barker. “We don’t need to go all the way up. Maybe another two floors, then across to the west wing of this building where we should be able to find a window to a roof which gets us closer.”
Scott turned to those in the large room behind him, while checking the magazine in his weapon. “You heard the man. Everyone stay close together and stay quiet.” He looked at Brad with the dogs. “Keep’em quiet, Brad.” The young man nodded then turned to the children making sure they were holding hands.
Scott led the way, followed by Vance and Andy, Jess, Sam and Landon and everyone else behind, some holding their noses at the mess of skin and other organic material in the middle of the floor. Reaching the junction, Scott peeked around the corner and on not seeing any danger in either direction, moved onto the steps, ascending slowly, letting the barrel of his weapon direct his next movement. Even the grunts and screeches had now receded and mixed within the shuffling steps of the young and old were whimpers and sobs from those who were almost too terrified to move their exhausted bodies.
He stopped on the next landing, beckoning others past him, led by Vance and Andy then caught up with them and came out to the fourth floor corridor. A dead body of a soldier lay bloodied on the tiled floor next to an overturned gurney.
Barker immediately moved to him, checking for a pulse but found none.
“Which way,” said Scott to him, looking down the dimly lit hallway.
He awkwardly stood. “That way,” he said, looking to their right at the row of doors and brightly lit open area at the end.
They quickly made their way along the corridor, arriving at the counter of a nurse’s station.
Barker moved left into a new hallway of doors to patients’ rooms. “This way!”
As the large group made its way past the doors, moving as quietly as possible, Tracey shook her head. “Weird we can’t hear the creatures, you sure they’re still—” She happened to be looking into a small room as a dark shadow moved past the window. She went to tell the others but they were already moving away, so she ran to keep up.
Barker jogged left again at a junction and pushed open double doors to the protest of Scott behind him but the elderly man was already through them. The others followed into a large ward of empty beds. The doctor was to their right, standing near a window. Scott and Jess moved quickly to his side and all could see the slim L shaped roof, roughly five-feet below which covered the distance all the way to the other building, a few hundred yards away.
Jess looked up at the vibrant blue of the sky with not a cloud or unnatural flying creature to be seen.
Scott unlatched the window then pushed it all the way open. A cool breeze rushed in.
“Why can’t we hear them?” said Ford.
Scott pushed his leg then torso through the gap, sitting on the frame. “I don’t know.” He braced for impact then dropped to the roof, trying to protect his injured leg, but still winced in pain as it touched down. Vance and Andy followed, helping the others down.
Jess moved to the edge and looked upon a road which dissected the towering buildings. It was clear of any creatures or soldiers. The scene was wrong. Everything was wrong. She knew it and could do nothing. They were flies walking on a leaf with the spider’s web directly below them, the arachnid just waiting for them to take one more step.
With Scott leading the way they skirted along the seven-foot wide concrete space, skipping over the occasional vent. Jess wasn’t the only one watching the sky and the w
indows of the other buildings looking down upon them. They arrived at another roof, one they had to climb up to and quickly did.
Scott looked along the flat surface which ran all the way to another set of windows. “Is that it?” he said to Barker.
“Reckon it is.”
“Come on, let’s go. Almost there.” Scott moved forward, the others doing the same behind, the window to the new building only twenty-feet away. The main hospital building, all eight floors of it, looming over them, gave way to…
Scott had only glanced to his left, but the sight was enough for him to jerk his head back in the same direction, towards the huge open space of the parking lot and the thousands of dark mutated bodies standing there. He stopped abruptly, making Vance and Tracey almost run into him, both then seeing what he had. Gasps and cries came the group behind.
“Oh my god…” said Brad, pulling the kids close to him.
“They’re not moving…” said Floyd.
“Like statues,” said Owen.
Scott flicked his attention back to the window just yards away, quickly moving to it and with the butt of his rifle smashed the glass, knocking the fragments away. “Everyone inside!” People ran to him, trying to pull their gaze away from what was a hundred-feet away and clambered up and into the hallway beyond. Sam climbed through, Landon about to do the same, but stopped, looking back at Jess who seemed mesmerized by the scene covering acres of concrete.
“Jess! Come on!”
She knew it was pointless hiding or running any longer. She moved closer to the edge of the roof, trying to plot a route down when a shadow swept across her and before Scott, Landon or Sam could react, claws attached to wings dug into her shoulder and lifted her into the air.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Fifteen minutes earlier. Galveston.
Searing pain burned through Arlo’s wrists then back as he wriggled against the cord, trying to move and alleviate the discomfort. A growl came from outside. One of a handful of creatures that were within biting distance of the car. Guards left to watch him? No. The things outside were just a few of the larger mass that had made its way across the bridges and were sat waiting for the big event. Whatever that was. But he knew that even if he could muster the strength to use his legs, he wouldn’t make it more than a few steps from the sedan before the things tore him apart, or worse, absorbed him. Dissolving his flesh until he was just another part of them.
