Outbreak

by A L Carter

  "You did well...Jarred is it," he asked.

  "Yes sir," Jarred replied.

  "Where do you think he was headed son," he said.

  "The farmhouse I think but I didn't want to follow him as he'd have heard me on my bike, did I do the right thing sir?" desperation now creeping into his voice.

  "No you did exactly the right thing, there could be some privileges in this for you but I want you to go back to you quarters get some food and rest and ready to act as a guide in a possible raiding mission," he instructed.

  "Yes, sir I'll be waiting," Jarred said worry evident in his voice.

  Tommy called the guard signalling that the conversation was now over and Jarred left the room. Yes he thought to himself there was no brushing this one off, Mick would definitely want this acting on. But he had an ominous feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as other raids they had done. So much so in fact that he would have to see the boss, a task that he enjoyed less and less.

  Jarred was lying on his airbed, annoyingly it needed to be regularly pumped up as it kept deflating. As it did now but he was too distracted in his own thoughts to even bother, so he just laid there in deep thought. He initially hadn't felt as nervous until he had the meeting with Tommy knowing if he said the wrong thing he might get rubbed of the population sign. Then now he was probably going to be a part of a raiding party, something he usually managed to avoid and almost always meant killing people, something he hadn't done yet. Of course, he had killed the infected before but living and often innocent people; it didn't feel right to him. But this was probably hypocritical as he potentially sentenced a man to his death, and perhaps there were others too, all for what status, a comfy bed and a shag? Then again if he kept the information to himself and was found out then he knew the penalty. Also, raiding parties were run by Dave. Dave was a mad bastard, but he wasn't always this way at the beginning he seemed laid but fun even. He had changed though whether it was too with the constant killing, the power or just the crappy meth he abused. Or maybe the fact he was the chief executioner. Sometimes if people stepped out of line there would be public executions performed by Dave. He was unpredictable and known for his rages, people normally getting hurt or dead. Closing his eyes he thought that sometimes he wished he had never become a part of this gang, surely there was something better? But now he felt trapped. His only hope was to gain status or of course death.

  Tommy took a deep breath and knocked on the bosses door which was flanked by two guards.

  "Who the fuck is it," a voice shouted.

  He recognized that the voice belonged to Dave who he has seen change from a likeable geezer type character to a deranged psychopath in the time since the start of the infection. Supposing that he would have to see him anyway considering that he was head of raids.

  "It's Tommy I have something to discuss," he announced.

  "Enter," came a booming which could only be the boss.

  He entered the room and was presented with a scene out a low-grade porn film. Dave sat back on the sofa while a girl of probably only eighteen performed fellatio on him, he was dressed but his trousers and pants were pulled down. The girl was totally naked, bruises and scratches covered her body. Another girl lay naked on the floor apparently passed out, her mouth was bloody and her eye blacked from where she had been struck. He then turned to Mick who had another girl bent over his desk and he was shagging her from behind. The girl's face was dazed and vacant and in no way appearing to be enjoying her current treatment. He guessed that she was off her face of meth, which was on the desktop in a clear bag and its content spilt over its surface. They were also no doubt that both men were also off their face on this crap. It wasn't so long ago that both men particularly Mick was anti-drug and followed their golden rule to never to get hooked on their own shit. He realised how much he suddenly despised the two men who once had been his friends. Admittedly he had always feared Mick but he knew that he had a code that he followed. But now he feared the man more than ever and together they seemed to feed off each other’s depravity.

  "Care to indulge Tommy?" Mick offered gesturing towards the girls and the meth.

  "Yeah just get on board," Dave said pointing towards the abused woman’s rear.

  "Er... I'm okay for now thanks," he politely declined. "I've just had a meeting with one of my scouts thought that it was important enough to come straight away, but as Dave's here as well I may as well tell you both."

  Mick speeded up his pace pounding the girl while grunting loudly face red and intent until eventually he cried out then suddenly relaxed obviously spent. With that, he collapsed back into his chair breathing heavily and the girl flopped onto the desk wasted. Dave seemed to follow suit finishing off.

  "Get off me you fucking slag," Dave exclaimed pushing her back onto the floor.

  The girl crawled away to be sick in the corner, then curled up into a ball and started sobbing. Tommy hated the vile bastards for treating these poor women this way, but felt powerless to do anything, and feeling like a useless coward.

  "Fucking dirty bitch, messing up the bosses’ carpet," Dave scolded.

  Neither men chose to cover their modesty and just sat there like it was the most normal thing. Deep inside Tommy felt the urge to vomit but forced it down as this would be considered an act of weakness. Dave was grinning at him as if he sensed this weakness and Mick considered him coldly.

  "Right then Tommy you best bring us up to date then," Mick said business like all of a sudden.

  He spent the next fifteen minutes going over what Jared had told him and that he had told the lad to be on standby for a raid.

  "Dave I want this man found and killed along with any allies he has unless female as some of our current batch seem to be a little worse for wear, along with any weapons," Mick seemed to be in thought for a moment. "Take extra men on this one and arm some of your most trusted men with guns as I've got a feeling this won't be our usual raid but the rewards could be worth it?"

  "It'll be fine boss I've got a tough bunch of thugs eager for blood and meth, I'll go and get things set up," Dave replied eagerly and pulling up his trousers as he left the room.

  Tommy noticed that the boss seemed to have switched off staring at the pile of meth on the desk and lost in thought. The girl on the desk seemed to have passed out and was currently urinating onto the floor. But Mick didn't seem to notice like he was in a bubble.

  Tommy cleared his throat, "Is everything okay boss?"

  "Oh right Tommy yes you did well," he eventually replied dismissively.

  Tommy gratefully left the room, hoping Mick didn't see this eagerness.

  Chapter 30

  The Raid

  Jarred gave the signal that they were within a mile of the farm, at which Dave gave the order to stop and turn off the bikes engines. Dave had selected a team of his best and most ruthless cold hearted bastards, all he suspected would kill their own mother for an ounce of meth. There was twelve in total, the guide, however, was a total wimp and he could sense his fear. The twat was pissing himself and not cut out for this type of work. He would probably not last long in a fight but like he gave a shit. Dave gestured for the twat to lead the way on foot; his eyes showed fear in the moonlit early hours of the morning. His lads were armed with guns, crossbows and machetes. He himself had a Glock and a machete. As much as he loved guns he preferred the machete, it was what he also used for town executions. He remembered the first human life he had taken, which happened to be Desmond who would have turned into a zombie anyway. At the time he had felt awful, terrified even at killing another human. But Mick had made him that day; it hardened him up and made him a survivor. Every kill after that became easier until he actually enjoyed the killing. Looked forward to it even, people were better than zombies, especially the way some of them begged for their lives. He had even killed people just because he disliked them, telling Mick that they had performed some sort of crime so that he could execute them. They slowed their pace as they neared
the farm not wanting to be heard. He then signalled for someone to open the gate.

  Max’s eyes suddenly snapped open; all his senses were suddenly overloaded. He shook Marie awake and put his finger to his lips signalling silence. Quickly he began to dress, Marie doing the same. He pulled on his armed vest and weapons belt. Then he heard the slightest click of the latch of the gate and the dog started to bark. Then he ran forward and dived head first through the bedroom window.

  The dog's ears pricked up, men were coming bad men. She would not let them harm her family, barking to warn them. Then she growled, she would stop them and ran for the door flap.

  Max landed in a shower of glass and wood fragments on the grass outside, rolling to break the fall and coming to his feet. He looked towards the forecourt and saw several sinister men heading towards the house. Vision was fairly good in the moonlight but he refocused to improve it further. Ahead of him were six men some had guns and some carried crossbows. But then Dinah suddenly appeared in front of him and she bravely accelerated towards the men.

  Dave and his group had already found the rear door, which they found to be barricaded. But they had prepared for this and two of the men made short work of it with heavy axes. Of course, the noise would disturb anyone inside but hopefully, it would serve to scare the shit out of them.

  Marie watched in amazement as Max dove through the bedroom window, was he crazy? But of course, she knew that he was. Then there was another sound coming from the rear of the house, it sounded like the kitchen door was being forced. She didn't have time for her weapons belt but grabbed the pump action shotgun instead, driving a shell into the chamber. Heading down the corridor she passed the coppers who looked less prepared, bleary-eyed and only wearing boxers. But they had their Glocks at the ready and followed behind.

  Dinah ran towards the nearest of the men, they all smelt bad. She leapt through the air and closed her jaws tight on his genitals. A scream of shock and pain escaped the man and he fell back onto the ground with her momentum. But she refused to let go however shaking and pulling on her prize. Blood sprayed into her mouth and eyes but she wouldn't let go until her prize came free. She then spat out his genitals as the man bled to death and turned to see who was next.

  Max moved fast towards the men dual Glocks drawn and firing, two men quickly dropped from headshots. Dinah had brought down one so that left three. He dodged right as a bullet just grazed his left cheek, a hot burning sensation and a smell of gunpowder. Then he had closed the distance between two of the men. He fired point blank into the one who had shot at him, his face exploded in a shower of blood. The next man was levelling a shotgun at him. He quickly side stepped him and swept his legs simultaneously. The man landed hard on the concrete banging his head in the process, the gun fired up into the air. Although stunned Max wasn't taking any chances and put two in his head. Then realising that he had taken too long knowing there was another man left he spun around. This man had a crossbow aimed at him. But then there was a blur of motion.

  Dinah saw the master kill three of the men, but another man had something pointing at him that reminded her of when the master was hunting food for them. That meant that the master would be killed. She couldn't allow that to happen. Surging forward as fast as she could she leapt high into the air, her little legs propelling her perhaps higher than she had ever jumped before. Knowing that she would probably be killed, but she must protect her master at all cost, and putting her body in the way of the crossbow bolt.

  Max looked on in horror as the little dog flew through the air, with nothing he could do to prevent what was happening. There was a sickening thud as the bolt hit and a single yelp from the dog. The dog collapsed in a crumpled heap on the concrete, appearing to be lifeless. His blood boiled as he turned to the man who was desperately trying to reload. In seconds Max now faced the man kukri now drawn, which he brought down hard on top of the man’s head. The wickedly sharp blade kept on going slicing straight down through his head, chest, abdomen and groin. The man separated in two halves with a shower of blood. Sheathing his weapon he approached the little dog and climbed onto the floor beside her. The bolt had gone through the side of her chest and was sticking out the over side. He felt the dog’s chest which pumped blood onto his hand. Desperately he felt for a heartbeat a sign of life, but there was nothing only stillness. Dinah was dead. He pulled out the bolt and threw it away in disgust, touching the wound which appeared to have bled out now and feeling for signs of life again, but still nothing. He stood his whole body shaking, consumed with rage. Then he heard the gunshots from the house.

  Marie reached the top of the stairs but was driven back by gun fire. She retreated backwards but kept the shotgun aimed towards the stairs. She suddenly noticed the two coppers crouching beside her Glocks also aimed. A head peered through the bannisters but ducked back down when they fired in its direction.

  Dave crouched down just below the bannister those shots had nearly taken off one of his men's head which meant they were currently pinned down.

  "How many," he whispered to the man who had been shot at.

  The man held up three fingers to indicate how many. Dave needed to push for position fast and suddenly he had a use for the boy. He indicated to one of his men to give the boy his shotgun. The man grinned in approval guessing Dave's intentions, giving to the boy his gun and drawing his machete. The boy’s eyes were wild with fear, knowing what was expected of him. Dave shoved his Glock into the boys back forcing him into action.

  Jarred knew that his life would be over soon if he refused to go Dave would kill him anyway. So he would never get those privileges, after all, he just wished he had played dumb and pretended to have not seen anything. It was too late now he had no choice. He felt a harder prod in his back, time was up. Then he thought to himself maybe he had a chance if he was fast so he readied himself.

  Marie still watched the stairs in anticipation as suddenly a young Asian youth ran towards them, shotgun shooting wildly but lethal nonetheless. One shot blew plaster and dust all over her from the wall just too her right, which made visibility difficult. A second shot rang out hitting Jones in the shoulder to which he let out an involuntary squeal. Then more men appeared and shot in their direction. But the dust also acted as cover for them and they fired back through the dust, even Jones who was injured managed to return fire. Emerging through this came the youth, face contorted in terror. Then Marie fired point blank putting a large hole in his head. Another body hit the deck in front of them, and then the dust began to settle. They had killed two of them but were sure more were taking cover on the stairs.

  Dave was pissed off; he only had six men left with him on the stairs. Where were the rest of his men? Just before they had separated he had seen just one man and a pathetic dog, what could the problem be. Then he heard it, it was like something out of his worst nightmares. A bestial and deafening roar came from outside but seemed to vibrate his teeth and head totally disorienting him. Then the fear hit him which shocked him to his core, feeling the sensation of hot piss running down his trouser leg. He felt an explosion of adrenaline hit his system which was there to help in times of fight or flight. But in his state of panic and confusion just caused him to freeze in place shaking uncontrollably. For the first time he thought about the way he had tortured and murdered people, maybe this was how they felt. Maybe his judgment day was coming.

  His men looked on as their leader dissolved in front of them, totally incoherent and unable to instruct them what to do next. Not to say that they weren't suffering the same as their leader, two of them ran blindly upstairs towards the shooters. While the other braver four ran towards the exit in an attempt to get by whatever thing was making the noise, leaving their brave leader fixed in place.

  Marie heard the familiar roar, however louder than ever. It seemed to vibrate through her. She noticed the two coppers beside her who looked terrified and unsure what to do? She shook herself they had nothing to fear, and just needed to defend their position
. However, their attackers had everything to fear.

  "Everything will be okay just hold our position," she said calmly to her friends.

  Jenkins looked at her in confusion, was she mad it sounded like hell was coming for them? He turned to Jones who seemed to have taken her words on board even through the pain his shoulder must be giving him severe pain. Jones was now focusing on the stairs again intently. Then he felt a wave of calm fall over him and he trusted this woman implicitly. Just then two more men burst onto the landing but he knew the fear in their eyes were not for what faced them now. But for what was coming for them from outside. With that picked a target and shot one of the attackers straight through the eye and he fell straight to the floor the other was disembowelled with a shotgun blast to the stomach and simultaneously shot in the throat by Jones Glock. The man landed in his own entrails with a wet thud.

  The four men ran out of the house but seemly into hell itself. A huge beast of a man was there to greet them who let out another terrifying roar, but this time it was at close range. Two froze stock still dropping their weapons and stared dumbstruck. The other two obviously with the strongest constitutions attempted to fire at the blood-soaked beast. But they were to slow as the man moved with frightening speed, cutting one in half through the torso, and the others head bounced off into the night.