“They have this building surrounded.” Cristian announced
once David and Liz rejoined them in the lobby.
“What? How? We were being careful,” Liz replied, taking a
peek out of the windows to confirm what she’d heard.
“My guess: it’s the same thing that happened when we went to
the fire station and corner clinic. Someone is doing this,” Cristian replied.
“There is no other explanation.”
“Who would cause a horde of zombies to come after us? Why?”
she continued, trying to figure out how they would get out of this mass of
undead.
“Have you not been paying attention? The world is a
different place these days. Any number of survivor factions could be after us
to loot our stash. It’s a competition for survival. If you don’t beat the
others to the last remaining can of peaches then prepare for war.”
“Keep moving,” David said, “We have to make it back before
night.” Nina and Lucky followed close behind him as he rushed through the dark
theater with Liz and Cristian pulling up the rear. Another night out in search
of supplies yielded a small case of bottled water, a few bags of popcorn, soda
syrup, and some bags of stale nacho chips. Still, it was a much better haul
than the week before.
As they made it through to the next hallway, Liz stopped and
turned her attention to the utility closet. “Shh,” she said causing the others
to halt in their tracks and listen. “Do you hear that?” Gesturing toward the
closed door, she silently made her way forward. David moved in behind her while
Cristian stayed put beside Nina.
Liz tried the handle but, it was locked. Keeping her voice low,
she knocked lightly and whispered “Hello. Is someone in there?” The group listened
and could hear a frantic whimpering coming from inside.
Edward scratched at the bandage on his arm. That damn
mongrel really did a number on him and now his skin felt like it was on fire.
He eyed the animal as it trotted along beside Nina, playfully nudging her arm making
her rub her head. It was bad enough he was forced to wear a dead man’s clothes
but now he had to deal with that mutt; and he hated dogs. Five minutes along
with that animal and he’d send it to doggy heaven where it belonged. Sensing
the man’s eyes on her, Lucky looked back with a happy expression as the group
continued down the road.
“It’s just up ahead,” Matthew said. The group had been
walking for nearly an hour, heading to the rendezvous. Upon arrival, they could
see no one was waiting, but it appeared someone had been here recently. Tire
tracks, two distinct treads, were imprinted in the soft dirt. One appeared to
belong to a large vehicle of some kind while the other, possibly a truck. The
wide wheel base gave Matthew the impression that it could have been one of the
pickups from the compound.
Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
“I’m telling you, we need to run! We need to get out of here
while we still have a chance,” Edward bemoaned, backing away from the door and
deeper into the barn.
The door to the outside stood open and Josh took careful aim
above Matthew’s head before firing off a shot, sending an approaching zombie to
the ground. Matthew immediately got to his feet and shut the door. “No,” he
said sternly, eyeing the room as he searched for handy items with which to bar the
door. “We’re not going anywhere. It’ll be dark soon and there is no way I’m
putting anyone in this group in more danger out there. We’re going to stay and
fight. We can defend this place; all of us.”
“That’s suicide!” Edward said, pushing himself once more
into the corner.
“Do you ever shut up?” Liz yelled, turning to face Edward.
“I’m so sick of your whining! Get up and help or we’ll throw your ass outside
as bait while we run!”
His face turned ashen and he nodded as Liz gave him
something to do. With Josh’s arm not at a hundred percent, he, Matthew, and
Jeremiah were tasked with rebuilding the barricade. Large crates from inside
the barn were once again placed in front of the door. This time, however, they
took the extra step of nailing broken boards across the windows and doors,
leaving just one area for escape and one, they’d hoped, would be where their visitors would enter.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m hungry,” Jeremiah
said once everything was in place. It was almost a simultaneous realization
that it had been a while since any of them had eaten. He dropped his bag beside
Nicole and started into the kitchen. The place was a health hazard at best.
Blood soaked into the linoleum floors as well as stained the walls. Someone had
been brutally murdered in this room and the smell was enough to put him off of
food for a month.
Jeremiah started to leave when something in the corner of
the room caught his eye. Someone else was in the kitchen. They were lying on
their back beside the refrigerator. The only visible part of them were their
two, booted feet sticking out from near the wall. “Hello?” he called as he
slowly approached. The man didn’t move. He just lay there, staring blankly at
the ceiling and Jeremiah quickly assumed he had been the source of the
bloodshed.
Slowly, Jeremiah leaned closer, lowering his head to get a
better look. It didn’t appear as though he was breathing. Blood dripped from
his forehead and he was suffering from an apparent bullet wound to the stomach.
A gurgling sound emerged from the man’s mouth. Startled, Jeremiah fell
backwards—just as the man sputtered blood all over himself. His eyes darted
around the room before he lifted his arms, reaching for Jeremiah. “Matt! Liz!”
he yelled, quickly scrambling towards the other side of the room.
Matthew was the first to enter, gun at the ready as he moved
around the corner. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”
“No,” Jeremiah’s swift response made Matthew turn to look at
him.
“You sure?”
“Positive. But I don’t think he’s dead…not yet.”
Matthew redirected his attention and called over to the man
who was now sitting against the countertop, resting his head on the wall. “Who
are you?”
“Help me, please.”
“Who are you?” Matthew repeated, ignoring the man’s plea for
help.
“Jason McMann,” he angrily replied. He grabbed hold of a
stool nearby and tried to lift himself up, glaring at Matthew as he continued
grilling him. Groaning in pain, he placed himself in a seated position,
applying pressure to his bleeding abdomen.
“You were with them, weren’t you? Who are they and why are
they after us?”
The man laughed, the motion causing him to choke in pain and
another mouthful of blood to spill from between his lips. “We were hired for a
job. You and everyone in the area were on the list.”
“Start explaining or I will stand here and watch you bleed
to death!” Matthew shouted, outwardly frustrated at the man’s half answers.
“BioCore hired us to assassinate anyone we found outside the
safe zones.”
“What? The sons of bitches that started this shit is trying to
take everyone out? What about the ones who aren’t hurt? Like us. We’re not
infected.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the man shrugged, again choking on blood. “We
have orders. Anyone in the red zone has to be exterminated.”
Matthew thought for a moment, taking stock of the group and
their reaction. Exterminated. The
word bounced around his head. The idea that someone would hire a group of
mercenaries in a time like this to kill living, breathing humans trying to
survive outraged him. He took in a deep breath and transferred that energy back
to the man in the kitchen. “Where are these safe zones?” The man smiled but
didn’t speak. “WHERE?” Matthew shouted aiming his weapon at his head.
“Go ahead. I’m as good as dead anyway,” he coughed, no
longer afraid by the threat of death. A loud crash made them all jump. It took
a moment to realize it was the outer barn door. Once again, they were in for a
fight.
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Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
“Ok, we need a plan,” Liz said, hopping to her feet.
“No. We need to get out of here,” Edward said, cowering
deeper into the corner. “You don’t understand, those guys out there…they’re not
the warmly and cuddly type. They’re worse than those monsters!”
“Who are they?” Matthew again asked, checking the load on
his rifle.
Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
His heart was pounding as he stared down the barrel of the
gun. The desperate beating found its way to his head and the throbbing made it
feel as if his ears would explode at any moment. “Matt? What’s…?”
“Welcome back,” Matthew said, lowering his weapon. “I saw
you stirring. I just wanted to make sure what woke up was really you,” he
explained, dropping to the ground beside him. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” Josh replied. Relief overwhelmed him and he placed a hand over his heart as the pace began to slow. The ache, once settled between his temples, traveled south until it reached the wound on his shoulder. With great pain, he reached up and rubbed his chest just beneath. “So how are you doing?”
Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
Matthew approached the door with caution. In his earlier
attempts to open it, the damn thing seemed stuck, but now it was practically
begging for attention. Nicole stepped into the room behind him. With just a
look exchanged, she communicated her plan. She’d open the door, but Matthew
had better be ready to kill any non-living thing that moved.
Slowly, she turned the handle. To Matthew’s surprise, it was
no longer locked and appeared to turn with ease. Nicole took a step to the
side, silently counted down from 3 and swiftly jerked the door open. A man,
dressed in only a bathrobe fell through, hitting the floor face first. “Close
it! Close it!” he yelled, backing up into the room as he stared down the
passageway.
Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
Matthew cocked his weapon and walked into the abandoned
farmhouse. Well, almost abandoned. Dust in the air. The smell of sweat. Someone
had been here not long ago and for all he knew, they were still inside. The
farmhouse roof provided a reprieve from the sun, if not the heat and for that
Matthew was grateful. The faint stench of death rode along the stale air that
carried throughout the opened space and he could make out a trail of dried
blood leading into another room.
His first instinct was to call out for anyone; check in
hopes the recently disturbed dust meant there was a living person somewhere
inside. But Matthew thought better of that. Even if there was a survivor,
judging by the amount of blood and the lingering smell of rot, they were not
alone. He blew out a breath and crept towards the other side of the room.
Group 4: Matthew, Josh, Liz, Jeremiah, Edward, Nicole Location: Barn/Farmhouse
“I’m hit, I’m hit,” Josh groaned and fell back to the floor
dazed. Blood poured out of his shoulder and onto the floor. Liz moved quickly,
placing her hand over his wound to help stanch the bleeding.
More bullets riddled the wall over Matthew’s head and he
returned fire, watching the men outside scatter to new positions. “We need to
get out of here before one of two things happen: either this building is coming
down on our heads or those assholes outside are coming in,” Matthew said,
cracking off another round.
“Or, door number 3,” Liz chimed in, applying steady pressure
to Josh’s arm. “We run out of ammo.”
“That’s NOT happening,” Matthew replied, throwing his rifle
over his shoulder and reaching his hand out for Josh. “Can you stand?”
“Yeah,” Josh groaned, pulling himself to a seated position.
Matthew got him to his feet as Liz collected the rest of their weapons.
“The back is covered but we can probably get out through the utility door beside the kitchen. When we get outside, move as fast as you can for the gate near the pool. With any luck, we may be able to make it over the fence and through the woods before we’re seen. Alright?” he asked, waiting for confirmation from the others. “Alright. I got Josh. Liz, you take lead. Shoot anything that moves,” he said, tossing Josh’s good arm around his neck.
The lights could be seen from the highway. At night, the
place lit up like the Rockefeller Center at Christmas. For the last two weeks, he’d
been watching and planning. He’d gotten to know the ins and outs of the place
rather well and everyone was set in a routine. He shut the walkie-talkie off
and retrieved his binoculars from his bag. Adjusting the focus, he gave a look
out over the compound, watching as his unknowing prey went about their day.
In three minutes, the two he’d come to know as ‘Spirited
Redhead’ and ‘Annoying Jock’ would be making their patrol. They’d pat along the
outer edge of the gate, keeping their backs to one another. When they reached
the rear of the mountain path they would split up, searching opposite ends of
the forest. It would take less than five minutes to make the trek around the
compound before they called it and headed back inside.
**Warning: Picture heavy. Um...oh and it’s long. (Info dump?)**
It was the gunshots—not the nightmare—that woke her.
Veronica had slept long past it, though not without
considerable effort. Her sheets were in a ball around her feet, well below the heavy comforter, and Dominic’s
pillow was between her thighs. Raising her head, she inspected the room she was
in, barely blinking at the sound of more gunfire.
“Hey has anyone seen Fadil?” Liz asked, glancing around the
room. Richard screamed and the sound of falling objects exploded from the back
room.
“Shit,” Matthew cussed and quickly rushed to the stock room.
The door wouldn’t budge. Something had fallen and was blocking it shut. “Give
me a hand here,” he said. Josh and Dominic stepped forward and together, the three
men forced the door open.
“Looks like we’re not the only ones under attacked,” Troy
said, motioning towards the bodies. “This place got wrecked!”
Matthew continued up the stairs, stepping over blood and
detached limbs. “Hey! Is there anybody in there? Let us in,” he shouted,
banging the shutters fiercely, hoping to get the attention of someone inside.
An odd humming sound was coming from behind them and Natalie
glanced back over her shoulder. At least two dozen zombies were heading their
way, groaning and hissing as they gathered closer. “Oh my god, they’re coming.”
“Open the door!” Matthew shouted again with Troy and Natalie joining in. The metal began to
shake and pretty soon the three of them were staring blankly at a large group of
people inside the store. Moving Natalie into the door first, Matthew turned and
fired off a couple rounds at the incoming group. Three zombies fell before he
jumped backwards inside the store and watched the shutters fall into place.
“Thank you,” he said, as JC helped him stand. “The world’s gone to shit. It’s a
madhouse out there.”
“Oh my god! Someone just crashed into the car where Dom is
hiding!” Veronica shouted. Soon after, something that sounded like firecrackers rattled off
outside and she quickly stepped away from the door. “And now someone’s
shooting!”
“Shooting? Shooting what?” JC carefully stepped closer and
peered out. “I see a truck…someone’s pulling into the station.”
“Who’s shooting?” Jeremiah asked.
“I don’t know. There are two…three people with guns; two
guys and a girl and another girl is carrying a few bags with her. Whoa,
wait…wait a second, they see Dom! They’re getting to Dom!”
“Where are we going?” Liz asked as Johnathan sped down the road.
She and Nina took over the backseat and she held the little girl’s hand as they
watched the scenery go by in blurs of green and gold. The occasional zombie
would stray out in front of Johnathan’s bumper and he’d plow them down without
hesitation.
“I don’t know. Anywhere we can find life.”
“Well, it’ll have to be somewhere with a gas station. You’re
almost on E,” Fadil replied.
“Damn it, you’re right. This is why Nina and I ended up at
the Roadhouse in the first place,” Johnathan said, kicking himself. “Great. Now
what are we going to do?”
“There’s a station coming up soon, turn here,” Fadil
directed.
“Are you going to explain yourself or should we throw you
outside to that creature?” Reggie asked, taking a closer step towards
Johnathan.
“No! You can’t hurt my daddy!” Nina exclaimed and rushed
into Johnathan’s arms. “Please. He’s all I have left.”
Johnathan kissed her cheek and bowed his head with a sigh.
“You’re right, Reggie. I haven’t been completely honest with you,” he started
as Fadil entered the room. “I told you all that I was the projects supervisor.
What I didn’t say was there were several projects happening over the course of eight
years.” He took a seat as the others gathered around him. “The original working
project was to find a cure for cancer and other diseases that manipulate cell
structure and DNA and we were close…at least I thought we were.”
“Liz, hand me that shovel,” Fadil groaned as he struggled to
keep the doors shut. She rushed over to the wall and snatched the gardening
tool from the rack. Fadil shoved it between the handles of the door and quickly
backed away. “We have three maybe four minutes tops before whatever’s out there
gets inside. Look for something, anything that can be used to fight them off.”
“What about the riding mower?” Liz suggested. Fadil took a
look at the gas gauge and sighed.
“We don’t have weapons! We can’t fight them all!” Fadil
shouted as he checked the security monitors again. “There are too many of
them.”
“Why are they all coming here?” Liz asked, moving beside
Fadil. “What do they want?”
“Weren’t you listening earlier?” Fadil sighed and turned to
face the group. “We’re their food source. They’re probably guessing the best
place to feed is a restaurant.”
“Great! That’s just fucking great!”
“Daddy, are they gonna get inside? Are they going to hurt us
like they hurt Mommy?”
“I’ll go,” Reggie spoke up. “It’s my restaurant, I know what
to do. But, I’m not going alone. Someone needs to be lookout in case there are
more of them on the roof. Someone, preferably with a weapon.” He glanced
towards Johnathan and sighed. “Well don’t all speak at once.”
“I’ll do it.”
“Daddy, no!”
“Nina, you’ll be fine. I’m not going far, I promise.”
Johnathan stood and slowly approached Liz. “Keep an eye on her for me, please?”
“Nina!” Johnathan rushed forward and pulled his daughter
back. Moving towards his luggage, he quickly sifted through the piles of
perfectly folded shirts and grabbed the 9mm handgun from beneath. Hurrying back
to the restaurant’s main entrance and the rapidly disintegrating glass doors, he
aimed and fired two shots. The first went wide. The second shot hit the
approaching zombie center mass. “Damn,” he growled and moved a little closer.
Aiming his weapon once more, Johnathan caught the man in the
forehead and he instantly dropped to the ground. The growling and smashing stopped
and the group appeared safe…for now. “What the hell…did you see that?” Liz
stammered, clambering to her feet. She’d dropped beneath a table as the
shooting started but kept an eye on the action. “He…you shot him but it didn’t
seem to have an effect. He just kept coming!”
