AB (The Blake Reynolds Chronicles Book 1) (6 page)

Pastor Luke Dameon
had trouble sleeping that morning, so he decided to get up early. He made his
morning cup of coffee and decided to work on his sermon for next Sunday. He
started to read from the New Testament in the book of Revelation, chapter six.
When he got to verse eight, he paused and reread it:

And
I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and
Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of
the Earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the
beasts of the Earth.

After he had
finished rereading it, he placed the Bible on the desk and decided to ponder on
it for a while.

Luke Dameon had
grown up as a preacher’s son. He had known he wanted to follow in his father’s
footsteps since he could remember and had wasted no time. After graduating from
Bible College and marrying the woman of his dreams, Teresa, he joined his
father’s ministry. But it was not long afterwards that his father was diagnosed
with stage four prostate cancer. Within months, he had passed away.

Teresa and Luke
then had to look after this flock of people that his father had worked his
entire life building up. It was now all on his shoulders. But with the help of
his wife, he was able to keep the ministry moving forward. They had never been
able to have children, but serving their flock had given them full and happy
lives.

After his bible
study he walked into the kitchen where his wife had just finished cooking
breakfast. As they ate and listened to the radio, they could tell something was
wrong. The announcer on the radio was saying something about half the world
being infected and people killing each other. Luke and Teresa both stopped
eating at the same time and stared at each other, shaking their heads trying to
deny what they was hearing.

They ran into
the other room and turned on the TV, scanning the channels to see the news.
Each station was reporting the same thing: infection, death, destruction, and half
of the population affected. It was leaving them with a terrified feeling, so
they turned it off.

Teresa turned
to Luke. “What should we do?”

“I’m not sure,
but I know that whatever happens our faith will get us through. Let us go to
the chapel to pray.”

He put on his
best white suit, and they both walked into the attached chapel.

After a few
minutes, they decided to open the door in case anyone else felt the need to
pray with them. They opened the doors and went to the front of the bench, sat
down, grabbed each other’s hands, and started to pray. It wasn’t long before a
few of their parishioners began to come through the doors. Each one was greeted
with a warm hug and a soft, “Bless you.” Within an hour, the chapel was full of
members and people who had never been in the church before. Each of them was coming
for the same reasons, which were comfort, faith, fear, and not wanting to be
alone.

Soon after the
chapel filled, Luke felt the need to get up and address the congregation. He turned
to his wife and grabbed her hand. “What should I say at a time like this?”

“Just speak
from your heart! You are a righteous man. God will tell you what to say,” she
said with a soft smile. She squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek. As he
looked into her eyes, he smiled and walked to the pulpit.

He stood up
front, took a long breath, and examined the faces staring back at him. It was
eerily quiet, except for a few women and children softly sobbing.

“Brothers and sisters,
I don’t know why God has sent this plague on the Earth. I don’t know what lies
ahead of us in the next few days, but I do know that God loves each and every
one of you! If we just have faith, he will pass this plague by us, just as he
did in days of old when the plague passed the children of Israel in the times
of Moses. They that believed marked their doors with lamb’s blood, and the
plague did not enter their house.”

He paused for a
moment to catch his breath and scanned the group. His heart was full of compassion
for them. “Now, some of you might not have the faith to survive what lies
before us. But even you can take comfort. I am reminded of the words of the
savior:

I am the resurrection, and I am life.
Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet they shall live,
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end
the first and the last.
I died and behold I am alive for evermore,
and I hold the keys of hell and death
because I live, you shall live also.”

Pastor Dameon began to feel a little dizzy and he held
the podium for balance. “I can’t stop now. These people need me!” he thought. He
bowed his head and said,
“
Let us pray
.

“O God, who created us and gave us birth, we beseech
you to hear our prayers. In this, our time of trial and need, we pray that you
will protect us from this evil that is spreading across our planet. We know
that you are all powerful, and we acknowledge your hand is in all things. We
also know we are weak, and pray that we might not waver in our faith, but
humbly submit to thy will. Amen.”

When he finished his prayer, he collapsed on the ground.

Luke’s eyes fluttered open. He noticed that he was in his
bed surrounded by his wife and a few men and women from the congregation. He
thanked them as they left the room. His wife put a cold rag on his forehead.

He smiled at her and put his hand on her cheek. “My head
feels as if it is about to explode. Also, my body feels like it is on fire.” His
voice was strained.

Teresa looked at him with sad eyes and tear-stained
cheeks. “You have a fever of 104… We tried calling 911, but the phone system is
down. A nurse in the group said that we should give you some ibuprofen. We did,
and it seems to have worked a little. Try and get some rest.”

As Luke closed his eyes and drifted off into
unconsciousness he could hear in the background people speaking.

“I have heard that after the fever sets in, it’s only
hours before they turn. We should kill him now before he wakes up as one of
those things.”

“No!” Teresa shouted. “I know Luke. His faith will get
him through this! Now please go join the others.”

Luke then heard nothing but silence.

Luke’s subconscious mind slowly started to awaken. He
knew he was dreaming and remembered how he had felt before he became
unconscious. He started to wonder if he was dying. In the distance to his right
he could see a bright light. Inside the light stood a man, and he was beckoning
him to come forward. He felt a strong urge to walk to the light, but he paused
and thought of his dear wife.

Luke wrestled with what to do. He had taught his
parishioners over the years that in the end, the light is where you want to be.
But he knew that if he entered the light, he would never see his wife in this
life again. For a moment, he was torn with what to do. But the light had a
strong pull, and the man inside kept encouraging him to enter. He knew it was
his time to go and that soon enough he would see his wife again.

Luke walked towards the light, slowly
at first and then faster. It wasn’t long before he was suddenly pulled to a
halt. He looked down and noticed a large golden chain around his waist. He
grabbed at it and tugged on it several times, but it wouldn’t budge. He
followed the chain with his eyes down into the vast darkness. In the midst of
the darkness was a beast with glowing red eyes. It was holding the end of the
chain.

The man in the
light started shouting. “Please run and enter the light before it is too late!”

Luke tried his
hardest to move, but he didn’t make any progress. The chain held him tightly.

Once again, the
man in the light shouted. “Why don’t you come? Don’t you want to enter the
light?”

Luke realized that
he could no longer speak. Then suddenly the beast on the end of the chain
slowly began pulling it towards him. Luke tried to resist, but it was no use.

The only thoughts
running through his mind were of wanting to be in the light. But as he was
dragged closer to the darkness, his thoughts turned to the beast. Right before
he was in front of the beast, he was pulled through a wall of fire. Instead of
a burning sensation, he felt like it was cleansing him.

Luke was only a
foot away from the monster. He stared into its blazing black eyes, and he felt
like the beast was staring into his soul. Then for some strange reason, Luke
felt an immediate bond with this monster. After a moment of peering into each
other’s souls, they embraced. At that moment Luke ceased to exist as he
transformed into the beast.

He let out a monstrous roar. “Welcome, Brother, to our
glorious cause! Now lead these newly cleansed brothers and sisters and purge
the world of its uncleanness,” the monster bellowed. “From this day forward, you
will no longer be Luke Dameon but are reborn as Lord Dameon.”

Lord Dameon didn’t know how long he had
been unconscious, but slowly he opened his eyes. It took some time for things
to come into focus. When his vision cleared, he noticed a woman standing over
him. He felt that he should know her but it seemed like it was from a dream.
The feeling only lasted a few seconds as he looked into her eyes; they were the
eyes of the unclean. Anger began to swell inside him.

Lord Dameon could
see the woman gasp as she stared at his face and looked into his eyes. She
turned to run from his presence, but Lord Dameon grabbed the woman’s head with
both hands and just stared into her eyes for a moment. The woman tried to pull
back with a terrified look on her face. Lord Dameon paused for a moment then
plunged his thumbs deeply into her eyes. The woman’s screams only fueled his rage.
Blood and tears ran down her cheeks. He threw the woman against the wall, and she
hit it such force that it cracked the sheet rock. She sank to the floor,
motionless.

She was in shock
and moaning slightly. Lord Dameon turned and walked into the kitchen. He
scanned the room for something specific. Then he noticed the set of knives in
the corner of the kitchen. Quickly, he walked to the knives and pulled the
biggest one out of its holder and headed back to the bedroom. As he approached
the woman he kept thinking to himself, “I need to get this thing to shut up.”

Lord Dameon slowly
walked to her and whispered in a soft voice, “There, there, it is better this
way. Once the filth of this world has been cleansed, we can build a better
world.” With one swift stroke, he plunged the knife deep into her chest. She
gasped for air frantically until blood spilled out of her mouth. It was only a
matter of seconds till the twitching stopped.

After the task was
complete, he walked outside. The sun felt warm on his face, and he peered down
the nearby streets. There were bodies lying everywhere, and gunshots filled the
air. He could hear screams of his brothers and the unclean all around him. A
couple of men and a woman trudged up the street towards him, completely covered
in blood.

All three people stopped
in front of the old white church. He noticed their yellow eyes and said,
“Welcome brothers and sister. Let us go and gather the rest of our brethren and
purge any uncleanness we find, and we will build a new world from the ashes of
this abomination.” They did not reply but followed Lord Dameon.

Together, they
started wandering the streets. Every cleansed person they encountered joined
their group.

As they approached
the end of a street, a woman ran out from behind a large bush and straight into
Lord Dameon’s arms.

“Bless you, Pastor
Dameon! I knew that someone would send help for me.” But as she examined him, she
noticed his eyes.

He grabbed her and
embraced her tightly. “Now, now… it is better this way,” he whispered as he snapped
her neck. She fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Soon their group grew
close to a hundred. Lord Dameon led them all back to the church. Once there, he
gave orders for his brothers to continue scouting out the surrounding area,
gathering any of their brothers and sisters they found, and disposing of all
others. He ordered the women and children to start cleaning up the bodies and
gathering provisions from every house and store. They were to bring them to the
church because it was where he would start to rebuild San Clemente and their
new world.

Lord Dameon knew
instinctively that everyone would follow his orders. He could sense they all
accepted him as their leader. To him and them, the world was now in perfect
harmony.

It was no small
feat to separate nearly 100,000 Marines. Even more difficult was finding places
to detain 50,000 Marines. But after a couple of hours, the job was finished.
The detained Marines were separated into four groups of over 10,000 each. Each
of the areas they were assigned to had once been set up as a detention center
to house enemy combatants in case a hostile country tried to invade North
America. Each detention area had a ten-foot tall fence with razor wire on the
top and was the size of two football fields. There were only two gates in and out,
and there were a few small tents in the center surrounded by portable latrines.
In the last decade it had mainly been used to store equipment.

Blake had been
assigned a company of 200 soldiers to guard the west detention center. He
positioned a third of soldiers to guard the north gate and another to the south,
with the rest patrolling the perimeter. Each soldier was carrying an M-16 and a
sidearm. There were also two Hummers with fifty-caliber machine guns parked at
each gate. They all had orders to shoot to kill anyone that tried to escape.

Blake slowly paced
the perimeter, making sure that every soldier knew what his job was. As he
walked the perimeter he wondered if he really could give the orders to shoot
and kill so many of his friends and fellow soldiers. As Blake rounded the final
corner, he noticed Stetson leaning against the fence. He decided to see how he
was doing.

“Hey Stetson,
how are things going in there?”

“How do you
think? This really sucks. I wish it was me out there and you in here,” he said
with a slight grin.

“Yeah, I know.
How are the other soldiers taking it?”

“There are a
few that are seriously starting to freak out, but most are professionals and
handling things the best they can.” He kicked the ground absently. “You know
what the worst thing is? It’s the waiting. I wish this damn thing would get started
if it is going to happen.”

“I’m sure it’s
going to be OK. You’re too damn stubborn to let something like this change
you.”

Stetson turned
and pressed his face against the fence and stared at Blake in his eyes. “Blake,
just remember your promise if I change.”

“I will,” Blake
replied solemnly.

Blake’s heart
ached, and he couldn’t look his lifelong friend in the face anymore so he gazed
at the ground. “But it won’t come to that.”

“Promise me.”

Blake sighed.
“Fine… I promise.”

Suddenly, one
of the lieutenants called Blake on the radio. He quickly walked away, not
wanting to see his friend’s pained expression anymore.

It was only a
few minutes before the first of the soldiers started to exhibit signs of the
infection. They were immediately taken to the medical tent where they were
given medication by the quarantined staff to help ease the fever and pain.
After fifteen minutes, ten percent of the compound was infected, and the
medical tent was over-filled.

Soon some of
the soldiers in the compound began to panic, while others broke down and cried.
Many of them rushed to the gate, begging to be let out.

“Look, I’m not
infected!” some of them pleaded. It wasn’t long before shots could be heard
around the base as undoubtedly soldiers were fulfilling their orders and
shooting anyone trying to crawl over the fences.

Blake’s company
remained at their posts, keeping their composure and remembering their commitment
to duty. But once the infection started and the shots were firing, Blake
noticed the terrified looks on many of their faces. He knew that all hell was
about to break loose, so he quickly made his way around the compound to
reassure his soldiers that they could execute their duties.

After the chaos
started, Blake couldn’t see Stetson anymore. However, he was still on his mind.
Blake wondered if he would have to keep his promise, but just the thought of it
pained his heart.

About thirty minutes
later, all the soldiers in the compound were either on the ground in pain or
unconscious.

Blake knew from
the briefing earlier that day what would come next, so he radioed his soldiers
to be prepared. They had been told that once the infection started, it would be
about an hour until the ABs would transform into the psychotic state.

It wasn’t long
before constant heavy gunfire could be heard all around the base. The chatter
on the radio made Blake think that the ABs had started to rush the gates and
were being mowed down by fifty-calibers on each gate.

Blake noticed
something strange happening in the compound of the ABs his group was guarding;
instead of rushing the fence like was being reported around the other compounds,
the ABs here were congregating towards the center. At the center of the mass a single
soldier stood on a small stage made of tables. He was addressing the group that
had assembled around him.

Blake pulled
out his pair of binoculars, in an attempt to see what was going on. To his
horror, he saw his friend Stetson on the stage, his eyes entirely black. His
eyes were opened wide, and the sides of his face seem to droop. Blake couldn’t
help but think that his friend’s soul had left his body.

Every couple of
minutes, Blake would hear a call on the radio from someone asking for orders as
the gunfire continued. Blake kept shouting out orders to his men not to open
fire unless the ABs tried to escape.

After what
seemed like hours all the soldiers in the compound had crowded around Stetson.
Blake remembered from the briefing that the earliest infected countries
reported behavior of the ABs acting like an insect colony; each AB would exhibit
a gathering-like behavior. Blake was seeing something similar here with his
friend Stetson as their leader.

As Blake
nervously watched the gathering in the compound, a small group left the center
and approached the gate at a slow pace. Blake and a couple of guards met them
at the gate entrance.

Each of the ABs
with Stetson had piercing dark red eyes and contorted looks on their faces similar
to that of wild animals ready to attack. Stetson, on the other hand, looked
mostly like himself, except for his piercing black eyes, expression of arrogance,
and long face.

Both groups stared
at each other for a moment before Blake broke the silence.

“So Stetson,
what’s going on?”

“Blakkkke… what
has happened here is a marvelous thing. We feel powerful and clear-minded with
a single purpose. There is no ill will or hard feelings towards any of us that
have changed. It is extraordinarily clear that we can develop a better world
under a new order. There is only one problem that stands in our way,” Stetson
replied in a slightly deeper voice full of clicks and stutters.

“And what problem
would that be?” Blake asked sarcastically.

“It is you and
your kind. But if you will let us go in peace, I give you my word that neither
you nor your soldiers will be harmed. But if not, it will have to be war.”

Blake’s jaw
tightened. “You know that can’t happen.”

“Then war it
is.”

Suddenly, Blake
heard gunfire about fifty yards away. Two AB soldiers were trying to scale the
side fence, and one of the guards on the outside perimeter opened fire on them.

At the same instant,
Stetson and his followers ran towards the center of the compound before they
could be stopped.

In seconds the infected
mass in the compound started to run towards both gates.

Nervous
soldiers looked to Blake as if to ask, “Your orders, sir?”

Blake breathed
in deeply and gave the order over the radio. “Fire!”

As the masses
of infected soldiers charged, Blake and his soldiers in front of the gate opened
fire. The bodies started to pile up, making it difficult for the infected to
even get close to the gate before they were shot. Wave after wave of ABs charged
forward as if they were being pushed by an unseen force.

As the bodies
started to pile, shouts were heard all around the compound and over the radio repeating
the phrase, “Last clip.” As the bodies piled high enough that the top of the
gate could be jumped over, the troops started to run out of ammunition. A few
of the ABs climbed up the mass of bodies and jumped over the gate. All three of
the infected were charging towards Blake and his men. His rifle went click as
he ran out of ammo.

“Shit,” Blake
shouted out loud. As adrenaline rushed through his system, he quickly slung his
rifle behind him and reached for his pistol. A soldier next to him had run out
of ammo at the same time and was shaking as he clumsily tried to get his pistol
out of his holster.

Blake could
tell that the first of the infected would be on the private before he could get
his pistol out. Blake took a quick breath and fired off two quick shots at the
infected attacker. The body fell at the feet of the young private.

“Get your
pistol out and get your head back into the game,” Blake shouted at him.

Both soldiers
now had their pistols leveled at the next two approaching infected.

Blake and the
private both hit their marks, and bodies fell to the ground.

The blood from
the dead piled up at the gate had made its way to Blake and his fellow soldiers
holding the front gate. The sight and smell gave Blake an uneasy feeling in his
stomach.

Quickly, as the
numbers making it over the fence grew, the fighting turned hand-to-hand. At
first, the soldiers held the perimeter. But soon the sheer force of numbers pushed
the soldiers back. “Everybody make your way to the front gate!” Blake yelled
over the radio.

Panicked
soldiers yelled for help over the radio as they became cut off from the
retreat.

“Everyone, fall
back to the west armory!” Blake yelled over the radio.

Blake scanned
the area to make sure all the soldiers still alive had retreated when he
noticed Private Hernandez a short distance away. Her knife was drawn, and she
had a terrified look on her face. She was pinned against the fence, trapped by two
AB soldiers, and more were closing in. As the sweat ran down her face, she swung
her knife with every ounce of strength she had left trying to keep them at bay.

Blake instinctive
ran towards her and within seconds he had reached the first AB. He shot his gun
and instantly its head exploded in a wave of red. The other AB was temporarily
distracted, which gave Hernandez enough time to sink her knife into its neck.

Blake grabbed
her hand and yelled, “Move it, soldier!”

They only ran a
few steps before ten AB soldiers blocked their way. Blake and Hernandez stopped
and glanced at each other for support. Many of the ABs carried guns they had
collected from the soldiers they had killed. Hernandez instinctively stepped
behind Blake, and he heard a small whimper escape her mouth. Stetson stepped
out from behind the line the ABs had formed.

“Blake, Blake,
Blake… look what this has come to. If you would have just taken my offer, think
of how many lives could have been saved.”

“We had our
orders.”

“So what are
you going to do now? We have you surrounded.”

Blake clutched
the .45 in his hand a little tighter, hoping he still had a couple of rounds
left. “I’m going to keep my promise to a friend,” he said as he glared at
Stetson. Before the last word passed his lips he raised his pistol and shot his
friend right between the eyes.

Hernandez suddenly
leapt out from behind Blake with her knife drawn. She let out a primal scream, and
charged at the others. Blake stood there for a second; he had just killed his
best friend. However, the second that he zoned out was enough time for
Hernandez to move beyond from Blake’s reach.

The ABs stared
at Stetson’s lifeless body in shock, not knowing how to react after losing
their leader. Hernandez shoved her knife into the closest AB’s chest. This
brought the rest of the infected soldiers out of their daze, and she was
brought down by a single infected soldier’s shot.

By the time
they looked back in Blake's direction, he was at a dead run. They opened fire,
and their bullets whiz by as Blake zigzagged from side to side trying to be a
harder target to hit. Several of the fleeing soldiers had formed a defensive
position behind some trees and saw what had happened to Blake and Hernandez. As
he approached the trees with the ABs in close pursuit, gunfire erupted in front
of him. Instinctively, he dropped to the ground. The ABs pursuing him fell to
the ground around him all around him as his soldiers hit their marks. Blake
quickly realized that some of his men must have reached the armory, reloaded,
and returned to the fight.

After
Blake reached the armory, he mentally made a head count. He realized that only
half of his soldiers had made it back. Blake grabbed his radio with his hands,
which were coated in sweat and blood. “Group one, do you copy?” The radio
crackled for a moment, and a voice suddenly pierced through.

“Yeah,
we’re here! We’re at the fallback point.”

“Make
your way to the new command base,” Blake panted back. “Group two, you there?”

“Yes
sir. What’s left of us is heading out of the area.”

“Group
three, do you copy?” Blake asked. His stomach grew heavy as the fear for his
soldiers threatened to drag him down. There was no answer. “Group one and two,
do you have eyes on group three?”

“Negative,
sir,” two voices replied.

“They
must have been overrun…” Blake thought. He then radioed the new base that had
been set up outside the perimeter of the camp. “Command, this is Captain
Reynolds. In fifteen minutes have the Harriers start firebombing the entire
compound. We have been completely overrun.”