Age of Decay (Book 1): Contagion (19 page)

Ian Patrick hated to be away from the fight, but he knew that he wouldn’t be much good with just an axe.
Gah, I’ll have to get the lad to teach me how to shoot one of those bloody things
.
I wish things could be different, so much death now
.
Have to be strong for these women here and the children, Ian. Who in the bloody hell will be strong for me?

Samantha finished pouring the coffee. “I hope Jason is alright,” she said. “I wish they would have let me go with them.”

“Need more practice with that pistol, lass, but you’re mean with a hatchet and bat, I grant you that.”

Sam smiled. “Thanks.” She sighed and sat down. “I miss my parents.” She took a sip of the black coffee. “Ew, how do you drink this?”

Ian laughed. “Sugar in the cupboard over there. Sorry there’s no milk or cream for it.”

“It’s my first coffee.”

“In these times, I’d switch over to whiskey, lass.”

Another woman sat beside Ian and took a sip of her coffee. “Thank you for protecting us, Mr. Patrick. I would hate to leave the children alone.”

Ian put his hand out on hers. “My pleasure, Sue. It’s always good to be in the company of a lady.”

“He’s a flatterer too, Sam.”

Ian laughed again. “Oh, bloody hell.”

A small boy about six came down the hallway. “And how are you, my little Tommy?” said Sue.

“Just playin’ cars.” He ran his fire truck along the table making truck sounds.

Sam rubbed his hair. “I found them in a house down the road.”

“Thank you. He hasn’t had a chance to just be a boy with all this going on. At least Mike and Sarah are keeping him company. He misses his dad.”
Back there in our house, you tried to kill your own son. Monster! They are all monsters now!

“Nice fire truck there, lad. You gonna be a fireman when you grow up?”

“No. I’m gonna carry a gun.” The boy ran off down the hallway towards the other room.

Lauren came out and sat down. She wiped her forehead and pinched between her eyes, shaking her head.

“How is Gail?” said Sue.

“She’s okay, but not much change. She was speaking a bit earlier, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying.” Sam brought her a coffee. “Thanks, Sam. I wish I knew how Jason and Trevor were doing. I hate the fact that they are out there.”

“Aye,” said Ian.

“I don’t know one minute to the next which one of us will be next. How is a person supposed to live now? I guess it makes you thankful for what we do have.” She put out her hand and touched Ian’s forearm. “At least we are among friends. Thank you for being here, Ian.”

“Aye, lass. Any man would do the same. You’re a strong woman, I sense that from you. Trevor is lucky to have you.”

Lauren sipped her coffee. “Sometimes I don’t know if I’m strong enough. It’s a living nightmare out there, Ian. I don’t know if strength is going to be enough. It’s our sanity I worry about more than strength.”

Sue gestured to the bedroom. “I worry about them. What future do they have? How do we rebuild a world for them? What will they inherit from us?”

“No one can answer that, lass. I wish I had answer for ya. Our world is changed.”

“Yeah,” said Lauren. “It’s changed.”

Sue saw Sarah come down the hallway. The twelve year old had been hiding in a closet in one of the homes. Galen had found her after he was forced to kill her father who had turned into one of them. The little girl was shaking and sobbing. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“They are coming.”

Lauren stood up. “Who’s coming?”

“The people in the yard.”

Sue stood up. “What?”

Ian bolted to the window. “Damn.”

“What is it?” asked Sam.

“The dead.”

***
   Sue went to Sarah. “I need you to stay in the room with Mike and Tommy okay? Don’t open the door unless we call for you. Hide under the bed. Do you understand?” Sue ran back in the kitchen and grabbed the butcher knife from Galen’s knife block.

“What do ya think you’re doing?” said Ian.

“Dammit, I’m gonna help you. There comes a time when you have to make a stand. I’m sure as hell not gonna let those things get the kids. I’ll die here if I have to. I’m going to protect them.”

Lauren overturned the table. “Sam, help me get this against the door.” The two women brought the table over to cover the main door. They heard the commotion outside and the groans as the horde reached the door. They pounded hard on it, as well as the main window in the kitchen.

Sam looked outside and saw them. “They’re everywhere. I count about twenty, I’m not sure.”

“Shit,” said Lauren.

Galen’s cabin featured three main bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Through the kitchen was the main living room. It was where he sat during the long winter months with a good drink and a good book. It also featured a nice sliding glass door and a small wooden deck with stairs going down. Galen would often sit out there with neighbors in the summer and have a nice barbecue. Some of the group had been sleeping in the living room, and it was full of sleeping bags and personal belongings. The sliding glass doors were going to serve another purpose now. They doors would provide easy access for the dead into the cabin.

Ian drew in a deep breath. “Sweet Jesus, the bloody patio doors!”

There was nowhere they could go to now. The dead had lost most their primary functions, but they still had a sense of smell, and they could smell living fresh. They were drawn to it like a plague of fast-moving locusts. They came around to the back of the house, shuffling their feet. They began to beat on the glass.

Ian and the rest of them went into the living room. They couldn’t go out the front door, and now the patio door was blocked. They had to clear their way out of the cabin, but it wasn’t clear just how many of them were out there waiting.

“Lass,” said Ian to Samantha. “Now would be a good time to put that pistol training Trevor taught ya, into good use. They are going to come through that glass. We need to clear a path and try to make it into the yard.”

“I’m ready,” said Sam. She pulled out the pistol and checked the magazine. “I got four magazines.”

“Lauren, you and Sue stay behind me, don’t get too close to them,” said Ian. Ian watched as the glass cracked even more under the weight of their blows. The male in front with the torn dress shirt and bloody mouth slammed his fists onto the glass and it shattered inwards. Glass shards pierced his hands, but he shook it off. He staggered forward. His mouth opening and closing. Ian stepped up to him, and with one stroke of his axe, severed the man’s head from his body. The blade sent blood and gore across the living room. “Now, Sam, open fire!”

Samantha stood there behind Ian and didn’t move. She raised the pistol and took aim. A woman with mud-caked jeans tried to stagger over the grisly remains of the man. Samantha let go a round from the pistol which slammed into her shoulder. She pitched back a bit and tilted her head towards Sam hissing at her. Sam adjusted her aim.
Just like Trevor taught you. The head, aim for the head
. The second crack from the pistol found its mark and the woman pitched over as the top of her head exploded in a red spray drenching the remaining glass in a slick red. Another one climbed over the corpses and reached out for Ian. Sue stepped up to the thing and drove her butcher knife through the eye socket and pushed hard. The ghoul twitched for a moment before falling backwards into the growing pile of corpses by the smashed patio door. Ian swung his axe sideways and severed another one in half, as the thing toppled over he brought his axe down and took the head off of it. Lauren kicked at one of them and drove her hatchet into its head. The ghoul slumped to the ground. Another one crawled on the ground and reached out for Sam. She fired her pistol into its head, silencing the threat. She dropped the empty magazine and loaded a fresh one.

“Bloody too many of them,” screamed Ian. He pushed the couch into the group of ghouls that kept coming. “Back up, into the kitchen!”

“What the hell are we gonna do?” yelled Lauren.

“Keep backing up,” said Ian. “Towards the kid’s room. Need to get them out of here!”

They backed up, and Ian kept swinging his axe as Sam fired again into the group of dead now in the cabin. They reached out arms and tried to claw at the survivors in the cabin. Sue screamed as one just missed her. She drove the butcher knife down and slashed the thing’s wrist wide open. It groaned and staggered back a bit. She pushed the butcher knife out and drove it into the forehead.

“Down the hallway,” Ian said. As the dead followed them, Ian did what he had to do. He opened Gail’s room door. Several dead followed them, but quite a few went into Gail’s room. Lauren closed her eyes for a moment as the woman shrieked. Ian was doing what was necessary to save them, they needed a distraction.
Sorry, lass. God forgive me
. The room was at the far back of the cabin, so it was away from the main group of dead, they might have just enough time to escape the cabin. They rushed down the hallway with the dead close behind them, hissing and moaning. Ian put his axe sideways and gave them a quick shove backwards. A woman fell over and the dead spent a few seconds climbing over her. Ian pushed Sam into the room, and Lauren was behind Sam. Lauren felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, the dead clawed at her from behind. She turned and drove her hatchet into the ghoul. Ian grabbed her and pushed her into the room before he slammed the door behind her. The dead pounded on it.

“We need to get the kids out. Sue, check the window. Is it clear out there?”

“Yes, I don’t see any. Must all be by the patio doors or coming inside.”

Sue put her arms around the sobbing children. “Be quiet now. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Billy fired his rifle again towards the men hiding by the main group of Hope residents who were scattering all directions. They had already managed to bring down two of the bikers, but incoming four were keeping their heads down.

“Keep up the fire,” said Galen. “Need to give Trevor and the others time to get to the hotel. They’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Right.” Billy put his head down as a round went off near him. “Shit.”

“Not all of them are poor shots,” said Galen. “Probably have some police rifles.”

“Lucky for us. One running for cover, to your left.”

“I see him,” said Galen. He took aim with his rifle through the scope. Just before the figure got into his crosshairs he fired.

Billy whooped. “Yeah, that got him!” He put his head down as automatic gunfire came back his way.

“They must like you. Just hang on, keep up the fire. They don’t know how many of us there are.”

Billy put a fresh magazine into his rifle as another round impacted behind him “Yeah, let’s hope they don’t find out.”

***
 

The biker woke up in the hotel in a fog. Like most of his buddies, he had spent the night drinking and womanizing. There were plenty of girls in the town, and Jake had picked out the best ones for them. He shook his head from the hangover of far too many beers.
The fuck? Gunfire?
More dead out there, must be.
Get the guys together, and teach ‘em a lesson
. He sat up and pulled on his boots and threw his vest over his stained shirt. He grabbed the pistol on his nightstand and checked the magazine. He staggered over to the door and opened it. As he stepped out of the second floor room, he thought he saw someone moving by the bushes.
What the fuck?
Before he took another step, he screamed as a firebomb hit the top floor of the hotel right near the biker. The Molotov cocktail erupted into flames, and they tore into the biker. He staggered around screaming for a few moments as the flames consumed him. As rifle fire tore into his body, he pitched forward and went over the railing. His fat, burning body caving in the roof of a small sedan.

“Let ‘em have it!” screamed Trevor.

Jason fired his rifle towards the hotel, then hurled a Molotov which exploded near the main entrance.

Another biker came out of another top floor room brandishing a shotgun. He got off several rounds towards Trevor. A man near him went down in a heap as a shotgun round destroyed his stomach in a spray.

Erica lined up her rifle and took aim, hitting the biker in the shoulder and middle of the chest. She went over to the man that had fallen and checked his pulse. She then took her knife and drove it into the man’s head to keep him from reanimating.

   Two more bikers ran over form the diner brandishing automatic rifles. They took up positions near a dumpster and opened fire. Bullets landed near Jason, and he dropped back behind the car with Phillip who dove for cover. Another one in their group took a bullet in the leg and went down.

   “Hit ‘em over by that dumpster!” screamed Trevor.

Steven took off across the street, back from the main group. He worked his way up to another car. He had good line of sight now on one of the bikers, they hadn’t seen him move position He returned fire towards the two bikers by the dumpster. His first shot hit the dumpster, but the second one tore into the leg and side of the first biker who was exposed to him. The man screamed and went down. As the second biker saw his buddy get hit, he panicked and got up and began to run. Trevor moved out and lined him up. The shots took him full in the back, and the biker went down hard. Erica hurled another firebomb towards the hotel. Several bikes exploded as well as the car that was there which send debris in all directions. Two other bikers came out of the diner with their hands over their heads. One of Trevor’s men motioned them to lie down. “Deal with them,” said Trevor to the man. “The rest of you, towards the park!”

***
 

Jake and his men were in a lot of trouble. He has already lost two to sniper fire, and he had seen the hotel go up in flames down the street. He was pinned down behind a car which continued to be riddled by sniper rounds. Two other bikers and his friend Vance were hiding behind the cars, trying to figure out exactly what they were up against.

One of his men sent more rounds towards the building where the snipers were hiding. “Those motherfuckers killed Frank!”

Vance hunkered down. “Geez man, we are fucked!”

Jake’s anger was growing. “Stop being a fucking coward, and keep firing!” Jake peered out down the street, and he could see several people moving their way
. Figures most of my men would have been drunk last night
. Another biker popped his head up for a quick moment, but took a sniper round in the top of his head, which exploded in a spray across the car he was hiding behind. Jake sent more rounds towards the top of the building where the snipers were, but he had more to worry about now that the figures he saw were getting closer to him. The residents had scattered away from the park and there were groups of them huddled around other cars or had gone into buildings to hide from the gunfire. Through the clatter of gunfire, he heard a voice call out to him.

“You’re fucking surrounded. We have snipers trained on your position. Give up now and no one else has to die!”

“Jake, man, what do we do?” said Vance. “I don’t wanna die out here.”

“Hey,” yelled Jake. “Maybe we can work something out!”

“I don’t think so, after what you did to that constable. There’s no bargain. Surrender now.”

“We surrender,” said Vance. He dropped his rifle and stood up with his hands over his head “Don’t shoot. Call off your snipers!”

The other men around Jake dropped their guns and did the same as Vance.

Great, surrounded by cowards. Just what I need. It gets tough, and they cry like little babies
. “Alright you win, were coming out.” Jake stood up with his men. He put his rifle down. He walked up behind Vance. “So disappointing. I thought you were tougher than that.”

“Shit man, put your hands up. They’re gonna kill you,” said Vance.

“Perhaps, but you’ll die, too.”

“Hu—“

Before Vance could finish, Jake took his knife out and shoved it through the back of Vance’s neck. He twisted the blade, and Vance gurgled as blood poured out of his mouth. Jake withdrew the knife.
You stupid little fuck
. He put his boot into Vance’s back and shoved him over. He sheathed the knife, then put his hands on the top of his head.

Several men and one woman came out from behind a building. The woman wore tight jean shorts. They walked over to Jake and his remaining men.

Jake smiled at her. “Damn darlin’, you’re so fine.”

“Shut the fuck up,” said Trevor, as he slugged him across the jaw.

Jake rubbed his jaw. “Nice to meet you, too. Welcome to Rawlings. Might say I’m the town mayor, now.”

Trevor pointed his gun at Jake’s head. ‘You’re gonna pay for what you did here.”

“Pay? Shit man, I was just helping these fine folks.” A crowd began to gather around them.

“Fucking kill that bastard!” screamed a woman.

“Seems you have a lot of new friends, Jake.”

“Ah, word gets out around here. I see you know me.”

“I know enough.”

Phillip went through the crowd. “Janice!” he yelled.

“Your sister?” said Jake. “Oh, she was sweet, let me tell you.”

“Fuck you.” Erica drove the butt of her rifle into Jake’s guts, and the biker bent over as he puked.

Trevor and Steven used rope to tie up Jake and his remaining men.

“Such a hero,” said Jake to Erica. He smiled though the vomit on his chin.

Several more sniper shots went off in rapid succession, but nowhere near them.

“What the hell? You got more men I don’t know about?”

“Not me,” said Jake. “Maybe your boys are trigger happy.”

“Steven, watch them.” Trevor took off down the street towards the building his uncle and Billy were located in and then he heard the screams. Several of the town’s residents ran past him in a rush. He grabbed a woman’s arm. “Slow down, we got more bikers up there?”

“No,” she sobbed. “They’re everywhere. Those things are coming. You got to run and get the fuck out of here!”

Trevor took a few more steps and then he saw the wall of figures. They had reached the building where Billy and Galen where. Behind the main mass, he saw even more of them. Trevor lowered his rifle.

“Shit.”