Age of Decay (Book 1): Contagion (9 page)

As they got closer to the bridge, the scene became quite apparent. People were struggling to make it to the front of the line, but they were all bunched together. The voices around them buzzed in Trevor’s ears. He could see the terror in their eyes. Some sobbed uncontrollably, while others had a glazed look on their faces. Others clung to cellphones and nervously tried to dial numbers as they pushed through the crowds. A man sat on the side by a car, his head bleeding from an open wound, his eyes emotionless. Another body lay face up, a huge bullet hole in the top of the woman’s head. They moved through the crowds the best they could, but it was slow going.

“Steve!” screamed a woman. “Where are you?”

A man grabbed a hold of Trevor’s arm. His eyes were bloodshot, and his breath reeked of rum. “It’s the end, you know. Those things are everywhere. Saw one rip out the throat of my neighbor. It almost got me, too.” He babbled on for a few more minutes before wandering off behind Trevor. The crowd looked up as a helicopter went overhead towards the other side of the bridge. In the distance, they heard the low thump of an explosion.

“There,” said Erica. “Flashing police lights. Looks like they are blocking the bridge.”

“Yeah,” replied Trevor. “Look, we have to get to the front of this group.”

A high pitched scream broke through their conversation. Trevor turned around and several feet behind him saw a man stagger around, flailing his arms at another woman. He lunged for her then bit into her neck sending blood fountaining out of the wound. The crowd around him dispersed and ran in all directions.

Trevor pushed someone out of his way and leveled his rifle towards the man. “Get out of the way!” He fired three rounds into the man’s chest and head. He pitched backwards as the bullets hit him and toppled over. The remains of his head splattered against the side of a car. At the front, people surged forward away from stricken woman. One man tried to help her by putting his jacket over the wound. Jason pushed him out of the way and fired point blank into her head which erupted in gore.

“Why the hell did you do that?” cursed the man. “I was trying to save her!”

“She would’ve change into one of those.” He pointed to the corpse on the ground. “Bites infect you, there’s no cure.”

Another woman collapsed to her knees and began coughing up blood. “Please," she moaned. “Help me… so sick...”

Trevor put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Come on, we have to get to the front.” He pulled out his revolver and pointed it to the woman’s head before squeezing the trigger, ending her misery.

A pistol shot rang out behind them, and a man screamed. Some of the crowd around them took off in the opposite direction trying to flee, while others, including Trevor’s group, surged forward towards the beginning of the bridge. Lauren clung to Trevor’s arm while Jason held onto Samantha. Many officers, as well as riot police, were there with a barricade across the entire road, blocking access to the bridge. The men brandished batons and rifles.

“Looks like they aren’t letting people cross,” said Erica.

They worked their way through the frenzied crowd, which thickened as they reached the barricades up closer to the main bridge entrance. Overhead, choppers droned steadily. People were pushing and shoving on the fence as officers stood behind the barricades, their rifles at the ready. Another line of riot police stood behind them with shields and batons, but even these troops looked uneasy. This wasn’t a riot, it was a flight for one’s very survival.

“Get back,” blared the blow horn from the chopper.

“Let us through,” screamed a man. He shoved on the fence like a madman, then coughed violently before spitting out blood.

“No one is getting through,” shouted an officer. “The bridge is blocked with traffic. We have to keep infected from crossing. There’s no way to make it over the bridge. Just go back to your homes!”

“Can’t go back there,” a woman yelled. “They are everywhere in the city now, there’s no place to go. Please, I have a child.” A young girl in a yellow dress with tears streaming down her face clutched at her mother’s arm.

The hopelessness was apparent on the officer’s face. He wiped sweat away from his brow. Another officer to his side coughed loudly. “Christ, Mike, what the hell are we gonna do with all these people?”

Trevor made his way to the fence with his group behind him. “Hey, you gotta let us pass. We all didn’t come this way for nothing.”

Another officer jogged up to Mike. “Just got word that they are bringing over some boats to try and get these people to the other side. They are setting up about one mile down by the water.”

Behind the main group of people, screams began to erupt. Trevor glanced behind him, but couldn’t see anything. Things were unravelling fast as more people began to change or were bitten by the ghouls whose numbers increased by the minute. “Open the goddamn fence,” said Trevor. “Shit is happening back there. You want those bastards to get you, too?”

The officer swallowed hard, unable to comprehend what was happening. His years of training never prepared him for a tide of rising dead. He motioned to his men. “Get this barricade back, they’re taking people across down by the river in boats.”

Behind them, two men staggered by the side of the road. One of them wore a ripped white cotton work shirt. He leaned over and bit the neck of an unsuspecting woman. Her neck fountained blood, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The other one lunged for someone else and tore strips of flesh off of a man’s arm. He stood there and chewed on the flesh like nothing had happened. The group of people pressed harder against the fence. Trevor strained against the tide behind him. He worked an arm free and punched a man who pushed relentlessly on him. Jason swung his rifle butt into another man’s head, and he went down hard. The crowd began to break apart and more people were attacked by the ghouls as the surge of dead swelled within the ranks of the survivors. Ian swung his axe at one of the monstrosities that tried to bite him and cleaved him down the middle. The body sprayed blood and guts in all directions.

“Get the fucking fence down!” yelled the officer. He backed up as he saw the ghouls behind the main tide of people begin to tear into more victims. The officers worked at the side of the fencing and quickly had an opening there for people to go through.

“Go to the side and get through,” said Mike. “No need to rush, everything is going to be fine.”

Trevor grabbed Lauren’s arm, then screamed at the useless officer. “I’d like to know who the fuck gave you a goddamn badge!”

The tide of people surged toward the opening as more screams were heard behind them. Trevor and his group went through the opening as chaos erupted. Several dozen of the dead now staggered around in the crowds that had gathered by the bridge and began to rip apart anyone they saw. As Trevor’s group made it through, he helped several more survivors through before helping the officers close the fence again as the tide of dead moved closer. As the survivors made their way from the barricades, the officers had already begun to open fire on the remainder of the crowds. The screams filled the air and chilled Trevor to the bone. There was no need to look back, to wonder what was going on. He had seen so much death in this day that he was now numb to it. There was nothing to be done and nothing you could do for those that were unlucky enough to fall victim to the waves of dead that were overwhelming the city of Vancouver. On the other side of the fence, it was hell as the dead descended upon anyone that was left. They feasted on the living and in turn, created more dead with a need for human flesh.

Mike stood there, his face stark white as he watched the horror in front of his eyes. His sidearm was empty now, and he fumbled for another magazine. He jumped back as several of the ghouls made their way to the fence. One of them placed his jaws on the wires and tried to chew them. His face was a dark gray with congealed blood on the side of his head. He hissed and clawed at the fencing. His head erupted in a spray of blood as another officer shot him. The ranks had begun to disintegrate as many of the riot police took off down to the water’s edge. Mike was unaware of the officer behind him that had coughed earlier. He never saw the man’s eyes change from the light blue to dead, vacant white. All Mike felt was the searing pain that erupted from the back of his neck as the other officer bit down. Before he could react, the ghoul tore into his shoulder as well. As he sank to his knees, his vision began to fade. The rest of the officers who had stood their ground now broke in complete panic, their duty forgotten, replaced by the need for survival. Behind the chaos at the bridge, the rest of Vancouver began its inevitable decent into oblivion.

A steady stream of people made their way down to the edge of the Fraser River from the horrors at the bridge, as well as other areas of the city. Some of them still carried their belongings, while others had dropped everything and were in full flight away from the chaos behind them. Among the survivors, Trevor led his group towards the boats that were supposed to be coming for them.

They passed a young woman of about twenty-four, wearing jean shorts and a stained white T-shirt, who sat on the ground with her knees bent. She held onto her legs with her hands, clenching so hard she drew blood just above her knees. She sobbed uncontrollably and let out gasps every so often. Tears, along remains of her makeup, poured down her face, leaving black streaks. Like many others, her sanity began to escape her as she just couldn’t process what was happening around her. She let out a long horrific scream, then tore at her hair. The woman began to mutter unrecognizable words.

Trevor glanced back as he passed her. “Keep going,” he said to the others. “Just fucking keep moving.”

As they made their way along the shoreline, they could see some boats ahead of them beginning to cross the river. Many people began to hurry towards the boats they could now see more clearly.

“Come on,” said Ian. “There’s our escape, lad.”

“Do you think there are enough boats for everyone?” asked Lauren.

“Don’t think so,” replied Erica.

Trevor grabbed his wife and motioned her forward. “We came this far, we’ll get across.”

Erica stopped, her body reacting to what she saw. They began to creep closer to the shoreline in that now all familiar slow, awkward gait. There were others coming to the shore, too, but these people weren’t alive, they were dead. “Oh, shit.”

Others saw what Erica had and began a full out panic. People screamed and took off everywhere. Some of them went into the water and started to swim as fast as possible. One man weighed down by a backpack, got out so far and disappeared under the water.

“Fucking idiots,” muttered Trevor. He grabbed his rifle. Several of the survivors stood by him holding their ground, but were ensure of what to do.

A man came up to Trevor. “Hey, I can shoot. Can you spare a weapon?”

“Yeah, take this pistol.” He handed him a police service sidearm and a couple of magazines. “Aim for the head, only way to stop them.”

“Got it.”

Another man brandished a length of pipe. “I’m with you, too. If I’m gonna die today, it will be standing up.”

Ian held his axe out at the ready. “As am I.”

Trevor looked at Lauren. “Stay back and watch Samantha. If the worst happens, get on a boat, then get the hell out of here.”

“No, I want to be with you.”

“We have to hold them off so those boats can get here. It’s going to be several minutes. Gonna save as many as we can.”

Erica and Jason joined the rest of them as they spread out. Trevor hollered over the screams and commotion. “The rest of you, stay back as far as possible, wait for the boats.” The main group of survivors had thinned considerably, but many still remained behind as the dead approached.

Trevor aimed his rifle. “Target the nearest ones, don’t let them get close.”

The group was larger than Trevor had feared. A crazed man that had run off in that general direction tried to move past them, but he was quickly overwhelmed. He screamed as they tore into him, ripping off one of his arms and biting into his stomach in a feeding frenzy. The shots rang out as Trevor and the rest of them picked their targets.

Bullets slammed into a woman in a bloodstained dress, she pitched to the side then crashed into the sand. Jason fired his shotgun, but switched to a pistol for more range. They fired as fast as possible, but there were so many of them surging forward, devouring the living in an orgy of insanity.

“Get back,” screamed Trevor.” Everyone, get back.”

Ian and the other man brandished their weapons and tore into the front of the relentless horde. “That’s it. Let 'em have it.”

The man slammed his pipe into a teenager’s head and as he pitched backwards he brought the pipe down hard through the center of the skull, which crunched. Ian cleaved the head of an elderly man in two, spraying his arms and axe in gore. Erica fired her rifle at another woman, who toppled backwards into the crowd of dead that moved relentlessly towards the survivors. To the side on a bit of a hill, a woman had gotten too close to the dead, and they grabbed her, pulling her backwards into the crowd. She wailed as they feasted on her. Rivers of blood ran down to the edge of the shore and turned the brown murky water red.

“Motherfuckers!” wailed Trevor, as he fired into the crowd of dead. He saw the boats getting closer now. “Hold 'em off for a few more minutes. Just hold them off.” As one got too close, he drew his hunting knife and plunged it into the side of the thing's head, then twisted it. He watched as one man tried to stop the flow of blood seeping from a horrific bite wound. Before he could react, the dead had torn the helpless man in half. The shore was now soaked in blood and death, the stench overwhelming. He was only one man trying to survive, there was nothing he could do. Those that died here would reanimate in a relentless onslaught.

Ian put his foot into another man and sent him backwards into the crowd. The man Trevor had given the pistol to added his own fire, as another head exploded in a spray. The group of survivors began to dwindle as the dead began to tear into anyone near them. Samantha screamed and swung her bat at one close to her, which smashed in the skull. There was only one way to escape and that was across the water. They could swim, but drowning was a distinct possibility. The boats were their only salvation.

Lauren swung her hatchet into the top of another one’s head, then brought it down again to cleave in the top of the skull once the man had fallen over. She held the blood-soaked hatchet in her hand, then screamed out towards the boats that were near the shore now. “Help us. Just fucking help us.”

Jason got in front of Samantha and pushed his boot into one of the dead, sending it backwards, then raised his pistol and fired point blank into the thing’s head. The main group of survivors moved out into the water as the five boats began to get near. Some began to swim out to them as one boat started picking people out of the water. They sobbed and screamed amid the relentless chaos, while officers on the boats barked out orders to the survivors. Several officers added their own fire with automatic rifles into the horde. Trevor bashed another one on the head with the butt of his rifle, trying to drive it back. The boat nearest Trevor stopped, but the lone officer began to panic as he saw the grisly scenes on the shore. He put the boat in reverse.

“Five boats, you only sent five fucking boats, goddamn bastards.” Trevor leveled his rifle at the man and went into the water at waist height. “No, you can’t go fucking back,” he said, as he fired his weapon into the officer who pitched over the side. Trevor climbed up the side into the boat. He reached over and grabbed his wife, then Erica behind her.

Ian swung his axe one more time, taking of the top part of a head in crimson spray before he got deeper into the water to get closer to the boat. Trevor helped the bigger man into the boat, who struggled to get his breath. “Thanks, lad.”

The man with the pipe yelled at Jason. “You and the girl, get in the water.” He swung at another one of the horde driving it back. The dead were all over the shore now, and many that remained were simply being overwhelmed and devoured.

The man swung the pipe again. “Go,” he screamed out to the boat. He tried to get into the water, but they pulled him back towards the shore then bit into his shoulder with crimson teeth. He screamed and went down, the dead pulling him back, ripping him in two. Jason and Samantha made it out to the boat as Ian helped them aboard.

“Thanks, buddy,” said Trevor. A few more survivors made their way into the boat, including the man Trevor had given the pistol to, before he gunned the engine and moved away from the shore.

The man with the pistol shook violently and clutched at the side of the boat. He put his head over the side and vomited. He coughed and wiped his mouth. “Holy… shit…”

Lauren looked behind her. “There’s still people back there, we have to save them.”

“It’s too late,” said Erica. “Look.”

They all peered out to the shore and saw what Erica was witnessing. A man beside her sobbed, rubbing his knee. A woman held his hand tightly, makeup streaked her tear-stained face. The dead were pouring down the hills from the city towards the shore. When they left, there several dozen or more dead, but now this was in the hundreds or more. They devoured those few that remained in a sick display of compete horrific carnage. The last of the survivors swam out across the river. Some of the dead moved out into the water, but disappeared under the surface.

Trevor looked back and his heart seemed to stop for a moment when he saw her. The girl in the torn, yellow dress. She staggered along the shoreline then turned her head towards the boat. She reached out an arm, lazily towards him. The boat was now too far away for Trevor to see her cold, dead eyes. The girl reached down to a corpse near her and pulled off a strip of flesh with her hands, then began to chew.