Omega Virus (Book 2): Revisited (15 page)

              “Yeah of course I do,” Brad replies with a proud grin on his face.

              The others look at him waiting before Fanny starts poking Hope, nodding in Brad’s direction trying to coax her silently into asking the obvious question.

              “Well?” Hope asks.

              “Oh, yeah,” Brad says slapping his hand against his head. “I don’t have any with me, but there is a ton back at the safe house.”

              “How in the hell did this dumb ass survive the apocalypse?” The Major whispers to himself.

              “Would the others mind if you brought us there and shared some of your supplies with us?” Hope asks after getting prodded a few more times.

              “I don’t see why not,” Brad replies.

              “Great because I am dying of thirst,” Sara murmurs.

              The black razors claws that they last saw on the humungous undead creature bursts through the flames and out past the window easily sliding through Sara’s chest like butter. She screams in pain as she is lifted up off her feet. Blood dribbles down her chin as she opens to speak. The claws pull back dragging Sara back into the store and into the fire as the beast makes itself known, rising up from the flames. It lifts up Sara’s body and bites the head off before freeing it from its claws. It roars wildly before it smashes its way out of the window standing before the group, its body still slightly on fire as it lifts its head and inhales deeply.

              “How the fuck is that thing not dead?” Mika asks.

              “I think the better question is how do we kill that thing if fire doesn’t work?” Hope asks.

              “I’ve found that things without heads don’t do to well,” Fanny growls as she rushes over toward the creature, her machete reflecting the glow of the dancing fire still roaring in the distance.

              She dodges the first swing of the creature’s mighty fist driving the top of her blade into the beast’s hardened body. The new species roars again as it knocks Fanny back toward the group and snaps the steel in half leaving the tip still inside it. Fanny struggles to get up as Hope kneels besides her doing her best to help her sit up. Fanny’s face is battered and bruised small amounts of blood dripping from the bumps on the forehead and gashes in the lips. The rest stand in fear as the creature takes several small, earth shattering steps in their direction. Fanny’s body wobbles slightly before her eyes roll upward into the back of her head. Hope lays her back down as she pants with rage and anger. Her hands instinctively free the blade of her sword from the scabbard. She gets to her feet, her teeth clenched as she growls.

              “Hope, don’t do anything stupid,” Mika says grabbing her arm.

              Hope elbows him in the stomach as she races toward the ugly beast. The creature extends the arm with the razor sharp claws, swiping and slashing as he tries to cut Hope in half. Hope dodges the first swipe before feeling the agonizing pain of the claw digging into her shoulder. She manages to turn around with sufficient amount of force as she slices off the beasts arm. She pulls the black nails out of her shoulder with hardly a grunt. The creature roars again as it raises its head into the air once again and begins to sniff. Hope tosses the beast’s arm off to the side and grips the katana handle with both hands ready to fight again. The creature stomps away from Hope who slowly backs up to the rest of the group, her hand covering the wound as it continues to bleed.

              “Just once I’d like to get away unscathed,” She jokes with a weak laugh.

              “Maybe you would if you stopped rushing into these things so hastily,” The Major scorns.

              “Are you kidding me? That was awesome!” Brad exclaims. “I mean I’ve seen some sword play before but that was epic.” He pushes his way past the others and pats her on the back.

              “Thanks,” Hope says sarcastically before she looks down at her unconscious friend and then at Mika, “would you mind helping me carry her?”

              “Sure,” Mika says grabbing Fanny by the legs.

              Brad waves Hope off, “I can help carry her.”

              The Major pushes Brad away from Fanny’s body and wraps her in his arms giving him an evil look as he does, “I’ll carry her.”

              “Um, guys,” Amanda calls getting the others attention.

              They all look back and watch as the creature grabs its severed arm and holds it up to its stump. The skin from the stump starts to merge itself with the severed arm. The merger doesn’t take long and soon the creature is holding his newly attached arm in the air the claws waving freely as if to taunt the group.

              “Are you fucking kidding me?” Amanda groans. “Is there any way to kill that thing?”

“I’m not sure,” Brad says pulling out a pair of silver plated guns releasing the clips onto the ground, refilling them with fresh ammunition, “but I guess it’s my turn to find out.”

Brad flicks the hammers back on both of his guns with his thumbs and fires multiple times hitting the undead monstrosity several times. He stands back several feet, dodging both the sharp claws and hammer fist as the creature tries to retaliate. Brad laughs every time he dodges an attack until his guns click repeatedly as he stands out of ammo.

“Get her as far away from here as possible,” He orders reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small silver canister.

The Group retreats as far as possible standing against a brick wall of another abandoned and desolate building. Brad stands tall as the creature drives its thick nails through his shoulder. He makes a face of anguish but tries to hold it in as the creature pulls him over its head. Its mouth opens wide as it readies to devour Brad. He holds out the stainless steel canister, popping the top off and pressing down on the button that he reveals before dropping it down the creature’s throat and wriggles himself free of its claws. He crawls away as the creature roars loudly driving the nails into Brad’s ankle. A loud beeping noise is heard as the beast opens its mouth again.

“Oh, so close,” Brad says with another wide smile, before covering his face with his arms.

A booming explosion rattles from inside the creature rocking the world around them and sending the front of the store crumbling down around them, leaving them covered in blood and guts, dust rising up around them.

Chapter 12

“BRAD!” Amanda calls out waving the dust away.

              “It’s too late,” Mika says pulling her back, “he died saving us.”

              “Wow, you are morbid,” Brad says walking through the dust trying to avoid the limp from his bloody ankle.

              “Are you alright?” Amanda asks rushing over and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, taking the weight off his injured leg.

              “Are you kidding?” Brad asks trying to keep up his delightful demeanor, “this is nothing you should have been here last year. That was a mess.”

              “We need to get them somewhere,” The Major says breaking their flirtatious gaze on one and other.

              “The safe house I’ve been living in is right around the corner,” Brad groans trying to put weight back on his leg. “The old gym. The entrance is round back.”

              “An old gym? Really?” Mika asks unimpressed.

              “Yeah, why not?” Brad asks proud of himself.

              “It just doesn’t seem logical,” Mika snipes back.

              “Yeah well where have you been hiding?” Brad asks smugly.

              “Secret government base located miles under an old church,” Mika answers before walking off.

              “Yeah, well why aren’t you still there then if you liked it so much?” Brad questions with a sly smirk.

              Mika stops in his tracks, a small grunting sound can be heard before he starts off, with Hope staggering beside him. The Major picks up some speed just to glare at Brad, Fanny still resting unconscious in his arms.

              “Was it something I said?” Brad asks confused.

              “Our bunker caught fire,” Amanda explains, “mass evacuation. We’d still be there if it wasn’t for that.”

              “Oh. I’m sorry I had no idea,” Brad apologizes.

              “It’s fine,” Amanda says.

              “What happened?” Brad asks in a slight whisper, his lips grazing Amanda’s ear, sending a shiver down her spine as she lets out a refreshing sigh.

              “Sorry,” She says clearing her throat, “it’s just been a while since I’ve felt a man brush against me.”

              “Once my ankle is healed I’ll have to make sure that you never have to wait again,” Brad winks.

              “Oooh,” Amanda shudders again.

              “But first, I must ask again… what happened?” Brad asks again.

              “Well I don’t know everything,” Amanda admits, “but I know Mika feels guilty about what happened.”

              “I’m surprised he said anything. He seems a little…” Brad stops looking for the right words to describe Mika, “Like he has a stick in his ass.” Amanda stops dead, pulling Brad back. A disappointed scowl adorned on her face. “I’m sorry did I say something wrong?”

              “I’ve known Mika for almost sixteen years now,” She starts, “he’s almost like a brother to me. Keep that in mind next time you want to talk about him like that. Because I’d have no problem cutting your head off like one of those undead fucks.”

“WHOA, take it easy beautiful,” Brad says inching away as far as he can. “I didn’t mean any disrespect, all I meant was he seems a little stiff. That’s all.”

“Yeah, that enough talking Romeo,” Amanda says unimpressed by his choice of words, “you can limp the rest of the way.”

Amanda brushes his arm off of his shoulder and rushes off trying to catch up with the others. Brad stands alone frustrated, his ankle throbbing wildly as he fights to keep up.

              “Come on beautiful,” Brad cries out, “I was just trying to make small talk.”

              Brad hobbles as fast as he can, only catching up with the others as they wait impatiently for him outside the door to the gym. Amanda stands far away from him, her head turned, looking back at the crumb lings of the three, foot, stone, wall enclosing the back lot. There are still a few cars lined up inside the parking lot, most of which have been stripped of the doors, tires, and other parts. On the furthest end of the lot the remains of a timeworn pickup truck crashed through the wall.

              “This place looks amazing considering,” The Major remarks still holding Fanny in his arms.

              “Thanks, we try to keep it free of Zombie debris,” Brad replies with a dry tone, “We’ve noticed that the bodies seem to bring in a sort of scavenger creature.”

              “What do you mean scavenger?” Mika asks.

              “They are like the other Zombies but they’re smaller, quicker and always travel in packs,” Brad answers as he shambles over to the solid gray emergency exit.

              He knocks softly on the middle of the door before pounding with the inside of his palm two more times.

              “Are you alone?” a raspy voice calls through the door.

              “No,” Brad calls back, “I have found others who request sac-tuary.”

              “It’s pronounced SANCTUARY you idiot,” The voice says as the door pushes open. “What’s the point in having key words if you can’t ever remember the simplest ones?”

              There is a soft light coming from the inside of the gym. The light is reminiscent of candles yet brighter and less wild then anything they’ve ever seen before. The face of the other voice starts to take shape. The man looks to be in his late forties, a receding hairline balding him in the middle of his head, with slivers of long, thin black hair along either side of his head flowing down past his ears. He has a thick pair of black-framed glasses over his eyes. Pieces of once white strips of tape wrapped around the bridge of the nose and in a few random places along the earpiece. His nose is round and bulbous, with a thick black mustache underneath. There are red pop marks over his face that he nervously wipes each time he stands still too long. He has on a white, short sleeve shirt that has multiple yellow stains down the front and under the arms. His arms are pale and scrawny but he uses them well as he whacks Brad repeatedly over the head with his hand.

              “I’m sorry, I just forgot,” Brad says taking each hit.

              Amanda steps forward and grabs the scrawny man’s arm. She pulls him close before wrapping her other hand around his boney neck. “I don’t know who you are or what you think you’re doing, but if you don’t stop hitting him I am going to tear off your arm and beat you with it. UNDERSTOOD?”