The Azrael: The Reckoning (6 page)

Mario and the group took the stairs down to the B3 level.  Once he opened the door he was interrogated by armed guards.  Each team member was visually inspected.  Their faces were compared to the photos sent to their access list only five minutes ago.  Jason wasn’t on the list but was known by the guards.  A short explanation and crosscheck with Simon over the phone verified his credentials.

The guards waved the group towards several more armed guards who carried M-16 rifles and a pistol sidearm.  They unlocked a door that opened up to an access tunnel.  The door was heavy and was made of two feet thick solid steel.  The tunnel they were in connected with several other buildings with similar armed guards defending other underground entrance doors.  Mario’s mission led the group to a maintenance tunnel that gained them access to a small power grid which was the bottom floor of a high rise nearby.  Mario knocked on the door and waited in front of the security camera and several locks were disengaged shortly thereafter.  The door opened and the group entered the building.  More armed guards were inside near the door while the majority was posted up at each window that overlooked the streets outside.  One door exited the power grid floor into an alley between buildings.  A security camera determined the alley was clear and the guards quickly guided Mario and his team outside.

The moment the door opened the aroma of the dead and of the Azrael scent, carrying in the breeze that funneled between the buildings, brought a grimace on Mario’s face.

“Never get used to their smell.”  Mario stated while covering his nose and mouth.

“I don’t think we should ever get used to that smell.  They mark the end of civilization as we know it.  We can’t rebuild until that smell…” Jason waved his hand in the air as if dismissing something. “is gone.”

“Well said Jason.”  John agreed and added.  “Fuck the Azrael.”

The morning breeze grazed David’s face, awoke him from sleep and brought him back to his world.  His body had been hunting throughout the night.  The sweet stench of fresh turners excited his senses.  Stanley and Cooper were at his side as usual.  There was still a vague familiarity about them that he couldn’t quite remember.  He’s been an Azrael for as long as he could remember.  He enjoyed the hunt, the challenge and the victory in the kill.  His two companions were both gifted trackers that were invaluable to his herd.  They were not a large group.  They had exactly enough to get the job done.

Movement in the weeds beyond the open field he was moving in caught his attention.  He listened closely as his body lowered its posture and the herd followed suit.  A group of ten armed humans waded through the weeds low and at alert.  Their slow heartbeats and human musk wasn’t hidden well behind the mud, grass and leaves that covered them.  He could taste the fear in the air and smiled.  The hunt begins.

His body grunted softly urging the fresh turners to move in slowly towards the front.  As if given an exact command the Azrael remained low and pushed through the field slowly towards the men.  David’s body grunted at Cooper and Stanley.  The two massive Azrael eased stealthily towards the rear of the men in hopes to pick them apart from behind.  David waited and watched as his body orchestrated an intricate hunt.  The only thing he loved more than hunting men was hunting the Azrael defects that abandoned the herds.  There is no place in his world for such creatures.  Thinking about defects reminded him of the one that mocked him across the river.  That piece of shit stood beyond his reach taunting him to approach.  He remembered his face and size.  He was about the same size as his own body.  The aroma of the defect carried in the wind that day urged his herd to leap into the river.  David remembered one of his finest being swept away by the current.  That dumb fuck.

Voices of men enticed his mind.  They appeared unaware of his herd.  The wind blew towards the south and the men moved east to west.  Heartbeats quickened among the men.

“Azrael!”  A man yelled out and bright flashes from their weapons lit up the landscape.  Their shots were on target, tearing through the fresh turners.  Unfortunately for the men, it was too late.  Five of them had been pulled away from behind and bitten during the gunfight.

“Johnson?  Forrest?”  A man attempted to whisper as if his presence wasn’t already known.

David’s body moved forward slowly as the men left alive searched for their missing allies.  He could smell their bodies, felt them become a part of his group.  He continued his approach. 

The once human soldiers that were extracted from the group became a part of the hunt and no longer the hunted.  They moved towards the men being led by a link of the virus through pheromones released by David, the Alpha.

“Forrest!  Is that you?  What the fuck are you doing?”  The man whispered.  Forrest’s body moved towards them slowly.  The others were behind him.

“Shit.  Where did you go?”  The men lowered their guard and their weapons.  The fresh turners hurried and lunged at the men.  All were bitten into except the talker.  He fled towards David completely unaware of his presence.

David’s body waited for the man to get close.  The massive aroma of fear in the air moved towards him.  Saliva in his mouth increased causing it to ooze out increasing the chance to infect.  The man turned around and shot towards his ex-comrades.  David stood up right behind the man and as he turned he was grabbed by the throat with one hand as David’s other hand knocked away the man’s weapon effortlessly.  He lifted him off of the ground.  The man grabbed at his throat with both hands in attempt to pry David’s grip.  It was no use.  He kicked his legs wildly and gurgled when David’s fingers dug into his throat.  David gazed into the man’s eyes.  His body knew that it needed to feed.  It had evolved to survive in the wild.  He snapped the man’s neck, killing him and making his body incapable of accepting the virus.  David fed on the corpse until satisfied.  He dragged the remains to Stanley and Cooper.  The two consumed the corpse to the bone.  The others will only feed during the attack.  They were expendable. David knew it and so did his body.

The excitement of the hunt waned and their bodies were fed.  David’s mission was now back in play.  Cooper found the defect’s trail once more and continued his pursuit.  David will not be mocked or let an Azrael choose its own fate.

The aroma of fertilizer, pig shit and dead bodies overwhelmed Ethan as he awoke.  In the home team locker room of Soldier Field Ethan hid among livestock in hopes to hide his scent.  He’d never seen them attack animals so he thought that it would be safe.  The pigs grew accustomed to his presence and pushed their snouts into his crotch and hand for attention while grunting at him.

“Shhh, still not sure if it’s safe.”  He stood up slowly surveying everywhere and wondered how he got himself in this situation.

The day before Ethan snuck off to Soldier Field even though he was told that he was on bed rest for a few weeks to treat his dehydration and diabetes.  No one was even watching him.  He heard some residents of the medical housing facility talking about The Taste of Chicago Revival at Soldier Field and thought it would be an awesome event to see.  He hadn’t been to one in a few years and missed the days of normality, when you could expect it every year.  He wasn’t necessarily proud of stealing rations from his neighboring residents but he knew that he couldn’t afford the price of the tickets.

He entered Soldier Field in awe of the size as he walked onto the field where tents and vendors were offering differing selections of food.  The stadium seemed larger from the field.

He thought about the Bears and how many times he came to see them play.  He wondered how many players, if any, were still alive today.  He noticed the locker room and decided to sneak around security and check it out.  He wasn’t expecting to see a pen of pigs and chickens in there.  It made sense since there would never be a professional football game played there ever again.  The world was different now.  Playing games would get you killed.  After investigating the farm locker room for a few minutes he was disinterested and began to head out to the field once more.

Suddenly, gun shots popped off behind the walls of the stadium.  He heard lots of yelling and widespread panic as the patrons partaking in The Taste pushed towards the entrance of the stadium.  Ethan ran out onto the field and witnessed people biting each other.  He knew what was happening and retreated back into the locker room.  He slipped in pig shit and landed face first in it, got up without pause and hid in a locker in a dark corner.  He didn’t care about the pig shit, he needed to hide.  He waited for the Azrael to come for him.  After a few hours, he heard nothing but the pigs grunting and chickens clucking.

Ethan fell asleep in the corner of the pen and cuddled with a mother pig that was lying on its side feeding piglets.  They didn’t mind his company, accepting him as one of their own smelling like pig feces.

He slept for twelve hours and was awoken by a raspy shriek in the stadium.  It was remarkably close to the locker room.  He heard several footsteps approaching his location.  He knew he’d been found.  The aroma of Azrael gradually entered the stagnant air.  He curled into the fetal position and held onto the mamma pig.  The pigs began to squeal and stir as the Azrael approached.  A loud explosion on the outside of the stadium caught their attention.  Their heads sat up and they sprinted out of the locker room and away.

He didn’t know if they would come back or what that explosion meant.  He was too afraid to move and eventually fell asleep again.

Ethan awoke and was nudged by the pigs to get up.  “Shhh, still not sure if it’s safe.”  Ethan whispered and carefully stood up so he wouldn’t slip in the poop again that littered the ground and polluted the air.  Pig crap was dried up on his face.  He faintly smelled anything else.  He exited the locker room and walked out onto the field.  Tents were knocked over, food jars and boxes were scattered about.  Birds were feeding on scraps that cluttered the green field.  They took flight as Ethan neared them.  Blood stained everywhere and in everything.  As he approached the entrance, the smell of corpses hit his nose.  He noticed a candy bar vendor nearby that had its products tipped over spilling out under the table it had been on.  He looted as many as he could stuff in his pockets.  He located a backpack nearby, emptied its contents and stuffed as much candy inside as possible.  He also found a case of water bottles and tossed six in his bag.  He flung it around to his back and slipped his arms through.  The weight of it put a slight strain on his shoulders.

He unwrapped a candy bar and ate it without pause.  It tasted weird but his senses were kind of off due to the cesspool of aromas in the air. He walked towards the entrance.  Trampled corpses provided the foulest odor that lingered in the area.  Flies circled the carcasses motivated from the odor that loitered.  Their faces were buried into the ground and their skulls were crushed revealing an assortment of bone, blood and brain that spread for several feet around the head.  Their bodies were distorted from multiple breaks and severe compression from a massive mob that inadvertently flattened them while fleeing the stadium.  Ethan turned away while holding his breath and focused his attention on getting out of the stadium alive.

More trampled corpses were strewn about outside and accompanied stains of blood.  Hundreds of bodies were shredded from gunfire from either the fifty caliber guns on the HUMVEES or the military issue rifles on the ground.  He picked one up and inspected it.  He didn’t know anything about guns besides what he learned playing first person shooter video games.  He found the switch that said
SAFE, SEMI AUTO
and
AUTO
.  He left it on
SAFE
. He pushed and pulled other buttons and switches.  He had no clue what they did.  The last button he pushed dropped the magazine to the ground.  He reached down to pick it up and noticed that it was empty.  He inspected the inside of the weapon while pulling back a metal flap and it was empty.  He scanned the ground for more magazines and found none.  He dropped the useless weapon and started heading for the building he was supposed to be sleeping in.

He headed north and the streets were quiet and an aroma of death carried in the brisk Chicago breeze.  An occasional headless body littered the landscape blown off by some high powered rifle.  Ethan used to watch snuff films with his buddies a few years back.  You could find anything on the internet.  He recognized the same result from those films using high powered rifles.    It made him think about who did the shooting.  He stopped and examined the buildings ahead.  The high-rise top floors offered excellent sniper coverage.  He proceeded with caution hoping he wouldn’t be mistaken for one of the Azrael.  He emptied his left pocket of the last candy bar in it.  He unwrapped it, noticed that it started to melt already and he shoved it in his mouth whilst licking the wrapper of the melted chocolate left behind.  He smiled at his luck that he found such a large supply of candy bars.  However, he didn’t bother to read the label and when his stomach started to grumble he knew that he had made a mistake.  He inspected the label that he just licked clean.  They were stool softener regulator bars called
Regulators
.  He felt the push on his bowels immediately, closed his thighs and lowered his posture.

“No, no, no not now.”  He groaned as he waddled around searching for a corner to relieve himself in. 

He was about eighty yards from the nearest alley.  It was dark and masked in shade.  He moved towards the alley ignoring all instincts to stay away.  As he entered his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and he found a corner, near a dumpster, where he could do his business.  His stomach gurgled and he felt himself leak.  The warm liquid tickled his left leg and poured over his sock and into his left shoe.  He eventually made it to the corner, dropped his pants, underwear and released a violent liquefied shit.  It splattered the wall at first before settling into a steady stream.  It continued to pour out for about ten seconds.  He began to sweat.  His right hand was bracing against the wall while his left hand leaned against the dumpster.  The smell overpowered the aroma of the pig shit that still caked his face.  He scowled at the odor and braced for another wave that pushed out for eight more seconds.  He noticed the dumpster start to roll away from his weight too late.  The empty dumpster drove away and knocked into empty metal trash can knocking them over in a loud clatter.  Ethan lost his balance and fell into the pool of shit that ran towards the dumpster, down into the center of the alley and into the grated storm drain.  A warm wet sensation seeped through his hoody and touched his skin.  He braced his hand in the same pool below and pulled himself up.  Another wave pushed on him and he pushed out more that came from deep within him.  It was hot and burning his ass as it passed through.  Footsteps echoed throughout the alley and seemed to become louder.  He pulled up his pants knowing that at this point his survival was his only concern.  He peeked around the dumpster and noticed a group of three Azrael jogging towards him while sniffing the air.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.  What do I do?  Think!  What would Miss Giselle do?”  He whispered to himself.  She’d shoot them, that’s what she’d do.  He didn’t have a weapon.  He had no time to run.  A light danced near his face.  It found his eyes and blinded him.  He blocked the light with his left arm and searched for the source.  Someone in a floor near the roof was signaling him with a mirror.  What could he do?  He searched for a door.  He found it.  It led to the building where the person was signaling.  The Azrael were almost to it.  He was doomed.  He pointed at the door, raised his hands in frustration and retreated back behind the dumpster.

He glanced around the corner one last time and caught one of the Azrael’s attention.  The others were sniffing the shit stream that snaked towards the drain.  It snarled and began to run towards Ethan.  A loud thud followed by the Azrael striking the dumpster at its shoulder indicated something had happened to it.  The others continued their pursuit and each one’s head erupted painting the dumpster, wall and Ethan in brain matter.

He froze.  The light blinded him again and he snapped out of it.  He ran for the door, opened it, closed it and jogged forward in search for the next door or elevator to go in.  It was pitch black and the only thing he could hear was a faint whisper.

“Anyone there?”  He asked trying to adjust his eyes.  His voice echoed throughout the large empty room.  A faint aroma of gasoline and oil suggested that it was a parking garage of some sort.

“Elevator.”  Is all that he heard and it was coming from a good ways away deep into the darkness.  It was a scratchy voice as if it were coming from a two-way radio of some sort.  “Come to the elevator.”  The voice returned.

He continued to pursue the source of the voice until finally finding an old intercom speaker near a maintenance elevator shaft.  It didn’t appear to be working.

“What do I do?  It’s not working.”  He whispered to the speaker as if it were listening to him.

“Come to the elevator.”  The voice repeated itself in a raspy voice provided by the speaker’s reception.

“I’m here.  What now?”  He asked with frustration.

The elevator suddenly came to life and began to operate.  He could hear the pulley system and squeaky cables bringing a car to his position.  He was being saved.  Floor 32 was lit and it skipped to the next lower floor every few seconds.

The doors to the building in the alley swung open violently and smashed into the wall.  It was loud and echoed throughout the garage.  He heard footsteps of several Azrael pouring in being drawn by his stench.  He could barely smell them over his own flavor soaking his hands, pants and hooded sweatshirt.  He pleaded for the elevator to hurry.  It was on floor 22.  He wouldn’t make it in time, he thought.  They moved quickly towards him bridging the gap as if the darkness provided no barrier for him to hide in.  He peered back up at the elevator, it was on floor 15.  They would be on him in ten seconds or less.  He was going to die.

Suddenly, broken glass and a crash of metal objects struck the alley and halted them in their tracks.  They hesitated, turned towards the noise and hurried for the new target.  The elevator was almost there.  One of the Azrael slowed at the door and smelled the air again.  It spun around, snarled and returned its charge towards Ethan even faster than before.  The elevator dinged, leisurely opened and an arm grabbed Ethan by the hood of his hooded sweatshirt and yanked him inside.  He fell backwards on the ground landing on his backpack.  The man closed the doors to the elevator seconds before the Azrael could reach them.

“Holy shit dude.  Did you shit yourself?”  The man spouted covering his face with the collar of his shirt.  He was trapped in the same padded maintenance elevator as Ethan and regretted every second of it.

“Yeah, sorry.  It was these things.”  Ethan admitted pulling out one of the stool softener bars out of his backpack.

“Why the fuck did you eat those?  Are you trying to get yourself killed?”  His voice was muffled behind his shirt but still audible.

“No, I’m diabetic.  I thought they were candy bars.  I, I was at the stadium and those things…  I, I hid in a pigs pen in the locker room so they wouldn’t find me.”  Ethan’s stomach groaned.  “I don’t feel good, sir.”  Ethan sat down and held his stomach.  His skin was pale and he was sweating profusely.

“Don’t shit in here.  I’m the one who’s gonna have to clean it up.  You better clinch those cheeks boy.”  The man instructed pointing towards Ethan while still hiding behind his shirt like a ninja.

“I’ll hold it in as best as I can.”  Ethan claimed.  His stomach swelled and he released a rotten fart that may have come with company.

“I’m sorry about this.”  The soldier gestured to outside.  “We’re trying to fix it.  Don’t worry kid, you’re safe now.  You’re lucky she saw you squatting in the alley.  She’s the reason you’re alive.”