The Fall of Society (The Fall of Society Series, Book 1) (12 page)

           
“Shit!
Where?” Derek said and looked down the road and saw it. “Fuck me.”

           
“Okay,”
Ardent said into his radio. “Here we go, put it in drive and don’t give it any
gas, we’re gonna drift out of their sight. Over.”

           
“Understood,
let’s go. Over.” Lauren answered.

           
Ardent
put the vehicle in drive, but didn’t touch the gas pedal, and the Humvee began
to slowly move forward out of the intersection where they were exposed. Lauren
did the same and her truck rolled, releasing the dead thing under her front
tire, but the rear tire got to it and flattened the crawler’s skull in a
splat
.

           
They
were almost out of the intersection, just a few more feet. “They still haven’t
seen us,” Bear said with his eyes in the binoculars. “There must be at least 3,000
of them now, it’s the biggest horde I’ve ever seen.”

           
The
two vehicles were almost free and clear, until the sun broke through some of
the ruddy clouds and shinned off the windows of their cars, which were cleaner
than any other intact storefront glass in the street. Reflected beams of
sunlight bounced off their windows in the direction of the huge group of the
dead—

           
They
saw it
…

           
And
then they saw them.

           
The
horde broke out in roars and bellows at the sight of something shinny that was moving.
The ones at the head of the horde ran in the direction of the cars and then the
rest of them followed—

           
Three
thousand dead creatures all ran in unison…

           
“Goddamnit!”
Bear reported.

           
“They’ve
seen us?” Ardent asked.

           
“Yeah
and they’re coming. Fast!”

           
Ardent
spoke in the radio and hit the gas. “They’ve seen us! Move! Move it! Over.”

           
“We
don’t have gas for this! Over.” Lauren shot back.

           
“I
know.” Ardent said but not in the radio. “We need to find a place to hide.”

           
“Drive,
I’ll look!” Bear replied.

           
There
wasn’t any real place to hide in this area, only small buildings that were
gutted and exposed. Ardent drove at forty miles an hour—he couldn’t risk
driving too fast because that would consume what little gas that they had left
and he had to make sure that they didn’t drive into any kind of road
obstruction.

           
Lauren
looked in her rearview and saw the first of the horde reach the intersection
that they had left half a mile back—there were so many of them that it
was like an eclipse that blacked out any free space in the street and
sidewalks, some tore through storefronts. Their howls and roars were deafening,
but that was outmatched by the thunder of their stomping feet—the sound
of a stampede from Hell.

           
They
drove through another major intersection and looked both ways for a place to
hide; nothing was on the left, but on the right, hundreds of dead stenches ran
in their direction. They were a quarter of a mile away.

           
“Is
that another horde?” Ardent asked.

           
“No,
I think it’s the same one!” Bear answered.

           
“Goddamnit!
Look at all those dead bastards!” Derek said.

           
The
strongest ones in the horde were so desperate to get them that they were
trampling over the slower ones in their way.

           
It
was ravenous chaos.

           
“This
isn’t good,” Lauren said.

           
Milla
was sarcastic. “Nah, we’ll be fine!”

           
Derek
took a grenade out of a bag, pulled the pin and threw it at the horde with
everything he had. It hit the street and bounced toward them, it exploded and
took out five of them.

           
Five
out of four thousand
…

           
Ardent’s
voice came over the radio. “Guys, don’t waste our weapons on them! Over.”

           
Derek
grabbed the radio. “Then find us somewhere to go! Over.”

           
Ardent
didn’t respond as he concentrated on the street ahead, he slowed down at the
next intersection and saw something to the left, toward the ocean—

           
It
was a group of small buildings, maybe six or so, the tallest one looked a
little over ten stories. They were two miles away, but in their situation—it
might as well be a million.

           
“There!”
Ardent said as he increased the Humvee’s speed.

           
“Can
we make it?” Bear asked.

           
Ardent
looked at the gas gauge—the indicator needle was below empty. “I hope
so.”

           
They
were almost halfway there and then in the intersection behind them, where they
turned, the horde of the dead converged from all three streets as they
continued after the cars.

           
Ardent’s
face suddenly wrinkled with dread—the Humvee’s motor
sputtered
and stalled, it was choking on fumes.

           
“Oh
no, no!” Ardent said.

           
The
engine kicked back in, but stalled again, it was going to die soon…

           
And
so would they.

           
“Why
is he slowing down?” Lauren said.

           
Her
answer came through the radio. “We’re running out of gas, go on ahead and look
for a place to hide! Over,” Bear reported.

           
“Get
in my truck! Over.” she told them.

           
“There’s
no time, go on ahead, we’ll be right behind you! Out,” Bear told her.

           
Lauren
didn’t like this and she expressed it when she past them by, her eyes told
Ardent and Bear what she was thinking and they could see it—
this is stupid and you’re gonna die.

           
She
kept going and left them in her dust…

           
The
buildings they were headed to were just a half a mile away. Most of them were
burned out shells of skeletal concrete, places that the infected had already
overrun and destroyed, a couple of office and apartment buildings, and a
storage building. All of them were no good as places of safety, except for one—the
largest building in the center of this cluster. It was about twelve stories of
tan-colored Art Deco architecture, with two smaller wings on both sides that
were several stories high. It looked like a hospital, but the ten-foot stone
wall that completely surrounded it gave it that prison look. The sign at the
closed gate was the answer:
SAINT ANGELES MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL
 
accompanied by the seal of
California.

           
On
the inside of the tall gate—a fifty-five-passenger bus was parked across
it for reinforcement. People must be inside…

           
Someone
watched Lauren’s truck pass the Humvee on the street, heading in the hospital’s
direction. Anthony Rebollo, a twenty-something kid with shaggy, dark brown
hair, he looked more like a patient at the hospital than an employee. He was
currently on the twelfth floor roof with a high-powered sniper rifle that was
painted in a tan that matched the color of the building; it was urban
camouflage. Right down to the silencer on the barrel, including the long-range scope
that he was using to watch the approaching vehicles. “What do we have here?” he
said to himself.

           
He
panned to the Humvee and could tell that something was wrong with it.

           
“Why
are you guys in such a hurry?” he asked himself.

           
He
guided the scope and looked behind the Humvee, there was nothing but empty
street, so he looked farther back and then he saw them—

           
“Oh,
Jesus!”

           
He
put down the rifle and ran down the stairs…

           
Lauren’s
truck burned the corner and they were there. She stopped and looked at all the
buildings for some shelter to hide, but all they saw were useless buildings.

           
“We’ll
be fine?” Milla said again. “We’re screwed.”

           
“Over
there!” Derek pointed to the hospital that was down the block.

           
Lauren
hit the gas, and then her engine
sputtered
.

           
“No,
baby! Come on!” she said to her truck.

           
The
truck quickly regained power.

           
“That’s
my boy!” she said.

           
And
they raced off toward the hospital.

           
Ardent
had the gas pedal floored but the engine didn’t give him its best, it sputtered
and moaned for fuel, and then it finally died out. He put it in neutral and
they were coasting at 50 miles an hour. The corner where they saw Lauren turn
was a couple hundred feet ahead and the horde was growing larger behind them. It
was only a few hundred feet at their tail.

           
Bear’s
eyes were in despair, “Sir, I wanted to say that it was an honor—“

           
“—Stow
that shit for later, Bear, don’t just sit there, do something!” Ardent shouted.

           
Bear
snapped out of it, he got out of his seat and got up into the machine gun turret.
He spun the gun turret to the rear, racked the gun’s charging handle and let
rage loose—large projectiles flew at the horde, the muzzle flashes from
the barrel were bigger than Bear’s body and the result was many of them blasted
in half that dappled the others in coagulated blood, but many more trampled
over the body parts to continue the chase. A couple dozen rounds later, the machine
gun stopped firing. It was empty.

           
“We’re
outta fifty!” Bear shouted.

           
Ardent
handed him an M-4, and Bear fired at them with the weapon, but the smaller
bullets did nothing, unless they hit the sweet spot, which was difficult at
that distance from a moving vehicle.

           
“Useless!”
Bear said.

           
He
dropped the weapon back in the Humvee and grabbed two explosive packages, he
set the timer on one and threw it in path of the oncoming horde; he set the timer
on the second one and chucked it.

           
“Eat
this!” he shouted.

           
The
Humvee was slowing rapidly, but they reached the corner and Ardent pulled hard
on the wheel to turn because the vehicle had no power.

           
Lauren,
Milla, and Derek were out of the truck and pounding on the hospital gate, but
no one answered them. “There’s fucking nobody in there!” Derek shouted.

           
The
street was littered with dozens of bodies of the undead and all of them had
been shot in the head, the obvious work of the sniper on the hospital roof.

           
“There
has to be, it’s locked tight and look at all these dead things, somebody shot
them!” Milla said.

           
“Whoever
did this is either gone or they’re ignoring us,” Lauren added.

           
“We
don’t have time for this!” Derek said and then he looked back in the street.
“Manhole! Let’s go, Lauren, move the truck!”

           
Lauren
got behind the wheel, and Derek grabbed a crowbar from the truck, he went over
to the manhole, kicked a body off it and pried the cover open. The manhole was
nothing but darkness below, and luckily, only darkness was heard, no undead.

           
Then
they heard the explosions from around the block…

           
The
horde had just reached the two explosives in the street when they detonated and
destroyed dozens of them in a fiery blast. It slowed them down for a moment,
but then they continued the chase…

           
Lauren
pulled the front of the truck right up to the manhole; Derek guided her to stop
over it with just enough room for them to crawl in.