The Fall of Society (The Fall of Society Series, Book 1) (13 page)

           
The
Humvee barely made it as it rolled up a hundred feet back.

           
“Come
on, in the manhole, let’s go!” Lauren shouted to them.

           
Ardent
and Bear got out and started to unload their gear, which was two duffel bags,
two backpacks, and a few weapons. Derek was ready at the manhole tossing
everything down that was thrown to him. “Faster guys, they’re coming!”

           
And
they were…

           
The
first thing that they heard—
felt
—was
the ground
vibrating
from so many
thousands of feet that pounded to get at them and then the screeching of the stenches
reached them from around the corner.

           
They
were close…

           
“Hurry!”
Derek yelled.

           
And
then a lone corpse ran out of a building at Derek’s back.

           
“Behind
you!” Lauren shouted.

           
Derek
drew his sidearm and turned, but it was too late, the dead thing was going to
get at him, until its head exploded—Milla shot it and saved him—Derek
mouthed
I love you
to her, and she
smiled at something that she already knew.

           
“Let’s
go, they’re here!” Lauren shouted.

           
The
mob of corpses barreled around the corner and came at them as a tsunami.

           
They
were one block away
…

           
Bear
armed an explosive package, tossed it in the Humvee, and then ran to catch up
with the others as Ardent went down the manhole first.

           
Lauren
slapped the hood of her truck, said, “Bye, Mongo,” and climbed down.

           
Ardent
was ready with his rifle when he stepped off the ladder; the tunnel was dark
and rancid with dirty, black water that was up to his calves. He turned on the
flashlight attached to his weapon and scanned both directions. It was clear. There
weren’t even any rats. Lauren climbed down and then Milla was next.

           
Before
Bear went down, he activated another explosive charge and tossed it in Lauren’s
truck. He dropped in the hole, and only Derek was left. He was about to climb
down when he looked through the gap under the truck’s wheels and watched, in
awe, as the horde reached the Humvee and attacked it with such force that they
overturned the three-ton machine as if it were a go-cart. They came for the
truck next, and Derek pulled the manhole cover over himself.

           
It
dropped shut with a
clang
.

           
In
the tunnel, they were all geared up and ready with their weapons when Derek got
down there.

           
“This
looks familiar,” Derek said, and Milla chuckled.

           
They
could hear the dead destroying Lauren’s truck in search of them and the sounds
of
smashing steel
and
breaking
glass was unbelievably fast.
Bear took a
remote detonator
out of
his pocket; he turned it on and armed it.

           
“Can
I do it?” Lauren asked him.

           
Bear
handed her the device and she placed her finger on the trigger…

           
“Fire
in the hole,” she said.

           
And
she depressed the button—

           
Up
top, the Humvee and the truck erupted simultaneously with explosions that blew
apart dozens of the undead. The black smoke and debris cleared, leaving the
other four thousand still looking for the food they chased there.

           
They
weren’t leaving.

           
The
group was safe in the sewer, for now.

           
A
mixture of melted truck material and fire began to flow through the small
manhole access notch and drip down amongst them as they listened to the
finality of their vehicles and a few of the undead. The glowing fire drops streaked
down and fizzled out in the black water.

           
“How
do you like that, you dead filth?” Lauren said under her breath and then gave Bear
his detonator. “Thanks.”

           
“No
problem.”

           
Derek
looked at the ugly water that he stood in. “You know, I knew that we’d be
walking one day, but this is ridiculous.”

           
“No
time for chitchat,” Ardent said. “That hospital should be that way.” He
pointed.

           
“Yeah,
that’s it,” Milla said.

           
Lauren
put her hand under the fire drops and one hit her gloved palm, shattering into
micro droplets that shimmered like starlight.

           
“I’ll
take point; Bear, bring up the rear,” Ardent said.

           
“Got
it,” he answered.

           
Ardent
led them through the dark sewer and Bear turned his weapon flashlight on to
watch their backs. Lauren was still under the manhole watching fire drops break
on her hand and she was transfixed.

           
“Let’s
go, Lauren,” Bear said.

           
She
either didn’t hear or ignored him.

           
“Lauren?”

           
She
closed her fist over her burning glove. “Yeah, I’m coming.” She checked her
weapon, which was an AK-47 with a collapsible stock, and moved on.

           
As
they ventured away, deep into the sewer system, the waters at the manhole
settled back into stillness, but then, they stirred.

           
Air
broke the surface as something
moved
underneath.

           
Something
big
…

           
The
group reached a four-way tunnel junction.

           
Ardent
pointed. “Okay, the hospital should be this way.” He took the left tunnel.

           
The
water in this tunnel became deeper and reached their waists.

           
“Great.”
Milla said as the water reached her navel.

           
“Well,
at least my dirty chonies are finally getting a badly needed wash,” Derek
joked.

           
“Keep
it quiet,” Ardent whispered.

           
They
pressed on with the putrid water sloshing around them. Their flashlight beams didn’t
reach very far before being swallowed by infinite darkness. Derek hit something
that was under the water and a bloated corpse floated to the surface in front
of him. He screamed like a little girl and almost fired his weapon at it, until
Milla stopped him short.

           
“No,
it’s already dead for real,” she said.

           
But
his scream echoed long in the dark tunnels of the unknown; it came back at
them, streamed to the other side and faded as it passed them again.

           
They
all froze in the wake of his scream and listened very carefully for any response.

           
And
they got one.

           
“Goddamnit,”
Ardent said.

           
Somewhere
behind them, screeches and growls of the undead answered his scream.

           
And
they were coming…

           
“Move!”
Ardent ordered.

           
They
marched down the tunnel and reached another junction, Ardent looked left and
saw a basement access gate of a building.

           
“This
way!” he shouted.

           
The
water level dropped in this tunnel and the ground was thick mud, they could
barely breathe because of the raw sewage stench. They realized that they weren’t
stepping in
mud.

           
“Shit,”
Derek said matter-of-factly as he looked at his feet.

           
They
reached the gate, which was made of bars like a jail, and it was locked tight
with a thick chain and heavy padlock. It was also a dead-end. They scanned
their lights inside and up the flight of stairs—it was the lower basement
of the hospital, they saw a sign on the wall that told them so. Somebody had
converted this sewer access gate into a restroom. There was a wooden structure
at the top of the stairs that looked like an outhouse; the piled high trail of
dried, old excrement that led underneath it to their feet confirmed that fact.

           
“Get
it open,” Ardent said to Bear.

           
“I’ll
shoot the damn thing open!” Derek said.

           
“No,
that doesn’t work,” Bear said and reached into his bag of tricks.

           
He
took out a small explosive charge; one designed for a door breach, and began to
attach it to the gate chain.

           
Down
the tunnel, they heard them getting closer; it sounded like several of the
undead, the group kept their eyes and weapons trained at the tunnel junction
that was about a hundred feet back.

           
“They’ll
be here soon, hurry it up, Bear!” Lauren whispered intensely.

           
Bear
finished connecting the device to the gate and then took out his remote.
“Ready.”

           
A
voice called to them from inside the gate. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,
friend,” it echoed from the darkness at the top of the stairs.

           
Ardent
and the group snapped their weapons at where the voice came from, their
flashlights saw one, maybe two men hiding behind the outhouse.

           
“Okay,
we’d like to come in, if you’ll let us?” Ardent said diplomatically.

           
“I’m
afraid that’s out of the question. You’ll have to find somewhere else to go,”
the man said.

           
Bear
pointed his weapon down the tunnel where the incoming corpses were getting
louder. “You hear that? Going somewhere else isn’t an option, so let us in!
Pretty please,” he said sarcastically.

           
They
heard the man
load
a weapon, and then
the second man loaded his, and after that—

           
A
third
click-clack
came from an unseen
third person. “Sorry, friend,” the voice said.

           
“Yeah,
so am I,” Ardent said. “We’re coming in and if you fire on us, then you’re a
dead man, you, the one doing the talking, you think that wood shithouse is
gonna protect you from the 5.56 rounds that I’m gonna spray all over it. You
better think that one through,
friend!
”
he turned to Bear. “Blow it!”

           
Then
the first of the corpses appeared at the tunnel junction, the rotting dead saw
the group and charged in their direction.

           
“Here
they come!” Lauren said and she began to fire in bursts of fully automatic.

           
Milla
and Derek joined her in the defense.

           
“Fire
in the hole!” Bear shouted.

           
They
moved away from the gate and then Bear pushed the detonator. The small charge
ignited and blew the chain off the gate. It also damaged the bars, making it
impossible to close them again.

           
Ardent
and Bear cautiously entered the damaged gate with their weapons ready.

           
“So
what’s it gonna be?” Ardent said to the darkness at the top of the stairs.

           
The
man stepped out from behind the outhouse with his rifle aimed down at them, and
then the other two men stepped out into the open, weapons ready. It was a
Mexican standoff.

           
Lauren,
Milla, and Derek were still in the tunnel dealing death to the undead.

           
“What
the hell is the hold up?” Lauren yelled back at them in between machine gun
bursts.

           
“Look,
I’m loving the good, the bad, and the ugly scene that you guys are doing, but
we kinda don’t have time!” Derek said.