Final Dawn: Season 1 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series) (30 page)

Rachel Walsh

7:35 AM, April 5, 2038

Sam’s odd behavior increased as they closed in on the brick building. He kept stopping in the street and staring behind them, toward the direction of the tents. Rachel called to him softly, trying to get him to stay with her. The building was only a block away now, and she pulled at him, harshly whispering for him to obey.

“Leave it, Sam! Come on, now!”

Sam slinked along next to her, obedient but still sneaking quick looks behind them. Rachel had slowed down as they approached the building, and she kept her rifle at the ready. With the buildings intact in this section of the city, it was both easier and more difficult to keep an eye out for any danger. While the piles of rubble were easier for things to blend in with, there could be a hundred creatures sitting inside the building up ahead and she might not know about it. Rachel passed through the parking lot, crouching down as low as her chest would allow. She knelt in front of one of the cars in the lot, staring at the front of the building.

It was a government building, and it was better than what she had hoped for.
A police station! Yes!
This excitement was tempered by confusion at what she saw in front of the station. Halfway up the steps leading to the courtyard in front of the main entrance sat an old Jeep, parked at an odd angle on the steps. It couldn’t have been thrown there by the explosions, and it was in good condition, too.

Company.
Rachel flipped the safety on the rifle and tightened her fingers on the grip, reassuring herself that it was still there.
Whoever’s driving that Jeep is still around,
she thought. Rachel considered turning back to the railroad station. She could still slip away with Sam and get out of town before this person –
What if there’s more than one?
– knew she was there.

A fresh wave of pain in her chest reminded Rachel that she needed to rest, and getting back to the train station wouldn’t be the wisest course of action. She looked at Sam, who was still looking behind them, more concerned with that than with the police station. A worrying thought passed through Rachel’s mind, and she suddenly grew less concerned with whoever might be inside the building.

Rachel slowly stood and advanced past the sidewalk and small green space in front of the station. She gave the Jeep a wide berth as she passed it, keeping her eyes glued to the front of the brick structure, scanning the windows and main doors for any sign of movement.

A flash of dark cloth caught her eye as she ascended the steps. A man walked through the lobby, barely visible in the dark interior. Rachel held her rifle up to her shoulder, pulling it in as tightly as she could. She screamed at the man as she ran up the last few steps.

“GET DOWN! DROP IT!” Rachel yelled at the top of her lungs, aiming the rifle at the man’s chest. She stopped twenty feet away, in the circular courtyard in front of the main entrance. The man didn’t speak, but he raised his shotgun in response, leaning into it to stare back at her.

Leonard McComb | Rachel Walsh

7:57 AM, April 5, 2038

Leonard McComb and Rachel Walsh stared at each other through the open door of the police station. Both of them had their guns shouldered and aimed at each other, with their fingers on the triggers. Their breathing was slow and shallow as they stared, waiting to see what the other would do.

Sam didn’t make a move except to look behind them toward the direction of the tents, which puzzled Rachel. Normally he would have some kind of reaction to a complete stranger, but it was like nothing mattered except whatever he was staring at.

Rachel and Leonard both turned their heads at the same moment, straining to hear the sound that came with the wind. A faint buzzing, caught on the breeze, drifted closer, along with a low, deep, irregular thudding sound, like boots stomping on wood. The two looked at each other again, each of them picking up on the other’s sudden panic.

“Oh hell, if you’re gonna shoot me, just do it already, woman! It’ll be better than getting eaten by those sorry bastards.” Leonard lowered his gun and arched his shoulders, trying to work out the discomfort from holding the gun up for so long. It had been many years since he had the chance to hold a gun of any kind, and he wasn’t used to the weight of the fully loaded shotgun.

Rachel scowled at him and removed her finger from the trigger, but still kept her rifle pointed at Leonard’s chest. She shuffled closer to him, glancing back to where the noise had come from as she spoke. “Don’t screw with me, whoever you are.”

Leonard stretched out his hand to the woman. “Leonard. You are?”

Rachel ignored his hand but lowered her gun a few inches as she entered the lobby of the police station. “Rachel. We need to get this place secured. Those things probably followed us here.”

Leonard mumbled under his breath as he turned to walk back into the police station. “No big surprise, what with you screaming your head off.” Rachel gave him a dirty look, but didn’t respond to the comment.

With occasional terse remarks to each other, Leonard and Rachel spent the next several minutes shifting desks and chairs to the front of the police station, barricading the barred entrance as much as possible. While there were other points of entry into the station, Leonard explained that this was the weakest, and should be focused on first. Both of them were still wary of each other and kept their guns on their shoulders, just in case someone made a wrong move.

By the time the front entrance was barricaded, the buzzing had reached a deafening level. Outside, just beyond the lobby, a light cloud was forming, with flecks of silver swirling in the courtyard and the parking lot. The cloud darkened with each passing moment, obscuring the view outside the police station. Leonard ran from window to window, looking out the sides and front of the station. Everywhere he looked, the cloud was present, completely surrounding the building on all sides.

“Aim for the chest or the head.” Rachel said, standing next to Leonard as they waited behind the barricade. “Limb shots will slow them down, but won’t do much else. The heart is pretty well protected, as is the brain, but if you can damage either of them enough they won’t be able to continue.”

Leonard looked at Rachel, wondering how she came to know so much about the beasts. “How do you—”  he started, when Rachel cut him off.

“Shh!” She pointed out the front windows, beyond the parking lot through the thickening silver cloud. Silver figures darted back and forth in the cloud, masking them from full view of the waiting pair in the police station. Sam growled at the sight of the figures, his hairs bristling and his ears tucked down. 

“They’re here.”

Leonard McComb | Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | Nancy Sims

8:19 AM, April 5, 2038

Rachel and Leonard knelt in the entrance of the police station with Sam, nervously waiting for the vague shapes in the cloud to materialize into the creatures they feared. Suddenly, out of the fog came a new sound, higher pitched than the buzzing and more violent, too. Leonard turned his head to listen to it, then abruptly stood up and pointed.

“There! That’s a car engine!”

Rachel didn’t move, but squinted to see through the fog to where he was pointing. She heard the noise, too, but assumed it was just the creatures. Then the sound came through clearer as a shape emerged from the fog. Blocky, tall and loud it roared forward, clipping the end of one of the cars in the parking lot as it went. The silver shapes in the cloud moved erratically around the truck, then she heard a sickening crunch as the truck impacted with one of them.

Bits of metal and flesh flew up over the dashboard as Nancy screamed. Marcus yelled for her to hold on as he hit the brakes and turned the wheel, bringing the truck to a sliding halt on the grass in front of the police station. He yelled over the sound of the buzzing for Nancy to get out, then he grabbed his backpack and jumped out, running around to the passenger door. He pulled Nancy out of the truck and they ran up the steps towards the front of the building. The glass on the doors and windows was broken, but tables, desks, chairs and file cabinets were stacked up against the front, leaving just one of the doors open to pass through.

Leonard yelled at the two people running up the steps. “Get your asses in here, now!” Nancy and Marcus ran through the door as Leonard held it open for them. Rachel glanced at the two newcomers, then turned to look back outside. The silver cloud had darkened over the Jeep, and she saw figures running around and over it, searching for the occupants that had been inside just a moment ago.

Leonard spoke to the man and woman standing in the lobby of the police station. The woman was tattered and filthy, matching the man’s demeanor. The man carried a backpack that he dropped to the floor. Both of the newcomers looked like he felt: tired, run down and fearing for their lives. 

“Good thing you got here when you did, though you couldn’t have picked a better place at a worse time. I’m Leonard, the she-devil by the door is Rachel.”

“Up yours, Leonard.” Rachel responded, not taking her eyes from the scene unfolding outside. “By the way, I hope you two aren’t too fond of that truck. It’s getting beat to hell by those bastards.”

Marcus shook his head grimly. “No, well, I don’t know. It’s not mine, it’s Nancy’s.”

Nancy took Leonard’s hand and shook it lightly, then Marcus followed suit. “It’s fine, it wasn’t mine either. I’m Nancy.”

“I’m Marcus. Have you two been here long?”

Leonard snorted. “I’ve been here for a couple hours, then Rachel here showed up and just about shot me.”

“And who is this?” Marcus leaned down to pet Sam, who licked his hands affectionately as he bounded around the room, momentarily distracted from the creatures by the influx of new arrivals.

Rachel whispered at them angrily. “Social time’s over! In case you forgot, we’ve got a shitload of pain right outside, and not a lot of ways to stop it from getting in here.”

Marcus and Nancy looked at each other and went to the front entrance of the police station. The four of them looked out through the barricade at the creatures swarming outside. There were at least ten of them, perhaps more. They had finally left the truck alone and were back to running back and forth, darting among the cars and buildings across the road.

“What are they doing?” Nancy whispered to Rachel, who was kneeling nearby.

“Probably trying to find the best way to get in here without getting hurt. You killed one of them when you drove up, you know. That’s probably the only thing that’s delaying them right now. One of them died, and now the rest are trying to make sure it doesn’t happen to any more of them.”

“What the hell are they?” Marcus was standing at the opposite side of the entrance, looking out at the creatures.

Rachel shook her head. “Soulless abominations, that’s what they are.”

Leonard looked at Rachel. “I saw one of them… change, the other day. Are they—”

“People? No. Not anymore.” She watched Leonard for a few seconds, then turned back to stare outside. “Not people. Monsters. They’ll try to kill us any way they can. If you saw one of them and escaped, you’re a sight luckier than most.”

Marcus stared at Rachel as he responded. “They can die. I killed one.”

Rachel was shocked by this revelation, but her tone and her expression were flat and hollow, betraying no hint of surprise. “Lucky you; so did I. Took a full mag to take him down.” She was still running half on autopilot, struggling with her anger and guilt in the midst of changing circumstances.

Marcus leaned over and pulled out his machete, twirling it in his hand. “Not quite the same, but it did the job.” This time, Rachel’s expression cracked and she raised an eyebrow. Her initial disdain for the newcomers was reduced, and she found herself giving all three of them a bit more respect than she had at first.

Leonard McComb | Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | Nancy Sims

8:31 AM, April 5, 2038

A scream from outside the police station sent the four of them turning to see what was going on. In front of the station, a group of the creatures were mustered, slowly advancing towards the entrance. Four of them stood shoulder to shoulder, creeping along in a manner that reminded Marcus of the way the six creatures had stalked the man at the overpass.

Rachel whispered to Leonard. “Where did you get that shotgun? Are there any more?”

Leonard nodded and pointed into the back of the building. “There’s a few more down here, then there’s an armory upstairs filled to the brim with everything you could ever want.”

Rachel watched the four creatures approaching them, slowly but inexorably moving in. “Okay, take her and get something for her and the other guy, Mark or whatever his name was. Leave your shotgun here with him.” She nodded toward Marcus. “Assuming you can shoot, that is.”

“The name’s Marcus, her name is Nancy and yes, I can handle myself.” Marcus was annoyed by Rachel’s attitude, but his concerns over the creatures were of considerably more importance.

Nancy looked at the three of the nervously. “I’ve never shot a gun before, I’m sorry.”

“I guess today’s your lucky day, then.” Rachel’s reply was quick and cold, then she turned back to face the creatures.

Leonard passed the shotgun to Marcus and motioned for Nancy to follow him. They ran into the back of the main floor of the police station and Leonard grabbed two of the rifles and pistols along with extra magazines. He stuffed the pistols in his shoulder bag and passed one of the rifles to Nancy. All four guns were loaded, and he explained the basics of the gun to Nancy as they ran back to the front.

“It’s pretty simple. Put it up against your shoulder, look down the sights, put your finger on the trigger and pull. These are automatic, but they’re in single-fire mode right now, so you’ll have to pull the trigger every time you want to fire a shot. Aim for the chest, but aim low, because the barrel will kick back every time you shoot.”

Nancy nodded nervously and held the rifle up to her shoulder. “Careful!” Leonard cried, pushing the end of the gun away towards the wall. “Don’t point it at any of us!” Nancy’s face blushed red and she nodded again. Leonard patted her on the back and pointed to an opening in the barricade. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great. Just stick it through there and start shooting when everyone else does.”

Marcus helped Nancy get into position, swapping the shotgun for the spare rifle Leonard retrieved, and Leonard took a place next to Rachel. The creatures were in the courtyard now, not twenty feet away from the entrance. They stopped there and stared at the four inside the station, seeming to watch them even though they had no eyes. From a distance the creatures were scary enough with the torn clothes and patches of metal fused to their skin. Up close, though, was a different matter. Without eyes, the creatures no longer resembled humans. Even if you tried to look at their torsos, your gaze was always drawn back to the face, where the haunted silver craters would pierce down into your heart.

“What the hell are they doing?” Rachel mumbled to herself, trying to figure out the creatures’ strategy. She had expected them to charge the front of the building, but they had stopped at the edge, content to just stand and “stare.” The silver cloud around the building had let up some, too, with the density reduced enough that she could clearly see across the parking lot to the buildings across the street.

Sam growled deeply and Rachel glanced at him. Instead of looking to the front of the building at the creatures, Sam was stalking towards the back of the station, baring his teeth and snarling loudly. Rachel gasped in horror and spun around, screaming at the others. “LOOK BEHIND!” In the clearing of the area in front of the station, Rachel finally realized what other nagging question had been tugging at the back of her head:
What happened to the other creatures?

With a great cry, the attack came from two directions at once. The four creatures in front launched their assault, dropping low to the ground and barreling forward. Leonard took the first shot, landing a round from his shotgun directly into the eye socket of the lead creature, which dropped like a rock to the ground. Nancy screamed and closed her eyes as she pulled the trigger, sending her shots firing wildly in all directions. Leonard looked over his shoulder at Rachel as he and Marcus kept firing out the front, sending the three creatures scurrying back for cover behind the vehicles.

Rachel and Sam ran toward the opposite end of the building, screaming and barking at the crashes that came from somewhere in the back.

Leonard yelled at Marcus and Nancy before he ran off after Rachel. “Stay here! Keep shooting!”

Leonard had just caught up with Rachel when the source of the crashes became evident. At the same time that the four creatures charged the front of the building and Rachel had started running towards the back, four more of the beasts had smashed in a doorway that led out onto a small patio at the rear of the police station. Throwing themselves at the door, they had landed in a heap inside the room when it finally gave way, utterly destroying it in their attempts to get back on their feet, which they succeeded at the same moment that Rachel and Leonard arrived.

The two humans and the four creatures stared at each other for a full five seconds. Rachel made the first move, raising her rifle and squeezing the trigger. The confined space echoed and amplified the deafening sounds as she fired wildly into the creatures, sending them scattering for cover as she and Leonard backed out into the main section of the building. Leonard joined Rachel in firing at the creatures, and they both retreated with Sam hot on their heels.