Escape from the Damned (APEX Predator Book 2) (10 page)

“We need to get the truck closer to the door,” he finally answered.

“There’s more in there,” Pvt Williams said.

“I know,” Pvt Jefferson replied angrily.  “I just can’t get anymore out.  I’ve tipped this thing as far as it’ll go.  It’s fucking connected.”

“C’mon man,” Williams prodded.  “Put some ass behind it.  We need all the water we can get.”

The young Private looked at the bucket.  They’d filled several of them, but this one was only about 1/3 full.  Damn it, he thought.  He pushed hard with his feet, throwing his shoulder into the large white tank.  It finally tipped with a loud pop.

“There, take that!”  Water started to poor from the faucet at the bottom of the large white cylinder.  The smell of sulfur quickly filled the room.  Uh-oh thought Williams.

“Shit, that’s gas!”

“Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The tank was leaning on William’s shoulder.  He started to move.  The tank squealed.  Crap, he couldn’t get out from under it without it falling.  Jefferson was already at the door.

“C’mon man, what are you waiting on?”  He reached for the door handle.

“I can’t let go.  Tank’s gonna fall,” Williams answered.

“Shit man, just drop it.”

“I do, it might spark.  You gotta get some help.”

“Na man, I ain’t leaving you here.  You drop it and I’ll get the door.  If it sparks, you’ll be outside the door before it hits the ground.”

Damn it!  This is as bad as yesterday, Williams thought.  What the hell did I do to piss God off?  Fuck it!  He shoved the tank up onto its pedestal, and ran towards the door.  He could hear the tank squeal as the bottom of it scraped along the metal base.  He did not hear, nor did he see, the spark that ignited the natural gas that was rapidly filling the room.

Jefferson swung the door open as Pvt. Williams dropped the water tank.  He didn’t see the spark either.  His mind was able to register, just for a brief moment, the flames racing towards him.  He was almost able to turn his head before they reached him.

The flame raced past the two soldiers, burning skin and lungs as it did.  Pvt. Jefferson’s uniform burst into flames from the heat.  All of the hair on his body was burned off.  His skin bubbled.  Every nerve in his body screamed as his flesh was seared.

The room heated to approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius instantly.  Jefferson was able to manage a single scream.  When he inhaled, his lungs burned as if he’d inhaled a thousand suns.  He couldn’t scream again.  He fell to the ground, lungs filling with fluid.  He struggled to take another breath for a few panicked seconds.  Then, he could hear bells.  The world went dark.  Death finally released him from his pain and panic.

Jen was the first person on the scene.  The room was engulfed in flames.  The two soldiers were on the ground, engulfed in flames.  Neither was moving.  She ran for a blanket to extinguish the flames, yelling for help as she did.

Mr. Love answered her call with a fire extinguisher.  He first extinguished Jefferson and then began attempting to extinguish the room.  Fog quickly filled the room.  He was able to extinguish the body of Pvt. Williams, but it was too late for either soldier.

Inside the room, the leaking gas continued to feed the flame.  The bright flame behind the fog gave the room an eerie feel.  It also served to hide the six foot hole that the water tank had blown through the outer wall.

Mr. Love reached for the body of Pvt Williams.  As he did, he noticed something moving between himself and the fog shroud light on the other side of the room.  He wondered who else was in the room.  It didn’t occur to him that no one in the room should be alive after the flash fire.  He stood up slack jawed, confused.

Mr. LaBlanc and two of the boy students ran into the room with fire extinguishers.  He could see that Mr. Love was already in the room, and the flames were mostly extinguished.  He could see that the other teacher seemed to be struggling with someone.  He assumed it was someone injured in the blast.

“Boys,” he ordered the two.   “Go help Mr. Love.”  He reached down and grabbed Pvt Jefferson by his still smoking wrist and attempted to drag him out of the doorway.  The skin sloughed off in his hands.  He recoiled, repulsed by the gore.

A scream came from inside the room.  Mr. LaBlanc couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  The fog in the room had mostly dissipated.  There before him was something straight out of a horror movie.  Mr. Love was on the ground kicking in a death struggle with…  Wait…  Is that…  A zombie!  How the hell?  The two boys were also on the ground.  One was kicking quietly, the other was screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Hey!” was all the teacher could manage.  Several of the monsters took note of the teacher in the doorway.  They advanced on him.  All he could think to do was to back up.  He was so terrified, he didn’t even think about closing the door.  Suddenly, a hand reached for him.  He slapped it away.  The ghoul tried again.  He slapped it away again.  Finally, several zombies grabbed for him at once.  He couldn’t defend himself.

“Help!” he cried out.  “Jesus, help me!”

Jen rounded the corner with a blanket about that time.  She recognized what was happening immediately.  She reached for her pistol which was still on her hip.  She’d promised Mike weeks ago that she wouldn’t even take a piss without it.  She fired into the head of a large zombie from point blank range.  The zombie’s head snapped back and it released its grip on the teacher.

She fired at another, but missed its head and hit it in the neck.  It crumpled to the ground, its spine severed by the bullet.  It still managed to hold onto the teacher as it fell, pulling him to the ground as it went.  The other attacking zombies fell on the teacher, biting and tearing at his flesh.  He screamed for a few moments then fell silent.

SSgt Brown and Mike rounded the corner weapons at the ready.  Jen realized that one of the dogs had started barking.  SSgt Brown realized immediately they had been breached.

“Get to the kennels!” he ordered.  “Go now!”  He ran towards the reception area.

“Jackson,” he yelled.  “Get to the kennels.  We have a breach!”  He heard a chair crash to the ground, and the sound of the young trooper’s boots hitting the concrete floors.  He turned and took one more look down the hallway.  It was quickly filling up with a mass of rotting flesh.

“Last man,” the young man said, slapping the big NCO’s shoulder as he passed.  SSgt Brown turned and trotted towards the kennels, followed by the sound of screaming and moaning.

“Up the ladder everyone!” he ordered. 

He looked at the stacked boxes in the corner.  “Procell get the rest of the supplies!”  He started handing supplies up the ladder.  When they finished, he began sending the rest of the group up the ladder.

One of the children, a young girl named Brianna, ran to the dogs cowering in the corner.  She hugged the smallest one.  “What about the dogs?”  The German shepherd they’d named Duke was barking wildly at the door.  A large zombie stumbled into the fencing, and began shaking it violently.

“Leave them here.  We have to go,” he ordered as he began climbing the ladder.

Brianna ran to the fence and threw it open.  “Go, Duke, go!”  The dog charged the zombie, knocking it to the ground.

“Get ‘um Duke,” she cheered.  She turned towards the ladder.  SSgt Brown was almost at the top.  As she took her first step, her head snapped back as a zombie pulled her by the hair.  She screamed.  She tried to twist around, but the zombie’s grip was too strong.

She heard Duke let out a loud yelp.  Turning her head she could see the dog backing away from a zombie, blood streaking the floor under the dog’s front paw.  He turned on the zombie holding the girl’s hair and lunged.  She could see the wound on the dog’s paw as it flew past her head knocking the monster to the ground.

Her head jerked again and she fell to the ground.  The monster released her hair as it began grappling with the animal.  Brianna almost made it to her feet when Duke’s limp body skidded into her, undercutting her knees.  She fell again.  This time the floor was slick with blood.  She wasn’t able to get her hands under her without them slipping.

She felt the weight of several zombies on her legs and back.  She tried to turn over and defend herself.  She couldn’t.  She was just able to catch a glimpse of Duke’s lifeless body.  It was torn in half.

“NO!” she cried out in anguish.  She reached for the dead dog.  She felt the first bite on her leg.  She screamed again, and tried to kick with her other leg.  Then another zombie bit her back. The pain was excruciating.  She continued screaming and flailing any body part that wasn’t pinned by a zombie.  Finally, her brain starved of blood, the world went dark and she passed out.

“Can you see her?” Mrs. Arrington screamed.

SSgt Brown ducked his head back into the skylight.  Suddenly a zombie appeared at the bottom of the ladder, then another and another.  That was enough for him.  He lifted the ladder about a foot and tilted it, allowing it to fall to the floor.

“She’s gone,” he announced as he stood up.

“No!” cried Theresa.  Over the past few days she and Brianna had become pretty close.  Theresa finally felt like she had a real friend again.  Now she’d lost another one to the zombies.  Tears cut trails down her cheeks.  The others heard her sob.

Jen reached out to the young girl, embracing her tightly.  The girl’s body shuddered.  Jen stroked the younger girl’s hair.  Over the past three weeks, Theresa had stepped up everywhere she was needed.  She’d become quite adept at killing zombies.  She’d stepped in to help Jen take care of the little girl who had fallen out of the truck.

She’s just a teenager Jen reminded herself.  She watched her family die.  She’s not emotionally prepared for all of this.  “It’s ok, baby.  It’s ok,” she whispered as she continued stroking the girl’s hair.

SSgt Brown did a quick nose count.  Jackson and Sgt Procell were the only soldiers on the roof.  Mrs. Arrington only had two girls and a single boy huddled around her crying.  Mike was standing behind Jen and Theresa.  Kerry was staring at the mass of zombies growing in the kennels.

Where is everyone else?  We’re missing some people.  His heart raced.

“Where is everyone?” he asked.

“Mr. Love, the other teacher and two of the boys ran in to help, I think.”  Kerry wasn’t sure.  “It doesn’t matter anyway,” she added.  SSgt Brown gave her a quizzical look.  “If they’re still in there, we aren’t going to be able to help them,” she said flatly.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!”  Sgt Procell paced the roof.  Jefferson and Williams were his troopers.  They’d been in his squad since they’d arrived at Ft Campbell last year.  They were his responsibility.

He was overtaken by a wave of nausea.  He dropped to his knees, dry heaving.  “Oh God,” he croaked between heaves.  “Those were my guys.  I should have been there.”  Another wave of nausea hit him.  This time his breakfast splashed onto the roof.

“What the fuck,” he pleaded to no one in particular as he stood.  “What the fuck happened?”  He looked to Jen.  “You were there.  What happened?”

She looked up at the soldier as he continued to pace the roof.  “I don’t know.  I heard an explosion and a scream.  I ran and found the whole room burning.”  She continued to stroke the younger girl’s hair as she spoke.

“Did you say on fire?  Like a gas fire?” asked SSgt Brown.

“I don’t know if it was gas or not, but it was a fire.  The teacher ran in with a fire extinguisher.”

“Oh shit!” SSgt Brown exclaimed.  He ran to the corner of the roof and looked down.  Thirty feet away a white cylinder was lying in the parking lot.  There was still smoke rising from it.  Below his feet, he could see zombies climbing through the hole in the side of the building.  There was smoke pouring out of the hole, and a strange light emanating from the building.

“Shit, we have a fire,” he announced.  His mind began to race.  How was he going to get 11 people off the roof of a burning veterinarian’s office in the middle of the zombie apocalypse?  They never covered that in BNCOC, Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course.

He trotted to the front of the building.  There, about 8 feet below him was the HMMWV, surrounded by about a bazillion zombies.  He wasn’t even sure if they could drive it through the mass of flesh.

“Jackson, Sgt Procell,” he said over his shoulder.  “Over here.”  The two soldiers complied.

“Jackson,” he ordered.  “Hop down and get her started.”  Jackson handed his rifle to his NCO and slid his body over the edge, slowly lowering himself until his feet were about a foot above the top of the vehicle.  He dropped the last foot.  SSgt Brown handed the young trooper his rifle. 

“You’re next,” he told Sgt Procell.  They heard the HMMWV start.  The NCO handed his rifle off and followed the young trooper.  His right boot caught the turret ring when he landed.  The Engineer fell onto his back.  Hands grabbed at his uniform.  He quickly shook them off and stood in the center of the vehicle’s roof, out of reach of the zombies.

It was SSgt Brown’s turn.  SSgt Brown handed his own, and Sgt Procell’s rifle to the younger NCO.  He turned to the group of civilians.  “We’ll be right back with the truck.”  He turned and began sliding over the side.  They watched him disappear from site.   He hit hard, but was able to keep his balance.  Sgt Procell returned his rifle as the older man climbed into the turret ring.