The Last Infection: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (20 page)

Chris felt something pull on his belt. A look over his shoulder revealed Jenn grabbing a
firm hold of him. Alicen was holding on to her with Jake following his sister. Tom was behind the kids with Jafar at his side. Chris hit the first floor moving as fast as his train of followers would let him. He didn’t bother to look at the opening onto the gaming floor, but the erupting sounds told him all he needed to know. He focused on a sizable hole in the long row of glass entrance doors.

He felt Jenn tugging on him before he heard Sarah’s yell. The train of people came to a grinding stop. Chris followed Jenn’s gaze back to the escalators. Michael was
yanking on his mother as she tried to get back up to the second floor. A terrified yelp from Alicen forced Chris to look at what was coming.

The gaming floor was alive with movement. Rotted figures pushed toward the far wall as dozens of infected pressed in on the dead trying to get in
to the stairwell. A line of undead had turned from the backside of the room, now focused squarely on the commotion in the main hall. A number of twitching infected took notice and began the sprint for fresh prey.

In that
moment, Chris made a choice. He turned toward the doors and ran, pulling Jenn with him. His eyes told him they couldn’t reach the entrance before the infected caught up with them, and even worse, the figures moving around outside showed it wouldn’t matter. Jafar fired the first shot from somewhere behind him. An infected man at the top of the gaming stairs spun as the round plunged into his shoulder and washed the front doors with blood.

“Help us
.”

Chris heard Michael’s plea
, but didn’t stop until he reached the entryway. He took aim as the first of the infected pushed up the wide stairs off the gaming floor. Jafar was close, but still some distance behind. The group fired several rounds into the first wave of bloodlust.

A
crimson spray erupted along the row of the infected like the once proud fountains that lined the main Vegas strip. Bodies fell, one after another, as more pushed in behind them. Jenn grabbed hold of the kids and rushed in behind Chris. Tom frantically searched for a sign of refuge that wasn’t there.

“Go,” Chris said between trigger pulls. “Get to the bus.”

No one moved. It wasn’t until Jafar caught up that Chris had a moment to get his bearings. Jenn’s eyes were on the mass of infected forming out in the street beyond the doors. Jake had his arms draped over Alicen and the little girl’s eyes were locked on the escalators.

Michael
fired at anything that moved. He was stuck on the stairs, his mother at the top, staring helplessly down at him. A herd of infected pushed in from the bottom, some sliding down the sides of the equipment as they tried to get their hands on him. Sarah was screaming hysterically, but nothing could be heard above the fray. The dead packed in behind the infected, pressing into one another.

Michael pulled the trigger one last time and the gun failed to fire. They were on him
in seconds, devouring him whole as they went. The rest of the pack stepped over their brethren, pushing up the stairs after the Sarah. She continued her screams, but never moved. The first step backwards was her last. A woman grabbed her head and clawed at her eyes. Sarah fell as the crowed pressed down on top of her.

Chris spun around and forced Jenn to move. She pushed herself between two stacked tables
and out through one of the broken doors. Tom went after her, pushing the kids as he did. Jafar continued firing, dropping guns as they ran out of ammo. Chris stepped though the door and took a quick lay of the land.

Some of Isabel’s people had made it outside from
another exit on the ground floor. Swells of infected gathered at the west end of the building. A series of gunfire encouraged the undead to follow. The streets were alive with movement. Jenn blew a man’s head off as he leapt off the top of a burnt out vehicle. Alicen screamed as two more twitching figures quickly took his place.

Jafar
crawled out the escape route and Chris headed for the bus. A booming scream froze Chris in place. He looked back in time to see Jafar bash in the head of an infected female, which had latched to his leg. Her body was stuck between the two halves of the broken doors. A third strike split her skull, but the blood soaked gash in Jafar’s pants told of the damage already done. Jafar’s defiant stare locked onto Chris.

“
Run.”

Chris didn’t argue. He urged Jenn
to keep going and herded Tom and the kids behind her. He took down one of the advancing infected and a shot from Jafar nearly ripped a second man in half. Chris held his ground and slung an arm around Jafar. Jenn and the others were out in the street by the time the two men set off again. The infected were on the move, encouraged by the sight of prey out in the open.

Chris and Jafar reached the street
as an advancing line of infected closed in on them. Disfigured and rotting corpses pushed out into the street from the buildings directly across from the hotel. Chris forgot about shooting and focused on the run. Jafar was at half strength, but his will propelled him and the two moved in-between the first lines of broken down cars before the zombies reached them.

The sound of the horde of infected rushing towards the bus overpowered every
thing else. The bus came to life soon after Jenn, Tom, and the kids jumped onboard. Black smoke rose from rear as the engine revved, but the sound was lost in the chorus of chaos. Chris pushed himself to move faster as Jenn turned the bus around. He and Jafar broke free of the debris as the bus began to pull away.

“Hurry
.”

The kids
hung out of the windows waving frantically as the bus picked up speed. A surge of stamping feet filled Chris’ ears as a wave of infected breath engulfed him. Movement came into view on both sides as bus pulled further away. His lungs burnt and he pushed himself far beyond his strength. The weight of Jafar pulled him toward the asphalt and his mind told him to run, but his body slowed. The moment his feet came to a stop, the bus taillights flashed red.

Jafar pulled at Chris and his legs responded. Tom was in the open door firing over their head
s as they approached. The old man risked a jump onto the road as the two men dove onto the stairs. Tom leapt up as Jenn slammed her foot down on the gas pedal. Determined fists beat against the exterior of the vehicle and a roar of the nefarious crowd erupted in a violent cry as the bus picked up speed. The remaining window glass rained down as the horde tried to pound its way in.

Chris got to his feet and followed Tom down the center aisle. They fired their weapons at anything that moved
in the windows. Hands and arms were blown off, reaching in after the kids. Heads were obliterated as they tried to climb in. The firing continued until both men pulled the trigger with no response. The bus drove away and the darkness of the horde was left howling in the street far behind.

21.

The bus was
filled with silence. Tom and Chris helped dress Jafar’s wound, both knowing there was nothing they could do to stop the inevitable spread of the infection. Jake sat in the back seat of the bus with his arms wrapped around his sister. Alicen had her face buried in his chest unable to stop herself from sobbing.

They stopped only once on the outskirts of Las Vegas.
They had less than half a tank of gas and it was going to become an issue quickly. Luck brought them to an old 76 station off the highway. The pumps and service station were a wreck, but a reserve tank hidden by a number of run down vehicles out back filled the bus with enough fuel to make it to California. Jenn calculated they would be able to coast to their destination on fumes.

Chris sat in one of the front seats with Jafar. The
big man’s strength was fading fast. He hadn’t spoken in a while and Chris knew the questions hanging on everyone’s mind. He couldn’t decide what he was going to do about it at the moment. The truth was he didn’t feel much for the loss of Sarah or Michael. Jafar, however, had made an impression on him. The impact of his loss was stronger than he would have guessed.

“
Go ahead and say it,” Jafar said out of the blue. His words were slurred and his accent heavier than ever. “I have to get off the bus.”

Jenn
watched him through the rearview mirror.

“No one said that.
”

“You don’t have to.” Jafar coughed and a thin stream of blood ran down his bottom lip. “I’m a
threat to all of you.”

Tom got up from his seat a few rows back and slid into the bench across from them.

“How much time do I have?” Jafar asked.

Tom
shrugged, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Maybe an hour, no more than two.”

Jafar shifted his weight and his body shuddered. He broke into a coughing fit and throwing his hand over his mouth was the only thing that kept a hunk of blood from hitting Chris in the face. The spasm subsided and he pulled his hand down to reveal crimson covered teeth. He shook his head as he tried to speak.

“This is ridiculous. Stop the bus.”

He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. Jenn glanced at Chris and he hesitantly nodded. The bus slowed and veered off the side of the highway. They left the outline of Las Vegas far behind and the surrounding landscape was filled with wide-open nothingness. Jafar grabbed the back of the seat and tried to get to his feet. His strength gave out and Chris had to hold him up.

“Mind giving me a little help?” Jafar asked and managed a smile.

“Sure.”

Jenn opened the
folding door, but she didn’t get up. She glanced at Jafar as he passed. The sounds of her heartbreak were kept to a whisper as she kept her eyes trained on the window. Alicen’s cries could be heard all the way from the back. Jake talked quietly to her as she tried to get up to say goodbye.

Chris helped Jafar down the steps. He was surprised at how little strength the big
man had left. The two men got out onto the dirt beside the highway and Jafar motioned at a suitable spot. He took a seat, leaned back on an embankment, and let out a long, slow breath.

“I wish I could help you the rest of the way,” Jafar said.

Chris nodded unsure of what to say.

“I think my wife would have been proud of me.” He reached under his jacket and pulled out a handgun. “I’m looking forward to seeing her again.”

Chris crouched down in front of him and forced himself to look him in the eyes.

“We wouldn’t have
made it this far without you.”

Jafar grinned and nodded.

“You should go.”

Chris
stood up and took one last look, then turned and headed for the bus. The sadness he felt ascending the stairs pressed against him with gut-wrenching intensity. Jenn closed the door before he reached his seat. The moment he sat down, they were moving again.

#

The silence was haunting. The bus felt like a rolling coffin for the remaining five souls. Highway fifteen was clear, offering an unobstructed view of the barren landscape. Darkness was settling in, when the outskirts of Barstow changed the skyline ahead. Chris had the map spread out across the front seat. He’d been studying it for miles.

“I’d rather get off the highway than try
ing to go straight through Barstow.”

“No telling what we might run into on one of those smaller roads,” Tom countered.

“I think the infected and the dead are gathering,” Chris said. “Most of them are holding up where the last pockets of people are hiding.”

“He’s right,” Jenn said. “It’s the same thing we saw all along the highway since we left Denver. The more people, the more infected.”

Chris ran his finger along the map as he eyed the yellow lines. “We could take this old highway 58 and try to get connected up with 395. It might help us get around Victorville, as well. Not sure we can avoid much else once we get into San Bernardino.”

They pushed on through the night, but a flat
tire forced them to the side of the road in the morning. They were lucky to have a spare, but a lack of any other tools left them with a difficult task. It was noon before they got back on the road. The detour route took them farther out of the way than they’d planned and it became obvious that their fuel supply wasn’t going to last. Jenn got them back on the highway and they started up the elevation through the San Gabriel Mountains. They didn’t expect much trouble in the foothills, but once they reached the other side, there was no telling what they might run into.

Chris sat behind Jenn, his eyes trained on the fuel gage.
They started their descent out of the mountains and the needle was holding steady on empty. Chris brought it up a few times, but stopped when he realized there was nothing they could do about it. There was a good chance they would soon be on foot and he didn’t like the idea of scurrying across L.A. with Tom and the kids in tow.

A
n hour later, the greens of the mountain pass gave way to the grays of city life. The roads were void of anything save a desperate need for repair. The hills were behind them and the highway lanes widened for the once overpopulated area. It was impossible to tell how much further the bus would take them, but no one wanted to venture down into the city streets unless they had to.

Jenn took the first major off ramp and pulled them onto the 210. Chris mapped out the route all the way to
Long Beach, knowing full well, they wouldn’t come anywhere close. The impact of the past several months was evident once the buildings came into view. Blackened and burnt, the city streets looked like the battlegrounds of a long forgotten war. Nothing moved. The entire thing was dead.

The bus push
ed on until the first sign of trouble turned out to be the last. The engine roared, and then sputtered. It cut out as Jenn pushed on the gas. Then the engine turned over a second later. The second time though, Jenn put the gears in neutral. The engine gave one last gasp and died. The bus coasted another half mile before it came to a creeping stop below an exit ramp which read,
Diamond Bar
.

“
The timing couldn’t have been worse,” Chris said, looking out at the darkening sky. “I think we better button up and stay put for the night.”

Jake made his way
to front to get into the conversation.

“Light didn’t seem to make much of a difference in Vegas.”

Tom seconded the theory.

“There’s no reason to think the infected
here haven’t evolved as much.”

Chris wasn’t convinced. “I think it’s situational.” He looked to Jenn for support. “The infected in Denver would
n’t even step out in direct sunlight. I don’t think we’ll know until we see for ourselves. Besides,” he stood up on his seat and slid the map over so the others could see, “I don’t want to walk all this way without being able to see where I’m going.”

Tom leaned in and Jake poked his head up over his shoulder.
They collectively ran their eyes over the remaining lines.

“How far?” Tom asked.

Chris shrugged.

“Thirty miles, give or take.”

“Thirty miles?” Jake said in a less than enthusiastic tone. “How long will that take us?”

“There’s no way to say,”
Chris admitted. He slid past them into the aisle and stretched. “Who knows what we might run into.” He thought about it. “I think we could do it in a day if we started at sunup and kept a good pace.”

Jenn made sure the door was
locked, and then slid into the seat opposite the gathering around the map. She produced a small bag of chips from her jacket pocket and offered the half-eaten snack to the others before taking one for herself. She pulled her boots up on the seat, pushing her knees up beneath her chin.

“Chances are it’s not going to be smooth sailing.”

“You can say that again,” Tom replied.

Alicen
’s voice perked up behind everyone. “I don’t want to go.” She pushed past Chris and sat on the seat next to Jenn. She buried her hand into the bag of chips before Jenn could offer. “Why can’t we stay here?”

“And live in the bus?” Jake asked.

“There’s no one out here,” she said. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone.”

Jake
sighed. “We talked about this,” he said. “There’s only one safe place.”

Chris was impressed with
the boy’s patience, but he still wasn’t convinced Catalina would be a safe place. It had become something that had to be safe. If not, they were doing all of this for nothing and none of them wanted to consider that. He had to believe as best he could until he found out different.

“Let’s pac
k up whatever food we have left,” Chris said. “Take all the ammo, even if we don’t have the guns to put them in.”

Jake and Tom went to work. Chris decided to take a good look around before they lost the sunlight. His recon revealed
that they were in a particularly solitary spot and he hoped they would survive until morning. Night set in quickly and they settled in the last two rows of the bus, wrapped in complete darkness.

#

Chris couldn’t sleep. He scanned the eastern horizon as the sky lightened to a cool shade of violet. He quietly roused the others and they were on the move long before sunlight broke above the distant mountains. They stayed on the highway, keeping close to the southern side. Chris had no desire to enter the streets of L.A. until they absolutely had to.

The streets were quiet with only the sound of the hard Santa Ana winds cutting between the buildings. The morning pace was
steady, with frequent stops to keep Tom and the kids strength in good order. The heat of the day was on them by the time they caught sight of movement. There were people putting something together on the top of a building, but that didn’t concern Chris as much as a group cutting behind a grocery store.

Chris brought
everyone to a stop and got down behind a concrete berm. It was impossible to tell if the other group spotted them, but their current course would cross paths up ahead. Chris kept his eyes on the group until the first of them stepped out from behind the store and the truth came to light. His words slipped out of his mouth in a whisper.

“They’re infected.”

One by one, heads popped up behind him for a look.

“They’re not bothered
at all by the light,” Jenn said.

“Are they coming for us?”
Alicen asked.

“I don’t think they saw us,”
he said unconvincingly. He eyed the way ahead. “We’re going to have to get off the highway.” He looked over the berm at a steep decline down to a smaller access road. The grassy slope was dotted with short trees.

“You think that’s a good idea?”

He heard Jenn’s question, but he didn’t have an answer. The group of infected could turn off long before they reached the highway, but something in his gut told him this is where they hunted.

“We can’t risk it,” he said. “When I say
to go, come around me and start down.” He kept his eyes on the infected. They were fifty yards out when he gave the signal. “Stay low.”

Jenn was in front with the kids moving between her and Tom. Chris stayed put. He
watched the infected, waiting to see which way they were headed. Jenn was halfway down the slope when the group split. Chris wanted to call out to her, but he didn’t want to give their position away.

The
group of infected splintered. The central form moved on toward the highway, while one section headed away to the west and another directly toward the access road. There were no orders given or commands shouted out for the others to follow. They split apart as if on synchronized cue. Chris had to make a decision and it had to be now.

He was moving a sec
ond later. The grassy slope left him out in the open until the tree line midway down. Jenn held the others up, certain that something was wrong. Chris was within whispering distance when an excited screech resonated between the surrounding buildings. He reached Jenn with a renewed sense of urgency. He didn’t have to look to know the infected had seen him.