The Sixth Extinction 2: An Apocalyptic Tale of Survival. (Part Two: Ruin.) (7 page)

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Authors: Glen Johnson

BOOK: The Sixth Extinction 2: An Apocalyptic Tale of Survival. (Part Two: Ruin.)

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1
7

Noah

Newton Abbot

Courtney Park

12:14 PM GMT

N
oah was crouched in the bushes watching the creatures run past. He could see the white lorry mount the curb and cut across the garden. He witnessed the soldier’s climb on the roof, and two of them being knocked off. The lorry then drove off in the opposite direction, away from him.

I will never be able to catch up with
them;
he thought.
Especially with all the naked creatures chasing them.
Then he had a crazy idea.

What the hell am I doing,
he reasoned, as he stood in the pouring rain, behind a bush, stripping off his clothing. He knew it was a risk removing the gasmask, but he had no choice.

He heard a dull explosion from the direction of where he left Red and the others. He ignored it.
Not everything that happens has to have something to do with them
, he thought.

The screaming intensified as the lorry revved and drove off down the road.

Noah concentrated on the moment at hand.

If I cut across the park, I may be able to reach the
lorry in time.

He was shaking due to the rain and the cold and being stark naked. He left his clothes in a wet pile, and rested the golf club on top. He pushed his hands into the mud and smeared it over his face and in his hair and over his pasty white body.

Naked, screaming creatures ran past with their feet slapping against the cold, wet tarmac.

Noah pushed aside the bushes, jumped up and ran out onto the road, screaming, following the throng of charging
creatures.

Most of the naked bodies were heading towards the remains of the house on the corner; there was a large group on the front lawn.

Noah ignored them and started running straight across the park, heading towards the lorry. He was in luck, as well as the creatures completely ignoring him, there was a car turned on its side, blocking the lorry’s exit, and due to there being a thick fence around a bowling green in the park’s corner; the driver had no choice but to turn around and head back across the park, directly towards Noah.

1
8

Red, Betty, and Lennie

Newton Abbot
, On a Roof

12:16 PM GMT

T
he gas explosion ripped away the side of the building, destroying the kitchen and half the wall. The wall they crouched down behind had twisted and buckled, but intact. Small chunks of bricks and stones rained down around them, pinging off the roof tiles. Thick smoke mingled with the heavy rain.

The small dog whined in Lennie’s arms.

Betty had her head forward with her hands over her ears.

“Time to go,” Red had to shout over the ringing in her ears
. The mask muffled her voice. As she stood, she could see how devastating the blast had been. Part of the house had collapsed onto itself. The back wall was also gone, blown out onto a back parking lot.

“Let’s go,” she said. “We should be able to climb down here no problem.” The wall
collapsed leaving part of it behind. It would be tricky, but not too difficult to climb down.

In
the distance, she could see a thick column of dense smoke rising into the grey sky; mirroring the one she had just created.

Slowly, and carefully, they climbed down the rubble. They stood looking across towards two large apartment complexes.

“We should find somewhere to hide,” she stated.

Lennie stood cradling the dog, while holding the other bags. Betty stood mute, with a little blood
trickling from both ears.

“Let’s go, we don’t wanna be out in the open for too long.” Red walked at a brisk pace toward
the closest building.

The other two followed.

I’m gonna have to let Noah know where we have gone. If he returns and sees the destroyed house, he would think the worst. I will look for somewhere with wi-fi and send a message with Whatapp; she
decided.

They needed to get inside, out of sight. The place looked abandoned, with all the smashed up cars and littered belongings.

Red noticed a golf club on the ground. She bent to pick it up. It was scorched black, but otherwise okay.
It must have been tossed by the explosion
, she mused.

“In here,” she said.

They were near the closest buildings front entrance. From the intercom system, she could see there were sixteen flats in the block. The chances of running into anything inside seemed much greater because so many people had lived here. However, she knew it would be riskier standing around outside.

The front glass double doors were smashed and hanging open. Blood pooled on the worn carpet and splattered up the wall near the entrance. There was no corpse near it.
Red found it hard to believe that someone who had lost that much blood could still walk away.

“In here.” Red moved into a flat that had the door wide open, and was slowly knocking against the wall from the wind blowing along the corridor.

While Lennie and Betty stood just outside the doorway, Red ran around the small flat, to check it was empty. It was not. A bloated body lay on the double bed in the small bedroom, with another bloated body, covered in puss lying on the floor, after possibly rolling off the bed. Both were moaning in pain, and vibrating, as if her presence had triggered off some kind of reaction.

Red swung around to shout a warning to Lennie and Betty, but before the words left her
lips, both bodies exploded simultaneously.

Betty slowly got back to her feet; the blast
tossed her backwards. Lennie was groaning to her left, with the small terrier stood next to him, licking his face. Bits of plaster rained down from the ceiling.

Betty felt dizzy and disorientated. The air around her was filled with black spores, which was being sucked out the front double doors by the strong wind. Even though her nose and mouth
were covered, she still held her breath.

Lennie slowly sat up and picked up Charlie.

“Stay here Lennie.” Betty slowly walked through the doorway into the small flat.

The blast was so powerful it had stripped the wallpaper o
ff the walls, and blasted the wooden floor black in places. Glass was sprinkled everywhere from the shattered windows. However, what was most disturbing was Red’s motionless naked arm, lying on the floor, poking out from the bedrooms doorway.

Doctor Lazaro and the Squad

Newton Abbot

Courtney Park

12:18 PM GMT

M
elanie was soaking wet, cold, and frightened. The lorry was bouncing, wheel spinning and skidding along the wet grass. She was lying on the roof of the lorry, holding onto a rope for her life. She could hear the naked creatures screaming around her from all directions. With her other hand, she held onto her jumper, because underneath was the plastic sheaf containing the folder, and all their hope.

The Captain knelt holding onto the rope with one hand and a container with another. He kept seeing the look of horror on Spice’s and
Rogers’ faces as they were being ripped apart.

He knew he had no
choice; he knew he had to shoot them, stop their suffering. He just hoped that when the time came, someone would do the same for him.

The truck jolted to one side, making them all leave the roof for a split second before they slammed back down. The driver had to swerve around the rut churned up by the helicopter.

The rain pelted the windscreen hard, blurring Coco’s view as he tried to miss bins and ditches. He did not bother avoiding the naked creatures. Blood constantly splashed up over the windshield.

“Get back to the road,” Trev screamed.

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?” Coco yelled back, while swinging the wheel to one side to avoid a shallow dip and a tree root.

Franco looked like he was going to throw up at any minute. He did not look like he could get any paler.

The truck bounced up onto a wide concrete path that ran along side the large pond. Suddenly, the front wheel dipped, and then caught something. Within a fraction of a second, the truck tipped over, tossing everyone from the roof into the pond. It skidded along, after spinning around when hitting the thick pond wall. It slid along the wet mud, churning up grass. It halted when it slammed into a large oak tree.

One minute Melanie was bouncing on a truck roof, the next she was under water. Her head broke the surface.

Jimmy was floating face down in the water next to her. With what little strength she had left, she rolled him over. She could not tell if he was breathing.

Bull pulled himself out of the pond. His machinegun was clipped to his armoured jacket so it hung by his side. He shook the water from his eyes and gripped the weapon.

The Captain pulled himself out next to Bull. He could hear Echo’s voice off to the right.

The creatures caught up with the crashed lorry, and were charging straight at them.

“Doc,” Echo shouted, as she pulled Jimmy over to the edge of the freezing cold pond. With the Doc’s help, Echo rolled Jimmy onto the wide concrete edge of the pond. Melanie started to give CPR while stood it the water, leaning over him.

A loud creak announced Coco had kicked the twisted door open. The truck was wedged against a tree on its left-hand side. As Coco slowly pulled himself out, he noticed Trev and Franc
o were not moving.

“Shit!” Coco shouted.

However, he did not have time to check them, because the screaming of the naked creatures running towards them drew his attention.

It had all happened in a mere minute.
One moment they were free and getting away, the next they had crashed into the pond and was surrounded by a frenzy of charging creatures that would give no mercy and leave none alive.

Noah

Newton Abbot

Courtney Park

12:19 PM GMT

N
oah could not believe what he had just witnessed. The lorry had tipped and slammed into the pond before skidding along to hit a tree.

He halted in his shock, before continuing to run again. The rain pelted his bare body.

The naked creatures that charged past him completely ignored him.

The survivors of the crash gathered around the pond firing into the mass of charging creatures.

Even with their hopeless predicament, they were still his and the other’s best chance of survival.

As he got closer, he slowed down and started shouting, so as not to
be shot by mistake. He waved his arms and screamed, “Help me. I am not one of them. I need your help.” He was close enough to get their attention.

A
female soldier knelt on the pond’s wall, next to woman giving CPR to another soldier. The soldier raised her rifle and pointed it directly at him. Their eyes locked.

“I’m not infected. I need your help,” he screamed, just as Echo pulled the trigger and fired.

###

To be continued...

Part Three:

INFESTED

will be released in May 2013

About the Author

G
len Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He lives in a hotel on the English Riviera; a stones throw away from the beach. He loves to travel and has visited twenty-nine different countries, and lived in Mexico City, Mexico for far too long for a pale skinned European. He has also been married twice – and still refuses to say where he buried them. At present, as well as writing, he works as an Optical Technician.

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If you have enjoyed

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

Part Two – Ruin

then don’t miss Glen Johnson’s other books.

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

Part One
– Outbreak

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

Part Three - Infested