Wormwood Dawn (Episode IX) (8 page)

They charged ahead toward the next building. It was a white classical-style marble structure. Its walls were covered in vines, cracked where they had taken root, and several sections were crumbled away. They climbed inside, marveling at the interior. Not only had most of the roof collapsed, giving it an almost Greek ruin type appearance, but the floor had fallen in as well. Shrubs and other foliage had cracked the stones, and the entire middle section had fallen into the basement. A small stream ran into the building from the outside, and trickled into the gaping hole in a tiny waterfall.

It was almost pleasant.

“Smell that?” Toni said. “That’s the smell of Mother Earth taking her shit back.”

Dan chuckled. Gena rolled her eyes and smiled crookedly. “You crazy, punta,” she joked.

“I thought the word was loco,” Toni replied.

There were voices below, and the three of them froze as they listened to them approach. Dan hid behind a small pile of stone and gazed down into the opening. Gena and Toni sidled up next to him to observe.

“Maybe the floors below are all connected,” Dan said. “If so, we can get in that way.”

“If they weren’t connected before, they probably are now,” Gena said.

Dan raised his rifle just as a trio of men emerged from a dark opening below. They were all armed, dressed in rough clothing, and sported black do rags.

“It’s the black do rag gang,” Toni joked.

“I think those are balaclavas,” Dan said, referring to a head garment that could be pulled over the face.

“Who gives a shit what they are?” Gena said, raising her rifle. “They’re in the way.”

She fired two shots, taking down two of the men. Dan quickly raised his own rifle, but Toni took out the remaining man before he or Dan could even react.

“Good shot, lady,” Gena said.

Dan shrugged.

“Too slow,” Toni said, giving him a sympathetic pat on the back.

Dan crouched down, hanging his head over the side of the giant hole. The basement was typical glossy cinder block with a tile floor underneath all the rubble. The entrance the two men had come through was a crumbled hallway that led into the darkness. He judged the distance from their position to the floor, seeing that they could safely drop down with the aid of a few hanging vines.

Without a word, he shouldered his rifle, grabbed a handful of vines, and swung over the edge. He climbed down about six feet, and dropped the rest of the way, quickly scanning the room. There was another hallway he didn’t see before, leading into a root-filled store room. He shined his light inside, seeing nothing but shadows and roots, then gave Gena and Toni a nod.

They dropped down beside him one at a time, and the three of them scanned the room. “I don’t think that other hallway goes anywhere,” Dan whispered. “We’ll just go the way the other guys came.”

He led the way, creeping into the low light. The hallway glowed orange and flickering, telling him there were torches on the walls. That was a rather primitive way to illuminate things, but he supposed it worked. The hallway was shadowy, as the floor was littered with rubble, and it was moist from the endless rivulets of water that streamed in through the cracks and gaping holes in the walls. In some places the ceiling had collapsed, leaving a pile of rubble and mud on the floor. They skirted the obstacles, always keeping their eyes ahead, and their ears open for any movements.

As they turned a corner, Dan’s eyes were immediately drawn toward an object up against the far wall. From his position, it looked like a sculpture of some kind, with long, thin spikes that protruded upward from a bulky mass. He crawled closer, shining his light on it.

“Oh my god,” Toni said.

It was a human, probably a shuffler or shambler that had been overcome with the fungus. It was plastered to the wall, slumped down in a sitting position, with its arms splayed out at its side. Several fungal structures had sprouted from it head and body, giving it an almost alien appearance. The spikes were reddish and greenish in color, and were coated in a powdery substance that was probably spores.

“Well,” Dan said. “I hope we’re all immune to the fungus. Otherwise, we’re fucked.”

“Poor fella,” Toni said with a look of disgust.

“Look at its face,” Gena added, lifting up its head with the muzzle of her rifle. “It’s all covered in plates.”

She was right. The infection had caused thick plates of hard mushroom-like material to obscure half of its face. One eye was completely covered, and the other was swollen and burst. Only a slit remained where the nose used to be, and the mouth was now just a crack in the surface.

“Holy fuck,” Dan said, suddenly feeling like taking a shower. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

All three of them looked back one final time before continuing forward. Along the way, there were several other corpses in similar condition, and one that was still quivering and moaning—probably suffering as it starved to death. Dan quickly put a bullet in its head.

As they continued on, the light became brighter. There was a hallway to their left that looked like it continued on to wherever the two guards had come from. Straight ahead, there was a dark opening, partially blocked off with crates, rubble, and steel beams. It looked like it was blocked off intentionally. Dan was curious. He crept toward the rubble, shining his light into the dark room. There was a familiar smell, and the sight of dried husks on the floor and the walls prompted him to get Toni’s attention.

“Does this look and smell familiar?” he asked. Gena came up to look, too.

The chambers underneath the church had looked almost identical. The dried husks were broken cocoons, and the smell was that of rotting fluids and human flesh. This must have been a molting chamber or something similar, where the ghouls had gathered to feast and transform. As Dan shined his light around, the three of them could see random human bones among the muck, and even a freshly consumed corpse.

“No wonder they blocked it off,” Toni said. “But I wonder what happened to the creatures that were here. Those remains don’t look that old.”

There were several metallic clanks behind them, and they all froze in place. Dan looked out of the corner of his eye, seeing Toni and Gena’s expressions of horror. They all knew what that sound was.

“Don’t fuckin’ move,” a deep voice said from behind. “Drop your weapons and turn around slowly.”

“Movement,” Cliff said as he gazed through his IR scope. “At least a dozen figures coming from the northeast.”

“Uh oh,” Travis said. “Not good.”

“What is it?” Bill asked.

Cliff watched the heat signatures approach in the dim sunset. They were mostly hunched over, moving with an odd gait, and carrying what looked to be torches. Among them was a larger figure that walked upright, bearing some large object that looked like a giant cleaver. They were headed right toward the camp.

“Scavengers,” Cliff said. “Humans with some weird mutations. Grace knows about them, but I’ve met them up close.”

“What do we do, man?” Travis asked. “Is this building strong enough to hold off that many?”

“I don’t know,” Cliff said, suddenly terrified. “We should get back inside, though. We’ll ready the weapons, and make sure the boards are nice and tight over the windows.”

“We can hit ‘em from here,” Bills suggested. “You’re obviously a soldier, and I can hit just about anything from a few football fields away. Linda, too.”

Cliff weighed the suggestion. The three of them could probably put a good dent in the approaching horde. It might be worth a shot. But if they did, they would have less time to get to safety. They would have to get up on the roof to get a good shot. Drew and Cliff had been up there before during an attack. It might work.

“Alright,” Cliff said. “Grab your daughter and we’ll climb up there and thin them out a bit.”

Bill nodded and climbed down from the scaffolding. Travis went with him.

“Just remember,” Grace said, beginning her climb down. “Head and heart shots. That’ll take them down.”

“Alright, Grace,” Cliff said.

“And be careful.”

“Grace,” Cliff said, stopping her in her tracks. “While we’re outside, just make sure Max and Toby don’t start freaking out. Keep the peace. That’s your job.”

Grace smiled, continuing her climb down. Cliff watched the horizon for a few more minutes before he decided it was time to climb the roof. He hoped that the three of them could kill enough of the creatures to make defending the camp a little easier. But as he made his way toward the building, one thing was solid in his mind. It was the phrase the scavenger had uttered when they questioned it.

When the master comes back, he will kill you all.

Max was nearly dancing in place with terror when Travis gave everyone the news. Linda immediately grabbed her rifle, strapped on her revolver, and began loading her five round magazine. Grace did what she could to calm Max, and Travis was behind her, offering encouraging words.

For a moment…

“Calm the fuck down, man!” Travis said, loudly. “You’re just gonna freak out and hyperventilate.”

“Max,” Grace said, calmly. “Cliff, Bill, and Linda will take care of it. If we run into trouble, we have the RV. We can slip out and get there safely.”

Toby had grabbed his Ruger, and had slapped in his thirty rounder. “I wanna help,” he said. “I can shoot.”

Travis turned. “Just stay put for now,” he said. “Maybe you can shoot out of one of the windows.”

Toby shrugged, disappointed.

“Max,” Grace said. “I need you to grab everything you can from the armory and make sure everyone has a good supply of ammo. You’ll be the supply guy, okay?”

“Just like the kit you play in Battlefield,” Toby said. “Make sure everybody’s stocked. I’ll help.”

“Battlefield…” Max mumbled. “Yeah. Battlefield. Supply. Right.”

“Travis, get your med kit ready. I’ll help you with any wounds and such. Bill and Linda, meet Cliff on the roof, obviously. There’s a ladder out back in the fenced in area.”

Bill nodded, and the two of them headed out the door.

“I’ll grab my shotgun before the shit hits the fan,” Travis said, going out to his shed.

“Med kit!” Grace reminded him.

Max went into action, grabbing boxes of ammo for everyone. He set shotgun shells down by Travis’ station, made sure Toby had plenty of 22LR rounds at his window in the armory, and he even brought Grace a Mini-14 and plenty of bullets.

“I’ll take the window next to Toby,” Grace said. “Make sure we’re all stocked.”

“I can stock everybody on the roof through the vent shaft,” Max said, finally beginning to calm down.

“Okay, good,” Grace said. “Stay calm, and we’ll be alright.”

Grace joined Toby at the windows in the armory. The boy was diligent, and had the eyes of an eagle, she noticed. She was impressed with his determination, and even more impressed that he had such comfort in the situation. Evidently, it wasn’t his first rodeo.

“Get ready,” Toby said. “The gunshots are starting.”

Cliff clipped a scavenger in the head, knocking the creature back as it crested a distant hill. Around him, he heard Bill and Linda’s shots, and saw other scavengers fall to their bullets. He still couldn’t see the leader, and guessed that the large scavenger was taking his sweet time getting there.

“We don’t have IR scopes,” Bill said. “Once it gets dark enough, we won’t be able to see.”

“Don’t worry,” Cliff said. “They’ll be close soon enough. Just focus on taking out all the ones you can see.”

“They’re pretty fast,” Linda said, firing off a shot.

Cliff nodded silently, firing a shot at every glowing shape he saw. As the horde came within one hundred yards, it was clear there were more than a dozen. With the three of them firing all at once, the chances of even half of them getting too close were pretty slim.

A sudden clank and scrape caught Cliff’s attention. He was startled, but relieved to see Max poking his head up through the vent after removing the cover.

“Cliff, here’s some 5.56,” Max said. “I don’t know what Bill and Linda are using.

“30-06,” Bill said.

“.243” Linda said. “And I need .380 for my revolver.”

“Affirmative,” Max said, going back down.

“Does he know what he’s doing?” Bill asked.

Cliff grinned. “He’s a gamer,” he said. “He can identify anything by sight or sound.”

Bill grunted, obviously skeptical. But, when Max returned and slid several boxes of ammo over to Bill and Linda, he laughed. “Well, he can read anyway.”

Cliff counted the scavengers again as they crested the next hill. There were at least a dozen and a half in view, and they were now reaching the gravel road leading up to the camp. Still, their leader was nowhere to be seen. Gunshots rang from Bill and Linda’s position, and the creatures dropped one by one. Cliff fired again and again, dropping them like flies. But still they came.

Travis made sure his shotgun was full, and that he had a good supply of shells. He briefly thought about climbing up onto the roof with the others, but realized he wouldn’t have the range they did. It would be best if stayed inside and kept guard there. He would stay by the front door, and the boarded up windows there. It seemed like the most vulnerable place.

He made sure the door was locked tight, and then crouched in front of the monitors, keeping his eyes on the front parking lot. If anything approached the building, he would see it. His heart pounded with anticipation and fear, but in the back of his mind he was worried about his son. Eric was not the gung ho type; the kid had barely ever hurt a fly. He even made sure spiders got of the house safely instead of smashing them like a normal person would.

“Goddamn kid,” he whispered. “God love him.”

“Travis,” Max said, strapped up in all sorts of pouches. “You got enough ammo?”

“Yeah, man. I think I’m good.”

Max nodded and went back into the armory. He knew the guy would keep everybody stocked, and was actually impressed with the way he “manned up” and took his job seriously. The kid couldn’t shoot worth a shit, which was odd since he knew everything about every gun ever made.

Gunshots from the armory told Travis that the horde had gotten within view of Grace and Toby’s side of the building. That meant he would have to go to work any time now. He kept watch on the two monitors, nearly bouncing up and down as he waited for his queue.

“Come on, you withered bastards,” he whispered.

Then, from the corner of the right monitor, a bright blob of light appeared, outshining everything else on the screen. It could mean only one thing; fire.

“Son of a bitch,” he said, leaping up and going to the window.

Outside, the horde had flanked the building and they had hidden by the windmill with torches in hand. Travis could see the smoke rising from their fires as they crouched behind the ridge. He poked his shotgun out the gap between two boards, hoping one of them would show its face.

“What are you assholes up to?”

Cliff’s eyes widened as he realized that a number of the scavengers had flanked them. From over the ridge they had used as cover, a cloud of flaming arrows ascended into the sky and now arced downward toward their position.

“Shit!” Cliff cursed. “Get off the roof!”

He pushed Bill and Linda toward the edge of the roof, keeping his eyes on the many descending fiery objects. Linda had no trouble vaulting over the gutter and dropping down, but Cliff had to help Bill over. He handed the old man down, allowing him to hang from his arm until he reached a safe height to drop. Before he could spin himself around to drop down, an arrow struck the steel roof panel right beside him. It burst into a minor fireball as it hit, and Cliff stared at it for a moment with his eyes wide and unblinking.

“Get down!” Linda shouted from below.

Cliff swung over, dropping to the ground below. Overhead, dozens of arrows impacted the roof, sounding like a hailstorm. Over the rain of arrows, another sound froze the three of them in their tracks.

In the distance, the bellowing sound of the leader drowned out all other sounds. It reverberated over the hills like a lion’s roar, and its brethren answered the call. Like a pack of wolves the scavengers began chanting and howling, still firing their endless stream of flaming arrows into the darkening sky.

Cliff jerked open the back door, pushing Bill and Linda inside. Travis immediately turned to them with a look of horror. Cliff rushed to him and peered out the wooden slabs.

“What’s going on, man?” Travis asked.

“They’re shooting flaming arrows,” Cliff said urgently. “We have to get out before the building goes up.”

“But the roof’s steel,” Travis reminded him.

Cliff rushed to the storeroom door, but shouted back, “The siding isn’t,” he said. “Toby, Grace, we gotta go!”

“What was that noise?” Toby asked, grabbing his ammo.

“It was their leader,” Cliff replied. “And they’re shooting flaming arrows at the building.”

Max slung his ammo pack over his shoulder, following Grace and Toby out. “Then we gotta get to the RV,” he said. “We can sneak out through the far gate at the edge of the lot.”

“There’s a gate over there?” Cliff said.

“I’ll show you,” Max said. “Let’s get out of here.”

The seven of them grabbed everything they could carry and headed to the back door. Cliff opened it back up, peering outside. The scavengers hadn’t reached the lot yet, but they were close. Cliff could hear their howls and grunts closing in, and the arrows kept coming. The roofs of two sheds had gone up in flames, and smoke filled the enclosed area. Cliff readied his rifle with his one hand and dashed through the gap to check the area beyond.

“Clear,” he said. “Max, lead the way.”

Max ran in a crouched position, leading the group past the scaffolding and into the thick weeds. They passed car after car, each of them arranged in piles against the fence. Max led them down the slope, toward the far end of the enclosed area where the weeds were thick, and the cars were more decrepit and rusted. Behind them, the smoke began to billow from the building. They all turned and watched for a moment, their eyes filled with tears and their hearts heavy.

“Damn,” Cliff said.

“Come on,” Max urged him. “We can grieve when we’re safe.”

Max went to toward the fence, clearing away the thick weeds and vines that had covered the older gate. Travis helped him lift and swing the large panel open, and the group crept through, closing it behind them.

“We’ll have to stay low until we get to the path,” Cliff said. “Everybody watch out on their right and stay out of the view of the parking lot.”

The leader sounded off again, this time closer. There was a crash as the front door was bashed in, and they all froze in place. Cliff went ahead, peering around the corner of the fence to make sure the way was clear. He could see the leader, taller and more robust than the others. Even in the dim solar lighting he was fearsome. Even unarmed he would have been a sight, but with the huge blade he carried, he was a nightmare.

He was carrying a propeller blade of some kind, fashioned into a makeshift machete.

“Holy fuck,” Cliff whispered.

He waved everyone behind him, and stayed put until they all began to descend the trail down to the RV’s hiding place. He kept his eyes on the leader, and the flames that began shooting out of the boarded up windows. His heart ached as he watched. His home was burning to the ground and there was nothing he could do about it. Where would they go now? How would he keep everyone safe until they were all reunited? Would they be able to get away?