The Bomb and the Cage: Doree Anne (16 page)

              “Visitation started just after nine. I received a call just moments after letting in the first group of visitors. The called informed me that Allen Kelly was no longer in open population, moved to
The Box
, he got caught have sex with another inmate.. His visitor Eric Kelly was already in visitation. He’d have to come back later when his brother was out of confinement. I had just called the front lobby to let them know, that he needed to be removed from visitation, when there was that explosion. There was a blinding light from the parking lot. It got brighter. Changing colors as it came towards me. The bricks started collapsing in the lobby. They were falling on the officer, Debby Johnson that I had just called. She still held the phone in her hand even as the bricks had crushed her lower half and were still falling. I couldn’t hear her screaming (the line had gone dead instantly) but by the way her mouth opened, and her had jolted from side to side, I knew she was screaming. The bricks started to bury the rest of her. She continued to struggle until finally she fell limp.”

“Two of the visitors that had been checking in, an older male and what looked to be his wife, ran away from the light, but there was nowhere for them to go. They were lit on fire in a flash. They danced around the room, bricks falling, for a moment I thought they were going to dace forever. Stuck in a moment of pure torture, of pure torment, but then they fell to the floor.”

“That’s when I depressed the radio button and attempted to call for help. However, my radio no longer worked. I couldn’t do anything but sit there and wait. Then people started getting back up. Debby Johnson began to thrash around under the bricks. The two visitors that burned to death got back up and walked to the back. I couldn’t do anything put stand there and watch.”

Chapter 36

09/18/2004 1207 Hours

E.M.T. Linda Sanders

Bruce stopped a few miles away from the dealership and I got in the cabin with him. There had been an explosion at a gas station closest to the prison. I imagine someone might have blown themselves up trying to kill some of those things while pumping gas. The dealership left us with three-fourths a tank of gas, more than enough gas to get to Leefield.

Our plan was to get as high up as possible. We couldn’t imagine those things climbing. There was a three story building on Main Street that would be perfect. We just needed to find food and weapons first. There was a store Bruce had in mind and it was in a small plaza right before we got to Main Street. The place was called
Bryan’s Army Surplus
. They sold military items such as clothing, food and a few weapons. No guns, but they did have crossbows. They weren’t advance weapons, but they were silent, and silent was the way to go.

The
Biters
had made it to Leefield. This, whatever it was, was spreading very
quickly
, too
quickly
. Bruce swerved from right to left avoiding the things. Highway 27 cut Leefield in half. It wouldn’t be long until the whole city was infected. If someone had set up a blockade on the highway it would have stopped the attack in its track, but they hadn’t. If anyone had, we would have seen it by now.

The plaza was a brick building with large windows that faced the roadway. There was parking on the sides of the building and curbside parking in the front, from what I imagined was because of the highway expanding over the years. In the plaza were a nail salon, dry cleaner, a computer store, and
Bryan’s Army Surplus
. Bruce pulled to the front of the store and backed up so that the tailgate was only a few feet from the door. I got out and tried the door. It was locked and Bruce mule kicked the glass door. 

Inside it smelled of oil and dirt. The store was empty of the living and dead, which I found surprising. If I was the owner, stocking up would have been the first thing I did. To the right was a glass display case that was also used as a counter. It went the length of the room and was filled with a large variety of combat knives. Behind it on the wall was a peg board with a good selection of patches and emblems. The rest of the store was filled with several clothing racks overflowing with different types of cloths, that all looked to be military fatigues.  Along the back wall were shelves, separated by a bathroom, with various boots on one side, and backpacks and duffle bags.  

Bruce grabbed a duffle-bag and two backpacks and went to the display case. He started to stuff the knives into the-duffle bag. Bruce laid a black all-metal combat knife with an eight-inch blade and belt clip on the counter.

“Take this.” He said and pulled out another and attached it to his belt. Next he pulled out two crossbows out of  the far end of this display case where the register was.

Bruce motioned to the cross bows and asked. “Linda, have you ever used one of these?”

“Yes, I had years ago, my younger brother got a crossbow for Christmas one year. I went out a few times with him.” Bruce handed me one. He then took the two backpacks and filled them with bolts. 

“Can you grab a few more duffle-bags?” I grabbed three and put them on the counter. I held one open as Bruce stuffed it with even more bolts, several flashlights, and several small yellow plastic devices that had a black string connected to them.

“What are those?” I asked.

“You’ve never seen one of these, as pretty as you are? I’m surprised.” Bruce smiled, and I made a confused look.

“They’re
rape alerts
. You wear one of these on your pants and if someone attacks you, you’d pull this string. It gives off one hell of a high pitch sound.”

“So if we’re being
silent
assassins, then why would we use those?”

“If we get into a bind and need to escape maybe we can distract them with these.”

Bruce zipped the bags and carried all the bags to the front of the store. He took two more duffle-bags back to the counter and filled it with dark plastic packages. I picked one up and saw it was stamped with
MRE
.

“We’ll eat these for food until we can find another source. They take a long time to spoil and are high in calories.” When the duffle-bag was filled, he zipped them up, and placed them with the others.

“Grab yourself a pair of boots and two of those military uniforms.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea to dress like the military?”

“It’s good camouflage and we already know those things hunt by sight. If you want mix and match the colors.”

I did as he said. I picked a pair of boots, two outfits, and then went into the bathroom.

The bathroom had a large sink and a mirror that were both very dirty. I stripped off the damn clothing. Looking into the mirror I saw a woman that was almost unrecognizable. I turned the faucet on and cleaned off the mirror, hoping that my image would improve. Still the woman who was covered in filth with matted hair from the sweat and lake water remained. I was never the
girly girl
type, but at this exact moment, I wish I had a shower, hairbrush, and blow dryer. I took some hand soap, and gave myself a quick wash. It felt good to scrub my face and every time I closed my eyes and put my head under the water, I wished I were dreaming. Maybe I was dreaming, maybe none of this was real. I opened my eyes, looked around, and saw the same restroom I had closed them in.

I dried myself with several brown paper towels and put my new cloths on still a little damp, but at least it was from clean water. I came back and saw Bruce had taken off his white EMT shirt and put on a black button up uniform shirt.

“I feel like a whole new man.” He said smiling at me. “You look good.” He continued.

“I don’t feel like I look good, but thank you.” I responded, feeling the room get a little hotter.

“I wish we could have continued wearing our uniforms. Would’ve helped us if we find a group of survivors, so they know we’re useful.”

“We’ll be fine.” I said and Bruce nodded with agreement.

“Well if you’re ready, we should get going.”

“You don’t want to clean up a little?” I asked.

“No, not now, I’ll clean up when we get to the building.”

I picked up two bags, when I went for the third Bruce waved me away with his hand, and he got the rest. Outside two of those things were walking around our truck. Bruce put down the bag and held up the crossbow. He loaded it, placed his finger softly against the trigger, and depressed it. There was a sound of the arrow cutting through the air then a plunk sound. The first one fell to the ground with a bolt through its head. Bruce reloaded and fired hitting the other one through its left eye. It spun around before falling on its side. Bruce put the bags in the back of the truck and bent down, pulling the bolts out of the two
Biters
. He flicked the bolts and blood and pus splattered onto the road. He threw the bolts in the back of the truck and they made metal clinking sounds when they landed.

There was a sound of footsteps from behind and I looked back just in time to avoid being tackled by another monster. I moved towards the back of the truck and pulled out the knife. Bruce didn’t have time to pull out his crossbow before I had my knife lodged through its eye socket. As it fell to the floor, I pulled the knife out, wiped it clean against the
biter’s
clothing, and got into the truck. Bruce started it and pulled out as two more came up to the truck.

Bruce got back on the road and accelerated as we neared Main Street. There was a mechanic shop on the corner of Highway 27 and Main Street. The store was overrun with the
Grey Eyes
. They were banging on the front door. Then suddenly one of them broke the window. A moment later, as Bruce slowed the truck down to almost a stop, a man was pulled from the building. You could hear his screams as the
Biters
tearing at him, ripping him apart.

Bruce pulled through the parking lot to see if there was anyone we could rescue. As we were pulling out a man came running from the building with several of the monsters behind him. We slowed down and he jumped into the back of the truck.

“He’s in! Step on it!” I yelled and Bruce floored it going towards Main Street.

I opened the back window.

“Thank you so much! You saved my life back there!” The man said.

“Any time, my names Linda and this is Bruce.”

“The name’s Robert! Ya’ll came in the nick of time. We’ve been praying someone would come around, guess God only wanted to answer one of our prayers today. Where are you from? Did you come from Clearwater?”

“Yeah, what’s left of it, the place is crawling with those things.” Bruce said.

“Where are you heading now?”

“The three-story building on Main Street.”

“Can you run me by the library?”

“Why the library?” I asked.

“I feel like checking out some books since we’re going to be bunkering down for a while.” I couldn’t help but laugh and when I laughed, everyone joined me. “No, my girlfriend Amy works there.”

“Sure we can swing by, but then we’re going to the three story building. You’re welcome to join us.” Bruce said.

Chapter 37

09/18/2004 1215 Hours

Sgt. John Williams

              The Battle brothers must have been killed inside the gas station. Those marauders must have been planning this from the moment that first
Gray
Eye
appeared. Maybe they were the ones who started this disease. We would get revenge. We will gut every single one of them. This
new
world was a scary place. If we were going to survive, then we needed to be scary too, we needed to be the scariest.

Once we got our vans filled up and new clothing, we would find a place to stay the night in. Somewhere secure and wait it out a few days. Clearwater turned out to be too close to the prison. I thought it would be the best place to make our own. Maybe it still would, after a few days.

Highway 27 ran alongside Clearwater, but not through the middle like it did Leefield. The small glimpse we got of the town wasn’t good. The people there must have panicked.
Grey Eyes
didn’t know how to start fires, so how did the town catch fire? The only answer I could think of that made any sort of sense, Marauders. They were more concered with killing and raping fellow man then killing
Grey Eyes
.
If they hadn’t been then why those Gray Eyes were everywhere?

We passed people that were running through the streets, being chased by those things. We would have stopped but there was just far too many of those things to make any impact on the situation, even with our firepower. It was a bloodbath and we needed to wait until it was over before we went back and took over the city, if there was anything left after a few days.

We continued south along Highway 27. After Clearwater, there isn’t anything for at least ten or so miles. The land just hadn’t been developed yet. Maybe one day it would have, but after this
plague
, it might never be, destined to be open fields with knee high grass and thick woods forever. The nice thing about undeveloped land, there aren’t many homes. The
plague
would take longer to spread in rural areas.

I pictured the land changing, large oak trees growing along the road, their roots breaking apart the asphalt. The grass grew high, out of control. The weeds grew at least six feet. Moving from side to side wildly as a violent wind blew. Then a
Gray
Eye
walked out from the weeds. It was Roberts. His mouth wide open, his eyes staring deep into my soul. He was still wearing his torn and bloody uniform. The front of his shirt was un-tucked and his grey intestines hung down, they swayed from side to side as he walked.

“You look the same as me!” He shouted. “You are me inside!” There was a bang, the sound of flesh and metal colliding at a high speed. I was back in the back of the van.

“Sorry, couldn’t avoid that one!” Someone yelled from the front of the van.

We stopped at a gas station called
Fred’s Fill Up
. There wasn’t much of a choice to stop or not.
Fred’s Fill Up
was fifteen miles passed Clearwater. It had four pumps and had a good size store for being in the middle of nowhere. Behind the store was a trailer park. A wood privacy fence separated it from the gas station.