Apex Predator (10 page)

“Sergeant Brown,” said the voice on the other end of the phone.  “I’m Colonel Zachery Kirsch, CO of the 3
rd
Brigade 101
st
Airborne.  Major Wright was just giving me an update on your situation.  I just wanted to assure you personally that we’re going to come out and get you guys in the morning.”

“Thank you sir,” replied the National Guard NCO.

“Son, at 0700, I want you and your trooper to be on the I-20 overpass.  Major Wright said you guys were pretty safe up there.  I’ll have a Blackhawk come get you.  See you in the morning Sergeant.”

“Yes, Sir…”  The line clicked dead.  He stared at the phone for several seconds.  A sense of relief came over him.  He looked at his watch:  2330.  Six or seven hours and they get out of this nightmare. 

He thought about Jackson.  He wondered if the trooper had tried to contact his family.  He was sure he had.  He watched the trooper sleep for a moment.  He found himself feeling sorry for the young soldier.  He and Anderson were best friends.  SSgt Brown knew that they shared an apartment and worked at the same place.  Jesus! And he had to shoot his best friend in the head. 

He decided to let the young trooper sleep as long as he could.  He wondered what was outside.  He dared not raise his head above the counter.  So, the old soldier used his ears.  At first he couldn’t hear much.  Then his hearing adjusted to the lack of sound.  He could hear some machinery of some sort, maybe trucks in the distance.  He could hear gunshots.  They were sporadic and very distant.  He couldn’t tell if they were military, or civilian.  And of course he could hear the moaning.  It was faint, but it was constant.

Day 6

The Convenience Store

It’s dark, thought Jen, so dark.  She could her everyone in the group.  She could hear them breath.  Every time someone shifted positions she could hear them.  She heard everything.  And that’s what scared her.  If she could hear them, then so could anyone or anything else.

She could also hear the monsters.  For the first hour or so she could hear them clawing at the glass door.  Then the banging started.  She could feel the thuds in her very bones.  Every one reverberated in her ears.  BANG…BANG...

Finally she heard the sound of glass shattering.  Theresa squealed at the sound.  Larry quickly hugged her close.  Jen could hear the faintest shhh from their little corner.  She could imagine the frightened boy holding the teenage girl, hoping upon hope that by holding her he too would find the strength.

Jen could hear the shuffling.  It sounded like a hundred of the monsters were milling around the store.  She knew it must only be a dozen or so.  She could hear shelves falling over, knocked over by some unseen monster in the darkness.  Now the crunching of potato chips crushed under the feet of the dead.

She waited and waited.  She waited for the sound she knew would be her death knell.  She waited for the scratching, the scratching on the only barrier between her and the curse of the living dead.

She thought about that for a second.  Obviously the death at the teeth of a monster would be horrible.  But, what did these poor souls go through after the bite?  Was the death painful?  Did they suffer?  Did they know what was happening or did they die peacefully? 

EEEEKKKKKK.

She could hear everyone gasp as one.  The first zombie began scratching on the door.  They held their collective breath, waiting for the next scratch.  It didn’t come.  Jen could hear the ghoul shuffle away, a collective sigh.  Jen could feel her heart beat in her chest, hear it beat in her ears.  She concentrated on calming down.  Slow your breathing Jen.  Don’t think about it.

Jen continued to think about the damned.  She thought about her neighbors.  How many did she watch die in that first day?  How many others had she seen shambling past the house?  She thought about Theresa’s family.  How did it feel to know your mother was dead and had turned into a horror movie monster? She wasn’t sure if Theresa knew for sure her dad had reanimated, but she suspected deep down inside she knew.  God, she thought, how horrible for her.

She thought about Davy.  How scared he must have been.  She shuddered at the thought.  She could still see the look on the boy’s face.  She was sure she could see tears in his eyes as he raised his father’s gun.  That face will surely haunt her for the rest of her life.

Mike tapped her lightly on the shoulder as he slid closer.  She let out the slightest squeal.

“Ssshhh,” he whispered lightly.

“Sorry.  You scared the shit out of me.”

“Well, it’s about to get worse.”

“What do you mean?”

He leaned closer to her, his lips almost touching her ear.  “It’s Tom.”

“What?  What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s burning up over here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he feels like he has a fever.”

“Oh, shit.  You don’t think he’s…”  Her mind wouldn’t let her form the words.

“I think we have to consider it as possible.”

“Let me over there,” she whispered as she slid past him.  She could feel it before she touched him.  Tom was giving off heat like a furnace.  She found his hand in the dark.  He was soaking wet.  She slid her hand up his arm, finding his chest.  His breathing was rapid and shallow.  His heart was beating a mile a minute.

God, she thought, I could assess him so much better if I could turn on a light.  Ok, start with the basics Jen.  Airway: check, breathing:  check, circulation:  check.  Vitals:  Temp: at least 102, heart rate: about 140, respirations: above 30.  She leaned in close to him.

“Tom,” she whispered.  “Can you hear me Tom?”

“I can hear you,” he whispered weekly.  “I feel like hell, Jen.”

“I know Tom.  You’re burning up with fever.  How long you been feeling bad?  You have anything like a runny nose or nausea in the past few days?”

“Na.  I was fine ‘till we got locked in this damned room.  You think maybe I got the flu or something?  The receptionist at work was out all week last week with something.  Maybe I got it from her.”

Jen could tell he was trying to convince himself as much as her.  “Sure Tom might just be the flu.  ‘Tis the season, you know.”  She stroked his hair.  She leaned back to Mike.  “I don’t know.  He’s got fever without other symptoms.  Hell, it could be flu or strep for all I know.”

“Ok, can you do anything for it?”

“I’m sure there’s something in this store room that might help, but I can’t see anything.”

“I have a little flashlight.  I can try to look.”

“You sure those things won’t see the light?”

“I can shield the light so they won’t,” he promised.  He stood straight up, pulling the small flashlight out of his pocket.  He twisted the end sending out a surprisingly bright beam.  He quickly cupped his hand around the end, dimming the light.

Jen got up and stepped next to him.  He panned the light around the shelves.  After several minutes, they found a shelf that had some medicines on it.  A few more minutes, and they found a bottle of generic Acetaminophen.  Jen snatched it of the shelf, opening the top as she did.

She kneeled next to Tom.  She shook out several of the tablets, and handed him a bottle of water.

“Here Tom, take these,” she whispered as she did.  He tried to raise his arm, but couldn’t.  She placed the pills on his tongue, and held the water bottle up to his lips.  He took several gulps, before pulling away.

“Thanks Jen.  Thanks for everything.”

“It’s ok Tom.”

“No it’s not.  You and Mike didn’t have to stop and help me and my boy.  You could have just kept on going.  And you’d have been right to do so.  But, you didn’t.  You stopped and rescued an old man and his kid who you didn’t even know.”

“It was the right thing to do, Tom.”

“Well, I have another right thing to ask you.  I need you to take care of Larry.”  The request hit Jen like a hammer.  She knew what he was asking.  And, she knew he knew what his fate held.

“Oh, Tom…”  She began to sob.

“Now you stop.  You and I both know that I was exposed to …to…to whatever this is.  Now I’m sick.  Shit Jen you’re a nurse.  You know how this goes.  I want you to send Larry over here.  I need to talk to him.”

“Tom…I…I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry…”  She began to cry uncontrollably.  She tried to muffle the sounds.  Her body convulsed.  Tears ran down her cheeks.  She turned in the dark, and scooted towards the teens.  She found them sleeping in each other’s arms.  She wiped the tears from her face.

“Larry,” she whispered.  “Your dad needs you.”

“What?” he asked.  “What do you mean?”

“Baby, your dad is sick and needs to talk to you.”

“What do you mean he’s sick,” he asked raising his voice.  “He was fine a few hours ago.”

“Ssshh baby, just go over to him.”

He crawled to the corner where his father lay.  He too could feel the heat emanating from his father.  He held his dad’s hand.  “Dad, Miss. Jen said you was sick and need me.”

“Son, I am sick.  I don’t know how sick, but I might not be able to take care of you for a while.”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“I mean that until I get better, I need you to do everything that Mr. Mike and Miss Jen tell you to.  Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”  Tears began welling in the boy’s eyes.

“I love you son.  I’m sorry I wasn’t always there for you and your mama.  I always loved the both of you…”  His voice trailed off.  Larry could hear his father’s breathing change.

“Miss. Jen,” he cried.  “He’s not breathing right.  Help him.”

Jen slid in beside him.  She gasped.  She’d seen this before.  The textbooks called this agonal breathing.  It was a sign of impending death.  She grasped Larry’s arm.

“I’m sorry, baby.  I can’t do anything for him.  He’s dying.”

The boy felt the blood drain from his face.  “Is he going to turn into one of them?”

“I don’t know Larry,” she replied.  “I’m afraid that he might.”

He began crying.  He curled up on the floor, holding his father.  The sound of the boy crying and the father gasping was too much for Jen.  She broke down crying also.  Mike crawled to the little group.

“You guys need to keep it down,” he hissed.

“That boy’s father is about to die Mike, and it’s my fault.  So I’m sorry if Larry and I decide to have a fucking pity party,” her voice growing louder with each word.

“Wait, he’s dying now?”

“Yes, shouldn’t be too long.  Shit Mike, I shoulda been more careful out there this evening.  I just heard that helicopter and…”

“You need to be more careful now,” he shot back.  “We don’t know how many of those things are in this store.  You keep this up, and they’re going to hear you.”

“Sorry Mike.  This just doesn’t…doesn’t seem real.”

“I know,” he paused.  “What do we do about Tom?”

“I don’t know.  I can’t do it.  Can you?”

“I don’t know.  Not in front of his son I can’t.”  He thought for a moment.  “We need to move.  We can’t stay here after he’s dead.”

“How?”

“I have no idea.  Shoot our way to the cars, and then drive like hell.  Maybe try sneaking to the cars,” he replied.

“I don’t know either.  I’ll keep an eye on Tom until he passes.  I’ll let you know when he does.”

Mike leaned against the door, trying to wrap his mind around the latest development.  He was pretty sure Tom was going to turn into one of those things.  He was pretty sure that someone would have to kill it when he did.  He was afraid that it was going to be a noisy affair.  Shit! He thought.  What else could possibly go wrong?

Alright Mike, get it together.  Stop dwelling on the bad breaks, and come up with some solutions.  Your wife and those two kids still need you to get them out of this.

First, we can’t stay here.  We have to get to the cars.  How and when?  He decided that no matter what, when Tom died they were leaving.  But, how were they going to get past a convenience store full of zombies?  His hand instinctively began caressing the black pistol on his hip.  He did some quick math:  Two pistols, 1 rifle, and a shotgun; himself, Jen who was lucky to hit a man sized target at 20 paces, and the two kids who both knew something about guns.  He guessed they could probably take five or six zombies, but not many more.

Next, if they left where would they go?  They did have gas and some supplies.  They could drive for about four hours if they took it slow and easy.  But then what?  The route to the highway seemed like it would be easy to get to.  Then where?  To get to Alexandria they’d have to get on I-49.  That almost guaranteed going through Shreveport.  So, they get out and head east towards Monroe.  No big cities between here and there.

He finally let himself relax.  He had a plan.  He just hoped he’d have a little while before he’d have to implement it.  He dozed off to sleep, thinking he should have told the others his plan before he did.

Mike felt like he had just fallen asleep when Jen shook him awake.  He pressed the button on his wrist watch:  0400.  Wow, he’d slept for nearly 5 hours.  He started to stretch, his watch scraping the inside of the door he was leaning against.  He stopped immediately.  Oh crap!  How loud was that?  He listened for sounds of un-life on the other side of the door.  He didn’t hear anything.