Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins (5 page)

Some of the creatures were getting back to their feet. They
were wounded but they were somehow able to push past pain that would leave a
normal man crippled on the ground. The creatures roared and charged the
officers. James drew his asp and flicked his wrist to expand it.

"Hand to hand. Get ready!" James krav maga
training kicked in. He'd been in a few scrapes on the job. This was the first
time he'd needed to fire his weapon at a live target but he had been in his
share of fights. Normally he held himself back as his krav maga training made
him a deadly opponent. Krav maga focused on ending the fight as quickly as
possible. That wasn't something he could normally do on the job. But right now
he knew, this was kill or be killed. If he didn't fight with everything he had,
he wouldn't be seeing his family again.

James met the first creature to reach him with a hard strike
to the throat that put it back on the ground. It stopped moving. He sidestepped
the next creature and managed a hit to the back of its knee that sent it to the
ground. Moving quickly he finished it with a blow to the back of the head.
Turning around he barely manged to block a blow with his asp. He responded with
an elbow strike to the creature’s throat that had it gasping for breath. James
put it out of its misery with a strike to the head.

The next creature that reached James received a kick in the
groin for its efforts. James smiled inwardly as it crumpled. They had high pain
tolerance, but they still felt that. Two strikes to the back of its head
stopped it from moving. Movement from behind caught Jame's attention but he
couldn't move in time. He turned only to be tackled to the ground. The creature
struck at him but James managed to trap its arm with his against his body. With
his other hand, he jabbed the creature in the eye. The gloves cushioned some of
the blow but it was enough to make the creature howl in pain. A strike to the
throat had the creature holding its throat and James was able to shove it off.
Three quick punches knocked it unconscious.

James looked about for his asp. He'd lost it when he'd been
tackled. Seeing it he grabbed it and looked for another opponent. He sighed in
relief when he saw they were done. He walked over to the creature he'd just
knocked out and finished it off. He didn't want to fight it twice. Who knew how
quickly it might have recovered?

Looking around, James took stock. Of the ten officers that
had started the fight, only four of them were still standing. They were all breathing
heavily. James looked around in disgust. What was this thing? What could turn a
man into a raving animal? James noticed a rip in his suit and checked the skin
beneath. He sighed in relief as he found the skin unbroken. But the suit was
now useless. He might as well lose it and get some mobility back. Some of the
officers looked on him in shock as he started taking off his suit.

"Suit got ripped," he explained. "Hopefully,
it doesn't spread that easily."

A few officers nodded and followed suit. All of them had
suffered a rip of some sort. One of them cursed in disgust when he looked at
his arm. One of the creatures had managed to bite him.

"Look around," James said. "See if you can
find some clean bandages and take care of that. The rest of you check for bites
too."

A few minutes passed in silence as the officers checked
themselves for wounds. The sound of footsteps reached their ears and all of the
officers tensed. James relaxed as he realized the steps were coming from the
way they came in. That was their backup hopefully. A number of officers entered
the room, the chief of police at head. The chief looked around the room in
horror until his eyes found James.

"What the hell happened here?" he demanded. He
entered the room and glanced at some of the bodies. "Why did you shoot
these people? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, sir," James responded. "These people are
crazed, sir. They attacked as soon as they laid eyes on us. They've got high
pain tolerance. Several of them that were shot got up and kept attacking. We
didn't have a choice.

The chief sighed as he saw the bodies of his officers on the
floor. "Any survivors?"

"Don't know sir. Haven't been past this room."

The chief nodded. "Alright then. We need to search for
survivors." He looked around the room again. "I'm gonna get the mayor
on the radio. We're gonna need National Guard or something to handle all
this."

The chief headed outside and the surviving officers took
that time to rest. Only one of them had gotten bitten but they were all winded
from their ordeal. James was grateful for all the intense training he'd been
through with krav maga. Not just for the combat skills that had surely just
saved his life, but also for the conditioning. He still had plenty of reserves
left to see this through.

The chief returned a few minutes later with a look of fury
on his face. "We're on our own."

"What do you mean, chief?" Jeffries asked.

"National Guard won't be coming. They've been deployed
to more 'critical' locations."

"This isn't critical?" an officer asked.

"Looks like this is happening all over, son," the
chief said. "We're just not high enough on the totem pole. We'll have to
make do. Let's check for survivors. Maybe we can contain this here in the
hospital."

Several officers nodded at that. They were angry. Their
brothers had been killed by these things and they wanted payback. James wasn't
so sure though. After what they'd just been through, maybe the best course of
action was to retreat. If they were still a lot of those creatures left, they'd
be facing another massacre. He looked at the chief's face and saw no argument
on his part would make a difference. The chief could be stubborn at times and
he looked to be pretty set on this course of action.

James sighed. He had a moment where he seriously considered
leaving. Going further seemed like suicide but he wouldn't abandon his
brothers. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if they winded up getting
themselves killed. he shook his head. Nothing for it. He hoped he'd be able to
walk away when this was done.

The officers headed through the doors and the end of the
room and found themselves in another hallway. The hallway ended at a wide set
of stairs that led into the upper levels. At the first landing, the chief
called a halt.

"I don't want to be here any longer than we need to be.
We're gonna check each floor as quickly as we can. If we see any creatures, we
put them down. Understand?"

The officers nodded but James sighed internally. This still felt
like a really bad idea. The entered the second floor and James saw that it was
the maternity ward. Fortunately, there was no sign of the creatures here. James
didn't know what he would have done if they creatures had made it here. A
search showed that the floor was completely empty. That was good. The people on
this floor must have taken another exit from the building. James didn't
remember seeing anyone with babies when he came in.

The third floor showed signs of struggle but it looked to be
empty. Maybe some of the creatures he had fought had come from this floor. The
fourth floor turned out to be empty as well. One more floor and they could be
done with this place. They found themselves exploring the fifth floor when one
of the creatures suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway. Seeing them, he
howled, alerting his fellows to their presence.

Answering howls told them they were about to have a fight on
their hands. "Back to the stairs!" the chief yelled.

The officers turned around only to see there were creatures
blocking their escape. "Alright. We've gotta fight," the chief said.
"Let's put these bastards down!"

An officer handed James a clip and he quickly reloaded his
pistol. "Go for head shots if you can," he said. "They get up if
they can still breathe."

The creatures roared and charged towards the officers. James
emptied his clip, trying to make every shot count. Twelve shots and ten fell to
the ground. Other shots rang out and more creatures fell. Maybe they'd get
through this okay.

"Behind us!" someone yelled. Looking behind him,
James saw that the creature that had spotted him had been joined by several
others.

This was bad. Surrounded like this, it probably wouldn't go
well. Seeing their predicament, several officers bolted. Now the situation was
even worse. Massed fire was their only hope of evening the odds for when the
creatures reached them. They'd be slaughtered if they tried to stand and fight.

"Fall back!" James yelled. At his shout, officers
scattered in every direction. He took off down a hallway with Jeffries and the
chief on his heels. He checked rooms as he passed by but every door he checked
was locked. Maybe they could find a place to hide and sneak out later. They
couldn't fight their way through this many. James finally found an unlocked
door and ducked inside. He waited for Jeffries and the chief to enter and then
shut the door. Looking around, he saw they were in someone's office. There was
a large desk in the middle of the room with a laptop and a bookshelf filled
with thick volumes.

"Let's catch our breath," James said quietly.

Jeffries and the chief nodded, no complaints there. Neither
of them were in nearly the shape that James was in. If he wanted to take a
break, it was fine by them. A few minutes later, James put his ear to the door.
Nothing. Hopefully the coast was clear. James opened the door and quickly
looked outside. The coast was clear. He motioned for the others to follow and
stepped out into the hallway. He didn't want to go back the way they'd come,
creatures were likely in that direction. They needed to find another way off
this floor and out of the building. An elevator perhaps? Not the regular ones.
Those were too close to the stairs where they'd come up. Maybe a service
elevator. He remembered when Laura had had the kids. They'd been part of a
program that let them bypass the standard check. A nurse would come down and
take Laura directly to the maternity ward. They'd used some sort of service
elevator to do that. Hopefully he could find something like that.

James walked cautiously down the hallway. He didn't want to
be surprised by another one of those things. As he reached the end of the
hallway, he heard someone running to his left. Looking around the corner, he
saw an officer running in his direction.

"Run! They're behind me!" he yelled.

James looked behind him and saw five creatures in pursuit.
He took off after the officer and hoped that Jeffries and the chief were
following. The officer went around a corner and James followed. Down the hall,
James saw that some kind soul had left their door open.

"Door on the left!" he shouted to the officer
ahead.

The officer heard and ran into the room, James and the
others quickly entered behind them. James shut the door and locked it. He heard
the creatures run by and sighed in relief. They'd managed to get in here with
being seen.

"Everyone okay?" he asked. "Anybody
hurt?"

"I'm good," Jeffries said.

"I'm fine too," the chief said.

The officer looked at his arm angrily. "One of those
bastards got me before I could outrun them."

James looked at the officer's arm and saw a bite mark. It
looked like the creature's teeth had barely broken the skin. He should be fine.

"How do you feel?" James asked.

"He barely got me," the officer replied.
"Still hurts like hell though."

James glanced around the room. "Let's look around.
Maybe we can wrap it up at least."

A few minutes of searching turned up a handkerchief that
they used to wrap around the wound. That task complete, they all decided to
rest for a bit. James looked at his watch. Nine. They'd arrived at the hospital
around eight. It was hard to believe they'd only been here an hour. It felt
like ages.

"Why don't we get some rest?" James said.
"Hopefully we'll have better luck later."

The others nodded their assent and they looked around the
room. This office was a bit better appointed than the last one. At least in
regards to their current needs. There was a small desk with two leather chairs
in front of it. Along one wall there was a comfortable looking couch. They gave
the couch to the officer while Jeffries and the chief took the chair in front
of the desk. James took the desk chair. He didn't think he was as comfortable
as the others but it would do.

***

The sound of someone moaning woke James from his nap. Looking
around the room he saw that it was the officer on the couch. James stood up and
walked over to the officer. He was tossing and turning like he was having a
nightmare but that wasn't what was concerning. He was sweating buckets. James
tapped him on the shoulder but got no response. James pushed back an eyelid and
sighed sadly when he saw solid red. He was infected. But how? All of them had
been running from those things and they weren't showing any signs? How did it
spread? James looked over the officer and stopped when he laid eyes on his
bandaged wrapped arm. The bite. Is that how it was spread? Had to be. That
was the only difference between them right now. None of them were wearing suits
at this point. If it was spread in some other way then they should all be sick
right? James walked over and shook Jeffries and the chief awake.

"We've got a problem," he said once he had their
attention.

"What's wrong?" the chief asked.

James motioned towards the officer on the couch. "He's
infected."

"How do you know?" Jeffries asked.

"Same symptoms," he responded, "fever and
bloodshot eyes."

"How?" the chief asked.

James pointed to the officer's shoulder. "The bite I'm
thinking. Other than that, we should all be sick."

"Is he gonna turn into one of those things?" the
chief asked.