Catalyst (Book 1): Decay Chains (10 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

DAYS UNTIL THE SUPERVIRUS GOES GLOBAL: 30:17:43

The soldier fought off the buddy he had just saved. The buddy who had turned, and then turned on him. Stormy grabbed the ax off the floorboard and caught up to Stan. It got particularly bad as they approached. The soldier fell on his back and couldn’t recover in time.

The super repeatedly lost his footing because his left foot was mangled. He snarled as he absorbed the soldier’s punches and then lashed out again. The super railed and fought to pin the soldier down. He searched for a place to sink his teeth. His preference: his buddy’s upper arm. The soldier managed to get off his back, but the super head-butted him and took him to the ground while he was dazed.

Stan kicked the super in the gut. He fell, recovered, and straddled the soldier again. From behind, Stormy slashed the ax across his neck. The edge made it halfway through on her first swing. She withdrew the ax, extended it over her shoulder, and swiped again, with more force. It took a few thick seconds for the super’s head to separate and slide downward. The noise was revolting, but the image had become part of her norm, which made it rather forgettable.

The head plunked down onto the soldier’s stomach. “Oh, hell no.” 

The soldier jumped up, threw the head off him, and rubbed his ACU top with both hands. He drew ragged breaths, paced patterns on the sidewalk, and muttered incoherently. His plotting eyes never left the head.

The soldier’s pitch was high even though his voice was low. “What the fuck?”

He paced faster as his path veered away from the head. Stormy dropped the blood-stained ax to her side. Stan lowered the gun, but didn’t relax his grip. Distant sirens grew louder and clearer.

“You okay?” she asked.

The soldier nodded.

“Are you bit?” Stan asked.

“No.”

The soldier rolled up his sleeves and held out his arms. He turned them over, and then stepped closer to show Stan both sides of his neck.

“That’s how the infection spreads.”

“Yeah.”

“Like out of a horror movie or something,” he said. “It’s so fucking weird.”

“We know.” Stan gestured at the street littered with bodies. “But you seem to be doing a good job of killing them.”

“No, that guy was good at killing them.” He pointed to the recently beheaded. “Said it was like a video game or something.”

“Are you gonna stay here on your own?” Stormy asked.

“I got to radio in,” the soldier said. “All my guys are dead and a signal jammer cut me off from the other ECPs. I can’t hold up this point by myself. I’m low on ammo.”

He looked around as if he felt like he had said too much and didn’t want it recorded. When he refocused on the decapitated soldier, his expression softened. Like he couldn’t decide what to trust, his eyes or his personal rescue party.

“What are you all doing?” he asked.

“We’re getting the hell out of here,” Stan said.

“Is that right?”

“Provided no one has a problem with it,” Stormy said.

He stuck his hand out. “I’m Purdy by the way. And I don’t have a problem.”

His shake was as firm as his stare, which fixed on her and then infiltrated everything. He has that look, just like Matt. The “I’m reading everything about you in a twenty second handshake” look. It was comforting and eerie at the same time.

“I’m Stormy. He’s Stan.” She pointed to Purdy’s ACU top. “Purdy’s your last name?”

“Yeah, my first is Jerome, but don’t call me that.”

The sirens got louder and tires screeched up the block.

“The sirens bug you, don’t they?” Purdy picked up his M-4. “Why?”

“Your friends weren’t very nice to us,” Stormy said. “But they haven’t been nice to you either, have they?”

A lone cop car hurtled into the center of the intersection and parked next to the Jeep. Stan and Stormy inched backward.

“We saved you—remember?” Stormy said.

Purdy pointed at the alley behind them. “Go.”

He headed toward the cops while they disappeared. Stormy prayed they wouldn’t go near the Jeep and that Ian and Josh had the good sense to lay low. Stan peeked around the corner and fed details back to her.

“There are only two of them. They’re close to the Jeep, but they only looked at it for a second.” Stan walked away from the corner. “You can see for yourself. They aren’t looking over here.”

None of them expected the firefight. Purdy got half a sentence out before the larger cop threatened him. That pissed Purdy off beyond belief. All involved got off at least a shot, if not two, before Purdy threw himself into the alley.

“Forget about them. They aren’t after you. They’re trying to get around the barricade.” Bullets pinged off the brick wall. Purdy barely noticed. “Those assholes didn’t even let me talk. White people ain’t got no damn sense.”

“Huh?” Stan said.

“Nothing,” Purdy said. “Strike that last part.”

“What do you want to do?” Stormy asked. “Wait for them to leave?”

“I want to shoot both of them,” Purdy said.

Stormy crept up to the corner. She searched out the Jeep and breathed deep when she saw it undisturbed. The lights from the cop car danced over the surrounding buildings and across the barricade. Two overweight cops stood on either side of the center structure yanking on it with everything they had.

“They could be trying to get supplies,” she said.

“You don’t send a squad car for supplies,” Purdy said. “You send a truck in with supplies.”

Stan peeked around the wall. “Yeah, they’re trying to run.”               

“They shouldn’t be messing with that barricade,” Purdy said.

“Why?” Stan asked.

“Well for one, all the infected have been coming from over there.” Purdy pointed to the parked M-RAP, which sealed the far end of the control point, less than twenty feet from where the cops stood. “And for two, they sure as shit ain’t moving that barricade on their own.”

Stormy watched the back of the alley for a minute then returned to center. “Oh, shit. They’re coming.”

Stan and Purdy shared the corner with her now. Their hasty breaths fell down on the crown of her head. For once, being short was a good thing.

Supers filtered out of the building and around the M-RAP.

“We can’t let them get to the Jeep,” Stan said.

“There are three of them,” Stormy said.

“Nope, there are four,” Stan said.

“That’s not all of them,” Purdy said. “Been here all day. More are coming. Always more.” He pulled his rifle off his back and held it at his side. “And they’ve all been white too.”

“What?” Stormy asked.

“Nothing,” Purdy said.

“So the M-RAP still runs?” Stan asked.

“Yep,” Purdy said. “It’s been shot to shit, but it should still run.”

“Forget about the cops,” Stan said. “If Purdy backs his M-RAP out of the way, we’re out of here, and the cops can escape.” Stan made air quotes. “Or go for supplies.”

Stormy watched the supers walk farther into the street, closer to the barricade and her vehicle. “Whatever we’re doing, we need to do it now.”

The Jeep came to life. The cops whirled around just in time to see it dart toward the alleyway, but they paid it little mind. Their attention was focused on the supers that were feet from them and closing in.

The Jeep jumped the curb and rested its left wheels on the sidewalk. Ian pulled Stormy through the broken back window. Josh reached over to let the guys in, but Stan waved him away.

Stan and Purdy grabbed ahold of the Jeep’s roof rack. “Just drive toward the M-RAP.”

The cops opened fire on the supers. “You want me to drive through that?” Josh asked.

“You heard me,” Stan said. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”

Josh muttered as he drove off the curb, right into the middle of the fight.

“The M-RAP,” Stan shouted. “Get us close to the M-RAP.”

Purdy’s rifle passed the window and slammed against the roof of the Jeep. Gunfire discharged in both directions as they passed the barricade. When they reached the other side of the street, Stormy had to pop her ears or remain deaf.

“I told you those damn things were coming out of that building,” Purdy said.

“I got one straight through the eye,” Stan said.

“That was my shot.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Whatever, man.”

They both jumped off the Jeep and immediately took defensive stances. Purdy secured the left side of the M-RAP. Stan took the right. The cops’ heads peeked out from behind the barricade.

Ian pressed his eyes closed while he held his leg. The pain seemed to come in merciless waves. Stormy fought the urge to lean out the window and flick off the cops. Safety was on the other side of that barricade and they had prolonged it. Her legs became restless and her fingers drummed, she couldn’t take waiting anymore. Before Ian could say a word, her head rocketed out the rear window and she called them fatherless, unholy apes.

She got one full bird out before the cops fired on her. An unfamiliar pop, followed by a hiss, joined the usual sounds of gunfire. Although she managed to get back in on her own, Ian’s clutch on a fist full of her shirt did pull her back faster.

“Assholes.” She pushed toward the window. “I could’ve been out of here.”

“The M-RAP checked out okay,” Josh said. “The guys are getting in and turning her on.”

“Wait a second, do you think they were firing at supers or me?” Stormy flipped around in time to see something dart out of the building and behind the M-RAP.

“Fuck, there’s another one,” she said.

“Do you hear that?” Ian looked around the back of the vehicle, and then pressed his head to his window. He leaned over Stormy and looked out her side in search of a sound only he heard.

“Oh shit. No, no, no!” Ian slapped his hands against the window and then collapsed deep into his seat. “The fucking cops shot the tire out.”

“Holy shit.” Josh watched Stan pull the M-RAP’s driver side door open. The soldier in the driver’s seat stirred. Josh honked the horn to get Stan’s attention. It had the wrong effect. Stan took his eyes off the cab to look at the Jeep right as the super launched at him.

Josh opened the door and barreled toward the M-RAP. The super dragged Stan into the cab by his throat. Josh popped off three shots and ran back to the Jeep. Two of them hit, but it only took one to end the super. Freed, Stan fell to the ground. He hit ass first.

Purdy raced up just in time to open the passenger side door and drag the super’s body across the cab. He tossed it out the side and then crossed around the front to Stan, who was back on his feet.

The gunfire started again, but Purdy didn’t even look in its direction. Instead, he slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine. The M-RAP made a shit ton of noise as it came to life. Three more supers filed out of the building.

“Come on, we can’t drive this anymore.” Ian popped his door, tossed his bad leg out, and seethed in pain. “We’ve got to catch a ride.”

Neither Stan nor Purdy noticed as the others helped Ian hobble toward the M-RAP. They also didn’t notice the supers that staggered up from behind the M-RAP.

“All right man.” Stan backed toward the Jeep. “Take care.”

When he finally faced the Jeep, his eyes grew big, and then narrowed. He flew back around and hit the M-RAP’s hood as it backed up.

“Wait,” he yelled.

Purdy looked up and then hit the brakes. “Ya’ll need a ride to the cold zone, don’t you?”

“Looks that way.”

A shot dinged against the M-RAP’s hood. Purdy tossed the dirtiest of looks up at the barricade. “Man, ya’ll need to hurry up.”

Stan took the hint and ran to help Ian into the M-RAP’s cabin. Purdy noticed and then shot up the supers filing out of the building. He picked off three, did a head count, and reached for another magazine.

Stormy slashed her ax at everything that got near them as the guys climbed inside the M-RAP. Supers poured out of every building until the street teemed with them. The guys lifted her inside right as the mob tried to swallow her. The back door swung out once before the supers grabbed hold of it. That was all it took. They fought their way inside while Stormy scrambled to shut the door on them.

“Just fucking go,” she said.

Purdy angled the M-RAP between a brick building and the edge of the barricade. He mowed over a dozen supers. The rest swarmed the doors. When a super fell under the M-RAP, another slid into the vacant spot. One rough three-point turn later, the M-RAP was on the opposite side of the barricade and covered in guts.

They were out, finally.

Purdy glanced at his side mirror and smiled. “Yeah, good luck getting your cruiser around that Jeep without getting eaten, you idiots.”