The Dead in River City (12 page)

21

BANG! BANG!
They heard, before a
monstrous roar reached their eardrums. A look of confused terror came over both
their faces. They didn’t know for certain what made that noise, but they were
sure it was Malcolm’s handiwork.

“…The hell was that?” Kendra reacted.

“Not good, that’s what!” Alan replied in a panic.

“Do we run?” She asked him.

“My instincts say yes, but we need to know what that
was.” Alan said, weighing his options.

“Whatever you say, I’m for it.” Kendra reassured
him.

“Let’s see what it was, then split.” Alan suggested
a plan.

Kendra nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Alan led the way to a part of the basement beyond
Malcolm’s lab set-up. With each passing step, they heard muffled growls and
roars, unlike any human sound, coming from beneath them, accompanied by the
sound of metal being impacted by something heavy.

“It’s underneath us.” Alan confirmed.

“The basement has it’s own basement?” Kendra said
with disbelief. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“There must be a hatch somewhere. Help me find it.”
Alan instructed her.

They searched for any kind of hatch they could find
on the floor, but the floor was fully solid, with no indication of any kind of
door.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Kendra spoke. “Something
is down there, so there must be a way down there.”

“I think there was…” Alan said, noticing an oddity
in the floor. Kneeling down, he ran his hand over a part of the floor that was
different from the rest. It was rough compared to the rest of the smooth concrete,
and was less worn, as if it had been added recently.

“This part of the floor is new.” Alan affirmed. “I
think the way to the area beneath us is under this part of the floor.”

“That’s solid concrete, we can’t break through it.”
Kendra replied.

“I just don’t understand how he managed to seal it
off so easily. Concrete shouldn’t be that easy to acquire.” Alan said, baffled.

“It’s Malcolm, does it really surprise you?” Kendra
asked, knowing full well what Malcolm was capable of. “He’s smart and resourceful.”

“Fair point.” Alan responded. “Now how do we get
down there?”

“I don’t think we can.” Kendra answered. “We got
everything we could get here. Let’s go back to Refuge.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Alan resigned to failure.
“Let’s go.”

Turning to leave, they heard a pounding noise. They
paid no attention at first, until the pounding grew louder, and was accompanied
by the sound of crumbling concrete.

“Is that what I think it is?” Alan said, turning
slightly.

“Alan… RUN!” Kendra ordered, fearing that whatever
monstrosity dwelled beneath them was breaking free.

Alan’s tendency to listen to Kendra outweighed his
curiosity. He obeyed her, and ran out of the basement with her. They darted up
the old staircase, and sprinted through the darkness until they reached the
front door.

The light burned their eyes after being in the dark
building and dimly lit lab. Alan darted towards their borrowed car, and quickly
jumped into the driver’s seat. Kendra got into the car just as the engine
started. It felt as though the ground rumbled as the unknown entity emerged
from the old church building. Before Alan could pull out of the parking lot,
the church doors were torn open from the inside. Standing where the doors once
stood, was a monstrosity unlike anything that either of them ever imagined.

“DRIVE!” Kendra shouted in a panic.

Alan was already on it. Slamming down the gas pedal,
the car peeled out of the parking lot, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake,
accompanied by the smell of burnt rubber. The monstrosity was unhindered,
simply following the car.

“Is it still on us?” Alan said, focusing on the road
ahead of him.

“Yes, and it’s much faster than it should be!”
Kendra said with utter surprise.

The creature was obviously zombie-like by the looks
of it, but it was much bigger and much faster. Where as the Dead Ones shambled
on and on, this abomination could run, and move fast enough to keep the car in
its sights as it sped into the distance. This monstrosity of rotted flesh,
disfigured features, and mindless aggression chased Alan and Kendra’s car,
determined beyond reason to catch them.

“It’s running…” Kendra said in disbelief. “That huge
zombie is running.”

“I thought that was impossible.” Alan replied,
increasing his speed.

“It should be.” Kendra spoke again. “But this thing
was locked away beneath the church. Malcolm experimented on it. Who knows what
he did to it? Who knows what it used to be, or what it is now capable of?”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that it’s
probably capable of killing us.” Alan said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Then we kill it first.” Kendra brandished a pistol.

She reached up to open the car’s sunroof, and then
lifted herself up into the opening. She viewed the creature gaining on them,
and wasted no time in aiming her gun straight at the monster. She took careful
aim, waiting for the right moment to shoot. Inhaling deeply, she opened fire
and pelted the abomination with lead.

By the time she had emptied the clip, she realized
that her shots were all but useless against the giant zombie. The creature was
durable, shrugging off shots like they were nothing more than mere raindrops.
She needed more firepower, and had only one option.

Kendra ducked back down into the car, reaching into
the back seat. There she found one of Helena’s gifts: a shotgun. “This’ll do
nicely.” She smirked.

“How are you gonna fire that with one broken arm?”
Alan put his focus solely on driving, pushing his speed to a maximum.

“I’ll improvise.” She assured him.

Kendra rose back up through the sunroof, shotgun in
hand, ready for round 2. She pumped the gun and aimed straight for the head of
the monstrosity, resting the gun barrel on the car roof to steady it. She
fired, and the sound of the gun echoed throughout the air. The creature slowed
a bit, but showed no real sign of injury. Kendra was baffled, but continued to
fire, albeit, slowly, hoping that something might stop the beast.

The shotgun blasted away at the monster, but to no
avail. Kendra only managed to slow it down a bit, but it was still in pursuit.
She had nothing left to use on such a creature. She ducked back into the cabin
of the car, closing the sunroof with transparent frustration.

“The damned thing is a juggernaut!” She angrily
shouted.

“Don’t worry about it, babe.” Alan tried to calm
her. “There was nothing either of us could do to take it down.”

“Then what do we do?!” Kendra asked, frenzied.

“We lead it to Refuge.” Alan replied, pushing the
car to its top speed. “We lead it there and hope that they’re ready for a
fight.”

The minutes that followed seemed to drag on forever.
Alan pushed the car to its limits, and it kept them far enough ahead of the
impossible abomination. Refuge wasn’t far off. Alan hoped that the watchmen
would see them coming, and Kendra hoped that they would find a way to make it
out alive.

Their prayers were answered as they reached Refuge;
they heard the eruption of gunfire. Many armed citizens of Refuge were focusing
their aim on the Juggernaut, which was now charging straight for the tower.
Alan and Kendra rolled out of the car and darted towards the front door,
desperately hoping that the barrage of gunfire would hold the zombie at bay.

Breathing hard and heavy, Kendra peeked out to see
the hulking creature still standing, becoming enraged by the constant assault
from the citizen’s gunfire. She was dumbfounded. Even under such a heavy
barrage, the creature still lived.

“What does it take to kill you?!” She shouted as it,
stepping out of the entryway, brandishing her revolver.

Before she knew it, she’d put all six shots from her
gun into the creature’s face. The monster didn’t drop, nor did it advance. It
raised a disfigured fist, and pounded into the concrete, leaving a massive
crack in the pavement. The monster didn’t move. It only stayed there, half
kneeling on the ground. The rain of bullets had lessened, as the citizen’s guns
began to run dry. As the noise faded, monster let out a loud groan that sounded
like a foghorn. It slumped to the ground, having succumbed to its injuries. It
was then, that the watchmen of Refuge were alerted to a much bigger threat.

Off in the distance, shambling towards the
improvised city of Refuge was a zombie horde, hungry for the flesh of the
living.

22

“THE HORDE RETURNS!” The message rang through the
air. Most of the citizen militia had already noticed the Dead Ones in the
distance. It wouldn’t be long before they arrived, but there was enough time to
improvise a defense.

“Where did they come from?” Alan was bewildered.

“I think it was that…
thing.
” Kendra answered him. I think it summoned them to this
place. It sure wasn’t Malcolm. He hasn’t had an injection of his chemical, so
he currently has no control over them. It is the only explanation I can think
of.”

“We need to get up there to him. I don’t want to
take on the horde with him still being a possible threat.” Alan remarked. “We
have a little bit of time before the fighting begins. Let’s go meet with
Malcolm one last time.”

Alan and Kendra ascended the long staircase as the
people of Refuge slowly became aware of the coming horde. Many of the citizens
grabbed as many guns as they could find, and quickly moved down to the ground
floor, inching closer to their doom with each step. Alan and Kendra ignored
them. They had to deal with Malcolm before they could worry about the horde and
the citizens.

Minutes later they reached the top. Luke Jones was
currently watching Malcolm, and Alan was thankful to see that nothing had gone
awry.

“Welcome back, guys.” Luke said with a slight smile.

“No time for pleasantries, Luke. We have a problem.”
Alan said.

“Problem? What problem?” Luke replied, confused.

“The horde is back.” Kendra chimed in. “We
indirectly caused them to zero in on Refuge. The citizens are mounting a
defense now. They’ll need you down there with them.”

“And here I thought we were done with fighting for
the moment.” Luke uttered with a hint of cynicism. “Guess I’ll get down there
then.”

“Luke, wait!” Alan said as Luke was heading down the
stairs. “Take this.” He tossed one of the syringes from Malcolm’s lab to him.

“What’s this?”

“Malcolm’s creation. It will allow you a degree of
control over the Dead Ones. I doubt you can turn them away entirely, but you
may be able to slow their march.”

Luke nodded. “You got it, boss.”

Luke ran down the stairs, determined to reach the
bottom in record time. Alan watched as he descended, hoping that the chemical
would help stave off the slaughter. He turned to Kendra and inhaled deeply.

“This is it. It’s time to end this.” Alan spoke
softly.

“We’ll do it together.” Kendra assured him.

They took each other’s hands and entered the room.
Malcolm was still bound to the chair. He was no longer unconscious, as he was
when they left. Now he was wide-awake, and he watched with a sickening smile as
they approached him.

“Did you find my little surprise?” He asked with a
smirk.

“We did.” Alan replied. “Wanna tell me more about
it?”

“Well since you asked me so nicely, I’ll tell you.”
Malcolm’s apparent kindness dripped with sarcasm. “As you can guess, there were
6 versions of the chemical before X7 was created. I had to test each one, and
wasn’t crazy enough to test them on myself.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Alan interjected. His voice
sounded venomous.

Malcolm simply ignored him and continued. “I had
acquired a few test subjects; unwilling ones, of course, but they still served
my purposes. I tested each variant of the X chemicals on them. Most of them
died within the first few tests, but there was one subject who proved highly
resilient. He survived, but was heavily mutated. His brain ceased to function
normally, and devolved into something truly primal.”

“Yeah, we noticed that.” Kendra cut in. “However, I
don’t understand how it was so strong and so fast.”

“I suspected such a tiny mind wouldn’t quite grasp
that.” Malcolm quipped. “The chemicals mingled with each other, making
abominable mutations in the host body. He grew in size, and his strength was
boosted tenfold. He never seemed to grow tired, and his increased strength and
stamina is likely the explanation for how it could keep up with your car. He is
simply able to cover more ground in a single stride than any human.”

“We never told you that it chased us back here.”
Alan said. “How could you possibly know that?”

“I’m a scientist, not a kindergartener. I am capable
of putting 2 and 2 together.” Malcolm shot back with offense in his voice. “I
knew you couldn’t have killed it on your own, and I knew its savagery would
cause it to chase you here. I can only assume that it would eventually fall
under the assault of the cretins that live here. I would also assume that the
extra chemical I synthesized has allowed it to bring another army of the undead
to the base of this tower.

“You know, your condescending attitude is really
making me wish I’d killed you back at the library.” Alan responded angrily.

“If you were a better shot, you might have.” Malcolm
mocked him.

Alan whipped out his gun in a flash. “This time I
won’t miss.” He muttered gravely.

The room fell silent. Malcolm made no sound, and
Alan failed to pull the trigger. Kendra looked on, wondering why Alan was
hesitating. They’d both waited for this moment, and now he restrained himself
from killing him. She was sure he had something on his mind.

“Alan, what’s wrong?” She asked.

Alan ignored Kendra’s question, instead asking one
of his own. “One last chance, Malcolm. Is there a cure for the Dead Ones?”

“No.” Malcolm replied flatly.

“Then your fate is sealed.” He stated. “Kendra, get
downstairs and tell Luke to stop using his control on the Dead Ones. I have a
plan.”

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Finishing this!” He said, fueled by his hatred of
Malcolm. “Now, go! Tell Luke I’m taking control.”

“Ok.” She nodded, now understanding what Alan was
about to do.

Alan removed one of the syringes he’d prepared at
the lab, and stuck the needle into his arm. A look of surprise came over
Malcolm’s face, and slowly he began to put all the pieces together. “No. No no
no. You aren’t thinking of…”

“Yes. I am.” Alan cut him off. “I’m going to do
exactly what you’re thinking.” He continued, injecting the chemical from the
syringe into his bloodstream.

Alan aimed his gifted revolver at Malcolm’s knees.
He put a bullet in each kneecap, and Malcolm screamed in agony. He began to
bleed, but that was no longer any concern to Alan. With his kneecaps blown out,
he couldn’t walk. There would be no escape for Malcolm Graves. As Alan had
promised, his fate was sealed.

Alan cut the bonds that held Malcolm to the chair
he’d been positioned in since his capture. Alan then gripped Malcolm’s arm and
dragged him from the chair and pulling his weight across the floor. He had pure
vengeance in his eyes, and was ready to finish the fight once and for all. His
grip tightened on Malcolm’s arm as he drug him down the stairs. Malcolm’s body
bounced and jerked with each step he hit. Try as he might, he couldn’t move his
legs in any useful way. He struggled to no avail. Alan’s grip was like a vice,
only getting tighter with each step.

By the time Alan had dragged him to the lower
floors, Malcolm had resorted to begging, saying anything that might save his
life. “I’ll make a cure for the Dead Ones, I’ll do anything, if you just let me
live!” He pleaded desperately.

“You’re insane. You’re a sick man, Malcolm. You
don’t deserve to live.” Alan responded to his pleas. “I have no mercy for men
like you.”

Alan reached the bottom of the tower, and dragged
Malcolm out into the open air. The sun hurt Malcolm’s good eye, and he recoiled
as Alan threw him to the ground. The Dead Ones were still marching forward, and
those citizens that were armed still fired into the horde, trying to hold them
off for as long as they could. As Malcolm struggled on the ground, Alan gave
out a command.

“CEASE FIRE!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.

At once the guns of Refuge fell silent, and Alan
turned his focus to the Dead Ones. “Everyone, get inside, now!” He commanded as
he began to feel the controlling powers he’d felt the first time he was
injected.

Alan’s mind reached out into the remaining brain
functions of the mindless zombies. They were essentially automatons, nothing
more than putty in his hands. He mentally connected with a few closer zombies,
and then began to spread his influence through the entire crowd of the living
dead. His concentration was solely on his control over the Dead Ones. In his
own mind, he repeated a single thought, thinking it louder and louder each
second, and sent that thought to the entire zombie horde.
‘MALCOLM.’

His command was transmitted through the horde, and
they obeyed. The Dead Ones converged on Malcolm, who still hadn’t moved from
his spot on the pavement. Malcolm spouted incoherent pleas as the zombies
closed in around him. The crowd of bodies restricted Alan’s view, but he was
certain that he knew what was happening.

The Dead Ones ripped into Malcolm’s flesh, and he
screamed in terror and pain as the living dead began to devour him alive. The
X7 entered his bloodstream, but it would never have a chance to transform him.
Alan pushed the horde to keep attacking, keep eating, until nothing more
remained of Malcolm graves.

The citizens of Refuge watched from a distance as
Malcolm was consumed by the horde of Dead Ones. Some recoiled in horror, and
some cheered with vigor at the death of the madman who caused the outbreak.
After the Dead Ones had feasted upon their creator, Alan’s thoughts shifted.
His new command was a simple one, and he shouted it in his mind as if it were
the only word he knew.
‘BEGONE!’

It took time and immense concentration for his command
to assert itself, but sure enough, the horde began to disperse. There was no
destination specified to them to go to, but simply to leave Refuge and go far
away. As they dispersed, Alan looked upon the remains of Malcolm Graves. He no
longer looked like anything remotely human. His flesh was all but gone and many
of his bones were broken. He had been completely devoured by the very monsters
he had created.

Alan slumped to the ground after the Dead Ones had
wandered off. The sheer mental strain of controlling the Dead Ones was more
strenuous than he ever imagined. The first time he’d been injected, he only
felt the presence of their blank minds. This time, he felt like he had no
energy left after controlling them. He felt like he’d not slept in a couple
days.

Kendra rushed to his side, trying to help him to his
feet. “You did it.” She spoke softly to him. “You really did it.”

Alan tried to respond, but only uttered incoherent
mumbles.

“You need rest.” She whispered to him. “Luke!” She
beckoned into the crowd.

Luke stepped forward. “You rang?”

“Can you get things back in order here? I need to
get him upstairs to rest.” She said.

“For you? Anything.” Luke replied. “I’ll take care
of things here. You take care of your man.”

“Thanks Luke.” She showed her gratitude.

Walking away from the grisly scene outside, Kendra
carried Alan back inside Refuge, upstairs to the room that was their temporary
home. She gently laid him on the bed, and gave him a gentle kiss. She refused
to leave his side; she was too worried about Alan’s condition.

“Rest, my love.” She whispered. “Please, please be
ok.”