I started to jog towards the burning car. The street was clear ahead of me and I began to feel a sense of comfort. Then I heard footsteps behind me. It sounded like thousands of footsteps.
I didn"t look behind me. I ran as fast as I could, past the burning car. I had no idea what I was going to do once I got to the harbor. Behind me the sound of footsteps was getting closer. I could feel the infected behind me. I ran hard, my vision began to narrow, I couldn"t breath, I started getting dizzy.
One block to go.
I could hear breathing behind me now, faint grunting sounds filled the air.
Half a block.
I felt heat on the back of my neck and heard a distinct clicking sound. I envisioned snapping teeth.
100 feet.
I ran faster. I couldn"t see at all anymore. I knew I was getting close to the edge of the dock. I ran until the ground disappeared beneath my feet. I ran right off the edge of the dock and as I fell towards the water, I could feel the host that was behind me hit my feet as it fell off the dock behind me.
At first the water felt refreshing as I sank several feet under the surface but it quickly got cold. I thought maybe I would become hypothermic and drown. That would have been okay, I would just go to sleep. I wouldn"t know or care if the hosts" got a hold of me. I wouldn"t care what happened next.
When I surfaced I realized that I was easily 20 feet from the dock and drifting way. There was no sign of the host that was behind me. On the dock above me, were hundreds of hosts swarming, pushing each other off the edge. When a host hit the water it sank like a stone. They couldn"t swim.
An overwhelming feeling of relief came over me and I swam slowly out towards the middle of the channel. Once I felt certain I was out of reach I laid back and floated. My ears submerged so I could hear nothing but the water moving around me.
I felt rested, even after only ten or so minutes of floating in the channel. I suppose it was the release of stress, knowing the infected couldn"t get to me. I was, for this very brief moment, safe.
I needed to get back to the detention center to get what ever food and supplies I could. I needed to take care of Eve. I had grown attached to her over the previous days. Our intimacy had connected us.
My thoughts were on Eve now. I had always had trouble with casual intimacy. Once a woman gave herself to me I built an emotional connection to her. It was not healthy for me. I spent to many years engaged in relationships that were not healthy but my emotional connection made me blind to how it was hurting me. My marriage was like that, and I almost didn"t survive it. I wished right then that Eve and I had not been so close, now I felt the grief of losing her filling my heart.
-Crawling Back-.
It took several days to get back to the detention center. I worked my way down several blocks in the ca.n.a.l, and slept under a dock on a small boat mooring that night. As the sun came up the next day I began working my way back towards the detention center. I hid out in small stores along the way. I found a small retail store and changed out of my wet clothing. I found some cargo pants and a thick b.u.t.ton up shirt. It helped with the cold. I had a constant shiver from being wet and cold all night.
I spent the next night in a 7/11 where I had access to some food and water. I wanted to drink, and I pulled a warm 12 pack of beer out of a cooler that had probably not run in days.
It was a long night. I didn"t sleep well and the alcohol brought on the terrifying images of Eve being torn apart. I couldn"t stop crossing images of her. Kissing her beautiful nipples then watching the hosts tear them from her body. Spreading her gently and sliding my tongue over her silky flesh, then a b.l.o.o.d.y hand gripped her pubic bone, my lips still touched hers. The lower half of her torso pulled away. I woke up and vomited again.
I sat in the store dazed and groggy from what was certainly the alcohol. Light flooded the store, and I looked out into the street to see a thick morning fog. I could hear screeches In the distance and the occasional shadow pa.s.s through the fog.
I started preparing to move out into the street to make my last run to the detention center. I opened the gla.s.s door and looked in both directions to make sure it was clear. Through the fog I heard gun shots.
The shots were grouped in bursts. like you would expect machine gun fire to be. Controlled short bursts.
I started out and followed the sound of the repeating gun fire. Within two blocks I came across the alley that lead to the detention center. I was on the opposite side of where Eve and I had entered several days before.
The gate was locked but I was able to climb over it and worked my way slowly down the alley. I walked through the foggy alley, visibility was very low, and I could just make out bodies scattered around in small groups. They were all hosts as far as I could tell, and they were riddled with bullet holes. I could hear voices above me in the fog.
"h.e.l.lo!!" I yelled. It became suddenly obvious that I needed to make sure they knew I was there, and that I was still human. Otherwise I am sure I would have found myself the target of the next burst from their machine gun.
"We hear you" A voice bellowed from above me, "are you alone?"
"Yes" I yelled up to them. "I was run out of this building several days ago and have been working my way back"
"Alright" The voice thundered over me. "head for the entrance door. Get your a.s.s inside before you attract flies". I could hear a radio crackle and faint mumbling as I ran.
I ran as quickly as I could. I knew that having exposed myself, it was only a matter of minutes before I could be attacked through the fog. The door came into view and opened just as I reached it.
Two marines stepped into the alley. One was armed with an AR-14 and the other a side arm. I recognized the man with the side arm"s collar device as a Marine Corps Major. The two men didn"t say anything to me as I approached. The Major grabbed my shoulder and rushed me inside the detention center. The door slammed closed behind us.
I stopped for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the dark hallway. As my vision cleared, I could make out the entrance to the common room I had run from a few days before. Now I could see that the hall and common room was full of equipment. I felt stunned for a moment, I thought Eve might still be lying in the next room.
"You okay?" the major asked "The boys tell me you were here before"
"Uh, Yea thanks." I said, still trying to catch my breath "Me and another person were here for a couple of days but we... I lost control of the room. I had to run."
"By yourself?" He asked, he knew what had happened.
"Yea, she..." I took a deep breath "She didn"t make it"
He put his hand on my shoulder and told me they had found the body of a blond woman that was recently killed. They had cleared the room and taken all the bodies to the dinning room area on the other side of the building. Preparations were being made to burn the bodies. I asked if I could have a moment to say goodbye to Eve. They granted me that, and we burned her body after a short ceremony.
I didn"t know what to say. We hadn"t known each other very long and at first I had felt that she was a burden. Then as we got closer she became a s.e.xual object, a distraction, I know I was the same for her. We were a moment of pleasure to each other as the world came closing in around us.
But after the night we spent in Grants Pa.s.s, she became something more to me. I began to care for her, to crave her touch, to feel her. I was heart broken, I watched her die. I held myself responsible even though there was no way I could have made it to her in time. She was under attack before I could even get to the catwalk. It was seconds before they had begun tearing her apart.
As I stood there with my head down and hands crossed in front of me watching the reflection of funeral flame on the tile under my feet, I fought off the images from my dreams the night before. Those crossing images of her were so vivid, I couldn"t see anything else.
I heard a soft voice next to me.
"Was she your wife?"
I looked to my right, and standing next to me was a woman with reddish brown hair wearing civilian clothes. Her expression was sullen as she looked up at me. Her eyes were green and penetrating as she stared into mine.
"uh, no" I stammered, still overwhelmed with the thoughts running through my mind "I found her stranded in lake Tahoe a few days ago". I added "We uh.. got close over the last couple days though" I closed my eyes " I think I got her killed".
-Security-.
After some time the Major approached me and invited me to join him and the others for some coffee. We sat together in the common area and I retold my last few days to the group.
"Sounds like you have stayed just ahead of the infection till you got into Tacoma" He said.
He extended is hand to me "My name is Major Steven Levitt. I am commander of a medical evacuation unit based out of Camp Pendelton in California. We were deployed out of Pendelton about four days ago to support a large movement of patients from Seattle. This was before this second wave broke".
"Second wave?" I asked, "Second wave of what?" I had suspected this infection was a mutated version of the first one that had overrun Los Angeles, I wanted to get as much information as I could from Levitt. I continued asking questions before sharing any of the information I had gathered about the infection."U.G.L.Y" He took a sip of his coffee "I"m sure you remember the outbreak that took down Los Angeles?"
I nodded.
Levitt continued, "Well those that got sick were infected through a different process. They fell ill slowly, and reacted differently. They still turned into murderous monsters, but now they can spread it to other people. And this son of a b.i.t.c.h spreads fast." He leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.
He continued, "We were covering a medevac, a group of sick had been flown to Seattle after the first wave. We had started moving them south when word came across the radio of a crash in the mountains in California. The patients from that crash were infecting other people and it was spreading faster than it could be contained. Took out a small town in a matter of hours."
He was talking about where this had begun for me. That crash was in my town, and it was what I had been running from for days. He continued to tell me how the world had begun to come unraveled.
"That bus load of patients was just the first, it wasn"t long before the other ill people started to turn."
Levitt explained that they lost control of their evacuation, as the infected turned, they began to attack their care givers. He said that in a matter of an hour, the entire unit had been lost. Only a few managed to get far enough away from the chaos to regroup. They collected weapons and opened fire on the infected, which by then, numbered in the hundreds.
When it was all over they collected what they could and started moving south again toward Tacoma. They had been camped on the outskirts of the city when they saw smoke rising from downtown. They headed in to town to investigate, and found the smoldering remains of my car and the detention center full of infected.
As the sun went down, the light In the common area was beginning to fade. I had collected the gear that I had left and I offered to help collect wood from the broken furniture spread throughout the detention center to build a fire.
It gave me something to focus on. The crossed images of Eve were still haunting me. Once I got a fire going I sat quietly and stared into the flames. I forced myself to daydream.
I remembered staring into the flames of a fire when I was a boy. Playing out the adventures of Indiana Jones on the charred wood and ashes. It gave me comfort then, and now as I faded into thought, I began to play out a childhood adventure.
"Hi" that soft sullen voice was behind me as I stared into the fire. "I"m Sofia".
"Hi" I responded. "I"m Duncan" She sat next me and stared into the fire.
"I heard some of what you had said to the Major about how you and your friend had gotten here" she looked at me " I"m sorry you didn"t find your kids, do you think their safe?"
She had heard me describing my escape from home and my description of the previous days search for my kids.
"I hope so, my ex-wife and her sister were gone when I got to Tahoe. Hopefully they found somewhere safe to go"
"I lost my kids to, but mine are dead" She said sadly.
I looked over at her and saw a tear run down her cheek.
"I"m sorry Sofia" I said "Thank you" she said, she leaned into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and she began to cry. We were all feeling the need for comfort, probably even the Marines. Everyone was in shock.
When she settled again, I asked her how she had gotten here. She told me about how she worked for the CDC and was on a.s.signment in the Seattle area when the first wave had broken out. Her family, her husband and two kids were in a suburb of Los Angeles. They were in an area that was. .h.i.t early on by the contaminated water supply.
She had been on the phone with her husband when they were overtaken. They had fallen ill and he was describing their symptoms to her when the front door was broken down and they were overrun. She heard them being attacked, and she heard them die. She didn"t go back, and stayed in Seattle to grieve.
As the night went on we lightened our moods by talking about our backgrounds and our childhoods. I was beginning to feel very comfortable being next to her. We shared the difficult things from our lives and the wonderful things. She spoke very highly of her husband, she had loved him. She missed him.
We lay on the floor next to each other in front of the fire and I pretended we were on a camping trip. I talked about my interest in astronomy and the constellations. She talked about growing up in the south and summer nights catching fire flies and listening to bull frogs. She talked about her parents moving to the US from Coasta Rica. For a moment I forgot about what was happening, my fear melted away and I fell asleep.
-Marauders-.
"Duncan!!" I opened my eyes to see Levitt crouching over me " Wake up, we have company". He turned to Sofia and lightly shook her awake. "Come on my dear, its time to get moving".
Outside the detention center a group of people that were not infected, had gathered. They weren"t looking for help. They were well armed and had military vehicles. They were threatening to take the detention center by force.
It was still dark and away from the fire it was cold. I made my way over to a small office that Levitt had taken over to see what was happening.
"In the last few days we have crossed paths with some groups of survivors looking for supplies" Levitt announced to his men gathered in the office. "Outside this building a group of armed men have gathered and they are demanding access to our little refuge here. They are not military but it looks like they have either found equipment and weapons or have overtaken a military unit. Regardless I think we need to consider them potentially dangerous and heavily armed"
"Hey" Sofia touched my arm "Want some coffee?" she handed me a tin cup of steaming hot coffee.
Levitt continued "We do not have the resources to fight these guys off. Even though its likely they don"t have the experience or training to gain access to the building, we are not going to take them on. We are short of ammunition and food supplies. This is not a target worth protecting. We have easy access to our vehicles and a way out. We will avoid confrontation and move out within the hour. Let them have it"
I found major Levitt to be a calm and level headed leader. He was making good decisions and he didn"t seem to get rattled. His people were behind him, and they didn"t argue or groan when he gave an order. If they had anything to say he would talk to them, get their input and make adjustments if the majority felt the same.
-Exodus-.
We were ready to move within 20 minutes. I gathered up the things I had left. Then I ran and joined the others at the staging area behind the main kitchen of the detention center.
There were several rows of canned foods still stored in the area. Mostly stews, canned vegetables, and canned fruit. We were ready to evacuate, with several cases of food staged along side all the other gear. Hopefully we would be given enough time to load everything we had stacked into the vehicles that were waiting in an underground parking structure below the detention center.
"Let me have your attention folks" Levitt said to the group. "I am going to go to the roof and announce our departure to our gathering audience. I will even go so far as to allow them access by dropping a set of keys to the outside door."
We all looked at him with tilted expressions. Why would he give them access to the building?
" Diversion" he said with a smirk on his face, "the objective is to get them to make as much noise as possible on the opposite side of the building from our escape path."
Levitt climbed to the roof of the building and joined the two marines keeping a vigil over the large group of marauders that had filled the alley. As Levitt had hoped, they were beginning to attract the attention of hosts that were now gathering outside the closed alley gates. They were hungry and angry and the gates were beginning to sway.
"Hey fellas, hows it looking?" Levitt said to the men on the roof.
"These guys are getting antsy and they want in pretty bad."
"Lets give them what they want" He said, then quickly detailed his plan. "Let me have that bullhorn".
Levitt cleared his throat, raised the bullhorn to his lips and spoke.
"ladies and gentleman." The crowd quieted enough to hear him. My name is Major Steven Levitt, I am commander of a medical transport unit. We are temporarily occupying this location and have decided to grant your group access. I will be dropping a set of keys that were recovered from the interior to you. There will be a key to the outside door on this keyring."
He stopped long enough to listen to some protesting and threats yelled back. They were demanding to be let in from the inside.
"You will forgive us for allowing ourselves enough time to evacuate before you enter the building." He said to the angry mob. "good luck to you all". He tossed the ring of keys into the alley.
Levitt and his men ran at full sprint to the roof access door and headed down the stars to the staging area. Access to the parking area was through two large sliding doors that opened onto a loading dock. Two marines stood ready to open these doors on command as Major Levitt and his entourage came running into the room.
"Lets go!!" He yelled. We grabbed everything we could. I swung my pack over my shoulder and grabbed two cases of canned stew. My back twinged as I started to run towards the first vehicle I could see.
While we were making our way through the parking structure in the alley, the marauders on the other side of the building were frantically trying to find a key on the key ring that Levitt had dropped to open the outside door. They were under attack now. The hosts had broken down the gates on both ends of the alley, as the number of hosts had grown into the thousands. They had set up a firing line on either side of the group facing the fences with several vehicles topped with 50 caliber machine guns.
But they were overrun before they could reload after their first volley, and within only 15 minutes the entire group was killed. Few were turned, most were torn apart and fed on. The hosts were becoming more violent as the day pa.s.sed. It seemed like they were feeding more frequently on the uninfected than at first.
The slaughter of the marauders gave us enough time to load up our vehicles. As the caravan of five Humvee"s and one large transport truck began its slow movement towards the light of the open street, we could see shadows moving quickly past the entrance to the parking area. Thousands of hosts were running towards the open alley down the block, running to feed on the overwhelmed humans in the alley. The lead vehicle increased its speed and the caravan slipped one by one out into the street. There were some hosts in the way but the lead Humvee rolled right over them, clearing a way for the rest of the vehicles.
As we drove out of the city we watched hundreds more hosts run towards the open alley. I imagined a feeding frenzy with thousands of infected bodies piled on top of each other. Fighting for the last sc.r.a.ps of human flesh.
After a short drive the lead vehicle pulled into a field on the top of a bluff overlooking the city and the sea beyond. From this vantage point we could clearly see the smoke rising from the detention center located downtown, near the wharf.
"It looks like the entire building went up." Levitt said, in a sullen tone. "I left those poor b.a.s.t.a.r.ds as bait."
I looked over at him "They would have killed us and taken our supplies" I said.