Days Of Dust

Chapter 12

Rick told Ben to repeat his account of what happened at the school, again to the nerds. After he did so the nerds came to one conclusion; that the infected are mutating or evolving.

Percy cleared his throat, "Rick we may need a tissue sample of one of the mutants and one of the original infected, so that we can spot any differences in the cells or chromosomes that developed any abnormalities."

Rick didn't know what Percy was talking about. "Wait up Percy, can you say that again in English please."

Percy frowned, clearly unhappy that his fancy language didn't matter, "Well we'd like some of your brawlers to capture a normal grown-up and a mutated one, so that we can see what's different about the two."

Now it was Rick's turn to frown, "I can't put my boys in danger unnecessarily and especially for a load of science garbage."

Percy's face grew red hot with rage, "The only way we're going to survive this crisis is by knowing exactly what we're up against and possibly to find a cure for the disease. If we ever want to get back to normal life, the nerds like us are going to have to create new things or research medicines."

Percy stormed off along with his little group of nerds.

Rick sighed loudly, "Why am I only good for smashing in grown-up's brains?"

Roxy came forwards and put a hand on his shoulder, "You're not only good for that, look at what you've made this place, look at how many kids you've given a home to. Rick, you've achieved so much, why can't you just get it through your thick head."

She gave him a shove and smiled, Rick shook his head. "I know, I know, but still Percy-"

She cut him off, "Percy is just used to getting his own way and he just needs time to take in what Ben said. If they're mutating than that could change the playing field for all of us."

Rick gulped, he couldn't handle the grown-ups as they were, let alone in a mutated state. They might even have to move to a safer place.

Brett's heart was pounding as the sound of gunfire hammered his eardrums. There were kids running about in every direction screaming and yelling. Only half an hour ago everyone was enjoying their lunch when a guard from the guard tower reported an army of strange infected were approaching the base. Ethan didn't want to take any chances and got all the fighters ready. Brett had been elected leader of the third squad, luckily the squad was full of kids who must have been gym addicts. They had bulging muscles but they all looked scared.

"Don't worry, it's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of." Brett had said to them in a pitiful attempt to lift their morale.

They all mumbled an agreement, and shuffled around until the hoard finally arrived. Straight away Brett knew that these were no ordinary infected men and women, they were fast and they behaved like savage dogs. Their limbs were twisted at odd angles so that they could walk on all fours, quickly. Half them looked starved and bloodlust gleamed in their white, bloodshot eyes. The first squad had been waiting out the front, to ensure they didn't get to the fence, but in minutes the squad had been devoured  and the snipers and archers let loose a volley of bullets and arrows which took down two whole lines of them. The kids cheered by the small victory was short-lived as more ferocious grown-ups poured in.

Finally it was squad three's turn for battle, God knows how many kids has already died, thought Brett.

The squad charged forward, slamming into the hissing and screeching mass of infected. With an angry battle cry Brett ran forwards slashing at two of the dog-like infected, cutting their throats causing blood to splat all over his clothes. He laughed like a mad man, running through the ranks of infected, slashing throats, crushing skulls, until he found himself fighting alongside Ethan; who was furiously hacking away at the hoard in front of him then he turned to Brett quickly.

"Are you with me?" He asked quickly then killed three more infected before Brett could answer.

"Yes I am, to the death."

And with that the two boys ran forward hacking and slashing until they broke through the army of grown-ups. They looked back, there was a group of ten boys who were still fighting. Ethan called to them and they fought their way back where the two boys were standing. They had a good view of the base on the hill that they were standing on. The infected had completely swarmed the whole camp and were now milling about and tearing at the remains of the fallen children. One of the boys, Lewis, spoke up,

"Where are we gonna go now?" he asked.

Ethan sighed and shook his head, "We could head to the mall but after our little march up there, I'd doubt we'd be welcome. We will just have to find somewhere else, get some food and water, and just wait this thing out."

Brett couldn't believe what he was hearing, that their leader was just going to give up. "No, we're going to the mall, I don't care if you don't come, Ethan, but we'll never survive on our own. There's safety in numbers and I'm sure they'll let us in if we give them an apology and let them come and take back the weapons, because we got no hope of getting them out of there now."

Ethan grunted, but followed the other boys on the way to the mall.