Bloodshed (Book One in the Apocalypse Trilogy)

Chapter 22: Loss

Location: Perth

Cal

It was probably the explosion that made Cal drop the crate of food.

He and his team were carrying the contents of a supermarket into the van, when the ground shook.

“What the hell…?” muttered Craig.

Gunshots joined the explosion.

“Should we check it out?” Cal asked.

Craig pulled out his radio and asked on all frequencies. One replied.

“It’s the zombies; they’re grouping up to attack. The military left to get rid of them.”

Craig looked around the group. “Anyone want to kick some zombie ass?”

“Hell yeah!” said Daniel.

“Count me in,” said Cal.

They got into the van and drove towards the gunshots.  It wasn’t long before they came to the edge of the city.

The sight that met their eyes was not good. The biggest group of zombies Cal had ever seen was swarming a collection of vans and a tank.

“I hate to say this, but… we can’t help a lot with this. There’re too many,” said Craig solemnly.    

“We have to try!” argued Cal.

“Hey, if you wanna go out there, be my guest. We ain’t goin’ with ya.”

Wordlessly, Cal got into the back of the vehicle. When he returned, he was carrying a G36K assault rifle, and a belt of grenades.

“You’re one crazy dude,” said Daniel. He saluted Cal before getting into the van. Craig followed, and they drove away.

Cal slid a magazine into the gun, and started towards the fight.

He remembered the whole thing in a kind of slow-motion. The gun boomed as the bullets flew out, the shells erupting out of the side.

Cal fought his way to the tank, where people were climbing onto the roof. Among them he saw the American that ran the Bunker.

“Where did they all come from?” Cal yelled, as he struggled onto the tank.

“No idea! But there’s a hell of a lot more than we saw on the radar.”

Cal emptied his handguns into the horde. Pulling out his machete, he slashed at the zombies crawling onto the tank.

Between the shrieks, moans, screams and booms of the battle, he somehow heard one voice above the racket. He looked up to see Sarah standing on a van, shooting the creatures down with an UZI. Her rifle was missing, her uniform torn and bloodstained.

She met his eyes, and he jumped off the tank, fighting his way to her.

“Winters! What the hell are you doing!?” yelled the American. Cal glanced back, and saw the tank explode. The shockwave sent him flying, and a small explosion sent pieces of the vehicle in every direction.

He stumbled around, his vision blurred. A thundering beat rang in his ears. When his sight returned, Sarah was gone. Panicking, he looked around.

There she was, at the edge of the battle. About ten zombies were dragging her away, as she struggled and kicked. He tried to fight his way to her, but more zombies blocked his path, as if they knew he wanted to save her. He cut at them, trying to get through.

Were they more than just monsters? Did they actually think? Why would they take Sarah alive? These questions swam through his mind while he fought his way to her. 

She met his gaze when he was ten metres from her. She fought against the creatures, and reached for him. The moment before their outstretched hands touched each other, she was suddenly ripped away from him.

The zombies raced away faster than he knew was possible for them, with her in their grasp. He ran to a rusted pickup truck and got in. He sped after them, but they quickly disappeared from sight. He followed the tracks they left, leaving behind the battle and the soldiers.

He wouldn’t let her die. He couldn’t.        

***                

Williams                                                                                                                                The zombies around his prison were bending the bars inwards in their attempt to get at him. The gun was cold and strange-tasting in his mouth, ready to end it all if it came to that. More and more of them were reaching in to rip him apart, but not yet close enough to do damage.

He decided it was time. He gently applied pressure to the trigger, and closed his eyes. He didn’t want the last thing he saw to be a mob of corpses who would eat him when he was dead.

The cage stopped shaking, and the grunts of the creatures stopped. He opened an eye, and saw a blue, cloudless sky instead of zombies.

He looked to his left, and saw the horde sprinting into the desert. He expected to see some sort of big weapon behind them, but there was nothing driving them away.

He scrambled out of the ladder and recovered his Winchester from the ground under the wrecked fire escape. Around him, other people were wandering the area, gathering around the surviving vans.

He stood next to Paul as they got into the vans.

“What was that all about?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know. They had us down; they could have killed us then. They had no reason to leave.”

“It makes you wonder, if there’s anything else going on in this world,” Williams said.

“Yeah…”

The sun set as they began to drive away, hiding the zombies in the night.