Chapter Six: Storming
Kael watched as Doctor Allan Wright bent down to the huddled creature before him. In the needle slid through the creature's skin and out came the blood. The infected, once a prominent Sergeant in the United States military, rose to his feet in a fit of rage and charged to the end of his chains. With demonic shrieks and howls the mutant pulled against the restraints trying desperately to be free and unleash hell upon those beings that had captured him. Kael stood back with eyes wide at the furious fiend before looking toward Doc who was holding a syringe of the Sergeant's blood.
"Do you really think this will help her?" Kael asked following Doc down the dank tunnels beneath the Inn.
"I've analyzed the effects beneath a microscope," Doc explained, "When I added the Sergeant's blood to the sample we took from Jessica the viruses attacked each other and eventually both were killed. This might be our only chance of bringing her back."
"And if this works," Owen Gray interjected, "The entire world may have a shot at salvation."
Kael tentatively ambled into the room where Jessica was being kept. He could hardly bear to look at her in her present state. She'd lost consciousness the night before and when she'd awakened there was little, if anything, of her mind left. Even now she struggled to free herself of her restraints and gnashed her teeth towards Doc as he approached her. Sickly green flesh had replaced the warm peach tone and healthy glow she'd once maintained. Despite this she had somehow retained those alluring steel-blue eyes though now they served as a source of revulsion and sadness for Kael. Even Owen was more than a little unnerved by the whole situation. He'd met Jessica before and knew she had done nothing to deserve such a fate.
Doc stepped up to the bedside and quickly injected Jessica with the blood from Sergeant Cameron. He stepped back watching. She seemed instantly dazed but soon enough she began writhing again, shaking and convulsing and hissing. Owen rushed in with a syringe full of sedative desperately trying to calm her down. Soon enough, despite every effort of the infection to fight fatigue, she fell asleep. Inducing sleep in a zombie was no easy task, they had learned early that morning. The infection reengineered their bodies to need almost no food or fuel of any kind and to forgo sleep in favor of constant alertness. It took quite a bit of tranquilizer to put her out, nearly three times the dose recommended, enough to kill a full grown man in a matter of seconds.
Kael walked over to her bedside with a sullen expression. He couldn't stand to see anyone like this, especially one so beautiful. To think that almost all beauty in the world had been snuffed out by this plague. There was no joy remaining. With hope all but dead within his heart he returned to his room and slumped down on the bed. In his frustration and anguish he'd neglected to sleep and despite the glaring afternoon sun burning brightly beyond his window sleep came to collect him.
Brutus stared out over the city from the roof of the Hotel. The sun was setting spectacularly and even the cynical Brutus could not deny its beauty. Human civilization might have grinded to a sudden halt but the world still spun and the sun still shone. He lifted his binoculars and scanned the rooftops searching for any signs of infected. He'd seen several earlier in the afternoon towards the start of his shift and he'd made short work of them. He left out a heavy sigh and took a few glances around to make sure he was alone before pulling out a flask of booze from within his jacket.
"You shouldn't be drinking on the job James," Malana said using his first name to get on his nerves as she entered with Private Wilhelm and Corporal Ryan just behind.
"I'm not exactly getting paid," Brutus rebutted, "Besides, do you have any idea how ball-numbingly boring this job is?"
"Boring but crucial," Corporal Ryan pointed out.
"So what do you think Brutus?" Malana asked, "How much longer should we stay in Gettysburg?"
"I worry for the kid Mal," Brutus admitted taking another swig from his flask, "He's gonna be in bad head space if we don't pull out of here soon."
"But what if the Doc can save Jessica?" Private Wilhelm asked but the looks of the others cut down his optimistic attitude. Even the oft optimistic Malana looked unsure that Doc had a snowball's chance in hell of actually creating a cure.
"We've heard rumors," Corporal Ryan said after a long period of silence, "They're supposed to be a stronghold down in Virginia."
"Stronghold? Military, government, civilian?" Brutus asked offering the man a drink.
"Government supposedly put tunnels in under Washington DC," the Corporal answered taking a sip from the flask before passing it to Malana, "They lead to a place called Haven, supposed to be some underground city for VIPs and shit."
"We could all head there," Malana said offering some to Private Wilhelm who waved the flask away, "If we can get enough fuel."
"Maybe," Corporal Ryan said looking towards dark clouds forming in the sky, "Maybe. Storm's coming. We'll get you a raincoat."
"Thanks," Brutus said realizing his flask was now empty, "But what I could really use is some more to drink."
"What the hell is that?" Private Wilhelm asked pointing towards a distant roof.
"What?" Brutus asked lifting his binoculars, "Shit, he's right."
They watched from a distance as the strange infected crawled quickly from rooftop to rooftop. Its method of motion seemed wholly unnatural to them. Only Brutus could see it in all its true horror. Sickly spider like legs that seemed almost sharpened into sickles stretched out in front of it. It leapt from roof to roof and scurried up and down walls like an insect. Brutus lifted the M39 but the speed-demon infected was too quick for him to get a good shot on it. He squeezed off a round anyway hoping to frighten the beast. It appeared effective as the creature crawled out of sight and wasn't eager to reemerge.
"Looks like it'll be an interesting night after all," Malana said patting him on the shoulder, "Good luck."
Kael sat beside what was left of Jessica and struggled with the feelings within him. Part of him wanted to let her go, to let her die, to end her life and put her out of her misery. Each time she opened her eyes, each time those steel-blue beauties locked inside that sickly skull looked at him, he felt as if part of her was still alive. She seemed calmer whenever he was around as if she still clung to some small measure of memory from her life amongst the living. He felt so torn by the entire ordeal. He hated himself for being so connected to her. They'd only known each other for two days, after all, hardly long enough to fall in love or even build a connection.
He let out a helpless sigh. In truth he could do nothing to save her, although Doc had borrowed some of his antibodies in an early attempt to help Jessica fight off the virus. It'd been too late and now he was relegated to watching a woman he cared about turn into a ravenous monster that cared about nothing.
Kael looked up. She'd been sedated and had been sleeping since the injection earlier. Now she stirred. Kael thought for a moment that she recognized him when her eyes opened but soon her lips spread apart and she hissed in his direction. He leapt up away from her as she began to scream and writhe. He'd seen her get violent before but this was something different. She seemed wracked with pain. She squirmed in agony and howled deafeningly. Kael called out as loud he could for Doc to enter the room.
Soon enough Doc and Owen rushed down the stairs and tried to prepare a shot of tranquilizer to put her under once more. Kael's eyes went wide with horror when he saw what was happening to her. Her neck twisted and snapped sickeningly extending to grow longer right before his eyes. Her teeth which had once been pearly white now were sharp gray spikes set within her jaws. She let out a horrible high-pitched squeal as her belly became bulbous and distended and her jaw seemed torn apart by the unnatural elongation of her spine. Blood rushed from her mouth like a fountain of gore as her jaw snapped. Her arms and legs too seemed to grow longer until spindly and grotesque. She struggled with the restraints on the gurney desperately trying to get free as all in the room watched with mute terror.
Doc snapped from his stationary status and jabbed her with tranquilizer but she continued her horrid screaming. Another jab, this time from the Medic, managed to put her under. The three of them stepped back unable to speak about the gravity and horror of what had just transpired before them. Kael was deep in shock. He collapsed into his seat and just stared out into space. Doc thought to tend to the boy and try to salvage his psyche but no words entered his mind that could have offered Kael any hope. Doc felt a surge of helpless frustration swell within him as he looked upon the mutated monster who had only a day ago been a beautiful young woman. Sickened and saddened he sat at his desk.
Kael sprung to life a moment later grabbing a nearby medical beaker and tossing it at the wall in a fit of rage. He looked to Jessica, her steel blue eyes now sickly white with beady pupils. He felt tears welling within his own eyes as he dashed from the basement stopping only to grab his baseball bat. Out into the night he ran, out into the rain. Darkness swirled around him, darkness like that which dwelled within his mind, as sprinted down the street. He wanted to run away from the Hell the world had become. Part of him wanted to die and part of him wanted to take as many infected as he could with him. Not because he hated them but because he pitied them, he saw them for what they were. Human. Human beings locked in living death. He took his bat and swatted at the first few that came his way. With flashes of lightning illuminating his path he dashed down the road. He could hear voices calling after him but he didn't care, he was consumed in sadness and rage. Then, suddenly, he stopped. He wasn't sure why he'd stopped but the answer soon became clear as the next flash of lightning revealed the strange web-like strands that spanned the distance from one side of the street to the next.
He struggled to break free but it was a futile endeavor unsure of what manner of trap this was. Another lightning flash clued him in as the infected manufacturer of the trap revealed himself. Crawling onto the web with six spider-like legs the strange infected neared its prey. Something happened then, there was a loud crack that seemed to accompany a clap of thunder and Kael's arm was free. Another crack came and with it another flash of thunder. Kael realized that each flash of lightning was illuminating the web allowing a shooter atop the roof of the Inn to free on of his limbs. The infected, however, was nearly upon him and with lightning flashes few and far between Kael wondered if he would be freed in time.
Owen Gray felt like a failure. Doc had rushed towards the roof hoping to inform Brutus of Kael's actions and left him alone with his thoughts. He examined Jessica fairly sure that there was nothing they could do for her now. Despite their best efforts it seemed the infection had survived. In fact it seemed as if one side of the infection had one over another rather than the duel annihilation they'd been looking for. Not only was their little hope for Jessica and the Sergeant but their failure didn't bode well for the rest of the world either.
Suddenly Jessica began to stir. Owen shook his head in disbelief as her eyes opened and closed and she awakened. She'd had two syringes full of tranquilizer, enough to kill several men, yet she was already awakening. He reached for a nearby weapon, a surgical knife on a table and readied another dose of tranquilizer. He walked towards the table. She hissed and heaved and tried to break free. Finally she took in a deep breath. Owen watched as green bile erupted from her mouth. It hit him head on. His skin felt like it was on fire as the acidic spit melted through his flesh. Skin sloughed off in chunks as he writhed on the floor. He tried to get away from the puddle of spit that had collected beneath him but with his eyes all but singed from their sockets he found escape impossible. Darkness took his eyes and death soon took his life.
The sickly Spitter took in another breath and spit just enough acid to burn the shackles on the bed. She rose from the gurney and looked toward the stares but not before the sound of a fellow infected entered her ears. She turned down the tunnel scurrying toward the sound of a friend in need of her particular talents.
Kael was out of the web but the infected was right behind him as he sprinted back toward the Hotel. Malana was outside now along with Doc and a few of the soldiers. They were more preoccupied with keeping the entrance clear of common infected then with assisting him with his speedy spider pursuer. The crawler was faster than he was though and he soon found himself face down on the pavement with a sharp point against his back, the tip of one of the creature's mantis like limbs. It growled softly as it pulled back its other limb to end his life. Kael heard the sound of gunfire and the shriek of the spider. He wasted no time leaping to his feet to spin on the wounded zombie with his baseball bat. With a flash of lightning to guide him he took aim and exploded the skull of the infected. With several bullet holes in its body and a caved in head the infected collapsed to the road beneath.
Kael wasn't safe yet, he soon realized as a powerful burst of bile covered him. Now it was both dark and he was blinded by Boomer bile. The shriek of an incoming horde sent him scurrying toward Malana's insistent voice as she called to him.
Malana grabbed the kid by the collar and tossed him behind her making sure she got up her M4 before the horde came in. With only darkened shadows as targets she struggled to pick off the zombies as they came in. Luckily Corporal Ryan and his MG36 machine gun were right beside her. His eyes were sharper than hers, his fighting skills honed to the edge of human ability as he opened fire on the coming crowd. Muzzle flashes made aiming a bit easier in the shadowy street as infected scurried over cars and bum-rushed the hotel.
"You okay?" Doc asked trying to clean Kael off, "That was a dumb thing to do."
"There's no time for life lessons," Malana yelled, "Give the kid a gun."
"She would have wanted you to have this," Doc said handing him the MP9 that had belonged to Jessica, "She would have wanted us to survive."
Kael let a smile dwell on his lips for a few seconds before grabbing the gun and opening fire. Doc got out his M1A which he'd managed to find a night-vision scope for. Still aiming in the rain was no easy task and he had to pick his shots carefully as more soldiers emerged from the Hotel hoping to help. Despite still being sore from his encounter with the Witch he was determined to help defend the Hotel. The night was alive with infected pouring in from all sides even long after the Boomer bile had washed away.
Brutus watched the scene but had to remember to keep his eyes on the rooftops as well incase any special infected made an attempt on their lives. He almost leapt from his skin when he heard the door to the roof open behind him. He thought he might turn to see Private Wilhelm offering him assistance. Instead he saw the spindly limbed monster that Jessica had become. He didn't recognize her in the least but he understood she was dangerous especially when spit leapt from her throat. He shielded himself with his gun and threw his jacket to the ground trying to get away as the corrosive acid ate through the jacket, the gun and nearly ate away the roof. He pulled out his Spas-15 and took aim but the creature rushed for him now. The two stood toe to toe, the Spitter grabbing for him. He managed to over power it pushing it toward the edge of the roof before kicking it off.
Kael saw the body fall on the pavement near where he stood. A flash of thunder identified the corpse. At first he thought to go to her, to mourn her, but he realized now that she was long gone. With rage equal to that of the thunderous storm he grabbed his baseball bat and attacked the nearest infected. Doc went with him this time trying to keep him safe from both friendly fire and the infected that clamored towards them from all sides. Kael crunched the bat into the ribs of the first infected before reversing to crack open the skull of the next. Several more stepped up nearly in a straight line shoulder to shoulder, with one fell swoop, shoulder to shoulder, headless bodies fell. Doc's jaw dropped. He knew the kid was pretty good with the bat but something like what he'd just witnessed seemed to defy medical possibility.
Doc had more serious things to worry about as a leaping Hunter soared over head landing on a nearby soldier. Doc knelt with his rifle and put two rounds into the Hunter's skull hearing it yelp as its body flew from atop the pinned soldier. Another Hunter leapt in. This one was intent on disguising itself as a common infected. It rushed in and delivered a nasty scratch to one of the soldiers before Corporal Ryan put a bullet to its brain. Luckily the horde seemed to be thinning and soon enough the street seemed silent with no infected in sight.
"Looks like we made it," Private Gutierrez remarked tying off a makeshift tourniquet to stem the flow of blood.
"We made an awful lot of noise," Corporal Ryan warned, "And they're always riled up when it rains."
"We better get inside!" Malana said calling to Kael and Doc who were some distance away now.
The two of them turned back toward the Hotel and Kael turned to shake Doc's hand. Despite the Hell that the last day and a half had been this bit of zombie killing had served as a Catharsis. Even though Doc had failed Kael felt indebted to the man for trying. They ambled back toward the others. Kael stopped in his tracks for a moment forcing Doc to stop and turn toward him.
"Don't start this," Doc said, "We need to get back."
"You don't hear that?" Kael asked quietly, "Sounds almost like a rumbling..."
"We're in the middle of a thunderstorm," Doc pointed out, "Now let's get the hell out of-"
Doc's eyes went impossibly wide when he saw the massive shape careening toward them. He leapt forward toward Kael and pulled the kid from his feet to the asphalt below as the car just narrowly passed overhead and crashed in a twisted wreck just in front of them. The pounding of knuckles on the ground was unmistakable now. All watched incredulously as a Tank bashed cars out of the way on his way down the street. His unmistakable growl seemed to compliment the crashing thunder as he stormed toward them.
"It can't be," Kael said looking to Doc. Doc's expression mirrored his sentiment perfectly, "We fucking killed that thing."
"Maybe it's a different one," Doc said getting to his feet and beginning to move backward, "I'd rather not stick around to find out."
"TANK!" The call went up across the street and was carried into the Hotel, "TANK!"
Everyone within the Inn that could carry a weapon was given one and told to stay vigilant while those outside would try to defeat the titanic Tank. Doc and Kael were firing off rounds as quickly as they could but the Tank was nearest to them forcing them to split up. Kael rushed into a house across the street while Doc hid in a nearby store with the front window broken out. Luckily in the darkness the Tank's eyesight was fairly poor and the plan worked leaving the Tank frustrated that it had lost track of its prey. Its frustration only doubled when a sniper round buried into its upper body. Blood trickled from the wound in its right arm as another such bullet tore into its head. To Brutus's horror even a headshot from his M39 didn't bring the beast down. The Tank lifted a car over his head and hurled it up toward the rooftop. Brutus scurried toward the door feeling the thud when the car impacted the front of the hotel just below the roof. He rushed to the edge to see the car lodged in one of the hotel windows.
Malana and Corporal Ryan and the others opened fire now and even Doc and Kael emerged behind the Tank firing on him with their final magazines worth of ammunition. Brutus rushed down stairs into the Hotel kitchen realizing that bullets might now be enough. He managed to find several magazine of incendiary ammo and several bottles of spirits which he blended with gasoline and quickly poured them into a large bucket. He lugged his massive Molotov up to the roof and waited for the Tank to lumber beneath him. He poured it onto the Tank and lifted his M39 chambering a single incendiary round and firing it on the Tank. Suddenly immolated the angered Tank began to lash out with its massive arms forcing those below to stay out of range of the enraged behemoth. One blow broke open the front door of the Hotel another punched a hole through one of the walls and yet another left a nearby car decimated. Eventually the alcohol and gasoline burnt off but by this time so many rounds had been pumped into the Tank that it could barely stay standing. With one last growl and a failed attempt at tossing another car the Tank collapsed dead on the pavement.
"I can't believe nobody died," Private Gutierrez remarked, he took those words back however as an infected charged from the Hotel and grabbed hold of him and began pounding him into the pavement. His spine cracked and he began to lose consciousness quickly as his former Commanding Officer pummeled him to a pulp. Malana managed to kill the creature with her M4 but it was too late, the injured Private died a few moments later.
There was no time to mourn him however, the death cry of the Tank had attracted new zombies and common infected began to pour from every crevice around them once more. To make matters worse the encounter with the tank had punched several holes in the Hotel and it would take a Herculean effort to keep the infected out.
"We need to get out of here," Malana remarked to the Corporal.
"You need to get out of here," Corporal Ryan corrected, "My men and I will stay here... I need you to get the civilians out of here. We've done our best protecting them. Get them to the APC, it's just been fueled today, get out of here and get them some place that's actually safe."
"I can't just leave you," Malana said, "You can come with us!"
Malana thought for a moment they would reconsider but the sound of infected shrieking was soon accompanied by the sound of roaring and pounding knuckles as a second Tank approached the Hotel.
"Go," Corporal Ryan commanded, "Private Wilhelm will drive you, he knows how to handle the APC."
"But sir," Charlie complained, "I'd rather stay here with you."
"Goddamn it Private," Corporal Ryan yelled, "That's an order, you get your ass out of here."
"Fuck Mal, let's just go," Brutus said appearing next to them, "Just because these guys are suicidal doesn't mean we should be."
Malana disagreed with him completely but with the Tank barreling down on them there was little time for debate. She rushed into the Hotel gathering up the civilians. Some decided to stay but those with families agreed to flee. While Malana tended to the people Brutus grabbed as much ammunition and supplies as he could. They rushed toward the APC which was parked in the back of the hotel taking out infected as they went and trying to keep the civilians clear as they piled into the cramped vehicle and prepared to roll out. Private Wilhelm did his best to maneuver the bulky vehicle out of harms way and Malana took over the mini-gun.
Doc looked back toward the Hotel as they drove out of there. He'd been given a second chance, a golden opportunity to save the world and find a cure. He'd failed. He began to wonder if there was any way to set it right or if survival was the best they could hope for.