One after another
Chapter 5
Scott Delanie
Scott yawned as the night shift dragged on. He was working overtime, doing back to back shifts to save up for his own house. At 20, it wasn't unusual for most youngsters to still be living with their parents. He needed the space however, constantly being nagged to do something with his life, being pressured to find someone and start a family of his own. He knew his mother wanted him to be just like his older brother. She wanted him to join the police like his brother. That was the problem; he and his brother were two totally different people. His brother was talented and smart, he was the total opposite. Whilst his brother studied and revised for his exams, he went out with friends, got drunk and threw his life away before reality had chance to hit him. Now he was stuck in a dead end job, going nowhere in life, and full of regrets.
Scott sighed and looked at the clock. 2:40 Am. He still had another 8 hours of his shift to go. That's when he noticed the three figures walking towards the shop. He knew they were trouble the moment they stepped through the doors into his shop.
Wearing hoodies with their hoods up and wielding metal bars, they slowly stepped through the doors. The first one began checking the isles, looking for anybody else in the shop. The other two walked up to the counter, armed with their weapons.
"Get the money out of the till and put it in the bag. No funny business or you're a dead man. Do you have a car?" The older one said. The other member returned from checking the isles, and the man dismissed them both to grab some supplies off the shelves.
"I- I- I don't know, I mean yes I have a car." Scott nervously replied. This was his first robbery, and this wasn't something they prepared you for on your induction day.
"Well? Where the fuck is it? You think we're going to walk with all this stuff?" He waved a gun at Scott, and then laughed to himself.
"Erm it's parked around the back, behind the rear doors." Scott continued to put the money in the bag until the till was empty.
"Hand over the keys, and unlock the back door. Don't try anything mate or I'll put a bullet through your head. Dipshits! We're leaving so get everything we need and come to the car that this man has so generously offered to give us." This got a small chuckle from the other two who were now busy grabbing the baskets of goods that they had stole.
Scott walked from behind the counter, the gun following him through the process. He opened the staff only door, passed the lounge and towards the rear exit.
"Open it." The gunman ordered.
He fumbled in his pockets for the keys to the door, eventually finding them after discarding many empty chewing gum packets that had filled his pockets. The man with the gun ordered him to open the door, waving the gun towards the door to emphasise his point.
"You'll never get away with this you know. The police will catch you then you will get what you deserve."
"You really believe that? Have you seen the news lately? The USA is under martial law, England has deployed its own military against its own citizens! France has collapsed the Channel tunnel, isolating England from the rest of Europe. The Mexican cartel has seized the borders between them and the USA, the US border control being diverted to affected areas. Shits bad, and how long do you expect Australia to be safe for? I'm doing what everyone else should be doing, getting enough supplies to last for a few months and heading up to the mountains. If I was you, I would be doing the same. But you go ahead and believe that the police will come and save the day, just see where it gets you. Now open the door."
Scott sat their dumbstruck. He hadn't even bothered to watch the news recently, too busy catching up on his lost sleep to care about anything. He didn't want to believe this man, yet felt compelled to believe his every word. Doubt crossed his mind, but was quickly replaced with confidence in the man before him, the same man that just a few minutes ago had pointed a gun towards him and threatened to kill him. The man tapped his foot impatiently, an irritated look on his face.
"Come on, we don't have all day."
Scott placed the key in the lock and turned the key, a short click telling him that the door was unlocked. He opened it and stepped out into the cool night air. The breeze brushed past, sending shivers down his body. It howled angrily at the group as it whisked past them, drifting off into the night. Crickets chirped in the undergrowth of the outlaying fields, and the plants swayed in unison with one another, like waves crashing up against the beach. He pointed towards his car, the only car in the car park.
"Fuck man, how the hell did you afford a car like that?" One of the people asked him.
"Parents bought it for my 19th birthday." They all then stared at the Audi A4 in awe as it sat in the car park, looking slightly out of place amongst the other cars. They both forced him into the drivers seat, guns aimed at his head. They climbed in the back with the bags of money. Scott chuckled at the irony that both men were putting their seatbelts on, even though they were breaking a few laws now. Scott wondered if he was going to get out of this alive. The men would probably kill him when they got the first chance, or until at least he had took them to where they want to go. He didn't want to think of the other option. If the men were correct, then he would likely be eaten alive by these crazy rioters. One of the man tapped him on the shoulder, telling him to head to the local airport. They said to stop a few miles away, and they would let him out and take the car to the airport.
He started the car, and drove down the deserted road. He didn't pass a single car heading in his direction, and it put him off a little. A few cars littered the side of the road, doors hanging open and swaying in the breeze. He thought for a moment about the whereabouts of the owners, but then decided that he didn't want to know. He carried on driving down the long and winding motorway, still surprised at the lack of cars. An hour had passed until he finally saw the first set of taillights in the night. His mouth dropped in awe as he saw the lights stretch on for miles. The two robbers in the back shuffled uncomfortably as they looked onwards through the windows. The man whispered to his partner. Shortly afterwards, the man that had whispered pulled out the gun again, pointing it at his head.
"Okay, this is a problem. Pull to the side and we'll have to walk. One false move and you won't see tomorrow morning."
Scott nodded his approval and tried to reverse his car. A car coming up behind him obviously wasn't paying attention and slammed straight into the back of him. The car shook on impact, then settled down as it skidded into the car in front. Seeing a quick opportunity, Scott jumped out of his car, following the line of cars on the road.
The man jumped out of the backseat, closely followed by his partner. They went to the car behind and upon seeing the interior covered in blood, decided to leave it. As they fled the scene, the bushes to the right of the motorway rustled, and soon figured pounced on the meals waiting inside the cars. Scott heard the screams and continued to run. He heard gunshots as the men behind him fired on a small group enclosing around them. Staying still for too long, and the undead numbers rising as previous owners climbed out of cars, they were quickly trapped. The undead were on them in seconds, tearing them to pieces. Scott carried on running, the tapping of his feet drowning out their screams. He ran past a policeman, who was directing the fleeing crowd to carry on down the road. He pulled out his service weapon and fired into the crowd, taking down a couple of the infected. The rest just kept on moving towards him, the police officer having to step back after some unlucky civilians mistook the crowd for other survivors and mingled in amongst the crowd. The infected ravaged them, and Scott and the police officer ran whilst they were momentarily distracted by their meal. They followed the crowd of running people, until they heard further screams up ahead. Everything fell into chaos. Those at the front of the crowd turned to run away from what was ahead, and ended up crashing into those running behind them, falling over in a heap of bodies. When most of the crowd was on the floor, Scott could see what they were running from. A large crowd of infected were tearing through the ranks of the living, dragging them back into the crowd and eating them. The pops of firearms could be heard up ahead, but they were quickly cut short as the owners succumbed to the undead.
The policeman turned back and ran, but ran straight into the crowd behind them that had now caught up with them. He vanished into the crowd, only a single pop from his service weapon was heard. Scott had nowhere to go, he was completely surrounded, and most of the cars had terrified owners in them with locked doors. Some tried to run him over in their attempts to escape, but it was too late for them all. They reversed into other cars, into the central divide and into the crowds of the dead, where the wheels would get stuck on the bodies. The windows would get smashed; then undead hands would reach in a drag them out through the windows. Scott desperately searched for a way out of the situation that he was in. He grabbed a piece of glass off the road, his panicked state making him try anything, no matter how futile it actually was. He swiped at the first one, a deep gash forming on the cheek as the shard sliced through the flesh. The flesh hung loosely as the thing kept advancing on him, causing Scott to back up. The screams behind him had become quieter now, and there were fewer of them too, he noticed. This time, he stabbed the shard of glass into the stomach of the infected, hoping that the man would go down. He had realised his mistake all too late. These were undead, which meant that they would only go down if you incapacitated the brain. He cried out in agony as the man sank his teeth into his neck. He could see the blood coating the road, flowing down it like a river. There was a lot of blood gently flowing down the street, and anyone further down would have a nasty surprise if they followed the stream.
He was dragged down into the crowd, screaming and kicking furiously but to no avail.
A few hours later, a lone pickup truck drives past the scene, surveying the carnage. Three men sit in the back, heavily armed with M4 Carbines. They wear black uniforms, with a snake with an arrow in its mouth patched onto their bulletproof vests. They stop the truck, and the men in the bed disembark from the vehicle. They walk around the bodies, kicking the policemans body over then giving a disappointed sigh when they see the bullet hole in the mans forehead. Scott wakes up, sitting up and looking around. He notices the men and a primal growl sounds from his mouth. He stands up, alerting the men and more undead that were in the area. Some bodies start to rise from the road, and walk towards the men. The group don't seem phased by the threat, but instead run to the truck and grab a strange looking weapon. They fire it at Scott, and a net soon surrounds his body then slowly tightens so that he cannot move. They do the same to another man, before the others with the assault rifles open up on the crowd. They soon finish up any stragglers and grab the two nets, throwing a bag over the head of the infected. One man keys his radio once, and a black van drives down the motorway. Men in biohazard suits step out of the van, throwing the undead into the back. The van drives away back up the motorway, and out of sight.
The man with the labcoat climbs back into the pickup, turning towards the three men with him.
"Good job, now we can see if we can get a cure for this thing. We go back to base, do our tests on these ones too. Hopefully it will turn out better than the last ones."
The other three men nodded, then climbed into the back. The man in the labcoat banged his fist on the cab, telling the driver to take them back to base.
A/N- Finally another chapter! Please, your comments are always appreciated, whether your telling me how bad the chapter is or just commenting on the events, it all helps people!