Codename Nightmare
Chapter Seven
The moans filled the city as the large hoards of undead walked along the streets; they sought out fresh blood from any survivors hiding away from the monsters that now walked the streets.
These streets were once filled of the townspeople following their daily schedules to and from their homes or workplaces all wearing happy faces, with only personal problems clouding their sunny blue skies. Most did not realize what was happening on the other side of their clear beautiful lake.
Now, the lake is black, full of ash and wasted water used to try and fight against the raging fire of the now burnt out factory. Meanwhile, the toxins spread throughout the town infecting anything it can sink into.
Howls filled the air along with the moans, the dogs stalking the streets hunting for any sort of flesh and meat to satisfy their constant hunger.
Other monsters were out there, hungry like the zombies after fresh flesh from anything they could sink their teeth into as the team from International Rescue are about to find out. They have to search for any survivors while trying to survive the horrors themselves.
The croaking filled the waterways and edges of the lake altering the atmosphere around there alerting the monsters and any survivors that a new threat loomed in the area. What the threat was no one knew or was around to tell if they could speak.
A new threat has appeared in front of the young men of International Rescue making their lives on the edge in a whole new way. Will they get out of here alive? Only time will tell!
This town, once beautiful, had become a world of survival horror where anything could eat anything or anyone…
The monster hissed as it continued to whip its tongue around the air, smelling the people around the church. The church's occupants froze in fear and horror as the monster walked towards them, its nails scratching at the stone floors. Its long tongue continued to wave around making its breath sound like a hiss.
"We've got to get out of here now!" Scott breathed, bringing his gun out slowly aiming it at what he guessed what was the monster's head.
The monster reminded him of a human that had been turned inside out. It had exposed red raw skin and muscles along its arms and legs, which were bent out to let it walk along the floor or along the wall. Its claws were long, sharp and curved around ready to slash at anything it could reach.
"How about that bomb? This shotgun will do some damage, but I don't know how long we can hold them off." Graham whispered, keeping his shotgun ready to fire at the monster in front of them.
John had frozen up at seeing the monster walking towards them, and Gordon had to pull him to safety.
Virgil had moved from the doorway to help protect them and the other survivors, "Scott, it's our only shot! I don't like the idea of trying to get through those!" He said, hoping that the bomb would work letting them get out of the room.
Jill held onto the young boy, both looking at the monster, each of them as pale as John. "Please, we have to get out here!" She whispered in a higher pitch of her voice.
"It's ok, Jill, we'll get out of here! I still got that promise to keep, remember?" Graham said stepping back as the monster moved forward.
Scott worked on setting the bomb to go off in ten seconds, before running across the room and taking cover with the others. The bomb exploded, filling the room with dust and rubble making a large hole in the corner of the room.
"Come on, while they're confused!" Graham said, looking for the monsters but they were confused from the blast.
Locking his shotgun back on safety, he helped Jill out of the room.
Scott ran over to give Virgil a hand to move John out of the room, and heard the monster move closer to them. "Get him out of here!" He ordered his brother, grabbing his handgun and aimed it at the monster firing at it.
The monster screamed in pain as the shot ricocheted off its shoulder before launching itself at Scott, its claws out to slash him. "Scott! Come on!" Virgil called, giving John to Gordon.
"Get going! Meet you at the boathouse." Scott ordered, firing his gun again once he had a clear view of the monster's head. It screamed in pain and slashed out, barely missing Scott's flesh, but tore through the tight uniform causing a yelp of shock and pain from the Tracy brother.
A loud shot from behind him followed closely by a loud yelp of pain from the monster, "Come on!" A voice called through the dust, pulling Scott through the hole.
"Let's get out of here now." Virgil said, using his lighter to light four of the bombs then threw them into the hole before signalling to the others, to move away from the church.
An hour later
"What were they anyway?" Virgil asked as they locked the door to the streets, and settled down on the bags of sand in the corner of the small boathouse.
"I'm not sure; it's one of the monsters that came from that factory." Graham explained with a sigh, reloading his shotgun then locked it back up in place. "During the fire, an explosion rocked the whole area and soon after the monsters started appearing." He carried on, leaning back and allowing Jill to lean against him.
Scott looked up from where Gordon was helping him bandage up the light scratch he had received during the fight against the monster. "Sounds like there might be something under that factory, we'll have to go and find out." He said as he pulled his shirt back down slowly.
"What about John? What can we do to help him?" Gordon asked, looking at their brother who was sunk down low staring into the far off distance.
Virgil shuffled over and laid a hand on his shoulder, earning a slight wince from the blonde Tracy. "Johnny, come on have this." He said, pressing one of the fruit bars into John's hand from his pack.
"We have to snap him out of this, but he's been through so much lately," Scott spoke softly with a sigh seeing John respond to Virgil's trial at giving him something to eat.
"I know we all have and to have this happen to us… it's just too much for us to bear." Gordon spoke, just as softly.
"I remember something from a few months ago, wasn't there an incident in London involving International Rescue?" Jill asked, her eyes open as she continued to lean against Graham.
Scott sighed and looked over to Virgil, who nodded before watching over their brother retrieve a bottle of water out of the rucksack for John. "It's true… we did have a bit of an incident with the Hood." He said remembering how they had got to London in time to get the rescue sorted out. Their youngest brother had rescued the monorail from the river, leaving them to clean up and help the passengers off from the carriage.
"There are still a few things that we are sorting out, like the world press… but we have to think about how to change our systems around to stop it happening ever again." Virgil continued as he opened the bottle of water, and handed it to John who took it with a shaky hand.
"I see that there is more there than what you are willing to say but I can understand if you want to keep things quiet, keep it out of the press," Graham spoke softly, lowering his voice in hearing the boat house creak in the wind.
"You're right, Graham, but right now we need to figure out how to get out of here and back to the Thunderbirds." Scott spoke softly with a sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "But we're all exhausted so I think we better rest for a while before moving out." He spoke again noticing that John was eating slowly under the watchful eye of Virgil.
Gordon rummaged around in John's rucksack and pulled out the laptop, "We need to find another way there though… as the way we came is completely cut off." He said booting up the laptop and seeing the map pull up instantly.
"Cut off? By what?" Virgil asked looking up at his brothers, wondering what Gordon was talking about. He soon rummaged into his own rucksack and pulled out the thermal blanket that each pack contained before covering John with it.
"I'm not sure what caused it, but there is a large trench cutting off half of the town" Scott said moving closer to Gordon to look over his shoulder. "So we need another way out, could we try the sewer system?" He asked wondering how deep the sewers were, hoping that they were under the large trench.
"I'm not sure, I can't read this map." Gordon muttered before cursing under his breath, looking up at John. "John, can you try and read this? We need to get out of here. We need to get back home." He said, moving closer to John with the laptop open.
"H-home." John croaked quietly looking up at Gordon, who smiled softly.
"That's right, home… back to the base." Gordon said softly and offered John the laptop.
That's not my home… John thought to himself taking the laptop and worked on the map, pushing all other thought out of his mind. "I think I can get the sewer records but we still have to look around the factory." He said with no emotion in his voice.
Scott and Virgil looked at each other, concern shining in their eyes. They crawled close together and talked in low voices as John continued to work on the laptop. "I think there is something wrong with John, something bad!" Scott whispered looking at John talking to Gordon.
"Like how Graham and Jill have been giving John the same looks they have been giving you?" Virgil whispered, looking over at the small group of survivors, who were currently eating their own supplies they had found.
Scott glanced back at the two people before looking back at Virgil, "I have noticed that… I didn't realize that John's not ready to come back to the field!" He said before rubbing the tiredness from his eyes and resisted the urge to scratch the bandaged area.
"Well, there is nothing we can do at the moment as we are all tired" Virgil said, before covering a yawn.
"Just try and get some sleep and we will see what will happen once we're feeling better." Virgil said, pushing away from his brother and getting up onto his feet with a sigh.
Scott sighed, "You're right." He muttered wiggling to get comfortable before falling asleep against the sacks hoping that when he did wake up, then things would look better for them.
Virgil sighed and took his handgun out, checking it over and then he reloaded the clip while leaning against the side of the boathouse. "Are you prepared to use that?" A voice asked quietly from near him.
"If I have to, but only against those monsters outside… what aren't you telling us?" Virgil asked, replacing the gun back in its holster before crossing his arms tightly against his chest.
Graham sighed and leaned against the wall too, "There used to be more than three of us… but we lost them to the monsters out there, not to death but to their kind." He spoke quietly so not to disturb anyone as Gordon fell asleep against John, who continued to work feverishly at the laptop.
"To their kind, what do you mean, Graham?" Virgil asked glancing at the survivor before looking back at John, who had stopped briefly for a drink.
John soon returned to his laptop, working like he needed to stay awake.
"I mean that they're infectious, one small bite… one small scratch helps to spread the infection into that person." Graham answered in the same quiet voice. "I'm sorry, I should have told you earlier… and two of your team are showing early signs of infection." He continued looking at the team in the room, hoping that they would find a way to stop their infected team members turning into the monsters that roamed the streets.
"What?" Virgil gasped and looked at his brothers. "There has to be a cure!" He said, clenching his hands into fists, tightening his arms closer to his chest.
"There's a laboratory hidden underneath the factory. That is where the fire started!" John announced from his place at the laptop before coughing harshly.
"We're running out of time… if it is like what happened the last time this happened." Graham said with a sigh and moved back to the other survivors, to get something to eat.
Virgil inwardly sighed and silently prayed for his brothers' safety hoping that they would all get out of this town, out of this situation in one piece.
To be continued…