Chapter 10: Francis International Airport, Liberty City (2).
"Let's get going boys!" Johnny commanded as he rode his Hexer chopper.
"Following the fucking leader," Clay said as rode behind Johnny.
Johnny and the rest of the Lost MC (Motorcycle Club), together with the Uptown Riders MC, were travelling through Bohan to Francis International Airport. About 30 bikes, made up of chopper-style bikes ridden by the Lost bikers and modern sports bike ridden by the Uptown Riders, and 8 Slamvan vans make up the convoy. One of the vans was driven by Terry along with the Lost and Uptown Rider's entire weapons arsenal. Another van, which was driven by another Lost biker, was carrying Johnny's good friend, Angus Martin, as well as Johnny's former girlfriend, Ashley Butler.
"Stay close now," Johnny ordered as the convoy approached the Dukes Bay Bridge (the bridge which connects the Bohan Borough with the Dukes Borough).
"Why are we taking such a long route to get to the airport?" Malc asked Johnny as he rode up alongside with him with his orange Double T Custom sports bike. "Why don't we just take the Algonquin Bridge?"
"You don't ever read the news, do you Malc?' Johnny replied. "That bridge is filled with those monsters. All the others are too, except for this one."
"Wow," Desean exclaimed as he rode his Black Hakuchou Custom sports bike behind Malc. "Johnny here got some real brains."
"That's my Johnny," Clay said as he rode his Diabolus bike.
As the convoy of bikes rode through Bohan, Terry raised a concern that made Johnny to think twice about the route he had planned to take his convoy through.
"Johnny," Terry called out from his Slamvan. "About that pesky toll..."
Johnny immediately understood Terry's concern about the toll booth. He's not concerned about whether he had to pay the toll to get his convoy through. He would usually just charge past the toll booth without paying. He's worried about a zombie ambush that could take place just like the one that happened at Charge Island. Reported by the news just a couple moments ago, the zombies ambushed unsuspecting victims at the toll booths as they stopped to pay the toll. He took a few seconds to think of an appropriate answer.
"Just stay close," Johnny replied with a slight tinge of fear in his voice. "If they appear around the booth, blast them with everything you got. It may not kill them, but at least it'll slow 'em down."
"I hope so, Jonathan." Terry said. "I've seen what these shitheads can do in East Hook."
As soon as they arrived at the toll booths at the end of the bridge at Dukes, the feeling of fear and nervousness intensified among the bikers in the convoy, especially in Johnny and Terry. All the bikers were perspiring as they know that today could be the last day they ride on their bikes for good. Johnny was the first to approach the booth.
From where he was, the booth seemed empty. However, looks can be deceiving. Johnny decided not to take his chances to slow down and take a look. He would charge past it.
"Rush through it!" Johnny commanded as he raced past the booth with his heavy motorcycle and broke the boom gate.
"Let's go!" Malc shouted as he followed Johnny. Johnny watched with unease as the convoy passed the booth. He expected something to go wrong.
After what seemed like an eternity, the last of the bikers were past the booth. No zombies were seen jumping out and attacking the bikers. Johnny and Malc breathed a sigh of relief.
"That went well," Johnny said to Malc.
"I don't know if it's over yet," Malc said. "I heard Steinway (where they are now) is also fucking affected."
"Let's hope we can make it through here then,"
As the convoy rode around Steinway, Johnny and Malc noticed something unusual about their surroundings. There was almost no one in sight, not even a single police officer or NOOSE agent. Abandoned cars filled the empty and quiet streets. The lights from the street lamps casted menacing shadows in the alleyways. Johnny and Malc were expecting a nasty surprise as they rode through the area.
"Keep it together," Johnny commanded as they approached a road intersection.
As the convoy approached a road intersection, an AOD convoy made up of over 50 bikers on chopper-style bikes, such as the Angel and the Wayfarer, and Gang Burrito vans also approached the same intersection from another road.
"Fuck!" Johnny exclaimed. "It's the AOD!"
"Hey!" One of the AOD bikers said upon noticing the Lost and Uptown Rider's convoy. "It's them stupid losers! Let's take 'em on!" Upon finishing his sentence, gunfire was heard.
"Take cover!" Malc ordered as he and Johnny quickly dismounted from their bikes and rushed to the back of the nearest Slamvan. A hail of bullets narrowly hit them as they took cover.
"I thought zombies here in Liberty City are bad enough," Johnny said as he inserted a magazine into his MP5 SMG. "Now, we got this bullshit to deal with."
"Stay cool, Johnny," Malc said trying to comfort him. "We'll do this together."
Terry, Clay, Desean and the rest of their convoy members immediately sprung into action. Terry swiftly opened the back door of his van, revealing a large amount of guns and explosives in his arsenal. Taking out a M4A1 carbine from the back, he returned fire.
"Take this you fucking deadbeats!" Clay said as he threw a pipe bomb towards one of the AOD's vans. The resulting deafening and bright explosion destroyed the van and killed nearby enemies.
"Yeah, baby!" Clay cheered as he watched the explosion he caused cripple the AOD. His joy was short-lived, however, when he saw more AOD bikers approaching with reinforcements.
"Is that all you got, fucking losers?" one of the AOD bikers taunted as reinforcements arrived.
"This is going to be a long fight," Terry muttered under his breath as he fired a few more rounds at the AOD bikers.
The shootout between the two convoys intensified as the minutes ticked by. Several AOD bikers threw Molotov Cocktails and one even took out a Rocket Launcher. Luckily, Johnny killed him before he could cause some serious damage. Both sides took on light causalities.
"I wish I wasn't in this crappy wheelchair," Angus said as he fired his Uzi SMG at the enemies through a window from the Slamvan he was in.
After a few minutes of shooting, faint but vicious growls was heard from a distance. Terry immediately stopped firing upon picking up the noise with his sensitive ears.
"Johnny!" Terry called out as Johnny killed another biker. "Did you hear that noise?"
"What noise?" Johnny asked, feeling confused.
The growls were heard again, but this time it was much louder and heavy footsteps could be heard.
"That!" Terry cried the moment he heard it again. A few other Lost bikers also stopped shooting upon hearing the mysterious but frightening sound. The AOD bikers seemed ignorant of the growls.
"Oh shit," Johnny said with fear in his voice. "The shooting must've alerted them."
Without hesitating, Malc immediately took action.
"Get back on your bikes!" Malc ordered as he jumped on his bike. Everyone in the convoy immediately obeyed.
"Ha! The cowards are retreating!" One of the AOD bikers cried happily. Before he could say more, the vicious growls were heard again. This time, it was become very loud and clear. It was coming from behind the AOD bikers.
"Go! Go! Go!" Johnny commanded as he threw a pipe bomb towards the AOD bikers. Nearby AOD bikers immediately dove for cover.
BOOM!
The resulting explosion did not kill any bikers as it was meant to be a distraction so the Lost and Uptown Riders bikers can safely escape. Malc and Johnny stayed behind to ensure no one in their group was left behind. As they supervised the escape, they witnessed a horrifying sight.
A very large mass of zombies, possibly a few hundred, appeared over the horizon. They were right behind the AOD bikers and were charging very quickly towards the site of the shooting.
"Oh my...," one AOD biker, who was obese and had a long white beard, said seconds before he was tackled down by a zombie. He was immediately bit in the neck. His cries for help were ignored as nearby AOD bikers hurriedly scrambled back on their bikes. A few bikers tried to fight back with their guns. Their efforts, however, were futile as the shots merely slowed them down and the bikers were swiftly bitten and killed. Johnny and Malc watched in horror as the zombies easily took down any fleeing or fighting AOD bikers and bit them.
"Oh my god," Johnny said as he observed the carnage that was unfolding right in front of him. Both Malc and Johnny were frozen on the spot as the carnage continued.
The biker that was first bitten lay dead for about ten seconds before his corpse had severe convulsions. His body soon stood up and became one of the zombies as he looked for more terrified bikers to attack. His pupils just disappeared and his skin wrinkled up in just seconds.
"Are you two just gonna fucking sit there?" Desean shouted at the two shocked men as the last of the group of bikers zoomed off onto the expressway that led to the airport. Johnny and Malc immediately regained their senses and revved their bikes.
"Let's get out of here!" Johnny cried as he rode off. Malc followed him closely.
A couple of zombies noticed the fleeing Lost bikers and attempted to follow them. Fortunately, they were unable to catch up with them.
"I didn't think that there would be this many...many...," Johnny said as he rode his Hexer.
"Zombies?" Malc helped him finish his sentence. "Man, did you see how they turned people into one of them?"
"Now's probably not the best time to talk about them," Clay interrupted. "Let's get to the airport first!"
...meanwhile...
"Are you sure this is ok?" Heston asked Huang, who was driving, as they approached the Broker Bridge in Heston's black Dukes muscle car.
"Don't worry," Huang assured Heston. "This is definitely ok."
"Didn't you hear the news? The bridge is closed and these 'things' could be waiting for us on the other side of it."
"Think about it Heston. You've just heard the news that Bohan and Dukes are now affected due to a violent shootout there. There is now no absolute safe way to the airport. The bridge closings have failed. So, all the officers at the bridge should already be dead and the 'things' you've mentioned should be in Dukes right now because of the shootout. Therefore, Broker should be the safest way to the airport now. The jet that I came into Liberty City with is waiting for us there," Huang explained.
"Since when have you become such a smart ass prick?" Heston asked sarcastically. Huang didn't answer. He just focused on the road as the car came within reach of the Broker Bridge.
As Huang drove on the bridge filled with heavily damaged police vehicles stained with blood, Heston's nervousness begins to intensify. He took out his shotgun and pulled the slide to prepare it for firing. Huang, however, remained calm as he drove on the bridge.
"I'm glad you got all the guns from my contact," Heston said. "We can never be too sure about what we're dealing with here."
"I hope your fucking contact choke on the money," Huang said with disapproval as he finally reached the end of the bridge. "It cost me an arm and a leg just to get my hands on one puny rifle."
The Hove Beach neighbourhood looked like a war zone and the atmosphere seemed very grim and solemn. Although there were no dead bodies, blood was everywhere. Several burnt out vehicles were easily seen. Wrecked police vehicles also were common eyesore around the neighbourhood. Fires have started in some of the houses. One of the houses appeared to have been destroyed completely as rubble and debris littered the area. Various types of weapons littered the streets that were probably from the LCPD and the NOOSE. Huang frowned upon noticing the weapons on the streets.
"Damn!" he said. "Had I known there would be free guns here, I wouldn't need to buy these useless and expensive guns from your stupid contact."
"Easy, Huang," Heston said. "My contact sells the best quality guns in all of Liberty City. Besides, it would be dangerous to just get out of this car to pick up these weapons. You might just get ambushed."
"That's a risk I rather take than to waste a lot of money," Huang answered as he drove carefully around Hove Beach. Heston just remained silent and shrugged his shoulders.
Eventually, the two of them managed to make it through Hove Beach and into the Firefly Projects neighbourhood. The area looked better than Hove Beach as there were less blood stains and wrecked cars, but the streets of the projects still looked very menacing as if there were hostiles waiting for people to ambush.
"So far, you're right, you clever bastard," Heston said. "I've not seen a single soul or 'thing' here."
"I've told you, didn't I?" Huang said with a smirk as he turned into the final stretch of road that leads them to an expressway to the airport.
"Glad there is nobody going to stop us now," Heston said gladly. Suddenly, rotten eggs were thrown at the car windshield. The eggs smeared the windshield with sticky egg whites and yolks. Huang attempted to clean the windshield with his wipers as the eggs obscured his view, but the eggs won't be easily removed. The car, which was still going at a high speed, eventually crashed into a tree. Luckily, Huang and Heston are unhurt as they were both wearing seatbelts, but the car was wrecked.
"What the fuck is going on?" Heston asked with surprise as he pulled out his shotgun. However, before he could raise and aim it, shots were fired at him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets narrowly missed him, but one bullet managed to end up in Heston's left arm. He immediately felt an excruciating pain where the bullet had hit.
"Fuck it!" Heston shouted as he dropped his shotgun to cover his wound with his right hand. Blood dripped onto the concrete sidewalk. Huang immediately got out of the car with an Uzi SMG and fired it at the direction of the mysterious gunmen.
"Are you alright?" Huang asked as he moved to Heston, who was still trying to stop the bleeding on his left arm.
"I will be if you help me drop the assholes who did this," Heston said as he and Huang hurriedly moved to the left side of the car to take cover. Amongst the shooting, the gunmen were shouting, "Get those two and take the car!"
"They must be some survivalists," Huang said as he reloaded his gun.
As Huang returned fire, he tried his best to identify the position of the shooters. The street lights were broken and there was no moon in the dark sky. However, Huang was able to use this to his advantage to better identify the position of the brief flashes made by the guns as they fire.
"These people are in that house there," Huang said as he pointed to a large, stone house a block away from where there were.
"Take these and blow them till kingdom come!" Heston said as he handed a few grenades from his jacket to Huang. It didn't take long before Huang pulled out the safety pins and threw several grenades into the compound. One grenade managed to enter the second floor of the house, which was the spot where most of the flashes were seen.
BOOM!
The thunderous explosions rocked the very foundation of the house and the shooting stopped. Fires raged inside the badly damaged structure and figures can be seen running around. Once the dust settled, a faint but vicious roar was heard.
"I know that sound," Huang said. He gripped the handle of his Uzi SMG tighter. "We should get out of here."
"There's a car over there," Heston said as he pointed to a white Blista Compact hatchback parked just across the street. The fierce roars and growls got louder now. Huang and Heston wasted no time to get to the car.
"The fucking door is locked," Heston told Huang as he tried to open the door with his good arm. Huang responded by swiftly breaking the side window with his elbow. Thousands of pieces of shattered glass fell on the car seat and the street. After Huang unlocked and opened the car doors, he swept the broken pieces of glass away from his seat with his green jacket before attempting to hotwire the car.
"Hurry!" Heston urged as he used his brown jacket to wrap around his wound like a bandage. The gunfire coming from the building suddenly resumed, but this time it's firing away from the duo. Huang quickened his hotwiring process as he connected the two wires which will start the car. The source of the growls and roars were now within sight.
"I got it!" Huang said as the engine of the car roared to life. As he grabbed the steering wheel and stepped on the accelerator hard, the shooting went on. A zombie suddenly appeared right beside the passenger side door and tried to break the window using its body.
"Go!" Heston shouted as he was shocked by the sudden appearance of the zombie. Fortunately, Huang was able to get away before the zombie could do some serious damage. As they leave the area, screams and cries of terror were heard along with vicious roars and growls. The intense gunfire, however, continued.
"I hope there's a fucking doctor at the airport," Heston said as he looked at his injured arm. The bleeding has stopped but the pain was still there.
"I hope your contact who sold us the weapons is there too, so I can kill him. We've lost a ton of crappy weapons back there," Huang said as he drove quickly.
"What do we have left?"
"An Uzi SMG with a couple of magazines, a pistol and my sword, Yu Jian," Huang answered. "I hope that's enough."
"It should be enough," Heston said as he revealed a few more grenades in his jeans pockets.