CHAPTER 6 The Susceptible Host

The Susceptible Host. This describes the person who is vulnerable to infection.


Owen and his team made it to the West Gate in short time. The other four vehicles pulled in behind him and the guys all started getting out to scout the area. Gray was standing with Sam and Danny, his friend who jumped in to grab Barry's seat and help cover the boy.

"Barry, where are you?" He called in on the radio before getting out to check with the guards.

He heard the static come through, "We're ten minutes out, fully loaded. Gonna check in and set ourselves up. Give me about twenty minutes." Barry responded.

"Got it. Out." Owen ended the call. He switched channels, "Hey Phil, that you up there?"

"Hey Owen. Not a great view from here." Phil warned from his guard tower.

"Shit." Owen swore to himself. He was hoping it hadn't spread this way yet, "We're hoping we can clear them out and make a path. You good to open the gates if we get them out of the way?"

"Just say when! Hope you're well armed, man!" Phil warned.

Owen tried to calm his breathing. He knew they had been outside of all the action and now they were running head first into it. And they were doing it with Claire's nephew in tow. No room for any cowboy shit. That meant for Claire too. "Claire, if you wait, we're gonna see if we can draw some attention away." He hoped the fireworks would draw them from the main park too. That would give Claire a better shot of getting through. His team was currently standing by at the West Gate.

Claire, Adam and Katerina had made their way to the maintenance garage of the Pachy Arena. Inside they found one of the Jeeps they could use to get through the streets. Adam and Katerina were standing and looking over a map that was spread out across the hood, trying to plan which route to take. Claire was looking around the maintenance area for anything that might be useful. Katerina had already raided the security closet for any weapons left. She located a few more rifles and some small explosives used to draw the dinosaurs.

"It could help buy you a clear path to get there." Lowery offered.

"Lowery? How are we looking outside?" Claire asked as they were planning their route to the hotel.

"You still have hundreds spread out on the streets. They're mostly on Main Street. If you use the access road behind the buildings, it will be lighter in numbers." he responded.

"How long?" She was getting anxious. She wanted all of her family safe now.

"Waiting on Barry. He's on route. Should be there any minute." Owen replied. There was a pause where Owen assumed Claire was talking to the others in the car with her.

"Adam's recommending we wait and see if it buys us some space. We don't want another chase if we can avoid it." she finally responded.

A shiver ran through Owen at the thought that she had been so close the last time. He looked over at Gray, who was still talking to Sam and Danny. It was such a huge risk to try to make it through, but he needed to try. And he needed to clear his head. "Hey Lowery? Can I have a minute with Claire?" he asked, as a thought crossed his mind. "Sure, I'll be back on in a few." he responded.

"Hi, beautiful." he said after a moment.

"Hi." she replied, with a little shake in her voice. She had continued to scout the garage as Adam and Katerina continued to plan the route. She began to wander near the landscaping area as she paced talking to Owen, searching for anything useful. "How's Gray doing?" she asked finally.

"He's hanging in. My buddy Danny took over Barry's seat in the Jeep, so I think he's better knowing he's not alone back there. He's a brave kid."

"That's the Dearing in him." she lightly chuckled. Owen couldn't help but grin and agree with that.

He took a deep sigh before speaking, "Look, you and I are about to go through some more scary shit. And I need..." he hesitated for a moment, again thinking of the miles filled with thousands of violent zombies between him and Claire. "When I was back in the Navy, guys used to write letters before we went on a dangerous mission to send messages home in case they didn't make it. To say everything they needed to say. I never really had anyone to send a letter to until now. Until you. And I want to make sure..."

"Owen, no." she interrupted, stopping her search, "Nothing is going to happen to you. We're going to be fine. And you can tell me everything to my face."

"Claire..." he tried to continue.

"No!" she stopped him again. "Owen, I am well aware of what we're about to attempt and what it could mean. But knowing you are on the other side of this shit is what is keeping me going. Anticipating your potential, untimely demise won't really work for me right now. I need your voice in my ear, Owen. I can't do this alone..." she was starting to cry as much as she tried to hold it in.

"Hey, I'm here. I'm always here. And you, Claire Dearing, are the smartest, bravest and strongest person I know and you're too fucking good for me..." he heard her laugh finally, "All I'll say is I don't want to live my life without you. Plain and simple."

Claire smiled at that, wiping her face. "Well I don't really plan on letting that happen. I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Grady. Probably till we're old and gray."

"God, I love you." he breathed out, releasing the tension he had been holding. He was going to spend the rest of his life with her. That didn't end today.

"I love you too, handsome." she grinned. "And I fully plan on showing you how much when this is all over."

"I might not be willing to wait that long..." he chuckled.

"Dude! No! Don't even think about it!" Lowery interrupted as he came back to the conversation. He did not need to bear witness to Claire and Owen having earpiece sex.

"Just sayin'..." Owen shrugged, grinning. Claire rolled her eyes and returned to her search

"I found a few machetes with the landscaping stuff." she noticed. They were large, probably used to chop the jungle brush. She grabbed them by the handles and tossed them into the back of the Jeep.

"Nice find!" she heard Owen in her ear. "How many?"

"I have six here. I'd say keep an eye out in any sheds you come across. We may run out of ammo soon." A shiver went down her spine at the thought of being trapped here with no way to defend themselves.

"You know, despite everything going on, hearing you talk like that is sexy as all hell.." Owen said in a low voice. A smile crept across Claire's face.

"Owen..." Lowery warned.

"Worth a shot." Owen laughed.

"Barry to Owen." Barry's voice came over the radio.

"Go ahead, man." Owen responded.

"We're ready to go here and standing by."

"Hey Owen, let me get Simon out here. He may need to make calls as we go." Lowery requested.

"Barry, stand by for my mark. We're bringing Simon in first." Owen reported back.

"Standing by."

"Claire, you guys ready?" he asked.

"We're in the car, ready to go on Lowery's all clear." She heard Barry over the microphone and knew it was go time. Lowery was going to watch the cameras and let them know when they had the clearest path to the hotel.

"On you, Lowery." Owen said, finally.


Simon was pacing in Claire's office as he was yelling into the phone. Lowery walked in during another heated argument with another authority who was refusing to send help for the survivors.

"I have five thousand survivors who have been in lockdown! Including CHILDREN! Entire families!They need to get off this island NOW!" The room went quiet as the person on the other end responded. He looked up when he heard the door close quietly and saw Lowery. He waved him over, "Well put me on the line with YOUR boss! All I need are a couple of ferries and a place to land!" He paused to calm himself, " We can quarantine. We can screen and test. We can do whatever is necessary to get these people off this island. I will fly over and steer the ferry myself if I need to." he said in a lower voice.

Lowery had moved to sitting in one of the seats in front of Claire's desk. He was leaning his elbows on his knees and rubbing his eyes. It had only been a couple of hours, but it felt like a month had passed and he was exhausted. He had been the communication hub as well as the primary manager in control, while Simon had been otherwise occupied chasing down transports.

"Fine! Have him call me immediately!" he shouted before slamming down his phone on the desk. He was leaning over the desk, his head lowered and the room was again quiet.

"I'll take it that was a no..." Lowery said, breaking the silence.

Simon slowly lowered himself into the chair, now leaning his elbows on the desk and rubbing his face. This had become a familiar response as these phone calls went no where. "We are officially under quarantine. No one in. No one out. Until the infection is under control." he sighed heavily. "We're on our own."

"Well, that's...not good..." he replied.

"I'm going to keep pushing on my end. But we may need a longer term plan. We need to get everyone to the hotels. At least they can be safe and somewhat contained. Henry better come up with a solution on his end. Otherwise, we stay put and keep monitoring everyone who's out." Simon went on.

"I'll work on figuring out how we clear the tunnels. We're probably going to need them." Lowery offered. They needed the protection of the tunnels to move large groups. Unfortunately, it looked like someone was infected that had gone down with one of the survival groups and it quickly spread until there were now hundreds scattered throughout.

"How are things right now?"

"Owen's team is about to try to draw attention to one gate while part of the team enters through the other. Claire is currently in the garage off the Pachy Arena getting ready to go. We figured you'd want to monitor live." he replied.

"Let's go." he said, standing up to go into the control room. "Let's make sure all ACU located inside the park pull back. Have them come here if they can, unless they are in an occupied shelter. We need to consolidate our locations and plan our next moves here." Simon needed to make a survival plan for food, care, and containment of the infection.

"Understood." Lowery said. He walked up to his console and hit a series of keys. Soon images of both the West Gate, where Owen and his team were on the other side, and the area outside the garage where Claire was currently waiting with her team. He hit a few more keys, "Owen. Claire. I've got you live in the room and Simon's here. We're ready to go on our end. On your mark Owen."

She pulled out her phone and dialed Karen. She realized she hadn't checked on her since they had gotten above ground. So much chaos, it's hard to even keep track of how long they've been at this. She looked at the time on her phone. 12PM. Three hours since all hell broke loose. It felt like weeks.

"Claire?!" Karen answered loudly into her phone. "Oh my god, I've been trying to reach you!"

"Karen, I'm on my way! Be ready to go!" Claire said quickly.

"Hurry Claire. I can hear yelling through the walls. I think people are getting restless." Karen replied. She could hear raised voices and banging, as if people were trying to break out.

"It's the panic setting in. We'll get there as fast as we can." She said as she heard Owen's voice break into her other ear.

"Barry, fire when you're ready." he ordered.

The same thought crossed all their minds. Here we go. This might not work. It might make it worse. It might work perfectly. But they needed to try something.

BOOM!

Barry set off the first rocket. One that was big enough and bright enough to still be seen in daylight. The dull groaning that could be heard over the wall was now escalating to a furious roar again. Owen knew the noise of the fireworks was causing them to stir

"Karen, I'll be there soon! Be ready!" she said hanging up.

"Fire again, when ready!" he yelled.

"Looks like they're hearing it in the park too. They're starting to rile up. Claire, just hold!" Lowery shouted. Simon was quietly standing behind him, just watching.

BOOM!

"Owen! They're on the run east!" he heard Phil say over the radio from his watch tower.

"Get ready to move!" Owen shouted to the other cars as everyone scrambled into the vehicles and all the engines came to life. "Go when you think we're good Phil!" He looked over at Sam who was loading his rifle and he could hear Danny doing the same behind him. He looked in his rear view at Gray, "You ready, bud?"

"I'm ready." Gray nodded, nervously.

"It's gonna be okay." Owen attempted to smile. He turned to watch as the large gates began to open and the vehicles all took off into the park for the first time since the ordeal began.

"Claire! Your path looks clear for now!" Lowery was watching for the right moment for them to exit the garage. It looked like the dead were moving north steadily toward the sound of the explosions. He hit a key and the garage door started opening and as soon as they were clear, Adam took off down the access road behind the buildings.

They were swerving to avoid a few scattered dead who had not reacted to the noise as they rapidly approached the resort area. Claire could see the hotels getting closer when all of a sudden a mass of zombies came out of one of the alleyways and began chasing the Jeep.

"OH SHIT!" Claire yelled as she rolled down her window to start aiming her rifle back and firing. Katerina was doing the same from the front seat as Adam was trying to watch ahead. "There must be a hundred of them! GO ADAM!" she screamed as the horde was catching up. Flashbacks to the tunnel started flashing before her eyes. She needed to focus and keep firing.

"CLAIRE!" Owen yelled as he was racing through the fields into the jungle roads avoiding scattered dead of his own. Bullets were flying as everyone was shooting out of the vehicles, trying to clear the way. "What's happening?!"

"They've picked up a large group on their tail from one of the alleys! Claire! Tell Adam to go left and get on Main! It's relatively open right now! It'll give you more room!" Lowery was frantically trying to guide them out of the tight chase.

"Adam! Go left when you can! Get us out of here!" Claire relayed to her driver.

"FUCK! Claire! We've got another alley that didn't clear out!" Katerina yelled as another large group joined the chase.

"We can't have this many behind us or we'll never get in the hotel!" Claire knew with this many, some would get in and the hotel would be breached.

Owen threw the radio to Sam, "Tell Barry to keep firing! Claire needs help!"

"Owen?!" Gray asked, frightened at the thought his aunt was in danger.

"It's okay Gray. It's gonna be okay." he said, trying to calm himself and focus.

BOOM!

Seconds later...

BOOM!

"Some are breaking off, but not enough! We're gonna have to draw them off somehow!" Claire responded once more rockets had been lit. It wasn't enough to grab from the horde's attention on the Jeep. She began running options through her mind. She looked out the window and saw the jungle cover along the side of the road. "New plan! Adam! On the next curve, get out ahead and turn hard! Lead them to Owen and his team, then come back to the hotel!" she yelled as she slung her rifle over her shoulder and grabbed one of the machetes.

"CLAIRE! Don't you dare do what you're thinking of doing!" Owen shouted as Adam and Katerina started arguing with her.

"NO TIME! TURN NOW!" As Adam turned hard, Claire opened the door, throwing the machete out ahead of her and diving out a second later with the Jeep covering her, rolling into the dark bush. She held in her groan as much as she could as she landed hard on the ground and staying low and quiet as the horde continued to chase the Jeep.

"Goddammit Claire!" She heard Owen yell.

He could hear the roar of the growling through his earpiece. He knew she wouldn't make a sound until they passed by. He was left hoping she wasn't caught. He was pushing harder on the gas, knowing she was now completely exposed.

The noise from the horde was finally starting to quiet as they moved further off. Claire dared to lift up enough to see a handful who could not run, slowly moving north on the road toward the rockets. She saw where the machete landed and slowly crawled toward it to grab it. She then slowly slid on her belly as quietly as she could to move further back into the dark jungle. Once she was satisfied she had enough cover, she stood and began quietly making her way toward the resort.

"I'm okay." she whispered, as she monitored her surroundings, tiptoeing through the high brush, not wanting to chop her way through and make noise.

"Thank god!" Lowery responded. Simon had been behind him yelling about Claire doing crazy shit and how he was never allowing her in the field again if she survived.

"Claire..." Owen started. He was trying to collect his thoughts. "I really, really want to be mad right now and don't think we're not gonna talk about what the hell you were thinking, but..." He shook the fear and frustration from his head as he watched the road and finally seeing the back of the Innovation Center. He noticed the other Jeep racing up the road toward his team with the mass of about a hundred dead behind them, as they all prepared to take out as many as they could.

"But..." she prompted quietly. She needed a little levity right now and she could always rely on Owen to have some ready.

"But then I remember you're my girl and that's exactly the kind of stupid shit I would do. I shouldn't expect any less from you." he said as Sam and Danny began firing out the windows at the dead who had split up among the vehicles.

She couldn't help but smile at that. "Hey, I pay attention." she joked. "I need to watch myself. You pay attention to what you're doing and get your ass to the Center." she said as she had her rifle out ready and her machete hanging from her belt.

"You be careful, woman. I love you."

Before she could respond, he heard Barry's voice loudly come over the radio, "OWEN! WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM!" Sam handed Owen the radio as he returned to firing. The horde was about half the size now after sustained attack. There were some getting on the vehicles, but they've been so far able to shake them off.

"Barry?! What's going on?!" he responded.

"The fireworks drew more than the zombies! I've got dinosaurs in the field now too! They're drawing the dead to them!" Barry quickly yelled.

"Barry?!" Owen didn't know if he wanted to know where this was going.

"Some of the dinosaurs are TURNING!"