TAGGED: THE APOCALYPSE (10 page)

“Need ammo! I’m out!” Cries began coming from the defenders inside the fence. Quickly another defender would re-supply them from their own stash.

“Conserve your ammo! Head shots only!” Jackie ordered again. The order moved down the line.

The dead beasts were stacking like cord wood along the fence. Yet behind, Sven could see an unbroken mass
, relentlessly moving toward them. There must have been several hundred thousand of them. They continued firing through the fence.

“I’m out!” Sven cried above the din. Jackie re-supplied him with
fifty rounds for his Glock. Zeb gave him another two hundred rounds. Jackie and Sven, Zeb, Mack and Tiny - Zeb’s son’s - fought together as a unit. Sven was determined to save his ammunition. This was only the first night and the first skirmish. How many more would there be?

Soon the beasts
and dead and dying survivors piled as high as the twelve-foot fence in places, yet still they came straight at them, for the most part. The beasts focused their efforts in these spots, although they were so numerous that they attacked on all fronts simultaneously.

“They’re trying to break through!” Zeb’s son
, Mack rushed toward the fence where the beasts were piling nearly as high as the fence. Zeb and Tiny followed immediately, fighting as a unit. Jackie and Sven were close behind. The beasts came charging straight at the pile and climbed as fast as they could, before being repeatedly shot by the defenders. The bodies just piled higher and higher. Then, one of the beasts ascended the top of the pile, holding a dying and bleeding human out in front of it like a shield. Sven tried to shoot around the human. Two more beasts copied the idea. Then, in one giant leap, they were across the fence.

“Shoot them!” Sven yelled
, shooting the beasts even as the shots ripped through the dying humans. As soon as the beasts were across the fence, some dropped the humans and charged. Others swung the dying humans like clubs in one claw and slashed and bit with the other.

The first beast over the mountain of bodies killed and injured
fifteen or more defenders in a few seconds before being brought down in a hail of gunfire. It was naked and skeletal, with big hair and wild, red eyes. It moved like lightning, slashing with its claws and biting. Two more were stopped at the top of the dog pile of bodies, but in mere seconds more and more beasts came pouring through the gap in their defenses. Before they had time to react or regroup, the beasts were among them slashing and biting. They were everywhere and nowhere at once.

Sven felt the confidence and
esprit de corps
evaporate among the men, replaced by panic. An equal number of defenders were shot by friendly fire attempting to hit the beasts among them, in those few seconds, than were savaged by the beasts themselves.

“Retreat!” Sven heard Jackie scream. At the time, Sven was at the fence with Tiny and Mack
, trying in vain to stop the flood of beasts over the beast dog-pile. Jackie and Zeb were fighting together. They had switched to using machetes and improvised shields to conserve ammo.

The five of them
sprinted to the control tower. As they arrived at the door, Sven turned to see another fifty beasts coming over the fence. It was an overwhelming flood. Behind them were an unstoppable army of thousands more. On the grounds, outside the fence and inside, were uncountable newly-infected dead. They were drunkenly rising from the dog pile to reanimate. The infected had red eyes, gigantic suppurating sores that would pop and eat away the flesh underneath in big chasms. In a few hours, they would transform into the beasts with the mane of hair, the wicked strong nails, and the big, canine teeth. They rose in whatever condition they died. One was missing half of his face. Another had his arm nearly torn off. Others had only bites and scratches.

The steel door slammed shut behind them and it was suddenly quiet. The moans and the screams and the gunshots were now muted. It was as if Sven had found the volume switch on the stereo and turned it down. And the smell, that awful smell
, was muted.

Sven ran up the circular stairs two at a time and flung open the steel door at the top. There was no one there. “
Candy? Dixon? Where is Eve?”

“
They went with the doctor to Medical.”

“I have to go get them
.”

“You can’t go back out there. You won’t make it
five steps.”

Sven plowed forward
, but Jackie caught him and stopped him. “They’re safe. They’re with the doctor. He’s smart. He’ll know what to do.”

“
They’re in God’s hands now, son,” Jeb said.

“Thompson!” Thompson was outside chuckling to himself when he heard his name called. Getting away from his captors had been child’s play. They were such amateurs. He just held the door open for them all to pass through ahead of him like a gentleman should, then turned and walked the other way. He watched through the glass for a moment. No one even noticed his absence. “Thompson!” Thompson turned his head this way and that, looking for the source of the voice.

“It’s me, Rusty.” Red
-headed Rusty stepped out of the shadows along the wall a few feet away, wearing his guard uniform. One time Thompson had stood beside Rusty at a gas station in town, and he hadn’t recognized him without his uniform. “Are you bit or scratched?”

Thompson shook his head
. “You?”

“Let me see your eyes
,” Rusty said, as he approached him warily. After staring into Thompson’s eyes for a moment and shining a small flashlight back and forth over them, he seemed satisfied. “Okay,” he said.

“They took my weapons. Lend me your
Glock.” Thompson tried not to look too longingly at the holstered weapon at Rusty’s side. Rusty held an M-16 in his hands.

Thompson was surprised when
Rusty handed over the Glock without argument. “We need to get to the guard tower. There’s more weapons and ammo in there. Follow me.”

Rusty led Thompson around the corner of the building where two more guards were huddled in the shadows. On the other side raged a pitched battle. The defenders were lined up along the fence
, shooting the beasts like fish in a barrel as they charged. The dead-again beasts were piling up along the fence in some sections nearly to the top of the twelve foot fence. The beasts advanced in wave after endless wave, and the defenders kept shooting them. Thompson shook his head, wondering if those things even had brains.

“We don’t have much time
. We have to get to the guard tower. It’s the safest place if they breach the fence. There’s weapons and food in there. As a last resort, we can lock ourselves in the holding cells.” Rusty slapped Thompson on the shoulder and ran ahead of them. “Come on!”

Thompson felt a surge of elation
in finding a band of his fellow guards. The gods were smiling upon him. Then it happened. The first of the beasts scaled the bodies of its fallen comrades along the fence, then did a spectacular leap over the fence. Suddenly, it was among the defenders slashing and biting. It bit and slashed five to ten defenders in mere seconds. Thompson paused from running to aim his Glock carefully with both hands. He took it down with the second shot. “Got it.”

“Run!” Rusty screamed.
Instantly, there were five more beasts over the fence. Then ten, then twenty! Thompson ran headlong toward the guardhouse. He was dead last of the four guards. If only he had eaten less and taken his physical training more seriously. Thompson tripped over something and pitched onto his chest in the dirt. It was a body, and it seemed to stir slightly. There was no time. He got up and sprinted forward, struggling to catch up. The other three were now further ahead. The beasts were everywhere. Thompson heard shouts of “Retreat!” and the defenders were scattering like rats from a burning ship.

The beast came
screaming in from the side, leaped, and bit a giant gash out of the arm of one of the guards in front. The other two shot it repeatedly. “I’m okay. I think, I’m okay,” the bitten guard said as blood gushed from the arm wound, soaking his jacket.

They sprinted the last few yards to the door
. Rusty stopped and turned in the door, blocking it with his body. “Sorry man. You’ve been bit. You’re infected.”

“I’m fine
, Rusty! Really, it’s just a scratch.” The guard’s face fell and he began pleading.

“Let me see,” Rusty said
, leaning in. Then, without warning, he pulled the trigger, shooting the guard in the face with the Glock concealed in his other hand. The guard flopped onto his back with half his face gone, and jerked spasmodically on the ground in the final throes of death. Thompson caught up to them. He was out of breath. Rusty took the dead guard’s M-16 assault rifle and bandolier of ammo and handed them to Thompson. “You get bit, you become one of them.”

In mere minutes
, the area that had been held so effectively by the defenders was nearly overrun with beasts. It was now a killing field. Ten beasts cornered five defenders against the wall, who were frantically looking for a way out. Thompson reached for the electronic badge at his hip, but it wasn’t there. That woman, Candy, was wearing it around her neck. Shit!

A beast came from Rusty’s blind side and tackled him as
they stood impatiently in front of the door. Thompson shot it in the head. Rusty shook it off. Even in death a second time, the thing’s razor sharp claws raked his chest through his heavy clothes as he shook it off. Three more beasts rushed them. They all turned and put them down in a hail of gunfire.

Rusty
slapped his badge against the electronic keypad. Finally, they heard the loud click of the lock and they tumbled into the guardhouse, slamming the door behind them.

Frantically,
Rusty pulled his clothes off to check if the beast had drawn blood. He exhaled heavily, seeing only very minor red marks across his chest.

The quiet inside was jarring.

The tinkling of breaking glass sounded just beyond their safe enclosure in the cafeteria. Eve had fallen asleep next to Brit, lying on his gurney. He had stopped moaning at some point during the night and slept soundly after that. He would groan painfully whenever he had to make even the slightest movement. Last night he had looked like he was going to die. This morning, he looked almost normal, just really tired with dark circles under his eyes.

“Thank you for watching over me.” Brit
spoke in a hoarse whisper as he touched Eve’s arm.

Eve had
butterflies in her stomach. He was so handsome, and his eyes were a clear bright blue. The doctor came and changed Brit’s bandages. “You’re looking a lot better. You just need a little rest and maybe something for the pain.”

“They’re coming closer. We have to get outside. It’s not safe here.”
Candy stood in front of Dennis, who appeared to be sleeping.

All night
, Eve heard the screams of the dying all around them, as the beasts ravaged them. Several times it sounded like they were getting much closer, but they never found their area. Candy let Dixon off the leash as soon as she was sure he wasn’t going to change during the night into one of the beasts. Even so, the wound turned an angry red and puffy. Dixon whined constantly about his confinement until she finally let him loose. Dixon was on high alert most of the night. Thankfully, he wasn’t a dog who barked a lot. He had barked early on once, but she and Candy had instantly clapped their hands over his muzzle to silence him. He settled for low rumbling growls. She didn’t think anyone had slept.

Dennis shifted slowly and ponderously from his position on the
chair. “This is the safest place. It’s not safe outside.” Dennis seemed to do nothing but eat, sleep and silently scheme beneath those heavily lidded eyes. Eve had trouble knowing when he was awake or asleep, he was so still sitting on that chair most of the time. She was beginning not to trust him.

“Remember Needles, I mean Ben? Remember how he reacted when I turned on the lights?”
The doctor said.

“They can’t stand the light
,” Candy said. “We’re safe in the light.”

The sound of breaking glass sounded closer this time. “They’re breaking out the lights. They have to stay inside during the day.”

Dennis jumped up from the chair, suddenly full of energy. “We need to get out of here. Follow me. I know the way.”

“All survivors report to the control tower.” Jackie spoke loudly into the P.A. microphone he had found attached to an impressive bank of controls overlooking the facility.

Sven stood outside
, anxiously searching the survivors as they trickled in toward the tower. Sven had been unable to sleep all night, worried about Dixon, Candy and Eve. Why had he let them go with the doctor and Candy? He should have told them to stay in the control tower where it was safe. All night he had been haunted by visions of them bloody and ravaged, turning into the undead beasts. Smoking had calmed him, finally. He had taken to smoking in the still functioning bathroom - because there was still electricity at the power plant – and realized that pot was really a weed. He chewed and swallowed some, getting a nice buzz in the process, and finally, sometime in the middle of the night, his bowels had unlocked. The nightmarish visions still played through his mind, but he was more detached and he could watch them more like a movie. He ate some more grass when he awoke in the morning, delighted to find yet another legitimate medicinal quality present in this wonder plant he had spent his entire adult life cultivating.