The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) (19 page)

Maggie opens a can of soup and stares at it for a while. She thinks about how nice it would be to have a pizza or Chinese food delivered to her house. It would be just like the times when she would be up all night studying for an exam. What she wouldn’t do to be studying for an exam right now. She laughs to herself as she pours the soup into a pot and places it on the stove.              

Eric and Nate come rushing into the kitchen from being outside as Eric attempts to calm himself down. “Maggie, you know those jets we heard flying overhead? Well, they were heading straight for Denver. I spoke with your neighbor, and he said he’d heard something over his modified radio scanner about the military fire bombing all major cities that were affected by the chemical attack. Maggie, they dropped napalm on Denver!”

Maggie turns around and looks at Eric with a look of doubt on her face. “Ah, yeah, and my neighbor’s one bong hit away from retardation. I wouldn’t put too much stock into what he says. He’s a dumbass trustafarian. You know that.”

Nate sits down at the kitchen table scratching his hand over where the chip was inserted. “It’s true, Maggie. His girlfriend was there to confirm it. She heard the transmission herself. They bombed Denver, Mags. Like they fuckin’ bombed our city along with every other major city in the country!”

Kristie and Heather both walk downstairs, and Kristie asks, “What’s going on? We overheard you say something about Denver getting bombed?”

Nate continues to scratch his hand so hard that a little blood drips out of the incision. “The military just fire bombed Denver and every major city with napalm. Your neighbor and his girlfriend said they heard a radio transmission on some modified radio they have.”

Kristie sits down next to Nate and smacks his hand away. “Stop scratching the incision. It’s going to get infected. And what are you talking about the military bombed Denver? You didn’t hear that from our idiot trustafarian neighbor, did you?”

Maggie laughs as she stirs the soup. “That’s exactly what I said. That guy’s a moron, but they did say his girlfriend, what’s her name, said it as well, and she doesn’t seem all that dumb.”

Eric begins to say something when the computer at the kitchen desk beeps, and the screen flashes. Maggie walks over to the computer and clicks the mouse.

“It’s a message from my uncle. It says that Denver along with every affected city has been fire bombed by the U.S. military in order to contain the infected from spreading into surrounding areas. Stay in the bunker for fear of a possible additional fire bombing farther away from the city. Will contact soon with more detail.”

Eric walks over to the computer and looks at the screen. “How is that possible that you received a message from your uncle? Communication lines have been down for days. We haven’t had Internet access, cell phone service, or even a land line since last week, so how the hell did you receive that message?”

“This computer is connected to the one in the bunker, which doesn’t use normal Internet. It works on some special private Internet line that has a direct link to the Ark. I don’t know the details of it. My uncle tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. But this will work even if all traditional lines of communication are down. I think it works through a satellite or something.”

Eric crosses his arms and looks at Maggie. “Well, I’ll be dammed. Looks like he thought of everything, didn’t he? Not just solar panels but satellite Internet as well.”

“Okay, I’m not sure what that means, but you heard what he said; we need to get into the bunker immediately.”

Maggie walks over to the stove and pulls the soup off. “I know you guys haven’t been able to get in contact with any of your families, but I think you should all try again.”  They all rush downstairs and lock themselves into the bunker.

Two days go by with no word from her uncle, and Maggie begins to get nervous. She tries numerous times to contact her uncle but without any success. When a few days turns into a week, she knows something is wrong. She paces back and forth while her friends try and fail to comfort her. She just keeps mumbling to herself that something is wrong. Something is very wrong.              

All of a sudden, the intercom beeps, stopping her in her tracks as everyone else freezes. Maggie dashes over to the intercom on the second beep and presses the button and hears screaming on the other end. When she looks at the camera she sees her friend Jennifer screaming into the intercom.              

“Maggie! Maggie, help us. They’re everywhere! Please help us! They’re going to kill us! Help!”

Maggie presses the intercom button and answers back, “Jen, are you alright? What is going on? Who is trying to kill you?”

“Oh my God! Please help us!”

“We’re coming, Jenny. Hang on!”

Maggie turns around to see Eric and Nate grabbing assault rifles off the rack and handing them to Heather and Kristie. Maggie darts over to them and grabs a gun.

Heather stands there obviously scared to death. “Wait, you guys, maybe we should discuss this. What if we let whatever’s out there in here?

Maggie lowers her rifle and looks up at Heather. “What are you saying? We shouldn’t help them?”

Heather drops her head and looks at the ground. “I’m just saying we’re putting all of our lives in danger by helping.”

“Fine, stay here, but we’re going.”

Eric looks at everyone as he slams a clip into his rifle. “Alright, you guys. I have no idea what the hell’s going on out there, but we need to go help. Are there any objections?” Everyone, including Heather, shakes their heads no. “Well, then, let’s move. You girls stay behind Nate and me once we open the front door, okay?”

The three girls nod their heads in agreement, but Heather looks away. They all move to the bunker door, and Nate unlocks it. They run upstairs and get to the front door. Eric puts his hand on the door and looks through the peephole to see nothing but hair. Muffled screaming can be heard from outside, and Eric turns around.

“Alright, you guys, are you ready? I can’t see anything, but we can’t leave her out there. On the count of three I’m opening the door, okay? Alright then, one, two, three!”

Eric unlocks the door and opens it. Jennifer immediately falls backward and lands on Eric, forcing them to the ground. Nate moves out of the way and points his rifle out the door.

As he looks down the driveway, he freezes in shock at the sight of what’s happening. Maggie and Kristie both grab Jennifer, who is still hysterically screaming, and pull her off of Eric. Eric gets up off the ground and sees Nate not moving. He turns his head in the direction that Nate is looking in and gasps at the sight.

The world feels like it stops turning as time slows down and the shock sets in. Eric thinks to himself that he’s panicking but can’t move or do anything about it. He’s always heard of people becoming frozen with fear but has never experienced it. He hears someone yelling behind him but can’t make out what they are saying. It’s like he’s underwater.

Just as abruptly as his senses leave him, they come back with the sound of Maggie yelling at him to help them. He shakes his head and looks at Nate, who is still stunned and not moving. Eric looks back down the driveway and can finally make out what is happening. He sees four guys on the lawn swinging what looks like baseball bats and a hockey stick at a group of people that look oddly familiar to the guy that killed Todd. At the bottom of the driveway, he sees what he thinks is at least one person on the ground being ripped to shreds by another group of them.

As soon as he fully realizes what is happening and what those things are, he elbows Nate and screams in his ear, “Snap out of it, Nate. We have to help them!” Nate responds and looks at Eric, who looks scared to death and like he wants to run and hide somewhere. But just like that, Nate steps out of the front door and starts shooting.

The screaming is overwhelming.

It seems like it’s coming from everywhere, from the girls in the house, from the girl on her butt behind the guys with the baseball bats, even from the guys with the baseball bats. Eric tries to ignore the screams and follows Nate out the door, firing his gun as well. He points his weapon at the people attacking the group of guys, putting holes in one of the attackers and watching him fall only to see the guy with the hockey stick fall as well.

              With everything happening so fast, Eric is not completely sure what to do. He just tries to focus and not panic. He looks at Nate for leadership on what exactly he should be doing. He sees Nate walking closer to the group of guys fighting for their lives, firing countless rounds as he moves toward the attackers.

Eric thinks to himself,
What the fuck are you doing? Help them!
And just like that, Eric moves up beside Nate and pulls off two rounds, plugging two holes into one of the attacker’s heads and sending him toppling to the ground.

Another one of the guys with the bats falls under three or four attackers that overwhelm him, smothering him instantly. Nate takes down another attacker with multiple bullets. Eric runs up to the girl screaming on the ground behind the last two standing guys and grabs her arm and then pulls her back toward the house. Another one of the baseball bat guys fall, and almost immediately, Nate steps up and slams the butt of his rifle into the attacker’s head, sending it flailing backwards. Nate releases his clip and pulls another mag from his cargo shorts pocket and slams it into his rifle.

Kristie and Maggie continue to shoot from within the house, but after Eric drags the girl back and away from the fight, Heather comes running up from behind and grabs the girl, pulling her inside the house.

Eric then turns around to see multiple attackers moving very fast and in their direction. Without hesitation this time, Eric pulls the trigger as fast as he can and at as many attackers as he can. Bodies start to fall, and blood sprays everywhere as gunfire erupts from the house.

As the last of the baseball bat guys fall, Nate stands directly over the attackers that are now on top of the two fallen but still fighting guys. He tries to kick them off the men on the ground, who are screaming for their lives. Like a man in the middle of ‘roid rage, Nate pulls the attackers off the men one by one, throwing them to the side where Eric fills them full of holes as they fall backwards.

Maggie and Kristie, who looks wide-eyed and yet very determined, both come out of the house, shooting wildly at the numerous attackers now flocking to their house. Maggie gets close and yells out, “Let’s go! We have to get back inside. They are everywhere!”

Eric looks up from the pile and sees what she is talking about: dozens of fucked-up-looking attackers coming right for them, some moving very fast. He looks at Nate still cracking skulls and trying to help the last guy still struggling. “Nate, we gotta go! We gotta go, man, now. They’re all over the place!”

Nate kicks the last of the attackers off the guy and pulls the bloody man up to his feet and yells at him to get inside.

Just as Eric turns to head back, he sees out of the corner of his eye a man sprinting straight for Heather, but it is too late. No sooner than he can yell to watch out, the man lunges at Heather, blindsiding her and toppling them both to the ground.

She screams but only for a second as the man gets on top of her and bites down on her neck, ripping it apart. Her scream is silenced, but it’s soon replaced by numerous other screams coming from Maggie and Kristie and the others in the house.

Eric rushes up to the man attacking Heather and fires so many bullets into the man that some go straight through him. But he knows it’s too late. He saw what happened to her throat. As he pulls the man off of her, he reveals a lifeless body covered in blood.

Eric looks at her in disbelief that she is dead. Tears form in his eyes. Someone grabs his leg, and he looks down to see Maggie clutching his leg and screaming for her friend, but he knows there’s nothing they can do. He knows she’s gone. He picks Maggie’s limp body off the ground. She is screaming and crying uncontrollably. He takes her by one arm and drags her away from their friend’s lifeless body.

Nate starts yelling as he continues to shoot at the attackers. “Run! Run! Run!”

Eric looks back to see so many people coming toward them. He looks down at Maggie, who he is now dragging across the lawn and yells, “Maggie, get up, damn it. Get up! We have to get inside now. Help me, damn it. Get up!”

But Maggie hears nothing but the faint sounds of someone yelling and screaming. She tries desperately not to black out, but her body tries its best to shut down. She can’t comprehend what is happening but soon finds comfort when she looks up and sees Eric. As soon as she realizes it’s her that’s screaming, she’s quickly reminded that her best friend is dead.

Nate runs up aside them and grabs Maggie, and they both pull her into the house. Kristie tries to shut the door but is knocked back by the force of someone hitting the door on the other side. When the door flies open, the screams become so deafening, and they all freeze.

A man and a woman fall at the doorstep and start clawing at them, and Nate steps up and kicks the man right in the face and plants his rifle butt into the woman’s head, snapping it back. He hits the woman again and then hits the man in the head with his rifle as a bullet fires from his gun.

Eric flinches after hearing the zip of the bullet passing by his shoulder, which lodges itself into the ceiling. He then fires multiple times into the heads of the attackers, which explode on contact. He throws down his weapon and charges the door, putting his shoulder into it and slamming it shut. Maggie follows suit and hurriedly locks the door just as more bodies slam into the steel-reinforced door. Maggie slides down the door and begins to cry again, soon joined by Kristie, who clutches her and pulls her away from the door.