The Azrael: Surviving the Outbreak (7 page)

Awakened

The constant ringing in his ears caused him to cringe when he awoke.  The body was at it again, and he cringed to see what was on the menu this morning.  It’s been a long time since he lost connection to his body, stuck within the cadaver of a serial killer.  Only, his mind remained unbroken and he fought to keep his humanity together.  He used to try to take control of his body with the hopes of saving his body’s next victim.  Each attempt and failure weighed heavy on his heart, well the heart in his mind.  Hell, he didn’t even control his actual heart anymore.  He faintly remembered a name he once was called, Robert or was it Randall.  Shit, was it Ronald, Donald.  He began to panic.  Was he finally losing who he was?  A voice in his head spoke through his panic.

“Randall, you haven’t lost who you are.  Calm yourself Love.  Don’t give up.”  The voice of a woman Randall faintly remembered as his late wife reminded him of who he was.  Images of his body ravaging her body and eating every ounce of flesh from the bone entered his mind.  Why didn’t it stop and turn her like his body did so many others.  It’s like his body taunted him, made him watch the most gruesome act imaginable. The moment he was born into this nightmare, his mind had been tested.  But how much longer could he hold on?  How much more could he take before he would lose his humanity?  Did it even matter anymore?  He is no longer in control over his actions.

The flavor of flesh entered his mind once again and he turned to look at this new victim.  It was a man in his late fifties.  The man didn’t have much fight in him.  His body just feasted on his flesh without trouble from the man.  Suddenly a shot of pain entered his head as he felt excruciating pain shooting throughout his body.  He’s been shot before, cut, and even hit by a car.  His body recovered and continued on, however, this was different.  What happened to him?  He scanned his surroundings but his vision was blurry.  He tried to focus through the haze, but it didn’t clear up.  He did smell a burning aroma in the air faintly and tasted a hint of char in his mouth.  He wondered how long his vision would be this hazy.  He wondered what was burning and why his body wasn’t moving.

Randall’s vision finally cleared and he started to feel raindrops hit his body.  Steam misted around his muscular cadaver as the heat generating within his corpse evaporated the cool raindrops as they struck him. The man his body was eating was leaning on an enormous tree and it had an massive black charred gash in it.  He faintly heard thunder in the background.  He was struck by lightning.  He began to feel his body healing again as the taste of the scorched flesh became more and more enhanced.  He could smell the rain, the blood and the smoke leaving the tree and his body.  However, his body still didn’t move.  He waited for it to pull itself up.  He had a thought of his hand and it twitched.  He thought of his fingers and they moved.  It was not instant, but delayed.  He felt his foot and toes and they moved as well.  Thoughts of his neck lifting his head brought his head up and he turned his head slowly.  Control, he had control.  He tried to speak, but nothing left but a rasp.  He could feel a weird swelling in his neck.  There was a foreign growth that he never felt before wedged between his larynx and his trachea.  Again a rasp exited his mouth and he struggled to fully operate his body, his body once again.  He spat out the charred meat in his mouth and noticed the man open his eyes.  It stood and its eyes were searching the area wildly and looked at Randall in horror.  The man sniffed the air, stood up and rubbed its bite wounds slowly.  Its skin was pale and Randall noticed the veins in its body swelling as adrenaline started to pump throughout its body.  He had become Azrael, only this time Randall was able to watch the whole transformation and the realization its mind was having of the situation.  It sniffed the air again and found the scent of the nearby herd.  It headed for the alpha, drawn to its primal dominance.  The man will follow the herd loosely for the first few weeks, and then it will cling closer as the virus settles.

Randall felt drawn to the alpha himself, like a strange desire to be a part of the herd.  The draw to the herd seemed organic.  It seemed like a being of its own, like the virus controlled all of them via the dominant alpha.  Randall forced his body to stand and struggled to maintain balance.  The herd began to move and he could feel a pull on his body to follow.  He refused the pull and smelled the human scent in the breeze, an aroma that satisfied his body.  He wanted to taste flesh in his stomach.  He may have gained control of his actions once again, but his hunger for people remained.  As the herd separated from him by over a hundred yards the pull became weaker to join them.  He looked at his body, noticed that his muscles were well defined and he was more than capable of overpowering a man and eating them.  It seemed natural to him and he began to move his feet, one step at a time.  As he walked he slowly started to remember his legs once again.  He could feel his toes as he wiggled them.  

He thought about finding people and eating them.  No, not eating them, talking to them.  He hasn’t interacted with another person in a long time.  However, he still couldn’t make a sound other than a rasp.  Again he felt a foreign muscle in his neck.  It frustrated him that he couldn’t say anything.  The sound that his throat made didn’t even sound like what he wanted to come out in the least bit.  He had an idea to write something in the dirt, yes he could communicate with words.  He could still read okay, he’s seen many signs.  That’s one of the things that kept him together.  Whenever his body was hunting, he tried to find something to read to get his mind away from the next kill.  He staggered towards an open patch of dirt and searched for a stick.  He found one easily and began to press into the dirt with the stick.   Nothing that he thought of was being depicted with the stick, not even close.  He thought of something simple like ‘dog’.  His hand made a squiggle and three dots.  The connection wasn’t there.  He kept trying with the same result.  The only thing his body is going to do is get itself killed.  He looked like an Azrael, he couldn’t communicate and he did in fact desire to eat flesh. 

Within hours of his awakening his control was good enough that he could walk upright.  It felt awkward since the Azrael don’t walk completely upright.  They hunch over and move in a constant state of urgency.  They are on edge always ready to run to attack or catch a fleeing pray.  The muscles over the time he has been Azrael were heavily developed for that specific range of motion.  As the day passed and he began to walk more controlled, he gradually began to walk like them again.  It just felt natural.  Every time he noticed that he was walking like them again he stood upright and fought the pull of the muscles in his back and neck.  He could feel his face straining and tried to imagine what he looked like trying to walk upright with this much strain.

Night came and the strain of his mind to control this monstrous hulk of a body waned on him and he succumbed to his desire to sleep.  He entered a deep sleep and began to dream.  A sweet image of his beautiful wife, dark hair, big brown eyes and a body he was proud to walk with on the beach, entered his thoughts.  The draw to her became overwhelming and he brought her in close and kissed her.  They rolled around in the bed that appeared and performed intense foreplay.  He kissed her neck, smelled the sweet aroma of her body and bit into her.  He tore chunks out of her neck and could taste the iron in the blood as he chomped into the meat.  She screamed at him, yelling him to get off.  He couldn’t resist her and continued to bite into her face ripping out flesh from her cheek.  He was both satisfied and horrified at what was happening.  Faces of other people his body attacked emerged in the darkness surrounding the bed.  He noticed that they were all staring at him.  He heard their voices, but no words were audible enough for him to hear what they were saying.  It was like a quiet mumble of voices in a library.

He awoke terrified at what his body has done over the years.  He still tasted the iron in his mouth and felt meat in his cheek.  He chomped down and tasted the sweet flesh that he tasted in his dream.  The night was still dark and he struggled to understand what happened.  He slowly felt the weight of something in his hands and focused his eyes on what he was holding.  A young woman was mostly bone from her neck down to her stomach.  The virus denied this one, and he dropped the almost hollow cadaver and stood up and felt the weight of a feast in his gut.  He wiped the blood from his mouth and noticed a campsite nearby and blood leading from the body of the woman to the sleeping bag hanging out of the small tent.  He was horrified at what his body was doing as his mind slept.  He began to scream from the sheer frustration and unending nightmare he was living in.  He released a terrifying raspy howl that carried for miles and caused the entire forest to go silent.  It was a sound he had never heard before and it frightened him that it came from his own body.  He felt a small draw to an alpha miles away and resisted again.  He travelled in the opposite direction of the pull.  He heard and felt the flesh slosh around in his gut as he walked.  The weight of it caused his balance to be offset and he waddled a bit as he walked.  He hunched over and it wasn’t as noticeable, plus the muscle tension lessoned as he started to move like the Azrael once more.  He thought that he would continue walking like this only until the meal inside his stomach digested.

As daylight came he began to fully articulate his body and started to move with more ease.  When the flesh fully digested within his belly he could feel the adrenaline coursing throughout his body.  His muscles throbbed and he felt compelled to run.  So he did.  He sprinted with ease and without exhaustion away from the occasional pull from an alpha.  The woods cleared and a large house revealed itself to him beyond an empty field.  The day slowly began to fade as night was taking over.  Randall started to finally feel fatigue and hunger.  He hoped there were no people in the house.  He didn’t know if he could control his desire to eat.  A faint smell of human flesh entered his nose.  No, he had to leave.

A strange sound of something familiar exited the house along with a familiar sound, a very familiar sound of someone screaming.  It excited him and pulled him harder than the pull to an alpha ever had.  He moved forward and listened.  The screams continued, but behind that sound strange rhythmic beats thumped and caused the windows of the house to vibrate.  It was music.  His heartbeat matched the tempo of the beat and he began to drool as the screams continued to stimulate the compulsion to eat.  He reached a window that allowed him to see inside and saw nothing.  He continued to watch waiting for someone to walk passed.  The screams sedated and he watched as two humans exit a room and walked passed naked and holding and kissing each other.  Not screams of pain, but lust. He could smell the fluids and pheromones of sex in the air and his stomach growled.  He exited the window and began to walk away.  However, the long empty field provided not much cover and the man inside saw Randall walking away as Azrael walk and put pants on while grabbing his shotgun. 

Randall heard a small clicking sound and a waft of human skin and turned.  A blinding flash and intense pain entered his mind.  A primal instinct to attack took over and before he knew it he was on top of the man ripping into his flesh.  The taste of the meat satisfied his appetite and he continued to eat.  The aroma and taste of the man changed and he ceased his attack.  He sat up with a mouthful of neck meat; blood splattered all over his face, looked up and found the woman on the steps horrified.  She was wearing a robe that blew open from a breeze that reached Randall soon after.  He could smell her sweet sweat and tasted her fear in the air.  His body started to excite and began to lunge towards the woman.  He fought the urge and pulled back.  It strained his mind heavily and he continued to fight the sensation to eat this woman.  His heartbeat tripled its speed and his veins throbbed but he remained hovered over the man’s corpse.  The draw was enormous and he could feel his mind losing.  He finally urged his body to move.  He stepped backwards slowly still keeping her gaze.  With each step, he had to enforce his will to stop his primal instinct to lunge.  He took three full steps away and turned his back to the woman.  The man awoke.  His eyes grew wild and he twitched.  He sat up violently and sniffed the air.  Randall continued to walk away with exhausting effort and seconds later he heard a scream.

Giselle’s Discovery

Sunrise came as usual, illuminating the landscape of the small country town northwest of Chicago.  Mount Carroll was a historical community, where Giselle grew up.  It held a special place in her heart and she visited it often.  The husk of Hotel Glenview glowed dark orange as the sun began to kiss its surface when it emerged into the sky.  The cobblestone road of the business district had tufts of grass pushing through the cracks.  The windows and glass doors of some of the structures were broken through and its interior had been severely punished by the harsh winters of the past years.  The wildlife slowly began to claim ownership of the town and Giselle found the occasional coyote or deer roaming between buildings.  The eerie Raven’s Grin Inn now became almost completely entangled in vines and the surrounding trees.  The décor of the exterior was lost within a tomb of green vegetation, hiding the entrance to the house.

Jessica Stone, her brother’s recent selection for marriage, travelled with her on this trip.  This was wife number three, no four, for her brother.  Not that they were all getting eaten or turned into zombies but because her brother wasn’t exactly good husband material.  He was attractive and exciting but he was unfaithful and drank a lot.  Alcoholism was the reason why he was no longer a part of the Highwaymen.  Jessica was a pretty girl with long blonde hair and a petite body.  She was naïve, but sweet.  She enjoyed the thrill of a smash and grab robbery of a convenience store under new management, the Azrael.  Her aim with a pistol was spot on, however she is impatient and she hesitates, which is why she wasn’t selected to be a part of a two man recon- scavenging team.  Those missions were often dangerous and involved three to five days of living beyond the Chicago District.  Out there, the Azrael were evolving, learning and hunting their prey.  The Azrael found in rural areas were often slower and quieter.  They conserved their energy for the hunt where people were few and far between.  Many groups found were small herds that could easily overpower a small two man team when caught off-guard.  There was no room for hesitation. 

Giselle spoke of her home town of Mount Carroll often.  Even though her brother Jason was raised by his father in Wheaton, he often visited his mother and younger sister in the summer.  Their parents divorced when she was four and Jason was eight due to incompatibility, which was true.  Her father was a drunk and cheated on their mother several times.  She stayed the first few times for the children, but his thirst for Jack and lust for the ladies eventually caused the divorce.  Her mother remarried and remained married to Austin Johnson until his death.  He treated her mother good and kept her happy.  He adopted Giselle when she turned nine and she took his last name.  Although tough like a Stone she learned how to think herself out of a situation like her stepfather.  He was the sheriff of Carroll County and always found a way to get people to listen to him, despite their level of intoxication.  He was cool headed and fast on the draw.  Giselle learned how to shoot from him and entered sharpshooting competitions to push her skill.  When she was nineteen her stepfather suffered from a massive heart attack and died before his deputy could get him to the hospital.  She continued to compete and eventually won first place and wished that Austin was around to see it.  After many pushes from her late stepfather’s friends to join the police force she finally applied for the police academy and was in training when the outbreak happened.  The academy continued but she withdrew to take care of her mother.  She didn’t want her to be eaten by one of those things while she was away learning how to protect people.

Jessica was aware of her new husband’s past and of his father’s road to alcoholism.  She was optimistic that Jason had changed and that he just needed a woman like her.  Bless her heart for thinking positive no matter how naïve it sounded.  She begged Giselle to take her to Mount Carroll and through a lot of convincing she was allowed this one trip to her hometown.  It was designed as a weekend trip, kind of like a vacation.  They had enough food and water for three days and a map laid out of all the safe houses on the way. 

As they drove through the town they noticed a lone Azrael had wandered away from its herd.  Maybe it got lost or somehow severed the connection to the herd.  In the beginning when everything happened all at once it was common to find a lone Azrael but in these days it was virtually unheard of to find one by itself.  Once infected they tended to gravitate towards the one who bit them or towards the alpha of the herd.  It was common knowledge among the Highwaymen and a discovery like this was a gem to find.

“Can I shoot it?”  Jessica asked excited to find something more than old abandoned houses.

“No, this one’s alone.  If we shoot it, a herd may appear that we didn’t see.  The rules are different out here.”  Giselle said instructing Jessica to holster her weapon that was already pointed at the Azrael.  She followed her instructions and put the gun away.

“What now?  Are we going to follow it?”  Jessica asked.

“I don’t know.  Let’s watch it for a bit, see what happens.”  Giselle said taking pictures with a Polaroid camera she found on a scavenging mission last month.  The sound of the camera reminded her of her childhood and it made her smile. 

Within ten minutes Giselle came to the conclusion that this Azrael was in fact alone.  Why was it alone?  What was it doing out here?  As she observed its actions more questions came to mind.  Where did it come from?  When did it last eat?  Who did it last eat?  A girl?  An old man?

“This is boring.  Can’t we just kill it?  I don’t see a herd.”  Jessica asked annoying Giselle.

“No we can’t just kill it.  It’s behaving strangely and it’s my job to find out why.”  Giselle said.

“Let’s go ask it then.”  Jessica sticks her head out of the window of the car.  “Hey Zombie.  What’s the deal?”  She laughed and smiled at Giselle.  Giselle’s face was stiff and her eye was twitching.

“What the hell are you doing Jessica?  This isn’t a game or a joke.  Those things are dangerous.  Reckless behavior gets people killed.”  Giselle said keeping a watchful eye on the lone Azrael now staring at them.  “It’s going to attack soon.  Get ready.”  Giselle continued and removed her pistol from its holster.  Jessica got excited and pulled her pistol out again.  It continued to stare at them and stood upright.

“That’s new.  I’ve never seen them stand that way before.”  Giselle said in response.  It released a terrifying howl that brought chills down Giselle’s back.  Its eyes were focused on them and it sniffed the air.  It stepped forward a bit and released another howl.  It continued to focus on the two women in the car, a focus she’s never seen before on one of them.  However, she underestimated the level of skill the herds of the wild possessed at hunting.  Within seconds an almost fatal mistake was discovered when an Azrael opened Jessica’s door and yanked her out of the car before she could react.  Giselle exited the vehicle quickly and shot a few rounds towards the fleeing Azrael dragging its prize into the trees.  What she didn’t expect was what happened next. 

The lone Azrael tackled the female that dragged Jessica away.  She lost her grip and Jessica rose to her feet and sprinted towards Giselle.  Another Azrael began to chase her and Giselle placed two rounds in its chest knocking it back.  It was too far to risk a headshot so she settled with stopping force instead.  It rose in seconds barely affected by its wounds and began to chase Jessica again.  The lone Azrael grabbed it by its throat and ripped out its trachea.  It released a horrible raspy noise grabbing its throat and rolling around in the dirt.  The female lunged at the lone Azrael but was no match for its speed and power.  It sidestepped the lunge and pushed its head into the dirt and she bit the ground.  It jumped on the female’s back and grabbed it below its jaw with both hands and pulled up.  The snapping of its neck was heard across the field as the flesh tore and the head was removed from its body.  It threw the female’s head at the one grabbing at its throat and released another bloodcurdling howl.  By this time Jessica was already climbing in the car as Giselle watched the Azrael fight amongst themselves.  The lone Azrael had been one of them for quite some time due to its massive muscle development and impressive power.  The other two must have been fresh turners due to their normal human muscle development.  The male was shirtless in jeans and the female was barely wearing a robe.  It was possible that they were turned together by the same Azrael.  Which meant that there could be more out there coming.  The Azrael that killed the other two was a young male, probably in his twenties.  He was wearing heavily worn khaki slacks, black socks worn at the bottom revealing heavily calloused feet.  Its t-shirt was ripped, dirty gray with several blood stains on them.  It turned and looked at Giselle, focused on her face and their eyes met strangely. 

She popped out behind the car and began to speak.

“Can you understand me?”  She hollered across the field.  It just stared at her with no readable expression.

“You saved my friend.  Thank you I just…”  Her voice was cut short by a gunshot.  The Azrael’s head exploded and it dropped to the dirt landing on top of the female.  Another shot quieted the Azrael on the ground grabbing its throat as its skull decorated the dirt nearby.   Four bearded men emerged from the woods with shotguns.

“Finally caught up with Jimmy and Jenny.”  One of the men spoke out loud to his friends wearing a black leather jacket and a nice pair of black cowboy boots.

“Those fuckers are quick.  I told Jimmy to stay closer to town.  Dumbass didn’t listen to shit anyone says.”  Another older man in suspenders spoke spitting on the male Azrael with its throat ripped out.

“You ladies doin’ alright?  You shouldn’t be out this far, these bastards are sneaky out here.”  The man with the black jacket spoke.

“We’re fine.  We had everything under control over here.”  Giselle spoke with confidence.

“Oh really?  It looked like that bastard was about to eat some pretty young girls to me.”  A third skinny bearded man spoke licking his lips.

“You’re lucky we got here when we did.  We were tracking these two for miles.  Looked like this one here turned them and they found you.”  The man with the leather coat spoke pointing his shotgun towards the black Azrael.

“Actually you didn’t save us.  That Azrael you shot first did.  He killed…”  Jessica spoke up through the car window but Giselle interrupted her.

“He killed those two and you saved us.  She’s going through shock right now.”  Giselle interrupted.

“But, that’s not…”  Jessica looked at Giselle confused.

“That’s exactly what happened Sweetie.  We need to thank these men and be back on our way.”  Giselle said looking at Jessica with a stern face.

“I don’t understand what…”  Jessica was slow to catch on to what Giselle was pitching.  Giselle knew that these men could be more dangerous than the Azrael.  Also they were outnumbered and possibly outgunned if they let the men get too close to the car.

“Yeah, why don’t you come thank us for our service?”  The skinny bearded man said grabbing at his crotch.  The others smiled and nodded with approval.

“Thank you for saving us.  We really must get going.”  Jessica said finally understanding what Giselle was fearful of.

“Yes, we are grateful for what you did here.  Here, take this extra food we have.  We will leave it here and we will be on our way.”  Giselle said with a smile slowly moving towards the front driver’s side door and opened it.

“Food?  We don’t want your food woman.”  The fourth man finally spoke stepping forward cocking his shotgun.  He was larger than the others in height and in girth.

“Does it look like we need to eat?  Look at Billy, he’s been eating pretty good.” The skinny man said laughing.

“Shut the fuck up Curtis, Billy’s sensitive about his weight.”  The man with the black leather coat said.

“I didn’t mean nothin’ by it Stevie.  It’s just these women are offerin’ up food and we don’t want food.”  The skinny man said.

“What else do you want if our food isn’t good enough for you?”  Jessica asked a stupid question.  The four men smiled revealing poorly maintained teeth.

“I think your friend knows exactly what we want and it ain’t your food.”  The large man said winking at Giselle.

“Lock the door and duck down when I say.”  Giselle whispered to Jessica.  She hopped in the car and attempted to start it. “Now Jessica.”  She yelled and Jessica ducked.

“Now hold up little lady.”  The large bearded man said as he unloaded two buck shots at the car, aiming for the hood.  The armor on the side of the car absorbed most of the spray and the rest broke through the windows and deflated the front passenger tire.  Giselle got the car started and attempted to drive off.  The others fired their shotguns as well and ball bearings were breezing past Giselle’s head while more struck the front and rear tires.  The armor at the front of the car wasn’t as reinforced as the doors and in seconds the car began to sputter and it turned off.

“No, no no.  Not now.”  Giselle screamed striking the steering wheel.  Jessica was still hiding and was shaking.

“Thought you’d get away without thankin’ us?”  Stevie said as he grabbed and shifted his crotch.  The skinny man smiled.

“The blonde one’s mine.”  Curtis said with excitement.

“They’re both mine.”  Billy said knocking Curtis to the ground.

“Aww, I always get sloppy seconds.”  Curtis got up kicking the dirt.