The Sixth Extinction (Book 4): The Ark (7 page)

21

General Philips

Dartmoor National Park

Princetown

Dartmoor Prison in the Hub Control Room

3:46 PM GMT

T
he General could see, via the bank of monitors, that every major part of the prison’s main wall was breached; creatures were pouring in by the thousands; all called from miles around by some higher, hive mind.

He
just received confirmation that the Tibetan, Cambodian, Canadian, and Mexican pods had been tactically nuked. The Americans had evacuated Groom Lake and had remotely detonated a controlled nuclear device to destroy their pod. The only one remaining was the Madagascan pod – the cause of all the trouble.

The American president had given up waiting, and had approved
complete blanket coverage of thermal nuclear warheads over the two hundred and twenty-two thousand square mile island of Madagascar. All eighteen Ohio-classed ballistic missile submarines had been diverted with their seventeen hundred warheads. It was estimated that it would take two days of nonstop firing to complete the mission. The projected twenty-two million casualties (if that many were still alive) would be chalked up as casualties of war.

The Genera
l was glad one world leader had the balls to do something.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron,
and his cabinet members, were hiding down inside a bunker one hundred feet below the Northwood suburb of London. Normally, it was the control center for th
e
Combined Task Force 345, which was England’s control room for its four Vanguard class submarines. However, it was taken over to keep the British government running.

The Prime Minister and cabinet members, along with their families, were supposed to relocate to The Ark five hours ago. The reason for their delay was unknown, due to not being able to reach the Northwood bunker.

The General did not care if the Prime Minister was dead or alive. In his opinion, Parliament members come and go, but military leaders stay the duration. He had been in the army for almost forty years; he had seen eight different Prime Ministers inside number ten Downing Street. He ran the most important British secret bunker, not them. They would come and take a tour, umming and ahhing about how big and expensive it was. Then they would leave and never come back. They never truly believed they would ever need to use it.

As for the Queen and royal family, within days of the word pandemic being broadcasted, and the boarders being closed, they had all vanished. He had heard rumours that they were on a large luxury yacht in the middle of Loch Lomond in Scotland. They could all drown for all he cared.

The control room was in complete chaos. A live video feed, from the Preparation Area, showed that the creatures had entered the main part of the building and was in the process of killing England’s hopes for future repopulation.

It seemed hopeless.

Soldiers and civil servants were abandoning their posts. It was only a matter of time before the whole complex was overrun.

The General ca
sually walked through the chaos of screaming and crying, and headed to his private office. His attendants had long disappeared.

The General walked around his luxurious office, with walls filled with books, and photos. He sat behind his
large antique desk that once belonged to the Prime Minster, William Pitt the younger.

He stared at a photo of Echo and her mother Jane, who died when Echo was five.

The General pulled open a large bottom drawer and removed a black box. He pressed his thumb against a scanner that clicked and the lid slowly opened.

Outside, in the main control room, people were screaming louder. The creatures had broken in.

Inside the box was a small device with a simple keyhole. The General pulled a chain from around his neck. A key hung from it. Without any rush, the General inserted the key, pushed his thumb against another scanner, and turned the key. A piercing alarm resounded throughout the whole prison.

“T-minus t
wenty minutes,” a robotic female voice announced over the tannoy system, cutting through the alarm.

Explosives positioned around the grounds would level the complex, leaving the underground bunker unaffected.

The General seemed way to calm, as if on the verge of a breakdown. His whole military career was connected to The Ark. Everything he had been working for, for his entire working life, was collapsing around him.

His left eye twitched.

From the same drawer, he then removed a small case. He placed it on the desk. Inside was an injection system – the antidote for the gas. Without fanfare, he picked the device up and forced it into his neck. With a hiss, the fluid was in his system.

The General stood and brushed down his uniform.
While ignoring the screaming on the other side of his office door, he strode to a bookcase and pulled down on a book –
Z Wars
by Max Brooks, which was his idea of ironic, and the bookcase slid open.

Somewhere in the prison, his daughter was fighting for her life. He had to find her and his sister, the only two surviving members of his family, and get them into the bunker.

The General disappeared down a hidden tunnel.

22

Doctor Lazaro and Doctor Hall

Dartmoor National Park

Princetown

The Preparation Area in Dartmoor Prison

3:4
7 PM GMT

M
elanie was back out in the hallway, breathing hard. She felt like she was going to have an anxiety attack. She leaned forward with her hands on her knees.

“This way,” Doctor Hall stated, as he walked across to another door.

Melanie noticed he held a metal, silver, bubble briefcase in his hand. She wondered where it had come from.

He must have snatch
ed it out of the room.

Muffled sounds of screaming and gunshots echoed around the stark white walls. Distant concussive booms vibrated the floor
and walls. The explosions sounded like they were getting closer.

“They’re everywhere!” Melanie muttered.

“Now, now, Doctor Lazaro, let’s not give up so easily.” Doctor Hall swiped his card. The door swished open. The hall was only three meters long and had a lift at the end.

“Shall we?” He held his hand out for her to go first.

“What? Where?” Melanie blurted.

“The safest place in this country – below our feet, underground
.”

“We can’t, have you forgotten about the gas?” Tears of fear ran down Melanie’s cheeks.

“That, midear, will no longer be a problem,” he stated while swinging the briefcase in his hand.

“T-minus twenty minutes,” the speakers announced, as
the alarm rang through the hallway.

“What now?” Melanie
asked.

“
To the bunker. And by the sounds of it, we’d better hurry.”

23

Noah, Red, and the Squad

Dartmoor National Park

Princetown

The Greenhouse Tunnel

3:50 PM GMT

E
aters scrambled over the wall, launching themselves through the air, slashing, and swinging their arms.

One hit Bull in the chest, knocking him backwards
, to land hard on the concrete path. The wind was punched from his lungs, as his arms flew to the sides, releasing the rifle. The back of Bull’s head cracked against the ungiving surface. In his dazed state, he tried to bring his arms up to protect his face, but the creature was just too fast.

So this is how I die!
Bull thought, as the deformed face of an adolescent male, with bulging, bloodshot eyes and a twisted, overstretched maw of a mouth, flew straight at his face.

Bull disappeared under a pile of frenzied naked attackers.
His bloodcurdling scream filled the alleyway, then cut off into a wet gurgling, choking sound.

Coco stood back,
firing at the bodies climbing over the wall.

The Captain and Echo could see what was happening to Bull, but they had problems of their own. Now the fence had collapsed a mass of creatures were surging into the grounds. The soldiers
vanished under the piles of undulating bodies.

“Here!” Noah shouted to Red. He picked up a stone and tossed it through a window of a long snaking tunnel that led to the greenhouse.

While Red used a stick to rake the fragments of glass from the sill, Noah pulled his handgun free and shot a child of about eight in the head.

“Noah!” Red screamed.

Noah turned to find Red already through the window, holding her hands out to him. He ran and dived through.

The tunnel joined the greenhouse with a large building. Ignoring the feeble sided
polythene greenhouse, they sprinted along the tunnel towards the stone building.

Noah could hear the squad outside fighting for their lives. He felt bad for leaving them, but his priority was to protect Red.
Also the alarm ringing, with the robotic countdown sounded ominous. In any movie he had ever seen, a countdown never ended in anything good.

At the end of the tunnel was a thick door. With Red’s help, he swung
it open. The room on the other side held something they were not expecting.

24

Doctor Lazaro, Doctor Hall, Noah, and Red

Dartmoor National Park

Princetown

The Gathering Room

3:51 PM GMT

T
he lift did not go all the way down to The Ark, but stopped in the large Gathering Room, a chamber with a large lift that took all the provisions down to the bunker.

There was no one around. If someone was supposed to be operating the lift, they had obviously run away.

The chamber was cavernous, with walls of shelving holding stacks of pallets. Parked machinery was up against one wall – an industrial hedge trimmer, a large, motorized lawnmower, a mechanical lift for possibly reaching streetlights.

As Melanie followed Doctor Hall towards the large lift platform, a door swung open and two people raced through.

Noah and Red barged through the door. They skidded to a halt, while scanning the room.

Noah noticed two people and raised the handgun.

“We are unarmed,” Melanie shouted, which echoed around the chamber.

Doctor Hall raised the metal briefcase, possibly hoping it would deflect bullets.

It was a standoff for a few seconds until they all realized they were all uninfected.

Noah and Red ran towards the two strangers.

“I recognize you,” Noah stated, looking at Melanie. “You were up to your chest in water, resuscitating a soldier. You left in the helicopter.”

“Naked man!” Melanie said. “Where
are the Captain and the others?” She knew this young man was with them when she was whisked away. If he was here, so should they be.

“They are outside, fighting the creatures. We had to run,” he said, embarrassed at leaving the others.

“We have to hurry,” Doctor Hall stated. He was standing next to a series of buttons on a raised dashboard.

“That’s far enough Doctor,” General Philips said, as he stepped from behind a set of shelving. The General held a gun pointed at the
doctor’s chest.

25

Doctor Lazaro, Doctor Hall, Noah, Red, the Captain, Echo, Coco, and General Philips

Dartmoor National Park

Princetown

The Gathering Room

3:56 PM GMT

“
F
ather! What are you doing?” Echo’s voice stabbed through the silence.

The Captain and Coco followed Echo into the chamber. They
shot their way out of the alleyway, and then jumped through the window Noah smashed. They had to leave Bull’s body behind.

“T-minus ten
minutes!”

“Glad you finally made it, daughter.” The Generals gun did not waver.

“What are you doing?” Echo repeated, taking a few steps closer.

“Lower your gun,”
the Captain said.

“I do not take orders from underlings, Captain.”

“We are all on the same side,” Melanie stated. She was confused as to what was happening.

“Where is Heather?” the General asked.

“She didn’t make it,” Melanie replied.

“I was talking to Doctor Hall.” The Generals grip tightened on the gun.
His left eye twitched.

“What do you
mean; she didn’t make it? Where’s Aunty Heather?” Echo asked. “Uncle Hall?”

“He’s not your uncle, not anymore!” the General screamed.

“The Gathering Room is compromised. She was attacked and killed,” Melanie said softly.

The General coughed, and twisted his neck, making it click. “Pass the case to my daughter, please, Doctor Hall.”

The Captain nodded to Coco, who slowly started to drift over to the right.

“The case, Doctor Hall
.” The Generals voice was cracking. Sweat started to pour down his face. He twisted his neck again.

“It’s over,” Doctor Hall stated. “The base is overrun.
The Adam and Eve Finalist are all dead, or dying.” He let his words hang in the air.

“We can all survive this. In the briefcase is the antidote to the gas. We can all go underground. We can all live on.”

“Not you, Doctor!” The General took another step closer.

“Listen to him,” the Captain said. “Let’s inject ourselves and get underground.”

A smashing sound echoed down the tunnel.

“Too many have died today,” Echo muttered. “Please father.”

“He ruined your aunt’s life. He made her miserable.”

He has a screw
loose;
Melanie reasoned.

“My sister should be going down there, living on, not you!”

“Put the gun down, General,” the Captain said.

“I am tired of your demands,” the General muttered as he swung the gun around and fired a bullet into the Captains chest.