The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) (12 page)

The next day, they awake at four o’clock, eat a hearty breakfast, gather their supplies for the day, weapons, gas masks, food, water, and get ready for their departure. Peter finishes getting on his combat gear and checks his sniper rifle for the third time, trying not to show the group how much his hands are shaking. After checking communications, they all nod that they are ready, so they leave the bunker, walk upstairs, and open the basement door.

Dave takes point. He crouches down on one knee and scans the kitchen, listening for any signs of an intruder. He knows that the house has a security system that would alarm them of anyone who entered the house, but he’s not taking any chances. Jason taps him on the shoulder, and they move into separate rooms, clearing the living room and dining room and the entire first floor. Simon and Peter swiftly walk up to the second floor and clear the bedrooms. They scan the outside from the first and second floor windows with no signs of life outside.

They enter the garage and load their gear in the Toyota Tundra king cab pickup truck. Simon gets behind the wheel as Jason grabs shotgun. Kelly and Peter get in the back seat, and Dave jumps in the truck bed, weapon in hand. Simon starts the engine with relief of the sight of a full tank of gas, thankful that he had just filled it up a couple of days before the incident. He presses the garage door button. While the garage door opens slowly, Dave is crouched in the truck bed with his weapon pointed at the opening door. Dave taps on the window and gives the thumbs up, and the pickup slowly rolls out of the garage and onto the driveway. Simon closes the garage door as Dave scans both directions of the street. No visible threats are in sight.

They slowly drive down the street without headlights on, not wanting to attract any unnecessary attention, just using the dim light of the dawning sun to light their way. As they leave the neighborhood, the scene quickly changes to that of car accidents at intersections and dead bodies with their heads blown off on the sides and middle of the roads.

There are screams in the distance, which makes everyone in the car tense and on edge. Their hopes of this being easy and without problems are slowly fading. Gunshots not too far off send shivers up their spines, a little too close for comfort.

They finally arrive at the grocery store and park just inside the tree line roughly one hundred and fifty feet from the front of the store. Simon shuts off the truck as Dave continues to scan the surrounds from the back of the truck. Jason gets out and looks around, followed by Simon, then Kelly and Peter. They move to the edge of the tree line, and everyone hits the dirt and lies on the ground, surveying the situation.

Simon lifts his head up and looks at everyone and whispers, “Alright, from here on out Dave has tactical command, so he is in charge. Now, everyone just stick to the plan, and hopefully things should go as smooth as possible. Things seem pretty quiet around here, so let’s keep it that way; no shots unless we have to as we don’t want to attract anyone or anything close by. Is everyone clear on their duties?”

Everyone replies with a “copy” and a nod.

“Alright then, Kelly, whatever you do, do not turn around to see what’s going on unless it’s an emergency. You watch my son’s back, and he’ll take care of the rest. Is that clear?”

Kelly replies with another “copy” and turns to face the opposite direction, rifle up and eyes already scanning their backdrop.

Simon gives a quick nod and turns back to Dave. “Alright, buddy, you have command; we move out on your order.”

Dave nods and gets up on one knee and takes one last look. Satisfied with what he sees, he whispers on the radio to move out. All three men simultaneously stand up and move toward the grocery store with Dave at point, followed by Jason and then Simon. They move quickly in the dim light with weapons up and while looking through their sights. They move in close formation as quietly as possible, all while scanning the parking lot for any signs of life. Suddenly, Dave stops and puts up the hold sign. They all crouch down next to a group of cars.

              “Contact, fifty yards at two o’clock. I’ve got what appears to be a middle-aged male in between some cars. Do you copy the visual?”

Jason answers, “Copy. I see him. He doesn’t look right in the head. He looks the same as the ones we came in contact with on the way to Simon’s house, and he’s got blood all over him.”

Simon looks though his scope and fears the worst. He knows what he’s looking at; he’s seen it before. There’s no question in his mind what he’s looking at: the first infected person he’s seen on his own soil.

Dave shoulders his weapon, pulls out his knife, and looks back at his brother and Simon. “Alright, this infected needs to be taken out. We cannot leave this threat to linger. If it makes noise, it could attract more of them to us. Jason, you’re on me. Simon, you keep that thing in your sights, and only pull the trigger if you have to. And that goes for you too, Peter. Do you copy? Do you see what we’re looking at?”

Peter whispers “copy” in the radio and pulls the slide back on his rifle, loading a bullet in the chamber.

Dave moves through the cars crouched down with Jason right behind him. As they get close to the man, they notice a horrid smell and stop for a second. They look at each other and move into position on the other side of the car, opposite the infected. Dave looks back at Jason and gives a quick nod before he moves around to the back of the car. Dave peers around the side of the car to get a better look at the man just standing there and swaying back and forth, unaware of their presence.

He takes a deep breath and moves out from the back of the car and right up behind the man. He slits his throat from ear to ear. The man tries to make a sound, but only a gurgling sound comes out. It turns and lunges at Dave, who is already stepping back, obviously surprised that it’s coming at him. He takes another step back, raises his knife, and plunges it into the forehead of the man, bringing it to its knees. Blood gushes from his neck and head.

Dave lets go of his knife and steps back just as the man falls to the ground. He quickly pulls his rifle around and points it at the dying man. Jason gets off his one knee and keeps his rifle trained on the man on the ground as he moves toward them.

Dave turns to look back at his brother and gives a nod. “Threat eliminated. Situation secure. Simon, move up to our position. Peter, what’s our sit rep? How’s it look from your view?”

              Peter says “clear” on the radio, and then so does Kelly.

Simon moves up behind Dave and Jason and taps them both on the shoulders just as Dave kicks over the body. He puts his boot on the man’s face and slowly pulls the knife out of his head.

Simon kneels down to study the dead corpse. “Look at that. His stomach is torn open, and part of his intestines is falling out. It looks like this wound is a couple days old; I wonder if he was attacked by or was an incipient? Either way, he was pretty much already dead, well at least partially dead.”

Dave wipes his knife off on the man’s pants and nods to Simon. “Whatever it was, it’s dead now. Let’s keep moving.”

They get back into formation and move again toward the front of the store. The sun is slowly coming up over the horizon, progressively lighting their way. They finally reach the store’s main entrance and split up, hugging the wall on either side of the open doors. They wait for a couple of minutes, listening for any signs of life, and once satisfied, Dave gives the signal and enters the dark grocery store, followed by Jason and Simon. 

It’s almost completely dark inside; only the light from the doorway casts a faint glow across the shiny linoleum floor. They all turn on their rifle-attached tactical lights and move toward the back of the store. With surprisingly more items still on the shelves than expected, Simon gives a sigh of relief. When they reach the rear of the store and enter the back stockroom, they are met with the same reassuring darkness and silence, so they crouch down in a tight circle, shouldering their assault rifles.

Dave takes a swig from his canteen and hands it to his brother. “Alright, things seem nice and quiet for now. But who knows how long that will last? Let’s make this as quick as possible. Pete, how we lookin’ from your eyes?”

Peter scans the area and looks back at Kelly, who gives a thumbs up. “Everything’s quiet out here. I’d say you guys got a green light.”

Dave takes his canteen from Simon and looks at his watch. “Copy that. Be prepared to bring the truck around in the next twenty minutes. I don’t want to spend any more time than that in here. If everyone copies, let’s move out.”

Everyone says “copy” on the radio, and the three men leave the stockroom and move to the front of the store, grabbing grocery carts and entering the canned food section first. They fill a cart with as much canned food items as they can fit and move on to the next aisle, which contains pastas and sauces. They then load up a cart with as much grain, beans, and other non-perishable foods as they can fit. After filling up another cart with still-fresh perishable foods, they stock the last cart with bottled water.

“Alright, Pete and Kelly, check the area, and as soon as it’s clear, pull the truck around the back of the store. We’ll be waiting out back for you.”

Peter acknowledges Dave on the radio and checks the area before he and Kelly move toward the truck. As they get closer to the truck, they hear movement in the trees no more than twenty feet away. They both freeze.

Peter gets to one knee to peer through his scope while trying to identify the sound. “Kelly, I know you heard that. Do you see what it was that made that sound?”

Kelly frantically looks around, trying desperately to see what it was. Out of nowhere a woman no more than twenty years old runs straight for the two of them faster than humanly possible.

Kelly freezes with fear as Peter loses his balance from being startled by the woman heading straight for them, but he catches himself from falling over with his hand. Kelly screams “Help!” into the radio while fumbling with her rifle.

The crazy woman lunges at Peter, screaming her lungs out. Peter puts his rifle up just as she hits him with all her force. They tumble to the ground with the woman on top of Peter. She bites in the air less than a foot from Peter’s face. He screams.

              “Help! Help! Get her off of me! Get her off of me!”

Not a second later, Kelly puts the butt end of her rifle straight into the women’s head, knocking her off Peter. She swings her rifle around and pulls the trigger three times, hitting the woman in the face twice and sending the last bullet over her head, which has now exploded onto a tree.

Dave sprints up to them and is immediately followed by Jason and Simon. Dave yells, “What the hell happened? Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?” He runs over to the headless woman to make sure she’s dead. Jason grabs Kelly, who is still holding her rifle up and pointing it at the woman.

Simon kneels down and grabs Peter and frantically checks him for wounds. “Is that your blood? Are you hurt? Is that your blood!”

Peter gets off the ground, pushing his dad’s hands away. “No, it’s not mine. I’m fine. Kelly shot that thing, and it’s that thing’s blood.”

Simon quickly pulls out a water bottle to wash the blood off his son’s skin.

“Dad! I said I’m fine. Please stop.”

“We don’t know how the infection can be transferred, so make sure there’s no blood on your skin!”

Dave shoulders his rifle and interrupts, “He’s right, listen to your dad. And what the hell happened out here? Where did she come from?”

Kelly finally puts her rifle down but is still shaking. “That thing came out of nowhere. We were heading back to the truck when she jumped out of the bushes and lunged at Peter. I had no choice but to shoot her; it all happened so fast. I’ve never seen a human being look like that or move like that. That thing wasn’t human, that look in her eye, just crazy beyond belief!”

Jason grabs his wife and hugs her. “I’m just glad you guys are alright. When we heard you over the radio, we didn’t know what to think.”

Dave searches the area for anyone else and runs back over to the group. “Alright, people, I’m glad no one’s hurt, but we need to move out now and fast. If there is anyone in the area they definitely heard the gunshots. Simon, you, your son, and Kelly drive the truck around back. Jason and I will get the carts and meet you back there, and let’s hurry the hell up.”

Dave looks at his brother and then jogs toward the store, still scanning through his sights. Jason puts his hand on Peter’s shoulder and then runs after his brother. The rest of the group jump into the truck, and Simon hits the gas, spraying dirt, rocks, and sticks out from under the tires. He drives out of the woods and around the back of the store.

As Dave and Jason hit the front of the store, they hear the sound of metal being crushed and glass breaking in the distance. They freeze, trying to determine where it came from but with no luck. They rush into the store and grab the carts as fast as they can.              

They wheel the carts into the back storage area and to the loading dock. The door next to the dock swings open, and Simon is there, rifle up and pointing at them. Lowering his gun, he grabs a cart and pulls it out into the alley and starts throwing the supplies into the truck bed, followed by Dave and Jason doing the same and soon joined by Peter. With the truck idling, Kelly sits behind the wheel, turning her head back and forth, looking out every window and checking every mirror. They hear more glass breaking, which is followed by a loud roar of an engine no more than a hundred yards away. The guys freeze, look at each other, look down the alley, and then continue loading the truck.