The Bomb and the Cage: Doree Anne (9 page)

“Well if I had I’d still be sitting on my ass in medical! Can I go back to getting out?” 

“Yeah, I could use a hand. The name’s Ted Bryant, what’s yours?”

“Carlos Mendez. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I covered Carlos as he finished cutting through the fence. I could tell it wasn’t easy; the bolt cutters must have been dull. However, Carlos knew the trick to get through a fence. He snipped one of the pieces towards the top then followed that piece down to the bottom and cut it there. He grasped the metal strand in the middle and pulled with everything he had until it came out. He pulled the fence apart, stepped through, and then pulled it back behind him to hide the hole.

Chapter 19

09/18/2004 0950 Hours

Officer Ted Bryant

It would have been easy to find the generator by myself. However, it was nice to have someone who worked at the prison with me. We pulled up to the generator and it was silent. We fueled it up and pulled a lever on the side of it. The engine roared to life.

“We should be good, but I don’t know for how long.” Carlos said while walking back to my car with me. “What did you need the generator running for? You never told me.”

“I’m trying to get the numbers of the supervisor’s cell phones. I need to make contact with them so that we can make a game plan.”

“Well I’m glad you have faith that this is all going to work out, because I sure don’t. Have you even seen those things? They are like zombies from the horror movies. They don’t just kill you, they eat you, and they make you one of them!”

“I’ve killed one of them today. However, I don’t know yet if this is an isolated incident or not. Until we find out we need to restore order here.”

“I was trying to get the power on so I could get the control room sergeant out. I’m sure he would have the numbers you need. Only problem is that place is crawling with those things, those
Biters.”

“
Biters,
I like that, pretty much sums it up.” I looked around a moment, collecting my thoughts. “Okay, let’s get him out.”

We drove around to the front and there must have been forty
Biters
swarming around what was once the parking lot. This was not going to work. We couldn’t even get close to the gate from here.

“Let’s go back to where I met you at Ted. We can take the fenced walkway there. It’s got to be safer.”

“Okay, but we need to make a pit stop at the back tower. I’ve got some more weapons there.”

I started to do a U-turn when a few of the
Biters
saw me and began running towards the car. This is that moment when things start to fall apart. The car stalled. I turned the key and
nothing
. I looked up to see a large group of
Biters
within several feet of us.

“Come on! Start!” I turned the key again and this time it roared to life. I slammed on the gas pedal just as the first of the group made it to us. The tires screeched and I felt the rear wheel drive propel me forward, straight into an oak tree that hugged the road. The
impact
slammed my head into the steering wheel hard and for a slight second everything went white but I hadn’t lost consciousness. Carlos got out of the car. He fired four shots, which took out three of the
Biters
that were the closest to us. .

I tried to start the car but this was it for it. I got out and joined Carlos as he was backing up while reloading his revolver. There were more of the
Biters
running now. I fired my shotgun at the group and two of them fell.

“We need to fall back to the tower!”

I ran behind Carlos, turning every few second to shoot at them
.
There must have been twenty of them now. One of the
Biters
was just about to grab me. I aimed the shotgun at its head with one hand, pulled the trigger, and it swatted the barrel down. The shot fired into the middle of its chest ripping the flesh inwards forming a hole that you could put your fist through. It fell back and to the ground. I went to fire my shotgun again and it was empty.

I couldn’t tell if shooting them was doing any good. Each time I fired it, it seemed more joined in the pursuit, so I stopped firing and just ran.

When we came around the bend, we could see the tower. Gus was standing outside. I prayed that he took a deep breath before he depressed the trigger. That he would make sure that his shot hit his target and not us. Time stopped for a moment when he took his first shot. The bullet whizzed between Carlos and I, It struck one of the bitters. Carlos waved his hands in the air.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” Carlos yelled and I joined him. It was pointless for Gus to engage the bitters behind us, there was so many, too many and the risk of him hitting one us was just too high.

We were twenty yards from the tower and Gus lowered the bucket with the key for us. I grabbed it and opened the door as the
Biters
were within just a few yards from us. Carlos ran inside and I pulled the door shut just a half second too late. One of the
Biters
was able to get their hand in before it closed. I threw my body weight against it and Carlos leaned up against the wall and fired a shot at whatever was keeping the door from closing. I opened the door a little and Carlos shoved the arm back outside.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Wow that was a close call. For a moment I didn't think we were going to live to tell this story.”

“You aren’t kidding.” We went up to the top where Gus was pacing back and forth.

“Yaw sure did give me a scare. I didn’t think you were going to make it.

“Neither did I.” I said, then smiled at Gus and patted him on the back. I looked over the ledge and seen that some of the
Biters
were circling the tower while others were scratching at the door. They didn’t appear to have any fine motor skills, just the basic carnal motions.

“Gus try the rear gate now.” He pushed the red button and the gate came to life. It rolled open and some of the
Biters
ran to it.

“So its noise that attracts them.”  I didn’t have much of a plan yet. However using this new knowledge of sound, we might be able to lure all the
Biters
into the back gate area and secure them there. The back gate sally port was more than large enough for the
Biters
back here. I didn’t know if it would be large enough for all of the
Biters
at the front gate but we would find out.

Chapter 20

09/18/2004 0950 Hours

Sgt. John Williams

When the power came back on you could hear the cheers coming from the wing. I looked down the wing and could fully see the gore from the four men murdered. It was a
sad
sight to see a brother lying dead with his intestines ripped out. The others were child molesters and, if I could kill them a third time, I would do it smiling.

I walked the wing taking a good look in each cell. We had missed some of the
Gray Eyes
. I didn’t know how it was possible, but it had happened.
How I could have secured one of them in a cell without knowing
it? I wrote down on a piece of paper cells
three
,
seven
, and
thirty-one
. Those cells contained
Gray Eyes
, two in each. I went up to the control room where Jacobs was.

“We have
Six Gray Eyes
in cells
three
,
seven
, and
thirty-one
.” Jacobs smiled.

“So how do you feel about taking care of the rest of our trash? We could pop a
Gray Eye
cell, and then pop theirs.”

“I like your thinking Jacobs. Let’s go serve some justice.”

With the power back on, I didn’t have to go on the wing to talk to them, I could use the intercom system. I depressed the microphone button.

“Okay gentlemen, today is judgment day. It won’t take long for you to figure out what I mean.” I pressed a button on my panel and cell three opened. The
Gray Eyes
inside came out and ran in opposite directions as if they knew my plan. I opened cell one and eight and watched the
Gray
Eyes
go into the cells. I closed the cells, locking them inside. I turned on the microphone on the wing speakers and I could hear the blood curling screams from inside the cells. I repeated it for cell
thirty-one
and cells
thirty-four
and
thirty-seven
. When I was done, I now had zero child molesters alive.
If Satan sent his demons to Earth and we used them for the good of humanity were they still demons?

I waited a good ten minutes going over the roaster before I addressed the wing again making sure that I had gotten rid of all those nasty individuals. I depressed the microphone button again.

“Okay gentlemen, now that business is over. Do you understand what I meant by judgment time? Now if anyone wants to act up remember than I have the power to control life and death. Also, you had better start praying that the power doesn’t go back out before we figure out what’s going on around here. Cell two report to the officer station.” I opened the cell door and a single inmate came out and ran to the wing exit door. I pressed the unlock button on the control panel and heard it buzz open. A moment later, he entered the officer station.

The inmate’s name was
Joseph Sparring;
he was a twenty eight year old black man from
South Florida
. He was in prison for armed robbery and had done most of the past three years in the box. None of the disciplinary reports he received were for disrespect to officers; they were all for fighting other inmates.

“Yes sir, Sergeant Williams.”

“I need you to pick out an inmate to do some recon for us, someone who is fast and trustworthy. We need someone to run over to the inmate canteen and turn on the television in there and find out what’s going on outside.”

“Yes sir, cell fifty-five has
Robby
Victor in it and he’s the fastest in the unit hands down. I used to play flag football with him, made me a lot of commissary with those legs of his.”

“Okay, we’ll see how fast he is soon enough.” I said.

Chapter 21

09/18/2004 0950 Hours

Daniel

Had I over slept again
?
When you own your own business is there really ever a thing such as over sleeping
? I own a barbershop in the beautiful town of
Leefield
, oldest in town, not including salons because they just plain weren’t the same thing. I’ve been cutting hair for twenty years out of my wonderful forty-three years on this Earth. My shop,
Good News Cuts
, has been very blessed with loyal customers that never woke up too early with the exception of Saturday. This being Saturday I knew I was going to be in some trouble, but nothing too serious.

I took a quick shower while I whistled the beat of
This little light of mine
by
Harry Dixon Loes
. Today felt like a shirt and tie kind of day. Nothing too fancy, it was
Saturday
not
Sunday
.

I was born and raised in
Leefield
, and was raised
right
in a family of God fearing Christians. I picked out a white long sleeve dress shirt and rolled the sleeves up, and completed it with a burgundy tie. I put on a pair of nice dark denim jeans and a very comfortable pair of white tennis shoes.              

I was late but breakfast was still the most important meal of the day. I cooked two slices of bacon with two eggs over easy cooked right in the bacon grease. Once the eggs where on my plate I lightly toasted two slices of marble bread and poured a glass of extra pulp orange juice.  I sat down at my kitchen table said grace and enjoyed my meal savoring each bite until there were no bites to savor. I was thankful that I could indulge in bacon and its offspring,
the grease
, for my eggs. I had always exercised and watched my weight; I hoped to one day look back at my long life and be proud that I lived it to the fullest.              

I left my home at ten thirty. When I started my car the normal easy listening music from now and yesterdays that should have greeted me were replaced by a man talking who sounded stern and important. I pit in a gospel CD I had picked up from one of the local revivals.

There wasn’t any traffic on my way to work.
Was there ever any traffic
? I only lived about three blocks from my shop. I was so close that I used to ride a bicycle, a red beach cruiser that had a chrome basket and matching chrome fenders, to and from work until one day last summer, when it was stolen off my porch. That’s the price you pay for having nice things and trust. God provided me with it and God can take it away. . I just hoped whoever had taken it didn’t spray paint it and ruin the wonderful paint and chrome. I imagine that it ended up being painted an ugly color to hide the fact that it was stolen.

My business was on
Main Street
in between two other businesses, one a music store and the other a bookstore. I parked around back, got out, and walked to the front of my store. Everything was so quiet and there was this strange smell in the air, as if something was burning. There was this strange sensation, heavy and weighed on me as I walked around the building to my store. I felt like I had almost expected to see something
horrifying
, on the other side. I had even noticed that my walk had become fast, so fast in fact that if I hadn’t stopped myself I’d had been jogging. Around the corner, there was nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary, except I was late and there was no one standing in front of my shop waiting.

Chapter 22

09/18/2004 1040 Hours

David