Chapter Forty-Eight
Richard crouched in front of Brenner’s third-story window. He had an eagle’s-eye view of the courtyard and the feasting monsters.
They don’t know what’s about to hit them.
He aimed the tear gun canister, and performing a gut check, pulled the trigger.
“Fire one!”
Phooop!
The canister detonated upon ground impact, shedding blinding smoke.
“Fire two!”
“Fire three!”
“Fire four!
“Fire five!”
Phoop! Phoop! Phoop! Phoop!
The courtyard was obscured in billowing clouds of thick white.
Now the serious firepower.
He hurled three incendiary grenades, chucking them like baseballs. The ground below was animated with flying sparks, wildfire breaking out as bursts of explosions rocked the courtyard. Chunks of concrete and rock spit forth so high they smacked near his window, pelting the building.
Richard couldn’t lug the M-60, so he raised it up to the window and fired at will.
Thup-thack-thup-thack-thup-thack-thup-thack-thup-thack-thup-thack.
The belt ammunition expelled ninety rounds a minute. Behind the veil of white, random pockets of blood burst. Limbs dislocated from bodies, literally blasted off. The fog masked the majority of the damage, though the cacophony of shrieks and bodies dropping encouraged him to keep pulling back the trigger.
Going dry, he changed belts and continued the sniper rampage. He didn’t have much time to run. Hordes of them were already charging into the building hell bent to snuff the shooter.
The new belt went dry after minutes of firing. He charged out of the room carrying the backpack and an M-16 in each hand. He was armed with two incendiary grenades and three more shots of tear gas. He strapped on the gas mask, knowing what he had to do.
First he shot a can of tear gas down the hall.
Phoop!
The elevator was ticking up to the third floor. At the fire exit, he could hear numerous feet pounding to reach him. In seconds, they’d arrive.
The stairs are a trap. But so is the elevator.
I don’t have a choice here!
He raced through the haze of smoke. He crouched beside the elevator, waiting for it to open.
Ding.
The monsters filtered out, a pack of wolves spewing forth. They charged into the smoke, mewling, barking, bashing and stomping in search of him.
Through the smoke, he easily dodged the wolves and sprinted to the elevator. He struck the button for the ground floor. The almond slits turned to him, shining the amber orange of a hoot owl’s. They charged back at him. He opened fire. The M-16 blasted off muzzles, destroying limbs and legs, and turned their bodies into red mush. Before the elevator could close, a face stuck into the elevator. Warm froth flew at Richard as the beast gnashed its teeth and tried to reach deeper into the elevator. It was about to pull the doors open when Richard stuck the gun muzzle into its mouth and unleashed a rip-roaring tide of ammunition. The eyes lit up a caustic yellow, the back of the head erupting into soft pieces.
He kicked the corpse out and shouted, “Stay the fuck out!”
The door closed. He sagged against the backmost wall, out of breath. Wolf blood dripped down the muzzle of the M-16.
He removed another grenade from his backpack and reloaded a fresh clip into the M-16. He was a sitting duck, he thought. If they breached the elevator’s threshold, he was as good as dead.
That’s why he gasped when the elevator stopped on level two.
“Shit!”
He unstrapped the second M-16 and helmed a machine gun in each hand. He placed the grenade between his feet, thinking of a strange plan.
Ding.
He fumbled to clutch both guns and knelt into firing position. The doors opened. His fingers arched over both triggers.
Long, white, slender fingers matched with three-inch nails pushed the doors open sooner. The green bars in oil-black eyes and the red bars in oil-black eyes both flashed as male and female vampires pushed, shoved and combated each other in their bloodlust to devour him.
He was stunned at the show of violence the first onslaught of machine gun fire accomplished. Jaws were unhinged and rendered into brittle pieces. Noses were removed, vanishing at blink’s speed, the nasal cavities broken well beyond the skull, their faces literally evaporating into pink mist and ribbons of singed flesh. Heads were removed from necks after being punctured by dozens of shots, the arteries spitting precious loads of red onto their brethren.
Again, the guns went dry. He scrambled to kick, lift, heave, drag and clear the way so the elevator could close unobstructed.
A new wave was coming in, most of them smart enough to seek cover and wait for his ammunition to be exhausted.
He hurled the grenade wedged between his feet after pulling the pin. It rolled down the hallway, and on the fourth bounce, a vampire picked it up. It was about to throw it back his way when the hot potato combusted, setting three-quarters of the hallway ablaze.
Ka-boom!
Bodies were shot up against the wall, literally heaved and chopped up by shrapnel and pure force. A screen of blue-gray smoke was coming in at him.
The elevator was closing.
Reloaded, he had filled the elevator with shell casings, surrounding him like golden casualties. Taking stock of his weapons, he was on his final clip with each gun. He wouldn’t have enough firepower to endure another fleet on the floor below. He gazed down the hall, the vampires wading through fires and limp corpses to reach him again. He didn’t learn why the elevator hadn’t closed until he peered down at the random zombie head blocking the doors. The doors kept trying to breach the obstruction, but they couldn’t break the head.
He kicked at it, trying to dislodge it.
“Hraaaaaaaah!” A female vampire stuck her face into the elevator. Pure reaction, he punched her on the nose and sent her reeling backward into a circle of fire. She thrashed, shrieking, mewling, melting and disintegrating. More of the charred vampires recovered from the damage. They ambled to the elevator in staggering numbers.
He backed up and punted the zombie’s head from the ground. His foot went through the face and out the back, but the skull remained wedged in place. He wriggled his foot, shaking off the brains and squelched eyeballs. “Damn you! Damn you! Goddamn you!”
He stamped and squashed the pieces through the elevator’s slit until the mess was shoved down into the elevator pit.
The elevator closed abruptly.
Make a plan.
When those doors open, you run like hell and mow whatever’s in your path down until you run dry.
The doors opened too soon. Smoke-filled halls met his entrance. He couldn’t spot any monsters, though he could hear them: a light snarl, the clopping of bare feet against tile, the flensing of flesh against bone, and the pitiful call of the dying in agony. He trod carefully, considering every square inch of tile was blood drenched or obstructed by a dead torso. A wolf’s mane was matted in red, eight zombies dismantling the felled creature and enjoying the hearty meal. They didn’t stir as he passed, entranced by the prospects wetting their hands and filling their mouths.
Once dead, they share no allegiance with each other.
He snuck into the courtyard. He crouched on his knees and unzipped his backpack. He shot the rest of the tear gas, blinding his path in new walls of smoke. Stepping out farther, he saw the volleyball court was littered with dead human bodies in the form of ravaged, bloody shells. The swimming pool down the way was pink with blood, many corpses bobbing on the surface, limp and very dead. The storage sheds were on fire, burning to kindling with nobody to put them out. He wondered if anybody in the distance would observe the black smoke carrying up to the sky.
In fifty years, nobody’s happened upon this place. Why would they now?
He could hear the majority of the monsters shuffle about the building, searching for him. They were coming after him, wising up, as wolfish shrieks and high-pitched calls of the vampires warned him of their coming. He ran full force toward the med building, knowing time was short. When he pushed the door, it was locked.
They didn’t fucking unlock it!
He had a key in a twenty -key set, and he began checking them with trembling hands. He spotted the gold key—the only gold key in his collection—and tried it on for size. Luck served him. The door opened, but only partway. It was obstructed by a steel shelf behind the door.
“Clear the way. It’s Richard. It’s me!”
He bashed his shoulder into the door, the shelf sturdily in place. He shoved his body into the small crack and forced himself through. He was halfway and stuck. He turned and could see the line of wolves bounding toward him in the distance. Vampires were on their tails, sprinting closer. The zombies lagged behind, but in due time, they’d swarm the med building.
They weren’t supposed to see me. This is all going to fucking shit!
He removed his backpack and abandoned his guns. This time, he fit through easily. He shoved the shelf and gurneys up against the wall, attempting to re-form the barricade. The second he stepped back, the wild pounding, scratching and punching of the barrier began. Running for the back area, he unlocked the steel-reinforced door and secured it behind him. He ran to the next hatch, ignoring the blood and remains on the way. Richard unlocked the final barrier and secured it behind him. When he climbed down the ladder to meet with the others, the monsters were already beating on that final barrier. It wouldn’t be long before they descended upon all of them.