Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Outbreak: Present Day



Darkness consumed him, the entire world around him became obsolete. Adrian LaRouge fell to the ground as his vision clouded over. A warm liquid spilled out across his vest as he slowly shut his eyes, letting out a long sigh. No, his eyes weren’t shut, they were still open. He couldn’t see a thing, and could barely feel anything except for an immense pain in his chest. His hair became matted with mud as he laid his head back in a puddle, his signature aviators sliding off his face and splashing lightly in the puddle.

Taking in a shallow breath caused LaRouge to cough violently, and more warm liquid flowed out. Was that rain? He blinked several times as he painfully reached down and touched is chest. Oh, that’s right. He’d been shot twice. He felt a slight warmth on his fingers as he pulled his hand away. Raising his hand to the sky he rubbed his fingers together, letting the rain wash away the blood.

Well Adrian, this is it. A slight smile formed on his face as he lowered his hand. He’d lived a good, honest life. Always in it for the people. Well, maybe not. Adrian had made some wrong decisions over the last few weeks… but that didn’t matter anymore. In the end, this may have been what he deserved. Karma could be a real bitch, couldn’t it?

LaRouge cried out as he felt somebody grab him from under the arms and drag him. His legs wobbled numbly as they left streaks in the mud as he was dragged somewhere.

“Just go.” He croaked, or did he yell? Adrian couldn’t tell, his hearing was shot. The cool rain on his face suddenly stopped completely, where was he? Maybe an angel was taking him to heaven, that would sure be nice. Or more likely a demon was dragging him to hell. Well shit, that would suck. Whichever situation it was, it at least gave the pilot some sort of comfort. Maybe this wasn’t the end of good ol’ Adrian LaRouge.

His face wrinkled as he felt the lips of somebody else on his own, and his lungs filling with air. LaRouge turned his head to the side, letting it rest against the cool metal surface. Cool? Well that was a good sign, supposedly hell was supposed to be hot. A soft hand was placed on his face, turning his head straight as the soft lips touched his and once more his lungs filled with air.

His nostrils constricted, his thick mustache tickling his nose. LaRouge swore to himself if he made it through this, he’d be shaving that damn thing off. Those soft lips were again on his own, and a fresh breath of oxygen shot into his lungs.

Adrian’s eyes shot open as he gasped and took in a deep breath of air, coughing violently as his vision suddenly came to. His eyes fluttered a few times as Reese came into view, kneeling above him. Her short blonde hair was soaked from the storm, long streaks of hair drooped over her face. Her eyes widened as well as antiseptic and gauze wavered in her hands. LaRouge chuckled lightly as he ran a dirty hand across his lips.

“Thanks for the kiss of life.”





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Katharina squeezed her eyes shut as Nick screamed out and lobbed a fist-sized object from the window. She watched it trail through the air, soaring over hands raised up as if trying to grasp the grenade like a crowd of fans at a baseball game. The undead spun around mid-stride as the truck sped away, eager to be the first ones upon the shiny object. Thunder rocked the sky as the grenade exploded in a flash of light, causing the large circle of the undead that had formed to fly back in a heap of body parts.

Her ears popped as the explosion rocked the air field. Every sound became nothing more then a high-pitched ring as she buried her face in Tom’s vest. His chest rose and dropped rapidly, she could feel his frantic heart beat as Nick swerved around a trio of shamblers. One of them lashed out at the titan as the tires kicked up mud, and in return its head cracked on the hood of the truck. Katharina could barely hear Barnes crying out as he sprayed the runway with the light machine gun, laughing maniacally as he did so. She wasn’t quite sure about his mental state, but she was scared. She was scared for all of them; Katharina did not ever want to be left alone with the man again.

“We’re going to get through this.” Tom whispered in her ear, and it was then that she realized her nails had been digging into his arm. “I’m not going to let them get you…” He trailed off as he kissed her head lightly. She wished for everything to be over already, her stomach was already churning and her heart was fluttering.

Useless, she was useless. Katharina sniffled, knowing all to well that she had no place in this new world. She was only dragging everybody else down and causing problems, and she’d murdered another person, a living human being. She had killed somebody that had managed to make it this far, survive on her own through unspeakable horrors. What had Katharina done? Jack squat. She had played the damsel in distress, nothing more than an extra mouth to feed slowing the others down.

Tom said something, but it was lost to another explosion outside. Who was she fooling? Why should she continue to drag them down, drag Tom down? After everything he’d been through. Watching all of his friends die, gunning down his own father, going against orders to save her-

“Hey!” Tom shook her, causing her to look up into his deep brown eyes. He had a look of concern on his face. “Stop it.” He spoke as if he’d been reading her mind.

“Tom-”

“No, just… stop.” She smiled weakly as Nick slammed on the breaks. Tom grabbed her by the shoulders as she flew forward, preventing her from crashing into the passenger’s seat.

“Thank you.” Tom squeezed a hand on her shoulder as he pulled out his Taurus.

“Just stay behind me, ok?”

“Ok…” Tom held out a hand as Barnes continued firing from above, and Nick jumped out of the titan. He left the engine running. Katharina took his hand, letting her fingers intertwine with his own.

“Let’s go love birds, we’re short on time!” Nick yelled as the crack of his rifle blasted through the night. Tom hopped out of the pickup, Katharina following close behind. Her hair flowed in the wind as the Chinook’s twin rotaries roared to life. Tom fired off a few shots as he ushered her through the doors and into the helicopter, then jumped back out into the battle.

“Tom-”

“I can’t leave the people to die, Kath!” Tom yelled over the roar of the chopper. “I’ll be back, I promise!”

“Wait!” Tom ran off into the storm. Nick stopped for a brief moment outside the twin doors.

“I’ll keep him breathin’, Kath. Trust me.” Nick winked and ran off after Tom, his boots kicking up puddles of mud.





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“Hold still, damn you!” Reese cursed as LaRouge struggled underneath her. She pulled out a small pair of scissors from the first aid kit and cut open the pilot’s shirt, grimacing down at the two nasty gunshot wounds as his side. “You big baby.” It was only a flesh wound, she doubted any of the rounds even pierced anything major. LaRouge cocked an eyebrow as he turned back to the kid, who was getting the Chinook up and running.

“Flip that switch by the red dial.” He said, sitting up again. Reese frowned, not all that confident in Jake’s ability to fly. If she had it her way, she’d strap in LaRouge so long as he got them out of there.

“This one?” Jake asked, pointing to a switch. Reese knew next to nothing about flying, so everything up front looked alien to her.

“Yeah.”

“Hey Kath, hand me some more gauze.” Williams’ woman stopped pacing around the inside of the helicopter and bent over and began rummaging through the medical pack. Truthfully, Reese could have gotten it herself. But she could tell Katharina was worried sick over Tom running back out into the fight, at least this would take her mind off it momentarily.

“Here…” She handed over the bandages.

“Thanks.” LaRouge averted his attention to Katharina’s ass as she stepped over him and began pacing around again. Reese snapped her fingers in front of his face, making him flinch.

“What? Can’t a man-” She cut him off.

“Pig.” The pilot grinned.

“Well, you should be one to talk. Your lips were all over me when I was knocked out!” Reese gasped, her jaw dropping.

“You kidding me? I was saving your sorry ass!”

“Sure you were.” He grinned. “Go ahead, just admit it.”

“Admit what? You have terrible breath?”

“You two are like a married couple.” Katharina smiled from across the Chinook. Reese rolled her eyes.

“Not in a million years.” LaRouge laughed as she taped him up and lowered his shirt.

“Oh come on, I can’t be that bad!” Despite his arrogance, she smirked.

“Shave those pubes off your face, then we’ll talk.” The pilot frowned as he rubbed his mustache.

“You have no class, Withers.”

“And you have no game.” Katharina suddenly spoke up again.

“Hey… hey look!” She pointed outside the doors. Reese looked down at LaRouge, he winked back up at her in return.

“You wish.” She grabbed her sub machinegun and ran over to the doors.

“What the hell?” She saw Tom behind the wheel of an airline fueler, driving it towards the runway where the defenders were rapidly losing ground. Barnes momentarily stopped firing the mounted M60 on the titan as the fuel truck drove by. The instant it passed, he opened up again. Looking through the sights of her gun, she watched as Tom slammed on the breaks, causing the truck to slide a few feet in the mud before coming to a spot. He hopped out and began firing away with his handgun as a few howlers made a break for him. Nick hopped out of shotgun and ran behind the truck and began turning a valve. In an instant, gasoline flowed from the back of the truck and leaked over the feet of the undead on the runway.

“Shit.” She hissed as she saw the slide on Tom’s gun fly back; empty. The sub machinegun jumped in her hands as downed a howler coming in at Tom’s blind side. Turning the gun slightly, she fired off another burst. The flash from the muzzle lit up her face as two more of the screaming demons collapsed on the runway.

Nick yelled out something, causing Tom to jump back. Reese turned her attention back to the defenders- and watched in horror as the seemingly endless horde of the dead overwhelmed them. She could only watch helpless as they fell, a hand sticking out here and there as they reached out for help that didn’t come. Not bothering to look through the sights, Reese opened up on full auto, content with holding the chopper. She did not come this far to die now.

She flinched as another gun went off beside her. Turning her head for a split second between gunfire, she saw Katharina had grabbed one of the rifles from the lockers. Good girl. Reese ejected the empty magazine from the gun when it spat out its last round and fished out a fresh one from her vest. As she slapped it into the gun, she watched Nick pull his burning cigarette from his mouth and toss it into the stream of gas still flowing from the truck. As he turned and began to run, the stream of gas suddenly became an inferno from hell. The cries of the dead and dying became one as the runway lit up and burned everything in its path.

Tom and Nick ran along the side of the runway, making their way towards the Chinook. Barnes went to jump down from behind his post, but suddenly found himself surrounded on all sides. The howlers cried out and slashed away at the truck. With a grim look on his face, Barnes grasped the M60 and open fired again.

“Barnes, let’s go!” Tom yelled as he ran by the titan; a few howlers broke away from the group and began pursuit. Reese averted her aim and downed the undead before they could reach the survivors in a hail of gunfire.

“Forget about me, get the fuck out of here!” The Sergeant screamed over the moans of the dead as he loaded another belt of ammo into the gun and sprayed the runway. More and more of the undead had broke away from the inferno and ran towards Barnes stranded behind the gun. Some of them ran for the truck, set aflame. Their skin bubbled and popped and melted off as they desperately reached out for Barnes.

“Get in!” Reese cried as Tom and Nick hopped into the Chinook. She fired off a final burst of gunfire before sliding the doors shut. In an instant, the dead began pounding  against the side of the helicopter.

“Lift up, lift up!” LaRouge cried.





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“You like that, mother fuckers? You like that?!” Barnes screamed as the M60 blew one of the undead in half as it climbed on the hood of the truck. It’s blood curdling scream was cut off as the rounds obliterated the top half of its body, causing it to lean back and fall into the growing crowd. The gun shook in his hands as he felt a tug on his leg. Taking his finger off the trigger momentarily, he turned around and planted his boot in the face of a woman. He remembered her, she’d been one of the first survivors picked up when they’d arrived at the air base. Hell, he’d even screwed her once.

“You’ve looked better, Carly.” He said as his boot broke her nose. He pulled out his sidearm and shot her in the head as she fell back, taking down a few howlers in the process. Turning back to the gun, he open fired again. Shell casings littered out across the roof of the truck and rained down on the heads of dead. He saw the Chinook lift off and hover in the air above him.

“Stupid bastards, go!” Barnes cried. “Fucking go!” He waved his hand as a signal for them to get the hell out. Instead, the chopper began to descend down. The titan began rocking as the dead slammed against it, denting the sides and threatening to tip the truck. More tugs at his leg. Barnes stopped firing and spun around, pulling out his sidearm again and firing away at the howlers trying to clamber up to him.

The Sergeant pulled himself up on the roof of the titan, doing his best to keep his balance as the truck violently rocked back and forth.

“Barnes!” He looked up and saw Tom reaching down as the Chinook lowered down, the rims of the helicopter almost touching the hood of the truck.

“Jump!” Tom’s hand wavered as the titan suddenly lurched up on its side- and Barnes jumped. Tom’s hand grabbed his as the truck tipped over, crushing anyone unlucky enough to be on the other side. Wind rushed against his face as Barnes held on for his life as the Chinook slowly began to ascend. He looked back at the fuel truck just as the flames made their way to the flow of gasoline still leaking out the pump.

Night became day as the truck suddenly exploded in a ball of flames. A wave of heat rushed against his face, the hair on his arms singed off as pieces of the truck blasted out in all directions.

“Get him up!” Nick yelled as he helped Williams pull him into the Chinook. The door slid shut as the chopper slowly circled around the burning air field. What was once a place thriving with life, clinging on to the last remnants of humanity, was now nothing more then a massive graveyard. Rex breathed heavily as he laid back and rested his head against the floor. How the hell did he get out of that mess?

“I told you to go.” Barnes muttered, his way of saying thanks. Tom shrugged, looking away and sinking to the back of the helicopter, collapsing in Katharina’s arms.

“Where do I go?” Jake asked from the front. Barnes narrowed his eyes.

“We need to make a quick stop… an old friend is waiting.”





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“You’re not… real!” The revolver blasted in his hand as John fired again at Joe. The bullet went right through him, shattering one of the windows.

“Listen, just calm down-” Joe said, holding up his hands. No, Joe didn’t say anything. You’re crazy!

“Don’t tell me what to do!” The revolver jumped in his hand again, the crack of the gun causing the howlers hanging outside to go crazy. Their screams drifted in through the broken window as the round shattered his lamp, casting a darkness throughout the room.

“Get the fuck away from me!” John cried, hot tears streaming down his face. A strong wind blew in from outside, causing a stack of papers to fly off the table and the drapes to flutter in the wind as he fired again. The blast from the gun lit up the room momentarily, revealing Joe’s grim face as he slowly walked towards him. Darkness consumed the room again, causing John to pull the trigger again. The room was lit up again from the Colt, revealing Joe slowly stalking his way over to him.

“John, you must stop this at once!” Joe roared as he backhanded John across the face. John fell back into his gun cabinet, a shot of pain shooting up through his back. Joe wrapped a hand around his throat and slammed it down against the glass door, cracking it. Scrambling back, John grasped his revolver and fired once more, completely shattering the glass on the cabinet. And… and Joe was gone.

John panted as he swept the gun across the room, blinded by darkness.

“Joe?” He nervously called out, taking a single step forward. His shoe clacked loudly on the wooden finish. John turned around and made his way for the front door, content with getting away before Joe decided to show up again. He put the Colt underneath his arm as he opened the door. Having one hand was going to take some time getting used to. Upon stepping outside, he was surprised to see Barnes running for the cabin, a military helicopter landed in a clearing behind him. Well shit, he really did come back for him.

Sticking his revolver in his holster, John ran forward to greet Barnes. The Sergeant’s eyes suddenly lit up as Joe stepped out from beside the cabin, a wood axe in his hands.

“Joe!” John screamed as Barnes jumped out of the way and Joe’s axe connected with the side of the cabin. Joe grunted as he pulled the axe out with one hand and ran after the Sergeant.

“This is his fault...” Joe growled, slamming the axe down again against the hood of his car.

“Christ, John! Knock it the fuck off! It’s me, Rex!”

“It’s Joe!” John screamed. “Stop!” Joe swung the axe clumsily with one hand. Barnes ducked- and Joe delivered a swift kick to his mid section. Barnes fell back on his ass, holding his hand up as Joe stood over the man with the axe.

“Cut the shit!” Barnes yelped. Joe suddenly turned to John, grinning.

“John, finish him.”

“What?” Joe no longer held the axe in his hand. Joe nodded over at John, and upon looking down he gasped in horror. He was holding the axe, he was standing over Barnes.

“Finish him.” Joe barked, folding his arms and leaning against the car. John shook as he dropped the axe and drew his revolver.

“John, don’t… put the gun down.” Barnes said slowly, still down on the ground. John aimed the revolver over at Joe, he simply smirked.

“Don’t waste the ammo, old sport.” John took a deep breath, already knowing what had to be done. He couldn’t risk harming others or spreading the infection. This was the right decision, this was what had to be done.

“Fuck you.” Joe screamed and disappeared as John placed the gun against his temple and pulled the trigger.