It was designed so only one door could be opened at any given time, a pest prevention safeguard. Dee jumped out and, grabbing George by the hand, headed for the enclosure. She could hear the howls and screeches getting louder.
Dee looked over at the others. “Hurry!”
Ben raised his rifle up and fired off a few rounds. “Go! Go! Inside.”
Dee didn't hesitate, and pulled George through the first door. Boss, Ben, and Jack followed. She could see sweat dripping off Boss as he watched the nearing mass of Variants. “Boss! Go with Jack, hurry!”
She watched them head to the shed. Refocusing, she raised her borrowed rifle.
Looking through the scope at the Variants, Dee couldn’t help but admire them a little. The Hemorrhage Virus had changed humans. Modified them into something else. Something almost beautiful, in an evil way. Killing machines. Perfect killing machines. The great white shark of the new world order.
Man’s arrogance had finally led to his downfall.
Dee heard engines revving in the background. She fired off a few rounds as the lead monsters slammed into the fence. Dee lost herself in the heat of battle and held her finger down on the trigger, screaming at the beasts.
Ben grabbed her shoulder. “Let it go! There’s too many of them!”
Dee let Ben pull her away from the fence. She climbed onto one of the quad bikes with Jack, little George jammed in between them.
Jack gunned the engine, then tore off up the track leading to the summit. Dee watched, shocked, as the rest of the Variant horde reached the fence, and started to climb after the fleeing human survivors.
Jack worked his way through the gears, willing the Honda 420cc engine to go faster. His nerves were frayed beyond anything he could ever have imagined. Blissfully unaware of the virus for the first couple of days, it hadn’t been until he’d reached the hut and cell phone coverage that the nightmare had begun.
Then the mad dash across the road-clogged countryside, his first encounter with the monsters, the family getting torn apart… His escape down the river, his capture and escape from the dam. And finding Dee, who had come to rescue him. He choked up at the thought, tears threatening. It would all be for nothing if he didn’t get them up this mountain.
Shaking off the emotions, he concentrated on taking the bends of the road as fast as he could. He could feel George wrapping his arms around him. Dee had wrapped her arms around them both, and leant into the corners with him.
Jack risked a glance to the side. Ben and Boss sped along behind him. This was a dash to the top, a dash to live, to fight another day.
Flying around another bend, Jack saw the stairs he was looking for, which would take them the last few meters to the lookout platform. Screeches and howls greeted him as he brought the quad bike to a stop. Leaping off the bike, he grabbed George and took the stairs two at a time, his injured leg screaming in pain. Boss bounded up ahead. Jack didn’t blame him for it. The kid was running for his life.
Dee watched Jack, Boss, and George head up the stairs. Checking her rifle, she looked back down the road. Already some of the Variants were charging toward them, their reptilian eyes fixed on her and Ben. Inexplicably, they stopped about a hundred meters away, as if assessing Ben and herself. Dee wondered if they were contemplating which limb to rip off first.
Ben bumped into her as they backed up the stairs. She kept a bead on the massing horde.
Whispering, Ben said, “Aim for the middle of the head. Take the one on the left. Remember, squeeze the trigger, nice and gentle.”
Dee heard a deep, angry bellow. Then the lumbering frame of the Alpha Variant, bones protruding from his shoulders, came into view. She stared horrified at the decapitated heads alongside his own. So that’s what they’re waiting for. We are for him to kill. His meal to devour.
“Run, Dee! Now!” yelled Ben.
Dee reacted. Spinning around, she tore up the stairs toward the lookout. Ahead, the others were already clambering onto the platform. Jack yelled something to her, but she couldn’t hear him. The last few days of running, fighting, and surviving were catching up to her. She was emotionally and physically drained, spent. Willing her body on for one last shot at safety, she reached the ladder to the lookout platform. Jack was reaching down, hand outstretched, his blue eyes willing her on. She grasped his hand. Jack pulled her up and onto the platform. Dee scrambled to her feet and spun, searching for Ben.
Jack watched in horror as the monster leader bounded up the stairs after them. It moved incredibly fast. He had just hauled Dee up onto the platform when he heard the thump thump thump of the chopper. Boss stood in the middle of the platform, waving a flare.
Just a few moments more. Ben reached the ladder, turning and firing over his shoulder as he went. The leader was now only meters away, his minions fanning out behind him.
When Ben reached the top of the ladder, Jack rushed to help haul him over the lip. A ferocious bellow sounded out, and Jack watched in horror as the giant creature leapt ten meters into the air and landed on the ladder behind Ben. He pulled back one of his huge arms and speared Ben with a claw, right in his side.
Ben screamed in agony as Jack tried to pull him to safety. Jack yelled for assistance, his eyes finding Boss’s. The teenager rushed over. Digging his feet against the railing, he tried to help Jack pull Ben onto the platform.
The Alpha swung his other arm at Boss, and a huge claw speared Boss through his calf muscle. With a savage bellow, and an insane glint in his eyes, he ripped off Boss’s lower leg, spraying blood over the poor kid. Warm, red blood arched, hitting Ben and Jack.
Thump, thump, thump.
The chopper hovered above the lookout, the wash of its spinning rotors sweeping over Jack as he hung onto Ben. The blessed sounds of the minigun firing pounded in Jack’s ears. The gunner swept the blazing rounds of hot metal death at the gathering mass of creatures.
Brrrrooooootttttttt.
Jack saw Dee push George toward the lowering chopper, but the little boy looked back frantically, clearly searching for Jack.
“Take the kid and go, Jack!” Ben yelled, in obvious pain.
Jack looked at George, conflicted. He wanted to get to safety, but he didn’t want to leave this man to such a horrible fate. With an angry yell, he let go of Ben’s arm and reached over to pull Boss away from the Alpha. The poor kid was shaking from the shock of his injuries.
Dee screamed as George broke loose from her grip. Pulling the screwdriver he still had in his tool belt, he charged, screaming at the Alpha, and jammed the screwdriver into its eye.
The Alpha let out a deafening bellow and released Ben. Dee ran over and helped to pull him up and toward the chopper.
The minigun operators let loose, firing upon the Alpha, bullets slamming into his tough bark hide. He howled up at the helicopter, swiping his huge claws at it in frustration. The gunner continued to fire. The Alpha howled once more, saliva dripping from its sucker. Then it jumped from the ladder, and retreated into the forest below.
Strong hands grabbed Jack, helping to haul him and Ben into the chopper. Dazed and confused, he sat on the cold metal floor as the chopper lifted away from the platform.
Jack could see monsters covering the road and stairs. They streamed out of the bush, howling up at their escaping prey. The fire they had lit still burned on the airfield, thick black smoke rising into the air.
He was alive. He had found Dee. He had found a little soul. He had found hope amongst the tragedy of the last couple of weeks. Jack looked over to George, and couldn’t help but smile at him. The little kid had saved them all. The smallest of souls can have the greatest of effects.