General Population (11 page)

"Shit!"
 

Maddix sprinted around them and ran for the town as fast as his legs would take him. Behind him, the constables gave chase. Occasionally, each one would slow and begin to grab at his head in pain. No doubt due to the mutant-like wasps burrowing deep into their skulls, or whatever it was those things were doing to them.
 

There was no way that Maddix could keep the pace up for long. The days had been so trying and he was still sore all over. Should he turn and fight? He couldn't kill them, could he? What if they could be saved? All these things raced through his mind.
 

Sorry, guys,
he thought. There was too much at stake to risk it. He reached into his coat for his gun, but when he turned to aim the constables instead tackled him to the ground and sent his pistol flying from his hands.
 

They began to wildly pound on Maddix's face and torso like crazed gorillas. The pain gave away to numbness and the taste of blood seeped into his mouth. He felt like he would lose consciousness at any moment. His vision was becoming dark and death would be inevitable if he succumbed to the savage beating he was taking. There was something tickling his senses when he fought to take a breath. The air was so moist and smelled of dead fish. He was next to the lake!

Maddix opened his eyes, trying to deflect the blows as much as possible. He had one shot to save himself. Everything was a blur, but through his foggy vision he could see specks of gold. He mustered every last ounce of will left, grabbed the constables' badges for dear life, and pulled hard. At first they wouldn't budge, but the spastic force of the constables attacks and what little strength Maddix could spare, the fabric began to tear on their uniforms.

The final ripping sound was music to his ears as he fell flat on his back with a badge in each hand. The croaking sound grew louder and sets of eyes popped up all over the lake.

With almost lightning speed, the two constables were snatched off of Maddix by a pack of amphibious lake monsters. They immediately started to devour their prey as if it was their first meal in years, and to some extent it was.

Maddix picked himself up from the ground, tripping twice the whole way up. He watched as the scaly green creatures ripped the constables to pieces. There was blood and fragments of chewed bones spread everywhere as they slurped every last bit of flesh from the bodies.

"Considering the circumstances," said Maddix, while spitting blood onto the ground, "I grant you guys a full pardon."

Doing the daily logging of paperwork wasn't something that Javier enjoyed as chief. Every day he was required to keep a journal of the day-to-day operations, and they were usually pretty uneventful. He considered them a waste of time and often wondered who it was that had established the policies and procedures. The Founding Fathers no doubt, but who were they, really? Not knowing more about the people that chose him for this job was starting to weigh on him more than usual. He would find out soon enough he supposed.
 

His usual one paragraph log entry had grown into a full-length manuscript detailing everything they knew up to that point. The random zombie attacks to the other monsters trying to kill Maddix and Tara with these strange bugs connecting them. Tanya had managed to wrestle that captured zombie to the ground long enough for Javier to find one of the strange bugs Maddix had been rambling about. It was swimming inside the slimy remains of the flesh eater’s brain and he was able to pull it out, but in doing so both the zombie and the bug died.

Something about these wasps made it possible to control the minds of zombies and werewolves alike. Could it control humans in the same way? Javier didn't even want to think about that.
 

There was also the situation with that dead vampire. Was this connected to what happened? Statsny must have encountered someone infected by these demon bugs and killed him somehow. So many theories danced in Javier's brain, but there was a missing link to everything that he just couldn't put his finger on.

Benbrook would have to take action now before all of them were killed off one by one. He had to know how to get them all out of that damned prison and warn the Founding Fathers about what was transpiring. Why would they have even agreed to let them all live in the first place? They had them trapped like fish in a barrel, why not just kill them all then? They were all vicious killers spawned from Satan and none of them was worth keeping alive. But Tanya—

"Constable Larouche?" called a gentle voice through the open door to his office.

"Please, come in," Javier replied nervously.
 

She took a seat across from Javier and smiled. He was starting to have regrets about his thoughts of genocide. Tanya had made a promise to save his men and she honored it without any resistance. She was different from others that he had encountered in Malevolent. She was fierce but compassionate at the same time. She was also very beautiful and he found himself becoming increasingly attracted to her the more time they spent together. Dissecting zombies was a bonding experience apparently because they spent more time laughing about it than anything else. Life was smacking Javier in the face with a hard dose of irony.

"If you are here for the deceased member of your pack, I have already given the authorization. My men will be more than happy to help you with transport."

"Thank you, Constable. That is not why I came in to see you. I actually came to ask if you are okay."

"Okay?" Javier didn't have the words to respond. He hadn't expected that kind of humanity from a werewolf pack leader.

"Yes. After the fight, you seemed lost for a moment, as if you had just lost a child. I wanted to say that I understand. I share those same connections with my people as you do with yours."

"Well," said Larouche, trying to sound professional, "it is my duty. I have a responsibility to my men."

"It's more than that. To you, they are everything. They make up your entire existence, like family."

This was craziness. She was a prisoner and he was her jailer. He couldn't be falling for a monster and she couldn't possibly be falling for him. Or could she? She was human once, maybe the humanity was still there and the excitement of what was happening brought it all out? Who knew, but it was obvious that there was something there.
 

"It's okay." Tanya stood from her seat. "You must be strong; I get that. I just wanted to thank you."

"For what, madam? It is I who should be thanking you, no?"

"You have all the power over me, and yet you gave me your trust and honored that trust. Despite our differences, I respect that."

Tanya turned to leave. Javier quickly rose from his seat, knocking his chair back against the wall. She turned and laughed at his awkwardness.

"Uh," Javier composed himself. "If there is anything more the constables can do for you …"

 
Smiling, she winked at him. "I will come to see you first, Constable Larouche."

She walked away grinning like a teenager with a crush.

Every step that Maddix took caused shockwaves of pain throughout his entire body. The parts of him that hadn't bruised had at least swollen so much that it was hard to move without setting his nerves on fire. A severe blow to his face had caused his right eye to swell so bad that he could only see a small sliver of light in front of him. He tried to force it open but the pain was just too much, and so he stopped fighting it and dealt with the partial blindness as best as he could.

Worst of everything was the constant ringing in his ear because of multiple strikes to his head. He finally understood what the phrase "Ring my bell" actually meant. His brain felt like it could explode at any moment from the pressure. He only hoped that the injuries weren’t severe enough to kill him. He didn't think that he was bleeding inside, but then again, he was no doctor and he had never been beaten like this before. Or had he? He had no memories, but the feelings were familiar. Perhaps something had been shaken loose due to the attack? He didn't think about it for long—the pain was too much.

The constable station wasn't far off, but his condition made it seem like a thousand miles. Maddix tried to think of the best way to tell Javier about his men. He felt responsible for their deaths, but knew in his gut that he was forced into a corner. If Maddix had let them kill him, then it would be impossible to do what had to be done and everyone would die.

Had Maddix let things escalate further than they had to? Perhaps he was foolish for trying to protect a population that would not give a split-second thought to murdering him and most of humanity. Didn't matter now anyway. He was still alive and he had to open the gate and inform the Founding Fathers of what had transpired in Malevolent. Even if it meant some of the truly innocent would have to be destroyed. There was just too much risk to take the chance.

Even with his blurry vision, Maddix could see the Eternal Moon coming up on his right. This made him feel relieved because it meant he was halfway to the station and closer to safety. That small feeling of relief disappeared once he heard a commotion inside the pub. The sound of growling, shouting, and the smashing of glass from inside gave him cause for alarm.

Something told Maddix to ignore it and keep moving. He was in no shape for another fight, and his swelled hands could barely keep a grip on his pistol let alone pull the trigger with any accuracy. The overseer in him, however, kept pushing him to investigate and he started to walk toward the pub.

As he got closer, the shouting became clearer.

"What's that?"

"Look out!"

"Get back!"
 

Just as Maddix got close to the door and reached for the handle, all the shouting had stopped. This gave him pause and he put his ear to the door. Fighting through the pain and ringing in his ear, Maddix tried to focus on the activity inside. He couldn't tell for sure, but he could hear light whimpers and panting like several dogs in pain. After a while the noises stopped and only one thing in the pub remained—the buzzing sound of insect wings!

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Maddix exclaimed, as he turned to run. The running didn't happen, however, as he was only able to limp away from the door.

The door and all the windows exploded as a small pack of werewolves leapt through. Just like the last werewolf they seemed like a group of rabid animals. They snapped at the air and each other, shaking their heads violently like they were trying to shake off something that was stuck to their fur. Maddix recognized the signs and it was clear they were under the wasps' influence.

Not wanting to take any chances, Maddix started to fire his gun at the pack.

Javier was stepping out of his office when he heard the gunshots from outside.
What could possibly be happening now?
he thought.
 

He stepped to the front window and looked around for the source of the shots. He could see what appeared to be Maddix taking wild shots at a pack of wolves in front of the pub. He was hobbling down the street and getting nowhere fast. Javier wondered where his escorts were and why they hadn't returned. He couldn't help but assume the worst, and stepped back from the window and pulled his weapon from its holster.

"I need everyone outside now!"
 

Everyone in the station began to rack the slides of their pistols and step forward to join their chief in the rescue operation. It was then that something began to kick at the vents in the ceiling till the grates all fell to the ground. Dozens of mutant wasps flooded the station, attacking anyone within reach of their flight path.

"Chief! What the hell are those things?" asked Roberts, who had just barely escaped being stung by crushing the bug with the butt of his weapon.

"Just get outside!" Javier instructed.
 

Roberts ran out the door with his gun drawn and began to open fire on the gang of wolves chasing Maddix down the street. Javier turned to follow but stopped to see if any of his men had survived to the swarm of wasps. A bullet just missing his head and embedding itself into the doorframe startled him. Some of the constables had two or three of the vicious wasps attacking them and burrowing into the back of their necks. This was causing some of them to shoot wildly at each other, and in some cases killing each other.

It was both unsettling and brutal to see his men becoming fodder for these demon wasps from hell. Javier closed his eyes tightly and let out a growl of frustration before rushing out of the station to join Roberts and Benbrook.
 

The persons behind this would pay, but first they had to survive.

Roberts was already trying to steady Maddix on his right shoulder while firing his gun at the oncoming wolves with the other. He had managed to hit one in the head, killing it instantly, but the others were shaking and twitching more violently and making it harder to hit anywhere vital.

With his condition deteriorating rapidly, Maddix tried to steady his arm enough to take a few shots himself but he could no longer find the strength to squeeze the trigger. His blurry vision was worse as well and he found himself stumbling and losing consciousness.

"Stay with me, Benbrook," said Roberts, giving Maddix a good shake.

It was taking every last ounce of dedication to stay awake. The throbbing pain in his head was gone, but an unsettling numbness had crept its way in.
Is this what it felt like right before you die or was this permanent brain damage setting in?
All Maddix could do was fight to keep his thoughts on the people counting on him inside Malevolent and the world outside. It was enough to keep him conscious for a few seconds and then a few seconds more.
Just keeping it going
, he thought to himself.

Maddix struggled to raise his shaky hand one more time. His finger wiggled on the trigger to no avail. He gave it another try, and finally there was a bang and a headshot … but it wasn't his gun that had gone off.