Revealed: Parables From The Apocalypse - Dystopian Fiction (12 page)

* * *

Chaz had a slight height advantage over the zombies from the top step.  He sliced his blade at the first freak up the stairs, but his aim was low and only managed to slit its throat.  It kept coming towards him.  He tried stabbing again, but missed.  He tried another swing as the freak reached the top step, but it blocked, then knocked Chaz’s knife down the steps.  The blade bounced between the feet of more advancing zombies.  Then, Chaz heard the door behind him bang open against the railing.  A strong voice commanded, “Colonel Sheperd, get down!  Get down!  Colonel Sheperd, get down!"

It didn’t take much convincing for Chaz to drop to his knees.  As soon as he did, the soldiers behind him opened fire into the crowd of zombies advancing up the stairs.  Blood, guts and brains showered the steps.  The last thing Chaz remembered was being dragged by the shoulders of his jacket, and a door slamming shut behind him.

Down And Out

Alex took stock of the situation.  They were still in a heap of trouble, and in hostile territory. Fort Knox soldiers had them in their sights, and the fort itself was still under attack from a zombie horde. A zombie horde that had been laying siege for God knew how long, and was made up of some that were counting on the tank to get them into the fort.  The tank which Alex and Christa had managed to disable.   No one was firing, but they were still surrounded by freaks.  The explosions drew a crowd, but the smell of rotten bodies and burning steel covered their scent for the moment. 

Christa and Alex hunkered down beside the tank, shielding them from the soldiers on top of the fort. Alex surveyed the ground for signs of Chaz.  "I don't see Chaz anywhere; here's to hoping that he made it into the fort."

"He's a tough old bastard, he'll be OK."

"I certainly hope so, he wasn't exactly operating at peak efficiency."

"He'll be fine, I'm sure."  Christa glanced down at her feet, still visibly shaken.

"How about you, Christa, you still doing OK?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine, I'm tough too.  Those things were really coming after me.  I don't know what would have happened if that guy hadn't popped out of the tank to save me.  The guy you killed saved me from the others."

"No need to feel guilty, Christa."  Alex put an arm around her shoulder.  "You have no idea what the one in the tank had in mind.  He could have been just as cruel and twisted.  I mean, those guys ... or things, had to be pretty desperate to attack Fort Knox with a tank.  Who knows what would have happened if they were successful?"

"We really don't know what's inside, do we?  Are you sure we should be going inside?  This was a bad plan from the beginning."  She looked up at Alex, waiting for an answer.

"It's our only option at the moment.  It's better than staying out in the open with these things.  I know you don't want that.  So, speaking of what's inside, I do think it's time we found that out for ourselves.  You ready to get moving?"

"Sure." Christa let out a big sigh "Let's go find the old bastard."

While they talked, skirmishes broke out between friendly freaks and ugly freaks. 

"There's quite a lot of them coming around the other side of this tank, Christa; I think we'll have to go the long way around."

"Can't we just go in the front door?"

"That way was swarmed with piles of zombies when we drove by.  Remember?  We're going to have to make our way to the back door somehow.  I'd like to go around the other side of this tank and make a dash for the loading doors, but there's way too many of those freaks waiting.  We're gonna have to go the long way around, and hope they're too slow to catch us."

"I suppose, if that's what you think, but I don't have a good feeling about this."

"I know what you mean; I haven't had a good feeling about any of this for a long time."

"OK, on my mark, we're gonna make a dash for the corner of the building.  Use the tank for cover to give us a head start.  Hopefully by the time they see is, they won't be able to catch up."

"But they will come after us then, won't they?"

"Some will.  Maybe there's enough of your friendly freaks to slow them down some."

Alex and Christa kept down low as they moved away from the tank.  The rooftop soldiers kept them in their sights.  Some of the freaks had already moved past the tank, and spotted them sooner than Alex had wanted.  Those freaks gave chase, and were soon followed by others.

They took the shortest route possible to get around the front corner of the fort. As they turned the corner, they saw that things hadn't improved since their drive-by.  There were more freaks than before coming down the main entrance road.  Apparently, the snipers on the roof had been too preoccupied with the tank to keep up with the freaks coming up the main road.

Christa and Alex slowed when they realized they were going to have to go through the stream of freaks moving towards the front door.

"Alex, I don't think we can make it across."

The parade of freaks wasn't slowing, and there were a substantial group of them congregating at the front door.

"We're not going to get through here unnoticed, that's for sure.  Here's to hoping they'll leave you ... and me alone.  We have to be prepared to fight, so here, take this knife.  I know you don't like using it, but you may have to.  I'll do my best to keep them at bay.  Just try to focus on getting inside.  We're so close now, we just have to push a little further."

"OK, I can do it.  We gotta get to that old bastard."  She forced a smile and took the knife from Alex.

"That's great, let's keep moving." Out of the corner of his eye, Alex could see the mob coming around the building.  It wasn't like they had much of a choice at this point.  They weren't cornered yet, and as long as they could keep moving they still had a chance.

* * *

Chaz could hear voices around him from where he sat propped up in a comfortable chair.  His arm still hurt like hell, but he lifted it to rub his eyes open and look around at his surroundings.  There were people milling around the room.  Some wore white lab coats, but most were in military uniforms.  They were watching a bank of monitors, displaying the grounds outside the fort.  Chaz couldn't focus on what they were saying, but the tone of the discussions suggested they were in disagreement.  The lab coats seemed to have one perspective, while the military suits had another.  Chaz tried harder to focus on the conversation. 

Chaz shook his head, and tried getting up.  He wasn't restrained, and no one paid much attention to him, but his fatigue pulled him back into the chair.  He steadied himself, placing both hands on the chair arms, and slowly stood.  He walked closer to the monitors, supporting himself with one hand on the conference table that took up much of the room.  Still no one seemed to notice or care that he was up and moving about.  As he got closer, the video screens became clearer.  A large group of freaks were whipped into a frenzy over something.  He could see the disabled tank in one of the monitors.  There were a few freaks circling around it as smoke poured out of it.  The other monitors showed two mobs of freaks.  One mob was marching towards the front doors of the fort, while the other mob appeared to be moving in a random pattern across the grounds.

Chaz then noticed two individuals who were having a debate off to the side of the room.  Neither one of the two was paying much attention to the monitors; they were more involved in their debate.

The one was a military officer, a general, it looked like to Chaz. "I don't care who they are, or why they're here.  My priority, my number one priority, is to ensure the safety and the integrity of this facility.  It has to be protected from all invaders, no matter who they are.  Human or otherwise."

"Don't be a damn fool, and use your brain for more than just following orders."  The lab coat replied.  "There's more at stake here than just the security of this building.   Our entire country is in turmoil, and things aren't getting any better.  Those people out there represent a huge opportunity.  The hell with the risks, they're minuscule in comparison."

Pointing his index finger at the lab coat, the general wasn't happy. "I don't take orders from you, and I sure as hell don't need you telling me when and how to deal with the orders I've been given.  Those orders come from a much higher authority than you."

"Right, and when was the last time we heard from that authority?  It's been weeks since the explosions in Washington.  We have no idea what's going on there.  There's been no official communication.  You can't even get a hold of your own military command in Atlanta."

"Damn it, Doc, there may be anarchy reigning supreme out there, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let it poison this facility.  As long as these walls are secure and I'm in charge, we're going to do what's best for everyone inside."

"Right, and how secure are those walls now, General?  That tank blew a hole big enough to march a parade of deviants through two by two.  We barely had the resources to keep them at bay when the walls were intact.  How long do you suppose you can keep them out once they've lost interest in that little girl?"

The general had no reply. He just uncrossed his arms, turned, and walked away from the doctor.

Chaz's head started to clear. 
What little girl
, he thought. 
That little girl-that would be Christa.  Wait, and Alex.
  Chaz pushed himself over to the doctor now, almost falling over one of the chairs.  The doctor was pursuing the general, trying to further her argument, but Chaz intercepted her, grabbing her arm.

"The little girl, Christa.  Where is she?  Is she inside, with Alex?  You have to get them inside.  They're with me.  I was supposed to get inside and convince you to let them in."

The doctor was not impressed with the interruption.  She tried pulling Chaz's hands off her, but Chaz wasn't letting go.

"Doc, you have to let them in."

The doctor address Chaz. "I know that. It's not me you need to convince, it's him." She motioned towards the general, who was now turning to see what Chaz was rambling about.  "General, it would seem that even your prisoner agrees with me.  We need to get those two people, or at the least the girl, inside."

"He's not my prisoner, Doctor.  He's a war hero.  At least he was a hero, till he deserted his platoon down south a few weeks ago.  I don't know what the hell he's doing here, but I wouldn't put much stock in what he has to say."

Chaz looked at the monitors again, and could see the scenes outside were changing.  Alex and Christa were caught between two groups of converging zombies. 
What the hell has that fool boy gone and done now
, Chaz thought. 
He's dragged that girl into a damn mess.

The group that had initially been focused on getting into the fort had turned their attention to the two humans.  They were completely surrounded by over a hundred freaks.  And they were fighting.  There were a few zombies fighting with them.  They encircled Christa, and were keeping most of the freaks from her, but Alex was on his own.  He was slashing and taking down as many as he could, but there were too many of them.  Soon, the mob enveloped Alex, and Chaz couldn't see him on the monitor any longer.  Even the few protecting Christa were losing the battle.  She had Alex's blade, but dropped it.  She made no attempt to pick it up.  She barely moved, and Chaz was sure she had gone into shock.  Then one of her protectors disappeared into the mob.  They dragged him away, and pulled him limb from limb.  The mob was in a frenzy.

Chaz looked back to the doctor and the general, who were still bickering.  Chaz grabbed the conference phone from the table.  He ripped the cord from it, and threw it towards the bickering couple, hitting the general square on the side of the head.  The entire room took notice, stopped talking, and turned to look at Chaz.

"You idiots need to stop your damn yammering, and get that girl in here.  Don't you understand what she's capable of?  They listen to her.  They protect her.  Those goddam freaks will do what she wants them to.  She doesn't realize it yet, but look.  Look up on the damn screen.  Those ones around her are protecting her.  They're protecting her with their lives.  They’re acting like intelligent fucking humans!"  Chaz steadied himself on the table.  "Which is more than I can say for the lot of you."

The rest of them looked back at the scene, and could see what Chaz saw.  There were two protectors desperately trying to keep the rest of the zombie freaks from tearing Christa apart.  But they were losing.  There were too outnumbered.  If the two protectors knew it, they didn't show it.  They just kept fighting.

"You need to get her in here now.  She’s just as important as that case I was carrying when you dragged me in here.  If you don't save her, you're squandering the best opportunity we've ever had to defeat those freaks."

The entire room remained silent for a moment.  Then the general turned to one of his soldiers and said, "Get that girl in here.  Get her in here now."

"Yes, sir, but ..."

"Direct all the snipers towards the front of the facility.  Gather all our internal troops, whatever we have left, and marshal them in the front lobby."

"Everyone, sir?" the sergeant asked. 

"You heard me, Sergeant.  Leave one guard on the breached wall.  He won't have much of a chance if those things turn their attention that way, but we need a show of force up front.  This is going to be brutal, but we need to get that girl in here."

"Alex as well, the other human soldier with her. You need to bring him in as well," Chaz chimed in.

The general looked up at the monitors.  "I don't see any other humans out there, Colonel."

Chaz looked back to the monitors.  "He was there a minute ago, General.  You have to bring him in.  I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him.  Neither would the girl.  He's the real hero here today."