Lance took off, ignoring the ache in the bottom of his foot.
Cass kept pace, the large axe swaying back and forth as she held it in both arms.
“Bridge ahead,” Lance huffed.
“I see it.”
A rusted suspension bridge waited at an intersection a block away. Twisted metal curled into the air in the middle. Red and white striped sawhorses stood before the entrance with cars jammed around them.
“I think the military blew it up!”
Another shriek came from behind them, closer than Lance expected. Daring to glance over his shoulder, he nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw them closing the distance. Less than ten yards separated them from becoming the mutants’ lunch.
The gap in the bridge became clearer as they approached. Cracked concrete and severed rebar jutted from the point of the explosion.
“Shit, it’s too big for us to jump across!” Cass grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him to the left as they reached the intersection.
They ran past the jam of cars and trucks by the bridge. Blood splattered the windows and seats of some. Doors, ripped from their hinges, rocked in the street, moving slowly from the slight breeze.
The cadence of helicopter rotors came from somewhere above.
Lance looked to the sky as they ran, hoping to spot something close enough to see them. An airlift out of this hellhole might be their only chance.
Cass glanced behind them again, her eyes widening at what she saw. Lance couldn’t bring himself to look anymore, fearing what he would see.
“Look for somewhere to hide!” Cass’ breath came in ragged gasps as they ran on.
More of the infected wandered in front of brick buildings. The Ohio River roared on their right.
Lance searched the area for a shelter, but nothing stood out. Anything they could quickly break into wouldn’t hold back the growing hoard behind them.
The sound of the helicopter drew near as they cut across the street, running down the sidewalk, a row of trees obstructing their view of the river. Other noises drowned under the roar of the rotors.
“Where is it?” Lance shouted.
“I don’t know!”
They rushed by another building, the road widening to four lanes, two each way. A thin swath of woods covered both sides of the highway. Lance saw flashes of a large white office building through the trees.
“I think it’s over there!” Lance pointed toward the offices.
Automatic gunfire cracked from beyond the trees.
Cass cut across the grass median, and passed through a thin layer of underbrush. Lance followed, wondering what fresh hell they were about to run into.
They sprinted between the trees in a matter of seconds, their feet slapping against the pavement of a large parking lot.
A helicopter hovered by the side of the office building, fire barking from guns poking through its open doors.
Men dressed in black uniforms fled the building, firing short bursts from rifles. The helicopter spun around, giving the soldiers shooting from its side a clear angle at the men.
Lance hesitated at the sight, shocked at seeing so many living people in the same place.
Cass jerked him forward by his shirt. “Run!”
The armed men ran fifty yards into the parking lot and stopped, dropping to their knees and opening fire at the building behind them. A stream of bullets joined them from the helicopter.
Nothing followed them out of the office, so Lance couldn’t see what they fired at. He pressed on, the burning sensation in his quads growing with every step. His lungs spasmed in his chest, threatening to seize if he didn’t ease up soon.
Cass never slowed, her pace even, gait long and powerful.
Lance peered back at their pursuers, seeing that nearly twenty daywalkers followed them in tireless pursuit.
One of the men ahead saw them coming and spun around, screaming at the others. The rest turned at ninety degree angles, rifles butted against their shoulders, and aimed directly at Cass and Lance.
The man in front, large and dark-skinned, shouted something they couldn’t hear.
Lance grabbed Cass’ elbow and yanked her down, diving to the pavement. Skin skidded on rough asphalt, pebbles and dirt digging into scrapes.
Bullets whizzed over their heads, sounding shockingly similar to the near hits Lance had heard in a hundred action movies.
They covered their heads, squeezing against their ears, praying a stray round wouldn’t hit them.
The barrage of gunfire lasted a full ten seconds before abating. The engines of the helicopter continued their onslaught on Lance’s ears.
He slowly lifted his head, seeing the men through a cloud of smoke, their weapons still aimed in his direction. He rolled onto his side, looking behind, seeing Cass do the same.
Bullet-riddled bodies littered the parking lot.
Death throes ran through several, limbs wrenched with spasms.
Two dragged themselves forward, legs trailing behind, blood draining from exit wounds.
The helicopter ascended, rising straight into the sky at a rapid pace, before banking hard and flying over a residential area. The sound dissipated as it shrank against the blue canvas of sky.
“Are you OK?” Lance asked Cass.
“Fine. You?”
“Scraped my knees a bit,” Lance said as he worked his way to his feet.
“Will you live?” Cass lifted her axe from the pavement. “Should I amputate?”
Lance stared at the men before them. “Might want to be careful about swinging that axe around right now.”
The large man in front stepped forward, rifle still held up. Deeply tanned skin, and a thick, gnarly beard covered his face. Crow’s feet around his eyes. “Who are you?”
“Just two survivors,” Lance said, holding his ground. “Those things were chasing us and we heard the chopper so we ran over here.”
“You’re lucky we didn’t shoot you.”
Cass shifted her weight. “What are you guys doing? We haven’t seen anyone else alive in over a day, let alone a helicopter with a bunch of soldiers.”
“We aren’t soldiers.”
“You’re wearing uniforms.”
Lance watched the other men. They jammed fresh clips into their rifles and scanned the surrounding area with hardened eyes. A few more Vladdies of the fresher, newly minted variety stumbled into view from the other side of the office building.
The men shot them down in a flash.
“Get on your way,” the leader said. “You don’t want to be anywhere near us.”
“I’m not sure I believe that, considering you have a helicopter covering your asses.” Lance peered around, not liking their wide-open position. “What are you guys doing out here anyway?”
The man frowned. He turned around and gave his men a hand signal. They fanned out, taking positions at the corner of the building and behind parked cars.
“Funny how quickly things change. What would have been top secret information last week is now worthless.” He stepped closer, stopping when he was just out of reach of their bladed weapons. “We’re searching for nests.”
“Nests?” Cass asked.
“Where do they go during the day? We’re checking all buildings with large basements or underground parking garages—anywhere that is dark during the day.”
“Have you found any of them yet?”
“What do you think we were shooting at? Probably two hundred of them in there.”
The building drew Lance’s gaze like a magnet. “What do you do when you find them?”
The man made a throat-slashing gesture.
Cass asked, “You guys are Special Forces, aren’t you?”
“We were. Not sure what you’d call us now. Exterminators, maybe.”
“Who’s giving the orders now? Is the government still functional?”
“We’re still getting reports from various parts of the country, but they’re mostly military or some nut hidi
ng in a bunker with a radio. No one has heard from the president or his cabinet in days. I have no idea who’s calling the shots now.”
Lance listened to the man’s account of the status of the country, or lack thereof, in a passive, unblinking way. Nothing surprised him anymore, and he was shocked at how easily he absorbed the idea that civilization had collapsed.
The man turned back to his men and gave them another signal. One of them reached into a small bag carried on his back and pulled a hand-sized device from it.
“What are you doing?” Lance asked, watching as the man pointed the unknown equipment at the office building.
“Blowing the place to hell. Now get out of here. I’ve already wasted too much time talking to you.” He headed back to his group.
“Where should we go? Who’s left?” Cass called to him as he walked across the parking lot. “Is Heinz Field still safe?”
The bearded man turned back to them once last time. “Yeah. We also have PNC Park quarantined. Get there soon. They’re not going to be able to take many more people.”
Lance and Cass watched as the men spoke to one another for a minute before fanning out again and moving down the street, leaving the office building behind.
“I thought they were blowing the place up?” Lance asked.
“Maybe they’re calling in artillery or something.”
They walked across the parking lot, giving the office building a wide berth, throwing nervous glances at it. A tall church, Catholic from the look of it, sat on the opposite side of the street. Homes, two stories with brick exteriors flanked it, populating the sprawling residential area.
Cass’ face, flushed from the exertion of their escape, remained stoic as she watched their surroundings. A sheen covered her stomach and lower back, sweat flowing freely.
Lance pointed to the church. “Maybe we can find some food in there. Don’t they usually have kitchens in the basement?”
He hadn’t been in a church since he’d graduated high school. His mother, a profoundly religious woman, forced him to go twice a week for the majority of his childhood and teenage years. By the time he’d left for college, Lance decided that he never wanted to spend another Sunday morning sitting in a pew.
And he hadn’t. Even when his mother died a few years later, he never felt like attending a service, searching for answers, or explanations of life and death. The pull of religion never took hold of him.
“No idea. I could eat though. It’s been a day and a half.” Cass switched the axe from one hand to the next. “I’m still not convinced that we shouldn’t go with those spec ops guys. They have a whole lot of firepower.”
“They want nothing to do with us. And they’re jumping head first into a world of shit. Going in the exact opposite direction of them is probably the best thing we can do.” Lance hoped he was right. The men had saved their lives after all.
Cass grunted. “Maybe.”
The idea of small groups of bad asses fighting back during the day was intriguing. Though Lance didn’t expect the effort to make much of a difference, the idea that someone in charge had half a brain was somewhat reassuring. But what chance did a dozen men have against an entire city of murderous monsters?
They crossed the street, catching the last glimpses of the bearded hard cases as they disappeared behind a sprawling, Victorian-styled home. A handful of infected walked down the center of the road, spouting gibberish to no one in particular.
Lance went up the front stairs of the church, lifting the machete in front of him. Two closed doors, wooden with ornate carvings on the front, stretched nearly twenty feet into the air.
Holding his ear against one of them, Lance listened to the silence beyond. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Let’s make this quick,” Cass said. “We have a lot of ground to cover tonight if we’re going to make it to the stadium before nightfall.”
The doors opened easily despite their bulk, the hinges squealing. A small foyer waited inside. Pamphlets and torn out Bible pages covered the floor.
Lance stood before the threshold of the door, staring at the ransacked space before them, contemplating not going in at all. His shirt stuck to his back, sweat flowing from his pores from running down the street. The cut on the bottom of his foot throbbed.
Wind blew in from the open doors, rustling the papers.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m second guessing going in there—what the hell does it look like?”
“It isn’t any safer out here than it is in there.”
Lance couldn’t argue with that. He threw a quick glance into the street and spotted more Vladdies meandering about. No place was safe anymore.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind Cass as she followed.
The stained glass windows in the chapel were smashed, covering the floor in jagged pieces. Blood covered the pews. Streaks of crimson ran down the aisles.
“Jesus,” Lance said, his blaspheme echoing in the empty space.
“I don’t think Jesus was watching when this happened.”
Organ pipes, dented and torn away from the wall, leaned against a balcony in the back of the church.
A shoe, bloodied and shredded, sat on its side by the front row of seating. It was small, probably a child’s. Lance couldn’t stand to look at it.
The ceiling, arched and pearly white, added an elegance that stood in stark contrast to the remnants of carnage on the floor.
The stench of death and rot filled the vast chapel.
Cass found a door in the back of the vast room and went through, axe at the ready. Lance followed, focusing on his breathing, hoping it wasn’t as loud as it seemed. They followed a dark trail of gore and congealed blood.
Offices branched off a long hallway. Desks, computers, and filing cabinets decorated the rooms. Crosses covered many surfaces. Some sat on the floor, knocked from their perches on walls and desks.
Light spilled in from shattered windows and open doors. The church was well lit, despite the lack of electricity.
A stairwell waited further inside. Cass stood at the top of the stairs, staring down into the darkness beyond. The dearth of windows ahead cast the lower floor in deep shadow.
The smell of spoiled meat intensified as Lance stepped beside her.
“Why do I get the feeling that we shouldn’t go down there?”
Cass said, “No shit.”
Lance’s stomach rumbled, in spite of the horrific smell wafting from up from the stairs. He hadn’t eaten since the day before.
“I’m damn hungry, but not enough for this.”
“You aren’t going to get an argument from me. Let’s get—”
The sound of something scraping the floor came to them then.
Lance’s breath caught in his throat. His abs clenched.
A thump, closer and louder.
Cass’ fingers blanched as she squeezed the handle of the axe.
Rapid exhalations from below.
Two thuds, closer.
Lance stepped back, wanting to flee, but unable to peel his gaze from the darkness ahead.
A face, distorted and gray, pierced the black at the bottom of the stairs. Empty eye sockets oozed. Thinned hair draped over its scalp, the bottoms of the strands touching pointed, elongated ears.
Grotesque veins snaked through the forehead and cheeks. Thickened bone structure made the jaw and eyebrows protrude.
The Vladdie’s mouth opened, exposing canines that extended unnaturally below the other teeth.
It wailed at them, the sound threatening to pop their eardrums. Spittle flew from its mouth, splattering on the steps underneath it.
Cass stumbled backward, bumping into Lance, nearly knocking him over.
Two forearms, muscles swollen and striated, appeared from the shadow. Its fists slammed against the stairs, shaking the floor in a show of rage and frustration.
A series of shrieks answered from the basement below, filling the church with the wails of th
e infected.
Lance spun on his damaged foot, grabbing Cass’ shoulder as he turned, and ran. His feet barely touched the carpeted floor as he sprinted down the hallway.
Cass shouted for him to move faster.
They burst into the chapel, not slowing as they flew past the pews, heading for the large front doors.
More songs from the hungry below reverberated through the floor, filling Lance with a panic he hadn’t known since he’d left the hospital.
Cass reached the doors first, grabbing an iron ring in the middle and heaving it open. The wood swung around, bouncing off the inside wall of the foyer, breaking through drywall.
Lance lunged through the doorway, not willing to risk looking back until he felt the rays of sun on his shoulders. He stumbled down the stairs, inhuman shrieks chasing him from the church.
He spun around, eyes glued to the open doorway as Cass huffed beside him.
“My god. Is that what they look like now?” He felt something touch his leg and looked down, seeing his hand shake with such force that the machete tapped against his quadriceps.
Images of the progression of those poor people’s mutation flashed through his mind like a flipbook. In little more than a week, the entire structure of their bodies had transformed.
“That’s the first one of the nightwalkers I’ve seen lately,” Cass said, her voice hushed as if they might hear her. “It looked more like a gorilla from hell than a human. What chance does mankind have against that?”
“I—”
A scream, only partly human, rang out from behind them.
Lance noticed their surroundings for the first time since escaping the church. He hadn’t paid attention to much in his panic.
Over a hundred of the Vladdies filled the parking lot by the office building. More stumbled down the street on either side of Lance and Cass.
Some were fresher, more confused. Others moved with smooth strides, their bodies already twisted and vascular.
“Oh shit.” Lance looked back at the church. “Now what?”
“Now we’re in deep shit,” Cass said, lowering her axe to her side. “I guess the gunfire and the helicopter drew them in.”
Fear sapped Lance’s strength, rational thought becoming a challenge.
“Should we go back in—?”
The office building across the street exploded.
Chapter 18