The Survivors of Bastion (Fall of Earth Book 1) (11 page)

              The chattering and the murmuring… I couldn’t comprehend how quickly it had all gone downhill, how fast it had all gone to shit. We had lost two of the most beloved, integral members of our community, and when something like that happened it cast a sheen over the town that caused it to dwell in misery and terror for days, if not weeks.

              On top of all of that I had more questions than answers to any of this. How had this happened? Where the fuck had this man come from?

              Where the fuck did an infection like this come from in the first place? It was a far reach from an evolution of the virus, that was for damn sure.

              In those few seconds, my mind tried to put together a plan of action by second nature. I wasn’t even thinking about doing it of my own free will – as the leader of the town it was my job to be coming up with these things without even having to think about it.

              I had never known so much fear and terror to be swelling up inside of me as I looked around at the chaos and horror in the eyes of everybody as they approached the scene before us, clasping their hands over the mouths, their eyes wide, taking each other in their arms as they tried to support one another.

              I had brought him in here, I had caused all of this… I hadn’t known it at the time, but it had been me… And right then, just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the sirens on the east lookout post began to blare.

              We were a sea of heads, all turning to look in the direction of that noise, the air raid siren that we had taken from an old army outpost, years ago… In our time here I could count on two hands the number of times it had been set off, and half of those times had been by accident.

              I ran.

              Seconds later I was away from the crowd, sprinting through the streets towards the lookout post. The siren continued to sound, that horrible chorus of whirring notes that sent a chill of terror through me.

              Death, attack, threat.

              ‘
HEEELLP!’

             
It was Laz on the outpost – Sam’s assistant. He was looking frantically back and forth between the field, which was out of my sight from down here, and myself as I ran towards him.

              The faces of those closest to me – Henrietta, Robbie, Hayley, Leah – flashed through my mind as I bounded up the ladder.

              ‘Sam, what is it?’

              ‘What the fuck are they, Tommy?!’

              I ran to the edge of the platform, gripping the railing as I looked out over the field – and my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my threat.

              There must have been fifty of them by my initial counting, although that was frantic and on the spot – for all I knew there could have been more. All I knew was that they were just like Mae and Larry, rabid and furious, snarling, ragged and bloody, particularly around their mouths. Men and women, intent on attacking us and the town that laid before them. They had no other purpose other than to get inside the walls and kill every one of us…

              No. Infect every one of us.

              They were coming straight for the walls, for the door, and they would be hear in thirty seconds.

              ‘Run.’

              We both leapt down from the platform, sprinting through the streets, back towards the scene that I had come from just a minute ago. Leah stepped out of her front door just as we ran past.

              ‘Tommy, what is it?’

              ‘We need to get everybody out, now!’

              ‘Why?’

              ‘Just do it, Leah, we don’t have time for this!’

              Her face fell as she saw the expression of fear and seriousness that was cast across my own, and she set off running with us for the crowd, who were still situated with terror and confusion, exactly where we had left them. More had joined, and by rights and my quick counting, it appeared that almost everybody was there.

              ‘Evacuate! West exit!’ I shouted. ‘THIS IS NOT A FUCKING JOKE!’

              The screams and shouts were a given, but the chaos that ensued was something that I couldn’t have possibly comprehended. We had gone over protocols a number of times, rehearsed situations in the event that we would need to rapidly evacuate Bastion, in case we came under attack. In reality, though, things played out in the most insane of circumstances.

              Everybody ran in different directions. Those who lived together took off together – some followed protocol, some ran to their homes, some looked about and screamed with confusion.

              Leah and I shouted it again, the words roaring over the crowd.

              Save as many people as possible.

              The problem was that the chaos had hit us too hard and too fast, and now bedlam had ensued.

              ‘We can’t direct everybody,’ Leah shouted at me, ‘we need to get out of here.’

              I looked about hopelessly, watching as people panicked and split up, running off in a general easterly direction. Some still stood around, waiting for nothing in particular, when we all heard it.

              The crashing sound against the wall which our attackers – the infected, whatever we should have called them – were heading towards was unmistakeable. I knew immediately what they were doing based on the behaviour of Mae and Larry, whose bodies were still lying in the damn street. They were throwing themselves against it, contorting themselves, trying to find a way in to our home.

              With that crashing, snarling sound, echoing through the streets, ready to reach us at any second, it suddenly became real to everybody. The last hangers on ran, screaming, some crying as they took off.

              ‘Tommy!’

              Hayley came running up to us – I wrapped my arms around her, never having been happier to see her in my life.

              ‘They’re coming,’ she panted, ‘they’re gonna be here any second.’

              ‘We need to get Robbie and your mom,’ Leah said.

              I looked to the floor, searching for my gun, realising that I had left it there – but it was gone. Somebody had taken it.

              ‘This is a fucking nightmare,’ I said, running my hands through my hair.

              ‘Wait, wait…’ Leah said quickly. ‘The Ranger.’

              None of us said another thing. We took off on the fifty yard run to the garage, sprinting though the streets towards it. My heart was racing as my mind seemed more shaken with every growl or echoing snarl that I could hear coming through the streets.

              ‘What’s happening?’ Leah asked, fumbling for the keys as she unlocked the garage door and pulled the door open.

              ‘The man from yesterday,’ I said hurriedly. Hayley glanced at me, but in the wake of what was happening the importance of me and her had fallen away completely. ‘He led something towards…’

              ‘Something?’

              ‘People… They’re rabid, infected with something…’

              ‘Infected?’

              ‘We’ll worry about that later. Right now we need to get the fuck out of here.’

              Right before getting into the Ranger I looked about the garage, searching for something I could use to protect myself,
anything
. The only other gun I had in my possession was my father’s hunting rifle beneath my bed, back at the house – where we were about to head to.

              I took up two things as quickly as I could, the first things I had set my eyes on – a shovel with a rusted blade, and a huge, red wrench.

              I climbed into the passenger seat as Hayley sat in the back and Leah took the wheel. She started it up, the engine stuttering.

              ‘Come on, you piece of shit,’ Leah muttered.

              It was then, as we prayed for the ignition to actually activate, that the pounding of footsteps on the tarmac began to sound out.

              ‘Yes!’

              The engine had finally started, but I had swapped one form of fear for another – they were inside Bastion, and they would be coming for each and every one of us.

              ‘
Drive.
’

              The Ranger tore out of the garage at the behest of Leah’s foot, taking a sharp left as we raced up the street towards where the bodies had been, where the crowd had been. A few people I could see running, and as we ate up those fifty yards of tarmac, two things stood out to me in particular.

              One; I looked left, and saw them approaching. They moved like a pack, sprinting and galloping towards us, reaching their arms out as they set their eyes on us and snarled. They were bloody, merciless,
inhuman
. There was nothing about them that could be redeemed, and the simple things that might have distinguished them when they were human were gone. Blonde hair, brown hair, red hair, man, woman, tall, short; there was nothing. They were all rabid, ready to attack us, not caring who we were or what we were.

              ‘Go!’

              Leah pressed down harder on the pedal, the engine roaring as I looked out the right window and caught a glimpse of-

              It was Rudy.

              He was stood atop the roof of his house, clad in something I couldn’t figure out the nature of. He knew more about weapons than any of us, although the contents of his house was something I had never truly witnessed. He allowed us to use things from his inventory in the condition that nobody went inside.

              Now he was stood there, his arms stretched wide, wearing a chunky black vest – at least that was what it appeared to be – with grey squares and a wire leading to his hand.

              ‘Come and get me, communists!’ He screamed at the top of his lungs, his arms spread wide as he looked out over the rooftops of Bastion. ‘You’ll never take me, I fucking swear it! FUCKING TRY IT!’

              As we turned the corner, racing past his house, up the road towards my own, I looked up the street to see the infected come running.

              They were following us – that was who they had seen. Now, though, I could see them splitting off, a few at a time, searching for us indiscriminately.

              Rudy’s screams still roared out over Bastion as we tore to the end of the street, stopping outside of my house as Leah slammed on the brakes. I hadn’t been wearing my seatbelt, and I almost found myself thrown out of the front window.

              Relief and horror overwhelmed me instantly – the former at the fact that Robbie was stood right there, gun in hand, the latter because my mother was nowhere to be seen.

              I jumped out of the car and grabbed Robbie by the shoulders.

              ‘Where is she?’

              ‘Tommy, what the fuck is going on? Are we under attack?’

              ‘Where’s mom?!’

              ‘I don’t know! I’ve been out, I just got here!’

              ‘For fucks sake – I’ll get her, get in the fucking car-’

              ‘What-’

              At that moment, rip-roaring into the sky, soared a huge fireball pluming with smoke and blackness. We both turned, wondering what the fuck was happening – my first instinct was a gas main, even though we didn’t have any of those.

              Then I realised – it was Rudy’s house. He had set off whatever claptrap combination of bombs and grenades that were wired up inside his house, some failsafe in the event that we came under attack. It only lit up his house and garden, but I’d be damned if I had seen anything like it in my entire life.

              He had killed himself in the crazed hope of taking as many of our invaders with him.

              Leah and Hayley both looked out of the window as the explosion resonated across Bastion, the shockwave rocking the car and knocking my brother and I to the floor.

              In those few moments that we waited for whatever was going to happen next, I truly hoped that that would be the end of it, that the attack was over, that he had taken them all with him – but it wasn’t the case by a long shot.

              They came running at us just like before, sprinting around the corner, rabid and furious. Some were on fire, their skin and hair roasting like some footed kamikaze squadron from hell. It didn’t deter them in the slightest as they carried on towards us. They would be here in twenty seconds, no more.

              ‘Go!’ I shouted, standing and shoving Robbie towards the car. ‘I’ll find mom. Pull around the back and pick us up – if I’m not out by the time you’re there, go without me.’

              ‘Tommy…’

              ‘GO!’

              Robbie gave me one final sparing look, looking at me helplessly before jumping into the front of the car. Leah took off up the street, and without looking back I sprinted for the front door.