The Last Infection: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (23 page)

“He’s right, we don’t want to get stuck anywhere. There’s too many of them in and around these buildings.” He focused on the emergency exit. “We need to get away while we have the
chance. Then we can find somewhere to hide for the night.”

He didn’t look at Jenn. He already knew she wanted to hold tight
, but he’d convinced himself that wasn’t the safest play anymore. They’d stumbled into some kind of nest of infected and in his mind, getting as far away as possible was the first course of action. He pressed on the slap bar and eased open the emergency door. It took him a second to realize they were on the opposite side of the building, farthest away from the rooftop they started on.

There was sporadic movement on the sidewalk across the two-lane street. The slow slumberin
g walk told him they were zombies. He counted a handful before reporting back to the others. He’d already made up his mind that they were going to make a run for it.

“Keep your heads down and
stay close.” Chris focused on Alicen. “No talking unless someone’s trying to eat you.”

She nodded.

Chris pushed open the door and kept moving. He was down behind a car before he looked back. Jake and Alicen were heading toward him and Jenn followed close behind them. He started off again, doing his best to keep anything between them and the scattered undead across the street. He reached the last car along the row and took a peek inside for a lucky shot at a set of keys.

“Damn,” he
mumbled, as their luck didn’t change. “We’re going to be in the open from here on out,” he whispered as the others caught up. He pulled the tattered map from his back pocket and laid it on the sidewalk. A quick comparison with the street signs at the corner told him they were facing the right direction. “It’s a hike,” he admitted, “but not impossible.”

Jake offered him one of the water bottles he
had managed to hold onto. Chris took a big swig then passed it around. He gave them a few seconds to ready themselves. There was one last nod for reassurance, and then Chris hopped up and began to jog. They were near the intersection before the moaning told them they were spotted. The sound that followed told them something different altogether.

A
swell of clamor rose to monstrous proportions. The screams and howls were instantly recognizable, but the sheer volume was more than any of them had heard before. It wasn’t until Chris was halfway across the intersection that he realized the darkening shadows had nothing to do with the setting sun. A swarm of infected pushed between the buildings and its entire ferocity was focused on one single thing.

24.

Chris ran until his legs
burnt. He was moving slowly enough that it made more sense to walk. They moved in and around office buildings trying to lose the host of infected trailing them. The tall buildings eventually gave way to storefronts, and then to homes.

The smell of the ocean was thick in the air and Chris knew they were getting close. He’d been forced to carry
Alicen on his back for several miles and the weight was now more than he could bear. They hadn’t heard the chorus of death for over half an hour, but he didn’t dare to hope that they’d gotten away. He pushed into a backyard, letting Jenn and Jake pass him. Then he gingerly closed and locked the gate.

The roads were clo
aked in random patches of darkness. The moon was hidden behind a thick cover of clouds and it provided little assistance. Some streets were lined with fully functional lights. Chris wasn’t sure if the light was a blessing or a curse. He let Alicen down and tried to catch his breath.

“Are you sure we’re still going the right way?” Jake asked between
gulps of air.

Chris laid the map out on the badly over grown lawn and tried to figure out where they were. “I know we passed Bixby road,” he pointed it out. “I think we’ll get to 37
th
street if we keep heading in that direction.” He motioned toward the adjacent yard. “We need to head west to reach Long Beach Boulevard.” He looked up at them. “We can follow it all the way to the docks.”

“How far is it?”
Alicen asked.

“Not as far as we’ve already come,” Chris said. “I can’t carry you the rest of the way. I need you to keep up. Can you do that?”

She looked up at her brother for a reassuring nod.

“I think so,” she said.

Chris folded the map and slid it back in his pocket. “Let’s get going. I don’t want to stay anywhere too long. We’ll go slow. Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut.”

They were up and moving again. Chris gav
e up the relative cover of backyards for a view of the boulevard that would guide them to their destination. Most of the street lights along the major strip were out, some of the poles lying on the ground. Abandoned vehicles littered the road highlighted here and there by lifeless bodies. Nothing moved, but a horrific anticipation kept everyone on edge.

Chris stayed at a slow trot
so Jenn and the kids could keep pace with him. They crossed under the 405 overpass as the first sign of dawn showed itself. Darkness was still in firm control of the sky, but along the horizon behind them, a faint line of violet ran the length of the distant cityscape. The sight of the coming daybreak brought with it hope, but that feeling was quickly interrupted.

Chris
saw something moving behind them. It was a good distance away, but it was there for sure. Figures moved along the six-lane road, most of them twitching erratically. He slowed down enough to get behind Jenn and the kids.

“What is it?” Jenn asked.

“It’s not important. We need to keep moving.” He didn’t try to hide what was coming, but he didn’t see why it mattered. “We can make it. We can reach the docks before they catch up with us.”

The fear was thick in
Jenn’s eyes. Alicen stumbled as she tried to get a good look behind them and keep moving forward at the same time.

“Then what?”
Jenn asked in a terrified tone.

Chris didn’t answer. He’d been so focused on reaching the docks that he didn’t consider what they were g
oing to do when they got there.

“We get on a boat and we go,
” he said.

“What if there aren’t any boats?” Jake asked.

Chris knew the question was coming before he heard it. He had no idea how to respond.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” Jenn said. “Just keep running.”

The trio crossed the pacific coast highway and the bay opened up below them. They were a good distance from the harbor, but the lightening horizon gave a hint of the deep blue water. The smell of the ocean grew thick as the sounds of the infected drew closer.

The mob was easy to see. Once hidden behind them by the darkness, the rising sun showed the truth of their situation. The horde of infected had grown to a monstrous size. The mob covered the street from one side to the other and reached back
several blocks. Chris could see they were gaining ground. The kids were nearly walking when the first sign of the docks spurred them on.

“Look
.”

Jake’s exclamation pulled everyone’s attention beyond the convention center at the end of the road. His excitement was centered on a massive freight ship lying on its side in the water. The
enormous vessel was longer than anything they’d ever seen. The bow was badly blackened and a substantial fissure hinted at an explosion. They ran to the convention center and down a series of connecting stairways. The end result left the vast open docks ahead of them to the north and south. Burnt out building and abandoned vehicles lined the edge of an endless graveyard of stacked freight containers.

“Let’s get in
side that maze before they catch up,” Chris said.

Jenn was watching the high ground behind them. The first of the infected had reached the convention cent
er and started down the stairs.

“They’re never going to give up,” she said. “
The food supply must be really low.”

Jake started across the street. He grabbed hold of
his sister’s hand as he went.

“Then let’s find our boat before we’re
their last supper.”

They worked between several broken down
vehicles, and then down an embankment on the other side of the street. The charred trees offered little camouflage and it wasn’t until they crossed a narrow access road that any real cover showed itself. The stockyard was surrounded by a tall fence, topped with out-rigged razor wire. Chris was already running for a gap in the fence closer to the water. They pushed through the opening as mob of the infected barreled down the embankment behind them.

Chris was in the lead as they rounded a maintenance building.
Monstrous stacks of freight containers loomed overhead. A long dead crane set motionless closer to the water. The ship they saw from higher ground was hidden from view.

Chris considered trying the door to the maintenance building
, but the ever-rising growls of the infected forced him to keep moving. He picked the closest opening between two stacks of containers and led them in. Several quick turns had them hidden somewhere within a few seconds later. It didn’t take him long to realize the problem with their plan.

“
Hell, I can’t tell which way we came from,” he said, trying to get his bearings. “We might turn ourselves around and run right into those damn things.”

Jenn
studied the numbers along the edges of the containers, searching for something of use. Alicen slid her head out to watch the row behind them, while Jake tried to figure out which direction the sounds were coming from. Chris took a second to count his rounds.

“How many?” Jenn asked.

“Four.”

“I’ve got two,” she said.

Chris nodded. He already knew they wouldn’t survive a fight. The count only confirmed it. He was trying to figure out which way to go when Jake’s hand shot up. Chris and Jenn’s eyes turned to him. Chris was about to ask him to spit it out when he picked up on a new sound.

“What is that?”
Alicen asked.

The screeching was metal scraping across metal. The moaning tha
t followed was just as obvious.

“Freaking great…”

Jake was about to explain when the door at the end of the container behind them slowly swung out. The decaying figure that appeared from within was void of skin from head to toe. A vile form of putrid decomposing muscle and tissue turned its rotted eyes on Alicen and started for her. The girl let out a terrible shrill as she stumbled back.

Chris raised his gun to fire
, but a group of decomposing bodies shuffled out after the first and he settled on a retreat. He shoved Alicen out in front of him, urging her to keep moving. They were running blind, lost within the dockyard maze. The container doors opened in horrifying succession as the dead began pouring out.

“Don’t let them surround us,
” Chris shouted. He had to fire to clear the way, and at close range, the shot nearly took a zombie’s head clean off. “Keep running this way and don’t turn again.” In a hurry, he decided heading in a single direction was the only way they would get out of the maze.

The dead
came from every corner of the lot. They were weak and barely moving, but their lust for flesh was no less vicious. Chris dodged outstretched hands as he ran. The moans swelled as the number of the dead grew. The foul stench of them rushed out in waves engulfing every inch of the dockyard. The overwhelming odor was enough to cause Alicen to gag. To her credit, the little girl threw up as she ran, never stopping her feet.

Chris edged them around a section of containers and a wide view of the ocean opened up ahead of them. The moment the excitement touched him, a new view brought it
crashing down. A host of the dead pushed in from beyond the last stack of containers. The crew was led by a front line of decaying dockworkers still clad in matching blue jumpsuits and hardhats. Battered and bloodied, they hobbled forward, some with exposed innards dangling about their waist and thighs and others with portions of their faces exposed from bites and gouges.

“Chris.
”

Al
icen clung to his leg as they came to a hasty stop. Chris turned to find the way behind no safer than the way ahead. The dead followed in a trail leading back several container lengths. Beyond the horde, the first wave of the infected pushed through the hungry crowd, making their way toward the front.

Chris
faced the dock and started firing. He dropped three zombies before he pulled the trigger and nothing happened. He rushed for the edge of the container, trying to reach open ground when the dead closed in on them. Chris smashed his gun into the forehead of dockhand as it lunged toward him. The skin split and the skull popped open, spewing out a retched mix of blood and foul mustard colored discharge.

A pair of hands grabbed the
gun as Chris tried to bring it back for another blow. A second later, several more had hold of the weapon. The dead pushed in on him trying to get a fist full of his shirt. Chris nearly tripped over Jake as he squeezed in between him and the edge of the last container. Alicen went next and a gong echoed in Chris’ ears as the little girl’s head smacked the metal side of the container as she forced herself through.

“I can’t make it.”

Jenn was wedged behind him as the remaining dead from the front gathered around. The kids were out of sight and Jenn was forced to step back the way they’d come. She raised her pistol and fired the remaining rounds. One shot blew the brains out of a man’s ear and the second snapped a female’s head back as it ripped through her forehead.

The two
advancing figures dropped and gave Chris the leverage he needed. He pushed the remaining group back in a desperate attempt to create space for Jenn to get away. He locked one leg in place then planted his other up against the side of the container. He pushed with all his might and moved the group a few inches. The sounds of the coming horde of dead and infected roared as they drew within a stone’s throw.

“Go now.
”

Jenn tried to wedge herself behind him
, but couldn’t get by. She reached over his shoulder to help him push. The two forced the front row of zombies back a foot then managed to get themselves out to the open space. Chris turned to run when he heard Jenn scream.

He
found her running after him, bent forward, cradling one arm with the other. A fresh flow of blood poured from a deep wound on the top of her forearm. The sight of it brought Chris to a dead stop. Jenn had to yell at him to get him running again.

“Move your
damn feet!”

He grabbed her shirt and
ran. The kids were not far ahead and it wasn’t long before they were side by side. The horrified looks on their faces told Chris that they knew what happened. He risked a look behind them and found what could only be described as hell’s army. The edge of the dock was close. The water churned as choppy waves smacked the assortment of half-sunken boats littering the harbor. The nose of the massive ship they saw from the convention center lay ahead, but there was little else to see. The endless rows of containers filled the rest of the lot and none of the space between offered a promise of escape.

“
There are no boats,” Jake yelled. “Where the hell are all the boats?”

Chris didn’t have an answer. He didn’t have an answer for anything anymore. His strength was waning and he guessed the kids would succumb at any moment. Jenn stumbled and nearly fell. He had to wrap his arm up under hers to give her the balance to keep going
.

“You’ve got to get up on that ship.”