The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) Read online

  “Dusty? Is that what you— Oh, for Christ’s sake, you already named the damn thing? Come on, son. It’s not a good idea!”

  While Simon and Peter argue, Dave scans the parking lot and notices multiple humans coming their way. He lowers his rifle and ducks down. “Everyone get down! Multiple hostiles coming straight for us! They only look like slow half-deads, but we still need to displace and now!”

  After everyone follows Dave’s lead and crouches down out of sight, they immediately scramble to gather the rest of their things very quickly. Jason pulls some duct tape out of his pack and wraps the opened bag of dog food up to close the hole. He puts the tape back in his pack and throws it on his back. Still crouched, he picks up the two thirty-pound bags of dog food and throws them over his shoulder.

  “You heard the man, Simon. The dog’s coming with us, so let’s stop wasting time and get moving before those things are on top of us. Besides, that looks like a highly trained military or police dog, a German shepherd like that may come in handy down the road.”

  Simon shakes his head and lets out a sigh. “Fine, but he’s your responsibility. Now, let’s just get the hell out of here!”

  Chapter 24

  Dave bolts toward the woods, and everyone else follows. The gunfire in the distance gets louder and more intense as they move through the woods at a very rapid pace. The dog moves right beside Peter and suddenly comes to a stop. Dusty growls in the direction to their right, and everyone stops. Dave goes to one knee with everyone following suit. They scan the area. “What the fuck is that dog growling at? Does anyone have eyes on any hostiles? And Pete, try and keep that dog quiet; we don’t need him barking.”

  Pete does his best to calm Dusty, but he just growls louder and louder as he jumps around. They all scan the area in the direction that the dog is growling but see and hear nothing. Then five figures appear in Dave’s sight. “Fuck! Contact. Thirty yards and closing fast, and they don’t look like friendlies. Wait for my command to fire.”

  The dog jumps up and down, barking ferociously, but never leaves Peter’s side. Dave doesn’t even blink as the figures get closer much quicker than expected. “Stay in formation, and hit the target that’s in line with us. Everyone ready. I’ll fire first.” He yells out, “Stop, or we will fire on you!”

  Not waiting for a response, Dave takes a deep breath and pulls the trigger and hits the figure on their left, sending it to the ground. The next shot comes from Jason, who takes out the figure next in line. Simon and Peter both take shots, hitting their targets but not stopping them.

  As three of the remaining figures continue to get closer, Dave, Jason, Simon, and Peter simultaneously fire at them, but it only slows them down. Dave gets off one knee and aims for a head. He hits one of the men right in the forehead, pulverizing its skull and sending it crashing into the one next to it. Jason pulls the trigger in rapid succession, hitting the closest man to them and quickly putting it down. The last one gets up and charges the group, who in turn fires back, lifting the man off the ground and making mince meat of its now lifeless body before it falls to the ground.

  They scan the area for any more threats, and Dusty finally stops barking and jumping around. Once satisfied that there are no additional threats in sight, they move through the woods even faster than before.

  As they get to the edge of the tree line, they hear gunfire so intense and so close that the dark skies light up from the gunfire. They all stop and look around, but the streets in front of them seem quiet.

  Dave checks his clip and slams a new one back into his rifle. “I need to find out what the hell is going on over there. That sounds like military fire and a shit ton of it. So here’s the plan: Simon, you and Peter head back to the house. Jason and I are going to do a little reconnaissance and see what’s going on over there.”

  Jason drops his head and shakes it back and forth. “Remember what I said about knocking on hell’s gate? Well, that sounds more like actual hell than just its gates. We should head back.”

  Dave continues to check his equipment and doesn’t even look up. “Fine go back. I’ll be fine on my own.”

  “That’s out of the question, I go where you go, but we don’t have to go toward that, brother.”

  “Well I do. I’m still an active soldier in the U.S. armed forces, and if those are my men out there, then I need to help them if I can. I don’t expect any of you to understand that, but when you swear to protect this country, you protect it, and all those who inhabit it.”

  Simon nods his head in agreement and looks over at his son.

  Peter looks at his dad and then back at Dave. “It’s not a good idea to split up. We’re a team. We should stay together.”

  Simon looks back at his son, confused. “Out of the question. We’re heading back. I need to take care of that arm!”

  Peter rubs his arm and looks at Jason and Dave. “We’re a team. We stay together. If I was going to change into something, it would have happened already. Now let’s stop fucking around and move out. End of conversation!”

  Simon drops his head and sighs as he looks over at his son. “Ten minutes. That’s it. Then we’re on our way back home. Got it?”

  Dave looks at Peter and nods his head and then moves into the street as everyone follows in formation. They climb the hill and traverse the top in the opposite direction of the house.

  As they get closer to the gunfire, the dog gets very anxious, alerting everyone in the group. They follow the ridgeline and come to a drop-off overlooking an intersection of some major streets. Once they get close, they all drop to the ground as the scene unfolds before them. What appears like a military convoy has stopped in the middle of the road and is firing heavily upon a massive group of human beings. The dog growls again as everyone lies in silence, trying to comprehend what they are looking at. Dave tries to adjust his sights in an attempt to see the situation better but without any luck.

  “Does anyone have a better view of what we’re looking at? I can’t tell what’s going on down there. Is the military firing upon a bunch of half-deads?”

  Peter adjusts his scope and jumps back as soon as he sees what’s happening. “Oh my God, they look more like incipients and lots of them! It looks like there are hundreds of them attacking that convoy! Holy shit! I’ve never seen so many people before!”

  As the gunfire gets more intense, at the same time it slowly gets more concentrated to one area. The horde is enveloping the convoy, leaving only a few vehicles still firing back.

  “There’s only a few vehicles still firing, and they are falling fast. What should we do? Should we try to help them?” Peter says while erratically scoping out the scene.

  Dave gets off the ground and goes to one knee. “There’s nothing we can do for them. We need to get out of here and fast.”

  “There’s only one vehicle left now. We have to help him!” As Peter focuses on the last remaining Humvee, he quickly spots the greatest threats to the man on top using the fifty-caliber machine gun to fight for his life.

  Without a second thought, Peter pulls the trigger and picks off the ones crawling on top of the vehicle, sending them flying off and instantly vanishing into the crowd.

  Simon grabs his son’s arm. “What are you doing? You’ll draw them toward us. Stop firing!”

  Peter ignores his dad and looks back into his scope only to see the man get covered with infected and the gunfire stop. He looks at the ground in between them and sees dozens of infected rushing toward them. He jumps up and yells, “Holy shit! We gotta go! We gotta go now! There’s dozens of them heading straight for us!”

  Dave stands up and looks down the cliff at what Peter was seeing: dozens of infected rushing toward them. “Everyone move now. Back to the house. Double time!”

  They all get up and run from the cliff as fast as they can. They move along the ridgeline, not looking through their sights but just at what’s right in front of them.

  After a few minutes, Dave turns his head to look beh
ind and steps on a rock, twisting his ankle and sending him to the ground. Jason hears his brother fall and stops and turns around to see his brother on the ground and grabbing his ankle.

  “Wait, hold up. Dave’s down. I gotta help him. Cover me!”

  Both Simon and Peter abruptly stop and turn toward them. Peter moves around Jason, who is helping Dave off the ground, and sees multiple infected no more than seventy-five yards behind them.

  “Contact! Less than a hundred yards and closing, multiple targets moving fast. We need to move now!”

  Jason hears the distress in Peter’s voice and yanks Dave off the ground. He puts Dave’s arm around his shoulder, and Dave tries to hop with him, slightly grimacing in pain. Simon sees the infected moving toward them and starts firing his weapon as he backpedals.

  “Move! Move! Move!”

  Peter tries to pick his targets with precision but quickly abandons that approach as they get closer, and he just starts firing as many times as he can. He sees multiple infected fall to the ground but only to be trampled by more that are heading for them. Dusty is going berserk, barking and jumping around, eager to attack but staying right by Peter. Dave pushes his brother aside and puts weight on his injured ankle, causing him to verbally grimace in pain.

  “I’m fine, damn it. Now, put suppressive fire on those fucking targets, or we’re not going to make it out of here alive!”

  Jason looks at his brother and then turns toward the infected, lifting his rifle and unloading a hailstorm of bullets into the mass of bodies coming at them. Dave hobbles along the ridgeline, holding in the severe pain shooting from his ankle. But it slowly begins to dissipate from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Once he gets ahead of the group, he swings his rifle around and turns to fire upon the infected.

  “Simon, Peter, move twenty yards behind me and continue the suppressive fire. Check your mages along the way!”

  Peter and Simon both turn and run past Jason and Dave and up the ridge that begins to bend, providing the perfect firing line. They both turn once they’ve gone about twenty yards, and they check their magazines. Simon sees he’s almost out and reaches for his vest only to find one clip remaining. He looks at his son already reloaded and already firing downrange. “Last clip! Last clip! Move it!”

  He begins firing at a slower rate, trying to make every last round count. Dave turns toward them and hobbles his way into a slight jog and then goes by them. Jason empties his clip and reaches for another one but without success. “I’m out! I’m out!” He throws his rifle around his back and pulls his pistol from his vest then turns and runs.

  Dave hears his brother and stops. He grabs Jason as he goes by and pulls him back toward his body and puts his rifle to Jason’s chest. “Take this, and put your pistol back. Here, last mag; make it count!” Dave hands the gun off, pulls his handgun from his vest, and limps toward the house. “Simon, how far from the house are we?”

  Simon glances up then quickly looks back. “Fifty yards. Run, goddammit. Everyone run! They’re about twenty yards and closing!”

  They all run for their lives. Simon and Jason grab Dave and drag him as fast as they can move. Peter stops and fires again, empting his clip. He slings his rifle over his shoulder and pulls his pistol out as he runs, the dog right behind him. As he catches up to the group, he sees two hand grenades hanging off of Dave’s vest.

  He gets close to them and yells, “Slow up for a second. Dave has two grenades on him!”

  They slow to a trot. Peter pulls the grenades from Dave’s vest. Dave says, “Holy shit! I completely forgot I had those!”

  Peter clips one grenade to his vest and pulls the pin from the other one and hurls it directly at the infected. He turns and runs. The grenade explodes just as they reach the fence. Peter looks back to see a thinned out crowd slowly be replaced by numerous more infected emerging from the cloud of smoke and dirt.

  They get to the fence and quickly unlock it. Jason and Dave go through the fence, but Simon turns toward his son. He grabs Peter and throws him into the backyard while firing his handgun. He slams the fence shut and picks Peter up off the ground and pulls the grenade from his vest. He pulls the pin from the grenade and tosses it over the fence then grabs his son, and they run up to the door.

  He pulls his keys from his pocket just as the grenade goes off, forcing him to drop them on the ground. After a few seconds, the fence bends in toward them as the force of the mob slams into it.

  With only handguns, Dave, Jason, and Peter stand at attention pointing their weapons at the now falling fence as Simon frantically searches the ground for the keys. He grabs them off the ground, and as he lifts them, he is met with the jingling of the keys from his shaking. He desperately tries to find the keyhole as gunfire overtakes the barking dog that’s soon overtaken by the ringing in his ears.

  Dave presses up against Simon’s back as he moves back toward him. “Open the fucking door, damn it! Now! We’re gonna be dead in a few seconds if you don’t get that fucking door open!”

  And just like that the door opens, and Kelly and the two girls are standing in the doorway. Their eyes widen in shock as the horde begins to pour over the fence. The two girls scream and both run back into the house. Simon dives into the house while Kelly fires at the infected. Dave, Peter, and Jason rush into the house, grabbing Kelly and slamming the door behind them. Simon gets off the ground and quickly locks the door just as the mob hits the side of the house, shaking the foundation.

  “Everyone downstairs, now. They could overtake this house within minutes!” Jason helps Dave get down the stairs. Everyone else follows. They rush into the bunker, hitting the panic button along the way.

  Chapter 25

  Maggie opens a can of soup and stares at it for a while. She thinks about how nice it would be to have a pizza or Chinese food delivered to her house. It would be just like the times when she would be up all night studying for an exam. What she wouldn’t do to be studying for an exam right now. She laughs to herself as she pours the soup into a pot and places it on the stove.

  Eric and Nate come rushing into the kitchen from being outside as Eric attempts to calm himself down. “Maggie, you know those jets we heard flying overhead? Well, they were heading straight for Denver. I spoke with your neighbor, and he said he’d heard something over his modified radio scanner about the military fire bombing all major cities that were affected by the chemical attack. Maggie, they dropped napalm on Denver!”

  Maggie turns around and looks at Eric with a look of doubt on her face. “Ah, yeah, and my neighbor’s one bong hit away from retardation. I wouldn’t put too much stock into what he says. He’s a dumbass trustafarian. You know that.”

  Nate sits down at the kitchen table scratching his hand over where the chip was inserted. “It’s true, Maggie. His girlfriend was there to confirm it. She heard the transmission herself. They bombed Denver, Mags. Like they fuckin’ bombed our city along with every other major city in the country!”

  Kristie and Heather both walk downstairs, and Kristie asks, “What’s going on? We overheard you say something about Denver getting bombed?”

  Nate continues to scratch his hand so hard that a little blood drips out of the incision. “The military just fire bombed Denver and every major city with napalm. Your neighbor and his girlfriend said they heard a radio transmission on some modified radio they have.”

  Kristie sits down next to Nate and smacks his hand away. “Stop scratching the incision. It’s going to get infected. And what are you talking about the military bombed Denver? You didn’t hear that from our idiot trustafarian neighbor, did you?”

  Maggie laughs as she stirs the soup. “That’s exactly what I said. That guy’s a moron, but they did say his girlfriend, what’s her name, said it as well, and she doesn’t seem all that dumb.”

  Eric begins to say something when the computer at the kitchen desk beeps, and the screen flashes. Maggie walks over to the computer and clicks the mouse.

  “It’s a
message from my uncle. It says that Denver along with every affected city has been fire bombed by the U.S. military in order to contain the infected from spreading into surrounding areas. Stay in the bunker for fear of a possible additional fire bombing farther away from the city. Will contact soon with more detail.”

  Eric walks over to the computer and looks at the screen. “How is that possible that you received a message from your uncle? Communication lines have been down for days. We haven’t had Internet access, cell phone service, or even a land line since last week, so how the hell did you receive that message?”

  “This computer is connected to the one in the bunker, which doesn’t use normal Internet. It works on some special private Internet line that has a direct link to the Ark. I don’t know the details of it. My uncle tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. But this will work even if all traditional lines of communication are down. I think it works through a satellite or something.”

  Eric crosses his arms and looks at Maggie. “Well, I’ll be dammed. Looks like he thought of everything, didn’t he? Not just solar panels but satellite Internet as well.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure what that means, but you heard what he said; we need to get into the bunker immediately.”

  Maggie walks over to the stove and pulls the soup off. “I know you guys haven’t been able to get in contact with any of your families, but I think you should all try again.” They all rush downstairs and lock themselves into the bunker.

  Two days go by with no word from her uncle, and Maggie begins to get nervous. She tries numerous times to contact her uncle but without any success. When a few days turns into a week, she knows something is wrong. She paces back and forth while her friends try and fail to comfort her. She just keeps mumbling to herself that something is wrong. Something is very wrong.