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

  All of a sudden, the intercom beeps, stopping her in her tracks as everyone else freezes. Maggie dashes over to the intercom on the second beep and presses the button and hears screaming on the other end. When she looks at the camera she sees her friend Jennifer screaming into the intercom.

  “Maggie! Maggie, help us. They’re everywhere! Please help us! They’re going to kill us! Help!”

  Maggie presses the intercom button and answers back, “Jen, are you alright? What is going on? Who is trying to kill you?”

  “Oh my God! Please help us!”

  “We’re coming, Jenny. Hang on!”

  Maggie turns around to see Eric and Nate grabbing assault rifles off the rack and handing them to Heather and Kristie. Maggie darts over to them and grabs a gun.

  Heather stands there obviously scared to death. “Wait, you guys, maybe we should discuss this. What if we let whatever’s out there in here?

  Maggie lowers her rifle and looks up at Heather. “What are you saying? We shouldn’t help them?”

  Heather drops her head and looks at the ground. “I’m just saying we’re putting all of our lives in danger by helping.”

  “Fine, stay here, but we’re going.”

  Eric looks at everyone as he slams a clip into his rifle. “Alright, you guys. I have no idea what the hell’s going on out there, but we need to go help. Are there any objections?” Everyone, including Heather, shakes their heads no. “Well, then, let’s move. You girls stay behind Nate and me once we open the front door, okay?”

  The three girls nod their heads in agreement, but Heather looks away. They all move to the bunker door, and Nate unlocks it. They run upstairs and get to the front door. Eric puts his hand on the door and looks through the peephole to see nothing but hair. Muffled screaming can be heard from outside, and Eric turns around.

  “Alright, you guys, are you ready? I can’t see anything, but we can’t leave her out there. On the count of three I’m opening the door, okay? Alright then, one, two, three!”

  Eric unlocks the door and opens it. Jennifer immediately falls backward and lands on Eric, forcing them to the ground. Nate moves out of the way and points his rifle out the door.

  As he looks down the driveway, he freezes in shock at the sight of what’s happening. Maggie and Kristie both grab Jennifer, who is still hysterically screaming, and pull her off of Eric. Eric gets up off the ground and sees Nate not moving. He turns his head in the direction that Nate is looking in and gasps at the sight.

  The world feels like it stops turning as time slows down and the shock sets in. Eric thinks to himself that he’s panicking but can’t move or do anything about it. He’s always heard of people becoming frozen with fear but has never experienced it. He hears someone yelling behind him but can’t make out what they are saying. It’s like he’s underwater.

  Just as abruptly as his senses leave him, they come back with the sound of Maggie yelling at him to help them. He shakes his head and looks at Nate, who is still stunned and not moving. Eric looks back down the driveway and can finally make out what is happening. He sees four guys on the lawn swinging what looks like baseball bats and a hockey stick at a group of people that look oddly familiar to the guy that killed Todd. At the bottom of the driveway, he sees what he thinks is at least one person on the ground being ripped to shreds by another group of them.

  As soon as he fully realizes what is happening and what those things are, he elbows Nate and screams in his ear, “Snap out of it, Nate. We have to help them!” Nate responds and looks at Eric, who looks scared to death and like he wants to run and hide somewhere. But just like that, Nate steps out of the front door and starts shooting.

  The screaming is overwhelming.

  It seems like it’s coming from everywhere, from the girls in the house, from the girl on her butt behind the guys with the baseball bats, even from the guys with the baseball bats. Eric tries to ignore the screams and follows Nate out the door, firing his gun as well. He points his weapon at the people attacking the group of guys, putting holes in one of the attackers and watching him fall only to see the guy with the hockey stick fall as well.

  With everything happening so fast, Eric is not completely sure what to do. He just tries to focus and not panic. He looks at Nate for leadership on what exactly he should be doing. He sees Nate walking closer to the group of guys fighting for their lives, firing countless rounds as he moves toward the attackers.

  Eric thinks to himself, What the fuck are you doing? Help them! And just like that, Eric moves up beside Nate and pulls off two rounds, plugging two holes into one of the attacker’s heads and sending him toppling to the ground.

  Another one of the guys with the bats falls under three or four attackers that overwhelm him, smothering him instantly. Nate takes down another attacker with multiple bullets. Eric runs up to the girl screaming on the ground behind the last two standing guys and grabs her arm and then pulls her back toward the house. Another one of the baseball bat guys fall, and almost immediately, Nate steps up and slams the butt of his rifle into the attacker’s head, sending it flailing backwards. Nate releases his clip and pulls another mag from his cargo shorts pocket and slams it into his rifle.

  Kristie and Maggie continue to shoot from within the house, but after Eric drags the girl back and away from the fight, Heather comes running up from behind and grabs the girl, pulling her inside the house.

  Eric then turns around to see multiple attackers moving very fast and in their direction. Without hesitation this time, Eric pulls the trigger as fast as he can and at as many attackers as he can. Bodies start to fall, and blood sprays everywhere as gunfire erupts from the house.

  As the last of the baseball bat guys fall, Nate stands directly over the attackers that are now on top of the two fallen but still fighting guys. He tries to kick them off the men on the ground, who are screaming for their lives. Like a man in the middle of ‘roid rage, Nate pulls the attackers off the men one by one, throwing them to the side where Eric fills them full of holes as they fall backwards.

  Maggie and Kristie, who looks wide-eyed and yet very determined, both come out of the house, shooting wildly at the numerous attackers now flocking to their house. Maggie gets close and yells out, “Let’s go! We have to get back inside. They are everywhere!”

  Eric looks up from the pile and sees what she is talking about: dozens of fucked-up-looking attackers coming right for them, some moving very fast. He looks at Nate still cracking skulls and trying to help the last guy still struggling. “Nate, we gotta go! We gotta go, man, now. They’re all over the place!”

  Nate kicks the last of the attackers off the guy and pulls the bloody man up to his feet and yells at him to get inside.

  Just as Eric turns to head back, he sees out of the corner of his eye a man sprinting straight for Heather, but it is too late. No sooner than he can yell to watch out, the man lunges at Heather, blindsiding her and toppling them both to the ground.

  She screams but only for a second as the man gets on top of her and bites down on her neck, ripping it apart. Her scream is silenced, but it’s soon replaced by numerous other screams coming from Maggie and Kristie and the others in the house.

  Eric rushes up to the man attacking Heather and fires so many bullets into the man that some go straight through him. But he knows it’s too late. He saw what happened to her throat. As he pulls the man off of her, he reveals a lifeless body covered in blood.

  Eric looks at her in disbelief that she is dead. Tears form in his eyes. Someone grabs his leg, and he looks down to see Maggie clutching his leg and screaming for her friend, but he knows there’s nothing they can do. He knows she’s gone. He picks Maggie’s limp body off the ground. She is screaming and crying uncontrollably. He takes her by one arm and drags her away from their friend’s lifeless body.

  Nate starts yelling as he continues to shoot at the attackers. “Run! Run! Run!”

  Eric looks back to see so many people coming toward them. He looks down a
t Maggie, who he is now dragging across the lawn and yells, “Maggie, get up, damn it. Get up! We have to get inside now. Help me, damn it. Get up!”

  But Maggie hears nothing but the faint sounds of someone yelling and screaming. She tries desperately not to black out, but her body tries its best to shut down. She can’t comprehend what is happening but soon finds comfort when she looks up and sees Eric. As soon as she realizes it’s her that’s screaming, she’s quickly reminded that her best friend is dead.

  Nate runs up aside them and grabs Maggie, and they both pull her into the house. Kristie tries to shut the door but is knocked back by the force of someone hitting the door on the other side. When the door flies open, the screams become so deafening, and they all freeze.

  A man and a woman fall at the doorstep and start clawing at them, and Nate steps up and kicks the man right in the face and plants his rifle butt into the woman’s head, snapping it back. He hits the woman again and then hits the man in the head with his rifle as a bullet fires from his gun.

  Eric flinches after hearing the zip of the bullet passing by his shoulder, which lodges itself into the ceiling. He then fires multiple times into the heads of the attackers, which explode on contact. He throws down his weapon and charges the door, putting his shoulder into it and slamming it shut. Maggie follows suit and hurriedly locks the door just as more bodies slam into the steel-reinforced door. Maggie slides down the door and begins to cry again, soon joined by Kristie, who clutches her and pulls her away from the door.

  Eric puts his hands on top of his head and looks around. “Holy fuck! Holy fuck! Holy fuck! Is everyone alright? Maggie, are you alright?”

  Nate crouches down over the guy covered in blood and feels for a pulse. “Well, this guy’s still alive, but I don’t know for how long.”

  Jennifer crawls over to them and cries out, “Mike! Mike, answer me. Are you all right? Mike, wake up!”

  Eric drops his head and then looks over at the other girl. “Are you alright? Hey, can you hear me? Are you alright?” The girl just continues to rock back and forth clutching her knees and not saying a word.

  The site of the wounded man forces Maggie to snap out of it, “We have to get downstairs and get this guy some help. I know there’s a medical kit down there, so let’s move, now!”

  The pounding on the steel door continues, which is soon accompanied by people pounding on the windows and shouting. The group manages to get everyone downstairs and into the bunker. They get Mike on a table and start to wipe away the blood that covers his body. As the blood starts to come off and the multiple bite wounds are revealed, it forces everyone to step back from the unconscious man. They look at one another, not sure what to think. Jennifer holds his hand and wipes the blood from his face and kisses his forehead while tears run down her face and onto his.

  Chapter 26

  John finishes reading the kids their bedtime story and kisses them goodnight. Adjusting to their new home hasn’t been easy, and a little extra attention has been needed from both John and Kate. After tucking them in and making sure they all fall asleep, he walks into their living room and sits down next to Kate, who is still reading her book. He gives his wife a kiss on the cheek and tells her that he loves her, and she responds with the same.

  John’s radio begins to beep as his screen comes up and displays Adam’s distraught face. “Adam, what is it? Is everything alright?”

  “Sir, you need to get down here right away.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  He looks at his wife, kisses her on the cheek once more, and gets off the couch. “I better go see what’s going on.”

  Kate looks up at John, concerned, and responds, “Okay, just let me know what’s going on as soon as you do, okay?”

  He nods his head and hurries out of the room, leaving his radio behind. He runs out the door and gets to the elevator as quickly as possible, passing numerous people on his way, which sparks their curiosity. The elevator ride seems like an eternity, as he can’t stop thinking about all the possibilities on what could be wrong. Trying his best not to fear the worse, the elevator finally gets to the command center floor, and John dashes out of the barely opening doors, quickly goes through security check, and jogs into the control room.

  “What is it? What’s going on?”

  Adam turns around from the multiple screens displaying images of something that John can’t seem to make out. Adam uncrosses his arms and walks over to John, who is still trying to catch his breath. “Sir, you’re going to have to sit down to hear this.”

  He pulls up a chair, and John looks at it confused and feeling even more concerned than before. “Okay, what is going on? What am I looking at?”

  Adam turns toward the screens and clicks the remote, bringing up an image of some sort of explosion.

  “Sir, we’ve received confirmation of another terrorist attack, but this time it appears to be nuclear. Less than thirty minutes ago, we intercepted a military transmission ordering troops back to base. And that sometime last night there was not just one but two confirmed nuclear bomb detonations in New York City and Los Angeles.”

  John’s jaw drops to the ground in shock, and he slowly sits down in the chair provided by Adam. “What, what did you say?”

  “Sir, I said this country has been attacked by terrorists in the form of two nuclear bombs. And they have destroyed a massive area of both the East and West Coasts. We still don’t know if they were missile strikes or some kind of bomb from the ground; all we know is that it was nuclear and devastating. And like I said, the military is pulling out all their troops that are helping the affected cities, and they are mobilizing and preparing for another possible attack. Here are the images that we have so far from various sources.”

  Adam clicks through multiple images on the screens, showing mainly satellite images of the bomb blasts. John sits back in his chair, still slack jawed and unable to speak. A tear rolls down his face that he quickly wipes.

  Chris abruptly turns around in his chair. “Sir, we’ve just got drone footage back, and it appears that the military has indeed evacuated Boulder and that there was a way in for the infected. They have breached the fence and are pouring into the town. It seems as though the city bombing just made them scatter, and they have moved out and away from the city.”

  John jumps up from his chair and goes over to the screens and grabs the remote from Adam’s hand and flips through the images. “Oh my God! Maggie! The last time I spoke with her, she was under the impression that the military was there to stay for a while and that things should be getting better. Oh Jesus! Oh my God! I sent her a message but never got confirmation that it was delivered! Has anyone figured out why I can’t call her yet?”

  No one answers yes so he continues to frantically flip though drone images and videos, trying to get some kind of idea of her situation. All he sees is dozens of infected flowing into the gates and at an alarming rate.

  Adam finishes speaking with his communications operator and walks over to John, who is still flipping through the images. “Sir, you need to hear this. Terrence just intercepted communication of a U.S. retaliatory nuclear strike on North Korea and on Iran and Iraq. Apparently, the U.S. received intel suggesting they were the ones responsible for the attacks, and so the president has ordered an immediate response. Sir, I believe we just entered a nuclear war.”

  John thrashes his head around in Adam’s direction and stares at him, trying desperately to comprehend what he just heard. He drops the remote on the floor and drops his head. “This is the beginning of the end. And I pray for the souls that don’t have the asylum of the Ark.”

  Chapter 27

  In the days to come, the United States declares war on all allies to North Korea, Iran, and Iraq. Soon after, the U.S. destroys North Korea. The nuclear blast triggers China to enter the war and attack the U.S. in retaliation. Soon England, Canada, Australia, Israel, and India all enter the war as allies to the U.S. In response, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and man
y other countries all enter into what’s now World War Three.

  In just a matter of days, and after multiple nuclear bomb blasts, the world becomes over sixty percent destroyed. Only a handful of countries are in existence. Asia is almost completely obliterated with only the northern section of the continent untouched. A large portion of Europe is completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind but devastation. Most of Australia, India, and Canada suffer the same fate. South America and most of Africa are the only continents that didn’t enter the war, therefore leaving them virtually unharmed.

  The United States is hit very hard. All of the Eastern, Western, and Central parts of the country were leveled, leaving only the small strip of the Rocky Mountains not destroyed. In a last ditch effort to try to save NORAD and numerous other military facilities in Colorado, the military uses everything it has to defend those areas.

  When all is done and the fighting stops, the existence of super powers and nuclear weapons are no more. Only ten percent of the countries that were bombed have any areas that are unaffected, mostly in remote, secluded sections in very mountainous regions. Even countries that didn’t willingly participate in the war are affected, unfortunately receiving the ripple effect from the neighboring counties that did.

  And for those who survive, their lives have just begun.

  The world dawns A New Era