Chapter 6: Help!
1131 Words
Major Kurt stood frozen, staring at the nightmare unfolding before him.
Hundreds.
No.
Thousands.
There were too many to count.
The stench of rotting flesh hung thick in the air, a suffocating blend of decay and death. The groans of the undead rolled across the landscape like a living storm. Some stumbled forward. Others crawled across the ground. A few dragged broken limbs behind them. Yet all of them moved with the same purpose. The same hunger. From where Major Kurt stood, the horde seemed endless. A sea of decay stretched across the plain, surging toward the hospital at the heart of the city.
"Jesus Christ..." one soldier whispered beside him.
"It's a whole damn army."
Major Kurt didn't answer.
For several seconds, the only sounds were the distant groans and the rumble of engines behind them. The convoy was ready to move. Then a deep thunderous boom echoed across the horizon.
The sound was heavier than an explosion. It was as if the earth itself had groaned in pain. The ground trembled beneath their boots. Several soldiers instinctively reached for their weapons.
"Was that an explosion?" someone asked.
Major Kurt immediately raised his binoculars.
Far in the distance, a thick column of smoke spiraled into the sky. At first it looked black. Then the color shifted.
Dark green.
His stomach dropped.
"Sir!" a soldier shouted.
Major Kurt lowered his binoculars.
The soldier pointed toward the horde. The infected had stopped moving. Every single one of them. Thousands of heads turned in unison. Toward the smoke. Toward the source of the sound.
For a moment, the entire landscape seemed to hold its breath. Then the horde moved. Not toward the Camp. Not toward the city. Toward the smoke.
"Sir..." the soldier whispered.
"They changed direction."
Major Kurt felt a chill crawl down his spine.
"That's not an explosion," He said.
"Then what is it, sir?"
Major Kurt stared at the strange cloud twisting above the city.
"I don't know," he admitted.
"But whatever it is, those things are heading straight for it."
Slowly, he lowered his binoculars.
His face remained calm.
But inside, alarm bells were ringing.
"Move out," he ordered.
"Now."
The soldiers rushed back to their vehicles. As Major Kurt climbed into the lead truck, his eyes drifted one last time toward the distant city. One thought burned through his mind. If the infected reached City S before he did...
There might not be a city left to save.
Meanwhile...
A soldier rushed through the shelter, his face pale and covered in sweat.
"Everyone needs to evacuate immediately!" he shouted. "The infected are heading this way! Leave your tents and move to your vehicles now!"
His voice echoed throughout the camp, For a moment, nobody moved, Then panic erupted, People scrambled to gather their belongings, Children cried, Parents shouted for their families.
Soldiers barked orders as they tried to keep the crowd under control. The calm atmosphere that had settled over the shelter vanished in an instant, I exchanged a look with Stacy.
"What do we do?" she asked, clutching Megan's hand.
Before I could answer, Jaydon appeared beside us.
"We leave," he said firmly.
Nobody argued.
The four of us hurried toward our vehicle, Around us, engines roared to life as survivors packed their cars and prepared to flee, Fear hung in the air like a storm cloud, I spotted a soldier directing traffic and ran toward him.
"Excuse me!" I called.
The soldier turned.
"Where are we supposed to go?" I asked.
His expression tightened.
For a second, he looked like he didn't know the answer himself.
"Just keep moving east," he said finally.
"A convoy will lead the way."
My stomach sank, That wasn't an answer, That was an evacuation, Which meant the soldiers didn't know where safety was anymore.
I hurried back to the car.
"What did he say?" Stacy asked.
I climbed into my seat and shut the door.
"He told us to follow the convoy."
Jaydon's grip tightened on the steering wheel.
"And if the convoy gets overrun?" he asked quietly.
Nobody answered.
Because none of us wanted to think about that possibility, A loud siren suddenly blared across the camp, Then came the screams, Someone pointed toward the fence.
"The infected!"
Every head turned, In the distance, beyond the outer perimeter, dark figures were emerging from the trees, And there were far more of them than I had expected, A loud metallic screech echoed across the camp.
Everyone froze.
The sound came again.
Then
CRASH!
Part of the outer fence collapsed.
People screamed.
The infected poured through the opening like a flood breaking through a dam.
Soldiers opened fire.
Gunshots exploded across the camp.
"GET IN THE VEHICLES!" someone shouted.
Megan buried her face in Stacy's shoulder.
Jaydon started the engine.
Panic erupted everywhere.
People screamed.
Children cried.
Soldiers shouted orders that nobody seemed to hear.
Gunshots echoed through the air.
The screams grew louder and louder as the infected tore through the outer perimeter.
Jaydon couldn't wait any longer.
With a curse under his breath, he slammed his foot on the gas and swerved around the vehicles blocking our path.
People ran alongside the car, Some pounded on the windows, Others begged for help.
"Please!"
"Don't leave us!"
"Take my child!"
I squeezed my eyes shut, There were too many, We couldn't save everyone, As the camp disappeared behind us, I turned around for one last look.
My breath caught in my throat, The infected stretched across the landscape as far as I could see, Thousands of them, Maybe more.
A living tide of death swallowing everything in its path, There was no end to them, And for the first time since the apocalypse began, I truly understood something.
The world wasn't ending, It had already ended, I turned to Jaydon.
"What did the soldiers say to you back there?" I asked.
For a moment, he didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the road ahead, The silence stretched between us.
Finally, he sighed.
"Nothing important."
I frowned.
"Jaydon."
His grip tightened around the steering wheel.
"They weren't checking for bites," he said quietly.
A chill ran down my spine.
"Then what were they checking for?"
Jaydon glanced at me before looking back at the road, His expression darkened.
"I don't know."
I knew he was lying, The soldiers had told him something.
Something bad, And judging by the look on his face, I wasn't sure I wanted to know what it was.
I looked out the window, The camp was gone.
The screams had faded.
But the horde remained.
Endless.
Relentless.
Hungry.
And as the last rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon, one terrifying thought settled deep inside my chest, If even the military couldn't stop them...
Who could?
- Writer
