The Lost Journal Part 2 (A Secret Apocalypse Story) Page 2
"Not with one rifle."
"Two magazines."
"Sixty bullets."
"You’re a dead man."
I shook my head. Slapped my face.
It was time to focus on staying alive.
The men in black were closing in on both sides. Squeezing me in. These guys were good. Methodical. They were closing in fast. I was running out of options and out of time. I had two points of cover within crawling distance of each other. From these two positions I could cover the soldiers making their way across the Darling Harbor footbridge and the two soldiers who had made it across the bridge. They were to the right of my position. Getting closer. They were my priority. I had to take them out before it was too late. If they got the jump on me, it really would be all over. And if these guys were indeed Special Forces soldiers (which I’m pretty sure they were) it wouldn’t take them long to make their move.
"They train for this type of thing every single day. Over and over. It’s a reflex for these guys. An automatic response. A skill set they’ve developed through countless hours of brutal training exercises."
"Shut up," I told the voice in my head. "Focus."
I had to stop building these guys up in my head. They were only human.
Out of nowhere I remembered a quote from the movie ‘Predator’. "If it bleeds we can kill it."
So yeah, there were two guys to the right of my position and a whole squad, maybe more to my left, coming over the bridge.
Mission impossible right?
The crazy thing was these guys were probably American. Maybe Australian or British.
Last week we were fighting and serving together. And Now? Now everything was messed up beyond comprehension.
They were following orders and their orders were to enforce the ‘containment protocol’.
Shoot to kill.
I know this because they used to be my orders.
What a difference a week can make.
Another volley of bullets smashed into the jetty. I ducked my head and prepared to return fire. The soldiers on the footbridge were well concealed. The bridge provided excellent cover. It was about as wide as a main road. And it was at least twenty feet above the water. If they made it over to my side, they would eventually overrun my position.
But first things first. I needed to deal with the two soldiers who had made it across the bridge.
I got to my knees, aimed my rifle. I looked for them but I couldn’t see them. They had taken cover. They were hidden. Invisible. They were ghosts. And then from behind a giant slab of concrete that used to be part of a building, something was lobbed in a high, looping arc. Something small and black.
A grenade.
It flew through the air in slow motion.
The word ‘grenade’ was shouted over and over, loud and clear inside my own head. I watched it fly through the air and I knew at once this was no stun grenade. It was a frag grenade. It was designed to inflict bodily damage, serious injury. Death.
The men in black knew I was dug in and they knew I had the ability to shoot. They weren’t messing around any longer. They had taken the initiative. I guess I should’ve expected that.
Meanwhile, everything was still happening in slow motion.
As the grenade hit the peak of its arc, the handle sprang off, spiraling slowly to the ground. At this point I knew the fuse had been ignited. I had a few seconds; maybe less before the damn thing blew up, fragmenting bits of red hot shrapnel in all directions.
The grenade began falling back to earth.
Coming closer.
It landed on the jetty right next to me, bouncing to my feet, rolling around in a small semi-circle before coming to a stop right against my boot.
I was frozen to the spot for second.
One second.
It felt like an eternity.
Everything was still happening in slow motion.
I dived into the nearest boat wreckage. I curled into a ball, and covered my face. Another second passed.
Another lifetime.
And then it erupted.
There was a blinding flash of light. The shockwave pressed into me. The noise destroyed my hearing.
The light, the shockwave, the noise.
Everything happened at once.
The red hot shrapnel smashed into the jetty and the boat. A huge chunk of wood crashed down on top of me.
My world turned dark.
The sound of my own beating heart was the only thing I could hear, the only thing that told me I was still alive.
Chaos
I couldn’t see and I couldn’t hear. I was in bad shape. I needed those two senses if I wanted any hope of staying alive. My heart was still beating like a goddamn jackhammer. Thumping, like the rotor blades of a helicopter. There was a loud ringing in my ears. Almost as loud as my beating heart. I threw the piece of wood off me. Scrambled to my feet. I was so disorientated. I had completely lost my bearings. I had no idea which way I was facing.
Suddenly another explosion erupted in the harbor. A much bigger explosion. I turned around in time to see a section of the footbridge being blown up. Concrete, bitumen and wood flew in all directions, crashing into the water. I was instantly confused.
Had they set charges to blow the footbridge? Why would they do that?
Another explosion erupted way overhead. The side of a building was partially destroyed. Concrete and glass rained down into the marina and the harbor. Then I saw what had caused the explosions. It was the tank. It was over near the casino building.
Slowly I regained my senses. The bridge had taken a direct hit from the tank. The tank was completely covered in the infected. Like ants attacking a larger insect. The driver of the tank was freaking out. You could tell by the way he was driving. Forwards. Reverse. Then forwards again. The main gun swiveled around back and forth. They were trying to shake the infected off but it wasn’t working.
The men in black were losing their ground support.
I could hear the two closest soldiers behind the concrete slab, shouting at each other in confusion. They knew if they lost the tank they were in big trouble.
"What the hell is going on?" one of them shouted. "Where are the goddamn choppers?"
They’re busy elsewhere, I thought. I knew how they felt. I could see the soldiers hesitate. All of a sudden they weren’t firing at me. They weren’t targeting me. They weren’t even looking at me.
The horde.
It was just a few at first.
The tank fired another wayward shot. The shell rocked into the casino building. More concrete and more glass showered the street and the harbor. The tank was slowly moving away. The driver probably had no idea where he was going. It wouldn’t be long until it crashed into the side of the casino building. Maybe even the harbor. The driver should stop. Wait for reinforcements to pick off the infected. He should stay calm.
Easier said than done.
A crowd of infected rushed into the street closest to the harbor.
The men in black opened fire.
I was no longer a priority.
In the confusion, I made my move. I headed for a bigger boat. One of the harbor cruise boats. It had suffered a lot of damage in the missile strike from yesterday and had taken on water. It was listing to one side. I made my way to one of the upper floors, climbing the narrow stairwell. I climbed three floors and crouched under a window so I could keep an eye on everything. I checked my ammo. I had two magazines left.
Sixty bullets.
I peeked out the window. The men in black were getting overrun. I took aim, fired at the infected. And for a few minutes the Special Forces team and I were fighting on the same side. Fighting a common enemy.
I could hear the soldiers screaming though. Confusion and panic spreading through the team like wildfire.
I could hear them on the radio as well. Calling for an extraction. Calling for aerial support.
"Where is the target?" one of the soldiers asked.
&nb
sp; "Target is secure," someone answered.
They were talking about Maria. They came for her. She was their target.
"Get to the extraction point. Now!"
The Special Forces soldiers moved back across the bridge. They were going to try and get to wherever their extraction point was. The problem with their plan was the extraction point was probably crawling with infected.
Suddenly the thumping of rotor blades filled the sky.
A Blackhawk helicopter flew in low over the surrounding buildings and set down at the city end of the harbor. A group of men in black were running for their lives towards it. In the middle of the group was Maria. She was protected on all sides by the soldiers.
They carried and hurried her towards the waiting chopper.
Maria was running hunched over. She was not trying to escape. The rest of the soldiers provided cover fire and so did I. If anything was to happen to Maria, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I made the call to leave her. And at that moment I thought she wasn’t going to make it.
"She’s not going to make it."
They are being chased by hundreds of infected. And for a second I think to myself there is no way.
It’s all my fault.
They are not going to make it.
There’s too many.
Missiles streaked in from high above the city skyline, slamming into the road outside of the casino. The warheads erupted in a wall of fire.
The foundations of the casino building were rocked again and the whole building was partially destroyed. The whole building began to sway.
More missiles.
The force of the warheads pressed into my body. The heat from the explosions burned my face and I had to look away. When I looked back the tank had been completely blown apart. Armored steel and iron had been scattered in all directions, all over the road and the harbor.
The missiles were heavy duty. Tank busting missiles. Hellfire missiles. Hovering above the sky scrapers, out near the main harbor were the gunships.
The Apache helicopters.
Two more hellfire missiles streaked towards the horde of infected, dangerously close to the Blackhawk and Maria. The missiles cleared out a large number of infected. The gunships hovered in closer, using their chain guns to pick off the remaining infected.
The chase was over.
The Apaches fell back in a hurry. They flew up and out of the harbor. Towards the inner city. Their job was not over. Nowhere near over.
The men in black carried Maria into the chopper.
They took off immediately.
And I actually let out a cheer.
I looked around for another point of cover. Maybe I could even make a run for it to one of the skyscrapers in the city, I thought. Rest up for a few days.
I decided to wait until all of the soldiers had completely fallen back. I did not want to risk being spotted.
The Blackhawk took off slowly and moved out over the water. But then once again, everything went straight to hell.
The tail of the Blackhawk swung out violently. The whole chopper began to spiral. It was out of control like the damn thing had been hit by an RPG, or one of those hellfire missiles.
It continued to spiral.
There was no stopping it. The pilot had lost control.
A split second later the Blackhawk crashed in the harbor. Right in the water.
Only the strong survive
The rest of the men in black had cleared out. They were either dead or had retreated, under the impression that their target was secure.
I was scanning the water, looking for survivors.
All I could see were bodies.
Infected or not. I couldn’t tell.
I fired off a couple of rounds but then realized there was really no point. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was up and running for the chopper. I’d left the safety of my hiding spot, exposed for any sniper or any soldier with a half decent aim. Exposed to the infected.
I braced myself for a bullet in the back. But the shot never came.
I kept running.
The voice in my head kept yelling at me. Blaming me.
"This is all your fault."
"You left her."
"You made the call."
"If she’s dead now, it’s all on you."
"Her blood. Your head."
"No. It was the right thing. We had to leave her. It was the right thing to do. Maria needs out of here, out of this city, out of this country. She is special. Immune. Resistant. She was bitten but she didn’t die."
My head was a mess. Fear and self-doubt and panic on the verge of crippling me.
I was finding it hard to breathe.
But I kept running.
The chopper had crashed right next to the footbridge that cut across this end of the harbor.
If I could make it over there I’d have a much better chance of helping any survivors. Finding Maria. There had to be survivors, I thought. The chopper wasn’t that high up when the pilot lost control.
Up near the casino, I saw a man on fire, stumbling towards the harbor and the wreckage of the chopper.
I raised my rifle, took careful aim.
Squeezed the trigger.
I nailed him in the chest, knocked him off his feet.
But he got back up and started running towards me.
I dropped to one knee. Took aim.
I waited.
And waited.
Focused on my breathing.
In and out.
I waited for the man on fire to get closer.
I drowned out the voice in my head.
Fear.
Self-doubt.
"If you miss now, he will run you down. Tackle you. Burn you. He will bite you. Infect you."
"Do not miss."
I lowered my aim at the last second and took out his legs. He fell to the ground and skidded to my feet. One more shot to the head finished him off. I was about to stand up and make my way to the chopper. But then I saw someone climb on to the jetty on the opposite side of the harbor.
They climbed up, took a few steps and then collapsed.
I looked through my scope.
It was a girl.
Not a soldier.
It was Maria.
Hope
I couldn’t believe it.
She was alive.
She was the only one. None of the soldiers had made it.
I shook my head. I could not believe it. I looked through my scope just to make sure she was all right. She had pulled herself up and out of the water, on to the jetty. She was drenched. She brushed her blonde hair out of her face, wiped the water out of her eyes.
How she avoided all those floating bodies, I’ll never know. She must’ve dived for the bottom of the harbor, picked out clear spot, swum up to the surface. I was still in denial. Maybe I had already convinced myself she was dead.
More infected piled out from the casino. Some of them were on fire. Some of them were missing limbs. Regardless of their injuries and disfigurements, they were all running faster than humanly possible.
Maria saw them and started backing away. A split second later she started running. Luckily she ran in my direction.
I took aim at the infected. I unloaded the rest of the magazine. Full automatic.
I reloaded. Kept firing.
Maria looked up and saw me. She ran over.
She made it over to me in world record time.
She doubled over, breathing hard. "Kenij! I can’t… I can’t believe it."
"It’s OK. Just breathe."
"Where did you guys go? What happened?"
"They got out," I answered. "I had to stay behind. I had to cover their escape."
"What? What happened back in the casino?"
I fired off a few more rounds, making sure they were head shots, making sure they counted.
"We had to leave you," I said.
And as I said it, Maria looked like someone had sucker punched her. "Wha
t?" she repeated.
"I’m sorry," I said. "We had to leave. I made the call."
Her face went pale. Her knees were starting to buckle. It was then I remembered she was probably still very weak from being bitten.
"Where is Jack?" she asked.
"Look, we have to hide. I’ll explain everything but right now we need to get out of the open. We’re not safe here."
She shook her head. "No. Where is Jack!?" she asked again, ignoring everything that was happening around us.
"He’s safe. They’re all safe. We gotta go."
I scanned our immediate area. We did not have long.
Maria’s knees continued to buckle. It was taking her considerable effort to stand. I went to put my arm around her, to support her but she pushed me away.
"Please, just tell me! Where is Jack?"
She began to collapse. I caught her and picked her up.
"I’ll explain everything," I whispered. "But we need to get out of here. It’s not safe."
We made our way back to the boat I had been hiding in. I laid Maria on the floor. She kept asking for Jack.
And I kept telling myself I did the right thing.
Calm on the outside. Freaking out on the inside.
The boat we were hiding in was a harbor cruise boat. It had multiple levels and lots of windows. If the military were still looking for Maria it would not take them long to find us. Although at that moment it appeared that the men in black, the Special Forces soldiers had left the area. And for some reason the number of infected had thinned quite a bit. I looked around the boat. The floor we were on had a bar. I found some bottled water and forced Maria to drink it.
She grabbed the bottle and downed it in one go. And then she threw it all back up.
"Slow down," I said as I gave her another bottle. "Small sips."
She reluctantly took my advice.
"Where are the others?" she asked between deep breaths. "Where is Jack?"
I lowered my head. This would be hard for her. But there was no point in sugar coating it. No point in lying. "We made, well, I made the decision to leave you back at the casino," I said. "I figured the soldiers wanted you. And only you. I figured they knew you were resistant to the virus. I don’t know how they knew but they knew. It was obvious that you were their target. They wanted you alive. The rest of us were expendable. If we stayed, if we tried to fight those soldiers, we would’ve been killed. Even if we surrendered peacefully they still would’ve executed us."