Necrocide

Chapter 58

THIRD EVENING OF THE OUTBREAK...

The bus carrying Aaron and his friends took a small detour around the Bowland Fells. Groups of Deadmen grew more frequent throughout the forest, and one entire village was filled to the brim with them. As a result, the bus drove in one large circle around most of the villages in the Bowland Fells to get to Matheson Babel Tower.

But they couldn't be more satisfied once they finally arrived.

Matheson was a structure the size of a high-rise. It rose ten stories high and probably could've been higher if it weren't for the Deadmen attacking quicker than expected. The top of the building was a collection of steel beams climbing toward the sky without a purpose. Multiple lights were scattered all over the building's exterior, some as searchlights and others shining through the windows. Two small watchtowers hovered over the entrance into the building, a floodgate-like door that slowly cranked open to let the buses in.

"Ladies and gents," Shaw spoke. "Welcome to Matheson."

The sun had set an hour ago, but the moon had shone as brightly over the open field Matheson stood in. Many of the people on the bus had fallen asleep ever since the incident with the other bus, including Jonah, Kat, and Nika. Aaron stayed awake to watch where their bus was headed and to apparently serve his new purpose as Nika's headrest.

The doors to the tower had cranked open all the way, and the two remaining buses trudged in. Aaron was relieved to see that there were several other buses in the garage with them, about six or seven others. He was glad more people had been saved. Mrs. Hecox felt the same way, made evident by her smile at the sight of a family embracing outside the bus.

Once their bus had halted, the doors opened up and the citizens carefully made their way out. Aaron shook Nika awake and took her hand as they followed the others out. Natalya caught a glimpse of the two and shoved Aaron away, forcing Nika to go in front of her while Aaron stayed behind with Jonah and Kat. "Well, that was rude," Jonah said.

The kids had rejoined Mrs. Hecox outside, and once everyone was out, the AIS officers gathered in a circle. Shaw stood in the middle of the garage surrounded by the hundreds of survivors he and his forces had picked up throughout the country.

Then the crackling of the walkie-talkie echoed through the garage. Shaw picked it up. "Keep those doors open!" he heard the familiar voice of Schaefer exclaim.

"Colonel?" Shaw said in disbelief. "You're still alive?"

The citizens looked out the open entrance to see an APC driving toward the tower. Some of them panicked as they ran to the sides of the garage to make room for the oncoming vehicle. Aaron tried to grab Nika's hand again, but Natalya got in the way and grabbed it before he could. "She's my sister," she scolded. "Find someone else to pull around!"

"Yeah, like us!" Jonah chimed in as he and Kat dragged Aaron by the shoulders toward the wall. "Sorry, bruv. I swear I didn't mean that."

"Finally, you got the timing right," Kat added.

Once everyone was farther away from the entrance, a large open space took up the middle of the garage, just the right size for Schaefer to park his vehicle. And soon the APC skidded to a stop, leaving behind dark tire marks practically burned into the floor. The doors back into the outside world proceeded to close, officially welcoming these citizens into their new home.

Schaefer stumbled out of the vehicle and quickly unholstered his gun, aiming it at Lavinia, who casually sat back into her seat with that deliriously gleeful look on her face. He motioned several AIS officers to approach him and told them, "Give this bitch the honor of being Matheson's first prisoner. I'll deal with her later. I've had a really terrible day, so I'll just take it out on her."