Chapter 5: 'The Foundations of Apocalypse' Part 3

How hundreds of dissonant drums, rumbling their sounds all over the ground echoing throughout the area beside the road, run with heavy footsteps at superhuman speed. They are all filled with anger and desire for revenge. Their bodies suffer constantly increasing pain, but even if they suffer, they will not stop. They never will.

Long ago the prophet John wrote in the book of Revelation that those who were killed will rise up to take revenge, and while to some extent that was being fulfilled, perhaps the reality turns out a little differently than that prophet saw it.

The people sheltering in this roadside school and other neighboring buildings will not be able to stand against this reality that has been presented to them. Children and women, survivors of the tragedy, hid in one of the classrooms on the third floor. They moved the benches and desperately closed the doors. All this on the orders of James himself, who waited outside the classroom holding an assault rifle.

His uniform was stained by splattered blood, his gaze wandered all over the walls as if he wanted to find a way out of this hell, but he knew that no one could escape it. They simply managed to get a little distance from those beasts, just that.

"I led them here..."

For the lights and sound of the vehicle attracted the attention of those 'things', which led them to this school.

"James..."

Beside him, the dark-skinned man shivered. His name was Anthony, one of James' squad mates who has also been caught up in all this. 

"We... we're going to die, aren't we? If so, I'd like to see my daughter one last time."

"You don't have to think that way. We'll figure a way out of this."

James said that, but inside he was dying of fear. They both knew that these creatures have no mercy on anything and that they move in a very disturbing and agile way. They are not alive, but they are not dead either. This had all become an impossible problem to solve.

And all this paranoia was only made worse when you could hear these monsters running, approaching like a murderous plague to where life still prevails.

"We have to get ready. Let's get up on the roof. Get your rifle ready and get Alphonse here, he'll take care of this classroom. Richard is already guarding the teachers' lounge. Both of you will see to it that no one makes a sound, got that, Anthony?"

Anthony had lost his will to fight.....

"Listen to me, if you act like a coward now you will never see your family again. We are not only protecting the defenseless, we are protecting ourselves. We're not going to let anyone die."

"I know, but... I'm so scared I don't know what to do. I wasn't trained for this. I didn't sign up for the military for this. I just wanted to give my wife and daughter a good life."

"If you want to keep doing the same thing, then get your ass up on the roof and fight to make that happen, so you can keep giving your family a good life. If you give up now, we all die."

How selfish of him to say that. James didn't really think so. He just wanted to increase the odds of survival and for that he had to work together with his military buddies. Still, if everything turned against him, he would surely....

"Let's hurry."

"Yes..."

With James giving the order, Anthony nodded and together they advanced to the rooftop. They had already made sure to park the van in the school parking lot, also to lock all the doors with the classroom desks and turn off all the lights to avoid attracting unwanted attention. With that prepared, they could only pray that nothing bad would happen.

...

...

Inside the third floor classroom, the women and children gathered in the center of the room to be close together and to prevent anyone from making noise. They could all hear what was echoing in the distance, but were unaware of what it was except for that mother and daughter who arrived with Private James.

Thomas saw how the woman and the girl were still crying. It had been a few minutes since they arrived, but they were still like that. Standing next to the other children, he felt as if the other women wanted to protect them all. This caused an emptiness in his heart. His gaze went out and as he curled up on the floor, he hugged himself tightly trying not to let his emotions out. When he was there, he looked over at Sam in the far corner of the classroom.

Sam was trying not to look at the center of the place. He was trying not to show weakness again. Now all his mind can hold is his family, his father. He wishes that poor man was safe.

'You're pretty strong, I'm sure you've helped a lot of people already. You were always a good person. I really respect that, but had I really respected you, I wouldn't have tried to jump off the top of a building. I hate myself for that.'

Everything was dark, but you could still see a little by the red light of the moon. James told everyone to stay away from the windows, but he was curious what was moving out there. It was like hearing hundreds of drums booming; a crowd running....

"Sam? What are you doing?"

Thomas asked as he saw Sam approach the window cautiously. 

The teenager crouched down before he reached the window and carefully peeked his head out the window. He saw the dark road with some headlights flickering out of order from time to time and, among the abandoned cars on the site, he saw that there was the shadow of a person moving.

As he saw this, he noticed that the footsteps of the crowd stopped sounding.

"I don't understand..."

What was James so afraid of? Out there, there seemed to be a survivor seeking shelter. Although that person had his back turned, you could easily tell from his silhouette that it was a grown man in a suit.

Why didn't James help him?

That answer flashed before his eyes as the man turned around. His eyes glowed golden like two small headlights and his steps began to become stiff and meaningless. He was shaking his head as if he was having small spasms and, close to him, more silhouettes with the same characteristics appeared.

First he saw two. After two seconds it was five. Then ten... twenty... forty... fifty....

The more the number of people increased, the more the bad feeling was born like a seed in Sam's stomach. His legs trembled at the sight of those bright-eyed gazes, covered by the cold blanket of the night. It all got worse when those people began to approach the school. Some limped; they walked with difficulty. Some others started screaming, moaning, crying. Others laughed, others whispered.....

In the end they were all acting for one reason. No one knew it, but you could feel the emotions of those creatures filling the air. A heavy feeling that prevented them all from moving.

"No, please don't..."

The woman who was covered in blood hugged her little daughter tightly. She shook her head again and again as tears escaped down her hurt face. Her long black hair covered the face of the little girl, who could be said to be an exact copy of the woman who hugged her. Mother and daughter hugged each other in fear.

"Sam..."

Thomas whispered. In response, Sam clenched his fists tightly. A deep fear invaded his brain. His body stopped responding and his breathing slowly began to increase in speed. Sweat trickled down his forehead because, like the others, he too felt that heavy aura in the air.

This was not something normal. Rather, it felt as if that heavy and unpleasant atmosphere that generates fear in others was something that accompanies those bright-eyed people.

"Don't move... don't make noise... don't do it..."

Because at this moment one of those people is looking in this very direction. From the way he was moving you could tell that person was curious, cocking his head to the side as he looked at the large school ahead.

Because of what Sam said earlier, the mothers covered their children's mouths and closed their eyes tightly. They all knew that what was in front of this building is something of extreme danger, it was no joke, for if winged beings exist in this world, anything else was possible.

In this world that had become hostile to humans, no one had any escape.

Suddenly, someone began to click his teeth. Sam saw it because he could not move due to the fear that this heavy feeling in the air was generating in him. It was the man Sam saw at the beginning, the one who was watching the school. He was snapping his teeth loudly, which echoed in the empty city and spread throughout the buildings.

The others heard that and approached the place with erratic steps.

"No..."

This wasn't like in the zombie movies....

"No way... this can't happen..."

This had gotten much worse, just as James said, as the man who seemed to be leading the fifty plus bright eyed people raised his hand pointing at the building. Everyone else followed suit and looked at the windows.

The moment Sam made eye contact with them, he immediately ducked down and covered his mouth with both hands. He stopped breathing and every muscle in his body immediately contracted, causing Sam to be in a fetal position with his face pointing to the ground. 

Everyone, hearing the adolescent's quick frightened movements, kept their eyes closed expecting the worst but, fortunately, nothing happened. In fact, everyone waited ten long seconds that seemed to hold us. In that time nothing happened. 

In fact, everything was silent, as if all those people had disappeared.

...

...

On the rooftop, James attached a sniper scope to his assault rifle. This was not focused on being able to shoot at distant targets, but rather James put this attachment on his weapon to be able to see at long distances.

What he saw at that moment was something that reminded both James and Anthony of what happened a few hours ago downtown.

They were going to bring more people in the van, but just as they finished, the dead began to rise from the ground.

Only they survived along with that woman and her daughter. Everyone else died in ways James didn't want to remember, but every time he closed his eyes, he could see how those monsters climbed walls and ran at inhuman speeds. Their bodies, no matter how many times they were shot, nothing stopped them from continuing to run. There was no way to kill them and that was what doomed them all.

Two children and two women died being torn to pieces by those monsters. He could still hear the screams of the children begging for help, but James could do nothing but flee in the vehicle with those who did make it.

Remembering those horrible scenes made James feel nauseous at the way those people died.

"Anthony..."

"What?"

"We have our escape route ready, don't we?"

"Yes. The van is parked inside the school. Those monsters are in front of us. With all the entrances closed except for our escape route, they'll have a hard time catching up with us."

"I see..."

James gritted his teeth hard.

"If anything happens I need you to go along with Alphonse and Richard and get everyone out of here. Only if something happens, I'll stay and distract them."

"As you command... Captain..."

James whispered:

"I don't deserve to be captain..."

Anthony at this point was trying to remain expressionless, but knowing that James would sacrifice himself so easily for the others to escape somehow made him feel useless.

A few minutes passed like that, but something strange happened. One of the monsters was pointing its finger at one of the windows. He began to snap his teeth loudly and the others obeyed him. James was startled by this as, after ten seconds, the one pointing his finger flexed his knees and then....

"Holy shit!"

He pulled the trigger of the gun as he watched that monster jump so high that he almost reached the third floor of the building. The bullets hit the chest and skull of the monster, who fell to the ground breaking a bunch of bones. This could have been a good thing had it not been for the fact that there were more than fifty of the same monsters that heard the noise. They all looked in that same direction and....

"They're smiling... those beasts..."

They were looking at them as if they were having fun. With big disturbing smiles of bloody human teeth. Those same monsters prepared to jump, and at the same time James shouted:

"Alphonse, Richard! NOW!!!!"

James immediately grabbed his gun and ran alongside Anthony in the direction of the third floor.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, the monster that fell earlier got up. His right leg, neck and both arms were broken, but this was not a problem. Although much of its head and torso were shattered, it could still move, its one eye still glowing brightly. His vengeance still burned so deep in his putrefied body....

...

...

Gunshots rang out and James' scream was heard everywhere. Just like that, the classroom door opened being kicked in by Alphonse, a soldier with very white skin and brown hair. His gray eyes looked at the frightened women and children, finally looking at Sam.

"Get out! Quick! We have to go!"

Said the soldier. The women got up from the ground quickly and went out holding hands with their children.

"Mommy, I'm scared!"

Some of the children said as they walked out. Thomas was quick to follow them, but stayed when he saw that Sam was still scared. So was the woman hugging her daughter.

"Hurry, we don't have time!"

The woman reacted to Alphonse's cries. She got up from the ground carrying the little girl and ran after the others.

Sam, seeing that he was left alone in this place, crawled across the floor as he got up and ran off after Alphonse.

At the same time, in the teachers' lounge located on the same floor, Richard, a stocky, tall, dark-skinned man with a shaved head escorted the teachers who were still there along with two more students.

...

...

They jumped over the bars like it was nothing and ran toward the school doors. These were locked with tables and chairs, but that was no problem for these monsters as they rammed the doors with their bodies and smashed them and the tables with devastating force.

Thus the doors of the main entrance were broken and the monsters entered like ants in their anthill.

...

...

"Quick! Quick! This way!"

Alphonse stayed at the end to make everyone run for the stairs to the north side of the school. He held his assault rifle tightly as he heard those monsters running on the lower floors.

"We have to get north before they do, quick!"

Making sure the women were behind him, he raced down the stairs quick aiming the rifle at all possible threats.

Sam couldn't explain what this feeling was. It was something more than fear, worse than sadness and akin to anger. Similar to anguish, but with a hint of desperation. He ran with all his might in front of the women and behind Alphonse. Behind him was Thomas who, for the situation they were in, his face showed no fear. It was similar to an expression of concentration.

'If we don't run we're going to die... they're going to kill us... they're going to kill us.'

Ironically, in this situation Sam did not want to die. If these were zombies, then being eaten alive was one of the worst deaths there could be. Imagining that he would die that way, his body shuddered in fear.

That's how tense the situation was as they walked down the stairs. They reached the second floor and soon found themselves on the second floor.

"Down this hallway to the right! Move!"

They ran straight ahead toward the north side of the school. Sam felt his heart pounding a mile a minute. It hurt, his breathing was heavy, and his body couldn't take any more. He tired rather quickly unlike the women and children. However, he was about to turn the corner, they were about to reach the exit, but something echoed behind them.

...

...

A scream, a whimper, a cry, a laugh... All that is echoing behind me. Even though I didn't want to look, I turned my gaze and there I saw them for the first time.

Pale-skinned beings, as pale and white as snow, as if they had no blood and with different wounds on their bodies. Their eyes shone like golden beacons in their eyes and they looked like normal humans except for those grotesque features. They all looked at us with disturbing smiles, as if we were nothing more than toys.

I didn't know what to call them. They are not human and they are not alive.

However, as I ran I didn't have time to think about that.

What happened next made it clear to me that I had to run or die.

One of those monsters ran towards us as if it were an animal. With his hands on the ground, he dug his fingers into the ground and advanced without stopping like a four-legged beast. It leapt and ran along the walls and even the ceiling in a bizarre scene of terror.

At the sight of it, I returned my gaze to the front and forgot that I was tired, my lungs ached and I felt dizzy. I increased the speed at which I ran without caring who was behind me.

A woman's scream was heard after that, followed by constant shots from the assault rifle of the soldier who was looking fearfully at those monsters.

This...

"This is hell!"

I shouted past the emergency exit door.

To be continued...