Sanctuary Page 19
"Like I said, population control. Believe it or not, this planet’s resources are finite, and the human race was growing out of control at an alarming rate. Deforestation, global warming, world hunger, unsafe drinking water, these could all be things of the past with a smaller and better contained population." The man responded.
"But why are these soldiers taking people captive, even military scientists like yourself, wouldn't they be operating out of some bunker somewhere?" Bryce asked.
"No, these men are no longer U.S. military. They were abandoned just like the rest of us, and when they found out what was going on; they began killing soldiers that were offered spots in the bunkers, taking military supplies and equipment, and trying to take over the area for themselves." The man responded.
"What have you learned from your research here?" Byark said, staring down at the infected woman as her chest continued to rise and fall.
"Not much I'm afraid, I've mostly been jerking these fools around so that they wouldn't realize my use to them has expired and reward me with a violent death." The man replied. "I have been able to theorize two possible means of stopping someone from turning once they've been bitten however."
"Our friend!" Bryce blurted out. "He was bitten on the hand and we amputated it. Do you think he has a chance?"
"Ah, that would explain the dire need for these supplies then. One of the soldiers was bitten on the leg a week or so ago. Under my instructions they amputated the limb, he is still alive and recovering nicely. So, it would appear that this brutal treatment is effective in stopping the infection or at least slowing it down for the time being. There is however no means to tell if the body is truly rid of the infection or if the infection’s spread is just significantly slowed. If I may ask, how long after the occurrence of the bite was the limb amputated?" The man questioned with intense curiosity.
"Just a few minutes." Bryce replied.
"Ah, and how far above the blackened veins was the amputation preformed?" The man asked again as he started walking closer to Bryce, his curiosity overtaking his caution.
"A few inches." Bryce stated.
"Then you might have just saved your friend’s life." The man said, rubbing his chin with his thumb and pointer finger while staring off into space, deep in thought.
"Hospital team, this is forest camp alpha. Reinforcements are approaching the hospital." The handheld radio blurted out.
"We have to go, now." Byark said as he grabbed Bryce's shoulder and pulled him back towards the door.
"Wait!" The man called out. "Take us with you. I know you don't know us, but I swear we are no threat to you. I can't speak much on my friend here's skills or experience, but I would be a valuable asset to your group. My scientific and medical expertise could be of great use. I have also been trained for combat by the U.S. army and am a pretty decent marksman."
Bryce turned back just before exiting the room. "Why would you want to come with us? Surely you'd be putting yourself in danger." He said.
"I'd be in more danger staying here. These men are unstable, and if they don't kill us out of anger when they return and find their comrades slain, they will surely kill me once they realize I can't create a vaccine for them or control the infected. I also believe I can help your amputee friend and that my research and my own curiosity would benefit greatly from a long-term study of his recovery." The scientist replied.
Bryce and Byark locked eyes for a moment. Bryce then turned and held out his hand. "Welcome to the group mister?"
"Doctor, doctor Perry Vincent." Vincent replied as he shook Bryce's hand firmly with a strong smile spreading across his face.
The three of them exited the room, having no time to grab any more supplies. "Hey, wait for me!" The other man called out as he ran after them.
They came back out into the central hub of the second floor and Vincent and his sidekick snatched up two M4's from the dead soldiers and a few extra magazines before making their way to the stairwell. They ran down the stairs and Bryce cracked open the door to the first-floor, spotting several soldiers already entering through the hospital’s entrance. "They're already in, where are the other exits?" Bryce said as he shut the door and turned to Vincent.
"There is an emergency exit directly to our left once we exit the stairwell." Vincent said, switching out the half empty magazine in his M4 for a fresh one.
"Alright, we have to make a break for it. Everyone unload on them while we sprint for the door. Hopefully they'll run for cover." Bryce said, reaching back out for the door handle.
"What? Are you fucking nuts?" The unnamed man said. Not having any time to answer or to come up with a better plan, Bryce swung open the door and fired his rifle at the grouping of soldiers as he started for the emergency exit. Within seconds, rifle reports erupted from both sides as the four of them ran. They reached the door and Bryce slammed into it without stopping, using his momentum to trigger the push bar. Just as he made it through, Vincent cried out and dropped his rifle, a round having hit him in the lower back. Bryce caught him before he fell and the other two ran through the doorway. Byark slammed the door shut behind them.
"We're not going to be able to get back to the truck!" Byark yelled over the sounds of gunfire.
"I know! We'll lose them in the woods!" Bryce yelled, leading the others away from the hospital and into the forest surrounding them. He held up the injured Vincent who had his arm now slung over Bryce's shoulders. Bryce whistled loudly and yelled for his dog. "Grunt!" Seconds later, the dog emerged through the trees and was at their side.
As they progressed through the woods, the others moving slowly so that Bryce could keep up while helping the doctor walk, they heard a soldier yell out. "Over here! They're in the woods behind the hospital!" Rifle reports barked from their rear as more and more of the soldiers began to advance on them from behind. Bark erupted off trees and small dirt clouds plumed up from the ground as bullets landed all around the four men. Byark and the other man fired bullets and arrows back in the direction of the soldiers, but the gesture proved futile as their numbers were greater and their weapons superior.
"Please don’t leave me!" Vincent pleaded as he tightened his hold on Bryce.
Bryce tightened his grip on the man. "Not my style Doc." He said.
A bullet smacked into a tree mere inches away from Vincent's assistant’s face, and bark slivers peppered his eye. He cried out in pain, reaching a hand up to his wounded eye. "Fuck this, I'm not dying for you fools." He took off, running up the hill in front of them. As he disappeared over the crest of the hill, the other three men and one dog continued their slow advance, the soldiers quickly gaining on them.
***
After moving Matt into Bryce's room in the back of the cabin, Catori watched Alejandro stickily pull the blood-soaked towel away from the stump of Matt’s arm. They examined the wound for a few seconds, seeing if the bleeding had slowed any further. "If only Bryce had cut the arm diagonally and left us some extra skin to close over the wound with. I don't know how we’re going to close it up or stop the bleeding with it looking like this. We're probably going to have to cut more of his arm off so that we can fold it over after we get him stable, but I don't know how we’re going to do that with the cut being so close to his elbow.” Alejandro said.
"We can worry about all of that once they get back. Let's just focus on keeping him alive and the bleeding down to a minimum for now." Catori replied. The sound of roaring engines started outside of the cabin and grew louder as the seconds passed by. They both turned and looked out the window to see two Humvees appear on the dirt road leading to the cabin, quickly followed by a military transport vehicle.
"Fuck." Alejandro said, grabbing his shotgun that leaned against the cabin wall and running out of the room. Catori looked at Matt for a moment, wondering if she should leave the boy alone or not. She decided to follow Alejandro and ran outside after him.
Four, uniformed men exited the Humvee with rifles drawn and pointed at them. The men on the passenger side going for Alejandro and Sarah, while the men on the driver side went for Catori and Lauren. "Don't fucking move! Drop your weapons!" One of the soldiers screamed. The second Humvee stopped just outside of the fence, and another three men and one woman exited the vehicle. Another young man ran out of the tree line and joined them just as they entered the grounds. The cargo truck pulled up to the fence as well.
"On the ground, now!" One of the soldiers yelled at Catori as he approached her.
"Her leg...." She started to say while pulling the barbed wire out of Lauren's skin. Before she could finish the sentence, the soldier slammed the heel of his boot into her chest and sent her sprawling to the dirt, the air knocked from her lungs.
Another soldier approached and aggressively yanked the debris off Lauren, the barbed wire ripping through her leg and injuring her further as she screamed in pain. "Shut up you fucking retarded old bitch." The young soldier said, mocking her voice as he flipped her over and shoved her face into the dirt.
The two of them were yanked to their feet, and the soldiers shoved them towards the porch of the cabin. "Get your fucking hands off me! I probably out rank you, you fucking weasel!" Alejandro, his hands now zip tied behind his back, screamed at the man that pushed him forward, thrashing and resisting. The soldiers lined them all up on the porch, forcing them down to their knees while the others searched through the RV's, the trailer, and the grounds around the cabin. The driver of the cargo truck, a lanky and slender, middle-aged man with a sinister face approached the group. After a few moments, Tara and Eddie were brought out of one of the RV's and moved to the porch as well. Surprisingly, the little girl was shown no force as she was escorted to the cabin. Eddie, however, was dragged while he screamed in pain, his injured leg banging against the uneven ground the entire time. The soldiers that were searching and not watching their new prisoners, entered the cabin and began searching through it.
"Holy fuck, there's a lot of blood in here." One of them said.
"Probably from this poor bastard." Another said. Catori watched through the front door as the soldier approached Bryce's room.
"Don't you fucking touch him you coward!" Sarah screamed and cried from her frustration and fear.
The man turned away from the room and stormed back out onto the porch. "What'd you just say to me you little bitch? You think I take orders from you girl?" He said, grabbing Sarah’s face and squeezing.
"Please don't hurt her!" Catori yelled. "He was her boyfriend, we lost him just a few hours ago. He was bit and we amputated his arm to try and stop the infection but he.... bled out. She's just grieving, she doesn't know what she's saying." She said loud enough for all the soldiers to hear, locking eyes with Sarah in the hopes that she would play along with the desperate attempt to save the injured boy from these awful men.
The soldier's facial expression turned from pure rage to a playful smile as he looked away from Catori and back towards Sarah. "Ah, I'm sorry about your little boyfriend sweetheart, but don't you worry, you'll have plenty of boyfriends where you're going." He said as his hand left her face and wandered down towards her chest.
"Get your hands off of her you sick fuck!" Alejandro yelled defiantly, earning a rifle butt to his spine from the soldier that had him at gunpoint. The other man just laughed as he squeezed one of Sarah's breasts hard enough to make her yelp, then pulled his hand away.
The man driving the truck approached the group just as the soldiers exited the cabin. "All clear staff sergeant, this is all of them." The soldier who ran out from the tree line reported to the truck driver.
"Good work Private Howard, load the females and the Mexican into the back of the truck. Private Dawes and yourself can keep an eye on them while the others load up all of their supplies and equipment." The sergeant replied.
"Yes sir, what about the cripple over here?" Howard asked as he pointed to Eddie.
"You know we don't take people who'll be of no use to us." The sergeant said, drawing his sidearm.
"Now hold on just a second..." Eddie began but was cut off as the sergeant raised his sidearm and squeezed the trigger, putting a hole in the injured man’s head.
Blood smacked Catori in the face as her friend and coworker folded awkwardly to the ground, smoke or steam billowing out of the hole in his forehead. "You son of a bitch!" Alejandro yelled as he leapt to his feet and charged the sergeant, head first. The sergeant moved with exceptional reflexes, turning the gun on Alejandro and firing a shot directly into his face at point blank range.
"No!" Sarah screamed as Alejandro slammed into the dirt directly in front of his shooter, a puddle of blood already forming around his head. He lay there, face down in the dirt, his body motionless.
"Get them up and moving, now!" The sergeant yelled as he holstered his firearm. The other soldiers hauled the four remaining members of the group up to their feet and led them to the truck, the sergeant following close behind.
As they reached the vehicle and were loaded into the back, Catori could hear a voice coming through the sergeant’s handheld radio. "Sergeant Peterson come in, over."
"What is it?" He said, bringing the radio up to his mouth and keying the button.
"The hospital was attacked by two armed men, they're on the run through the woods and we're in pursuit. We sustained heavy casualties and I'm afraid they've made off with doctor Vincent." The voice replied.
She could see the sergeant’s face turn red with anger as he keyed the radio again. "Get the doctor back now! He is extremely valuable to us. Kill those sons of bitches and get him back no matter what it takes!" He yelled.
"Yes sir, our men are closing in on them now, it's just a matter of time." The voice replied and Peterson clipped the radio back to his belt.
Sarah laughed maniacally as she was forced down onto one of the metal benches in the truck. "Your men will be dead soon, they underestimate them." She said, staring at the floor.
"Friends of yours?" Peterson asked through gritted teeth.
Sarah turned to face the sergeant, a look of psychotic determination on her face. "Yep, and when they find out what you did here, they're going to kill every last one of you."
CHAPTER 17
"Take him and keep moving, I'm going to slow them down." Bryce called out to Byark as they crested the top of the hill, quickly making their way back to flat ground on the other side. The large man easily supported the doctor’s extra weight, and they continued moving ahead while Bryce took cover behind a tree, raising his rifle and training his sights on the peak of the hill. A soldier popped into view over the crest and Bryce fired three rounds into his mid-section, dropping him. Another came over just as the first hit the ground, and Bryce dropped him too. Finally, a third soldier with a little more sense than the two before him popped his head and rifle up over the crest, keeping cover as he searched for the source of the fire. Just as the man spotted Bryce, Bryce lined up a head shot and took him do
wn.
"Hold your positions! They've got us cut off." Someone yelled from the other side of the hill, which was good enough for Bryce. Now that he had bought them some time, he leapt to his feet and ran after his teammates. He quickly caught up to them, even though the big Swede moved rather fast even with the extra weight.
They advanced through the thick tree line until they heard a scream, abruptly stopping them. The doctor’s former assistant was sprinting towards them, crying out in fear as a giant black bear, twice the size of any Bryce had ever seen before, charged at full speed behind him. Bryce raised his rifle to try and get some shots off in the hopes of saving the man, but the terrified man blocked his line of sight on the bear, and the beast was much too fast. The bear quickly reached the running man and ran him down, trampling over him. Its momentum carried it a few yards past the now prone man before it slid to a stop. The bear then turned back around and approached the man. He cried out in fear and pain, holding an arm up in front of his face in some sort of feeble attempt at defense. The bear slashed down with one of its massive paws, its claws slashing open his arm and swatting it to the ground. It then swung its head down and latched its jaws onto the man’s face, beginning to thrash back and forth violently. He smacked the beast’s head with his uninjured arm twice before convulsing and twitching from the pressure of the bear’s jaws cracking his skull and the teeth piercing through into his brain.
"You poor man." Vincent said, watching in horrified fascination. The man eater with a recent taste for human blood, turned its face towards them, seeming to have heard Vincent’s words. It dropped the dead man’s crushed and deflated head like a saggy, half-filled water balloon, and they were able to get a good look at the bear’s mangled features. The animal’s face was a mess. One of its eye sockets was an empty, bloody hole, and fresh, claw like scars ran down its face and through the socket.
The bear stood on its hind legs and growled before dropping back down to all fours and charging at them. Bryce raised his rifle and fired two, weak .22 rounds at the bear that didn't seem to even faze it, the bullets clapping into the meat around its left shoulder. He fired a third time, realizing he was out of rounds. Byark ungracefully dropped Vincent to the ground and pulled out his bow, sending an arrow towards the approaching bear. The arrow narrowly missed the animal’s face, sticking into its back near the shoulder blades, again causing no reaction. As the bear closed in and was about to trample over Bryce, he jumped at the last minute, causing the bear to slam into him and allowing him to roll over its back and smack into the forest floor behind the animal. The beast continued to run for a few moments before circling back to make another pass at them. Bryce pulled out his side arm and started sending rounds at the animal, but they were all unaccounted for besides one round that seemed to skim the bear’s gut. Byark tried to line up a shot with his bow but almost instantly realized the act would be futile, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to hit the large blur as it speedily ran through the trees. The bear turned in and charged at them again, this time running right for Byark. Byark pulled out his shield and braced for impact just as the bear smashed into him with its intense weight and momentum, sending him straight to the ground. The beast stood over him, clawing and biting at his shield before putting one paw down on it and letting its weight crush into Byark’s chest. Bryce rushed the bear, pulling out his knife and slamming into the side of it. He stabbed the blade into its gut repeatedly in a desperate attempt to save his friend. The bear swung out one of its massive, front legs, swatting Bryce to the ground as it roared in pain. Grunt, who had been keeping his distance and barking furiously at the much larger animal, charged in to defend his master. He latched onto one of the bear’s back legs and started pulling and thrashing in a useless attempt to get the beast away from the two humans. The bear ignored Grunt as it stood back onto its hind legs and roared down at Byark, revealing scars and scabs from previous encounters all over its body, blood dripping from the fresh wounds. Before the bear could bring its weight back down on the breathless man again, he slashed out with his axe, slicing open the bear’s stomach. The bear fell slightly to the side, stunned from the wound, and then turned back and slashed across Byark’s chest, causing a few sparks to ignite as its claws scraped across the chainmail. A few of the claws found their way into a small, exposed area of the armor near his armpit, leaving a deep and bloody gash on the man. Bryce pulled out his shotgun and fired a blast of pellets into the beast’s face, causing it to cry out and swing its head around in a blind rage as a few of the pellets blinded the animal’s only remaining eye. Bryce pulled out his chipped hatchet and charged the beast. The bear swung its head around towards Bryce just as he reached it and he swung down hard with the hatchet, sinking the broken blade into the top of the bears skull. The man eater dropped to the forest floor instantly, ending its attack and mercifully ending its pain and suffering.