Carver Pike - Scalp

He was grumpy, which he knew came from a lack of sleep and hating the position he found himself in. He liked being in control. He wished he could fly an Apache helicopter over the forest and blow all those animals to high hell. Then he’d turn it toward Stonewall Forge and blow these buildings to kingdom come.

Where the hell is the Army when you need ‘em?

He hated all this standing around, and he was about to ask the boys if they were ready when he saw the two look at each other and nod. Eggo and Robbie bent down and interlaced their fingers together. Andre stood behind them and gripped each boy at one shoulder. He put one of his boots inside the boys’ locked fingers and prepared to be hoisted up.

They had a good, firm grip. For the first time, he thought this might actually work. If these two really gave it their all and threw him up there, he could easily get onto the roof.

One…

The boys provided a little give so Andre could feel the countdown begin.

Two…

A second bounce. It was almost time.

Three…

They stood up and shoved. Andre pushed down against their hands with a straight, strong leg. He felt himself shoot upward, but he also felt the boys go down. He’d pushed too hard against them, and with his heavy frame, they didn’t stand a chance. They hit the ground hard but did a good job of keeping quiet in the process. At the same time they fell onto the sidewalk, Andre grabbed the roof’s edge with both hands, and threw himself up to his elbows. His feet dangled down, but he’d made it.

Until his rifle slid down his arm and banged against the side of the building.

The clack was loud, and suddenly Andre realized it would be his own damn fault those things attacked. The boys had done well. It was his dumb ass who’d allowed his rifle to slip.

A motion sensor popped on to their right. Then more. At several places along the campus corridors, lights shone down on students hunched forward and searching for someone or something to attack. If they’d been there all along, the shadows had concealed them. Not anymore though. Now, they were hissing and clicking. One of them let out a screech as she howled at the moon.

Andre’s eyes went wide and he scrambled, walking forward with his elbows, trying to swing his right leg up and set it on the edge of the roof, but he’d fallen down a little too much when he heard the howling sound. At this point, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to make it up there.

“Oh, shit,” Eggo said.

“Get inside!” Andre yelled as he continued his awkward climb onto the roof.

It wasn’t going to happen. He’d slipped too far from the roof, and he didn’t have the strength he once had. Not with his bum leg. One of the things was close, no more than thirty feet or so, and it was coming at them quickly. Andre gave up on the climb and fell to the ground. He dropped to a knee, aimed his rifle, and shot the girl in her forehead. She fell backward onto the ground.

“Go inside!” Andre repeated.

“Come with us!” Robbie replied.

Andre aimed at a male figure headed their way. He pulled the trigger and shot it right through the heart.

“Come with us,” Eggo said. “You can’t kill them all.”

“No, but I can kill some,” Andre argued. “Now go on! Git!”

Robbie grabbed Eggo’s shirt sleeve and pulled him toward the door to the cafeteria. Nitsy opened it for them and they ran inside.

Andre took aim at what looked like a male staff member. He was larger and older than the others. This one strode through the courtyard, passing the statue of Stonewall Jackson, and looked like he was about to charge. Andre aimed his weapon at him, but two more creatures came running at him more quickly. He would only be able to kill one, maybe two of them before being taken out himself.

The big man was the most crucial. He was closest and would definitely be the most difficult to handle if he got any closer. Andre aimed for his head, but the big guy was running too hard, his head shaking too much. The bullet grazed his cheek, but he kept coming. Now, Andre was certain he would only get this one last shot before the next two creatures, one male and one female – both students, reached him.

Andre pulled his trigger and lodged a bullet right in the big man’s skull. He hit the ground hard, sliding to a stop about ten feet away. Any closer and Andre would have been a dead man. The other two were now about the same distance as the dead creature.

Worst of all, the animals at the tree line were no longer sitting still. The gunshots had awakened them, and they were now coming toward him too, not running but walking side by side like no animal had any right to do. He’d never seen anything like it. They were calmly moving forward like they had all the time in the world to pick the meat from Andre’s bones.

The two infected humans roared and shrieked as they sought Andre like heat-seeking missiles, using the sound of his gunshots to home in on. Andre raised his rifle and shot the female student in the chest. It was the best shot he could get off in time. She stumbled back but didn’t die.

This is it. Go out with a bang.

Andre would fight to the finish, even if that meant putting a bullet in his own head at the last second. Both of the infected students were coming fast, and Andre wasn’t going to be able to get off another shot before they reached him. This was the end, but he’d take at least one of them with him. Andre was preparing his final shot when the cafeteria door crashed open behind him.

Robbie stepped out with the rake in his hand. Eggo was right behind him with a large kitchen knife. Nitsy wielded a broomstick, Bradley held a lunch tray out like a shield, and Phyllis clutched a rolling pin. Andre would have laughed if the situation weren’t so dire. It was like his backup had arrived, and it was the Scooby-Doo gang.

But this wasn’t funny. They were all putting themselves in grave danger. The monsters kept coming at them until a horn blared from somewhere in the distance. It came from a car or a truck, and it was loud enough that it caused the creatures coming toward them to stop and look at the gate and the land beyond.

Andre would look for its source in a second, but first, he used the distraction to plug a hole in the male infected student, right between his eyebrows, and then put one more bullet in the female whose shot to the chest had only delayed her attack.

With the immediate threat eliminated, Andre looked out at the field in front of the campus and saw the animals had stopped moving. Whoever was blowing that horn was going crazy, honking it like a madman.

The lights on campus flickered, turning on and off like a lightning storm on earth. Thomas was well aware of the system in place at Stonewall Forge, and he also knew students weren’t allowed to roam the grounds this late at night. That meant something was definitely going on there. The infected people and animals had made their way over there. He only hoped he wasn’t too late.

In Pa’s pickup, he felt like he was driving a tank. With its giant grill out front and the bed of the truck weighed down with heavy equipment, he was going to destroy everything in his path, and he had his sights on the glowing orbs of the animals’ eyes reflecting his headlights.

They stared directly at him, and for a moment, he hesitated. Only because he’d never seen so many animals in all his life. He’d seen black bears and he’d come across plenty of possums, but this was the craziest thing he’d ever encountered. It was a sea of sickness. Four-legged creatures with fur that moved on its own, and they were all watching him, wondering if he would have the balls to go through with this. He’d show them.