Adrian Smith - The Rule of Three - An Extinction Cycle Novella

Jack reached down into the ammo bag and reloaded his shotgun. He crammed extra shells into his pockets, filling them as much as he could.

They finally pulled into the small airfield. Long grass surrounded it, baked dry by the hot sunny days. A small tin shed sat next to a couple of larger buildings. Jack could see a concrete pad with a big capital “H” painted in bright yellow. He scanned the sky to the west for the chopper; he could just make out a tiny speck flying out of the clouds.

Dee slammed on the brakes, bringing the 4x4 to a skidding halt between the buildings. Turning to look back down the road, she saw the mass of Variants charging toward them, already down the other end of the runway. Their screeches and howls filled the air. Raising her rifle, she sighted one through her scope. Pulling the trigger, she watched as it stumbled, fell, then kept on charging. You’ve got to get these things in the bloody head!

She looked over at Ben, firing into the mass. Dee could see the odd one staying down. In that moment, she realised this was it, their last stand. Unless the chopper arrived in the next few minutes, they were dead.

She looked over at her husband, searching out his eyes. She wanted to look into them and feel the love of his soul one last time. She had fought through loneliness, anger, and frustration to find him. She had battled Variants, killed them, watched people get torn apart. Almost got raped.

For a few glorious moments, she had held him again.

She saw Jack grinning at her. As covered in grime, mud, and Variant muck as he was, she still thought he looked handsome.

She could see the little red-haired boy, George, peeking out the car door, his ice blue eyes staring at the oncoming mass. She looked over at Boss as the wisecracking teenager loaded shells into his shotgun.

Dee turned back toward the mass of monsters. So be it, but I’m going to take down as many of you bastards as I can .

Raising her rifle back to her shoulder, Dee saw a stack of red tin barrels off to one side, next to a large tank with a bowser attached. Of course! AV gas! Do we have time?

“Jack! Boss! The fuel!” she yelled as she pointed. Not waiting for an answer, Dee ran over to the barrels.

Seeing what she meant, Jack and Boss followed immediately.

Dee reached up and unhooked the bowser, then depressed the trigger. Fuel started pouring out onto the grass. She sloshed it around as far as she could, and watched as Jack and Boss rolled some barrels out onto the grass, straining with the weight.

“Soak the grass between the buildings. We’ll burn the bastards as they funnel through.”

She watched as Jack and Boss grunted with exertion. They unscrewed the caps, letting the high octane fuel soak into the grass.

“Ben, how close are they?” she yelled.

Without pausing his firing, Ben yelled back, “Back in the truck, they’re coming up fast. We’re going to have to make a run for it.”

Dee, Jack, and Boss jumped back into the 4x4. Ben leant out the window and cracked open a flare. As Dee pulled away, he threw it into the pool of fuel.

The fuel ignited instantly, spreading outwards and into the mass of Variants as they funneled into the gap. Many of them were caught in the firestorm, screeching. The smell of burnt flesh reached Dee as she glanced in the mirrors. Even more of them were flowing around the buildings, chasing, snarling, toward their prey.

Jack could hear Ben yelling into a handheld radio, but he wasn’t paying too much attention. He focused on the spreading fire and the rolling black mass of monsters. The fire did its job in slowing down the vanguard, giving them the precious time they needed. Dee had driven them out into the middle of the runway. He heard Ben tell her to head for the fenceline surrounding the bush-clad mountain. Jack dared to have a little hope again. Having volunteered on the mountain, he knew it well. The whole mountain was surrounded by a three-meter-high pest-proof fence. Several New Zealand flightless birds, such as Takahe and the North Island brown Kiwi, had been reintroduced to great success.

The 4x4 bounced over the rough farmland toward the fence. Jack spotted the service road running along it.

“Dee, head left. There’s a entry gate on that ridge.”

He watched, mesmerised, as another mass of the monsters closed in from below the gate.

This is going to be close.

Jack tapped Ben’s shoulder. “There’s a shed next to the gate. That’s where they keep some quad bikes.”

Ben nodded as he gripped the door handles. “Just take your guns. We have to hightail it up to the summit. The boys in the chopper are going to meet us there, okay?”

Everyone murmured understanding.

Jack watched as the mass of monsters flowed ever closer. They had perhaps only a few minutes to get the bikes and go. A chance is better than no chance at all.

Dee drove right up to the gate. She could see a small enclosure built through the fence with doors at either end. She remembered coming here with Jack when they were first dating.

It was designed so only one door could be opened at any given time, a pest prevention safeguard. Dee jumped out and, grabbing George by the hand, headed for the enclosure. She could hear the howls and screeches getting louder.

Dee looked over at the others. “Hurry!”

Ben raised his rifle up and fired off a few rounds. “Go! Go! Inside.”

Dee didn't hesitate, and pulled George through the first door. Boss, Ben, and Jack followed. She could see sweat dripping off Boss as he watched the nearing mass of Variants. “Boss! Go with Jack, hurry!”

She watched them head to the shed. Refocusing, she raised her borrowed rifle.

Looking through the scope at the Variants, Dee couldn’t help but admire them a little. The Hemorrhage Virus had changed humans. Modified them into something else. Something almost beautiful, in an evil way. Killing machines. Perfect killing machines. The great white shark of the new world order.

Man’s arrogance had finally led to his downfall.

Dee heard engines revving in the background. She fired off a few rounds as the lead monsters slammed into the fence. Dee lost herself in the heat of battle and held her finger down on the trigger, screaming at the beasts.

Ben grabbed her shoulder. “Let it go! There’s too many of them!”

Dee let Ben pull her away from the fence. She climbed onto one of the quad bikes with Jack, little George jammed in between them.

Jack gunned the engine, then tore off up the track leading to the summit. Dee watched, shocked, as the rest of the Variant horde reached the fence, and started to climb after the fleeing human survivors.

Jack worked his way through the gears, willing the Honda 420cc engine to go faster. His nerves were frayed beyond anything he could ever have imagined. Blissfully unaware of the virus for the first couple of days, it hadn’t been until he’d reached the hut and cell phone coverage that the nightmare had begun.

Then the mad dash across the road-clogged countryside, his first encounter with the monsters, the family getting torn apart… His escape down the river, his capture and escape from the dam. And finding Dee, who had come to rescue him. He choked up at the thought, tears threatening. It would all be for nothing if he didn’t get them up this mountain.

Shaking off the emotions, he concentrated on taking the bends of the road as fast as he could. He could feel George wrapping his arms around him. Dee had wrapped her arms around them both, and leant into the corners with him.

Jack risked a glance to the side. Ben and Boss sped along behind him. This was a dash to the top, a dash to live, to fight another day.