Chapter 3.27 B

STONE BATS

 

Lemont, IL 

Monday, July 14th

Stephenson slowed the heavy bus down before coming to a complete stop. Looking at the island across the water, Travis believed the team would find the outbreak information if there were any to be found. Looking into the mirror, he could see Collin and his group already disembarking their bus. Before opening the doors, he turned to his team of people.

 

“Alright, this should be the spot. Paige, try and keep Stella on her leash. We don’t need her running off again like last night. If she starts going crazy and barking, prepare for a fight. She seems to hear or sense the Zeds before we see them,” said Stephenson.

 

Stephenson and the kids, Paige, Richard, Kimberly, Kerry, and Paul, along with their dog, Stella, got off the bus and met up with Collin’s group.

 

“I’m positive it’s in that building on the larger island, there,” said Travis, pointing across the water.

 

“I don’t see any boats. Do we need to swim across?” asked Marcus.

 

“Small team. Myself and two others. If it needs AP to open a door, it’s best I go, as Travis used a good chunk of his at the amphitheater,” said Collin.

 

After a brief discussion, Richard and Marcus drew the short straws. 

 

“Here, put your weapons inside these plastic bags. Don’t let your weapons get wet,” said Stephenson, ever the sicklier for details, as he handed garbage bags to them.

 

“Yes, ma. Thank you,” chorused Marcus and Richard teasingly.

 

The three bagged their weapons and took off their shoes before beginning their swim across the water. The rest of the group went back to the safety of the buses. Stephenson and Travis each climbed on a rooftop to provide support.

 

The group swimming made it across in a couple of minutes with minimal bitching about the conditions. The three carefully untied the garbage bags and removed their weapons. Placing the bags near the water’s edge, they walked towards the lone building.

 

“Keep your eyes open. Take out anything that threatens us without mercy,” said Collin.

 

The group walked around the building once to canvas the island. Not seeing anything threatening or of interest, Collin approached the sole door of their target building. Nodding once to Marcus, Collin threw the door open. Both of his team members quickly scanned the interior, finding it empty. Entering the building, they found a single flight of stairs heading down against the back wall. At the bottom stood a steel door with a now-familiar palm reader.

 

“Looks like Travis was spot on again,” said Collin.

 

Descending the stairs, Collin placed his hand on the palm reader and immediately paid the 50 AP to open it. Entering the basement, Collin let out a whistle. Richard and Marcus peeked their heads into the room to see what the fuss was all about.

 

The large room looked like it was ripped out of a Sci-Fi movie. The walls had pipes of different colored liquids traveling along in all directions. At specific points, they intersected through panels with lights that occasionally blinked on and off. At the center of the room were twelve sizeable vertical glass tubes of the same various colors as the smaller pipes circling the room. In the center of these large tubes sat a single console table with a screen and keyboard.

 

Collin walked up to the console and tapped the keyboard once. The console came to life along with the rest of the room. The ceiling lights began to glow until they illuminated the entire room. The group could now see a floating vessel of some type inside each of the twelve large tubes. 

 

As the room reached its max brightness, the console at the center beeped once. Collin looked down at the screen and read.

 

 

Collin looked around at the large colored tubes. Not seeing a number on any of them, he walked up to the red-colored one and circled it looking for any kind of identifier on it.

 

“We have to choose a number one through twelve. It says ‘Choose Mutation.’ I have no idea what that will do. Got a lucky number in mind, Marcus?”

 

“Let’s go with eight, then,” said Marcus.

 

Collin walked over to the console, hit the number eight, then enter. The purple liquid-filled tube began to bubble before it was vacuumed out through the tube at the top. The liquid traveled around the room until finally disappearing into the floor. A moment later, a small crack formed with a ‘tink’ on the now empty tube before shattering. The glass vial it held still floated in the air where it had been.

 

Before Collin could reach out and grab the vial, the console beeped again.

 

 

“Fuckin hell, Marcus! I think we just gave the ZEDs the ability to fly with lucky number eight. Get back to the buses now! The game is sending a horde!”

 

“Shit!” both Richard and Marcus shouted as the two ran up the stairs.

 

Before following them, Collin grabbed the vial and tucked it into his vest pocket. Getting to the edge of the water, Collin tossed his Glock into the bag. Once it was secured, he dove into the water and paddled like mad after the other two.

 

Getting to shore, Collin wasted no time, “Alright, listen up! Get ready to go! We have a horde inbound in less than four minutes, and they might be air-bound! Stephenson, head for the highway! We’re going north!”

 

Collin grabbed his boots and jumped onto his bus. Travis was in the driver’s seat and already beginning to turn their vehicle around behind Stephenson’s. The group had just bounded onto the I-55 northbound ramp when they heard the bone-chilling screeching.

 

Looking out the window, Collin saw hundreds of zombies coming out of the woods. Farther away above the trees, they could see what looked like small bats with massive wings heading their way. As the buses got onto I-55, Collin finished lacing up his boots and stood next to Travis.

 

“Switch with me, go play with your new toy! We’re going to need it!”

 

Travis looked up at Collin with a huge smile, then back at the road. Seeing it was a straight line, he let Collin grab the wheel and jumped out of the seat. The bus only slowed down for a moment before Collin had his foot floored on the gas.

 

“Burt! Get the mags ready!” shouted Travis.

 

Collin looked to his right just in time to see most of the zombies now reaching the highway bank and leaping over the concrete divider. The buses were beginning to pass the mass of the horde, but they would need to deal with the faster Zeds. And without anything blocking them, the gargoyle-looking bats would reach them first.

 

“Travis, take out the aerial units first!” shouted Collin.

 

Collin could hear shots being fired from Stephenson’s bus and then shots from Marcus a moment later. Stealing a glance into the bus’s interior mirror, Collin saw Travis slamming a magazine into the M249 he had looted at the amphitheater. Witnessing the death grin on the man’s face brought back memories of countless firefights. The old heavy weapon’s expert popped the roof’s emergency exit open and stood on a makeshift crate below it.

 

A moment later, Collin heard the light machine gun open up, followed by the sounds of bullets hitting stone. One of the gargoyles crashed into the road ahead, shattering into dozens of pieces across the pavement. Another gargoyle slammed into the side of the bus and latched on. Marcus was on it in a heartbeat, blowing the monster’s head off with the shotgun.

 

Looking at his right-side mirror, Collin saw two more of the stone bats momentarily clinging to the other bus before crumbling away as the others shot them. Collin couldn’t see any of the zombies anymore. They seemed to have gotten away from them in the nick of time.

 

By the time Collin took the ramp to get onto I-294, Travis was only firing the light machine gun every once in a while.

 

“How’s it looking? We lose them?” asked Collin.

 

“Yea. Between me and whoever was shooting the M4 on Stephenson’s bus, we took out most of the bats. There are a few left, but they seem to be staying out of my range of fire.”

 

Collin didn’t like the sound of that last part. But he decided now was the time to dwell on it. He kept driving north through most of the night. When they reached Wisconsin’s border, he pulled over where they would have a clear view all around them. He and Marcus carried one of the diesel drums outside and filled up the tank. 

 

Next was food, then rest. Collin wanted to make sure everyone got a minimum of four hours of sleep. He had Burt and Marcus take the first shift. The two had always been night owls, perfect late-night watches. Collin and Travis took the second shift. Four hours were more than he usually got on a ‘workday.’ The following day, Collin informed everyone of his plans.

 

“We’re heading up to Copper Harbor, Michigan, to find the first keycard. I’m hoping we can make it up there before we log out tonight so I can use our group’s daily cache finder. Once we log back in tonight, we can track the keycard down and move west to the next. We have about six to nine hours before we reach Copper Harbor, so rest up. We have no idea what we’ll find up there.”

 

Collin pulled out the vial he had found on the island and broke it. Retrieving the rolled-up paper, he began to read.

 

 

Collin let everyone know what the vial said. This bit of information left him torn.  Do they keep going for weapon caches or push the information caches? They lucked out so far, getting information on three of the keycards. He didn’t like the prospect of traveling back and forth across the states to obtain the other two.

 

The groups split into their buses and began the long drive through the forests of Wisconsin. An hour into the journey, they were awakened from the monotony by the stone bats’ screeches as they dive-bombed the buses. One of those bats managed to crash onto the top of Stephenson’s bus and began to claw at the metal roof.

 

“Get that fucker off my bus!” Shouted Stephenson.

 

Richard jumped off his seat and grabbed Stephenson’s M4. Flicking the rifle to full auto, he ran underneath the bat’s approximate location and began shooting through the roof into the stone creature. A moment later, pieces of crumbling rock dropped through the tear overhead. 

 

As the last one fell to Travis’s LMG, the group collectively sighed with relief. After the surprise aerial assault, Collin made sure to keep someone on the lookout at all times for more of the stone bats. Fortunately, the rest of their trip through the sea of pine trees ended up being calm and quiet. 

 

Soon after exiting the forest, Collin found himself driving through a small town. The place was so small; its lone road didn’t even have a single stoplight. During their short time traveling down Main Street, he never once spotted a body, alive or undead. Even though it wasn’t the first time the old soldier passed through an abandoned settlement, it still made him feel uneasy. He guessed it had to do with the fact this was an American town they were passing through. 

 

It’s just a game. He reminded himself.

 

They spotted a short road along a large lake just outside of town, leading up to the most prominent lighthouse Collin had ever seen. Seeing as the building was on top of a plateau above the lake, Collin parked the bus after turning around. Stephenson parking parallel with him.

 

As everyone got off the buses, Collin explained this would be their base of operation until they found the keycard hidden in the town. He split the group into three teams. Richard, Paige, Travis, and Stella in team one. Marcus, Stephenson, Kimberly, and Paul into team two. And finally, Burt, Kerry, and himself into team three.

 

Everyone was to search the closest buildings to the lighthouse first and meet back at home base before today’s session ended at 9:00 pm. Before everyone left, Collin pulled up today’s cache info for the group. The only option presenting itself was another tactical cache.

 

 

“Alright. Listen up. We don’t have a map of the local area yet, so keep an eye out for one as we explore. Stay with your teammates. If you run into something you can’t handle, fire two rapid shots into the air, pause, and then two more before running back here. That will be the signal for us to head towards you for support. Travis, Stephenson, you’re team leaders. This should be a good opportunity for you to show the new people how to clear a room. Any questions? No? Good. See you all back here tonight.” said Collin.