AGE OF INSANITY

Chapter 28: Cautiously

Marcus rang again interrupting our banter. He relayed that we were almost at the gate but we needed to stop at the gate so Charles could survey the place with his drones first. All the groups that left our compound had been a drone. Since we were all going to high infection risk areas, proceed could only be done under the outmost care. We  finally caught up with Leon and Marcus at the gate where they had stopped. A few seconds later two drones zoomed above us before promptly disappearing behind the seven foot gate.

A couple of minutes later Charles knocked on our door. We alighted from our truck, to meet a worried looking Charles. We all walked to Marcus truck at the front signalling Leon to get out as we passed by her. Charles held out a screen monitor and the feed displayed was cause for worry.

The hydroponics factory was crawling with the newly infected, by the looks of it. Unlike the infected people we had come across so far these were by far the fastest and most violent ones. Although they were not attacking each other, they were alert and attentive to the environment. Right then their attention was on the drones. Despite the fact that the drones were hovering far beyond their reach, they still made attempts to reach it. Clearly their judgment was already impaired, but their heightened senses made up for it.
Marcus surveyed the live footage before coming to the same conclusion.

"These people have been recently infected. Their pupils still have their colour. That means that we have two problems getting past these infected will be difficult. They can move fast, will attack with everything they got and they are not limited by pain. The only way to stop them is to either incapacitate them so they can't move or destroy their brain."

"Hurray! Let's bash some heads in!"

"Ruth that's my line!"

"Wasn't awear you dibs on a phrase that my mind conjured up Monica."

"Let's go to waaaaar!"

"Susan not you too. Okay here's one, to infinity and beyond."

"What does that even mean. If you have nothing witty to say, just don't. You don't see Melissa struggling to come up with something."

"Okay Ruth! Compare me to the flesh robot why don't you? She doesn't give a flying fuck about anything we have to say right now. She must be planning how she going to kill them already."

"Okay cool it down guys. I am not entirely sure you guys should go in. Seems like it's dangerous."

"Then you remain Leon. Nobody asked for your opinion." Susan snapped at her. Immediately disliking the idea of being left behind.

I watched Marcus who watched the entire exchange with increasing bewilderment. My friend's and I were a lot for anyone to handle. Marcus it seemed was ill equipped to do so. My friend's were in a nut shell crazy and just like the infected we had adapted to using violence as a means of coping. Not very evolved of us, I know. However, there was nobody here was mentally fit enough to judge us. Except for Marcus, the PTSD hypocrite.

Despite his visible disagreement Marcus held his tongue choosing to say nothing. He distributed his extra guns among my friends who were more than happy to be armed. Prior to the apocalypse, everytime my friends and I visited the local gun range it was absolute and utter chaos. One time Monica and Susan made a bet between themselves. Whoever shot the most birds won. Monica won, my victory was in the horrified faces of the employees in the gun range. The gun range only used target sheets and disks for target practice. The two had been shooting at any bird that was unlucky enough to pass over the range.

The smile brought by the memory was still plastered on my face as we charged into the infested factory guns blazing. Seeing them displayed on a screen minimized the severity of the threat. Being on the ground was an entirely different matter. We held them off for about twenty minutes before it became clear that simply shooting them would not get us any closer to where we were going. It was difficult to aim for their heads while they were constantly throwing themselves at us. The virus impaired their pain receptors. So unless we shot their brains out they would keep on coming.

I lost my gun as an infected woman launched herself at me. I quickly stepped out of the way but the dress she wore got caught by my gun dragging it out of my hands. The infected regained her balance and came straight at me. I unseathed my long hunting knife and watched with satisfaction as it sank into the eyes of infected woman. She struggled against my knife for a bit so I pushed the knife in deeper and twisted before pulling it out. The woman fell to the floor and none too soon as another one came at me.

Allowing them to get too close gave them an advantage i couldn't not afford. I took out my button and extended the stick. I whipped the neck of the infected who was almost on me with enough force to push it cause it to stumble back. It stumbled and lost its footing giving me time to drive the stick deep into his socket. I glanced around and found my friends in a similar predicament.

Ruth had managed to hold onto her gun but choose to use it as a minute battering ram that she was maniacally driving into the head of what an infected male. Susan no longer had her gun, instead she was using a spiked bat that looked oddly familiar. Monica and Leon had knives The infected had one weakness, sound. It seemed that their hearing was more enhanced than any other sense and their hearing was also their last sense to collapse. They had a physical advantage over us. The only way we could get rid of them and fast was using logic.