AGE OF INSANITY

Chapter 29: Let there be Sound

I fought my way to where Charles was. My hunting knife and the baton worked better together. It would be a lie if I said that, seeing them fall one by one, did not bring me some satisfaction. For lives that were once sacred they fell like sacks of potatoes. Twice now, I had felt the closest thing to exhilaration, that I had ever felt. The fact that both times were when I was fighting for my life was not lost on me. Somehow, the fact that any of these infected people could be the thing that ended me made this moment seem more precious.

I ducked out of the way as Charles who had been so engrossed in his task swung his sword my way. I had not seen him carry a sword as we were living the house. Yet, there he was swinging heads away. He spotted me and the split second he got distracted was enough for an infected jumped him. He tumbled to the ground with the rabid man snapping at his neck. He used his hands to holding the snarling man away from his neck. I picked up the sword, testing it's weight in my hand. The steel weapon was heavier and colder than any of my other weapons, yet it felt strangely comforting. I had done fencing several time with the mock swords and real ones as well, therefore I was no stranger to using a sword. I swung hard enough at the infected's back drawing his attention from Charles to me. He hastily got up to his feet a motion which gave me the leverage I needed. I swung the sword harder this time and was rewarded by a flying head.

I offered Charles my hand which he used to hoist himself up. Another infected came at us. I let go of Charles hands causing him to fall backwards. I took another swing causing another head to fly. I was beginning to see the appeal of the sword. Charles snatched the weapons out if my hand, pushed my head down with one hand while he took a swing with his other hand. The infected stumbled back with a partially severed neck. I got out of Charles way as he finished it off, taking on another infected.

"Charles we need to distract the. We can't keep this up. Very soon someone's suit will get damaged and we don't know if the virus is still active."

"I can see that..." he paused to fight off two infected and my attention was similarly drawn away by another one.

"What do you suggest?" he said finally managing to catch his breath.

"Sound. These are newly infected so they can still see, but the virus makes them sensitive to sound for some reason..." Three more infected came out way cutting our conversation. We disposed of them but a few more popped up. Charles took my hand dragging me away from the thick of the fight to a deserted corner that was free of the infected.

"I think if we make it loud enough it may distract enough of them to give us a chance to make it inside. There must have been a large group of people taking shelter here. We haven't even made progress into the compound. We can't just keep fighting until all of them are dead."

"I got an idea but we will have to get back to the truck. Luckily that the easy part."

We made our way past our fighting friends to the truck. Charles fiddled with his truck for a few minutes before emerging with the trucks sound system and what I assume was an amplifier. Instead of using the entrance we walked along the wall to a place we estimated would be far away from the entrance and the main factory. Charles used his drones to survey the area finding it clear. The drones carried the speakers and amplifier into the compound. As soon as they were set Charles turned on it on. I covered my ears expecting a loud sound but instead I heard nothing. Charles, who had flown the drones to where our friends were was monitoring the feed.

"What did you do?"

"I turned a frequency that those who have been infected for longer responded to the most and cracked it up to a hundred."

"I can't hear anything."

"Unless you are a dog or the infected you won't hear it. Look!"

Despite the fact that I could not hear a thing, the infected were responding to the frequency set by Charles. A few at first and then more and more of them diverted their attention to the direction the sound was coming from.

"Let's go!" Charles shouted once again grabbing my hands.

He broke into a run dragging me along In the direction of the entrance. We arrived several seconds later to find the last of the infected scrambling towards the direction of the speakers. Our friends were catching their breaths but our arrival did not go unnoticed.

"Was this you?" Marcus asked in between breaths. The blood splattered suit obstructed his face so I couldn't tell if he was proud about our achievement or curious about the unexpected development.

"It was Melissa's idea. The sound should keep them distracted until we leave but it will also attract any other Infected person in the area. We need to work as fast as we can. Leon do you know where the hydroponics systems are stored."

Leon who had been crouching on the ground, where the last infected she had taken out lay. She stood up her bloody suit failing to hide her obvious shock at the recent events. She had held her own exceptionally well as expected. She was also regretting every single moment that she survived at someone else's expense, as expected. Instead of answering she turned her back to us and headed towards the factory. We all followed behind, careful not to draw attention and the infected to ourselves. Just as we were about to open enter the factory a stream of infected burst through, knocking down Leon. None of them paused as they practically jumped over themselves towards the direction of the speakers.