A World Reborn (Book 2): Global Outbreak Read online

  “Oh shit.” Melissa said softly to herself. DeWitt carefully looked to his right, and saw a building that seemed to satisfy him.

  “There! That shop there, it’s not shuttered!”

  “I don’t think—” Melissa started, but she was drowned out by a sudden explosion; a rocket had been fired at the SUV behind them, and now it was rolling away as a fiery wreck toward the store DeWitt had identified. Melissa saw two of the agents crushed as the SUV rolled over them and another was engulfed in the fiery blast; the fourth having been obliterated by the initial explosion.

  His initial plan no longer viable, DeWitt turned to scan the left side of the street, and, after a moment, seemed to come to a decision. The tactical agents behind Melissa and the agents who were escorting the Ancillary stood ready, looking to their leader to give them instructions.

  “There’s a store we should be able to get in on the opposite side of the street. It’s underneath them, so we won’t take fire from above or from the rocket launcher once we’re inside. Lay down covering fire while we get our passengers across.”

  “Hey, give me a gun and I’ll be a lot more than just a passenger.” Melissa stated, feeling slightly offended by his comment.

  “No chance.” DeWitt shot back. “Okay, on my three: one, two, three!” He called out, before moving cleanly out and into the street. He raised his weapon and quickly found targets, firing up towards one of the buildings. The tactical agents followed him out, raising their assault rifles and firing short bursts in the same direction.

  “Get moving!” DeWitt instructed. Melissa moved forward, followed by the Ancillary, her escort close behind her, with Roy bringing up the rear. DeWitt pointed to their destination across the street, and Melissa saw that it seemed to be a small restaurant. Melissa turned and grabbed onto Roy to give him extra support and together they broke into a run towards it. The Reborn, at least that’s who Melissa deduced they were, began to fire. She risked a quick look over her shoulder and saw that DeWitt had started his run, while the Ancillary was practically being carried under the arms by the two FBI agents escorting her. Bullets slammed into the pavement and ricocheted across the ground, fired from the roof of the building they were heading towards. Melissa turned back and saw she’d reached the door of the shop. It was a glass front, with the opening times and the logo drawn in fancy gold lettering. Melissa shoulder slammed into the door, hoping it would swing easily inward, but she was denied. Grabbing the handle, she yanked on it, thinking that perhaps it was a pull door, but it held fast.

  “Move!” DeWitt called out as he raised his weapon. He shot the glass several times, causing it to splinter and then shoulder charged through, shattering it completely. Melissa and Roy followed him and went to the nearest moveable table, planning on using it to block the door once the others were through. She watched as the two tactical agents were forced back into the truck to take cover as an intense salvo was unloaded in their direction. The two agents carrying the Ancillary moved quickly, and strangely she wasn’t struggling against them in any way. She seemed just as calm as she had before the truck was attacked – making no attempt to escape, as Melissa assumed she would when help was so close at hand - until the agent on her right was shot in the neck. As his blood splashed her face, the Ancillary let out a chuckle - the kind a child would make when he or she was tickled or enjoying some other kind of innocent fun - and it made Melissa hate her even more than she did already. Grinding her teeth, Melissa darted out, hearing DeWitt protesting behind her as she did - ordering her to stay in the restaurant. Melissa reached the agent, grabbed him by the collar of his armor and began dragging him with both hands. DeWitt had followed her, to help to secure the Ancillary and get her into the restaurant, while the two remaining tactical agents sprang out from the truck and opened fire at the Reborn on the roof. This caused a break in the barrage that was closing in on Melissa, giving her the moments she needed to reach cover once more. She managed to get the agent through the door and continued to drag him until they were near the back of the room.

  “Come on!” DeWitt called out, but from her position Melissa couldn’t see if the agents were moving, nor could she tell whether they were still firing or if the shots she could hear were coming from the Reborn. She concentrated on trying to tend to the agent’s wound, but blood was spraying out in big, arterial spurts. She held her hand over his wound and pressed firmly.

  “Maria.” He whispered, seemingly delusional in his final moments. To offer what comfort she could, Melissa leaned closer to his face and began to whisper in his ear.

  “I’m here. I’m here.” She told him softly. Looking at him, she saw that the agent was smiling... but within moments he went limp, the blood flow diminished, and then ceased altogether.

  “Damn it!” Melissa roared angrily, her eyes venomous as she glared at the Ancillary, who was wearing a broad smile as the blood of the young agent dripped from her face and soaked into her vestment.

  Melissa moved towards DeWitt, who was standing in the doorway. For the first time, Melissa was able to try to read the situation in the street. They had been forced to halt at a crossroads; a large roadblock had been erected on one avenue of the intersection by police vehicles, which was presumably what had caused the initial holdup. The sound of gunfire was constant, and from what Melissa could see, she and the others were under attack from the Reborn, who had now also managed to get soldiers in position across the street; on the roof of a building overlooking their current position. Not only that, the Reborn assault had created holes in the police line so that the infected were now forcing their way through, widening the gaps as several of them attacked the officer nearest to them. In the confusion caused by the sudden assault, the police began firing wildly, not hitting all of the infected cleanly in the head or at the very least incapacitating them with shots through their legs. Suddenly, more infected arrived, so now they were spilling into both ends of street where the restaurant they were sheltering in was located, cutting off all avenues of escape. The tactical agents sheltering near the truck were torn between firing on the Reborn and executing the advancing infected. Eventually, perhaps having decided they stood a better chance of survival if they joined the rest of the group, they tried to move out. Instantly, one was taken down by a low shot to the leg, forcing his partner to drag him back to the relative safety of the truck. Meanwhile, the infected were slowly but surely closing in. DeWitt fired off a few shots, dropping one or two, but there were always more ready to take their place. Some were peeling off towards the restaurant, attracted by the gunfire and no doubt the smell of blood and flesh.

  “Move!” Melissa barked, grabbing one of the tables and shoving it towards the door. DeWitt darted back and helped Melissa lift it and wedge it in front of the doorway. The table didn’t fit easily, and it wouldn’t provide much resistance against anyone - infected or Reborn - who pressed against it. Melissa quickly moved chairs over to it, wedging them under the table as tightly as she could. Roy assisted her, and as they shored up their ineffective barricade, the first of the infected reached it. DeWitt raised his gun and began to take aim, but Melissa had other plans.

  “No!” She hissed, grabbing one of the wooden chairs by the leg and snapping it off with a hard kick. She leaned across the table as the infected began to clamber forward, and jabbed the wooden shard into its face. Gunfire erupted from the truck again, and the infected that had been making their way towards the restaurant turned away, distracted by the sound.

  “Kill them quietly when you can.” Melissa told DeWitt. “Only shoot them when it’s absolutely necessary.”

  As he reached for the radio and began trying to raise other police units who he hoped would be in the vicinity for assistance, Melissa hurried to the agent who had bled out. She mouthed an apology before she crouched down beside him to take his pistol from its holster, and then she searched his body for spare ammunition clips, finding two in his jacket. It wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing and more than she wo
uld have had if DeWitt had had his way. Melissa returned to the front of the restaurant and looked through the window. She was just in time to see the infected closing in on the truck. Outnumbered, the tactical agents retreated fully inside and began to pull the doors shut. They were, however, seconds too late. The infected grabbed onto the edges of the doors and prevented them from closing. In a heartbeat they began to push their way inside, and while several fell to a hail of bullets, another group of six approached the truck with a dozen or more behind them. They were doomed and all Melissa could do was watch.

  “I can’t raise HQ or any local law enforcement agencies.” DeWitt said.

  “So, we’re on our own? You can’t call for backup?”

  “If we can reach the police line, and there are any of them left, they can render us aid. We need to get moving.”

  “I think they’ve been overrun... but wait, what do you mean get moving?”

  “We need to get you and the Ancillary to the extraction point.” DeWitt explained, still peering through the window watching the infected encircling the truck. The gunfire from the police blockade was diminishing, and Melissa imagined they were either dead or in retreat.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. All we’ve been doing is trying to get to a damn extraction point, and now we get ambushed in a town they shouldn’t have known we were stopping at. Someone, somewhere along the line, is either feeding them information or they’ve got some means of monitoring us we don’t know about. Besides, I don’t think we’re getting back in the truck anytime soon.” Melissa gestured to the infected clamoring against the armored truck across from them.

  “This route was classified; for them to have known when and where to hit us means that somehow, that information was leaked.” DeWitt said, almost to himself. It sounded as though he was in agreement with Melissa, but she couldn’t be certain.

  DeWitt suddenly looked exasperatedly at her and seemed about to argue, but he didn’t get the chance.

  “Special Agent James DeWitt, stand down and allow us to take the Witness and the Ancillary. We will then allow you to leave unharmed.” A loud voice boomed out from across the street; presumably the Reborn were using some sort of loudspeaker, a risky tactic considering the number of infected nearby, but it did indicate to Melissa that they felt confident in their ability to hold back the infected while she and the Ancillary were extracted.

  “Two minutes, Special Agent DeWitt. Two minutes, and then we retrieve them ourselves.”

  “You should surrender and allow the Witness and me to leave. It’s the best thing for you to do.” The Ancillary piped up cheerfully.

  “Shut your mouth!” DeWitt snapped back. He looked to the front of the building and then to the rear. “There’s got to be a back way out of here.”

  “They’ve probably got it covered. If we try to run out either way, you’ll get cut down before we make ten feet. We have two minutes, DeWitt, two minutes to prepare our defense.” Melissa told him.

  “You’re not in charge here.” DeWitt countered.

  “I didn’t say I was. I’m just laying out the facts.” Melissa explained as she took the safety off her gun. “All I know for sure is I’m not letting them get to me or that bitch without a fight. Roy, give me a hand.”

  Two minutes wasn’t long, but it was just enough time for Melissa to find what she needed. Melissa, Roy and the surviving agent quickly searched the restaurant for anything they could use to defend themselves, but there wasn’t much: an assortment of knives and some metal trays that probably wouldn’t block a bullet. There was a walk in refrigerator in far left corner of the kitchen and a back door in the opposite corner that no doubt led into an alleyway behind the building, but Melissa wasn’t able to check as she was concerned that opening the door might trigger the Reborn assault preemptively. When deciding where to store the Ancillary so she wouldn’t cause trouble it was an easy choice for Melissa; she had even smiled to herself as she shuttled the Ancillary into the refrigerator. If she was cold she was showing no sign of it, and was instead still smiling the same cheerful, childlike smile that had crept across her face when the agent had been killed beside her. The temptation to tell her to chill out was immense, but Melissa resisted the urge, shut the door and slipped a knife she’d picked up into the catch so it couldn’t be forced open from the inside. The surviving agent looked at Melissa expectantly, as if he knew she had lived through the attack on the Seraph and was willing her to understand he would follow her orders in exchange for a chance to survive. Momentarily, Melissa was lost for words and wished Roy was still with them, but after helping them to find anything that might be of use, he had gone into the main restaurant area with DeWitt to maneuver some tables for cover.

  “What’s your name?” She asked quietly.

  “Kevin Jones.”

  “Huh.” Melissa remarked offhandedly. She would’ve laughed at the coincidence of their shared last name if they didn’t have less than a minute until the Reborn burst into the restaurant. With Roy’s help, DeWitt had successfully created a firing line they could use, but depending on the severity of the Reborn assault, it might not hold for long. A brief discussion had previously taken place - more Melissa giving orders than an actual conversation - and it was decided that DeWitt and the Kevin would cover the front, the most obvious place of attack - although there was no guarantee of that - while Melissa and Roy covered the rear. DeWitt had started to argue, believing they should all stay together, but thought better of it when Melissa reminded him that they had an incredibly short amount of time left.

  “Go and help DeWitt, Kevin.” Melissa instructed, and he immediately turned and headed to the front of the building where DeWitt was readying himself. There wasn’t much to use by way of cover in the kitchen. Along the exterior wall between the refrigerator and the door lay sinks and areas for chopping and rinsing vegetables. Ovens and hobs were arranged along the right wall and a row of cupboards lined the wall opposite. An island in the center of the room featured food preparation areas and an area with heated lamps to keep food warm until it was passed through the service hatch in the centre of the remaining wall - which had a door to its right, opposite the refrigerator that led into the restaurant. Melissa took cover behind the island, at a tile covered column across from the rear door and to the left of the ovens. It seemed the safest place to stand when the bullets started to fly - at least she hoped that would turn out to be the case.

  Roy had returned to the kitchen and was hunkered down behind the centre of the island, armed with the spare gun DeWitt had been carrying in an ankle holster to help her keep the back door locked down if the Reborn decided to make their insertion through the rear of the building. Melissa took position against the column, raised her weapon and aimed it towards the door. If they breached the room the way they breached rooms in the Seraph, then they might try to toss in stun grenades, unless they were concerned about accidentally wounding the Ancillary. A lot of ifs, buts and maybes, Melissa thought, so she just prepared herself to react to anything.

  “Hanging in there, Roy?” Melissa asked.

  “For now.” He responded gruffly.

  It had to have been two minutes, maybe a little longer. Any second now they’d be coming; through the front, if DeWitt was right, the back, or both. Melissa looked out through the service hatch in the wall behind her, which separated the kitchen and dining room. She could see the front window and the infected roaming freely in the street beyond it. A few were pressed up against the glass, while others were moving towards the burning wreckage of the SUV. Then Melissa heard a noise above her; a few soft, cautious footsteps by the sound of it.

  “Oh, hell!” Melissa said under her breath. It hadn’t occurred to her until now, but there were almost certainly apartments above them; the building, she recalled, had been pretty tall, and access was most likely achievable from a separate door on the street, and it would have taken very little effort for the Reborn on the roof to move to this new position.

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nbsp; “DeWitt!” Melissa called out, but it was too late. An explosive was detonated in the central part of the restaurant ceiling, blasting a hole from the apartment above to the restaurant below. Debris rained down in a cascade of smoke and dust, followed by gunfire. Two Reborn dressed in black instantly started rappelling down the ropes they had dropped in the confusion following the explosion, but DeWitt and Kevin had recovered quickly and were firing their weapons at them. A few of their shots hit the Reborn’s body armor, but others slammed into their heads or necks, dropping them to the ground. Melissa considered turning to help, but then the back door exploded inwards, the metal door coming off its hinges as it was flung roughly against the opposite wall. Melissa ducked behind the column for a moment, waiting for the debris from the explosion to settle, and then leaned out, firing wildly into the opening. She aimed high, hoping to go straight for the head or neck, and she was rewarded with a kill moments later. The first Reborn to push in slumped to the floor, his blood spraying over a countertop next to a sink as he went down. A second approached more cautiously, firing at Melissa and forcing her into cover. Melissa heard gunfire close by and looked for the source; Roy was leaning up over the island firing at the second Reborn. The latter darted back and Roy took cover a microsecond before automatic gunfire cut into the kitchen, tearing up the wall around the service hatch and sending chunks of tile and masonry raining down to the floor. Melissa peeked out and saw the Reborn had started moving into the room, his weapon spraying as he fired wildly from the hip. She ducked a little lower and leaned out, firing blindly in the hope she could push him back. Melissa heard a grunt, perhaps of pain, and when she peered around the edge she saw a figure slinking around the doorway in retreat. Unfortunately, Melissa hadn’t been keeping track of her ammunition expenditure, but hoped she still had a few shots left. With her free hand, she felt for the spare ammunition clip in her pocket and grabbed it, ready to reload as soon as she heard the first telltale click of the gun being empty.