Dawn Of Destruction E-Book

A.E. Stanfill

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

The residents of the small town of Brownsville, Texas are about to wake up to a nightmare.

As the undead roam the streets and feast upon the flesh of others, nobody understands what is going on, or what has caused this to happen to their quiet little town. Ex-Marine David Combs is also a resident of the town, and like many others, his life has been turned upside down.

On the hunt to find and save his daughter from the undead, he is also looking for answers... and revenge against the ones that caused it all.

Leseprobe

DAWN OF DESTRUCTION

A. E. STANFILL

CONTENTS

1. The Day Things Changed

2. Realization

3. Time to Get out of Town

4. Escaping Brownsville

5. Moving Forward

6. The Secrets Held Inside

7. Too Little Too Late

8. The New World Order

9. End the Nightmare

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2022 A. E. Stanfill

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Edited by Terry Hughes

Cover art by Lordan June Pinote

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

1

THE DAY THINGS CHANGED

It was just another normal day in Brownsville, Texas. Spring was in the air now the bitter cold had ended. The flowers had started to bloom and the leaves of the trees were turning green. The townspeople were walking the streets, wearing their short-sleeved shirts and sunglasses. They were all treating each other like neighbors and best friends, oblivious to the events that were taking place around them.

Little did the townspeople know their lives were about to change for ever. Something evil and sinister was about to be unleashed that was going to wreak havoc upon this little town. Men dressed in black uniforms stood outside of the town’s water supply. It seemed as though they were arguing about something when the sheriff arrived on the scene. Annie Simpson had made the call; she lived close to the reservoir and had witnessed what she believed was evildoing while she was out walking her dog.

She was closing in on 85 years of age and always seemed to call the police over every little thing, which was often. But Sheriff Adams knew well enough that if he didn’t check it out, he wouldn’t be left alone until it was looked into. “I be damned – the old snoop was telling the truth,” the sheriff muttered. Not that he cared what people would be doing out here, this of course was the town’s local hang-out spot.

These guys were dressed differently, though, definitely not part of the local crowd who usually showed up here. If he had to guess, he’d say these strangers were military, possibly marines of the black-ops variety. He should know since he was considered a military brat himself. When he exited his vehicle and approached the men, they didn’t seem happy to see law enforcement in the area.

“Is there a problem here?” Adams asked.

“No sir,” the tallest replied.

“So what are you guys doing out here, then?”

“Government work.”

“Such as?”

“This has nothing to do with you, Sheriff. This is a government project that is classified. Leave or we will be forced to subdue you by any means necessary.” The tall one must have been the ranking officer as he did all of the talking.

“Sounds like a threat to me,” the sheriff retorted.

“No threats, only a friendly conversation between two members of law enforcement.”

About that time, two more of the officer’s men walked up from the hill that led down towards the reservoir. They were wearing gas masks and carrying some sort of container. Without thinking, Sheriff Adams drew his gun. “Until I find out what’s going on here, all of you will be coming down to the precinct with me.” He was unwavering in his commands and “no” wasn’t going to be an answer he would accept.

“Think about what you’re doing, Sheriff. Walk away or I can’t stop what will happen next.”

“Put your hands in the air now!” Adams demanded.

“Do you have a family, Sheriff?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“If I were you, I would focus more on them instead of us. They’re going to need you. Or you can die – choice is yours.”

“Upgraded to threatening an officer of the law. I’m placing you under arrest.”

The man in charge shook his head with a look of disgust on his face. “I was hoping to avoid a problem such as this. Oh well, this is what I’m paid well for.” He held up his hand as if to give a signal to someone off in the distance. Not a second later, the sheriff fell to the ground with a bullet hole in the back of his head.

“What do we do now, Sir?” one of the other men asked.

“Dispose of the body. Then get rid of the container. After that, we take our leave.”

“Won’t the townspeople notice their sheriff being gone?”

“I will take care of that. Besides, in a few days, it won’t even matter.”

The men saluted each other and parted ways, the ranking officer leaving his soldiers to take care of the dirty work while he made a few phone calls. A couple of days later what was once a normal town had turned into a war zone. Neighbors were attacking each other, vehicles were used as weapons and, to add to the horror of it all, it looked as though some were attacking and eating each other’s flesh.

Ex-marine David Combs had woken up to what he believed would be just another day in his ordinary life. Eat the breakfast his wife had ready for him downstairs, send his kids off to school, then kiss his wife goodbye before heading to work. Not that he would complain about his life, it was better than being down in the trenches being shot at every day, worried that if he fell asleep he might not wake up, or if he did the enemy might have him captured. He left with his head held high, he was a war hero, a man who saved lives and took lives, all in the name of his country.

But that was the past and this was his present and his future. A life as a husband, a father, and a shrewd businessman was all he needed to keep him happy. David made his way downstairs expecting to break up a fight between his son and daughter, as always. This time, though, that didn’t happen; it was unusually quiet in the house. Maybe his wife, Darlene, had handled it before it got started, he thought to himself.

When he got to the kitchen ready to eat and talk with his wife and kids, no one was around. The room was empty, something he wasn’t used to – in fact it never happened in his household, especially with his wife running such a tight ship. “Honey! Kids! Where are you guys?” he called out, surprised that there was no reply to his shout.

“Is this some kind of…” His words were cut short as he entered the living room to find his son lying face-down on the floor. “Gavin!” he cried. He rushed over to his son and knelt down beside him. Unfortunately, it was too late; Gavin was already clearly dead. When he turned him over, he saw his face had been gnawed at by something or someone, though it was unclear by which. The boy’s throat had also been ripped out, which was more than likely what caused his death.

David lowered his head and began to cry for the loss of his son, but his mourning would be short-lived. The shuffling of feet caught him by surprise and he jumped up and turned to see his wife slowly walking toward him. “Darlene, thank God you’re safe.” He looked down at Gavin again, realizing he couldn’t let his wife see their son the way he was. “Stay where you’re at. Trust me, you don’t want to witness this.”

But his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as she kept moving forward. That’s when he noticed that something was off about her. Darlene’s face was deathly pale and the whites of her eyes were turning almost yellow. On top of that, she was making odd moaning and gurgling noises and moving slower than what she usually would. “Darlene, are you all right?” No words came from her, just moaning and groaning as she approached.

David thought that perhaps she was in shock after surviving a brutal attack. He went to console his wife and ask about their daughter when she unexpectedly lunged at him, trying to sink her teeth in his flesh. Instinct took over and he stepped to the side and shoved her to the ground. He felt bad about what he had just done to his wife and went to help her up. To his dismay, she went to bite him again. David jumped back and kicked her in the face, sending her flying backwards.

He assumed that would stop her but it didn’t; she crawled her way after him, still making that God-awful moaning noise. His first thought was to wonder if she was sick. His second was to ask himself if she was sick enough to hurt their son. His mind started to trail off and his thoughts were now on his daughter again. That is until his dead son was up and walking, though not alive, by any means.

True, Gavin was up and moving somehow, even though his throat was hanging out of his neck and blood gurgled from his mouth. He made the same awful moaning noise as Darlene as he slowly approached. David tried to move but Darlene had his foot in her grasp. “Let me go, Darlene! Don’t make me hurt you!” he shouted.

He came to the realization that his wife was gone; whatever this creature was that had hold of his foot was no longer her. David lifted his free foot in the air. “I’m sorry, my love. I will see you again on the other side some day.” He brought his foot violently down upon her skull, crushing it like a melon, not once, not twice, but three times altogether. Her grip on his ankle loosened, she was a motionless heap of dead weight on the floor. She wasn’t moving or making moaning noises like before; this time she was truly dead.

David had no time to think about what his next move should be – he still had to deal with his son. As much as it pained him, he knew deep down that it had to be done. He couldn’t very well leave the empty shell of Gavin running around, hurting others. He allowed his son to get close enough that all he had to do was reach out and snap his neck. All that was left was finding his daughter and dealing with her if she had befallen the same fate.

Danielle’s day started off the same as that of any college student. She woke up and took a couple selfies. After she got dressed, she got her stuff together and quickly made her way to her first class. “Late as usual, Danielle,” she muttered. “The professor is going to kill me for being late a second day in a row.” She made a mad dash down the hall and towards the elevator. She pushed the down arrow a few times but it wasn’t responding. “Great, the power is out again.” she mumbled.

It was obvious that she was going to have to use the stairs again. Oh well, it wasn’t the first time and sure as hell wasn’t going to be the last. Finally she made it to the bottom floor. She paid no mind to the fact that there wasn’t anyone there to greet her as there usually was. That, though, was the furthest thing from her mind. She just needed to make it from the dorms to the college before the professor was angry enough not to allow her in class. Danielle left the building, but not to the normal world she had grown accustomed to.

In fact, she found that her world had been turned upside down. To her horror, her fellow students were attacking each other. There were wrecked cars all over campus, hell, there was chaos as far as the eye could see. Getting to the college was the least of her worries now – surviving was the most important thing. How was she going to get away without being seen? That was her main thought.

Danielle was smart enough to know that she had to move and do so quickly. But after standing there in shock for so many minutes, she had found herself surrounded. “Please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded. “If this is some kind of protest gone wrong then leave me out of it.” But clearly talking wasn’t going to get her out of trouble with these guys.

Studying medicine gave her an insight on what could possibly be wrong with this picture, even though medically it didn’t make any sense to her. These guys were already dead, or at least to her they appeared to be. How else could someone with a broken leg and his guts hanging out still be standing? The other two were not any better off as most of their flesh was missing and one of them had no bottom jaw.

She swung her bag full of books hitting the one in front of her square in the head, knocking him off balance. That allowed the opening for her to take off running as fast as her legs would carry her. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a car off to the side with the driver-side door open. With those damn things right behind her, this would be the only chance she would have to get away.

Danielle jumped inside the vehicle, finding by a stroke of luck that the keys had been left in the ignition. With a twist of the wrist, the key turned and the car engine fired right up. What she failed to notice was that the driver-side window had been down the whole time. One of the crazed kids from the campus grabbed for her. She let out a gut-wrenching scream, pulled the gear shift into drive and hit the gas. The car took off at high speed, knocking the young man out of the window. Danielle was safe for now but she didn’t exactly know where she was going. But staying at the college campus was no longer an option.

Mike and Cindy Jenkins had stopped for the night in the small town of Brownsville, Texas. They had been on the road for more than 12 hours, trying to get to Houston for their youngest grandson’s wedding. And for a couple at 71 and 75 years young who probably shouldn’t be driving for much longer, that was a long drive. Brownsville was a place that both had visited several times in their 40 years of marriage.

Both agreed that the residents were actually very nice, even to outsiders such as them. Seeing they knew exactly where to take the RV, it was the right choice to stay in the town until the next morning. Unfortunately, the turn of events that would befall them in this small town would be more like the worst-possible nightmare. The next day, Mike and Cindy were woken by banging on their RV window. It was so violent that it shook the whole damn thing.

Cindy was quick to get up and take a glance outside. She saw a boy of about 13 who was causing all the racket. He was covered in blood and his face told a story of pure fright, she couldn’t begin to imagine what he had been through. But before she could react, a couple kids around the same age attacked the poor boy. Not like a fight, though – it seemed more as if they were trying to eat him.

A chunk of flesh was taken out of his shoulder, the next out of the side of his neck. Cindy screamed out loud which caused her husband to come forward and take a look for himself. By that time they had him down on the ground ripping the boy to shreds from the inside out. “They’re killing him, Mike! They’re killing him!” Cindy cried.

Mike could see that something wasn’t right, so he reached for his gun and ran outside. “Let him go!” he shouted, then lifted his gun in the air and pulled the trigger. The gun went off and the shot rang out with an echo. Heads raised and Mike couldn’t believe what he was seeing. One boy was lying on the ground with his insides hanging out. Blood was spurting from his mouth with each breath he took, while the other two had bits of flesh and blood from the other dripping from their mouths.

The two children turned their attention towards him and they began to emit otherworldly moans as they approached. He felt as though he had no choice but fire a warning shot at them. His aim however wasn’t that good and the bullet from the gun hit one of them in the shoulder. Mike felt dreadfully guilty for what he had done and was going to run out to check on him. But something made him change his mind – the boy never cried out in pain and never fell to the ground. Instead, he kept making his way towards the RV as if nothing had happened.

This wasn’t right – the teenager should be on the ground, writhing in pain, but he was still on his feet. Fear was beginning to take a grip on Mike and he fired his gun several more times, now with the intent to kill. The bullets hit both of the young men with little to no effect. Mike rushed back inside the RV and fired up the engine. “What are you doing, Mike?” Cindy asked. Mike paid no mind to her and put the vehicle in reverse. “We have to help that boy!” she pleaded.

“We have to get out of here!” This was the first time in their long marriage that he had ever raised his voice to his wife. It caught her by surprise and she didn’t know what else to do except sit down in the passenger seat and keep to herself. Mike thought for sure they were safe now, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Cindy held her hands to her mouth and let out a gasp of disbelief. “Oh, my God! What is going on around here?” Vehicles were crashed into buildings and lamp posts, some were even on fire, emitting an eerie glow. Bodies lay lifeless on the sides of the road, others in the center that Mike did his best to dodge. The townspeople were attacking each other, just as the boys from before had been doing. From their point of view, the place was now a warzone.

* * *