Chapter 111 - Escape (2/2)

”Anyway, we went to go check it out since Rick's ability allows him to track thing's like a bloodhound. Basically, we just went around looking for where the noise was the loudest and the smell was the weirdest.

'That explains why Jon was missing for so long without returning Kat's calls and why they smell so bad,' Laz concluded to himself. He had been wondering what the stench was after he shook hands with the two or them.

”What did you find?” Laz couldn't help but ask.

”It... him... them... it's hard to explain,” Jon said.

”We eventually ended up outside of town at this old farm. The place looked like it had been abandoned for a while, but that was where both the smell and the sounds were coming from,” Rick explained.

”After looking around, we finally figured out that something was in an old methane well under the farm, although we had no idea what it was. Now although this farm was abandoned, there were still people walking around it at various times. You would think it sounds like guards, but the fact was that there were people of all ages from kids to elders and both males and females just mindlessly wondering around. Since we didn't know what was happening, we decided to observe it for a few days since even if we called the police, they would probably ignore it since we didn't see anyone actually doing anything. The other night, a few days ago, something even more weird happened. We saw a couple dozen people being brought in, people who had been tied up. They were dragged over to the mine shaft, kicking and screaming and shoved in. That when we all heard the loud buzzing come to life like a bee hive that just became threatened. It only took minutes for it to settle down though before the people who had been thrown in walked back out, looking just as mindless as the others,” Rick finished his portion of the story and Roberto decided to finish it from there.

”We needed to go see exactly what was in that mind shaft. So earlier today, once everything had calmed down and many of those mindless people had walked off or just disappeared, we made our way down to the mine shaft and went inside. And not too far in... we saw it... we saw, him...” Roberto's voice started to cut out at this point as a look of pain or disgust filled his face.

”This guy... it was like... he had grown a fucking bug's nest on his back... like a giant bee hive” Rick explained while shaking.

”We didn't think there would be a person in there and when he saw us, he didn't move. I don't even think his body is able to move. But the bug's nest on his back came alive and started... thumping... like a heart. Then a fuck ton of little bugs shot out of it and came at us,” Jon explained.

”If it wasn't for Jon here, we might had either died or been taken over or something already,” Roberto said, taking a deep breath.

”As we ran out, some of the mindless ones started chasing us. They act like zombies most of the time, but when they are mad, they are just as smart as a human. Plus, it seems like when one of them sees you, they all know where you are and come after your as a group. As we got in Jon's truck and drove off, they got in their own cars and followed. It took almost the whole day to lose them, but now we need to get the fuck out of here,” Rick concluded, giving a glare at Jon who called for Kat one more time.

She eventually appeared, looking like she had even taken a quick shower. She had a modestly sized bag packed and looked like she wasn't in a hurry in the slightest.

”Bout time,” Rick commented.

”Fuck off,” Kat shot back. Seems like she knew him.

”Yo! Robbie,” Kat waved hi to Roberto.

”It's Roberto...” Roberto's voice trailed off. Laz actually got the dynamic of these three figured out pretty quickly.

”Alright. Here's the plan. We are going somewhere else, not here, so we can call someone like the police or whatever to take care of this shit.” Rick laid out his plan for everyone.

”Where are we going then?” Kat asked.

”Uhh...”

”We can go to my grandpa's. He owns a rather empty apartment complex so at least everyone will have a bed to sleep in. Also, I know a guy named Bill who might know some people in the government who can do something about this,” Laz suggested, much to everyone's surprise.

”Works for me,” Rick replied.

”Yeah,” Roberto chimed in.

”Sounds like a good plan,” Jon added in.

”Can I stay at your place?” Kat whispered to Laz, much to his delight. He couldn't help but nod his head yes, causing her to giggle.

”Alright, We have Jon's truck, but the two of you...” Rick tried to figure out which poor saps were going to have to ride in the uncovered bed.

”It's fine, my grandpa's truck is here too so Kat can ride with me,” Laz offered. It seemed like they wanted to take as few of vehicles as possible to not attract attention and since Laz had to lead the way, it would be easier if Kat rode with him as opposed to driving her own small car.

”Good. Alright. Then let's not waste time.” Rick threw open the door while Laz fumbled for his keys from his bag, eventually grabbing them out.

Everyone went outside into the rather cold and snowy night and quickly went for their respective vehicles. Laz quickly opened it up to let Kat in before going around to the other side to start it. Grabbing a snow brush from behind the seat, Laz quickly cleared off the old truck before hoping back in and heading for the exit. As he was parked at the exit to turn on to the road, he saw the lights from Jon's truck pull up behind him and flash him, indicating that they were ready to go. Just as Laz was about to pull out, he noticed a person walking down the road towards them. As Kat turned to look at what Laz was staring at, she saw the person as well and couldn't help but pointing out,

”Hey, he's walking pretty funny. Like that guy we ran into the other night, remember?” She asked, looking over at Laz.

He now knew that it was one of those controlled people. It seems like they had been discovered.