Outbreak Chapter 3

As he burst into the room he noticed that Rebecca was sitting up in bed with a confused look on her face. "What's going on out there?" she asked. Brendon just ignored her knowing he couldn't spare any time just yet. He again glanced at his pistol box next to the bed but after seeing how these people couldn't feel pain he didn't want to try to take them out with just 9mm rounds. He threw open the doors to his closet and reached up above the door frame to his Remington 870 pump shotgun that was hanging on two hooks near the ceiling. He had bought this particular shotgun with an 18" barrel and had put on a magazine tube extension that allowed it to hold eight 12 gauge shells. He had also installed a surefire flashlight with pressure pad onto the side of the barrel, a pistol grip and a top folding stock to save space and the stock was currently folded on top of the weapon. He unfolded the stock as he headed back into the living room. He had always stored his shotgun with the safety off, chamber empty, and eight shells in the tube. The first two were rubber buckshot rounds that he had always figured he would use to give any unarmed intruders a chance but the last six shells were lead buckshot. Remembering how these people didn't feel pain he pumped the shotgun three times causing it to throw the initial two rubber buckshot shells onto the floor and load a shell containing lead buckshot into the chamber. "Open up the door all the way, but be ready to slam it again as soon as I get them out of the way," Brendon said to Aidan.
"Got it," Aidan said through gritting teeth. "You ready?" he asked. Brendon nodded back and his roommate swung the door open ninety degrees and the two men outside nearly fell into the room. Brendon pulled the trigger on his shotgun sending nine .33" diameter lead balls into the chest of the man that had initially reached his arm in through the doorway. The force of the blast was enough to push the man back a couple of steps before he lost his balance and fell back into a sitting position with his back against the wall. Brendon pumped the shotgun as fast as he could as he lined up the barrel with the second man who had taken a step into the apartment. Brendon pulled the trigger a second time sending that man back into the hallway as well. It wasn't as dramatic as in the movies when a person was hit with a shotgun but the force of the large lead balls impacting their bodies had definitely been enough to knock them both back.
"Close it!" Brendon shouted to Aidan not waiting to see the full extent of the damage done to the two men remembering that there was still the third man in the hallway that Aidan had barreled over. Aidan slammed the door, locked the deadbolt and slid the chain into place as well then walked into the living room visibly shaking.
"What the hell is going on out here?" Rebecca said as she peaked out of Brendon's bedroom and into the living room. Brendon was actually surprised at how calm she was considering that she had just heard Brendon fire two shots from inside the apartment and there was a bloody knife laying on the nearby counter, but then again she had always been a tough girl.
"I don't have any idea," Brendon admitted. "I saw a lady being attacked outside so I went out to help and everyone I've ran into except for Aidan has attacked us. They all jumped a little when there was a loud bang on the door followed by more pounding. Brendon figured that the man Aidan had knocked over was trying to get in but he went to the door to look through the peep hole anyways. When he did he was shocked to see that all three of the men were on their feet and pounding on the door. The two he had shot both had blood stained tattered shirts but seemed to be moving just fine. "How the hell are they both alive?" Brendon asked. "I hit them both with buckshot, those spreads had to of hit their hearts and lungs."
"The lady is still alive to," Aidan said as he looked out the balcony window. Brendon and Rebecca both walked over to the window and he heard Rebecca gasp as they looked out. Sure enough the lady was still pinned between the bumpers of the vehicles. After a few moments she looked up and noticed them and began reaching in their direction even though they were a good distance away.
"It was all over the radio," Aidan said not taking his eyes off of the lady. "They said it's some sort of epidemic. These people go crazy and attack everyone they see and everyone they get a hold of goes crazy as well. They're almost impossible to kill. I didn't make it very far outside of our neighborhood before I decided to turn back but I saw dozens of them just in the short time I was driving."
This was a lot worse than Brendon had thought. He had figured it was drug use causing the behavior but that explanation had stopped making sense after running into as many of these people as they had getting back into the apartment. He looked over to their front door that was still visibly shaking from all of the pounding being done on it then down at the shotgun in his hands. It had four shells left in it and he had five shell holders on the left side of the receiver and on the bottom of the stock. He pulled all five shells from the bottom of the stock because, including the space left by shell that was now in the chamber, there was now enough room for five more shells to be loaded giving him a total of nine in the weapon.
He handed the shotgun off to Aidan certain that his roommate remembered how to operate the weapon. Aidan had never been military or even owned his own weapon but he had gone shooting with Brendon enough times to know the basic operation of all of his weapons. "Keep an eye on the door, I'm gonna go grab my sidearm," Brendon said just before heading into his room. He went to his closet and grabbed his pistol belt and snapped it around his waist and buckled the thigh straps. He had always preferred drawing from the thigh so he had a drop leg holster attached to the belt so that his pistol would sit on his right thigh. He had a sixteen round magazine on the front end of the holster as well as another sixteen and a ten round mag in pouches that ran horizontally on either side of the belt buckle.
Once he had the belt and holster on he walked over to his lock box and entered in the four digit code on the keypad. The spring-loaded door popped open revealing is Springfield XD subcompact pistol. The pistol already had a ten round magazine loaded into it with no round in the chamber. He removed the ten round magazine and placed it in the left pocket of his shorts and grabbed a sixteen round magazine that had been sitting next to the pistol in the safe and placed it in the pistol and chambered a round. He had placed a small light on the underside of the barrel just in front of the trigger guard and had also replaced the factory guide rod with another guide rod that had a red strobing laser inside of it. He had always figured those modifications would come in handy for home defense during the night.