Deadweight

by Forster, Paul

  “But what do we know, nothing? This didn’t just happen, somebody did this, why not the government?”

  “We know we're safe, and they did that for us.” Amy had always been endowed with a huge sense of loyalty. Those in charge were the government, she'd seen first hand them saving lives and all those ungrateful bastards milling around had them to thank, but never did. She found the idea that someone would hold them responsible as repulsive. Sure, Amy felt she'd lost many friends because of the lack of initial response, but this wasn't a typical crisis. This isn't something that could be drilled for. Derek was certain this conversation was spiralling and tried to draw a line under it.

  “Just be careful.” It was too late, Amy was getting progressively more pissed with him.

  “I’ve always been fucking careful. My only concern is the shit heads on edge ready to ruin what we have.”

  They continued in silence, concentrating on the job in hand. Hoping something would clear the air. The wait wouldn't be long, a woman screamed from inside one of the makeshift tents before two children ran out in tears. Derek and Amy ran towards them, batons in hand and ready. A woman, early thirties, dirty but still retaining some glamour fell through the open doorway clutching her blood covered arm. A man came out following her, clearing six-foot three, full of rage, blood dripping from his mouth and his skin shimmering with a grey hue. He threw himself onto her and bit down on her cheek, ripping a chunk of flesh exposing her jaw, her scream muffled by the blood now pouring into her throat. Derek reached him first, jumping on the man knocking him off of his victim. They wrestled on the ground, Derek tried to strike the man with his baton but they were too close. He was wild fury. The woman dragged herself a few feet away to safety, whimpering with pain. Amy had her pepper spray out and pointed at the men.

  “Stop resisting!” The man paid her no attention.

  Derek wrestled himself free as the man snapped at him with his teeth and clawed at him with his hands. Amy discharged the spray. Derek coughed and wiped at his eyes but it did nothing to its intended victim. Amy dropped the spray and swung with her baton, connecting cleanly with its eye socket sending the thing face first to the ground. With barely a pause it was back to its knees, scrambling towards Amy.

  She didn't hear the first or even the second shot, but the third one made her duck. The monster's head popped open and its chest split. Amy hit the ground an instant before its lifeless body did.

  Four soldiers approached, assault rifles raised screaming orders at those nearby. Amy couldn't understand what they were saying. She looked over at Derek and the woman. The soldiers didn't give the creature that attacked a second glance. They pointed their weapons at the two police officers and the victim.

  “Stay down, all of you!” The soldier sounded scared, this was the first time one of these things had got inside.

  The checks until this point had been completely successful. Another soldier called in for support and another dozen soldiers were rushing to their position already. They started setting up a perimeter around the gruesome scene, looking outwards onto scared civilians.

  Amy crawled over to Derek, he was still, lying flat on his back staring into the sky.

  “Are you hurt?” Amy was concerned, but couldn't see any gunshot wounds.

  “I'm fucked is what I am.” Derek held up his hand, it was missing two fingers, the stumps dripping with his fresh blood. “It doesn't even hurt, it just tingles.” Amy was in shock more than Derek.

  “You're okay, they're working on a cure, it'll be fine.” Derek smiled.

  “Sure, I'll be fine, they'll take me to their big fancy tent and make me better. That's how it works.” The bastard had to get a last shot in on their argument.

  Another four soldiers appeared with two stretchers, they were allowed through the defensive ring. They spread themselves between the woman and Derek, scooping them up onto the stretchers and restrained them, neither resisted.

  “Can I come with him?” Amy put her hand on Derek's chest.

  “Were you injured?” The soldier was hesitant.

  “No, I'm okay.”

  The reply was firm. “No.”

  The soldiers picked up the wounded and quickly made their way back through the camp, Amy tried to follow but was stopped by the muzzle of a rifle pushed into her chest.

  “I'm one of you for fuck's sake!” Amy got into the face of the soldier.

  “Get back in your box, you blue bitch!”

  He withdrew his muzzle and smashed the butt of the rifle into her face. Amy crumbled to the ground, blood seeping from a small gash below her left eye. She started climbing to her knees as the soldiers all withdrew at pace. She looked at them in shock and hatred. A woman approached. “Are you okay?”

  Amy looked at the woman as she tentatively touched her wound, unsure of what to say.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  BEING A GOOD soldier who's six foot six had its drawbacks. They had pulled Kenneth from patrol duty to help clean up the mess at the gate. All soldiers had their rifles in hand and were stationed on alert, the private security were still being kept busy, but their resentment had grown. They hadn't been allowed to leave and hadn't been given a reason. They had all seen the news, heard the rumours and wanted to go home. The shooting at the gate had made up most of their minds and now presented an opportunity. It distracted the military and several junior scientists and other civilians were as in the dark as them. The soldiers may have thought they were superior, but they didn't have the numbers or inclination to stop a dozen or civilians walking past them.

  Kenneth helped another soldier move the last body, the young boy. The bullet had entered his skull through his cheek. The entry wound seemed small, but the eye above solid crimson alluding to the internal damage. They picked up his limp body and a flap of scalp swung free, matted, bloody hair and a chunk of skull hanging from the back of the head. They carried the corpse about twenty feet from the fence line and placed it on the body of its mother and father. There wouldn't be a burial, not yet. The number of people approaching was now nearly thirty, and they'd be at the gate within minutes. The car was pushed to one side, and the men returned to what should have been the safety of the facility. In the minutes since they'd been rushed to action, the restless civilians had massed at the gate, the soldiers inside struggling to contain them. One or two of the soldiers even wishing to join them, they hadn’t signed up to shoot unarmed civilians, to shoot children.

  The Major fired his Glock pistol into the air then pointed it towards the crowd.

  “Anyone crosses that threshold and you will be spitting a nine-millimetre bullet out of your fucking cranium!”

  There was a hesitation in the crowd, but their numbers gave them confidence. They surged forward, they knocked the Major to the ground before he could get a shot off. Kenneth stood back and held his rifle in the air to show he wouldn't stop them, the other soldiers did likewise as the crowd surged past. The crowd left the relative safety of Wellworth’s fences, some on foot, a couple in cars, several soldiers followed them, not in pursuit but joining the departure. Young Bobby was amongst them, he'd had enough and wanted to be with his family, they must surely need him.

  The Major scrambled to his feet and took aim at Bobby with his pistol. “I will shoot any soldier leaving!” A desperate threat from a man whose authority was waning, the crowd and those soldiers leaving didn't so much as slow.

  Anger grew in the Major as he began to squeeze the trigger. Kenneth jumped in front of him. “Sir, don't! If you shoot one of ours, that's it none of us will stay. This isn't what the British Army does!”

  The Majors face screwed up, and he lowered his Glock and holstered it. “To any cowardly cunt who wants to leave, go now! Get the fuck out of my facility.” He pointed towards the outside world. “The rest of you, seal the damn gates before we're really in trouble.” Those who remained obliged.

  Over a dozen civilians had left, all the private security, a few scientists and a couple of genera
l office staff. Three soldiers had also defied the Major and deserted their posts. The remaining soldiers began sealing the gate and resuming their duties.

  The Major looked more furious than normal, he grabbed Kenneth by the arm and yanked him clear to talk to him privately. “Lance Corporal, the men know and respect you. I need you close. Reinforcements aren't coming.” The Major's demeanour had turned quickly to concern taking Kenneth off guard.

  “Sir?”

  “Our resources are too few and need too great. Up and down the country, we are fully stretched. The territorials have been helping but a few weekend warriors with rifles aren't enough. Those overseas are being recalled, but it's too late. The survivor camps are filling as cities and towns are abandoned.” The Major pointed towards the group approaching the camp, on a collision course with those fleeing. “They aren't people, they’re not refugees looking for help. They're infected looking to eat the living.”

  Screams suddenly sounded from the road leading through the field. The observation post opened fire at the approaching figures as they began attacking the deserters. Those in cars drove on, not daring to stop to help. The soldiers in the field tried to protect themselves and the others but were taken by surprise and overwhelmed. They began running back to the Wellworth Research Center, desperate to return to the safety of the gates, the fence, the armed soldiers. As the sniper punched holes in the bodies of the aggressors, they momentarily were felled before getting back to their feet and continuing. Two pinned down a young woman in a white coat, thrashing at her, the white coat becoming red with her blood. Others turned to see the gruesome sight, and this only strengthened their resolve to get away as quickly as possible.

  The panic spread, and the young began to push past the old and the weak. A woman in her early sixties and a man of the same age fell and couldn't get back on their feet before they were set upon. Two of the deserting soldiers came to their aid, Bobby fired at one monster striking its throat, it didn't so much as pause. When they completed enveloped the two civilians, the soldiers fought them with the butts of their rifles and wrestled them off.

  “They're not staying down.” It was the cry of the observer in the OP over the radio, but all could see the fight playing out too close for comfort.

  More gunshots in the field, Bobby and another soldier could see they'd picked the wrong fight and began to retreat with the civilians, the third soldier emptied a magazine into the creatures, missing with more rounds than he hit. Those finding their target not much more effective than the ones harmlessly whizzing past. As the people started flooding back to the facility, the soldiers began to open the gates.

  “No!” Was the command from the Major. “They've been exposed!”

  The soldiers looked to Kenneth for direction. “Seal them, no one enters.” He had to back the Major, this wasn’t a democracy, this was a military operation. He believed in obeying orders from his superiors, and he’d make damn sure his fellow soldiers would too.

  Hands gripped desperately to the wire fence, pleas and tears streamed into one indistinguishable sound, broken only by a moan from one of the things as they drew closer.

  Bobby pushed his way to the front, he was bleeding from a wound on his face. “Let us in, please let us fucking in.” Kenneth had his rifle raised at the group. Bobby looked him in the eye, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “Get back Bobby, you need to run!” Kenneth pointed his rifle directly at Bobby, but Bobby didn't move. The creatures drew closer, covered in a greying red blood from their multiple ineffective wounds.

  They were not getting back in. Those who realised this first ran in the opposite direction. Too many were slow to grasp the situation they had put themselves into. The soldiers inside the fence looked on in horror, the monsters too close now to get a clear shot on. There were maybe twenty of these things now pushing up on those stupid enough not to flee. Screams of fear replaced with those of pain as the teeth bit down. The hands clawed. Flesh pulled apart. Bobby was still holding on to the fence staring at Kenneth as it sunk its vile teeth into his neck and ripped a chunk of flesh free. Bobby didn't cry out in pain, he didn't fight back he just held on, resigned to his fate, to never seeing his mother or sister again. Kenneth put a single round through Bobby's skull. He fell back onto the creature behind him pinning it to the floor.

  “Light them up!” Kenneth screamed and the soldiers now wilfully shot at the civilians and creatures alike. They couldn't let them into safety, but they could give them a quick death and free them of the fear. The civilians collapsed as their bodies were subjected to the tiny explosions of the bullets entering them. The creatures remained more resilient. At the closer range, Kenneth took aim and shot one in the head, it popped open and it fell to the ground motionless. “The heads, you need to shoot them in the head!”

  In the next minute, they neutralised all the creatures, except the one beneath Bobby. Kenneth popped in a fresh magazine and about to finish the job when the Major pushed his rifle away.

  “No, the white coats will need to take a look. Secure it.” None of the men moved, the smoke still clearing from the hundreds of spent rounds, the cases littering the ground around them.

  “Sir, it's not safe.” A soldier sheepishly announced.

  “Private, you heard the Major. That is what this research centre needs to examine.” Kenneth pointed to the snarling creature. “This is what's out there, attacking people. This is our job.” Kenneth approached the gate, and a soldier opened it, two more followed in behind him. “We'll need some rope to secure it and a bag or the head.”

  They carefully exited, rifles at the ready as they stepped between the bloody bodies of former colleagues, civilians and the creatures. Kenneth looked closely at one, he was sure it was safe. Its head split in two courtesy of a 5.56mm round to the cranium. The skin tone struck him, the thing was formerly a black man, that much was obvious. But his skin whilst still dark, took on a grey, nearly metallic hue. His clothes were loose, splattered with dry blood underneath the new still wet patches. Its mouth was open, the teeth chipped, the eye that hadn't been obliterated was cloudy.

  They cautiously approached the surviving beast under Bobby's body.

  “How do you want to do this Kenny?” The soldier made a good point.

  “We'll bag its head, get a rope on each arm and drag the fucker to the gate. We can do a proper job in there.”

  The two soldiers did as they were told and the three of them dragged it in, its feet kicking and flailing, the noise of its teeth slamming together and its angry moans. As they made it through the gate, it was quickly closed behind them and everyone stood back not brave enough to get too close in case it broke free. Kenneth took off his belt and bound their captives’ legs. It continued to thrash ineffectively as Kenneth stood back.

  “What do you want us to do with them?” Kenneth pointed towards the bodies along the fence and gate.

  “Take three men, move them to the other bodies and burn them all.” The Major started walking back towards the main building. “Perhaps keep one creature out there, in case the white coats want to poke at a dead one.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  THE LAB WAS working twenty-four hours a day, Diane was in her forties, a plain-looking woman, a slight build with mousy blond hair who had an engaging personality. Before the outbreak, she wasn't career driven and rather junior in her department at the local water company. Testing water samples and jars with a lump of excrement in them wasn't an exciting life, but there was no pressure and that suited Diane. The fact she found herself in a military camp as the world looked doomed was luck rather than judgement. No more jars of shit for Diane. Now it was various tissue or blood samples, but the pressure was on. The water company was as relaxed an environment as you could hope to have been in. The government and military were more highly strung.

  She avoided direct contact with the subjects, but saw them entering the treatment zone. It was by the end of the first day she realised none of the patients wer
e being treated. They were being held, sedated, and either euthanised or taken away for testing before they turned. Diane wasn't comfortable with what was being done, but she trusted in her superiors. It was always harder when the patients were children. Diane was just starting her shift when two patients were being brought for treatment, a woman whose face and arm were bandaged and a policeman.

  A doctor called her over. “You, you're in research, right?” Diane slowly walked over, hoping she would be dismissed.

  “Yes, I'm just a scientist. Quite junior.” She hesitated but answered honestly.

  “Come with me, we're short staffed.” His authority made sure it was a command, not a request. “I'm not medically trained.” She hoped that would dissuade him, let her get back to her microscope.

  “You can hold a tray, swab a wound and apply a dressing can’t you?” He sounded condescending.

  “Yes.” He would get her to help whatever she said, may as well just get on with it.

  “Well, this way then please.”

  Diane followed the doctor into the treatment zone and taken aback. She'd never entered before and wasn't expecting to see so many patients, strapped to beds and sedated. She’d assumed there might be double figures, fifteen tops but there were around fifty people with half a dozen armed soldiers keeping a watchful eye on them. The doctor led her to the two new patients. He looked over the woman. She was unconscious and her wounds, despite being bandaged, were seeping. He instructed the two soldiers to take her to the research. Diane knew what that meant, a live test subject for vivisection. The doctor next looked over the policeman, he was conscious and calm, his hand bandaged and it looked like he was missing some fingers.

  “PC Derek, Derek Jenkins. You were in the camp when attacked?” The doctor was making notes as he spoke.

  “Yes, one of those things got in.” He was calm, resigned.