“Yeah, yeah. You’re totally right, there’s a huge difference between some of ‘em. Why do ya think that is?”
“I dunno, man. But I don’t know ‘bout you but I really need to puff, what we really need to do is figure out a way to get upstairs so we can get my stash.”
Eric looks back at the girls and then turns back and says in a low voice, “There’s no way, dude, Maggie will never allow it, and if Maggie says no, then Kristie will definitely agree with her and your girlfriend will be harder to convince just because she’s going along with mine. So we’re screwed.”
Nate scratches his chin and looks back at the girls still talking in a circle. He looks back at the screen and then over at Eric and shakes his head. “Dude, we gotta come up with a plan. There has to be a way to convince the girls to let us upstairs. Let’s put our heads together and come up with something.”
They sit there in silence trying to come up with a way to get upstairs, but they come up with nothing. Nate scans the control panel up and down and comes across something that’s been sparking his curiosity all week. “Hey, what do you think this toggle switch does?” He gets up and leans over the control panel and points at a switch. “Have you seen this yet? It says ‘automatic and manual house lockdown.’ And the manual position says ‘entire house lockdown and ground level lockdown,’ what do you think that does?”
Eric gets up and looks at what he’s referring to. “Ah—I have no idea, I don’t think that like unlocks the doors or anything. Should we ask Maggie?”
“I dunno, dude—”
Eric turns toward the girls and doesn’t hesitate before asking. “Hey, babe, what does this manual or automatic house lockdown button do?”
Maggie’s head abruptly turns in their direction, she gets up, and starts walking toward them. “Don’t touch anything on that control panel, do you hear me? Get away from there.”
Eric and Nate both throw up their hands in a attempt to appear innocent. “Relax, babe, we didn’t touch a thing; we were just curious.”
Maggie gets between the guys and the control panel and puts her arms up. “Step back, both of you, you’re not to touch a damn thing. Do I make myself clear?!”
Eric tries to go around her and points out the switch he was curious about. “We just want to know what this switch does?”
“It doesn’t matter what it does because you’ll never touch it, do you understand? Neither of you are to touch anything on this panel, got it?”
As they continue to argue, they are suddenly interrupted by a strange sound coming from the bedroom. They all freeze and turn and look at the open bedroom door from where the odd sound is coming from. Samantha’s curiosity obviously gets the best of her and she proceeds to get up and slowly walk toward the bedroom, closely followed by Kristie.
Eric pushes past Maggie and Nate and attempts to see around everyone and into the bedroom. But once he sees what makes Samantha freeze with fear, the sight of the blood-stained white sheet moves, he can do nothing but freeze as well.
The sheet slowly raises off the bed and falls down to reveal a lifeless corpse come to life, that immediately focuses its attention on Samantha. They both scream in terror and backpedal just as the corpse gets out of bed and instantly moves toward them. They continue to move back and Samantha trips over Kristie and falls back on top of her—toppling them both to the ground. As the corpse gets closer, the screams get louder and more intense. Kristie manages to get out from under Samantha and is able to get away, but Samantha freezes. And before anyone can do anything, the corpse is on top of her. Her screams of terror instantly get swallowed up by the louder and more ferocious screams coming from Mike, just as a combination of foam and blood spray all over her face as she tries desperately to fight him off.
Suddenly, it’s kicked off of her and then she hears two shots ring out. She immediately slides away from it and then wipes her eyes to see Eric standing over it holding a gun.
Chapter 3
Peter holds up his guard and waits for Dave to make a move, but it appears like he’s doing the same. He moves around the mat with calculation and discipline, like how a heavyweight champ circles his opponent. In just over a week of training from Dave he’s already feeling like a different person, like his innocence has left along with his youth. The redundancy of Jason’s voice repeating the same words over the radio fades into the background as the anger begins to overpower his hesitation and allows him to focus on his combatant.
His aggression gets the better of him and he swings at Dave’s head, just missing by centimeters. Dave instinctively pulls his head back to avoid the punch and then throws Peter to the ground using his own momentum. Peter’s body slams the mat, knocking the wind out of him for a frightening second or two.
His rage is overpowering and instantly takes over, forcing him to vault off the ground and lung himself at Dave. His rage filled scream fuels his anger and helps him get the upper hand on Dave, and he somehow gets on top of him. Dave’s eyes widen as he quickly attempts to pull Peter’s hands from his neck, looking surprised by his strength.
Dusty barks but doesn’t do anything else.
Jason abruptly stops speaking into the CB radio microphone, drops it, then quickly leaps out of his chair and runs over to attempt to pull Peter off his brother. Peter yells in his enraged state while he’s pulled off of Dave.
“Get off me, get the fuck off me!”
Jason struggles as he tries to restrain Peter. “Calm down, Pete, calm the fuck down!” He can feel Dusty latch on to the back of his shirt and attempt to pull him back.
Dave backs away and then massages his throat while noticing Kelly yelling something into the intercom. Moments later Simon enters the bunker, and he quickly pulls off his Hazmat suit’s headgear.
“What the hell is going on in here? Jason, release my son!”
Jason waits a second but then releases Peter and pushes him away. “Your son was about to break my brothers neck—I had no choice but to restrain him.” He turns and swats at Dusty, who eventually releases his shirt.
Simon stands there in shock and furrows his brow, stunned by the accusation. “What are you talking about, what do you mean he was trying to break your brother’s neck?”
Dave gives a reassuring nod to Kelly and sits up, then speaks up before his brother has a chance to answer. “It means things just got out of hand a bit, that’s all. No one was trying to break anyone’s neck.”
Jason shakes his head in disbelief. “What are you talkin’ about, bro? That was a little more than out of control, he was obviously tryin’ to hurt you.”
Peter finally calms himself enough to speak. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry.” He hangs his head in shame and avoids eye contact with anyone.
Dave jumps up off the ground and pulls off his sparring gloves and headgear. “I’m glad you’re in here though, Simon, because I believe we may have a new situation on our hands.”
Simon removes the last piece of his suit and hangs it on the wall. “What do you mean we have a new situation on our hands? We’ve been down here since whatever happened out there happened. So what the hell could have changed?”
“Something has changed in your son. He’s not the same as a week ago.”
“Excuse me?”
“In the past week of training, I’ve noticed a progressive change in Pete, an unsettling aggression that’s easily provoked.”
Peter pulls the laces with his teeth and removes his glove. “What are you talkin’ about? I feel the same as before, considering the situation we’re in and all.”
Simon walks over to Peter and looks into his eyes like he’s examining them. “I’ve been monitoring my son all week and his condition hasn’t changed.”
Jason slowly moves across the room and gets near Dave and Kelly. “I have to agree with my brother on this; I’ve also noticed a change in Pete. And, Simon, you’d have noticed it too if you hadn’t been doing so much research in the bubble.” He throws up h
is hands and shows his palms. “But we all understand why you’re in there.”
“So, what, do you all think the bite in someway changed my son?”
“Can you please not talk about me like I’m not in the room.” Peter shakes his head.
Simon looks at Peter. “You’re right, son, and I apologize.”
Dave notices how his brother sideling up to him may look like they’re taking sides. So he immediately walks across the room and plops down at the table. “Listen, I don’t want to start any conflicts or disagreements within the group, so I’m just gonna tell you the facts of what I’ve noticed and not what I think.”
Simon joins him at the table, followed by everyone else. “Before you go into detail about my sons increased aggression, I may be able to shed some light on the situation.”
Dave stares in confusion, not knowing where he’s going with this, but hoping it’s something constructive.
He starts out explaining his findings on how the bacterium effects the incipient and the half-dead’s on a cellular level, and how it slowly breaks them down. But when he tries to explain how the bacterium effected Peter’s cells, it wasn’t so easy for them to understand. He tries to elaborate on how the bacteria has mutated, and for now appears stable, and is not destroying his cells. So it made sense that he’s displaying signs of increased aggression. At first, Simon thought that maybe the Manuka honey or one of the other herbs he had administered possibly had an effect on the bacteria. But when he tested it on the infected samples, he had no such luck.
“So I think it’s safe to say we’re not out of the woods yet. I’ll continue to do tests on Pete and on the samples we obtained from the infected, and hopefully come up with some anomalies.”
The confused looks on everyone’s faces quickly turn to looking genuinely concerned for Peter’s health and wellbeing.
The awkward silence is thankfully broken by Dusty not so quietly nuzzling his snout on Peters lap, most likely eager for dinner. Peter lowers his head and pets Dusty, not sure what to think of his dad’s news, and really doesn’t want to tell everyone how he’s been feeling ever since the bite . . . different . . . angry.
He’s always been so calm and clearheaded, but he’s found himself losing control at specific times while training this past week. The rage and anger he’s been experiencing seems to almost take over sometimes, making it harder and harder to control it. But he doesn’t want to let anyone know; he just knows he has to learn to control and contain it on his own.
“I’ll be fine, you guys, it probably just has something to do with how fresh the samples are; maybe the Manuka honey combined with a healthy immune system had a positive effect, unlike the older skin samples you pulled from a body.”
Simon glances at Dave and then right back at his son. “That’s an excellent thought, son, but I did already take that into consideration, and that sure enough may be the case. So unless I’m able to fully test the strain of bacteria on a living organism, that question will remain unknown.”
Jason takes a deep breath trying to contain himself. “You’re not actually considering going back out there, are you? We’re completely surrounded by half-deads and they don’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon. Kelly and I have been monitoring them all week and nothing has changed in their behavior. Wouldn’t you agree?” He looks right at Kelly hoping she will agree with him.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that nothing has changed in their behavior,” Kelly said.
Jason drops his head in disappointment, but then realizes he set himself up by thinking his wife would ever bend the truth just to prove a point, something he’s always admired about her.
As usual, Simons curiosity gets the best of him, and he proceeds to shell them with questions on what they’ve seen. Without hesitation Kelly goes into detail on her finding’s, but then stops herself and walks over to the monitoring equipment and grabs her notebook. She sets the notebook on the table and flips through some pages, and then continues on about the different behavior she’s witnessed in the last week.
She explains that most of the footage was that of typical behavior they had already seen on the news weeks prior. But what she has noticed is that as the temperature has steadily dropped each day, the half-dead’s have began to slow down, and also adds that she didn’t notice as many incipients circling the house. She’s not sure if they just lost interest or if maybe they were alerted to other prey.
Simon tilts his head to one side, weighing the options, seemingly staring at nothing for an overlong moment. “Alright, Kelly, you’re doing a great job studying the undead so just continue on. Jason, I’m sure it’s safe to say you haven’t had any luck with the CB or Ham radio?”
Jason clasps his hands together and hangs his head. “Unfortunately, no. The radio scanner hasn’t picked up anything, and I’ve even tried all of the amateur radio emergency frequencies . . . and there’s nothing, not even from the military emergency response systems.”
“Okay, well then same goes for you, just keep trying to make contact with the outside world. Dave, Peter, I’ll leave it up to Dave on if he wants to continue your training. If you’re having an adverse reaction from the bite, then we need to monitor your behavior and go from there.”
“I’ll be fine, Dad, maybe it’s just part of becoming a man, a raise in testosterone maybe,” Peter said.
Simon looks over at Dave who just replies with a half-hearted shoulder shrug along with a dull demeanor. His obvious confliction prompts Simon to move on with getting everyone on the same page and keeping everyone busy while he continues to study the samples and the bacterial strain.
Suddenly, an alarm sounds forcing everyone to jump except Simon and Peter, who instantly rush over to the monitoring station. Peter drops his head at the sight of his obvious disappointment, but Simon continues to checks the system status to determine the problem.
“It looks like there’s a breach at one of the north facing ground floor windows. My camera feed for that area is limited so visibility is restricted.” He looks back at a few frighten faces and unsure expressions. “Listen, people, we’re fine. We knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. I’m just surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I built this bunker to withstand—and it will.” He reaches down and presses a button, turning off the alarm that clearly stirs up the undead that surrounds the house.
Chapter 4
John stands on a bridge overlooking a pool full of penguins that seem unaware of his or his family’s presence. He looks around at the enclosure and thinks to himself how much it reminds him of the Omaha Zoo’s rain forest exhibit he once visited as a boy. The birds flying around are almost in perfect harmony as they sing in a pitch so pleasant to the ear it’s almost like a symphony or a choir of angels. The closest thing to the Garden of Eden recreated in a concrete dome covered in sun replicating lights, makes him feel like he’s in paradise. A paradise that can only be relished for the brief second the mind has to forget about reality and, just like clockwork, it quickly fades.
They walk along the path for a while, everyone silent, and only the kids visibly happy. He thinks to himself how much he envies their blissful ignorance, or more like their unknowing of the far away reality that hasn’t yet caught up with their wonderland-like fabrication of this man-made false reality. Built to protect his family from the harsh world that surrounds the Ark on all sides and only a matter of miles away.
He and Kate have gone over the thought of telling their children numerous times but come to the same conclusion every time—why should they be ripped away from their childhood just because a reckless and careless world decided to flex their muscles and prove just how fragile the entire world is when they dabble in weapons capable of annihilating the human race? It just didn’t seem fair to do that to a child, let alone their own children. So they came to the conclusion that they didn’t need to know the truth, not until they were older and could understand what has happened, and why it happened; then again he himself didn’t f
ully understand why this happened but did his best to accept its verity.
So they continue to walk along that dirt path, sheltered by the heavens and surrounded by the hells that have engulfed this great nation and quite possible the rest of the world. And as the birds continue to serenade them as they walk, a tear falls from Johns face, and Ashley notices.
She abruptly stops and completely turns around, forcing John and Kate to stop directly in front of her. “Daddy, why are you crying? How can you be sad in a place like this? It’s so beautiful and perfect.”
John turns and looks at Kate who looks like she can almost read his mind. She wipes his face and then bends down. “Sweetheart, your daddy just gets a little emotional, that’s all. He loves you guys so much that when he sees you all so happy and just full of life, it reminds him how fortunate we are to be blessed by such wonderful children.” She quickly looks away and up at John in an attempt to keep the tears forming in her eyes from being noticed by all three of their children now standing in front of them. “See, kids, your father has the duty of protecting this family from things that may harm us. And even though we’re completely safe from any harm inside the Ark, the thought of what lies just beyond these walls sometimes gets to your father, and it’s a little upsetting to both of us. But rest assured your daddy will always protect you guys and me, so you guys have nothing to worry about.”
Erica puts her hands on her hips and tilts her head. “Yeah, but if there’s things right outside the walls that can hurt us, how can daddy protect us all the time, what happens when we want to go outside and play and he’s not around, who’s going to protect us then?”
Kate reaches out and pulls her hands from her hips and holds them. “Well that’s why we pray to God every night, sweetheart. He always has and will keep us safe, even when your daddy’s not around. He’s always watching over us, no matter where we are.”
The Ark Series (Book 2): The Ark of Attrition Page 2