It took him a while to get up when he rolled on to the ground. When he first left his jeep, sirens blared, people ran. His phone rang a lot. But as the day passed and he slowly made the eight blocks, he barely heard anything except screams. The last police car he spotted was taken overwhelmed by the infected ones. Being scared, George kept his distance.
But unfortunately, with each step he took, he grew more hungry. He had never in his life felt so hungry. He needed something to eat. There was an aroma of food everywhere, but George couldn’t pinpoint it. However, it wasn’t an aroma as much as a fragrance; a favorable scent that seemed to permeate his body and mind, like a memory.
He was almost home, and was certain he had food there. He knew he was close when he spotted Mr. Carnes holding a hose out on his front lawn, he seemed tangled in it and he moved left to right reaching out to no one. Carnes, his face white and pale, also looked sick. George was grateful there still was a landline at the house. He’d call for help -- at least for himself.
Another few steps and he spotted his father.. Swaying back and forth, Hess was in shambles. George couldn’t believe it, sick one day and drunk another. How embarrassing. He lifted his arm to call out, but his arm would not go very far and when he opened his mouth, words literally got stuck in his throat.
Dismissing his quandary, George kept moving. He did watch his dad walking toward Mr. Carnes, seemingly to try to help him from that hose.
Just as George neared his home, he heard and smelled Bonkers. Bonkers was the small terrier from next door. He looked up to see Bonkers racing his way, fast and furious, barking up a storm.
Why was he able to smell him or rather sense the smell? But the closer Bonkers drew near, the better he smelled. He smelled welcoming, and endearing, like the smell of sizzling bacon and brewing coffee in the morning. He smelled rather delicious.
Bonkers leapt at Georg, growling and grabbing at his damaged leg. He pulled at the leg as if it were a dangling sock.
‘No, Bonkers,’ George thought, ‘Let go of my leg, it’s broken can’t you see.’
Bonkers pulled, then Bonkers nearly succeeded. The leg hung to the last thin ligament; then George toppled and fell onto Bonkers.
Bonkers tried to scurry from under him, barking ferociously. Then George, his eyes glazed over, grabbed him by the collar. Then as the dog squirmed furiously, George lifted him.
Yelp.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Washington, DC
Lance’s last communication was to Jack and confirmed that the friend had arrived. They took what supplies they could and began their trek to Pittsburgh. That was the last communication to anyone.
Everything in the bunker was shut down and they were on battery operated emergency lights, which were starting to flicker and dim.
CIA agent Wills had made it into the bunker with the small group and when the lights and power went down, he had gone exploring. He had been gone for well over two hours.
Don wiped the sweat from his brow and coughed. The air felt thin and stale from lack of air-conditioning, despite the fact that they had closed off unused rooms. He continued his pacing and was somewhat relieved when Wills returned.
Lance spun, “What’s the news, Wills?”
Before saying a word, Wills grabbed a bottle of water and took a deep swallow. “There are enough suits for everyone. Whether they can be perfectly sealed, remains to be seen. Now, as you know, radiation levels are high. Nonetheless, still low enough, that with the suits, even with exposure, we can be out there for a couple hours before becoming too sick. We should be good with minimal supplies, but all of us need to be armed.”
Don shook his head slowly. “I’m not understanding what you’re talking about. Weren’t you trying to restore power?”
“No, I was looking for a way out.” Wills said. “I found it.”
Don pointed with a trembling hand. “Way out? You want us to leave here?”
“Um, yeah,” Wills a nodded. “If you want to stay. Stay. I’m leaving. No power. No air. We have one means of escape and I don’t know how long it will be before something topples on that blocking the way.”
Lance asked. “Any idea where we should head?”
“Tim, when the cameras worked, it appeared that north was the least infested with brunt walking dead.”
Waving his hands, Don spoke frantically. “This is it. This is the last vestige of the government, right here, the last hub.”
Wills said. “And it’s a dying core. There are no communications down here now. That’s vital. We gotta find others. I would suggest a few of us go and look, but hell, the rest may be dead in a day or so. But, sitting in the dark, this is a useless arm of government. We have to get out of DC, and make contact otherwise, the world will assume we have become totally dysfunctional.”
“Haven’t we?” Don asked. “Hasn’t the world?”
The tech was the one who answered. “Last I knew it wasn’t as bad everywhere as here. But then slowly, almost minute by minute, we lost communication.”
Wills nodded. “And if we are the worst hit, that isn’t good; especially with communications down. Again, let us not waste more time.. We should at least pack up, get near the exit and, at first light, head out.”
Lance nodded. “I agree we have to do everything it takes to keep this government running. Hell, we have Jack finding Dodds and a potential cure for this thing. Yet, we don’t know the progress of our plans now in motion. Wills is right.” Lance said. “But, let me get this straight” he faced Wills. “You suggest we suit and arm up, carry minimal supplies, trot north with sparse landmarks as guides, cross a nuclear wasteland balls deep with radiation and all the while swimming through a sea of burnt, walking dead cannibals?”
“Yes, sir.”
Another nod from Lance. “Sounds like a plan.” He said. “Suit up.”
Chapter TwentyThree
North Carolina
May 15th
Growing up, hunting was a big thing for Steve and Garrick. It was something they enjoyed doing with their father and uncle. That was how he and Garrick learned all the basics of tracking deer. inside and out. One of the things Steve was all too familiar with was the mating call. That was what the sound reminded him of.
He barely slept the night before, frightened by what he imagined lay beyond their fence. Hearing the scurrying, Steve swore to check things every ten minutes. He looked out the window, trying to see if anything made it through. He had preached so much to Garrick that the compound wasn’t safe, that he actually wondered if he was creating danger in his own mind.
But when he woke at the crack of dawn and went outside, he knew … a plan had to be made. The animal cries rang out like an orchestra. They mimicked mating calls but only with an eerie tone. What all was out there? They were close and the scurrying and scuffling on the ground covering foliage grew louder.
Without a doubt something or some things were out there. Many of them. It reminded Steve of Peru, when the undead wandered the fields, encircled the compound, and prepared for the moment they would all attack at once.
He knew. He felt it. He could smell it in the air. The stench was overwhelming. There had to be hundreds. Unlike humans, animals didn’t know to run from each other. They were their own prey.
Gratefully he scouted the property and took note of all that was available to the group of living. Steve had spent the entire night working on a list.
While Lil, Irma and Jerry were still sleeping, he started getting their equipment and things packed..
What he didn’t know was whether the hordes of infected animals were everywhere or in just one region. Driving from the complex held its dangers. But it was the lesser of the evils. With the noise growing, a burning in his gut telling him it was only a matter of time, Steve started preparations. It was time to leave the sanctity and safety of the fortress.
Chapter TwentyFour
Cleveland, OH
Colonel Stilton desperately wanted and needed a br
iefing. Though Saul really didn’t want to take time out of his day to do so, he understood Stilton’s reasoning. Apparently, he was the only one left in command of the armed forces. No one had heard from Lance since the previous day.
Stilton overseeing Jack’s search mission needed facts. During the past twenty-four hours, he successfully had been able to pull in more troops from neighboring states and unaffected areas. But before he came up with a viable game plan, he needed facts.
“The way I see it,” Stilton said to Saul. “Is these things singularly aren’t difficult to handle, but they gather in masses. How did they get to be so many?”
“If the bite is lethal, the transformation to reanimation is immediate,” Saul replied. “It spreads fast, one person bites two they bite two. You can go from one infected to hundreds exponentially in several hours. Carlson, our initial survivor took out six people in his race down the hall.”
“Forgive me for these inane questions,” Stilton said. “I wasn’t told anything so how did an infection in Atlanta hit Washington State, Texas, Pennsylvania?”
“Four hundred troops were initially deployed to Peru. Not all were gathered from one base. The site in Peru was a time bomb; the longer they stayed the greater the chance of infection. These hundreds of men and women returned home, went their own ways, got sick, died, reanimated and started taking other people down.”
Stilton nodded. “Okay, you said head shots were the only effective means to termination” “Yes, destroy the brain, destroy the creature. The brain reanimates, the body works automatically. We have come across one infected who wasn’t dangerous. I’m sure there are others, but they are few and far between.”
“How out of control can this thing get? I mean it’s already there, are we looking at extinction level?”
Saul shook his head. “The undead are not paranormal creatures. They are not anything from the beyond. They are human. Medically speaking, a complete zombie apocalypse with hoards of the things walking the earth for years is not feasible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Humans are flesh and blood, the undead are no different. We are all biological entities. As with all living things, we eventually break down. There are three stages the undead go through.”
Stilton listened intently. “What are they?”
“First stage after reanimation they are slow. Rigor mortis sets in; they are unable to move quickly. Not agile, but deadly if they get to you. Stage two is the most dangerous. They move faster, rigor mortis is gone, they are agile, but that’s also when biology kicks in. Two to three days after death , putrefaction commences. Death of everything. Gasses trapped in the body form under the skin; balloon out until the skin rips and tears. A foul smelling liquid oozes forth. Once this stage is full blown, , the body starts breaking down. Things fall off. Their deadliest habit will cause them to break down even further.”
“And that is?”
“They eat people.”
Stilton winced.
“What they swallow, goes to the stomach. But they are unable to digest material. The stomach doesn’t break it down; it stays there, and the more they eat, the bigger the stomach becomes until eventually the abdomen tears open. The body is already decomposing, and once the abdomen bursts, it’s not long before the whole body separates.”
“So, in essence, a few weeks we have crawling dead.”
Saul nodded. “But that’s if they don’t create more. Remember that in Stage Two, they bite a few people. That starts the cycle all over again. Your best plan of action is to declare a shock and awe ground war.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Stilton said. “Will the weapon work?”
“Conceivably. The amount we have of the weapon will be limited until more can be created. So until then it should be used in large populations of the undead. Small groups, singular undead, should be taken out by troops.”
“Well, we need that weapon. How hard is it going to be to manufacture.”
Saul shook his head. ‘Not hard, it’s an easy formula. Dr. Dodds is the only one that has the … recipe you might say. I believe it is a combination of several things mainly mustard gas and hydrofluoric acid.”
“What does it do?”
“It causes liquefaction Necrosis.” Saul replied. “Death via liquefying. The vapors are like an acid. It eats the skin and turns it to mush. Our undead are half way there, so conceivably this weapon will finish them off quickly once the vapors eat through the skull.”
“Then we need Dodds here and we need him fast. When Sgt. Edwards radios, I’ll tell him to find Dodds and let me know once he secures him. We will then chopper them out.”
Saul sighed out. That, to him, was good news. He wanted Jack away from the areas and safe. In fact, he wanted Jack to head to the fortress to watch and take care of his wife and grandson. “Thank you,” Saul said. “In the meantime, the antidote is in final testing phase. I’m expected to hear back from camps. I know for a fact that it works. If we hit people with doses after they are bit, the cycle will be stopped and we can then eliminate those who have already changed.”
“What about using it as an inoculation?” Stilton asked as he stood.
“No, it’s an antidote.”
“Can’t it be used as a precautionary measure?”
“No,” Saul said. “It uses a manmade virus and synthetic bacteria to fight the infection in the blood.The synthetic bacteria beats the natural infection and the virus beats the synthetic bacteria. If you add the antidote into the bloodstream before hand, it could have disastrous results. One of our lab viruses kills the undead bacteria, but the virus by itself could be deadly. ”
“Maybe you should test it.” Stilton walked to the door. “We need a safeguard for my men and women.”
Saul replied with a strong. ‘No.”
“Let me try that again, Dr. Klein. I’ll bring you a volunteer. Thank you for the update. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Saul felt defeated on that point when Stilton left. It was not a good idea to test the antidote on someone not infected. Saul more than anyone understood the need to push the limits of science to benefit man. Saul was certain this was one avenue whose limits he wanted to avoid.
He already knew he had no idea what the long term affects of the antidote would be. Then again, personally, he would be one of the first to know.
Chapter TwentyFive
Pittsburgh, PA
The first words to emerge from Garrick’s mouth, when they arrived in Pittsburgh the previous evening were, “This was a joke, right, Jack?”
Jack kept repeating in his mind. “Oh my God.”
They came down a main road off the highway, making their way through abandoned cars. People, looking for help, cried out to them to stop. Jack wanted to stop, but he had to find Dodds first. What they didn’t see were the expected throngs of the undead.
Where were they? The plan was to go through one of the main tunnels leading into the city, and make their way to the Oakland section. Lance had told him that Dodds was in The Cathedral of Learning, the largest landmark in the area.
Jack could see it from the bridge. It wasn’t that far, but it might as well have been a hundred miles away. The bridge was destroyed three quarters of the way across.
Apparently, this was done in an attempt to lock the dead into a confined area. And there were a lot of dead there. Jack couldn’t see them, but he certainly heard them. Like a crowd cheering at a baseball game, their disharmonic moans carried through the air.
The sealed off city explained why Dodds was stuck. He had contacted Saul and Colonel Stilton once they arrived and told them they would have to find an alternate route.
But for the night, for safety sake they were stopping. They stayed in the tunnel.
In was in the tunnel that Jack and Garrick met a man and his teenage son. They were waiting in the tunnel for family that was trapped in the city. But the man was quickly giving up hope that any family was alive.
He told Jack and Garrick
that the outbreak started in the city. When, two days earlier, it spread to surrounding areas, , city officials started what was called the Pied Piper Project. The ideas was to lead the undead into the city with decoys.
They did so by guiding them into tractor trailers by using bait. Live bait. Human bait. In herds the undead would follow and mindlessly load into the back of the trucks. From there they were driven into the city.
It was an ambitious project. When it began, the outbreak wasn’t bad. An exodus of the city commenced while the dead were being brought in. The idea was to seal off the city, using the three rivers to an advantage. Thus, there would be made an island of the dead of sorts.
But the plan fell through. The only positive aspect was that the infected seemed contained to the city and areas just outside. The further out, the less undead. But also the less people.
People fled.
In exchange for some food, the man gave Jack and Garrick an alternate route. In the morning, Jack checked with Saul again to see if he had heard from Dodds. He had, and he was still patiently waiting a rescue, perched and protected on the twentieth floor. Saul reported that Dodds said they would know for sure he was there when they arrived.
No shit, Jack thought, the Cathedral of Learning was an easy thing to see.
Jack just dreaded going into a city of nothing but undead. He hoped the tunnel man’s back roads through small neighborhoods and over the only remaining bridge would be the path of least resistance. After his phone call to Saul, they set out.
“We never found out his name,” Garrick said.
“Who?” Jack asked.
“The man. The son. We didn’t ask their names.”
Jack scoffed. “Is that important?”
Zombie Battle (Book 4): War Page 5