by D. P. Sloan
*
GREGGS’ TUNNEL
At the other side Gregg walked away from his girlfriend and headed down the left. He continued walking until he came to a metal door; it lay ajar so he stepped up and peeked inside. It was some sort of control room. He opened the door a bit more, before stepping slightly inside and having a look around. Just then he heard a noise coming from deep down in the room from his left. He didn’t wait to find out what the noise was and started running back towards Katy and Michaels. Whatever it was, it wasn’t happy.
*
BACK AT KATY
Katy sat twiddling her fingers as both men came running towards her. She stood up and looked both ways as both her boyfriend and the ex-police officer came to a stop in front of her, nearly crashing into her.
They both looked at each other before screaming together, “RUN!!!”
All three of them turned and ran back to the ladder and Katy raced up it followed by Gregg. They heard the thing scream and as Gregg and Katy got up close to the bunker doors, Michaels turned around to stare into the darkness at the thing that was snarling at them. He too raced up the rungs only to step on the brittle fourth rung and come crashing back down to the hard concrete below him.
His leg caught in the other rungs and they all heard the snap of bone as it ripped through his skin on his shin. Michaels screamed in pain as both Katy and Gregg looked on, then the snarling noise got closer and closer and then from out of the shadows came this hulking man-like creature. Blood and ooze dripping from torn clothes and ripped skin, decaying flesh clinging to the bones.
The decaying man let out an almighty roar and shouted, “More fooooooooddddddddddd!”
Michaels screamed but was unable to move as the decaying man lurched forward and bit down on his neck tearing the flesh away from the bone as blood spurted out. The decaying man stood up let out another high-pitched scream before devouring Michaels flesh and then caving in his skull and ripping out his brains. The decaying man reached into the ex-police officers’ skull and scooped out his brains as if it was ice cream, he raised it to his mouth and wolfed it down.
Gregg and Katy looked on in horror as they watched their friend be consumed by one of the dead. Gregg breathed hard and fast and then whispered to Katy, “I’m not leaving here until Lomax and West and their company are brought down. So, when I say jump, jump down and run down the left corridor. I’ll be right behind you; at the bottom of the corridor is a door, stop outside until I get there.”
Katy nodded and gave her boyfriend a kiss. They then both watched as the decaying dead man pulled Michaels’ dead body away from the ladder and watched as his leg where the break occurred snapped clean off, the skin pulling and stretching as the rest of his corpse was pulled away.
“Jump!” Gregg told his girlfriend.
She did that, followed closely by Gregg. As they both jumped to the ground they looked down the corridor and saw the zombie still munching on their friend.
“RUN!!!!!” Gregg yelled.
Both himself and Katy ran passed the zombie as he looked up at them and screamed, “More fooooooddddddddd!” and began to rise up to attack them. Katy and Gregg ran at full speed down towards the door at the end of the left corridor. They got to the metal door and it was still opened a bit, Gregg pulled it open so they both could get through and as he did, he saw that the decaying man was chasing after them. He pulled the metal door closed and locked it tightly. Then both of them turned and looked over the room they stood in.
It was indeed a control room as Gregg first saw earlier. They walked further into the room and noticed it was a long room and felt it went on forever. They walked about it the room looking at the screens and the various controls along with files all scattered on a table in the middle of the room. Katy walked over to the table while Gregg checked out the monitors.
The files on the table showed various stages of the virus. It showed details of Gregg’s dad and his partnership with Elite Corporation. It showed what the Prime Minister wanted to do. One file was marked, ‘PROJECT TAKEOVER,’ and showed different countries all mainly in the Middle East. There was one file marked, ‘INDIA: PT,’ but was scored out and stated, ‘SCOTLAND FIRST,’ other files were marked, ‘STAGE ONE,’ all the way to, ‘STAGE THREE: MUTATION,’ Katy opened that file up and felt vomit come up her throat. She swallowed it as she looked at the various pictures and read the descriptions.
‘LEECHER: This mutated zombie is a breed done by various mixing of viruses including Swine Flu, Bird Flu and the Ebola virus. I was able to mix all and add to Mr Summer’s lab created virus. I then injected the virus into a man that had been dead and put on ice for three months. Within a matter of minutes, I watched as the dead man’s body contorted and bent different ways until he was bent over like a crab and his head turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees. I watched from a distance as his jaw began to separate allowing his mouth to become bigger and wider. I nicknamed him LEECHER because as soon as I fed him a live human, he scuttled across like a crab and stuck his whole mouth over the woman’s head and latched on sucking the very essence of her life out her body.’
Katy looked at the photos which showed an up-close photo of the terrified woman and then various photos of the, ‘LEECHER,’
Other files showed various other monsters each with different names:
CRIMSON
SPLITTER
RIPPER
HUNTER
DECAYER
ORIGINAL
Katy looked at the original and noticed it was the simple Zombie, the shuffling, groaning type shown in video games and movies alike. Obviously the one in the corridor was a Decayer. She personally didn’t want to bump into the rest of the mutated zombies.
Over at the monitors, Gregg darted his eyes over each of the twenty screens. The monitors had a label underneath each of them which said names of countries:
ZIMBABWE
ETHIOPIA
INDIA
RUSSIA
MALTA
GREECE
SPAIN
BELGIUM
AFRICA
GERMANY
FINLAND
NORWAY
ICELAND
PORTUGAL
FRANCE
SWEDAN
AUSTRIA
GREENLAND
UKRAINE
SCOTLAND
Gregg looked at each of the monitors and saw it was showing a live feed of the major cities, all was calm apart from video monitor marked, ‘Scotland,’ he pulled up a chair and just sat watching the video feed as the images flipped between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. The cities were decimated, overrun by the walking dead. The feed showed each city over run by the dead, body parts lay strewn everywhere as he watched various zombies from different stages of decaying eat people alive. Scotland was simply no more. The Prime Minister got what she wanted – Scotland was no more. But Gregg got her back. His YouTube video was out there and he knew thousands if not millions of people had viewed it and he knew that there would be Hell to pay.
They didn’t plan on releasing the virus in England and personally Michaels, Gregg and Katy didn’t know there was a zombie on the plane when they touched down in Heathrow. That was just luck in their part, unlucky in England’s eyes because now London was crawling with the living dead.
He walked over to another monitor totally separate from the rest and noticed it was switched off. He pressed the, ‘ON,’ button and the monitor kicked in, when it flashed up the picture, Gregg stood there and smiled for what was on the screen was the two most hated men from Scotland – James Lomax and Angus West.
“Hey babes come over here,” Gregg signalled to his girlfriend.
Katy walked over, trying to blank out the banging on the door from the Decayer. “What have you found?” She looked over his shoulder and smiled, “Where are they though?”
“By the looks of it not far,” Gregg began, “there must be another door around here somewhere.”
&nb
sp; Both he and Katy began scoring the walls for a doorway or hidden area, when Katy tripped over a small metal hook at the far end wall. She signalled for Gregg to come over and both had a look at it.
“It’s another trapdoor,” Gregg began. He pulled at the hook to try and open it and it didn’t budge. “I think it’s stuck. Help me.”
Katy helped pull at the hook and after a few moments passing, the trapdoor opened up. Gregg pulled the door up and placed it against the wall, this time below the door laid concrete stairs. Both Gregg and Katy descended the stairs and were met with another short corridor and at the end of the corridor stood another door – this time wooden and opened fully. Gregg opened up his jacket and pulled out a knife.
“Time to end it,” Gregg began, “are you with me?”
Katy nodded and smiled.
Gregg leaned in and gave her a kiss, “If something goes wrong, remember I love you okay. I always have and always will and one day I want to marry you.”
Katy kissed him back, ran her fingers through his hair, “I can’t wait to marry you!”
“Oh, how touching!” came a voice from down the corridor, “an act of true love.”
It was West and standing next to him was Lomax.
“Don’t you like happy endings Lomax?”
Lomax smiled and nodded, “I do if it involves tons of money and misery and that’s exactly what is going to happen here – misery!”
Gregg stepped forward a few steps with Katy by his side, “First you took my dad, and then you ruined my town. It’s time it ends now!”
“Oh, please son,” Lomax began, “don’t you know this is the end – the end of the world as you know it. Elite Corporation is taken over and you will witness the end of a new beginning. A new world – an ELITE WORLD.”
“And what about the Prime Minister?” Gregg asked, “Is she still part of your plan?”
West shook his head, “She served her purpose and now since YOU and your little bitch there along with that ex-cop of yours released the virus into England. So that’s her problem now. Speaking of which, where is that copper?”
“YOUR DECAYER ATE HIM!” Katy yelled.
“Ah you met Bob such a nice fellow, isn’t he?” West laughed.
“And a bloody good security officer to an extent well until he let you in that is!” Lomax added.
“So obviously you have seen the paperwork and files of my mutant zombies I guess?” West began, “what’s your favourite? Mines is Splitter. A hybrid of a Hunter and Decayer – call it the bastard son if you want too. I only hope that the Splitter meets you both and well you know the outcome.”
Gregg took another few steps forward, Katy followed.
“No, no, no,” Lomax said, “get any closer and the good old doctor here will release everything he has made. Just give in. Give up and surrender, surrender to the new world leaders. Surrender to us and work with us, become Gods, become millionaires.”
Gregg growled, “I wouldn’t work with you if it was the last job on earth!”
“Oh, but Mr Summers,” West smirked, “it WILL be the last job on earth!”
Gregg had enough and ran full speed at the men with the knife. Katy watched in horror at the event folded in front of her. Most of it was a blur but what she saw was truly horrifying.
Gregg ran towards the men with the knife stretched out in front of him at arms length. The two men simply stepped aside and Gregg ran and fell right into the room behind them. Both men turned and looked down at Gregg and smiled.
“You stupid little boy!” West exclaimed, “Now say hello to my baby.”
He pressed a button and from behind Gregg a shutter opened with a bang. Then all four of them heard a clicking noise then a snarl and finally as it came into view an almighty high-pitched scream.
“Say hello to Splitter!” West yelled.
The mutated human come animal come zombie was standing above Gregg, drool dripping down from the snarling razor toothed jaws. It looked up at West and Lomax then let off another high-pitched scream before bending down and grabbing hold of the now terrified teenage boy.
“Katy RUN! RUN NOW!!!!”
Katy with tears in her eyes ran back along the small corridor and up the stairs to the control room. Once there she stopped and remembered – she was trapped! The Decayer stood on the other side of the door leading to the wooden ladders to the outside world. She was trapped in this bunker with two mutated zombie hybrids, two madmen looking to take over the world and nowhere to hide. She was a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered.
She looked about for a weapon, anything to defend herself. There were wires for the monitors she thought she could use to choke out the madmen at least. Then she saw a crowbar sitting propped up against the back of the door that the Decayer stood behind. She ran over and grabbed it. She decided she wasn’t going to open the door where the Decayer was but take her chance fighting her way down below against Lomax, West and the Splitter. She breathed hard and went back over to the stairs and headed down them. She walked down the corridor and was met with – nothing.
West, Lomax, the Splitter even her boyfriend were nowhere to be seen. Puzzled she walked down to the wooden door which was now closed over completely. She reached out her empty hand and turned the knob and pushed the door open fully and stepped into darkness. She searched for a light on the wall and found it and turned it on. Then her eyes went wide with fright as standing within inches of her face was something truly terrifying, something she wasn’t expecting and something that raised their hand which wielded a claw hammer and with the blunt end brought it down on her skull hard and fast knocked her unconscious. She fell into the darkness wondering what had just happened.
CHAPTER 45
THE END IS HERE
Katy came too; her eyes adjusting to the dim light that surrounded her.
She looked about the room and then scanned her body, her hands were taped together with duct tape and so were her feet. She was seated on a steel chair and tried her hardest to break free to no avail.
She looked up and saw three people standing across the room together; she couldn’t make them out or hear them very well until they started walking over to her. That’s when it all came flooding back to her. The running away then taking the fight to West and Lomax, discovering that her boyfriend and the Splitter had gone. Seeing the figure stand in front of her and hit her with the hammer.
“Oh, you’re wakened. Good now we can start the end game,” it was West. He smiled and then smirked at the teenage girl.
“What are you going to do to me?” Katy asked.
“Well first things first,” West began, “shouldn’t you be asking where your boyfriend is?”
Through tear stained eyes Katy looked up at the sinister doctor, “Where is he?”
“Right here,” came a reply from the shadows.
Katy stared over at the shadows and a light came on above the voice. Staring back at her was her boyfriend or a former self of her boyfriend. Katy screamed loud.
“Listen little girl,” West began, “scream all you like. This is as we said the end. Your boyfriend here is my next generation of mutated zombie. Meet the Shunman – a mixture of the Hunter, the Splitter and of course the Human. The human being of course your boyfriend Gregg. You see I was going to let the Splitter eat him but then I decided on something much much better.”
“No, no, no, no!” Katy cried, “you son of a bitch.”
“Oh, please little girl,” West began, “did you honestly think you and your boyfriend could bring us down? Now while I and Lomax leave we give you a gift. A parting ways gift, the gift of love.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small black button device. Switched it on and raised it to his mouth, “Shunman, you are now under my control and as soon as you are released you will devour the girl in front of you. Do you see her? If so nod if you understand what to do.”
Gregg now in a dead state of mind looked over at Katy then back at his creator and nod
ded.
West smiled and backed away to the door, “It was nice known you Katy and I do have to applaud you all. You tried your hardest to bring us down and nearly did so but we are too powerful you see, Hell even the Prime Minister can’t control us. So, I leave you with these parting words – Things can only get better!”
With that said West stepped into the corridor and caught up with Lomax. He turned and faced the room Katy and her dead boyfriend were in. He raised the device and clicked the button. While Lomax pressed a button on a fob and released the chains that held the new breed of zombie against the wall.
The Shunman dropped down to the ground and for the first time, Katy saw what her boyfriend had become.
The Shunman had muscles on top of muscles, peeling reptilian like skin, the veins pulsed on his forehead, neck and forearms. His mouth remained in a snarling like state and his eyes weren’t the dreamy colour Katy fell in love with, these eyes were black like there was nothing there nothing apart from pain and his teeth – ragged, razor-sharp fangs with drool pouring out over them.
He let out a loud snarl as he walked towards his target – his girlfriend. As he stood right in front of the tied up young girl, he screamed a high-pitched wail before opening his mouth and ripping her face clean off. Katy let out a scream as Gregg – the Shunman tore and ripped and clawed and fed on her young body.
From the corridor, West and Lomax smiled and headed towards another secret exit that opened to an underwater tunnel beneath the reservoir at the end of the tunnel, was a step of stairs that rose to the water above. Lomax opened the hatch and pushed it wide open. They stepped out onto a small floating deck where Lomax pulled out his phone and started dialling. When the phone was answered he said three simple words, “Come get us.” He placed the phone in his pocket and both himself and West waited.
From below they heard the final screams of Katy and smiled.