Infection Z [Books 1-3]

by Chesla, Gary

  The Captain nodded.

  “I agree and feel we have to go in,” the Captain replied. “Send in the men and let me know what you find.”

  “If I could make one suggestion,” Tony said. “Ed and John are good men and do what they’re told to do, but I don’t believe they are capable of making the kind of decisions that might be required of them inside that mountain. I recommend that that you send in Mason with them. Mason is a loose cannon at times, but he is an excellent soldier capable of getting those two back out of there in the event of trouble. We have been watching the area around Cheyenne Mountain for days and haven’t seen any activity of any kind. I feel Pete will be fine on his own with the plane. Mason’s talents will serve us better inside the facility.”

  “Pete, you feel comfortable with that?” the Captain asked.

  “I would actually feel better about this mission with him in the facility than I would with those two in there on their own,” Pete replied then laughed. “If nothing else, it will save me from having to send Mason in to find those two after they get lost.”

  “OK, Pete, let’s do it,” the Captain said.

  “I would give them a time limit of two hours before they must report back,” the Captain added. “Two hours should give us a good idea about what we are going to find there.

  I feel the situation you found to be confusing and unexpected in many ways. Neither of the two possibilities I expected appear to have materialized. However, since the conditions at the facility present us with an opportunity, and we may never have another opportunity again to find what we could potentially find here.

  This, based on everything we know, could be it, the last possible survivors besides ourselves that we will find. We have been searching for months without any success.

  I feel we have no choice but to see this through.”

  “Will do, Captain,” Pete replied. “Keep your fingers crossed for the next two hours.”

  “Good luck, Pete,” Tony, Doc, Chervy and Smitty said in unison. “We’ll keep an eye on the area around you until the men return,” Chervy added.

  Inside Cheyenne Mountain

  Mason pushed open the door as John and Ed looked on.

  A gust of air rushed through the doorway.

  “See, I told you,” Ed said.

  “OK, keep your eyes open,” Mason said as he stepped in through the door way, scanning the inside of the entrance for any clues as to what had happened inside the facility.

  The three men walked down the middle of the tunnel.

  After traveling down the tunnel about for about a hundred yards, Mason held up his hand and moved to the side of the tunnel.

  He led the men over to a large window cut out of the stone walls of the tunnel.

  A brightly lighted room was on the other side of the window.

  Mason stared in through the window.

  “This looks like some kind of control room,” Mason said as the men looked inside and saw a large screen with a green line that rotated around the screen every few seconds.

  “It looks like a radar unit,” Ed said.

  “Over there is a communications center,” Mason added. “This appears to be the control room and all the equipment appears to be operating, but why isn’t there anyone here?”

  “Look up at the ceiling above the radar unit,” John said. “It’s the front of the facility.”

  Mason and Ed looked at the ceiling above the radar equipment and saw two monitors showing pictures from different angles around the entrance of the facility and of the doors at the large metal barrier.

  “They could have been watching us the entire time we’ve been here,” Ed said then added, “if anyone would have been here.”

  “They might be watching us right now,” Mason said.

  “What do you mean,” Ed replied. “The control room is empty.”

  “A facility of this size could have more than one control room,” Mason said. “Up front near the entrance is not the best place for your control center. If an enemy breached the entrance and captured the control center, you would be blind and unable to communicate. Keep an eye out for other surveillance cameras as we go further in.”

  “But if they are watching us from somewhere else,” John asked, “why did they let us just walk right in without confronting us to see who we are and what we want?”

  “There is a lot about this place that doesn’t make any sense,” Mason replied. “It’s our job to find out why.”

  “Let’s keep moving,” Mason added. “We only have an hour before we have to start back.”

  They walked for ten more minutes before they came to where the main tunnel branched off into three different directions.

  “I’m glad the passageways have been paved,” Ed sighed. “It makes all this walking easier.”

  “Which tunnel should we go down?” John asked.

  Mason studied the tunnels and discovered a small plaque on the right side of each of the different tunnels.

  “The left tunnel is labeled water and fuel storage,” Mason said. “I think we can skip that tunnel for now.”

  He walked over to the plaque in the second tunnel.

  “This one says refuse, sewage center and water filtration, we can skip this one too,” Mason added. “Hopefully the third tunnel is what we are looking for.”

  Mason checked the plaque in the third tunnel. This tunnel went towards the right for a few hundred yards then the tunnel went left, limiting how far he could see.

  “I think this is where we want to go,” Mason said. “It says transportation, food services, administration, housing and medical. Let’s go.”

  They walked down the third tunnel and around the left turning bend where they all stopped and stared down the passageway in front of them.

  “I can’t see the end of this passage,” Ed said. “It looks like it never ends.”

  “I suggested you do more walking and less complaining and we just might reach the end of this,” Mason growled as he picked up his pace.

  “Above your head,” John motioned to Mason.

  “I see it,” Mason said glancing momentarily at the camera at the top of the tunnel.

  “Should I start waving my handkerchief again?” Ed asked.

  “At this point I don’t think it will do any good,” Mason replied. “Just keep walking. Keep your eyes open. I’m sure whoever is watching has already made up their mind whether we are friendly or hostiles.”

  After another ten minutes they came to another tunnel that branched off to the left.

  Mason read the plaque on the tunnel wall that went off to the left.

  “Transportation, we need to keep to the right,” Mason said.

  “Why don’t we check out transportation and see if we can find a ride?” John suggested.

  “You getting tired?” Mason chuckled.

  “I just thought it would save us time,” John replied. “We are almost out of time.”

  “Well. We’re going to be late,” Mason said. “We’re too close to turn around now. Depending on what we find, I’ll think about looking for a ride on our way back. Stay focused.”

  Ten minutes later and after a total of almost an hour of walking in the tunnels, they came to three large metal walls blocking their way.

  Mason examined the plaques that identified what was behind each of the three walled off branches of the tunnel.

  “This one says living quarters and administration,” Mason said. “Ed, give the door a try. You were lucky before, hopefully you will get lucky again and the door will open for you.”

  “If they didn’t bother to lock the front door, I don’t know why they would lock this one,” Ed said as he reached for the handle.

  When he squeezed the handle, they all heard the door click.

  Ed pushed the door and they all watched it swing inward.

  When the door opened, they all stood staring in amazement at what they saw.

  The door opened up into a massive stadium sized cavern with
what appeared to be a small town in the center of the cavern.

  There were buildings, mostly three stories tall.

  “I didn’t expect this,” Mason said as he scanned the buildings and the size of the cavern. “This looks like they built a damn city underground.”

  “It doesn’t smell as good in here as it did back up the tunnel,” John said.

  “I agree,” Ed said. “Pete said if we start to smell anything we should turn around and get out.”

  Mason sniffed the air, “The smell is familiar, but it is faint. If it is the smell of the infected, it must be from months ago,” Mason replied.

  “Are you saying the President and everyone is dead?” Ed asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mason replied. “My guess is if the President is here, dead or alive, this is where he would be. Since the odor is faint, if it is the smell of the dead, I don’t think we’re in any danger at this point. The infected rotted and fell apart months ago. We’ve come this far, let’s check out what’s here so we know for sure if there are any survivors here. If we find any bodies, then we get the hell out of here, end of story.”

  Mason unslung his rifle and began to walk down the paved road that appeared to be the main street that would take them to the building complex inside.

  “There looks to be about twenty buildings here,” Ed said quietly as they approached the complex.

  “We’ll go down to the end here,” Mason said. “Then we’ll work out way back to the tunnel and clear the buildings on our way back.”

  “This reminds me of a ghost town,” John said. “This would make a great movie. I bet no one ever made a movie about an underground ghost town.”

  “Shut the hell up, John,” Ed growled. “You’re making me nervous.

  “Pay the hell attention to what you are doing,” Mason growled.

  The had almost reached the end of the small street that ran between the building when they all stopped and began sniffing the air as a foul odor suddenly began to fill the area around them.

  Then the sound of the familiar groaning of the dead began to echo throughout the cavern.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Mason yelled as he turned and began to run back the way they just come.

  Ed and John turned and began to follow Mason.

  But they had only run about fifty feet when a mob of walkers staggered around and out from inside the buildings, cutting off their exit route.

  Mason turned and started to run towards the other end of the street but stopped after taking his first step.

  “We can’t go this way either,” Mason yelled when he saw the dead coming in behind them. “Quick, into one of these buildings.”

  The men ran over to the building to their left and John ran over to the door, grabbed the handle and yanked the door open.

  Three walkers rushed through the open doorway and grabbed John, pulling him to the ground.

  Before Mason could raise his gun, the walkers were all over John. Blood started spraying into the air covering John and his attackers as they savagely tore into John, pulling huge chucks of flesh from his face and arms.

  “John!” Ed yelled and raised his rifle.

  “Save your ammo,” Mason yelled, “he’s gone.”

  As more of the dead began to flood out of the building, Mason grabbed Ed’s arm and pulled him towards the next building.

  “We are being surrounded,” Mason yelled. “If we don’t get into this building fast, we’re done.”

  Mason and Ed ran up to the door.

  “Pull the door open,” Mason yelled as he pointed his rifle at the door. “We go in here even if we have to fight our way inside. We don’t have time to go anywhere else. Open the door!”

  Ed yanked the door open and jumped back as walkers began to come out through the doorway.

  Mason began firing at the bodies struggling to get at them.

  Ed raised his rifle and began shooting in through the doorway, trying to help Mason clear a path so they could get inside.

  Ed kept glancing nervously behind him as the dead staggering bodies kept getting closer.

  “Now,” Mason yelled, “Follow me.”

  Mason ran through the doorway, using his rifle to knock down the bodies that were still trying to get at them.

  When Mason was inside the building, he raised his rife and began shooting again.

  “Shut the door,” Mason yelled as he jammed another clip into his rifle.

  Ed had to put all his weight against the door to get it to close, the mob of the dead was right behind them. The sound of the walkers pounding against the door and the side of the building was loud enough to almost drown out the sound of Mason’s rifle.

  Finally, after reloading his rifle one more time, Mason was able to stop shooting.

  Dozens of bloody shattered bodies covered the floor of the room where the two men stood.

  Body parts were scattered across the room and bits of flesh and bloody splotches covered the walls.

  Ed turned away from the door and looked at Mason.

  “Mason, you’ve been injured,” Ed said when he saw the wound on Mason’s left arm and saw blood dripping from Mason’s hand.

  “Yeah, that one bastard got me as I pushed my way through the door,” Mason replied. “I figure that I don’t have much time left. Come on, we have to go upstairs and see if I can find a way to get you out of here, while I can.”

  Mason turned and ran up the steps to the second floor of the building.

  Ed stared at the bodies lying all around the room as he listened to the groaning and pounding coming from outside the building.

  What he saw and heard terrified him, but it didn’t terrify him near as much as the idea of Mason becoming one of the dead.

  The sound of Mason’s gun being fired upstairs shook Ed out of his thoughts and he ran up the stairs to help Mason.

  Chapter 13

  May 11th Cheyenne Mountain

  Larsen left Johnson’s room and walked down the hall towards the front exit of the hospital.

  The wheels in his mind were turning frantically as he tried to think of a way to get Johnson out of the hospital before the MPs found him.

  He felt good about the idea he had come up with to have Johnson hide in what had been his former hospital room. He was tempted to close the door to the room when he left Johnson but decided against it.

  If the door was closed, the MPs would have to open the door to check inside.

  By leaving the door open, he hoped the MPs would just glance inside as they went by and assume when they saw Johnson pretending to be asleep, that he was just one of the regular patients.

  Hiding in plain sight seemed like the best place for Johnson until Larsen could come up with a plan to get him out of the hospital.

  Hiding Johnson had been easier than coming up with a plan to get him out of the hospital with all the MPs that were now swarming through the hospital Larsen thought.

  His initial thoughts were to go back to his barrack and bring back some fresh clothes and then try to casually walk out the front door, but that plan seemed too risky now.

  Larsen had already been stopped once and had his ID checked and he still hadn’t reached the front desk.

  Larsen was approaching the front door, which was guarded by a burley MP.

  Larsen held his breath and hoped he could just walk out and go somewhere to come up with a new plan or maybe even get some help, but he still didn’t have any idea of who he could trust.

  As he approached the front door, the MP turned and blocked the exit.

  Larsen reached into his pocket to pull out his ID to show the guard.

  “Skip the ID pal,” the MP said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. No one enters or leaves the hospital without the approval of the Captain.”

  Larsen nodded and turned to look around hoping to come up with something to get him out of the hospital.

  He slowly walked over to the man at the reception desk.

  “What the hell
is going on?” Larsen asked figuring he already knew the answer, but he hoped that hearing the receptionist explain the problem might give him a clue how to get by their security.

  “The base is on lockdown,” the receptionist replied. “Something is happening over at the President’s medical team’s barracks. I heard that a few of the doctors went crazy and began attacking everyone. Scuttlebutt has it that the doctors were infected with that virus or something.”

  “Why are they locking down the hospital too?” Larsen asked.

  “Some of the doctors got out of the barracks before the MPs could arrive and take them into custody,” the receptionist replied. “Until they locate and capture them, the Captain doesn’t want anyone going outside of any of the buildings.”

  “I was afraid something had happened here at the hospital?” Larsen asked.

  “Not that I know about,” the receptionist replied.

  “I need to get back, I go back on duty soon,” Larsen said.

  As Larsen was talking, both he and the receptionist froze when the sound of gun fire erupted outside the hospital.

  “I don’t think you need to worry about going back on duty anytime soon,” the receptionist said. “If I were you, I’d find someplace to make yourself comfortable. It sounds like the Captain means business. I’m sure when the Captains feels the situation is under control, the MPs will let you know.”

  “Thanks,” Larsen said as he walked nervously across the lobby and tried to look out the front door to see what was going on outside the building.

  But with the look the big MP gave him as he drifted closer to the door, Larsen decided not to get any closer and turned back into the lobby.