The Zombie Chro [99] - Collapse, Tales of the Zombie Chronicles

by Mark Clodi

  Vic's guard shifted his feet, giving Thomas a strange look with his eyes above his surgical mask. That look spoke volumes. Vic had gotten to the guard. Somehow. The man subverted everyone around him, as Thomas could well attest to. Thomas would have to investigate the link later, to find out what deal the two had made, no doubt it was some sort of safety measure to make sure Thomas didn't get away free and clear in the event of Vic's death. People like Vic did things like that, or so Thomas suspected, another thing he should have anticipated. The guards name was Gabe, if Thomas remembered correctly, something personal could tell him.

  Other than the brief heart racing right after the injection Vic seemed fine through the morning. At lunch they had to bring Vic out of the clean area, it was not possible to stay in the sterilized environment for too long, human needs required breaks for defecation and eating, needs even Doctor Sentry was not immune to. Heather had departed to her office to get a few hours of sleep mid-morning, once Vic's heart rate had dropped back to normal. She was not due to return until six that evening, Thomas knew he would see her before then, just as he knew he would not be going home that evening either.

  Vic's lunch was simple, plain even, however an hour after eating it, he vomited it all up. There was no nausea preceding the event, he just leaned over and threw up onto the floor of his room. Thomas called for some broth and crackers to be brought in and checked the man's vital statistics against those they had taken from him over the last few months. They were low. Nowhere near dangerously low, but lower than expected. The afternoon passed and Vic kept down the small amount of broth and crackers he had been given. True to form Heather showed up by four and Thomas took a brief break around that time to take care of his own food needs from the company kitchens. Most of the fellow researchers had gone home by four thirty, four of the crew had been scheduled late to help with monitoring or clean up as the evening warranted.

  Vic ate little of the meal brought to him by the staff; however he kept what he did eat down. His vital signs continued their slow decline and eventually Thomas was beckoned out into the hallway by Heather to discuss the situation.

  “He is degrading mentally.” Heather began without preamble.

  “I have noticed, he cannot carry on a conversation anymore. The 'antidote' would do him no good now, the damage is done.” Heather knew this, but for once in his life Dr Sentry was at a loss of words.

  Heather noted the uncharacteristic blurb and said, “I know that doctor, but if his vital signs keep dropping he is going to die. We have to plan for that.”

  “How do we plan for that? If the subject dies the state will yank the others back, the work of years will be down the drain, it will be the loss of....everything we have worked for.”

  “Vic had no documented health problems. Could there be something we missed? A heart condition perhaps?” Heather began.

  Grasping at the straw she was insinuating Thomas said, “Perhaps. Can we do this?”

  “This will work.” Heather said referring to the treatment, “I know it will work. We have to salvage what we can and move on. I won't waste another decade of my life to rebuild when we can continue. I won't and I don't think we have to.”

  Thomas thought about what she was saying, then nodded, “Would a review support that finding?”

  “Absolutely. It is a blind spot in the tests we administered. Something we didn't think to test for and the drug had an...unforeseeable reaction with his condition. Had we known we would have accounted for it, or used another subject.”

  Doctor Sentry's eyes widened as he mentally went over the procedures they had used to screen candidates. Doctor Wilkins had left the 'hole' in their screening on purpose, no doubt for just such an occasion as this one. “You!” he began, his temper rising, the 'hole' could be the first of many and without strict control they had a more difficult time predicting the outcome of the treatment. “You did this on purpose!”

  “Shush Doctor. I have no idea what you are talking about. It is only now, that I realize I...we, should have been more cognizant of what the medications could do to someone with a possible heart condition.” Her eyes held the look of innocent, “Now that I have said the words you will need to repeat to review board I suggest you do things, first alter the formula so it will not kill our subjects and second show a little god damned gratitude that I am as dedicated to this project as you are.”

  “But the holes you left in the screening are there! They are holes! The test subjects could react wildly to the...”

  Heather raised her index finger and placed it over Doctor Sentry's lips, pressing them closed. It was the first time since he shook her hand at her interview that they had touched. “By necessity that is the case. You are not so foolish to actually believe that such a condition would cause the failure of our procedure are you? Or are you telling me that your formula will leave out a large minority of the people of the world who will be clamoring for it?”

  Thomas, felt the air go out of his argument, what Heather said was true; an existing heart condition would have very little impact on any part of the procedure's process. They could slant it that way and continue the research after one explainable failure or he could move his operations elsewhere and start using the money Vic gave him. Although he had no particular attachment to money, he was loathe to spend his own until he absolutely needed to. He nodded his head, “Okay, we do it your way. Someone has to be accountable for the oversight.”

  “Yes, someone high up, this is not a problem an assistant could be held for. I do not trust anyone except myself to carry this out correctly. It will be me Thomas.”

  “You could be revoked.”

  “Not with your support and a letter attempting to accept the blame for this poor man's death yourself.”

  “It will work.”

  “I know it will. Now go to bed and let me watch this man die. Think of phase two and what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again.” Heather left him standing alone in the hallway as she went back in to stand at Vic's side along with the second shift security officer.

  Chapter 3

  “Wake up Thomas!” a voice called him, “Doctor, wake up!”

  Doctor Sentry was napping on the cot in his office and the persistent voice would not quite down, finally he began to awaken. Heather was beside him; she was leaning over his body, but was not touching him.

  “Wake up doctor! There has been a complication.” she said.

  “Yes?” he asked sleepily, “What is it?”

  “Vic's vital signs are dropping; I believe you should attend him.”

  “I am awake. I will be there in a moment.” Thomas said.

  Heather nodded silently and backed away from him. “Hurry.”

  Thomas quickly got up, straightened his lab coat and slipped on his shoes. He went into the hall and Heather was waiting for him.

  “We discussed this, right?”

  “All a formality Thomas, now I can testify as to what I told you and when, it will not be a lie.”

  “It will not come to that.” he said.

  “As you say.” Heather turned and headed back to Vic's room, with Thomas following a few paces behind her, shaking the last vestiges of sleep form his head.

  Upon entering the room Thomas noted the night guard was agitated. He was a normal looking man, with a bulk of muscles, coated with a softening layer of fat. His dark hair was receding and he looked to be about thirty five. His dark blue uniform was company issued and modeled to look similar to the prison guard uniforms. The man was on steroids. Dr. Sentry knew this, he prescribed them himself, his name was...Dan, shaking his head again Thomas thought, 'I have to keep this together.' Dan, at least, was a known quantity and firmly in Dr. Sentry's court, he could not have asked for a better witness than this particular guard.

  “What is the status?” Thomas asked no one in particular. In addition to Dan there were two night attendants in the room, nurses, one male and one female. Vic looked pale, his hospital gown was soak
ed through in sweat, his face shined with oil and his eyes had sunk back into his head. He had an IV in one arm, dripping a steady fluid into him and his handcuffs had been removed.

  Heather answered Thomas's question, “He tanked about fifteen minutes ago, his vital signs are diminishing at an alarming rate, spiking up every few minutes, then dropping down to near zero. We are standing by to revive him as needed, but unless we can do something about the injection I think this is a temporary measure at best.”

  “Has he been lucid? Said anything?”

  “Nothing, he spoke last a few hours after dinner, something about how things didn't seem to be working out as planned.” the male nurse said, the tall blond man's name tag read 'Tad'. Thomas hated that name, it seemed contrived to him, fake and pompous.

  Brusquely he said, “So we wait.”

  “Should we inject the antidote?”

  “It will do little...” Thomas paused, and then nodded. “Of course, Dr. Wilkins, please do so.”

  Heather went to a locked glass cabinet, unlocked it and brought forth an ampule which both she and Thomas knew would do absolutely nothing for Vic. She handed it to the female nurse, 'Mandy', who took it and prepared a syringe. Thomas nodded to her and she injected it into Vic's IV. The only sound in the room was Vic's labored breathing and the steady ticking of a heart monitor. The monitor slowed down once, then more and then stopped. Thomas waited a moment, holding up a hand. Three seconds passed, the monitor beeped again, and then rapidly sped up. Vic leaned forward in his bed, his eyes, still open, seemed almost lucid and he took in his surroundings, looking at the people in the room until his eyes fell on Sentry.

  His voice was like boulders grinding together as he said, “I've seen it! I've seen it Doctor. I will see you soon too you son of a bitch!” Vic then started coughing and thrashed from one side to another, before finally laying back on the bed once more. The heart monitor began to slow down again, this time when it stopped it did not restart.

  The medical personal tried everything to get Vic's heart started again, to no avail. After fifteen minutes of frantic effort Heather stopped them all by saying, “Call it doctor Sentry. Call a time of death.”

  The nurses backed off a step and Thomas looked at the clock and said, “Time of death four oh six am, what’s the date?”

  “February fourteenth.” Tad said.

  “Valentine's Day? Already?” Thomas said, “Time of death four oh six am on February fourteenth.” He stepped back from the body and thought of what he needed to do next. Heather, thinking more clearly sent the nurses out to start the paperwork, but stayed in the room herself. Dan, ever present, stood awkwardly near the body, as if by standing there he was still doing his job.

  Thomas started to speak, but stopped as the heart monitor made a sound. It was not a beep, but more like the sound of water rushing through a hose, a continuous rushing sound, accompanied by static. Heather turned, irritated, and shut the machine off. Thomas distracted by the machine did not see what happened next. Dan yelled, drawing their attention back towards the body. Vic had sat up and was staring at them, his eyes an opaque blur, his right hand was holding Dan's wrist tightly, the muscles on both men's arms were standing out with the strain.

  Sentry stood his ground; Heather took a step back, then another. Vic pulled the guards wrist towards his mouth, which opened wide. Dan resisted and pulled Vic off the bed.

  “Let go Vic! Let the hell go of me!” Dan bellowed. Vic hit the floor but his grip did not budge, he was on his knees now looking up at Dan with an emotionless face. He again sought to pull the other man's hand into his mouth. Dan swung his right hand around in a punch that rocked Vic's head back, once, twice, three times and Vic didn't let go or stop fighting. Dan fumbled back to pull out his police style baton. As he did so Vic employed his other hand and grasped Dan's belt. The baton got caught up in the leather straps, delaying Dan for a brief moment that was all Vic needed. His teeth pressed forward into Dan's stomach, teeth closing on the belly fat through his shirt.

  “Doctor!” Heather said, some strain in her voice, “We should get help!”

  “Yes, yes of course.” Thomas said, watching the red stain spread on Dan's shirt.

  Dan got his baton clear and swung it around to hit Vic in the back, a blow that had to break ribs, but the man seemed to feel nothing. Vic pushed Dan back into some medical equipment and then into the wall. Dan kept hitting him, switching to hit Vic's arm.

  “I am going for help!” Heather said, leaving Sentry to watch the fight.

  Dan shoved the baton between his stomach and Vic's mouth, Vic bit down on it, the sound of breaking teeth or possibly wood echoed through the room. Leaving the baton there Dan simultaneously lifted Vic up by the neck with his left hand, while his right hand reached for a canister of pepper spray.

  'He is trying not to kill him.' Thomas thought to himself, wondering why Dan didn't just grab his gun.

  Vic was up at eye level, he spit out the baton. Then opened his mouth to reveal blood stained, broken teeth. Dan barely held him off with one arm. Vic brought his arms around Dan grasping his shoulders and squeezing him in close. Dan used pepper spray on him, the stream of liquid was well pressured, splattering off Vic's face and back into Dan's. Dan screamed and the pepper spray stream swung wide, hitting Doctor Sentry in the hand and splattering the belly of his lab coat.

  'It is a chemical reaction, designed to make me think it is burning, nothing is burning. I am okay.' Thomas told himself, not allowing himself to react to the chemicals.

  Dan was not so fortunate, he starting screaming “Help me! Sentry! Help me!”

  Thomas looked around for a weapon, and then stopped himself, a weapon? What would he do with a weapon? They had security personal for that. Where were they?

  Vic was not affected by the spray in the slightest and he moved his head in towards Dan's neck, biting him there and holding on like a tick.

  Dan screamed again, “Help me! Someone help me!”

  Doctor Sentry took a step backward, towards the door. Dan's hand came away from his face and pushed off the wall while swing wildly at Vic's body, his eyes were open, going bloodshot from the chemicals, as was his face. Glancing down Doctor Sentry found his hand had become red as well, interesting.

  Vic fell over backward, somehow bringing Dan down on top of him. He shifted his head to get a better grip on Dan's neck and Dan pulled away, his eyes now swollen shut. Holding one hand to his throat he tried to push himself up with his other, Vic simply turned and bit the supporting wrist, a loud crack shot through the room as the man's wrist was cracked.

  Dan screamed again and fell back on top of Vic; he threw his weight to the side and tried to roll away from the other man, to no avail. Vic held onto the wrist and continued biting it as the other man screamed.

  Thomas stood and watched why Dan bled out on the floor of the room; the tile was a mess of bloody streaks and pools from the struggle. It was simply amazing to him that so much damage could happen in so short of a time.

  Dan was pressed up against the bed and Vic worked his way up from the wrist back to his neck, the guard struggled slowly, sluggishly and to no avail. Thomas stood and watched as Vic killed the man. Vic then slowly stood and turned to face Thomas, his eyes were not quite so opaque as before, he seemed more alert somehow, as if feasting on Dan had given him some sort of energy burst. Thomas stood his ground, bringing up his pepper sprayed hand in front of him in a futile gesture of resistance while he took another step back towards the door.

  Chapter 4

  Vic stepped towards Thomas, arms out in front of him. Just before impact an armored man in a security helmet and uniform brushed by Thomas and slammed into Vic, forcing him all the way back onto the bed.

  Another man followed, then a third, all hastily dressed in riot gear. They forced Vic back onto the bed, staying well clear of the man's teeth. The beds were actually prison standard, they had areas on them to bind prisoner's hands with restraints or, in this case, handc
uffs. The three men working in unison cuffed one, then the other of Vic's hands, then ran a restraining strap over his head, binding it to the bed, they worked quickly and secured his waist, then his legs. When they stepped back Dan started moving.

  Thomas took a step forward, to see what he could do for the man. Dan immediately surged forward and grappled with one of the men in riot gear. They push him back and warned him off, but Dan did not listen. 'His wound, his neck wound is not gushing; it is more like an open sore, leaking very little. It should be gushing.' Thomas thought to himself.

  Tad and Mandy came back into the room, they had gloves and masks on and watched wide eyed as the other guards grappled with and subdued Dan, using their last pair of handcuffs to get his arms behind his back.

  “What do we do doc?” asked a tired looking guard, Thomas noted it was Gabe, from earlier.

  “Put Dan in the room next to this one. Bind him like Vic until we figure out what we can do for them.”

  Heather came in with a clipboard, she peeked over it to look at Vic. “Is he, is he alive?”

  “I don't know, he moves, so that is good right?” said Thomas. “Be careful there!” he warned Tad, “Whatever he has he seems to have given to Dan, by biting him, it might be passed in the blood too.”

  Tad looked down at his white sneakers, which were on top of the bloody mess on the floor. He eased back towards the doctors and Mandy.

  “What do we do?” he asked.

  “Let’s run tests, Heather can you gather some samples of the blood on the floor? I will need blood from both Vic and Dan too. The blood on the floor should be Dan's before he was infected, so it should give us a good starting point for him. Of course we have Vic's blood on file form before the treatment as well; we will run a comparison and see what is different.”

  Heather shrugged and gathered the necessary equipment before sending the nurses to try and get a blood sample from Dan.

  Fifteen minutes later Sentry was looking at samples from the before and after blood tests. H was making a 'tsk-tsk' sound as he switched the samples back and forth. “Interesting.” he said to himself as Heather looked on.