by Scott Shoyer
“Everyone get into the infirmary!” Riker shouted over the sporadic gunfire. “Something’s not right here.”
The mustached guard ran into the infirmary and stopped once he saw the scene around him. Three figures hovered over what used to be the nurses and the doctor, eating and tearing apart the bodies in front of him.
The mustached guard turned his head to throw up and one of the cannibal guards jumped up and attacked him. The force of the cannibal’s attack slammed the mustached guard into the wall and knocked him out. The cannibal guard sunk his teeth into the back of the mustached guard’s neck and tore away the meat.
Riker saw the attack and immediately opened fire on him. He landed two rounds in his chest and one in his forehead. The cannibal guard fell to the ground as Riker turned and saw a nurse’s half-eaten body sit up.
Riker shot the nurse twice in the head and the body fell back down. Riker looked around the infirmary and realized that he was standing in the middle of a slaughterhouse. Blood, guts, and flesh were everywhere. The bodies of the nurses and the doctor, including the one he’d just shot in the head, began to stir as though someone had pumped electricity through them. Riker had heard the reports that had come in from the surrounding Texas town police stations, but he hadn’t believed them. As he looked around the infirmary, at all the death and at the previously dead bodies that had begun to stir, he knew the reports were accurate.
The dead were coming back to life and attacking the living.
Riker shouted the order for the remaining men to pull back. Riker and his men had walked into a situation they weren’t prepared for and the bodies were piling up. What should have been a standard riot control had become a cluster fuck as his men panicked and shot wildly into the infirmary.
One of the more inexperienced guards threw a smoke bomb into the room. Through the smoke, Riker could only listen as the young man’s screams turned into high-pitched cries as those things tore him apart.
“Everyone fall back!” Riker shouted. Some had already anticipated his order and had already run away. Everywhere Riker looked, he saw panic as everyone scrambled to get away from whatever those things were.
Riker slung his rifle over his shoulder, grabbed the two men who were frozen in fear, and dragged them to safety. As he pushed them down the hallway, Riker turned just in time to see two of those cannibal-things as they leapt through the smoke. Riker had no time to pull his rifle around and aim, so he grabbed the push dagger he had nestled snuggly in his lower back. Riker rested the top of the T-shaped dagger in the palm of his hand and thrust the seven-and-a-half-inch blade into one of the creature’s chins. He twisted the dagger and opened his attacker’s jugular vein.
He quickly lowered himself into a crouching position as the other creature tried to grab him in a bear-like hug. Riker grabbed the creature’s arm and stabbed him four times in the ribs and armpit with lightning fast jabs and pinpoint precision. The creature recoiled, but didn’t stop its attack.
With a final stab, Riker left the dagger inside his attacker and flipped the thing onto its back. Without hesitating, Riker stomped on the thing’s throat and crushed its windpipe. As the creature gasped for air, Riker leaned down, grabbed the push dagger, and ran down the hallway toward the others.
*****
Hector and the other inmates heard the gunfire and became quiet. They all knew guns were never the primary weapons used to stop a riot. They were only used if lives were in danger.
Hector ran to the bars of his cell just as a bunch of guards in full riot gear ran in the direction opposite the infirmary.
“What the hell is going on!” Hector yelled.
The other inmates demanded to be released from their cells and started throwing toilet paper and other items at the guards.
This isn’t good, Hector thought. What the hell are those men running from?
Hector remembered the news program he had heard on the TV the other night about the mysterious virus that was sweeping across the globe. Surely that virus wasn’t what this was all about.
Right?
There’s no way that virus could’ve found us down here in Huntsville, Hector thought. Right?
Hector saw smoke billowing down the hallway as it snaked closer to the cells.
“Hey!” Hector finally shouted. “What the hell’s going on out there?”
Out of the smoke, Hector saw more guards as they ran down the hallway. Hector could no longer remain calm.
“Come on, ese!” Hector said as he joined the other inmates. “Let us the fuck out of these cells!”
“Trust me,” said one of the guards as he ran by. “You’re safer in your cells.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Hector asked, but the guard was already too far away to hear him.
As the final guard ran by the cells, all that remained was thick smoke. An eerie silence filled the cellblock as the random gunfire and screams faded. Hector tried to see into the other cells around him, but the smoke was too thick.
Scattered footsteps and odd noises echoed throughout the cellblock. All the inmates stood away from the bars on their cells. None of them knew what was going on, but they had enough smarts to realize that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
Hector saw the outline of a figure as it ran past his cell. He resisted the urge to yell out for help. He didn’t what it was, but there was something not right about that figure. The way it ran. The way it moved.
The way it sounded.
Hector slowly backed away from the bars just as another blurred figure ran by his cell.
As Hector pressed back against the concrete wall, the metal door swung open. He heard all the cell doors in the cellblock open at once.
Hector didn’t move.
A few cells down, Hector heard one of the inmates scream. It sounded like the inmate was being attacked. The scream turned into a wet sound. Elsewhere, Hector heard the same happen to other inmates. One by one, whatever was out there was entering the opened cells and killing the inmates.
Hector looked around his cell to try and find anything he might be able to use as a weapon, but the guards did a thorough job during their inspections.
Hector had nowhere to go. His cell was smaller than most people’s living rooms, and the only way out was into the smoke. He heard something grunt, and seconds later it emerged as it ran towards his cell. Hector recognized his attacker.
It was one of the guards, but there was something wrong with him.
The guard had most of the flesh on his skull missing. Dried blood was caked all around the guard’s shirt and his left ear had been chewed off.
Yet the guard was alive.
As the guard approached, Hector swung his fist and caught him on his shoulder. The guard ran into Hector and they crashed to the floor. Hector pushed against the guard’s chest as he tried to hold him back. Hector wasn’t the strongest guy on the cellblock, but he knew this guard and knew he was stronger than him.
At least, he should’ve been.
This bastard has superhuman strength, Hector thought as he tried to push the man off him. The guard pressed down harder and Hector’s arms started to give out. Hector watched as the guard opened his mouth. He clenched his teeth as he braced himself for the bite.
Hector closed his eyes, but instead of a bite, heard the crack of a pistol. Hector opened his eyes and saw that the front of the guard’s head had been blown off. He quickly pushed the dead thing off of him and stood.
A man with “Riker” sewn into his shirt stood in the entrance of the cell with his gun still aimed at the dead creature.
“Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me!” Hector shouted as he held up his hands. “I didn’t kill this guard! I swear! He attacked me in my cell!”
Riker lowered his pistol and ordered Hector to move it.
“Move it?” Hector asked. “Where the hell are we going?”
“Anywhere but here,” Riker said. “The entire prison has been overrun by these things,” he said as he point
ed to the body in his cell.
“What the hell are they?” Hector asked.
“Zombies,” Riker said with no hint of humor in his voice or on his face. “Let’s move it. These things have been eating all the inmates in this cellblock. It won’t be long before they reanimate.”
“Reanimate?” Hector asked as he stopped running.
“Yes,” Riker answered him. “Reanimate… come back from the dead. Come on. We don’t have long.”
“I know what ‘reanimate’ means, bitch!” Hector shouted. “You’re telling me these things came back from the dead?”
Just as Hector asked his question, he could see the guard, who moments ago had the front of his head blown away, start to move.
“He… he just fucking moved,” Hector stuttered. “You just shot him and he moved.”
“Now do ya get it?” Riker asked. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Lead the way,” Hector said.
The two men ran into the smoke and down the hallway. Pained screams filled the cellblock as the inmates around them were torn apart by zombies.
Hector had no idea where he was headed, but he was glad to get the hell out of the cellblock.
2
As Hector followed Riker out of his cell, he heard cries coming from across the hallway. Hector tapped Riker on the shoulder and nodded toward the cell. The smoke caused by the bomb had started to thin out and Riker peered into the cell. In the bottom bunk was a man huddled in the corner with his blanket over his head.
Hector walked to the bunk and yanked the blanket down.
“Come on, ese,” Hector said. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
The skinny man stared at Hector for a second and then looked around his cell.
“Wh-What the fuck is going on, Hector?” the man asked.
“All hell is breaking loose is what’s going on,” Hector said. “We need to get the fuck out of here, ese.”
“If you’re coming, then let’s go!” barked Riker. “I’m getting out of here and getting to my wife.”
The man on the bed looked between Riker and Hector for a few seconds, then stood up from the bunk.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to see a cop,” the man said.
“I’m Riker,” the guard replied as he stared the man in the eyes.
“I’m Jackson. Thanks for getting me out of here,” he said.
“Okay, Jackson. Here’s the deal,” Riker said as he stared into the man’s eyes. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but the dead are coming back to life and eating the living. I need to check on my wife. She’s pregnant and alone.”
Jackson’s eyes darted back and forth as he listened to Riker.
“I don’t care what you’re in here for,” Riker continued, “and I better not regret letting you tag along. I don’t have enough eyes to keep us alive and keep tabs on you as well. If you fuck with me, I will put you down as fast as I’d put down one of those things.”
“What are those things?” Jackson asked.
“Do I make myself clear?” Riker asked. “If you do anything outside of what’s necessary to survive, I will put you down.”
“I got it, I got it,” Jackson said. Jackson turned to Hector and asked, “Is he always this wound up?”
“Listen to the man,” Hector said. “This dude knows his shit.”
As if on cue, two zombies ran inside Jackson’s cell. Riker aimed and shot one through the chest, then through the head, but he didn’t have enough time to aim at the second creature.
Jackson backed away from the rushing zombie and fell to the ground. He pressed himself against the wall and covered his eyes with his arm.
Hector grabbed the blanket that Jackson had previously had over himself and wrapped it around the zombie’s head as it ran into the cell. The zombie stopped and clawed at the air as it tried to free itself from the blanket.
Riker stepped toward the creature. “Duck!” he screamed to Hector. As Hector dropped to the floor, Riker shot the zombie three times in the head at pointblank range. The blanket kept the blood and gore from splattering all over the cell.
Riker extended his hand to Hector and helped him back up.
“Thanks, Hector,” Riker said.
“We’re in this together, ese,” Hector replied.
They both looked at Jackson as he cowered on the ground.
“You can get up now, Jackson,” Hector said.
“Jackson,” Riker said as the man stood. “If you want to live through this, then you better start fighting.”
“Sorry,” Jackson said as he looked outside his cell. “That was the first time I’ve seen those bastards. What the fuck are they?”
“How about we get out of this prison first and then we can wonder about what the fuck they are,” Riker said.
“Deal,” answered Jackson.
As the three men walked outside the cell, Jackson bent down to grab the gun from a dead guard.
“Whoa whoa,” Riker said. “No guns for you two until I know I can trust you.”
“What the fuck are we supposed to use then?” Jackson cried.
“These,” Hector said as he held up the dead guard’s batons. Hector took the baton and handed the other one to Jackson. Jackson’s baton was a twenty-six-inch extendable, which he immediately extended.
“Let’s go, guys!” Riker shouted as he ran down the corridor.
All the cell doors were open and Hector looked into each as they ran past them. Most of the cells were empty, but a few of them looked like scenes straight from Hell. In one was the remains of an inmate who’d had his left leg torn from his body. The flesh was stripped from his torso and Hector saw the man’s cracked ribs. One of the inmate’s eyeballs dangled down his face. As Hector ran by the cell, he could’ve sworn he saw the body begin to move, but wasn’t about to stop to confirm it.
Hector heard Riker’s gun as the man took down any of the creatures that came close. What did he call them? Hector thought. Zombies? They can’t be zombies, right? Zombies only exist in cheesy movies and crappy novels. Right? Hector had grown up a strict Roman Catholic. His mother would beat him anytime he cursed or took the Lord’s name in vain. But as he ran behind Riker, he questioned everything he’d been taught or had learned.
Hector saw Riker begin to slow as he approached the main gate that led out of the cellblock. A hand reached out from the cell he stood next to and pulled Hector’s face against the bars. Hector was blinded by the pain, but knew that if he fell down or lost consciousness, he’d never wake up again.
Well, he’d never wake up human again.
He grabbed the hand that held his shirt and brought the baton down on it as hard as he could. He heard the bones crack and felt the thing’s grip on him loosen. Hector looked into the cell and saw that both of the inmates who’d occupied the cell were dead and the guard responsible for killing them was the one who now attacked Hector.
Hector pushed himself away from his attacker as a blue blur ran into the cell. He watched as the figure stomped the creature’s head until it was nothing but a pile of blood, cracked skull fragments, and brains.
Riker ran toward Hector as the newcomer exited the cell.
“Teagan,” Riker said. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”
Teagan was a thirty-something woman who was one of the toughest prison guards Hector knew. She didn’t take shit from the inmates or anyone else she worked with.
“Thought you could use a little help,” Teagan said as she scraped the bottom of her bloodied boot on the dead body’s shirt.
“And then some,” Riker replied. “The main gate is open up there. We can get out of this cellblock, but I have no idea what we’re headed into.”
“We can’t go back that way,” Teagan said as she pointed over her shoulder. “It’s pure chaos back there and everyone’s already dead… I mean undead. You know what I mean.”
Riker saw movement from the corner of his eye and lifted his pistol.
/> “Don’t shoot!” a voice screamed. “Don’t fucking shoot!” The dead inmate was rolled onto its belly as the man who hid underneath it pushed his arms in the air.
“I’m not armed, for fuck’s sake!” said the man. “Please, just get me out of here!”
“That you, Reece?” Hector asked as he looked at the man.
“Yeah, Hector, it’s me,” Reece said. “Can I get up? Is it cool?”
“Where’s Noonan?” Jackson asked. Noonan was Reece’s cellmate and the two were rarely seen apart.
“Miss me?” Noonan said as he ran over to the cell. “Well, lookie here,” he said as he saw Riker and Teagan. “Are you our knights in shining armor?” Noonan was in his forties, had long shaggy brown hair he let hang in his face, and had the eyes of a shark. He was a violent man who was serving a life sentence with no chance for parole for raping and murdering three women.
“Is there anyone else alive back there?” Riker asked as he nodded in the direction Noonan had come from.
“Not that I could see,” Noonan said.
Random machine gun fire erupted outside the main gate where they stood. All of them ducked out of instinct. “We need to get the hell out of this cellblock!” Riker yelled. “It sounds just as bad outside the gate as it does in here, but we don’t have much choice.”
Riker and Teagan headed to the entrance and pushed the main gate open the rest of the way. Another guard had set off a smoke bomb and all that could be seen were the outlines of figures as they ran through the smoke. It was impossible to tell who was infected and who was just trying to survive.
“Hold your fire unless someone comes directly at us,” Riker said to Teagan as the two walked through the gates.
All around them were dead bodies. Some of the bodies were missing limbs, some had the flesh stripped from their bodies, and others had just one or two bite marks.
Three infected inmates rushed toward Riker and Teagan through the thick smoke. The smoke provided good cover, and the two guards didn’t see the creatures until they were almost on top of them.