Dead Strain

by Giesler, W. A.

Carter finished getting the information they needed along with a description of the lead scientist on the project. "General, we will do what we can; let's just hope that this guy is still alive and he has something that will counteract this outbreak. We will contact you from the facility."

  "Good luck, Captain, keep safe. If we can get a team together, I will be sending them to the lab, just in case you run into more than you can handle. Miles out," and the transmission ended.

  The group spent the next few hours gathering up supplies, along with weapons and ammunition and loading into the SUV, preparing for the long ride to the facility.

  "Sheriff, I am heading up top to take a look around the fence line and see if the coast is clear," Connor announced grabbing his rifle and starting for the stairs.

  "Alright, kid, once we finish here, I will come up and get you." He stood watching as Connor went up the staircase and then climbed out of sight as he ascended to the third floor. "These are good people," he muttered to himself. He was happy that he had met these four and brought them into his safe haven. Over the years he had become somewhat of a recluse even with his public position, but he had always believed that something like this would happen. Now he was glad that he had prepared for it and decided to open his house for others, especially these people. His friends and family, with the exception of his late father, had begun to think he had lost his mind when he started dumping all his savings into completing his father's vision. The house, the fence line, all the ammunition and weapons had all been his father's dream, and he took it upon himself to make it happen.

  Pointing out all the gear that they would need, Hobart watched as the others quickly gathered it and took it out to the truck. Satisfied that they were able to find everything, he ventured up to the third floor wanting to check on young Connor.

  Walking out onto the open portion of the deck, he saw Connor aiming down at a walker that had drifted too close to the front gate. He saw the trepidation on his face as he struggled with the thought that this creature used to be a living human being, and now he was there to end its existence. He had heard the crack of the rifle earlier as he had stepped out onto the deck arriving just in time to see the creature fall, so he knew he was starting to come to grip with killing these things. He watched as Connor unleashed another deadly round from the rifle, and as before, it found its mark, sending the creature to its final death. "Good shot, kid, you're getting pretty good with that thing."

  "Thanks, I just wish it was something other than people I was shooting at," Connor replied as he continued to look out over the field.

  Hobart patted the young man on the shoulder before heading back inside, making sure Connor knew that they would be leaving shortly. Back down on the main floor, he saw the others finishing their tasks, and he knew the time had arrived. The trip to Appleton was going to be nothing short of dangerous, and very well may cost one or all of them their lives, but finding out what happened and possibly reversing the damage was paramount.

  "All set, Sheriff. We can depart at any time. Are you sure that all of you want to go? This isn't going to be easy." Carter added.

  "Yes, we are," Connor announced as he reached the bottom of the steps. "Let's go and see what we can do about ending this. I am damn tired of shooting those things."

  Everyone grabbed their assigned weapons making sure they were fully loaded before heading out to the truck. Each of them was nervous about this mission, but the importance of it forced them to deal with their nerves and press on despite the danger.

  "Hey, guys, I don't have a gun," Connie called out annoyed that they had overlooked her, again. "Any chance I can join this little group of yours and help out?"

  Sara looked back at her surprised that they had forgotten about her. "Hey, Connie, we are really sorry. We did not intend to cut you out of this trip." Reaching into her coat she pulled out one of her .40 calibers that she carried in a shoulder holster. "Here, you can have one of mine," handing the pistol to her. "Have you used one of these before?"

  "I've used something similar," she replied as she looked over the sleek black weapon. "Just show me the basics, and I should be good to go."

  Connor, ashamed that he had forgotten about arming her for the trip, walked over to her and started showing her the weapon. Reaching down he grabbed a small waist holster off the table, along with a couple of loaded magazine, and handed them to her. "Take these, and keep them close. We have more ammo in the truck if you run out."

  "Thanks, cutie," she replied staring into the blue eyes of the young man.

  "Are we ready to go now?" Carter asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

  Looking over at the captain, "Yes, sir, we are," Connor replied. Smiling back at Connie, "After you, my lady," chuckling as he waved his hand, bowing in the process.

  "What a gentleman," Connie whispered to him as she passed.

  Piling into the SUV they each looked back at the large house wondering if they were making the right decision leaving the safety of the compound. Danger was ahead for them. There was no doubt in their minds, but a successful mission may end the outbreak, so the choice to go seemed right.

  CHAPTER 13 – THE JOURNEY

  Stopping the truck, Hobart jumped out and quickly secured the gate behind them, not wanting to return to a compound full of walking dead. Once he was satisfied the gate was secure, he hopped back into the SUV and they started down the dirt road heading in the direction of Appleton.

  Pulling out onto the paved highway they sped south encountering a few dead here and there but so far not the large numbers that they were expecting. Everyone knew the big towns were going to be full of dead, so each of them mentally prepared for the impending fight along with saying a few short prayers hoping that some higher power would watch over them and keep each of them safe.

  Sara stared out the window watching the scenery speed by, deep in thought. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her the closer they came to the nearest town, and the others had begun to notice as she unconsciously started flicking the safety on her gun on and off. She felt some sense of safety when she was with the others, but the thought of being outnumbered a hundred or thousand to one, frightened her no matter how many people were with her. Her mind wandered back to her family and how they had fallen victim to this outbreak. She wondered what she would do if she came face to face with one of them. Could she bring herself to shoot them, even though they were already dead? The thought scared her knowing that hesitating even for a split second could cost her or one of the others their life.

  "Hey, are you alright?" Jameson asked after a few minutes of the clicking safety and seeing the blank look on her face.

  "What? Why do you ask?" Sara muttered turning away from the window.

  Looking down at her weapon, he motioned toward her flicking finger, "Because of that and the look on your face."

  She looked down and quickly stopped flicking the safety, "Oh, sorry! I didn't know I was doing that."

  Reaching over, he placed his hand on top of hers, "I'm nervous, too, but as long as we stay together, we will be fine."

  She let out a short, sarcastic laugh, "How can you know that? We are heading into the area where all this started and will most likely be crawling with those things. How do we know that we are not going to infect ourselves just by breathing the air at the lab? There are a lot of things that have me worried, and honestly, I'm sitting here trying to make peace with the fact that we may all die shortly."

  He had not thought about any of that, and now he was becoming concerned. "I never gave it much thought. We may be dead soon, but this is something that we have to do. If there is some way of stopping this from infecting the world, then we need to do what we can to find it no matter what the final cost."

  "I know; I'm just worried about you and the others. The thought of any of us becoming infected and turning into one of those things, scares the hell out of me."

  "Watch out!" Connor yelled as Hobart swerved in an attempt
to miss the creatures that filled the roadway in front of them. "The damn things are everywhere!"

  "We aren't going to miss them, so get ready; we are going through the bastards," Hobart yelled as he floored the gas pedal. The truck picked up speed as he did his best to avoid slamming into the dead, dealing glancing blows to the first few but inevitably hitting one head on. The hood of the truck popped up as a spray of blood and brain matter covered the windshield. The body of the zombie bounced off the bumper, flying into a group a few yards away, sending them falling to the ground on top of each other.

  Sara let out a loud laugh when she saw the creature slam into the others, taking down the group of five or so. "Alright, zombie bowling," she yelled out, which caused the others to burst out laughing.

  Hobart laughed as he struggled to keep the truck under control after the heavy impact but quickly stopped when he realized that the damage was severe. "That hit may have taken out the truck," he told the others. Steam from the ruptured radiator began to spew out of the front end, and the engine started sputtering as the truck slowed.

  The laughing quickly stopped as they realized they were in trouble. "Everyone, pick a target; we are going to have to fight our way out of here!" Hobart yelled. "The truck is dead."

  The truck came to a stop and Carter was the first out the door, hopping out and opening fire. The others quickly joined him, shooting at everything that moved, hoping to thin out the horde enough to make it to a safe place.

  Sara brought up her weapon and fired on a zombie that was approaching her sending it reeling back and falling to the ground with a hole in the center of its forehead. Aiming at the next closest, she was startled when a gray hand landed on her shoulder and pulled her backward. "What the hell!" she started to say as the zombie pulled her down to the ground, rolling over on top of her. She stared into the lifeless, white eyes of the hideous creature as it reared back opening its mouth revealing its bloodstained teeth with bits of human flesh still dangling from them. A large drip of coagulating blood dropped from its mouth, falling directly at her eye. Thankfully, she had just enough time to move her head, and the infected blood landed harmlessly on the pavement next to her.

  "Not today, you bastard," Jameson yelled as he kneed the zombie in the side of the head, sending it sprawling to the ground. Raising his weapon, he aimed and fired, blowing the side of the creatures head completely off. "Are you alright?" he asked reaching out to help her up from the ground.

  "Yeah, I'm fine; it didn't get a bite out of me," smiling sheepishly at him, embarrassed that the zombie almost got her.

  He let out a sigh of relief when she heard she was unharmed, having grown quite fond of her since their meeting a few days earlier. Turning back to the fight, he stuck close to her, not wanting her or any of the others to fall victim to these things. The thought of any of them becoming one of these creatures scared him.

  The fight lasted a few more minutes until most of the creatures milling around were dead or at too far of a distance to be a major concern. They all gathered at the front of the truck, quickly taking inventory of their ammunition and reloading all their weapons. "Well, that was no fun," Connor said breaking the silence. Looking at each of his companions, "Is everyone alright?" They all gave him a thumb's up while they each looked at the one next to them searching for any sign of a bite.

  "Hey, where is Connie?" Jameson asked noticing that she was not with them.

  Searching around the bodies that filled the roadway, they looked for their missing friend when a moaning sound caught their attention. The five turned in unison only to see Connie coming around the side of the damaged truck. Covered in blood, her hair was matted down with the thick, red liquid, and she was missing her right hand along with a portion of her once beautiful face.

  "They got her, and now she is one of them!" Connor yelled out, angry that he had not protected her better.

  Connie stared at the group, blood still pouring out of the stump of her missing limb. Her gaze came to rest on Sara who was only twenty feet from her. Letting out a loud scream she reared back and started to sprint toward the young girl as the insatiable hunger for living flesh washed over her.

  Sara stepped toward the approaching zombie raising her sidearm, aiming directly for Connie's head. "I am so sorry," she whispered before pulling the trigger ending the existence of the young woman. A tear slowly made its way down her cheek as the feeling of despair filled her–another one of their group gone, victim of the dead.

  "Come on; we need to gather the supplies and find another means of transportation before more of them show up looking for a warm meal," Hobart said as he headed for the back of the SUV, stopping briefly to stare at Connie's body.

  The group moved around the back of the truck and started pulling out supplies trying to fit all that they could into the backpacks they had brought. "Try to take food, water and ammunition with you, leave everything else behind," Carter announced as he shoved another handful of magazines into his bag.

  Gathering herself, Sara grabbed up all the supplies she could carry before reloading her weapons, wanting to be prepared for whatever was ahead of them. "Captain, how much further is it to the facility?" Sara asked.

  "Well, if my bearings are correct, we should only be a few miles from it," he replied.

  Looking around, she was pleased to see the area mostly clear of zombies. "Maybe we can walk from here. It might be quicker than fighting more of those things in town while we look for another truck." She saw the look on their faces as she suggested this but also saw that they understood where she was coming from.

  "I guess we can," Connor muttered speaking for the first time since Connie's demise. "My one concern is running into another large group of them like we did here."

  Hobart listened to the exchange and started to get annoyed. "Listen, whatever we do, we need to get to it. We are sitting ducks out here, and I would prefer not becoming a quick snack for those things."

  "Yeah, I agree; let's move," Carter said pulling on his pack and grabbing his rifle. "The sooner we get there the better." The others quickly followed suit as the group set out down the two-lane highway heading for the lab.

  They walked for several minutes with no signs of dead, which filled them all with a sense of relief after all the ruckus from the battle they had earlier. The facility was looming closer and closer with each passing minute, and each hoped that they would find some needed answers inside.

  Jameson was first to notice a sign that there may be a problem. Walking next to Sara and just behind Captain Carter, he started to see him begin to waver a bit as if he were having trouble walking in a straight line. "Sir, are you alright?" he asked as he moved closer to the man.

  "Jameson, what's wrong with him?" Sara asked holding her position behind the soldier.

  Walking up next to Carter, placing a hand on his arm, "Captain, are you alright?" he asked again, still getting no response from him. Turning back, "Hey, Sheriff, something is wrong with him."

  Hobart sped up his pace and quickly caught up to the pair. "What seems to be the problem?"

  "He is in some kind of daze or something." Stepping in front of Carter, Hobart stopped directly in front of him, which finally brought the man to a halt. "Hey, are you alright? You don't look too well." Staring at Carter he examined his face searching for any sign of trouble until he started to convulse, falling to the ground in what appeared to be a seizure.

  "Holy crap! He must be an epileptic," Jameson said as he knelt down next to him.

  "I'm not too sure it is epilepsy," Hobart said just as the convulsing stopped. Kneeling down he began searching him for a bite. "Keep an eye on him while I search for a bite or scratch," he told Jameson.

  "There," Sara yelled seeing a small trickle of blood drip to the pavement from just below his neckline.

  Hesitating for a moment, Hobart looked at Carter's eyes and could clearly see the color began to drain from them. "This isn't good. I think he is changing into one of them," he told the
others as he slowly reached for the collar of his shirt. Gently pulling it out of the way, he saw the missing chunk of flesh and instantly knew the captain was changing.

  Connor walked up and pulled out his sidearm. "We need to shoot him. It's the only way we can spare him from becoming one of those things." Raising his weapon he aimed directly at Carter's forehead.

  "Wait!" Sara yelled stepping up and pushing Connor's hand away. "We can't just shoot him. Are we completely sure he is turning into one of those things?"

  "Look at him, Sara! He is definitely changing," Connor yelled. "His eyes are completely white now, and his face is pale like those things. Hell, it's only a matter of time before he jumps up and tries to take a bite out of one of us."

  Slowly turning her head she looked down at Carter and saw the tell tale signs of a zombie as his features quickly changed. She knew he was dying, if not already dead, and shooting him would be the humane thing to do, but she could not bear to shoot another friend of hers. A tear appeared in the corner of her eye, which she quickly wiped away, not wanting anyone to see her cry. "Maybe… we can find something at the lab–something that might save him."

  Jameson walked up to her and placed his arm around her. "Sara, we cannot let him change into one of them; it just wouldn't be right. Besides, I think he is already dead." Looking over at his brother he slowly nodded his head toward the downed man, "Go ahead before he completely changes," before turning and walking Sara away from the body.

  The shot rang out echoing throughout the area. Connor knew as soon as he fired that he may have alerted others to their presence. "Maybe we should get moving. I have a bad feeling about that shot; it may draw more to us."

  Everyone quickly agreed with each of them briefly pausing to whisper a short prayer over the remains of Carter before moving on. The four remaining gathered together and set out, heading directly for the building where this entire outbreak originated and into the unknown.

  CHAPTER 14 – APPLETON