by Jesse Gagnon
Dr. Jane Barnett arrived three weeks ago and already had claustrophobia. A live Azrael was captured beyond the walls of Chicago and one of her staff smuggled the asset inside two days ago. They all knew the rules but were afraid to be kicked out like Dr. Schwinn due to lack of progress. It was a risk they felt far outweighed the cost. Dr. Barnett was eager to study a live Azrael for the first time, but the past few days were taxing. The infected creature was disfigured due to its time spent being Azrael. Its muscle definition was well defined and its strength was massive. Each of its arms required three thick leather straps while five were holding each leg. All types of anesthesia failed to keep the immense Azrael down. It was amazing that the creature was caught to begin with.
Two days past without any real progress due to the creatures constant struggles. Its primal instinct to attack seemed apparent. However, the reason for this desire to spread the virus eluded the young doctor. It didn’t require sleep and the large strap covering its chest had to be replaced twice already. Other than observing its actions while subdued, nothing else could be gained from this type of research. Exhausted from two nights without sleep, Dr. Barnett decided to take a break.
“I’m heading out for a smoke.” Dr. Barnett spoke to her staff of understudies as she exited the lab. She entered the smoke room specifically designed for smokers that housed a strong ventilation system that sucked the vapors from the room. Real cigarettes were hard to find, but plenty of vapor liquid was still available. She already had an e-cigarette from before the world took a detour for the worst. She poured in more juice within her vape and started smoking. The aroma of cotton candy surrounded her for a moment but was sucked away by the ventilation as it neared the fans.
Something had to change with her research. She can’t study primal instincts of a creature on its back strapped to a table in a room isolated from the world. They had to let it go and see what it would do on its own. What could she use to monitor it as it traversed through its hunting grounds? She remembered a mobile camera that Josh Sterling, one of her apprentices, brought to the lab to show his trip beyond the walls with several armed guards. What if she attached it on the Azrael’s head to observe what it was seeing? Fucking fantastic! Insomnia has its benefits. She finished her smoke break quickly sucking out five more satisfying breaths of the sugary sweet vapor and headed back for the lab. She entered the doors searching for Josh and after a minute of searching the massive lab she located him. He was taking a nap at his desk and was startled when she addressed him.
“Josh, I need your assistance. Seriously, sleeping on the job?” She asked.
“Shit, I’m so sorry Dr. Barnett. I must have just shut my eyes for a second.” Josh admitted rubbing his eyes as he frantically tried to gain his composure. His eyes were bloodshot; he’s been up for several days as well studying some of the research left behind by Dr. Schwinn. “I’ll get back to work. Dr. Schwinn left another cabinet full of data beneath some boxes over there. It’s gonna take me weeks to go through the first drawer. It’s amazing…”
“Forget about that, do you have that mobile camera thing that you brought in last week?” Dr. Barnett interrupted.
“Uh, I’m not sure if I brought it home. I’ll have to check my locker. It should be in there. Why? What’s wrong? Am I in trouble?” He asked knowing that cameras were strictly forbidden in this facility. However, his boss Gina Franklin, a few ranks below Dr. Barnett said that it would be okay if it contained information beyond the walls. Dr. Barnett was the head scientist and he just knew that his job and life was about to be eliminated. “I’m sorry I brought it in. I know the rules stated…”
“I don’t care about the rules right now. We’ve moved beyond keeping to the rules in this place. It will yield no results if we do.” Dr. Barnett beamed with a smile as she placed her hand on his shoulder interrupting him yet again. Her striking blue eyes, beautiful ginger features and a tight curvy body assisted her again in getting what she wanted. Beautiful people tend to be more successful and she knew it was true. Although she had little time for her own desires she knew she was desired by any man she encountered.
“Okay, I’ll check my locker.” Josh acknowledged as he stood and headed for his locker in a swift walk. His skinny body and tall lanky frame was comical to watch as he hunched over in his walk. Dr. Barnett kept from laughing at his goofy appearance but couldn’t hide her smile.
“I have some cool video footage beyond the walls if you’re interested.” He bragged as he caught her smiling at him, misinterpreting her smile as a look of desire. He blushed and resituated his glasses as they slid further down his long pointy nose. She followed close behind increasing her walk to keep up with him. She had no clue where this man’s locker was and didn’t want to get lost in the apprentice lounge area. It was huge and they always had questions for her. She didn’t have time for their stupid questions right now. “Here, just let me take this off.” Josh stated as he put in the combination to his lock. A few seconds later he removed the lock and pulled open the door. Hanging from a hook was the camera. Dr. Barnett’s eyes lit up. It was an expensive version that was waterproof and offered infrared recording as well.
“That’s nice Josh. We’ll pay you nicely for it. Bring it with you to my office.” She insisted and headed for her office.
“But, it’s not for sale. I, uh, okay I’m coming.” Josh stammered holding his camera that he received as a gift from his late mother. It was one of the only items that he owned that was worth anything. He trotted towards her office attempting to hide his emotions and caught the eye of one of his colleagues, Shaun. He was kind of a douche. He noticed Josh’s face and covered his mouth laughing. Josh also noticed him telling Tonya in the corner of his eye. He liked Tonya. She laughed too.
“Are you coming? Hurry up, this needs to happen quickly. Are you crying?” Dr. Barnett inquired as she turned to see him a ways behind her. Why was he crying?
“No, I’m not. I just had something in my eye. I’m coming Doctor.” He turned red as he attempted to wipe tears from his face. Snot started to bubble in his nose and he knew he had been caught. They finally reached her office to his relief and he shut the door behind him. She continued through her office and exited through to another room behind it. To his surprise and to his horror an Azrael was strapped to a table in that room. He knew nothing about this. A live Azrael in there was another rule broken by this woman. His concern for the camera faded as he studied the massive monster that writhed on the table. She pulled the camera from his hand and studied it.
“That’s one of them.” He quaked.
“No shit captain obvious.” She examined the screen and pushed several buttons attempting to understand the camera. “How does this go in infrared mode?”
“Push the side button there. Here let me see it.” He commanded still gawking upon the Azrael on the table. His hands were shaking and he reached for the camera and she handed it to him. He activated the mode and the Azrael sniffed the air and turned his gaze on him. “What’s it doing?” He asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t care. Attach your camera on its head.” She pointed. “It’s not moving. Do it now.”
“Are you kidding me? It’ll bite me. I can’t.”
“Yes you can. It won’t bite you. Stop being a pussy. Imagine what we can learn with that thing on its head. We could study its movements and its habits. Put it on him.”
“That’s crazy. No, why don’t you put it on him.” Josh attempted to hand it back to Dr. Barnett. She wouldn’t take it. “Fucking take it I don’t want to do it.”
“You’ll never work here or anywhere like this again. I’ll make sure of it. Are you sure you want to do this? It’s your career.”
“It’s my life. I could get a job doing something else. You’re crazy.”
“I’ll let them know about your camera. They’ll fire you and execute you for disobeying their rules.”
“I’ll tell them about this thing if you do.”
“Who will
they believe, you little shit, some college graduate without a lick of experience or a world renowned scientist with a Nobel Peace Prize? Think about it. If you put the camera on now, I’ll forget about all this insubordination. Just put it on.”
“I want an office next to yours…that one.” He pointed at a large office next to Dr. Barnett’s. “Let me continue to study alongside you. Promote me to head apprentice. Then, and only then, will I do it.”
“Fine.”
Josh breathed in deep and calculated the Azrael’s head. He adjusted the strap on the camera. The Azrael studied his movements calmly and sniffed the air. Its breathing was quick and it knew something that the others in the room didn’t. Josh leaned in and wrapped the camera around its head. The Azrael remained calm and as Josh reached behind its head to secure the back it lunged into Josh snapping the chest strap and bit his right cheek. Josh screamed loudly attempting to pull back and a massive chunk of meat tore from his face and he fell to the ground covering his now mutilated face. Dr. Barnett was horrified to see her apprentice writhing on the ground as the virus started to work. The straps on the arms and legs started to stretch as the Azrael flexed. She attempted to flee and tripped over Josh’s body. She crawled away as she struggled to pull herself up. Josh grabbed her ankle. He hadn’t turned yet, it was Josh.
“Where are you going?” He spat as he spoke and veins throbbed on his forehead. He eventually succumbed to the virus and his body grew limp moments later. She managed to pull her foot out of her shoe and slipped away. The Azrael on the table continued to flex and stretched the straps. She tried to shut the door to the back room but Josh’s body was wedged there. She pushed and pushed and heard bones crack as she attempted to close the door. When she realized her efforts were futile she stood and sprinted towards the door exiting her office. She turned quickly to see what was going on behind her and the table was empty in the other room.
“Fuck! It’s out.” She turned and to her surprise the door to her office opened and she struck it head first on the edge of it and she fell hidden between her desk and the door.
Jim Short was making his rounds checking on progress when he heard the noises, knocked on the door several times and opened it to see if everyone was okay. The Azrael leapt onto him the moment he opened the door and bit into his left arm that he used to shield himself.
“Holy Shit! Why is this in…?” Jim screamed as his back hit the ground knocking the wind out of him. The massive zombie was on top of him biting into his arm infecting him with the virus. The virus took quickly and Jim’s body began to thrash violently. The Azrael stood and searched the office for more bodies to infect. The screams of a nearby woman drew him into the hallway near the vending machines. Dr. Barnett slowly pulled herself up and rubbed at the knot that was throbbing on her forehead.
“I can’t believe this. What have I done?”
Moments later she heard movements from the back room. Her vision was blurry but a figure began to move towards her. It was Josh. She pulled away and her back struck the side of her desk. A large container of Azrael blood extracted earlier that day tipped over and spilled on top of the desk, cascaded across and dripped over covering her head with infected blood causing her to close her eyes. A few seconds and a few feet away she heard sniffing and grunting. Her face was coated with virus contaminated blood and it slowly soaked into her clothes and ran down her arms and legs. She wiped it away from her eyes and focused. Josh was gone. She immediately shut her door and locked it.
A cadence of screams and raspy howls provided ambiance beyond her door and she leaned her back against it, slowly slid down and pulled her knees to her chest when her butt hit the floor. There were hundreds that worked in this facility not just including the scientists. All were unprepared for the massacre and mass infection that quickly spread throughout the once revered Field Museum.
She stared at Josh’s glasses that sat within blood that pooled beside the table where the Azrael once laid. The straps on the table that held its arms and legs down were stretched out drastically and laid limp hanging off the side of the table still looped. It learned how to escape. It could break the chest strap but the several leather bindings on its arms and legs needed to be stretched in order to pull its limbs out. These things are resourceful.
Dr. Barnett’s gaze relocated to the three handed clock that ticked above the doorway to the other room. The red hand clicked as it jolted to the next second. The noise began to intensify as she focused. Suddenly the power switched off and the room was only lit by faint emergency lights. She could still make out the clock as the dim lights reflected off of the glass covering it. The ticking grew louder as the battery operated clock continued to function. She closed her eyes and finally surrendered to a deep sleep.
Chapter 4
The Chicago Lab Outbreak
Dr. Harris was late in to work as usual. He showed up listening to his iPod and brought donuts for the security crew that worked the front gate of the Field Museum. The guards that manned internal communications and the internal monitors took a union break. It was usually taken when Dr. Harris arrived with assorted pastries from the local bakery along with a new story about some lucky young lady that he plowed through the night before. Being a doctor at the museum had its perks which involved high end living arrangements and more rations than any one person could eat in a lifetime paid monthly. He was the only trained doctor of medicine for the facility where most of the staff were scientists who worked awful hours and barely got to use their rations or their living arrangements. Since more and more information discovered became classified and privately owned, their personal lives were severely scrutinized and kept to a minimum.
Most of the security staff was ex-police or any person claiming to have killed an Azrael. They often exchanged stories of their heroism at the donut gatherings to add status with Dr. Harris. After about an hour of story time the doc began his entrance into the facility.
He entered the first airlock and glanced through the polycarbonate glass doors as the guard gave him the thumbs up along with a gesture with his finger pushing through a hole his thumb and index finger created with the other hand. The Doc laughed and pushed the button to open the second airlock. It opened revealing flickering lights from the emergency lighting system that occasionally illuminated through a complete black opaqueness within. He could smell the foul odor of Azrael inside and he immediately pushed the button to open the outside airlock. Unfortunately, it didn’t respond because the internal door was still open. He quickly pushed the second airlock open/close button but an arm swung in grabbing the doctor and pulled him into the dark atrium inside. He tripped over dismembered bodies that still were moving beneath him and was grabbed by several hands from everywhere. He pissed himself as countless Azrael feasted on his body and infected him with the virus. Several more pushed through the doorway of the airlock. One inadvertently nudged the emergency bypass button releasing the horde of Azrael outside the museum along with depressurizing the entire building. The third airlock was set open as a security measure to release a toxin that would kill all occupants in case of an outbreak. However, maintenance was being done on the valve that released the toxin and it was tagged out as inoperable.
The sudden gush of air along with a mob of Azrael startled the guards who were closest to the doors. The other guards were overwhelmed with multiple alarms blinking and buzzing on the status panels. Failure of proper training had them searching the operational manuals for indications of the alarms. The four armed ex-police officers discharged their weapons into the crowd hoping to stop or slow as many as possible. Unfortunately, there were too many to stop and within seconds all of the security guards were bitten into and added to the herd’s mass. The Alpha pushed through the crowd of fresh Azrael and inhaled a deep breath. It released a terrifying raspy wail that inspired grunts among the Azrael herd. A heavy concentration of noises and human aroma entered the alpha’s senses as he began his sprint towards Soldier Field.
A Ta
ste of Chicago event was being held in the stadium that housed several vendors showcasing the diversity of Chicago’s dining community. The ration cost was expensive but manageable by any working stiff. Over six thousand patrons were inside enjoying the world as it was years ago, forgetting the cruel reality of what lies beyond the gates. The security that maintained the entrances were strongly enforced. Several gun mounted Humvees and army soldiers provided protection bordering the Burnham Harbor that emptied into Lake Michigan just in case of Azrael drifters that get caught in the docks, which happens on occasion. Sometimes an Azrael would fall into the lake and somehow were carried by the current along with aimlessly kicking and swinging their arms.
The Azrael threat was massive and it swarmed around the stadium seeking humans to infect. The only telltale sign the guards received was the aroma of Azrael in the breeze. The herd attacked from all sides of the building pouring around it like water until it found someone to infect. The Humvee’s unloaded their fifty caliber guns into the massive crowd of Azrael tearing into the herd’s mass. A good amount of them were taken care of but the numbers were attacking from several different directions which were too overwhelming and within a few minutes the guards were overrun and eaten. The gunfire alarmed the patrons inside and they all panicked. However, the only way out was the only way in and as the people massed to leave they were met with Azrael shoving in providing a quick infection turnaround. Within thirty minutes the entire stadium were either turned into Azrael or eaten through due to genetic immunity.
Alarms sounded everywhere indicating an Azrael breach. Front armored doors on lower levels of buildings activated closing and trapping occupants inside or shutting occupants out. If you were not in a secure location you were shit-out-of-luck. Several hundred patrons were roaming the streets searching for a way inside. The only location that housed the master switch to unlock the lockdown was in the Governor’s Estate and he was a part of the herd along with his entire family wandering the streets of Chicago in attempts to turn more like them.