Origin Z

by Tony Hartzell

  There was a third possibility. There was a building a hundred yards from the house that only Trudeau visited. He went there three times during the day and stayed an hour each time.

  There was one small generator that was used for lights in the house. The outside was lit by torches and fifty-five gallon drums used as fire containers.

  There were lots of opportunity for stealth—until they got inside; that was an unknown.

  Thirty minutes after sunset, they both shimmied down the trees and met back at the truck where they had left it five miles from the house.

  _______

  Hector came trotting in from the woods surrounding the house and stopped as he reached the edge of the porch where Trudeau was standing.

  “Did you see them?”

  “Yes, sir. They observed the encampment all day today.”

  He looked down at his most trusted man.

  Hector looked up at him and shook his head. “I knew they would come. We should have dealt with them when we had the chance.”

  The reverend looked toward the chapel. “I’ll need some time to speak to God to see what we do next.”

  With that, he moved toward the building where his dead mother spoke what he knew were the words of God.

  _______

  When Tin and Jax arrived back at the hospital, O’Reilly was getting dressed, with Marty standing at the foot of his bed looking annoyed.

  “Enhancements or not, you are not ready to get out of that bed.”

  O’Reilly gave him a smirk and stood up, wavering slightly before giving Tin a head nod. “What did you find out?”

  Tin shook his head. “We have our work cut out for us. He has forty or more men, and at least half are armed—although I think they are low on ammo.”

  They all stood thinking and looking at one another and thinking.

  After a long silence, Marty spoke half under his breath. “Too bad we don’t have any shadow armor.”

  O’Reilly got a stunned look on his face. Looking up at Tin, he said, “That’s fucking brilliant. We could use the Spartan gear to sneak in and sneak out without them ever knowing we were there.”

  Tin rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I can’t think of any other way. Jax, what do you think?”

  Jax, who was looking back and forth between the two as they spoke, suddenly had both of them looking his way. “What is Spartan gear?”

  O’Reilly smiled. “You’re going to love it.”

  RAGERS

  The four men rolled up to the same spot where they had parked in the earlier assault on Bio-Sure. There were still lights shining on the compound, so the storm had not taken out the power. The tree that had fallen and landed on one of the ragers was there, and the man was still trapped beneath. He was still alive but barely able to move. They all exited the truck and walked over to inspect the damage and possibly give him mercy. When Tin and Jax approached, he didn’t move except to groan. When Marty got close enough, the man became agitated and tried to claw his way free to get at him.

  Tin turned to Marty. “You aren’t coming with us.”

  Marty looked at him as if he was going to argue, but Tin held up his hand. “You smell like prime beef to these guys. We need to slip in and slip out without detection if possible.”

  When Marty jumped back into the truck, the rager went dormant and ignored the three who didn’t have the axola gene.

  Tin looked at the other two men. “I don’t think we need to worry about being detected by Anderson unless he sees us. That is, assuming that he’s still in the area.”

  They moved into the edge of the woods and hunkered down to wait for the sun to set. As they sat and waited, they talked about the plan.

  “OK, O’Reilly. I know how much you want to get at Reed, but our mission is to get the gear we need to rescue the girls. No distractions. All of the things we need are in Building 51, so straight there through the back door, just like we entered before. Jax and I will retrieve what we need from the basement, and you watch and keep the escape route clear.”

  O’Reilly reluctantly nodded as he looked back and forth between the brothers. The twilight darkened to night, and they moved through the woods toward the compound.

  _______

  The three soldiers crept closer to the fence where they had made the hole for the first incursion. They stepped through, and Tin gave the hand signal for them to fan out. They needed to make sure they wouldn’t be flanked and trapped.

  After Tin had given the others enough time to start moving toward Building 51, he started moving tree to tree, and then from obstacle to obstacle, to hide his approach. When he reached the first building, he stopped and peered around the edge. It was a long and exposed run across the campus to get to the next building.

  Just as he was getting ready to go for it, he saw a band of three men and two women run into his path. They hadn’t noticed him, so he ducked back behind the corner. He risked another peek, and they were still standing and looking around as if they sensed something but were unsure what it was.

  Yelling came from the building that was his next destination, and he watched as a woman and two men came running out of it screaming. They were chased by several more ragers growling like feral dogs. When they saw the other five standing in their path, they veered away and ran at an angle that would send them away from both groups.

  The five started growling and screaming as they joined the chase. One of the three runners stumbled and skidded face first on the pavement. The other two slowed momentarily to look at the fallen woman before looking up at the ragers closing in and deciding that she couldn’t be saved. They ran on as the ragers fell on the fallen woman like a pack of starving hyenas. Tin watched in frustration as they tore her flesh and let her blood drip into their mouths. After several minutes of feeding, several of them stopped and ran off toward where the other men had run off.

  Tin moved around the corner to attack the remaining two ragers but saw a flash from his right get there first. O’Reilly grabbed and twisted one of the men’s necks as he swung his booted foot toe first at the other. There was a crunch as the man’s skull cracked and collapsed under the enhanced soldier’s kick.

  Tin moved up next to him and spoke quietly. “Nice job. Let’s get out of here before the others return.”

  As if on cue, they heard the screams of the men who had left the woman to die and saw Jax run from that direction.

  “Those things are over there tearing those men to pieces. We should get out of here before they finish the main course and are ready for dessert.”

  Tin shook his head a little. “Always have to be joking around, don’t you, Jax?”

  They ran on toward Building 51, leaving the two men and what was left of the woman in the middle of the parking lot.

  _______

  When they got to Building 51, they skirted it to a corner to peek around at the back where the dock was located. After looking, Tin pulled his head back and swore. “Shit! There are about a dozen of the slow ones at the back door. They’re just standing there rocking back and forth, though.”

  O’Reilly pushed past him and sprinted toward them. When he got to them, he took out two with quick punches to their heads. But the others didn’t move to defend or attack. They just kept rocking. He looked back at Tin and Jax as they trotted over to join him. They all slowly walked around the wanderers waving their hands in front of their faces and even pushing and slapping them. No effect.

  Tin looked at O’Reilly. “Well, looks like Teeny was right. They’re only attracted to infected humans. Since we don’t have the virus, they don’t want to eat us.”

  O’Reilly gave a chuckle and a smirk. “Who would want to eat you two? No fat, all gristle, ha ha.”

  Tin and Jax just stared at him, so he cleared his throat and continued. “Maybe that’s why the fast ones haven’t detec
ted us. They don’t smell us.”

  Jax looked at him with his brows furrowed. “What do you mean smell us?”

  “I’ve watched them. They seem to turn their noses up to the wind before moving very precisely in the direction of their prey.”

  Tin nodded. “They smell infected blood, but the fast ones like Anderson can think too. If they see us, they’ll attack and kill us.”

  Jax and O’Reilly nodded at him to confirm that they understood.

  With that, they entered the back door and moved down the hallway, which was still painted with pieces of Johnson. The Spartan gear was locked in a room off of the pathology lab, where they had fought the Reed Spartan Team two days before.

  When they entered the big room, they saw Leonidas sitting in the corner making a twitching movement with his head and one of his arms, staring into space like someone in a catatonic state waiting for some kind of stimulation. The remains of Leonard were spread all over the floor in a twenty-yard radius. Even in his undead state, the chimp was taking the frustration of months of torture out on the man who had inflicted it.

  Tin peeked in and saw the two Russians standing in the office above the floor, where Reed had shot them. They were doing the rocking thing that the others had been doing outside.

  He moved into the room and across the floor toward the area where they had set up the makeshift armory.

  As they moved through the room, they could see forms standing in the shadows rocking. Moving slowly and as quietly as possible, they weaved to stay as far from the figures as possible. They reached door, and Tin tried the handle to find what he already knew: it was locked. “Fuck. I’m going to have to make a lot of noise to get in here.”

  He looked at O’Reilly, who nodded, and then at Jax, who shrugged and smiled. Tin shook his head and lifted his ax to chop at the handle on the door.

  Clang!

  The handle flew off and made several more loud clangs as it slid across the floor. They all stood perfectly still and listened. It was silent for several seconds until they heard growls from around the entire room.

  Jax looked at his brother. “Uh, you want to get that fucking door open now?”

  Tin pushed the point of the ax into the hole where the handle had been and twisted. The growls were coming from every direction now. There must have been many of the ragers close enough to hear the sound. It sounded like dozens of feral dogs rushing toward them.

  “Tin! You need to hurry.”

  “I’m trying!”

  They could see them streaming through the door where they had come in now. Thirty yards away was not far for their enhanced state.

  “Tin!”

  “I’m working, goddammit!”

  The door clicked and swung open for him. The ragers were closing fast as they crowded through the door. Just as Tin slammed it shut, the first couple of ragers hit the door and walls with several loud thuds. The door came open inches before the three men were able to push it shut again. O’Reilly and Jax held it shut while the ragers pounded dents in it. Tin looked around the room to find something to wedge the door closed.

  Using his ax again, he chopped at the hinges of several cages that someone had forced open and plundered guns from.

  Two of the metal doors fell to the floor with a clank. He grabbed one and slid it behind a pipe next to the door and wedged it behind lockers on the other side so that the gate was across the door and held in place by the pipe and lockers. He grabbed the second one and did the same.

  Jax and O’Reilly let go of the door and backed away slowly. Though it rattled loudly as the ragers kept pushing against it, it seemed to be tentatively holding.

  O’Reilly pointed at the lockers. “We have to get some of the shadow armor on and hope that the shadows in the corners are enough for us to blend in and not be noticed.”

  He grabbed the lock on the front of the locker and pulled hard. The lock didn’t give, but one of the tabs holding the lock did. The doors swung open, and he pulled out three suits. They looked like full body stockings.

  Jax held his up to his shoulders and looked at Tin. “These won’t fit us.”

  There was a loud boom at the door as Tin started unlacing his boots. “They stretch, Jax. You need to hurry.”

  They finished undressing and pulled on the neoprene suits and helmets just in time to duck into the corners before the door flew off its hinges and slid across the floor. The ragers rushed into the room and looked around, puzzled that the prey that they had expected weren’t there.

  They moved back and forth through the room, sniffing the air. Several came within inches of the men pressed into the corners but didn’t detect them. After several minutes of searching, they decided that the men had escaped and ran growling back into the larger room and out the door they had come in earlier.

  Tin moved out of the corner and motioned for Jax to give him a hand with the door. They pushed it back into place and wedged the locker doors back between the lockers and pipe to hold it shut.

  Jax leaned forward with his hands on his knees. “Shit. That was pretty close. These suits are cool. I knew exactly where you were and couldn’t see either one.”

  O’Reilly smiled. “Yeah. These have come in pretty handy in some tense situations.”

  He moved over and started doling out the other pieces of the armor. Hard Kevlar reinforced plastic vests and leg armor protected vulnerable parts of their body. Soft-soled boots made it easy to move on hard surfaces without making a sound. There were flaps on the sides that could be flipped down to make it easy to run in sand.

  O’Reilly explained to Jax how the visors worked on the helmets and showed him the drone before swinging the backpack that contained it onto his back. All of the regular guns and ammo had been taken, so he pulled down several of the Spartan dart guns and handed one of them each to Jax and Tin. He pumped his three times and took a couple of shots at the wall. It made a couple of thwips like an air pistol, but the darts took some very large chips out of the wall where they hit.

  “Try to pump your pistols.”

  Both Tin and Jax turned their pistols and tried to pump them. Straining, Jax got one pump after about fifteen seconds. Tin got one a couple of seconds after that.

  O’Reilly took the guns and pumped them each twice more before handing them back to the huge twins with a snarky smile.

  Jax just said, “Fuck you, Tommy.”

  Tin smiled at his friend as he pumped a second dart gun and handed it to him. They each grabbed five extra fifty-dart magazines and stuffed them into the holders made for them on the armor.

  O’Reilly explained to Jax, “You’ll get ten shots out of each pistol before it needs to be pumped again.”

  Jax nodded his head as he grabbed three extra sets of armor and stuffed them into another backpack.

  _______

  The three black-clad men exited the room carefully and went the opposite way off of the pathology lab to avoid the ragers that they had seen leave the way that they had come. They had made two turns down the hallways where the habitats were when Tin threw up his hand clenched in a fist to signal them to stop and remain quiet.

  Sounds were coming from around the next corner. Tin inched up and held his pocket mirror up to see what it was. Half a dozen ragers were at the window of one of the habitats, pounding and clawing at it as if they were trying to get at something inside.

  Tin backed up and held up six fingers. Then he signaled that he would go first, with O’Reilly and Jax protecting each other’s backs in case they had to escape fast. Tin held his dart gun at the ready and nodded three times before rushing around the corner and firing a quick succession of ten shots into the midst of the crowd of monsters. Two dropped with direct hits to their eyes, and a third took damage to his neck and face. After expending all of his rounds, he stepped to the left, as was protocol in the formation they were using. This
gave O’Reilly an open path to continue the charge, firing his weapon at the next ragers in line, taking out the one that Tin had shot in the neck. Two more fell backward as darts hit the bridges of their noses, exploding outward and pushing their brains out of their ears.

  The last two had a chance to react. The first one leaped over the falling dead men and used the window of the habitat to launch himself at O’Reilly. Without time to shoot, O’Reilly accepted the flying man and rolled backward, using his foot to launch him toward Jax. The man flew at Jax upside down and backward. Jax knelt and punched in the same fashion he had broken boards while practicing his kung fu. The punch landed in the small of the flying man’s back, and there was a loud cracking sound of bones breaking. When he hit the floor, he waved his arms toward Jax but couldn’t get any closer to grab him. Jax waited for an opening and stomped on his head. The crunching sound was his skull collapsing under the weight of the huge man.

  As Jax was dispatching the man O’Reilly had flung at him, the last of them landed atop him and started raking at his torso with his clawed hands. But to no effect, as the body armor was protecting him. O’Reilly managed to push him up far enough that Tin took a step and swung his boot as if he were punting a football. The man’s head folded backward to lie lolling back and forth on his back until O’Reilly threw him off to the side. After inspecting each of the bodies to make sure they were dead, they walked over to see why they had been trying to get to in the habitat.

  When they looked in, two men looked back at them. Reed and Michael Tanner were standing inside, looking starved and weak.

  O’Reilly could see that their captives were uncomfortable, and he wished he could make them more so. These were the men who had experimented on him and his friends, and it had been meant to be for profit. As he thought about their discomfort, he chuckled and smiled at them.

  _______

  The morning South Carolina sun was beating down on their faces as they rode in the bed of the pickup truck back to the hospital. They would decide what to do with Reed and Tanner after they rescued the women from the reverend.