Chill Factor: Ice Station Zombie 2

by JE Gurley

  “Yes.”

  His audacity irritated her. His callousness made her furious. Before she knew what she was doing, she slapped him across the cheek. The blow surprised him, but he reacted quickly, grabbing her hand in a tight grip. His eyes went cold.

  “You’re an animal,” she shouted. “If you know of a way to survive, you must tell me, tell the others.”

  “You had your chance. I will not make the offer again.”

  He released her and stormed out of the room. She didn’t know if she hated him more for lying or for pretending to work for a cure just to be near her. She knew no one was immune to infection, so Malosi knew of a way to protect himself and her. She had to warn Brad.

  * * * *

  Malosi knew immediately that he had made a mistake. His infatuation with Liz had clouded his judgment. He had misjudged her dedication to her fellow humans. There would be no shortage of beautiful women in the world eager for the chance to survive. Of course, the pretty doctor would inform her insipid lover, Brad Niles. His refuge among the other survivors was no longer safe for him. He had briefly considered killing her both for her refusal of his offer and to cover his tracks, but that would only enrage Brad. With luck, they would welcome his exit and not attempt to search for him. He still had his ‘hidey hole’ as Hughes had so quaintly put it.

  As he gathered his few belongings, a tremor struck the building, this one of a magnitude greater than any previous ones. Glass shattered and the floor buckled beneath his feet. Photos left by the original occupant of the office-turned-bedroom, scenes from some backyard garden filled with flowering plants and bird feeders dangling from shepherd’s hooks, crashed to the floor. He braced himself in the doorway in case the ceiling came down. The tremor lasted almost a full minute. The steel support beams groaned as the building shifted. He could hear people screaming. He welcomed the diversion of the tremor. It would cover his escape.

  The rumblings of Mt. Erebus were growing louder daily and the sky was hazy with soot and ash. If this most recent quake was any indication, time was growing short for those left at McMurdo. He didn’t want to be in the vicinity when the volcano decided to blow its top and bury the island in ash and lava. He could wait no longer. His original plan of waiting for a radio call that might never come was no longer viable. He had to leave McMurdo. The remaining DeHavilland had the range to reach Resurrection City and was simple to fly. Though he had taken only a few lessons years ago, he was certain he could manage. If anyone had guessed the secret of the nanite plague, Resurrection City would be their destination. He would have to deal with Gilford when he arrived, but with any luck, the madman was already dead.

  The biggest obstacle was in reaching the airplane safely. For this he needed help – Deen. Deen was a fool, frightened and easily led. He resented his relegation to a subordinate position by the others, but lacked the courage to assume responsibility for the welfare of anyone but himself. Malosi had carefully cultured his relationship with Deen, playing on his resentment and fear to erase Deen’s earlier hatred of him. Now, Deen believed that only Malosi could save them, or more importantly, him. He located Deen in his usual haunt, the multipurpose area of the Atmospheric Sciences Pod in building two. Deen was eating a sandwich and drinking a bottle of wine he had found in one of the offices and stashed away for his use. A broken glass and a small puddle of wine lay on the floor, a casualty of the tremor. Deen saw Malosi coming and held out the bottle to him.

  “No thank you, Deen,” Malosi said. “I came to talk.”

  Deen took a long swig, draining the bottle, and then smiled. “I thought that last quake might bring you.”

  “Quite right. I believe it is time to leave.”

  Deen sat up and slammed the empty bottle on the floor. “Good! I’m ready to put this place behind me.” He stared at Malosi. “You’re sure about them coming back for you?”

  “They will come. If anyone out there seeks the answer to the nanite infestation, they will realize that the answer lies in Resurrection City.” He pointed a finger to his temple. “The answer isn’t there; it’s here, the proper code to deactivate the nanites.”

  Deen grinned. “I knew there was a cure. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so secretive about things. I’m glad I didn’t kill you.”

  “As am I. We must leave this place quickly, now.”

  “Now?” Deen questioned. “Why?”

  “Never mind why. Suffice it to say it is essential that we leave.”

  “Whatever you say, Doc. How and where to?”

  “In the DeHavilland. I will fly us out of here, and we will wait for someone to come to us.”

  “The plane, huh? I should have suspected.” He paused. “How do we get through the zombies?”

  “There is a maintenance tunnel beneath the aquarium that leads to a sewer. We can follow it and exit a hundred yards from here, beyond the zombies.”

  Deen smiled. “You’ve got this thing all planned out.”

  Malosi returned his smile. “Yes, I have, right down to the last detail.”

  Deen waved his hand. “After you, Malosi.”

  “You meet me in the aquarium. There is a small detail I must attend to.”

  Deen shrugged, grabbed his rifle, and exited the atmospherics building. Malosi returned to the Biology Pod. Working carefully so that he would not alert the others, he removed the pile of furniture barricading the entrance near loading dock A. He opened it slowly and peeked out. Zombies milled about just outside the building. After weeks of near starvation, they resembled concentration camp survivors – gaunt, pinch-cheeked, and hollow eyes devoid of expression. They moved silently as if conserving their energy. They were hungry and eager for a meal. He would offer them one.

  He flung the door wide and banged on it with his pistol. First one, then several noticed him. They growled and rushed up the stairs toward the door. He stepped back inside and rushed down the corridor. He looked back over his shoulder at the zombies entering the building and smiled.

  He brushed past Charles Lester in the corridor separating the Biology Pod from the Core Pod, sending him staggering into the wall.

  “What the hell’s your hurry, asshole,” Lester bitched.

  He ignored Lester. The fool would learn the answer soon enough. He heard the first screams as he pushed through the door into the corridor leading to the Earth Sciences Pod and the aquarium.

  That should give the others something to take their mind off me.

  2 2

  Sept. 21, McMurdo Base, Antarctica

  Brad was cursing when Liz found him near the water station in the Biology Pod trying to redirect a water line. He waved his hand in the air trying to bring back feeling to his smashed fingers. In his other hand, he held a twelve-inch pipe wrench glaring at it as if it were the cause of his pain instead of his own ineptness with tools. If he were not angry enough, when Liz revealed Malosi’s attempt to seduce her, he was ready to kill. Malosi’s secretive behavior was one thing, but his admission of a cure and his refusal to share it was pushing his luck too far.

  “Go find the others and get them together,” he told Liz. “I’m going to find the bastard and toss him outside.”

  As he started to leave, she placed her hand on his chest to hold him back. “He’s dangerous, Brad. Wait for Hughes,” she pleaded.

  He was too angry to wait. Malosi had committed the ultimate sin – he had messed with his girl. Whatever Malosi had been planning, whatever the reason for his trips to the radio, he would have to make his move now. He could disappear into the warren of buildings at McMurdo. If he had a cure for the plague, Brad would wring the secret from him before feeding him to the zombies.

  “I think I know where he’s going. I’ll …”

  A scream interrupted him. Instinctively, Brad knew it had something to do with Malosi. “Find the others and take them to the loft.”

  He picked up his rifle and made certain it was loaded. He pushed past her and raced toward the scream. He saw the first zombie outside the
staging area by Dock A and knew Malosi’s foul hand was behind its presence. The creature had the screaming Shimoda pinned against the wall. The much shorter Japanese climatologist was no match for the starving zombie. It sank its teeth into Shimoda’s neck and ripped away a chunk of flesh. Brad aimed carefully and shot it in the head, but more zombies poured through the open door beyond. The creature fell as Shimoda sank to the floor holding his wounded neck, which spewed blood from a nicked artery. As Brad rushed to his side, Shimoda waved him away.

  “Go,” he shouted. “I’m a dead man. Save the others. Save Mattie.”

  Brad left Shimoda and rushed to the empty lab room to which Liz had confined Mattie to allow her injuries to mend. He was too late. Two of the creatures had smashed in the locked door. She stood in the center of the room naked. Black lines of infection traced across her heavy breasts, but she was still human enough to realize the danger she was in. She shoved at the first creature, but the second overpowered her. Her blood-curdling scream lasted only a few seconds. At the sound of her dying, Shimoda yelled in anguish and released his neck. Blood sprayed the wall behind him and the floor around him. Within seconds, he too was lying dead on the floor. Brad fired as quickly as he could as the zombies rushed down the corridor, trying to give everyone as much time as possible to escape.

  As he passed the water station, he heard zombies in the opposite corridor. He couldn’t stop them all. If they reached the main corridor ahead of him, they would trap him. He ran as fast as he could and reached the main corridor just ahead of the zombies. He pushed through the door into the Core Pod, grabbed a broom, and stuck it through the door handles. It wouldn’t keep out the creatures for long, but every minute counted. He raced up the stairs and found almost everyone standing around. Hughes and Bain had their weapons trained on the stairs on each end of the room. Deen and Reed were absent. He knew Deen was probably in his quarters in the other pod. He had a rifle and could fend for himself. Reed was young and unarmed.

  “Where’s Reed?”

  “No one knows,” Liz answered. “I last saw him in the stockroom.” She looked down the stairs. “You didn’t bring Mattie?”

  Brad shook his head. “She’s gone. So is Shimoda.”

  Liz clasped her hand to her mouth. “No,” she moaned. “I should have gone directly to her.”

  “Then you’d be dead too. That bastard Malosi let the zombies in. He’s to blame for this.”

  “I just saw that asshole,” Lester said. “I knew he was up to something.” He glanced at the stairs. “Can they get up here?”

  “Eventually. I barred the door but it won’t hold long.”

  “What do we do?”

  Brad thought furiously. They didn’t have much time. “We cross over to the equipment mezzanine and up through the roof.” He turned to the others. “Grab all the food you can carry.”

  “Won’t the zombies be outside?” Jernigan asked. His fear showed clearly on his face. Brad noticed that most of the others mirrored his fear. The exception was Hughes. He appeared calm and ready for action.

  “It looked as if most of them are inside now,” Brad replied. “We can keep them off the roof.”

  “And do what?” Jernigan whined.

  “We survive,” Brad snapped. “That’s what we’ve been doing for a month. We keep surviving. Now, get ready to leave.”

  A loud crash below meant the zombies had broken through the door. Time was short to make their escape. The stairs were narrow and only one creature at a time could climb them. While Liz propelled the others into action, he and Hughes shot each zombie as it showed itself. Bain and Lester took the other stairs case and did the same. Brad knew they couldn’t hold out for long, but each dead zombie meant that the others had to climb over their corpses to come up the stairs, slowing them down.

  Liz herded everyone through into the Biology Pod loft. He signaled for Lester and Bain to follow, and then took one more shot and nudged Hughes.

  “Time to go.”

  Constructed of heavy wood, the door to the adjacent loft would keep the zombies out for a while but not indefinitely. To increase their chances, he and Hughes piled crates of stored supplies against the door. The seven remaining survivors climbed the ladder to the roof and locked the hatch behind them. The day was gray and overcast and the air stank of volcanic gases blowing toward McMurdo from the volcano.

  “What about Deen and Reed?” Liz asked.

  “The stockroom has a strong door. He’s safe there for now. Deen’s probably in the other building.”

  “Or with Malosi,” Hughes growled.

  That thought had also crossed Brad’s mind. He and Deen had become fast friends in spite of Deen’s earlier hatred for him. If Malosi had taken the time to cultivate his friendship, then it was for a purpose, probably one just such as this.

  “Forget about Deen and Malosi for now,” Brad said. “We need to concentrate on survival.”

  “Any suggestions?” Hughes asked.

  “We can try to reach the Russian tractor,” DeSousa replied. “We’ll need fuel, but we can move out on the ice away from the zombies.”

  “Even with enough fuel and food, we’ll be stuck out on the ice. If anything happened to the engine, we’d be right back where we started. No, we need a more permanent place.”

  “What about Scott Base. There were only a few people there. We can handle a few zombies.”

  Bain spoke up. “I don’t want to unduly frighten anyone, but neither suggestion is safe.”

  DeSousa scowled at him. “What do you mean?”

  “With the growing degree of tremors, the ice isn’t safe. The same applies to Scott base. It’s nearer the volcanoes.” He glanced in Brad’s direction. Brad knew what was coming and nodded. Everyone needed to know the truth. “Mt. Erebus is building to a major eruption. It would be unwise to be too near when that happens.”

  “You don’t know that for certain,” DeSousa challenged.

  “No, I don’t, but the risk of an eruption increases with each quake. Ross Island is a volcanic island. Volcanic islands can become unstable. I think we need a third option.”

  “The safest place is the Kharkovchanka,” DeSousa insisted. “We load up on fuel and go west, maybe Casey Base.”

  “So we trade one dead base overrun with zombies for another,” Lester argued. “Why bother?”

  “At least it is away from the volcanoes,” Bain said.

  Brad realized that their arguing was getting them nowhere. “Look, our first challenge is getting past the zombies. Agreed?” No one challenged him. “Okay. We find Reed and Deen and decide as a group.”

  “What about Malosi?”

  “Screw that son of a bitch. I hope the zombies eat him.” Brad walked to the edge of the roof above the stockroom. Zombies roamed around the building below them. He yelled, “Reed!” One of the zombies looked up at him and snarled.

  Reed opened the window just a crack and shouted. “I’m in here.”

  “We’ll get you out. Just hang on.”

  “I don’t have a gun,” Reed said. “I hear zombies outside the door.”

  “The plane!” Lester yelled, smiling. “The DeHavilland Twin Otter. I think I can fly it.” He pursed his lips and frowned. “But to where?”

  Hughes shrugged. “Casey.”

  “No,” Bain said, “Not Casey. I think I know where Resurrection City is. It’s at Longitude 152.5 east about eighty miles inland.” He looked at the startled faces around him. “I plotted its location using weather data from its telemetry station. I can get us within a few miles.”

  “Why the hell would we go to zombie central?” Hughes asked. “That’s where everything started.”

  Bain ticked the reasons off on his fingers one at a time. “It was a small base, so there will be fewer zombies; it was military, so it will be well supplied; and if there is an answer to the plague, there is where we will find it.”

  Bain’s suggestion made sense, but something in the back of Brad’s mind was scratching
away trying to get his attention. It worried him like an itch between the shoulder blades you can’t scratch. Finally, he had it. The DeHavilland.

  “The plane,” he shouted, “that’s where Malosi is headed.”

  Hughes looked perplexed. “Why?” he asked.

  “His trips to the radio, his tete-a-tete with Deen – he’s been planning a return to Resurrection City all along. He thinks someone is going to go there for answers. He was waiting for a radio call searching for survivors. He has the answers, and he wants to cash in on his knowledge.” Hughes still seemed unconvinced. Exasperated, Brad said, “Don’t you see? That’s what this was all about, the zombies – a diversion like your explosion when the Khark arrived. He’s making for the plane and needs Deen’s help to roll it out of the garage.”

  Hughes shook his head. “That son of a bitch. He was willing to let us die to get away. When we find the bastard, I’m going to kill him.”

  “No,” Liz said, “we need to learn whatever he knows.”

  “Then I’ll slice off his fingers one at a time until he tells us, and then I’ll shove a knife through his eye into his skull.”

  He made a jabbing motion with his hand. Liz’s face paled at the extent of Hughes’ vehemence. Even Brad thought he might not be exaggerating.

  “We’ve got to hurry,” he said. “The sun sets in a few hours. Taking off and landing in the dark won’t be easy.” He yelled down to Reed. “Reed, we’ll create a diversion on the other side of the building to draw the zombies away. When you see us come down off the roof, break out the window and join us.”

  “Okay.”

  Reed sounded frightened. Brad didn’t blame him. The prospect of racing through a bunch of zombies didn’t appeal to him either.

  To Hughes, he said, “We need something to draw the zombies below us to the other side of the building.” He noticed the way the zombies were watching him. “I could walk along the edge of the roof. I think they would follow. Once they’re gone, the rest of you scramble down the drainpipe. I’ll follow.”

  “We could just shoot them,” Bain said.