“Alright,” Connor smiles, “let’s get to work. Where is the computer?”
“In the back, I’ll show you,” Jeremy points.
“I’m sorry Jeremy,” Mason says before shooting him in the leg, “but I can’t allow you to do that. I was hoping it would never come to this, but I have my orders.”
“Mason, put the gun down,” Connor orders.
“I can’t. Connor you used to be a service man too, you know what it means when you get orders,” Mason says slightly trembling.
“I also know that not all orders are the right ones. And just in case you missed it, the world is in complete shambles, there is no defining orders, no one is in charge anymore,” Connor urges.
“That’s not true sir,” Mason says softly, “I got my orders from my General who is right now in a bunker with President Quinn, and they are in charge.”
“President Quinn?” Natalie snickers, “What is he president of? Because there is no more United States, hell there is no more world. They are just former top dogs still looking for that power trip. You’re nothing but there bitch!”
“NO!” Mason cries out turning toward Natalie and firing his gun. Connor manages to push Natalie out of the way, taking the bullet in his left shoulder blade.
Natalie jumps back onto her feet, rushing over to Mason. She kicks him in the hand knocking the gun across the laboratory floor. She then sweeps out Mason’s legs dropping him to the ground. Mason covers his face as Natalie wildly begins to stomp her boot across his chest. He cries out in pain with each crushing blow from her boot before finally he reaches up and grabs her foot and pulls it out from under her. Mason rolls to his side, pushing himself onto his knees before unleashing a fury of punches across Natalie’s face. A gun shot goes off from the other side of the room, stopping everyone in their tracks. Jeremy stands across the room, Mason’s gun pointed at the headless corpse, his chest rising and falling quickly.
“Look!” Jeremy yells, “I don’t care if you all want to tear each other apart or whatever. But down here this is my area and I’m going to ask you not to behave like a bunch of juveniles!”
“He started it,” Natalie said getting back to her feet, wiping the blood off her lips.
“I don’t care. Now start behaving or I’ll kill you all myself,” Jeremy threatens.
I work my way over to Jeremy slowly, trying to keep him calm, “its ok,” I assure him, “we’ll all get along. You have my word. Just give me the gun.” Jeremy stares blankly at me for a moment, his eyes not blinking before he finally lets out a loud shuddered breath before relinquishing the gun to me. “Thank you. Now if you would do me one last favor, could you look at Connor for me?”
Jeremy nods, “Yes. Just give me a hand moving him to the table please.”
Jeremy and I lift Connor off the floor, a stream of blood pouring out of his bullet hole. Connor is semi-conscious letting out soft grunts as we move him. Jeremy rips the back of Connor’s shirt, revealing the wound. Doctor Fairfield rushes over to a set of cabinets hanging on the wall, he grabs a tray of tools before hurrying back to Connor.
“It doesn’t look like the bullet hit any vital organs,” he says shining a light on the wound, his free hand pressing the skin around the hole. Connor whimpers lightly with each touch of Jeremy’s hand. “I can get it out, but it is going to hurt. Even with the anesthetic and pain medicine I can give you.”
“Its fine,” Connor says softly, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, “just get it out of me.”
“Hey what about us?” Mason complains, “I think this bitch broke my ribs.”
“Keep it up and I’ll break more than that,” Natalie barks back at him.
“Knock it off, both of you,” I order, my hand still clutching Mason’s gun tightly. “Why don’t you both clean up and then take care of all the records?”
“I don’t have to listen to you,” Mason spits out.
“Fine,” I smile, “Natalie would you mind tying up the lieutenant?”
“Not at all,” Natalie chuckles.
Natalie takes the gun from me and works Mason into a chair, using some spare straps Jeremy left lying on top of a table. I look back at Jeremy and watch and cringe as he drives a needle deep into Connor’s shoulder. I can’t watch any more, I make my way to the filing cabinet and rip the drawers open.
“Anything you need in here?” I ask.
“No, it’s all useless now,” Jeremy says never looking up from Connor’s shoulder.
I nod in understanding before pulling each file out of its respected drawer and tossing it off to the side.
“How are we going to dispose of it?” Natalie asks after cleaning herself up.
“Well the computers are simple,” I reply unloading a bullet into each one of the computer systems. “As for the papers, well I’m less sure.”
“Can we shred them?” Natalie asks?
“There is no shredder down here,” Jeremy replies slowly retrieving the bullet from Connor’s shoulder. Connor cries out as Jeremy holds the bullet up for the rest of us to see. “Well the hard parts done, now I just need to patch him up.”
“That’s a plus,” I nod, “what about fire?”
“No I believe the wound should be stitched up,” Jeremy comebacks as he readies to stitch up Connor.
“I meant what if we burn the papers,” I reply.
“Well it could work,” Jeremy nods looking up at me, “the bunker does have a fire safety network that is supposed to go off in case of fire.”
“Supposed to?” Natalie questions.
“Yeah supposed to,” Mason says in a mocking tone, “we’ve never been stupid enough to set it on fire.”
“Yeah, well, we’re a new kind of stupid,” Natalie smirks before tossing down her lit lighter into the pile of papers.
Smoke billows up from the files. The smoke wafts its way into the smoke detector, setting off multiple alarms. Jeremy finishes with Connor, who while still awake is dazed and confused. The fire suppression system above us begins to leak, a loud hissing sound is heard as a soft gray smoke drops from the ceiling.
“Is this safe to breathe?” Natalie asks as we drop to the floor.
“I’m not sure,” Jeremy says cupping his hand over his face.
The smoke fills the whole room within a matter of minutes. My head starts to get fuzzy, and the room starts to spin in front of me. I can already see that the others have passed out just before everything goes black.
Chapter 17
October 11th, 2037
My head is pounding as I force my eyes open. The smoke has put the fire out before being sucked out the air filtration system. Not a single ounce of smoke is found anywhere. It takes me a moment to get back onto my feet, but somehow I manage to stumble over to Natalie’s unconscious body. She’s still breathing but I’m unable to wake her up. I waddle over to Mason’s body, his eyes are twitching, and I know this look, he is trying to wake up. I can even hear him snort.
“Connor?” I ask hoping for a response. Nothing. I hear movement coming from outside the laboratory.
Hissing and groaning sounds grow louder. I stumble over to Jeremy’s body and shake him wildly trying to get him up.
“Huh?” Jeremy moans as he starts to wake slowly.
“Jeremy get up,” I say softly but sternly, “I don’t think we are alone anymore.”
Scratching sounds are heard getting louder on the glass, all I can make out is shadows on the opposite side.
“What’s going on?” Jeremy asks sitting up.
“I’m not sure, but my guess is the Zombies you had locked up in the detainment area have freed themselves,” I whisper.
Jeremy gets back to his feet, wobbling back and forth until he gains his balance, “We have to get the others up.”
“How did they get free? I thought the detainment room was impenetrable,” I ask, cocking my gun.
Jeremy slowly makes his way over to a cabinet. It’s clear his head is still fuzzy as I watch him walk. He pu
lls out a box of smelling salts and makes his way over to Natalie.
“I’m not sure,” he replies eventually, “The fire suppressant system must have over ridden the security protocol for the detainment room.”
“In English?” I ask more confused than before.
“When Natalie set fire to my documents it set off the fire suppressant, it must have unlocked the detainment room as a safety feature. Which released the Zombies,” he says in a somewhat mocking tone.
He cracks open one of containers, releasing a foul scent into the air. He waves the container under Natalie’s nose, prompting her eyes to open wide, choking as she pushes the salts away.
“That smells like shit,” she complains between coughs.
Jeremy laughs, “But it did the job.”
“We need you Natalie,” I say adding tension back to the room, “The Zombies escaped their prison.”
“Is that so?” Natalie says with a non-surprised look on her face, “Guess that room wasn’t as secure as you thought was it?”
“Actually it was plenty secure until you set off the fire alarm,” Jeremy retorts. Natalie rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh as Jeremy walks over to Mason’s unconscious body.
He waves the foul smelling container under Mason’s nose causing him to cough uncontrollably before finally opening his eyes.
“How are you feeling?” Jeremy asks.
“I’ll be better when I get that smell out of my memory,” Mason coughs.
Jeremy smiles at him, nodding his head before he walks over to Connor. Natalie and I share a quick glance with each other as Jeremy sticks the container under our friend’s nose. Connor’s eyes open slowly, his arm stiffens with his hand clenched in a fist. He punches Jeremy in the chest sending him backward to the ground before he sits up, dazed and confused.
“What’s going on here?” He asks holding his head.
“Short version?” I ask, “Natalie set off the fire alarm, which set off the suppression system, which knocked us out while in avertedly unlocking the door to the containment room. Now the Zombies are free and trying to get in here to kill us. All caught up?”
“I only heard Zombies are trying to get in here,” Connor says.
“That’s all you need to know,” Natalie says.
“Ok, so let’s kill some Zombies,” Connor smirks.
“How do you plan on killing them?” I ask, “We have a few handguns and no way to remove their heads.”
“We could always set them on fire,” Natalie speaks up. We each glare at her, “I was joking.”
“Doctor,” Connor says, “is there anything down here we can use?”
“No,” Jeremy sighs, “we never came up with a contingency plan for a containment breech.”
“What a surprise,” Natalie says rolling her eyes.
“It’s hard to foresee someone being so stupid that they would purposely start a fire in here,” Mason shouts back at her.
The sound of glass shattering stops Natalie from sniping back at him. More glass breaks and I can see an unnaturally pale arm reaching through the hole it created. Several pieces of skin are hanging down from the arm. I raise Mason’s gun and fire three bullets through the glass, chasing the arm away.
“We need a plan, quick,” I shout.
“What about the elevator?” Natalie asks.
“I might be able to get the doors open if someone else could draw their attention,” Mason suggests.
“Why is it you that gets to open the elevator?” Natalie asks.
“Because, only mine and Jeremy’s voice will activate the elevator and I stand a better chance than Jeremy by myself,” Mason argues.
“He’s right,” Jeremy agrees, “it’s the best plan we’ve got.”
“Fine,” I nod, “Natalie and I will distract the Zombies, and Connor you protect Doctor Fairfield while Mason calls for our ride out of here.”
Everyone agrees to my plan. Natalie breaks down one of the glass windows, furthest from where the Zombies were trying to attack and starts firing multiple shots at the undead creatures. I join her outside the lab just as they start dragging their legs toward us. They are hideous looking, no clothing draped over their bodies. One looks like it was formally a man, the other once a woman. Their bodies are bleach white with whole chunks of flesh missing. I can only imagine they have been fighting with each other, literally picking the skin off the other, most likely to feed. They start to pick up the pace, they almost get to a run before Natalie and I each unload another bullet into each of their skulls. I can almost make out Mason crawling out of the previously broken window, making his way to the elevator door.
“We have to get around them,” Natalie calls out to me.
“No, not until Connor and Jeremy get out,” I shout back, firing another shot.
“Well they don’t have long,” Natalie says releasing one more bullet, “I’m almost out of bullets.”
The Zombies continue to rush us, our bullets not doing much to slow them down. My gun begins to click as I pull the trigger numerous times.
“I’m out,” I cry as the male Zombie grabs my arm. I fight back, knocking the Zombie to the ground as the female reaches out for Natalie. I jump in front of Natalie, both my hands clamped around her wrists. “SHOOT HER,” I cry as her teeth draw nearer to my neck.
Natalie’s gun goes off right next to my ear and I can almost watch the bullet slowly release from its chamber and enter the female Zombies head, dropping her to the ground squealing.
“Come on, they’re out,” Natalie says to me pointing at Jeremy’s body outside of the Lab.
“And Mason has the elevator open as well,” I say as we rush past the fallen Zombies.
We sprint across the hall rejoining with the others as Mason gets inside the elevator. Connor guides Jeremy to the open elevator as I look back and catch the Zombies getting back onto their feet.
Jeremy places a foot inside the elevator only to be knocked out by Mason, “I’m sorry, but I do have my orders. If you can’t complete an antivirus, then I am to terminate you. But don’t worry about the others. I’m going to eliminate them too.”
“You bastard,” Natalie says pointing her gun at Mason.
The doors close in front of him before she can fire. The sound of feet rushing is heard behind us.
“We can’t hold them off much longer,” I cry.
“Can you recall the elevator?” Connor asks almost shaking Jeremy.
“No. Not until the light turns green. And it will only do that once Mason has gotten off,” Jeremy says.
“Then we fight until the light turns green,” Connor says cracking his neck.
Connor stands tall behind Natalie and myself, his gun pointed at the Zombie couple.
“Don’t waste your bullets,” Natalie says fighting off the male Zombie, “it has no effect on them.”
“Then I guess we do it the hard way!” Connor snarls before jumping the female Zombie.
I stay back, making sure to protect Jeremy as we watch Connor wrap his arm around the Zombie’s neck. His face turns red as he squeezes his arm tighter. The Zombie flails its arms and teeth, trying to do anything it can to free itself.
“How much longer?” I ask.
Natalie struggles with her opponent, screaming loudly as it bites her on the shoulder.
“It should be almost ready,” Jeremy replies watching the red light start to blink.
I nod in understanding and rush over to help Natalie. I pull the creature off her, throwing it to the ground. “Are you ok?” I ask her.
“I’ll live,” She replies.
Both our attentions are drawn to Connor who now has the female Zombie on the ground, her neck still caught in a headlock. He grunts and groans until a loud snap is heard and we watch as her head separates from her body.
“I got the doors open,” Jeremy yells.
“GO!” I yell to the others.
I join Doctor Fairfield in the elevator, followed closely by Connor and Natalie, the male Zombi
e struggling to join us.
“Come on, come on!” Jeremy says frantically pushing the ‘door close’ button.
The doors start to close slowly as the creature eventually makes it to the door. It manages to get the top half of its torso through the door before becoming trapped.
“Main bunker!” Jeremy screams, avoiding the Zombies floundering arms.
The elevator starts to rise, the being screams and squeals as it slices in half.
“Oh come on! Why won’t these things just fucking die?” Natalie grunts, kicking the Zombie in the head multiple times.
Connor stomps his massive boot down on the back of the Zombie’s neck holding it still as we finish our ride up the shaft. We manage to fall out of the elevator, Connor still fighting back the creature.
“Get out of the elevator,” Natalie shouts to Connor.
“Street level,” Jeremy calls out as Connor dives between the closing doors, trapping the beast inside and sending it back to the surface.
“Are you ok?” Natalie asks
“I’m fine. Now Find Mason,” Connor says in obvious pain.
“I’m not leaving you,” Natalie cries.
“I’m fine,” Connor insists, “just go and stop Mason.”
“He looks fine,” Jeremy assures, “just a loss of adrenaline.”
“Natalie stay with Connor. Jeremy come with me,” I say, knowing Natalie wouldn’t leave his side.
Jeremy and I hurry toward the rooms as fast as we could until we see Mason standing in Penelope’s doorway, a gun behind his back.
“Get away from them,” I grumble.
He turns around slowly, almost surprised to see us, “how did you survive?”
“I said get away from them,” I growl, pointing my gun at him.
“Come on Damian, don’t do this. You know you don’t have the balls to kill me anyway. You value all life, even mine,” Mason gloats, “now just put the gun down and I’ll make this quick.”
He takes a few steps toward us, and we take a few steps away. I can see Matthew and the girl’s peering out of the doorway watching us.
“It doesn’t have to be like this at all,” I plead, “we all stand a better chance of survival if we all work together.”
Omega Virus (Book 1): Surviving the Horror Page 16