by Mark Lansing
BUNKER Z
Contents
BUNKER Z
CHAPTER 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
CHAPTER 1
MARTIN swung the baseball bat and connected with the back of the kneeling man’s skull, fragments of bone splintered with a sickening crack. The man fell sideways and revealed what he had been bent over. Or what was left of it.
The fur around its collar was matted with blood and vital organs oozed out of a deep gouge in the stomach. Martin dropped the bat and fell to his knees as he tried to understand what exactly was happening. The Great Dane’s breathing was laboured and the only sign of life was from the flicker in her eyes. Martin’s hands hovered cautiously over the dog’s wound, his mind raced frantically for something to do, anything but to just watch.
The puddle of blood widened and Martin felt the warm touch of it on his knees as his jeans soaked it up. Shocking him into action, Martin began to push organs back into the wound, thrusting them back in desperately. His hands clawed at the ground around him trying to find anything he could. He grabbed the cord of the intestine and started to shove it back inside, then it pulled back out.
Martin’s eyes slowly followed the trail of intestine from the wound, along the ground and into the man’s blood splattered mouth. His teeth were gnawing viciously with an animalistic hunger, tearing and ripping wildly.
As Martin stood up and began to back away, the man seemed to notice him for the first time. His red eyes locked onto Martin’s eyes, his mouth drooled with intestine, his face covered in a mixture of his own blood and the Great Danes.
Turning quickly, Martin began to sprint across the long lawn, not daring to look over his shoulder. The sun gleamed off the rooster-shaped weathervane fixed onto the top of a red-wood barn, this was Martin’s beacon of hope.
Martin couldn’t see the man, but he knew he was close behind. He could feel hot breath on the back of his neck. He could hear the thud of its limbs on the sun-baked ground.
He skid to a halt outside the barn door and, hoping it wasn’t locked, flung it open. He jumping inside without looking back and slammed the door behind him. It was pitch black inside. Martin leant back on the barn door, swallowed hard and slowly slipped down the door.
What the hell is going on?
His eyes were getting adjusted to the darkness when he was suddenly overwhelmed with the smell of freshly laid down paint. Strange he thought, Dad hasn’t been in this barn for decades. The next thing to catch his attention was in the corner of the barn where Martin could make out a flashing white light. Through squinted eyes, Martin could see it was a thin line of light on the floor.
Martin closed his eyes and allowed his head to drop backwards till it touched the barn door, he exhaled deeply. He needed to get back to the house, he had to warn his parents about this madman. Then the door Martin was leaning on shuddered with the vibrations of a heavy impact.
Sprawling forward in a reflexive action, Martin was soon on his feet. But no more impacts came. Only the sound of a loud breathy inhale from the other side of the door. Then silence.
With an air of caution and sickening curiosity, a nose with flared nostrils appeared in the gap between the barn door and the floor. It inhaled deeply. Then withdrew, making room for two hands, the fingers already missing nails and horribly broken. They began to claw at the ground, dragging dirt back onto the other side. Quickly, a hole began to emerge.
Surrounded by blackness, Martin stumbled around conscious of the increasing amount of light which was creeping in from the expanding hole under the door. Martin was simply putting distance between himself and the door, but soon he found himself in the corner of the barn, standing next to a square with flashing edges.
Martin turned and glanced at the door. The hole was now big enough for the man to get his arm up to the elbow in. Martin instinctively took a step back and his heel caught on a raised edge.
He swiftly bent down and ran his hand over the smooth surface of the floor. Sunlight was now bursting in through the hole, lighting up the barn’s interior. Martin’s frantic searching fingers located an indented button, his index finger plunged the button down.
With the swiftness of technology far beyond this abandoned barn, a small metal sheet withdrew to reveal an inbuilt keypad, 4 flashing dots prompted a code. Martin’s mind raced and he input the code for the safe in the main house.
ACCESS DENIED. 2 ATTEMPTS REMAINING.
Martin’s mind raced trying to think of the code. A loud crack came from behind him, he twisted his head to see the man’s head already inside the barn. His arms were trying to drag the rest of his body through the hole, but it was too small and his shoulders were grating against the barn’s wooden door.
Think, Martin, think, he thought to himself. Their wedding anniversary?
ACCESS DENIED. 1 ATTEMPT REMAINING.
Martin’s could feel his heart thudding against his ribcage. He was never going to guess the code. And that man was almost inside the barn. He was not going down without a fight.
By now the inside of the barn was dimly lit by shots of sunlight beaming from the hole under the barn door and the splintered wood. Martin stood up and looked around for some kind of weapon he could use. Leaning up against a wooden support at the far end of the barn, illuminated by a shot of sunlight, was his Dad’s old rifle from Vietnam;M16A1.
Martin froze. He knelt back down and entered in the number that had been a feature of all of his father’s war stories. The number that his father would willing have given his life for.
ACCESS GRANTED.
A thick metal block slid back with the effortless ease of high powered mechanics. Beneath it was a thin set of bright white stairs leading underground. Martin scrambled down them, catching the sight of the man hurtling through the barn in the corner of his vision. He slammed the palm of his hand into the close button. The metal block slid across swiftly. But not before a few flecks of blood-dotted saliva flew from the man’s mouth as he threw himself through the air and connected with Martin’s face.
Chapter 2
Martin wiped the saliva off with the back of his hand. He could hear a faint banging sound on the other side of the metal block, but it was so distant and weak that it sounded as if it came from a tired elderly mouse.
Martin slid down onto one of the steps and listened to the steady banging inches above his head. What would drive someone to do that? He must have escaped from a mental asylum or be high on something.
Martin surveyed the narrow staircase he was in. The walls were bright white, illuminated from the inside. The smell of new paint returned to his nostrils. Martin had always liked the smell of fresh paint, it reminded him of new places, new beginnings. After all, that is why he was here.
Returning to his hometown had seemed like such a good idea, now it seemed like a big mistake.
He had no idea how right he was.
He stood up, ducking slightly under the low ceiling, and descended the white staircase. 10 steps down. At the bottom was a metal block similar to the one at the top of the stairs, but it was twice as large. The keypad was located on the right of the door, he entered the code again and the door slid open.
**
The door effortlessly slid to the side and inside the whole room burst into life. Lights switched on like a dominoes stack starting at the door and finishing at the other end of the room, Martin guessed about 100 feet away. Towards the back of the room a generator spurted into life. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of dull grey concrete. It made the whole room feel smaller and tighter,
shrinking gradually.
Behind him, at the top of the stairs, Martin could hear a faint banging, so faint that for a second he wondered whether he was just imagining it. Then the image of the man’s mouth hanging open, his blood stained teeth and chin came back to him. He shuddered and turned his attention back to the empty room.
A bunker? Why would his parents have a bunker?
His parents.
He had to warn them about the man. He had to find a phone.
Martin took a step into the room and took in the contents surrounding him. It was essentially one big box with three small compartments on the far end of the room.
To his left was a kitchen area, complete with a sink, a row of cupboards and a large fridge. Martin realised how thirsty he was, he checked his watch; 10:38am. He’d spent all of yesterday driving to his parent’s ranch in Colorado. By the time he arrived it was past midnight and he barely had the energy to climb the stairs and collapse into his old bed.
When he had woken up, there had been a note stuck to the inside of his door. Even from his bed Martin had recognised his mom’s trademark love heart scribbled on at the end of the note. He wish he’d read it.
Instead his attention had been grabbed by the bark and then loud shrill of his parent’s Great Dane; Roxy. Then the sight of a man hunched over it. That was when he had grabbed the bat and sprinted out to help his childhood companion. His parents couldn’t have been home or they would have come out to help him.
Martin blinked. He knew he wasn’t thinking straight – dehydration can mess with your head. He strode over to the fridge and pulled open the shiny metallic door. Inside were neat rows of army rations in silver foil packages, lined up horizontally. His dad had been a military man, and although he’d encouraged Martin he had never wanted to enlist. In the door of the fridge and packed in the bottom shelf were 1 litre bottles of water. Martin plucked one out, unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. He closed the fridge door, took another big gulp of water and while holding it in his mouth, surveyed the rest of the room.
He made his way towards the back of the room where there was three doorways to three small rooms. There were no doors so Martin could tell as he approached the first room that it was a bedroom. But the bed seemed out of place. It had a bright pink patchwork quilt which Martin immediately recognised as his mom’s work. In contrast to the dull grey walls it seemed alien. On the bedside table was a picture frame of his parents at the beach, his mom’s blonde hair billowing in the wind while his dad’s ever present baseball cap was fixed tightly over his brow. They looked happy. Martin wondered if they were safe.
The next room was a simple toilet and bath with a shower extension. Martin smiled. His mom loved baths and he could imagine her arguing with dad to get one installed in the bunker, no matter the cost. Martin’s dad, Collin, was one of the hardest, most badass men Martin have ever met. He didn’t back down from anyone or anything. But his mom always got her way – always.
The final room was locked. Martin entered the same code the bunker door into the keypad.
ACCESS DENIED. 2 ATTEMPTS REMAINING.
Martin thought he’d perhaps entered the code wrong, so he tried again, this time taking extra care when pushing each number.
ACCESS DENIED. 1 ATTEMPT REMAINING.
He didn’t want to find out what happened when he entered the code wrong three times. He looked over at the only corner of the room left unexplored. Fixed to the wall was a large television screen, Martin guessed at least 6 feet wide. Directly below it was a desk littered with button, joysticks and smaller screens.
And a telephone.
Chapter 3
Martin ran over to the desk and grasped the telephone. It was connected to the desk through a coiled wire and felt heavy as he pressed it to his ear. He entered the phone number of his parent’s house and waited as it rang. As he paced he caught the reflection of a man in the blank TV screen. He looked worried, scared and confused simultaneously.
It took Martin a moment to recognise himself.
The phone rang out and went through to the answerphone.
Martin slammed the phone down and cursed. He paused for a moment and then redialled. His eyes restlessly wandered across the desk while the phone rang in his ears. It seemed like something out of a science fiction film. There was a large keyboard, a dozen different coloured buttons and a large joystick in the centre. It reminded him of a gaming joystick.
There was one thing Martin did recognise on the desk. In an indented slot was a television remote. This struck Martin as odd, Colin and Mollie had never approved of televisions, claiming it polluted the mind. He had spent his childhood reading books from authors such as Shakespeare of Hemmingway. Martin cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear and pressed the power button. The local news station immediately appeared on the screen.
“..experts are describing the situation as critical in many parts of the country. What started out as a minor outbreak of measles has transformed into a nationwide epidemic.”
Martin had caught some news reports about the initial outbreak on Monday, but he never thought it was serious. It was now Sunday, could it have escalated that quickly?
“The infected are not to be approached. I repeat, the infected are not to be approached. They can be recognised by their red pigmented eyes. They are considered highly dangerous and will attack you. Please locate your nearest evacuation camp or lock yourself indoors. God bless us all.”
Then the screen went blue, accompanied by a high whining beep.
Highly dangerous. Will attack. Suddenly Martin felt very safe in the bunker and the thought crossed his mind of not leaving it. He hadn’t spoken to his parents in 3 years. Why should he care about them?
In the top right corner of the screen was a small flash of movement. In the corner was a small box that seemed almost completely pitch black but for a sphere of yellow. Martin leaned forward over the desk and squinted his eyes to try and see what was going on inside the box better. His face was a couple inches from the screen and Martin thought he would see the outline of a figure moving around. He rose up onto his tiptoes and edged closer to the screen. The figure seemed to stand up, Martin edged ever closer until suddenly his nose touched the screen and the small screen burst open, filling the large screen.
It became clear what the figure was.
The picture on the screen was of the inside of the barn Martin had just escaped from. Martin hadn’t had time to look around, but he guessed there must have been a camera located on one of the rafters judging by the picture now on the screen. The man in the green shirt was still banging on the metal block that Martin had disappeared down. However now he had acquired a jack hammer and was savagely swinging it down onto the hatch. There was no sound, but Martin guessed it would’ve been booming. Martin noticed the number (1/9) at the bottom of the screen and a small red dot in the centre of the screen. He put the palm of his hand on the right hand of the screen and dragged it across. A new video stream appeared on the screen.
Martin chuckled to himself, his parents had hated every single form of technology – they didn’t even have a computer! Yet here in the bunker they had a state of the art camera system!
The video stream now on the screen showed the outside of the barn, looking out onto his parent’s ten acres of land. The sun was high in the sky now and was beating down on the ground relentlessly. And stood in the middle of the picture was a nurse. Her blonde hair was tangled and draped over her face like a wedding veil. Through the veil shone a pair of black eyes. Her head was tilted towards the sky as if she was sniffing the air.
The red dot on the screen lined up exactly with a dark bloodstain on her scrubs top, almost blending in. Martin searched the desk for a button that would zoom in, nothing jumped out to him. None of the buttons had labels of their use so it was left to trial and error. Martin began to press some of the buttons and watch the reaction on the screen. One zoomed out, one switched the camera to heat sensitive, one turned the
red dot into a crosshair and another did nothing. Or so it seemed.
Her chest exploded with the impact of a high calibre bullet, knocking her to the ground.
“Fuck!” shouted Martin.
But he had no time to think. Bursting out from one side of the video screen were two men in suits, on the other side of the screen a young girl in a wedding dress sprinted into the picture. They sprinted on all fours, like chimpanzees or monkeys, towards to fallen nurse. Yet she was already sitting up, eyes wild, mouth opened and neck strained as if she was shouting out.
She wasn’t dead.
Ripping through the silence of the bunker was the ring of the telephone. It shook Martin back to reality and his hand lurched towards the receiver.
“Martin?”
Chapter 4
“Dad? Are you okay? Where are you?” The questions seemed to tumble out of Martin’s mouth.
“You got in Hotel North then! I hope you can afford it, $500 a night you know.” Collin North chuckled down the line.
Martin fought back a smile. “Dad, this is serious. Are you and mom okay? There are people, infected people, running around the fields. They’re dangerous.”
“Yeah, one of those infected bastards bit your mom while we were out picking up breakfast at the store. This little girl came out of nowhere and took a chunk out of her arm. Anyway, she’s upstairs resting now.”
“One of them chased me into the barn, down into this bunker. What is this place anyway?”
“I’ll explain later.” There was a pause and Martin could hear a dog’s bark in the background. “What in the world is that?”
Martin had been staring at the screen but not focusing on the events unfolding on them. The group of infected: the two guys in suits, the nurse and the bride were hurtling towards the house where his father was located. They were about 200 meters away.
“Mart, I’ll have to call you back, some people are coming to the house.”