The four men and their canine friend walked back toward the dirt road and abandoned vehicles, cautiously looking and listening for more responding squad cars. The coast appeared to be clear, so they exited the woods and traversed the dirt road. Soon the two crashed vehicles appeared within their sight and Anthony excitedly blurted out, “Let’s take the cop car!”
“Oh hell, no!” Mack cautioned. “Not only does it have a blown radiator now from where we backed into it, but those things got all kinds of electronic devices inside that can be tracked. Heck, it’s probably got video cameras recording in there right now.”
“We really need to shut those things off.” Jake suggested. Anthony was curious to find out exactly how that could be done.
Duysuggested, “Anthony, why don’t you do that car like you did to those crazy doggies and kitties a while back?”
“Really? Sweet!” replied Anthony, who promptly used his super flamethrower to torch the flat back Dodge police interceptor. The team re-entered the Silverado. The truck now had a caved-in rear bumper, a crumpled tailgate and smashed-out taillight lenses from where Mack backed into the closely pursuing squad car.
A group decision was made to quickly leave the area and locate a clean vehicle. The team fled rapidly as the charred Charger ignited and exploded, illuminating the hordes of black blow flies swarming through the North Carolina sky.
As they were driving away in the Silverado with the newly bashed-in rear bumper, Mack began to reflect upon the fact that his re-found friend and mentor, Jake, seemed different. As If he had changed physically and emotionally, as well as mentally, since his arrest and subsequent adventures.
The former Marine and DPD Sergeant now appeared to be harder, colder, and less human. He also appeared larger and more muscular than ever. This was hard to explain since Jake had been on the run the entire time and had not been working out or eating properly.
“Hey, man, can I ask you something?” McElroy asked.
“What’s up?” Jake responded.
“What reallyhappened to you out there? What happened to your soul?” “My Soul? You too?” Asked Jake. “Why is everyone so concerned about my fucking Soul?
Yeah, I ran over one of those creatures back there. I think it got stuck in the fan belt. So now the car is still parked there in front of Glazier’s place and I imagine that THING is still struggling to separate itself from the motor.”
“No, man. I mean your soul, your personality, your being.”
“Oh. I thought you meant my Kia.”
“No, Jake. Not your Kia. And how the hell do you explain your physique? For a guy who
has been on the run, hunted, and notworking out, how is it that you are still built like The Rock?” “Maybe he exercises by lifting his Soul?” Anthony chimed in from the back seat. Jake suddenly felt compelled to confide in his comrades about the skeleton in his closet. “You’re correct, Mack. I’m not the same Jake Hathaway you knew. I think the Zeus Juice
is really starting to catch up with me. I can’t remember. Did I ever tell you about the experiments from back in the corps?”
“No, you didn’t. But Michelle mentioned something about them to me awhile back. I had no idea you were involved with them, though.” “I authorized some of my men to take experimental serums in the hopes of turning them into the ultimate warriors - with uncanny strength, and ferocity surging through their veins. They would be unaffected by pain, fatigue or illness and consumed only with the desire of fighting for the freedoms of our great nation.
“I figured if my guys were going to submit themselves to the testing, I should do the same. But it also just sounded too good to be true who the hell wouldn’t want to be Captain America, right? So, I took the Juice as well, but without telling the others. I took a lot more than I should have - more than what the Marine scientists were prescribing for the volunteers.
“As a result, I have experienced a growth in muscle mass and strength, and I do not tire or endure pain much at all. However, pain is not the only thing I fail to experience anymore. I struggle to feel emotions other than rage and an unquenchable thirst for enemy blood. I don’t even recognize myself now. Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see some stranger looking back at me. On more than one occasion this has resulted in my brain being overwhelmed with rage.
“My ability to rationalize or comprehend things like I have been able to in the past has been eroded. All told, it’s as if I’m dying on the inside while my body is thriving on the outside.” The other men within the van all looked at each other, now somewhat anxious about the prospect of traveling any further with this cold, inhuman being that they once knew as Jake Hathaway.
“Do you feel like you want to kill or eat us?” Anthony half-jokingly questioned. “Come on, don’t be ridiculous. I don’t feel like I want to eat any of you. At least not until our quest is over.” Everyone got a good laugh over Jake’s cannibalistic crack, and then Duy became quite perplexed. “So, do we know if there’s any correlation between the Marine Corps Zeus Project that you were associated with and the reported labs on both coasts?”
“God, I hope not. Because at least we in the Corps volunteered and somewhat knew what to expect the results of the serum to be. But if civilians were being abducted and shot up with this stuff like guinea pigs, that’s inhumane. Hopefully we will be able to make that determination soon enough” Jake speculated.
As the Silverado continued to trek westbound and crossed the Tennessee state line, it was a mutual group decision which led the wayward travelers to find an appropriate vehicle to appropriate.
The pickup pulled into a half-full Walmart parking lot and began to cruise the rows as the guys were in search of their next mode of transportation. They soon located a beige Honda Odyssey van with tinted windows and Tennessee handicap plates.
Anthony piped up, “That one will work, right? Drop me off here. I can get it going for us.” He of small stature, with power tool in hand, drilled out the driver door lock and pulled the door open. Then he began to work on the van’s steering column and ignition switch. Mack parked the battered Silverado behind a large RV at the rear of the lot where it was not clearly visible from the main roadway. By the time he, Jake, Duy and Roscoe joined Anthony, the van was running and ready to roll.
“Can I drive for a while?” Anthony asked.
“Sure, man, that would be great.” Mack agreed. “Just keep us headed in a southerly and western direction.” As the squad headed toward the south Texas border in their newly retained vehicle, Hathaway began to speculate aloud. “Mack, maybe it would be best if we let you off in Dallas so you can attempt to track down Amanda to make sure she is okay. And to also check on Austin and baby Carson.”
Mack agreed. “Yeah, I need to tell Austin about Rich’s video that he made in reference to his abduction and experiences at that lab in Florida. I also need to make sure Austin can keep Carson safeand hidden from the ‘Containment Squad.’”
“But are you sure that you guys don’t need an extra hand looking for that Mexican laboratory? You sure you don’t want me to come along to watch y’alls’ backs?
“Nah, we will be fine,” Jake asserted. “Shouldn’t have any problems getting into Mexico. Then we just gotta find the lab and this doctor guy and get whatever information we need from him. Hopefully they have an anti-serum there as well so we can figure out how to mass-produce it. And then we will shut the place down once and for all.”
“Besides, I’ve got my Roscoe back. This will be a piece of cake.”
The Odyssey pulled into Mack’s Dallas neighborhood and stopped a few doors door from his house.
“All right, good luck you guys! Keep me updated. Go kick some lab coat-wearing motherfucker’s ass!”
Part 4 - What Happens There Slays There
In the end, no matter which cerebral hemisphere of your brain you favored throughout your existence, whether you leaned more toward the good or evil side, humanity eventually all falls dead. Every being eventually be
comes one with the earth in the very place it was birthed. Mankind evolves into worm food and daisy fertilizer on a regular basis.
But one can possibly take solace in this theory. That those who, in life, preached their continuous and repugnant legacy of hate against others will, in death, meet “ANOTHER.” “ANOTHER” who, like them, preyed upon the weak and the downtrodden. And furthermore, perhaps that “ANOTHER” was now looking upon his predecessor with a gleam in his eye and necrophilia on his mind.
Chapter Thirty-Two - Just Another Chapter
Hidalgo, Texas / Mexico border. Year 1 month 7 ATBI Recently, the American president had announced he was tearing down the towering walls along the north and south borders of the country. The previous POTUS had raised these walls during his last term in office. This new American leader claimed to be removing these barriers as a sign of peace and reconciliation between the nations.
However, as reported by Graham and Nunu on their underground podcast, many believed there was another underlying reason. Apparently, the U.S. government really wanted the borders opened again so they had a way and place to run all the DEAD out.
For the first time ever, more people were leaving America for Mexico rather than the other way around. And they primarily were fleeing America in order to escape the infection. Resultantly, Mexico was now protesting the walls being removed. The Mexican President threatened to construct their own obstacles, although they realistically were not in the position financially to do so.
Mexico had begun to change drastically over the last few years. The pigmentation of the country had become a little bit lighter as the gringos from America were starting to infiltrate the nation.
The drug cartels had been negatively affected by the decline in demand for marijuana and other drugs when several states in the U.S. legalized them. It was then that the American entrepreneurs began to produce the drug legally and took over the U.S. market.
Additionally, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. had recently become so involved in the zombie-slaying business that they were too busy to enforce drug possession and other non-violent laws. American drug dealers became free to peddle their goods openly and thus, Mexican drug suppliers no longer had a market in the states. So, they ended up moving their businesses to other more profitable locales.
And with the cartels bouncing out, so did most of the violent crime. It made these territories more open to commerce again, providing many work opportunities and slowly driving the poverty level downward.
Anthony steered onward as the guys began their slow south -Texas odyssey from within their tan, Tennessee-placarded Odyssey. And when the Honda van arrived near the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge at the Reynosa Texas/Mexico border, Jake and Duy were completely taken by surprise. They were shocked to see the American side of the border gateways were completely unmanned. No one was asking for passports, checking ID’s, or searching vehicles. No access was being denied or even delayed. It was a mass exodus. Long lines of cars were proceeding through the border gates, as were many pedestrians. But they all came to an abrupt halt just a short way south of the border when they came upon the Mexico side.
For, equally as baffling was the sight of heavily armed police and federal military personnel on the Mexican side of the border crossings, threatening to shoot anyone trying to enter without clearance.
And so, it became abundantly clear to the men that it would not be nearly as easy getting into Mexico as they had originally anticipated. Rather than continue toward the border crossing gates, Anthony turned the soccer-mom-mobile around and headed back into Hidalgo.
“There’s got to be another way! Let’s just cruise around near the border and see what we can find,” said the Dew-man. Jake and Anthony agreed. “Maybe we can find someone who can help smuggle us across. “
The van navigated east through the town, and it wasn’t long before the team came across a shopping plaza. It was the home of an AutoZone auto parts store, a nail salon, and a Whataburger restaurant.
Anthony was somewhat baffled. “Dang, looks like we are back in Dallas again. It went from war zone to AutoZone in one block. I’m gonna drive around the back of these stores to see if there’s some access to the border back there.”
As he rounded the corner with the family wagon, Anthony noticed a shady- looking dude eye fucking their vehicle hard. “Fellas check this freak out. He looks like he thinks we are cops or something.”
The lanky, nervous Mexican was wearing a white T-shirt, khaki pants, and a Houston Astros baseball cap. It appeared as if he was trying to keep a low profile, acting like he was just dumpster diving in the back. But he continued looking over his shoulder at the van while maintaining constant conversation on a disposable burner cell phone.
“Dew -man, let’s go talk to this joker and see if he can get us across.”
“Duy, Jake, and Roscoe hopped out of the sliding rear door of the Honda minivan and made eye contact with the nervous Mexican. The character took one look at the two men and their police dog and he abruptly took off in a sprint.
Jake was lagging, carrying much muscle mass which caused him to be somewhat slow. Meanwhile Duyand Roscoe remained hot on the stranger’s trail, chasing him down one street, into an alley, then into an adjoining residential community. They continued between several rows of houses. Roscoe passed Duyand was barking fiercely as he nipped at the fleeing man’s heels.
But just as quickly as this foot pursuit had started, Duy now realized he had lost the shady character. He could still hear Roscoe barking in the near distance, but he had completely lost sight of them both.
Anthony pulled up in the van directly behind Duy. Duy saw the gassed former Marine, Jake, gasping for air in the front passenger seat.
Duywas quick to ask Jake: “why are you riding in the van?”
“I was saving my energy for the fight that would have occurred after you caught him, but it looks like someone didn’t do their part.”
Roscoe was now bellowing from somewhere close, and Anthony parked their ride so all three men could search on foot.
Jake called out, “Roscoe!! Where are you, boy?”
The Belgian Malinois began to howl even louder in order to summon his human companions hither.
“He’s over here,” Jake advised the others as he began to sprint in that direction. The three men came upon a wide-open galvanized chain link gate which led to the backyard of a white double wide trailer home. The rear door of the trailer appeared to be open as well. The adventurers entered the yard and then the trailer home. They exercised extreme caution, all with their weapons in hand and ready to be deployed. They fully anticipated finding their furry friend inside but were not expecting what they now saw before them.
There, in the center of what would normally be the living room of this residence, was nothing but dirt. No concrete, no tile, nothing whatsoever, except for soil. Dry, hard, reddish claylike ground that surrounded a large manhole cover-sized opening in the center of what should be the floor.
Roscoe stood at the top of the crevice, his eyes darting into the dark tunnel as he continued to howl.
“What is it boy? Did he go down the hole?”
“I think we got us a rabbit to catch, fellas. Let’s go get him! “Jake rallied the team as he began to step into the aperture. Anthony hesitated and was quick to voice his concern about such a venture. “Uhhh, I don’t know if I mentioned this to you guys yet, but I’m seriously afraid of going into small spaces, like underground and stuff. What if we go in there and someone behind us up here starts to fill the hole with dirt? And they bury us alive? And also, what if there’s huge rats down there and we can’t see them, and they start gnawing on us?”
Just as Anthony was contemplating backing out of the hole idea, several DEAD began to stumble into the open trailer house door. They had been alerted to the location by the shrieking Roscoe.
“Oh shit!” Anthony echoed. “Let’s go chase that rabbit!” Man and dog alike began to climb down into the h
ole. The gargantuan, musclebound Jake entered last, barely able to squeeze into the opening. There was a sawed off 3-foot x 3-foot square of quarter-inch plywood above the ground lying beside the hole. The former police sergeant pulled the fabricated board over the opening behind him, hoping this would keep THEM from following him into the abyss.
Dropping a couple of feet to a lower level within, the men found a lengthy wooden ladder leading downward still. Leaning against the cavern wall beside the ladder was a filthy, rusted pickaxe which Sgt. Hathaway acquired just because it may come in handy down below.
Roscoe began to descend the ladder, his snout still tracking the scent of the fleet footed suspicious guy. The further the team climbed downward, the darker and more humid the atmosphere became. About fifteen feet lower, all stepped down off the ladder. As they did, they felt the glitching beneath their shoes upon landing into piles of a very foul-smelling substance.
“Oh, perfect,” Anthony spouted. “So, it’s not enough that I have a fear of being buried alive and we are about twenty feet below the ground, but it’s hot as hell and dark and we are walking aroundin shit!”
“I bet this is an abandoned drug smuggling tunnel” Jake said. It probably r uns all the way from the U.S. side and under the border into Mexico. You could see where the Border Patrol or someone had cemented in that entrance to the tunnel, but someone had come through and jackhammered it back open again.”
“Oh, by the way guys -that’s not shit.” Jake informed.
“What do you mean it’s not shit? How can you tell?”
“I can see quite clearly down here, seems like I’m acclimating to the dark quite nicely. I
believe we are trudging through fermenting innards. I think I just kicked a sp leen.” “Ohhh!!!! Eeeewwww!!! GROSS!!” Anthony jumped upwards to remove his Nikes from the magenta flesh flush. However, he was unable to defy gravity and his Airs quickly splashed down again. This splashed slaughter sauce all over Duy’s face.
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