The Z Directive (Book 2): Mutation

by Thompson, Chris

  “Ridgewell, Bridges, Cerberus, you’re up!” Tyrone ordered as he and Smith backed off, reloading in tandem with Jack as he slammed his final magazine into his weapon while the other trio began firing on the creature. If their weapons weren’t suppressed, it would’ve been a near deafening barrage, as it was, there was a constant, apparently unending stream of dull thumping sounds punctuated by the clattering of ejected shells and the wet impacts of the bullet reports into the body of the creature below. Suddenly, the weight was lost and the elevator began to move at full speed, carrying its cargo towards the surface as the terrible flesh beast howled its indignant fury for having been denied prey.

  The second trio reloaded their weapons while Jack returned to look down the dark elevator shaft. He couldn’t see the bottom, and as a consequence, couldn’t see the creature. Jack didn’t doubt it was still alive, however.

  “Time?” he asked simply.

  “Seven minutes until we’re dead,” Ridgewell responded.

  “How long until we’re topside?”

  “Thirty seconds, give or take,” Cerberus answered.

  As he took a deep breath, Jack hoped they had enough time to get themselves clear. A renewed screeching from below dashed those hopes immediately. Looking through the hole and shining the light of his flashlight through, he could see that the flesh construct, now looking more like some horrific kind of centipede than something recognizable as once containing the body parts of humans, was clambering up the wall. It had embedded shards of metal into its body, and with incredible strength, was punching them into the wall before writhing upwards and staking another hold. It was moving at a decent gait, but not so fast that it would overtake them Jack estimated. Moments later the elevator began to slow, and as it came to a stop and they were no longer fleeing, the creature gained more ground. As soon as the elevator ceased movement and the doors opened, Jack gave them instructions as he shifted to the rear of their formation.

  “Get moving! Cerberus lead them to the train,”

  “What are you going to do?” Tyrone questioned.

  “Try to slow it down some,” Jack responded. He pulled his knife free and wedged it in the right-side shaft door before hitting the button in the car to start it moving down. He was gambling that Bolvinox wasn’t so concerned about safety it would have had the elevator programmed to remain motionless if the doors were open. His assumption was correct and the elevator began to slowly move down - exposing the cabling. Jack took careful aim, realizing he didn’t have much ammunition to waste, and fired. Three shots later the cables snapped, the mechanism making a loud screeching sound as the elevator began to drop. If there were emergency breaks they’d kick in, and if there weren’t, the elevator would hit the creature like a battering ram. Either way, Jack thought it might buy them a few more minutes to get the train heading towards safety.

  Turning away, Jack looked ahead of him and realized they were in a wide chamber hewn directly from the rock. It seemed to be an old storage area as there were barrels off to the left and crates off to the right, their lids open revealing them to be empty. Far on the right side, however, he saw the train. It was boxy and made of metal, which would once have been gleaming but was now covered in grime and dirt. His group was almost there, and with some surprise, he saw through the windows Cerberus already inside manning the controls. Breaking into a run, Jack could hear the monster behind him, howling and slamming into the elevator.

  How close was it? He didn’t dare look back to check. Jack just kept moving forward, reaching the train last and the doors closing behind him second later. There was no seating, simply poles to hold onto for passengers and straps that could be used to secure cargo. Though there were six people in there, he guessed it could accommodate several times that number, being about the length of a bus. At this point, Jack moved to the rear window and looked back. He couldn’t see the creature, but he didn’t doubt it would still be coming.

  “Ty,” Jack stated.

  “Yeah?”

  “Next time, bring grenades,” he instructed.

  “Take mine!” Cerberus called to them. Jack looked back at the man and saw him still at the controls. Jack could only surmise he had heard him because of some enhanced effect from the Ambrosia virus he was apparently infected with. Tyrone hurried to him, taking two explosives concealed in pockets of his jacket and bringing them back towards Jack. Bridges, Smith and Ridgewell moved into a firing position on either side of Jack, with Emma moving in close.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked him as Tyrone returned, explosives in hand.

  “Keep an eye on Cerberus in case he needs help controlling this thing. If the creature starts catching up to us, we’ll try to keep it at bay,” Jack told her. Partially, he wanted her to be safe from the battle at the rear of the train, but he also wanted her to make sure Cerberus wasn’t going to do anything to screw them over. He trusted the man as much as he could trust anyone he’d just met, but he would still feel better with someone keeping an eye on him.

  The group of soldiers looked to the rear as the train began to pick up speed; to the sound of a faint electrical humming. The train line was along the floor of a smoothly cut passageway in the rock. There were lights along the right side, cabling hanging loosely in some places and secured in others; the result was they had decent visibility despite a slight curvature of the electrified rail they were travelling along.

  Then Jack saw it.

  It was moving with incredible speed, faster and more terrible than any creature should’ve been able to. Wider now, it was scrambling with limbs along the wall, still using the metal shards to gain purchase in the rock. The body would occasionally drape down to touch the electrical line, causing burning and sparks to fly, but the creature seemed to take no real damage. Jack reared back, and with the butt of his rifle, began to break out the window. His team joined in with the exception of Tyrone who was still holding the grenades, and together, they broke through the glass sending fragments hurtling through the air behind the train car.

  “We’ve only got two grenades, so we have to ensure we hit it with both of them!” Jack yelled over the sound of the wind rushing through the tunnel as the train continued to speed along; accompanied by the ever present electrical hum and evil howling of the undead flesh construct pursuing them.

  “What’s the plan, Bossman?” Bridges wanted to know, taking aim at the creature.

  “We cut its limbs out from underneath it, when it goes down, Ty hits it with the grenades!”

  “As simple as that, sir!” Smith responded.

  “As simple as that!” Jack confirmed. The team took aim at the creature, waiting until it was both closer to ensure their shots hit and that they had a decent line of sight on the splayed appendages forming its limbs along its side. The severed stump of the tentacle at the ‘head’ of the creature was reforming, flesh being dragged forward from the rear of the construct, leaving taut flesh on bones it had fused together to make its own skeletal structure. Once it was in range, the team opened fire, each member taking careful aim to minimize the wastage of their limited ammunition. Jack gritted his teeth, firing at the exposed frontal limbs on the left side of the creature, his salvo joined by Smith, while Bridges and Ridgewell focused on the right side of the monster. Chunks of flesh were torn free, but for each limb they tore apart with gunfire, flesh was drawn forward to create more tentacle limbs. Worse still, it was gaining on them.

  Jack was careful with his shots, mentally counting down as he fired as precisely as possible, and he imagined his team was doing the same. Ridgewell was the first to reload, followed by Smith.

  “Last mag!” Smith reported.

  “Same!” Ridgewell confirmed.

  “Take mine if you need’em,” Tyrone instructed, but Jack hoped desperately they wouldn’t need to. The creature was closing faster and faster, coming within fifteen feet of the rear of the train. Much longer and they might not be able to delay the beast long enough for it to be caught in th
e blast.

  “Fall you fucker!” Jack growled under his breath. Suddenly, the beast let out a horrific howl and collapsed down on the track, sparking and burning as it came in contact with the electrified rail. Without waiting, Tyrone unpinned and launched one of the grenades at the monster. It landed just short, and as the construct scrambled forward, dragging itself across the ground, it lay its body over the explosive just as it detonated.

  The explosion devastated the creature’s body, tearing it into three major chunks and innumerable smaller fragments of body parts that were still writhing and twitching under the control of the virus. Tyrone launched the second grenade towards the two largest body parts, and despite their attempts to scramble away, the disruption caused by the explosion and devastation of its fleshy mass prevented it. The second explosion rocked the body chunks, shredding them into unidentifiable pieces of flesh. With that, and the continued suppressive fire until the team ran out of ammunition, the monster slowed and came to a stop. The train continued to hurtle away, and with the slight curvature of the track, the monster disappeared from view.

  Tense minutes passed. Jack had taken Tyrone’s ammunition, but as the train began to slow upon reaching the other end, he hadn’t needed to fire again. They saw no sign of the creature, and Jack could only imagine it was attempting to reform before pursuing them. Perhaps, Jack hoped, it was simply ‘dead’. Whatever the case, as they reached the platform, they hurried to the doors and fled into a room identical to that where they had boarded the train. There was a large chain-link fence and gate at one end, and Cerberus led them to it. Once at it, he grabbed the padlock securing the chain between the gate and fence pole and simply ripped it off with sheer brute strength, before he continued to lead the way. Emma had found her way to Jack’s side near the rear of the column; the latter keeping a wary eye behind them in case there was any side of the creature.

  “Two minutes!” Ridgewell called out, but they were moving too quickly to worry about whether they were safe. Jack assumed they were, but the explosion was going to be massive and the possibility that it would cause a collapse in the mine, taking them with it, was a real concern.

  They reached a rock wall which appeared to be a dead end, but Cerberus raised a piece of the rock on the right and revealed a panel which he quickly tapped a code into. The result was immediate. The wall was pushed aside on rollers - the concealed entrance mentioned previously. They took no time to assess their surroundings, following Cerberus out and to the right. Ahead, Jack could see the outside world. Thirty seconds later, he was breathing fresh air, but they continued to run.

  “Any second now!” Ridgewell informed them. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, and, glancing back towards the town, Jack was able to see a massive explosion as the ground shook as if an earthquake was ripping through the world. The fireball was immense, curling up into the sky, so big it could’ve been a nuclear bomb. He watched, awestruck, while still continuing to run. Eventually, breathless and ragged, Jack and his team came to a stop, fire was still licking at the sky from the explosion of the Redshield facility. Their mission was over.

  Chapter Thirteen

  JACK HAD BEEN ON HIGH alert while he and his team waited for extraction. Part of him was concerned that the creature made up of infected body parts might make its way out of the ruins of the mine, but it hadn’t. Was it truly dead? He couldn’t be certain, but returning to the train that led back to the facility was impossible, as the explosion had collapsed the tunnel. Evidence of the heat of the explosion lay in the fact that it was not only swelteringly hot down there, but there was visibly molten metal amongst the rubble. His next concern had been an attack by Bolvinox, but that too never materialized. Hades had apparently reconnected with Cerberus, and he reported that their associates had cleared out the majority of their forces, with those who were still alive retreating from the town. It didn’t settle Jack’s nerves any, nor allow him or his team to relax, but the moment they heard the sound of a helicopter coming their way - and seeing it land before them minutes later - allowed them to feel that their mission might finally have come to an end.

  “This is where we part ways,” Cerberus told Jack while the others clambered aboard.

  “You don’t want to come back to base with us?” Jack questioned. “You could get some grub, maybe a little shut eye.”

  Cerberus smiled.

  “And be quizzed by officers, poked with needles, and possibly detained when I try to leave.”

  “Yeah, that too,” Jack confirmed with a friendly grin.

  “I’ll pass, but sometime soon I’ll drop by for a visit.”

  “What about the two scientists?”

  “They’ll be delivered to you, don’t worry. Hades and I are many things, one of which is being men of our word.”

  Jack eyed him for a moment, wondering what exactly he should say next. Deciding there wasn’t much else he could say or do, he extended his hand.

  “Thanks for the assist down there,”

  “Don’t mention it, Major Ramsay. I hope our aims align again in the near future.”

  Cerberus extended his own hand and the two men shook for a moment. When they were done, Cerberus turned and started to walk away. Jack watched him for a moment, wondering how he was planning on joining up with Hades and his associates. He also considered asking if there was a UAV in the area that could track his movements. However, the truth was that he and his team would likely be dead were it not for Cerberus’ help. In Jack’s mind, that earned him a pass - at least on this occasion. Next time? Jack wasn’t sure it extended that far. He turned, boarded the helicopter and shut the door behind him, taking the last seat on the back left side, next to Emma.

  The journey back was a quiet one. Looking at the faces of his team, Jack could see each of them was attempting to process what they’d seen in their own way. They were shaken, that much he was certain of. Jack couldn’t blame them: he was shaken too. It had been a big leap to accept the evidence of his eyes that there were zombies taking over the world, but now it appeared the virus was capable of evolving to create monsters out of the fantastical creatures they had been battling against in desperate fashion. If this was the next stage in the virus’ evolution, Jack briefly wondered what their options were to defeat it. The future had looked bleak before, but now...

  Jack turned to Emma and she turned to him at the same moment.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. She let out a short, humorless laugh.

  “Are you serious?”

  “I’m a little rusty when it comes to what you should say after fighting a monster created by an amalgamation of zombies,”

  Emma looked serious for a moment then shrugged her shoulders.

  “We should find out if there’s any beer back at Fort Elridge. If there is ever a time for a drink, this is it.”

  “Doctor,” Tyrone piped up from across the way, “I completely agree.”

  Conversation began to spark up between the team. Bridges and Smith seemed to be bickering at each other in a light hearted way, with Ridgewell chiming in here and there, while Tyrone and Emma talked to each other without any hint of animosity. Jack smiled. The future was irrelevant; whatever came next they would deal with it as a team - no, more than that. They had grown together to become more like a family, and when family safety was on the line, you did whatever it took to protect it.

  MAXWELL LIT HIS CIGARETTE and took a long pull, the flare from the end casting just enough illumination on his face in the dark room to make David Haddenfield wince in something that looked like fear. The flare faded, returning the space to near pitch darkness.

  “David,” Maxwell started, moving around to stand behind Haddenfield, “you’re in deep shit.”

  Haddenfield had been secured to a metal chair in an interrogation room on a sublevel of the base. The cameras were recording, but Maxwell had yet to lay a finger on the man. He had a variety of dark ideas concerning what he could do personally, or have done should he give the order, to H
addenfield in an effort to gain the information he needed, but Maxwell wanted Haddenfield to be afraid for a little while longer.

  “You don’t know who you’re dealing with!” Haddenfield responded after a short time, fear evident in the tone he had adopted in a fake show of defiance.

  “You’re right, I don’t,” Maxwell confirmed. “That’s why you’re here: you’re going to tell me who I’m dealing with and what the endgame of this truly is. You’re going to tell me because you know my reputation... what lies beneath the heavily redacted mission reports that I filed. Knowing that, you know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t.”

  “It’ll be so much worse if I tell you anything. You’ve no idea what they’ll do to me!”

  Maxwell leaned in close and whispered with a soft menace into Haddonfield’s ear.

  “You should be far more concerned with what I’m about to do to you.”

  Maxwell moved around to stand in front of his prisoner while tapping a button on his phone that turned the lights facing Haddenfield onto full brightness, disorienting and blinding the man.

  “I won’t talk!” Haddenfield yelled defiantly.

  “We’ll see, David. We’ll see,” Maxwell told him calmly. “Who do you work for?”

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