Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  I hastily run over to Natasha, who has relieved the remaining guard of his pistol and checked the clip. She hands me the bloody knife and grins. Not sure why.

  “I’ll need the pistol more than you will, dead man walking.”

  I could just slit her throat and take both, but again, the extra set of eyes and possible diversion might come in handy. She’s given me no reason thus far not to kill her, but things could change.

  A swooshing sound from above and behind us tingles my ears, sending my eyes up top and then behind me.

  “Come on!”

  Natasha bolts out of the guards’ workstation and heads back the opposite way towards the door that is now open next to the stairs. I quickly follow her and stay on her ass as the sound of gunfire blisters through the air, seeming to come from every direction. We dart inside the adjoining room, bullets whizzing past us. A few strays catch me in the upper back and bore through my body, exploding out of my lower torso. A trail of my thick, mutated blood reaches for the ass end of the bullets as they strike the concrete floor. It doesn’t slow me down, but rather knocks me off balance as the door seals shut behind us.

  The pinging sound of the rounds striking the steel door continues and I can faintly pick up the chatter on the other side. I can’t fully make out what they’re saying, but can guess it’s concerning how they’re going to get in here.

  Natasha trains her pistol at a control panel on the wall and chambers off a single round, shattering the display and sending sparks spewing out in every direction.

  “That’ll buy us a little time, but not much,” Natasha says. “You’re hit. You ok?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  I peer down and rip open my already tattered shirt where the bullets tore through to find walnut sized holes. The flesh around the wounds is decaying and blackened, puss dribbling out and down my rippled stomach. I don’t bat an eye at the sight, but Natasha’s face becomes disgusted, and that look of concern still hovers in her eyes. I guess right now she needs me just as much as I need her. But I won’t be offering up that kind of sensitive information just yet. That will be in a worst case scenario, if then.

  I gulp hard and clear my throat, the raspy sound horrid and deep. I cover my mouth and hack hard one time, a thick wad of blood coating my palm. I become light headed once more and everything in the room slows down. It’s as if someone has put my brain on slow motion times two.

  “I’ll be honest with you, Mike, I don’t think you have too much longer before you turn fully. I can do you anytime or if I feel endangered by you wanting to tickle my funny bone with your teeth, I will put you down. Just remember that.”

  “If and when it does get to that point, you do what you feel you need to do.”

  Natasha nods slightly in agreement and holsters her pistol, walking off in the opposite direction while keeping an eye on me. I gather my shit the best I can and get myself upright. I take a deep breath and try to repress the inner demon fighting tooth and nail to be let loose. For now, I’ve got him contained, but he is at the door and ready to take over.

  21

  Unstable at the moment and my brain feeling like mush, I straighten and walk towards Natasha. She’s planted her butt in a chair, her fingers dancing across an illuminated digital keyboard. The monitor in front of her scrolls through all sorts of shit that I don’t understand.

  I peer around the room, or should I say a lab of some kind. It looks similar to the one where I ended Deacon’s nightmare. Not that he remembered anything before it. Or did he? There are more vials and massive test tubes that take refuge in this seemingly untouched part of the base, facility, Frankenstein’s laboratory, whatever you want to call it.

  “What . . . doing . . . there?” I ask with almost a drunken slur.

  “I’m trying to see if I can gain access to the secured files. That’s where we’ll find all the goodies,” Natasha replies without missing a beat. “Again, I don’t know much about computer hacking, but I’ve picked up a few things here and there. Hopefully, it will work.”

  Natasha continues to hack away at the network as I turn around and spot a tube directly behind us with something peculiar floating in some greenish tinted fluid. I stumble over like one of those walkers and place my hands on the thick glass, resting my spinning head against it and trying to keep my balance.

  The thing inside is horribly deformed, looking more like a made up creature from some back lot of a Hollywood studio. Its head is rigid and has welts pushing out all over. Its body is tiny, legs and arms protruding out in the weirdest places. It has one big black eye that is open and looking at me. It’s not moving or showing any signs of life. I think it’s dead, if it was ever even alive at all.

  “Damn it, I wish Hound was here. He would’ve had this cracked open in no time. Probably doesn’t help that I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

  I keep studying the creature. Out of my right peripheral vision, I catch something stirring. It’s subtle and not something I think wants to eat us as they really don’t give a crap about being subtle.

  “Hey,” I whisper to Natasha who spins around in the chair and looks at me frustrated.

  “What, and why the hell are you whispering?”

  I point around the tube towards some steel storage cabinets that have one of the double doors partially open. The right door moves just enough to stir our interest.

  Natasha bolts out of her chair and draws her pistol, training it at the cabinet. She points to me, then to the cabinet. I slowly stumble over to the cabinet and grab one of the doors, glancing over my shoulder to Natasha.

  She nods.

  I move to the left some and jerk the door open. The sound of a panicked male voice begging for his life and thrashing around inside the steel cabinet greets me. I can’t see who it is yet, but Natasha has her Glock still trained on him.

  “Shut up and stop that damn whining!” Natasha yells. “Have you been bitten or scratched or anything like that?”

  The man plops out of the cabinet and onto the floor, keeping his head down and on his knees. He’s dressed in that all too familiar white lab coat with a badge dangling from the right pocket. He raises both arms into the air. “Please don’t shoot. I’m unarmed.”

  Natasha lowers her weapon some, a look brushing over her face that sends the gears churning and burning inside her head. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she knew this person.

  “Dr. Lentz?”

  Instantly, the man freezes and slowly looks up. His wild salt and pepper thin hair is partially matted to his scruffy face. “Natasha . . . is that . . . you?”

  Natasha holsters her Glock and walks toward him, bending down and helping him off the floor. He’s much older and looks really haggard, wrinkles covering his shaking hands and his worn face. Massive bags take refuge under both his eyes, the skin a dark, deep blue.

  “I thought you’d been killed or taken away.”

  “Fortunately, I managed to slip away and hide before they got to me. Thanks to you of course,” Dr. Lentz replies.

  “I’m glad to see you’re ok,” Natasha warmly says.

  I clear my throat and lean against some metal cabinets. Natasha glances at me then quickly back to Dr. Lentz. This ought to be good.

  “Doctor, there’s someone I’d like-”

  Before Natasha can finish, Dr. Lentz turns around and sees me. Terror swarms his face, his bloodshot eyes open wide. The color that he just got back instantly drains away to a very pale white. Guess I startled him.

  Dr. Lentz scrambles away in a panic, falling backwards to the floor. Natasha grabs him by the arm and reels him back in, trying to calm him down.

  “Dr. Lentz, everything’s fine. He’s not going to hurt you. He’s not like the others.”

  I keep still in hopes that the good doctor will relax and chill out some. I’ve got my arms folded across my chest and both hands tucked under my armpits, coughing occasionally. Well, actually hacking is more like it.

  The
doctor looks me over, scanning me from head to toe with a bewildered, yet curious, stare. The fright that resided in his face fades away and a more inquisitive expression brings the color back to him. Natasha helps him to his feet.

  The doctor walks toward me slowly, still cautious and aware that I no longer look to be among the living. I can feel his eyes rolling over every spec of my disease ridden body. He mumbles something, while raising his hand to my face. “May I?”

  “Knock yourself . . . out,” I say, hacking once more.

  The doctor firmly grabs me by the chin and slips a pair of thick rimmed black glasses on, leaning in close and turning my head from side to side. He continues mumbling, smiling at some points as he releases my face. “Very remarkable indeed.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot here lately.”

  “Do you hunger for living flesh?”

  “I don’t,” I rasp, coughing heavy once more. “I tried to eat a Snickers bar, but that has been the extent of my food endeavors as of late.”

  Dr. Lentz continues to look me over as I lean against this storage cabinet keeping me temporarily upright. The up and down cycle that has perpetuated my current condition is on the latter end. Getting better and back to my Becky is dissolving right in front of my blurring vision. I want to fight and break this cycle, but I’m not sure I can anymore. Although a small fraction of my mind still keeps Becky with me, the disease that has consumed me is winning. As much as it pains me, I need to let her go and accept my fate.

  I am sorry my love. I have failed you.

  The light headedness takes me over and I’m sent crashing to the ground hard. I see Dr. Lentz and Natasha reaching for me as my eyes roll into the back of my head, their voices fading away as if a distant dream. My heart, which was once full of vigor and a raging desire, has slowed to a deathly crawl. The cruel hand of death has wrapped itself around me as I plummet into the dark black abyss of nothing.

  22

  My eyes explode open. I’m standing in the rain in a cemetery in the dead of night. It’s black all around me and the only light I see is from the bright yellow flashes of lightning that crackle and streak across the starless sky. I’m lost and don’t know why I’m here. It’s not a familiar place and I’m not making the connection. I look through the massive rain drops that pelt my face. There’s someone across the way, up on a cliff.

  “HEY!” I yell, trying to dominate the storm raging through.

  The person pays me no mind. I figure they can’t hear me, but I might be wrong. I trudge through the soggy ground, my shoes sinking in and soaking my feet. I’m chilled to the bone and wrap my coat tighter around me. It does little good.

  The trees scattered around are bare, the thin, scrawny branches looking more like oversized bony arms and hands reaching out for me. I climb the small hill to the person and notice a grave. I hate to intrude, but I must.

  “Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but-”

  Lightning strikes once more and illuminates the tombstone for a brief second, showing who passed on to the other life. The fridge cold snatches my breath from my body and my mind forgets how to form words as I stand in disbelief at the name etched on the chiseled stone. It’s mine.

  The shock of it all has me planted in place, unable to move and scream out what my mind is thinking. I peer down at the person kneeling at my grave, wondering who it can be. I start to reach for their shoulder, and they stand up.

  It is Becky, crying her eyes out and wiping her nose with the red hankie she gave me when we first met. Her black mascara races down her pale cheeks. Her clothes are soaked through and clinging to her shaking frame. She’s weeping inconsolably.

  “Beck-” I say. She turns away from my resting place, and walks right past me, heading toward the cliff.

  “BECKY!” I yell her name as she pauses at the very edge. Finally, I’ve gotten through to her. Just turn around baby, I’m right here.

  Becky peers over her left shoulder and looks at me. Her face blank and emotionless, the river of tears dried up and the redness of her eyes soaking in. She simply whispers, “I love you, Mike.”

  Then, like a dagger to my heart, Becky leans forward and falls from my sight. I try to get to her before she’s gone, diving onto the wet grass and reaching for her. I look over the cliff, finding nothing more than the churning sea below. She’s gone.

  “I think he’s coming to,” a voice sounds out, rattling around inside my skull.

  I hear it, but pay it no mind. My torn heart is fading fast as I lay flat on the ground. I keep peering over the cliff, hoping to find my Becky in the water. Even if she is dead, I will gladly jump in just to hold her once more.

  My body convulses slightly, a sharp shooting pain coursing throughout. I clinch my teeth and my eyes slam shut. The pain grinds inside of me for a few seconds, and then subsides. I awake to find Natasha and Dr. Lentz looking down at me.

  “We thought you were gone and weren’t sure if or how you were coming back,” Natasha says.

  “Well, that makes two of us,” I groggily reply.

  Natasha glances at Dr. Lentz, who stares at me with that not so good news look. We’ve all seen it before and to be honest, I’m surprised it has taken this long. Besides, I doubt he’s going to tell me anything I haven’t already figured out or suspected.

  “So, what is it, doc?” I ask flatly, skipping the bullshit and jumping right into it. My frazzled state feels to be leveling off, but that is all that is getting back to normal.

  “There’s no antidote to the virus. It will continue to spread and meld with your system until it’s completely taken you over. I’d say you don’t have much longer.”

  Wow. I guess I got what I asked for. A straight answer without any fluff or build up. Point blank, right between the black eyes. I’m not surprised though. I keep sinking further into this hell hole and there doesn’t seem to be a way out. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to Becky or not. Either way, I hope she’s happy.

  “However, since there’s not a cure . . . yet, the only thing we can possibly do is inject a larger dose into you. It may kick start the catalyst enough to not only stabilize your condition, but might bond with your system on an unprecedented level. It’s a long shot, but the only one I see for you.”

  “You said possibly? What’s the downside to doing this?”

  “Well, it’s hard to say either way considering you’re the first person I’ve come across who has bonded with the virus as you have.”

  “Give me an educated guess,” I reply.

  “Bottom line, if it works, in theory you should stay the way you are now, but in much better shape. A complete body make over from head to toe. Mostly inside though. Your appearance will not get any better and may change, depending on the reaction. If it goes bad, the person you are right at this moment will be gone and the mutation will fully consume you, both inside and out.”

  So either way I’m screwed. Figures. Doesn’t really matter which road I take, they’re both going to suck. All depends on what I’m willing to live with—or die from. Decisions, decisions.

  “Well doc, since I’m not left with much in the way of reassuring options here, let’s fill ’er up. I’ve got nothing left to lose, right?”

  I glance at Natasha whose face is blank and stern, emotionless to my decision. She doesn’t really know me anyways and considering the fact that I was going to kill her if she looked at me funny, I’m not surprised by her expression.

  Natasha grabs my wrists and straps them down, then moves to my ankles, and restrains them as well. She jerks the thick, black restraints tight, my limbs left with no wiggle room of any kind. If it goes bad, at least they’ll be able to get out before I have a chance to break free.

  I turn my head to the right, away from the light looming over me, and watch the good doctor retrieve a vial from a refrigeration unit. The cool air crawls out from the bottom and spreads, fanning out in all directions. He places the chilled vial into a machine that has dozens of metal tubes li
ned up tight like a carnival ride. He slips the vial into one of the tubes and hits a button. The machine comes to life and starts spinning fast, going round and round.

  “If for any reason this goes south, kill me and do it quickly,” I say.

  “Don’t worry, I was planning on that all along,” Natasha replies with a smirk.

  The machine stops and Dr. Lentz removes the vial from its holder, placing it into an evil looking syringe that looks like it should be used on an elephant. He presses down on the top, sending the thick blue liquid squirting out. Guess it’s go time.

  “Normally, this would be administered through a tube and you’d be sedated, but given where we are and the lack of proper supplies needed, I’m going to have to inject it directly into your neck. The pain will be great at first, but should subside rather quickly.”

  “Can’t hurt any more than everything else that has been done to me.”

  Dr. Lentz places his cold, rough hand on my head and moves it to the side, exposing my neck. Natasha stands at a distance from the table, her Glock tucked nicely in her hand with her finger over the kill switch.

  The needle punctures my flesh and digs in, the liquid flooding my body. The pain is bearable and I don’t bat an eye as Dr. Lentz injects the full vial of the virus. I can feel it working through me, crawling and attacking everything within me.

  The good doctor removes the syringe from my neck and takes a few steps back, both Natasha and himself looking on with curious stares. I close my eyes and try to focus on Becky as best I can, but the virus is too overwhelming. I know something inside of me is changing, but I’m not sure which way it’s going.