The Zombie Effect

by Sampson, Roger

  Motorized blast doors descend over all the exterior doors and chains over the windows to the facility. The parking garage cages cover the exits. Elevators shut down.The facility goes into lock down.

  In animal holding, the female tech who sprang the alarm surveys the room. Infected animals run wild around the room chaotically. She searches for the other tech. She’s writhing on the floor in the corner. She turns to the exit. The crash cart is stuck in the door jam. But it’s a way out. She bolts for the door. She puts her leg over the cart but an infected ape grabs her hair. She screams and struggles. The ape tosses her across the room by her hair, yanking a large chunk out by the root. The tech screams furiously. A dog clamps down on her throat and squeezes. She gurgle breathes and wrestles the dog. The dog finally loosens its grip and she kicks it off. She feels a sting between her legs. She lifts her lab coat and two mice are burrowing themselves into her underwear. She screams and hits one, knocking it back. The other mouse weasels through her underwear into her vaginal canal. She screams and writhes to get it out but it’s already too late. Red and black liquid gush from her vaginal canal through her underwear. She convulses and her eyes roll back into her head. Her abdomen bobs and shakes as the mouse continues to feed through her abdominal cavity. She collapses and twitches.

  The ape spies the opening in the door where the crash cart is stuck. It slowly approaches it. A dog leaps over it and through the hole. The animals all file out as if they were on fire. Staff members in the hallway take off running. None of them are fast enough to escape the animals.Anape tackles a cook. He bites off his ear. The cook screams. The ape reaches into the cook’s mouth and forces his hand down his throat. The cook struggles and his eyes bulge as he gurgle screams. The ape growls loudly and yanks the cook’s throat out of his mouth. The cook immediately goes limp and blood and tissue ooze from his mouth and nostrils as his dead eyes stare at nothing.

  A dog chases down a nurse and clips her Achilles heel. She screams and hits the deck. The dog opens its jaw wide and clamps down on her temples. She reaches for her head and tries to get the dog off. The dog tightens its grip. The nurse convulses and her eyes roll back into her head. The dog clamps again and her face contorts as her skull caves in. Her eye pops out followed by blood and brain matter. The dog howls.

  The animals race in every direction taking down dozens of staff members. The first staff members to die suddenly rise, infected by the compound and head off to find new donors. The animals continue their search and widen their strike area.

  The compound has been lying dormant, waiting for the chance at life again. Now it has it and it’s growing. If it wasn’t for the ice age maybe it would have decimated the earth. Like all living things, the bacteria just wants to live. In that, man is its enemy. But it has no empathy. It has no remorse. It can’t be negotiated with. It’s coming. It wants to survive and it doesn’t care about the consequences of its actions. Ironically, when it comes to man, they often share that trait. In that a human being could almost empathize. At least they would if it weren’t for the fact the bacteria was trying to kill them all.

  CHAPTER 19

  Cliff, Beth and Jack race through a hallway on their way to Control. Staff members run by them heading the opposite direction screaming.“How did the mouse infect the animals? How is that even possible?” Beth frantically asks. Jack looks at her like she’s not going to like his answer.

  “When the ape attacked your mom. The only way out of that room was the door, or the ventilation system. If you know your way around, you can get anywhere in the facility. It recalled where it came from. So many animals, so much blood in one place. Didn’t take much,” Jack somberly admits. Cliff shoots a look at Jack. Jack is insinuating the fucking compound is intelligent. That it remembers. That it knows. How is that possible? Cliff can only ponder this horror. If they have any hope of figuring out how to kill it, they have to get out of the institute alive first.

  As Cliff realizes the scope of the situation, he stops. Jack and Beth halt with him. “What?” Jack asks.

  “We have to notify the CDC,” replies Cliff. Jack’s eyes widen huge.

  “You haven’t told the CDC?” Jack grumbles.

  “It’s complicated. Not everything is simple when a government agency is involved,” explains Cliff. Beth covers her mouth in shame. She can’t believe her father would do anything outside of the law. She’s horrified.

  “Daddy, what did you do?” she asks teary eyed.

  Cliff frowns at Beth. He looks away in shame. Lying to the CDC. A sin by omission if not a sin by commission. But Cliff also knows there are other powers in play. Powers that even influence the CDC. And Cliff knows if they do this prematurely, greater consequences are possible. But Cliff knows he can’t say a word about this to either of them. Beth feels the nausea of shame gut punch her. Jack pulls his cell phone out. “What are you doing?” Cliff inquires.

  “Calling 9-1-1.” Jack replies frantically.

  “Cell phones don’t work at Barrister. Disrupts research equipment. We have to get to a landline,”Cliff explains. This just gets better and better Jack thinks. Cliff has fucked this up royally and as brilliant as Jack is, he’s not sure he can get them out of this. He glares at Cliff. “Let’s just fix this,” Cliff pleads.

  Logan turns the corner ahead, moving slowly. His eyes are glossed over red orbs. Jack’s eyes widen. “Fuck me,” he stutters in disbelief.

  “Oh my God,” exclaims Beth. Cliff looks pale for a moment. Two things about this sight become clear to Cliff in an instant. He has way bigger problems than dealing with Hicks now. And the second is he has to put Logan down.

  “He’s turned, Cliff,” advises Jack. Cliff looks at Jack. Logan spots Cliff and slowly makes a beeline for him. Cliff lifts his gun at Logan.

  “I never wanted it to be this way Logan. God damn it,” Cliff says struggling to pull the trigger.

  “Cliff?” Jack inquires hesitantly. Cliff sighs heavily just as Logan leans out to touch him. Cliff fires. The round annihilates Logan’s right eye, blowing out the back of his skull. Brain matter and black bloody pus cover the floor and back wall behind Logan, who crumbles to a knee and lumbers to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

  “This is getting out of control,” Jack exclaims like Captain Obvious. Jack pulls his gun from his waist and the three of them continue on toward Control. Institute personnel race past them in a panic. Infected staff pursue slowly. Cliff and Jack raise their guns and drop them one by one. The deafening sound of gun fire, spent shells clanging on the floor, the squish of people and infected traipsing through blood, brain, pus and fecal waste. Killing people isn’t like what you see in the movies. And the movies don’t get it right when zombies die. There is a loss of dignity even in their death. The irony of the phrase zombies dying seems comically ironic to Jack in a tragic way. They’ve seen a thousand zombie movies and told a thousand gross zombie jokes. They’ve referred to ugly coeds as zombies and made fun of people on social media. The cliché is as old as the zombie lore, but none of that compares to the real life indignity of shitting your pants even though your body is dead. It’s like ZnMBe has a thing or two in common with mere mortals. The sight is sickening.

  Cliff turns the corner of the next hallway and peeks through the maze of bodies to his office door down the hall. He stops Jack and Beth. “We need to get the files on the compound from my office,” he instructs Jack.

  “I got it,” Jack replies. Jack hugs the wall and makes it to the door. He takes a step to enter and an infected assistant greets him with hunger in her infected eyes. Jack is caught by surprise and ducks to the left, rolls on his back and leaps up from the far side of this middle aged undead creature. She turns her head to him and Jack shoots a round into her forehead. She drops like a stone.

  Jack races into the office around the desk and sits at Cliff’s computer. Cliff and Beth reach the door and enter. Cliff silently closes the door behind him. Jack notices a flash drive already sticking out of the computer
with the Hicks logo on it. Jack looks at Cliff. Cliff walks around the desk and checks it. “See what’s on it,” Cliff whispers. Jack opens the drive directory. The ZnMBe files fill the computer screen.

  “Holy shit,” Jack quietly exclaims. Cliff realizes Logan was in the process of stealing the files on the compound. He was going to take it to Hicks and leave Cliff completely out of it, or worse. The revelation produces a sickening feeling in Cliff’s stomach. He never trusted Logan or Hicks, but he never expected them to betray him on that level. In that sense Cliff feels a sudden relief that Logan is now dead, and at his hand no less. And that feeling of relief makes Cliff feel a little sick at his lack of humanity. For all of his faults, Cliff wouldn’t betray someone that way or wish them dead. He has always had his humanity. But at the moment the line is blurry for him. Right now, though, they need to get out of this alive first. He can contemplate his humanity all he wants once they’re all safe again. In the meantime, there is a facility full of people he used to know who are now suffering immeasurably at his hand. That is something he has to live with. And that is the bigger problem. All he can do is end their suffering. He owes them that much. But that means doing the unthinkable. The dynamics of the situation are impossible to process for anyone. So Cliff puts those thoughts to bed for the moment. He needs to save Beth now. If he can do that, perhaps there is hope for his humanity after all.

  Jack opens an analysis file and a graphic fills the screen with data and spiking curve. “Oh God,” Jack exclaims. Cliff looks at the computer. “The incubation period is exponentially shortening. It’s adapted to our body chemistry and now the reaction time is down to seconds, not hours like with Rachel,” Jack explains. Cliff pounds his fist on the desk.

  “We have to call the CDC,” Cliff says.

  He lifts the receiver. There is no dial tone. “We still have internet. I can email Doctor Norris,” Jack offers. Cliff looks at Jack for a long moment. He nods approval.

  “And take the flash drive,” Cliff instructs. Jack opens a new email from Cliff and composes.

  “Dr. Norris, toxic bacterial compound security breach at Barrister. In lock down. No phone service. We have the research files and are close to a solution. But we ran out of time as outbreak at the institute has infected most staff already and spreading fast. Containment protocol recommended. Infection spread through bite or fluids. Incubation period accelerated to just seconds now. No time to find a solution. Need assistance ASAP.”

  Jack sends the email and grabs the flash drive and shoves it in his pocket. He looks at Cliff for direction. “How did it come to this? I can’t believe any of this. All these people,” Cliff somberly confesses. Beth wraps her arms around Cliff. She weeps softly on his shoulder. A tear runs down Cliff’s cheek. He never wanted any of this. He wanted to help people. Jack touches his shoulder.

  “The best thing we can do for these people is to end their suffering and do all we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We have to warn people and work to find a solution to kill it. We need to get out of here alive,” Jack counsels Cliff. His words shock himself as much as they shock Cliff. Whether it’s the circumstances of the day or his responsibility for bringing the material to the facility in the first place, his maturation curve has to accelerate just to have a chance at survival. Jack didn’t even know how strong he was. The question is whether it’s enough.

  CHAPTER 20

  The Power Control Room is located on the basement level of the institute. It’s a rather large sub facility, covering 300 feet on all sides. As you would imagine, it’s not aesthetically pleasing at all with off white barren walls enclosing a series of air handlers, breaker boxes and transformer units, a secured 30 foot by 25 foot control room featuring a large control panel with live video relays. Two techs man the room 24 hours a day to ensure everything runs smoothly at the institute from an infrastructure perspective. On the current shift those two unlucky men are Joe and Dave. Joe is the supervisor and Dave is the tech. Each day Dave is tasked with performing rounds to check for issues, system instability, security breaches and any suspicious activity. He carries a police baton and flashlight with him.

  When the alarms went off in animal control, Joe sent Dave out to the outer entrance of Power Control to keep security over the area. Dave walks the perimeter of the area checking for issues. A red orb eyed mouse spies him from the vent shaft above. The mouse stalks its next source of nourishment like a lion stalking a gazelle.

  Dave walks by the entrance door to the control area and a loud thump shakes the door. Dave stands motionless. Another thump rocks his world. “Please let us in!” screams a voice on the outside of the door. Dave stands motionless, breathing hard. Piercing screams and sounds of gurgled guttural noises follow. A small flow of blood trickles its way under the door jam. That is followed by an eerie, uncomfortable silence. Dave shines his light on the blood under the door and his breathing pace increases. He clicks on the walkie talkie hanging from his shirt collar. “What the fuck is going on out there, Joe? I think I got blood here.” Dave whispers in a panic.

  “Don’t worry about it, just don’t open the door,” breathes Joe.

  Dave shines his flash light around the room. He senses something coming for him but attributes it to his mind playing tricks on him like watching a horror movie. He talks to himself to convince himself he’s secure here. A creaking noise interrupts his thought process from the next corridor. He slows his breathing so he can listen closely. A scraping noise. He bolts his light in that direction. He sees nothing. He creeps toward the sound ever so slowly, ready to turn back and run at the first sign of trouble. He turns the corner and proceeds along a hallway with pipes on both walls from floor to ceiling, some periodically releasing steam pressure.

  He pauses for a moment to listen. There is no noise. Then he hears a clicking noise like the sound of hoof beats. He stops. He shines his flashlight down the corridor. A set of bright red eyes attached to a zombified dog turn from around the next corner. The dog growls lowly. Dave slowly steps back. A clicking noise from behind him. A chill runs down his spine. He wipes sweat from his brow as he turns behind him slowly and deliberately as if to avoid making any noise to stay undetected from monsters lurking in the shadows. Another dog stares at him through its glowing orbs. He stands frozen, pondering what move he can make to save himself. Something clinks the pipe to his right. His eyes bulge as he slowly turns just his eyes to the right. Anape with red orbs hangs upside down from the ceiling. It squeals and drops down on his shoulder. The dogs attack from both sides. Dave hits the deck. He wrestles with the animals attacking him, taking large chunks of meat from his arms, legs and abdomen. The mouse launches itself from the pipes above and lands in Dave’s screaming mouth. It burrows its way down his throat. Dave stops moving as his eyes gloss over red. Blood and tissue spatter from his mouth and nose. The mouse burrows a hole in his throat and crawls out, dripping in red pus and bodily fluid.

  Joe scopes out the monitors in the control room. He’s lost sight of Dave. “Dave, come in.” Joe speaks into the microphone. He gets no response. A flash blurs by one monitor. Joe reacts too late to see what it was. Then another monitor shows an ape fly by on the pipes. Joe’s eyes light up. “Dave, come the fuck in. Where are you?” Joe says in a half panic. Dave plods by a monitor slowly heading back to the control room. Joe sees him and tries to figure out why the fuck he’s moving like that. “Are you OK? What’s wrong?” Joe calls again. He again gets no response.

  Joe loses Dave on the monitors again and then a loud bang on the door to the control room interrupts his concentration. Joe looks at the door. “Dave?” Joe cries out. Bang! Joe jumps a bit. He slowly creeps to the door. Bang! Bang! The door noise is creepy as fuck and Joe reaches it and looks through the security hole. He sees the top of Dave’s hat. “Fuck me dude, why you gotta pull that shit?” Joe screams at Dave as he opens the door and heads back to the console. He assumes Dave was playing a prank. Dave looks up as Joe walks away and he launches himse
lf at Joe, tackling him to the floor. Joe struggles and screams. Dave bites Joe’s arm. Joe screams. Dave reaches under Joe’s ribcage and in one swinging motion rips Joe’s diaphragm straight through. Joe immediately screams and then stops as his lungs no longer fill with air. Dave wraps his teeth around Joe’s stomach and removes a giant bloody patch of intestines. Blood gurgles up through his mouth as his eyes deaden and then turn red and gloss over.

  Dave rises and peruses the room. He walks over to the electric control room. He opens the door and enters. A rat races behind a control box with several wires coming out of it. Dave follows. Dave’s foot gets stuck in the cords and he fights to free it. His shirt gets stuck on the panel lock and he rips open the panel, freeing his shirt. The rat is on a pipe behind the panel. Dave puts his hand through the panel to reach the rat. The electric shock launches Dave backward into a breaker panel. The panel explodes and lights Dave on fire. His blood, brain and tissue spray in every direction as his body flails to get free and then stops.

  In Cliff’s office, Cliff unlocks the locker behind his desk. He reaches for a taser and a PR24 baton. Jack raises his eyebrows to Cliff. Cliff shrugs at the gesture that those are meaningless weapons against these undead things. As zombie apocalypse weapons go, Cliff is clearly an amateur. But Cliff likes to think of himself as an improviser.The lights go out. “Seriously?” Beth exclaims sarcastically. She can’t help but to think they are living every zombie movie she’s ever watched. Cliff stumbles over a trash can on his way to the cabinet near the door. He opens it. A flashlight illuminates the front half of the room. Cliff shines it in the cabinet and grabs a second one and hands it to Beth.

  “We need to get the power back on,” Cliff advises.

  “Why?” Jack asks. It’s not that Jack likes the power off, but the way Cliff said it makes it sound pretty bad that it’s off.