Phoenix Protocol- the Middletown Omnibus

by Brent Abell

  Charlie stood silently next to Rex in shock.

  “What the fuck?” Rex whispered.

  More bloodied bodies shambled in the doors and made their way toward the stage.

  “This is some serious Romero-type shit dude,” Charlie pointed out.

  “I think we’d better go,” Rex said and grabbed Charlie’s arm pulling him from behind the DJ booth.

  “Where are we going, Rex?”

  “Out of this fucking place.”

  14

  Big Cheese dove from the stairs as the students rushed in. He tried to get through, but in the end, he didn’t want to get caught in the crowd. A line of bushes surrounded the student union, and he crouched down behind them. Big Cheese was not a small man, but he balled himself up as little as possible. Blood ran down his chin where he’d bitten his lip trying not to cry out as the bloodied students shuffled by and pushed into the student union.

  A kid he remembered from his sociology class fell on the stairs, and the bloodied students behind him ganged up on him and tore into him. The kid turned his head and looked at Big Cheese. He already had a vacant stare, and Big Cheese watched a single tear fall from his eye as he mouthed the words, ‘help me”. A hand raked across the kid’s face, and fingernails dug into his eyes. The girl straddling him ripped an eyeball free and stuck it in her mouth. Fluids dripped from the corner of her mouth, and she slowly found another spot to begin tearing pieces of the kid off for her to eat.

  Big Cheese put his fist in his mouth and bit down, trying not to scream. In his pocket, he felt his phone vibrate, and he whimpered. The girl stopped eating the kid on the stairs, and her head turned toward him. He looked in her eyes and saw they were completely black, and the darkness he saw seemed to swim around. She began to climb off of the bleeding carcass beneath her and moved toward the bushes.

  “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…” he repeated.

  In his pocket, he felt his phone vibrate again. Fumbling for it, he read the message and felt some relief.

  Cheese, Rex and I are going to the second floor. R U OK?

  “Comin’ for ya’ my brother from another mother!”

  The girl tumbled from the steps and landed in the bushes near Big Cheese. Smiling, he got up and hurried away. He took one last peek behind him and watched the kid on the stairs stir and push himself up to his feet. At first glance, he thought the kid would be ok until he turned, and half of his face dangled from his skull. Bits of white bone shown through the shredded flesh and Big Cheese felt the bile rise in the back of his throat.

  “Fuck this,” he said as he hurried out from behind the bushes and to find Charlie and Rex.

  15

  “I hope Big Cheese got your text,” Rex said once they reached the second floor.

  “Why’d you want to come up here anyway?” Charlie asked and shut the doors to the stairs behind him.

  “Hide, man, hide. We don’t know dick about what it looks like out there, so we need to take a look from higher ground.”

  Charlie pulled his phone from his pocket and began typing.

  “Who you texting?” Rex asked and looked out the window on the second-floor lounge.

  “Big Cheese. I hope he’s ok.”

  “Holy shit,” Rex whispered.

  “What?”

  “Come here and look at this, Charlie.”

  They both stood in silence and watched the scene below. Students attacked students, and once they brought them down, they ate them. After lying still for a few moments, the dead-looking students rose from the ground to seek out someone else to attack. Blood covered the sidewalks, and it slicked the grass like crimson dew.

  “Jesus Christ,” Charlie said.

  “I don’t think he had anything to do with this,” Rex replied and sank to the floor.

  “What do we do now?”

  “Charlie, now we wait and see if Big Cheese got your message.”

  Charlie sat beside Rex and buried his face in his hands, hoping Rex wouldn’t see the fear in his face and the terror in his eyes.

  16

  Dr. Conrad Hart sat in the office and tiredly entered grades for the midterm he gave a week ago. He loved the research, and he loved the material, but he hated the grind of the teaching side of it. Sighing, Conrad pushed the rest of the ungraded midterms to the edge of his cluttered desk. In reality, he wanted nothing more than to trash the tests and go check out the sample awaiting him in the lab. Leaning back in his chair, he put his hands behind his head and let out another bored sigh. The excitement over the sample from the CDC made the task of grading even more tedious.

  “Maybe a small look,” he said to the empty room.

  Conrad stood up and headed for the lab. Hurriedly, he rushed out and didn’t hear the ding of an incoming email as he closed the door behind him.

  Out in the hall, he found it eerily silent. Even though it was in the evening, he knew the cleaning crew should be milling about finishing up for the night. He rounded the corner feeling the anticipation building in his mind and froze. Bloody handprints smeared the lab door and slowly dripped down the old wooden frame. A body laid still, and from his vantage point, Conrad didn’t see any movement. Cautiously, he approached the prone form, and his chest seized up. Inside the lab, he heard glass break and somebody moving around.

  Conrad couldn’t move. Fear set in and over-rode the signals from his brain, telling his legs to run. Slow footsteps neared the door. A dragging sound followed each heavy footfall. Each step sounded slow, and he tried to back away. Staring at the door, a finger on the dead body moved. Where he stood, he knew the body in the congealing blood was a goner.

  “A trick,” he stammered after he witnessed the finger move again.

  One of the hands jerked, and a low moan escaped the body’s lips. The female wiggled her fingers and tried climbing to her feet. The woman’s hand slipped in the pooled blood, and she crashed back to the floor.

  “Miss, are you alright?” Conrad asked and took a step toward her.

  The woman tried to stand up again, and this time, her feet held. Her head hung limply to the right, and her arms dangled at her sides. The shirt she wore had crimson streaks, and Conrad saw the gaping wound in her neck. Blood oozed from the injury, but it didn’t seem to faze the woman. She turned to face him, and he noticed her eyes. The whites were now black, and he didn’t see anything resembling life in them. In the bright hall lights, her skin had a pale, waxy color. Her eyes held his gaze, and she snarled.

  “What did they send me?” he questioned under his breath and covered his mouth in disgust and horror.

  While Conrad stood still and let the realization of what happened to wash over him, he saw Fred Owens shuffle out of the lab. He felt his paralysis break, and Conrad ran off back to his office.

  17

  Big Cheese ran around the corner and didn’t see anyone. Off in the distance, he heard approaching sirens and relaxed because the cops were on their way. His chest heaved, and his breath came in short gasps. If anybody were watching him, he’d be embarrassed finding it so hard to catch his breath during football season. His body should’ve been able to run around the corner of the building without issue, but he knew he hadn’t exactly been keeping up in the weight room and on the field. Coach Mears still played him because of his senior status, so staying fit didn’t matter much anymore.

  Ding!

  Big Cheese heard his phone and pulled it out to read his text.

  Dude, me and Rex are on the second floor. What the fuck is going on? The text from Charlie read.

  Shit hit the fan homey! Glad you guys escaped the crazy dudes who busted through the door, Big Cheese replied.

  Find Dr. Hart; he might know what’s going on.

  He is in his office, Rex?

  It’s the first place I’d check.

  On my way, Cheese out!

  Adrenaline rushed through him like pre-game warm-ups, and taking a deep breath; Big Cheese ran to the science building.

  18


  Conrad noticed the new message icon blinking on his PC as soon as he entered his office. He wanted to get out before Fred, and the woman found him, but he couldn’t turn down a new email message.

  Conrad,

  Thank you for agreeing to examine and analyze the sample I collected in the Amazon. I have witnessed the substance behave very strangely, and the side effects on the test subjects have been exciting. When you worked here, you know I always held your work and findings in the utmost regard, and I always valued you as a researcher. Thank you for doing this to help verify my results before I go and report to the Joint Chiefs. However, I urge you to use extreme caution and secrecy protocols with the sample.

  Thank You,

  Dr. James Browning

  CDC-Atlanta

  “Shit,” Conrad spat. He pulled out a pad of paper and flipped through his address book. Once he found James’s number, he jotted it down and turned to leave.

  In the doorway, Fred’s dead eyes stared hungrily at him.

  19

  Big Cheese hit the science building doors and flung them open with a loud bang. The building remained quiet inside after the door’s echoes subsided. Panting, he silently thanked the Lord that the dead moved slower than he did.

  “Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go,” he repeated and headed toward the offices.

  The further he went into the building, the more the silence disturbed him. Compared to the chaos outside, the quiet halls scared him more than the crazy student horde trying to eat each other did.

  “Hello?” he called out, and only the still silence returned an answer.

  He continued walking down the hall and tried to stay as quiet as possible. In his chest, his heart pounded, and he felt the blood rushing through his veins. He passed the first set of doors leading to the three big lecture halls and stopped. He glanced in the first lecture hall and didn’t see anyone. The lights were off, but the setting sun still lit the room enough for him to see inside. He felt uneasy deep in his gut and continued to the next hall where the offices started.

  When he came to the corner, he heard a low moan. Carefully, he peeked around the corner and saw one of the dead standing in front of an office door with his arms reaching out.

  “No!” came a scream from inside the office. The dead man took a step into the office, and the screaming grew louder.

  Big Cheese closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, he ran at the door.

  20

  “We have got to get the fuck out of here,” Charlie said and watched the courtyard fill up with more of the blood-soaked students.

  “I can’t believe we’re living a fucking zombie movie. It’s a pretty good one too,” Rex quipped and continued to look around the rooms close to the stairs. Below, he heard the zombies moving around the bottom of the stairs, cutting them off from their escape route.

  “Fire escape,” Charlie said.

  “What?”

  “The old fire escape in the back!”

  “What fire escape in the back?” Rex asked.

  “If you go through the janitor’s room in the back up here, there’s an old fire escape.”

  “Are you sure it’s still there or even good enough to use?” Rex cautioned.

  Charlie thought about it for a moment. “We stand a better chance than with them,” he said and pointed at the stairs. Both could hear them beginning to ascend the staircase, the chorus of moans signing to them.

  “Agreed,” Rex said and pushed one of the large lounge chairs to the top of the stairs.

  “What are you…oh, I get it,” Charlie responded and pushed one of the other chairs next to Rex.

  “Want to really fuck them up?”

  “Why? We did maybe have classes with some of them,” Charlie said.

  “They’re not themselves anymore; I don’t think,” Rex replied and pulled a lighter from his pocket. He ignited it and held the flickering flame beneath the edge of the chair’s arm. Slowly, fabric caught fire, and the blaze danced across the striped pattern.

  Charlie nodded at Rex and held out his hand. Returning the nod, Rex placed the lighter in Charlie’s hand. Grinning, Charlie lit the lighter and set his chair on fire.

  “Ready?” Rex asked.

  “Ready.”

  Rex kicked his chair down the stairs, and Charlie followed suit. The flaming chairs tumbled down the stairs, and bits of fiery cushion debris left a smoldering trail behind. Below, the dark stairs flared up in an orange hue, and the moans from the dead grew louder. Underneath the crackling fire, Rex could make out the sizzle of fat and flesh from the horde. A foul stench wafted up the stairs, and Rex wrinkled in his nose in disgust.

  “Rex,” Charlie stammered and tugged on Rex’s sleeve. “We need to go now.”

  “Wait, I want to see,” Rex replied calmly.

  Rising from the dark below, flickering orange and red hues illuminated the walls. The sounds of the cooking flesh subsided, but when the first of the dead came into view, their hair blazed like torches. The charred skin and burning hair fell from their bodies. Skin melted and burst eyeballs dripped like candle wax from the dead student’s faces. The last remnants of their hoodies and jeans were blackened and seared into their bodies.

  “Can we go now?” Charlie pleaded.

  “I’m good,” Rex said, and the pair ran off to the fire escape and freedom.

  Down where the chairs landed and smoked, a breeze from the open door fanned the embers, and the first floor caught fire.

  21

  “Why can’t you grade yourselves?” Rachael Howard asked the stack of ungraded book reports sitting at her desk. The three students studying for the Academic Bowl looked up with annoyed glances and went back to their studies.

  Sighing, she went back to staring at the papers and wishing she’d finished already. Grades for the quarter were coming due, and the backlog of assignments daunted her. She glanced at her phone and saw Rex hadn’t texted or called. It didn’t surprise her, he had the party to DJ, and she hadn’t exactly been very loving or caring to him recently.

  “Ms. Howard?” a voice wavered in the room.

  The papers still didn’t move or have magic red marks appear across the lousy grammar or ill-formed conclusions.

  “Ms. Howard!” the voice became frantic.

  The urgency in the student’s voice brought Rachael back to reality. “What?”

  The three students stood at the window and pointed to the plume of thick black smoke climbing high into the chilly autumn night.

  Jumping from her chair, she rushed over to see the scene, and her heart skipped a beat. The smoke rose from the Middletown University campus. Sirens cried out, and she saw fire trucks speed by heading to the school.

  A chill ran down Rachael’s spine, and she went back to the desk to grab her phone. Dread filled her, and a knot formed in her stomach. The display lit up, and she saw she still didn’t have a missed message or call. Her fingers became a blur as they raced across her keypad to call Rex.

  The phone rang once, twice, and on the third ring, it disconnected.

  Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she hit redial.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” she whispered.

  “Fuck, not a good time!” Rex’s voice cried through the receiver.

  “Oh my God, are you okay?”

  “Fine, just running from a bunch of dead people flaming like candles,” he huffed. He sounded out of breath.

  “The fire, are you ok?”

  “I’m fine. Charlie’s fine, but I’m not sure about the TA who tried to eat our faces.”

  “Stop fucking with me; I’m serious!” She saw the students looking at her, and she felt her face flush.

  “No, the world is going to Hell. Are you still at school?” Rex asked.

  “I’m in my room with three students.”

  “We’re coming your way. Don’t leave the room. Put the desks and shit in front of the door and hide.”

  “Rex, what’s happening? You’re scaring me,�
�� Rachael said. Her voice cracked on the edge of breaking down.

  “Something in the bio department, just do what I said, and we’ll come for you,” he replied curtly.

  The students stood in front of her, and fear etched their faces. All three looked white as a sheet.

  “Hang on, Rex,” she said and took the phone from her head. “You guys ok?” she asked the kids.

  The red-haired girl pointed to the window and tried to form words, but her lips only trembled. Rachael went to the window and looked out at the football field. People shambled out from the woods on the other side and headed for the school. A few were slowly limping along the school’s lawn. Blood covered their faces and clothes. She watched them move aimlessly about with their arms hanging at their sides.

  “Everybody, get down and help get desks in front of the door, hurry,” Rachael ordered them in a hushed tone. “Rex, they’re outside.”

  “Stay put; we’re on the way. Think of someplace safe we can go to while we wait for help to arrive,” Rex said.

  “Ok, and please hurry,” Rachael said, her voice on the edge of tears. “I love you,” she whispered and hung up before he could respond.

  22

  Conrad watched the heavyset black student burst through the door and plow into Fred’s walking corpse. The dead man collapsed, and the student caught himself on a desk to keep from going down too. Panting, he stood up and kicked the prone Fred in the side of the head. A low moan escaped his lips, but he didn’t move.

  “Oh my, who are you?” Conrad asked.