Phoenix Protocol- the Middletown Omnibus

by Brent Abell

  When his eyes opened up again, a hunger filled him, and he rose to his feet. All thought escaped his mind except the need to quench his hunger.

  ***

  Victoria and Kent froze when they heard the scream coming from the direction of the lab.

  “Who was that?” Victoria asked.

  “I don’t know. It didn’t sound like Nick.”

  “Come on; someone might need help.”

  Victoria rushed down the hall. Kent followed behind her, and she heard him panting. He stood like a scarecrow, but he wasn’t in very good shape. Even in heels, she outran him. She reached the lab door and saw the badge reader. She swiped her company ID across its face, and the red light on top flashed. She backed away and stared it in surprise.

  “Why… what the?” Victoria stuttered.

  Kent stopped next to her wheezing and pulled his badge out. When he held it up to the reader, it beeped, and the light turned green. With another click, the door opened.

  ***

  Nick and Gilbert made their way slowly to the lab door when the lock disengaged. Both zombies moaned, and their stomachs ached from their hunger pains. Deep within, they knew their hunger could never be satisfied, and the animal need to eat over-rode all other thoughts if they had any. Through their milky eyes, all they could see were heat signatures. The dark red shapes in their vision showed them food. They needed flesh and blood, but their need was never-ending.

  Before them, two dark red forms appeared, and they advanced for their next meal.

  ***

  Kent pushed through the door first. The stench made him want to hurl when he stepped inside. Victoria followed him through the door and wrinkled her nose up as she entered. The air smelled heavy, and a coppery twang filled her nostrils. Scanning the lab, she spied the shredded flesh and dripping blood in the cages. Her stomach revolted and threatened to expel the salad she had for lunch all over the floor. Kent covered his mouth and nose. She could tell he also fought the urge to hurl.

  “What the fuck?” Kent muttered.

  “Let’s get the sample and get out of here. I don’t care about the computer files anymore, and I want to get out of here,” Victoria said.

  “Nick!” Kent called out. At first, nothing answered him until he heard something move to their left. When he turned, he saw Nick and the weird guard guy slowly walking toward them.

  “Why are their eyes white?” Victoria whispered, leaning in close to Kent.

  “More importantly, why is there blood in the corner of their mouths and smeared on their faces?”

  “I think we should go,” Victoria said and slowly backed away.

  “I think you may be right, but what about the sample?” Kent asked. He took a matching step backward too.

  The two men shuffled closer to Victoria and Kent.

  “What are they?” Victoria wondered out loud.

  “Zombies, the Phoenix makes people into zombies,” Kent stated flatly.

  “Seriously? Like Romero and Keene shit?” Victoria blurted out in surprise. She had an idea about it from the files she’d already stolen from Markus, but hearing the truth shook her beliefs. Life existed after death without going to the Great Beyond. No Heaven, no Hell; only the mindless hunger was driving everything a person did.

  “Keene’s shit was demons, not a virus,” Kent said and took another step back.

  “We can lose them and come back,” Victoria said and reached back feeling for the door handle.

  Kent pulled his badge out and hit against the card reader. It beeped and the door unlocked.

  “We run?” Victoria wondered.

  “I have an idea. When we exit, pull the chair over to the door to prop it open.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Kent winked and smiled, “To the elevator.”

  ***

  Markus sat and pondered his situation. Victoria was her way down to the lab to make sure the samples and the files were destroyed. He didn’t trust her any longer, however. Markus accidentally discovered she’d found the hidden files on his computer while doing a printing job for him. Realizing his mistake, he knew he had to finish her out and make it look like an unfortunate accident. With one call and the offer of tons of cash, one of the lab rats said they’d finish her off when she arrived.

  Still, something bugged him. Victoria had been gone far too long, and the rat hadn’t called him yet with news of the completed deed. He opened up his left desk drawer and felt the cold gun inside. His father gave him the gun as a gift when he became CEO and warned him to watch his back. Besides a few trips to the range to target shoot, he’d only had to use it twice. Tonight, he figured he’d be using it a third time. Either his bitch secretary would eat the bullet or the lab tech would for not living up to his word.

  Markus Franke didn’t rise through the ranks by being an idiot or timid. He took the gun from the drawer and rose from his soft black leather chair. Straightening his suit jacket, he stuffed the gun in his pocket and headed for the hidden elevator to the secret levels of Xen Pharmaceuticals.

  ***

  Kent and Victoria ran down the hallway toward the secret laboratory’s elevator. Behind them, they heard the two creatures following, their moans echoing down the empty hall. Victoria dared to sneak a peek behind her and looked back over her shoulder. With each step the zombies took, crimson dripped from their mouths and chins. The red contrasted brightly on the sterile white and gray tiles. Her pace started to slow, and she felt Kent tug sharply on her arm.

  “Almost there, hang with me,” he said. His words came in short gasps. He hated running.

  “What are you doing?” Victoria gasped and finally let her heels slip from her feet.

  “Quick, around the corner,” Kent said and pushed the UP button on the elevator as they passed.

  Once the two were out of sight of the two zombies, they came to a halt and waited. Both panted and tried to catch their breath. The groaning and shuffling steps approached quicker, and both held their breath. The zombies stopped before the elevator doors and began sniffing around the open doors.

  “Now what?” Victoria whispered.

  The zombies looked up from the elevator floor and began to turn toward them. Kent shrank back and stammered incoherently. Victoria sighed and sprang into action. Pushing off from Kent, she shoved the security guard zombie into the lab coat wearing one. Without any balance, they tumbled over each other and fell into the elevator. The guard’s feet were hanging outside the elevator, and she kicked him. The zombie recoiled back inside. Victoria reached in and pressed a random floor button. On the floor, they began to stir when the doors slid shut, and the elevator started its upward journey.

  “What did you do?” Kent gasped in shock.

  “I got rid of them so we can go back and get shit done,” Victoria said.

  “You are one focused bitch,” Kent sneered.

  “Mother fucker, you have no idea,” Victoria said and began walking back toward the lab.

  Kent followed and shook his head when she stopped to pick up the heels she’d kicked off during their escape.

  ***

  Erik Newcastle tapped his right foot impatiently. The elevator seemed to be taking an hour to get to his floor, and he was really late for a meeting with Accounting. He straightened his pinstripe suit coat and played with the gold cufflinks on his pristine white shirt. During the last few days, he’d held a few meetings in an attempt to find out about a secret account he uncovered during a routine audit. Erik had no choice but to be silent for a few days and hold it close to his chest; the account belonged to the company CEO. He knew Markus Franke would find a way to end him if he knew Erik had uncovered his secret slush fund. Before Erik could continue and become a whistle-blower, he needed to see a few records and files. Once he had everything ready, he could call his contact in the FBI and another in the DOJ to rat out his boss.

  And the prick deserved it too.

  Finally, the elevator dinged, and the door squeaked open.
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br />   “Coming through,” Erik called out and stepped into the elevator car. He didn’t even give the two people a chance to get off, and when he felt someone bit into his hand, he wished he would’ve waited.

  The man who latched on to his hand wore a lab coat, and he ripped a piece of meat from Erik. He cried out and tried to pull his hand away. Turning to his left, he saw a security guard open his bleeding mouth and snap his jaws at Erik’s throat.

  “Oh, Jesus!” he exclaimed. In that single moment, he found the religion his grandmother always wished he’d find. Erik never considered needing it until the world closed in and threatened to chew into his neck.

  The two tumbled against the buttons as they danced the two-step of death. With a dink, the doors closed, and Erik’s elbow hit the ‘4’ button. When the elevator began to move up, Erik already felt the burning fever burn through his body.

  ***

  Markus kept a small secondary office on the fourth floor, where he entertained other business leaders or other government officials. Sweat dripped down his face, and his stomach roiled from the anxiety filling him. Somewhere in the building, Victoria followed his directions and was still alive. She should have been dead, and he on the rooftop waiting for the helicopter to take him to the company’s secret bunker in Colorado. He might be a rash man, but he knew to plan ahead in case one of the company’s pet projects got loose. The bunker held enough supplies for the Board and their families for ten years. Once the top-side populace had died off, they could emerge and take control of whatever remained.

  But life had a funny way of changing the best-laid plans. He noticed the sounds of a commotion breaking out in the open-air atrium. It allowed him to leave his fourth-floor office and watch the people scurry about under his boot heel.

  If the screams he heard were what he thought, he didn’t have much time to find Victoria and kill her.

  “Bitch,” he muttered and unlocked the office door.

  Inside, the aroma of the last cigar he enjoyed in the office late the previous night still hung heavy in the air. The subtle Cuban scent relaxed him for a moment, and he shut the door as the screaming in the atrium steadily increased. The Phoenix ran rampant in the building, and it now became a matter of time before General Harris caught wind of it and followed the proper Protocol. Soon, the Xen Pharmaceuticals building would burn in the fires of Hell. Not only the Xen high-rise, but the whole of mid-town Manhattan would cook with it along with millions of people.

  Except for Markus Franke.

  He was a man with a plan, and the idea was to survive.

  Sitting behind the big black desk, he pulled out the large drawer on the left-hand side and stared at its emptiness. Markus tapped the drawer pull three times, and a panel opened, revealing a keypad. He punched in the numbers, and the locked box opened. Gently, Markus ran his fingers over the chrome gun inside. The gun from his office was small by comparison, and he reached down to retrieve the hand-canon. The Colt felt good in his hand. The balance of it never ceased to amaze him, and he pointed it at the door. It’d been a few months since he took it out to the cabin for some target practice, but he hadn’t had any employees to silence lately. It never ceased to amaze him how people never noticed the loudmouths who accompanied him on hunting trips never seemed to return. Markus always put down as an ‘occupational hazard.’

  Slowly, he pushed the panel closed again and looked longingly at the scotch bottle in the drawer.

  “I don’t need you to do for what I need to do,” he whispered and shut the drawer.

  In the last few minutes, he began to feel his age. His diet was perfect. His work-out regimen made his body fit beyond his years. His use of experimental drugs honed him into a ninety-year-old man with the physique of a thirty-year-old.

  Xen Pharmaceuticals made more than weaponized viruses for the military. The company developed the occasional consumer drug to keep the government and consumer groups at bay. The consumer division was nothing more than an accounting mechanism to hide the money funneled into the company from the military. Even Xen kept cash off the books with Congress and the Joint Chiefs to mask the deals made with less-than-savory people and to cover-up for things the American people wouldn’t have the stomach for if brought to their attention. Of course, Markus figured a terror attack or some celebrity break-up would refocus the people’s attention away from the reality of the world.

  The world was a scary place, and Markus Franke liked it that way.

  Taking the gun, he stood up and headed to the private elevator he installed to take him straight down to the secret lab.

  ***

  Kate Jenkins sat at her receptionist's desk in the Xen Pharmaceuticals lobby and sighed. The mailman dropped a massive pile of mail on her and hurried out without offering to deliver it to the mailroom. She hated her job, but the pay and benefits package was too good to pass up. After her husband left her, her mother moved in and suffered a stroke leaving her holding the bag.

  When the first scream rang out in the lobby atrium, the phone rang, and Kate instinctively answered it.

  “Good morning, Xen Pharmaceuticals. How may I direct your call?” she said.

  On the other end, a voice tried to answer, but she couldn’t hear over the increasingly loud cries and screams.

  Rude motherfuckers, she thought to herself.

  “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” she asked.

  Once again, the voice on the other side was drowned out by the people rushing up behind her.

  “Can you…,” Kate began before she felt the hand on her shoulder. “Look, I have a job to…,” she said and stopped when she looked into the blank eyes of the guy from accounting. Blood stained his teeth and bits of stringy red meat hung down from between his teeth.

  He grunted, and before Kate could speak another word, he tore into her arm and ripped the flesh free of her. She shrieked and tried to pull away. The man released his vice-like grip with his mouth and looked for another person to consume.

  All around the atrium, more and more people felt the bite of the ever-growing crowd of the infected. Some ignored the people diving for cover and running away from the gory people with blood-stained suits and dress shirts. Once bitten, the victim immediately felt their temperature rise, as their sanity melted away into nothing but hunger.

  Kate wiped the sweat forming on her brow and stumbled past the two men feasting on a delivery driver in front of the glass front doors. Outside, a group of people walking toward the door saw the carnage inside and began to run away. Kate’s vision blurred, and the heat inside her became excruciating. Pushing her way through the growing mass of dead humanity on the tiled floor, she pushed out of the door and grabbed the tourist peeking in through the glass doors. He tried to swat her away with his camera, but she groaned and tore into his neck. Her teeth sank into his artery, and she felt the warm blood flow into her mouth and down her throat.

  Beginning to feel sated, she threw her head back and took a chunk of his neck with her.

  The man fell to the ground, and the fever already burned. Alarms blared, and red lights flashed around the atrium. Large metal shutters dropped down from the planters above the glass doors and windows. The frantic people massed near the closing shutters. The weight of the screens crushed anyone when they hit the floor. All the people who didn’t make it out screamed. Those who made it out under the shutters hurried into the city. Some felt the fever take them from the bites they received at the hands of the crazy horde in the building.

  Order broke down, and the containment protocols failed.

  The Phoenix was loose in Manhattan.

  ***

  Victoria felt nauseous re-entering the lab. The heavy copper stench from the monkey blood drying in the cages made her stomach do flips. Kent covered his nose and grabbed two medical masks from the cabinet next to the door, and handed her one. Slipping it over her face, she took in a deep breath and almost gagged.

  “It won’t stop all of it, but it’ll help,” Kent said
and placed his mask over his mouth.

  Victoria slowed her breathing and relaxed. “Thanks, these do help.”

  “Okay, now the samples are back in the sample room. I’ll go and get it.” Kent paused and pointed at the three computers across from the cages. “And the information you need from the computers are on those three.”

  “Let’s hurr…,” Victoria started, and a loud alarm cut her off.

  “Shit,” Kent said.

  “What?”

  “The klaxon sequence is for an outbreak. Phoenix must have left the building,” he replied and ran back to the sample room.

  “How come I didn’t know that?” Victoria questioned. The idea she didn’t know something in the building galled her.

  “It was a secret. Only Mr. Franke and the few who have access down here knew about it. If it went off, everyone would think it was a fire alarm and evacuate the building. The labs would automatically seal off.”

  “Like the labs, we’re standing in?”

  Kent opened his mouth and shut it again. At that moment, something struck him funny.

  “The lab didn’t go into lock-down,” he muttered.

  “What does that mean?” Victoria asked.

  “It means the protocol has been over-ridden, and we need to get the hell out of here now,” Kent said and ran to the sample room.

  Victoria pulled her thumb drive out of her shirt pocket and hurriedly took a seat behind the computer. Inserting the thumb drive, she quickly copied the files. The percentage of data downloaded went by slowly, and Victoria grew impatient. Finally, the computer showed the copy sequence complete, and she initiated the file purge process. All the PCs in the building had a simple by-pass and code only Markus, she, and the lab techs could use to erase the systems.

  3 minutes, 10 seconds.