by D. P. Sloan
Gregg looked puzzled, “What are you talking about?”
West smirked before pulling out a small black device and holding it in front of him in his right hand, “Right now an army of the dead is tearing through Drumchapel, breaking through the barriers, hunting down any living being and then eating them, devouring them, turning them into more of the walking dead. Then they will travel – travel further than Drumchapel, further than Bearsden, go outside Glasgow and devouring communities until there is no living people left, only dead.”
Gregg shook his head, “I won’t let that happen!”
West sniggered, “Really a little school boy is going to stop us. Look son I have this little device, and if you shoot at us – at me then my finger will trigger this and Project Takeover will indeed happen – everywhere!”
Gregg looked puzzled, “Project what?”
West laughed, “Project Takeover. When the virus was first brought to our attention by your father may I add. We inserted another strain of the Ebola virus to it, gave your father a cash lump sum to release the virus in the wintertime, it just so happened that a storm was coming in. Anyway, you see what me and my team of scientists done, we managed to get a hold of a few dead bodies all over Scotland. In various morgues, hospitals, funeral homes – mostly funeral homes. I had a team ALL OVER the Country who put these teeny tiny chips in the corpses just at the brain stem. When I press this button or indeed accidentally drop it or in this case get shot at, the chips will be set off and more of the dead will rise and attack the living. Think of the scenario – you are at the graveside of your loved one when BOOM! You hear scratching and clawing then all of a sudden, a hand tears out from the ground, then another and then you see your dear sweet old Granny appear with maggots all over her face, her teeth chattering together, she reaches for your arm and tears into it with her decaying teeth. You scream in pain, fall back but as you fall back, you look upwards to the sky and standing above you is a group of decaying corpses looking down at you and as you scream, they reach down and devouring your living body. I control the dead.”
Gregg frowned with bewilderment, “What the fuck? You are crazy!”
West laughed, “You know even my doctor has said that!”
Lomax and the Prime Minister laughed uncontrollably. As they did that, Gregg was joined by Katy and Michaels.
“Well hello there officer,” Lomax spoke up looking directly at Michaels.
Michaels didn’t respond he just glared at the trio in front of him.
“So, we have in front of us a police officer and two school kids,” Lomax began, “three common people that are going to take down Elite Corporation or at least try.”
Michaels lifted his gun and aimed it at Lomax.
“Go ahead officer,” Lomax sneered, “kill me!”
Michaels breathed deeply.
“What’s wrong?” Lomax questioned, “Chicken?”
“Where’s my wife?” Michaels snarled through gritted teeth, “Where’s Michelle? Where are my kids?”
“Look people,” the Prime Minister said stepping forward in front of West and Lomax, “you can never stop this from happening. Glasgow is no more; there is nobody out there, alive, anymore. Glasgow is a dead zone and soon the whole of Scotland will be dead as well.”
Michaels shook his head, “Why? Why are you doing this?”
The Prime Minister smiled a sly smile, “Why? Oh, come on officer you must know by now. It’s very simple – we here at Elite Corporation plan on taking over the world, country by country. At first our plan was to take over the Middle East by sending in a whole army of undead soldiers to murder and devour the locals. But that plan was fast tracked and is happening now here in Bonnie Scotland. Why here? Well I hate Scotland and before those idiots in Holyrood decide on trying again to push for Independence, I along with my team here will decimate Scotland and when the coast is clear I will be the one lending a helping hand to rebuild Scotland as part of Northern England.”
“The media will get wind of this, TV broadcasters, reporters they’ll reports this and bring you to justice!” Michaels answered.
“Bring me to justice!” The Prime Minister replied, “I gave the go ahead for this to become a no-fly zone and I set up the boarders so no-one can get in and get out. Do you honestly think that there is just a fence around Drumchapel? My dear stupid man, I have the army helping out Elite Corporation on their task to keep the virus and the dead inside Scotland. No-one gets out and no-one gets in except for me, Lomax and Dr West or indeed any Elite Corporation staff member. This is the end. The end of Scotland and the beginning of Northern England!”
“Please,” Michaels began bowing his head, “I don’t care anymore just tell me where my family is. They were brought into this compound by your soldiers, just give them back to me and you can do whatever you want, and I just want my family back.”
“Your family?” West grinned, “You’ll find them in tent B down in the square. Now are you going to let us leave? Or do I press this button and the takeover will be begin?”
Gregg shook his head, “You’re going to end Scotland anyway! So even if we did let you walk out of here then this country – MY COUNTRY ends one way or another!”
Lomax raised his hands and shrugged his shoulders, “You got us ha-ha. Is it not the best to survive a bit longer and TRY and escape instead of just shooting us, triggering Project Takeover and dying here not known the what if scenario? Let us walk out of here and we will give you one hour to free that officers family and get out of here – out of Drumchapel and try and escape Glasgow, try and escape Scotland to get that one chance to bring down our corporation.”
Katy turned to Gregg and nodded and then turned to Michaels and nodded.
Michaels then replied, “Okay you can go. But I’ll tell you this; if I do get out and survive I’m going to let the world know about your plan.”
“We look forward to that challenge,” Lomax answered.
Michaels and Gregg lowered their guns and stepped aside allowing the trio to walk out of the building. Just as the Prime Minister stepped over the bodies of Rosie and Cody, she turned to Gregg, “How did it feel killing your friends?”
Gregg breathed hard and fast and was about to step forward when Katy and Michaels pulled him back.
The Prime Minister laughed before exiting the building with some parting words, “Have fun trying to live!”
Michaels and the teens watched as they disappeared round the side of the post office, they then heard what sounded like a helicopter and raced out to watch the Prime Minister, Lomax and West board the helicopter and they watched as the chopper took off up and away.
“I got to get Michelle and the kids and then we will get going,” Michaels said as he watched the helicopter disappear into the distant sky. He peered down over the fencing and saw that no undead were in the square now, “ready?”
The teens nodded and they headed down the ramp towards tent B to save Michaels’ family.
CHAPTER 38
SAVING THE FAMILY
Michaels, Katy and Gregg all stood outside the tent marked, ‘B,’ they looked about before entering the tent.
On entering they were met with what seemed to go on forever, for the full length of the tent – cages galore in those cages were what can only be described as failed specimens.
“What the fu-“ Michaels began bewildered at what he saw in front of him.
“What the Hell were they doing here?” Katy asked.
They walked up the middle of the tent looking from left to right, looking at the specimens, at the people contained in the cages.
“This is nuts!” Gregg muttered, “What is this shit?”
All three of them stood still taking in what was in front of them. In each of the cages stood an undead specimen, literally melting in front of them, screaming for food, reaching out decaying hands, hands and arms where the skin was falling off them.
Gregg looked around and saw a table with what looked like medical files
on it. He walked over and picked them up, “Jesus fucking Christ!” he turned towards Michaels and Katy, “this is totally fucked up!”
“What is it?” Katy asked, “What do you have there?”
Gregg walked back over to them, “these, these people are failed experiments of Doctor West; they are all infected by the virus known as Trixie-500 however he mixed the virus not only with a strain of Ebola but also other highly contagious diseases. We also have bird flu, swine flu. I mean you name the disease its here in these files, in this room. In these people!”
“They are not people,” Michaels shook his head, “they are victims. Oh shit! Michelle and the kids. Please don’t let them be in here.”
Gregg threw the files on the floor and all three began going up and down the length of the tent looking, searching for Michaels’ wife and kids.
“Michelle?” Michaels shouted, “if you are in here babe, please make a sound. Call out please. Mads? Max? Anyone? Please yell!”
As they neared the end of the tent, Michaels stopped dead in his tracks and dropped to his knees. There in front of him on the back wall inside a cage was his wife and his kids. Tears started streaming down his face, tears of anguish, of pain. His hands rose to his hair and he pulled and pulled at his hair until Katy ran up to him and held him tightly.
Starring at him from the cage was another failed experiment, this time of Michelle, Mads and Max. The kids had been stitched onto each side of Michelle and by the smell and look of them had begun to decay badly. They snapped and snarled at Michaels and the teens as Gregg stepped up beside a now standing Michaels and Katy.
“Oh Michelle,” Michaels cried, “I’m so sorry. We could have just gone to the airport. WE COULD HAVE JUST LEFT GLASGOW! But me being me, no I had to do my duty, I had to come here. I’m so sorry.” He stepped forward reaching out towards a mutated former woman, to his mutated wife and kids.
Gregg stepped forward and pushed Michaels arm back down to his side, “Ryan, that’s not Michelle anymore. That’s not your wife or your kids.”
“I’m so sorry honey,” Michaels began still crying and through those tears, he raised his gun and fired three rounds into his wife and kids, one bullet to each brain. “I’m so sorry.”
The mutated form of Michelle, Mads and Max fell to the floor of the cage as Michaels, through gritted teeth turned to both Katy and Gregg, raised his head high, breathed deeply then said, “Let’s get out of here and stop Lomax, West and the Prime Minister. Let’s stop Elite Corporation carrying out their full plan. Let’s bring down the company!”
They all ran towards the exit of the tent and into the square, they found an army truck located to their left and jumped into it, finding the keys still in the ignition, Michaels floored it and headed back up Kinfauns Drive towards the manned gates at Bearsden Road entrance. They mowed down any undead person they came across as Michaels sped up mounting the pavement and ploughing through more of the army of the undead.
They got to the top of Kinfauns Drive and saw the guards at the gates. Michaels broke hard and watched as the guards raised their guns at the truck.
Michaels breathed deeply, tightening his grip on the steering wheel; he put the truck into gear and floored the accelerator. The gates and guards didn’t stand a chance as the truck ripped through them throwing and impaling the soldiers on bites of metal. Michaels drove fast up the road and round to Canniesburn roundabout.
“Next stop Glasgow Airport,” Michaels told the teens.
CHAPTER 39
THIS IS YOUR PRIME MINISTER SPEAKING
The helicopter touched down at Heathrow and the Prime Minister and the heads of Elite Corporation disembarked from it. As they walked across the tarmac, they were met inside by reporters from various news broadcasts and newspaper reporter.
“Mrs Prime Minister,” a reporter yelled above everyone else, “What is your plan with regards to Scotland right now?”
The Prime Minister stopped and smiled, “I will be releasing a statement as soon as I talk to these men here. These men work for Elite Corporation and they have advised me that they will take care of what is happening up in Scotland. I will release this report at fifteen hundred hours this afternoon outside number ten Downing Street thank you.”
More calls and yells from reporters but the Prime Minister and her friends got into a black BMW and was driven away back to Downing Street
*
1500 HOURS
The Prime Minister stood at the podium with around seven microphones attached to it. Media stood back filming what she was about to say.
“My fellow British citizens,” she began, “I am addressing the situation across our border in Scotland. As I reported a while back, I made sure that all of the skies above Scotland were deemed a no-fly zone. It has come to my attention that our friends in the North have succumbed to a deadly virus that believe it or not, turns the living into the dead and the dead – deadly. At this time no one is to enter Scotland and no one is allowed out of Scotland. With the help of these two men to my right, Doctor Angus West and the man in charge of the operation, Sergeant James Lomax they both work for a company called, ‘Elite Corporation,’ I will now hand you over to these two men who will tell you what they know so far and what they intend to do.”
She nodded to the two men as she stepped aside.
Lomax stood in front of the podium, “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is James Lomax and I currently run a company called Elite Corporation. Elite Corporation is a company that cleans up mess so to speak. We were appointed by the Prime Minister and her cabinet to find out the cause of this horrific virus that has engulfed Scotland. What we know so far is it looks like the virus was released on purpose.”
Questions started pouring in from various reporters and Lomax raised a hand to silence them, “Listen ladies and gentlemen, if you just let myself and my team deal with this we will answer all your questions in due course for now that is all.”
Various talking over each other in the crowd of reporters as Lomax turned and walked back into number ten with the Prime Minister and the doctor. Once they were inside and the door closed, the Prime Minister ushered them into the board room and both men sat down. The Prime Minister paced back and forth hands clasped behind her back then folded across her chest.
“Can we be certain that that police officer and those kids are not going to get out of Drumchapel or even out of Scotland?”
Lomax laughed, “They have no chance. The army of the dead – our army of the dead will hunt them and kill them.”
“And if they don’t?” The Prime Minister questioned.
West looked up at her, “then our soldiers on the gates will. We are this close to controlling the whole of Scotland and remember the Scottish Government isn’t even doing anything about this! I mean they have all went into hiding along with the security personnel. We have free range to do what we want when we want. So, I think now is the time to push this little button and bring holy Hell across Scotland. All we need is the go ahead from you.”
The PM sat down and leaned back in the leather chair, “And this will mean Elite Corporation step in eradicate the dead, win admiration and I will be as agreed at the fore front to lend my sympathy and rebuild Scotland.”
“Listen Prime Minister,” Lomax began, “You can do anything you want. Just bear in mind we are the ones running the show. You might be the spokesperson for Elite Corporation, but we pull the strings. You want Scotland? You got it. You want to rule the Middle East? You got it. Just let myself and the good doctor here carry on with our jobs.”
Both Lomax and West stood up and was about to leave.
“And what is your job exactly?” the Prime Minister asked.
Both men turned around and smirked before West answered simply by saying a few words.
“We are introducing a new race, a mutated form of humans that’ll be far superior to humans. Stronger, more agile, smarter. While we sit in our lush pads, I will simply tell my subjects to kill a
nyone I seem gets out of hand or simply pisses me off. You will become the ruler of a United England and we will simply rule the world.”
The PM nodded and smiled, “Well what are you waiting for? Press that button now.”
West smirked, “I thought you would never ask!”
He produced the device, flipped the switch and pushed the button.
CHAPTER 40
PROJECT TAKEOVER
EDINBURGH
It was extremely busy in Edinburgh. The public rushing about, in and out of shops buying last minute Christmas gifts.
If only that was what was happening. Screams echoed loud, bodies ripped apart, limbs were being torn from the living as more and dead rose from their graves, from the morgue, from funeral parlours and even from hearses taking the dead to the cemetery.
Princes Street was now running red with the blood of innocent people as the dead attacked them. Waverly train station was now a feasting place. Men, women and children all caught up in the terror of being grabbed by dead people. Bodies lay trampled beneath more bodies on the cold hard platforms. Trains came to a stand still as the undead ripped through the trains eating anyone in their paths.
Edinburgh was no more.
*
ABERDEEN
Just like Glasgow and Edinburgh before them, Aberdeen had become no more. People were being attacked; the emergency services couldn’t cope and were also being attacked. Councillors and local Government officials ran and hid like the Scottish Government did as soon as Glasgow was under attack. Their plan was simple – to get out of sight and stay out of sight until all was cleared. All the major cities in Scotland had been decimated and now the fallen victims were turning, turning from victims to blood thirsty dead people, getting up screaming and groaning one word, ‘fooooooooooooooodddddddddddd!’
