Karl uncovered his head and slowly looked up from the creature’s feet to his face. It was Michael! Karl stood up slowly and held out his hands in a sign of peace towards his former employee. Michael’s face had turned gray and his eyes a dull, bloody red. Drool and fleshy particles hung from the side of his mouth.
“It’s me, Mikey…remember? It’s Karl, your old buddy!”
Michael tilted his head slightly as if he recognized Karl - at least that was what Karl thought. Maybe if he could get through to his old colleague…then everything would be OK? Karl moved towards Michael in a slow, soothing manner. Michael moaned deeply as his body twitched, he raised his arms and moved arduously towards Karl.
Karl moved away from the vacuous eyed being in front of him towards his favorite window. He backed cautiously away from the thing standing in front of him. Karl could feel the breeze blowing through the broken window against his sweat-covered head. Karl weighed his escape options, he saw two bodies piled up at the edge of the door, one was the disfigured body of Sergeant Womack and the other appeared to be one of the rioters that the former sergeant had killed. Karl looked deep into the man’s eyes standing in front of him; Michael was gone – a twisted, deformed creature was all that was left of his favorite employee.
Karl sprinted for the door but he was too old, too slow. “Michael” intercepted his former boss wrapping his hands around Karl’s fat, fleshy throat. Karl tried to fight off the creature as he backed closer and closer to the office window, but the creature’s grip was too strong. Man and creature both ran out of office space simultaneously and plummeted three stories to the ground below. Karl landed on his head; the impact snapped his neck and crushed his skull killing him instantly. The creature lay motionless on his former boss…his body twitched as he sat up.
“Michael” straddled Karl’s disfigured body and began chewing and ripping out large chunks of flesh like an overzealous kid opening presents on Christmas Day…
Chapter 16
April 6, 2013: Saturday, 2:22 AM – Rochester, New York – Fountain Crest Apartments Apartment #1801…
“Do you hear that, Craig?” Amanda groggily asked.
“Huh? What is it?”
“Craig…wake up, someone is at the door.”
A frantic repetition of knocks, like a woodpecker drilling into a tree, echoed through the small apartment. The short burst of knocks were not loud enough to wake anyone in the adjacent apartments, but irritating enough that no one within the intended apartment would be able to sleep.
“Maybe they’ll go away.” Craig rolled over and tried desperately to fall back to sleep. This was the first weekend he had off in over two months. He had promised himself that he would not get out of bed before noon. Whatever or whoever was at the door could wait till lunchtime.
A few moments passed and the knocking subsided. Craig’s cell phone buzzed angrily on the nightstand. Mandy reached over her husband and grabbed the cell phone. She flipped open the cover and the caller id showed one missed call. She scrolled through the menu and the last caller’s name was Theo. The knocking at the door began again; the cell phone buzzed in unison with the knocking.
“Hello?” Amanda said as she pressed the talk button.
“Is Craig there?”
“Where else would he be?”
“Who are you talking to, Mandy?” Craig asked as he pulled the pillow from underneath his head and covered his ears.
“It’s Theo.”
“Of course it’s me,” Theo said.
“I’m not talking to you, Theo.”
“Tell him it’s my weekend off. I’m not coming into the office.”
“Tell him to open the door, please Amanda.” Theo continued to knock on the door as he tried to convince her to wake her husband.
Craig reached back his arm holding open his hand. Mandy handed the cell phone over to him. He bitterly flipped the cell phone cover closed and tossed the phone into a pile of dirty clothes in the closet. He uncovered his head and rolled towards his wife putting his arm around her waist. He kissed her gently on the forehead and neck. Craig looked at his gorgeous wife as the moonlight danced into the room highlighting her delicate features. She almost glowed.
KNOCK!! KNOCK!! KNOCK!!
“Holy shit!” Craig indignantly yelled as he sat up. He slid his feet into a pair of flip flops beside the bed and put on a gray t-shirt that matched the cotton sweatpants he had worn to bed earlier. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself to a standing position. He walked quickly out of the bedroom to the living room area. Craig looked through the peephole and sure enough, there was Theo standing at the door. Craig swung open the door.
“The world had better be ending for you to show up here at two thirty in the morning on my only weekend off in two months!” Craig glared irately at his unwelcomed coworker, but his expression softened when he saw the look of fear on Theo’s face.
“Can I come in?” Theo softly asked.
“Yeah, sure, I guess. Come on inside. You look terrible.”
Theo slowly walked over to the couch and sat down. He nervously checked his watch and rubbed his hands together as he sat staring out the window. Craig had never seen Theo so…disorganized. Craig walked into the kitchen while he continued to watch the man sitting on his sofa. He pulled two sodas out of the refrigerator. As he was closing the door, he saw his wife enter the room so he grabbed a third drink. Craig walked into the living room where Mandy sat on the couch next to Theo. Craig handed each of them a bottle of soda and he sat on the recliner facing them.
“Theo,” Craig began calmly, “what is so freaking important that you had to show up here at two thirty in the morning?” Craig twisted open his soda and took a long drink.
“I don’t know any other way to tell you this,” Theo nervously attempted to open his drink but his hands shook horribly. Amanda reached over and twisted off the top. “There is something terrible going on in the lower level of the facility. The IPPC group and the US Army are involved in something bad…”
“Have you been drinking?” Craig asked as his patience began to run out.
“Craig, hear him out. Look at him. He’s obviously upset.” Amanda put her hand on Theo’s back. “Calm down, Theo. What did you see?”
Theo sipped his beverage and continued. “I’ve been watching them for about a week now. A small group of the soldiers have been going out in the very early hours of the morning. I don’t know where they’ve been going…but when they come back…they have prisoners or hostages with them.”
“What?” Both Craig and Mandy said in unison.
“These hostages look like old bums and vagrants - street people that won’t be missed should something happen to them…”
“What are they doing in there?” Amanda asked.
“I don’t know…”
“Then how do you know they are doing something bad?” Craig shifted in his chair trying to remain calm. He was tired and all he wanted to do was go back to lie down in his warm, comfortable bed.
“I saw them take another group into the facility about two hours ago. The soldiers had at least four people with them. Please, I need someone to go with me to find out what they are doing. If nothing is going on, then fine – I’ll walk away and chalk it up to my imagination, but I know something is wrong.”
Craig looked at the man sitting in front of him. While he would never admit it out loud, Theo was probably the smartest person that Craig knew. Theo had an analytical mind to rival some of the most respected scientists that Craig had ever worked with. Craig also knew that the man sitting in front of him lacked any type of creative imagination…so he was almost positive that Theo had not “imagined” anything happening that wasn’t truly taking place.
“Fine. I’ll go with you, but I want a comp day off on Monday…” Craig left the living room area and went to the bedroom to dress. He returned a few minutes later and kissed Mandy on the forehead.
“Be careful, Craig.” Mandy hugged her husband tightly. She
stood up from the couch and closed the door behind the two men and locked the deadbolt.
Theo and Craig walked through the apartment’s parking lot and entered Theo’s car. Craig watched as Theo fumbled around with the keys having troubles starting the engine. Theo steadied his hand, started the vehicle and backed out of the parking spot. The small car entered the main highway running parallel with the secondary production facility, but Theo drove past their office building.
Four buildings comprised the entire layout of the secondary production facility. Building-1, on the west side of the lot, functioned as the main office building where accounting and finance type activities took place. Building-2, on the north end of the lot, acted as the main storage facility for the entire campus. The H1N1 vaccines were stored here on the ground level floor for pickup and distribution. Building-3, on the east end of the lot, was rented out to a different company at the current time. Building-4, on the south end of the lot, housed the main production facility where all the vaccines were produced. This building also contained the automated packaging facility used to load the H1N1 vaccine onto conveyor belts. The large retractable conveyor belts were attached to Building-2 during business hours. This allowed the automated facility to move product from the origination point to the storage facility.
A large stone sign displaying the company name stood about fifty feet cattycornered from the Building-4, easily viewable from the main street. In the center, between the four buildings, a large fountain spewed water into the air. At night, lights below the water line turned the water display into a small light show that could be seen at just the right angle by passing motorists.
Theo finally pulled the car into the parking deck of a neighboring business. He drove up a small incline to the second floor and parked the car behind a large stone pillar that almost hid the car completely from view. Theo shut off the engine; he opened the glove box and took out a small flashlight. Both men exited the car. Theo popped open the trunk and took a tire iron out from underneath the large swath of carpet covering the spare tire. He put the flashlight and tire iron into a small backpack then slung the backpack’s straps over his shoulder.
“Just in case,” he said. “Follow me.”
Theo cautiously jogged down the incline to the first floor of the parking deck. He stood at the corner and checked from side-to-side. Everything looked OK. He glanced around one more time to be sure; he made a dash across the open field between the two businesses. Craig struggled to keep up but eventually caught up with Theo behind the large stone monument with their company’s name displayed on it.
“Is all of this running and sneaking around really necessary?”
“Those men have guns,” Theo said matter-of-factly, “and from what I’ve seen, they do not want anyone to know what they are doing.”
“Then what the hell are we doing snooping around? I can’t believe I’ve followed you this far…”
“Hush!” Theo knelt down and pulled Craig closer to the ground with him. Theo pointed towards the front entrance of Building-2. In the dim overhead light, both men could see three armed soldiers escorting a group of men inside. A large, non-descript packaging truck blocked most of the entrance. The back door of the vehicle opened up and two IPPC members dressed in low-level hazmat suits exited the truck. They reached back into the truck and pulled out what appeared to be a thick chain but whatever was on the other end of the chain struggled to linger within.
Another IPPC official exited Building-2 and rushed over to the back of the truck. He wrapped the end of the chain around his waist and the three men played tug o’ war with something inside. After a brief struggle, a large man was dragged out and his body hit the ground with a tremendous thud. The three IPPC officials spread out. What Craig and Theo thought was one chain was actually three separate chains.
The IPPC crew moved apart and began to drag the man into the building. Their prisoner stood up and jerked one of the chains to him, knocking an IPPC person to the ground. The captive man began to drag the downed IPPC member towards him. The fallen man quickly made it to his feet. The garage door used for package deliveries on the west side of the building opened up. A small forklift sauntered out and the three IPPC officials attached the end of each of their chains to the chassis. The driver of the forklift backed into the garage pulling the captive man behind the vehicle. The three IPPC members jogged inside and the garage door began to close behind them, but it didn’t close all the way – a dim light from inside could be seen from underneath the garage door.
“What the…?” Craig exclaimed. “Why was that man chained up?”
“See? I told you. And look – that garage door is still open. I bet we could slide underneath.”
“I’m pretty confident now that this is not a good idea at all. Let’s just get out of here. We could end up arrested or worse.” Craig stood up and began walking back to the parking deck.
“How are you going to get back to your apartment? I have the keys.”
“I’ll walk.”
“Please, Craig – I can’t do this alone. I need to know if our company is involved in some illegal activities. Those people were taken into that building against their will. You saw it for yourself…some were taken in at gunpoint while that last man was dragged in by chains. How can you just let this go?”
“For a man as smart as you are, Theo – you are one stupid son of a bitch. Why would I screw around with anyone willing or able to snatch people off the streets at gunpoint? I see this kind of crap all the times in the movies…just let it go. These people will make you disappear.”
But Theo had already made up his mind. He had come this far and he had to know what was going in the basement level of Building-2, he couldn’t turn back now. Theo surveyed the area and took off running to a grove of trees just to the east of the Building-3. The tree line provided ample cover from prying eyes. Craig hesitated momentarily but decided to chase after the impetuous young man. Theo waited next to the building to give Craig time to catch up with him.
“I knew you would come,” Theo said.
“I hate you.”
The two men stealthily crept along the edge of the tree line to the back of Building-3. There were no lights on the east side of that building but enough light from the moon and passing cars allowed them to see where they were going. Theo ran to the edge of the building and waved Craig over. The two men pressed their backs against the cool brick exterior as they caught their breath.
“Now what do we do?” Craig inquired.
“Wait a few minutes. Watch the edge of the garage door. I haven’t seen any shadows moving across. Give them a few minutes…if we don’t see any movement then we go in.”
Chapter 17
April 6, 2013: Saturday, 3:58 AM – Rochester, New York – Secondary production facility of Illumination Pharmaceuticals …
The two men waited by the side of Building-3 for about five minutes in the chilly early morning air. They saw no shadows from inside and no one moved around on the outside. Theo had previously watched the machinations unfold earlier in the week. He knew it was a very small group of individuals involved in whatever was going on. After three previous days of reconnaissance, he knew there were at most three IPPC folks and maybe four soldiers. He had memorized their movements and schedules over the past three days in preparation for this evening.
“Go.” Theo said.
Both men rushed to Building-2 and knelt down on opposite sides of the garage door. Theo quickly peeked under and saw nothing. The young man flattened out on the ground and pulled himself under the door. Craig shook his head but followed suit. Both men lay motionless on the ground as they entered the first floor of the building. Theo quickly got onto his knees and looked around. Craig did likewise while he checked the other side of the room for any signs of activity.
While there wasn’t much light, it was enough for the two men to be able to see if anyone was in the room with them. So far, so good – no one was standing guard. Theo felt that t
hose individuals in charge of this secret operation had been very clumsy not to have guards stationed at every point within the building. Or maybe more accurately those leaders craftily limited the number of those involved to keep things under the radar from prying eyes. Either way, Theo and Craig easily worked their way from the garage door to staircase leading to the basement level without revealing their presence.
“I haven’t been past this point before,” Theo admitted in a whispered tone.
“What do you mean?”
“On two of my previous stakeouts, I’ve come this far, but was never able to convince myself to go down the stairs.”
Craig looked around the room and down the short staircase. “We still have time to turn back. We don’t have to go any farther.”
Theo shook his head and walked down the stairs. He listened after every step he took; carefully balancing his steps as he descended the stairs - he did not want to alert anyone to their position. Theo crept down to the last step and peeked around the corner to his right; the coast was clear. He turned to his left looking down the long hallway where he heard a group of men talking. Both men followed the hallway to its end and the only way to go once they got there was to the right. As they crested the final corner, they found themselves on a small balcony overlooking a makeshift iron cage below them, about thirty feet from their location. Theo estimated the cage was about twenty feet by twenty feet and the sides were maybe eight feet tall. The only entry point into the cage was through a wide, heavily chained and locked door.
Around the outside of the cage, one US military soldier and three IPPC officials were present. Two of the IPPC officials were seated behind desks typing furiously into their laptops. Craig and Theo looked over the balcony’s edge into the center of the cage. Inside the cage, scraps of clothing were piled up in a corner; bloody scratch marks painted the floor.
At the opposite end of the room a door opened up. Craig and Theo ducked down as far as they could but still be able to see what was going on below them. The hobo captives that they had seen earlier in the evening were being marched at gunpoint towards the cage by two heavily armed soldiers. The prisoners wobbled side-to-side down the small path leading to the cage. Theo assumed they were either drunk or drugged…either way, they were not putting up much of a fight.
Z1N1: The Zombie Pandemic: 2012 Was Just the Beginning Page 16
