Outbreak (Book 3): Endplay

by Scott Shoyer

  “The eyes!” Wilder shouted over the roar of Steele’s automatic shotgun and Cheryl’s AR-15. “Go for the eyes!”

  Steele jumped to the floor and stood right in front of one of the creatures. He pulled the trigger and two rounds ripped through the alien’s eyes and blew out the back of its skull. He looked over as Cheryl aimed for a creature’s head and had the same success.

  Steele turned around to face another alien.

  Click

  The firing pin landed on an empty chamber. He looked the creature right in the face and froze up for a second. The alien took two quick steps toward him as Cheryl shouted his name. He turned just as she threw Stevie toward him. He took a sideways step, caught the baseball bat, and immediately swung it at the creature’s head.

  The nails from the bat penetrated what on a human would be the temple. The nails were long enough and drove straight into its eyeball. The creature acted stunned, and Cheryl ran forward and shot it twice in the other eye.

  Wilder dropped another alien and ran to the others. “Two more and then we get the fuck out of here!” he shouted as he caught his breath. Just as Wilder lined up a shot on one of the remaining creatures in the garage, a hidden door burst open and five more aliens ran into the room, heading directly for the vehicles.

  “Fuck me,” Steele said and he fit another drum magazine into the shotgun.

  Before Steele or Wilder could get a shot off at the charging aliens, Cheryl screamed, “Get down!”

  They immediately dove for cover just as one of the fifty-caliber machine guns came alive. The machine gun swung back and forth as it spit out around five-hundred rounds a minute. Behind the gun was Stefan. He focused the machine gun on one target at a time and fired the weapon in short bursts. The force of the fifty-caliber rounds knocked the creatures back as they slammed into them.

  Stefan stopped firing after Wilder started waving his arms and shouted to hold his fire.

  “They’re still moving, guys!” Stefan shouted. “Watch out!”

  “How the fuck could they still be moving?” Steele asked.

  Stefan shot the two aliens that were already in the garage. A few of his shots hit one of the creature in the forehead and was enough to bring it down. The other alien was hit three times in the upper chest and neck.

  Steele ran over to the alien gasping for breath and drove the handle end of the sledgehammer through its eye socket. The creature’s legs stiffened as Steele leaned down on the hammer and twisted the handle in its head.

  “What should we do about these fuckers in a pile over here?” Steele yelled over to Wilder. Steele stood next to the pile of five aliens as they started to stir.

  “Nothing,” Wilder said. “Save your ammo and strength. Let’s just get the fuck out of here.” As he, Steele, and Cheryl ran to the Wisent vehicles, the entire bunker shook violently.

  “What the hell was that?” Howard asked.

  “That,” Wilder said as he climbed behind the wheel of the lead armor vehicle, “would be the C-4 that Cheryl and I set in the room of the final security door.”

  “You mean the final security door is down?” Jennie asked.

  “It is,” Wilder said. “But they also don’t have access into the bunker from that corridor. Right now, it is under tons of rock.”

  Wilder saw a green light flashing on the dashboard and the word “Coms” printed underneath it. He found an earbud and placed it in his ear.

  “…in, Wilder… come in, Wilder,” said the voice in his ear. It was Josef in the other Wisent.

  “I’m here,” Wilder said. “How the hell do you open the doors to get out of here?”

  “Above you,” Josef told him. “There’s a black button that’ll open the garage doors.”

  Wilder pressed the button and watched as the doors began to open up. Calling them “garage doors” was an understatement. The doors that opened in front of him were more like hanger doors. Wilder could’ve gotten a 747 airplane through those doors. He guessed that the outside was camouflaged by the natural surroundings.

  “Let’s go,” Wilder said as he pressed down of the gas pedal.

  Jennie and Howard were with Wilder in the lead Wisent, which contained all their backup supplies including ammo, food, and water.

  In the second armored vehicle, being driven by Josef was Cheryl, Steele, and Stefan. Stefan still sat behind the fifty-caliber machine gun in the last module.

  “Okay, cowboy,” Josef said. “Where to now?”

  Wilder thought for a moment as he pulled out of the garage. Wilder realized that for Josef, Stefan, Howard, and Jennie, this was the first time they’ve been outside the facility for over two years.

  Wilder needed to drive slowly. There may have been a path here over two years ago, but it hadn’t been maintained. Trees, bushes, and other vegetation hid the road as Wilder slowly made his way along it.

  “That depends,” Wilder answered. “Where the hell are we?”

  “We’re a mile away from the main entrance of Schoepke Springs,” Josef told him. “This was always planned as an escape route and that wouldn’t be too effective if it took us right to the main gate.”

  “When we’re far enough away, blow the facility,” Wilder told Josef. “Bring down the whole goddamn thing on those bastard’s heads and bury them and those spacecrafts forever.”

  The woods began to thin out as they got closer to the main road. Wilder increased his speed. He wanted to get out of the woods as quickly as he could.

  Jennie sat next to Wilder in the passenger seat and asked him where they could possibly go that would be as safe as the place they’d just left. Wilder thought about his answer for a moment, but before he responded, he slammed on the brakes. The Wisent shook as it came to a stop. Wilder waited for the other vehicle to slam into him, but Josef braked in time as well.

  “What the hell’s the matter with you?” Josef yelled through the earpiece. “We almost rammed you! Why the hell did you stop?”

  Wilder didn’t answer Josef. He just looked at the four human beings on the road in front of them as they waved their arms and screamed for help.

  Behind them was a pack of around twenty-five aliens closing in on them fast.

  2

  Sub-Facility, Schoepke Springs

  The Butsko and Fi-creatures stood back and watched the aliens as they gathered around the center of the ship. They looked at their creators in awe and studied the differences. The aliens, who moments ago had woken up, were shorter than the creatures from the cocoons. The heads and bodies were shaped the same, but they lacked the deadly claws and needle-sharp teeth. There was no doubt to the Butsko and Fi-aliens that they were of the same species as the aliens that stood in front of them, but they were created to be more.

  They were engineered to be killers.

  The aliens engineered the virus to not only create more of their species, but it also removed all their weaknesses and modified their physique. The creatures that emerged from the cocoons had the same genetic makeup as their alien creators, but they were upgraded to ensure the continuation of the species for many generations to come.

  The aliens were kept updated about the progress of the invasion through The Consciousness. They were pleased with how everything was progressing and were surprised by how easily humanity fell. They knew there were still many pockets of resistance still out there, but they were minor annoyances at most. Besides, the plan always included and required human survivors after The Convergence occurred.

  They needed to eat, after all.

  What the aliens didn’t like were the four vials that were stolen from the very ship they now stood in. The fact that human beings were so close to them as they slumbered made them uneasy.

  The newly awoken aliens looked at the Butsko and Fi-aliens and wanted an update as to what they were doing to recover the missing vials. No audible words were exchanged. All it took was a glance to communicate to each other.

  The aliens knew about the energy shield the mothership ha
d placed, but that alone would not recover the vials.

  The Fi-alien looked into the other alien’s eyes and let them know that the others were almost through the final security door. Once that was down, they would have access to the entire bunk where the humans lived. Furthermore, if they did manage to make it out of the bunker, the creatures outside the facility understood that no human being was to be left alive. Everyone inside the wall was to be slaughtered.

  The recovery of the vials was the primary goal before the other motherships arrived. Without those vials, the aliens were doomed to either never leave the ships or to die a painful death on the surface of this planet.

  Neither choice was an option.

  3

  Entrance to Schoepke Springs

  Thirty Minutes Ago

  Riker didn’t need to tell anyone to keep quiet. He, Teagan, Braden, and Kimberly were about half a mile away from the entrance to Schoepke Springs. They couldn’t see the gate, though, due to hundreds of aliens that wandered all around the property. Even if they managed to fight their way through the creatures and get inside the gate, there were hundreds more waiting for them.

  “Fucking great,” Braden whispered. “This is just fucking great. What the hell are we going to do now?”

  “Don’t lose it now, Braden,” Teagan said. “We need to keep our heads.”

  “I think we need to stick to the original plan,” Kimberly said. “We need to find a way onto the property.”

  “What good is that going to do?” asked Braden. “There’s hundreds of those things all over the place.”

  “I agree with Kimberly,” Teagan said. “The Schoepke family has a huge home not far from the springs. The place was apparently built like a fortress. If we can get to the house, we might have a chance.”

  Braden just stared at Teagan and shook his head.

  “What do you think, Riker?” Teagan asked.

  “I think we have one helluva choice to make,” Riker said. “We can’t retreat because behind us is an impenetrable wall. We can’t move forward because there’s hundreds of aliens just waiting to tear us apart.”

  Riker took a deep breath as he thought through their limited choices.

  “I think we need to try and make it to the Schoepke house,” Riker finally said. “We know there’s no way out behind us, but if we’re able to sneak into the house we might be able to hide away until the wall comes down.”

  “If the wall comes down,” Braden added.

  “Where was the gap in the fence you and your ex found?” Riker asked as he turned his head toward Teagan.

  “It was off to the left,” Teagan said. “Right where the woods begin to get dense again.”

  “Okay, that’s good,” Riker said. “We’ll have some cover from the woods, so we won’t be completely exposed. Teagan, you take point and take us to that spot.”

  Teagan made her way to the front and quietly led the others to the spot. She stayed a half-mile back from Schoepke Springs and walked parallel to the property. When they were far enough away from the entrance, Teagan walked toward the gated property and quickly used the cover of the trees to hide.

  The fence was on their right and they slowly walked along the perimeter of the property and looked for any weakness in the fence they could use to exploit. The fence was ten feet high and made of stones so large that some kind of pulley system or machine had to have been used to place them. The fence was sturdy and high enough to keep anything in or out of the property.

  “This fence looks as solid as that friggin’ wall of energy,” Kimberly said.

  Riker agreed, and knew that it was even more important to find a way into the property.

  “The fence was obviously rebuilt or reinforced during the initial outbreak,” Riker said. “That means whoever is inside the property wanted to keep these things out. Maybe there’s other survivors in there?”

  “Something’s not right,” Teagan said. “I don’t remember walking back this far. I think the gap in the fence was repaired.”

  They all looked up at the ten-foot-tall fence and knew there was no way they could scale and climb over it.

  “Keep moving,” Riker said in a hushed voice. “We may as well check out the whole fence. There’s gotta be at least one weakness, one flaw in it.”

  They walked another six feet along the fence and found nothing but a solid structure with no flaws.

  “This is ridiculous,” Braden said. As he moved forward, Braden’s foot stepped on a dried-out branch hidden under a bunch of leaves.

  Snap

  The sound of the breaking branch under Braden’s foot sounded like a cannon had gone off. They all stopped moving and remained perfectly still.

  And listened.

  Braden looked back to the others and let out a breath.

  “Phew. Sorry, guys, I--” Braden started, but never finished his thought.

  An alien jumped from the top of the stone fence and landed in front of Braden. He raised his weapon but never got the chance to fire off a shot. The alien ducked and knocked Braden off his feet. It turned to the others and swiped its claws and caught Teagan on the shoulder. The claws ripped through muscle as blood immediately flowed from the wound and covered her shirt.

  Another alien jumped down behind Riker and reached for his gun. Riker dove out of the way and shot the alien in the chest. He put a new magazine in his Sig Sauer and fired again, this time aiming for the head and eyes.

  Braden screamed as the alien closest to him picked him up by the leg and swung him around like a rag doll. The alien swung him toward Kimberly and his head slammed into her side, throwing her off balance. She fell to the ground and lost her grip on her shotgun.

  The alien whipped Braden around faster and slammed him into a tree. There was a loud crack as Braden’s arm and leg snapped. Braden’s screams filled the woods as his broken body fell to the ground.

  The alien leapt on top of him and pressed its foot down on Braden’s broken femur bone. The pressure caused the bone to pop out of Braden’s skin. The alien reached down and grabbed the exposed bone and ripped it out of Braden’s leg. The pain was so intense that he screamed, but no sound came from his mouth.

  The alien thrust the femur bone into Braden’s eye with such force that it punched through the back of his head and pinned him to the ground. Braden’s body stopped moving as he took his final breath.

  “No!” Kimberly screamed as she stood back up with her shotgun. “You motherfucker!” Kimberly took a few steps forward and emptied the gun into the alien’s chest. She kept the gun aimed at the same place as she put six cartridges into the creature. As tough as the alien’s skin was, six twelve gauge rounds penetrated the monster’s flesh.

  Kimberly knew she didn’t have time to reload, so she raised the shotgun in front of her like a spear and ran toward the creature. She slammed into the alien and the barrel of the shotgun penetrated the alien’s chest. The creature howled in pain and reached for Kimberly. She closed her eyes as she saw the thing open its mouth and reveal its deadly teeth.

  Kimberly waited for the death blow, but instead heard Teagan yelling her name.

  “Get down, Kimberly!” Teagan screamed.

  The creature had a firm grip on her, but Kimberly managed to slink down enough to give Teagan a clear shot. Kimberly heard the crack from Teagan’s weapon and saw the alien’s head snap back. It loosened its grip on her and she broke free. She took two steps back and kicked the butt of the shotgun that stuck out of the alien’s chest. She heard a loud snap as the gun buried itself deeper into its chest. She had no idea what the inside anatomy of these aliens looked like, but if it was anything like a human being, then the barrel of the gun would be buried in its heart.

  The alien fell to its knees and Teagan threw her Beretta to Kimberly, who quickly shot the alien once through each eye.

  Kimberly and Teagan looked over in time to see Riker as he pushed his machete through the creature’s eye. He stepped on the alien’s chest and pulled the bl
ade from the socket and thrust it into the monster’s throat. He stepped on the blade to push it deeper into its throat until it went clear through.

  The alien’s head rolled away from its body and Riker was left standing breathless over the headless creature.

  Riker looked up and saw what had to be at least twenty to twenty-five aliens looking down on him from the top of the fence. Riker turned pale and immediately turned around.

  “Run!” was all he screamed, but the girls had already moved away from the fence. As they ran, they heard the aliens landing as they jumped from the fence. Their heavy footsteps made them run faster and they dared not look behind them.

  Riker felt something rumbling as he ran through the woods. A few feet more and he heard what sounded like a large vehicle as it slowly made its way through the woods. He caught up to Teagan and Kimberly and knew from the looks on their faces that they’d heard the noise as well.

  The three of them ran through the woods and broke through to what looked like a path. They all froze in place as the almost ten-foot-tall armored vehicle shook as whoever drove it slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting them.

  The engine filled the woods, and Riker knew the aliens would be right behind them. He wasn’t sure if he should try and get in the vehicle or run off into the woods while he still had a chance.

  “Get in!” a voice yelled from the armored vehicle. “What the hell are you waiting for?” Riker looked over and saw Teagan and Kimberly as they entered the truck. As he ran toward the vehicle, he heard a machine gun open fire and saw the horde of aliens slow down. Not even those bastards were safe from fifty-caliber rounds.

  Riker ran into the armored vehicle and sat down just as the vehicle began to move forward.

  “Thanks,” Riker said to the man and woman who stared at him. “Thank you.”

  And then he passed out.

  4

  One Mile Outside Schoepke Springs

  Spicewood, Texas