Outbreak (Book 3): Endplay

by Scott Shoyer

  “Riker!” shouted a voice. “Catch!”

  Riker looked up as Wilder threw him one of the grenades from his vest. Riker caught the grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it down the hatch. He then slammed the hatch closed and lay on top of it. The alien pushed against the hatch, but Riker’s weight did the job. There was a loud, muffled explosion and the windshield and side windows of the driver’s cab underneath Riker blew outward. Riker opened the hatch and saw pieces of the alien smeared all over the inside of the driver’s pod. The alien’s clear, thick blood dripped everywhere.

  Riker turned his attention to Teagan when she moaned.

  “Are you okay, Teagan?” Riker asked.

  She looked up at him.

  “Come on,” Riker said as he stood. “I’m going to carry you to the other truck.”

  Teagan screamed as Riker picked her up. She couldn’t put any weight on her leg as her blood gushed out. She felt light-headed and began to fall back down.

  *

  “No goddammit!” Riker yelled. “I’m not leaving you behind.” But Riker suspected that Teagan no longer heard his words.

  Riker attempted to pick her back up, but Teagan was unconscious and was dead weight in his arms.

  Just as Riker turned his head and yelled over his shoulder for help, he felt something pull at Teagan’s body. He looked back down at her and saw another alien had scaled the side of the truck and ripped out Teagan’s throat.

  Riker’s world turned red as he dropped Teagan’s lifeless arm and jumped toward the alien. The alien was fast, but this time, a human being was faster. The creature swiped its claw, still dripping with Teagan’s blood, toward Riker, but he moved before the claw hit its target.

  Riker threw aside his rifle, pulled the machete from the sheath, and buried it in the alien’s bicep. His anger and fury gave him a surge of strength he never knew he’d had. He pulled the machete from the creature’s arm and buried it into the side of the alien’s head. The creature rolled away from him, but Riker wasn’t done with it yet.

  Riker jumped on top of the dazed alien and tried to remove the blade from its skull.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  Next to him, he saw Teagan’s carbine and grabbed it. He smashed the barrel of the rifle through the alien’s teeth. The air filled with a horrible shattering sound as the creature’s teeth flew everywhere. He looked the creature in the eyes and pulled the trigger five times.

  The top of the alien’s head exploded first, followed by the back of its neck.

  Riker straddled the dead alien and breathed hard. He tried to catch his breath and hold back the bile that rose in the back of his throat at the same time.

  Teagan was gone.

  Dead.

  *

  Wilder reached Riker as the later still sat on top of the dead alien.

  “Riker,” Wilder said as he placed his hand gently on the man’s shoulder and squeezed. “Riker, it’s dead. We need to get out of here.”

  Riker looked at the man and shook his head.

  “Yeah,” Riker said. “Yeah, we need to move.”

  Kimberly and Howard stood on the roof of the other truck along with Josef. Steele had come down to help Wilder and cover him as he got Riker. Steele’s auto shotgun exploded, clearing the aliens off the roof. Wilder held Riker up, but after a few steps, the former SWAT commander regained his senses and ran the rest of the way.

  Cheryl and Stefan were already on the ground behind the armored truck.

  “The fifties are out of ammo,” Cheryl said as Wilder jumped onto the ground.

  Wilder looked at the path she and Stefan had cut into the woods with the fifty-caliber machine guns. Smaller trees were cut down and dead and injured aliens were scattered all over.

  “Nice job, you two,” Wilder said to the gunners. “Let’s get back to the garage. Is everyone okay to run? Any injuries?”

  No one said anything as they ran into the woods toward the garage entrance.

  Riker took the lead while Wilder stayed back and covered their rear. The wound on his chest began to itch and started to feel warm. He scratched it once more and ran behind the others.

  2

  Sub-Facility, Schoepke Springs

  The Fi-alien updated the four recently awoken aliens. It reported that the others had ambushed the human beings and had killed two more of them, but that they had not yet recovered the vials.

  In a long string of clicks and other alien noises, the aliens reinforced to the Fi-alien the importance of those vials. It nodded and ran off toward the only place it knew the humans could reenter the facility:

  Through the garage doors.

  The only other way in was through the hatch located in the room the aliens now occupied, and the bombs the humans set had caved in the access corridor. The humans weren’t crazy enough to attempt to enter through the front gate. The Fi-alien smiled through its toothy grin and knew the humans were scrambling. They had no plan, they were out-numbered, and they had only one place to go.

  The Fi-alien connected with the Butsko-alien to meet at the garage. It knew where the humans were headed:

  To the scout ship housed in the warehouse next to the garage.

  The humans would make it to the garage, but the Fi and Butsko-aliens would be waiting for them, along with hundreds of other aliens.

  It grinned as it thought about prying the vials from the dead fingers of the humans.

  3

  Schoepke Springs Property

  “He’s really burning up,” Kimberly said as she felt Wilder’s forehead.

  The group ran as fast as they could from the battle site at the armored vehicles to the garage’s entrance. Along the way, they’d passed many dead aliens and even more injured ones. Steele took it upon himself to smash as many of the injured aliens as he could with his sledgehammer.

  “They might be aliens, but given enough force, their heads cave in just like the zombies we fought not long ago,” Steele said.

  In the twenty minutes it took the group to run to the entrance of the garage, Wilder had become increasingly sicker. He’d mentioned a burning sensation from the wound on his chest before he collapsed.

  “We need to bring his fever down,” Kimberly urged the others.

  They were all huddled near the garage. There was an entrance hidden among the rocks that they’d all climbed through that brought them to a room. They were inside a foyer-like area to the garage and hadn’t yet opened the garage doors.

  Howard searched through the first-aid kit he carried. “There’s nothing in here but bandages, burn cream, and coagulating powder,” he said.

  “That bastard scratched him,” Cheryl said. “It has to be a reaction.”

  “Of course,” Stefan almost shouted from where he stood. All eyes fell on the young scientist. “Before we bugged out of the bunker, I had a chance to examine the contents of the vials.”

  “Wait,” said Josef. “You opened the vials?”

  “Just one,” Stefan said as he avoided Josef’s gaze.

  “You reckless bastard,” Josef continued. “We have no idea what’s in those vials. You put yourself and all of us at risk.”

  “I had no idea,” Stefan said as he placed emphasis on the ‘had.’ He had everyone’s attention. “I noticed that the aliens seemed to increase their aggression towards us after we entered their craft and swiped these vials,” Stefan explained. “It seemed to go beyond simply wanting to kill us.”

  “If they wanted to kill us, they could’ve done so easily back at the armored trucks,” Stefan continued. “Plus, if all we took were vials that contained more of the original virus, then why would the aliens care? The studied us long enough to know that human curiosity would have us opening those vials eventually and infecting ourselves.

  “No. Whatever is in those vials is important to the aliens.”

  “So what’s in them?” Riker asked.

  “I’m not exactly sure,” Stefan said, “but I think it might be something the aliens need to
survive on Earth.”

  “Hate to break it to you, Stefan.” Steele said, “but from the looks of it, those aliens are thriving out there.”

  “No, no,” Stefan continued, “not those aliens--the other ones.”

  “There’s another type of alien?” Kimberly asked as she cradled Wilder’s head in her lap.

  “Yes… no,” said Stefan. “I think they’re all the same species of alien, but also slightly different. Let me back up. When we were up in the craft, we saw what looked like five pods. Five pods that I would bet contained some of the original aliens that set this invasion in motion all those years ago.

  “I think the aliens that attacked us by the trucks and that emerged out of the cocoons were engineered specifically to thrive on Earth,” Stefan explained. “They are the same species as the five aliens in the pods, but they were engineered to be resistant to all of Earth’s germs and infections and things like that.”

  Josef finally broke the silence. “I think, Stefan, that you might be correct. When Rickard described the aliens he met with all those years ago, they had the same characteristics as the ones roaming around outside today.”

  “They have the same characteristics, but they also look more enhanced,” Josef continued. “The original aliens sounded more frail and weak. It is like they took the basic blueprint of their physiology and created a stronger, healthier upgrade.

  “But tell me, Stefan,” Josef said as he turned to the scientist. “What makes you think the contents of the vials won’t harm us?”

  “You know I’ve seen the samples of the original virus,” answered Stefan. “The contents of these vials are different. I wasn’t able to examine the contents with all the equipment we had, but from an initial glance, I’d bet my career on it that whatever is in those vials isn’t the original virus and could save Wilder’s life.”

  “We can’t just experiment on Wilder,” Cheryl said.

  “I’m no doctor,” Kimberly said, “but I think Wilder is dying. His pulse is getting weaker, his fever is getter worse, and he’s completely unaware of any external stimuli.” Kimberly looked at everyone as they stared at her and Wilder. “We need to do something.”

  Stefan approached Wilder and took one of the vials from his pocket.

  “We can’t do this!” Cheryl protested. “What if it kills him?”

  “I know you’re worried, Cheryl,” Stefan said, “but if we do nothing, he’s going to die as well. We’re aren’t equipped to deal with so much as the sniffles out here. I just want to give him a chance.”

  Cheryl was silent as Stefan opened the vial and Kimberly opened Wilder’s shirt. If they did nothing, Wilder would die. If they give him whatever was in the vial, he could die, but at least there’s a slim chance it could cure him.

  Stefan kneeled down and tipped the vial over Wilder’s open wound. The liquid inside was thick like the alien’s blood and was easy to control. A small amount dripped onto his chest and Stefan replaced the vial’s top and put it back into his pocket.

  “If he turns into a zombie,” Howard said, trying to ease the tension, “then we’re all screwed.” He forced a small laugh. Cheryl shot him an icy look.

  “I don’t mean to sound crass,” Josef said, “but we need to move on. Wilder will be safe in this room.”

  “We need to get into the garage and make our way to the warehouse,” Josef said. “The door to the warehouse is just across the room.” Then Josef looked at the others. “Now, does anyone else know how to set the C-4 once we get to the alien ship?”

  “I can do it,” Cheryl said. “I watched Wilder set the explosives by the final security door.” Cheryl looked down at Wilder and repeated, “I can do it.”

  “We best move now,” Josef said.

  4

  The man continued to walk and explore the property of Schoepke Springs. Even though he enjoyed the power he seemingly possessed over the creatures, he still avoided large clusters of them. There was no reason to see if the creatures were braver in numbers.

  All around him, the creatures’ numbers swelled. The man could’ve sworn that more and more of the things gathered in the main entrance and patrolled the grounds.

  The man followed his gut feeling and wandered to one of the far ends of the property. He approached the tall, stone fence. He placed his hand against the stone and knew he needed to be on the other side. He didn’t know or understand why, but now was not the time to ignore the instincts that brought him this far.

  The heat built up in the hand that was pressed against the stone. Within seconds, the stone around his palm began to crumble. Soon, there was a hole in the fence large enough for him to crawl through.

  The man waited for the exhaustion to overcome him, just like when he’d passed through the wall of energy. Instead, he felt great.

  I guess I didn’t need to use as much energy that time, he thought.

  As he walked through the woods, the man looked at the dead bodies of creatures around him. He smiled, because even though he knew he hadn’t killed these creatures, he took comfort knowing that there was somebody else out there who could kill them.

  The man walked through the woods until he came upon two large armored vehicles. There was a larger concentration of dead creatures here and he also saw the remains of two human beings.

  My, my, he thought. What happened here?

  5

  Cheryl led the way into the garage. She held the AR-15 carbine in her hands the way Wilder had taught her.

  Why do the important men in my life keep dying? Cheryl thought as her mind drifted. She thought about Walt and everything they’d gone through. He’d been her rock as she’d kicked her addiction to pain pills. In a world she didn’t recognize anymore, Walt had been her lighthouse, and the light that’d come from him was something she’d always trusted.

  Aliens, Walt, Cheryl thought. We were fighting goddamn aliens and didn’t even know it.

  And now Wilder lay at death’s door. Cheryl almost laughed at the thought that the situation they were in was so fucked up that giving Wilder some kind of mystery liquid from a vial they’d found on an alien ship was the best choice they had.

  You have to pull through, Wilder, Cheryl thought.

  Cheryl guided the others through a small hallway that led into the garage. They decided against opening the large garage doors. As Riker had said: they may as well just ring a dinner bell.

  As they approached the entrance to the garage, Cheryl put her fist in the air and signaled for everyone to stop moving, just like she’d seen Wilder do many times before. The door in front of them was solid and had no window to peer through. Cheryl didn’t like not knowing what was on the other side of the door, but slowly turned the doorknob.

  The others stayed behind her as she stuck her head into the room to take a quick look. She pulled her head quickly back.

  “Oh, that can’t be good,” Stefan said.

  “The garage is full of aliens,” Cheryl said. “There’s a lot of them in there.”

  “Fucking fantastic,” Howard said. “Now what the hell are we going to do?”

  “Let me finish,” Cheryl said as she shot Howard a look. “There’s a lot of them in there, but they’re all facing the main garage door.”

  “You mean like they’re expecting us?” Kimberly asked.

  “Exactly,” Cheryl answered. “I think we can use the cover of the other cars and trucks in the garage and make our way to the warehouse.”

  “Not exactly the greatest plan,” said Steele, “but it is a plan. I say we go for it. The sooner we blow that fucking ship up and bring down that wall, the sooner we can get the fuck out of here.”

  The others agreed. Cheryl opened the door and crawled to the closest automobile for cover. Josef crawled beside her and waited for the others.

  “I knew these cars were a good investment,” Josef whispered.

  The car they used for cover was a 2012 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe. After all of Josef’s upgrades and modifications, the car
had a price tag around five-hundred-thousand dollars. The other cars around him were two Bentley Mulsanne’s, two Porsche 918 Spyder’s, and two Ferrari LaFerrari’s, which each cost over a million-and-a-half dollars.

  “What’s wrong, Josef,” Cheryl asked as she looked around the garage. “Needed two of everything in case you lost one?”

  Josef just smiled.

  “I can’t believe we’re using these cars for cover,” Howard said as he joined the others.

  “They really aren’t good for anything else in this new world, now are they?” Josef asked.

  “Over there,” Cheryl said as she pointed to the third Wisent in the garage. They hated to leave the vehicle behind, but they didn’t want to spread their limited resources among the three large armored vehicles. “Let’s get behind the Wisent. That’ll give us good cover and we won’t have to stay on our knees.”

  One by one, they quietly ran to the Wisent.

  Riker followed up the rear and was the last one to get behind the Wisent.

  “The warehouse door is right over there.” Josef pointed to a wall of rock.

  “You sure about that?” Cheryl asked.

  “What do you think the entrance to the garage door we entered through looks like from the outside?” Josef grinned. “They wouldn’t be very good secret doors if you could see them, now would they?”

  “Just how much money do you have?” Steele asked.

  “Focus everyone,” Riker said. “It’s not far to the door, but this is the last vehicle we can use for cover. We need to be fast and silent, okay?”

  Everyone nodded and looked toward the entrance.

  Cheryl was the first to leave the safety of the Wisent and quickly ran toward the door. She was a few feet away when the harness that fastened Stevie to her belt unclasped.

  The nail-studded baseball bat fell from Cheryl’s belt and clamored to the ground. She may as well have set off four packs of fireworks.