Permanent Ink: Deadwalkers (Zombie Outbreak)

by RWK Clark

  “Nobody hurt him, please,” Linda began to sob. “He is just little, just a boy!”

  Mason turned to her. “Ma’am, no one is going to get hurt if we can help it. I need you to go into the station with the others, please.”

  Linda looked up at Randy, who nodded at her. He intended to stay, but the cop soon said. “You too, sir.”

  “But I am the scientist who engineered this strain,” he retorted. “I think it’s important that you have someone with you who knows what is going on, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Mason thought about it, then turned to the officers who had joined them. “Will one of you take this woman back inside please?”

  One of the cops, a female, stepped forward and smiled at Linda Abbott before taking her gently by the arm and leading her away. “Please, please don’t hurt him!” she kept saying as they walked away.

  Now the group turned back in the direction of the car, which sat quietly on the curb, appearing to be empty. They were only about seven feet from the car, but even from that close proximity it looked dead and empty. No one moved; they all simply stared at it.

  “This is the vehicle, sir?” Dean Mason asked Randy.

  “Yes, Officer. It –…”

  His response was immediately interrupted by the reappearance of the boy. So quickly that he popped up that everyone in the small group jumped back, one of them even shouting in fear. Timmy pressed his gray, torn face against the glass and started his hollering and grunting, and his tiny fists began to pound once again.

  “What the heck -?” Mason was stunned, not only by the surprise appearance, but by the way the boy looked. Even Randy thought that he looked worse than he had only minutes before.

  His face was more than gray, it was sunken, and there was a pasty appearance to the flesh itself. The bite marks which were all over him were crusted with blood, and it resembled raw meat. His eyes showed the most change: his irises and pupils were almost completely covered in white.

  “He’s all the way gone, you guys,” Randy said with disgust.

  The child responded violently to their voices, becoming more and more combative as he attacked the inside of the car trying to get out and get to them.

  “What is he trying to do?” Mason asked without looking away.

  Randy just stared. “He is trying to get out so he can eat us.”

  Mason took his radio off his hip. “I’m going to need a backup team out in front of the station, and keep the public from leaving the building. We have a major situation out here.”

  “Ten-four,” a bodiless voice replied.

  Now he turned to Randy and the other cops. “Is there a way we can contain him without hurting him?”

  “None, other than keeping him locked up tight,” Randy replied.

  Right then a group of officers, led by Captain Hertz, came out of the station house. Two of them stayed behind and guarded the doors to ensure that citizens didn’t come out and endanger themselves. The captain and the others jogged over to the blue car.

  “What do we have, Mason?” Hertz asked.

  Mason cleared his throat. “A young boy, Timmy Abbott. His mother came in upset, saying that the child had been playing and was attacked by an animal she didn’t recognize. It was biting him and trying to eat him. He passed out, and she came to the station to find out if his condition fit in with the Aspen situation.”

  Hertz’s eyes were glued to the boy in the car window, and he looked to be getting a bit ill by what he saw. Now the child turned to the back of the seat and began ripping and tearing at the upholstery, and he seemed to be doing it with ease. It seemed to Randy that the grown men stood there forever just staring, and he found himself wondering if anyone at all was trying to figure out their next step.

  Finally, Hertz spoke up. “We need to get him out of that car and into a tightly confined space. We have to figure this damn mess out.” Now he turned to Randy. “Police and city officials in Thornton have a serious outbreak of the same going on right now.”

  Next he turned to the officers who had come out with him. “Randall, go into storage and get that bite suit from the K9 program, and make it snappy.”

  The man took off like a shot, leaving Hertz to continue. “This is what we are going to do: I’m going to have Randall put on the bite suit since he was trained in the old K9 program; his experience with dogs should help us out here. Mason, I want you to call Monte Vista Medical Center and get Dr. Jarvi, the psychiatrist, on the phone. We need some professionals and some proper restraining gear to get this boy to a place where all of us are safe, and that’s not here.

  “The last thing I want is to have to take the boy’s life. I’m going in to see the Mayor about putting in calls to the feds. Get moving.” He motioned to the last two officers standing there. “You two stay here. We’ll all be back shortly. Keep people away from the scene.”

  Everyone seemed to take off at once except for Randy and the last two cops. He looked at them, somewhat sheepishly. “Do you think maybe I should leave?”

  They glanced at each other. “Weren’t you involved down at Aspen?”

  Randy nodded.

  The cop shook his head. “No. You should probably stay. If the captain wants you gone, he can tell you himself.”

  With that the officers proceeded to begin to direct pedestrians away from the vehicle. Randy stood, frozen in place, staring at the child in the blue car. It all felt like a very bad dream.

  But he couldn’t wake up; at least, not yet.

  ∞

  Captain Hertz and a handful of officers surrounded the blue car outside of the police station. An officer in a bite suit stood closest to the vehicle, while all the rest of the men had their weapons trained on the small boy inside. The boy was thrashing about wildly, clawing at the window, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Randy had moved just inside the doorway to the station, where he stood with Linda Abbott, the boy’s distraught mother. Her hand was over her mouth, tears were running down her face, and her shoulders were heaving with the force of holding back her sobs.

  From the door Randy could see the officers conferring and another group of cops holding back the public and their prying eyes. It was all a very grim situation, and Randy knew full well the potential for disaster which loomed outside. He closed his eyes and silently prayed; he didn’t even believe that the situation would turn out alright.

  “Mason, go in and get the keys from Mrs. Abbott. She should be just inside the station,” Hertz said in a low voice to his crew. Mason bolted for the building while he continued. “Okay, here it is: I’m going to unlock the vehicle with the remote, if it has one. If not, I’ll use the key.” He turned his full attention to the officer in the bite suit. “Randall, when I get the door unlocked the rest of us are going to stand back, guns drawn, and you are going to get inside and grab him. There’s the ambulance now; they’ll have the restraint jacket I’ve requested, as well as a sedative.”

  The ambulance pulled up askew with its back end to the car; police got on either side of it to continue controlling the crowd. Two emergency medical techs got out of the rear of the vehicle; one carried a small, dirty straightjacket, and the other had a metal box, which the captain assumed held the medication and syringe they would need.

  “Captain Hertz?” The first EMT approached the captain with the straightjacket in tow. His partner stood behind him, his eyes glued to the boy in the car, who was now beginning to foam at the mouth. “We’re here to assist in the situation as you requested. What would you like us to do?”

  Hertz gave the two men a brief rundown of the plan he had made upon their arrival. When he was finished he looked at the second EMT. “Are you going to be administering the sedative?”

  The young man nodded nervously, his eyes still on the boy, who was now beginning to bang his head on the window. A large chunk of gray flesh tore away from his forehead and stuck to the glass, but the child continued to bang away. The EMT’s hands were trembling so badly that the box in his h
ands was rattling slightly.

  Hertz watched the man, doubt beginning to build in his mind. “Excuse me,” he said. “What is your name?”

  The frightened young man didn’t even flinch. Hertz turned to the first one, who responded to the question right away. “I’m Williams; this is Dowd.” He reached out and grabbed his partner by the arm. “Dowd, we need you to pull yourself together!”

  Dowd snapped out of it, jerking his head toward his partner, then to the captain. “S-s-sorry, sir. What do I need to do?”

  “Well, you were going to be administering the sedative as soon as Officer Randall there had the child subdued, but it looks to me as if you aren’t the man for the job at all.”

  That statement seemed to get Dowd’s attention, and he straightened his shoulders right away. After clearing his throat, he claimed. “No, sir. Not at all. I’m ready and capable.”

  With that he set the metal box on top of a concrete half-column and prepared the sedative in the syringe. Once that was complete he turned back to the men. “I’m ready.”

  “Okay, then,” Hertz said with a sigh just as Mason appeared with Linda Abbott’s keys. He handed the captain a loud rhinestone covered keychain in the shape of an ‘L’ with five keys on it.

  “No remote, sir,” Mason told him. “But the ignition key works all locks as well.”

  Hertz took the keys. “Alright, Williams. I will be unlocking the passenger side front door. All of my men will be standing behind us, but I will need you directly behind myself and Randall, and you will need to be ready with the injection and jacket. Dowd, as soon as Randall has him down and secured you will administer the shot. We wait for it to take effect, and once that is done, Williams will put the jacket on the boy and you two will transport him to the psych unit. Everyone got it?”

  The word ‘sir’ echoed through the crowd of officers as everyone took their places, aiming their weapons as they settled in.

  “Don’t hurt him!” Linda Abbott was hollering from the front of the station. “Oh, please don’t hurt my son!”

  Hertz took hold of his radio. “I need an officer to keep Ms. Abbott in the building please.”

  Within what seemed like seconds, Linda Abbott was taken back into the station. Captain Hertz looked around at the men, who all stood with a cross between expectation and petrifying fear on their faces. When he spoke, the captain’s voice was filled with both compassion and determination.

  “We have to do this men,” he began. “Now, the most important thing is to be on your toes with the boy at all times. It may cost you your life to slack from paying attention for even a fraction of a second.”

  With that, Captain Hertz stood back and held up both hands to his team. “On three, Randall… One… Two… Three!”

  Hertz put the key into the keyhole, and in what seemed like slow motion he turned it with his right hand, and with his left hand flipped the door handle. He maintained both patience and self-control as he continued to hold the door shut, all while slowly letting it out a fraction of an inch at a time.

  Officer Randall, sporting the bite suit, was positioned to Hertz’s left, where he stood at the door’s opening. In the seconds that Hertz was unlocking and opening the door, little Timmy Abbott was continuing to claw at the window while focusing his eyes on what the two men were doing. His face even changed as he realized that the men were, indeed, going to open the car door, and while the process took place he positioned himself to meet them at their best.

  Timmy didn’t change position until the door was ajar about six inches. It was then, suddenly and with great force, that the child seemed to scale the front passenger seat and throw all of his weight against the passenger door. So quickly did it happen, in fact, that both Hertz and Randall were instantly startled, and that enough to jump back about a foot apiece.

  Which was all little Timmy Abbott needed.

  Randall was waiting, arms extended, when the child hit the door which Captain Hertz was opening. The captain was taken off guard as the door hit him, knocking him backwards onto his rear end. He emitted a loud ‘oooff!’ before falling backward onto his back completely, knocking his head on the concrete hard.

  Officer Randall was stunned by the boy’s sudden movement as well, but in only seconds he regained his wits and shot forward in an effort to grab the kid up and into his arms. He wrapped them around the child tightly, but the boy was much stronger than he looked, and Randall had not expected his strength at all. His arms and legs began to fly all around as he fought the man and the embrace, and he sunk his teeth into the bite suit, shaking his head back and forth as a dog or wolf would do to its prey.

  Now it was Dowd’s turn to act, and it seemed that everyone turned their eyes to him all at once in anticipation of his move. But Dowd just stood there, frozen in his place. His right hand gripped the syringe, holding it needle-up; his eyes were wide and his mouth was wide open, but he didn’t even flinch.

  “Dowd!” Captain Hertz was sitting up, rubbing his head and struggling to stand. “Dowd, give him the shot!”

  The man’s lips began to move, as if he was trying to say something in response, but no sound came out. Hertz finally got to his feet and limped his way as quickly as he could to the catatonic EMT. “Dowd!” He screamed directly in the man’s face, but once again, the man didn’t even flinch.

  Hertz turned to see that Randall, who was still struggling violently with the infected boy, was on the losing end of the fight. Now he had the kid by only one arm, and the child was going completely haywire, squirming and twisting and biting at anything that came close to his mouth. Randall was about to lose control of Timmy Abbott, and he knew it full well.

  “I need help!” he hollered just as Hertz turned back to Dowd and grabbed the syringe from his hands. The captain ran over to Randall, who was still clinging to the boy’s arm with all his strength.

  With a swing of his arm, Hertz stabbed the kid with the needle, and as soon as it was in he drove the plunger home. Timmy jerked violently when it was administered, causing the captain to lose his own grip on the needle. The man staggered backwards, his breath coming in pants and gasps. Timmy gave yet another jerk, twisting his body at the same time, and suddenly he broke free of Randall’s hold altogether.

  The boy stopped and looked around at the crowd. Everyone stepped back in fear as his eyes fell on each and every one of them. He seemed to be trying to get a grasp on his new found freedom, though it had only been seconds since he gained it. He opened his mouth and let out a vile, gravelly scream, and a piece of flesh fell from his forehead. Timmy took a step toward the captain.

  “I don’t think the shot is going to work,” EMT Williams said in a low voice.

  Timmy turned to him and suddenly charged at the man. Williams dropped the straightjacket he was holding and broke into a run. Hertz didn’t miss a beat; he grabbed up the jacket and darted after Timmy, who was lurching after Williams. Hertz suddenly tripped over his own feet and fell hard to the ground.

  Suddenly, shots seemed to ring out from every direction.

  As the bullets hit the boy his body jerked, making him look like a macabre version of a puppet on strings. But none of the shots took him down, and he continued forward, unfazed and seemingly very determined. A scream came from the entrance area of the police station, and Linda Abbott suddenly appeared, running for her son and screaming hysterically.

  “Don’t shoot!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. “Don’t hurt him!”

  She was closing the gap between her and her son while all of the officers held their guns, frozen, in a position to fire once again. When Linda Abbott was about five yards from Timmy he turned to her, just taking notice of her presence. In only fractions of a second she reached the boy, and with one deft move scooped him up into her arms in an effort to protect him from further gunfire.

  But Timmy was no longer Timmy, and he had other things on his mind.

  She hadn’t even come to a stop when he sank his teeth into her shoulder th
rough her blouse. Now Linda was screaming, but it was no longer to stop the police from firing. Now her screams were filled with pain, and shock was all over her face as her mind tried to wrap itself around the fact that her son was biting her.

  He began to shake his head violently back and forth as he tried to rip a bite of her flesh from her body. Blood was seeping through the cream-colored blouse in a pattern that resembled a blooming flower. Linda dropped to her knees and continued to scream.

  Suddenly another shot rang out, and this one hit little Timmy Abbott directly in the side of his head. The entrance wound was small, but as the bullet exited it took a major amount of the child’s brain with it. Tissue and bone fragments flew, and the boy went limp. His mother, who had been trying to pull him off of her, dropped him immediately to the ground, which he hit like a sandbag.

  Linda was in shock. She sat on the ground, sobbing. Her hand went right to her shoulder and came away blood-soaked, causing her eyes to grow as wide as saucers. She looked up at Captain Hertz, her lips trembling, and disbelief all over her ghostly-white face.

  “I tried to tell you, Ms. Abbott,” he said with regret. “I tried to tell you to stay inside.”

  Her hands were trembling violently. She looked from them to the group of people standing around staring at her. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back into her head and she began to convulse horribly. Gasps and muttered ‘Oh, my echoed throughout the crowd as the woman flopped around on the ground.

  Williams, the EMT who still had his wits about him, darted over to the seizing woman and knelt beside her. He began to administer medical attention, but Captain Hertz wanted him off of her right away. Didn’t anyone understand anything?

  “Williams, I need you to back away from Ms. Abbott,” he said sternly.

  The EMT turned to the man, a crazy look on his face. “There is no way I can ignore her need, sir,”