They continued down the vacant highway moving along quickly as the sun began to rise over the horizon. The morning light began to spread making the carnage around them visible, and in the distance, their destination came into view. The decimated town appeared, filled with mangled dismembered bodies and not a living soul in sight. The facility, not more than a half mile away, had a column of thick, black smoke rising up from it as a large fire raged out of control in one of the outlying buildings.
"Well, there it is. Do you have any idea what we are going to be looking for when we get inside?" Connor asked Hobart.
"Not really," he replied.
"Great," disgusted that they were nearing the plant and had no idea what they needed to find. "Maybe we can contact the general, and he could give us a better idea of what we need to get."
"Good idea, kid," Hobart said pulling off his backpack. Setting it on the ground he quickly dug out the radio. Turning on the radio, he grabbed the small microphone, "Sheriff Hobart to General Miles, over."
Static filled the airway as they impatiently waited for a reply. Hobart tried again with the same result: static. "Maybe we are in a dead spot, or the radio isn't strong enough to make it," Connor said as he scanned the area around them.
Packing the radio away, Hobart scanned the area searching for higher ground. "Maybe you're right. We need to find a higher spot to transmit from."
"Hey, not to sound like a buzz kill but we didn't think of the worst case scenario. What if they were overrun by these things and are all dead," Jameson said.
Hobart quickly shot him a dirty look, "Come one, kid, we can't think that way. Besides, he is a general in the air force. He must be well protected."
Connor, annoyed at both of them for having this conversation in a spot where every zombie in the area could see them, quickly intervened. "Enough of this… We need to get moving. The sooner we find what we need to find in that place, the better." He started walking away from the group toward the giant facility wanting to get out of the open and into somewhere relatively safe as soon as possible.
"He's right; let's get going," Hobart said pulling his pack back over his shoulders and hustling to catch up to Connor.
Looking around as she followed, Sara spotted a small convenience store a few hundred feet from them. "Hey, I'm hungry. There is a store over there; let's go grab some food."
"You have your MRE; eat that," Hobart replied.
"I don't want another one of those. I want some real food, and there may be some in there." She did not wait for him to reply. She just turned and headed for the building.
"Hey, where the hell are you going?" Hobart called out.
"Sara, wait up," Jameson said as he sprinted to catch up to her. "This could be real dangerous. We have no idea what may be in there."
"I know, but I'm sick of that freeze dried crap. I need something good."
Disgusted, Hobart and Connor followed the other two moving quickly for the store. They sprinted across the highway catching up with Jameson and Sara, stepping in front of the pair, bringing them to a stop. "This is a mistake going in there. What if that building is crawling with those things, then what?" Hobart asked.
Putting a pouty sad look on her face, "I'm starving, and I need something other than a freeze dried meal. It will only take a few minutes. I just need something different," she told him.
Jameson nodded, "I agree with her. Something different would be nice."
Reluctantly both he and Connor agreed that something different would be a nice change of pace from the packaged MREs. The foursome finished crossing the highway, heading in the direction of the store while scanning every inch of the area around the building, searching for any type of threat. A few minutes later, they slowly approached the front entrance. Stopping outside the door, Hobart looked in through the windows trying to see if the inside was safe for them to enter.
"It looks empty, but there are some spots that I cannot see, and there is the storage room to think about, also," Hobart announced as he pressed his face against the window. Turning back to the others, "Are you sure you want to do this? It may not be safe in there."
Sara stepped up to the door and grabbed the handle, "You are damn right I want to go in; I'm starving," she said pulling open the door, not caring what may be waiting for her on the other side of the door.
The stench of rotting food mixed with the foul odor of a decaying human body, which they saw lying behind the counter, greeted their arrival. Hobart moved quickly past Sara entering the store, gun at the ready. Silently he moved through the front of the store heading for the far aisle while pointing for the others to search the other side.
"Hey, it doesn't look like he was bitten," Jameson whispered to Sara pointing at the body. "Looks like bullet holes in his chest."
Once he had checked the other end of the store, Connor moved over to the body taking a close look at the dead man. The bullet holes were everywhere on the body but none in the head, so he must have been human when he was shot. Standing up, he looked around the store taking a whiff of the air inside, knowing that there was someone or something else inside. "Sheriff, there has to be another body or one of those things in here. This body is not giving off that odor."
Each of them quickly raised their weapons ready for a possible encounter with one of the dead. Jameson and Sara moved to the far end of the store rechecking each of the aisles while Connor and Hobart headed for the back room. Silently the two men motioned to each other as they stood to either side of the storage room door. Taking a deep breath, Hobart entered through the door first, closely followed by Connor and came face to face with a rather large zombie.
Reaching out the creature grabbed Hobart by the neck and started pulling him in closer as he struggled to bring his weapon up. The zombie's mouth opened up, spilling out a gruesome, dark red liquid as the creature leaned in for a bite, which provided Hobart with just enough space to raise his gun up under the chin of the creature. Pulling the trigger the bullet tore up through the chin and into the brain, ripping the top of the head off, sending a spray of blood and brain matter over the ceiling of the small room. The body fell back releasing its grasp on his neck, landing in a pile of boxes behind it.
"Sheriff, are you alright?" Connor asked pulling him back away from the body.
"Yeah, just get me something to wipe this crap off of me."
Connor saw his face covered in the sickening, dark red liquid. Looking around he saw a stack of paper towels, so he grabbed a roll and handed it to Hobart while he looked for something to help wash the blood off. Grabbing a gallon jug of spring water from a shelf, he turned back ripping the cap from the container, "Keep your eyes and mouth shut tight. I am going to pour some water on you to help wash that off."
The cool liquid poured down over his face washing the sickening blood from his face. He pulled several sheets off the roll and began to wipe his face trying to get it all off while he prayed that none of it made it into his system.
"Looks like we got it all," Connor announced as he stopped pouring the water.
"Are you sure? I don't want to become one of those things because we missed some."
"I'm sure; it looks good from here," he replied just as the others burst through the storage room door.
"Hey, what was the shooting?" Jameson asked.
"That damn thing was standing in here when we walked in."
Jameson looked down at the dead zombie and then back up to Hobart. He could see the blood stains covering his clothes, "You didn't get bitten, did you?"
"No, I didn't, but it was damn close. I told you all that this was dangerous and we should have avoided this place." He was angry that he was almost a victim of one of these things, and it was all because these kids wanted something different to eat.
Sara stepped forward, "I'm so sorry, Sheriff. It is my fault that we came in here."
The apology from her did nothing to decrease his anger one bit, but he held it inside not wanting to make a bad situation a
ny worse. "Listen, we need to avoid places like this. We cannot afford to lose anyone else to one of those things." Pausing for a moment to gather himself, he continued in a forced calm voice, "Get what you need, and let's get moving."
The trio moved back out into the store and began searching for what they desired while Hobart walked to the front of the store wanting to keep watch for any unwelcome guests that may have heard the gunshot. A short while later, Sara, Jameson and Connor walked up to Hobart, each carrying a bag full of food. "You might want to put that stuff in your backpacks. I think the bags may make enough noise to draw those suckers to us."
He shook his head in disbelief as they did what he suggested. Teenagers had always annoyed him. They were the ones that caused him the most grief as sheriff, getting into all kinds of trouble. "Are we ready?" he sarcastically asked.
"We are–let's go," Connor replied. Pushing open the door he looked around the exterior of the building before stepping outside. Waving the others out behind, "It looks clear; come on out."
They walked back out onto the roadway continuing their trek to the facility ahead. Hobart walked in total silence while the others gorged themselves on the food they had found at the store as they continued toward the gate of the massive complex.
CHAPTER 15 – THE COMPLEX
They cautiously continued down the deserted roadway scanning the area around them as they walked, wanting to be ready for anything that may come their way. The complex loomed larger with every step, and each of them began to worry what waited inside. Would the place be full of the dead waiting for their next living meal to appear? Would the answers they sought be inside? These questions passed through their minds as they approached the main gate.
Looking around the inside of the fence line Hobart started to have a bad feeling. The grounds inside the fence had bodies strewn about, but there was no sign of any of the living dead, and he began to wonder whether they remained inside the facility or had moved on. "Keep your eyes open. Something killed those folks, and I'm worried that they are inside the buildings."
Connor and Jameson quickly checked their weapons making sure they were fully loaded. Jameson motioned to Sara who followed suit sliding a fully loaded magazine into her nine mm. "Okay, Sheriff, I think we are ready," Jameson said as he quietly chambered a round.
Slowly Hobart moved forward stepping in through the wide-open gate, stopping briefly to check the guard shack as he passed and was relieved to see it empty. Looking back to Connor, "Do you remember what building the general told us to enter?"
"Sure do… It's that one there," pointing at the closest, "number three."
"Alright, you two take up flanking positions; Sara, cover the rear. If any of you see anything moving, don't hesitate to call out, and if it looks dead, shoot it."
The foursome moved quickly across the open space heading directly for the entryway of building three. Pools of blood and piles of dismembered bodies appeared near the doorway along with two motionless bodies lying face down. Hobart slowed his approach when he saw the bodies. Holding a finger to his lips he motioned for the others to be quiet, not wanting to alert these things to their presence if they were indeed zombies.
Sara was about to ask why they had slowed when she saw one of the creatures turn the corner of the building and begin lumbering toward them. "We got one coming this way," she whispered hoping that they heard her. Raising her weapon she aimed at the slow moving zombie, which was now only a hundred feet away from them.
Jameson turned to see what Sara had meant when he saw the creature. The zombie, covered in tattered blood-stained clothing, was completely missing its left arm along with a ripped open abdomen but still moved toward them moaning at the sight of living flesh. "Oh crap! It's getting pretty damn close. We might want to shoot it," he said aloud as he brought up his rifle.
The two bodies that had Hobart concerned began to climb to their feet at the sound of Jameson's voice. "I thought these two were walkers," Hobart said as he fired a round into the head of the closer of the pair.
At the sound of the shot both Sara and Jameson fired, each with deadly accuracy, as the head of the approaching zombie exploded sending grisly debris in every direction. Hobart shot and decapitated the second of the two in front of them and quickly reloaded his handgun. "Well, if they didn't know we were here before, they sure as hell do now," he said sliding home the loaded magazine.
Running up to the entry door they flanked the sides of the entrance as Hobart cautiously peered inside. "It looks clear from here, but as we all know, looks can be deceiving. Be ready for anything," he said pulling open the door.
The air that rushed out of the opening caught them off guard, along with the rancid odor of decaying human bodies. Stepping inside they saw a long, sterile, white hallway leading them deep inside the building lined with doorways and thankfully free of dead. Taking one last look behind them Jameson checked to see if anything was following before pulling the door shut behind them.
"Should we try and contact the general again before we go any further?" Sara nervously asked.
Connor looked over at her and shook his head, "We need to get up higher first."
Hobart pulled a paper from his shirt pocket examining the directions that the general had passed along to Carter. He was relieved that he had remembered the paper and taken it off Carter's body before they moved on, or they would have been searching blind. Gaining his bearings he saw that they needed to go up two floors to the main laboratory. Looking up he saw the stairwell sign just down the hallway, and motioned toward it for the others to see. "Come on; the lab is on the third floor," he whispered as he started for the stairwell.
They quickly moved down the hall trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to alert anyone or anything to their presence. Stopping at the opening, Hobart slowly looked around the corner breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the vacant stairwell. Turning back to the others, he held up a finger to his lips and then waved them to follow as he went around the corner.
Just as they started up the first set of steps, the lights in the building went dark, sending them into complete darkness. "Great. How the hell are we going to find the lab in this?" Jameson whispered. To make matters worse, they started to hear shuffling footsteps from above along with the telltale moan of the dead.
Hobart swung his backpack off and began rummaging through it, pulling out a flashlight a few seconds later. Flipping it on, he sent the beam of light upward just as a zombie appeared on the landing. The creature let out a gurgling hiss sending a bloody drool falling from its gapping mouth, landing on the blood covered lab coat it wore.
"I kind of figured this would come in handy," Sara said as she quickly screwed a suppressor onto the end of her weapon. Taking careful aim at the zombie she targeted the center of its head as it started down the steps toward them. The muffled pop filled the stairwell, and the creatures head flew back from the impact of the high caliber round as it ripped into its left eye.
"Nice shot," Jameson said while placing a suppressor on his gun. "We should have had these things on before we came in here."
Another muffled pop filled the area as Sara sent another round into the head of a second zombie. "Well, they know we are here, and without the lights, we may be in some trouble."
"Come on; the sooner we get to the third floor the better," Hobart announced stepping over the two bodies on the landing. Keeping the light in front of them, they ascended the remaining stairs, stopping just outside the door leading onto the third floor. "Everyone ready?" he asked reaching for the doorknob. He could not see any of their faces in the darkness, so he hoped they were all prepared for what was on the other side of the door. Turning the knob he pulled the door open, aiming the flashlight into the dark hallway.
"What's in there?" Connor asked.
"Clear so far. Let's go," he said stepping out into the vacant hall.
They all moved out into the dark hallway just as the lights flickered back on causing them all to
jump. "The electrical grid must be failing already," Hobart said as he pulled out the paper. "The lab should be near here according to this. Keep your eyes open. There has to be more than the two in the stairwell."
"Down there," Sara said pointing at a heavy steel door midway down the hall. "That has to be it."
Hobart nodded to her and started for the door making sure to check any place along the way where a zombie could be hiding. Approaching the door they saw the sign indicating it was indeed the lab they sought, so they quickly flanked the door preparing for what may be waiting inside. Grasping the handle Hobart slowly tried to turn the knob, "Damn, it's locked."
"What now?" Connor whispered. Just as he asked a large zombie turned the corner at the far end of the hallway. The creature, dressed in what appeared to be a security guard uniform, began lumbering down the hall toward them, blood dripping from its open mouth. Connor was about to shoot the thing when he saw the keys dangling from its belt. "Hey, there is our way inside."
Smiling at the sight of the keys, Hobart stood in the center of the hall presenting an appetizing target for the approaching creature. "Come on, you bastard; come get me," he said raising his weapon, waiting for the thing to get closer.
"Why don't you just shoot it? Letting it get close is dangerous," Jameson said as he moved in front of Sara, wanting to shield her from the menace.
"Heck, kid, I don't want to run all the way down there to get the keys. Do you?"
"No, I guess not, but don't let it get too close."
He waited until the zombie was no less than twenty feet from him. He carefully aimed his weapon, whispering, "Time to say goodbye," and pulled the trigger. The bullet found its home removing the back of the creatures head, sending it to the floor in a bloody heap. Reaching down he grabbed the keys off the belt of the dead guard and turned back to the locked lab door. Fumbling through the twenty or so keys, he eventually found the right one and slid it into the lock. Turning the key he heard the lock release, and he slowly pushed open the door.
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