Dead Strain

by Giesler, W. A.

  Hobart approached and saw the ladder on the far side of the courtyard, surprised at how far away it was from them. "Wow, kid, that's all you have? That ladder is a long way away, and honestly, that ledge isn't that big."

  "I know, Sheriff, but unless you have a better idea or want to go out and face that thing in the hall, then this is our only shot," he shot back at Hobart grabbing the tools he needed and walking to the window.

  Hobart knew he was right. He had no other ideas, and as crazy as his was, it was their only plan for escape. "Alright, kid, let's do what we can to get that window out," he said as he grabbed some tools out of the box and walked over to lend Jameson a hand.

  Munroe sat down in his seat and watched, amused at what they were planning to do. "You know that window isn't going to come out of there."

  Shooting a dirty look at the doctor Sara stood up and moved quickly over to where he sat. "Listen, this is your fault, and we are doing our best, so I would suggest you keep your comments to yourself, or I will hand you over to the zombies. With the threat of the dead dining on her, along with his snide comments, she was getting very close to the breaking point, and he was the person she planned on taking out her frustrations on. Staring directly at Munroe, she called out to the others, "Need any help?"

  Planning to make another snide comment the doctor was just opening his mouth when a loud thud came from the entry door, but this time the hinges began to give. "I retract my previous statement, and I urge you to move faster. I think something wants to get in."

  Jameson began smashing away with the hammer, chopping at the frame of the window until he ran into the steel frame of the window hidden behind the wooden frame. "Shit, this isn't good," he muttered as he took a couple of futile swipes at it with the hammer. "Now what do we do? This steel frame isn't going to be easy to get through and damn near impossible with the tools we have."

  Hobart stepped back, "We need to come up with something. That door isn't going to hold much longer."

  "I have an idea," Sara announced as she stepped in front of Hobart. "When we were back at the house, I grabbed a few of these," holding up a grenade. "Maybe we can blow a hole in the window."

  Grabbing the lethal orb from her hand, Hobart reached into the toolbox and pulled out a roll of heavy tape. "Everyone, find some cover." Walking up to the window he placed the grenade in the center of the heavy glass and taped it on. "These things have a three second delay, so when I pull the pin, everybody get behind something heavy."

  Another loud thud came from the entry door, and the hinges once again flexed, straining against the vicious assault. "Hurry up, Sheriff, that door isn't going to take much more," Munroe called out.

  Checking to see that everyone was at a safe distance, he turned back and grasped the pin. "Here we go, cover your ears," he yelled as he pulled the pin and ran to safety. The time went by in an instant, and the room erupted with a flash and a thunderous sound as the grenade went off. Smoke and dust from the blast hung in the air as debris landed all around them, signs that the vicious explosion may have done the job. Each of them stood up from their hiding spot, brushing dust off their bodies as they tried to see through the haze, wanting to know if the grenade had worked.

  Sara saw the hole blown through the center of the thick glass, "It worked!" Running over to the window she looked out and saw the sea of dead below staring back up at her. "Well, the good news is we can get out of here. The bad news… They are still patiently waiting for us," pointing down at the horde.

  Another thud at the door and the top door hinge gave way as the other two still held tight. "Let's move; that door is coming down sooner than later," Hobart yelled helping Sara up and through the hole.

  Stepping out onto the foot wide ledge she pushed herself firmly against the wall of the building as she took a few tentative steps to the side. In the dwindling sunlight, she turned her attention down to the mass of dead who were now hungrily staring up at her. Returning her gaze back to the window, she watched as Jameson climbed out through the opening and moved toward her while the others followed close behind. Hobart was the last out of the room, closely following behind Doctor Munroe who now seemed very eager to get away from his creations below.

  "Head for the ladder," Hobart called out.

  Taking a deep breath she started inching along the ledge moving toward the ladder at the far end of the building. Looking down again, she saw the zombies following her and the others as they moved along, which sent a chill down her spine thinking about what they wanted to do to them all. Another loud thud from inside the room they had just vacated caught her attention. Looking back at the window she heard a loud crash from inside, which had to have been from the door hinges giving way. She continued inching along, but kept her eyes on the window, waiting for the creature to emerge.

  Hobart followed closely behind the others while keeping a close watch on the window, knowing that the mutated zombie had made it into the room. Pulling his weapon from its holster, he made sure the safety was off as he patiently waited for the thing to appear. A minute after the loud crash, the head of the hideous monster poked out of the window and turned toward them. "Move people; here comes that thing," Hobart yelled as he brought his weapon up.

  Jameson looked back and saw the zombie as it clumsily stepped out of the window onto the ledge. "Sara, I would suggest you go a lot faster," he called out, pulling his sidearm from its holster.

  Picking up the pace, she chose not to look back and see how close the thing was. Taking in a deep breath she looked over at the ladder and increased her pace knowing that she and the others needed to get to it as quickly as they could.

  Pulling his trigger Hobart sent the first of several rounds toward the zombie hitting it square in the chest but only slowing it briefly. It was almost impossible to get off an accurate shot while inching along the ledge of the building along with trying to keep from falling off. He and Connor both fired on the creature, again hitting it in the chest, but this time it stumbled and almost toppled off the side of the building. "Keep firing on it; maybe we can get it to fall," he yelled over the deafening gunfire.

  Steadying himself against the wall of the building Connor lined up his shot and pulled the trigger praying to himself that his aim was true. The bullet slammed into the side of the zombies head tearing off part of its jaw and ear, which sent the creature tumbling back and eventually off the ledge, falling toward the crowded ground below.

  "Nice shot, kid," Hobart said watching the creature fall, slamming into the dead below.

  A smile appeared on Sara's face when she heard that they had gotten the thing but quickly disappeared when she saw the zombies climbing the ladder before her. "Hey, we got a problem here; they can climb," pointing toward the ladder.

  "Hurry up, Sara, we need to get there before they get up this far," Jameson told her as he began pushing her along.

  CHAPTER 18 – THE ROOF

  Finally making it to the ladder Sara looked down at the climbing zombies, which had only made it to the second floor. Grabbing the rung of the steel ladder she started to climb up the twenty feet or so taking her and the others to the roof. Jameson followed closely behind then Connor, Doctor Munroe and finally Sheriff Hobart.

  Before climbing onto the metal ladder, Hobart fired a shot at the closest of the dead, knocking it off and sending it tumbling to the ground below, barely missing the others that continued their climb. Looking up he could see that Sara had made it to the top, so he grabbed the ladder and started to climb just as something latched onto his foot and started to pull him back. He tried to pull his leg free of the zombies grasp and was about to shoot the thing when it sunk its teeth into his calf, ripping a chunk of flesh and muscle from his leg. He let out a yell as the searing pain surged through his body causing him to lose grip on his gun, sending it falling into the dead below. Blood poured from the gaping wound covering the face of his attacker causing it to lose grip on his leg. Free from the zombie's grasp, he mustered up the strength t
o slam his foot into its head knocking it free of the ladder.

  Connor heard the scream from behind him and looked down just in time to see the creature pulling the chunk of flesh from the sheriff's leg. He pulled his weapon and was about to fire when he saw the well place kick send the zombie to the ground below. "Sheriff, are you alright?"

  "Yeah, as fine as I can be under the circumstance…The damn thing got me. Keep climbing," he yelled back. The pain in his leg was intense as whatever the things transferred in their bites started to travel through his body. Looking up he saw Munroe climb over the edge of the roof, so he tried to ignore the pain and finish the climb. The world around him started to spin, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as the zombie toxin started to transform him. His grip on the ladder began to fail, and he was about to fall when a hand from above grabbed onto his shirt and hauled him up onto the roof.

  "Sheriff, are you still with us?" Connor asked setting him down against the short lip of the roof wall. Turning to Munroe, "Is there anything you can do for him?"

  "No, I'm afraid not. I have tried several things to stop the transformation, but all have failed. He will become one of them soon, so we may want to consider shooting him before he becomes a problem."

  "No, you can't shoot him!" Sara yelled. "He saved us from them when it all started; we need to help him!"

  Connor knelt down next to him, "Sheriff, what would you like us to do?"

  Hobart looked up at the young man, fighting off the pain in his leg along with the increasing pain in his head, "Take the radio and contact the general. Do whatever you can to get out of here alive." Pausing for a moment he cringed while trying to fight off the increasing pain now surging throughout his body. Opening his eyes he looked up at Connor, "As for me, when I change, I expect you to do what you have to; treat me like every other one of those things."

  Connor stared down at the man that had saved them at the start of the outbreak and wondered if he was going to be able to do as he asked. Shooting him, if he does change into one of them, will be one of the hardest things he has had to do. If it had not been for Hobart and his survival abilities, both he and his brother would have fallen victim to the zombies. Looking over at Jameson, "Try and contact the general; let him know what we have discovered. Also, tell him we need a way out of here and soon."

  Grabbing the radio out of the pack Jameson quickly set it up and started to call for the Miles.

  "Kid, help me up. I need to see what it looks like below," Hobart groaned through the pain. Climbing to his feet he moved to the edge of the roof and looked down on the courtyard below. "Here they come," he announced pointing down the ladder, "four coming up."

  Connor and Sara moved to the edge taking careful aim. They fired on the closest of the creatures hitting it in the top of the head, sending it falling back taking the one behind it along for the fall. As they were picking off the dead on the ladder, Connor noticed the mutated zombie moving through the horde, limping toward an entrance to the building. "Look; its heading inside. I wonder what that thing is up to now."

  Jameson was about to give up on the general when his voice finally burst through the static, "This is Myers. Who is this?"

  "Sir, my name is Jameson. You had Captain Carter and my friends come to Appleton to find out what happened here–remember?"

  "Yes, I do remember. Where is Captain Carter?"

  "I'm afraid he didn't make it, sir. We ran into a large number of the creatures."

  "That is a shame; he was a good man. So tell me, young man, what have you been able to find out?"

  "Well, sir, from what we have been able to gather, this was all started because of one man, Doctor Munroe. He claims that the military had him working on some new type of soldier, and he unknowingly created these creatures after running a test on one of his colleagues."

  "Well, that is not good news. Is there any cure for this outbreak?"

  "…nothing that we have been able to find, but we have taken Munroe into custody. He was found alive in his lab."

  "Alright, keep him with you. I will be sending an extraction team to your position in the morning."

  Jameson was able to look down on the courtyard from where he was and knew that morning was not an option. The creatures were once again trying to scale the ladder, and who knew what the mutated creature was up to. They needed rescue soon. "Sir, morning will not work. We are currently on the roof of the facility and under attack by a very large number of zombies, so extraction is going to have to be soon."

  Gunfire erupted again as Connor and Sara got rid of a few more of the dead working their way up the ladder, but there were hundreds more below, and their ammunition was not going to last much longer. Jameson watched as they took a few more shots and then turned his attention back to the general. "Sir, we need to get out of here, so if you want Doctor Munroe alive, I would suggest you hurry."

  There was a long pause on the radio before Miles came back on, "Alright, I have ordered the team airborne. You are going to have to hold out for another hour or so. It will take them that long to get there. Good luck, Miles…,out."

  Jameson sat back against the edge of the roof and looked at each of the people with him. He studied their faces as he thought about each of them and prayed that they would make it out of this mess. Turning his attention to Sara, who was leaning over the edge of the building taking shots at the dead climbing up toward them, admiration and desire filled him. He liked her a lot, and he was sure she felt the same way about him, so losing her to these things worried him. Next to her was his older brother, a person he had always looked up to, and finally he looked at Sheriff Hobart, who was beginning to lose his battle with the deadly zombie toxin, and knew that his time as a living human was nearing an end.

  "Kid, you are going to have to shoot me. I don't want to become one of those things," Hobart whispered through the agonizing pain. His eyesight was beginning to dim, and his thoughts jumbled as the transformation continued. Odd images started to flash through his mind: images of the death and destruction that they had seen over the last few days. As he struggled through the pain, the thought of biting into a living human body, feeling the flesh entering his throat and the warm blood trickling down his face appeared. The horror of what was happening became all too real when the thought slowly changed to a desire, and he began looking at the people around him as he searched for what he needed.

  Jameson saw the change in Hobart's demeanor as his eyes darted from person to person. The now fully white eyes, completely void of their once vibrant blue color, turned to him and stopped, staring directly into his own eyes, and he knew the change was almost complete. Standing up he slowly aimed his weapon at Hobart's forehead, "I'm sorry," he whispered as he pulled the trigger.

  "What the hell!" Connor yelled out hearing the shot from behind him. Swinging around he searched the roof for danger finally stopping on his brother who was still aiming at the now dead Hobart. "What did you do that for?"

  "He had completely changed, so I thought it wise to take care of it–plus he asked me to do it."

  Connor stared down at Hobart and could clearly see the changed features. Placing his hand on his brother's shoulder, he whispered to him, "It was a good thing you did for him. Come on; we need to fend off these things until the military can get here."

  Slowly nodding his head in agreement Jameson closed his eyes and muttered a silent prayer for the sheriff before following Connor to the buildings edge.

  Munroe sat back against the wall watching all that had occurred and started to feel the guilt of what he had done here. He thought the thousands of dead milling about the courtyard below aching to get at the living humans that were hiding on the roof of the building was all caused by his lack of patience and willingness to follow proper safety protocols. Closing his eyes he reflected back on his life's work and what he had accomplished, all of which meant nothing now that his biggest failure could be the planet's undoing. More gunfire from the trio at the building's edge s
napped him out of his trance, and he began to scan the sky searching for the helicopters that were on the way to rescue them, praying that they would arrive in time.

  "There are so many of them, and I am almost out of ammunition," Sara yelled over the gunfire. She was down to her last magazine for her 9mm, and her AR-15 was already empty. "How much do you two have left?"

  Connor searched through his pockets and pulled the last one for his handgun and turned to Jameson who was indicating he was on his last few rounds. "Alright, time to conserve what we have left. Only shoot at the ones that are getting close, and when they fall maybe they will take some behind them along for the ride."

  The trio looked over the edge again when startled by the loud bang from behind them. Spinning around they all saw the stairwell door partially give way as it suffered another heavy hit from the other side. "Well, we know where that freaky one went," Sara said turning her attention back to the ladder. Reaching over she pulled the trigger hitting the zombie in the face that was only a few feet from the rooftop.

  Connor looked around the roof searching for a safer spot for them but found nothing. He looked back at the door, which had taken another heavy hit and was barely hanging on. "Anyone have any ideas?"

  Stepping back from the edge of the roof Jameson looked down at Hobart's body, and a smile appeared on his face. Reaching down he grabbed the pack lying next to the sheriff and began rummaging through it. "Just as I thought," he said pulling out a couple more of the deadly grenades. "Anyone remember how long after we pull the pin before these things blow?"

  Nodding his head, "Three seconds, I believe, he said," Connor told his brother knowing that they actually may have a chance to survive until help arrived. Grabbing one from his brother he ran to a spot near the rooftop door and waited for the zombie to break through.

  Another loud thud from the other side of the door caught all of their attention as the door bowed outward. The zombie on the other side was very much unlike the thousands milling about below. It was strong and fast and very much wanted to get at the four on the roof. Jameson stared back at the door and wondered if he should go and assist Connor but thought better of it when Sara announced that several more of the dead were nearing the top of the ladder. Turning back he reached over the edge, quickly aimed and shot the closest of the creatures in the face. The zombie lost its grip and tumbled back falling into three behind it taking them all to the ground below.