Dead Strain

by Giesler, W. A.

  She looked over at the young man admiring how mature he was for his age and had to admit he was right, and they needed to find what they came for. "Alright, we should be on the ground in a couple of minutes. Any idea where we need to start?" she asked.

  "Yeah, over there," pointing to the far end of town, "there is a small hospital there, and hopefully we can find everything we need."

  Spotting the building she adjusted their course and was overhead in less than a minute. "There is a helipad on the roof. That's where I am going to set us down. How does it look?"

  "All clear at the moment, but I cannot guarantee they won't show up in force as soon as we set down," he replied with a small laugh.

  Reducing the power to the main rotor Laura glided the Blackhawk slowly toward the rooftop helipad and gently set it down. Grabbing her AR-15 she hopped out of her seat, dropping to a knee as she scanned the rooftop for trouble. "All clear, let's move," she called out to Jameson who was already moving toward the door leading inside.

  Stopping just outside the door he slipped his rifle over his shoulder before pulling out a long knife.

  "What are you doing?" Laura asked.

  "Hoping we can do this quietly."

  "I think the helicopter may have taken care of that already. Don't you think?"

  A smile quickly crossed his face as he slid the knife back into the sheath. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Whatever is out there is more than likely aware that we are here."

  The pair slowly opened up the door scanning the inside for trouble, and once satisfied that it was safe, they continued into the building. The hallway went dark as the light from outside was cut off by the closing door, which only added to their anxiety about entering this unknown place. Jameson fumbled through his backpack quickly finding the small flashlight he stored inside, flipping it on just in time to see the approaching zombie.

  Laura sprang into action when she saw the lone creature stumbling toward them, jumping to her feet and quickly crossing the short distance between them as she pulled the knife from her hip. Swinging the blade she slammed the deadly point into the decaying ear of the zombie piercing the skull before cutting into the soft brain tissue, killing the menace before it had the chance to become a problem.

  "Nice job, Major," Jameson whispered to her walking up next to her. In the dim light, he saw a smile cross her face as she pulled the knife out wiping the blood and brains onto the dead zombie's clothing.

  "I figured better to kill it quietly in here, just in case there are more."

  "Good call." Looking around the interior of the small hospital he scanned the walls searching for any signs that would point them in the direction of the supply room. Seeing the sign on the far wall he motioned toward it, "Come on; it's this way," he whispered starting in the direction of the room.

  The pair slowly moved through the dark building checking every possible hiding spot for a zombie before continuing on their mission. A short while later they arrived at a locked door marked Supplies. Grabbing the handle Jameson tried to force the door open but to no avail as the heavy door held strong. Looking over at Laura, "Won't budge, any ideas?"

  "Keep watch for trouble." Standing up she took a few steps backward before rushing forward landing a hard kick just below the handle. The door frame started to give way but held, so Laura landed another kick, this time shattering the wooden frame, and the door swung open.

  Jameson watched as she forced open the door amazed at how easily she did it, but at the same time worried that the sound that was echoing throughout the building would draw more dead to them. "We better do this quickly. I have a feeling that we just rang the dinner bell for those that are in here."

  The pair moved into the room and began grabbing the supplies they needed, trying to fit all they could carry into their backpacks.

  While they were busy loading up, they were stopped in their tracks when the loud roar burst forth out of the darkness. Swinging around toward the open door they quickly raised their weapons, prepared for an encounter with the unknown creature.

  "What the hell was that?" Laura asked holding her weapon at the ready.

  "No idea but it sounded like the same sound we heard back at the airport. I'm worried that whatever bit that man's head off is inside this building."

  "You think," Laura sarcastically replied as her nerves started to get the better of her. Reaching out she slowly pushed the door closed as heavy footsteps began to echo through the hallway.

  "It sounds big," Jameson whispered to her. He moved to the door sitting up against it hoping to hold it shut.

  The footsteps drew closer and closer with each passing second, finally stopping just outside the door. Both of them could hear the heavy breathing coming from the other side of the door followed by sniffing sounds as whatever was on the other side searched for the scent of its prey.

  Sitting as quietly as they could, both of them listened to the thing hoping that it would move on without a fight. Neither of them knew what they would face if that were forced to fight, and neither really wanted to know. Each minute they listened to the creature seemed like an hour as it continued to search for their scent. Another loud roar filled the small room and hallway as the creature finally continued to move down the hallway leaving them behind.

  "That was close," Laura whispered quietly climbing to her feet. "Let's get out of here." Grabbing her loaded pack off the floor she swung it onto her back and moved to the door. Looking back she could barely see Jameson as he moved up next to her. "Keep the flashlight off. I'd rather not make it easy for that thing to find us."

  Jameson nodded his reply as he stuffed the light into his pack. "Alright, whenever you are ready."

  Laura grabbed the handle and slowly pulled the door open as she listened for any sound that may give away the creatures location. She cautiously stepped out into the hallway staying low and moving to the side, clearing the way for Jameson to emerge. The pair moved quietly down the hallway hoping to get back to the helicopter quickly and without running into the unknown monstrosity roaming the halls.

  Taking the final corner they began to relax a bit when they saw the exit door ahead. Picking up speed they quickly crossed the distance, bursting out the door into the sunlight, only to come face to face with a new type of menace.

  CHAPTER 25 – A NEW CHALLENGE

  Skidding to a halt just outside the door both of them gasped when they saw the massive creature on the other end of the roof. Standing over eight feet in height, with a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, its glowing red eyes stood out brightly against its gray lifeless skin. A clicking sound drew their gaze to the end of its large hands only to see the large talon type nails on the end of its fingers dripping out a clear liquid from the tip of each.

  Raising her weapon Laura prepared to fight the giant creature as it started to slowly lumber toward them. Stopping after taking a few steps its giant head turned toward a sound that came from another direction. Seeing their opening Laura nudged Jameson, "Move while the damn thing is occupied," she whispered, and the pair sprinted toward the helicopter.

  Making it to the helicopter Laura hopped into the pilot seat and went to work powering up the engine while Jameson stood outside prepared to repel the creature if it turned its attention back to them. The rotor started to turn as she increased power and instantly drew the attention of the massive creature, and Jameson opened fire.

  The bullets struck the thing square in the chest, but instead of penetrating, they seemed to bounce right off, so he readjusted him aim targeting the creature's head. A loud roar filled the rooftop as the first bullet hit peeling back a chunk of skin on its forehead but did little to slow the monster as it moved toward them. Grabbing a grenade from his pack Jameson grabbed onto the pin, but before pulling it, he looked in to Laura, "Are we ready?" he asked holding up the lethal orb.

  "Yes, get in," she replied giving power to the rotor and slowly lifting off the rooftop.

  The mutation moved toward the he
licopter trying to get at the pair before the chopper carried them away. Roaring, it leapt at the Blackhawk swinging one of its long arms as it reached for the closest of the humans, Laura.

  Letting out a scream the searing pain ripped through her as the two of the long talon fingernails pierced her flight suit tearing into the skin on her arm. "Jameson," she yelled out, "Throw it now," as she fought through the pain.

  Hopping inside Jameson tossed the grenade, which landed a few feet in front of the creature and held on as Laura swung the Blackhawk to the side trying to get away from the coming blast. The rooftop erupted in a ball of fire and flying shrapnel as the grenade exploded knocking the creature back against the stairwell door.

  "It's down," Jameson yelled climbing up into a seat. He watched as the monstrous mutation regained its feet roaring out at the chopper as it moved away from it. "And now it's back up." Sliding across the seat he grabbed onto the heavy machine gun and opened fire. The large caliber bullets began slamming into the rooftop and creature, blowing chucks of debris into the air, sending up a cloud that obstructed his view.

  Releasing the trigger he watched for signs that the thing was still alive and moving. "Laura, can you see that thing?"

  "No, there is too much of a cloud."

  "What the hell!" he yelled out when bursting out of the cloud. The creature leapt toward the chopper coming up several yards short and landing hard on the ground below. "Did you see that?"

  "Yes, I did, and it's climbing back to its feet."

  Staring down at the creature, now several hundred feet below them, he wondered how such a monstrosity came to be and how they would be able to defend themselves against it. As he watched the thing, he finally noticed what it was wearing, and it sent a chill down his spine. "Laura, did you notice what it had on?"

  "I did, and I think there is more going on here than we are aware of," she replied. Releasing the stick she grabbed a rag from the floor next to her placing it against her wound and pressing hoping to stem the flow of blood.

  The pair watched the creature as it did its best to follow the chopper as it moved away. Lumbering along it pushed abandoned cars out of the way as if they were toys, crashing through concrete barriers and hopping over small buildings.

  Jameson watched the thing slide to a stop, encountering a group of dead milling about. He was shocked when it began swiping at the smaller zombies, biting the heads off several while smashing the others under its enormous hands. Letting out another roar it turned its attention back to the chopper, but stayed put, as it gnawed off a head from another of the slow moving zombies.

  "It's attacking the walkers and eating them," he called out to Laura.

  She slowly nodded her head having seen the grisly scene below, worried that there may be more of the mutations and how they would defend themselves against them. The pain in her arm was increasing with every passing second, but she fought as hard as she could to ignore it and fly the chopper. She needed to get back to the compound and give Munroe the supplies he needed.

  Looking up front Jameson saw the look of agony on Laura's face and then saw the bloody sleeve of her flight suit. "You're injured?"

  Once again she nodded as she kept her teeth tightly clenched fighting against the pain.

  "Did that thing get you?"

  "Ye…Yes, it did," she replied. "Get up here, you…," she paused as the searing pain surged through her arm, "You may need to fly this thing."

  Before he climbed upfront, he moved over to her left side and pulled away the rag wanting to examine her injury. The wound, two deep gashes in her upper arm, looked bad, and he had no idea what he could do for her other than get her back to the doctor. Placing the rag back onto the wound he spotted a few spots of clear liquid on the upper portion of her suit. The spots, two small gelatinous balls, sat precariously on the fabric of the suit just above the deep gashes. Reaching under the jump seat he grabbed a small first aid kid. Taking out the scissors he cut away the portion of the flight suit with the liquid placing it into a small plastic bag and sealing it. Once that was complete, he sprayed an antibiotic onto the wound and then covered it in gauze hoping to slow the bleeding.

  "How does it look?" Laura asked struggling to fly the helicopter and deal with the burning pain.

  "Not too bad," lying to her, "just some minor scratches. The doctor won't even have to stitch these." He heard her let out a small laugh, which meant his humor had done its job and lessened the tension she was feeling. Placing another piece of medical tape into place, "There you go, Major, all fixed up."

  "Thank you but it still hurts like hell," she grumbled through her clenched teeth.

  "The doc will fix you up when we get back and give you something for the pain."

  Nodding her head she kept quiet while she fought through the pain. Her head was beginning to spin a bit and nausea began to wash over her, but she did what she could to keep the chopper on course and get back to the compound as quickly as possible.

  "Major, how much further to the compound?"

  "Not too much longer. We should be on the ground in ten minutes or so."

  "Good, I have several new questions for Munroe after running into that thing."

  CHAPTER 26 – TROUBLE AT HOME

  He kept a close watch on Laura as she flew the Blackhawk and was relieved when the compound came into view. She had been quiet for most of the flight, and he was becoming worried that the scratch from the creature was going to change her into one of the dead. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked.

  She turned her head slightly toward her, "Not good, feeling very cold and my arm has gone numb."

  The color had started to leave her face as her skin began to turn the pale gray color of the dead. "Are you going to be able to land?"

  "Yeah, but you might have to come up here and help me."

  Giving her a light pat on the shoulder he climbed up into the copilot seat. "What can I do to help?"

  Pointing down, "Grab that; you will have to control the throttle. My arm is too numb to continue. Just keep it at the RPM's I am at now until I tell you to start reducing them."

  Tentatively he grasped the handle watching to make sure he kept it where she wanted, nervous that he might mess up and cause them to crash. Looking over at her he could see that she was struggling to keep focus on her task while fighting through the pain.

  "Alright, start to reduce RPM's," she told him as the Blackhawk approached their landing spot inside the fence line. "Slowly, slowly," she kept muttering to him while she lined up with the L.Z.

  While the chopper descended, he saw Sara come out of the house with Carla and Munroe following close behind and start waving up at them. A smile appeared on his face when he saw her but quickly went away when he saw the ground approaching at a high rate of speed. Twisting the throttle handle he gave the helicopter more power, which slowed their descent just in time as they hit the ground.

  "Good job, Jameson, I'm so glad I got you back safely," Laura whispered to him, just before she lost consciousness.

  Hopping out of his seat he waved to Sara, "Come help me. Laura has been injured." Sprinting around the front of the Blackhawk he quickly pulled open the door on her side and pulled her out. Setting her down on the grass he took a closer look at the gashes in her arm and did not like what he saw. Puss was beginning to drip out of the wounds replacing the steady flow of blood that had been pouring out, and the skin around it looked dead.

  "Oh my God! What happened?" Sara asked dropping down to a knee next to the fallen pilot.

  "We ran into something big out there," looking up at Munroe with an intense expression on his face, "and you have some explaining to do." Moving out of the way he waved to Munroe, "Get your ass over here and see what you can do for her."

  Moving past Jameson he knelt down next to the major and pulled away the bloody bandage, gasping when he saw the wound. Checking her vital signs he could tell by her increased respirations, cooling body temperature and overall lack of pigmentation that
she was very close to death. "Look, kid, I can bandage this, but there really isn't anything that I can do for her."

  Reaching down, Jameson grabbed Munroe by the top of his lab coat and dragged him away from the dying major. "Listen, you sick bastard, we ran into something a lot different than those slow moving zombies we know so well. What else were you working on in that place?"

  Munroe knew exactly what they had run into but was afraid to tell him. His creations were highly classified and few knew of the mutations. Staring up at Jameson he kept quiet, not wanting to reveal any of the projects he had fronted, until he saw the young man pull out his sidearm.

  "I am sick and tired of this crap. You better start talking, or I swear you will be thrown to those things."

  Regaining his feet Munroe stepped a few paces back adding to the distance between him and Jameson. "Alright, if you really want to know, I will tell you, but rest assured, you will not like what you hear. Before I start, I would suggest that you tend to the major. She will be changing into one of them soon, and when she does, she is going to be hard to kill."

  Looking over his shoulder he saw the telltale signs of the change. "There is no way of saving her?" he asked Munroe.

  "If I had more time before she changed, maybe, but she is too far along to reverse it."

  Not taking his eyes of the dying pilot, "Sara, move away from her. I will take care of it."

  Shaking her head Sara stood up, but instead of moving away, she drew her weapon and fired a single shot into the forehead of the major. Turning to Jameson, "You have done enough of that. It was my time to step up." Moving past him she approached the doctor, stopping a foot in front of him and placing the cool barrel of her weapon against his forehead. "Time to start telling us everything, or I swear to God, you will need to fear me a lot more than him."

  "Hey, guys, maybe we should take this inside," Carla announced pointing toward the fence. Several of the dead had appeared, most likely following the sound of the Blackhawk, and were now gathering at the fence, staring at the living just on the other side.