Dead Strain

by Giesler, W. A.

  Gathering up the supplies from inside the helicopter they moved to the house wanting to get away from the hungry eyes of the zombies roaming outside the fence. Once inside, they piled the medical supplies on the dining table hoping that Munroe could get right to his work and prevent any more of them from dying at the hands of the dead.

  "Alright, Doctor, here is everything on your list, but first take a seat. I have several questions about what we ran into back in town." Jameson watched as he moved to one of the chairs, tentatively taking a seat and trying to avoid eye contact with him. "He still knows more than he is telling us," he thought to himself seeing the apprehensive look on the man's face.

  Taking a seat across from him Jameson pulled out his sidearm placing it on the table next to him. "We ran into something different back in town, and from the look on your face, I can tell you know what I am referring to."

  "I…I…I don't know w…what you're talking about," Munroe mumbled back.

  The anger boiled up inside him, and his face turned bright red as he listened to him continue to lie to them. Pausing for a moment while trying to control his surging anger, he looked over at Sara who appeared to be equally as fed up with him as he was. Turning back to Munroe, "Listen, Doc, I don't care what kind of secret shit you were working on in that place, but whatever it was, it is responsible for killing the major, so start talking because I am seconds away from pushing you out the front gate."

  Staring at the three people before him he could easily tell that they meant what they said if he did not tell them what they wanted to know. "Fine, I will tell you what you want, but be prepared; it isn't going to be good."

  Sitting back in his seat Jameson stared directly at Munroe watching the man closely, searching for any sign of deception while he passed along what he knew. "Alright, we are prepared; now spill it."

  "I already told you about the experiment that I was doing for the military, but what I failed to mention was how successful we had been in creating a new type of soldier. Let me guess… The thing you encountered in town was large with a mouth full of teeth and long claws on its hands?"

  Jameson nodded to him as he described in detail what they had seen.

  "They are our early creations, designed to be deadly in many different ways and almost impossible to kill."

  "How impossible are they to kill?" Sara blurted out.

  Looking over at the young woman he smiled at her, "Very much. The normal zombie head shot kill will not work with them. Their skulls are extremely thick and can take a lot of damage before being penetrated."

  Jameson placed his head in his hands as he listened knowing that things had just gotten worse for them. He was about to ask another question when it hit him: Munroe had indicated that there was more than one. "How many are there?" he quickly asked.

  "We created four, but one was killed during training, so three remain." Munroe saw the look on their faces when they heard how many were out there, but he had warned them.

  "How was the one killed?" Sara asked.

  "It was killed in an explosion after wandering to close to a target just as a cruise missile hit. It seems the only successful way of destroying them is incineration."

  "So they can be destroyed," Jameson mumbled. "The liquid dripping from those talons on its hands… what is it?"

  "It was designed to be a neurotoxin, one that would incapacitate the enemy, but when we tested it, we found that it was very similar to the toxin passed along by a bite from one of the zombies–as you saw with the major.

  The four of them sat in silence while Jameson, Sara and Carla tried to digest what the doctor had told them. This new type of creature made the zombies look friendly in comparison to its deadly potential, and along with its ability to survive the normal zombie kill shot, made it far more of a problem than the rest. None of them had any idea what they would do if they ran into another one of those creatures, let alone all three at the same time.

  "So what's the plan?" Carla asked breaking the eerie silence.

  Jameson looked up at her, "I guess we better fix the hole in the fence first and then see what we can come up with to protect us from those other creatures."

  Everyone quickly agreed, including Munroe who was finally realizing that these people were the only thing standing between him and the dead outside. "I have an idea about the mutated soldiers, but it all depends on what we have in the weapons locker," he interjected as the others started to walk away.

  "What is it, Doctor?" Jameson asked, not bothering to hide his anger with the man.

  "Relax, kid. From now on, I am completely on your side." Looking at the face of the other two he knew none of them believed him, but at this moment, he did not care. "If we can concentrate enough explosive force and direct it at one of the mutants, it should be an effective means of protection."

  "How is that going to help?"

  "We noticed that the explosion from the missile strike that killed the one did a great deal of damage to the creature possibly killing it before the fire ball. If we have some C4 in the storage locker, maybe we can rig up some type of directional blast that we could use against them." He looked at the three and saw the look of disbelief. "Hey, I am trying to save our asses here, and it's the only thing I can think of that may be effective against them."

  "He has a point," Carla said siding with the doctor.

  Sara fumed inside knowing that this man could not be trusted, and the fact that someone was siding with him angered her. "Carla, this man is responsible for this entire mess, so believing anything that comes out of his mouth is difficult at best for me."

  As the two women glared at each other in anger, Jameson tried to move in between them and calm the tension, but as he started to speak, a loud roar from outside filled the house. "Oh shit! The damn thing found us."

  "What found us?" Sara asked rattled by the sound.

  CHAPTER 27 – FINAL ENCOUNTER

  Sprinting across the room Jameson slid to a halt in front of the second floor weapons locker. Swinging open the door he scanned the shelves and racks full of weapons and explosives searching for something that they could use against the creatures. A smile spread across his face when he spotted the RPG launcher on the far wall, "That is just what we need," he mumbled grabbing the weapon from the rack. Calling out to the others, "Hey, I need a hand in here."

  The other three entered the weapons locker and quickly grabbed up what they needed before heading to the observation deck of the vast house. Stepping out into the open they quickly scanned the fence line searching for the source of the loud roar.

  "There it is," Munroe called out seeing the large creature in the distance feasting on the slow moving zombies that milled about. "I don't think it has seen us yet–too busy eating its fill of dead."

  "Let's hope it stays busy and moves on but just in case," Jameson said as he pushed one of the grenades into the launcher, "we have this." Swinging the weapon onto his shoulder he peered through the metal sight aiming in the direction of the large mutant. "I wish the sheriff was here. I have no idea what the range is on these things or even how to fire it properly."

  Sara moved up next to Jameson and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek. "You can do it. I have faith in you," she whispered in his ear.

  Just as he was about to respond to her another loud roar echoed through the area, but this one came from the opposite direction and was a great deal closer. "There are two of them here," Carla screamed seeing the massive creature standing just outside the fence, staring up at the foursome.

  Jameson swung the RPG around aiming it now in the direction of the second mutant soldier. He watched as the creature's red eyes darted back and forth examining its prey. Rearing back it let out another loud roar and sprung into action. Hopping over the tall fence in a single leap the monstrosity sprinted toward the house keeping its eyes fixed on them.

  "Shoot it," Munroe yelled out as the fear grew inside him.

  Taking careful aim Jameson squeezed the trigger on the
weapon, but nothing happened. "What the hell?" he yelled as he searched the weapon for the safety.

  "Here," Sara said flipping a small lever on the side of the RPG.

  Looking back through the sight he tried to target the mutant but was too late as it leapt high into the air toward them landing just feet away from Carla. She stared at the giant standing across from her and let out a scream just as it swung its massive hand toward her.

  Sara stood motionless, frozen in terror as she watched the monster's talon nails slice Carla into pieces, sending a horrific spray of blood across the deck. Before turning its attention to the others, it grabbed her head from the ground and tossed it into its mouth creating a nauseating crunching sound as it crushed her skull betweens its vise-like jaws.

  Jameson took the opportunity to aim the RPG for the creature's chest and pulled the trigger. The small projectile leapt out of the launcher streaking across the short distance, striking the mutant dead center in the chest, exploding on contact. The blast sent the remaining three flying back against the windows of the enclosed section of the roof, pelting them with debris from the rocket along with pieces of the creature.

  "Sara, where are you?" Jameson called out trying to locate her through the smoke and debris from the explosion. With his ears ringing from the sound of the blast, he crawled around the roof searching for her hoping that she survived and was just unable to respond. Finding her lying against the wall he was relieved to see her moving, shaking her head trying to gather her senses. "Sara, are you alright?"

  She looked up at him tapping her ears, "I can't hear you," she yelled back. The ringing in her head was blocking all outside sounds, which had her concerned that she had lost her hearing.

  A few seconds passed. The smoke on the rooftop dissipated, and they were finally able to see the shattered remains of the creature. The RPG had done its job blowing apart the mutated soldier. Unfortunately, they had lost yet another of the group. A coughing sound finally broke through the ringing. Munroe had been close to the blast, and the shock wave had briefly knocked him unconscious.

  "What the hell!" he yelled out while checking himself for injury.

  Climbing to his feet Jameson reached out and helped Sara up. Looking over at Munroe a smile briefly crossed his face, "Sorry, Doc, it was fire or die."

  "Yeah, whatever, kid." Regaining his feet he leaned against the thick glass window trying to steady himself, "How about you drop the smile… Remember there are more out there."

  The smile disappeared when he heard this, finally remembering that there was another one of the creatures nearby. Searching the rooftop he looked for the RPG launcher, "Damn, where did it go?"

  Sara stepped up to the edge of the building and looked out searching for the other creature, but it was not where it had been earlier. Moving her gaze down into the interior of the fence she saw the launcher lying on the ground below, mangled from the explosion and fall. "We have a problem," she called out, pointing down. "The launcher is destroyed and the other mutant is missing."

  Jameson stepped up next to her and looked down at the mangled weapon. His concern about the creatures quickly changed to fear. "That was the only launcher. Now what do we do?"

  "Maybe we should get inside before those things see us out here and do to us what they did to her," Munroe blurted out pointing at the grisly remains of Carla. Pushing past the pair he moved into the enclosed part of the roof and then down the stairwell.

  "I hate that guy," Jameson muttered before the pair followed him inside.

  Descending the stairs from the second floor they both began to feel as though something was amiss. The room below was quiet, and there was no sign of Doctor Munroe. Stopping about halfway Jameson scanned the floor below and was about to continue when he spotted what appeared to be a trail of blood leading toward the back of the house. "I think we have a problem," he whispered as they began to retreat up the steps.

  "Oh my God! If they are inside, we are dead," a now panicked Sara blurted out.

  "Shh; you have to be quiet. If they are in here, we need to find a place to hide from them."

  Just as they made it to the top of the stairwell, a loud roar filled the inside of the house, and they heard the heavy footsteps moving toward them. Sliding back against the far wall they tried to get as far out of sight as they could as the giant creature came into view dragging the lifeless body of Munroe behind it. They silently watched as the creature feasted on the head of the doctor before it suddenly stopped chewing and began sniffing the air.

  "It smells us," Sara whispered, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched for a way out.

  Jameson knew they were in trouble, and he too was searching for an escape route. He watched as the giant mutant turned toward their spot glaring up at them with its red lifeless eyes. Time was beginning to run out for them, and their chances of getting away were dwindling fast. "There," he whispered pointing at a heavy steel door a few feet from them, "let's get inside."

  Grasping the door handle Jameson pushed the heavy door open just as the room filled with another loud roar, and the mutated soldier moved toward them. Pushing Sara past him he looked back just as the creature jumped up toward him swinging one of its giant arms.

  "Ahh," Jameson yelled out just as he pulled the door shut behind him. Grasping his right arm he could tell from the heavy blood flow that one of the talons had ripped into his arm leaving behind its toxin.

  Sara saw the blood pouring between his fingers and quickly moved to his aid. "What happened?" Pulling off her shirt she used it as a bandage pressing it hard against the deep gash but to no avail as the blood continued to flow.

  "One of those nails on the creature got me," he told her cringing through the intense pain. The steel door flexed inward as the creature began its assault trying desperately to get at the pair. Stepping back away from the door they noticed explosives of all types lined the shelves and realized that this must be another of the Hobart's storage rooms.

  Jameson stumbled back against the heavy steel door as pain and nausea washed over him. The toxin from the creature was attacking his body as it raced through his blood stream beginning to change him into one of the dead.

  "Move away from the door," Sara screamed out as the door once again flexed inward straining against the pressure placed on it from the other side. The steel frame of the door began to splinter the thick wooden wall surrounding it, and she knew it would not hold much longer. "Jameson, what are we going to do?"

  Opening his eyes he stared up at her beautiful face, "We only have two options, and neither will end well for us." The pain surging throughout his body was starting to cloud his thoughts as the change commenced, but he still had enough to know that he did not want either of them to become one of the living dead. "Start grabbing the explosives off the shelves, and pile them here at the door."

  At first she did not know what he had planned, but it quickly came to her realizing that he was giving her the only option that did not include dying at the hands of the mutated soldier. Without hesitation she began grabbing all she could carry, piling it up against the door next to Jameson.

  Raising his shaking arm Jameson pointed at the far end of the small room. "The C4… Grab all of it," he whispered through the pain.

  Running to the far end Sara grabbed the stacks of explosives and returned setting them down with the rest. "Now what?" she asked.

  Jameson was about to say something when one of the creature's talons pierced the steel door driving through his back and bursting out of the center of his chest. Blood sprayed out of the mortal wound mixing with the dripping liquid from the end of the nail, forming a sickening looking mix on the floor in front of her.

  "No!" Sara screamed frozen in her spot, only a foot away from the end of the talon, as she stared at the lifeless face of Jameson. Anger quickly replaced the fear she had been feeling to this point along with the need for revenge on the creature. As the talon retreated through the door, she grabbed a grenade off the shelf next
to her, "You killed Jameson. Now I'm going to kill you," she yelled out. Reaching over the pile of explosives she unlocked the heavy door and stepped back pulling the pin from the grenade.

  As the door burst open in front of her, she smiled at Jameson whispering, "I love you," to him. Looking up at the mutation before her, "You screwed with the wrong person," she yelled dropping the grenade into the pile, closing her eyes and waiting for the end to come.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 2 – WOODBRIDGE

  CHAPTER 3 – THE ROADBLOCK

  CHAPTER 4 – THE UGLY TRUTH

  CHAPTER 5 – SUPPLIES

  CHAPTER 6 – MORNING

  CHAPTER 7 – SMITHVILLE

  CHAPTER 8 – SAFE HAVEN

  CHAPTER 9 – THE FIGHT

  CHAPTER TEN – ESCAPE

  CHAPTER 11 – THE RANCH

  CHAPTER 12 – THE TRANSMISSION

  CHAPTER 13 – THE JOURNEY

  CHAPTER 14 – APPLETON

  CHAPTER 15 – THE COMPLEX

  CHAPTER 16 – DOCTOR MUNROE

  CHAPTER 17 – THE HORDE

  CHAPTER 18 – THE ROOF

  CHAPTER 19 – RESCUE

  CHAPTER 20 – DEAD AMONG US

  CHAPTER 21 – BACK TO THE COMPOUND

  CHAPTER 22 – SWARM

  CHAPTER 23 – BREACH

  CHAPTER 24 – THE NIGHTMARE GROWS

  CHAPTER 25 – A NEW CHALLENGE

  CHAPTER 26 – TROUBLE AT HOME

  CHAPTER 27 – FINAL ENCOUNTER