by WR Peden
“It’s for our safety. It’s not the soldiers I'm worried about but know that I am a Soldier others will find out and try to raid our tent while we are gone because Soldiers have the first pick of the highest quality supplies. Especially those of us who are scouts.” I lie to DJ to calm him down.
DJ acknowledges as I head inside the tent and lay down. The scene of Constantine and my family replays in my mind over and over until I wake up completely doused in sweat. After regaining my composure I lay back down and finally fall asleep for the remainder of the night.
Chapter 10
The next morning I get up like normal and head out to work as DJ loads our extra supplies into the truck and heads out. He follows my directions and heads towards the base. DJ being DJ sees a lone zombie out for a stroll and decides to use the truck as a battering ram as he blasts into the zombie causing arm parts to fly around. Unfortunately for DJ the zombie skull slams into the front windshield just in front of the passenger side causing a spider web-like pattern on the windshield as the glass breaks. DJ eventually makes it to the building and unloads our equipment like I requested. While out on patrol I see Jack, One of the Silent Soldiers from our attack outside the truck stop. I direct one of our units to stay out of site but follow Jack to see where he goes.
“Where are you sending those two?” Asks Sarge.
“See that guy over there.” Sarge nods. “His name is Jack, he is one of the Silent Soldiers. He, Constantine and a couple of others helped me out in that mobile fortress outside the truck stop in Lebanon when we got attacked by a horde.” I answer
Sergeant Meeks nods in acceptance and we continue our patrol. We make our rounds and head toward the fence checkpoint. Meeks gets out and motions for me to join him. Surprised he was actually bringing me along, I hop out and catch up to him. Meeks vouches for me to the guard as we both hop into the jeep and ride out to the building. I look around and notice outside of the checkpoint at the fence line, there isn't really any kind of security on the outside. I look up at the building and notice all the windows are either boarded over or barred over where you can’t get out of them if tried. The jeep comes to a halt, as I climb out and head to the door waiting on Meeks.
“Alright kid, I guarantee you ain't seen nothing like this. But remember back when you asked me about Tripton-Z?” He asks.
“Yes Sir,” I nod.
“Well behind these doors, you will find out what it is and its effects.” Meeks replies as he opens the door and we walk in. As I walk in and I look down a long hallway that resembles a psych ward. There are several rooms with reinforced doors with little glass windows where you can look in and monitor them. I walk up and look into the first one and see a zombie but it appears as if the decaying process has stopped. I look at him and notice his skin has started to fall off the bone but only on parts of his body but shows no signs of spreading. I turn and go down to another room and see a young man whom doesn’t appear to be undead but has no reaction when you make noise or holler at him.
“What is this Tripton-Z?” I ask.
“Tripton-Z is an experimental cure for the zombie virus. We are trying to work out all the kinks in the program but as of right now we can stop the virus in whatever stage it is in but it doesn’t cure or reverse the effects. At least not yet.” A man in a lab coat describes. I look down the hall and see a Do Not Enter sign, which has caused me to become intrigued.
“What's in there?” I ask.
“Volunteers.” Meeks quickly.
Looking around I notice the only individuals in here are a couple of staff in lab coats, Meeks and myself.
“Could this program be safe?” I think to myself.
“Volunteers for what?” I push
“A variety of volunteers who have had no exposure to the virus but are willing to take an injection of it in order to test the various stages of the virus and how Tripton-Z reacts.” Explains the man in scrubs again.
Me being the curious one I walk down to the room and look in but the room is dark.
“All of those people in there are volunteers correct. So they have not been exposed yet?” I ask just as I grab the door and open it. I hear Sgt. Meeks yelling at me but I flip the light on and look around and see groups of kids inside the room just sleeping.
“Are we really testing on kids? How can they be volunteers?” I ask looking at Meeks who now has a pissed off glare as he stares at me. I turn back around and continue to look at the kids. Just as I am about to turn back around I catch a teenage girl around fifteen years of age who looks familiar. Dark Hair, round face, I turn back and head straight towards her. As I get closer I realize that it's Zoey.
“Zoey” I yell at her. “Zoey is that you?”
“Dad” she replies.
Now filled with mixed emotions my instinct kicks in. I turn to look at Meeks who is in shock and the other man who has an indescribable fear on his face.
“Let's get you out of here Zoey, Do you know where your sister and mom are?”
“No, they weren't brought in here with me.”
“Where are they?” I demand as I start rushing towards Meeks, who is now fumbling with his radio and pistol trying to get help of any kind.
I make it over to him and shove his big ass up against the wall. I take out his pistol and put it up to his head and flip the safety off.
“Where are they I demand.” Still, with no answer, the other men in the room take off towards the door. “Zoey, hun go grab that man in there with the scrubs on and bring him out here.” When he comes out I look at him “Where do you keep this virus?” He points into a locked room. “Zoey grab my gun, I know you are good shot, point it at him and go with him to get a few. If he tries anything shoot him.” As Zoey escorts the other man into the room where the virus is kept I order Meeks to sit down.
“After all we have done for you, this is how you are going to treat us. You are turning on us like this?” Meeks asks.
“I would rather not, but you know I have been looking for my family and my oldest has been in here the entire time?” I spout
“We didn’t take her, It was a rescue,” Meeks replies.
“Bullshit. I have been having flashbacks and I know it was Constantine and the soldiers.” I tell Meeks who know has a complete look of shock and concern on his face. Zoey returns leading the other man out who is now carrying a briefcase.
“Open it,” I demand. As I turn to look at it, Meeks manages to roll to the nearby door and opens it. Immediately a dozen or more half zombies, who have been cooped up in that room for who knows how long, come pouring out of the room. Without speaking, I reach down grab the briefcase and run over to Zoey. I look back as Sgt. Meeks now has his pistol drawn and pointing us. Zoey who is still holding the gun puts it up against my back as she hugs me so that Meeks doesn’t see it. I have the briefcase in my left hand and my right hand around Zoey.
“Come this way now with the briefcase.” Demands Sgt. Meeks.
Me and Zoey start walking slowly towards Sgt. Meeks trying to avoid the zombies Meeks turned loose. Surprisingly they aren’t trying to eat anyone, they are just mindless drones just standing around with little movements. While we move towards Sgt Meeks, the other group of kids that were in the room with Zoey sneak behind the zombies and take off running toward the exit.
“Stop, get back.” Sgt Meeks yells out as he turns and fires a shot over there heads.
I take advantage of this opportunity, take the gun from Zoey and point it at Meeks as he turns back towards us. With no hesitation I shoot him in the arm causing him to drop his gun. We run over to him as I kick the gun away from him.
“We are out of here. Don’t follow us.” I demand
Zoey and I back up as we make our way to the exit now congested with kids that are afraid to leave. We make our way to the front as I look out the door to make sure no one has come.
“Alright kids, you see that Jeep out there, when I open this door we all run and pil
e in as much as we can. We can’t go back the way we came so we are going to have to see if we can find a different exit.” I explain to the kids.
I open the door as we all run and pile into the jeep. I start it up and take off behind the building . I notice the building that I told DJ to put our stuff in but don’t see the truck. I take off but veer to the right until we make our way to the fence line. As we drive down the fence line I see the road that leads me out to the front of the original gate.
“Hold on, we are going through the fence to get out of here.” I instruct everyone.
“Dad, wait cant we cut through the fence?” Zoey asks as one of the kids in the back hold up a pair of bolt cutters.
Unsure of the distant behind us that the Soldiers of ZED can be I decide to listen to the kids, park the truck and hop out to start cutting the fence. As I get near the end of cutting a spot big enough to fit the jeep through with all of us in it I notice headlights coming our direction.
“Hold on kids, we got to go.” I yell out as I run, jumping back into the jeep, smashing the gas as we hit the fence line where I had cut most of.
As we make our way through the fence it makes a loud crashing sound jamming up the jeep and bringing it to a stop. Moments later the vehicles with the headlights on us comes into view and I notice it is my truck.
“DJ” I yell out as I frantically wave back and forth.
DJ stops the truck right in front of us as he scoots over to the passenger seat. Zoey and I jump in to the driver’s seat of the truck.
“I only have room for 2 more inside but if you want to come with your more than willing to hop into the bed of the truck.” I ask the kids.
After a few moments none of the kids decide to jump in so I drive off. We speed down the road through the original front gate. Not sure if the Soldiers are coming this way, I continue at a fast rate of speed until I reach the interstate. Knowing we have cleared quite a bit toward Rolla I turn right and head East down Interstate 44. A few miles down the road, I take the exit down Hwy 28 toward Dixon, Missouri to delay the almost certain convoy that will be looking for us. After about fifteen minutes of driving north on Hwy 28 I notice the yellow diamond road sign with a firetruck on it signalling that a fire station is just ahead.
“Hey lets pull in there and change vehicles.” I holler out to Zoey and DJ.
I swing into the parking lot and head toward the overhead doors. As I come to a stop DJ hops out, Bat in hand and immediately goes to the door and opens it. It is unlocked within seconds DJ disappears inside, I motion for Zoey to stay at the truck as I hop out and head toward the door. Just as I approach the door I hear the sound of a garage door opening by the truck. I quickly run back to see DJ standing next to the open door with an empty bay inside. He motions for us to come on in. I back the truck up and pull it into the fire station as DJ closes the door behind us.
About the Author
WR Peden is a relatively new author with his very first novella being published on July 1st 2017. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has served in Operation Iraqi and Operation Enduring Freedom as well as become a volunteer Fire Fighter for his local community. Will is also a father of 2 girls and a husband to his lovely wife Donna.
Will has been writing since 2000 starting as a teenager writing role-playing scenarios for the electronic wrestling federation’s he was a part of. From there he took his imagination to the next level in 2010 opening up his own Graphic Design Company. His designs have been seen worldwide from well known professional wrestling companies in Australia to the internationally known National Wrestling Alliance as the head of Marketing. Will has also done work for the former Indoor Football League team of the Billings Wolves, being the only small business entity working with that team, as well as worked with former WWE/TNA wrestling star and American Ninja Warrior Contestant Zach Gowen and has even has his commercial flyer work published on the back cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated!
During his time with the National Wrestling Alliance, Will picked his passion for writing back up and was not only the designer, producer and layout editor, but he was also an article author for the National Wrestling Alliance Ringside Magazine from 2014-2015 (Available Here). After the magazine closed Will continued writing news stories for several wrestling companies and for the NWA until his departure in late 2015.
In the summer of 2016 Will decided to start the beginning stages of what was to eventually become Book 1 – Soldiers of ZED. Although it has taken over a year to come through, Will took every precaution and step to make sure that this novel is successful.
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