The Outbreak

by Shetty, Krishan

  There was no one.

  He looked up at his Captain with a concerned look. The Captain nodded to him. Hastings got out of the vehicle, fully armed and in gear. Sweeping his way towards the gate, he noticed that the cameras were destroyed and the gate was slightly ajar. He inspected the check post at the entrance. The computers were down and the phone lines were severed. Something was wrong. His heart beat at an erratic staccato as he signalled the Captain. Did the gonerz actually overpower the security? He thought. Roland understood and asked everyone to follow him. He disembarked from the machine gun and stripped his deceased comrades’ corpse of his weapons and gear before proceeding to join his subordinate at the gate. Roland slipped Karim’s pistol into his empty holster.

  “Something’s off,” Hastings whispered to Roland noticing the extra rifle and gear.

  He nodded, “There would always be a party waiting to greet us.”

  The rest crept up to them. Roland turned around and gave Randy the gear. Randy looked confused. “You’re a soldier now, take it.”

  “What happened to Karim?” he asked looking back at the humvee.

  “He’s gone,” Roland said coldly.

  Randy didn’t want to press on. He knew his father wasn’t a man to show emotion but the death of a comrade would be hard on him. Reluctantly Randy accepted the gear. It felt heavy, but here on out his father depended on him.

  “Follow us, quietly,” he said, drawing out the last word. He double tapped Hastings shoulder and at once Hastings disappeared through the ajar gate, Roland in hot pursuit. It would be pointless in asking them to wait outside. They wouldn’t listen anyway. But it was more than a risk, almost stupidity to tag children along into a highly secure facility. They noticed that there weren’t any guards in the compound as well. It was almost as if everyone packed their bags and left in an awful hurry. An empty humvee was parked close the entrance. The Colonel’s ride, Roland thought. They carefully moved towards from the grand entrance to the lobby. Roland signalled everyone to stick close. The doors opened without as much as a squeal. The lobby was well lit, a reception desk with no one about. It almost felt like a hotel. They scanned the lobby observing every minute detail. Everything was undisturbed. For Mark, this was a dreaded homecoming.

  “The elevator,” Randy said motioning towards the elevator.

  Mark shook his head, “You’ll need an access card to get up to the top floor.

  “Don’t you have one?” Roland asked.

  “I don’t know if my clearance has been revoked or not,” he said. “And if it has been revoked. We’ll all be in big trouble.”

  “Let’s give it a shot,” Roland said and called for the elevator. They packed into the elevator. Mark’s hand fumbled in his coat pocket and flashed his ID before a green light lit up. “Access granted,” an artificial voice echoed through the elevator.

  Mark was astonished. He hesitantly punched eight.

  “Guess they thought you wouldn’t be coming back,” Chester said revealing all thirty two. The elevator began moving up, it reeked of science. The Harbinger Groups logo was engraved into the floor. The elevator suddenly jerked and went dark. An emergency light came on in the now stationary metal box.

  “That’s weird. I don’t think the building has ever had a power cut,” Mark muttered under his breath. With ten people in the elevator, air soon became a scarce commodity. Roland and Hastings quickly put on their masks and began to pry the door open. Sean and Randy stepped forward to help. After what seemed like an eternity in the confines of the elevator, the doors budged and opened up. The soldiers climbed out first, helping the others one by one. They were standing in a corridor quilted in an eerie red light. But it wasn’t the red light that creeped them out.

  Bodies were strewn across the length of the hall. They walked in silence carefully stepping over the bodies. Few security personnel with all their fancy gear lay dead, blood staining the walls. It’s fresh Hastings thought as he observed a patch of blood on the wall. Mark could hardly believe the sight unfolding in front of him. Chester tried to pry a rifle from a dead soldier and upon obtaining it flashed a triumphant smile.

  “Don’t bother, they require biometric authorization to be used,” Mark said looking away. Chester’s smile quickly disappeared as he dropped the gun and kicked the corpse to which it belonged. “What floor are we on?” Greg asked a few paces behind Mark. “We are on the fourth floor...I think. The administrative offices are here,” he said thoughtfully. At the end of the corridor it split into two extensions, one to the left and the other to the right. Roland and Hastings decided they’d go left along with Mark while the rest go right. “Is it a good idea to split up, I mean why not go together?” Josh asked, fear written all over his face. “We cover more ground that way. If you need help, just scream,” Roland said peering through his mask. Poor choice of words they thought. Randy nodded and led the group towards the right keeping a finger on the trigger. As Roland’s group turned left, they saw more bodies littering the hall, streaks of blood staining the walls. The gruesome sight unsettled Mark’s stomach. Several offices lined the corridor. Stepping over a body Hastings entered an office on his left. The office was relatively prim and proper. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Closing the door, he pushed forward, a few paces behind the Captain and Mark. Opening another door, Roland entered the room. He looked about the empty office. Mark looked around the office. His office had been much bigger. Papers neatly filed sat on an amply sized wooden desk.

  Randy and his group slowly made their way down their section. A similar sight of bodies greeted them. Many men and women wearing formal clothes lay on the floor. Probably office workers they assumed. Josh looked back and he felt the blood from his face drain. A silhouette doused in the eerie red light stood at the intersection before disappearing down the hall towards the elevator. Josh’s teeth began clattering. “I-I saw something,” he muttered tapping Greg on the shoulder. “What?” Greg said looking back. Josh began oscillating his head with bulged eyes and clattering teeth.

  “What’s wrong?” Joanne called, trudging behind Randy.

  “Nothing,” Greg said before dragging Josh with him. Greg wasn’t sure whether Josh had seen something, something or not but it seemed a bit absurd if a goner actually made it’s way till the facility. But one thing was for sure, something was wrong. People don’t just die in the corridors. Well maybe somebody turned psycho and butchered everyone. They went on checking a few rooms but found nothing interesting or out of the ordinary rather. Discouraged upon not finding anything of importance, Randy began moving towards the intersection. As they once again began to make their way through the bodies, Randy thought one of the dead flinched. He squinted at the body to make sure. Being convinced when he saw nothing, they once again began moving. Greg could sense the tension in the air; you could cut the tension with a knife.

  Dana let out a shrill shriek as she accidentally stumbled upon a body, immediately cupping her hands around her mouth. Randy quickly pirouetted on his toes to face her. Her shriek made the others skip more than a beat or two. As they turned around and wished to move towards the intersection again, trying to break the film of tension, Dana screamed again, her shriek stiffening the tension.

  Dana sobbed as a hand grabbed her ankle, a hand belonging to the same corpse she stumbled upon. The others looked on in horror as the body attempted to erect itself. Randy’s finger trembled as the other bodies in the hallway stirred, as if being awakened by the shrieks.

  “Quick! Put ‘em down before they outnumber us!” Sean commanded, his steely gaze shining.

  Chester rushed to slice off the creature’s hand that grabbed Dana. It squirmed as blood spurted on to the floor. Greg quickly began firing nails in quick succession, hoping the gonerz would stay down. Randy mustering courage, fired at the gonerz who blocked their way to the intersection. The recoil was bit of a surprise, but he got used to it in a jiffy. The gonerz appeared like demonic apparitions under the cloak of the numbing red light
. Randy rammed the butt of the rifle into a well dressed goner and slotted one in the head as it hit the ground. Joanne drove a knife right into the heart of a goner, ending it’s agony. The last of the gonerz stood still, it’s mouth wide open and head raised.

  “elp....me” It groaned. It’s head dropped, only for it to suddenly lunge towards them. It dropped to the ground, Randy’s gun pointing ahead, the smoke from the barrel dissipating. This time they all heard it. It wasn’t mind games, it wasn’t an illusion, and it was nothing to do with the grey matter that had been toyed with. Greg felt guilt prick him. He couldn’t let the possibility of a cure trick him. There could have been one, but they couldn’t shoulder the risk. They precariously stepped over the bodies, hoping that they remained dead. Sean wondered if the gonerz had actually played possum to corner them.

  Roland and Hastings fought off the rather persistent gonerz, keeping a fair distance so as not get bitten. They were being pushed back by the constant onslaught but relentlessly sprayed the vicious creatures with lead. Roland now had Randy in his sight. His son’s lips curled into a warm smile. A loud thud wiped all the smiles. Each thud spiked their heartbeats. The thuds ceased and a creature stood at the intersection. It was large to be modest.

  “What the fuck is that?” Hastings cried unable to digest the sight.

  It was a gigantic thing, muscular and belted out a feral growl.

  “Is that Pete?” Mark said dazed.

  “Who?” Roland asked unable to tear away his gaze.

  “He-he’s a manager here, a big fella,” Mark said with quivering lips.

  “Looks like he got demoted,” Randy said meekly staring at the big guy.

  The goner turned it’s attention towards the screaming students. It was about to walk down their side before Roland shouted at the top of his lungs, “HEY! Leave those kids alone! You’re dealing with us!” Hastings gulped as the creature peered over it’s shoulder. It’s eyes oblivious to the dim lights.

  “Get out of here!” Roland yelled at Randy trying to catch a glimpse of his son, the hulking creature swallowed up a lot of space. The red lights disappeared, giving way to bright white lights. Everyone yelped in surprise at the sudden change in intensity. The goner remained unfazed for the most part. Unlike the crawler, it wasn’t bothered by the light. Roland got a good look at the creature. It was dressed up in overly tight formal clothes. It looked almost as if it was on steroids. It’s face was contorted into a nasty grimace as it began thundering down the hallway.

  “Let’s go,” Greg said, “The elevators must be back again. They ran down the intersection towards the elevators, Sean frantically called for the elevator while Greg ruffled through a dead employees clothes to pull out an ID card. Randy’s heart sunk as everyone got into the elevator and to Greg’s surprise, access to the top floor was granted. The elevator closed and began moving up, elevator music played which seemed incongruous given the situation Greg wondered if there would be anybody on the top floor or would they find dead remains. As the elevator doors opened they froze.

  A multitude of guns pointed at them.

  “Drop your weapons and step out, hands raised,” Lou commanded.

  Several men in full gear stood fast aiming at them, lasers travelling their features. Randy reluctantly put his rifle on the ground as he slowly stepped out raising his hands. The others followed suit. They stood on the massive eighth floor. It was considerably larger than the floor they had been on, and that’s only the lobby. Several security personnel stood behind manning every corner of the lobby, with an eye on them.

  “I didn’t think you were stupid enough to fall for the trap. But well what do you know?” Lou chuckled.

  “Trap?” Greg asked concerned.

  “Surely you didn’t think an administrative officer’s pass would clear access to the eighth floor did you? This is a restricted floor my friend.”

  Of course! Fuck! Fuck! I slipped up again in the heat of the moment, Greg kicked himself in his mind.

  “Don’t sweat it kid, the elevator would have made it here either ways, it didn’t matter which floor you thought you could take a tour of.”

  Randy swallowed. Lou was intimidating. He exuded an aura unlike his father’s. Lou was like a snake.

  “Hard to believe you kids killed my men,” He said eyeing everyone, sizing potential threats.

  “Killed? We didn’t kill anyone,” Greg said confused.

  “Right, I suppose my men just died on their own. Is that what you’re saying?” He said shooting a menacing glare at Greg.

  “We didn’t kill anyone yo, they were dead when we arrived,” Chester cut in.

  Lou turned towards Chester, looking him up and down. “Is that right, ese?” He said.

  “Yo, you better back the fuck up man,” Chester said backing his head. Lou raised his eyebrows in amusement. Lou stepped back a few paces.

  “Come at me,” he said.

  “What?” Chester said surprised.

  “I said come at me; you look like someone who has seen a few fights. I’ll tell you what, if you win, I’ll let you guys go.”

  “He’s lying,” Joanne said.

  “Cross my heart. My boss doesn’t know you are here yet. All you gotta do is beat me,” he said raising his hands. Chester looked around as if weighing his chances. Not one to back down, he stepped forward, raising his guard.

  “Yeah, that’s more like it,” Lou cheered, nodding his head.

  Chester rushed at him, his right hand making a big arc to land a roundhouse punch. Lou’s face changed as he intercepted the punch by locking Chester’s right hand under his left arm in mid swing and with his right hand grabbed Chester’s throat. Pirouetting on his feet, he lifted Chester and slammed him hard on the ground. Chester felt the air leave his lungs and before he could recover, Lou was on top of him, grounding and pounding him. It took just two punches to draw blood. Disappointed Lou got off him and watched Chester cough as blood flowed from his nose.

  “I can’t believe you kids really killed my men,” he said looking at them almost doubtingly.

  “We didn’t. They were dead when we arrived. They were gonerz on the fourth floor,” Greg said looking at Chester, wondering whether Lou would understand what gonerz meant.

  Lou scoffed, “Gonerz? Those things made it in here? Pffft fat chance,” he snorted.

  “We aren’t lying. I mean look at us, does it look like we could take down armed men?” Greg said pointing at his group. Lou seemed visibly annoyed. They knew he wasn’t someone to test. He looked at the girls, “There’s a silver lining to every cloud,” he said with a devious smirk. All his men laughed, their faces hidden behind balaclavas.

  “What say we have some fun? If any of you beat me, I won’t touch those girls. However, if you lose, you will tell me how you killed my men and-” he paused and looking at the girls, he laughed loudly, his men joining him. “After I have my way with them, my men will have their way with them. There are of course some who swing the other way,” he said snickering.

  “You better watch your fucking mouth. I’ll kill you,” Randy snarled.

  “Oooh we have another fighter,” he said looking at his men. “What are you gonna do? Wet yourself?”

  Randy reflexively head butted Lou; it was strong enough to force him back on his back foot. Lou’s face switched from a smile to an iron mask. Randy sensing he would retaliate recalled his father’s training. Before he could follow up, Lou’s fist caught him the gut, winding him. He continued to punch him in the gut till Randy fell to his knees. Grabbing Randy’s throat, he forcibly made him stand on wobbly legs with his left hand. He rammed his right knee into Randy’s gut again. This time Randy fell to the ground instantly, writhing in pain. A tiny pool of blood formed on the floor. Lou wasn’t finished. He pulled out his combat knife.

  Dana screamed, Joanne and Sean held her back.

  “Shut up bitch, you are next,” he said pointing the knife at her. Before he could make a hole in Randy, his radio crackled.
>
  “What’s keeping you? Return at once,” a female voice said.

  Lou stood over Randy as if contemplating to dispatch the man who dared head butt him or respond to the call. Choosing to follow his orders instead, he instructed his men to bring them to the hall. As the men escorted and dragged Chester and Randy, Greg thought about how Randy had never lost a fight before. This defeat was overwhelming. The school bully Chester, too was floored. This guy is dangerous, Greg thought to himself staring at Lou’s back. It seemed a bit odd, seeing how all the others were fully covered, while Lou was the only one without headgear. It only implied his authority. The metallic door parted to reveal the biggest conference room they’d ever seen. It was massive. Greg noticed a woman sitting on a chair who looked up at them in surprise. Clearly she hadn’t been expecting guests. A man in a military uniform sat to her left and men in military garb were kneeling on the ground with guns pointed at their heads. What prickled their spines was the corpse of Stefan on the floor and stains of blood. Greg hoped they wouldn’t join the guy on the floor, praying it wasn’t what he was thinking. Execution.

  The Colonel looked at the students, barely recognizing them from the video. But his heart sank seeing that Roland, Karim and Hastings weren’t there. Maybe they were alive, maybe they weren’t. He bit his lip.

  “What’s this?” Sharyn asked glancing at them confused.

  “These are the intruders,” Lou said.

  Sharyn stared at them seemingly not convinced. Greg guessed she was the Director. He also deduced that she’s highly perceptive, possibly more dangerous than Lou. If he was to open his mouth, he’d have to pick his words with utmost care, like a sommelier picking the finest wine.

  “How did you get past the gate?” she asked, her gaze piercing through the blue sea.

  “It was unmanned,” he replied.