The Outbreak

by Shetty, Krishan

  She studied his face with the eyes of an eagle. Her intense gaze provided to cause slight discomfort for the blue eyed genius.

  “We lost contact with the men stationed at the ground sometime ago. I figured something was wrong,” she said again attempting to gaze under the surface of the sea. “The cameras blanked out and we haven’t been able to restore it ever since.” Greg remained silent, trying to dodge her sharp gaze. “Now, Gregory Maroni, you seem to be quite the student. Growing up in a small city where nobody understands and appreciates brilliance is frustrating isn’t it? I’m sure a man of your level of....intellect could pull off many things,” she continued.

  Greg knew what she was implying. “As you must’ve seen, I had no access to computers,” he said glancing towards the mammoth screen. “And even if I did, bringing down your security systems is incredibly hard from your everyday computer.”

  Sharyn smiled, “So how do you explain the blacking out of the cameras and the demise of our men?”

  “Surely you’ve seen what’s going on. Hale City has been swallowed up. Perhaps-”

  “Rubbish. If those creatures would have made it’s way all the way here, we would have heard gunfire or at least a radio message.”

  Sensing her diminishing patience he said, “We were as shocked as you are when we saw the gates unmanned and not a single soul in the main lobby either.”

  “Tell me what happened on the fourth floor?”

  Her knowledge of the fact that they’d been on the fourth floor surprised Greg.

  “There were dead employees, they attacked us,” he said, struggling to find a suitable word to replace ‘dead.’

  She rolled her eyes, “you mean you killed them?”

  “No they were dead when we arrived. The elevator lost power midway and we were forced to get off on the fourth floor. That’s when the gonerz attacked, your employees,” he said with a calmness that gnawed at her diminishing patience.

  “Where is Mark? I believe he’s told you everything.”

  Greg for a moment considered making Josh the scapegoat but that would only make him as bad as them. Caught between murderous humans and malicious creatures certainly wasn’t an enchanting experience. He shrugged off the thought and continued, “He’s dead.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He died on the fourth floor. Got bitten by those things. We had to put him down,” he said unsure of their fate.

  The metallic door they were lead through opened up. The security personnel pushed three men into the room. Greg stared in disbelief.

  It was Mark, Roland and Hastings.

  Chapter 12

  “It seems he’s alive and kicking,” she smiled smugly at Greg. “I’m disappointed in you Gregory. You would’ve made a fine scientist here, replacing that old man,” she said pointing at Mark.

  “Sh-Sharyn,” he said looking at her. She hushed him. She looked at Roland and Hastings. And then looked at Colonel who had sunk into his chair. “You lied to me Colonel,” she said.

  “I told you he had another duty to tend to,” Mathers said hoping to mask his distress. She understood that Mathers had sent Roland and his men to rescue the kids.

  “Mark, you betrayed the company, the principles,” she said looking at Mark.

  “You chose to betray humankind Sharyn. Besides you left me to die,” he said, surprised at his courage. She frowned.

  Roland looked at Randy, barely able to stand, the sides of his lips reddened with dried blood. Lou caught him staring.

  “Oh, he wanted to have a round with me. Kids need to be disciplined, wouldn’t you say?” he said looking at the marking on his uniform, “Captain?”

  “Why don’t you have a round with me?” Roland growled.

  Lou stepped forward, invading Roland’s personal space. They stared off, eyes throwing daggers.

  “Let’s be civil shall we?” Sharyn chimed.

  Civil? There’s nothing civil here. Your own secretary’s corpse is at your feet you sick bitch. Hastings chose not to be vocal of his thoughts.

  “I met Pete down there. Swell fella,” Roland chuckled.

  “Pete?” Sharyn asked pretending to hear his name for the first time.

  “He’s a big guy. Gave us a bit of trouble. But like they say, don’t bring teeth into a gunfight.”

  Sharyn instantly looked at Mark and then at the men who bought them to the hall.

  “Is that true?”

  One of the men spoke up, “There was a huge corpse when we found them. The entire floor was full of corpses filled with lead.”

  “So you did kill them?” Sharyn said.

  “Self defence. If you haven’t fought these things, you’ll know.”

  “Still with the gonerz bullshit,” Lou said irritated.

  “You’d probably shit yourself senseless,” Roland spat.

  Lou punched Roland. His cheeks stung with pain. But he still managed to meet Lou with a defiant gaze. “Fighting kids makes you a big man?” Roland said spitting on the floor. “Soon, you’ll all either be dead or arrested. We’ve already radioed for backup,” he continued.

  Sharyn remained unmoved. She couldn’t really tell if he was bluffing or not. Lou looked at her like a lost child.

  “Sharyn. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen the feeds. You’ve seen it too haven’t you?” Mark said.

  She said nothing. “We didn’t kill those guards and neither did you. There were gonerz on the fourth floor. You know what I mean don’t you?”

  “Here?” she said glaring at him with converging eyes.

  “How else do you explain all this? It’s intelligent. It’s a predator. And we are the prey.”

  Hastings stared at Stefan’s corpse on the ground wondering what he had done to deserve such a fate. A light rumble arrested the queasy conversation for a moment. By now, the eclipsed sun had long sunk into the ocean. The skies donned a clash of indigo and grey. The lightning raged on and the rain slapped against the glass, furious as ever. Mark thought about using Sharyn’s weakness against her, but since Hale had been engulfed, it seemed it would only hasten their death sentence. Mathers noted the desperation beginning to make itself apparent on her face.

  Her face contorted as she thought of various options. In her pursuit to win favour back with her father, she turned a blind eye to the massacring of an entire city. Mark shuddered as he wondered how far she had spiralled into madness. Was winning favour more important than human lives? Harbinger Biotech was supposed to make lives of the people easier. This was beyond the opposite end of the spectrum. The fact that an ambitious person would sacrifice anything to achieve her goals made his stomach sink.

  A roar found it’s way into the conference hall. A roar that was straight from the depths of the abyss. It was enough to overpower the thunder for a moment. For the first time, Lou looked surprised.

  “It’s Matthew isn’t it?” Sharyn said looking at Mark. He nodded slowly, understanding that knowledge held no significance now. The lights flickered for a brief moment. The mammoth screen sputtered, as if fighting to play the feeds. Everyone stayed silent. Greg looked at a window close to the mammoth screen. A bolt of lightning sent a jolt up his spine. An apparition clung to the window, accented by the eerie white light. Many in the room caught glimpse of the sight Greg shared. No more words were exchanged for quite some time as their senses crisped. Feeling the atmosphere condense, Sharyn looked towards Lou and opened her mouth.

  The glass to her left shattered and two security personnel were snatched by the rain. Glass sprinkled to the floor as the defenceless kneeling soldiers tried to scramble away from the exposed window. A body leapt through the window, both it’s feet finding the squirming soldiers. They bellowed in pain as they bled out. For the first time they got a good look at the intruder, the alpha.

  It was a tad taller than an average human with unusually long limbs much like the crawler. It’s skin was a glazed brown. The most terrifying feature of the alpha was the head. Those unmistakable eyes that def
ined malevolence and it’s mouth jagged with razor sharp fangs.. Yet there was something, something subtly human about it, which was what terrified them all the more.

  “D-dad,” Josh said walking forward, his eyes welling up. Greg noticed it’s concentrically circled red eyes soften. Josh slowly stepped forward, sobbing uncontrollably. Greg wanted to call out to Josh, but his motor nerves had become numb with fear. Josh extended his hand towards his father’s face. The alpha too, reached out to his outstretched hand with it’s inhuman arm.

  Only to strike Josh.

  Josh’s head rolled onto the floor, streaks of tears still flowing. His body crashed to the floor. It took a couple of seconds for it to register. The alpha pursed it’s lips back to reveal a demonic grin. It just beheaded it’s own son! Nobody really liked Josh, but this? Killed by his own father? Greg felt his mind crash. It’s demonic grin was followed by what sounded like a subtle laugh. It seemed like eternity; Randy looked on in a cocktail of fear and anger. They were rudely awakened by Lou’s harsh voice, “Kill that thing!” Fear was clearly written all over his face. As his men attempted to fire, the alpha quickly mutilated them. Sharyn made a dash for the door. The soldiers holding Randy and group quickly focused on the bigger threat at hand. The lights flickered again buying precious seconds for the alpha to lunge at it’s attackers. Sharyn quickly disappeared down the halls. Randy slapping himself shouted at the others, “Go!!” Breaking free of the ice that had formed beneath their feet, they managed to run through the door. Roland and Hastings pushed past the door trailing behind Randy. Roland quickly spun around, “Colonel!”

  Lou made a break for the door as he saw his men being viciously murdered. The Colonel tackled him to the floor as the door obliviously closed.

  “I told you I’ll kill you,” Mathers said with a triumphant smile. Lou looked on in shock as the alpha hovered over them.

  Sharyn frantically called for the elevator, looking over her shoulder to discover the others had made it out. Large beads of sweat caked her otherwise pretty visage. The others were catching up to her. Before they could however, the elevator doors had closed and began descending. She tried collecting herself as the elevator opened up reading ‘P’. She wandered into the large underground parking, searching for her car. She ran towards her car in the designated Director’s parking and jumped in. Breathing heavily, she fired up the engine, slotted the gear to D and floored the gas. The car screeched as it shot out of it’s resting space. Nearly missing colliding with a pillar, she exited the parking facility. As she eased into the tarmac, she caught a glimpse of something in her rear view mirror.

  It was a crawler.

  It clacked it’s teeth slowly relishing the horror on her face. She immediately swerved and crashed into the security post. Her head pounded in pain as she felt her hand come back slick with blood. She trembled in fear as a face drew closer to hers from the backseat. She tried yanking free off her seatbelt, but it was in vain, it was jammed.

  “Fuck it isn’t working!” Randy yelled slamming against the elevator button.

  “There’s stairs but the door requires an access code,” Mark said panting heavily.

  “Lead the way,” Roland said.

  As they tried fiddling attempting to unlock the door, a thud drew their attention.

  “It’s coming,” Greg said lowly.

  “Fuck it,” Roland snarled and shot the access point, kicking the door open furiously. They began to make their way down. The thuds stopped and sounds of heavy footsteps now filled the air. It wouldn’t be long before it caught up with them. Chester froze in his tracks.

  “What are you doing?” Hastings called staring at him.

  “Go, I’ll hold it here,” he said with a conviction that shocked them.

  “Hold it? Have you lost your mind?” Greg screamed.

  Sean clenched his fists. Holding back his tears, he nodded.

  “Just fucking go! I turned my back on Lendl. Not anymore. Just go!” he said with a defiant glare. Hastings understood. He tossed him his pistol and nodded. “Give ‘em hell,” he said. Chester nodded and stood guard at the door. A large shadow strode towards him.

  “Come get some, motherfucker,” he growled in Spanish as the shadow approached him.

  Hurriedly descending the stairs, they heard rapid gunfire, the sound of an angry ES-five seven. Greg’s eyes moistened as the firing ceased. But he had bought them valuable time. Stepping onto the ground floor they looked about and made a dash for the door. A loud unmistakable thud forced Roland to spin around and face the door through which they came from. Randy opening the posh glass door saw that gonerz had begun seeping into the facility through the gate. He noticed a car that was still running had rammed into the security booth, it’s windows smeared with blood. A crawler stepped out of the car, licking it’s arm and greeting them with an unholy grin. It crawled on all fours observing it’s new prey. Greg noticed that it looked different from the one back at HU. Roland bit his lip.

  “Get out of here,” Roland commanded pointing at the humvee parked near the entrance. The gonerz were closing in towards the entrance and the alpha from the stairs. Hastings began to protest. “Hastings, we don’t back down,” Roland said, his back towards his subordinate. A lump formed in his throat. “Randy, take care....I...love you son, I always have. I’ve never been there for you. I will now,” he said, his voice wavering a bit at the end. Randy’s jaw dropped as tears entered his cavity. He opened and closed his mouth several times with not a whisper escaping his lips. Forcing the blockade down his throat he said, “Don’t do this. Don’t act like a parent now you damned geezer!” he pleaded. Dana tried to console him but he shrugged her off violently. “You are a soldier now son,” he said readying his rifle. Randy swallowed a ball of anger, guilt and regret, “I...love you too...you shitty old man,” he choked unable to hold back his tears. The howls of the incoming gonerz interrupted them. Hastings in a fit of rage, tossed a barrage of grenades at the gonerz, the explosions sent body parts flying as their numbers thinned for but a moment, but did little to slow them down. Randy’s words bought a smile to Roland’s face amidst the chaos. Greg jumped into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine. Everyone reluctantly slid into the vehicle, Hastings heavy heartedly pushed out the corpses of his dead comrades on to the tarmac not before dispossessing them of their weapons. Sean and Dana had to literally drag Randy to the vehicle. Cramped into the back seat, Hastings handed Randy and Sean his comrades’ assault rifle. “Give them hell,” he said not hiding his seething rage. Greg took it as the indication to go, looking one last time at Roland; he wiped his tears as a large shadow entered the lobby. Hastings manned the machine gun and indiscriminately fired into the horde. Sean leaned out of the window and too, followed the soldier. Randy yanked himself back to the real world and clutching the rifle tightly, leaned out and shouted “Hooah!” and joined Hastings and Sean in defiance.

  The alpha entered the huge lobby, it’s presence almost immediately overwhelming Roland’s senses. It was a standoff. It analyzed Roland, almost looking at him with pity. He won the tug of war, raising his rifle, he fired at the alpha. It ran straight at him, Roland managed to roll out of the way continuing his assault. The alpha roared in a terrifyingly animalistic way. It did nothing to slow Roland down, each bullet that made it’s mark on it earned him an demonic growl. It darted side to side avoiding the bullets with a deceptive flexibility. The glass behind it powdered as the bullets crashed through them. When he heard dry clicks, he quickly slung his rifle to his side, drawing his pistol and quickly unloading it on the alpha. Roland panted as the alpha still stood there, even after he was out of ammo. It began to open and close it’s mouth, letting out a faint devilish laugh.

  He pulled out his combat knife and took his stance. The alpha was only too happy to oblige. It lunged at him, it’s arm whizzing past his ear, he bent and drove the knife into it’s side. The alpha violently swung around tossing Roland away. Roland crashed into the elevator door with a resoundi
ng thud, creating a huge deformation on the metal door. The alpha didn’t give him time to recover; it quickly attempted to jump at him. Roland forced his unsteady feet to dive away from the creature. But it’s speed and durability was proving too much for him to handle as the battle dragged on. He was reaching his limit. It roared and pounced at him, he managed to drive the knife through it’s leg. But it also managed to slash him across the chest, bloodying his fatigues. He grimaced in pain as searing pain tore through his body. The alpha looked at him with bloodshot eyes. Roland looked back at it with blurring vision. Using every ounce of strength he had, his legs forced his body up. Roland thought about his son and how it would pursue them if he didn’t stop it. He thought about all the time he could have spent with his son; the thought of his ex-wife and what he would give if he could be with her one last time, just to see her, be comforted by her scent, be wrapped in her arms, and be a family again. Letting his tears flow with no one to witness and with no weapon left, he decided this would his final charge. Unleashing yet another demonic roar, it charged forward. Roland let out his battle cry “Hooooah!” and charged straight at the alpha. It’s razor sharp claws pierced through Roland’s flesh. He screamed in pain as blood began streaming down his jaws. The alpha unpursed it’s lips to showcase it’s triumphant grin. Roland responded with a defiant bloody grin himself, surprising the sentient creature. It looked down at his belt. All the grenades had been unpinned.

  The explosion ripped through the lobby, sending shards of glass in every direction, vaporizing gonerz that had made it’s way past the humvee.

  Seconds earlier, the humvee moved down scores of gonerz, feeling the crunch under the wheels sent a sense of satisfaction through the steering wheel to Greg. The incessant ratatat of the machine gun didn’t stop until they smashed their way out of the gate and away from the facility. As they continued to fight back, the vehicle radio spoke for the first time.

  “Whiskey 5, do you read?”

  Randy quickly picked up the receiver and said, “This is whiskey 5, over.”