“Think of it as your brain giving you a reward for doing some type of activity it likes,” Jonas explained.
“Increased dopamine levels have also shown to be the cause of impulsive behaviors,” continued Walt. “It’s called the ‘Response Selection.’ If you're in a situation where there’s several possible courses of action, dopamine can influence which action you take.”
Joe, familiar with Walt’s research, spoke up. “Darren,” Joe said. “Let’s say you're in a situation where there’s a zombie coming straight at you. You could take a few different courses of action. You could curl up into a ball and cry, you could run away, or you could stand your ground and fight.”
“I’m with ya,” Darren said.
“When something like this happens,” Joe continued, “increased levels of dopamine can actually influence which of those three actions you’ll choose. Tell me, Darren: what usually stops people from trying new things, like taking up dancing?”
“They might be afraid of looking dumb?” responded Darren after a few seconds.
“Exactly,” said Joe. “People’s inhibitions can prevent them from trying new things. But increased levels of dopamine releases an action from inhibition.”
“Okay,” said Darren, hesitantly.
“Let’s go back to that attacking zombie,” continued Joe. “Let’s say you weren’t a soldier trained in various combat methods. If that was the case, you might be hesitant to face the zombie and fight it hand-to-hand.”
“Got ya,” said Darren.
“But the increased dopamine releases that reaction, or behavior, from inhibition, and makes you stand and fight. In this situation, where you’re untrained, this would be considered an impulsive behavior. Dopamine released that reaction from inhibition and initiated that impulsive behavior.”
“I got it,” responded Darren. “So when you say someone has no ‘impulse control,’ it’s probably because that person has higher levels of dopamine in their system?”
“You got it!” said Joe, slapping Darren on the back.
“It’s nice to know all my endless hours of talking about this stuff has rubbed off,” said Walt as he smiled.
“I’m still not making the connection with the infected and addiction, though,” admitted Darren.
The others in the room agreed.
“Let me take it a step further,” Walt continued. “Dopamine is also a ‘teaching signal.’ If you respond to an action with a particular response, and your dopamine levels increase, chances are you’ll respond to that same action with the same response in the future.”
Before anyone could say anything, Walt continued.
“So let’s say you worked out one day,” Walt said. “After that workout, you treated yourself by eating a Snickers bar. Your brain really liked this and produced more dopamine. Now the likelihood of you eating a Snickers bar after your next workout is greatly increased.”
“More than a ‘teaching signal,’” Darren said. “It seems dopamine acts as a reward signal.”
“He’s got it,” Jonas said as he stood. “That’s exactly what dopamine does. It plays the role of providing an organism with rewards.”
“Do you see how impulsive behavior and this ‘reward signal’ work together?”
“Absolutely,” said Darren. “It seems like dopamine is the switch that can turn on addictive behavior in some people.”
“I think you have a new star pupil, Walt,” joked Cheryl.
“You’re absolutely right, Darren,” said Walt.
“But how does this apply to the infected, Walt?” asked Dennis.
Before Walt could respond, everyone jumped at a loud banging noise that came from the top of the staircase.
“How they hell did those things find the door to the cellar up there?” asked Samantha. “I thought you said the door was boarded up?”
“It is,” said Walt with his eyes fixed on the staircase. “Maybe it was a random noise? Maybe they didn’t find where the door was?”
Whatever was upstairs pounded louder on the false wall that covered the door to the cellar.
“We need to get out of here,” said Dennis, as he started to run toward the cellar doors leading outside.
“Hold on,” said Joe. “We don’t even know if it’s clear that way anymore.”
Darren ran over to the door through which they entered the cellar and placed his ear against it.
“Do you hear anything?” asked Dennis, starting to panic.
“Shhhh,” responded Darren, putting his finger to his lips. “I can’t hear anything over you.”
Everyone stood where they were and listened to the banging at the top of the staircase. They all held their breath, waiting for Darren’s report.
“Fuck,” Darren said as he backed away from the door. “It sounds like there’s a shitload of them outside.”
“Those fuckers have trapped us,” said Joe. “We’re trapped in here.”
“Hold on, everyone,” said Walt as he tried to calm everyone down. “The fake wall up there was built before the Center took over this house. It’s a solid, well-built wall.”
Before anyone else could say anything, they all heard a large cracking noise.
Darren ran to the bottom of the staircase and looked up at the door.
“Shit,” said Darren. “I think they cracked the goddamn door.”
Everyone’s head turned toward the door that led outside as they heard the fists of the infected pounding against the wood.
Walt held Stevie tightly in his hands.
David lifted his axe to his chest.
Jonas made sure the bayonet was tightly fixed to the carbine.
Everyone prepared themselves for battle, but they were all thinking the same thing:
“We’re trapped. How the hell are we going to get out of here?”
Chapter Five
1
Will to Heal Center
Spicewood, Texas
“We need to come up with a plan now!” David said.
Half the group kept their eyes on the door at the top of the stairs. The other half stared at the cellar door that led outside.
The sounds grew louder as the creatures banged and scratched on the doors. Everyone knew they were caught in the middle.
“Darren!” Walt yelled. “You have the most experience fighting these things. What should we do?”
Darren’s eyes narrowed as he considered the course of action. He knew there were only three options: open the doors and fight their way out, break through the false wall and fight their way into the house, or stay where they were and be attacked from two directions.
The third choice was out.
“I think we should take our chances and fight the zombies over there,” Darren said as he nodded toward the door that led outside.
“Okay,” Walt agreed. “Everyone huddle together, and when we open those doors, start running.”
“That’s not much of a plan,” Dennis said, unimpressed.
“I think we should all run in different directions,” Joe added, “and meet up somewhere.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” agreed Darren. “I say we pair up and take off into the woods. Where’s a good meeting location?”
“About four, five miles from the Center is an abandoned gas station,” suggested Cheryl.
“Does everyone know where that is?” Darren asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Good,” Darren continued. “Pair up. We open these doors and run like hell in different directions. Five miles is enough space to lose the zombies.”
Darren looked into everyone’s eyes.
“We can do this,” encouraged Darren. “You’ve fought them before and know they can be killed. Just be careful not to lead any of those fuckers to the gas station.”
Joe saw Walt as he started to walk toward the staircase that led up to the center.
“Where are you going, Walt?” Joe asked.
The banging on the two doors into the cellar becam
e louder. It sounded more like a crashing sound. The wood from the fake wall at the top of the staircase began to splinter.
“There’s something I need to get!” Walt yelled.
“What the hell could be so important that you’re willing to die over it?” asked Samantha.
“She’s right,” Dennis added. “Going up there alone is a death sentence.”
“I need to get to the Center’s pharmacy,” explained Walt. “If my theory’s right, then it would be worth risking my life over.”
The cellar door that led to the outside was shaking from the force being thrown against it. Everyone knew their time was running out.
“That’s a death sentence,” Cheryl yelled over the noise.
“I’m not asking anyone to go with me,” Walt said.
“You can’t go up there alone,” Cheryl said as she walked over to where Walt stood.
Before Walt could say anything, Cheryl cut him off.
“You aren’t going up there alone,” Cheryl said as she glared into Walt’s eyes. “You have no idea what’s waiting for you on the other side of that door.”
“You guys go ahead with the plan!” Walt yelled to the others. “We’ll meet you at the gas station. If we’re not there by dawn, leave without us.”
The group looked at each other, not knowing what they should do.
The pounding on the doors reminded them they didn’t have time left to think about it.
“Let’s go!” screamed Darren as he headed to the cellar door leading to the outside.
2
Lago Vista Clubhouse
Lago Vista, Texas
“So we’re in agreement,” said Butsko. “The plan to gather information on the bio-nanotechnology from all the various bases that conducted the research has been ruled out.”
Butsko looked around at the group huddled in the clubhouse’s VIP room. It was almost easy to forget that the world had gone to shit two years ago.
“Besides,” Butsko added. “How in the hell would we get to the overseas military bases that conducted the research?”
“I never served in the military and don’t know a whole lot about weapons and stuff,” said Steele, “but what the hell is an EMP?”
“It’s an electromagnetic pulse,” answered Butsko. “Think of it as a deadly side effect after a nuclear weapon is detonated.”
“What does it do?” Steele asked.
“It destroys all electronics,” Wilder said.
“EMPs were discovered in the early days of nuclear testing,” continued Butsko. “They were originally taken as just a side effect of detonation.”
“It wasn’t until the military started conducting high altitude nuclear tests that scientists realized the destructive power of EMPs,” Melvin added.
“How devastating are they?” asked Cain.
“May I answer that?” Melvin asked Butsko.
“Please do,” said Butsko as he smiled.
“In 1962, the U.S. detonated a nuclear bomb two-hundred-and-fifty miles above the mid-Pacific ocean,” explained Melvin. “It was called the Starfish Prime test, and one of the things it showed the military was just how effective EMPs were. The electromagnetic pulse was so big,” Melvin said, “that it caused electrical damage in Hawaii, which was about nine-hundred miles away from the blast.”
“The military brass was so impressed with the initial test results,” said Butsko, “that Starfish Prime morphed into Operation Fishbowl, which set out to specifically study the effects of EMPs from high altitude detonations.”
Melvin started to add to what Butsko said, but Butsko cut him off. “I can see the look in Melvin’s eyes,” Butsko said, “and I know he has more details and facts to add to Operation Fishbowl, but let’s just say that the results were pretty devastating.”
“More like apocalyptic,” Melvin added.
“How so?” asked Megan.
“In 2001, the U.S. government put together a commission to study the effects of an EMP attack on America,” answered Melvin.
“The commission’s findings,” added Butsko, “were most troublesome. The commission concluded that the infrastructure of the U.S. could be wiped out. That meant the military would be unable to put together a counter-strike and we’d be completely vulnerable to further invasion and attack.”
“The government wouldn’t even be able to figure out who attacked us,” Melvin added. “Every electronic device and power grid in America would be fried.”
Wilder looked around the room and saw the looks on everyone’s faces.
“I think you two have painted a grim enough scenario for us,” Wilder finally said.
“No, no, no,” Melvin continued. “What we described is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Wilder shot Melvin an icy stare, and Melvin stopped talking.
“But of course,” Butsko said, trying to lighten the mood, “this is all just speculation. There’s never been an EMP attack on any country.”
“This is all interesting,” Vasquez said, breaking the silence, “but what the hell does this all have to do with our current situation?”
“Excellent question,” Butsko said with renewed energy. “Once the government realized the potential EMPs had to take out a country’s infrastructure without actually destroying anything or killing any civilians, it dumped hundreds of millions of dollars of research money into it.”
“The result,” Melvin added, “was a non-nuclear EMP. All the bang and damage of a nuclear-produced EMP without the destruction and loss of life.”
“To repeat Vasquez’s question,” Mane asked, “how is this going to help us?”
“About forty-five miles away,” Butsko said, “was a facility that was not only on the cutting edge of non-nuclear EMP research, but that facility weaponized it.”
“Remember,” added Wilder. “The infected are altered due to bio-nanotechnology.”
“And a big enough EMP blast,” Butsko added, “might just take those bastards out.”
3
Will to Heal Center
Spicewood, Texas
David, Joe, and Dennis pressed their shoulders against the cellar doors. On Darren’s count, the men slammed their weight against the wood. The force of the doors thrusting open caused four of the infected to stumble back.
Darren saw the zombies slip and didn’t hesitate. He immediately shot the infected down.
Samantha, who’d found an old homemade baseball bat in the cellar, started swinging at anything that was no longer human in an attempt to keep them from breaching the cellar.
After opening the door, David, Joe, and Dennis grabbed their weapons and joined in the fight.
Darren knew the scene would be chaotic, and that he wouldn’t get the chance to take head shots. The bullets from his M4 slammed into the creatures’ chests, and Darren knew he wasn’t killing them.
Darren stopped firing when David and Samantha stepped in his line of fire. David’s goal was to slow the bastards down as best he could. With his axe, David removed various limbs, hands, and when he could, heads. David went after the feet of the zombies who had fallen from Darren’s bullets.
As Samantha slammed her bat against the side of a zombie’s head, another one slipped past her and charged Darren.
In one fluid motion, Darren slung his M4 over his shoulder and unsheathed the eighteen-inch machete that hung on his back.
The machete effortlessly sliced through the neck of an attacking zombie. Before the decapitated creature’s body hit the floor, Darren was already swinging at another monster.
Joe and Dennis fought back-to-back as they stopped the creatures from flooding into the cellar.
“Duck!” Jonas yelled. Dennis crouched to the floor as the blade of Jonas’ bayonet sunk into a zombie’s throat. As Dennis stood, he slid the sharp blade of one of his knives across the belly of the zombie.
The zombie’s entrails spooled onto the floor, but Dennis’s blade did nothing to slow it down.
With the bayonet still stuc
k in the creature’s throat, Jonas twisted the blade and tore it out through the left side of the zombie’s neck. The creature’s head flopped to the right, tenuously connected to the creature’s body by part of the damaged spine.
Jonas slammed the butt of the carbine against the zombie’s dangling head and watched the remaining spine snap as the head fell to the ground.
“Behind you Jonas!” shouted Samantha, but she was too late.
As Jonas watched the severed head of the zombie fall, another zombie staggered over a dead creature and grabbed Jonas around the waist.
Before Samantha or Jonas could do anything, the zombie bit into Jonas’ thigh, tearing away a chunk of flesh.
Jonas howled in pain as he tried to bring the stock of the rifle against the creature’s head. Jonas missed the monster and his momentum carried him to the ground.
Two other zombies saw Jonas fall and leapt onto him. Jonas’ screams quickly turned to gurgling sounds as blood filled his throat and lungs. After a few seconds, the only sounds were those of the creatures eating.
Samantha turned to see three more zombies trying to get through the cellar door. Only the dead bodies of other zombies prevented easy access into the cellar.
“We need to get the fuck out of the cellar!” yelled Darren. “More are gonna get in and we don’t wanna let them corner us!”
Darren led the way to the cellar door as he swung his machete. The machete was sharpened to a deadly edge and had a long row of jagged teeth on the spine of the blade. No matter which direction Darren swung the blade, zombies fell left and right.
David joined Darren as they made a push to get through the cellar door.
“Be careful, everyone!” Darren yelled as they fought toward the door. “I don’t know what the hell is waiting for us outside!”
As Joe walked past Jonas’ lifeless body, he picked up the discarded M1.
As they approached the two steps that led out of the cellar, Darren was distracted by a zombie that moved on the floor next to him. He veered to the left, away from the cellar door, and buried the machete into the zombie’s skull. As he looked back, Darren watched as a zombie leapt through the cellar door.
Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation Page 14
