“Put that down,” Butsko growled. “Breaking the door down won’t help us.”
“What’s the make of the keypad?” Butsko asked as he made his way to the door. “Is it government-issued?”
“The company is GenTec,” Cheryl said as she read the name on the keypad.
“Perfect,” Butsko said with a smile.
The zombies continued to slam against the door. One of the hinges fell to the floor and they all reacted like a grenade had just been thrown into the room.
“Whatever you’re going to do,” said Wilder, “do it right now.”
Butsko leaned down to better see the keypad and keyed in the code ***00000099#*. The door unlocked, and the group ran into the neighboring laboratory.
Just as Butsko shut the joining door, the zombies broke into the room.
“GenTec doors are made with a safety code in case of emergencies. With the code, we can open every door in this facility,” Butsko explained. “This seemed like an emergency.”
“As long as they’re all GenTec doors,” Cheryl said.
“Go find the next joining door,” Butsko said. “These doors will be stronger than the ones that lead into the corridor. They’re made with thicker metal designed to contain fires and anything else that could break out of a lab.”
No one dared think about what else could break out in these above top-secret labs.
“I found the next door!” Walt called from the far side of the lab.
“Good,” Butsko said. “We now know where it is and how to get through it. Let’s look around this lab, and see if there’s anything we can use.”
The laboratory had rows of shelves lined with microscopes, beakers, and many other pieces of the equipment of all sizes.
“Damn,” Butsko said. “This looks like a goddamn storage room.”
“Are those microwave ovens?” Wilder asked.
“Yes,” said Cheryl. “Why? Are you hungry?”
“Walt, find me something flammable; Steele, find me some steel wool or something like it,” Wilder said as he ignored Cheryl’s comment.
Wilder pulled the shelf with the microwaves closer to the door that led into the next room. He made sure all the microwave ovens were plugged in.
“Here’s some steel wool pads,” Steele said as he ran toward Wilder.
“How are we on some kind of flammable liquid?” Wilder asked.
“I found some pentane, petroleum ether, and propylene oxide!” Walt yelled back.
“Bring them all over here. Quickly!” Wilder barked.
Butsko and Cheryl stood by the door, ready to input the bypass code.
Wilder grabbed six glass beakers and filled them all with a mixture of the chemicals Walt brought over. He inserted a steel wool pad into each beaker.
Steele and Walt helped Wilder place a beaker in each microwave.
“Set the timers for three minutes,” Walt said.
The zombies at the previous connecting door became more aggressive and violent and their damage to the door was already extensive. The room filled with the loud sound of the hinges being torn from the wall.
“Make it one minute,” Walt said as he heard the door breaking.
Butsko opened the connecting door, and they all ran through it and headed to the far side of the lab.
The zombie’s crashed into the storage lab and raced toward the door the group had just run through. The zombies slowed down when they saw the six microwave ovens blocking their path.
As the microwaves counted down to zero, the over doors exploded outwards and slivers of glass tore into the creature’s faces and bodies. The sparks from the steel wool ignited the fumes and flammable liquids and created fireballs that set three of the zombies on fire. The explosions inside the ovens tore them apart as jagged metal ripped into the zombies skin, severing arteries, puncturing eyeballs, and embedding into the zombies’ skulls.
Wilder and the others ducked as they heard the ovens explode. They were on the other side of the door, but they all instinctively crouched to the floor as the explosion rocked the ground.
After the explosion, Wilder ran to the connecting door and looked through the small viewing window. The zombies on fire had collapsed to the ground and burned. The other yellow-eyed creatures that were injured stumbled around, and Wilder knew it wouldn’t be long before they attacked again.
“Steele! Walt!” Wilder shouted to the others. “Let’s finish these fuckers off!”
Wilder opened the door and ran toward the closest creature. He slammed the butt of his carbine into the creature’s head. As the zombie dropped, he stomped on its head until it stopped moving.
Walt swung Stevie at one of the blinded zombies and snapped its neck with the force of the blow. Walt finished it off by smashing Stevie into the creature’s forehead.
Walt and Wilder turned to see Steele crushing the heads and kneecaps of the creatures with the sledgehammer. They watched as Steele gracefully turned and pivoted and crushed the skulls of four more yellow-eyed creatures. They could see the bloodlust in Steele’s eyes and they let him go. Every skull he smashed, every zombie he destroyed, Steele was making amends for failing to save his family.
When Steele was finished, he dropped the sledgehammer and leaned over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Around him lay the bodies of four or five mangled zombies. It was hard to tell how many Steele had killed. There was so much blood and so many body parts scattered around him that it looked like somebody had put the bodies through a meat grinder.
“Come on, big guy,” Wilder said to Steele as he picked up the sledgehammer. “Let’s get to the others.”
*****
As the three warriors left the room, they left behind the burned and broken bodies of seven yellow-eyed creatures. Their bodies remained motionless, but inside them the bio-nanotech virus was still alive. The virus worked to rebuild bone and repair flesh. Being so close to The Discovery had energized and morphed the virus into something more deadly.
As the fires extinguished on the three zombies, they were the first to twitch and once again experience re-birth.
The three charred things sat up, looked toward the door, then to the other creatures that lay on the floor. They were lifeless right now, but they knew it wouldn’t be long before those broken bodies would rejoin the fight.
11
“We bought ourselves a little more time,” Butsko said. “Nice work back there, Wilder.”
“I think the next lab over is the EMP lab,” Wilder said. “We could always set off another blast to give us enough time to get out of here.”
“If we do that, won’t all the electrical equipment be wiped out down here?” asked Steele. “The elevator wouldn’t work, and then we’d be really trapped.”
“Besides,” added Walt. “Those things upstairs are probably fully reanimated by now. We don’t even know if the vehicles you drove here got fried from the first EMP blast. We have no escape.”
“We’re alive,” Wilder said. “There’s always an escape.”
“Shhh,” said Cheryl as she brought her finger to her mouth. “Listen. What’s that noise?”
“Fuck me,” said Steele. “Is that the elevator?”
They all looked at each other and knew what was coming down the elevator shaft. They scrambled to tr and find a way out..
“We don’t have the time to sort through the computer files and figure out what weapons might help us down here,” Butsko said. “Besides, the EMP lab was reserved strictly for EMP research. Unfortunately, I think we exhausted that avenue.”
“So are we just gonna wait here for those fuckers to reanimate next door?” Cheryl asked. “We need to do something.”
Butsko sat down at the computer console and started tapping away on the keyboard.
“Our only option is to fight our way out,” said Wilder as he smashed the protective glass on the wall-mounted fire axe.
“Hold on a second,” Butsko said. “I want to see something before we run head-
on into battle.” Butsko tapped away at the keyboard. “Yes!” he shouted. “My algorithms cracked the security.” Butsko fell silent again as he continued to access the computer. “Something has been bothering me. Do you all remember at the end of this corridor how it splits to the left and the right?”
The others nodded.
“On all the blueprints I accessed when at Fort Hood,” Butsko continued, “none of them had a right turn at that corridor.”
“Maybe you just forgot?” suggested Cheryl.
Butsko looked up from the monitor, but Wilder cut him off. “Butsko wouldn’t forget such an important detail,” he said.
“So maybe the Schoepke family added onto the facility after it was decommissioned,” continued Butsko. After a few more minutes of searching through files, Butsko found what he was looking for.
“Got it!” Butsko almost shouted. The others gathered closer around the computer console. “Holy shit,” Butsko said as the blueprints came up on the screen. “They didn’t just add on to the existing facility,” he said as he pointed to the screen. “They built an entire new facility underneath the one we’re in.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Wilder said. “You mean to tell me that underneath us is another facility that’s secure?”
“It looks that way,” Butsko answered. “It seems the Schoepke’s were up to even more no good activities than the government thought. This new facility wasn’t in any of the files the government kept on the Schoepke’s.”
“What the hell were they up to down here?” Wilder asked.
“I don’t know,” said Butsko, “but we’re going to find out.” The others looked at him intently. “The only way to get to the new facility is to go through the new lab in Section C.”
12
Walt, Wilder, Butsko, Cheryl, and Steele scoured the lab and looked for anything that could be used as a weapon.
As they explored, they realized that this lab had also been used mainly for storage. Butsko figured the Schoepke’s had moved all their serious research to the newly built Section C.
Wilder brought over gallon containers of drain cleaner and bleach, as well as various sized glass jars and plastic vials. Butsko found some Styrofoam cups and drained the gasoline out of a few back-up generators. Butsko put a dozen or so cups in the gasoline and stirred them around.
Wilder filled the glass jars with bleach and filled the plastic vials with the drain cleaner. He then placed the plastic vials into the glass jars and sealed them up.
After the Styrofoam had all but dissolved in the gasoline, Butsko took the remaining glass jars Wilder had found and made Molotov cocktails with the Styrofoam goop in the bottom of each jar.
“What the hell did the two of you just make?” Walt asked.
“We both made bombs,” Wilder explained. “My bomb will blind and suffocate those bastards. The plastic vials are filled with drain cleaner, which are slowly eating away at the thin plastic. When the drain cleaner hits the bleach, it’ll create a poisonous chlorine gas that’ll attack the membranes in the eyes, throat, and nose. When we were out there in the small, enclosed hallway I noticed the ventilation was for shit. This will dissolve those bastards’ lungs and eyeballs.”
The others stood there and looked wide-eyed at Wilder.
“This had an added bonus,” continued Wilder. “Not all the hydrochloric acid will react with the bleach, so the acid will burn those fuckers and anything else they brush against.”
“I made some Molotov cocktails with an extra surprise,” Butsko said. “The semi-dissolved Styrofoam goop is like napalm. It’ll burn and stick to anything it touches. The yellow-eyed creatures won’t be able to get it off their skin or clothes.”
“I’m really glad you guys are on our side,” Cheryl said.
“I’m going first,” Wilder said. “I’m going to exit into the main corridor and throw one or two of these chlorine bombs down towards the elevator. It’ll affect the zombies almost immediately, so the rest of you will need to get to Section C as quickly as you can before the gases reach us.”
All five of their heads turned to the direction of the elevator as they heard it descend.
“Sounds like those bastards are bringing in backups,” Steele said. “I bet they aren’t too happy about that EMP blast, either.”
“Let’s go, everyone!” Wilder barked. “Time is not our friend right now.”
13
Underground Facility, Schoepke Springs
Section C
Fi and two other yellow-eyed creatures were guided by something to the right lab. Section C was a cavernous area filled with many doors leading to a maze of rooms and laboratories, but Fi knew exactly where to go. The object Fi had been searching for was close—so close, in fact, that they all felt its pull. The object—The Discovery—was acting like a beacon, and Fi and the others couldn’t ignore it.
Not that Fi or the others wanted to.
The warmth that filled her body was the most incredible feeling she had ever experienced since her change. She remembered everything with such clarity now and had a good idea what was inside her. Her father had infected and killed her. She attached no emotional baggage to that memory. It was just something that had happened. Her father wasn’t to blame. That early virus had compelled him to infect and eat anything that wasn’t already infected. Just like the animals before him, her father had acted on the pure instinct of the bio-nanotechnology that had coursed through his system.
But the virus wasn’t content. The infected were eating too much, and oftentimes didn’t leave behind enough of a body to reanimate. Infected humans with no brains or legs were useless to the virus.
So it changed.
The virus altered itself to create stronger and smarter creatures like Fi. Fi had been the first of this new breed, but had been so new that the changed virus caused her great pain. It burned and made the host angry for not understanding the new purpose the virus was after. It changed the color of the host’s eyes in order to instill fear in the uninfected human beings. The yellow eyes also helped the new breed of creatures identify each other, and it was a warning to the other, lesser-infected hosts:
Don’t fuck with the yellow-eyed creatures.
Don’t fuck with progress.
The mutated virus still wanted to infect and create more yellow-eyed creatures, and it understood the need of the creatures to feed. But there was something more, and Fi was about to find that out as soon as she found The Discovery.
14
Wilder crashed through the laboratory door and threw two of the chlorine bombs toward the elevators. The drain cleaner had eaten through the thin plastic and mixed with the bleach to create a caustic gas that affected the zombies instantly.
The zombies clawed at their eyes and held their throats as the fumes burned them on the inside. Wilder watched the creatures succumb to the fumes and even smiled at the few whose skin was being eaten away by the hydrochloric acid. Wilder was relieved they were being affected by the chlorine bombs at all.
Zombies breathe? he asked himself. Who knew? He had no time to linger on that thought. Wilder knew they had to move quickly.
Just as Walt, Butsko, Cheryl, and Steele ran out of the lab toward Section C, Wilder heard the elevator arrive. As the large door opened, Wilder saw the faces of twelve more zombies and quickly threw two more of the chlorine bombs down the hallway.
Before he could turn to join the others, Wilder felt something whiz past his head. Butsko also heard the elevator and threw one of the Molotov cocktails with the homemade napalm in it. The glass jar shattered against the wall and splattered its fiery contents on three of the zombies. Butsko didn’t wait to see the results and threw another jar towards the horde. Four more zombies caught fire, and the dissolved Styrofoam stuck to them like glue and melted away their skin.
“Let’s move!” Butsko yelled. “We don’t want to be here when the fumes reach this point!”
Walt led the charge down the corridor and didn’t hesitate as they r
eached the “T” at the end of the hallway. Cheryl was right behind Walt and crashed into him when he suddenly stopped.
In front of them stood four yellow-eyed creatures, and they looked angry. Walt took down the lead zombie and pulled Stevie out of the creature’s head just as Cheryl thrust the crowbar straight through the second zombie’s forehead. The edge went right between the eyes, and lodged itself right above the creature’s nose.
“I’m stuck!” Cheryl yelled.
Steele ran past Walt, slammed the sledgehammer into the third zombie, and knocked it into the last creature. As the two zombies stumbled back, Steele advanced on them and crushed the first zombie’s head. The dead weight of the creature pinned the fourth one to the ground. Walt walked over to it and finished it off by crushing its head.
Wilder and Butsko rounded the corner and saw the bodies.
“Is everyone okay?” Wilder asked. He three nodded, and he told them that both the homemade napalm and chlorine bombs had worked.
“By now those fuckers have probably mutated again and evolved fire-proof skin and iron lungs,” Steele said.
“There’s a shitload of doors down here,” Cheryl said. “Which will take us to the entrance of the new underground facility?”
“It’s not far,” Butsko said. The group continued to run down the corridor. “It’s an absolute maze in this new section, but we need the last door on the left, and then we go straight through that lab,” Butsko explained. “There’s a large hatch door on the floor that will take us to the next level down.”
As they ran down the corridor, they heard the zombies as they chased after them. They were right on their trail.
Wilder couldn’t help but wonder what was behind all the doors they ran by. What kinds of secrets did those doors hide? Nothing in the facility suggested the Schoepke family was researching or experimenting with any dangerous bioweapons. There was no safety gear or other necessary equipment to handle such dangerous microbes. Wilder knew, though, that there was something dangerous in Section C. He could feel it in his bones. His instincts buzzed in his ear as he ran passed the doors.
Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation Page 29
