Human Zombies: The Compound

by Nicholas Dileo Jr

  “Do you know when the flights are supposed to be up and running again? I was supposed to pick up my Girlfriend here today and I haven’t heard from her in a few days.”

  “No, I’m sorry Sir. That’s all of the information we were given. We know as much as you do at this point. But we have a service available to text message you with updates of the flights if you’d like me to set that up for you.”

  “Thanks, that would be great.”

  I gave the customer service rep my cell number and sat down in the terminal. Many of the other people who were waiting to pick up family and friends from the flight had begun to leave the airport. Hours had past as I sat waiting in the terminal for new information to arrive. The rep eventually brought me a blanket and pillow, which I reluctantly accepted in my anxious state. I was hungry too, but apparently most airlines had stopped giving out peanuts. I looked down at my cell phone; I still had not received any new information. The clock showed the time as being 4 A.M., I had been in the airport for over 12 hours. I closed my eyes for a moment only to rest and but I quickly dosed off.

  I was yanked from my sleep abruptly by the vibration of my phone. I quickly sat up and put the phone to my ear in hopes it was Vanessa.

  “Hello? Vanessa? Is that you?” I repeated into the receiver.

  But there was no answer. And then I realized, I hadn’t received a phone call. It was a text message from the airport service center. I held my breath and opened the text in hopes of receiving good news about the flights coming from California. The text stated.

  “All flights departing California are suspended indefinitely until otherwise approved viable by the Federal Aviation Administration.”

  What? This couldn’t be…All flights leaving California were suspended? What was going on over there? This had to be a mistake. I walked back over to the front desk to speak to the woman who had helped me earlier.

  “Excuse me, I just got this text message from the service you signed me up with earlier. This has got to be some sort of mistake.”

  “No, I’m sorry Sir, it’s not a mistake. We just received this information as well.”

  “But why? Why have they grounded all of the planes from California indefinitely?”

  “I wish I could help you further Sir but we have no more information than you do. Now if you’d please leave the terminal we’ve been advised to cease operations for the time being.”

  I was amazed by the turn of events that had unfolded before my eyes. What in the world was going on? As I left the airport I felt as if I was in a fog mentally. It must have been the lack of sleep from staying in the airport all night. It was now 6 A.M. as I drove my way back home. I was on the brink of tears as I wondered what could possibly be happening in California and if Vanessa was okay.

  No, I told myself, don’t worry everything is fine with Vanessa. What could possibly go wrong? We live in a world of science, medicine and technological advancements far beyond anyone’s imagination. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

  As I pulled into the driveway I realized that my Father had not left to catch the train for work. I couldn’t remember a time that he late for work, let alone be miss it. I opened the front door to find my family sitting on the coffee table in front of the T.V. with the glow of the picture reflecting on their faces. It was common practice in my house to sit on the couch and never put your feet up on the table, let alone sit on it.

  As I entered the room no one even acknowledged my presence.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Why aren’t you on your way to catch the train for work yet, Dad? You’ll never get into the office on time.”

  There was no response from my family. My Mom sat clenching my Brother tightly while my Dad was sitting with an awestruck look painted on his face. What was on the T.V. that left them like this? My only thought was it couldn’t be good… And something told me it must have been what stopped all the flights leaving California.

  I walked around to the other side of the table so I could see what was on the television. There was a news reporter standing in front of LAX in California. But, this couldn’t have been just a typical news report. The reporter was wearing a biological suit and being escorted by the National Guard; guns and all.

  “This just in from the newsroom, it seems that the West Coast has been hit by a biological attack. There is no word yet where this attack could have originated. There is no confirmation of whether it is of man made or natural origin. But, there is hope as patient zero has been secured at an undisclosed location in California that has been deemed the epicenter of this disaster. The United States Government has urged citizens nationwide to stay indoors until more information is gathered regarding this mystery virus. Please stay tuned for more news as it breaks. For channel 2 news, I’m Sandra O’Brien, signing out.”

  There had to be more information than this. A biological attack? Man made? Natural? These were the questions I asked myself. What were they talking about? It seemed like they had absolutely no clue of any real information. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made up patient zero and the undisclosed epicenter location.

  “Mom? Dad? What’s going on?” I asked.

  But they didn’t answer me. I walked in front of the television and turned it off. They quickly arose from their catatonic states. My Mother turned to me.

  “Barrett, you’re home. Thank God. Something horrible has happened out in California. Have you heard from Vanessa?”

  Had she really not seen me come in the house until I turned off the television? They must have been in a stupor.

  “You have to tell me what has happened. All the flights coming in from California were canceled. And I haven’t heard from Vanessa in a few days.”

  The look on my Mothers face told a story that I did not want to hear. Clearly something horrible had happened in California. She turned away from me and began staring blankly at the floor.

  “Are you just not going to tell me what happened?” I asked.

  She didn’t respond.

  I quickly ran upstairs to my room and powered up my computer. I’m sure the answers I was looking for could be found on the Internet. After my computer finally booted up I began searching the net. But, the load times were at snail speeds. I could only assume that so many people had resorted to the Internet and the connection was slowing down. I wouldn’t be surprised if the internet service provider’s were throttling the bandwidth. The front page of every news website I visited had similar headlines of escalating fear.

  “Deadly Virus Overtakes West Coast”

  “California Struck By Terrorist Attack”

  “Riots Ensue as California Crumbles”

  There was still no solid information about what had happened. But I knew there was another place to find information on the net, a place few people ever visit. The underbelly of the Internet was a place where hackers and conspirator’s called home. I typed in the address, but the site would not load. Someone must be trying to block information from reaching the masses. In my frustration I began clicking refresh at a furious rate. All of a sudden the site I was trying to reach loaded. I didn’t dare click again in fear this was the only time I could be able to find a connection. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information to be found right away. The site was littered with its usual smut and garbage found across the Internet. Why was no one discussing what was going on? Maybe all the posts had been deleted. But there was one post I came across that seemed different than the others. I began looking through it when I spotted a link that was secretly embedded into its content. When I opened the link in another window I was immediately prompted to download an encrypted document. In any other situation I would have canceled this process, as I would assume it would be a virus planted by hackers. But at a time like this I could leave no stone unturned in my search for information. I downloaded the file and began decrypting it. Suddenly my computer was bombarded with photos, text documents and video logs. I clicked on the first photo and was met with a
horrid image, piles of dead bodies being shoved into a furnace by men in biological suits. There was a text document associated with the photo. So I opened the document, which was labeled Project Zeta. I began reading through the document.

  “Project Zeta

  Dr. Theodore – This Document is for Your Eyes Only

  For some time the United States Government has been interested in the development of discrete, untraceable, biological warfare as well as the application and effects of biological compounds on our soldiers in order to boost stamina and morale in the field. In addition, Project Zeta has been formed in order to develop a method to revive soldiers on the battlefield indefinitely in mass quantity.

  It is in the best interest of the United States Government to award this program an unlimited budget toward future findings with an unlimited window of operations. The existence of this project, which is in its Alpha stage, is restricted to Black-Ops. No Government clearance is awarded, as the Government does not acknowledge the existence of this project. In the event of Project Zeta’s failure, all experimentation and documentation of events are to be destroyed immediately.”

  Was this legitimate? Or some prank being pulled by some punks on the Internet. I began looking through more of the pictures and documents. The next picture was similar to the previous, dead bodies being hauled into a furnace. But there was something different about this picture. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. As I progressed on I finally found a picture that stood out from the others. It seemed to have been taken at the same location. But instead of bodies being hauled into a furnace they were being walked into a laboratory and shackled to the wall. How does that make any sense? Dead bodies…Up and walking on their own? I had to hand it to whoever created these files; they were superbly edited photos and fabricated documents. But then I realized there was a video log attached to this photo. I opened the attached file and a video began playing.

  “Log date Unknown, Location Classified, Experiment status Success”

  “This is Dr. Theodore recording this eventful log to announce that after 100 days of experimentation we have gained success in Project Zeta. We never thought we would reach this point so early in the study. In all of my work I find great pride in announcing the results of my findings. As you can see by the attached photo documentation, we…No, I, have successfully reanimated our test subjects after their clinical expiration. It brings me much pride to announce the movement of Project Zeta into Omega stage, which is further experimentation and application in the field. I will report back with findings as our experiments move forward.”

  The video stopped playing and I began searching back through the documents. But there was only one more file left in the folder, another video log. I held my breath in anticipation and opened the file.

  “This is Dr. Theodore, Please dear God, what have we done? Please someone must send help. I don’t understand what’s going on. Everything was going wonderfully. But then the test subjects…They began going mad. Furious with anger they broke free of their shackles and ransacked our laboratory. I retreated back to my quarters as I could hear my staff being slaughtered behind me. But wait; there’s a knocking on my door now. Ah, I see it is one of the lab assistants. He’s bloody as all hell but he must have been able to escape the labs. Come in my dear boy come in! What is wrong with you? Surely you seek shelter from those heathens in the laboratory.”

  Suddenly the lab assistant jumped on Dr. Theodore and began ripping at his flesh, blood could be seen gushing out of his jugular vein. In the struggle Dr. Theodore fell to the ground and I could no longer see what was taking place out of frame. And then the sound of struggling ceased. After a moment both the lab assistant and Dr. Theodore rose to their feet. But it was clear that this was no longer the same Dr. Theodore that began filming this video log. He had become one of them.

  As the video ended the lights in my room began to flicker and then the electricity went out. In a panic I jumped up from my chair, but fell backwards falling onto my shoulder. Luckily I was able to get to my feet, but the pain in my shoulder was excruciating. I think my arm might have popped out of the socket.

  Suddenly I heard screaming coming from downstairs where my family had been watching television. Forgetting about the pain in my arm I quickly ran downstairs to see what the commotion was. Standing in front of me in the dark was a shadowy figure, but I couldn’t make out what it was as my eyes had not yet adjusted to the light. And that’s when the electricity began flickering on and off; for a moment I could see what was in front of me. It was my Father, but he was standing propped up against the wall. As if he was not using his own strength to be doing so. Then I realized there was something else behind him. The electricity came back fully and I could see what I originally thought was only my Father. It was a decrepit mass of what looked to be my next-door neighbor. But it looked like he had received the lashing of a lifetime; bloody and limping. My first reaction was to ask him if he was ok but then I realized he was missing his left arm. He stood there dripping coagulated blood all over the floor. What the hell was going on?

  As I stood there I couldn’t help but think about the photos and videos I had just watched. There had to be a correlation between that Project Zeta and what was going on in California. It was real after all But now, as I stood face to face with a scientific experiment gone wrong, I could see that the steps taken to quarantine the outbreak had been a failure. That’s if they ever actually did try to contain it.

  I had to get out of the house while I still had the opportunity. What about my family? Suddenly in that moment the electricity went out again. I moved slowly towards the front door when I began to hear something coming up behind me. I turned around as quickly as I could but was knocked to the ground. I landed on my shoulder that had popped out of the socket. I screamed as I struggled for my life. Thinking quickly I remembered that he, or whatever it was, had a limb missing, I was able to roll him off of me by pushing it off balance onto the side he could not support while on the ground.

  I opened the door and began running down the street. The pain in my arm felt much better, the fall in the struggle must have popped it back into the socket. As I ran down the street I could hear screaming coming from the houses in my neighborhood. But most importantly, my house. The screeching of tires could be heard as people frantically tried to escape their assailants in the night.

  I kept running but it seemed as if I would never reach a safe place. Everywhere I turned seemed to be worse than where I had come from. Eventually I arrived at checkpoints where survivors grouped together in hopes to stay safe. But they never seemed to last very long before the infected turned up. Many people would hide their wounds and get into the camps. The guards were inept and we would pay for it over and over again.

  After a month or so on the move, there were no more safe checkpoints to find shelter. We were on our own from that point on. The survivors that were still alive from the checkpoints, or those who were picked up along the way relied on each other to survive. But as each day went on there were less and less of us. Every time a survivor was infected they would hide it from everyone else. As if they would never change into one of them or a magic cure was right around the corner. Deep down I know they feared we would leave them behind or kill them. This always led to casualties within the group. Trust was always an issue. Eventually I was on my own, but at that point it didn’t matter; by losing everything I had become self sufficient.

  Chapter 6

  “So what kind of skills do you have?”

  The question posed again by Gregory rescued me from the shackles of my past memories and brought me back to the present. The horrors that I had been running from for so long had come back for its revenge. I looked up at Gregory and responded.

  “Not many skills past survival. That’s all I’ve needed to know up until now. But I’ll gladly do what I can to help the community.”

  Gregory shot me a smile as if this was the response he was waiting to hear. Hopefully it wou
ldn’t come back to haunt me.

  “I’m sure we can find something for you to do around here. After breakfast we’ll start you off with something small and you can work your way up from there.”

  I nodded my head to Gregory and continued eating my food, although my appetite had all but disappeared after my little flashback. I better eat while I can, who knows what they’ll be putting me through today. The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence. The townspeople seemed to have made it a point not to socialize with me. I finished my meal and walked out of the dining hall with Gregory and Dorian.

  “So where are we off to?” I asked.

  “We’ll just start off with something easy today. No need to rush. We’ll start slow with your jobs until we find something that suits you.” Dorian responded.

  As we began walking it seemed that they were taking me towards the front gate. What could we possibly do there? Maybe they were getting ready to kick me out of The Compound. As we approached the gate I could see a team of men assembled and waiting for our arrival. Gregory addressed the awaiting group of men.

  “Alright everyone listen up quickly. Barrett is going to be joining you for today’s work. So show him the ropes and everything will go smoothly.”

  Gregory turned around and began walking away with Dorian. I quickly ran over to ask exactly what I would be doing.

  “Hey Gregory, what exactly will I be doing with these guys today?”

  “Simple stuff, just doing a cleanup of corpses outside the gate after the skirmish we encountered the other day. The stench that these bodies leave is unbearable.”

  “Why don’t any of these guys have guns on them? What if we get attacked?”

  “Don’t worry, we do hourly perimeter checks. Everything has been cleared and deemed safe. If there are any stragglers around I’m sure you and the team can handle it with ease. Just don’t get lost in a day dream.”

  I walked back towards the gates and realized the team of men assembled had already gotten to work. I quickly rushed outside to help them. That was the first time I stepped outside the compound since my arrival days earlier. The men had already begun gathering and sorting loose limbs into piles. They were also collecting any shell casings that could be found on the ground. I suppose this is how they are able to stock such high numbers of munitions. They collect all of their casings and reload them for later. It’s completely obvious if you think of it. There would be no way to have such supplies otherwise.