Dead Man Walking

by Gary M. Chesla

  “The first subject took an hour to turn into what you see,” Eric replied. “These men, the one on the left took about forty minutes, the man on the right about twenty-five minutes. The man on the right changed after the subject on the left attacked him and ripped out his throat.”

  “How is he still living after having his throat torn out?” Cooper stuttered.

  “He isn’t alive,” Eric replied, “at least not alive as we know it. There is no heartbeat, no blood pressure and no respiration. As far as brain activity, there is an occasional electrical surge, but no pattern that we can establish. The agent is absorbed by the body’s cells and mutates into something we haven’t been able to fully understand. It is as if each cell has become a living entity of its own, working together somehow to control the body and fulfill the agent’s objective to spread itself to living humans.”

  “I’ve read your report,” Davis said, “They spread the infection by biting a living being, transferring the agent from themselves to the victim.”

  “Yes, if you went in the room with our subjects, they would become agitated and attempt to bite you,” Eric replied, “but I am sure if you were to get their blood into an open wound or swallow any of it, you would quickly become infected in that manner also. I believe this is what has happened to the men that were assigned to transfer Joe Reynolds.”

  Davis nodded, “I saw where you had called to report that one of the men had been bitten on the shoulder.”

  “I believe when your search party went out to find your men, they found that they had been infected,” Eric stated. “As you can see, their appearance is enough to make anyone hesitate and become confused as what to do. The infected can move faster than their jerky motions would suggest. Also, if your men tried to capture and return their infected friends to the base, you can understand what may have happened next.

  There was also an event we had not anticipated. When the first subject tore out the throat of the subject on the right, the second subject died in minutes. Twenty minutes later the agent had reanimated the subject. So, if any of the men in the search party had been infected shortly before they were killed, they would still become part of the chain that would continue to spread the infection.”

  “I understand what you are saying, but seeing this is unbelievable,” Davis said. “My job is to prepare the next search party for what they are going to see and then what to do about it. Do you recommend trying to capture the infected and return them to the base, or to kill them?”

  “Capture is extremely dangerous, as you can imagine,” Eric replied, “As far as killing them, we haven’t done much testing in that area. Our experiments haven’t shown any way to neutralize the individual cells. Each cell seems to have a life of its own. Killing a human infected with the agent may not be as simple as it sounds. Charlie rammed a broomstick through the first subject we had when it tried to attack me. It had no effect on the subject. Without any heartbeat, no respiration, a stake through the heart, they still continued moving, striving to attack any living thing close to them. We haven’t done any experiments to this point to determine what, if any part of the body, if damaged would stop them.

  In either case, if any of your men become infected, in one form or another, they need to be removed from possible contact with the general population. If they spread the infection to the general population, it is my opinion that it will begin to spin out of control in a matter of a few hours. Whatever you do, I believe it needs to be done quickly.”

  “I agree,” Davis said. “The military wants to focus on something simple and fast. With your assistance, we would like to take one of your subjects out to the parking lot and give specialist Cooper an opportunity to determine what level of force is required to neutralize the subject quickly and efficiently.”

  “Then you will leave us to continue our work?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes,” Davis replied.

  “Until the military need something else,” Eric sighed. “Charlie, you and Doctor Davis suit up and take Robert or Ben outside. Let’s get this over with.”

  Davis looked at Eric, “I can understand your reservations. This is not very scientific or professional, but I hope you understand it is necessary. If we don’t act fast, it may too late for a more scientific solution.”

  “I believe I understand all too well what is at stake,” Eric replied. “If your superiors would have just left us do our job and hadn’t insisted on trying to take our test subject to your base, this would all be unnecessary. It has wasted time and has possibly put all of us, maybe even the entire country in a perilous position.”

  Davis nodded, “I agree. Not to use it as an excuse, but we just take orders. However, unfortunately, it is now our job to fix this. Whatever you can do to help me will be greatly appreciated by me. Neither of us can expect a pat on the back from anyone else.”

  Cooper was instructed to wait outside while the test subject was removed from the observation room.

  Mainly Charlie was concerned Cooper would get in the way and could end up getting infected with the biological agent, as his thoughts drifted back to the first two men the Air Force had sent to the lab.

  Davis was given the job of opening and closing the door to the observation room.

  Charlie listened at the door, holding the pole with the rope loop on the end, as he waited for Eric’s instructions to go in to the room.

  The two men waited in the hallway nervously.

  Eric watched through the window in his lab.

  He watched as Ben and Robert staggered around inside the observation room.

  When Ben was on the far side of the room, Eric waited for Robert to stagger near the door.

  “Now!” Eric shouted through the doorway.

  When Davis heard Eric’s voice echo down the hallway, he yanked the door open and stepped back behind the door as Charlie had instructed.

  “Get behind the door and keep your arms and legs protected behind the door,” Charlie had instructed, “and don’t move until I yell for you to close the door. When you hear me yell, slam the damn door as hard and as fast as you can! I don’t care if there is an arm sticking out through the door, get that door closed any way you can.”

  Charlie started for the open door, but was met by Robert before he could go into the room.

  Charlie pushed at Robert with the pole to gain some maneuvering room before he could slip the rope around Robert’s neck.

  By the time Charlie had the rope on Robert, Ben was behind Robert with his arms reaching past Robert trying to grab onto Charlie.

  Charlie pushed Robert back into Ben, then dragged Robert out through the door way.

  Robert was pushing towards Charlie, so Charlie didn’t have to pull. He just tried to guide Robert’s momentum out of the room and into the hall.

  Robert’s momentum however, pushed Charlie crashing into the wall, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor.

  On his way to the floor, Charlie screamed at the top of his voice, “Close the door, now!”

  Davis leaned his body into the door and pushed.

  It was almost closed but stopped short.

  Davis looked startled when the door didn’t close and for a moment didn’t know what the problem was.

  He glanced down on the floor to see Charlie struggling to control a moaning dark gray skinned creature whose arms were flailing wildly trying to grab anything within reach.

  What disturbed Davis the most were the white eyes that were locked onto Charlie and the clacking sound the snapping teeth made as they inched closer to Charlie’s feet.

  Charlie couldn’t get any traction on the floor because of all the dark red slime that now seemed to cover half of the floor in the hallway.

  Davis snapped out of his trance when he heard Eric’s voice shouting, “Davis, shut the door.”

  Davis’s gaze moved from Charlie and the bloody floor, up to the edge of the door, where he saw four fingers caught between the door and the frame.

  Da
vis stared at the fingers. They had a dark gray shiny skin stretched tightly over bone. The fingernails were almost black. The fingers reminded him of how his grandfather’s fingers had looked when he went to visit him last year.

  His grandfather didn’t answer the door, so Miles just went inside, calling his grandfather’s name as he entered the old house.

  The first thing Miles noticed was the smell. It was a smell that he knew well, living next to the highway out in the countryside. Deer, groundhogs and raccoons were always getting hit by cars speeding down the highway.

  He never liked the smell, but the smell of days old roadkill on a hot summer day was something he had become used to.

  When he smelled that familiar odor as he entered his grandfather’s house, his heart sank. His grandfather was old and they all knew he didn’t have much time left, but Miles hadn’t expected today to be that day.

  As Miles slowly moved through the house, he spotted his grandfather’s hands on the floor, reaching out from the half open bathroom door, into the hallway.

  The shiny dark gray hands with black fingernails and that horrible smell.

  “Davis,” Eric shouted again, “Get the damn door closed and help Charlie. I can’t get close enough from here to help Charlie. You have to help him.”

  Davis looked at the fingers moving, trying to grab the door, ”There are fingers jammed in between the door and the door frame. It won’t close!”

  “Push harder,” Eric yelled. “Throw your body against the door.”

  Davis fought the urge to let the door open a little so the person inside could pull their fingers away from the door.

  Instead he rammed his shoulder against the door, then again and again, until he felt the door finally slide closed and the latch click into place.

  Davis then quickly turned the knobs on the dead bolt locks like Charlie had told him to do before, then looked down at Charlie.

  The creature was using both hands, trying to pull its body along the pole to get closer to Charlie.

  With the hood of the Hazmat suit on, Davis couldn’t see Charlie’s face, but by his body language, Davis could tell Charlie was almost exhausted.

  Miles bent down and jerked the pole away from Charlie and dragged and pushed until he had Robert pinned against the wall.

  Charlie slowly stumbled to his feet. He moved over next to Davis and grabbed onto the pole to help Davis, “Thanks, I couldn’t get up off that bloody floor. I was running out of energy.”

  “God, it smells like roadkill in here,” Davis said.

  “It smells a lot worse when you’re not wearing a hood over your head,” Charlie replied, breathing hard.

  “Rest time is over, lets get our subject outside,” Eric said.

  Davis steeled his grip on the pole. Then looked down at the floor in front of the door.

  Four fingers were on the floor.

  Davis swore he saw the fingers move as he turned to help Charlie wrangle the frantic struggling wild animal down the hallway towards the door to the parking lot.

  Eric stepped out of the building, wearing a surgical mask over his mouth and nose.

  He handed a mask to Cooper, who was staring at Robert as he moaned and struggled to get at first Charlie then at Davis.

  “Here, put this on, you don’t want to breathe in any blood or bits of flesh,” Eric said.

  Cooper took the mask and slipped it over his nose, not taking his eyes off the grisly scene taking place in front of him.

  Eric then walked over and stood behind Davis.

  “I have a suggestion,” Eric said. “Instead of having your man just start blasting away at the subject, I recommend we approach this in a manner that both of us can obtain some useful information.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Davis asked as he warily watched Roberts arms grabbing the air in front of him.

  “I suggest we approach this in a systematic order,” Eric replied. “We could turn the subject loose and then have your man shoot him in the leg. That should make him less mobile and we would have an opportunity to observe how this affects the subject. Then we could work our way to different body parts and observe the effects with each step.”

  “Won’t that hurt and be inhuman?” Cooper asked.

  “The subject won’t feel a thing,” Eric replied. “By any medical definition, he is dead, or at least not alive in any way that we can understand. You need to know how to stop an infected being and I need to understand what role the different parts of an infected body play in relation to the whole organism. This way we both gain some information and I don’t waste an opportunity to learn something from this subject before he is destroyed.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Davis answered. “I agree we should take every opportunity to learn as much about these things as we can. This is a God damn nightmare.”

  Eric looked at Cooper, “When they let the subject loose, shoot him in the knee cap.”

  Cooper raised the rifle to his face and lined the sight on the gun barrel up with the creature’s leg, “Yes Sir.”

  “Let Charlie and I get out of the way before you start shooting. OK Coop?” Davis asked.

  Cooper nervously nodded without taking his eyes off the flailing monstrosity.

  Davis looked at Charlie, “On three we run backwards until Cooper shoots this bastard.”

  Charlie nodded and Davis started to count out loud.

  On three, Charlie and Davis released the pole and jogged backwards.

  Robert now had his eyes fixed on Cooper and began to stagger towards him.

  Cooper’s eyes grew wide as he started to shoot at the grisly figure that was moving menacingly towards him.

  It took three shots from the nervous soldier before the third shot hit Robert’s knee, spinning him around, causing Robert to fall to the pavement in the parking lot.

  “Sorry it took me three shots,” Cooper said as he lowered the rifle and looked at Davis. “It was really creepy watching that thing coming towards me. My stomach felt like it was tied in a knot and ants were crawling up my back.”

  Eric looked at Davis, “If the search party found your men in the same infected condition as our subject, besides not wanting to shoot one of their own, seeing this sight would also have made them hesitate. It wouldn’t take much.”

  “I agree,” Davis replied. “My first instruction to the next group is shoot first then ask questions.”

  “Talk about shooting,” Eric said, “Cooper, you better take a few steps back this way.”

  Cooper looked down and shouted out, “God damn,” as he jumped back. “How did he do that?”

  Everyone looked down to see Robert pulling his body along on the ground with his arms and pushing with his one good leg.

  There wasn’t any sign of pain or discomfort on Robert’s face. Only a look of hate as his white eyes continued to focus on Cooper. Robert’s teeth continued to snap open and closed, making a loud clacking sound.

  “Unbelievable!” Davis exclaimed. “The leg is still trying to move but can’t do anything with the leg bone broken. Even with a shattered bone, there is no sign of pain.”

  “If I may?” Eric looked at Davis.

  “Please continue,” Davis replied.

  “Cooper, please shoot the subject’s other leg,” Eric instructed.

  This time Cooper hit his mark on the first shot.

  “The muscles in the legs are still moving but they are unable to help move the body without the bone for support. The subject is still pulling himself along with his arms,” Eric said then added. “I wonder? Cooper, shoot the subject in the heart but do not hit the spine.”

  Cooper nodded, raised the rifle and shot the crawling body in the chest below the raised head with the glaring eyes that were locked onto Cooper.

  The front part of the chest exploded, tearing away the bone and ribs on the left side of the chest.

  The heart flopped out of the opening and was dragged along as Robert continued to crawl towards Cooper, attached by
what must have been a large artery.

  “Amazing,” Davis uttered. “What is keeping it going?”

  “I’ve had a feeling since I observed the first slides of how the biological agent was absorbed into the cells of human tissue. It appeared to me at the time as if each cell was a living entity by itself. In other words, each cell is capable of completing the agents goal on its own without the rest of the body. In other words, if you ingested an infected cell, it would infect and take over your entire body. What has been nagging at the back of my mind is how do the cells manage to work together to use the body? The body appears dead, or is dead, but still manages to move and pursue its objective. To do that, they have to communicate somehow,” Eric said. “As you can see, there is not any evidence that any of the body’s organs play an important role any longer. I’m not convinced that those glassy milk colored eyes can see anything. I haven’t managed to accumulate any data to support my feeling, but I believe the body somehow senses us rather than seeing or smelling us.”

  “Do you want Cooper to poke its eyes out?” Davis asked.

  “That is gross, Doc,” Cooper said cringing as he spoke the words.

  “No, I have something else I would rather test,” Eric said. “Cooper, shoot the subject at the base of the neck. Be careful not to hit the skull.”

  “OK,” Cooper replied. “I feel like a damn Nazi, torturing some poor bastard to make him talk. I feel like I want to vomit.”

  “Just do it Coop,” Davis said, “then you can toss your cookies if you want.”