Dead Man Walking

by Gary M. Chesla

  “The skin on this foot looks like whoever this foot belonged to had been dead for a long time before George found it,” Levi said.

  People from the other nearby tables were starting to come over to see what Levi was looking at.

  George struggled in Levi’s right hand, intent on getting his shoe back.

  “What is that?” a woman form the next table started to ask as she moved in for a closer look, then quickly backed away when she recognized what Levi was holding.

  A few of the men moved in closer.

  “Where the hell did that come from?”

  Before Levi could attempt an answer, the growing crowd around him turned when a scream was heard coming from somewhere near the bar.

  As the crowd started moving away from around him, Levi caught a glimpse of the bar.

  A man in a bloody blue uniform was coming out of the woods and staggered towards the bar.

  The man was dirty, so dirty in fact he looked like his skin was a dark gray color.

  From the sight of blood running from his mouth, a wound on his head, and from various parts of his shredded clothing, Levi thought he must have been involved in an auto accident.

  As the man staggered closer to the bar, Matt set down the drinks he had in his hands and slowly walked towards the man.

  Suddenly the man lunged at Matt.

  Matt was taken by surprise and thought the man was falling because he reached out his arms like he was going to catch the man to break his fall.

  The man grabbed Matt and pulled his face close to Matt’s neck.

  Suddenly the man opened his mouth and viciously began to tear at Matt’s neck and face.

  Blood began to spray into the air.

  Screams echoed throughout the dining area and off the trees that surrounded the romantic wedding venue.

  Levi pushed George into Jamie’s arms, “Hold George,” Levi said as he rushed towards the bar.

  He could hear Jamie gagging as he turned.

  When he got through the crowd that was beginning to panic and scatter in all directions, he saw Matt lying on his back. The man that had attacked Matt, was on top of him, his back was facing Levi.

  Levi started swearing as he ran towards the man, but stopped ten feet in front of him when the man turned his head to look at Levi.

  The man only had one eye, where his right eye had been, was now an empty bloody socket.

  As Levi’s gaze moved down the man’s face, Levi’s stomach dropped when he saw a large chuck of flesh hanging from the man’s mouth. Part of the hanging flesh was covered with short dark hair. As Levi glanced down at Matt, the right side of his beard covered face was gone.

  The right side of Matt’s neck had also been torn away as he laid motionless on the ground.

  It hit Levi hard, Matt was dead.

  The man on top of Matt began to crawl towards Levi and staggered into an upright position.

  Levi lost the desire to grab this guy and beat in his brains. From what Levi could see, someone had already done that and it had not done any good.

  Levi took two steps back, “There is something definitely wrong here,” he thought as he began to glance around the reception area.

  In his effort to get to Matt, he had missed what was happening all around him.

  Other staggering men in bloody blue clothing were coming into the reception area from the shadows of the surrounding woods.

  The tables were now all covered in blood.

  The wedding cake had been toppled and was lying on the floor in pieces.

  Bloody foot prints and drag marks covered the chucks of cake, grinding the cake into the ground.

  Bodies were strewn across the tables and on the ground.

  There now seemed to be more bloody staggering bodies than wedding guests and more of the gross invaders were coming out of the trees.

  Wedding guests in suits and long gowns were being attacked or were now running for their lives.

  The slow-motion images of horror that had been running past Levi’s eyes jumped back into real time as he was shocked back to reality when he felt blood spraying over the front of his suit.

  When he looked down, one of the bridesmaids was lying at his feet, being savagely torn apart.

  Levi quickly looked back towards Jamie and Lottie.

  He didn’t know how long it had been since he had left them undefended and on their own.

  Jamie, clutched George against her body as she huddled next to Lottie down behind the table where they had been sitting.

  Two bloody figures were staggering in behind them.

  Levi started shouting as he began to run.

  He knew they couldn’t hear him over all the screaming, shouting and sickening groans.

  He tried to move as fast as he could, but panic overtook him when he realized he would not reach his wife and daughter before the two figures reached them.

  Levi had closed the distance between him and his family to twenty feet when he saw a bloody hand grab Lottie’s arm and spin her around.

  Lottie stood frozen with fear as the gross creature snapped its teeth then pulled her arm closer to its mouth.

  Lottie screamed as the black teeth sunk into her shoulder.

  Levi grabbed a chair, raised it over his head and brought it down on top of the grisly man’s head.

  Levi pulled Lottie towards him as the man crumbled to the ground.

  Levi then quickly swung the chair a second time, knocking the second man to the ground.

  “What the hell is going on?” Jamie sobbed.

  “I don’t know,” Levi answered as he picked up a napkin off the table and pressed it against Lottie’s shoulder.

  “Hold this against your shoulder.”

  Lottie nodded and put her hand over the napkin.

  A look of anguish crossed her face as she put pressure against the wound.

  Levi stood up and looked around the outdoor dining area.

  “We have to get out of here,” Levi shouted.

  “Who are these people?” Jamie asked.

  “I don’t know and right now all I care about is getting us out of here, come on,” Levi shouted as he grabbed Jamie’s arm and started to pull her towards the back of the little arena.

  “Where is Matt?” Lottie asked.

  “We can’t help him now,” Levi replied as he continued to pull on Jamie.

  Lottie continued to stand and stare down towards the bar.

  “Where is Matt?” Lottie shouted again.

  “He isn’t here,” Levi lied, deciding now was not the time to explain what happened to Matt.

  If he and the girls didn’t get out of this mayhem, they would end up like most all the other wedding guests, dead and bloody.

  “Come on Lottie,” I’ll explain later,” Levi shouted as he reached back and grabbed Lottie’s good arm.

  Jamie hugged George tightly to her body as Levi guided her and Lottie to the upper exit.

  They had to stop three times so Levi could grab a chair to push a grisly staggering would be attackers out of their way, but they finally made it to the parking lot.

  The parking lot was quiet.

  Bloody drag marks marred the surface of the parking lot and the sidewalks that circled the covered amphitheater.

  The intruders had been here, but were now down in the reception area attacking the guests.

  Levi signaled the girls to be quiet and started to walk slowly towards the woods where they would find the start of the path that would take them back to their cabin.

  “What are we going to do?” Jamie whispered.

  “First, we are going to get back to our cabin, get my phone and call the police for help,” Levi replied.

  “What are you going to tell them?” Jamie whispered.

  “If I tell them what I saw, they will think I’m crazy,” he whispered, “I’ll figure that out when we get back to the cabin. If we can get back to the cabin.”

  Chapter 15

  Eric and Charlie walked into
the building and started down the hallway that led to the lab.

  “That wasn’t too bad,” Charlie said.

  “I appreciate your patience out there,” Eric replied. “I tried to make the demonstration as basic and simple as possible so they would understand and get the point I was trying to make.”

  “I sort of got the idea you were dumbing things down,” Charlie answered.

  “I was trying to give them something simple that they could use and not create a bigger mess than they have already made,” Eric said. “If they can find their search parties and neutralize them without getting any more of their men infected in the process, we just might get the time we need to resolve this problem.”

  “Hopefully the demonstration wasn’t a waste of time,” Charlie added as they neared the door to the lab.

  “Hopefully,” Eric said. “I had already determined that the cells were coordinating their activity and controlling the body by using the central nervous system in some of our other experiments. The crude demonstration in the parking lot only served to confirm what I had already determined. But the activities in the parking lot did manage to make me consider another possibility.”

  “What possibility would that be?” Charlie asked.

  Eric opened the door to the lab and stepped inside.

  He paused for a moment and looked in to the observation room and watched Ben continue to stagger around the room.

  Then Eric dropped into his chair as Charlie stood in front of him, looking down, waiting for Eric to continue.

  “As I watched the doctor and his assistant out there, it made me think about how our military operates and in turn how other country’s militaries operate,” Eric continued.

  “Sounds like a frustrating exercise,” Charlie grinned.

  Eric smiled, “Yes it was, but it also made me think. If this biological agent was created to destroy the living, what did the creators want to accomplish?”

  “With all the wackos in the Middle East,” Charlie replied, “they would probably want to kill all the infidels and be rewarded with sixty virgins.”

  “That’s what the lowly foot soldier would be told,” Eric replied, “But the big honchos would want to be around afterwards to reap the rewards of their actions. I don’t believe suicide was going to be part of the operation for them. They would expect to live. Besides, the writing on some of the canisters and the whole feel of this biological agent has Russia written all over it,” Eric said.

  “OK,” Charlie replied. “So, what are you saying?”

  Eric looked at Charlie, “Russian scientists are very intelligent and some of the best scientists I’ve ever seen. If not for their governmental bureaucracy and poor quality control, they could be leading the world in research and development. So, I asked myself as I watched our two friends out in the parking lot, if the Russians had developed this, what would they want?”

  “A bottle of vodka and two hookers?” Charlie laughed. “I apologize if your ancestors were Russian, I meant no offense.”

  Eric laughed, “My ancestors were Russian and you are pretty accurate in what they wanted. But the key is that they would expect to be around and get something out of it. World domination, eliminate an adversary, who knows, but they would expect to be alive after the infection had spread and killed every one.”

  “So, you feel that the Russians have the antidote?’ Charlie replied. “So how do we get it from the Russians? I don’t believe they would want to share that information.”

  “I don’t believe we have to get it from the Russians,” Eric smiled. “I believe they may have already given it to us.”

  Charlie looked at Eric.

  “Where?” he asked looking confused.

  “I might be way off target with this,” Eric said, “But I think it is worth considering. Would you and Dave bring the remains of Robert’s body into observation room number one? I want to try something, then I’ll explain my thinking.”

  Charlie nodded, stood and left the room.

  Eric gathered his equipment and put on the sterile outfit he used when he experimented with infectious materials.

  As he finished getting into his outfit, he saw Dave and Charlie carry a body bag into observation room number one.

  They placed the body bag on a cot, then Charlie unzipped the bag and let the flaps drop down alongside the cot.

  Charlie lifted the body while Dave slide the body bag out from under Robert’s body.

  Charlie then placed the body bag in the secure disposal container.

  Eric picked up the mic for the intercom and pressed the transmit button and spoke.

  “Charlie, would you please sever Robert’s right foot about six inches above the ankle and place it on the electronic microscope platform?”

  Charlie’s hooded head raised up to face the two-way mirror,” Will do.” Charlie’s replied as his gloved hand moved to eye level and gave the OK signal.

  Eric watched as Charlie took a hacksaw from the cabinet and walked back to Robert’s body.

  Two minutes later, Charlie lifted the severed foot and carried it over to electronic microscope platform.

  He switched on the machine and the large thirty inch LED screen sprang to life on the wall above the platform.

  Charlie adjusted the screen, then walked over to the wall and hit the intercom, “Everything is ready, even though I don’t know what it’s ready for.”

  “Be right there,” Eric replied then added, “Thanks.”

  Eric picked up a vial and a clean syringe, then left the lab.

  Charlie watched curiously as Eric walked over to the microscope and began adjusting the controls.

  The microscope zoomed in to the point the individual cells began to become visible on the monitor.

  “The cells are still alive and mutating,” Eric said.

  His voice was muffled as he spoke through his mask, but Charlie was still able to understand what was said.

  Charlie nodded.

  Eric next picked up the syringe and the vial containing a red label. He inserted the needle and pulled back on the top until the syringe was filled with the liquid.

  “Is that?” Charlie started to ask.

  “Yes,” Eric replied before Charlie could finish asking his question.

  Eric injected the liquid into the severed foot, then looked at Charlie.

  “Let’s go get decontaminated and changed and I’ll explain when we get back to the lab.”

  After they had changed, they met back in the lab.

  Eric was already in the lab, studying the monitor when Charlie came in.

  Charlie was going to ask Eric a question when he entered the lab, but decided to first look at what Eric was so intently studying.

  When Charlie got next to Eric, he looked at the monitor on Eric’s computer which showed what was on the screen of the electronic microscope containing the severed foot.

  Charlie looked at the screen, then did a double take.

  “Are those the cells in the severed foot?”

  “They are,” Eric grinned.

  “They’re dead!” Charlie exclaimed, “The biological agent did this, what gave you the idea to use the biological agent that caused the infection to kill the infection that it caused?”

  Eric sat down in his chair and leaned back.

  “Dealing with our military friends started me thinking,” Eric said. “All our talk about how the infected cells were mutating every twenty-four hours. At first I considered the mutations as an intentional change to make it difficult for anyone to be able to find a way to defeat the agent until it had completed its intended purpose.

  Then after dealing with the doctor and Cooper, thinking about how it was important to keep things simple and not too complicated so they could understand and then be able use the information we gave them, another idea came to me.

  I began to think that if the mutation made it almost impossible for an adversary to breakdown the code and develop something to destroy it, the continuous mutati
ons would also make it difficult for the people that developed the biological agent to develop an antidote that would work. An antidote would only be able to be developed for one specific mutation. They would have to wait until the agent had mutated to that one specific mutation before they would be able to stop it.”

  “That makes sense,” Charlie said as he listened and thought about what Eric was saying.

  “The problem with that thought was that it was too complicated. Would you want to risk your life on Cooper’s ability to administer the antidote at just the right time to stop the infection from spreading any further?” Eric grinned. “If he missed the short window of opportunity, then it would be game over. I believe Russian scientists are much too intelligent to take that risky chance. I believe they would have made the solution simple and then hid the solution in plain sight so to speak. It would be where it could be used where even the most incompetent person couldn’t screw it up.”

  “But all the mutations?” Charlie said, “What about all the changes caused by the constant mutations?”

  “The mutations made analyzing the agent too complicated,” Eric replied, “Focusing on the mutations took all my time and I wasn’t able to do anything else. Dealing with our military friends reminded me not to make things too complicated. Then it hit me, what if the mutations had another purpose.”

  “A distraction?” Charlie exclaimed.

  “Yes,” Eric replied, “Besides making it difficult to defeat the agent, what if the purpose of the mutations were to make the cells vulnerable to the original biological agent. All the mutations or changes to the cells, after the infection took hold would leave the cells vulnerable to the original biological agent. It would be simple after the first mutation to stop the infection.

  We were so busy trying to make sense of the mutations, we didn’t see the solution was right in front of us.

  It would be so obvious that most people would overlook it.