Dead Man Walking

by Gary M. Chesla

  Levi ended the call and looked at Jamie, “I got his voice mail.”

  “Shit,” Jamie said as she shifted George from her right hand to her left arm. “Try 911 again.”

  Levi called, but received the same recorded message.

  “Nothing, same recording,” he replied as he punched in another number.

  “Brad, this is Levi, give me a call when you get this message,” Levi said and began entering another number.

  A moment later he said, “Jimmy, this is Levi, give me a call.”

  “No one is answering, I’m either getting a recording or it’s going straight to voice mail,” Levi said after clicking off his phone.

  “Call our neighbor back home,” Jamie said. “Maybe they can call the State Police for us.”

  “Good idea,” Levi said as he picked up his phone again and began dialing.

  “The number you have dialed cannot be reached at this time. All circuits are busy, please try your call again later.”

  “Nothing will go through. I guess we were lucky to reach Logan, Brad and Jimmie’s voice mail,” Levi sighed. “Hopefully one of them will get our message and call us back.”

  “Maybe Lottie’s phone can get through?” Jamie said beginning to look desperate.

  Jamie turned to Lottie, “Lottie try calling 911 and see if your phone will get through.”

  Lottie didn’t answer.

  Levi and Jamie turned to look at Lottie.

  Lottie was passed out on the stuffed chair across the room.

  “She’s beat,” Levi said.

  “How can she sleep after what we’ve been through?” Jamie said. “Well, let her sleep, but get her phone, it should be in her jacket pocket.”

  Levi walked over to Lottie and gently pulled her jacket open slowly.

  As he opened Lottie’s jacket, he noticed that her blouse and hair were soaked.

  Levi put his hand on her forehead.

  “Lottie is burning up,” Levi said. “Her hair and clothes are drenched in a cold sweat. Her head and face are hot as hell.”

  Jamie got up and walked over to Lottie and touched her face.

  “You’re right. She is burning up,” Jamie said then she looked at Lottie’s blood soaked shoulder. “I wonder if it has anything to do with where that bastard bit her?”

  “I don’t know,” Levi replied with a worried look on his face. “But from what I saw, those people that attacked us looked to be out of their minds. The guy that killed Matt was missing an eye and….”

  “Matt is dead?” Jamie shrieked and looked horrified. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

  “I knew it would upset Lottie and there wasn’t anything we could do for him,” Levi replied softly. “I just wanted to get us out of there.”

  “What happened to Matt?” Jamie asked.

  The image of Matt, lying on the ground with his throat and half of his face torn away. His blood-soaked body and then the one-eyed monster that was chewing on Matt’s flesh.

  “I didn’t see it happen. He was dead when I got up to the bar,” Levi replied. He didn’t want to tell Jamie what he had seen. She was scared enough and it wouldn’t take much to make her panic.

  Levi felt in Lottie’s jacket until he found her phone.

  He pulled out the phone and handed it to Jamie, “Here you see if you can reach anyone on Lottie’s phone while I carry her in to the spare bed and put some blankets over her.”

  Jamie reached out and took the phone.

  “Ok, take her jacket off so she isn’t lying there all wet,” Jamie said. “I’ll put a cool washcloth on her forehead in a bit and be careful you don’t hurt your back again.”

  Jamie heard Levi groan as she started to dial 911.

  Ten minutes later Levi came out of the spare bedroom. He walked over to the door, pulled back the curtain, looked outside and listened to see if there was anyone outside the cabin.

  “Any luck?” Levi asked as he came back over and sat down on the couch next to Jamie.

  “No,” she replied, “All I could get was that recording about all circuits being busy. I couldn’t even get Logan’s or Brad’s voice mail. What are we going to do?”

  “I think I am going to walk up to the office or one of the other cabins and see if I can find someone to help,” Levi replied. “I would drive the car but I don’t want the lights to attract any attention until I know what is going on.”

  Jamie looked horrified, “You’re not leaving me here by myself!”

  “We can’t leave Lottie here by herself in her condition,” Levi answered. “It will only take me a few minutes and you have Buddy and George here to protect you.”

  “Right, Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hide behind the couch,” Jamie replied.

  Jamie looked down and for the first time she realized she was holding George.

  “Where did he come from?” Jamie asked holding out George and pushing him into Levi’s arms.

  “You carried him the entire way back from the amphitheater,” Levi replied.

  “The last hour has been a blur, I think I’ve been in shock,” Jamie said. “The last thing I remember about George was him running under our table and then something about him killing someone. And now you want to leave me alone in the house with him. I don’t think so.”

  “He didn’t kill anyone,” Levi replied but decided he didn’t want to talk anymore about people getting killed.

  “Maybe not, but whatever is going on, I’m sure he had something to do with it,” Jamie said and then buried her face in her hands and dropped down on the couch.

  “Look, we have to get ahold of someone,” Levi said. “Honest, it will only take me a few minutes. I’ll come right back. Just keep the doors locked until you hear me at the door.”

  “I’m scared,” Jamie said.

  “I’m scared too, but we can’t just sit here and wait for something to happen,” Levi replied. “The office is only a few hundred yards away through the woods. We’ll feel a lot better once we find some help.”

  “What do I do if one of those sickos comes around the cabin?” Jamie sobbed.

  “Just stay quiet and keep the curtains closed. You’ll be OK until I get back,” Levi said trying to get Jamie to relax. “Take George, Buddy and the candle and go sit with Lottie. It will only take me ten minutes max.”

  “Can’t we lock him in the bathroom?” Jamie said and pointed at George.

  “George will make too much noise if we lock him in the bathroom. We need him to be quiet,” Levi replied. “Just hold him. George is always quiet and on his best behavior when someone is holding him. It will only be for a few minutes.”

  Jamie looked unsure and terrified.

  “How will I know it’s you when you come back?” Jamie asked, her voice shaking.

  “I’ll knock and say that it is me,” Levi smiled, trying to reassure Jamie. “Better yet, I’ll take the key. When I come back I’ll open the door and call out that it’s me.”

  “Will you go into Lottie’s room with me before you leave?” Jamie asked.

  Levi nodded and went over to the fireplace and picked up the candle.

  “Buddy come,” Levi said then walked towards Lottie’s room with Jamie and Buddy right behind him.

  When they entered the room, Jamie went over and felt Lottie’s forehead.

  “I think her fever broke,” Jamie said looking back at Levi, “she almost feels cold now.”

  “That’s good,” Levi said. “I was worried about her. Just keep an eye on her. I’ll be right back.”

  Levi handed George to Jamie then left the room before Jamie started to panic and changed her mind about him leaving the cabin.

  He didn’t like the idea of leaving her and Lottie alone after what he had seen, but he didn’t think he had much choice.

  What had happened over at the reception was unbelievable. He was happy that Jamie and Lottie hadn’t been able to see from the table what he had seen.

  Levi wasn’t sure what he had seen, or at lea
st didn’t want to believe that he had seen what he did.

  If he had really seen what he thought he saw, they would need more than the police to help them.

  But he didn’t know how else to explain it.

  Levi had seen his share of horror movies over the years.

  Those movies he knew weren’t real, but what he saw tonight had been a scene out of one of those horror movies and from the blood that covered the front of his suit, he knew at least the blood was real.

  Levi walked out onto the porch, closing the door behind him and then locked the door.

  Whatever the hell was going on, he needed to find help.

  He waited a minute for his eyes to adjust to the darkness that had descended over Lake Arrowhead.

  Chills ran down his spine as he stood in the darkness.

  He could feel the dampness in the cool air as it moved by the cabin.

  Levi looked out into the darkness. He couldn’t see any light coming from the direction where he thought the next cabin should be.

  He moved off the porch slowly, feeling with his feet before fully committing to the next step.

  The gravel crunching under his feet sounded like fireworks going off in his ears, making him feel nervous and exposed in the darkness.

  Levi began to imagine he was seeing movement in the dark shadows, but after stopping and listening, he moved on again.

  He decided to quicken his pace and just go straight over to the office and forget about checking the cabins. It was too dark to walk through the woods without a flashlight and using a flashlight was out of the question.

  He followed the gravel road through the trees, as he worked his way out towards the main road.

  When the sound of gravel crunching under his feet changed to the solid feel of pavement, Levi knew he had found the main road.

  After a few steps on the pavement, he caught a glimpse of light up ahead where he knew the office was located.

  It was unusual to not see any street lights.

  As Levi approached the office, he stopped and held still when he saw two figures moving in the beams of light coming from the office.

  Their dark shapes, backlit by the light from the office, were moving awkwardly away from the office.

  He froze and stood motionless as he watched and listened.

  He had seen that jerky motion earlier tonight at the reception.

  Levi waited until the two figures staggered off into the darkness before he started to move again.

  The light coming from the office was not very bright.

  With as dark as it was in every direction he looked, Levi assumed that the power must be out.

  The office must have had an emergency generator or some sort of battery backup system and the low light coming from the office was the emergency lights that came on when the power cut out.

  Levi listened as he crept towards the office.

  He couldn’t hear anything, not even the normal chirping of crickets or the hooting sounds of owls that usually filled the woods at night. The sounds that he had heard when he took Buddy outside for his bathroom break before turning in last night.

  Levi moved towards the office so he was in position to see through the large windows on the front of the building.

  He wanted to run into the office, but after today’s nightmare and the two figures he saw a moment ago, he wasn’t going to go inside until he knew what or who would be waiting for him inside.

  As he moved closer, the first thing he noticed was the red glow coming from splatter that covered the window.

  The door was hanging open, so he moved further past the building, trying to find the right angle to see in through the door.

  Before he could get into position to see inside, a dark shape appeared at the door and awkwardly walked outside.

  The figure seemed to be holding someone’s detached arm, but Levi couldn’t see well from where he was to be sure that was what he had seen. But he didn’t try to convince himself that he was imagining things. He had seen much worse tonight. Better the figure be carrying an arm than someone’s head, but at this point even that would not have surprised him.

  He waited for five minutes after the figure in the doorway had disappeared into the woods across the road. When he could no longer hear the shuffling of leaves coming from the woods, Levi moved closer to the office.

  When he was finally able to see through the open door, he knew it was time to go back to the cabin.

  There were two bodies lying on the floor. There could have been more than two bodies, he couldn’t tell for sure.

  But he knew the number of bodies didn’t matter at this point. Whether there were twenty bodies or just one, the scene told him all he needed to know.

  He needed to get Jamie and Lottie, take the car and get the hell out of this place.

  If he could, he would try to contact Logan, but if not, he had to get somewhere safe and find help.

  If everyone around here wasn’t dead already, they would all be dead soon.

  He had seen enough blood and gore tonight. He would do something to stop all of it, if he could, but he had no idea what to do. He wasn’t superman, at least not anymore.

  He was getting too old to think he could imitate Jason Bourne, his favorite action hero. Even Jason Bourne wouldn’t have fared well at the reception tonight.

  It was best for Levi to just use his head and do what he could to save his family.

  Levi retraced his steps to get back to the cabin.

  He had told Jamie he would only be ten minutes. He looked at his watch and knew she would be hysterical by now.

  He had been gone for almost an hour.

  He tried to pick up his pace, but in the dark he knew it wasn’t wise to get careless.

  Finally, Levi could see the faint dark shape of the cabin against the dark backdrop of the trees as the stars began to cast a glow over the night sky.

  As he approached the porch, he heard a blood chilling scream coming from inside the cabin.

  The scream was followed by the sounds of George and Buddy barking frantically.

  Levi reached in his pocket and started desperately searching for the key to the cabin.

  Then he heard the forest around him begin to come to life.

  It wasn’t the normal sounds of crickets or owls. It was the sound of eerie moaning.

  Moaning that was getting closer by the minute.

  Levi ran up on the porch as another scream sounded from somewhere inside the cabin.

  He jammed the key into the lock on the cabin door.

  Chapter 18

  Eric sat, staring into the lens of his microscope.

  He had been examining the dead cells from Robert’s severed foot for the last two hours.

  When the agent was alive and active, it had resisted all his efforts to break down the cells to examine the agent and the changes.

  Now that they had managed to kill the cells by injecting the original biological agent into the cells that had mutated, he was now able to make some progress getting inside the core of the dead cells.

  “This biological agent is like a damn time release capsule,” Eric said as he sat back and looked at Charlie. “It is amazing how this was constructed. It appears that there are maybe ten modules in the core. It seems that they lay dormant for a specified time. Each appears to have their own internal clock that triggers the next mutation. My examinations have shown the older the mutated cell, the fewer of these modules that remain in the cells.”

  “So there appears to be a limited number of mutations programed into the biological agent’s structure?” Charlie asked.

  “It seems so,” Eric replied.

  “There are approximately ten modules that each triggers a different mutation, each mutation twenty-four hours apart,” Charlie said as he thought, “What happens after the last module has executed its instructions. Could the last module be the self-destruct mechanism we had discussed earlier?”

  “It is possible,” Eric said. �
�Maybe the creator’s felt that the biological agent would be able to accomplish the intended results with in that ten-day period. A failsafe built into the agent to insure it didn’t get out of control. A secondary means to insure the creators would be able to survive the effects of the agent. If we manage to live through all of this, I would like to recreate this architecture for use with cancer treatments.

  On the other hand, maybe the agent’s creator felt that ten mutations would be enough to insure the agent survived any attempts to neutralize it before it had completed its mission.”

  “Ben should go through the final mutation in another seven days. We should know the reason for ten programmed mutations at that time,” Charlie said. “Where you able to differentiate between the modules to determine if the last module is substantially different form all of the others?”

  “No, the coding is extremely complex,” Eric replied. “It will take months to make any progress in that area. I feel fortunate to have been able to get past the agent’s external shields to identify some of the internal pieces. To fully map its design could take years. This biological agent wasn’t created by a guy living in a tent out in the desert. This would have taken a decade in a fully equipped lab operated by a highly-educated scientist to create what we have here.”

  “More evidence to point to the Russian scientists,” Charlie said.

  “It seems to point in their direction,” Eric replied as he flipped the switch on his computer. The monitor switched to the camera in holding cell number one. An older man, bald, stocky build and a large scare running across his cheek, wearing a white jump suit was sitting on a cot.

  The man appeared to be experiencing some discomfort.

  His skin coloring was starting to become pale and the collar of the jumpsuit was dark with sweat.

  “What can you tell me about Mr. Evans?”

  “Not much,” Charlie replied. “I tried not to talk much with him. After my experience with our last subjects, I felt it was better not to become too familiar with him. You know, in case the experiment doesn’t go as expected.”