Contaminated: A Zombie Survival Novel (15 page)

Selena fidgeted with the ripped part of a pocket and switched her weight from foot to foot. Frank noticed her heels and downgraded her threat to about a four. People in their line of work regardless of gender wore appropriate footwear. The only reason he kept her as high as a four was she might want to appear defenseless, and he tended to have terrible taste in women, hence his not dating them.

Her eyes cleared and she spoke, “Anyway, I saw the whole situation deteriorating fast, so I locked myself in the storage shed. Then the screams turned to moans. The ceiling above me started to melt and crack, so I pulled all the shelving that I could find over me. I figured the rescue team was on its way and here you are,” she finished with a smile.

Frank had so many questions, but too little time to ask everything, so he started with the obvious. “Why were you wearing a gas mask and not the others?”

“Oh, Mary was wearing one too. I assume the bite infected her. We had them on because of allergies to be honest. We were filling in for two people who called in sick today. Normally, we’re down in the med lab helping out, but Dr. Watkins said something went wrong and we needed to come up here,” Selena said with a sincere smile.

Frank wanted to believe her, but she knew the code and they didn’t, even though that was Frank’s fault. She would have known they weren’t the rescue crew based on that alone – if she was the suspicious type. The name Watkins rang a bell. If he remembered right, he was the guy testing on people. More questions for a later time. For now, they needed to move forward.

“I can leave you here or you can come with us, but I’m warning you, don’t slow me down, don’t get in my way, and do exactly what I say. And please tell me you know how to use a gun.” Frank looked at her with a raised brow.

“Come on, boss, we’ll take her with us for some fun,” Carson snickered.

Lightfoot punched him and returned to his ready stance.

Carson glared at him. “I’ll get you for that, prick.”

Lightfoot laughed. “Right, in your dreams, junkie”

“Alright boys, we have work to do and limited time to do it. Selena, those things you saw are all over the place. I have no idea what they are, but I think you’ll be safe here,” Frank explained.

Selena scrunched up her face. “That doesn’t make sense. If you keep going down, how are we going to get out?”

“I’m hoping to figure that out after we reach our target. Now let’s go. Selena, it’s your call if you come or not, either way you’re going to need this.” He handed her an M4 and made sure to switch it to a three round burst. “Make sure you don’t freak out and unload all your ammo in one go, and try to aim for the head,” Frank warned.

Selena laughed. “Right, stay calm when someone you’ve known for years vomits blood and then tries to eat you, got it.”

Frank quirked a grin at her and shook his head. At least she had a sense of humor about the whole thing. He walked to the end of the room and entered the stairwell. Level 5 was next and he sighed in relief, an office floor. Rows and rows of cubicles, full of scientists and their assistants, papers and computers, but that was okay, the security measure would be helpful for a change.

***

Marshall watched his screens show him the progress of his plan. So far, things hadn’t gone as smooth as hoped, but his people were prepared for the unexpected, and he’d helped as much as he could. The dead rising was most definitely a surprise, but interesting.

He punched the intercom. “Get the computers ready for a link up, my secret weapon is going to be in the server room soon and I want everything ready.”

A smile crossed his face as both groups moved forward, bound to meet in the middle, and then have nowhere to go. That’s when things would get ugly, and oh, how he looked forward to that.

***

Arthur took on the mantle of group leader, unwanted as it was, but since it was only Smith, it didn’t really matter. He tried to keep an eye open in case Benson popped up, but figured the guy was out saving himself, to hell with the rest of them.

“Arthur, what do you think we need to worry about on this floor?” Smith asked him.

He stayed his hand on the knob and wondered. “I really have no idea, Dixon didn’t either. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” He smiled in order to reassure her, but knew he failed.

Then he asked himself why he cared, he didn’t trust her after the Dixon incident. Hell, he didn’t trust anyone. For all he knew, the whole lot of them were working for outside sources and he was the dimwitted scientist in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The handle twisted and he pulled open the door to reveal Level 11 as slowly as possible. The lights in the room were bright and arranged in neat lines along the ceiling. Inside were rows and rows of mainframes taller than he was and almost as wide. Most had smoke rising from them, and he was thankful for the first time that he had something on to protect himself from the toxic fumes.

A soft glow came from several spots along the ceiling and Arthur assumed it had something to do with the computers systems, or more likely the security measure. As he held the Sig in front of him, he eyed the panels. Dixon mentioned they would have shut down and erased all data so anyone who broke in with the express purpose of stealing their secrets would have done it in vain. Arthur asked himself again what type of people he was working for. Security measures, protecting their information to the extreme, sure no one liked their stuff hacked, but it happens.

His thoughts went back to the lights and he wondered about the ones glowing softly. Arthur stopped to listen when they reached a blind corner. The last thing he wanted was to be taken by surprise. With a quick move, he peered around and saw a contaminated hunched over the body of someone in a black suit.

Slurping sounds and other sucking noises came his way and Arthur forced his stomach to calm. He glanced around the corner once again and saw another contaminated a few feet away holding a head in his lap and sticking its fingers in eye sockets to get at the grey matter inside. Arthur didn’t know if they took down two people or decapitated one, but didn’t want to look at the grisly scene any longer. No matter how much he saw today, he would not become desensitized to it, to do so would be handing over his humanity, and at this rate, that was the only thing he had left.

Arthur moved back and put a finger to his lips, Smith nodded. Arthur stepped out and aimed carefully. The one closest, hit the ground with a slam, as the rounds exited through its forehead. The second one didn’t lift its head from the meal in its lap, unconcerned with anything but the gooey goodness, it reached further inside the skull.

Another round, and another contaminated on the ground. Arthur moved forward wondering why someone was suited up in here. He shone his light up and down the aisles, and in crevices until he was sure nothing lurked in the shadows.

“Benson must have raced through here,” Smith said.

Arthur nodded, but didn’t think so. The lights on some of the panels blinked and were clean of dust in some areas as if someone had used them recently. Arthur went to one and tried to access the menu. Once more, he faced the dreaded C: prompt and got nothing in return. Whatever the man did concerned him, but what was more worrisome was the trap awaiting them on the next level. The one on this level hadn’t gone off or Benson knew how to turn it off. If that was the case, they owed him one for not turning it back on and screwing them over. Arthur decided to call them based on what Benson did to Dixon.

He examined the server and realized heavy coated wires went into the ceiling and then into the walls up to another set to back up the information on. At first, he thought two rooms was overkill, but after seeing all the samples and experiments they were doing, he wondered if there wasn’t a third room hidden somewhere. Of course, the wires might lead to somewhere on the surface as well, Arthur didn’t believe for a second that Sunset Inc. would be running these kind of experiments and willing to erase the data in an emergency. A scientist always keeps a backup, and a backup of their backup.

“Let’s get out of here.” Arthur started walking toward the door when Smith tugged on his arm.

Arthur slowed down and stared at her with a questioning look. She pointed and he followed the direction of her arm. Off in the corner a man in a suit huddled against the wall. He seemed unaware of their presence rocking back and forth, as he mumbled.

Smith, on her way over tried to get his attention by using a calm assertive voice. Arthur jogged to catch up, not sure what to expect, after what the man had been through. Chances were high he’d react with violence of some kind.

“Careful, he’s in shock.” Arthur skidded to a stop next to Smith as she laid a hand on the man’s shoulder.

He twisted violently and then stopped as he pulled off his mask. “Are you here to help me? The others went crazy. I was just cutting through to get to the labs and there was an explosion--”

Arthur interrupted the mile a minute rambling of the man. “Put your mask back on, we’re pretty sure whatever’s happening to everyone is airborne.”

The man stared at his mask, then over at the bodies. Tears formed in his eyes as he dropped it to the floor. “It’s too late for me, you should kill me now. I don’t want to live after what I saw. They ripped his head clear off. They moaned like they were in pain and then…and then they started eating him.”

The man closed his eyes and Arthur noted the tag on his suit read Jones. “Look, Jones. I know you’re scared, but we’re not about to kill you for the hell of it. Not to mention you can help us. There’s supposed to be some sort of trap on this floor, do you know what it is?”

Jones kept his head down as he answered, “Yeah, it was set off by those things. Some sort of gas, that’s why I threw on my mask. Otherwise, I would have been infected like them.”

Arthur knelt next to the man. Jones’s face was paling in the dim light and the energy in him diminishing by the second. “Jones, can you tell me what kind of tests they’ve been doing here? Human trials? Something that could have caused this to happen?”

Jones jerked his head at the barrage of questions. “They told us it was for the benefit of mankind. That we’d be making history. My specialty was in cancer research. They gave my assistant and me a lab, some unique compounds, and told us to get to work generating formulas. I thought I was making the right decision, until--”

“Until what?” Arthur grabbed the man and shook him. Nothing happened.

“Arthur, back up,” Smith warned.

“What? He has answers, answers I need!” Arthur yelled.

“Back the hell up, now.”

Arthur turned his head in time to avoid the first globs of blood mixed with other fluids expelled by Jones. Seconds later, he convulsed on the floor and then moved no more. Smith fired her Walther P99 into the doctor’s head and walked away.

“How long did it take for him to get infected?” Arthur asked.

Smith turned on him with angry eyes. “Does it matter? This crap is in the air. If we open the hatch up top, we’re going to be releasing it into the world. We have an obligation to protect them. We should stay here.”

Arthur wanted to argue. Tell her she was wrong. But he knew the truth. All they could do was try to gather as much information as possible, though he was only kidding himself by doing that. An activity to keep him distracted from counting down the minutes until his mask crapped out and let in the contaminant.

“You’re right, but I think we owe it to those who are coming to rescue us to kill as many of these…these…whatever they are.” Arthur motioned to the pile of bodies.

“Screw that, I said we should stay here, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to. I didn’t create this mess, so I don’t see why I have to be the one to die because of it. You, on the other hand—

“Me? What the hell did I do? I ran one test and all of a sudden, this is my fault? I want to get out of here as much as you do. I have no intention of dying here if it can be avoided,” Arthur argued.

“Fine, Level 10 is next; it’s where all the scientist offices are according to the map.”

“More offices? Hell, they might as well of made this a high rise for all the damn offices in here,” Arthur tried to lighted the mood.

Smith pushed the door and made her way up the stairs. Arthur took one last look at Jones and sighed.

Chapter 12 –

Frank opened the door marked Level 5 with forced nonchalance. He didn’t want to worry Selena for no reason. Though he hadn’t decided if he trusted her or not, and that bothered him. In his line of work gut reactions kept you alive, but his gut decided to cut communications with him regarding the woman.

“Alright, this level should be clear of all of the nasties, and the safeguard should be done with, so we’re in the clear,” Frank said.

Carson grabbed his shoulder. “How can you be so sure?”

Frank moved as he turned to face the group. “This is the first server floor; the mechanism is self-destruction by fire. Each one only has enough fuel to insure the machine is useless.”

Carson pressed on. “But how can you be sure they didn’t change something, make it so they whole place blows, or rabid chickens come after us? Or that the nasties are all dead?”

Frank stood back and took a good look at Carson. The guy was starting to unravel. Great, just what he needed. “Just trust me; this one will be a piece of cake.”

“Famous last words,” Lightfoot mumbled just loud enough for Frank to hear.

Frank turned the knob unprepared for the blast that forced the door open. Once more they landed in a pile with Frank on top, though this time he found himself face to face with Selena, and his gut was not the one talking to him.

“Is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?” Selena asked, a playful smile visible behind the mask.

Frank pushed himself up and off the woman. “Actually, it’s a--” Another wave came out of the room and Frank felt intense heat. Flames licked at him, and Selena screamed. Frank glanced down and saw blisters on her legs, which ruptured from the intense heat.

Lightfoot sprang into motion and moved people out of the way, as he slammed the door shut.