Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (12 page)

With his attention on the swinging hammer, Hector’s right arm weakened its hold on the pillow, and the zombie managed to tear the cushion away. Just as the hammer slammed into the zombie’s neck, the creature sunk its teeth into Hector’s chest. The hammer’s blow forced its teeth deeper into Hector’s pectoral muscle.

A searing pain shot through Hector’s body as the zombie tore away both flesh and muscle. Hector’s screams caught the attention of Janis and Barry who put down the other zombie in the room.

“No!
”
screamed Janis as she watched the zombie tear another piece of meat off Hector.

Janis found renewed strength, thrust the fire poker through the zombie’s throat, and pinned it to the wooden floorboards. Without hesitating, Barry grabbed a log beside the fireplace and brought it down as hard as he could onto the creature’s face. A wet crunching noise filled the room, and the zombie’s legs stopped kicking.

Janis and Barry ran to Hector. With his heavy boot, Barry kicked the zombie square in the ribs, then forced it off of Hector’s body and onto the ground next to him.

Barry grabbed a piece of the broken cross tier that had fallen when the roof caved in, brought it down on the zombie’s throat, and severed the head from the body. Janis and Barry looked down at Hector and saw that he was already dead.

As they paused to mourn their dead friend, they knew they were far from safe. Three more zombies ran around somewhere in the house. Just as they both turned around to find and help the others, they heard what sounded like a metallic
clank
.

Turning around, Barry and Janis froze at the sight before them. Louis had already reanimated and was opening the heavy iron front door.

Janis and Barry were about to find out what was banging on the door very soon.

“Louis! No!
”
shouted Barry. 

Janis raced toward the door, the fire poker raised above her head. She brought the poker down as hard as she could into the area between Louis
’
left shoulder and neck. The poker dug into the muscle until it hit bone.

Louis turned his head to look at Janis. Her hands were still on the poker as she tried to free it.

Barry grabbed the cross-peen hammer he saw next to Hector’s body and ran toward the front door. He swung his arm back and struck the zombie with all his strength.

Only it wasn’t Louis he hit.

In trying to dislodge the poker from Louis
’
shoulder, Janis repositioned herself to get better leverage on the weapon. Janis stepped into Barry’s line of attack and took the full brunt of Barry’s hammer to the head.

Janis
’
hands immediately released the poker as she fell to the floor, dead before she hit the ground. Barry saw her brains oozing out from the fractured skull.

Horrified at what he’d just done, tears formed in his eyes. Only the creaking of the rusty iron hinges kept Barry focused on the situation. Barry saw Louis at the front door, but was too late to do anything about it.

Louis opened the front door, and sixteen of the infected flooded into the house.

Barry stood there, mouth open, as the zombies stormed him. Two of the creatures stopped to take bites out of Barry and tear off his arm.

No scream escaped Barry’s mouth as he was taken down to the ground, and the zombies began their feast.

Will to Heal Center

Dining room

David, Jonas, and Samantha ran to the dining room. David led the way and kept his axe ready to swing at a second’s notice.

The three jumped over the counter and hid behind the island that divided the dining room from the kitchen.

Jonas and Samantha looked around for any kind of weapon they might be able to use.

Samantha was a petite younger woman who had checked herself in to the Will to Heal center a few months before the center had closed its doors. She had icy blue eyes that told the story of a woman who had fought all her life. If it wasn’t an abusive ex-boyfriend, then it was a cocaine addiction that had cost her her child.

Samantha reached behind her and pulled one of the kitchen drawers to the floor. There were lots of thermometers and honing steels, but nothing that would make a good weapon. She rifled through the drawer until her hand landed on something heavy—a meat mallet. It was a solid steel, one-piece mallet with a two-sided head. One was flat and used for pounding out thick pieces of meat, the other side armed with tiny metal teeth for tenderizing.

The mallet felt good in her hand.

They all sat with their backs against the counter and caught their breaths.

“We really shouldn’t be in here,
”
David whispered. “The others probably need our help.”

Jonas
’
eyes widened at the thought of hunting down a zombie—or a group of them. But he also knew no one in the Center would ever leave him to die.

“We need a plan, don’t we?
”
Samantha asked. “I don’t think we should just run out of the dining room, weapons raised, and into the heat of battle without a plan.”

“What do you propose, Samantha?
”
Jonas whispered back. “We have no idea what’s going on out there or who’s in the greatest danger.”

“I think I saw Walt and Joe running towards the meditation/meeting room,
”
David whispered. “I think the others are in the gym.”

“I don’t think the three of us should split up,
”
Jonas whispered.

“I’m with Jonas,
”
David said. “You know, safety in numbers and all that junk.”

“You're both crazy if you think I'm going to stay here alone,
”
Samantha added.

“Ready?
”
David asked.

“No,
”
responded Samantha and Jonas at the same time.

The three stood and began to move through the kitchen and back toward the dining room. Right when they reached the threshold, they heard the unmistakable creaking of the front door opening.

The three stood frozen as they looked at each other.

Before any of them could say a word, they heard what sounded like a stampede coming down the hallway and right toward them.

The three quickly ducked back down behind the counter and listened as the infected raced down the hall.

Jonas
’
eyes were wide with fear.

What the fuck are we going to do?
he mouthed to David and Samantha, trying not to make a sound.

“We need to help the others,
”
replied David. “Now!”

The three looked at each other for courage, and on the count of three stood…

…
to find three zombies in the dining room looking right at them.

Will to Heal Center

Meditation room

“This is not good,
”
Joe said nervously as he and Walt ran into the meditation room. Walt slammed the door shut.

“Let’s not lose it now,
”
Walt said as he tried to calm Joe down. “There’s always a way out.”

Walt and Joe looked around the room. Walt knew every room in the house like the back of his hand, but searched anyway in case he’d missed any details.

“Did you see that, Walt?
”
Joe asked. “They came out of the fucking ceiling. How the hell did they come through the ceiling?”

“I don’t know, Joe,
”
said Walt. “I’m still worried about all the noise we heard outside the building before the roof caved in.”

“Holy shit,
”
Joe almost shouted. “I forgot all about the racket outside the building.”

Joe looked at Walt and asked, “Do you think those things had the building surrounded?”

“I don’t know,
”
Walt replied. “Let’s not deal with hypotheticals, okay? That’ll just drive us crazy.”

“Yeah, you’re right,
”
Joe said as he took a deep breath.

“Here’s what we know,
”
Walt said, almost whispering. “Six of the infected came in through the roof, and everyone scattered all over the house.”

Joe nodded. “We gotta get out of this room,
”
he said.

“Agreed,
”
Walt said as he stood. “I’m sure someone out there could use our help.”

As Walt and Joe walked toward the door, they heard what sounded like the noise of a hundred footsteps. Joe put his hand up, and Walt stopped. They looked at each other with bewildered faces.

Joe pressed his ear against the door, and after a second, bolted back from the door. Joe’s hand waved wildly, as if he were trying to motion to Walt to get away from the door.

“What is it?
”
Walt asked as he ran to Joe.

The blood drained from Joe’s face and gave him a waxy, pale look.

“There’s
…
there’s a shitload of those things running around out there,
”
Joe finally whispered.

“How many do you think?
”
asked Walt.

“Too many,
”
was all Joe managed to say.

Just as Walt was about to say something, they heard a loud bang against the door. Walt and Joe jumped at the sound.

The next bang was like a slap back to reality for Walt and Joe.

“There’s no fucking way out of here, Walt,
”
said Joe. “We’re trapped like rats in here.”

For the first time since the outbreak had occurred, Walt found himself wishing he had a gun. He’d much rather eat a bullet than be torn apart by those bastards.

“Wait a minute,
”
Walt almost shouted. “Eat!”

“Yeah,
”
Joe replied. “We’re about to be eaten alive.”

“No no no,
”
Walt said. “The dining room. It backs right up to this room.”

Joe just stared at Walt like he’d lost his mind.

“Before the outbreak there was a door that connected this room to the dining room,
”
Walt explained.

Joe looked around at the walls. “I’d hate to break it to you,
”
Joe said, “but there’s no other fucking door in here.”

“Yes, there is,
”
Walt said as he ran to the back of the room. “When we did the renovations to the Center, we removed it and boarded up the doorframe. It was before your time here.”

The banging on the door got louder. The men knew the zombies heard them in the room. They had seconds before the infected came crashing through the door.

Walt knocked on the wall as he tried to remember where the door used to be. Every knocked was met with fierce response from the zombies at the door.

Walt finally found the location of the old door.

“Got it!
”
Walt shouted.

“How are we gonna get through it?
”
Joe asked.

“Our renovation was on a very tight budget,
”
said Walt. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the only thing back there is a flimsy piece of plywood.”

One of the hinges around the doorframe flew off as the zombies slammed against the door. Walt and Joe heard what sounded like wood splintering.

Walt backed away from the boarded up door and gripped Stevie tight. He lowered his shoulder and ran into the wall.

Joe had his back to Walt watching the other door. The zombies were almost through. Joe held the pipe in both hands in a batter’s stance, ready to take out one or two of those bastards before they got him.

When Joe looked over his shoulder, he saw that Walt had gone completely through the false wall. Joe wasted no time and ran through the hole.

Walt was right on the other side waiting for him. Walt picked up the section of wall he knocked down and tried to place it back up. He was hoping the infected wouldn’t notice their escape route.

Joe found a discarded 2x4 laying between the two walls and used it to lodge the fallen piece of wall in place. If they were lucky, they had about five seconds before the zombies noticed their escape route.

As Walt and Joe ran into the dining room, they heard the zombies as they crashed through the door and entered the meditation room.

They ran faster as they raced through the narrow corridor toward the dining room. Walt realized the door that used to be at the end of the corridor was also boarded over and they’d have to break through that wall as well.

Walt lowered Stevie and his shoulder and prepared for the impact. Without slowing down, he slammed against the end of the corridor and felt the wall give way. As Walt ran out of the hidden corridor, he saw three zombies that stood before him.