Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (36 page)

Melvin watched in horror as the yellow-eyed creature with part of its head missing began to stand up. He lowered his gun as the zombie looked Melvin straight in the eyes.

Before the creature could attack Melvin, Steele swung his sledgehammer into its chest, and when it fell back to the ground, Steele finished it off by crushing its head.

“Stay frosty, Buddy,
”
Steele said to Melvin.

“Th...Thanks,
”
Melvin said.

Next to the Growler, Vasquez and Megan fought off two more of the yellow-eyed creatures. Megan beat one in the head with the butt of her carbine.

Vasquez went for her Beretta, but the creature in front of her was too fast. Before she pulled the pistol from the holster, the yellow-eyed creature was almost on top of her. She dropped onto her back and kicked up. The creature tried to jump on her, but instead sailed over Vasquez.

Vasquez quickly stood and reached for her machete, but stopped when she found she no longer had it. Instead, Vasquez unsheathed her Ka-Bar combat knife and lunged at the zombie while it was still on the ground. Vasquez was quick, but the yellow-eyed creatures were quicker, and before she got halfway to her target, it stood up and was ready for her.

Vasquez thrust the knife through the creature’s sternum to no effect. The creature grabbed her head and sunk its teeth into Vasquez’s neck. She screamed as the creature tore away a chunk of flesh.

Over by the gate, Melvin saw Vasquez go down and screamed as he ran in her direction. He raised the butt of his carbine and brought it down on the creature’s head four times until he heard the skull crack.

Blood squirted out of Vasquez’s neck wound as she rolled on the ground. Before Melvin lifted his carbine from the gooey pile of the creature’s head, Vasquez died.  He bent down to pick up her pistol when her eyes darted open. Melvin froze as he looked into Vasquez’s yellow eyes. She grabbed Melvin around the wrist, pulled him to the ground, and rolled onto him. Within seconds, the reanimated Vasquez ripped open Melvin’s shirt and gutted him. Blood poured from his abdomen as Vasquez tore his insides out, only taking time to occasionally rub the bloody organs and intestines on her face and body.

Steele ran over and snapped her neck back with the sledgehammer. Vasquez twisted her body around so he could see her dangling head as she looked at him. Steele used his foot to kick her body to the ground. Without hesitating, Steele crushed her head and quickly turned to see Melvin had already reanimated into one of the yellow-eyed creatures as well.

“Get down!
”
shouted Wilder as he raised his carbine. Melvin’s head exploded as the bullet tore through brain and bone.

Steele nodded to Wilder as he stood.

“Behind you!
”
Steele shouted.

Wilder extended his right leg, spun, and swept the zombie off its feet. With his machete already in hand, Wilder slashed at the zombie and took off its head.

Fisher had positioned herself on the hood of the Growler and provided cover fire to the others, but she was out of ammo and knew she was an easy target. She jumped off the jeep and ran to Mears, who had just crushed another creature’s head.

“These things won’t die,
”
Fisher said. “They just keep coming back.”

“Ya need to remove or crush the head,
”
Mears said.

Steele ran over to Fisher and Mears.

“Do you see how quick the infection works?
”
Steele asked. Before either Mears or Fisher could answer, he asked, “Did you see how quickly reanimation occurred?”

“Destroy the head,
”
Mears said as he looked at Steele’s sledgehammer, covered in brains and pieces of bone. “Looks like you already figured that out.”

Fisher, Mears, and Steele looked over by the truck and saw Butsko crush the skull of another yellow-eyed creature before running over to them by the Growler.

Megan and Wilder joined the group.

“I think that’s all of them,
”
Wilder said as he scanned the area. His eyes rested on the truck lodged in the gate entrance. “We need to move,
”
Butsko said, but before he could say more, four zombies surrounded them.

“Holy shit,
”
Wilder said. “Where the hell did they come from?”

From behind the Growler, three figures raced toward the yellow-eyed creatures.

Wilder watched as the taller guy buried an axe into the skull of the creature that stood in front of him. To his left, Wilder saw an older man swing a nail-studded baseball bat at the creature in front of Megan and brought it down. The last stranger, a woman, cracked the skull of the third creature with a crowbar. After she bashed it over the head, the woman turned the crowbar in her hands, hooked the zombie around the neck, and dragged it to the ground. With her boot, she stomped the creature’s head until it was a flat, gory puddle.

Steele took care of the last zombie that stood in front of him. He looked over and saw the older man as he tried to free the nail-studded baseball bat out of a zombie’s skull.

“The only drawback of using Stevie,
”
the older man said.

“Who the hell’s ‘Stevie?’
”
Steele asked.

“My bat,
”
said the man as he pulled it free. “It’s a long story, and I’d love to share it with you, but right now we need to get inside this building.”

“Did you find a way in?
”
Wilder asked the man with the bloodied baseball bat.

“We found an entrance, but we can’t open it,
”
said the older man.

Butsko and Wilder looked at each other.

“Show me where this entrance is,
”
Butsko said.

“This way,
”
said the older man as he, the woman, and the taller man ran off.

Chapter Eight

1

Schoepke Springs

Spicewood, Texas

“That’s quite a security system for some swimming holes and camping grounds,
”
the older man said to Butsko. “Where the hell does this door lead anyway? The main house is way over there.”

Butsko and Wilder looked at each other and each shrugged their shoulders. There was really no need for secrecy. The idea of ‘top secret clearance
’
vanished the second the nanites escaped from the Hudson Research Labs two years ago.

“Schoepke Springs is just your average, every day camping ground, natural spring swimming hole, and above top secret cutting-edge research facility,
”
Butsko said. “I’ll tell you all about it when we’re safely inside. The truck wedged in the gate won’t hold those bastards back for long.”

The older man looked at Butsko as though he had a nose growing off his forehead.

“How the hell are we going to get in there?
”
asked the tall man.

The group was looking at a key pad, a retinal scanner, and a steel door that was at least a foot thick.

“We aren’t,
”
answered Butsko.

“What’s that now?
”
Wilder asked.

Butsko turned and walked alongside the building. Shrubs and smaller trees lined the outside of the facility and hid it from the general view.

Everyone followed Butsko as they scanned the area for any of the yellow-eyed creatures. Steele and Wilder were the only ones who had any ammo left in their carbines. Together they had about a hundred rounds left. Steele, who preferred his sledgehammer, had given Wilder the rest of his carbine rounds. Megan, Fisher, and Butsko each had one full magazine left in their Berettas. Mears was completely out.

Butsko walked past the building and down some concrete steps toward what looked like a private natural spring. Wilder figured this spring was reserved exclusively for Schoepke family members. He swung around to make sure nothing was following them and estimated they were a good fifty to sixty feet away from the entrance to the facility.

“Uh, where are we going, Sir?
”
Mears asked.

“It’s right over here,
”
Butsko answered.

Right next to the natural spring was a circular indentation covered by the grass. Butsko cleared away the debris, unscrewed the iron cap, and revealed a lever. Using both hands, Butsko pulled the lever up, and ten feet away, a manhole cover popped up out of the grass.

“This is how we get in,
”
Butsko said.

Wilder stared at Butsko.

“What can I say?
”
Butsko said as he shrugged. “The government didn’t trust the Schoepke family any more than the Schoepke family trusted the government. They built this entrance just in case the Schoepke’s ever went rogue and had to be dealt with.”

“I’m confused,
”
said the older man. “I thought this was just camping grounds with a few swimming holes.”

“It is,
”
Wilder said, “but it’s also a research facility that’s been conducting cutting-edge scientific research since the mid-1940s.”

The noises coming from the yellow-eyed creatures were getting louder.

“Let’s get inside, then we can have some formal introductions and tell each other what the hell we’re all doing here,
”
Butsko said.

One by one, everyone climbed down the shaft into a room about the size of an apartment’s kitchen.

“Sir,
”
Mears said as he looked around the room. “I’m not seeing another door.”

“That’s because there isn’t one,
”
Butsko said with a smirk on his face. Butsko was always the man who knew the secrets, and there was always that side of him that enjoyed having the upper hand over others.

Butsko found a panel on the wall and pressed the only button. The entire room shook as it was jarred awake and began to descend.

“Aahhh,
”
said Mears. “It’s an elevator. Gotcha.”

2

Underneath Schoepke Springs

Spicewood, Texas

After everyone introduced themselves, Walt explained to Butsko’s group what had brought him, Cheryl, and David to the springs.

“That was a pretty good idea, coming here in search of a steady supply of fresh water,
”
Butsko said.

“We stayed at the Center as long as we could,
”
Walt said as he finished his story. “We started off with a much bigger group, but ran into a lot of trouble along the way.
”
Walt’s heart grew heavy as he thought about all the friends he’d lost.

“Tell them what you figured out about the infected,
”
Cheryl blurted out.

“What did you find out?
”
Butsko asked.

Walt gave Butsko the shortened version of how he’d realized antipsychotic drugs might render the infected useless. Butsko listened intently and shook his head as Walt went into the science behind his findings.

“That makes total sense,
”
Butsko said. “Nice work, Walt.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be too quick to congratulate me,
”
Walt said. He told them about the empty syringes he’d found in Darren’s hands and how he didn’t think the antipsychotics worked on these new yellow-eyed creatures.

“Very interesting,
”
Butsko said. “We’ve been wondering about the seemingly sudden appearance of these yellow-eyed bastards, and the only thing we could come up with is that they mutated from the infected we’ve been fighting for the last two years.”

“That kinda makes sense,
”
Cheryl said. “We’ve all seen those things get smarter and faster. Maybe those nanites inside them recognized their weakness to the antipsychotic drugs and mutated to eliminate that Achilles heel.”

“You and Melvin would’ve gotten along great,
”
Wilder said as he hung his head in reverence for his fallen friend.

“What about ya’ll?
”
David asked as he nodded to Butsko’s group. “Why are you here?”

“We’re here,
”
Butsko said as the elevator shook once it hit the bottom floor, “because inside this facility might be the way to stop these bastards.”

The side of the elevator-room they were in opened, and the group found themselves standing at the end of a long corridor.

“The government officially decommissioned this facility in 1990,
”
Butsko explained, “but Uncle Sam knew Heinrich Schoepke wouldn’t just close up shop. Hell, Uncle Sam was counting on him doing just the opposite.”

They all followed Butsko through the dimly lit corridor as they passed by many doors. They could see Butsko was counting the doors they passed, and Walt hoped he had at least a vague idea about where he was going.

Up ahead, the corridor came to a “T,
”
and Butsko looked confused.

“You okay, Sir?
”
Wilder asked.

“Um, this wasn’t on the map I had,
”
Butsko said. “In the original plans, this corridor goes to the left. The Schoepke family must have built upon the original without the government knowing about it.”

“Should we split up?
”
Wilder asked.

“No,
”
Butsko answered. “We’ll stick with the original blueprints and head to the left. That’s where they should be.”

“Where
what
should be?
”
asked Walt.

Walt’s question went unanswered as they group made their way down the corridor. After they passed another four doors, Butsko came to a halt.

“If that info was correct,
”
Butsko said, “they should be in here.”

“Do you have the code, Sir?
”
Mears asked, looking toward the keypad before them.

“Unfortunately, my info wasn’t that good,
”
Butsko answered as he moved aside.

Mears smashed the keypad with the butt of his carbine and then kicked the door in.

As they entered the room, the lights flickered on, and they saw that it was a storage room. There were rows upon rows of shelves housing all kinds of equipment. Some of the items looked completed, while others looked like they were works in progress.

“What are we looking for?
”
Cheryl asked.

Butsko walked over and began reading the numbers on the rows of shelves. He walked past three aisles and stopped at the fourth. He walked between the third and fourth rows until he was halfway down the aisle.

“I found them!
”
Butsko yelled.

“What,
”
Walt asked, frustrated, “what did he find?”

“EMP bombs,
”
Wilder said. “We’re gonna fry those bastards from the inside out.”

3

Underneath Schoepke Springs

Spicewood, Texas

Butsko and Wilder detailed their plan to Walt, Cheryl, and David. They explained what happened to electronic devices after an EMP blast and why they thought this would work with the infected.

“But won’t this ruin communications with other humans?
”
David asked.

“Hate to tell you this, David,
”
Butsko said, “but there’s not a helluva lot of radio chatter these days.”

“What about the vehicles you brought with you?
”
asked Walt. “Won’t those be destroyed as well?”

“There’s a chance they won’t get fried as long as the vehicles are off when the bomb detonates.
”
Wilder explained. “In traditional EMP blasts, electronic devices that were turned off weren’t affected. We are entering into unknown territory here, though,
”
Wilder said as he placed his hand on top of the EMP bomb.

The bomb had an ordinary, run-of-the-mill design. There was nothing high-tech about the way it looked. The EMP bomb was a four-and-a-half-foot long, cylindrical object that came to a rounded point at the end. On the other end was a panel door and grooves in the side of the weapon. It looked like the bomb was made to securely fit into some kind of holding device.

“What do you mean?
”
Walt asked.

“This beauty here has never been tested,
”
said Butsko bluntly. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Or if it’ll even work,
”
added Wilder.

“How are we going to set it off?
”
David asked. “Don’t we need to drop it from a plane or something?”

“Ideally,
”
Butsko explained, “dropping it from a plane would give us the best effect. The higher up in the atmosphere the EMP detonates, the wider the area that would be affected. Unfortunately, we don’t have a plane, or anyone who could fly it.”

“What about us?
”
Cheryl asked. “If we detonate this thing at ground level, won’t we all be killed?”

“No,
”
answered Butsko. “That’s why we traveled to Schoepke Springs. The EMP research that was being done here was far more advanced than any other facility around the world.”

Butsko walked over to the bomb and ran his hand along the side of the weapon.

“This weapon was designed to cause no collateral damage,
”
Butsko continued. “The only thing remotely close to an explosion is a tiny charge that expels the outer shell of the weapon right before detonation. That explosion is about as dangerous as an M-60 firecracker.”

“In a perfect world,
”
Wilder explained, “we’d detonate this in the upper atmosphere. Research has shown that detonation at three-hundred miles up would affect all of the continental U.S., Mexico, and Canada.”

“Hell,
”
Butsko added. “Even at thirty miles up the range would be around three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand square miles. The bottom line is that we don’t know for certain what the effects will be, but all the information I was able to hack points to a safe detonation that won’t affect us or cause any collateral damage.”

“But it will take out those creatures by frying the nanites in them, right?
”
Cheryl asked.