Project Zulu (6 page)

“Breaker, what are you doing man? Get out of the way,
we need to get out of here.”

Breaker, at least in body, delivers a backhand that
sends the whiny man back into the bar. He lands next to the creature that used
to be Mia, taking a bite out of Butch. The few humans remaining are all facing
the same fate as Butch. Creatures, for lack of a better description, are
staggering and shuffling around attacking and eating everyone that is still
alive.  Breaker looks on, through fiery red eyes, watching the mayhem unfold.
He begins to patrol the room, observing all the action up close. Once he is
certain that everyone is dead, or dying, he unleashes a low bellowing growl. The
carnage stops, the creatures all stop what they are doing and look in his
direction. The room becomes eerily silent; Breaker turns his head and listens.

He cocks and twists his head from side to side as he
rotates around. He stops facing the restrooms; he hears the rapid muffled thump
of a panicking heart accompanied by quick, shallow hyperventilating breathes.
He simply thinks about the restrooms, and the group of creatures turn in unison
and move in that direction. Breaker stands where he is, statuesque, until he
hears the screams of horror, followed by the groans of the creatures, coming
from the restrooms. He
thinks
the room silent, and the creatures quiet
down. Again, he listens intently; convinced all the humans have been turned, he
calls the creatures back into the main area of the bar. He looks out over the
small group, his hoard of zombies, and smiles.

In an instance, he senses something. A voice
calling, beckoning him, but he decides to ignore it, because he can. He ponders
for a minute.
There is a Mambo Asogwe trying to banish me back to my plane
of existence.
The humans must believe that I am still bound by spell to
that creature in the facility.

Tendrils of smoke are slowly drifting from Amy’s
nostrils when the gunshots ring out. She takes another deep drag off the
cigarette, showing no concern or alarm at the sound of the gunshots, gunshots
are a nightly occurrence. She lights a fresh one off of the smoldering snub and
dispatches it to the ground. She puts one hand on her hip and she grinds the
butt into the ground with the toe of her shoe. She doesn’t even raise an
eyebrow at the screaming, screaming is also a nightly occurrence; however, the
sudden and complete silence that follows sends a chill up her spine.

As she approaches the back door, her hand almost on
the knob, she hesitates; seeing the old whiskey crates piled up along the wall stops
her in her tracks. She stacks them so that they reach just below the window.
She climbs onto them, steadies the wobble, and sneaks a peak in the window. The
assault on her eyes nearly knocks her off the crates, and she can barely keep
her balance as she stumbles away from the building, toward her car. She yanks
up on the handle over and over, to no avail; the car door is locked. Her keys
are in her purse which is tucked under the bar. Looking back at the bar,
realizing that the screaming has started again, she turns and runs; through the
parking lot, onto the road and as far as she can until her burning lungs stop
her.

Once her breathing has slowed she lights a
cigarette, her last one, and continues away from Valhalla at a brisk pace.

“What exactly do you mean? Who attacked the men?”

Once again, the soldier points at Z, “Sir, whatever
that…thing is, there is another one in the morgue. It killed the coroner and
his assistant; it almost killed five members of the security detail. They must
have shot it twenty or thirty times, it just kept on attacking. The Doctor has
them all in the infirmary, and wants permission to call for a Medevac flight.”

“OhAy, you stay here with the sergeant and keep Z
secured; Jimmy you come with me to the morgue.”

“General, do not be a fool. This creature is secured
and the sergeant is perfectly capable of babysitting. You are running off to
deal with seven zombies, and you want the only expert to stay here? What you
should do is have the sergeant shoot this zombie in the head, and then send the
same order to the rest of your security team in the medical wing.”

Jimmy speaks up, “What do you mean seven zombies; he
said that there was one?”

Mike and OhAy looked at each other, then Jimmy. Mike
answers the question. “Jimmy, it is contagious; it is spread just like an
infection, bodily fluid transfer, and open wound contact.”

The scene played out like a movie in Jimmy’s mind;
he saw himself slipping the condom covered thumb onto his own condom covered
penis. He could feel the cold sweat on the back of his neck, “How long does it
take? What is the incubation period?”

OhAy answered this time. “If a person is killed
while being infected, the transformation usually takes less than an hour and
may be as quick as ten minutes. If a person is infected, but not killed, the
transformation depends on the severity of the wound and the extent of the
exposure; ten minutes or a couple days. Gentlemen, I suggest we get down to the
medical wing and sort out what is going on.”

“Sergeant, lock down this room, nobody in or out.
Call for a backup team, and give me your communicator.”

They start down the hallway, toward the elevator.
Jimmy’s mind is still racing.
Had he touched the severed thumb directly?
“So, OhAy, is there any type of test or scan that detects…?

“No need, it wouldn’t make sense to develop a test.
All exposure leads to infection.”

“How about an antivirus…you know, a cure?”

“I don’t think you are grasping it Jimmy, there is
no cure for death, and there is no way to reverse the transformation. Think of
a caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis, once the change occurs there is no
going back. First the infection, then death, then reanimation; once the corpse
is reanimated, the only way to stop a zombie is to sever the brain from the
spinal cord.”

Jimmy stops, and leans against the wall. OhAy turns,
looks at Jimmy, and then stops too. “General, I think we need a minute.”

Mike stops and looks back at the both of them, “Come
on this is no time to play twenty questions…”

“Hey, to hell with you Mike! I think I am entitled to
ask a few questions; considering that I have been doing research on a contagious,
infectious, damn zombie! Why wasn’t I told? I have the proper clearances; I
certainly have the damn ‘need to know’! I could be infected…my god, I could
have transported it home. Julie could be infected. I have to call the hospital
and see if she is alright.”

Mike is now right in front of Jimmy, right in his
face. “Don’t you give me this line of bullshit Jimmy; you knew that this
project was dangerous. You read the briefing documents, and were well aware of
the contagion possibilities. Look around, why else would this type of facility
have been constructed? I will not listen to your holier than thou accusations.
You knew damn well what you were getting yourself into! Nobody is calling
anyone until we sort out what the hell is going on here, now let’s move.”

“Zombies, reanimated corpses! I would have never
agreed…”

“That is why you were not told! We needed you, I
needed you and I still do. Now if you are ready to get down off of your high
horse, I would like to find out just how severe the situation is over in the
medical wing.”

The trio continues down the hallway in silence,
suddenly Mike raises his right hand to his right ear, activating the
communicator. “This is General Balchor. What, how many? No, I am on the way
now. Son of a bitch! Alright, lock it down standard protocol; no one out or in
until I get there. Yes, I mean no one in or out, lock it down now. If he won’t
leave, then lock him inside.” He turns to face Jimmy and OhAy. “Well it seems
that our situation has become a bit more serious. The wounded have turned, and
attacked the medical staff; four members of the security team have also been
compromised. Apparently the doctor is refusing to leave the room, so I ordered
the remaining security forces to lock down the medical wing; looks like we now
have fourteen zombies, in addition to Z.”

“And no doctor or medical facility to treat the
wounded…” Jimmy stops speaking, looks at OhAy and smiles, “Oh yea, I forgot no
need to treat because there is no cure.”

OhAy smiles back, “As long as the armory stays open
we can treat everyone that becomes infected.”

They arrive outside the medical wing and are greeted
by another member of the security team. “General we have secured all entries
and exits; we were not able to secure the weapons Sir.”

“What weapons?”

“Sir, the weapons from the wounded team members; we
were unable to get to the men to pull them out…”

OhAy interrupts, “General, zombies are not capable
of using firearms; there is nothing to worry about.”

“Fine, I want to see the camera footage from the
first attack in the morgue; call down to control and have it cued up over
there”, Mike said pointing to an office. “Let’s go see if we can figure out how
this all started.” Once everyone is seated, Mike starts the playback.

Thor Sevena, the coroner, entered the room first
followed by his assistant, Carina Hitshorn. They walked over to the body
drawers, opened one up and hoisted the body bag over onto a table. Thor says
something to Carina; they both laugh and walk out of the video frame, the body
bag ripples. It is apparent that someone, or something, inside the body bag is
moving. Thor and Carina are back in view of the camera now, but they do not
notice the moving body bag. Without looking down, Thor grabs the zipper and
begins to unzip the bag, before he reaches the middle of the zipper teeth, a
hand thrusts out of the bag and grabs his arm. Carina has her back turned and
does not see what is happening. Before Thor realizes what is happening, he is
pulled closer to the bag and starts to shake violently. His body is blocking
the view of the table, and the body bag, from the camera. He finally steps away
from the table, obviously screaming, and Carina reacts by rushing over to him.
Blood is pumping out of his arm, and he is slowly sinking toward the floor.
Carina has not yet looked at the table; she is concentrating on Thor as he
slowly slips into shock.

Sitting up on the table is a zombie. The zombie is
struggling to free the rest of its body from the bag, and is succeeding.

“Mike, what the hell is going on? That is Ross; I
mean it was Ross. Mike what is going on?”

Mike pauses the playback, and begins speaking into
his communicator. “I want a mobile scout team back out to the accident site
now; load up heavy and take no chances, follow protocol three, no live
captures. Secure the area, remove any and all media, and prepare for a
secondary search team. I want the entire area searched again with a fine tooth
comb, it has to be out there, and I want it found.” Mike looked at Jimmy, “Ross
was a traitor! He lied about the thumb being utilized in testing; and was on
his way to sell it. I don’t know exactly what happened, but he obviously never
made it, because now he is a zombie. The thumb has to still be out at the
accident site, and we need to find it. He lied to you and everyone else about
utilizing the thumb. I have a team gearing up; we are going out too, so get
ready to move out.”

The silence in the bar is unnatural; Azaka stands
stoic surveying his small army. Azaka likes his new host, this man named
Breaker. He had only taken a small swim through the memory banks of Breaker,
but it was enough to gain an understanding of everything he had been subjected
to.

He has gained an immediate understanding of the
English language, modern technology, everything that Breaker knew, Azaka now
knows. He is very impressed with his new found knowledge; especially everything
he now knows about modern warfare. He really likes the tattoo on the right
forearm of Breaker, almost as if fate had brought them together; two gods of
thunder joined as one.

Azaka had been dormant far too long; he was furious
at having been held against his will. Vengeance will be his; he will indeed
make these humans pay.

He walks around the room, mentally scanning through
the remaining human memory banks of his army, pulling in what knowledge he can
before the memories are all lost. He sends out a telepathic command.
You are
now zombie warriors in the service of Azaka; I command that you recruit new
members to join our ranks. Split into two equal groups, and walk away from each
other on the highway. Turn every human you encounter into a brother or sister;
kill and consume only enough to infect, leave all of your victim’s brains
intact. Continue on this mission until I call you back.

He is able to communicate with his zombies
telepathically, because he is directly linked to them. He can even project
himself inside other zombies he is linked to. He knows that he must be careful
while doing this. Projecting his mind leaves the host body vulnerable to death,
which would trap him inside the body of the zombie he was projected to, or
suspend him in a plane of non-existence, if he was not occupying either body at
the time of the host body death.

Azaka knows that by this time tomorrow his army will
have grown exponentially. Unguided, a zombie will naturally seek out and
consume human flesh and brains; it is their nature, the driving force that
keeps them going.

A zombie hoard is usually a result of an
uncontrolled outbreak, a single zombie that has been left animated, by its
creator, even after its purpose has been fulfilled. Uncontrolled, a zombie will
attack and consume any living creature, especially humans. The longer a zombie
remains animated, the more futile and obtuse it becomes; every minute less and less
of its human memories remain. Only the consumption of live human brains allows
a zombie to think on the most rudimentary level, retaining basic skills like
opening doors, avoiding obstacles, recognizing sounds and understanding what is
making the sound.

Azaka has no intentions of allowing his hoard to
consume any brains, he wants no free thinking zombies, no deviation from his
purpose… revenge on the humans.

He had been corporeal far too long, centuries
chained in that cave followed by decades in that research facility. Now he
controls his own destiny; he is possessing Breaker on his own accord. No one
has summoned him, and his previous bonds have been broken through the rebirth
process. He has decided to remain within this human, Breaker, long enough to
extract his revenge, and then he will return to his own plane of existence.

He allows his thoughts to find one of his zombies
and he projects himself inside. He takes in the images from the creatures eyes,
seeing what it sees. He sees the soft glow of lights, on the horizon, from the
unsuspecting housing plan. Soon the humans inhabiting those houses will be
swept under foot, fighting for their lives; their very existence. Azaka knows
that many will escape his approaching zombies, but he also knows that many will
not. It will be the same at each populated area.

He refocuses his thoughts, releasing the zombie and
taking another stroll through the mind of Breaker. He is very happy with his new
host; he decides to spend the next couple of hours learning everything Breaker
had once known, before it is lost forever.