The Demented Z (Book 3): Contagion (7 page)

“They lead right into there.”
  Hank said while pointing to a stout wood door
on the back side of the main base building.

Tom’s eyes followed the footprints in the snow.
  The powder was heavily trampled a dozen feet
from the building and they clearly approached the door.
  Bear and Hannah had verified there were no
breaches in the fence other than the one Tom had cut to gain entry.
  Tom found a trampled trail that led from the
supply building to one of the large barracks.  
From the mass of tracks it was clear the horde of infected had come from
one of the far buildings. “Why do these
split off?” Tom said, looking at the
smaller path that led to the main building.  
“Has to be non-infected.”

Bear stepped up with his rifle held low.
  “This where you saw
someone?”

“Movement, not sure what it was.”

“Well, let’s stay tight and watch our backs.”
  Bear said.

Tom eased up to the door and held his ear to the wood.
  After a few silent moments he looked back at
the others and shook his head, nothing.  
Holding a MAC9 in one hand, he slowly turned the doorknob and gave it a
push inward. Bear and Hannah swept past
him with their rifles raised. Tom
followed in their wake.

There were several shouts of “clear” as the small group
burst into the room and swept the corners and walls.
  They found themselves in a rec room.
  Worn out couches surrounded a short table piled
with books. A pinball machine, pool
table, and dart board waited for players.  
Everything was tidy and in order.  
If not for a thin layer of dust it would look like the base was still in
use.

A trail of slushy footprints made their way around the couch
and slowly disappeared near the far side of the room.
  Hank’s eyes followed the trail, knowing
whoever made them had done so recently.

“Our friend.”
  He said.

“Let’s hope so.” Tom
said while stepping along the tracks with his MAC9 held at the ready.

Bear and Hannah circled around from each side of the
room. Tom glanced back to see Hank just
off his flank and Axel and April standing just inside the door.

Tom looked at Axel and said, “You two stay here, watch our
backs.”

Axel nodded his head and motioned April over to the couch.

Bear and Hannah stood to each side of a large set of closed
double doors. Hank stood with his rifle
raised and pointed directly ahead. Bear
reached out and gave the doorknob a slight turn and shove.
  All four of them stood with weapons ready as
the door swung open, revealing a long, dark hallway.
  In unison Hannah and Bear swept through the
opening, quickly followed by Hank and Tom.

The hall was dimly lit by light that spilled in from the
door they just opened and from an open doorway at the far end.
  The flat gray walls were broken up by several
doors on each side. Dark red streaks smeared
the floor.

“Ahhh man, that is stank.”
  Bear grumbled.

Tom used his free arm to cover his nose from the stench.

“Dirty squirrel nuts.”  
Hank said from the back.

“Let’s get this done…door by door.”
  Tom said while stepping next to the first
door. Large streaks of blood on the
white tile disappeared underneath.

With the others ready, Tom pushed the door open.
  The interior was covered in gore; blood and
chunks of white flesh dotting the floor.  
Crimson streaks splattered the walls.  
The room was small, maybe ten feet square, and only contained empty bed
frames bolted to the floor. Everybody
stood stunned. After several long
seconds of silence Tom slowly pulled the door back closed.

Nobody said a word as the group shuffled to the other side
of the hall and Tom eased the next door open.  
While less shocking the second time, it was still more of the same; a
small room filled with gore.

They continued from door to door all the way down the hall,
finding every room empty other than gore and metal bed frames.
  None of them said anything through the entire
process. A sense of dread weighed
heavily on all of them.

Standing at the base of a narrow stairwell that sat at the
end of the hall, Tom said, “What do you guys think, stairs or hall?”
  He pointed to the next set of double doors
after finishing the question.

Hannah leaned in close to one of the six inch windows cut
into the doors, a frown creasing her face.  
“Don’t like leaving either behind us.”

“Split up?” Bear
asked.

“We’ll be spread thin.”  
Hannah said.

Tom nodded his head, “Let’s fix both.
  One of us stays down here.”
  He pointed back to the double doors they
entered through and said, “One of us hunkers down by the open doors and covers
the hall. Axel‘s in covering their
back. Team of three moves upstairs.”

Everyone nodded their head in agreement.

“Who stays?” Hannah
asked.

Hank was the first to respond.
  “I’m not built for this room to room
crap. I’ll hunker down.”

Tom nodded his head and looked to the others.
  “You two good with that?”

Hannah issued a grin.  
“Rock and roll baby, rock and roll.”

They watched Hank get in place, tucking down in the corner
with his rifle resting on a bent knee.  
Once he gave a thumbs up, they turned and started
up the stairway. Bear led the way with
his AR15 aimed up into the darkness. He
clicked on an under-mount flashlight, painting the area in bright light.
  Ahead, the steps spun a tight U-turn as they
continued their ascent.

The hall at the top looked nearly identical to the one below
– long and full of doors. Tom was glad
to see that the only noticeable difference was the lack of blood on the floor.

“Wish someone would leave doors open.”
  Bear grumbled.

“No doubt.”
  Hannah replied while stepping up to the
nearest door. She tucked back to the
side and gave the doorknob a slow twist and shove.

As she slid to the side Tom and Bear stepped in, guns
raised. The room was larger than those
below and lacked the gore and chaos.  
Instead it was a fairly tidy office with bookshelves, file cabinets, and
a large metal desk. While Hannah watched
the hall, both men swept the room, checking in and around the desk to be sure
there were no surprises.

Tom stood next to the desk, looking down at the papers
spread across the top. “I want to go
through these, but we clear the building first.”

Bear nodded. “Find
our ghost.”

Tom gave him a fist-bump on the shoulder.
  “That’s right.”

They moved across the hall to the next door and used the
same technique for entrance. Tom’s heart
jumped when he saw a pair of eyes staring at him from across the short room.
  His muscles tensed, finger tightening on the
trigger. Just before the finger pressure
was enough to fire a shot, he let off, realizing they
were the cold, sightless eyes of a dead man.

“Check corners.” Tom
said while sweeping around to the right.

Bear quickly followed to the left, scanning for
threats. The two of them met at a large
desk that served as the tombstone for a corpse dressed in worn military fatigues.
  A small first aid kit lay open on the
desk. Surrounding it were unopened gauze
pads, pain killer packets, and a variety of other medicinal products.
  Dried blood caked the side of the man’s head
from a wicked gunshot wound.

“Couldn’t take it anymore.”
  Bear said.  
He leaned over, looking at the man’s head.
  “Small caliber…no exit wound.
  Bet it rattled around in there like a trapped
squirrel.”

“Thanks for that image.”  
Tom said.

“Come on guys, you about done?”
  Hannah said from the hallway.

Tom noticed a thermometer lying on the desk directly in
front of the dead man, like it had been carefully laid there.
  It was the type of thermometer that moms’
used on their children to check for a fever.  
Tom took a couple slow steps back.  
“See the thermometer…maybe he found out he was infected?”
  Tom said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Bear rapidly started backpedalling away from the desk.
  He raised a sleeve over his mouth.
  “Ahh
man, nasty.”

Tom was just starting to turn around when a shrill scream
sounded. His mind flashed to Hannah in
the hall, but he quickly realized this came from further away, deeper in the
building. April.
  There was a loud
boom,
shattering glass, and then another
boom
. As fast as the
gunfire erupted it went silent, only the screams
remained.

Bear’s eyes went wide as he spun for the door.
  Tom followed in his wake, noticing that
Hannah was already turning the corner to make her way down the stairs.
  The pounding of boots echoed up the stairs as
they raced down and around the tight bend.

Tom hesitated at the top, not liking the sinking feeling in
his stomach. He glanced over his
shoulder, verifying the hall behind him was empty.
  He rushed over to the nearby window that
looked out over the backside of the base.  
Empty white snow and roof lines stared back at him.

Abruptly the screams from below came to a stop.
  There was the faint din of multiple voices
talking at once. Tom began to turn and
head their direction when he caught movement below.
  He stepped close to the window and rose up on
his toes trying to get a better look.  
There was a person, tucked in close to the building, shifting along the
wall. The angle was too tight; Tom was
only able to see part of a leg and an arm.  
The sight of digital camo let Tom know that
the man was not one of theirs. It was
during this moment of indecision that he disappeared out of sight.

Tom turned and quickly made his way down the stairs.
  The voices got louder as he rushed through
the set of double doors that led to the rec room.
  He was immediately met with a chaotic scene.

“I know what I saw.”  
Axel shouted.

“There’s nothing out there.”  
Bear growled back from next to a blown out window.
  A cold breeze blew in swirling white flakes.

“I saw him.” Axel
insisted.

“Shadows.”
  Bear said while shaking his head.

Everyone turned when Tom said, “Axel’s right.”

“Really?”
  Bear said with skepticism in his voice.

“We have company. I
saw our ghost from the upper window.”

Axel stepped forward.  
“I told you man…call me a liar.”

Bear started toward him, anger flushing his face.

“Stop you two!”  
Hannah shouted. “Pull yourselves
together. Are you even listening to what
Tom said? Somebody else is here…with
us.”

“She’s right.” Hank
said. “We have to stick together…not
lose our crap. There may be several of ‘em.”

April remained huddled up on the couch as Axel nervously
brushed past with his shotgun at low ready.  
He moved over to another window and cautiously peered out, slowly
rapping his fingers across the pump on his gun.

Hannah moved back to the double doors next to Tom.
  She listened at the door for a bit and then
said, “We in trouble?”

“What’s your cop gut tell you?”
  He asked.

“Bad.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m getting too.”

Hannah delved back into her Seattle police training.
  “Even with a single perp ,
he’s got site knowledge…huge advantage.  
More than one, depending on goal, we could be in real trouble.”

Tom didn’t like the sound of any of that.
  He nodded his head.
  “Let’s move up, we need to get to a
defensible location…an area with overlooking windows.”

A loud
screech
followed by a
bang
caused all of them
to spin toward the set of double doors.

“What was that?” Axel
said.

April tucked her knees up to her chest and buried her head
in her arms. Had anyone been paying
close enough attention they would have heard a soft whimpering.

Hank stood in the center of the room, rifle raised and
pointed right at the center of the doors.  
His heart was hammered in his chest.  
Flashbacks of the hot jungles of Vietnam hit him.
  Vietcong and their vicious traps…panic…fear…the
stench of death. He didn’t like this
situation one bit.

“Bear, watch the windows.”  
Tom said while pointing to the front of the room.
  He turned to Hannah, but she was already on
the move.

She had her rifle pointed at the ceiling with her other hand
reaching for the door handle. Her
movements were fluid, practiced. After a
turn of the doorknob and a slight push she stepped back lowering her rifle to a
firing position. Despite her serious
determination she let out a gasp as the door swung fully open.

“Stay left.” Hank
said from the back.

She had barely shifted to the side when Hank’s rifle
thundered
.
  An odd silence followed.
  The only sounds were Hank working the bolt, a
brass shell casing clattering to the floor, and Hank racking the bolt to jam
another round in. Another
boom
.

Hannah dropped to a knee and fired a shot down the hall.

Tom used his foot to give the other door an easy shove,
swinging it fully open so he could see what they were seeing.
  Demented stared back.
  Three lay in a heap on the floor, blood
oozing out across the tile. More were
racing over the top of their dead. A
pair of five gallon buckets propped open the far set of double doors.
  All of the demented wore heavily soiled civilian
clothes, tattered to near ruin. There
was another
boom
from Hank’s rifle
and Tom watched the nearest demented’s head explode
in a shower of red.

The
crack
of a
rifle sounded. It was distant, causing
Tom to turn. Before getting all the way
around there was a loud grunt and he saw Bear’s huge frame crash to the floor.
  Tom couldn’t see where he was hit, but blood
was spreading out from under his body, forming an ever growing crimson pool.