Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour (3 page)

“Here,
no one ever is,”
Wesley
replied.

I
squeezed past the group and looked at a security monitor, revealing several
different areas of the building.

A
kitchen caught my eye. The fridge hung open, and all its shelves were empty.
From the look of it, all the cabinets were bare. The other cameras showed
various rooms with TVs and game console development kits. Not a soul anywhere.

“I
think your friends bailed on you.”

He
stormed to the desk and peered at all of the screens.

“They
just went out to score some achievements, right?” I smirked.

In
the lower corner, a camera flickered. In a doorway labeled parking garage, a
lone figure stood, holding a gore-covered arm in its hands. Wesley didn’t
speak. His friends hadn’t gone for achievements, instead they had become one.

Achievement
unlocked; “Zombie Chow.”

LEVEL 04 – QUALITY ASSURANCE

“Wes, what’s
wrong?” Tiffany asked.

The
Zombie Killer ignored her. He chewed on his bottom lip, eyes fixated on the
security monitor. He needed to face reality, but the cogs in his head were
ticking. His friends were dead.

The
living Corpse on the screen lifted the human drumstick. It sank in its broken
fangs and ripped out a chunk. As it chewed, gore dribbled down its chin.

Guilt
edged into my mind.

“Wesley,
I'm sorry.”

He
didn't seem to hear my apology. Instead, he just leaned on the desk, still deep
in some far off world.

I
looked at the Gamer's Guild. They weren’t really my friends, but I couldn’t
imagine losing one of them to a Corpse. Like it or not, we were now a party.

Jessie
and I exchanged glances, and she shook her head. Wesley needed time.

I
joined the Guild, by the entrance. No one could find words. The banging on the
front door continued, never-ending.
The tall, zombified
figure, smeared bloody handprints with each slam.

After
several more thuds, I couldn’t take anymore. “I'm going to look around.”

Everyone,
save Wesley, shot me a look.

“You’re
insane!” Dave said. “Those things are in here.”

“Don't
go, please,” Jessie said.

I
examined the dagger Wesley had given me. “Someone’s gotta do it.”

“I'll
go with him,” Jeff spoke up. “I don’t fancy standing around.”

Instead
of a glare, he had a blank look, almost peaceful. Had he finally accepted the
ZPoc
?

I
wouldn’t refuse his company. He carried a gun, which exponentially could
increase one’s chances of survival.

“Let's
go, then,” I said.

Jeff
nodded, and we walked toward the hallway labeled ‘Development’.

Wesley
held up his hand. “Wait! Stay away from the Development Wing. That's where the
garage is.”

“R-right,”
I said.

We
took the other hall labeled, ‘Offices’. No more than a few steps had passed
before he muttered, “
Noobs
.”

I
opened my mouth to snap back but instead sighed deeply.

“Jerk,”
I whispered and hurried to keep up with Jeff.

Taking
the corner, I slammed right into him.

“Don’t
do that!” I breathed. “I almost stabbed you.”

Jeff
turned back. “Meh. We need a game plan, ya know?”

I
peeked down the hall. “You're right. What do you suggest?”

“You're
shorter, so you should go first.”

“W-why
me?”

“You
can't see past me. So what good would it do for you to provide backup?”

The
truth of being the short one burned my pride, but I couldn't argue. “Right, you
shoot over me if anything.”

“Exactly,”
Jeff said.

I
scurried in front, noting that Jeff towered over me by at least half a foot.
Even with my dagger, my pulse pounded in my ears. The dark floor tiles made the
shoes of the statues blend, making it harder to tell if one were real.

Stupid
statues!

I
checked each one, making sure none moved so much as an inch. Several tense
seconds passed.

“Go
already,” Jeff whispered.

As
I went, I stared intently at each statue. They were too realistic, from the
deep cuts on their faces, to the ragged clothing. Before we had gone past
three, I stabbed each one in a panic. Jeff could only chuckle.

After
the first hall, we found the offices. The first read. “Ben
McRoy
.”
I approached the door and pushed. It creaked open and revealed nothing more
than a messy desk, covered in papers and junk food. It looked secure.

“It
looks empty,” I said.

“Someone
was recently here, though,” Jeff pointed.

A
bottle of beer sat on a small end table. It still had the sweat on the dark
glass

I
picked up the still-cold bottle. “Maybe some of Wesley's friends are alive?
There's no blood.”

Jeff
shrugged. “Makes you wonder exactly how prepared they really were.”

“If
they were drinking? Who knows? Isn't that a sure-fire way to get yourself
killed in a movie?”

“Well,
let's see if we can find the poor bastard,” Jeff said.

I
closed the door behind us and walked up to the next office that belonged to a ‘Serenade
Kennedy'.

The
door opened without a squeal. This room appeared a stark contrast to the prior.
Everything looked pristine. Papers were in perfect piles without even a stray
corner sticking out, and a shelf behind the desk stood lined with anime action
figures and little plush dolls of cats and other cutesy animals. Even those
were set up from largest to smallest, and aligned to perfection.

“Okay.
This office belonged to a chick.” I said.

“And
she was hot,” Jeff said.

“Huh?
How's that?”

Jeff
picked up a picture frame from a bookshelf and held it up.

“She
was boiling!” he grinned.

“Let
me see!” I reached, and he pulled away, grinning.

“Why
do you care?” he asked, “You have the hots for Jessie.”

A
twisting knot of butterflies swarmed in my stomach.

“N-no!”
My cheeks burned.

An
electrical hum filled the air, spreading around the room, and outside the hall.

“What's
that?” I asked.

“C'mon,
admit it. You like her.”

“I'm
serious! What was that?” I hissed.

“I
need to know, man. Tell me.”

He
still held the picture frame. The woman had long black hair, perfect green
shining eyes, and tan skin.
A real beauty.
But she
didn't compare to Jessie, who had fair, freckled skin and beautiful red hair.

The
humming escalated, and the emergency lights cut out. My first instinct kicked
in, and I tried to hide, but Jeff grabbed my arm. “Don't move.”

His
tone sent chills ricocheting through me.

A
scraping sound came from somewhere nearby. It sounded just like nails on a
chalkboard.

I
tensed, trying to fight the panic. “Where is it?”

“Shuddup!”
He said.

I
listened. The scraping seemed too close.
 

Despite
blinded, my sense of hearing didn’t get any better. Images of a zombie chewing
on my leg flashed through my head.

“Run!”
Jeff shouted.

His
heavy footfalls echoed down the hall, leaving me alone.

“Wait
up!” I wanted to follow but fear paralyzed my legs. A silhouette of a zombie
statue down the hall looked like it moved. Or did it? Maybe it did! Maybe they
all were real and waited to tear into us!

Tears
welled up in my eyes. Terror filled me like never before. How could I get past
them, and back to the others?

Then
came a single gunshot followed by a girl's scream. Jessie? Tiffany? Maybe one
of the employees! Serenade maybe? But the cold realization chilled me to the
bone. It couldn't be Serenade because she scraped the floor right behind me.

My
legs got yanked from under me, and I screamed. My head hit a cabinet, and
plushies rained down. The living corpse dug her nails into my shoe. She groaned
and grabbed my jeans, pulling herself. I reached for my dagger, but my
fingertips sent it skidding into the hall.

Serenade
the Corpse, screeched in a hissing rage and pulled me under the desk.

“No!
No! No!” I screamed.

I
pulled back my leg as hard as I could and kicked with the other. My foot landed
in her mouth, and the hissing moan skipped like a record. I crawled back enough
to get my hand within dagger's reach. But she had me again! She lunged, and I
jerked to the side. Her head hit the floor.

“Help!”
I pleaded.

Again,
I reached for my dagger, but I couldn't get my fingers around the handle. She
reeled me back in like a fish. I reached for leverage to pull myself away and
grabbed a drawer of the cabinet. The whole thing came crashing down, and I
dodged just in time. But now my dagger had ended up on the other side.

As
things bounced from the opened drawers, a beam of light shot out from under the
desk.

A
heavy silver flashlight! I grabbed it and aimed the beam at Serenade. Once the
beautiful woman from the picture, she now had eyes that were no longer pretty.
They were dull green and filled with the hunger of a feral beast. Her green
veins bulged as she bared her fangs sending spittle and blood all over.

I
kicked her not-pretty face, but she came back hissing and snapping. My only weapons
were small items lying around, so I started throwing them. A plushy cat, a hard
plastic cartoon unicorn, a little basketball with a large Z on it! Nothing
proved to be a useful weapon!

She
lunged higher up, past my leg and neared my inner thigh. Now I couldn't kick.
The moment of death had come.

But
I held a large, and heavy flashlight.

I
brought it up, and as she lunged, slammed the makeshift weapon down and smashed
the handle into her skull. Brain matter splattered my face, but she continued
to twitch, so I went insane. I brought up the flashlight, smashed it down,
brought it up,
smashed
it down, over and over, until
it hit the floor beneath the bloody mess of her once beautiful, little head.
The Corpse stopped thrashing.

Leaning
back against the fallen cabinet, I could hear only my heartbeat. I stayed there
for many long moments, catching my breath. Finally, I shoved the dead body away
and examined my legs to make sure there were no bites. Adrenaline could have
covered the pain, maybe. I thanked the gaming gods when I didn’t find a
scratch. The only injury had come from hitting my head.

“That
was too close.”

I
held up the flashlight and shined it around the room to make sure no more
Corpses hid in the shadows.

Safe.
But what about the gunshot and the scream?

I
tried to stand, but slipped in the gore. Once again, I smacked my head into
something hard.

Everything
went fuzzy and seemed to slow down. Somewhere nearby I heard more noise.
Footsteps? Scraping? I cursed and grabbed the bottom of the office door,
slamming it shut. I pushed all my weight against the cabinet, reinforcing the
jam. Holding the flashlight to my chest, I clicked off the light. Something
pounded on the door, just like the monotonous pounding of the Corpse outside
the front entrance.

“You're
not going to get me,” I whispered, fading in and out of consciousness.

I
had just survived a near death experience, and another flesh crazed monster
stood outside the door! Who ever said things were meant to be fair? My family
didn't tend to me; no girls ever liked me or gave me a nickname. No friends to
speak of unless you counted NPCs in video games. They were my friends.
Characters were my friends, but they couldn't come to my rescue. Not even Jeff,
whom for a brief moment, at least, I thought had my back. Of course, he too had
run away.

I
leaned back and whimpered as the stinking Corpse pushed hard against the door,
trying its damnedest to get in. Not budging. I would starve first before
getting torn apart. I would never let them get me. Never. Ever.

LEVEL 05 – PLAYER ONE PRESS START

Somewhere in
the darkness, I heard a young girl say, “Press Start.”

It
took a moment to respond. What did they mean?

“What?”
I asked.

“I
said, ‘Press Start’!” the same voice demanded. “
Unpause
the game or else!”

I
tried to spot her, but I couldn't see anything.

“This
isn’t the time for video games!” I argued.

She
shot back, “If you don’t press the stupid button right now, I'll go home!”

I
might have pushed the button to get her to quiet down so the Corpse outside
would go away, but I didn’t have a controller, and we weren't playing a game.
We were in real life and that an undead monster stood just outside the door.
Couldn’t she hear it?

“Okay,
Zachary! That’s it! You’re no fun at all!”

She
sounded like Tiffany, but I'd never played a video game with her. I only played
them alone, right? Everything felt fuzzy.

“I’ll
give you one last chance! If you want to be my boyfriend, press start and play
the game! Stop being such a coward!”

Boyfriend?
Tiffany didn’t like me; in fact, she hated me. She didn’t even want me saying
her name. But something seemed wrong about that. I'd said her name before; it
felt right coming off my lips. Tiffany liked it. She even liked the nickname
I'd given her, ‘
Tiffa
’.

How
did I know all of this? I could almost swear we'd grown up together. All of the
answers existed in the vortex inside of my mind.

The
door shuddered and snapped me to the present. The Corpse pounded harder, trying
to get to its next meal.

“Zachary
Mastiff!” Tiffany shouted. “Open the door! I won't say it again!”

“
Tiffa
?” My eyes popped open, and I lay in the same dark
office. Serenade's body rested on my legs. I still had the flashlight clutched
in my hands, and the light shone on the pile of mush that'd been her head.

“Zach,
are you alive in there?” Tiffany shouted. “If you got yourself killed
I’ll—”

“You’ll
what?” Dave interjected. “You sound like you’re worried about the
Noob
.”

Tiffany
snapped. “Hell no! We need all the numbers we can. If you forgot, Wesley
wandered off!”

“Find
him on your own.” Jeff said, “It’s like you want every guy to be your
boyfriend.

“No
way! I don’t want a boyfriend! I—I don’t even like boys!”

“So
you like girls?” Dave snorted. “Hear that, Jessie?”

“What
is that supposed to mean?” Jessie grumbled. “I’m not into girls.”

“And
neither am I!” Tiffany said.

“This
is annoying. Try pushing the door again.” Jeff said, “If we don’t hear him in
their groaning, then he isn’t a zombie, at least not yet.”

“You
do it!” Tiffany said, “I’m tired of trying. If I hear anyone else put me in a
romantic ‘hypothetical’ again, I’m punching them in the nuts!”

All
went silent until the door exploded off of its hinges and the filing cabinet
shot forward sending me tumbling and landing upside down. My head ached, and
the light burned my eyes.

“Hey,
the power is back on!” Dave cheered.

“Zach!”
Jessie and Tiffany both cried at the same time.

Someone
started lifting me, but then flung and slammed me into the wall, sending a
sharp pain cracking up my back.

“What’d
you do that for, Moron?” Tiffany snapped.

“He’s
got blood on him,” Jeff replied. “Coulda been one of them.”

“He’s
still breathing,” Jessie said. “Oh thank the gods.”

“Which
gods?” I murmured.

“The
gaming ones, idiot.” Tiffany groaned.

I
looked up and found Jessie kneeling before me. Her eyes were red from crying,
and her lips quivered as if she were about to burst into another flood of
tears. Tiffany stood behind her, arms across her chest. Her lips and eyebrows
were twitching
;
probably from annoyance.

Jessie
threw herself, wrapping both arms around my neck.

“I
was worried!” Jessie said. “I heard the commotion from the front. By the time
Jeff got back, and he was alone, I thought, well, you know.”

“We
figured you were dead,” Tiffany said.

“I
almost did die. There was a Corpse in the office. The power went out; Jeff took
off, and then it attacked me.”

“So
Jeff ran before the attack?” Dave snorted.

Jeff
punched Dave’s arm. “Don’t make me sound like a coward!”

Dave
burst into laughter and slapped his knee. “But you are!”

The
dynamic duo continued to argue.
But what about the gunshot
from earlier?

I
sat up straight. “The gunfire! What happened?”

Tiffany
shrugged. “Wesley went to check the other wing, and I guess he shot a zombie.
It made Jessie scream.”

“Aren’t
you worried about him?” I asked.

She
shook her head. “I’m not worried about anyone but myself. But we should see if
we can find Mr. Zombie Killing Hat.”

“Probably.
He might score too many ‘points’.” I forced a grin.

“Drop
the game references.” Tiffany grumbled walking away; gun held before her.

“Wesley
started it.” I muttered, but she'd already left.

Jessie
leaned in and kissed my cheek. My heart nearly burst from my chest, and my
stomach curled into knots.

She
whispered, “Please be careful.
 
I
don’t know what I'll do if I lose you.”

My
face burned red as Jessie turned and hurried after Tiffany. Dave gave a grunt
of annoyance and followed. He stumbled over my leg but caught himself on a
zombie statue.

“Careful,
Noob
!” Dave murmured.

Jeff
grabbed my collar, pulling me to my feet. “Sorry about leaving you behind. I
thought you were behind me.”

I
shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I scored my first ‘point’.”

“Good
job. Gross, though, you got zombie all over you.”

“Just
some Corpse brains.”

Jeff
rubbed his chin. “Corpses? Nice name for 'em.”

“I
guess.”

“Sounds
better than ‘zombie’ for some reason. Funny you know, in most zombie stuff they
never call them 'zombies.'“

“I
know, right?”

Jeff
and I shared a laugh. Despite leaving me, maybe he wanted to be my friend?

Back
in the entry room, the girls examined the security monitors. Dave, on the other
hand, stared unblinkingly at the front doors, where that same Corpse still
pounded on the glass. Another shadow joined the first, this one wearing a
wide-brimmed hat. Instead of pounding, it just stood there, unmoving.

“Any
sign of Zombie Killer?” I asked.

“Not
him or his hat,” Tiffany said.

Jessie
pointed at the screen. “Only one camera came back on. The one from near the
garage.”

“Yeah
and that zombie from earlier is gone,” Tiffany added.

Jeff
shrugged. “Let’s split up and look for him.”

Dave
threw his hands up. “When has that ever been a good idea? Do you think thinning
our numbers will help?”

“It
was only a joke, man. Calm down.”

“Sorry,”
Dave muttered. “It’s gonna get dark soon. What if the lights go out again?”

“I
guess we’re on the backup power,” Tiffany as monitor light contoured her face. “Game
companies need to leave computers and consoles on for extended periods of time.
They couldn’t risk a power failure, so it’s only a guess, but I think we have
some time.”

“We
better get this over with,” I said.

“I’m
staying right here.” Dave crossed his arms.

Jessie’s
eyes were full of fear, and even Jeff looked hesitant.

“Tiffany
and I will go,” I said.

“Who
made you Big Boss?” She asked.

“You
had me lead you back at the school.”

“Didn’t
go so well, did it?” Dave said.

I
narrowed my eyes. “How about you lead?”

“Hell
no!”

I
summoned my courage and held my hand out. “Jeff, I need your gun.”

He
hesitantly handed me the pistol. “It’s a Smith & Wesson. Only holds ten
bullets, plus one in the chamber.”

“Gun
expert?” I asked.

“No,
First-Person Shooter expert.”

“Funny
how those two go hand-in-hand nowadays,” I grinned.

“Our
skills are what will keep us alive.”

“Gamers
vs. the Zombie Apocalypse.” I laughed. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long
time, haven’t we?”

Tiffany
groaned. “Just don’t think you can press Start and run away. This is real life.”

“Press
Start?” I asked. She'd said the same in my dream, but it had to be a
coincidence.

Tiffany
walked towards the unexplored hall. “You coming?”

“Right
behind you!”

She
stopped me after several strides. “Hold your weapons like this. With the dagger
down and the gun up, better reaction time.”

“And
you learned this from games?”

For
the first time, she grinned. “Stealth games are my forte.”

I
took up the position, and we continued, past more zombie statues. Every time we
came to an open door we closed it. We didn’t need a Corpse sneaking up on us.

Many
of the TVs and computers were still on, and most were pause screens from
various games.

“Did
these guys just ignore everything going on outside?” I asked.

“Wesley
said they were prepared,” Tiffany said. “Maybe they just wanted to have fun
until the end?”

We
came to the open kitchen area, which smelled of melted nacho cheese and
processed ham.

“Someone
was cooking something,” I said.

A
splash of red splattered the inside of the microwave.
Sauce
or blood?
I didn’t want to know.

“Maybe
they were on lunch when it went down,” Tiffany said. “It is around noon by now.”

I
sighed, closing the microwave and fridge. “They never expected to be on the
menu.”

“Enough
dilly-dallying.” She waved me along.

Soon
we found ourselves in a huge open room. We walked past the gaming stations. One
TV screen caught my attention. The graphics were intensely realistic.

“What’s
this?” I leaned in close.

The
screen read, ‘Omega Virus’ developed by G.O.D. Mode Games. I didn't know the
company.

“Hey,
Tiff. Ever heard of—?”

“Don’t
call me Tiff!” She spun on me.

I threw up my arms
,
afraid she would shoot
. “I-
I'm
sorry!”

She
sighed. “Tiffany.
It’s
just Tiffany.”

When
I lowered my arms, she had already moved on. I ran after her and came into the
next hall, which I recognized from the security monitors. We'd found the
garage; door wide open. Inside most of the cars were missing from their spots,
which suggested most of the employees escaped, but a large pile bodies
contradicted my reasoning. Many of which still twitched, or had grasping hands
and gnashing teeth.

A
decapitated head sat by Tiffany's foot, slowly opening and closing its jaws.
Tiffany looked down without pity and kicked it like a soccer ball. The head
bounced and rolled away. Wesley stood up from behind the pile, grinning. “I see
you’re alive still.”

Tiffany
didn’t say a word as Wesley kneeled down and picked up the decapitated head.

“Watch
out!” I warned.

I
winced expecting it to bite him, but he held it from underneath.

Wesley
sighed and shouted. “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis
nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to
take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?”

Once
again Wesley was reciting Shakespeare.

I
laughed. “Did you know him well?”

“Nah,”
Wesley said, sounding so solemn, I almost cried. “I didn’t know this guy at
all. He was probably a
noob
. You know the bottom
level of the PvP ladder. Game Tester, or if you want to be technical, Quality
Assurance Team Members.”

“So
kill it,” I said. “It’ll bite you.”

“Yeah,
yeah,” Wesley said.

He
dropped the head and stomped it in with the heel of his boot.

Wesley
shrugged. “I haven’t found a single higher up.”