Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (11 page)

“But what does this have to do with not going back and helping out the survivors at Fort Hood?
”
Steele asked.

“To be blunt,
”
Melvin said, “I’m guessing there aren’t any survivors to rescue.”

“But you don’t know that, Melvin,
”
Hall said. “None of us could possibly know that.”

Butsko was about to interrupt, but Melvin silenced him with his palm.

“Phillips was a great man and a great leader, right?
”
Melvin asked everyone.

Everyone either nodded their affirmative or gave a hearty ‘fuck yeah
’
as their answer.

“His objective was to keep everyone safe,
”
Melvin continued. “If he thought the base was going to be overrun with the infected, he would have gathered together as many survivors he could and gotten them to safety.”

“How do we know he didn’t?
”
Hall asked.

“How?
”
Melvin answered. “Because he was on the radio with us, warning us not to come back.
”
Melvin let that sink in before he continued. “Chances are, Phillips wasn’t in the communication room when the attack occurred. Can we all agree on that?”

They all knew Phillips wasn’t the kind of man to sit in front of a radio all day. Phillips was a hands-on leader who would’ve been out among everyone.

“So Phillips,
”
concluded Melvin, “risked his life to get to the communication room.”

“He was warning us,
”
Hall responded, looking at the ground. “Phillips died because he knew the base was completely overrun, and he didn’t want us to return after we completed our mission.”

Silence gripped the group.

“I’m sorry, everyone,
”
Wilder finally said. “We all had friends, comrades, and even lovers at the base. But we can’t look back. We need to keep moving forward. We aren’t just out here sightseeing. We have a plan that could turn things in our favor.”

“Fort Hood has fallen,
”
Butsko added. “There’s nothing we can do about that. But let’s not allow Phillips
’
death be in vain. We still have an important mission to carry out.”

“There is something bothering me,
”
Wilder said. All eyes turned to him as he swept his arms around. “Where the hell are all the infected?”

“I assumed they killed every living thing around the golf club and moved on,
”
speculated Mears.

“Okay,
”
Wilder continued. “Then where are the reanimated dead bodies the first wave left behind?”

“Good question,
”
answered Megan. “Where the hell are they?”

Before anyone could guess, Melvin interrupted them.

“I believe,
”
Melvin said, “we’re being watched.”

4

Will to Heal Center

Spicewood Springs

The day had proven to be a busy one. After breakfast, everyone went over every square inch of the house and looked for any weaknesses. More boards were added to the already-fortified windows, and more nails were hammered into the doors. Everyone worked together, and there was a feeling in the air that made everyone uneasy.

As Joe walked in from outside, he looked around the doorframe, making sure there were no weak spots.

“Hey, Walt,
”
Joe said as he walked over to where Walt was reinforcing some boards. “I just checked on last night’s visitor in the pit. I doused the body with a little more gas and relit it.”

“It wasn’t still moving, was it?
”
Walt asked.

“No, no,
”
responded Joe. “I was just making sure it was ash.”

Hector, another counselor at the center, walked into the room.

“You guys have been busy in here,
”
Hector said as he looked around.

Walt walked forward and pulled him aside.

“Is everything okay, Walt?
”
Hector asked. “Everyone seems to be anxious today.”

“I think last night’s attack shook everyone up,
”
Walt responded.

“On the bright side,
”
Hector continued, “we haven’t had an attack in a long time.”

“I think that’s the problem,
”
Walt said. “Why attack now? And why was there only one of those things?”

“I’m just glad there weren’t more of them,
”
Hector said.

“Well, I’m starting to think we’ve outworn our time here,
”
Walt said as he looked at Hector.

“You’re not suggesting we leave, are you?
”
asked Hector, concerned. “There won’t be too many other places that have access to a well of fresh spring water.”

“I know, Hector,
”
Walt whispered. “I just think it is time to have a meeting and come up with a plan. This place isn’t gonna hold up forever,
”
he said as he looked around.

Walt squeezed Hector’s shoulder and headed back into the other room. He knew it was time for a meeting.

“Hey everyone,
”
Walt said. “Gather around.”

Just as Walt was about to announce his intentions, a loud crashing noise was heard in the other room.

“What the hell was that?
”
Joe asked as he ran into the room.

Everyone looked around at the reinforced windows and doors, but didn’t see any splintered wood. They had begun to gather in the common room, but most had run back to their rooms to gather their makeshift weapons.

Dennis had a few kitchen knives, Cheryl grabbed a thick broomstick and unscrewed the broom part, Jonas took apart a pair of hedge clippers to make two blades, and Joe had a piece of pipe the plumbers had left behind. Joe had one end of it covered in a layer of duct tape so it wouldn’t slip from his hands. The others grabbed whatever they could.

A few individuals broke away to check out the rooms. They came back with nothing to report.

“Where the hell did that noise come from?
”
Barry asked. Barry was a big burly man who used to work in the Center’s kitchen. He was the only one at the Center who had never dealt with addiction. He was just a cook.

A loud pounding sound shook the heavy front door and everyone jumped.

“Are they fucking knocking on the door?
”
Harley asked nervously.

Harley was a middle-aged woman who was being treated for her meth addiction. She had been off and on (mostly on) the drug for the last twenty years. Walt had started to make progress in her treatment as he’d applied his theories and methods, and though she’d finally started to kick her addiction, she was always jittery, and this kind of situation was not an ideal one for her to be in.

Everyone looked at Walt as though he knew what was going on.

“Everyone stay the hell away from the door,
”
Walt said as he slowly started forward. “I don’t know what’s going on, but something isn’t right.”

Walt held Stevie in striking position as he walked closer to the door. He knew that door would hold off the infected. It was a solid iron door sitting on iron-reinforced hinges. While it was rusty and squeaked like a son of a bitch, it also gave everyone a peace of mind.

Walt reached the door. Both Joe and Cheryl were a few steps behind him. They gave him room in case he needed to swing Stevie.

Walt placed his hand flat against the cool door. He looked at the others as he slowly pressed his ear against the iron.

“Do you hear anything?
”
Harley asked.

“Of course not,
”
Walt responded. “It’s a solid fucking iron door.
”

A few of the others nervously laughed as they watched Walt, Joe, and Cheryl step back and rejoin the group.

“I think whatever it was left,
”
Walt whispered to the group.

“But why the fuck was it knocking in the first place?
”
David asked.

David was an older man who had been a few days away from leaving the center during the initial outbreak. He stood six feet tall and didn’t look anywhere near the sixty-one years he had under his belt. Part of David’s success in treating his addiction was exercise. He was always in the gym and lifted weights, ran around the grounds, and rode the stationary bike. David believed his unhealthy mind was a result of an unhealthy body.

David’s preferred weapon was an axe that was in the groundkeeper’s shed. When he wasn’t splitting zombie’s skulls, he liked to chop wood, and as a result had broad shoulders and thick biceps.

Just as David posed his question, the loud banging began once again, but this time it seemed to be all around the room. It was deafening.

A few of the group placed their hands over their ears.

The noise got louder and seemed to go on forever, but Walt was concerned about something else. The noise wasn’t just coming from outside. Walt could’ve sworn it was coming from above them as well.

Walt looked up and saw dust falling from the rafters, but before he could warn the others, a small section of the roof caved in and six zombies jumped down.

Everyone scattered. Louis, a carpenter being treated for a pill addiction, was armed with a claw hammer and a cross-peen hammer and wasted no time as he swung the tools around. He caught one of the zombies on the side of the head with the cross-peen hammer and watched in glee as the creature’s head came apart.

Louis
’
other swing wasn’t so lucky. The claw part of the hammer jammed into the neck of one of the attackers, and Louis couldn’t dislodge it.

As he let go of the claw hammer, Louis swung the cross-peen hammer toward the zombie and caught it on the shoulder. The zombie staggered back a bit, but reached out and caught Louis
’
arm before he had a chance to pull the hammer back. The zombie bit into Louis
’
shoulder and ripped out a piece of meat the size of a racquetball.

Louis howled in agony as the creature leaned in and bit out the rest of his deltoid muscle. Louis grabbed the handle of the claw hammer sticking out of the zombie’s neck and pulled with all his strength. As the zombie turned to rip his throat out, Louis drove the hammer’s claw into the top of the monster’s head. The creature’s eyes looked up as if it were trying to see what was invading its skull.

The zombie let Louis go, and with his undamaged arm, Louis grabbed the hammer and pulled the zombie down with his quickly fading strength. It fell to its knees, and Louis drove his knee up under the creature’s chin. The thing’s mouth slammed shut and the sudden force made the hammer jam even further into its skull.

The zombie collapsed and Louis dropped on top of it. With the bio-nanotechnology coursing through his system, Louis was only seconds away from death. He closed his eyes as the infection began to shut down all his biological functions.

Janis watched what happened to Louis and knew there was no time to mourn his loss. She looked down, saw a poker laying inside the fireplace, and reached for it.

Walt, Dennis, Cheryl, Jonas, Joe, Harley, David, and Samantha ran to different parts of the center. Three zombies chased after them.  This left Hector, Barry, and Janis to handle the infected that remained.

Hector was the only one who didn’t have a weapon in hand and tried to reach Louis
’
discarded cross-peen hammer. One of the zombie’s noticed and ran toward him. Hector panicked. He tried to jump over the sofa, but got caught on the front of it with his sneaker and toppled over the furniture.

Hector screamed, but grabbed a thick pillow from the sofa and placed it across his torso. When the pursuing zombie landed on him, Hector pushed as the pillow between them to try and keep the zombie’s gnashing mouth away from his neck and face. The zombie was strong and pushed down harder.

Hector looked to his left and saw the cross-peen hammer. He reached for it, but the hammer was out of reach. The zombie pressed down harder, and his right arm was weakening as he tried to hold the creature back.

The fingers of his left hand touched the wooden handle of the hammer, but he couldn’t get his hand around it.

Hector shifted his body weight to the left side and felt the hammer in his hand.

The creature was determined to make a meal of Hector’s insides. With a final lunge, the zombie pushed all its weight on Hector, but the sudden shift allowed Hector to grasp the hammer.

Hector lifted the hammer and swung it in a high arc towards the zombie’s head.