Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (20 page)

“We need to get the fuck out of the cellar!
”
yelled Darren. “More are gonna get in and we don’t wanna let them corner us!”

Darren led the way to the cellar door as he swung his machete. The machete was sharpened to a deadly edge and had a long row of jagged teeth on the spine of the blade. No matter which direction Darren swung the blade, zombies fell left and right.

David joined Darren as they made a push to get through the cellar door.

“Be careful, everyone!
”
Darren yelled as they fought toward the door. “I don’t know what the hell is waiting for us outside!”

As Joe walked past Jonas
’
lifeless body, he picked up the discarded M1.

As they approached the two steps that led out of the cellar, Darren was distracted by a zombie that moved on the floor next to him. He veered to the left, away from the cellar door, and buried the machete into the zombie’s skull. As he looked back, Darren watched as a zombie leapt through the cellar door.

Before Darren could shout a warning to the group, the zombie wrapped its arms around Dennis
’
neck.

Dennis thrashed back and forth. The zombie was a kid, no older than eight or nine, but the infection gave it considerable strength. Dennis swung around in an attempt to loosen the creature’s grip around his neck.

The others yelled to Dennis to stop thrashing about.

Dennis
’
movements only made the zombie hold on tighter. Joe and Samantha yelled at Dennis to stop moving so they could help, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Dennis panicked as he felt the creature’s arms tighten around his neck. Dennis stabbed at the monster with his knife, but missed the creature and stabbed himself in the shoulder instead.

“Get this fucking thing off of me!
”
Dennis shouted.

“Stop moving around!
”
Joe shouted back.

As Samantha brought the bat up to attempt to knock the creature off of Dennis
’
back, she saw the thing sink its teeth into Dennis
’
skull. Samantha looked on in horror as she heard its teeth crack through the bone.

Dennis
’
eyes went wide and he stopped thrashing about. Blood flowed down his face as he realized what had happened.

Samantha couldn’t stop her tears as she watched Dennis fall to the ground. The zombie had pulled off a teacup-sized portion of Dennis
’
skull and was greedily shoveling Dennis
’
brains into its mouth.

Dennis collapsed onto his stomach, and three other zombies fell and tore apart his body.

“Come on!
”
yelled Joe as he grabbed Samantha’s arm. “We need to get the fuck out of here.
”
Samantha snapped out of her trance as she watched the monsters eat Dennis. She looked up and saw Darren’s boot leaving the cellar door. He was outside and needed all their back up. She hammered the baseball bat into the forehead of an attacking zombie and went to join Darren and David outside.

*****

On the other side of the basement, Walt and Cheryl walked up the staircase toward the false wall.

“You know this is a terrible plan, right?
”
Cheryl calmly asked.

“Yes, I do,
”
Walt responded.

The staircase was wide enough that Walt and Cheryl could walk side-by-side. The pounding on the fake wall was getting louder.

“It is like those bastards know we’re in here,
”
Walt said somberly.

“Great,
”
Cheryl said. “We can add ‘super hearing
’
to their list of powers.”

Walt looked at Cheryl and smiled. Walt was glad to have Cheryl next to him. She was a fierce fighter and never backed down.

Walt flinched as a zombie threw itself against the other side of the fake wall. Walt and Cheryl watched as the wood splintered and dust flew in the air.

“It’s almost through,
”
Cheryl said anxiously. “What’s the plan, Walt?”

“I really don’t have a plan,
”
Walt admitted. “I never got past the ‘we need the drugs in the pharmacy
’
stage.”

Cheryl looked at Walt with hardened eyes, but before she could say anything, a zombie’s arm broke through the false wall.

Without hesitating, Cheryl grabbed the creature’s arm and pulled it through the wall and down the staircase. She ran after it, slammed her broomstick into its throat, and pinned it down. She used her other foot to stomp on the zombie’s head until all that remained was a bloody, pulpy mess.

Cheryl ran back up the stairs. In her absence, Walt had been forced to hold back two other zombies from getting through the hole.

“I think there may be one or two more behind these!
”
Walt yelled.

Cheryl grabbed Stevie out of Walt’s hands.

“Pull the fucker through the door,
”
Cheryl said.

Walt stepped back, and the zombie that held onto his shirt appeared through the hole.

Cheryl brought Stevie down on the creature’s arm. Its bones shattered beneath Cheryl’s blow, and Walt was able to escape the zombie’s grasp.

Cheryl handed Stevie back to Walt, and he thrust Stevie into the zombie’s stomach, pushing it back further into the kitchen.

Cheryl jabbed the broomstick through the hole in the door and caught a zombie in the eye socket. She pushed with all her strength until monster stumbled back.

This allowed Walt and Cheryl enough room to safely enter the kitchen.

Walt crouched down and went through the hole first and was greeted by the reanimated body of Barry. Barry had bite marks all over his body and his cheeks had been torn off his face. Barry’s eyes had the same look as Hector’s had. There was nothing remotely human left inside. Barry was nothing more than a meat machine who acted on pure instinct. All that drove Barry now was to kill, eat, and infect.

Walt immediately brought Stevie up from his crouching position and caught Barry underneath the chin. Barry’s head snapped back, and Walt could’ve sworn he heard a cracking noise from Barry’s neck.

Walt saw Stevie’s nails as they poked through Barry’s mouth. Walt kicked Barry in the chest and sent him stumbling back as he dislodged Stevie from Barry’s chin.

Barry ran back toward Walt, but this time Walt was ready.

Walt stood in a batter’s stance, and when Barry was at arm’s length, Walt swung Stevie.

Stevie sunk into the side of Barry’s neck and head and temporarily stopped Barry’s assault. Using Stevie, Walt pushed Barry to the ground, freed Stevie from its fleshy target, and then crushed Barry’s head with one final blow.

Walt turned and saw Cheryl had pushed the refrigerator on top of two zombies. One of the creature’s heads had been crushed by its weight, while the other zombie was pinned by its legs.

As Walt and Cheryl caught their breaths, Walt walked over to the trapped zombie and smashed its skull.

“The pharmacy isn’t too far away,
”
Walt said as he breathed heavily.

“I sure hope your plan works,
”
said Cheryl.

“Barry had the same look in his eyes as Hector,
”
Walt said. “I’m more certain than ever that my plan is going to work.”

4

Lago Vista Clubhouse

Lago Vista, Texas

“Hold on, hold on,
”
Trunst said as he stood and held his hands up. “You’re telling us you want to detonate a nuclear weapon with the hopes it will possibly destroy the nanotechnology that’s controlling the infected?”

“Not exactly,
”
Butsko said.

“Then where the hell is the EMP blast going to come from?
”
asked Hall.

“Warfare,
”
replied Butsko, “is a funny thing. It’s not enough to just have the nukes. Nuclear weapons required a lot of upkeep.”

The others were focused on Butsko’s words. They’d all been around Butsko long enough to know that he never spoke just to hear his own voice. Whenever Butsko spoke, whatever he said was important.

“Nuclear weapons aren’t Legos,
”
Butsko explained. “As the technology advances, so does the upkeep. Some warheads get replaced, others get refurbished, and various equipment gets upgraded. This all comes at a very high price.”

“If I’m not mistaken,
”
Melvin interrupted, “the U.S. government spends around twenty-billion dollars a year on its nuclear arsenal.”

“That’s a pretty close number,
”
replied Butsko as he looked at Melvin. “And buried within that budget is money spent on the research and development of new, cutting-edge nuclear weapons.”

Butsko let that sink in as he looked at everyone. Sitting in the VIP room in the golf clubhouse as they talked about nuclear weapons and EMP blasts was surreal. If not for the topic of conversation, Butsko could almost trick himself into believing they were just a bunch of friends sitting around chatting.

Butsko knew, though, that what they were talking about might just save the world.

Maybe.

“Buried in the nuclear weapons budget for decades,
”
Butsko continued, “was money set aside for researching non-nuclear EMP technology.”

“Not too far from here,
”
Wilder said, “was a place called Schoepke Springs. It was a popular place to go hiking, camping, and swimming in naturally heated springs.”

“I know I could use a vacation,
”
said Vasquez.

Ignoring her, Wilder continued.

“All the land that the camping, hiking, and natural springs was located on,
”
said Wilder, “was owned by the Schoepke family, and had been for decades.”

“Since the early 1950s,
”
added Butsko.

“Underneath the springs is a top-security research lab,
”
continued Wilder, “that has been the leader in non-nuclear EMP research since the late 1990s. And like Butsko said before, not only were the scientists there successful—they weaponized it.”

“So sitting about fifty miles away from us is an arsenal of non-nuclear EMP bombs?
”
asked Mears.

“That’s what we’re hoping,
”
answered Butsko. “One thing I know for sure is that the research facility underneath Schoepke Springs was not conducting research on bio-nanotechnology.”

“Well, thank fucking God for that,
”
Steele added.

“The military decommissioned Schoepke back in 1990,
”
Butsko continued, “but suspected that the Schoepke’s kept their research going. The military kept a close eye on the Schoepke family from a distance.”

“So what the hell are we waiting for?
”
asked Jones. “We need to get our asses over there and find that bomb.”

“I hate to break it to you,
”
said Wilder, “but we’re already on that mission.”

“What we need is an organized and carefully planned course of action,
”
Butsko continued. “Other than having a layout of the facility, we have absolutely no other intel on the Schoepke labs.”

Butsko looked around at everyone as he spoke.

“We have no idea if the facility is overrun with the infected, we have no idea if there’s anyone holed up deep inside the labs,
”
Butsko continued, “and we certainly have no idea if the bombs even work.”

“Or if the bombs are even in the facility,
”
Melvin added.

“That’s a lot of ‘ifs,’
”
Fisher said.

“What we do know,
”
added Wilder, “is that if we sit here and do nothing, we’ll be dead in the next six months.”

“Okay,
”
said Cain as he stood from his plush, leather chair. “What’s the plan?”

“Gather around,
”
Butsko said as he smiled.

The others didn’t know what to make of Butsko’s smile. Either Butsko had everything all planned out, or he was about to suggest a plan so insane that the others would run away.

Butsko rarely smiled.

5

Will to Heal Center

Spicewood, Texas

Darren was surprised there wasn’t a horde of zombies outside the cellar doors for them. There were only six creatures waiting for them as they emerged from below, but Darren didn’t get a good look into the woods.