Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (23 page)

Walt filled a syringe with the antipsychotic drug Haldol, recapped it, and put it in his pocket. He then slung the duffle bag over his shoulder as he walked toward the pharmacy door.

“I don’t think we should go back out through the massage room,
”
Walt said. “Those bastards might be waiting for us to do that.”

“Looks like we have one option,
”
Cheryl pointed out, “through the pharmacy door.”

“Should we go back out through the kitchen and down into the cellar to get outside?
”
Walt asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,
”
answered Cheryl. “After the explosion, I only saw Darren outside. The others were barricaded in the gardener’s shed.”

“So?
”
Walt asked.

“That shed wouldn’t be able to fit more than three people,
”
Cheryl explained, “and we know Jonas didn’t make it.”

Walt waited for Cheryl to make her point.

“There was six of them,
”
continued Cheryl. “I saw Darren, and Jonas is right here. That leaves four more.”

Cheryl let the rest of her thought trail off.

“We don’t know that one more of them didn’t make it,
”
Walt argued. “If they were scared enough, all four of them would have crammed into that shed.”

“True,
”
Cheryl agreed. “But what if you’re wrong?”

An image of a basement full of zombies feeding on one of his friends flashed into Walt’s mind.

“Okay,
”
Walt finally said. “I guess the basement is out.”

“I guess that leaves going out the front door,
”
Cheryl reasoned.

“I guess it does,
”
Walt agreed.

8

Lago Vista Golf Club

Lago Vista, Texas

Melvin put on another pot of coffee as Butsko outlined his plan.

“The good news,
”
said Butsko, “is that a direct path to Spicewood is only ten miles away. Unfortunately, we don’t have a direct route. The Colorado River is in our way.”

Butsko looked around the room.

“Driving distance,
”
Butsko continued, “is around forty-five miles.”

“Fucking Texas,
”
muttered Vasquez.

“We have both the fuel and the supplies to get to Spicewood,
”
added Wilder, “but after this mission, we’re gonna be running on fumes on both fronts.”

“We’re hoping that Spicewood hasn’t been hit too hard with the infection,
”
continued Butsko as he heard a few groans.

“But let’s not look past the mission at hand,
”
said Butsko as he talked over the others. “I know the exact spot of the facility, and I know a private entrance that the military snuck into the design.”

This got the attention of the others.

“There won’t be as many security features on this particular hidden entrance,
”
Butsko explained. “This was installed, unknown to the Schoepke’s, in case the military ever lost control of the facility and needed to retake it.”

“Heinrich Schoepke,
”
Wilder explained, “was not a man to trust. He was brilliant, but twisted.”

“So we have the route there and an access into the facility,
”
Mears summarized. “Where are the bombs located?”

“That,
”
Butsko said, “we don’t know.”

Groans erupted from the tired group.

“But I do know,
”
Butsko said, louder, “that Schoepke’s grandson, Josef, who was as twisted and untrustworthy as Heinrich, had a facility built underneath the original one the military built.”

“What the fuck?
”
said Steele, “Are the Schoepke’s goddamn James Bond villains?”

“Not that far from it,
”
said Butsko with a straight face. “This family had pretty much unlimited financial resources, and Josef would do anything to keep his grandfather Heinrich’s legacy alive.”

“The government knew about the other facility,
”
Wilder said. “They let Josef think he had the upper hand because the research he was doing was beyond anything being done in the military.”

“The government also had moles on the inside,
”
added Butsko. “The government always had eyes and intel on what was going on in there.”

“Uncle Sam,
”
said Wilder, “just wasn’t good at sharing that info. They were afraid it would get back to Josef.”

“Do we at least have an idea where the EMP bombs are?
”
asked Jones.

“Yes,
”
Wilder answered. “An idea.
”

“There are three main research areas in the new facility Josef built,
”
explained Butsko. “One area was the EMP research and the two other areas are unknown.”

“Unknown?
”
asked Melvin.

“Apparently the moles couldn’t get access to any area other than the EMP area,
”
explained Butsko. “The other areas were off limits to everyone except Josef, his old man Reinhardt, and a very select group of scientists.”

“What the hell were they doing in there?
”
asked Megan.

“Honestly,
”
said Butsko, “we have no idea, and it’s not our focus. We get in there, find the bomb, and detonate it.”

“Hold on a second,
”
said Trunst as he stood. “When you explained what an EMP blast does, didn’t anyone else have a problem with this plan?”

“How do you mean?
”
asked Butsko.

“If those bombs are down in those labs,
”
Trunst continued, “how the hell are we going to know how strong they are, and if they are even ready to be used?”

“That’s a great question, Sir,
”
said Hall.

“We’ll also be looking for any kind of spec sheet on the weapon,
”
said Butsko, “a kind of ‘user’s manual.’”

“Trunst brings up another good point,
”
Cain said as he stood as well. “How are we going to be able to gauge exactly how much damage this thing will do?”

“Remember,
”
Wilder answered, “this isn’t a nuke we’re going to detonate. This is a next-generation EMP bomb that causes no structural damage. There’s no fallout, no radiation, and there won’t even be a crater from the explosion.”

“But won’t it completely knock out all our communications?
”
Trunst asked. “We’ll be cut off from the rest of humanity.”

“There’s a chance that we might save our electronics and vehicles if they are all turned off at the time of the blast,
”
Melvin said.

Butsko took a drink of coffee and stood. “Excellent point, Melvin,
”
Butsko said as he nodded toward the man. Then turning to Trunst. “Yes, Trunst,
”
Butsko said, “despite what Melvin said, there’s a good chance the EMP weapon will completely devastate all communications, and we have absolutely no idea how powerful that range will be.”

The others fell silent as Butsko continued. “I’m not gonna lie to any of you,
”
said Butsko. “This EMP weapon is a last-resort kind of plan. Not only will our communications potentially be destroyed, but so will our vehicles and anything else that works on electricity.”

“But,
”
Trunst started.

“But what, Trunst?
”
Butsko asked him. “What else is there? We’re up against an enemy that is stronger than us, faster than us, and which seems to be getting smarter.”

Butsko took another sip of coffee.

“We’re running out of options,
”
continued Butsko. “We may not know exactly what’s going to happen after we set that bomb off, but we all know what’s going to happen if we don’t try something.”

“We know,
”
said Wilder, “that the infection has a technological basis. We also know the effects an EMP blast has on technology.”

Wilder looked at the group as he spoke. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Butsko and himself.

“We have no reason to doubt,
”
continued Wilder, “that the EMP blast won’t destroy or at least slow down the infected.”

“We will do a thorough sweep of Spicewood before we even head to the Springs,
”
explained Butsko. “We know we’re going to be there for a while and don’t want to wind up in a worse situation.”

“I completely get your concerns, Trunst,
”
said Wilder. “These are the same issues Butsko and I talked about back at Fort Hood.”

“Things are really bad out there,
”
said Butsko, “but they can and will get worse if we don’t try something.”

Many heads nodded in approval.

“We’re at a crossroads,
”
Butsko continued, “and we need to do something before those crossroads disappear.”

Trunst stood next to the couch and ran his hands through his hair.

“You’re right, Sir,
”
Trunst finally said. “What’s the rest of the plan?”

Over the next hour, Wilder and Butsko went over the finer details of the plan. They talked about who would be in which vehicle and what everyone needed to do once they reached Schoepke Springs. It wasn’t a plan that would rock the socks off of history’s best strategists, but it was the best they could develop with the intel they had. They didn’t know the terrain of the Springs, and they had no idea whether or not the area was overrun with the infected.

Back at Fort Hood, Wilder and Butsko had talked about the possibility that the Schoepke facility might not even be there anymore.

Wilder and Butsko hadn’t shared that last concern with the group.

After the plan was laid out and the second pot of coffee was gone, the group decided to gather their equipment to make their early morning departure easier.

Everyone assembled their personal things and weapons and walked out the VIP lounge into the clubhouse’s dining room.

All of them peered nervously through the large windows into the darkness.

We wouldn’t even know it if those bastards were out there
, Wilder thought, but then shook the thought from his head.

They each left an MRE on the large dining room table for the morning and walked to the secured front doors.

“I’m sorry if I was out of line back there,
”
said Trunst as he ran up to Butsko. “I guess I’m being overly scared.”

“Nothing to apologize for,
”
Butsko said as he met Trunst’s gaze. “You’re right to be concerned about the blast and the damage it will cause.”

“I’m not seeing any movement out there, Sir,
”
Mears said to Butsko as he looked through the peephole in the front door.

“I don’t hear any movement right outside the door,
”
added Vasquez, her ear pressed against the door.

“To be honest, Sir, I don’t know if I’d be able to see anything even if the front of the building were teeming with them,
”
said Mears as he laughed nervously.

The heavy marble and wooden furniture used to barricade the door was moved aside, and the sound of the iron latch echoed through the main foyer as it was pulled back.

“I can’t wait to get some shut eye,
”
Trunst said as he stepped through the doorway,

As the others agreed with him, Trunst was yanked forward through the doorframe as the sounds of the infected filled the foyer.

“Noooooo!
”
screamed Hall as he reached for Trunst.

“Stop!
”
shouted Wilder, but he was too late. A new set of hands appeared out of the darkness and grabbed Hall.

Hall screamed as he was dragged into the darkness.

The soldiers finally reacted as they saw the infected run towards the door, hands extended.

Mane slammed the door and felt ten severed fingers bounce off his boot.

“Holy fuck!
”
yelled Jones. “They’re all over the fucking place!”

“Where the hell did they come from?
”
shouted Steele.