Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (27 page)

Fisher was huddled behind the cash register embankment when she heard Mears and Vasquez’s gunfire getting closer. She held her M4 at the ready and tried to prepare herself for battle.

Fisher watched as two of the mannequins fell over and saw Cain’s foot appear. Then, to her right, Fisher saw movement.

It wasn’t Mears or Vasquez.

She watched in horror as Cain’s leg stuck out from the mannequins. She wanted to yell for him to stop moving, but she knew that would be a death sentence for both her and Cain.

The zombie walked behind the racks of shirts. Fisher thought the creature was either looking or listening for movement.

Cain freed his lower half from the cluster of mannequins, then scooted along the ground to free the rest of his body.

Cain’s sleeve got caught on one of the mannequin’s feet and Fisher heard the man curse as his shirt tore.

“Son of a bitch,
”
Cain said.

Fisher watched as the zombie turned its head to Cain’s location. The creature then looked around as if making sure Cain was alone.

Fisher raised the rifle to her shoulder and looked down the sites of the barrel. There was no scope on the carbine, but her father had taught her long ago how to use a weapon’s sights.

The zombie was behind the rack of shirts, giving Fisher no shot.

As Cain began to stand, the strap of the carbine got caught around a mannequin’s leg. Cain tried to free the rifle and knocked over three more mannequins.

Fisher rolled her eyes.

“Why don’t you just set off some fireworks for fuck’s sake?
”
Fisher whispered.

The creature’s head jolted up as the mannequins toppled over. It reminded Fisher of a deer who’d heard a noisy hunter.

Only this time, the roles were reversed.

The creature ducked, and Fisher lost sight of it.

Cain finally stood and started to walk in Fisher’s direction.

Fisher kept her eyes fixed on the last location she’d seen the zombie and saw the shirts begin to move.

Fisher immediately brought the rifle up to her shoulder. The zombie was still in the shirt rack and was using it for cover as it moved closer to Cain.

Fisher took her left hand and waved for Cain to get out of the way. Cain saw Fisher and waved back.

The zombie freed itself from the rack of clothes and moved in on Cain, but Fisher still had no shot. Now Cain was standing between her and the zombie.

“Get out of the way, Cain,
”
Fisher whispered.

Cain walked slowly toward Fisher until he saw the rifle fixed on him.

“What the hell are you doing, Fisher?
”
asked Cain. “It’s me, Cain.”

The zombie silently moved in on Cain and was in striking distance.

“Get the fuck down!
”
Fisher finally screamed as she saw the creature leap for the clueless man.

Cain turned, saw the zombie a few feet away from him, and froze.

.*****

A shot echoed through the pro-shop.

“When somebody tells you to get down,
”
said Vasquez in an even tone, “it is best if you get down.”

“I
…
I didn’t even hear it,
”
Cain stuttered as he looked at the zombie on the ground.

Fisher ran over to where Cain and Vasquez stood.

“That son of a bitch just snuck up on me,
”
Cain said.

“You were making enough noise to let Helen Keller know where you were,
”
Fisher said.

“Thanks, Vasquez,
”
Cain said. “You saved my ass.”

“Be more careful next time,
”
said Vasquez in a stone-cold voice. “It’s all our lives you’re endangering.”

Cain looked away from Vasquez’s gaze and saw the zombie as it crawled toward where they stood.

Before Cain said anything, he saw the flash of a metallic, T-shaped instrument come smashing down on the zombie’s back.

Cain, Vasquez, and Fisher looked to see Mears standing over the creature with an instrument groundskeepers used to dig holes in the greens.

Mears leaned on the hole-cutter as it severed its spine. He twisted the tool, and the others heard the hole-cutter hit the floor as it went through the zombie.

A perfect circular hole was left in the zombie’s back, and the others could see the floor through it.

Vasquez flattened the creature’s head with the butt of her carbine.

The two soldiers nodded at each other.

“These fucking things are getting smarter,
”
Mears finally said as he tossed the hole-cutter aside.

“How do you mean?
”
asked Fisher.

“There’s a broken window in the back,
”
Mears answered as he pointed to the back of the pro-shop. “When Vasquez and I got back there, about seven of those fuckers were jumping through the window.”

“We picked them off easy enough,
”
Vasquez added, “but we hadn’t realized other zombies had already jumped through the window and were hiding among the clothes and racks of golf clubs.”

“They were hiding?
”
asked Cain.

“Yeah,
”
Mears said as he turned toward Cain. “The ones coming through the window were a distraction to throw us off and make us think we got them all so we wouldn’t search for the ones that were already in the shop.”

“Do you think you got them all?
”
Fisher asked.

“We got a bunch of them,
”
Mears answered, “but I’m not a hundred percent certain there aren’t more in here.”

As Mears finished his sentence, Cain suddenly unholstered his pistol and aimed his weapon at Mears
’
head.

“Duck!
”
yelled Cain.

Mears fell to the ground as pure instinct and training took over. Vasquez turned but fumbled with her weapon.

Five feet behind Mears was an infected man, hands extended, and its mouth wide open.

Cain fired two shots and nailed the creature in the throat and the upper chest. The zombie fell back and gave Vasquez enough time to jump on top of it and stomp its head into the floor.

Mears stood, gun in hand, and watched Vasquez rejoin the group.

“Nice job, Cain,
”
Mears said.

“Yeah,
”
Vasquez said as she winked at Cain. “Good reflexes.”

Three windows shattered in succession in the back of the pro-shop. The four of them stared into the dimly lit store.

“That didn’t sound good,
”
Fisher said.

“There were four windows back there,
”
Mears said. “Sounds like they just made their grand entrance.”

“Since their stealth entry didn’t work,
”
Vasquez said, “I guess they’re trying the more direct approach.”

Mears, Cain, Vasquez, and Fisher raised their weapons to their shoulders as the noise of the zombies got closer. The sounds of moaning and heavy footsteps filled the pro-shop.

“That sounds like a lot of them,
”
Cain said as his voice trembled.

“Everybody out!
”
shouted Mears. “Vasquez, help me with this gate.
”

Mears reached up for the chain gate used to lock up the pro-shop. Vasquez ran and grabbed ahold of the other end.

“You two, watch our backs!
”
Vasquez shouted to Fisher and Cain.

Fisher and Cain stood side by side with their rifles raised.

Before Mears and Vasquez could lower the gate, the first zombie ran past them into the building.

The zombie was so fast that neither Cain nor Fisher had time to fire a single shot.

Cain and Fisher looked at each other, confused.

Six more zombies ran out of the darkness and into the building. None of them looked twice at the humans.

“What the fuck is going on here?
”
asked Mears. “Why the fuck aren’t they attacking us?”

Three more zombies appeared from behind the clothing racks.

Fisher raised the rifle and was about to fire when Mears stopped her.

“Hold your fire!
”
Mears barked.

Fisher didn’t fire, but she also didn’t lower her rifle.

“Are you sure?
”
asked Fisher as her voice trembled. “I have one targeted.”

The three zombies jumped through the racks gracefully and slowly approached the humans. They sniffed the air and walked around them as they seemed to scan their bodies.

“What are they doing, Mears?
”
Vasquez asked out of the corner of her mouth.

“I have no fucking clue,
”
Mears said, “but stand still. If they wanted to infect us, they already would have.”

Fisher was scared shitless as she stood there letting the zombies examine her. But there was something different about these creatures.

Their eyes.

“Look at their eyes,
”
whispered Fisher. “They look different from the other zombies.”

Fisher was right. The eyes of the creatures in front of them were a feral yellow. They practically glowed.

“What the fuck are these things?
”
Cain asked.

Elsewhere in the building, the four heard gunshots and screams.

The eyes of the zombies darted past the humans into the darkness of the clubhouse.

The yellow-eyed zombie next to Cain lifted its head and sniffed the air. It emitted a bone-shattering scream as it ran between Cain and Fisher into the darkness.

The other two zombies followed the first.

“Those things are hunting down the other zombies,
”
Fisher said after the three ran off. “I’ve seen the look on a wolf’s face, in its eyes, when it hunts. Those yellow-eyed things had the exact same look in their eyes.”

The others looked at Fisher.

“I don’t understand it any more than you do,
”
Fished continued, “but trust me. Those things are hunting down zombies.”

“I think we need to get back to Wilder and Butsko and tell them about this right now,
”
Vasquez said.

“Agreed,
”
said Mears. “First, help me with this gate. All the windows are broken in the back. More zombies will come through. Let’s cut off their entrance into the main building.”

Mears and Vasquez lowered the chain gate and secured it to the floor with the metal clasps.

“What the fuck just happened?
”
asked Cain.

“I think,
”
Mears said, “we just met the things that killed the zombies out by the water’s edge.”

The four looked at each other for a second and then ran toward the foyer to report to Butsko and Wilder.

*****

Steele was the first to react as the zombies raced toward them. Steele preferred using his sledgehammer, but he wasn’t suicidal. He raised his carbine and shot at the first creature in his sights.

The four zombies were spread out just enough so that if Steele’s weapon was on fully automatic, he would have wasted a lot of bullets.

Mane joined Steele and took out the zombie on the left.

Wallack joined Steele and Mane, but had his weapon on full automatic. He burned through his magazine quickly.

Megan seemed to be coming out of her state of shock and was prepared to fight.

Mane ejected the empty magazine and saw that Wallack was fumbling while putting a fresh magazine into his weapon.

Steele took out the third zombie and watched as the fourth got closer.

The zombies pounded on the other side of the door behind them. Steele hoped those doors would hold firm.

Steele looked over and watched as Wallack struggled with the magazine. The last zombie was almost on them.

“I got this!
”
shouted Steele as he dropped his M4 and picked up his sledgehammer.

Steele had admitted long ago that he enjoyed killing the infected with his sledgehammer. When he’d first started using it, it’d felt heavy and awkward in his hands. But after years of using it to kill zombies, the sledgehammer felt like a natural extension of his arms.

Steele swung the weapon as the creature got closer.

The zombie flew back a couple feet, and Mane put two bullets in its head. Steele, though, wasn’t satisfied, and brought the sledgehammer down on the zombie’s head, completely smashing it.