Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (32 page)

From the corner of his eye, Darren saw a blur run toward him, and right before the creature sunk its teeth into his throat, Darren felt something grab the zombie off of him. He stabbed the syringe at the new zombie and sunk the needle in the thing’s back.

Darren immediately stood and grabbed his pistol. When he turned to aim where he thought the zombies were, they were both gone.

Darren looked from left to right and expected to see at least one zombie spasming on the ground from the contents of the needle. Darren heard a wet, ripping sound above and saw what looked like a waterfall of blood and guts cascading down the side of the white propane tank.

Darren looked up and was greeted by a pair of wild yellow eyes. The yellow-eyed creature sat on top of the chain-link cage and tore apart the body of the zombie that had attacked him.

Darren grouped three quick shots in the zombie’s upper chest, but the yellow-eyed creature didn’t so much as flinch.

When there was nothing recognizable left of the first zombie, the yellow-eyed creature jumped onto the roof of the gas station and disappeared.

Darren stood there with this gun extended and swept back and forth across the roof in case the thing came back.

Darren heard movement on the other side of the propane cage and carefully walked toward it. Standing up was the bloodied body of Joe. The flesh from his left shoulder was torn away, and his face and neck were full of scratches and teeth marks.

“Dammit, Joe,
”
Darren said as he leveled his pistol at the reanimated body.

Before his pulled the trigger, he heard the others run up behind him.

“Watch the roof!
”
Darren yelled. “It’s on the roof!”

Darren put his pistol away and unsheathed his machete. With one swing, Darren removed Joe’s head from its body.

“What the hell happened out here?
”
Cheryl asked. “I thought you said the creature was on the roof?”

“It was,
”
said Darren softly.

“Then what the hell is that?
”
asked David as he pointed to the dripping pile of flesh and skin on top of the cage.

“There were two of them,
”
Darren said. “The thing on the roof killed the other zombie.”

Cheryl started to say something, but Walt cut her off.

“We can sort this out later,
”
Walt said. “Right now we need to get back inside the store.”

Once they were all back in the store and had barricaded the back door, Darren told them all what had happened with the yellow-eyed creature.

“Holy shit,
”
was all David could say.

“So one zombie killed Joe and attacked you,
”
asked Walt, “and then another zombie attacked and basically liquefied the first zombie?”

“Yeah,
”
Darren said as he wiped his machete on an old rag, “but that second zombie was something none of us have encountered before.”

“What do you mean?
”
Cheryl asked.

“That second zombie had these yellow eyes and was stronger and way more agile than the zombies we’ve been fighting for the last two years,
”
Darren explained. Then he looked at Walt and added, “And the antipsychotics had absolutely no effect on the yellow-eyed thing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,
”
Walt said. “Why wouldn’t it work on that one zombie?”

“I don’t know,
”
said Darren, “but I think it would be for the best if we got our shit together and got the hell out of here.”

“Is everyone ready to roll out?
”
Walt asked.

They all nodded as they slung their backpacks and duffle bags over their shoulders and grabbed their weapons.

“We need to find a vehicle,
”
Walt said, “but I don’t want to separate—not with that thing out there.”

“I think Samantha’s plan to check out the parking lots across the street makes the most sense,
”
Cheryl reasoned.

“What if we can’t find any keys?
”
David asked.

“Don’t worry,
”
Walt assured everyone, “I’ve got that covered.”

The others looked at Walt.

“Come on,
”
said Walt sheepishly, “I lived on the streets for almost five years. You learn a trick or two.”

“I’ll take point,
”
Darren said. “The four of you form a tight box behind me. Whoever’s in the rear, you have our backs.”

They all shook their heads to let Darren know that they understood.

“We’re gonna move quickly,
”
Darren continued, “but we aren’t going to run. We need to stay in control and be completely aware of everything around us.”

“Let’s do this,
”
said Cheryl.

The five survivors walked out of the gas station and swiftly made their way toward the parking lots across the street.

7

Outside Marble Falls, Texas

Twenty-Five Miles

The military vehicles would soon pass through Marble Falls on their way to Schoepke Springs. The last forty-eight hours had been a whirlwind, and Wilder had finally had a chance to think about everything that’d happened as he drove the Growler. The fall of both Eglin and Fort Hood, the organized attacks by the infected, the possibility of the infected having a hive-like intelligence, the sudden emergence of the yellow-eyed creatures, and the odd relationship between the yellow-eyed zombies and the other infected things—none of it made any sense, yet Wilder couldn’t help but think it was all connected.

We’re missing something
, Wilder thought.
We’re missing part of the equation
.

“You look like you’re in some deep thought,
”
Fisher said from the passenger seat.

“Trying to put the pieces together,
”
Wilder said. “Some of it just doesn’t add up.”

“Like why the infected can be super organized at times and then other times look more like The Three Stooges?”

“Exactly,
”
Wilder said. “I hate to admit defeat, but those fuckers had us all but nailed to the cross, and then they just backed off.”

“Yeah,
”
Fisher said, “and it seems like all the infected in the area scattered all at once.”

“Let’s assume,
”
Wilder said, “that Melvin’s hive theory of intelligence is true and the infected can pass along information to every other zombie, even ones that aren’t in the immediate area.”

“It sure seems like Melvin is right about that,
”
Fished added.

“Why would the infected send out some kind of warning signal to the other zombies?
”
asked Wilder. “If anything, the message should’ve been for more infected to join the battle.”

“It was the appearance of those yellow-eyed bastards,
”
said a voice from the back seat.

Wilder looked through the rearview mirror and saw Mears sitting behind the fifty-calibre machine gun.

“I think he’s right, Wilder,
”
Fisher said.

“It was the only new factor in the equation,
”
Mears added. “Those bastards had Vasquez, Fisher, and myself dead to rights. We were about to be overrun when three of those yellow-eyed things scared the infected away.”

“It’s true,
”
Fisher agreed. “We were about to be torn apart when all of a sudden the infected just ran right past us like we weren’t even there.”

“And then the yellow-eyed things examined us and ran off too,
”
continued Mears.

“It’s obvious that the infected are scared of the yellow-eyed things,
”
Wilder said. “We saw a big pile of the yellow-eyed creature’s handy work by the lake. The question is:
why
do the yellowed-eye things attack and kill the other infected?”

“I don’t get it either,
”
Mears said. “Aren’t they all infected by the same shit?”

“Of course they are,
”
Wilder said. “Aren’t they?”

“Maybe they mutated again,
”
Fisher said. “We know they mutated when the infection jumped from animals to human beings, and we know that the infected have been getting stronger and smarter over the last two years.”

“So maybe the nanites again mutated into something even stronger and faster,
”
Wilder said as he finished Fisher’s thought.

“Fuck me,
”
said Mears.

“Let’s just hope we don’t run into any of them at the springs,
”
Wilder said.

“Fuck me,
”
repeated Fisher.

*****

The M939 military truck rumbled down the highway. Butsko sat in the driver’s seat and was aware of everything around him. Butsko was grateful that they’d met little resistance when they’d left the Lago Vista Golf Club. Everyone was exhausted and needed a break.

As the sun came up, Butsko saw just how bad the road they travelled looked. What was normally about an hour drive to Spicewood had already taken them two-and-a-half hours. The road, FM 1431, was littered with stalled vehicles of all kinds, as well as dead bodies. The sun, at least, made it easier to navigate around the debris.

Vasquez sat next to Butsko in the passenger’s seat. Steele, Megan, and Melvin sat in the back and tried to get some rest.

Butsko knew he was putting everything on their plan to find and detonate an EMP weapon. It seemed like the only viable move they had left. In theory, the idea should work. An EMP blast took out anything electronic, and nanites were essentially tiny machines.

Right?

It was rare for Butsko to not fully understand the research in the facilities he ran. He wasn’t a scientist, but he felt it was his duty to know exactly what was going on under his roof. By the time they’d called him in to head up the Sils facility, the shit had already hit the fan and he hadn’t had the luxury of being able to study and learn the research inside and out. Butsko only had a sophomoric understanding of what’d been going on at the Sils Research Lab.

Butsko turned the steering wheel sharply to the left and slammed into one of the infected walking on the road. The zombie’s head exploded as it hit the grill of the truck.

‘
Zombies,
’
Butsko thought.
I can’t believe the military created zombies
.

“You okay, Sir?
”
Vasquez asked as she shot awake.

“Yeah, yeah,
”
Butsko answered. “Sorry about that. I ran over one of those bastards. Did you manage to get some rest?”

“A little bit, Sir,
”
Vasquez said. “Are you ready for a break?”

“No,
”
Butsko answered, “I’m good.”

“You should really try and get some sleep, Sir,
”
Vasquez said, “especially before we get to the springs.”

“I’ll be fine, Vasquez,
”
Butsko said. After a few moments, Butsko broke the silence. “Where do you think this infection came from?”

“Sir?
”
Vasquez asked back. “I thought it originated in military labs when those nanite things mutated.”

“That’s the official story,
”
said Butsko quietly. “That story, though, never sat right with me. It was too simple.”

“How do you mean, Sir?
”
Vasquez said as she sat up straighter in her seat.

“I understand that the research got out of control,
”
Butsko said. “The possibility of that kind of shit happening when you’re dealing with cutting-edge technology is unavoidable.
”

Butsko shifted in his seat as he carefully thought about his next words.

“But where do you think that original technology came from, Vasquez?
”
he asked.

“When I heard about the nanites,
”
Vasquez said, “I just assumed it was something the military was working on for years and that they’d finally advanced it enough to apply it.”

“Yeah,
”
Butsko said, “that’s what everyone thought. The problem with that is that this research seemed to come out of nowhere.”