VAMPIRE STALKER
Chapter 4: Morgue Rumble
The dead young tom's eyes were red and had a wild animal look in them as he grabbed Razor's wrist and tried to pull it to his mouth. Feral, being closer than T-Bone, fired into the male's face, blowing it to pieces.
Razor jerked his wrist free from the still writhing corpse without a head and brought up his own weapon when he and the others heard banging noises coming from all the storage units. By the sounds, it was obvious the dead bodies had awakened and been able to break the chains that held them.
A few of the units were beginning to warp from fists and feet kicking at the lids.
"This doesn't look good, buddy!" T-Bone said tensely.
"They're much stronger than we could have imagined and will escape those tubes real soon Everyone be ready and do what Feral did, aim for the heads!" Razor ordered all those around him.
Feral didn't countermand the order nor comment, he simply moved until he had joined the semi-circle of enforcers at the door with the SWAT Kats flanking them on either side. Everyone was scared and tense.
Not for the last time, Feral prayed his precautions would keep these things from escaping into the building. He was also worried about any of his troops getting grabbed and bitten. Once these things had a hold of you they didn't let go and that was the most frightening thing about this whole business.
His thoughts were interrupted by no less than five storage units bursting open, the lids flying and hitting the floor with loud bangs like gun shot. The creatures crawled free and leaped the distance to the door as if shot from cannons putting them right on top of the clustered enforcers making them nearly impossible targets.
Everyone opened fired but the creatures had already taken out four enforcers before their comrades could shoot. It was terrifying to hear their fellow officers scream as they were literally ripped and drained. The officers still standing tried to yank the creatures off but the things were far too strong so they were forced to shoot through the back of the dead Kat's head and into their fellow officers because they were already dead beneath the creatures attacking them.
The air was filled with screams and curses. Feral was turning to fire at more creatures coming from the wall units when a she-kat threw him to the ground and began to try and strangle and bite him. Terrified, he fought as hard as he could to free himself from the abnormally strong she-kat choking him......it was a losing battle. He couldn't free a paw since both were needed to keep the creature at bay. He struggled frantically, using his feet to kick and bucking his body but nothing seemed to deter the thing as it leaned its face closer to him. The stench coming from the gaping mouth of the altered Kat was stomach wrenching as it's fangs finally reached his face. He screamed as sharp teeth ripped his cheek.
Elsewhere in the room battles for life were going on. Razor had managed to tar a couple of faces while T-Bone had blasted one in the face that came inches from grabbing him. As he kept firing into the rest of the creatures heading for them, he was sickened to see some of the enforcers had lost the battle and the creatures were feeding on them. Fury and fear made T-Bone a killing machine.
Using his most lethal weapons, he aimed for all the faces he could see. He made the anguished decision to also kill the already dead enforcers as well. They would not have thought it a kindness to be left alive to kill their fellow officers when they woke the next evening.
A loud scream to his left made him turn quickly. Shock and horror seized him when he saw a creature beginning to rip Feral's cheek off. The two were too close together, so he moved closer, dropped down and fired point blank into the creatures face which spilled disgusting stuff all over the badly injured Feral.
He couldn't take the time to see if Feral would be alright or offer first aid as more of the things tried to jump him and the helpless enforcer.
Feral couldn't move. The bite had paralyzed him. Terrible fear raced through him as he was forced to listen to the horror going on around him. His eyes could only look upward and occasionally he caught sight of T-Bone guarding him as he kept anymore creatures from coming near them.
Out in the hallway to the morgue, Razor and other enforcers had been driven out of the room. Razor managed to kill two more dead Kats and one enforcer before one of the things managed to latch onto leg. The pain of the bite was excruciating, causing him to scream but he still managed to fire his arc welder into the thing's face and destroyed it.
The wound was a searing pain at first then it went numb and so did the rest of his body. Horrified, Razor realized the virus was racing through him and that he couldn't move at all. How long would it be before he couldn't breath either.
Not knowing Razor's precarious condition but seeing he was injured badly, the two enforcers guarding the elevator, quickly fired rapidly at another creature coming at the fallen SWAT Kat killing it. No more followed as a sudden silence fell.
Hoping that meant it was over, one of the pair decided to check.
"Stay here with the SWAT Kat and I'll see if its safe now," he said. His partner nodded and went closer to Razor. On closer inspection he realized the SWAT Kat looked like he was in more trouble than just his leg. He looked up to see what is partner was doing.
The other enforcer had reached the doors and was peering around the corner cautiously. He gave a sigh of relief as well as grimacing in anger and sorrow at the carnage all around.
The scene within the room was the stuff of nightmares. Blood and other stuff was dripping from the walls, furniture and floor. Decapitated bodies were laying everywhere but in one corner there were three enforcers, a SWAT Kat and a downed enforcer they were all hovering over.
Concerned, he hurried over to the huddled group. On the floor was a profusely bleeding Feral, whose face was partly covered by a thick pad of gauze the SWAT Kat was holding tightly over one side of it. The Commander wasn't moving at all even though his eyes were staring up at them with fear.
"We've gotta get help down here asap. One of you call for medics, CSI and Dr. Konway.....hurry!" T-Bone ordered tightly.
Making no argument, one of the officers pulled his radio out and made the call.
"Tell to them to run! Feral is having trouble breathing!" T-Bone interrupted with a shout of urgency.
The officer barked at whoever was on the other end and told them to hurry. Out in the corridor the other enforcer was getting scared. It appeared the SWAT Kat was having difficulties breathing. Getting up he went to the door and saw the group in the corner. Without moving from the hall he shouted at them.
"The SWAT Kat is having trouble breathing!"
T-Bone's head jerked up, fear on his face. "Here, someone hold this...." he ordered, wanting one of the enforcers to hold the gauze on Feral's face. When one did, he hurried off to check on his partner.
He was horrified to find Razor laying on the floor, his leg had been wrapped in a makeshift bandage by the enforcer guarding him but he was obviously struggling to breath.
"Razor!" He cried in fear, dropping to his knees and trying to help his friend.
T-Bone felt his heart constrict as he stared down at his partner, feeling totally helpless. No one knew what would happen to someone who hadn't died after an attack since it hadn't happened before now. What would the virus do to them?
Suddenly the elevator doors snapped open and a crowd of people poured out. Some stopped near T-Bone to deal with Razor and others went on to check Feral. Konway was one of those in the first group of responders.
Seeing that Feral and a SWAT Kat had been bitten made him extremely worried. Oxygen was applied hurriedly to the two sick Kats and he gave orders that they would be taken to the containment chamber in the BioTech Labs rather than the hospital due to their dangerous condition. There was just too great a risk of the infection spreading to allow them near other patients.
When the patients had been removed, Konway directed the CSI to be extremely careful when taking samples of the corpses and told the cleanup crew from the morgue to use protective suits when cleaning up the blood and bodies. He ordered the bodies to be put in tightly sealed plastic bags and stored in one of the smaller morgue rooms with the door locked, a note of warning posted.. He refused to take any chances with this unknown condition Viper had caused.
He left the crews to their work and hurried to return to his lab. No one had been able to tell him if Razor had gotten the sample they so badly needed.
Visiting the containment room, he saw the pair being worked on by a team of doctors. It was obvious the small medical staff at enforcer headquarters had summoned assistance from the hospital by the number of doctors and nurses in the room.
He called out to the group taking care of Razor.
"Have any of you found a container holding a needle full of blood?" He demanded urgently.
A nurse looked over at him distractedly. "Is this it?" She asked holding up the container.
"Yes! Thank god he was able to get it. This is what they went after. We hope it will save the ones afflicted," Konway said in relief as he took it from her.
Razor's lead physician turned when he heard Konway speaking to the nurse. "I've never seen anything like these symptoms. His heart rate is racing, he can't breathe as fluid fills his lungs, and nothing I've tried is having any effect on the progress of whatever it is," he said in frustration.
"I know. It's a tailored virus made by Dr. Viper. It's the cause of the vampire creatures showing up in the city population. Biting then dying apparently causes the ones attacked to change and become blood suckers like the ones that attacked them. It's a vicious cycle. This blood I'm hoping will provide me the answers I need to find a cure," Konway said grimly.
"Kat's Alive! That's horrible. So you think these two might change into blood suckers?" The doctor asked nervously.
"We don't know. None of the previous victims were ever left alive before. I just don't know what will happen to ones who survived. All I can say is do what you can for them. I must get going and work on this," he said urgently as he began to move away.
The doctor shook his head as Konway hurried away. "That's going to be easier said than done." With nothing else he could do, he ordered more palliative care.
Konway nearly ran to his lab. He was terrified what would happen to the two Kats when the virus worked its way through their bodies. He wasn't certain if it would do what it did to the dead bodies or some other reaction would occur. He shuddered at what the two were facing over the next twelve hours.
He hurried to his personal lab and bellowed orders to his assistance to help him process the sample. He hoped he had an answer before the two injured Kats suffered too much.
