"may have the ability to wipe out an entire continent. So in answer to your
question, yes, it is very important that we have" Erik tuned in and tuned
out the television.
Five men with flamethrowers lined up along the side of the plane Erik Gowin had flown in on. One officer stood beyond them, making sure the whole operation was carried out. A man ran from underneath the plane, dragging what was left of the fuel it contained in a large tub on wheels. Once the man was a safe distance away he turned around to watch.
"Burn it down!" The officer yelled.
Five streams of fire lashed onto the plane. The outside immediately began to melt away.
Rodney Fleming, the soldier who had removed the fuel looked on in silence. No one could really blame him for wanting to watch the plane be burned. The officer gave him a scolding glance, he shrugged and started to pull the fuel to a hangar. He didn't know why they would burn a plane.
He flipped on some lights and found an empty corner to put the container down in. After heaving the tub off the rolling platform and onto the ground he let out a sigh. I need to quit this job, he thought, feeling his muscles ache.
"Hey, Rod!" It was Nick Turner, Rodney's only friend who had stayed on base the whole time he had been there. He didn't know, or want to know, what happened to the rest. An oily towel hit his face as he turned.
"Hey. What's up?" Rodney pulled the towel off his face and threw it back.
"Ah, I was just working on a plane. Of course." He laughed.
"That is your job." Rodney pushed the platform into line with three others inside the hangar.
"What's going on out there? Sounds like they're torching something." Nick peered out the open door.
"They are. It was a plane. I was watching a minute ago."
"Any officers out there?"
"Not anymore I don't think."
"C'mon, let's go watch then."
"Hang on, we should follow the 'Out Procedure'." The 'Out Procedure' was something few of the bases had. It seemed absurd to everyone who didn't know what the base was really for but made perfect sense to those who did. It simply stated all persons outside of the walls of the base required weapons. Unless ordered not to bring weapons, you could get in a good deal of trouble if an officer did a random inspection.
"Screw that, I can't remember where I put my gun."
"All right, just one second." Rodney said as Nick threw the towel carelessly onto a work table and walked outside.
Rodney checked his pockets, he had his pistol and one clip.
There was a metallic roar from outside, what sounded like the metal screeching. Then there were a set of screams and curses. Rodney ran out of the hangar. A man was inside of the plane, he was entirely engulfed in flames.
"What the hell is that!?" One soldier cried out.
The man on fire leapt from the plane and onto the soldier, who also caught fire.
"Holy shit!" Another person said, as the man from the plane sunk his teeth into the screaming soldiers throat.
The rest of them redirected their fire on the two of them. Suddenly another person, what looked to be a woman leapt out of the flames, tackling another soldier and biting hard into his side.
Rodney stood wide-eyed. I must be having a nightmare, he thought. He felt someone pull his arm. Nick pulled him toward the nearest door.
Moments later he was inside the base, just within the door, panting. Rodney looked down the hallway. The guard that had opened the door eyed them over.
"Authorization?" He asked them.
"We need help, they're getting" Nick started, he was interrupted by a soldier slamming into the door. There was a small glass window in the door, the soldier's face was smudged up against it.
"Open the door! Open it!" He screamed helplessly.
Before the guard could reach the knob the soldiers face changed dramatically, from fear to pain, blood rolled from his mouth and he sank beneath the window's horizon.
The guard powerfully grabbed both Nick and Rodney and hauled them away from the door, flipping a handle. Thick metal bars jolted horizontally from one side of the door to the other. Sealing them in, and the things outside out.
Erik Gowin awoke, hands locked on his shoulders pulled him up from the sofa. It was Whitfield.
"We need your help." He said letting go of Erik.
"What now?" Erik said as he let out a yawn.
"There's been another outbreak. You're the only guy who knows how those things act. Sure, we have files, but a first hand experience is better." Whitfield started to walk away, Erik got up and ran after him.
He was pushed through a doorway, onto a stage. Erik found himself standing in front of a large group of people, all soldiers and scientists. Behind him was a huge glass container, no doubt it was bullet proof. It spanned from one side of the room to the other. The room was huge, he couldn't really tell exactly how big it was, but it was packed tight. Maybe everyone had come here, he thought.
"and now we shall demonstrate." Erik saw Whitfield in front of a podium, pointing at him. Demonstrate? Demonstrate what? He thought nervously.
Once again he was pushed by two soldiers, this time they prodded him with electric sticks. He felt a powerful blast in his left arm and he fell through the doorway of the glass container. One of the soldiers locked the door shut behind him. The soldier looked at him, he recognized the face, sympathy.
"Sir, do you still have your pistol?" Whitfield had turned to look at him.
"What's going on? Why'd you put me in here?" Erik managed to say, he was sweating profusely.
"Do you have your pistol?" Erik fumbled with the weapon, managed to get it out of his pocket. It fell to the floor. "Good. You'll be needing it."
Whitfield smiled at him.
"Please release A." Whitfield said, he turned and looked at the opposite end of the container. A door slid open, behind it was darkness. Then the glass rose also. Erik grabbed the pistol in his hands and aimed toward the other end.
"This is the easiest of them to kill, they walk and have only very simple functions. One of those is eating. 'What do they eat?' You ask, well, they eat anything." Whitfield explained as a stumbling figured appeared from the shadows.
Erik could see it was a soldier. It's jaw had been completely ripped away, along with half of it's face. The torso was lopsided. The people could easily see flesh had been torn away in the back, down to the bone. Erik remembered he had fired three shots before without reloading. He had to make the next four in the magazine count.
The zombie slowly came forward. It looked like it was smiling to Erik, but then again, how do you smile without a jaw. He fired once. The head exploded like a blood-filled water balloon. It was a mere ten feet away when he shot it, blood trickled to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing to me!?" Erik screamed angrily. "You were supposed to help!"
Whitfield ignored Erik and said, "Release B. These are basically the same as the previous ones, with one minor exception, they have slightly better functionality." He turned towards the glass container. "Bring down the doors." Large slabs of glass slid down onto the ground in front of Erik. There were three of them, each with doorknobs.
Another zombie walked slowly out of the shadows. It had it's jaw removed somehow. It had a large gash in it's stomach and a deep cut in one of it's legs. He noticed it wore a scientist coat. It's forehead had 'BT' marked on it. It bounced into the front door. The crowd stirred uneasily, some murmurs arose.
"Hang on, it takes a moment." Whitfield said. Then after a moment the zombie just stared at Erik, entirely frustrated. Whitfield pointed a finger at the doorknob.
Erik watched in horror as the zombie grabbed hold of the knob and turned it. This time Erik was sure the thing was smiling, it's eyes glowed as it stared at him. It slid the first door out of the way. Erik raised the desert eagle toward the zombie's head. It opened the second door. Erik's finger pressed into the trigger. The third, and final door came open. Erik let loose two bullets, the first blasted into the chest. He covered his face as blood splashed onto him. The second shot found it's mark in the zombie's face. It fell, still smiling, on top of the other zombie.
The doors slid back into their closed positions.
"Now, release C. These forms are extremely smart and aggressive, they are the rarest ones you'll see." Whitfield turned to Erik. He mouthed 'reload.'
Erik gave him a familiar hand gesture and turned towards the darkness again. Yet another zombie came out. Like the others it's jaw was gone, and like the last it had a marking on it's forehead, 'CT'. The mouth, what was left of it, was wrapped with some sort of covering. The hands had the same wrapping. Besides the jaw it had no real indication of how it had become infected. Then Erik saw the hole in it's arms. Perfectly round cuts into the arm. They had inserted the virus using a syringe. Sick bastards, he thought.
The monster turned toward the audience, slamming it's fists against the glass. The container shook like an earthquake. Dr. Whitfield tapped the glass, the zombie ran, yes, ran over to him. He pointed to Erik. The zombie snorted and punched the glass one last time.
It came to the first door without bumping into it, it looked down at the knob. It's hands had been bandaged. He raised a hand and broke the knob off. Then it kicked the door inward. Erik watched in horror and felt his back touch the glass door behind him. One bullet, one last hope, he thought.
The zombie hit the second door, it bent and fell to the floor, under it were the other zombies' corpses. If he does that to the next one I'm dead, Erik thought to himself and felt a shiver go up his spine. The monster walked up to the door, it was three feet away from Erik's face. One foot from his Desert Eagle. It turned toward Whitfield. Was it asking if it could kill me? Erik kicked the glass door with his foot. It threw it's head back to look at him. Erik jumped and fired the last shot off.
Whitfield's normal smile disappeared as he watched Erik press the trigger again and again. The glass suddenly pushed up against him as the monster pushed it with it's entire body. Erik watched the monster smashing him with the glass. A bandaged hand to each side of his head, slowly, it would kill him. He noticed the creature's arms had easily doubled in size when it used it's muscles. He heard a loud snap, he thought it was his skull. He looked down and saw the pistol laying on the ground in pieces.
The creature backed away for a moment. Then he saw it jump at the door. Erik thought he was dead. Before the zombie reached the glass door in front of him the one behind him opened and two soldiers kicked the door away. It fell to the floor. The two guards fired MP5s into the zombie. It fell with a growl. Erik slid to the floor, wondering how he managed to survive.
"Thank...you..." He said to the guards.
Five men with flamethrowers lined up along the side of the plane Erik Gowin had flown in on. One officer stood beyond them, making sure the whole operation was carried out. A man ran from underneath the plane, dragging what was left of the fuel it contained in a large tub on wheels. Once the man was a safe distance away he turned around to watch.
"Burn it down!" The officer yelled.
Five streams of fire lashed onto the plane. The outside immediately began to melt away.
Rodney Fleming, the soldier who had removed the fuel looked on in silence. No one could really blame him for wanting to watch the plane be burned. The officer gave him a scolding glance, he shrugged and started to pull the fuel to a hangar. He didn't know why they would burn a plane.
He flipped on some lights and found an empty corner to put the container down in. After heaving the tub off the rolling platform and onto the ground he let out a sigh. I need to quit this job, he thought, feeling his muscles ache.
"Hey, Rod!" It was Nick Turner, Rodney's only friend who had stayed on base the whole time he had been there. He didn't know, or want to know, what happened to the rest. An oily towel hit his face as he turned.
"Hey. What's up?" Rodney pulled the towel off his face and threw it back.
"Ah, I was just working on a plane. Of course." He laughed.
"That is your job." Rodney pushed the platform into line with three others inside the hangar.
"What's going on out there? Sounds like they're torching something." Nick peered out the open door.
"They are. It was a plane. I was watching a minute ago."
"Any officers out there?"
"Not anymore I don't think."
"C'mon, let's go watch then."
"Hang on, we should follow the 'Out Procedure'." The 'Out Procedure' was something few of the bases had. It seemed absurd to everyone who didn't know what the base was really for but made perfect sense to those who did. It simply stated all persons outside of the walls of the base required weapons. Unless ordered not to bring weapons, you could get in a good deal of trouble if an officer did a random inspection.
"Screw that, I can't remember where I put my gun."
"All right, just one second." Rodney said as Nick threw the towel carelessly onto a work table and walked outside.
Rodney checked his pockets, he had his pistol and one clip.
There was a metallic roar from outside, what sounded like the metal screeching. Then there were a set of screams and curses. Rodney ran out of the hangar. A man was inside of the plane, he was entirely engulfed in flames.
"What the hell is that!?" One soldier cried out.
The man on fire leapt from the plane and onto the soldier, who also caught fire.
"Holy shit!" Another person said, as the man from the plane sunk his teeth into the screaming soldiers throat.
The rest of them redirected their fire on the two of them. Suddenly another person, what looked to be a woman leapt out of the flames, tackling another soldier and biting hard into his side.
Rodney stood wide-eyed. I must be having a nightmare, he thought. He felt someone pull his arm. Nick pulled him toward the nearest door.
Moments later he was inside the base, just within the door, panting. Rodney looked down the hallway. The guard that had opened the door eyed them over.
"Authorization?" He asked them.
"We need help, they're getting" Nick started, he was interrupted by a soldier slamming into the door. There was a small glass window in the door, the soldier's face was smudged up against it.
"Open the door! Open it!" He screamed helplessly.
Before the guard could reach the knob the soldiers face changed dramatically, from fear to pain, blood rolled from his mouth and he sank beneath the window's horizon.
The guard powerfully grabbed both Nick and Rodney and hauled them away from the door, flipping a handle. Thick metal bars jolted horizontally from one side of the door to the other. Sealing them in, and the things outside out.
Erik Gowin awoke, hands locked on his shoulders pulled him up from the sofa. It was Whitfield.
"We need your help." He said letting go of Erik.
"What now?" Erik said as he let out a yawn.
"There's been another outbreak. You're the only guy who knows how those things act. Sure, we have files, but a first hand experience is better." Whitfield started to walk away, Erik got up and ran after him.
He was pushed through a doorway, onto a stage. Erik found himself standing in front of a large group of people, all soldiers and scientists. Behind him was a huge glass container, no doubt it was bullet proof. It spanned from one side of the room to the other. The room was huge, he couldn't really tell exactly how big it was, but it was packed tight. Maybe everyone had come here, he thought.
"and now we shall demonstrate." Erik saw Whitfield in front of a podium, pointing at him. Demonstrate? Demonstrate what? He thought nervously.
Once again he was pushed by two soldiers, this time they prodded him with electric sticks. He felt a powerful blast in his left arm and he fell through the doorway of the glass container. One of the soldiers locked the door shut behind him. The soldier looked at him, he recognized the face, sympathy.
"Sir, do you still have your pistol?" Whitfield had turned to look at him.
"What's going on? Why'd you put me in here?" Erik managed to say, he was sweating profusely.
"Do you have your pistol?" Erik fumbled with the weapon, managed to get it out of his pocket. It fell to the floor. "Good. You'll be needing it."
Whitfield smiled at him.
"Please release A." Whitfield said, he turned and looked at the opposite end of the container. A door slid open, behind it was darkness. Then the glass rose also. Erik grabbed the pistol in his hands and aimed toward the other end.
"This is the easiest of them to kill, they walk and have only very simple functions. One of those is eating. 'What do they eat?' You ask, well, they eat anything." Whitfield explained as a stumbling figured appeared from the shadows.
Erik could see it was a soldier. It's jaw had been completely ripped away, along with half of it's face. The torso was lopsided. The people could easily see flesh had been torn away in the back, down to the bone. Erik remembered he had fired three shots before without reloading. He had to make the next four in the magazine count.
The zombie slowly came forward. It looked like it was smiling to Erik, but then again, how do you smile without a jaw. He fired once. The head exploded like a blood-filled water balloon. It was a mere ten feet away when he shot it, blood trickled to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing to me!?" Erik screamed angrily. "You were supposed to help!"
Whitfield ignored Erik and said, "Release B. These are basically the same as the previous ones, with one minor exception, they have slightly better functionality." He turned towards the glass container. "Bring down the doors." Large slabs of glass slid down onto the ground in front of Erik. There were three of them, each with doorknobs.
Another zombie walked slowly out of the shadows. It had it's jaw removed somehow. It had a large gash in it's stomach and a deep cut in one of it's legs. He noticed it wore a scientist coat. It's forehead had 'BT' marked on it. It bounced into the front door. The crowd stirred uneasily, some murmurs arose.
"Hang on, it takes a moment." Whitfield said. Then after a moment the zombie just stared at Erik, entirely frustrated. Whitfield pointed a finger at the doorknob.
Erik watched in horror as the zombie grabbed hold of the knob and turned it. This time Erik was sure the thing was smiling, it's eyes glowed as it stared at him. It slid the first door out of the way. Erik raised the desert eagle toward the zombie's head. It opened the second door. Erik's finger pressed into the trigger. The third, and final door came open. Erik let loose two bullets, the first blasted into the chest. He covered his face as blood splashed onto him. The second shot found it's mark in the zombie's face. It fell, still smiling, on top of the other zombie.
The doors slid back into their closed positions.
"Now, release C. These forms are extremely smart and aggressive, they are the rarest ones you'll see." Whitfield turned to Erik. He mouthed 'reload.'
Erik gave him a familiar hand gesture and turned towards the darkness again. Yet another zombie came out. Like the others it's jaw was gone, and like the last it had a marking on it's forehead, 'CT'. The mouth, what was left of it, was wrapped with some sort of covering. The hands had the same wrapping. Besides the jaw it had no real indication of how it had become infected. Then Erik saw the hole in it's arms. Perfectly round cuts into the arm. They had inserted the virus using a syringe. Sick bastards, he thought.
The monster turned toward the audience, slamming it's fists against the glass. The container shook like an earthquake. Dr. Whitfield tapped the glass, the zombie ran, yes, ran over to him. He pointed to Erik. The zombie snorted and punched the glass one last time.
It came to the first door without bumping into it, it looked down at the knob. It's hands had been bandaged. He raised a hand and broke the knob off. Then it kicked the door inward. Erik watched in horror and felt his back touch the glass door behind him. One bullet, one last hope, he thought.
The zombie hit the second door, it bent and fell to the floor, under it were the other zombies' corpses. If he does that to the next one I'm dead, Erik thought to himself and felt a shiver go up his spine. The monster walked up to the door, it was three feet away from Erik's face. One foot from his Desert Eagle. It turned toward Whitfield. Was it asking if it could kill me? Erik kicked the glass door with his foot. It threw it's head back to look at him. Erik jumped and fired the last shot off.
Whitfield's normal smile disappeared as he watched Erik press the trigger again and again. The glass suddenly pushed up against him as the monster pushed it with it's entire body. Erik watched the monster smashing him with the glass. A bandaged hand to each side of his head, slowly, it would kill him. He noticed the creature's arms had easily doubled in size when it used it's muscles. He heard a loud snap, he thought it was his skull. He looked down and saw the pistol laying on the ground in pieces.
The creature backed away for a moment. Then he saw it jump at the door. Erik thought he was dead. Before the zombie reached the glass door in front of him the one behind him opened and two soldiers kicked the door away. It fell to the floor. The two guards fired MP5s into the zombie. It fell with a growl. Erik slid to the floor, wondering how he managed to survive.
"Thank...you..." He said to the guards.