State of the Dead - pt.2

State of the Dead - pt.2(Brendan Quinn) State of the Dead - Part 2 (Please read Part 1 first.)


Chapter 9

One Month Later

We parked in a mall lot in Cincinnati and I gathered around the troops.
“Ok, time for a weapons/food check.”
As we went through our supplies we had about 60% of the ammo that we started with and our rations were getting low.
“Here’s the plan,” spoke up Sean. “Brendan and I are going to stay here and plot out our route for the upcoming weeks. The rest of you take on that strip mall.”
The strip mall had a food store and a pharmacy. So, that meant food and medicine.
“Mike, I want you to take point.”
He nodded at me.
As they left I sat down with Sean and we decided to head to Michigan.
Just when I pulled out the map I heard gunshots and screams. Immediately we grabbed our rifles and ran to the stores. When we got there it was overrun with zombies. How could they get in without seeing the zombies? They must have swarmed from someplace when they smelled fresh meat.
I saw Jenna and Nikki cowering in the corner of the building side trying to escape. Just as they made a run for it they were both grabbed and bitten suddenly by a pack of ten or more.
We all fired up. I let loose a whole magazine of bullets at them even though I knew they were lost.
On the opposite side of the strip coming out of the pharmacy were Justin, Mike and Sam. They opened fire at a group of zombies coming to them. Sean and I ran towards that direction and began to shoot several of the undead that were there.
Only Sam came out of the group. The guys were maimed and their insides became outsides. Now it was just us three and somewhere were Jim and Joe.
“Hey!” Someone yelled from the top of the building.
It was Joe. And his brother was with him.
“You two okay?” I yelled.
“Yeah. We can’t see any more zombies from up here. We’re coming down the back ladder. We’ll meet you at the trucks.”



Chapter 10

There were only five of us now. We hadn’t left the strip mall yet. All of us were a little shocked. Sam was trying to hold back tears. Sean was polishing his gun even though it didn’t need to be. Jim and Joe silent that they lost their cousin.
I lost my friends too. But I had to say something.
“Okay. Everyone, we went through some tough time. Our friends and family are gone. But we can’t give up. We’re headed to Michigan.”
They nodded. Sean cocked his gun.
“We need strategy,” he said. “Let’s be more cautious before we enter the stores.”
“I agree,” I told him. “Let’s leave the van. We can take the flatbed and the RV.”
Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the RV door and a man’s voice yelling.
“Hello. Is anybody in there?”
I opened up the door and saw a man in khakis and a button down shirt wearing a tie. He was also carrying a revolver and a pack.
“Who are you,” I asked him.
“Dr. Brand. I’m looking for survivors in the area.”
The rest of the group had exited the van to see the doctor.
“How did you know zombies would be here,” asked Sam.
“This scanner.” He pulled out a GPS looking thing from his pack. “It tells of where the undead are.”
“Do you know how this started,” I asked.
“Well I’m a biochemist working with an agency called Jackal. We were working on a cure for cancer called Project Dragonfly. It really got screwed up. We shipped the trial vaccine to each state and to try it on several people with cancer. Then it spread. How we don’t know. All I’ve figured out is that it isn’t airborne.”
“Yeah, well, where is the army and the national guard?”
“Most of our armed forces are dead. The vaccines were also shipped to the major army bases for storage as well. It must have gotten loose.”
“Ok doc, now what do you suggest we do. Is there a safe haven?”
“I believe that a secret underground laboratory in Austin, Texas is not infected.”
“Wait,” said Sean, “We’ve been avoiding major cities and the capitol of Texas isn’t such a good idea.”
“It’s our only chance Sean,” I told him.
“I know the exact way. I have a map,” said the doctor.
“Then Texas it is. Hop into the RV. But I’m gonna have to take your weapon. No offence. Just a precaution.”
He handed me the pistol. The slung his back over his shoulder and got into the RV and sat down.
“Now about that map,” I said.
“Oh, yes. Here.” He opened his pack and handed me his map.
“My friend and I will hold onto this if you want our protection. You understand, don’t you?”
“Of course. Now do you mind if I lie down on the bed? I haven’t slept in about 40 hours.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Make yourself comfortable.”
When everyone was all settled, Sam took the wheel of the RV with me, Sean and the doctor in it while the twins drove the flatbed behind us.
“Texas here we come,” I said to myself.


Chapter 11

We hightailed to Texas taking no stop for rations or anything of that sort. Dr. Brand showed me a map of the biochemical complex that was hidden under an old factory just near the edge of Austin.
When we finally got there I could tell that the city was full of mayhem twice as much as the towns we crossed. Shooting strays from the flatbed was one of the twins’ duty while the other drove. Sean was picking off zombies out the front window of the RV.
“It’s around this block of buildings,” said the doctor.
We passed all the large skyscrapers and came to a few four to five story buildings.
“It’s the one that says auto mechanics faded out on the side,” said Brand.
We stopped at the entrance and got out of the cars. Dr. Brand said he had a security card that led to a secret entrance which led to an elevator that went 25 stories underground.
Before I was about to give orders Sam called me in private.
“Brendan, I need to show you something,” she said quietly and
nervously. She pulled up her sleeve and revealed a cut. “I got it when we were mobbed at the mall. First I didn’t know if it was from the zombies but now I’m sure because I’m feeling weak and tired. I’m gonna turn.”
She started to cry. I had to do something to console her
“Hey maybe in this lab there is a cure.”
“No. Face it. I’m already dead. You know what you have to do.”
She was right. Soon she would be just one of them. I took out my pistol. My hand was shaking. My best friend in front of me, begging me to put her down.
“Goodbye,” she said.
I cocked the hammer, aimed for her forehead and pulled the trigger.
The last thing I saw was her pretty face now covered in blood. A tear dropped down from my eye. I wiped it with the back of my hand and remembered what my mission was. To stay alive. I holstered my gun and went back to the other side of the RV where the others were waiting.
“What was that gunshot? Where’s Sam?” asked Sean.
“She turned. I had no choice. But the rest of us have a chance.” I looked at Dr. Brand. “Right doc?”
“We will see once we get inside the laboratory and safe house.”
“Then we best be cautious. Let’s load up boys.”
We finally had use for the S.W.A.T. gear. I loaded my M4 and put on a vest full of magazines. Then I slung a pump action shotgun over my shoulder and a belt of shells. Finally, I put a pistol in my shoulder holster and in my hip holster and stuffed several clips in pouches. I also grabbed a few grenades.
Weapons raised, we entered the factory. Cars all broken down were put up for repair on machines. Pieces of car parts were thrown in numerous places.
Dr. Brand led us to a wall towards the back of the first floor. It was made of bricks. He removed one to reveal a panel with numbers and a card key slot. He pulled out a red card that looked like a visa and slid it through the slot and pushed several buttons. There was a whirring sound and the brick wall, which I now found out to be fake, slid up like a door in Star Wars and an elevator appeared. With a few steps we walked in and headed to the underground.


Chapter 12

Twenty-five floors down the elevator, the door opened and to our luck that has been going on, found nothing but dead bodies and carnage. Computers lined the walls made of glass, covered in blood and dead people in lab coats.
“Why haven’t these men turned?” I asked the doctor.
“I don’t know.”
“Well we have to find out-hey!”
Brand was rushing to the elevator. I shot him in the leg.
“You know what did this doc. Tell me! Or I’ll shoot you square in the head.”
He groaned from the pain in his leg. Finally he spoke up.
“There were some tests going on experimenting on animals. Some sort of hybrids. That’s all I know. I wasn’t part of the research team. The only thing I know was, it was stored down here. It must have gotten out.”
Suddenly from the ventilation system a huge claw-like hand came down and snatched the doctor up. I heard him scream until it was just blood curdling noise.
Right away the four of us opened fire into the grates above us. We could hear the creature moving through the system into the next room.
“What do we do now?” asked Jim.
“We search the place for a vaccine. And if we run into this thing we kill it,” I told him.
Two by two formation, we entered the second room. Blood was everywhere like in the first room with half eaten bodies. The door from the room to the right burst open. Out came a creature on all fours. Three times the size of a German Shepherd with massive claws and fangs. It’s skin just like that of the zombies. Behind it was another one of equal size.
“Kill the bastards!” I yelled.
We opened fire taking down the one in front, but it took up all the ammo we had loaded. We had no time to reload. I dropped my M4 and pulled my pistol and unloaded a clip into creature number two. It had no effect. It leapt at Jim and Joe, slicing their heads off with one quick swipe of its powerful claw.
Sean and I ran back to the first room we were in. Both of us threw in a grenade as I shut the door and then dove for cover. The blast blew the door off. Hiding under the desks we didn’t get hit with any shrapnel.
Standing up I drew my shotgun from my shoulder and cocked it. Sean still had his M4 by his side.
“Shit! Now what do we do?” I yelled.
Suddenly two canisters of gas came into the room and the next thing I knew I was out cold.


Chapter 13

I woke up with about a dozen men dressed in army gear around me. One man was talking to me.
“Can you hear me? Sir?”
I was groggy still but I responded. “Yeah. Who are you? Where am I? Where is my friend? And my gear?
“Relax,” he told me. “You’re just having some side effects from the knockout gas. We couldn’t take any chances to see if you were bitten. Your friend however was scratched sometime when you were below. I’m sorry but we had to put him down before he turned.”
I wiped my eyes which were still blurry and stood up. I was in some kind of encampment. Looking outside the makeshift tent I was in I could see about fifty military people. At least that’s what they looked like.
“Maybe you should sit down,” said the doctor.
“No. I want answers. I lost all of my friends in the past five months and I want to know the truth. Was Dr. Brand correct about a cancer vaccine?”
“Dr. Brand was released for his crazy theories. He wasn’t exactly all there if you catch my drift. The real thing was a vaccine. What for, I’m not at liberty to say. You’re on a need to know basis.”
“What is your name anyways?”
“Dr. Jones.”
“Gee that’s original. And who are those men out there.”
“They are the rest of the army of the united states. Almost everyone is dead. The virus has spread around the world. Our world population has gone from 7 billion to less than 300 million. Right now our job is to find a safe haven in the States.”
“Well, Dr. Jones if you give me my guns back I’ll be glad to join your boys. I have nowhere else to go. No home or anything. Or anyone.”
“Let me talk to the man in charge.”
The doctor left the tent and came back five minutes later with a burly man in a camouflage outfit.
He shook my hand. “Colonel Platt. Doc says you want to join our crew. Can you handle an assault rifle?”
“Yes sir. And I need some payback to the undead.”
“Well,” he said, “Welcome aboard then.”
Two days later, I was dressed in camouflage and handed an M16 and pistol. Colonel Platt set me up with his 3rd unit.
As we were loading up into the truck I reflected back on the lives that were lost. My friends. Now I swore an oath to take revenge on the undead for each one of them. One hundred zombies for each dead friend. And I had hope that we would find a safe haven and I could start a new life and forget about all that was lost.

The End