Fractured: Outbreak ZOM-813 (6 page)

“These belong to you.” Dan handed Jaxon his guns.

“Thanks.” Jaxon placed his handgun in his waist belt and wrapped the strap of his automatic weapon around his forearm and held the pistol grip tightly. He left his backpack on the floorboard.

Dan and I both checked our guns and strapped our machetes on our belts.

“While we’re here we’ll try to pick up all the ammunition we can,” Jaxon said while he eyed the main entrance. “You guys ready?”

“Ready.” Dan nodded.

We all quietly exited the truck. Dan opened Mayhem’s door, and he hopped out, with Dan holding tight to his leash.

The smoke was suffocating, and the sun blazed down on us. We were heading into fall, but it still felt like the middle of summer out here. My heart was pounding a thousand times a minute; I was feeling scared and vulnerable out in the open and wished we could have stayed in the truck.

Jaxon took the lead, followed by Dan and Mayhem, while I stayed to the back. I constantly looked over my shoulder while having my hand out against Dan’s back so I could use him as a guide. I hoped we would be in and out of this place as fast as possible with no incidents.  Whether we found my sister or not, I just wanted out.

Jaxon peeked around the wall where the pickup truck had crashed through the gate. He held his hand out to us, brought it up to his eyes, and then pointed to the vehicle. I had seen enough movies to know he was telling us there was something ahead.

This can’t be good.

Jaxon squeezed along the truck slowly while pulling the bayonet from the muzzle of his rifle. Dan pulled out his machete, so I did the same.

Mayhem let out a low growl, and the hair on his back stood straight up.

When I looked around the wall, I was able to get a better look in the truck. There was a still form sitting in the passenger seat. As Jaxon made his way to the passenger window, he reached in with his bayonet and I heard the squish of skin and clunk of breaking bones. When he pulled the blade back through the window, it was covered in thick, black, congealed blood. He wiped the blood onto his pants. It happened so fast. He didn’t hesitate for a second. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the sounds of bones separating.

Jaxon looked back at us, then continued forward.

As I slid by I couldn’t help but look inside. It was an infected strapped in the seat belt. It had been unable to release itself from the belt, but now, slumped over, it was released from the burden of infection. The front windshield was shattered and blood stained the glass.

“Where’s the driver?” I whispered in Dan’s ear.

He looked back at me with a shrug.

Jaxon brought his hands up to his eyes again then pointed ahead. Another infected was sprawled on the ground, slowly dragging itself. Its head was partially crushed, and blood was slowly draining to the sand beneath.  We had found the driver. Jaxon motioned for us to stay put as he crept over in a low crouch, head swiveling, scanning the area, and looking out for any others. When he reached the creature, he calmly drove his blade into its skull and rushed back over to us. His movement was so fluid, never missing a beat.

The inside was as small as Jaxon had described. There was one narrow street with five buildings on each side, ending in the emergency exit in the back of the compound. The exit was wide open.

“It looks like they made a getaway out the back gate,” Jaxon said with an air of relief.

“Do you think there’s anyone here?” I asked.

“We’ll find out.  If we’re lucky, the infected followed them out and are chasing their dust.” Jaxon motioned us to follow him. 

We were standing in what was the parking lot for the base. The guard tower above us appeared empty. We moved along the wall slowly and made our way to the back of the first building where there was an alley separating the buildings from the security wall. Jaxon crept to a low window and used the blade of his bayonet to try and pry it open. Locked. He looked through the window’s frosted pane for movement, and sufficiently sure that nothing was moving, quickly broke the window with the butt of his weapon. He carefully climbed into the window and disappeared. After what felt like an eternity, his hand shot out of the darkness, and I heard him mutter, “Give me your hand, let’s go.”

The broken shards of glass crunched beneath our feet as we entered. Dull red emergency lights lit the room. From the looks of it, we were in the supply room of the Medical Ward. The next room was larger with animal cages lining the walls and aquariums set up on an island in the center.  Everything was empty. The room was untouched and still held its sterile smell.

We walked farther into the building, passing offices and smaller labs. Jaxon stopped at a door with a narrow glass window at his eye level. He leaned against the door, and the narrow beam of light from the thin window shone across his face.

“Something happened in there.” Jaxon’s tone was somber, the relief I had sensed before was gone.

“What’s on the other side?” I whispered.

“The main part of this facility. Quarantine rooms, testing rooms, offices. My wife’s office is at the end of the hall.” He turned to us. “Stay close.”

Jaxon barely made a sound when he opened the door. We followed him down the hallway, pausing at each room. The doors were glass with large viewing windows, allowing Jaxon to peer in before passing them. These rooms looked like a tornado had dropped in; everything was smashed and scattered on the counters and floors. It smelled horrible. It was a smell we were beginning to know all too well. Death.

There were two doors left at the end of the hallway; the quarantine area, and at the end of the hall, the office for Jaxon’s wife.

Jaxon poked his head into the quarantine area, retreated, and looked again.

“Bodies.” Jaxon looked back at us. He clicked his bayonet back into place on the muzzle of his M-4, then aimed his weapon and disappeared again around the corner.

Before Dan and I followed him, I looked back to make sure we were still alone. I knew Mayhem would most likely warn us, but he seemed completely focused on everything in front of him.

As I turned the corner behind Dan, I could see the bodies lying in the hallway and more bodies through the partial view afforded by the doorways. No one looked alive.

It was a long corridor of quarantine rooms which were large glass hospital style rooms. Multiple beds lined the wall with monitors and equipment staged along each bed. As we walked closer to the bodies, Jaxon would check each individual for any signs of life by carefully nudging the bodies with his boot, weapon always aimed carefully at the body. I assumed they were dead or potentially infected when Jaxon took his bayonet and deftly slid the blade into their brains. The bodies were civilians, scientists, and a few soldiers. Dan and I studied everybody, making sure none were my family. I was relieved and disappointed at the same time. They were all covered in blood, some missing limbs, some gutted. It was a massacre. We continued through the bay and approached the next door. Then we heard shaky groans coming from just ahead of us.

The broken glass cracked with each step it took. Slow steps, almost dragging its feet across the floor. Dan, Jaxon, and I pressed our backs against the wall, listening, waiting for it to show its ugly face. Mayhem let out his low growl, and the footsteps stopped. It was just a second until it continued again.

The infected paused in the doorway just a few feet away from us. It just stood there like it was waiting for another sound to follow. When it finally stepped out of the doorframe and into the hallway, we got a much better look at it. It was a man, one of the scientists, still wearing his lab coat. He looked as though he hadn’t been infected very long. A portion of his jaw was missing allowing his tongue to hang loosely from his mouth. Blood dripped down his white coat.

Dan calmly lowered his hand to Mayhem’s face and covered his eyes and mouth, pulling the dog into his leg. With our breathing light, we stood and waited.

Jaxon readied his bayonet.

The infected twisted its head in our direction and stared at us. Mayhem let out a roaring bark that jolted all of us, even the diseased scientist. With a drag in its steps, it charged towards us. Our natural instinct kicked in, and Dan and I retreated a few paces, leaving several more feet for Jaxon who stood his ground.

When the infected was in range, Jaxon lifted his leg and gave the thing a harsh kick to the chest. The infected stumbled backwards falling to the ground. Jaxon wasn’t far behind it, placing his boot over its neck and bringing his blade down right through its eye. It stopped moving almost instantly. Jaxon pulled his bayonet out and walked into the next room.

Dan and I followed.

This room was the same as the last; a long, desolate corridor with beds on either side,  something you would expect to see in a Civil War documentary, not a 21
st
century medical facility. The beds were empty, but unlike the first room, many of these beds had restraints tied to the rails, and many of the sheets were soiled and discolored.

Jaxon opened a door leading to what looked like a communal bathroom. There were showers and toilets lining the walls with no privacy. A body was visible in the corner. Next thing we knew, Jaxon was running and falling to his knees.

We followed him in.

“Close the door in case there’s more out there,” Jaxon directed.

I did as he said. Dan and Mayhem were already next to Jaxon. They were standing over a woman slumped in the corner. She was passed out from what I figured must have been blood loss due to the amount of it flooding the floor around her. We couldn’t see her face with her hair, once in a bun, now tossed around and falling down her face. She was wearing a white coat and holding a scalpel in her hand.

“She’s alive,” Jaxon said.

“Jaxon?” I was afraid of what he was about to say next.

“She’s my wife.” He looked up at us then back to his wife. “Karen. Karen, can you hear me?” Jaxon mildly shook her, holding her by the shoulders.

Karen let out a soft moan and winced in pain.

“Karen, sweetie, open your eyes for me.” Jaxon brushed her hair away from her face, trying to wake her.

Mayhem sat, a little confused, giving us a small whimper. Dan and I kneeled next to him.

Karen began to crack open her eyes and rolled her head in our direction. She stared at Jaxon for a moment before recognizing him, giving him a weak smile.

“Stay with me Karen.” Jaxon gently brushed her cheek.

“You’re alive.” Karen’s voice was so sluggish.

“Yes. Yes, I’m alive,” Jaxon assured her.

“They don’t give us much in the way of protection.” Karen weakly lifted her hand holding the scalpel, but doing so revealed much more. There was a large bite mark in her arm.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you.” Jaxon was holding back his emotional pain.

Dan reached out and gave Jaxon’s shoulder a squeeze for some hopeful comfort.

“Karen, where’s Ethan?”

Karen opened her eyes wider at the sound of the name. I assumed it was their son. Karen’s mouth formed a frown and quivered.

“Karen, do you remember where Ethan is?” Jaxon asked again.

“He was locked in my office.” Karen didn’t have much left for tears. Her body was dying. “I’m so sorry, Jax.”

“Don’t do that, Karen. This was all outside your control.” Jaxon tried reassuring her.

“Promise me you won’t let me change into one of these things,” Karen begged as her eyes closed again. As she faded away, she whispered, “It’s in the bite, Jax.”

“OK.” Jaxon nodded and brushed her pale skin. “OK. I promise.”

Karen let out a long, last breath, and died in her husband’s arms.

Jaxon embraced his wife’s dead body and wept for her. He blinked back the tears and pulled out the beretta from his holster. Jaxon tenderly stroked Karen’s sweat drenched hair away from her face and placed the gun’s barrel against her temple. With a quavering voice he quietly whispered in her ear, “I am so, so sorry.  I love you,” and pulled the trigger.

The discharge was deafening in the small tiled room. I watched as he dropped the gun, knowing that his choice of weapon had placed us in jeopardy. The bayonet would have been quieter but… deep down I understood his choice. I wondered whether or not I would be able to do the same thing if I were in his position.

“We’re so sorry, Jaxon.” I never knew what to say, and even in situations that are far easier to comprehend than this, words came with much difficulty.

“We need to find my son.” Jaxon laid Karen’s head back against the wall and stood up.

“Maybe take another minute, Jaxon.”

“We need to find my son,” Jaxon repeated. 

The hallway outside the bathroom was clear. We moved fast, backtracking through the quarantine corridor and to the hallway that led to Karen’s office. The door was at the end of the hall.

Jaxon charged the door as if he would break it down, but suddenly hesitated. He pressed his face against the door and called out, “Ethan.”

There was no response.

My muscles felt tense in this matter of seconds. I wasn’t sure I was prepared to see a child’s body destroyed by the infected – or worse yet, the infection. My gut hurt from being twisted up with anxiety. I concentrated on what was behind us while Dan and Jaxon focused on the door.