Camp Bio-Warfare

a short story by Ryan James Dailey

For Melody.

                                                                    Author’s Note

The universe you are about to enter has existed on paper for nearly two decades, ever since I saw George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead. I wanted to know more about that world and I began creating my own characters and scenarios. As I matured the world took on a shape of its own. My characters fell out of Romero’s fan-fiction world and into their own. It’s a similar universe but some things (especially the mechanics of the undead) are paramount in difference.

I’ve never been shy about my characters, finding that I am helpless, only able to follow behind them with my pencil and notebook. I don’t control them and wouldn’t control what they do if I could. I do however from time to time clean up their language… honestly the zombie apocalypse brings out a whole new lexicon of foul mouth drivel and ample opportunity to utilize the language.

The story you have before you crept its way into the universe of a novel I’ve been working on for quite some time. It was never my intention for this to happen, but as events fell into place, it did. This is not a shameless plug for my novel, Prion, only a heads up for those of you who wish to know more. And there is much, much more.

Read this for the syndication it is, because next time you visit this world, you will no doubt be spending quite some time in it.

Enjoy the devastation.

 

Ryan James Dailey

Olympia, Washington   2013

Camp Bio-Warfare

“Muuuuhhhh…”

Alex slammed into the side of the maintenance shed, one foot sending a plume of powdery dirt over the beach and the other on the dock stretching out into Lomo Lake. The dead’s horrible moaning cries echoing off of the mountains and down over the lulling waves. He knew that most of the other camp kids and counselors had been infected, they had changed

The walking dead were spread in a gangly mass across the recreation field, blocking the way to the visitor center. The cool wind whipping off the lake chilled their rotting faces, their shadows growing long as the sun fell down into the mountains.

“Do you really want to go for it?” Alex asked, pinching his oily cheeks in nervousness.

“We don’t have a choice.” Donovan shivered. “If we stay here we’ll be a sushi buffet on the dock.”

Donovan took a hesitant step forward, looking deep inside for a courage alien to him. All the stupid things he had done to prove to himself that he wasn’t a coward had gotten him sent to this retreat. He realized that it didn’t take a lot of guts to break into a convenient store in the middle of the night, if anything it took brains. If he had had brains he wouldn’t have gotten caught. He cursed himself silently, stupid coward.

Their progress would be slowed by Kevin and his asthma, but with Matt to help him along, they just might make it. Donovan gave the other three boys in the group a quick nod and shot out into the open, track was the only thing he was good at and the only social interaction he had outside of school, he relished the speed. Fighting back a wave of nausea Alex followed close behind, the other two boys slowly making their way across the finely trimmed field.

The dead were slow in the cold and the small group managed to dodge most of them. They sparingly dispatched the more troublesome creatures with quick blows to the head.

Kevin unloaded a clip into a duo of puss dripping zombies as they grasped for him. Kevin’s breath coming is rattling gasps, panting and wheezing and feeling utterly useless, saving his own ass. Just like always. Why am I so damned weak! He shook his head. A few moments later Matt was pushing him through the entrance of the visitor center and into eerie silence.

“HELLO!” Matt shouted, pressing his back to the closed doors.

Donovan and Alex were pushing the reception desk towards the door, the metal feet of the desk screeching along the granite floor. The desk was heavy and sure to trip up anything that managed to pull open the double doors. The doors rattling hollowly as the dead crashed into them, a small puddle of blood creeping underneath the doors as countless bodies bulged and crumpled. They wouldn’t need the desk after all. The dead had barricaded the doors already.

The large reception area was dark, humming yellow under the vast glow of arc-sodium bulbs. Donovan had found that he was just a little awestruck at the explicit grandeur of the place, wondering how he had missed this detail before. All of the kids here were members of very rich families, but this place seemed a little too rich. He began to wonder if this didn’t have something to do with the sudden and sporadic generation of the living dead.

Counselor and administrative doors stood in a line along the wall on the bottom floor of the reception area, a hallway stretching off to the left leading to a small cafeteria and a spiral of stairs snug in the far right corner.

“I’m starving.” Alex said, gazing longingly towards the cafeteria, he was the ‘fat’ kid of the group. He didn’t care about the critical looks he got, the ones that usually hurt his heart. Anything was better than what was outside, he didn’t care.

“I don’t know about that.” Donovan said as he popped the lock off of a desk drawer with Kevin’s Gerber multi-tool. “Maybe that’s how everyone got sick in the first place, it may not be safe.”

“Hold up.” Matt said, reaching into the desk drawer. “It’s a memo from this morning… oh shit.”

“What?” Kevin cried, taking his Gerber from Donovan and reaching out for the paper.

Matt pulled the paper back quickly before the other boy could reach it. “It’s to your father, Kevin. It says it’s for Supervisor Lieutenant Nicholas Tower, DOD.”

“It can’t be.” Kevin muttered, drawing the paper from Matt’s hands. “My dad is just a counselor here in the summer.”

“Well we better read it and see what it says,” Said Donovan, pulling the other two boys to his side, clearing his throat and reading the fax aloud.

To: Supervisor Lieutenant Nicholas Tower, Department of Defense

From: Roland Schakter, LLM Retreat Director

Date: July 16 – 10:04 a.m.

Subject: Security measures.

Recently and in the past, several of our DOD facilities have been troubled by intruders. The majority of these incidents are resolved rather easily and without much trouble with DOJ. However in a few specific cases we have experienced significant loss. This is why we would like to take the time to ask you to increase your security measures according to Level Blue directives. You will find these directives by logging into our mainframe under your security clearance and accessing the database under: precautions_class<B.

You are also asked to keep the civilian attendance to the retreat at a minimum without disturbing the continuity of our experiment. If any unauthorized persons should breach the security checkpoints you are advised to use extreme prejudice (despite Level Blue).

On behalf of research and development I would personally like to thank you for your impressive additions to the team. You are an important asset to our corporation. Keep up the good work.

End of memo.

“What the hell does that mean? …Security clearance? …Continuity of our experiment? …Extreme prejudice. What is going on here?” Kevin asked, taking the paper and running his eyes over the lines a second time.

“I don’t know what this all means,” Said Matt, grinding his palms into his eyes. “I don’t think we should eat anything just yet either. We can wait a little while longer. Let’s spread out and see if we can figure out what to do next.”

Donovan stood straight up and looked towards the back of the visitor center. The other three boys looked on with concern when they heard what he had heard, a faint rustling noise. It was so similar to the sounds coming from the doors to the outside that Donovan almost thought that it was an echo, but the sound was significantly different. Pulling the hatchet from his belt Donovan took a step forward.

The wall behind where the reception desk once sat was lined with doors. Most stood jammed on the granite. The noise seemed to be coming from behind a half chalked door.

“I’ll check it out.” Donovan whispered slowly moving closer to the door. Cautiously he reached his hand into the waiting darkness of the small room. For a horrible moment he thought that he wouldn’t be able to find the light switch, but just before he lost his nerve his hand struck the toggle. It was then that he saw her, peeking over a heavy wood desk at the back of the room. It was one of the camp girls and she was jumping over the desk now and heading straight for him. She swung at his head with a splintered chunk of lumber, most likely one of the desk’s legs.

They fell into the reception area.

“Sierra,” Alex cried, taking a slight step back from the swinging girl.

She stopped in her tracks and dropped the board to the floor. Sierra held a shaky hand out to the boy.

“Alex?” She asked, not believing her eyes.

“Yeah it’s me. Don’t worry. We aren’t messed up like the rest of them.” Alex hugged her tightly, forgetting himself and his shyness given the situation. “I’m so glad you aren’t either.”

“Okay,” Matt said, “Enough of that crap. Let’s just get out of here before we find a real zombie.”

Seeing Matt shoulder into Kevin attempting to help him along had startled Sierra. She held up her hand, palm out, motioning for them to stop moving.

“There is some first aid spray in the cabinet in there. My mommy’s company makes it. She’s shown me a video about it before, it works really well.” Sierra pushed the office door against the wall and pulled open the first aid station.

Matt pushed Kevin into a swiveling office chair and sat back to rest on the desk. Sierra winced at the color of Kevin’s face and his harsh labored breathing. Jaundice flesh surrounded his eyes.

“Have you been bitten Kevin?” She asked, pulling the plastic wrapper off the can of first aid spray.

“No.” He winced. “I have asthma. Usually it’s not that bad. That’s why my parents sent me here for the summer. Fresh air is supposed to help.”

“Here,” She said, handing him the spray.

“I was fine until my ski buddy Timmy got sick. He wasn’t feeling good so he took a nap on the bunk below me. I went to get down later and he tried to bite me. I fell into the bed next to us and it knocked the wind out of me. I’ve been having an attack ever since. I ran as fast as I could and told a counselor and they took him to the doctor.” Kevin breathed shallow at first, then deeper as the spray took effect until finally his color returned and his chest stopped burning.

“Well, hopefully that spray helps you a lot. You looked pretty bad.” Sierra took the small can from him and slid it into her back pocket, picking up her splintered bit of wood.

While Sierra was healing Kevin, Donovan had busied himself with the locked drawer in the counselor’s desk fighting to keep his balance as it rocked from side to side, missing its leg.

“Whoa.” Donovan said, walking out of the office and into the reception area. “Look at what I found.”

He held out a shiny silver keycard with Department of Defense and its logo stenciled on the front side. On the back of the card he saw a magnetic strip with the words ‘Level Red’. Donovan didn’t have any idea what the card was for, but it looked important. Under the current circumstances it could come in handy, the way today was going they’d probably find a Resident Evil style underground lab and this could be their ticket out. They all took turns handling the keycard. Then Donovan made a motion towards the spiral staircase.

Wordlessly they trekked up the stairs sending muffled clanking down into the brightly lit entranceway. The foyer, they saw from their vantage point, circled the grand reception hall and opened to the room in large swooping arches. The doors on the second story shared many of the same characteristics as the first floor but with a slight difference. All of these doors were unlabeled and locked up tight. And unlike the doors downstairs these also had keycard readers. Donovan swept the silver keycard over the reader but it was dark, obviously the power was off.

At the end of the foyer on the far side of the reception hall the group came to a stop. Elevator doors stood shut before them adorned by glowing keypads and keycard readers. Donovan swept the keycard over the reader and the fixture beeped. The signal light turned from red to green and the doors opened.

It was a tight fit into the small elevator but they all managed to cram inside.

“I guess we’re riding back down… Maybe we can find out how to turn the power on for those other readers, maybe find a working phone or unlocked PC.” Matt pressed the down key and was surprised when another set of luminous buttons showed up through the wood grain texture beside the key pad.

“What is this crap?” Alex asked, fumbling to make sense of the magical buttons before him.

“It looks like there is an option for a basement level. This card must have given us access to it. Maybe we can find a way out or something down there. At best it would be a good place to hide.” Matt pressed the B-1 key, the lowest floor, and the elevator descended.

The elevator sped up and slowed down, its inertia dragging on the kids inside. Humming to a stop the elevator jingled a tone and its doors opened, a pleasant feminine voice chimed through the overhead speakers. “Please exit the lift so that is can return to its standard position.”

“Spooky.” Matt said, the last out of the elevator, bumped and jostled by the other children exiting as he continued to examine the glowing keys coming through the wood.

“Hey nerd,” Donovan said looking back at Matt.

Matt shook his head and walked out of elevator. As soon as his foot cleared the threshold the doors slid shut and the elevator rose back to the second floor landing.

They faced a long running corridor that stretched off for quite a distance. There were no doors near the elevator that they could see, but further along towards the end of the hall it turned to the right and was out of sight. A large Department of Defense sign was plastered on the wall opposite the elevator. Kevin examined the logo with his fingers and turned with the rest of the kids when a clanging sound echoed down the corridor.

Briskly they moved down the corridor. As they neared the corner they stopped, listening to the soft metal banging. They moved slowly around the corner, the noise coming farther off. A headless body lay next to the first card reader on the wall, a pool of blood running out in a semicircle from below the closed shutter. Donovan remembered the double doors upstairs and created a terrible vision in his head.

“This must have come down and taken his head off.” Donovan said, prodding the body with the big toe of his left foot.

“Stop poking him.” Matt whispered. “Try the card reader. See if it’ll open.”

Donovan stepped over the corpse, mindful of the tacky blood. He pushed back the vision of dozens of undead in his head. He swiped the card over the reader but it replied with an off-putting and negative buzz. He tried again half a dozen times, but the shutter didn’t move.

“This must not be the right card.” Donovan grumbled, shaking his head again.

The metal on metal sound was closer now and the children held their breath. Rows of doors stood to either side of the corridor and it widened out after the shutter door. One of the doors was open, a lazy blue glow filtering out onto the linoleum. The sound was closer now, just on the inside of the open door. A hazy shadow parted the blue light. Then it emerged.

“That’s not a zombie!” Alex breathed, taking a few steps back.

The creature’s shape was easily recognizable as human, but that was where it stopped. Its skin seemed to be boiling, a bloody mass saturated with wires, tubes and shards of glass. Its dangling eyes left murky orange-red streaks on the white linoleum as it crawled. Its bottom jaw hung slack, rows of sharpened teeth glinting in the arc-sodium light. Parts of the monster’s brain shown through missing chunks of skull, glistening with glass splinters. It leaned heavily forward on its arms, muscles rippling just under its thin orange flesh. The monster let out a startling bray, Donovan connected it with a sheep call but baritone. It chilled the children to the bone.

“Shoot it in the head!” Donovan yelled, pushing Kevin to the front of the group, he was the only one with a firearm, a pistol they had lifted from a security kiosk.

Kevin let out a pleading moan and raised his pistol at the advancing monstrosity. He could feel the monster sensing him, wanting his blood. He didn’t know how this thing knew they were there, but it did. It didn’t have any ears, just bloody holes with wires running from them. All he knew was that the monster knew he was there and that it wanted to eat him.

The clamor of the pistol shots were deafening in the corridor and the creature scurried forward with puma speed, screeching again. The noises it made were obviously those of pain but all of Kevin’s shots had missed the creature completely. He fired again and again, the bullets sinking into the creature’s bubbling flesh. It let out another howl and leapt like a frog straight towards Kevin, the source of the creature’s misery.

Kevin backed up, tripping over the headless corpse and falling head over heels onto the floor. The creature’s head followed him on his descent to the floor. Donovan, noticing the creature’s recognition for sound, turned and ran back the way they had come. The other children screamed in absolute horror as the creature reared up on its legs and steadied to jump.

The world was filled with the scream of sirens. Strobe lights flickered off the walls and the creature retracted its stance, crashing to its back on the floor thrashing violently. Its cries were weak and inaudible beneath the alarm.

Donovan let go of the lever of the fire alarm and turned around. The monster shivered helplessly on the floor in convulsions. He pulled the hatchet from his belt again and sidled past the others. With a gruesome THUCK the blade hammered down into the monster’s brain. It relaxed and he tugged the hatchet free smearing the gore off onto the lab coat of the headless corpse.

“How’d you know to do that?” Matt asked as he helped Kevin of the floor.

“When you missed with your shots it almost looked like you had hit it. Then it ‘watched’ you fall to the ground.” Donovan said, his face wet with perspiration. “I figured it was the sounds. I was lucky. You were lucky.”

“That was a good guess. Thank you.” Kevin said, examining his gun in the flashing light. It was empty and he let it clatter to the floor.

“Yeah, I guess it was.” Donovan nodded firmly, barely audible over the alarms. “Let’s keep going. We’ve got to kill these alarms, I didn’t think about that part.”

Before they continued Matt reached down and rummaged through the pockets of the headless lab technician. His pockets were almost empty. He dropped a half eaten Butterfinger into the stale blood and produced a steel and blue keycard. Standing up he swept it over the reader. It buzzed a ‘no’ sound at them and a message popped up on a small LED screen: ACCESS DENIED. PLEASE DISABLE ALL ALARMS AND TRY AGAIN.

“Damn.” Matt shouted over the clamor.

“Let’s get that alarm turned off and find another way out.” Donovan suggested again, pushing past Matt.

As they progressed down the corridor they found several more of the monstrosities lying helplessly on the floor. Donovan dispatched all of these swiftly, just as he had with the first one they encountered. They were glad now that the alarm was still blaring overhead, but the sound was making it hard to concentrate and they agreed it would be best to shut it off, they could always trip it again. They made their way further into the belly of the complex.

Doors and hallways led off in all directions. It was difficult to decide which way to go. They came to what looked like a reception area with a computer panel mounted into the desk. Matt slid the blue keycard and the screen came to life.

“Matt, type in map and see if you can find one.” Donovan suggested, peering over the boy’s shoulder.

Matt did as he was told and a map of the complex came up on the screen. The children were in awe of the scale of the facility. It held more than five miles of underground passages, labs, storage facilities, dorms, recreation halls, cafeterias, administration offices, communication and security rooms. They saw only two clear exits, the first being the one they had come from and the second on the other side of the complex labeled DOCKS.

“We’ll take a shortcut here.” Donovan yelled, pointing at a room labeled R-19. “It looks like it’s a lab but the corridor leads around it. It’ll be shorter if we can cut right through.”

The other children nodded in agreement.

Matt was about to leave the computer when he decided there was one more thing for him to do. He searched for FIRE ALARM and the control for the alert system came up. Donovan pressed the ‘off’ button and the machine prompted for authorization. Again he swept the blue keycard and the sound cut off. The lights returned to normal and an eerie yet welcome silence fell over them.

“Thank god.” Sierra said a little too loud. Her voice seemed weak and distant after the barrage of alarms.

They reached the door of R-19 without event. The label under the door number read Research and Examination. Hesitantly Matt swept the blue keycard and the door slid open. Inside, the room’s walls were lined with dozens of cylindrical specimen tanks, each housing its own horrific wonder. The creatures inside floated listlessly in the clear fluid, tethered by the tubes and wires jutting from their bodies. At least one of them looked like the creatures they had encountered earlier. There were no zombies in the tanks.

They did not stop to examine the monsters in great detail.

The majority of the overhead arc-sodium lights had been broken out. Most of the room’s visibility came from the backlit specimen tanks. The group walked through the lab, crunching over the litter of broken glass. Their nerves were on edge, they looked for anything even the least bit out of place.

They reached the door on the opposite side of the lab. Before Donovan could sweep the card over the reader the door opened on its own.

Nicholas Tower stepped into the doorway, smiling.

“Dad,” Kevin cried, reaching for his father.

“Stay back Kevin.” Nicholas said, raising a pistol in the direction of the children. “Just you all stay back and don’t get any closer.”

“But why,” Kevin began to weep, whipping his nose, starting to wheeze again.

“I’m so sorry son, but it has to be this way. Now come with me, all of you. And keep your distance.” Nicholas motioned through the door with his pistol.

Nicholas stepped back through the doorway and let the kids through.

“Now, drop your weapons on the floor and walk ahead.” Nicholas ordered, his eyes blazing with insanity.

They didn’t dare argue. Donovan dropped his hatchet to the floor and Alex dropped his knife. Reluctantly Sierra let her arm fall and the splintered wood clambered on the linoleum. Kevin kept his Gerber but made no motion to show he had a weapon. Satisfied they were unarmed Nicholas urged them on.

“Where are you taking us?” Donovan asked, too aggressively.

“We are going to the docks. It’s time for you all to take a dip.” Nicholas laughed, sending chills down Donovan’s spine.

Soon they were entering a large open room. One wall was dominated by a large glass tank. The room smelled like the back of an aquarium Donovan had visited the summer before last, before he had gotten himself in trouble and sent on this retreat. His fear began to build until he almost stopped in his tracks.

“That’s a really big fish tank.” Kevin said, the presence of his father causing him to forget the extremity of the situation.

“Yes son, it is.” Nicholas said almost reassuringly, a rueful smiling cracking his face in two.

Donovan lurched forward, reaching for Nicholas’s gun. The man side-stepped and brought the butt of the gun down on the back of Donovan’s head. The solid connection sent him to the floor groaning.

“You bully!” Sierra screamed, rushing forward herself. She stopped short when Nicholas leveled the gun to her face.

Nicholas kicked Donovan in the ribs hard enough that all the breath rushed out of the boy.

“Get up!” He yelled.

“Stop it.” Sierra began to weep. “He’s defenseless you coward.”

“Pick him up.” Nicholas scowled, kicking the boy again.

Sierra put her hand under Donovan’s arms and helped him to his feet. She moved slowly, grunting at the strain of the much larger boy’s weight. Alex began to lean down to help but retreated at the snapping sound of the pistol being primed.

“No. Just her, I don’t trust you that much.” Nicholas again motioned with the pistol. “Over there, against that wall. All of you”

“Daddy,” Kevin pleaded again.” Stop. Please stop.”

“Shut up you little coward!” Nicholas seethed, drawing forward causing Kevin to take a step back. “I’ve had enough of your drivel.”

The children stopped near the perspiring aquarium glass. Sierra let go of Donovan and patted at the bloody spot on the back of his head with her t-shirt.

“Now you,” Nicholas said, motioning to Alex. “Climb those stairs and get inside the tank.”

“NO!” Alex moaned, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Fine, a coward wouldn’t provide me with the proper results anyhow.” Nicholas leveled the pistol and shot a bullet through Alex’s head. He tumbled to the floor. Sierra screamed and they all began to weep.

“Now,” Nicholas bellowed. “No more argument. Get in the tank Donovan or I will shoot you.”

For a moment Donovan stood reluctant, staring at the man wondering what sort of evil could drive someone to do such things to children. He was sure this would not end well. Donovan turned away from Sierra and mounted the spiraling metal staircase. Slowly he made his way to the top.

Nicholas pressed keys on a console. A metal plate in the top of the tank slid open and the water level receded. Donovan followed the water level slowly into the tank, the rungs of the stainless steel ladder ringing under his feet.

“I’ve got some information that I would like to collect before I leave. Get inside or your friends die. There will be a weapon for you in there, don’t worry. I was hoping for an older combatant but I’m sure you will do. You are fighting for your life after all. The weapon fires incendiary grenade rounds. It will do a great deal of damage to living tissue, but don’t think about firing at the tank, you’ll waste your lifeline.” Nicholas grinned as he punched the controls to close the access panel of the tank.

“What happens when this is over,” Donovan called out, his voice ringing hollow in the massive tank.

“That is entirely up to you child,” Said Nicholas. “If you defeat the creatures you will have your freedom. If not, well then, I will send the rest of your friends in there one at a time until the job is done… or until you’re all wasted.”

Nicholas plucked at the control console again and the tank shook slightly. A panel, like the one on the ceiling, slid away from the floor and water began to rush up through the hole. Donovan turned to move away from the frigid water that splashed over his shoes and found his weapon latched to the wall under a waterproof seal. The boy ripped the mesh cover off of the case and pulled the grenade launcher free. He struggled against the aching chill of the water as he put the spare three grenades in his pocket.

Donovan never thought the weapons would be so heavy. The years of violent videogames had fooled him. In his mind every weapon weighed as much as the controller he held in his hands. This was not the case and he feared the power and energy of the weapon if he had to discharge it.

The water stopped at his knees and he breathed a small sigh of relief. The water was cold, glacier cold. It smelled like fresh runoff from the surrounding Rockies.

“Seconds are important.” Nicholas laughed. “Better get a move on, the shark will be coming for you soon.”

A geyser of water violently erupted from the hold in the tank. Something dull and gray shot through the water towards the other side of the tank. Donovan let out a cry and turned to look through the tank window, Nicholas stood where he was watching, relishing the moment. Just as he looked back for the shark something swished through the air. He jumped back, falling on his butt into the water. A long fin slapped through the space Donovan’s torso had occupied only a split second before.

Donovan regained his feet, shivering he crouched and took aim. The shark rose two feet out of the water. This thing has legs? Donovan cried to himself. The monster let out a fierce roar and charged, half running and half swimming. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger. The grenade launcher threw Donovan across the tank and into the glass. The grenade flew past the shark and he feared it had dropped through the panel on the floor.

The concussion of the grenade exploding was enough to rip the monster apart. Chunks of oozing gray flesh rained down onto the water, pelting Donovan and turning the tank into a bloody ghastly stew.

“Excellent shot!” Nicholas cried, jumping up and down. “I’m so very proud of you young man. However, the game is not over yet. Now it’s time for you to dance with big brother.”

“Oh god,” Donovan gulped, fumbling to reload the launcher.

He took aim at the exposed floor panel below the water. The floor rumbled beneath Donovan’s feet, then came a crash. He heard the screech of metal and the water began to bubble. The metal around the floor panel sheared away on all sides. Slowly, a bulge of gray rose out of the water.

It grew and grew until it dominated Donovan’s view. This creature was ten times the size of the ‘little’ brother. Donovan didn’t know if that meant it would be harder to kill, he put the thought out of his mind.

The shark monster slid onto the floor, raising four razor tipped fins into the air. Saliva and gore oozed from its mouth and gills. Its dull orange eyes fixed themselves on Donovan. For a moment the two stood silent, staring at one another. One asking the other, “What are you?” The monster lapped at the water and looked back at Donovan. He felt as if the creature were sizing him up.

“Shit!” Nicholas’s voice broke though the silence. Donovan and the creature looked through the glass of the tank. The man was tapping frantically at the console, screaming, he threw the monitor across the room.

Nicholas shuffled backwards. He had been so excited that he had accidentally activated the third and final stage of the test and the computer would not cancel the operation. Fear rose in the pit of his stomach. All of the research could be ruined. He feared that the last subject would be strong enough to destroy the tank.

As the children stood transfixed watching their friend face off with the horrible monster in the tank, Nicholas retreated up an emergency ladder and onto the platform above.

An ear piercing screech cracked the glass of the tank. The giant shark monster jerked around, lapping at the water again, scenting it. Donovan aimed the grenade launcher at the creature and backed up slowly. He swung around and leveled off at the glass. Despite what Nicholas had said he pulled the trigger. Again he was thrown back and chunks of glass rained into the water. It wasn’t enough as the glass continued to tower over the boy’s head. Another screech and more pieces fell into the water. The kids outside the tank ran as fast as they could.

“Stop,” Nicholas screamed at Donovan, pounding the platform’s railing. “You’ll ruin everything! Kill the monsters boy or they will kill you!”

Donovan couldn’t hear him as he raised himself from the water, ejecting the spent grenade casing. A braided tentacle saturated with acid filled suckers slapped up through the floor. It thrashed around and reached for the shark monster. Donovan reloaded and plugged the glass again. The sound was amazing. Half of the tank exploded outward and water sloshed into the lab. Sierra shrieked and tried to climb up Matt’s arm.

Nicholas leaned over the platform with growing excitement despite the breach of the tank. The squid monster had wrapped around the shark and was dragging it to its mouth. The shark slashed furiously at the tentacles, throwing gallons of green blood and acid over the water. Donovan carefully navigated the boulders of glass and over the seal and out of the tank. He ran towards Sierra and Matt, loading his last round.

Nicholas followed Donovan with his eyes, taking careful aim with his pistol. Just as he was about to fire he felt cold burning steel rip through his Achilles tendon. He started to fall and unloaded a round into his other leg.

“Why are you doing this to us? Why are you making me do this?” Kevin cried, pulling the Gerber’s knife blade back and lunging to slash his father across the chest.

Nicholas was quicker than his son and smashed the butt of the gun into his face. The boy tumbled back and crashed to the platform.

“You asked for this.” Nicholas roared. He pointed the gun at Kevin’s face and applied pressure to the trigger.

Donovan was up the ladder in an instant, intent on stopping the man once and for all. As he put his foot down on the platform the gun went off and Kevin drew his last breath. Calmly he took aim at Donovan. Just as Donovan was closing his eyes, resigning to his end he heard Nicholas scream.

The man was whipped violently off the platform and thrown into the air. He landed in the murky water underneath the dripping head of his final test. The monster didn’t make any noise as it slid forward toward Nicholas. The man screamed in pain as the acid began eating through his flesh.

Donovan didn’t stop to look at the scene below. He yelled for his two remaining friends. Sierra and Matt pushed their way through the water, heads down, cowering from the monster behind them.

Again Nicholas screamed as the squid picked him up and slammed him back down onto the floor sending shock-waves across the top of the water. His voice cut off as the water consumed him and then he was in the air again panting and raving.

“Look!” Donovan shouted, pointing to the end of the catwalk and a set of steel stairs leading up to a door marked EXIT.

“My god,” Sierra sighed in exhausted excitement.

They ran up the stairs. Only when the door was pressed against their palms did they turn around to watch Nicholas die.

“You son of a bitch monster, I made you! I made you!” Nicholas screamed. He fired blindly at the squid as it pulled him into its mouth.

“Let’s go.” Donovan murmured, pushing the door open and stepping through.

The door closed behind them and they found themselves in a small passage with a ladder at the end. Wearily they made their way up the ladder and to the landing above.

They were in a small building, maintenance tools hung on the walls. Matt pulled at a shovel but it was bracketed firmly.

“What is this shit?” Matt asked, pulling hard against the handle of the shovel.

“I think it’s just for looks.” Donovan said, praying that they weren’t where he thought they were.

He opened the door into the night and stepped out. Sierra and Matt followed him, the door banged shut loudly behind them. He tried the handle but it was no good. They were locked out, not that anyone had the desire to go back inside.

Donovan heard the lapping of water behind him and held his breath as he looked around the corner of the maintenance shed. The dead had given up their plight at the visitor center and were coming back to investigate the sounds by the lake.

The horrible moaning cries echoed off the mountains and down over the lulling waves. The noise of the undead crowding over the sounds of the squid monster as it slid onto the shore.

*Formatting for this blog is a major hassle. I apologize that this isn’t exactly in a standard presentation. My options are limited until I can develop a decent html script to handle proper formatting.

Copyright

A Prion novella.

Published by Ryan James Dailey for Amazon Kindle.

ebook
ASIN: B00H27A39C

 

Camp Bio-Warfare copyright © 2013

Prion: A Zombie Novel copyright © 2013

By Ryan James Dailey

All Rights Reserved.

Cover art by Lin Streeter and Ryan James Dailey.

 

 

This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events and situations are the product of the
author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means

without the written consent of the author and publisher.