Suzanne Robb - Contaminated - A Zombie Survival Novel

Williams managed to free herself from the window she’d been impaled on. She turned toward them, her face a mess of shattered bones, the result of impact with supposedly unbreakable glass. She let out a pathetic moan and hitched her right leg as she moved forward. Her left arm hung at an odd angle, but she raised her right one just fine as she reached out for Smith.

The sight terrified all of them except Dixon, who pulled out his weapon and blew half her head off. Arthur heard the slap of her brain as it hit the floor; he didn’t need to look for confirmation.

“We need to get the hell out of here and to the armory at the end of the hall. All I have is this gun, and if we’re going to be running into more of these things, I’m going to need a hell of a lot more in my arsenal, and something not so damn noisy,” Dixon said.

“That’s great for you, but what about us? We’d like to be able to protect ourselves just in case one of those things kills you,” Smith retorted.

Arthur decided that insane people surrounded him. Two bodies had just come back from the dead like some bad horror movie and they were taking it in stride. He thought he might wet himself, and they were arguing about weapons.

“You can have all the damn guns you want, lady, but we need to get to the armory first.” Dixon moved to the door and pushed the button for the panel.

Nothing happened and Arthur heard the man swearing a blue streak. The emergency lights in the lab started to flicker, most likely a wiring issue. The explosion caused most of the ceiling to collapse, and a thought struck him. The cold chill that gripped his spine earlier, returned.

“Dixon, what kind of safety measures does the lab have in place for something like this?”

The guard stopped hitting the wall and faced Arthur. “Full containment of the affected area, lockdown of all other floors.”

“I know all that. What I mean is, there has to be some sort of ventilation system in place that stops air flow, or sucks out possibly contaminated air?”

“The air systems are all interconnected with junctions on each level. If this floor was infected with something, the next junction would stop the transmission of whatever it was to the next floor.”

“Then we have a decision to make and it isn’t going to be an easy one.” Arthur walked over to a portion of the venting system that now lay in a crumpled heap on top of the center table. “This is a junction box, so whatever was in here is on the floor above us. If nothing happened there, the people don’t know they’re breathing contaminated air,” Arthur said.

Smith looked like she’d been hit in the gut, or at least Arthur assumed, since it was hard to tell behind the masks they were all wearing.

“Oh, my God, my husband’s up there. We need to warn them,” Smith screamed.

Dixon kicked a chunk of the wall and one of the drawers containing the samples rolled out. “Then we need to figure a way out of here,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We have no idea what’s out there,” Benson said.

“Stop whining and help me, Benson,” the big man replied.

Arthur made his way over and grabbed one of the rocks, placing it in a canvas carrying case with a small lock on it. A thin layer of lead lined it, providing him a small measure of safety, as he stuffed it into one of the outside pockets on the suit.

“You guys crack the code yet?” Arthur asked.

The glares sent his way let him know that both he and his jokes were not welcome.

Fine , he thought, I’ll find my own way out of here.

Digging up his discarded jacket, he picked out the laminated map “the man” whose name he now knew was Monroe, gave him.

The observation room might be an option. He climbed through the trashed window and stumbled onto the floor as he slipped on part of Williams. He held back the bile and heard the others coming in after him.

As he suspected an emergency exit led into the hallway, most likely in case something like this happened. Quarantine the scientists, but make sure the others can get out.

“Not bad, Doc, now let’s get to that armory.” Dixon smiled.

All four of them needed to put their weight into opening the door. After much protesting, it finally gave way. Arthur had no idea how this qualified as an emergency exit, then decided nothing much made sense here.

Dixon exited first with the aid of a gnarled hand wrapped around his neck. He let out a scream and Benson jumped into the hallway after him. Arthur knew his days were numbered, because Sunset Inc. would kill him for the cost of damages he’d caused alone.

What the hell , he thought, and joined them.

Dixon was fighting for his life with three contaminated people. Unlike those in the lab, these were more grotesque in appearance. Their greenish skin made them look lizard like in the flickering emergency lights.

The Desert Eagle went off a few more times, but only two of the things went down. One with an aerial view of its brain, most of the top missing, and the other missing a leg from the hip down. Arthur felt helpless as he watched Benson try to help Dixon free himself of the third attacker. From the looks of it, it was a woman. Long blonde hair soaked with blood, and when he caught a glimpse of her face, he noticed a milky white substance covering her eyes as blood dripped from her mouth.

The one legged thing made its way over and was trying to climb Arthur’s leg. He kicked at it and he almost threw up when his foot went straight through the man’s ribcage. He pulled out his entrails encrusted foot and brought it down once more on the head of the thing, several times for good measure.

He watched the body on the ground in front of him, waiting for it to move. A large puddle of brain matter and bone shards spread out on the floor where the head was. Benson came up behind him and Arthur nearly jumped through the ceiling.

“Nice foot work.”

Arthur nodded, not knowing what to say in response. Smith walked ahead of him and Arthur followed the group toward the armory.

Carson answered his phone with a smile when he saw who was calling; the snivelling rat Barrow, lap dog to Hooks.

“What do you want? I got things to do.”

“Your team’s being called. Monroe will be waiting for you with further orders.”

The line went dead and Carson let an ear splitting grin cover his face. He went to his office and pulled up a corner of the area rug from the floor. A moment later, he reached in and grabbed the phone he’d found a year ago with over a $100,000 and a note telling him to call when the Covington project went South at the silo.

The phone was like nothing he’d ever seen; no numbers, just a red and green button. He was about to press the green button when the thing vibrated in his hand. The shock almost caused him to drop it.

“Carson…” he said in a voice strange to his own ears.

“ You’ve been asked to come in. I was waiting for you to contact me ,” an accented voice said with a note of accusation.

“I was just notified. I had your phone in my hand.” No matter how tough he was, he didn’t want to piss this guy off.

“ That’s good to know, otherwise, your gambling debts would be called in. Now, your job is simple. On your doorstep is an envelope. Inside is a photograph and instructions, follow them and everything will be fine .”

“Will do.” Carson wanted off the phone. He could feel the guy’s voice slithering into his brain.

“ One more thing, your debts will be taken care of upon completion .”

The line went dead and the phone went up in smoke. He threw it away and watched as it turned to a pile of dust within seconds. Closing the safe and replacing the rug, he wondered how these people knew about the silo before him, and how they knew he’d been called.