Outbreak (Book 3): Endplay Read online

  “Excellent,” said Wilder. “Can you also give us some light down here as well?”

  “We got you covered,” Howard said. “Watch your eyes. It’s about to get bright down there.”

  “Take cover,” Wilder said to Cheryl and Steele.

  All three of them moved from the doorway as the lights fluttered on.

  “Holy shit,” Steele said as he looked into the room. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Howard,” Wilder said into his earpiece. “Are you getting this on the monitors?”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’re getting this,” Howard stuttered into the microphone. “But we’re not really sure what it is we’re looking at.”

  Wilder, Cheryl, and Steele lowered their weapons as Stefan and Stacey joined them in the doorway. All around the room they saw what looked like cocoons.

  “Looks like we aren’t crazy after all, Jennie,” Wilder said into his mouthpiece.

  “I kind of wish I was crazy,” Jennie replied. “What the hell are those things?”

  Wilder raised his AK-47 as he stepped into the room. All around the room were human-sized pouches that gently pulsated. Wilder waved his hand a few inches above the nearest cocoon.

  “There’s heat coming from them,” Wilder said. The others joined him as Wilder felt the heat coming off a cocoon. Stacey leaned over to get a better look at the object.

  “There’s a mucus-like coating all over these things,” Stacey said.

  “I wonder if that’s the material Wilder and I saw the creatures secreting from their bodies before the monitors went dead,” Jennie said through their earpieces.

  Wilder poked the cocoon with the bayonet on the AK-47 and they all jumped back as the thing inside shifted. Steele raised his machine gun, but Wilder held his hand up to not fire. Wilder pushed the blade into the wet sack and sliced down its side.

  A viscous fluid dripped out of Wilder’s incision. He continued his downward cut of the cocoon and the fluid started to gush out. A putrid smell filled the room as they all backed away from the object.

  “Don’t let the fluid touch you,” Wilder said to the others. “We have no idea what that stuff is. It may contain traces of the virus.”

  Without warning, the body inside the cocoon was expelled from the opening Wilder had made. The body lay halfway out of the cocoon and didn’t resemble anything human.

  “What the fuck is that?” Cheryl asked as she covered her nose and mouth with her arm.

  What they looked at was the deformed figure of a human being. The face was distorted with a tiny mouth that didn’t seem to have any teeth. The nose looked as though it had melted away and left behind the two holes. There was no hair on the head, and the skull itself looked like it was being reshaped. The thing’s arms were also curled up and all the fingers on the left hand were fused together.

  “Howard?” Wilder asked as he looked up at the nearby camera.

  “We see it,” Howard replied. “We just don’t know what the hell it is.”

  “It’s definitely humanoid,” Jennie said. “All the features of a human being are there, but they’re just deformed.”

  “Or reshaped,” Stacey added.

  Stefan leaned closer to the creature, being careful to not get any of the fluids on his boots. He grabbed a piece of clothing he found near the cocoon and used it to wipe away some of the mucus-like liquid from the thing’s face.

  “Look,” Stefan said as he turned his head toward the other onlookers. “The eyes aren’t yellow anymore.”

  The body suddenly twitched and Stefan jumped away from it. Wilder, Steele, and Cheryl raised their weapons, but Wilder held up his fist to hold their fire.

  “Is it still alive?” Jennie asked.

  “What the hell does ‘alive’ even mean anymore?” Steele asked.

  Wilder looked around the room and stopped counting the cocoons when he reached forty-five. The strange sacs lay on the floor and there were even cocoons against the walls. He assumed the creatures had secreted the mucus while against the walls and the fluid had hardened that way.

  “Gather around, everyone,” Wilder said urgently. “We still have a mission. We need to get to the object up on the next level. Yes, these things are disturbing, but let’s use them to our advantage.”

  Wilder saw the confused looks on their faces.

  “We may not have any clue what these things are,” Wilder explained, “but at least they aren’t attacking us.”

  “Yet,” Steele added.

  “Let’s get moving and get up that hatch,” Wilder said as he nodded to the opening in the ceiling that led to the upper level.

  “Bring back one of the cocoons,” Rickard said as Wilder and his group moved toward the hatch.

  Stefan, Stacey, Steele, and Cheryl stopped and looked at Wilder.

  “It’s clear down here, boss,” Wilder said, putting a sarcastic emphasis on the word ‘boss.’ “You can come down here and take as many samples as you want.”

  Rickard remained silent as the team moved among the cocoons toward the hatch.

  Just stay where you are, Wilder thought as he looked at the cocoons and saw movement in all of them. Stay in those damn sacs until we’ve completed our mission.

  Chapter Six

  1

  AC/DC Tour Bus

  Walmart Distribution Center

  Murphy backed the bus into the loading dock of the distribution center. Most of the docks still had semis backed up to them, but a few were empty. Murphy and Riker had decided to enter the warehouse from the loading docks due to the open space. Murphy had plenty of room to maneuver the bus and set them up for a quick getaway if needed.

  When they approached their destination, everyone looked out the windows to see how much movement was around the area. The distribution center itself was in the middle of nowhere and was at least twenty miles from the nearest city or town.

  “I don’t like this at all,” Paula said. “We know those bastards are all over the place, but I haven’t seen a single one yet.”

  “Hey, cops!” Noonan yelled. “Do you think this is an ambush?”

  “You tell me, convict!” Teagan yelled back. “Is this what it felt like right before you were arrested?”

  Noonan smiled and looked back out the window.

  The plan was for a smaller group to enter the warehouse and stick together until they found the office. They hoped to find some kind of floor plan that would tell them the various sections inside the distribution center.

  “I’ve got movement,” Stewart said as he looked inside the warehouse as the bus came to a halt.

  “How many?” Riker asked.

  “It looked like a group of three or four of them,” Stewart said.

  “Okay, everyone,” Riker said as he stood and walked to the front of the bus. “We’re gonna stick to our plan. Myself, Teagan, Greg, Hector, and Toxic will find the office, and once we get some kind of floor plan, we’ll come back and get you all. The first thing you need to do is find better weapons, then food and water, and then clothes.”

  “I don’t know about all of you,” Stewart said, “but I need to find some more books.”

  “What’s wrong, old man?” Brian asked playfully. “Isn’t out conversation stimulating enough?”

  “If there’s time after we get the essentials,” Riker said, “we’ll get things like books and other stuff to keep us from killing each other on the bus.” Riker smiled after his comment.

  Riker then turned to Toxic, Teagan, Hector, and Greg. “Let’s stay tight in there and watch each other’s backs. We know at least four or five of those bastards are in there and I’m sure there’s more. If possible, save your ammo and put them down some other way.”

  The five exited the bus and ran up the stairs of the loading docks. Riker led the group with his AR-15 ready to fire. He scanned the entrance from left to right and didn’t see any movement. He waved his hand forward and the others ran up to join him. Riker took the point and the others fell into a box formation
with Teagan on the left, Hector on the right side, and Toxic and Greg in the back. They walked as one and everyone kept a watchful eye for any kind of movement.

  “Where the hell did those bastards go?” asked Teagan.

  “They couldn’t have gotten very far,” Riker answered.

  “Maybe they’re hiding from us,” Hector offered.

  They walked along the back wall of the warehouse, hoping the office was close to the loading docks.

  “I see the office,” Riker said.

  The office was the size of an average convenient store and was filled with filing cabinets, four desks, and three safes bolted into the floor. The three walls around the office were large glass panes that wouldn’t give them any privacy as they ransacked the office.

  “Damn,” Riker said. “Greg and Toxic, search the desks by the windows and keep an eye out for any movement. The rest of us will hit the other desks first.”

  “Uh, what if we just take that map?” Teagan said as she looked at the wall. She’d found the plans to the warehouse that had every section labeled. The plans also made it look like the warehouse was fairly easy to get around.

  “Nice work, Teagan,” Riker said.

  “What do you think is in the safes?” Greg asked. “It can’t be money. Nothing is actually sold here.”

  “I bet the ammo for the guns are in the safes,” Hector said.

  “Shit,” Riker replied. “I bet you’re right. Hector, you stay in here with Teagan and Greg and find the keys and combos to these safes. Toxic and I will go get the others.”

  Toxic and Riker walked out the office and Riker stopped when he was out of sight of the office.

  “Here,” Riker said as he handed his Beretta to Toxic.

  “You sure?” Toxic asked. “You’re not setting me up just to shoot me as soon as I turn my back, are you?” Toxic smiled.

  “Let’s go get the others,” Riker said.

  Riker and Toxic filled in the others about what they’d found and a newfound energy buzzed through the bus. Riker told them about the wall map that had all the various sections of the warehouse labeled, as well as the floor saves that most likely held the ammunition for the guns.

  “Let’s just hope they found the keys and combinations,” Paula said.

  Riker led them all to the office, and judging by the ear-to-ear grin on Hector’s face, he knew he’d found a way to get into the safes.

  “I got them all,” Hector said. “These lazy bastards set up the four safes with the same combination. I didn’t find the keys, and we don’t need them.”

  “Finally,” said Brian. “A little good luck.

  “Okay, everyone,” Riker said. “Let’s split up into groups and go shopping. Food, water, and weapons are the essentials. Everything else is a distant second. And remember,” Riker added, “there are at least five creatures in here with us.”

  2

  Sub-Level Facility, Schoepke Springs

  Spicewood, Texas

  Cheryl, Steele, Wilder, Stacey, and Stefan made their through the hatch to the upper level without incident. They found the same scene in the room above as they’d found below. All over the floor and walls were the cocooned yellow-eyed creatures in gently pulsating sacs. The only difference was that there were a lot of them.

  Hundreds of them.

  As they climbed up through the hatch, Howard told them the external cameras had come back online and the scene outside was the exact same.

  “There’s gotta be thousands of those cocoons all around the property,” Howard told Wilder. “It’s indescribable. You can barely see the ground there’s so many.”

  Wilder didn’t know for sure what was going on, but he had a good guess.

  The infected were mutating again, but this time the alien bio-nano virus was transforming them into something wholly different. That scared the shit out of Wilder, and he didn’t want to be around when they emerged from the cocoons.

  “Cheryl, Steele,” Wilder whispered. “You two watch our backs as we search the object.” Cheryl and Steele gave Wilder the thumbs up and took positions around the object, where they kept their eyes on the dormant creatures.

  “The first sign of movement from any of those things and we’re out of here,” Wilder added.

  Stefan, Wilder, and Stacey walked around the dark metallic object. There were no seams on it, and it looked as though it was built using one piece of material.

  “This thing in amazing,” Stefan said. “I’ve been studying it for so long, yet it still amazes me.”

  “We’re on the clock here, doc,” Wilder said. “You can be in awe of it when we’re back downstairs in the bunker.”

  “I think I found something,” Stacey almost shouted in excitement.

  Around the back of the object, there was a small section that extended up away from the object.

  “It looks like a panel of some kind,” Stacey reported.

  Wilder and Stefan joined her.

  Wilder looked at Stefan and Stacey and shrugged. He dug his fingers underneath the extended panel and pulled back on it. There was a whoosh sound as a section of the object sunk into the object and then slid open.

  They’d found a door.

  “Any movement out there?” Wilder said into his mouthpiece.

  “None, sir,” Cheryl replied. “Still as the night out here.”

  “We found a door and we’re going in,” Wilder said.

  “Be careful, Wilder,” Cheryl finally said.

  “Do you think that’s such a good idea, Wilder?” Howard said over the headpiece.

  “This is why we’re up here, isn’t it?” he replied. “We’re here to try and find something to help us fight these bastards.”

  “I’m just a little hesitant that for the last… what? Fifty years? We couldn’t so much as scratch that thing, and now there’s an open door?”

  “You think it’s a trap?” Wilder asked.

  “I don’t know what the hell it means, Wilder, just be careful,” Howard said.

  “Always,” Wilder replied as he walked into the object with his AK-47 leading the way.

  3

  Walmart Distribution Center

  Central Texas

  Stewart, Braden, Brian, Greg, Noonan, and Emily made their way through the maze-like warehouse to the food area. There was a huge, one-thousand square foot walk-in refrigerator, as well as a separate two-thousand square foot room where dry goods were held.

  Greg took the lead and Stewart kept a watch behind them as they made their way through the warehouse. They turned a corner and Greg came to a sudden stop. Everywhere in front of them were hundreds of cocoon-like sacs. They were all over the ground and even the walls were covered with them.

  “What the fuck am I looking at?” Greg asked no one in particular.

  Stewart ran to the join the others and stared open-mouthed at the sight in front of him. “Holy shit,” was all Stewart could say.

  “They kind of look like huge cocoons,” Emily said. She walked to the closest one and took a closer look. “Scratch that,” she said. “These things look exactly like cocoons.”

  “But what the fuck’s inside them?” Brian asked.

  “They, uh, kind of look human-sized,” Stewart answered. “Oh come on. You were all thinking that too.”

  “What should we do?” Emily asked.

  “We continue on to the food,” Greg said without hesitation. “If we don’t get food and water, it’s not going to matter that we have a bus. We’re all gonna starve. These things aren’t moving and they aren’t attacking us. We move forward.”

  “Actually, they are moving,” Emily said. She leaned closer to the cocoon again and put her hand over it. “These things are pulsating, and there’s a good amount of heat coming from them.”

  “Come on,” Greg said more sternly. “Let’s get to the food section. Watch your steps, and for the love of fuck, don’t step on them.”

  *

  Riker, Toxic, and Hector were on their way to find
the weapons and came across a similar scene. Hundreds of cocoons lined the ground and walls. They walked among the pulsating sacs, being careful not to step on or disturb any of them.

  They reached the area that was labeled “weapons” on the map and found the door was locked.

  “I expected this,” Riker said.

  “How are we--?” Hector started to say, but was cut off by Riker slamming his boot next to the door handle. The door popped open and they were greeted by rows and rows of shelves that held many various hunting rifles, shotguns, and even semi-automatic assault weapons.

  “Gotta love Texas,” Toxic said as he entered the room.

  “Leave the hunting rifles and grab some twelve-gauge shotguns,” Riker said to Toxic and Hector.

  “Here’s your puny pistol back,” Toxic said to Riker as he handed the Beretta back to him. Toxic grabbed a pump-action shotgun and worked the pump and trigger to make sure it functioned properly.

  Toxic looked at Riker and waited for him to take it away from him.

  “Hector,” Riker said, “grab a few more of those.” Hector took five shotguns that were still in their original boxes and stacked them under his arm.

  “Look at what I found over here,” Riker said as he held what looked like an assault rifle in his hands.

  “What is it?” Hector asked.

  “It’s a Sig Sauer M400 Rifle.” Riker smiled.

  “Is that like a really good gun?” Toxic asked as he walked over.

  “You could say that,” Riker answered, “but I’m smiling because this takes the same kind of ammo as my AR-15. That means those safes are full of ammo for these guns as well.” Riker handed two of the Sig Sauer carbines to Toxic and then turned to grab some clips.

  Hector grabbed an empty box and Riker filled it with empty magazines.

  “These magazines also fit the AR-15,” Riker said. “The room next to this one was also listed on the map as being a ‘weapons room,’” Riker pointed out.

  “Let’s go check it out,” said Toxic.

  The men grabbed the weapons and walked toward the door. When Riker bent to grab the box of magazines, movement by the door caught his eye. Before he could shout a warning to Hector and Toxic, it was too late.