Curse of the Fallen - 4. Chapter Four: The Release of Doom

Chapter Four: The Release of Doom

When they reached Boston’s Logan Airport they went their separate way. Andrew caught a flight for New York. Landon however did not go to Chicago. Instead he went to a secret Harvard research facility in Southern Vermont.

When Landon arrived the head research project was waiting for him at the security gatepost. Taken to a bunker laboratory he was given a tour of the facility. He did his best to sound interested. Landon had come for only one thing… the occupant of specimen tank 2237-T. Inside was Tom Mays.

Ever since his failed attempt to kill Aaron Tom had served as a prized test subject for the Harvard researchers on the subject of the Taint. Taint was a potent drug that would magnify a person’s Talent and even give Talent to those who didn’t have any. It was also so toxic that if taken in large quantities would cause someone to rot from in inside out. The scary part was that the only way a person could reverse the rotting process was to eat the flesh of someone who was not already rotting from the Taint.

When the chief scientist finally took Landon to the test subject he was after he found Tom floating in sterile oxygenated nutrient fluid filled tank. Half his skull had been removed. On that section of the brain nerve trigging electrodes stuck out from awkward angles. On his arms and chest were several IV’s and a PIC-line. A pair of tubes fed in and out of what could only be described as a dialysis machine.

Hearing the sound of hard heeled shoes Landon looked to the door. Standing there was a gray haired man dressed in a doctor’s coat. “Well Dr. Peels… please tell me you have some good news for me.”

“Thank you for coming sir. I know how precious your time is.” Dr. Peels said nervously. He didn’t like it when guests arrived unexpected. That was especially true in regards to his greatly feared employer.

“I was in the neighborhood so decided to stop by,” Landon replied with an out of place nonchalant tone that did little to settle the scientist’s fears.

“To see Mr. Mays graduate?” Peels asked before he could think better of it. Part of the agreement that allowed Aaron to attend Harvard had required that he make himself available for scientific study. Dr. Peels was one of those who had conducted research on Aaron personally.

Landon however, didn’t want to be reminded of that. “Whether I did is none of your concern,” Landon snapped more harshly then he intended to. “I’m here to be updated on the specimen, nothing more,” He added with a little more calm.

“I see…” Dr. Peels clicked his tongue over the roof of his mouth, which was a nervous habit of his. “As you can see the subject is still alive. We continue to attempt to remove the contaminates from his blood but we have had no luck so far.”

“I don’t understand. You have been able to extract the Taint from his remains for your research so why can’t you extract all of it.”

“We can extract it but we cannot cleanse the blood entirely. According to our research what you call Taint is capable of self-replication.”

“Like Prions?”

“Yes… like a self-replicating protein disease it is its ability to reproduce that makes removal impossible. We can remove most of it but like the substance Cake it will only put the sickness in temporary remission.”

“Have you considered starving it out of him?”

“We have a few times. Each time we have the specimen enters a cannibalistic like state… if it is not fed it attempts to feed on himself.”

“Let me guess… if he is not fed he turns into a flesh eating zombie. Is that what you are trying to tell me?”

“In a manner of speaking… yes. That is in fact quite a good analogy. I will have to use it in my next paper. I’m certain it’ll catch the interest of all the grad school kids. Especially with all these zombie movies and books coming out.”

“God fucking damn it!” Landon hit the tank with such force that it shattered. Nutrient fluid sprayed out on everyone. Everyone but Landon. He used his kinetic Talent to shield himself.

“You fool! He’s contagious.” Dr. Peel’s skin was now as pale as his hair

“All the more reason why you should work harder in finding a cure.”

“But…”

“To prevent further accidents I suggest you destroy the specimen. You will also hand over all your research data.”

“But the neutrality agreement. The work we do is for the benefit of all humanity.”

“It will benefit of those I want to benefit. If that proves to be too difficult I can have you replaced.” On cue a woman dressed in high heels and a tight red leather one-piece entered the lab. “Dr. Peels I think you know Dr. Iguchi. She is replacing you as head of the project. Now give me the research.”

Dr. Peels went from being scared to enraged. How dare this man place a woman who only a PhD in general chemistry above him. He had both a medical degree and a PhD in bioengineering. “This is completely unacceptable Dr. Iguchi. You work for me, not the other way around.”

The Japanese scientist removed one of two chopstick like pins that held her hair in a bun. With a flick of her fingers she aimed the tip at the man’s throat. When she pressed on the shaft a needle injected a nerve agent directly into the jugular.

The man’s defiance melted away like ice on a hot summer’s day. With a trembling hand Peels handed over his access codes to the research mainframe.

“You look tired Dr. Peels you should get some rest.” Iguchi reached out to grab him by the wrist. With a hard twist he snapped his arm. Dr. Peels fell on the wet contaminated floor.

Landon plucked Peels’ badge from his coat and gave it to Iguchi. “It seems you’ve got yourself a new specimen. I think you know better than not to make good use of it.”

“I will not fail you my lord.”

“See that you don’t. Good night Dr. Peels and good luck to you Dr. Iguchi.” I want this lab shutdown and research material shipped off to Detroit. Now if you don’t mind I have a train to catch.”

“Good night sir.” Iguchi reached into a box and took out a pair latex gloves and pulled them on with a snap. She then took out a syringe from her coat pocket.

Peels took one look at the syringe and quivered in terror. “Please don’t… there’s no need for that. I’ll do… I’ll do whatever you want.” He slid backwards on the slick floor.”

“I’m certain all the specimens say that you infected them with the Taint. But don’t worry. Once I give you your medicine you will never have to worry about upsetting me ever again.”

Dr. Peel’s screams didn’t last long. By dawn he would be ready to join Tom in a tank next to his.

Dr. Iguchi had studies the effects of Taint on those who had already overdosed on the drug. This was the first time that she got the chance to observe the initial effects first hand. The rapid decay of the man’s flesh began fifteen minutes after the injection. With this new version of Taint the scientist didn’t develop the same Talent that older versions of the drug caused. A separate research project was working on a version that would cause both the appearance of Talent and the cannibalistic need to spread it to others without rapid physical decay. There was already a name for this new drug… Blood.

Needing to hurry up and move on to the next stage of the experiment Iguchi called for one of Dr. Peel’s assistants “Ursula… will you please come to the specimen lab.” .

Standing behind the door when it opened the new Sybil heard the woman scream. Before Ursula could flee the Sybil slammed and bolted the door behind her, locking the terrified woman inside.

Through a window built into the door she watched as the woman begged to be let out. On the floor and inside the tank the old Dr. Peels and Tom Mays slowly began to step towards her.

Smelling the stench of rotting flesh the woman turned around in the nick of time. The zombies were nearly upon her.

She darted away from the door, over to the fire suppression system. Pulling the lever she hoped to warn the rest of the bunker of the situation. No alarm sounded. Dr. Iguchi had already used Dr. Peel’s access codes to disable the system.

Seeing the zombies were still pursuing her, she looked for something to defend herself with. Seeing the fire axe near the alarm she smashed the glass barrier with a hard thrust of her elbow. Reaching in, she grabbed it.

Armed with the ax she could at least try to protect herself. Problem was she could no longer see them. While she had been focused on getting her hands on the axe the door had been opened. The zombies must have slipped out while her back was turned.

At first she saw that as a good thing but then she remembered that to escape the bunker she would have to head in the same direction.

Cautiously she made her way towards the door. Peeking her head inside she saw the coast was clear. Moving at a near running pace she made her way through the complex. Along the way she found several of her colleagues on the floor with chunks of human flesh missing.

As she got closer to the exit she ran into someone. Terrified that it was one of the zombies she hit the figure with the axe.

The man screamed with terror and shock. “Ursula no!”

Hearing the man’s call out her name she dropped the axe. Looking at where the man had fallen Ursula saw the person she had taken for a zombie was her boyfriend and fellow researcher Bill Hendricks.

“Billy!” Seeing the blood dripping from the axe she threw it away as far as she could throw as if the wooden handle was a burning hot iron. She fell to her knees and looked with horror at what she had done. His right arm was cut two thirds of the way through. There was a shallower cut on the right side of his chest. Blood oozed from it with each breath. “

Wha… what have I done?”

“Ursula…? You killed me. Damn… And I was about to ask you to marry me.”

“Billy! Don’t die. Please don’t die.”

“Don’t worry about me…” Cough! “Blood spayed from his mouth onto her face. You got to get away. You got to warn people. If any of these things get out… cough.” More blood spayed out. “You got to…” Choking on his own blood bubbles of blood began to foam around his mouth. He could only gurgle past that point.

Seeing her fiancé drowning on his own blood she tried to turn him on his side. Blood pour from his mouth but did little to stop the flow filling his windpipe. In a matter of minutes he was dead.

Crying uncontrollably she forced herself onto her feet and head for the final door.

At the exit she found three corpuses with flesh torn out. It appeared they had tried to escape only to be killed. There was no sign of the two zombies. Stepping over the dead bodies and pools of blood she found that most of the exit code had already been punched in. Only the last three letters and numbers of the combination had needed to be entered.

She punched the final two letters and one number on the panel. There was a short five second pause followed by sharp buzz as the magnetic lock was released. She grabbed the metal lever and pushed down on it.

She was only able to make a five inch gap before the door came to a stop. Looking down she saw the door had gotten stuck when it hit one of the bodies of the dead scientists. She pulled again hoping the force would push the body away but the corpse of the heavy set man would not budge. She would have to move the body.

Leaving the door partly open she grabbed the man by his fat ankles and pulled with all her might. She pulled so hard her high heel shoes slipped on the pool of blood that cover the floor. Falling on her ass, she felt the wind getting knocked out of her.

As she struggled to get back on her feet she heard growls and moaning coming down the passage way towards the exit. Knowing she didn’t have much time, she kicked off her heels and once again pulled on the man’s feet. This time she was able to move him. She wasn’t able to move him far, a foot and a half, maybe two before she backed into another one of the dead scientists.

With the sounds from the hall growing louder she gave up trying to move the body further. Hoping there was enough space she grabbed the lever and pulled the door wider. The opening was now about fourteen inches wide, just wide of her for her slender frame to slip through if she went sideways.

It was a tight fit and she was barely able to slip herself through but in the end she managed. However as she squeezed her large breasts past the door something or someone grabbed her by the wrist.

Turning around she saw it was her fiancé… his skin was now covered with black oozing pustules. He had hold of her arm with a vise like grip. He wasn’t about to let her go without a taste of her flesh. “No Billy, no!” She screamed as he drew her hand to his already blood stained teeth.

So terrified her instinct for survival kicked in. She jerked her elbow into the zombie’s throat and larynx, causing him to bite off his tongue in the process. Either out of shock or pain he let go of her arm but not before another zombie grabbed her by her left ankle.

Looking down she saw it was the man whose she had tried to drag out of the way had grabbed her. He too was now one of the undead. The zombie yanked. She kicked back. The spike heel of her shoe gouging the creature’s right eye. Black puss squirted out.

With the zombie now out of the way there was enough space for her to slip out. Once pass the door she ran, not even bothering to shut the door behind her. Reaching her car she reached for a purse that wasn’t there. Without the keys she had no choice but to continue running for her life.

As she approached the gate to the complex she saw three cars with their beams on. Thinking she had been rescued she screamed for help. Reaching the gate however she found they were locked tight.

On the other side were seven men dressed in black wearing balaclavas. Standing with them was a woman dress in a tight red leather miniskirt shirt. Her steel stiletto heels added a half foot to her height letting her tower over the lab assistant.

As if trying to pick out the best steak at the butchers, she peered at Ursula to make sure she wasn’t infected. “Well, well, well… one of you did manage to get out untainted and alive. The Master will be so disappointed.”

Ursula appeared to be deaf to what Sybil Iguchi, the Master’s top genetic researcher had said. All she cared about was being rescued. “Please… help me. One of the lab experiments got out of hand and there are now these things, these zombies loose in the compound.”

“Is that so? Don’t fret, dear. You’ll soon be joining them. Tag her and bag her Fred. She might be useful as a test animal. We can never have enough of those.

“As you command mistress.” Fred, once one of Aaron’s fellow students at the Lake School who had tried to kill him had taken an overdose of the drug that turned men into zombies. Thanks to Dr. Iguchi’s research his condition had been stabilized. That didn’t mean he didn’t need to feed to maintain some resemblance of his humanity.

With a single jump he leapt twenty feet in the air to land on the other side of the gate. “Hello my dear.”

Ursula stepped back a few steps. “What… what are you?”

Fred shrugged his shoulders and looked at her as if confused. “I think I’m the one here to rescue you.”

“You… you are? Please, you have to get me out of here.” Ursula was close to moving past being frantic towards going completely insane.

“Of course I am missy.” He stepped closer to her.

He didn’t have the stench of death about him but Ursula didn’t like the way the man’s eyes stared at her. When he got close enough she noticed that they were completely devoid of color. “You stay away from me.” Kicking off her high heel shoes she picked up one up and held it up like a knife.

Fred placed his hands on his hips and shook his head disappointedly\.

“Now, now is this any way to treat the man who’s come to save you from the Taint?” A voice said from behind. Frank, Fred’s twin brother had silently snuck up from behind.