The Virus by Lee, Damien (summer books txt) 📕

potent mixture. The liquid dripped from the fabric as he stuffed it into the neck of the bottle. Turning back to the animal, he produced a lighter and lit the end of the cloth. The flame devoured the handkerchief as the cow attacked. It rushed toward the desk as Gordon hurled the cocktail.

The bottle smashed on the cow’s skull, showering the office in glass shards as the alcohol ignited. A sea of flame engulfed the room. The undead cow was oblivious to the searing heat as it clambered onto the desk. It darted toward Gordon, who now held a gun to his temple.

“Good luck, Benjamin.”

His head jerked sideways as the bullet entered his brain. His muscles twitched as he fell in a heap. An enigmatic shriek escaped the cow as it pounced on the motionless body. It wasted no time in tearing flesh from the man’s lifeless form, but it meant little to Gordon. As soon as the bullet entered his brain, he faced an eternity of darkness.

32

“Shut the fuck up, Zielinski!” Gus Razor spat.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Frank asked.

“It’s him,” Zielinski continued. “It’s his fault all this started.”

They watched as Gus went nose to nose with the Polish man.

“I swear to God, Zielinski, shut it or I will kick your arse back to Krakow!”

The two men locked stares until the click of a gun caused them both to turn.

“Tell us what happened,” Frank said, aiming the shotgun at the two men.

“Well, it started when—”

“I’ll tell the story!” Razor bellowed, pushing the Polish man aside. He turned his back to the group and looked towards the military complex. Seconds passed before he emitted a hefty sigh.

“A few weeks back, one of my boys got word of a military cargo being transported. He found out it was the same routine every week. He was certain it was guns. Maybe confiscated weapons, or prototypes that hadn’t matched the specification, I don’t know. Either way, I gave the order to intercept the cargo on its next run.”

“And I’m guessing they were transporting corpses?” Lisa said.

“Don’t ask me, I wasn’t there.”

“Yes, it was,” the soldier replied. “We had no idea either. Our orders were to keep the base secure and destroy the medical waste every week. It was the scientists in the complex that knew what was going on.”

“Did you not get suspicious when the cargo started moving and eating people?” Frank asked.

“They were never alive. They were dead before the experiment as far as I know; bodies donated to science and that kind of thing. The corpses transported were experimental failures. But we weren’t authorised to know what they were doing down there.”

“Down where?”

The group looked on as the soldier motioned towards the large dome in the centre of the courtyard.

“Wait, there’s a lab under there?”

“An entire medical facility. I told you; the base is used for weapons research and development.”

“Why were they experimenting on corpses?”

“Probably trying to create a super-soldier or something,” Tina muttered. The group turned and looked at the teenager who crossed her arms. “What? That’s what they always do in the films.”

“Not quite,” Zielinski replied. “Me and Lurch found a bunch of paperwork in one of the filing cabinets. They were trialling bioweapons.”

“Bioweapons?”

“Yeah, It’s all here.”

He produced a wad of folded sheets from his pocket. He handed it to Lisa as Gus stepped forward.

“Oy! Where did you get that?”

 “We tried to tell you,” Zielinski said. “You ‘don’t read’, remember?”

Gus Razor snarled at the pair. He made to speak, but Frank interrupted him.

“I still don’t understand how this all started. So, Razor’s boys ambushed the truck, yes?”

“Yeah,” the soldier replied.

“Then what happened?”

“I have no idea. I was never a driver. All I know was what the lads told me when they got back.”

“And what did they say?”

“They were attacked by a group of blokes in a blacked-out van. They were trying to ram them off the road. Both vehicles got smashed up pretty bad. In the end, those guys gave up and fell back. But when they went to destroy the bodies, they found that the hold was damaged.”

“So the zombies escaped?”

“Their report said the cargo was accounted for, but one of them told me later that there was a corpse missing.”

“But you said they were dead when they were being transported. Rejects, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So it would’ve been a corpse at the side of the road? How could it have spread the virus?”

The soldier shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe this one wasn’t a reject after all, or maybe a fox took a bite of it and became infected, who knows. What I do know is that it wasn’t long after that when the shit hit the fan.”

The group glared at Gus Razor.

“Oh, grow up you little specks of shit!” he snapped. “You’re all giving me evils just because a hijack went wrong? It was these cunts that created the virus. They started it.”

Frank glanced at Lisa, who studied the unfolded documents. “Find out anything?”

She held a hand to silence him, not taking her eyes off the pages. Frank’s attention was caught by the soldier walking back to the building.

“Where are you going?”

“To make a brew.”

The group watched as he reached the door. He made for the handle before it swung open. A wild screech accompanied an undead woman as she dived onto him.

“Shit!”

Frank levelled his shotgun at the grappling pair, but his aim wavered when he heard more shrieking from the side of the building. Ignoring the potential threat, he looked back at the soldier as the zombie tore a chunk out of his hand. Lisa’s rifle drowned out his scream of pain. The attacker lurched back with a bullet in its