Thousand-Yard Stare

[bad karma]

Part 1:

Michael sat on the roof, looking at the landscape below. Being from northern Texas, he was unused to the sight that met his eyes: a barren, sandy terrain that had nary a speck of life on it. The only sign of human life was the lab that his brother had gotten a job at. You couldn’t miss it. It was like an enormous eyesore on this already disgusting landscape. And even if you missed seeing it, it was impossible to not hear the racket it made.

Michael sighed. Why had he had to come here? He liked Texas better than this hot, miserable, stinking hell-hole. But it couldn’t be helped. His brother had needed a job, and this was the only one he could get: graveyard duty at FormaTek Industries, located in the middle of the Arizona desert.

Oh sure, it wasn’t all bad. There were at least other kids his age he could talk to. But not many people wanted to hear your endless mental database on all things firearms. Michael rolled his eyes. He still couldn’t believe that people didn’t know the difference between a USP and a UMP. How stupid could you get?

“Well, I suppose it could be worse.”

“Date: July 7, 2013. Time: 6:54 p.m. Subject: 458-3A. Subject died last night; we see this as a perfect time to test our latest version of the Element. Previous tests have confirmed that 115 has the capabilities to raise the dead. Unfortunately, it brings them back as zombies. Fortunately, we have been able to keep the subjects contained to prevent them causing any damage. All previous subjects have been terminated. We hope that this time, we will be able to witness True Resurrection.”

Greg stepped away from the recorder.

“Alright, guys. Bring it in.”

The door opened, and three men walked in, carrying a freshly dead body. Greg wrinkled his nose.

“Dang it. When will I remember to put on my hazmat suit before these things?”

He ran out, pulled on his suit, and re-entered the testing room.

“Alright, let’s get started. Bring in the Element.”

Michael climbed back up onto the roof. Greg had come home again, telling about how great his job was. Michael was sick of it. He was tired of hearing about complicated science.

It was 9:00. Michael had brought his most prized possession up here with him: His .338 sniper rifle.

Hammond, a lowly research assistant, was walking through the FormaTek Lab, taking the latest batch of 115 back to its containment unit. The experiment today had been a disaster. The end result had been the same. The subject turned into a zombie, and it had had to be destroyed.

Hammond didn’t like that they were toying with the power he held in his hands. Trying to play God, if he remembered from movies and horror books, rarely ever ended well. This thing was dangerous. He was surprised that there hadn’t been any outbreaks of zombie activity reported before. If what they had found out was true, this stuff had been experimented on by Nazi scientists during the Second World War. But there had been no reports as to if there had been any zombie problems.

“Hmmm….something worth researching.”

Not really thinking about it, he set the vial of 115 outside the door to the containment unit. Inside the morgue. Hammond walked out, not even considering the disaster he had just set in motion.

To be continued....(Don't worry, I'm going somewhere with this. Can you see where?)

[bad karma]

Part 2:

Michael stared at the facility with a mixture of disgust and loathing. How dare it take him away from his home state just to advance the human condition?! He was almost 18, after all. He could have stayed at home. But Mom had made him come with them.

Michael aimed his .338 at the lab. He knew it wouldn’t do anything to shoot at it, but it would make him feel better.

“Who knows? If I’m lucky, I might hit a stupid scientist.”

Choosing a random window, he lined up his sights, and fired. Michael grinned with satisfaction.

“Take that, Forma Bastards.”

Michael started to climb back down. He had school after all. He wasn’t sure, but he had thought he had heard the tinkle of glass breaking after he had fired. But it was probably just his imagination.

The 115 mingled with the broken glass on the morgue’s floor. It spread to the dead bodies on the floor, while some stray particles that had been blown into the air by the bullet settled on the bodies lying on the tables and shelves. A body on the floor slowly opened its eyes. Its glowing, yellow eyes. Slowly, it stood up, along with the rest of the bodies.

Rach-Rac-RAAGGGHH!

At two in the morning, Michael was sick of school. He missed the times that he could go to school during the day, but ever since the president passed a law saying that schools could choose between day and night teaching, several schools had chosen to do their teaching at night.

Michael grinned at his friends, Ben and Forman. They grinned back in acknowledgment. Ben was a brainy person. His dad worked at the lab, so Ben knew a little bit about what they were doing. Ben was the best in their grade at Math. But he was good with an assault rifle too.

Forman was tech-savvy. He knew everything there was to know about computers and other equipment. Michael had taught him to use an M1911, and after that, he had wanted to learn how to use more weapons. Ben too. The three of them were probably the most skilled with using weapons. At least in the area.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”

Ben rolled his eyes like he always did. “Nothing extensive. Merely attempting to survive.”

Forman looked at Ben with a weird look on his face. “You know, you could have just said, ‘Not much’.”

Ben smiled apologetically. “Sorry. My dad just finally told me about the main experiments FormaTek is working on! I’m really excited!”

Michael grinned. “That good, huh?”

“Oh, you have no idea! You see—”

He stopped as he noticed that Michael wasn’t paying attention.

“Mike.”

Michael didn’t hear him. He was too busy looking at Vanessa, the prettiest girl in the school.

“Mike, why don’t you just go over and ask her out already? Just get it over with.”

Michael wasn’t listening.

“Mike!”

Michael shook his head to clear his head.

“Sorry. You were saying?”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Anyway, my dad told me about one of the experiments that FormaTek is working on. Ever hear of 115?”

The boys shook their heads.

“No? Well, it’s an element that was discovered several years ago by Nazi scientists during World War II. They tried to use it to create different types of weaponry to use against the Allied forces. But they failed. But, 115 also has another capability: it can—Mike, come on!”

Michael’s gaze had drifted over towards Vanessa again. Forman rolled his eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re so nervous. Hey Vanessa! Come over here!”

To Michael’s horror, Vanessa walked over towards them.

“Hi Forman!”

“Guys, this is Vanessa. She and I are in the Tech Club together. Vanessa, I’ve told you about my friends, Ben and Michael.”

Michael didn’t say anything, even when Vanessa smiled at him.

“So nice to meet you two! Forman’s told me everything about you!”

Michael gulped.

“Everything?”

“Yeah!”

Vanessa looked right at him.

“I’m a big fan of firearms too!”

“You are?”

“Yeah, I’ve learned how to use an AK-47! I think I might be the best shooter, at least among the girls, in this school.”

Ben grinned mischievously. “Then you two should get along famously. Mike here knows everything about guns.”

Michael smiled humbly. “Well, maybe not everything…”

“Shut up! You’re always telling us random pieces of info about the weapons you have. You know EVERYTHING!”

And so it continued for about 15 minutes, the boys arguing amongst themselves, and Vanessa laughing along, occasionally smiling at Michael. Michael tried to change the subject.

“Hey Ben, you were telling us about FormaTek’s experiments. What were you saying? Something about 115?”

“Oh yeah! 115 was used in experimental Nazi weaponry, but it has a sometimes unpleasant side-effect.”

“What?”

“It reanimates dead cells.”

“Meaning?”

“It can—”

Suddenly, there was a scream, followed by the sound of shattering glass. The four of them turned quickly around to see what had happened.

Their mouths dropped open. The glass entrance doors had been shattered inwards. But that wasn’t the surprising part. It was what had broken through the glass that was shocking.

Michael turned to look at Ben. “It can create zombies?”

Ben looked pale. “Oh my God. Oh. My. GOD.”

“I’ll take that as a yes. RUN!!!”

Greg ran inside the lab’s Panic Room. How the hell had this happened? There were zombies everywhere! Sealing the door, he saw that he wasn’t the only one in there. It was Hammond.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Greg.” Hammond was crying. “I didn’t mean to do this.”

“What? Don’t be silly. How could you do this?”

Hammond cried harder. “I didn’t properly secure the element. I left it inside the morgue. I wasn’t thinking. I caused this. I’m the one to blame.”

“Hammond, it’s okay. Though this may be a big mistake, everyone makes them.”

“No. Don’t you see? Haven’t you read those notes that were found at the outpost where the element was found? This has happened before. It happened in Germany. It happened in Japan. I did some digging, and it’s happened in the states too. This is an epidemic. It’s going to get us. I knew we shouldn’t try to play God!”

“Hammond…”

“The Nazi’s tried to use the element to make weaponry, but when they found out that it reanimated dead bodies, they tried to train them to be super-soldiers. And guess what? They failed. It was almost the end of them. Thankfully, the incidents were isolated before they could spread too far. But now, we’ve…I’ve started another outbreak. We’re all going to die.”

“Can’t the president send help?”

“Already tried the emergency line. It’s dead. Besides, who’s going to believe that there are zombies attacking us?”

Greg said nothing. Hammond grabbed a pistol from the emergency storage area.

“I’m going to fix this.”

“No! Don’t! Stay here!”

“I have to do this. If you get out of here, tell them all that I’m sorry.”

Hammond unsealed the door and ran out into the horde. Greg tried to follow, but Hammond had sealed the door from the outside.

“HAMMOND!!!!!”

It was too late. Greg could only watch as the zombies tore him to pieces.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

To be continued.