Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (35 page)

Cheryl’s grip on the gate slipped and she started to fall toward the edge of the bus.

Walt’s ears perked up when he heard a new noise down the dirt road. This noise was different. It was louder—so loud, in fact, that it made the surrounding trees shake.

Walt’s attention returned to Cheryl as he heard her scream, “I can’t hold on!”

Holding onto the gate with one hand, Walt reached over to Cheryl.

“Grab my hand!
”
Walt shouted, but he saw Cheryl’s grip on the bus’s roof weakening.

David looked down the dirt road. Before he could say anything, two vehicles appeared. The truck in the front was huge and had body parts stuck in the grill and blood smeared all over the hood. The second vehicle looked like a large jeep and had a large machine gun mounted on it.

Before David could say anything, the machine gun roared to life. Bullets barked out of the gun in short, controlled bursts. The church bus’s tires and windows were blown out along with the yellow-eyed creatures who were around it. Walt, Cheryl, and David watched from the top of the bus as the yellow-eyed creatures were torn apart by the bullets.

Whoever operated the machine gun was experienced and avoided the bus’s gas tank.

All around the bus lay the bodies of yellow-eyed creatures, torn apart by the machine gun. The creatures that remained standing ran off to find cover.

“Jump over the gate!
”
a voice barked from the huge truck.

Walt, Cheryl, and David didn’t hesitate. Each jumped effortlessly over the gate and collected the backpacks that were had been thrown over earlier. None of them could see around the church bus.

“We need to check this area out,
”
Walt said as he looked at the property inside the gate. “We need to make sure none of those bastards are in here with us.”

They each grabbed their weapons and scanned the area.

“What about those guys out there?
”
Cheryl said as she nodded toward the gate.

“They seem well-armed and well-trained,
”
Walt said. “I think they are better off than we are.”

Walt, Cheryl, and David formed a tight triangle, something they’d learned from Darren, and set off to make sure there weren’t any zombies or yellow-eyed creatures waiting for them.

“I don’t know who the hell those guys are,
”
Walt said as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “but they just saved our lives.”

13

Two Miles Outside Schoepke Springs

Spicewood, Texas

Wilder drove the Growler around abandoned cars, motorcycles, R.V.s, and other debris on the road. He knew Fisher and Mears were at one-hundred percent awareness and had each other’s backs.

Wilder’s mind wandered into territory he rarely visited—doubt.

Is this a good mission we’re on
? Wilder thought.
Are we walking into a nest of zombies
?
What are we going to do if there’s no EMP bomb at the Springs
?
What if the bomb can’t be detonated or the bomb doesn’t even work
?

Butsko and Wilder had been so focused on getting to Schoepke Springs that they hadn’t thought of a fallback plan. That wasn’t how they normally operated.

Wilder felt they were on a suicide mission.

“Come in, Wilder,
”
crackled the CB radio.

Wilder grabbed the hand mic and applied the brakes as he saw the M939 brake in front of him.

“I’m here, Sir,
”
Wilder responded.

“Turn your lights off and drive up here next to the truck,
”
Butsko said. “You have to see this with your own eyes.”

Wilder drove the combat jeep next to the truck and saw what had made Butsko speechless.

A mile up the road were hundreds of the infected, and all of them were walking in the same direction, as if being guided.

“Oh my God,
”
Fisher said as she put the binoculars to her eyes. “Those aren’t just the infected. Every one of them is a yellow-eyed creature.”

“What the fuck is happening?
”
asked Wilder.

“I assume by your silence that you see what we see,
”
Butsko said over the CB.

“Yes, Sir,
”
Wilder answered. “What’s the plan?”

“From what we can see, this looks to be the back of the line,
”
Butsko said. “There’s hundreds, thousands, extending forward into Spicewood, but this group up here looks like the back of the line.”

Wilder waited to hear Butsko’s plan.

“We’re gonna go right through them,
”
Butsko finally said. “The gate to Schoepke Springs is a mile-and-a-half right in front of us. I’ll run tackle, and you stay close behind.”

“Roger that, Sir,
”
Wilder responded.

“We’re going right through them?
”
Fisher asked.

“Mears,
”
Wilder said as he looked in the rearview mirror. “Use short, controlled bursts from the fifty, and only when it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Got it, Sir,
”
Mears replied.

“We’ll be okay, Fisher,
”
Wilder said. “The M939 is a tough vehicle. It’ll plow right through those bastards. Let’s think of this as a little payback for what they did to ours.”

Fisher’s eyes narrowed, and she checked her carbine.

“Only fire if it’s absolutely necessary, Fisher,
”
Wilder said. “Something tells me we’re gonna need all the ammo we can get once we get inside the Springs.”

Fisher nodded and fastened her seatbelt tighter.

*****

Butsko pressed down on the accelerator and felt the tires spin until they gripped the asphalt. He had a mile of road to build up his speed before contact with those yellow-eyed bastards. Butsko ignored the voice in his head and the feeling in his gut that warned him something wasn’t right.

They had just driven through Marble Falls and hadn’t seen one yellow-eyed creature or even a regular infected. Now he was looking at thousands of the yellow-eyed creatures all in one area and all headed in the same direction.

Butsko managed a smile when he thought about detonating the EMP bomb and taking out every one of those fuckers.

Just have to make it to the gate
, Butsko thought.

Butsko estimated there were fifty more feet before he drove through the creatures. He held the speed of the M939 at a steady sixty-five miles per hour. At that speed, he could cut right through the bastards and still control the truck and navigate it safely.

The creatures close by heard the truck and scattered.

Where the fuck are they headed
? Butsko thought, but he quickly pushed the thought from his mind and focused on the first impact.

The truck rammed through the first group of creatures with ease. Everyone in the truck held on in the back as the huge tires rolled over creatures, and the steel grill crushed them.

Butsko heard the cover fire from the fifty-calibre machine gun. The short bursts were like music to his ears.

“Sir,
”
Wilder said over the CB, “you’ve got three of those fuckers dangling on the back.”

Butsko looked at Vasquez in the passenger seat, and she jumped into the back of the truck.

“We’ve got company,
”
Vasquez said as she pointed to back entrance of the truck.

The four of them looked out the back and saw the creatures as they clung to the vehicle. Melvin raised his carbine, but Vasquez knocked the barrel of the rifle toward the ground.

“If you miss,
”
Vasquez said, “you’ll hit the Growler.”

Steele walked to the back opening and raised his sledgehammer. He crushed the fingers of two of the creatures and watched as they fell off the truck and under the tires of the Growler.

The third creature managed to get inside the back of the truck and stood in front of them. Vasquez unsheathed her machete, and with a diagonal swing, struck the zombie’s collarbone. The machete buried itself into bone and meat, but before it could react to the blade’s assault, Steele slammed the sledgehammer into the creature’s chest and knocked it out of the truck.

“The creatures are starting to thin out!
”
Butsko yelled from the driver’s seat. “The dirt road to the main gate is coming up,
”
Butsko said as he stepped on the brakes. “We should have enough time to get through the gates before the next wave of creatures get to us.”

“Roger that, Sir,
”
Wilder said.

Mears had stopped firing the fifty-calibre machine gun, but he’d still gone through half of the remaining ammo.

“Down to the final thousand rounds for the fifty, Sir,
”
Mears reported.

“We should be okay from here to the gate,
”
Wilder said. “Think you can carry that fifty into the facility?”

“You know I can,
”
Mears said with a grin.

The dirt road that led to the spring’s gate was wide enough for Wilder to drive next to Butsko’s truck. As they drove down the dirt road, they didn’t see any yellow-eyed creatures.

“Something’s not right,
”
Wilder said. “Wait, do you hear that?”

Fisher was about to ask what Wilder heard, but then she heard it. She heard people screaming.

“What the hell?
”
Fisher said.

When they drove past a large group of trees, they saw what looked like an old church bus surrounded by yellow-eyed creatures with three people standing on top of it as the body of a decapitated woman swung next to them.

“Holy shit,
”
Mears said as he swung the machine gun towards the bus.

“Be careful not to hit the gas tank,
”
Wilder shouted.

Without answering, Mears unleashed hell on the zombies around the church bus. Creatures were torn apart as the bullets ripped through them.

“Looks like I won’t be taking this with us,
”
said Mears as he patted the machine gun. “We’re out of ammo.”

As the last creature dropped from Mears
’
storm of bullets, Butsko shouted to the people on the roof of the bus to jump over the fence. He saw them react quickly and knew these people were survivors.

“What are we gonna do now?
”
Vasquez asked. “They blocked the gate.”

“We’re gonna go right through it,
”
Butsko said.

“We’ve got company coming behind us, Sir!
”
Mears shouted to Wilder, “and the fifty calibre is out of ammo!”

Before Wilder could say anything, he heard the M939 revving and knew what Butsko was going to do.

Mears started to pick off the zombies as they got closer.

“Control your fire, Mears,
”
Wilder warned.

“I’m trying, Sir,
”
Mears said, “but these fuckers aren’t dropping. I’m hitting them square in the chest, and it’s not even slowing them down.”

Mears
’
firing pin landed on an empty chamber.

“I’m out,
”
Mears said as he put the carbine on the floor of the Growler and pulled out his Beretta.

“Save your ammo,
”
Wilder said. “We’re about to move.”

Wilder, Mears, and Fisher watched as the M939 truck headed straight towards the church bus and the gate.

“Hold onto something!
”
Butsko shouted to the others in the back of the truck.

Butsko had the accelerator floored and didn’t plan on using the brakes until they were on the other side of the gate.

The M939 crashed into the church bus and Butsko watched as the bus folded around the truck’s grill. Butsko gripped the steering wheel tightly as the truck rammed through the gate.

Butsko pulled in far enough to allow the Growler to get around him and slammed on the brakes. Vasquez, Steele, Melvin, and Megan jumped out of the back as the truck shifted into reverse. Once Butsko saw the jeep was in, he reversed and blocked the entrance with the truck.

Butsko heard gunfire and knew the others were fighting the creatures that had made it through the gate.

Melvin fired his carbine at a yellow-eyed creature and caught it twice in the chest and once in the head. The shots to its chest seemed to do little to slow it down. The head shot dropped the creature to the ground, but after a few seconds, it was already getting back up.