Insurgent Z: A Zombie Novel by Mark C. Scioneaux, Dane Hatchell Page B
Authors: Mark C. Scioneaux, Dane Hatchell
Tags: Zombies
forearm. The inmate held in Tim’s grip quickly escaped, spun around, and sank his teeth into Tim’s neck.
Tim’s world faded into darkness. His own screams echoed in his head, and finally, into oblivion.
Another set of guards ferrying yet another ‘dead’ inmate on a stretcher, nearly dropped their passenger to the floor when they heard screams coming from the gym. The first guard to arrive at the door saw Parsons torn apart by a raging group of inmates. He pulled the baton from his belt and ran to Parsons’ aid, bringing his club down hard on the back of the nearest inmate’s head.
The guard who followed stopped cold at the gym’s entrance. Blood spewed through the air as Parsons’ arm detached from the shoulder joint. His fellow guardsman beat franticly to no avail. The more he swung at the attacking horde, the more they rose from the floor to surround him.
The second guard could do nothing but watch in stunned disbelief at the savageness of the inmate’s violence. This was nothing like the riot he had experienced some eight years earlier. Something was very different about the inmates. Something that didn’t catch his attention at first. Their movements were mechanical, almost as if they were sleepwalking. The expressions on their faces contorted into a hideous, monstrous display. The distortion was so severe that he was only able to recognize two among the crowd.
With the situation utterly hopeless, he turned and ran screaming for help.
* * *
Two MPs opened the power company substation a half mile away from downtown Botte. The key had been provided to Colonel Hart by the mayor.
“What do you think happened to call for lockdown?” one asked the other.
“Can’t say for sure. I wouldn’t put it past old man Hart to do something like this because he’s bored. He’s pulled some shit like this before. It’s probably just a drill to keep us on our toes. Plus”—the MP smiled sheepishly—”he likes to fuck with the locals—throw his weight around. So what if they can’t use their phones for a few hours?”
The other MP followed his hand drawn map until he came to the appropriate electrical breakers. “Sorry, residents of Botte, orders are orders.” He brought three breaker handles down in succession. The loud hum of electrons flowing in the equipment reduced to half its volume.
The cellphone tower went dead as did the land telephones lines. So did the power to the town’s main water pump that had temporarily been rerouted to one of the breakers tripped, while its main breaker was undergoing repairs. The spare water pump kicked on when the main pump went down. The spare pumped half the capacity of the main and didn’t put up near the same amount of discharge pressure. Not far from where the town’s water supply passed underground near Paradis, a line with a pressure sensing control valve was the only block keeping the systems separated. When the spare pump kicked in, a low-pressure sensor opened the valve to raise the mainline water pressure.
A concentration of vaccine only going to the prison now pumped its way into the town’s water supply.
* * *
Earlier at Paradis
“Is that low life, good for nothing, Colonel Hart, there? We’ve got a situation going on over here at Paradis!” Burl said into his cellphone.
“Sir, Colonel Hart has reported back to the base, but is unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?” the voice on the other end said.
“I’ll leave him a message. Tell him that all the inmates dropped like flies and woke up in a pissy mood. We’ve got a jailbreak going on here! My guards are being ripped to shreds. Tell him to send the posse over and save our sorry asses before there’s no one left alive.” Burl ran into the back of Mitch, who had stopped and fired a round of buckshot square in the face of an inmate that had shambled into their path.
Another inmate lumbered his way toward the gun’s discharge. Mitch hastily fired another shot and severed
Tim’s world faded into darkness. His own screams echoed in his head, and finally, into oblivion.
Another set of guards ferrying yet another ‘dead’ inmate on a stretcher, nearly dropped their passenger to the floor when they heard screams coming from the gym. The first guard to arrive at the door saw Parsons torn apart by a raging group of inmates. He pulled the baton from his belt and ran to Parsons’ aid, bringing his club down hard on the back of the nearest inmate’s head.
The guard who followed stopped cold at the gym’s entrance. Blood spewed through the air as Parsons’ arm detached from the shoulder joint. His fellow guardsman beat franticly to no avail. The more he swung at the attacking horde, the more they rose from the floor to surround him.
The second guard could do nothing but watch in stunned disbelief at the savageness of the inmate’s violence. This was nothing like the riot he had experienced some eight years earlier. Something was very different about the inmates. Something that didn’t catch his attention at first. Their movements were mechanical, almost as if they were sleepwalking. The expressions on their faces contorted into a hideous, monstrous display. The distortion was so severe that he was only able to recognize two among the crowd.
With the situation utterly hopeless, he turned and ran screaming for help.
* * *
Two MPs opened the power company substation a half mile away from downtown Botte. The key had been provided to Colonel Hart by the mayor.
“What do you think happened to call for lockdown?” one asked the other.
“Can’t say for sure. I wouldn’t put it past old man Hart to do something like this because he’s bored. He’s pulled some shit like this before. It’s probably just a drill to keep us on our toes. Plus”—the MP smiled sheepishly—”he likes to fuck with the locals—throw his weight around. So what if they can’t use their phones for a few hours?”
The other MP followed his hand drawn map until he came to the appropriate electrical breakers. “Sorry, residents of Botte, orders are orders.” He brought three breaker handles down in succession. The loud hum of electrons flowing in the equipment reduced to half its volume.
The cellphone tower went dead as did the land telephones lines. So did the power to the town’s main water pump that had temporarily been rerouted to one of the breakers tripped, while its main breaker was undergoing repairs. The spare water pump kicked on when the main pump went down. The spare pumped half the capacity of the main and didn’t put up near the same amount of discharge pressure. Not far from where the town’s water supply passed underground near Paradis, a line with a pressure sensing control valve was the only block keeping the systems separated. When the spare pump kicked in, a low-pressure sensor opened the valve to raise the mainline water pressure.
A concentration of vaccine only going to the prison now pumped its way into the town’s water supply.
* * *
Earlier at Paradis
“Is that low life, good for nothing, Colonel Hart, there? We’ve got a situation going on over here at Paradis!” Burl said into his cellphone.
“Sir, Colonel Hart has reported back to the base, but is unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?” the voice on the other end said.
“I’ll leave him a message. Tell him that all the inmates dropped like flies and woke up in a pissy mood. We’ve got a jailbreak going on here! My guards are being ripped to shreds. Tell him to send the posse over and save our sorry asses before there’s no one left alive.” Burl ran into the back of Mitch, who had stopped and fired a round of buckshot square in the face of an inmate that had shambled into their path.
Another inmate lumbered his way toward the gun’s discharge. Mitch hastily fired another shot and severed