Short Story 45: Bucky Was There When it Happened…

I met a guy named Bucky and he was am ex soldier that had made it out of the underground facility that started this terrible virus. Or I should say one of the underground facilities. There had to have been hundreds of them all over the globe, as pertained to the fact how fast it spread. You see the Zombie Virus spread like wildfire and it only took basically 2 hours to infect the whole world. Yes it was fast and unmerciful in its actions…

Lets talk to Bucky…

Hi I am Bucky,

Stryker here wants me to tell him what happened the day that the Zombie Virus hit…

I was in a huge underground facility that was being run by the military and it was being staffed mainly by civilian scientists. In fact three times more scientist than military. We (military) had very little to do and we just mainly laid around and played poker, watched movies and slept. I guess we should have kept a better eye on what was happening, because those scientist invented and released a Zombie Virus that destroyed the world…

I will tell about the day it was released and in actuality it was released by a man who carried a vial of the virus into the lunch room that we were in and he called for everyone’s attention. The room sat 500 and it was full of us military. He threw the vial and it shattered on the floor. I remember now that as the virus started to work, the scientist tried to keep themselves safe, by staying behind virus shielded doors, but the virus mutated and became caustic under the conditions of containment and found a way to defeat the door seals…

Nothing but nothing stopped this virus, except green eyes and some really good luck with those green eyes…

I have green eyes and for days I never realized why I never got the virus, but I learned real quick as several green eyed guys got bit and became Zombies real fast. Soon I was the maybe the only human left in a underground chamber of horror, full of killer Zombies. The facility had gone into lock down and that should have stopped the virus, but as I said, “the virus mutated and became caustic under the conditions of containment and found a way to defeat the door seals…”

So I was trapped in a facility that did not stop the virus from getting out, but was stopping me from getting out and I had safely made it to the outer door to find that I had to transverse all the way 30 stories down to the basement and get the code and unlock the outer door. The only place was in the basement level and that was 30 floors down. I also had to find a person with a high enough security code to release the doors…

Now I used dumb luck and made it to the locked outer door and when I looked back from where I came, I realized that dumb luck was not going to get me to the bottom floor. There had to have been a hundred Zombies who finally made their way to the 1st floor and I was at a dead end. They move so slow that I had minutes of horrifying thinking’s to do before they would get to me. They just poured into the long tunnel that I was trapped at the end of and wall to wall Zombies where shuffling toward me as fast as they could..

Then I saw a sealed security door halfway down the tunnel. I knew that this was the Marines security station and I also knew that my pass card would operate anything on the first 15 levels of the facility. I also could get not get to the 30th floor with out a better pass card…

So I ran and realized that if the pass card did not work, I would be dead man in seconds after I got to the door. Life became slow motion and every step was like two steps backward as it seemed that the Zombies had increased speed as I slowed down. Finally I swiped the card at the door and I heard the door lock click and the door swung slowly inward. A Zombie hand grabbed me and another grabbed me. I twisted and jerked and the hands slipped from me and then I fell through the door. The door was a airlock and it swung inwards. I let the door swing back closed and laid on my back. The door stopped and Zombies were holding it open. I was pushing the door with my feet and keeping them from coming in any farther, but they were not allowing the door to close. I pulled my service weapon and used the last of my 45 caliber slugs to punch holes in a few Zombie heads. They fell back from the door and the door started to close again. I pushed hard…

Then a Zombie wedged himself in the door again and I kicked his head with my foot. I then put my foot against his head and shoved. I also shot him and as he fell back, with his head exploded like a ripe watermelon. The door closed and locked…

I stood and opened the inner door and fell into the room. My foot gave out, something was wrong with my foot. The door sealed itself behind me and I found myself alone. I also discovered that I could not stand…

Then to my horror, I saw that in the excitement, I had shot through my foot and into the last Zombies head. I had shot myself…

I saw instead of heard the Zombies throwing themselves against the outer door and after a few minutes there was so many Zombies that they could not move and they were all just smashed against the bullet proof glass window. It was not a sight that I cared for…

I removed my boot and surveyed the damage that I had done and knew that I had to stop the bleeding or die in this room…

The room was a security station and was fully loaded with weapons, medical supplies and many other things. Including food supplies. It was designed to be self-sufficient encase of an accident. I would say this was a good place to be for awhile. So I set about fixing my stupidity of a gunshot wound and planned what I would do next…

The security station had another way out and it went to a back hallway that was always off limits to just about everyone and after I wrapped my foot real tight with a cast bandage, with a walking pad. I check out the back hallway. It was as I suspected empty and doors locked on each end. I could get out and no one could get in…

I decided to rest a few days, as I knew nothing was going to get worse and I needed to let my foot start healing. I waited a week and I took off the cast and checked my foot. I was taking antibiotics and anything else that I thought would help me and after it all looked okay, I recast-ed the foot, this time I put a permanent type steel reenforced fiberglass cast, with a walking sole plate…

It felt good and supported my foot very well. It took me three tries to get the cast right and once I did, I was in business…

I had it planned: I would hit the incinerator button and that would release a liquid napalm type substance into the tunnel that around a hundred Zombies were all trying to get to me at. This substance was a control factor to kill things that tried to escape the complex. So while the Zombies burned in the tunnel, I would slip out the backside and take the hallway. I hoped to kill off a bunch of Zombies, because I knew that I had a whole lot of them to kill before I got to the 30th floor at the bottom of the facility…

The tunnel was designed to handle this napalm stuff and it would not spread any father than the tunnel. I stood looking out the window of the security station and pushed the emergency incinerate button. Instantly the tunnel flashed in a explosion of fire and burning liquid was rained down upon the Zombies. I shuddered and then turned away from the sight of melting Zombies and went out the backdoor…

This time I was well armed and rested and I was ready, I hoped, for anything. I went to the right of the hallway and opened tangentially the outer door! The open area leading to the elevators was empty and it looked like everyone that became Zombies on this floor had gone into the tunnel to see what the commotion was about. The tunnel was seal with fire doors now as I had unleashed the hellfire with in it…

I was still limping and realized that I still had to be careful about my foot…

The elevators still worked and I checked the stairs. They were clear. I did not make any noise, as I knew that one Zombie hears me, the rest will hear me as the first will moan and moan and moan…

I decided that I would take the elevator and deal with what I found as I got off. I also knew that I could not go any farther than the 15th floor and had to get clearance at the security station there to continue on in the elevator. This was all security procedure and so I had to get off at the 15th sub-level and at that I would deal with what I found. No choice and no other way, for the outer door that I had to get through to get out was two feet of titanium steel and it would not care if I beat on it in desperation. So I had to get it unlocked…

I stepped on the elevator and gulped as I pushed the button for the 15th floor. I tried to push the 30th floor and it just buzzed at me as I new it would. Can’t blame me for wishing, can you?

The ride down was way too fast as it seemed that I just pushed the button and I had not gotten ready for what waited me! I slapped myself literally and when the door opened, I am glad I did, for twenty Zombie Scientists greeted me with open arms and I got to use my new found security assault rifle! Crack crack crack went the rifle and Zombie after Zombie fell…

The elevator door even closed on me twice while I shot Zombies and I had to open the doors back up. The last time that happened one Zombie almost made it too me…

I stepped out of the elevator and slipped my way in the brain and blood to the security center. Luck was still with me and a security guard was laying half eaten by the door. I grabbed his key card still in his hand and scanned it. The door popped and slid open. This was different than the door on the first floor. That swung inwards and this slid sideways…

The inner door opened after I swiped the card again and I stepped into the security center. It was empty and that surprised me again as the one upstairs was empty also. Seems like they should have at least one live guy in each, but with the realization that maybe green eyes is why I am alive, I guess I am lucky that Zombies are not in each security center in the first place…

Now I had to figure out how to get a pass card to the lower levels. Then luck held with me again…

Laying on the communication center consul was a brand new swipe card for the center administrator. I knew him by name not sight and so I tried the card and it was active and had full clearance. I decided to stay a few days and rest. My foot was killing me and I decided to take off the cast and recast in a few days. So I ate food that was stored there and even watched a movie. I also watched and learned about Zombies. I watched the cameras for days and learned their habits. I watched how they intermingled with each other and I watched them even hunt a woman down who had tried to escape by going down a hallway. I was getting ready to leave and try to help her and to my horror she was caught in a minute by dozens of Zombies and ripped her limb from limb. They feasted on her as if they had a delicacy and nothing but a few bones was left after they were done. I wonder if she was green eyed? maybe there is someone else if she was still alive?

Then I decided to leave. I left quietly and went back to the elevator. I thought I was going to make it, but the Zombies seemed to have smelled me and when I heard a sicking moan, I heard 50 answering moans…

The elevator had moved and it looked like it had set itself to the 1st floor and it had to come down to me on the 15th floor. The trip down the first time was fast, but now the trip was deadly slow. I was surrounded by Zombies and the elevator was barely moving, so it seemed. I unleashed all the firepower I had and as Zombies dropped, so did the number of them increase. It seemed that for everyone I killed, two more took its place. I kept glancing at the elevator and it was only on the 9th floor. In gods name what the hell happened to our fast elevator?

Then I realized that I had only wounded many Zombies in my haste and they were still crawling across the floor to get me. I slung my assault rife on my shoulder and pulled the riot 12 shot shotgun into play and scattered Zombies all over the place. I wedged the shotgun against my side and reloaded as I fired. 00 buckshot shredded Zombies like wet toilet paper and then when I was about to be drowned in Zombie blood the elevator doors behind me opened and I fell backwards into the elevator. The last Zombies tried to get me, but the doors shut at the last second…

I started to cry like a baby and then realized that I was going crazy and I had to get it together. I swiped the card I had found and I pushed the 30th floor. I signed with relief as the elevator responded and went downwards. I got up and once again the elevator seemed to move way too fast…

I tried to get ready and reloaded and was caught reloading as the doors opened on the 30th floor…

It was pitch dark and silent. I stepped out and the doors closed behind me. Then I panicked as I heard the elevator take off and it went according to the light gauge, back to the 1st floor…

I did not think to take a flashlight and I was standing in darkness so dark that I could not see my hand in front of my face. For even the elevator light had gone out. I stood and listened to the silence and felt the darkness become stifling and scary. Then I heard a noise…

I frozen even more than I though I was frozen and realized that I had to breath. I took a breath and it sounded like a hurricane blowing on the beach front. As the sound of my breath echoed in my ears, I heard a soft voice say, “Are you human?”

I said, “Yes!”

Then a light came on and I was temporarily blinded and when my eyes adjusted. I saw a woman standing in front of me. She had a scalpel in her hands as if that would do the job. Her green eyes just glowed with surprise as she totally realized that she was not alone and I was very happy to have a real human to talk to…

We talked awhile, her name was Wendy and to make a long story shorter but not over yet, I told her what we had to do and what we needed to do. I helped outfit her with weapons and we activated the outer door sequence to open in 1 hour. The was the earliest that we could get it open…

Then we called the elevator and climbed on board. In a few minutes we had reach the first floor. Then I was not expecting issues as I was sure the first floor was empty, but somehow more Zombies made it to the first floor. We stepped off the elevator and realized very quickly that we had at least 30 Zombies ready to eat us…

We fought and fought and fought. The Zombies finally gave up the ghost and we made or way to the tunnel to the outside. I was not sure what to expect as I opened the tunnel door and the sight in the glare of the main rooms lights was not pleasant. The tunnel was a black gooey mess of slithering Zombie parts. They did not all die and many were still able to move a melted arm or leg. I found the emergency lights that were designed to survive the decontamination. The faint glow made it all worse. Wendy and I went in and I told her to stay behind me and wait and I walked slowly down the tunnel and used the shotgun. Anything that moved I shot and anything that looked to solid I shot. Then I walked back and got Wendy…

That was it and the door clicked and swung outwards as we approached it. The time lock had worked and we were able to step outside into another tunnel, that lead to another tunnel and that tunnel went to a small building and the door on that building went outside into a bright sunny day…

That was how the end of the world started for me…

Bucky…