Science Fiction Smackdown II Entry (Zombie-Fun-Excitement-Spectacular!!!!)

Chapter 13: Some Unexpected Events

David splashed through a puddle, then scooped Oliver up into his arms. The child wasn't capable of keeping up with the others, not with those short little-boy legs.

 “This way!” Jenna called.

David looked up. Jenna and Amy were only about ten steps ahead of him, already at the bottom of the short staircase. With the driving rain, David could hardly see them. All he could see was the cold, grey haze of a thousand raindrops pounding towards the ground. David found he was running along the muddy gravel path, between the trees, towards the shore. Ahead, there was a low fence, and they hurtled through an open gate, and past a stand of wind-sculpted pines.

David had the impression that they were in a large, open area, but with the rain, he couldn't be sure. Unexpectedly, Jenna, leading the group, skidded to a stop. Amy ran into Jenna, almost bowling her over. It was all David could do, to avoid doing the same.

“What is it?” Amy asked. There was fear in her voice, David knew her well enough that he was sure of it.

“It's nothing. We're fine,” Jenna said. “It's just that building, over there.” Her voice was firm, and David was reasonably certain she intended it to be reassuring. There was an undertone of intense disquiet in Jenna's voice, however, that she apparently could not manage to extinguish.

David looked over at the building in question. So far as he could see, it looked like a very large garden shed. It was wooden, with a double door, and a pre-fabricated plastic roof. To David, the building looked very ordinary. Confused, he had to ask: “What's wrong with it?”

“It wasn't there, the last time I was here. It shouldn't be there. This area is a campground.”

“It's probably a storage shed,” David said. The rainwater running down his face felt itchy. Itchy and cold. “It has a good roof. It'll be dry in there.”

Amy tearfully said, “Please, can't we stay out here? I don't want to go in there!”

David set Oliver down. Jenna drew the small boy close, while David said, “I'll go in and take a look. If it's empty, we'll wait out the rain in there.”

“But if there's a radio?” Amy asked.

“I'll turn it off,” David promised.

Eight steps, and David was at the door. There was an oval metal loop that formed a handle halfway down the door. David pushed his fingers into the loop, and turned it. The door immediately began to swing open, letting out a flood of warm, yellow, electric light.

Behind him, David heard a muffled gasp. He looked back to see that Jenna had clapped a hand over Amy's mouth, stifling the girl's attempts to scream. David reached out a hand and began to close the door. His movements were slow. He hoped they were silent. The door was very nearly closed when David noticed something within the shed. He threw the door open again.

“What are you doing?!” Jenna stage-whispered, hardly audible above the rain.

David ignored her. He walked into the shed, fascinated by what he saw within. The small wooden room was broken in half by a metal grate that turned the far half of the shed into a cage. Inside the cage was a semi-human figure, a hunched over, drooling creature.

David stared at the zombie. It had been a man, once. If it could have stood up straight, it would have been taller than David, but in its hunched condition, it only reached his shoulder. It was neatly dressed in a grey tracksuit. David had never seen one of the creatures dressed in anything but tatters. In fact, the zombie looked like it was in good condition, generally. It was missing fingers, but there didn't seem to be any active rot, and there was no unpleasant smell. David watched the creature, as the zombie turned and looked at him.

Two brown eyes looked into David's. David expected to see insanity, or at least blind hunger. Instead, he saw a sort of quiet intelligence. It was unexpected, and it was fascinating. David reached out his hand, resting it on the bars.

“Hey! Keep your fingers out of the cage!” a voice shattered David's reverie.

“Bloody hell!” David yelled, turning.

When he had walked into the shed, David had looked only at the caged zombie. He had completely missed the chair, and the rifle leaning against it. And he had completely missed the ruddy-complexioned, ruddy-haired, bespectacled man who was sitting on the chair, one hand on the gun.

“No need to be rude,” The man said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.”I said it for your own good. Unless you want to end up like him, of course.”

David stared at the man, open-mouthed. He shook his head.

Just then, the door flew open. Jenna, soaking wet, stood in the doorway. “You alright, David?”

~*~

The visitor centre was warm, and dry, and there was hot chocolate. Admittedly, it was made with cheap packets of chocolate powder and rainwater heated in an electric kettle, but a least it was warm.

“What you don't understand,” the man said, “is that it's like a disease.”

“I think we do understand that,” Amy said, her voice dripping with the fullest contempt a tired teenager can muster for a dull adult.

“Drink your hot chocolate,” Jenna said. She noticed that Oliver was out of his seat, wandering towards the door. “And sit beside Amy, Oliver.” she turned her attention back to the adult conversation. “We had heard that it was something like a disease when we were with the army. But it never made a lot of sense.”

The man – or Tim, as he apparently preferred to be called – pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again.“Well, our research -”

“Our?” David interrupted.

“There's four of us.”

“Just four of you?” Jenna sounded shocked. “And you think you can curb this, this menace?”

“Sure,” Tim shrugged. “Most scientific advances were made by small, tightly-knit groups. And that's us. We've made some real progress. You lot saw one of our subjects.”

David thought back to the well-dressed, intelligent-eyed zombie he had seen in the shed. “That was bizarre,” he said.

Unnoticed by the grownups, little Oliver was up on his feet again, pushing open the glass door at the back of the room.

“We're working on treatments,” Tim explained, his eyes ablaze with excitement. “But ultimately, we hope to develop a vaccine.”

“A vaccine? So then - “

“Exactly. We think it's a virus, at the moment, because -”

Before the man could finish the sentence, he was interrupted by Oliver.

“Oooh! Look!” He exclaimed, his voice delighted.

Amy was at the door in a moment. “Snow? Is that snow? At this time of year?”

“That's – is that possible around here?” David asked, bewildered.

Jenna shook her head. “In June? Are you mad?”

“Cripes,” Tim spat the word out. “That means they've already started!”

Note: The prompt this time around included: your characters encounter a small group . . . unrelated to any other group already involved in your story . . .another meteorological anomaly is sent to test your characters' mettle and possible reasons for the outbreak are discussed. The snow in early June is, of course, the anomaly in question!