Chapter Eleven
Newbay, the once beautiful town with its own lake making the townspeople live happily and peacefully within their fishing community. The large pharmacy company Biotech came in and created a large factory using the lake's water to power it using an experimental hydro powering system.
With this new factory the town expanded and introduced a whole new type of business to Newbay, this included some mysterious people in suits disappearing into the factory and never seen again for months at a time.
Only about five hours ago a fire broke out from an unknown source, and while the townspeople fought against the fire something happened to cause chaos to break out within an hour.
Monsters appeared and wrecked havoc throughout the town, polluting the air and water spreading the infection through the townspeople until a small group of survivors made out a distress call calling the Thunderbirds.
The young men didn't know what they were flying into or what was now happening to them as they battled against the viral monsters to get back to their machines along with the survivors; they were battling against time now that the virus had found them.
The virus isn't the only thing the survivors have to worry; Biotech wanted to clean up their mess and wants it done by dawn, only a few short hours away.
This town, once beautiful, had become a world of survival horror where anything could eat anything or anyone...
The sound of rustling leaves grew louder as they opened the door slightly to look through the gap to see what was causing the noise, Jill was covering their backs with a gun they didn�t even know she had until a few short minutes ago.
Gordon bent down low and looked around the ground level while John looked up at the ceiling and poked his brother in the shoulder causing them both to look up at a sea of green and purple leaves and vines.
�T-that can�t be good.� John whispered ignoring the new dizzy spell as they tried to get a good look at the mysterious plant, seeing that the vines had started from the doors they had come through from the lake.
�I don�t think they�re supposed to be that colour.� Gordon whispered back shining the torch at the vines and jumped when they moved towards the torch light.
John shook his head �They�re not, just shut off that torch� He ordered and pulled him back him sharply just as the spot they were standing in started melting away from acid that had abruptly appeared.
�What was that?!� Gordon exclaimed, his brown eyes wide with shock at the melting floor.
�I don�t know but whatever it was was out there amongst those vines,� John muttered with a small cough shaking the beads of sweat away from his face, �We need a way out of here, now.� He added trying to move back up onto his feet with a bitten back moan from his aching muscles.
�Easy Johnny, we�ll find a way out but first take care of yourself� we don�t want you to push yourself do we?� Gordon said as he helped his brother back over to the couch.
�Gordon, time�s running out for me and you know it� you�ll be able to save Scott in time but otherwise then we�ll�� John stopped what he was saying looking down at his knees grasping them tightly with his hands, closing his eyes to stop himself crying.
John could feel the virus inside of him now, urging him to itch, to go out there and join the plague of virus created monsters that roamed the streets, to feast on the flesh around him sucking out the blood of the victims. He knew they were running out of time, he could feel that there was something out there hunting them down calling him to come and fight him.
�John, bro don�t do this. We almost lost you once and we�re not going to loose you this time.� Gordon said resting a hand on John�s shoulder hoping that Scott and Virgil hurry back with the antidote.
Virgil shuddered as they sealed the door behind them, �How I hate morgues!� He muttered earning grunts of approval from Scott and Graham before reloading the shotgun and looked around the room.
The torch light shone over the highly polished and once sanitized surfaces of a laboratory, he was reminded of the one Brains hid down in the hangers ready to deal with any new chemical mishap they could come across in their rescue business.
�So where are we?� Scott asked after catching his breath back seeing the laboratory around them, �This looks like biological lab� He muttered shinning his own shaky torch beam around seeing the sealed containers covering one wall while moans could be heard through the sealed door behind them.
They had entered one laboratory to find it completely trashed before entering a deathly quiet morgue, where they were ambushed by what they roughly counted ten zombies. They took as many as they could, down before escaping into this new laboratory.
�Think you�re right, can you use a computer?� Graham asked pointing at a computer, which surprisingly had power and displayed the Biotech symbol a black background with a white DNA strand rotating around.
�We�re both pretty rusty but I can more than Scott,� Virgil said handing the shotgun to Graham before looking over the computer, �It isn�t locked which is strange but its got the code for how to get into the antivirus storage,� He reported as he typed on the keyboard with a few interesting discoveries printing them off for them to look at later.
�Great, which one� Scott asked looking at the sealed containers that lined the walls in front of him, he could see that a few of them looked like had been broken into.
�Give me a minute! The ones on the right, the code for it is; two-two-three-six.� Virgil said and checked the screen before crossing over to the printer to retrieve the printouts he had asked for.
He folded the papers up and stuffed them into his rucksack, �The computer says that the virus that started this was stored here to but I�m guessing that it�s gone now.� Virgil told the others as he looked into the broken containers to find them empty.
Graham sighed, �But that doesn�t explain how this all happened.� He said as he waited close by watching the sealed door and looked around for another way out, not wanting to go back through the mass of zombies to get back to the main corridor.
Scott entered the code but was denied in the first container he checked, �I know Graham but we can worry about that later.� He said as he moved across to another. �First we need to find the antidote for the virus, and then we can worry about how it got out.� Scott added worried that if they didn�t get back to the others soon it would be too late.
�We�ll get there in time Scott, we did before and we will again.� Virgil said from where he was trying the small vaults near the ground, making Scott look down at him before nodding in agreement making him focus on the job at hand.
Gordon looked at the small metal pipe they had found in the janitor�s closet and winced as he heard the familiar sounds of melting wood and plastic that they had been hearing for the last five minutes.
�What do you think they�re doing?� Jill asked as John returned from the janitor�s closet loaded with every flammable liquid they could find, he sat down gently biting his inner lip to stop him moaning at moving around when his joints didn�t want to.
�They�re trying to melt through the wall; they can sense us in here.� John answered afraid of how he knew that without even thinking about it, glad that they had move the couch and everything else against the door but made sure it could be moved in a hurry in case their brothers and Graham returns.
�That�s why we�re trying this but we�re not sure how much time this little� invention will buy us so we�re hoping that it will do enough damage so that when the others get back, there would be a gap free for them to get through.� Gordon explained as John focused on mixing the dangerous chemicals.
It was taking all of John�s concentration to make sure that he didn�t spill any of the hazardous chemicals onto their temporary base, as some of them looked to be corrosive. He knew that if they mixed them up in the right proportions then it would be one explosive and fiery bomb, which is what they just need for a little weed control in the main reception area.
Jill nodded and looked over at the small but well organized blockade, wondering how much time it would buy them once the plant like menace broke through. �I�m going to go over those plans again if that�s ok,� She said with a small smile, earning a smile and nod from Gordon before he helped his brother with finishing off their homemade flamethrower and a couple of adjusted bombs.
�We�re running out of time, by the look of those plans it will take us a hour to get under the city to where we left the birds� so Scott and Virgil should get back here soon, then we go� Gordon muttered to John, who nodded.
�I know Gordo, but don�t forget that I was infected a hour after we got here� so I�m running out of time faster than Scott is, but they�re coming�� John muttered finishing his job and made sure that the bottles were tightened up before standing up.
Gordon put aside the tools and equipment for now and joined his brother by the misted up window, �John, I�m scared ok and I mean scared� I don�t know if we�re all going to get out of this� He said looking up at his older brother, seeing that John was still flushed in the face and looked tired beyond what Gordon himself felt.
�I am too Gord, more scared than I ever have felt; I can feel Th-this thing inside of me changing and it scares me� I don�t think I can cope if it gets worse.� John confessed before sighing looking down at his hands, he was use to being pale but this was different. He could see his blood veins after pulling the gloves off, Gordon told him to keep them on to help with the itching but he had taken them off temporarily while helping with the adjustments and creations of a new weapon.
�There�s something else out there, I�m not sure what it is but it�s big and powerful,� John muttered wincing at a headache appearing making him close his eyes as the room started spinning again.
Gordon caught on and tried to hold his brother up, until they got back over to the nest of blankets. �Easy Johnny, we�ll figure this out slowly and we�ll all get out of this together!� He said helping his brother back down on to the blankets, sitting down with him and gave him the bottle of water.
�Thanks Gordo, just a bother once again, huh� John asked with a tired smile leaning back against the overturned bookcase, before opening the bottle and took a sip of the water.
�You�re always a bother but that�s because you�re my brother, right now rest up! We�ll set the bombs up in a minute.� Gordon ordered with a grin of his own.
John nodded silently and relaxed until this dizzy spell and headache passed just like the others before it. Whatever was happening to him was scaring the astronaut, and he was afraid of what he would become.
Running along the surprisingly deserted corridor, Scott Virgil and Graham didn�t bother to look back hearing their own breaths, the rattle of their guns and packs while somewhere around them was the threatening sounds of large powerful footsteps echoing around them as they continued to run towards the nearest staircase hoping to get out of the underground laboratories.
Virgil led the way, making it his job to make sure they knew where they were going as they had to take a different route up than they did when they came down. The explosion and unsteady upper floors proved that small fact.
Scott shook his head in hearing a faint buzzing in his ears, �Virg wait up!� He said slowing his pace down to a walk shaking his ears tiredly. Even though he had been giving the cure, it was still taking some time to come into effect fully.
Virgil slowed down a little and looked behind him, tapping Graham to stop him. �What�s the matter Scott? We got to get back to the others then get out of here!� He said wondering what his oldest brother was up to.
�Something just doesn�t feel right around here,� Scott muttered looking around then ducked just as the wall next to him smashed out, filling the area with dust and debris.
�Scott!� Virgil and Graham called trying to see if the oldest Tracy sibling had made it.
To be continued
Chapter Twelve