cheek as it tore away his flesh. Wolfe heard the window explode behind him and was grabbed by another zombie. His arm was torn off and shock immediately washed over him.
The last thing he felt were the teeth sinking into his throat.
And then blackness.
3
Fort Hood Army Base
Present Time
Wilder drove through the makeshift gate and nodded at the armed soldiers standing at the entrance of Fort Hood. Fort Hood looked nothing like it had two years ago. It was one of the locations that housed a black budget research facility and was one of the first labs that had experimented on animals with the bio-nanotechnology.
Fort Hood was also one of the first military bases to be wiped out. The fact that anyone had survived the massacre was nothing short of a miracle—but, really, it was due to the sheer numbers found on the base. Fort Hood was originally commissioned to test and train World War II tank destroyers. When the base was built in 1942, it had been constructed with 158,706 acres of open space. It had also been the only base in the U.S. capable of stationing and training two Armored Divisions, or approximately 24,000 troops.
Fort Hood fell quickly due to all the open space it had. The base was too difficult to defend. Those who survived the initial attack were still uncertain how the virus escaped containment and spread so fast. Before the alarms even had a chance to go off, animals were running all over the base—more, in fact, than had actually been in the labs. The lead scientist, Dr. Palmyr, had proposed a theory that the lab animals had somehow communicated with the wildlife in the surrounding woods, but he’d been quickly ignored. He had, after all, been bitten, and was in excruciating pain. After Dr. Palmyr had died, a soldier had put a bullet through his head to ensure that he wouldn’t come back, but no one on the base had really understood what the infection was. No one had understood that the rules of Death had changed.
Fort Hood had housed over 53,000 soldiers and civilian employees, and over three-fourths of them had become infected. Butsko and Wilder hadn’t been present at the time of the massacre, but had heard nightmarish stories of how fast the infection had spread. Scientists at the SilsAdvanced Research Facilit y( where Butsko and Wilder had been stationed ) estimated that it took around fifteen to twenty minutes after exposure for the infection to kill the subject, and then another ten for reanimation.
From the reports of the Fort Hood massacre, people had died and had come back to life in minutes. Containment had been impossible.
Three jet fighters had scrambled from the nearby naval air station in Kingsville but had never made it to Fort Hood. The air traffic controllers at Kingsville had sat there helplessly as they listened to the fighter pilots scream as they crashed to the ground. Birds had brought down the jets by flying directly into the engines. Most of the air traffic controllers considered it a freak accident, but there were others who thought it was too frea k an accident, and suggested that the birds had purposefully taken down those jets.
Due to the failed bombing run, scores of infected humans and animals had escaped into the general population. Fort Hood was sixty miles from Austin and about one-hundred-and-fifty-seven from Dallas. It had been a nightmarish situation.
By the time the Sils Advanced Research Facility was destroyed, Butsko had learned that Fort Hood had fallen to the zombies, and was now just a smoldering combat site overrun by the reanimated bodies of the infected. Butsko, however, had nowhere else to go. He, Wilder, and the remaining survivors from Sils had headed to Fort Hood. Once there, Butsko had organized everyone, and put together a plan to secure the base. After wiping out the remaining infected, they’d checked their supplies and cordoned off most of the base. Fort Hood was now a fraction of its former size and was more manageable to
The last thing he felt were the teeth sinking into his throat.
And then blackness.
3
Fort Hood Army Base
Present Time
Wilder drove through the makeshift gate and nodded at the armed soldiers standing at the entrance of Fort Hood. Fort Hood looked nothing like it had two years ago. It was one of the locations that housed a black budget research facility and was one of the first labs that had experimented on animals with the bio-nanotechnology.
Fort Hood was also one of the first military bases to be wiped out. The fact that anyone had survived the massacre was nothing short of a miracle—but, really, it was due to the sheer numbers found on the base. Fort Hood was originally commissioned to test and train World War II tank destroyers. When the base was built in 1942, it had been constructed with 158,706 acres of open space. It had also been the only base in the U.S. capable of stationing and training two Armored Divisions, or approximately 24,000 troops.
Fort Hood fell quickly due to all the open space it had. The base was too difficult to defend. Those who survived the initial attack were still uncertain how the virus escaped containment and spread so fast. Before the alarms even had a chance to go off, animals were running all over the base—more, in fact, than had actually been in the labs. The lead scientist, Dr. Palmyr, had proposed a theory that the lab animals had somehow communicated with the wildlife in the surrounding woods, but he’d been quickly ignored. He had, after all, been bitten, and was in excruciating pain. After Dr. Palmyr had died, a soldier had put a bullet through his head to ensure that he wouldn’t come back, but no one on the base had really understood what the infection was. No one had understood that the rules of Death had changed.
Fort Hood had housed over 53,000 soldiers and civilian employees, and over three-fourths of them had become infected. Butsko and Wilder hadn’t been present at the time of the massacre, but had heard nightmarish stories of how fast the infection had spread. Scientists at the SilsAdvanced Research Facilit y( where Butsko and Wilder had been stationed ) estimated that it took around fifteen to twenty minutes after exposure for the infection to kill the subject, and then another ten for reanimation.
From the reports of the Fort Hood massacre, people had died and had come back to life in minutes. Containment had been impossible.
Three jet fighters had scrambled from the nearby naval air station in Kingsville but had never made it to Fort Hood. The air traffic controllers at Kingsville had sat there helplessly as they listened to the fighter pilots scream as they crashed to the ground. Birds had brought down the jets by flying directly into the engines. Most of the air traffic controllers considered it a freak accident, but there were others who thought it was too frea k an accident, and suggested that the birds had purposefully taken down those jets.
Due to the failed bombing run, scores of infected humans and animals had escaped into the general population. Fort Hood was sixty miles from Austin and about one-hundred-and-fifty-seven from Dallas. It had been a nightmarish situation.
By the time the Sils Advanced Research Facility was destroyed, Butsko had learned that Fort Hood had fallen to the zombies, and was now just a smoldering combat site overrun by the reanimated bodies of the infected. Butsko, however, had nowhere else to go. He, Wilder, and the remaining survivors from Sils had headed to Fort Hood. Once there, Butsko had organized everyone, and put together a plan to secure the base. After wiping out the remaining infected, they’d checked their supplies and cordoned off most of the base. Fort Hood was now a fraction of its former size and was more manageable to
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