Free Insurgent Z: A Zombie Novel by Mark C. Scioneaux, Dane Hatchell Page B

Gottlieb stepped next to Hart, a smile frozen on his face. “Six hours ago, all five prisoners died in the examination room. Well, four, technically, as one was DOA. I’m not sure how, but shortly afterward, they awoke and put up quite a ruckus.”
    “You must have been mistaken. They couldn’t have died. They’re alive now.”
    “No, they’re still dead.”
    “Gottlieb, you’re starting to piss me off with this nonsense.”
    “It’s not nonsense, and it’s not magic. It’s science, but it will take some time to understand what is animating these corpses.”
    “Do you know what killed them to begin with?” Hart asked.
    “We don’t know. We assumed E. coli, but none of them carried the bacteria. We suspect they had a reaction to the vaccine we placed in the water system.”
    “How could the vaccine have killed them to begin with? If we’re using it, it’s safe, right? Isn’t it supposed to prevent people from dying?”
    “Programs like these always carry certain unknown risks. We were successfully able to immunize chimpanzees in the testing. This was the first time we treated humans. Death, as a side effect, was determined to be at such a low percentage that it wasn’t even worth considering.”
    “So what the fuck are you going to do to fix it?”
    Gottlieb shot a scowl at Hart. “I don’t know! I have to do more research.”
    The left arms of the prisoners slapped back to their sides in unison.
    “So far, the only thing these guys look fit to do is move on command, like a robot. I bet they would make one fine synchronized swimming team. That’s not going to do us any good in real-time battle.” Hart chuckled.
    “Hart, stop parading your ignorance. You do your job, and I’ll do mine.” Gottlieb shifted his body. “Run subroutine five,” he called out to one of the technicians, who pecked out a series of commands on his keyboard.
    Each inmate began jogging, double-time, in place. The two on the inside of the line turned opposite, and the men performed a series of rapid high and low hand slaps, rotating between one another. During the display, a basketball tossed by a technician bounced to the group. Each inmate fought for possession.
    Once a winner came away with a ball, an immediate game of keep-away ensued. Their movements were fluid, but still a bit robotic in execution.
    Gottlieb turned to Hart. “What you are witnessing are the subjects using their own cognitive reasoning to achieve the direction of an order. These men may be hardened criminals with limited education, but they possess a computer created by nature vastly superior to anything man can make. With the Neural Net, we are able to send commands directly to their brains. Imagine an army of intelligent drones, able to receive real-time directives, and use their own reasoning and survival instincts to meet any challenge. This army will not act as robots waiting to be told each move to make. The army will be the perfect hybrid—a thinking machine.”
    “But they’re dead,” Hart said.
    “The fact that the army is dead before going to battle only makes this project more successful. And if soldiers die in battle, we can bring them back to continue the fight.”
    Hart dropped his gaze to the floor and shook his head. “You son-of-a-bitch.” He stepped forward and nearly touched noses with Gottlieb. “Sounds to me like you’ve struck a goldmine. Don’t fuck it up. My promotion depends on this project.”
    Before Gottlieb could respond, the door to the lab burst open.
    “Colonel Hart! Colonel Hart! We just got an emergency call from Paradis. There’s been a riot, and the prisoners are escaping.”
    Hart grabbed Reid by the elbow. “Get on the radio and execute Code Silence. I don’t want anyone coming or going out of this shit-hole town. I don’t want any calls going in or out, either.”
    Reid saluted at attention and yelled a firm, “Yes, sir,” before he turned and hurried out of the lab.
    “Shut these guys down and