Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation by Scott Shoyer Page B

responsibility.
    “Everyone just stay quiet, ” Walt finally said. “They’ll go away if they don’t hear anything.”
    “I don’t think so, Walt, ” Cheryl said. “If whatever is outside that door walked around the center before making its way to the door, then they’ve seen all the boarded up windows.”
    Walt knew she was right.
    “Open this goddamn door! ” yelled a man’s muffled voice from the other side of the door.
    Everyone in the common room held their breath as they looked at each other.
    “For fuck’s sake! ” the voice outside continued. “I can hear y’all talking. Open this fucking door already!”
    Walt’s eyes opened wide as he recognized the voice.
    “Steven? ” Walt asked as he yelled through the door. “Is that you, Spalatucci?”
    Walt ran to the door as he heard Steven still yelling, “Of course it’s me! Open this goddamn door!”
    Walt quickly unbolted the heavy iron door and almost cried when he saw Steven standing there. Walt went to hug him but was stopped by the center’s doctor.
    “Hold on, Walt, ” Jonas said, stopping the hug. “Don’t you think we better make sure he’s not infected?”
    Walt knew Jonas was right. They’d survived this long by being careful, and he couldn’t risk the center’s safety for anyone. Not even Spalatucci.
    “What are you, thick in the head? ” Steven asked Jonas. “I’m not trying to rip your throat out, am I?”
    Jonas just stood there, stunned.
    “Well, am I? ” Steven asked again as he raised his voice.
    “Come on, Steven, ” Walt said. “We need to be sure you haven’t been bitten.”
    “Ya’ll have been locked away in here for a while, haven’t ya? ” Steven said as he calmed down.
    “Yeah, we have, ” Joe said. “Why?”
    “You have no idea what’s going out there, ” Steven said as he looked at people gathering around him. “It is Hell on Earth out there. People are killing each other, and then the dead are getting up to kill others.”
    The group heard had such reports, but assumed they were exaggerations due to stress and trauma.
    “Got your attention now, don’t I? ” Steven said in an even voice.
    After Jonas checked out Steven’s eyes for signs of infection, and his arms and legs for bite marks, he gave Walt the okay that Steven wasn’t infected.
    “Of course I’m not infected, ” Steven growled at the doctor. “The infection kills you minutes after you’re bitten or exposed. ” No one said a word as they listened to Steven.
    “Then five, six minutes after you die, you wake up as one of those things, and you wake up hungry and pissed off. You’ll eat anything and anyone in your path, ” Steven said. “Don’t go getting all quiet now, ” he said to the group. “We’ve got bigger problems.”
    “What’s going on, Steven? ” Walt managed to ask.
    “The infected are all over the place around here, ” Steven continued. “Driving up the dirt road, I rammed my truck into three of them about four miles down the road. The impact ruined my truck.”
    “Wait, ” Walt interrupted. “You ran four miles to get here?”
    Steven scrunched up his face. “How long have you known me, Walt? ” asked Steven. “I don’t fucking run anywhere. These old bones won’t allow it, ” Steven said as he patted his knees.
    Walt pulled up a chair for Steven and asked one of the staffers to get Steven some water.
    “We don’t have time for this bullshit, ” Steven said.
    “What’s going on? ” asked Joe as he stepped forward.
    “Do you think I jumped over the big iron fence at the end of this dirt road? ” Steven asked rhetorically.
    No one said anything and just stared at him.
    “The gate is open? ” Cheryl asked as she broke the silence.
    “Wide open, ” Steven said. “I’ll give you a guess who opened it.”
    Various expletives were heard among the group as panic set in. Walt knew he had to calm everyone down.
    “Okay, okay, everyone! ” Walt said over the growing noise. “We know we