Pet From Hell (Infected Series Book 1) Read online

  Pet from Hell

  Book one of the Infected Series

  BY

  Justin Gowland

  Justin Gowland

  Copyright Justin Gowland 2014

  Published at Amazon

  Disclaimer

  All characters contained herein are fictional and all similarities to actual persons, living or dead are purely coincidental. Places and information, while some may be real have been altered for the story and should be taken as such.

  Dedication

  Dedicated to my readers that have made my writing worthwhile. I would also like to say thank you to my friends on Facebook. Who have helped with beta reading and editing. Special thanks to Rosa Thomas-Mcbroom, Amy Downs and Megan Godfriaux. Thanks guys for your support and help with this new set of books.

  Chapter One

  I had my feet up on the desk watching the security cameras on the monitor in front of me. Using the stick in the console to pan the camera round the entrance hall the black and white image didn’t show anything out of place. I leaned back further into the office chair that they had given the security office when we had complain how uncomfortable the hard chairs we had started out with. The radio on the desk squawked and a voice came through the speaker “Marc are you still in the security room?”

  “Where the hell else would I be?” I replied.

  “Down here in the test labs. I thought that I heard you moving around the animal labs.”

  “Tony I wouldn’t be anywhere near that bit of the labs mate it creeps me out.”

  Now forgive me for saying it but Tony is a bit of a tool. He is twenty two, five foot eight, slightly rotund and everything he wears seems to stretch on him. Apparently his mother got him the job here on the night shift; god only knows how she managed to do that.

  Come to think of it I am not too good a catch either. Standing at just under six foot three, I have dark brown almost black hair and a face only a mother could love. I was discharged from the Army three months ago with a satisfactory record. Which means that the only job that I could get quickly was a night time security guard here at Benton’s Pharmaceuticals.

  “Are there any of the lab staff in yet?” Tony asked.

  “Tony have you got your watch on?” I said in reply.

  “Of course I have my watch on. Why do you ask?”

  “Have a look at it and tell me what time it is will you?”

  “It’s quarter to three in the morning why?”

  I shook my head and took a deep breath before answered “Right so it is quarter to three in the morning and you have asked if any of the lab staff are in! Mate it’s the weekend and there is no way there is going to be any staff in of any sort apart from us to idiots.” I said.

  “Well when you put it like that then maybe not but I can still hear something moving in the lab.” He said.

  “Ok I will use the cameras to have a look and will let you know but Tony you have to do one thing.”

  “What?”

  “You stay the hell out of there. The last time you went in there you spilled a beaker of something and Dr Jackson went fucking nuts about it. So stay out and I will come down if I see anything on the monitor.”

  “Ok!” Came the sullen response over the radio.

  Pressing the numbers on the keyboard for the labs four small black and white images appeared on the monitor. Flicking from one to the other I couldn’t see anything out of place and it all looked quiet in there. I was about to get on the radio and tell Tony that everything was ok when there was a flash of movement near the second camera. Punching in the code to make the screen enlarge I could see a cat sat on one of the metal tables near the cages.

  Even from the black and white image I could tell that it was a mangy creature. From the picture I could see missing tufts of hair and the tail looked to have been removed as well as an ear. Panning the camera round the rest of the room I couldn’t see any of the other animals moving around their cages or any open cages.

  Shit if one of the animals had managed to get loose and do damage to the good Dr’s tests I would be looking for a new job come Monday morning. Picking up the radio I looked at the monitor and saw that the cat had gone. Had I been imagining it? I mean in the Army they had always told us that three in the morning is always when you’re lest awake. I had to make sure though and with Tony being down there I wouldn’t have to get up.

  Pressing the talk button I said “Tony where are you at now?”

  “Er...I’m in the toilets on the lab level doing a check why?”

  “Listen I don’t care about you whacking one off in the loo; but you might be right about something being loose in the animal testing lab. It looks like there might be a cat out of its cage in there. Do you want to go and have a look?” I asked.

  There was a pause probably him putting his dick back in his pants.

  “Ok just leaving the toilets and heading back to the animal testing lab. I’ll let you know if I find anything.” He said and the radio went silent.

  Standing up from the desk I went to the corner of the room where we had the coffee pot and poured a cup of the lukewarm coffee. Turning I watched the monitor as Tony made his way in to the lab. Taking a sip I saw him moving around the tables and stools slowly looking everywhere for the cat I had seen. Looking up at the camera he shook his head letting me know that he hadn’t seen anything.

  Feeling a little more relieved I sat back down at the desk and pressed the button to turn the cameras back to automatic rotation. I must have sat there for a good hour before I realized that Tony hadn’t returned or called in. Now I would be the first person to say that Tony was a waste of space but he always let you know where he was radio and he always came back to the monitor room between circuits of the labs.

  I picked up the radio from the desk and spoke into it “Tony mate where are you?”

  Nothing but silence came from the speaker.

  Trying again I said “Tony if you’re in the toilet again just bloody let me know.”

  Still no reply and I was starting to get a bit worried for him. Strictly speaking I was to lock the place down stay where I was and call the police but I felt the need to go and check on him. Grabbing the large flash light and the spare set of keys I left the security room locking the door behind me. Turning left and going further in to the building toward the central staircase. I couldn’t help thinking could Tony be playing a stupid prank or something? I shook my head and thought it’s not in the lad’s nature to do something as stupid as to play pranks like this. Reaching the staircase I walked to the bottom of stairs and in front of me was the grey door that led into the labs. The card reader was blinking the red light beside the door letting me know that the magnetic lock was working. Reaching into my back pocket I pulled out the card that let the security guards through nearly all the doors in the building. Placing the card next the blinking red light I heard a chirp and the light turned from red to green and the lock clunked.

  Pulling the door open the long corridor between the labs stood looking like the long walk of a condemned man. The last door on the right was the animal testing lab and it must be at least a hundred meters from the door to the stairwell. Stepping through the door I could feel the change in the air; all of the labs had air conditioning and had special filters in case of accidents. I could see the door to the animal testing labs at the far end of the corridor and as far as I could see it was closed and the red light on the card reader was blinking red. So that now begged the question was Tony inside the lab still or had he come out of the lab and gone to the toilet to play with himself some more?

  The only thing I could think of was to go down there and check it out. I wa
lked down the corridor toward the lab looking in each of the windows of the other labs and everything looked fine. Looking in the window of the animal testing lab I could see Tony sat on a stool with his head in his arms.

  “That fucker he’s a sleep on the job!” I said to myself as I fought to get the card from my back pocket.

  The green light started flashing at me and I pulled the door open and as I did. I felt something brush past my ankle and move quickly up the corridor. Now I instantly thought it’s not going to get out of the corridor the door is closed. It was only when I looked up did I realise that when I came in that I hadn’t pulled the door closed behind me.

  If I really was going to get sacked on Monday, then with this on my mind I shouted at Tony “Oi fat fuck! How hard is it to catch a fucking cat?”

  Tony just sat there with his head in his arms.

  Storming across the room I pulled on his shoulder and his head lolled back showing me his ravaged face. Instantly I lost control and threw up all down his back and on to the floor.

  Whatever had done this to his face had eaten one eye and his nose but the rest of his face looked like something had taken a box cutter to it. The flesh was torn and the muscle seemed to have been ripped from the white bone underneath. Half his ear was hanging via what I thought was a piece of red string but was a capillary. The main damage was to his throat; there was a hole roughly the size of my fist where his Adams apple used to be.

  I managed to turn my head away from him this time as I threw the rest of my pack lunch up on the lab floor. Looking about I saw that none of the cages had any movement coming from them. Slowly stepping round the pool of expanding vomit on the floor I made my way the shelving that the cages were on. Inside every cage was a dead cat or dog each had died from different injuries.

  I needed to get out of the lab all I could smell was vomit. Careful to keep the tables between myself and Tony I went to the door and closed it with and rested my back to it. Turning from the door I walked down the corridor breathing hard like I had ran a BFT (Battle Field Test). I was roughly halfway down the corridor when I heard a ‘thunk’ come from behind me. Turning round I could see a shadow cast from the lab and into the corridor. Now I have never been called an intelligent man or particularly smart in my decisions. I turned and walked back to look in through the window to see Tony stood looking at the window with his head cocked to one side. To say I ran from the vision of him standing there would have been an understatement I flew up the stairs and into the security room slamming the door behind me.

  Chapter Two

  I picked up the phone and dialled the local police station. I stood looking at the monitors watching them change when Tony’s ravaged face appeared on the screen.

  On the other end of the phone a female voice said “Durham Constabulary how may, I help you tonight?”

  “Hello, my name is Marc Jenks and I work as a security guard at Benton’s Pharmaceuticals. I would like to report a murder please.” I said breathing hard.

  “Ok Mr Jenks when did this murder occur and who was killed?” She asked.

  “It was about ten maybe twenty minutes ago and it was my work mate Tony Desmond. Someone down in the labs killed him and not in the normal way.”

  “What do you mean not in the normal way sir?”

  “He looked like something had slashed him up with a box cutter then tried to eat his face.”

  “Right we have a car on its way to your location. Can I ask where you were when Mr Desmond was killed?”

  “What?”

  “Where were you when Mr Desmond died?”

  “I was in the security room all the time.” I said getting a little pissed

  “Ok sir the car is about five minutes away. Do you have anywhere that is secure to stay in whilst the car is on its way?”

  “Yeah the security room and I have locked the door.”

  “Ok sir I would suggest that you stay in there till the officers arrive.”

  “Right thank you.” I said.

  The phone clicked and the line went dead looking at the handset I placed it back in the cradle and sat in the chair looking at the monitor. Every few minutes the screen would show Tony moving around the lab bumping into tables and chairs and knocking beakers on to the floor. After the third pass round I changed the image to a static view of the front doors and was over joyed when I saw the flashing lights of the police car pull up to the front of the building.

  Getting off my seat and unlocking the door I walked through to the main doors and used my key card to open them. The two police officers both built like rugby players and both sporting broken noses introduced themselves.

  “Good evening sir. My name is Sargent James and this is PC Foxton. I believe you have reported a murder is that right.” He asked.

  Sargent James like I said looked like a rugby player but his voice was soft and quiet. From what I could see he had salt and pepper black hair under his hat and the uniform he had on was slightly bulging round his stomach. PC Foxton on the other hand had the look of a bully what with beady eyes and the broken nose and shaven head.

  I looked from one to the other before saying “By any chance do either of you play rugby?”

  “Pardon sir? You do realise making a phoney phone call and wasting police time could get you in to a lot of trouble?”

  “Sorry it’s a coping thing I have when I get stressed I make observations. Yes I did report a murder but things about it are a little strange.” I said.

  “Strange in what way?” Foxton asked with a sort of deep gravelled voice.

  “It would be best if I showed you what I mean.” I turned and had them follow me to the security room and closed the door when they came inside. Going to the monitor station I flicked through the feeds till I got to the animal testing lab. Tony was stood looking at the cages on the shelves with his back to the camera.

  “Sir that person does not look dead and forgive me if I am wrong but murder means dead.” Foxton said with a sneer in his voice.

  “Please just wait.” I asked.

  A few seconds later Tony turned and looked right at the camera and I took the advantage of zooming in on his face. I was gratified to hear Foxton throwing up into the bin beside the desk and the sharp intake of breath from Sgt James.

  “I went down to the labs to check on Tony and he was dead and he looked like he does now at least I think that he was dead.” I said.

  “Ok sir where are the labs at?” Sgt James asked.

  “I’ll have to take you down there because you need a card key to open the doors.” I said.

  “Right, Foxton please get in touch with the station and have some detectives come down here. It might be worthwhile getting the owners to come down here as well because I haven’t a clue what the hell is going on here.” He said turning for the door.

  Foxton cleared his voice and said “What am I going to tell them at the station? I can’t tell them we are dealing with zombies. I would never get a game of rugby with the station team again if I said that.”

  “Just tell them that it was misreported and that the person has been very badly injured and that was why they were thought to be dead.” Sgt James said with a sigh.

  I had a feeling that PC Foxton was a moaning git and Sgt James had to put up with it every day. I felt sorry for him because I knew what it was like. I mean up until whatever had happened to Tony I had to deal with it every day as well. Taking Sgt James through the building to the central staircase I was constantly thinking about what had happened to Tony and what could have caused those injuries.

  “So what kind of work does this company do then?” Sgt James asked breaking the silence.

  “To be honest I don’t know. Dr Jackson never tells us lowly serfs anything and to be honest as long as I get paid and as long as I am not doing anything illegal then I don’t ask.” I said.

  “You might have wanted to know because whatever is going on with your mate. Well let’s just say that isn’t natural in the least.” />
  We walked down the stairs and I swiped the card at the door and we both stepped into the corridor. This time I turned to make sure that the door closed behind us. I took the lead and walked down the animals testing labs at the bottom of the corridor and looked in through the window. Tony was doing a circuit of the lab banging into things and opening and closing his mouth. On walking past the window he suddenly stopped and turned to look at us watching him. With a speed I had never seen him to have ever possess he launched at the window with his arms raised. His fingers hit the thick glass first and I swear I could hear his bones snap as they struck the glass. It didn’t slow him for one second and he lurched back a few steps and lunged again. This time his head hit the glass with a meaty whack leaving blood and other fluids slowly running down the window.

  “I think we have seen enough don’t you?” Sgt James said turning round and heading away from the window.

  The funny thing was that as soon as we were both out of sight the banging stopped. Sgt James just shook his now pale face and turned back to the door out of the labs waiting for me to open it. To be truthful seeing Tony like that frightened the shit out of me and I was going to put in my resignation in the morning as soon as human resources came in. We headed back up to the security room and found Foxton watching the monitor and Tony standing looking at the cages again.

  “Did you get in touch with the station and the owners?” Sgt James asked as we entered the room.

  “Yeah there are two plain clothed on the way here now and Dr Jackson and Dr Williams will be here soon as well.” Foxton said.

  “These cameras do they get recorded?” Foxton asked.

  “Yes they do but it all gets sent to the main server and only the bosses have the codes to get them.” I said.

  “Ok well they are on their way in now and the detectives so they can deal with it. James does it look as bad close up as it does on the screen.” Foxton said.

  “Let me put it this way. All them zombie movies that people watch are nothing like the thing that is in that lab. It scared the shit out of me and I for one will not be going down there by myself.” Sgt James mumbled his face going pale.