[Jason Grimm]

Ok folks, here's the preview. Love it, hate it, bash it...whatever flaps your shutters. Just keep in mind that this was posted from "raw text"; the revisions I signed off on are in read-only format so I could take it from the revised product (read-only is a failsafe for guys like me that will constantly tinker with work). Regardless, whether you love it or hate it, thanks for giving it a read. Since I don't know how long the posts can be, I'll post a chapter at a time.




"The Reaper Effect: Stairway to Darkness"



Prologue


East Glen Chemical Research Facility, 8:45pm. The building was being evacuated due to a chemical fire that had gotten out of control and swept from the basement levels onward to the upper floors. Many researchers had gotten trapped and were already badly burned or dead, while many others were dying from smoke inhalation and chemical poisoning. It was like white lab rats trying to escape a flaming gas chamber. The local fire department fought outside to keep the fire at bay, but fought a losing battle while most of the scientists that escaped died soon after they made it outside. Paramedics were working faster than they had ever worked, yet were unable to save anyone who escaped.

As the fire and rescue crews worked in haste, several military vehicles pulled onto the scene. Soldiers wearing yellow bio-containment suits poured out of the vehicles and started killing the firemen and rescue teams with their rifles; the instant everyone had been killed, the soldiers formed into groups which reloaded their weapons as support teams set up to illuminate the site.
All of the soldiers watched and waited as if each and every one knew the night was far from over with. While they waited, a larger man in a containment suit stepped out of the closest military transport and walked towards a smaller man that was giving orders amongst the chaos.
"Get some chemical readings from this smoke Beta Team! Move!" the smaller man ordered as
the larger of the two walked up. "We need to know what went up in this fire!"
After he spoke, six men took a metal case of instruments and ventured to the edge of the fire. One of them opened the case and pulled a hand-held electronic device from it, then proceeded to hold it in front of him where the smoke was present. After several seconds, the team of soldiers returned to their sergeant and presented him with the device and its readings from the computer still in the case. The sergeant took the device and looked at its blue, digital display. Once he put everything together a few seconds later, he muttered a few obscenities and shook his head.
"Get ready for the mother of all cluster-fucks," the sergeant remarked as he handed the device to the taller soldier that stood to his left. "One of the chemicals that went up was a nerve impulse stimulant called ‘Electranoll’," the sergeant continued. "The other two chemicals that fueled the fire are used to preserve organs before transplants and in-between surgeries. Electranoll has also been proven to preserve certain brain functions in government tests that were conducted back in '78."
"What exactly are we looking at here sir?"
"Electranoll was removed from legal medical use in the United States after it was discovered that certain chemicals cause it to re-animate dead bodies. The bodies that re-animate have no sense of reason and will attack anything that's human. If the corpse's saliva or blood is introduced to a living human's bloodstream, that human will become fully contaminated in less than four hours. If contaminated cells are introduced to a clean corpse, it will re-animate in less than ten minutes." the sergeant concluded as he kept his eyes on the fire and his soldiers.
"So what do we do?" the tall soldier asked.
"We wait," the sergeant replied. "Uncle Sam made the mistakeof walking away early the first time that chemical caused problems back in the summer of '68 before any testing was done, and I'm here to see to it that we don't fuck up like they did."
Just after he finished his sentence, multiple sources of gunfire rang out along the air. Through the blue-tinted rolls of smoke, human shapes could be seen slowly creeping out towards the soldiers. The sergeant and his tactical leader gripped their machine guns and began firing into the mob of corpses that continued to slowly approach them. The sergeant instinctively aimed for their heads, remembering how that was the only way they were stopped several years ago. The bullets threw blood and pieces of gore onto the pavement, but the wall of walking dead continued to advance. Even those who were shot in the head climbed to their feet and continued to walk, and with the sight of this, the sergeant lowered his rifle.
"We can't win this," he said as his soldiers continued to fire into the crowd. "Fall back, now!" he yelled as loudly as his voice would allow. Most of his men were locked in combat from fear, and after the front line was breached by the animated corpses, several of the soldiers behind the front
line were wounded and killed by friendly fire from the panicked front line.
The sergeant looked on in horror as the firemen and medics began to rise from their fallen positions. The effect of the chemicals was much faster than it was in the last incident, and he knew there was no way they could contain the situation. His men were being quickly overwhelmed by sheer strength in numbers, and there was no time to regroup or radio for assistance. He gave a nod to his tactical officer, and the taller of the two retrieved a metal case that rested on chrome wheels from the back of the nearest truck while the sergeant covered him with gunfire from his rifle. While firing, he noticed that many of the corpses that walked from the interior of the inferno were each
wearing some sort of strange electronic collar.
“Aw, fuck me,” the sergeant said to himself the instant he realized that this place had been researching the damned things; all of his intelligence and mission reference at this point was completely useless.

While the sergeant watched his soldier's moves, one of the firefighters came from behind him and clutched at his neck. The shock of surprise forced the sergeant to loose his footing and fall against the front end of the military vehicle. On impact, he felt a sharp pain followed by wetness. He had fallen hard against the front bumper and caught his lower back on the front license plate, creating a large gash in his flesh. At this moment, he knew that he wouldn't survive this operation. He was wounded and his containment suit had been compromised. The dead fireman thrashed about on top of him trying its best to bite into his body as he tried to get a grip on its neck. A stiff,
sickening crack rang out as he violently twisted its head causing the neck to break. The thing continued to thrash around as the other soldier dropped the metal case and violently kicked the zombie off of his sergeant.
"You can't worry about me son," the sergeant said as he painfully sat up. "You gotta open that case and activate the explosive."
The soldier began opening the case, and then went to work trying to get the bomb online. The remaining soldiers were quickly taken down in horrified screams as the sergeant tried to keep the aggressors away from the bomb as it was being activated.
It wasn't long before he was out of ammunition, and he looked on helplessly as the horde
consumed them. The sergeant's guttural screams were the last sounds as the zombies began tearing into his flesh. The soldier activating the bomb was also pulled down into the mass of corpses seconds after. Before he faded into death's grasp he tried frantically to press the final red button on the explosive's control panel after lifting the clear protective case it rested under. Just inches away from the button, his hand relaxed and slipped down the container's side as his vision faded into nothingness.