chapter one

Dead Behind the Wheel
Shane Camfield
In 1999, the U.S. government implemented a plan to control speeding and reckless drivers. Top secret operation Dead Behind the Wheel (DBW) was undertaken by the Department of Motor Vehicles in connection with Area 51 and paid for by American taxpayers. DBW's goal was to place once- dead organ donors in cars, reanimating them in order to drive around at extremely low speeds. Dr. Thorn and Dr. White were the brains of Project DBW ; they followed protocol only from the Department of Motor Vehicles and Area 51. Using a drug called "Chemical Refresh", created by Dr. White, DBW team Thorn and White discovered they could to re-animate dead organ donors and turn them into a useful source of control over the masses of reckless drivers.

Chapter One: January 1998
Dr. Thorn, a voluptuous 30 yr old female who loved classic rock and working in morgues, was a knockout by anyone's standards. Her ebony hair and cappuccino skin was eye candy for Dr. White, a 50 year old ex- college professor of biology. Dr. White had been widowed the year before, and his wife had been the light of his days. Since her death, he had thrown himself into his working relationship with Thorn and trying to perfect his serum of regenerating the dead, Chemical Refresh.
A section of Area 51 had been reserved for two years, for storage of the deceased and containment of the test subjects, as well as a lab. The lab that Thorn and White


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shared was divided in half; Thorn's side was disheveled with piles of files, paperwork, books, storage of chemicals, all in a whirlwind manner that could only be decoded by her.
Thorn's superiors allowed certain allowances; a stereo, a freezer (no beer allowed), and a TV. The music didn't bother White, even though it played nearly constantly. His side of the lab was medicinal in its composition. The organized, squeaky clean area that White inhabited most of the time was where the organ donors/test subjects were housed. At any given time, ten pods holding subjects would wait for the time when Chemical Refresh would be tested on them. Eleven times before, Thorn and White had reanimated the test subjects; with limited success. Most of the previous test subjects moaned, sat in misery, then subsequently died all over again.
White walked over from his sterilized area to Thorn's, and said, “ How is Subject Twelve coming along?” He noticed the way Thorns hair waved naturally as she spun around.
“Shitty. Subject Twelve is responding on some level to Chemical Refresh, sir, but will not fully animate.", Thorn said.
She looked up at him, as he was much taller than she was, and noticed his handsomeness lay in his distinct intelligence and his strength of character, even in this kind of newfound, experimental field. Behind them as they spoke face to face, Subject Twelve twitched in a way that Thorn and White were used to, like someone fitfully trying to go to sleep.


3 “What do you say we get some lunch, and get away from all these dead bodies for a little while,” Thorn said, with a characteristic sparkle in her eyes. White nodded, and they crossed the lab toward the door together.
Walking toward a mirror with Thorn, White surveyed his appearance. Something about Thorn aroused feelings he hadn't felt in awhile, but White doubted he was attractive enough to sway this beauty to notice him in a romantic way. White was 6 foot 7, quite well built with muscular arms and legs; and a tight, perfect chest that most 20 yr olds didn't have. His face bore a scar that went from his brow, past his left eye and ended at the left corner of his mouth, and he wore thick black glasses. The most striking thing about Dr. White was his eyes, which were as light blue as a clear day, and which worked magic on the ladies during his single life before he met his now deceased wife. Unbeknown est to Thorn, White had reanimated his deceased wife and renamed her Subject Twelve.
As Thorn and White departed the lab area, the naked Subject Twelve became more animated; her skin visibly wiggled and radiation bubbles on her greenish-gray skin formed quickly and pop. Twelve began to shake and move against the straps, which were none too tight. Twelve was a female subject, long stringy blond hair, matted with dirt and grime; flecks of her flesh were gone. The dark leather straps had been tested by subjects before, began to strain, stretch, then break. Twelve's eyes, glazed over white by the
chemical in her system, rolled over to see that she was free. All she had to do now was get up.
The hunger in Subject Twelve's stomach and mind gave her tired, near lifeless body the strength to move off of the stretcher and stand. Twelve growled and shoved her 4
matted hair away from her eyes. As she did, puddles of fluid, drops of radiation hissed and dropped around her bare, corroded feet. Taking in a whiff of the air in the lab, she could smell the fresh, live bodies that had just left the room. And more than anything, she wanted to consume them. With a childish, loud stomp, Twelve began to make her way to where she heard the humans talking as they moved down the hallway away from her. Twelve fumbled towards the door, shuffling her feet in a sloshing motion that made noises on the floor. Slosssh...slosssh. She shoved her hands in front of her and threw open the double doors to the lab, leaving a smear of dirt across the glass portion of it. Looking to both sides, Twelve only saw patches of dark and tiny lights beading down the hallway on both sides of her. Then she heard a woman laugh and took a sharp left turn towards its call.
Thorn and White were eating and watching "Maury Povich Show", it was the 5th consistent installment on the show of a woman looking for her 'baby's daddy'. After testing 20 men or so, Maury decides to bring the 'baby mama' back to test some more unlikely sperm donors for her child.
"Ha ha! Can you believe this stuff?", Thorn said, in between bites of her sushi.
"All this time, all these men, and she's no closer to finding the father to her child!", White said. He looked down, fumbled with his sandwich, and took a couple of bites. Then he heard a strange sound coming from down the hall.. slosssh....slossssh



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"Woah. Did you hear that Thorn?" White said, dropping his sandwich and standing up.
"I hear nothing but the TV. What are you smokin'?", Thorn said, but she stood up as well. The sound was getting closer, it was midnight, and the one guard in their particular lab was on break.
Twelve stomped into the room, frothing at the mouth, breathing heavily as if her lungs were full of the chemical 12. Naked , her skin was a mixture of gray and green. She sprang towards White and grabbed him by the back of his head and flung him behind her, through the double doors. 12 then proceeded to follow him as he fell roughly into the wall, leaving a small dot of blood in a smear that followed his descent down. Thorn froze in shock and disbelief and wondered what had went wrong, and looked around desperately, for a weapon. Outside the room, 12 grabbed White by the head and gouged out his eyeballs with her thumbs as she let out a slow moan of satisfaction.
"You bastard, you used me like a guinea pig for your work and look at me.. I"m a monster!", Twelve said, her voice vile with hatred. White shrieked in unending pain, gushing blood, grasping for air, panicked. Twelve stood looking down at him. You were my husband.. a man promised to care for me, and you used me, turned me into a zombie...she thought.
Thorn came up behind Twelve with a knife and stabbed her quickly and forcefully thru the chest saying, "Get away from him!"


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Twelve fell to the ground with the knife in the middle of her back, but still moaning; still functioning. Thorn grabbed White by the shoulders and began trying to drag him away from Twelve, realizing how hopeless it was, even from the first second she grabbed him. Twelve slowly got up and, still moaning with anger, staggered to her feet and began stomping towards White and Thorn... slossssh...slossssh.
Thorn made it to a room with a lock, a supply closet, and pulled White in beside her as she locked the door. Thorn grabbed her radio and nearby, Twelve was getting closer once again. "Rourke! We have a situation in Lab B! Bring reinforcements!", Thorn said, her hands trembling.
She had seen unsavory results from Chemical 12 before, but never had seen a subject reanimated and walking around. Twelve began to try the doorknob to the closet and continued her grim moan; pounding on the door and screaming. The clamber of booted feet was coming down the hall, shouting between soldiers... and then gunshots. Twelve turned just to see her attackers enter and begin firing on her without mercy, obliterating her body almost completely. Thorn looked down at White, his gouged eyes, his now lifeless body, and then unlocked the door. She kicked it open from where she and White lay, on the floor of the utility closet, and nodded to the soldiers, Rourke, West, and
Shelton, to take White away. Thorn stood up as the 3 men grabbed Whites corpse, sloppily dragging it down the hallway, away from her. She watched his finger, which was dipped on the ground, make a red trail of blood from his fingertips... all the way down the hall into the darkness.

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Chapter 2: May, 1998
The first test subject to be allowed to be on the road was Grady McAllister. Grady was a Vietnam vet and former Area 51 employee; working there until he retired and subsequently died. Before Grady joined the Army, he was a taxi driver, which made him a prime choice for the new road control program. Grady also died intact, so his body could be reanimated successfully, his driving skills were impeccable (even as a member of the undead) and he had a history of servitude with the U.S. Government.
What was strange about Grady as compared to most of the other test subjects was that he had memories; he could speak quite clearly and was aware on a level that the other test subjects lacked. Thorn wasn't sure why Grady had reacted so well to the Chemical 12, but she had high hopes for him being the first to complete the program with success. A parking garage located in downtown Owenstown, Kentucky, had been renovated to house Grady, the cars they would be using, and the new recruits that hopefully would take as well to Chemical 12 as Grady had. Grady had been housed in his own private room next to Thorns at the parking garage. He knocked on the door as she was waking up.
"Miss Thorn? I've been practicing driving all week. Are ya gonna let me hit
the road today and show these crazy drivers how to go slow?" ,Grady said with a gravelly sound.
As she threw her red t shirt over her head, she yelled, "Yes Grady! Today is your first day.. and we are proud of you! Get ready to hit the road!"

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Thorn's new assistant, Marx, was nowhere to be found as Thorn entered the hallway and began to move down the stairs to the parking garage. Grady was already behind the wheel, wearing a hat, his military uniform, and a special, flesh colored mask that gave him the impression (at least, in a momentary way) of appearing human. Thorn thought of this job mostly as a nice paycheck, but experienced a sort of pride that White's death had not been in vain; all this hard work was paying off and the program was running smoothly.
"Now.. if i could have 200 more Grady's, I would be happy she thought. Grady was a model zombie; reanimated, but not 'flesh hungry' (he preferred cheeseburgers) and subservient to her every whim. In a recommendation to her superiors, Thorn advised that she would like to use more military organ donors because they seemed more complacent, as well as satisfied with much less.
A computer had been placed in Grady's car to monitor his progress, and guide him on his routes throughout Owenstown. Thorn was mostly in charge if Marx wasn't monitoring Grady, and Marx was a compulsive loner. This worried Thorn somewhat, because aside from Ruby (Thorns personal, armed guard) Marx was all she
had. Marx spent a lot of time outside when he could, his mp3 player stuck to his ears, stroking his beard and smoking cigarettes. He was the son of a head project manager, and had gotten the job easily. From what Thorn observed, Marx had little experience doing anything except being a loner.


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Grady was tall, lanky and friendly. He loved a life of servitude; or even an after life of servitude. Grady had a lot of pride, and everyday wore his old military uniform. He would wake up before sunrise, iron his uniform, and begin preparations for the his day. Originally, his days were spent either on the driving course Marx would take him to (basically an empty parking lot with orange cones placed on it) or otherwise conversing with Thorn or Marx.
Grady's' everyday/ natural appearance now was grotesque to most anyone. He had greenish- gray skin, a loose right eyeball and had a habit of losing parts of his body. Thorn had restitched Grady's left arm, his middle finger, and his left ear in the past.
Senility, even in its mildest form, wash something Grady had even after death as well. He would drop body parts off unexpectedly , not even hearing or feel them fall off, and later, Marx would come by and sweep them up for safe keeping.
Grady wore a specially designed face mask of latex to help him look at least a little more believably human.

(to be continued...)