by Morris, SJ
I shake his harsh words from my brain and take my key card to the turnstiles where I am further calmed by the soft beep and green light as the rails barring me from entering my place of work finally allow me inside. Entering the elevator though I can't help but look back at Jacob. He's staring me down. I must have really struck a nerve with him, but I can't imagine why he'd be so upset. I did tell him we could find another time to chat. I don't have time to worry about Jacob and his feelings right now. I have work to do.
Chapter 2
The rest of the morning went as expected, thankfully. I did find myself thinking of my altercation with Jacob more often than I care to admit, but something about the interaction didn't sit right with me.
Was I really becoming that person? Do I really need to focus on work and my routine more than I need to actually be human and have social interactions with others? Had I become the corporate robot, my generation was continuously complaining about? I did check all the boxes. I worked in a cubicle, one could see my job as more of an obligation than something I truly enjoyed, I guess I was more of a number than a person to BNK since even my boss called me Jennifer more often than he called me Jessica. What kind of boss doesn't learn the names of their subordinates? He was a newer supervisor, but come on. He only had fifteen people to manage, and I've been working here for three years.
My self-contemplation was interrupted by a loud, blood-curdling scream. I stood up to see over my cubicle wall as a sea of bodies joined in the same reaction I had to the shouting. I couldn't tell precisely where the commotion was coming from, but it looked like there was a splash of red paint on Tom's frosted glass office wall that wasn't there before.
I watched as Norma, the should have retired five years go assistant to Tom, walked over to his office door. I could tell it was Norma from the bobbing of fluffy white hair through the ocean of other workers looking on. You could have heard a pin drop throughout the whole floor. It didn't feel like anyone was even breathing until Norma softly knocked on the thick glass door. "Mr. Cranton, is everything..."
Smash! There was a booming crash as Mr. Cranton's body slammed against the frosted glass wall of his office. Norma jumped back with a high pitched scream as she joined the people in the first row cubicles who sprang up from of their spots and bolted toward the elevators. I don't know what they saw, but whatever it was, was frightening enough to have them ready to leave the office without their belongings. I watched them run and begin banging on the elevators yelling for them to open.
I looked around at my coworkers not wholly understanding what was going on when another body joined Tom at his office wall, thumping and moaning incoherently. The new body landed more so on the door than the glass wall itself, so the weight of its body slowly pushed the door outwards into the open workspace shared by everyone unlucky enough to not have their own office. A mangled, bloody arm appeared through the door followed by a face so severely damaged I could only tell it was Janice from accounting by the hideous oversized blue fashion necklace she always wore.
Janice's mouth was covered in black and bright red gore. She moaned and thrashed about while fully exiting the doorway.
Almost everyone that hadn't already headed for the elevators screamed and began running away when they saw Janice. I just stood there, paralyzed by fear, watching the entire spectacle unfold.
Jeff Dickens, whose office was right next to Tom's, came bursting through his office door yelling, "What in the hell is going on out here? I'm... what the?"
Those were Jeff's last words as Janice football tackled him against the outer wall of his office, and she used what was left of her face and hands to tear into Jeff, painting the glass and everything around them with his blood.
Witnessing Jeff's horrific butchering was all it took to shake me from my paralytic state. I quickly grabbed my purse and my badge. I glanced at the elevator doors and saw the mass of people piling up against them as they opened fully. So many people rushed inside that the doors couldn't close. The buzzer sounded obnoxiously loud over the shouting as the red light trumpeted advising the maximum weight limit had been reached, rendering the elevator unusable. I was not going to get trapped like them, so I ran for the back stairwells.
I ran past the conference and break rooms. I saw people cowering inside of them, hiding under tables and chairs praying they'd be safe. I felt sorry for them. The conference rooms were all made of glass that you could see through, and the doors didn't lock. They were undoubtedly in danger from whatever craziness had taken Tom, Janice, and Jeff, but I was not going to stop to help them. I had myself to worry about, and their ridiculous decisions were not going to cost me my life. I didn't need their help.
When I finally made it to the stairwell doors, I swiped my badge and waited for what felt like forever for the lock to blink back green and allow me access to the stairs.
I took in my new surroundings, not that there was much to them other than a fake potted plant in the corner, a bright yellow painted metal handrail, and plastic treads covering the edges of the cement stairs, but I was alone for the moment, and that was a relief. I took a slow breath in and out to calm myself and headed down the stairs at a reasonable pace. I don't want to ruin my achievement of getting away from the madness upstairs only to die falling down the stairs.
I made it safely to the bottom floor, and as I swiped my badge, I heard the slamming of a door above me and the sounds of many people clamoring to get down the stairs as quickly as possible. There was shouting, cursing, crying, and praying, but all I could think of was how the people coming down the stairwell at me now could stop me from getting safely out of the building.
I opened the door and slammed it shut behind me. I could hear the crowd of people thundering down the stairs behind the cold steel. I decided at that moment that these people were a threat. Whatever had taken Tom, Janice, and Jeff would be in that stairwell and would infect these people who would soon be turning on each other and then me. I had to stop this. I stepped back from the door, and a red fire extinguisher caught my eye. I grabbed the extinguisher and quickly slammed it against the card reader shattering its mechanics to pieces.
I dropped the extinguisher to the floor and heard it clatter with an echo like the building was empty. Bodies slammed hard against the door, and scared faces filled up the small rectangle window as they tried to open the door unsuccessfully.
I couldn't stand to look at their faces full of fear and despair, so I turned to leave. I was greeted by a completely empty space. There was no one at the security desk, and the once-bustling turnstiles were entirely abandoned.
Chapter 3
I stood completely still in the virtually silent expanse. I could now hardly hear the banging on the door behind me from my scared coworkers. I tried to forget about them, but what if it was me? What if I was one of those people in there trying to escape confinement with deadly hostile blood-hungry monsters attacking from above? I would want someone to help me.
I went back to the door and looked into the frightened faces of the people inside clawing to get out. I reached up to the window feeling the coolness of the glass at my fingertips.
"Stop! yelled a voice from behind me. "What are you doing? You can't let them in here. The sick will get inside and rip us to pieces," shouted a young woman hiding behind the security desk.
"I can't open the door. I broke the card reader. I just... I wish I could help them, but I know I can't."
"Your damn right, you can't help them. Now get away from the door," she whispered.
I looked around and saw no one else. "Where is everyone? Where did everyone go?"
"They all ran out there," she pointed to the front doors.
"Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?"
"I have no idea. I was getting coffee when some demented guy from the street ran in and started screaming about people going crazy outside. He said they were eating people!" she replied as she began coughing and clutching her arm.
"Why didn't you
go too? We should both go now. We have to get out of here."
"I need to find a first aid kit before I go anywhere. The guy from the street started freaking out and scratched my arm up really good. Then he went after everyone else, and a bunch of other crazy people came through the stairwell attacking people. That's when everyone else ran out, the crazed people chasing after them. I locked the front doors, hoping I could stop anyone else from coming in."
"This is insane. What the heck is happening?"
"I don't know, but I don't feel so good. I'm so hot and thirsty. I need water," she said, jumping up, running to the coffee bar and chugging a bottle of water. "I need to get to a doctor."
"I don't think going out there is a good idea. There might be more people out there who are like the ones that attacked. I think we're safer in here."
The woman started chugging a second bottle of water just before she doubled over in pain. The bottle of water spilled onto the floor and she coughed as she collapsed clutching her arm. Black blood burst from her mouth while she spasmed on the floor.
I stood back, not knowing what to do when she stopped moving. The banging from the stairs stopped suddenly. Everything felt surreal. It felt like the world stopped turning everything was so quiet.
Silence hung like a fog, heavy in the air. The quietness was immediately shattered by a blood-curdling scream from the woman on the floor. She jumped up with rage in her eyes, black liquid dripping from every orifice. She locked eyes with me tilting her head at an odd angle before rushing at me.
I ran back to the stairwell door and saw through the window that everyone who was trying to get away was now covered in black ooze and clawing at the glass to get to me. They were all sick with whatever this was. I had done that. I had sentenced them to this plague by locking them in there.
I was pulled from my thoughts as the woman grabbed me. I turned to the side, throwing her off balance and she slammed to the glossy tile. I reached down and grabbed the fire extinguisher I had discarded before and used it to slam into the side of her face when she came at me again.
She fell to the floor, and my will to live took over my body. I hammered the extinguisher into her head over and over again until there was nothing but a black mess of brain and skull on the flooring.
I looked at my hands as if they were alien to me. How could I have done that? How could I have ended this woman's life? I didn't even know her name.
Chapter 4
Suddenly, it was like the building sighed with despair as everything electrical shut down all at once. The only light coming inside was from the glass carousel-style front doors to the building. I ran to them like a moth to a flame. These doors were my way out, they were my saving grace to escape this madness. Even after unlocking them because the power was out, the doors refused to budge. I looked through the glass and began slamming my fist against it screaming for someone to help me. When it seemed like nothing would work, a familiar face appeared at the door. It was Jacob! He would save me.
"Jacob! Let me out, please. You have to help me!" I cried.
"I can't," he replied dryly.
"But... why?"
"Because of them," he said calmly, pointing behind me as the stairwell door burst open spewing more crazed, and bloodied bodies than I could count. I could only watch as the raging crowd rushed me.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as I questioned my life choices and nothing but regrets surfaced. Why did I not let myself genuinely live my life? I didn't let myself experience true love. I rarely experienced joy or enjoyed what the world had to offer me. I never made time for life's exceptional experiences. I was too focused on my routine, of getting a good job and establishing myself that I never bothered to find out who I really was until these, my last moments.
What kind of person was I?
I was someone who couldn't even be kind to someone who showed interest in me. I was someone who could help others but chose not to just to save myself. I was selfish and ethically ignorant. Now I needed help from others, but I wasn't going to get it. More so, I realized I didn't deserve it. I was being swarmed by people I had seen every day for the last few years, but I was completely and utterly alone. The life I had lived meant nothing. It was in those final moments that I realized what a terrible person I had become. I regret...
The End
Before the
Outbreak: The
Stanton
Family’s Story
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.”
― Daniel 12:2
Chapter 1
“Come on, guys. We’re going to be late!” Marie yelled from the kitchen of the three-bedroom ranch she shared with her husband, Bill, their ten-year-old son, Mason, and their eight-year-old daughter, Phoebe.
Marie made her family a quick breakfast of toasted waffles covered with either peanut butter or chocolate hazelnut spread depending on who was eating it.
It was a typical day for Marie and her family. Get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, and out the door before eight so the kids could be dropped off at school, and the adults could make it to work on time.
Bill’s phone rang just as they were about to head out the door.
“Hello?” Bill answered.
“Hey Bill, it’s Jenny. Mr. Cooper said he’s closing the office today. There’s too many people out sick, and he said he’s taking his family on a trip anyway. Mr. Cooper said we don’t even need to use vacation time. He’ll just pay us for the time off. He expects to have the office closed for the entire week, so... I guess enjoy the week off and try not to get sick,” Jenny laughed uncomfortably through the phone.
“Really? That’s unexpected but okay. Let me know if anything changes, Jenny. Thanks for the call. Have a good week,” Bill replied before clicking the phone off.
Bill looked at his phone awkwardly, unsure what to make of the sudden closure at work. Bill was a flight instructor at a small mom and pop Flight Academy in Plato, Pennsylvania. He loved his job, but very rarely were they ever closed except for major holidays.
“Hey, hun. Can you drop the kids off at school on your way into the office? Jenny just called and said Mr. Cooper closed the Academy for the week because so many people are out sick,” Bill yelled across the house. “She said he’s going on a trip too, which is weird.”
“Ugh, really?” Marie whined. “I guess so. I love that you get to take the week off for no reason, and I have to go into work.” Marie grabbed her purse and mumbled under her breath, “Thanks, corporate America.”
Bill turned on the television for the first time in almost a week. Spring break had just finished, and the Stanton family had been working on refinishing the basement into a playroom the entire break, so they hadn’t found the time to watch any TV. When Bill clicked it on, all he saw were crazy news reports about hospitals being flooded with patients from a highly contagious flu. He heard the news anchor say the symptoms were extremely high fever, sweating profusely, insatiable thirst, headaches, and incapacitating body aches. The remainder of the report noted that in a matter of days, everyone who was infected would slip into a coma, and the whole virus had medical professionals scrambling for answers.
“Hey hun, come look at this,” Bill yelled out.
“I don’t have time to watch TV, babe. We gotta leave now so I can make it to work on time since I have to drop the kids off now.” Marie verbally jabbed at her husband in frustration with having to rush even more so than usual.
“I know, but look,” Bill replied, pointing to the television as Marie entered the room in a huff.
“Kids! Let’s go! I have to take you to school today, so we have to leave now!” Marie yelled down the hallway while she slipped her black flats on.
“Maybe we should all stay home, hun. It looks like there’s a terrible flu going around.”
“I can’t. If I’m not at work in thirty minutes, I’ll lose my job. We�
��ve all had our flu shots, so we’ll be fine.” Marie grumbled. “I’m in the car! Don’t forget your breakfast and lunches on the counter!” she yelled as she grabbed her keys and headed out the front door. “Love you. Have a nice day at home by yourself. Oh, and I expect that last coat of paint to be done when I get home since you have nothing to do today.” Marie grimaced as she let the door close behind her.
The children came barreling down the hallway, pushing and laughing as they raced each other to the kitchen. They grabbed their waffles and their lunch bags before each giving their father a quick hug and jogging out the door.
“Shotgun!” Yelled Mason.
“No fair! You always get to sit up front,” Phoebe griped.
“I’m older, so nah,” Mason replied as he stuck out his tongue at his sister.
“Love you, Daddy.”
“Yeah, love ya, Dad. See you later.”
The children waved as they pushed one another out the door.
“Bye. Love you too!” Bill yelled out to the already closed door. “I guess I’ve got some painting to do,” Bill said to himself as he turned the television off.
Marie slowly backed out of the driveway and was almost t-boned by a large pickup truck speeding down the street.
“Slow down, asshole! Jesus Christ. What the hell is his rush?” Marie barked.
