by L. D. King
“Rosamelia, I have a secret to tell you. I’m pregnant! What do you think of that?”
“Esperana, I am so happy for you and Gumercindo! Do your children know yet?”
“I was going to tell them on the way home this afternoon.”
Just then there was a noise behind them. “Wait Rosamelia, did you hear that? It sounded like something fell in the warehouse, I think.”
“No, I didn’t hear anything. Ask Gumercindo if he heard it?”
“Husband, did you hear that? It sounded like something is in the warehouse knocking things over, but it has been closed for years. No one is allowed in there.”
“Yes, I did hear something. It sounded like something big has been knocked over. I can hear something scraping or dragging something inside the warehouse. I want you to stay with Rosamelia. Watch the children. I know a way to get into the warehouse. I will go check.”
“Please be careful, Gumercindo. Remember last night, with all the screams.”
“I will, my beautiful wife. I can’t leave you now. Who would raise our child if I’m not here?”
Gumercindo went down to the line of doors in the front of the warehouse. He quickly found the one unlocked door that he knew of. He opened the door and peered into the dark interior of the warehouse. Suddenly, something inside grabbed him by the neck and began to drag him into the abandoned building. He tried to scream, but couldn’t because the creature had ripped his throat open. All he could do was stare at the thing that was killing him. He wanted to warn everyone outside, but he couldn’t even breathe. Gumercindo was only able to make a gurgling noise as the air left his lungs. He was dying with his eyes wide open.
All Gumercindo could think about was his wife and their new child. He couldn’t die here, in the dark! He had children to raise. He had a beautiful wife to grow old with. Then Gumercindo let out a long breath and died. He would not think of anything else as he closed his eyes in death.
Esperana jumped up. She was shouting at Rosamelia. “Did you see that? Something has pulled Gumercindo into the warehouse! Oh, my god! Look at that monster! It’s coming out of the warehouse! It’s hideous! There are more of them — they just keep coming! I have to go try to help Gumercindo! Take the children and get away from here! Do it now! Children! Run! Run away from the warehouse!”
Rosamelia said, “Esperana, you go to the booths and get our children! I’ll go to Gumercindo to help him!”
Esperana shouted to the children to get away, while Rosamelia ran towards the warehouse to help Gumercindo if she could. As Rosamelia approached the open door, trying to see inside, one of the creatures that was shuffling through the door grabbed her. It wrapped its bony arm around her body, pulling her into the warehouse. It pushed her to the ground while it proceeded to tear her body apart. She screamed with the last breath of air in her lungs as she died. Her stomach had been ripped open and her intestines spilled on the floor of the warehouse, into the pool of Gumercindo’s blood.
When she heard Rosamelia’s scream, Esperana spun around. From where she was, all she could hear was Rosamelia’s final scream as she died. The children hadn’t heard anything because the band on the dock was playing to welcome the tourists, who were busy looking at everything except the warehouse.
In short order there were roughly a dozen or more of the hideous creatures that had come out of the door that Gumercindo first stepped through. They were shuffling and lurching forward. Their mutated bodies were missing huge chunks of their flesh, while others were missing a limb or an eye. They were slowly but determinedly moving towards the children in their booths and the tourists on the pier.
The children finally noticed the commotion and turned around to see what was going on. They could see Rosamelia being dragged into the warehouse. They heard her screams for help. They stood frozen, watching the final moments of Rosamelia’s life, and then they saw the creatures emerging through the door.
As Esperana ran to their booths, they snapped out of their stupor and started to run towards her. The other creatures were moving forward past the booths, attacking the tourists on the dock. The mutilated, disfigured creatures had reached the first group of tourists, grabbing the first ones they came to. As soon as they killed one tourist, they would let the dead body fall to the pier to attack yet another.
One of the tourists that a creature started to attack was an older man with a cane. The elderly gentleman swung his cane up over his head, striking the creature in the head, burying his cane deep in the creature's skull, killing it. As he stood there looking at the horror he had just killed, another grabbed him from behind, dragging him to the ground. It began to flail the flesh off of the gentleman’s body, killing him quickly. He was dead in less than twenty seconds.
When he was dead, the creature stood to find its next prey. By now, the tourists had started to panic. Many ran back to the ship, pushing and shoving their way up the boarding ramp. Other tourists ran down the pier. Many were able to escape their attackers with only a scratch or a scrape before they got back to the ship. Because of the shoving and pushing, the ship’s security personnel could not scan each passenger’s ID as they boarded, which was the proper procedure. Security was able to pull the passengers with injuries to one side to take them to the infirmary. Other passengers that only had scrapes or scratches were allowed to board routinely. They were allowed to come on board with their minor injuries.
The ship’s captain was watching from the bridge. He saw the creatures attacking the tourists on the pier. He radioed for more security personnel to the gangway and dispatched the ship’s security detail to get the tourists back on board. The captain ordered the crew to secure the vessel and see that everyone got back on board safely.
The tugboats that had guided the ship to the dock were now tasked with returning to the ship, to rapidly move it away from the pier. By the time all the tourists were back on board with the gangway secured, there were 45 to 50 tourists lying dead on the pier.
There were a total of nine tourists that had received deeper gouges or had been clawed that security took aside who were taken to the ship’s infirmary for treatment. The ship’s doctor, Dr. Noble Hajjar, and his staff of two Registered Nurses, Deborah Martin and Sandy McTeuge, along with nurse’s aide Daniel Betterman, did what they could to help the injured.
The injured passengers in the infirmary were growing worse by the minute. The infirmary was too small to make all of the wounded comfortable. It contained four separate rooms: a small office for Dr. Hajjar, a small room for medical supplies, an exam room with two exam tables and a room with two medical beds in it.
There were four injured passengers on the two exam tables, and the two medical beds were full. The remainder of the injured passengers were placed on the floor, on the stretchers on which they had been carried in.
Nurse Martin told the doctor, “Dr. Hajjar, this passenger is getting worse. His wounds look as though they are beginning to decay. They’re beginning to smell of rot. The skin around the wound is turning dark. It’s getting taut and rough, like leather. From everything we can tell the patient appears to be experiencing massive organ failure. His corneas are beginning to turn opaque, like he has cataracts that are forming in just minutes. He can’t seem to focus on anything and he’s becoming sensitive to the lights in the room. I’ve never seen a patient go downhill so quickly. They’re all dying right in front of us. No matter what we do, it’s not helping! What more can we do for them?”
“Deborah, I have never seen these kind of injuries before in all of my years as a doctor. In less than fifteen minutes, we received nine patients, and three of them were nearly dead by the time they got to us. It looks as if we are going to lose this one as well. That will make four dead. The other five remaining passengers are not going to make it either, I suspect. All we can do is treat their pain with the medication we have on hand and try to make their last moments on Earth as comfortable as we can. Could someone get Captain Wasem on the phone for me, please?”
This was t
he seventh year that Captain Tarek Wasem and the doctor had worked together on the same cruise line. The crew was mostly from British-owned islands in the Caribbean. If nothing else, they were British to the end, sharing the sense of decorum that all British subjects seemed to have. Everything they did was performed to British standards, including their communication. They had spent all of those seven years on the same ship. Dr. Hajjar was handed the phone.
“Dr. Hajjar, Captain Wasem here. What can you tell me, my friend?”
“Tarek, we received nine passengers from the attack on the pier. Four of them have died in our office.”
“My God!” muttered the Captain.
“We only have four beds we can put the injured on,” continued Dr. Hajjar. “The rest are on stretchers on the floor. We are trying to treat them to the best of our ability, but I would say the other five will be dead within the next thirty minutes. I am afraid there’s nothing that we can do to save them. We are nearly out of any medicine that we have been using to try to treat them. No matter what we do, they are still dying. I don’t know what is killing them. The no matter how slight their injuries, even if it is only a scratch, they are still dying.”
“I don’t understand how this could happen,” said Captain Wasem.
“The bodies are starting to pile up. We have wrapped them in sheets and placed them on stretchers on the floor of the hallway. We do not have any body bags. We need someplace cold to hold them. My infirmary was not designed to keep one dead body, let alone nine. I recommend that we use one of the refrigeration units in the galley to store the bodies. They can remain there until we can get back home to Los Angeles.”
“Noble, how can this be happening? I saw the creatures that attacked our passengers. They were bent on killing. It was like a blood feast. They killed 45 to 50 of our passengers. Their bodies are still lying on the pier.”
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen the like of it.”
“Let me call the chief to let him know that you will be sending the bodies to him. He will need to clean out a refrigeration unit for them. We can’t place human remains and food in the same unit. We are charting a course back to Los Angeles at the best speed we can make. We should be there within 36 to 40 hours depending upon the weather.”
“Tarek, I have spoken to the crew who brought the nine passengers in to my infirmary. They told me they believe that there were more than just nine passengers who have been attacked. The nine we received are the ones that could not walk without assistance. The crew thinks there might be as many as 20 to 25 passengers, or even more, that received injuries. They’re on board somewhere. We need to find those passengers as soon as possible. They must be segregated from the others. They need to be brought down to my infirmary where we can place them in quarantine. Can your staff help us with this? We’re swamped. We cannot leave the infirmary. I am afraid that my staff will have to be quarantined as well. We undoubtedly have been exposed to whatever is killing the passengers. Quarantine, for now, is the only safe way to proceed.”
The ship was pulling away from the pier and heading out to sea. Esperana was the only adult left of the Ortegas and the Castillos. She got the children together and spoke to them.
“Children, listen to me, please. Your father and Señora Rosamelia have been killed by those creatures in the warehouse. Now the creatures are attacking the tourists and trying to kill them. We must get to the truck as quickly as we can. The key is under the front seat. Leave everything except the money. Run to the truck as fast as possible. We will all be killed if we stay here any longer. There is nothing we can do for the other owners or the tourists.”
They all ran toward the parking lot, around the corner of the warehouse. Esperana was the first to get to the truck. She stood waiting for everyone to get inside. As Maurico got there, Esperana told him to unhook the trailer. Once he had done that, he jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Is everyone here ready to go?”
“Yes, Maurico, they are all here. Please, let’s get out of here.
“We cannot go to the guard gate. They will have it secured to keep the creatures from leaving the pier. They will not allow us to leave, either, but I know a back gate that is usually unlocked. It’s down the pier, behind the last warehouse. If it’s closed, I will ram it open.”
“All right, Mauricio. Please, let’s just go.”
“Look, there are more of the creatures coming from the back of the warehouse. I can’t see a way around them. Should I hit them?”
“Yes! Do whatever you need to do to keep this pickup moving. I do not know where to go from here. You know the way to get us out of here. This city is not a safe place to be now.”
“Mama, let’s drive towards Puerto Vallarta,” said Lucinda. “We have family there. I’m sure they will take the Castillos in with us.”
“That’s a good idea, Lucinda. We’ll need to get as much gas as we can. If this is happening elsewhere, we’re in trouble. It might only be happening here in Mazatlan. We will deal with that issue when we have to. Right now we need to get off this pier and find a place to buy gas. We need some food and water as well. We need to go back to our homes to get our passports and our travel visas. We must have our IDs on us. Let’s get moving.”
And so they ran.
Chapter 3
Luxor, Egypt
It was Friday, August 15. Today was the beginning of the ancient two-week holiday of the Flooding of the Nile. Starting every second Friday of August, everyone in Egypt celebrated the holiday. Prior to the building of the Aswan Dam from 1898 to 1902, the Nile would flood its banks every year, covering much of the land in flood waters over 13 meters deep.
Saad Halabi was the Head Master of the Luxor Associated School District. Today was the last day of his meeting with all of the elementary school principals. They had been meeting all week about improving their student’s grades. They were in Mr. Halabi’s office on the fourth floor of the El Bayadeya Educational Administration building. Even though it was the first day of the holiday, Mr. Halabi insisted that they all come in to finish the week-long series of meetings.
Attending today’s meeting were seven principals including Karim Baz. Mr. Halabi’s secretary, Nada Tannous, and her assistant, Fatma Botros, were also instructed to come in today.
The day before, Mr. Halabi had told everyone that he would start the Friday meeting at 9:00 AM. It was now 9:15. Mr. Halabi looked around the room and saw that six of his principals were absent. He called Nada to come into the meeting room. Saad gave her a list of names as he spoke to her.
“Mrs. Tannous. On this list are the names of the eight principals that are absent. Would you please call each one of them and ask them why they are not here? Do this for me now, please. When you are done, return the list to me with each principal’s reason for not being here.”
“Yes, Mr. Halabi. I will do this for you immediately.”
Taking the list, she returned to the outer office. She gave the list to her assistant, Fatma Botros, and told her, “Fatma, I need you to look up the phone numbers of these principals for me, please. When you have done that, I will need to call them to see why they are not here. They have been here all week, but today they did not come in. Mr. Halabi is displeased with them.”
“Surely. I will get the numbers for you right now,” said Fatma. “Mr. Halabi is in a bad mood. It will only get worse as the day goes on.”
Once she was done, Nada took the list of numbers and began making phone calls. She wrote down the results of each call. When she had finished, she took the results in to Mr. Halabi.
“Excuse me, Mr. Halabi. I have called everyone on this list. Not a single one answered. I went through the list three times to give them every opportunity to answer, but no one did. Is there anything else that you would like me to do for you?”
“Thank you, Mrs. Tannous. I am not pleased that they are not here, and that no one answered your calls, but I have nothing else for you at this point. You are free
to go back to your other tasks.”
In the outer office, Nada was talking to Fatma in whispers so as not to be heard by the people in the other room.
“Fatma, are you as unhappy as I am about this meeting today? Mr. Halabi could just as well have let all of us enjoy our holiday. We could have returned in two weeks to pick up where they left off. But no, not him. He decides when we come and go. Sometimes I get so angry at him, but I keep my mouth shut because this is a good job that pays well. It would be hard to find another job like this.”
“Yes, I understand, Nada. Being here today is not making me happy, either. But I am stuck here with you. That makes it a little better. They have been meeting all week. I heard that today should be the last day of the meeting, so here we are. I did not realize that there were six principals absent today. I thought it was a few, but not that many. Wow, Mr. Halabi must be furious with them.”
“My family is celebrating without me,” said Nada. “I just want this day to be over so we can go home. They could have met without us. All we’re doing is sitting out here, waiting like servants for them to tell us to do something for them. ‘Bring us tea, bring us coffee, bring us water.’ This is all we are good for to them.”
The El Bayadeya Educational Administration building was four stories tall, with two basement levels beneath. It was an older building, built after World War II, with no elevator.
The Luxor School District was so cheap that they would rather spend money on their maintenance staff to keep the building running rather than buy new equipment for the building. As such, the place required constant maintenance.
The maintenance staff consisted of eleven men who kept the ancient equipment running. Their office was in the lower basement where the building’s equipment was. Along with all of their other duties, at times they were required to run errands for the office staff upstairs.
The members of the maintenance staff that were on duty that day were lead maintenance man Zeyad Sarraf, along with four of his ten-man crew: Assem Qureshi, Sheref Essa, Mohab Tahan and Mahmoud Antoun. For the most part, they sat in their office, waiting for something to break down or performing some sort of maintenance on the cooling unit, preparing to shut it down in a few weeks for the rest of the year.
