by L. D. King
“Dmitry, what I know now is that we need to get out of Russia as fast as we can before this gets so bad that we can’t get away. When Luka took me around to secure the building, he showed me several tunnels to other theaters. The one that sounds like the best for us runs under Tverskoy Boulevard under the park. It ends at the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theater. Luka told me that all of the other tunnels branch off to more than one theater. This one is the only tunnel that has a single destination. If the other theater has not been breached, it should be empty. Luka told me that that theater did not have a show tonight so it should be locked up.”
“Tomorrow we take all of the food and water that we can carry, and take the tunnel to the other theater,” said Grigori. “From there we find a car or two to steal, and drive out of Moscow to the border with Belarus. On the way, we will stop at the first bank that we can find. We will take as much cash as we can get from the bank accounts. If this continues, their credit cards will stop working. Tonight we sleep in shifts. One of us will be on watch at all times. I will take the first watch. Dmitry, you can relieve me in three hours. At 8:00 AM we will begin preparations to leave. I want to be out of this theater by 10:00 AM.”
Grigori stood the first shift. With their plans set, they would rest tonight. Tomorrow they would begin looking for a place or country where this is not happening. In the back of Grigori’s mind, he did not think it would be as simple as leaving Russia to find another place without the creatures. Tomorrow would be the start of many hard days. They would need their rest, or what they could get tonight.
Tomorrow they will be following their plan.
They would start running from Russia and the creatures.
They would run like their lives depended on it.
Chapter 5
Australian Associated Press, Melbourne, Australia
Australia Day Zero
Monday, August 18, 2036
Thirteen years ago on this date was when the nations of the world began adopting what was eventually dubbed Neo-Isolationism. As the isolated countries became the accepted norm, it became easier for them to communicate with each other. There was a kind of peace after the dust settled. The countries of the world were getting used to relying upon themselves for existence. International trade had ground to a small fraction of what it was prior to the first country having declared isolationism. Countries that could not produce various products themselves made the cost to import those products prohibitive for the majority of their citizens to own except for the wealthy or for the government itself.
As a result of this, many countries purchased large, Jumbotron-style display monitors that they mounted in public places in order to keep their citizens informed. They broadcast new laws or restrictions. They broadcast local, national and even international news when it was deemed necessary for their citizens to be made aware of events.
The majority of the citizens of the world became aware of the outbreak as it became national or international news through these monitors, mounted in public gathering places. Many citizens had heard of an attack or a killing by one or a few creatures in their own countries by word of mouth between others within their own city. These isolated or random killings would start out being reported by local news stations as the number of attacks grew.
On Monday evening, August 18, 2036, a news report from Melbourne, Australia would be the first report to make its way around the world. Sadly, it would not be the last.
From that day forward, August 18, 2036 would be remembered as Australia Day Zero. This would be the day that the outbreak of the virus was announced worldwide.
The person responsible for making this announcement was a reporter called MacKenzie Hayden, reporting for The Australian Press-Melbourne. She brought the first international news report of the outbreak of the virus to the world.
MacKenzie Hayden was a beautiful, ravishing lady. She looked like the typical TV personality; tall for a woman, she stood 1.86m tall. Her slender body weighed just 55 kilos. Her good looks came from her dedication to her workout routine. She ran up to 32 kilometers a day, rain or shine. While she was at work on the road, she did specialized cardiovascular/aerobic exercises that she had developed for herself. MacKenzie was an exercise fanatic. She got this way by caring for her mum who had cancer. She laid in bed, withering away as she waited for death to take her. MacKenzie vowed to herself that she would not die that way. That was her motive for her extreme exercise routine.
She was just as obsessed about her looks. Anyone, at any time of day, could see her exercising, doing her cardio routine, brushing out her hair, washing, plucking an errant hair from where it did not belong or straightening her clothes or any of another dozen other tasks that she did daily for herself.
MacKenzie never knew her father. He abandoned her and her mum when MacKenzie was only six months old, never to be seen again.
Her mum died when she was 19, the same year she began an internship with a local news station. When the internship was over, the station offered her a full time job in the office, from which she worked her way up to being their lead reporter. She loved being on the road rather than being stuck in the studio. In the field she could control how the report was shot. She controlled how everything was accomplished when she was in the field. On Australia Day Zero, otherwise known as Monday, August 18th, 2036, she was out in the field reporting on a news story in Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne. MacKenzie had just celebrated her eleventh year with the company. She had just received an offer to become the station’s news anchor. She had been offered this position many times in the past. As in all of the other times that this had been offered to her, she turned it down. She liked working in the field and wanted to stay where she was. In the past, reporters who accepted the lead reporter’s desk usually were retired in less than two years. MacKenzie wasn’t ready to retire; not now, at least. “I’m MacKenzie Hayden with the Australian Associated Press-Melbourne, reporting from the Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne. We are in front of the Fitzroy Town Hall on Moor Street, where a monthly town hall meeting took place earlier this afternoon. Our news desk received several frantic calls about the events that occurred here earlier, and we came to investigate. I have Reggie James with me, who lives in Fitzroy. Reggie, could you tell our viewers exactly what happened tonight?”
“Well, MacKenzie, like I was telling the guy on the phone, our town meeting was moving along fairly quickly, as we didn’t have nearly so many people as usual. We still had enough make a quorum, but just barely.” He stopped and coughed.
“Anyway, as I was telling the guy on the phone at your station, we took a break, so me’n a coupla mates went out back to have a quick nip with our smokes. You know they passed a law years ago that don’t allow no smokin’ in the hall anymore. These meetings tend to run long, so we had ‘em add a couple of breaks so we could catch a smoke. Anyway, we was standing here smoking, when Skip — we calls ‘im Skip because his name is Rodney Skipperson — he had to take a quick leak. So he steps into the alley to get on with his business. I guess he was pissin’, an’ he let out a God-awful scream.” He stopped for a moment, catching his breath.
“We all just stood there a minute because we thought he had zipped up his junk in his pants, but he kept screaming. We ran around the corner to the alley to see what he was yelling about. We could see that there was some sort of ’orrible thing… it ‘ad Skip on the ground, kneeling next to him. It was just tearin’ at him with its claws, ripping him apart. We already knew that Skip was dead. We’d all froze, right there, standing, watchin’ that thing tearing Skip all to hell. Then from behind the thing that had Skip come another one of those awful things shuffling towards us! Joey Adamson was the closest to Skip. ‘E was just standing there with ‘is feet frozen to the ground in fear, not movin’ and such.”
He stood shaking his head in disbelief. “Everything in the middle of his body was ripped open, falling into the dirt. Joey fell in a heap on his knees. Whatever that thing was, it was mean. It didn’t h
ave no reason to kill ‘im. It looked like it mighta been half human. It had ripped up clothes on. The fuckin’ thing shuffled upright like a human, but it was an animal. It was like a dog that got the taste of blood in its mouth. Once a dog knows the taste of blood, it’ll kill every sheep in the field in one night. This damned thing’s body was all torn up. We could smell what one of me mates said was like a sewer. Anyway, the bloody damn thing squatted down next to Joey. He was dead and all, but it kept digging his guts out of his belly, throwing them all over the place. Please believe me when I tell ya there was nothing that we could do for ‘im. He was already dead.” He looked back and forth at the television crew as if trying to make sure they believed him. “We all turned ‘round an’ we started running like ‘ell back into the meeting hall, slamming the door behind us. We was a-comin’ through the ‘all, yelling like ‘ell for everyone to get out. We didn’t stop. We just kept running through the ‘all out ‘ere to the street. Everyone inside got up and followed us out. We all just stood there waitin’ for those God-awful creatures or whatever they were to come ‘round the front of the ‘all. They never came. Right now I don’t know where they are.”
“Thank you, Mr. James. It sounds like it was a terrifying sight to see. We’re sorry that your buddies Skip and Joey were killed. It’s good that everyone else made it out safely. The constable is here now. He’s told us that the alley behind the meeting hall is now a crime scene. Our cameras will not be allowed back there at this time. When we have more information, we will bring it to you as soon as it is available. This is MacKenzie Hayden reporting for the Australian Associated Press-Melbourne, in the Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Back to you in the studio.”
“Thank you, MacKenzie. It sounds like it was a horrible incident at the Fitzroy Town Hall. While we are waiting for your next assignment, I want to have our viewers look at some footage that we obtained from our sister affiliate in Sydney. They had been reporting on similar events in their city as well. We are switching to the live footage from Sydney while Makenzie is being dispatched to another attack taking place in Melbourne. Once Makenzie is ready to broadcast we will return to her. For now, we will watch the events in Sydney.”
With that, the control board manager switched to the Sydney footage.
“This is Wayne Petterson in Sydney. Our remote camera is sending the current video feed to you. In the distance, you can see the six creatures attacking the people on the ground. From what I can see, it appears that these things are ripping the victim’s bodies apart. They have torn off an arm from one. A leg from another, tearing into the chest of the third… We are purposely keeping our camera a bit out of focus so the images will be blurred. The creatures are vigorously tearing their victims apart in an absolute attempt to kill them. There is so much blood, not to mention the body parts that these creatures have gouged out of their victims… All of this, the blood and the body parts, are scattered in a six-meter circle around the bodies of the people that they’ve killed.
“Now, wait — the creatures, which had been kneeling next to their victims, have risen to their feet. It looks like they’ve finished killing those people. They’re looking towards us now. Oh, my god — they’ve started to come this way. They don’t walk well, however… what they do is kind of a slow stagger or lumbering towards us. We’re shining our spotlights on them now. If you look closely, you can see that they’re wearing clothes like humans. The clothing is ripped, torn and shredded… stained with blood. Please wait just a moment… My equipment man just signaled me. We need to wrap this up. We have a new assignment that we must move to. We will be reporting to you again once we reach our assigned location. This is Wayne Petterson, with the Australian Associated Press-Sydney, reporting from behind the Gladesville Hospital off of highway A40.”
MacKenzie and her remote crew were traveling to the Melbourne Central shopping center on Swanston Street near LaTrobe Avenue. The trip should have only taken ten minutes to drive there. This evening the trip took over 45 minutes. On the way, she had her cameraman filming the sights on the streets, using a handheld camera.
“MacKenzie, do you see the number of people out on the streets? It looks like a lot of people are out for a Tuesday night. I don’t think what happened back at the Fitzroy Town Hall is an isolated event. We need to be on our toes, watching out for whatever is out there killing people.”
“Okay, Mr. Farthing. Jacob, keep driving, please, and we all need to keep our heads up so we can see what is out there. We need to get to the shopping center quickly. They’re waiting for us.”
The news van arrived at the shopping center. They’d been filming their entire route, sending the signal back to the studio as they drove. What they could see from their news van was confusion mixed with chaos. When they arrived, they simply sat in the van for a moment, looking at the sight in front of them. They were trying to make sense of what they were seeing. People were running in every direction. Where there should have been booths set up to sell handmade crafts or farm produce to the public, the booths were knocked about. Items for sale were scattered everywhere. They could see bloody, shredded bodies lying on the ground in pools of blood. The bodies had been grossly mutated. They had pieces of flesh ripped from them. There were deep gouges torn in their bodies. Some of the dead had been so horribly damaged that it looked as if an animal had done the killing. There must have been at least eight or ten bodies that they could see at a casual glance. What they did not see were the creatures that had killed all of these people — not yet.
“Okay, we’re here. Let’s just sit for a short while to get an idea of what’s happening. Mr. Grainger, Xavier, keep filming with your handhelds. Please film out the side windows if you can.”
“I will, MacKenzie. It’s been tight up front. I’ll keep filming.”
“Xavier, let me just step out of the van so you can have more room to work.”
“Jacob, don’t open that door!” MacKenzie shouted.
“MacKenzie, I don’t see much of anything out there other than people running in every direction. It looks like whatever did this to those people has moved on. It looks safe to me. I’m stepping out to give Xavier more room.”
Jacob opened the driver’s door and stepped outside. He took a step toward the back of the van. Standing next to the open driver’s door open, Xavier didn’t see anything wrong. Xavier, with camera in hand, slid into the driver’s seat, still talking to MacKenzie.
“I think we could switch to the larger camera. We’d have a better resolution image to send back. What do you think, MacKenzie?”
“I don’t know, Xavier. It still looks sketchy out there, but I’m game if you are. Jacob, will you go around to the back door to grab the production camera please? Tyler, could you get the boom mic set up for me, please?”
“Sure,” said Tyler. “I’ll have the sound ready for you when you need it.”
Tyler Wark, the sound man, opened the side door with the intent of getting the sound equipment ready for filming. As Tyler stepped out, a creature that had crept up behind the broadcast van moved up to grab him around his neck. It dragged him behind the van, sinking its fanged teeth into Tyler’s neck, ripping it open. The creature had severed Tyler’s jugular vein along with his larynx with one bite. Tyler died without a sound.
This creature wasn’t alone. Three others were standing near the back of the van. When Jacob came around the back of the van on the driver’s side to get the production camera, he was met by the three creatures crouching there. As he turned to run, one of them grabbed him around his chest, falling on top of him as it pushed him to the ground. It sat back on its knees, sitting on Jacob’s legs, pinning him to the ground. It started to flail his body to shreds. As Jacob’s back was being removed bit by bit, he started screaming. Shortly his screams stopped. Jacob was dead.
MacKenzie and everyone else left in the van knew that Tyler was dead. MacKenzie could hear Jacob. She stepped out of the van on the passenger side, following Jacob’s screams. Xa
vier followed her out the driver’s door. MacKenzie screamed to the men.
“Tyler! Where are you? Hold on, I’m coming to help!”
As MacKenzie stepped out of the van, she saw Tyler on the ground, face up, with a hole where his throat should have been, obviously dead. Jacob was still screaming. MacKenzie began screaming as well.
“Oh, my god! Tyler! No! You can’t be dead! No!”
As MacKenzie stepped around the back of the van, she could see Jacob on the ground with a creature kneeling on his legs, ripping his back to shreds. His spine was broken into two pieces from the creature slicing his body into chunks. She was so focused on Jacob that she did not see another creature coming at her from the side. It swung a claw at her face, ripping most of it open. Her left cheek, eye, and nose were hanging by threads from her face. It knocked her backwards to the ground, onto her back.
The creature that had just killed Jacob shuffled over to MacKenzie and started ripping her chest open. The creature that had torn her face open knelt down next to her. Both of them began to shred her chest, legs, neck and her face open. She let out one single scream before she died.
The other two news people left in the van were Jaden Knibbs, the other sound man, and the news van’s chief technician, Charlie Baughan. Jaden shouted to Charlie, “Get your ass in the driver’s seat and get us the hell out of here! Now! Move it!”
“Jaden, what about the others?”
“They’re all dead, or will be quickly! These things will start on us after they’ve killed our friends! If you don’t want to join them, we need to go! Drive, damn it, man! Drive like your fucking life depends upon it!”
“Jaden, where should we go? We have an assignment to cover.”
“Screw them! If they want to have footage of this, they can come get it themselves! For us, we need to get out now! If we don’t, we will be lying dead next to them. Dead! I’m sorry for them, but I want to live!”
