by L. D. King
Charlie started to drive, Jaden picked up the handheld camera. Charlie shouted to Jaden, “There are people in our way! I can’t move!”
“Charlie, drive the hell over them! If they’re alive, they will move! If they’re dead, it won’t matter to them anymore! So drive! Push the damn people out of our way. Lock down this van! Get the hell out of here!”
For twenty minutes or so Charlie drove with no particular direction. “Where should I go, Jaden? No matter where I drive, it’s the same thing. People are running around, bodies are on the ground, creatures are killing or they are looking for someone to kill.”
“Charlie, drive to the studio. The parking lot in the basement is secured. It takes an opener to get in. It’ll keep everyone out, including those damned creatures. It’s the best place for us to go for now.”
Charlie changed his direction driving to the studio. He was able to drive into the basement safely. Both of them took the elevator up to the studio letting themselves in. Chloe Knetes, the station manager, was the first person to speak to them.
“Hello, gentlemen. Why are you here? Don’t you have a job to do? Where’s MacKenzie? We received your footage from the Fitzroy Town Hall. We have your footage of your drive to the shopping center. After that, we have received nothing else. Now, where’s MacKenzie or any of the rest of your crew?”
“Everyone is dead other than the two of us. The only footage that we have is on this handheld. Use what you can off of it. When you air it, please dedicate it to our friends.”
“What do you mean everyone else is dead? Where’s MacKenzie? Why didn’t she come up with you?”
“Jaden is trying to tell you that the rest of our crew are dead. We watch them die. What else can we say to make you understand?”
Chloe sat in her chair, blinking. She looked puzzled. She took the handheld camera that Charlie was holding out to her. She got up without saying a word. She walked out of her office, down the wall into Finn Wollstone’s office. He was the video manager for the studio. Chloe handed Finn the handheld camera, still not saying a word, and dropped into an open chair. Finn looked from Charlie to Jaden then back to Chloe. He asked, “Okay, what have I got here?”
“Tell him, Charlie. Tell him that this is all that is left of our crew. Everyone else is dead.”
“Charlie, is it true? Are all of MacKenzie’s crew dead except for the two of you?”
“All dead. Play the video. It will show you what happened. We didn’t stand a chance.”
With that, he stood, crossed the room to the video console and put the memory stick into the video player. Chlöe was still sitting there in shock. As Finn pressed play, they could see the end of the news crew. They could also see what happened at the shopping center. Without any notice, Chlöe shouted, “Finn, they’re all dead! I want this on the air now! Without any edit! Play it as it has been recorded! Do it now!”
“Chlöe, I can’t broadcast this without editing. There are intense scenes of people being killed. We’d be fined or shut down; maybe even both.”
“I don’t care, Finn. Do it. Do it now. I don’t give a damn what the network has to say. Our mobile crews died to get this. We need to tell the world what is happening. If the network wants to shut us down, then they will have to come down here to do it.”
“Whatever you say, Chlöe. I’ll get it on the air right now.”
Finn walked into the broadcast studio. He gave the memory stick to Billy Michaels, the broadcast manager. Finn told him, “Whatever you’re broadcasting now, interrupt it. Chlöe’s orders. Play all of it. Every last second. Don’t edit it. Don’t cut the sound out. Play all of it, now. Charlie and Jaden are all are left of MacKenzie’s news crew. The rest of them are dead. Get the head of security on the phone for me, please.”
Billy dialed the phone. He handed it to Finn as it was ringing. Billy mounted the memory stick and prepared to cut into the program that was currently broadcasting. Just before he played it, he told the broadcast crew to drop everything. He told them to not touch a thing without his orders until the footage was finished playing, then pressed play. Everyone in the studio stood with their mouths agape, watching the footage play. They watched their fellow employees die in front of their eyes along with everyone who was watching the broadcast around the world.
Finn listened to the phone ring. “William Pike here, how can I help you?”
“William, this is Finn Wollstone. Drop whatever you’re doing. I want this building locked down. Right now. No one is to be allowed to leave; no one is to be allowed to enter other than our returning mobile crews. Get maintenance to switch to backup power. Don’t let anyone into the broadcast studio for any reason other than myself and my crew. We’re going to broadcast footage that could get us shut down, but the world needs to see it. If you don’t have your monitor on, turn it on now. Are you good with everything I’ve told you?”
“Yes, Mr. Wollsone. What’s going on? Is there something that I need to know?”
“William, MacKenzie’s mobile crew was just killed on location. The only survivors are Charlie and Jaden. The world is going to hell. We need to protect ourselves in case this gets any worse. I think it will get a lot worse before it gets better.”
“All right, nobody in or out without your approval. The genny will be online in five minutes. We’ll cut from street power to generator once it’s up and running.”
The Australian Associated Press from Melbourne played the handheld footage for all the world to see. By doing this, Chlöe had initiated Australia Day Zero. The footage was broadcast for the entire world to see. It would be played and replayed by nearly every news station on the planet, many times over, without editing, for the world to see what had happened this evening in Australia. Network rules would no longer apply from this day forward.
August 18, 2036 would forever referred to as Australia Day Zero or ADZ. Every day from this date forward would now be known as ADZ plus or minus the days, weeks or years from that date.
Today it began.
The world was on notice that nothing would be the same from this day forward.
Chapter 6
NBC News
Riverside, California
ADZ +8:00
By now everyone at the NBC affiliate in Riverside, California had had a chance to see the grisly eight-hour old news report out of Australia. As ghastly as it was, no one in the studio in Riverside, California, had any time to ponder the news from down under. They were too busy reporting about the creatures in their own city.
Riverside was coming to a standstill with its own tragedies, brought on by creatures similar to those that had been reported in Australia. If the killings had stayed in Australia, or any other country, that would have been one thing, but they were in America. The outbreak was starting to take on a global reach.
Kimberly Zink was one of “those” girls. She knew, or at least she thought she knew, that she could go anywhere she wanted and do anything she wanted when she got there. In her mind, her looks were her golden ticket to success. Her looks had worked in the past, so she thought that they would work in the future. What she did not come by with exercise, she got with money. She had an exercise routine that she tried to adhere to, but she did not keep up her routine as much as she should have. She’d spent a lot of money to have bigger and better breasts; her nose had been surgically altered to a perfect shape for her face, and her butt had been worked on by adding “pads” in all the right places. She had her hair line rebuilt by adding plugs from the back of her neck to the front of her scalp. Her fingers had been surgically adjusted to give her the long, slender fingers that were all the rage. She had her legs sculpted to be long, tall and sexy as well. All in all, she or one of the several “special” men in her life had spent over $150,000 for her signature look.
So what was wrong?
In some people’s eyes Kimberly had gone overboard trying to achieve the “perfect” look. If anyone took more than a minute or two looking at her features, they co
uld see where her “perfect” looks had failed her. Her cheekbones were a little too perfect. Her jaw line was just a wee bit lopsided. Her breasts were unnatural looking. One nipple pointed slightly up, while the other was pointing ever so slightly down, when they should have both been pointed straight ahead. One breast was slightly larger than the other as well. Unequally sized breasts were not the problem. It was where they were different that was the problem. Her right breast had a bulge or lump protruding from the bottom towards her arm. Her left breast had a narrow line of excess flesh running down the outside of her breast. One calf was lower and smaller than the other. One of the pads that gave her butt its shape had come free on her left buttock, gradually creeping towards the center. This was only apparent when she wore what was called a pencil skirt. If you stood directly behind her, it was quite noticeable. She had started working on straightening her teeth as well, but had run out of money before they were finished. This caused her to keep a hand with paperwork just below her mouth to cover her unfinished teeth.
Now, one would think that for a person who was in TV reporting, this would make it difficult for her to find work, but this was not the case. For all her subtle flaws, she was memorable. This was something that a station wanted; something that would keep the public tuning in to their station rather than the competition. Her flaws were her trademark, in a way. She did not acknowledge them. She acted like they didn’t exist. With all her flaws, she was a great reporter. She had no equal in that department. She approached her job like the Marines taking a hill in the time of battle. Marines did not back down from anything, and neither did Kimberly. She was a charge-forward-take-no-prisoners kind of reporter. When she had a story, she didn’t let up until it was finished. The people that she interviewed opened up to her and told her the facts that she asked about, because she was just that good at her job.
Kimberly’s personal cell rang as she sat in one of the editing bays, having a final look at the story that would air on the noon news. She saw that it was her husband, Henry Decatur.
“Hi, Kim. It’s me. Honey, I need you to be careful in the field today. The news reports from around the world about these creatures attacking and killing people are starting to come in. Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Sweetheart, I learned about those monsters early this morning from the Australian News. I don’t know what to make of it. The one thing that I do know is that I’m scared, but I have a job to do. I’ll be careful when we go out. We both know the news is going to get reported, one way or another. If I don’t do it, the station will get someone else to do it, and I want my name on the stories that go out from this station. This might be the boost that my career needs to push me over the top.” She thought for a moment, then continued.
“With one more promotion, we’ll be able to tell everyone that we’re married. I was going to tell you later, but it’s as good a time as any... Henry, I’m pregnant. I took a home test this morning before I left for work, and it was positive. You’re going to be a daddy.”
“Wow! That’s amazing. Kimberly. Are you sure? Stupid question. I know you’re sure. Wow. I’m going to be a father. Do you know what else should be announced?”
“No. What else is going on? Tell me, please.”
“Kimberly... in six days we’ll have been married for three years. With your schedule, I understand you might have forgotten; I don’t know how you keep everything under control with your schedule. This hiding our marriage is so frustrating. Sometimes it makes me angry. I really wish that we didn’t need to keep our marriage a secret. I know that if our being married gets out at the wrong time it would bring our careers to a stop where they are. From that point forward, we wouldn’t have any chance of ever being promoted again. But damn it, this is America! We should be able to marry anyone we want to without it affecting the careers of the people involved. I’m better now that I’ve said it. All I want is that you when you are done for the day I want you safely back at the studio. I love you, Kimberly. Be safe. I have to go.”
“I love you too. Today might be a long day. I’ll see you when I get home. You’re gonna be a father! Bye for now.”
As Kimberly hung up the call, her mobile broadcast van pulled up in front of where she had been standing on the sidewalk waiting, and she got into the front passenger seat and then drove off to the location of their first assignment.
They suspected that she was married to Henry, but never let on that they knew.
Kimberly took her wireless mic and stood on her mark in front of the camera. Her cameraman counted her down — three, two one…
“This is Kimberly Zink live with NBC News in Riverside, California. We’re breaking in to bring you this breaking news: A short time ago, at around 2:00 PM Pacific time, our news desk began getting calls from a large number of students at UC Riverside — that’s the University of California, Riverside campus. News of an attack, of the deaths of a number of individuals, believed to be students, was circulating all over the campus.” She looked up as if checking her surroundings.
“Our news desk has been able to track down a student who witnessed the actual attack from her second-floor apartment at the Pentland Residence Hall complex on campus. We had the student on the phone talking about what she saw. She said that she witnessed two students being killed by these things. By the time we arrived with our news van, the creatures had left, but what remained were two bodies lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, with body parts lying next to them that the creatures had torn off during the ambush.” She grimaced a bit. This was a little much, even for this professional reporter.
“We now have a witness to the attacks with us; she’s asked that we not use her name or show her face. We’re going to honor her request by blurring her face and altering her voice.” She turned to the witness. “Thank you for being willing to meet with us. Can you describe to our viewers what you observed below your room this afternoon, please?”
“Hello, Kimberly… yes, I was getting ready for my class today when I heard someone screaming down on the sidewalk. I looked out of the window and saw this horrible attack happening right below my room. It looked like there were a total of four students on the sidewalk. Two of the students were just standing, staring at the other two being torn apart by these things… I saw the news from Australia early this morning. The creatures I saw on the walkway below looked like the same ones from Australia. I counted three or four of them. They’d knocked two students to the ground. They were squatting or kneeling next to the students — it was hard to tell, slashing them apart, ripping them to shreds. There was so much blood… it was everywhere. They were screaming for someone to help them. I’ll never forget what it sounded like. I never heard screams like that in my life, and I hope I never hear it again. The other two — the students, I mean — were able to run away down the sidewalk, away from the creatures. It was all over in less than, probably, twenty to thirty seconds… There was so much blood. When it was over, they just went on down the path, and they were gone. I’m so scared right now. I don’t want to stay out here any longer than I have to. If you don’t need anything else, I’m gonna go back up to my room and lock my door.”
“Thank you for talking to us.” Kimberly watched for a moment as the young woman quickly walked away.
“Our producer has called the campus police along with the Riverside Police department. Neither of them had any additional information to add, other than that the campus police did say that this isn’t the only attack that occurred on campus today. The Riverside Police told us that they have responded to several reports of killings this afternoon in different parts of the city. They said that due to the number of calls of this nature, they’re extremely backed up, and they don’t have enough officers on duty to follow up on all the calls. They’re very short staffed. They also said that many of their officers did not report to work yesterday or today. We’ve been asked to pass this warning along to our viewers: Please be on the lookout for these creat
ures. They emphasized that if you are approached by one of these things, run the other way. Go to a secure place and lock yourself inside. Once you are in a safe, secure location, remain there until tomorrow. Don’t come out at night. We’ve been told that the number of attacks increases at night. Additional information will be released via TV or radio. This is Kimberly Zink with NBC News, broadcasting live from the campus of the University California, Riverside, at the Pentland Residence Hall complex.”
Before Kimberly had started her report, she’d asked her driver, Jason, to call the school’s administration office to see if they would be willing to talk to her about this incident. As Kimberly was walking back to the broadcast van, Jason caught up with her, giving her the information that he had gotten from the administration.
“Kimberly. I just got off the phone with the Director of Administration. He told me that so many students, faculty and other staff hadn’t come in that it was easier to use percentages rather than the actual numbers. He was told that today a little over 18 percent of the school’s staff and faculty was absent today with no notice. He also said that about 22 percent of the student body weren’t in class either. He said that this started a few months ago with students, faculty and staff not showing up, and it’s gotten worse in the last 24 to 48 hours.
“His office made as many calls as they could to the absent staff members. Not a single one answered their phones, nor did they call in. He sounded extremely frustrated. With so many people absent, it’s kind of concerning. I don’t know what to make of it. What do you think, Kimberly?”
“If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t have to be working this hard for a story,” she replied. “Earlier today I talked to a number of people around the city from small business owners to public officials about the missing people. They all told me pretty much the same thing — that all of them had people just not show up for work for the last several days. Even our studio has some workers not showing up. If you know anything about this job, it’s that no matter how sick you are, you come in, or you get replaced.”
