by Seiple, Paul
"What is happening to me?"
Someone bumped Janet, almost knocking her down. Heat scorched Janet's face.
"Fucking bitch didn't even say sorry."
Janet watched her hand reach out and grab the woman's hair. Janet moved in slow motion as if she was having an out-of-body experience. The terror on the woman's face as Janet threw her to the ground only stoked the rage. This isn't me, Janet thought before sinking her teeth into the woman's neck. The blood tasted bitter, but the flesh satisfied the hunger. Janet took another bite and screamed.
"I am the dawning of the new generation. Hear my voice."
Epilogue
Two Years Later
"They damaged a few solar panels, but there should be enough juice as long as you're not too long-winded."
"I'll be so glad when we can actually see the sun again on a regular basis."
"Yeah, you're looking a little pale these days. OK, camera is recording."
"I'm Melanie Carpenter. If you are watching this video, consider yourself lucky and heed the warnings I am going to give you. Two years ago, an outbreak started in Black Dog, a small community in southern North Carolina, and quickly spread across the country. A privately funded organization named ARMA created a biological weapon with the purpose of ending all war. What ARMA did was end the world that we knew. Cities crumbled. Our government fell. What remains is a vast wasteland of memories smoldering in the wreckage.
“The weapon is a virus called Judas. It has the ability to mutate whenever threatened. The virus' thirst for survival is unmatched by man. Originally, those infected with Judas died quickly. Before death, Judas put their organs in a type of comatose state to try to preserve the body until it could learn to co-exist. This caused the infected to turn into…well…zombies, for lack of a better word, and to crave keratin, a protein found in human skin. We gather Judas viewed this as a way to protect flesh while it found the perfect mutation. I realize it's difficult to imagine a virus that smart, but Judas is, and eventually, it found a mutation that allowed it to co-exist in a host without destroying it. The infected still crave human flesh, but they do not need it to exist any longer. The craving is a manifestation of Judas' need to replicate."
"Battery's fading fast. Remember long-winded is bad."
"The voice you hear telling me to wrap it up belongs to Dr. James Jones. He, along with Dr. Carolyn Swann, have been studying the physiology of Judas. The virus cannot infect everyone. Judas was spliced with a strain of 2009 H1N1. Those sickened during the 2009 H1N1 epidemic are immune to Judas. They are not carriers of the virus. This does not mean they are safe. For the most part, the infected function as normal people. But they are far from normal. The infected have one purpose…to feed the hunger. Flesh from the immune is the only way to satisfy it."
"Ten percent," Jones said.
"These days, it's almost impossible to spot someone infected with the virus. There are no milky eyes. Rage is the only true indicator and by the time you see it, it's too late. You must always assume the person next to you is infected. My advice to you is don't trust anyone, not even in your bloodline. Our goal is to unite with other survivors and eradicate the infected. There is no cure, but at least we have hope now. We've lived in this underground bunker for the last year and a half while we built a community that we feel is safe from the infected. Tomorrow, we test this by moving above ground."
"Five percent. Could go any second," Jones said.
Melanie smiled into the camera. "We are the survivors. We are the immune. And we are going to take our world back."
The End.
Other Books by Paul Seiple
Chasing Fireflies: A James Beamer Thriller Book 1
Babylon Girl: A James Beamer Thriller Book 2
Facing Hell: A James Beamer Thriller Book 3
Roller Coaster: A Jack Daniels/James Beamer Mystery Book 1
Tattoo You: A Jack Daniels/James Beamer Mystery Book 2
The Dark Stuff: A Supernatural Horror Novel
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By Paul Seiple
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Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronically, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise) without proper written permission of the copyright owner.
The Last Five Days: The Complete Novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
