by Jesse Wilson
“Sir, all the cryo weapons are ready. We can go at any time,” a man said to Bruce. None of them had even had a chance to look around and fully appreciate what was going on around them, and it didn’t feel like much time had passed at all.
“Good. Everyone should be ready to go in three minutes,” Bruce replied to the man, and he ran off to relay the order.
“It was nice to meet you all, and I hope to see you all again someday. If we win here tonight, let’s meet back here; I’ll contact you. And if not, well, good luck to you all,” Bruce said to them.
“Goodbye,” Heather said and smiled as the fuel truck disconnected from the chopper. Even though the attack had been going on for some time, the chaos was just beginning to hit here. People were beginning to run down the Strip, away from the monster’s wrath.
“Your chopper is ready to go,” Bruce said to the group, turned, and walked away to take care of his business. Xule followed him away from the group.
“Guys, let’s get out of here before we can’t,” Phil said and walked back to the chopper.
“This is the biggest event in human history. You expect us to just walk away? This will need to be recorded,” Rose said, coming back to her senses about what her job was.
“Yeah, but I’m getting on that chopper, so if you would like to do an audio taping session of it only, that’s up to you,” the cameraman replied to her and followed Phil. “Also, every news network in the country is going to be here in minutes to cover this disaster. Believe me, we’ve been scooped no matter how you look at it. The world isn’t ever going to be the same,” he continued as he climbed in the chopper. Rose crinkled her nose in disgust, and felt defeated. Any reporter would have killed to cover something like this. It truly was a once in a lifetime story, in anyone’s lifetime.
“Damn it,” she said under her breath, but reason won this battle. She walked to the chopper, but couldn’t help but feel that she was walking away from the biggest event in human history.
Bob and Alex said nothing, grateful to get anywhere that wasn’t here. Heather took one last look at Xule and smiled sadly, as she felt that this was the last time she’d see him. She’d grown to like the alien, despite not spending that much time with him. “Heather, come on, let’s go,” Bob called out to her, snapping her out of the daze she was in.
“Right,” she replied and made her way towards the chopper.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dodd, Logan, and Tina drove down the dark city streets, trying to do their best to get out. The madness was spreading. Every light in the city of lights had gone out and chaos reigned supreme. All of the freaks were coming out of the woodwork; the monsters the two officers had spent the better part of a decade trying to keep out of sight.
“Oh my God,” Tina cried out as they turned a corner and they saw a bunch men, likely some kind of gang, beating a man to death for reasons she’d never know, illuminated by the occasional bright green flashes of light that lit up the sky.
“Honey, don’t look at it,” Logan replied to her, but never once looked back to her. He just tightened his grip on his gun, expecting to be attacked at any time. James was trying to drive as fast as he could, sirens blaring. Some people pulled over, but more didn’t.
“Damn these disrespectful…” James said under his breath as he moved the car out of the way into the other lane.
“Don’t be too harsh; we’re just trying to get out of town too,” Logan replied, doing his best to keep the other two from losing it. Logan turned the radio on to try and get an update as to what was going on.
“I’ll be on the air as long as I can here at the station. We are getting Facebook and Twitter updates every few seconds despite the power outages and oh God, the pictures and videos. You need to get out of Vegas. The monster is bleeding, and its blood is taking people over, turning them into monsters. Reports are coming in saying the same thing. I can’t personal verify any of this, but if over one hundred thousand people are seeing it, it has to be true. Whatever the case, we here at GKOM will remain on the air as long as possible but I—” the voice on the radio stopped talking for a second.
“Alright, it’s official. The evacuation order has just come over the main wire here at the station. Everyone is to leave the city. Take only what you can carry. You will be getting a text soon via emergency alert systems on your phone in a matter of seconds,” he said through the radio. Sure, enough Tina’s phone went off. She had gotten a text.
“Apparently, I’m supposed to get to ‘North Las Vegas’ and get on a bus. Well, government efficiency in a crisis still sucks as much as ever,” Tina said in disgust.
“North Vegas could mean anywhere. Screw that, we are getting out of here on our own terms,” James said and expected something like this to happen.
“I don’t know where you are now, I hope anyone who can hear me is safe, but please, do your best to get out of—” the announcer was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass in the background.
“Something just broke into the station. I don’t know what it is because I am cowering under my desk. I hope it doesn’t see me,” he whispered into the mic as someone screamed in the background, followed by the sound of powerful jaws sinking into flesh. “If anyone is close enough to help me, please do so. I hear two of them walking around now. Please help, someone,” the announcer said so fast it was hard to understand him through the speakers.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Tina asked, hating that he could hear what was going on. James and Logan looked at one another.
“No, there isn’t anything we can do. You didn’t see what we did. Everything the announcer reported is true. This is something we don’t know how to deal with, so our only option is to run,” James replied, broken, because deep inside, all he really wanted to do was everything he could to help, but in this situation, there was nothing he could do, or he suspected anyone.
“Oh God no, leave me alone you fr—” the announcer screamed. It was followed by the same sickening crunch of teeth cutting through flesh. Silence followed for a few seconds, and then an unearthly growl came out of the speakers. It was the last thing on the air from that station. Logan turned off the radio as the silence came from what they had just heard.
“What are we going to do now?” Tina asked, but there was only one answer.
“We stick to the plan, get out of the city, away from people, and take it one day at a time from there,” James replied and avoided another stalled car on the road.
“I don’t think it will be that bad. We can always just hang out at my sister’s house if we can’t make it out of town,” Tina said to them. James and Logan looked at one another.
“Yeah, I guess we can do that, but that’s not as far away as I want to be,” James replied.
“Well, if anything I think we should get off the road. This car isn’t exactly subtle, and pretty soon, people are going to see us as a target if nothing else,” Logan said. James knew he was right. Anyone who managed to see this thing going down the road might start shooting at them just because chaos, at least for now, ruled supreme.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Somewhere on the road leaving Las Vegas, going west out of the city, a mother was driving way too fast down the highway with both hands gripping the wheel so tight her knuckles were white. She was still shaken up about the thing she saw. She was listening to her favorite radio station when suddenly the breaking news tone interrupted the music.
“Uh, folks, you’re not going to believe this, but official reports are coming in that Las Vegas is under attack by, get this, a giant dinosaur of some kind, and apparently, zombies too. Yeah, I wouldn’t believe it either, but apparently, the whole city is under siege. The attack started on the western side of the city and is proceeding eastbound. Information is scarce at this point, but we will keep you updated on this bizarre situation as information comes in.”
Her eyes went wide. She really could believe what was going on now. She was not the same as she was forty-five minu
tes ago.
Suddenly, the night behind her lit up with very familiar red-and-blue lights. She glanced down at her gauges and saw she was driving almost one hundred miles per hour and didn’t even realize it in her state of mind.
She took a deep breath and took her foot off the gas to begin to slow down. The same recycled panicked thoughts burned through her mind. If they found out the monster touched her child, would he be taken away for testing? Would she say anything at all? Was she riding with a carrier of the monster to spread the plague?
Despite thinking that, the kid was fast asleep for the past hour; nothing seemed different at all about him. Nothing that she could tell anyway was actually different. She pulled over and shut the engine off after rolling down the window.
Officer Quinn stepped out of his car and walked towards the offender. She rolled down her window.
“Do you know how fast you were going?” he asked her in a stern voice all cops have.
“Uh, no sorry. I was just trying to get away from Vegas,” she replied, doing her best to keep it all together.
His eyes widened. He was just ordered not twenty minutes ago to set up a roadblock to scan anyone who might be coming from there. Anyone not evacuated by the government was to be detained, reported, and held until a special unit could come take them away; apparently, there was some kind of virus there.
“Can you please step out of the car?” he said to her and put his hand on his gun, not knowing what to expect. She opened the door and stepped out. Besides being attractive and looking stressed out by something, there didn’t seem to be anything obviously wrong with her or the kid in the car seat.
“Alright, just wait here. Something bad is going on in Vegas and I need to call this in,” Quinn said to her and walked back to his car. She leaned against the front fender of the car, doing her best not to be blinded by the headlights and the flashing red-and-blue strobes, doing her best not to feel afraid of the black nothingness that went on forever in every direction.
“Yeah, I’ve got a Vegas runner out here on 95, just past mile marker 46. Uh she’s got a kid with her in the back, but there doesn’t appear to be any sign of anything, um, odd,” Quinn said not knowing how to report this.
“Copy, we’re sending a bio unit to your location. We’ve got you on GPS so just remain there until it arrives, over,” the dispatcher’s voice replied in a familiar mechanical tone.
“I copy,” Quinn replied and sighed, knowing that this wasn’t going to be fun in the least.
He got back out of the car and walked towards her again.
“Listen. Apparently, there is something bad going on in Vegas. A virus of some kind is spreading, and anyone not on a military transport is supposed to be detained and quarantined, so, what do you want to talk about?” he asked her, not knowing what to do but would feel bad just leaving her to sit in her car until they got here. She gazed off into the night and could swear it was moving from here.
“It touched him. It let us go. I’d never seen anything like it. It picked up his toy, touched him on the nose, and let us go,” she said and the fear started to take over.
“Okay, well, what’s your name?” he asked, trying to keep the panic down. “Madison, I live in Vegas. I was just coming home from a visit from my sister’s. We just got into town, I needed gas, and that’s where I saw him,” Madison replied, still not believing any of what was happening, or had happened.
“Alright, well listen. There is a special unit coming here to check the both of you out. But I think you’ll be alright, because from what I heard, this so-called virus works pretty fast. You’ve made it a long way and haven’t been sick, so this is all a precaution than anything else. I think you’re going to be fine,” Quinn reassured her again, but still kept his distance. She noticed he wasn’t getting any closer.
“You’re keeping your distance. You must think I am infected,” she said, but couldn’t help but look into the dark that felt like it was getting closer with each second. She’d never been out here like this before and it was weird. Quinn sighed but couldn’t help be depressed by the thought. It was true; he didn’t want to catch whatever it was. Of course, he’d already been close enough that he was also sure that he had caught it, whatever it was, by now.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he replied as he moved towards her car. “But what the hell, how bad could it really be? You don’t look sick,” he said with a smile. Being afraid of the unknown was always part of his job, but at the same time, he had to face it. Madison smiled a little bit. Quinn walked next to her and leaned against the door. He looked towards where Vegas was, but from here, he couldn’t see any evidence of it. Usually, even from out here, you could see the lights of the city on the horizon; tonight, it was all black.
“Nice night out, right?” Quinn asked her trying to get her to relax a little bit. “Yeah, it’s nice out if you like staring out into an empty void,” she replied and crossed her arms because there was a slight chill in the desert air. Quinn had a chill running down his spine too, but it had nothing to do with the cold. A thought was beginning to form in the back of his mind.
Quinn looked behind him through the back seat window and saw the kid was sleeping, but its skin was moving, as if something were underneath of it. Quinn’s eyes widened. He didn’t know if it was a trick of the moonlight and the flashing lights. “Madison, do you trust me?” Quinn asked in a calm voice, but she could sense the tone was different at once.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” she replied and looked at him.
“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on in that city, but you say something touched your son, right?” Quinn remained unnaturally calm.
“Yes, that’s right,” she said, growing increasingly worried.
“Well, whatever is going on, you were let go for a reason, so I need you to slowly walk to my squad car and get in the passenger side. Act natural,” Quinn said to her and swallowed.
“I don’t understand why but—” Quinn cut her off.
“Please, can we just do this without any sudden movements,” Quinn almost pleaded with her, but kept his calm with great effort.
“Alright, don’t freak out on me too,” she replied to him, suspicious of his intentions. Madison pushed herself off her car and walked back to the squad car. Quinn was close behind. Despite her starting first, Quinn beat her to the door and got in. He unlocked the door and Madison got in.
“Normally, people don’t sit in the front,” he said and closed the door. Madison did the same. Quinn’s eyes grew wide.
“You promise not to panic?” Quinn asked her, never taking his eyes off the front windshield.
“What is it? You’re not making any sense.” Madison was getting frustrated as Quinn started the car.
“Look for yourself,” Quinn said and Madison looked at her car. She screamed at once. Her little son was staring at them through the back window, but his eyes were deep yellow, and his mouth was filled with razor-sharp fangs as it hung open. Quinn quickly locked the doors; in her panic, she was liable to jump back out. He put the car into reverse as the infected kid started to pound its tiny fist against the glass, trying to break it.
“No, stop. We have to do something! We can’t just leave!” she screamed as she rapidly tried to pull on the door handle.
“There isn’t anything we can do. We need to get out of here,” Quinn said and slammed on the gas, trying to put as much distance between this thing and them as possible. In a fit of madness, Madison reached over and tried to take the wheel from him in a desperate attempt to stop the car. Quinn figured she would attempt this and was ready. He maneuvered both of her hands to the dash in one quick motion and held her there.
“You have to listen to me. I don’t know what happened back there, but I know there was nothing we could do. Please try not to get us killed,” he said, impressively keeping his calm and the both of them on the road. Madison gained a shred of sanity and pulled her arms back, but she was also clearly still stunned.
“This is Bio Team One. Uh, you were advised to stay at the location, over,” Quinn’s radio came to life and made him jump just a few minutes later.
“Sorry about that,” Quinn said after he picked up his radio.
“What happened out here, the back window of the car is shattered, and there isn’t anyone here?” a man’s voice said. Quinn stopped the car. Behind them in the distance, he could see headlights behind them in the mirror. Quinn didn’t know why they came from that direction because he was sure he was going to meet them coming down the road.
“You be careful, you hear me? Something thing is wrong there,” Quinn replied into the radio as Madison was doing her best to turn around to try and see into the distance. All she could see were headlights and blackness.
“Sir, I got a kid out here just off the road. He seems fine but just a little shaken up,” another one said in the distance. Whoever was using the radio had apparently not released the button.
“No, hey, listen, stay away from that kid, don’t touch him,” Quinn said, but it was useless.
“Bring him here, Jackson. Let’s get him in the van and…what the hell!” the man screamed into the radio. “Get it off, get it off—” a man screamed in the distance, and then the radio went dead.
Quinn slowly put his radio back into its place. He knew no one was going to answer him anymore.
“Shouldn’t we go back and check what happened?” Madison tried to convince him.
“I have a really bad feeling that the only thing that’s back there is death, and right now, or very soon, it will be coming right for us. We are the only other light source out here for miles,” Quinn said and realized that being the only light source around made them the next logical target.
