Rise of the Plague (Book 1): Endemic

by Jeannie Rae

  As they drew close to the dining table, a faint but noticeable slurping originated from behind them.

  Instinctively, both men turned around and drew their firearms immediately. They said nothing, struggling to fathom the scene before their eyes by the faint light of the overhead, stove lamp. Shotgun began exhaling sharply. Randy, staring straight ahead and tapping his left hand on Shotgun's shoulder, made a fist and held it in the air for just a moment before returning it to his gun. A sign to wait. Shotgun appeared to realize his labored breathing and began getting it in check.

  “What the hell is this?” Shotgun muttered under his breath.

  Randy momentarily eyeballed him and slowly shook his head as if to convey not to speak. Standing fast in their positions, they analyzed the four people that were, perhaps, all set to eat this steaming dinner when the evening took a murderous turn.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Junior sat restlessly in the passenger seat of the SUV, fidgeting with excitement. Something important is going on, I just know it. He knew better than to blurt out whatever popped into his head when he rode along with Rhino. The other guys didn't so much mind Junior's enthusiasm, but Rhino had very little tolerance for it. It wasn’t only Rhino’s massive stature that intimidated Junior, it was his entire demeanor. Standing at a six foot-eleven, weighing around 330 pounds, Rhino is a titan of a man—nearly a foot taller and more than a hundred pounds heavier than Junior.

  “Is there a number?” Rhino said with a sigh of contempt.

  Junior tilted his head in confusion, “A number?”

  Rhino took a deep breath, “Yeah, a phone number. Maybe you could take a break from all that bouncing around in the seat over there, and give Swick a call to see if he is even at home.”

  “Yeah, I'll call his cell.” Junior eagerly dialed the phone, which went straight to voice mail. Remembering Randy words about staying unseen, he decided against leaving a message, and tried the home phone.

  “Hello... Is Kyle Swick there? Okay, do you know when he'll be back? Oh, I see. Is everything alright? Okay, then I’ll try him another time,” Junior hung up the phone and looked at Rhino with wide eyes.

  “Good call Rhino. Swick's at the hospital. His wife rushed him and their daughter to emergency about fifteen minutes ago. That was a weird call though. Lot of background noise. It almost sounded like there was someone pounding on the door and…growling.”

  “Probably just the TV or something. The hospital isn’t far, we'll be there in five,” Rhino said making a sharp right at the approaching intersection.

  Junior thought about the disparity in the son’s voice, but figured that Rhino had called it. Had to be the TV. Besides, only in the movies could they make people sound that inhuman.

  “So Rhino, what's really going on here?” Junior asked.

  “I was in the same room as you kid. You heard everything I did,” Rhino stared out ahead.

  “Thank you, captain obvious. I know that we were in the same room. But you have been around this place longer, these people longer. I think you have an idea of what's going on,” Junior said snidely.

  “Captain obvious, huh? Haven’t heard that one in a while, you might want to get some new material," Rhino smiled. “Sometimes kid, it’s better not to know. The more you know—the more trouble it brings. In our line of work, it's best to follow orders and not ask any questions. That's why I have been around so long, that's why most of the security team at Angora has been here so long. We don't poke our noses where they don't belong, mind our own business and don't ask questions unless they are necessary to carry out the job.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Junior turned in his seat and looked out the window pouting as a child would.

  He had heard this same speech almost word for word from a few of the others on the security team. Junior is the youngest guard on the core security team. He had been hired at eighteen, just out of school. Typically, one had to have a background of law enforcement or similar armed services to be hired as security for Angora. It had actually been a favor for one of the scientists in the Parkinson’s lab. Dr. Leonard Watts cashed in a favor with James Meadows to have his son hired. Randy obliged with little opposition, to give the kid a shot. As it turned out, Randy had been genuinely impressed by Junior’s hard work and ability to handle sensitive situations. Most of the team had been able to look past his occasional sarcastic remarks and obnoxious tendencies. After six months of relentless grunt work, Randy made him part of the elite, core team last year, taking with it, a profound level of responsibility in handling delicate issues and a more than generous compensation package.

  The core team has rotating duties at Angora, just the same as the rest of the security guards. The difference being, that the core team is in place for sensitive issues that arise and to accompany the Chairman to events and on business trips. Between rival pharmaceutical companies, activists and institutions that Angora has squashed, James has many enemies. He instituted the core a few years back after two attempts on his life were made in a six month timeframe, but he found that this group of men had talents that could be utilized in other areas as well. The core is a combination of the secret service and a SWAT team, but exclusive to the laboratory. They train regularly for both protection aspects as well as the tactical. The other guards have the backgrounds to handle just about anything that comes their way, but most of what the core handles is the issues that others do not hear about. Some of the other guards speak of the core in whispers and rumors. The truth is—no one quite knows what the core does on its Training Missions except for the core and James Meadows. The rest of the team feels the same way as Junior does about the core, that it’s an honor to be a part of it.

  “Junior, get changed,” Rhino commanded, pulling into a handicapped parking spot at the hospital entrance. He slipped a fake blue handicap placard on the rearview mirror and began unbuttoning his black security shirt. “Pants are fine, but this place is too public to wear our shirts.”

  A short time later the men exited the vehicle and headed toward the front entrance. Automatic sliding-glass doors opened for them, beneath a large, red sign that read EMERGENCY ROOM. Locating the waiting room immediately to the right, Junior held out his phone, so that he and Rhino could take another look at the photo. They began scanning the packed waiting room looking for Swick.

  “I don't see him,” Junior said.

  “Don't either,” Rhino grumbled.

  Junior shot a smile at Rhino, then strode over to the information desk, “Excuse me, our brother, Kyle Swick checked in, not too long ago. Do you know where he is?”

  The thin, almost sickly-looking nurse stared at him for a moment, and then began clacking on the keyboard before her.

  “Swick,” she drew out in a raspy voice. “Ah, yes. He was just called back to a bed. The doctor should be in to see him soon.”

  “Can we go back to see him? We’re really worried about him,” Junior asked, winking at the nurse.

  “Yeah, sure,” she said unenthusiastically. “I'll buzz you in Sugar. He is in curtain three. That’s the third curtain on the left.”

  The men briskly walked through the double doors. Both still in their black cargo pants and boots, with their utility belts around their waists, concealed beneath their shirts. Junior wore a white button up collared shirt and a plain black baseball cap. A black tee with white skulls and smoke on the front and back hung loosely on Rhino, and a black and white bandana topped his head.

  “You look like a biker,” Junior pointed out.

  “I am a biker. These are my normal clothes. You look like a sissy boy, so those must be your normal clothes,” Rhino fired back.

  “Here it is,” Junior said pulling the curtain back, rolling his eyes at Rhino.

  The bed inside the curtained area was set to a reclined position, with a frail-looking man atop, gripping a blanket that came up to his lap. Junior looked at the photo of Swick and then back at the man, unsure if he were the same person. The man in the bed lay drench
ed in sweat, his face cherry red and his pale, dry lips quivering. He looked like a completely different man than in the photo—twenty pounds lighter, fifty percent more grey and maybe ten years older.

  “Kyle, Kyle Swick,” Junior said. The man's glazed over eyes moved in the direction of curtain, but he seemed to not find Junior, as though he’d lost most of his vision.

  “It's him,” Rhino confirmed, touching the hospital bracelet on the patient's wrist a few inches below a nine by four inch, medical bandage. “Let's get him out of here before a doc comes in.”

  “Hell no. I ain't touching that guy, do you see him? Who knows what he has? What happened to his arm? He’s all bandaged up, something’s janky about this,” Junior whispered, shaking his hands out.

  “Junior, who cares? Go get a wheel chair. I saw one about half way down the hall,” Rhino said pulling extra sheets out of the overhead cupboard, beside the bed. “We'll wrap the sheet around him and wheel him out to the truck.”

  Swick appeared unaware of the conversation unfolding before him, seeming as if he were under a spell. He gazed off blindly in the distance, his head swaying to and fro, while his mouth gaped open. He made a rattling gasp with every breath that he took, and his body trembled now and again as if he were getting the chills.

  “Rhino, man, shouldn't we let the doctors take a look at him first? I mean, look at him. He looks like he's about ten seconds from death,” Junior said.

  “We are on a time limit here, Junior. Go get the goddamn wheel chair, before I put you in one,” Rhino growled in a low voice, trying not to draw any attention.

  “Can I help you?” A woman's voice chirped from behind.

  Startled, both men turned to see the woman standing just inside the curtained area. Her hands moved to her hips with a look of distrust upon her worn face. Instead of wearing hospital garb, she wore long black skirt and a pink floral top.

  “Yes, are you Mrs. Swick? And is this your husband Kyle?” Junior asked.

  “Yes, I’m Norma. What could you possibly need from my husband?” She narrowed her eyes at them.

  “We are from Angora Laboratories, we heard of your husband's condition from your son. We came to collect him. He must come with us immediately,” Junior said.

  “You don’t look like you are from a classy place like that. You look like a couple of dirt bags. What are you doing over there?” She fixated on Rhino at Kyle’s bedside, sheets in his hands.

  “Ma’am, I promise that we are here to help get your husband safely to Angora. We were called in off duty, to help him. I assure you that there is a whole team of specialists, just waiting for him to arrive. We need to go now, time is of the essence. Here, take a look at this,” Junior yanked out his security badge from his pocket, allowing her to examine it.

  A look of relief came over her face as she read the badge, “What about our daughter Jenna? She’s here too. Will your specialists be able to help her?”

  “I’m sorry, but we can only take Kyle at this time. Jenna is in good hands here. Once we get Kyle to Angora, we can see about having your daughter transported,” Junior negotiated.

  “Well Jenna is in much better shape than Kyle. I just don’t want them separated. Oh golly, I don’t know what to do,” she said.

  “Why don’t you come with us, to see to it that Kyle will be treated by our team? You said that Jenna is doing better than your husband, so let the doctors here help her. Why is she here?” Junior asked.

  “She was bitten by—”

  “Oh yes,” Junior interrupted. “With that type of injury, the doctors here will take excellent care of her. There is no need to worry. We can even call and check up on her.”

  “Specialists are waiting for him, really? What the heck then, let's go. We were out in that darn waiting room for ages. No telling how low long it’ll be before they get a doctor in to see him. And look at him, he needs a doctor right now. He has a fragile heart, you know. I'll go tell the nurse that we're leaving.”

  “Ma'am, we'll take care of that. You just stay with your husband for now,” Rhino interjected. “Junior, the chair.”

  Junior nodded and exited the curtained area.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  In a guarded stance, Randy and Shotgun clinched their guns within the Bishop home. A man and a woman lie on the kitchen floor, soaked in blood—so much blood that determining the original color of their clothes may prove impossible. The shirts were torn on both of them, their bodies limp. Another man and woman, splattered in blood, were crouching over the two on the floor. They appeared to be devouring raw meat over the ones on the floor, slurping and chewing, their heads down. The man leaned in and sunk his teeth into the neck of the man on the floor, while the woman lowered herself, biting and tearing a hunk of skin from the face of the victim beneath her.

  Randy had never thought of himself as squeamish, but the grotesque scene unfolding before him was testing that theory. He felt instantly transported back to his time in a government facility, to a dark and treacherous place, a place he had hoped to forget.

  “Hey!” Randy called out, surprised that he and Shotgun hadn’t been noticed by the cannibals yet.

  The man looked up with his face caked in blood, and seemed to almost hiss. Clenching his teeth together, he slowly began to rise to his feet, the woman imitating him. Her right arm dangled from the shoulder giving Randy the impression that it may be dislocated. Their eyelids were stripped back revealing solid black eyes and an expression of pure madness.

  “Stay there,” Randy commanded.

  The man charged them, running at full speed, his arms flailing about, mouth gaping open, revealing his rotting black teeth. Shotgun fired the first round into the chest of the man, but it merely slowed him down. The man’s body jerked backward, but he remained on his feet, only stopping to take a look at the wound in his chest. The woman charged at a slower speed, her left arm reaching out as she limped toward them. The man, after assessing the hole in his chest, charged again. Randy and Shotgun fired multiple rounds into the chests of the cannibals. But the pair kept advancing toward them. Randy fired his last round into the head of the man, taking him down.

  “Shoot her in the head! I'm out!” Randy urged.

  Shotgun fired a single round into the woman's forehead, above the right eye. She dropped to the floor with a thump, beside the man.

  “Jesus Christ! What was that?” Shotgun blared, pacing in front of the table.

  “Bishop and his wife,” Randy said tapping a frame on the wall beside him. Beneath the glass, a picture of a man and woman wrapped in each other's arms stood in front of a yellow house with white trim. A sold sign hung in the front yard and the landscaping looked nearly the same. The photo hadn’t been taken long ago.

  “What the hell was wrong with them? Is this why we needed to get them back to the lab? It might have been nice for them to tell us that they were sick in the head,” Shotgun said, holstering his weapon.

  “I don't know, but we've got to get Bishop to the lab, and we’ll take the misses too,” Randy said.

  “What about the others?”

  “James wanted Bishop dead or alive. That's why we are taking him, whatever he had…or was…the wife had it too. So we'll just bring them for now. It’s not like these other two are going anywhere. Back the truck in next to the Scion, I'll bring them out through the garage, so the neighbors don't see,” he ordered.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kate looked down at her chewed fingernails, tugging at a loose string from her sweater. Lost in her thoughts, her mind went to her mother and how much she missed everything about her. It had only been two years since her mother died in a fatal car accident, but Kate felt as if her memories of her mother were fading. She had felt like this for a few weeks now, and it had been wearing on her mind. After some self-reflection, she realized that she needed to talk about it—about her mother. Although a sensitive subject for Dad, she hoped that he could help her through it.

  “Dad, I want to talk to yo
u about something serious for a sec, no joking around, okay?” She looked up at him shyly, only to see him staring in the opposite direction. After waiting a moment for him to respond or acknowledge her, she rolled her eyes, letting her mouth fall open.

  “Dad!”

  “Shhh, Kate look,” he motioned toward the center of the carnival.

  Dropping her shoulders, she inched forward to try to get a glimpse at what he pointed out. This better be good, she thought. Letting out a gasp, grabbing her father’s forearm, she saw a massive crowd gathering, just past her father’s shoulder in the distance, near the midway. Abruptly, the Ferris wheel began to rotate, jerking the cart forward. Not stopping this time to load more passengers, it continued to revolve.

  “Dad, what is going on? Is that a fight?” Kate’s chin pointed outward, her neck extended around Joe’s shoulder.

  “Yeah…maybe…I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it looks like it’s getting out of control. It’s time for us to leave,” he said, gazing apprehensively at the growing crowd.

  As their cart neared the bottom, the conductor seemed equally consumed by the sight of the crowd that slowly migrated toward the Ferris Wheel. He cocked his head to the side, on his toes weaving back and forth, trying to get a peek at the action.

  “Hey Bud, can you stop the ride?” Joe shouted.

  “Yeah, we want off, please stop the ride,” Kate whimpered.

  “Oh…sorry…okay,” the man uttered with a thick accent.

  Turning around as the cart rose skyward, the man pulled the lever, stopping the wheel. Joe and Kate’s cart rocked back and forth at the unanticipated stop, leaving them just less than half way up the wheel.

  “He's letting people off now, Dad,” Kate said smiling, looking down at the conductor.

  “We are not going to make it off in time,” Joe said slowly as the mob drew closer.

  Kate watched in silence at the hellish sight before them. As the crowd drew closer, she could see that people were ferociously attacking one another. They were biting and clawing at each other like vicious animals. There were small groups within the mob aggressively tackling individuals to the ground. Snarling teeth were shredding flesh down to the bone. Blood gushed and sprayed onto others. Gasping in repulsion, Kate’s eyes traveled around the carnival, unable to look away.