Pandemic Z (Book 1): Pandemic Z

by Lawson, Hayley

  The woman with the hole in her neck took her chance and leaped on her prey. The cameraman said something inaudible before the woman bared her teeth and feasted on his fresh flesh.

  She took her time, enjoying her hard-earned meal. She bit into his cheek and tore the flesh back. It peeled away from the bone and right off his forehead like it was nothing. Lena didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t pull her horrified gaze from the small screen in the stranger’s hands.

  The flesh-eating woman finished chewing before she leaped up, leaving the man motionless on the ground. He stared into the camera as if he were silently pleading for help. Slowly, his eyes became hollow.

  It was like a light turned off as his humanity faded away and a new monster was awoken. A monster only told about in stories designed to scare children, but this wasn’t a storybook. This was real life, and she was watching it on live TV.

  He climbed to his feet, unfazed at what had just happened. The flesh on his face flapped as he turned to the camera. A tall, inhuman villain filled the screen.

  Women in the airport let out gasps of horror, and parents covered their children’s eyes, hoping to protect the innocent. Everyone was worried and afraid. Amidst the noise, the TVs went dark. The man beside Lena mumbled something as his phone screen blackened. It was all gone in an instant. Everything had cut out, and the noise stopped. They were met with an eerie silence.

  “Bloody hell,” the man muttered out into the silence.

  “I agree,” Lena said.

  “What just happened?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  She could hear as he swallowed hard. Then he turned to face her. “I’m Barry Harrison.”

  “Lena Turner.”

  “I heard it’s happening all over England and in Europe, but no one knows why,” he paused, “or how.”

  “Maybe it’s not real.” She sighed. “Maybe it’s just some old TV show or some crazy stunt they’re trying to pull off for ratings.” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew they were wrong.

  Barry’s eyes budged, “The woman was eating that man’s flesh. Eating his god damned flesh.”

  “I know,” Lena whispered.

  “Fucking hell,” Barry muttered, barely audible. “I must be dreaming. I have to be.” He was talking more to himself than to Lena, but she agreed with him. They sat in silence.

  A faint, “Hello?” came out of Lena’s phone. Oh shit. She looked down, confused, and saw that Joel Pearson was still on the line. Lena had called him but had forgotten to say anything. She had been too caught in the horror on the news.

  Lena stood and walked to a quieter space so she could talk without being overheard. She ran her free hand through her hair. “Joel.” Her voice came out a higher pitch than she’d intended.

  “Lena, what’s going on?” Joel asked.

  “I was hoping you could tell me.” She breathed quickly, trying to keep her scattered thoughts together. It was like trying to herd a bunch of cats into one pen. “Why do we have a seven a.m. meeting on a Sunday?”

  The static silence on the line was painful. She just wanted to know everything would be all right.

  “Have you seen the news?” he asked.

  She nodded but then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yes. It was on the TV here.”

  “We’re trying to work out what’s going on,” Joel replied. That was the all the confirmation she’d needed. This was all real.

  “So, that’s actually happening?” Lena asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes.” Sadness filled his voice. “Yes, it’s real.”

  There was silence as they both thought over the meaning to those words. In the distance, she heard a female voice calling her flight number.

  “My flight is boarding. Keep me updated. I’ll be able to email. Let me know what’s going on. Bye for now.”

  Her thoughts were a jumbled mess as she went back to the gate. It was time to board. Maybe it was her faint hangover or the scenes from TV, but the least of her worries now was the economy class, middle seat.

  Chapter Two

  Lena gathered her things, and she smiled briefly at Barry before thanking him for sharing his phone. They said a quick goodbye, and Lena stood to board. As she rose, she heard loud complaints ringing through the airport. People everywhere seemed to be in a fuss.

  Her eyes followed groups of confused people gathered around airline kiosks. Others gathered around a departure board, and to her surprise, they had canceled numerous other flights. Flights to China, Mexico, Australia, and other scattered countries were now postponed. None of them were very close together, so she couldn’t figure out the pattern.

  Another flight jumped to the top of the list. Flight 1505 to Hong Kong flashed from “On Time” to “Canceled.” Outraged passengers cried out, wanting answers. A family quickly fired back and forth in Chinese, and a group of tourists complained about how long they had been waiting for their vacation only for it to be canceled now.

  Why is this happening? Will my flight be canceled? The weather is fine. Lena couldn’t figure it all out.

  Her eyes scanned frantically for her flight. Four from the top read: Flight 1997 - JFK to London. “On time.” She breathed a sigh of relief.

  She had to get back to London. Thoughts of the seven a.m. Sunday morning meeting kept creeping into her muddled thoughts. She’d have to check her emails when she got on the plane in case Joel had found anything else to report.

  “Ma’am, are you on this flight?” A uniformed lady stood in front of her. Lena shook her thoughts from her head.

  “The one to London?” Lena stupidly replied. Of course, the one to London. Everyone else’s is canceled. She scolded herself.

  “Yes. Please board quickly,” the woman added, hurrying Lena toward the ticket booth.

  Lena joined the end of a very short line. Nothing made any sense.-The news footage, the man with half his face missing… Was he real? The way the TVs just went black for no reason at all, Joel commenting on the situation, and the seven a.m. Sunday morning meeting. Everything had been fine before she left. What’s happening now?

  “Excuse me, ma’am, your ticket, please.”

  The ticket booth woman bought her back to reality. Lena was so wrapped in her thoughts she had forgotten to get her ticket and passport ready. She was usually ready and prepared when boarding flights.

  “Oh, right. Sorry.” Lena dug into her handbag for her passport and ticket and pulled them out before passing them to the woman. “Why are the flights being canceled?”

  The woman scanned her tickets. “Turbulence.” Her answer was short and sharp like she didn’t want to say anything more about it.

  “But, surely…” Lena began, but the ticket lady stopped her mid-sentence.

  “Ma’am, you must board quickly, or you won’t board at all.” The lady rushed her forward, and Lena walked down the walkway to join the other passengers.

  Everyone looked confused. They looked like they were stuck in a snow globe, and someone had shaken it up. Lena figured she looked the same way to them—if they cared to notice her at all.

  She ducked into the aircraft and headed left like usual. The seats looked so plump and inviting. Lena was happy to find hers, but before she could get any further, an attendant stopped her.

  “What seat number are you?” she politely asked. Lena pulled out her ticket and showed it to the attendant.

  “Your seat is the other way,” she said.

  Right. Lena had forgotten all about her middle seat. All she wanted was to stay in business class and enjoy a delicious glass of complimentary champagne, but she followed the air hostess’ pointed finger to her seat in economy class.

  As she walked to the back of the plane, she passed premiere class. Large comfy seats with fancy pillows and a table between the two seats greeted her. It was like the airline company was taunting her with its fine luxuries as she continued forward to the cheap section. Economy class was shoved in
the back, and everything was generally smaller. The aisle was smaller; the seats were smaller, and even the ceiling seemed lower down there.

  Row 59. Seat B. She sighed as she reached her place. Other passengers around her bickered over space in the overhead compartments for their luggage. Their suitcases were much too large to be classified as hand luggage, and it surprised Lena they fit in the airplane compartments at all.

  She was too tired to laugh at their misfortune. Lena liked to travel with only a handbag as hand luggage. It always fit nicely under the seat and was never too much of a problem.

  Lena looked across Row 59 and resting against the window was the geeky man Lena had watched the news with. She tried to remember his name. Barry? she thought. Yes. Barry—that was it. He had his headphones on and a tired look on his face.

  The little annoying man who had knocked into Lena on his way to Walgreens sat in the aisle seat. Oh, how great, Lena thought. What could be better than this? She looked over her ticket again, hoping she was in the wrong place. Anywhere was better than here next to him.

  Row 59. Seat B. Lena sighed.

  She looked above the seats to check the numbers on her row and saw an uneven 59 painted above the seats. The little diagram next to the 59 showed CBA. C was the aisle seat, B was the middle seat, and A was the window seat. There were no mistakes. This was her seat.

  Lena looked up from her ticket, and Barry was smiling awkwardly at her as if he felt bad for her having to sit next to that man. Barry glanced at the overweight man, whose greasy hair looked exceptionally bald from this angle.

  Lena pointed to the torturous middle seat. “Excuse me, sir,” she began politely. “That’s my seat.”

  The man didn’t get up. Instead, he merely squeezed his legs to the side to make a gap so small that a young child couldn’t even slip by, let alone Lena.

  The man must think I’m an acrobat. Surely, he can’t think I can get through that gap. Lena thought as she stood there gawking, but the man seemed unfazed by his thoughtlessness and grew impatient. How the hell does he expect me to get past him?

  “Well, are ya going to your seat or not?” he barked.

  Lena knew to keep her raging thoughts to herself. She had to be as polite as possible although that was quite a challenge.

  “Sir, I’m not an acrobat. I cannot squeeze by in that gap,” she said sternly. Barry snorted but pretended not to hear anything when the fat man shot him an angry look.

  The man sighed much louder than needed. He slowly gripped the armrests and made a great theatrical performance of standing up slowly. He stood awkwardly for a moment as his stomach pushed heavily on the seat in front.

  He picked up one foot and mechanically stepped into the small aisle, his large shape eclipsing the entire space. He dramatically gestured to her seat, bowing his head mockingly and showing off an impressive three chins. Lena didn’t give the man the pleasure of any reaction and sat down in her middle seat.

  “I’m gunna go piss,” the fat man announced loudly.

  Great, she thought, thank you for telling us, like we even care. In fact, never come back. Lena chuckled to herself.

  “Well, it looks like Sunshine really did get out of bed on the wrong side this morning,” Barry commented as Lena settled in her seat.

  “He sure did. What a jerk!” she replied. “I mean, seriously, or am I just overreacting?”

  Barry shook his head smiling. “You’re being totally fair. He didn’t even give enough space for a hamster to get by.”

  Lena liked his sense of humor. At least she had him on her right side, or the flight would be a living nightmare. She always liked a little humor, and Barry seemed to joke about the things she liked to laugh at.

  “Here, look.” Barry motioned to his computer screen. “I used my phone as a hotspot, so I got internet.”

  Lena looked at the screen, and it seemed the same outbreaks were happening all over the world. People were fighting in the streets. Those streets differed from the ones on the TV at the airport, but it was the same thing. People jumped on each other and ripped each other to pieces, chewing them up.

  It looked so much like a movie with people literally eating others. Lena knew humans could be despicable, but could they be that bad? It was like someone was pulling the world’s most outrageous and gruesome prank.

  “No sign of riots in America yet,” Barry commented. “They’re too focused on Sunday football. I watched a top news reporter saying the biggest worry of today was if the 76ers win!”

  “The 76ers aren’t a football team, Barry. Do they mean the 49ers?” Barry shrugged at her correction, and she smiled. “No matter. If they do win though, I’ll buy you a beer.” She attempted to make the conversation a little lighter.

  “I don’t drink beer, and I don’t watch football so how would I know if they won?” Barry asked.

  Lena laughed. He really did fit the computer nerd category very well. “It’s a joke,” Lena told him. “The 49ers suck.”

  Barry nodded nervously, his eyes darting back in the computer screen’s direction. “Anyway, no crisis of zombie apocalypse yet in the States.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and focused closely on the screen, watching the news.

  Lena heard the airplane door close, and the air hostess checked the locks. “Attention, everyone. Please turn your electronics off, switch phones to airplane mode, and prepare for flight. We are almost ready for takeoff.”

  Sunshine still hadn’t returned from the toilet. An air hostess walked up the aisle, reminding people to turn their electronics off and counting each person to make sure everyone was there. She stopped at Row 59 and counted Barry and Lena.

  “Where is the passenger in Seat C?” she asked Lena.

  “He nipped to the loo,” she kindly replied. The air hostess just stared blankly at her. “The toilet?” Lena corrected herself. “He’s in the bathroom,” she added just to make sure the air hostess knew what she was talking about.

  The air hostess hurried off to find Sunshine, and Lena tried to get comfortable in her seat, but nothing she did helped. She could hear the air hostess knocking on the bathroom door. Sunshine really wasn’t making the woman’s job easy because he kept fighting back with her.

  “Sir, please. You have to take your seat. You can’t stay in there while we take off,” she repeated herself.

  “Fuck off.!” Sunshine yelled back.

  “Now sir, there really isn’t a need for such language,” she responded.

  “I’ll say whatever the fuck I want!” he screamed back.

  “You have to get back to your seat.”

  “I already told you.” He banged the door. “I’m staying in here.”

  “Sir, if you don’t come easily, I will have to use force,” she calmly called back. Passengers shuffled in their seats uncomfortably.

  After a few more exchanges, Sunshine finally pushed his way out of the tiny bathroom and back to his seat. He was dripping in sweat, and it looked like he had just joined the Mile-High Club all on his own. Lena stifled a grin, but so did the other travelers, even the air hostess was smiling into her uniform.

  Sunshine was a wreck, a sweaty, awful smelling wreck. Lena tried to help her situation by imagining how the hell Sunshine crammed himself into the airplane toilet, especially with everything being smaller in economy class.

  He slumped into his chair, pushing his arm over the entire armrest and over into Lena’s small amount of space.

  “Seriously?” Lena sputtered.

  She looked over at Sunshine, ready to fight for her space. He was already sound asleep, his mouth gaping open so Lena could see his yellowing teeth and ugly, lopsided tongue. His breath was close to putrid and stank of black coffee and stale beer mixed in with an eggy aroma. Lena had to hold her nose in fear of passing out. Even Barry had pulled his shirt over his nose.

  Thank God Barry smells good, she thought to herself. Sunshine was snoring. Lena had spent a lot of time hearing men snore. In Afghanistan, she had to jolt so m
any soldiers awake because it was so loud it could tell the enemy where they were.

  The worst snorer she remembered was the Chaplain. He was a God-fearing man, but his snoring made everyone fear getting blown up by the enemy. Sunshine’s snoring could rattle the windows. It made her want that free champagne even more. At least it would take the edge off the hangover instead of Sunshine making it progressively worse.

  Lena slid her seatbelt closed and inhaled deeply. She folded her hands over her stomach because there was no longer an armrest to lean on. Her eyes focused on the seat in front. She could see from the corner of her eye that Barry was staring at her.

  In. Out. In. Out. All she had to do was breathe, breathe in through her mouth and out through the nose. She didn’t dare inhale through her nose, not with Sunshine around.

  Lena was ready for the flight to be over with.

  This is the flight from hell.

  Chapter Three

  Sunshine had dribbled, and his saliva clung to his face. His snoring had quieted down as the flight attendants began their safety drill.

  “We will be flying over the Atlantic Ocean. If there is a need to evacuate while over the ocean, your seat cushion is also a flotation device.”

  “Do we get to keep them free of charge, or do we have to give them back after a daring rescue?” Barry whispered to Lena, and she had to stifle a laugh.

  The flight attendants continued, detailing every safety measure in great detail and where to exit if needed. Lena’s nearest exit was six rows back or fourteen rows in front. It’d be a tough choice which one to take if there was an emergency, Lena thought to herself

  “We’re trained for emergencies. Follow what we tell you and always keep calm,” they continued. “If you are seated in an exit row, we ask that you stay even calmer and that you be prepared to push the emergency exit if needed.”