by Micah Gurley
Kyle and Patrick were waiting at the inner gate along with the plant’s doctor and a few other big wigs who he didn’t know. Josh still felt the receding wave of adrenaline that had washed over him earlier. His body was still tense and felt ready to spring, but he could feel himself relaxing as normal operations began to begin around the chaos that was. He thought of his brother and suddenly just wished they were still surfing and cooking burgers out on the sand. “Bastard is probably still sleeping,” he thought.
The doctor quickly went to examine Brian's wound as the gate opened. Kyle wanted to point out the rules they were violating, but didn’t think it was a big deal so didn’t bother.
“Making it Brother?” asked Pat, his voice one of concern, which was a departure from his typical craziness. Brian gave a short reply, not really a word but an acknowledgement. Pat looked at Kyle, who gave him a shrug and led them off. “Brian doesn’t seem to be that bad off, but the guy does feel hot,” Kyle thought, as the group walked back into the protected area to find the doctor's office. He was a little out of sorts, but Brian was a big, sloppy guy to begin with. He had some blood on his shirt and pants, but it wasn’t too much. The wound had been covered by a doctor who was leading Brian with an arm.
It took eight minutes to get to the doctor’s office; Kyle could hear the sirens from the direction where the intruder had been. He was grateful not to be assigned to that mess, it being much quieter in the doctor’s office. Patrick and him were standing quietly off to one side, trying to stay out of the way and not look at the Brian’s arm.
The doctor was mumbling to himself as he was examining the patient, “You’re burning up, a very high fever.” He lectured Brian as if he had asked for it, “Were you sick when you came to work today?”
Kyle was staring at the floor, not really listening to the doctor. He was thinking of the incident, wondering at the state of the confused man. His death seemed so sudden, so pointless. It left a sour taste in his mouth to think of it. His nerves calmed and he was vaguely listening to the radio traffic that was coming through quietly on his radio.
“Doc, I’m gon...be...sick,” Brian mumbled incoherently from the hospital-like bed he was laying on. He had been stripped of all his equipment and shirt, his bulbous upper body sweating and shivering. He began to jerk on the bed, small movements at first, then rapidly they became bed-shaking movements. The doctor, franticly began to work on the patient while being knocked about by the struggling man.
“Hold him!” the doctor yelled. Kyle, feeling a little ashamed at not helping sooner, despite his helplessness, quickly went to offer assistance. He nodded to Pat to take the other side and they tried to hold his shoulders down, while trying hard to stay out of the doctor’s way.
“You should hold his tongue,” Patrick offered helpfully. “I saw it done before.” He had moved to down to hold Brian’s leg, which was threatening to kick the doctor.
“What?” Kyle asked incredulously, his face strained.”This isn’t E.R.” He could barely keep his body down. “Doc, what are we supposed to do?” The doctor continued to work, ignoring the question.
The monitor on the wall began to beep sporadically, creating a serene situation in which Kyle felt he was in a TV series. The beeping suddenly slowed, as if now finding slumber in the leisurely tone. Kyle backed away from Brian, turning to look at the doctor.
"He's alive?" Kyle asked, with hope.
"It seems that way, though his heart should not beat that slowly." The doctor continued to examine the inactive sergeant. As if hearing the last statement, the monitor breathed with new life again, its rapid peeps matching the heartbeats on the screen.
"A miracle," Patrick said, raising his hands as if he just scored the winning field kick. Though profusely sweating and tired, he seemed exultant at the news.
“I don’t understand it,” mumbled the doctor. “He went into a seizure for some reason, and now his heart is beating faster than ever.” He looked at Kyle, who for his part, gave the doctor a questioning look back. It was, however, when the doctor’s head was turned that Patrick cried for their attention.
“Doc!” Patrick yelled. “He's coming round!” Patrick, in his earnestness, ran up to Brian and began to shake his shoulders in order to help his revival.
“Move!” commanded the doctor, as he pushed Patrick out of the way. Soft moans could now be heard from Brian, which Kyle thought justified with all that he had been through.
Brian’s moaning stopped, and his eyes, which were now covered in a milky-white covering, landed on the doctor. Kyle, startled, jumped back to collide with the wall behind him. He started to instantly feel shame for the act, only to see Brian lean up and grab the doctor by the hair. Brianpulled the thin doctor down and bit him deeply on the cheek. Kyle could hear the sound of teeth digging into flesh, fresh bright blood spurted and flowed everywhere. The doctor, struggling to free himself from the bite, let out a piercing scream. His efforts were futile though as Brian had temporarily gotten a mouth full and had leaned back to chew the fresh meat.
Kyle watched from beside the wall in shock and disbelief. He was seeing it but still couldn’t grasp what was happening. Patrick, behind the doctor, obviously was going through the same thing, though his ever-present dialogue could be heard filled with colorful profanities.
The moment passed and Kyle Jumped forward to help the doctor get free from Brian’s grasp. He grabbed Brian’s arm near the elbow and tried to pull it back from the doctor who was still being forced down by the grip on his hair. Blood was dripping down, covering both arms, making Kyle’s grip tenuous at best. Once he had a grip on Brian’s smeared arm he pulled it back, only succeeding in pulling the doctor along with it. Brian’s grip was like steel. Brian turned his face toward Kyle who was almost leaning all the way over him. Milky eyes locked onto him, and he stopped chewing and opened his mouth to make a low guttural sound. His other arm came up from the table to grab Kyle who was inches above him. Kyle panicked and jerked back from the strong grip, getting lucky that his arm was slick with blood. His panicked jerk sent him crashing into the cement wall behind him, causing him to almost lose his balance.
Kyle, now regaining more control over his own shaken emotions, controlled his panic and leaned forward, to once again grab the arm that was holding the doctor. He was careful to grab it around the wrist so that he could get a better grip. Using Brian’s own method, he grabbed a hand full of Brian's greasy black hair. Kyle's grip, although solid, didn't allow him much other movement. He was simply holding on.
The door to the office slammed open as Yolanda came barreling through. Her face registered surprise, then disgust, as she took in what was happening.
“Patrick!”bellowed Kyle in a commanding tone. “Knock him out!” Patrick looked quickly at Kyle and then at the thing that was Brian.
”With what?” he yelled, sounding panicked and scared. He was beginning to unclip his 9mm when Yolanda pushed past him and slammed the back of her rifle butt down on the Brian’s head. Brian’s head jerked down from the impact, the back part of his head taking the brunt of the strike. As quickly as that his hand opened and the doctor lurched backward, his face a mass of torn and bleeding flesh.
Kyle also moved back from Brian after letting him and doctor go. He was watching as Brian lifted his head. No blood was evident from the hit to the head. His thickly-covered eyes made Kyle think of his grandmother’s eyes and she was legally blind.
Brian lay motionless on the table in front of them, his mouth, neck, and chest covered in blood and gore. His face was frozen in a contorted gargoyle pose. “He is no longer human,” Kyle thought. He wasn’t sure if Brian was dead already but this was…well he wasn’t sure. Kyle burst out laughing at the thought that he was a zombie and cursed himself for his inability to do anything but laugh in difficult situations.
His mind flashed back to his first serious girlfriend, she had sucked on his tongue while they were kissing and he was so surprised that he started to laugh. The kissing
session ended and his awareness had begun of a problem he needed to get a hold of.
His wayward attention returned to Brian on the table. He began to move. His movements were jerky and unsteady, his laughter died quickly. Kyle looked up to see Patrick and Yolanda staring at him and then at Brian. Their faces serious and full of something Kyle couldn’t place. He tensed as Brian began to rise from the table. Kyle wasn’t sure what was going on, but something was wrong here and he needed to make a decision.
“Yolanda, Patrick get out of here now!” he said, moving quickly around the table to the sick looking doctor who was still leaning weakly on a table. “I’m right behind you.”
He seized the doctor’s frail arm and pulled him up to his feet. The doctor made to speak but was cut off as he was bodily jerked toward the door. Kyle slightly turned his head to catch a glimpse of Brian on the other side of the bed, beginning to get up. A glimpse was all he needed, he pushed the doctor through the door into the arms of a waiting Patrick. He grabbed the handle on the way and pulled the door closed as he went through. He quickly reached down to the security keys on his belt; his fingers fumbled as he went through the keys. Found it. He grabbed the correct key and quickly locked the door to the outside. He had just released a sigh when the door shuddered from an impact. Brian had run into the door from the other side. Kyle could see his upper body through the small rectangular-shaped window in the door.
Chapter 5
“Yolanda, call the sergeant and tell him what happened. Patrick stay here and watch this door. No one gets in, something is not right here,” Kyle finished and began leading the doctor away. “I’m gonna drop the doctor in the nurse’s office down the hall.
“Hurry Kyle, I want to get away from him, he’s gone crazy!” Patrick yelled from down the hall. Kyle could hear the report over the radio from Yolanda. The radio had been full of reports and chatter since this morning’s incident, half of which he hadn’t been listening to. His thoughts were of what was happening. He thought of the virus that was reported this morning, and tried to think of the details that were mentioned on the radio, but his thoughts were slow in coming. He wasn’t sure if this was it, but if it was, he needed to warn his brother. He didn’t want to overreact, but he couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to him.
“You gonna make it Doc?” he asked. The man was not looking good and Kyle was to the point where he was going to have to pick him up if he didn’t help move his own weight.
“Feel sick,” he complained. “Sounds about right,” Kyle thought, “I feel sick just looking at it.” He was able to make it to the nurse’s office with the anchor-like doctor. He opened the door and moved him into a decent size room with two middle-aged woman sitting at their desks.
“Had an accident in his office,” he stated, and sat the doctor down on a chair. He recounted what had happened and told them he would be back to check on them, and if they needed anything to call security. He walked back out of the office and down the hall to find Patrick leaning against a wall. Patrick gave him a sloppy salute and Kyle smiled and gave a small nod. “Give me a minute,” he said loud enough for his voice to carry down the hallway. He needed to check in with his brother.
Kyle walked away from Patrick and walked to the door at the other end of the hallway. He opened it and walked outside to the smoking area. He pulled out his phone and a cigarette. He lit the cigarette and dialed his brother.
“What’s up Bro?” came the question from the phone. “Shouldn’t you be guarding something? Kyle smiled; his brother knew what he usually did out here, nothing.
“I’m on it,” he replied. He didn’t have a lot of time. “Hey, have you seen or heard anything weird going on, anything about a virus going around?”
“Yeah, last night up in Virginia but you were watching that with me,” he said a little groggily.
“Today! Anything new?” he refrained from calling him an idiot.
“Not really, but I haven’t been up that long, it’s only ten-ish. I’ll turn the news on.” Kyle could hear the TV turn on and the channels being flipped. He tried to wait patiently as his brother was watching the news. He wasn’t that great at being patient with Abe. For some reason he could give all kinds of patience to other people, but when it came to his brother things were just more annoying.
“Anything?” he asked loudly over the phone.
“What’s your problem?” he sniped. “I’m doing you a favor here.”
“Sorry, I’m just a little stressed.”
“Anyway,” he ignored the apology. “There is something about riots in a few cities. Wait. There is a local warning at the bottom of the screen telling people to stay inside, and that if you are feeling sick to call this number.
“Abe, I think that virus is already here at the plant, and it does stuff to people. We had to shoot a guy this morning and he didn’t stay dead until he was shot in the head. Then another guy was bit and got the crazy fever, and bit someone else. It’s here!” he was almost shouting from excitement and fear.
“Zombie-land man,” he said, and laughed over the phone. Kyle couldn’t believe the idiot was laughing about it. “Hey, let’s grill some steaks tonight.”
“I’m serious Brother, I saw the guy get shot and saw the other one get sick and bite someone’s face right in front of me!” he was screaming now. A plant employee who was walking to another building looked at him as he walked. Kyle started to give him an impolite sign, but just turned away.
“I remember when you sent a police officer to knock to on my door and warn me about an imminent earthquake,” Abe started in a lecturing voice, “and that I needed to get packed and get to the local school gym. When I got there with a bag full of clothes I was almost arrested because they thought I was a terrorist, or was going to blow up the school. And you were in Iraq at the time! Now, I am supposed to believe you shot a zombie?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, and everything that had happened today, Kyle burst out laughing. That had kept him laughing for weeks and made being in Iraq easier. He was even able to get surveillance video of his brother being put in handcuffs at the school. Damn his awesome sense of humor! But he needed to let his brother know he was serious.
“Brother, I swear on Mom I’m not kidding. I promise! Look on the news, something is happening and it’s spreading. You need to get packed right now.” He hoped he got through, if not he was going to get tough with his little brother.
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked sarcastically, “go buy a survival guide from the bookstore?” Abe wasn’t sure if he believed his brother at this point, but he thought the sarcasm in the form of a question was a beginning.
Kyle decided to ignore the sarcasm, “Look, I’m going to leave work and grab some things from the store on the way home. You need to pack up your truck with everything you can. Start with the guns, camping gear, outdoor clothes, and then water and some food.” He was trying to think of what else they might need. “Then I’ll meet you and we’ll head for Dad’s.” Their father lived about two hours away in a small town of about 8,000 people. Their entire extended family, the country version, also lived there as most of them had never left the county.
Abe was struck by how serious his brother was being. He wasn’t often like this about anything. He could ever remember his joking sense of humor at their cousin’s funeral about ten years ago. He knew that it was just how he dealt with things, but he thought it was irritating and irreverent. “All right, I’m not sure if it’s as serious as you think it is, but I’ll start getting things ready.
“I’m not sure either Brother, but I’m afraid it is. Also, go to that redneck station down the street. Buy out their gas containers and fill them up. And hook up to my neighbor’s trailer, if it has a lock on it just break it. I can explain later if I need to.” He paused thinking if there was anything else. “Do this stuff quickly Abe and go ahead and strap on the 45, the shells are in the closet with the gun belt.
“You really thi
nk that is necessary?” Abe asked. “I can’t go walking into the gas station with a gun on my hip.”
“You can and you had better,” Kyle demanded. “Better to be safe than sorry.” He turned as he heard the door he had exited, open and slam. Patrick was coming, followed by Yolanda. “Look Brother, I have to go. I’m going to try and leave in forty-five minutes, say 10:45. That means I’ll be home at around 11:15 hopefully. If you don’t hear from me, stay there. I’ll come to you. Be careful and watch out for crazy people. If they can’t talk to you, shoot them in the head.
“You’re crazy,” Abe said. He was now thinking his brother had gone off the deep end. It wasn’t’ like him to talk such nonsense.
“Trust me, okay?” Kyle pleaded. He felt the other two walk up beside him. “I’ll see you in a little over an hour hopefully, get everything ready.”
All right, but if you’re ruining my last day of surfing for another practical joke I’m gonna kill you.” He hung up the phone. Kyle closed his and wondered if his brother really believed him, and would he have everything ready? He will, Kyle decided just as quickly. He had better, I’m the older brother after all.
Chapter 6
“You’re leaving?” asked Patrick, curious. “I’m not sure they’re going to let you off with what is happening.” Patrick didn’t think Kyle had a shot in hell of getting out of here. He should know, had tried every sick scheme in the book, and knew when it was a good time to give it a try.
“They have no choice in the matter, I’ll quit if I need to,” Kyle answered. He started walking away from the door and to the path that led around the building. The grass and bushes were perfectly cut and manicured, a nice place to walk.
“You guys get relieved?” he asked. He had heard both of them being called a few minutes ago, but since it wasn’t his call number for the day he hadn’t paid attention.
