Outbreak: Tales from the Quarantine Zone

by Robert Van Dusen

  They took off across the street narrowly avoiding a truck and then a taxi cab. They ran and ran for blocks until Joy grabbed Nick's sleeve and pulled him to the left. “The marina's this way!” she shouted over her shoulder.

  Nick glanced over his shoulder. Bethany slowed and then stopped standing there staring at him for a few long seconds before she collapsed to the pavement. “Joy! Wait a minute!” he shouted as he went back to the young woman and crouched in front of her. “C'mon. Just a little farther, alright?” She was pale and glanced up at him through half opened eyes. “Don't worry. We'll get to the boat and then you can rest. Just hold on a little longer, okay?”

  Bethany started trembling, the woman's eyes rolling back in her head. Nick tried to hold her down while shouting for his wife. This thick white foam started oozing out of the corners of Bethany's mouth and she started to cough as it filled her mouth. Unsure of what else to do Nick rolled the woman onto her side to hopefully let the stuff fall out so she would not choke.

  Joy stood there staring at her husband. Bethany was having some kind of seizure. This...this...they did not cover this in the First Aid class. The young woman gave a few more ragged gasps, kicked her running shoes against the pavement then stiffened and went limp. “Fuck...fuck...” Nick muttered as he stood up and backed away from Bethany's corpse. Jesus Christ I wanted to fuck this girl not even an hour ago. Nick blushed slightly at the thought.

  Nick started towards his wife. “C'mon!” he shouted as he took her hand and pulled her after him down the street. He could not believe their luck: about half a block away there was one of those little rice burner hatchbacks idling. As they got closer Nick could see why the car was left where it was. A couple of people were crouched over a corpse digging around in the body's insides like greedy children tearing apart a giant pinata filled with offal.

  “Go! Go!” Nick shouted as he practically shoved his wife towards the passenger side of the vehicle. He scrambled behind the wheel and slammed the door making one of the people turn his head look at him for a few skin crawling seconds before it struggled drunkenly to his feet. Nick glanced at Joy to make sure she was inside with her door shut before throwing the gearshift into first and taking off.

  A shudder ran through the young woman's corpse on the sidewalk like a car's engine turning over. Her eyes opened as her fingers clenched and extended. Long lines of frothy drool clung to the corners of her mouth as she sat up an looked around, the young woman's head swiveling mechanically on her neck. Was that somebody ducking into the alley down the block? A low groan escaped Bethany's lungs as she clambered to her feet. More of the foam in her mouth and throat dribbled down her chin and stained her top as she stumbled off in pursuit. Her steps were shaky as if she had been drinking heavily all night long and fell flat on her face landing with an audible snap when she tripped over the curb on the opposite side of the street.

  Her nose and two of her front teeth had broken on the pavement but no blood flowed as Bethany managed to get her feet under her again. Now a slave to the misfiring neurons in her infected brain, the young woman's corpse noticed something else and shuffled off. The food was out there. She had to find it. She was so hungry...

  Escape Plan

  11 July 2011 12:20 hours Newington, New Hampshire

  We did the right thing. Mike Tully told himself as he tried to keep awake. They had been flying since yesterday afternoon and all through the night since the shit went down at FOB Freedom. What a stupid fuckin' name that was, anyways. A bunch of Jarheads, Squids and FEMA employees crammed in with all these goddamn civvies. It was only a matter of time before they started tearing each other apart and then some goddamn genius let zed walk right through the front door. Fuck that noise! Mike grumbled internally. Not when you got your own personal Black Hawk waiting gassed up and ready to go right outside on the tarmac.

  So when things went to shit he and Nick Black, his copilot, did like they had talked about as soon as the shooting started: they grabbed what weapons, ammo and gear they could lay hands on along with a few friends then piled in the bird and took off. There was that little brunette Blue Diamond intern with the nice ass, Alexandra, who had shacked up with Nick along with Bob Wilkes and Ray Faulkner, two Delta guys that Mike remembered from those crazy days playing flying taxi for grunts all over the Middle East and East Africa. His own girl, Jana, was in the passenger compartment too. While Alex had a better ass Jana was a redhead with a better rack...and Mike had to admit that he had always had a weakness for redheads.

  “Alright folks, this is your captain speaking.” Mike said into the boom mike attached to his helmet. He looked around and spotted what he was looking for. There was an airport right on the other side of the highway where they could hopefully score some fuel for the trip south. “We're coming in to Portsmouth International Airport. I'd like to remind everyone to please keep their hands and feet inside until we are safely on the ground. Thanks for flying with us this afternoon and have a great day.”

  In the back Bob and Ray looked at each other and rolled their eyes then checked their weapons one last time. They were going to provide security for the flyboys while they gassed up the bird provided the fuel point looked safe after a flyby.

  Nick and Mike scanned the ground ahead while Bob manned the door gun. Ray had his leg braced against the other door secured with a safety line to the floor of the compartment with his 'baby' ready to go at a moment's notice. Ray's 'baby' being an M14 EBR with a 3-12x scout scope mounted to it that cost more than some people's cars. However he did hit an insurgent in the eye through the sight of the guy's RPG at five hundred yards with this rifle. Tough to do that with a car.

  Mike frowned at the sight of a half dozen black specks wandering along on the white concrete below that stopped as the chopper got close. He could almost picture those fish belly white eyes locking on laser like to the dark green thing making all the racket over their heads. “Looks fairly deserted.” Ray shouted over the bird's intercom “I say we stop. Maybe take a look around for a little while.”

  Nick and Mike looked at each other and Nick nodded. “Alright folks. We'll be on the ground in a few minutes.” Mike said as he steered the chopper towards what looked like the fuel point. The airport's transponder had pinged on the Black Hawk's sensors so this was likely the closest place to get gas before getting near New York. And fuck New York. They were going to give the Big Apple a wide berth if he had anything to say about it.

  The girls stayed in the bird and Nick stayed in his copilot's seat. Mike topped off the gas tank while the two former Delta operators pulled security. After a tense couple of minutes that had seemed to draw about a dozen or so creatures like shit draws flies they had the chopper as full as Mike was willing to get it. They had a good supply of ammo but not an infinite supply so getting while the getting was good seemed the better option.

  “The fuck?” Nick wondered aloud. What he had taken for one of the things standing on the roof of a building of some little shitbird city...but it looked like it picked something up. Nick and Mike looked at each other wide eyed for a half second when a familiar pinging noise like hail on the side of the bird reached them over the rotor noise. “Somebody's fuckin' shooting at us! Gentlemen, care to do something about that?!”

  Mike upped the throttle and started trying to bob and weave hoping to make them a harder target. Another burst of gunfire pinged and whined off the metal of the exterior followed by the bird pulling hard to the right and warning bells chirping all over the control panel. “Fuck! Asshole hit a hydraulic line!” Mike shouted as he wrestled with the now semi useless control stick.

  “Fuck! Looks like we're coming in hard!” Nick shouted as he spared a glance over his shoulder at the others in the passenger compartment. “Buckle the fuck up and hold on!” The pilots wrestled with the controls somehow managing to get the nose up and slow down some... Mike spotted a somewhat open looking field that might have been a city park upon a time.

  “Let's put her down th
ere!” Mike shouted over the whining dying noises the engine was making. “Hang on! This is going to fucking suck!” In the back Bob checked his own safety belts then reached across the compartment and made sure the two women were strapped in. He waved frantically to make sure he had their attention then demonstrated how to protect yourself in a crash.

  Jana squeezed her eyes shut and started praying. The helicopter struck the dirt hard then rolled and rolled there was a god awful screeching and rumbling, dust and great clods of dirt flying around... The woman opened her eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was hanging upside down. “Mike!?” she shouted and coughed on the dust filling the air. Bob pulled a knife and cut through his seatbelts grumbling and cursing when he landed on the ceiling now floor of the passenger compartment. He looked around then came over to Jana.

  “Hold still, darlin'.” he said as he slashed through her restraints then caught the woman as she tumbled into his arms. The two of them exchanged a nervous glance at the sound working its way down inside the wreck. The low groaning moan of a bunch of zombies coming closer. “Grab what you can. We gotta move!”

  A half heartbeat later Ray had himself out of his own belts and was helping that Alex chick down. “Watch the hands, buddy.” she warned. Ray had to chuckle as they started scrambling around the compartment looking for gear. He had not meant to brush his hand against her tit but hey...fuckin' bonus, right?

  “C'mon Ray!” Bob shouted as he struggled to reach the cockpit. “Let's get the flyboys and get the fuck outta here!” The windscreen of the cockpit was spider webbed with cracks and fuck...there was blood all over. Shit... Bob thought angrily. Somebody was hurt bad and the cockpit was smashed up like Godzilla had used it for a chew toy.

  “Forget about it, Ray.” Mike said with a small grin once the big former Delta operator wormed his way inside. The pilot glanced down at his legs which were pinched between the seat and a piece of the fuselage, the lower half of the man's flight suit covered in dark red blood. “I'm stuck as fuck and Nick's dead.”

  “Goddamnit...” Ray grumbled as he moved to check on the copilot. A big fucking stick or something was jammed into Nick's throat which explained where all the blood came from. “They're coming, Mike. I...I'm sorry...”

  “Do me a favor, Ray.” Mike said as he reached around on his side of the ruined cockpit and found his M11A1 in its shoulder holster. “Nick had a pistol under his jacket. Gimme it.” Ray nodded and fished around under the dead man's leather bomber jacket finding a Glock 22 and a couple spare mags then handed it to the pilot. “Keep Jana safe, alright?”

  Ray nodded then opened a small pouch on his plate carrier. “Here. When it gets too close just pull the pin and let go.” the man said as he gave the pilot a hand grenade. There was an uneasy silence as the two men looked at each other for a long moment. Mike had pulled Ray and his team out of a hairy fucking firefight in Afghanistan back in 2008...this was the best he could do under the circumstances. He shook the pilot's hand and smiled. “Give 'em hell.”

  Mike laughed. “All the hell I got to spare.” he muttered as he shoved the big guy back into the passenger compartment. The pilot could not help but feel this strange sense of...what was it? Nostalgia? Deja vu? It was just like that movie he had seen as a kid, Black Hawk Down, when the Delta guys rappelled in to try and keep the Somalis off the downed helicopter long enough for help to arrive for the guys trapped inside.

  Fuck that. Bob and Ray were good guys and they had the girls to look after. They were not gonna stay here and die for him. “Go on! Get the fuck outta here!” Mike shouted.

  When Ray climbed back into the compartment he found it empty. “Ray! Get Nick and Mike and let's get the fuck out!” Bob shouted from outside the destroyed chopper. “We're drawing a fucking crowd here!”

  “Holy fuckballs.” Ray muttered under his breath as soon as he scrambled over the bent barrels of the Black Hawk's minigun and got a look around. There were at least fifty slouching, moaning forms slowly gimping towards the wreck drawn by the noise of the bird crashing like sharks to a whale carcass. He noticed that they had crash landed in, of all places, what looked like a graveyard. Zombies in a fuckin' graveyard. Ray thought with a little bit of humor Fuckin' figures. Bob tossed Ray his assault pack which he had pulled out of the cargo hold like he was chest passing a basketball. “You guys got your shit? Let's fuckin' motor.” Ray said as he threw on the pack and secured the chest strap. The women already had their small first day of school backpacks on. The side of the brunette...Alex's face was covered in blood, probably from a scalp wound. Bob was making one last check of the cargo compartment to make sure they had everything.

  “Where's Mike?” Jana asked. She juggled the shotgun that Bob had handed her as she tried to buckle the ammunition belt for it around her slim waist. The woman's brown eyes searched the big army guy's face for a moment, swallowing hard.

  “He's dead.” Ray said quickly. He spared a glance at Bob before turning to face the incoming horde. “They both died in the crash. Ready?” Bob had fished the last bits of kit he could get out of the cargo compartment then gave the two women a gentle shove. The zombies were closing in and they had to move. They could grief for their men later or join them right now.

  A disturbing thought came to Ray as they hurried away from the crash site and into a stand of tall oak trees. Thankfully they had gotten out of the wreck and away before the zombies had gotten too thick. There were still tons of them around but there was enough space for the four of them to rush through without any of them having to get too close. Whoever had shot them down might come looking to try and scavenge whatever supplies they could find in the wreck. They might try to capture them to find out where they had come from.

  Alex stopped when a shot rang out behind them. Then another. “Oh my god!” she gasped and turned to face the noise. Two more quick shots rang out, drawing the zombies away from them and towards the destroyed helicopter. “We have to go back! Nick might still be alive!”

  “No.” Ray said flatly. “There's nothing we can do for him now. We gotta go, Alex.”

  Realization dawned on the woman's face. “You left him, didn't you?” she shouted and shoved the man hard. “DIDN'T YOU!?”

  Ray rolled his eyes in disbelief. “We can't do this now.” he said quickly. A couple zombies took notice of the girl's shouting and started coming towards them through the trees. “C'mon, girl. We gotta go. I'm sorry but we gotta go now.” He did not shout but used the inflection of his voice to try to get through to the panicking woman.

  There were more shots. Maybe Mike was trying to draw the creatures to him so they could get away. Lure them in so he could hopefully take a bunch out at one time with the grenade. After what seemed like ages Alex nodded dumbly. “Okay...okay...” she muttered and the three of them were off. Once they were through the trees they emerged at the crest of a long low hill covered in dirt and bits of gravel and small rocks.

  Gravel crunched underfoot as they put more space between themselves and the wreck. The gunshots faded... Ray held his breath for a pregnant second... There was a muffled BOOM! Alex started to cry but kept walking behind Jana. Bob brought up the rear, casting glances over his shoulder at the maybe half dozen or so zombies that appeared out of the trees at the top of the hill behind them. Gonna have to do something about that... the man thought as he trudged onward. They would have to stop eventually and those things would not.

  “Got a bunch behind us, Ray.” Bob said just loud enough for the man at the head of the formation to hear him. “We should pick up the pace. Try to find some transpo outta here.” The gravel and loose dirt made them take their time picking their way down the hill. The zombies were not so careful: one lost its footing and rolled down the hill for a few feet. Jana could not help but snicker at the sight of the almost pitiful thing rolling around in the dirt.

  Alex turned at the noise and all of a sudden the ground went out from under her feet. With a yelp she tumbled ass over elbows down the hil
l and the shotgun went off when the butt struck a rock. Alex finally managed to stop herself and got to her feet, dusting herself off and looking around. Jana stood there still as a statue while Bob was hunched over something...no...somebody on the ground... “Oh fuck...oh fuck...” Alex muttered under her breath.

  The charge of buckshot had struck Ray in the chest and neck, nearly decapitating the man. Rich arterial blood pumped out of the gaping wounds while Bob tried do what he could to stop the bleeding. “Fuck...fuck...FUCK!” the big man bellowed at the sky. He knelt there for a half moment before standing slowly and walking towards Alex.

  He found the woman's shotgun on the ground so he stopped and picked it up. Rage flooded his system when he saw that the dumb fucking bitch had been walking around with the fucking safety off on her fucking weapon. Bob took the weapon by the barrel and at first Jana thought that he was going to hand it back to her.

  The big man swung the shotgun like a baseball bat smashing the stock into the side of the woman's head. Alex crumpled to the ground the side of her head now a mask of gore. Bob spat on her then glanced up at the zombies now only a few dozen paces away. “Dumb bitch.” He looked like he was going to hit her again and then thought better of it. The big man stormed over to Ray's corpse and liberated it of the weapons and ammunition he could find quickly. He thrust Ray's weapon and a few magazines into Jana's hands. “Try to fuckin' keep up.”

  Jana stared at Alex. The woman made this weird sick moaning sound as if she were trying to say something. Alex's blue eyes were crossed and...and...could she see her fucking brain? Was that her fucking brain? Alex fumbled weakly reaching out for help. The zombies were getting closer... Bob squeezed Jana's arm and pulled her after him for a few paces.