Alpha of the Omega

by Corona, A. M.

  “Well Sergeant Hobbs what if it is a virus. Like in the movies where the people are running into danger and don’t know it. You know those zombie movies where the dead come back to life and stuff. Man that would be one hell of a ride if that happened.” Hobbs just turned and looked at the man studying his features and the expression on Bellman’s face which gleamed with excitement. “You watch too many movies Bellman.” “You know what if this small town has a secret underground lab where they do experiments and shit. Then the virus gets out and wreaks havoc upon the unknowing innocent people. I am not saying this is what is happening but damn what if it was true and we will be in a world of shit then. Just imagine there would be a breakdown of society and the world as we know it would slowly vanish away. What if this is part of the Discovery crashing down?” Hobbs just let the young man ramble on and just nodded his head now and again to appear as if he was paying attention.

  From a distance Hobbs could see the night sky filled with what appeared to be fire. Was the town on fire? What happened? Thoughts just raced through his mind as he tried to picture several scenarios in his head. He tried to quickly plan for the next move in case one of those scenarios came true. “Halt the vehicle,” said Hobbs. Bellman without hesitation took his foot of the rectangle gas pedal and placed it on the square brake pedal pushing it down until the vehicle came to a halt. Bellman lowered his head and peered into the sky. “What-the-fuck-is-going-on?” came the words slowly out of Bellman’s mouth in shock and disbelief. Hobbs immediately picked up the mic and spoke into it. “Beerman this is Tiger over.” The radio was silent. Again Hobbs spoke into the mic. “Beerman this is Tiger over.” The radio kept silent. Hobbs gut just dropped ten floors. “Get the fuck over there,” commanded Hobbs, as he pointed in the northern direction. Bellman quickly shifted his foot from the break to the gas pedal pressing it to the floor. The Humvee responded as the vehicle lurched forward and roared to life. As they got closer Hobbs got a better picture of what was going on. It appeared the soldiers were firing into the crowd as he saw small flashes of light that came from each soldier’s muzzles.

  Bellman parked the vehicle. As soon as Bellman stopped the Humvee a soldier came running towards them. Hobbs got out. “Sergeant we need your men over there,” as the soldier pointed in the easterly direction. “We are trying to contain the infected but they just keep coming. We have been ordered to shoot all infected. They are trying to break through the quarantine and you need to shoot them in the head to kill them. The fence bewildered Hobbs the logistical undertaking to get the fence up that went around the whole town was an amazing feat.

  Bellman came running up. “See I told you sarge, zombies.” Hobbs looked at Bellman. “I sure hope not or else we will be in a world of hurt”. The other two soldiers made their way to Hobbs and Bellman. “Follow me,” said Hobbs. He ran in the easterly direction where the previous soldier indicated as he ran he shouted, “You need to shoot them in the head. Kill all that get near the fence. Protect the civilians if possible.” As the men made it to the first section that was open Hobbs noticed the gruesome faces the infected had. They all had blood pouring out of their mouths. Their eyes had a glossy shine that gave Hobbs the chills. Hobbs pulled out his first magazine and popped it into the well of the rifle. He pulled back the charging handle at the top which loaded his first round. He looked up at the fence and there was a child with pig tails and she carried a tiny ragged teddy bear. She was different he could tell. There was something about her face that set her apart from the others. Then it hit him she had Downs Syndrome. She wore a mermaid gown that had a big glob of blood that ran down her mouth, her neck and onto her shirt. She was still chewing on whatever poor soul she managed to kill. Hobbs raised his rifle to fire but paused. What am I doing he thought to himself. This is just a poor little girl. He mulled the idea in his head if he should shoot or not. He then shouted to the girl, “You need to move back or I will shoot.” The girl just turned her head giving a quizzical look and just gnashed her teeth. She reached through the fence in hopes of landing her next prey. Damn it thought Hobbs. “You need to step back or I will be forced to fire.” There was a long pause when all of a sudden as if in slow motion he was able to see the bullet that entered the skull leaving a hole as blood and brain matter exited out the back of her head. The bear fell to the ground and her body void of life fell to the ground. Bellman tapped Hobbs on the shoulder. “You can’t think man, they are zombies there is no way to reason with them. Hobbs looked back at the fence and there was another infected that shambled his way to the fence. It was tripping over the already dead infected bodies and tried to stand again moving forward a little bit and fell over another dead body.

  Hobbs froze for a moment. He had been in combat and served two tours one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. He was used to seeing dead bodies. This was different; these were Americans that succumbed to some sort of pathogen that turned them. This was no fault of their own. These were not insurgents trying to take over or drive them out. This was America. This battle was happening on American soil. There was nothing he could do about it now. This pathogen had to be contained by all means necessary even if it was to kill them all. Compartmentalize he told himself as he inhaled and slowly exhaled.

  Hobbs once again raised his rifle and placed it into one of the holes in the chain link fence to help keep the rifle steady as he aimed. He looked down the rifle and matched up the front site post inside the small hole that he peered through. As he located his first target he took a small breath and waited for the natural pause between breathes. He slowly squeezed the trigger. His first shot struck the infected right in the shoulder. The infected’s body jerked back almost knocking it off of its feet and the infected returned will a moan taunting Hobbs. Hobbs took another breathe paused and fired again. The infected’s head flew backwards and it fell to the ground. There was more and more infected heading their way. One by one Hobbs took aim and fired in their direction sometimes making a head shot and others into the chest or arms.

  Then with a click Hobbs’ rifle was out of rounds. Hobbs with his trigger finger pressed the small button on the side of the rifle to release the magazine. The magazine fell to the ground and Hobbs reached into his front pouch of his vest to grab another magazine and inserted it into the well of the rifle. He pressed the small lever towards the top of the rifle releasing the charging handle locking another round in the chamber. Sweat was starting to drip down his forehead and into his left eye. He rubbed his eye hoping the small sting would go away. He took another breath and started firing again.

  Hobbs could not believe what was happening. These infected seem like the immortals from the Persian army. Every time he was able to put one down there was another one to takes its place. There seemed to be no end in sight. Hobbs was running out of ammo and the ammo runners were becoming few and far between. How much longer could his weapon holdout. His hands were already feeling the heat from the barrel of the weapon through his gloves.

  The beautiful chemical that soared through his body was beginning to lessen its affect. The body could not produce anymore adrenaline and he could tell. His hands started to shake. He stopped sweating indicating that his body was starting to overheat. The heat from the rifle started to burn through his leather gloves and started to sear his fingers and palms. The next few rounds went wild in different directions because the barrel of the rifle was overheating making his shots inaccurate. What could he do? There was no way that he could stop firing but now his shots ineffective. “Slow down,” he told himself out loud. “Fast is slow, slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” as he repeated the words several times. He tried to take a deep breaths to calm himself down but each breath was heavy and the sticky hot air only half filled his lungs.

  He thought he heard screaming down the line but it was hard to tell with all the gunfire and the loud moans of the infected. “Can’t worry about that now,” he tried to tell himself. I need to maintain my sector of fire. Then he thought he heard shouts
that seemed to get muffled into gargles. Hobbs felt a tug on his shoulder. He thought, this is the end as he quickly turned to see his attacker. It was Cowan! “Hobbs we need to get out of here. The fences have been breached and an air strike has already been called in.” Cowan’s words fell on deaf ears. Cowan just repeated the words. “WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE THEY ARE CALLING IN AN AIRSTRIKE!” said Cowan, as he was pulling on Hobbs to get him moving. Hobbs finally came too. He looked around and there were soldiers running. Some were being eaten alive by the infected others were running towards wherever they thought was safe. Hobbs felt an urgency to try and help his fellow comrades but what could he do? They were over run and the infected were still coming. “Damn it!” said Hobbs out loud, as he turned and headed for the closest Humvee. As they ran Hobbs actions were labored from fatigue and dehydration. The infected were not too far behind him. They had their arms outwards reaching for him but he managed to stay ahead of them.

  Then all a sudden he could feel the tug on his vest he dropped his rifle as he unceremoniously fell to the ground. He rolled over onto his back to face his attacker. The infected still grabbing onto his vest tried to pull itself closer and Hobbs could smell death on its breath. The blood from its mouth dripping clots of blood onto his vest near his neck. Hobbs reached up against the infected. He could feel the blood and the soft flesh as his hands went straight through the belly of the creature. The spine of the infected ripped the back part of its flesh as it tried to pull itself closer to its victim. It was inches away now. The rotting meat smell came from the infected’s mouth and body was overwhelming. Hobbs threw up in his mouth and gagged for a moment.

  Cowan ran over and struck the infected right in the temple with the butt of his rifle cracking the skull as it gave way the brain matter and blood fell on Hobbs face. The infected’s body went limp. Hobbs desperately wiped the infected matter off his face. Hobbs pushed off the infected turned around and got to his feet grabbed his rifle and ran. Cowan ran around the front of the Humvee pushed down the black handle and opened the door. In a hurry Cowan sat down in the driver’s seat. The heavy five hundred pound door came crashing down on his left ankle with a pop sound. The pain and fire feeling ran up his leg as he screamed. He pushed the door open and pulled his leg in. He turned the ignition switch on the Humvee not waiting for the warm up light to come on. “Damn it,” he said. He noticed there was a chain and lock that only allowed little bit of play in the steering wheel. Who the fuck would lock the Humvee in a situation as this he thought to himself? He would have to make do with what he had. Hobbs opened the Humvee door got in and slammed it behind him. The infected pressed against the door smearing the windows with blood. Cowan hit the gas pedal. The Humvee lurched forward knocking down the infected that was in the front of the Humvee. He was able to get a few yards forward when the Humvee seemed like it was stuck. Cowan stepped on the break and shifted the gears into neutral. He then shifted the transfer case into low and shifted the gear into first. He stepped again on the gas pedal and the Humvee moved forward once again.

  Cowan tried to move the steering wheel left as much as possible because the chain restricted the steering. The Humvee began its slow turn to the left with the speed of the Humvee the car was close to tipping over. When all of a sudden there was a loud boom that came from the direction of the town. Cowan’s head slammed against the bullet proof window as the Humvee flipped on its side and everything went dark.

  Chapter 2 – The International Space Station

  “Hey precious do you enjoy that?” asked Travis. He loved his granddaughter she was the love of his life. She was a chubby baby who had a full head of black hair and blue eyes. She cooed every time he would bounce her on his knee. She gave her grandfather a big smile showing her gums. Travis rubbed his stubbly chin on her neck and she giggled. Travis looked up and saw the television airing a special about military training in various countries. He loved to watch military specials since he was a combat engineer during Vietnam. He had seen some hard times and was only one of two of his original platoon that made it out of Vietnam. He was always extremely resilient and was surprised that his PTSD was very mild in comparison to others who he talked to at the VA. The show was interrupted by an emergency broadcast. The loud noise caused Luna to cry. “SSSHH little sugar plum it’s just the TV.” He bounced her to get her to stop crying.

  There were two anchor personnel a woman on the left and a young man on the right. The woman was dressed in a dark blue suit and the man was in a black suit with a pink shirt and black tie. “We are here to interrupt your program for an emergency broadcast.” No shit Sherlock thought Travis. “For those who are able to evacuate should do so immediately. If you are unable to evacuate then lock your doors and stay inside. The military or emergency service personnel will come by and pick you up. Make sure you have plenty of food and water until they are able to arrive,” said the woman. “Now we go live to Jerry who is on the scene of a crash,” said the man.

  The screen switched to an older man in a blue polo which had a red and white logo with the number 13. The camera was a little bit shaky. “What we can see here is part of the international space station. The Discovery, which was the American laboratory, had broken off and crashed just ten miles from the city. The military will not let me past the fence here behind me. All I can tell you it is some sort of contagion and the military are quarantining the area.” The camera shifted to the reporter’s left. There were men in white biohazard suits talking amongst themselves nodding every now and again. “They are insisting that our city is not in danger but as a precaution we will need people to evacuate the area.”

  In the background there was a man walking slowly stumbling now and again as if he was intoxicated. His uniform was ripped at the shoulder and blood trickled down staining his uniform. The man pressed his face against the fence chewing on the chain link fence trying to break free from the temporary prison. The reporter turned around and saw the man. He stumbled backwards and eventually caught himself from falling. The moan was not human. It sent chills down Travis’ spine causing him to shiver violently. “I am not sure what we are exactly seeing here.” Jerry moved closer to the fence and turned around. “Sir are you alright? You seem hurt should I get somebody?” A long moan was the reply. “Someone come quick I think there is something wrong with this man.” A man in a uniform walked up to the reporter. Travis noticed the rank as there were three chevrons and two rockers indicating he was a sergeant first class. “You need to leave the premises sir. It is not safe for you here.” “Well can you answer me about what is going on? I think we have a right to know.” “Sir you need to leave now or we will escort you off the premises.” “Wait a minute if we are in danger then we want to know about it!” “Sir you are to evacuate the premises RIGHT NOW!” Jerry turned back to the camera. Then all of a sudden two soldiers came and took Jerry’s arms and to escorted him away. The camera man was still videoing the scene as he walked. Then there was gun fire and the video feed cut off.

  “Lori we need to fill up the bath tub and sinks. Something is going on but I don’t know what yet. Something is wrong I can feel it.” “Ok dear.” “Honey I am serious there is something going. The television said we need to evacuate.” “Travis is this another one of your conspiracy theories again? First it was buy all the canned food and water we can. Buy new weapons and crates of ammo. I have played along long enough. The last time you told me this you thought the Russians were going to attack.” “Damn it Lori this is different.” Luna started to squirm in Travis’ hands from his shouting not from anger but to be heard in other room. “It’s alright sugar plumb it will be alright. “I am not making this up Lori it was on the television. I saw something weird it was about some crash. It was the international space station. Who the hell knows what they were experimenting on up there?” Lori to satisfy her husband walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to pick up Luna from Travis and gave him a kiss.

  “Well go do what you always do
and get things ready.” “Thanks dear you know this might be the time that we will really need to use all of this stuff. I sure hope not but better to have it and not need it than not have it and need it. We need to call the kids and have them get over here as quickly as possible. Richard will need to just hunker down since he lives so far away.” “Dear don’t you think that you are over reacting here? Ken and Jennifer are at work and Nick lives over an hour away.” “No I am not overreacting this is something serious. Forget it I will give them a call myself.”

  Travis reached for the phone that was at the far end of the brown peeling leather couch. Travis placed his knee on one of the cushions and it sank in as he grabbed the telephone. He started dialing Richard first. The phone rang a few times before Richard answered. “Yeah Dad what’s up?” “Richard listen to me very carefully. You need to make sure you have plenty of food and water. Fill up your bath tubs and any buckets that you have.” “Dad is this about the international space station crash? There is nothing to worry about at all everything is under control plus that is at least five hundred miles away from me. I think you are overreacting Dad.” “Why the hell is everyone keep telling me that!” “Dad it’s because you overreact when anything like this happens.” “Son listen to me they are evacuating us here and I just think that it is best you get yourself ready.” “They are probably just trying to play it safe you know. I am sure there is nothing to worry about at all.” “Son I am telling you there is something wrong. I saw a soldier on the screen and he didn’t look right.” “Ok Dad I will make a run to the store but I am telling you this is nothing at all just a precaution.” “I love you son.” “I love you too Dad.”