by Amy Cross
As the diner continued to burn, Lizzie lay completely still. There were hundreds of small cuts all over her body, and some of those cuts had pieces of glass poking out. Her eyes were closed and blood was dribbling down her face from a large wound just below her hairline, caused when she'd hit the ground and her head had bounced off a rock. All around, smoke rose up into the sky and began to drift slowly toward Mount Everbee.
Epilogue
“And that's Mount Everbee,” John said, pointing out at the window. “Doesn't it look beautiful?”
“What's up there, Dad?” asked Kevin, leaning across his sister's lap so he could see out.
“Cut it out!” she snapped, pushing him back over to his side of the car's back seat. “Dad, Kevin's being a jerk again!”
“Mount Everbee is just one big, beautiful, unspoiled natural paradise,” their father continued. “I think there's a camp of some sort at the base, and there's a large lake, but when you get up on the mountain itself there's nothing but untamed wilderness. You know, if you kids are really lucky, maybe your mother and I will take you up there some time. I'm sure we'd have a whole lot of fun!”
“Are there lions?” Kevin asked.
“Are there tigers?” his sister added.
“I don't think so,” John said with a smile. “The most you'll find up on Mount Everbee are a few squirrels and beavers, although those critters can be pretty nasty if you -”
“Dad, stop!” Kevin shouted suddenly.
Spotting the figure up ahead, John slammed his foot on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt on the open country road. Taking a deep breath, he peered out the window for a moment and watched as the figure continued to limp toward them for a few more faltering steps.
“What's wrong with her?” Kevin whispered.
“She looks weird,” his sister replied. “Is she poorly?”
“Just stay in the car, kids,” John said, clearly concerned as he opened the door and climbed out.
“But Dad,” Kevin began, “we -”
“Stay in the car!”
A few meters ahead, Lizzie stopped and stared at him. Her clothes were torn to shreds from the force of the explosion, and a significant amount of blood had leaked out and dried all over her skin, much of which had been shredded by glass from the diner's window. After a moment, she held out her hand, in which she was clutching the tip of a thick black tendril, which she finally tossed down onto the tarmac.
“Are you...” John paused. “Um, are you okay?”
Lizzie stared at him, but she made no attempt to answer.
“Do you...” Reaching into his pocket, John pulled out his mobile phone. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked, as his trembling fingers began to dial for the emergency services. “Where did you come from?”
Slowly, Lizzie opened her mouth, but before she could say a word she had to spit out a couple of pieces of glass.
“Jesus,” John continued, stepping toward her, “you look like hell. It's okay, though, I'm gonna call an ambulance.” Dialing 999, he waited for someone to answer. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
Lizzie's lips moved, and she muttered something quietly.
“What was that?” John asked.
She said it again, but her speech was slurred and she could barely get anything out.
“I'm sorry,” John continued, taking another step toward her, “I still couldn't...”
“I said,” Lizzie replied, slowly and firmly this time, “get me the President of the United States.”
She waited, but nobody reacted. After just a couple of seconds, she stumbled forward and screamed:
“NOW!!!”
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WARD Z
It began with a strange new kind of cancer, born on the other side of the world. Eventually, it erupted on a British hospital ward...
When a new cancer patient is brought into his care, Dr. Andrew Page assumes it'll just be another case of battling against the odds. Soon, however, he realizes that this new patient has been infected by a type of cancer that shows signs of intelligence. As the ward is put into lock-down, Dr. Page struggles to understand the nature of the disease. More and more people start to become sick, until finally Dr. Page has to face the horrific truth: a new strain of cancer has emerged, taking control of its victims' bodies and turning them into zombie-like creatures.
For Dr. Page, this is a terrifying but fascinating new development. For the military, however, it means only one thing: the ward must be sealed, and the entire building - including everyone trapped inside - must be studied, observed... and then killed.
Ward Z is a medical horror novel about a deadly new disease that emerges from a particularly virulent form of cancer.
