by Lee Emerick
She looked at the floor and noticed a trail from the living room to the bathroom of clothes thrown down on the floor. He could be so messy sometimes she thought. She picked the clothes up and put them in the washing basket. Once she had cleaned the mess up, she knocked on the bathroom door.
"Are you in there baby?" she asked aloud, but again there was no answer. Had he fallen asleep in the bath again? She had warned him about this. It was so dangerous! She tried the door, which was not locked and slowly pushed on it, but it came to a stand still a few inches wide. She pushed again but something was blocking it.
She tried to peep round the corner of the door and with a little effort managed to see Erik collapsed on the floor.
"You pick some funny places to fall asleep Mr!" but there was no response.
She forced the door, which slowly pushed Erik out the way. She managed to get her head through and was met by a terrible sight. Erik was out cold face down on the floor in a pool of blood. His back looked severely burnt covered in what appeared to be blisters.
"What has happened to you?" Chloe shouted hysterically. She barged the door fully open and raced to her boyfriend's side. She carefully reached down to him and turned him over.
Erik had a large cut to his head, which was still bleeding. His face looked grey and was covered in blood. She put his head on her lap and tried to wake him up.
"Erik, what has happened to you she asked" but still he did not respond. She checked for a pulse which was quite faint, at least he is not dead she thought.
Stroking his face, she looked at him concerned.
"Its ok baby, I'll get some help!"
Chloe reached into her pocket and removed her cell phone. She hastily dialled 911, which was quickly answered by an Operator. "911, what is your emergency?" the Operator answered.
"I've found my boyfriend collapsed on the floor," she hurriedly explained.
"He appears to be severely burnt and has a nasty gash to the head. He has lost a lot of blood. I can barely feel a pulse!"
As she explained the situation to the 911 operator Erik's eyes slowly began to open. His eyes were milky white, a milky discharge and blood oozed from his ears and nose. He gurgled loudly.
Surprised Chloe turned to see her boyfriend waking up
"Erik!" she shouted.
"What has happened to you?"
The 911 operator could be heard in the background.
"What is the situation now Ma'am?" but Chloe ignored it. Erik raised his arms, white furry patches covered parts of his skin.
She leaned closer and Erik grabbed her. His hands closed around her arms and he pulled her closer to him, no emotion showing on his face.
Chloe screamed, she tried to force him back but Erik had so much strength she struggled. She screamed in the direction of the phone.
"Help, he's attacking me. He's not right there is something wrong!"
"Ma'am, stay calm. What is your address…?” Erik's foot slammed down on the phone, the call was cut off. Chloe managed to wrestle an arm free and pinned one of Erik's arms beneath her.
"Erik, what are you doing?" she shouted.
"Stop it now!"
Erik increased his grip on her arm. Pain shot up to her shoulder and with a sickening crack, she felt her arm break.
Chloe screamed in agony and slammed her free hand down into Erik's throat. He squealed loudly and reached for his crushed throat, choking on his crushed larynx. Chloe used the opportunity to get to her feet and run out the bathroom.
She turned to look at Erik on the floor. He had stopped choking and now was attempting to sit up. With bones cracking, he sat upright and began to take to his feet. He looked at Chloe and shrieked, blood and matter sprayed out of his mouth. Chloe screamed and ran out of the apartment in terror. What had happened to her boyfriend, could he have rabies?
She ran down the apartment block stairs, Erik was in pursuit. Hysterical Chloe ran as fast as she could, tripping over herself several times in her panic. Erik threw himself down the stairs, bones breaking and shattering in the process. He seemed completely oblivious to the pain. Chloe neared the bottom of the staircase with Erik close behind. She tried to push the double doors open but they would not budge. She tried again but still nothing. Erik came to the bottom of the stairs. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her. He stretched his arms and limped towards her. Bones were visibly protruding out from his skin. Blood trickled down from the new wounds. Chloe turned round and pulled on the door in desperation, which promptly opened.
She stumbled into a busy street. People were heading in all directions for work and school. She fought her way through the crowd with Erik in close pursuit. She screamed for help as loud as she could but everybody ignored her. Erik burst through the doors into the crowd. People started screaming when they saw the state of him as he limped into the middle of the crowd. In a panic people turned and ran from him knocking others down and trampling on them in the process. Erik stopped in his tracks. He let out a loud groan and bent backwards. His bones cracked loudly whilst his torso was forced backwards against his legs. With a loud snap, he was forced into an upside down ‘V’ shape bent over backwards. His lower abdomen erupted as a growth ripped through his guts and grew to several feet in length. It twitched wildly and ejected a large cloud of fine dust over the area.
Passers by began choking and coughing, instinctively covering their mouths but it was too late. They began to collapse to the ground screaming over the sight they had just seen and the pain of the spores eating into their flesh.
Chloe had managed to get away just in time. Still running she looked back towards the crowd. Tears poured down her face, her eyes burnt. The shock was starting to set in. Her broken arm was throbbing.
With her cell phone lost in Erik's apartment, she ran to a phone booth. She picked up the handset and quickly dialled 911. Somebody has to do something now she thought. Those poor people, what has my Erik done?
Chapter 8
General Virgil and Sydney stood in the Disease Control Command Centre. The room was dimly lit, people rushed around busying themselves beneath the General's gaze. The situation looked very concerning. Everything had to be considered to have any chance reducing the likelihood of an outbreak.
They looked at a large display, which showed a live video feed from one of the scrambled Jets, which closed in on the deep-sea drilling rig Lazarus. Information scrolled across the bottom of the screen advising of technical information on the Jet’s location to target.
The General looked to Sydney.
"A few more moments and at least we will have removed the source of the situation."
Sydney looked on quietly. A waypoint displayed the direction the rig was located. Would they really be removing the source, he thought? How did it get on the rig in the first place?
The Jets raced on. The lead Jet was visible on screen, its afterburners burning brightly. The scrolling information showed that they were closing in on their target.
A voice came over the radio "Arm missiles…over!"
The rig was now visible on the horizon. They were getting close.
"Confirm lock-on, over" said one of the radio operators.
"Lock-on confirmed. Fire on my mark" confirmed the lead Jet.
There was silence for a moment as the jets closed in. The rig now loomed in the distance.
"MARK!" shouted the lead pilot. Fire and smoke bellowed from pods underneath the jet’s wings. With a hiss, the missiles shot off toward the rig.
"All break!" shouted the lead pilot. The jets pulled hard away from the target to return to base.
Separate screens showed the missile cameras closing in on their targets. The rig grew on screen as the missiles hurtled towards it. Quickly the rig filled the screen until finally the video signal was lost. The missiles had struck.
Sydney turned his attention to another monitor, which showed one of the Jet’s rear facing cameras. There was a large bright flash followed by a fireball engulfing the rig. When
the fire and smoke cleared, there was no sign of the Lazarus any more.
General Virgil clapped his hands and turned to Sydney.
"What a show" he said excitedly.
Suddenly though the General looked serious again.
"Now Professor, back to business…" He waved Lieutenant Laraine over to join them.
"Lieutenant, have all the Coast Guards in question been recovered yet?" he asked.
"Not yet Sir" she answered whilst flicking through a black folder containing her notes.
"We have not yet been able to contact Erik Evander. All the other Coast Guards are now in custody."
She closed the folder and looked to the General.
"Disease control units have been dispatched to his residence. From debriefings currently being conducted with the other members of the Coast Guard it appears he may have been in direct contact with a carrier."
Sydney went white as a sheet. All colour drained away from his face. "General" he muttered. "If he is infected and has been in direct contact with anybody it may already be too late!"
The General looked at Sydney then to the Lieutenant.
"Quarantine the whole block. No one enters and no one leaves until we have Mr Evander in custody." How could this get any worse he thought?
A panicked looking officer ran up to the General and saluted. He was red faced and huffing loudly, he had clearly been in a hurry.
"General! There is a situation you need to be aware of" with that, he produced a remote control and changed one of the displays to a news channel.
A news presenter appeared on screen that was currently mid sentence.
"…have been reports of a potential biological terrorist attack near the shopping district. We advise everyone to avoid the area. Details are not yet available but we have reports of a possible terrorist situation. We should hopefully be able to go live to one of our journalists in the area. Tom, can you hear me?"
On the screen appeared a smartly dressed man who clearly looked worried. Behind him fire engines and police cars cordoned off the area, police were putting out traffic cones and police tape to keep people back from the area. Nothing was visible of the pandemonium in the background, all though screams were clearly heard.
"That's right. We are as yet unsure as to what has happened but many people appear to have been infected. As yet we are not allowed any closer and cameras have been banned from filming across the barrier…"
The General turned and snapped at the officer who had brought this to his attention.
"All roads out of the city are to be closed immediately. Dispatch all units to the area." He turned to face Lieutenant Laraine.
"I want the nearest several blocks to the area evacuated and cordoned off. Everybody in that area is to be assessed and cleaned. I want them placed in quarantine and I want it done now!"
The General turned his attention to Sydney.
"What I need from you is away to combat the situation. I will get you access to the sample you have taken and a lab. Is their anything else you need from me?"
Sydney took his gaze from the commotion and addressed the General.
"I will need a sample from this Erik guy to see if there are any mutations. Once I have this I should be able to work out a way to stop or at least slow the outbreak."
Chapter 9
Shaun Irvine sat in his squad car. He took a sip of his coffee and gazed out of the window. The weather had settled now and the sun was breaking through the clouds. It looked like it might brighten up soon he thought. He looked at his watch; it was 10:10am. People walked past busying themselves, he smiled and nodded at several people he recognised. He enjoyed his patch and was quite popular amongst the locals.
It looked set to be another quiet day, which he always looked forward too. It was a small city he worked in and there was rarely any trouble, even when the soldier boys from the local base were out for beers. Yep it was a pleasant place to be he thought.
A little chatter came across the squad radio about a bit of commotion near the town centre. He was not concerned. It was nowhere near his patch. Probably just some old dears fighting over the latest sale on knitwear he thought.
Shaun finished his coffee and placed the cup down in the car’s cup holder. He had been in the force now for five years and had loved every minute. Since he joined the Police Force, he had settled down, got married and was expecting his first child any day now. His whole life was here and he could not think of anywhere else he would want to be.
"…hiss… All units, all units." Shaun looked to the radio. It looked like his daydreaming would have to wait until later.
"We have a situation. All units report to Duke Street West. We have several 240's and a 419. Also unconfirmed reports of rioting…"
Shaun fastened his seat belt. "So that's one civilian dead and fights breaking out, marvellous!" Shaun sarcastically said aloud to himself.
He started the car up and switched the siren on. He hated the noise of the thing but he was in a hurry.
As he raced towards Duke Street, more calls came over the radio. There had been additional reports from the scene. It sounded like it was a lot more serious than a simple homicide or riot.
He arrived at Duke Street and was waved down by another officer. Rolling his window down, he pulled up along side of him.
"Charlie, what's going on?" asked Shaun. His colleague Charlie looked very pale.
"Look's like we have had some sort of terrorist attack Shaun," panted Charlie.
"Think it's chemical or biological, either way it's a real mess." Terrorist attack thought Shaun. Surely, this place was of no interest to terrorists.
"Need you to pull your car up here," Charlie pointed to a spot for Shaun to park.
"We are cordoning off the whole block."
Shaun nodded and parked his car up where it was needed. He got out and walked round to the trunk. Opening it, he reached in and pulled out some police tape so he could help seal off the area. He looked around, squad cars and fire trucks surrounded the area. Emergency Medical Technicians were on scene seeing to the wounded. Bodies lay all around the place.
What have they used he thought? There are so many bodies!
In the distance, more sirens could be heard but they were not familiar to Shaun. He began walking his police tape around the block when he saw military vehicles race in. They surrounded the area behind the squad cars and military personnel jumped out and began unloading equipment. Shaun threw his police tape to the ground, which seemed pointless and walked over to one of the soldiers.
"Excuse me son," he asked.
"I take it your taking over the scene?" The soldier turned round to see who was talking to him. Shaun noticed he was wearing a gas mask.
"Yes Sir. All personnel outside of the barrier are to report to General Virgil for debriefing. No one is to leave the quarantined area."
Shaun turned his attention to the EMTs who were seeing to the wounded. Soldiers in white N.B.C. suits escorted them to a quarantine tent, leaving the wounded civilians they were seeing to on the ground. Shaun turned his attention back to the soldier.
"And where can I find the General?" he asked.
"He should be 500 hundred yards in that direction sir," said the Soldier as he pointed to his left.
Shaun thanked the soldier and headed off towards the General. The situation looked serious if the Military were involved he thought.
When he reached the debriefing area, he was met by a large doomed structure hastily erected in the centre of the street. Chairs were lined up in rows where various emergency services personnel were sat down talking amongst themselves. Shaun took a seat towards the back on his own and kicked his feet up. It was almost midday now and his stomach was growling. He sure hoped they would put on some food he thought.
