The Outbreak

by Shetty, Krishan

  “Isn’t that Miss Beazly?” asked Joanne squinting at the disfigured face.

  “Well she’s missing a jaw, but I’m pretty sure it’s her,” said Greg. There were five gonerz and all of them were the cafeteria staff. The gonerz began to move towards them, Miss Beazly’s arms stretched out as if she was coming in for a hug. Greg obliged, stepped in and bought the axe down on it cleanly splitting it’s head like a watermelon. Sean moved forward and took a big swing with the sledgehammer, capping one in the jaw. It’s head literally came off of its body. It’s lifeless body slumped to the ground. Randy stayed calm and got 2 head shots in rapid succession. With one remaining, it was outnumbered and outmatched. The guys felt reassured heaving weapons to defend themselves with. Chester rushed forward towards the last one, heavily bringing down his foot; he heaved and bought down his sledgehammer. He must’ve been in rage because the last gonerz’ skull was pulverized. He struck it again and again. It’s fluids seeping onto the already bloodied floors. He breathed heavily as he stood victorious over it. “I’m gonna kill every single one of these things,” he growled. A cold wave of uneasiness shrouded the room. The gonerz outside began trying to push the door open but it held. It budged a bit but held. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, they once again began to feel the effects of fatigue.

  “I’ll see if there’s food,” Kiara said softly.

  “I’ll come with,” Greg responded slinging the sledgehammer over his shoulder. Fatigue had obviously gotten to him too.

  “I’ll come too,” said Joanne authoritatively brushing past Greg. The others dragged themselves to sit at the tables. Their tanks were dry now and if the gonerz were to breach the door, it would all be over. Greg carefully entered the kitchen, hoping none of his senses would betray him. Every sound, every shadow almost everything now would send them into overdrive. He opened the freezer precariously, hoping nothing would jump out. There were frozen patties of burgers and other frozen meat. Greg sighed a breath of relief. “All yours ladies,” he said stepping aside wondering if that was sexist in any way. Joanne and Kiara unloaded patty after patty. Greg pulled out his cell phone. It still had enough battery to power up the LED flashlight. Using the light from his cell phone, the two ladies without talking to each other stumbled about the kitchen to find various ingredients. “I found the buns. It’s kind of cold, but we can heat it up,” Kiara said investigating the buns. Joanne meanwhile got the stove burning. A blue flame with a sprinkle of orange at it’s trough awakened to heat the frying pan. With some oil on the pan, Joanne decided to shallow fry it. Carefully peeling off the covering, she popped one patty after another. Its sizzling sound no less than music to their ears. Kiara heated the buns and chopped up some onions and tomatoes. “I never thought I’d miss ‘Burger Thursdays’,” he snickered. After an agonizing wait of watching the burgers cook, the aroma of the meaty delight invited saliva to the tip of his tongue. Impatiently, he ushered the ladies to the dining area to serve possibly the best meal? No, but certainly the most important meal. The aroma tantalized the taste buds of the folk sitting at the tables surrounded by blackness. Greg carried bottles of water while Joanne and Kiara carried the burgers. They stepped on something squishy but Kiara didn’t dare look down lest it should kill her appetite. Joanne and Kiara had barely set the plates down when everyone lunged and began wolfing down the burgers. “There are lots of other stuff like canned food that we could use too,” Greg said in between breaths. The plates were empty in no time.

  “Bloody good stuff,” Westwood remarked sinking his teeth into a burger. They dined in absolute darkness. They probably didn’t know what the burger looked like. But all they cared about was it was filling the void in their stomach. The burgers were washed down with water, the elixir of life, the water wetting their parched throats and soothing the fire in their stomach. “Can’t say I didn’t miss these burgers,” Dana remarked managing a slanted smile. It was a bit awkward eating in midst of the perpetual thrashing of the gonerz against the door and in the presence of the corpses of the men and women who at one time served them their delicious meals every single working day. Especially Miss Beazly, she was a plump yet soft hearted woman. She was a mother figure to the students, but no more. She was put down like a rabid dog, Okay; maybe rabid dogs aren’t dismembered with an axe. The smiles didn’t stay for long. They all knew they had a long way to go. Especially after the lab incident. They barely escaped by the skin of their teeth. “That sound-” Randy began drawing out his words before he was cut off by Josh.

  “Yeah, that sure as hell didn’t sound like any of the gonerz out there.”

  “You’re saying something else-” Kiara trailed off.

  “Perhaps this-this thing brought down the lab door,” Josh said frantically his torso rocking back and forth.

  “It would make sense since the other gonerz weren’t able to get through,” Sean joined licking the meaty juices off his fingers.

  “We’ve got bigger problems then. If such a thing brought down the mechanical laboratory door. It must be strong. Really strong. And that….that growl. The enormity of evil from that growl was just….” Randy gulped.

  Greg listened carefully occasionally looking at Chester through the corner of his eye. Perhaps hoping his rage had subsided. Well, his friend just died, so it was alright to be angry? Question after question popped up in his head. We can’t have mutiny. Not now. Our numbers are dwindling. We have to survive. But more importantly, what the fuck was that thing behind the tube light? Was I the only one who saw it? Didn’t anyone else see it? Am I beginning to hallucinate now? Why isn’t anyone talking about it? Maybe I was hallucinating. But if I did see it, then we are in danger. And if more people die-. Fuck. Greg clenched his fists at the thought.

  “So there exists a bigger threat than those freaks? Great,” Dana groaned.

  “Did anyone see something when we first entered the cafeteria?” Sean asked with a steely cold tone. Greg immediately swerved his neck.

  “I saw something that looked like a pair of feet maybe? Like behind the tube light,” Joanne replied.

  “It was probably was one of those cafeteria staff,” Dana added. “Or what was left of them.”

  “Yes, it must’ve been,” Kiara supported.

  Greg couldn’t really see Sean’s face clearly in the darkness, but he knew that Sean wasn’t really convinced because he wasn’t convinced either. Greg finally leaned over to Randy and whispered. “What do you think?”

  “I agree with the girls. Whatever we must have seen, Must’ve been the cafeteria staff. I don’t see anyone else here, do you?”

  Greg shook his head. Not that it mattered. Greg now began to understand how Randy felt when the outbreak first began. When he went on and on about the dead professor and how people thought he was seeing things. In the end, it turned out to be true. And if there was any chance that this be true, then they were in grave danger. A tussle between the mind and heart began. He wanted to believe that nothing else was there, but his gut refused to buy it.

  “I wonder how the hell they destroyed all these lights,” Dana said breaking his chain of thoughts.

  “Indeed. It must have been quite….difficult.” Westwood remarked, the words eloquently rolling of his English tongue. Greg didn’t see him adjusting his glasses. But he must’ve.

  “We must get to the Biological Sciences block,” Westwood spoke sharply.

  “Shouldn’t we try to getting out of this hellhole and get some help?” asked Josh raising his arms.

  “Well, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the good men and women of Hale City have been infected by this….this outbreak. Besides, The Biological sciences block is naturally shielded by trees and is most likely the least affected.”

  “And they might have some answers as to what the bloody hell is going on here” added Joanne.

  “Wait,” Randy interrupted. “Harbinger Group. That explosion at Harbinger Group. That might have something to do with this. Think about it. The v
ery next day after the explosion we have these flesh eating...gonerz. A coincidence? I don’t think so.”

  “I’ve been telling you guys all along. It’s all a conspiracy,” Josh added.

  Nobody really took Josh seriously anymore. Everyone probably thought he had a screw or two loose. He had been going on and on about this conspiracy. But now, it actually started to make sense. Just a little bit.

  “If Harbinger is behind this, I’m going to kill them. Then I’ll kill you,” Chester said turning towards Randy. Bloodlust riddled in his words.

  “Look man, the gonerz killed him-“

  “Shut the fuck up! You let him die! You betrayed him! Maybe further down the line you’ll sacrifice us and say ‘The gonerz killed them’. Don’t gimme your bullshit. I want none of it,” He raged.

  “Lendl told me to go! He told me!! Those were his last fucking words!!” said a clearly aggravated Randy. "Yes! I was afraid! I didn’t want to die! A part of me was relieved that Lendl chose to take the last stand! But don’t you fucking DARE tell me that I let him die when you ran off leaving him before I did! You abandoned your friend Chester. YOU!! NOT ME!!”

  A vacuum of silence filled the air between the two men. The words sunk in. Chester slinked back to his seat. Reality had slapped him hard across the face, akin to being kissed by a freight train. He began to contemplate everything up until now. Tears welled up in his eyes. Luckily it was too dark for everyone else to see. Westwood began tapping his fingers surreptitiously under the table. Josh remained silent but on the inside he was bubbling with questions. Kiara, well placed her hand softly on Greg’s. Joanne seemed to notice and she was sizzling on the inside. Greg felt the warmth from her hand seeping into his body calming his nerves. Randy seemed distraught. Their argument raised a lot of doubts in everybody’s mind. Dana placed a consoling hand on his shoulder.

  Everyone remained silent, for an hour or so. Contemplation was trending in everyone’s mind.

  “I’m sorry,” Chester finally whispered breaking the silence.

  “I’m sorry too,” Randy responded, warmth returning to his voice.

  “Should we try and get some sleep?” Kiara asked.

  “I don’t think we can sleep with all those gonerz knocking at the door,” Josh replied.

  Nobody responded but the silence presented them with the answer. “Kiara is right; it’s been one hell of a night. I think a couple of z’s at this point would do us some good,” Joanne said.

  “We could do shifts. One person stays awake while the remaining sleep. Y’know, just in case. We can rotate shifts in intervals of 2 hours.” Sean added.

  “So who’s going to do the first shift?”

  “I’ll do it,” Greg said his right hand shooting up.

  “I’ll do the next,” Sean said.

  Kiara’s grip on his hand tightened for a second or two before loosening up. She shot him a concerned look with rounded soft eyes. Her glossy black tresses, inky black eyes and smooth caramel complexion were lime lit by the delicate moonlight. He answered her not in words but with a similar look adorned with warmth and concern.

  “Where are we going to sleep? Not on the floor obviously with the dead folk,” Josh rolled his eyes.

  “We are lucky that sleep is a luxury we can afford given the situation don’t you think?” Randy replied tautly.

  Josh looked around to see whether anyone would add to their stale conversation. Disappointed he heaved a loud sigh and sat with his face resting on his folded hands on the table. Others followed suit, not too eagerly though. The clanking of the gonerz against the weak door was probably going to make their sleep a veiled one. Greg’s eyes shifted as he saw one after another try to grab some shut eye. He sat a table away from the folks with his now trusty axe, spinning it slowly with his index and thumb. A lot happened in one night. Sean and Randy were supposed to be an expedition team to the cafeteria to secure food supplies while the rest held down the fort. That day never came. Instead, they were all in the cafeteria away from their fort and worse yet, they had lost a friend. A friend of a friend isn’t an enemy in this case but still managed to stir quite an internal strife which could have led to a partition. Something Greg wanted to avoid at all costs. The silhouette of the sleeping faces of his friends caused a rather skippy beat in his chest. The cold night air caused the dampness on his palm to freeze. His gaze was fixed at the door which was subjected to constant abuse courtesy of the gonerz. They could only wish that the door would hold on till they were ready to make a break for it. We can use the kitchen back door to get out of here. But we gotta create a diversion. I’ve no idea what drives these things. Is it blood? Can they smell us? Can they see us? Is it something else entirely? Damnit, we need to figure out what makes these things tick if we are to gain an edge. And about this....other creature the guys were discussing about. If there is such a thing, it’s highly likely that it’s....”

  A squishy noise behind startled him; he tightly gripped his axe to take a giant swing. “Kiara?” he heaved a sigh of relief. “That was close; I would have cleaved you into two.”

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep. The constant ruckus isn’t helping me. I can nearly feel their cold breath inches away from me.”

  “Yeah I know what you mean. It’s a wonder anyone can sleep at all.”

  “Where are we heading tomorrow?”

  “Biological Sciences is my best guess.”

  “You think they’ll know what’s going on here?”

  “I’m not sure about anything anymore. But it’s worth a shot. We are sitting ducks here. Our best choice is to keep moving.”

  “Something wrong? You don’t seem to be yourself lately.”

  “It’s hard to see the bright side of things as it is now. What about you? I bet you wish you were in India right now,” he chuckled.

  “Well a part of me does. But then again, we don’t know what’s going on outside. Besides I feel a whole lot safer here with you,” she smiled. The radiance of her smile was a blanket of warmth against the cold night air.

  His gaze met a gold chain adorned around her caramel neck. It bore a stylized ‘K’.

  “Does that stand for Kiara?”

  “Yeah. My brother gave it to me before I left India,” she said blankly playing with it.

  “Oh...I...didn’t know you have a brother.”

  “Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me,”

  “True that. We got some time to kill. So why don’t you tell me something about Kiara?”

  She snickered silently. “Well, I was born in Mangalore and attended a popular English medium school. I like art, music and stuff.”

  “Stuff?” Greg asked his nostrils flaring.

  “Yes, stuff,” she snickered as she flashed her pearly whites. “I hope I live to see my high school again.”

  These are the times in which I must reaffirm and reassure my companions that we are going to live through it. What’s a few words worth when death is a just a stone’s throw away? “You will. Don’t worry. We all will.”

  “Is Chester going to be fine? He’s your friend isn’t he?”

  “He is. In fact he used to bully me.”

  “Bully? You?” she asked eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah. Well at least until I helped him with a problem. You could say that we’ve been pretty chummy ever since then,” Greg said scratching the side of his head lightly. “I never thought I’d meet him again, not like this at least. In fact, I’m surprised he even made it into Hale.”

  “Michelle, Gary and Lendl’s death especially must’ve been very tough for him to swallow, all in just one night.”

  “Yeah. I can’t even begin to imagine what I would have done if Randy were the one to die instead. I would have lost my shit too,” he said gritting his teeth.

  She held his hand tight. “Greg, I don’t know a lot about you but what I do know is that you are the string that ties this group together. If you fall-If you falter, so will we.”

  He soaked up th
e words like a dry sponge. Heh. I was the one supposed to be the one giving the pep talk and shit. But here I am, roles reversed. Guess even I need a good pep talk once in a while. A small smile spread across his face as he looked up to her with thankful eyes. His eyes were once again a familiar shade of blue. A blue sea of tranquillity.

  “Thanks. I needed that.”

  “I know you did,” she grinned.

  Amidst all the pep talk, Greg noticed a shadow shifting swiftly. It was for but a moment, but he was convinced that something else was there in the cafeteria with them.

  “Did you see that just now?”

  “See what?”

  “There’s someone-something else here with us.”

  “But didn’t we take out the gonerz here?”

  “My best guess is there’s another guest who hasn’t crashed the party yet,” he said slowly standing up scanning the shadows for faint movements. The dim light didn’t help either. “Stay frosty K.”

  Kiara nervously stood up launching a shadow scan of her own. A sense of fear creeped into her. Greg sensed her growing fear and why wouldn’t he? He was afraid too. But he needed to get Kiara to stay calm. This-this fucking thing has been playing us. I wasn’t hallucinating. This thing is dangerous. It managed to stay incognito for so long. This isn’t like the other gonerz out there.

  “Kiara stay close,” he said tightening his grip around the axe handle till his hand turned red. All his senses went into overdrive. “Where are you?” Greg growled through clenched teeth. Kiara stuck close to Greg. A sinister aura loomed over them.

  “Shouldn’t we wake the others up?” Kiara asked, her voice trembling.

  “It seems to be after us. If we wake the others up now, it would make them potential and easy targets.”

  Shadows shifted again as it darted across the room. It made the hairs on the back of their necks stand. It’s almost as if the shadows were daring them to step into the darkness. The flickering light didn’t help either. The darkness behind the blinking light provided the best spot to hide as it was the darkest of all. Greg fixed his gaze at the area behind the flickering light. All he saw was inky blackness. The thumping in his chest grew erratic. Partly in fear, partly in anticipation.