Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins

by R. A. Neely

  "Water's fine," Carol replied.

  Greg filled to glasses with ice and filled them both with water from the tap. A beer would be great right now but this wasn't the time to get buzzed. He needed to keep a clear head they were gonna survive all this. He didn't know how long they'd be safe here.

  He sat down on the couch next to her and handed her the glass. "Food wise I can do some sandwiches. Anything else and I'd need to cook."

  Carol nodded. "That's fine. I could eat a shoe right now."

  Greg chuckled again. "How about some roast beef instead? I mean you'd get more fiber from the shoe I guess but the beef will go down easier."

  Carol smiled back. "I guess that makes sense. Maybe for dessert?"

  Greg laughed as headed back towards the kitchen. He got all the necessary ingredients and set about making their food. They continued to make small talk and then returned to the living room after Greg was done making their sandwiches. They ate quickly, both of them being more hungry than they realized.

  "Either that was good, or I was really hungry," Carol said.

  "Hey now," Greg said, "I make a mean sandwich."

  Carol smiled and nodded towards the t.v. "Want to see if they're saying anything new?"

  "That's a good idea," Greg said as he grabbed the remote. Turning the t.v. on they were just in time to catch a newscast from Shirley O'Hara. They sat in rapt attention as she related that they were actually facing an outbreak and the infected were very dangerous.

  "Do you think that's true?" Carol asked. "What she said about the bite?"

  "Well, I guess we don't know without seeing it for ourselves but that makes sense. I fought with

  Mr. Ramsey and I'm not infected. At least I hope not. If it was just casual contact we'd both be sick I think."

  "So what now? Do we just stay here and hope the government gets things under control?"

  Greg frowned in thought. "I'm not sure what we're gonna do long term just yet. In the short term, we'll head over to James's house after we rest a bit. I've got a bit a food stored away. Just in case of a tornado or something. We'll take what I've got and combine it with James and we should be okay for awhile." Greg paused as he thought for a moment.

  "What's wrong?" Carol asked.

  "Just wondering about James. I think he had to work this morning so he would have been out in the middle of this."

  "Do you think he's okay?"

  "I hope so. But our rest just got canceled. If something did happen to him, I've gotta get over there and look after Laura and the kids."

  Carol nodded. "Alright. So what do we need to get going?"

  Greg smiled at her willingness to help. You'd think that just about anyone would be paralyzed from the craziness of the whole situation. But Carol had a good head on her shoulders. Shame it took something like this for him to realized it.

  "The food I've got is in the garage. There's a few cases of water and some can goods. Not a whole lot. I'd only bought enough for a few days."

  "Alright. I'll start loading the car."

  "We can take what's in the cabinets too. It's not as much as in the garage but every little bit will help if this goes on."

  "Do you think the government will get this under control?"

  "I hope the government will get things under control," Greg responded. "But let's plan in case they don't."

  "That makes sense," Carol replied. "So, I'll pack up the garage and the kitchen. What will you be doing?"

  "I'll get all my weapons together." At Carol's raised eyebrow he explained further. "James and I game a lot. We usually go to the E3 conference every year. We like to buy replicas of weapons from our favorite games. Some of them might actually be functional. He also drags me off to the gun range now and again so I've got a few handguns around."

  "Alright. I won't say that's nerdy ‘cause it'll actually come in handy," she said with a smile.

  Greg chuckled. "Who knew right?" Greg stood up. "Alright, let's get started. I want to get over to James's house as soon as we can."

  Carol nodded and headed for the kitchen. "You have boxes or something for the stuff in here?"

  "I have some of those canvas bangs underneath the sink."

  Carol nodded and set to work. Greg headed to his bedroom. He grabbed a gym bag he had lying around and put the two handguns he owned inside. He had the glock 17 who learned to shoot with and a glock 19 he'd purchased because James insisted it was better. He also had a box of ammo for that went in as well. After that, he changed in to a sturdy pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Next came a comfortable pair of hiking boots. Gym shoes would be more comfortable but he'd rather have the boots for the added protection. They had a steel toe so he could also use them offensively if needed.

  He threw a few changes of clothes into the bag. After a moment’s thought, he threw in a few pairs of jogging pants for Carol. They'd be big on her but would be better than nothing. Next, he examined the weapons he had around the house. He had a few swords he'd bought over the years. He had a katana, a gladius, and a few random swords inspired by random video games. None of them proved to be serviceable however. Most of them were loose in the hilt and it felt like a solid hit might cause it to break. He didn't want to rely on these only to have them break.

  Just as he was about to give up on that, he realized he had something in the garage that might do the job. He quickly headed there and grabbed a machete off the wall. He gave it a few test swings and felt it should work. He'd bought it on a whim a year or two ago. He'd thought it be fun to use on the bushes in the backyard when his neighbors weren't looking. He placed the machete back into its sheathe and took a few minutes to attach it to his belt. That done, he realized his guns were useless right now. They'd do him a whole lot of good if they ran into trouble on the way to James's house.

  He returned to his room and retrieved the glock 19 and attached that to the other side of his belt. He then took a few minutes walking around the house too see anything else that might be of use. On a whim he fired up the playstation. He was pleased to see a message from James. He typed out a quick reply and turned it off. After that he took one last walk around the house. He wasn't sure if he'd be back. Yea, if the government showed up things might get back to normal but he thought it best to plan for the worst case scenario. He met Carol by the entrance to the garage.

  "Ready?" she asked.

  "Yea, I was just taking a second to look around. Don't know if I'll be back."

  Carol nodded in understanding. "Well at least you get one last look. I won't be able to see my place. My poor cat."

  "You have a cat?

  "Yea. I hope she's alright."

  Greg grimaced. He'd like to help but there was no way he was gonna fight his way through infected just for a cat. At his look Carol smiled.

  "It's alright," she said. "I love that cat but I'm not about to risk my life for it. You ready to get out of here?"

  Greg nodded. "Yea, let's go."

  Carol nodded and they headed out the door.

  2 James: On Patrol, Emerald Falls, Illinois

  James Ruckley pointed down the street. "I think that guy might be one of them," he said. He'd pointed at a man trying to walk down the street. He was using the buildings he passed as support.

  His partner, Mark Jeffries slowed the car. "How can you be sure from here?"

  "We'll have to get closer to be sure but it's worth checking out."

  Jeffries nodded and pulled the car over to the curb. They were each wearing white plastic overalls complete with hood. They each put on a face mask that completely enclosed their face. Next came boots and gloves.

  "Alright, let's check this out," Jeffries said, his voice muffled by the facemask.

  James nodded and they both exited the vehicle. They slowly approached the man. Despite the suits, neither really wanted to be all that close to him. Who would've thought that this is how his day would be going. He'd arrived for his shift at six this morning only to hear a briefing that sounded like a plot for a
bad zombie flick. The chief had told them that some mysterious illness had broken out around three that morning. The CDC was on site. They'd established a quarantine ward at the hospital and all officers were being tasked with rounding up any sick people that they saw.

  The major symptom appeared to be fever. That was apparently all that the CDC knew so far. After the chief's briefing, they'd been issued these suits and sent on their way. Hopefully the suits were doing their job. How could they be certain if they didn't even know what this illness was? James sighed and brought his attention back to the matter at hand. They were close enough to the man now that he should be able to hear them without them having to shout.

  "Excuse me, sir," James said.

  The man stopped walking and looked in their direction. He was sweating profusely. So much so that it looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of water over his head. That wasn't the most shocking feature thought. The man had a pair of bloodshot eyes so red that they looked like something from a horror movie.

  "How are you feeling, sir?" Jeffries asked.

  "N-Not good," the man mumbled as he touched his throat. "Throat hurts. M-My head hurts too."

  James nodded. "Alright, sir. We'd like you to come with us. We'll take you to the hospital."

  The man nodded. "O-Okay. I think that's a good idea."

  They each took an arm and helped the man to their squad car. James helped the man get in back while Jeffries slid behind the wheel. Jeffries moved to take off his gloves but stopped when James shook his head. It probably wasn't a good idea to remove their gear with this guy in the car. They wouldn't want to expose themselves. Jeffries nodded and pulled onto the street.

  They made great time to the hospital as traffic was nearly nonexistent. Early this morning, the mayor had issued a statement strongly advising residents to remain in their homes for their own safety. The proclamation hadn't started a panic fortunately. The mayor had assured the populace that the illness was well in hand but clear streets would allow emergency responders to get to infected people quickly.

  They pulled up to the emergency room and immediately several people in gear similar to their came out to meet them with a stretcher. They quickly removed the man from the vehicle who appeared to have fallen asleep. They nodded their thanks and wheeled the man inside.

  "This is pretty crazy right?" Jeffries asked.

  "Definitely weird," James replied. "I just hopes these suits are doing their job."

  Jeffries nodded. "Think it's safe to take some of this off? Sucks driving like this."

  "Better not. No sense taking any risks."

  "You're right. Thing is just real uncomfortable."

  James nodded. Personally, a little discomfort didn't bother him. He had a wife and two children at home. He had no intention of taking any unnecessary risks with this illness, especially with no one knowing what it was. No way would he risk exposing Laura and the kids. He thought of his family at home. It was about six forty five. Laura would normally be getting up around now to get the kids ready for school. Fortunately, all the schools were going to be closed. As part of his statement, the mayor had said that all public buildings would be closed today for safety. James was relieved at that. There was no way he would have been able to focus on the job today if he'd been worried about his family.

  "Let's head back out," James said.

  Jeffries nodded and put the car in gear. They made three more trips, each like the first. They'd find someone walking around looking confused. They'd be sweating enough to drown in and each had the bloodshot eyes. They were fifteen minutes into their fifth trip when they got a call over the radio.

  "Attention all units. Attention all units. We've got reports of violent patients at the hospital. Please respond."

  "Car ninety one here," James said over the radio. "We're in route. E.ta. fifteen minutes."

  "Acknowledged ninety one."

  Jeffries turned the siren on and threw the car into a u-turn. He sped back towards the hospital as fast as he could safely drive and not lose control.

  "What do you think it is?" he asked.

  James shrugged. "Maybe some of those patients got a little violent. Those last two we dropped off looked really confused."

  "I hope not. I can't use any of my gear with these gloves."

  James nodded. The suits might protect them from the illness but it would be difficult if they needed to use any of their equipment. Jeffries turned a corner and the hospital came in view. Jeffries had made record time. It'd only taken them about eight minutes to get back to the hospital.

  "Nice driving," James said.

  Jeffries shrugged. "No biggy. That is why I drive by the way, just saying."

  James chuckled but it soon died in his throat at Jeffries screeched to a halt in front of the hospital. People were running from the building screaming. Some of them looked to be injured. A woman had a hand to her neck, trying to stem the flow of blood as it seeped through her fingers. Another held her arm and James also so signs of blood on her. What's going on? They exited the vehicle and approached the nearest person.

  James grabbed their arm to stop their panicked flight. "What's going on?" he demanded.

  "The patients have gone crazy! They suddenly started attacking everyone!" she said breathlessly.

  "What do you mean they're attacking people?" Jeffries asked.

  "Just what I said," they replied. "Look at my arm. One of them bit me!" She move her hand and they could see that someone had taken a chunk out of her bicep. It looked really nasty.

  "Shouldn't you get that looked at?" Jeffries asked. The woman looked at him as if he were stupid.

  "It's not safe in there! I could've died." With that, the woman ran off, following the crow of people leaving the hospital.

  "We can't go in there without backup," James said. "Not if it's as bad as she was saying."

  Jeffries nodded. Neither of them liked the thought of standing by while people were in danger, but this looked really bad. They simply wouldn't be able to handle it with just the two of them. Fortunately, of officers started arriving. In a few minutes there were nearly a dozen of them.

  "Alright, that's more like it," Jeffries said. James and Jeffries waited until the other officers reached them and started heading inside. The mass exodus had died down by now. Anyone else inside would probably need their help getting out.

  "We got a report that the patients are attacking people," James said. "Saw several people with nasty bite wounds so let's be careful. Several officers nodded and they all proceeded into the building.

  They didn't see anyone at first. Anyone that had been able to make it this far had been part of that group they ran into when they arrived. They walked down a hallway but all of them came to a stop when the sound of roaring reached their ears.

  "What the heck was that?" one of the officers asked.

  'James shrugged. That couldn't have been a person could it? It sounded so animalistic. They officers resumed their walk and found themselves in the emergency room. The place was chaos. Workstations and stretchers were strewn everywhere. No sign of the infected though. This was likely the result of everyone's panicked flight from the building. Where was the quarantine ward? James looked around. Maybe they could follow the trail of destruction. Everyone was obviously running away from the patients. So maybe they could follow the signs of flight to the ward.

  James picked a hallway and started walking. There were various items tossed about. Some people must have fled from this direction. They passed a stairway and an elevator before they reached a set of double doors. James checked behind him to make sure the other officers were still with them and then pushed the doors open. He stepped into a scene from a horror movie.

  The room they stepped into had beds set in rows, each separated by a curtain, likely for privacy. Looking around, it seemed as if every surface was stained with blood. There was blood everywhere. Blood on the floor, blood on the ceiling, blood on the walls. James could see a body just a few from the
door. Approaching, he had to swallow hard to keep his breakfast down. The body looked like it had been mauled. The throat was ripped out and it looked like someone had bitten chunks out of the torso. The sound of retching behind him told James that some of his fellow officers hadn't been able to hold their food down.

  "What is this?" one officer asked.

  "It's crazy is what it is," another answered. "I didn't sign up for something like this."

  James looked at that officer and he stopped talking. "None of us signed up for this. But there still might be some survivors and we're their only hope of getting out here."

  The officer hung his head. "I know that. This though...this is crazy."

  James nodded. "We'll get through it. He looked at two officers. "You two head back out front so you can lead in anyone else that shows up. Don't want them wasting time like we did."

  The officers in question nodded and quickly made their way out the room. James carefully made his way into the room, trying to avoid the blood on the floor. He found himself in the middle of the room and saw a sight that stopped him cold. There was a body a few feet from him. Someone was kneeled down next to it and they were pulling something from the body. James eyes widened when he saw that the figure was pulling something out of the stomach.

  "Freeze!" James shouted. The creature looked over its shoulder, blood marring its mouth. It growled and stood to its feet.

  "I said freeze!" James repeated.

  With a sudden burst of movement, the creature charged towards him only to bet me by a prong striking its chest. Thousands of volts sent it crashing to the ground.

  "Take that you sick bastard," Jeffries said. He detached the wire from his taser and placed it in its holster. To their surprise, the creature started moving.

  What is this? Any normal man would still be recovering from the shock. Was this some kind of drug thing? PCP or something? That gave users high pain tolerance. No, that didn't make sense. The electricity would have forced his muscles to contract. How was it moving? The creature made it to its knees and howled. It was an animal sound, more akin to a wolf perhaps than something a human should be able to make.