Merit Badge of the Undead

by Brian Robillard

pooled under Mack’s body. “Ah, shit Mack.” Danny tried to get up without stepping on his dead partner. He used the head rests on the seat as steps and climbed out of the passenger side door. Danny pulled himself up and sat on the doorframe and looked back in the cab. “Sorry Mack.”

  “Are you OK?”

  Startled, Danny turned around and stared at an old light blue Buick idling on the roadway. The female driver was yelling at him. “Is anybody hurt?”

  “Crap. This isn’t good.” Danny mumbled. “Everything’s OK, please just keep going. Umm, I don’t want to block traffic. Cause another accident. I’m OK and I’m alone.”

  “Doesn’t look like she is OK.”

  “She?” Danny stood on the cab and looked back. He could see the marks in the pavement and a trail of car pieces. From his vantage point Danny could just make out the back end of a small car. “Oh God, no.”

  Danny jumped from the truck and yelled back at the driver in the Buick. “It’s OK, I’m a trained EMT, just go. Please go.”

  Clearly shaken and staring at Danny with wide eyes she said, “I’ve already called 911, but I’ll go. So, like you said, I don’t cause another accident,” and sped off.

  Confused, Danny looked around and then noticed the front of his clothes was covered with blood. “She must think I’m some sort of maniac,” he said looking at himself. The faint whine of sirens registered and he realized that he had to move quickly. Danny fumbled for his keys, stepped on the crushed car and opened the back of the truck. He stared in disbelief. The shipping crate was open and one of the vials broken. He quickly closed the doors, replaced the lock and ran to front of the truck.

  Danny climbed back into the cab and back down to the driver’s side. Moving quickly, he found a small grey box next to the steering wheel and opened the top. He punched in 3-2-6-3-8-2-7 on the numeric pad and pulled the red tab. Immediately a small green indicator light started blinking. Danny evacuated the vehicle for the second time, jumped to the ground and fled into the woods. Moments later the first emergency vehicle pulled up behind the truck.

  Wyndmoor Agricultural Research Center

  Dave’s blackberry vibrated just as the interior alarm started to ring. “Oh, God. This can’t be.” He muttered as he pulled his blackberry from his belt and started reading the automated urgent text, “Canary 911.” Dave cursed, “No. No. No!”

  Rich was running down the hall and stopped at Dave’s office, “Dave, it’s the transport. It’s a coded signal, not a false alarm.”

  “Whose code?”

  “Daniel Freedman, the transport technician. They validated the code and have an approximate location.”

  “Approximate?”

  “Spotty area for exact GPS, but air support will be there in twenty.” Rich stated matter-of-factly.

  “This is bad Rich. Very bad. The driver didn’t punch in?”

  Rich shook his head, “Nope.”

  Both men paused knowing that this likely meant the driver was dead. “First responders?” Dave asked.

  “Unfortunately, on their way according to DHS-comm.”

  “Go figure, this would be the one time the local guys get there on time. It’s not gonna take too long before this gets messy” Dave stated matter of factly. “Launch the Fury aircraft and give the pilots the green light to initiate ‘Operation Afterburner’ and have Hannah ‘leak’ the cover story to her contacts within the hour. We’ve got to mop this one up fast.”

  “Yessir,” said Rich reverting to the military training that became instinctive in desperate situations.

  Dave stood up, closed his door and dialed the Director from his secure phone line. “Sir, we’ve lost the package and I’ve activated ‘Afterburner.’” Dave paused and listened to the litany of profanities and military jargon for profanities. “I’m sure. We’ve verified the code.” The phone clicked and Dave held the phone to his ear hearing only the dial tone. His job, his career was now over. The Director would be dialing the President before Dave could place his secure headset back in its cradle. The Director would have to lie to the most powerful man in the world to cover this up. The American public will be outraged and his failure would panic the country. Dave knew that people would demand retribution and force the President to declare war. Hundreds or even thousands of people would surely die, but he knew it was better than the alternative.

  Route 85

  The paramedics arrived on the accident scene first followed quickly by several fire trucks. Each truck parked across the roadway with its strobe lights lit up to prevent traffic from passing by the accident and closing the road.

  Jack Simpson picked up the radio after parking the pumper truck behind the two wrecked vehicles. “This is Truck 4 on scene. Confirm MVA. Looks like there are two vehicles involved; one large truck, possibly military, and a small passenger car. Paramedics and fire on scene.”

  “Ah, jeez Jack. Doesn’t look like anyone made it out.”

  Jack looked to his trainee sitting next to him before leaving the cab, “Looks bad Sam. Break out the Hurst Tool, looks like this is going to be an extrication. See what EMS says about the drivers so we don’t call HEMS out for a morgue run. Those flyboys don’t like landing in the middle of nowhere unless there’s a heartbeat.”

  Sam exited the shiny fire engine adorned with chrome he had spent all morning washing and polishing. He jogged up to the paramedics who were looking in the cab of the overturned truck. “How’s it look?” he sheepishly asked.

  “It’s not good. Purple plus in the cab. Probably the driver. But, there’s a lot of blood outside of the cab. Looks like someone made it out, but didn’t stick around to say hello.”

  Sam looked confused. “Dead. The driver’s dead.” The medic explained to the rooky. Trying to redeem himself, Sam studied the streaked handprints and footprints on the cab when he noticed more on the ground, “Looks like he went back that way!” The other rescuers followed the bloody trail to the back of the truck when the lead medic, Mike McCansteed, stopped dead in his tracks and held a closed fist in the air. “Quiet. Quiet!”

  Everyone stopped moving and stood very still. The only sounds were the wind twisting through the trees, the clicking of the vehicle strobe lights and a distant rumble of thunder. Then they all heard it. There was a moan from inside the flattened car.

  “We’ve got one in the car. Get the board and collar, and bring the lifepak out stat.” Mike bolted around the truck wreckage and slid down on his belly to get a look in the car. He could barely see through the boxes and debris that filled the crushed passenger side of the car. “One patient,” Mike shouted, “female, she’s pinned against the wheel. Barely conscious.“ Just as Mike finished his assessment, the firemen arrived in full force with every pneumatic tool one could imagine. They started cutting the door off the car while Mike went around to the driver’s side door and knelt in the stream to get closer to the patient.

  “Ma’am. Ma’am can you hear me? I’m an EMT and we are here to help you. We’re working to get you out of the car.” Mike popped his head back up above the car and yelled to his partner, “You’d better get air transport, she’s not responding to me and the way she’s pinned there’s probably internal trauma. Jack, how long until you can get her out?”

  Jack looked up from supervising his men as they cut away the metal door like it was a sheet of cardboard. “30 seconds to get in, don’t know how long to get her out.”

  Mike bent back down and looked in the car and couldn’t believe his own eyes. The severely injured woman was suddenly starting to move. In fact, she was becoming more frantic and clumsily trying to free herself from the wreck. “Ma’am, you’ve got to stay still. Please don’t move you’ll hurt yourself!” He immediately reached in the car to try and hold her still. The women let out a growl that sent a shiver down Mike’s spine. Before he could react, she opened her mouth and locked her teeth onto his forearm. Mike let out a scre
am of horror and pain. Her strength was unbelievable; she was pulling him towards the vehicle while clamped onto his arm.

  “What the hell! My god! Help, god. Help me!” Mike tried to pull his arm out only to feel the flesh and muscle be torn from his arm and yet another excruciating bolt of pain as the women sunk her teeth back into his arm. He could feel her teeth against his bone and then passed out from the pain. The fireman quickly responded to Mike’s horrifying cries as the woman continued to consume the flesh of her would be rescuer.

  Sam, the newbie of the department, was the first to scramble around the car. Mike’s limp body slid back from the car and came to rest in the shallow stream. Blood shot from Mike’s wounds with every beat of his heart drenching his uniform. Sam reflexively lost the contents of his stomach when he saw the blood and Mike’s ravaged arm. It was stripped below the elbow with only shreds of tissue hanging off bright white bone. Sam was pushed aside by the other EMT’s as they rounded the car and ran to Mike’s aid.

  It was just starting to rain as the firefighters opened the car enough to free the trapped women. When they shut down the power equipment they could hear animal-like howls coming from inside the car. Before they could react, the women pulled her half broken body from the car and lunged at the rescuers. The firemen couldn’t believe what they were seeing.