Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins (4 page)

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.

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.

The officer’s eyes widened as there were answering howls
sounding throughout the building. The sound of running feet reached their ears
and James looked towards the end of the room. A lot of the answering howls were
coming from that direction. There was another set of double doors there, each
of them smeared with blood.

The creature stood back to his feet and sprang forward, arms
outstretched. A single shot rang out and the creature crumpled to the ground.
James lowered his gun hand and sighed. He didn't want to have done that, but he
didn't see any other choice. There didn't appear to be any reasoning with these...things.
They didn't seem to be human anymore.

James looked up as the sound of running feet came closer.
"Shoot to kill," he said. James sighed at the look of horror on their
faces.

"Look quickly," he said pointing towards the
creature he had shot. "Take a good look! Do you see anything human left? I
don't know what this illness does but these things aren't human anymore. Look
around," he said indicating the room at large.

"Would a man do this?" He shook his head.
"Even if they are still one of us, they mean to kill us. Can we let these
things loose in the city?"

At that, the officers’ looks of horror were slowly replaced
with one of determination. They had to protect the city. They couldn't let
these things out of the hospital. They'd go on a rampage.

James nodded at the look of resolve on their faces.
"Get ready. They're nearly here."

The doors at the far end of the room burst open and dozens
of those creatures charged into the room. Seeing the officers they howled and
sprinted in their direction.

"Fire!" James yelled. Shots rang out and several
of the creatures immediately crumpled to the ground. Some of the creatures in
back stumbled over their fellows but others managed to leap over the obstacle.
More shots rang out and more of the creatures fell. James sighed as his gun
clicked empty.

James glanced behind him and saw the same for the officers
behind him. They were all out of ammo. How many did they put down? He was
fairly confident his shots had been kills. He frequently went to the range to
hone his skill. He'd always felt that the best way he could use his gun was to
shoot what he was aiming at. He wasn't sure about the other officers. He knew
that a number of them trained just enough to pass their annual evaluation.
Looking forward, he sighed as he saw the result of that attitude.