When They Come

Patient zero

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

Grabbing his chest, the man limped his way through the city. Bearing the burden of scared looks and even more frightened remarks, he was desperate in his journey to the hospital.

The pathetic shell of a man, his heart pounding out of his chest, sweating icy bullets while running a high fever, he all but gave up on his own existence.

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

He was already kicked out of three taxi cabs for his vomiting, the smell unlike anything he ever inhaled in his life. The cabbies took note of this too and were not shy in letting him know how they felt.

The disgust at his treatment by these people did not go unmatched; he spitefully smeared his puke all over the protective screens.

He grinned as best he could with his failing strength.

“That’ll show ‘em”, he thought to himself.

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

He felt his heart smack into his ribs; it’s pace slowing down ever so slightly. Each beat echoed in his chest, reminding him that he was still alive, but probably wouldn’t be for long if he didn’t find help.

Limping through the crowded city streets at night time, he regretfully allowed himself to vomit in front of a crowd waiting in line to get into a night club. The splatter hit several young, overzealous adults. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t met with the greatest of sympathy.

A bottle left the hand of an angry patron and met the man’s forehead. The rest of him met the pavement. He quickly went down and could no longer find the strength to get up. The lights grew fuzzier and brighter, and then, all faded to black.

“What the hell are we dealing with tonight?”

“Voices”, the man thought.

“I don’t know, there’s barely a pulse, and he’s running a fever, but his sweat is freezing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well, that’s comforting”, the man thought as he felt his heart slam itself into his ribs again.

“Run an IV through him. That puddle of puke we found him in must have been his lunch AND dinner. Before we know what it is, we should at least feed him.”

The man felt a prick in his vein. It felt dry. He could feel the needle scraping the vein and the cold liquid flowed through his body.

He began to black out again. The EMTs’ panic made itself known very easily. He was in no mood to hear their worried words; he entered sweet oblivion, never to wake up human again.

Ba-dump

Ba-dump

That was the last glimmer of life in patient zero. What awoke would soon begin the collapse of modern society.

What awoke was no longer the man. It was a terrible demon that lived in the man’s body. The virus that caused his suffering spread itself through the mucus membrane.

Bites, blood in a bodily opening, consumption of the flesh, etc. This was how the virus was spread.

The poor EMTs never had a warning. The machines, still hooked up to the man, did not offer any sort of warning that he was awake.

They were pulling into the hospital when the screaming erupted. The driver turned around to witness a “dead” patient’s teeth tearing into the flesh of his co-worker and friend; he struggled to get his seatbelt off, but was too overwhelmed by the sights and sounds.

The sickening sound of flesh and bone being torn off his friend was enough to make him tear up while trying to free himself. The now disabled friend huddled onto the floor in the fetal position, the blood pouring from his wound offered him little time left in the world of the live. The second EMT had just grabbed a pen from his pocket to stab the patient, but it was no avail. His hand wound up in the man’s mouth. His fingers soon wound up in the monster’s stomach.

His sickening scream further lowered the driver’s moral. The driver began to cry as he lost all control and began pulling at the straps of his seat belt, no longer able to keep his focus.

The monster threw its weight on the EMT who now only kept 6 of his life-saving fingers. The monster’s hands clawed at the EMT’s body. The EMT felt the monster’s jaws land on his face, tearing off his cheek, and then his nose. All he could hear was gnashing jaws and flesh being torn from his face. The noise sounded much like clothes being torn at the seam. He cried at the loss of his vanity but never gave up the fight.

The monster’s attention went to the driver. His cries had betrayed him. The monster got up from the EMT and dragged it’s way over to the driver, who was still unable to release himself. The monster merely dug into his face, tearing off his nose with it’s teeth. The driver’s screams seemed to only feed the monster’s blood lust as he now sunk his claws into his chest, tearing out chunks of flesh. The driver tried to shove the beast away, but only succeeded in landing his hand in it’s mouth. His fingers shared some room in it’s stomach right alongside his friend.

KNOCK , KNOCK.

The back of the ambulance opened up. Two nurses took in the terrible massacre, dropping the clipboard and allowing the gurney to roll away. The driver’s screams were now muffled and sounded way too much like someone gargling mouthwash in the morning.

One of the nurses walked in and watched the monster dig into the driver.

The corpse of the first EMT stirred.

The nurse walked in slowly, stepping over the body of the second EMT.

The nurse standing outside began to call for help.

The monster turned to the nurse and began to make his way towards him; the driver was now lifeless and now held a few organs with teeth marks on them.

The nurse tried to escape, but the undead grip of the first EMT wouldn’t allow it. He fell on his face, more surprised than anything else. It was when the first EMT’s jaws dug into the nurse’s Achilles’ tendon that the nurse realized the full extent of the danger he was in. It didn’t matter now, the infection was already pumping its way through his veins, slowly ending his life and getting him ready for his next.

His attempts to kick the EMT’s grip off of him did not work as he felt another chunk of flesh be torn away and then another, and another…

The attempts to rescue and subdue the monsters in the ambulance worked, but resulted in many taking deep bites and scratches. Within a few hours, the entire hospital would be churning out these creatures by the dozen. Many terminally ill, sleeping, elderly patients would soon become new hosts to this virus and they too would join the throng leaving the hospital in search of new meat.

It would be a few hours before the world wakes up for work.

It’ll be the last of nights when monsters only exist in people’s dreams.

This was the story of patient zero and how it all began.

Matt

It had been a few weeks since the news made mention about patient zero, and much like all newscasts about disasters, the world had become jaded to the events at the hospital. Matt was no exception.

Ignoring personal safety, a news reporter went into the “hot zone” where most incidences of the “civil disturbances” had taken place. Matt sat on his swivel chair sipping a juice box. Being a 20-something, he still had a certain fondness for them, as well as staying home all day on the internet.

Matt watched the reporter, seemingly alone in the streets, shouting about the rise of these “disturbances” which involved the victim almost always getting pieces of them chewed off, sustaining deep scratches, and pretty much just messed up in some way. Matt had heard about this way too much. Sipping his juice box with indifference, he sat there watching the reporter.

“I AM HERE TODAY IN
BLEEP
, WHERE THERE HAS BEEN A RISE IN VIOLENT RANDOM ATTACKS…”

“Why did they bleep out where he was?” Matt thought to himself. “They never did that before, and why he is completely alone?”

The reporter continued.

“WE ARE ON THE STREET RIGHT NOW, WHERE THE TOWN HAS BEEN ALL BUT ABONDONED. STRANGELY ENOUGH,THE ATTACKS HAVE SPREAD TO OTHER ADJACENT CITIES…”

“Why do reporters always shout when they do the news?” Matt thought out loud.

Matt watched the reporter move around, of course, being followed by the camera with a lovely shaky effect. The reporter finds a resident dragging his feet, arms down at his sides, pretty much looking at the ground.

“This guy looks way off.” Matt said aloud.

“WE ARE HERE WITH A LOCAL RESIDENT. SIR! SIR! EXCUSE ME, SIR! IF WE COULD HAVE A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME! NOW, MOST OF THE TOWN HAS EVACUATED, WE ARE WONDERING WHY YOU DECIDED TO STAY BEHIND?”

Matt watched the man slowly turn around, revealing congealed eyes and an open mouth with brown stains around his lips. Matt was grateful for the protection his television offered. The man became fixed on the reporter, who was now too busy looking into the camera to describe the desolate scene.

“uuunnh,” Was the response that the man gave to the reporter. A low moan that you could hear scraping it’s way through his throat.

The reporter put his microphone to the man’s face and awaited an answer while talking into the camera about the man’s bravery for staying.

There was a difference between bravery and foolishness and Matt could easily see the difference today.

In what looked like a few seconds, the man lunged at the reporter, his weight knocking him to the ground. The cameraman stood focused on the scene. He backed away and recorded the reporter’s desperate screams for help. There was still time. The reporter was fending off the hungry beast. The inaction of the cameraman cost another life and added another infected to the ranks.

The camera caught it all; the reporter’s screams as he desperately tried to slap the man away, his flailing kicks attempting to land a blow on him. It wouldn’t matter though, these things don’t feel pain. Matt had seen videos online of these things becoming dismembered and still marching on like nothing had happened.

Matt heard the sickening crunch, and watched the man chew off a chunk of the reporters arm, sleeve and all. The man screamed with tears in his eyes. His scream was heart rending that Matt had to turn away. The man screamed and cried at the same time, the camera caught the reporter reaching up to try and reclaim the piece of his flesh that the man was chewing on and swallowing right in front of him. The fingers, so close to his lost flesh, were gnawed off in front of the reporter. He had lost too much blood to keep fighting the man off.

The reporter stopped moving. His nerves kept him shaking. The cameraman slowly backed away from the scene. He was breathing heavily as he tried to make his way to the news van. He kept his eyes and camera focused on the scene.

There was another person breathing behind him.

He froze in his tracks.

He turned the camera and himself around slowly.

Right in front of the lens was a woman missing the flesh around her mouth and missing a cheek. Few sharpened teeth remained in her mouth and her clothes were torn and tattered. She was pale and her hair was almost all there.

“She’s a fresh one,” Matt thought.

The reporter dodged a lunge and watched the pathetic form of the woman fall over. She looked up and crawled towards him, reaching for his legs. He backed away, forgetting about what he was walking away from not a moment ago.

The reporter’s corpse rose.

He and the man turned towards the cameraman, who spun around in just in the nick of time.

The sight of someone who was just obviously killed, risen and coming at you with extended arms is enough to shake anyone and the cameraman was no exception.

He dropped the camera.

He made a mad dash for the news van.

The blonde woman had finally grabbed his ankle and it sent him down to the ground. He desperately flailed around trying to kick her off. He succeeded in landing a few blows to her face, but her job was done. She bought the man and reporter enough time in catching their prey. One wouldn’t expect much grace from the walking dead. The reporter fell on the cameraman who was already busy reeling in pain from have his leg chewed on by the blonde woman.