Before The Outbreak: Short Stories of the Apocalypse in the Z-Strain Universe

by Morris, SJ

  “Mom, language,” Phoebe laughed from the backseat.

  Marie successfully pulled out of their driveway and onto the usually quiet street. Other than the speeding truck, it looked like everyone else had decided to stay home today. Cars were still parked along the road or in the driveways of the peaceful suburban town. Marie got an odd feeling that something was off but instantly brushed it away as she looked at the time and pushed the accelerator just slightly harder than usual. The old minivan responded, taking them down the street at thirty miles per hour.

  “Hey, Mom. Is your cell phone working? I tried to text John about band practice, and it says the text won’t go through. I don’t have any bars,” Mason asked, holding up his phone to his mother.

  “I can’t look now, honey. I’m trying to drive. Mine is in my purse, go ahead and check it.”

  Mason shuffled through his mother’s bag finding the phone and seeing the same thing.

  “Yours says no service too.”

  Marie ventured a glance at her son before putting her eyes back on the road in front of her. They came to a red light, and Marie grabbed the phone from her son.

  “What the hell is going on? Why don’t we have any service? I just paid the bill, so that can’t be it.”

  “Mom, the light’s green.”

  “Shit... sorry, I know Phoebe. Language,” Marie laughed as she looked at her smiling daughter in the rearview mirror.

  When she looked back to the road, she cut the wheel sharply to avoid hitting an older man who was stumbling into the roadway.

  “God damn it! What the hell is wrong with people today?” Marie mumbled.

  Mason turned around and looked at Phoebe as if to tell her, ‘leave Mom alone,’ Phoebe said nothing about the cursing this time.

  After a few more minutes, they pulled up to the school, and there was almost no line to drop the kids off. Marie looked at the time again to make sure they weren’t late since there was always a line at drop-off. It was only eight-fifteen, so they were on time. Marie tried to get her phone to work until it was her turn to pull up to the front doors where a teacher was waiting. The teacher pushed her hands against the passenger door so that Mason couldn’t open it, and Marie rolled the window down.

  “I’m sorry, but school is closed for the rest of the week because of the flu. Phones and internet are down so we couldn’t let anybody know,” the woman said before anxiously looking around.

  Marie was starting to get angry now. “What do you mean school’s closed? This is ridiculous. It’s their first day back after break. I have to get to work, and if I drop the kids back off at home, I’m going to be late.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but the school is closed. I recommend you head home yourself. I heard things are starting to get out of hand in the city. Someone was saying there’s rioting, and people are getting seriously injured. This flu is out of control, and people are going nuts. As soon as drop-off is over, I’m heading home myself.”

  “Well, isn’t that just great. Thanks,” Marie huffed as she pushed the button to roll the window back up and pull the car away from the curb.

  Phoebe’s small voice came from the backseat, “What are we going to do now, Mom? Do we get to go to work with you?” she asked excitedly.

  “Well, my phone isn’t working so I can’t call and tell them I’ll be late. I guess you are until I can get your father to come and pick you guys up.”

  Marie pulled back onto the main road and headed for her office in the city.

  Marie worked for a large company called National Comm. She was a customer service representative, and she hated her job, but it paid the bills, so she couldn’t be late.

  Chapter 2

  The closer they drove toward the city, the stronger Marie’s uneasy feeling from earlier became. Before they knew it, they were entering the city limits. Marie and her children witnessed people running through the streets with suitcases trying to load their cars as others smashed the windows of storefronts rushing inside to loot food, water, and anything else they could carry.

  “Mom, I don’t like this. I’m scared,” Phoebe said quietly as she clutched her bookbag tightly and looked out the window to the madness on the street.

  “I know, Phoebe. I think we’re going to turn around and head home. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but it doesn’t seem safe in the city,” Marie replied, before looking both ways and swinging the van in a wide arc across the road.

  As the vehicle turned, a loud scream erupted from nearby, and shots rang out. Marie and her two children instinctively ducked their heads for cover as the back window of their van shattered into a million pieces.

  Marie hit the brakes cowering lower in her seat and looking to her children to see if they were okay.

  “Are you guys all right?” Marie asked, reaching out to her kids.

  “I’m okay, but I don’t think we should stay here Mom,” Mason replied as Phoebe cried.

  Marie reached out to her daughter, trying to see if she was hurt. “Are you injured, Phoebe? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “I wanna go home,” Phoebe sobbed.

  Marie pulled at her daughter, and Phoebe unbuckled her seatbelt. Marie pulled her daughter into a hug, trying to soothe the scared little girl. Just as Phoebe started to calm, someone began beating on the driver side window.

  “Let me in!” the stranger screamed as he slammed his bloody arms against the glass.

  Phoebe tossed her book bag in the back as she climbed up front and curled up at her brother’s feet, weeping in fear.

  Marie didn’t respond to the crazed man at her window. Instead, she slammed her foot on the gas pedal, taking them all quickly away from the deteriorating scene. There was more screaming and sounds of gunshots all around them. Marie had no clue what had happened in the last few minutes. She did know that she needed to get her family out of here and to safety before something terrible really happened to them.

  Marie was speeding through the streets away from the chaos when, in the middle of an intersection, she witnessed a large man tackle another man dragging a suitcase with a small child following quickly behind him. The child screamed as the larger man reared up and brought his teeth into the other man’s neck, ripping flesh from his body. Arterial blood sprayed out, covering the larger man as he chewed and swallowed. Marie watched as the child stood frozen in fear, uncertain of what to do next when the large man who had taken another bite of what appeared to be this little girl’s father stopped, reached out for her, pulled her towards him, and bit three of her fingers off. Marie’s eyes filled with tears as she watched the gory scene unfold, and she accelerated driving quickly away while the father and daughter’s blood stained the yellow lines of the dark pavement a deep red.

  Mason squeezed his eyes closed and covered his ears to try and block out the horror he had just witnessed, but the terrible scene was forever seared into his young mind. Mason pressed on his ears as hard as he could, but he could still hear the screaming from outside, so he wept silently, rocking back and forth in his seat.

  Marie saw Mason’s reaction and could do nothing but drive away faster from the anarchy outside. Her own tears blurring her vision, causing her to nearly miss a speeding police car with its lights blaring. Marie quickly pulled her van out of the way of the racing vehicle and sideswiped a parked car. She wiped her eyes as her children screamed, and she continued to drive.

  “Mason, try my cell phone again, see if you can call Daddy,” Marie pleaded.

  Mason grabbed his mother’s cell phone from the cupholder and tried to call his father, but the call wouldn’t connect. He threw the phone at the dashboard where it skid along the smooth black plastic, finally resting in the corner of the windshield.

  Marie didn’t react to her son’s outburst. She knew he was frustrated, angry, and scared. She was too. Instead, Marie turned on the radio as she drove, hoping to hear news of what was happening.

  ‘Civil unrest is being reported in the areas of Northern Bedfordsh
ire and all over the city of West Hall, Pennsylvania. Authorities are asking that all residents stay in their homes at this time due to the rampant violent behavior breaking out all over Pennsylvania. If you or someone you love are showing symptoms of the flu, please do not attempt to bring them to the hospital at this time. With the inability to call 9-1-1, we have been told to advise the public to hang a white sheet from your front door, and Emergency Services will be patrolling the streets to assist in caring for the sick or injured. I repeat, do not attempt to go to the hospitals as they are under quarantine at this time. We are receiving word now...’

  The station cut out.

  Marie rolled the dial from left to right, and there was complete silence on all of the channels.

  After a few moments of nothing, a screeching noise followed by a long drawn out beep filled the car before an automated voice began to sound through the speakers, ‘This is not a test. The following announcement is at the request of the Pennsylvania State Police Department in accordance with the Emergency Broadcast System. Authorities have issued a warning for the following local counties, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia. At nine hundred hours, these counties have issued an outbreak of a highly contagious virus. Reports state the outbreak started in the area hospitals which are currently locked down and under quarantine. Please do not attempt to go to the hospitals at this time. We have been told the symptoms of this virus include a fever over one hundred and four degrees, extreme body aches, sweating, fatigue, and severe headaches. Some of those infected act out with excessive violent outbursts. The infection is spread by coming in contact with any bodily fluids of those who are infected. Citizens are advised to take safety precautions by quarantining and restraining those who are infected or suspected of being infected. Please avoid all persons showing symptoms and stay in your homes until further instructions are made available.’ The screeching noise returned, followed by the long beep and the message played again. Marie had heard enough and turned the radio off.

  “Is this really happening? What is going on? This can’t be real. I’m going to wake up, and this is all going to have been a terrible nightmare,” Marie said aloud more to herself than her children.

  Mason looked over at his mother more scared than he had ever been in his short life. “Mom?”

  “Yes, baby, wh...”

  Marie was cut off when an ambulance slammed into the rear of the van. Marie hit the brakes, but the front passenger side of the car crashed into a telephone pole. Smoke erupted from the front engine compartment, and Marie was dazed from the impact of her head into the steering wheel.

  She quickly shook the fog from her head as she checked the children to make sure they were okay. They were frightened but otherwise uninjured.

  Marie jumped when a man wearing a uniform began banging on her window.

  “Let me in! You’ve got to let me in!” the man pleaded.

  “I have to protect my children. Please leave us alone,” Marie begged.

  The man looked behind him, back at the ambulance he had just exited as his partner crawled through the open driver’s side door, growling like a feral dog.

  “God damn it!” the man yelled as he slammed his radio into the window shattering it.

  He opened the door and pushed Marie further inside. Scared to leave her children, she moved to the space between the two front seats hugging her son and daughter tightly. The man jumped into the chair, threw the van in reverse, and slammed on the accelerator. The car barely moved. He cut the wheel sharply to the left, put it in drive, and put his foot to the floor on the accelerator again. The van lunged forward, leaving the front bumper behind, wrapped around the telephone pole.

  Marie buried her head in the embrace with her children, not knowing what to expect from this man who had just commandeered their vehicle.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t want to hurt you, but my partner turned into one of those... those things and tried to bite me while we were driving. I had to get out of there,” he said, breathing heavily. “I’m... Oh, shit!” he yelled, as he slammed on the brake and the van skidded to a stop.

  Marie braved a look out the windshield and saw ten or more people stalking down the street with various gruesome injuries. They were heading for their car and blocking the road. Marie screamed, pointing to the bodies shambling toward them with their mouths open wide, dripping thick black blood.

  The EMT was so focused on the group in front of them that he didn’t see the massive construction worker missing half of his face bearing down on him from his left side. The construction worker let out a deep guttural moan as he reached through the broken window and pulled the EMT out of it in one quick motion.

  The EMT kicked and screamed while his body slammed to the pavement, and the ashen construction worker bit down hard into one of his flailing arms. Marie didn’t need to see anymore, and she bounced back into the driver’s seat, pushed the shifter into drive again, and cut the wheel hard to the right punching the gas pedal. The tires screeched as they spun on the thick gore-covered asphalt before they gained enough traction to push the vehicle forward into the oncoming group of infected people.

  Hands reached into the car at Marie as she drove past. Some of the bodies were thrown up and over the hood or pushed under the wheels of the van as Marie turned them down a side street. Marie had driven these streets a thousand times, so she knew every route home. And that’s where they were going, home.

  Chapter 3

  The van belched thick black smoke from the crumpled hood as the engine sputtered.

  “Please make it just a little further,” Marie begged the van as she gripped the steering wheel, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

  There weren’t as many people around, but there were still some here and there. Marie did not want to risk having her family walking the rest of the way home, so she pushed the car as far as it would take them.

  The temperature gauge on her dashboard began blinking, and the needle shot up as high as it would go just before there was a hissing noise from the engine compartment, and the van rolled to a stop.

  “Shit!” Marie yelled as she banged her fists against the wheel.

  “Now, what do we do?” Mason asked, holding his sister in his lap.

  Marie scanned up and down the street, looking for an answer.

  “I don’t know, honey, but we can’t stay here.”

  Marie looked in the side mirror that was already splashed with blood and saw a group of people shambling down the middle of the street heading for them. She crouched low in her seat to avoid being seen and pushed her children toward the back of the van.

  “Get in the back, stay down and be quiet,” she whispered before following them into the middle row crouching low.

  Marie peeked her head up just enough to watch the gathering creep closer to their vehicle when she heard a commotion in front of them. There was a man and a woman trying to pack suitcases into the back of an SUV parked on the street. They were so worried about the bags that they didn’t see the threat heading right for them. As soon as they slammed the trunk closed, the group of monsters began to jog for them and caught up just as the man was trying to get into the driver’s side door. He was pulled down to the asphalt, kicking and screaming as more of the things jogged towards the woman on the other side of the truck.

  The woman tried to run back to the house, but another two appeared from the side yard and cut off her escape to the door. She changed direction quickly but was taken down and torn to pieces by the attacking mob.

  Marie sat in complete silence as she cried, watching the horrors unfold in front of her. After a few minutes, the things had finished devouring the couple and rose covered in bright red blood and chunks of flesh. The gore-filled monsters wandered away towards other homes or chasing cars as they sped down the street. She watched as the infected smashed through windows and pushed in doors to get at those who were running away. Marie was heartbroken watching as men, women, and children were ripped to
bits.

  As Marie was looking around for any ideas to get away, the sun hit something lying on the ground next to what was left of the man that tried to get into the SUV. It was the keys.

  Marie looked at them as if they were her saving grace. All they had to do was make it to the truck, grab the keys, pile in, and they could be on their way home. The only catch was that they had to do all of this without being seen, or they’d surely meet the same fate as the couple.

  “All right, guys. We’re going to get out of here and head to that silver truck in front of us, okay?” Marie whispered to her children.

  “But those things are out there, and they’re going to hurt us. I don’t want to go out there,” Mason begged while Phoebe just sat with her head tucked into her knees.

  “The truck is right there, those... things are distracted away from where we need to go, and as soon as we get to the truck, the sooner we’ll be on our way home to Daddy. You want to get home to Daddy, right?”

  Phoebe picked her head up. “I want to see Daddy.”

  “Me too, sweetie, me too. Follow close to me, I’ll grab the keys from the ground, and you guys get in the back seat. We have to be super quick about it, though, okay?”

  The two frightened children shook their heads in approval.

  Marie looked around and saw no immediate threats and slowly opened the side door. Marie was the first to exit, staying crouched to avoid being seen as she helped her children out of the van. She gave one more quick look around to be sure they weren’t spotted by anything, and Marie bolted to the SUV with her children in tow, each holding the other’s hand.

  She shielded her children’s eyes from the mess on the ground by physically turning their heads as they got closer. She knew if she told them not to look down, that would be the first thing they did, and she didn’t trust them not to scream at the bloody sight and give away their position. When they made it to the truck, Marie opened the rear passenger door and shoved the children in quickly, pushing the door closed as quietly as possible. Marie then reached to the ground to pick up the gore-covered keys. She shook off as much blood as she could, but without washing them off, they were going to stay disgusting, and she didn’t care. At this point, the only thing that mattered was getting her kids safely home.