by L. D. King
As Kimberly was talking to Jason, her crew broke down their broadcast equipment. It was packed up in the van, ready to go to the next assignment. Just then, Floyd received a call about that assignment. With the van loaded up, Floyd told Jason where their next location would be. Jason fired up their van, headed out of the parking lot, and went on down the road.
The next location was a convenience store on 14th Street near Magnolia Avenue. Kimberly’s crew consisted of primary cameraman Floyd Brooks, second cameraman Thomas Miller, driver/engineer Jason Erickson, broadcast signalman Tony Cooper, and crew assistant Eddie Ness. The trip should normally have taken just fifteen minutes. With the heavy traffic on this day, it took them nearly 70 minutes.
As they drove, Kimberly kept pointing out the high number of cars that were abandoned, standing in the street. Adding to the cars blocking their travel, there were people just wandering around without any purpose or direction. Some were standing or sitting some were walking or running. Nobody seemed to have any apparent destination.
Back in the studio, station manager Delbert Walker called Zoe Manderal, one of the station’s Investigative Reporters, to come to his office. “Zoe, I’m glad you are here. With all that has been happening with these creatures attacking and killing people around the world. I want you to prepare a special report on what is behind this. I want a report on what is actually happening, not only in Riverside, but around the world. Be ready with your report first thing tomorrow for the morning news. Can you do that? I’ve slotted your report for the local news at the six-ten spot.”
“I’d be happy to do a special report on this for you,” said Zoe. “I’ve been working on something similar since yesterday afternoon. I’ll be ready for the evening news if you want to go earlier.”
“The morning news will be fine. Please be ready. Thanks for coming in to my office.”
Zoe went back to her office. She continued working on what she had so far. She would have to expand her work to include more information from the international news outlets. She determined that even if she had to work through the night, she would be ready for the morning news.
Upon arriving at the convenience store, Kimberly’s crew quickly got their equipment set up, ready for her next report. When the camera was ready, Kimberly was in front of it, ready to go.
“This is Kimberly Zink with NBC News, Riverside, California. We are broadcasting from the convenience store on 14th Street near Magnolia Avenue. In the parking lot, we can see that six or eight bodies are lying on the ground. It’s a horrible mess to look at. There’s blood everywhere. As mentioned in our last report about these creatures, there are chunks of flesh ripped off of the victims mixed in with the blood on the ground. I can even see a foot and an arm in the bloody mess in the parking lot.” She gestured in the direction she was indicating.
“There are a few people just standing in small groups next to the convenience store, staring at the bodies. They seem to be looking around to see if the creatures that killed these people are coming back. At this point, I can’t see any sign of the creatures.”
She approached the bystanders. “Excuse me… I’m Kimberly Zink with NBC News-Riverside. Would you be willing to talk to us about what happened here?”
The man she had approached nodded.
“You will? Great. Please look into the camera, tell us your name, and tell us what you saw. Please speak up with a clear voice, and thank you.”
“My name is Frank, and this is my wife, Julie. We were walking back from the park and stopped in to grab a couple of bottles of water to drink on our way home. We were about a block away when we heard the screaming. We ran as fast as we could to see if we could help. Well, I did three tours in Afghanistan… the screams brought back some bad memories of my time over there. By the time we got here, the screams had stopped. The things that were here had left. All that was left was the bodies of these six or seven people lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. There’s so much blood, and the bodies were so torn up, that I couldn’t be sure whether there were six or seven bodies.” He shook his head sadly.
“Looking at them, they look like they’ve been gutted. Something’s just ripped chunks out of them. There’s broken bones sticking through the wounds…. They all died a violent death. There’s just so much blood. Look by the curb over there… the blood’s just flowing into the gutter. Neither my wife or I actually saw the creatures that did this. Whatever did this just walked away. If it was a pack of wild dogs, they’d still be here, eating parts of the bodies. The things that did this weren’t killing for food. It looks like they killed just because, like they had a blood rage about killing. They didn’t stop until the bodies were destroyed.”
The man’s wife stepped up to speak.
“Hi, as my husband said, my name is Julie. I’m an RN. While Frank was talking to you, I was watching one of the guys that works with you, at the back of your van. He’s been on his knees throwing up ever since you got here. He looks miserable. His fingernails are peeling off. His skin is turning dark, like he has gangrene. He doesn’t look well at all. Would you like me to take a closer look at him? Like I said, I’m a nurse.”
“Thank you for offering, Julie. I’ll have one of my crew check on him and we might take you up on that.”
She called to Tony. “Tony, can you check on Thomas and see if there’s anything we can do to help him, please?”
Tony walked to the back of the van to check on Thomas. As he got closer, Thomas started to rise to his feet. He began to back away from Tony. Tony shouted out to Kimberly.
“He doesn’t look too good. The closer I get, the more he backs away from me. Now he’s all bent over. He looks like he’s in a lot of pain. He won’t let anyone get close to him. Kimberly, I don’t know what to do. He just keeps moving. He’s starting to cough up some blood. What… do you hear him snarling at us? I think he’s changing into one of them. I really believe that we need to leave him behind when we go. We all need to get out of here… we really need to get away from this place, now!”
“Floyd, can you turn your camera on Thomas…? Follow him wherever he goes. I want to see what’s happening with him. We need to help him if we can, if he’ll let us. Oh, my god! Floyd, don’t take your camera off of Thomas whatever you do. Look, he’s moving away from us. He’s going down the side street. This is the same direction that the creatures went. He’s not walking right. He’s limping, shuffling might be the word, rather than walking. Every once in a while, he drops down, walking on all fours like an animal. Okay, I’m getting really scared right now.”
“Everyone pack up everything back into the van!” said Floyd. “We’re going back to the studio. We need to get off the street until we can figure out what’s going on. If we can’t be safe, I don’t want to be out on the streets. If any of the creatures come this way, dump the equipment and get the goddamn van running. We need to move now! Right now Thomas is beyond our help.”
“All right,” said Kimberly, “Let’s wrap this up. We need to get the hell out of here, now. Floyd, get the handheld, please, and ride up here next to me. I want to record all of this as we drive back. Make sure we’re sending the signal back to the studio. Put me on the handheld now. I want to sign off with a message.”
“This has been Kimberly Zink broadcasting live from the convenience store on 14th Street near Magnolia. We’re currently returning to the station. I urge everyone who can hear my voice to quickly get to a safe place. Lock yourself in. Do not approach the creatures that have taken over our town.”
On the way back Kimberly called the station manager.
“Delbert, this is Kimberly. It isn’t safe for us out here. Thomas Miller has been lost. We think he turned into one of those creatures right in front of us. We sent you the footage. We also have it recorded. The rest of us are in the van, returning to the station. It’s too dangerous for us out here.”
“Okay, Kimberly,” said Delbert. “Bring everyone back to the station. We’ll figure someth
ing out once you get here. Two of the other vans have already come back already. Both of those crews lost people, too. I called the last crew, but they’re not answering. I don’t know where they are. They may be dead, or gone, or both. Get back here as quick as you can. Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Floyd, I want you to take the fastest route that you can to get us back to the station,” said Kimberly. “We need to get out of this deathtrap now.”
“All right,” said Floyd. “Never have I run from a news story before, but I guess if you live long enough, everything happens to you at least once.”
Just as Delbert hung up with Kimberly, his phone rang again. It was Zoe. “Delbert, this is Zoe. My story is ready for broadcast.”
“Thanks, Zoe. I’ve slotted your story at 6:10 AM, following the national news.”
“Thank you, Delbert. I’ll be there.”
As Kimberly and her staff were driving back to the station, their path was blocked by abandoned cars on every street they took. They backtracked, taking a different route a number of different times. No matter what route they tried, every road was blocked by abandoned vehicles or roaming creatures. They could drive away from the station towards the center of Riverside, but they couldn’t drive into the city towards the studio.
As they drove, Kimberly had Jason tune the radio to stations in Greater Los Angeles. She wanted to listen to reports of what was occurring around them. From the reports that they received, what they were experiencing in Riverside was even worse in the L.A. Basin.
Kimberly finally had Jason turn the radio off. What they had just witnessed was scary enough; they didn’t need to hear more about it right now. She had her unborn baby and her husband on her mind. She asked Jason to find a vacant lot or some other safe place to pull into so they could park for a minute to talk. They needed a plan for the next couple of days.
“Okay, it looks like we can’t get to the station. Every route we’ve tried is blocked. We have to find a place that’s safe. From what the radio news is saying, the Los Angeles Basin is even worse than it is here in Riverside. It sounds like the Basin is where everyone is dying right now. Everywhere we went, there were dead bodies on the ground, probably killed by the creatures. The roads into the city are completely blocked by abandoned vehicles. The only direction that isn’t blocked is out of the city. I suggest that we move towards Palmdale. It’s in the high desert, so there shouldn’t be as many creatures there. We have a running vehicle that will keep us safe as long as it keeps moving. We have the station’s gas card so we won’t run out of gas. What do you think?”
“I’m with you, Kim. You know I’ll drive this beast anywhere you tell me to,” Jason said.
“Thanks. What about the rest of you?”
“Kimberly, I think I speak for everyone here,” said Floyd. “When I say that I think we stand just as bad a chance of dying by staying here as if we go down into the city. If that means we need to go to Palmdale or somewhere in that direction, then we should go.”
“Okay, then,” said Kim. “We’re going to go to Palmdale. I’m not going to tell the station just yet. We need to get to a safe place where we can rest and gather our thoughts before we do anything else... Find a convenience store that sells gas. We can stock up on food and water. I mean real food, not junk. Don’t get anything that’s going to spoil. We need to start thinking about a safe place to stay at night from now on.”
“Did you know that there are two auxiliary fuel tanks on this van?” said Jason. “They did this so we could have all of the equipment running for hours without having to go and fill up all the time. I’ll fill all three tanks. That will give us 115 gallons of gas. We’ll be able to go farther without having to stop so often.”
“That’s a great idea, Jason,” said Kimberly. “Okay, guys, let’s get some food, water and gas. We need to get out of this piece of crap Riverside desert while we’re still alive.”
It was 4:30 in the morning. Zoe had stayed at the studio all night, listening to the international news. She’d made last minute changes to her special report to coincide with the latest news. The station director called her, giving her a fifteen-minute warning. She came down from her office, handing her recorded report to the broadcast manager. Zoe walked to her designated spot in front of the secondary camera. She stood, waiting for her cue. The lead cameraman counted her down from three seconds.
“Good morning, Riverside. I’m Zoe Manderal, Investigative Reporter for NBC News, Riverside, California. I’m bringing you a special report covering the outbreak of these creatures. I’ve gathered my information for this report from local, national and international news sources from around the world. What we’ve discovered is that the creatures that are attacking people here in Riverside and down into the Los Angeles Basin are not unique to our area. As you can see from the footage that we’ve acquired from around the world, which is playing on your screen now, all of the creatures appear to be the same no matter where they are. The next footage is graphic; sensitive viewers may want to turn away from their screens. We’ve gathered images of the remains of the bodies from the creature’s attacks. Nearly all of the victims have been mutilated in a similar manner. In my research, I have found that the descriptions of the creatures that were used differed by where in the world the report originates.”
She continued, “The general description of the creatures was that they were horrid, haggard creatures. Some were missing limbs, others were missing other body parts like an ear or an eye or a nose. Some missing half of their face. Black, dried blood had run down their bodies. On nearly every creature, the clothing they’re wearing is torn or shredded and does little to cover their battered, bruised bodies. Their eyes are glazed over with a film or some sort, making the eye almost opaque, like they’re covered with something like slime, leaving the eyes vacant or unseeing.”
She continued, “It appears that when they move, they’re very uncoordinated. They stagger and jerk, and drag themselves forward, rather than walk. Their skin seems to be colored dark, like molding or decomposing flesh. It’s also been reported that they have a smell about them like that of decaying, rotting flesh or gangrene that reminds people of the smell of death.” She grimaced slightly.
“Many people have said that they look as if they were once human. Their faces contain some human features. They wear human-style clothing, although it’s shredded, but this is where the similarity ends. These creatures stand hunched over, and reports from people who have been able to observe them over a period of time say that their posture continually worsens until they can no longer stand upright, and they begin to crawl. Some people say that this is a result of being exposed to the elements.” She shook her head slightly. “No way to know for sure.”
She glanced at her notes. “People around the world have been calling them creatures, but in my opinion, what we are witnessing is more like the legendary zombie, and we should start referring to them zombies. It’s been reported that every attack on an individual, no matter how slight the injury, has resulted in that person’s rapid death, even if the person only received a slight scratch or a nick from the zombie.”
Zoe stopped and gathered herself. “Our station has the first ever documented coverage of a healthy human changing into a zombie. It was reported to us by Kimberly Zink on location in Riverside. We have footage that her news crew took of one of their own crew members as he transformed into a zombie. Thomas Miller was his name, and he slowly changed from a human into a zombie. As his transformation progressed, he shuffled away from her team. We have not been able to communicate with Kimberly since yesterday; Kimberly Zink and her crew are now listed as missing and presumed to be dead.
“This has been Zoe Manderal, Investigative Reporter, with NBC News, Riverside, California. Thank you for watching. Please be safe.”
Kimberly and her crew had decided that they would go as far as they could in the daylight towards Palmdale. As it got later in the afternoon. The heavy traffic coupled with all
the abandoned vehicles meant they were only able to get as far as Llano, about 15 to 20 miles southwest of Palmdale. As Jason was driving, he told Kimberly, “It’s starting to get dark. I think we need to start looking for a place to stay the night. What do you think?”
“Jason, whatever you think is fine with me. But you’re right, it’s getting late in the day. We need to find somewhere safe to stop for the night. I don’t trust the motels or hotels. Look for an abandoned building, hopefully with a garage where we can pull the van inside.”
“Okay. After that, we can get set up for the night. I think until we know what is going on around us, we should have one person up at all times, keeping watch. I also think we should get up when the sun rises. Wherever we’re going, we need to keep moving.”
“You’re right. Find us a safe place. We’ll have everyone, including me, stand watch until morning. Then we’ll get back on the road again.”
Jason drove for another twenty minutes until he saw an abandoned gas station with a garage on the north side of Llano. He pulled up to the doors. Floyd got out of the van and opened the overhead door for Jason to drive inside. Floyd pulled the door down behind the van, pulled the door down and locked it.
Everyone climbed out of the van and stretched as they looked for a suitable place to lay out their blankets. The gas station’s office was as good as they could ask for. They cleaned it up a little, then they all took their time to before lying down.
Floyd was the first to stand watch. He would wake Jason in two hours. It would go that way with a different person on watch every two hours.
As Kimberly laid down to get some sleep, she thought about her husband Henry. As they drove, she tried to call Henry a number of times, but he never answered his cell phone. She called every number that the station had. No one answered any of her calls.