“I’m almost done,” Jennifer called down from upstairs. “I just don’t know how much clothes to take…or what kind.”
“See, Momma’s almost done. Now just sit here and play with your super hero and we we’ll leave in just a little bit.” Trent reached down next to Diego and retrieved a plastic action figure that was protruding from between the sofa cushions. After shoving it into his son’s hands, he looked up and shouted, “Just grab a few things for the both of us…comfortable stuff.”
Jennifer came rushing down the stairs with several travel bags draped over her shoulders. Her hair was ruffled and her eyes were wide with fear. She was wearing a yellow summer dress and cork wedge sandals.
“Come on babe, I can’t believe you’re wearing a dress and heels. Look at me. I’m in jeans and jogging shoes. What if something happens and we have to end up on foot somewhere?”
“I just can’t believe that this is going on…that something like this is happening.”
“I know honey, but the fact is…something is happening, and we need to act before anything happens to us.” Trent walked over to the kitchen table and lifted up a plastic storage bin. It was packed with some canned food and a few toiletries. Next to the bin was a case of bottled water. “I hope this is enough,” he said as he turned to make his way towards the front door.
“It will be, I promise. Gibbie told me that he had plenty of food at his lake house and all we needed to do was to get up there. He’s been there since yesterday. I just hope my parents are okay. I can’t get ahold of them.”
“I’m sure they’re fine. I just hope we can get around that big traffic accident that the news was talking about.” Trent opened the front door and went out to their SUV, opening the rear hatch back. He slid the plastic bin across the rubber cargo mat and rushed back into the house to grab the water.
Jennifer reached down to pick up her sobbing child, struggling with the dangling bags as the scared boy began to squirm and cry. “Stop acting up!” she yelled as she shook him. Her nerves were beginning to fray and her patience was in short supply.
“Hey, don’t yell at him!” Trent barked. “It’s not his fault that he’s scared. You’re the one who probably has him all freaked out by the way you’re running around like a chicken with our head cut off. He’s just a little guy. He doesn’t know what’s going on. Shit, I’m scared too. It doesn’t help matters if you start losing your patien—”
“Shut up, the President is about to finally say something about what’s happening,” Jennifer said as she pointed to the television.
Trent was taken aback at Jennifer’s sharp comment and he stood in silence for a couple of seconds. As he looked at the television, he realized that this wasn’t the time for hurt feelings or sensitive emotions. He needed to put on his big-boy pants and be the man of the family.
A news reporter from one of the major news channels was on the television. He was sitting at the anchor desk, and on the green screen behind him was a dramatic picture of a silhouette of the continental United States with “America in Crisis” superimposed over the image of the country. The anchor was cupping his right hand over his ear.
“Okay, from what I understand, the President will be speaking to us from Air Force One. Understandably, he’s been placed on the flying command center as a precaution and is most likely being taken to a secure location where he can manage the country through this incredible crisis…a crisis that is gripping not only America, but the whole world. Okay, he’s about to go on…are we ready?”
It was obvious that the anchor was speaking on the fly and the regular scripts and teleprompts were not in place. The scene was chaotic and Trent could envision the studio—a madhouse of nerve-racked people darting back and forth behind the cameras.
“My fellow Americans,” the president said, “as you well know, our country is in the midst of a crisis of the likes never seen before. My cabinet and I have been in discussion with members from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as from several other leading medical institutions including the World Health Organization, and it is evident that we are experiencing some sort of unexplained phenomenon that is bewildering the scientific and medical communities.
To get some sort of idea as to what is happening, we need to go back to the incident that took place in Russia almost three weeks ago. Although we haven’t received any substantial information from the Russian government, it is believed that some sort of biological weapon was accidentally released at a research facility in southern Russia. The outbreak, now known as the ‘Ozersk Syndrome,’ spread rapidly, almost immediately infecting those who came into contact with it.
Before the Russian government could halt the spread of their creation, many of the infected began to flee the region, with a great number of them crossing into Kazakhstan. Once we were made aware of what had taken place, we rushed a team of medical experts to Kazakhstan in an effort to study and develop a response to the outbreak, but before we could get an understanding of what was going on and what was making people sick, the Russian government attempted to purge ground zero through the use of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, the fallout from the detonation of nuclear weapons simply spread Ozersk Syndrome into the atmosphere, and once it was there, it was caught up in the global jet streams, allowing it to make its way across the planet. Now, as a direct result of that miscalculation, Ozersk Syndrome is spreading at a rapid, overwhelming rate. Many of the governments in Europe have been unable to control the spread of the syndrome, and we have lost contact with the heads of state for some of the stricken countries, including most of Eastern Europe, Spain, France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Kazakhstan. We have even lost contact with Moscow and the Russian government.”
Trent and Jennifer could hear the grittiness in the president’s voice; they also noticed that there was a twinge of fear mixed in with his resolve.
“My brothers…my sisters, I am speaking to you with candor and honesty. Politics are not involved here, and I’m not going to sugar coat this. My administration will not be the cause of needless injury or death simply because we failed to provide you with the information that you need to survive and protect yourselves. This government is not going to keep you in the dark and we will make every effort to provide you with as much information as we can, because what we are facing now is frightening, and the consequences of not being able to gain control of this situation are immeasurable. Now, what I am about to tell you next is going to sound almost impossible to believe, but please be open-minded and understand that we are in the early stages of investigating this outbreak.
The agent that was released in Russia was vile and heinous. It was designed to cripple an enemy by infecting the civilian populace with a biological creation, a creation that was designed to bring the dead back to life by reanimating their bodies. Yes, I know this sounds like this is something straight out of a science fiction movie, but unfortunately, the Russians were able to take this wild, obscene notion and perfect it into a weapon. Now, from what we can tell, the syndrome can manifest itself in two different forms. It’s very hard to understand, but what we’ve learned is that if a person is bitten or exposed to the body fluids of an infected or reanimated individual, or somehow ingests those contaminated body fluids into their blood stream, that person will start to show symptoms of infection. Those symptoms are displayed through acts of uncontrollable violence and senseless aggression. An infected person will not respond to reason or rationale, and they will attack any living human being that is around them. If that infected person is killed or dies, they will reanimate shortly after death, and once a body is reanimated, it becomes a violent, murderous entity.
And now, I must be honest with you about the most frightening aspect of this entire tragedy. There is a chance that all of us have been exposed to the Ozersk Syndrome due to its filtration into the world’s airstreams. As the crisis has evolved, there have been wide-spread reports of people reanimating who were killed in non-exposure incidents. The C.D.C. believes that a l
arge number of us may now be carrying the syndrome, and that upon death, no matter what the cause, we may reanimate. Right now there is no way to tell if a person is carrying Ozersk, but our scientists are working around the clock to develop a procedure to tell whether you are infected or not.
Starting now, I am exercising my executive powers and I am placing most of the major metropolitan areas of the country under martial law. The military will attempt to work with state, county and municipal agencies to establish safety zones. Coordinated evacuations of several major cities will be conducted in an attempt to curtail the violence and murders that are taking place all across the country. Please don’t fall into a false sense of security if your neighborhood, town or city hasn’t been affected. To date, every state has experienced outbreaks, and several large cities have been declared ‘dead zones.’ It is very important to listen to the radio, watch your televisions and monitor your social networks for updates, information and directions.
To anyone who can hear my voice, please have faith in your government, your military and your local elected officials. We must be strong, we must be rational and we must not panic. We are facing a biblical, almost prophetic catastrophe. Darkness is on our horizon, but this great nation will continue to shine and provide a beacon of light for the rest of the world, and with the help of God almighty, we will prevail. God bless you…and God bless the United States of America.”
“Oh my God, it’s the end of the world!” Jennifer exclaimed. “Did you hear what he said? He said we’re all infected!”
“Hurry, get Diego to the car. Forget what he said, just get the baby!” He rushed over to the table to get the bottled water. “I’ll get the rest of the stuff. Oh, and don’t forget the phone charger.”
***
As they pulled away from their home, Jennifer turned to look back at Diego as he sat in his child seat. Although no one else was in the car with them, she felt an unseen, threatening presence. For her own comfort, she reached back and touched him on his lap.
While Trent made his way through the neighborhood, he turned on the radio and tuned it to an AM station. “We should be able to get updates or information on here,” he said as he motioned to the radio.
“Look, it looks like the Garcias are leaving too,” Jennifer said as she pointed to a car that was backing out of a driveway. The vehicle was loaded down with luggage on its roof.
“Good for them. Hopefully they have some place to go to.”
Jennifer turned to Trent and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Baby, what if we are all infected? What’s going to happen to us?”
Trent turned to look at his terrified wife. The fear was also building up in him as he contemplated what the president had said during his address. They could all be carrying the Ozersk Syndrome, and there was no way to tell if they were infected. He knew that he needed to keep his composure and he didn’t want to add to any of Jennifer’s fears. “We’ll be alright honey. Just try and call Gibbie and let him know that we are headed his way.”
“Yeah…right, I need to do that,” she said in a quivering voice. She took in a deep breath and tried to regain her composure. She pulled her cell phone from her purse and turned to look back at Diego as she dialed her boss’s number. After one ring, an automated response announced that the call could not be completed because the network was busy. “I can’t get through. It says that the network is busy.”
“Damn, everyone and their mother is probably on their phones trying to call each other. Hey, try to connect to the internet and see if you can get any other news.”
Jennifer tapped the internet icon on her phone, but the web page failed to load and she received a “failure to connect to server” message. “Can’t connect to the server.”
“You gotta be kidding me. No cell and no internet!”
“It’s okay, baby, we’ll just listen to the radio and see what it says.”
Trent made his way out of the neighborhoods and then merged onto Stone Oak Parkway, which was a four lane roadway that fed into some of the more lavish residential areas of San Antonio. He tried driving south towards the freeway, but the lanes were choked with traffic. Most of the cars and trucks were loaded down with people, and several of the trucks had occupants in their beds.
“Do you think we should stay on Stone Oak?” Jennifer asked.
“I think the best way is to get to Sixteen Oh-Four,” he answered. “That will take us to Thirty-Five and then we can head up to Canyon Lake.” Trent looked around and gestured with his hand, as if he was pointing at their surroundings. “See, doesn’t look like there’s anything major going on here, except for all the traffic. I think as long as we stay where there are lots of people, we’ll be okay. We don’t want to back track and get caught up in the neighborhoods.”
“But look at the traffic. It’s starting to back up all the way from Sixteen Oh-Four. Maybe we can try to take Sontera over to Two Eighty-One.”
Trent thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll just jump over to Sontera. Let me just work my way over into the turn lane.” He flipped on his signal and edged the nose of the SUV into the left lane. He looked over at the car to his left, almost pleading with the driver to let him over.
With a wave of his hand, the driver signaled Trent to make his lane change, allowing the SUV to nudge its way into the turn lane. With Sontera just a block ahead and the traffic getting tighter and tighter, he was glad that he had listened to Jennifer’s suggestion to use an alternate route.
A small compact car with four people pulled up next to Trent’s passenger side and a male driver leaned out of the window and yelled out to the couple. “Hey, have you heard anything new?”
Trent looked over at Jennifer with uncertainty as he put his finger on the window switch.
“Go ahead, they’re probably just as confused as we are,” she said.
Trent rolled down Jennifer’s window. “Just what the T.V. was saying. And you?”
“Same thing. We got friends and family in Houston, but when we last spoke with my sister, she said that it was getting real bad there. We were gonna to try to head over there, but they said not to go there. She said that the police and National Guard were shutting down some of the freeways. Can you believe that?”
Thinking about her parents, Jennifer looked over at her husband. Desperation was all over her face.
“Wow, I didn’t hear that,” Trent said, glancing over at his wife. “The radio just keeps saying the same stuff…you know ‘don’t panic, stay in your homes’ kind of stuff. Nothing really helpful.
“Are you able to get on the internet?” Jennifer asked over Trent.
The female sitting in the front passenger seat of the vehicle leaned over the driver and said, “Not anymore. I stopped getting a signal about an hour ago. I can’t even get a cell signal.”
“Me too,” Jennifer said. “Where are y’all going?”
“We’re just going to try and sit this out at home and see what happens,” the driver answered. “We just need a few things from the store, so we’re trying to make it over there before it gets too much later.”
“Well, best of luck to you,” Trent said.
“Same to you, buddy.”
“You know, we might want to stop and get something too before we get up there,” Jennifer suggested. “Thank goodness I filled up the car earlier, but we still might need some other stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Well, like matches or lighter fluid…maybe some extra batteries or some beef jerky or something.”
You’re right. We’ll stop at the corner store on Sontera. If we can just make it through this traffic.”
“It looks like everyone is trying to head to the loop,” Jennifer said as she leaned her head out of the window to survey the road ahead.
“You know what… fuck this!” Trent exclaimed. “If we wait on this traffic, we’ll be here for hours. I’m going to jump the median and just go through the parking lots to get over to Sontera.”
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“We won’t get in trouble?”
“Come on, do you see any cops around?”
“No, I don’t. Just be careful.”
Trent edged the vehicle up to the raised median. It was a well-manicured strip of green with a decorative rock display, shade trees and lush green grass. With a slight acceleration, he cautiously drove up onto the median and crossed over onto the north bound lanes of Stone Oak. A chorus of angry and impatient car horns greeted him as he cut across their path and darted into the parking lot of a small medical center. The entire length of Stone Oak from the highway to the first residential neighborhood was lined with out-patient clinics, fast-food chains, sports medicine offices, physical rehab centers and medical supply retailers. The connecting parking lots basically formed one long driveway and Trent was trying to use them to by-pass the heavy traffic on Stone Oak.
As he weaved his way through the lots, Jennifer spotted a large plume of smoke on the horizon. “Wow, looks like there is a fire up there past the freeway.”
Trent, too busy with his driving to look for the smoke, asked, “Where?”
“Up there, past the loop. Looks like maybe in the neighborhoods on the other side of freeway.”
“Hmm, well I’m sure the Fire Department will be over there in a bit to put it out. Hang on, I’m going to jump this curb.”
The SUV rattled as Trent drove over a curb and crossed onto Sontera. Jennifer turned to check on Diego; the child was strangely quiet.
“Are you okay, baby?” she asked her son. Diego simply nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Trent was finally able to reach Sontera, turning east to make his way to the convenience store. What he saw at next made him draw up in his seat as apprehension took ahold of him.
“Oh my God, look at that.”
Still looking at Diego, Jennifer turned back to see what Trent was talking about. “Damn, that doesn’t look good,” she said.
The store was a scene of chaos. Each of the gas pump islands had a line of cars that extended out to Sontera. The parking lot was full of vehicles and there was a line of people waiting to get into the store. Trent looked at his wife and nervously said, “Wow, the place is packed.” He warily pulled into an adjacent parking lot and stopped. Unbuckling his seat belt, he reached for the door handle.
A Glimpse Of Decay (Book 2): Staring into the Abyss Page 10