DAY ZED
Volume I: The Outbreak
Charles Smith
Day Zed by Charles Smith
Copyright of Charles Smith 2014
Acknowledgement’s
To my wife Angelique, thank you for believing in me, and inspiring me to create this novel which has been a lifetime ambition.
Table of Contents
30th June, London 1:57pm
1st July, Heathrow Airport London 2:48pm
1st July, Chelmsford, Essex 11:39pm
1st July, Chelmsford, Essex 2:45am
1st July, Chelmsford, Essex, 3:15am
1st July, Hackney, London, 3:37am
1st July, Queens Hospital, Romford, Essex, 4:00am
1st July, Hackney, London, 4:15am
1st July, Norwood Junction, London, 6:21am
1st July, London Bridge, London, 6:45am
1st July, Battersea, London, 7:34am
1st July, Chatsworth Plaza, London 7:43am
1st July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 8:54am
1st July, Selhurst Park, London, 11:17am
1st July, Alvor, Portugal, 11:52 am
1st July, East Croydon, London, 1pm
1st July, Battersea, London, 1:33pm
1st July, West Ham, East London, 2:17pm
1st July, London Bridge, 4:21pm
1st July, Quintin Island, Malaysia, 8:10pm GMT
1st July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 10:25pm
1st July, Berwick upon Tweed, England 11:35pm
2nd July, Chatsworth Bunker, London, 8:00am
2nd July, Sarigerme, Turkey, 8:30am
2nd July, Berwick upon Tweed, England, 9:45am
2nd July, West Ham, East London, 11:00am
2nd July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 3:00pm
2nd July, Berwick upon Tweed, England, 9:00pm
3rd July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 7:45am
The End
30th June, London 1:57pm
James Faulkner had just finished presenting his test results by a secure video link, and was now awaiting a response. Two years ago James had been approached by a large pharmaceutical company, who required his expertise as a bio scientist to bind together three individually manufactured virus strands that had been engineered by three individually contracted laboratories from around the world.
The name of the company that had approached James was Biocorp, and to the majority of the world they manufactured various pharmaceuticals around the globe. To the wealthy Biocorp was also one of the world’s leading authorities in development of bio weapons. The pharmaceutical giant had found that terrorists had become disillusioned with chemical weapons, and explosives, they were willing to pay huge sums of money for the new modern day weapon, one that would give them the upper hand when challenging the west.
James had been given an open funding promise, and a handpicked team that would have the combined expertise to forge these three separate strains together. The first strain manufactured in Chicago, was a virus that was contagious when passed through bodily fluids, this aggressive virus would begin attacking healthy cells and organs immediately. Within a short period of time it would render the host incapacitated, before killing it. The company that had been awarded this contract were under the impression that it was to be a new cure for ridding the world of its rat population, and would be altered so that it could only infect vermin and be quite harmless to all other species on the planet.
A laboratory in Sydney in Australia had been contracted to manufacture a type of adrenalin that would work in reverse by sending electrical stimulants to the brain, but only once the host body had shut down. Biocorp had championed this as a modern day miracle that would be one day used by hospitals around the world to reduce their fatality figures to practically zero.
The third bio component had been designed by North Korean scientist’s, their task had been to create a pathogen which would be infectious whilst air born for a limited period of time, after initial infection through the air the intention was that the hosts would then pass the contagion by means of body fluids. Rumours within Biocorp had suggested that Biocorp had agreed a deal with North Korea giving them a guarantee of exclusive pharmaceutical rights throughout Korea in exchange for the completed super virus that James and his team were manufacturing.
Just three days ago the team James had assembled finally combined the three strains successfully together, and after vigorous testing had come to the conclusion that the virus was stable and could not be broken down. Part of James’s video call had included the latest video of tests they had carried out on a rat.
Just one drop from a pipette squeezed onto the floor of the rat’s glass pen had caused the rat to gradually grow ill and lethargic, it went on to lose all bodily functions, whilst suffering from a severely high temperature, and the agony of its organs shutting down one by one it died in just under two hours. A chamber led from the dead rat’s pen, and this joined with another pen containing five healthy rats. James had opened the door blocking access through to the chamber, and had waited for just two minutes for stage two of the virus to begin.
After those couple of minutes had passed the deceased rats eyes opened, and the rat began to stir from its forced death. Once the rat had taken in its surroundings it immediately moved towards the chamber and all of its attention had focussed upon the other rats the other side of it, the rat’s movements were slow, this was down to the adrenalin only reanimating parts of the brain, which caused the host to be capable of just bare minimum thinking.
The other five rats reacted as something was wrong and backed off together at the rear of the pen in a defensive huddle, the infected rat was unperturbed and continued towards them, and once next to them clumsily lunged at the nearest, missing its target. The rat’s second strike was more successful, it bit down onto the back of the rat’s neck, instantly drawing blood with its sharp incisors. The other rat fought back trying to defend itself, and was immediately joined by another, they between the two of them quickly tore apart the infected animal.
What had amazed the scientist’s, was that even though torn to shreds, the infected animal showed no signs of pain, and continued to attack the other rats, even though missing two limbs, most of its fur, and even an eye. Blood filled the cage, but the infected rat’s blood was a congealed black tar like substance compared to the others.
Within just one hour all five of the formerly healthy rat’s had died from sustained injuries, or bites which had released the virus into their system. The zombie rat fed upon a body of another for some time, until the other four reanimated, as the fifth came back to life they formed into a group, a group with no real direction or leadership, their senses were slow and they all looked around their surroundings, acting as if they were unsure what to do next. A sneeze from one of the scientist’s within the room immediately gained their attention, and as one they moved to the front of the pen, continuously trying to just move through the glass, as if they couldn’t comprehend that they were caged. One thing was evident, the rats although slow, bore resemblance to an animal suffering from rabies, all six continued to bounce off the glass walls attempting to escape, but all the time with their snouts pulled back, and their teeth exposed they hissed at the scientist’s.
Further video footage showed tests that had been concluded on the infected animals, results positively agreed that the only way to kill an infected host, was a blow to the head, James surmised that the only thing alive in their bodies was the brain and it needed to be shut down in order for the host to die a second time.
Tests showed that blood no longer flowed through their bodies, the digestive systems no longer functioned, meaning that their body became just like a machine, a
never ending nightmare, as even with the body decaying, or limbs missing, the skeleton would still function as it was powered by the still working brain, all it required was enough muscle to remain around the bone, in order to move that part of the body.
The Video Link beeped back on snapping James from his thoughts.
“Fill the delivery vessels, and have them dispatched to the transfer team immediately” Biocorp’s chairman Jim Douglas announced from the other end of the video link, he had decided to go ahead with the plan.
1st July, Heathrow Airport London 2:48pm
Yesterday had been a long day for James, after completing his video call with Jim Douglas he had began work on filling the virus dispensers. It took some time to complete this task as one accident would mean the end of everyone in the lab and precaution far outweighed the positives for more haste. It had taken over three hours to gradually fill the ten dispensers, and attach electronically controlled remote valve caps, which after receiving a signal from an unknown source would release their deadly vapours into the immediate area. The release vessels where then placed into special carrying cases which required their own individual pin code to disengage the locks, they were then collected by Biocorp’s own courier department.
Each lab member had been collected from home by a private car earlier in the morning, and they were allowed to bring their immediate family members. The car had dropped them at a private hangar at the airport, for the past twenty minutes they had been taking their seats aboard the private jet that had been chartered for them to leave the country. The plane would make one stopover for refuelling in Hong Kong, before they would reach their destination of Quintin Island, located somewhere off the coast of Malaysia. The reason for this destination was simple, Biocorp had owned the Island for several years, and there would be no other population on the island to ensure there could be no spread of the virus from locals.
As the plane took off James gazed out of the window, watching as London disappeared below him he looked at his watch, it was just after three in the afternoon, and in just five hours time all of the major airports in England would be exposed to what Biocorp now referred to as the “Day Zed” virus. On asking Jim Douglas his motives for the virus, he had replied without hesitation “What God had created through chemical reactions billions of years ago, Biocorp now needed to destroy with chemical reactions of their own, the Planet had ran out of space for new population, and the human race was exhausting the Earth of all of its resources, it was time to give Earth a second chance, that day would be today, one of a new beginning.”
James eased back in his seat, took one last look across London and closed his eyes.
Simon Cox had only just entered the arrivals lounge at Stansted airport, casually standing by the sliding entrance doors, he was nervous that what he was now about to do was illegal, he feared getting caught in the act. Part of the couriers cover was to check in as any normal passenger would do for a flight leaving the airport in three hours time; he glanced at his watch it was now seven in the evening at eight he would receive the text prompting him to release the virus.
Once Simon had checked in it was a simple case of sitting in the lounge waiting for the impending text message. Simon had earlier received a payment of ten thousand pounds in cash, and was to receive a further ninety thousand pounds after he had successfully dispatched the virus, this would be paid by way of a bank transfer. All Simon had to do was press the button of the small fob in his pocket, this would activate a slow release trigger hidden in Simon’s hand luggage, and the viruses vapour would be invisible to the naked eye. After activating the device Simon was simply to sit as near as possible to the lounge entrance doors for two hours in order to infect as many people as possible. On completion of the two hour timescale, Simon would then text Jim Douglas to confirm delivery, and then leave the terminal.
During an earlier briefing Jim Douglas had explained that Simon would be releasing a new type of flu virus into the airport lounge, and that Biocorp held a vaccine that would make them billions of pounds in the first few weeks of the flu outbreak, if only Simon knew that he would be releasing something far more sinister than a flu virus, and that he would in fact be responsible for spreading “Day Zed” to nearly every European travel destination, and that he himself would be one of the first infected in England.
Jim Douglas sent a text message to Biocorp’s virus dispatchers at exactly eight o clock in the evening; they were all waiting up and down the country. There was one for every terminal at Heathrow, two at Stansted, three in Gatwick, and even one in Manchester. On receipt of their text message they would all activate their remote sensors. After sending the text he immediately stood from his desk, and left his office, where he was taken straight to his private jet.
Jim smiled as he climbed the steps to board the aircraft. Knowing that most of the world would be infected by these carriers, at first slowly each country would have isolated cases, but very quickly the virus would spread, and would rapidly destroy each country it infected. Shortly after ten o clock all the required text messages had come back to Jim.
According to research anyone who came within a fifty meter radius of the courier’s, for even the briefest of moments would become instantly infected. The virus would take effect within eight hours of infection, however the longer an individual was exposed to the vapours the greater the speed the virus would course through their body. For people staying in the infection zone for up to fifteen minutes their symptoms would begin after six hours. Of those unfortunate enough to spend longer than fifteen minutes within the vicinity of the vapours, they would show symptoms after just four hours. Very high doses that the courier’s themselves would suffer from could cause death within just a few hours.
The design of the manufactured “Day Zed” virus was that at first it would cause a headache, and that would be shortly followed by a fever which would grow in intensity, the host of the virus would feel like they were suffering from a sever flu, rendering them weak and lethargic within the first couple of hours. Once through the two hour stage the host would become even more fatigued to the point of sheer exhaustion, they would be unable to move around, they would also begin to slip in and out of consciousness. At the four hour mark victims would become delusional, and begin to suffer from seizures as the virus began to alter their brain patterns. Death would occur around five hours after symptoms had first started, giving anyone contaminated no more than thirteen hours to survive. Reanimation would then occur within an hour ensuring that every plane taking off would be carrying the infection all over the world, and before anyone was aware of what was
happening it would be too late the virus would have been spread and would be capable of wiping out a densely populated town in no time at all.
1st July, Chelmsford, Essex 11:39pm
Simon arrived home shortly after eleven that evening, although the airport was only a short fifteen minute drive away, it had taken him over an hour tonight. Before leaving the airport he had begun to fill nauseous, and shortly after nine whilst sitting in the lounge, had begun to feel light headed, and dizzy. Simon had felt his temperature beginning to rise, and by ten ‘o’ clock he had felt completely drained, lacking any energy, he was worried that he would collapse whilst still in the lounge, and it was a mental struggle for him just to stand and leave the terminal.
On the short drive home he had to pull over twice to vomit, and embarrassingly, he had lost the control of his stomach muscles, and had accidentally excreted in his pants. He staggered through the front door, resembling someone suffering from an intoxicating amount of alcohol, and barely made it to the couch in his front room. Simon knew that he would not be able to stay conscious for much longer, as his eyes began to close, what had he really unleashed at the airport he wondered? If indeed it was a new strain of flu virus, it was potent, why had they not warned him of its strength? Why had they not administered an inoculation to him if they knew how quick the virus would take hold? Unconsciousness then won
the battle; Simon had slipped into a deep fever filled sleep, one that he would never get the chance to wake from. When the convulsions started erupting from his pale bloodless looking body, he was oblivious, some twenty three minutes later, just before one in the morning, Simon was rocked by a fatal heart attack and died aged just twenty nine.
For Penny Thomas, it had been a very long day, and the last of her four day on four day off rota. The job of being a nurse was a challenging yet rewarding one, and she often sought support from her boyfriend after a particular challenging day. He would be at home now waiting for her, and would not go to bed until she arrived home. She often told Simon he was her rock, and that she would be lost without him.
Penny had met Simon over two years ago and despite being several years older than him, it had been love at first sight when their eyes met across a crowded nightclub one cold winter’s night during the Christmas festivities. The pair had soon become inseparable after just a couple of dates together, and within a month Simon had moved into Penny’s flat. What Penny loved most about him was his outlook upon life, he was a day to day wheeler dealer, looking to earn a penny at the quickest opportunity, and although he was not into anything illegal, Penny did wonder how he always managed to have money, despite not holding down a regular job.
The last few months they had been busy arranging wedding plans, a wedding that Penny had since began to grow reservations about in terms of how committed Simon actually was to the long term. She had accepted early on that he was a flirt, and that when he was on his own he revelled in his freedom. Now she wanted all of Simon’s affections, and for him to hold down a regular job, so that one day they would be in the position to have children.
On entering the flat Penny recoiled from the overwhelming smell of death, one that she was familiar with from work sometimes. The overpowering smell engulfed the house, and Penny found it hard to breathe, she recognised the different smells, one of excrement, the muskiness of sweat and more worryingly the coppery odour of blood. Penny called out to Simon, scared to move on she called again yet there was no reply, he was definitely in as his Fiat Punto sat in the drive. Reluctantly Penny stepped into the lounge, and there sprawled on the sofa was Simon, rushing to his side she immediately went into her work mode and felt for a pulse, there wasn’t one, tears began to flow freely down her face as she picked up the telephone and dialled the emergency services number. The response was quick and after stating her name, address and her occupation, Penny explained what she had found.
Day Zed (Volume 1): The Outbreak Page 1