Evolution Z (Book 1): Stage One

by David Bourne

  “Serves you right for trying to sneak up on me,” he said.

  I’ve got to keep control. Think, Scott. He wanted to check at home whether Jane and Sam had returned. Then he would drive to his parents’ house. However, he did not want to cross the street because it was full of now-carnivorous monsters. He couldn’t forget the image of the wife devouring her husband, and he wondered if Jane could ever do something like that. He had to consider that Mrs. Wilkes had been a kind person all her life. Something had infected these people, and they were no longer in control of their faculties. He wanted to make sure that nobody except his family got close to him. Scott Gerber did not want to turn into such a monster.

  He started moving. When he crossed the living room, he noticed the steel cabinet where Bob Wilkes kept all his hunting rifles. Scott had no idea where the key for the cabinet was. It’s going to take me two whole hours to break into this stupid thing, he realized when he took a closer look. He didn’t have that much time, so he left the rifles where they were and walked towards the back door. In the backyard garden, everything seemed to be calm—at least he couldn’t see anything suspicious. When he reached the wooden fence that separated their lots, he started to climb it. The fence was about five feet high, and when Scott sat on top of the pickets, several broke and he fell hard on his side of the fence. Oh shit, I’m really getting too fat. Luckily, nobody had noticed. He unlocked the back door of his house and went inside.

  There, he called out the names of his wife and his son as loud as he could. No answer. After Scott looked all over the house for them, he grabbed his car keys. He went through the garage. His tools were on the floor in front of him, and he took his ax. The garage door was closed, and his pickup truck was about five yards beyond it. As soon as the garage door opened, he would have to act fast. One of my strong points, he acknowledged as he pressed the button and the door rumbled upwards.

  To him, it seemed as if it was opening in slow motion. Once the door reached the top, Scott ran like crazy. He could see how the monsters were staring at him from across the street. They had noticed him and were moving in his direction. One might have thought he wanted to attract some prairie dogs, the way his keys kept rattling when he unlocked the door of his truck. He managed to get inside before the beasts reached him. Scott backed out of the driveway at high speed. He raced across the grass strip and hit a female monster with the truck’s rear. She bounced against the ground and briefly slid across the asphalt, but then she immediately got up again. They’re sure not easy to kill, these assholes. The pickup truck accelerated with it tires squealing. Scott wanted to reach his parents as soon as possible. On the way, he tried several times to reach his wife or the police on his cell phone, but he could get no connection. By now, just how extensive was this catastrophe?

  Ray (9)

  Just as Martha White soiled herself, the Boeing 737 smashed about a hundred and twenty feet from her into Grey Lake. A heart attack abruptly cut off her life like circuit breaker reacting to a high voltage surge.

  Ray did not know whether God, the universe, or the remaining parts of his common sense had spoken to him, but he realized he would need air in order to possibly save the situation. He pulled down the mask hanging from the ceiling of the cockpit, and fresh oxygen immediately flowed into his lungs. He checked the altimeter and saw that in about twenty seconds, they would crash. The plane came through the grey cloud layer and Ray quickly looked around. There was nothing but trees.

  Then he saw something glittering in the East. He turned off the engines and extended the landing flaps to delay the fall of the Boeing. This seemed to make little difference, as the treetops were getting closer with record speed. Without knowing how the passengers were doing, Ray gave emergency instructions through the intercom: “Life vests under the seats! Brace! Brace! Assume safety position!”

  Ray pulled the plane to starboard and flew a long, tilted curve to the right. He had been correct: The glittering between the tress was the surface of a large lake. Not ideal, but better than trees. However, they were still going too fast. Ray decided he had no alternative, and he had to go for it. The majority of the passengers were sitting in the front of the plane, therefore Ray slightly lifted the nose of the Boeing so that its tail touched the water first. The incredible forces acting on the fuselage broke the plane in two. When the front part smashed into the lake, the cockpit windows burst. Soon the inside was filling with water. Ray felt a sharp pain in his right knee, but he was still conscious. The plane was already sinking. He unbuckled his seat belt and limped towards the main cabin. Many of the passengers were dead, and the survivors screamed incessantly. The water already stood ankle-high.

  “Cathy!” Ray had not heard from her since take-off. They were still sinking. In front of the emergency exit, a father unbuckled his two children. “Sir, the door—pull the lever!”

  Ray was surprised that the man seemed to have remained amazingly sane. He briefly nodded at Ray and then opened the emergency exit. More water immediately streamed in , but the man pushed his two children out and climbed after them. More passengers followed his example. Others tried to escape through the break in the middle of the fuselage. The water was now knee-high. When Ray believed no survivors were left inside, he pulled himself out and inflated his life vest. The Boeing kept sinking. In the movies, the survivors would now hear the sirens of emergency vehicles—but you couldn’t expect that out here in the wilderness.

  Even if such extraordinary situations had been covered during pilot training, any simulation was only a farce. Nothing could prepare you for an emergency landing and the ensuing chaos. The water was icy cold. Fragments of the airplane were all over the lake, and the surviving passengers tried to reach the eastern shore, which was about a hundred yards away. Next to Ray, the corpse of a child in a pink dress drifted by. He noticed how his guts clenched and he was about to pass out. This all could not be true. The coldness of the water paralyzed the blood flow in his extremities. He had to get out of here. Ray turned around and started swimming behind the other passengers towards the shore.

  Ray (10)

  When he reached the shore, Ray pulled himself out of the water. He felt a dull ache in his knee, and his body was pumping huge amounts of adrenaline through his bloodstream to suppress the pain. Most of the survivors were gathered in a clearing at the edge of the forest, where many of them desperately tried to use their cell phones. The father who had opened the emergency exit comforted his two children, a little girl and her younger brother. Not far from him a woman gave first aid to a man lying on the ground. The woman was kneeling, with her back towards him, so Ray could not be sure whether he could trust his eyes, as he limped towards the clearing. Then he recognized her. “CATHY!”

  When she turned her head towards him, an unexpected feeling of happiness overwhelmed him—it was really her. However, not only Cathy but also the remaining survivors had now noticed him and inundated him with questions.

  “Captain, where are we?”—“How could this happen?”—“Where is my wife?”—“What does this all mean?”—“Where are the emergency crews?”—“What are we all supposed to do, now?”

  Ray counted eleven survivors beside himself, who had all gathered in this spot. At the moment, he didn’t know if any additional survivors had made it.

  “Just calm down...” Ray tried to say, but they were anything but calm. They crowded around him, desperate for someone to help them find their way in this chaos.

  Ray pushed the people aside and made his way to Cathy. She herself seemed uninjured and had meanwhile stabilized the condition of the man on the ground. She hugged Ray, as soon as he reached her. “Are you alright? How could this happen?”

  “I still don’t know, Cathy, but I know we have to calm down these people here. I need your help.”

  Cathy nodded and moved between Ray and the surviving passengers, while he stood on a bench in the clearing.

  “Please listen to me! I am Captain Raymond Thompson, pilot of Boein
g 737, Augusta Airline flight 303, which just had to make an emergency landing in Grey Lake. Rescue forces should be on the way. Air traffic control will be able to precisely locate the crash site relatively soon due to radar tracking. Unfortunately, were are far away from a major populated area, except for a few log houses, so it might take several hours for emergency crews to arrive. Until then, we have to get by as well as we can. Everyone should remember this: Please stay together here in the clearing and do not leave this group! If you are uninjured, please report to me or my colleague, Ms. Pearson, and you will then receive further instructions.”

  When Chris Forster heard the ear-splitting noise near the lake, he immediately ran outside. His vacation home was located about a mile south of Grey Lake, and he could clearly see the lake from the road. He couldn’t believe his eyes when saw the wreck of the Boeing, broken in two and slowly sinking into the water.

  Black smoke rose over the lake, and he heard the desperate screams of children and adults. He immediately pulled out his cell phone and tried to reach 9-1-1, but both the cellular network and the landline had been out most of the day. In spite of this, he ran back to the living room as fast as he could and lifted the handset. No dial tone.

  He had to do something. Chris grabbed the keys of his pickup truck from the kitchen counter and ran outside. A few minutes later, he reached the crash site. When he got out of his truck, he saw a strong-featured, blond-haired man in a soaking wet captain’s uniform approach him in a clearing where other survivors had gathered.

  “Sir, I am Captain Raymond Thompson. We had to make an emergency landing due to an incident on board. Right now, there are twelve survivors, some injured—many suffering from hypothermia and shock. We need rescue crews here as soon as possible.”

  “Chris Foster. The entire telephone network seems to be down. I cannot reach anyone,” Chris replied. “I have a vacation home about a mile from here, and we can house people there temporarily. I can make several trips with my pickup.”

  Ray nodded and was relieved. At least they could be given rudimentary first aid. Together with Cathy and other survivors, they loaded the two injured people onto the truck bed, while two more passengers rode in the cab.

  After a few minutes, Chris returned for the next group. Ray and Cathy went along with the third trip. During the trip, Ray noticed that Cathy tried to take his hand. He let her do this and once again, he realized how glad he was that she was doing okay.

  Josh (11)

  The elevator traveled upwards in the elevator shaft. Josh’s heart was hammering in his chest. The elevator stopped on the ground floor and the doors eased opened. He saw the large lobby of the hospital, but the scene he witnessed made his blood run cold. People were frantic as they darted about and screamed. Not two yards from the elevator, a large guy sat on the chest of a nurse who uttered shrill screams. He used his teeth to rip a large piece of flesh from her thigh, and the bright arterial blood spurted in an arc towards the elevator. A wide, red trail of blood started to form on the floor.

  So. Much. Blood. Josh blacked out. His last thought was about his mother, and he fervently hoped that she had made it home. Josh staggered backwards into the elevator. He couldn’t hold on to anything and touched the buttons while falling. Then his head hit the rear wall of the elevator, and he sank to the ground As the doors closed.

  Josh woke to the sounds of cheesy elevator music and blinked. The doors of the elevator were now standing open. The murky light available on this floor was interrupted by occasional flickering. Josh didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, and he tried to get his bearings. Several lounge chairs stood in a hallway leading to a large waiting room, and the source of the flickering light came from a large plasma TV mounted in the corner of the room. I’m in the waiting room of the upscale concierge practice. Closed on Sundays!

  There was a dead silence as Josh stood up and tiptoed out of the elevator—no wonder, as he was on the sixth floor. Nevertheless, he crept into the office as quietly as he could. Through the gaps between the blinds, he could see it was still light outside, which meant he couldn’t have been unconscious for long. Josh walked towards the window and looked outside. He caught a glimpse of the city and the plaza in front of the hospital.

  In the distance he saw smoke rising at several locations, and there appeared to be several fires in progress. The area in front of the hospital looked like a battlefield with motionless bodies lying everywhere, and then there were other “humans” who reminded him of the thing in the basement. They shuffled across the plaza, and in some instances, they devoured the corpses of the others. Humanity appeared to have gone insane—the dead no longer stayed dead, they could move now—and humans were now eating other humans! Josh doubted his sanity. The dead can move. It’s just like in those movies. I’ve seen enough to know exactly what’s going on here!

  The ear-splitting noise of rotor blades interrupted Josh’s melancholy musings. He knew this sound well, because as a child he had often sat in this type of machine: A military helicopter, a Sikorsky UH-60, thundered over the hospital at low altitude.

  It was a standard utility helicopter. A Blackhawk. The Army! Dad! Josh now realized there obviously was still some hope for survival left. His father was stationed at a nearby military base named Fort Weeks, so the military was not yet affected and he prayed that his father was alright. No matter what the hell’s going on, I’ve got to get out of here fast. Go home to my parents’ house and then to the military base outside the city. Once there, he and his family would be safe.

  However, when Josh looked down again at the square in front of the hospital, he realized this wouldn’t be an easy task. It was pure hell down there, and he couldn’t just simply walk out the main entrance. If I want to make it through there, I’m going to need a freaking tank.

  He could hardly find a tank, but he had a better idea. An emergency medical vehicle! I can only hope there’re not too many of these assholes down in the parking garage.

  This was the best plan Josh could come up with at the moment, but he would also need something to defend himself with, if necessary. Josh looked around in the doctor’s office and after a brief search found a wall hydrant unit for firefighters next to the elevator. He hoped to find a fire extinguisher or a tool in there. He opened the door and was overjoyed at what he found. YASSS! YASSS! An ax! Now the Christmas elf has an ax! The ax was rather heavy, though, and after a few tentative swings, Josh realized his arms already hurt. Damn Nintendo! I have to try to get to through the parking garage without attracting too much attention.

  Josh returned to the elevators and pressed the LL button for the parking garage. The elevator traveled downward to the lower levels. This is a suicide mission, Pelletier. His heart beat faster once again. He had placed two lounge chairs in front of the door, so none of these creatures could immediately reach him if it was as bad down there as near the main entrance. The elevator came to a halt. The lit display above the door read LL, so he had to get out. Josh could already hear a honking horn blaring at regular intervals before the door even opened.

  Once it did, the sound got a lot louder. He couldn’t detect any of these horrible creatures, but Josh doubted he was alone down here. At first, he couldn’t see too much and since it was Sunday, there were only a few cars in the parking garage. The entire level was illuminated by fluorescent lighting. Even though the car horn’s incessant blaring was piercing, Josh carefully left the elevator so he could see a bit more.

  At the other end of the garage, someone who apparently tried to run over one of these creatures had crashed his subcompact car into a parked SUV. The alarm system of the SUV was the cause of the relentless honking. He could see from a distance that the driver’s side door of the subcompact car was open. He had to go in this direction in order to reach one of the emergency medical vehicles. I hope the driver hit what he was aiming for.

  Josh walked towards the vehicles. As the alarm drowned out all other sounds, he didn’t have to try to move qu
ietly. Once Josh approached the vehicles, he saw someone—or something—was moving between them. One of these beasts had been trapped between them, but it wasn’t dead. One leg appeared to have been torn off, and part of its guts had spilled out onto one of the hoods. The still-running engine was slowly cooking the struggling creature, and he could smell the stench of burned flesh. Josh tried to quickly look away so he wouldn’t barf on the pavement.

  He jerked around when he suddenly heard a door slam open. A panicked-looking man in a paramedic’s uniform came running from the staircase. He immediately recognized that Josh was not one of these creatures.

  “RUN!” he yelled at him.

  Josh saw why the guy was in such a hurry. He was being pursued by two monsters, and these were not as slow and clumsy as the fatty in the morgue. Josh started to panic again. Where to, where to, where to?

  The paramedic held something in his outstretched right hand and pointed it at the emergency vehicle. The clicking of the locks and the flashing of the lights on the vehicle confirmed that it was a keyless entry device, and Josh grabbed his ax and raced towards it. He quickly opened the door and jumped in on the driver’s side.

  “MOVE OVER!” the paramedic yelled while sprinting towards him.

  Josh followed his order. The paramedic jumped in and slammed the door shut. He jammed the key into the ignition, the engine roared to a start, and he shifted rapidly into reverse. The paramedic stomped down on the accelerator and with tires screeching the vehicle violently jumped backwards and ran over the two undead creatures that had been following them. The paramedic shifted swiftly into drive and the vehicle accelerated with breakneck speed. Josh felt a rumbling when the vehicle ran over the two bodies again. Still maintaining its high speed, the vehicle careened towards the exit of the parking garage, and in a tight curve, it scraped against a parked car with the grinding sound of crunching metal. Again, the emergency medical vehicle hardly slowed down and continued on its course.