by Frank Bates
Hillary slumped in her chair, suddenly feeling drained. "What has the world come to, Sheila?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Madame President."
Hillary sighed. “We have to find out exactly what happened at the lab. In the meantime, we’ve got to get everything under control and take great precautions to not let this virus spread out too far.”
“Understood.” Sheila nodded.
"What's our next move?"
"For now, we have to get you to safety, ma'am. A helicopter is already headed this way and will be here in a few minutes."
*****
Hillary and Sheila stood side by side outside of the White House, waiting for the helicopter to arrive. They didn't have to wait long before the Marine One appeared. It landed on an open field, scattering grass and sand everywhere violently. The whirring of the helicopter's blades blasted in Hillary's ears.
"The chopper's here, ma'am. It will take you to the Mountain Weather Emergency Operations Center in Bluemont." Sheila escorted her onto the waiting aircraft.
Before getting on, she paused and looked at the person who had been her most trusted confidant. "Will you be all right?"
Her Chief of Staff gave her an assuring smile. "I'll do my best. We'll all do our best. Don't worry."
Hillary nodded and got on the helicopter. Sheila watched the helicopter lift off and fly away. "Yeah, we'll try our best." She said. "But there's no guarantee that we’ll survive."
Chapter Four: Ghost Town
[April 8, 2016 – Seven Days after the Outbreak]
Seth was in his truck, driving to his favorite coffee shop in Boone called Hazel Brews. It was his habit to stop over Hazel every morning to have a cup of coffee. The road to Hazel Brews was narrow, just enough for one vehicle at a time. The coffee shop was located in a bit of a secluded area in the corner of town but Seth wasn’t complaining because they made the best coffee he’d ever had. The road leading to it was smooth and well-paved. It was also situated near a small river, so driving there offered a pretty, scenic view.
Seth focused on his driving, not once taking his eyes off the road. As pretty as the river was, there were some pesky critters that liked to cross the road when drivers least expected it. He won’t be responsible for running over some chipmunk.
A few more minutes of driving and he’d be at Hazel Brews ordering a cup of his morning caffeine boost. He was leisurely coasting along when he noticed a blue Chevrolet pickup. It looked old and well-used. It was parked halfway off the small road. Can’t say that he found it odd to find a car parked out there that early in the morning. Hikers came to Boone all the time to go see Silver Stretch Falls and spend their mornings chilling by it.
Still, something about the scene made him feel uneasy. Call him paranoid but years in law enforcement had honed his instincts. He can tell when something was wrong.
He drove towards the pickup, slowing down as he approached it. He pulled up beside it and got off his truck. Moving carefully towards the pickup, he opened his jacket to reveal his badge. He placed a light hand on the grip of the Supergrade tucked on his hip—a gun that his friend and fellow officer Norton Sivers had given him a few years ago.
Everything was quiet inside the car. There didn’t seem to be anyone inside the pickup. Seth saw that the driver’s side window was open. He put a hand on top of the rolled down window and took a peek inside.
There were three dead bodies inside. The surprise at his discovery made him step back a bit. Catching himself, he took a closer look at the dead bodies sitting on the cloth bucket seats.
The driver, a male in his mid-fifties, had his head down against the steering wheel. He was shot through the right temple. On the front passenger’s seat beside the driver, were two females—an adult and a child. They were both shot through the heart.
Seth thought it better to leave the crime scene untouched. He took a last peek at the bodies and stepped back from the window. He took a turn around the pickup, looking for clues. He went back to the driver’s side. The only clues he’d found was that the shots to all three looked very precise. It was almost as if the victims let themselves be shot. The circular powder burns on the front of the women’s shirts suggested that the perpetrator had time to put the gun right on their chests before firing a shot. The same could be said for the man in the driver’s seat. His gunshot wound looked too precise, too perfect to have been done by some criminal who would’ve been most likely feeling panicked after killing three people. This was either done by a professional or… It was strange and rare, to be honest, but that didn’t mean it doesn’t happen. This was a triple suicide. Why these three people, who looked to be a family, now that Seth thought about it, killed themselves, he didn’t know. Judging by the way the corpses hadn’t started swelling yet, he guessed that they had been dead no more than two or three days, tops.
Seth went back to his truck and took out his two-way radio. He turned it on but only static could be heard on the other side. He frowned. The radio was a modern wideband digital transceiver. He couldn’t manually control the channels. He decided to see if he could use his phone. Nope. No service. His best option now was to drive down to town and let the local authorities know what happened. Before going, he made sure to take some pictures of the crime scene with his phone for evidence.
All set, Seth got on his truck and started the fifteen-minute drive to town. As he drove, he noticed the lack of travelers around. There were usually several out on any given day. Some went fishing in the river for some trout while others went biking.
He spotted two cars up ahead. One was a white Lincoln Town Car and the other was a black Honda compact. They appeared to have suffered from a strong head to head collision. Both of the cars were badly mangled. The front parts of the cars were totally smashed. There was no doubt in Seth’s mind that the drivers and passengers of both cars did not survive the crash.
Never in all his years in his line of work did he encounter two gruesome scenes in the span of a few minutes in the same day. Both scenes were unattended too.
What was going on? Seth checked the cars and took pictures of the scene for evidence just as he did with the pickup before. Once he was done, he got on his truck again and started driving away. He really needed to get to town and get some sense of what was happening. This wasn’t normal.
He took a turn from Buckeye Road and suddenly stopped. Hundreds of cars in all forms of disarray scattered about the road like litter.
“What the hell is going on?” Seth said as he got out of his truck once again to look at the mess before him. The scene looked like it came straight out of a doomsday movie.
He checked his phone to see if he finally had service. Still the same—no signal. He tapped his phone on his thigh as he thought of what to do next.
He had a lot of questions and he needed answers. This, whatever this was that’s going on in Boone can’t be normal. Something was happening and he needed to know what it was.
He got back on his truck and turned it around. He decided to head back to his cabin. He just hoped his questions won’t be answered on his way there.
Chapter Five: Saved by the Cabin
Seth’s mind was racing and his blood pounded hard in his veins as he jumped off his truck and rushed to the cabin. His mind kept replaying the dead bodies and the abandoned cars.
He quickly took off his jacket and dropped his bag down on the floor. Okay, he thought as he walked over to the fridge, let’s calm down and think about what to do next. He grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down. The cool water refreshed him and his mind felt clearer.
On the drive back from town, he’d been trying to contact someone—anyone—with his two-way radio and his phone but both were useless. He couldn’t get a hold of the local station in Boone nor any of the stations in any of the other towns around. He couldn’t get someone from the Training Center either because his phone didn’t have any service.
Seth rubbed his face, thinking. Getting an idea, he went
out back and headed to the small shed he built to house his generator. He fired up the generator and went back inside the cabin. There was a ladder near the back of the cabin that led to a small upstairs loft where he had his radio equipment set up.
He turned on the radio transmitter and tuned into the 20-meter band used during emergencies. All he could hear was static. “Tsk.”
“Hey, is anyone there? This is KB4VXP. I repeat, this is KB4VXP—over.” He said into the radio. No answer. He tried a second time. After his second attempt, a distinct voice broke through the static.
“H—…lo? Hello? Is someone there?” A woman’s voice called from the other line.
Finally, thought Seth. “Hey. This is KB4VXP. What’s your situation?”
“Oh! Thank God! I finally reached someone. Please,” The voice said, clearly distressed. “Please help us. My son and I are the only ones left here and—”
“Whoa, wait. Slow down.” Seth said. “What happened? Who’s with you? Who are you?”
“Sorry. I—I just…” The woman tried to compose herself. “My name is Jamie Ewen and I live in Ukiah in California. I’m with my son and we’re the only ones left alive here.”
“What do you mean you’re the only ones alive there? What happened?”
“Everyone died here. They said it was because of some virus called Superpox-99. Please help us. My son is really terrified and I don’t know what to do.” Jamie cried. “I’ve been trying to reach someone all this time but I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” Seth said. “Here’s what I need you to do. Can you drive?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I need you to check your TV if it still works. Check if there’s any news for an evacuation in your area. If there isn’t any, I need you to pack everything you can. Some clothes, medicines, the works. Get your son and drive out of town and find a police station, hospital or shelter where you can ask for help. You got that?”
“Y-Yes, I got it.”
“Good. Don’t waste any more time. Get going. Check the radio when you can.”
“T-Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
Seth dropped the line and continued searching for other signals. What Jaime said played back in his mind. Some virus killed a whole town of people? What the hell was going on? There was nothing about it on the news or the internet.
A couple of minutes passed before Seth got hold of another line.
“This is WA4RTF. Anyone there?” A man’s voice said.
“Hey. This is KB4VXP. My name’s Seth. What’s your situation?” Seth said.
“Hey, Seth. Name’s Robert. I’m from Gloucester County. Where are you at?”
“I’m stuck out here in my cabin in the mountains. I went to my favorite coffee shop this morning in Boone only to find out that it had become a ghost town.”
“Damn. Sorry, you didn’t get your coffee.”
Seth chuckled. “Nah, I’m fine. How’s your situation over there in Gloucester?”
“Pretty bad.” Robert sighed on the other line. “The virus had spread around here too. A lot of people are dead.”
“Shit. What the hell is this virus? A woman I just got in contact with a while ago said the same thing. Said that everyone in her town’s dead except her and her son because of it.”
“Yeah. Superpox-99. It’s a really powerful virus. Highly contagious and it’s airborne so it spreads easily.”
“Is it a new virus or something? How can it be cured?”
“We can’t. Not yet anyway. It’s a completely unknown virus. The CDC is still working on a cure for it. Best we can do for now is to get some antiviral drugs to treat its symptoms.”
Seth kicked his chair in frustration. There was a dangerous virus spreading around killing people and there was no fucking cure for it. “What the hell is the government doing? Shit. I live in the mountains. I didn’t know anything about this.” Seth combed his fingers roughly through his hair in agitation.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. It came like lightning. No one was prepared for it.”
“I just… When I went to work earlier this week, everything was fine. Nobody seemed like they were sick.”
“The symptoms are really mild. A person infected would think they just had the typical flu.”
Now that Seth thought about it, there were indeed quite a few people who were absent at work. He just chalked it up to the weather changing, making people sick. He didn’t think they were infected by a killer virus.
“Anyway, the government couldn’t keep a tight leash on things. They let prisoners in minimum security out to keep them from getting infected. The guys in maximum security, however, escaped and now it’s very dangerous to go outside.”
Seth sighed heavily. “Thanks, Robert. Hey, if it’s all right with you, let’s talk some more next time. You seem to know a lot about the current situation and this Superpox-99.”
“Sure. I need someone to team up with anyway. Most of the people here are dead. I need to get away and go somewhere safe.”
“Right. I’ll get in touch with you again two days.”
“Copy that.”
Seth dropped the line and turned off the radio. He sat in his chair and rubbed his palms over his face, dragging them up to his scalp to comb through his hair. He looked at the setting sun as he organized what he learned.
This Superpox-99 was a complete mystery. Nobody knows how it got out and started spreading or where it came from. The only thing known about it was that it’s deadly, fast-acting and airborne. It had probably spread throughout the entire country already.
He thought about his family. He was worried about the safety of his mother and sister who were currently living in Upstate New York. At least the government let the prisoners out. His father might still have a shot at survival. At least, he wouldn’t have died in a prison surrounded by bars.
Seth felt anxious and worried for his family and he wanted badly to find them and keep them safe but he also had a responsibility to check what’s left of the Marshal Service. The Marshals needed men like him now more than ever.
His mind made up, Seth got up from his chair and climbed back down the ladder. The next morning, he got all his guns, ammo, and other weapons out, put them in a bag and loaded them onto the truck. He packed some necessities and a few clothes and locked the cabin.
Seth took one last look at the cabin as he drove away. An image of him together with his family when he was younger flashed in his mind. Ah, those were the good days.
Chapter Six: Prison Break
Amelia Dale stared at the ceiling of her cell. The light was on in the hallway but it was weak and her cell was dim. She could just barely tell apart the cracks on the wall from the cobwebs stuck to the corners of the ceiling in the darkness. She tried to close her eyes and block the agony and despair coming from her neighbors.
It had been two days since a guard came through the prison ward. The prisoners including her hadn’t eaten or drank anything during those two long days. Her stomach grumbled painfully as if to remind her of that fact.
She twisted to her side, facing the bars of her cell. In those two days, even the electricity had gone off, leaving only the generator running. In a few more days, even that will stop too. And then, what? And then, I’ll die. I’ll rot here in this jail cell together with the other prisoners. Our rotting flesh will stink and worms will eat us. The end.
After two days of starving in the darkness, Amelia had learned to not care anymore. She’d didn’t care whether she lived or died, whether there was any hope left in this godforsaken world.
At first, she had hope. When some big shot politicians talked about letting the minimum security prisoners go to make it easier to take care of those left, she thought she finally had a chance to get out of jail. But the entire plan went to shit at Talladega real quick.
Some small-time prisoners did get out but so did the really dangerous ones too. That’s when everything
went to hell. Because they couldn’t control things anymore, the guards and everyone else bailed out. After the prison break, security at Talladega heightened. Guards patrolled the prison wards around the clock. And then suddenly, Amelia didn’t see them pass by through the bars of her cell anymore. Everything stopped. The patrols, the food, the water, the electricity. Everyone was gone and the remaining prisoners were left alone there to die.
Amelia could feel it again. A thought was creeping in through a corner of her mind, a thought that brought with it a hope so fleeting it was like fragile glass. I wish someone would set me free.
She chuckled at her stupidity. Prince Charming didn’t exist. No one would set her free from this goddamn hellhole. She would die there and that’s that.
Shaking the remorseful thoughts from her head, Amelia decided it would be better for her to get some sleep. As she closed her eyes, she heard muffled sounds in the hallway. Her eyebrows furrowed, she listened closer to the sound. Footsteps. Uneven, as if whoever was out there was dragging his feet. She could hear panting too—short pained intakes of air.
Amelia sat up. The footsteps painstakingly got closer until they stopped right in front of her cell. Amelia recognized the man who stood before her. It was one of her students back when she taught Kenpo Karate as well her close friend, William Rainn.
Since they were in different parts of the prison ward, Amelia seldom saw William but she’d heard some stuff about him. She heard how he used the skills he’d learned from her to put unruly inmates in their place. Because of that, the guards liked him and were a bit easier on him. They gave William some special perks now and again. He was known around the prison as the guy you didn’t want to mess with.
The William standing outside her cell did not look so tough. He was covered in blood and his eyes were swollen. His clothes were soaked through with sweat and he stank. Amelia walked over to him.