Chronicles Of The Apocalypse

by Simon Neilson

  I have no idea what is happening here, but this part of town resembles a war zone right now.

  John McDonald reporting live from Houston.

  CHAPTER 58

  A letter talking about experiments in Texas and then riots in Houston with a person being shot by police but being able to get up and continue walking. This news report, three months before the outbreak in England had a similar feel. Were we all wrong to think that the first outbreak had been in Horsforth? I thought back to the memo from the British Prime Minister stating that the four people initially believed to be the first victims of the infection, James Kyle, Gareth McConnell, Mary Tanner and Michael O’Neill, had visited the United States prior to showing infection symptoms. Had they been in Texas? I had to see if my colleague Dr. McNamara could find out any more information from Jasmine O’Neill, the daughter and only surviving relative of one of the primary infected people.

  24th August

  Dr. van Breukelen,

  It was with great relief that I received your message. It took around two weeks to get to me, but with everything that is going on in the world I believe that to be a good timescale. When I mention my great relief, I am extremely happy that you are still alive. From what I hear of England it is just an apocalyptic chaos.

  As you requested I have spoken to Jasmine. She is doing very well here in the Channel Islands. Her schooling is going extremely well and she appears happier than I have seen her. Due to my work with her and on-going psychological assessment she lives with me in a small flat just near the coast. You did not state the reason why you wanted to know if she could shed any light on where her father had been, but knowing you as I do I can only assume you had a very good one.

  It did take quite a while to retrieve any information from Jasmine. Initially she was a bit guarded about speaking of her father, I think the memories are too upsetting for her, but eventually I managed to gain a bit of information, I am not sure how helpful this will be to you.

  She remembers going with her mother to the airport to drop her father off, he was going to the United States for a business trip. As they said their goodbyes Jasmine noticed a tag on her father’s suitcase that said ‘IAH’. He kissed them goodbye and told her he would bring her back a cowboy hat. He flew out just after New Year and was going to be in the States and Canada for a few months until his return to the U.K.

  Marco, I hope you are keeping as well as can be. I’m not sure if your research is going to find an answer, but I wish you the best of luck.

  Dr. McNamara.

  CHAPTER 59

  It was that little piece of information that sparked my curiosity. Not just the fact Jasmine’s father had mentioned he would get her a cowboy hat, a common symbol associated with Texas, but the fact his baggage had been tagged ‘IAH’. Houston Airport. Michael O’Neill had been in Houston, before the infection outbreak. I returned my attention to the Houston incident and wanted to know if there was further information that could provide me with further clues. I didn’t have to look far. Looking through government documents I stumbled across this memo which for some reason had not been classified secret, fortunately for me.

  To: Director Of Operations, LMP Pharmaceuticals

  From: Dept. Of Medicine, Washington D.C.

  Date: 5th January

  I am contacting you with reference to the vaccine tests that we conducted on your behalf. As you suggested the volunteers were screened with a small amount of the C.34 Virus and their conditions monitored with extreme fascination over a period of one month. The results of the observations were sent to your office prior to New Year, documenting the emotional and physical change within the tests.

  The vaccines that were sent to this lab were tested on the volunteers and it is with regret that I have to inform you that there was no improvement noted in their conditions, on the contrary, their behaviour appeared to become more erratic and violent.

  In view of the fact the vaccine failed to work, these volunteers were transported to Texas to be held within a more controlled facility where they will be continually monitored.

  I trust that this news, although not what you expected, will allow you to complete further research as we are aware that the live experiments will be tested within a few weeks. On the basis of the vaccine failing and the hostile behaviour of the volunteers I suggest that no live experiments take place until a more complete vaccine is made available.

  CHAPTER 60

  It soon became apparent that the initial estimation of April for the outbreak of the infection was incorrect. Documentation was leading me to believe that not only was January the focus of the timeline but the United States being the location and not England as first suspected.

  I continued to conduct my research around this timeline and to my horror I found this message sent to the Secretary Of Defense from a military commander sent to the Houston area.

  Sir,

  It is with great pleasure that I can inform you that the operation in the Houston area is complete.

  Forces deployed to the area, on your command, entered the target zone and the first reconnaissance suggested in the region of forty to fifty people who were designated as targets. We had been briefed by the local police and were informed of the news that these targets had ‘survived’ lethal shots to the body. It was on one of the targets being shot to the head that the best resolve was found.

  Two units were sent to the designated area with all civilian population evacuated. Within an hour all targets had been despatched and their bodies sealed in containers to be airlifted back to Washington as per your instructions.

  This operation is now complete and I await further orders from the Disease Control Institute to allow civilians back into the area after their investigations.

  Yours

  General T.P. Holland

  CHAPTER 61

  So the army were sent to Houston to kill the rioters. For such an extreme measure I can only assume that these people were infected with the same virus which has caused the rest of the world to fall. I believed I had found my starting point at Houston, but I accidentally stumbled across a report from five years previous which could show that a ‘test’ of some sort had occurred prior to the outbreak. Was this a preliminary test of something five years before the outbreak in Houston. I read with great interest and sadness.

  Report Date: 15th March, 2008

  Location: Kenya

  The entire village had been secured and a full two month’s work of setting up controlled perimeters with electrified fencing, armed guards and CCTV monitoring was put in place. As soon as the procedures were in place we were able to use the 126 villagers and monitor their progress. Five people were given the virus, all adults.

  Within forty-eight hours of receiving the injection these five people showed signs of anxiety, erratic behaviour and anger. In another twelve hours these same people began to attack villagers, but not in a fighting manner. From the control room we were able to witness these five people track down and devour other villagers who tried to flee. Their escape was stopped by the electrified fences, a few were stunned with the shock but this made them easier prey for the initial five who had been injected.

  I personally witnessed small children being picked up by infected individuals and having their throats ripped out as they were eaten.

  Within six hours every single villager had been infected, they wandered around the interior of the village, stumbling like dazed rabid animals. Some of them stumbled into the electrified fences and would bounce off with the force of the shock. Their bodies smoking they would twitch on the ground before getting up to stagger off.

  After we had collected as much video footage as we could stomach the villagers were killed with a single shot to the head and then their bodies burnt in a pile stacked high in the middle of the village. I could not watch as the bodies of young children and babies were thrown onto the fire. I knew they had been infected. I knew they were dead. It was quite possibly the worst experience of my lif
e.

  After the village was razed to the ground we passed information onto the local authorities that a local rebel militia group were responsible. I believe these people were rounded up and shot.

  It is my personal opinion that this virus tested here in Kenya is possibly the most dangerous threat to humanity. I find it quite unbelievable that we are being instructed to test this virus. I am also unaware of why they want this virus tested because it has the potential to end all of humanity as we know it.

  Gerald Carpenter.

  CHAPTER 62

  I was intrigued to know more of this Gerald Carpenter, who he was and who he worked for. From searching through the tax records I was able to find out that he was an employee of LMP Pharmaceuticals. I also found out what had happened to Mr Carpenter from news broadcast I found on the television archive from last year.

  We are here live at the Ulysses Hotel in London where police have sealed off the building. At around two o’clock this morning a phone call was received by police from the hotel staff that a male was in his hotel room holding what they believed to be was a revolver.

  Armed police arrived at the hotel and immediately sealed off the area. Moments later a trained negotiator was called to the hotel where a two hour conversation began with the man in the hotel room.

  A single gunshot was then heard and after some commotion it was revealed by a police spokesman that the male with the gun had shot himself. Police have now begun an investigation into the incident, it is unknown why the man took his life.

  On speaking with hotel staff we have managed to learn that the man was Gerald Carpenter, a respected research analyst with the LMP Pharmaceutical Corporation who has just received funding to undertake Government research into life-saving vaccinations.

  Mr Carpenter had been an employee of LMP Pharmaceutical for ten years. At this stage we are unable to say why he took his life, but police have confirmed they do not have any suspects in this matter. This is James Goodwin reporting live from London.

  CHAPTER 63

  I had my suspicions but too many pieces of the jigsaw puzzle were missing. The test in Kenya in 2008. The Department Of Medicine conducting vaccine tests on a virus for LMP Pharmaceuticals, the letter from Texas from K to L suggesting the live experiments should not go ahead and Michael O’Neill flying out to America just before the outbreak. I was to learn that also on that flight were the other infected victims from England, Kyle, McConnell and Tanner. Then I stumbled across this piece of information.

  16th February

  I make his note knowing that in January the escape of the virus into the Houston area was contained but with tragic consequences. Information has reached me that the live experiments are now underway.

  This information is alarming. The vaccine has not worked but still they consider it still viable to live test the virus. Without the vaccine the spread of the infection will be catastrophic of global proportions.

  I have given advice to him that these live experiments should be returned as soon as possible, this situation will soon be out of control and I feel that it is my duty as an American and a patriot to preserve the integrity of this great nation.

  We cannot and will not allow our great nation to be dragged through the mire having our name tarnished for what is the fault of a single person who has direct involvement with the British government.

  It has therefore been decided by him that this shall be a British problem and not an American problem.

  K

  *Note – Dr. Marco van Breukelen.

  Who is ‘K’?

  Who is the ‘him’ K refers to?

  Who is the single person with direct involvement with the British government?

  CHAPTER 64

  I had no answers for the questions I posed. My search would continue and I turned my attention to the pile of personal accounts that were sitting in my tray, piling up. It had been some time since I had read the personal view from people caught up in this mess. The first document I looked at was written by a school teacher in Brighton, on the south coast of England.

  14th May

  We had pretty much secured the entire school. Outside was chaotic with infected people roaming everywhere. Since the outbreak we had bunkered down inside the school. The caretaker managed to secure the three gates to the school and the high railings prevented any infected from getting inside.

  I have not seen a single soldier since the nightmare began, I am sure they pulled out of the area soon after the infection hit Brighton. Ninety-five pupils all locked up in a school not knowing what happened to their parents. We did our best to keep them away from windows that looked out onto the main road. When I say we, I mean myself, two other teachers and the caretaker. We did not want the children to see the horrors of outside.

  The best vantage point is the old bell tower where access is gained through the loft in the main teacher’s staff room. I had taken it upon myself to go up and take a look and I was horrified with what I saw.

  All I could see were gruesome figures staggering around with no purpose whatsoever. I did not see one single ‘well’ person in the times I went up the bell tower until that fateful Friday afternoon when I spotted two people running across the green towards the gates of the school. They did not move like the infected and my immediate reaction was to ring the bell as hard as I could.

  I saw the caretaker rush out into the playground and I leant over the side and pointed towards the gate. He could see the male and female, both young looking, running towards the gate. He wasn’t the only one to have seen them as a horde of infected, quickening in pace headed in their direction.

  By the time I had climbed down from the bell tower both the male and female were inside and I could see the twisted, disgusting faces of the infected pressed up against the railing with their arms stretched out begging for fresh meat.

  That was five days ago. In all the rush we had forgotten to fully check them over. The male thanked us for helping them into the school but within hours he took on a fever and then by morning he and the female, who he had bitten during the night, rampaged through the school.

  He had been infected and we had not checked. I write this note sitting up in the old bell tower hearing the shuffling feet of the children below. All ninety-five children, the two teachers, the caretaker, the male and female who we had taken in were now infected and I sit here alone crying. What is this hell?

  *Note - Dr. Marco van Breukelen

  This letter was found in the pocket of the teacher, her crumpled body found on the floor of the playground by soldiers on patrol. It was apparent she had jumped to her death. All infected inside the school building were killed.

  CHAPTER 65

  But although it was reported that England went through the rough times early on, just a month after the outbreak in the north of England, I found this blog from a student in Bulgaria. I managed to get it interpreted from Bulgarian.

  15th May.

  Our national motto, ‘Unity Makes Strength’ doesn’t seem so much of a national phrase now. As I stare out of my fourth storey window I can see the nightmare unfolding beneath in the side alleys and walkways. Some people in the other tower blocks have decided that enough is enough and try to make a run for it, but they are soon surrounded by the infected that gorge on their fresh flesh.

  I have personally witnessed at least five people die at the hands of these creatures, three of them from one family. A man, his wife and child who sprinted out from the tower block opposite, I think they were trying to make it to the car park just in front of my block. They never made it.

  As soon as they crossed the path heading towards the car park, the things appeared. They came from every alley way and side building as though they were waiting for the moment when somebody would make a run for it.

  That is why I am staying where I am staying exactly where I am. I have checked the cupboards, there is enough tinned food to last me for a month or so if I ration myself and fortunately I still have running wa
ter for now, but for how long I don’t know.

  The internet connection is very slow, but I am still able to blog for the moment although one message I received from one of my online contacts in Germany says that the internet is slowly dwindling and that was a week ago. I haven’t seen him online since.

  I have no idea how this nightmare started. The spread of the virus from France, Spain and Italy has engulfed the rest of Europe and I am at a loss as to try to figure out the solution. My government, as so many other governments around the world, have gone to ground. Maybe they are hoping to sit out this infection and then come back to the surface once it has run its course.

  I fear that by then this infection will have not only ravaged my own nation, but the entire world. I am hearing reports of infection outbreaks on every continent. England seems to have taken the initial brunt of the outbreak, but from there the infection has spread quickly and deadly.

  This could be one of the last blogs I post and I hope that anybody reading this has more hope than what I currently hold. I don’t think I will see the month out.