“What’s wrong with you? You look like I just fucked your sister,” James said, grinning.
“I don’t have a sister,” Joe said, finally getting the belt latched.
“Whatever, man. So where we goin’?”
“At the bottom of the hill, go left and stay straight ‘til I tell you to turn again,” Joe directed, and with that, they headed out of the ambulance entrance and away from the hospital.
James turned left at the stop sign as he was told and accelerated down the road towards the high school. It was becoming light outside and Joe noticed that it looked like storms were coming. The weather it seemed was mimicking Joe’s emotion at the time. Ominous and foreboding was the forecast. Joe was staring out of the window of the truck, preoccupied with his current situation so much that he did not at first hear David yell from the back of the truck.
“STOP THE FUCKING TRUCK!” David screamed a second time. The sound that Joe had heard in the ER before was the sound now coming from the back of the ambulance. The low, angry, guttural sound that sounded like a wounded pissed of animal now permeated from the patient compartment. The man that was in the body bag (a Mr. Keene according to the toe tag and paperwork) had ripped out of the flimsy vinyl container. David scrambled around in the back, desperately trying to get out of the unit but it was too late as the now-undead Mr. Keene got hold of David’s arm and was gnawing away at the flesh. Blood sprayed and splattered all over the back of the ambulance as David desperately tried to escape the zombie’s clutch.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Joe exclaimed. “JAMES, STOP THE GODDAMN TRUCK!”
James was too busy looking over at Joe, trying to figure out what was going on, to notice that he was drifting into the other lane of traffic. He looked over at the expression of sheer terror on Joe’s face and did not see the end of the road and the turn onto the bridge that Joe was supposed to remind him of. Joe, however, did look in time to see the bridge and right-hand turn that they would not be making.
“JAMES WATCH THE GODDAMN RO...” was all that Joe managed to get out before the truck started tipping over. James had attempted to make the right turn but did not slow down enough, and the truck slammed into the bridge, driver’s-side-first on two wheels. Unit 49 rolled over twice before coming to rest on its passenger side on an earthy embankment below the bridge, saving the crew a death by drowning by landing a few feet from the river. Joe heard and felt his ribs crack as the truck landed hard on the last roll. A sharp pain filled his lungs as the wind was knocked out of him and he struggled to breathe. The world started to get fuzzy. This is how I’m going to die, eaten to death by a motherfuckin’ zombie while trapped in an ambulance, hell of a way to go. That was the last thought Joe had before everything started fading to black.
CHAPTER 3
Kody sat back in the rolling office chair at the station of Star Ambulance. He slumped down, letting his arms rest on the rails of the chair and already was beginning to get bored. The rest of his coworkers had taken off to the hospital to help in whatever way they could and he was stuck operating the radio in their makeshift dispatch. He had locked the door after the crews left to avoid having to answer the teeming populace outside. He did not have any more answers than the rest of the employees did, but at least they did not have to deal with the aggravated family members just outside the door. Several people tried looking through the office windows as Kody was checking the radio, making sure it was on the right channel. He did not have any blinds or a curtain to draw over the window. He raised an eyebrow at the people now tapping on the glass of the window.
Jesus, people! How many times to I have to tell you that I don’t know anything! He searched around the office for a sheet to drape over the mass of pissed-off people when he spotted the hand-held radio sitting on the charger.
“Ah-ha!” He gleefully shouted aloud.
He grabbed the radio off the charger and went back farther into the office, making a beeline for the TV room. The portable radio did not pick up as well in the back of the office, but it was better than being stared at through the window at the front of the office like an animal on display. Kody walked into the TV room at the office and plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote for the TV as he did. He sat the portable radio down on the table and clicked on the boob tube.
After flipping through several of the usual channels in the area - public access, local weather and the like - he found one of the local news channels. By local, of course, meant that it was broadcast out of Bristol or Roanoke, a hundred miles in either direction. The news anchor was reporting on a mine explosion in Buchanan County, Virginia. Kody sat up and leaned forward on the couch in anticipation of any new developments in the story so far. The first anchor at the news desk was reporting that there had been an unknown number of casualties and that local Emergency services were overwhelmed now and requesting assistance from any agency in the broadcast area. He went on to say that the news chopper that had been dispatched was nearing the scene and would be reporting live in a few minutes. The Emergency Broadcast system would soon be coming on in the Buchanan, Tazewell, and Russell county areas to instruct people as to how they could get in contact with hospitals. A list of names would be released to family members only and that the public was advised to keep calls to 911 and other services to a minimum for the time being.
Yeah, that’ll go over like a lead balloon, Kody thought. The anchor said that national news networks would be coming on in a few minutes as well to keep the public apprised of the situation. The reporter then repeated all of his information with pretty much the same manner and almost exact same words.
The public and those who were watching the news were not made aware of what had actually happened in the time following the accident. There was no mention of the CDC coming in to inspect the bodies. There was no mention of the dead supposedly coming back to life, no information about the gas that had escaped from underground or the fact that it had not only happened in a rural part of Southwest Virginia, but all over the world. This fact was not known until almost ten minutes later when national news began to pick up on the story. Kody was already ahead of the curve and had switched over to CNN in anticipation of the story breaking soon. A reporter for CNN had called in via a satellite phone from a remote area of China. The reporter had sounded distressed from the get-go but had managed to compose himself in a decent manner. He had originally stated that there had been an explosion that had enveloped many of the mines in China, the leading producer of coal in the world. The local citizens in his area were concerned that the escaping gas would become toxic and many had fled their homes already. The nervous reporter had said that many of his English-speaking colleagues that had begun to talk about the Chinese Jiāng shī.
“And what exactly is this Jiāng shī?” The anchor at the desk had asked the reporter on the phone.
“According to Chinese legend a Jiāng shī is also known as a Chinese hopping zombie, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese folklore. It rests in caves or hides in coffins and dark places and attacks people with its outstretched arms. A person can be changed into a Jiāng shī many different ways, and the locals here believe that this explosion in these mines has caused the miners that were working in and around to become them. This is merely a superstition, mind you, but the citizens in the area are not taking any chances. They seem to be utterly terrified of this possibility. It is a scene of pure chaos here as most of the people flee in panic, while others are trying to reach the mines and the rescuers are having a hard time getting out of the area and are not able to get the wounded and dead out. They have requested the PLA to send as many helicopters and personnel as they can to assist. From what I can gather there were more explosions in remote areas. My colleagues have been on the wire with many other news agencies throughout the world. They are saying that there have been many explosions throughout India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, as well as in Australia, and areas of Europe.”
“My God. So this underground explosion has happene
d all over the globe?” The anchor now got a wide-eyed and a concerned look on his face. “We were just recently made aware of this incident happening in different states in the U.S. with the vast majority of them coming from coal-producing areas such as West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and parts of Ohio and Kentucky.”
“Yes, it seems that this is indeed a worldwide phenomenon. It is unlike anything we have ever seen, and folks here are scrambling for answers. I will keep you up to date with what information that I have, but for now, we have to begin prepping for evacuation. Reporting for CNN in the People’s Republic of China.”
Kody fumbled at the controls for the TV trying to get back to the local news channel. There had been no mention of the incident happening all over the world, nor any mention of the supposed “undead” that were being caused by this catastrophe, aside from some old Chinese folklore. He finally managed to get back to the local news out of Bristol, Tennessee. They were still repeating the basic information that they had given out a few minutes before. They cut to commercial for a few minutes and then returned to the news helicopter that they had spoken of earlier.
The chopper had made its way through the mountains and was now circling above the spot of land in question. It moved about, far above the mess of chaos that was scurrying below. The helicopter banked and dove low. The reporter inside with his crew was explaining the topography and makeup of the land before it stooped lower to show more detail as the cameraman aimed the lens out of the window and showed the area in question.
“As you can see, the mountainous terrain has made it difficult for rescue crews to adequately access some of the region,” the reporter stated. “There have been more and more EMS and Fire Departments that have made their way to Buchanan County in order to help. There have been a number of medevac helicopters that have flown out some of the more severely injured miners. As you can see,” the reporter pointed to a group of people that seemed to be amassing and moving towards designated areas for family members. “There have been a number of reports of the miners becoming deathly ill from the gas that has escaped from these explosions. There also have been unconfirmed reports that the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has gotten involved with trying to determine whether or not the gas is harmful or indeed toxic as our report suggests.”
Kody was so enthralled with the news broadcast that he did not hear the crews calling in that they were going to be transporting from the hospital. He barely said anything, only replied a meager “10-4”, and set the radio back on the table. He began to run through all of the possibilities in his head as to what was really going on. He figured that the news was holding back information, as they had not mentioned thus far anything about the dead coming back to life as the initial reports that had come into Star Ambulance via the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office and their own dispatch. He knew that they were privy to more information than the news broadcasts were but he was sure by now that someone had heard about the rumors of “zombies” and undoubtedly would be telling about it to the news at least.
The reporter was going on about the coal production in the area when the camera operator interrupted him about the mass of people that were coming in at the designated Red Cross vehicle that was set up for families. The camera zoomed in on the area, showing the crowd was not actually going to the Red Cross for help. It looked like the people were attacking the vehicle. Some of the attackers also appeared to be going after the workers that were at the scene. Many were fleeing, only to be captured by droves of mindless denizens. The reporter was now shouting and pointing to the bedlam that was going on near the Red Cross area. As the camera panned over more of the scene, it zoomed out to reveal that there were hundreds of people that were on foot within the coverage of the shot.
“My God! It appears that there is some sort of riot going on near the Red Cross assistance zone here. Hundreds of people are flocking towards the area, and it appears that they are attacking one another!”
The chopper swooped low and now got within a hundred feet of the chaos below. The crazed people were indeed not only attacking, but it looked as if they were eating some of the other living folks that were unlucky enough to be caught.
Kody did not wait around to hear the last of the report, dashing out of the office and outside. They huddled masses outside had mostly dispersed, apparently hearing of the “problems” in Buchanan County. The ones that remained had obviously not heard nor cared about what was going on 30 miles away in Grundy. Kody grabbed the portable radio and tried to contact the sheriff’s office. There was a garbled mess of communications as others were trying to get in contact as well. The radio traffic from the initial mine explosion was drowning out any chance of getting in touch with the crews at the hospital. Kody picked up the phone and dialed the sheriff’s office as well. Nothing but a busy signal answered him.
Kody tried the crewmember’s cell phones as well, with no result. Busy signals from some and voicemail from others was all that he got. Frustrated, he put the phone down and went back into the living room. His cellphone rang the instant he put the receiver down. He frantically grabbed at his hip, trying to get it out of the holster. He finally grasped it and hit the green phone button to answer the call. “Hey!”
“Hey!” Jamie’s surprised voice replied through the tinny sound of the phone. “We are starting the first transport and headed out. We haven’t even made a dent in...”
“You guys have to get out of there now!” Kody interrupted, raising his voice to match his fear.
“What the hell for? What is goin’...?” Again, Jamie was interrupted in mid-sentence.
“The dead are coming back to life and attacking the living. They don’t know why yet but....”
“WHAT!” Jamie exclaimed.
“Yeah, I know how it sounds! Get your ass over here now and pick me up!”
“We are gonna need a few things from my house before we come and get 'ya. Hang tight!”
“Okay, hurry!” Kody managed to get out and hung up the call.
His heart was racing as a thousand different ideas were going through his head. Were the reports of the dead coming back to life not rumors at all? Had his coworkers unwittingly stumbled into something that they might not come back from? What did he need to do? He grabbed the remote for the TV and turned the volume up. Flipping through the channels, he found that other networks were picking up on the story. They were reporting on outbreaks of violence in rural areas, mostly in mining areas. They had finally broken the story of the gas that had escaped out of the earth. It was said to be deadly in concentrated amounts, and was causing reanimation of the dead. It was not told whether it was an infection or virus that was in the gas that was causing the dead to come back to life. Scientists from the CDC were on the way to the affected areas, as well as the National Guard and US Marines being dispatched across the country. The gas was said to be creeping up through the ground, into the bodies of the recently dead, and bringing them back to life.
There was no word on how to stop them.
They were the walking dead.
They were zombies.
CHAPTER 4
Buffey could not believe what both her husband and friend, Ashleigh, had just told her. Joe was talking about a mine accident and a possibility of people turning into zombies and Ashleigh had told her that four helicopters were down, one of which had made a hard landing not ten miles from her house. It was all too surreal, as if she was watching it happen to someone else. She was feeling, for some reason, that Joe might be right and started thinking that she better get her mind straight and get into action. She looked in on their son Rickey and realized that if she wanted to keep him safe she needed to spring into action NOW. She got her shoes on and headed outside toward Chris’ house. She got to the door and knocked, half expecting him not to answer. The cool, foggy September morning was perfect for staying in and sleeping. The sun was not cutting through the fog or the thick cloud cover that Buffey realized would mean thunderstorms. Buffey looke
d back at the door and angrily beat on it again.
“CHRIS! WAKE YOUR ASS UP!” She yelled, hoping to get him to at least answer, a “FUCK OFF” was at least a sign that he was out of bed. Something that sounded similar to that was what she got a few seconds later.
“We got a big problem! Come to the door!” She heard him come across the living room and to the door. He opened it slowly and gave a bleary-eyed grin.
“What the hell do you want? What is so damn important that you can’t let me sleep in on a Friday morning for?” Chris said jokingly. He wanted to mess with her just a little, it being so early and all.
“Zombies,” Buffey said, unaffected by his early morning humor.
“Yeah, zombies are awesome. What the hell has that got to do with you waking me up way too fuckin’ early?” Chris replied.
“There’s been a mass casualty incident, a mine explosion, in Grundy that released some kind of toxic gas that is making the miners that breathed it in very sick. Joe said there is a rumor going around also that it makes them die and come back to life. So, yeah, zombies.”
“You know it’s really way too early for you to be fuckin’ with me right?”
“I’m not joking Chris. It sounds like there is going to be some serious shit hitting the fan and we need to get ready for it now in case it does. Joe told me to tell you to get your .45 and your shotgun and all your ammo. You do have ammo, right?”
“Yeah I’ve got over 300 .45 rounds, loaded ‘em myself. Got 3 boxes of shotgun shells too” Chris was now realizing the gravity of the situation. “Joe actually told you to tell me to get ‘em ready?”
Six Feet From Hell: Books 1 - 3 Page 3