The Salvation Plague | Book 1 |The Turning

by Masters, A. L.

  She walked through the nearly silent sectioned-off room. Half of the employees seemed to have decided to skip work or call in, and the other half were strangely quiet. Phones rang sometimes, but the call volume was nowhere near a typical workday. She had never seen it so dead.

  Madeline hadn’t shown up, and she wasn’t surprised. She would always take advantage of help. She hadn’t seen Mr. Hubbard since he came in that morning, though she passed by his office and saw his light on.

  The door was closed, and she wondered what he was doing in there.

  He only ever closed the door on two occasions. One was when Madeline was helping him with accounts, and the other was if he was hiring or firing someone. She didn’t have time to speculate though. She was swamped. The stacks of forms and files on her desk wouldn’t complete themselves, and that was on top of her regular work.

  She was definitely asking for a raise soon. Her job responsibilities had expanded since her last one. Mr. Hubbard was a fair boss and a considerate man. She was certain he would approve it. The extra income would be nice.

  At eleven-thirty, a muffled expletive came from Jared’s cubicle. Obviously, his work wasn’t going so well. She heard the familiar creaking of his chair as it moved.

  “Come on, let’s take an early lunch,” he said. “I need to see the news.”

  “Jared…I’m trying to avoid the news. It’s depressing and nothing good ever comes from watching it.” He said nothing, only held out a hand and waggled it in the air. She sighed and grabbed it and he pulled her out of her chair. He released it when they started walking to the break room.

  “Something is going on. Rioting or something. I saw it online, but I wanted to see what the broadcasts are saying about it.”

  “Rioting? Over what?” Anna asked him, concerned.

  “I don’t know. It only said there were riots in major cities.”

  “Here in the U.S.?!”

  He nodded.

  He walked over to the T.V. and grabbed the remote. He changed it to a news station and they both stood there and watched in awe as New York City went nuts.

  “Oh my God!” Anna covered her mouth. Jared pulled out two chairs without looking. He guided her to a chair then leaned his elbows on his knees.

  “Jared! I think those people are dead!” Anna pointed to the helicopter footage showing people running through the streets, they were falling and tripping over the motionless bodies on the ground. Still others were breaking into buildings and running off with their loot.

  He turned the volume up and Anna listened in shock as the newscaster described the scene. It was like watching something out of a nightmare. People of all ages were running and falling, hitting, and biting…and dying.

  It was all happening right in front of the cameras.

  Tears glistened in her eyes. They watched for several more moments. The helicopter footage panned the entire area that it was covering. It kept zooming out, and zooming out, and zooming out until the people in the streets looked like tiny ants. They just didn’t stop.

  A moment later, the footage started to change, the chopper camera started to descend rapidly. There was no sound, only video, but she could tell that whatever was happening, it wasn’t supposed to be. The buildings rose swiftly around the cameras and she knew without a doubt that the news chopper was going down. The feed suddenly went dark, and the news anchor looked shocked. He tried to contact the chopper crew again. Anna looked at Jared worriedly.

  “What’s happening?” she asked him. “Where were the police? I think that helicopter just crashed in the city!”

  He looked just as stunned as she did and pulled his eyes from the screen to hers. “I don’t know. It’s bad though. Those people in the streets weren’t just running, they were being chased.”

  Anna shivered and felt suddenly nauseous. She put a hand to her stomach and remembered the encounter at the grocery store. Perhaps those people in the city had gone crazy too, maybe that’s why that was happening. Surely the police and national guard would stop it soon?

  Jared flipped to another news station and they watched in horror as multiple cities seemed to be falling to whatever chaos was causing this. Baltimore, D.C., Detroit, and Philadelphia were the worst. On the west coast things seemed to be similar. L.A. was one massive riot. The coverage from the air reminded her of the L.A. riots of the nineties. San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento were the same.

  They saw Vegas and Phoenix fall. It seemed to be everywhere. Anna’s breathing became shallow and rapid, and for the second time that day, her heart accelerated in fear. This was possibly the worst thing that had ever happened in their country, and she was sure they didn’t even see half of what all was going on. It was terrifying.

  It was coming for them. It may be here even now, out there in the streets.

  “This is not good, not good at all. Do you think we should leave?” she asked, edging closer to his side as they stared at the television screen. She was deciding in her head what to grab, and how to get home the fastest, and whether she should even stay in town. Maybe she should head somewhere more remote?

  But where?

  “I think we should stick together here for a while, until we figure out what the hell is going on out there. Maybe it’s only in the cities. Maybe they’ll get things under control in some of those areas. We need to wait, A-dog. How many cans of corn do you have on you?”

  That’s a lot of maybes…

  “Now is not the time for jokes, J-dog.”

  “I disagree, now is the best time.”

  She was about to respond when glass shattered behind them. Anna ducked instinctively as shards hit her back and side forcefully.

  What the fuck was that?!

  Anna turned around quickly from her chair and recoiled at the sight in the doorway. The glass door of the breakroom was shattered, of course, but it was the blood and…skin…that she wasn’t expecting. A body was struggling to get up from the floor.

  It was a woman, Gina, from the small accounting section. She was groaning in pain. Anna looked in shock at Juan. He had pushed her through the glass!

  “Jared!” she yelled, running to help Gina.

  She tried not to touch the shredded skin of her arms as she bent down and grabbed at her torso. She was in a bad way for sure.

  “Anna don’t!” Juan yelled, eyes wide and pleading.

  Time seemed to stretch, and she vividly saw the whites of his eyes. Fear. That’s what she saw. She felt hands at her back, tugging her away, but she didn’t understand. Not yet.

  Confusion reigned as Jared pulled her roughly to the back of the break room. She almost tripped over a chair in the process. Only his hold on her kept her upright. Juan was breathing quickly and tensed, ready for a fight. Anna watched, still not understanding, as Gina finally got to her feet.

  “What the hell is going on?” she yelled. “Are you crazy?!”

  Her shout drew Gina’s attention and when she turned, Anna knew. She knew what was going on. She shrieked as Gina lunged for her faster than she could have ever anticipated. Why do they always come for her?

  Jared pushed Anna hard to the right before he tackled Gina to the ground with explosive force. She heard the sickening thump of Gina’s head bouncing off the floor. She expected Gina to be out, any normal person would be.

  She was wrong.

  “Oh my— look at her head!”

  Gina’s head was strangely angular on one side. Anna almost threw up when she realized that her skull had practically shattered in that spot from hitting the floor so hard. Yet she was still fighting. It was unbelievable.

  Jared put his knees on Gina’s chest as she struggled to claw him with her fingernails. She looked like she was trying to shred his skin from his body. Her face was a rictus mask of fury and derangement. Her eyes glinted dully black and narrow in the harsh overhead lights. Her mouth was open, showing her top and bottom teeth and she let out a horrifying, inhuman growl...

  Jared was struggling a
nd Anna braced herself to do something that she really didn’t want to do.

  “Juan!” Anna called out as she grabbed one of Gina’s hands and wrestled it to the floor.

  She held it there with all her strength. It was barely enough. She was astounded at the sheer power she felt coming from such a small woman. A small, seriously injured woman. It was…wrong.

  Juan rushed in with a roll of duct tape and Anna looked at him, “What the hell Juan!? Get over here!”

  Juan ran over and dropped to his knees beside a struggling Jared. Gina had already shredded Jared’s left shirtsleeve, but to his credit he hadn’t let go of her throat. It was probably the only thing saving him from being brutally ripped apart. Saving them…

  Anna watched doubtfully as Juan taped Gina’s right arm to her right leg. Anna still had a death grip —an appropriate term— on Gina’s left arm. She brought it forcefully down to Gina’s left leg, where her taped them together as well.

  “Get her mouth!” Jared shouted and Anna saw the strain in his arms.

  His face was sweaty and red but determined not to let go. He had way more strength than she ever expected from him. He was almost like a different person.

  Juan taped her mouth closed as best he could, though it was more just covered with tape. Jared and Anna jumped back. She struggled against the tape, which muffled her hissing growls a little. Juan taped her feet together for good measure, and they all stood back.

  “Is she possessed?!” Juan asked with wide eyes. He crossed himself with trembling hands.

  Miraculously, they didn’t have an audience. Anna scanned the room, seeing the incredulity still on their faces and felt it on her own. She went to the doorway, carefully avoiding the pools of blood and glass as best she could. She was shaking from the encounter, and the silence in the office didn’t help.

  “You took one of these people out with a fucking tin can of corn?” Jared said in disbelief.

  She nodded, “Yeah, but mine was elderly.”

  “What the hell are you guys talking about!” Juan shouted.

  “Whoa, you need to calm down, Jamal. Don’t pull out the nine,” Jared told him, looking at him expectantly.

  “My name is Juan!” Juan yelled hysterically.

  Jared raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Anna before looking back to Juan. “Okaaayy. You didn’t see that video, I assume.”

  “Jared,” Anna warned.

  “Okay, okay.” He said, holding up his hands.

  She turned back to the entrance to the hallway. She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t an empty office. She expected horrified spectators, or at least someone calling the cops. She looked down at the nearest desk and grabbed the phone, dialing nine first. When she heard the tone, she dialed 911 and waited.

  Shock crossed her features, and she shook her head. Busy? That can’t be right.

  She must have dialed a number wrong. She wasn’t exactly calm and collected, right? She tried again, and again got a busy signal. She hung up as Juan and Jared came back into the office.

  “I couldn’t get the cops! 911 was busy!” she said, scared and slightly bewildered. This kind of thing just didn’t happen in real life.

  “We taped Gina to a chair and put her in the coat closet back there. Jared locked her in. We thought it was for the best,” Juan said hesitantly.

  Did he think she was going to object?

  “And it was a whole lot harder than the last time I taped a woman to a chair and put her in the coat closet in the breakroom. Just saying,” Jared quipped, holding up his hands.

  “Good,” Anna said ignoring Jared and turning back to Juan. “Why is your shirt wet?”

  “Jared thought I was getting too worked up. He threw a cup of soda on me.”

  “He was crying!” Jared said. “And I thought it was water.”

  “It was brown!” Juan said.

  “You were overwrought!” Jared yelled back.

  They were all silent at his explosive shout and it was awkward.

  Juan walked off a few feet. He turned and looked back at them.

  “Look, I need to go home and check on my wife and boys. They were supposed to go shopping today and I’m…I just need to go get them.” He looked apologetic but got his keys and left. He didn’t look back.

  “You guys need to get somewhere safe! Get a weapon!” he shouted back over his shoulder.

  Jared seemed to wake up then and he rushed to his desk. “Good idea, Juan,” she heard him say under his breath.

  He pulled out a hammer, his set of keys, and a large pipe wrench. He ran back to Anna and put the wrench into her hand. “Take this. Use it if you need to.”

  “Why do you have a hammer and a pipe wrench in your desk?”

  “Don’t ask,” he said, quickly dismissing her question.

  He leaned down and looked into her eyes to make sure she was paying attention. She was, but her mind was still lagging a little. She felt so off-kilter. It didn’t help that she got up early and was already tired when this craziness started.

  “Anna!” he said louder and gripped her hand tighter around the wrench. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay, okay. Go!” she said, nodding.

  She watched him run out the wooden door of the office to the foyer. The front door jingled. She waited in the silence for a few moments before looking nervously around. She realized that they never checked to make sure everyone else had left! They just assumed because nobody showed up after the fight with Gina, and now she was probably going to die because of it. There were at least fifteen people here this morning. It isn’t likely that they all decided to leave at the same time. Her heart skittered.

  Damn it, Jared. Hurry up!

  What if there were more crazy people lurking around, biding their time in the offices and cubicles? Half of her co-workers could be here, silent and lying in wait for her to move or make any sound to trigger their rage, or whatever it was. She imagined that she could feel their eyes focused on her from behind their partitions.

  What if one were creeping up behind her, right now?

  She whirled around anxiously. Her muscles were tense and aching. She had the heavy wrench partially raised yet hoping she wouldn’t need it. She wasn’t about to go search the building alone with only a wrench for protection. Her best bet was to sit tight and wait for Jared. She backed up until her back was against the wall near the front entrance. She bumped into something and jumped as it clattered to the floor.

  It was only Madeline’s Employee of the Month photo. She took a deep breath in slowly and let it out.

  God, how long had he been gone? Five minutes? Ten? What if something happened to him?!

  She was about to head outside to find him when she heard two things simultaneously. The main door opening, and loud banging coming from the back hallway. She jumped and ran up to him. He locked the office door with a key from the purloined set. His face was tense and pale.

  “I’ve never been happier that I have a stolen set of keys to this place, and that I got here early enough to get a front row parking spot.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

  He had a pistol tucked into a holster inside his waistband and a backpack on his back. In his left hand was a long, black case. She didn’t ask what it was. Something large rattled somewhere in back.

  “Well, this all could have been worse,” he said casually.

  Chapter Eight

  Making a Plan

  “What do you mean this could have been worse!?” Anna shouted in response.

  “Shhh,” he said, placing a finger across her lips. She swatted his hand away.

  He walked to an inner office and looked inside before pulling her in and shutting the door. He flipped the lock and laid the black case on the desk before setting the backpack on the chair.

  “I mean, I could have decided to leave my stuff at home today. This could have happened while we were at home sleeping, then we would be separated. There are a lot of r
easons this situation could be worse. For now, we are safe. We have food, water, temporary shelter, and some excellent means of self-defense,” he said, punctuating his statement by opening the latches on the mysterious case.

  She suspected that he was actually enjoying this a little bit.

  “And hey, now you really don’t have to buy me a steak dinner.”

  She held a hand up. “Okay, I get it. We’re lucky. I should go ahead and tell you now that we’re not alone. There is definitely someone in the back hallway, maybe in one of the bathrooms. I heard them banging around right when you came in.”

  “Yeah, I heard them. Don’t worry.” He looked up and she could tell he was listening intently. They heard nothing now, but that didn’t mean anything. He resumed his unpacking.

  “Okay, you stay here, and I’ll take care of it.” She peered over the top of the large black case. Inside, a rifle gleamed dully in the overhead fluorescent lights.

  “You can’t just shoot them,” she scoffed. “It’s not like they’re zombies. They’re living people!”

  “Yeah…psycho people who are trying to kill us,” he emphasized.

  “Maybe so, but what if it is only temporary? I’d feel bad if I killed Gina then found out that she would have been back to normal in a couple of days. Wouldn’t you?”

  “I don’t know. She was kind of annoying…”

  A loud bang from the back made her jump and whirl around. They needed to hurry. Jared looked her in the eye for a moment, then seemed to make a choice.

  “Alright, I won’t start shooting yet. However, if things get worse, I can’t make any promises. I won’t sacrifice our lives for theirs.”

  He slung the rifle on his back and opened the bag he had carried in. He pulled a belt out and strapped it around his waist. Anna recognized a holster as well as some pouches that she knew would hold ammo. He filled them and was about to leave. Anna made a split-second decision.