Plentiful Poison

by Lybeck, Kyle

  “They know we’re here now, though. Even just a helicopter at this point would be able to get all of us off the roof.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Alex, the President has already said it’s over. He saw no other option. We tried our best, but our best wasn’t good enough. All other available troops have been called back out of the state.”

  “Shit. That’s shit! They can’t turn their backs on us now!”

  “They could and they did, Alex. I’m sorry.”

  Alex turned away from the Major General, gazing out at the landscape, the cars down below, and ragers running rampant in the streets.

  Suddenly the door to the rooftop sounded as if a wrecking ball had hit it. The survivors quickly turned at the noise of the metal door.

  Alex ran towards the door at full speed, not knowing if it was another survivor trying to join them. As he reached the door, he could hear growling, scratching, and screeching from the other side. Definitely not the noises of a survivor.

  “Someone else get over here and help me! We can’t let them get through, we have nowhere else to go up here.”

  “Just open the door, let them through. It won’t matter anymore if we keep fighting back or not. The end is still the same.”

  Alex turned back to Cardiff.

  “Dammit, Major General. Stop talking like that and help me. We will find a way, somehow!”

  Cardiff stayed put, another man rushing over to help Alex. The two were pushing back as hard as they could when a gunshot went off. Alex turned just in time to see the crumpling body of the Major General fall to the gravel of the rooftop. The mist of blood still hanging in the air from the self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

  “Dammit!”

  The distraction caused just enough loss of concentration that the ragers were then able to push the door open and outwards, shoving the two men to the ground. Alex instantly brought himself back to vertical, while the group of ragers went after the other man. A few raced after others on the roof.

  Alex scurried back to the cooling body of the Major

  General, picking up his pistol. Turning back around just in time, he aimed and shot the closest rager in the head. The next one he missed and hit the former woman’s shoulder. Firing twice more, he finally obliterated her head. As two more quickly approached, Alex pulled back on the trigger, only to be greeted with an empty click.

  Before his hand could drop to the ground with the pistol, the two ragers had torn out his neck, and ripped off one of his hands.

  On the horizon, amidst the glowing colors of the day turning to evening, a mushroom cloud bloomed.

  Part 2

  You can run…

  Chapter 6

  Casper, Wyoming

  “Caroline, Ben! Get down here for breakfast or it’s going to get cold!”

  Abby called out to her two children, while placing a glass of orange juice on the table for Ben.

  “Have you seen the news this morning?” Will asked, walking in from the living room.

  “No, why?”

  “They’re reporting that nukes have gone off in Colorado.”

  Abby stopped in the middle of the kitchen, holding the plate of sausage and eggs for her husband, looking at him quizzically.

  “Wait, what? Nukes? What are you talking about?”

  “Something about the infection they had been reporting about over the weekend that was spreading throughout Colorado.”

  “So they decided to use a nuke. To control an infection. What kind of crackpot news source were you watching on the TV?”

  “This time, CNN. Those jokers over at Fox News don’t know their heads from their asses.”

  “So you turn to CNN? Smart…” Abby said with a sarcastic tone, continuing to bring the plate to her husband who had seated himself at the kitchen table.

  “Thank you, sweetheart,” he said, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I don’t know though, I really think they could be telling the truth about this. Maybe we don’t truly know what was happening. It could have been something worse than an infection, but that’s what they were telling the public. It’s not like that would be the first time it’s happened.”

  “I suppose you’re right, but it sure seems like someone was going a little overboard in their news reporting.”

  “There were photos posted on social media.”

  “Of what, a nuke going off? Wouldn’t they have been incinerated if they were that close?”

  “I mean… maybe? I don’t know. Either way though, the news sources look to be having a heyday with it.”

  “I bet it’s just someone’s joke of a bad photoshop. There’s no way we’re going to start dropping nukes on our own country, that’s ridiculous.” Abby said, placing her own plate on the table while sitting down for breakfast.

  “Kids, seriously, get down to the table or you won’t even have time to eat before we have to leave!” She felt like the mom from A Christmas Story always yelling at the children to get downstairs.

  That seemed to do the trick. Two pairs of feet were heard stomping down the old stairway. Into the sunny kitchen came the Baker children. Caroline the older sibling at fourteen, Ben at eleven and smart for his age already having skipped one grade.

  The two sat down to their plates of food, greeting their parents in the process and shielding their eyes from the sunshine angling its way towards the kitchen table. Cauliflower, their white Birman wound its way in-between the feet of the family under the table, tickling their ankles.

  “You two ready for the day?” Abby asked.

  “Yes mom…” both kids said exhaustedly. It was the same daily question their mother always asked them at breakfast.

  “You made sure to pack all of your gear for today’s Kung Fu class?”

  “Yush mom,” Caroline tried to get out, with a mouthful of eggs. She chewed and swallowed. “I have everything, my new red belt, and the Butterfly Swords for my presentation. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t forget.”

  “Just don’t forget to leave them in the school office until after school. I cleared it with the vice principal already, that way you don’t carry those things around with you all day.”

  Caroline rolled her eyes. “Mom, stop being so worried. I won’t forget, I don’t want to get expelled or anything.”

  Having started taking Wing Chun classes at the age of seven, Caroline was always a natural. She was the youngest study to ever reach the red belt in the state, as it turned out.

  Returning to her plate, Caroline began eating her waffles. Abby finished her bite of English muffin and turned to Ben.

  “What about you young man, you ready for your test today?”

  “Sure am! It’s going to be a piece of cake, I love science and this one is mainly about geology which is my favorite.”

  “Nerd,” Caroline fake coughed.

  “Hey, watch it,” Will said, looking up from his phone, trying to find any clearer news reports on Colorado.

  Caroline stuck her tongue out at Ben, as he made a failed attempt to kick her leg under the table and almost got the cat instead. Cauliflower scurried off into the living room to avoid further stray kicks.

  Abby stood from the table and took her plate over to the sink, rinsing it off before placing it in the dishwasher.

  “Okay you guys, ten minutes and we have to skedaddle. We have to drop your dad off at his work before taking you to school. His car’s still in the shop until tomorrow.”

  The kids stuffed a few more bites into their mouths before bringing the plates over to the sink, and running back upstairs to grab their backpacks. Will went into his office to grab his briefcase and jacket.

  “Don’t forget that I’m going out after work for Ken’s birthday. If you can pick me up from the sushi place after Caroline’s class that would be great.”

  “Oh yeah, I almost did forget. That makes things easier anyways, less rushing after picking up the kids from school.”

&nb
sp; Abby snagged her jacket from the hook by the front door and stood with Will, waiting for the kids. Will tried to show her another news article on his phone about Colorado, but she dismissively waved his phone away.

  Caroline came down first, lugging her duffel bag along with her. Ben was right behind her, making faces at the back of her head the whole way down the stairs.

  Will set the alarm for the house, and the family exited out the front door to their blue Ford Escape in the driveway. Piling into the car, Abby sat herself in the driver’s seat and started the engine. She backed out of the driveway onto north 6th avenue and took a right on west Buick.

  Once on West Yellowstone Highway, it was a quick jaunt down to the Ohio Building where Will worked for a local advertising firm, which paid surprisingly good money as their reach had recently expanded out to Cheyenne and Rock Springs.

  Abby pulled the SUV up to the front of the building, giving Will a kiss before he exited the vehicle. The door closed, Abby checked her mirrors and went back out onto the road.

  As was the daily routine, she drove past the turnoff down east 2nd street to her own place of work on the way to drop the kids off at the junior high. They all waved as they went past, it being a tradition between the three of them.

  A few minutes later down south Wolcott Street and turning onto west 12th street, Abby pulled in front of Dean Morgan Junior High. The kids excitedly left the Ford behind them, running to the front steps to meet up with their friends.

  Abby watched them go before pulling back out and continuing on her way to the Nicolaysen Art Museum, where she had been the head curator for the past three years.

  She parked the SUV in the employee parking lot behind the building, exiting and taking a large breath of fresh air before entering the building for what she hoped was another great day at work. A new shipment of paintings were coming in, and it was always like Christmas morning when that happened.

  Chapter 7

  Dean Morgan Junior High

  “What did you do over the weekend?” Caroline asked her best friend, Jackie, as they stood outside the front doors of the school.

  “Not much. Helped my parents with some yard work, went and ate pizza at the Dough Zone. I did finally finish the book that I have been reading for the past three months. Turned out to be a really good mystery.”

  “Nice! I wish we could have gone for pizza, but my mom is all on this ‘better eating at home’ kick.”

  “That sucks. I won’t even tell you then how gooey the cheese was or how crispy the bacon and pepperoni were. That would just be mean of me.”

  Caroline punched her friend in the shoulder and laughed.

  “Thanks that helped a lot. Now I want pizza,” she said, as her stomach gurgled.

  “So what did you do over the weekend?” Jackie asked, rubbing her shoulder from the strong hit.

  “It wasn’t half bad, other than my brother being an annoying little dork most of the time. All of us went to an Avalanche game, and I studied for my Wing Chun presentation today.”

  “Damn, how’d you guys score Avalanche tickets?”

  “Someone at my mom’s work couldn’t go, so they asked if we wanted them.”

  “So jealous, I love hockey but we never have the money to go to any games.”

  “Maybe if we get them again you can go with us. Ben seemed to be pretty bored with it, kept playing games on my dad’s phone.”

  “How? It’s such a great sport to watch, so much stuff going on all the time!” Jackie made motions as if skating and hitting a puck into an invisible net.

  Caroline laughed, giving her a round of applause at the goal.

  “Also, that’s awesome you’re giving a presentation today. Are you nervous?”

  “Not really, I’ve been practicing and studying so much, it’s all coming naturally to me now. Oh crap, I have to take my bag to the office before class. I have my swords in here.”

  “Yeah, definitely don’t want to be caught with those.”

  “See you in class, I gotta rush or I’ll be late.”

  Caroline bolted through the doors and down the hallway to the school office. As she walked in she was greeted by the smiling face of Miss Walsh, the school nurse.

  “Well hey there Caroline, what can I do for you? Aren’t you going to be late for class?”

  “Morning Miss Walsh. Sorry, I just need to drop off my bag to stay here during the day. My mom cleared it with Vice Principal Decker already. It’s just my gear for my Kung Fu class later.”

  “Oh sure hon, that’s not a problem. I’ll be glad to take it and put it in his office for safe keeping until later.”

  “Thanks Miss Walsh!” Caroline handed over her bag and rushed back hoping not to miss the bell for class. She reached her seat just as it rang, rushing past her chemistry teacher, Mister Parker.

  “Bell almost got ya that time, Caroline,” he said with a smirk.

  “I’m just too fast, Mister Parker,” she smiled back.

  “Okay class, open your books to page eighty. Today we’ll be going over hydrophobic interactions.”

  The class all opened their books and listened to their teacher go over the day’s lesson. As Caroline watched intently to the chalk drawings Mister Parker was placing on the board, a flash went by her outside the window.

  What the hell was that, she thought, slowly turning back to the chalkboard.

  Another flash went by, the color red caught the corner of her eye. A low growl could also be heard through the closed window.

  Okay, now that’s really strange, Caroline thought to herself.

  “Caroline, is there something more entertaining out the window?” the teacher asked, hand on his hip as he stood at the front of the class.

  “Sorry Mister Parker, I thought I saw something outside.”

  “Well, please pay attention to today’s lesson. It’s going to be on the final next week.”

  She placed all her attention back on the chalkboard and her teacher’s lesson, until a blood-curdling scream was heard from the hallway a few minutes later.

  “What in the world is all that noise about,” Mister Parker asked out loud, walking to the classroom door. Looking out the door window, he saw a man covered in blood running down the hallway.

  “All of you, get under your desks now!”

  The students immediately took shelter under their desks, akin to the earthquake drills they were taught twice a year.

  Walking back to the door, a loud growl could be heard from the other side. He was jumping back, the noise frightening him, before seeing what was through the window this time. Backing away, Mister Parker took shelter under his own desk and pulled out his cell phone to call the police.

  Just as the connection was reached to the local police, the door burst open. Miss Walsh fell through the doorway, blood and entrails smearing her dress. As she hit the floor she began to convulse, then laid still before growling not ten seconds later.

  Mister Parker sat frozen under his desk, the dispatcher talking into his ear, but essentially a hundred miles away to his brain. Watching the body of the nurse, she was pushing herself up to her knees, pupils black as night staring at the chemistry teacher.

  Before he could move, the former school nurse lunged at Mister Parker, biting into his left wrist and tearing it off in one quick movement. Blood spewing forth, covering her face as she was chewing and growling. Parker’s horrendous screams violating the room.

  On the other side of the desk, the roomful of students frantically screaming, pushing and shoving to run from the classroom into the hallway, away from the wailings of their teacher. Quickly though, the wailings stopped, and a second growl emanated throughout the room.

  Caroline was in the middle of the pack of students exiting the room. Behind her, many were crying and pushing her forward. She looked back, seeing the two adults pulling kids back into the classroom as they tore bits of flesh from their young bodies in the process.

  Finally she made her way out into the hal
lway where teachers and students were scattering, some covered in blood, some attacking others, a cacophony of screams and growls filling the hallway.

  Running towards the stairs, Caroline dodged all the would-be attackers. She passed her best friend but could not help her. Their gym teacher was busy smashing Jackie’s face against a locker door, the protruding lock dial exploding her left eyeball in a bloody ooze.

  As she reached the top of the stairs, she was met with more of the same. Teachers attacking students, students attacking students, the halls had become pits of mayhem.

  Ben’s classroom was only a few doors down, but as she took a step forward another student fell to the ground in front of her and began to convulse. She tripped and fell to the linoleum.

  Quickly gathering herself, she sprinted to the open classroom door, hoping her brother had sheltered down.

  “Ben!” she called from the doorway.

  “Caroline, help me!”

  To her amazement, he was in a corner of the room behind two desks. Ben was continuing to push back against another student who was trying to attack him, thrashing against the desk, biting at the wood top, trying his best to reach Ben.

  Caroline picked up a fallen chair and smashed it over the head of the student. The crack of the skull made her wince, but it did the trick. The boy fell to the ground in a heap, as Ben scurried from behind the desks and embraced his sister in a shaky hug.

  “You okay, bro?”

  “I th..think so,” he said, tears forming in his eyes.

  “Okay good, we need to get out of here right now. Everyone is going crazy, attacking and killing each other.”

  Caroline took his hand, moving them over to the doorway. She looked out to the mass of bloody skin and clothing on the floor, then saw a clear path to the emergency stairwell across the hall.

  “We’re going to run as fast as we can to the stairwell, got it?” Ben nodded, looking up to his sister.

  “Okay, on three.”