The Dead War Series (Book 1): Good Intentions

by D N Simmons

  “Maybe, but I'm not taking any chances this isn't airborne, too,” Felicia stated.

  “If it is, you've already been exposed.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Felicia was standing her ground.

  Vincent nodded. “Fair enough. From my own observations, people who were killed by the ape rose within a minute’s time with the same glazed look in their black eyes and raging hunger. I don’t even understand why they’re eating people. Shit, I don’t even understand how their cognitive functions are identifying people as a food source.”

  “That's what's blowing my mind, too,” William agreed.

  “Their eyes turn black?” Samantha asked.

  Vincent nodded. “It happened with the ape and with all the others I've seen. Needless to say, it's a tell-tale sign.”

  “That's interesting... and creepy,” Felicia said, with a slight shiver. “Did Gen. Fuller give you the name for it or did he just call it 'base compound', too?”

  “He called it VH-0. We gave it the nickname 'base compound' because that's what it was. We made variations of it during our experiments,” Vincent said, checking his watch once more.

  “What does VH-0 stand for?” Felicia asked.

  “I don't know,' Vincent said. “Gen. Fuller wouldn't answer any questions we presented him. Kept saying shit was classified.”

  “Well, the military and everyone involved are going to have to open that black box right now. I'm not going for that 'it's classified' bullshit,” Felicia commented.

  “Hopefully you'll have more pull than we did,” Vincent said.

  In a moment of pure curiosity, he turned on the hi-definition television to see if the news had any more details on the situation in the city. A reporter stood in front of the camera from what looked to be a rooftop. Behind him looked like a war zone. The Chicago police and the National Guard were firing into a crowd of what Sarah adequately had called “zombies” as the horde rushed toward them. The zombies climbed over overturned and parked cars as they mindlessly made their way toward the firing squad.

  “As you can see from the footage, the bullets are not stopping these things. We are trapped on the roof of Dave's Famous Hotdogs on Canal and Roosevelt. Oh my God!” the reporter leaned over the building, observing the mayhem below. “If you can get a look at this, you'll see these things used to be regular people. I mean, my God, there are children among them!”

  Dutifully, the cameraman followed his gaze, positioning the camera to capture the activity. It was true. The zombie crowd consisted of children, adults, senior citizens and all were mutilated in some grotesque fashion. Body parts missing, flesh half-eaten, entrails exposed and hanging free. The scene was horrific.

  Several infected people were tearing apart the officers and soldiers as the remaining few fired their weapons while in retreat. Two soldiers jumped into their Hummer and backed out down the street at top speed. Their walking-dead attackers kept pace with the vehicle at remarkable speeds, jumping and climbing over the scattered automobiles in pursuit. The cameraman zoomed in as close as his camera lens was capable. The soldier driving the SUV was doing one hell of a job as he maneuvered the behemoth vehicle around scattered and overturned automobiles. Eventually, they were able to put distance between themselves and the zombies and the horde split up, running down the cross-intersection street at top speed.

  “You saw it here. These things are incredibly fast and strong,” the reporter said. It was in his voice and his eyes, he was terrified. They all were. “Jesus Christ, look at this.” He motioned for the cameraman to follow him and he did.

  One officer and two soldiers who had been fatally attacked began to rise. First sitting up and then springing to their feet as if choreographed. They rushed over to where the other infected were feasting and they burrowed their way through to partake of the human-flesh meal.

  “Oh my God,” the reporter said before he gagged. The cameraman followed him as he doubled over, vomiting his stomach contents on the rooftop tar. The camera panned from the puking reporter back to the cannibalistic zombies below. A few seconds later, the screen flipped back to the anchorwoman in the news room who was speechless at first. She cleared her throat and looked around nervously at the others in the newsroom before making her statement.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been instructed once again to warn all Chicago citizens to please seek shelter away from the city. Military personnel are doing what they can to contain the situation, but until then, please take only what provisions you need and evacuate the city immediately. If you cannot evacuate, please barricade yourself in your home as securely as you can. NBC Channel Five News will keep you updated for as long as we can and let you know as soon as new developments come in, so stay tuned.” The channel then went to the emergency broadcast message, signaling the loud siren and then reissuing the emergency evacuation alert.

  Sarah's chest heaved furiously as she struggled to comprehend what she had just seen. Vincent walked over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

  “Sarah, breathe, listen to my voice. We're going to be okay,” he told her.

  She nodded. “I’m fine…” she panted between ragged breaths. “But I saw them, Vincent. I saw them when they were so close to me! Oh my God, they moved so fast! I thought they were going to get me.”

  Seeing Sarah in her hysterical state, he knew she had been trying to hold herself together and stay focused, but watching the news footage triggered something in her. It triggered something in him as well. He knew it was fear, but maybe there was something else... was it hopelessness?

  He pulled her close to him, holding her as tightly as he could. God if I could take it all back, I would, he thought. “I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry.”

  “I've got to ask, how far away were they when you saw them?” Felicia asked, realizing that the creatures could have followed her into the building.

  “When that happened, I was about five blocks away. I ran like hell to get home,” Sarah said, still holding on to Vincent.

  “Shit!” William cursed as he went to the window, looking down. “They’re everywhere. I can’t believe it has spread this fast in less than two hours.”

  “I don't suppose the CDC has an emergency protocol for zombies, do you?” Vincent asked.

  “We're prepared for many various outbreak scenarios, but this shit takes the cake. I'm not going to lie to you. We've never dealt with anything like this before,” William said.

  “It’s as if they’re superhuman,” Sarah said.

  “They’re definitely not human and that gives them the advantage,” Felicia said. “Which is why I don't see why we're wasting time in this condo when we should be getting our asses on the roof!”

  “I agree,” Samantha said.

  “What if we get trapped there before the helicopter comes?” Sarah asked. “At least here in the condo we have weapons.

  “From what I've seen of those things, it won't matter where we're at. If we get caught by them, we're as good as dead,” Samantha said.

  “How are we going to seal the door?” William asked, looking around the condo for possible material.

  “I've got my tool box,” Vincent said, pointing toward the medium size box on the floor beside the closet. “William, help me take these doors down.” He pointed to both the bedroom and hallway bathroom doors.

  William nodded and the two men busied themselves removing the two doors.

  “All right, we use these to barricade the door. Once we go up, we don’t come down. By no means, is that understood?” Felicia asked as she eyed her companions.

  “Understood,” they said in surprising unison.

  “Good.” Felicia nodded curtly. “Let's gather everything.”

  She took the bag containing Vincent's research and hard drives. Samantha looked at the bag with the food. She left it, thinking they wouldn't need it once they were free of the city. At least she hoped they'd be able to get more. The research was what was important to them, so she took the laptop. Sara
h took the duffel bag with their clothes and money inside it and Vincent's toolbox.

  Vincent looked around. “Okay, do we have everything we need before we leave here?” he asked, checking over his companions. “We won't be able to come back.”

  The two men held both doors together.

  Samantha huffed. “We have everything that's important. Let's get the hell out of h--”

  The loud ear-piercing siren of the fire alarm cut her off and put them all on a brand new level of alert.

  “Shit, let's go,” William said, walking toward the door.

  “The elevators are out of the question, how close are we to the roof?” Felicia asked.

  “Not far, thank goodness,” Vincent said as he led them to the emergency stairwell that led to the roof. It was located around the corner and down the hall. They ran past a few people in the hallway who looked to be as confused as they were terrified. The hallway wasn't as crowded as Vincent thought it would be. He knew a lot of the residents were outside probably fighting for their lives. He prayed those who left earlier made it out of the city alive although he didn't have much hope. They were most likely dead.

  The group rushed past several people as they neared the exit stairway. Vincent’s neighbor, Bruce grabbed his arm stopping him before he could reach the door.

  “Where the fuck are you going?! You can’t go down there, Vincent. Those…those things are down there! That's why I pulled the alarm! They’ve got us trapped up here. We’ve stopped the elevators and we’re blocking off all the stairways,” Bruce informed.

  “I need to get to the roof, Bruce. After we leave, then by all means, seal this damn thing shut.” Vincent snatched his arm away and gestured for the others to check the stairway.

  “The rooftop? Why are you going up there?” Bruce’s wife, Maria, asked as she kept pace.

  “We don’t have time for this Q and A. Let’s go,” Felicia growled as she pushed past them toward the door.

  “Wait! If you open that door, those things can come in here,” Bruce protested as he thrust himself in front of her path, blocking her.

  “I don’t hear anyone banging on the door yet, so get out of our way,” Felicia demanded in a tone that was as vicious as the monsters they were running from. “I'm with the CDC and we need to make it to the roof.”

  She didn’t have time to dally around with panicked individuals. They had their best chance of getting a cure in their company and getting to the rooftop was her only priority.

  “Take us with you… if you have a plan, please take us with you,” Bruce begged as he slowly removed himself from their path.

  “Fine, just get the fuck out of the damn way!” Vincent fussed.

  Bruce did them one better and opened the door for them. The group rushed through and made their way up the staircase. Down below them, they could hear the screams and cries of the building residents dying on the floors below. They could also hear the footsteps pounding on the cement staircase as those trying to flee found exits that weren’t yet sealed.

  Together, they made their way to the rooftop and they could tell they weren't alone. Several pairs of footsteps followed behind them as others from Vincent's floor witnessed them fleeing through the stairwell. They had no time to persuade them otherwise, the group continued up the three flights until they reached the top. Once everyone who had run to the rooftop was out of the stairwell, Vincent and William immediately began applying Liquid Nail glue along the edge of the door. It wasn't the best in the line of defense, but it was all he had at the moment.

  “Hopefully, this will help secure it in place,” Vincent said as he reached for his hammer.

  “It's better than nothing,” William agreed.

  Together the two men began nailing the heavy wood doors into place in their best attempt to barricade the main rooftop door.

  “Wait, what if other people need to make it up here for safety?” Maria asked, gesturing towards the door in panic.

  “We can’t risk that, Maria,” Vincent said as he drove a thick nail into the wood with his hammer. “We have to trust that anyone below us will be safe enough by sealing off the exits and barricading themselves in their apartments.”

  “Exactly,” William added, then placed another wood door panel across the steel door, holding it in place.

  Maria started to protest. “But—”

  “—Look, damn it! This isn't a full proof plan, but it's what we've got. It's all we've got!” Vincent interjected, finally losing his patience.

  “Just try to stay calm. We’re having a copter pick us up soon and we can’t afford to be overtaken by infected people or panicked individuals clamoring for a way out,” William said.

  “Right now, the situation’s too extreme to resort to anything but every man for himself,” Felicia said as she pulled her cell phone from her purse.

  Maria started to protest. “I just feel so bad.”

  “It is what it is. I wish that none of this was happening right now, I really do… you have no idea. But it’s all about survival now. We have to get to someplace safe to try to figure out how to stop this,” Vincent said.

  “What do you know about what's going on?” Bruce asked.

  William continued to hold the piece of wood in place as Vincent hammered away.

  “Vincent, what do you know?” Bruce repeated with more assertiveness.

  Vincent paused his life-saving activity long enough to answer the question. “I’m not just a doctor, Bruce… I’m a scientist. We all are. We need to get to the nearest research facility and as far away from ground zero as possible if we’re going to figure out how to cure those people.”

  “Well, shit… why are you stopping? Here let me help.” Bruce decided to leave it at that for now. More questions could be asked later. He walked over to the two men and reached into the tool box removing the spare hammer. He worked on one end while Vincent worked on the other.

  “Where the hell is that helicopter at?” Vincent asked Felicia as he pounded away on a nail, driving it deeper into the wood.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” she said as she dialed another number and waited. “Please put me through to Deputy Director Dwayne Wheaton, this is Dr. Felicia Anderson.”

  She knew she had an audience listening to her conversation and she had to be careful about what information she shared. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a panic among them.

  “Mr. Wheaton, we need evacuation out of Chicago ASAP, what's the ETA on our ‘copter?” There was a pause from Felicia and she frowned, lowering her voice to a whisper, she continued. “You know my recommendation, it's not pretty, but I think it's necessary. We need to neutralize Chicago before it spreads too far. But before we do that, we have to gather all of the data from the lab and at Dr. Philip Pierce's residence. I believe him when he says we need it. I don't want to take any chances... Oh, you better believe I followed protocol as best I could considering our predicament.”

  She shifted from one foot to the other as she monitored the chaos on the streets below. The few National Guard soldiers who were fighting so gallantly were finally overtaken on Columbus Street. The rabid zombies fell upon them with such speed and ferociousness, there were unable to defend themselves or the people who had been preparing for the annual Taste of Chicago food festival and were now trapped downtown. Several tents were knocked down and grills had been turned over as people tried to flee. They screamed as they climbed over each other struggling to get away from the zombies. Firefighters posted at Columbus and Michigan Avenue attempted to hold the frenzied horde back with the powerful blasts of water from their hoses, but it only slowed the zombies down. Police officers fired their guns, emptying clip after clip into the army of zombies as they pressed onward. The powerful force of water from the fire hoses shredded their skin, but they didn't seem to register the pain as they crawled forward.

  “God, please help us.” Felicia closed her eyes from the horror and gave a silent prayer before returning to her phone call
. “Dr. Masterson insists the information is vital.” She paused again. “No, sir, I wouldn't recommend us attempting to breach SciTech Labs at this point. The place may still be overrun. Not only that, we don't know how to kill these things yet. I have never seen anything like this before, at least not outside of a movie theater. The only scientific label I can come up with to describe what is going on is a damned zombie attack. You’ve seen the news, you’ve had to. You know what’s happening down here. We need to vacate now. We've manage to barricade ourselves on a rooftop, but we have no idea how long it's going to hold up against these things. They're already in the building.”

  She turned around, looking at the remaining survivors stranded on the rooftop. “We're going to need a few more helicopters as well. We have a few residents with us who need to be rescued. Please send them as soon as you can.” Felicia nodded. “Thank you, Sir. We’ll be waiting.” She was about to end her call when she put it back to her ear. “Yes, Sir? …We don’t know if it’s airborne or not. So far, it looks like the virus is spread through physical contact with the infected person’s saliva or blood or both.”

  “Tell him that these things are strong and fast, he needs to know that,” William said, wanting Felicia to relay the information.

  She nodded. “There’s more, from the information we’ve gathered, these beings are very strong, stronger than the average human and fast, too. The speed in which a person is infected once killed seems to...” She paused, placing her hand over the mouthpiece and looked at William. “How long do you think it was from the moment that soldier was eviscerated until the moment he rose as one of them?”

  William shrugged one shoulder. “It was damn near instantaneous.”

  Felicia nodded again. “Dr. Wheaton, these things can infect a person within seconds after they've been killed.”

  “You better tell him that animals may be infected, too,” Vincent suggested remembering Patient Zero was actually a primate.

  “Animals can be infected, too. Not sure which ones, though.” Felicia looked at Vincent who nodded. “Jesus H. Christ,” she fumed, thinking about their ever increasing fucked up situation. “As for the time frame it takes for this virus to incubate inside a human who's still alive, it's still undetermined. I would predict this city and maybe this state will be overtaken within twenty-four to forty-eight hours unless we figure out our next move.”