by D N Simmons
The helicopters drew nearer, hovering over the rooftop. Their blades rotated furiously creating powerful gusts of wind that whipped up dust and particles around them. They had to shield their eyes as they rose to their feet, making room for the aircraft to land. When it did, the five of them quickly forced their way through the frenzied crowd to climb aboard. The others tried to push toward the helicopter's entrance, but armed soldiers held them at bay with the help of big guns and serious “I'll pull the trigger” expressions.
“You can't just leave us!” one of them cried.
“When we take off, the other helicopter can land and you can board it, this one is full,” one of the soldiers screamed over the sound of rotating blades right before he closed the door. Soon, Vincent and the others could feel themselves rising into the air and the aircraft began to fly away from the building making room for the other helicopter to land.
“We got here as soon as we could under the circumstances,” Dr. Darnell Powers addressed the group, shouting over the noise of the rotating blades of the helicopter as it lifted upward. “My name is Dr. Darnell Powers from the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
“No need to apologize, I’m just glad you arrived when you did,” Felicia replied then she introduced herself as she fastened her seat belt. The memory of those unfortunate souls who had taken refuge on a rooftop only to be killed and eaten before help could arrive still haunted her. She only hoped that wouldn't be the same fate for those they had to leave behind.
“What’s the situation look like outside the city?” Vincent asked as he peered through the window toward his condo watching as the others began to fight amongst themselves for a space on the second helicopter. “Jesus...” he whispered to himself as he witnessed the scene from his vantage point.
The soldiers on the helicopter fired several bullets towards the crowd to keep them back and to give them enough time to slam the door. In a rush, the aircraft lifted with the ones they could take and began to follow Vincent's.
“Pure mayhem,” Dr. Powers replied, bringing everyone's attention towards him. “These things are advancing and multiplying faster than the police and military forces can stop them. It just seems to take a single fatal wound from one bite to turn a normal human into one of those things out there.” He shook his head in dismay with a low grumble. He looked at Felicia. “You can remove your helmets. We know enough about this virus to know it's not airborne.”
“You've tested the air?” Felicia questioned.
Dr. Powers nodded. “We did. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be able to rule that out, at least.”
“That's good enough for me. This thing was getting hot as hell,” William said as he began removing his helmet. Sam and Felicia did the same, taking in huge gulps of fresh air.
Dr. Power looked at Vincent. “I've been briefed on you, Dr. Masterson, but I'm sure I don't know everything. For instance, just what in the hell were you working on?”
Vincent frowned as he stared down at the carnage below—the horrific growing aftermath of their “experiment toward the human advancement in bioengineering.” That was just one of many smoke-up-the-ass lines the General had tossed at him when he asked about the project.
“We created something that I can’t explain, Doctor. I’m going to do my best to find a cure. I don’t know how successful I’ll be with that, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me. Most of my research and all of the current data is still located at SciTech labs, as I explained to your colleagues,” Vincent answered.
“I'm well aware of that and that wasn't my question. What were you working on?” Dr. Powers repeated.
“In all honesty, Doctor… I don’t really know. We were given a sample of some foreign substance. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. It mimicked blood in its consistency and color. It even had several variations of white and red cells but no definitive genetic code.”
Vincent went on to explain what their job was regarding the sample—what SciTech labs was hired to do. “In the end, we had a breakthrough. One of our apes took to the injection with successful results… but the other, the one that was dying, its health only worsened. When it finally died, it didn’t stay that way.”
“Was the sample blood?” Dr. Powers asked.
“This helicopter was big enough to take a few more people,” Sarah inadvertently interrupted after inspecting the extra room they had.
“Come again?” Dr. Powers asked, one eyebrow rising inquisitively.
“Oh, um, well, I'm just seeing that we had more room to bring more people with us. Why did your soldiers slam the door in their faces?” Sarah asked.
Dr. Powers sighed. “We were instructed to pick up a Mrs. Pierce and her two children then return to base. We left enough room to complete that task. Don't worry Mrs.—” He looked at her imploringly.
“Oh, it's Miss Freeman.” She looked at Vincent, taking his hand into hers. “For now, it's just Miss Freeman.”
“Touching,” Dr. Powers returned his attention back to Vincent. “Now, back to my question?”
Sarah pouted, her top lip curling into a slight sneer at the castoff comment the other man gave her. Vincent squeezed her hand gently before lifting it to his lips for a tender kiss. His tone was curt when he responded to the doctor, but he held his rising temper in check. Now was not the time to get into an overprotective cock fight.
“About the sample, if it was blood, it wasn’t any type of blood I’d ever seen. I don’t know for certain what it was, but the biological properties that it contained were phenomenal. For instance, right before everything went to hell in a hand basket, we did manage to record the successful test subject’s vitals. There was a spike in its heart rate and its brain activity increased showing significant cognitive response,” Vincent said.
“So the test subject showed signs of heightened intelligence and an adrenaline level spike?” Dr. Powers looked at him for confirmation.
“Exactly, it was stronger and when injured, it healed instantaneously. It's what the government wanted. The project was a success. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one who made the breakthrough and the person who did… is one of those things down there.”
Vincent’s eyes studied the destruction below. Glass and splinters of wood littered the fronts of stores and restaurants that had had their windows and doors busted in. Dozens of buildings and skyscrapers were on fire as a failed result of the soldiers’ attempt to gain control over the savage melee.
The worst of what he saw were the mutilated remains of the innocent people that had been gorged upon by what he could only label as zombies. But what disturbed him most was to see that the bodies were still moving, looking for other people to eat. They were missing limbs. Some were ripped in half, their entrails dragging along the pavement behind them leaving bloody trails slick with internal gore and bits of shredded organs they no longer seemed to need. There was no explanation for why they could still move. “Ungodly” was the best word Vincent could think of to describe the nightmarish sight.
“That's why it's so important we get to Clair, Philip's wife, and his research,” Vincent said.
Dr. Powers studied him carefully. He was amazed that the scientist managed to escape the facility when so many others didn’t. Needless to say, he was suspicious. “We'll be going back into SciTech Labs—”
“The fuck I am! Shit!” Vincent blurted out, inadvertently cutting the other man off. “Downtown Chicago is overrun with those fucking things. I’m not going back in there! I’m sorry. I just can't. Not until we figure out a way to stop them—what the fuck!” Vincent pressed himself up against the glass to gain a better view of what caught his eye. Others followed suit, looking around trying to locate what he'd seen.
“What? What is it?” Sarah asked.
“Oh my God, what the fuck is that?!” Vincent asked, pointing to a figure moving at a fast speed up the side of the building.
“Jesus Christ, I haven't seen those things do that before,” Dr. Powers' voice c
ame out in a breathless gasp as he watched in stunned horror at a being ascending the John Hancock building, a gigantic skyscraper towering over many other buildings in the city's downtown area. This being took each story with speed and effortlessness until it had quickly reached the top.
“Oh God, are you seeing this shit?” Vincent asked the others.
“Hell yeah, what the fuck is it doing?” William asked, dropping his usual calm and professional demeanor in his sudden state of shock. He was staring hard at the creature having squeezed himself in between Vincent and Sarah to gain a better view.
“I don't know, but it's watching us,” Dr. Powers said, observing the creature. “It doesn't look like the rest of those things down there and I haven't seen one of them climb a building... at least not yet.”
The creature’s eyes followed their helicopter before it turned toward the second helicopter that was closer. Vincent stared hard at the creature. There was something about him. The color of his hair, the hotel uniform he was wearing... it looked so familiar.
“Oh my God, I think I recognize him,” Vincent gasped.
“Who is he and what the hell is he doing?” Felicia watched as the creature lowered himself, its eyes fixed upon the second helicopter. “Please tell me it's not going to—”
They all screamed as the creature leapt high into the air, propelling himself from the roof of the Hancock Center onto the second helicopter, hooking his arm around the one of the landing skids. From their viewpoint, Vincent and the others saw the passengers in the helicopter scream as the aircraft listed slightly from the extra and unwanted weight. The creature wrapped one leg on the landing skid and pulled himself upward. He took hold of the door's handle and with a great show of strength, wrenched the door from it hinges, flinging it into the air.
“Oh my God!” Sarah shrieked, speaking for the others who are almost speechless save a few surprised and terrified gasps.
The creature wasted no time climbing into the helicopter and attacking the passengers, all of whom were Vincent and Sarah's neighbors and friends. He buried fangs deep into the throats of several victims, slurping greedily as he ripped open jugulars. Blood splattered the windows, leaving arterial sprays in cross-cross patterns. The helicopter pilot tilted the aircraft sideways as if trying to toss the creature out. Two bloodied and mangled corpses tumbled out the open doorway, falling thousands of feet to the pavement.
Vincent's own helicopter's speed increased putting a considerable distance between them and the doomed helicopter. Still, they were able to see the last attempts of the pilot’s struggles to stay alive. The helicopter twisted and turned. Its tail rotator slammed into another skyscraper damaging the blades and shattering several windows sending glass raining down on the zombies and their terrified victims below. Soon, the helicopter was out of control, spiraling downward until it crashed into street. The blades ripped into the pavement as they shredded and spun wildly. Before they lost complete sight of the helicopter, they managed to see the creature emerge from the mangled debris. He stood in front of it calmly. Then right before their eyes, he ran faster than any human could manage.
“Did you see that?” Vincent looked around bug-eyed at the others hoping he wasn't the only one who witnessed the inhuman feat.
“I saw what you saw, that thing took down an entire helicopter and then damn near vanished,” William said. He turned towards Felicia. “Either these things are mutating or that was something else altogether.”
“I really don't know,” Felicia said in a dazed tone. She was still in shock from what she'd seen. “Dr. Masterson, you said you knew him, where did you see him before?”
“Shit... I... I saw him at the hotel, at least I think it was him, I couldn't tell. He just looked familiar,” Vincent replied, his words coming out shaky and uncertain. “He looked like one of the employees I'd spoken to after I got off the phone with you.”
“What the hell is going on?” Felicia presented the question to no one in particular.
“All I know is that this situation just keeps getting worse. We just lost a ‘copter full of civilians and soldiers. You better start fucking talking, Doctor!” interjected one of the uniformed soldiers, who had been silent up until this point. He grabbed Vincent by his collar, yanking him from his seat and pulling him closer.
“Get your fucking hands off me!” Vincent growled, pushing himself back from the soldier.
The other man released his grip on Vincent clothes, but kept his eyes intently on him. “What the fuck was that down there?”
“How the hell should I know?” Vincent yelled. “I’ve never seen any shit like that before!”
“We've got to figure out what that thing was and fast. It leaped at least fifty yards into the air to attack that helicopter,” Samantha said, her gaze shifting from person to person.
Dr. Power spoke up, “Those other things, they're fast and strong as hell, especially as a group... but they stay grounded.” He looked at Vincent. “You said this is the same guy you met earlier... did he seem normal to you?”
“Yes. Assuming it was him, he seemed really freaked out by what I was telling him. He must have been bitten, but why is he different from those other zombies?” Vincent was completely perplexed.
“That's something else we're going to have to get to the bottom of. We need to know if this virus is mutating or if it's something else out there attacking people,” Dr. Powers said.
“God, help us,” Sarah said.
“We're going to have to go into SciTech Labs,” the angry soldier said.
“Excuse me, but who are you?” Vincent asked in a huff. His own adrenaline levels were spiked and he was a bit on edge. Still, he felt he should at least get that much of an introduction since the other man seemed to have no problem putting his hands on him.
“Sgt. Hicks and those were my men who went down with that helicopter thanks to your little freak experiment,” Hicks offered with a sizable measure of scorn.
The disdain in his tone wasn't lost on Vincent, but he’d be damned if he took all of the blame for what was happening. If the government hadn't wanted their damned super-soldiers none of this would be happening.
“Look I know you're looking for someone to blame and me being the closest target, I guess I'll do. But I've got news for you, buddy. This didn't start with me. I'm hoping I can end it. I agree that we need to get into my lab, but now is not the time. The city is too overrun,” Vincent said.
Especially if the shit we just saw is out there, too, he thought. A part of him was scared shitless at the prospect of returning to his lab. The very thought of being in the same area with one of the infected filled him with terror. He imagined his very own gory demise if he were to foolishly venture back into the lab. Even with an army, he didn’t think he’d ever survive—or at least come out still human. The other part knew he was right about being better prepared.
“I was actually getting to that point before you interrupted me,” Dr. Powers said grimly to Vincent. “We're in the process of forming an elite squad to go back into SciTech and retrieve the data, but they're going to need your help.”
“They want me to go with them?” Vincent asked with both eyebrows rising high on his forehead.
“No. That's a risk we can't take. So relax for now, Dr. Masterson,” Dr. Powers said. “You'll be guiding the team from the IDPH headquarters in Springfield.”
“Oh, okay,” Vincent said with a nod. He leaned over, looking out the window.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered to those dying down below.
Collectively they all looked out of the windows watching as humans fled their traffic-jammed automobiles in search of safety as more zombies overtook those who were encumbered or simply not fast enough to get away.
“Sweet Jesus! These things attack like a swarm of locusts!” Sarah watched wide-eyed and in complete shock as she observed the hoard of running zombies attacking the people. The speed and ferociousness with which they killed and fed was as terrifying as it was
extraordinary. It was unbearable for her to witness, knowing that people were dead and dying horrible deaths and not knowing how or why it was happening. Tears begin to fall from her eyes as she watched and listened to the people screaming and waving at their helicopter, begging for them to save them. There was nothing she could do. There was no comfort or help she could give them.
Vincent turned away from the scene, unable to face the result of his experiment. He wondered how many people were able to find shelter. How many were hiding somewhere waiting to be saved? How many managed to make it out of the city before it became overrun like his best friends? He looked at his companions, Sgt. Hicks and the other soldiers’ glares were accusatory and angry. The others' expressions were filled with so many emotions.
However, it wasn't until he looked at his fiancée and saw her pain that it all hit him again. His earlier attempt as sharing the blame didn't seem justified now. How could he disagree with them? Even though he wasn’t working alone—even though it wasn’t him who had initiated the experiment—he had still played a huge part in what would be the total decimation of human existence if they didn’t find a solution. That thought alone filled him with such dread, anger, hopelessness, and, above all, guilt.
“Jesus H. Christ, if we don’t gain some sort of control now, at this rate, the entire North and South American continents will be taken over in a matter of days,” William said.
“We have to make sure we keep the outbreak contained to this area at least. We really can’t let this virus spread past the state let alone overseas,” Felicia said.
“From what I can see, the virus attacks the human body so quickly an infected person won’t have a chance to board an airplane before turning into one of them,” Samantha stated.
Vincent's head shot toward her. “We don't really know that for certain, do we?”
“What?” Samantha looked at him.
“I think he means, we really don't have any case studies to prove that the virus can transform an infected person in a matter of minutes,” Felicia clarified. “Depending on how badly the victim was injured, it could take anywhere from a few minutes to hours for them to change.”