Natasha sat up and rubbed the back of her throbbing head, she had had an unpleasant collision with the edge of a table upon her fall. As she pathetically sat there watching, the scenes before her continued to unfold for the worst.
Georgina a petite girl with barely any weight to her, needed only a single hand to subdue both of Hannah's without a struggle, what kind of voodoo magic was this? The other hand-held Hannah's chin locked in place in order to kiss her... or at least that was the way it initially appeared, but as Hannah's eyes widened, her legs thrashed as though experiencing unbearable pain and blood trickled down the side of her face, Natasha knew that this was more than met the eye.
Georgina retracted with a blood covered mouth and Hannah's tongue in tow. A quick jerk backwards of her head and she ripped Hannah's tongue right out of her mouth with her teeth.
Hannah's scream was piercing. Blood sprayed from her mouth and tears rolled down the sides of her face. She thrashed in agony, but with Georgina sitting on top of her, she was going nowhere soon.
Georgina chewed before swallowing the tongue, as though everything Natasha had just seen wasn't already enough to churn her stomach. Natasha spun around and grabbed a nearby bin to puke into.
"Dirty girl, Hannah. You like tongue action, huh?" Georgina said and burst into hysterical laughter, as more people arrived, including Lizzy and the others in the toilet, who had stepped out to investigate.
Georgina's eyes looked manic, filled with anger and hatred and her laugh was sadistic, almost demonic.
"You have luscious lips, how about we give our audience a show". Hannah, tears streaming down her face, tried to shake her head, but Georgina ignored her and leaned in.
Despite the pain, Hannah attempted to pull her lips in, but that didn't seem to faze Georgina who instead just sank her teeth into the surrounding skin of Hannah's mouth, drawing blood, until Hannah had no other choice but to release, but in doing so, Georgina ripped both her top and bottom lips off like a savage dog.
"Stop it!" Lizzy screamed, as Hannah kicked and thrashed and several people including her, once again attempted to pull her off of Hannah.
Georgina threw them back with ease and continued feasting on Hannah's face. If they stood any chance whatsoever of rescuing Hannah, they would have to resort to extreme measures, that was absolute. They had to face facts, this woman was Georgina no longer, it was a monster and a monster not unlike the ones downstairs and on broadcast.
Lizzy returned with a fire extinguisher and hit Georgina around the head with it, knocking the girl to the floor and off of Hannah.
"I'll fucking kill you for that, you bitch!" Georgina roared, twitching uncontrollably.
"Fucking come at me then, psychotic bitch! I'm from fucking Islington!"
As Georgina got to her feet and lunged over at Lizzy, Natasha wasted no time in grabbing a keyboard, pulling it free of its socket and hitting Georgina over the head with it.
She retracted just enough for Lizzy to hit her again with the extinguisher, leaving a blood covered dent in its side, but still, this woman remained resilient. With the number of blows she had taken to the head with large objects, it was any wonder how the hell she was still able to stand. What the fuck had she become?
"Spray her!" Natasha shouted. Lizzy immediately began removing the safety pin from the top of the extinguisher and before Georgina could launch another attack, she blasted the extinguisher in her face.
Others who had heard the commotion and rushed over to find a macabre scene unfolding before them, a demented Georgina and Hannah's half eaten face.
"Get her out of here!" Lizzy ordered, "And someone help me with this freak before she does to us what she did to her!"
As the useless male audience just stood there gawping, too cowardice or selfish to help, Natasha sprung to action, grabbing Hannah and helping the weak and groaning woman up to her feet.
"Don't just stand there, fucking help me out here!" She snapped.
"Fuck that!" Todd replied. "I was right on the fucking ball! I warned you! You saw what happened to Georgina, that woman will turn into one of them too, fucking zombie!"
"Georgina isn't dead, you fucking twat! Help me!"
Though the crowd, Elmira rushed to Natasha's aid, the only person Natasha could ever truly rely on. The others remained behind, arming themselves with anything they could use to take down the rampant Georgina.
CHAPTER 13 - RIA: 3:45pm - 4 Hours, 0 Minutes since outbreak
Ria watched Terry pace back and forth waiting for someone to pick up the phone. The longer it took for her mother to pick up the phone was the more impatient and irater he became.
"Why won't she pick up?" This was his third attempt to reach her.
He tried once more and after a while someone answered.
"Natasha? Natasha! What the hell is going on?" He was silent for a few seconds, before his expression changed.
"What do you mean switched personalities? What happened?" He began pacing again as he continued. "Okay, has anything got into your bloodstream, because I'm pretty sure that that's how it is spreading, not unlike any other virus... but none in your mouth or eyes right?" He sighed. "Good, but you need to get the hell out of there... yes I know, but you need to find a way down, there couldn't possibly be a worst place to be right now, if they swarm that building, you and everyone surviving in it are fucked... just focus on getting out... is Georgina still alive?"
Ria stood up and went over to the window to peer out. She couldn't see much, but knew that somewhere not too far, a battle was ensuing.
"Natasha, leave Hannah, she'll turn into one of them, she will kill you, Todd was right and if the situation in London and what I saw is enough to go by, she'll be attempting to bite a chunk out of your neck any time soon. Heck, go one step further, lock her somewhere she can't reach you, she probably won't reach a hospital any time soon, especially considering that we've been in quarantine this long already, that and even if you managed to get her out of the building and away from the chaos, those army soldiers and CEU operatives out there will probably shoot her and you on sight".
There came a knock at the door and several people in CEU branded white hazmat outfits stepped in. The real deal, a full biohazard suit, all in white, covered from head to toe with gas masks and all, just like in the movies. Accompanying them were armed police officers, maybe a tad excessive.
"Natasha, please just do as I say, your life is at stake here, don't do anything stupid, you've always been the voice of reason, I'm supposed to be the impulsive and irrational one. I have to go now, I'll be in touch again soon, keep your phone to hand", Terry hung up.
“What's happening to mum?” Ria asked.
“I'll explain later".
“What is happening to her?” She snapped.
“I said I'll explain later".
“Dad!”
“We have other concerns right now".
Exasperated with her father, Ria turned to face the strangers.
"I'm going to need you all to follow me", the one towards the front ordered.
"Finally leaving this jail cell, huh?" Terry replied.
"Indeed, you are, the sooner we get the process started, the sooner we can get you all to safety, though hopefully that shouldn't take long, this virus spreads quickly and you haven't turned yet, so that at least bodes well", one of the hazmat outfitted people replied, a female.
"I see you are referring to it as a virus, does that mean that you've at least established what this thing is?"
"We know what to look for, yes, it's appears to be either an unfamiliar voracious mutagen or an aggressive parasite, we've temporarily nicknamed it the Vora Virus or Parasite".
“Do you have a cure?”
“It’s way too early to be talking cures, we still have the process of identification and establishing its source, because right now prevention supersedes purge”.
"Do you know what the symptoms are at least?"
"Not to sound snide, but you probably have
a better idea of that than we do right now, we've received so many mixed reports that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what we should be looking out for and that’s the problem. Here we have what could be the single greatest national disaster of the century and we don't even know what we are supposed to be looking out for”.
“You don't even know what you're looking for?”
“If we did, you wouldn't have been detained here for so long".
“Well we saw people swearing and attacking people”.
“This is London, if we were to quarantine everyone who swears, we'd have a major task on our hands”.
“No... I mean really angry swearing, unnecessary so. I know that doesn't mean anything, but they were like mad people”.
“Did you see anything more... visible, tangible even. Something we could recognise from a distance".
Terry thought long and hard.
“They were twitching, like they had a tick or something”.
Ria passed her father and approached the people in hazmat.
"Let's get this over and done with, we can talk about this after we find some way to save mum".
She was led out into the corridor along with the others to an elevator. One by one they descended the elevator and were led outside to a series of temporary quarantine stations.
"You will need to go in one at a time, where you will be checked for contamination", one of the CEU operatives instructed.
"And should we fail? I mean, you don't even know what you're looking for, right?" Terry asked. They didn't reply and that was enough to unnerve him. "I'm going with my kids". Ria turned towards him, was he serious?
"Sir, please comply with directives".
"Not unless you can guarantee my children’s' safety, answer my question".
"I have no obligation to, sir".
"Then I have no obligation to step into there without my kids!"
"Terry!" Ria snapped, "Don't do this now, we'll be fine!"
Terry ignored her and continued to embarrass her in front of several onlookers and in the process creating debacle where there need be none.
Spotting people calmly approaching them with batons and tasers, Ria could overlook her irritation for a moment in the interests of protecting her father. Today was not the day for games and patience was at teetering point, they would certainly not go lightly on him if he continued this ruckus.
“Dad, I'm going in, so you can stop this nonsense before we all get tazed”.
She plucked up the courage and walked in, how bad could it be? As she stepped in, her father called after her, but this time she ignored him.
Inside the plastic station was another person in a hazmat suit surrounded by armed guards.
"Hello dear, are you next?" The female voice asked.
"I guess so", Ria replied.
"Can you put anything you have in your pockets in this plastic bag, as well as any metallic objects on your person", she instructed, approaching Ria with an open bag.
The guards behind looked more than prepared for things to get hairy.
Ria searched her pockets and found nothing of particular value, but she gave them her purse and jewellery. Once they were sealed, she was escorted to a warded off sector of the station where she found another lady in a hazmat suit.
"Hello".
"Hi", Ria replied, "So what's happening now?"
"Well, we are going to need you to take off your clothes, then we'll wash you down with decontamination...” She stopped mid-sentence, distracted by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. Though the sound of unexpected gunfire was rarely ever a welcome one, it couldn't have come at a better time, for the idea of stripping off in front of strangers didn't appeal.
Guards and CEU operatives scrambled out of the station and to the source of the gunfire, leaving her alone with one other operative, who from the looks of things, had completely no idea how to handle this extreme change of circumstances. Ria could only begin to imagine her panicked expression beneath that mask.
"Wait here!" The female operative instructed and took off. Ria had a feeling she wouldn’t see that woman again.
Doing as she always did, she ignored the command, grabbed her belongings and made her way back out of the quarantine station. Outside was utter travesty, people running around like headless chickens, lack of direction and purpose. The gunfire resounded in the background, as medics desperately attempted to transport the sick and injured away from the hospital, manoeuvring several ambulances into a position to make that possible, but wasn't it all a little too late now?
Spotting Terry, Charlotte and her brother, Ria ran over to them.
"Ria!" Terry cried, evidently glad to see her. "What did they do to you?"
"Nothing, just took my stuff, but I got it back, they didn't get to do anything else because this all started".
"Good, glad. Let's get out of here, we're heading east. We need to find a route across the bridge and the further east we go, the more likely we are to find one".
"Won't we need the car?" Charlotte asked.
"We will indeed", Terry replied.
"Let me have my phone back", Ria demanded. Terry didn't protest this time, instead he handed it over to her without hesitation, much to her surprise.
"Thanks...” She replied.
"Let me know if your mother calls", he insisted, to which she nodded simply. She checked her phone to discover a torrent of notifications and a battery life of only 76%.
On her babbadoo messenger was a message from Lacey.
'OMG Ria!!!!! Have u seen ur Chirper!? Ur famous!!'
Positive Lacey was either pulling her leg, or exaggerating, Ria opened up the Chirper app whilst maintaining an air of scepticism, but much to her surprise, Lacey wasn't exaggerating in the slightest, if anything, her proclamation failed to serve as fair enough warning.
Ria stood there staring at the ridiculous numbers before her, in disbelief. This couldn't be her account, there was no way this was her account. She had gained 5000+ new followers in the short space of time her phone had been out of her possession and her chirps had been rechirped and favourited well over 8000 times, but how...?
She checked over and over, logging out and back in, just to ensure it wasn't a Chirper related glitch, but nothing she did changed the numbers she was faced with and they only continued to increase with each refresh and the notifications kept pouring in.
As a result of not having added anything since last having her phone, there was already speculation as to whether or not she was a goner, another victim of the chaos.
Excitedly, she took a few photos of the scenes around her, attached them to a new chirp and began typing away.
"At St Thomas, got quarantined, omg! Dad and brother almost got killed! Hearing shooting, so gotta go!" She posted it feeling a little chuffed at the new-found value of every chirp she published. There was nothing quite compared to the elation gained knowing your posts and chirps were appreciated, even if they were at the profit of devastation.
She switched over to Myface and typed the same thing, before recording a small clip and uploading it to Vyou.
"Ria! I hate to interrupt your social session, but we need to make a move now!" Terry snapped over at her.
"Coming!" She replied and caught up to the others.
"We won't be able to get to my car and drive it out of here under these conditions", Charlotte pointed out.
"What do you suggest?" Terry replied, holding on to George's hand.
"Under the circumstances? Steal one".
"What? No! Even if we were to do that, how would we even get it running?"
"I've hotwired cars before".
"Who even are you?"
"I was a rebellious teenager once, what can I say. Don't tell me you were mummy’s perfect little angel".
"I might have smoked a spliff or two, but I can't say I've ever had the urge to commit grand theft auto. Anyway, no, no carjacking, things have gone shit, yes, but not so much so we need to start adding crimi
nal records to the list of shit we have to look forward to after the dust settles".
"If the dust settles. So, what do you suggest?"
"Given the situation, I actually agree with Charlotte", Ria added, "What else is there, Terry?" She asked her father.
Terry glanced around.
"Maybe... we ask someone for a lift?"
"Really, Terry? That's the best idea you could come up with? Have you forgotten how we even got here?"
"Okay fine! We'll take a car, but if anyone asks, we were your hostages. Hurry it up, get it over and done with before anyone sees us!" Terry replied, visibly agitated.
They all took off in search of a suitable car, old enough that security alarms and such wouldn't be so much of an issue and Charlotte proceeded to work her magic, using only things she had in her handbag. When she said she had done this before, her dad didn’t expect her to get a car up and running in such quick succession, she made it look criminally easy.
He attempted to take over.
"Thank you, Charlotte, you've been a star. I can take it from here, you don't have to stay with us if you don't want to, you've done more than enough and I'm sure you are concerned about your boyfriend, I don't want to drag you into any danger, where can I safely drop you off?"
"Err, hell no, I'm tagging along, we've come this far and I really want to see the conclusion to this epic drama", she replied, to which they all three stared at her blankly. “The drama starring one father’s unyielding determination to save his family in a situation stacked against him. I want to help until the end, besides, my family all live up north, only my boyfriend lives in London and he's on the outskirts. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I left you and your children to go into the dragon's den, let me see this through to the end".
"Are you sure? You owe us nothing".
"Like I said, anything to help, that's the type of person my parents would be proud of. All or nothing, so what do you say?"
"Okay, let's make a move then", he replied, returning to the passenger seat.
Cryptophobia (Book 1): Outbreak [Fear The Unknown] Page 12