Infected
by
Michael I Rolfe
Copyright © 2018 Michael I Rolfe
KINDLE Edition
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored, in any form or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
PublishNation, London
www.publishnation.co.uk
Contents
A Glimpse of the Near Future
Day One, Late for Work, Just Like Any Other Day
One Hour before…
07:15 - Day One of Outbreak, Ambulance Paramedic Amanda Bell
08:00 - Day One of Outbreak Dan and Pamela
Day One of Outbreak - Flight LL261 on Route to Washington Dulles International Airport USA
09:30 - Day One of Outbreak Dan and Pamela
Day One of Outbreak - 10:10 hours - Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
Day One of Outbreak - Flight LL261, Washington Dulles International Airport USA
Day One - 10:31 hours Corridor Leading from the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
Afternoon - Day One Dan and Pamela
Gate 16, Washington Dulles International Airport USA
Day Two. Dan and Pamela
End of Day Two - Ambulance Paramedic Amanda Bell
End of Day Two Patrols Platoon Commander Captain Alan Brown
End of Day Three - 3 Platoon Commander Lieutenant Walters
Day Five Dan and Pamela
Day Five - Lt Colonel Peter Curtis - Porton Down research facility
Day Eight Patrols Platoon Commander Captain Alan Brown
Earlier that Day, Dan
Pamela and Amanda
Porton Down research facility
Dan and Peter Return to the Garage
A Day at the Shops
The Search for Stone Cold
Time to Clean House
Consolidation
Pegasus
Confrontation
New Beginnings
Aura
Recriminations, Reorganisation and Reconnaissance
Revenge
End Game
A Bad Day at the Office, Just Like Any Other Day
A Glimpse of the Near Future
The Epidemic had become a Pandemic, which became something that humans do not even have a single word to describe, it became a “Near Extinction Event”.
Humanity was on course to self-annihilate, with the infected mercilessly attacking the uninfected. If a single word could have been used to describe what was happening, that word would be “Apocalypse!”
Every nation on the planet had be affected by the rapid and violent onslaught of the infection, some less advanced nations with not so extensive transportation systems resisted infection for a while, but in time these too would succumb to the inevitable and the infection raged on unstoppable.
All over the globe aircraft were dropping out of the sky, the infected crew’s incapable of attempting a controlled landing. Large commercial airliners that had been flying on autopilot simply ran out of fuel and plummeted to the ground causing massive devastation.
Vessels on the high seas from goliath nuclear powered Aircraft Carriers, Oil tankers and Cruise ships to small privately own motor cruisers were also rapidly overrun by the infection. They had become ghost ships crewed by the dammed whose sole purpose in their hellish existence was finding their next victim. Most of these ships would go on to wreck, causing massive pollution with the oil, cargo and bodies of the victims washing up on shorelines around the world for years to come.
Nuclear power stations were left unattended and unmonitored, newer designs shut down automatically, but the fail-safe systems of some older generation reactors failed and the resulting meltdowns spewed radiation in to the atmosphere. Even in its death throes humanity was still destroying the planets ecosystem. All this was just days away, but it started on Day One and Day One started just like any other day…
Day One, Late for Work, Just Like Any Other Day
General Surgeon, Doctor Pamela Charles was late leaving home for her first surgery of the day. Although it was only a short drive to the hospital, she knew she would have to forgo her regular cup of coffee once she got there and see the first patient of the day without that usual pick-me-up, and this did not improve her mood! The power cut had not helped expedite getting ready to leave, but she had to admit to herself that perhaps staying in bed to beyond the last minute had made the situation worse. Of course, she would never admit this to Dan, her long-suffering husband, who had to practically push her out of bed every working day.
Pam left via the front door and hurried towards her car that was parked on the road adjacent to the house, she used the remote to unlock the door and as she reached for the handle she could hear screeching tyres and a racing engine approaching. “A bit early for “racer-boys” thought Pam as she looked up and towards the sound of the roaring engine and was surprised to see Dan’s’ 4x4 speeding down the road.
Dan had left for work some ten minutes before and should have been half way there by now, “What the hell was he doing back and why was he driving like a madman?” thought Pam as she gave an uncertain wave to Dan while a confused smile beset her face, but Dan was ignoring her and was not even slowing down, his car flew past her, there was a loud bang and Pam saw the body of Philip Jenkins flying through the air to land further down the road.
Pam was too shocked and confused to scream, she just stood there rooted to the spot trying to process what had just happened. Dan’s car had now screeched to a stop just a metre from the crumpled body of Mr. Jenkins, Dan got out of the vehicle just as Jenkins started to push himself up in to a seated position and attempt to stand. Dan slid back behind the wheel and the 4x4 shot forward abruptly, knocking Jenkins back down and pinning him under the front wheel, crushing his pelvis whilst blood exploded over the road and front wing of the car. Pam first instinct was to rush forward to administer aid to Philip, but she was transfixed by the sight of Jenkins body as it lay trapped under the wheel of the car. Pam shook her head and admonished herself, “This is not professional” she thought and forced herself to move forward, but Dan had jumped from the car, leaving it abandoned in the middle of the road and still pinning the body of Philip Jenkins to the ground. He ran up to her grabbed her and pulled her towards the house saying in quiet but firm voice “Don’t look, please just get in to the house” Pamela was still stunned and allowed herself to be led towards her home, through the outer front door and into the porch, she did not hear the door close behind her but she did notice that Dan had fully locked it, he then pushed her through the porch into the house, closed and locked the inner door.
Pamela was now rallying quickly, she screamed at Dan “What the hell have you done to Philip Jenkins, I have to help him and you should call for an Ambulance!” He replied, “That was not Philip, well not the Philip Jenkins that you knew, I can’t explain what’s going on, but you have to trust me that was not Jenkins.” He could tell that Pamela did not understand what he was trying to tell her, and at any moment she would try to make a break for it, get away from him and back outside, he could not allow that. “Look,” he said, “there is something going on, I am not sure
what, but you have to trust me when I tell you that Philip was going to kill you”, but even as he said it he knew that he must have sounded mad. He was not getting through to her, this did not surprise him at all as he had just killed someone in front of her, from her perspective he was a murderer and she was locked inside the house with him. He would have to do something quick or she would try to bolt. He said “Look, they are making announcements on the radio advising people to stay indoors”. Pamela replied, “The power is off.” “Right, get that old transistor radio and find some batteries for it from the drawer in the kitchen,” pleaded Dan. Pamela had known her husband for a long time, but there was something different about him now, she had just seen him kill, no not just kill, but brutally murder in a cold blooded and calculated way and worse still, he had killed someone they both knew, but there was no sign of guilt, in fact it seemed that he was already moving on from the incident as if it was just an insignificant part of a greater event that was still unfolding. She should be attempting to get out of the house, but she was confused and there was something else, she had never seen Dan like this, he was decisive and totally in control, even now he had not stood between her and the door but was moving swiftly around the house closing all the curtains. Pamela knew that both the inner and outer front doors were fully locked and if she attempted to get out Dan could stop her before she could do so, so she would play for time, would do as he had asked. She found and inserted the batteries, then turned the radio on.
One Hour before…
The alarm on the mobile phone went off at six but Dan was already awake, the alarm was merely the starting bell to signal the beginning of yet another monotonous working day, he swung his legs off the bed immediately and turned off the irritating sound of the alarm, he knew that if he did not get up straight away but laid in bed thinking about the forthcoming working day he would never get up.
He felt trapped by his boring job, going in to the office day after day and having to deal with the same idiots sitting in meetings listening to the self-important managers making the same stupid idiotic decisions that their predecessors had made, like the song says, “It’s all just a little bit of history repeating”. Could they not see that they were taking the company in the wrong direction? It was obvious to Dan, but they could just not see it. He had long ago given up trying to show them the errors of their ways, he used to speak up and put forward his point of view, but this had not done his career any good whatsoever, so now he just sat there, kept his head down, and said nothing. He often wondered how these overpaid, overweight, swaggering arseholes would fare in the real world and not this artificial hierarchical corporate biosphere, this fake world where the donkeys really were in charge of the lions. Dan felt that he was a victim of this world where money was king and decent people were used as human stepladders by the tie wearing so called “elite”, scrambling toward the summit of their corporate dominion, wedging their offshore bank accounts full of cash as they went. He was left with little option, go into the office each working day, endure the bullshit and wait for five o’clock on a Friday afternoon when he would escape for the weekend and not give the company a second thought.
His salary was okay, it paid the bills and there was enough left over to save for a rainy day, and boy had he saved, but it was nowhere near enough to retire on. His retirement day was still twenty-five years away and if the government had its way it would be even further away than that. It had been on the news the preceding day that the retirement age was being raised yet again, as far as Dan was concerned this was very unfair, how could they change the rules once the game had started? This would mean him having to continue in the rat race for even longer, not a prospect that he relished!
Dan got dressed without turning on the light so that he would not disturb his wife Pam, and then made his way downstairs, slipping his old mobile phone in to his pocket without noticing that the signal strength meter was showing no reception. He padded downstairs in bare feet and reached out to turn on the kitchen light, but the bulb failed to illuminate. As he reached for a torch so that he could check the fuse board he noticed that the illuminated clock on the oven was also off. “Must be the main breaker” he mumbled as he made his way towards the fuse board. All the breakers were fine, indicating that this must be a power failure, “Great, that is all I need,” thought Dan “cold cereal it is then”.
There was no power for the radio, so Dan sat silently in the early morning gloom as he ate his cereal. He swilled his bowl and spoon then left them on the counter to be washed later once the power was back on, then shouted upstairs to Pam “Get up Spanner-head, or you will be late for work!” There was no response, but this did not surprise Dan and knowing that it would be pointless to shout again he decided to take a more direct approach. He made his way back upstairs into the bedroom, it was lighter here as the early dawn light was coming through the large bedroom windows, and Dan could see the mound in the bedding made by Pamela as she lay on the bed, ignoring him. “This is your final warning, get up or suffer the consequences!” Still no movement, “Right don’t say that I did not warn you” he said as he lifted the bedding and smacked Pamela’s now exposed posterior. This resulted in a screech, followed by a torrent of bad language as she expressed in no uncertain terms how she felt about the unwarranted and underhanded attack on her person, she then reached over and pulled the bedding back and tried to go back to sleep. “Time for work, and the power is off, so you had better get moving” said Dan, “I hate you” came from under the bedclothes, “I love you too, but you still have to get up,” he said, “besides I cannot be held responsible for the fact you are a victim of a capitalist society that requires that you get your arse, your very nice arse, out of bed and go to work so that you can contribute to the socialist state.” “You are contradicting yourself” said Pam, “Life, like our country is an enigma, and I am glad that you are paying attention. Now get up!” he said as he turned and walked out of the bedroom, taking the bedclothes with him and depositing them on the landing floor. Pamela cursed, curled up in a ball and lay like that for a few seconds before sighing as she finally got up and pulled on her dressing gown, then walked on to the landing where she retrieved the bedding. Replacing it on the bed, she hesitated, considering if she could afford a few more minutes underneath the covers, but surrendered to reality and made her way downstairs to join Dan in the still dark kitchen. “No tea, I’m afraid” said Dan “the power is still off, will fruit juice do?” “I really need tea” pleaded Pam. “Okay, I still have some time before I have to leave for work, I’ll go out and use the gas stove in the campervan” responded Dan. He pulled on his coat, grabbed the keys for the van then went out through the back door. The camper van was parked in an enclosed garden to the rear of the property and as he walked towards it he could hear sirens in the distance, “Another accident on the motorway?” he assumed. Opening the campervan, he grabbed the kettle, filled it with water, placed it on the stove and lit the gas, he then sat in the back of the van listening to the sirens in the distance, contemplating the forthcoming working day and wondered just how he would cope with yet another day of bullshit.
The whistling sound emitting from the boiling kettle roused him from his musing, he grabbed it and made his back to the kitchen to make Pamela her much needed mug of tea.
“Right, better be off or I’ll be late” said Dan as he kissed Pamela and made his way towards the door, taking the keys for his 4x4 as he went. The radio came on with the ignition, and as he reversed out of the garage Dan heard the end of an announcement advising people to stay indoors, “I should be so lucky thought Dan as he continued to drive along the road. He came to a T-junction controlled by a set of temporary traffic lights which were showing red.
As he waited for the green light, he watched another poor slave to the system leave his house and trudge to his car head down sorting through his keys. As he was opening his car door, Dan noticed another man running up the drive towards him, he did not stop but ran straight
into the poor guy who was pushed backwards into the vehicle, then the attacker was on him instantly in a frenzied attack. After about ten seconds the assailant was pushed violently out of the car, he stumbled backwards and cracked his head on a low wall.
The victim emerged from the car and was covered in his own blood, the attacker was now recovering from the impact with the wall and was starting to stand up. Seeing his assailant was still a threat, the blood-soaked victim quickly got into his car and locked the doors, the attacker sprang forward to strike once again clawing at the windows like an enraged wild animal. The aggressor continued to paw at the car window for another few seconds before suddenly stopping and ignoring the car and the victim inside, he then looked directly at Dan for the first time. As he looked into the attacker’s eyes, even from the distance of twenty metres, Dan sensed instinctively that this guy was not operating on a human level but had regressed to some kind of primeval animal state. Even before this human animal started to charge forward, Dan knew that this was a threat like no other he had faced. The charge never happened for at that moment a male jogger wearing the latest ‘must have’ oversized earphones, ran past Dan’s car and around the corner, the human animal instantly set off in pursuit of the Lycra clad jogger and both disappeared.
The traffic lights were still red, the whole incident had taken no more than twenty to thirty seconds, Dan looked again up the driveway towards the victim’s car, as the front door of the house opened and what Dan assumed was the victim’s wife run towards their car. She fumbled in her pocket found her own key for the car, opened the door and leant in towards her husband. There was a violent commotion within the car and the woman retreated with the skin ripped from her face, screaming, then tripped backwards over the low wall and fell into the garden.
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