Z1N1: The Zombie Pandemic: 2012 Was Just the Beginning

by Mitchell Layne Cook

  Colonel Chavez spent much of his time wondering how many of the townsfolk had escaped from this hellhole. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that the dead could rise again. But that’s exactly what he had witnessed. People were feasting on and attacking each other. It made no sense, but he had witnessed it firsthand on a small scale. What if the infection spread to the bigger city of San Juan de Pasto? What if it made it all the way to the capital city?

  Both had witnessed the infected Colombians attacking their neighbors. They saw the victims, in turn, transform into the mindless, rage-filled creatures after a period of a few hours. This info had to be relayed to the IPPC and the world governments. Dr. Finch knew that if other nations fell victim to this same process, the world would be plunged into catastrophe. Her information would be vital to stemming the tide of the apparent new pandemic.

  Diego carefully maneuvered his jeep over the rough, unpaved road as he approached the western edge of the small village. He didn’t even know this small town existed. He had been born in Bogotá but was actually raised in San Juan de Pasto. All the years that he had lived in the large city, he never once had made it to this small satellite village. Did this place even have a name?

  “Where are we?” Sergio asked in Spanish.

  “No idea,” Carlos mumbled. “I bet we are lost.”

  “That’s a shame that Diego can get lost even with a GPS right under his nose!”

  “Would you two shut up?”

  Diego and the two other men had been friends for about ten years. None of them were ever able to hold down steady jobs as they grew up. Fortunately for them, they were good with guns and explosives and found their way into a mercenary group that functioned as a security team for one of the many local drug cartels. Their stint in the drug business ended abruptly about eight years ago when a joint raid team consisting of the Colombian military, US ATF and DEA agents raided their main base of operations. Most of the cartel was wiped out but these three surrendered. To reduce their time in the Colombian prison system, they accepted an offer to work with the military to expose other drug cartels.

  “What are we looking for, Diego,” Sergio inquired. “You’ve kept us in the dark the whole ride here.”

  Diego pointed towards the small unnamed town. “Over there, our US financers want us to investigate that village.” He parked the jeep about one hundred yards from the town and the three soldiers exited the vehicle.

  “That’s just some old farming village,” Carlos matter-of-factly pointed out. “Why did we bring all of this gear? Are they going to attack us with shovels?” Both Sergio and Carlos laughed heartily at the comment.

  “Yeah…this doesn’t make sense,” Sergio said, rubbing his bald head as if deep in thought. “And on top of this you have one of the dragons on standby? You are not telling us something…and I still don’t know why you call them ‘dragons’ – I just don’t understand.”

  “All I know,” Diego began as he holstered his sidearm, “is that our US boss said there could be rioting or some breach of quarantine that could require cleansing.”

  “Cleansing, eh? I love the smell of napalm in…”

  “Shut up, Carlos,” Diego barked. “Let’s move out.”

  Sergio nudged Carlos in the side as they followed Diego to the edge of the town. “That’s a good movie,” he said just loud enough for Carlos to hear.

  The three soldiers made their way to the north end of the tiny farming village. There were no lights coming from any of the buildings; a thick darkness enveloped the town. The three men kept low to the ground darting from building to building until they reached a small Catholic church. All three men crouched down with their backs against the adobe wall. Sergio opened up his backpack and handed Carlos and Diego night vision goggles.

  “Here take these,” Sergio instructed.

  All three men pulled back the elastic straps and fitted the small infrared goggles to their faces. The town square lit up in an eerie green glow. Each man slowly surveyed one portion of the town, like they had done many times before in other situations. They were cocky but actually quite good at their jobs. As the three men surveyed different sections of the town square, movement from outside a small store caught their attention.

  A teenage girl cowered next to the side of the small building. The men could see her quickly looking over each shoulder. She was breathing heavily. The young girl placed her hands on the wall…she couldn’t see anything. She began feeling her way across the wall until she reached the very edge. As she rounded the edge she tripped over a small display of gardening tools. The loud metal items clanged against each other as they fell to the ground. The girl lay still as if paralyzed.

  Sergio stood up and began to move in her direction to help the young girl. He had only taken two steps when Diego grabbed his backpack pulling him back to the church wall.

  “What the hell, Diego?”

  Diego put his index finger to his lips and then pointed towards an alley next to where the girl had fallen. Three lumbering men meandered out of the alleyway. Their heads were crooked at impossible angles as they reached out a total four arms amongst them as they moved in the direction of the prostrate girl.

  “What the hell?” Carlos whispered. “Two of those men are missing arms…”

  “We have to help that girl,” Sergio insisted.

  “Stop.” Diego said firmly. “Look around.”

  Sergio and Carlos surveyed the town square once again. Packs of disfigured and contorted townsfolk began coming out of every corner of the small village. Within moments, there were at least thirty former villagers homing in on the girl’s location. Each gruesome disfigurement of the townsfolk was enhanced in the eyes of the men wearing the night vision goggles.

  “Those people look like shit,” Carlos said. “What’s that smell?”

  “I don’t get it,” Sergio mused, “those injuries should have been fatal. Some of those people are missing parts of their necks and heads…not to mention missing legs and arms.”

  “What the fuck, Diego?” Carlos asked as he grabbed Diego by the shoulders.

  Before Diego could answer, Sergio un-holstered both of his .45 caliber handguns and began spraying bullets into the villagers. The lack of depth perception of the night vision goggles caused him to miss many of his shots, but a sufficient number of the rounds found their intended targets. Bodies began to drop to the ground. The mass of sick villagers turned their attention from the young girl in the direction of the church.

  “Idiot!” Diego yelled as he pulled the shotgun from his back. The leader of the group ran towards Sergio’s new position behind the town’s decorative fountain. Carlos hurried close behind with his sub-machine gun at the ready.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Diego yelled, berating his long-time friend. “I didn’t give the order to attack. We don’t have any clue as to what’s going on here, you stupid son of a bitch!”

  Carlos looked over the base of the fountain. It was too late for the girl. In the small amount of time that had passed as the three men had tried to assess the situation, two groups of villagers had grabbed the girl, fighting for control of her body. A bloodcurdling scream erupted from her that echoed off of the walls. The creatures proceeded to grope her, battling for control of her body. The end result was that they had ripped her almost in half…each side seemingly pleased with their portion.

  “She’s dead, guys!” Carlos yelled. “And we are in deep shit. You two need to focus.”

  Diego and Sergio looked around. The entire courtyard was now filled with deformed villagers. More than two hundred infected had swarmed the tiny area drawn to the gun fire and screaming. The men were surrounded by a sea of reanimated corpses. The first wave began to close the distance to the fountain. The men instinctively opened fire but for each villager that they downed, two more seemed to take their place.

  “Now!” Diego screamed into his shoulder-mounted walkie-talkie. He reached into his hip pa
ck and pulled out a small flare and tossed it behind the mass of villagers about fifty yards from their current position; the fluorescent green glow illuminated the entire courtyard.

  On cue, the medium-sized helicopter ascended from behind the small hillside and launched a barrage of gunfire and small explosive ordinance into the town square very close to where Diego’s flare had landed. The concussive blasts of the explosions knocked the men to the ground. Soon fire engulfed a small portion of the rickety townsfolk that had clumped up around the dead girl’s half-consumed body.

  Sergio looked up into the sky from his back. A wry smile crept across his face as he watched the helicopter breathe fire on the earth below, like a dragon defending its lair. Now, he was quite clear as the why the machine had been given its nickname.

  “We’ve got to move, the napalm is coming in,” Diego yelled. All three men sprinted out of the village, past the church and behind their jeep. A loud whistling noise filled the air above their heads…the dragon rained down hot sticky liquid death on the diseased townsfolk below.

  After an extensive barrage of napalm, the pilot radioed down to Diego. “You need any help?”

  “Yes,” Diego replied. “Drop down and pick us up.”

  The helicopter pilot made one more full circle around the village dispensing the rest of his fiery liquid around the town walls, hopefully securing the area momentarily. As he made his final turn he lowered the aircraft down to about three feet from the ground next to the group’s jeep. All three men jumped aboard.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Carlos yelled as he strapped himself into the cargo bay.

  “Not yet. We have one more thing to do.” Diego instructed the pilot to move east towards the small hilltop. He hoped that the people Donovan instructed him to intercept were still there. Maybe they would have the info on what the hell had happened in this town.

  WHUP!! WHUP!! WHUP!!

  Dr. Finch stood and rushed up the stairs. “Come up here, Colonel. Hurry!”

  “What?”

  “Do you hear that?”

  Colonel Chavez listened but could hear nothing. “What are you talking about? I don’t hear anything.”

  WHUP!! WHUP!! WHUP!!

  “That! Do you hear that noise? It sounds like a helicopter! My team must have contacted your government.”

  “I definitely hear something,” Colonel Chavez said as he strained to listen into the night sky.

  A high-pitched squealing noise echoed from the center of the village towards the area where they were hiding. Colonel Chavez looked towards the town and shook his head; he knew all-too-well what that sound was. “That is not a rescue helicopter, it’s an attack helicopter! They must be cleansing the area to keep the sickness from spreading from this village into San Juan de Pasto.”

  According to statistics that Colonel Chavez had provided to her, San Juan de Pasto’s population was around four-hundred thousand inhabitants. The tiny village that they were currently trapped in only had about four hundred people. Dr. Finch feared the worst should any of the infected make it from the village to the heavily populated city due west. The carnage that would happen if the sickness spread would be tantamount to a biblical disaster.

  Loud sonic booms filled the air and bright plumes of red and orange fire could be seen coming from the town. The helicopter was outlined against the black night sky by the bright fires erupting from the village below. Dr. Finch hoped that anyone still not affected by the sickness had escaped from the small village…but she had her doubts. Anyone that was going to make it out had already done so. Maybe some people had made it into the big city to warn others? Maybe more help was on the way?

  The smell of napalm, smoke and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh began to inundate the small building where the group hid out. Dr. Finch tore off part of her blouse and doused it with water. She ran downstairs and covered Alejandro’s nose and mouth. She tore another piece off and did the same for herself. The smell almost made her vomit. She helped Alejandro to his feet and they both moved up the stairs.

  Eight to ten minutes of constant explosions finally came to a stop. The trio left the confines of the small adobe structure and moved closer to the edge of town. Colonel Chavez had picked up the boy so that they could move faster. If they were going to be rescued, they needed to get to within eyesight of the helicopter. As they moved closer to the town, they saw the helicopter maneuver towards the ground and hover momentarily then lift back into the air and move in their direction.

  The helicopter landed about fifty yards from them. Both Colonel Chavez and Dr. Finch shielded their eyes as the blades kicked up massive amounts of dirt and debris. When they were finally able to see again, a man was standing about ten yards from them. The trio began moving towards the person and the lightly armed soldier pulled out his small caliber handgun and pointed it at them.

  “Halt! Identify yourselves,” the man commanded.

  “I’m Colonel Chavez and this is my friend Dr. Christina Finch. The boy is Alejandro. We are glad to see you. Apparently our call to the IPPC finally got your attention. You can put your weapon down…we are not infected.”

  Another man exited the helicopter and hurried to the side of the original soldier standing in front of them. Dr. Finch heard the new arrival refer to the first man as Diego. From what else she could tell, the second man named Carlos, seemed quite anxious to leave the area. Dr. Finch knew why. They had witnessed firsthand the effects of the sickness.

  “You know he’s right,” Colonel Chavez yelled. “We really should get out of here. All of us. You have plenty of capacity to take us with you.”

  Carlos turned his attention towards the trio. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “The vaccine,” Dr. Finch started, “has somehow mutated within certain people. I’m not sure how or why…but it leads to their death. But they come back. I know it sounds crazy, but you’ve seen it. Those folks down there were alive a week ago.”

  Diego silently assessed the situation. He pulled out his cell phone trying multiple times to reach Donovan Bryant. Carlos listened to the explanations of the doctor and the colonel regarding what they saw over the last week. Finally, Diego made contact.

  “Yes, sir – we’ve found them. More importantly we found something terrible here. The doctor believes that the vaccine has mutated causing people to die and then come back to life in some unrestrained and violent reanimated state.”

  “I don’t believe in the boogeyman, Diego,” Donovan replied. “Think about this logically. Can someone that dies actually come back to rejoin the living? Bring the doctor and her friends in and we’ll discuss what…”

  Diego listened as Donovan barked orders from thousands of miles away, safely removed from this unimaginable nightmare. The soldier hurriedly turned around when he heard the disjointed rustling of heavy feet behind him. “You scared the crap out of me, Sergio!” Sergio didn’t answer. As the large, bald man approached, Diego saw his longtime friend struggling to walk.

  “No!” Diego screamed as he dropped the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Donovan yelled on the other end of the phone, but Diego was unable to answer his boss.

  “They…got…me,” Sergio uttered as he dropped to his knees, blood spewing from his neck. “But I got two of them first.” Sergio held up his machete in one hand and the severed head of an infected villager in the other. Diego tried to hold the large man up, but he was too heavy and both men slumped to the ground.

  Carlos turned away from the doctor and ran towards Sergio, dropping to his knees next to his fallen comrade. “What the hell?” the confused man yelled over the sound of the helicopter’s clamorous blades. He saw his friend lying in a pool of his own blood, illuminated by the under carriage lights of the helicopter.

  “Run!” Dr. Finch yelled, pointing in the direction of the helicopter. The bright lights of the helicopter illuminated a field of infected. There were too many to count. All of them shook and gyrated as they moved to
wards the group. Colonel Chavez grabbed Alejandro hoisting him over his shoulder and he grabbed Dr. Finch by the hand; his only thought was to escape to the safety of the adobe structure, but as they turned, they found themselves surrounded by the rest of the undead villagers.

  Gun fire rang out behind them as Diego and Carlos engaged the undead. Their heroics were too little, too late – the soldiers were quickly overrun. The trio stopped mid-stride with nowhere to run. Colonel Chavez squeezed Alejandro and held firmly onto Dr. Finch’s shaking hand. The undead descended upon them like a plague of locusts.

  “Diego! Diego! Answer me now!” Donovan yelled.

  A group of infected villagers unable to feast of the fallen humans began to form a small circle around the cell phone. Their heads swiveled slowly from side-to-side looking for their next meal. An unnatural instinct within them directed them to the sounds of human voices. One zombie finally located the source of the voice and picked up the device.

  “Hello?” Donovan said. All the man on the other end of the phone could hear was grunting and heavy breathing. “Diego?”

  The zombie shook the phone violently, apparently realizing that there was no meal here and angrily bit the phone in half.

  Chapter 13

  March 26, 2013: Tuesday, 3:34 PM – Rochester, New York – Greater Rochester International Airport …

  Julie and Craig waited outside the airport entrance in her rented SUV. They were supposed to be there over an hour ago to pick up Alexander and Amanda, but a few assignments at work were running behind and they had to stay until the tests were finished. They had been waiting over fifteen minutes in the unloading zone, but still no sign of their significant others.

  “Do you see them?” Craig asked as he looked around for Amanda.

  “No. Maybe we should get out and go find them?”

  “There! I see them!” Craig jumped out of the parked vehicle running full speed to intercept his wife. He grabbed her in a forceful hug and kissed her repeatedly on the mouth and neck. She dropped her luggage and lovingly embraced him as well. He knew that he had missed his beautiful wife but hadn’t fully realized how much. The smell of her sweet perfume and the feel of her body pressed against his made him reconsider the current work assignment. No amount of money seemed worth it to him to be away from this gorgeous woman.