by C. M. Fick
Dr. Alvarez sat, slumped on a loveseat in what appeared to be a small break room. He looked exhausted and stressed, with dark bags under his eyes and what little hair he had, in a disheveled mess atop his head. His once-pristine lab coat was now wrinkled and spattered with sickly green spots.
"We'll start with the outbreak at the hospital," Dr. Nguyen spoke from her place behind the camera. "Tell me what you know doctor."
Dr. Alvarez pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes tight before sighing. "What we know is that a woman was brought in by her sister with a bite on her leg. While her identity has not been confirmed, we believe that she was the girlfriend of an orderly employed by Synergy; the one who received a bite from Clifford Holbrook while trying to restrain him. Cliff is currently alive and in the secondary biohazard quarantine unit below us. While he is exhibiting some of the symptoms, the rate at which they are manifesting is far slower than any of those bitten. We are unsure if this is because he was infected with the undiluted drug or just that his immune system is responding better than most have to the virus."
"The hospital, doctor?" Dr. Nguyen pressed gently.
With a shake of his head Dr. Alvarez continued, "Right, right. We are unsure why the woman, brought into the hospital, went into cardiac arrest - it could have been any number of reasons - but what we do know is that she could not be resuscitated. After the doctor declared time of death and left the nurse to take care of the machines, the woman would have reanimated and killed the nurse who was in the room with her. We do not know the exact timeline of the events at the hospital but within an hour of her recorded time of death, the hospital was overrun with the undead.
"I use the term undead only because this is what they appear to be. I have reviewed what little footage we were able to obtain from the hospital and some of the wounds we noted on those infected would have been fatal." Dr. Alvarez scratched at the stubble now shadowing his chin. "Fatal wounds and yet they were still walking, or rather stumbling around, biting and infecting those who were still alive. Again, I digress," the doctor smiled tiredly into the camera. "The objective after we lost the hospital was to simply contain the walking corpses within the facility."
Dr. Alvarez sighed again, shaking his head slowly; he looked as if he'd aged ten years in a matter of hours. "Then Hugo received a phone call from his wife, who'd become trapped in a small conference room on the first floor with another woman. She said the woman she was with had sustained a nasty bite but that she'd been able to staunch the flow of blood. Hugo arranged for two transport vehicles to go bring his wife back to the lab from the hospital. Three brave police officers went in to get Mrs. Farner, escorting her and her companion to safety. I do not know when or how Mrs. Farner received the bite, but it was only a small one on the knuckle of her index finger. It broke the skin, however, effectively sentencing her to death and reanimation.
"When her transport arrived back at the building, we were already waiting in the lobby with a gurney for the wounded woman. Her transport never made it back to the office; we were told by the driver of Mrs. Farner's transport that it swerved and crashed ten minutes before reaching us. Again, we are only assuming, but I believe that the woman died and attacked her driver before we could get her into containment. When I noticed the blood on Mrs. Farner's finger, I asked her how it had happened. She explained that someone tried to bite her and caught her finger in their teeth - that is when I decided she was possibly infected. You see, all the other victims we knew of, had bites which broke the skin and all eventually died before getting back up and biting others. I asked that she immediately be restrained and taken to my quarantine lab where I could run tests in a safe environment, despite Hugo's protests."
"But now she's experiencing advanced symptoms," Dr. Nguyen said and Dr. Alvarez nodded.
"Within three hours of her arrival her fever spiked, and from there the symptoms progressed like a textbook case of viral meningitis. The only difference is that her body cannot fight it, as it's progressing too quickly. Fifteen hours later, and she's in the final stages."
"How much longer do you think she has?" Dr. Nguyen asked.
"At this rate," Dr. Alvarez ran his hand over his eyes, "I would guess, three maybe four hours. Whatever the disease is doing to her body could take up to twenty four hours given the final stage should be a coma, but I doubt her body will sustain a coma state for long. I've never been in this position before where I don't know how to fix it." He looked past the camera to Dr. Nguyen; exhaustion, frustration and grief etched into the lines of his face. "I'd like to rest for an hour; we can continue with the summary once I've had a short nap."
"Certainly doctor." The camera angle dropped to the floor. "I'll wake you if her condition changes." Dr. Nguyen stood, still holding the camera pointed down and walked to the door, dimmed the lights, and swung the door closed behind her. She sighed, leaning against the closed door before turning the camera on herself.
Allegra was finally able put a face to the voice behind the camera. Dr. Nguyen was of Asian descent; her dark hair cut in a sensible bob with a heavy fringe of bangs. Her hooded, almond shaped eyes had dark smears beneath them but the woman couldn't have been much older than thirty.
Dr. Nguyen pushed her bangs from her eyes with the back of her free hand. "I never thought I'd see the day when the dead rose up and killed the living. Hugo locked down the building just after ten this morning. Only half of our employees came into work today and now they are trapped here with us. They are unable to leave - unable to return to their loved ones.
"An hour ago I went up to the lobby to take some time for myself and there was a group of people at the security desk shouting. The guard was doing his best to calm them but all they wanted was to get out. Of course he couldn't accommodate them, igniting their fear and irritation over the situation further. One of them noticed someone stumbling through the parking lot and cried out, diverting the group's attention from the guard and out the large windows. It was a man in a business suit. He staggered closer, everyone falling silent when they saw the blood dripping from his chin and the tear in his neck. Upon reaching the window, the man didn't stop. He walked straight into it and stumbled backwards, before regaining his balance and coming towards the window again. He clawed at the smooth surface with his face pressed against the glass. His bloody mouth worked up and down, as if he could chew his way through the glass, and his tongue smeared the blood transferred from his face across the surface."
Dr. Nguyen put a hand over her mouth, swallowing hard. "It wasn't like anything I've ever seen before. His eyes were cloudy and some of his nails were missing; while we watched, he actually bit off a portion of his tongue and didn't seem to notice. One man, who'd been standing at the desk, walked towards the window. I can only guess that the macabre sight piqued his curiosity. The reanimated man puffed up and let out a moan that the glass walls only muffled. It gave me chills." Dr. Nguyen shuddered at the memory.
"Soon more appeared in the parking lot and the group, now terrified, quickly retreated back upstairs to their offices; I returned to my lab. I don't think I'll go back upstairs for a while." The doctor glanced around the room before speaking in a low voice, so only the camera would pick up her words. "I don't know how we'll get out of the building once Dr. Alvarez realizes there's nothing we can do. I'm afraid they're going to keep coming and block the exits. I don't know what's worse, being stuck in here with the possibility of starving once the food runs out or taking my chances on the outside." The camera dropped to Dr. Nguyen's side and shook, along with her body, in silent sobs. After a moment, the camera clicked off.
Allegra pressed pause on the video, which was three quarters of the way completed. She needed a drink. Pushing back her chair, she got unsteadily to her feet and half stumbled to her fridge. She pulled out a bottle of tequila and a shot glass from the cupboard. With shaking hands, she poured the tequila, filling the shot glass until the gold liquid spilled over the rim. Allegra slammed back
the shot, cringing as the fire burned down her throat and erupted in her belly. She took another shot before digging through her junk drawer and pulling out a stale pack of smokes she kept for emergencies; this classified as an emergency.
The smoke shook in her fingers as she placed the filter between her lips. She fumbled with the lighter, cursing when it didn't light on the first few flicks. Allegra shook the lighter and tried again, ready to throw it across the room if the flame didn't appear. Thankfully it did and Allegra inhaled deeply, feeling her nerves loosen ever so slightly. She poured herself another shot and leaned back against the counter, the smoke in one hand, the shot glass in the other.
"This can't be real," she spoke to the empty kitchen. A manic laugh escaped her lips as she spoke again, "the dead don't walk. This has to be a hoax." But why someone would plan such an elaborate hoax was beyond her. Hugo's brain matter splattering on the window replayed in her mind and she knew that whatever was going on in San Antonio was real. She slammed back the shot she held and ashed the cigarette in the sink before digging out an ashtray from a bottom cupboard. Allegra grabbed the bottle and the pack of smokes on her way back to her desk. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to finish what she'd started.
When the video resumed Mrs. Farner was laying, strapped to a bed in the white room; she was still and pale. There was a network of wires taped to different areas on her head and a needle was stuck in the back of her hand. It connected to a clear bag hanging from the pole beside her. The blips on the machines surrounding her, tracking her vitals, slowed and within moments flat lined.
"Nooo!" Hugo wailed and a scuffle could be heard in the background. "Let me go," he shouted. The camera stayed trained on the body of the late Mrs. Farner.
"Mr. Farner," Dr. Alvarez's voice boomed with authority. "These nice gentlemen are keeping you from being eaten by your wife when she reanimates."
"We need to go see Cliff. He can tell us what to do to stop this." Hugo sounded frantic but seemed to have stopped struggling. "He's not far and I'm... I'm sure he'd be happy to help us figure out how to get her back. You just need to restart her heart and keep her alive a little longer while I go talk to Cliff. At least try to revive her; don't just leave her like that."
There was a long pause and when Dr. Alvarez spoke again, he sounded weary. "Cliff has been in quarantine for close to four days with the best virologists Synergy could find. They've been diligently working around the clock, trying to find the key to a vaccine. From their reports, they've had no success in locating a single antibody in Cliff's endless blood work. Even if they had, it wouldn't work on someone already infected. Regardless, from the progress reports I've received, Cliff is in no condition to answer questions at this time."
The camera, which hadn't been turned away from Mrs. Farner, shook slightly when the fingers of the corpse twitched. "Um, Dr. Alvarez..." Dr. Nguyen spoke in a shaky voice, "I think she's reanimating."
"Come Dr. Nguyen, we should review the EEG results before the next stage progresses much further."
The camera swung to a large bay of computers, where Dr. Alvarez sat clicking on a keyboard; the screen before him was filled with a series of wavy horizontal lines. "These are the results we received two hours ago. What do you see Dr. Nguyen?"
"Normal brain activity; this is when she was still responsive but unconscious," Dr. Nguyen responded easily.
The results scrolled quickly across the screen until a point where the peaks and valleys of the lines changed, becoming less prominent. "And here?" Dr. Alvarez asked.
"This is when she fell into a coma and became unresponsive." The change in the horizontal lines was obvious even for someone untrained.
"Now we'll forward to time of death." The screen scrolled quickly until a sudden change in the results appeared. The steady horizontal lines with minor peaks and valleys became drastic vertical lines for a span of several inches on the screen before straightening out into a solid horizontal line.
"The last spikes before brain death," Dr. Nguyen explained without being prompted. "But here," she pointed to the far right of the screen where only a few of the lines resumed minor activity, "what's this?"
Dr. Alvarez moved forward. "Very interesting," he mused. "It appears that some brain activity has restarted."
"Does that mean she didn't really die?" Hugo asked from behind the doctors.
"No you idiot," Dr. Alvarez snapped. "Her vitals have dropped off all together and didn't restart when the minor brain activity resumed. She's dead," he said irritably. "This is showing us what parts of the brain are reactivated by the virus."
"It appears that the hypothalamus is responding highly in certain areas, while the primary motor cortex and parietal lobe are functioning in a limited capacity. The cerebellum has almost no activity at all." Dr. Nguyen seemed to be puzzled.
Dr. Alvarez hummed as if it made perfect sense to him. "Hypothalamus drives hunger and primary motor cortex and parietal lobe allows the virus to control the body. As these creatures seem quite uncoordinated, I'm not surprised to see little activity in the cerebellum; perhaps it is too complex for the virus to control so many systems at once. There's also faint activity in other parts of the brain but a majority of the brain remains dead. The amygdala, hippocampus, temporal lobe and a majority of the frontal lobe show no activity at all."
"Enough of the doctor speak," Hugo snapped. "Look, she's sitting up - how can she be dead?"
The camera spun back to the window where, sure enough, Mrs. Farner was sitting up, face turned towards the window. "Incredible." Dr. Alvarez got up from the computer and shuffled over to the window; Dr. Nguyen followed slowly.
When the doctors moved to the glass the corpse of Mrs. Farner struggled to raise her arms but couldn't because of the bands of fabric around her wrists. She pulled her feet over the side of the bed and awkwardly stood, straining against the straps holding her back.
"We need to secure her properly." Dr. Alvarez suddenly seemed concerned. "Stu, can you please go in and gag her before strapping her to the bed? We cannot allow her to free herself from the restraints." The doctor turned to the orderly standing beside him.
"M-m-me?"
The camera didn't move from Mrs. Farner and the woman's hauntingly milky eyes, but Allegra imagined how scared the man must have looked.
"Yes you," The doctor snapped, handing something to the man. "We need to run a series of tests and she must be gagged for it to be safe for us to enter the room. How stupid I was not to think of it sooner," he shrugged, "but there's nothing to be done for it now except go in and ensure she cannot bite anyone going forward." There was a moment's hesitation from Stu and Dr. Alvarez spoke calmly to the man. "She cannot grab you. All you will need to do is go in, and when she opens her mouth to try and bite, just slip this in her mouth and tie it behind her head."
"You can't do that!" Hugo sounded like he was crying when he spoke. "That's my wife."
"Your wife is gone Mr. Farner," Dr. Nguyen said softly. "That is only her corpse." There was a thump on the floor and everyone turned; Hugo had passed out.
A door opened and the camera turned back to the room as the orderly crept towards the corpse, who was now leaning forward, thrashing against her bonds and clacking her teeth together. A loud pop echoed in the room and the corpse jerked forward, halting Stu in his tracks. He looked warily through the glass, his eyes pleading for Dr. Alvarez to call him back.
"She just dislocated her shoulder," Dr. Alvarez spoke through the intercom. "Go on Stu; the faster you get the gag in her mouth the sooner you can come back out."
Stu's jaw clenched, but he turned back to the corpse who was leaning awkwardly away from the bed as she gnashed her teeth at him. He'd only taken three more steps and was reaching forward with the gag between his hands, when the sound of shattering bones filled the room. Suddenly the corpses left arm was free. . Her mangled hand appeared to have several broken the bones, allowing it to slip free from the bonds. Even with a dislocated shoul
der and a broken hand, the forward momentum and additional freedom allowed Mrs. Farner to swing her body into Stu's. The shock and surprise, along with her dead weight, toppled the man to the floor. Mrs. Farner flopped on top of him, searching for purchase with her teeth.
Both doctors gasped and the other orderlies rushed forward. "Don't," Dr. Nguyen ordered and they came to a faltering halt. Stu screamed when the corpse bit into the flesh of his left side. "It's too late for him now," she said resignedly.
Stu thrashed, trying to push the dead woman off of him but only succeeded in pushing her further down his body. She bit down again, this time on his inner thigh and dark blood gushed from his leg.
"The femoral artery," Dr. Alvarez said with a sigh. "We won't be able to study Stu's change now and soon we won't even be able to get into the room. We can monitor how long between attack and reanimation at least."
"Are you serious?" one of the orderlies shouted just before Dr. Alvarez's small frame was lifted into the air and slammed against the glass. "You were the one who sent Stu in there, you cold-hearted bastard."
Pulled from the hand holding it, the camera was set none too gently down on the table. A white lab coat fluttered into view and Dr. Nguyen shouted, "Put him down Jacob. Let him go." There was a grunt and Dr. Nguyen fell to the floor, leaving only Dr. Alvarez's thrashing legs in the view; gasps could be heard from the floor where she lay.
"Shut that thing off," Jacob snapped, and after a few brisk steps heard coming towards the camera, the screen went dark.
Sab...
Allegra's head was light and a calming warmth spread out from her belly; the tequila bottle sat empty beside her and she needed more smokes. She'd just watched the scoop of the century if it was true, but she couldn't bring herself to believe what she'd witnessed. The dead didn't walk - couldn't walk - and yet somewhere deep inside, she couldn't fully disbelieve either. What was this drug the doctor mentioned, "Obsepire," she said after referencing her notes. There were too many questions to be asked but no one to ask them to, especially if Hugo and Sabrina were dead. Is Sabrina really dead?