by Daniel White
CHAPTER 1
Present day
Running.
Eric knew he was good at running. Athletic ability came naturally to him, so running was as simple as walking. And he was fast. He couldn’t even remember a time when he was slower than someone else. Endurance was something else that was easy for him. His father had said numerous times that he could be an endurance runner in the Olympic Games. That was so laughable now that Eric actually felt a smile creep across his face. Olympics were normal.
Nothing was normal anymore.
These were normal city blocks he was sprinting passed. The buildings were some of the same buildings he had seen or been in as recently as a week ago. Occasionally, he saw a poor soul that had fallen down. There were a few that must have been either crazy or confused because they were running, or walking in the wrong direction. Nothing but death awaited them, or anything else in that direction. That’s why he kept running. At least it wasn’t raining. That was the only good news about the weather. The muggy, hot air made running for minutes at a time even more difficult. It was so dark that he wasn’t sure what time of day it was. The overcast, dreary sky seemed somehow justified with recent events. It was almost like the sun had decided to just leave until everything was better. Who could blame it really?
Finally he found himself running through a small alley that had several outlets. It was important not to get yourself cornered, so that would work perfectly. Eric ran to a wall where he could clearly and quickly get away. At last he had a breather. His lungs sucked in oxygen like they were working for the very first time. He even took the time to touch his toes and stretch for a second. But it was only a second until he heard them again. Guttural screams of their victims reached his ears and instantly he felt rejuvenated. Strength poured into his limbs and he tore off in the opposite direction of the screaming. He only took a few quick strides before that escape was cut off completely by a small horde of them. Eric turned on a dime, and began running the other way, but they were there too.
Damn-it! They were at every escape point. His only choice was between the two smaller alleyways that led out towards the old docking area of old town. There was a few more in one than the other. Eric shrugged and took off running straight at them. He counted five that filled that escape vector. One was in front, and the other four were stacked two by two behind him. Just before he reached them, the first one burst towards him with superhuman speed. All Eric could do was reacting. The sickening excuse for a human being grabbed at him with powerful hands. Eric snatched himself to one side and executed a quick roundhouse kick to his attacker’s head, causing his jaw to shift into an unnatural position. Eric heard one approaching fast from behind and extended a hard straight kick that seemed to nearly separate the attacker’s head from his shoulders, producing a gurgle of blood from his attacker’s lips. There was no rest for the weary as the other four were upon him. He took a quick step forward and leaped over their heads, somersaulting and twisting to land facing them. He finally had a use for his gymnastics training. He was about to try and take the rear two out of commission, when the rest of the grotesque horde crunched into the small alleyway. All the martial arts skill and discipline in the world wouldn’t save him from that many of them. He backpedalled quickly, and dragged a large crate that thankfully wasn’t very heavy into their path. As he had hoped, they began tripping over each other to try and get through. Eric smiled briefly and began running towards freedom.
But freedom wasn’t alone. There were two more shells of men that had circled around. A quick glance around and Eric had found a meter long steel rod that looked like it might be part of broken scaffolding. “Whenever possible, scan your surroundings for anything that can be used as a weapon,” his master said.
He bent to pick it up and ran straight at the final two he had to get through. The way out is through. Looking back he saw that if it took him too long to get through these two, they would all have him. Just before he reached them, he launched himself forward and dove over their heads. They spun and attacked with a ferocity that struck pure fear in all they came across. But different people reacted to fear in different ways. It made Eric focus doubly as hard. As they turned with superhuman strength and speed, Eric was already attacking. The sharp, rusted end of the rod impaled the one on the right, while the one on the left grabbed at his chest. He scratched Eric’s skin and ripped his shirt. Battling through the pain, he threw several consecutive kicks. One side kick used the walking corpse’s momentum against him and he was off balance. It wasn’t much, but it was just long enough for Eric. He reached and pulled the steel rod from the now prone victim. The rod clanged off the head of his attacker, sending him to the ground in a splash of gore. He wasn’t out but he was out enough. The rod came down as Eric plunged it through his chest. Eric saw blood everywhere, but hoped most of it wasn’t his. There wasn’t time to worry about it. The rest of the horde had broken through and were almost upon him. After grabbing his new steel friend from the chest of the attacker on the ground, he turned and ran.
His legs hadn’t failed him yet, so he hoped they would get him to freedom of some kind before they gave out completely. His chest hurt and there seemed to be a wound on his arm, but for the most part he was okay. “Will I become like them? If so, I need to find a gun,” he grimly thought to himself.
He would get tired and fatigued again, so he knew he had to put some distance between himself and these walking demons while he could. There was no point in looking because he knew they would be there. How could they all be so quick? And they weren’t just fast, but viciously quick. He knew if he kept running as fast as he could, then some opportunity for an escape would present itself. At least he kept telling himself that.
The moment you stop telling yourself that you can win is the moment you lose it all.
It was his Mother’s advice from her track running experience. The memory seemed like it was from decades ago instead of just a few years. It felt like an eternity since he had seen his family, when in reality it had just been days. It just happened to be the worst few days in human history as far as he knew.
There was no reason to lie about what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. Just yesterday he was at his office, waiting for a call from his boss. That was the last slice of normal he remembered. The rest of the day was a blur. The incident at the office building with the old crazy man, leaving there only to see his worst nightmare had come true; it was all too terrible to believe. As he kept running and running as fast as he could for his very life, he knew it was true enough.
Countless people were dead and even more had been infected. Eric didn’t know what exactly to call it but the old crazy man’s words from yesterday seemed to fit better than anything. The memory of that strange meeting of happenstance between him and some nameless fool had seemed so painful at the time. Now Eric would give anything for that hot muggy office. He’d listen to the man ramble on to himself for days if it meant this didn’t happen. As the men carried him away for what Eric thought at the time was disturbing the people around him, those old eyes looked at Eric with care and stern warning. The last thing he had said to Eric rang in his head again.
It’s happened! Don’t you see? They are here! Zombies… “Crazy fuck,” Eric thought.
What he was seeing didn’t look exactly like the zombies, from old movies but they were certainly brainless killing machines. After twisting and turning through the old docking area of town, he felt like he had finally lost them. One of the old buildings was clearly abandoned as were most of them, but this one was in better shape. Slowly and cautiously
Eric walked inside. The silence made the sound of his boots on the floor sound like thunderous hammers. It was an old warehouse, but smaller than most and smelled like turpentine. The only thing that wasn’t warehouse looking was the office area. It was rat infested and incredibly filthy but at least nothing and no one was trying to kill him.
At that moment a loud bark stole his breath. A big mutt ran through the office door and sat down in front of him. Eric cursed the dog and said, “Why do you keep following me around mutt?” The last half hour of his escape run he kept hearing barking from nearby. He shooed the dog away a time or two so he could make sure he wasn’t distracted from his escape. Now the old mutt sat as if wanting a treat from his master.
“I told you I don’t have anything! Just get out of here would you? Shoo! Get out! Go!” But the mutt just lingered and refused to move. After another attempt Eric finally gave up. What could it hurt to let the old boy stay? They would both starve to death soon enough anyway without food and he knew he should check around. Somehow he just couldn’t make himself care. The reason he was running in the first place came down to basic instinct. If he didn’t keep trying to survive, he would wind up either dead or worse. Worse being somehow ending up like them. He shuttered at the mere thought. He rose to find something edible and his mind jumped back over the past twenty-four hours.
Things were still normal then. But they didn’t stay that way for long.
CHAPTER 2
(26 Hours Earlier)
Once the official fellows in the suits dragged the crazy man away, things got really nuts. Suddenly people started standing and yelling at something. Eric casually turned with the calm of a tested confidence and saw what the commotion was about. There was a group of four or maybe five men limping their way towards the group seated in the waiting area. Clearly they weren’t okay but it was more than just normal sickness. It was impossible to know of course but something about it just felt wrong. He noticed their eyes had sickly red rings. Eric’s gut told him that things were about to get even more nuts in this place.
Just then a scream filled the large room. This time Eric too, stood and looked in time to see one of the individuals literally attacking a woman on the way back from the ladies room. The attack was so unexpected, and so quick and animalistic that even Eric couldn’t have moved to help in time, even if he wanted to. The first guy grabbed her in a bear hug and lifted her up. Less than a second later two others leaped onto the first attacker’s back and the entire bunch fell to the ground. Her screams just grew louder as clothing and bloody hair went flying. By the time the fourth pounced and began clawing and scratching at her, the screams were over. Blood began staining the floor around her body and Eric knew it was too late. The entire attack only took a matter of seconds. They seemed to get faster and more ferocious as the attack progressed. Not knowing exactly who these guys were or why they viciously attacked, Eric began to look around for others they might target.
But there would be no further attacks. As soon as the strange men rose off of their victim several armored troops poured from a rear doorway, each with automatic weapons drawn. Eric froze in his tracks. No threat was heard and no warning given. As soon as they could take aim, the troops opened fire. The four crazed attackers were in even worse shape than their poor victim within seconds, they were quickly cut down, riddled with lead. A glance at the woman showed she was indeed dead. Most of her clothing was ripped to shreds, they had pulled at least half of her hair out and the blood was still gushing from several sickening wounds. Whatever the problem was with these guys, one thing was clear. The way they pounced on that woman showed that they weren’t normal humans. Something was very wrong. “Ebola? Bioterrorism?” Eric wondered.
“That old fool said something about zombies!” said someone nearby. That was followed by several fearful gasps and another person who said, “Yes! He said they were here. What else could it be with how they attacked?” Eric didn’t know what to think. He didn’t want to give credence to a claim of something as ridiculous as zombies arriving on the scene suddenly, but what real explanation could their really be? Before anyone could speak on it any further the apparent leader of the troops ordered everyone to sit back down and continue to await their name being called. Everyone would be called in due time, he said.
To Eric’s disbelief, everyone mostly did what the leader said. That is mostly everyone. Eric certainly didn’t. He walked quickly to a break in the chairs and then over towards the troops. “Hey wait a minute!” he yelled at the leader, “You can’t just show up, shoot a load into a bunch of maniacs and then walk away. What the hell just happened here?” By that time he was standing within feet of the leader. He smiled through his protective visor, “Sir we understand your concerns but everything is under control.” Eric snorted and pointed at the bloody dead woman on the floor not twenty feet away, “Really? It’s under control, huh? Is that what you would say to me if they came for me? That everything was under control? Give me a fucking break man. Someone needs to start talking. What’s going on?” One of the other troopers began to speak but was cut off by the leader who then pointed his finger just passed Eric’s face, “Sit down, sir!” there was a brief pause then, “Now!”
That response won a sarcastic grin from Eric. “You do realize the fact that I am over here talking to you means I don’t take orders from you, right? Not only that,” Eric hated getting lied to and was heated about it, “If you don’t get your damn finger out of my face I will show you why I don’t take orders from anyone.” Eric smirked as one of the leaders’ own men couldn’t stop a burst of a laugh. The leader didn’t find it so funny, though he did remove his finger from Eric’s face. He sternly looked at Eric and said, “Sir, I don’t know your name but I do know that they are going to call it on that speaker over there soon. When they do you are to report to the desk that they tell you to report to. That is what you are to do right now, sir.” Eric evenly replied, “Wait a minute, I am here because I received some random piece of mail that said there was some important reason my presence was needed. It seemed sort of like getting called for jury duty, but without the jury or the duty.” By now others were paying attention to the conversation and both Eric and the leader knew it. “It seemed more than a little bit strange but what do we suspect from our government?” The leader scowled at the positive response from the growing gaggle of people, “Do you have a point in this, sir?”
“Oh, of course I do. Not only do I have one but it’s a good one. I voluntarily came down here in response to a piece of paper, right?”
“Yes sir,” the leader said tightly.
“And that bloody dead person over there did, too, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“You are ordering me to return to my seat even though my coming here was supposed to be voluntary. All of these people are listening to you because of their sense of duty and citizenship. So I am to return to my seat immediately, right? Because of my sense of citizenship?”
“That’s correct.”
“Okay, so one more question and I will be glad to do what you said.”
“Fine sir,” the leader said obviously growing more irritated.
Eric rubbed his chin as if in thought, “Do I get attacked by monstrous half-brains before or after they call my name? Because honestly, as boring as it is to wait here, I’d rather you just call some more pets from the back and get it over with.” This drew several yells of approval from the crowd, which now included over half of those who were still here. Eric turned to them feeling like he was leading a band of soldiers again. He saw hunger in their eyes that matched his. He began to realize that he could use their surge of anger to his advantage and get what he wanted.
“Anybody else want to end up like Jane Doe over there?” The crowd answered with a resounding, “No!” Eric took a step towards the door, “Captain Do-Right here will tell us that we can’t leave. There are four of them and over a hundred of us. I say we can leave if we damn well please! Are you with me?�
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The shout from the people overrode any response and they huddled out the door before anyone could make a move. Eric stood back as they exited and only worried once when a trooper drew aim with his weapon. The leader, for all his faults, had something inside at least. He raised his hand and motioned for his men to hold their fire. Eric nodded his approval at the emotionless man and started towards the door at the end of the crowd. He stopped just before leaving after everyone else had gone. The leader was still looking at him without expression.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I will tell you one thing for certain. I will not be the next victim in whatever this little game is. It was fun to use the people’s hate for you guys to get myself out of this hell hole.” He turned to leave then turned back with a grin, “My name by the way; Eric Bayne.” This time he was leaving for real when the leader spoke up, “Captain Sage Thorn. I’ll see you soon Mr. Bayne.”
**
The dreary day didn’t improve with the mass exodus of the office building. Eric felt pretty good about himself. It probably wasn’t his place to make a scene and show up someone just doing their job, but neither was it okay to watch some weird creature of a human attack and kill a woman, and just sit down. It still bothered him a little that Captain Sage replied as he left. Eric thought surely the man would just swallow his pride and accept his losses. The last part about seeing him soon made Eric wish he had given him a fake name or just left off the prideful grandstanding at the end.
No matter, though. Whatever happened would probably be out of the way in a few months. Eric might get some slap on the wrist for being disrespectful of the law or something. His mom wouldn’t like that part but both would be proud that he stood up for something. His dad always said that some people make a stand and some people get stood on. He would finish it with a stern warning: “Don’t get stood on son!” The thought brought a smile to Eric’s face, especially since he was currently going to see his folks. There were some traditions that still stuck around, thank goodness, and for the Bayne family it meant that one weekend a month they all got together and hung out. Eric would be a little late but that wouldn’t surprise anyone. Had he known it would take forever at this office building, not to mention what happened there, he would have gone straight to his parent’s house when he first woke up.