Mad World (Book 1): Epidemic

by Samaire Provost

  “What’s worse? The 14th century strain of the Black Plague seems to turn its victims into raving lunatics who attack anyone they can. That’s how it’s spread. Through bites, body fluids, any way it can get into your bloodstream, it will. And,” he continued, apparently the worst was not over yet, “This highly contagious strain of Plague escaped the lab at Stanford about three days ago. California is in the beginnings of a pandemic it probably cannot survive. Travel is hugely different nowadays. This thing will probably spread fast, and there’s not much they can do about it.” He fell silent and closed his eyes.

  Paula spoke up. “We must take great care to keep from being bitten or scratched, but we must also keep all infected fluids off of us. This is not like HIV. It’s much more contagious. This thing spreads easily and can survive in any moist environment; even getting a smear of fluid on a cut you got the day before can infect you.”

  “This plague killed off 100 million people in an era when most people lived their whole lives in the small villages where they were born, rarely venturing more than a few miles away. In this modern day and age, where a deadly illness is just a plane ride away from any continent on the planet, it could wipe out all human life on Earth.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Oh my god,” said Jacob. Everyone was silent for a while. My face felt numb. I looked at Jacob and his face was white in shock.

  “…I guess we’re finding out why those mass graves were so hastily dug. And so deeply buried,” I said. “I wonder if the authorities are close to getting a handle on this problem or if the whole West Coast is still just in flight mode.”

  “Does anyone know if these crazies – the people who have been infected – are organized?” Jacob asked. “They seem to act randomly most of the time.”

  “But they also team up against their victims. They don’t seem to be territorial,” DeAndre observed.

  “They’re almost acting like a pack of wild dogs,” Emily said.

  I remembered Mrs. Carmichael and the nurse down on the bottom floor. Why had the second zombie left the nurse’s body and lunged for us? Wasn’t the body enough to satiate the zombies down there? Why did it come for us? It was almost as if they were acting like hungry animals.

  “They’re not just looking for food,” I said. “That nurse on the first floor should have been enough for all the zombies down there. But that one tried to attack us in the elevator. It was aggressive.”

  Mike looked up sharply. “The elevator? Did it come up with you to this floor?” he asked.

  “No, we got away and I left a clipboard propping the door open so the elevator would stay up here in the fifth floor,” I said, still feeling numb. “What’s the situation on this floor?” I asked.

  “We’ve been here since about 6 a.m.,” Mike said. “There was an outbreak early this morning. When I got on duty, there was chaos on the first floor.”

  “My name is Dr. Paula Cordial. I’m an anesthesiologist. I got here at a little past 5 a.m. and there were patients being brought in from Fresno and Clovis. They were contagious and seemed near death. Then all of a sudden they turned into those things. Zombies did you call them? Black Plague victims.” said the doctor.

  “Zombies seem to be as accurate a description as we’ve got,” I answered. “They catch this disease, get really sick, get near death, and then turn into these creatures. They turn grey, then black, they have great strength, they don’t speak, they attack humans. Sounds very close to what the legends say zombies are like.”

  “They say all myths and legends have some basis in fact,” Jacob added quietly.

  “Do you think these zombies existed in the 14th century and then just died off? Or did they kill them all off,” asked Caitlyn.

  “They probably killed them off,” Jacob said. “There weren’t that many people around in the 14th century, and after the Black Plague killed off half the population of Europe, there wouldn’t have been many people left in the countryside. Just those who had weapons and were good fighters, to defend themselves,” Jacob said.

  “Or those who were immune,” I added quietly. I turned to the last woman in the room. She had been quiet the whole time. She seemed to be an older woman, and she was in some kind of uniform. “Hi, what’s your name?” I asked.

  “My name is Ellie. I work the receptionist desk in the Emergency Room,” she answered.

  Mike smiled. “Ellie is a very fast runner.”

  I nodded. “So you all have been here for the whole day? Were there zombies on this floor when you came in this room?”

  Dr. Cordial nodded, finishing her examination of Risa. “She’s going to be okay. She has a slight concussion and swelling on her head, but her skull doesn’t seem to be fractured. Her temperature is good, and she seems to be alert now. She’s a tough little girl.” She turned to face us. “We were chased down this hallway from the stairwell at the end of the corridor.”

  “At the end of the right side corridor?” Jacob asked.

  “Yes. Did you come that way?” Mike asked.

  “No, we came from the left, from down the corridor with the elevator,” I answered. “It was quiet in the hallway when we came up to your door.”

  “Do you have any water?” Emily asked.

  Paula nodded and reached into the drawer of the desk. She pulled out some water bottles and passed them around. “This is actually a colleague’s office.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “I wish I knew where everyone was. This hospital should be full of people. This hallway is never silent: there’s always voices and bustling up and down it at all hours.”

  “It is very quiet. Too quiet,” Mike said.

  We finished our waters and tried to relax for the next ten minutes or so. But I couldn’t. I was restless.

  “I can’t stay in here. I’ve got to make some progress. We need to get back to our van,” I said, grabbing my katana sword and standing up. Jacob and Caitlyn rose with me. Emily struggled to her feet, helping Holly with Risa. Paula nodded, and Mike and Ellie gathered their things as we prepared to start moving.

  Jacob opened the door quietly and peeked out. The corridor was deserted. The smell of smoke had grown stronger, but we could still see clearly. I looked down the right hand side, toward the stairwell where Paula said the zombies had chased them. I led the way down to the left, back toward the elevators.

  “Is there another stairwell on this floor?” I whispered.

  “Yes. Past the elevators at the other end of the floor,” Paula said.

  Back where the smoke was coming from, I noted. Well, we would try. I walked down to the intersection and turned left again toward the elevators and the trashed nurses’ station. Everyone followed me. I held my katana steadily, end pointed down, ready for anything. I got as far as the elevator and stopped, listening. Everyone came to a stop behind me, silent. I could hear an alarm sounding far away: it sounded like it was coming from several floors below us. Other than that, it was quiet. Too quiet for a hospital. I continued past the nurses’ station, and on to the end of the corridor. It ended in a “T”.

  “Which way?” I asked.

  “Left,” whispered Paula right at my back. I almost jumped. I looked back and she was almost on top of me.

  “Figured I’d stay next to the leader with the sword,” she said, smiling grimly. I nodded and gestured for the rest to follow. We were a tight group, slowly creeping forward, listening for anything. I turned left and walked another 50 yards or so, and everyone followed me. They were quiet and alert. When we reached the end of the corridor, our way was barred by a closed door. I turned to the others.

  “I’m going to check the stairwell. Be ready,” I said, looking into their eyes. I saw fear there, and fatigue, along with a grim resolve. I suspected they could see the same in my eyes. It was a bad feeling, being trapped in this building. I couldn’t wait until we were out of here and back in the van driving down the road. I was willing to bet the others felt the same. We were on the top floor, with nowhere to
go but down. . It felt desperate, being boxed in like this. I slowly opened the door a crack, looking and listening.

  Before I could figure out whether it was safe or not, we all heard a faint but distinct growling coming from behind us.

  Chapter Ten

  “Oh my God,” Caitlyn whispered. She and Risa were at the rear of the group, and faced whatever was coming first. A chill went down my spine. The growl was joined by a second growl and then a crash. It sounded like it had come from just beyond the last turn of the corridor. We all looked behind us and Jacob silently grabbed Risa’s left hand, while DeAndre grabbed her right.

  Suddenly, we heard running and stumbling. A man came around the corner, quickly followed by a woman. They were both in the advanced stages of the plague, and their faces were nearly black. They staggered ahead slowly, their faces lowered as they growled. Then they seemed to smell us, and looked up.

  The instant I saw them, I opened the stairwell door and began pushing the others through without a sound. I got three of them through before the two zombies noticed us. Then I shouted, “Come on!”

  In a split second there was utter chaos. Everyone piled into the stairwell as I held the door open, then Jacob took the door while I screamed and made as much sound as I could, trying to scare, or at least confuse the zombies. I flailed my arms and waved my katana, screaming like a wild girl. It did the trick. The two creatures seemed shocked, and just stood there for a few seconds, hesitating. That gave me enough time to get everyone through the door. Just as Jacob grabbed my arm to pull me through, the two zombies began to charge. The distance between us was about 40 yards, and they were fast. I barely had time to get myself through the door with my sword, and Jacob slammed it fast. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a lock – only a push-bar lever on the other side. As the door slammed shut, Jacob leaned his body against it hard. A second later, one of the zombies slammed into the lever on the other side, and the door bounced open a half-inch before Jacob braced himself against the concrete. The others had run down to the level below. I pushed myself against the door next to Jacob, and a second later DeAndre threw his weight against the door as well. The zombies growled and pounded on the door, but with the three of us holding it, the door didn’t budge. Still, we were stuck.

  The others slowly crept halfway back up to us and waited on the stairs, looking scared. The growls continued, and the zombies were pounding on the door insistently. Jacob, DeAndre and I grimly pushed back. The noise of them pounding on the door was very loud, and I was worried it might attract the attention of other zombies.

  “Caitlyn,” I said quietly. “Go down one floor and listen at the door. See if the coast is clear on that floor, okay?” I said. She nodded and left to go check, taking Holly with her. Emily held Risa’s hand. Risa looked scared and clutched Emily’s hand like a lifeline. Mike and Paula stood a few feet away with Ellie, looking scared, waiting to see what would happen. The three of us stayed where we were, our full weight bracing the door, for about 10 minutes. Caitlyn came back and said the corridor seemed clear but smoky. The fire was probably on the second floor. Not a good place for us to be. But this stairwell was a death trap if we were caught in here.

  This thought had no sooner filled my brain than I heard a new noise. It was a scrambling and growling, coming from the other side of the door. The two zombies seemed to be fighting each other. They had left the door alone for a minute and were loudly growling and screaming at each other. I looked at Jacob and nodded. With luck, they had forgotten us behind the door in their fight with each other. I looked up the stairwell.

  “Where does that go?” I asked Mike.

  “To the roof,” he said.

  I wanted to know all my options. I made a decision, nodded at Jacob and DeAndre, and then we quietly, but quickly ran down the stairwell. We made it down one landing, and as I passed the door, I pressed my hand against it. It was hot.

  “There’s fire behind that door,” I whispered.

  We made it to the bottom floor, and I listened against the door. I heard some quiet scratching noises. I didn’t know what they were, but I wanted out of that stairwell. I cracked the door open.

  As I put my eye to the one-inch crack and peered out. The sight that met my eyes was one of the most shocking I’d ever had. I let out and involuntary scream.

  In the hallway outside the door were five zombies, all feeding on a small child, and the child was still alive. She thrashed weakly on the floor as the zombies chewed on her arms and legs. They didn’t appear to have hit a major artery, so it looked like she was going to bleed to death slowly while they ate her. At the sound of my scream, they all looked up. Four of the zombies jumped for the door. They were about 5 feet away, and I instinctively jumped back as their black hands reached for the crack in the door.

  “Oh my God!” I cried and fell backward. Jacob grabbed for the door to pull it shut. But it was too late. The four zombies threw all their weight on the door at once and forced it open, stumbling into the stairwell. Caitlyn screamed. Jacob raised his shotgun and leveled it at the zombies, but they pushed it aside in the close quarters and reached their arms for Emily, who was between Jacob and me. Before any of us could react much, the first zombie had lowered its face to Emily’s head and bit down.

  Emily screamed in terror and, in the same moment, I raised my sword and brought it down on the zombie’s shoulders. The sharp katana sliced through half the creature’s neck and arm and made it stop and look up. DeAndre grabbed Emily and pulled her up the stairwell, following everyone else who was rushing upward in a blind panic.

  Jacob brought his shotgun up again and blasted it into the second zombie’s chest. He hit point blank, sending it back on its heels and halfway out the door where it fell on its back, blocking the door open. The zombie that had bitten Emily rose up again and came at me. I brought the sword down again, this time cleaving his head clean off. The head bounced down the stairs, and the body fell to the ground.

  The other two zombies then came through the door together, and Jacob fired the shotgun. The blast was deafening. The zombies were so close together in the confined space of the stairwell that the shot hit them both in the head, taking parts of their skulls with it. They dropped to the ground. The zombie Jacob had shot first was somehow getting to its feet, and the fifth zombie had left the now-motionless girl and was coming through behind it.

  “I need to reload!” cried Jacob.

  “Get behind me!” I said, and swung my katana sword again.

  I had almost swung too quickly, but the end of the sword cleaved through top two inches of the zombie’s head and held fast. The zombie slowly fell to its knees, taking my sword with it.

  The last zombie growled behind it and tried to climb over him to get at me. All of a sudden, DeAndre came up next to me and kicked the last zombie full in the chest. It fell backward into the hallway. I worked at my sword, trying to get it free. As the last zombie began to crawl back toward me, I finally put my foot on the body of the zombie my sword was stuck in and gave a great heave and my sword came loose. Just in time, I swung it up and back down, cleaving the head from the body on the last zombie. The head rolled back into the hallway and the body fell forward on top of his comrade.

  Breathing hard, I grasped my sword and look past them into the hallway. It seemed clear. I called over my shoulder, “Come on!”

  We all piled out of the stairwell, stepping over the bodies of the zombies and passed the body of the now-dead little girl they had been feasting on when we opened the door. Jacob had reloaded his shotgun again and held it at the ready. Paula and DeAndre carried Emily, who was unconscious. Caitlyn and Holly had Risa, and Mike and Ellie brought up the rear.

  I wanted to get us out of there as soon as possible. As I crept down the hallway toward the door, I could hear screaming from the other end of the corridor. Tears ran down my face as I looked back at Emily, her head was bleeding freely. Paula was trying the staunch the flow, but her blood was dripping out onto the floor. I
turned around and began to jog down the corridor. We had to get out of there now, before more zombies came and attacked us. As we turned a corner, in front of us was another zombie, a female. She had just turned, because she her skin was still normal flesh color.

  “Sweet Jesus! Trisha!” cried Mike.

  Trisha the zombie swung her vacant eyes toward Mike and stumbled forward. Risa screamed, and I brought my sword up to swing it, but Jacob beat me to it with a deafening shotgun blast that took off Trisha’s face and most of her head, and echoed down the corridor. She fell backward to the ground without a sound. Mike sobbed as we ran past.

  As the doors to the parking lot came into view, three more zombies stumbled after us from another direction. I hit the doors at a near sprint, the others were right behind me. Risa’s feet weren’t even on the ground as DeAndre lifted her up by the hand as he ran. We ran out onto the parking lot and I looked wildly around. We had exited into a different place than we had entered.

  “Quick, which way is the Emergency Room parking lot?” I cried.

  “This way,” Mike answered, running off to the right. We ran around the corner and, after a minute, the van came into view. Unfortunately, so did four more zombies. They were stumbling at us from the gas station across the street. Stumbling but still moving fast. They were going to cut us off. DeAndre threw Emily across his shoulder, and we took off toward the van. Jacob fired his shotgun at the zombies, trying to stop them in their paths. It worked, sort of. They paused for a second or two, confused. It gave us the time we needed to get to the van. I unlocked it and yelled, “Everyone in! Come on!”

  I looked wildly around us. Zombies were running at us from several directions a few blocks away, but the four zombies closest to us were almost to the van. Jacob fired again and hit one of them hard enough to take it down. But the three others kept coming. They were about ten feet away when I jumped into the open van, just ahead of Jacob. He slammed the door just as the zombies reached us, their arms and faces slamming against the windows.