When The Dead Rise (Book 1): The Outbreak

by Fraser, D. K.

  “Reports and videos are coming in from various states of infected individuals failing to comply with law enforcement, also Portland and California protests turned into riots that are still trying to be brought under control,” the man said as it switched to a clip showing police in riot gear defending themselves in a packed street. Rocks were bouncing off riot shields as were other objects. All of a sudden, a park bench filled the screen as it was thrown into a group of officers.

  It switched back to the studio where the plump man was shaking his head.

  “Clearly law enforcement are being overwhelmed on two fronts with the protesters and also responding to the overflow of 911 calls” as the man finished it switched again to an aerial view from a helicopter.

  The other reporter began speaking “This is an aerial view from our traffic eye in the sky,” the man began as the camera panned from a bumper to bumper freeway to a car lot.

  “As you can see” the broadcaster narrated “This was an hour ago here in Houston and officers responded to reports of the car lot being vandalized,” Officers could be seen like small bugs rushing between cars towards a few people who were on top of cars. Dozens of cars had smashed windows and some were even on fire.

  “Officers quickly got the situation under control, but this area is again getting large reports of violence and destruction to public property,” The newsman continued. Jake frowned as it wasn’t clear how the situation had been brought under control. From what he was seeing the chaos seemed to still be going on. The news switched back to the studio where the plump man looked sternly into the camera. “Sadly, reports of situations like this are increasing all over the country, so please remain calm until authorities have this under control,” The man advised.

  “This is bullshit!” Alice piped up, “The authorities have lost control! The lack of information on this virus has people blinded!” Alice spat.

  The screen switched back to the acronym while the skinnier broadcaster began reading the bullet points. The broadcaster also then mentioned if you are separated from family or loved ones then to check into a FEMA aid station.

  Jake walked back into the kitchen. “Hey, Marcus would you mind staying here and looking after Emily and the boys?” he asked, knowing Marcus was on the fence about all of this and wasn’t taking it too well. Jake understood as that’s how he had been yesterday and just needed some time to digest it all. “I think we should go check out the boy’s school anyway, see if there’s anyone from FEMA there,” he said. Benny was looking at Alice, who nodded.

  “I’ll go play with the boys for a bit while you get ready” Benny said heading towards the boys’ room.

  Alice filled Jake in on her night and what they found when they went to the Precinct before coming to his house. Emily came into the kitchen beside them. “Would anyone like some coffee?” Emily asked. Emily then looked at the bottle on the breakfast bar and smiled to herself.

  “Never mind. Is…is it really that bad?” Emily asked. Jake could tell part of her still didn’t realize just how bad it was or how much worse it could still get.

  No…it’s worse” Alice said pouring a drink.

  “It’s going to be okay, honey,” he said putting his arm around his wife. “I promise,” he reassured Emily, kissing her head.

  “Do you have to go? We can just wait here till whatever this is passes,” Emily said looking out the window.

  “All that smoke,” Alice said “It’s from fires that weren’t put out and burned all night. There is no one coming, there’s no fire crews, no police, and clearly the news don’t have a clue what’s going on or don’t want to tell people the truth,” Alice said.

  “What's the truth?” Emily asked.

  “That we’re fucked! All of us, anyone who has any sense is with their families and these infected are mindless crazy cannibals,” Alice said.

  Emily nodded at what Alice was saying and Jake saw the scared look his wife had on her face. “Honey, Alice is a cop, we’ll be quick and in good hands,” he reassured his wife.

  As Alice and Emily talked, he slipped away into the back bedroom and into his lock box. He loaded his 9mm then tucked it in the back of his belt under his shirt. Benny appeared from the boys’ room looking at him. “You ready?” Benny asked.

  Jake nodded. “Let’s get Alice and go do this,” he said.

  Emily's back was to them as they walked out into the kitchen, so he used this chance, walking over to Marcus. “Hey, can I talk to you outside for a second?” he asked, waving Marcus towards the front door.

  “What’s up?” Marcus asked.

  Jake opened the door and stepped out then as Marcus stepped out, “Here,” Jake said slyly handing Marcus the gun. Marcus was looking down at it and seemed hesitant to take it. Jake pushed it forwards. “I need you to protect them if anything happens, I’m not taking any chances,” he told Marcus. Marcus gave a weak nod and took the gun with shaking hands.

  “I hope you don’t have to use it but just in case,” he emphasized to Marcus who nodded back.

  “Ready?” Alice asked walking out onto the porch with Benny.

  “Love you!” Emily shouted from the door as they all got in the truck.

  “Love you more!” He shouted back.

  Nick

  Nick looked out the window wishing for some kind of sign to say where they were, a clue to let him know somewhere they were near. He didn’t like being stuck in the middle of nowhere while things were going south. Right now, they could be only minutes from a station and didn’t know it. Nick looked at the man who had helped, he was wrapping the bitten arm in a shirt another passenger had given him. Nick could see Agnes was helping the old lady calm down in some seats at the opposite end of the train car. Michael was sitting slack jawed with eyes wide open staring at him.

  “Thanks, bro,” the guy who’d been bit said to Nick.

  Nick nodded then looked at the man's arm, blood had soaked through the shirt already.

  “You're going to want to get that cleaned and bandaged,” Nick said knowing there was something making these people act like this. He also knew it was probably contagious but for now decided to keep that to himself to avoid further panic. Heidi was still sobbing with her face buried in his shoulders. He wasn’t sure just what to do, he brought his arms up awkwardly and patted her back. “Hey,” he said softly, “let's get you back to you seat.” He could feel her nod against his chest as he guided her back to their seats.

  “Holy shit! You are such a badass!” Michael squealed as they sat down

  “Michael!” Agnes shouted. The boy just smirked and continued to stare at him.

  Nick helped Heidi sit down then looked around, people had left the carriage and the ones who hadn’t were all just staring at Nick. He turned towards them all raising his arms.

  “What?” he yelled.

  “In case you people weren’t aware, there’s something making people act like this! They’re not normal! They’re dangerous!” he said pointing to the old lady who was sitting shaking.

  Agnes had her arms wrapped around the old lady who looked terrified. The lady looked up at him. “He’s…He’s right, my Thomas wouldn’t hurt a fly and his eyes… th-th-they were different like he wasn’t there anymore. Like he was possessed,” the lady said, sobbing while Agnes held her. The door at the end of the carriage opened as the conductor walked in.

  “Someone hit the button to the driver! Is everything okay?” The conductor asked out of breath.

  Nick watched the conductor’s eyes widen when the guy holding a bloody shirt on his arm pointed to the old man slumped against the restroom door with a knitting needle sticking out of his head.

  “I see. Okay, were you bitten?” The conductor asked the man. The guy nodded and Nick noticed the sweat pouring from down the man's forehead.

  “We were told if anyone was infected, we were to isolate them,” The conductor told the whole carriage who were all still silent with shock.

  “Infected?” The man asked
while wiping away sweat.

  “Yes, it was on the news this morning there’s some kind of super virus like rabies that’s making people go crazy and it’s highly contagious” the conductor said.

  A woman who must have been with the man got out of her seat to stand beside the man.

  “Highly contagious? How?” the woman asked. Nick was definitely interested in hearing the answer to this question.

  “They didn’t say for sure, but they think it’s in the blood like HIV and saliva like rabies, I only saw the news before I left for work,” the conductor said, shrugging his shoulders.

  A man started shouting from a chair behind Nicks. “He needs to be kicked off the train!” the man said, sounding like the leader of a witch hunt. Nick looked over the chair glaring at the man. Nick knew throwing people off the train would not start or end well. It might start out like a good idea but would just be throwing fuel on the fire. The girl who was with the man didn’t seem to like the old man's comments.

  “If you're scared, gramps, then you get the fuck off!” the girl shouted. Nick was surprised by his role in what had just happened hadn’t been brought up yet. Nick didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention, so he wasn’t sure of saying anything or if playing devil's advocate was a good idea right now. The man who had been bitten raised his good arm to calm everyone.

  “Hey, I get it but I’m not getting off this train, how bout I just go into the restroom for the rest of the trip?” The man said gesturing towards the restroom. The conductor looked around the carriage as if looking for objection and Nick wasn’t about to. The man had acted on instinct to help another human being. Nick thought he probably would have done the same.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Nick piped up looking at the old man again.

  The old guy grunted but didn’t say anything back. The girl sat in the seat next to the restroom door as the man went in waving. Nick could hear the man quietly reassuring the girl it would be okay, Nick felt his heart sink as he wasn’t too confidant on what the man was promising. Nick also realized letting the man stay could be a bad idea but the time to be heartless with decisions hadn’t come yet he told himself.

  Once the man was inside, Nick watched as the conductor used a key to lock the master bolt on the outside of the restroom door. “There’s two keys to this door. I have one the other is with the attendant in the cafe car,” the conductor told them all. The locking of the restroom door from their side definitely made Nick feel a little easier about his decision. Now it was then time to address the obvious elephant in the room. As the conductor stood above the body on the floor with a knitting needle sticking out Nick got out his seat. “We should wrap up the body and move it to an isolated part of the train,” he said to the conductor.

  “I’ll be right back,” the conductor said, nodding in agreement then left the carriage.

  A few minutes later, the conductor returned with a large blue tarp. The conductor placed the tarp flat as possible in the gangway. Nick nodded towards the old man's feet understanding what the conductor had planned. Nick cupped the head as the conductor grabbed both feet and they lifted the body into the tarp. After rolling the body up the conductor was looking at him.

  “You think that’s good?” the conductor said slapping the tarp.

  Nick thought for a minute analyzing the tarp then turned and headed towards his seat. Opening his EDC bag, he pulled out a roll of black duct tape along with some paracord.

  The conductor seemed awfully calm with the situation which made Nick feel a little uneasy like the guy knew a lot more than he was telling them. Then again Nick realized people were probably thinking the same about him after he dispatched the crazy old cannibal like that.

  “You keep that kinda stuff in your bag?” the conductor asked.

  “Yeah, you never know,” Nick said as he tore off a long strip of tape.

  Nick duct taped the seam of the tarp then used the paracord to tighten it at both ends. Picking up the human tarp burrito they shuffled out of the carriage into the area between cars then into the next. They carried the body slowly through carriage after carriage and Nick could feel the eyes of the other passengers on him. Finally, they reached the back of the train where the last carriage was empty.

  “He’ll be fine here till we reach Portland,” the conductor said solemnly.

  Nick nodded, agreeing in silence then the intercom crackled.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the current situation, but we won’t be going anywhere until we hear from the next station. As right now we’re having some issues with communications.”

  There were eight cars in total, the conductor had told him as they’d carried the body through the last three. Nick was pretty sure the complaints and people shouting were coming from every one of the eight.

  “What happens if we don’t hear from the next station?” Nick asked.

  He could tell the conductor was worried by the look on the man’s face and this made him uneasy as the conductor hadn’t even been worried too much when he’d seen the body.

  “Then we go to Plan B,” the conductor said.

  “What’s Plan B?” Nick asked curious that there was a Plan B.

  “You don’t want to know,” the conductor said, turning to head back the way they had just came towards the front of the train.

  Caleb

  Caleb walked down the spiral staircase leading to the double car garage below that Nate used as his den. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he headed down the stairs, but his son was sat slumped on the couch staring at a bong on the coffee table.

  “Nate, you okay, son?” he asked.

  Nate hadn’t come upstairs all night and the girls had been worried all night as had he. Nate didn’t answer so Caleb walked over to Nate who was still sat motionless, seemingly unaware of his presence.

  “Nate!” Caleb said loudly as he shook his son.

  “Ugh,” Nate seemed to murmur, looking up at him.

  He could tell his son had obviously been smoking pot all night. He couldn’t blame him as at that moment as with the whole night before he’d wish he’d had some kind of outlet, too. Caleb wasn’t sure what he needed to release but he felt angry and confused with a whole bunch of feelings wrapped in a knot in his stomach.

  “Nate…Mark, we gotta get him to his mother, son,” he said slowly and softly. He didn’t baby his son ever, but he was making an exception as he’d never seen his son in this kind of mess. The world had never been turned upside down like it had been either though, so he knew this was unknown territory for both of them. Nate nodded without looking away from the table and the things cluttered on top from the struggle the night before. The only thing Caleb noticed had been picked up was the bong. “Nate, I know you’re hurting and confused. We all are but we need to get Mark home,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “I…I know, Dad,” Nate replied. This was the first time he’d heard his son talk lately without the attitude in his voice and it was sad.

  After Mark’s attack, they’d rolled him up in an old rug they had stored in the garage that Nate was supposed to throw out. After Nate had helped roll mark in the carpet, the two carried the body out to the Jeep then laid it in the back seat. Caleb wasn’t a hundred percent sure on this virus and if these infected people were actual zombies, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Mark’s body was laid in the backseat with the carpet duct taped closed. He might have just been paranoid, but Caleb locked the doors setting the alarm just in case Mark came back to life again.

  They approached the Jeep and peered in. Caleb could see red blood stains had bled through the rug. His stomach turned and he felt sick again, “Nate, jump in the front son,” Caleb said, gesturing at the passenger seat while blocking the view of the body from his son through the window.

  Once both in, he adjusted the mirror so he could see the body. Caleb wasn’t taking any chances just until he was fully aware of the extent of what this virus did. Nate was unusually silent as they drove o
ut from the driveway, any other time he would have been thankful for.

  Looking up, he could see his wife on the balcony, he knew she was worried and didn’t want him leaving the property. Caleb gave her a wave and mouthed, “I love you.” He knew he didn’t have to go right now; they could keep the body locked in the Jeep until more information became available on the news. Caleb didn’t want to do that though; he’d learned more on their trip to the gas station than anything they’d heard on the radio or seen on the TV. Nobody knew as he’d done it earlier in the morning, but Caleb had put his shotgun in the car just in case.

  As they drove up past Victor’s place, there were more vehicles than the day before which probably meant more people, too. They stopped at the turning where the dusty road to the properties met the concrete main road. Two armed men were standing then slowly approached the Jeep once he’d stopped. Both men had visible AK-47’s strapped across their bodies, which told him Victor and his cronies liked an open carry policy. Caleb waved as he rolled down his window, “Hi guys, everything alright?” Caleb asked.

  One of the men stood at Caleb’s window while the other walked around to Nate’s.

  “Yeah, just making sure no one tries to take advantage of the situation by trespassing on the properties,” The man in front of Caleb's window said flatly.

  “What’s in the carpet?” The man in front of Nate’s window said, nodding towards Mark’s body in the back. Caleb didn’t understand this situation or why these men were here, but he needed to think up something smooth fast. Before he could say there had been an accident Nate blurted out.

  “My friends inside it, don’t worry he’s dead,” Nate said without looking away from the dashboard.

  Caleb could feel his stomach lurch up into his throat as the two men raised their rifles at them. Any type of damage control he wanted to attempt he knew he best tread carefully.

  “Out! Hands where we can see them!” the man on Caleb's side barked.

  Both of them got out with their hands up and the men both motioned with their guns to the hood of the Jeep. “Hands on the hood,” the other man asked who seemed to be a lot calmer.