Het Madden, a Zombie Perspective: Book One: WRATH 2012

by Calvin A. L. Miller II

  Het Madden

  A Zombie Perspective

  Book One: WRATH 2012

  Calvin A. L. Miller II

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictionally. And resemblances to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright 2009 Calvin A. L. Miller II

  Cal_in_Space@Yahoo.com

  Zilyon Publishing, Inc.

  4094 Fountainside Lane

  Fairfax, VA 22030

  www.zilyonpublishing.com

  For all of my family and friends who believe in me.

  You know who you are.

  And so do I.

  -Cal

  I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

  - Thomas Jefferson

  Who is Alive?

  I keep moving continuously, like I have somewhere to go. But I don’t know where. I’m so starving and thirsty I can hardly think. I’m not sure who I am anymore, at least not all the time, and I don’t know how long I’ve been this way. But I do know we are getting better organized, and we are mad as Hell.

  Everything hurts; the pain is unbearable, replacing all sensations. I don’t always understand words I hear and can’t remember how to speak at times, but my thoughts remain fairly coherent and I can still read. I can’t see well but my sense of smell remains intact; I can smell one of them a mile away. Must be chemicals they use to protect them from the outbreak. Why don’t they help us, why don’t they try? Who did this? Terrorists? The military? Aliens? How could they let this spread so out of control?

  I hate them for letting this happen and I hate them for not being sick like me and I hate myself more than ever. And the poor bastards that are worse off than me stagger around like dead people...

  Oh God, not that... It can’t be that...

  I have to get those thoughts out of my head. I AM ALIVE, I am Hetfield Madden, a real person. Period. I’ll just keep moving, remembering when I can... And forgetting when I can.

  Memories come and go like trucks passing on a freeway... it’s hard to see one long enough to understand it. If I concentrate I can grab hold of one and let it consume me. Like a dream... an escape. I relive the memory in the moment, vividly in its entirety, exactly as if it was happening...

  1

  Genesis

  I remember when it all started. It feels like a dream but I know it’s real; I know I’m real. It was a regular day at first. But that didn’t last long.

  I remember...

  “This sudden crisis has hospitals and urgent care facilities filled and police and fire/rescue squads operating at full capacity.” The news anchor looked scared.

  I had been staring at the TV for over an hour. People were sick, a lot of people. I sat and watched reports that hospitals were overflowing with a flu epidemic, seemingly overnight.

  “The cause of the outbreak is still unknown and the Center for Disease Control is not answering questions at this time.”

  I was beginning to feel sick but I figured it was just the power of suggestion. So I got up, took a shower, and hit it.

  Route 66 was a parking lot and there were sirens and smoke coming from several fires in the distance. It was so hot out and had been all month. Unseasonably hot for here in the Washington, D.C. area; 95 degrees at 8am in December. Maybe that’s why everyone felt sick, it was almost unbearable. Hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it was so hot.

  It took a while but I finally got through to Bob, my boss, on his cell. He said the Federal Government just closed and things looked like shit so I should just come into the Manassas office instead of heading downtown. Sounded like a good idea, staying close to home and away from the city. I cut across the median and headed west.

  When I got into the office everyone looked nervous and pale.

  “Morning Het”, Michelle said.

  “You been listening to the news? They say there are unofficial reports that terrorists released some virus to make us all sick.” She looked concerned.

  “Unofficial reports”, I thought. It always starts with “unofficial reports”.

  About half of the company had called in sick. I still felt a little off, but not too bad. The official term the news was using was “Outbreak 2012”. The news even had shiny graphics for it already. Impressive; not so much the graphics, but how fast they had them ready. The office sat around watching the conference room TV for about an hour and through the window we could see people already starting to leave the other buildings to go home to their families. I had no one to go home to anymore so I stayed and hung out with 4 others. Bob, Carl, Michelle, and Janet.

  “Glad you could make it.” Bob said as he walked in. “It’s hot out there and the traffic is a mess.”

  Bob Abbott was a nice guy and a good boss with a wife and two kids at home out in Haymarket. He was in the Air Force, a fighter pilot. He was active with the school and the church and always took the time to listen. I flew small planes in college, so I love hearing his stories about fighter jets. Carl Richards is single, no kids. Salesman, big boat, BMW; you get it. No one is gonna miss him. Michelle Gibbs is the receptionist. She dropped out of med school to take care of her mother. Nice girl, really smart, I hope she goes back to finish her degree. Janet Spivey is an older lady, a widow with a lot of cats. Travels a lot, and wants to go to Europe next summer. She is really into new age stuff and spiritualism. Over coffee and donuts we theorized about what was going on.

  “It could really just be the flu.” Bob said.

  “Yeah, it could be the flu.” Michelle piped in. “You know when I was a med student we saw this all the time, not as big, but still. People get sick, it happens”.

  “I think it’s got to be the drug companies.” Carl added. “They are always experimenting with things, almost as much as the DOD. It probably was the DOD!!!”

  Bob looked uneasy at Carl’s suggestion and immediately changed the subject.

  “Michelle’s right; people get sick, it happens.”

  We all wanted to believe him so badly, but none of us really did.

  Bob continued. “Anybody want some more coffee? Janet, what do you think?”

  He loved to get her going and she spoke up immediately.

  “It’s the end of 2012. I have been telling you all year this would be a time of great spiritual transformation, an apocalypse!”

  She had been telling us this, at least once a day it seemed.

  “You mean a war?” asked Carl.

  “Not necessarily. Apocalypse translates literally to ‘lifting of the veil’ or ‘revelation’”. She explained. “The completion of the thirteenth and final cycle of the Mayan Calendar is tomorrow, December 21st. The major change in world order has begun.”

  There had been a lot of talk about the year 2012 and how on the first day of winter the sun will rise in line with the middle of our galaxy, thus causing an alignment between the earth, sun, and the galactic center. This had prompted a lot of different theories and as many TV shows. People love to be afraid but I just don’t buy into it. However, all this was very coincidental, I’ll give Janet that.

  The TV reports remained general and cautious but information on the internet started getting more bizarre. All over the world people were sick with this flu, it wasn’t just local. Some websites said people were being killed, attacked, in all the major cities, including downtown D.C. and its suburbs. Why wasn’t this being reported on TV and radio? Now we were all getting a little bit scared and we weren’t sure
what to do. As the hours went by we continually heard more sirens and saw several fires on the horizon. We all decided we’d better head home.

  But that was harder than it sounded.

  The streets were packed with people walking and running and cars were barely moving. I can’t imagine how I would’ve gotten out of the city if it was this bad way out here. I saw cops arresting people, beating them. Some of them looked sick but a lot looked crazed. Some were even fighting the police and paramedics. I swear one guy was trying to bite a cop. The radio said the flu could be transmitted through bites. Bites? Strange friggin’ thing to say, I thought...

  Just then a cop came up to my driver’s side window. He knocked on the window and I hesitated, but then opened it. He just looked at me for a few seconds, trying to form words.

  “I... Uhhrr... Mmmm... Po-leese...” was all he could get out.

  “What is it officer?” I asked. “Do you need help, I can drive you somewhere. I...”

  Then he vomited all over me and stumbled off.

  I had never smelled anything so vile and my skin burned terribly from it. I had some tissues and tried to wipe off as much from my face as I could and continued on, keeping my windows up.

  I finally got home, sat on the couch and fell asleep, my head pounding. When I woke up I felt ice-cold and my whole body ached. I knew I was sick. It felt like the flu but much worse. I got up and drank some water but immediately threw it back up. I noticed the couch was covered in vomit. I must have gotten sick like that cop while I slept.

  My eyes were filmy and I was in a lot of pain. I tried to call the hospital, but couldn’t get a line, land or cell. I decided to drive myself so I went out to get into my car. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to unlock the door, much less drive it. I stood there for what seemed like an hour, staring at the car curiously. I just couldn’t remember how to get in or what to do.

  Then out of nowhere someone staggered up to me moaning, mouth hanging open, with terror in his eyes like he was scared and not in control of his actions. He was going to attack me, bite me, I thought so I pushed him to the ground. He just laid there looking confused, almost crying it seemed, so I went back inside my apartment building.

  I looked out the window to see if the man had gotten up to come after me and I saw a van pull up in front of my building. Three men wearing white biohazard-looking gear jumped out and tasered him. Two of them grabbed him and held him, one on each arm, as the other opened the back of the van. I could see there were more people inside. They tasered the ones near the door and threw the guy in the van. Then they took off. Who were they? WHAT IS GOING ON?!

  Against my better judgment I ran out to flag them down to find out and maybe get some help but I felt a slam to the back of my head, and fell hard. The next thing I remember was waking up on the sidewalk. It was morning. I must’ve passed out from the blow to the head, but who hit me? I got up off the ground feeling dizzy. I looked down and saw a brick. Maybe that had hit me in the head. I was so hungry but I knew I didn’t have any food in the apartment so, still unable to drive, I started walking.

  I headed to the café down the street. I went inside and no one was there. The Corner Café is one of those places where someone is always there. I yelled for Debbie, the girl who worked the counter, but got no answer. I sat down, grabbed a bagel, and took a bite. I threw up immediately after I swallowed. Must have gone bad I thought. I went in the back looking for Randy the owner.

  The radio was on and so was the grill but he was gone. I looked around and saw some raw hamburger patties sitting out. I grabbed a couple to put on the grill but I was so hungry I couldn’t control myself. I shoved them down my throat. They tasted so good I shivered. Somehow they stayed down, unlike the bagel.

  I ate more, almost ravenously, and started to feel a lot better. I guess I needed some protein. I walked home and got in my car and headed to work. For some reason I could get in the car and drive now, no problem. Headache was gone. Must be getting better I thought. I got into work and Bob, Michelle, and Carl were there. They looked at me in horror and asked if I was OK. After all I was covered in dried puke and stunk of raw meat.

  They didn’t look much better.

  “I hope we’re not getting this flu.” Michelle said while she got the first aid kit from the kitchen; the nurse in her taking over.

  “Open up.” She put a thermometer in my mouth.

  Bob came in the lobby. “Janet’s brother is on the line. She never came home last night. Anybody know anything?”

  Everybody shook their heads. No one had seen her since yesterday. A lot of folks hadn’t come home. Missing persons reports were all over the news.

  Michelle took the thermometer out of my mouth. “No fever.” she said pensively.

  I really felt better. Not 100% better, but better. I had some gym clothes in the car so I went and got them, cleaned up, and changed.

  We all went into the conference room and crowded around the TV again. Reports of people going mad and attacking others had the medical community thinking this might not be the flu but a rabies epidemic spread by small mammals like bats. BATS?! What the...? This just keeps getting stranger. Today was Friday and the Federal Government announced it was closing next week, all week, not just for Christmas. People were to stay home and lock their doors.

  But we weren’t to panic...

  Deaths were being reported worldwide, especially in third world nations. There were even reports of cannibalism. Had disease and desperation forced people into eating each other? It had only been two days, right? Wrong. Turns out this had been going on quite a while and was just now being reported. Radio and TV news were finally coming around.

  “Africa now reports that people have been sick and dying for weeks”, the news said.

  For WEEKS?! Roving bands of “rabid” assassins had been killing people in Central Africa, Sudan, Darfur. I guess all the crap going on over there had just made folks numb and no one paid attention any more. Cannibalism and mutilation were spreading across the continent and the UN had called for quarantine.

  We all said “Too late.” Almost in unison.

  It’s amazing how quickly things can fall apart in a society. It had been a couple days here and already the streets were covered in trash, people were missing, just gone, and the Federal Government was closed. I think I now know what the folks in New Orleans felt like after Katrina; helpless, deserted, alone. Society is truly built on a hill of sand.

  After a few hours the other three began to look even sicker. Grey even. There was no way to get an ambulance and news reported that the hospitals weren’t taking people who “only” had the flu. They were too busy handling injuries from attacks and other accidents. I felt better, but they were in no condition to go anywhere. Even though they were worried about their families and friends, I felt that I could care for the group so we decided to stay put for a while. Of course they could have blamed me for getting them sick, but seeing how the whole world was infected they realized it wasn’t “if” it was “when”.

  I helped them get as comfortable as possible and went out to find an open store to get some food and medicine. I walked across the street to the grocery store; it was open, but very crowded. There were people everywhere and the second I got inside I went straight for the meat section. I wanted the raw meat. I needed it. And I wasn’t alone. There were others there gorging themselves, moaning as they ate. I joined in and one woman screamed at me; a long, loud scream. I ignored her and stuffed the meat down my throat. It made me feel so good. I figured it would be easy for the group to digest because I could keep it down so I threw as much as I could into a cart. Maybe this flu caused an iron or protein deficiency. I got medicine, water, and other food as well. There were no clerks, no employees at all so I pushed the cartful back to the office.

  When I got there all three of my coworkers were asleep so I put everything away and then sat down to relax. It had been a long day and was beginning to get dark. I grabbed the bas
eball bat out of my office for protection, locked the doors, and turned out the lights. I didn’t know who may try to break in and attack us so I thought it would be wise if the place looked empty. I sat there quietly and heard screams, car horns, sirens... even gun shots... It was a mess out there. Every once in a while I heard someone try to get in the front doors. They would rattle a while and then leave. The news had nothing new to offer so I turned off the radio and closed my eyes.

  The next thing I knew it was morning. The others were up and dizzy, tired, in a lot of pain like me, but still alive. It almost felt like being on fire, the pain I mean. It was terrible, like my skin was burning on the inside. They tried to eat some of the things I brought. Donuts, bread, fruit but nothing would stay down. Then I took the raw meat out of the fridge. They hesitated at first but craving took them over completely and we all gorged ourselves. And we felt better. A lot better. It really must be the protein in the meat, and maybe the iron, I didn’t understand.