Surviving Day By Day (Book 1): So it Begins

by Allensworth, Audra

  Half an hour later he was waving to Mr and Mrs. Kulwaski, Colt had always thought that him and Jessica would be just like them when they got to be the Kulwaski’s age. Both were retired and did everything together, at times they still acted like newlyweds with the cuties talk and kisses.

  Colt pulled into the strip mall that held Albertson’s, they were packed. Rolling his eyes he thought that Jessica better make this worth it, he smiled at the thought. He sat in his Tundra watching the people, they really seemed scared. Colt got out heading into the store; as soon as he got in the door he knew for a fact this would be a nightmare. There were no carts or even the hand held baskets, each isle was almost bare and people were arguing over what was left. Shaking his head at the chaos a couple of news reports could do. Two hours later he was leaving the store with potted meat, two cans of tuna, a can of chicken salad, and frozen rolls. Jessica had wanted more but he was lucky he had gotten even that, he was at his wits end and just wanted to get home where it was calm.

  Soon he was pulling back into the garage; he grabbed the two bags and headed in the house. “HONEY, those people were nuts! Do you know everyone is freaking out over all this crap?”

  Jessica called for him to come in the living room; he set the bags on the table then went to join her. “What’s…”

  She waved her hand to quiet him, and then motioned for him to join her on the couch. The news was running a special report, “Damn it Jessica, they are causing mass hysteria! You should have seen the store, they were almost at blows to get Spam for God’s sake!”

  Jessica bit her lip, “I don’t think this is hysteria, they just showed a man that was in the hospital. Colt they had him strapped down to the bed and he was trying to bite anyone that came close. They were standing by him doing the report and the reporter got to close, the man bit her.” She really looked scared.

  “Jessica, honey you have to know that was for the TV rating, you know it’s sweeps week”

  She didn’t appreciate his lack of belief, “Colt that wasn’t for show, as soon as she was bit men came rushing in, they were wearing hazmat suits, they grabbed her and the camera hit the floor. When they went back to the studio the other reports were in shock, I don’t think they understood what happened any more than we did.”

  Colt grabbed the remote, “Is this still the same channel?”

  She nodded and he hit rewind on the dvr till he got back to the report and watched it, she was right he didn’t think it was for show.

  “Well that explains why everyone is freaking out. Did they say what to do if you get sick, or how you get it?”

  Jessica sat twirling her hair, a habit she did when she was nervous or scared, “They said that they only have reports of people that are bit seem to die but they don’t, they wake back up and start biting other people. They said that it is already spreading across America, it isn’t just Memphis, it’s everywhere!”

  Colt pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair, “Shhhh we will be ok, and everyone in our little neighborhood looked just fine. We will get everyone together and pool all our resources to get through this. How does that sound?”

  Jessica smiled, “There is the man I love, that is a wonderful idea.”

  The next few days had been spent setting up a type of a neighborhood watch, but they were watching each other. They made sure everyone had food and water, and everyone met every day at noon to know each one was okay. Then the day came when they realized that they weren’t as safe as they were thinking, it wasn’t all about having supplies. They had forgotten that other neighborhoods would not be doing the same thing and their sick wouldn’t stay in their own areas.

  Jessica had gone to check on Jim Morris, he hadn’t made it to the noon meeting and Colt had to help Mr. Kulwaski fix his back fence.

  An hour later Colt looked around wondering where Jessica was, he told Mr. Kulwaski’s he would be back and started home. Jessica was sitting on their couch staring at a blank tv rocking back and forth. When Colt walked around the couch he saw the tears streaming down her face, he quickly knelt in front of her, “Honey what happen is Jim ok? Do we need to….”

  He trailed off as Jessica pulled the shoulder of her shirt to reveal a bite. “Colt I am going to be one of those monsters, you have to kill me, please don’t let me be like those things.”

  She was close to hysterics and Colt couldn’t stop looking at the bite. If the news reports were right she had less than thirty six hours. “No, we are not going to give up. The CDC is working on a cure! How did you, who did, where…”

  Jessica pushed him away screaming, “WHAT DOES THAT MATTER? YOU CAN’T LET ME BE ONE OF THOSE!! I’LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING DUMB ASS!! IF YOU LOVE, ME KILL ME!!”

  She turned to storm out and saw Mrs. Kulwaski standing there. She had a look of pity mixed with horror. Jessica looked back to Colt then to Mrs. Kulwaski, “I’m sorry” Jessica ran to her room slamming the door.

  She would never come back out of the room. Before she died the first time she had made Colt tie her to the bed, he had made several jokes before he gave up trying to make her laugh and just did it. The rest of the world ceased to exist for him and no one bothered to come check on him, one by one all the neighbors could be seen wandering the street as the monsters.

  Colt’s memory faded as he saw Lucite come into view, there were cars filling the parking lot but there were just as many monsters walking around. He glanced at his gas gauge, it was at a quarter of a tank, he looked back to the cars but he didn’t dare risk it. He was hoping to find a gas station to fill up but he had been so lost in his thoughts that if he had passed one he hadn’t seen it. He knew he had to keep his thoughts on getting somewhere safe but where that was, wasn’t exactly known just yet.

  As he swerved in and out of the monsters on the street he wondered if it was more humane just to run over them. Colt watched as the factory faded in his rear view mirror and wondered if his lack of attention would force him to walk in the next couple of hours.

  Chapter 5 - Beth:

  Looking up at the clock it read 7:49 a.m. Beth thought it was closer to noon, that clock was slowly beginning to slow down and the batteries would be wearing down soon. The shadows that shown on the walls were now gone because the sun had apparently been hidden by the clouds from the up and coming thunder storm. Thunder could be heard off in the distance and a few monsters where roaming the streets looking for some unsuspecting meal.

  Sitting in the corner of her room Beth looked over and saw the remains of her sister Mary along with her Mother and Father. Still in shock from what had taken place the night before Beth couldn’t even begin to get a grasp on reality. She thought that the government had some control on the situation before it all went bad but quite honestly there was never time to get control because when ‘IT’ got out the government had lost control and she damn well knew it. They probably knew it too, but they chose not to let the public know claiming it would cause mass hysteria.

  Working for the government Beth knew that they were pretty well fucked when the so called, ‘Leader of the free world’ cut his government spending to make the people believe his so called promises for his up and coming reelection campaign. Those that Beth worked with in her HAS-MAT department knew that the world as it stood was pretty well fucked.

  On the day that it all went to hell; Beth had the day off and was sitting in her home in Paducah, Kentucky when she had received a text message from her co-worker and best friend Chad Evert. “It’s over…. Get out and save yourself; it’s too late for us!”

  Several attempts to try to reach Chad along with a few hundred tries at his cell never were reached. Quickly Beth grabbed her emergency evac luggage and headed out to her car. Here still seemed outside was normal as usual but she knew that it was only a matter of time.

  She had to get to her family that lived in southern Illinois and hopefully get them under her care. Beth hoped that she would find them safe and sound but later she would find out differently. Never once did Be
th run into any traffic until she was an hour into Arkansas. Several people were flying past her like she was standing still and a few head on collisions could be seen when she looked up into her rear view mirror. “The word must of gotten out and if so how fast is this spreading?” were the only words that she uttered as she slowly accelerated down the freeway.

  One by one she drove past each car as if she was on her own mission. All she wanted to do was get to her family and get to them fast! Mary, whom was her big sister, had all sorts of health issues. The diabetes that she had, finally had taken its toll and sadly she had lost her ability to drive. Her vision was almost gone and Mom had talked over with their Dad on how they needed to take care of Mary. Several times a year Beth would send care packages home along with money orders so that even though she couldn’t be there, Beth would be doing her part to care for the family.

  Dad was retired and Mom had retired years prior to just be able to stay home to take care of Mary. So Beth’s only thoughts after she received Chad’s text was that she needed to get home and get there fast.

  As the miles slipped by, Beth thought back to the beginning and how this all started. Disposing of hazardous waste materials at the CDC is pretty technical and is done without thinking once a person has been trained properly. However; when the President did his budget cuts there were several jobs that had been cut. The best way to make the so called cuts in the beginning was to trim the fat and the old timers were the way to do it.

  Robert Edgecomb, Lisa Russel and Jimmy Parcels were the first to go. They had been employed for over 30 years and her agency thought that the best way to cut the pay was to offer them a nice severance package and send them on their way. Suffice it to say that was first of several mistakes made. The second one was when they decided to hire these youngsters whom only knew how to text and get to the next level of ‘Left For Dead’ by using the cheat codes that they got off the net.

  Instead of starting them out as errand boys, the powers that be put them in charge of handling the most dangerous waste toxins known to man. On several occasions Beth went to her supervisor, Aaron and pleaded for him to get those morons trained properly. Sadly, Beth’s demands fell on deaf ears because Aaron was only doing what his boss was telling him to do and if he didn’t follow through with them, he would end up on the unemployment line. That was the beginning of the end.

  Beth was of a small stature and had shoulder length auburn hair. She didn’t date much and stayed home most of the time; it was her work that she was basically married to. Her main priority was her job and the responsibility that it involved. However, over the past two years when the President and his “hope for change” began landing on the door step of the CDC Beth knew that change was coming but she had never thought of this kind of change.

  After an hour of fighting traffic Beth turned North on Highway 45. Growing up in Metropolis she knew the back roads and wanted to avoid Interstate 24. With thirty minutes she was entering the city limits of Metropolis. The most obvious question never crossed her mind and that was ‘What was she going to do when she got there?’ Slowly she looked over to the passenger seat and saw her government issue Beretta 380 Cheetah that was fully loaded. She had no idea what was going to take place but with the spots of hysteria that she saw from the highway she felt more comfortable having her sidearm with her.

  Mom, Dad and Mary lived in a suburb of Metropolis and had several elderly neighbors. So Beth figured the quicker she got there the quicker she would be able to assess the situation then she would be able to get her family to more secure place that was out of the way from the rest of the high populated areas. These were some random thoughts had as she crossed into south end of Metropolis.

  Her family was about five minutes from where she was at and she was surprised to see the hysterics of the town. As she drove by supermarkets, people were running out with boxes upon boxes of supplies while others began looting the local Wal-mart and Best Buys for their 52 inch plasma high definition flat screen TVs. Beth only slowed down for a Moment to take this all in when she heard gun fire off in the distance. Quickly she drove her foot into the floor and sped through town until she got to the Hollingsworth Suburb.

  While she drove past a few driveways she saw people throwing suit cases into their cars and trucks then speeding away as fast as they could.

  Slowing down to a stop Beth parked her car in front of her parents’ house by the mailbox making sure to leave her a way to evacuate fast if she needed too. Once she was parked and the engine was turned off Beth grabbed her Beretta. Quickly she had made her way into the house and found her parents looking at the Emergency Broadcast message.

  Beth looked over and saw Mary sitting on the couch crying. The only thing that Beth could do was go over and sit beside her sister. “Mom…Dad…. what have you heard?”

  Stanley, her father, looked over and began, “It’s been all over the news for the past two days. There was a chemical spill at CDC and all that the television is letting people know is to stay in their homes. The President was on here earlier stating that everything was under control and that things would return to normal within the next few days.”

  Beth knew that this was a much bigger cluster fuck and was far from under control; but she was not about to worry her parents or her big sister. However, she hoped she was wrong and if this was true; that there was a ‘chemical spill’ than that means whatever it is was, would be blood borne because it was 48 hours later. All she could do was sit and wait. Wait however long it took before anyone of them could leave the house.

  As the days rolled by the supplies that we had were dwindling and we had to get some things. Dad promised that he would only be gone for about an hour and Beth made sure that he would take his cell phone with him in case of emergency. However when sixty minutes turned into ninety Beth started getting worried.

  Her mom was beginning to pace the living room while Mary was lying in bed. Trying a few times to reach her dad was impossible; it always went straight to his voice mail. Not being able to take it anymore Beth ran to the door, “Mom, I am going to see if I can find Dad. Lock the door when I leave and do not let anyone else in after I leave.”

  Quickly she got in her car and headed down to the Wal-Mart, she knew her dad would be just like many others. The lot had quite a few cars parked in it with shopping carts scattered everywhere. When she saw her Dad’s car she drove right up beside it. Before she even parked she noticed that there was blood on the side window.

  After parking her car Beth grabbed her gun and quickly got out. When she got up to the window she saw Stanley bent over the steering wheel holding onto his arm. Reaching down she opened the door and helped her him out and over to her car. “What happened, Dad?” she asked.

  All he could tell her was that some kid ran up behind him and the little bastard bit him. When he was secured Beth went back to retrieve the groceries then made her way back to the car. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, when she saw a child making his way over towards her car very slowly.

  “Buddy?” she called out and the boy never once replied, he just kept right on making his way towards them. Finally, when she got a glimpse of his face she could see that he was covered in blood and that the whites of his eyes had glazed over. The way that he was walking was quite lethargic and was not of the normal in any way.

  Enough was enough and Beth wanted out of there. When she turned to leave the young boy started moaning and coming at her with a slight more speed. Quickly she got in the car then locked the door. Once she put the car into gear the boy started banging on the window. Speeding out the lot Beth and her dad were headed back to the house.

  When they got there her mom unlocked the door and came running out to see them.

  “Dad’s hurt!” yelled Beth as she got out of the car then proceeded over to get her dad.

  Finally they all got inside Mary was screaming, “WHAT’S HAPPENING!?!?!?”

  Beth walked by her while holding onto h
er dad, “Mary I will be right back. Daddy needs to lay down for a bit because he is very tired. I will be right back.”

  Beth did not want to get Mary upset any more than she already was and hopefully with Mary hearing her calm voice may calm her down some.

  Within hours the bite on Dad’s arm started looking worse than it did before. His fever was up over 103 and he was not making any sense. Beth tried her best to keep calm and everyone calm around her but when her dad finally gave up the fight later on in the evening all Mom did was lay on top of him and cry.

  Beth chose to leave them alone in the bedroom and go get Mary so that the family could be together. When she got Mary into the room she sat her down on the bed and guided her hand over on top of Dad’s hand. They all cried for what seemed to be an hour when finally Beth had to go to the bathroom.

  Her reflection in the mirror looked like it had aged 10 years. After taking a breath Beth turned on the water and cupped her hands to wash her face. When she was finished she grabbed the hand towel so that she could clean up. Just then she heard a scream from the other room.

  Not even thinking Beth reached into the back of her jeans and grabbed her Beretta. Once the door flew open she heard the cries of both of her mom and sister. She didn’t walk but ran into the room where she found her dad sitting up with Mom and Mary under his arms. Her father was biting both her mother and sister, blood was all over his mouth. Her mom screamed, “GET OUT, BETH….SAVE YOURSELF!!!”

  Time for that Moment had stopped. Beth had to assess the situation and assess it quickly. Dad was dead just a few minutes earlier. She knew this because she, herself had checked and he had no pulse. Now he was sitting up in bed with his eyes wide open and blood pouring out of his mouth.

  Suddenly it became clear, the news reports, the boy at Wal-mart and now her own father! Whatever happened at the CDC was highly contagious and had taken her family. There was no way to contain them, no facility nearby and no medicines available.