When the Stars Fell From the Sky

by David Spell

  Edwards had known and been friends with Rebecca Johnson. They hadn't been close, but the two women had worked well together and shared a mutual respect. Nicole knew that Rebecca and Chuck had a thing for each other. It was hard to miss, even from a distance. On more than one occasion, Nicole had thought to herself, 'You're one lucky girl, Rebecca. That is a good looking man.'

  In reality, the attractive brunette researcher had never even spoken to Chuck McCain. A girl could hope, though, she told herself. For now, Edwards said a silent prayer for his protection and for the protection of the men who were with him.

  At 1:00am, the word came from the CDC Director that they needed to pack up and leave. They were to take whatever they needed to work in another location for a few days. Darrell Parker was the security supervisor on duty and he sent his four officers to make sure the building was evacuated.

  Nicole and Salman were almost packed up and ready to go at 1:30am. She hated to leave because she felt they were so close to a breakthrough. She placed several vials of their current project securely in her padded briefcase.

  "What about the mice?" asked Kumar.

  "I forgot about them. I guess we need to euthanize all of them. It may be several days before they let us back into the building."

  "Ok, I'll take care of it while you finish up in here," the assistant said.

  The room with the test animals was adjacent to their lab, separated by one door. As Salman went to take care of the unpleasant task, Nicole stuck a memory stick into her computer to save her work and then began shutting the computer down. A gasp came from the adjoining room and then the sound of a mouse squealing.

  "Salman, are you ok?"

  There was no answer. She walked over, opened the door, and saw her assistant standing on the dead body of one of the small rodents. His brown face looked pale.

  "What happened?" she asked, concern in her voice.

  "I...I must've messed up and not secured one of the cages. This little guy escaped and I was trying to find him. He snuck up behind me and nipped me on the ankle. I had to step on him. Sorry. I know, not the most ethical way to euthanize a lab animal."

  He tried to smile. "I'm fine, though. I don't think it broke the skin."

  "Come back in here and let's check you out," Nicole said.

  Kumar walked slowly back into the lab. His steps were unsteady and his boss guided him into a chair. She grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and slipped them on before slowly pulling the young man's pants leg up. A drop of blood dripped onto the laboratory floor. There were four small holes just above his ankle. More blood oozed out of the wounds.

  "You're bleeding. It did break the skin. Let me get the first-aid kit."

  "Oh, that's not good." He was having trouble breathing now, trying to suck oxygen in.

  Edwards returned and opened the kit, pulling out several antiseptic wipes. She looked up and saw Salman had his eyes closed and his breathing had become shallow. She needed to call for help.

  Nicole dropped the wipes and rushed over to her desk and dialed the number for the security office. There was no answer. They were probably helping everybody get out. She dialed 911. There was a fire station less than a block away but every call had to be routed through the 911 Center.

  As the phone rang, she looked at Salman. His eyes were still closed and he was slouched over in the chair. Suddenly, he gasped loudly and his head slumped to his chest.

  "Somebody, please answer the phone," she said.

  There was a click on the other end of the line and a recording letting her know that her call was very important but all of the 911 operators were busy and would be with her as soon as possible. The bombings, she thought. That's why no one is answering. All of the police and fire units are busy. Nicole hung the phone up.

  I'm on my own but what do I do? Could he be infected? Several of those mice had received injections of the virus and the experimental vaccine. How did that work? Would it be possible to get infected from the bite of an infected test mouse? Yes, that was very possible, she thought.

  Nicole walked back over to her assistant and watched him. He did not appear to be breathing. She placed her fingers on his carotid artery to check for a pulse. There was none. Oh, my God! she thought. What now?

  Dr. Edwards eased Kumar to the floor and onto his back. She started chest compressions on him, feeling a couple of his ribs crack under the pressure. It had been a while since her last CPR certification but she remembered that they were now teaching that chest compressions were more important than the rescue breathing. That's good, because there's no way I am blowing into his mouth.

  After several minutes, her arms began to tire. Nicole remembered that there was a portable defibrillator in every break room. She got to her feet and rushed for the exit. Before she got there, the door to her lab opened.

  Security supervisor, Darrell Parker, was in the doorway. "Hi, Dr. Edwards. You guys packed up? We need to get y'all out of here."

  "Please, I need help. Salman is on the floor over there. He got bit by a lab rat. I was doing CPR but he's unresponsive. I was going to get the defibrillator."

  Parker walked over to where the inert form was lying on the floor. He had retired from the City of Baltimore Police Department as a sergeant. After twenty-seven years of service, there was nothing he had not seen and this did not look good.

  "I'll go get the defib if you want to keep doing CPR," Darrell said.

  He rushed out the door, down the hallway to the break room. When he got back to the lab, Darrell heard a loud growling sound coming from inside and then a woman's scream. He placed the device on the floor and drew his revolver. Parker had never converted over to semi-automatic pistols. His Smith & Wesson Model 10 in .38 Special had always treated him right. He had been in two shootings in his police career and his wheel gun had not let him down.

  "Salman, no!" Dr. Edward's voice carried through the door. "Help!" she yelled.

  Darrell pushed open the door and rushed in. Dr. Edwards was on the floor, fighting for her life. Kumar held a handful of her long, brown hair with his left hand and was trying to pull her face to his mouth. Her right hand was under his chin, trying to keep his mouth closed. Her left hand was pushing against his right arm as it tried to wrap her in a deadly embrace.

  Parker was sixty-two years old but a lifetime of law enforcement experience propelled him into action. He placed his right boot over Salman's face, pinning his head to the floor. Nicole threw herself backwards, leaving a handful of her tresses in Kumar's hand. She scrambled away, gasping.

  "Now Dr. Kumar, you need to stop that and calm down," the security supervisor ordered.

  Salman wasn't a doctor but Darrell promoted everyone, calling them doctor or director. That was one of the reasons why everyone loved him. The only answer he received was a growl and hands reaching for his legs.

  "Darrell, I think he's infected with the virus. Don't let him bite you."

  Parker's friend, Chuck McCain, had told him to always shoot them in the head. This was his first time dealing with an infected person but he was thankful for Chuck's advice. He stepped back quickly, removing his foot from Kumar's head.

  Darrell fired a single round into the infected man's forehead. The shot was loud in the enclosed room and blood splattered several inches into the air but Salman now lay still.

  "I'm sorry about that, Dr. Edwards. Mr. McCain says that's the only way stop one after they've turned into a zombie."

  "I know, Darrell. I'm sorry, too." Tears streamed down her face as she watched blood and brain matter run out of the hole in her former assistant's head.

  Darrell and Nicole were the only two left in the building after the incident with Salman. After helping the rest of the staff leave, Parker had ordered his men to start for home themselves. He had been planning on doing the same after getting Edwards and Kumar out.

  Now, he helped Dr. Edwards carry some of her things to the elevator and rode with her to the second floor parking deck. The lights in the ele
vator started flickering. He would walk her out to her car and make sure she got away safely. I guess I need to report that shooting, he thought, but who do I report it to? Everybody is kind of busy right now. What do we do with that body? I'll need to call somebody. We can't just leave a dead body in that lab.

  The lights in the hallway went out just as Nicole opened the door and stepped outside onto the parking deck. Darrell was carrying two of her bags, a padded bag of samples and experiments, as well as her laptop bag. When the door shut behind them, they realized they were in trouble. Nine bloody, shuffling figures were scattered throughout the parking area.

  The noise of the exit door closing got their attention and they all started growling. Darrell dropped the bags and drew his gun as the group advanced towards their newest victims. A small black Honda was parked alone on the left side of the deck and Dr. Edwards' Toyota was parked on the right. The zombies had to walk around the cars to get to their victims.

  "Back inside. Open the door," Darrell directed.

  Nicole fumbled, trying to get her ID card out of her purse. A gunshot echoed across the parking deck and then another. The growling got louder and closer. Darrell's first shot struck the closest zombie in the chest. Old habits, he thought. He raised the sights and his second .38 Special round hit the Z in the face.

  Another one rushed towards him. Parker fired and missed but his next shot hit the infected Hispanic woman in the nose. Edwards finally got her card out and swiped it but nothing happened. She ran it through again. The green light showing access did not come on. Another shot dropped a third zombie.

  "Something's wrong, Darrell. It won't open," she said.

  "Here, take my keys," he said, grabbing at the keys on his belt. "That big one's the master key."

  He sighted in on a young black man who was only fifteen feet away. The young man's loose pants had slipped below his waist and were slowing him down. The gun clicked empty. Rookie mistake, old man, Darrell told himself. You didn't reload after shooting Kumar.

  Parker popped open the revolver's cylinder, quickly dumped the empty brass onto the ground, and grabbed a speed loader off of his belt. With a practiced fluidity he loaded the six bullets, slammed the cylinder shut, and put one hollow point into the fashion-challenged zombie's forehead. He heard the keys jingling behind him as Dr. Edwards unlocked the door.

  Suddenly, a tall, white woman with half of her face chewed away was grabbing for him. Darrell fired, the round entering under her chin and carrying on into the brain, sending her to the pavement.

  "We're in," Nicole said.

  The security officer backed towards the door. The last four were still ten yards away and he held his fire. Edwards pulled him inside into a darkened hallway.

  "Are you ok?" she asked him.

  Parker realized he was panting. He holstered his revolver and felt for the light switch. Nothing happened when he flipped it. They both jumped when the remaining Zs slammed into the other side of the door they had just rushed through.

  "That was close, but I'm fine," he said.

  "Why are the lights off?" the doctor asked.

  "I don't know, ma'am," he said pulling a small flashlight from his belt and turning it on.

  He led her down one flight of stairs to the main level where the security office was located. It was just off of the lobby. Once he got in there, he could call for help, he hoped. It was a good secure location and he would feel safer there.

  "We'll go to the security office. We'll be ok in there until we can figure out what to do," Darrell told the woman.

  "Oh, no, my bags! They're outside. They have samples of the vaccine that I'm working on! And my computer is out there, too."

  "Well, I'm sorry about that, Dr. Edwards, but I'm not going back out there. We'll worry about it later. Let's go get someplace safe.

  When they got to the lobby, there was enough light that they could see a few figures shuffling around the front entrance of the building. Darrell kept his flashlight off but had his revolver ready to go. He had reloaded his cylinder this time.

  They only needed to cross the lobby, about thirty feet, and they would be at the security office. They moved slowly, not wanting to attract the attention of the infected. Halfway there, Nicole slammed into one of the leather chairs that are scattered around the large atrium. The noise did not go undetected.

  Growling figures threw themselves into the large glass doors. For the moment, the two survivors were safe and got to the security office, locking themselves inside. A few minutes later, they could hear glass breaking as the front doors gave way and twenty infected rushed into the lobby, looking for their prey.

  Darrell and Nicole sat quietly in the dark office, not wanting to alert the Zs to their hiding place. The windowless room did appear to be safe for the moment. Parker had shone his light around the security office so Edwards would know the layout in case they had to move. There were several cubicles, each containing a computer. The door was a solid, heavy metal construction. It would take some work to get through it. The small restroom in the back of the office would be their last stand if the creatures got through the main door.

  They both checked their phones but were unable to get any service. With the power out, the only light they had was from their phones and Darrell's flashlight. The desk phones did not have a ring tone and the power outage had also eliminated their access to wifi. They were completely cut off and surrounded by hostile creatures. They were safe but sitting in the dark was not Nicole's idea of a long-term solution to their problem.

  Nicole and Darrell were now two and half days into their ordeal. They sound of the infected moving around the lobby had been almost non-stop. They spoke very quietly and tried to move as little as possible. There was a small couch in the back of the security office and they took turns napping.

  A small refrigerator contained five bottles of water, which they were trying to stretch out. Several of the security officers had leftover food in the fridge that sustained the two survivors.

  Parker leaned over to Edwards and whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry about this, Dr. Edwards. I thought this was the best place to go. I guess I didn't think it through."

  "It's ok," she told him. "I don't know what else we could have done. There was no way that we were leaving and I don't know if I would want to be wandering around this big building in the dark. Someone will eventually come looking for us. We just have to sit in the dark a little longer."

  "That's right," Darrell said, responding to her optimism. "Somebody will come get us."

  They sat quietly for a moment and then Parker spoke again. "I just hope we're still alive when they get here."

  #

  CDC HQ, Monday, 1600 hours

  It took almost an hour to cover the last few miles. Inside the perimeter, more and more cars were abandoned on the roadway and they started to encounter groups of infected. They only shot the ones they absolutely had to shoot to keep moving.

  Andy and Scotty were now in the lead vehicle. Fleming plotted the best course using the live drone feed on his laptop. Smith drove following his partner's directions. Just south of the CDC is Emory University. The school had reportedly been evacuated late Friday night but they didn't want to take any chances of running into large groups of infected university students.

  The area around the CDC's headquarters contained restaurants, hotels, and neighborhoods. All of the federal officers had their heads on swivels and their weapons ready as they got close to their destination. When they got to Clifton Road, their senses went into hyperdrive as they saw the big building they were heading for sitting one block up on their right. The traffic light hanging in the intersection was not working.

  "Looks like the power's out in the area," said Andy.

  There were no Zs close so they paused before continuing straight on Houston Mill Road. This would take them behind the CDC compound to the parking decks. Suddenly, a group of about twenty stepped out into the roadway two hundred yards away. They started movi
ng towards the four SUVs.

  Scotty gunned it across Clifton Road with the other three vehicles following. When they got to the employee parking entrance, they saw that the metal gate was standing open. The parking deck had five levels to accommodate the many scientists, researchers, administrators, support staff, and now, enforcement branch. The enforcement agents normally parked on the lower level, nearest to their offices.

  As they sped down the driveway to the parking decks, two large women, one African-American and the other white, jumped out in front of the lead vehicle. There was no time to stop so Smith accelerated, hitting both of them. The black zombie flew off to the side while the other bounced up on the hood, her red, glazed-over eyes making eye contact with Andy as her faced smashed into the windshield, cracking it. She fell off of the vehicle as Scotty jerked the steering wheel to the left.

  They could see several infected on the first level parking deck and also several bodies stretched out on the pavement. The entrance dipped down into the dark, basement access parking. Their headlights illuminated four figures next to a compact car with the driver's door standing open. The Zs huddled over a uniformed body, ripping it apart.

  The sound of engines caused the zombies to lose interest in the dead CDC security guard and move in the direction of their new prey. Andy's suppressed M4 spoke and an older white male's head exploded. The rifle fired again and a waitress from the cafe across the street collapsed to the pavement. Jimmy and Eddie were in the passenger seats of their vehicles and they shot the last two.

  Chuck had briefed them on how he wanted their vehicles positioned and each driver turned their SUV and backed into position. The four cars were set up in an inverted V around their door. Those in the two left cars would have to exit on the passenger side and those in the two right cars would have to get out on the driver's side. Parking in this way created a safety zone for the agents to get in and out of their vehicles in a hostile environment.