Emma opened the box, and to her surprise, the keys were there. She didn’t waste any time. She grabbed the keys and headed outside the room. She ran down the hallway and to the top of the stairs. She was about to go down, but she noticed a shadow coming from the dining room. “Hello?” Emma said, though wishing she hadn’t asked, but it was too late now. Whoever was downstairs had already heard her and was coming. She remained still, waiting to see who it was. “Dad? “Emma said.
She was strong girl but this was too much for her to handle, her eyes got watery and she screamed toward the thing downstairs. It was not her dad anymore, and she knew it. Emma’s dad approached the bottom of the stairs, drooling blood from his mouth, eyes, and ears. He crawled up the first couple of steps and let out scream that echoed through the house. Emma screamed again, and turned to her right noticing the large flowerpot her mom bough a few weeks ago. She grabbed it, picked it up as high as she could, and sent it flying down the stairs. Emma didn’t wait to see if the pot hit her target or not. She sprinted as fast as she could to her room. Emma closed the door and jumped on her bed. She opened the window and started to crawl out of it to freedom when she heard a hard banging on her door. Emma had seen too many movies to stay there like a fool, waiting to be killed. She spent no time in getting all the way down to the backyard. She had been practicing escaping every other night to be with Jason, so this time was no different except that if she had been keeping record of how fast she climbed down, today she would have beat every other time.
Emma ran toward the driveway, unlocked the car, and got in. For a moment, she felt dumb because she couldn’t find the ignition. She took a deep breath, started the car, and headed toward her grandma’s house. She could hear ambulances and police sirens in the distance, but nothing was in sight. Emma didn’t pay attention to anything on the road. She was glad when she hit I44. Emma knew she had about an hours drive to her grandma’s house. She was surprised to see
the empty highway in front of her. She pushed the gas a little harder, wanting to reach her grandma’s house as soon as she could. “Why the hell am I rushing to Mom, if she is not even worried enough to call me again?” Emma thought.
She had forgotten that the phone she used was Jason’s cell phone, not the one her parent’s had bought her last year. She got mad just thinking about it, and threw the phone on the passenger seat. Emma hit the gas and sped up as fast as her car would go. She was confident of her driving skills, like every other teenager in the world. She felt proud of herself for being so independent. She wondered whatever happened to Jason and then thought of him as another douche bag that would have dragged her down. She was daydreaming and didn’t notice the cell phone was ringing.
When she realized the cell phone was ringing, she looked at the passenger seat and reached for it. She tried to look at the display screen to see who was calling, but something on the road caught her attention. There was a car parked in the middle of the highway. She dropped the phone and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. She released the gas pedal and hit the brakes and her car zig-zagged to the right. She was able to avoid a head-on collision but the driver side hit the parked car, sending her straight to the safety rail. She knew it was too late to avoid the rail so she braced for the worse, closed her eyes, and apologized to her mom and dad. She was about to die, and she’d never had the time to say she was sorry for everything she had done. Emma opened her eyes and everything slowed down, but she still couldn’t do anything to stop what it was coming to her. She couldn’t believe how big of a bitch she had been to her family, and even that douche bag Jason. But now that she was facing death, she didn’t have any other option than to tell them that she was sorry.
She knew nobody was going to hear her apologies, and nobody was going to tell her not to worry about it. She wanted to die with a clean conscious, after all, she wouldn’t have to worry about her family any more, and whatever was happening out there with her dad and everyone else was no longer her problem. Finally she was free, a way out of the madness in her family and this world. The impact of the car sent Emma’s forehead straight to the steering wheel, knocking her out in an instant, the car continued to spin until it came to a halt at the bottom of the ditch.
CHAPTER FOUR
Dr. Moore
Outside the room, Dr. Moore came across small crowd of co-workers waiting for some answers. Dr. Moore didn’t hesitate. He got everyone up to speed, and informed them how crucial it was to collect everyone’s blood samples and analyze them. He was able to gather enough personnel to split them into two groups, those that drew blood and those that would take care of the lab work.
A few hours had passed and all the employees had been tested. About 90 percent of them were gathered in the lobby, the rest were in the lower levels of the building helping Dr. Meacham and Dr. Moore with all the lab work.
“All of them, all of us, are infected, how is this even possible?” Meacham said, striking the metal desk where all the blood samples sat with his fist. He looked across the desk toward Dr. Moore. Before he could say another word, Dr. Moore interrupted him with another question
“What you want us to do?”
“I don’t know, I really don’t know. What happens if we are the only ones infected? What if the disease originated from within these walls? If that is the case, I don’t want to expose my family to THAT!!!” He gestured to Dr. Whitney.
“We are going to remain in lock down while we keep conducting more tests,” Dr. Meacham said. It really didn’t bother Dr. Moore since lock downs were not that rare. After all, they worked in the CDC, where the most deadly viruses were stored. Though, this time was for real, this time it could affect the rest of human kind.
“The main focus now is to figure out how the disease works, and how it affects the human body. We need to work together and find what triggered it. Chris, can you tell everyone that quarantine procedures will remain in effect until further notice, and nobody is allowed to call home? Please tell security to collect all cell phones. Thanks,” Dr. Meacham said.
Dr. Meacham thought a moment about his ex-wife, and then of his son. He felt like a terrible father. He knew it was his fault that his marriage had gone down the drain. He spent most of his time working, and didn’t spend time with his wife or kid. He remembered his wife telling him about his son trying to show him a cool article about zombies, but he was too involved with his work, and had paid no attention to his son. Dr. Meacham had spent so much time putting work first and family second, it had taken a toll on his marriage, and father/son relationship.
That’s why his wife left him a year ago. He felt betrayed by her, but the feeling didn’t last long, because he went right back to work. She kept custody of their son during the week, and he only saw him on the weekends. Even after the divorce and custody arrangement, he didn’t comply with his paternal duties since he had to work during the weekends. He was so inside of his own thoughts, he didn’t notice how vulnerable he looked in front of his fellow employees. Everyone in the room shifted their attention from Dr. Whitney to him, they were all trying to figure out what was going through his mind.
“Did he figure it out?” someone whispered from the group.
All his subordinates, including Dr. Moore, were staring at him, but he was lost inside his mind. Dr. Meacham couldn’t figure out what caused it. The problem was he was not sure how long the incubation period would last. He didn’t even knew how long Dr. Whitney was infected before she started showing symptoms earlier that morning.
According to all the video footage and records his subordinates had gathered, there was no evidence Dr. Whitney was infected last week. And since nobody else had shown symptoms, it was safe to assume that everyone who was infected, got infected today. Maybe he could stop the progression and symptoms, but he needed to act fast. He knew that according to the surveillance videos, Dr. Whitney started having seizures, convulsing, bleeding, and looking like the exorcist within minutes from her first seizure. Dr. Meacham ignored al
l the eyes on him and walked toward the glass window, silence filled the room. The inhale and exhale of everyone in the room was the only sound, patient “zero” had died an hour ago. He couldn’t stop staring at her hollow eyes, now with dried blood running down her face. He couldn’t save her like he couldn’t save his marriage. He’d been so involved in his thoughts, that he didn’t hear the phone ringing behind him.
Dr. Moore picked up the phone, and tried to get Dr. Meacham’s attention. “Dr. Meacham is for you. Dr. Meacham, you have a phone call.”
Dr. Meacham turned around, still inside his own mind, and walked toward the desk where the phone was located. Dr. Moore handed over the phone. All eyes in the room were glued to him, and he tried to avoid them, focusing his attention to the phone mic.
“Hello, this is Dr. Meacham.” He raised his head and glanced at Dr. Moore, at that moment he knew the world would never be the same, and no one was going to be able to stop the madness that was coming.
Dr. Moore was dying to know who was on the phone, and why they didn’t want to talk to him or anyone else, they only asked for Dr. Meacham. Who could it be? He knew that whatever they told him was not good news.
“I understand, thank you for calling.”
Dr. Meacham hung up the phone, not even bothering to put it down the right way. He pushed his way out of the crowded office, opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Dr. Moore followed him, closing the door behind him.
“What happened, who was that on the phone?” Dr. Moore asked, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him back. Dr. Meacham turned around with watery eyes. “Terminate the lock down and go home, send everyone home,” Dr. Meacham told him. “What are you talking about? Tell me,” Dr. Moore asked with a firm voice.
All Dr. Meacham could do was to keep walking toward the elevator. “I am going to see my family and play with my son, you should do the same,” Dr. Meacham said, waving his hand and saying goodbye. He got into the elevator and disappeared behind the metal doors.
Dr. Moore stared at the elevator doors for a second, then turned around and went back into the office. He pointed at Dr. Barkley, “I need to know who called, who was on the phone?”
“Dr. Moore, Dr. Meacham never hung up the phone,” Dr. Barkley handed over the phone speaker to Dr. Moore.
“Hello, this is Dr. Moore, who is this?”
A brief silence through the phone speaker, made him a little nervous.
“Where is Dr. Meacham?”
“He left, what did you say to him and who are you?”
“This is ECDC, and I am Dr. Spranger. I was informing Dr. Meacham about an outbreak of some type here, we already have 3 cases and no leads. All of them are showing the same symptoms; bloody eyes, blood dripping down their noses, and ears.”
“We have patients with the same symptoms here, it was one of our colleagues. We ran a blood test on everyone in the building and everyone is infected. Hello? Dr. Spranger, you there?”
No sound was coming out of the speaker, Dr.Moore thought that maybe Dr. Spranger was in shock, until a heavy breathing filled the phone line.
“Hello? Hello? Doctor you still there?” Dr. Moore asked. He was wondering what happened, why Dr. Meacham left, and why he told him to let everyone go. He was about to ask Dr. Spranger when an unholy scream drilled through his ear, shaking every cell in his body. He let go of the phone. The scream was so loud that the rest of the people in the room heard it. They all covered their mouths in shock. They could still hear the screams through the broken phone speaker. Filled with fear, his heart beating a thousand miles per hour, all he could do was listen to the screams coming over the phone. Dr. Moore lifted his head and looked straight ahead toward the glass window, and to his horror, patient “zero” slowly raised her head and looked straight at him.
They made eye contact, and for a second or two he thought he was dreaming, having a nightmare. He was so wrong. She slowly opened her mouth and let out the same unholy scream still being heard through the phone speaker. Everyone in the room was in shock, too scared to move, or maybe just waiting for Dr. Moore to tell them what to do since he was the next one in charge.
“Everyone out, lock down is over. Dr. Barkley, I need you to execute protocol and neutralize patient “zero.” Everyone else in the room left, some ran down the hallway toward the elevator, others, trying to stay civilized, walked as fast as they could. They all headed to the same place. They all needed to go back to their respective workstations to pick up their car keys, and then stop by the lobby to pick-up their cell phones, before they departed the building. Dr. Moore knew he had to do the same, but first he had to make sure patient “zero” was completely neutralized. The screams coming from the containment room trembled him to his core, he told Dr. Barkley to leave and that he’d take care of the rest.
An hour passed and he was finally done with the reports and the cleaning of the containment room. He decide to go back, pick up his cell phone from the front desk, and go home.
The elevator doors opened on the 3rd floor. Everything was so quiet, no typing, no phone ringing, and nobody having their normal late night conversation. He stepped outside the elevator and walked down to his office to pickup his wallet and car keys, turn off the computer monitor, and lock his office. He was headed toward the elevator when he heard the sound of a key chain. He looked around but didn’t see anything. He kept walking straight for the elevator. It had been a really strange day and he knew that it was not over yet, but if the top Doctor left to spend time with his family, well, he could do the same. He took three more steps when he heard the keys rattle again, this time he looked to his left and saw a woman with her back toward him. She was standing in front of the water fountain.
“Hello, Nancy? Is that you?” he asked in a whisper. The woman didn’t reply. It had to be Nancy, but what the hell was she doing? he thought. Having spent hours talking to Nancy during an office party last month, he knew she would never act like that. After the party, she stopped by his office every morning asking how he was doing, and every afternoon, she would stop to say goodbye. The person in front of him was no longer Nancy. He noticed that she was not moving or saying anything, he thought about going to her, but something inside his gut told him to stay away.
The sound of keys filled his ears again. As he turned around to look to the back of the 3rd floor, the image terrified him. All of the 3rd floor employees were gathered on the back corner of the room facing the wall, none of them moving except for the janitor whose keys jingled occasionally with the slight shuffling movement of the group. He didn’t notice them before due to the sensor light the office floor had, and since it only worked by sections, the back of the room was all dark when he walked into his office. To his surprise, all of the lights were on and he could see all of his colleagues standing against the wall.
He kept walking backward toward the elevator, keeping an eye on them, when he bumped into Dr. Perry’s desk and knocked over a Christmas toy Dr. Perry’s son had giving him last year. As soon the toy hit the floor, the stupid thing went off, playing a Christmas song. He kept his eyes focused on the mob gathered in the corner. They all slowly turned around. Their bloody faces and hollow eyes aiming strait at him. He turned around toward the elevator and was about to start running, but the woman was in front of the elevator, like a guard dog with her mouth open and on all fours. He took a quick glance back to the mob, but they were all gone.
His heart stopped for a second, and glancing back to the elevator, he knew if he didn’t get inside and close the door, he would meet a horrible fate. He squatted down and picked up the toy. He pushed the button and threw it to the other side of the cubicles, the thing in front of him hesitated for second before it launched on attack mode toward the toy. Dr. Moore didn’t waste time and ran to the elevator. He entered and pushed the button for the lobby. He looked outside and saw all his co-workers crawling toward him, it seemed like an eternity as he waited for the door to close. His heart was beating so hard, he wondered b
riefly if he was about to have a heart attack. At this point, a heart attack would be a gift, he thought. His face was covered with sweat and tears, and a horrified expression caused by the sight of dead approaching. He couldn’t do anything but stare at what used to be his friends. He closed his eyes and prayed, prayed for his family to be safe and that he would wake up from this bizarre nightmare. He really didn’t care about dying; all he wanted was to ensure his family was safe.
He squeezed his eyes as hard as he could, as if by doing so he would be safe. He could hear the growling of his co-workers getting closer and closer, until the scream from one of them echoed inside the elevator. He could feel them inches from his face, and then silence surrounded him, and he knew this was the end…
CHAPTER FIVE
Dr. Barkley
“Ding” the sound of the elevator bell made him open his eyes, and he realized the doors were closed. He was alive and it needed to stay that way so he could make it back to his family. He rubbed his head, trying to figure out how all this happened. Could he be dreaming? Or maybe some side effects from an invisible gas? But he knew. He knew that everything that was happening was real. Even though adrenaline was still running through his veins, the cold air inside of the elevator was making him tremble.
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