The Last Days (Books 1-3)

by Julie Cooper Brown

  She missed her mom and dad, she missed Kate and she didn’t really understand what was going on, she only knew that her little purple heart was very important.

  She snuggled closer to John who then put his arm around her and held her tightly.

  “Mojo’s been up there a while.” Kristen said as she looked toward the door that led to the hall. “I’ll go up and see what’s going on. He’s probably just talking to Tank. I’ll be right back.” Troy said getting off the bar stool and grabbing the shotgun to take with him.

  “You never know.” He said.

  He went through the door and up the stairs, he could see Mojo standing still on the office and he was looking at something. He didn’t see that Tank was lying dead on his couch until he actually entered the room.

  His face was bloated and discolored, but the look on his face was peaceful one.

  Neither of them said anything, but Troy handed Mojo the shotgun and patted his shoulder. He turned and went back downstairs with everyone else.

  Kristen looked at him and Belinda asked “Well, they okay?”

  Troy looked down and said “No, Tank’s gone. I reckon Mojo will be back down in a minute.” He said with a heavy sigh.

  “I’m gonna go up with him.” Kristen said as a sob broke form her lips and she stood to go. “No, just stay here. It won’t be long. He needs a minute.”

  Then the shot rang out and they had known that he shot Tank only because he didn’t want to take the chance that he might rise.

  A few seconds later they heard the sound of him coming down the stairs and Mojo entered the room and spoke quietly.

  “No one is to go outside, for any reason. If you want to go outside, you go out alone and you don’t come back.”

  “Hey man, it looked safe; he only wanted his i-pod.” Troy said and Mojo cut him off.

  “It looked safe? So, you let them go outside? It’s a fucking zombie world out there now! Looked safe?”

  The volume of his voice increased on the last two words and everyone looked at him in shock. Troy looked at him and said in a low voice “I’m sorry, man.”

  “Why the fuck are yall looking at me like that? You’re sorry? We have just lost three people! For a goddamn I-pod! What the fuck? And yall are looking at me like I’m nuts!”

  He took a deep breath, “Now Tank is gone, too. I don’t know why. It could’ve been natural but I am not sure. I had to shoot him and I am pissed right now. Don’t any of you, go back outside. You want to do something? What? There’s NOTHING BUT DEATH out there! Be my guest; just don’t pull the rest of us down with you.”

  With that he went through the basement door and Kristen followed him.

  “No, Kristen. I need to be alone.”

  She turned and went back to sit at the bar with the rest of them….

  Part Two

  September 9th 2013

  For the forty years that Dr. Stephen Pierce has been working in this field, he always made absolutely sure that his working space was immaculate. Files and other lab tools were placed on other tables. He could not afford for there to be accidents with the kind of samples that he frequently tested. Besides being afraid of tripping over something and dropping the samples, he also preferred to stand. So he removed all chairs and stools that were within twenty feet of his work space.

  He has been accused of being overly cautious at times, but he could not be careful enough when it came to handling these viruses, especially the one he was peering through the microscope at right now.

  X3LZ-22 had originally been created to help with immunization for a rare strain of Influenza that swept through the nation a year before. It killed over 2000 people. They needed an inoculation in case that strain resurfaced in public. Somehow, it only strengthened and mutated the virus.

  When the new sample was tested on lab rats, it yielded shocking results. Nothing like it had ever been seen before.

  They first tried it on a pair, male and female.

  The male became lethargic then unresponsive and after a few hours, he stopped breathing. The female took a lot longer to react to the virus, immobile and breathing heavily for several hours.

  Dr. Pierce went to his desk to jot down of few notes and when he returned to remove the deceased rat, the male was once again alive but acting very strangely. The female had not succumb to death as of yet, and the male was put into her cage and he immediately attacked the female aggressively, relentlessly biting her and swallowing the flesh he had ripped away from her squirming body.

  When tested on several other rats, some of them became fiercely violent within as little as thirty minutes, the others took quite a few hours to cease breathing and reawaken. They had conducted a brain scan on two of the rats, and recorded brain activity still, even after “death”. And upon further research they also found that their hearts do not completely stop beating. The results showed that there was one heartbeat every four to five minutes, which was very strange indeed. The brain should not have been able to function with such a gap between heart beats. It did not allow sufficient blood flow, as well as encouraging and speeding up the process of decomposing the body. All respiratory function ceased. What was the point of the beating heart?

  When done with all test rats they had had tried gassing and overdosing the rats, but they would not die. Nothing short of smashing its head by dropping weights on them, could keep them down, making the discovery that you had to destroy the brain in order to destroy the virus.

  Further tests had shown that it could only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and or an injury caused by the infected.

  This could not be tested on humans. The results would be disastrous.

  And this was why he had to be so very careful with this one. He did not want to try to improve it, it was useless now. It would have to be frozen and disposed of, as are all dangerous samples. What he wanted was to find out what element of the virus was causing the reanimation and violent reactions. If he could isolate the genes that reanimate, they could be thoroughly examined and possibly used for other purposes.

  He had been at this for five hours now, and he could not tell which gene was responsible for the reawakening.

  Growing frustrated, he removed the slide from the microscope and put it in a secure container labeled ‘Biohazard’ and removed his gloves. He then unclipped his I.D. badge and swiped it to exit the room. It sealed shut behind him.

  He had worked up an appetite and now it was lunchtime. He bumped into the new courier on his way to the cafeteria, he had not met him before and he wanted to take the time to say hello, but the young man seemed a bit nervous.

  He said hello and quickly made an excuse for why he couldn’t stand and chat with the Dr. for a moment. Not really thinking much of it, Dr. Pierce continued on with thoughts of a cold tuna sandwich and hot fries.

  Brady, a scrawny, timid little man with an exceptionally pretty face thought himself insane that he was going along with this.

  He had never been a thief or liar. He had never disrespected any one, in any way. He had never even hurt a fly. Two million dollars in his account was enough to convince him to participate.

  He’d never have to work again; his wife would get off his back about the mortgage and the car payment. He could buy a houseboat as well and vacation on it whenever he wanted, if possible; without the Missus. Didn’t someone once say that money is the root of all evil?

  At first he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to get the key card. It was easy enough though his nerves almost gave him away. The good doctor had no clue.

  Brady rushed down the hall when he saw Dr. Pierce, pretended to be looking at something on the wall and slammed right into him. Brady’s hand went into the pocket of Dr. Pierce’s his lab coat and swiftly removed the card. Pierce didn’t even know, in fact he acted as though he wanted to talk.

  The doctor held out his hand for a shake and began to introduce his self, but Brady, who was still moving fast, turned to mumble that he had somewhere
to be. It was a little rude, but given Pierce’s reputation he wouldn’t dwell on it long. He was betting it would be harder to give it back than it was to take it.

  What do they want with this anyway? He thought as he looked at the writing on the small piece of paper he had been given. X3LZ-22.

  He approached the door and swiped the security card. The red light blinked twice and turned green. The buzzer sounded and he entered the room. When he walked into the room he was amazed at the brightness of it, everything shining silver and white and completely immaculate.

  He looked around for a clue of where to begin. The door to the large walk-in freezer labeled with a great big BIOHAZARD sign would be the most logical place to start. He didn’t know how much time he had, it seemed like twenty minutes had gone by already.

  He was scared to death of getting caught; he just wanted to get it over with. Make his withdraw from the bank and disappear far, far away from here. As he walked past the worktable towards the freezer something red caught his eye.

  He turned to look and advanced toward the table. It was a red box, rectangle in shape. He approached the table and saw that it was marked biohazard as well and the white lettering on the top of the box, neatly written in white grease pencil, X3LZ-22.

  If this wasn’t luck, he didn’t know what was. He breathed a sigh of relief, he would have to search no further. He held the case in his hand; he wondered what a virus looked like. He thought that he probably wouldn’t be able to see it anyway, that to the naked eye it would be invisible. Unfortunately, his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He opened the box with the off handed thought that he should’ve done it with gloves on. It’s too late now.

  He removed the slide from its case and confirmed what he already knew, that it could not be seen. He held it a little closer to his face, though he dared not breathe. He didn’t know what it was but he didn’t want to accidentally inhale it.

  He strained to see if there was anything at all and saw only a faint outline of the smear the swab that had passed over it left behind. He removed the top slide and laid it on the table, not realizing the he had laid it sample side down, smearing the virus on the edge.

  He was so involved in his study of the slide and replacing the top piece back on that he didn’t know that he had replaced it virus side up this time, nor did he hear the buzzer sound and the soft swish of the door sliding open.

  “What are you doing?” Dr. Pierce’s eyes were wide and he held his hands out to show that he was not going to attack in any way. He had wondered what happened to his extra key card, and now he knew. Brady had swiped it from him and he didn’t even feel it.

  He pushed thoughts of the key card away and tried to remain calm. He did not want a struggle to get it back. He wasn’t sure if Carl had made any progress on a cure for this particular virus, he hadn’t heard from him in weeks.

  The last he had heard was that Carl had come up with a temporary solution, a sort of muscle relaxer that only caused the infected rats to become immobile and lie there with their eyes darting about. If this were to get out now, he wasn’t sure if they could control it.

  Brady stood frozen, like a deer caught in headlights and before he could concoct a plausible story.

  “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here.’ Said Dr.Pierce “We can talk about it, whatever it is, but you MUST put the slide back in the case and place it on the table. Be slow and careful. We do not want that to get out.”

  “I’m sorry Doctor. I have to have it. Please just let me walk out of here. I won’t hurt you, I promise. I really need this.” Brady, having premonitions of losing two million dollars and the rest of his life over this little piece of glass he was holding by the edges, began sweating bullets that streamed down his face in rivulets, dampening his shirt.

  “You cannot take that out of here. That could potentially wipe out half the population, we have no cure! Trust me, nothing good came come of this.” He said as he began to sweat substantially as well.

  Brady eyes the doctor and guessed him to be maybe sixty five, give or take a year. He was sure he could over power him. He tried to rush past Dr. Peirce and did not expect the strength that the aged man possessed.

  Dr. Pierce latched onto his shoulders and the only thing Brady could do was lift his hands to push Dr. Pierce off of him. By complete accident the slide had dropped out of Brady’s fingers and down into the Doctors shirt collar. The sweat that had accumulated there, caused the slide to adhere to his neck, and a faint tingling began where the slide was stuck to his neck.

  Dr. Pierce knew then that the slide had been tampered with and the virus was seeping into his pores, thus beginning the infection of Dr. Pierce. Both men became still and quiet.

  Dr. Pierce stumbled away from Brady. He peeled the slide from his neck, placed it in the biohazard trash bin beside the table. Brady remained standing in shock. “Doctor… what will that do to you?” He asked in a quiet whisper.

  “You just killed me…” He replied as he dazedly walked to the emergency phone, dialed two numbers, and said three words. “Biohazard Security Breach.”

  The alarms sounded and within seconds several security guards in hazmat suits entered the room and they apprehended Brady. “Take him to room four and I will go to room five. Have this trash bin incinerated immediately after I exit the room.”

  Dr. Pierce got his hazmat suit off the hook on the wall put it on. He then picked up the emergency phone again but only to call his good friend and colleague, Dr. Carl O’Dey to explain the situation.

  When the conversation was over, he ripped the cord from the wall and placed the phone in the biohazard container as well.

  The cleanup crew did as they were told and were satisfied that all traces were removed by removing the biohazard bin.

  No one had known the virus had been smeared onto the table, so when the night janitor came in to clean the room and empty regular trash, he placed his hand on the table to hold himself up while leaning over to pick up a small piece of paper that Brady had dropped.

  He looked at the piece of paper, saw the code and decided it wasn’t important; he crumbled it up, switched it to his now contaminated hand, tossed it in the garbage and proceeded to sweep and mop.

  Though it was against the rules, the janitor worked gloveless, and he had a nasty habit of not washing his hands after work, or play, or even rest room visits.

  At the end of his shift, he clocked out and went home to his wife.

  They made love that night and he used the same infected hand to touch and enter her in her intimate places.

  His wife went to work the next morning as usual, to the local high school where she worked as a calculus teacher to freshmen. Soon after arriving she had become dizzy and feverish, developing a horrid nosebleed that flowed ever too freely, leaving her face pale and pasty, and unsteady on her feet.

  A caring student rushed up to try to help her staunch the bleed, getting blood all over his hands and shirt cuffs.

  He accompanied her to the school nurse while she waited for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. The student stayed with her and bought a coffee from the machine while waiting.

  He fed the coins in the slot with dried blood flaking off his fingers with every one and contaminating the hospital coffee machine. And in this manner the infection was released into the general public.

  September 21st

  “Do you understand the destruction you have caused?”

  Brady did not answer.

  “Do you understand the disease that you have let out? Do you have anything at all… to say for yourself?”

  Agent Jack Kelly circled the table where Brady sat cuffed to the chair. He was very nervous and tired and hungry. He could not wait to get home.

  “I’m sorry,” he cried “I didn’t know what it was; they offered me two million dollars! I just thought I would be returning something that may have been stolen from them. Two million! To steal a slide and bring it back. I thought, ‘nooo problem’.
Great! Hey, send me to steal the real live version of zombie juice! It’s okay! I don’t mind! Fuckers! My luck, I knew it sounded too good to be true.” He said while pretending to ignore the two way mirror in front of him. It didn’t matter, no one was behind it.

  “They wanted you to steal a virus from the CDC, and you had to steal a level 5 security clearance card to get to the virus…”

  “I didn’t know it was a virus!” Brady yelled and fought his restraints.

  “Don’t yell at me! You might’ve not known it was a virus, but you had to know it would be dangerous! It’s locked up in the goddamned CDC! What did you think it would be?” Jack screamed back at him and slapped his hand down on the table. He rubbed his temples to try and relieve the migraine that had set in and spoke in a quiet voice.

  “Brady, you come off as somewhat of a … smart man. It seems like you could’ve put two and two together. I wanna show you something… Now, I know you’re feeling alright because you have been quarantined for the last twelve days, it only takes three to change, if you had been infected.”

  He picked the remote up from the table and turned on the monitor.

  “No, you got lucky. Poor Dr. Pierce didn’t. He was a world renowned scientist, reduced to a docile yet dangerous monstrosity, such a sad ending for such a great guy. We had to blow his brains out, and it was more for him than it was for us!”

  There was a quick rap on the door just before Pat walked in carrying a CD case, which she handed to Jack. Pat is Jack’s partner and friend. He had known her for 25 years and it seemed like forever at the time. He was only forty eight, and looked everyday more like a sixty year old. Crow’s feet gathered at the corners of his hazel eyes, a full beard with lots of gray streaking the auburn beard he’s accumulated after a month without shaving. He was what you might call ruggedly handsome.

  Pat being in her early sixties didn’t look a day over 45, her shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and large brown eyes gave her an air of youth. They had no romantic interest in each other but they made a great team.