Mountain Sickness: A Zombie Novel

by Frank Martin

  Whatever the reason, it didn't matter now. The immediate threat was gone, but as the unofficial reporter of the epidemic, Georgia knew all too well what was waiting for her outside the station's walls. She had no idea how long she was passed out for or if the storm outside had finally let up. Regardless of the answer, the first thing she needed to do was get up and out of the server room.

  With the dull, metallic taste of blood still lingering in her mouth, Georgia cautiously stood to her feet. Achy muscles and other physical reminders of the fight lingered across her body, and a dizzy head forced her arms out to keep the battered girl from falling over. Once her balance was stable, Georgia started moving towards the door by taking small steps and cradling her bruised sides. Without ever missing a beat, the punk DJ entered the doorway and kept on going while making a conscious effort not to look back into the room.

  She'd been up and down the TORO building a thousand times before, but Georgia never recalled the halls to feel as long and narrow as they did in that moment. Each step shot a small ounce of pain through her body, and it seemed as if the hallway physically grew another foot every time she suffered the ache. Georgia wasn't sure if she was experiencing some type of hallucination. Perhaps it was a side effect of banging her head during the struggle with Malcolm. Or maybe a surge of hopelessness had showered her with dread. Either way, stopping wasn't an option.

  Georgia continued to move through the halls, focusing all her strength on every step forward. Simply putting one foot in front of the other became a tiring event and required more energy than she thought possible.

  For a good portion of the journey her eyes were closed, relying solely on the closest wall for guidance. While moving on autopilot around corners, Georgia's attention was so spent on staying upright that she couldn't tell how long she'd been walking. Without realizing how close she was to it, the distraught girl physically bumped into the front door of the building but felt nervous about her imminent escape. She had to get out because staying inside the radio station wasn’t an option. That much was obvious. But she could only imagine what kind of wintery hell would be waiting for her on the other side.

  With her body almost paralyzed in fear, Georgia had to force herself to turn the handle and push it forward. The door was only open a sliver when a strong light pierced through the crack and blinded her in the face. Using her other hand to shield her eyes, Georgia finished opening the door with her shoulder and burst through into the cold mountain air.

  She took a step forward out of the one-story brick building and her foot immediately sunk down deep into more than a foot of snow. Georgia released the heavy, metal door and it slammed itself shut, leaving the young girl alone and in awe of the sight around her.

  The dark clouds that were gathering overhead when she arrived at work had vanished. The only thing left above her head was a crystal clear plain of blue sky. The sun stood alone, shining bright and strong as if it had been reborn. The tumultuous wind that ruled the air only hours earlier was gone, replaced by a serene and still atmosphere of clean mountain air. But what shocked her the most was the snowy aftermath the blizzard left behind.

  From the TORO building's far corner of the valley, Georgia could usually see all of Telluride, but now the only thing visible in every direction was a pristine sheet of white. The onslaught of the storm had completely buried every surface in its path. The entire canyon from the street to the mountainside was covered in snow. Every house, car, and roof. Every tree, sidewalk, and porch. Not an inch was left untouched by the soft glisten of the Rockies’s white powder.

  It seemed that the storm had left town just as quick as it came in and was replaced by the clearest day Telluride had seen in months. The only thing missing from the scene was any sign of movement. Every way Georgia looked there was not a single person, ravenous or otherwise, in sight. The entire town of Telluride had been transformed into a barren snowfield completely devoid of life.

  Where was the infected mob? Where were the police? Where were the survivors? Or more importantly…were there any to begin with?

  These were just some of the questions racing through Georgia’s mind as she bore witness to the sunny winter wonderland before her. But the most pressing one of all, (and by far the most difficult to answer), was what the hell was she going to do now?

  ***

  An hour had passed since Chris and the two children under his protection emerged from an equipment shack tucked in the middle of the glade. He considered them children in his mind but could already tell the girl would've resented the label. Stephanie represented the stereotypical teenager in today's society that was always so quick to grow up. When in reality she was really just a scared kid who had just lost her whole family in the blink of an eye.

  She seemed like a catatonic zombie herself as the three of them carefully slid down through the forest. Without skis or any other way to get down the mountain, they were forced to either walk through whatever flat terrain they could find or slowly slide down on their backs. They had to be careful not to pick up too much speed or step where they weren't supposed to. There were a million ways one mistake could prove fatal. And Chris was concerned enough about running into a pack of crazed, homicidal skiers that it would be a shame meeting their ends at the hands of the mountain itself.

  It certainly helped that the storm had ended. Chris was worried they might've been snowed in at the shack for days. But when the wind died and the snowfall stopped, the three of them emerged outside into a sparkling white room. The snowy branches of trees blended together into seamless walls of white while the crisp sky above shined as a bright blue ceiling. It was a majestic and mystifying experience. The kids were certainly amazed by it. But Chris was quick to shake off his wonder knowing full well how dangerous the tranquil scene could be.

  Now they were all cautiously making their way down the mountain, being extra sure not to move too fast or disrupt the loose snow accumulated all around them. Chris led the group, mainly keeping the three of them inside the glade. He had a general idea of where they were going, but the blanket of snow draped in every direction made navigating through the woods all the more difficult. For now, just moving down at a slow yet steady pace seemed like the best option.

  Besides the ruffling of their baggy winter clothing, the air was quiet. There was no wind or synchronized chirping of birds to fill the silence. But awkward tension between them continually forced young Ryan to do all he could to generate noise by talking. “So, this is the zombie apocalypse, huh? I wonder if it’s like this across the country. Or around the world even.”

  Stephanie had yet to say a single word during their journey, but Chris gave her the opportunity to respond anyway. When she didn’t, he chimed in so the boy wouldn’t feel neglected. “I don't know.”

  “You're telling me you're not the least bit curious as to how this happened? Is it an old school ‘dead come back to life’ kind of thing? Or maybe a military experiment?”

  Ryan spoke with a nervous enthusiasm, and Chris did his best to interact with the boy while at the same time trying to discourage his thinking. “Right now all I care about is getting us off this mountain.”

  But Ryan ignored the ski patroller’s disinterest by delving deeper into the topic. “Come on! How can you not think about it? I bet it’s a virus, though. In the movies it usually is. Especially since they were running, ya know? Not the slow-walking, living dead kind.”

  Chris was getting ready to respond when Stephanie suddenly stopped in her tracks and snapped at the boy. “You think this is funny?! Like it’s some big joke?!”

  Fearfully caught by surprise, Ryan’s shoulders backed away from the girl, and Chris quickly took a step in between them. “Whoa. Calm down.”

  But Stephanie’s bottled anger continued to flow out of her. “My family is dead. My whole family! And he's acting as if it’s some kind of game.”

  Stephanie waited for Chris to respond, but he simply stared at her, allowing the girl time to take several d
eep breaths and calm her frustration.

  Once the fuel for her outburst had passed, Chris gave the startled boy behind him a quick glance. “Ryan, go on and scout ahead. Not too far, though. Just give us a minute.”

  Without saying a word, Ryan simply turned and continued on down through the trees. Chris was half surprised the boy didn’t put up a fight to stay and gave him credit for understanding the situation. But Stephanie wasn’t so willing to let it go. “You're defending him?”

  After waiting for Ryan to disappear out of earshot, Chris turned to the girl and put on his most calming ski patrol voice. “I’m not defending anyone. He’s a kid. Just a scared little boy who saw an entire room full of people get slaughtered in front of him. Including my girlfriend. Someone he's known for years.”

  With the reality of the situation placed in front of her, Stephanie’s puffed out chest deflated and she took another deep breath to relax. Then, after seeing her sigh, Chris continued on. "He's in shock. We all are. And we're all going to deal with it in our own way. You want to get angry? That’s fine. But get angry at me. Not him. OK?"

  The girl stared back at Chris and refused to nod her head in agreement. She didn't want to concede to him, but the humbled look in her eyes made it obvious to Chris that she got the message.

  It was an odd moment for both of them, and Chris didn’t know exactly how to respond. He was never the best at cooling emotions. He always deferred that job to Sarah. But here he was: physically watching a teenage girl come to terms with a devastating tragedy right in front of his eyes.

  He thought about what to do next but then gave way to a strange instinct inside of him. “Come here.”

  He held out his arms and Stephanie took a single step forward into them. It was the second time that day he consoled the girl, and it still felt just as awkward. But regardless, he could tell by the tightness in her arms as she pulled herself into his chest that it was the right thing to do.

  They remained still for a few seconds before Ryan’s voice interrupted their moment. "Ummm...guys?"

  Stephanie and Chris then let go of one another and turned to see the boy positioned down a steep drop at the edge of the woods. “I think I found something.”

  They both slid down to the boy on their backsides before trudging through the snow to look out through the trees. Once they reached Ryan’s position, the two of them pushed the snow covered evergreen branches away from their faces and peered out into the open space that was obviously a ski run. The blizzard had covered every inch of the trail with more than a foot of powder, and the entire mountainside was nothing but an immaculate white carpet free from blemishes.

  But after silently staring at the scene for a few seconds, Chris noticed something strange. The trail wasn’t uniform. Patches of snow rolled up into large scattered hills around the area. The mountain seemed to have jagged sand dunes like welts to its skin.

  And then he saw it. Buried amidst the powder was a steel rod poking out through the snow. After the first one was spotted, Chris began noticing more and more. Until he finally realized where he was on the mountain and what should be standing before them: a chairlift.

  The realization that dawned on him revealed the entire scene for what it was. The ski trail had hidden a gigantic metal wreckage of gears and cables beneath its snow. Like a relic from some post-apocalyptic nuclear winter, remnants of the chairlift randomly protruded out as artifacts of its glory. What was once a towering hi-speed marvel of engineering had now become nothing more than icy ruins of the past.

  Chris started to slowly approach the site, and only after taking the first step forward did the children follow suit. He tried to focus in on the chairlift’s remains as a whole, but he then began to notice the most disturbing aspect of all. Poking out through the mountain’s cold husk were body parts frozen beneath the snow. Ski boots, helmets and gloves still attached to their owners were scattered across the trail like a minefield. Pain filled faces covered in ice stared up at him, still stuck in an expression calling out for help.

  It was an horrific scene to be sure, but Chris was actually surprised that there weren’t more bodies in front of him. Were the bulk of the victims simply buried deeper underneath the snow? Or did they rise from their cold graves to run off across the mountainside?

  Either answer frightened him, and he could see his two young companions silently coming to the same conclusion. Ryan was physically shaken by the cold graveyard, and Stephanie was understandably speechless. After all, there was a good chance her mother and brother were still under there. Chris half expected the teenager to either frantically run around searching for them or break down into tears. But was surprised when she didn’t do either.

  Instead, the girl stood stoically strong, staring up at the collapsed chairlift like a warrior after a battlefield. She didn’t cry. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even get angry. She simply took a deep breath, and from the look in her eyes, Chris could tell she had finally accepted that her family was gone.

  14

  Dr. Anna Morris never dreamed that she would ever have so many patients at once. From her position at the main doors, she looked out over the gymnasium floor, which had been converted into a makeshift medical center. Fold out beds and stretchers were evenly placed in rows up and down the basketball court like a scene from some disaster movie, and there were bodies resting on top of each and every one. As one of the main trauma doctors stationed at the ski resort, Anna had of course practiced and prepared for such an occasion. But she never anticipated anything like this.

  When the town's actual medical center started getting overwhelmed it began differing people to the high school, where Anna was in charge of setting up the temporary facility. It quickly filled with people, mostly those who couldn't make it through the blizzard to the medical center on the other side of town. When the storm first began, many of those admitted to the permanent medical center came in with flu-like symptoms. But Anna found it strange that the majority of patients coming to the high school had trauma injuries instead. She heard rumors about crazed attackers and violent mobs but didn't believe them to be true...until the medical center was overrun.

  One by one the sick patients over there started to become hostile, attacking everyone and everything in sight. Anna was on the phone with a young female receptionist when it happened, but there was nothing she could do. The scared girl begged and pleaded for help, but her voice was drowned out by screams of agony bellowing from the background. Anna was frozen in place, listening to the call with paralyzing fear. The whole incident only lasted a minute, but to Anna it felt like a lifetime before the phone finally clicked to silence, forever cutting her off from the medical center she worked so hard at for years.

  It immediately became clear to the doctor that she was dealing with some kind of illness but had no idea what. No virus or bacteria could spread this fast or cause such mind-numbing violence in its victims. Regardless of the why, the what was obvious. And she needed to act.

  Dr. Morris took the few non-trauma patients she had under her care and separated them from the general population. There was no denying what was going on, and so she was relieved when the sick patients agreed to voluntarily move themselves into separate classrooms around the school. The rooms were then locked and checked on regularly by nurses, who still gave the quarantined patients whatever treatment they needed.

  Anna had yet to actually see any of her patients turn into maniacal freaks (or anyone for that matter), but she wasn't taking any chances. Based on what happened at the medical center and the few callers she heard on the radio (which coincidentally had also gone silent), Anna prepared for the worst.

  Luckily, she didn't have much family in Telluride to worry about or distract her from the crisis at hand. Her kids were all grown up with families of their own across the country. The only other person she truly cared about was her husband Tom, but Anna was wise enough to get him over to the high school when the decision to set up shop there was first made. He wa
s now helping out around the gym as a volunteer, passing out water and snacks to those who needed them.

  The high school gym had been turned into a little refugee camp, and Anna was already pushing her small staff of nurses and volunteers to their limits. Supplies were running low, and she didn't know how long they could hold out.

  When the blizzard ended she half expected a wave of new patients to storm through the door and was almost glad when they didn't. Either nobody else in town was hurt or they were too terrified to leave their homes. Anna also knew there was a third possibility: that everyone was dead, but at the same time, she refused to believe in such hopelessness.

  The Village Manager on the radio said that help was on its way, but who knew how long that would be. The weather broke and so far her makeshift clinic, which was located at the front edge of town, had been free from any attack. But the speed at which this epidemic grew didn't bode well for her future. Unfortunately, quarantine had been her only option. For now, the best thing she could hope for was to toughen it out and assume she would be stuck in this gymnasium for the long haul.

  “What are you talking about?”

  Anna’s runaway thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a fellow doctor’s concerned voice as he conversed with a young nurse. They stood several feet over to Anna’s side and she opened her ears to listen in to their conversation.

  “Some of the patients on the main floor…they’re…” The nurse was nervously fiddling her fingers and clenching her teeth as if holding something inside she was reluctant to share. “…they’re starting to…well…”

  The doctor looked down at the girl with a stern yet compassionate expression. “We don’t have time for tiptoeing. Just tell me.”

  “They’re spiking fevers. I think they’re getting sick.”

  Anna immediately felt a lump grow in her throat. She was expecting some of the physical injuries to get worse but not for those patients to fall ill. She thought she acted quickly enough by separating them from the others. She thought she had the situation under control. And maybe she still did. After all, an elevated temperature could just be an infection or any of a million other things. It didn’t necessarily mean the outbreak was spreading through her ragtag clinic.