Outbreak

by Paul Carberry

  Officer Jones

  9:30 pm

  7 Pine Groove Road, Howley

  Come alone or Jason will die

  Frank

  Eric read the letter over and over again, but it refused to make sense, more of a puzzle than a statement. What the hell was Frank doing with Jason? Eric was sure that Frank’s car was out near Burgeo, so how could he be at his cabin in Howley? Howley was on the East bound highway, and Burgeo was on the South bound road.

  “Gary!” Eric motioned for Gary to come over.

  Gary leaned on the back of Eric’s chair as he leaned in to read the letter on the computer. Eric waited impatiently for a response that never came. Gary’s eyes just kept scanning the screen for some hidden clue that would explain all of this. The other officers waited impatiently for information, they were itching to know what was in that letter.

  “Gary!” Eric tried to snap Gary back to reality. Either Gary did not hear him, or was too afraid to say the wrong thing. “Hey!” Eric snapped his fingers in front of Gary’s face. “I’m going to have to confront Frank!”

  “What?” Officer White called out from the back of the crowd. “What’s going on?”

  “I am going to find out tonight.” Eric had to give a vague answer, panic could be disastrous right now.

  “You can’t go alone Eric.” Gary finally broke his silence.

  “I have to. I can’t risk Jason’s life.” Come alone or Jason will die. The words kept running through Eric’s head.

  “Eric, you’re too close to this. It will be too personal; you’ll make the wrong decision.”

  “Frank made it personal! I’m going to do whatever I have to. Frank is dangerous!” Eric slammed his fist on Frank’s desk.

  Officer White stepped forward. “Guys fill us in, please.”

  “We don’t know what’s going on. Frank’s gotten himself involved in something treacherous.” Gary shot Eric an uneasy look. “We don’t know how Frank is involved.” Gary did not sound too sure of himself, his voice faltered.

  “He got involved with Gordon Purchase!” Eric snapped.

  “You don’t know that. How could you?” Gary was agitated.

  “The tapes will show what happened, you’ll see.” Eric did not want to start a fight with Gary, but deep down he knew the truth. Eric did not need to see the tapes, even if Frank kept out of view, Eric knew Frank let Fred walk out of that cell. “Listen, I’m heading home to get some rest. Sasha is retrieving the tapes from last night.”

  “You think Frank let that man go?” Officer White sounded shocked.

  “We don’t know that yet. Isn’t Frank in Burgeo? This letter may be someone trying to frame him, or set you up Eric.” Gary put his hands on his holster and tilted his head back. “Jesus Christ!”

  “Listen I need to go there tonight alone. Maybe it isn’t Frank. Maybe he is being set up, but I can’t take that risk. I need some sleep, then I’m going there alone, and you better not follow. That’s an order!” Eric was worried about Jason, what was worse was Gary could be right, Eric was letting his emotions get the best of him.

  “Alright. I’ll go look at the tapes, and I’ll let you know what’s on them later. Okay?” Gary sounded devastated.

  “Thanks! I’ll check in before I head out tonight. Officer White, make sure you keep the media out of this station. It’s bad enough what happened this morning, we don’t need this getting out.” Eric zipped up his jacket and patted Gary on the shoulder as he passed him.

  “Yes sir,” Officer White replied.

  As Eric left the room he could hear them talking about Frank. Eric walked past Sasha on his way out of the building, he wanted to tell Sasha to put a rush on the video tapes, but figured she did not need to be told. She was probably one step ahead of him. Besides, if Frank was involved, he would not have walked into view. The tape would not solve anything, that would have been too easy. As he looked back at Sasha it made him think of Kathy. Eric wondered how Phillip was doing.

  ***

  “Well, it appears that your brother’s fever is continuing to rise despite our best efforts.” Dr. Fowler stood in front of Kathy, holding his clipboard. He looked uncomfortable in his white lab coat.

  “Even with the ice bath?” Kathy inquired, already knowing the answer.

  “It slowed down the rising of the fever… but it didn’t stop it. Maybe Phillip picked up that virus that’s spreading throughout the hospital.” Dr. Fowler thumbed through the papers on his clipboard.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well… I’ve had several patients today with alarmingly high fevers, plus we’ve made sure Phillip has no internal bleeding. If it was not for this fever, he would be well on his way to making a full recovery from the accident.”

  “The fever, is it dangerous?” Kathy didn’t want to know the answer, but she needed to hear it.

  “With his injuries, yes. I’ve ordered some anti-viral meds that should help stop the fever.”

  “So he picked up some virus in the hospital?” Kathy was confused, was Phillip going to be okay or was he still in danger?

  “Yes, I just checked his blood work. He has some virus I have never seen before. I’m putting him on the strongest meds we have to get this cleared up. I sent his blood work away to the CDC to have it analyzed to determine what we are dealing with.” Dr. Fowler continued to thumb through his papers, avoiding eye contact with Kathy. “Plus I am going to check other patients blood samples, see if the same virus shows up in their blood work.”

  “Is he going to be ok?” Kathy’s voice cracked as she spoke.

  “I’m confident he will pull through this.” Dr. Fowler finally made solid eye contact with Kathy, his voice was full of confidence.

  “Thank God,” Kathy sighed in relief. For the first time since she heard about her brother’s accident, she felt hopeful.

  “And after all the work I did, you’re thanking God?” Dr. Fowler seemed very annoyed at her response. “Well, you’re welcome.”

  The physician turned and left Kathy standing alone to stand alone. As rude as he was to her, it did not bother Kathy. She was too relieved to be concerned with the doctor’s poor bedside manners. She looked through the glass window at her brother as the nurse injected the medicine directly into Phillips I.V. line. Now it was just a matter of waiting for his fever to come down.

  ***

  Dana pulled into the driveway next to Eric’s squad car. He was finally home. She worried about him a lot when he was at work. This was the first time he had been gone for over twenty-four hours. She hated whenever he worked the night shift because the bed felt empty without him. She reached into the passenger seat where she had laid Eric’s lunch, Dana figured he would be hungry after working that long, and decided he could use a solid meal after all those donuts that he had probably eaten.

  Dana entered the house through the basement door, just in case Eric was asleep in the bedroom upstairs. She walked up the basement steps and half expected to see him asleep on the couch with one of his stupid shows on TV, but he wasn’t there. Dana snuck into the kitchen as quietly as she could, and put his sub sandwich in the refrigerator. She walked down the hallway and nudged the bedroom door open to check in on Eric, the dog poked its head up from behind Eric’s legs. She had nuzzled as close to him as possible. The dog stretched her legs but made no effort to move from his side. Eric was sound asleep, he must have been exhausted because usually he would awaken to the smallest sound.

  Dana looked at the nightstand and was shocked to see Eric’s gun. Whatever happened last night must have wiped Eric out, he had never brought his gun home before, it frightened Dana to see it in their bedroom. Was Eric in some sort of danger, or was he just so tired that he forgot about it, and accidentally brought it home? Dana thought about waking him up to ask him, but decided not to disturb him. She motioned for the dog to come out of the bedroom, but Patch just nuzzled her head back down. Dana gently closed the door, and tippy toed into the living room. Dana turned o
n the TV and began to watch one of her shows that she had recorded, not realizing that there was a breaking news story on all of the major networks.

  Chapter 14

  A Deadly Game

  Byron walked into his old pharmacy with his prescription. Basic antibiotics for the fever, and common pain killers for the bite mark. Byron retired from being a pharmacist years ago, he sold the business to one of his former employees. Spending most of his time in the woods at his cabin was much better than spending his days around this old, stuffy building. The first few years of retirement he spent travelling the world with his wife, but after she passed away he felt lost. Sometimes he missed working behind the pharmacy counter because he would always see people he knew. People would constantly come in just to see him and have a conversation.

  “Well, hello Connie!” Byron waved to the pharmacist behind the counter. Connie had bought the pharmacy from Byron when he decided to retire. They had first worked together when she was a student working her work term for school.

  “Hello Byron, not out to the cabin today?” Connie smiled as she looked up to see her old boss.

  “Had a little accident this morning! Going to head out later today.” Byron walked up to the counter and handed over his prescription.

  “What did you do this time, old man?” Connie had called Byron old man since day one, it was not to be disrespectful. It had originated from one of Byron’s stories that he had told her during her first shift. One of his old assistants had always called him old man, Byron could still remember him even now. How could he forget him? What he could not remember was why he had tolerated that insufferable jerk all those years. If he wasn’t the best assistant he employed, he would have fired him years ago.

  “Well, some crazy bit me.” Byron rolled up his sleeve to show her the bandage. “See?”

  “Really?” Connie did not seem as shocked as Byron thought she would be. Connie just glanced at the bandage, like she had seen a thousand times already.

  “Yeah, came out of nowhere and things just got out of hand.” Byron waited for the surprise in her voice.

  “Shit, you’re the third person in here today for that. Kids and their drugs, huh?” Connie shook her head in disgust.

  “And here I was, thinking I’m special,” Byron chuckled.

  “Oh you’re special, just not in the way you’d like to think.” Connie burst out laughing.

  “How long?” Byron really didn’t care, he was going to grab a coffee from across the street anyway.

  “Not long.” Connie looked at the prescription. “I’ll only be about ten minutes.”

  Byron grabbed a bottle of Tylenol and handed it to Cassandra. “Here put this with my order please. I’m going to run across the street for a coffee, you want one?”

  “No thanks!” Connie replied as she stood in front of the computer, her fingers rapidly moving as she typed away at the keyboard.

  “Alright, see you in a bit.” Byron headed across the street to meet his friend Sean for a coffee. As he went outside, the crisp fall air felt good against his warm, balmy skin. The fever seemed to be rising by the minute now, his shirt was damp from sweat and it was clinging to his body.

  ***

  Nick sat in the hospital waiting room. Henry had lost a lot of blood from the wound on his shoulder, he was lucky the bite wasn’t on his neck. Nick had offered to donate blood for a transfusion in case he needed it, but the nurse said they were not a match. Now all he could do was wait for more information. They had told him that he saved his life earlier by patching up the wound and keeping pressure on it. The only reason he was able to do that was thanks to Eric for saving them from that nut job. The whole night was like some horrific nightmare, almost satanic.

  The door to Henry’s room opened as one of the nurses stepped out, she looked overworked.

  “Excuse me! How’s Henry’s doing?”

  “He lost a lot of blood, but it is not life threatening. He should be fine once he gets some rest, but he caught that nasty fever that’s been going around. Your friend doesn’t have very good luck.” The nurse adjusted her glasses and wiped her brow with her forearm. Her scrubs were covered in blood stains, she must have noticed Nick looking at them. “Don’t worry about that. It’s not as bad in there as my shirt makes it seem.” She tried to crack a smile, but didn’t have the energy left in her body.

  “Thank you.” Nick was relieved, after seeing all of that blood the news could have been much worse.

  “You should get some rest. There’s not much you can do for him right now.”

  “Yeah, think I’ll go down to the ambulance bay to grab a shower and a nap. Could you let me know if anything changes?” Nick felt his stomach growl and was worried that she had heard it.

  “Sure thing, sweetheart.” Nick could swear that she managed to muster a smile as she headed over to the nurse’s station.

  Nick was a little curious about that smile. Was she just trying to be nice? She was pretty cute, with her dark curls and beautiful green eyes. Nick was too shy to make his move right now, but he told himself he would talk to her later, at the very least find out her name. After all, they both worked in the same building. Nick headed down the hallway to the elevator so he would not have to take the stairs. It had been a long day for Nick, but he would go home until he knew Henry was better. Besides with Henry laid up in that hospital bed, Nick would be on call anyway.

  ***

  Jason noticed the shadow on the wall across from his cell. As the shadow grew larger it took the form of two people. The lead shadow was much larger than the one behind it.

  David stepped in front of Jason’s cell while the other figure remained lurking out of sight. “What do you want? Is that Mr. Purchase with you?” Jason was getting impatient with all of this nonsense. Jason could feel the rage inside him grow like wildfire spreading through a forest, he could taste his anger as it scorched the back of his throat.

  “How was your dinner?” David leaned against the far wall, his massive arms folded over his chest.

  “Is that really why you’re here?” Jason stood up and kicked the empty tray at David’s feet.

  “I’m here with Mr. Purchase. He would like to have a word with you.” David motioned for Jason to sit down. “Please have a seat.”

  “I’ll sit when I’m ready!” Jason snarled.

  “You will obey, Mr. Cook.” Gordon Purchase stepped into view. “You may not want to listen to us, but just remember one thing. Your wife will be the one who suffers for your insolence.”

  Jason’s temper was causing his heart to beat faster, his veins throbbing with excess blood. Jason wished he could do something, but he sat back down on the bed for his wife’s sake.

  “What do you need?” Jason struggled to sound polite.

  “Why Mr. Cook, it’s not what I need. I’m here to offer you what you want.” Gordon shot David a sly smirk before looking back at Jason. “I think you’d like to see your wife alive! Am I correct?”

  “If you hurt her I will kill you!” Jason shouted, unable to maintain his composure. Jason was disgusted, how could they be doing this?

  “Enough! Show some respect!” David snapped at Jason.

  “I assure you, she’s safe Mr. Cook. Now can we talk like reasonable adults?” Gordon turned his back to Jason, and whispered something to David. David nodded his head and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction. Gordon turned back towards Jason. “While my associate is gone to retrieve something for me, I have a proposal to make to you. You have until he gets back to make up your mind.”

  Jason did not know what to do. All he could do was go along with this bullshit until he could do something about it.

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well, Mr. Cook do you believe in zombies?”

  “Seriously!” What in the hell was this shit. Jason could not tell if this was some sick prank being pulled on him, or if in fact this man standing in front of him was bat shit crazy.

  “Seriously!”
Gordon sounded serious enough to Jason, maybe he was nuts.

  “Man, I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies, but no. I don’t believe they exist.” What else could Jason say, zombies weren’t real. They were just a Hollywood monster, created as some sort of political comment on modern society.

  “Well, Mr. Cook, we’ve created them.” Gordon seemed proud to say that, like it was some historic achievement.

  “What? Why?” Jason was appalled, images of an apocalyptic world flickered through Jason’s head.

  “Well, it was a mistake at first. We were working on creating a… how would you say it… a super soldier, to fight in your government’s wars. To give their military the advantage on the battlefield.”

  “So what are you trying to say?”

  “They cut our funding. Nearly bankrupted us, but my boss came up with a plan. World domination.”

  “World domination? How would zombies help you take over the world?”

  “Oh the zombies would help us destroy the world actually. We set them lose on the world and plunge it into darkness, despair. We would watch the world tear itself apart!”

  “So how would that help you?” Jason’s mind was spinning, Mr. Purchase was a true psychopath.

  “We have the cure. People would pay a lot of money for salvation!” Gordon’s eyes seemed to stare through Jason into some distant future.

  “You’ve gone mad. You’ll kill millions of people. And for what? Money and power?” Jason was outraged.

  “Yes.” Gordon opened up his vest and pulled out a syringe. “This will be worth a lot of money someday.” Gordon walked over to the cell door and slid the syringe into Jason’s cell. “That syringe holds the antidote. It will stop you from turning into one of those monsters.”