Outbreak

by Paul Carberry

  “Yes.” Her voice seemed to get caught in her throat.

  “What did they do to you?” The silence seemed to last for an eternity. She didn’t answer his question. Maybe she didn’t know what they had done to her?

  “What’s your name?”

  “It’s Tracy… Tracy Cook.”

  ***

  The lights of the city faded away as the helicopter flew towards the forest. The trees below were tightly grouped together, and it seemed like a creeping blackness was approaching the city of Corner Brook. Below them, the ground was covered in obscurity, and not even the moonlight seemed to be able to penetrate the forest ceiling. Darkness made everything look different, even the familiar forest that Jason knew like the back of his hands changed drastically at night. The stars and the moon were being hidden by the clouds that lurked in the sky.

  Jason’s face throbbed as his bumps and bruises began to swell. The beating that Jason had suffered at the hands of David was now beginning to settle in and take control. Jason felt the pounding right between his eyes. The pain was excruciating and debilitating. He could hardly stand it anymore. He just wanted to fall asleep, but he was afraid that if he did he wouldn’t wake up. A cloudiness swirled around Jason’s vision, drawing him towards oblivion.

  “Do you see that?” Kenny’s voice brought Jason back to reality.

  “See what?” Jason was unable to focus, making it hard to see anything. He was finding it harder and harder to concentrate.

  “The fire up ahead, on that beach. Is that where we are headed?” Kenny pointed straight ahead.

  The fire cast a small radius of light just ahead. Jason gathered all of his remaining strength and focused on the light ahead. The fire was on the beach in front of Pinchgut Lake, the dull yellow flames were reflected in the water. He could see the white glowing lights illuminating through the long patio doors of the cabin just feet outside the radius of the fire.

  “Yeah, that looks like it.”

  “You sure?” Kenny questioned Jason.

  “Is this the east end of Pinchgut Lake?”

  “According to my GPS it is.” Kenny pointed to the GPS on the dashboard of the helicopter.

  “Then yes, I’m sure.” They were almost there. Jason could feel darkness closing in on him. The pain was becoming unbearable.

  “Alright, I just need to find somewhere to set us down.” Kenny circled the cabin looking for the best place to land. The only option seemed to be the clearing between the fire and cabin.

  ***

  Dana could see the bright headlight of a helicopter hovering over the lake. Its light seemed to be directly shining on the front door. Finally! Eric had made it. Dana had sat around the kitchen table with Eric’s parents listening to the local radio station. All kinds of reports of strange occurrences around town had been reported, and as the night went on the stories became more odd and violent. The stories were similar to those that she had witnessed on the national news earlier. Eric’s parents had went off to bed not too long ago. Jack had spent most of his night out by the fire, while Stella had stayed inside with Dana. She was glad Eric had made it here, she was getting scared out here in the darkness. The shadows that the fire was casting was causing her mind to play tricks on her.

  “What’s that noise?” Stella stood behind Dana, rubbing her eyes.

  “It’s a helicopter. I think it’s Eric.” Dana opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the bridge.

  The blades of the helicopter sent strong waves of wind, whipping her hair around her face. The helicopter landed in front of the cabin as far away from the bridge as possible, without landing on the beach just twenty feet away. The blades began to slow and the small whirlwind it created slowly disappeared. The helicopter’s dark green paint was illuminated by the light from the cabin window. Dana could see a bearded man behind the controls of the helicopter, and Eric’s good friend Jason was in the passenger seat. His face was badly bruised and swollen, he seemed to be blacked out and was slumped in the seat.

  “Where’s Eric?” Stella had noticed the same thing as Dana. Eric was missing from the helicopter.

  Panic gripped Dana, the worst case scenario crossed her mind. Eric had fallen victim to the senseless violence of one of those sick monsters. Those painful thoughts accelerated inside of Dana’s mind, causing a panic attack. Her breath only came in quick gasps, and her heart hammered against her ribcage. The world began to spin and she fell to the floor unable to cope with the thoughts that consumed her mind.

  “Dana!” Stella knelt down besides Dana to try and comfort her. She rubbed her back to try and soothe her. “Catch your breath, dear.”

  Dana tried her best to slow her breathing. She looked up and seen the pilot help Jason out of the passenger seat. The smaller man struggled to keep Jason upright as they came towards the cabin.

  “Jason, where is Eric?” Dana’s voice trembled. Jason remained silent, his upper lip was swollen and cracked.

  “He is still at the hospital, said he’ll be here shortly.” The pilot spoke for Jason.

  “So he’s not dead?” A shimmer of hope lifted her voice.

  “No idea lady, help me get Jason inside.” Dana did not like the man’s answer, but could not ignore the serious state that Jason was in. She took as much of Jason’s weight as she could bear on her shoulder as she dug it in to his side. Her head barely reached his armpit. They got him up the steps, and Stella directed them towards the couch. As they situated him down on the couch, his massive frame caused the couch to creek under the strain of its new occupant.

  “Where is Tracy?” The thought suddenly crossed Dana’s mind.

  “Who?” The man did not seem to know much.

  “His wife!”

  “Not sure, sorry!” He said apologetically.

  “So, where’s Eric?” Stella asked concerned.

  “He said he would meet us here. He had to try and save Gary.” Kenny tried his best to make Jason comfortable on the couch.

  “You didn’t wait for him!?” Dana’s blood boiled at the thought.

  “We tried.” Kenny was getting defensive.

  “What do you mean?” Dana was pissed.

  “Well, I didn’t want to be eaten alive by a zombie!”

  “A zombie…” Stella was appalled by the idea.

  “Yeah… those things you’ve been hearing about. That virus that’s taking over the world. It’s the fucking zombie apocalypse!” Kenny stood up, his facial expression was hopeless. Unblinking Kenny looked at the two woman. “It’s not a joke, those monsters are real bad news, and they’re everywhere.”

  Dana’s heart sunk once again. She felt overcome with despair as she knew by the haunted look on Kenny’s face, whatever it was that he saw, Eric was in dire trouble.

  ***

  Eric now occupied the passenger seat of the ambulance. Tina had made her way into the back with the others. A priest, an undertaker and a college student occupied the back. It sounded like the beginning of a real dirty joke.

  “So, how did you make it out of the hospital?” Eric’s ankle was swollen, but did not seem to be broken. A low, tremble of pain resonated up his leg. He did his best to keep from putting any pressure on his damaged ankle.

  “We were down in the morgue when it all happened.” The ambulance sped through a red light at an intersection. “We managed to get into the ambulance bay, all of those creatures were too busy eating other people, they were too distracted to be concerned with us.”

  Several houses had their front doors left open. Eric didn’t know if they were left open in a panic, or busted in by one of those awful monsters.

  “Then, when we opened the door to the ambulance bay a group of them were chasing one of the doctors… they caught up to him and just tore into him… it was the only way we were able to get out of there.” Nick looked over at Eric. “There was nothing I could do to help the poor bastard.”

  “Nick!!”

  Eric saw the on-coming headlights that seemed to be in
an unavoidable collision course with them. Nick swerved the ambulance out of the way of the out of control truck, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision. The truck smashed into a car parked in the driveway just behind them.

  “Holy shit!” The ambulance screeched to a halt. Nick’s knuckles clenched around the steering wheel, his faced turned ghostly white. “Everyone okay?”

  A series of frightened, but reassuring replies came from the back of the ambulance. Calvin poked his head out from the back. “What’s going on?”

  “We just missed getting into a car accident.” Nick assured Calvin that they were fine.

  “Well, let’s get moving. I don’t want to get caught here,” Calvin urged Nick.

  Eric looked out the window and noticed the man huddled down by the trunk of his car protecting two young girls.

  “Hold on.” Eric opened the passenger door.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” Calvin reached out and grabbed Eric by the arm.

  “To see if that man needs our help.” Eric snatched his arm out of Calvin’s grasp. “Give me a moment Nick.”

  “Yeah, you got it.” Nick kept the ambulance engine running.

  As Eric placed his swollen ankle on the floor the pain pulsated up his leg.

  “Hey!”

  Eric called out as he hobbled towards the man. Eric could see the source of the accident in the truck. They must have been headed towards the hospital to seek help when the passenger turned, the female driver was slumped over the wheel as what appeared to be her husband was feeding on her. The lips of the woman were torn apart and bloody as if he had a razor blade kiss. His face was now buried in her bosom, steam was rising from her chest as warm blood gushed from the gash in her flesh. The zombie moaned as it gorged on the free flowing surge of crimson blood, tearing hunks of meat from the victim.

  “Hey!”

  The zombie was too occupied to take notice of Eric’s voice. The man looked up, a shocked expression on his face. He had his children’s eyes covered with his hands protecting them from the horrible sight in the truck. The trunk of his car was open and luggage was sticking out. Apparently they were getting ready to leave too when the truck came out of now where and crashed into the car.

  “It’s going to be okay. I’m a police officer,” Eric called out, urging the man get into the back of the ambulance.

  The man whispered something to his children before he stood up. They each grabbed a piece of luggage and made their way towards Eric. They never said a word as they approached. Calvin and Tina helped them into the back of the ambulance, and Eric closed the doors behind them. He looked back at the truck and paused for a moment as the zombie continued to tear into the driver. Blood spurted out of her neck and smeared the window. After a moment, Eric hopped back into the passenger seat and looked at Nick.

  “Alright, let’s get out of here.” Nick put the ambulance in motion and drove down the road towards the highway. Eric felt the pain in his ankle grow more intense as the adrenaline wore off. As the ambulance turned onto the highway they joined several other headlights heading out of the city. Cars were driving on both sides in an effort to escape the danger that lay behind them.

  Chapter 27

  A Desperate Need of Supplies

  The yellow rays of the early morning sunrise kissed the lake as the sun began to rise. Normally these rays of light brought warmth with them, but lately as the weather began to cool they only managed to melt the frost that was formed on the lawn the night before. The helicopter cast a large shadow that kept the frost protected from the rays of sunlight. Dana had stayed up all night waiting for Eric to arrive. She had kept an eye on her cell phone, but the signal was nowhere to be found. Dana was too worried to sleep, she sat slumped over at the kitchen table. An empty cup of tea rested on the table in front of her, her eyes felt weary with the burden of the heavy thoughts.

  Jason had not stirred since being placed on the couch. Jason resembled a bear even more now as he laid on the couch, deep in hibernation. Even if Dana had tried to get any sleep, Jason’s snoring would have kept her up most of the night. It had woken Kenny up several times so Dana offered the upstairs bedroom to him, which he gladly accepted.

  The grass began to shimmer as the sun rays melted the frost, Dana put on her winter coat and winter beanie before going outside. The glass window of the doors were steamed over as the cold air tried to make its way inside the cabin. Jack had made sure to keep the fire burning all throughout the night.

  Dana walked outside onto the patio, and made her way towards the lawn chair tucked away at the side of the cabin. The cold air was refreshing as it pressed up against her skin. She felt the lawn chair was still damp from the cold night air so she decided not to sit down, instead she started to pace back and forth. She watched the highway across the lake as the cars continued to leave the city, and head away from the crisis in Corner Brook.

  All night long she had watched the headlights drive down the normally quiet road, as the night wore on the headlights became less common. The reporter Donald Bradford urged people to remain calm and remain in their homes, but most people never listened to him.

  Dana walked over to the helicopter and began to look it over, she marvelled at the aircraft. She ran her hands over the cold steel and felt the morning dew accumulate against her skin.

  “It’s an impressive machine, isn’t it?” Kenny’s voice startled her as he seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  “Yeah, it is.” Dana wasn’t sure what to think right now. She wanted to be mad at the man for leaving her husband behind, but was unsure that there was anything he could have done. Eric was very stubborn and if he didn’t want to leave, she knew there was nothing this man could have done to persuade him otherwise.

  Kenny walked over to the helicopter and opened the door. He rummaged through a jacket pocket, and after a brief search he seized a lighter and pack of cigarettes. Kenny shook a smoke out of the pack and planted it in his mouth, then cupped his hand over the cigarette to protect it from the breeze, and lit it.

  “Want one?” He offered Dana.

  “Sure.” Dana had not smoked in years, but after last night she felt like she needed something to calm her nerves. Dana grabbed a smoke out of the pack and placed it between her lips. Kenny flicked the lighter again, and a small yellow flame appeared. Just before Kenny lit the cigarette, Dana heard the faint sounds of an engine. She threw the cigarette on the ground, and darted towards the driveway towards the back of the cabin.

  “Suit yourself.” Kenny called out as he bent over to pick up the cigarette off the wet grass. Kenny didn’t follow Dana, he just took a deep puff and exhaled the smoke in satisfaction. Kenny rested his back against the helicopter with the cigarette between his fingers, looking out over the lake.

  As Dana reached the driveway, the growl of the engine grew louder. She could feel the vehicle approach as the ground seemed to vibrate. An ambulance abruptly came into view as it made the turn into the driveway, no longer hidden from view by the forest.

  Usually the sight of an ambulance would represent the misfortune of some poor victim, but this time it carried hope. Eric sat in the passenger seat and suddenly Dana’s heart leapt with joy.

  Before Eric had a chance to get out of the ambulance, Dana ran over to greet him. Eric leapt down from the vehicle and Dana wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could. Dana’s eyes filled with tears of joy, and they dripped down from her checks onto Eric’s white shirt. Eric’s arms encircled Dana’s body, she forgot everything else that was going on around the world for a brief moment.

  “You’re alive!”

  “I love you!” Eric embraced her, pulling her head onto his chest.

  “I love you too!” She gave Eric one last squeeze before looking up at his face. Eric’s face was covered in tiny, black stubble and Dana ran her fingers over the scratchy hairs. “You ok?”

  “Hurt my ankle, but I’ll be ok. Just need some rest.” Eric rubbed his eyes fiercely.

  �
��He took quite the tumble, but he’ll be fine!” Nick said patting Eric on the back.

  “Thank you!” Dana did not know how, but if it was not for Nick, Eric may not have made it back to her. Nick didn’t say a word, he just nodded and made his way into the back of the ambulance.

  “Nick saved my life last night.” Eric turned to look over his shoulder at Nick.

  “I’ll have to make sure I thank him!” Dana watched as six strangers climbed out of the back of the ambulance. “Who are all of those people?”

  “Nick saved them too!” Eric’s voice was full of pride, he hobbled to the back to help with the wayward traveller’s luggage. Dana noticed the first aid bag in Eric’s hand as he approached her. “Where’s Jason?”

  “He’s asleep on the couch.”

  “Alright, let’s get him fixed up.” Eric placed his hand on the small of Dana’s back, and guided Dana towards the cabin. Nick and the others slowly followed them to the cabin. As they approached the door, Dana couldn’t help but think about how they were going to feed all of these people.

  “Is Kenny around?” Eric questioned.

  ***

  Nick watched over his friend Jason as he lay on the couch, unresponsive. Jason’s eyes were swollen shut, his lips were cracked and blood stained his ghost white skin. His beard still had flakes of blood crusted into it even after Nick had washed it.

  Nick had done his best to clean up Jason’s wounds and set his broken nose, but the shattered bones in his face were far beyond his skills. Jason needed a doctor and he needed one now. With Kenny’s guidance, Nick had hooked up a morphine drip to help ease the pain and swelling, but they feared Jason had suffered a concussion.

  “How’s he doing?” Dana emerged from the bedroom.

  “I did everything I could, but I think he needs a doctor.” Nick checked the bag containing the morphine to make sure it didn’t need to be replaced. The ambulance still had five more bags, but he had an uneasy feeling that it would not be enough.