Outbreak

by Paul Carberry

  SNAP

  The sounds were coming from the forest behind her, Ted must have tried to frighten her by ambushing her from the woods. Tina began to turn her head to look into the woods. As her eyes gazed up the beach she looked in terror at Father Jon and Ted, walking away from her. Tina managed to turn just in time to brace herself from the zombie’s clutches.

  “HHHEEEELLLLPPPPP!!!!”

  Tina screamed hysterically as the creature knocked her to the ground, its weight crashed down on top of her. Tina struggled to keep the snarling beast from clamping its jaw on her. The stench from its breath was revolting, a warm, putrid smell of rotten flesh poured out of its mouth. Yellow, slimly drool dripped from the corner of its lips, inching its face closer. It took all of Tina’s strength to hold off her dead attacker. Tina’s arms began to buckle against the zombie’s weight, the snarling teeth inching closer.

  Ted lunged his body into the zombie, knocking the creature off her. The two struggled in the sand, Ted was unable to secure sure footing. The creature seemed to have the advantage after their tumble, ending up on top of Ted.

  “TED!”

  Tina screamed at the zombie, trying to lure it away. The creature ignored her, fixated on Ted. Saliva pouring out of its mouth all over Ted’s chest. Tina grabbed a rock from the beach and ran to Ted’s rescue, she slammed the rock into the back of the zombie’s skull, blood trickling out of the wound from the crown of its head. The creature just kept snapping its jaw at Ted, getting dangerously close to his face. In an effort to get out from under the weight of the zombie, Ted twisted his body suddenly. The creature toppled to the side of Ted, they lay face to face for a brief moment.

  Ted tried to push himself up, but he put his hand too close to the creature’s mouth. It snapped its jaw shut on Ted’s wrist, tearing out a hunk of flesh.

  “AAARRRHHHHH!!!” Ted cried out in agony.

  Tina smashed the rock into the creature’s skull once more, the second blow seemed to dent the skull a little more. Tina landed a third and fourth blow before the creature fell flat on its face. Tina continued to smash the rock into the back of the skull, turning into a pulpy mixture of brain, blood and splintered skull bones.

  “Tina!” Ted grabbed her by the wrist. “Tina, stop.” Ted hauled her close, embracing her.

  “You… you’ve been bitten.” Tina’s eyes began to fill with tears.

  “I’ll be fine.” Ted kept her in his embrace.

  Tina pulled back, and looked deep into Ted’s eyes. “But you said… if you… get bit?” Tina didn’t understand how he could be so calm, Ted was on the brink of death.

  “If you or anyone else did, yes. But not me.”

  “What do you mean… how is that even possible?” Ted wasn’t making any sense.

  “I’ve already been given the cure.” Ted continued to tell Tina his story. He told her how he had purchased the cure from his employers, the ones who created this whole pandemic. Tina sat there, paralyzed by the extraordinary story.

  ***

  Father Jon burst through the cabin door. “Eric! Tina has been attacked!”

  “What! Where?” Eric jolted up from his chair.

  “Just up the beach.” Father Jon was breathing hard from running.

  “Dad, where’s your gun?” Eric called out to his father.

  Jack raced into his bedroom and grabbed his old hunting rifle. “Here!” Jack tossed Eric the gun. “Shouldn’t you wait for Nick and Calvin to get back?”

  “There’s no time! Dad stay here with Mom!” Eric ran outside. Tina and Ted were not that far up the beach, the thought of a zombie being that close, lurking in the woods alarmed Eric. They were embracing each other, sitting next to the rotten corpse. As Eric approached them, Tina looked shaken but Ted did not.

  “Eric…” Tina looked up at Eric as he approached.

  Eric looked at Ted, blood dripping from his forearm. “You’ve been bitten.” Eric raised the rifle towards Ted.

  “Yes, but he’s fine.” Tina stepped between Eric and Ted.

  “Fine! He’s the one who told us if you get bit, you turn.” Eric motioned for Tina to step aside.

  “No, she’s right. I am immune. I’ve been injected with the cure,” Ted said. He sounded smug.

  “He’s lying, step aside Tina.” Eric remembered Jason told him he held the cure in his hand, Frank had even told him about the cure for sale. Ted certainly looked like he had the money for it. “Tina, if he was immune, why did he wait until now to tell us?” This was Eric’s chance to get rid of Ted.

  “Whoa… hold on Eric.” Ted hid behind Tina.

  “No, you were right. Situations like this need to be taken care of immediately.” Eric took a step forward.

  Tina began to look back at Ted. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

  “He is just trying to save his own ass Tina, get out of the way. He is dangerous!” Eric raised the barrel of the rifle higher.

  “Hold up a minute, you’re fucking crazy Eric. Tina, I’m telling you the truth. I can get you the cure too!” Ted pleaded for his life.

  “Just… get out of the way Tina. Don’t listen to him.” Eric pulled the hammer back on the rifle. “You know what he did to Kenny.”

  Tina refused to move. “Shouldn’t we wait and see? What if he is telling the truth?” Tina stepped towards the barrel of the rifle. “We should at least find out if he’s telling the truth!”

  As hard as Eric tried, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. “We tie him up for now, just in case!” Eric lowered the gun.

  “Thank you!” Ted grovelled at Eric’s feet.

  “You should be thanking her,” Eric said as he turned to walk away. “Stay here, I’ll be back with the rope.”

  Eric walked back to the cabin and went into the shed. He found a piece of rope coiled up under the workbench. When Eric turned around, Jack was stood in the doorway. “Everything okay?”

  “Ted has been bitten!” Eric walked towards his father. “The fucker said he has been given the cure.”

  “So, it’s like Jason said then. There is a cure!” Jack looked relieved.

  “Maybe, we will see if he’s telling the truth.” Eric showed the rope to his father. “If he is telling the truth we will find the cure, no matter what it takes.” Eric and Jack walked up the beach. Eric was very surprised that Ted had not tried to escape, maybe he was telling the truth? If Ted did purchase the cure, it also meant he would know where the safe zone was. As much as Eric hated Ted, he would be invaluable to their survival.

  Chapter 31

  Welcome Home

  “Calvin, make sure you keep a good eye on them.” Eric spoke to Calvin through the window of the ambulance. “Wait for us here, you should be safe for a few more days.” They had seen four walkers in woods nearby the cabin. They managed to take them all out with relative ease, but Eric still felt troubled. Ted still made Eric uneasy, even though they had come to an agreement.

  Calvin let the gun rest against his leg. “No problem. I got this covered.” Calvin stepped away from the ambulance.

  Eric motioned for Nick to drive away. Dana was so worried about them leaving. Eric had said his goodbyes to her inside the cabin, reassuring her he would come back. He tried to explain that they needed those guns, to stay safe. Eric didn’t want his friends to see him cry saying goodbye to her.

  “Well, this should be fun.” Jason piped in from the back of the ambulance.

  Eric turned his head to look at his friend. “Jason, what the fuck are you doing?” Eric shook his head laughing as he watched Jason play with the paddles.

  “Could you imagine, frying a zombies brain with these?” Jason was playing with the defibrillator.

  “I think you should put that down, buddy!” Nick looked in the rear-view mirror.

  “We are all just glad you’ve fully recovered. You’re going to be such a big help,” Eric said sarcastically.

  “You know it.” Jason lay down on the stretcher. “Think I got time for a nap?”


  “So, Eric, do you really think the guns are still at the station?” Nick had a concerned look on his face. “What if someone already got them?”

  Eric knew the only other person with keys to the armoury who could still be alive, was Frank. So even if he did get the guns, Eric knew exactly where to go. “I know where they will be if they’re not.”

  “Yeah Nick, get off his back.” Jason hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

  “Can’t you two be serious for one moment.” Nick seemed agitated.

  “Shit! Look at all those abandoned cars along the highway.” Eric pointed to the newly founded junkyard that seemed to run the length of the highway.

  Nick had to slow the ambulance way down to navigate his way through the discarded vehicles. “Guess this is going to take a while, guess you got time for that nap Jason.”

  “Now who can’t be serious!” Jason poked his head up front and looked out the window. “That’s fucking nuts.”

  The ambulance crept down the highway towards Corner Brook. What should have been a ten minute drive was now going to take hours.

  Eric had not told Jason about his agreement with Ted. He didn’t want to get Jason’s hopes up just yet. Ted did not turn after three days, so he had been telling the truth. Ted told him all about the deal he made, how he had secured a room in the safe zone in Buchans, deep below the grounds in the old abandoned mines. If Eric could find Ted and his little girls a safe place to live, he would hand over the three security code numbers. That would give them access to the facility where they would be holding Tracy prisoner. They would be able to sneak into the safe zone, no one but Mr. Purchase would recognize them. Maybe they could sneak her out without anyone ever knowing they were there, that would be their best chance to rescue Jason’s wife.

  ***

  Sasha ate a cold can of beans. She had been locked down in the holding cell of the prison for over two weeks now. She was lucky to have gathered enough food when things started to get bad. She raided the pantry in the break room and stored whatever food she could find down here when she realized that the hospital had been overrun by those creatures.

  The dead corpses of fallen police officers had decomposed and smelt horrific, but there was no way she was leaving. She even considered pulling the bodies outside the police station, but decided against it.

  She locked herself inside a prison cell in the basement. The bed was much more comfortable than the floor, and the steel bars offered her safety from the undead flesh eaters roaming the city.

  The first day after the outbreak Sasha had attempted to make her way home, but her run in with a zombie nearly cost her life, she barely survived and managed to make her way back to the police station. The glass doors didn’t seem like they could hold the monsters out, so she wound up locking herself in the basement. Sasha prayed for someone to come rescue her, but no one ever did. No matter how little she rationed her remaining food, it would soon run out. She felt like she had been buried alive in her own grave, waiting to die.

  Sasha heard glass breaking upstairs, the vile creatures had found their way inside. She slowly crept her way to the top of the stairs, making sure to keep her head down, when she reached the top of the stairs the muffled noises became clear. It was not the demonic moans that she heard during her first encounter. Whoever entered the police station was forming words, their voices seemed almost angelic to her. She peered through the tiny glass window in the door, nearly overcome by joy.

  Three man stood in the hallway wearing military uniforms. Assault rifles held in the hands, Sasha pushed the door open and burst into the hallway.

  “Thank God!”

  ***

  Calvin looked at the cards in his hands. “Fold!” He slammed them down on the table in disgust. They had been playing cards for hours, he was getting bored and agitated.

  “We need to find a better game to play,” Father Jon said as he threw his cards on the table. “Fold!”

  Stella scooped the mints from the table. “Too easy boys!” They had been using mints as chips for poker.

  “Keep it down, I think I may be getting a signal.” Jack fiddled with the dials on an old, wind-up radio.

  “All you got on that is static.” Stella motioned him towards an empty chair across the table from her. “Come sit at the table with us.”

  “It’s the station from St. John’s. They are still on the air!” Jack turned the volume.

  For anyone left to listen, this is Heather.

  No new news today, worlds still gone to shit.

  The military failed us. If you have somewhere safe to stay, turn up your radio.

  I’m going to play a classic.

  Jack turned up the radio to listen to the tune being played. Everyone in the cabin felt their spirits rise as they listened to the song. They had no idea that the radio was turned up too loud, it was drowning out the moans of the zombies heading straight towards the cabin. Stella and Jack started to dance in front of the sliding glass door. Unaware of the shambling corpses scuffling towards the cabin.

  ***

  Frank left the cabin in his truck accompanied by Chris and Mike. They were a growing community now, up to thirty people housed over six cabins. They needed to procure weapons, ammo and food. They all agreed that what they had built was too important to leave unprotected. They had only managed to scavenge four guns amongst them, leaving two cabins without any real means of defence.

  “You got the key, right?” Mike asked Frank. After spending time with Mike, Frank got used to his worrying. Mike worried all of the time, usually about the supplies of food. Frank knew they had a lot, but the supply seemed to dwindle rapidly as more people joined the community.

  “Right here Mike.” Frank lifted the chain around his neck up, the key attached.

  “Cool, see I told you he had it,” Chris said. Chris was a carpenter, and he had helped secure all the entrances to the cabins, fortifying all of the doors and windows.

  “Don’t you guys worry, this is all going to be as easy as pie.” Frank smiled at the two men.

  Frank should have borrowed a few extra guns from the armoury before he headed to his cabin, he never realized how many people he would need to protect. He wished his wife and son were still alive to see the amazing community he built.

  “Sure thing, Mayor Byrnes!” Mike laughed as he said it.

  The nickname started as a joke, but Frank loved it. He considered himself to be in charge of this gathering of survivors. He even spent time most nights thinking of names he could call his new community. Frank found the drive towards the police station was taking much longer than it normally should. A lot of people had abandoned their cars on the highway. Maybe on the way back he would start a used car dealership? Frank chuckled to himself as his two passengers gave him an awkward smile.

  ***

  As Nick pulled the ambulance into town the abandoned cars were easier to navigate. “You guys see that?” Nick looked ahead to the mall. “Look there must be a sale at the mall.” A massive horde of zombies shuffled aimlessly around the parking lot.

  “Hey, swing by. We need toilet tissue,” Eric joked.

  “Yeah, why don’t you run in and grab a few things,” Jason laughed. “You fucking idiot!”

  “You guys see that?” Eric could see a flashing light inside one of the store fronts. “Look, inside the shoe store!”

  “Yeah, I wonder what that’s doing left on?” Nick tried to keep his eyes glued to the road.

  “Maybe someone turned it on.” Jason had poked his head back up front. “You know, to lure the zombies there.”

  “Good plan.” Eric agreed with Jason. “They seem to be distracted by it. Alright Nick, you know the way to the police station?”

  Nick turned down the main road and drove by the golf course. Smoke was rising from a giant fire on the middle of course nine. “Look at that!”

  “Wow, look at all those zombies.” Jason pointed to the horde of corpses gathered on the greens, they all seemed to b
e flocking towards the smoke like a school of fish.

  “This might be easier than we thought,” Eric said. He sounded hopeful. “Someone has all of the zombies distracted for us. We should be able to get in and out without much resistance.”

  “The roads seem pretty clear.” Nick drove the ambulance a little faster now. “Maybe you’re right.”

  The ambulance drove down the hill. As it drove towards the police station, thousands of zombies littered the golf course. No one seemed to notice that the smoke was dying down, the distraction would soon be gone and the zombies would be dangerously close to the police station. The only thing separating the police station from the golf course was a mere fifty yards of forest.

  In the horizon, more smoke began to rise. It was hidden by the same trees that kept the police station veiled. They didn’t realize that the survivors of the city had their own agenda. The ambulance continued to drive down the road straight into the heart of danger.

  epilogue

  Hank could not believe his ears, a loud engine was rumbling straight into the heart of the city. What the hell were they thinking? They were either ignorant, brave or suicidal! The key to surviving was staying quiet, not drawing attention to yourself. Hank looked out the second floor window of his house, trying to see if he could see the cause of the racket. Hank had been alone for over a week now. His friend had gone out on a supply run that fateful night, but never returned. He was not sure if she had got killed by zombies, or if she ran into the military. If she ran into the military, she could be in more danger, some of the militia had become more dangerous and ruthless than those mindless, flesh eating ghouls.

  Sheila was determined to make herself useful. Hank had managed to keep her safe since day one, he rescued her from a mob of the undead during the first night of the apocalypse. They had gone out several times together so that he could teach her how to survive, keep quiet and out of sight. The zombies could be easily distracted as long as they didn’t catch a glimpse of you first.