The Outbreak

by Shetty, Krishan

  “Doesn’t look the part,” said Dana gazing at him.

  “Don’t let his dumb face fool you. I’ve known him a long time. The guy would ace all his tests. He knew far more than any lecturer whatever subject it may be, whatever grade. I studied really hard to get into Hale. He...Well he studied the night before the test. And guess what? He stood first and well.....Joanne second.”

  “Is that why she picks on him?” She asked with a wry smile.

  “After admission,” he said, “She took it as a mission to up him in academia. He chose to be an average student while most students here at Hale work hard to be above average or at the least average. He deliberately chose to be average hoping that Joanne would be off his tail if she beat him. Amusingly, it backfired. She knew he deliberately allowed her to win. Joanne is a proud woman. She wouldn’t accept a victory without an actual fight.”

  “They do make quite a pair, don’t they?” she laughed softly.

  “Maybe. That would explain why she’s so ticked off at Greg chatting with Kiara.”

  They laughed softly and carefully so as not to disturb the others. They gazed over at Greg and Kiara, only to find them asleep.

  “It’s getting pretty late.”

  “Tell me about it. Let’s call it a night.....Goodnight Randall,” Dana said with probing eyes.

  “Goodnight,” Randy responded smiling faintly.

  It was way past midnight when they fell asleep. Randy wasn’t fully asleep, not yet. His body was ready to move at a moment’s notice, probably something that his father instilled into him. Eventually, he would give in to fatigue and fall into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 3

  Randy awoke from his slumber when loud voices managed to pierce his sleep. The cold floors had numbed his left cheek; the tube lights were bright enough to reduce his eyes to slits. After what seemed like eternity, his eyes adjusted to the light. The voices continued to ring in his ears. But he was faced with a new problem. His stomach growled. He pinched himself and immediately felt the pain reactivate his drowsy system. He saw before him Lendl, Chester, Joanne and the other survivors engaging in a heated argument. His stomach growled again, loud enough to catch Dana’s attention who had woken before him. “I’m hungry too,” she said quietly, her nose buried between her knees.

  “What’s going on?” he whispered gazing at the people involved in a heated conversation.

  “They are fighting over whether to stay here or move to the cafeteria.”

  “Cafeteria?”

  “Yup, it’s where we’ll probably get some food and it isn’t far,” she said.

  Randy got up and walked over to the small crowd that had formed. The argument was between Chester and Chubby. Chubby’s face was red with anger and Michelle backed him up.

  “We aren’t going out there just to be eaten by those things!” yelled Michelle.

  “We need food Michelle. You are going to die either ways if you don’t eat!” responded Chester with equal aggression.

  “I’d rather die of starvation than become one of those fucking things!” she spat.

  Chester opened his mouth to retort only to be cut short by Lendl, who put a hand on his shoulder shaking his head.

  “We can’t have a falling out now. We have to stick together to survive,” said the headphones guy.

  “But Sean-,” Michelle started.

  “He’s right you guys. Screaming at each other isn’t going to solve jack. We need to decide what to do. Together,” said Greg assertively. The others seemed to silently agree as the situation was defused. For now at least.

  “Situation well handled,” said Randy with a slanted smile.

  “Yeah well, I’ve watched enough movies to know that in these kinds of situations, people tend to break down,” he sighed.

  “But they have a point. Without food, we are just going to die of starvation here on the cold floors.”

  “So, what do we do? We go to the cafeteria?” asked Joanne eyes flashing between Randy and Greg.

  “The cafeteria must be crawling with gonerz. It’s a risky move. We could all die,” added Kiara.

  Chester called out “We need to discuss a few things.”

  Chester cleared his throat. “Look either we all go to the cafeteria and take refuge there or we starve to death here. The provisions in the cafeteria could last us for a couple of days. Even weeks.”

  “And then what? Where do we go after that?” asked Michelle. Irritation apparent in her words.

  “We’ll decide once we are there,” Chester replied shooting a poisonous glare towards her.

  “This is quite the dilemma, Mr Charles. There is however another option. Equally risky but the chances of minimizing losses are the highest,” said Westwood adjusting the neck of his blood red tie.

  “What option would that be?” asked Chester sarcastically.

  “A couple of us could volunteer to go and scout the cafeteria and obtain the provisions and if they are in the clear, they return with the provisions. That way, we eliminate the risk of all of us dying even if they were to fail,” he said, words rolling eloquently from his tongue.

  “You mean sacrifice us?” spat Michelle. Her eyes throwing daggers.

  “He isn’t wrong. It’s a logical option. In fact the most logical option. Think about it. Option A- We all go to the cafeteria and die. Option B- We stay here and starve to death. Option C- Someone volunteers to go out and return with food,” said Lendl finally speaking up.

  “That isn’t fair!” cried Michelle finding comfort in chubby’s arms.

  “The concept of fairness died when those things appeared. Right now what matters is survival,” said Lendl coldly.

  “How do we decide who gets to go and who doesn’t?” asked Sean, arms folded across his chest.

  “The most capable of us gets to go. That way, their chances of survival and success are the highest. If we send the physically weaker ones, it would just be suicide,” Lendl replied staring directly into Sean’s eyes.

  “That means-,” started Greg finally.

  “Sean and Randy,” said Lendl.

  Dana caught hold of Randy’s arm with a death grip. Greg’s eyes blackened and Joanne gasped. Sean looked over at Randy. Sean was taller than Randy but leaner. He had a lean, muscular physique. Must be into parkour thought Randy. His face was slim and had steely grey eyes with slicked back black hair and tanned skin. He was perfectly dressed to outrun the gonerz.

  “Alright, but we’ll need time till tomorrow,” Sean said breaking his gaze.

  Chester appeared to think for a while but finally nodded.

  “We have to starve till tomorrow?” cried Michelle.

  “You’re welcome to go and get some grub right now,” responded Chester turning away.

  Sean walked up to Randy. “Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I wanted to be alone.”

  “Don’t worry about it. So when do we leave?”

  “Tomorrow at sun break.”

  “We have a plan?”

  He shrugged. “Try not to get killed I guess.”

  “We’ll need to chart out a strategy. If you two are to return in one piece,” added Joanne.

  “We’ll need some backpacks. We left ours in class when this all started,” said Randy

  “Well I’ve got one,” replied Sean. “Michelle and Gary have one too. We could borrow theirs.”

  “Gary?” Joanne asked.

  “The chubby one,” he said pointing at Gary.

  “But why tomorrow?” asked Greg.

  “I thought we all could use some time to prepare. It may very well be our last day. So I need to make peace with it first. Besides, for some reason I believe the gonerz will be most inactive during the day.”

  “It’s a possibility,” answered Greg rubbing the stubble under his chin.

  Sean nodded and went back to his place. He took out his phone and connected his headphones. Listening to music for perhaps the last time? Maybe. But one thing is for sure. It was t
o calm his nerves.

  “We have a hardhat. You could use it for tomorrow to y’know, keep your head,” Greg said managing a faint chuckle.

  “It’s worse than I thought,” Joanne said speaking in a soft yet terse voice.

  “What is?” asked Kiara.

  “The outbreak is slowly taking it’s toll on us.”

  “We have got to be careful. There’s bound to be mutiny. We cannot trust everybody. It all boils down to survival. People will do everything it takes to survive. The gonerz won’t be our only problem,” said Greg, pressing his lips into a line.

  Hours after hours passed. The sun rose high into the sky shining brilliantly. The groans and growls of the gonerz were faintly audible through the solid brick building. Tension was high in the air. Chubby was busy murmuring something looking into the bible. Michelle looked relieved yet unsettled. Sean was still listening to something on his headphones. Chester paced up and down, not frantically though. Lendl was lost in other worldly thoughts perhaps.

  Randy moved towards Sean to initiate a conversation seeing as they would be spending some time together the next morning.

  “What are you listening to?”Asked Randy trying to be as paly as possible. Sean was a calm and easy to approach person making it easy for Randy to talk to him as casually as possible. He didn’t respond for a brief moment. He slid his headphones down around his neck and facing Randy he said “I wasn’t listening to a song.”

  That’s strange. I was pretty sure he would be listening to music to maybe calm or pump himself for tomorrow thought Randy, surprised by Sean’s answer. “What were you listening to?” he asked. His voice laced with curiosity.

  He looked crestfallen. His eyes drooped. “It’s a voice message from my Ma,” he replied with a breath of regret. Randy’s eyes widened. He had never thought about it. It never occurred to him.

  “We hadn’t spoken for months. I fought with her before I joined Hale. It was bad. I didn’t want to speak to her again...and then yesterday at noon I saw I had gotten a voice mail. I ignored it.....and now I can’t stop listening to it. I should have replied. Fuck!” he exclaimed angry at himself. Randy couldn’t help but feel the grief and pain he must’ve been going through. Not being able to say goodbye to a loved one before what could possibly be your final night on this planet?

  “I’m sorry Sean,” Randy said softy. Sean’s expression eased up slightly before nodding slowly.

  Dana tugged at Randy’s sleeve. “Hey, I’ve got something for you. Can we go over there?” she asked looking at Sean. He didn’t reply. Randy proceeded to go with Dana.

  “What’s this?”

  “What does it look like? It’s an energy bar.”

  “But from-how?”

  “I kind of took it before all the grub disappeared. I knew it would come in handy.”

  Randy was taken aback for a bit. But then again, Survival is the name of the game.

  “I’ll eat it before I set out tomorrow,” he said with a warm smile. He began to feel a sense of comfort emanating from Dana. Maybe it was the situation they all were in or maybe it was something else entirely. But for Randy, this was a silver lining to the greyest of the clouds. He carefully tucked the energy bar into his pocket. Many more restless hours passed by and night arrived, bringing with it a dark tranquillity. It had been a day since anyone ate. Hunger, panic and desperation were some of the colours strewn across everyone’s faces. Fatigue began to kick in and most had fallen asleep long before midnight. Absolute silence prevailed in the lab.

  During the wee hours of midnight, the lights inside began flickering. The faint groans and growls of the gonerz stopped. Randy who always slept lightly picked up on this anomaly. He woke up with tired eyes, waited for a few seconds to confirm the noise had indeed stopped.

  It had.

  It was dead silent inside and out. The lights went out without a whisper. A cold sweat began to roll down his temples. Something was off. Way off.

  And then it came. A growl. No a roar, like thunder but laden with evil. Such a sinister thunderous growl startled and awoke everyone. It sent cold chills down Randy’s spine leaving his tongue bone dry.

  There was a loud bang resulting in the denting of the solid door; the door that kept them safe. Another bang followed by another massive deformation. The people were wide awake now and frozen in fear. Chubby began to yell “Death has come for us! Our sins are far too great to be forgiven! This is divine punishment!” he babbled either overwhelmed by terror or lunacy. Or both.

  “Greg, the window, NOW,” yelled Randy overcoming the lump that had formed in his throat.

  Greg stood frozen for a second, as if the words didn’t make sense. He somehow managed to snap out of it.

  “LETS GO!!” he yelled. Randy and Greg picked up the backpacks. There was another bang, but this time one of the two doors fell flat on the floor. The tender moonlight lit up the fallen door as silence once again enveloped the room. A hand stretched out from the moonlight. It’s long dastardly fingers slowly took support of the remaining door before stepping in. People could only strain their eyes to look at the intruder’s face basking in the faint light. But they didn’t have to look long enough to know that that it wasn’t a human. It growled and it was ferocious. But it wasn’t nowhere nearly as ferocious as the roar they heard moments earlier. The growl was followed by the clacking of it’s teeth and it growled again. Except this time, it wasn’t the same animalistic growl. It sounded different. Like it was trying to communicate. “S....p...e,” it growled almost chokingly. Almost for an instant, Randy thought it’s eyes had a spark of life in it. Whatever he thought he saw disappeared as the clacking of the teeth stopped and it plunged forward without warning. Legions of gonerz began pouring in directing itself towards their prey. Screams and shrieks pierced the night air. Without wasting a second, Randy and the guys ran up and headed towards the welding section. They picked up the axes, sledgehammers and nail gun on the way. Randy loaded the bag with magazines of nails knowing it’d come in handy. In a single swoop, Randy and Greg picked up the ladder synchronously.

  Chubby continued to babble as the gonerz dug into him and Michelle screamed and screamed till her screams could be heard no more. Chester, Lendl, Dana and Sean had followed the guys to the welding station. With a heave, Randy and Greg rammed the glass with the front end of the ladder. The glass shattered into tiny fragments showering the ground below. The sound attracted the gonerz. Carefully lowering the ladder so that it would lean against the wall, Randy ushered the girls to first clamber down the ladder. Kiara went first followed by Josh who frantically pushed himself ahead of Dana. The gonerz were now on their way towards them. Westwood descended slowly, each second making the difference between life and death clearer. The first of the gonerz had made their way up. Lendl’s eyes were drawn towards the welding machine. Wasting no time, he picked it up. Turning the knob, the nozzle lit up with a slight hissing noise, he turned it to the max and the flame stretched out. Far enough to burn the incoming fiends to a crisp. Randy loaded up the nail gun and immediately began supporting Lendl putting gonerz to the ground for good while providing a window for the others to escape until it was just the two of them.

  “Go!” Lendl yelled still spraying the gonerz like pests. Randy stuttered for a moment but nodded and quickly descended.

  “Where’s Lendl?” Chester screamed desperately looking for clarification.

  “He’s still in there,” Randy responded after descending.

  Chester absolutely livid caught hold of Randy’s collar. “You left him there all alone to die you son of a bitch!”

  “Chester, we have to go,” Greg interrupted trying to pry Chester away from Randy.

  “We have to go. It’s too late now,” Sean added. “Before they circle back to us.”

  The yellow brilliance stopped. The gonerz had got to him. The guys began to head towards the cafeteria. While they ran, a brilliant flash followed by a deafening boom and clunking of bricks to the ground reverbera
ted through the air. Lendl went down and took those fugly things with him too. The flames from the explosion danced madly in the swaying wind as a grotesque metallic smell wafted through the air. A metallic smell so familiar. Blood, Randy thought as they ran. Tears gleamed off of Chester’s eyes as they ran. It wasn’t easy running to the cafeteria. Hunger, fatigue and now emotional trauma began to overwhelm their senses, each step weighing a ton. Probably giving up sounded better at this point. No more running, no more hiding, no more starving and no more watching others die. The human mind battles with the heart, whether to give up or continue living even as the body exceeds it’s limit, some finding no reason to live, others renewing their desire to live. The gonerz that didn’t get fried in the explosion jumped from the broken window only to land on the ground littered with broken shards of glass and bricks. Some broke their legs completely. Bones sticking out, their legs askew. That didn’t deter them though, not one bit. So what if they lost their legs? They began to crawl towards their prey with the same ferocity.

  They pushed the doors to the cafeteria open. They were greeted by blackness. Once everyone wandered inside, Greg and Westwood locked the door and jammed it with a pipe, hoping that it would hold. One tube light hung vertically, supported at only one end, blinking randomly. Sean noticed in the flickering light, the momentary illumination of a trail of blood on the floor. An ominous squeak of a door grabbed everyone’s attention. Their eyes darted across the room, straining to see any sign of movement which would indicate danger. The tube light remained oblivious. For an instant there was light and just as quickly it disappeared. When the light flickered again, there was someone behind the tube light. It was just for a moment, but they saw something.

  “Did you see that?” whispered Greg.

  “Yeah, we aren’t alone,” Sean said tightening his grip around a sledgehammer.

  When the light flickered again, there was nothing. Randy turned on his flashlight and pointed it at the direction of the tube light. He held the flashlight in his left hand, while he held the nail gun in his right, placing it over the flashlight like a professional soldier. The diverging beam of his flashlight illuminated a face. Not a face to mess with. Well, it’s understandable why nobody would want light in their eyes. The goner moaned. The goner had friends with it too. They all wore a crisp white uniform, a netted cap on their head and an apron.