by Cliff Deane
While Cindy enjoyed the culinary delights of Prescott, she became especially enamored with the oldest saloon and restaurant in Arizona, the Palace Saloon. Doc Holliday and his companion, Big Nose Kate spent quite a bit of time playing poker there. Actually, the Palace Saloon burned down two times in its history, but each time the bar’s patrons lifted the bar and carried it across the street to keep it from burning.
For the last one-hundred years, the saloon became more oriented toward being a first-rate restaurant and saloon. The gambling and brothel were gone, but their history lived on via the photos and gambling equipment on display. Local Cowboys, dressed in period clothing still wandered in for a beer or two, adding to the Old West ambiance.
In 1972 the Palace had a prominent role in the hit movie, Junior Bonner starring Steve McQueen, Ida Lupino, and Robert Preston. The film centered around McQueen as a Rodeo Man.
Cindy Sharp, like so many others who come to Prescott, fell in love with the surrounding area of the Prescott Basin. She knew right away that this would be her retirement home. Her plan was to buy a home in Williamson Valley, but, like the rest of the world, Cindy became ill with the Super-Flu. Before becoming sick, she managed to stock her Hotel Room in the St. Michael with the supplies recommended by President Holcomb.
Her sickness lasted the typical ten days, eight of which she wanted to die. On day ten, Cindy began to improve and soon felt wonderful. She ate a Clif’s Bar, showered, dressed, and, as always strapped her sidearm onto her belt in the cross-draw position of eighteen degrees.
Cindy believed in taking the world as it came and dealing with each new situation just as it presented itself. She also knew that she was unlikely to win a fight with a large, strong man. Running away was not in her nature, so she was thankful that Mr. Colt had leveled the playing field. She regularly practiced her quick draw, along with accuracy training to further enhance her chances of survival in a fight, and though she also carried a surgically sharp knife sheathed at the top of her spine, she was not one to bring only a knife to a gunfight.
Colonel Sharp spent the next four days volunteering with the Prescott and Tribal Police to assist in organizing a cleanup of bodies. This task was such a huge undertaking it quickly became obvious that the process would take more than a year.
With a population of around sixty-thousand, Prescott’s dead was estimated to be around forty-five thousand. That left only fifteen-thousand available to get the town back up and running.
While, on the surface, that number seemed adequate for the job, in reality, it was impossible as far too many of those leaders needed to organize this task were dead. The Social, Medical, Engineering and Police forces had become leaderless. This added a huge power vacuum that would take time to fill.
As much of the community was in such a deep state of mourning from the loss of family and friends very little was able to be accomplished.
Then, on the morning of 29 March Cindy reported for volunteer duty, she discovered that nearly one-half of the population had disappeared.
28 March 2118, 0800
175th Ranger Regimental HQ
Fort Benning, GA
On the morning of 28 March, Colonel Merritt had ordered that his command take up a bivouac, of sorts, in the Fort Benning Airport for a minimum of five days. On 29 March 2118, nearly one-billion survivors, around the world, went into hiding.
As he had been warned, on 29 March, Colonel Merritt discovered that nearly half of his command was absent from Company roll calls. His Officer and NCO Cadres were also cut in half. Roughly five-thousand of Colonel Tom Merritt’s command disappeared or tried to.
Tom directed the Sergeant Major to spot check the list of hiders against the list of those who had not felt completely recovered. He discovered that nearly all of those who did not feel really good and strong had gone into hiding. He was saddened to see the name of Sergeant Price on the list of the missing.
The Colonel ordered the remaining troops to gather in a nearby hanger, where he explained what had happened and what must be done.
“Soldiers of the Army of the United States of America, what I have to order you to do will be the most difficult assignment of your lives. As you now know, last night we experienced what could be called a desertion rate of around 50%. Actually, I wish that desertion was the case, sadly it is not. During the night, roughly half of our force went into hiding. They are somewhere in the confines of the airport terminal, and we must find each and every one of them.”
Tom hesitated before continuing, “No, the word hiding may not be accurate, but it is the only word I can think of to explain their absence. They are not hiding from their duty. They are hiding because that damned Super-flu caused by the Holly Thorne comet has inflicted another dire sucker punch right on our chin.
“This morning I spoke with General Howard at the Mount Weather Facility. He informed me that half of his Super-flu survivors, both military and civilian, have also gone into hiding.
“He additionally informed me that the senior staff at the Mount Weather Bunker expected this to happen. I was told that the three Mining Vessels tasked with moving that damned comet suffered the same fate.
“All right, what I am going to tell you next will require a lot of self-control, so I need everyone to Soldier-Up because here comes the sucker punch. Oooh-Rah?”
The response among these soldiers was tepid at best as the responding Oooh-Rah was almost whispered. Colonel Merritt then shouted, “OOH-RAH!” The response was better, but far from Merritt’s Ranger roots. Merritt again shouted, “I SAID, OOH-RAH!” Professionalism and Esprit de Corps finally kicked in, and the responding OOH-RAH became deafening.
“Well,” said, the Colonel, “that’s more like it. You are American Soldiers, I’m glad to hear that you remember who and what you are; warriors! You are the last hope for America. We will never falter or shy away from our duty to preserve this nation and the citizens of this great country.”
The tension in the Hanger instantly became intense as the soldiers who had just survived the worst disaster in human history now faced yet another sharp stick in the eye. These were men and women of the United States Army who had just lost husbands, wives, children, parents, siblings, relatives, and friends. Their lives now had only one adhesive, their comrades in arms. For most, their loss had been so severe that only this bond could stave off insanity.
Because so many of the sick had opened the windows of their homes to air them out, the air now stank of rotting flesh, what else could possibly happen that could be as bad, or worse than what these men and women had already suffered? Zombies?
Every soldier there knew that their leader, Colonel Merritt, was a great man and would expect nothing less than dedication and excellence from each man and woman present. Their spirits began to soar which caused their heads to come back up as their spines began to stiffen.
‘Go ahead, hit me with your best shot’, became the mantra from this group of dedicated Americans. The phrase, hit me with your best shot, began as a single shout, then another, and another until, within seconds every voice was screaming the new term which would define this force; hit me with your best shot!
Merritt allowed the shouting to continue for another moment before raising his hand for silence. His face exuded confidence and portrayed a broad smile.
When the Hanger again became quiet, Colonel Merritt said, “I have spent more than two decades in this man’s army, leading the finest Special Troopers in the world, but I must say that I have never been more proud of anyone, than I am of you. You have stiffened my backbone to match your own. Now I know without any consideration of failure that WE WILL SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND THIS NATION, AGAINST ANY ENEMY! OOH-RAH!”
The Hanger erupted with shouts of defiance to any threat. Whatever was to come would not defeat Merritt’s Marauders. Again, their leader raised his hand for silence.
“All right, here it is. Those who have gone into hiding have begun devolving into one of Man’s ancestors, the Cro-Magno
n. These were cavemen who destroyed the Neanderthals, who had lived along the glacier’s edge of the last Ice Age for one-hundred thousand years. If the hiders are left alone, in four days, they will return to us as Cro-Magnons. They will come out fighting. We must not let this happen.
“I have brought you here, to this airport, because the places to hide are somewhat limited. I know, I know, there must be a million places to hide here, but, at least they are not spread all over Fort Benning.”
At this point, the projection screen displayed the video of the battle at the Mount Weather Bunker. Those present watched in stunned silence as the battle unfolded. The President, her Chief of Staff, both became hiders. Once they emerged, they were unrecognizable and were buried in the mass grave of Mags.
The news did indeed feel like a sucker punch to the gut, but now they knew what they would face.
Oh, crap, thought most of the soldiers in the Hanger, no, these are not Zombies, they are far worse. Well, this is my country, and no monsters are going to take it away from me.
The first Mag hunt had begun.
30 March 2118, 0700
National Guard Armory
Moundsville, WV
The WVU dig team, led by Professor Jacob Abraham, and his Assistant, Gale Storm had begun warily searching for any members of the team who had gone missing. They worked their way through the National Guard Armory in search of newly turned Mags. The Conelrad station had begun a repeating loop explaining why so many people had gone into hiding. The radio made it clear that all survivors were to arm themselves and prepare for an attack by Cavemen. This loop explained what was happening to those who were now missing.
The Armory search found only two hiders, who were now on the first day of their transformation. Even though Jake knew that he must kill these abominations, his intellectual side, coupled with his desire to record this incredible transformation, made him hesitate. He felt no particular qualm about destroying what he saw, but he felt that it might be important to follow the devolution of these sad creatures. Both of what the Professor now referred to as specimens were readily identified by sex, hair color, and dress. They had been Dave and Donna.
Jacob placed guards to watch over the specimen mutants. The guards maintained a continuous, 24/7 documentary. They also made notes further describing what occurred while they were on their two-hour shifts. Professor Abraham made his rounds every two hours making additional notes and taking photos of the progression of this terrifying metamorphosis into the Cro-Magnon Caveman.
Jake regretted not locking the exit doors from the Armory. He felt sure that the other four missing persons had made their way to a more secure setting. At around 2:00 pm Jake heard a scratching sound. It seemed to be coming from the side door leading into the building.
Jake alerted Gale, and they made their way carefully to the door. There were windows in the top half of the door, but the scratching sound was coming from the exit’s lower third.
Both Jake and Gale were frightened, yet, they knew it was important to discover, who, or what, was trying to gain entrance into the Armory.
They crept in a very low crouch to keep from being visible to anyone on the outside. Jake whispered to Gale to remain hidden and ready for trouble. Jake slowly began to rise to a position which might allow him to see who was on the other side of the door.
Just as Jake’s face rose high enough to be able to see the intruder, another face, a non-human face, appeared at the same instant. Jake screamed, “NO!” and was so startled that he fell painfully onto his tailbone. Gale also screamed in surprise. At first, he wondered why Gale didn’t fire, then when she began to laugh, he realized the face that had so frightened them was a beautiful Chocolate Lab that wanted inside.
Now, Jake looked carefully in all directions before opening the door to allow the poor dog entrance. As soon as the door was barely open enough for the dog to squeeze through, he bounded into the hallway and began jumping and licking Jake. The poor animal was very thin and obviously starved for human company. It actually took several minutes for the Lab to calm down as he went back and forth between Jake and Gale.
Hunger and exhaustion finally brought the dog to settle down with his leg and right paw on Jake’s lap. The dog’s eyes were glistening with happiness as he looked up at Jake.
Gale continued to laugh and finally said, “Jake, it looks like you have a new friend. Come on, let’s get him something to eat.”
In the Gym, which also served as the Mess Hall, Gale found some cans of spam. Jake had been inspecting the dog and found a small collar which had a metal tag that read, Sergeant. Russell, K-9, Moundsville PD.
As Russell was making short work of the spam, Jake said, “Russell, come.” The dog immediately stopped eating and rushed to Jake seeking attention and approval. After scratching his dog’s ears and telling him what a good boy he was, Jake said, “Okay, Russ, go and eat.” Russell then rushed back to his spam with tail wagging.
Gale had watched and said, “Well, dang, you’ve got a dog that is obviously smarter than either of us.”
Jake just smiled before saying, “So it would appear. I think I’ll keep him.”
Gale again broke out laughing, “Really, Sherlock? My guess is that you don’t have any say in the matter. You have just become Russell’s human.”
Jake began to chuckle and said, “Yeppers, that is the bare-naked truth.”
2 April 2118, 0800
CDC
Secure Level 5 Labs Building
1600 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329
The First Platoon of Company A, 2-5 Marine Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Geraldo Perez, out of Camp Lejeune had been flown in to secure the CDC. Before their departure, the platoon had been restructured with only single men.
As Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the Lieutenant and his Platoon Sergeant inspected their “Mag Trap.” This trap had been built by the US Army Corps of Engineers when the Level 5 facilities had been restructured and expanded to house those who would be quartered for the duration of the disease, or until a vaccine could be found.
The trap was a simple open glass cubicle. When a Mag entered this space, the door would slam shut behind him, and the small enclosure which was also an elevator would descend five floors to a secured Level 5 Mag Cell. Once the Mag was locked in this small, glass-walled elevator, gas would be released causing the Mag to become unconscious.
From there, robotic machinery would remove the Mag and place him on a medical evaluation gurney. It would then be transported to a research lab. Once in the lab and secured, the Mag would be made available to the Medical Research Personnel who would begin running tests to find a cure or a vaccine.
3 April 2118, 1300
National Guard Armory
Moundsville, WV
Professor Jacob Abraham made meticulous notes regarding the progression of the physical transformation from human to Mag.
By 1:00 pm on the 2nd of April a metamorphosis was happening with ever-increasing speed. The video and team notes described the trip from Human to Mag as a journey through pain and brutal deformation. Initially, the Mag’s skin began to sag dramatically. The body took on a sheen of sweat as it began to transform fatty tissues into muscle. It quickly became apparent why the Mags were so strong. A Human Being would have to have intense workouts over a period of months to attain the physique of a Mag.
Facial expressions of the unconscious creature displayed extreme pain as the skull began to soften and reshape itself into a slightly more squared condition. With all these changes happening so quickly, the pain must have been beyond intense.
However, it was the transformation of the eye sockets that seemed to make the unconscious Mag constantly wince from pain. Tears ran freely from all around the eye’s orbital lobe.
Jake slowly reached down to touch the Mag’s face to be able to provide a tactile note to his study. As he touched the cheek of what had once been his student, Dave, the eyes snapped open. At first, the expression
was one of being startled but quickly turned to murderous rage.
Russel, Jake’s dog, had been watching this procedure intently. When the Mag’s face morphed from surprise to hostility, he growled and threw himself onto the Mag’s chest and without hesitation ripped out his throat.
This act by Russell may have saved Jake from serious injury or possibly being killed, as the Mag, with amazing speed, grabbed Jake’s shirt just as Russell landed on his chest. Blood gushed from the Mag’s wound, covering both Russell and Jake, but quickly faded as he bled out and the heart stopped pumping. Jake shouted for Gale to get a specimen bottle used in excavations to secure a large sample of blood from the Mag.
Gale agreed and sent the guard for a bottle as she inspected Jake for injury or possible fluid intake from the Mag’s blood. Fortunately, none of the blood had entered Jake’s mouth, nose, or eyes, and having no wounds, it appeared that he would not have a problem with bodily fluid transmission. Gale then ordered both Jake and Russell into the shower, a very cold shower. Jake scrubbed both himself and Russell thoroughly to remove the last vestiges of Mag blood from their bodies.
As they exited the shower, Sarah took Russell to dry him off, but could not resist sneaking an approving glance at her naked Professor.
Jake spotted Sarah’s peek and shouted, “Sarah, stop that, besides, the water was very cold.”
Gale took charge of drying Jake’s body while she made another inspection to ensure that he had no scratches that might have been open to the blood from Dave.
“Gale,” said Jake, “destroy the other specimen. Do it now.”
Gale looked up at Jake and said, “It’s already done. No way I was going to take a chance of her awakening after seeing what happened with specimen one.”
“Well done, Gale, well done.”
4 April 2118, 0550 hours
Biomeyer Health Fitness Center
1525 Clifton Rd NE Fl 5, Atlanta, GA 30322