A World Reborn: The First Outbreak

by Chris Thompson

  Roy Snipes, Chief of Security at the Seraph Hotel and Casino, strolled casually through the rows of slot machines, veering to the left side of the casino floor towards the security door beside the cashier’s desk, listening to the pleasing sounds of the machines as the gamblers played; the sirens that blared when someone won and the tinkling of coins falling into receptacles, which were eagerly scooped up by the winners, were a strangely relaxing background sound. He had his large hands tucked behind his back, and while enjoying the sounds of the casino, he also listened to the chatter coming through the earpiece from his radio. Someone had puked in the bar, it seemed, and a janitor was on the way. Someone else had tried to start a fight in the sports bar after a bad bet. Simple things really, but they were the high point of excitement in his day. He smiled at an elderly couple who passed him, who returned the gesture, and he couldn’t help but think of his wife, at home, getting ready for their night out as soon as his shift was over. Roy was fifty-seven years old, a decorated police officer who had retired after unceasing requests from his loving wife of over thirty years. He had walked into his current position due to his years of experience, and the pay increase provided by his career change allowed him and his wife to enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle. She hadn’t always wanted him to retire, but recent events had driven it home to her just how dangerous his line of work was. Obviously, she had always been aware, Roy admitted upon reflection, but he understood why she was suddenly a lot more concerned. She would also have been happier if he’d stayed at home; his pension was sufficient for him to do just that, but he didn’t want to just sit in an armchair reading the newspaper or watching quiz shows on television all day long. He liked working and so, he was now patrolling his new beat. It was certainly easier to get around than the city, he thought to himself.

  Roy absently stroked his bald head as he made his way to the utility corridor access door beside the cashier’s desk. He swiped his key card and the door unlocked, allowing him entrance to the back passageways that ran throughout the ground floor of the hotel. One could get to most places on the north side from here, and it allowed access to the south side too, also serving as a quicker way for staff to get around, in addition to allowing admission to the elevator leading down to the main security office, counting rooms, and the vault proper. It wasn’t as glamorous as the other parts of the hotel, but the harsh fluorescent lighting and general sense of security that came from the solid, white painted, stone walls was certainly encouraging for those who wished to come and make use of the vault. He turned right after entering and followed the corridor, passing behind the cashier’s desk entrance and turned left into the corridor that ended in the elevator which would descend to the vault and security office. Once there, he swiped his key card again and pressed the call button. A moment later, the reinforced steel elevator doors opened. He stepped inside and rode it down, stepping out once it reached his destination. He was presented with a short corridor with another security card secured door at the end leading to the security room.

  Upon entering, he crossed the wide space where the carts bringing the casino's takings down to the counting rooms swung around to enter the relevant door; hard count, coins, to the left and soft count, paper money, on the right. The central part, where he and his team worked, was a reasonably large space. A huge bank of screens dominated the wall to the left, with a pair of wooden desks furnished with their own computers and monitors sitting before the busy wall displays. To the right was an area with several desks and computers, while a semi circular desk with three monitors on it had been placed directly in front of the door. Behind this was the door that led into the wide corridor that housed the vault, which terminated with a door at each end; one from the hard count one from the soft count, so that the locked boxes could be placed directly in the vault - a huge reinforced room where currency and other valuables were stored. Each of the layers of security were secured by key card protected doors and the vault itself could only be opened when Roy and the Chief Cashier swiped their key cards simultaneously and entered their unique password; shared only with the owner. Three of his security team were on duty within, two men and one woman, each operating a separate computer station, the rest of his team were out in the hotel and casino.

  “Donna, Jim, Kyle.” Roy greeted as he entered the security room.

  “Chief.” They replied in unison.

  “How are we looking?” Roy wanted to know.

  “Well, there’s not a lot going on. There’s a whale playing in one of the private rooms and the dealer wasn’t too happy with how she was being treated so we switched her with one of our male dealers.” Donna reported from behind the semi-circle. Roy remembered that a whale was another term for a high roller, and was grateful that he was finally learning some of the slang terms they used.

  Roy moved behind Donna, a shapely, kind looking woman in her thirties, with black hair that was cut short into a somewhat masculine style, and looked over the small bank of monitors on the semi-circular desk. They all showed cycling images fed from the multitude of security cameras, and so far, everything seemed nice and calm.

  “Looking like a quiet one, Chief.” Donna informed him.

  “Looks can be deceptive.” Roy responded grimly, sliding back into his police mentality.

  “Not around here.” Kyle piped up. Roy gazed at him quizzically; he was young, just a little over twenty, and despite being built like a linebacker, was one of the most soft-hearted people Roy had ever met.

  “Is that disappointment I hear in your voice, Kyle?” Roy questioned.

  “No, sir, I’m always happy when it’s quiet.”

  “Don’t believe him, Roy. Kyle’s desperate to get into the action.” Jim commented, leaning back in his chair.

  “Oh, I doubt that. Kyle just wants to get on home and play that damn video game he’s trying to get me into.” Roy quipped.

  “Well, my guild does have a raid scheduled in a couple of hours.” Kyle admitted.

  “And unless something goes wrong, you’ll be clocking out in less than an hour.” Roy declared.

  “Are you planning on working the night shift, Chief?” Donna asked.

  “Nope. It’s home for me. I’ve got a date with my wife. We’re thinking of going out, getting a meal and taking in a show, and I don’t intend to be late.”

  “Well, I’m happy for you.” Donna said, sounding vaguely rueful. Roy had noticed that she seemed to take on the same shifts as him, sometimes even changing when he did. Perhaps he was reading too much into it, but she’d dropped several hints he simply couldn’t ignore. Although he found the idea that she was attracted to him flattering, he didn’t intend to do or say anything that might encourage a closer liaison. Roy had done a few bad things across his career, made a few personal choices he regretted, but the one good thing he believed he’d done is his life was to marry Sophia, and he would never, ever, betray the trust that existed between them. He patted Donna paternally on the shoulder and moved away to stand between Jim and Kyle.

  “Thanks, Donna. Okay, guys and gal, let’s keep an eye on things and just get through the next hour.” Roy instructed. “Then, it’s someone else's problem.” He added with a chuckle.

  Isabella had spent the past few days staking out the Seraph. She thought the best place to carry out her part of the plan was on the main casino floor, where the majority of people seemed to assemble; other good options being the big stores upstairs and the theatre for live shows. She had reported back and her comrades were going to take care of them, with more of her associates ready to strike when people started congregating in different sections of the hotel, fleeing the events which were soon to unfold. Her chosen place was just across from the buffet section of the casino, which was devoted to blackjack tables. Isabella clutched the syringe in her jacket pocket, finding contact with it soothing. She was still a little nervous, afraid she wouldn’t find the courage to go through with what needed to be done, but strangely, that piece of plastic made her feel
stronger and infinitely more confident. She strode past individuals, families, and staff, oblivious to them all, and then she checked her watch for the third time. All of them, her comrades in the hotel, in the city and across the country had a plan that required precise timing. In ninety seconds, she needed to begin the speech. Three minutes after that she needed to inject herself, and then, as the Teacher said, the dominos would begin to fall. But just where should she give the speech? No one had offered her any advice. If she just started talking where she was standing not many people would hear her and those that did might think it was just a stunt. No, she needed to do something attention grabbing. She approached one of the blackjack tables and waited, looking nervously at her watch.

  “Ma’am? Would you like to take a seat and be dealt in?” The dealer enquired courteously, while watching her suspicious lurking carefully. Isabella shook her head, regarding the dealer with disdain. She knew what the Teacher had told her, these were decadent people who might try to tempt her with their filthy ways, and he was right. No, she couldn’t be swayed from her path. Isabella would carry out the plan. She lingered a while longer, and then stepped up onto the empty chair by the table, before mounting the table itself.

  “Ma’am!” The dealer called out in protest, but didn’t do anything. The three gamblers at the table decried her, but she was oblivious to their protestations.

  “Silence!” Isabella yelled out, garnering the full attention of not only those at the table, but passersby and those playing at other tables. “Too long has the Earth been subject to people such as you, to people who care not for Her needs and Her wants, Her cries of pain as we plunder Her to build shopping malls and parking lots and places such as this!” Isabella recited carefully, remembering each word the Teacher had told her to say when the time was right.

  “Shut the hell up, lady, and get off the table!” One of the gamblers at the table told her, reaching up a hand to grab her arm. Isabella swatted it away. She could see security people were already closing in on her. She looked quickly at her watch. Just another couple of minutes, then it would be time.

  “It looks like we’ve got a crazy at blackjack table twelve, Chief.” Jim announced.

  “Put it on the main monitor.” Roy instructed with a sigh. Perhaps he would be late for his date after all, he thought. Jim pressed some keys then, on the large central monitor, the image of the woman standing on the blackjack table appeared. She seemed to be talking.

  “Wilson and Simms are moving in.” Kyle reported.

  “I wish these cameras had audio.” Roy said under his breath.

  “What’s that she has in her hand? Is that a syringe?” Donna questioned.

  “Call the emergency services; I think we’re going to need police and maybe an ambulance here.” Roy commanded.

  “On it, sir.” Donna replied, grabbing the phone on her workstation.

  “And get more men to her, just in case she has any other tricks up her sleeve.”

  Isabella looked wildly around. Her adrenaline was pumping hard and the two security goons were nearly on top of her. She saw another two coming from the other direction. A glance at her watch told her they were too late.

  “But rejoice! For we have a plan, the Teacher has a plan. We have a way to help you cleanse the corruption that is seeping into our Earth. We’ll sweep away all that has been built and start afresh!” Isabella yelled, her voice rising with each word. Security was nearly on her but they wouldn’t reach her in time. Isabella jammed the needle into her neck and pressed down on the plunger. She could feel the change hitting her immediately. Her veins felt as if they were on fire. The Teacher hadn’t said it would hurt so much. Briefly, as Isabella collapsed onto the table, convulsing wildly - her limbs flailing and flopping around - she wondered if perhaps the Teacher was wrong. Slowly however, these thoughts faded away. Thoughts of her friends and comrades faded away. Everything faded away. She felt like she was dying, as if her body was shutting down. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe, but in a weird way it didn’t matter, because she could no longer register pain or fear. The Isabella who existed before the injection faded away. Her skin, once beautifully, naturally tanned was becoming pale. Her sensual dark eyes turned milky. Nothing remained of Isabella except for the shade of her once living body. The convulsing stopped, but she would never know that. Slowly however, some semblance of consciousness returned to Isabella, an awareness that resided in her most base instincts. She could sense the warm bodies around her; smell their natural odour, almost taste it in the air. She could hear them calling out for people to get help, get an ambulance, and hear the security personnel trying to clear a space around her. Her vision returned next. It was foggy, but she saw a big, burly man leaning over her, touching her neck.

  “She’s dead.” He imparted to another big man.

  “What was in that syringe?” The other asked.

  The next thing Isabella knew was the instinct to bite, to eat and feast on those around her. It was an overwhelming urge, an instinct so primal and vital to her that without a word and with a quickness that caught the first man by surprise, she lunged forward and sank her teeth into his neck, biting ferociously. He screamed, and it pleased her. Her mouth filled with the taste of his blood, and as she pulled away, ripping out a chunk of meat and sending a torrent of blood geysering from the wound across her face, Isabella immediately lost the instinct to consume him. He was cold to her now. However, the second man coming towards her, he was fresh. He was warm.

  Isabella’s mouth was full, but that didn’t stop the demanding hunger that overwhelmed her. As she surged forward he grappled with her, twisting and trying to keep her at arm’s length. She spat the contents of her mouth at him, and he looked at her with total revulsion. Isabella looked down and saw one of his arms was close to her, close enough to bite and consume and fill the void within her. She grabbed at the sleeve covering his arm and yanked at the fabric, baring his skin so that she could sink her teeth into it. He yelled as she did so, and she was aware that a moment after she bit into his arm he struck the side of her head. It didn’t seem to hurt, but she did fall, landing on top of the convulsing body of her first victim. As the second man retreated, he immediately seemed unappealing to her, as cold as her initial prey. People were screaming all around her; they were loud and distracting and Isabella couldn’t focus on a singular sound anymore. They scrambled feverishly and pushed each other to get away. All the motion and sound was confusing, and Isabella was angry that they were disorienting her so much. Laboriously, she got to her feet, as did the man she had landed on, his skin pale and eyes milky just like hers. Isabella looked at all the warm people that seemed out of reach, all the people she felt the need to consume. They were moving fast and the noise perplexed her so much she growled ferociously, the noise turning into an angry, primal roar. And then, amidst all the confusing sounds around her, she heard a whimper very close by. She turned and saw a dealer, cowering behind the table. She was warm to Isabella; she wasn’t fleeing like the others and she could easily be consumed.

  The chaos unfolding on casino floor was being shown on the bank of screens in the security room, but there was some kind of interference causing the images to break into static randomly.

  “What’s going on?” Roy demanded.

  “I don’t know! There’s some kind of, I don’t know, some kind of glitch screwing with the system! Damn it! It’s locking me out!” Donna complained angrily, mashing at her keyboard with a look of confusion and frustration. Roy looked over at her and then back at the screens. The woman had torn a chunk out of the blackjack dealer’s face and the two security team members she’d bitten had attacked the other security officers who’d come onto the scene. Guests were fleeing in panic in every direction.

  “We’re getting reports of someone ripping chunks out of people in the main theatre in the middle of the cabaret show, and in the gift shop on the second floor!” Kyle yelled out.

  “Donna, why are you shutting the security gates
?” Jim questioned.

  “I’m not! The computer’s going crazy!” Donna replied in a bewildered tone. Roy watched the screens. The reinforcements he’d sent to help the two men restrain the woman had been bitten, and were convulsing on the floor. Indiscriminately, the woman, the blackjack dealer and his own two men were grabbing people who ran past them, dragging them down and biting them.

  “Get the police back on the phone,” Roy instructed. “We’re going to need help here soon!”

  “I can’t, outside phone lines are down.” A bewildered Donna replied as she looked at him over her monitor. Roy wheeled around and went to the phone on her desk, picked it up and hit the external line, but was met only with silence, not even a ring tone.

  “Damn it!” Roy cursed under his breath.

  “I’ve just lost the signal for camera’s twenty through thirty!” Kyle declared.

  “What’s happening to the cameras?” Roy demanded from Donna.

  “I don’t know. There’s some kind of malware in the security system, it’s overwriting everything and taking control. It’s shutting down all the security camera feeds, and lowering all the emergency shutter gates. The only things we haven’t lost are the door controls, the internal phone system and the elevators.” Donna reeled off. Roy barely understood what she was saying.