A World Reborn: The First Outbreak

by Chris Thompson

  She hung back in the hallway and waited until she saw the first group approach the Grand Staircase, and then began mentally preparing herself to move as soon as the soldiers had herded both groups of the infected down the stairs out of sight. When she happened to glance across to the north side however, Melissa’s eyes widened in alarm and she swiftly pulled back a half step and dropped to a crouch, hoping she hadn’t been seen. A pair of soldiers she had failed abysmally to notice were sweeping the stores there and currently, one of them had halted and was peering intently into one of the shop windows; a children’s clothing store from what Melissa could see of its wares. He had pressed his head up to the glass and had one arm raised to block out any light reflection.

  “What’s wrong?” His partner called out, jarring the soldier at the window.

  “I thought I saw someone.” He answered back.

  “Check it out.” He instructed, moving towards the bridge joining the north and south tower. “I’ll help our brothers move the infected deviants down the stairs.”

  As he entered the store Melissa, staying low, furtively crept back to the corner to peer round it at the soldiers. Two other soldiers had ascended the Grand Staircase from the ground floor, and were trying to help their comrades control the infected, as they were having great difficulty getting them to move down the stairs in an orderly manner. Melissa wondered if some of their number were attracted to or perhaps disturbed by the flashing lights and music from the game machines in the courtyard. Some were attempting to stray in that direction, to be hastily shoved back in line; they snapped in the direction of their handlers, but became more docile as they moved down the stairs. Scanning to the left a few moments later, she glimpsed the soldier passing in front of the clothing store window; his assault rifle was now raised with the butt braced against his shoulder. Melissa watched him until he disappeared from view, and then looked once more at the herding soldiers. They seemed to have found a way to steer the infected in a less precarious fashion, as the larger group looked decidedly smaller than it had a few seconds ago, enabling those in front of the smaller group she had travelled down the elevator with to tag onto the end when they reached them.

  Suddenly a scream cut through the air. The infected became agitated, uttering a chorus of moans and grunts, some trying to get away from the soldiers shepherding them. Melissa saw the soldier in the store window opposite, backing up towards the door, dragging a woman who was kicking, screaming and struggling wildly as she tried to resist him. She was covered in blood which didn’t appear to be hers as she seemed relatively uninjured. Unfortunately, for the woman, his grip was too strong for her to escape. He held her around the waist and was practically carrying her as she desperately wriggled to get free. He exited the store and quickly began moving the woman across the bridge towards his comrades ushering the infected down the Grand Staircase. The closer she came to the infected, screeching and fighting for freedom, the more disturbed and rowdy they became. They were no longer docile around the soldiers either. In fact, they were snapping their jaws in their direction as they attempted to restrain them; as though the victims screams of terror was disrupting whatever calming effect the soldiers had on them.

  “Found her hiding in a closet.” The soldier carrying her yelled out over her shrieks of fear and defiance. “Whoever checked that store should have his collar removed.”

  “That’s not your decision to make.” His partner retorted. “Wait, don’t bring her any closer!” He yelled out as he forcibly pushed two infected back who were eagerly trying to get to the woman.

  “What does it matter? She’s going to be converted anyway. Let them do it here.”

  “The Ancillary would want her brought down and placed with the other uninfected deviants in the Money Pit.”

  The terrified woman somehow managed to twist free and hurriedly started to move back along the bridge, but her captor coldly grabbed her flowing hair and yanked her back, following it up with a powerful, disorienting punch to her face, knocking her to the ground. Her screams silenced for the moment, the soldiers returned to discussing what to do with her. The nearest infected still seemed to be extremely agitated – ravenous, just like the other infected Melissa had encountered.

  “Bitch!” The soldier who had hit her called out.

  “Deal with her!” A woman demanded from below. Melissa had no idea who it was, but noticed the accent, and thought it might be the woman from the radio earlier.

  “Let them loose.” A cold, sadistic, male voice declared from the floor below.

  “Fine.” The soldier restraining the two nearest infected said. With the woman silenced the rest started to calm down and the other soldiers successfully resumed steering them down the staircase once more. The soldier who had been holding back the two infected grappled them and flung them in the direction of the injured woman, and then retreated out of the way. Melissa’s heart froze. She considered what was about to happen: this innocent woman who only minutes ago had thought her hiding place was safe, was about to be brutally savaged. They were going to bite into her and, if she didn’t become one of them, they’d tear her apart. Melissa’s instinct to protect the woman kicked in; an instinct to protect that had been fostered during her time in Africa. She gripped the gun tightly in her hand and readied herself to shoot around the corner... and then what? She asked herself this question several times. There were heavily armed and armoured men nearby; more would probably come when she started firing off shots, and God knows how many of the infected. She had one gun, with one spare clip.

  Melissa’s mind raced as she watched everything unfolding in slow motion. She wanted to save the woman. She needed to save her, just as she’d needed to save people in Africa. But unlike then, she was currently powerless to do anything. If she did something now then she’d be dead too. And if she was dead, then she couldn’t help anyone. Her rational mind pleaded at her to stay hidden, but her heart demanded she save the woman. Her paralyzing indecision meant that the time to do anything had passed, and now it was too late. The two infected, now separated from their handler, seemed to be confused at first, but when the soldier who had taken the woman prisoner also retreated, it seemed the calming influence over them dissipated, and as they returned to their ravenous state, they noticed the woman. They hurriedly scrambled over to her, and descended upon her quickly. One clambered on top of her back and the other stayed near her legs. The one on her back lunged at her neck and bit into it, ushering forth a torrent of blood that sprayed across its face. The other bit into her calf, tearing a chunk of flesh out with its teeth. However, within seconds of doing so, they seemed to lose interest and stood up. The soldiers approached them, and after a few more moments, they became docile again, with one staring blankly in the direction of the other infected and the other looking at the woman who was convulsing below him. Melissa watched, horrified and fascinated as the woman who had been so alive seconds earlier now looked pale and sick, just like the two who had attacked her. The woman stopped convulsing after a few final twitches, and then slowly pushed herself up onto her hands. She tried to stand and then fell back down. She repeated the motion a few times, as though she was caught in a loop of trying to stand and falling.

  “Put it down. We can’t afford to waste any more time on her.” The soldier who had thrown the pair of infected at her ordered, and the woman’s captor responded by raising his weapon and pointing it at her head.

  “Don’t shoot her! We’ve only just got them back under control! Do it quietly, we don’t need any unnecessary noise.” He insisted, scolding his companion. The soldier lowered his weapon and pulled out a knife, plunging it into the back of her skull.

  “Happy now?” He asked as he guided the two infected back to the group.

  Melissa lowered her head in shame, retreating fully back around the corner and feeling the unmistakable burning of tears in her eyes. She felt dreadful and so ashamed that she had done nothing to help her, and Melissa felt even worse that the survivor withi
n her was completely fine with how things had turned out.

  “There was nothing I could do.” She said softly to herself, needing to hear the words aloud as she attempted to absolve herself for her sin of inaction. As she tried to reassure herself she couldn’t have done more, the survivor part of her brain made a connection to something they’d said, and it momentarily blocked out the horror she’d just witnessed. They had mentioned something about a collar, also, the need to be quiet. Perhaps, she considered, sound was something that broke the infected out of whatever docile state they were in around the soldiers, perhaps a state caused by the collar’s they mentioned? The collars, whatever they were, seemingly suppressed the infected in some manner. It seemed crazy, but no more than the situation she was currently in. Melissa hung back for several minutes, letting the soldiers and the infected get down the stairs and away from the gold railed bridge leading across from the south to the north of the complex, so that when she approached she wouldn’t be observed. After a final peek around the corner to make sure they were gone, Melissa broke cover, crunching as quietly as she could over the glass and followed the edge of the buildings as closely and stealthily as possible. Once she reached the bridge near the south Grand Staircase, she couldn’t help but look at the body of the young woman she’d failed to save. Her blood was leaking out from the knife wound in the back of her head, the hole in her neck and the wound on her leg. But it was the cold, dead eyes which held Melissa’s gaze; they seemed to stare accusingly at her. The image reminded her of Sanaa, and how Melissa hadn’t been able to save her either. Melissa pushed the thoughts aside, back to the dark place in her heart where she repressed the memories of her time in Africa.

  Looking away, Melissa went completely prone and approached the railing to look down at the Money Pit. The railing had bars wide enough for her to put her arm through but not her head. They were assumedly there to stop a child from taking a tumble or sliding themselves through. When she was able to look down at the Money Pit, she saw immediately that it didn’t look the same it had the last time she saw it. There were a number of flood lights around it and through the acrylic glass, Melissa could see about a fifty or more people had been crammed inside. There was room for them to move around somewhat, but not a lot. Some were wearing bath robes with the hotel logo embroidered on it; others were in their underwear, while a few were fully dressed. Melissa surmised these were the people who had been in their rooms and had previously been unaware of the carnage unfolding downstairs or who had been holed up somewhere safe on the bottom two floors. Although it was softened by the sound of the cage, she could hear more than a few panicking, fearful sobs.

  Melissa was now also able to take in what the soldiers had done elsewhere; they had been hard at work securing the area around the casino by erecting barricades at all the entrances, using more of those police style cordons, gaming tables, furniture and whatever was to hand, and Melissa could immediately see why. Pressed up against the barricades were thousands of the infected. Mostly, they were standing in a passive way, but those at the front were clearly agitated, glowering at the soldiers and banging up against the ramshackle barricades. There were soldiers standing guard at the barricades too, roughly equidistant from each other, perhaps, Melissa thought, to distribute whatever nullifying agent kept the infected under control, which definitely was having some kind of effect as Melissa was certain if it wasn’t they’d be working a lot harder to batter down the barricades.

  Melissa suddenly realized what was going to happen during the conversion the soldiers had discussed, and could only conclude that the whole point of the broadcast was their way of striking terror into the hearts and minds of the unsuspecting audience. As she watched they began moving the infected they had brought down from the floors above towards the people trapped in the Money Pit, which made Melissa itch once again to intervene, but this time she recognized immediately the futility of getting involved in a no win situation. Looking down and moving her head to a different angle, Melissa was able to see a woman, who wasn’t wearing black like the others but wasn’t being corralled by the soldiers either, leading Melissa to believe she was with them, but in a different capacity. She wore a robe, white and flowing, with a hood that hung heavily on her shoulders. Melissa noted she had beautiful platinum blonde hair, but that was all Melissa could see of her appearance at that moment. She was side on to Melissa, directing the soldiers who were setting up cameras.

  “Are you connected to the satellite system?” The woman demanded in a voice filled with authority - and with a definite English accent. Melissa was certain she was the one who had ordered the soldiers to deal with the woman now lying dead on the bridge nearby, as well as being the same woman Melissa had spoken to on the radio.

  “Yes, Ancillary. As soon as you’re ready we can broadcast and transmit to everyone using a satellite television system in this city. Our brothers and sisters embedded in the cable stations will play a time delay feed, but everyone should be seeing it at roughly the same time.” One of the soldiers at her side answered her. He was holding a tablet computer and showed her something on the screen

  “Good, Sebastian. Even with the lateness of the hour, the news channels should pick it up and our word will spread like wildfire. Turn on the cameras.” She instructed.

  “As you wish, ma’am.” Sebastian responded, tapping something on the tablet. “We’re live.” He said softly.

  A soldier with a camera approached from the side and the woman now identified as the Ancillary stepped in front of it, which was when Melissa got a look at her face. She was stunningly beautiful. Melissa could easily imagine her being a model, as she had the most exquisite blue eyes: a perfect complexion, ivory coloured skin and delicate features. It shocked Melissa that someone so lovely could be involved in a situation of such utter evil, but there she was, addressing the camera.

  “This is the Seraph Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It is twenty past three in the morning, on the thirteenth of June. What you are about to see is the end of your world and the beginning of ours.” She said directly into the camera and then stepped away. The camera operator moved forward and carefully panned along the Money Pit; eventually halting at the corralled group of infected. A trio of soldiers raised their weapons to keep the people in the Money Pit from trying to escape as a pair of their compatriots opened the doors. Meanwhile, the soldiers who had escorted the infected began pushing them towards the men and women within the cage. Despite whatever suppression effect the collars had on the infected, it immediately began to dissipate once they were within biting distance of the screaming, frightened people trapped in the Money Pit. Melissa watched, horrified and sickened as the panic inside the Money Pit reached fever pitch; a cacophony of voices pleading for their lives or the lives of their loved ones. Moments later, agony-filled screeches began to carry beyond the cage that before too long would become, for some of them, their tomb. The infected had begun to savage those at the front as soon as they were within biting distance, ripping great bloody chunks out of arms and throats. Some were turned instantly. Some weren’t so lucky. The soldiers herding the infected into the cage were themselves having difficulty containing them and had to push a few of them away as they turned against their controllers. But once the infected had the scent of blood, they turned away from their masters and joined the consuming surge into the Money Pit. Fearful of being crushed, the people at the rear began to push back against the people in front trying to retreat, creating a kind of blockade that was quickly eroded as those at the fore were infected and turned to bite the people behind them. Blood sprayed against the clear walls and the ones who weren’t lucky enough to be turned by whatever plague was controlling them were torn apart and consumed, while the fear-stricken former guests behind them desperately tried to keep the infected at bay. The camera operator focused on the carnage inside while the other soldiers watched unemotionally. The screaming from within was starting to aggravate the infected within the casino, making them surge against
the barricade, grunting, groaning and pressing their arms up against it. If it continued, Melissa thought, the barricade might not hold out. However, the soldiers stood their ground against the riled up infected, though they brought their weapons to a half-ready position.