Tammy appeared on the screen. She was still sharply dressed and still appeared to be the exemplary professional, despite the degrading situation around the world.
However, to those people that watched her on a regular basis, there was something different about the news anchor today. Behind the confident sound of her voice and professional countenance, there was a hint of something else. It was in the eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul, after all. The intenseness and confidence usually found in those blue eyes were marred by a hint of something else. If you looked closely enough, you saw the truth. There was fear there. Fear and uncertainty...
“Good afternoon and welcome to this special afternoon edition of Channel Eight News. The images we just shared with you are happening in many places across the world. There are reports of violent clashes from Russia to Indonesia, from China to Turkey, from Mexico to Argentina, and across Europe.”
“We also have reports that small scale demonstrations are occurring in most US cities. So far, the only protests that have escalated to violent clashes between demonstrators and local police are in Los Angeles and Houston.”
“These protests may have been triggered by the latest announcement from the World Bank, as they initiated a bank holiday in order to attempt to stem the run on banks. Many grocery chains have also shut their doors as their shelves are bare, leaving people struggling to find food.”
“These developments occur as the death toll of those succumbing to HAPS has risen to the millions and shows no indication of slowing down.”
“Religious leaders throughout the world are calling upon the masses to come together in this time of darkness and have denounced the announcements by some that this is the rapture or an end-of-the-world event. The Pope has asked all of Christianity to remain calm and not fall prey to the destructive force of chaos.”
“Tensions between India and China are at an all time high, as each country accuses the other of terrorism. There have been skirmishes between North and South Korean troops, and there are several conflicts in the middle east.”
Tammy’s eyes shifted down for a second before she looked towards the camera once more. The intense dark blue eyes never failed to captivate its audience.
“Over a dozen nations in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are in a state of severe unrest and appear to be on the brink of collapse. These nations include Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Oman. We are struggling to reach any correspondents in that area of the world, partially due to internet and cellular traffic being shut down in these affected nations by their respective governments. Any communications that have made it through are extremely disturbing. We will not divulge these until we get some confirmation as to their authenticity. We have also reached out to our federal government to provide us with updates regarding these mysterious and troubling events.”
Tammy turned to face another camera, as the ticker below her stated “Situation in USA”
“Now for an update regarding the status of the HAPS in America. There have been confirmed reports of HAPS in every major metropolitan city in America. We are hearing that hundreds of thousands of victims are indicating that they are suffering from the initial symptoms. City emergency services are reaching critical mass in New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The first reported deaths appear to be primarily elderly people and people of poor health.”
“The CDC released a short statement several hours ago, indicating that people should remain inside their homes if they are experiencing any symptoms. They state that current medicine and medical care has proven to be ineffective against HAPS.”
A second piece of text appeared on the ticker beside the ‘Situation in USA’ text. It simply states ‘Animal Deaths’.
“There have also been an overwhelming number of reports of animal deaths. The deaths appear to be concentrated mainly with animals that are in regular human contact, like livestock and pets. HAPS appears to be fatal to animals.”
The next scene showed a rancher standing in the middle of the field, surrounded by dead cattle. Only some of the younger cattle were still on their feet. One of these collapsed right in front of the camera. The camera panned back to the rancher and focused on his face. He looked haggard with grief and hopelessness.
Chapter Fourteen
October 24, 2:30 a.m.
Kinazi, Rwanda
Bernard Kuvarungana awoke with a start. Somebody had knocked on his door.
There it was again, urgent and insistent.
Bernard swung his legs over the edge of his bed and sat there for a moment. Agatha had woken up beside him. Her hands found him. Grasping at his arm and back. He could sense the fear in her touch.
“Who is it, Berno? What do they want?”
“Shhh!” He commanded and shook her hands off. “Leave me be, woman. You go check on the children while I go see who is at the door.”
Bernard got up and made his way through the darkened house. The knock came again. It made him hesitate. He collected his machete, then crept up to his front door.
He stood on his side of the door and felt a moment of fear himself. The nights of massacres had happened many years ago, but the memories would always be there.
“Who is there!” He called out. The words came out rushed.
“Bernard. It is me, Theo! Open up!” The urgency was apparent in the other man’s voice. Bernard quickly opened the door and Theo slipped in past him.
“Close the door, quickly!” Theo pleaded.
Bernard closed the door and plunged the room into darkness.
Theo started talking, but Bernard ordered him to be quiet.
“Hold on.” He said, as he collected a candle. He lit the candle and motioned for the other man to follow him to the kitchen. Bernard placed the machete on the kitchen counter and the candle on the table. Both men sat down. Agatha had dressed and reappeared to pour the men some milk.
Bernard watched the other man thank Agatha and take a drink. Theo was perspiring, despite the coolness of the night. His eyes were wild. Bernard had seen this look before. Back in 1994. During the genocide. Again, the memories flooded him. Bernard took a breath to steady himself.
“Ok. Tell me what is wrong.”
Theo’s eyes grew wide. “Marie attacked me!”
Theo continued before Bernard could speak.
“She was sick. You know, like everybody is, with the stomach pain. She begged me to take her to the clinic when I put her in bed last night. I told her that I would take her in the morning. Andre and Zumi were also feeling unwell, so I planned to take them too.”
Bernard nodded. Three of his own children were suffering with stomach aches...
“Ok so what happened next?”
“I had some Urwagwa beer before going to bed. I have a bit of pain myself and was hoping that would help. Anyway, I crept into bed and Maria was asleep. I woke up later when Maria was shaking. I lit a candle and tried to get her to sit up but suddenly her eyes rolled back, and she slumped back onto the bed!”
Theo mimicked the eyes and the motion his wife made.
“I backed away from her. I think she was dead!” Theo’s eyes got wider as he relived those moments.
“I took a step closer so that I could see her face ... Her eyes! They were wide open, like so-” Theo opened his eyes as wide as he could.
“As I stood there, I could see those eyes move. She started to slowly open her mouth. I thought that she was going so say something, but she just opened her mouth very wide. So, I called her name. I said ‘Maria, love.”
“She moved when she heard me. So, I came a little closer. Then she turned her face to me! It was awful, Bernard! Before I could do anything, she lunged off the bed at me. She landed at my feet. She tried to grab my foot first, and then she lunged again and tried to bite me!”
Theo was so involved in his story that he forgot about the glass of milk on the table. He skittered backward in his chair, which knocked the table, which in tu
rn tipped the glass of milk onto its side. A miniature white tsunami spread across the table and cascaded over the edge. Agatha rushed to try to clean up the mess.
Theo paid no attention to it, his eyes wild in fear.
“I quickly backed out of the bedroom and tried to close the door, but she got up and ran into it from the other side! The door slammed open and I fell onto the living room floor.”
Bernard could picture this. Marie was quite a bit bigger than Theo.
“I scrambled backwards on my hands and feet, just as she stumbled through the door. Then Murabe ran in to the living room, screaming. Maria turned to her baby, and I could tell she was going to hurt her. I yelled at Murabe to run back to his room and I yelled for Andre to come help!”
Theo put his hands on the table to steady himself, never noticing that he put his hand into the milk. He met Bernard’s eyes. “She was going to hurt our baby.”
“So, what happened next?”
Theo was silent for a moment. He noticed the machete lying on the counter. “I too have a umupanga.” Theo said, motioning to the machete with his chin.
“I had backed up to the wall next to the shelf. Close to where I keep mine...” Theo lifted his right hand. Milk dripped off the side of his hand and down his wrist. He did not notice.
“Marie was coming at me again. I guess my yelling got her attention. I got up in time and raised my machete over my head. She didn’t hesitate at all but kept coming. I jumped to the side at the last moment and she slammed into the wall. She was still on her feet though. I swung the machete with all my might and caught her below her ear. Right here.” Theo pointed at his own jaw.
Agatha cried in alarm at this. Bernard found himself on his feet, facing his friend with clenched fists. He looked at the other man, and for the first time noted the specks of blood all over him.
Theo went on as if nothing had happened.
“She was still standing. My machete was sticking out of her mouth, and she didn’t even flinch. She came at me and I grabbed the machete handle. I stepped around her and used the machete as leverage. She beat at me with her fists. I shoved her back with my foot, and the machete came loose as she fell. I stepped over her and swung the machete as she tried to hit me. Her hand flew across the room. I stabbed down, into her belly. ... I remember the smell of shit, as I pulled the machete out.” Theo swallowed and took a breath.
“Then Andre ran into me, screaming and crying. I swung the machete once, and he went down. Marie was trying to get back on her feet. She was on her hands and knees but couldn’t get her balance with one hand missing. I stepped up to her and swung down hard.”
Theo was silent then. Agatha had already backed out of the room. Bernard was reaching for his own machete as Theo’s eyes grew wide once more.
Chapter Fifteen
October 24, 1:00 P.M.
Anger.
People were caught up in fear. Some people were crippled by it. Fear renders the brilliant into blubbering idiots and the strongest of men into the meekest of babies. Some people responded to fear with anger. They sought to blame others – anybody – for their misfortune. They returned to old hatreds and prejudices. They resorted to violence as an answer to this thing they could not understand nor control.
THINGS WERE DEGRADING rapidly. The news this afternoon included the public announcement that hospitals and clinics were shut down. The truth staring everybody in the face was that social systems were collapsing. The carcasses of dead cattle lay rotting in rancher’s fields. The deaths of beloved pets almost went unnoticed as owners were feeling burning sensations in their bellies.
One message had been made clear: The government and health authorities had repeatedly called upon anybody that is infected, to stay at home and avoid all contact with other people. The infected were to lock themselves into their homes.
Do not look for help – was the message if you read between the lines.
Tammy joined the broadcast in the early afternoon. Her first topic was regarding the new ‘safe zones’.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Channel Eight News, along with all local television and radio stations, has received information regarding our local safe zone. Our government has asked for media cooperation with this initiative.”
“We have been provisioned with the following statement regarding the safe zones.”
The statement appears on the screen as Tammy reads it out.
By order of the President of the United States of America, Federal and State agencies have coordinated the set up of Safe Zones. These zones are to house healthy, uninfected individuals. No animals are allowed in the safe zones. All citizens are requested to stay in their residences and watch their local television stations or listen to their local radio stations for instructions. United States homeland security forces, Transportation Security Administration and various branches of intelligence agencies have put together a process of ‘contact, pick-up, and deliver’.
This process works as follows: Those persons not infected with HAPS are to wait until their geographic location is due for evacuation. The area or neighborhood name will be broadcast by local radio and television channels.
A telephone number will also be broadcast along with the location. Healthy individuals or families are asked to call in so that their location and names can be tallied.
Various branches of the armed forces will be leveraged to provide evacuation and protection services. They will travel to the locations of these healthy citizens, collect them, and transport them to the safe zones for processing.
We reiterate that only healthy persons, not suffering from HAPS, are to be evacuated and transported to the safe zones. We ask that all US citizens comply with this initiative, as this represents our effort to keep the healthy portion of our population segregated.
We assure those civilians suffering with the effects of HAPS that everything possible is being done to find the cure. Health agencies around the world are working together, with full support from their governments. The CDC has indicated that they are closing in on developing a vaccine.
The President of the United States of America has received bi-partisan support for this proactive approach to limiting the spread of HAPS. He wishes to express his confidence that our country is properly prepared to handle the HAPS epidemic and asks the people of our nation to remain calm.
The words faded and the camera zoomed in on Tammy. She waited for a moment to speak. Those piercing blue eyes never failed to hypnotize her audience.
“So once again ladies and gentlemen, please keep track of the locations and numbers we are currently broadcasting. Please call the corresponding number, if you are symptom free and you see the name of your neighborhood along the bottom of the screen.”
True to her word, a ticker travels across the bottom of the screen with various information.
Tammy continued with highlights of local, state, national and international news. Unsurprisingly, all highlights pertained to HAPS.
“The number of deaths in America attributed to this syndrome has risen into the thousands, with millions feeling the onset of the symptoms.” A graph dominated the screen, showing a disturbing trend in the number of infections and deaths.
Another disturbing statistic was shown next. Nearly all deaths were people that were considered elderly or low-income status, including the homeless. The remainder of deaths were accounted to people of poor health. Conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork, claiming foul play. They weren’t alone. These accusations were also made within the halls of congress.
Chapter Sixteen
Televised and radio broadcasts were not the only way to find out what was happening in the world. Over eighty percent of Americans had social media profiles. Worldwide, there were about two billion social media users. That social media had been blowing up over the last few days.
Networks were under incredible strain as they were being stress-tested. Everybody with a cell phone was using it, and network breakdowns were occurring in
many places.
There were thousands upon thousands of blogs and posts. A lot of these contained videos, capturing social unrest, protests and marches, rioting, looting, and violence. Lots of violence.
The violence included scenes of police force phalanxes rushing protestors, massive brawls amidst lootings, and vehicles plowing into each other on grid locked roadways. There were a shocking number of videos containing shootings.
There was another statistic. One that was not presented in news programmes. The number of deaths attributed to violence were far higher than the people that succumbed to HAPS. Scared people are dangerous.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was leaked footage of several border clashes and open warfare.
However, there were other videos that were even more disturbing. Videos of people behaving strangely and aggressively. Unexplainable attacks on loved ones and family. In some of these videos it appeared that the aggressors were ignoring their own, sometimes severe injuries. A few of them appeared to be mortally injured and should not have been alive.
Could it be that the dead were rising to attack the living? The rumors were getting more numerous as the number of these types of videos were growing exponentially.
Chapter Seventeen
#HAPS
Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service. The system allows users to send and receive short posts called tweets. These tweets can be up to 280 characters long, although most users still limit their tweets to 140 characters or less.
Apocalypsis Immortuos | Book 1 | Syndrome Page 8