Dead & Alive (Short Story): Outbreak (2 page)
LOCKDOWN
In a secret room, in a secret location, Officials are working hard to discover what went wrong with the test in Gosport.
Reports were flooding in of chaos, humans feeding on others, people being declared dead and then waking up attacking others.
A female Army officer entered the room escorted by guards.
“Captain Jenkins, please take a seat!” she was told by a large bald man.
She sat at the end of a long table, looking around she watched as phones rang constantly, monitors on the wall flashing with warning messages, computer operators worked rapidly to relay information.
The one thing she did notice
,
was not one name was spoken.
These kind of people never used names.
The large bald man took a seat next to Captain Jenkins. Clearing his throat he spoke, “Congratulations, your security level has been raised. Everything you learn here is deemed Top Secret, speaking about anything you hear now will result in a trial for treason. Understand?”
“Yes Sir!” she simply replied.
The bald man rubbed his hands together. “Earlier today, a weapons test went wrong. What was meant to be a trial, turned into an outbreak. A chemical was released into the atmosphere of a small town called Gosport on the south coast. This test has resulted in unforeseen results, it is killing people and the dead are rising and feeding on the living, in turn turning them into more monsters,” he told Jenkins.
Without thinking she laughed. “Come on this is a joke right?” she asked.
The bald man’s expression did not change, that was the exact moment she knew it was not a joke.
The color drained from her face, she grabbed a glass of water and downed it all at once, her only thought was that she wished that it was Vodka. It took a moment for the situation to sink into her brain.
“I take it you have asked me here for a reason?” Captain Jenkins asked.
The bald man looked around the room at everyone working.
“Everyone here is an asset, they have one goal and that is to do their duty. Now I need to know if you will do yours?” he asked.
After a short pause, she knew there was no choice but to obey or disappear to a dark room somewhere and never be seen again.
“I follow orders and everything I do is for my country,” she replied with a strong voice.
For the first time the bald man smiled. “We are doing a lockdown of the south, but whatever these things are, they will break through. It is the plan to isolate England and eventually evacuate as many as possible,” he told her.
Before he finished Jenkins interrupted, “I can have military personal shipped back from the middle-east and ready for the evacuation in ten hours.”
“That will not be necessary!
We want you to keep certain personnel out of this and away from the country. There is no need to lose more lives than is necessary,” the bald man told her softly.
The bald man stood up. “It will not be long before we announce the evacuation. We have soldiers ready to protect us while we continue to resolve this. I suggest you consider flying out of the country to one of the camps and await our orders,” he told her.
Standing up, Captain Jenkins was shocked to see the bald man wave her away. She was once again escorted to the doors. Once out of sight, she could not contain it any longer and was sick all over the floor. The pure shock of what she heard had shaken her to the core.
RUN!
Raven sat in the passenger seat of the police car, her hands were shaking.
No matter how hard she tried they would not stop.
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” the officer screamed.
Raven was in shock. “Dead, they were dead and then they were alive. Then…they attacked,” Raven spoke in a confusing voice.
The officer was driving at crazy speeds.
He was speeding alongside a beach when he hit the brakes, coming to a violent stop.
He grabbed his radio hand set. “This is 184 calling in an emergency, I repeat this is 184…” he was saying when the radio started a beeping noise.
Raven looked at him. “What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s an emergency signal, all radio contact has been blocked,” he replied softly.
Raven could see the fear in his eyes. “My name is Raven, yours?” she asked.
He frowned as he stared out the window towards the ocean. “Gregg,” he uttered quietly.
As they sat there in silence cars were speeding past them, people were running along the beach screaming. Raven watched as a woman and child tried running but slipped, within moments two dead things were on them and tearing at the flesh.
“It’s fucking zombies!” Gregg stated.
“Zombies do not exist,” Raven replied slowly.
“They’re dead and they are eating people. They are zombies!” he said angrily.
Raven watched the woman and child get ripped apart. “We need to go!” Raven told Gregg.
“Where?” he asked.
As the fear in her grew she screamed, “ANYWHERE JUST GO!”
Within seconds he put his foot down and they sped away from the chaos.
“Do you have a mobile phone?” Raven asked.
Gregg dug deep into his pocket and handed her a small black phone. Still shaking she began dialing, before she could put in the last number a beep echoed from the phone, one similar to the radio.
Gregg looked Raven. “All communication has been blocked,” he told her.
She continued to try the mobile phone. He looked again and grabbed the phone from her violently. “There is no point, there must be a terror alert on. To prevent communication by terrorists all communications will be shutdown. There is no one listening,” he told her bluntly.
“Where are we going?” she asked him. While staring at the dried blood on her hands.
“Portsmouth! My wife and kids are there,” he replied.
Raven realized at that moment what must have been running through Gregg’s head.
“I’m sorry. Thank you, thank you for saving me,” she told him gently.
He glanced with a smile.
Helicopters and Chinooks flew overhead.
Looking up, he could see they were destined for the naval base.
The roads were mayhem with people attempting to escape the chaos. They reached an archway of a bridge that ran over the road. Military vehicles blocked the road, soldiers armed with guns stood in front preventing anyone from exiting the town.
A soldier stood on top of a truck with a megaphone.
“PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR HOMES, THIS AREA IS NOW UNDER QUARANTINE. WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT YOU!” the soldier informed everyone.
Shouting and screams towards the soldiers continued. Gregg and Raven left the car and walked towards the soldiers.
Gregg showed his warrant card. “I need to get to my family,” he told them while trying to walk past. He was quickly pushed back.
Raven watched as he argued with the soldier, screams started to develop behind her. She turned to see zombies, swarms of them heading towards the living.
Gregg grabbed Raven’s hand and once again tried to push through the blockade. He stopped when a soldier aimed a gun at his head. “There is no escape!” the soldier shouted at Gregg.
As a mass of living attempted to get past the blockade, the soldiers began to open fire on them. Gregg dragged Raven away towards a metal fence;
he looked over to see water that led out of the area.
“Can you swim?” he asked her.
Raven nodded her head.
Before he could respond the zombies were upon them, they ran further along the fence trying to get away. A zombie grabbed his arm and sunk its teeth into his flesh, tearing the muscle from his bones. As blood sprayed, he screamed in pain.
As Raven looked at him, Gregg shouted out, “RUN! RUN! RUN!”
Raven turned and ran. She reached the edge of the fence, looking down at the deepest water.
“RUN!” she heard Gregg scream again.
As the sun set, she climbed the fence, taking one last look around her. She could see the zombies tearing into the living, gunshots being fired, screams of help all around her.
Suddenly a zombie grabbed her shoe, she kicked off her sneaker making the zombie fall back and she jumped.
Disappearing into the dark water below.
IN JUST ONE DAY THE ZOMBIES KILLED OVER A MILLION PEOPLE.
WHAT WILL DAY TWO, WEEK TWO, MONTH TWO OR YEAR TO BRING?
SURVIVING WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.
AUTHOR I.J. SMITH
BOOK ONE – DEAD & ALIVE: SURVIVE
BOOK TWO – DEAD & ALIVE: SACRIFICE
BOOK THREE – DEAD & ALIVE: BROKEN
(COMING SOON)
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Amazon:
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Also the writer of YA series Infinity
