"I know" He pulled a cigar out of his pocket and ran it under his nose, "I know they would have. This is how we survive from here on." He looked somberly at the cigar in his hand. "I don"t have to like it though."
His thoughtful and sorrowful reflection of what had just occurred struck me in a way I hadn"t expected. Till now I had been running and surviving. Hit hard by what I had seen and what I had lost. I was continuing to lose people I had loved. Even in Eve"s case, the connection with her was unintentional but it was clearly there and her death was so traumatic and gruesome I felt it in my bones. This was how we survived from now on. We sacrificed others to live. Levitt had pointed out to me that we were losing our humanity.
-Encampment-.
The camp was large, there were 20 or more tents set up across the field. There was a mess tent, sleeping quarters, and a medical tent with hot showers. It was a small mobile city.
Levitt"s group that had ventured into town, was relativity small, maybe ten marines. In the camp there had to be 100 marines, Navy and Army personnel. This was all that was left of more than four hundred military personnel that were transporting the sick from Seattle.
After we arrived, I looked around for a place to settle in. Levitt pointed me towards one of the sleeping tents and told me I could drop off my things and get some food. When I was done, I was to make my way over to the command tent were he would show me all the data they had collected over the last couple of days. We had a short talk about our backgrounds and he thought I might have some incite on what was happening because of my research history.
He wasn"t wrong. After the first wave had hit I had done a lot of independent research on the fungus strain that had contaminated the drug that was put into the water supply.
I had surmised that it wasn"t the drug itself but rather a combination of the location of manufacturing and the delivery method that was used. The combination of the two had created a leap in evolution for the fungus.
The drug company had used H-pylori bacteria as a delivery method for the drug. A live bacteria that had acted as a catalyst for ingestion into the digestive tract. My research had led me to believe that the bacteria had also provided a means for the fungus to survive in the human gut long enough to adapt to our physiology.
At first the adaptation would cause a psychotic reaction which would lead to an event like the first wave. But with the ill, the time it took to turn, gave the fungus enough time to adapt and find a method of propagation. This made a human turn into a mindless monster, with the sole purpose of feeding to pa.s.s spores onto the next host.
Levitt and I talked for several hours and as the discussion moved along, other senior members of the camp began to gather in the command tent. A plan of attack quickly came together and by nightfall the whole camp had orders to pack up first thing in the morning.
Morning was too late. As the sun began to set thousands of hosts entered the field. There was no running, we heard no screeches to warn us. In a matter of minutes the entire camp was overrun. I didn"t remember very much from the attack. almost as soon as I heard the first explosion I was knocked unconscious by a blast from an exploding vehicle.
The next morning, the survivors collected the dead and buried the bodies. The infected were burned. The marines had lost 12 people.
Three had been turned before being put down. The others were killed by explosives. A young female private from southern California was bitten and killed by another Marine. She was bitten on the shoulder and as she cried for help, she was shot in the head. The Marine that had killed her, was killed almost immediately after by an explosion. I remember hearing her scream as the host that bit her, tore the flesh from her body. I lost consciousness shortly after.
Levitt walked out of a smoldering command tent. He looked tired and broken. He had suffered some injuries during the fight. His arms were burnt, a still bleeding cut was visible on his forehead.
"Gather round folks" Levitt had some papers in his hand as he waved to the group. "We have gotten some radio traffic from Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado".
Cheyenne Mountain was an air force complex located deep in the mountains outside of Colorado Springs. Over the last couple of days the Air force had locked down the mountain and begun transmitting instructions over military bands. Levitt"s group had picked up a set of instructions that directed any unit west of the Rocky Mountains to mobilize and regroup on a secluded plateau near Teluride Colorado.
"A central command has been organized in Colorado and they are coordinating remote bases throughout the western United States. We have been ordered to collect survivors and head for a strategic placement on the west side of the Rockies. There is no other information at this point. After last nights attack, I am eager to get moving anywhere away from here. Lets pack it up and get the h.e.l.l our of here. One hour folks"
-Troop Movement-.
The journey would be long. Our destination was over 1100 miles south east, and we would be traveling through spa.r.s.ely populated areas, across three states to get there.
I couldn"t help but think that the trip might be a little pleasant. After all I would be traveling with an armed caravan. And if the weather was nice, the landscape would be beautiful. Traveling with Sofia would be nice to.
The thought of spending so much time close to Sofia, tucked away in the back of one of the trucks looking out over the landscape began to feel very appealing. We had been talking and growing closer over the last 24 hours and even though there had been many brutal moments over that time, we had found some peace with each other.
I gathered my things and helped load the cargo truck. I hadn"t seen Sofia since the funeral service we had for the marines that were lost the night before. I set out to see if I could help her load her things when I came across the medical tent that hadn"t been taken down yet.
In this new world there were few comforts, but here in the camp, the Marines had set up hot showers, and they were located in the back of the medical tent. I blindly wandered into the tent not aware that the water was running because of the noise from the rest of the camp. As I wondered into the shower area I noticed the steam rising from one of the stalls and just as I turned the corner, Sofia stepped out of the stall in front of me.
She was completely out of the shower and was reaching across the narrow path to grab a towel hanging on a hook.
"Excuse me" She said startled, and a little angry.
I was a little startled myself. I felt ridiculous for finding myself in this position. I stood dumbfounded in front of a very naked woman dripping wet from the shower. I couldn"t take my eyes off of her though. I stood frozen in place.
She looked intently at me and covered herself as best she could with her hands. I stammered and began to apologize. I flushed with embarra.s.sment.
She softened and began to smile at me. Without uttering a word she dropped her hands and her expression changed to a mischievous look. For that brief second I let my eyes scan her figure.
She was incredibly beautiful. She was exotic, and her bronze skin was intoxicating as she stood in front of me, still wet from the shower. I studied her form. She had no tan lines, her curves were smooth and inviting. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s held a teardrop shape and stood firmly off her chest. Her nipples were dark and erect.
I hoped it was because she was excited to have me ravaging her with my eyes but I knew it was likely because she stepped from the hot shower into the cold air. I started telling myself to look away, and as I began to turn, I dropped my eyes to her stomach and to her neatly trimmed hairline. I felt an instant stirring in my gut and a brief but intense urge washed over me.
"I am so sorry" I said sheepishly. "I didn"t hear the water running and I am apparently to stupid to connect the steam with there being someone in the shower".
"Its quite alright Duncan." I could hear playfulness in her voice " I didn"t mind, but next time its your turn"
"Ahem!!" Janice, the female corpsman was now standing in front of me, tapping her foot with her arms crossed. "Are you finished?" She looked at me annoyed. "did you take a good look?". Janice was not an attractive woman and was very manlike in stature. I think I was a little scared of her.
"I uh, s.h.i.t" I looked at the floor of the tent, mortified at being caught. She was playing with me, and she just took the opportunity to make me as uncomfortable as possible. "I am going to find something else... anything else to do".
As I walked away I could hear the two of them giggling behind the canvas curtain. Even in this mess there was some levity. I let the image of her naked form wash over my mind, smiling I ran off to help disa.s.semble some of the remaining tents.
Within the hour the caravan was loaded and ready to move. I climbed on a large transport at the end of the caravan and Sofia followed. We sat down on the floor in the back, surrounded by tents and sleeping bags. She looked at me, smiled, and leaned forward to give me a kiss. I felt like a little kid getting his first kiss from a girl.
As the caravan moved out of the field we could see smoke in the distance from the burning detention center. There was several miles of road between us and the city. I squinted hard and I could just make out a wall of bodies on the road a mile or so away.
"Holy s.h.i.t" I said " there are thousands of hosts running towards us."
Levitt knew they were coming. He hadn"t said anything to the majority of the group because he didn"t want to distract anyone from pulling camp and cause a panic. Only the patrols were aware. The caravan moved forward, keeping a pace fast enough to out run the approaching hosts.
We spent the better part of the day traveling. Each mile took us further away from the city. We pa.s.sed little towns along the way. Small rural communities that were made up of farmers. These towns hadn"t been effected yet. Behind us were thousand of hosts that were migrating out of the city.
We pa.s.sed information on, telling people to get away from the main roads, to hide. There was little anyone could do. Some told us that this was the end of days and these h.o.a.rds were G.o.ds messengers coming to take them. They were excepting the scourge as an act of G.o.d.
-Human Nature-.
We had done this to ourselves. In an effort to continue to make profit, a human decision had poisoned the population of a city. We created a means for a lower life form to out evolve us. We are a stupid species, a species that would inevitably destroy itself to gain position and power.
I remember reading just before the second wave began, that the World Health Organization had begun to get concerned that our society would quickly be facing the threat of a post modern medicine era. We had so freely overused anti-viral medications, that bacteria began to evolve to be resilient.
There was a growing concern that drug companies would not make the investments in creating new forms of anti-virals because unlike other drugs, they were not a long term investment. The return on investment was too low. There was no profit to be made in killing staff infections or flu strains, just in creating drugs that people would have to take for their entire lives. Drugs like tranquilizers and SSRI"s, blood pressure medications and others.
We had become a drugged up and controlled society. In parallel scientists had begun developing super bugs to test gene manipulation methods, and prove that infectious strains could be modified with just a few genetic code changes. Scientists were successful in modifying viruse"s that spread only through contact, to propagate through the air. Potentially dooming our species if they were ever released. But this event happened first, this accident of adaptation that was a result of our own greed and stupidity.
-Frozen in Time-.
As we approached Boise Idaho the convoy pulled into a small suburban community. The convoy drove slowly through the deserted streets. There were no cars on the road or people walking anywhere. There was no human presence at all.
This little community wasn"t far from the city. It was a quiet little suburb that had the feel of a Norman Rockwell painting. We made the a.s.sumption that hosts had moved through and the uninfected had evacuated. There was a eerie feeling as we went from building to building. All the stores were unlocked and merchandise was still on the shelves. I walked into a small restaurant and found cups of coffee and food still on the tables. People had run from here in a hurry.
The column of vehicles had been parked in line about 50 yards from a train crossing that split the little town in two. I had made my way into a book store. Knowing that there was nothing of use for the group in there I couldn"t resist browsing the book racks for something I hadn"t read. Before this all began I had become an avid reader of science-thrillers.
I was working on a ma.n.u.script of my own before this all started. I had been using it as a means to clear a difficult past and heal from my breakdown. I missed reading, the solitude of traveling to a new place on my motorcycle and finding that book hidden on a shelf tucked away in the back of a bookstore. I would sit out on the street in front of a coffee shop and crack the binding for the first time, feeling the crisp pages between my fingers. It was a tranquil feeling that I enjoyed very much.
I found a novel by one of my favorite authors that I hadn"t read yet. As I opened the pages, the smell of paper rose and filled my senses. I started reading the dust jacket out loud.
"Jane Lilinthal, an accomplished bio engineer stumbles across the answer to stop genetic degeneration. But in a dark corner of a US Government building there lies a terrible secret. A man who has been watching her, wants her research and he will stop at nothing to get it" I chuckled to myself, and then I heard a faint rumbling.
It sounded like an earthquake from a distance. It grew rapidly louder and with the raise in volume, the ground started to vibrate. I slid the book into my jacket pocket and walked out into the street. Everyone who had been scavenging along the main street had felt the shaking and we all stood motionless, looking in the direction we thought is was coming from.
It became clear that a train was approaching. Everyone"s attention was now on the railroad crossing at the end of the street. Red lights at the crossing started to flash and the gates designed to keep traffic back began to drop.
The rumbling got louder and louder. We all walked towards the crossing, wondering why a train was coming. It seemed astounding that a train was running at all.
The sun was beginning to set and as the sky darkened,we could see a growing orange glow. When the train hit the crossing, it felt like a tornado. A pa.s.senger train, pulling 30 cars, came screaming through the intersection at what had to be close to 100 miles an hour. The pa.s.senger cars were on fire and debris was falling off into the street as it went past.
The train was moving so quickly, a strong blast of hot air pushed us back from the tracks. Fortunately this step back allowed us to dodge some large objects that had fallen from the train. A piece of flaming material came loose and bounced on the road, coming to rest a few feet from where I was standing. I looked closely at it and pulled back in horror when I noticed it was a human arm.
As each car pa.s.sed we could hear the high pitch screeching that had become a common sign of the presence of hosts. These hosts were dying, many were burning, some were hanging from windows trying to escape the flames.
After the train pa.s.sed we all stared in disbelief for a few moments. There were still some lingering flames on the tracks and in nearby trees. I walked over to the crossing and looked in the direction the train was traveling, which was now out of sight. In the failing light I could clearly see the orange glow moving off into the distance. The rumbling fading as it moved away, still gaining speed.
We grabbed as many supplies as we could find and loaded up the trucks. Just before the engines fired up we could hear screeching in the distance, coming from the direction of the city. The noise from the train must have gotten the attention of hosts migrating away from Boise, and they were heading our way. I walked to the rear of the transport Sofia and I were riding in and look up at her, she smiled and gave me her hand.
"Come on stud" She quipped " I"ll make the trip worth your while"
She did just that. As the convoy moved east we had the back of the transport to ourselves. We drove on for hours, talked for a while but decided we were going to take advantage of the isolation and began undressing each other. We made love, slept, woke and made love again. It was a surreal feeling, I had a warm fuzzy comfortable feeling as we explored each other. We were alone for most of the night as the convoy drove. Eventually I faded off to sleep and dreamed of the faceless woman.
The dreams I had been having about the faceless woman had been exciting at first but the fact I could not identify her bothered me. And over time, other images had made there way into my dreams, interlacing with the images of my erotic encounters were images of torn flesh and blood. I cleared my head and let images of Sofia invade my mind as I slept.
Sofia was an amazing woman. she was beautiful, experienced, intelligent, and carried herself in a way that demanded respect for her intellect. She glowed with s.e.xuality but didn"t present that side of her until she was ready to let you in.
We bonded in this horrible situation and found the time and isolation we needed to explore each other intellectually and s.e.xually. Perhaps it was because this was the end of times, or at least the end of our time. What ever the reason we took advantage of enjoying each other, for however long it lasted.
-Feast-.
The convoy had been on the road for more than a day and we had traveled about 800 miles. Each vehicle had been loaded with extra fuel when we had made our last stop but these large military vehicles didn"t get very good mileage and we were running low. Up ahead of the lead vehicle a rise gave away to a gently rolling valley.
"Lets bring it to a stop up here at the top of this rise." Levitt"s voice crackled over the trucks radio.
The lead vehicle came to a stop just at the crest of the hill. I could hear squealing brakes as the larger vehicles slowed behind.
"Jesus" Levitt was speaking calmly but you could hear anxiety in his voice " Will you look at that"
As we exited the vehicle we made our way quickly to the top of the hill. I could hear the others gasping as they got a look at what had gotten Levitt"s attention. I let out my own gasp when I saw it too.
The valley below us was probably not more than two miles across. At the very bottom was a small bridge crossing a creek that lazily wound its way through the small valley. The water in the creek was red. Near the bridge were the carca.s.ses of hundreds of cattle.
"Holy s.h.i.t!" Janice was standing behind me staring at the b.l.o.o.d.y mess with her hand shading her eyes.
"Janice" Levett turned "What do you think happened down there?
"I don"t know Major" She thought for a moment " Are they feeding?"
"Feeding" I had been thinking to myself over the last few days that I hadn"t seen the infected eat besides the attacks on people, like Eve. But even then it did not seem to be for sustenance but rather an attack, although there was some evidence In the detention center that the dead had been fed on. The thought of the infected eating was terrifying. If they were feeding they would be able to travel further, replenishing their energy as they went. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had hoped that they couldn"t survive for long after they were infected.
The convoy rolled down the hill and stopped just short of where the blood and carca.s.ses were lying on the ground before the bridge. Janice grabbed a lab kit from the back of the Humvee she had been driving and slowly walked up to the first dead cow. She put on a surgical mask and gloves and looked around her as she stood at the edge of a large pool of blood.
"Ugh" She heaved, holding her hand over her face, the taste of stomach bile filled her mouth and she fought the urge to throw up. Lifting the mask she spit, then took a deep breath.
Janice had been trying to make some sense of what was happening. She had been studying blood samples she had taken from dead infected and was beginning to build a profile of the difference between normal samples and infected. She was beginning to see a common element in the infected blood but couldn"t identify what it was. Out on the road she didn"t have access to any information on blood born pathogens or any other common human infections so it was impossible to identify.
Janice leaned over the dead carcase, the smell was putrid, and she could barely keep from vomiting. She focused on the damage the infected had done. The patterns were similar on all of the cattle. All were disemboweled and the internal organs were torn out and presumably eaten. She measured the tears in the flesh and what appeared to be bite marks in some organs that were left. It appeared that the tears in the cattle"s hide"s were made by human fingers and the bite marks matched human tooth patterns. After she cleaned up she measured a few of the units members" fingers and teeth to get a comparison.
"Major" Janice called over from the back of the Humvee she had set up her equipment in to do the tissue a.n.a.lysis.
"Janice, what have you got" Levitt said as he approached.
"I have found a match to infected blood in some of the samples I took from the cattle. It was difficult, I had to swab what I thought were teeth marks in what was left of a liver."
"The details aren"t necessary corpsman" He had a sour look on his face. "So do you think the cattle were fed on?"
"Yes I do, between the blood samples and the measurements I took around the wounds, I am certain the injuries were inflicted by humans and they appear to be infected."
"That means that there is a very large swarm of infected out here somewhere" He looked around the valley. " We need to get moving" He whistled and swung his fist above his head in a circular motion. Everyone responded and remounted the vehicles.
The convoy moved on, navigating hundreds of dead cattle we crossed the narrow river. I looked over the edge of the truck as we crossed the bridge and down at the bottom of the shallow creek, under the running water I could make out a human form. The water was very red from the cattle blood but I could see a body moving, it was stuck under a log but was violently writhing trying to break free. It was close enough to the surface to get its head into the open air just long enough to get a breath then the weight of the log would pull it down again.
A feeling of dread began to overcome me while the darkening evening sky enveloped the convoy as we continued east.
-To Die-.
An image of the infected that was pinned under the log continued to run through my mind as I drifted off to sleep. I began to dream about the infected overrunning the bar on that first night. In this dream I did not get away. I had stayed too long on the front porch of the bar before trying to escape and no matter how fast I ran, the infected man in the rescue uniform followed.
I ran across the street from the bar and he followed. I cut between buildings to the next street and he followed, getting closer with every step. I ran up a flight of stairs and found myself on a balcony overlooking the parking lot of a mini market. I turned in time to feel the impact of his body hit me at full speed, pushing me over the railing.
I could feel his teeth sink into my neck as we tumbled over the balcony and down into a waiting crowd of infected. His teeth plunged deep into my skin as he bit down hard and pulled away, tearing the flesh from my body. The pain was incredible and I was certain he had bitten through my jugular vain. If I survived the fall I would certainly bleed out once I hit the ground.
An instant later I felt the impact of the pavement. I landed on my back with the weight of the infected man on my chest. I could feel my chest compress until the bones began to snap. My lungs folded in on themselves and I let out a scream as all the air left my body. Then everything went black.
I could feel my body drifting alone in a dark ocean. Rising and falling with the gentle waves. I could feel that I was lying on my back staring up at a black, starless sky. I felt chilled, my flesh felt icy as the cold water engulfed me. In the back of my mind I could feel a sharp tingling, like the feeling you get in your hand when you"ve fallen asleep on it. It was a dull distant feeling at first but it began to grow.
I could feel a jolt through my head that was accompanied by a bright flash. The nerves in my mind were violently waking up. Another jolt shot through my head followed by another bright flash. The tingling was far more intense now and it was growing. I could feel it traveling down my spine and spread into my arms. My fingers began to twitch and burn as if they were immersed in scalding water.
The tingling traveled down my spine further and I could feel my legs fill with an electrical spark. Then another flash. Then another. My body felt like it was on fire.
My eyes opened and I could see I was lying on the ground in the parking lot of the mini market. The crowd of infected had moved off towards the bar I had just run from. I stood, and began to move towards the street. It felt like I was not in control of my body and my perception was drastically skewed. I felt as though I was looking through a kaleidoscope and I had an overwhelming urge to run that was driven by an insatiable hunger.
I ran into the street and a half a block to the south I could make out the open door of the bar. The front of the building was blocked by a swarm of infected feeding on the patrons. They were feeding on my friends. My body ran as fast as it could go and I was a spectator as I approached the crowded entrance, broke through into the main building and found Christine. She looked at me and screamed. She tried to run but in seconds I had caught her and sank my teeth into her neck. I could taste her warm blood fill my mouth as I tore her salty flesh away.