Lies and Panic
A Side-Along Story to A Cruel, Undead World
~ Chapter 1 ~
Revelation
Tervu Infection Outbreak Active for: 0 Years, 0 Months, 3 Weeks, 1 Day, 20:32:51.
Being the president of the United States of America is a difficult burden to bear; not many can handle being the president. President Graham was a great president, but with bioterrorism erupting and his daughter nearly becoming an infected, he turned down the second term of his presidency. Their latest president, Adam Benford, was the one who took over afterward. From 2008 to 2012, the United States followed him blindly, thinking nothing of the bioterrorism threat that had enveloped Raccoon City. In 2013, he was re-elected and going to make amends, and tell the public what really happened there. In Tall Oaks University however, fate turned differently, as he turned into a flesh-mad zombie.
His vice president took over, his name: Robert Witter, a middle-aged man of thirty-nine.
Robert didn't know if he was ready to take on the sudden responsibility of being the first in command for the states. All he knew was he had to. But he did hope bioterrorism would have ended, the world seeing what horrors it could do.
There are always those horrific monsters who don't care the consequences: he should have known.
When a US official from Washington told him about a bad flu outbreak in one of their cities three weeks ago, and that it had to be quarantined respectively, the president thought nothing of it, too busy taking on the problems of the country as a whole. His thoughts on it were about to change.
He was sitting at his desk, one hand rubbing his temple while the other reading over the seemingly thousands of documents in front of him. There was a knock at the door, and the president sighed deeply and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Come in…" he called, having learnt a while ago that no matter how busy he was, he had to take walk-ins. Two of his security walked through the threshold first, followed by a group of four. Two of the people he instantly recognized, they were both part of the Division of Secret Operations. The female was new to this position, having been promoted after the events of Tall Oaks and China. The male had been part of the group for a while, and was a close friend to the previous president. The president stood out of respect for the two.
"Mr. Kennedy, Miss Harper, it's an honor. I haven't seen either of you since the honorary ceremony." They both nodded.
"Mr. President, we have a couple here, Mr. and Mrs. Combs, who have something important to show you." Leon told him, and the two stepped aside to show a strange couple awkwardly standing there. Witter raised an eyebrow, but waited to hear what they had to say. Clearing his throat, Mr. Combs began by rolling a television set he had behind him over near the desk. While he did this, Mrs. Combs began to speak.
"Mr. President, we come here today to inform you of a catastrophe that has been going on for weeks that no one knows about." Witter was hoping it was just another 'Save-The-Earth' environmentalist speech again, but he knew they would not have sent in D.S.O for that sort of thing. He waited for the husband to place a blank CD in and turn the television on. What he saw was horrifying.
There was a huge twenty-foot steel grate fence along the perimeter of what he could tell was a city. Through the tiny spaces of the fence, arms were sticking out from people trying to get out. The camera moves to show a gate, where a road to the city was, and atop the posts on each side of the gate were two U.S soldiers, shooting at the terrified people below. Some were giving up, running away from the fence.
"This footage was taken hours after this "flu outbreak" was declared on the news in the city of Tervu, Washington. My husband and I could not get inside, not even to reach our daughter on the inside. All phone systems were down, but because of our preparations for such an event we had walkie talkies so we could speak to her. Inside the city is no flu."
The camera changed, and even though the place didn't seem to, there was a drastic difference. Instead of lined up people, desperately trying to leave, there were piles of dead bodies along the fence-line. On the other side, monsters of different sizes, ugliness, and compositions wandered, looking for food. The officers were still there, but instead of shooting them, they stood and let them walk. One infected in particular was of a little girl, no more than six-years-old. She stood, staring at the person behind the camera. Focusing on her, the camera continued to watch as she stood there, not a muscle in her body moving. Suddenly, she sprang toward the gate, leaping with hands and feet. One of the watching guards noticed this, and took out a gun, shooting her. What he saw disgusted everyone in the room, for the zombie wasn't killed, but stunned. After shaking her head, she abandoned her efforts, and began stumbling away. The video was shut off.
"This was taken a week ago. We showed it to the authorities of Washington but they laughed at us, telling us to go turn it in to a horror-movie contest and that we might win third place." The wife and mother seemed angry now as she spoke her words. "Our daughter is stuck in that Hell and we can't even go inside to see if she's still alive, for they still hold the charade of a 'terrible flu'! This is more than the flu! It is a nightmare!"
The president sat in silence, unable to think of what to say. How could he be so blind? Why didn't he know? These questions would forever be unanswered, but now was not the time to mope. With narrowed eyes, he turned to his guards.
"Fetch me the Washington Senator, and bring him to me in handcuffs, along with whomever vouched for him." One of the guards nodded and left. He then looked to Leon. "What do you propose we do, Mr. Kennedy?"
Thinking, Leon looked to Helena, and the man exhaled slowly.
"There is no easy way to deal with this, Mr. President…it would take weeks to go in and wipe clean the infection and reverse what was done to this city."
Witter thought to himself for a moment, then said: "Then we have no choice. We don't have time, I can see one of those monsters escaping any moment, especially after whoever released them catch whiff that we're on their tail. We must exterminate the entire town." He knew this idea would not go well with the Raccoon City survivor. Leon stared at him, shocked, and began moving toward him.
"Wait a second, the last thing we need is another Raccoon City!" Helena unexpectedly stepped forward, placing her hand on Leon's shoulder.
"Leon, no one wants to destroy an entire city, but think about what will happen to the entire state of Washington if we don't act quickly! Tervu is already lost…" as she spoke these words, the husband moved pass her to reach his wife, who was beginning to cry for the loss of her child.
"I can't…" Leon looked away, out the window near the side of the room. After a second or two, he looked back at the president with determined eyes. "The BSAA are equipped to handle this kind of emergency. There are always survivors in this kind of incident, I will bet you my life they are just waiting for rescue. All I'm asking is one week, just one week to sweep the city and find whoever might still be alive." The room went silent as they tensely awaited the answer. Witter sat, pondering and weighing the positives and negatives. Finally, he agreed.
"Fine, one week is all they have. Escort as many people as you can out and then we will begin the bombing process." The couple took a step forward.
"We would like to go with them, we must know if our child is still alive!" the husband pleaded. Witter glanced at them, then nodded.
"Alright, just keep out of the BSAA's way." The two nodded their understanding. The guard still standing motioned for them to leave, and the five people walked out with a new mission. Still sinking in the horrible sights he had seen, the president sat down once more, having stood at some point with all the excitement. He took a deep breath and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. When will this country see enough tragedy?
A/N: Hello! If you are reading this (not having read the story this is referencing to) and liked it, I suggest your read A Cruel, Undead World, to see what all the commotion is about! This might also answer some of the questions of those who are coming here because of the story. Obviously, the story here won't have very many chapters, and will focus mainly on the events unfolding around Tervu, Washington. Still, this is my piece of work, and I ask that you critique it as you see fit, and let me know of any problems you see with it. Chapter 8 of my other story will be published this Friday as usual. Thanks for reading!