Chapter 1

As I made my way to the general's quarters I noticed something odd, no one was on the base. I began to wonder if we had gone to war and I didn't get the memo. I passed by the dinning hall, which should have been filled with hungry soldiers trying to get lunch before all the best food was gone, but it was empty. Not even the cook, an old man with a short scraggly beard and greasy hair, could be found. I hurried to the general's quarters, a small building on the north side of base. It is a structure with one window and a single entrance. I arrived looking at the broken window and the door lying on the floor just inside the doorframe. As I entered the doorway I could see four rooms inside. The general sat in his study; he had a map spread out on the table and a piece of paper in his hands covering his face.

"Sir, Lieutenant Johnson reporting." I hesitantly announced myself.

"Bill, you are a good soldier and I consider you a good friend. Project Monroe has gone array. Our base was attacked early this morning. It is urgent for you to leave."

"Sir, What is Monroe?"

"Dr. George Monroe, one of the scientists from Washington found a natural chemical that is dormant in the human body. While experimenting at our facilities in Alaska he discovered a way to awaken the chemical. The original theory was that the cold temperature in the Alaska region would stop the experiment if it escaped."

"Sir, I do not understand."

"You see Dr. Monroe used prisoners as test subjects. He injected the Monroe strain virus into four test subjects. They began to mutate almost immediately. Changes in their physical appearance were the first indications of the changes from the strain. Their faces began to bubble and the skin became pale and chalky. They looked as if they were corpses. These mutated individuals have escaped and destroyed Fort Brage in Alaska. This morning they arrived here."

"Ok but Sir, What is so special about these four?"

He took a deep shuddered breath. "They are the host carriers and have started a chain reaction causing people to change," the general began still holding the paper over his face. "Everyone on base has fallen victim to this…" he paused to search for the right word "infection."

The general laid out the story of how each and every experiment happened and the changes that occurred. The first test subject went through. He began with how his arms and legs were able to stretch to unbelievable lengths. And how the second test subject grew really long sharp nails that sweated chemical Monroe and gained the ability to jump great distances. The third became extremely fat and was able to spew a strange thick chemical that alerted the other three test subjects. And the final test subject didn't undergo any major physical changes but further study showed that he was able to detect people at extreme ranges, and the importance of that I must not come in contact with any salvia or teeth of those I might meet on the way.

"Sir, what happened to the scientist?"

"I don't know but the test subjects have escaped and infected several others."

"Shouldn't the main Alaskan military base be able to take care of it?"

"I'm afraid not. They were the first to be infected by the mutants, the first civilians were also changed like the first while everyone else just look like they are dead and are hungry for human flesh, dead or alive. The first civilian was a young woman. Her change was different, I haven't heard of what happened with her but there were a few men in a gym that became really strong. Their muscles bulged out making them look like body builders from hell," he continued on talking about the men who were changed and how the others were not given special abilities and just looked and smelled of death.

"How did it travel this far?" I asked him wanting to know more about this pandemic.

"Each newly infected could change people in different ways. Most of the soldiers here were turned by being scratched," he paused taking a deep breath "We lost all of our good men."

"Are you sure there were no other survivors?"

"Yes, I'm afraid there was only one survivor…"

"One survivor? But there are two of us." Then I noticed a fowl smell. Then the general lowered the paper he had been holding up in front of his face.

His face was a grayish green. "I was bit just before I called you. I wanted you to know what happened and I know you will be able to find more survivors. I'm going down to Texas where the infection hasn't reached yet and see if one of the bases down there hasn't found a cure yet," he said this while getting closer to me to a uncomfortable distance. "I want you to go to Stanson and search for more survivors."

"Yes sir. I'll get right on it."

I ran to the armory to collect ammunition and weapons to supply myself and any survivors I found; once I collected rations, water, two shotguns, seven pistols, three assault rifles, and three snipers I headed north to Stanson to search for survivors.

*****

I approached the wall surrounding the city. It was built during the civil war to protect the city from the confederacy. The gray wall towered over two houses outside the city, bordering the main road into city on either side. They were built to house a troop of twenty guards to protect the city at any given moment. Towards the southeast I saw a young woman wearing a red shirt and blue jeans running towards the entrance to city.

"Miss, halt," I exclaimed "Lieutenant Bill Johnson at your service. May I ask where you are going?"

"My name is Zoey and I'm coming from Vicksburg. Please, please help me. I… a… back…" she panted as she talked, slurring the words with the speed at which she spoke.

"Ok Miss, calm down, just take a few deep breaths and please, it will make it easier for you to explain." I asked her as she worked on catching her breath.

"Ok," she attempted to explain to me about the infection at Vicksburg, a smaller city towards the southeast. Everyone was infected and she claimed to have seen the four test subjects, but she was hyperventilating so badly I didn't understand much.

"Ok miss, is there anyone else with you or in Vicksburg that is still uninfected?" I asked.

"No, I was the only person who got out, unless some went south or are still there and I didn't see them. You are the only other person I have encountered."

"Thank you miss. We need to keep moving, I will explain a little bit more of this to you as we go." I began to tell her of the experiment and the way the infection is spread but I don't know how much got through. And I told her about the "special infected". "So you see Miss, there should be fewer infected people here since they are heading south. I imagine we will find more survivors in this city, since everyone was trained in basic defense skills from the terrorist threats of 9/11."

She stared back the way she came expecting someone or something. "Ok… Oh my god there he is," she screamed in a breathless shriek pointing toward a man with long arms limping out of the man lifted his arms and they began to stretch toward us. He grabbed Zoey and began pulling her back toward him. I took aim with one of the assault riffles and opened fire on the mutant. I wounded him enough to get him to let go just in time for another mutant to jump on her and began to tear at her clothes. I ran to her and hit the man off of her sending him flying back into the trees. As I was helping her up, an extremely fat man wobbled out of the trees and spewed the thick chemical the general told me about all over Zoey and me.

"Zoey get back to the wall now," I shouted over the shrieks coming from every direction. "Find the guns by the wall," I instructed.

Crouching behind a tan sedan parked by the first house and the entrance to the city. Guns at the ready we took aim at the woods to the south.

"Zoey watch the entrance, they will be coming from all sides," I directed her remembering the training I had received from the Vietnam veterans.

Suddenly off in the darkness of the trees, I could make out the outline of the first few infected, few slowly ran while most of them hobbled their way toward us.

"Wait till they get closer to shoot," I instructed Zoey.

"Ok," she uttered through heavy breathing.

Ten feet away we opened fire. Green goo was flying from where the bullets hit them. The high caliber rounds blew through the soft tissue of the zombie's bodies, tearing off limbs as the bullets impacted, sending them flying through the air as they attempted to jump over the oncoming fire. After several minutes of non-stop zombie slaughter, the zombies finally stopped coming and we reloaded the guns and geared up and continued on our way.

Entering the city you could see what use to be a busy street was now a parking lot of beat up cars, few brand new models. The sidewalks, which used to be full of people going to and from work, were covered with dead bodies, blood and green goo pooled by them. Buildings were missing windows, fires burned in the streets, and there were holes in the sides of buildings from people loosing control of their vehicles. One could tell the city had been in mass chaos.

"Come on let's start looking for survivors," I said as Zoey pulled her long brown hair back in a ponytail.

"Ok, but can we find some food first, I'm starving," she asked still breathing heavily.

I sighed, checking my watch; "Yeah, I guess we need to keep our strength up." We made our way to the first apartment building and started to search for food and survivors. With my gun ready, I carefully opened the front door. The tall heavy door creaked open. Just inside was a tall bolder looking thing. The fleshy surface rippled as the massive creature breathed a wheezy breath. Taking a step back I turned to Zoey and motioned for her to back away slowly and to not make a sound.

"Why not make a sound?" she asked in loud voice.

Suddenly, as I turned to shut the door, the creature, startled, got up and ripped the door off the hinges sending both Zoey and I flying across the street. We slammed into the bakery window, and flew over the counter and into the back room, sending flour, sugar and powdered sugar all over the place.

"Carefully, follow me. And don't say a word," I instructed Zoey before she could ask the question that was forming. We crawled out the back door making as little noise as possible to not attract the attention of the giant beast that stalked the street out front. Moving swiftly we made our way out into the back alley and up the fire escape of the hotel behind the bakery.