Chapter 1: Pilot
"Air support, Air support! DAMMIT! My mag's empty, cover me!"
"YOU'RE COVERED!"
"They're all over us! Where the hell is the missile?"
"NO! I'm down. It's over, grenade got me, and I'm bleeding out."
I set the black and chrome Xbox One controller down. Noah and I were playing Call of Duty on a chilly winter day, December 17th 2015.
"Damn, Jimmy, what happened? I thought you had that."
"I did. Well, until they flooded me with suicidal mutts and M-67 hand grenades."
Let's get a few things out of the way. My name is Jimmy Anderson; I'm 24 years old, my eyes are a sea-green type color, I guess, and my hair is short-ish in the back but I have long bangs covering my left eye. I'm not exactly the most changing man you'd meet on the street.
I'm working at a Wal-Mart with my friend Noah Ride –who just turned 23, and had short hair- and we have two days off work: Sunday and Monday.
My other friends, Isaiah Ride -age 22 looked like a hockey player with short hair-, and Zack Fisher -also age 24, had a buzz cut- were deployed, doing god-knows-what in Syria. Anyway, Noah and I spare every free second playing Call of Duty and messing around.
"Hey, Jimmy? Let's check FOX. See any news on Syria's recent activities."
I stretched my arms straight up and propped my feet on the granite coffee table. "Okay. I bet nothins' changed though."
He turned the channel to FOX news and we were met by a blonde, curly haired news-woman.
"…-nd a recent string of disappearances in Meridian has police on high alert. Phil, any news on Syria's recent mysterious outbreak of the strange new disease?"
The brown-headed news-man responded, "Yes, Sue, actually we have three U.S. Marines talking about it today. Riccardo? Is the live feed up?"
"Yes, sir. We now have contact with Sergeant Brian O'Leary, Private Isaiah Ride, and Corporal Zack Fisher." A Hispanic man replied.
The screen flickered to a man in his twenties, brown hair, icy-blue eyes, and a scar on his chin. "Whoa," I said. "That was convenient. We didn't even have to wait through some bullshit news." Noah nodded.
"Hey, is this on?" The man asked. Isaiah and Zack were visible in the background. "Okay. I'm Sergeant Brian O'Leary. The U.S. military has little Intel about this outbreak of what we now named the 'TGP-5' virus, or 'The Ghost Plague'. Corporal Bounds here will be explaining a little more."
Zack walked up to the camera, Brian backing off. "Thank you, sir. The symptoms are: high fever of up to even 150 degrees, incredible violence, bloody diarrhea, vomiting blood, coughing blood, dementia, and death. There is more but that's classified." Brian grabbed Zack's shoulder and pulled him back, mumbling something about causing a panic.
Then, Brian said, "The rest of the information is classified. Now, if you excuse us, we have to get back to patrol." And with that, the camera went off.
"Well that was revealing, wasn't it? We will have more information on TGP-5 soon. Now to Bill with the spor-…" Noah turned it off. "Hey," He said. "At least they're home in a month."
January 15th, 2016 1:57AM
Brian O'Leary was finally home. He was in action in Syria for five years, the whole time the war was spanned. He didn't come home alone. Zack Fisher and Isaiah Ride came with him. Turns out, they lived 24 miles or so apart.
"Thanks for the ride, Zack." He said.
"Anytime, Sir." Zack replied.
"C'mon man. Call me Brian."
"Okay. Later, Brian" He said, driving off.
Brian walked through the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He walked past Hardy's when he noticed something strange. Over near Wal-Mart, a woman was screaming and running. A strange sight at 2:00AM. A man was chasing her. He eventually caught up and tackled her and pinned her on the ground, knees on chest.
"What the-, HEY!" Brian yelled, dropping his stuff and running towards the man and woman. When Brian got close it was too late. The man had mauled her. Using his TEETH.
"What the fuck? Is that TGP-5?!" The man looked up at Brian and got off the woman's corpse. Slowly he walked towards Brian. Brian slowly drew his karambit knife from his belt. "Man, what are you doing? Dude?" The man charged, and Brian grabbed the back of his head, slammed him on the ground, and then stabbed the man in the back of the neck. The man still squirmed under Brian, even though his spinal column was severed.
"Holy fucking shit." Brian stepped back and watched the man get back up. "We're in trouble."
January 16th, 2016 12:24PM
I heard a knock at the door and ran to answer it. Zack and Isaiah were at the door. "Guys!" I yelled. I let them in.
"How was action in Syria?" Noah asked.
His brother Isaiah responded. "Same old, same old. Just a bunch of patrols and stuff."
We walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Jimmy?" Zack said. "I've been gone for two years. Did you trade in any of my games?"
I laughed. "Uh… just three." Zack laughed too.
"Hey, how 'bout I go cook up some ramen, eh?" Noah offered.
"Heck yeah! Thanks man!" Isaiah and Zack shouted at the same time. As Noah went into the kitchen, I went to the mini fridge in the corner to grab a Budweiser.
While we made small talk about how life was, Noah walked back in. "Hey, guys? We're out of Ramen noodles. Anyone want to volunteer to go get some more?" He asked.
"I just got back." Zack noted, as if just noticing it.
"Same here." Isaiah mentioned.
"Yeah, I'm just too lazy." I said, dully.
"Ugh… I'll be back." Noah grabbed his grey Under Armour coat and walked out the door.
12:48PM
Noah was walking to Wal-Mart. He was completely bored out of his mind. Every time a vehicle drove past him it seemed to be trying to soak him.
He took the right into Wal-Mart's parking lot where he saw the police and an ambulance. And being loaded INTO the ambulance was a body, covered by a sheet. As the gurney went up to fit into the ambulance, the sheet caught on something and got pulled off. Under the sheet was a woman who had the flesh ripped off from the bottom lip down. At this site Noah vomited.
When he looked back up, he saw another body, this one was exposed though, so Noah saw every little detail. From the knife wound in the neck, to the head wound and the several knife wounds to the chest.
"Oh my go-…" Noah vomited again. Then he noticed the other man observing the scene.
He had long brown hair, in his twenties –maybe 25- he had icy blue and stubble around his upper and lower lips reaching his non-existent sideburns. He had red stains over his shirt and Noah seemed to recognize him from somewhere.
"I gotta get out of here." Noah ran into Wal-Mart, bought the Ramen noodles, and ran all the way home.
1:13PM
"That sounds like TGP-5 all right." Isaiah noted.
Noah was holding a bucket on the couch, moaning and squeezing his eyes shut. He had just gotten back from Wal-Mart and had changed into a button-up collared shirt and jeans. He described what he saw to me, Isaiah, and Zack. I looked at Zack and Isaiah.
"If this thing is spreading," Isaiah stated. "Then we could have a serious epidemic on our hands."
"Yeah, Isaiah is right. Hey, Noah. The guy you saw with the blood stains. He has a scar on his chin?" Zack asked.
Noah nodded then threw up again.
Zack looked at Isaiah. "Brian?"
Isaiah nodded. "Let's go see if he's ok. You drive, Zack."
I glared at Isaiah. "We're coming too."
"YOU HAD A CAR," Noah shouted. "AND MADE ME WALK TO TOWN?! I mean, it's only a few blocks away, BUT STILL!" His voice squeaked a bit at the end.
Zack snickered. "Sorry. Let's go." And with that, we went outside and loaded up into the F250. Zack and I in front, Isaiah and Noah in back.
I asked, "So where exactly are we going, Zack?"
"Brian lives somewhere in Philly, right? He said something about staying with a friend in a trailer near the highway. Music, anyone?" Zack pressed a button and started playing Burn it down by Avenged Sevenfold as he went 72 MPH down the road.
Alright, I thought. Great. There have to be at least fifty trailers near the highway.
Oh, how I was wrong.
1:34PM
We got to the only highway within a fifty mile radius and there were at least nine trailers all the way down. We stopped at six with no luck. A storm started brewing after the third trailer. It started raining at the fifth. At the sixth, it was like the sky turned the ocean over our heads.
The seventh trailer. Zack and Isaiah must really like this guy… I thought as we arrived at a rather large trailer, painted white and red. White trailer, red door and windowsills.
"Okay," Isaiah started. "Who would like to walk through the pouring rain and ask for a man who may or may not be here?"
"Uh, I guess I will." I said.
Noah snickered. "Have fun, Jimmy."
I put on my black/gray jacket and threw over my hood and took off toward the trailer.
Up the trailer's steps.
To the door.
Knock on the door.
I waited in the storm until a man with curly brown hair and a blonde woman opened up. Let's just say, things were kind of awkward for me. They both looked like they were in their mid-twenties. The man had nothing but boxers on, and the woman was wearing a bath robe
"Uh, hey," I started. "Do y'all know a man named Brian O'Leary?"
"Yeah, man." Said the blonde. "He's in the back room. Is Brian in trouble?"
"Oh. No, no, no. I've got a couple of his buddies who were worried 'bout him." I stated.
"Lemme' just call him," Said the man. "BRIAN!"
"Yeah?" Yelled a voice from the back.
"Someone's here to see ya!"
I heard footsteps approaching the front of the house through the hallway, which had several pictures hung up, Then, the same man as I saw on TV walked into the room.
"Can I help you?" Brian asked.
"Uh, y-yeah." I stammered. This guy scared me. It wasn't his appearance but the aura he radiated, like raw hatred towards the world. "Zack Fisher and Isaiah Ride wanna see you."
"Zak-Attack and The Ice-cube, eh? Invite 'em in. That Okay, Johnny?"
Johnny nodded. "C'mon, Jess." They walked back to their room, hopefully to get some clothes on.
I waved the guys in.