Chapter One
The sun beats down on the pavement as the traffic continues to pass on top of it, cars both entering and exiting the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the outskirts of the city, a large delivery truck continues to barrel on towards its destination. The driver, Ethan, continues talking with the man in the passenger seat, Jared, as they eventually come to a stop amidst some traffic.
"And when you think about it, that's the concept of the band Daft Punk: they're robots who discover their personalities and relate through the music they make."
"I don't know, E," says Jared, grinning at his coworker's idea as he scratches some of the five o'clock shadow on his face. "I can honestly say I've never thought about it that hard."
"It's because you always have your mind wrapped around your idea of joining the police academy," Ethan responds, taking a sip from his water while keeping his foot firmly placed on the brake. "Which is a terrible idea, by the way. Haven't you ever seen COPS?"
Jared laughs. "Yea, I've seen COPS. It's all you ever have on when I come over, and most of the time you're not even watching it. It's just background noise while you flip through those hunting magazines you buy. Which, if I may add, is money that could be going towards paying your electric bill, especially since you haven't even hunted since you were, what, seven?"
"That's irrelevant, Jar, and you know why?" Ethan pulls out a lottery ticket from his shirt pocket, flicking it as he sticks his tongue in the side of his cheek. "Eventually, one of these are gonna pay off, that's why."
"You are literally the exact stereotype of every middle class white guy."
"That would imply I have at least some decent waged job. I'm driving for a delivery service, which I wouldn't exactly call "high class employment"." Ethan look ahead, noticing that none of the vehicles have moved in a decent while. "What do you think is taking so long up there?"
"I'd imagine someone's on their phone, wasn't paying-"
Jared gets cut off by the sound of someone slamming their door as they are getting out of their car, gesturing up ahead as the man begins to walk through the cars. It's at this point the two notice that a police car is amongst the cars that have stopped on the road, with an officer getting out of the passenger side. He places his hand on the man's chest and attempts to keep him away from whatever is going on up ahead.
"Hey, I'm gonna go check that out," Jared says as he hops out of the truck, closing his car door behind him as he begins to make his way through the vehicles. Lots of the cars near him are honking, with some of the inhabitants having rolled down their windows in order to shout and ask what's going on. Eventually, Jared makes it to the man and the police officer.
"What's going on?" Jared asks.
"Look buddy, you both need to go back to your respective vehicles and let us handle this, this is a matter for Philadelphia PD," the officer, needlessly, shows his badge to both Jared and the other man.
"I just wanna know what's going on," the other man, a Hispanic, asks, rolling up the sleeves on his flannel shirt as he adjusts his stance. "We haven't moved in a while and my family is starting to get concerned, I just wanna make sure everything's okay."
Back at the truck, Ethan watches the exchange through the windshield.
"Don't get into a balls-measuring contest, Jared," Ethan says to himself. "Just get back-"
Ethan is shocked when a woman begins banging on his window.
"You've gotta help me! Please!"
Ethan rolls down his window, attempting to catch his breath. "You almost gave me a heart attack, lady!"
"I'm sorry, but my friend, Ellen, she got bit by this psycho while we were camping and I'm trying to get her to the hospital-"
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't know how you expect me to help you," Ethan replies.
"I've been helping her walk here all the way from camp, she's very weak and we're both exhausted. Can we please just get a ride with you to a hospital in whatever town you guys drive through first? My name's Tess, I promise we're not pulling anything."
Ethan looks at Tess and then back up at Jared, burrowing his brow. "Where's this friend?"
"She's right here…Ellen, c'mon."
Ellen, who had been leaning on the truck, stumbles into view, looking very pale and holding a spot underneath her left arm, which is covered in blood.
"A guy did that? Just by biting her?" Ethan asks.
Ethan looks at Ellen is disbelief as Jared continues to converse with the man and the police officer. The policeman is currently trying to diffuse the situation.
"Sir, as soon as the matter is cleared up, we will get you all moving agai-"
The officer is drowned out by the sounds of a helicopter flying overhead, making its way towards the city. As the three men look up towards the helicopter, a gunshot rings out, causing the three of them to turn around. Jared watches in shock as a man begins taking a chunk out of the other officer's throat, with the man having been shot through the chest. The policeman drops his gun as he attempts to yell for his partner. The officer talking to Jared grabs his walkie and begins barking instructions.
"This is Officer Mark Adams, we have a-"
Mark drops his walkie as a massive explosion erupts from within the city, the smoke cloud of which can be seen from the outskirts of where the delivery truck currently is.
"What the-" is all Mark can utter before the man next to Jared pins him against the police car, wrestling the gun away from the him. He holds Mark at gun point, switching his aim between Mark and Jared every couple of seconds.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't shoot, just relax…" Jared tries to reason with the man. The man aims the gun back to Mark.
"Y-you're gonna get in your car, and you're gonna lead me and my family out of here."
Mark looks at his comrade, who is now bleeding profusely as he is attacked by the man who bit his throat, and then back at the man with the gun. People are now getting out of their cars and fleeing away from the city, screams coming from all directions.
"And just how do you expect me to get you out of here? Traffic has the road blocked, there's no way through."
"That way," the man gestures towards the open field next to the road that separates the woods from the city of Philadelphia. "We pull out into the grass, drive down the length of the road until the traffic clears up, and then get back onto the road until we reach somewhere safe."
Suddenly, the man is pinned up against the police car by Ethan, who is able to wrestle the gun away from him. Ethan hands the gun back to Mark as the man pleads.
"I just want to save my family," the man begs, almost in tears. "Don't leave us. Please…please, please just help…"
Another explosion goes off in the city as pedestrians scream and run in all directions. Mark once again looks at his partner, who he can't even see any more amongst the chaos, and then puts his gun away.
"Go get in your car and follow me. I'll lead your family to safety."
As the man goes to head back to his car, Mark grips him by the arm. "I better not be on the other end of a gun from you ever again, you understand me?"
The Hispanic man nods and heads back to his family's car, which Jared notices contains a woman, two older male children, and a girl who looked to be in her mid to late teens. It's at this point Jared notices the two women behind Ethan.
"Who the-" Jared goes to ask.
"Get in the car NOW! We gotta move!" Mark yells at them, causing Jared, Ethan, Ellen, and Tess to get in the cop car. Mark maneuvers the cop car off the road and into the open field, with the Hispanic man following in his car right behind them. As the two cars drive down on the side of the road, Jared takes this opportunity to look out the window from the passenger side. Some cars have crashed into others, people are fleeing in every direction, and for a brief moment Jared feels his stomach churn at the sight of dead people on the ground.
"Are those…" Ethan finally musters up the courage to speak. "Are some of those people EATING other people?"
Sure enough, some of the downed civilians are being devoured by paler individuals. Everybody turns their heads away from the scene as the two cars continue to move on, eventually passing all the stopped traffic and making it back onto the road. With clear pavement in front of them, Mark turns to Jared.
"We're going to the police station in Ambler. I know a couple of the officers there, and we can get things squared away."
"So no one's gonna mention how Philly was getting blown to bits?" Ethan asks. "And what about our truck?"
"I'd forget about making that delivery," Mark says. "Those bombs going off? They were no accident. There was a helicopter that passed over us while we were talking in the road. That was a government bombing, which means something big is going down…and after watching all those people getting munched on? Well, along with bleeding beauty back there, I'd imagine going back for any reason would be suicide."
Everyone in the car goes silent as the trek to Ambler continues, shock overtaking the atmosphere of the vehicle.