A/N

This is going to be a short story following the events leading up to the initial outbreak in L4D which I do not own. Neither do I own the US Army, Pentagon, CDC, DoD, or any government agency. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.

United States Military Central Command (safe zone Kilo) midwestern United States three weeks after the first outbreak.

Even Sire walked slowly to the cheaply made door marked in sharpie pen, "General Gordon." It had only been a few days since the government had made the switch from democracy to emergency military and only yesterday that construction had been finished on the "Haven Project." Even stopped at the door looking at his reflection in a glass pane. He had mousy brown hair, green eyes and wore large square glasses. He wore beige pants and a light blue button down shirt, his press tag hung loosely around his neck, he carried a pen, notepad and recorder. This was going to be the first and maybe only in-depth interview with the man held most responsible for the disaster. He knocked on the general's door.

"Come on in," Even walked into the office. It wasn't really much of an office, a desk and two cheap swivel chairs one on each side. "Have a seat," Gordon was a large man maybe in his mid to early fifties it was hard to tell because he was completely bald. He was muscular with broad shoulders though their was a kindly almost sad look to the general. "So your here to interview the man who fucked it up?" Asked Gordon.

"Well sir, I wouldn't..." Gordon cut him off.

"I know I fucked up, we all fucked up, the military, CEDA the CDC everybody. But I just want the American people to understand exactly why things turned out the way they did. Why," he paused, "we failed to protect them." Even looked up from taking notes.

"Just start at the beginning general," he said causally starting the recorder.

The Pentagon, three weeks ago.

General Gordon, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff walked into the war room carrying a coffee cup whistling. "Good morning gentlemen what's the threat assessment for today?" This spawned a few chuckles from the people in the room.

"Nothing major sir we're currently at code blue sir."

"Cut the crap on the colored bullshit soldier, we're always at a Guarded level. Fucking advisory system bunch of hollywood bull crap." He muttered this last part to himself. He sat down in his chair taking a sip of his coffee, just another day at the office

Lennox Hill Hospital Fairfield 4 hours before the first infection.

Dr. Samuel Lawrence walked toward the toxicology ward in the emergency room. "Alright people you called me down here said it was something major?" A nurse looked up from the microscope.

"Yes doctor, two hours ago a man came in saying he'd been bitten by a wild dog. I took a blood sample, I've," she stuttered, "never seen anything like this." The doctor leaned over the microscope blinking and taking a double take, "what the hell is this?" He stood up flustered, "get that man on quarantine somebody contact the CDC immediately."

Within a few hours two men from the CDC arrived at the hospital. "Doctor you said this was urgent?"

"Yes, this man, David Bryt, came in two hours ago claiming to have been bitten by a mad dog. We took a blood sample, at first it appeared to be rabies but it was evolving at a rapid rate, I think we may be looking at a human strain of rabies or something else I don't know."

"Can we see this man?" Asked one of the CDC doctors.

"Of course following me," as the three approached the emergency ward they could tell something was wrong from the banging and yelling." Samuel pushed open the doors, inside the ward, two nurses a doctor and a security guard were wrestling David Bryt to the ground. The nurse looked up seeing the doctors walk in, "could you give us a hand?" She shouted, immediately the other three piled on to help, they managed to move Bryt to the operating table he was snapping at them viciously and struggling like a madman. They finally managed to strap him down the the operating table, "what the hell happened," gasped Samuel.

"I don't know," replied the nurse, "it happened so fast he just went nuts he bit Nathan." Samuel looked over at the security guard.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, its not to deep, I'd like to go home if that's okay."

"Nobody is going anywhere," said the CDC doctor, "I'm calling in backup now."

The Pentagon, four hours since the first infection.

"Has the president been alerted of the situation?"

"Yes sir he has."

"I want a team of Rangers with those extra doctors and at least a company of infantrymen outside that hospital fully equipped MOPP suits and all." Gordon was walking briskly down the hall, "I want a meeting with all the joint chiefs and anyone from the presidential cabinet who can make it. We are at an elevated security risk."

Outside Lennox hill hospital, six hours since the first outbreak.

Captain Mike Tanner and his rangers approached the hospital. It was darkened expect for alarms and emergency lights. The entire building was surrounded by soldiers, doctors, cops, and camera crews. Mike approached a Colonel standing in front of a hummvee "Why the fuck is the hospital on lock down? Aren't we supposed to retrieve patient zero?"

"Your mission has changed soldier, something went down in the hospital we can't make contact with the CDC boys. Your mission is to contain whatever is in there."

"Contain? Isn't that HAZMAT's job?"

"Not in this case captain, you and your men are going in to investigate and if need be exterminate understood." Tanner nodded, not sure what exactly was going on. He approached the entrance to the hospital where his fire team was assembled, he pulled on his hood and gas mask. "Breach in!" A ranger nodded and blew the lock on the door, "go, go, go!" They moved in, it was very dark all they could see was what was illuminated by the flashlights on the ends of their rifles. Tanner motioned for them to advance upstairs, they followed his lead to the second floor, Tanner tightened his grip on his rifle, he suddenly heard crying. He held up his hand halting his unit, then advanced toward the sound of the crying, it came from the girls bathroom, he went in slowly, a woman sat on the floor dressed in only her underwear sobbing. He lowered his rifle approaching, "hey miss everything is going to be fine just tell me what happened." He placed his hand on her shoulder, she turned around, Tanner found himself staring into a pair of glowing red eyes, the woman let out a screech lifting her clawed like fingers, Tanner stood frozen unable to react he felt his crotch get warm and wet before the talons slashed across his throat he fell backward his blood splattered on the mirror he started to try to crawl toward the door, he managed to push it open just as he saw his buddies' flashlights shine on him he was pulled back into the bathroom screaming.

All the rangers began firing soon they found themselves being attacked from all sides the gun flashes illuminated the room around them as the infected closed in.

Outside the hospital people began to stare at the flashes of gunfire in the window, "what the fuck?" a colonel approached the building, suddenly there was a scream and one of the rangers crashed through the second story window he fell with a loud splat on the side walk. Immediately infected began to pour from the hospital.

The Pentagon, twenty four hours after the first infection.

Gordon sat around a table with multiple military and political leaders. A young office walked into the room, "sir, we have the statistics in. The ranger unit was wiped out, the infantrymen surrounding the hospital think they contained the situation but they say a few infected may have escaped, multiple soldiers suffered injuries and are being shipped to facilities where they will be treated the amount of wounded civilians is unknown." Gordon sighed heavily, a viral outbreak that turned people into violent monsters, great that's all he needed.

"We're looking at a potential pandemic people, we know virtually nothing about this virus and its already killed dozens of people. I'm going to call for all international and interstate travel be block I also am going to mobilize all available forces, I want a contingency force of marines and army rangers to secure the areas already hit. This should help slow the infection I already have CDC people working on what it is but we need a major contingency plan drawn up and drawn up ASAP I want everyone to get out a pen paper and every manuel, every piece of doctrine you can find and I want you to figure something out fast."

US Military central command three weeks after the first infection.

"So then what?" Asked Even pausing his note taking for a moment.

"Congress is what happened, the plans were set, units mobilized everything was ready but those goddamn thick skulled," the General paused stopping himself from continuing. "Well, I guess now that I look back I can understand their hesitance, nobody wants to be responsible for declaring martial over the united states without a good reason. The infection was still minor then only a few isolated incidents which the police and feds were handling just fine. But we in the pentagon tried to convince congress that it would grow the infection would keep getting worse, so instead of following my plan they gave CEDA a chance to contain it. Pah CEDA, Civil Emergency and Defense Agency, my ass. It was headed by the former commissioner of the mustang horses association, the man ran a horse show so the POTUS decided that qualified him to head CEDA. The most arrogant useless people you will ever meet, all these wannabes running around the Pentagon yelling cool phrases they'd heard in movies. 'the situation must be contained ASAP," or "we gotta neutralize this threat' or my personal favorite, 'we need to blast those zombies keep the nuclear option on the table.' The nuclear option who the fuck did these people think they were then when I found out they'd taken control of the 27th Infantry division I shat a brick, I went to the POTUS and asked that they be removed. He had just heard the news when I found him, Fairfield had been overrun." The general stopped to take a swig from a small whiskey flask.

"What did you do about it?"

"I put my plan into action, the infection was beyond containing but I could still get people out, I deployed the 4th and 1st infantry divisions and the the cities own 98th National Guard infantry regiment. The plan was to get as many civilians out of the city as possible so we could firebomb the shit out of it kill every infected we could.

Fairfield One week after the first infection, Zoey's dorm room five hours before evacuation. 19:00 hundred hours.

Zoey sat up in bed watching the news, normally about this time she would be starting a horror movie with a large bowel of popcorn next to her but in recent days there was no longer any need.

"Now I'm standing here with Lt. Colonel Richard's from the United States Army here outside Mercy Hospital," said the reporter, "what should people do Colonel?" She tilted the microphone toward him. The colonel was slightly taller then the reporter he wore ACU BDU's and a beret. "We are urging people to stay in their homes and to stay alert we may need to evacuate you at any moment, know your evacuation zones, if you see anything bizarre contact any soldier or police officer you see immediately do not, repeat do not attempt to fight the infected they are extremely dangerous." Zoey turned off the tv she was pretty tired everyone around campus was so panicked, yesterday some guy shot his roommate when he had come in after curfew blew his head clean off. One of the professors had gone missing as well but nobody knew what happened to him. She walked to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face before going back to her bed. It was still early but there wasn't much else to do besides she would probably end up needing plenty of rest. She pulled off her jeans and sweatshirt and crawled into bed and quickly fell to sleep.

She was awoken by the sound of screaming and running footsteps, she quickly got out of bed and dressed, she noticed that none of her roommates had come in. She opened the door to the hallway onto a horrific sight, Cathy her roommate was slumped against a wall as two infected fed on her, Zoey gasped loudly one of the infected turned to glare at her, he had been a soldier, his uniform was torn and bloody, he was still wearing his body and helmet and his right eye had been gouged out. He snarled at her blood rolling down his mouth. Zoey looked for something she could defend herself with when a shot rang out and the infected' head splattered against the wall, a campus security guard was at the other end of the hall holding a pistol his his were trembling and there was a wet stain around his groin. The other infected rushed him, tackling the poor guard to the ground before ripping out his throat. Zoey took the opportunity to sneak passed the infected into the courtyard. Outside students milled about unsure what to do, a soldier probably an officer was standing on top of a hummvee. "EVERYONE MOVE DOWN THE STREET WE ARE GOING TO THE NEAREST SAFE ZONE PLEASE TRY TO STAY CALM!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Students began to file out of the campus onto the city streets, it was hell on earth, it was so crowded and chaotic the infected might as well have been at a buffet. The soldiers were vastly outnumbered not only by the infected but between the looters, rioters, and just the people they were trying to get to the evacuation points there were maybe two uniforms for every ten people. Zoey found herself being jostled and pushed as the crowd moved down the street, she knew that if she tripped or fell it probably meant death by stampede. Suddenly, the gunner in a hummvee was pulled screaming from the turret by a smoker, the man was pulled up to a fire escape before two regular infected grabbed him and pulled him inside the open window. The other soldiers immediately started firing at the apartment building with everything they had, Zoey instinctively ducked as a rocket from an AT4 launcher smashed into the building. Suddenly over the gunfire they could hear more yells and shrieks suddenly infected were everywhere, she watched in horror as a man was dragged into a manhole, the soldiers started firing at anyone who was running at them infected or not. Zoey started sprinting looking for someplace to hide for awhile, she saw the glint of a red iron door, she ran toward it dodging through people as they tried to flee the chaos. She reached it, tugged it open, stepped in then slammed and bolted it. She heard a tremendous roar from outside, she looked out the door's peek hole, a massive infected came running at the soldiers, "aim for the head drop the fucker!" The M2 on the hummvee had barely started firing when the tank hurled an SUV at it sending the hummvee into a barrel roll. A soldier still on the street tried to run but the tank grabbed him, lifted him over its head and ripped the soldier in half before chucking the remains aside. Zoey ducked away from the door, the entire world was being eaten away by zombies, holy fuck.

Three weeks after the first infection, US Military central command.

"The evacuation was chaotic at first but once additional units showed up it went smoother."

"But not everyone was evacuated." Said Even, a look of deep sadness came over the General's face.

"No, it shames me to say this but people were left for dead. No I'm not going to sugar coat it like some people have we left hundreds, maybe more, to a fate worse then death we failed in our responsibility to protect the American people. I'm not blaming the troops on the ground, most of them gave their lives getting people to safety or even the entire brass, but we just didn't have the numbers or the resources. I begged the government to pull troops out of the Middle East and Europe but they wouldn't listen they didn't understand that this couldn't be contained." He slammed his fist on the table angrily, "even after we firebombed the city the infection was spreading. Our next goal was to close the main highway."

"The battle for riverside?"

"Yep, the battle that lost us the war. Riverside was where we were supposed to stop those fuckers and go on the offensive start the attack to take back fairfield."

The town of RIverside two weeks after the first infection.

Major Dalton stared at dry erase board, he and his staff had gathered in a small officer building overlooking main street. In the room with him were squad and platoon leaders who sat around the conference table. "Welcome to Riverside gentlemen, the last evac center this side of the river our mission is to hold it until further notice."

"Sir, we're looking at the bulk of Fairfield's infection there is less then a company of troops here how the fuck are we supposed to hold out against any attack?"

"There's only two ways into town, through the woods or through the church, both side of town have sealed off and are heavily guarded infected can be easily stopped at any location." Replied the Major cooly, "we will have support from civilian militia I'm sure if they'll be much use but we can hope. Sergeant Mann take your squad and reinforce the church, Lt Aldo take your platoon to main street and keep contact with Lt Reynolds at the boathouse. Hold tight, hold the line and we should live out the night Hooah."

"Hooah sir," the officers replied in unison heading off to their designated tasks.

Sergeant Mann arrived at the church, a small group of civilians were already there along with two infantrymen manning a mini-gun.

"All quiet gentlemen?" Asked the Sergeant.

"Yep, no god dang zombie gonna get up in here," said a scrawny looking civilian wearing an American flag t-shirt and sporting a John Deer hat.

"Good, squad form up and take positions, Specialist Nab snipe em if you see em." Specialist Nab was the squad designated Marksman.

"With pleasure sir," he replied from his perch in the church tower.

"What the fuck was that?" Asked Mann

"Sir, some cabin out there is under attack, infected just came out of the fucking woods." Replied Nab.

"Damn, must be Norm and his boah's, they refused to leave der cabin." Replied the yokel.

"Fuck man there's a tank!" Exclaimed Nab watching as the tank smashed through the front door of the home, "sir permission to fire."

"Permission granted start shooting." The sniper started firing trying to pick off infected, "they're coming for us sir they must have seen the church lights." He started firing more rapidly as the infected got closer. The two infantrymen manning the mini-gun opened fire, infected were dropping rapidly but they kept coming. Soon they were at the sandbags, the two soldiers switched to their rifles and started to fend off the infected the best they could but were soon overrun. Nab ran downstairs to help the rest of the soldiers and armed civilians on the ground, "die mother fuckers!" he shot an infected through the head with his side arm.

"Sir infected have overrun the church permission to retreat!"

"Negative hold them back soldier!" Ordered the Major before the radio went dead.

"Keep firing kill em all!" Yelled the Sergeant Suddenly one of his soldiers was grabbed by a smoker, the entire unit grabbed the young private to try and keep him from being pulled away, "behind you!" warned the private but it was to late one of the civilians had run into through the emergency door slammed it and locked it.

"Fuck no," the Sergeant felt something bite into his leg, then another bite on his arm, he was slowly pulled down by the sea of writhing ghouls.

On the street outside the Church a soldiers began to gather at the sandbags and parked cars forming a barricade and secondary defensive point. Infected started pouring from the church toward the defensive line, the soldiers opened up with everything from their rifles to M2 machine guns and Mark 19 grenade launchers. They created a meat grinder mowing down line after line of infected. Suddenly they heard shots coming from the other side of town, the infected were attacking Main street swarming over the meager defenses and killing everyone before they had time to flee, soon the primary command post was overrun. The troops guarding the barricade found themselves surrounded a few of them climbed on top of the car and buses to try and escape the horde but were quickly taken down by hunters or smokers. After only fifteen minuets of combat riverside fell.

US Military Command Center three weeks after the first infection.

"What about the evacuation from the eastern seaboard?" Asked Even.

"After it was clear that we couldn't contain Pennsylvania, New York, or New Jersey we decided that our only option was to pull out with as many civilians as possible."

"Pull out of US soil?"

"What else could we do? We'd already firebombed two major cities what were we going to do? Nuke Manhattan? Napalm Philadelphia? Release bio weapons on American soil? No we would," the General paused, "we will need to retake our nation, not rebuild it, the evacuation project itself was chaotic as we feared but at least almost everyone made it out."

Two Weeks after the first infection (friday) Evacuation zone Bravo

Zoey, Bill, Francis, and Louis followed the crowed of tired scared refugees to the Army evacuation center. It was a high school that had been converted to a base, school buses, APC's and large green military trucks were all being use to get people out. It was hell on earth, people fighting, screaming, crying, soldiers trying to keep order, every few second they'd hear a gunshot as an infected or unruly civilian was put down. "EVERYONE REMAIN CALM PLEASE EVERYONE REMAIN CALM!" Yelled a CEDA official from the top a military hummvee, the group pushed through toward a school bus which seemed the closest and emptiest transport. Two CEDA agents stood at the entrance, as the group approached they both raised their rifles.

"You don't get on this bus."

"Look son," started Bill.

"I don't give a fuck old man," the man was wild eyed obviously running purely on adrenaline or energy drinks or injections. His buddy nudged him nodding at Zoey, they both suddenly got a look in their eyes. "Give us her and we'll consider it."

"Not a chance in hell," said Bill. Before the agent could respond there was a scream, a Tank had chucked a hummvee toward them the heavy car came toward them, Bill dove for cover as the hummvee crashed a few feet from them killing both CEDA guards. "Come on!" Yelled Bill climbing onboard the bus the others followed, Bill took the wheel and started down the road. Zoey looked back at the evacuation center, it was in flames she could see the explosions and hear the gunfire, the refugees on the bus seemed to breath a sigh of relief as the sounds finally died. Zoey leaned back in her seat, she'd made, or at least this far.

General Gordon took a large swig from his flask. "Its only been three weeks and already containment has failed," he shook his head. "It's going to be a hard road back to humanity son, I hope everyone's ready for the trip."