Dying City
A sign stood at the edge of a road. Text was written across it, proudly declaring, "You are now-"
"Entering another random town that few people care about," Derek finished as he drove past it, uninterested in anything they had to say. Derek Miller was a man known for his extensive combat experience, persuasive tongue, and cool head under pressure. Ironically enough, those qualities had gotten him this job, as a truck driver, possibly the least expected outcome.
He sighed and shook his head. He knew what he was getting into, and he would do it. Besides, Nemexis paid well, and he never really cared too much about other people's opinions of him.
As he drove into the Texan city his hand moved to the cup of water and brought it too his mouth. During this time, he didn't look at the road, or his cup, but instead a small screen recently installed into the dashboard. After checking the information displayed his eyes shifted back to the road, he drained his cup, and he replaced it in the holder. He stopped the truck and waited for the red light to change, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. When it finally did, he pulled forward.
Through his peripheral vision he saw a car rapidly approaching him from the right. Whether the idiot was asleep, texting, or simply not paying attention didn't matter, it wasn't going to be able to stop in time. Derek pressed the brakes, slowing down as much as he could without wrecking his vehicle, but it wasn't enough. The driver had finally realized what was going to happen and tried to turn his vehicle away. All he succeeded in doing was turning it ninety degrees before its side slammed into the side of Derek's truck and pushed them both sideways, causing them to move forward into the corner of a building. Derek had enough time to say "Son of a…" before his truck plowed into the side of the corner.
Derek's head flew diagonally left but was stopped by the airbag. After he stopped being tossed back and forth like a pinball, he looked up into the cracked windshield. He subconsciously checked and tested all of his important muscles to discover that they were all working, albeit painfully. He unstrapped himself and began to open the door, but stopped when he saw the screen. Glaring letters were written on it: "Warning, power systems failing. Temperature rising. Therma King cooling systems offline." His eyes widened and he stood there, praying, until the screen said, "Emergency locks engaged." He heard shuddering and from the container of the truck. As soon as the noises stopped the screen wrote, "Lockdown successful. Emergency signal activated: Level 0"
Derek opened the door, then stepped onto the ground. Wincing, he moved toward the back of the truck and stepped through the small gap between his truck and the corner of the wall to view a crowd gathering to see the aftermath. 'Great,' he thought, 'just what I need, spectators. Not surprising, everyone is more interested in taking pictures than making sure we're okay.' Unfortunately for him, the other driver and a police officer were talking to each other while viewing the damage. As soon as the other driver saw Derek he strode up and shouted, "What on Earth were you thinking?"
The man had purposefully stepped to close to Derek to try to intimidate him. Derek, however, stepped even closer and calmly said, "I believe that you had a red light, and I had a green light. If you look, mine just turned yellow. So, not only were you not paying attention to the road, you ran a red light, crashed into my vehicle, injured me, and tried to blame me for it."
The police officer stepped up and said, "I'm going to have to write down both of your license plates to report this." He turned to the man and continued, "And he did have the right of way. It was your fault, which means you're paying for it." The man ground his teeth, but something in the officer's voice warned him that talking back wouldn't be a smart move.
As he moved away the police officer took out a notepad and pencil and quickly began to scribble down notes. Apparently he got tired of standing there as he moved over to the truck and leaned his back against hit, creating a dull thud as he touched it. To his surprise, a second thud came from inside the container. The police officer slowly turned around and asked, "Did something fall over?"
Derek dismissed it with a shrug and said, "Probably. I wouldn't worry about it though, the stuff in there is pretty sturdy, you'd need to toss in a grenade to do any damage." His stoic face masterfully hid the turmoil of fear and stress he was feeling. 'Damn it! Unfroze already?'
Meanwhile, the officer simply shrugged and went back to jotting down a few notes but was interrupted when something hit the door, causing a larger, heavier thud. The officer slowly turned around and faced the vehicle as rhythmic beating began to come from it.
The door bent crumpled as something inside it tried to force its way out. Derek took a step back only to see the police officer draw a revolver and aim it at him. "I think you have something in there that doesn't belong there."
"And believe me, you want it to stay there," Derek replied.
The police officer ignored him and said, "You are under arrest. I'll be sure to handcuff you and read your rights after I solve this mess. You even think about running away and I'll shoot you." The officer then walked to the door, while Derek slowly inched towards the front of his truck.
The frequency of the beating doubled, and then tripled. As the metal bars restraining the doors began to bent and crumple under the force, a small crowd of people gathered to watch the spectacle. Derek tried one last time, "Sir, opening that door will be the biggest mistake of your life," but he was ignored. In fact the other driver instantly tried open the door in an attempt to get revenge on Derek. The door was reinforced so nothing could break out from the inside, but it didn't have the strength to handle multiple forces from different locations. Before Derek could interfere, the door cracked, and then burst open, knocking the other driver to the ground.
At first, clear water trickled out of the truck and fell to the street, but then it was stained a reddish-brown color. But what caught everyone's attention was the three humanoid shapes still standing in the door frame. They were standing, looking, breathing, even wearing clothes, but they were definitely not human. Their rotting limbs were numbered with growths, their breath was raspy, their clothes tattered, but the most fearful aspect was their eyes were glowing red so brightly it seemed to leave streaks of light whenever they moved.
At first, besides subtle movements, everyone, human or not, stood still, but then the three humanoids spotted the driver on the ground. The first one's mouth snapped open and released what sounded like a cross between a moan and a howl, and then leapt from the truck over the driver, pinning him to the ground. The driver screamed and began kicking desperately at his captor, while the other two humanoids dropped from the truck and began to charge at the rest of the crowd.
Every human panicked, except one. Derek took advantage of the chaos and confusion to dash the remaining few meters to his truck and pull open the front door as he heard the gunshots from the officer trying to kill the three humanoids. Reaching into a small compartment built beneath the glove compartment Derek found the items he was looking for and jumped back out with them in each hand to face the horrors unleashed on this town.
The situation had not gone well, the driver wasn't moving as the creature on him was biting into his shoulder, and the officer had just fired his last shot into the second creature, knocking him back next to the first. The second creature had four bullet holes in him, but it hadn't seemed to slow him down any. The civilians had scattered with the third creature out of sight. Derek yanked the pin out of the grenade in his left hand with his teeth, while using the firearm in his right hand to keep both creatures next to each other. He emptied his clip into his target, tossed the grenade towards the two creatures and the corpse, and then tackled the officer, forcing them both to the ground. The grenade exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction and ripping the bodies apart.
Once Derek's ears stopped ringing he lifted himself off of the officer and they both stood up and saw the devastation the last half a minute had done. Derek knew that what they saw was only a fraction of the destruction this town was about to face. He heard the officer say to him, "What in the name of God… what was that thing?"
Derek steeled himself and turned to look the officer in the eye. "That was a damn zombie."
A/N= This story is based off of the game Combat Arms; specifically its map "Operation: Ghost Town"
"An experimental virus developed by NEMEXIS has accidentally been released into the city. As the body count rises, the government has ordered all civilians to evacuate immediately. Special forces search for clues to the cause of the viral outbreak while NEMEXIS mercenaries are sent in to conceal all evidence of the company's involvement."
This was my idea of what could have happened to cause this outbreak. It is pretty unlikely, as the way the truck is positioned it seems more like an intentional barricade than a traffic accident. However, NEMEXIS must have been doing something that the government didn't approve of (such as transporting zombies across the U.S.), otherwise they wouldn't have needed to send in mercenaries to conceal evidence.