2

The Outbreak

Haven City was a sunny, beachside city with sandy shores that stretched along the vast expanse of water and a lively downtown area filled with shops and excitement. The streets today were blocked off from traffic, but filled with people, both local and those who had come for the summer festival. It was something celebrating the town, but Kirk Reid was unfamiliar with the area and completely at a loss. His dark brown hair was combed to one side, and he hadn't been anticipating the heat when he'd put on his favorite black leather jacket that morning. His girlfriend, Rose Matthews, tugged eagerly at his hand as the two walked through the midsummer heat and the crowds of people.

The couple lived in Marwind Heights, but had taken the week to vacation in Haven City, where Rose had grown up before her family moved. They had arrived in the city the previous day after a long drive, but spent most of it at the hotel. Today, with the festival in full swing, Rose had dragged Kirk out into the streets, and although the town's merriment was something to behold, the sight of his girlfriend's smile was far more treasured.

Kirk had grown up in the Hollows, a rather unsavory district of Marwind Heights, the kind of place where people had to watch their backs because nobody else would be bothered to do it for them. Here, in such a prosperous city, it was kind of bewildering that nobody seemed worried about any of that. It wasn't a place that he belonged, but if Rose wanted him here, so be it. He would watch over her as best as he could.

She looked back at him, looking angelic in the sunlight with her strawberry blonde hair and white tank-top when she flashed him a smile, "Do you want to get something to eat, or look around a bit more?"

"I'm not really hungry yet," he answered, "and I'd kinda like to see more of the city first."

"Are you liking it?" Rose asked eagerly.

Kirk chuckled, "I like the beach… and yeah, this whole place seems really nice. You picked a good vacation spot."

"I spent all my time downtown when I was younger," Rose reminisced fondly. "Sometimes we'd go to the beach. Everyone here is super nice."

The two moved past other groups of people on the sidewalk, even though they could have easily walked in the street, as it had been barricaded off from traffic for the festival. As they continued down the street, Kirk glanced through the windows of the small stores, seeing mostly stuff for older people. How did small places like these stay open, he wondered.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a siren, quickly growing louder as a police officer in a police 4x4 cart drove down the street, frantically honking his horn to get people to move. As Kirk and Rose watched, stunned, the officer nearly ran over a kid who was slow to move, barely missing him as he turned and skidded to a stop next to a police barricade. Kirk tensed up, unknowingly tightening his grip on Rose's hand as he began trying to walk away, only to feel her pulling him back, standing in place.

"We should go," Kirk said quietly as the officer hopped out of the vehicle and hurried to push the small wooden barriers out of the way just as two police cruisers and an SUV roared around a corner and sped toward the now open street.

"I want to see what's going on," Rose replied, squeezing his hand in response as people stopped walking, looking over in confusion at what was going on. "Aren't you curious?"

It wasn't that Kirk wasn't interested in finding out what the officers were in a frenzy about, but after some of the irresponsible activities that he'd done when he was young, he was used to being on the other side of the law. He was a changed man now, and fortunately the judge had been lenient with him, but the instinct to get away from flashing lights and sirens still gnawed at him. Still, he tried to repress it as the police squad drove through the street, blaring their sirens to alert people to get out of the way.

Rose tugged at his hand, urging him to follow her as the police cars turned around a corner and disappeared from view. Meanwhile, the officer in the cart began replacing the barricades, pulling a radio from his belt and saying something that Kirk couldn't hear with the noise from the onlookers whispering amongst each other. Sighing a bit, Kirk allowed himself to be pulled by his girlfriend in the direction that the police had gone.

They weren't the only ones tailing the officers. A few groups of excitement chasers followed after them as well, and Rose seemed to be following the direction that they were drifting in as Kirk tried listening to the whispers around them.

"Think they found, like, a dead body or something?" one guy leaning against the side of a shop asked his friend beside him as they passed.

"Something serious is happening if they're bringing that much manpower," somebody nearby remarked as Rose pulled him around another corner, where one cruiser had stopped in the middle of the road as a makeshift barricade. One officer had gotten out, and he seemed to be trying to usher people away, waving his arms, but the anxious expression on his face was evident to Kirk.

"What do you think is happening?" Rose inquired, coming to a stop at the back of a group of people who were gathering around to see what the officer was trying to keep them away from.

Kirk thought for a moment and then moved forward, pulling her by the hand toward the police officer, edging along the crowd, "Let's find out."

As they drew nearer, the officer's radio crackled to life. He seemed startled, looking away from the crowd as he fumbled to pull it from his belt. Now that he'd gotten closer, Kirk could see that this was a young man, maybe not even much older than himself, and he was so nervous that the hand holding the radio was shaking.

"Officer Stanton, please move to high priority channel, over."

"Uh, 10-4!" the officer said, adjusting the settings on his radio until through the static came another station, this one alive with far more activity. He kept his hand up, pushing away in the crowd's direction, but turned his head away, as though thinking that it would make it more difficult to hear the radio.

"-on scene, no sign of infected, over."

"Follow Boykin Protocol, over."

"Understood- wait… yeah, I see them! They're all over the street!"

"Status! Are there Queens? Do we need to alert the ZDC to send in a team?"

"They're all over the place! Closing in! I can't- Aaahhh!"

Kirk jumped and Rose screamed, along with quite a few people in the crowd as the first few shots rang out. Gunfire! Kirk thought wildly, practically yanking Rose off her feet as he instinctively got them out of harm's way, but bullets weren't what that they had to fear.

The officer broke into a sweat as the radio crackled to life, with more bullets echoing in the background and sounding closer, "Dispatch, please respond! Requesting immediate backup, over!"

"Are they spreading out?! Is the situation contained?!"

"Negative! Negative! Backup required! Begin civilian evac!"

The officer slipped the radio back onto his belt as the voices continued to grow more and more panicked and distressed. He held up both hands to his mouth, and hollered, "Everybody please clear the area! This is an emergency! I repeat, please clear the streets! Emergency!"

Kirk stood still, feeling his grip tighten on Rose's hand. That stuff on the radio… ZDC, infected… surely it couldn't mean…

"Is there a zombie outbreak going on right now?!" a man demanded, his voice cracking fearfully.

"I-I… I can't say-!" the officer tried to explain, to keep everybody calm, but just the words "zombie outbreak" caused the crowd to panic, and some people to start pushing their way away from the scene while others in the mob tried to push forward to see for themselves. The officer was at a loss, until a sudden shout came through the radio.

"10-33! Officer down! I repeat, officer down!"

"Oh god! Oh my god!" the officer shrieked, drawing his gun from its holster and turning around, aiming it down the street as the gunfire grew closer, and a few officers hurried around the corner, firing off shots when they could behind them, but it was no use. As the first zombie came around the corner, a few bloodcurdling screams from the onlookers sliced through the air and pandemonium broke out as more of them followed.

"Rose! Run!" Kirk yelled, pulling his girlfriend away from the barricade as the officer began firing off shots, but there was no chance. The last look that Kirk got of him was a quick glance over his shoulder as they ran, enough to see the zombies swarming around him, hopelessly outmatching the cop. A rather fat lady knocked Rose to the side as they collided, the woman not even stopping to apologize as she hurried away while Rose struggled to keep her balance. Kirk stopped in his tracks, helping her to catch herself before she fell, which ended up being their saving grace. As Kirk held her hand and began moving again, a zombie emerged from an alleyway up ahead and wrapped his arms around the fat lady, who shrieked and fell over to the ground as the zombie bit at her throat, pulling away a large strip of flesh as the woman gurgled. Had they gone any further ahead, that might have been him. Or worse, Rose.

Kirk took note of the gruesome reminder to watch his surroundings as he pulled his girlfriend through the disaster area as more zombies followed, filling the streets and rapidly spreading out, biting, creating more. Kirk now understood how the outbreaks spread so quickly, but if they couldn't get out of Haven City soon, the military would quarantine the area with them inside. That could not happen.

He doubled his resolve, guiding Rose to safety around the zombies. One snarled and lunged at them, but he knocked it aside with a swift kick. Another one moved in, which Rose pushed away as she followed him through the carnage. People were screaming, and the street was in such an uproar that it was getting difficult to tell who was a zombie and who wasn't. People were running in all directions, some of them running toward the zombies by mistake. Something large, like a fly or a bee, buzzed past Kirk's face, and with a quick whip with his hand, he knocked it away, smiling in satisfaction as he connected and knocked it away.

At last, they reached the end of the street, and Kirk held her hand as they ran, avoiding the zombies and carnage unfolding. The Haven City Outbreak had begun.