Chapter 2: The Way Home
Dr Phillips restlessly lies in his assigned bed in the dormitories of the CDC, hoping that his family is safe, wherever they are. Numerous scientists can be heard conversing in a room nearby. Phillips knocks on the door, and sees his good friend, Dr Birdwell. "Hey, Jim, how are you doing?" asks Birdwell to Phillips. "I'm doing okay, Lou, is it okay if I join your conversation?"
Lou says "Go right ahead, Jim, come in.". Jim enters the room and the scientists continue their conversation, but one of them seems interested in finding out what happened to Jim's test subject. "Hey, Jimmy, you were working on the test subject who reanimated, what happened?" asks one of the scientists. "I was analysing the DNA from the saliva of who ever had chewed out his jugular, and noticed that there was little evidence of drug use, so I decided to inform Dr Medici about evidence of an infection or something and-" "An infection!?" one of the scientists interrupts Jim. "You said his jugular was chewed out?" asks the scientist. "Yes, we thought there was no way for the test subject to come back to life, but he did.". "Fascinating, this must mean this is an infection which controls the nervous system after the death of its carrier, regardless of the circumstances…" points out the scientist. "That must mean that it requires destruction of the brain for the carrier, the security guards in the laboratory sector said they had to shoot the test subject in the head to stop him." says Jim. "Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes, after telling Dr Medici about the infectious nature of this… thing, I returned to the laboratory, to find my colleague dead, and the test subject walking. I ran out of the area, while the alarms were going off, and that's really it. I noticed one of the security guards died, and one of them were bitten, but not dead." says Jim. "Wait, Jim, you said your colleague and one of those security guards died?" asks Lou. "Yeah." replies Jim. "Where were their bodies taken?" asks Lou in a concerned voice. "I'm pretty sure they were taken to the morgue." says Jim. "They're going to reanimate!" shouts Lou. "Oh no…" says Jim. "Come on, we have to tell security about this!" says Lou.
Just then, screams and yelling can be heard nearby. "Where is that coming from?" asks one of the scientists. "I think the security guards are in trouble, what do we do?" asks another scientist.
"EVACUATE!" shouts Lou. Large sums of scientists swarm out of their dorm rooms, towards the elevators, where they fight each other on who goes through the elevator first. "Screw it, we won't make it to the elevators, to the stairway!" shouts Lou. The scientists run through the stairway up towards the main halls, where the scientists are confronted by National Guard.
"Return to your dormitories at once!" commands one of the soldiers. The soldiers aim their guns at the scientists, and Lou speaks up "You don't understand, sir, there are people being attacked in the dormitories!". The soldier seems confused, and asks "What happened?". "We don't know, we believe there are unarmed security guards being attacked by a carrier!" says one of the scientists. "Do not waste my time, back to your dormitories at once!" shouts the soldier. The scientists continue to argue with the soldiers, where then gunshots can be heard below. "Do you hear that?! That's what we were talking about!" says Lou. The soldiers call in for back up. "We got a 10-71 in the dormitory sector, CDC, requesting back up! All of you, exit the building!". The scientists exit the building, where many of them walk towards the parking lot to leave the facility.
"Are we allowed to do this?" asks one of the scientists. "I don't know, but I'm going home, I need to return to my family, they're probably worried." says another one of them. Jim goes to his car, and he can hear one of the scientists asking a very loaded question. "Are you all really going to abandon the chance to save humanity right now?". One of the scientists replies with "Am I not allowed to at least talk to my family about what we may have to do, most of the planet doesn't know what's to possibly come.". "Whatever you say, I'm staying.". After the scientist says that, many other scientists join him. "You're right, Jenner, I'll do what I can." says another scientist.
Jim gets in his car, and as he approaches the exit, a national guard soldier approaches his car.
"What are you leaving for, sir?" asks the soldier. "I'm going to alert my family of this event, I will be back the next morning." The soldier opens the gate and lets him through.
Jim starts driving down the road to his hometown, wondering just what has happened that day to himself. "If Test Subject 1 had his throat chewed open, what happened to the attacker?" "Where did this pathogen originate from, where was the first case?" "Was it that security guard, Bentley I think his name was who the security guards shot?" "How long have these attacks been happening?" "Where else is it happening?"
"So many questions, I must find this out tomorrow morning!" Jim thinks to himself. Jim eventually drives back home, where he realizes it is now 4:00 in the morning, and that his shift starts at 10 AM. So he goes into his house, and right away, his wife asks him something.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
