Monday 20:00 hours.
General Wilkes … outgoing …
Repeated requests still unanswered, have sent half of current team on re supply mission to nearest base of operations. Expect team to report back in no less than six hours.
First report overdue from team.
Current situation still containable. Will hold position until I receive orders.
Out …
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'Dad?'
Philip looked up from the television and at the back of his sons head.
'Yes?'
'Why are there lots of people on the street?'
Philip stood and crossed to the window and the curtain there that his son had pulled to one side.
He moved Thomas out of the way and opened the gap wider, hardly comprehending what he saw there.
Outside the window the sun was just starting to dip in the darkening sky.
The street was full of people.
It looked like a damn town parade.
It was hard to see the figures accurately, the street lights seemed to be out and none of the outside house lights were on.
He let the curtain fall and turned to stare at Thomas were he stood in the centre of the room.
'Stay here champ, I'll be right back.'
'Ok dad.'
He sat down in front of the television already bored with the situation.
Philip went to the front door and opened it onto the cool early evening air.
The first person he saw was wearing a police officers uniform, the figure had its back to him. He walked up his garden path, the gravel crunching lightly underfoot and reached out a hand to the latch on the garden gate.
As the iron gate opened it squealed loudly.
The figures closest to his house turned and started to move slowly towards the sound.
Philip paid no attention to the slight movement and carried on walking towards the officer.
'Excuse me officer, what's going on?'
As the first words came out of his mouth the figure turned slowly almost painfully around.
It moved faster than Philip, but only just.
What he did next undoubtedly saved his life. As he saw the man lunge towards him he raised his arm, the others jaws snapping and biting down painfully on the meat of his arm, pinching skin and muscle through the fabric. Philip stumbled backwards and fell against his garden wall, the figure off the police man coming with him jaws still clamped to his arm.
He balled up his other fist and, before he could think about his actions, punched the man in the temple with as much force as he could muster.
The blow smashed into the mans head and, from what Philip could tell, not do a damn thing.
He got his free hand between himself and his attacker and pushed against his chest, trying to push him away. He heard the fabric of his shirt rip as the man fell backwards. The figures head bounced off the tarmac road. There was a sickening crack and he lay still, a spreading pool of blood starting to seep from underneath it.
Philip took a moment to catch his breath and then noticed that the other figures in the road had turned towards him.
All of them.
The closest was maybe ten feet away.
He spun to his left and dived back through the gate slamming the heavy iron as he went, throwing the latch. As it hit home, the closest figure slammed against the other side face first, its teeth brushing against Philips knuckles rocking the gate in its frame. Its nose opened and the front of his already torn shirt was sprayed with red from the pulped features. It didn't even slow down. He pulled his hand back and took a huge step back. All around the figure hands and arms appeared thrusting through the openings in the rails. Philip backed up, knowing that the door was close but not daring to take his eyes from the sight ahead of him. At this rate the gate would only slow them down. He hoped that when he got inside, and they couldn't see him, they would give up.
He continued to step backwards until he felt the heavy oak door at his back. He reached behind him and pulled the handle down.
It was the quickest opening and locking of a single door in human history. He slid down the smooth wood of the other side.
The gate hit the gravelled path outside and the first thumps sounded behind his head.
'Dad?'
Philip looked up to see his son standing in the hallway.
'Was it a party dad?'
The television in the front room died and the power went off. The only sound was the steady thump, thump, thump on wood.
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Mary stepped from the bath at the same time as the lights went out.
She stood in her bathroom and held her breath for several seconds praying for the 0power to come back on.
Ever since she had been a child she had had an irrational fear o the dark; everything bad that happened had occurred in the dark.
A minute passed, then two … five, still nothing.
She started to shiver as the water cooled on her naked body. She had to come to term withy the fact that the light would probably be off for good. They had had power outages before but they had never lasted this long.
Mary made her way to her bedroom with the waning light coming in from outside. She got dressed in a hurry; jeans and a sweater to take off the chill then she made her way downstairs.
She opened a cupboard in the kitchen and grabbed the handful of candles that she knew were there. She lit three of them, placing them in saucers on the wooden table. The light from the white waxy sticks gave the room a weird flickering glow, throwing shadows into every corner. Not as good as electric light, but a lot better than no light at all. Maybe a good strong cup coffee would help sooth her nerves.
The water was out of the tap and in the kettle before she remembered that there was no power to boil it. She sat down at the table and lay her palms flat on the wooded surface.
Well, she thought, this was just great. What was she supposed to do now?
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
General Wilkes looked through the field binoculars and sighed deeply.
He had been ordered to observe a containment action.
Which he had done.
He had been ordered to retrieve samples to convey back to the research techs.
Which he had done.
But this, this madness had to be dealt with. He couldn't stand by and watch innocent civilians, uninfected civilians die needlessly.
He put the imagers down and turned to the rest of his men; ten in all called from various posts.
'Okay, this is what we are going to do. Grab your shit, whatever you need, this has gone from a containment protocol to search and rescue. Anything that gets in your way that doesn't breath … waste it.'
He pulled his side arm and jacked a round into the chamber.
He heard the sound of ten more rifles being primed almost as one.
'Gentlemen … let's go kick some ass.'