Righteous Anarchy
Chapter 3: Awakening
Biohazard Report
0500: New York City has been contaminated. A sample was lost and distress calls to local authorities have become less frequent, the last having been at 4:46 am. All exits n the island have been destroyed or sealed except the Brooklyn Bridge, which will remain open for insertion of BOWs to contain and destroy the infection in the quarantine zone. Use of local Reapers authorized. None will be dropped in, as it will not be cost effective. UBCS is to evacuate all Umbrella personnel, leaving other test subjects behind.
Bellevue Hospital was full of panicked patients and staff alike. Just a few miles south of them, a T-virus epidemic had broken out. Rumors where floating around that it had started just outside of Club Fahrenheit, infecting thousands immediately. Doctor Elaine Pell sat down, no longer able to stand. Her shift was supposed to have ended three hours ago, but with the epidemic, she had to stay and help calm the patients. The building had been sealed off completely from the outside, so on the off chance that carriers did come this way they wouldn't infect any of the people within the concrete and glass building. She had already sedated half of the hospital's population to keep them from becoming hysterical and their thorosine supply was nearly gone. To make matters worse, the patients in the psych ward were becoming more restless and unpredictable, like dogs that knew a storm was coming. The tall blonde looked around at the doctors and other staff rushing about madly like bees in a hive. Her eyes lingered on the silver elevator, the blue orbs widening when she looked at the floor numbers. The little light indicated it was on the fifth basement level, the restricted level. Slowly, the numbers began illuminating as the elevator began its journey up. Someone had called it down, but there was no one in the basement. It had been evacuated and sealed off to keep the labs clean and safe from infection. Whoever was down there was certainly going to get an earful from her boss. With the generic ping the doors opened on the twenty-first floor, her floor. There were twenty-five total known floors in the old hospital, plus the four extra basement levels that the public had no clue about. Elaine had never been down there herself, but she had heard stories of Umbrellas new BOWs that they were allegedly creating beneath the surface. She looked up from her thoughts as the doors opened. Two young men, two young women, a young boy, and a young girl stepped from the box like interior of the elevator. They were all clad in military uniforms with a sidearm strapped to the adults' hip along with a belt of spare clips, to many to count. The children, no more than ten years old, each had dual combat knives attached to their legs. On the right arm of all six, there was a patch that said 'REAPER' in capital black letters. Their eyes were orange, flecked with red and reminded Elaine of some feral animal.
Who the Hell-The screams of the patients did not penetrate the sound proof walls, nor could the remotely locked doors open or the thick windows break as the Reapers went about their work. Their objective was to destroy anyone and everyone who could be a potential carrier, and that included everyone in Bellevue Hospital Center. Oddly enough, there was not a single shot fired, lest a window break and the people try and escape.
This one?...No...This one?...No...This one?...Dammit!Alex nearly dropped the keys as he cycled through them, attempting to find the right one to his cell. For all their revolutionary advances in crime stopping technology, you would think the police could have invested in a better system to lock and unlock the damned cells! He had ruled out about half the keys, recognizing car, house and padlock keys. Then there were some that were just plain weird shaped that couldn't possibly fit the lock. That left roughly fifteen different possibilities that would set him free, and if he didn't find which one it was, and soon, life would get a whole lot shorter. Alex pressed his face briefly against the bars, trying to gauge how much time he had to get out of there before the diseased ate him alive and he became one of them. There was one carrier outdistancing the rest, but it was still coming slowly. The man guessed he had about thirty seconds before escape ceased to be an option. The next key stuck in the lock, but refused to turn.
Come on you scrap metal damned piece of-Click. The key turned and his cell opened, creaking outward on its old hinges. He let out a cheer for himself but it was short lived as a rotten hand clamped down on his shoulder. A shriek escaped his lips and he batted the hand off, falling away from the walking corpse. Alex slammed his steel toe sneaker into the thing's knee, causing it to fall and giving him time to get back to his feet. He grabbed the dangling set of keys, thinking they might come in useful later on, snapping the cell's off in the lock. A stumbling scramble later and he was on his feet, running from the wave of living dead that were packed into the corridor of cells. They moaned and grunted, begging for a few bites of his tender muscles. Their hungry groaning promised a slow and painful death followed by a cursed life, a life Alex wanted no part of
Alex reached the office at the end of the hall and slammed the door shut, locking it from the inside with a twist of his wrist. He looked up at his new surroundings and sighed with relief. It was a rec room for the off duty officers, complete with a pool table and three vending machines. There was also a small window leading outside on the right wall. A wet gurgle emitted from his midsection when he looked at the food. It had been a while since he had last eaten, and the trail mix did look appetizing.
I've always wanted to do this...The man walked up to the snack vendor and looked it over carefully, then slammed his elbow as hard as he could into the glass casing. Pain shot up his arm before an almost paralyzing numbness settled into the limb as the unyielding front came in contact with his funny bone. Alex shot a glare of pure hatred at the quivering but unbroken pane of the machine as he nursed his tingling arm.
Damned safety glass...He looked around for something he could use to smash his way to his food with but the room had nothing except a metal trashcan, four pool cues, and a set of billiard balls. He had ruled out the couch because it looked as if he could hardly budge the thing. The can looked sturdy enough, and had a good bit of weight to it when Alex picked it up. He raised it above his head and brought it down hard against the glass with a screeching crunch. Nothing. The pane between him and his peanuts still stood. The trashcan had turned out to be low-grade aluminum and had practically crumbled on impact. It sailed through the air and bounced off the wall, leaving an irregular hole in the drywall, propelled by a frustrated hand.
"Dammit!" Then he looked at the billiard balls and an idea came to mind, bringing a small smirk. Alex selected one at random, coming up with the six ball. He remembered playing pool in some random bar with Loch with the older man plastered and still stomping the younger into the floor. He shook away the memory, not wanting to bring up the images of the events that led him here in the first place. Alex hefted the ball, tossing it in one hand a few times to estimate the weight of the orb before hurling it like a baseball into the machine. The clear wall that had caused him so much frustration shattered and the ball scattered glass fragments and mixed nuts all over the floor. Stepping carefully, the hungry man made his way to the machine where he grabbed all the snacks he could carry and dropped it off on the couch. He filled his arms twice more before finally sitting down next to his pile of food. He smashed a pool cue over the front of the drink machine, thinking a ball would repaint the room in carbonated stickiness, and was rewarded with two bottles of water and a fruit drink from some obscure company. He added them to his stash of trail mix, nuts, and honey buns. Hungry, Alex plopped down on the couch and began eating, washing down the salty and sweet with swigs from the fruit drink, which tasted a bit like peaches.
I know I have to leave, to get out of here, but why rush? I have food and drink here, and a nice place to rest-
Wham! He nearly choked on a mouthful of peanuts, sending the little buds spraying over the low coffee table.
Someone's knocking...It sounded like only one, as the pounding continued on the fake wooden door, but then more thuds and slams as the undead hammered mindlessly on the door, their moans and groans of starvation floating in. Alex tried to calm himself, attempting to push away the rising panic in his chest.
Its okay, I don't need to worry. That door can hold them off for a good long while...
Crunch! The door shuddered and powdery splits started to appear on his side of the door.
Or not!
Alex scrambled to his feet, stuffing as many packets of snacks in his pockets as possible and the two bottles of water in the larger inside pockets of his denim jacket. Snatching up a pool cue, he glanced at the door as the pounding persisted, almost seeming to increase as small sections of the door began to give. His chest seemed to tighten around his heart and lungs.
Stay calm...Don't panic...An arm gouged a hole in the dusty portal and reached through, groping blindly for flesh to consume as the grunting and groaning rose to a crescendo.
Panic! Have to get out! NOW!His adrenal glands kicked into action and Alex scampered onto the couch and slammed the butt end of the pool cue against the glass, flinching and turning his head away as the wood made contact. The thin windowpane shattered and Alex used the cue to knock away the remaining shards sticking out wickedly from the edges. The window was about four feet tall and two wide with a low shrub on the other side just below the ledge. As the door crumbled and the corpses fell over each other getting into the small room, Alex pulled himself though the opening and tumbled out of the bush onto the sidewalk.
A/N Thanks to mimi-having-fun and Scarred-Angel for reviewing, as well as anyone else whose review simply hasn't shown up yet! :)