Monday - 1100 hours.
Incoming…
General Feldman to General Wilkes … message follows …
Have received remnants of crash site. Study is ongoing.
Be aware that remains contain previously unknown strain of viral agent.
Next phase of operation is authorized.
Laboratory needs fresh specimens. Soonest conclusion is advisable.
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Mary got into the station a little after eleven. The first thing that she noticed was the unusual quiet in the building.
She appeared to be the only person there apart from the cleaner who walked about doing whatever it was that he did. He smiled to her as she passed, a gentle bob of his head.
She walked over to the desk and sat behind the console, picking up the wireless headset as she pulled her chair towards her.
After switching on the unit she reached or the dial ahead of her.
A light ahead of her began to blink a steady green.
'Good morning, police, how can I help?'
There was heavy breathing on the end of the line. Great she thought, that's all I need first thing.
'Hello? Is there anybody there?'
The breathing changed into a scared, quiet voice.
'H … hello? Please help. My dad is downstairs. He's trying to … '
The line went quiet. No static, no slow shutdown. One second the voice was there, the next, just gone.
Nothing came through the other end.
She cycled through the frequencies for a full five minutes before she realized that, no, she wasn't wrong.
All the airwaves were dead.
She sat back in her swivel chair.
At least it would be a quiet day after all.
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'I know, but what else could she do?'
The wall separating the two rapidly talking women was crumbling under the years of countless leanings against it. In another ten they may wear it down completely.
Marlene lifted her tea cup a and took another swallow of the gin-laced liquid. Her companion would have a field day if she knew what she took in her morning brew, especially before noon.
They would stand there for at least four hours before retiring inside for afternoon lunch and then meet outside again until tea.
It had been their ritual for the last fifteen years and everyone in the village knew them both. Not one piece of gossip missed the sisters.
Although technically not related they were similar enough to be mistaken for such.
Phyllis tilted her gaze a few degrees and nodded towards where she looked.
The other woman looked in the direction.
There in the middle of the road where two men; one wore a police-mans uniform, the other wore a t-shirt and jogging bottoms. Both had their backs turned to the two women but even from that distance the two saw that there was something wrong with the men.
Marlene recognised one of the men from his build and started to shout a greeting.
They turned around.
Both women drained of all colour and the moment stretched, no-one moved an inch.
Marlene's cup slipped from her hand and shattered against the rough stone of the wall.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The two men seemed to move in a blur, the two women seemed to be stuck in thick mud.
It was only when Phyllis was tackled to the floor and was in the process of having her face torn off that her friend found the strength to move.
She flew towards her open back door, belaying her large frame. She was at the door and starting to close it just as one of the men stood, fresh blood running from his mouth and chin, stood and looked her in the eye. She threw all the locks that she had as the man charged her. Steeping back from the glass she watched in horror as he crashed straight through the double-glazed partition.
He tripped over the low stoop and fell heavily to the floor, long slivers of glass sticking out of his body. Most of them, on their own, enough to stop an ordinary person.
He stood up.
A hand flew to her open mouth and clamped back the scream that she felt building there.
The face in front of her grinned through broken teeth, a glass sharp spearing him through the neck mixing his blood with the still tacky blood of her best friend.
He took a step towards her, then another.
Her heart chose that moment to stop in her chest.
She was dead before she hit the hard kitchen floor. She was spared the sight of the man bending over her prone form.
The sound of tearing flesh was loud in the empty house.