Chapter 1 - Outbreak

Harrison Memorial Hospital

12:03pm

"Man, have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Has anyone?"

"This is like some Armageddon level shit and they won't even tell us what this is?"

"You know what it's like. 'Need to know basis' and all that shit."

"I don't know how much longer we can go on like this."

"I hear you. It makes me feel sick."

In the lower Harrison Memorial Hospital parking lot, bodies laid in their dozens, covered by white sheets. It was hard to know for certain exactly how many dead bodies were on-site, with the morgue and the lower floor of the building full as well. But they were well and truly past biohazard standards now.

The heat of the Georgia sun didn't help with the festering issue the copious dead posed. The smell was overwhelming and unmistakable. It was like something you'd never forget.

For Theresa Murphy and Nathan Hayward, while the stench wasn't new, it was amplified on a whole other level that neither of them had ever been exposed to. The pair stood at the edge of the parking lot, their mouths covered with masks in an effort to thwart the rancid smell. They had just carried another body out from the hospital to add to the ever growing graveyard. In the midday summer sun the both of them were dressed in full military gear but showed no disdain for the heat.

A crackling sound emitted from the radio on each of their belts.

"All units report to the base. Repeat, all units report to base."

"Copy that." Tess replied into her radio and the pair made their way back into the hospital.

"I don't suppose they're calling us back to let us know we can go home?" Nate joked dryly as he wheeled the gurney back up to the building. Theresa laughed,

"Yeah, I highly doubt that." She rolled her eyes and adjusted the strap on her standard issue DMR.

"Ever the pessimist, Resa." Nate tsked humorously.

"Realist. Please."

—

Base had been set up in the upper parking lot of the hospital. Due to the overwhelming number of patients that were coming in so regularly, the military had been called in to control the situation and was tasked with turning away those that were not in desperate need of care. As well as corpse disposal. It wasn't a duty the hospital staff had handed over lightly and it had caused tensions between the Sergeant First Class and the doctors; however they couldn't deny that it was helpful to have extra hands on deck.

"Command has requested a full evacuation of all hospital personnel to Fort Benning, effective immediately." The soldiers glanced around at one another hesitantly, not missing the lack of direction regarding the patients.

"And the patients, Sir?" Tess questioned, noticing that her unit was also reluctant to accept that they were to be left behind.

"We have our orders, Corporal. Patients are to remain here and Martinez and his unit will continue to monitor the situation until it is no longer necessary."

"Until they've all died, you mean?" Tess' jaw was locked in place, teeth grinding against one another as she held back her anger.

"Have you got something you want to say, Murphy?"

"My team and I will follow the orders, Sir but I do not agree with them."

"It's not your job to agree with them."

"Yes, Sir."

"Your unit is expected in Fort Benning at 0800. I suggest you get going."

"Yes, Sir."

—

"Fuck this shit, man." Tess hissed vehemently, expressing her frustration to Nate, her second in command and oldest friend. She had just spoken to the Medical Director and informed them of their evacuation plans. It was fair to say that they were not happy with the situation. And Tess couldn't blame them, neither was she.

"Martinez is a fucking joke and couldn't give a rats ass about these people here." She paced back and forth in the hallway, outside of the Medical Director's office on the ground floor.

"I don't get it either. What was even the point of bringing us here to protect them if we're just gonna abandon them now?"

"I don't know. I don't like it."

"Corporal! Come in!" Tess' radio cracked to life on her direct channel. Coming to attention, she unhooked the radio and pressed down on the PTT button.

"Go ahead." She was rather confused by the desperate tone that had come through from the soldier on the other end and by the look on Nate' face, so was he. When no reply came through, she continued,

"Repeat, transmission received. Go ahead."

Nothing, still.

"Radio check."

"Corporal, this is Harrison!" A different, more desperate, voice came through the radio now. "We have a situation in-" He was immediately cut off with an abrupt scratching sound.

"Harrison? Harrison, report. Do you copy?"

Tess turned the channel selector knob to land on the open channel for her entire team.

"Radio check. Does anyone copy?"

Radio silence. She would have assumed that the radio system had somehow become inoperable if it weren't for the message coming through loud and clear from Nate's walkie.

"The hell is going on?"

—

The minutes that followed were chaos. Tess and Nate heard screams coming from down the hall and raced towards them, their weapons in hand, prepared. While the upper floor had been designated to those patients that were submitted before the outbreak, the lower floors were full of those considered to be the worst off. As they raced down the hallway to find the source of the noise, doors were thrown open on either side of them with nurses and attendants tearing out in fear.

"He fucking bit me!" One male attendant screamed as he raced out into the hallway.

Tess stopped in her tracks and signaled for Nate to take the room to their left, as she moved into the one on her right. In the corner, stuck behind a bed and a dialysis machine, was an elderly woman. Late seventies, maybe early eighties. She appeared pale and gaunt and was growling something furiously.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, I need you to calm down." Tess instructed calmly but assertively. Yet it only proved to agitate the older woman further, who pushed harder against the bed.

"Ma'am I need you to stay right there." She had her handgun raised now. The DMR strapped to her chest but useless in such close quarters. She'd seen enough of these cases by now to know that there was no real point to all this but she had to at least try.

"Please don't make me do this." She grimaced as the old lady pushed harder still against the hospital bed, her arms now outstretched, clawing desperately at the air.

Tess felt sorry for the woman before her. Tunnel vision overcame her as she thought about the life this lady may have lived, the family she was leaving behind and the thought that they may never know what happened to their mother, sister, grandmother. It pained her to think that she would most definitely be the cause of that.

The bed finally gave and pushed away from its jammed position. Tess fired a shot that hit its target between the woman's eyes before she could even move past the bed.

As she stared at the dead lady on the floor, a series of shots rang out from another room, rousing her from her stupor. Shaking herself, she grabbed her radio tightly and made a call through all open channels,

"Break, break, break! All available units rally on my position. Repeat, rally on my position. Does anyone copy?"

Truth be told, Tess didn't expect much if any of a response and clipped the radio back onto her belt. Taking position, she scoped out her surroundings before checking the room she had directed Nate into. It was empty apart from a dead body on the floor. Multiple bullet wounds were in its chest and there was at least one to the head.

She could still hear frantic yelling and screaming and made her way towards the noise. Rounding a corner, she spotted Nate at the end of the hallway, holding open a fire exit. As people fled outside, he ushered them through while keeping a keen eye on those that passed him, making sure none of them were dead.

Tess' eyes searched for something to prop open the door to relieve Nate from his post and she pushed a large bench seat as quickly as she could to hold the door.

"I'm not getting any response from anyone on comms!" Nate shouted above the noise, cradling his gun to his chest.

"Me either.."

"Do we move up?"

"We need to find Ellis and F.C. and make sure this floor is clear first and then we move." Ellis and F.C. were stationed on the ground floor with them but just as with everyone else, they weren't responding.

"Alright, I've got your back." Nate nodded and waited, ready to follow her lead.

—

1:17pm

They never did find Ellis or F.C.. The ground floor corridors became consumed by a flood of dead so quickly that it was like night and day. The remaining men and women from Martinez's unit had also made their way into the fray in an effort to evacuate the building but their attempts weren't so successful.

"Where the hell are they all coming from?!" Nate shouted above the sound of bullets flying and people growling and screaming.

"They must be from the parking lot. I fucking knew people weren't following through with disposal correctly!" Tess had had a feeling for a while that some people hadn't been completely following orders when it came to corpse disposal. It seemed like a bullet to the head was the only way to prevent anyone that had been bitten from coming back as one of those things.

"Hey, Tess, this way." Nate nodded at a sign overhead pointing towards a fire exit around the corner. Both relieved, they turned the bend, only to be faced with at least a dozen ambling bodies. At the end of it all, they spotted the door. It was open and daylight streamed in like a beacon. Standing in the doorway was Martinez, assault rifle in hand. He held their gaze sheepishly, like he was sorry about something. He was gonna leave them there, Tess thought to herself.

"Don't you dare!" Tess screamed at him, drawing the attention of the dead in front of her. Martinez's eyes frantically ran over the scene before shaking his head. "Don't you fucking dare!" Without another look, Martinez stepped outside and closed the door behind him and unbeknownst to Tess and Nate, pulled a mid-size skip bin on its wheels in front of the door and fast as he could.

"Back. Back!"

—

Tess and Nate were currently making their way through the east end of the building and towards the cafeteria; for no other reason than that was the only way they could go.

"Hey! Nate, watch your six!" A pair of deceased patients were quickly lumbering towards him from behind, arms outstretched, ready to grasp. He spun around and pushed away the larger of the two, shooting it in the head. As he moved to aim at the second one, an ominous click from his handgun signaled to them that he had run out of ammo. Hastily reaching for the combat knife on his leg, the remaining patient grabbed him, forcing them both to the ground and his knife skittering away from them. Nate's eyes bulged in fear as he fended off the oncoming series of bites.

Tess cursed to herself and shot down the last biter in front of her before hastily moving towards her friend. Swiftly, she kicked the patient off of him and dropped to her knees, grabbing Nate' knife. With a deep breath but without a second thought, she plunged the knife deep into its skull. A sickening crunch made Tess recoil immediately and her hand ripped off the knife like she had been burnt. With no time to waste and Nate still lying on the ground beside her, she grabbed him by his vest and hauled him up off the floor.

"Get up!" She shouted desperately, rousing him from his thoughts. "We need to get to the cafeteria and barricade the door. There's food, water, we can hold out." Nate nodded at her in agreement but still appeared out of it and didn't move.

"Hey!" She shouted at him, shaking him from his stupor. "Are you with me?" Nate nodded, his eyes wide and fearful,

"I'm with you."

"Okay. We need to move, now."

Thankfully, the cafeteria wasn't too far from their position. Their ammo was depleted enough as it was so it was lucky that they were able to sneak by relatively unseen. As they did a sweep of the area and took care of the few biters that were in the room, they finally began to relax a bit. Once the doors were barricaded and secure, they were finally able to rest and assess their situation.

"How much ammo you got left?" Nate asked, gesturing towards Tess' DMR.

"Not much, maybe half a mag." She picked up her hand gun and slid out its magazine, "Two here."

"I'm out."

"How' you doing?" Tess asked. She was concerned for her friend who was being uncharacteristically quiet. Nate pulled at the cuff on his sleeve and sighed, he looked deflated, almost ashamed of himself.

"I'm so sorry, Tess."

"Sorry about what? This isn't exactly your fault." Tess laughed tersely, in an effort to lighten the mood. When Nate rolled up his sleeve, time seemed to stop. Just below his exposed wrist, was a bloody bite mark.

"It all happened so fast..." he trailed off, still unable to really comprehend what had happened. Tess was in shock. The open wound on his arm was slowly dripping with blood and her stomach turned at the thought of when this meant for them. She figured she was in shock. All they had been through together and this is what was going to tear them apart? She refused to accept that reality. They were in a hospital for Christ's sake, they had to be able to do something?!

"I'm not gonna let you turn into one of those things." Tess said from behind gritted teeth and got to her feet. "There has to be something in this damn place-"

"Tess-"

"We're in a goddamn hospital, I'll find a way."

"Tess!"

"I'm not gonna let you die!" The air between them grew still as Tess' cry drew the attention of the biters outside, causing them to crash against the doors like hungry animals.

"You go out there and you'll be dead. Just stay." Nate reasoned, coming to terms with the inevitable and accepting his fate. He had always been a religious man, having grown up in a devout household and now, he sent a prayer up to God, hoping it hadn't all been for nothing.

Tess looked torn but knew he was right. She didn't stand a chance out there on her own with very little ammunition. Maybe she could make it back to base and resupply but it was a very slim maybe. Resigned to their fate, Tess sat back down next to her friend and wondered how long they had left.

—

9:46pm

Neither of them knew exactly how long they had been sitting on the floor of the cafeteria for, but the clock on the wall read quarter to ten and they knew it had been a few hours since they'd decided to move from one of the tables, in favor of leaving against the wall. Nate had started to look worse for wear, his complexion pale and gaunt and he had begun to sweat as the fever set in. He was putting on a brave face though and when Tess suggested he get some rest, he refused.

"We should have a watch, sleep in shifts." Concerned, she replied,

"Are you sure you're up for that?"

"Of course. Probably best if I get the first shift though. Good luck trying to wake me up once I'm asleep." He laughed half-heartedly and pulled himself into a more upright position. Tess assessed him for a moment, wanting to argue but couldn't.

"Ok, wake me in a couple hours so I can take over." She handed over her handgun, just in case he'd need it.

"Sure thing, Boss."

—

4:28am

Tess was deep asleep, dreaming of unpleasant memories, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake.

"Hey, Resa." Nate spoke in a hushed voice, straining to speak. Tess yawned and sat up, facing her friend.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She couldn't help but notice his pallid appearance. He looked far worse than he had when she'd fallen asleep and it was scary to see how quickly his condition was worsening.

"No worse than Baghdad." Tess winced at the thought of their stint in Iraq. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, it's fine. I'm fine." She shook her as she brushed him off. It wasn't a fond memory, none of them were really but there was nothing to be done about it now. There wasn't any way to change the past.

"Y'know I still have nightmares about it sometimes. I thought it would have stopped by now."

"Yeah, me too."

It was more often than not that Tess had nightmares about it and if it wasn't a nightmare, it was nothing, never dreams. She subconsciously rubbed the back of her neck and tried to clear her mind. Nate looked over at his friend and leader who had gone quiet. He could tell she was on edge and exhausted and even though nothing could be done, he felt guilty.

"Do you regret it?" He asked.

"Regret what?"

"Enlisting?" Tess paused and thought about it for a moment. Did she? It had been some of the most difficult times of her life but it had also given her purpose.

"No, no I don't think I do. I didn't really have anything before this, you know that. I don't know where I would be otherwise."

"I guess you're right, meeting me must've been the greatest moment of your life." Nate smirked cheekily at Tess and she rolled her eyes,

"You're so humble." The pair laughed together lightly for a while before growing quiet again.

"I think I'm gonna try to sleep a bit, if you don't mind?"

"Of course. Get some rest."

—

6:43am

Nate was restless and never got to sleep. His fever had increased and his skin was mottled and ashen. It wasn't looking good. Tess had been feeding him water and doing her best to keep him comfortable but the cafeteria floor was only so cozy. He had been coughing so much his throat was raw and his voice raspy.

"We both know how this is going to end, Tess." He croaked as gently as possible.

"I know." She refused to look him in the eye and instead focused on busying herself with the cloth on his forehead.

"Tess. Can you look at me, please?" Her hands stopped and slowly, she shifted her gaze to his.

"I'm sorry it has to be you, it shouldn't be."

"Don't be sorry. I'm sorry I didn't-"

"This isn't your fault."

"If I were just-"

"There's nothing you could have done. It's just the way things are."

"It should've been me. You've got family, people that love you."

"You've got people that love you too."

"There's no-one -"

"Trust me, Resa. You've got people that love you." She stared at him intently, her brow furrowed in confusion and concern. "Don't blame yourself, ok? I know you like to do that. Everything's gonna be ok."

Tears itched to fall from her eyes as she realized that they were saying their goodbyes. Her throat felt tight and heavy as she tried to squash down her emotions. Each shaky breath was like a ticking time bomb and she tried not to blink, knowing it would only prompt the tears to fall.

"I wish I had that faith." She smiled wryly, never having been a religious person herself. The world was far too cruel and unforgiving for her to be convinced about some higher power.

"It's never too late to try." She had to give him credit for his optimism in the face of literal impending doom. Maybe it was his assurance in faith or just who Nate was as a person but he was always able to remain positive in the face of adversity. Something which would generally bother Tess to no end. However, now, she knew she'd miss it. She'd miss him.

It was only when Nate spluttered into a coughing fit that her mind tore away from her distressing thoughts. She reached for him and helped to prop him up against the wall, proffering the last of their water to him. He quickly downed it and steeled himself. He looked like he was thinking something over and after looking at Tess, had come to a decision.

"Can you get me some more water?" He nodded towards the kitchen at the back of the room.

"Yes of course, I'll be back in a sec." Tess got up and made her way past the tables and chairs that scattered the cafeteria floor. Behind some serving counters was a swing door that led to the kitchen. As she stepped inside, she took a brief moment to catch her breath and stew in her thoughts. She didn't know what to do. Or what she could do. She didn't know if she had it in her to do what she knew was coming.

In the other room, Nate sat against the wall, his mind made up. It wasn't an easy decision to make but he knew it was the right thing to do. It still didn't make it easy to follow through. Pulling the sheet of paper that he'd written on last night, out of his pocket, he left it beside him, along with his dog tag. RESA was written on one of the folded sides and left face up.

The backup power to the hospital hadn't gone out yet, so thankfully the refrigerator was still cold. Tess pulled two bottles of water out and pressed one against her face, enjoying the chill on her cheek. It was a welcome reprieve to the heat that was washing over her as she stressed. She almost felt calm for a second when a loud bang rang out from the cafeteria, causing her to drop the bottles and spin around in shock. The sound was unmistakable and she had heard it hundreds of times before. A single shot had been fired and the creeping sensation of terror and grief overwhelmed her as she instinctively gripped the empty holster on her person.

The room began to shrink around her as she slowly lowered herself to the ground, fearing she was too unstable to remain standing. The all too familiar sense of panic consumed her as she pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes, a scream ripping from her throat before she could stop it.

This was it. She was alone.