SURVIVING THE UNSURVIVABLE: MUTATION
I've been working on a new post-apocalyptic zombie series with a twist called SURVIVING THE UNSURVIVABLE. The first book, MUTATION, should be released in late July or early August.
SURVIVING THE UNSURVIVABLE: MUTATION
A cosmic dust cloud brings the recently dead back to life, but that's only the beginning. Soon the world is fighting not just zombies, but mutants and night hunters as well.
Read on for a sample:
Prologue: What's going on?
Dr. Michael Zimmerman, an astrophysicist with NASA, was pouring through the data from the latest scan of sector 26 when he noticed what appeared to be an anomaly. Pulling out the data for the same sector from 3 weeks before, he checked to see if the information was the same. Finding that it was indeed different, he input the information into the supercomputer and let it start crunching the information.
While waiting for the computer to process the information, he decided to check the data for sector 25 from the last two scans of that area. Finding the same discrepancy as he had in sector 26, he began to think that there was an issue with the latest scans.
“What's going on?” he silently asked himself.
He decided to check with an associate in Canada to see if they could check their data to either confirm or deny the anomaly.
“Dr. Pearl Krisle,” a pleasant voice answered the phone.
“Hi Pearl, it's Michael Zimmerman from the US. How are you today?”
“Ah, Michael, I'm doing great, and yourself?”
He was glad that she had answered since he didn't want to wait any longer than necessary for an answer. “I'm good, but was hoping that I could have you double-check something for me if you don't mind. I'm getting an anomaly in the last scans we took of sectors 25 and 26 and I thought that you might be able to confirm or deny the information. It might just be an issue with the scanner,” he explained.
“Yeah, I should be able to check it for you, it will take me a little while so I'll call you back if that's alright.”
“That will be fine. The sooner I can figure this out the better,” he admitted.
She laughed. “Isn't that always the way it is?”
“I guess that's true. Thanks for helping me with this, I'll owe you one.”
“No worries, I'll get back to you in an hour or so,” she promised.
“Sounds good. Thanks again for the help.”
After hanging up the phone, he started checking for any photos that had been taken recently of the area. Not finding anything recent enough, he sent off an email to all the major astronomical observatories in the United States explaining what he was seeing in the data from the scans and asking for any recent photography from the same area, now all he could do was wait for someone to get back to him.
The phone rang 20 minutes later. “Hello.”
“Hi Michael, it's Pearl. I checked our data and it's showing similar results. What do you think it is?”
He took a deep breath before responding, “I believe it is a massive dust cloud, probably from two large asteroids hitting each other directly on as opposed to a glancing blow. That is the only thing that makes sense of my data, but I'm trying to get photographic evidence from an observatory to confirm.”
“That makes sense to me as well. Let me know once you find out for sure. It could be a significant find,” she told him as his computer dinged to let him know he had a new email.
“Hang on a second, I just got an email from an observatory in California.” He quickly opened the attachments included with the email and saw what he expected, a very large and dense cloud of space dust.
“Pearl, it's confirmed, I just got the photos. I need to track it to see if it would be a danger to our satellites or if we will safely pass it by.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Please keep me informed if you don't mind,” she requested.
“No worries, I'll let you know. Thanks again for the help and I'll talk to you later,” he said as he disconnected the line without waiting for a reply.
Six hours later, he was convinced that the Earth would pass right through the middle of the cosmic dust cloud in about three months. It was time to let his boss know so that they could inform the government.
Day 1: The beginning of the end...
Three Months Later
Stan Foreman & Bill Williams
"What are you doing after work Ben?" Stan asked, trying to kill some time.
Ben shook his head before replying, "Nothing special. I'll probably just mow the damn yard again, I swear it grows a foot a week. Why you got some plans you should fill me in on?"
Stan laughed. "Nope. I was thinking about watching Prepping for the Apocalypse on TV."
"That stupid show? Man, I thought you had some taste. You know that all those folks are just whacked in the head, right?"
"Hey now, I have great taste, otherwise you wouldn't be my friend, now would you?" Stan replied, looking a little butt hurt.
"Well, I guess you do have a point there. I just think it's stupid for those people to spend tons of money on something they will probably never use, but then again, it's their money. Guess I'm just jealous that I don't have enough money to waste like they do," Ben explained, chuckling.
While Stan did agree with what Ben was saying, he still enjoyed watching the show. Mostly so that he and his wife, Sally, could make fun of them. Everyone knew that it was stupid to prep for an apocalypse because the likelihood it would ever happen was pretty much zero.
"It's the only time me and Sally get to spend together since she's been working evenings. It's just nice to sit and do nothing together," replied Stan, knowing that even if it didn't make much sense, it was the truth.
Stan worked Monday through Friday, nine to five, as a customer service tech for a computer software company in downtown Dallas. He got the privilege of sitting in a cubicle all day, answering emails and talking on the phone, extremely boring but it paid the bills. It was something that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, 36 year old had never imagined doing, but here he was, behind a desk, letting his waistline slowly expand from sitting all day. Not that he was overweight, he had more of what people called a dad bod, a slight paunch with minor love handles, while still retaining the illusion of working out occasionally.
Sally was currently a cashier at Walmart, not her favorite job that she has ever had, hate pretty much comes to mind when she thinks about it, but in this economy, she considered herself lucky to even have a job.
She has a business degree and used to manage a local bank, but when the economy tanked, the bank decided to close some of its brick-and-mortar locations and do more business online. Sally's was the last one they closed, at the ripe old age of 32, the sandy blonde-haired, blue-eyed, bank manager found herself unemployed. After six months of chasing leads for a job that would require the use of her business degree, she gave up and took the first job she found, they had bills to pay after all.
Stan previously worked as a mechanic until about a year prior, when the shop went bankrupt due to the owner's cocaine habit, luckily Ben had been able to get him on at Tech-U-Serve.
"Well, it looks like it's about time to head home. You're more than welcome to hang out at my place tonight as long as you bring the beer," Stan told Ben, grinning.
Ben starting logging off his station before he replied, "Nah, I think I will go to the bar for a bit then head home. Make it an early night."
After getting their stations logged off and shut down, they headed to the elevators. They rode the elevator in silence, along with about six other people. Since they worked on the 5th floor, the elevator normally stops a couple of times on the way down, but it must have been their lucky day as the elevator only stopped once and just two people got on.
Once they got to the lobby, Ben and Stan headed their separate ways. Stan always parked in the parking garage next door, but Ben took the metro bus since his driver’s license had been taken away when he received his last DUI.
Stan’s truck was parked on the second level of the garage, but he felt like he had run a marathon by the time he reached it, even though he was walking at a normal pace. His head was starting to hurt, his muscles were aching and he was beginning to sweat. The sickness came at him like a tidal wave during a hurricane.
"Great! Just what I need right now. Why can't I get sick before work and not after?" Stan muttered to himself as he started his trusty Chevy.
Over the years, he had customized the five-year-old, 4-wheel drive, extended cab pickup, adding running boards, a roll bar, heavy-duty brush guard, blacked-out head and tail lights, new wheels, and larger tires along with an 18” lift kit.
As Stan drove the thirty minutes home, he felt his entire body getting weaker and he wasn't sure if he would make it home safely, but being the stubborn guy he was, he toughed it out and arrived home just before he had to throw up. The good news was that he got home safely, the bad news was that he threw up before he got his door open, at least he managed to contain most of it to the passenger floorboard. Ignoring the mess, Stan tumbled out of the truck and stumbled into the house, collapsing onto the couch where he passed out.
Ethan Mayer & Topher Yoder
“So am I going to see you tonight?” Ethan asked his boyfriend, Christopher 'Topher' Yoder. Topher was 23, 5'11” with light brown hair, bright hazel eyes, a clean-shaven face, and an athletic body, but it was his free spirit that had first attracted Ethan physically to his childhood friend.
“Depends on what you mean by see,” Topher winked as he replied, he loved to mess with Ethan at work.
Ethan was a lot more serious than Topher was, always worried about what others might think when they were out in public. When it was just the two of them, the 24-year-old, 6'2” Ethan, lightened up and was a lot of fun. Topher was drawn to how his bright blue eyes contrasted with his jet black hair, his black mustache, and goatee balancing out his face, giving him the look of a model. To top it off, Ethan worked out four times a week and was very muscular and physically fit, most people who saw him would think he would be vain and full of himself, but nothing could be further from the truth, he was very down to earth and centered. He did like to look good, but only for Topher, and he kept physically fit because it made him feel good, not to mention that he could take his frustrations out during his workouts.
Ethan nervously looked around the car dealership, checking for anyone that might have overheard Topher's comment. “Keep it down, Charlie is still here.”
“When are you going to tell your step-father about us. I'm tired of sneaking around.”
“It's not that easy for me Topher. You know that,” Ethan replied, knowing that he was saying the same thing he said every time Topher brought it up. “My step-father freaked out when he found out you were gay, imagine what he'd do if he found out that I was too. He didn't want us to hang out together because I might “catch it” from you, as stupid as that sounds. It took me almost a month to get him to understand that it isn't like the flu, that you can catch homosexuality from being in close proximity to a 'homo', as he so eloquently put it. The only reason that he even let me hire you was that I told him that he could get sued for discrimination if he didn't, since you were the best-qualified candidate that applied. I can only imagine what he would do if he discovered that we were seeing each other as anything other than just friends. He'd probably fire both of us and he would be able to get away with it since I'm your direct boss and it's against company policy to date someone at a different level, plus he would disown me as well. Charlie's not as open-minded as your parents, but you already know all this.”
“Ethan, I am not pushing you to do anything you are not comfortable doing, you know that but it would make it easier for us to be together and I hate having to sneak time with you. If you remember, my parents didn't accept that I was gay very easily either. It was only after I explained that I was the exact same person that I always had been, the only difference was that they knew a secret that I had been keeping from them. You're a great manager and I am the best salesman your step-father has. We can always find new jobs at another dealership,” Topher said, knowing it would probably just irritate Ethan more.
Ethan sighed. “I know Topher. Can we talk about this later tonight?”
Topher nodded his head. “Let's meet at Mike's Bar & Grill after work, so we can talk.”
“Sounds good,” he replied, then glanced out the dealership's front window. “It looks like Mr. Hawkins is back again to look at that SUV for the fourth time. Why don't you go work on that sale and see if you can get that tightwad to release some of his money?”
Topher groaned as he rolled his eyes. “Him again? I think he just likes to find things that don't meet his expectations just so that he can bitch about it and try to get a better deal.”
“I know, he buys a new vehicle every year from us and every time it's the same thing. Last year it took him seven visits before he finally bought one, but at least he always eventually buys so it's not a total waste of our time,” Ethan pointed out.
As Topher strolled towards the front doors to meet Mr. Hawkins, he watched as the slightly overweight and balding, older man, stumble and nearly fall, catching himself on one of the vehicles in the lot. Topher ran the rest of the way. “Mr. Hawkins, are you alright?” he asked, concerned for the older man.
“Do I look alright?” Mr. Hawkins replied gruffly, as he glared menacingly at Topher.
“Let me help you into the office where you can sit down and rest for a moment,” he responded, ignoring the question while trying to keep the anger out of his voice as he helped the grumpy old man to his feet.
Mr. Hawkins pulled his arm away from Topher. “I can walk by myself, I'm not a damn cripple. I don't need you to help me like some doddering old fool,” he reprimanded the salesman.
Topher rolled his eyes as the man turned away from him. “Certainly sir.”
As Mr. Hawkins walked unsteadily towards the dealership, Topher also began to feel lightheaded but managed to get Mr. Hawkins inside and seated before he passed out on the floor.
Ethan ran to Topher's side when he saw him collapse. “Topher! Topher! Wake up, buddy.”
Topher's eyes fluttered. “What happened?” he groaned.
“You fell and almost hit me,” Mr. Hawkins responded. “What the hell is wrong with you people? Is this how you treat your best customer?”
“I am sorry Mr. Hawkins,” Ethan said, helping Topher to his feet. “I'll have someone with you in just a moment.”
“Don't bother, just get me something to drink. I'm going home and then calling your father to tell him how terrible you have treated me today,” Mr. Hawkins responded. “I might have to rethink where I buy my cars from if this is how you handle your best customers.”
“Actually Mr. Hawkins, it's my step-father who I was going to have help you since you are one of our most valued clients,” Ethan said in a calm voice, even though he really just wanted to tell the old curmudgeon to leave. “Please wait here and I will be back with a bottle of water and my step-father.”
Mr. Hawkins just glared at Ethan as he helped his friend over to his desk.
“Sit down Topher and relax for a moment. I have to go get the dumb ass a bottle of water and find Charlie and convince him to take care of the pain in the ass. I'll be right back.”
“Ethan, I don't feel so good,” Topher uttered, looking extremely pale.
“Dude, you don't look good either. Let me take care of Mr. Hawkins and then I'll take you home,” he promised, worried sick for his boyfriend.
Ethan ran to his stepfather's office. “Charlie, I need you to talk to Mr. Hawkins, he nearly fell in the parking lot, and then when Topher was helping him into the building, he collapsed, nearly falling on Mr. Hawkins. He's now insisting that you be the one to help him.”
Charlie Mayer looked at Ethan sternly for a moment before responding, “What the hell Ethan, can't you manage a simple sale by yourself? Fine, I will take care of Mr. Hawkins and you go deal with your inept salesman.”
“Thanks, Charlie,” Ethan said, as he turned to leave. He wished that he could tell his step-father what he was really thinking at that moment, but knew it would just create a huge blowup, and right now, he was more concerned about making sure that his boyfriend was okay.
Ben Williams
Leaving the office, Ben was thinking about how nice it would be to get his license back. He was supposed to get it back this week and he couldn't wait. Taking the bus was annoying, even though it wasn't really much of an inconvenience. The bus stop was less than a block from his office building and only a few blocks from his apartment, but he still missed the freedom that driving gave him.
As he approached the enclosed bus stop, he suddenly felt extremely weak and had the beginnings of a headache, which was unusual for the physically fit, 39-year-old African-American. Ben leaned against the outside of the bus shelter, his bald head resting against the sun-warmed Plexiglas as he nearly passed out. Slowly, he made his way around the edge of the shelter and sat on the bench, still feeling extremely weak. Looking around, he noticed that many of the pedestrians had fallen to the ground or were leaning against buildings, parked cars, and signposts, most were groaning in pain. The few who seemed to be fine were either helping others or just standing there, taking video of the incident with their phones. After a few minutes, Ben started to feel better, or at least to the point where he didn't think that he would pass out, but he could see that others were getting worse as several began vomiting. He quickly decided that he was going to go home instead of the bar.
Mrs. Ewing
“Now what on Earth is going on outside,” the 63-year-old flower shop owner wondered as she flipped the open sign to closed. Mrs. Ewing noticed that nearly everyone outside her shop had either fallen to the ground or were leaning up against parked cars, signposts, or buildings.
She exited the front door and stood just outside the entrance looking for any sign of danger. Not seeing anything, she took another hesitant step before she was suddenly overcome with fatigue and the beginnings of a headache. She quickly turned and stumbled back into her shop, making it as far as the counter before collapsing to the carpeted floor.
The elderly shop owner clutched at her chest as her heart decided to give out, her body not being about to handle the stress of what would soon be known as the Super Flu.
'This carpet smells, I need to get it shampooed,' was her final thought as she slipped into unconsciousness and passed away.
Sally Foreman
Today was supposed to have been Sally’s day off, but of course, she was called in. She reluctantly agreed to go in, but only until five as she had plans to hang out with Stan later that evening. A few minutes before she was supposed to get off, her supervisor asked her if she could stay another hour as several other associates had called in sick, and against her better judgment, Sally had agreed. She didn’t really like her job, but it was a job and she and Stan could always use the extra hour of pay.
As a way to entertain herself and to help from going insane at her mindless job, Sally liked to people watch and sometimes name customers who remind her of a TV or movie character. Right now she was helping a middle-aged lady with three kids. The lady was tall and thin with her hair pulled up on top of her head, similar to Marge Simpsons, so she became Marge in Sally's mind. She noticed that Marge wasn’t looking very healthy, she was quite pale and kept raising her hand to her head like she had a headache.
“Are you okay?” asked Sally, feeling a little concerned for the woman.
"I just don't feel very well," Marge responded. "I have a headache and started feeling feverish all of a sudden."
"I know that the flu is going around, a number of our associates have called in sick today," replied Sally.
Just then, baby Maggie started to cry and Sally noticed that Bart and Lisa neither of them looked well. She finished up with Marge and then she waited on the next few customers as quickly as possible.
Sally motioned for her supervisor to come over and told her that she needed to go home after all.
"But I need you here! We are very shorthanded today, everybody called in that was supposed to come in at five. Apparently, everyone is getting sick because there is some kind of a Super Flu going around," her supervisor replied, exasperated.
"I know and I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well either and I only agreed to stay until five in the first place," Sally told her supervisor as she tried to fake being sick.
"Okay, fine. Just finish up helping these customers and we'll close your register," she spat out, obviously pissed off, but Sally didn't care, she just wanted to go home.
Sally hurriedly finished up with the customers and then went to clock out, feeling not the least bit guilty about leaving. As she made her way to her minivan, she noticed that several people in the parking lot should obviously all be at home in bed.
By the time she arrived at her minivan and got buckled in, Sally started to feel weaker and felt a headache coming on. It only got worse as she drove home. Sally rolled her window down in the hopes that fresh air would help, it didn’t and she thought it might have made it worse.
Sally pulled into the driveway and parked beside Stan's truck, noticing that his driver's door was still open. Finding that quite odd, she got out of her car and closed the door to Stan's truck, getting hit in the face with a wall of odor from Stan's vomit. Concerned about her husband, she raced into the house and found Stan sleeping on the couch, he was pale and his forehead was hot and sweaty.
Not feeling well herself, Sally went into the bathroom and threw up into the toilet. She looked in the medicine cabinet for some Pepto-Bismol and luckily found a half-full bottle. Not bothering to measure it out, she took a swig and then another for good measure. She also found the bottle of Tylenol and took a few of those as well.
Taking the medications with her, Sally went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Figuring that Stan hadn’t bothered taking anything before lying down, she went to go wake him up and give him the appropriate doses.
“Stan, honey, wake up,” Sally said as she gently shook him. “You need to take some medicine.”
“Huh? Wha…what?” Stan mumbled as he was slowly revived. “Oh hi, Sally. What happened?” he asked as he rotated his body into a sitting position, using one hand to push himself up while the other hand cradled his head.
Handing him the dosage cup of Pepto-Bismol, Sally explained, “We both have this Super Flu. I was called into work today and there are a lot of people that I saw who were in just as bad of shape as you. The strange thing was, I felt fine until I went outside to get into my car, then it hit me all at once. I don't think that I have ever gotten so sick, so fast before.”
“That’s weird, I felt fine at work as well, but I started to get sick after I left the building. It must be some kind of airborne virus or something,” Stan commented, trying to figure out what happened.
“I think you're right but strangely, nothing was on the news about it. Have you seen the boys today?” Sally asked, referring to Kent and Danny, Stan’s teenage sons from his first marriage.
“Not since this morning. Kent said something about working tonight and Danny is probably over at Sarah’s house. Give me a few minutes to get my head back together and I’ll call them and make sure they are alright,” responded Stan, after taking the Tylenol that Sally had given him.
Shaking her head, “No. You go lie down in the bedroom and get some rest and I’ll call the boys. You seem to have it worse than me.”
Stan shuffled off towards the back of the house as Sally pulled out her cell phone. She tried Kent first but ended up leaving him a voice mail to call her back when he got a chance. It didn’t surprise her that Kent didn’t answer since McDonald’s didn’t allow their employees to use their cell phones while working. Danny; however, answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Sally.”
“Hi, Danny. Your dad and I were wondering where you were and if you're feeling okay.”
Danny paused slightly before answering, ‘I’m over at Sarah’s, but neither of us is feeling very well. How did you know I was sick?”
“Your dad and I are both sick as well. I heard it was some kind of Super Flu or something so we wanted to check and make sure you boys were alright. When are you coming home?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. I thought I would wait a bit to see if I started feeling better before trying to drive home if that’s okay?” Danny replied.
“That's fine. If you don’t start feeling better, call us back and we’ll come and get you. Check with Sarah and see if her parents have any Tylenol or anything that you can take. It seems to help,” she suggested.
“Will do Sally. Bye.”
“Bye Danny.”
Sally made some toast believing that it might help settle her stomach and then went into the living room to eat it while she watched the news to see what the officials were saying about this flu outbreak. After locating the remote under one of the couch cushions, Sally settled into the recliner and turned to the local TV station.
‘…ing that this Super Flu is not a regional problem, nor is it a national problem. Reports indicate that this is a worldwide phenomenon affecting every country in the world. The Centers for Disease Control is currently working with the World Health Organization to determine the cause of this worldwide outbreak. This is what Justin Cook, a spokesman for the CDC, had to say.’
“The CDC has very few facts on this new ‘Super Flu’ outbreak. The outbreak seems to have occurred like a wave around the world and has occurred so fast that we have no idea where it originated. From what we have been able to tell, so far it seems that this ‘Super Flu’ is just that, an extremely widespread flu. The CDC recommends that the public take medication for any symptoms that they may have and stay home and in bed until it runs its course. Those citizens who are in the most danger are the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. Those folks should check in with their doctor or seek treatment at an emergency care facility. Everyone else needs to stay home and treat this as you would any other flu.”
“Excuse me Justin, Ryan Palmer, RNN News. So no one knows why billions of people around the world are sick? Could this be some kind of terrorist attack?”
“Ryan, there is absolutely no indication that this is a terrorist attack. Quite frankly, it appalls me that you would even suggest such a thing. It appears to simply be a highly contagious strain of the flu that quickly affects people. We know that those who have been indoors all day, show fewer and less aggressive symptoms than those who have been outdoors. This fact makes us believe that it is somehow related to our environment, but as of right now, we don't know how.”
“Jane Jeffers, News for You Magazine. Mr. Cook, what are the CDC's thoughts on the theory given by Dr. Michael Zimmerman, the astrophysicist, about the Earth passing thru a cosmic dust cloud at the time this epidemic started?”
“The CDC is looking into that based solely on the time frame aspect, but most scientists seem doubtful that this could be the cause, simply because any dust particles would burn up in our atmosphere and would have no chance to filter down to the Earth. It hasn't been ruled out at this point, but it does seem to be highly unlikely, it's probably just a coincidence that these two events happened simultaneously. That's all the time I have for questions, but the CDC will keep everyone updated as more information becomes available.”
‘Once again, that was Justin Cook, spokesperson for the CDC. We have to break away for a comer…’
Sally turned the TV off, catching the news anchor in mid-sentence. She hadn't really learned much that was helpful anyway, except to stay indoors and treat the symptoms which was exactly what they were already doing.
Becky was the first to react by running across the room and grabbing the man by the shoulders, trying to push him back down onto the table. She was yelling at Jeff to help her, which he finally did after what seemed like hours, but was in reality only a few seconds. Brian was hitting the dead man in the face with his fist trying to get him to release the bite. After several blows, the man managed to bite off a chunk of Brian’s arm and immediately turned and grabbed Jeff’s left arm and leaned over to bite it as well. Jeff jerked back in an effort to break free of the hold but his foot slipped in the blood that had drained from the corpse and onto the floor when it had sat up, causing Jeff to fall, dragging the newly reanimated corpse off the table and on top of him.
Three Months Later
Stan Foreman & Bill Williams
"What are you doing after work Ben?" Stan asked, trying to kill some time.
Ben shook his head before replying, "Nothing special. I'll probably just mow the damn yard again, I swear it grows a foot a week. Why you got some plans you should fill me in on?"
Stan laughed. "Nope. I was thinking about watching Prepping for the Apocalypse on TV."
"That stupid show? Man, I thought you had some taste. You know that all those folks are just whacked in the head, right?"
"Hey now, I have great taste, otherwise you wouldn't be my friend, now would you?" Stan replied, looking a little butt hurt.
"Well, I guess you do have a point there. I just think it's stupid for those people to spend tons of money on something they will probably never use, but then again, it's their money. Guess I'm just jealous that I don't have enough money to waste like they do," Ben explained, chuckling.
While Stan did agree with what Ben was saying, he still enjoyed watching the show. Mostly so that he and his wife, Sally, could make fun of them. Everyone knew that it was stupid to prep for an apocalypse because the likelihood it would ever happen was pretty much zero.
"It's the only time me and Sally get to spend together since she's been working evenings. It's just nice to sit and do nothing together," replied Stan, knowing that even if it didn't make much sense, it was the truth.
Stan worked Monday through Friday, nine to five, as a customer service tech for a computer software company in downtown Dallas. He got the privilege of sitting in a cubicle all day, answering emails and talking on the phone, extremely boring but it paid the bills. It was something that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, 36 year old had never imagined doing, but here he was, behind a desk, letting his waistline slowly expand from sitting all day. Not that he was overweight, he had more of what people called a dad bod, a slight paunch with minor love handles, while still retaining the illusion of working out occasionally.
Sally was currently a cashier at Walmart, not her favorite job that she has ever had, hate pretty much comes to mind when she thinks about it, but in this economy, she considered herself lucky to even have a job.
She has a business degree and used to manage a local bank, but when the economy tanked, the bank decided to close some of its brick-and-mortar locations and do more business online. Sally's was the last one they closed, at the ripe old age of 32, the sandy blonde-haired, blue-eyed, bank manager found herself unemployed. After six months of chasing leads for a job that would require the use of her business degree, she gave up and took the first job she found, they had bills to pay after all.
Stan previously worked as a mechanic until about a year prior, when the shop went bankrupt due to the owner's cocaine habit, luckily Ben had been able to get him on at Tech-U-Serve.
"Well, it looks like it's about time to head home. You're more than welcome to hang out at my place tonight as long as you bring the beer," Stan told Ben, grinning.
Ben starting logging off his station before he replied, "Nah, I think I will go to the bar for a bit then head home. Make it an early night."
After getting their stations logged off and shut down, they headed to the elevators. They rode the elevator in silence, along with about six other people. Since they worked on the 5th floor, the elevator normally stops a couple of times on the way down, but it must have been their lucky day as the elevator only stopped once and just two people got on.
Once they got to the lobby, Ben and Stan headed their separate ways. Stan always parked in the parking garage next door, but Ben took the metro bus since his driver’s license had been taken away when he received his last DUI.
Stan’s truck was parked on the second level of the garage, but he felt like he had run a marathon by the time he reached it, even though he was walking at a normal pace. His head was starting to hurt, his muscles were aching and he was beginning to sweat. The sickness came at him like a tidal wave during a hurricane.
"Great! Just what I need right now. Why can't I get sick before work and not after?" Stan muttered to himself as he started his trusty Chevy.
Over the years, he had customized the five-year-old, 4-wheel drive, extended cab pickup, adding running boards, a roll bar, heavy-duty brush guard, blacked-out head and tail lights, new wheels, and larger tires along with an 18” lift kit.
As Stan drove the thirty minutes home, he felt his entire body getting weaker and he wasn't sure if he would make it home safely, but being the stubborn guy he was, he toughed it out and arrived home just before he had to throw up. The good news was that he got home safely, the bad news was that he threw up before he got his door open, at least he managed to contain most of it to the passenger floorboard. Ignoring the mess, Stan tumbled out of the truck and stumbled into the house, collapsing onto the couch where he passed out.
Ethan Mayer & Topher Yoder
“So am I going to see you tonight?” Ethan asked his boyfriend, Christopher 'Topher' Yoder. Topher was 23, 5'11” with light brown hair, bright hazel eyes, a clean-shaven face, and an athletic body, but it was his free spirit that had first attracted Ethan physically to his childhood friend.
“Depends on what you mean by see,” Topher winked as he replied, he loved to mess with Ethan at work.
Ethan was a lot more serious than Topher was, always worried about what others might think when they were out in public. When it was just the two of them, the 24-year-old, 6'2” Ethan, lightened up and was a lot of fun. Topher was drawn to how his bright blue eyes contrasted with his jet black hair, his black mustache, and goatee balancing out his face, giving him the look of a model. To top it off, Ethan worked out four times a week and was very muscular and physically fit, most people who saw him would think he would be vain and full of himself, but nothing could be further from the truth, he was very down to earth and centered. He did like to look good, but only for Topher, and he kept physically fit because it made him feel good, not to mention that he could take his frustrations out during his workouts.
Ethan nervously looked around the car dealership, checking for anyone that might have overheard Topher's comment. “Keep it down, Charlie is still here.”
“When are you going to tell your step-father about us. I'm tired of sneaking around.”
“It's not that easy for me Topher. You know that,” Ethan replied, knowing that he was saying the same thing he said every time Topher brought it up. “My step-father freaked out when he found out you were gay, imagine what he'd do if he found out that I was too. He didn't want us to hang out together because I might “catch it” from you, as stupid as that sounds. It took me almost a month to get him to understand that it isn't like the flu, that you can catch homosexuality from being in close proximity to a 'homo', as he so eloquently put it. The only reason that he even let me hire you was that I told him that he could get sued for discrimination if he didn't, since you were the best-qualified candidate that applied. I can only imagine what he would do if he discovered that we were seeing each other as anything other than just friends. He'd probably fire both of us and he would be able to get away with it since I'm your direct boss and it's against company policy to date someone at a different level, plus he would disown me as well. Charlie's not as open-minded as your parents, but you already know all this.”
“Ethan, I am not pushing you to do anything you are not comfortable doing, you know that but it would make it easier for us to be together and I hate having to sneak time with you. If you remember, my parents didn't accept that I was gay very easily either. It was only after I explained that I was the exact same person that I always had been, the only difference was that they knew a secret that I had been keeping from them. You're a great manager and I am the best salesman your step-father has. We can always find new jobs at another dealership,” Topher said, knowing it would probably just irritate Ethan more.
Ethan sighed. “I know Topher. Can we talk about this later tonight?”
Topher nodded his head. “Let's meet at Mike's Bar & Grill after work, so we can talk.”
“Sounds good,” he replied, then glanced out the dealership's front window. “It looks like Mr. Hawkins is back again to look at that SUV for the fourth time. Why don't you go work on that sale and see if you can get that tightwad to release some of his money?”
Topher groaned as he rolled his eyes. “Him again? I think he just likes to find things that don't meet his expectations just so that he can bitch about it and try to get a better deal.”
“I know, he buys a new vehicle every year from us and every time it's the same thing. Last year it took him seven visits before he finally bought one, but at least he always eventually buys so it's not a total waste of our time,” Ethan pointed out.
As Topher strolled towards the front doors to meet Mr. Hawkins, he watched as the slightly overweight and balding, older man, stumble and nearly fall, catching himself on one of the vehicles in the lot. Topher ran the rest of the way. “Mr. Hawkins, are you alright?” he asked, concerned for the older man.
“Do I look alright?” Mr. Hawkins replied gruffly, as he glared menacingly at Topher.
“Let me help you into the office where you can sit down and rest for a moment,” he responded, ignoring the question while trying to keep the anger out of his voice as he helped the grumpy old man to his feet.
Mr. Hawkins pulled his arm away from Topher. “I can walk by myself, I'm not a damn cripple. I don't need you to help me like some doddering old fool,” he reprimanded the salesman.
Topher rolled his eyes as the man turned away from him. “Certainly sir.”
As Mr. Hawkins walked unsteadily towards the dealership, Topher also began to feel lightheaded but managed to get Mr. Hawkins inside and seated before he passed out on the floor.
Ethan ran to Topher's side when he saw him collapse. “Topher! Topher! Wake up, buddy.”
Topher's eyes fluttered. “What happened?” he groaned.
“You fell and almost hit me,” Mr. Hawkins responded. “What the hell is wrong with you people? Is this how you treat your best customer?”
“I am sorry Mr. Hawkins,” Ethan said, helping Topher to his feet. “I'll have someone with you in just a moment.”
“Don't bother, just get me something to drink. I'm going home and then calling your father to tell him how terrible you have treated me today,” Mr. Hawkins responded. “I might have to rethink where I buy my cars from if this is how you handle your best customers.”
“Actually Mr. Hawkins, it's my step-father who I was going to have help you since you are one of our most valued clients,” Ethan said in a calm voice, even though he really just wanted to tell the old curmudgeon to leave. “Please wait here and I will be back with a bottle of water and my step-father.”
Mr. Hawkins just glared at Ethan as he helped his friend over to his desk.
“Sit down Topher and relax for a moment. I have to go get the dumb ass a bottle of water and find Charlie and convince him to take care of the pain in the ass. I'll be right back.”
“Ethan, I don't feel so good,” Topher uttered, looking extremely pale.
“Dude, you don't look good either. Let me take care of Mr. Hawkins and then I'll take you home,” he promised, worried sick for his boyfriend.
Ethan ran to his stepfather's office. “Charlie, I need you to talk to Mr. Hawkins, he nearly fell in the parking lot, and then when Topher was helping him into the building, he collapsed, nearly falling on Mr. Hawkins. He's now insisting that you be the one to help him.”
Charlie Mayer looked at Ethan sternly for a moment before responding, “What the hell Ethan, can't you manage a simple sale by yourself? Fine, I will take care of Mr. Hawkins and you go deal with your inept salesman.”
“Thanks, Charlie,” Ethan said, as he turned to leave. He wished that he could tell his step-father what he was really thinking at that moment, but knew it would just create a huge blowup, and right now, he was more concerned about making sure that his boyfriend was okay.
Ben Williams
Leaving the office, Ben was thinking about how nice it would be to get his license back. He was supposed to get it back this week and he couldn't wait. Taking the bus was annoying, even though it wasn't really much of an inconvenience. The bus stop was less than a block from his office building and only a few blocks from his apartment, but he still missed the freedom that driving gave him.
As he approached the enclosed bus stop, he suddenly felt extremely weak and had the beginnings of a headache, which was unusual for the physically fit, 39-year-old African-American. Ben leaned against the outside of the bus shelter, his bald head resting against the sun-warmed Plexiglas as he nearly passed out. Slowly, he made his way around the edge of the shelter and sat on the bench, still feeling extremely weak. Looking around, he noticed that many of the pedestrians had fallen to the ground or were leaning against buildings, parked cars, and signposts, most were groaning in pain. The few who seemed to be fine were either helping others or just standing there, taking video of the incident with their phones. After a few minutes, Ben started to feel better, or at least to the point where he didn't think that he would pass out, but he could see that others were getting worse as several began vomiting. He quickly decided that he was going to go home instead of the bar.
Mrs. Ewing
“Now what on Earth is going on outside,” the 63-year-old flower shop owner wondered as she flipped the open sign to closed. Mrs. Ewing noticed that nearly everyone outside her shop had either fallen to the ground or were leaning up against parked cars, signposts, or buildings.
She exited the front door and stood just outside the entrance looking for any sign of danger. Not seeing anything, she took another hesitant step before she was suddenly overcome with fatigue and the beginnings of a headache. She quickly turned and stumbled back into her shop, making it as far as the counter before collapsing to the carpeted floor.
The elderly shop owner clutched at her chest as her heart decided to give out, her body not being about to handle the stress of what would soon be known as the Super Flu.
'This carpet smells, I need to get it shampooed,' was her final thought as she slipped into unconsciousness and passed away.
Sally Foreman
Today was supposed to have been Sally’s day off, but of course, she was called in. She reluctantly agreed to go in, but only until five as she had plans to hang out with Stan later that evening. A few minutes before she was supposed to get off, her supervisor asked her if she could stay another hour as several other associates had called in sick, and against her better judgment, Sally had agreed. She didn’t really like her job, but it was a job and she and Stan could always use the extra hour of pay.
As a way to entertain herself and to help from going insane at her mindless job, Sally liked to people watch and sometimes name customers who remind her of a TV or movie character. Right now she was helping a middle-aged lady with three kids. The lady was tall and thin with her hair pulled up on top of her head, similar to Marge Simpsons, so she became Marge in Sally's mind. She noticed that Marge wasn’t looking very healthy, she was quite pale and kept raising her hand to her head like she had a headache.
“Are you okay?” asked Sally, feeling a little concerned for the woman.
"I just don't feel very well," Marge responded. "I have a headache and started feeling feverish all of a sudden."
"I know that the flu is going around, a number of our associates have called in sick today," replied Sally.
Just then, baby Maggie started to cry and Sally noticed that Bart and Lisa neither of them looked well. She finished up with Marge and then she waited on the next few customers as quickly as possible.
Sally motioned for her supervisor to come over and told her that she needed to go home after all.
"But I need you here! We are very shorthanded today, everybody called in that was supposed to come in at five. Apparently, everyone is getting sick because there is some kind of a Super Flu going around," her supervisor replied, exasperated.
"I know and I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well either and I only agreed to stay until five in the first place," Sally told her supervisor as she tried to fake being sick.
"Okay, fine. Just finish up helping these customers and we'll close your register," she spat out, obviously pissed off, but Sally didn't care, she just wanted to go home.
Sally hurriedly finished up with the customers and then went to clock out, feeling not the least bit guilty about leaving. As she made her way to her minivan, she noticed that several people in the parking lot should obviously all be at home in bed.
By the time she arrived at her minivan and got buckled in, Sally started to feel weaker and felt a headache coming on. It only got worse as she drove home. Sally rolled her window down in the hopes that fresh air would help, it didn’t and she thought it might have made it worse.
Sally pulled into the driveway and parked beside Stan's truck, noticing that his driver's door was still open. Finding that quite odd, she got out of her car and closed the door to Stan's truck, getting hit in the face with a wall of odor from Stan's vomit. Concerned about her husband, she raced into the house and found Stan sleeping on the couch, he was pale and his forehead was hot and sweaty.
Not feeling well herself, Sally went into the bathroom and threw up into the toilet. She looked in the medicine cabinet for some Pepto-Bismol and luckily found a half-full bottle. Not bothering to measure it out, she took a swig and then another for good measure. She also found the bottle of Tylenol and took a few of those as well.
Taking the medications with her, Sally went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Figuring that Stan hadn’t bothered taking anything before lying down, she went to go wake him up and give him the appropriate doses.
“Stan, honey, wake up,” Sally said as she gently shook him. “You need to take some medicine.”
“Huh? Wha…what?” Stan mumbled as he was slowly revived. “Oh hi, Sally. What happened?” he asked as he rotated his body into a sitting position, using one hand to push himself up while the other hand cradled his head.
Handing him the dosage cup of Pepto-Bismol, Sally explained, “We both have this Super Flu. I was called into work today and there are a lot of people that I saw who were in just as bad of shape as you. The strange thing was, I felt fine until I went outside to get into my car, then it hit me all at once. I don't think that I have ever gotten so sick, so fast before.”
“That’s weird, I felt fine at work as well, but I started to get sick after I left the building. It must be some kind of airborne virus or something,” Stan commented, trying to figure out what happened.
“I think you're right but strangely, nothing was on the news about it. Have you seen the boys today?” Sally asked, referring to Kent and Danny, Stan’s teenage sons from his first marriage.
“Not since this morning. Kent said something about working tonight and Danny is probably over at Sarah’s house. Give me a few minutes to get my head back together and I’ll call them and make sure they are alright,” responded Stan, after taking the Tylenol that Sally had given him.
Shaking her head, “No. You go lie down in the bedroom and get some rest and I’ll call the boys. You seem to have it worse than me.”
Stan shuffled off towards the back of the house as Sally pulled out her cell phone. She tried Kent first but ended up leaving him a voice mail to call her back when he got a chance. It didn’t surprise her that Kent didn’t answer since McDonald’s didn’t allow their employees to use their cell phones while working. Danny; however, answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Sally.”
“Hi, Danny. Your dad and I were wondering where you were and if you're feeling okay.”
Danny paused slightly before answering, ‘I’m over at Sarah’s, but neither of us is feeling very well. How did you know I was sick?”
“Your dad and I are both sick as well. I heard it was some kind of Super Flu or something so we wanted to check and make sure you boys were alright. When are you coming home?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. I thought I would wait a bit to see if I started feeling better before trying to drive home if that’s okay?” Danny replied.
“That's fine. If you don’t start feeling better, call us back and we’ll come and get you. Check with Sarah and see if her parents have any Tylenol or anything that you can take. It seems to help,” she suggested.
“Will do Sally. Bye.”
“Bye Danny.”
Sally made some toast believing that it might help settle her stomach and then went into the living room to eat it while she watched the news to see what the officials were saying about this flu outbreak. After locating the remote under one of the couch cushions, Sally settled into the recliner and turned to the local TV station.
‘…ing that this Super Flu is not a regional problem, nor is it a national problem. Reports indicate that this is a worldwide phenomenon affecting every country in the world. The Centers for Disease Control is currently working with the World Health Organization to determine the cause of this worldwide outbreak. This is what Justin Cook, a spokesman for the CDC, had to say.’
“The CDC has very few facts on this new ‘Super Flu’ outbreak. The outbreak seems to have occurred like a wave around the world and has occurred so fast that we have no idea where it originated. From what we have been able to tell, so far it seems that this ‘Super Flu’ is just that, an extremely widespread flu. The CDC recommends that the public take medication for any symptoms that they may have and stay home and in bed until it runs its course. Those citizens who are in the most danger are the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. Those folks should check in with their doctor or seek treatment at an emergency care facility. Everyone else needs to stay home and treat this as you would any other flu.”
“Excuse me Justin, Ryan Palmer, RNN News. So no one knows why billions of people around the world are sick? Could this be some kind of terrorist attack?”
“Ryan, there is absolutely no indication that this is a terrorist attack. Quite frankly, it appalls me that you would even suggest such a thing. It appears to simply be a highly contagious strain of the flu that quickly affects people. We know that those who have been indoors all day, show fewer and less aggressive symptoms than those who have been outdoors. This fact makes us believe that it is somehow related to our environment, but as of right now, we don't know how.”
“Jane Jeffers, News for You Magazine. Mr. Cook, what are the CDC's thoughts on the theory given by Dr. Michael Zimmerman, the astrophysicist, about the Earth passing thru a cosmic dust cloud at the time this epidemic started?”
“The CDC is looking into that based solely on the time frame aspect, but most scientists seem doubtful that this could be the cause, simply because any dust particles would burn up in our atmosphere and would have no chance to filter down to the Earth. It hasn't been ruled out at this point, but it does seem to be highly unlikely, it's probably just a coincidence that these two events happened simultaneously. That's all the time I have for questions, but the CDC will keep everyone updated as more information becomes available.”
‘Once again, that was Justin Cook, spokesperson for the CDC. We have to break away for a comer…’
Sally turned the TV off, catching the news anchor in mid-sentence. She hadn't really learned much that was helpful anyway, except to stay indoors and treat the symptoms which was exactly what they were already doing.
Day 2: Zombies only exist in the movies...
Stan & Sally Foreman
Stan woke up to the alarm going off at 6:30 am, which was his usual time to get up. He leaned over and shut off the blaring noise as quickly as he could, hoping that Sally wouldn’t be awakened, but as soon as he hit the off button, he heard Sally stirring on her side of the bed.
“How are you feeling Sally?” asked Stan, as he rolled over to face her.
Sally opened her eyes and then rubbed the sleep from her right eye before replying, “Better I think, my headache is pretty much gone and I don’t feel nauseous anymore. How about you?”
“I’m good. No headache or anything, but I am hungry. Why didn’t you wake me for dinner?”
“Oh crap, I didn’t even think about fixing dinner last night. I just felt so miserable that I went to bed. I’ll go fix you some breakfast while you get ready for work,” said Sally as she crawled out of bed.
“Are you sure?” Stan asked. “I can just pick something up on my way in.”
Sally shook her head slightly as she headed out the bedroom door. “No, I’ll fix you something. I want to check the news anyway.”
Stan nodded his head as he went toward the bathroom to shower. “Did you get a hold of the boys yesterday?”
“Danny was sick so he ended up staying at Sarah's last night. I left a message for Kent but fell asleep before he called back. Let me check my messages real quick,” she replied as she picked up her cell phone. “Kent sent a text saying he was going to stay at Tim's because he didn't want to get what we had, so I guess he didn't get sick.”
“That's good to hear. I'll be down in a few minutes,” he replied, stepping into the steaming shower.
Sally went into the kitchen and turned on the small TV they kept on the counter and then got everything ready to make pancakes. Her mind was drifting as she stirred the batter until she heard the newscaster mention the Super Flu.
‘…ports have been coming in across the globe. Every country has reported being affected by this Super Flu. Does the CDC have any idea what caused this flu and can you tell us anything about the flu itself?”
“I understand everyone’s frustration. We at the CDC are working non-stop to get this figured out.”
Sally glanced at the TV and saw that it was the same CDC spokesperson as yesterday. but she couldn’t recall his name.
“As you can probably tell, I am suffering from the same flu as everyone else. As of right now, we do not have any proof as to where this flu originated; however, due to the way it spread and the fact that the Earth was passing through a cosmic dust cloud at around the same time, there is some speculation that perhaps it is extraterrestrial in nature, meaning not from this planet. Please remember that this is just a theory at this point and probably irrelevant since any contaminants from the dust cloud would have burned up in the atmosphere. Now, as to the flu itself, it would seem that approximately 90% of the Earth's population was directly affected and suffered at least some of the symptoms. That being said, the majority of those people were able to recover within twelve to eighteen hours with no adverse effects. Infants, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are having a more difficult time dealing with the illness. As of two hours ago, there have been 426 confirmed deaths in the United States related to this Super Flu, which is expected to go higher as the day progresses.
“This Super Flu doesn't appear to kill on its own but it is exasperating other respiratory issues that you may have. Based on the latest information from around the globe, we anticipate only a slightly higher fatality rate worldwide than normal, less than 10%. In the United States, we are looking at approximately an additional 750 people per day dying while the Super Flu remains active, of course, those numbers will be higher in third world countries due to lack of proper medical care.”
“Hold on a minute Justin, let me see if I understand you correctly. If you don't have a compromised immune system or any type of respiratory problems, all you need to do is treat the symptoms and you'll be fine in a few days, but if you have any of those you should get to a medical professional as soon as possible if you are showing symptoms? the reporter inquired, obviously surprised by the news.
“That's absolutely correct,” the CDC spokesman continued. “Treat your symptoms and get plenty of rest and you should be fine unless you are elderly, an infant, or are already suffering from respiratory issues in which case you should seek medical care. Hopefully, since the entire world's population has already been exposed to this virus, it should burn itself out over the next few days.”
Sally could not believe what she was hearing, 750 people a day sounded like a lot but after thinking about it, she realized that it really wasn't considering that there were over 328 million people in the US?
“Thank you, Justin,” the reporter said, “let me reiterate for those who may have just joined us. This Super Flu is expected to be a contributing factor in the deaths of approximately 750 Americans each day until it burns itself out, hopefully within a week's time. If you are healthy, the advice is to stay home, get plenty of rest and treat the symptoms with over-the-counter medications which seem to be able to help combat this new virus quite well. If you are elderly, have a sick infant, or have a lowered immune system already, seek medical help immediately. Most of those deaths will be from those who already have a compromised respiratory or immune system and who either cannot or will not seek treatment from a medical professional.”
Sally turned off the TV just as Stan walked into the kitchen, frowning. “Are you burning the pancakes?”
“Oh my gosh. I am so sorry, I was listening to the news report and forgot about your breakfast,” she replied, tossing the burned pancakes into the trash. “Let me make you some more.”
Stan shook his head. “That’s okay, I'll just stop and pick something up on the way to work besides, you look like you've just seen a ghost.”
“Can you believe that 750 people a day are dead or dying from this flu? That’s just insane,” she told him, relaying what she had heard on the news report.
“Well I guess on the bright side, it's short-lived and we seem to build up an immunity to it fairly quickly,” he replied as he kissed his wife. “Okay, I'm off to work. I’ll see you when I get home tonight.”
Sally halfheartedly waved at Stan as he headed out the door, then began to clean up the breakfast mess.
“Oh man, this is bad!” Stan said to himself as he opened the door to his truck and was overwhelmed with the smell of day-old vomit. “Why couldn’t I throw up outside my truck?”
Stan walked around his truck and carefully removed the floor mat, glad that he had spent the extra money on the deeper floor mats that would hold more debris than the flat ones that came with the truck. He was able to get the majority of the vomit out just by doing that. The rest would have to wait until he came home from work. He drove to work with the windows down to try to dispel some of the odor, hoping that the smell wouldn’t permeate his clothing and leave him smelling like vomit all day.
Tanya Mayer
Tanya looked at the clock noting that she would end up being about ten minutes late if she left the house now. “Oh well, they will just have to deal with it,” she mumbled to herself. Truth be told, she didn’t feel like going in at all. Yesterday’s flu bug still had her feeling a bit under the weather, but she no longer had a fever and the headache had almost completely gone away so she felt that she should go into work, after all, the deceased wouldn’t autopsy themselves.
Tanya was 42 and had been an assistant to the county medical examiner for the past three years and before that, she had been an intern for two years. While she enjoyed trying to figure out the mysteries of how and why people died and helping the surviving family members understand the reasons behind why their loved ones passed away, she didn’t like her boss, Brian 'the asshole' Lieberman. He was arrogant and treated Tanya like she was a dumb blonde, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Tanya was blonde, no denying that, but she had a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) degree and held undergraduate degrees in chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, and mathematics. One look into her sparkling green eyes would tell anyone that she was quite intelligent and not to be trifled with. She had been offered the county medical examiner position in two other counties, but she didn’t want to move. No, scratch that, Charlie, her husband, didn’t want to move, and what Charlie wants, Charlie usually got.
The coroner’s office had a rotating shift of ten staff members, Brian, Tanya, Gabriel Lowery, and Jillian Hernandez were all able to perform autopsies. Each of them had an intern who worked with them regularly. Brian’s intern was Jeff Decker, Tanya’s was Becky Smalls, Gabriel had Tony Gomez and Jillian usually worked with Ralph Arenz. The two remaining staff members were Hugo Vasquez and Dennis Claremore, who did the investigative work and made the runs to pick up the deceased.
Being fifteen minutes late, she was surprised and relieved to see that Brian hadn’t made it in yet. He would probably still admonish her for being tardy, but at least she could throw his being later than her, back into his face. Checking the autopsy docket, she noted that she only had two autopsies scheduled, Brian had three and Jillian had one. Today was Sam and Tony’s day off and Jillian had to appear in court for a murder case she had autopsied six months prior, so she had assumed that they would be busier, after all, people don’t stop dying just because the coroner’s office is a bit short-staffed.
Strolling into the butcher block, a nickname given to the autopsy room decades ago, Tanya saw that both Jeff and Becky had the two autopsy tables that she and Brian would be using, set up and that they already had the first two 'clients' of the day, laid out and ready for inspection.
The autopsy room had four stations. Each station was equipped with an autopsy table, a counter with cabinets both above and below, and a sink. There was also a scale hanging up beside each station that was used to weigh any organs removed from a cadaver. Everything was made from high-grade stainless steel for easy cleanup. Tanya's station was furthest from the door by choice, since Brian always used the one closest, and the more distance between, them the better in her opinion.
“Good morning guys,” Tanya said, more cheerfully than she felt. “How are you two today?”
“Ugh, I feel like I was hit with a hammer,” Becky replied, obviously still not back to her normal chipper self. She carried a few extra pounds on her already big-boned frame but was always very cheerful so her glum attitude gave credence to the story of her not feeling well.
“I’m about the same,” admitted Jeff.
“Let me guess, you both got the flu yesterday?” seeing them both nod an acknowledgment, she continued. “Me too. I think they said on the radio that the current estimate was about 90 percent of the world's population had it to some degree by this morning. I imagine that business will be picking up over the next few days…”
“Glad you could make it in, Ms. Mayer. I noticed that you were almost twenty minutes late this morning,” interrupted Brian rather rudely.
“I was only twelve minutes late and still managed to get here before you,” she replied curtly.
“My tardiness at the office was due to being called to the hospital to speak with the Dean, not due to sleeping in,” Brian retorted. “He is very concerned about this flu and warned me that they have three cases there that we will probably end up with later today and one that Hugo and Dennis are already on their way to pick up that died last night.”
Jeff frowned. “I thought we only did autopsies on unattended deaths or those who died under suspicious circumstances, not on people who died from the flu.”
“Wouldn’t you say that billions of people getting the flu within hours of each other suspicious? I would and the CDC does too, so they have decided to have any deaths attributed to the flu autopsied. Besides, the flu isn’t what these people died from, it’s just the instigator,” turning to face Tanya, he continued. “I'll be handling the flu case after I take care of this one, so I moved the suspected heart attack that I was slated to do this afternoon, onto your docket. Now let’s get scrubbed up, it's going to be an exciting day.”
Tanya almost laughed when she saw Becky roll her eyes as Brian turned away, but managed to contain it into a smile. “Yes, a very exciting day. Man I wish Brian would have gotten the flu, but I think it's scared of him,” she whispered to Becky as they headed over to the sink to scrub up.
Their first case was an automobile accident. The man had not worn his seat belt and had been thrown from his SUV, unfortunately, the SUV ended up coming to rest on top of him, causing him to sustain numerous lacerations, internal injuries, and broken bones. Brian tended to give Tanya the messier autopsies as they always required more time and paperwork to process them since they had to document every cut and scrape as well as cracked or broken bones. Tanya secretly believed it was so he could complain about her taking longer to do an autopsy than it did him. By the time she had officially determined that the man had died due to hemorrhaging out from internal injuries, specifically from a tear in the inferior venae cavae vein that brings blood back into the right side of the heart, Brian had finished up with his brain aneurysm. Jeff had cleaned and sterilized the work table and the tools and was already wheeling in the suspected flu case that had arrived a few minutes earlier.
Tanya wrote out her notes on the accident victim while Becky finished closing up the chest cavity and returned the man to the refrigeration room. Tanya helped Becky clean and sanitize the table and tools, then she scrubbed up again and donned a fresh set of scrubs. Becky went to go get their next case, a woman who was found in the river. Tanya was not looking forward to this case as the woman had been dead for several days and had swollen up like a balloon from all the decomposition gasses that had built up in her abdomen, but it had to be done.
She helped Becky transfer the woman onto the autopsy table, then began to fill out the form with the woman’s information while Becky got all the necessary tools ready. Once she filled out all the known information, she began by giving the body a visual examination saying what she saw into a digital voice recorder that she would later use to transcribe her notes. She had got into the habit over the years of ignoring everything around her, except for what she was doing, while performing an autopsy since there was usually at least one other autopsy going on at the same time, this was probably why she didn’t realize anything was wrong until Becky screamed.
Ready to yell at Becky for the interruption, Tanya looked up and saw total fear and panic in Becky’s face. She turned to look behind her to see what had Becky in such a state and at first, she was unable to comprehend what she was seeing, the man, who had died from the flu, had a Y incision in his chest and his chest cavity had been opened up so that Brian could check all the various organs for abnormalities. This was all normal, what wasn’t normal was that the dead man was sitting up and was in the process of biting Brian’s arm. Brian was screaming at Jeff to help him while Jeff was standing there, frozen in shock.
Stan & Sally Foreman
Stan woke up to the alarm going off at 6:30 am, which was his usual time to get up. He leaned over and shut off the blaring noise as quickly as he could, hoping that Sally wouldn’t be awakened, but as soon as he hit the off button, he heard Sally stirring on her side of the bed.
“How are you feeling Sally?” asked Stan, as he rolled over to face her.
Sally opened her eyes and then rubbed the sleep from her right eye before replying, “Better I think, my headache is pretty much gone and I don’t feel nauseous anymore. How about you?”
“I’m good. No headache or anything, but I am hungry. Why didn’t you wake me for dinner?”
“Oh crap, I didn’t even think about fixing dinner last night. I just felt so miserable that I went to bed. I’ll go fix you some breakfast while you get ready for work,” said Sally as she crawled out of bed.
“Are you sure?” Stan asked. “I can just pick something up on my way in.”
Sally shook her head slightly as she headed out the bedroom door. “No, I’ll fix you something. I want to check the news anyway.”
Stan nodded his head as he went toward the bathroom to shower. “Did you get a hold of the boys yesterday?”
“Danny was sick so he ended up staying at Sarah's last night. I left a message for Kent but fell asleep before he called back. Let me check my messages real quick,” she replied as she picked up her cell phone. “Kent sent a text saying he was going to stay at Tim's because he didn't want to get what we had, so I guess he didn't get sick.”
“That's good to hear. I'll be down in a few minutes,” he replied, stepping into the steaming shower.
Sally went into the kitchen and turned on the small TV they kept on the counter and then got everything ready to make pancakes. Her mind was drifting as she stirred the batter until she heard the newscaster mention the Super Flu.
‘…ports have been coming in across the globe. Every country has reported being affected by this Super Flu. Does the CDC have any idea what caused this flu and can you tell us anything about the flu itself?”
“I understand everyone’s frustration. We at the CDC are working non-stop to get this figured out.”
Sally glanced at the TV and saw that it was the same CDC spokesperson as yesterday. but she couldn’t recall his name.
“As you can probably tell, I am suffering from the same flu as everyone else. As of right now, we do not have any proof as to where this flu originated; however, due to the way it spread and the fact that the Earth was passing through a cosmic dust cloud at around the same time, there is some speculation that perhaps it is extraterrestrial in nature, meaning not from this planet. Please remember that this is just a theory at this point and probably irrelevant since any contaminants from the dust cloud would have burned up in the atmosphere. Now, as to the flu itself, it would seem that approximately 90% of the Earth's population was directly affected and suffered at least some of the symptoms. That being said, the majority of those people were able to recover within twelve to eighteen hours with no adverse effects. Infants, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are having a more difficult time dealing with the illness. As of two hours ago, there have been 426 confirmed deaths in the United States related to this Super Flu, which is expected to go higher as the day progresses.
“This Super Flu doesn't appear to kill on its own but it is exasperating other respiratory issues that you may have. Based on the latest information from around the globe, we anticipate only a slightly higher fatality rate worldwide than normal, less than 10%. In the United States, we are looking at approximately an additional 750 people per day dying while the Super Flu remains active, of course, those numbers will be higher in third world countries due to lack of proper medical care.”
“Hold on a minute Justin, let me see if I understand you correctly. If you don't have a compromised immune system or any type of respiratory problems, all you need to do is treat the symptoms and you'll be fine in a few days, but if you have any of those you should get to a medical professional as soon as possible if you are showing symptoms? the reporter inquired, obviously surprised by the news.
“That's absolutely correct,” the CDC spokesman continued. “Treat your symptoms and get plenty of rest and you should be fine unless you are elderly, an infant, or are already suffering from respiratory issues in which case you should seek medical care. Hopefully, since the entire world's population has already been exposed to this virus, it should burn itself out over the next few days.”
Sally could not believe what she was hearing, 750 people a day sounded like a lot but after thinking about it, she realized that it really wasn't considering that there were over 328 million people in the US?
“Thank you, Justin,” the reporter said, “let me reiterate for those who may have just joined us. This Super Flu is expected to be a contributing factor in the deaths of approximately 750 Americans each day until it burns itself out, hopefully within a week's time. If you are healthy, the advice is to stay home, get plenty of rest and treat the symptoms with over-the-counter medications which seem to be able to help combat this new virus quite well. If you are elderly, have a sick infant, or have a lowered immune system already, seek medical help immediately. Most of those deaths will be from those who already have a compromised respiratory or immune system and who either cannot or will not seek treatment from a medical professional.”
Sally turned off the TV just as Stan walked into the kitchen, frowning. “Are you burning the pancakes?”
“Oh my gosh. I am so sorry, I was listening to the news report and forgot about your breakfast,” she replied, tossing the burned pancakes into the trash. “Let me make you some more.”
Stan shook his head. “That’s okay, I'll just stop and pick something up on the way to work besides, you look like you've just seen a ghost.”
“Can you believe that 750 people a day are dead or dying from this flu? That’s just insane,” she told him, relaying what she had heard on the news report.
“Well I guess on the bright side, it's short-lived and we seem to build up an immunity to it fairly quickly,” he replied as he kissed his wife. “Okay, I'm off to work. I’ll see you when I get home tonight.”
Sally halfheartedly waved at Stan as he headed out the door, then began to clean up the breakfast mess.
“Oh man, this is bad!” Stan said to himself as he opened the door to his truck and was overwhelmed with the smell of day-old vomit. “Why couldn’t I throw up outside my truck?”
Stan walked around his truck and carefully removed the floor mat, glad that he had spent the extra money on the deeper floor mats that would hold more debris than the flat ones that came with the truck. He was able to get the majority of the vomit out just by doing that. The rest would have to wait until he came home from work. He drove to work with the windows down to try to dispel some of the odor, hoping that the smell wouldn’t permeate his clothing and leave him smelling like vomit all day.
Tanya Mayer
Tanya looked at the clock noting that she would end up being about ten minutes late if she left the house now. “Oh well, they will just have to deal with it,” she mumbled to herself. Truth be told, she didn’t feel like going in at all. Yesterday’s flu bug still had her feeling a bit under the weather, but she no longer had a fever and the headache had almost completely gone away so she felt that she should go into work, after all, the deceased wouldn’t autopsy themselves.
Tanya was 42 and had been an assistant to the county medical examiner for the past three years and before that, she had been an intern for two years. While she enjoyed trying to figure out the mysteries of how and why people died and helping the surviving family members understand the reasons behind why their loved ones passed away, she didn’t like her boss, Brian 'the asshole' Lieberman. He was arrogant and treated Tanya like she was a dumb blonde, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Tanya was blonde, no denying that, but she had a Doctorate of Medicine (MD) degree and held undergraduate degrees in chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, and mathematics. One look into her sparkling green eyes would tell anyone that she was quite intelligent and not to be trifled with. She had been offered the county medical examiner position in two other counties, but she didn’t want to move. No, scratch that, Charlie, her husband, didn’t want to move, and what Charlie wants, Charlie usually got.
The coroner’s office had a rotating shift of ten staff members, Brian, Tanya, Gabriel Lowery, and Jillian Hernandez were all able to perform autopsies. Each of them had an intern who worked with them regularly. Brian’s intern was Jeff Decker, Tanya’s was Becky Smalls, Gabriel had Tony Gomez and Jillian usually worked with Ralph Arenz. The two remaining staff members were Hugo Vasquez and Dennis Claremore, who did the investigative work and made the runs to pick up the deceased.
Being fifteen minutes late, she was surprised and relieved to see that Brian hadn’t made it in yet. He would probably still admonish her for being tardy, but at least she could throw his being later than her, back into his face. Checking the autopsy docket, she noted that she only had two autopsies scheduled, Brian had three and Jillian had one. Today was Sam and Tony’s day off and Jillian had to appear in court for a murder case she had autopsied six months prior, so she had assumed that they would be busier, after all, people don’t stop dying just because the coroner’s office is a bit short-staffed.
Strolling into the butcher block, a nickname given to the autopsy room decades ago, Tanya saw that both Jeff and Becky had the two autopsy tables that she and Brian would be using, set up and that they already had the first two 'clients' of the day, laid out and ready for inspection.
The autopsy room had four stations. Each station was equipped with an autopsy table, a counter with cabinets both above and below, and a sink. There was also a scale hanging up beside each station that was used to weigh any organs removed from a cadaver. Everything was made from high-grade stainless steel for easy cleanup. Tanya's station was furthest from the door by choice, since Brian always used the one closest, and the more distance between, them the better in her opinion.
“Good morning guys,” Tanya said, more cheerfully than she felt. “How are you two today?”
“Ugh, I feel like I was hit with a hammer,” Becky replied, obviously still not back to her normal chipper self. She carried a few extra pounds on her already big-boned frame but was always very cheerful so her glum attitude gave credence to the story of her not feeling well.
“I’m about the same,” admitted Jeff.
“Let me guess, you both got the flu yesterday?” seeing them both nod an acknowledgment, she continued. “Me too. I think they said on the radio that the current estimate was about 90 percent of the world's population had it to some degree by this morning. I imagine that business will be picking up over the next few days…”
“Glad you could make it in, Ms. Mayer. I noticed that you were almost twenty minutes late this morning,” interrupted Brian rather rudely.
“I was only twelve minutes late and still managed to get here before you,” she replied curtly.
“My tardiness at the office was due to being called to the hospital to speak with the Dean, not due to sleeping in,” Brian retorted. “He is very concerned about this flu and warned me that they have three cases there that we will probably end up with later today and one that Hugo and Dennis are already on their way to pick up that died last night.”
Jeff frowned. “I thought we only did autopsies on unattended deaths or those who died under suspicious circumstances, not on people who died from the flu.”
“Wouldn’t you say that billions of people getting the flu within hours of each other suspicious? I would and the CDC does too, so they have decided to have any deaths attributed to the flu autopsied. Besides, the flu isn’t what these people died from, it’s just the instigator,” turning to face Tanya, he continued. “I'll be handling the flu case after I take care of this one, so I moved the suspected heart attack that I was slated to do this afternoon, onto your docket. Now let’s get scrubbed up, it's going to be an exciting day.”
Tanya almost laughed when she saw Becky roll her eyes as Brian turned away, but managed to contain it into a smile. “Yes, a very exciting day. Man I wish Brian would have gotten the flu, but I think it's scared of him,” she whispered to Becky as they headed over to the sink to scrub up.
Their first case was an automobile accident. The man had not worn his seat belt and had been thrown from his SUV, unfortunately, the SUV ended up coming to rest on top of him, causing him to sustain numerous lacerations, internal injuries, and broken bones. Brian tended to give Tanya the messier autopsies as they always required more time and paperwork to process them since they had to document every cut and scrape as well as cracked or broken bones. Tanya secretly believed it was so he could complain about her taking longer to do an autopsy than it did him. By the time she had officially determined that the man had died due to hemorrhaging out from internal injuries, specifically from a tear in the inferior venae cavae vein that brings blood back into the right side of the heart, Brian had finished up with his brain aneurysm. Jeff had cleaned and sterilized the work table and the tools and was already wheeling in the suspected flu case that had arrived a few minutes earlier.
Tanya wrote out her notes on the accident victim while Becky finished closing up the chest cavity and returned the man to the refrigeration room. Tanya helped Becky clean and sanitize the table and tools, then she scrubbed up again and donned a fresh set of scrubs. Becky went to go get their next case, a woman who was found in the river. Tanya was not looking forward to this case as the woman had been dead for several days and had swollen up like a balloon from all the decomposition gasses that had built up in her abdomen, but it had to be done.
She helped Becky transfer the woman onto the autopsy table, then began to fill out the form with the woman’s information while Becky got all the necessary tools ready. Once she filled out all the known information, she began by giving the body a visual examination saying what she saw into a digital voice recorder that she would later use to transcribe her notes. She had got into the habit over the years of ignoring everything around her, except for what she was doing, while performing an autopsy since there was usually at least one other autopsy going on at the same time, this was probably why she didn’t realize anything was wrong until Becky screamed.
Ready to yell at Becky for the interruption, Tanya looked up and saw total fear and panic in Becky’s face. She turned to look behind her to see what had Becky in such a state and at first, she was unable to comprehend what she was seeing, the man, who had died from the flu, had a Y incision in his chest and his chest cavity had been opened up so that Brian could check all the various organs for abnormalities. This was all normal, what wasn’t normal was that the dead man was sitting up and was in the process of biting Brian’s arm. Brian was screaming at Jeff to help him while Jeff was standing there, frozen in shock.
Becky was the first to react by running across the room and grabbing the man by the shoulders, trying to push him back down onto the table. She was yelling at Jeff to help her, which he finally did after what seemed like hours, but was in reality only a few seconds. Brian was hitting the dead man in the face with his fist trying to get him to release the bite. After several blows, the man managed to bite off a chunk of Brian’s arm and immediately turned and grabbed Jeff’s left arm and leaned over to bite it as well. Jeff jerked back in an effort to break free of the hold but his foot slipped in the blood that had drained from the corpse and onto the floor when it had sat up, causing Jeff to fall, dragging the newly reanimated corpse off the table and on top of him.
Tanya ran over to help but by the time she arrived, the flesh-eating monster had already bitten a large chunk of Jeff’s ear off and was currently attempting to go in for seconds. Looking for something to subdue the man with, Tanya grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and slammed it into the side of the dead man’s head, crushing the skull like a bat hitting a Jack-o-lantern. The re-alive man was now re-dead and Tanya’s first thought that she was going to jail for murder, her second thought was, what the hell had just happened? She glanced around and saw that Brian had fled the room at some point after he was bitten. Becky was now sitting on the floor in a puddle of blood, rocking back and forth while sobbing and Jeff was attempting to crawl out from underneath the twice dead man, while also trying to stem the flow of blood from what was left of his ear.
Suddenly, two security guards rushed into the room, one after the other. Unfortunately, the first guard stopped, his brain unable to process what it was seeing, triggering the second guard to slam into him and causing both guards to crash to the floor like dominoes. Brian came in behind them but managed to avoid the pileup.
“What did you do?” Brian demanded to know when he saw the bloody fire extinguisher in her hand. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“What is wrong with you?” Tanya countered. “This…this thing attacked you and Jeff and you are mad at me because I killed it? How can I kill something that's already dead?”
“Well obviously he wasn’t already dead in view of the fact that he was moving under his own power,” Brian retorted. “You murdered him and I will make sure you rot in jail for it.”
Tanya stormed around the table and reached into the scale, pulling out the man’s heart that Brian had removed from the man’s chest cavity shortly before he was attacked. “And I suppose this is a figment of my imagination? You were the one who cut out his heart so there is no way I could have killed him because he was already dead!” her voice was raised in anger.
By this time, the security guards had untangled themselves and were now trying to assess the situation. One of them finally found the courage to speak, “Okay folks, I don't have a clue as to what happened in here, but for everyone’s safety I am going to put you all into separate rooms until the police arrive and they can sort this mess out.”
“You can’t make me stay here, I'm injured and need to get to the emergency room before I bleed to death,” Brian said with as much authority as he could muster.
The guard shook his head and then replied, “I can and I am. You will all go to your own offices and you will remain there until the police and paramedics arrive.”
Becky looked up and timidly spoke, “But I don’t have an office and neither does Jeff.”
“That’s alright miss, I am sure we can find a couple of empty rooms for you two to wait in,” the guard replied kindly.
Tanya set down at her desk in disbelief of the events that she had just witnessed or rather participated in. Did she really kill someone? She just couldn’t quite wrap her head around what had transpired. Luckily she wasn’t given much time to dwell on it as the police and ambulance arrived within a few minutes of her getting to her office. They didn’t come to her office right away as the wounded took priority, but she could hear bits and pieces of the conversation from whoever was talking in the hall just outside her door. From what she could decipher, they were as confused as she was.
After the police took Brian and Jeff’s statements, they let the paramedics take them to the emergency room to get treatment for their bite wounds. Although Tanya was concerned about Jeff, her relief of having Brian gone took a huge weight off her shoulders. She didn’t want to have another run-in with him today.
Tanya was debating on calling her husband, Charlie to let him know what was going on, but before she could retrieve her cell phone from her purse, there was a knock on the door and then it opened to reveal two uniformed police officers.
“Miss Mayer?” one of the officers inquired.
“Yes officer, I am Mrs. Mayer. Come in, are Brian and Jeff okay?” she asked before he could say anything else.
The officer nodded his head as he entered the room. “It appears that they will both be fine. We sent them to the hospital to have them checked out, but what we need from you right now is a statement about what happened earlier.”
Tanya took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts for a moment. “I don't know what happened as it makes zero sense to me, but I will do my best.”
She explained what happened, realizing that it sounded absurd, even to her as the words came out of her mouth. She did her best to not leave anything out, including hitting the reanimated corpse with the fire extinguisher. When she was finished, she could see the look of doubt on the officer's faces, though they both tried to hide it.
The first officer who spoke, cleared his throat, “So you are trying to tell us that a dead man attacked two of your co-workers and to stop the attack, you killed, or rather re-killed him? You have to understand how absurd that sounds. This is not a joke Mrs. Mayer and I would appreciate the truth and not this bizarre fairy tale that y'all seem to have cooked up.”
Glancing at the officer's name tag, Tanya responded, getting angry, “Excuse me, Officer Bowers, I told you exactly what happened. I understand that what I have told you may be hard to wrap your mind around, believe me, I do, but it is what happened. Brian and Jeff were attacked and I did what I had to do to stop it. Medically, I don't understand how someone who has had their internal organs removed from their body could do what that man did, but somehow he managed it.” Pausing for a moment, she then thought of something. “I can prove that what I am telling you is the truth.”
“And just how are you going to do that?” Officer Bowers replied with no emotion in his voice.
“When we perform an autopsy, we use digital voice recorders as we work so that we are not constantly having to stop to write things down. Everything that happened should have been recorded on both mine and Brian's recorders. There is also a security camera in there that should have recorded the incident as well.”
Officer Bowers looked relieved. “Mrs. Mayer, I am not trying to be the bad guy and I apologize if it sounded like I was. We will need a copy of both voice recordings and the video recording and as long as they corroborate what you have told us, I don't think any charges will be forthcoming, but then I also don't have the final say. Can we review the recordings and get copies now?”
“Of course. I can get the audio ones now, but we'll have to get with Brian about the security video as I don't have access to it. I want to apologize as well. I shouldn't have gotten angry but this whole thing is so unreal and I think my nerves are fried.”
Tanya, escorted by Officer Bowers, went back to the Butcher Block, having to cross the crime scene tape, and retrieved the recorders. She quickly copied them onto a flash drive for the officers once she was back in her office. She played the audio files for the officers, first Brian's and then hers, all three of them were still in disbelief at what they were hearing.
She called Brian and told him the police wanted a copy of the security video from the Butcher Block and he told her to get the key from Jennifer and make a copy for them.
After getting the key and gaining access to the security room, it took her a few minutes to familiarize herself with the system, but she was soon able to download a copy of the video onto a thumb drive for the officers, taking the extra time to make a copy for herself as well.
Thankfully, the officers left her alone after she wrote out a statement of what had happened and gave them a copy of the video, but they told her that the autopsy room was now a crime scene and it would be several hours before they would be allowed access into it. Tanya had some reports to catch up on but told everyone else to take a few hours for lunch since there was nothing further they could do until the crime scene unit finished with their investigation.
Charlie Mayer
Charlie pulled his BMW into his personal parking space located behind his car dealership, noticing that several employee's cars were missing.
“Great! A bunch of worthless pieces of shit, probably all at home, faking getting that flu. At least Ethan and his fruity friend both showed up,” Charlie muttered to himself as he eased his 305-pound body out of his current pride and joy.
Glancing at his Rolex, he saw it was seven fifty-five so there wouldn't be any customers in the showroom yet since they didn't unlock the doors until eight.
“Ethan!” Charlie bellowed as he entered the back door. “My office. NOW!”
“Okay Charlie,” he hollered back. “On my way.”
Ethan walked into the office just as Charlie settled his hefty body into his chair. “Morning Charlie. What's up?” he asked as he wondered for the thousandth time, how Charlie's chair hadn't collapsed under all that weight.
“What's up? You want to know what's up? I will tell you what's up. Not sales, that's for damn sure. What kind of crap was your buddy pulling yesterday by attacking Mr. Hawkins like that? We almost lost his business over that stunt. I had to give him a huge discount and I should take it out of both your commissions since I had to sell at just above cost,” complained Charlie.
“I am sorry about that Charlie, but Topher got that fast-acting Super Flu that everyone seemed to be getting. It won't happen again,” he responded, holding back his anger. He had learned as a small child not to raise his voice or be the least bit confrontational to his step-father, as it would only escalate the problem and make Charlie angrier. Ethan was used to the emotional abuse and had learned over the years to ignore all the yelling and just listen to the words, pretending that they were said in a nice calm voice, otherwise it would turn into physical abuse. His step-father hadn't hit him since he was a junior in high school and he wanted to keep it that way.
“I don't want to hear that you're sorry, I want you to control your staff. That's your job as the sales manager and if you can't do it, I'll find someone else who can. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” Ethan said, trying to look properly reprimanded, but wishing that he could punch his step-father in the nose.
Charlie nodded. “Good, now that that is out of the way, I want you to personally make sure that Mr. Hawkins' Cadillac Escalade is cleaned and ready for pickup by noon. He bought the silver metallic one out on the front row, the keys and paperwork should already be on your desk. Mr. Hawkins will be in at one to pick it up and I don't want Topher to be here when he does. Send him on a late, extended lunch. Hell, tell him to leave at noon and you will call him when he can come back after Mr. Hawkins leaves. Is that understood?”
Ethan nodded his head. “I will take care of it, anything else?”
Charlie glared at Ethan for a moment. “Not right now, but if Mr. Hawkins sees Topher here today, this will be your last day as a sales manager and Topher's last day working here. Now get those doors open and tell whoever bothered to show up for work that they need to sell some damn cars.”
“Will do,” replied Ethan, heading out the office door.
Kent Foreman & Danny Foreman
He was at his locker, digging out his algebra book for his next class when his brother slapped him on his back.
“What's up, bro?” Danny asked him, leaning against the bank of lockers beside his.
“Nothing, getting ready for algebra class, you?”
“Study hall, but I'm thinking about ditching it to go check on Sarah.”
Kent looked at his brother before warning him with a grin, “Better be careful, if dad and Sally find out you're ditching classes, they'll ground your ass.”
“I'll take my chances, I'm the favorite son anyway,” he teased his slightly older brother.
Kent was 17 and a junior, by some weird twist of fate and the way that the school district determined when you started school, his 16-year-old brother ended up in the same grade as him. There was just over seven months difference in their ages since Danny had been born two and a half months premature and his parents apparently didn't wait to have sex after he was born, because of this, most people thought they were twins.
It used to bother him when he was younger, but he kinda got a kick out of it now. They didn't look or act a whole lot alike. Kent was 5'8” with light brown hair and dark brown eyes and was the more serious of the two while Danny was 5'7” but with blonde hair and blue eyes and tended to be more of a jokester.
“Did you get that flu thing yesterday?” he asked Danny, finally pulling the algebra book from the bottom of the stack.
“A little bit, Sarah got it a lot worse than I did. Did you?”
“Nope, but I heard that almost anyone who had gone outside got it and me and Tim were down in his basement playing Call of Duty the entire day.”
“You're such a geek,” Danny said, punching his brother lightly in the shoulder. “Come ditch with me, no one will care since half the school didn't even bother to show up today.”
Kent started to shake his head, but his brother wasn't done.
“You're a 17-year-old junior who has never ditched a class, live a little while you're young enough to enjoy it. If we get caught, I'll take all the blame and say that you were trying to stop me.”
He looked at his algebra book and sighed. “Fuck it,” he said, tossing the book back into his locker and slamming the door. “Let's go before I come to my senses.”
The two boys went out a side exit and jumped in Danny's fifteen-year-old piece of crap Chevy pickup. She was beaten to hell and had over 250,000 miles on her, but Danny loved his truck and took very good care of her mechanically. It started up as soon as he turned the key, and they were quickly driving away from the high school.
“Damn it, now I'm a teenage delinquent,” moaned Kent, only half-joking. Now that they had left, he was worried about it hurting his chances of getting into a good college.
“Bout time bro. You're always doing the right thing, I'd hate it if you looked back on your life 20 years from now and wondered why you didn't have more fun when you were a teenager. As a teen, we're expected to screw up every now and then and besides, it's not like we're out robbing a bank or anything,” Danny told him, laughing about how nervous Kent was over something as minor as ditching a class.
“It's different for you,” he started to explain to his brother. “You can get away with pretty much everything because you're the miracle baby that shouldn't have survived. That's why you have always gotten everything you wanted while I had to work my ass off to get anything that I want.”
“That's not true...”
“Shut up Danny, it is too.” Kent was a little pissed off now. “Take this truck, for example, dad gave it to you, but not only that, he saved it for you for three years after he bought his new truck until you turned 16 and got your license. He loaned me $500 for a down payment and charged me interest on it and that was only after I practically begged him to help me.”
“Shit bro, I didn't know it bothered you that much. I think they treat you differently is because they see you as more of an adult, always doing the right thing and never getting into any trouble. He gave me the truck as a way to control me,” he admitted. “How many times have they threatened to take your car away from you?”
“None, but I've never really done anything to warrant it either.”
“That's true, but since I was given the truck, it's constantly being held over my head as something that they can take away should they decide to. I've been saving up money so that I can pay dad for it just so he would know that I can be responsible too.”
Kent deflated in his seat. “I guess that I never looked at it that way before, now that you mention it, I see how they treat us differently.” He sat up quickly and grinned at his brother. “Let's ditch the rest of the day and you can teach me some of your bad boy ways.”
Danny started laughing, “I like how you're thinking bro.”
They drove down the street and didn't look back.
Bill Williams
He had thought about calling in sick but decided he needed the money more than he needed to rest. Bill almost had enough saved to buy himself a new car, well new to him at least. He was excited to be getting his license back soon and wanted to have a car without any payments. Bill had been putting money away for the last eighteen months for this very reason and his paycheck on Friday would supply the last couple hundred dollars he needed.
Although Bill was thirty-nine, he looked ten years younger because he took good care of himself. He enjoyed the extra little bit of exercise that he got each morning by taking the stairs to his fifth-floor office, but today he opted for the elevator since he still felt a little weak from yesterday's flu. There were only three other people in the elevator and all three looked worse than Bill did so he was glad he decided to come in, after all, he wasn't a little wussy boy, and something as simple as the flu wasn't going to stop him.
As he stepped out of the elevator, Bill saw that only about half the staff had arrived so far. Hopefully, more would show up otherwise, it would make for a long day. He saw Stan coming out of the break room, sipping a cup of coffee, and headed that way.
Bill and Stan had been best friends for almost five years, ever since Stan had gotten hired on. Bill had been his trainer and they had hit it off from day one.
“Good morning my friend,” said Bill, as he approached Stan.
“What's good about it? I feel like crap because I got that super-flu crap that everyone else seems to have. You're looking a lot better than most everyone here, were you one of the lucky bastards that didn't get sick?”
Bill chuckled. “No, it hit me right after I left work yesterday, but I guess I just had a mild case. Still have a minor headache, but I took a few ibuprofen this morning and it seems to be helping.”
“I'm glad for you man. I almost didn't make it home last night and ended up puking in my truck so I have that to look forward to cleaning up after work. Danny and Sally got it as well, but we all seem to be on the mend so I guess that's something to be thankful for,” replied Stan as they arrived at their work cubicles.
“You think you're still going to be able to take me car shopping Friday after work? I got my eye on a used Camry down at Mayer's Auto Emporium.”
Stan grinned, happy to see his friend excited. “Sure thing, are you ready to be mobile again?”
“More than you could possibly ever know.”
Ethan Mayer
Ethan sat with his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands as Topher knocked on his office door.
“You wanted to see me, boss man?”
“Yeah. Close the door and have a seat.”
“Ohhh, one of those conversations. Okay Ethan, let me have it,” Topher said as he sat in the chair in front of Ethan's desk. “What's step-daddy dearest done now?”
Ethan shook his head as he took a deep breath. “That fat fucker is blaming us for the whole Mr. Hawkins fiasco from yesterday. Now I know it wasn't your fault that you got sick so don't think that I do, but you know how Charlie is. Anyway, he said that you need to leave at noon and not come back until I call you after that grouchy fuck Hawkins picks up his SUV. If Hawkins sees you here today, not only will I be demoted, but you'll be unemployed.”
“What the fuck Ethan? Seriously?” Topher snapped back. “I didn't even do anything wrong.”
“I know that and you know that, but I am between a rock and a hard place on this. Just do this for me please, I will make it up to you this weekend by taking you to that new club that you keep asking me to go to. I heard that it's going to be neon night on Saturday with the black lights and fluorescent paint, we can get good and dirty,” he teased, winking at the man he loved.
Topher grinned. “I heard about neon night. Water pistols with fluorescent paint and everyone in their bathing suits. That's gonna be so much fun, but you know I would do this for you anyway. It just pisses me off the way he treats you.”
“I know. I keep hoping he has a heart attack and dies. That sounds terrible and I will probably go to hell for even thinking it, let alone saying it, but I honestly don't know how much longer I can handle his bullshit.”
“Don't worry about it, man. He's an asshole who eats and drinks too much. Not sure how your mom puts up with his shit, but whatever, we have each other so fuck him. I love you and we will get through this,” Topher replied. “Anyway, it's almost noon so I better get out of here. Call me when the coast is clear.”
“I will. See you later.”
“Later,” Topher said as he walked out the door.
Stan Foreman
“Ready for lunch Bill?
“Sure am. Where you want to eat today?”
“Burgers and More?” Stan asked, already knowing the answer since it was Bill's favorite burger joint.
“Sounds great to me. I heard they might have emu meat today,” responded Bill excitedly.
Stan laughed. “You always go for their exotic burgers when they have them. What did you get last time?”
“I think it was crocodile but might have been alligator, either way, it was some damn fine eating.”
Stan and Bill decided to walk since it was just around the corner from the office. As they turned the corner, they noticed an ambulance and a couple of police cars at the flower shop next door to Burgers and More.
“Wonder what happened there,” Bill said as they approached the restaurant.
“Not sure but I bet someone in the burger place knows.”
As Bill opened the door to Burgers and More, the paramedics brought out the stretcher with a sheet pulled completely over the body.
“Well that doesn't look good,” stated Stan, following Bill into the restaurant.
“What can I get you fellers today?”
“An emu burger and fries if you have it, Sam,” replied Bill.
“Sure do, it came in this morning, and for you?” the man asked Stan.
“I'll have the same.”
“And to drink?”
“Coke is fine for me,” responded Bill.
“Same here,” Stan echoed.
As Sam rang up the order, Bill asked, “So what happened next door?”
“Mrs. Ewing, the old lady who owns, or I guess I should say, owned the shop, died. About an hour ago, a lady went to pick up some flowers and found the closed sign on the door. When she looked in the window, she saw Mrs. Ewing laying on the floor, she came in here all distraught, so we called 911. Guess they couldn't get her back. I heard that they think she died last night. It's too bad, she was a sweet lady,” Sam responded, shaking his head. “I guess you just never know when it's your time. Anyway, your order should be ready in a few minutes and we will get that right out to you.”
“Thanks, Sam,” Stan told him as he turned to find a table.
Just as they sat down, a few customers started talking loudly and pointing out the window. Stan turned to see what the commotion was about and saw that one of the paramedics appeared to be struggling with the old lady on the stretcher.
“Looks like she made it after all,” Sam said as he set the tray of food down.
Just then they heard a scream and Stan was stunned to see that Mrs. Ewing had one of the paramedic's hands in her mouth as the guy was hitting her with his other hand.
“What the hell is he hitting her for?” someone yelled.
Stan saw a few people get out their cell phones and start recording what was happening. Several police officers rushed to help the paramedic and managed to get his arm out of the lady's mouth but she was still trying to bite him. Luckily she was strapped down on the stretcher and was unable to do any further damage. The other paramedic immediately went to her aid and tried to calm her down, but she tried to bite him as well. He ran to the ambulance and came back a few moments later with a syringe which he injected her with. After a couple of minutes, she appeared to have calmed down. The police helped secure her inside the ambulance while the injured paramedic was treated by his partner.
“That was pretty freaky,” noted Bill as he took another bite of his burger.
Stan nodded his head. “She probably woke up and panicked since they had her face covered and she was strapped down. I would freak out too if it happened to me.”
“Guess you got a point. Damn this burger is good.”
Stan laughed at his friend. “I can't believe you we're eating while watching that.”
“Gotta eat it while it's hot,” he replied, stuffing some more fries into his mouth.
Stan glanced back out the window as the ambulance pulled away with its siren blazing away. He shuddered at the thought of waking up like Mrs. Ewing, strapped to a gurney with a sheet over his face.
Becky looked up and timidly spoke, “But I don’t have an office and neither does Jeff.”
“That’s alright miss, I am sure we can find a couple of empty rooms for you two to wait in,” the guard replied kindly.
Tanya set down at her desk in disbelief of the events that she had just witnessed or rather participated in. Did she really kill someone? She just couldn’t quite wrap her head around what had transpired. Luckily she wasn’t given much time to dwell on it as the police and ambulance arrived within a few minutes of her getting to her office. They didn’t come to her office right away as the wounded took priority, but she could hear bits and pieces of the conversation from whoever was talking in the hall just outside her door. From what she could decipher, they were as confused as she was.
After the police took Brian and Jeff’s statements, they let the paramedics take them to the emergency room to get treatment for their bite wounds. Although Tanya was concerned about Jeff, her relief of having Brian gone took a huge weight off her shoulders. She didn’t want to have another run-in with him today.
Tanya was debating on calling her husband, Charlie to let him know what was going on, but before she could retrieve her cell phone from her purse, there was a knock on the door and then it opened to reveal two uniformed police officers.
“Miss Mayer?” one of the officers inquired.
“Yes officer, I am Mrs. Mayer. Come in, are Brian and Jeff okay?” she asked before he could say anything else.
The officer nodded his head as he entered the room. “It appears that they will both be fine. We sent them to the hospital to have them checked out, but what we need from you right now is a statement about what happened earlier.”
Tanya took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts for a moment. “I don't know what happened as it makes zero sense to me, but I will do my best.”
She explained what happened, realizing that it sounded absurd, even to her as the words came out of her mouth. She did her best to not leave anything out, including hitting the reanimated corpse with the fire extinguisher. When she was finished, she could see the look of doubt on the officer's faces, though they both tried to hide it.
The first officer who spoke, cleared his throat, “So you are trying to tell us that a dead man attacked two of your co-workers and to stop the attack, you killed, or rather re-killed him? You have to understand how absurd that sounds. This is not a joke Mrs. Mayer and I would appreciate the truth and not this bizarre fairy tale that y'all seem to have cooked up.”
Glancing at the officer's name tag, Tanya responded, getting angry, “Excuse me, Officer Bowers, I told you exactly what happened. I understand that what I have told you may be hard to wrap your mind around, believe me, I do, but it is what happened. Brian and Jeff were attacked and I did what I had to do to stop it. Medically, I don't understand how someone who has had their internal organs removed from their body could do what that man did, but somehow he managed it.” Pausing for a moment, she then thought of something. “I can prove that what I am telling you is the truth.”
“And just how are you going to do that?” Officer Bowers replied with no emotion in his voice.
“When we perform an autopsy, we use digital voice recorders as we work so that we are not constantly having to stop to write things down. Everything that happened should have been recorded on both mine and Brian's recorders. There is also a security camera in there that should have recorded the incident as well.”
Officer Bowers looked relieved. “Mrs. Mayer, I am not trying to be the bad guy and I apologize if it sounded like I was. We will need a copy of both voice recordings and the video recording and as long as they corroborate what you have told us, I don't think any charges will be forthcoming, but then I also don't have the final say. Can we review the recordings and get copies now?”
“Of course. I can get the audio ones now, but we'll have to get with Brian about the security video as I don't have access to it. I want to apologize as well. I shouldn't have gotten angry but this whole thing is so unreal and I think my nerves are fried.”
Tanya, escorted by Officer Bowers, went back to the Butcher Block, having to cross the crime scene tape, and retrieved the recorders. She quickly copied them onto a flash drive for the officers once she was back in her office. She played the audio files for the officers, first Brian's and then hers, all three of them were still in disbelief at what they were hearing.
She called Brian and told him the police wanted a copy of the security video from the Butcher Block and he told her to get the key from Jennifer and make a copy for them.
After getting the key and gaining access to the security room, it took her a few minutes to familiarize herself with the system, but she was soon able to download a copy of the video onto a thumb drive for the officers, taking the extra time to make a copy for herself as well.
Thankfully, the officers left her alone after she wrote out a statement of what had happened and gave them a copy of the video, but they told her that the autopsy room was now a crime scene and it would be several hours before they would be allowed access into it. Tanya had some reports to catch up on but told everyone else to take a few hours for lunch since there was nothing further they could do until the crime scene unit finished with their investigation.
Charlie Mayer
Charlie pulled his BMW into his personal parking space located behind his car dealership, noticing that several employee's cars were missing.
“Great! A bunch of worthless pieces of shit, probably all at home, faking getting that flu. At least Ethan and his fruity friend both showed up,” Charlie muttered to himself as he eased his 305-pound body out of his current pride and joy.
Glancing at his Rolex, he saw it was seven fifty-five so there wouldn't be any customers in the showroom yet since they didn't unlock the doors until eight.
“Ethan!” Charlie bellowed as he entered the back door. “My office. NOW!”
“Okay Charlie,” he hollered back. “On my way.”
Ethan walked into the office just as Charlie settled his hefty body into his chair. “Morning Charlie. What's up?” he asked as he wondered for the thousandth time, how Charlie's chair hadn't collapsed under all that weight.
“What's up? You want to know what's up? I will tell you what's up. Not sales, that's for damn sure. What kind of crap was your buddy pulling yesterday by attacking Mr. Hawkins like that? We almost lost his business over that stunt. I had to give him a huge discount and I should take it out of both your commissions since I had to sell at just above cost,” complained Charlie.
“I am sorry about that Charlie, but Topher got that fast-acting Super Flu that everyone seemed to be getting. It won't happen again,” he responded, holding back his anger. He had learned as a small child not to raise his voice or be the least bit confrontational to his step-father, as it would only escalate the problem and make Charlie angrier. Ethan was used to the emotional abuse and had learned over the years to ignore all the yelling and just listen to the words, pretending that they were said in a nice calm voice, otherwise it would turn into physical abuse. His step-father hadn't hit him since he was a junior in high school and he wanted to keep it that way.
“I don't want to hear that you're sorry, I want you to control your staff. That's your job as the sales manager and if you can't do it, I'll find someone else who can. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” Ethan said, trying to look properly reprimanded, but wishing that he could punch his step-father in the nose.
Charlie nodded. “Good, now that that is out of the way, I want you to personally make sure that Mr. Hawkins' Cadillac Escalade is cleaned and ready for pickup by noon. He bought the silver metallic one out on the front row, the keys and paperwork should already be on your desk. Mr. Hawkins will be in at one to pick it up and I don't want Topher to be here when he does. Send him on a late, extended lunch. Hell, tell him to leave at noon and you will call him when he can come back after Mr. Hawkins leaves. Is that understood?”
Ethan nodded his head. “I will take care of it, anything else?”
Charlie glared at Ethan for a moment. “Not right now, but if Mr. Hawkins sees Topher here today, this will be your last day as a sales manager and Topher's last day working here. Now get those doors open and tell whoever bothered to show up for work that they need to sell some damn cars.”
“Will do,” replied Ethan, heading out the office door.
Kent Foreman & Danny Foreman
He was at his locker, digging out his algebra book for his next class when his brother slapped him on his back.
“What's up, bro?” Danny asked him, leaning against the bank of lockers beside his.
“Nothing, getting ready for algebra class, you?”
“Study hall, but I'm thinking about ditching it to go check on Sarah.”
Kent looked at his brother before warning him with a grin, “Better be careful, if dad and Sally find out you're ditching classes, they'll ground your ass.”
“I'll take my chances, I'm the favorite son anyway,” he teased his slightly older brother.
Kent was 17 and a junior, by some weird twist of fate and the way that the school district determined when you started school, his 16-year-old brother ended up in the same grade as him. There was just over seven months difference in their ages since Danny had been born two and a half months premature and his parents apparently didn't wait to have sex after he was born, because of this, most people thought they were twins.
It used to bother him when he was younger, but he kinda got a kick out of it now. They didn't look or act a whole lot alike. Kent was 5'8” with light brown hair and dark brown eyes and was the more serious of the two while Danny was 5'7” but with blonde hair and blue eyes and tended to be more of a jokester.
“Did you get that flu thing yesterday?” he asked Danny, finally pulling the algebra book from the bottom of the stack.
“A little bit, Sarah got it a lot worse than I did. Did you?”
“Nope, but I heard that almost anyone who had gone outside got it and me and Tim were down in his basement playing Call of Duty the entire day.”
“You're such a geek,” Danny said, punching his brother lightly in the shoulder. “Come ditch with me, no one will care since half the school didn't even bother to show up today.”
Kent started to shake his head, but his brother wasn't done.
“You're a 17-year-old junior who has never ditched a class, live a little while you're young enough to enjoy it. If we get caught, I'll take all the blame and say that you were trying to stop me.”
He looked at his algebra book and sighed. “Fuck it,” he said, tossing the book back into his locker and slamming the door. “Let's go before I come to my senses.”
The two boys went out a side exit and jumped in Danny's fifteen-year-old piece of crap Chevy pickup. She was beaten to hell and had over 250,000 miles on her, but Danny loved his truck and took very good care of her mechanically. It started up as soon as he turned the key, and they were quickly driving away from the high school.
“Damn it, now I'm a teenage delinquent,” moaned Kent, only half-joking. Now that they had left, he was worried about it hurting his chances of getting into a good college.
“Bout time bro. You're always doing the right thing, I'd hate it if you looked back on your life 20 years from now and wondered why you didn't have more fun when you were a teenager. As a teen, we're expected to screw up every now and then and besides, it's not like we're out robbing a bank or anything,” Danny told him, laughing about how nervous Kent was over something as minor as ditching a class.
“It's different for you,” he started to explain to his brother. “You can get away with pretty much everything because you're the miracle baby that shouldn't have survived. That's why you have always gotten everything you wanted while I had to work my ass off to get anything that I want.”
“That's not true...”
“Shut up Danny, it is too.” Kent was a little pissed off now. “Take this truck, for example, dad gave it to you, but not only that, he saved it for you for three years after he bought his new truck until you turned 16 and got your license. He loaned me $500 for a down payment and charged me interest on it and that was only after I practically begged him to help me.”
“Shit bro, I didn't know it bothered you that much. I think they treat you differently is because they see you as more of an adult, always doing the right thing and never getting into any trouble. He gave me the truck as a way to control me,” he admitted. “How many times have they threatened to take your car away from you?”
“None, but I've never really done anything to warrant it either.”
“That's true, but since I was given the truck, it's constantly being held over my head as something that they can take away should they decide to. I've been saving up money so that I can pay dad for it just so he would know that I can be responsible too.”
Kent deflated in his seat. “I guess that I never looked at it that way before, now that you mention it, I see how they treat us differently.” He sat up quickly and grinned at his brother. “Let's ditch the rest of the day and you can teach me some of your bad boy ways.”
Danny started laughing, “I like how you're thinking bro.”
They drove down the street and didn't look back.
Bill Williams
He had thought about calling in sick but decided he needed the money more than he needed to rest. Bill almost had enough saved to buy himself a new car, well new to him at least. He was excited to be getting his license back soon and wanted to have a car without any payments. Bill had been putting money away for the last eighteen months for this very reason and his paycheck on Friday would supply the last couple hundred dollars he needed.
Although Bill was thirty-nine, he looked ten years younger because he took good care of himself. He enjoyed the extra little bit of exercise that he got each morning by taking the stairs to his fifth-floor office, but today he opted for the elevator since he still felt a little weak from yesterday's flu. There were only three other people in the elevator and all three looked worse than Bill did so he was glad he decided to come in, after all, he wasn't a little wussy boy, and something as simple as the flu wasn't going to stop him.
As he stepped out of the elevator, Bill saw that only about half the staff had arrived so far. Hopefully, more would show up otherwise, it would make for a long day. He saw Stan coming out of the break room, sipping a cup of coffee, and headed that way.
Bill and Stan had been best friends for almost five years, ever since Stan had gotten hired on. Bill had been his trainer and they had hit it off from day one.
“Good morning my friend,” said Bill, as he approached Stan.
“What's good about it? I feel like crap because I got that super-flu crap that everyone else seems to have. You're looking a lot better than most everyone here, were you one of the lucky bastards that didn't get sick?”
Bill chuckled. “No, it hit me right after I left work yesterday, but I guess I just had a mild case. Still have a minor headache, but I took a few ibuprofen this morning and it seems to be helping.”
“I'm glad for you man. I almost didn't make it home last night and ended up puking in my truck so I have that to look forward to cleaning up after work. Danny and Sally got it as well, but we all seem to be on the mend so I guess that's something to be thankful for,” replied Stan as they arrived at their work cubicles.
“You think you're still going to be able to take me car shopping Friday after work? I got my eye on a used Camry down at Mayer's Auto Emporium.”
Stan grinned, happy to see his friend excited. “Sure thing, are you ready to be mobile again?”
“More than you could possibly ever know.”
Ethan Mayer
Ethan sat with his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands as Topher knocked on his office door.
“You wanted to see me, boss man?”
“Yeah. Close the door and have a seat.”
“Ohhh, one of those conversations. Okay Ethan, let me have it,” Topher said as he sat in the chair in front of Ethan's desk. “What's step-daddy dearest done now?”
Ethan shook his head as he took a deep breath. “That fat fucker is blaming us for the whole Mr. Hawkins fiasco from yesterday. Now I know it wasn't your fault that you got sick so don't think that I do, but you know how Charlie is. Anyway, he said that you need to leave at noon and not come back until I call you after that grouchy fuck Hawkins picks up his SUV. If Hawkins sees you here today, not only will I be demoted, but you'll be unemployed.”
“What the fuck Ethan? Seriously?” Topher snapped back. “I didn't even do anything wrong.”
“I know that and you know that, but I am between a rock and a hard place on this. Just do this for me please, I will make it up to you this weekend by taking you to that new club that you keep asking me to go to. I heard that it's going to be neon night on Saturday with the black lights and fluorescent paint, we can get good and dirty,” he teased, winking at the man he loved.
Topher grinned. “I heard about neon night. Water pistols with fluorescent paint and everyone in their bathing suits. That's gonna be so much fun, but you know I would do this for you anyway. It just pisses me off the way he treats you.”
“I know. I keep hoping he has a heart attack and dies. That sounds terrible and I will probably go to hell for even thinking it, let alone saying it, but I honestly don't know how much longer I can handle his bullshit.”
“Don't worry about it, man. He's an asshole who eats and drinks too much. Not sure how your mom puts up with his shit, but whatever, we have each other so fuck him. I love you and we will get through this,” Topher replied. “Anyway, it's almost noon so I better get out of here. Call me when the coast is clear.”
“I will. See you later.”
“Later,” Topher said as he walked out the door.
Stan Foreman
“Ready for lunch Bill?
“Sure am. Where you want to eat today?”
“Burgers and More?” Stan asked, already knowing the answer since it was Bill's favorite burger joint.
“Sounds great to me. I heard they might have emu meat today,” responded Bill excitedly.
Stan laughed. “You always go for their exotic burgers when they have them. What did you get last time?”
“I think it was crocodile but might have been alligator, either way, it was some damn fine eating.”
Stan and Bill decided to walk since it was just around the corner from the office. As they turned the corner, they noticed an ambulance and a couple of police cars at the flower shop next door to Burgers and More.
“Wonder what happened there,” Bill said as they approached the restaurant.
“Not sure but I bet someone in the burger place knows.”
As Bill opened the door to Burgers and More, the paramedics brought out the stretcher with a sheet pulled completely over the body.
“Well that doesn't look good,” stated Stan, following Bill into the restaurant.
“What can I get you fellers today?”
“An emu burger and fries if you have it, Sam,” replied Bill.
“Sure do, it came in this morning, and for you?” the man asked Stan.
“I'll have the same.”
“And to drink?”
“Coke is fine for me,” responded Bill.
“Same here,” Stan echoed.
As Sam rang up the order, Bill asked, “So what happened next door?”
“Mrs. Ewing, the old lady who owns, or I guess I should say, owned the shop, died. About an hour ago, a lady went to pick up some flowers and found the closed sign on the door. When she looked in the window, she saw Mrs. Ewing laying on the floor, she came in here all distraught, so we called 911. Guess they couldn't get her back. I heard that they think she died last night. It's too bad, she was a sweet lady,” Sam responded, shaking his head. “I guess you just never know when it's your time. Anyway, your order should be ready in a few minutes and we will get that right out to you.”
“Thanks, Sam,” Stan told him as he turned to find a table.
Just as they sat down, a few customers started talking loudly and pointing out the window. Stan turned to see what the commotion was about and saw that one of the paramedics appeared to be struggling with the old lady on the stretcher.
“Looks like she made it after all,” Sam said as he set the tray of food down.
Just then they heard a scream and Stan was stunned to see that Mrs. Ewing had one of the paramedic's hands in her mouth as the guy was hitting her with his other hand.
“What the hell is he hitting her for?” someone yelled.
Stan saw a few people get out their cell phones and start recording what was happening. Several police officers rushed to help the paramedic and managed to get his arm out of the lady's mouth but she was still trying to bite him. Luckily she was strapped down on the stretcher and was unable to do any further damage. The other paramedic immediately went to her aid and tried to calm her down, but she tried to bite him as well. He ran to the ambulance and came back a few moments later with a syringe which he injected her with. After a couple of minutes, she appeared to have calmed down. The police helped secure her inside the ambulance while the injured paramedic was treated by his partner.
“That was pretty freaky,” noted Bill as he took another bite of his burger.
Stan nodded his head. “She probably woke up and panicked since they had her face covered and she was strapped down. I would freak out too if it happened to me.”
“Guess you got a point. Damn this burger is good.”
Stan laughed at his friend. “I can't believe you we're eating while watching that.”
“Gotta eat it while it's hot,” he replied, stuffing some more fries into his mouth.
Stan glanced back out the window as the ambulance pulled away with its siren blazing away. He shuddered at the thought of waking up like Mrs. Ewing, strapped to a gurney with a sheet over his face.
Tanya Mayer
Tanya had just gotten in her SUV when her cell phone rang, groaning internally as she saw that it was her boss calling.
“Hello?”
“Where are you and why aren't you at the office?” Brian barked through the phone.
“Oh, hi Brian. I was just getting ready to head home because the police told me that the Butcher Block was now a crime scene and we wouldn't have access for the rest of the day while they collect the evidence,” replied Tanya, a lot nicer than she wanted to be. “How's your arm?”
“I'm sure it will be fine. You need to get back to work because someone from the CDC is on their way to meet me, but I'm stuck here at this so-called hospital, waiting on them to stitch me up. Since I may not be there before they arrive, you need to be.”
“Well, I am still here, just outside. I'll go back inside and wait for them so no need for you to hurry.”
“Like I have a choice to hurry? Just keep them there until I get back. They should be there at any time,” demanded Brian.
Tanya was confused. “It's only been a couple of hours, how did they get here so fast?”
“Don't know, don't care.”
Tanya heard Brian disconnect the call. “What an asshole,” she muttered, putting her phone in her purse and headed back into the Medical Examiner's office.
She had been back in her office for less than ten minutes when her office line buzzed.
“Yes, Jennifer?”
“I have a Dr. Carlock here from the CDC to see Brian, but he's not back yet.”
“Brian called and asked me to meet with him. Can you show him to my office please?”
“Of course, Mrs. Mayer.”
Tanya took a deep breath and again wondered why the CDC showed up so fast, before she had time to contemplate the question, Jennifer was walking in the doorway. “Mrs. Mayer, this is Dr. Carlock, from the CDC.”
“Thank you, Jennifer,” replied Tanya, as Jennifer turned and left the room.
“Dr. Carlock, nice to meet you,” she said as she stood and offered her hand.
“I'm sorry, I don't shake hands, too many germs. I'm sure you understand,” Dr. Carlock stammered, obviously disgusted by the gesture.
“Not a problem. I completely understand and please call me Tanya,” she told him, ignoring his discomfort, but wondering how he could work with blood if he detested germs so much.
“I was supposed to meet with your chief medical examiner, a Mr. Brian Lieberman, so I am a bit confused as to why I am talking to you.”
“I apologize. Brian is still at the hospital, getting the bite wound looked at. He should be back in a little while, but he asked me to meet with you until he returns. Please have a seat and let me know what you need from us,” replied Tanya as professionally as she could.
“Bite wound?” Dr. Carlock asked, confused. “No one said anything to me about a bite wound.”
“I'm sorry, I guess I should have asked what you were here for. I just assumed it had to do with the incident earlier today.”
“Mrs. Mayer...”
“Please, call me Tanya,” she invited him.
“Tanya then, my name is Dr. Travis Carlock. The CDC has sent me here to help investigate this so-called Super Flu. They felt it was important to already have someone on the front line so to speak, in many of the country's largest cities to see how this Super Flu was affecting different parts of the United States. We are interested in the cause of death findings for those who died from this flu. We would like to be present during some of the autopsies and take some of our own blood and tissue samples to send back to our labs. We, at the CDC, are very interested in what caused this outbreak.”
Tanya sighed. “Well, I guess it is a good thing you are here then. I should probably explain what happened earlier since it had to do with one of the flu victims, even though it doesn't make much sense”
“What do you mean, doesn't make much sense?” Dr. Carlock inquired.
“Well you probably won't believe me, but earlier, Brian was doing an autopsy on the first known death of a flu victim here in Dallas. In the middle of the autopsy, he was attacked by the victim.”
“Excuse me?” Dr. Carlock interjected. “What do you mean he was attacked?”
“Brian had just removed the victim's heart and was in the process of weighing it when the body sat up and bit him in the arm. I know it sounds crazy, but I saw it with my own eyes. I had to hit the man in the head with a fire extinguisher to keep him from attacking everyone else.”
“Wait, what? Okay, now I am confused. You're trying to tell me that a dead body attacked your chief medical examiner in the middle of the autopsy?” Dr. Carlock asked in disbelief.
“That is exactly what I am saying.”
“I do not have time for your games, Mrs. Mayer.” Dr. Carlock stood and glared at Tanya. “Obviously, I need to wait for Mr. Lieberman.”
Just as Tanya was about to reply, there was a knock on the door frame. “Excuse me, Mrs. Mayer, I am with the crime scene unit, we are still gathering evidence but I wanted to inform you that we will need everyone's fingerprints before we leave.”
“That shouldn't be a problem,” Tanya replied, “did you discover anything that would explain what happened?”
“Not really, I watched the video of the attack, and to be honest, I don't think we will ever be able to explain exactly what happened in there. That was some crazy shit, pardon my french, and it quite frankly creeped me out, I just want to hurry up get out of here.” The man visibly shook as a shiver ran down his spine. “Well, I better get back to it.”
“I can't say that I don't blame you for wanting to be done, I'll let everyone know about the fingerprints,” she promised him.
“Sounds good,” he said, turning to leave.
Dr. Carlock just stood there, slack-jawed, until the man had left, then his body slowly deflated back into the chair. “Maybe you should show me that video.”
Ethan Mayer
He made sure that the Escalade had been detailed, washed, dried and he even filled the tank up with gas before Mr. Hawkins arrived to pick up his new vehicle.
After spending almost two hours dealing with the gruff old man when it should have taken less than one, Ethan was thrilled to finally watch him drive off, glad he wouldn't have to deal with that particular pain in the ass for another year.
Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly called Topher.
“Is he finally gone?”
Ethan sighed before responding, “Yeah, it's safe for you to return.”
“I'm not sure that I want to,” admitted Topher. “Maybe it's time that I find a job somewhere else. As much as I love being around you all day, I'm tired of dealing with all of your old man's bullshit.”
Half expecting this old conversation to rear its ugly head, Ethan conceded the point, “I understand your frustration, believe me, I'm just as pissed at the whole situation as you are. Maybe we should both just find new jobs and screw me eventually taking over this place. Come on back and we'll go to the bar and talk about it after we get off work.”
“Really?” Topher couldn't contain his excitement. “Do you mean it? I know how badly you wanted to take over, it's not something that you should give up on a whim, even to make me happy.”
He nodded his head even though Topher couldn't see him do it. “Actually, I think I do,” admitted Ethan, surprising himself. “He has finally gone too far. Charlie's not planning on retiring anytime soon and he's too damn stubborn to die so it could be another twenty years before he hands over the reins. Even then, he may decide just to sell it and not let me have it because he is that big of a dick.”
“Wow! I wasn't expecting this. Have I told you recently just how much I love you?”
Ethan laughed. “Not today, anyway. Get your butt back here and sell some cars.”
“Yes sir!” replied Topher, happy at the thought of getting Ethan out from underneath his step-father's influence.
The rest of the workday seemed to both fly by and crawl ever so slowly at the same time, but eventually, it was over and the boys headed to Mike's Bar & Grill.
They sat at a table towards the back so that they wouldn't be disrupted by people entering and leaving the popular hangout.
Topher started the much-anticipated conversation, “I'm stoked that you're willing to leave Charlie's business and come with me to find another job, but I don't want you to rush into anything and then regret it later.”
“The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Charlie's never going to give me the business willingly, at least anytime soon and I hate the way he treats you. It might be easier to be with you in public if I wasn't always afraid that word would get back to him and then he'd fire both of us,” Ethan told him, fidgeting with the label on his beer bottle.
Nodding his head in agreement, Topher suggested, “Why don't we take it slow, we can brush off our resumes and I can start looking around to see what might be available for jobs in the area. If I find something that sounds promising for both of us, then we can take the next step and apply. This way, it's less likely for Charlie to find out until we are ready for him too. What do you think?”
“I like it, there's no major hurry so we don't have to take the first thing that comes along, but if we happen across the right job opportunity, then it won't be an issue to move forward with it either,” Ethan said as he sat up straighter in his chair, more confident in their decision than he had been earlier.
Topher reached across the table and clasped Ethan's hand in silent agreement, surprisingly, Ethan didn't pull away as he normally would in public. Maybe things really were changing, he thought as he smiled at his boyfriend.
Ethan got up to get them a couple more beers, a feeling of peace had settled in him and he felt good about the future even though it was still uncertain. He knew that they had made the right decision just by the fact that he no longer felt stressed out.
“Hey Mike, can I get two more Buds in the bottle?” he asked the owner of the bar, who always seemed to be working.
“Sure thing Ethan,” came the response. “How's the car business going?”
Shrugging, he replied, “Meh, it's about normal for this time of year.”
Mike laughed as he sat the two opened bottles of beer on the counter. “I know what you mean, I thought this Super Flu might slow business down some here, but thankfully it hasn't,” he leaned in towards Ethan as he lowered his voice. “I heard a rumor that a corpse came back to life and attacked the coroner this morning.”
“You're shitting me!” Ethan exclaimed as his eyes widened in surprise.
Shaking his head, Mike continued. “I shit you not. One of the coroner's assistants stopped in here earlier all shook up and his head was all bandaged up. When I asked him what happened, he told me that in the middle of the autopsy, the dead guy attacked the county coroner, who had just removed the man's heart. When this assistant went to help his boss, he got bit and it about ripped his ear off. Someone ended up crushing its skull in with a fire extinguisher in order to stop the attack. They are trying to keep it all hush, hush until they can figure out exactly what happened. I'm telling you that the man was freaked out and he was stone-cold sober when he got here and told me about it.”
“That's crazy. I'll have to check with my mom, she works there so she would know about this. Assuming that it is true, I'll need to start paying closer attention to the news in case it's not an isolated incident. Thanks for the heads up, Mike,” he told the bartender.
“Let me know if you hear anything to collaborate the guy's story, I hate to spread misinformation if I can help it. I've only told a few of my regulars about this so that they can keep their eyes and ears open and let me know if they find out anything to either dispute or confirm the story. Will you do the same?” Mike asked.
“Sure will, Mike,” he said as he laid some cash on the counter to pay for the beers and turned to head back to the table where Topher was impatiently waiting.
“That took a while,” Topher said as Ethan set the beer on the table and sat down. “What's got Mike looking so agitated?”
Ethan repeated the story that the bartender had told him, still not sure rather believe it or not.
“So we're talking about zombies?” came the unbelieving response. “Pretty sure that I'm not going to buy into that, you know how all these conspiracy theory nuts are. That dude probably got hurt because he was on drugs and made up the whole story. After all, zombies only exist in the movies.”
Laughing, Ethan agreed, “you're right, there's no way that people can come back from the dead, especially if their heart has just been removed.”
The conversation moved on to other things, leaving the thought of zombies behind them, at least for the moment.
Dr. Travis Carlock
He couldn't wrap his mind around what he had seen on the video but he knew that it was real, he had seen the evidence after all.
After returning to his hotel, the doctor called his supervisor, Dr. Lee Parish, at the CDC office in Atlanta.
“Hey Lee, it's Travis.”
“Hi Travis, how's Dallas treating you?” came the friendly voice across the receiver.
“I think we have a problem, I just sent a video to your email, it's a security tape from the local medical examiner's office. You need to watch it and then call me back,” directed Travis.
“Let me check to see if I have it,” he replied as Travis heard a keyboard rattling in the background, “and I do. I'll call you back in a few.”
“Thanks,” Travis said as the line went dead.
He grabbed a beer from the six-pack that he had bought on his way back to the hotel, he felt that he needed it after what he learned today. It wasn't long before he cracked open his second one, knowing he should slow down, but he needed to get his nerves calmed down first.
About halfway through his second beer, his cell phone rang.
“This is Travis.”
“Travis, it's Lee. I need samples from that body and I'm reassigning you to the infectious disease department at the John Carver Hospital in downtown Dallas,” Lee told him, sounding a little worried.
“I already sent some samples, they should be on a flight arriving there later tonight, I'll email you the flight details,” he said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “any idea what this is?”
“I'm not sure yet, we have been receiving scattered stories from across the country about people coming back to life and biting others but this is the first video evidence I've seen,” he admitted. “Whatever it is, we need to get on top of it and figure out just what's causing it and find a way to prevent it from spreading.
“You need to get with Dr. Aaron Lahusky over at the hospital, first thing in the morning. Although they normally just treat infectious diseases, he has a team who are working on this issue as we speak. They allegedly have one of the victims secured in their facility and are running tests on her,” Lee told him.
“Maybe I should head in tonight then,” he suggested.
Travis heard Lee sigh before replying, “No. Get some rest tonight, no telling when you'll get another chance.”
“Alright, I'll send you daily reports on anything we find, maybe we can get in front of this before it's too late.”
“Let's hope so,” responded Lee after a slight hesitation that didn't go unnoticed. “Don't forget to send me the flight information,” he reminded him as he disconnected the call.
Travis sent another quick email with the needed flight information before deciding that he might need something stronger than beer.
Tanya had just gotten in her SUV when her cell phone rang, groaning internally as she saw that it was her boss calling.
“Hello?”
“Where are you and why aren't you at the office?” Brian barked through the phone.
“Oh, hi Brian. I was just getting ready to head home because the police told me that the Butcher Block was now a crime scene and we wouldn't have access for the rest of the day while they collect the evidence,” replied Tanya, a lot nicer than she wanted to be. “How's your arm?”
“I'm sure it will be fine. You need to get back to work because someone from the CDC is on their way to meet me, but I'm stuck here at this so-called hospital, waiting on them to stitch me up. Since I may not be there before they arrive, you need to be.”
“Well, I am still here, just outside. I'll go back inside and wait for them so no need for you to hurry.”
“Like I have a choice to hurry? Just keep them there until I get back. They should be there at any time,” demanded Brian.
Tanya was confused. “It's only been a couple of hours, how did they get here so fast?”
“Don't know, don't care.”
Tanya heard Brian disconnect the call. “What an asshole,” she muttered, putting her phone in her purse and headed back into the Medical Examiner's office.
She had been back in her office for less than ten minutes when her office line buzzed.
“Yes, Jennifer?”
“I have a Dr. Carlock here from the CDC to see Brian, but he's not back yet.”
“Brian called and asked me to meet with him. Can you show him to my office please?”
“Of course, Mrs. Mayer.”
Tanya took a deep breath and again wondered why the CDC showed up so fast, before she had time to contemplate the question, Jennifer was walking in the doorway. “Mrs. Mayer, this is Dr. Carlock, from the CDC.”
“Thank you, Jennifer,” replied Tanya, as Jennifer turned and left the room.
“Dr. Carlock, nice to meet you,” she said as she stood and offered her hand.
“I'm sorry, I don't shake hands, too many germs. I'm sure you understand,” Dr. Carlock stammered, obviously disgusted by the gesture.
“Not a problem. I completely understand and please call me Tanya,” she told him, ignoring his discomfort, but wondering how he could work with blood if he detested germs so much.
“I was supposed to meet with your chief medical examiner, a Mr. Brian Lieberman, so I am a bit confused as to why I am talking to you.”
“I apologize. Brian is still at the hospital, getting the bite wound looked at. He should be back in a little while, but he asked me to meet with you until he returns. Please have a seat and let me know what you need from us,” replied Tanya as professionally as she could.
“Bite wound?” Dr. Carlock asked, confused. “No one said anything to me about a bite wound.”
“I'm sorry, I guess I should have asked what you were here for. I just assumed it had to do with the incident earlier today.”
“Mrs. Mayer...”
“Please, call me Tanya,” she invited him.
“Tanya then, my name is Dr. Travis Carlock. The CDC has sent me here to help investigate this so-called Super Flu. They felt it was important to already have someone on the front line so to speak, in many of the country's largest cities to see how this Super Flu was affecting different parts of the United States. We are interested in the cause of death findings for those who died from this flu. We would like to be present during some of the autopsies and take some of our own blood and tissue samples to send back to our labs. We, at the CDC, are very interested in what caused this outbreak.”
Tanya sighed. “Well, I guess it is a good thing you are here then. I should probably explain what happened earlier since it had to do with one of the flu victims, even though it doesn't make much sense”
“What do you mean, doesn't make much sense?” Dr. Carlock inquired.
“Well you probably won't believe me, but earlier, Brian was doing an autopsy on the first known death of a flu victim here in Dallas. In the middle of the autopsy, he was attacked by the victim.”
“Excuse me?” Dr. Carlock interjected. “What do you mean he was attacked?”
“Brian had just removed the victim's heart and was in the process of weighing it when the body sat up and bit him in the arm. I know it sounds crazy, but I saw it with my own eyes. I had to hit the man in the head with a fire extinguisher to keep him from attacking everyone else.”
“Wait, what? Okay, now I am confused. You're trying to tell me that a dead body attacked your chief medical examiner in the middle of the autopsy?” Dr. Carlock asked in disbelief.
“That is exactly what I am saying.”
“I do not have time for your games, Mrs. Mayer.” Dr. Carlock stood and glared at Tanya. “Obviously, I need to wait for Mr. Lieberman.”
Just as Tanya was about to reply, there was a knock on the door frame. “Excuse me, Mrs. Mayer, I am with the crime scene unit, we are still gathering evidence but I wanted to inform you that we will need everyone's fingerprints before we leave.”
“That shouldn't be a problem,” Tanya replied, “did you discover anything that would explain what happened?”
“Not really, I watched the video of the attack, and to be honest, I don't think we will ever be able to explain exactly what happened in there. That was some crazy shit, pardon my french, and it quite frankly creeped me out, I just want to hurry up get out of here.” The man visibly shook as a shiver ran down his spine. “Well, I better get back to it.”
“I can't say that I don't blame you for wanting to be done, I'll let everyone know about the fingerprints,” she promised him.
“Sounds good,” he said, turning to leave.
Dr. Carlock just stood there, slack-jawed, until the man had left, then his body slowly deflated back into the chair. “Maybe you should show me that video.”
Ethan Mayer
He made sure that the Escalade had been detailed, washed, dried and he even filled the tank up with gas before Mr. Hawkins arrived to pick up his new vehicle.
After spending almost two hours dealing with the gruff old man when it should have taken less than one, Ethan was thrilled to finally watch him drive off, glad he wouldn't have to deal with that particular pain in the ass for another year.
Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly called Topher.
“Is he finally gone?”
Ethan sighed before responding, “Yeah, it's safe for you to return.”
“I'm not sure that I want to,” admitted Topher. “Maybe it's time that I find a job somewhere else. As much as I love being around you all day, I'm tired of dealing with all of your old man's bullshit.”
Half expecting this old conversation to rear its ugly head, Ethan conceded the point, “I understand your frustration, believe me, I'm just as pissed at the whole situation as you are. Maybe we should both just find new jobs and screw me eventually taking over this place. Come on back and we'll go to the bar and talk about it after we get off work.”
“Really?” Topher couldn't contain his excitement. “Do you mean it? I know how badly you wanted to take over, it's not something that you should give up on a whim, even to make me happy.”
He nodded his head even though Topher couldn't see him do it. “Actually, I think I do,” admitted Ethan, surprising himself. “He has finally gone too far. Charlie's not planning on retiring anytime soon and he's too damn stubborn to die so it could be another twenty years before he hands over the reins. Even then, he may decide just to sell it and not let me have it because he is that big of a dick.”
“Wow! I wasn't expecting this. Have I told you recently just how much I love you?”
Ethan laughed. “Not today, anyway. Get your butt back here and sell some cars.”
“Yes sir!” replied Topher, happy at the thought of getting Ethan out from underneath his step-father's influence.
The rest of the workday seemed to both fly by and crawl ever so slowly at the same time, but eventually, it was over and the boys headed to Mike's Bar & Grill.
They sat at a table towards the back so that they wouldn't be disrupted by people entering and leaving the popular hangout.
Topher started the much-anticipated conversation, “I'm stoked that you're willing to leave Charlie's business and come with me to find another job, but I don't want you to rush into anything and then regret it later.”
“The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Charlie's never going to give me the business willingly, at least anytime soon and I hate the way he treats you. It might be easier to be with you in public if I wasn't always afraid that word would get back to him and then he'd fire both of us,” Ethan told him, fidgeting with the label on his beer bottle.
Nodding his head in agreement, Topher suggested, “Why don't we take it slow, we can brush off our resumes and I can start looking around to see what might be available for jobs in the area. If I find something that sounds promising for both of us, then we can take the next step and apply. This way, it's less likely for Charlie to find out until we are ready for him too. What do you think?”
“I like it, there's no major hurry so we don't have to take the first thing that comes along, but if we happen across the right job opportunity, then it won't be an issue to move forward with it either,” Ethan said as he sat up straighter in his chair, more confident in their decision than he had been earlier.
Topher reached across the table and clasped Ethan's hand in silent agreement, surprisingly, Ethan didn't pull away as he normally would in public. Maybe things really were changing, he thought as he smiled at his boyfriend.
Ethan got up to get them a couple more beers, a feeling of peace had settled in him and he felt good about the future even though it was still uncertain. He knew that they had made the right decision just by the fact that he no longer felt stressed out.
“Hey Mike, can I get two more Buds in the bottle?” he asked the owner of the bar, who always seemed to be working.
“Sure thing Ethan,” came the response. “How's the car business going?”
Shrugging, he replied, “Meh, it's about normal for this time of year.”
Mike laughed as he sat the two opened bottles of beer on the counter. “I know what you mean, I thought this Super Flu might slow business down some here, but thankfully it hasn't,” he leaned in towards Ethan as he lowered his voice. “I heard a rumor that a corpse came back to life and attacked the coroner this morning.”
“You're shitting me!” Ethan exclaimed as his eyes widened in surprise.
Shaking his head, Mike continued. “I shit you not. One of the coroner's assistants stopped in here earlier all shook up and his head was all bandaged up. When I asked him what happened, he told me that in the middle of the autopsy, the dead guy attacked the county coroner, who had just removed the man's heart. When this assistant went to help his boss, he got bit and it about ripped his ear off. Someone ended up crushing its skull in with a fire extinguisher in order to stop the attack. They are trying to keep it all hush, hush until they can figure out exactly what happened. I'm telling you that the man was freaked out and he was stone-cold sober when he got here and told me about it.”
“That's crazy. I'll have to check with my mom, she works there so she would know about this. Assuming that it is true, I'll need to start paying closer attention to the news in case it's not an isolated incident. Thanks for the heads up, Mike,” he told the bartender.
“Let me know if you hear anything to collaborate the guy's story, I hate to spread misinformation if I can help it. I've only told a few of my regulars about this so that they can keep their eyes and ears open and let me know if they find out anything to either dispute or confirm the story. Will you do the same?” Mike asked.
“Sure will, Mike,” he said as he laid some cash on the counter to pay for the beers and turned to head back to the table where Topher was impatiently waiting.
“That took a while,” Topher said as Ethan set the beer on the table and sat down. “What's got Mike looking so agitated?”
Ethan repeated the story that the bartender had told him, still not sure rather believe it or not.
“So we're talking about zombies?” came the unbelieving response. “Pretty sure that I'm not going to buy into that, you know how all these conspiracy theory nuts are. That dude probably got hurt because he was on drugs and made up the whole story. After all, zombies only exist in the movies.”
Laughing, Ethan agreed, “you're right, there's no way that people can come back from the dead, especially if their heart has just been removed.”
The conversation moved on to other things, leaving the thought of zombies behind them, at least for the moment.
Dr. Travis Carlock
He couldn't wrap his mind around what he had seen on the video but he knew that it was real, he had seen the evidence after all.
After returning to his hotel, the doctor called his supervisor, Dr. Lee Parish, at the CDC office in Atlanta.
“Hey Lee, it's Travis.”
“Hi Travis, how's Dallas treating you?” came the friendly voice across the receiver.
“I think we have a problem, I just sent a video to your email, it's a security tape from the local medical examiner's office. You need to watch it and then call me back,” directed Travis.
“Let me check to see if I have it,” he replied as Travis heard a keyboard rattling in the background, “and I do. I'll call you back in a few.”
“Thanks,” Travis said as the line went dead.
He grabbed a beer from the six-pack that he had bought on his way back to the hotel, he felt that he needed it after what he learned today. It wasn't long before he cracked open his second one, knowing he should slow down, but he needed to get his nerves calmed down first.
About halfway through his second beer, his cell phone rang.
“This is Travis.”
“Travis, it's Lee. I need samples from that body and I'm reassigning you to the infectious disease department at the John Carver Hospital in downtown Dallas,” Lee told him, sounding a little worried.
“I already sent some samples, they should be on a flight arriving there later tonight, I'll email you the flight details,” he said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “any idea what this is?”
“I'm not sure yet, we have been receiving scattered stories from across the country about people coming back to life and biting others but this is the first video evidence I've seen,” he admitted. “Whatever it is, we need to get on top of it and figure out just what's causing it and find a way to prevent it from spreading.
“You need to get with Dr. Aaron Lahusky over at the hospital, first thing in the morning. Although they normally just treat infectious diseases, he has a team who are working on this issue as we speak. They allegedly have one of the victims secured in their facility and are running tests on her,” Lee told him.
“Maybe I should head in tonight then,” he suggested.
Travis heard Lee sigh before replying, “No. Get some rest tonight, no telling when you'll get another chance.”
“Alright, I'll send you daily reports on anything we find, maybe we can get in front of this before it's too late.”
“Let's hope so,” responded Lee after a slight hesitation that didn't go unnoticed. “Don't forget to send me the flight information,” he reminded him as he disconnected the call.
Travis sent another quick email with the needed flight information before deciding that he might need something stronger than beer.
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