Outbreak

Chapter 2

Ezran

Once human, the Earth-bitten are disgusting, mutated creatures. Their previously clear eyes are milky and unfocused, and their sockets sag below the knobbly nose. Their skin shines with a nauseating moisture. Their limbs are bents at unnatural angles, and it amazes me how they manage to run so fast on what appear to be useless legs. They wear torn and faded garments that used to be clothes, and their hair, overgrown and oily, hangs in stringy ropes around their gruesome faces. This one must have been a woman, because the hair is longer than normal, and there's a slightly more slender shape in its body.

I reach for a poison-gas grenade in my pocket, and whisper to Mal, "On my signal, run for the ladder."

Mal's head nods slightly to show he understands. We won't have much time to escape - the things are lightning fast. I suddenly pull the pin from the grenade and hurl it as far as I can at the zombie.

"NOW!!"

Mal and I tear for the ladder. As he frantically clambers up it, swinging from side to side, I turn and fire at the zombie with my magnum. The zombie is screeching and thrashing its mutilated body in an attempt to ward of the poisonous gas wafting around it, and it jerks with each bullet that hits it. Soon the noise will attract more of its kind.

This is not good.

The split second Mal reaches the roof, I spin around and begin to hoist myself vigorously up the ladder. Suddenly I feel a cold, clammy hand on my ankle, and scream when I look down. The zombie is clinging onto me. I kick as hard as I can, and manage to make contact with its head, forcing it to let go. I make it to the hold in the roof, and hoist myself up onto the rough cement.

"It's coming up!" Mal cries. I look down, and see the zombie clumsily clinging to the ladder, slowly hoisting its way up. I grab my pocket knife from my belt, and saw at one of the ropes holding the ladder to the roof. Mal catches on and does the same for the other rope. With a snap, the rope rips from the roof, and the ladder plummets towards the ground. I look away, and hear a sickening crunch as the zombie hits the ground.

"Let's go," I mutter to Mal. "I don't want to hang around any longer." Drawing a shaky breath, he nods and follows me back to the house.

Emmett

Three weeks ago Eric and Taylor were on a mission, and were chased back to the house by two zombies. The zombies got inside and they were about to kill them, but I stopped them. There was a rare opportunity to study the monsters, and maybe find a cure or vaccine against the Infection.

With the help of Taylor and Jason, we very carefully put the zombies into the house next door to us, in the garage. We carved a small hole in the plaster to look through at them with, and a desk with a PC sits parallel to the garage entrance, at the base of the stairs. The front door of the house next door is heavily barred, and all the spare furniture we could find is barricaded against it, to ensure I'm safe when I'm studying the zombies. We also made sure to disable the electronic garage door system, so that the zombies couldn't escape and more couldn't get in.

I'm playing Minecraft when Jason comes downstairs. He stops and smiles when he sees my screen.

"Needed a break?"

I sigh and lean back into my chair. "I haven't gotten anywhere with finding a cure. What even the point anymore?" Jason pulls one of the chairs from the makeshift barricade and sits next to me. "What do you know so far?" I pull up a document on the computer to show him what I've learned.

"'The zombies don't seem to have any weaknesses,'" I read aloud. "'They have unnatural speed and agility, but no signs of intelligence. They don't seem to acknowledge their own kind, only humans. Guesses: The Infection might have come from an insect, a science experiment or a plant.'" I grimace. "It's not much." Jason pats my shoulder. "It's a start." My head snaps up. "Actually..." I open a drawer and pull out a syringe and a vial containing a cloudy green substance. "I think I have a cure."

Jason almost falls over backwards in surprise. "WHAT?!" he shouts. I smile nervously, but hesitantly. "I've been working on it for weeks, but I don't know if I want to try it. What if it makes them more dangerous?" Jason pulls out a magnum. 

"Then I kill them both."

I spend the next few minutes taping pieces of cardboard to my arms and putting on several extra layers of protective clothing. Soon I'm ready as ever, and I pick up the vial.

I examine it warily. It's a combination of carefully measured chemicals and powdered medicines, and I have no idea if it'll work. I inhale deeply, pop off the small lid, and dip the syringe in. I extract a few millilitres of the medicine, and set the vial gingerly on the desk. I cautiously step towards the garage where the two captive Earth-bitten are.

There's an installed glass screen between me and the monsters, but that doesn't make me feel any safer. The two things are leaning against opposite ends of the room. Their eyes are glazed over, and they look half asleep. Their breathing is uneven, and their limbs occasionally twitch. Once I get over the primary gruesome details, I look at their less noticeable features. The first zombie is slightly shorter, with curly but tangled blonde hair. The other is short as well, with what used to be straight dark brown hair. My guess is these two were Infected when they were children. The zombies don't age, they just rot continuously.

Jason silently blows a sleeping dart into the brown haired one to be safe while I ready the syringe in my hand. I lunge quickly and silently at the other zombie and plunge the needle into its neck before it can react.

I hurriedly push in the plunger, wait a few seconds, then pull back when the zombie begins to realise what's going on. I run back into the safe room and lock the door behind me as the zombie moans and staggers upright, and I pant and catch my breath from the rush of adrenaline. I turn to look at the zombie as Jason slaps me on the back in a congratulatory way. "Hopefully it works." 

But the zombie doesn't change, only limps around the room dazedly. 

I shake my head. "I told you. It was pointless. It would never have—" 

Then the zombie speaks.