A New Dawn:The Infected

The Beginning of the End

   The End gave way to a messy and catastrophic beginning. The birth of a new dawn in which governments crumpled like paper dolls and modern civilization fell to it knees everywhere. All forms of communication became extinct. As far as it was known, hundreds of thousands of the American population alone were deceased. The state of the rest of the world remained unknown. Independant aircraft seeking those answers were shot from the sky by what remained of the military, adding to the ever rising death toll. Whoever was lucky enough to survive, if one could call it that, were on their own in this new and dangerous world.

It wasn't a war time conquest that caused the fall of civilization. It was a silent plague that swept through unsuspecting valleys, blew across still oceans and whispered through the forests, delivering an unwanted guest by overnight shipping. Death. The disease spread like wildfire, arriving at the doorsteps of thousands during the very beginning.

At first, it only seemed like the common cold. Sore throat, fever, runny nose and a cough. That changed rapidly within the first few days and people began dropping like birds from the sky.

Once these symptoms began, a persons expiration date was eminent and their internal clocks began ticking down. Usually the infected were dead within five days. Death was unavoidable once the disease had been contracted. It never left any survivors and even if it had, it wouldn't be a life worth living.

The first stages of the disease were burning hot fevers, spiking to levels that left its victims incoherent. Motor functions followed. Although the fever broke after a day or so, the cognitive damage inflicted was irreversible. It left them with swollen, sunken eyes that held no spark of life. They became unresponsive to the human tongue and the only form of speech managed was frenzied babbling.

The second stage was a horrible, festering rash that covered the persons entire body. Very similar to its ancient cousin, leprosy. However it did have some differences. In extreme cases of leprosy a persons appendages would essentially rot off, but this disease the victims limbs remained intact. The rash caused skin and tissue necrosis that resulted in angry red welts that would secrete a mixture of pus and blood. The smell of decaying flesh was impossible to stomach.

In the very few cases where the person appeared to be more alert, they would pick and scratch at the skin, often ripping away entire strips of flesh. At this point, physical violence also began.

The fourth and final stage of the disease was the most gruesome. The lungs would fill with blood and fluid, becoming trapped. Under the extreme pressure it caused, the lungs would explode and the victim would then suffocate and drown in their own blood.

All of this information had unfortunately became privy to me because I had witnessed it more than once first hand with my parents and older brother. What was more traumatic was the men in Hazmat suits coming into my home and removing their bodies and burning them in my backyard. In a morbid way, I was almost thankful they had passed during the beginning of the outbreak before the world turned to Hell on Earth.

                                                                             Chapter 1

Two weeks and three days after my family's deaths, it came. The knock on the front door that would change my life forever and what made me into the person I would become in the time that followed.

The noise was deafening as it rang through the empty house, devoid of all life besides myself, if one would even consider me part of the living. Like the house, I was empty and hollow inside. At this point, I would have welcomed death with open arms, holding the door wide open to embrace it like I would an old friend.

My eyes travelled to the battery operated clock on the wall, as the power had gone out over a week ago and showed no signs of returning. It was hardly past eight in the morning and I grumbled at how early it was. Last night was the first night in two weeks I had finally managed to get more than a few hours of sleep, Throwing the blanket off myself I stormed down the stairs about ready to give whoever was standing on my front steps hell.