Vile Vacancy

Chapter 1-The Outbreak

       I could hear it's footsteps dragging across the old concrete floor, getting closer and closer to the rusted and deteriorating locker I was in. Each step I heard, I could feel my sweat drip down my face and onto my neck. Strands of my dark hair were sticking against the cold sweat that I was covered in. I could look through the three slates in the locker door, but all I could see was the darkness in front of my eyes. I felt as if I were blind, my eyes were open yet I could not see. 

      I could hear it getting closer and closer. It's foul odor made me sick, I felt the urge to vomit. I could taste the bile travel up my throat and into my mouth, the taste was horrible. I knew I couldn't make a sound or it would find me, I tried to cover my nose from the repulsive odor with my hand. My hands were shaking, the hot air streaming out of my nose from my heavy breathing was hitting the side of my hand. I knew I had to slow down my breathing or it would find where I was hiding. The door to the room I was in slammed open, I could see a thick cloud of dust fog up the doorway. 

        Oh God, there it was. It's foul breath illuminated and filled the locker, it was standing right in front of me. The only thing standing between it and I was this old rusted locker door. 

1,468 days earlier.....

      Infra-Med was the research medical facility my uncle had worked for. He loved his job with a passion, he would always tell us stories as kids about how one day he would cure cancer. Infra-Med was the top research medical facility in the world. They did all sorts of experiments on rats to try and create vaccines which would cure things like HIV and AIDS. Trial after trial, they were never successful. 

      It was the 23rd of August when a coworker of my uncle, John Stein, had come up with an astonishing breakthrough. Stein had created a vaccine which he believed would reverse the effects of Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease. After the trials on rats turned out to be very successful, he decided it was time to do trials on human beings. He broadcasted on almost every television network about his "risk-free" trials and the miracle it would do. Thousands of people from all over the world had come to our small town of Gattinwood to be a part in these trials. 

      Infra-Med had an enormous research lab where they would conduct these breakthrough trials at. The lab was clean and tidy, it smelled of lemon and lavender. There were two rows of chairs on each side of the room, each with stainless steel operating tables on the side of them. I remember my uncle bringing my brother and I into this lab to be able to witness the amazing Doctor Stein at work. Many of his test subjects were old and most were dying from the mental diseases, but a few were young, with hopes that this doctor could cure what their brains couldn't. 

      The line for these trials wrapped three times around the building, and blocked off all traffic in the area.  I couldn't believe how many different cultures and races stood in this line, but somehow they were all alike, and dealing with the same horrific disease. Each test subject had a number of their own, as one would leave the facility, Doctor Stein would call the next number and seat them in the closest chair available. On each stainless steel operating table, Doctor Stein had only one syringe that held the blue colored vaccine. He would inject them with the blue liquid, pull the syringe out of their arm, and they would leave. It felt as if this were a factory assembly line. Sit, inject, leave, next. After Doctor Stein had spent 13 straight hours injecting test subjects, it was finally over and the three of us left for the night. 

August 30th is a day that is fried into my brain for eternity, because it was the beginning of this nightmare I am living in. I remember the screams and the cries for help, I remember my mother sitting on the sofa in the living room crying, and I remember the panic that swept the globe. Every channel, every broadcast, every radio station were all saying the same thing, "The end of days is upon us". "The end of days?" I remember asking myself, how could our world in one day go from perfectly normal to a doomsday? This has to be some sort of joke, it has to be. 

I had to turn the television off, I started to get sick to my stomach. My family always made fun of me for my highly sensitive stomach, and gag reflexes. Almost anything could make me vomit. I went into the kitchen to get some water to calm my stomach, as I was chugging down the ice cold water I overheard my mother turn the television back on. From the kitchen I could vaguely hear the news reporter, but I could make out most of what he said. "Hospitals and medical clinics have been swarmed worldwide with millions of people reporting symptoms of Deliria and rashes all over their bodies. This is the greatest outbreak we have ever had, please stay indoors and away from others." 

I ran to my room and got dressed, I didn't want to and I knew I needed to stay indoors where it was safe, but I knew I had to go to a hospital and see for myself what was going on. I ran out the front door telling my mother I would be back soon, I hopped on my bike and I headed towards the hospital. 

The hospital was off  Fletcher and Main street, about four blocks away from my house. As I rode my bicycle past the hospital I remember seeing a woman. Her clothes were all torn and dirty, her hair was knotted and frail. I rode my bike closer to get a better look. She was in an odd stance, her arms were curled with her elbows to her ribs and her hands continuously trembled and shook against her chest. She kept whispering something, but I couldn't make out the words. As I rode closer she stopped what she was doing, and I could see her head start to turn in my direction. Her eyes were blood shot, and she had a bloody, disgusting rash on the right side of her cheek. Her stare dug deep into my soul, I could feel the hate from her gaze. Just as I was about to pedal away, she let out a blood curdling scream. I could see the vein on her forehead bulging out, and her face turned blue from screaming. I held up my hands to my ears, and closed my eyes. 

As fast as she started screaming, the screams suddenly stopped. I took my hands off of my ears, and when I finally gathered up the courage to open my eyes, she was gone.