Trapped (Part One) - BWWM Dark Romance - Zombie Apocalypse

Trapped (Chapter 1)

CHAPTER ONE

Steven managed to calm himself during his drive by running over what he had been told about the virus and the outbreak in his head, the voices and words on replay, acting as some sort of salve.

They will be depersonalized, he had been told. The individual who had lived before will cease to exist as brain damage wipes away their character, their personality. Eventually, they will become almost like automatons.

Steven observed the landscape: skeletons of all types—metal, brick, and human—were everywhere. Healthy bodies attacked and relieved of flesh by the famished, diseased Morphs had by now been picked clean by scavengers—vultures and coyotes happily moved in.

Even some of those animals were now dead from having feasted on a diseased body that had fallen from murder or suicide.

The higher cerebral functions get reduced, leaving the more primitive parts.

The first wave of military responses had been a disaster. Local cops and soldiers found out the hard way that while keeping the peace was easier in the daytime, it was beyond life-threatening at night. No matter how many of them were armed and ready, the rabid diseased were plentiful, hungry, and emboldened by night. The defense teams didn't really know what they were in for and it had worked against them.

You won't be able to tell all of the infected immediately—like other diseases, the infection doesn't manifest itself the same way in everyone.

Ending up with sick armed policemen and soldiers turned out to be a very bad idea.

Forces had to be pulled back as regrouping for the defense plan took place, but it was too late—the virus spread faster and faster.

Most people show telltale symptoms within hours. At first, it looks like the flu, but later, discolorations occur in the eyes, the skin, and on the tongue—which, hopefully, one does not get close enough to see. The face may begin to sag in parts, the connective tissue no longer functioning as it should.

Human trials had been running for a while, and the virus now acted just as the scientists and engineers wanted; it had all the desired effects and behaved within all their time perimeters. Everyone had been so damned proud.

Still, some of the infected will look almost fine until nearly the end at the turnover point when they become famished, bloodthirsty monsters. There will be no doubt when this stage is reached.

The experiment had been a success—every aspect of the new weapon had been controlled—except for the part where it slipped out into the public without their knowledge.

As for the victim, symptoms begin with a headache and fever. Later, nausea and vomiting may occur.

Initially, everyone was advised to stay inside no matter what, or to quickly get inside and lock up if they weren't already indoors. They were warned to stay away from anyone who looked sick in any way.

It was the best advice—necessary to keep the healthy safe from the infected for a time—until things could be figured out. But, of course, everyone wouldn't listen. There was always some bullheaded asshole putting everyone else in danger, wasn't there?

Some people left to buy food and guns, and some of those folks never made it back home.

A sensitivity to light eventually sets in, as well as an aversion to liquids. The victim becomes churlish before they appear to zone out completely. They become almost vacant until they come alive again, ready for your blood.

Some people stayed inside, but some also answered their doors to someone in distress, unknowingly allowing an infected person in.

Soon, hotels, hospitals, and schools became packed with hope and easy meals for the diseased.