Dead Days

Chapter 3

The next hour drags on. Cole was wrapped in a body bag. He didn't deserve it. Danny walks up to me.

"Hey, Cpt. Stanley."

"It's just Jack now, buddy."

"Cole was like the dad of the precinct. He was the one who convinced me to stay with the police. I was considering leaving after I seen the aftermath of the bank robbery." I looked at the ground.

"It's not your fault, Cpt. You had no idea he had a bomb strapped to himself. No amount of training could of prepared you for that."

"Maybe so, buddy. But those people's blood is on my hands. Including Lauren's." Danny was silent for a few minutes. Chief walks up from behind us.

"It's good to see you, Jack."

"You too, chief."

"We lost a good man today. I have no doubt you'll be at his memorial service." He implies.

"I'll definitely be there, I don't have much to do now a days." He simply nods and goes on his way.

Danny says goodbye and then goes to his cruiser. Dale waves goodbye from his cruiser and pulls out. The only people left are the chief, the crime scene investigators and the paramedics.

The sun is setting behind the trees when I begin walking to my car. I sit there, trying to run what had happened through my mind. In all my years of service, I had seen death and pain. But never before have I seen someone live after that many bullets had went through them.

I roll the window down to let some air into the car.

One of the paramedics calls the other over. I look to see what the commotion is about but I can't, they're pointing inside the back of the ambulance.

I open the door to my car and step out, walking over to the back of the ambulance I see what can't be explained as none other than a miracle. Cole was sitting up on the gurney. He was struggling to get out of the body bag. The paramedics stood there dumbfounded.

"For fucks sakes, he's gonna suffocate in there, someone let him out." I say.

That snaps them into movement, they climb into the back of the van and start to unzip the bag.

The first thing I noticed was the Cole that I knew wasn't in that bag. His eyes were lifeless. The brown in his eyes had turned into a milky white. These odd lesions had formed on his face and he's snarling.

"Cole?" I asked. He snapped his head towards the paramedic on his left. With one quick motion he bit a chunk out of his shoulder.

The muscle was stretched past its limit and snapped. Tendons hung loosely from the wound an arterial blood spray covered the other paramedic.

His screams pierced the air. Cole, or what used to be Cole turned to his right and grabbed the arm of that paramedic and bit the inside of his forearm. The sound of his skin being pulled away from his body was sickening.

The screams of the two filled the air in some sort of horrible cacophony. Cole slid off of the gurney.

"Cole. Listen man, I love you like a brother. Don't do this." I plead with him. I don't have the heart to take out this man.

Him and I had become close friends, we were partners at one time. "Cole, please. Just put your hands up." The chief had come to my side. The hammer of his revolver already pulled back.

"Deputy Cole, I order you to stand down." Cole responded with a guttural moan. His dead eyes staring right into my soul.

Another moan escapes his throat. "This is your last chance deputy." Chiefs voice wafers. I can tell he doesn't want to shoot him. Cole charges. A single shot is fired and Cole falls to the ground.

"Chief, what the fuck is going on?" I ask as we make our way to the ambulance to check on the paramedics.

"I don't know, but Cole was dead. He was fucking gone. I seen the paramedics do everything they could."

The one that was bit on the shoulder was already gone. The one with the bite on the arm wasn't looking to good. I reached up in the cabinet above him to find some gauze.