Dead Air (Book 1 of the Biohazard Saga)

Chapter 4: Bloodbath

You would think after all the zombie shows people watched, it would somewhat prepare you for a real-life event. The truth is, however, no amount of The Walking Dead could prepare me for the scene unfolding before my eyes.

The voice of my old Biology lecturer Mr Turnbold echoed through my mind.

'A bite force of a human being is relatively small, roughly around 120 pounds of bite pressure exerted. However, most of the time, we rarely use our full bite potential as it could damage our teeth or molars. Every part of our body has a preset mental limit, to ensure that it doesn't get injured.'

Whatever limit scientists had determined for the human bite force, Carmen seemed to have surpassed it all as she ripped open Mrs Davis' throat with one violent move, a crunching noise of teeth shattering as she did it.

A spray of blood soaked the screaming onlookers who stood frozen in fear at what they were witnessing. A scream from one of them broke the spell and a stampede of people trying to escape the scene followed suit.

Hell had broken loose and the nightmare was far from over.

As Mrs Davis' body slumped to the floor, leaking blood, Carmen got on all fours and started licking the blood pooling around her mother's body like some deranged animal. Mr Davis had been pulled back by the Taiwanese stewardess as he screamed for his wife and daughter.

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The doctor had scrambled all the way to the end of the row, and he had wet himself in the process. He didn't sign up for this. The only reason he had been on this flight in the first place was that he had a conference to attend on the island. Wondering if he could climb over the chairs without the girl noticing, he stepped onto the seat slowly.

It creaked under his weight, but Carmen seemed to be engrossed in her vile acts so he gave a sigh of relief. He lifted his leg over the seat, turned back to Carmen, only to find her missing. His heart rate accelerated as he scanned the seats and aisle for any sign of her.

He hurriedly climbed over the seat, but unfortunately slipped in the process, landing painfully on the floor, squished in between two rows of seats and struggled to get to his feet. The leg compartments on the plane were very narrow and he wasn't exactly in the best of shape either.

A sound from his left made his blood freeze and he turned to face a snarling Carmen. Her jaw was crooked, many of the teeth broken from the force she used to rip out her mother's throat. Blood was still dripping down the sides of her lips, her once blue dress now dyed a deep crimson.

She was fast and before the doctor could react, Carmen had launched herself at him and bit into his nose. Thrashing around, he managed to get to his feet and fling Carmen to the wall of the cabin, her body hitting it with a sickening thud... but not before she had bitten off a chunk of the doctor's nose.

He was crying and feeling at the gaping mess of sinew and flesh where his nose had once been.

If only he had not been so distracted by his predicament, he would have seen Mrs Davis stand up and stumble towards him.

It was only when he heard screams from the flight attendant did he see Mrs Davis. Too late – she bit down on him as he tried to push her back, tears and blood mingling in a curdled scream.

What was once Carmen, with half her head now dented from the impact, started ripping into his heel. The doctor flailed and fought for a few more minutes before tripping and falling back between the rows of seats.

His screams were snuffed out as life gushed out of him.

The dead had started to rise, and the bloodbath was about to begin.

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Call me a coward if you want, but my first thought when I saw the doctor go down was to get the hell out of there. You tend to feel that way after seeing a man get eaten alive. The stench of death and the rusty scent of blood pervaded the area, and I was ready to hurl up my breakfast.

By this time, most of the onlookers had fled the area, huddling at both ends of the plane. Several unfortunate people lay immobile on the ground, trampled by the torrent of terrified passengers. Many of whom would never get up again. I think everyone had seen enough zombie films to understand what was going on.

Though no one truly understood the science behind it or if anything they saw on TV had any shred of truth but... the general rule was that if you get bitten, you get infected. You get infected... you are done for. Period!

More screams echoed from the front as Carmen and Mrs Davis attacked terrified passengers. As panicked passengers started to evacuate the area, I found myself being pushed to the back of the plane.

Was I worried about my sister and my buds? Fuck yeah, I was... but right now... I had to fend for my life. The mob of panicked passengers had pushed me all the way to the back of the plane.

Bite. Infect. Kill. Reanimate. 

Driven by these four thoughts, the number of infected started to grow. Almost like as if they were programmed, they launched themselves at the closest passengers and dragged them away from the others, making quick work of them, adding another body to their ranks.

I found myself pinned against the toilet door as passengers backed up against the wall and between the back rows, trying in vain to fend off the growing group of badly disfigured and semi-dismembered passengers. 

I was finding it a little hard to breathe as the passengers forcibly backed up further against the wall. The only thing that ran through my mind was how shitty it would be if I was to die being squashed and suffocated to death. 

Feeling slightly lightheaded, I closed my eyes, praying for it to be done and over with... only to hear a click and I felt myself falling backwards... into an abyss...