Short Short Thriller Stories

Chaos Part 1

"-and over there is the break room." The lady said as she waved towards the little room in the corner.

I smiled, nodded in acknowledgement of her words. 

I quickly trailed behind her as we made our way down the hallway to the lab I would be working in. The first day is always nerve racking, but I was excited to start my career in science. Fresh out of college, ready to make my first paycheck as a working women.

She opened the door to the lab and ushered me through. There were four other people either working on a computer or on a bench pipetting some kind of substance. They all looked up from their work and greeted me. The lady that gave the tour, handed me a white lab coat.

"Here, you'll need to put this on for sanitation reasons and always wear gloves." The tour lady said.

I began putting my lab coat on, I suddenly paused, hearing a loud buzzing sound from the side pocket of my leggings.

"No phones in the lab!" the tour lady warned.

"I'm sorry! I'll turn it off." 

I fumbled around, struggling to get my phone out of my pants, almost dropping it in the process. Once securely in my clammy hands, I noticed that the screen was flashing red with big letters reading "Warning". I stopped fumbling with the phone and squinted at the screen as if I suddenly forgot how to read.

"Tessa, please, get rid of your phone." the lady pleaded this time.

"Hang on, somethings wrong." I said unsure as I turned the phone screen towards her.

"Is this some kind of joke?" The lady sounded angry now, tired of the time wasted on this.

"No, no I swear! I don't-" Is all I could get out before the five computers in the lab started flashing red with the word "Warning". But this time, there was a warning sound coming from all of the computers at once. Everyone in the lab froze as they turned to watch the screens.

A voice started talking through the computers. "This is the Emergency Broadcast System, a National Emergency has occurred. This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test. Until further notice, stay indoors, barricade windows and doors." 

The broadcast continued to talk through the speakers, but our attention was drawn elsewhere. The staff ran to the windows, following the blood curling scream that had rang through the air. I quickly followed behind, looking down at the sidewalk from the second floor window. 

A women in workout clothes was being chased by a tall male covered in blood from head to toe.

"What is going on down there!" someone yelled.

"Is he bleeding from his eyes?" another asked.

I squinted hard as I pressed my forehead against the glass, trying to confirm what was really unraveling before our eyes.

We watched helplessly as the male caught up to the women with ease. He lunged at her, knocking her off her feet, ripping into her neck before she even hit the ground. The broken blood vessels spewed all over the once dry pavement, creating a large puddle of warm liquid. My jaw dropped in horror as my heart sank to my stomach. It was suddenly silent in the lab. No one said a word as we watched the women bleed out.  As it slowly began to sink in, a hint of excitement rose within me. It's happening. 

All of the zombie shows and video games I've played over the years has been training me for this exact moment. I felt a little more confident now than I did five seconds ago, but the speed that the guy had was still worrisome. Runners were always the ones I feared the most and hoped would never be in a real apocalypse, but it looks like their the ones running the show.