Sudden Death: A Zombie Novel (61 page)

Chapter 1

Breaking news

Herb Bennett first heard about the situation in the neighboring city of Decatur, Alabama during his drive to work at the culvert factory in Athens. The radio report was short on details, stating only that several people had been attacked at Decatur General Hospital, and that the authorities were seeking suspects in the brutal assaults.

As the workday progressed, there were rumors that something big was happening in Decatur. Apparently, there had been several murders, and the police were said to be canvassing the hospital, as if they thought some suspects might still be located on the premises.

Herb decided to eat lunch in his truck so that he could try to learn more about what was happening in the neighboring city. According to the news he heard, roadblocks had been set up at every street leading out of the city.

Athens is located fourteen miles south of the Tennessee state line along the Interstate 65 corridor. Decatur is situated fifteen miles further to the south. Herb knew that there were numerous roads leading to the city. According to the report he heard on the radio, city, county, and state trooper units were working together to contain and capture the violent criminals. The public was being advised to stay inside their homes and keep all doors and windows closed and locked while law enforcement officials sought the killers.

That night, Herb ate his dinner in the living room so that he could watch the news about the violence in Decatur. The story had captured the attention of the national news media. Thinking that they had an opportunity to spark another round of draconian firearms legislation, they pounced on the story. They were disappointed to learn that not a single victim of the violence had been shot. Then they discovered that the spokesmen for the authorities who were handling the situation were hiding something and the networks present in Decatur raced to be the first to uncover the truth about what was happening in the city.

Herb was shocked to learn that Decatur General Hospital was still under lockdown and that no visitors were being permitted inside. In fact, no one was being allowed within blocks of the facility, and everyone near it had been evacuated. One reporter, speaking to the camera before the press conference began, said that there had been claims that several patients had been moved to an undisclosed location. During a press conference with city officials and representatives of law enforcement, she asked why the city was covering up the fact that some patients had been relocated, while others were still trapped inside the compromised medical facility.

Herb sat up straighter and leaned toward his television screen with interest. “I don’t know where you got your information, but I can assure you that it isn’t true. Not one living soul has been removed from that hospital,” the Chief of Police stated.

“That’s not true,” Angela Hutton, the young female reporter countered. Then she held up an 8 x 10 color photograph that showed a woman on a gurney being rolled toward a waiting ambulance. “Note that this patient is restrained, and her gurney is being moved by members of
a police team dressed in tactical gear,” she added in a tone that conveyed righteous anger. “There were others, but I only had time to prepare one photo before this press conference.”

“Where did you get that?” asked the Police Chief.

“A concerned citizen videoed the incidents and passed that on to me. My network is going to air it after this press conference is over, so unless you want this story to break without an explanation from you, then I suggest you tell us the truth. What is going on at that medical facility and why are some of the patients being restrained and removed against their will by law enforcement?”

“Those people had become violent. They were a threat to the safety of the other patients and the staff of the hospital. It was necessary to move them for the safety of the rest of the patients as well as the staff. Now, this is an ongoing investigation, and things are still happening in the field that requires my attention. I’ll take a couple more questions from someone else, but then I have to go. Next question?” responded the Police Chief.

“But I still have other questions,” Miss. Hutton complained.

“I’m sure you do. I’m equally certain that that would probably be the case if we devoted the entire press conference to you exclusively, but that would hardly be fair to the rest of the reporters present,” the Police Chief responded. His comments drew support from many of the other reporters waiting to ask their questions.

Minutes later, the press conference ended. Herb learned nothing significant during the rest of that event. He was about to change the channel when one of the news anchors said, “And now for the footage Angela obtained during her investigation of the Decatur violence.”

Herb watched the footage that depicted several patients being loaded into waiting ambulances. Just as the photograph Angela produced at the press conference suggested, the patients were strapped to their gurneys, and they were loaded into the ambulances by what appeared to be SWAT team members.

The scene then shifted back to the male anchor, who said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just received some additional footage from one of our affiliates who was in position to record an incident that just happened. I must caution you that this is raw footage, and we haven’t had time to edit it for content. I warn you that this contains graphic violence and is disturbing. This video isn’t suitable for children, so if you have children in the room, you will need to remove them from the room immediately.”

The video began innocently enough. Three military style helicopters, flying low over the city, flew past the camera, which was set up atop a nearby parking garage. As the video ran, the news anchor provided background information. He said, “Over the past several hours, our cameraman on the location has reported multiple instances in which he heard what sounded like gunfire coming from the hospital. The last incident occurred approximately two hours before this video was filmed.”

The camera followed the helicopters as they flew to a position near the parking garage where they landed, one by one, on a helipad, and disgorged their passengers.

Herb watched with interest as a large military tactical unit gathered on the ground and began to make their way toward the hospital. He thought that they were members of the 20th Special Forces Airborne Group, which he knew was headquartered in Alabama.

From his vantage point atop the parking garage, the cameraman had a view of the front entrance, as well as a smaller entry on the northern side, which was facing his position. Because of this, he had a bird’s-eye view of what happened next.

The large Special Forces unit split into two smaller groups. One headed for the side entrance, and the other moved toward the front. The side entry team reached their objective first, but waited with their backs to the red brick wall near the entry while the other team moved into position. A minute passed with no change to the situation on the ground, but then the entry teams went to work.

The cameraman focused on the side entry team because they were closest. He tightened the frame until Herb could make out the details of what was transpiring with ease. The entry team had found the door locked. They set small demolitions charges that would blow the lock, and then they detonated it.

The team located at the north end of the hospital rushed into the side entrance. The camera then swept back to the front of the hospital. The video focused on the front entry team that had also been forced to blow the lock. Unfortunately, the glass doors had been shattered by the explosion. It was safety glass, so it was still in place, but, due to its spider-webbed condition, the team couldn’t make out any details inside the darkened building.

The point man opened the door and was met by several crazed individuals who grabbed him and pulled him inside. He screamed as he disappeared from view. Other men moved to the door and once more opened it. This time, they were ready. When two of the people inside the hospital tried to attack them, they were met with a hail of bullets that slammed into their upper torsos, flinging them back through the door. Those two men rushed inside. The sound of nonstop rifle fire told Herb that more of the crazies had met them.

The rest of the men rushed inside, but then the cameraman pulled the camera back to a view of the northern entryway. Herb saw several soldiers stagger back out of the hospital. He could also hear gunfire in the background, but wasn’t sure whether it was coming from the front or the north end of the building.

The camera zoomed in on the soldiers who had fled the confines of the hospital. All three had been wounded. One man was holding the right side of his face with blood seeping between his fingers. He moved his hand away from his face and tried to eject his spent magazine from his rifle, but his hand was slick with blood, so he found it to be a difficult task. Herb stared aghast at the terrible wound on the man’s face. He could see some of the soldier’s teeth through the gaping hole that had been torn out of his flesh. He shifted his attention to the other two men and saw that one had been wounded on the neck, and the other had lost his nose and upper lip.

A man and woman wearing hospital gowns walked out the door. They saw the three soldiers and moved toward them. The man with the wounded neck had finally managed to reload his weapon. He turned his M4 toward the two civilians and opened fire. He was firing in semi auto
mode. His rounds hit them both twice in the center of the chest, knocking them backwards, but they stayed on their feet.

Blood loss was weakening the soldiers. Two had already collapsed and the man who was firing at the civilians was growing weaker by the moment. He seemed to be having trouble holding up his rifle. Several more people emerged from the hospital. Two were wearing police uniforms, but they had obviously been attacked.

As the two police officers turned and walked toward the soldier, he stopped firing and shouted for them to hurry to his side. When they reached him, the two officers grabbed him and began biting the hapless soldier.

By that point, the sounds of gunfire from within the hospital had died down. The civilians and police officers at the northern entry continued their attack on the downed soldiers, ripping great chunks of flesh out of their faces and necks.

In the background, the cameraman could be heard swearing softly and retching. Herb couldn’t blame him, because as he watched the video, his own stomach was churning.

Then Herb saw something that chilled him to the core. Several of the blood spattered people left the bodies of the soldiers they had attacked and began to walk away from the hospital. He knew that whatever the disease was that had caused the people to turn into homicidal maniacs was about to spread outside the hospital. He didn’t know that patient zero, Roy Akins, had already spread the microbes well outside the containment area, nor did he know that the hosts were now located in two densely populated residential areas.

Helicopters that had transported the Special Forces unit to the site hovered overhead. One of the crewmen, armed with a rifle, shot several of the people who were attacking the bodies of the downed soldiers. As more of the zombies exited the building, gunners aboard the other two helicopters added their rifles to the battle when it became apparent to them that they were carriers of the disease as well.

The cameraman atop the parking garage saw several of the zombies looking at him. They headed in a slow shambling walk in his direction. “You’d best get your ass out of there!” an amplified voice shouted. The
scene tilted to focus on one of the choppers hovering in the area. “They are coming for you! They are already in the garage! Leave now!” the same voice shouted.

The scene shifted abruptly as the cameraman got into his truck. “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but that’s all of the video we have for you at the moment. The camera was facing the cameraman’s leg as he sought to escape. However, the audio itself is dramatic, so please listen carefully. We apologize for the language you’re about to hear, but our associate was understandably under duress by this time,” explained the news anchor.

Several times, Herb heard the sounds of squealing tires. The only thing the video feed was good for was getting an idea of the ambient lighting in the garage. As the vehicle drove through alternating light conditions, the cameraman’s jeans would go from blue to almost black due to the lack of light.

As the truck maneuvered through the parking garage, the newsman could be heard alternately cursing and praying for safe delivery from his current nightmare situation. Herb heard a terrified shout from the driver, and then the sound of a thud. It sounded as if something had impacted the windshield. The driver grew silent and the sound of the engine racing even faster was all that Herb could hear for a few seconds, but then there were a series of screams and thuds. Herb assumed that the man was hitting the crazies, but wasn’t certain.