Apocalyptic Infection: Calm

It started as murmurs in a few eastern European countries, some sickness spreading amongst the small farming villages in the mountains. A small worry that seemed to be under the control of local governments. Then came the scattered news reports of rioters becoming increasingly violent and the near genocidal mass murders that authorities approved. The people and governments around the world cried out against these supposed dictators and rogue governments that were vilified in all aspects.



Information was scarce, whether we were blind and deaf because of our own government or others, in the dark from the start. Soon it became clear that something big was on the horizon. People lost their confidence in every aspect of their lives, almost as if the subconscious of all humanity was connected and instinctively knew that the world would change almost overnight.



Then it happened. News finally leaked out of china that an unknown virus that nobody could identify was sweeping east. The few reports at first only gave us a few brief images of violence in the Asian countryside. Then, just before the world went crazy, we got the first real video. An attack at an airport where an American with a small video camera happened to be standing.



At the beginning of the video its an occasion that seems to have mixed emotions. The cameraman and several others are preparing to board a plan destined for America while their companions are headed deeper into asia. Then the screams of people erupt from behind them as gunshots ring out. The camera whirls around as six people dressed in rags roaring and attacking the people trapped in the gates of the airport, ripping at their flesh with their hands and teeth. Soon a stampede of horrified people comes running toward the camera and he soon joins the ranks for a moment, then gets on to a bench at a wall to tape the madness. He witnesses several of the attackers continuing to give chase to those around them, while two more stumble along at the back much more slowly. He zooms in on the slower ones then to the face of one of the ghouls.



The blood dripping from their face is scary enough but they are ghostly white and have blank expressions. Their ghastly moans ring throughout the area. Large wounds on their arms and torso seem old and clotted, with no blood whatsoever coming from them, though their clothes are coated in both blood from these old wounds and their victims. The camera pans to one of the faster ghouls. This one seems somewhat more alive than the last. His eyes are more alert and though he has a little more color his face still looks dead or dieing. Bullet wounds dot his chest but little blood is actually coming through.



Then the crazed person looks up catching sight of the amateur cameraman. He turns and runs down the concorde for his life, camera shaking violently. There is a loud wail that seems to get closer to the camera and loud flat thuds of feet running at a breakneck pace. The view of the camera quickly changes from the floor to the ceiling then spins across the floor then end up under an empty seat facing the bolted down foot of the chair. Mumbles and screams fill the background. Then several gunshots and yelling in mandarin. As the cameraman picks up the camera and evidence of the attack, yelling from what can only be imagined as authorities begins and continues getting closer, then the video cuts out.



It went viral the next day. An hour after being posted online.



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It began to rain... It began to rain... the light flutter of rain gave way to the steady pound of harder thicker rain thumping on the roof of a car parked in a darkened lot. The storm was rolling in quickly and it was cold out before the storm. It was early march and the snow had already been melted for a month after a warm winter, but with a cold front rolling through it would be harsh tonight and the chill of the air would change the rain to snow and ice. The cherry of a cigarette lit up and a plume of smoke rolled out of the cracked open car window. The lighter thump of bass could be heard over the rain only slightly.



The bass stopped and the window rolled up slowly, coming off its track on the first try, then reset and up properly. The door opened and a figure stepped out, dressed in black suit pants with a white coat that didn't match in the least, he closed the door and walked hurriedly into the building. After shaking off some of the rainwater and blowing on his hands to warm them he continued his daily walk down the hall. Signs pointed to the various entrances to the Grand Ballroom swayed slightly overhead as he walked by the doors and into the lobby. The two girls at the front desk smiled and waved as he approached, they were always happy to see their relief for the night come in a few minutes early.



He walked over to the desk and laid his backpack and hat on the desk saying, "Hi girls, how's tonight?"



"Same as always," the short brunet, Jen, replied.



"Its been so quiet," said Jin the equally short Asian girl.



"Sounds like a good night to me..." he trailed off walking around the corner to go clock in downstairs. He walked past the entrance to the lounge and restaurant then down the stairs. Walking past the pool he noticed the lifeguard was still inside, typing away on his laptop. He walked through a set of gray double doors and into the employee area. The dirty white halls and barrels of soaking sheets and towels lining them were in stark contrast, yet oddly fitting of the aging hotel.



The Inn on Grand Island was once a grand hotel that was near capacity year round. Hosting every sort of gathering one could imagine, it was a fixture in the mind of locals. It now sat nearly empty all but the golden days of summer, awaiting a long promised renovation that was still only a promise. He punched in his code and hit enter, making the joke under his breath that he hadn't gotten a fingerprint clock in after almost ten months, and that at a year he'd finally make somebody care enough about their night auditor to set it up for him.



As he turned to walk back to the elevators, as he did every night so he could see who was in the bar, a familiar figure in a black shirt came around another corner. "Hey Jeff," he said, still sleepy and wishing he could afford to call off and sleep.



"Look what the cat dragged in," said the older man with a big smile. He smiled back, Jeff always reminded him of his dad. A tall slightly overweight man with a graying mustache and thinning, but still curly, black hair. "Don't tell me your old lady kept you up all day again," in his thick Alabama southern drawl.



"Yup, what else is new?" His voice changed as he sarcastically mimicked her, "We never spend any time together, lets go walk around the mall..." he changed his voice back to near normal, but spoke faster and like he was somewhat upset, "Spending time together and walking around the mall are not the same thing. One is hanging out and talking and cuddling and such, the other is I follow her around while she talks about how she wishes we had more money and I think, 'You should get a job then,' but never say it out loud..." he trailed off walking back through the doors and pushing the call button for the elevators.



"Another day in paradise..." said Jeff as the doors swung closed behind him. "Hey man, I got some cool news for you later once I lock up!" he said enthusiastically as the doors opened.



"Alrighty, I'll see you up there."



He walked in a pushed the button for the lobby and the doors immediately shut behind him. The back of the elevator was a large mirror so he took a moment to study himself. He was pale from months without really seeing the sun, and his brown hair was slightly thinning out in front, though the sides were still thick as ever. His beard was well trimmed, a darker brown with hints of red throughout. He noticed he looked much thinner than he remembered himself being since the beginning of last summer. Before him and Kim moved out. The winter had been rough, most days all he ate was a salad from the kitchen and saved what food he did buy for her, though she rarely ate as well. He brushed his hair with his hand, fanning out the front to take care of the widows peak he had and cover up some of the forehead that showed around it. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the name tag and put it up on the right side of his jacket. He read it backwards in the mirror. Jack Jacobs. He was proud of his name.



The doors opened and he walked past the bar. Edna was still inside cleaning up after a really slow night. There were only eleven rooms in even though the season was supposed to be picking up. He walked over to the door next to the desk, punching in the code to the ancient lock on the door. After a quick conversation with the girls he set to work. Punching in house account numbers, printing and filing reports. It didn't take long for Jeff to come up to the desk after making his rounds and locking down the hotel.



"Hey man did you hear they confirmed there's some kind of flu sweeping across east Europe and Asia," he said with a slight tone of humor, Jack shook his head. "Yeah man its not swine flu or anything they've seen before. They didn't have any details on it but I guess its fatal." The story was new to Jack but he wasn't surprised. They'd been discussing it for a week now and they though it would be something like that. They continued talking for a while until Edna brought him the receipts from the bar and he had to go print reports for the restaurant and bar from the kitchen. As he did every night he went outside for a smoke while they were running off.



The wind was bitter and snow was starting to mix with the rain, which still poured down. He light up and enjoyed the menthol flavor of one of his last few pleasures he allowed himself. He really couldn't afford to smoke anymore but as long as his dad gave him the random pack and he could drive to the reservation and get the cheap cartons he made it work. He looked out at the road as he heard an engine in the distance. All he could think was please don't come here. They came to the stop sign and paused for a minute. Then continued straight into the driveway.



"Damn," he said out loud to himself. "Never get to finish one this early..." he trailed off, tossing the cigarette into the ashtray. He turned and walked over to the big double sliding doors that automatically opened up for him. Taking his black hat and big white winter coat off he heard the doors open back up as he walked back behind the desk.



Walking through the doors the new guest looked sick and haggard. His thick black coat was long enough to cover most of his legs but the last few inches of his jeans. At first it looked like he had white gloves on but as he drew closer Jack realized that it was a bandage on his left hand.



"Evening sir, checking in?" He said in his almost plastic line he'd said a thousand times before.



"Yeah, reservation's under Franklin." As he spoke his voice crackled, obviously he was really sick.



A quick search in the computer found him, and he asked the standard questions, first name, James, address and phone number then finally credit card and ID. He printed the registration card and imprinted his card.



As he pointed which way to go the man asked in his gravely voice, "Do you have a computer I can use. I have to upload something before I go to sleep."



"We do have computers for guests but you can't hook anything up to them. I think the owners don't want people putting viruses on them." Jack said apologetically.



"I can see your laptop on that chair back there. I'll give you fifty bucks to use it for fifteen minutes. Its really important and it isn't anything bad... its a video I took that I think is really important. I just want to put it on the internet so people can see it. I've got some friends in the news that would love it." He sounded genuinely concerned about getting it posted.



"For fifty bucks you could hack the pentagon from this computer." He said what he meant. He was near broke even working forty-five hours a week and getting paid more to audit. Fifty bucks could go a long way towards groceries.



"Cool thanks man. It's only gonna take a minute." He opened his coat and turned around, it looked like he was reaching into his pants to get whatever he had to put online. He turned around with a slim memory card and slipped it in the slot on the laptop. A few clicks and a password later it was uploaded to a video sharing site. He closed out of it, handed over the money and went to his room quickly. Jack noticed he had a good limp while he was walking away. Whatever happened to him really messed him up.



Not really thinking about it he went back to his work. Finishing his audit in record time he sat and talked to Jeff for a while. Went outside and had a few cigarettes and had a light salad. A normal night overall. Then he opened his computer back up to work on some things and remembered the video. He looked in his history and found the video. After watching it he thought at first it was just a home movie, then some independent film. But there was something inside that said this might be real, especially with the sketchy news coming from the other side of the world. Jeff watched it and didn't know what to make of it. So jack sent it to a few friends on his social networks and turned the computer off. He spent the rest of the night cleaning up and watching TV with Jeff and talking about a range of subjects. Soon enough morning came and he was leaving.



He had the short hand off conversation with the morning crew and took his leave to clock out. As he walked to the elevator he notices three men in suites walking in but didn't really care. He clocked out and said goodbye until the next night to his security guard. He followed the end of his nightly routine and walked back through the lobby to say goodbye to whoever was working the desk. The two men were standing there and looked to be arguing with Al, the morning front desk worker, who then called him over.



"Hey Jack these guys say they're cops did anyone check in last night late who was acting suspiciously?" he said it with a smirk that said he didn't take it seriously. Most people who check in late are suspicious in some way, or at least that was the joke he always told.



"What kind of suspicious? Like killer suspicious or cheating on your wife suspicious?" he said back, the same tone of humor in his voice.



"Ask them, they know who they're looking for. They just won't say anything straight out."



"Good morning, my names Jack. What exactly can I help you with?" he said reaching out to shake their hands.



Only one of the men reached out and said something, "I'm agent Hanning and this is my partner agent Brown. We're looking for someone who is wanted for questioning in an incident in another country. We know he arrived late last night from Asia but we didn't know where he went from there until his credit card popped up for the approval for the room last night." He looked back at Al with a little bit of a glare, "This gentlemen says that guest information is personal and we can't get any of it without a warrant, which is on its way so we can get to him before he leaves."



"Well sir, no offense but can I see your credentials?" they obliged him and flashed them at him quickly then shut them. "I'm sorry again, not to be rude but I can't flash my license at people and expect them to think I'm a cop. Can I actually hold it and really get a good look." He knew that most people don't ask that, and if nothing else he'd get a bit more respect out of them.



"Sure," said Hanning, "Do you know what you're looking for?" Jack shook his head but took the credentials anyway, "Well at least you asked. Most people don't bother."



"Hey Al these guys are CIA if their credentials are real." He looked up at Al then back at the two men who said they were from the government. "I know who you're looking for but I need some proof that you were here if this guest complains. Mind if I make a copy of this? That way I have your photo."



He frowned, obviously he didn't want to wait and he didn't like the idea that there would be something of him left behind. He sighed after a minute and said, "Yes but I have to redact some information from it before I let you take it. There's an ID number on that I can't let you keep."



"Yes Sir, all I need is the name and the photo."



He walked behind the desk and back to the copier in the office behind it. He made two copies, one to redact one for full info. He walked back out and let him use a marker to redact the ID number, then made a new copy and gave him the copy you could read the info through. And told them all the info on where he was and his condition, then told them he wanted to use the computer, but left out that he'd used his laptop. Somehow he thought that whatever was that important should stay out as long as possible. That and he needed his computer and these guys would probably take it for evidence.



They looked at each other then asked for Jack's information. Gave them his name and phone number then told them he lived on the island but didn't want to give them his address unless it was necessary, and if they were really in the CIA they could get that info from what he gave them already. The one that he'd been talking to grinned, while the silent one continued his cold hard gaze. As they turned for the elevators Jack told them that someone from the hotel would meet them up there to let them in if they needed. Al already had called the engineering department as he turned to give him a worried smile and told him to call him if anything happened.



He drove home fast and ran inside to check on the video. Over half a million hits in five or so hours. He sat slack jawed for a moment. Then suddenly the alarm on the nearby fire station went off. It was early and he'd never heard it at this time of day. He walked out of his apartment and out to the street at the end he could see the fire station which was a buzz of activity already. Then he heard other horns coming from the road leading to the hotel, he ran over to the intersection where he could see down to that road. There was a convoy of army trucks rolling down the road. Only about ten Humvees all together. But still, it was very out of place on the island. He lit up a cigarette and thought about what could possibly be going on, then his phone vibrated in his pocket and a second later he heard the familiar ring tone. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. It was the hotel...







Follow Jack, a young man from western New York as the virus spreads and evolves. His simple seemingly uninteresting life suddenly changes as the events of the infection take hold in the world. First trapped on an island city for the beginning of one outbreak he witnesses first hand the breakdown of society and the terror of losing people all around you as you fight to save yourself and anyone who can keep up.









This is a new piece for me and my first step into the horror genre. I'd really love to write it and continue this story further. I'd just like some feedback on whether people are at all interested