"Outbreak: Day Zero"

"Outbreak:Day Zero"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

He instantly knew that the hand that was throttling him belonged to Mara. The black widow tattoo shining in the darkness gave it away. They have met only recently in this little town and one of the fun things that it featured was the lone tattoo shop that mostly serviced travelers going to other places. Mara loved the idea of having this tattoo. It was his idea to include the glow in the dark ink and she gamely agreed. As he struggled with the hand he noticed an odd thing ,  he could see Mara on the other side of the room , she was standing silhouetted as flashes of lightning continued outside. He had that irrational thought again of how it was always full of thunderstorms when these events happened. He knew what was going on now. He knew he had to get this thing off his neck and be ready for whats coming next. And here he was thinking that it was just going to be a typical lazy Sunday.

The hand was inhumanly strong considering that it wasn't really attached to Mara at all. He knew his anatomy though and simple anatomy still applied even though the subject you were applying it to was already dead. Or in this case he merely grabbed the thumb and tugged it all the way back. He heard a satisfying snap as the dismembered hand lost its grip on him. He threw it a few feet away and walked toward the person he believed was Mara. She was ,  but there was something different about her now , the flashes of lightning altered his view. It was a unreal sight and it was one that he wished that he didn't see all that often. He could see that her skin had a grayish hue  , her clothes were tattered and her arm was cut off from her elbow. Blood was dripping on the floor from Mara's severed arm ,  she stared back at him , her eyes no longer filled with the warmth that he knew from her. A pale film already covered it like a cataract. She started to move toward him in a menacing gait that looked clumsy and terrifying at the same time. Bent to her side her once attractive waist twisting with each side step. Her unsevered hand reached out for him and she was mumbling words that came out in a moan that was not arousing in anyway. He just froze as she neared him with that macabre walk and that was when the Jungle bolo severed his ex-lovers head clean off its zombified body. The body slumped on the bed and oozed more blood that you would expect from an almost dried corpse. He also knew who had the skill to do this clean slice and the prospect of spending more time with her chilled him more than being eaten by a zombie. It was his wife.

He stared at the beheaded corpse of Mara and to the woman who bore him 3 strong children and was still able to hone such a deadly skill. What they have now he wasn't really sure but he called him Husband and he was obliged to call him Wife at least when they were in front of their children. Children who are sitting pretty in a military installation away from this latest outbreak that the government wants to them to measure and contain. He calculated silently in his mind how the Government scientists had chosen to infect this community. Was it via airdrop? via the water supply near the reservoir? was it one lone test subject released that may have triggered this event?

"Not even a thank you?" His wife began as she swiftly cleaned the blood and gore off her weapon of choice with Mara's tattered clothing. Mara's severed head still looked on at the woman whose husband she stole. "She wasn't really much of a fighter even when she was alive."

He said nothing and stepped over the corpse to go to the nearby closet on his right. He wasn't new to all of this and he knew exactly what to do. He had survived these events a dozen times over and he knew in his heart that he would survive it a dozen times more if he had to. His expertise was the reason he was always chosen to be in the epicenter of such events. Day Zero as the scientists called it but later on he realized that it wasn't really Day Zero , it was more likely Day 4 or 5 of the event when all the zombies came out of the woodwork and tried to devour anyone left breathing. It was his just to contain the infection , rate how fast it would go and develop new means of battling it if he could. He was a survivor and he would always survive. He held out his guns and started to load them one by one. High Caliber weapons were needed at this stage. He also took out the special armor that was designed for his team in case of these outbreaks. Zombies were faster and stronger now and the tougher Kevlar weave armor gave an advantage when facing a swarm of these zombies. It was also designed to take a grenade blast to the chest in case you were being overwhelmed and you needed to dispense with the nastiness right away. He saw that his wife already had the same gear on her.

"Did you contact the Director? He would want to know about this right away." He said to her while finishing his preparations.

The woman looked at him as if he had grown an extra head.

"Of course , I had to do it by manually patching through the comm system down at the sub station near the Police Hub. Not really a walk in the park because it was obviously being over run at that moment."

The Man ignored the effort of his wife to get that vital information out and instead asked.

"Are any of our guys on the way?"

"I'm afraid we are on our own for now." , She said with a hint of excitement in her voice. Just typical he thought. More Zombies for her Bloodlust.

The man nodded and stepped out of the terrace of what was once their house. He knew that they could not stay for long. He looked at the distance to see the black mass that was a zombie herd getting nearer and nearer.

"Lets go."

___________________________________________

The series continues. Please click on the following links below.

http://flightofideasver2.blogspot.com/2013/02/outbreak-day-3-risen.html
For Part 1
http://flightofideasver2.blogspot.com/2013/04/outbreak-day-7-adam-and-eve-part-1.html
For Part 2
http://flightofideasver2.blogspot.com/2013/06/outbreak-day-7-adam-and-eve-part-2.html
For Part 3
http://flightofideasver2.blogspot.com/2013/06/outbreak-day-7-adam-and-eve-part-3.html