The Living Dead (Book 1): Contagion (3 page)
Chapter 3
“Tis now the very time…when hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.”
Hamlet
-William Shakespeare
The cruise ship, sparkling white, with the typical multi level decks, flying the Bahamian flag, was first spotted 15 miles off the coast of Sullivan’s Island, SC. Various private and commercial aircraft flying over the Intracoastal Waterway reported that it appeared to be drifting with the tides. Attempts to hail the crew on all frequencies failed. The Coast Guard dispatched an FCR/Sentinel class patrol boat to investigate. Crewed by fourteen enlisted seaman apprentices, six seamen, and two officers, the boat was small and fast, perfect for running down suspected drug or illegal immigrant smugglers. Securing a cruise ship was a first for all of them but they didn’t anticipate too much trouble. Out of the 20 members of the USCG crew, Chief Petty Officer Michaels and two seamen survived.
The following transcript is taken from the video debrief of James Michaels CPO.
CPO Michaels: “We were all prepared for a routine trip. The sea was rough and it was cold but escorting a disabled cruise ship should have been a cakewalk compared to chasing down our usual dope racers. We knew the ship’s last port of call was Aruba. Our orders were to raise the crew by megaphone once we were close enough and advise that we can help them with a repair operation or arrange a tow into harbor. We did not plan to board the ship. Once we arrived, we received no response from anyone on board and at that point prepared to board using grappling hooks.
Interviewer: Did anything look suspicious initially?
CPO-1 Michaels: We observed no damage to the exterior hull and no, nothing gave a clue as to why this ship was disabled. We let one of our new people ascend first, the rest of us followed without difficulty. The deck was clear of passengers. One of the first areas we came upon down there was the infirmary. The rooms had some damage, broken glass cabinet fronts, gurneys overturned, bottles of medicine scattered. Most disturbing was the amount of blood we observed, splashed on the walls and pooled up on the floor. Bloody shoeprints led out of the area. No bodies though. No one could bleed that much and just walk away. We assumed someone had moved the bodies into a storage area. We proceeded up the ramp leading to the Promenade deck. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on one of those ships but this one had hot tubs, waterslides, swimming pools, climbing walls, amazing. Here we observed more damage, smashed double glass doors, with blood on the jagged shards still in the panes. I was in the lead at that point and detected movement farther up but it was hard to see because of the curving slope of the ramp. Then the smell hit us. It was a thick coppery smell of blood and rotten meat. Smears of blood, gouts of blood, were on the walls and saturating the carpets. As we moved up the corridor, we saw framed paintings knocked from their stands and trampled, covered with blood. Then we saw our first survivor. Just around the bend, a woman knelt over a man lying prone on the floor. We moved in to offer assistance and the woman turned. Her eyes were white, clouded over with some sort of film but she definitely could see or at least sense us. That was the first time I heard that awful moan they make. She rose awkwardly to her feet and we saw that she was missing a huge chunk out of her neck and jaw and held a string of what looked like intestines in her hand. Gobbets of flesh hung from her mouth and dark clots of blood saturated her t-shirt. Again, that smell threatened to overwhelm us as she staggered our way. In my mind, I knew she was beyond help and dangerous but I couldn’t bring myself to raise my sidearm. I mean, we don’t shoot civilians. In my entire career, I’ve only had to pull my weapon a few times. For some reason she stumbled past me and came at Gionti, one of the newbies. He was trying not to hurt her and hold her off at the same time but dear God… (The session briefly discontinued here)
Resuming… She came at him so hard she slammed him against the wall. He held her off at arms length. Her jaws never stopped snapping and I heard her teeth clicking together. He lowered one arm to try to pull his P229 and she got her teeth into his hand, biting down hard. Gionti screamed, brought his weapon up and shot her in the chest at point blank range. She went down. Then
she got back up
. She launched herself at him again and this time bit a chunk out of his neck. Blood poured from the wound; she’d severed an artery. Impossible to tie a tourniquet on someone’s neck; I had to watch him bleed out. By then the corridor had filled with more of them, attracted by all the commotion I guess. We all pulled our sidearms at that point and took several of them down. The problem was, they wouldn’t stay down. I shot both kneecaps out of a teenage boy; he just kept coming. Our weapons were of limited use in such close combat. Part of our failure was our reluctance to shoot injured civilians; we just couldn’t wrap our minds around what we were dealing with. Several of my men were overwhelmed and went down. Those monsters crowded around them, ripping chunks of flesh out of their bodies and gobbling them down. I kept my back to the wall as much as possible, yelling for the men to regroup. We were probably down to five still standing. I called for a full retreat and began backing out towards the entry doors, dragging Gionti with me. Three of the passengers followed us; two grabbed Gionti by the legs and pulled him back into the carnage. The third one, an older man in pink and green checked shorts with a gaping hole in his abdomen lunged at me. I shot him in the face, taking out the entire top of his head. He went down and I didn’t see him get back up. I felt hands grab my ankle and I looked down. A woman, wearing a swimsuit and swim goggles, was trying to gnaw through my boot. I didn’t even think about it; I stomped her head as hard as I could. She must have already been rotten because her head just caved, that rotten, black liquid going everywhere. Now I couldn’t see any of my men standing at all, there were no shouts, no gunfire, just that horrible moaning and slurping wet sound as the passengers continued to feed. I heard gunfire behind me. One of the two seamen left on the cutter, Seaman Mazerski, had come aboard after hearing gunfire break out. He covered our retreat back down to the boat with his M14. Back on board I radioed and updated the Chief on the situation-
Interviewer: Did you make the recommendation to torpedo the cruise ship?
CPO Michaels: No, it is my understanding that order came directly from the Pentagon.
Interviewer: Based on what you experienced, would you have recommended torpedoing the ship?
CPO Michaels: That is difficult to say. If we could have been sure those things would have been ripped to shreds by a torpedo, I would have said go ahead. They were very hard to take down. The only ones I feel sure I put down for good are the ones I got in the head. I can’t help but wonder if they can swim.
Interviewer: Did you make any other observations that you think might be relevant?
CPO Michaels: Those things didn’t bleed when we shot them. Just going on that and the smell of rot, I’d have said a bunch of walking corpses attacked us.
End of Session 2
Chapter 4
This alarmed us all again, and terrible apprehensions were among the people.
-
Journal of the Plague Year
Virginia awoke the next morning to the sound of an owl hooting outside. Instinctively she reached out to the other side of the bed to find only cool, smooth sheets. That woke her up completely. Climbing out of the warm bed she turned on the TV for the local news and saw that several businesses and most schools had closed due to weather. Snow covered the streets in the subdivision and there was no traffic moving. The light on the answering machine flashed.
“Mom, it’s me and Greg. Grammy and Granddad took us to Chuck E Cheese for supper and guess what? I got a comb for a prize from skeeball. One of Miss Alice’s (a much-loved doll) eyes came out and I can’t find it. I’m supposed to tell you Greg needs his blanket. I miss you and I miss Dad. I want you both to come here together when it’s time to pick us up. Please? Ok, Greg wants to talk.” She could hear Anna whispering to her brother then her son said, “Wub oo.” The call ended.
She caught her breath at the sound of their voices. When they were away, she missed them so much it hurt. She still checked on them at least once a night, sometimes standing over them and just breathing in all that sweetness and peacefulness. She heard the pain in her daughter’s voice when she asked for both of them to come together to pick them up and it made her feel sick inside.
The mantel clock showed just after six o’clock so she decided to wait before calling them back. She ground coffee beans, started the coffee maker and, as the aroma filled the kitchen, she called her boss’s number at work, leaving a message that she would be out today. She idly thought about scanning the classifieds for apartments again but her mind shied away from thinking about it. Big, dark, clouds were banking in the western sky and trees tossed in the rising wind. Pulling up her homepage she saw that, along with the weather forecast predicting the snowstorm, there was a report of a building on fire in downtown DC. A tsunami
had
hit the gulf coast in the dark early morning hours. She clicked on the video and viewed, awestruck, cars floating amidst rooftops in the flooded streets of New Orleans. Hundreds of people were reported dead and thousands missing.
She checked her e-mail. She had the usual forwards from family and girlfriends from school. She also had three forwards from her (almost) ex husband. Curious, she opened these first.
Department of Homeland Security
***Internal distribution only***
Code AS42023
Homeland Security Advisory System Threat Level: Yellow-Elevated
On Tuesday, March 21, United Airways flight 244, traveling from Punta Cana International Airport, to D.C., Dulles, was diverted to the Miami International Airport (MIA) due to an unruly male passenger. While flight 244 was in the air, the passenger reportedly attacked and bit one female flight attendant. Other passengers noted the subject’s behavior and restrained him until the plane landed and members of the Miami Dade Police Department were able to take him into custody. Both he and the flight attendant were taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation. One male passenger involved in subduing the unruly passenger was treated at the scene for a small bite but refused transport to a local hospital and continued on to Dulles.
The unruly passenger is a resident in the state of Maryland returning from visiting family in the Dominican Republic.
The flight landed at DIA without incident at approximately 1:10 p.m. (EST).
Pending further developments, this will not be treated as a terrorist issue.
She clicked on the second email.
Department of Homeland Security
***Internal distribution only***
Code AS42023
Homeland Security Advisory System Threat Level: Red-Severe
Updated 3:00 p.m. (EST)
Passenger removed from plane in Miami declared dead 2:30 p.m. (EST) Female flight attendant hospitalized with sub normal temperature, since lapsed into coma. Miami area HS agents dispatched to Mercy Hospital requested SWAT team assist. Situation is fluid at this time and status unclear. HS agents dispatched in the DC metro area to take previously bitten male passenger into protective custody.
Her sense of alarm rising, she opened the third.
Department of Homeland Security
***Internal distribution only***
Code AS42023
Homeland Security Advisory System Threat Level: Red-Severe
URGENT UPDATE 3:30 P.M. (EST)
Viral outbreak: suspected Haitian origin. Patients present with subnormal temperatures and vomiting, slipping into comatose state from which they revive violent and dangerous. Patient removed from flight earlier today mistakenly pronounced dead. He revived in Mercy Hospital morgue in Miami, attacking morgue attendants. Communication failure with SWAT team previously dispatched to site and status of situation still unknown.
We fully expect this scenario to play out in other hospitals treating victims from the Caribbean area. We are currently trying to locate and contain all such instances. HIGH likelihood of failure due to volume of refugees from the earthquake zone.
Best course of action appears to be isolation and restraint of all victims, even if they do not present as violent initially. Victims noted to have ambient room temperatures and no discernible pulse. Obviously one method of transmission is from bite by infected. Other forms of transmission possible but not verified at this time. Information and advisories for physicians and hospitals are being prepared and will be distributed through normal channels. Warnings to the general public are being prepared and will be broadcast. The State department is also working with other nations, as this must be considered an international crisis.
***
Virginia closed the browser. She knew Ian would never send her these e-mails unless something was seriously wrong. He was circumspect about his job and she always knew there were aspects of what he did that he couldn’t talk about. He was trying to warn her. Not sure what to think she went to her bedroom, pulled on jeans and a sweater, then went back to the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee. As she walked by the television the Breaking News screen came on and the image changed to the White House briefing room. It looked different. The podium wasn’t centered on the dais and the usual American flag was missing or else out of camera range. As she watched, an aide moved the stars and stripes closer to the podium and into view. The reporters in the room were not seated and milled about talking amongst themselves. A woman walked into the room and stepped up to the podium. Looking tired and strained, her hair pinned up haphazardly, she wore a dark green military uniform that needed pressing.
“Thank all of you for waiting, welcome. I am Major Catherine Whitford with the United States Army.” Donning a pair of reading glasses, she read from a prepared statement. “It is with heavy heart that I inform you that one of our nation’s finest medical facilities, Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the site of an outbreak of what we believe to be a viral illness introduced into the facility by victims from the Haitian earthquake zone. Efforts made to contain the infection within the biohazard portion of the facility failed and as a result the facility has been sterilized. While we believe this successful sterilization has eliminated the threat of further infection within the immediate radius of the DC area, the danger of new cases still exists. As most of you are aware, in acts of incredible selflessness, citizens of countries from around the world rushed to the aid of Haiti, transporting victims to regional hospitals around the Caribbean and here in the U.S. These acts of kindness have, unintentionally, greatly facilitated the spread of a virus now suspected to be pandemic. Symptoms include subnormal temperatures and copious vomiting followed by coma from which they revive extremely violent. If your neighbors or loved ones appear infected they must be restrained before they reach the violent phase. We have no other treatment protocols at this time.” She removed her glasses and looked up. “I have time for a few questions. Yes, in the blue jacket. I apologize that I don’t know your names.”
“ Major, Maria Torres, Washington Post. What do you mean by (she paused to look down at her notes) ‘the facility has been sterilized?’”
The Major paused for a second, “This morning, at 4:25 a.m., a tactical bombing of Walter Reed Army Hospital was conducted. The 6900 block of Georgia Avenue is still burning at this time. City and military firemen and security have cordoned off the site. The fire is completely contained and has not spread to any other buildings.”
“Major, Adam Beleau, Associated Press, how is the disease transmitted?”