User:Tibbarrm/story2

Normal Life

“The latest vaccine for the recent outbreak of measles has been found to have a higher possibility of side-effects. We suggest that anyone who has received this vaccine should go to their local doctor if you feel feverish. The side-effects do not appear to be harmful, but we still suggest a doctor’s visit for any sickness after the vaccine.”

I ate another scoop of Cinnamon Toast Crunch as I watched the doctor explain. Fortunately, I never liked getting many vaccines, so when the rush came for this new “pandemic” I simply washed my hands more. Now it seemed it had paid off. Everyone got all worked up about 60 cases of swine flu from Mexico. This time there were more consequences. I turned off the television, and went to get my coat. As I left for work, I didn’t how right I was about consequences.

6 Months Earlier

“How are you boys coming along?” The superintendent watched the two researchers with a cool, penetrating look. The first one stuttered, “Well, we seem to have a strain that treats the virus, and—“

“Well, it’s about time. I want you to set up production tomorrow.”

“But sir, we haven’t fully tested the vaccine. It appea—“

“Does it work?”  A nod.  “Have you had any problems with any other strains before?”  
       

“No, but—“

“Look, we were hired to get a cure for this disease. They’re already getting impatient, and you want me to wait for another, what, another few weeks? You’ve been playing around with that stuff long enough that you should know what it does. We’re starting tomorrow.”

“Sir, I don’t think you understand. This is a complicated process, with some, shall we say, interesting components. It *must* be checked.”

“Tomorrow.”

Is about to change

I eased my poor Civic into the Wal-Mart parking lot, as it groaned around the turn. My car troubles just never seemed to end. Yeah, I worked at Wal-Mart, but it was a cool job. I was the guy watching for shoplifters. Just wear everyday clothes and try to blend in. I could talk on my phone, check out videogames, look throughout the store. Catching shoplifters was fun, too. Some ran, others pretended not to notice you at first. Anyway, it was a fun job, and the pay was enough. Not great, but since I was sharing an apartment, it worked out.

I was “shopping” in the electronics section when I ran into my friend Nathan. He was one of my good friends and my roommate. “What are you doing here? You actually escaped the office?” Nathan was a coffee boy in a local computer company. He was extremely skilled with computers, but still low in rank at the company. They seemed to always have an errand for him. “The boss wanted me to pick up some doughnuts, and for some reason he seems to like Wal-Mart’s more.”

“It’s because we’re the best at everything,” I said with a grin.

Nathan rolled his eyes and said, “I better get going. I just wanted to check out the new videogames while I was here. See ya later.” Nathan left, heading towards the bakery section. Wal-Mart donuts over Krispy Kreme? What kind of guy does that?

At the end of my shift I headed towards the checkout counter with some groceries. I always tried to go to Seth’s aisle, another of my friends. As I put my milk on the counter, I asked, “You up for some videogames tonight?”

“Sure, what time?”

“I guess 7.”

“Alright, I’ll be on.”

“Sweet.” I paid for my groceries, grabbed them and headed for my car. That night we played Reach, with me getting destroyed, as usual. After another round, I said, “Alright, guys, I’m calling it a night. See you tomorrow.”

“Cole, you better check this out.” Nathan’s voice woke me up, but I rolled over, trying to go to sleep. “It’s Saturday,” I mumbled.

“No, really, you’ll want to see this.” I gave in, and slowly got out of bed. I walked into the living room, where Nathan had the TV on. A reporter was talking about the vaccine. “It appears that the vaccine for the sparduita virus is more dangerous than previously believed. Doctors in New York City, one of the first cities to receive the vaccine, have reported several deaths from the vaccine. Everyone who has received the vaccine is ordered to go to the nearest hospital immediately.” I frowned. “Ok, this is bad, but why would I want to know about it? This stuff happens. I’m sure they have a cure.”

Nathan looked at me. “This isn’t what I wanted you to see.” He walked over to his computer and sat down. After a few clicks of the mouse and entering several codes, Nathan was on the site of MedGlobe, a large private research company, and the developer of the vaccine. But this wasn’t the main page. I noticed at the top of the page a large heading that read, “Victim 889-A54 – Unusual development.” There was a video below. I asked, “How the hell do you access this stuff?”

He looked at me and said, “Watch.” He clicked the link. A doctor looked at a video, recording what seemed to be a journal of sorts. “Patient 889-A54, 4 weeks, 2 days after treatment. Yesterday at 17:22, the patient expired due to cardiac arrest. Earlier today, at roughly 17:00, noises were heard in the patient’s room, and personnel went to investigate. The patient was apparently revived, and conscious. He had removed all IVs and cords, and was walking around his room. When security entered the room, the patient rushed to attack them, trying to bite them. He was quickly subdued, but one of the patients was bitten. He is being monitored, but shows no signs of illness so far.”

A clip was then played from a security camera, in which the patient was seen walking, or rather staggering, around the room. After several moments, people, apparently security, entered the room. The patient rushed the nearest man, and apparently bit him, as the man screamed. Another man fired his piston at the head of the patient, and he slumped to the floor. The clip ended there.

Nathan stared at me and said, “Do you realize what this means? They’ve made real life zombies!”

I stood there for a minute, shocked by the video. “I’m sure there’s another explanation for this. You’ve been reading too much about zombies.” I wanted to believe that, but the video was pretty convincing. Nathan said, “I know I read a lot about zombies, but come on, just look at this video. The patient does exactly what a zombie does. He dies, comes back to life, groans and attacks people. What more do you need? It’s not like this video was made for a hoax. MedGlobe does *not* want the public to see this.”

“I’ll have to admit, the video doesn’t leave much for questioning. Something is majorly wrong with the vaccine.” We both stood there, looking at the screen, until Nathan said, “So, what are we going to do?” I hate to admit it, but we were both nerds when it came to zombies. Video games, books, movies, if they were about zombies, we probably knew almost everything about them. I said, “It’s time to visit one of my friends.”

Before Nathan and I left, we called Seth and invited him over to the house. When we showed him the video, he was a little doubtful as well, but soon understood that it was real. I told Seth, “Nathan and I have a plan, and we’re about to visit a friend I have. Do you want to come along?”

“Are you kidding? I’m gonna need you guys if I want to survive.”

Seth, Nathan, and I were all in my Civic, with Seth in the back. As we drove, Seth asked, “Who is your friend, again?”

I chuckled. “He’s a long time friend from high school, actually. I saved his ass in a couple run-ins with the cops, and now he thinks he owes me for it. Well, now is the time to make use of that.” Eventually we drove into Richmond, and I was soon pulling into the parking lot of a pawn shop. It was big, and had a nice look, for a pawn shop. I warned my friends, “Tommy might seem a little rough, but he’s a great guy.” Nathan and Seth looked at me questioningly, but I walked into the store.

A skinny man in a suit was standing over the counter, talking angrily with a muscular bald man behind the counter. “Look, I’ll pay you a thousand bucks for that ring. It’s a bit old, and someone else has probably used it already. You’re not going to get much more, you know.” The bald guy scratched his head and said, “Mister, this is a nice ring. I realize it might seem expensive, but that’s a big diamond. Thirteen hundred is my final offer, no less.”

“Well then, I guess I’m done here.” The man in the suit stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Tommy turned to us and said, “How can I-- well, it’s Cole Bence! I haven’t seen you for a long time. What brings you to Richmond?”

I said, “Tommy, there’s something important I need to show you. I suggest you close the shop for a bit.”

He hesitated, and asked, “Why would I--actually, I guess I should listen to you, shouldn’t I?” He had a sheepish grin on his face, and went to close the door. Nathan had brought his computer, and Tommy soon saw The Video, as we were starting to call it. As soon as it was done, Tommy said, “Now look, you know as well as I do that I want to believe you. I like you, Cole, and I trust what you say, but this is ridiculous. The video looks real enough, I’ll give you that, but zombies?” All three of us argued with him for several minutes, and finally he said, “Alright, if you say there are zombies, then there are zombies. I just can’t believe that.”

I sighed and said, “If you’re not going to come with us, could you at least help me out with some supplies?”

Tommy leaned in and asked, “Just what kind of supplies do you need?”

“You know.”

“Apparently I do. Ok, follow me.” Tommy closed up the shop, and got into his truck. Nathan, Seth and I got back into my car and followed Tommy to his house. After several minutes, we arrived at Tommy’s house, a nice ranch style home with a small front yard. The lawn was nicely landscaped, and the porch had a rocking chair. The entire house felt welcoming. Tommy showed us in. Once the door was closed, he said, “Cole, I need to talk to you in private.” Seth and Nathan stayed by the door while we walked to the left and started down a hall. He opened a door for me, and we were soon in his office. “Now, I can get you what you need, but it’s going to cost ya. You know I don’t like charging you too much, but this stuff’s expensive.”

I said, “I understand, Tommy, and I’m willing to pay.”

“Ok, so what did you have in mind?”

“What do you have in the way of rifles? I’m looking for fairly long range, but quiet. I’ll need three of those. I’d also like something fully automatic, not too big, and several sawed off shotguns, if you have them.”

Tommy was busy taking notes, and after a few seconds he looked up and said, “I think I’ve got all of that. If you could go back out with your friends, I’ll be right back with your stuff. Can they be trusted?”

I responded, “I know them, they won’t say anything. They’re probably too scared of you to think of that, anyway.”

Tommy chuckled. “Alright, I’ll be right back.” I went out like Tommy told me, and he closed the door as soon as I left. There was movement in the office, and the sound of metal being struck. I wanted to stay and listen, but figured I better not. I continued to the living room, where Nathan and Seth were still standing, looking around the house. “What was that all about?” Seth asked.

I answered, “I figured we would want some things for the trip, and Tommy’s got what we need.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” We stood there and talked for a while. For some reason we all avoided the topic of zombies, and I tried to push the thought out of my mind. Eventually, Tommy returned, carrying several guns. Seth and Nathan both turned to look at me, but I just nodded and turned back to Tommy. Motioning us towards the dining room, Tommy set some guns on the table. He handed me one, an M1 carbine. “For what you’re doing, I suggest this as your ‘rifle’, as you put it. This will be lighter and easier to carry, although with a bit less range. Accurate, fairly fast, all over a good gun.” He set it down and picked up the next one. “Here’s an M16. You wanted something fully auto. Well, I’ve got a few options. This is one of the best I’ve got. Extremely accurate, very good gun. Again, the best I’ve got in my opinion. I also have the AK-47 here. It’s not nearly as accurate as the M16, but much easier to care for. That doesn’t mean you can just let it go without cleaning it, but it’ll stand up to a lot more. Won’t jam as easily, either. These are both a bit bigger than you might want, but I figured I’d show you.”

“This one here is different, but nice. It can beat the M16, depending on what you want.” Tommy pulled up a small submachine gun. “This is the MP7. Compact, comparatively lightweight, and this one has a 30 round clip. I can throw in a suppressor, but it’ll cost a bit more.” Tommy set that down and pulled up a sawed off shotgun.