The Dead War Series (Book 1): Good Intentions (13 page)

“We should let everyone know to hang tight. That more help will be coming,” Sarah said.

“We'll do no such thing,” Felicia said, giving the other woman a stern stare.

“It will prevent a panic when they helicopters arrive. Once people see that there isn't going to be enough room...” Sarah frowned.

“We're not going to do that, Sarah. Telling them that some of them are going to be left behind isn't going to calm people down and make them rational. If anything it's going to cause more panic and turn this into an every-man-for-himself situation before help arrives. We're trying to survive here, I don't want to fight for my life with the people on this roof,” Vincent informed.

Sarah thought about what he said. She didn’t like it—not helping people in need was damn near an impossible thing for her to do—but she couldn’t deny the logic in his statement. Reluctantly, she nodded.

“Good,” Vincent said. Slowly, he rolled over onto his belly and peaked over the edge to monitor the people who had been attacked on the other rooftop. The other scientists did the same.  The roof was covered in blood, guts, and scattered body parts in the aftermath of the feeding frenzy. Only one naked female zombie remained, feasting greedily on the internal organs of a headless female corpse.

“I can’t watch anymore,” Sarah gasped as she turned away, lying back onto the tar-covered roof. She sobbed uncontrollably knowing that hundreds, if not thousands, of people were dying horrible deaths at that very moment. She couldn’t believe that only a few hours ago, the city had been thriving with people going about their normal day. Laughing, eating, working, driving, walking… living.
What the hell was going on?

Felicia turned away from the lone zombie feeding, not wanting to draw attention to their rooftop location. She looked at William and Samantha. “Funny how five minutes can feel like forever, isn't it?” she commented.

“Funny isn't the word I'm thinking about.” Vincent turned to Sarah. “Let me see your cell, I want to check on Richard and Linda.”

“Oh my God, yes, please,” Sarah handed him her cell.

Vincent called Richard and only got his voicemail. He hung up then called Linda's cell and she answered.

“Thank God I reached you, are you okay? What about Richard?” Vincent asked.

“We're both fine. By the grace of God, Richard made it out of SciTech before they could get him. I'm so grateful you're alive. What about Sarah?” Linda asked her voice full of concern.

“We're okay, too. Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker, Sarah's right here.” Vincent pulled the cell from his ear and adjusted the setting. “Okay, we can both hear you now.  Are you still in the city?”

“No, we're in Indiana now, but we're stuck in traffic. Richard thinks we need to get out and run, but I don't know.”

Oh sweet Jesus,
Sarah thought. She looked at Vincent and then at Felicia. The three of them shared the same fear. There was no solace in either decision the couple had. Either way, they could be doomed. Tears began to run down Sarah's cheeks and she wiped them with the back of her hand.

“Are you still there?” Linda asked.

“What did they say?” Richard asked in the background.

“They aren't saying anything, now I'm really worried,” Linda replied.

“Ah, how far away from Chicago are you?” Vincent asked.

“None of that matters,” Felicia interjected. “Hello, you don't know me, but my name is Dr. Felicia Anderson from the CDC. These creatures are extremely fast on foot and they are spreading their ranks far beyond the city limits. If you stay in your car, you will be overtaken by them. Your best bet is to find a secure shelter—a place with very little entrances and windows. Lock yourselves inside and stay quite. I have no idea how well these things can hear, but you don't want to make loud noises that can draw them to you. Hopefully, help will arrive soon, but you don't, and I repeat, don't want to be caught out in the open when these things start attacking.”

Vincent was impressed with the female doctor. Her quick responses to everything thus far earned her his respect, even if she didn't need it or want it, she had it.

“I agree with her, Richard,” Vincent chimed in. “Find someplace safe, please. I don't want to lose my best friends.”

“We don't want to lose us either,” Richard said. “All right, this traffic hasn't moved anywhere in almost an hour, we're outta here. Come on, baby.”

“We'll call you back once we get somewhere safe. What about you? Where are you?” Linda asked.

“On the rooftop of our condo. A helicopter's coming to pick us up. Don't worry about us. Please, just go and be safe,” Vincent urged.

“All right, bye,” Linda said.

“See you later,” Vincent said.

“See you soon,” Sarah added.

Vincent clicked off the phone and gave it back to Sarah. “God, I pray that they'll be all right.”

Sarah nodded.

“Can I ask a question?” Maria looked at the three CDC doctors.

“What is it?” Felicia replied.

“Is the government going to bomb the city?” Maria whispered.

William nodded and answered the question, “It’s the only way to contain the situation now. Destroy everything before it can spread any further than it already has.”

“Wouldn’t they do that as a last resort?” Sarah asked.

“Don’t you think we’re at our last resort?” William shot back. “Look around you. It's been less than two hours and the city is in complete chaos.”

“Can you cure these people?” Sarah asked Vincent, looking at him with the innocent blue eyes he’d fallen in love with ten years ago.

He shook his head, running a finger over a furrowed brow. “Shit, I don’t know, Sarah. I won't know if we can do anything until I get a combined look at my research and Dr. Pierce's. Even then, I still don't know.”

“Truth be told, I don’t think these people can be saved,” William said. “Those things down there are dead—reanimated corpses. You can’t cure that.”

Vincent nodded. “I’m hoping I can cure someone who’s infected, but still alive. Hopefully, I can reverse the effects of the virus before it turns them into one of those things.”

“I hope so,” Sarah said.

She jumped at the sound of glass shattering two stories beneath them. The shattered glass was followed by the terrified scream of someone who’d just jumped from their condo. The sound of his voice faded the further he fell until it was silenced indefinitely.

“Oh Jesus! Help us!” she prayed as she gripped Vincent's hands.

“God, please let this damn helicopter get here!” Felicia gave her own prayer, just one of many she's said since receiving that telephone call from Bryant. Whatever forced that person to jump to his death, they didn’t want any part of it.

“I think this is our ride... at least I hope it is,” William said, pointing to the two white helicopters flying their way.

The helicopters drew nearer, hovering over the rooftop. Their blades rotated furiously creating powerful gusts of wind that whipped up dust and particles around them. They had to shield their eyes as they rose to their feet, making room for the aircraft to land. When it did, the five of them quickly forced their way through the frenzied crowd to climb aboard. The others tried to push toward the helicopter's entrance, but armed soldiers held them at bay with the help of big guns and serious “I'll pull the trigger” expressions.

“You can't just leave us!” one of them cried.

“When we take off, the other helicopter can land and you can board it, this one is full,” one of the soldiers screamed over the sound of rotating blades right before he closed the door. Soon, Vincent and the others could feel themselves rising into the air and the aircraft began to fly away from the building making room for the other helicopter to land.

“We got here as soon as we could under the circumstances,” Dr. Darnell Powers addressed the group, shouting over the noise of the rotating blades of the helicopter as it lifted upward. “My name is Dr. Darnell Powers from the Illinois Department of Public Health.”

“No need to apologize, I’m just glad you arrived when you did,” Felicia replied then she introduced herself as she fastened her seat belt. The memory of those unfortunate souls who had taken refuge on a rooftop only to be killed and eaten before help could arrive still haunted her. She only hoped that wouldn't be the same fate for those they had to leave behind.

“What’s the situation look like outside the city?” Vincent asked as he peered through the window toward his condo watching as the others began to fight amongst themselves for a space on the second helicopter. “Jesus...” he whispered to himself as he witnessed the scene from his vantage point.

The soldiers on the helicopter fired several bullets towards the crowd to keep them back and to give them enough time to slam the door. In a rush, the aircraft lifted with the ones they could take and began to follow Vincent's.

“Pure mayhem,” Dr. Powers replied, bringing everyone's attention towards him.  “These things are advancing and multiplying faster than the police and military forces can stop them. It just seems to take a single fatal wound from one bite to turn a normal human into one of those things out there.” He shook his head in dismay with a low grumble. He looked at Felicia. “You can remove your helmets. We know enough about this virus to know it's not airborne.”

“You've tested the air?” Felicia questioned.

Dr. Powers nodded. “We did. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be able to rule that out, at least.”

“That's good enough for me. This thing was getting hot as hell,” William said as he began removing his helmet. Sam and Felicia did the same, taking in huge gulps of fresh air.

Dr. Power looked at Vincent. “I've been briefed on you, Dr. Masterson, but I'm sure I don't know everything. For instance, just what in the hell were you working on?”

Vincent frowned as he stared down at the carnage below—the horrific growing aftermath of their “experiment toward the human advancement in bioengineering.”  That was just one of many smoke-up-the-ass lines the General had tossed at him when he asked about the project.

“We created something that I can’t explain, Doctor. I’m going to do my best to find a cure. I don’t know how successful I’ll be with that, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me. Most of my research and all of the current data is still located at SciTech labs, as I explained to your colleagues,” Vincent answered.

“I'm well aware of that and that wasn't my question. What were you working on?” Dr. Powers repeated.

“In all honesty, Doctor… I don’t really know. We were given a sample of some foreign substance. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. It mimicked blood in its consistency and color. It even had several variations of white and red cells but no definitive genetic code.”

Vincent went on to explain what their job was regarding the sample—what SciTech labs was hired to do. “In the end, we had a breakthrough. One of our apes took to the injection with successful results… but the other, the one that was dying, its health only worsened. When it finally died, it didn’t stay that way.”

“Was the sample blood?” Dr. Powers asked.

“This helicopter was big enough to take a few more people,” Sarah inadvertently interrupted after inspecting the extra room they had.

“Come again?” Dr. Powers asked, one eyebrow rising inquisitively.

“Oh, um, well, I'm just seeing that we had more room to bring more people with us. Why did your soldiers slam the door in their faces?” Sarah asked.

Dr. Powers sighed. “We were instructed to pick up a Mrs. Pierce and her two children then return to base. We left enough room to complete that task. Don't worry Mrs.—” He looked at her imploringly.

“Oh, it's Miss Freeman.” She looked at Vincent, taking his hand into hers. “For now, it's just Miss Freeman.”

“Touching,” Dr. Powers returned his attention back to Vincent. “Now, back to my question?”

Sarah pouted, her top lip curling into a slight sneer at the castoff comment the other man gave her. Vincent squeezed her hand gently before lifting it to his lips for a tender kiss. His tone was curt when he responded to the doctor, but he held his rising temper in check. Now was not the time to get into an overprotective cock fight.

“About the sample, if it was blood, it wasn’t any type of blood I’d ever seen. I don’t know for certain what it was, but the biological properties that it contained were phenomenal. For instance, right before everything went to hell in a hand basket, we did manage to record the successful test subject’s vitals. There was a spike in its heart rate and its brain activity increased showing significant cognitive response,” Vincent said.

“So the test subject showed signs of heightened intelligence and an adrenaline level spike?” Dr. Powers looked at him for confirmation.

“Exactly, it was stronger and when injured, it healed instantaneously. It's what the government wanted. The project was a success. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one who made the breakthrough and the person who did… is one of those things down there.”

Vincent’s eyes studied the destruction below. Glass and splinters of wood littered the fronts of stores and restaurants that had had their windows and doors busted in.  Dozens of buildings and skyscrapers were on fire as a failed result of the soldiers’ attempt to gain control over the savage melee.